All posts by h716a5.icu

Usman Khawaja was not the reason for Australia’s defeat in Chester-le-Street, but he hasn’t solved the team’s No. 3 problem either

Brydon Coverdale15-Aug-2013It has been 48 innings since an Australian has scored a Test century at No. 3. Never before has the team had a drought that long at first drop. Not when Harry Moses, Harry Trott and George Giffen were struggling on uncovered pitches in the 1880s. Not when Ian Redpath, Paul Sheahan and Bob Cowper were failing to convert starts in the late 1960s. Never. Every other team – Zimbabwe and Bangladesh included – have had Test hundreds from their No. 3 since Australia’s last.To watch Usman Khawaja over the past two Tests has been to witness a continuation of the first drop malaise. At times he has appeared elegant and classy in his strokes. But, there has also been a frailness, a sense that the bowlers had his measure. In Australia’s botched chase in Chester-le-Street, he played a typical Khawaja Test innings: plenty of style but little substance. His limp prod and lbw to Graeme Swann was the beginning of Australia’s end.No. 3 need not be the team’s best batsman, but he must be up for a battle. From Ian Chappell to David Boon, from Justin Langer to Ricky Ponting, Australia’s modern-day first drops have been fighters, men who have placed a high price on their wicket, regardless of natural ability. There are times when a No. 3 can bat more freely and build on a strong platform, but just as often his main job is to ensure that one for not many doesn’t become two for very few.Big innings matter at first drop, but small ones are equally significant. Since Shaun Marsh scored 141 on debut in Sri Lanka in 2011, not only have Australia not had a century at No. 3, they have also had 11 ducks there from 48 innings. No other position in the top, middle or tail comes close to that many zeros in the same period – the next highest is six ducks from the No.8 batsmen. Since Ponting moved down the order, Australia’s No. 3s have collectively averaged 25.62.And “collectively” is the word. Marsh was injured while batting in the 2011 Cape Town Test, Ponting stood in for him in the second innings, then Khawaja was tried and discarded, Marsh returned in woeful form, Shane Watson visited No. 3 on his stopping-at-all-stations trip down the order, Rob Quiney failed and was forgotten, Watson came back, Phillip Hughes had a turn, Michael Clarke tried it once in India, Ed Cowan’s tenure was brief, and now Khawaja is back.Cricket mythology will tell you that a team’s best batsman comes in at No. 3, but Len Hutton and Jack Hobbs were openers. So was Sunil Gavaskar. Allan Border floated from four to six. Sachin Tendulkar has avoided the job so fastidiously that he has played 327 Test innings and not a single one at first drop. Clarke is this team’s talisman but as Stuart Broad has shown, the swinging new ball is not his friend. There is no need for Clarke to move higher than No.4.But then, who gets the job? The production line is not the result of having too many options, but too few good ones. Australia have used No. 3 as a place to try fresh faces (Marsh, Khawaja, Quiney) or more familiar ones in search of a spot (Watson, Hughes, Cowan). It is little wonder, for that is largely how the state teams treat the first drop position. The lack of big scores at domestic level has been well documented, but the dearth of runs at No. 3 is especially alarming.Consider the following, a list of all the batsmen used at No.3 in the Sheffield Shield last summer, nightwatchmen aside: Khawaja, Hughes, Quiney, Ponting, Marsh, Watson, Alex Doolan, Michael Klinger, Michael Hussey, David Hussey, Marcus North, Aaron Finch, Joe Burns, Peter Forrest, Cameron White, Nic Maddinson, Tom Cooper, Peter Nevill, Tim Cruickshank, Sam Whiteman, Luke Towers, Dom Michael, John Rogers, Michael Hill, Alex Carey, Steve Cazzulino, Sam Miller, Peter Handscomb, Daniel Hughes, Marcus Stonis and even the bowler Kane Richardson.That’s 31 men who batted at No. 3 last season; a mix of veterans, rookies and journeymen. And for all of that, only four centuries were made from first drop in the summer’s 31 Shield matches. Not surprisingly, Khawaja (138 v Tasmania) and Hughes (120 v Victoria) made one each, while the other centurions were Doolan (149 v South Australia) and Hill (144 v Queensland).Doolan might have sent a postcard from Victoria Falls on this year’s Australia A tour, but otherwise has had nothing to write home about, and it is difficult to argue against Khawaja and Hughes as being the best Test options. Perhaps Khawaja will be given another chance at The Oval and grasp it, but the signs have not been promising. He may one day stamp himself as a Test batsman, but right now Khawaja at No. 3 looks wrong.There is a strong argument that Hughes should get the job. Khawaja’s strokeplay appears more sophisticated, but Hughes has the fight. He showed that during the first innings at Trent Bridge, when from No. 6 he scored a patient and mature 81 not out as Ashton Agar stole the limelight at the other end. But three low scores followed and Hughes was cut.It is true that Hughes has issues against quality offspin, but Khawaja hasn’t looked comfortable against Swann either. What Hughes has is the ability to score big – 21 first-class hundreds to Khawaja’s 11 – and the proven capacity to make runs at Test level. He also has a reasonable record as a Test No.3 – 372 runs at 37.20 – but always seems the batsman most vulnerable to the axe, or to being shuffled around the order.Since the start of this year’s Indian tour, Hughes’ Test batting positions look like this: 343343346644. Including tour matches, he has batted in every spot from opening to No. 6 on this trip. Hughes conceded on Wednesday that “at times it can be [difficult] if you keep changing your position in the order, but it’s about getting your head around it, and if you do get consistent runs, you’ll hold a spot. It can be tricky but it’s a professional sport and it’s up to the captain and the selectors to give you a position”.It is time to give Hughes the No.3 position and leave him there. He enjoys the new ball, converts and fights. Yes, sometimes he looks ugly doing it. But he is much less pretty batting further down against spin. And when it all comes down to it, he has been Australia’s most effective No.3 since Ponting. He has contributed to the record century drought but he has come closer than anyone to breaking it. His last two innings at No.3 were 69 and 45 in trying conditions in India.If given the opportunity, it is of course up to Hughes to take it. But for now, perhaps the selectors should think about Hughes as first drop, not the first dropped.

Even a defeat doesn’t hurt too much when you’re at the Shere Bangla

Madiha Khan07-Nov-2013Choice of game
After having seen Bangladesh cruise through the ODIs, it was time for some T20 action. Bangladesh were on top after completing what Athar Ali Khan termed “Banglawash” against the Kiwis. Most people would have expected Bangladesh to be favourites for the T20 game as well, but looking at their track record in the shortest format, I wasn’t too sure. I expected New Zealand to put on a fight at the end of their tour. I was 55% sure New Zealand would take this one home.Team supported
Bangladesh. After whitewashing New Zealand in back-to-back series, they had made their fans very proud.Key performer
Very easily, Colin Munro. He displayed some brilliant power-hitting, with shots all around the ground. He took advantage of the below-par bowling and the batting-friendly pitch and tore through the Bangladeshi bowling. He remained not out with a hefty 73 off 39 balls at the end of the innings.One thing I’d have changed
Reflecting back at the game, there were a couple of things that I would have liked to change. Perhaps the sitter that Al-Amin Hossain dropped in the first over, off Mashrafe Mortaza, to let off Anton Devcich, who went on to blast a fifty off 24 deliveries, or maybe those pointless shots early in the Bangladesh innings that got Shamsur Rahman and Mominul Haque out. But if I had to pick only one, it would very simply be the result of the game.Wow moment
Sixes, fours and dropped catches were abundant in this match. The wow moment for me was the blunder Tim Southee made of a catch off his own bowling. He let the ball brush his fingers, giving Sohag Gazi a life. It caught me by surprise, since the New Zealanders are known to be fit fielders.Close encounter
Southee bowled near the boundary where I was seated, and after having dropped that catch, he was jeered by the spectators.Shot of the day
With nearly 400 runs scored in 40 overs, there were quite a few remarkable shots played. A treat to watch was Mominul’s only six, which was timed oh so sweetly. But the obvious winner would be Munro’s switch hit off Mahmudullah that went for a huge six over cover. It left the crowd speechless for a moment.ODI or Twenty20?
I would rate the ODI format ahead of T20s, which are condensed versions of ODIs. All the action and excitement seems to be squeezed into 40 overs and the game does not pan out naturally. Nerves are sky high, and you are constantly on the edge of your seats. However, it is great entertainment once in a while. The ODI, on the other hand, true to its name, gives you day-long entertainment. It is long enough for the momentum to shift from one team to the other and back, giving you the chance to watch quality cricket – something difficult to do in T20s.Banner of the day
One banner that caught my eye read: “Bangladesh needs to play more ODIs and Tests in a calendar year”. The man who wrote it was spot-on. With obvious improvement in the quality of cricket played by Bangladesh in recent times, it could only be better for them to play more.Overall
9.5. Having watched innumerable games at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, I wonder if there will ever be a day when the experience is not breathtaking, and if the passion of the Bangladeshis will ever cease to sweep me off my feet. Win or loss, the people are always there, cheering their team on. Thanks to Bangladesh’s three wins in a row, this day was even better and the fact that Bangladesh had lost was not disappointing.I even had the good fortune of meeting one of the rising talents of Bangladesh – Taskin Ahmed. During the BPL he had shown promise as a fast bowler, and I sincerely hope to see him in the national team soon.A surprise was in store for the crowd as the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, walked out to the ground to give away the series awards.

His technique would make a spider on skates look elegant, but how dangerous was he when it came to high-pressure chases?

Andy Zaltzman04-Mar-2014Australia are currently specialising in series of almost identical matches. The recent Ashes saw a recurring nightmare of Haddin-inspired recoveries, first-innings collapses, baggy-green second-innings thwacks, and a slide to inevitable defeat, all with Johnsonian moustaches roaring past in celebration. The monotony was broken only in the fourth Test in Melbourne, when England found a new and innovative way to lose. Albeit with many similarities, and another variation on the theme of early promise giving way to miserable annihilation. It was like a series of five particularly gloomy Rothko paintings, in which the fourth one was upside down with a willy graffitied onto it.In Australia’s current series in South Africa, three times the team batting first has taken a massive first-innings lead. In the first two Tests, a 90mph-denouement was administered by a champion paceman. South Africa, unlike England, remember at least to change which side was doing what within this pattern; unless they can stop the formula being applied again in the final two days, they will lose a series for the first time this decade.Australian habits have recurred – Johnson, obviously; critical, high-impact runs by Steve Smith; a Clarke century at a series-shaping moment; proactive declarations; Warner transmuting from a fist-flinging idiot with a seemingly endless collection of stupid things to say, into one of the most influential players in Test cricket with a seemingly endless collection of stupid things to say. And, in the third Test, we have seen once again Ryan Harris scalping the opposition captain/opener with a beauty; and one of the opposition’s most important players retiring. Perhaps Graeme Smith, like Swann, checked out of Hotel International Cricket anyway, but the way in which their games were dismantled by Australian brilliance has hastened (or at least, given the impression of hastening) their departures.The similarities may end there. Perhaps South Africa will find the resolve and luck to escape with a draw. Perhaps they could conjure a miraculous victory, especially if Clarke dangles his customary declaration carrot. Whatever happens, it is hard to imagine Hashim Amla or AB de Villiers being sacked for being too gobby. Australia have transformed the tenor and landscape of Test cricket in this 2013-14 season. If they can secure victory in the next two days, they will have obliterated the status quo, with eight Tests of occasionally vulnerable but bristlingly high-octane cricket.Smith’s retirement removes from the international game another of the towering figures of modern cricket. He has captained in a record 109 Test matches (including the pointless ICC World XI’s alleged “Test” at the SCG in 2005-06), and opened the batting in 108 of them – exactly twice as many as the highest number of Tests captained by any other opener (Mike Atherton).On an entirely personal level, I hated watching him bat. This was largely because he was irritatingly good against England, especially in England. He scored five centuries in 12 Tests here. Only one man this millennium has scored more – Dravid, who scored six, with rather more finesse and rather less rapidity. Smith’s first two were elephantine double-hundreds in 2003, when he became the second man ever to hit two 250-plus scores in a Test series. (A quick multiple choice quiz question: Who was the other? (a) Donald Bradman; (b) Monty Panesar; (c) Chris Martin; (d) Elvis; or (e) Donald Bradman. And… pencils down… The answer is (e). I will also accept (a).) As an England fan, both innings were massively irritating.He added to his catalogue of English frustration with two more decisive three-figure scores in the 2008 series – 107 in the follow-on at Lord’s to blunt England’s attack and lay the platform for an ultimately comfortable and opponent-sapping draw; and a series-winning, career-defining unbeaten 154 at Edgbaston, one of the finest innings of the millennium so far. As an England fan, both innings were massively irritating.His fifth hundred on these shores was at The Oval in the first Test of 2012. He and Amla laid the foundations for South Africa’s 637 for 2, grinding England’s previously-all-conquering bowling attack into a pulp in their wildly different styles, a good-cop-bad-cop combination that was like watching Margot Fonteyn dance with a rhinoceros. As an England fan, it was massively irritating. His record against England is the best of any Test opener of the last 50 years, and surpassed before then only by Bobby Simpson and Bruce Mitchell.He was, massively irritatingly, less dominant against the other leading Test nations of the era than he was against England, but still scored significant runs in South Africa’s two series wins in Australia, and his record outside his home country (17 centuries, average 55) stands comparison with the best in Test history.There were times when he was almost comically vulnerable to swing, as when Matthew Hoggard left him face down in Johannesburg, as if he was desperately searching for his lucky termite Nigel in a crack in the patch, whilst the umpire’s finger rose majestically skywards. As an England fan, however, these sporadic failings served only to make his triumphs against us all the more massively irritating. And all the more impressive. If Jacques Kallis was a one-man walking coaching manual, Smith often appeared to be the product of a rogue laboratory experiment to design a robot to teach young children what not to do whilst batting. Hands, arms, legs clodding off in all directions. Bat clumping down at mathematically unfeasible angles. Ball pounding the midwicket fence when it should by rights have been nestling in third slip’s hands.Despite his technique from the outer reaches of peculiarity, Smith’s extraordinary eye (he has also pouched of 169 catches, mostly at slip), and his even more extraordinary will, generally prevailed. He averaged 61 in South Africa’s Test victories, only fractionally less than Kallis, Amla and de Villiers (although, with fewer not outs, Smith scored more runs per innings in his team’s wins than any of his Protean contemporaries and most of his predecessors).He has been the undisputed statistical Caesar of the fourth-innings chase – 1141 runs (comfortably an all-time record) at an average of 87, with four centuries (Ponting, with three, is the only other player with more than two) and a total of ten scores of 50 or more (Ponting, Langer and Hayden are behind him, with seven each).As a batsman, he was cussed, dangerous, ugly and skilful, a master of the crux of a match. Yes, he batted with the elegance and refinement of a motorway pile-up. Aesthetically, for what that is worth, he was a Frankenstein’s Kirsten. But in terms of his transformatory impact on matches and series, he has been one of the great Test batsmen of the 21st century.* Graeme Smith may not be the only player bowing out of Test cricket in this match, if the lurid descriptions of Ryan Harris’ crumbling fruitcake of a knee are anything to go by. Hopefully, the wonders of modern surgery and/or some well-targeted witchcraft will ensure that this match will not mark the end of his belated Test career, but if it does prove to be so, he is likely to leave having carved an eternal statistical niche in the game. As I write (before the fourth day’s play), Harris needs one more wicket to become the first ever pace bowler to take 100 Test wickets having made his debut after his 30th birthday.Admittedly, this statistical niche is itself “niche”, and the Test-packed schedule of the last few decades has made such as achievement more likely than in earlier times, but it is still a remarkable achievement by the late-blooming, mountainously-shouldered craftsman of curve.(Previously, the closest any 30-something debutant had come to taking 100 Test scalps was Harris’ recent baggy-green predecessor Stuart Clark, with 94 wickets; few others have come close. Five spinners have done so – inter-war wristspin wizard Clarrie Grimmett, Bruce Yardley (both Australia), Dilip Doshi (India), Mohammad Rafique (Bangladesh) and Pakistan’s current tweakmaster Saeed Ajmal.) (Here endeth the stat.) (Some time after it might have ended.)Harris’ 99 wickets thus far have come at an average of 23.1. He would be the 24th Australian to reach the 100-Test-wicket milestone since Alan Davidson in 1960. The great left-armer’s average when he took his 100th was 20. Assuming Harris takes his 100th before conceding 58 more runs, he will become only the second of those 24 to reach 100 wickets with an average below 23.5. The only Australian in the last 50 years to take his first 100 Test wickets at a better average than Harris was Jason Gillespie (22.1). (Here endeth another stat.) (Are you still there?)* The ECB has announced that, in protest at Russian actions in the Ukraine, England are retroactively boycotting the 2013-14 Ashes. The unremittingly official ECB spokespersonage Harculian Javes explained: “What Putin is doing is completely unacceptable. Bang out of order. In the great tradition of politically motivated sports boycotts, therefore, we are withdrawing from the recent Ashes series, in order to send a message to Mr Putin that English cricket will not tolerate his flagrant disregard for international law. Nor would we have tolerated it last November, when the Ashes began. The series has now been ruled null and void. England therefore hold the Ashes once more. If Mr Putin does not withdraw Russian troops from Crimea immediately, we will be left with no option but to also boycott the 2006-07 Ashes. The time has come to take a stand.”

There had been some encouraging signs in the their first three World T20 matches that things were on the up after a hideous winter but England positives were taken away from them by a hot blast of Dutch courage

Alan Gardner in Chittagong31-Mar-2014After a winter of lows, England have reached their Netherland. Handed a generational thrashing in Australia, little was expected of the players selected to contest the World T20. Little is just what they delivered. The day after Ashley Giles had put forward his manifesto to become England’s new head coach, the players he has coaxed and chivvied around the Caribbean and Bangladesh for the last six weeks put in a performance to suggest their bags had already been packed.The mental baggage is likely to test the flight allowance. England have lost to Netherlands before, at the game’s spiritual home, in the opening match of a major tournament. But defeat at the 2009 World T20 at least came down to the final ball. Here, the green shoots of a campaign that suggested tentative promise were mown down by a performance that resurrected and amplified the post-Ashes #pomnishambles jeers. Giles’ chances of being ushered into power by the ECB as England’s new head coach may have been damaged irrevocably.Deprived of Joe Root and Ben Stokes by injury, not to mention the self-inflicted wound that is Kevin Pietersen’s exclusion, England’s batting during the tournament had provided surprising encouragement. They went into their final group game with an average and scoring rate higher than at any previous World T20; the lowest-ranked team left in the tournament exposed the lie to the damned statistics.Alex Hales’ century against Sri Lanka in a record run chase; Moeen Ali’s delicate promise at No. 3; the return of Eoin Morgan to something like his best; Ravi Bopara’s composure in the finishing role – England positives were taken away from them by a hot blast of Dutch courage. No one in the top seven managed to score at a run a ball, let alone stay at the crease for long, as Netherlands produced another diligent display and finally claimed the scalp they have craved ever since Peter Borren berated his team’s poor form on the eve of the World T20.England managed just four boundaries in their innings, one more than Netherlands amassed when dismissed for 39 – the lowest ever score in T20 internationals – little more than a week ago. There was no question about whose embarrassment should be more acute.The pain for England’s captain, Stuart Broad, must have been agonising. With his injured knee in need of lengthy rehabilitation, he elected to marshal his troops for one last time, perhaps hopeful of gleaning first-hand some more pointers as to England’s way forward. There has been talk of learning more from defeat from victory; England can publish volumes after this. Broad hinted afterwards that the captaincy may not be in his possession for much longer.”I’m not sure,” he said of his future in the role. “We’ve got a few months and I’ve got an eight week rehab period with my knee to get right for Test cricket this summer. There are going to be decisions made right at the top over the next month or so and discussions will go on from there. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed doing the role over the past couple of years but today is extremely disappointing. It is a game we should have won.”

England have now won just three from their last 13 T20s, to go alongside other grim readouts from recent months. Their record chase against Sri Lanka looks like a sudden, final spike on the heart-rate monitor.

Poor fielding was the most obvious of England’s deficiencies in their previous World T20 games, the nadir being when they dropped four catches against Sri Lanka. Here, a couple more went down, to go with Jos Buttler’s amateurish dislodging of the bails before he had the ball in his gloves, which butchered another run-out opportunity. There were also preventable byes conceded standing up to James Tredwell and, after a dreadful missed stumping in the South Africa game, it is clear Buttler’s glovework still needs a fair bit of polish.When holding forth about the future for England on Sunday, Giles talked about working hard on catching and ground fielding, citing AB de Villiers as the standard for his players to reach. Here their level of athleticism has been more on a par with Abe Simpson.Netherlands scored 47 for 1 in the Powerplay and it could have been worse but for Broad’s spell – he bowled at the beginning and end of the innings for his 3 for 24, showing himself to be a class above the rest of England’s largely worthy attack. Jade Dernbach may already have bowled himself out of international orbit for some time, while Tim Bresnan has been worryingly inconsistent. Tredwell was tidy once again but his lack of wicket-taking threat is backed up by a T20 average of 57.83 after 15 games.Somewhat embarrassingly, Ravi Bopara was the bowler to offer most control but England did tighten up, limiting the total to 133. That became the lowest score successfully defended at the tournament so far and such was the margin of Netherlands’ victory, England were only kept off the bottom of the group by a net run rate margin of 0.09.England have now won just three from their last 13 T20s, to go alongside other grim readouts from recent months. Their record chase against Sri Lanka looks like a sudden, final spike on the heart-rate monitor. Broad referred to “complacency” afterwards and the spectre of the Ashes that clings to England like evening dew.”It sums up our winter as an England side. It was pretty similar to the batting displays we put in after we lost the Ashes in Australia,” Broad said “A lack of commitment in the shots and a very disorganised chase.”Before we knew it was a World Cup game with World Cup points. The bowling and the fielding was okay but we lacked hunger with the bat. No one got going, no one took responsibility and fair play to the Netherlands, they took their chance.”It was always going to be a danger with us not being able to go through, but we said all the right things before the game and it was up to the players to deliver it. We have to take responsibility for that and it is hugely disappointing. There are no excuses from our side. We should have won with what was a relatively simple run chase but a shocking chase in the end.”England shoulders visibly slumped as each wicket fell, their tentative shot-making increasing the pressure with each passing over. The Netherlands strained every sinew for victory, while England hoped that someone might save them. Over the PA system, “London Calling” reverberated around the stadium, though the welcome waiting for England’s players might be on the chilly side. After their experiences in Australia, perhaps this was a fitting end. Down and out in Alice and Chittagong.

Nepal captain Paras Khadka isn’t diplomatic, cries while watching movies, and supports Liverpool in football

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi10-May-2014Describe yourself in two words.
Honest and too straightforward.Are you talkative?
I am not. But if I see something wrong I cannot keep my mouth shut. I will talk loud and clear.So you’re not diplomatic?
My friends tell me to be diplomatic at times. I cannot be. That is against my ethics, that is not me.Do you feel like you are the most popular person in Nepal at the moment?
Cricket has become really popular and me being the captain makes me popular automatically. But the way cricket has picked up – in corridors, houses, schools, grounds – people are loving the game. Our performances in global tournaments like the World T20 has brought a new dimension to Nepalese sport as well as the whole country. It is a new beginning where anything and everything is possible. Hopefully we can take cricket to further heights.Is cricket now more than a sport in Nepal?
It is like a religion now. Everybody is now interested in what the team is doing, what the players are doing. We have the audience. Now we have to build and invest in grass roots and regional cricket to help the younger generation play the game. It is just a beginning for better and amazing things.Tell us something we don’t know about you.
I cry a lot while watching movies. One of my favourite movies is .How do you fight negative thoughts?
I tend to switch on and switch off easily to ward off negative thoughts.The most important ball of your life so far?
It has to be the last ball in the World T20 Qualifiers against Hong Kong. We had to get one run for victory. And we managed to do it.How does it feel to play in front of an empty stadium?
We are not playing against the audience. The more the audience the better it gets, and you enjoy the environment. We love cricket and we are happy playing, like we did in the streets, verandahs, schools and playgrounds.Have you ever broken anything while playing cricket?
I was practising for an inter-school tournament at our ground in South Point Boarding High School. I was captain and we were training in a box net. Just then our school principal shouted from his balcony that there was to be no more hitting the ball in the air. I tonked the very next ball straight to where he was standing and it broke the window next to him.Do you manage to walk the streets without being mobbed?
I need to wear masks at times now in public places. I can’t do things I used to do earlier. I just can’t walk out anywhere and everywhere. Earlier I used to do whatever I wanted to, which I cannot anymore because people recognise me easily.A rule in cricket you want to get changed?
A non-striker should not be ruled run-out if the ball is deflected off the bowler’s hand in the follow-through.Do you have a sporting idol?
I like Steven Gerrard. I love Liverpool. In cricket I am a big fan of the Australian cricket team: they play hard, aggressive, to the point.What gives you goose bumps?
Whenever you stand up for the national anthem. I remember the moment around the time we were fighting hard to beat Hong Kong to qualify for the World T20, when a huge section of Nepalese fans right behind our dugout were chanting our victory song. It was a special moment.Is there sledging in Associates cricket?
Of course, there is. A lot.What is the most difficult job of being captain of an Associate team?
You have to be stronger off the field than on the field. I have to make sure the administrators run the game the right way.Now that you have made your World Cup debut, the bar has been set high. What is the key to evolve?
We have to be there at every World Cup going forward. We should dream big. Train hard, work hard, keep the discipline and have the determination. You just have to push yourself.What more can the ICC do to help Nepal cricket?
It might sound a bit harsh but you cannot limit international cricket to just ten countries. I know you need different and better skills in longer versions but you can only improve if you play against better opponents.Tell us about a memorable compliment you have received.
After our warm-up match against Ireland in the World T20, at the team hotel, just as I was about enter the elevator the security guard asked me which team I represented. Once he realised I was the captain of Nepal he said we played a good brand of cricket against Ireland and he enjoyed it. It was a nice to hear that people could identify and relate to Nepal cricket. That remark was something that made us feel we were slowly doing things the right way.

The ground slowly filled and the tension slowly built, even the clouds held off from bursting as Sri Lanka closed in on a memorable win

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Aug-2014A kite had taken flight above Galle Fort when play began on the final day. Blue, green, red and yellow, with a diamond head and a flared bottom, it sailed just above the clocktower, multi-coloured tassels streaming behind. July and August are kite-flying months in Sri Lanka, when wind comes strong off the sea.Each different style of kite is named after an animal. This one was a – a fish. Almost everyone on the island would have flown a at some point. Every year, kids across the island wait for the months when kites take over corner shops, seasides and the sky.Only about 200 fans had come for the early start, but the kite looked over the action when Shaminda Eranga loped in to deliver his first ball of the morning. The Galle Stadium may be the most accessible ground in cricket. Often those wandering by on the pavement around the ground stop beneath a tree to take in a few overs, then return to their day.Others walk in to the stadium when they have a break at work. The ground has been free to enter for about two years, so the crowd has learned to oscillate with the cricket. It had been at its peak, in the first four days, when Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara were batting together. They came in droves to watch Sangakkara pass 200 too, then hurried back to their shops, buses and roadside stands.The locals have also seen plenty of Galle pitches: the dustbowls that sang for Murali, and the dry tracks that reverse-swung for Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas. They knew a result was unlikely on Sunday on a track that had barely registered bowlers’ footmarks by the fifth day. They wanted a little magic from their team before they would brave the heat.After Murali, Rangana Herath had made Galle sing for him too but, in 2014, his fingers have lacked for a bit of extra rip in Tests. Saddled with an extraordinary workload as well, he was visibly drained on the fifth day of Sri Lanka’s last Test, at the SSC, when he was expected to lead the victory charge only for South Africa to hold on. At Headingley, he removed only lower-order batsmen, as Sri Lanka strove for 90.3 overs on the final day.

By the force of will of 5000 Sri Lankans and a captain who admitted he was praying, the colossal black cloud that hung over the stadium did not loose a drop until seconds after the winning run was struck

Herath has now bowled 560 overs since December 31, 2013 but nothing, not fatigue, not bad knees or tired arms could prevent him on this day. He had seemed flat since lunch on day one, but suddenly he was beating both edges of the bat. Some slid on. Others stopped and turned. Smelling blood, Herath quickly was moving around on his crease, encouraging the batsmen to do the same. When he dressed a straight one up as a big turner and sneaked it through Younis Khan’s defence, Sri Lanka came alive, knowing they now stood a chance. Within minutes the ground was fuller. Galle had begun to believe as well.As the afternoon wore on, the party started to come together, the kite still flying high above. Baila boomed out of the speakers between overs. Groups of kids in the stands with a sang their Sinhala and Tamil tunes in between. When the crowd’s voice grew loud, Herath’s spin became more vicious.On so many days this year, he has been as accurate as he ever was, but the bite had deserted him. Here, the killer ball was humming along with the baila. Azhar Ali got a few straight ones, then one spun hard, that teased him forward then dived and jived to take the outside edge. Asad Shafiq got a big rippers and then was nailed by the arm ball. Mohammad Talha barely had a chance when one spat to take his outside edge.”This is not a kind of pitch that is bowler friendly,” Herath said, “but I realised that on the fifth day, there was something in it for the spinners. We had a lot of faith.”When you are bowling well, you can take wickets against any country, but against Pakistan, I have over 70 wickets. Maybe I have a psychological effect on them, having bowled Sri Lanka to many victories over them.”Barely a cup of coffee would have been sold by the main bus stand in Galle, as the last session wound on. Shops were boarded up. Workplaces abandoned. Kids had stopped play to flood the grass banks, which were jammed before Sri Lanka began their second innings. The hundreds who couldn’t find space in the ground climbed up on the ramparts of the Fort.Sri Lanka would have hoped Jayawardene would hit the winning runs, that he would give Galle one final late-as-sin cut, a swivel pull or a breezy cover drive. But not everything happens to plan in Sri Lanka. After the stadium had rose to applaud him when he left this field for the final time, Angelo Mathews and Kithuruwan Vithanage sent fresh waves of energy through the stands and across the top of the fort, as they hooked Sri Lanka to the brink. By the force of will of 5000 Sri Lankans below, and a captain who admitted he was praying, the colossal black cloud that hung over the stadium did not loose a drop until seconds after the winning run was struck. As if it had been holding it all in for a Sri Lanka win, the rain came down in a hurry.The crowd danced on the banks as the rains fell, and the groundsmen joined them from just outside the rope. The revelry soon started to spill into town, and then the sodden kite finally began to sink.It had seen it all from above. Sunday had been a day of resurgence, a day of luck, a day to party and a day to hope. From morning until dusk, the kite had been there, all along, watching the perfect Sri Lankan day unfold.

While it may seem jarring, USA’s relegation to WCL Division Four was a culmination of factors including inconsistent selection policies and a lack of proper preparation

Peter Della Penna31-Oct-2014Well before USA took the field in Malaysia for the start of ICC World Cricket League Division Three, there were warning signs that the tournament could end up more as a charade than a celebration for the side. USA’s relegation might seem jarringly sudden for some but it was more than a year in the making. Here’s a breakdown of the key factors that contributed to USA’s relegation and the road ahead for the side.FactorsA T20 tournament to prepare for a 50-over one?
USACA’s canceled pre-tournament preparation trip to Jamaica just a week out from the start of Division Three may be fresh in everyone’s minds, but the seeds of this current debacle were sown much earlier. After USA’s third-place finish at the previous WCL Division Three in Bermuda, USACA’s then chief executive, Darren Beazley, was determined to revive the dormant national championship, but as a Twenty20 event with a television contract in mind.Beazley tentatively secured a deal in January to have a T20 national championship streamed on the internet live from Indianapolis. In February, though, he resigned and by May, the three-year hosting agreement to hold the USACA championship in Indianapolis was terminated by the city. Inevitably, the broadcast agreement fell apart. Despite knowing they no longer had to cater their event to any broadcast demands, USACA stubbornly proceeded with plans for a T20 tournament instead of a 50-over event that could have prepared the players better for the WCL.Inconsistent selection policies
Rain affected more than half the scheduled matches in Florida but the USACA T20 National Championship was rendered irrelevant by a haphazard selection process. Nisarg Patel, who was named the USACA Tournament’s most valuable player and has played more cricket on turf wickets over the last five years than probably anyone else in the USA, was omitted from the 14-man WCL squad. Meanwhile, multiple players who did not show up for the national tournament were selected for Malaysia.When ESPNcricinfo contacted a USACA selector to find out why some other USA regulars were not chosen, an example was given of Orlando Baker, who came home early from USA’s last tour due to an ankle injury and had also recently suffered a back injury that forced him out of the national championship. The selectors felt they could not evaluate his fitness for a tour without seeing him at a selection camp and, as there was no selection camp after the nationals, the prudent move was to leave him out.Multiple team sources in Malaysia, however, revealed that three players, including Sushil Nadkarni and Jermaine Lawson, had arrived with pre-existing injuries. Nadkarni played one match in Malaysia before sitting out the rest of the tour while an arm injury flared up for Lawson after the abandoned match with Nepal, nullifying the side’s most potent pace weapon.The third player, Srini Santhanam, apparently carried a shoulder injury into the event. Santhanam is a bowling allrounder but did not send down a single over at the USACA championship in August, which should have raised a red flag. He was unable to bowl in Malaysia either and as a result was forced into a top-order batting role he was ill-suited for. Senior batsman Aditya Thyagarajan also broke down midway through the tour. With Thyagarajan and Nadkarni out, USA had to play two batsmen short while allrounder Santhanam had to be hidden in the field.A proper selection camp in September, something USACA stated they intended to hold, would have caught these issues before the team departed. Instead, USA’s 14-member team wound up with arguably 10 fit men on tour, a massive handicap in WCL’s structure of back-to-back matches. The 30-degree Celsius heat and 80% humidity in Kuala Lumpur only exposed USA’s below-average fitness levels.Impact of team management
After USA were relegated from Division Three in January 2011, former India allrounder Robin Singh was appointed coach in place of Clayton Lambert. The overriding view was that Lambert had done well to take USA from Division Five up to Division Three but someone with an elite coaching pedigree was needed to carry USA forward into Division One.However, the results, across age groups, have not improved under Singh’s stewardship. USA had participated in two of the previous three Under-19 World Cups before Singh’s arrival, but have since missed the last two despite counting Steven Taylor, arguably the best young Associate batsman in the world, in their ranks. They have dominated a diluted competition pool at ICC Americas regional tournaments but USA’s men have been poor in global events, ending in 12th and 15th place at the last two World T20 Qualifiers.Fahad Babar’s performances were a bright spot for USA in the tournament•Peter Della PennaSingh has an impressive resume in the domestic T20 tournament circuit. He has been an integral part of the Mumbai Indians staff during their IPL and Champions League T20 titles, coached Uva Next when they won the Sri Lanka Premier League in 2012 and, most recently, coached Barbados Tridents during their Caribbean Premier League championship win in August. But Singh’s schedule means USA is put on the back-burner.Lambert may not have been a perfect coach, but he was based in Atlanta and made the effort to get around and see as many players as he could at various tournaments around the country, tracking their development in between appearances with the national team and giving help where he could. USA needs a coach willing to show a strong commitment to be available locally to its players, not just before a tournament.USACA is faced with two options to avoid the same results: find the money to pay Singh and employ him full-time in the USA – an unlikely scenario given the board’s debts in excess of $3 million and Singh’s lucrative commitments in other T20 leagues – or hand the reins over to someone based in the USA who can operate within the constraints of USACA’s financial state.The road aheadSteve Massiah, the USA captain, made the side’s highest individual score of the tournament – 74 against Nepal – and is still an important player in the 50-over format. However, USA’s next scheduled engagements are in T20s leading into next year’s World T20 Qualifier, a format where Massiah offers little value.Massiah is an influential figure in USA cricket so the likelihood of him being pushed out is slim but, at 35 and with no possibility of USA participating in the next edition of the WCL Championship, he may decide to walk away on his own. Thyagarajan, Nadkarni and USA’s leading wicket-taker at this tournament, Usman Shuja, are all 35 or older. After the 2011 relegation, three senior players- Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington and Carl Wright – and a coach exited the national team and the same could occur after the result in Malaysia.There are glimmers of hope, though. Fahad Babar was meant to be a reserve batsman at the start of the tour but opened the batting in all but one match due to Nadkarni’s injury. Babar ended the tour as USA’s leading scorer by some distance, finishing fourth overall at the event with 247 runs. Batting allrounder Adil Bhatti finished third on the USA run charts and their roles in the ten-wicket win during the 5th place playoff against Bermuda showed what can happen when young, hungry players are given an opportunity to perform.