Nasser Hussain was England’s captain on their last visit to India in 2001-02

Andrew Miller01-Mar-2006

Nasser Hussain and Sachin Tendulkar exchange words during the third Test at Bangalore © Getty Images

“We encountered several of the same problems that this England squad has got. We had no Andrew Caddick, no Darren Gough, no Robert Croft, and we were under a bit of pressure from the start. Instead of going with a team of veterans, we had to work with a whole heap of youngsters, and my primary role as captain was to gel them together.As captain I wasn’t under any extra pressure, because I enjoyed going to India. The pressure in India comes when you go out there with a siege mentality and a closed book. There’s no point in moaning about how much you hate touring the subcontinent, or how hard it is, or that everyone’s ill, or that it’s 40 degrees in the middle and the pitches are turning, and why are we out here anyway …For obvious reasons, I never had any of that. I was well looked after wherever we went, and our hosts were genuinely intrigued about how a boy from Madras could become captain of England. Personally, I always considered myself a boy from Ilford, but in their eyes it was significant. The team certainly loved me for it – I would get pushed out of the bus first, everyone would swarm round me, and the rest of the guys would sneak into the hotel while no-one was looking.I enjoyed it then and I’ll enjoy this tour as well. And to some degree, that’s why I had success as a captain in the subcontinent. I understood the culture and playing requirements out there. As a team, we had been victorious in Sri Lanka and Pakistan the previous winter, because we adapted our tactics and absorbed the pressures. And that’s what this side needs. They mustn’t worry about how tough it is, but instead realise that anything they can achieve on this tour is almost doubly important.India really is the heartbeat of the game. It is the place where, if you walk down the streets of Calcutta and Bombay, they really know about their cricket. So apart from the Ashes, a tour of India is the most important and most character-building of cricket experiences. It’s where you find out about yourself and about your cricket as well.In the field, you need to keep control of the situation and keep the crowd quiet. On previous England tours, we’d seen how Sachin and Vinod Kambli and Azharuddin had just taken control away from England. So our response was to formulate some plans in the warm-up games. We didn’t worry about who wasn’t out there, and just tried to work on what we had.

I felt it was better for the game, rather than saying: “Here you go Sachin, we’ve left all our main bowlers back at home, where would you like us to bowl at you so you can get another hundred?”

Our basic ploy was for the fast bowlers to bowl on one side of the wicket, with 7-2 fields or even 8-1. I used Andrew Flintoff as a strike bowler to target certain players such as Sourav Ganguly or Tendulkar from around the wicket, and used Ashley [Giles] in a variety of ways – sometimes attacking, sometimes defending. Whether they were right or wrong plans doesn’t matter – the point was to give the team an end product, a plan to stick in their minds as a young side.I came in for some criticism for my tactics at times, but people on the periphery never really worried me. My job was to make England a better side. Obviously as a captain, you are left in charge of the spirit of the game, but the fact that four years later people are still asking me questions about my tactics against Tendulkar sounds like I made it a more exciting series than if we’d lost 3-0!At Bangalore, Sachin had the option, as [Virender] Sehwag did, to hit Ashley out of the rough. He got stumped for 90, but we bowled them out for 238 on a very flat pitch. He was successful, I was successful, everyone’s a winner, and four years later we’re all still talking about it!I felt it was better for the game, rather than saying: “Here you go Sachin, we’ve left all our main bowlers back at home, where would you like us to bowl at you so you can get another hundred?” And then, as on previous England tours, India would have rattled up 500, and we’d have been left facing Harbhajan and Kumble on the last afternoon.I had to be there for my team to look at me and say: “Our captain has got a plan, we’re going to stick to it”. What they didn’t need was: “Well, he hasn’t got a clue, we haven’t got Gough, Caddick and Croft, and we’re bound to lose.”

I had to be there for my team to look at me and say: “Our captain has got a plan, we’re going to stick to it” © Getty Images

Flintoff and Matthew Hoggard were brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Everyone said we’d got nobody to lead the attack, but I couldn’t have been happier with their efforts. They bent themselves double to bowl for me and frankly I bowled them into the ground. Their energy, and the way that they bought into what we were trying to achieve, was incredible. They both ran through brick walls for me, and it was the start of fine international careers for both of them. It was certainly the coming of Freddie as a bowler, and everyone could see that, for a captain, Hoggard was a dream.Along with the Australian team of the same era, that Indian batting line-up was the most formidable that I ever encountered. And so, for the side we had and the side they had, I was very happy with the performances. There were times during the following winter in Australia when I looked up and thought: “Crikey, what are we doing?”, but on that tour, we managed to keep control in all three Tests, apart from one session in Mohali where we collapsed and that was where the series was lost. But that, unfortunately, is what can happen on the subcontinent, and you have to guard against it. Just look at what happened at Multan before Christmas.That tour was the making of some of the youngsters who took part, but others – such as James Foster and Richard Dawson – haven’t really featured since. It’s a shame, because if you speak to [Duncan] Fletcher now and ask him: “Were you impressed with Dawson and Foster?” he’d say “Yes”.Unfortunately Dawson is not going to bowl too much at Headingley and so hasn’t moved on, but if you look at the scoreboards, he’s always getting runs and nipping in with wickets. He’s a gutsy little cricketer and I particularly remember him battling it out as a nightwatchman in Perth against Brett Lee. As for Foster, character-wise he’s one of the best players I’ve played with, and I know I’m a bit one-eyed about my Essex boys, but I think his turn might well come again.

What the numbers says about The Oval

S Rajesh07-Sep-2005

A chance for Matthew Hayden to salvage a miserable Ashes series © Getty Images
Going into a must-win game, Australia wouldn’t be too pleased with their record at The Oval – 15 losses and just six wins in 33 matches. They have won only 18% of their matches here, easily the lowest for Australia among all venues in England (Edgbaston is next with 23%). England, on the other hand, have a 35-18 win-loss record at this ground. They have either won or drawn 79% of their Tests here, again the highest among all venues in the country. Unless the weather conditions force a change in thinking, the captain who wins the toss is almost certain to bat – that has happened in 77 out of 87 matches so far. And the pitch here is usually one which is excellent for batting on the first three days, before becoming much more bowler-friendly – the average runs per wicket in each of the four innings since 1995 is 42.89, 42.53, 24.20, and 21.25. The true nature of the pitch and the lack of early assistance for the seam and swing bowlers has meant that openers have generally prospered here. In ten Tests since 1995, there have been eight hundreds scored by openers, who average almost 47 in that period. That’ll be especially good news for Matthew Hayden, who has had a wretched series so far with 180 runs at an average of 22.50.

At The Oval since 1995

Batting positionAverage100s/ 50s

Openers46.948/ 11No. 3

37.422/ 7No. 443.634/7No. 5

47.174/ 9No. 629.632/ 2No. 7

25.100/ 5No. 822.830/ 3No. 9

13.190/ 0No. 1017.670/ 1No. 11

8.420/ 0 The huge difference between first and second-innings totals might suggest that spinners do much better than fast bowlers here, but that isn’t the case – in the last ten years, the pace bowlers have taken 207 wickets at 35.80, while the 86 wickets taken by spinners have come at 33.36 apiece. England’s batsmen have mostly had an excellent time here: Marcus Trescothick leads the way with 601 runs from five matches at 85.86, while Michael Vaughan (363 runs at 60.50), and Andrew Flintoff (167 at 83.50) have been among the runs too. Among the bowlers, Steve Harmison has prospered, with 13 wickets at 17.46, but the rest haven’t exploited the extra bounce quite as well: Matthew Hoggard’s three wickets have come at 59.33 apiece, while Flintoff has taken four wickets at 49.25 each. Shane Warne is the only Australian to have played three Tests here – his 20 wickets have come at a superb average of 23.30. The Australians will also be hoping Glenn McGrath produces the kind of form that has fetched him 14 wickets at just 15.64 in his two previous Tests here. Ricky Ponting is the only Australian batsman from the current squad to have played more than one Test here – he averages 40.67 in two matches, while Justin Langer’s only previous innings here, in 2001, brought him 102 runs before he was forced to retire hurt.

catches up with Dinesh Karthik before he changes his name, and his role in the team, again

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan10-Feb-2007

Living by himself in Chennai has helped Karthik grow as a person © Cricinfo Magazine
In the four years since his first-class debut, he has gone from the alliterative KKD Karthik to the shortened KD Karthik, to the exotic Dinesh Kaarthick, to the straightforward Dinesh Karthik. His interactions with journalists are incomplete without a clarification about his name, a topic so confusing that it’s tempting to ask for his passport to resolve all doubt.Much else has changed in the same period. KKD Karthik was the cocooned teenager whose mother accompanied him to Ranji Trophy games (“My parents expected a lot initially.”). KD Karthik was the wicketkeeper-batsman who broke into the Indian side, showed glimpses of match-winning ability, and also a propensity to throw it all away in a moment of recklessness (“I was often extra positive when I should have controlled my shot-making ability.”).Dinesh Kaarthick, a numerologist’s delight, was sent back to the grind of domestic cricket; despite his outlandish surname, he was overshadowed by a lasso-twirling maverick, Mahendra Dhoni. But nobody has been able to keep down good old Dinesh Karthik, who regained his spot thanks to his improved batting ability, electric fielding, and according to observers in the team, “model work ethic”.***Tamil Nadu have just escaped relegation from the Super League in their final league match. Karthik has hardly contributed, but the clamour for autographs and pictures, largely by schoolkids who have arrived at Chennai’s Guru Nanak College Ground, continues nonetheless. He can’t leave the ground till he gets his match fee, can’t leave the dressing room till the hundred-odd fans have moved out of the way. He has also scheduled a visit to a temple before evening practice.We start chatting in the dressing room, a small classroom overlooking the small ground. Karthik is like a diligent student being put to test. On the other side of the closed door, fans wait to pounce as soon as he appears. He is quite embarrassed by all the attention, though he tries his best to conceal it. He has just returned from a successful tour of South Africa – one where he admits to having “grown as a cricketer”.In the last few years, he has grown as a person too. He stays by himself in Chennai – his parents and younger brother, based in Bahrain, don’t fly down as frequently as they used to. He has realised that today’s fans can be tomorrow’s critics, and is doing his best to rein in his “positive mindset”.He says he has always been an “extremely positive person, sometimes too positive.” There may be a few factors behind this: his backyard battles with his father during his early years in Kuwait, when he usually faced a barrage of bouncers, his faith in the “Art of Living” course which his father says “changed his way of thinking”, and his willingness to work his pants off in an attempt to improve his game.In a short career of 11 Tests and eight ODIs, Karthik has consistently backed himself under pressure. There are plenty of instances of this tendency – be it the gravity-defying swoop to stump Michael Vaughan in his one-day debut at Lord’s, or the reverse sweep off Danish Kaneria with four men on the leg-side fence in the India-Pakistan Test at Kolkata, or the first-ball four off Jason Gillespie on his Test debut at Mumbai, or even the first-ball sweep off Paul Harris, who was operating from over the wicket and landing it in the rough, in the second innings at Cape Town.It is fitting that Karthik, who rattles his answers at you, begins by talking about his high strike-rate while trying to arrive at his definition of “positive”. “I’ve always been an extremely positive batsman, and my strike-rate in Ranji games has always been close to 100. It resulted in some rash shots, costing me my wicket after a start. Over the last six months or so, I’ve become much better in that aspect. In my first stint with the Indian team, I was probably over-positive. In Bangladesh, in both innings I got out to cut shots. I hit six fours in my 25 at Dhaka but didn’t carry on. At Chittagong, I was trying to hit over the top when I was on 11. I don’t think I will bat like that now.”A lot of people think being positive is playing aggressive shots and hitting over the top. But I’ve realised you can be very positive with your defence as well – going fully forward, leaving the ball correctly, judging the line. If I can get to defend with the middle of the bat, if I can leave with confidence, I see myself as being positive. That’s all I try to do in all my innings – looking positive and at the same time playing correctly.”***Once in the car, comfortable in the back seat after wading through the autograph hunters, Karthik readily acknowledges those responsible for the change. Bharat Arun, the former Tamil Nadu coach who managed two Tests for India in the mid-eighties, is someone Karthik terms his “best friend”. Arun, a burly medium-pacer and beefy middle-order batsman, ended with a modest record of four wickets in two Tests, and will be forever remembered for the inauspicious start to his Test career – falling flat on the pitch while following through.Arun, who is amused by the four-Karthiks-in-one-body theory, speaks of the one constant in Karthik’s life. “He’s always been a cricket freak. You can never stop him from working at his game, how much ever you try. If he’s working on his fitness, he can go on all day. Once, in Tirunelveli, he worked out so much that he couldn’t stay awake for dinner. His parents are wary of practising with him in the backyard because he never stops asking for throwdowns. Now that his parents aren’t there, he asks his driver and caretaker.”If he wants to improve in a particular area, he gets obsessive. I’ve seen him practise 200 reverse sweeps in a session, such is his passion. Even when he was a wicketkeeper, he used to practise his fielding – that’s why he’s such a good slider. He’s always wanted to do everything and was confident enough to manage it. I don’t think he’ll ever give up his wicketkeeping, even if he’s chosen as a specialist batsman, because he’s so eager to work on all aspects.”Arun remembers Boxing Day, 2005 at the Wankhede Stadium, which both Karthik and he believe was the “turning point”. The squad to Pakistan had just been announced; Dhoni and Parthiv Patel were the chosen wicketkeepers. Mumbai had piled on 430 in the first innings, and Karthik walked in with Tamil Nadu reeling at 85 for 5, soon to become 91 for 6. What followed was a furious 182-ball 134, punctuated with 19 fours and a six. Arun can’t remember a Karthik innings with “more punch”, and recalls how Dilip Vengsarkar, who was watching, applauded readily.”It was a really important innings because it opened up the floodgates for that year,” Karthik says. “I got runs after that in Deodhar Trophy and overcame a lean patch. Being dropped obviously hurt but one needed to stand up and be honest. If you’ve given them a chance to drop you, probably you need to get better. If you look at it that way, there is less chance of you brooding and thinking that people are against you.”Sandeep Patil, the India A coach for the tours of Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2004, didn’t hide his preferences when asked to compare the two talented wicketkeepers he oversaw. “Karthik is an ideal No. 6 batsman for Tests and one-dayers,” he had told cricinfo.com. “He’s in the mould of Adam Gilchrist, Moin Khan, and Romesh Kaluwitharana – who can win a match on his own. I recommended Karthik to the selectors, but it was a very close call between him and Dhoni.”Though they have had to slug it out for one spot, the two seem to have developed a healthy rapport. “A lot of people know Dhoni as a flamboyant batsman, but in his life outside cricket, he’s a very, very, very, very nice person,” Karthik says, breaking off with the superlatives only because he is lost for breath. “He’s someone who you can approach and talk to about anything in life. He’s very quiet, goes and sits in the last seat in the bus, doesn’t interfere with anything. He doesn’t say much in team meetings, but whatever he says makes a lot of sense.”It was the West Indies tour, where his only chance came in the warm-up game before the Tests, that helped Karthik “get to know” Dhoni and others in the side. “I used to watch Rahul Dravid and Sachin [Tendulkar] quite a lot while growing up. Sachin is a genius, so it’s tough to follow him, but I can relate to Rahul. I started picking up points from him. Surprisingly Yuvi [Yuvraj] and Veeru [Sehwag] have been a big influence. They’ve told me a lot of positives about my batting and made me think about it. I also have to give credit to Greg [Chappell], who talked a lot to me about the mental side of my batting.”We missed Sachin in West Indies but he was great company in South Africa. I will never forget one piece of advice he gave me: when you’re doing well, it’s important to continue the same way, and not try and find errors. Sometimes when you do well, it’s good to assess yourself and improve, but sometimes you can scrutinise yourself too much. That might work against you.”***

Karthik made a measured, poised half-century against South Africa at Cape Town © Getty Images
The tours to the West Indies and South Africa were vital learning curves for Karthik the batsman – he’s in the one-day side as a specialist – but one needs to go back to Eden Gardens in early 2005 for a starting point. Until then he was a talented No. 7, skilled at batting with the tail. India were 156 for 4, with Mohammad Sami in the middle of a scorching spell. VVS Laxman had retired hurt after being hit by a high-velocity bouncer. Karthik walked into the most imposing of arenas with the Test match hanging in the balance.”My dad always insisted that I needed to play with older boys. I used to be scared of fast bowling initially. But my technique has been my strong point. I’m not worried too much of the short and pacy ball; it’s the pitched-up ball that troubles you, especially in India.”Sami was bowling a quick spell that day. On those sort of wickets, you don’t expect anyone to come and bowl so quick, but he was skidding it fast. I was looking to play him out and started slowly but picked up later. My confidence was low but that innings cleared out many doubts.” Karthik’s 93, along with his 167-run partnership with Dravid, turned the match comprehensively in India’s favour.Since then he’s always been eager to face the new ball, keen to be first up against the quick bowlers. In a club game earlier this season, he opened for his club side and cracked a mammoth 400 against the top team in the Chennai first division. Soon after, in what may prove to have been a big step, he approached Laxman, his zonal captain, and offered to open in the Duleep Trophy. Karthik insists it was a decision based on his desire to improve as a batsman, rather than a well-thought-out move to regain his national spot.”I wanted to open to get more chances to score,” he insists. “The new ball swings, but I wanted to learn to play that. After 30-40 overs it becomes easy for batting.I would face quality bowlers first up – Zaheer Khan opened in one game. Also, it helped the team because we could play an extra batsman. In the game against Sri Lanka A, Arjun Yadav got a hundred from No. 7 when we were 14 for 5. If I hadn’t opened, he wouldn’t have played.”The value of that decision was evident at Cape Town, where, thrust into opening in a Test for the first time, he crafted a measured and technically polished half-century. In the second innings, with India trying to stretch their lead, he showed what confidence could achieve. Ironically, just before he had come out, Tendulkar and Dravid, his two heroes, had struggled to get the ball off the square, but Karthik swept, cut, and drove without fear to take India’s lead past 200 before getting stranded. “Had I got some support from the tail, we could have surely got 50 runs more,” he says, “and South Africa couldn’t have reached 260 so easily.”He was chosen as a specialist batsman for the tour, and after three striking innings in the series – the match-winning 31 not out in the Twenty20, the patient 63 on the opening day of the third Test, and the energetic 38 not out in the second, he kept his place for the one-dayers against West Indies as a batsman. In the second ODI, on a slow and double-bounced pitch at Cuttack, he added to his growing reputation with a skillful half-century after the top order had caved in.Is that how he sees his career playing out? Does he foresee giving up wicketkeeping, taking the route Jimmy Adams, Lou Vincent, and AB de Villers did? He refuses to even consider the thought. “I usually bat well when I’m keeping well, it’s a matter of confidence. I will definitely be keeping in domestic cricket.”What Karthik has certainly managed to do is open up an option for the selectors – and himself. He is a player the team would go an extra mile to put on the field.

To watch the chuntering maestro Glenn McGrath at work was to see an entire era of wicket-to-wicket back-of-length menace flash before the eyes

Rahul Bhattacharya in St Lucia26-Apr-2007St Lucia is a delightful island of Caribbean vibes. At night the liming strip in Rodney Bay has come alive for comers from all over the world. Beres Hammond, Sean Paul and David Rudder have performed. Shaggy and Maxi Priest will tonight. But Lucians don’t much talk about cricket – or listen to it, as Tuesday’s Jamaica semi-final did not come over the radio. There has never been a Test cricketer out of here and the few locals who were at Beausejour will not have been bowled over by what they saw.This was a less than rousing affair. The trouble with Australian professionalism is that it has become such a cliché that even watching it at its calibrated best can be numbing. Glory be flaws.Yet, with a little filter of nostalgia even these hours of unremitting lopsided excellence are able to take on some warmth. To watch the chuntering maestro Glenn McGrath at work was to see an entire era of wicket-to-wicket back-of-length menace flash before the eyes, the eternal hypnosis of it. We will get to see it once more on Saturday. Once more only.Few cricketers have been at once so level as McGrath and yet able to find another one. In an over, in a spell, in a day, in a series, in a season, he seems always to be operating at his peak. Still he is continually rising to occasions. Remember his ball to Sachin at the ’99 World Cup? The one to Lara?Admittedly Ashwell Prince played the stroke of a paralysed man and Jacques Kallis’ foolishness brought the best out of a fine yorker. The touch of the master was in the Mark Boucher dismissal. It was the classic McGrath incision, Halal if you will. Off stump and just outside, a bit of wobble and bounce, caught first slip. Equally McGrathian was the impact: big semi-final, opening spell, six overs, 3 for 14, South Africa 27 for 5. The man is two months after 37. He looks it too. Australians were asking for him to be put to pasture before the World Cup. There you go.”The fact that I’m going to retire is probably one of the reasons I’m bowling so well,” he said, “because I’m just going out there, trying to enjoy it, make the most of it, make the most of every game I play. There’s no pressure, no fear, no anything.”I’ve probably bowled a little differently this tournament. Probably bowled a little more aggressively than I have done in the past. That’s the reason I’ve got a few more wickets, I’ve probably gone for a few more runs than I normally do. It’s worked out with 25 wickets; Tait has 23 wickets, Brad Hogg has 20 and Bracks [Nathan Bracken] is doing well too. The fact that we’ve bowled every team out is a huge lift for us, bar Bangladesh who we only got 20 overs with.”Those last two sentences draw out an essence of the McGrath personality. To observe him at a press conference is to appreciate that his renowned trick of knowing each one of his dismissals cannot be idle exaggeration.There was something like the Dustin Hoffman character in Rain Man about the scene at the dais. Every time Ponting needed a figure, he’d look to McGrath, who would oblige.Jacques Kallis was bowled by a Glenn McGrath yorker•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesSometimes he did not need to ask. When Ponting said Australia had done well to restrict Sri Lanka to 226 in 50 overs the other day, McGrath intervened to say that they had in fact bowled them out (they had, in 49.4 overs). When Ponting mentioned Shaun Tait had done very well to get 22 wickets in the tournament, McGrath interrupted to say that it was in fact 23. When a journalist asked him about his four Man-of-the-Match awards in the tournament, he quipped: “Hopefully if it’s four it will mean we’ve won the final. I’ve only really got three.””They talk about batsmen batting in partnerships,” McGrath said, “I think it’s even more so with bowlers. With Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait bowling the way they are, Punter asks me to come on generally with one or two wickets down. Bracks always keeps it tight, puts batsmen under pressure, and the way Taity’s been bowling they just want to get down to the other end and face me!”We’re all different bowlers but complement each other. You’ve got an old bloke running in and hitting the deck top of off, Bracks swinging it up front and then he’s back with old ball at the end, Taity who can come in and just blast guys out, and Hoggy has had an exceptional tour, he played a big part in 2003 and is again now. And you’ve got guys like Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson dying to get out for a game, and Brett Lee is at home.”There was pride in the words of the oldie. With the departure of McGrath, shortly after Shane Warne, an epoch in cricket will have been completed. Expertly, precisely, and more humorously than given credit, the job has been done. McGrath leaves Australian cricket in a better shape than he found it in and Australia, as ever, are ready to make the most of it.

A statistical look at Shaun Pollock’s Test career

Mathew Varghese11-Jan-2008Shaun Pollock’s retirement announcement may have come as a shock, but over the years he has quietly moved his way up to eighth on the list of leading wicket-takers in Test cricket. Add to it his 3781 Test runs, and he surely ranks as one of the game’s leading allrounders.Pollock’s one among four players who have taken 400 wickets and scored over 3000 runs in Tests – Shane Warne, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee are the others. Pollock is the only one among them with a bowling average below 25 and a batting average over 30.

Players with over 3000 runs and 400 wickets in Tests

Players Matches Runs scored Average Wickets taken Average

Shane Warne 145 3154 17.32 70825.41 Kapil Dev 131 5248 31.05 43429.64 Shaun Pollock 108 3781 32.31 42023.06 Richard Hadlee 86 3124 27.16 43122.29 Although Pollock has been overlooked in favour of younger quick bowlers during South Africa’s recent Test series, he’s been the mainstay of their bowling attack for most of his career. He has been a consistent performer for the team, and barring Australia, he possesses an enviable record against all other opposition. He averages 36.85 against the Australians, but that a minor blip for a bowler whose wickets come at less than 24 against the rest. (For Pollock’s career bowling summary, click here.)More than half of Pollock’s wickets have come in wins – with 218 wickets at 18.33 apiece. His bowling average drops to above 28 in draws and losses.

Shaun Pollock’s record by result

Result Matches Wickets Average Strike-rate

Won 48 218 18.33 47.8 Lost 27 100 28.36 64.9 Drawn 32 98 28.73 74.0 Pollock’s consistency is also reflected by his near-similar figures in both innings for his team – he averages 23.05 in the first bowling innings for his team in a match and 23.07 in the second. Pollock is best in the first and third innings of a match, and does significantly worse in the final innings.

Shaun Pollock’s record by match innings

Match innings Matches Wickets Average Strike-rate

1st 51 131 19.80 54.2 2nd 57 124 26.49 62.3 3rd 55 112 20.76 52.1 4th 42 53 27.94 67.7 Pollock’s pinpoint accuracy also makes him a difficult prospect for batsmen to score off; he has an economy-rate of 2.39 per over, only bettered by Lance Gibbs and Curtley Ambrose among 21 bowlers with over 300 Test victims.The last few years have seen a decline in his performance. Pollock’s last five-for came in October 2003, against Pakistan in Faisalabad. His career bowling average is 23.06, but the numbers the latter half of his career wasn’t as remarkable; in fact, he averaged an astounding 19.86 per wicket after his first 50 Tests.

Pollock’s bowling record over the years

Matches played Wickets Average Strike-rate

25 91 23.89 58.9 50 210 19.86 51.9 75 303 20.87 54.7 100 391 23.25 58.4 Pollock’s record overseas is not as good as in home Tests; his 234 wickets in South Africa cost him 20.97 apiece while 186 wickets away have come at an average of 25.68. However, he’s one of the leading wicket-takers among overseas fast bowlers in the subcontinent.

Best overseas fast bowlers in the subcontinent

Player Matches played Wickets Average Strike-rate

Courtney Walsh 17 77 20.5345.2 Malcolm Marshall 1971 23.05 48.7 Richard Hadlee13 68 21.58 42.7 Shaun Pollock 17 60 23.18 56.8 Glenn McGrath 16 58 25.96 60.3

With the injury to Shoaib Akhtar, and Pakistan’s decision to stick to only four specialist bowlers, meant Pakistan allowed India, as well as the series, out of their grasp on the opening day

Osman Samiuddin08-Dec-2007

Shoaib Akhtar’s back injury meant it was not just the bowler, but Pakistan, in a must-win situation, on all fours on the opening day of the Test © AFP

Without a genuine allrounder in your side, playing five bowlers, or at least having
a viable fifth bowling option, in a Test is kind of like that special suit – or
dress – that you keep locked up for most of the year: you only bring it out for
those special occasions when nothing else will do. For Pakistan, everything about
Bangalore suggests one of those occasions.First, a win and nothing else would do to salvage something from this tour; four men
struggled to take ten wickets in Kolkata so one more would only have helped take
the 20 that wins you Tests. Then, given India’s own injury concerns and severely
depleted bowling, surely a specialist batsman could have been replaced by a bowling
option? They even called up a fast bowler – Iftikhar Anjum – from Pakistan for
this Test, yet didn’t feel it necessary to use him.And finally, when the attack Pakistan settled for included one debutant bowling
allrounder, one whose bowling average has touched 50 and had yet to take a wicket in
the series and a leg-spinner, all led by a bowler who is now, sadly, under a
permanent fitness cloud, the situation simply screamed for another option.Instead, once Shoaib Akhtar broke down and Yasir Arafat, Mohammad Sami and Danish
Kaneria tired, Pakistan had Younis Khan, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed as options.
Commendable as it is that they are trying to get Hameed and Butt to gel with one
another as an opening pair, bowling them in tandem is perhaps not the brightest way
of going about it.It allowed India to not only recover from 61 for 4, but do so in such explosive
fashion that they ended the day in charge. Not only were further wickets hard to
come by, but scoring runs and boundaries became impossible to prevent. Had they been
more assertive and gone for Anjum or Sohail Tanvir in place of one specialist
batsman, one of the two bowling columns would surely have shown better reward.Apart from building a hospital instead of an academy for their fast bowlers,
Pakistan has to address one issue very soon. Nobody any longer doubts Shoaib’s
skill, fewer people than before doubt his commitment and what he does off the field
is mostly his concern; the most vital, in fact the only question, is whether he can
remain fully fit and sustain it over a series or tour, because Pakistan simply
cannot afford watching him pull up during a Test for much longer.In his ten-year career he has lasted a full series on only a handful of occasions
and in most of them he has, by the final Test, been a diminished force. The issue
has lingered through this series and having bit Pakistan hard in Kolkata, it did so
harder here because at lunch, they had a genuine chance. He went off, worryingly
with a new problem in his back, only 10 overs in the bank. If there is frustration,
is it at Shoaib? Or the management, for not drafting in cover?

In his ten-year career he has lasted a full series on only a handful of occasions and in most of them he has, by the final Test, been a diminished force

It put an unnecessary burden on the rest, especially Arafat, who after a fizzing
first spell, fell away physically, with alarming haste. Pakistan might be better off
looking to build on his batting and turning him in to a handy allrounder, rather
than relying on him as a specialist bowler; only now is Abdul Razzaq’s careless
frittering away of form and fortune coming back to haunt Pakistan, for the balance a
genuine allrounder provides is difficult to better.Of course, neither quality allrounder nor fifth bowling options might have made a
difference with Yuvraj Singh in this mood. To call his contribution to the day, this
series even, simply a hundred is to call Shane Warne merely a twirler. This was much
more, a summit meeting of mind, body, timing, power, placement and attitude, all at
a place called the zone. Nothing would stop him, not good balls, not bad balls, not
ordinary bowlers and probably not good ones either.Still, the Test is not fully lost for Pakistan. Rather, from 365 for 5 on the
opening day, it is India’s to lose. For some hope, Pakistan can look at the Cape
Town Test India squandered last year and one in Melbourne four years ago, having
been in similarly strong positions after day one. It is a long shot, but it is one
nonetheless and if Pakistan do it, it will be a greater escape than the last time
they were in Bangalore.

If the weather stays like it has over the last week, chasing a score could be a considerable advantage through the rest of the tournament at the Wanderers

S Rajesh at the Wanderers15-Sep-2007

Sanath Jayasuriya biffed his way to allow Sri Lanka canter home © Getty Images
If it’s Johannesburg it must be another run-fest. New Zealand spoiled itby getting only 164, but Sri Lanka’s emphatic run-chase proved once againjust how good a batting surface it is at the Wanderers. The first Twenty20hundred was scored here at the start of the tournament, the highest scorein this format was reached yesterday, while today a target of 165 was madeto look ridiculously inadequate. And this against a bowling side whichincluded Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori, two of the most parsimoniousbowlers in one-day internationals.New Zealand have the firepower to make use of the conditions here – LouVincent, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram can all belt it a longway – but today’s honours were clearly taken by Sri Lanka’s top four, whocantered to their second win of the tournament.The opening batting is one of the strongest suits for Sri Lanka, and itwas the 82-run partnership in 7.3 overs from Jayasuriya and Upul Tharangathat set it up. The key to their domination was the manner in which bothbatsmen went after Bond, who had an entirely forgettable day, not onlyconceding bucketful of runs but also dropping a sitter from Jayasuriya.In conditions as unforgiving as this, even a marginal error in length orline – and sometimes not even that – can be a run-scoring opportunity, andboth Jayasuriya and Tharanga cashed in with aplomb. Bond either slipped itslightly wide outside off – a crime when bowling to Jayasuriya – orovercompensated by straying onto leg stump. Both lines of attack wereperfect for the Sri Lankan openers. With the trend being what it is, Vettori might be the last captain to win the toss and bat first at the Wanderers in this tournament The blast from their batsmen also put into perspective Sri Lanka’s superbperformance in the field earlier in the day. Gayan Wijekoon was the oneweak link, but the rest of the bowling machine worked perfectly. DilharaFernando put in a much-improved performance, while Lasith Malinga is adeadly weapon to have towards the end of an innings.With the trend being what it is, Vettori might be the last captain to winthe toss and bat first at the Wanderers in this tournament. Chasing atarget has clearly been an advantage here – teams batting first havesometimes not pressed the throttle all the way, perhaps unsure of whattotal to aim for when setting a target. Meanwhile, the excellent battingconditions have meant virtually any total is chaseable. Of the four gamesplayed here, three have been won by the team chasing – includingBangladesh’s upset win against West Indies – while the only one where theteam batted first and triumphed was when Sri Lanka thrashed anout-of-sorts Kenya. If the weather stays like it has over the last week,chasing a score could be a considerable advantage through the rest of thetournament here.

While one Western Australian bowed out to overflowing praise for an outstanding career, another must have crept off wondering if he had performed in his last Test

Peter English at the Adelaide Oval28-Jan-2008

	It’s been a deflating series for Brad Hogg who has been shown up as a Test bowler © Getty Images

While one Western Australian bowed out to overflowing praise for an outstanding career, another must have crept off wondering if he had performed in his last Test. Brad Hogg’s re-trial as the first-choice spinner failed again and if Stuart MacGill doesn’t regain his fitness in time for the winter tours the selectors need to gamble on the next generation.On the final days in Sydney and Adelaide, where the spinners are supposed to excel, Hogg picked up only one wicket. At the start of the series he was the right man, but he is 37 next month and has been unable to satisfy the demands of someone who is so experienced.Apart from when operating successfully against Sourav Ganguly, he has looked like a chess player who isn’t sure what is happening five moves ahead. A slow bowler without a thoughtful plan is not much help, especially against those as accomplished as the Indians. The ball has been speared in at speed – the batsmen were not worried about the crucial double danger of falling lbw or edging the same delivery – and he has been treated like a little brother.Virender Sehwag watched two balls with caution in Hogg’s first over of the day before trying to launch him over the Clem Hill Stand at deep midwicket. The powerful heave fell just short, but it still cleared one of the longest boundaries on the ground and was followed by a drive through cover for four. Ricky Ponting called off the carnage after Hogg’s opening five overs cost 42 and Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke were preferred until after tea. The pair might also be heavily employed in the future.On his return Hogg was struck for four by Sehwag, who brought up his 150, and his one breakthrough came when Harbhajan Singh drove to Ricky Ponting at mid-off. It was his second wicket of the Test and he was given only 12 second-innings overs before the match closed.”I don’t think Brad’s let anybody down right through this series,” Ponting said. “He’s done the job we probably all expected he would do – probably no more, probably no less.” It was not the sort of endorsement a struggling bowler hopes for and Ponting also spoke of the need to lean on Symonds and Clarke if Hogg isn’t around.In three Tests Hogg has captured eight wickets at an average of 60.12, which is not a number that will be etched on any honourboard. Take away the four times he removed Ganguly and the cost of Harbhajan (twice), Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman inflates to 120.25. The figures should be career ending in Tests – he remains the most valuable of one-day bowlers – but Australia’s stocks are so unsure a reprieve is possible.”It’s a little while now before we play any more Tests,” Ponting said. “We’ve got a couple of months of one-day cricket and then the selectors will sit down and pick who they think is going to be the next – well, if it’s not Hogg – who the next spinner is going to be after that.”While a young bowler might be horrified and deflated by such figures as Hogg’s, he would at least be able to benefit from the experience and it would form an important part of his development. Dan Cullen, the South Australia offspinner, needs to be considered for the Test tours if MacGill cannot – or does not – recover from wrist surgery. Any success Hogg has in the CB Series needs to ignored when it comes to discussing his viability in the longer game.

John Davison is focused on making a smooth introduction to cricket’s hottest craze to inspire Canada to next year’s World Twenty20 in England

Jason Dasey01-Aug-2008
Canada have recalled John Davison after disappointing defeats against Bermuda in the ODI series and the Intercontinental Cup last month © ICC
John Davison admits he’s still regularly quizzed about “that innings” but is now focused on making a smooth introduction to cricket’s hottest craze to inspire Canada to next year’s World Twenty20 in England.After an absence of more than 14 months, Davison, an allrounder, is back in the Canadian side for the World Twenty20 qualifiers in Belfast in the hope that he can produce more of the form that saw him hit the then-fastest World Cup century – off 67 balls – against West Indies at Centurion Park in 2003.He followed that up in the 2007 World Cup with the tournament’s third-fastest half-century – 23 balls – against New Zealand in St Lucia.”I haven’t played Twenty20 cricket before so it’s all new to me,” the 38-year-old Davison said. “It should suit my style of play if I keep it in check and don’t go over the top.”Davison flew to Northern Ireland from Brisbane where he has worked since April as a bowling coach at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence. He says he hasn’t played much cricket apart from sending down his off-spinners to the academy’s recruits in the nets.Canada have recalled the enigmatic Davison after disappointing defeats against Bermuda in the ODI series and the Intercontinental Cup last month. He had clashed with the selectors last year but changes at the top in Canadian cricket have opened the doors for the former captain.”I hadn’t officially retired … I just wasn’t getting picked,” he said. “I had a few run-ins with a couple of selectors when I was captain and it was probably easier to leave me out.”Davison has been playing club cricket for Mosman in the Sydney competition and last season had brothers Brett and Shane Lee as team-mates. But he had never lost the hunger for an international comeback and a chance to replicate his feats against West Indies five years ago. His 111 off 76 balls, in contrast to his moderate record in first-class cricket as a bowling allrounder in Australia’s Pura Cup, was described by Windies legend and then chairman of selectors Viv Richards as “magnificent”.”A lot of people saw that innings and some of the younger guys I’m coaching ask me about it,” Davison said. “When I was in first-class cricket, my job was to bat between No. 8 and No. 11 and hold up an end. It was against my religion [to hit out]. The opportunity to open the batting and play under no pressure on a big stage, just for fun, was fantastic.”Earlier in his career, Davison was a promising Australian Institute of Sport colleague of Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath and played in the same Melbourne club side as Shane Warne.He was born in British Columbia but left as a five-week old baby. His parents had emigrated to Canada where they lived for six years, working as teachers at Woss Lake on Vancouver Island.Unlike the period leading up to the 2003 World Cup where he spent several summers playing in Canadian club cricket, Davison now rarely goes back to the nation of his birth. But he believes that Canadian cricket is now finally heading in the right direction and would one day consider working there as a senior coach.”As cricket is now a national sport, they are starting to get federal money and corporate funding,” he said. “If they get the right structure in place, get organised and get the right people in, I’d be interested.”In the meantime, Davison is hoping to produce some Twenty20 performances in Belfast that will enhance his reputation as one of cricket’s unlikely entertainers. And, for sure, he’ll never doubt again if he belongs at the top level of the game.”I remember I was apprehensive going into the World Cup until I ran into Warne in Johannesburg. He told me that he’d just written an article about six players to watch and I was one of them. It meant a lot to hear that from someone like him.”

Kapil picks up Viv, Sandhu deceives Greendige… and other key moments that turned the 1983 World Cup final India’s way

Jamie Alter25-Jun-2008

	Kris Srikkanth gets stuck into Andy Roberts, and all of India goes hush © Getty Images

Srikkanth drives Roberts
India only made 183 after being put in to bat, and it would not have been enough had Kris Srikkanth not played the way he did. Joel Garner bowled a resplendently fiery opening spell, moving the ball back in exaggeratedly, beating Sunil Gavaskar four times in an over, and yet somehow not managing a wicket.Andy Roberts got rid of Gavaskar for 2 but Srikkanth showed his intent by smashing a short ball to the ropes, to much cheering from the packed house. “That was Andy’s slower bouncer,” said the English commentator. “He’s just setting him up.” Roberts did indeed then release a more vicious bouncer, but Srikkanth hooked it for six into the lower tier of the Warner Stand.Yet the shot most popularly acknowledged by those who watched it – and recalled reverently – was the stunning square-drive, on bent knee, that Srikkanth played off Roberts to the Tavern boundary. All of India stood to applaud. They would have loved his innings to last longer than 38, with seven fours a ferociously-hooked six, but those 82 minutes and 57 balls were crucial in forming, ultimately, a winning total.Greenidge shoulders arms to Sandhu
Balwinder Singh Sandhu, an ideal foil to Kapil Dev with the new ball, will always be remembered for one delivery: inswinger to Gordon Greenidge. In a fatal misjudgment Greenidge, then at the halfway mark of a legendary career, chose to shoulder arms to one that proceeded to swing in alarmingly and clip the top of off stump. It will go down as one of the silliest non-shots ever, and it provided the much-needed breakthrough India needed, starting the most dramatic slide in World Cup history.Kapil catches Richards
Undoubtedly the moment that won India the World Cup. West Indies had been dented by the loss of Greenidge but, at 5 for 1 chasing 184 in 60 overs, there was little pressure on Viv Richards when he strode out, chewing his gum. And so Richards set about his task as only he knew – by attacking. On 33 from 27 balls, having just taken three boundaries in succession, he pulled a good-length ball from Madan Lal that pitched just short on off stump.As the ball spiralled off the top part of the bat, up high beyond midwicket – for a second illuminated against the sea-blue sky – and swirled down, a fielder came sprinting across the turf from mid-on, graceful as a gazelle, legs pumping, corners of his mouth betraying a smile, eyes fixed firmly on the ball as it fell against the blur of 24,609 spectators transfixed in rapt attention. Kapil was in an awkward position – head turned over his right shoulder, ball dipping ahead of him, but he was never unsure of getting Richards. And then he did it, holding on to the ball with two hands, a picture of elegant and extreme athleticism and divine confidence. Lord’s cheered raucously but it was a whimper against the tumultuous din that erupted continents away. Richards swaggered out as he had entered, still chewing his cud, and vanished over the boundary line.

	Kapil’s magic grab: the catch that won a World Cup © PA Photos

Lloyd falls
Madan Lal struck twice more after Richards’ dismissal, removing Desmond Haynes and Larry Gomes, to leave West Indies in further trouble. They still had their captain, Clive Lloyd – Big C, to the Guyanese – but there was to be no repeat of his wonderful century in the first ever World Cup final at Lord’s eight years before. Trying to drive Roger Binny over the infield – a poor shot given the situation – he found Kapil at wide mid-off. That made it 66 for 5. Three wickets had fallen for just six runs in 19 deliveries and West Indies were well and truly snuffed out.At this point, noted David Frith in his report, “Down by the Tavern two bloodstained policemen carted off a Rasta who had departed from the peaceful stance, while a policewoman lost her cap, her smooth hairdo, but not her composure. Lord’s was seeing, for the first time, West Indies in real adversity.”Amarnath gets Dujon
Syed Kirmani’s diving catch, in front of Gavaskar at slip, to get rid of Faoud Bacchus earns brownie points but this wicket just pips it. Dujon had batted superbly for his 25, the second-highest score of the West Indian innings, and had put on 43 with Malcolm Marshall. That’s when Mohinder Amarnath, jogging in, almost humming a Hindi film tune, hiding the ball deceptively, landed it on the seam and extracted extra bounce. Dujon inched forward and then tried to leave – except the ball kissed his gloves and crashed onto the base of off stump. Amarnath broke into celebration and pumped his fists in the air, flashing a boyish grin. He would take two more wickets to cap a Man-of-the-Final day, including the famous tenth wicket, but this was the biggest of his strikes.