With their senior-most batsmen out of form, the premier spinner lacking bowling rhythm and no chance to warm-up, Pakistan have several challenges to overcome as the first Test begins in Galle

Kanishkaa Balachandran21-Jun-2012Mohammad Hafeez cut a serious figure as he walked in for the pre-Test series press conference at the team hotel in Galle. True to his nature, his answers were direct, polite and non-confrontational, even when grilled about his own batting form. He wasn’t supposed to be holding the series trophy with Mahela Jayawardene in the first place, when the captains posed for pictures. Misbah-ul-Haq’s unexpected absence, serving a one-match ban for a slow over-rate offence, meant that Hafeez had to take over. Hafeez had a taste of the captaincy during the Twenty20s, but a Test, especially away from home, will be an entirely different challenge.Hafeez’s readiness for the role is irrelevant, for he was identified as the ideal candidate to take over in such emergencies. Pakistan’s immediate concern is rectifying the glitches in their batting, which contributed to at least two of their three defeats in the one-dayers. It was a point highlighted by Misbah time and again. The openers had failed to provide solid platforms. Younis Khan’s edginess compelled the management to drop him for the fifth ODI. Hafeez himself is in need of runs …Batting aside, Saeed Ajmal hasn’t had the best of tours either. It could be partly due to the fact that Sri Lanka played him better. With problem areas in the two main departments, plus the lacklustre fielding, Pakistan find themselves with more headaches than expected before the Test series, now further inconvenienced by Misbah’s ban. The lack of contributions from the seniors will end up putting enormous pressure on the younger players like Azhar Ali, who ended up taking more responsibility than he would have anticipated in the one-dayers.There’s also the question of the readiness of Test specialists like Taufeeq Umar, who hasn’t played an international match since February. Players themselves will testify that no amount of training and net practice can substitute for actual match practice. This predicament could expose a scheduling anomaly. The tour schedule does not include any warm-up games for either format. While it isn’t always a practice to have one for limited-overs games – especially with two subcontinent teams playing each other in familiar conditions – not scheduling one before a Test series could be a potential banana peel for a visiting team.When asked if this had hampered their preparations, Hafeez was confident it wouldn’t be a factor. “Switching from one format to another requires practice, but we are not complaining about it. We have to go through with it,” Hafeez said. “Some of the players coming in to the Test squad played some practice games in Pakistan. As a player you have to adjust yourself quickly and we have players experienced enough to do that.”To illustrate the importance of practice games, Pakistan needn’t look beyond their neighbours India. In South Africa in 2010, it was as if they stepped out of the plane and hopped straight to the ground in Centurion, where they were hammered by an innings, before getting their bearings and bouncing back in Durban. Given the circumstances Pakistan find themselves in, a three-day game to fine-tune skills and iron out glitches wouldn’t have been out of place. Younis could have spent some time in the middle to get his confidence back, Ajmal could have used the opportunity to bowl a lengthy spell and get his rhythm back.Nevertheless, Hafeez backed Younis to come good due to his experience. He also acknowledged that Misbah’s seniority will be missed. “Younis has been the backbone of the team for the last ten years. I don’t think there is any undue pressure on him, but we need to come harder [at the opposition] this time,” Hafeez said. “Obviously we will miss Misbah in this team because of his calm and stable personality, but we have to move forward.”Pakistan’s chances of competing in Galle will depend on how they tackle these challenges thrown at them.

South Africa’s immediate preparation didn’t include tours but a gruelling three-month camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria

George Binoy in Brisbane11-Aug-2012South Africa prepare for the Under-19 World Cup differently when compared to most other teams of their standing at the tournament in Townsville. Not for them the extensive tour programmes to familiarise their young cricketers with foreign conditions, various opponents and life on the road – experiences their opponents take pains to acquire. Although they visited England in 2011, when they won 4-2, and hosted Pakistan and Zimbabwe, South Africa’s immediate preparation has been a gruelling three-month camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.”We have a different view on how to train our younger guys,” says their Under-19 coach Ray Jennings. “We have programmes in South Africa where we create pressure and intensity for players to develop, whereas the Indians and some other guys tend to create the intensity on tours.””This year, for example, we had a group of players together for three months in a national academy programme. We trained them from six in the morning to six at night, not only from a cricketing point of view but also from a life point of view, [we] try and mature them. It’s a different programme that Cricket South Africa has started. We haven’t gone the route to go on tour. Our three and a half months have been intense, with early morning runs and all sorts of things at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria.”Won’t other teams’ prior knowledge of opponents and conditions in Townsville give them an edge over South Africa at the tournament? “Why should it?” asks Jennings. “I don’t think the players that we worked with fear any opposition. We’re aware that we’re as good as anyone in the world. We don’t have an inferiority complex on skills.”This side is well balanced. We’ve got a really good group of fast bowlers. There are a lot of allrounders in the side, one or two guys who can win games with the bat and the ball.”Their performances in the warm-up games in Brisbane back up Jennings’ confidence in his players. South Africa kept New Zealand to 184 for 8 before their openers Quinton de Kock and Chad Bowes put on 127 to ensure victory before retiring out after 20 overs. De Kock is perhaps South Africa’s premier batsman, having scored 341 runs on the tour of England. He has three international centuries – two against Pakistan and one against Zimbabwe.”I would have preferred if New Zealand had scored more runs so that we could have been challenged in our batting department. But our bowlers bowled well and our batsmen put in a good start,” Jennings said after the warm-up. “But everyday you play at Under-19 level is a different type of challenge.”South Africa’s batsmen were challenged by Bangladesh in the second warm-up the next day, but Bowes scored an unbeaten 104 to help his team achieve the target off the penultimate ball.Jennings has earned the reputation of being a tough coach, a disciplinarian, and the grown-up manner in which these teenagers are treated by umpires and match referees in the World Cup appeals to him. He says there’s zero tolerance for breaking rules, bad behaviour and corruption. It all adds up to nurturing a young cricketer’s character, something Jennings puts a premium on vis-a-vis technical skills at this age.”Technique is important but if you don’t have a character around that technique, it’s not going to be good,” he says. “If you have a bad technique and a good character, you can always get through and work your technique, but you can’t really work on the character of the person. I always look at the character of the person and the technique second.”That strength of character is certain to be tested at the World Cup, and more so in the coming years, when the danger of these cricketers falling off the charted path due to distraction or failure is greatest. “From this age until 23, it’s quite a tough age where a lot of players have other things come in the way – girlfriends, life … and the partying life and things like that,” Jennings said. “There are a lot of distractions in the next two three years but I like to believe we’ve addressed that in the last six months in the national academy.”Will South Africa’s intense and different preparation work at this World Cup? They begin their campaign on Sunday, against Bangladesh, having made the finals in 2002 and 2008 but losing both, to Australia and India. From Jennings’ point of view, winning a maiden Under-19 title would be an achievement to savour, but the satisfaction of watching some of these boys make the senior team is what he wants more.

The arrival of the IPL teams will give the Champions League its customary noise and colour. For now the lesser-known teams are warming up for the main event

Firdose Moonda05-Oct-2012Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium has a wardrobe most women would be envious of. A seasoned international host, she has worn the branding of sponsors for so long that some of them, like cigarette companies, are not even allowed to promote themselves anymore. This summer, the empress’ new clothes are bright blue, pink and green and have the letters C, L, T and the numbers 2 and 0 on them. The Champions League T20 has come to town.The 2010 edition in South Africa is remembered as a high-profile, noisy, colourful event, what Lions’ batsman Neil McKenzie calls the “closest thing to international cricket.” Unlike other domestic tournaments, which is essentially what the CLT20 is, the teams are bussed in by police escorts, put up in some of the city’s best hotels and interact with more media than most see over the course of a quiet career.Many of the cricketers who play in the CLT20 will have exactly that. Although they are professional sportsmen, their careers will not often be punctuated with glamour. It is they that the CLT20 should actually be about because they, more than anyone else, relish the opportunity of playing in a tournament like this.Two teams with players like that were out practicing at the newly made up Wanderers four days before the qualifiers begin. Some casual observations of both the Lions and the Auckland Aces provided enough of a glimpse to know the tournament is important, taken seriously by domestic teams the world over and can provide opportunity if it is properly run. First, there was the intensity. Summer has arrived in full force and both held longer sessions than in over 30 degree heat and took turns using the nets and outfield.Then, there was the camaraderie. The Lions asked Auckland if left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira wouldn’t mind turning his arm over to some of their batsmen. He obliged and was soon joined by the veteran Andre Adams. Chris Martin kept a close watch.

With the IPL teams comes the bling and the superstars and in their shadow this afternoon at the Wanderers will not be remembered by anyone. If the CLT20 hopes to make gains in credibility terms, its afternoons like these which must take precedence over the gimmicks

Mark O’Donnell, who coached the Lions before they became a franchise, exchanged pleasantries with McKenzie and Lions’ coach Geoffrey Toyana, who he has known for years. Some of the younger players got to know each other as Chris Morris shook hands with Colin de Grandhomme. Numbers were exchanged and plans to meet made. Cricket in its simplest form was being practiced.There was no indication that the teams were gearing up to contest prize money of US$6 million – the winner will walk away with $ 2.3 millon – or that these men thought they were celebrities rather than people. In three weeks’ time, some of them will be celebrities. Notable performances at the CLT20 have kickstarted careers – just ask Sunil Narine or Kieron Pollard – and they earned some, like Davy Jacobs, IPL contracts. A massive television audience across many countries will soon be able to recognise these players and if the preparation is anything to go by, the two teams training at the Wanderers this afternoon are ready.Auckland have been in South Africa since September 22. Even though they could end up playing nothing more than their two qualifying matches, they have spent two weeks preparing for it. Coach Paul Strang has acquired the services of fellow Zimbabwean Heath Streak as a bowling consultant for the tournament. Streak is missing the start of his domestic season, where he will coach the Tuskers franchise, to do the job.As a team that has participated in this competition before, Auckland do not want to repeat the mistakes of last year. There, they failed to get past the qualifiers, which included a narrow defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders followed by a heavier one against Somerset.The Lions have also had experience of the tournament. They played in the 2010 edition in South Africa but did not make it out of the group stage and are determined to put that right this time. Being in a group with a qualifier, the Sydney Sixers, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings will not make that task easy.The presence of IPL teams overshadows almost everything in this tournament. Just from a numbers perspective, they skew the balance because there are four of them. The other shareholders, South Africa and Australia, only have two teams and Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand and West Indies have only one team who may not even play in the tournament proper.The IPL teams also tend to house the bulk of the marquee players, though the IPL franchises pay $150,000 to the home team of a player who opts for them – so everyone gains in some form.With the IPL teams comes the bling and the superstars and in their shadow this afternoon at the Wanderers will not be remembered by anyone. If the CLT20 hopes to make gains in credibility terms, its afternoons like these which must take precedence over the gimmicks.

A cricket academy director travels to Afghanistan for a camp and returns inspired

Martin Gleeson21-Oct-2012October 4
I’ve been fortunate to travel to many places across the world through cricket, and I’m sure I’m in for another adventure as I head to Kabul tomorrow.Along with Umesh Patwal, Global Cricket School’s director of cricket, I have been invited to deliver the Cricket Australia Level 1 coaching course in Kabul for the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). The course is being funded by the MCC Foundation as part of its efforts to develop cricket in the country, and it is the first domestic coaching course in Afghanistan. The 20 candidates will be a mix of coaches from the ACB system and schoolteachers who have been selected from different provinces across the country.Apart from the obvious security concerns (of this I’m reminded by friends, family and colleagues alike), I have no doubt this will be a great opportunity to work on developing cricket coaches who can lay the road map for Afghanistan cricket’s future.October 5
We arrive in Kabul at dusk. The city is wedged in the beautiful, barren and imposing Hindu Kush mountain range. The view from the flight over the undulating, snow-capped range is spectacular, and sets a very picturesque though inhospitable scene for the city below.The long and lonely 15-minute walk to the car park in almost pitch darkness is a little unnerving. No vehicles or people are permitted close to the airport’s departure or arrival areas, and it’s a long walk to reach the arrivals hall. Fortunately our driver is there, sign in hand, and we drive on to the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) compound which will be our home for the next five days.The SCA has worked to improve education and health care in Afghanistan for the last 30 years. And in the schools that it has constructed, an NGO called Afghan Connection is building cricket pitches – through the MCC Foundation. The teachers who are participating in our course have been picked from some of these schools, and their role will be to introduce children to the sport.First impressions of Kabul: like most major subcontinent cities, there are unfinished buildings, little signposting, and lots of traffic. The most striking detail, though, is the ubiquitous dust that infiltrates people’s clothes and covers cars, roads and buildings. It’s as if a dust machine has created a permanent haze through the city.October 6
We get to the Kabul International Cricket Stadium by 7.30am to get set up. Our main liaison is Raees Ahmadzai, the former Afghanistan captain and current chief selector for the ACB. His passion for cricket is evident and he is very deliberate and considered in his approach.

“Most restaurants or shops with television sets had cricket tuned on them and we saw a number of cricket games being played on the streets. Jalalabad, in the north, has a very strong cricket culture… the success of the national team has also galvanised political groups and made some progress in uniting tribal factions”

We set up class in a room in the soon-to-be ACB offices adjacent to the playing arena. Clothing is presented as part of the welcome and the faculty and candidates make their introductions. The ten coaches from the ACB are all former players but the schoolteachers are mostly novices, so we need to make sure that what we teach is palatable to both groups. There is a lot of excitement and passion in the room and it overflows during question time. We cover topics like how to deal with a wayward player, how to teach the reverse sweep, why Ian Botham is a “Sir” and Imran Khan isn’t. It’s going to be an interesting few days.When discussing the role of the coach, we realise the local view is relatively short-sighted in that they think the coach’s job is team selection and supervising match-day performance. After some leading questions and discussions, we are able to show that coaches can have a hand at education, planning, keeping constant the focus on learning (and not just on winning the next match).The students tell us that their country’s spirit, passion, self-confidence and commitment to winning have been responsible for Afghanistan cricket’s success in recent years, and that a lack of infrastructure, poor organising of domestic cricket, and virtually no grassroots development could hold them back.We understand that Afghanistan’s current coaching environment is prescriptive and heavy on technical content when we have a session on coaching methodology. This is a common subcontinental practice, which contradicts the free-flowing and instinctive game synonymous with the region. Our focus for the next three days will be to shift towards a more modern and player-centred coaching style.In the afternoon we conduct a practical batting session. The schoolteachers, who have little or no cricket experience, prove to be a great coaching test for the former players.We take a trip to the top of Tapa Nadir Khan to watch the sun set over Kabul. From up here the city looks warm and picturesque, not one torn apart by war and destruction.October 7
MCC president Phillip Hodson and Afghan Connection CEO Dr Sarah Fayne attend the day’s session. The two organisations have been instrumental in bringing this course together.The challenge for the coaches and teachers taking this course is to use what they learn to re-establish community links and work on the social, emotional and physical development of children in war-torn areas. In today’s session we work on basic skill acquisition and how to apply them to cricket coaching. These concepts are largely foreign and difficult to grasp for the coaches.The afternoon’s fielding workshop is a great session and the Afghanistan board chairman’s visit is a nice way to complete the day’s programme. We are invited to dinner at the chairman’s house, in suburban Kabul, along with other senior board staff. It’s a very Afghan dinner experience – sitting on mattresses on the floor and being served beef, chicken, rice and lots of bread. Security is surprisingly light, though the chairman is also a senior advisor to the Afghanistan president.October 8
The candidates eagerly embrace the session on competency-based learning for which we conduct game-sense activities and modified games. In the afternoon we hand over to the coaches so they can practise what they have learnt so far. It starts slow and needs intervention from me and Umesh to revise the concepts we taught but then the coaches begin to blossom on their own. We can now see the effect of what we have taught – the candidates, who had no coaching education when they first came, have now understood how to structure and deliver a quality coaching session.On the drive home, we stop at the local carpet market. There’s so much on offer and so many eager salesmen willing to negotiate a sale that I feel befuddled. I guess not many tourists wander through the shops here and I am very conscious of the “living in a fish bowl” effect of having my every move observed.We go to the British embassy for a dinner hosted by the ambassador, Sir Richard Stagg. There’s quite a collection of nationalities, experiences and backgrounds, but what unites them all is the common imperative of doing their bit towards the social and infrastructure development of the country.Kids playing cricket in Kabul•Martin GleesonOctober 9
We get a clear understanding of what the coaches have learnt over the past few days. In the morning session the coaches make presentations about their coaching philosophies and their plans for what they will do when they return to their provinces. We are impressed with the intent and passion on display for what can be achieved locally.A group of 15 local teenagers is brought in for the practical assessment, and a coach and teacher each pair up to work with the kids. Umesh and I are now confident that these coaches have learnt enough to go back to their provinces and get some cricket going.An impromptu singing and dancing session that breaks out while we were waiting for the certificates to arrive provides a cultural highlight and a lot of laughter. But I think it’s best for cricket to remain their key focus. Afghanistan Idol may have to stay on the backburner for a while!On our last night in Kabul, Umesh and I walk down to the local ice-cream shop. We feel we could be anywhere in the world, until a man with a machine gun walks in as a security scout for a couple of local identities who have just arrived. Out in front as we leave, there are two 4WDs and four local guys carrying AK-47s as the security detail. Time to walk back to the compound.

***

There is a great opportunity for cricket to become a major sport in Afghanistan. Most restaurants or shops with television sets had cricket tuned on them and we saw a number of cricket games being played in the streets. Jalalabad, in the north, has a very strong cricket culture and the country’s only private cricket academy, with nearly 1000 children in it. The success of the national team has also galvanised political groups and made some progress in uniting tribal factions. While the dominant Pashtos form most of the current cricket-playing fraternity, the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and others are also taking up the sport in encouraging numbers.Cricket is not just a game in Afghanistan. It has the ability to unite, inspire and solidify a nation that has seen more than its fair share of fighting, violence and death.For more information on contributing to cricket as a social development tool in Afghanistan visit www.afghanconnection.org

Plays of the Day from the Super Eights match between South Africa and Pakistan in Colombo

Abhishek Purohit at the Premadasa28-Sep-2012The double surprise
With Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, and himself available, Mohammad Hafeez opened the Pakistan bowling with the young left-arm spinner Raza Hasan, playing his first game of the tournament. As if that wasn’t enough of a surprise for South Africa, he gave the second over to bowling allrounder Yasir Arafat. As if even that wasn’t enough, Hasan and Arafat went on to bowl the first five overs.The departure from modernity
South Africa were trudging at below five an over around the halfway stage of their innings. With Ajmal bowling the 12th over, Pakistan were confident enough to have no sweeper cover or deep point, a position modern captains love to have even in Tests. Farhaan Behardien used the largesse to cut through the region for a four.The delayed déjà vu
Umar Gul was carted all around the Pallekele stadium during the group stage by New Zealand and Bangladesh. With Pakistan’s spinners squeezing South Africa right from the start, Hafeez brought on his premier fast bowler as late as the 18th over. It changed little. First ball, AB de Villiers lofted him over wide long-on for six. Gul got de Villiers next ball, but went for 19 in two overs. He was to later hit South Africa back, with the bat though.The height of predictability
Shahid Afridi in. Spinner on. First ball. Long-off? Long-on? Sweeper cover? Swung straight to long-off, this time. Sigh.The presence of mind
Gul fell off the last ball of the 19th over after a blinder. Even as sweeper cover ran in to take the catch, Gul sprinted down the pitch for a possible run. The non-striker Umar Akmal was wise enough to stop, and also told Gul to, ensuring they didn’t cross. It proved to be decisive as Umar Akmal took strike for the final over and swung the second ball over deep square leg for six to all but ensure Pakistan’s win.The maiden – I
Raza Hasan, 20, beginner in international cricket to Jacques Kallis, 36, legend in international cricket. He even beat Kallis a couple of times in the over.The maiden(s) – II
South Africa responded with consecutive maidens, one each by Robin Peterson and Johan Botha, who also bowled Kamran Akmal during his.

Having played for England since his was 20, Stuart Broad is now at a crossroads and needs to fulfil his potential or remain a perennial prospect

George Dobell21-Nov-2012Which seam bowler has taken the most Test wickets in world cricket this calendar year? And which seam bowler has the best match figures in a Test this year? Who was England’s Man of the Series the last time they played India and who claimed the best innings and match figures of their Test career only a few months ago?The answer to all these questions is Stuart Broad. Not only that, but Broad has a Test century and nine Test half-centuries to his name and his batting once moved Geoffrey Boycott to say: “There’s a bit of Sobers in him.”So it might be somewhat surprising that some, including former England captain Sir Ian Botham, are calling for Broad to be dropped. But, after a disappointing performance in the first Test at Ahmedabad, there appears to be a growing number feeling that Broad has become just a little complacent in the England team and could do with a wake-up call. Such a reminder was administered by Twitter users, in response to whom Broad launched a rebuttal.Broad was out-bowled by both Indian seamers, Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav, in Ahmedabad. He looked to have lost some pace and, as a consequence, lacked the potency to strike on pitches offering little. But most concerning was the impression that Ahmedabad was not a one-off poor game. Broad also struggled against South Africa, finishing the series with a bowling average of 39.72 and, despite showing rich promise with the bat when scoring 169 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010, he has made only one half-century this year. Since June, his bowling average is 48.54 and his batting average is 14.But the picture with Broad is far from black and white. While his recent form may be disappointing, his overall record is still good. And, aged 26, he should still have his best years in front of him. It is worth remembering, too, that until the South Africa series, Broad looked to be developing well. A hat-trick against India at Nottingham in 2011 had inspired the best form of his career. He bowled beautifully in the UAE.Part of Broad’s problem is that he promised so much. Fast-tracked into England’s limited-overs team after just six List A appearances, Broad has been playing for England since he was 20 years old. He was elevated to the Twenty20 captaincy in 2011 and, at the start of this tour, was named as vice-captain of the Test squad. There are those who believe promotion came too easy for Broad. There are those who think reward preceded achievement. That he has never known the motivating power of being excluded. That a period out of the team would provide just the impetus he requires.It is true that such a tactic has worked in the past. Matt Prior and Andrew Strauss were both dropped and used the pain of omission to drive them to make improvements in their game. The same could be said for former greats such as Graham Gooch and David Gower.But there is equal evidence to suggest that continuity of selection brings rewards. Towards the end of the 2010 England season, Alastair Cook looked out of form and confidence and was struggling to justify his retention. The selectors maintained faith and Cook repaid them with a prolific Ashes series. He has hardly looked back.

And before u listen to too many ex playing ‘experts’ being negative, ask them if they ever won a Test series in India….#28years

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) November 19, 2012

Injury to Steven Finn, who is set to continue his rehabilitation by playing for the Performance Programme side next week, may well mean a reprieve for Broad in Mumbai. But, even if Finn had been fit, England would be loathe to drop Broad. It is not just that they have a naturally conservative selection policy and a new captain who, understandably, may be keen to avoid souring the relationship with his right-hand man; it is that England believe in Broad.He was, after all, the man that produced the key burst at The Oval to clinch the Ashes in 2009 and produced the series-defining spell against India at Trent Bridge in 2011. Nor are there many obviously better cricketers than him in the county game: between 2009 and 2011, Broad played only six Championship matches, but claimed four five-wicket hauls, taking 37 wickets at 21.32. Broad’s talent is not questioned, but England are not currently maximising it.It is possible the pitch in Mumbai may suit him a little more. But, while its reputation suggests it will offer a little more bounce, it has been used previously, at the start of November, for a Ranji Trophy match in which Sachin Tendulkar scored a century. All the signs suggest the spinners will be to the forefront once again.In time, we may come to see Broad as a victim of England’s schedule. It may be that he and his fellow seamers are simply weary. Broad, in particular, plays all three formats of the game and, though he has been rested and missed games through injury, has appeared jaded in recent times. All the games and, just as importantly, all the training, may be taking their toll. International cricket is becoming a squad game and fast bowlers, especially, may require rotation.Either way, Broad is now at a crossroads. He still has time to fulfil his potential but should be aware of other prodigiously talented allrounders – the likes of Chris Lewis – who remained promising for their entire careers. It is hard to escape the conclusion that time is running out.

For contrasting reasons, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli were under pressure but they responded in the best possible manner to keep India in the Test

Sidharth Monga15-Dec-2012Saturday in Nagpur was not a big test of skill. It was a slow and low pitch that it was difficult to get out on, which – if you look at it in isolation and as a neutral – has provided drab cricket. This was a different kind of test for two different kinds of men in two different kinds of predicaments. You can look at MS Dhoni’s face when he is walking back, and not tell whether he has won a game or lost it, or even tied it. But turn to Virat Kohli and there is a full match report written on it. They have both been copping it of late, and not entirely unfairly.Dhoni has led India to nine defeats in the last 10 Tests he has played against Australia and England. Any captain will be questioned after that, but the way it has been handled isn’t been ideal. First we got the impression the selectors didn’t want to touch him, then when they became former selectors they alleged they couldn’t touch him because of the BCCI president’s backing. All that in the lead-up to a Test India need to save to avoid a first home series defeat in close to nine years.Kohli, the man most likely to replace Dhoni as captain whenever he is replaced, had gone through a perplexing series until today. One of the best traits of his batting is that he doesn’t gift you his wicket. In this series, though, he had been playing loose shots. It was tempting to think Test cricket was getting to him, but that couldn’t have been the case. Just before the series started, in a tricky but successful chase against New Zealand in Bangalore, he faced 15 dots before scoring a run under immense pressure from a good attack under overcast skies.Lesser batsmen have been known to throw it away at such times, looking for release from that pressure. Suresh Raina did so with a shot that might have ended his Test career (maybe not, for you never know with Indian cricket). Kohli, though, showed no emotion or itch. He waited and waited before a ball arrived that deserved to be scored off, and came back with an unbeaten fifty and a Test won. Incidentally, his partner then was Dhoni.Kohli is too good a batsman to keep getting out the way he has been, playing nothing shots outside off. It isn’t the bottle or the technique that he has been lacking. Whatever it was, those who had not followed his efforts in Perth, Adelaide and Bangalore were questioning him, and his scores deserved those questions.A current captain and a future captain were both losing trust, and they needed to do something about it. Okay so this was not a test of their pure batting skills, but it was a test of temperament, of patience, of mental and physical energy, and most importantly of staying in the present. Don’t think of the past. Shut out Jimmy Amarnath, Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket, the loose shots outside off. Don’t think of the future. Shut out the ticking clock because this is not a pitch where you can score quick runs, and starting at 87 for 4 you can only cause damage by thinking of whether you will have enough time to force a result. Also forget that one of you plays possibly the best cover-drive in the world, and the other has never faced more than 187 balls in a Test innings.The biggest target for India on day three was to end in a position where they could make use of it should the pitch break up and start turning. Had India trailed by 100 on first innings, which looked quite likely at the start of the day, no amount of turn would have helped them. Alternatively if the pitch doesn’t break up, quick runs won’t help anyway.

“This pitch isn’t made for pretty but India don’t need pretty. Batting like millionaires hasn’t been working; they need to bat like paupers for a bit”

Dhoni and Kohli showed that if you just put your mind to defending, it’s too difficult for a bowler to get a wicket. They just batted. Defend, defend, defend, sneak a single here, convert two into three there. And boy did they run? It wasn’t pretty. This pitch isn’t made for pretty. India need the unpretty. Batting like millionaires hasn’t been working; they need to bat like paupers for a bit.For a long period, it didn’t seem even the centuries mattered to them. Kohli reached 90 in the 109th over and the hundred in the 115th. In between he hit Dhoni’s bat with a straight drive, which cost him four runs. That was the only time his expressive face showed any sign of anxiety. Dhoni reached 90 in the 113th over and was run out for 99 in the 130th, but until that run-out you would have thought he was batting in the 30s.Perhaps it was the non-expressive Dhoni face that led you to believe the hundred didn’t matter. Perhaps it didn’t matter. Perhaps Dhoni thought that was a normal run: remember he had to run slightly around James Anderson, and still he had reached the line when the stumps were hit.Whatever the case may be, the two had fallen at crucial moments. From a position where they could have gone after quick runs on the fourth morning, they had been reduced to a situation where being bowled out is the best thing that can happen to them. As has been happening over the last 18 months – Raina bowling in the middle session on day four at Lord’s, the hat-trick at Trent Bridge, the wickets of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid either side of stumps at the MCG – India had come second-best in a critical phase once again. A side that has been losing a lot of its talent can’t afford that.

They do not feature prominently in most Twenty20 leagues but Associate players have made an impact in the BPL

Mohammad Isam13-Feb-2013The stipulation that each BPL team had to contain at least one player from an Associate nation in the first season had produced unremarkable results. Alex Kervezee, Kyle Coetzer, Rizwan Cheema, Niall O’Brien and Hamid Hassan played only nine matches in all. Denmark’s Freddie Klocker did not even get a game. There was no such rule this year, but the franchises did not ignore talent from Afghanistan, Ireland and the Netherlands.Chittagong Kings picked up Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate, while Rangpur Riders secured the services of Ireland’s O’Brien brothers, Kevin and Niall. Khulna Royal Bengals signed the Afghanistan pair Shahpoor Zadran and Samiullah Shenwari, and Sylhet Royals got Ireland batsman Paul Stirling and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi. Later, Barisal Burners added another Afghanistan player Hassan to their roster. Of these eight players, Nabi, Stirling and Zadran stood out with their performances and the stories they brought along.After the Royals had lost Andre Russell due to an injury, their search for an allrounder stopped at Nabi. The demand for the offspinner had come from the team’s coach Mohammad Salahuddin, who has been vindicated by Nabi’s performance.He took 2 for 15 in the first match to give the Royals a controlled start against Barisal Burners – a 33-run win. Two more tight spells were followed by his first significant contributions with the bat. In a big chase against Chittagong Kings, Nabi’s sense of
occasion came forth. His 43 wasn’t smash and grab as they chased 173 runs to win, but a more measured effort that gave his side their best win in the tournament’s first phase. He had a lull in the next four games before picking up two three-wicket hauls against the Kings and the Khulna Royal Bengals. Nabi has done well at the start of games, having opened the bowling on several occasions. He quickly realised when to slow down
his pace or push the ball through to defend against attacking batsmen.”Nabi made a good start to the tournament, and after a slow period in the middle, he has again started doing well,” Salahuddin told ESPNcricinfo. “He is a good cricketer with a lot of variations and it is clear he understands the game quickly. He carries out the plans that we set for him for every batsmen.”Stirling’s robust technique and no-nonsense attitude has helped him score on the pitches in Bangladesh. More often than not, he kick started the Royals’ innings with a flurry of boundaries and hasn’t seemed weak against spin. However, he has had the habit of not making the best of a start. Stirling started off with 50 but for the next eight games, he didn’t pass 38, before making 66 against Khulna towards the end of the campaign.Salahuddin has observed Nabi and Stirling throughout their BPL campaigns and didn’t spot much of a difference between them and cricketers from Test nations. “I don’t see them much different, they seem to catch on-field situations quickly. I think they are very hungry,” he said. “Their attitude has helped our team do well. They have team feelings, and never seemed like outsiders to me. I think they make good team-mates.”Chittagong Kings’ change of fortune has been due to ten Doeschate’s experience. He has made three fifties so far, one of which – an unbeaten 95 against Khulna – could have been a hundred had he paid more attention to a personal landmark than the team’s situation. Rangpur didn’t get what they expected from Kevin O’Brien’s bat but his bowling has been steady. Niall O’Brien has done well as batsman and wicketkeeper whenever the need has arisen.Zadran has been a revelation on these wickets, especially in Khulna’s home games, in which he bowled two measly spells – 2 for 9 against Rajshahi and 3 for 21 against Rangpur. The left-arm fast bowler’s pace, bounce and ability to use the angles from over and around the wicket have brought wickets and also rattled batsmen. There is talk of some of the Afghanistan players, especially Nabi and Zadran, returning for the Dhaka Premier League, which is likely to begin in April.The initial decision to include Associate players was, according to the BPL organisers, a nod to Bangladesh’s past as an Associate. It remains so, and goes to show that the world of cricket isn’t only for the privileged. There is room for everyone.

Decisive man-by-man proof that the hosts will be toast in this year’s Ashes

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013As the cricket match-fixing scandal pinballs around between annoying, disappointing depressing and alarmingly sinister, this blog will ignore for now the murky morass that threatens to swamp the international game, forget about the potential implications of Zulqarnain’s unscheduled London jaunt, and distract itself from the grim realities of reality with an altogether chirpier topic (from a pre-Ashes England supporter’s point of view) – Australia being not very good anymore. Not bad – just not very good.I have outlined in previous blogs the reasons why England are unbeatable and heading for a thrashing, and why Australia are in prime position to administer that thrashing, like a grumpy 19th-century headmaster who has been doing strength and conditioning work on his caning arm in readiness for the arrival of a particularly objectionable and naughty boy. Here, to conclude this decisive proof that England or Australia will win or lose the Ashes, is unarguable, laboratory-tested, player-by-player evidence that Australia are definitely going to lose.Simon KatichBums-off-seats left-hander has scored just 134 runs at an average of 22 in his last three Tests, and red-facedly owns up to a 1980s-Australia-throwback Ashes average of just 33 in 11 Tests. Furthermore, he has scored fewer Ashes runs in Australia than Monty Panesar. Katich is also reported to be suffering from an existential crisis of confidence after accidentally seeing video footage of himself batting (Cricket Australia had successfully protected him from seeing himself for years, using a series of increasingly convoluted distractions, including puppet shows. Katich loves puppet shows. Can’t get enough of them. He owns DVD box sets of all TV puppet shows. And if that is not true, let him sue me.) “Oh my god, no,” he said, dumbfounded, after watching himself ungainlily nudge a leg-side boundary. “I thought I played like David Gower.”Shane WatsonLike most of his team-mates, Watson is on the slide. Admittedly he has not slid as far, fast or slidily down that slide as some, but after averaging 65 in 2009, he has posted a figure of only 38 so far in 2010. This clearly does not bode well for the New Year Test in Sydney, and the less said about Watson’s 2012, when he looks set to average 16, the better.He averages only 30 when Australia lose the toss (compared with 47 when they win it), suggesting that Ponting’s coinflipwork and Strauss’s head-or-tail preferences could be crucial to Watson’s success or failure. He also has the third worst conversion rate of any Australian top-six batsman with 10 or more Test fifties – he has turned just two of his 14 scores of 50-plus into centuries.Rumours that he is an allrounder may prove unfounded. As a bowler, he has never taken more than two wickets in a Test innings in Australia, and has no Ashes wickets under his belt. He bowled just eight overs of purest garbage in 2009, so will have some persuading to do to convince England that he is not rubbish. Mind you, Glenn McGrath was in a similarly unconvincing position after his wicketless Ashes debut in 1994-95. If only Australia had done the decent thing and permanently jettisoned McGrath after that match, as England sportingly disposed of the obviously superior Martin McCague (two wickets in the at Brisbane Test)… if only England had stuck with Gloucestershire left-armer Mike Smith after his wicketless Ashes bow in 1997… if only, if only…Ricky PontingAnyone telling you that Ricky Ponting has not declined over the last few years is either talking about a different Ricky Ponting, or has been poisoned with a mind-altering potion, or has seriously misheard the question, or is Ricky Ponting, or is trying to wilfully engage you in an unwinnable argument whilst their accomplice steals your electrical goods and/or priceless collection of David Boon memorabilia.Australia’s “Best Since Bradman” has, for the last four years, been approximately Australia’s 27th-best since Bradman – he has averaged 43 in his 41 Tests since the pivotal Adelaide Test of 2006-07, with six centuries (stats eerily similar to Ian Bell’s over the same period, a time in which Ponting proudly boasts the 43rd best Test batting average in world cricket, behind, amongst others, willow-wielders extraordinaire Darryl Tuffey and Brad Hogg, and current table-topper Kane Williamson).The self-styled “Tasmanian Ian Bell” has averaged over 50 in just three of his last 12 series, having done so in nine of the previous 10, and has scored only one Test century in 16 Tests since the Ashes opener of 2009 − a double against Pakistan after Mohammad Amir dropped a possibly-with-hindsight-although-equally-plausibly-perfectly-above-board-but-still-suspiciously-easy sitter when the Australian captain was on 0.And if the series gets tight, Australia might as well drop their captain for the final two Tests – over the last four Ashes series, he has averaged under 30 in Tests 4 and 5.No Australian captain has ever lost three Ashes series. Ten years ago the prospect of Australia losing three Ashes series in the rest of eternity seemed remote. But then again, they said man would never walk on the moon. Ponting is all set to become Australia’s Neil Armstrong.Michael ClarkeBeset by media and public grumblings, largely due to insufficient runs and insufficient Aussieness, Clarke has averaged just 21 in his last four Tests, including only one score above 15 in his last seven Test innings. After a golden period from 2006-07 up to Headingley 2009, in which he averaged 62, he has averaged only a middling 42 since the Oval Test.Michael HusseyHussey’s almost unprecedented career rocket has altered its course from heading to a place amongst the all-time great, towards crash landing amongst international cricket’s plodding journeymen in three anti-climactic years. Has averaged 25 in his last seven Tests, and just 34 in his last 34, with a pitiful three centuries and a strike rate of 43 (compare this with his first 20 Tests – an average of 84, eight hundreds, and a strike rate of 53). He was once within touching distance of Bradman. Now he rubs statistical shoulders with Wavell Hinds, Manoj Prabhakar, and Chris Tavaré. Could still bump his average back up into the 80s this Ashes, but only if he scores 2500 undefeated runs in the series. This seems unlikely. Hussey has averaged 35 or less in seven of his last nine series, and 25 or less in five of his last 11.Marcus NorthAfter smiting three centuries in his first six Tests, North has averaged 29 in his last 13 matches. Traditionally in Australia, this leads to impeachment by Parliament and disappearance to the Dirk Wellham Memorial Gulag, 150 miles outside Darwin. North has been out for 10 or less in more than half of his 32 Test innings, and his five ducks make him the most regular duck scorer in the Australian top six since the 19th century. To where some Australian supporters seem to want him to emigrate.Brad HaddinThe new Adam Gilchrist – in that his most recent performances have not been particularly impressive. Haddin averages 20 in his last five Tests, and 31 in his last 10 since being injured during the 2009 Ashes. In stark contrast to Watson, Haddin averages 33 when Australia win the toss, and 48 when they lose it. The selectors must be bold, and speculatively drop one or the other. Or both, to be on the safe side.Mitchell JohnsonEleven wickets at 43 in his last four Tests, has failed to take more than one wicket in 10 of his last 14 innings – Johnson is becoming the Australian Steve Harmison. If Harmison bowled one of the great series-losing balls in Ashes history in Brisbane four years ago, Johnson bravely attempted to steal his thunder with one of the immortal series-losing spells in Ashes history with his geometry-expanding effort at Lord’s. Having come to England with a reputation as a bowler who could bowl unplayable balls, he proved that reputation well deserved – albeit that the balls were only unplayable due to their being unreachable.Increasingly expensive, Johnson conceded more than 3.5 runs per over in none of his first seven series, but has done so in four of his last six.Since apparently breaking through as a top-class allrounder against South Africa in 2008-09 (400 runs and 33 wickets in six Tests), not only has Johnson explored all regions of inconsistency with the ball, he has averaged just 13 with the bat – further evidence of him stepping snugly into the Harmison mantle.Nathan HauritzSince filling his boots against the staggeringly, persistently inept West Indies and Pakistan last Australian summer, Hauritz has taken 10 wickets at 65 in his last four Tests. Statistics can, and often do, lie, but if Hauritz is a genuine match-winning Test-class spinner, then his first-class bowling average of 43 must be in line for Porkie Of The Year. Successor to Shane Warne. In the same way that Graeme Smith is the successor to Rudolf Nureyev. He is OK.Peter SiddleSince helping skittle England in their tactically masterful fourth Test complacency-inducing megacapitulation in Leeds, Siddle, who skipped away from Headingley thinking he had cracked Test cricket, has taken just 15 wickets at 41 in six Tests. He averages almost 35 in Australia. He has been injured for a while. He is not as frightening as McGrath, McDermott, Merv Hughes, Lillee or Thomson. Or as good. He is OK.Doug BollingerHas never dismissed an Englishman in a Test. Largely through lack of opportunity, admittedly. Has also been injured, and might not play in the first Test, extending his lifelong habit of not dismissing Englishmen in Tests. Startlingly inept batsman. Possibly hair-replacement-themed teasing victim.Ben HilfenhausHas never taken five wickets in a Test innings, nor six wickets in a match. Has only played one Test in Australia, and is an English-style bowler who averages 38.7 outside England. He is OK. If Australia pick him and Bollinger, they will lose. The last time they picked two seam bowlers with tri-syllabic surnames – Gillespie and Kasprowicz in 2005 – they lost.So there it is. It is or isn’t looking good for Australia.On previous Ashes tours, England’s positive statements in advance of their inevitable first-Test mincing sounded not so much like men clutching at straws as men pointing their fingers nervously at what they thought might be a straw, and mumbling something about being confident that it was probably a straw, and that they were definitely planning to try to think about clutching it. This time their public confidence is well founded. England are quite a good team. As are Australia. It will be a draw. A glorious draw.

I appreciate that not everyone has access to Sky and that is not right

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013

Cast your mind back to September, 2005. England had just won that series, cricket was cool, and people who previously mocked the game were annoyingly approaching you in the street or at work and saying how much they now loved the game. All was rosy in the English cricket garden. But a cloud loomed over the game in England, one that split cricket fans opinions down the middle.The Ashes series of 2005 was the last to be aired live on terrestrial television for the foreseeable future, as Sky were now the top dog when it came to test match cricket coverage in the UK. Before Sky we had the BBC and Channel 4. Growing up in the eighties, cricket to me was Peter West, Soul Limbo by Booker T and the MGs, and of course Richie Benaud. So you can imagine my astonishment, and the general shock among the cricket viewing public of the UK, when it was announced that from 1999, Test match cricket would move to Channel 4. Channel 4! The station of low viewing figures, of horse racing, a Liverpudlian soap opera, a letter/number quiz, but not our national summer sport, surely not.But this was how it was to be, and there was nothing we could do about it. To be fair to Channel 4, their coverage was a breath of fresh air. Within a year I was a convert to Mark Nicholas, Mambo Number 5 by Lou Bega, and of course Richie Benaud. The BBC’s coverage now seemed so archaic, and it felt like I had my head turned from the safe older option I had grown up with, to a more attractive and younger looking alternative.Although Channel 4’s dalliance with the game was short, they should be commended on their involvement in the game. And then came Sky. They had been covering England tours since 1990 and to cricket fans they were a godsend on those cold wintry nights. To top it all, they really knew how to present the game to the viewing public. Having said that, it was still a surprise when it was announced that from 2006, English Test matches would be shown exclusively live on this platform. It was a decision that enraged many. How could our summer sport be screened on a station that only a few million people had access to? Why should we pay for the privilege of watching English Test matches? How could the future generations of the game in England gain any heroes if they didn’t have access to Sky? All valid questions.On the other hand you had the pro-Sky brigade. Those who hoped that the company’s investment in cricket would help the game’s grassroots, and who no longer wanted to have to put up with an Andre Agassi tennis match or horse racing interrupting an important Test. It was a divisive issue.So where do I sit on this? Somewhat annoyingly on the fence. I appreciate that not everyone has access to Sky and that is not right. Whereas I grew up watching Botham, Lamb and Gower, who will the kids of today learn to idolise if they are not lucky enough to have a dish stuck on the side of their house? But on the other hand, I appreciate having the cricket shown on a dedicated sports channel. One that won’t miss Adil Rashid’s first Test wicket because they have to nip off to Hollyoaks. And if the vast amounts of money ploughed into the game by Sky can be wisely spent then surely that must be a good thing?To be honest, I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. Perhaps if I didn’t have Sky then my opinion would be much more definite, although even with access to satellite television I can see where the problems arise. It would be interesting to hear what others think about this. What I do know is that although Sky’s current Ashes coverage is first class, it is a shame that the 2009 series was not viewed by a much wider audience. Perhaps I secretly yearn for that feel-good summer factor of 2005, conveniently forgetting the fact that at key stages of that series, Channel 4 left the cricket to cover horse racing. Oh I really don’t know. If my thinking is so muddled, I wonder what the rest of the nation is like.