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

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

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

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

Faf du Plessis was the natural choice to take over South Africa’s T20 side, and he did not disappoint, quickly moulding them into a winning unit in subcontinent conditions. They’ll be hoping for more of the same in Bangladesh

Firdose Moonda16-Mar-2014Professional cricketers are people too and you need look no further than Faf du Plessis for proof of that. He is one of cricket’s more grown-up, engaging and likeable sons. If you run into him beyond the boundary, you can have a pleasant chat about anything from fashion and food to travel and tactics on a cricket field.He has matured from the bashful youngster who two years and 355 days ago, left Dhaka with bruises from his first playground punch-up and a broken heart from another World Cup choke. Du Plessis ran out AB de Villiers at a crucial stage in the quarter-final and emotions were running high when Kyle Mills said something du Plessis didn’t like. The on-field altercation included a shoulder charge from du Plessis and a lot of jeering from the New Zealand fielders, who saw an easy way to get under South Africa’s skin.That du Plessis was a little rasher and a little more hotheaded than the du Plessis you will meet today, but he still knows how to rub opposition up the wrong way. It was du Plessis who did not contest a charge of ball tampering in the second Test in the UAE against Pakistan last November when he was found to be shining the red cherry too close to his zip pocket. It was du Plessis who stopped just short of accusing Australia of doing a similar thing in the recently completed Test series in South Africa.After the third day’s play in Cape Town, in which du Plessis had copped on-field verbals for picking up the ball while batting, he said the Australian fielders were like a “pack of dogs” when anyone else approached the ball. They promptly howled him off the field when they finally dismissed him in the second innings.But he also knows how to earn respect. Du Plessis has saved South Africa Tests twice; Tests which demoralised their opposition and allowed them to win series. That may automatically categorise him as a long-form player, but don’t forget that he first made his name in limited-overs cricket.Although du Plessis has been dropped from South Africa’s one-day squad following a run of poor form, that was the format he made his debut in and rose to prominence in. That was the format that got him recognised because that was format he was asked to deputise as captain in when AB de Villiers was suspended for slow over rates.When de Villiers struggled to lead in both shorter formats, du Plessis was the natural choice to take over the T20 side even though he had only played in it four times. Immediately he introduced structure and immediately, the results came. In his first game in charge, South Africa dominated a New Zealand side that would later beat them in an ODI series. By then du Plessis’ team had already won the T20s.He was dealing with the same shifts in team composition as de Villiers – the first XI du Plessis captained included Richard Levi and Robin Peterson, neither of whom feature now – but he seemed to be able to mould it into shape more easily. When South Africa went down 4-1 in an ODI series in Sri Lanka and morale was thought to be at all-time low, du Plessis led them to a 2-1 T20 series win on the island. He found his formula and he found how to make it work.After they beat Pakistan away as well, South Africa’s preparation for the World T20 looked to be on the perfect path. They defeated subcontinent sides in their own conditions which could only bode well for a major tournament in the subcontinent in which they will face at least one of these same sides (Sri Lanka) and possibly others as the event goes on.That may be why the recent form – a shared home series against Pakistan and a heavy loss to Australia – is not weighing on du Plessis mind too heavily. “The confidence is still pretty high,” he said. “You can only reflect on the conditions we are going to play in now and we’ve had good success there.”But have they? South Africa were the best team in their group at the 2011 World Cup and the only one to dismiss their opposition in all six games they played. Their quarter-final draw was thought to be one of the kinder ones and still, they could not win a knockout game.The same thing that got to them in the past, got to them then: pressure. At least this time they don’t have as much of it and Russell Domingo thinks that can only be a good sign. “T20 cricket has a lot to do with confidence,” he said. “South Africa have gone to World Cups before extremely confident and playing extremely well and come unstuck. So maybe this is a good omen for us.” Du Plessis will certainly hope so.

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

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

Thirty-eight and heavyset, Jacques Kallis showed against Mumbai that he still has the aggression at the crease and athleticism in the field to be among the limited-overs game’s most competitive

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Abu Dhabi17-Apr-2014Long before Jacques Kallis’ frame had widened to its current dimensions, Navjot Sidhu was calling him Yak Kallis. It was an honest bit of mispronunciation, as well as an unintentional act of nominative determinism. It bestowed – if you believe in that sort of thing – imposing girth upon a man who already possessed the yak-like traits of forbearance, inscrutability and, at the crease, immovability.On Wednesday evening, spectators on the grass banks on the western side of the Sheikh Zayed Stadium winced when Kallis fell over while trying to play a cute little scoop over his shoulder. They expected him to flatten the stumps, not realising from their square-on vantage that he had walked all the way across the crease. Kallis quickly got back on his feet. Plain old quick, without the garnish of ‘for a big man’. At that point, he was batting on 71 off 44 balls.Later in the night, he would show further evidence of the athleticism that still resides in his heavyset, 38-year-old body with a low, diving catch at deep midwicket to end Rohit Sharma’s innings and Mumbai’s hopes of winning.”That catch he took tonight – possibly there weren’t too many people on the field who would take that catch,” John Wright, Mumbai’s coach, said after the game. “He had a great game – pity it happened with us.”In the three-and-a-half months since his retirement from Test cricket, Kallis had played only two matches of any description. One of them was a festival game against the Springboks rugby side. The other was the final of South Africa’s domestic T20 tournament; he took four wickets in that game. It was too small a sample size from which to draw any sort of inference.Kallis, though, wants to continue playing 50-over cricket for South Africa till next year’s World Cup, and a lot of people will infer a lot of things from what he does in this T20 league. He made as good a first impression as he could have hoped to, in the opening match of the tournament between Kolkata and Mumbai.He took a while to get going, although that was more a result of how little of the strike he had. Having been in from the start of Kolkata’s innings, Kallis was on 8 off 9 balls at the start of the eighth over. Gautam Gambhir had made an eight-ball duck and Manish Pandey was batting on 26 off 25. Whenever Kallis had got on strike, he had got off it in a jiffy, usually courtesy a dab to third man.Over the following few overs, Kallis’ timing looked a little off against the spinners, whom he tried to sweep and dab either side of the pitch with mixed results. In the 13th over, instinct kicked in, and Kallis connected sweetly with a pull off a short ball from Lasith Malinga that rose sharply off a pitch that offered just enough bounce to keep batsmen on their guard.That shot seemed to turn on some sort of switch in Kallis, and his movements at the crease began looking surer. After he had been gifted a life by Malinga at short fine leg, Kallis went after Pragyan Ojha, clouting him over cover for four before hitting two typically muscular sixes.Having been on 35 off 32 balls after the dropped catch, Kallis went on to score 37 off his next 15. It was precisely the sort of performance that Kolkata would have hoped he was still capable of when they used a right-to-match card to buy him back at the pre-season auction.”We know that if Jacques stays there for a few overs, he will give us the platform we need for players like Yusuf [Pathan] and Robin [Uthappa] and Shakib [Al Hasan], and that’s what Jacques did,” Kolkata captain Gambhir said. “The good thing was that he did well and capitalised even at the end. It wasn’t just about batting till the 15th over. He was aggressive as well. His job is that if I get out early, he has to bat till the 15th over. Pretty happy with the way he batted. He was very solid. So hopefully he can continue throughout the tournament.”

Actors, pop stars, business tycoons and politicians have been attracted to cricket over the years

Ashley Mallett16-Aug-2014Sir Oliver Popplewell QC was used to pomp and ceremony and a sense of order in any gathering he had occasion to grace. And so it came as a bit of a shock when in 1975, Australian cricketer Ross Edwards heard his learned friend bellow across a crowded room where people stood in groups at the Royal Commonwealth Society cocktail party at the Commonwealth Club in London: “Good Lord, Edwards, who is that crashing bore smoking a pipe?”Ever the diplomat, Edwards a splendid batsman and exceptional cover fieldsman, came to my rescue in record time:”Oh, that’s our offspinner, Sir Oliver. Not to worry. He’s harmless.””Hmm,” the noted QC mused, “My dear Edwards, no one who smokes a pipe in a crowded room is harmless.”Sir Oliver was either a masochist or intrigued by my performance that evening for a couple of days later he invited me, along with Edwards, to his London home for a drink and a meal. When it came to cricket, Popplewell knew his onions. From 1949 to 1951, he played first-class cricket for Cambridge University. A wicketkeeper-batsman, he scored 881 runs at an average of 20.46 including two half-centuries.I accompanied Edwards to the Popplewell home, where during the course of the evening Sir Oliver brought in a tall, shy young man, sporting a huge mop of hair worn in the manner of an English schoolboy, plump face with ruddy cheeks, to meet us.It apparently was an important meeting for the 17-year-old Stephen Fry as, according to his photographic memory, I supposedly told him something that must have had some sort of profound effect on him for he mentioned the incident in his stirring, if irreverent, autobiography .

The Popplewells had two of the Australian Test side staying with them, Ross Edwards and Ashley Mallett, whom I met in a lather of dripping excitement: cricket by now had entered my soul for keeps. Ashley Mallett told me something that I did not want to believe, something that troubled me deeply. He told me that professional cricket was ultimately hell, because the pain of losing a match was more intense than the joy of winning one.Edwards disagreed with him, but Mallett stuck fast to his belief. It was, as I see it now, simply a personal difference of outlook between the two of them, but to me it was fundamental. One of them must be right and the other must be wrong. Was the pain of failing a deeper feeling than the joy of success? If so, Robert Browning and Andrea del Sarto were wrong: a man’s reach exceeding his grasp did not justify heaven, it vindicated hell.”

I cannot recall the quote and the time spent at the Popplewells and indeed meeting the young Fry is a little foggy in the memory. And as I dig deep into my subconscious I cannot fathom how I might have made the remark about losing matches. I would like to think that I liked winning and hated losing. Maybe I stressed how distasteful a loss could be compared to the joy of a win. At least I am convinced that one learns more from a loss than a win, and that is demonstrably true in life generally.Throughout the history of international cricket a variety of celebrities – royalty, actors, pop stars, business tycoons and politicians – have been attracted to cricket and its top players. In 1972, Australian actor Ed Devereaux, who starred in that old TV favourite , sat with the Test team at Lord’s.

Despite the riches of today’s cricket, I have yet to meet a player of my era who wasn’t grateful, indeed glad, that he represented his country at the time he played

In the evening Devereaux used to have a pint with us in the front bar of the Waldorf Hotel in Aldwych. Often during our 1972 tour, Mick Jagger, a self-confessed cricket tragic, would join our happy group for a drink.Here we were, a bunch of poverty-stricken Australian Test cricketers, rubbing shoulders with the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, who by that time was already rich beyond our imagination. But despite the riches of today’s cricket, I have yet to meet a player of my era who wasn’t grateful, indeed glad, that he represented his country at the time he played.In 1980 we attended a grand dinner in London and the Australian team was being introduced in alphabetical order. Dennis Lillee was next man up at one point, but he was seen in earnest conversation with Sir Harry Secombe, the super singer, actor, author and comedian. In keeping with his immortal performance as Neddie Seagoon in , Sir Harry was joyously “taken” with Lillee’s suggestion that Sir Harry walk on stage when Lillee’s name was called. Giggling loudly, Secombe did just that, bringing down the house.During a lunch-time meal in a crowded Cape Town restaurant in 1970, I set eyes on the great English actor Trevor Howard engaged in conversation with two people while enjoying a good Stellenbosch red. I introduced myself and learnt that Howard was in town “coincidentally at the very time a Test match is about to start”.It was, in fact, our first Test against South Africa, the first of four scheduled for a series that was destined to become the last for South Africa before more than 20 years. “You know,” said Howard, “it is an integral part of any film contract I sign that there is included a clause which makes it perfectly clear that I am excused from work whenever a Test match is being staged.”Famously, the author of , Sir James Barrie, also loved the game of cricket. In 1934, Arthur Mailey, formerly a splendid legspinner for Australia, then a press man, invited one of the Australian tourists to England, Bill O’Reilly to accompany him to Sir James’ flat in Adelphi Terrace, overlooking Pall Mall. Apart from Mailey and O’Reilly, Bill’s Test team-mates Hans Ebeling, Alan Kippax and Stan McCabe were also present.Mick Jagger at the Oval Test in 1972•Getty ImagesIt was not until the early 1990s that O’Reilly wrote the foreword to my book about his old spinning mate Clarrie Grimmett. O’Reilly’s foreword was one of the last pieces of writing Bill undertook. Bundled up together with the foreword was a written description of his dinner that night in 1934 with Barrie.

“Slow bowling was my forte,’ Barrie said quietly and between puffs of smoke which emanated from a black-stemmed pipe, billowing up ominously behind his rather untidy drooping black moustache, he continued his discourse.’I am, perhaps, the slowest bowler there has ever been. I’d rush up to bowl, release and then if I didn’t like the look of my delivery I would hasten down the pitch and retrieve the ball before it had a chance to land or be smitten for four or worse.’Noting my look of incredulity, Barrie proceeded to give his audience an example of his style.”Bowling one day on my home ground in Kent I launched my customary leg-break and on examining it critically, I was compelled to cry out, ‘My God he’s out!'”I was so delighted I retreated behind my bowling mark and sat cross-legged under the shade of a plum tree and as I sat in the shade the ball twirled down the wicket in the late afternoon sunlight, evaded the outside edge of the bat and leant up against the off-stump, gently removing just one bail.”

There are times in your life when you really put your foot in it. In 1980 the Australian team made a brief tour of England for the Centenary Test. There were a couple of lead-up games and one was against Hampshire in Southampton. First day saw Lillee and Len Pascoe demolish Hampshire for just over 100. That evening at a local pub the players gathered and I found myself at the bar, chatting to a bloke waiting for his order.”Did you see much of the game today?” he asked.”Yes, I did. I wasn’t in the side today but I watched it all.””I guess you were disappointed with the Hampshire batting?””Indeed. Hampshire batted badly, but nowhere near as bad as the bloke who batted three. It is one thing to get a duck, but to have hung around for that long, playing and missing, mistiming and generally boring everyone at the ground was dreadful. The longer he batted the worse he got. Poor fellow. No future at all.”There was a pause before I asked: “Did you go to the game.””Yes,” he said with a wry grin, “I batted number three.”The man was none other than the one who was destined to become the smoothest among all of the modern television cricketer-presenters and commentators, Mark Nicholas.Late in my career – it must have been in the last days of the 1981 summer – when, as a member of the South Australia cricket team travelling from Adelaide to Perth on an Ansett Airlines 737, I discovered that Elton John was sitting in business class. Elton and his band were on their way to a concert in Perth and he passed his personal autograph book back to where our team had gathered.We all signed Elton’s book and I added my forgery of Ian Chappell, who by the summer of 1980-81 had retired and was living in Sydney. A few minutes later passengers were startled when Elton John stood at his seat and said in a loud voice: “Who signed Ian Chappell?””C’mon, own up, I know it is a forgery because I saw Chappelli at Sydney Airport and I know he didn’t get on this plane.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cricket’s most evocative, vulnerable and downright thrilling exponents of the non-shot

Phil Walker06-Dec-201410
Gower’s farewell
The leave alone. An . Who and what you are. David Gower’s leave, as with his game, an extension of himself. There he’d stay, leg side, left field, those blue-stockinged feet languidly non-committal, the ball a weekend rendezvous to be ushered goodbye with a shrug on the platform. But there was poignancy, too, in Goldenhare’s story; in a Test match against Pakistan he left alone a moment too late, both times disturbing his stumps from the inside edge. And in his final Test innings, the leave betrayed him one last time, Waqar Younis pickpocketing his off-bail with barely a soul noticing what had happened… even in death there was grace.9
Close’s chest pass
More of a “go to” than a “leave alone”, but then that was Brian Close: balding, 40-something and helmetless, recalled to face the Babylonian fire of Holding and Roberts in ’76, and wearing them time after time flush on the chest. The only surprise was that he didn’t trap it and volley it on the bounce straight back from whence it came.8
Ponting’s lunge
Throughout the last decade, nothing said “580 for 4 dec” quite like the Punter mega-lunge on a crisp Australian morning. England will have just nipped out one of the lefties (they can’t both smash it every time) to be met by No. 3 sashaying across the turf. Get him early, lads; . The first ball is a pearler: up there, seaming, rising steeply. . And he’s seen it, and the front foot’s advancing, and it keeps on coming, hamstrings in peril, and he’s low, weight bent over front knee (on guard!) and the arms are up in supplication, and the hands are clasped high above the head, a world champion in laurels, and the ball’s an irrelevance now, a piffling pie, and though he’s not yet played a shot, you know, you just , how many there are to come.7
Bell’s trainspotter
The Duke sees it early. Conceives the shot in his beautiful red mind. It’s wide, down that corridor where he used to prod. It’s there to cut, just behind point. Crouches into position. Prepares for execution. But experience speaks. Taught him much. He lets it go past, watching it go tracing its path all the way to the keeper, like a trainspotter marking a passing locomotive. Releasing himself from the pose a few seconds later, he plays that cut shot, dabbing down on thin air. I could’ve, he says. If I’d wanted to. Next time, next time.6
Smith’s one-hander
Robin Smith. Goggle-eyed, shadow batting through the gears, bobbing and weaving like an unbeaten middleweight, offering out the quickest they’ve got and all before he’s faced a ball. The Judge liked getting hit, it got him going. At Barbados in 1990, Courtney Walsh went after him. Smith was hit in the face, his jaw busted. The next ball, the last before tea, is another headbanger. Smith jackrabbits backwards, bent double on his haunches, before tucking his bat away and giving Walsh the thumbs up. Even his trademark leave was dramatic, involving the dominant top hand wresting the blade from the bottom hand in the heroic last-ditch act of yanking it out of the road.Pup held the pose for an hour or so after this Jones special•Getty Images5
Tresco’s lineman
The leave as respectful a nod to gentlemanly manners. Unshowy, technically clever and totally in keeping with the man. Not so much a leave as a deliberate play and miss, Marcus Trescothick, a leftie, figured that by playing inside the line of the angled delivery and refusing to follow it, he eliminated the chances of being bowled or nicking off, all the while dangling the false hope of a moral victory to the gently steaming bowler. Canny.4
KP’s windscreen wiper

Everything with Kev is done for effect. He has two leaves, both very much him. For the first example, refer back to Ponting’s power-drunk lunge; for the second, imagine a man using his bat to imitate a windscreen wiper by pulling his evading hands his body. It’s broadly unnecessary but noteworthy nonetheless; and that’s Pietersen for you. It infers to the bowler and his adoring millions that he’s undertaken full analysis of every miniscule variance of the delivery in question, considering its potency, weighing his chances, pondering the morsel, before finally, cutely, pulling out with absolute conviction. It could be saying: Well bowled! It’s actually saying: I’ll have you.3
Read’s misread
Plenty have done it. It’s not uncommon to misread the slower ball and get duped into thinking it’s a beamer when in fact it’s a floaty bomb destined for the bootlaces. But few could ever have looked so startled, so bewildered, so utterly lost, as Chris Read did in just his second Test innings. It was 1999. England were the wrong side of ordinary. Chris Cairns was in his pomp. The boy was on nought at Lord’s when a looping bundle of deceit dropped out of the air and through Read’s legs as he cowered for cover. The outstretched arms that followed and incredulous look on his face were almost too sad for words. Not that there was much sympathy going round at the time. Only when Graham Thorpe did the same thing against a Courtney Walsh slowie a year later did Read get to breathe again.2
Courtney’s businessman

Talking of which, the Richard Pryor of tailenders was without doubt the funniest batsman to ever play the game. With exaggerated swagger in direct inversion of his own electrifying crapness, here was a strutting octopus of a No. 11, all bulging eyes, alien-hand syndrome and inexplicable legs, topped off with a hammy leave-alone that in one motion somehow evoked an adulterous businessman briskly walking down the garden path, head in the air, folding his newspaper-bat primly under his arm as he goes. Nothing to see here, old boy! Now get back to your mark!1
Clarke’s pose
Every Englishman’s favourite leave belongs of course to Michael Clarke. Yep, it’s 2005 again, and the peroxide hedgehog’s epic refusal to recognise Simon Jones’ banana ball. Technically, the leave was flawless: perfect transference of weight, high hands, head down, full stride out to the ball. Obligingly, Clarke held the pose for an hour or so afterwards, every ticking second accentuating the technical perfection of the non-shot. And that takes class. class.

Records from the World Cup so far, and players who have represented two countries in the competition

Steven Lynch24-Feb-2015New Zealand beat England with 37.4 overs to spare in Wellington. Is that the worst defeat for a Test nation? asked Paul Henderson from Australia

Rather surprisingly perhaps, that defeat with 226 deliveries unused only equalled England’s worst thrashing by this yardstick in one-day internationals – in the first final of the Australian tri-series in January 2003 in Sydney, Australia bowled England out for 118 and then knocked off the runs in 12.2 overs, with Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden doing the damage. James Anderson probably won’t want to be reminded that he played in that one too. There have been 16 instances of the side batting second passing their target with more balls remaining, two of them dating from the days of 60-over innings. One of those provided the biggest margin of all: during the 1979 World Cup at Old Trafford England shot Canada out for 45, and completed the victory in 13.5 overs, with 46.1 – or 277 balls – to spare. In second place, and the biggest margin for a 50-over match, is Sri Lanka’s demolition of Zimbabwe in Colombo in December 2001: they polished off a puny target of 39 in just 4.2 of their allotted 50 overs, so had 276 deliveries to spare. That match lasted only 20 overs in all (120 balls), and remains the shortest completed one-day international. The World Cup record for balls remaining is also held by Sri Lanka, who had 272 in hand in beating Canada in Paarl in 2003. For the full list, click here.Still recovering from Tim Southee’s bowling spell at the Cake Tin. Were they New Zealand’s best figures in ODIs? And the best in the World Cup? asked Tim Broughton from New Zealand

Tim Southee’s 7 for 33 against England in Wellington was the best analysis for New Zealand in all one-day internationals, beating Shane Bond’s 6 for 19 against India in Bulawayo in August 2005. Bond also had their previous-best World Cup figures, 6 for 23 against Australia in Port Elizabeth in March 2003. Southee was only the fourth bowler to take seven wickets in a World Cup innings, following Winston Davis (7 for 51 for West Indies against Australia at Headingley in 1983), Glenn McGrath (7 for 15 for Australia v Namibia in Potchefstroom in 2003) and Andy Bichel (7 for 20 for Australia v England in Port Elizabeth in 2003). For the full list, click here.Whose record did Brendon McCullum break for the fastest World Cup fifty? And who’s the fastest in all ODIs? asked Matthew Bennett

Brendon McCullum zoomed to his half-century against England in Wellington in just 18 balls, two faster than the existing World Cup record, set by … Brendon McCullum, against Canada in St Lucia in 2007. There have been only two quicker half-centuries in all ODIs: Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya got there in 17 balls against Pakistan in Singapore in 1995-96, while AB de Villiers – on his way to what became the fastest one-day hundred – scorched to 50 from just 16 deliveries for South Africa against West Indies in Johannesburg in January. There have been five other 18-ball half-centuries in ODIs, three of them by Shahid Afridi. For the full list, click here.Pakistan were reduced to 1 for 4 against West Indies. Has there been a worse start in international cricket? asked Henry Clarke from England

During their World Cup match against West Indies in Christchurch, Pakistan became the first side to lose their fourth wicket for one run in any one-day international. The previous-worst start was 4 for 4, by Canada against Zimbabwe in Port-of-Spain in March 2006. There have been three instances of 4 for 5, including a famous one in the 2003 World Cup, when Chaminda Vaas of Sri Lanka reduced Bangladesh to that by the end of the first over of the match in Pietermaritzburg. Vaas started with a hat-trick, but there was a four and a wide before another wicket went down to the fifth legitimate ball. The only worse start in all international cricket was made by India in a Test against England at Headingley in 1952, when they slumped to 0 for 4, three of the wickets going to the young Fred Trueman.Who’s the tallest player to appear in the World Cup? asked Brijesh Kumar from India

This record changed hands during the current tournament, when Mohammad Irfan took the field for Pakistan against India in Adelaide. Most reports give Irfan’s height as 7ft 1in (216cm), and although that has seemingly never been officially confirmed it’s safe to assume that he’s taller than the previous record-holders, who all measured in at 6ft 8in (203cm). They were Joel Garner, who took five wickets as West Indies won the 1979 final, Australia’s Bruce Reid, who was on the winning team in 1987, and (according to some reports) Boyd Rankin – who played for Ireland in the 2007 and 2011 tournaments before transferring his allegiance to England.Is Eoin Morgan the only man to play for two different countries at the World Cup? asked Ruvith de Kretser from Australia

Eoin Morgan played for Ireland in 2007, but England in 2011 and (as captain) in 2015. Someone who has done something very similar, but in reverse, is Ed Joyce: born in Dublin, like Morgan, he was in England colours in 2007, but played for Ireland in 2011 and 2015. Two other players have represented two different countries in the World Cup. Kepler Wessels played for Australia in 1983, and captained South Africa in 1992, while the Barbadian fast bowler Anderson Cummins played for West Indies in 1992, and reappeared for Canada in the West Indies in 2007, by which time he was 40.

Stats highlights from the third ODI between West Indies and South Africa in East London

Bishen Jeswant22-Jan-20159 Number of wickets by which South Africa won this ODI, their biggest margin of victory against West Indies when chasing. South Africa have won five ODIs by a margin of eight wickets against West Indies.152 Balls remaining in South Africa’s innings when they achieved victory, in the 25th over of their chase, the most for them against West Indies and the third-most against a top-eight side. South Africa had never previously beaten West Indies with more than 50 balls to spare.151 Wickets taken by Dale Steyn in ODIs, making him the seventh South African bowler to reach the 150-wicket mark. His fast-bowling partner Morkel also has exactly 151 wickets. Morkel reached this mark in the previous ODI of this series, his 89th match. Steyn needed 96 matches.122 The score for which West Indies were bowled out, their second-lowest against South Africa. The only time they were bowled out for fewer was in 2004, when they folded for 54 in Cape Town.4-28 Imran Tahir’s figures in this game, his best in ODIs. It was also the sixth-best bowling performance by a South African spinner in ODIs.124 Runs scored by South Africa to win this ODI, the fourth-lowest in an ODI innings including individual fifties by two batsmen. Hashim Amla (61) and Faf du Plessis (51) made fifties in this game. The lowest such score is 113, also by South Africa, when AB de Villiers (50) and Graeme Smith (56) made half-centuries in an easy win against Pakistan in 2007.7 Number of bowlers used by West Indies to bowl 24.4 overs, the fewest in an uninterrupted ODI between two top-eight teams. The only other instance where seven or more bowlers bowled fewer overs in any ODI was when Netherlands used seven bowlers to send down 20.3 overs against Ireland in 2010.