The allrounder hopes to build on the confidence he derived from the IPL and the experience he gained by interacting with international players

Shashank Kishore in Vijayawada18-Aug-2018On April 1 this year, the first day of Rajasthan Royals’ pre-IPL camp, K Gowtham was tingling with nervous excitement. The prospect of meeting Shane Warne for the first time had him imagine many times how the first conversation would go. When Warne eventually arrived, Gowtham expected nothing more than a few pleasantries. Instead, he was welcomed with “KG, you’re my project for IPL 2018.” This was no April fool’s joke.”Can you imagine, a legend who has 1000 international wickets coming to me and saying that?” Gowtham asks, as he jogs back to the day. “I was glad he had seen what I’d done previously. Initially, I was like ‘okay, what does he expect from me?’ But I realised how easy it was to connect with him at a human level. It was just like two individuals having an easy-going discussion where there is communication from both sides. There couldn’t have been a better welcome than that.”It’s easy to get swayed by his bare IPL 2018 numbers – 126 runs and 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.80 – and term Warne’s project as unsuccessful. However, Gowtham’s was clearly a case of numbers not revealing the full story. His unravelling of Jasprit Bumah in just his fifth IPL innings with the side needing 43 off 17, was among his highlights. Gowtham took him for 18 and finished with an 11-ball 33 to help the side pull off a heist. With the new ball he was the skiddy, wicket-to-wicket bowler whose role was to restrict runs.The change in role with the bat, however, was a deviation from the one he performs in Karnataka’s limited-overs set-up, where he is an accumulator of runs, but it was one he embraced. “Shane didn’t tell me to change anything with my batting or bowling,” Gowtham explains. “It was more on mental strength and how you come back from tough situations. How your mindset has to always remain as if nothing is wrong – whether you take 4 for 20 or 0 for 48.”He kept saying ‘pause, think over, what best can be done.’ Things like how you observe subtly a batsman’s feet movements to see what he’s trying to do next, and what you can do to ensure he doesn’t do that, either through your variations or by changing the field. How you can enjoy the game on the field, how intensity matters the most, these are things which gives you a lot of confidence to get into the game. Basically he’s a big influencer who carries a lot of positive energy.”ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s this stint and the learning that he has derived from the IPL stint that he hopes to carry forward, now in the Quadrangular series, where he’s part of 30 fringe players who will feature for two India sides along with the A teams of Australia and South Africa. In the ‘A’ tri-series in England this summer, Gowtham’s numbers were unimpressive: two wickets and four runs in three matches. But that minor blip isn’t something that he’s worried about.”Royals gave me the freedom to be myself, express myself. That has helped,” he says. “As a franchise, they backed each and every player to come good in their role. I wouldn’t say just in batting, bowling or fielding. As a professional, you are anyway supposed to do all these things, but when you get the liberty and when you get the chance to explore facets of your game on your own, it makes a huge difference.”That he isn’t an introvert helped him form bonds with his team-mates, which he says helped massively. “I interacted a lot with Ish Sodhi, who had a lot of ideas. He hasn’t played much here, so he used to ask me about varying pace, getting the best out of these surfaces. With Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, it was about preparation and match awareness.”Bowling, I always used to trust Jos, because he used to give me inputs. In fact you can see in a couple of videos where he stops me and then comes up and gives suggestion about fields, and how to bowl. All these things are just the cricketing side of it. For me, it’s the human side of them that I enjoyed the most. How simple they are as people and how they’re receptive to your thoughts.”Their work ethic, understanding their culture, their values – these are things I try and derive. Yes, cricket is important but these are also things I try and pick up. The ethics what an international cricketer carries, I wanted to get into their mindset. I’m a spinner, Jofra Archer is a fast bowler, so skillsets are different, but mindset can remain the same. Mental strengths, how do they think about the game, those things I envy and helped me to up my game.”BCCIIn this transformation period, he has also benefited from the expertise of Rahul Dravid, the India A coach. “The best thing about him is, he won’t unnecessarily say things. He says something only when it is necessary, but he used to challenge you,” Gowtham says. “One day he came into the nets and said try and get me out, I was like ‘okay’. It was an optional training. I said I’ll bowl you six balls and get you out, and I did. That was fun.”With the anecdote out of the way, Gowtham comes back to his serious self. “You can’t call him a coach-coach kind of person, he’s someone who can talk to you about any situation on the field; he’s faced so many. It may be nets, but getting ‘The Wall’ out gave me a lot of satisfaction.”Unlike many of his peers, Gowtham isn’t a cricket nerd. But he isn’t the one to miss out on picking up quirks if he sees them, like R Ashwin’s away-drifters and swingers for example. “I don’t watch much of cricket, I love playing,” he says. “Everyone has their own way. Watching, I would do only when I would do when there’s something like the Eden Test (2001), or important games. These kinds of games, I watch.”When the Edgbaston Test was happening, I had to balance out training, practice, so you don’t get opportunities to watch. I keep track though. On those surfaces, the Duke always does a bit more than a Kookaburra. He [Ashwin] was using seam, shine to aid him, these are the things red-ball cricket allows you.”These are skills, you can pick up watching videos, but you have to work on your confidence. It needs years of practice, you cannot completely copy it, but I try and execute it. In a Deodhar Trophy [match] six months back, in Himachal, I did try out something in the nets and then replicated it in a match, in the last over. It’s not about muscle memory, but about your confidence levels. At the end of the day, cricket is a confidence game.”The confidence, as he talks, defies the image of a man who was at the crossroads four years ago, not knowing if professional cricket would give him another chance. Four years in the wilderness taught him “life lessons” he’s glad for as he looks to make his late bloom count. Like many, the upcoming season could chart his course.

Kim McConnie speaks about WBBL and BBL as the shopfront window, the long-term strategy for the competition, the prospect of Australia’s national players featuring in the tournament and more

Daniel Brettig18-Jul-2018You’ve launched the vastly expanded competition on the Gold Coast and you’re going to have a Melbourne Stars “home” game there. How did you reach that decision?The Gold Coast is an unusual market when you think about it. It’s the sixth-largest city in Australia and at that time of the year [in December], it is a very different market; the influx they have of tourism means the landscape changes pretty significantly. A lot of those tourists are from Sydney and Melbourne, so when we looked at it we thought ‘let’s do something a bit different and bring another team there as well’. It would’ve been easy to have a match-up with the Brisbane Heat, but it wouldn’t have felt like a different team. So it really had to be a neutral game, and it was going to be either a Sydney or a Melbourne team. And the Stars were pretty bold, put their hand up and said ‘we want to give this a try’.As far as the Melbourne and Sydney-based fans of those clubs are concerned, did you feel that in expanding to a full home and away season you could do that with the extra games and not hurt them much by taking games away?Spot on, you’ve obviously seen our strategy document! It is important because full home and away for us is about playing the long-term plan. It’s not about just building strength in the metro markets. We’ll do that, but it’s really about building new markets, new fans and expanding. That was part of the reason for taking the Stars to the Gold Coast as well, starting to build fans beyond the traditional core metro markets.To join the dots further strategically on that point, does it become ultimately about getting more people following the game and perhaps in the end, playing for a BBL club or for Australia? Is that the bedrock?Both WBBL and BBL, we talk about it as the shopfront window. It is what inspires kids to want to play cricket. They see the “Bash Brothers” [Chris Lynn and Brendon McCullum], they want to go out into the backyard and be the Bash Brothers. So it’s really important for us to drive participation.There has been a gentle plateau of TV ratings and crowds over the past few years, apart from Perth Scorchers moving to a new stadium last season, and an issue where the Melbourne and Sydney teams in the major markets are being outperformed by the likes of Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. Is that an area of concern for you or do you feel like that’s the maturing of the competition after an initial spike in interest?I think it’s just the natural evolution of the competition. You’re never going to get away from the variability of team performance, and every sport lives and breathes that. So that’s a variable you can’t control, but we do feel like there’s a maturing of the league and for us that’s ok. It is about the long-term and we don’t have such a traditional focus on making sure that we’re driving those attendances up. If that was the case we would never go to Alice Springs, we’d never take the Stars to [Gold Coast]. So it is really important for us to make sure we’re building BBL as the national sport and we’re taking it throughout Australia, and that has been part of our long-term strategy. Therefore we do expect there will be some attendances that come off as a result of that, and that’s ok in the short term.So is it in the lap of individual clubs (in terms of their crowds) or your new broadcasters Seven Network and Fox Sports in terms of getting as many eyeballs as possible on TV?Exactly. We’ll still expect, as we go to these new markets, there’ll be some strong ratings as well.WBBL and BBL players (L-R) Sammy-Jo Johnson, Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Cutting, and Jess Jonassen pose during the Big Bash League fixture announcement•Chris Hyde/Getty ImagesWhat about the logistical and scheduling challenge of adding an extra 16 games to the season and the tight squeeze. For the first time you have got a scheduled day’s Test cricket where a game starts before stumps, and a number of Perth games starting quite late for the east coast. Did you feel that was unavoidable?I think it is unavoidable going to a full home and away [schedule] and where we can, we’ve leveraged it to the best of our advantage. Channel Seven have talked about these 13 “mega days” which create a whole day of cricket, so that has really helped us. The Perth piece helps in terms of the new stadium, because it really comes to its strength at night time. So part of working with the Scorchers was that they were keen to have some later games to really show off the stadium and to the best of its capability. But there are other areas where we’ve had to be a bit tighter to fit all the cricket into the schedule.You stated at the launch that there are no plans to expand the number of BBL teams for at least the next three years. Do you think the number of matches you have after going to a full home and away season will remain stable because it has grown bit by bit over the past couple of years, and then the big increase this year?Definitely. We feel like the next couple of years for BBL are about embedding. You can’t do it all in one year, we’re going to have some wins this season, we’re going to have some learnings from this season. Definitely we feel the next few years are about focusing on the schedule we’ve got, the 59 games, and really starting to build fan tribalism. We want fans to feel an attachment for the Brisbane Heat, for the Sydney Sixers, and consistency is going to be part of that.One thing that changes a little bit this season is that there’s less overlap with international cricket at the end of the BBL. Are you hopeful that you would have Australian players available for the BBL finals?That would always be something we’d love to see. I think the league has been developed some of its own stars, people you didn’t expect in the competition have done really well. So we’ve seen historically it works really well whether we have Australian players there or not. Ultimately what people want to see are the big hits and the drama that unfolds in the finals.Thursday and Friday semi-finals into a Sunday afternoon final. Is that the kind of season climax you were hoping to get to or is that something we’ll see evolve still further into being on consecutive weekends or similar?That is something we’ll continue to evolve. We do think there’s headroom and upside in evolving the finals. Whether or not we fix it Superbowl style, whether we have more of a gap between the semis and the final to build the hype. I think that’s probably the next phase we’ll have a look at, how do we make the finals bigger and bigger and end the season on a crescendo. We start really strong, we want to make sure we’re ending the season just as strong.While the BBL will be consolidating at 59 matches, the WBBL is still very much in transition from what it was initially to being a standalone tournament at the front end of summer in 2019. What are you looking for from the WBBL this season ahead of that move?One of the things we’re most excited about is Channel Seven broadcasting 23 games. I think that’s really important – you can’t be what you can’t see. That’s what Channel Seven’s really going to help us fix because it is really important the next generation of young girls starts to see their heroes on TV. We need to make sure we’re driving that awareness this season. The other thing we’ll be doing is creating more festival weekends. We did a few last season, opening weekend, Lilac Hill, Mackay, those were some of our most successful and we’re doing more of those. That’s going to be the future of WBBL once we move to standalone. Something for all the family’s entertainment that is beyond just cricket.Lastly, one change this season is that you’ve got 16 games exclusive to Fox Sports, with Seven broadcasting 43 on free-to-air. How did you go about deciding which games would be solely on Fox? One each of the Melbourne and Sydney derbies are behind the paywall, for example.It was to make sure there was a fair distribution. We wanted to make sure that across all our clubs, they were getting the ability to be on Fox Sports and also that it was spread across the country as well. We’ve got new markets and we wanted to give Fox Sports the opportunity to cover those. So equality was a core principle we looked at.

Batting coach Graeme Hick hopes Australia’s Dubai rearguard can spark Sheffield Shield batsmen to score more hundreds

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi13-Oct-2018If the arrival of Justin Langer as Australia’s coach heralded a change in the national team’s philosophy, his batting assistant Graeme Hick is hopeful that Usman Khawaja’s remarkable Dubai hundred will lead to a desperately-needed, wider change at domestic level – the return of a higher rate of Sheffield Shield centuries.

Sheffield Shield hundreds by season

2017-18 – 44
2016-17 – 51
2015-16 – 55
2014-15 – 58
2013-14 – 45
2012-13 – 32
2011-12 – 46
2010-11 – 48
2009-10 – 58
2008-09 – 57
2007-08 – 54
2006-07 – 51
2005-06 – 55
2004-05 – 61
2003-04 – 76
2002-03 – 49
2001-02 – 57
2000-01 – 57
1999-00 – 57
1998-99 – 58
1997-98 – 70
1996-97 – 54
1995-96 – 56
1994-95 – 55
1993-94 – 72
1992-93 – 60

Hick, who scored 136 first-class centuries, pointed to the fact that a mere 41 hundreds had been scored in last summer’s Shield competition, and wider ESPNcricinfo analysis has revealed a telling trend that has made innings like Khawaja’s the exception rather than the rule. Over the past 25 years, there have been only seven seasons with fewer than 50 Shield hundreds, and six of those have come in the past eight summers.Seasons such as 1993-94, 1997-98 and 2003-04, in each of which domestic batsmen churned out 70 or more hundreds between them, are a distant memory. There have been numerous complicating factors, from the advent of the Big Bash League and scheduling changes, to the still hotly-debated introduction of the Futures League in 2009, which imposed age restrictions on state second XI teams, and thereby stripped out a host of senior players from the system, before it was wound back two years later.”The message JL has been saying is get runs or get wickets to get picked. You’re wanting to see that hunger in state land, see players starting to convert hundreds now,” Hick said. “Over the next year or so, we may be able to look at the Shield stats and see. Last season, I think there was only [44] hundreds scored; this next season, it might be 50 or 55, as it has been in the past.”Whatever cricket you’re playing, as a batter you deal in hundreds, in any form of the game, especially in Test cricket. You want to be able to bat for five or six hours, and it takes a lot of different ingredients. So do that and then you put your name in the hat.”The advent of T20 has undoubtedly had some effect. The last season in which the Shield hundreds tally reached 60, in 2004-05, was also the final summer before the introduction of the state-based Big Bash, forerunner to the city-based Big Bash League that started in 2011. After the tally dropped as low as 30 in 2012-13, curators were instructed to prepare flatter surfaces, while another variable has been the use of the Dukes ball in the second half of recent seasons to try to replicate English conditions.One of the drivers of the Futures League, as well as the more recent inclusion of a Cricket Australia XI in the domestic limited-overs tournament, was to offer greater opportunities to younger players. However, Hick noted that opportunities seem to be more commonly wasted in the current era, as players know that another innings in one of the three formats is never too far away.”There’s definitely been a big shift in the way batters are going about their first-class cricket now,” he said. “If you’re averaging 35 rather than 45, it means you’re spending a lot less time in the middle, which is the best place to learn. So don’t waste those opportunities, because as you come up into Test cricket, having to bat for four, five or six hours, it takes a hell of a lot. If you don’t learn to do that in the earlier cricket you’re playing, then don’t expect to do it when you suddenly pitch up in Test cricket.”Try and learn how your length of innings ebbs and flows through the day. If you don’t do that there, try to do it in Test cricket for the first time under that pressure, and in that environment like Uzzie did, it’s just not going to happen. There is a difference, and maybe opportunities are wasted at times, with the way players are playing a far more attacking, aggressive game these days, that’s different to maybe 10 years ago.”Reflecting on Australia’s great escape in Dubai, Hick said the key to the turnaround in the second innings was reassurance that the preparatory work had been done, and only needed to be applied under pressure. “We were a little bit flat, and I think that was because we’d worked so hard beforehand,” he said.”There was a mixture of some good bowling and some poor decision-making, so that was the main thing. It certainly put us behind, which was another disappointing thing. There were a lot of things that were bad about it, but in terms of what I did, not a lot; I just knew the boys know they didn’t perform as well as they’d like, and quite often they’re good enough to pick themselves up.”They have a lot of pride in the way they go about their business. There was a certain element that they didn’t want to get out there and not put on a good performance in the second innings. Whether we managed to hang on or not, we were always going to make sure there was a better performance. So it was just reassuring they’d done a lot of work, their preparation’s been great, trusting their defence and still bat with intent.”Hick also made mention of Travis Head, the debutant, who built a critical stand with Khawaja in the second innings, after the rapid losses of Aaron Finch, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Marsh. “Everyone knows that coming to the subcontinent, starting your innings is often the hardest part,” Hick said. “I’m not saying we’ve only had collapses in the subcontinent; it’s been pretty rife, so Heady coming in and getting through that, and making sure we didn’t have that collapse again was a great effort.”The fact that he had a duck in the first innings and was on debut, to come and play as he did in the second innings was an amazing test of character. It’s getting through that first part, staying calm, not feeling the pressure: there’s a lot of things that go into collapses; sometimes you can’t explain them. Other times it could be good bowling. The more you’re comfortable in this environment and trust your game, you just get used to dealing with it. Some deal with it better than others.”

A round-up of the 2018-19 season which shed light on New Zealand’s seam-bowling depth, Northern Districts’ riches, and the emergence of a strong fringe for the national side

Deivarayan Muthu18-Feb-2019Incredible seam-bowling depthTim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson, Doug Bracewell, Scott Kuggeleijn, Adam Milne (who is fit again), Blair Tickner, Ben Wheeler, and Kyle Jamieson. How’s that for depth in the seam attack? Mitchell McClenaghan, who had opted out of an NZC contract in 2017, was also among the wickets in the Super Smash.Central Districts’ Tickner, who was the top wicket-taker in the 2017-18 Super Smash, proved that he was no one-season wonder, following it up with 16 wickets in nine games in his side’s title-winning run this season. His rich form culminated in a maiden call-up to the New Zealand side for the third T20I against India. He impressed there as well, dismissing the big-hitting Rishabh Pant in New Zealand’s series-clinching victory in Hamilton.Canterbury’s beanpole quick Jamieson made heads turn when he exploited a bouncy Eden Park track to claim 6 for 7 – the best return by a New Zealand bowler and the third-best overall in T20s. Jamieson’s remarkable feat had former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson gushing on Twitter: “An impressive bowler who at 6ft 8in can swing it……another one to add to the @BLACKCAPS stable.”Milne, whose career has been plagued by injuries, returned to action, and sealed Central Districts’ title victory. On a two-paced Seddon Park pitch against defending champions Northern Districts, he showcased his variations, including a fast legcutter that got rid of Kuggleijn. He came away with 3 for 12 in 2.4 overs – the best figures in the final. Has he done enough to force himself back into the World Cup reckoning?Northern Districts = New Zealand?After Tim Seifert shellacked 84 off 43 balls against India in Wellington, he quipped that it felt like a Northern Districts home game. Eight out of the XI in the team were Northen District players, including captain Kane Williamson.With their core mostly away playing for New Zealand, and Anton Devcich and Chris Jordan linking up with Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League, Northern Districts found new heroes. Daryl Mitchell, the son of former All Black John Mitchell, and Kyle Abbott particularly excelled in the end overs with their variety of cutters and yorkers, while Brett Hampton also caught the eye with his lusty leg-side clubs. When Ish Sodhi was unavailable, Tarun Nethula claimed 6 for 23 in only 19 balls – the second-best figures in a New Zealand T20 competition.So, can you even best this side? Yes, if you’re Central Districts.Where are the overseas stars?The Super Smash ran concurrently with the more popular Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League and the Pakistan Super League and flew under the radar. The presence of Ben Stokes gave the tournament a massive leg-up last season, but there were no such marquee names this season.James Vince played just two games for Auckland Aces before joining the Sydney Sixers and lighting up the BBL. Jordan, too, played only two matches before heading across the Tasman Sea.And Devcich, who is among the biggest local stars, was away too, featuring in the BBL and PSL.Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond, who was signed as Vince’s replacement, struck 223 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of just a shade under 140, but that didn’t quite set the tournament alight.The fringe players are ready”Some of the new guys who came into the [New Zealand] team – the Tim Seiferts and Daryl Mitchells – and Tickner was very good as well. Getting a taste of international cricket and showing that they can succeed here is positive as we build towards the 2020 World Cup… If you didn’t know if he [Mitchell] was wearing a black shirt or a pink shirt, he looked like the same player.That was national coach Gary Stead’s assessment after they had clinched a 2-1 series win over India.Mitchell played a starring role for Northern Districts, cracking a chart-topping 19 sixes and often bowling the pressure overs. After being called up to the national squad, he contributed in all departments to help New Zealand topple India.Seifert, who holds the record for hitting the fastest hundred in the Super Smash, reminded Ian Smith, the commentator, and several others of Brendon McCullum during the T20Is against India. So, New Zealand’s future is in safe hands after all.

How a team ringing with chaos and ranked ninth beat the top-ranked ODI behemoth on the planet

Andrew Fidel Fernando22-Jun-2019If you’re looking to make sense of Sri Lanka’s victory over England, turn back. This is not the place. You’ve come to the wrong part of town.Thank you Pakistan for your contributions to the Canon of the Cricketing Incomprehensible. You haven’t been usurped exactly. You could be, soon. But take a knee for now, because in the first six months of 2019, Sri Lanka have been in more chaos, blown through more captains, endured more infighting, had a more paranoid coach, suffered more humiliating defeats, complained about more team buses, complained about more hotels, sucked harder at Test cricket, sucked harder at one-day cricket, and yet produced a Test series upset for the ages in South Africa, and now delivered the most surprising result of the World Cup.Under very few circumstances does a team ranked ninth beat the top-ranked ODI behemoth on the planet. Under fewer circumstances does a team that has won three times as many ODIs as it has lost since 2017, go down to a side that has lost three times as many as they have won in the same period. Even if you didn’t quite follow that sentence, even if you haven’t quite followed this Sri Lanka team’s vomit-worthy ODI form over the past two years, just know that this is pretty much an inexplicable result.Against a side that broke six-hitting records versus Afghanistan, Sri Lanka stumbled like drunks to 232 for 9, at no stage appearing as if they were in control of their bodily movements, let alone the innings or the run rate. Then, they called on an ageing fast bowler for inspiration, relied on a spectacularly unqualified captain, and brought down the home-team tournament favourites.In some ways it’s no surprise that Malinga – whose weight has often been the hottest issue in Sri Lankan cricket over the past few years – remains the best player in the team. Some worry about what will happen to Sri Lanka when Malinga finally decides to call it quits. Wherever will they find another match winner like this, they wonder. But this fear is misplaced, because if there is one thing we know about Sri Lanka is that from Duleep Mendis, to Arjuna Ranatunga, to Aravinda de Silva, to late-period Muttiah Muralitharan, and more recently Rangana Herath, the island’s cricket is happiest when under the tyranny of a mid-30s chubster. When Malinga goes, surely someone else will step up, as they always seem to do.Even now, Angelo Mathews appears to be preparing wholestomachedly for this responsibility. Thisara Perera is another challenger.Getty ImagesOf skinnier stock, but almost as important to this victory as Malinga and Mathews, was Dhananjaya de Silva, whose current incarnation is as pure a product of Sri Lanka’s cricketing chaos as there could ever be. As recently as December, Dhananjaya was Sri Lanka’s Test match No. 3. In that position he averages 32.5 – not awful given the consistent treachery of Sri Lankan pitches. Even in ODIs, Dhananjaya has often batted in the top order, but weirdly, in this World Cup, he has become Sri Lanka’s premier spinner.He had top-scored in a Test series whitewash over Australia once, but such are the roilings and upheavals of Sri Lankan cricket, that he comes in at No. 8 or 9 now, and has gone from one of the most promising batsmen on the planet, to being one of the most successful spinners at this World Cup, outstripping the likes of Imran Tahir, Adil Rashid, and Yuzvendra Chahal on bowling average.Against England, he bowled a slower wide one to have Moeen Ali caught at long off – the wicket that prised open the door for Sri Lanka. Then he dismissed Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid in quick succession – the double strike that swung it wide open. He doesn’t spin the ball. He doesn’t make it dip. He barely ever drifts it. He looks at all times like he is ambling home from school towards homework he doesn’t want to and perhaps never will do.But then he plays for Sri Lanka: a team that looks listless all year, that rifles through all manner of captains until it by chance finds one that shines like a jewel, that makes heroes out of the old and pudgy, and confounds what seem like the most unconfoundable predictions.At the South Africa Tests earlier this year, and now at Headingley, Sri Lanka have turned up in turmoil, and won against juggernaut opposition. Through all of this, never have they not looked sublimely helpless. Looks, though, like form, and confidence, and skill level, and experience, can apparently be profoundly deceiving.

Atapattu’s questions to Harmanpreet, a crash course on ‘culture’ for Ecclestone, and more from the high-voltage four-match series

Annesha Ghosh in Jaipur12-May-2019Atapattu’s got her eye on Harman’s willowHalfway through the tournament, Sri Lanka’s Chamari Atapattu had a long-cherished dream fulfilled. Soon after Supernovas’ nets session ended on Wednesday evening, Atapattu, who played under Harmanpreet Kaur, joined her captain near the pavilion. As the Indian batsman started removing her gear, Atapattu drew Harmanpreet’s attention to the latter’s bat, and we witnessed an animated chat between two of the hardest hitters in women’s cricket.”I play against Harman very often [in internationals, at the Kia Super League and the Women’s Big Bash League], but never quite got an opportunity to touch her bat,” Atapattu told ESPNcricinfo later that evening. “I have often wondered, ‘how someone so wiry can hit such long sixes just like that?’ When I learnt last month I would be playing for Harman’s side, I made up my mind I’d get a feel of her bat no matter what.”So what was the feel like, what did Atapattu make of one of the most feared weapons of destruction in the women’s game?”The weight [of Harmanpreet’s bat, around 1170-1180 grams] seemed more or less the same [as mine], but Harman says she particularly likes this bat because of the ease of pick-up [for her high back-lift] it offers,”Atapattu explained. “When a great batsman like Harman holds a good bat, the wood works wonders beyond ways imagined. I’m just happy I was able to touch it.”Suzie Bates cleaves one through the off side•BCCI‘Smriti sleeps’, Ecclestone is caked, Bates soaks it all inAmong the many things Suzie Bates found out about her 22-year-old Trailblazers captain Smriti Mandhana was how she “absolutely loves to sleep”.Bates’ curiosity about cultural differences gave her a peek into Mandhana’s, and the other Indians’, habit of getting a little shut-eye as often as they can.”We are just so different how we go about our day sometimes,” Bates said. “I’d ask them if they’d like to go for lunch, go do dinner, but they would be sleeping most of the time (laughs).”I am like, ‘Smriti, what have you done today?’ ‘I slept till 12,’ she’d say. And, yes, Smriti absolutely loves to sleep. And then, ‘Harleen [Deol], how about you?’ ‘I was sleeping, too.’ So, I had to give them a time in late afternoon so they could be up.”Bates was also involved in rescuing young England spinner Sophie Ecclestone from a cake attack on her 20th birthday, the same day as the Trailblazers v Supernovas tournament opener.”Sophie is young, she is not quite as [clued into the culture in India] as some other players,” Bates said. “On her birthday, they brought a cake, which was a lovely gesture, and when the Indians started rubbing it on her face, she just didn’t know what to do (laughs). I told her, ‘You just embrace it as part of the culture.’ It was one of my favourite change-room memories.”Sushma Verma and Amelia Kerr in conversation•BCCITake it easy, like Hayley MatthewsSushma Verma was part of the Indian side that, to this day, struggles to come to terms with their epic meltdown at the 2017 World Cup final. During the Women’s T20 Challenge, when Verma watched a world champion from West Indies up close, the difference between how the two camps approach adversity struck her.”Two days ago [in Velcoity’s second game], I was padded up from the seventh over, and I was waiting for my turn,” Verma recounted. “[Hayley] Matthews (the 2016 World T20 Player of the Match in the final), who just got out and walked back into the dugout, [was so calm]. An Indian player would have probably been upset, but Matthews kept talking to me, and I didn’t even realise that I am up for batting next. When the last ball of the match was sent down, it struck me again that I was next.”It was so chilled out, and I liked the fact that they have such a positive approach. Their plans don’t change because of quick wickets. At the end of the day, you’re targeting 150-160, and you cannot change your approach if you lose a wicket or two. That’s the main learning I would like to carry forward. Personally I have learnt how to stay tension-free and chilled-out in all situations.”Jemimah Rodrigues raises her bat after getting to fifty•BCCIYoung Harleen Deol and Rodrigues play mentors to the seniorsIndian youngsters Harleen Deol and Jemimah Rodrigues, all of 20 and 18 respectively, impressed with not only their batting but their mentorship skills, underscored West Indies and Sri Lanka captains Stafanie Taylor and Atapattu.”She’d say initially: ‘Take your time, play yourself in, and then switch it up’,” Taylor, the 2016 World T20-winning captain, said about Deol taking up the aggressor’s role in the second game. “And then when we decided we need to up the ante and go for runs, she was like, ‘I’ll go, you stay’. And I went, ‘Okay’. It’s reverse (laughs). As the senior pro, I liked how she asked me to take a step back and took responsibility.”Atapattu, meanwhile, took note of Rodrigues’ support during the third game. “Jemi was discussing how we should aim for small targets from the fifth over to the eighth over,” she said. “When I was struggling with the timing, she advised I try and just time it instead of hitting the ball hard. She is confident, multi-talented, and a very helpful girl.”

For example, why do Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq not make the top category in a list that is meant to prioritise Tests

Danyal Rasool08-Aug-2019Much of what the PCB does, and what it took to get to that stage, is full of mystery, and guaranteed to remain that way until someone writes a tell-all book, or Younis Khan finds out and hastily summons a press conference to explain what happened and why it was a personal affront to him. The same mystery applies to the way the PCB determines who is awarded central contracts for the upcoming year, and in which of the five categories they fit. There is a method that’s supposed to look at performance over the past year, and the player’s prospects of excelling in the future, but as the method itself has never been disclosed, all we can do is analyse the conclusions it throws up.If these words sound familiar, it’s because there’s a chance you may have read them before. This is, verbatim, the introductory paragraph to last year’s piece discussing the questions the PCB’s list of centrally contracted players for the year ending June 2019 raised. But if last year was a head-scratcher, the central contracts for the upcoming 12 months are bathed in more mystery than Shahid Afridi’s actual age.For starters, they’ve been selected by non-selectors, since Pakistan’s chief selector’s contract ran out last week. You might wonder whether pegging selectors’ contracts to end just when they’re required to take the most important decision of the year might be the best move. We all are.Why has the list of centrally contracted players been “trimmed” from 33 to 19 players?
The PCB’s press release announced they were “trimming” the list of centrally contracted players, which might make you wonder if they’d dropped one or two. But cutting the list to half its size last year is as much a trimming as your barber giving you a bald patch right down the middle of your skull.There have been casualties everywhere. Last year, there were five categories of centrally contracted players. The fifth category – Category E – a PCB media release had proudly announced, was introduced to “recognise performers on the domestic circuit as well as to encourage the continuing development of emerging cricketers from the junior cricket level”.It turns out that that lofty ambition was a 12-month project, or just another example of a change of regime spelling a shift in approach. Let alone domestic or junior cricketers, even some senior ones may count themselves lucky to have made the 19 at all. Because it isn’t just Category E that’s been killed off; Category D has fallen by the wayside as well, with Faheem Ashraf, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, and the outgoing Shoaib Malik and Mohamad Hafeez dropping out altogether.Mind you, the PCB have said once a selection committee is in place, additions to this pool of 19 can be made. This, then, may just be a first draft.Why are there just three players in Category A, and why is Yasir Shah among them?
All right, we get it. Pakistan are not playing too much cricket in the upcoming year. There are six Tests, nine T20I and just three ODIs. But pegging a central contract to the amount of cricket players have scheduled – emphatically not in their control – appears a slightly dubious way of determining the size of the centrally contracted list. Category A now just comprises three players: Sarfaraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah and Babar Azam.Sarfaraz’s inclusion may well be based on his status as captain in all three formats, though how long that remains the case is very much unknown. Yasir in Category A does raise some eyebrows, though. He may be a Test specialist, and Pakistan do have six Tests in the upcoming year. Two of those are against Australia, where, you might remember last time around, he took eight wickets in three Tests and averaged 84.Yasir Shah has an unimpressive record in Tests in South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia (SENA)•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt’s not just a one-off; earlier this year in South Africa, he bowled just four overs in the first Test and sat out the third, taking two wickets at 123. His record in the southern hemisphere reads nine wickets at over 95, so he might not be nailed on for the Brisbane and Adelaide Tests. Category A for at best four Test matches – particularly when he’s only one of three players in it – does seem somewhat generous.Tests are the priority. So why are Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq in Category B?
The PCB, ESPNcricinfo understands, put Test cricket front and centre of these new contracts. That makes sense, since 30 of the 42 days the players are due to play international cricket will be with the red ball. It explains, if very loosely, why Yasir Shah sits in the top bracket. But then, why does Asad Shafiq, who has played every one of Pakistan’s last 64 Test matches, not make the top category too? Or Azhar Ali, tipped as potentially the next Test captain – and a Test-match specialist for the past three years – sit in Category B? That, mind you, is the same category as Wahab Riaz, who hasn’t played Test cricket in nearly a year, T20Is for over two years, and only just returned to ODI cricket at the World Cup.Is Mohammad Amir being punished for retiring from Test cricket?
The PCB would point to the fact Amir’s demotion to Category C is a reflection of the priority they hold Test cricket in. But Amir was the leading wickettaker for Pakistan at the World Cup with 17, and, according to the outgoing coach Mickey Arthur, would be a fresher, more dangerous limited-overs bowler now he had shed his red-ball workload. Besides, Pakistan do play nine T20Is in the upcoming year, which isn’t exactly a tiny number. Placing him in the same category as Abid Ali and Mohammad Rizwan – who have one Test match between them – does make you wonder if there was more than just analytical algorithms going on in the decision room.

While saying India got the best batting conditions, the South Africa spinner accepted they didn’t bowl as well as they could have

Firdose Moonda03-Oct-2019If Keshav Maharaj thought touring India would offer him ideal conditions to show off his skills, the first two days of the Test series would have made him think again. South Africa’s first-choice spinner had to bowl 34 overs before he saw any success and has described the Visakhapatnam surface as one of the most challenging he has played on, especially because he operated on it before it began to offer any assistance.Watch cricket on ESPN+

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“It’s probably one of the toughest surfaces I’ve bowled on in terms of it being a lot slower and not biting as much. You got slow turn but the ball didn’t really kick off the wicket. When the ball got softer the odd one straightened or there was a little bit of bite, but the cracks have been opening because of the heat. So there is a little bit of assistance coming through now as opposed to when we started. I’d say it’s about a day-and-a-half [before that started happening],” Maharaj said.India enjoyed prime batting conditions in the first five sessions of the match, when the pitch offered neither pace nor sharp turn and its sluggish nature tested the skills of South Africa’s spinners. Unusually, the visitors went in with three, none of whom put massive revs on the ball, so they had to rely on other methods, such as variations in speed, to try and make something happen. “With the wicket not spinning, you try and beat the batsmen through the air and go slower and try get some assistance, or maybe the odd faster ball might grip,” Maharaj said.ALSO READ: “I’d like to think if I do well I pave the way for other SA spinners” – Keshav Maharaj interviewFor 82 overs, nothing worked. That Dane Piedt and Senuran Muthusamy lacked discipline didn’t help but Maharaj was quick to defend his team-mates and transfer credit to India’s openers. “If someone comes down the wicket and hits you, it’s not a bad ball. If you’re getting hit from the crease or cut then it’s a different story. Mayank (Agarwal) played superbly well and so did Rohit (Sharma). Everything they wanted to do paid off. I wouldn’t say they bowled badly. Sen is a batting allrounder, so I think his contribution in his first taste of international cricket went pretty well for him in tough conditions,” he said.Finally, after Rohit hit Maharaj for back-to-back boundaries which including stepping out of his crease to drive him for four, Maharaj tossed one up to invite the charge and beat Rohit with turn and flight to allow Quinton de Kock to complete the stumping. By then, India already had 317 on the board and South Africa’s bowlers knew it would be “difficult to come back from that”. They took six more wickets which Maharaj said “gave us a bit of positivity,” but understand that the thrust of the fight may be over.Keshav Maharaj celebrates a wicket•BCCIThe best batting conditions are gone, the best bowling conditions can now be enjoyed by India’s spinners. South Africa could bowl again, but their deficit of 463 runs and the threat India’s spinners have already posed to their inexperienced line-up make it unlikely they will be toiling for any reason other than to allow India to set a winning target on a deteriorating surface. Maharaj admitted the toss may have played a decisive factor but also acknowledged South Africa were not as good as they should have been. “The toss does play a role because you want the best conditions for the spinners to bowl in, but we could have been a little bit better at times. But the toss is a large factor in the outcome of the game,” he said.Arguments will be made over team selection and whether South Africa should have gone for a more incisive quick given that they have two others, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, in their ranks. But perhaps a more critical look needs to be cast on what’s going on behind the scenes. In the post-World-Cup overhaul, spin bowling consultant Claude Henderson was among those whose contract was not renewed, despite the work he put in with Maharaj, which included long hours in the nets.The impact of that was evident over the last two days, where Maharaj carried the bulk of the bowling load, and tied his end as best he could. “I love bowling. Whether the outcome is five wickets or two wickets, I love bowling. As long as the feel [of the ball] in my hand is good then I’m on the right track. Long spells is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s the long hours that I train alone that has given me the match fitness to bowl them,” Maharaj said.South Africa’s position aside, Maharaj may yet go on to have a memorable tour in India. He is three wickets away from 100 Test scalps which will equal Nicky Boje’s career, and is six wickets adrift of overtaking Paul Harris’ haul of 103. Once he gets there only Paul Adams (134 wickets) and Hugh Tayfield (170) will be ahead of him as South Africa’s most successful Test spinners. Given Maharaj’s age, 29 years old, his attention to his fitness and the amount of Test cricket to be played in the next few years, it’s entirely possible he will become South Africa’s leading long-format spinner. But whether he will be able to dominate in India is yet to be seen.

Shakib was the trigger and the face of the players’ strike in Bangladesh, and it had to be so; his pedigree forces the BCB to take him seriously

Mohammad Isam24-Oct-2019Three ground-breaking days have ended with Shakib Al Hasan not only cementing his status as the face of Bangladesh cricket, but also, potentially, the architect of its future. He has taken the mantle of players’ leader in the strike that ended on Wednesday, a movement that has shaken up Bangladesh cricket and brought the debate over the board’s governance, functionality and performance to the fore.Even though more than 100 professional cricketers – including Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah – also joined the movement, Shakib’s presence gave it heft and credibility. There was, however, one legend-sized hole in the scenario: Mashrafe Mortaza, whose very low profile was a huge surprise given that he has always had an active role in helping the players’ causes in big and small matters.It’s a vacuum that Shakib filled capably but what made him take the lead?Truth is, he was the trigger for the strike. Three days after he signed for Rangpur Riders for the 2019-20 Bangladesh Premier League, the BCB said that the move couldn’t be endorsed since the tournament’s seventh edition comes under a new four-year cycle, and none of the franchises had signed the new deal.It was a strange decision given that the BCB’s chief executive had sent a letter months earlier to the same franchises to begin preparation for the next season. With that in mind, some franchises signed up players. Tamim and Mushfiqur had reportedly made similar moves, but now that the BCB had cut off Shakib’s deal, automatically all the other deals were off the table.

Whatever the demands, if it had Shakib Al Hasan in the front row, it would affect the BCB in a major way

The board wasn’t bothered when Tamim or Mushfiqur changed allegiance but the moment Shakib moved out of Dhaka Dynamites, the franchise owned by Beximco where three of BCB’s bigwigs are employed, they became strangely keen to redo the franchise contracts.Shakib hasn’t yet commented on how he felt with the deal falling through or the BCB announcing last month that they would run a special BPL without the franchises – a situation that heavily reduced salaries of most Bangladeshi players. This came on the back of other financial complaints on the part of domestic cricketers.Shakib and the rest of the country’s top players were always aware of these issues. The strike on October 21, however, needed someone to take the lead, and it had to be Shakib. Whatever the demands, if it had Shakib in the front row, it would affect the BCB in a major way. The players have known this for years but Shakib too needed to be convinced. As it turned out, he was already on board.Perhaps the explanation lay in Mashrafe staying away from the agitation.ALSO READ: Nazmul Hassan’s aggression leaves cricketers ‘rattled’For many years, Mashrafe had represented his team-mates with the board officials, taking forward their demands and requests and getting things done. It hardly ever made news because Mashrafe did it quietly. Repeatedly, and particularly after he became the ODI captain in 2014, Mashrafe was the players’ leader on and off the field.So this must have been the trickiest decision for the striking players to make. The only reason that could come close to an explanation is that Mashrafe’s current role as a member of parliament prevented him from taking a stance directly against the BCB, a national sports body. We still don’t know what Mashrafe would have done or said but, to his credit, he did take the players’ side, expressing his solidarity with them in a Facebook post on the evening of October 21, after news of the strike broke.Raton GomesMashrafe said that he too had wondered why the players didn’t ask him to join, but said that he not just understood their demands but was in their corner. It was also reported that on the following days, he was engaged in solving the impasse after the country’s prime minister asked him to step in. But he didn’t do anything publicly.Without Mashrafe at the forefront, Shakib was the highest-profile cricketer standing in front of the cameras on that Monday afternoon. He didn’t just read out two demands and answer two questions, his presence itself was huge. With Tamim, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur alongside him, it made a formidable team.The presence of Shakib and the rest of the top cricketers also made sure that there was no emotional reaction from any cricketer after Nazmul Hassan’s verbal attack against the players on the second day of the strike. What many felt was the BCB’s best opportunity to sort out the crisis instead became a narration of an uneasy relationship between the two parties.The rest of the players, who numbered more than a hundred when they met in a Dhaka hotel on Wednesday, seemed to fully place their trust in Shakib’s leadership. The appointment of a spokesperson, barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan, seemed unnecessary to some, but the experienced lawyer and cricket enthusiast elucidated their stance in proper terms. He also impressed upon the players their importance in the scheme of things, as was evident in the addition of a crucial demand, that of asking for revenue sharing. If the BCB can earn a lot of money because of the cricketers’ performance, then why can’t they have a bite of that cake?

Even though more than 100 professional cricketers – including Tamim, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah – also joined the movement, Shakib’s stature gave it heft and credibility

Shakib was one of the few vocal players when they took the demands to the BCB officials, despite the latter’s aggressive stance from the very beginning. But Shakib’s pedigree forced the BCB to take him seriously.Now, though, with Shakib announcing the end of the strike, his and the others’ real work begins. They must first hold the Cricketers Welfare Association of Bangladesh elections quickly so that their elected current players’ representative can have regular discussions with the board about their issues, many of which will be around the demands tabled.Shakib also must be aware that everything that they do from this point onwards will become ammunition for those who they have opposed. Their on-field performance, particularly against India, will be put under the microscope but, once again, it will be Shakib who could make a big difference in both the performance and attitude. He will need the full support of the rest of his team, all of whom were by his side during these three days of strike. It has the potential to galvanise the team, with Shakib being the lynchpin.

Used to bowling his overs at the start of his innings, Chahar knows he has to keep adding to his skills, and he is mentally ready to take on more in the death overs

Sidharth Monga in Mohali19-Sep-20191:58

I treat every match as my last – Chahar

“I only select the ball”

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Fast bowlers are generally slightly eccentric, highly bullish and often outspoken. India’s have been plain and highly strung, with notable exceptions such as Sreesanth. Deepak Chahar is not plain. He can’t be accused of being low on confidence even though “medium-fast” describes him better than fast. In fact MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming recognised his speed as optimum swing pace – a euphemism for lack of express pace – and turned his career around by giving him a super specialist role of bowling out at the top of an innings.Chahar is now a serious contender for India’s T20 World Cup side as auditions began in earnest in Mohali with a bilateral T20 international against South Africa, one of about 25 India are expected to play before going into the big event. This is a new India in which only Jasprit Bumrah can take his place for certain in the bowling department. Even the two wristspinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, talk of the town until recently, find themselves on the outside because they can’t bat.India are not going to make any compromises, and if it is a super-specialist auditioning for the role he had better be excellent at what he is doing. Chahar is asked what if they get a ball that is refusing to swing. It happens to the best of them. Swing is mysterious. Not to Chahar. This is when he reveals that he selects the ball, which means that it is sure to swing for one over at least. After that if a batsman hits the ball out of shape, there are no guarantees.It says a lot about Dhoni’s contribution to Chahar’s development. Selecting a ball is often a role given to your best fast bowler; Chahar enjoys that confidence from Dhoni. He pays off by swinging more balls than anybody in the IPL, and by a comfortable margin. Bowlers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Trent Boult and Tim Southee swing about half as many balls as Chahar, that too in Chennai, where he believes swing goes to die. Over the last three IPL seasons, he has taken more Powerplay wickets than anyone.

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While Dhoni had given him a role where he could best use his skills, Chahar needed to develop a big heart for it because having only two fielders outside the circle can be tough. More so during your third over of the Powerplay when, if you haven’t taken wickets in the first two overs, the batsmen are looking to take advantage. But two fielders outside the circle has become a way of life for Chahar now.”When I sit down to plan now, I plan thinking I have only two fielders,” Chahar said after his analysis of 4-0-22-2 set up an easy chase for India. “My thinking has become such that when I am planning against a batsman, I automatically assume I have only two fielders outside. It has become a habit.”Deepak Chahar talks to MS Dhoni•BCCIBut in a tournament such as the World Cup, you can’t afford to be that one-dimensional. Teams have a year to figure Chahar out, and he will need to keep adding to his bowling, specially at the death. He showed some of that evolution in his last over.”Earlier I used to bowl out with the new ball, and people used to ask me why I don’t bowl at the death,” Chahar said. “I used to say death is easier to bowl. My brain had become so used to bowling with two fielders outside the circle that five seemed a luxury. If you have variations, you can use them at the death.”Chahar feels he is mentally ready to take on more at the death. He has developed the knuckle ball, and also bowls the slower bouncer.”I believe you can’t afford to be predictable at the death,” Chahar said. “If the batsman knows you will bowl only the yorker or normal slower one, then he can line you up. You have to have a slower bouncer, a knuckle ball, a slower ball, a yorker… If you have all that, the batsman is a little watchful. If you miss the length by a lot, then there is a chance you will get hit for a four or a six, but if you keep executing or miss it by a little bit, you can escape punishment.”This Mohali game was a good display of his range of skills. He swung it in the first over he bowled, but the swing soon disappeared. Still he got the wicket of Reeza Hendricks in his first spell of three overs. When he came back to bowl the 18th over, he had already planned what he was going to do. He said he spends the time fielding planning for his last over. He spends it studying the batsmen, jogging his memory to previous contests.Here Chahar had a set Temba Bavuma to bowl to, against whom he had recently played in the A series. He knew Bavuma is good at using the pace, and pulling and cutting, but not very good at hitting sixes down the ground. He also knew Bavuma had been frustrated by an excellent Navdeep Saini over. He knew the big shot was coming, and he slipped in the knuckle ball first up. It not only brought him his second wicket, but also showed captain Virat Kohli his range.Chahar has so far made all the right moves, but he says he plays every match as if it is his last because he knows of the stiff competition for spots. The World Cup is too distant a thought. Right now he is plotting how to bowl to the next batsman. And he has only two fielders outside the circle.