How Virender Sehwag repeatedly peppered the off side en route to his unbeaten 96

On the ball with S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan15-Jan-2006On the first day of the Test, Younis Khan had showed just how much he loves stroking the ball through the off side. Today, it was Virender Sehwag’s turn to become off-side king, and the Pakistan bowlers’ turn to suffer. The wagon-wheel shows just how unstoppable Sehwag was on that side of the wicket, getting 74% of his runs there.The feature of his innings was the ease with which he peppered the boundary boards on the off – 15 of his 20 fours came in that region, from upper-cuts to third man, glides and square-drives through backward point, and crunching drives through cover.Shoaib did bother him occasionally with short balls aimed at the body, but even against him, Sehwag scored a run-a-ball 19. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan vanished for 41 from 34, while Mohammad Sami conceded 27 from 24. And though Sehwag carved the bowling, he was also selective in his strokeplay: the 29 short balls were dispatched for 38 runs, but he didn’t venture to attack the seven bouncers that were bowled to him.

New Zealand’s year got off to a false start with the postponement of the Sri Lankan tour following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami

Dylan Cleaver02-Jan-2006

New Zealand’s year got off to a false start with the postponement of the Sri Lankan tour following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that struck in late December. Some would argue it never really got started at all.Certainly Australia caught New Zealand sleeping when they toured in February and March. They whitewashed New Zealand 5-0 in the one-day internationals and would have done the same in the Tests if Wellington hadn’t been enveloped in a shroud of fog, allowing the home side to escape with a draw in the second test.The worst thing was that despite New Zealand’s ongoing protestations that any team would suffer against the No 1 side in the world, it was clear that several of the Australian squad were woefully out of form themselves, a fact that would become manifestly clear just a couple of months later.While the cricketing world became enthralled in the Ashes, New Zealand prepared for the flak it would receive, mainly internally, for its scheduled tour of Zimbabwe. Martin Snedden, New Zealand Cricket’s chief executive, was intractable in his belief the tour must go on. The players all fell into line, despite the wishes of the government. But the Labour-led coalition put a spanner into New Zealand Cricket’s working by denying the Zimbabweans visas for the return tour set down for early 2006.Snedden reacted with disappointment, believing the decision severely effected New Zealand’s chances of winning joint-hosting rights for the 2011 World Cup. The tour to Zimbabwe was nothing much to write home about. In fact, with just two news reporters covering the tour, one of whom found himself in a Zimbabwean jail at one point, there was very little writing home at all.Shane Bond made his comeback and New Zealand won a low-key tri-series involving the home team and India. New Zealand also won the Test series 2-0, with the standard of cricket from Zimbabwe just plain embarrassing.Buoyed, New Zealand set off for South Africa after a brief return home. Chris Cairns found himself on the outer, much to the shock of many. The decision, though probably warranted, backfired when Scott Styris and Jacob Oram had their tours badly affected by injury. New Zealand lost 4-0 during an ill-tempered series and questions started being asked about the selection methods of John Bracewell.Stephen Fleming, the captain, returned home and promptly had a benign tumour removed from his neck. He persevered with the tried and true, but found his experienced campaigners like Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan had lost the `pop’ in their bats. An inexperienced Australia team became the first holders of the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, despite New Zealand mounting a successful world-record chase in the third match.As New Zealand prepares to face Sri Lanka in the four matches it lost at the start of the year, they do so with a new face, Jamie How, an almost new face, Peter Fulton, and sans Astle and McMillan.Rising star – Hamish Marshall was a revelation when Australia toured New Zealand at the beginning of 2005, scoring a magnificent century at Jade Stadium and repeating the dose against Sri Lanka at Napier.Fading star – Marshall again. He has fallen as quickly as he rose, failing miserably on the tour to Zimbabwe, the tour to South Africa, the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy and the early rounds of the State Championship. Surely his star must rise again.High point – Chasing down 322 to beat Australia in the third Chappell-Hadlee trophy match. Shame the second one just got away.Low point – The tour to Zimbabwe. Bad cricket; an even worse situation.What does 2006 hold – A relatively quiet cricket year, but an important one. The core of a relatively successful team is showing signs of creaking. Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan have just been dropped, while Chris Cairns suffered a similar fate before fighting his way back in recently.

On the field, Mashrafe Mortaza performs one of the most thankless jobs in cricket: spearhead the fast bowling attack of a subcontinent team

Sidharth Monga in Chittagong18-May-2007

There’s a mad man loose at the Bangladesh nets. It has been raining incessantly in Chittagong; the third one-dayer between Bangladesh and India looks improbable, and the players have moved to the indoor facility. Mashrafe Mortaza spots a mini football and wants to dribble past his friend Abdur Razzak. Next, he wants to keep heading it forever – cap in one hand, the other gesturing towards the forehead, as though saying “I have magic there, I can make it talk with my head”. He wants Syed Rasel to bowl him bouncers with that ball and he hooks them. He wants to beat up Rasel and chases him all over the nets. He aims with the ball from one end and hits Rasel smack in the head. All the while his face, his hands and legs keep moving, expressing, telling the story. This isn’t body language, more a conference of polyglots.On the field, Mortaza performs one of the most thankless jobs in cricket: spearhead the fast bowling attack of a subcontinent team. He does that remarkably well. Only a few days ago, he had missed a match because of injury. On his comeback, the first ball flew at 86mph.Where does he get all this energy from? “I think I am strong,” he says with a confidence that in anyone else would have sounded arrogant. Mortaza’s strength comes from his first love: the river Chitra, which flows just opposite his house in Narail. “I loved swimming from childhood; I’d swim, with friends or kids tied to my back, from noon to 3 pm or so.” He also had a penchant for climbing coconut trees; on his wedding day last September, one of his guests joked that there were no coconuts. Mortaza made for the nearest tree in a flash; it took a lot of effort to keep him down. Anyway, he swam in the Chitra that night.His team-mates and friends call him , an affectionate term loosely translated as madman. “Maybe I am a bit like that”, he acknowledges. When he was young – he’s 23 now – he was a veritable circus on the road. “I did a lot of tricks with my bike.” When he was younger still, he would jump 20 feet off a bridge and on to moving trucks. “I used to do it everyday. Not now,” he says. “I have stopped the bike antics too. My father doesn’t like it. He thinks as a player I shouldn’t be doing all this.”Mortaza was so in love with Narail that he didn’t like travelling. At the age of 17, a grand-uncle who was a coach at Dhaka’s Mohammedan Sporting club, asked Mortaza to join the team, which was short of players, for a match about an hour’s journey from Narail. He agreed only after his grandmother convinced him, and took six wickets against Kashim City. He returned, but the bug had bitten; soon he was bound for the under-17 zonal camp, where he was picked by Malcolm Pareira for a tour of Sri Lanka; then to the under-19 side, and finally the national side. All this, and stints with Andy Roberts too.The lows are as clear in his mind as the highs. Mortaza remembers the worst day of his career. “Once Zimbabwe [at Harare last August] needed 17 runs off the last over.” He looks down, smiles, and says, “I gave them. That was the worst day for me.” The simplicity conveys the anguish.Dav Whatmore, the coach, was good support then. “He said, ‘When you wake up the next day, it will be hard for you. But don’t worry, just keep working.'” A day later, Mortaza was heard telling a friend, “This will never happen to me again. Even if I try to do it, this will never happen.”He remembers when he dropped Ricky Ponting in the Fatullah Test last year, a catch which, if taken, might well have caused the biggest upset in cricket history. “There was a breeze, and I was three seconds late.” It plays on his mind whenever they are close to winning an important match.He fondly remembers his Man-of-the-Match performance against India at the World Cup, and also Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket at Chittagong in 2004-05. He has seen and felt the change of the other teams’ attitude towards Bangladesh. “They used to ignore us earlier. They would think, ‘Bangladesh is coming; we will win easily.’ Nowadays, they cannot afford to do this,” he says. “It used to hurt a lot.”But it was nice”, he adds wryly, “to see India celebrate so much after beating us.”
At 23, he has seen a lot of cricket, has travelled the world, yet he still misses the good life of Narail. “I miss everything. Friends, family,” he says, sounding like a 17-year-old on his first tour. “But as a professional cricketer, you have to do all this.” All of a sudden the country’s leading paceman takes over. In three seconds, his face has changed from a child’s to that of a grown-up.Mortaza is, if possible, a wise mad man. Part of the maturity stems from a long list of injuries and operations – three operations on his left knee, one on the right, many stress fractures of his back, shoulder problems and two torn ankle ligaments. He has spent agonising days in hospitals – injury after injury, operation after operation. He recently lost Manjural Islam Rana, his close friend and team-mate, in a motor accident.Most significantly, Mortaza has started to realise his responsibility as Bangladesh’s leading pace bowler. He has become more measured. That shows in his bowling. “I love bowling fast but in the past two years I haven’t been bowling really fast,” he says. “I am getting fit and back. I think I can bowl really fast now but I like to bowl in the right areas. [Glenn] McGrath, [Brett] Lee, everyone told me I should bowl in the right areas.” He also believes he has the ability to raise his speed whenever he wants to. He has started to read the batsmen and started to work them out. “This is an aspect I have improved a lot in. I like to read a batsman.”His goal is to become one of the world’s top-10 bowlers in Tests. In one-dayers too, but Tests especially. “Test match is the real cricket.” He has started taking his batting seriously. “The coach tells me I can be a good batsman.” Dinesh Mongia will testify to that.On an average, he goes back home once about two months. “I love the river. I like sitting there and chatting with my friends. Even if I am not swimming, I like to just sit there.”Mortaza has changed. There’s a price he is paying. “I can’t injure myself anymore.”

Mark Haysman stressfractured his back at 19 to end his Aussie Rules career, joined a bank for four years and came back to senses, and there was cricket to fall seamlessly back on

Robert Houwing06-Sep-2006

Mike Haysman © TWC (SA)
He’s based in the “Big Smoke” and there’s fire in his broadcasting belly. He loves South Africa and sports a blond mop more striking than Spook Hanley’s. Only he’s from Adelaide – not the Eastern Cape one, eitherIt might have been left to someone other than Michael Donald Haysman to become arguably South Africa’s most prolific and recognisable English-language television cricket commentator and studio anchor.’Haysie’, you see, almost went the orthodox family route and made a career of banking back in South Australia. “My dad was a bank manager. My mother was in the bank. My eldest sister, Sue, was in the bank. My younger sister, Beth, was in the bank. One of my sisters’ husbands was in the bank. It was a banking disaster, really. I was in the bank, too, for about four years … then I came to my senses,” says the now 45-year-old.Haysman was a budding Aussie Rules player, into the career-options bargain: “It was my first sporting love; I was probably more talented as a footballer. Then I got a stress fracture of the back, aged about 19, and that put paid to that.”But there was cricket to fall seamlessly back on. “I got a scholarship, one awarded regularly in those days to the four most talented young players in Australia; they got an opportunity to sample county cricket. It was myself, Merv Hughes, Robbie Kerr … um, um … I’ll think of the other. Anyway, it looked a slightly more exciting prospect than banking, so off I went [to Leicestershire – ed].”For all his ‘Rules’ prowess, Haysman’s cricketing aptitude had already been evident for many years: “I remember being absolutely distraught, at 12, missing out on the South Australian primary schools team, so I must have been going pretty okay at the game even at that stage.”He was playing Grade cricket in Adelaide by 16, and three years later had advanced to 12th man for South Australia in a one-day game after a double hundred in Colts cricket. “I was lucky enough to be a member of a club the two Chappells were at – and I was coached by Ian and Greg’s father.”Haysman went on to make his Sheffield Shield debut against Queensland in the 1982-83 summer; the gap was created by David Hookes being called up to the national side and the replacement cashed in with 126 to announce himself loudly on the first-class stage. “The South Australia team I came into was remarkable … Rick Darling, Wayne Phillips, John Inverarity, Peter Sleep, Joel Garner, Rodney Hogg, Glenn Bishop, Andrew Hilditch … all very decent names, international names. I had five years with them before I came on the rebel visit to South Africa.”He didn’t know it in the mid-1980s, but a collection of influences on these shores – in no particular order cricketing, commercial, media and affairs of the heart – would lead to Haysman never returning permanently to his Aussie roots after the rebel venture.Today, he travels the world from his Sandton home as a SuperSport television commentator (most commonly to places where the Proteas are to do battle) and, even if his rat-a-tat-tat relish in the ‘booth’ is apparently an acquired cup of rooibos to some, he is rightly lauded in his role as an inquiring host of the consistently topical, refreshingly non-fawning weekly studio show Extra Cover.South Africa, though, cannot take the credit for getting his broadcasting juices flowing: “I first harboured thoughts of it when I was about 10 … maybe 12. I remember specifically sitting at my grandma’s place one day watching the Channel 9 presentation of a game and thinking it was something I’d like to do one day. I got my gap when Australia toured here in 1994 and my knowledge of the Aussie team was called upon; I got a call out of the blue from the SABC and had to go to Bloemfontein for a domestic one-day game as a trial run of sorts. It worked out nicely and I had three years with the SABC before moving over to SuperSport.”I wasn’t the pioneer of Extra Cover but was very involved in the early days, with the production company, Trademark, and almost 460 shows later we have pretty much the same team … I came up with the name, of which I’m quite proud, and was co-anchor for the first year with Darren Scott. He was terrific in his encouragement and advice, kind of getting me on track from my ‘nowhere’ position in broadcasting, really.”It ought to be apparent to most people that Haysman puts genuine energy into the show – including in the lead-up to its airing every Tuesday. “I consider myself one of the luckiest people around; that what I do for a living, commentating and studio presenting, is a hobby – something I don’t consider work. It’s a privilege, so I make it my duty to do those jobs the best I possibly can.”You’ve simply got to keep your finger on the pulse; I’ll spend two or three hours a day just researching things, and I do articles for the SuperSport Zone, too. Extra Cover alone requires a lot of planning, just to get the right mix on a 60-minute show. I make sure I capture ‘stings’ for the show – amusing or controversial moments – like Andrew Hall’s peculiar wide this morning (we are talking during the SA v NZ Wanderers Test – ed) that nearly broke his own toe … 10.44am, fifth of the fifth; there, that’s in the bag. Then I’ll sit down on Monday morning and edit it.” Sir Donald used to scribble advice to me on bits of paper … I must have been delivered about a dozen of those tatty sheets. And I didn’t keep ’em! Silly …It seems a pertinent time to ask Haysman about the degree of independence of SuperSport’s commentators, in the light of “sweetheart commentary” charges made recently in India by former England captain Mike Atherton. Atherton alleged that India’s cricket governing body, the BCCI, treated Nimbus, the production company to whom they sold the television rights for England’s visit, “like an in-house production company … Nimbus are petrified of upsetting their ’employer’ for fear of not getting any future rights, so any criticism (in commentary) of the BCCI is strictly frowned upon”.Haysman insists the situation locally remains a healthily autonomous one; no United Cricket Board interference. “We are at all times, in fact, encouraged to be honest and direct in our views. We are chosen as commentators for particular series because SuperSport see us as the right mix; different viewpoints are actively encouraged. I think if we’re not doing that we’re doing an injustice to the profession.”Mike Haysman earned his ticket to join Kim Hughes’s controversial touring side to South Africa partly on the strength of the “next Bradman” hype surrounding him – a compliment-cum-curse attached, it must be said, to several Australian batsmen both before and after Haysman. How comfortably did the tag sit with him? “You know, it’s quite an amazing thing, when I started playing with South Australia … to this day I kick myself that I didn’t keep these things: Sir Donald was on the SACA committee and for some reason he liked the way I played.”He used to scribble advice on little, scrappy bits of paper … ‘Mike, I think you should pick your bat up earlier’ or ‘don’t look to get forward as much as you do’. I guess I must have been delivered about a dozen of those tatty little sheets. And I didn’t keep ’em! Silly …” Haysman was in his mid-20s when he received the fateful – for various reasons, not least of which the influence it would have on where he would ultimately settle – invitation to come to South Africa with the ‘Australian XI’.”I’ll remember receiving that offer until the day I die. I was at a friend’s place; it was about 10 o’clock one night in Adelaide. There had been some media speculation I’d be invited, so when the call came from Dr Ali Bacher I was absolutely convinced it was one of my other mates taking the mickey – for solidly 10 minutes I told the real Dr Bacher in no uncertain terms where to get off!”It wasn’t until the pretty earnest ‘Michael, this really is Dr Ali Bacher here; please listen to me carefully’ that I twigged it was no hoax. I had to fly to Melbourne the following day to meet with attorneys.”There’s another odd little reason I remember that whole build-up period so well: just prior to being approached, while I was still on the staff at Leicestershire, we played at Lord’s and I was 12th man – I didn’t play too often because Andy Roberts was the other overseas pro on the books – and I ‘souvenired’, if that’s the right word, a Lord’s ashtray: it took pride of place in my Adelaide flat. I wasn’t a smoker … then.”When the (rebel tour) call came from Dr Ali Bacher I was convinced it was one of my mates taking the mickey – for solidly 10 minutes I told the real Dr Bacher where to get off!””But when I got back from that meeting with lawyers, having signed the rebel deal and so on, I walked in and made myself a cup of coffee in the microwave; not something I would normally do. As I opened the microwave door I knocked that Lord’s ashtray into a thousand pieces on the floor … I thought it a prophetic sign, maybe, that I’d shunned [the cricketing establishment].”The still relatively youthful Haysman was probably the Australian cricketer with the most to lose from accepting the South African lucre. “Just prior to my being approached, the Ashes side was selected to go to England in ’85; I’d been tipped by the scribes to be the ‘young player’ in the party, if you like. But I was not named in that squad or even the Young Australia side, the U25s, to go to Zimbabwe, and I was pretty devastated. It was impossible not to feel snubbed by Australian cricket.”I will never deny that the South African money was an attraction – but then so was the very opportunity to pit my skills against the South African players of the time.”Did Haysman encounter much domestic ostracism for his decision to come? “I arrived back at the sports shop I was working in after a supper break one night, and about 50 protesters were suddenly outside with placards, having a full go at me. In the end I lost that job … inevitable, I guess. I also had a guy walk up in Adelaide and spit on me; not enormously pleasant.”For all the diverse emotions generated by rebel tours, few could deny that the Kim Hughes-led Australian visits in successive summers provided some enthralling cricket at times; Haysman readily agrees. “South Africa certainly played better; we were outplayed in score-line terms but I think everyone who participated would concur that there was some genuinely intense cricket. You had some world-class fast bowlers at the time, obviously – Le Roux, Rice, Jefferies, a young McMillan – and when you threw in names like Pollock,Cook and Fotheringham on the batting front … yes, it was serious cricket.”We were astounded that South Africa had so many allrounders. I remember the first day we arrived we went to the nets; we were going to play a Transvaal team first-up which included nine domestic internationals plus Kallicharran and Clarke. At those nets we saw a bloke smashing the ball all over the place: Kim Hughes walked up to one of the guys bowling to him, to inquire if it was one of the Transvaal top-order batsmen … but no, it was Neal Radford who’d be batting at 11!”Despite the strength of the South African side for the rebel matches, Haysman’s class and durability came to the fore; notably when the second National Panasonic ‘Test’ was staged at Newlands from 1-6 January 1987.On a typically plumb track at the time, South Africa rattled up a first-innings 493and the Aussies eclipsed that total by three runs in the tame draw with John Dyson scoring 198 and Haysman 153 – “I managed to run out John, who was my room-mate, just short of his ‘double’, which made the room a bit silent for a couple of days.”Has he, post-unity, ever experienced hostility from former SA Cricket Boardpersonalities within the United Cricket Board over his rebel tour involvementduring apartheid? “Look, there was naïveté on our part during that time. I’m the first to admit that. When I first signed up I had to go to an atlas afterwards and look up South Africa on the map. We took the view that we were coming to play cricket … you look back on it, in its context, and realise there was certainlynaïveté about it. But I haven’t encountered any special [coldness] over it, no.”Haysman went back to Australia for a season after the rebel tours, but a morelong-term return to these shores was already increasingly likely: he had met Leanne Hosking, Miss South Africa 1983, a week into the first tour. They married and are still together.”It turned my life on its head, really. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyedmyself in this country and do to this day. We did discuss, at one stage, the possibility of settling back in Australia but then I got involved in the business of indoor cricket here and things just mushroomed. I am blessed with enormous support from Leanne in my broadcasting career – I call her the perfumed steamroller …”

Haysman and his wife Leanne a few years ago © TWC (SA)
Of course, Northerns had keenly hunted down Haysman’s domestic signature as the rebel ventures wound down, and he went on to spend several summers with this previously unfashionable, yet awakening, force at Centurion.”I really enjoyed my time with Northerns – except at the end, when circumstances took a turn for the worse and I retain to this day certain bitter and disappointing memories. A selection issue cropped up while I was captain and it ended in my being unceremoniously dumped over the stance I took; I felt let down by some senior people at the union.”For the bulk of my time there, though, I was among a magnificent group of guys. I’d gone there in the first place partly because of my relationship with Anton Ferreira who I’d met in county cricket while he was with Warwickshire … I also enjoyed people like Gerbrand Grobler, Lee Barnard, Fanie de Villiers, Tertius Bosch, Noel Day, Vernon du Preez, Mandy Yachad. We got close tohonours a few times; just no cigar, sadly. But we had fun times together, we really did.”And the music’s not nearly over, it seems, in terms of Mike Haysman’s overallpartiality toward this country …

India were fitting winners because they held their nerve whereas Pakistan lost theirs in the moments that mattered

24-Sep-2007

The Indians were jubilant while Misbah-ul-Haq was left ruing his shot selection © Getty Images
Phew! Are these two teams capable of playing out a match that’s a bit kinder on the nerves? Thank goodness they aren’t, for they produced the best final in any form of the World Cup in ages. It’s difficult not to feel for the Pakistanis because they lost by a mere fraction, but you could say India were fitting winners because they held their nerve whereas Pakistan lost theirs in the moments that mattered.Or, to be precise, the moment that mattered. Sport can be cruel because it takes only a moment to undo a day’s, or in this case, an hour’s, good work. Misbah-ul-Haq now has a lifetime to ponder over his shot selection on that fateful ball. Until that point both he and Joginder Sharma, India’s least likely bowling hero, had been equals. Sharma, who like Misbah was hardly an automatic selection for the tournament, had bowled three outstanding overs (13 runs for one wicket); Misbah kept Pakistan alive almost single-handed as wickets tumbled around him. When it came to the final over, though, there was room for only one hero.After a first-ball wide and a third-ball six, the force was with Misbah. But having gone down the ground earlier, he preferred the cute shot – the paddle over fine leg – to the straight thump that had worked well for him so far. As Shoaib Malik, his captain, confessed with an air of resignation, Misbah had gone down the wicket to hit the ball straight, but changed his mind. “I don’t know why he did it.”The rest of Chetan Sharma’s career was haunted by the memory of a yorker that went wrong – needing three off the last ball, Javed Miandad deposited the full toss over the boundary to win that match in Sharjah. Hopefully Misbah, who made an impressive comeback to the national team, will be mentally stronger, and the fans will be more understanding. Without him, Pakistan were gone long ago.The only regret, if at all, is that a cracking match was decided by a mistake, and not a burst of brilliance. But India deserved to win because they simply refused to lose. A total of 157 was 23 runs short of what they aimed at after choosing to bat, and it was three short of what Pakistan wanted to restrict them to. But it wasn’t quite the belter that the Wanderers is reputed to roll out, the ball didn’t come on to the bat, and even Yuvraj Singh, whose timing has been sensational, was often early on the stroke. It was one such stroke that led to his dismissal.But as always, pitches that don’t blank out bowlers produce good games, and not for the first time in the tournament, India stayed in the contest by taking wickets. RP Singh, whom Malik singled out as India’s best bowler, took two in his first two, and Irfan Pathan took one in the middle stages. In between, Imran Nazir, Pakistan’s most dangerous batsman on the day, had been removed by – and this is becoming an Indian habit – a direct hit.Through substantial periods in the match, India were fighting to stay in. The loss of wickets at vital moments robbed them of momentum and they came up against another outstanding bowling performance from Umar Gul – what a travesty it was for him not to win the Player of the Series award which went to Shahid Afridi, who for all his good bowling, played the most senseless shot of the match – but Gautam Gambhir kept hitting the boundaries and running hard between the wickets, and Rohit Sharma, who is emerging as a batsman of outstanding temperament to go with the obvious skill, finished with a flourish, which, in the final analysis, was decisive.Throughout the tournament, India have played with a refreshing energy and positiveness which, on top of their natural flair, has endeared them to the fans. Not surprisingly, they have featured in the most exciting contests in the tournament. In his excitement, Dhoni perhaps forgot the loss to New Zealand when he referred to a “cent percent” record, but even in that match India stayed competitive for the most part. While it’s premature to call this a new dawn, the signs are palpable: India’s future in the shorter versions lie in the men who have a future. The close series against England masked some of the flaws, but this tournament has made the strengths obvious. It’s now up to those who matter to see the signs.The same goes for Pakistan. They were worthy finalists, and they played with a heartening sense of purpose and discipline. Malik should be allowed to build on this promising start, and the Pakistan Cricket Board needs to take clear-headed decisions about the kind of players they really need. For long it has been said that Pakistan’s strength lies in their dangerous unpredictability, but for too long, the team has been wrecked by prima donnas and their scandals. The future can be planned around what’s predictable.

Gautam Gambhir made the case for a permanent place in the Indian ODI team with a century that was intelligent and cool-headed

Nagraj Gollapudi at the Gabba05-Feb-2008

Gautam Gambhir has been in and out of India’s dressing room for some time now and should know what it takes to seal a permanent place. It hasn’t always revealed itself – he has not always made the most of his comeback opportunities – but on Tuesday he set aside the disappointment of missing out on a place in the Test squad with his third one-day century, against Sri Lanka at the Gabba.Gambhir had been in rich form in domestic cricket, leading Delhi to the Ranji Trophy title, with centuries in the semi-final and final. That form was in evidence today in an innings where more impressive than the runs was the manner in which they were scored.He was dropped when on 11, the disciplined Ishara Amerasinghe coaxing an edge that Kumar Sangakarra failed to hold on to, and made the most of the life. It was hard work; while Amerasinghe tested him with bounce and movement, he had to deal with the guile of Muttiah Muralitharan at the other end. Yet slowly, and surely, Gambhir found his way past both spin and pace.He negated Murali by using his feet and hitting against the spin, and rotated the strike against Amerasinghe. “I wasn’t picking him [Murali] early on but my plan was to hang in there and make sure we had a good partnership,” Gambhir said about his initial jitters. By the end of his unbroken184-run stand with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he was reading Murali perfectly, and their personal tussle eventually read 32 runs off 30 balls – including 11 off one over.It was a vital phase for India, whose early advantage gained from a solid opening stand by Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag was swiftly negated when Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma fell in Murali’s first over. For a while it seemed India might lose their way as they did against Australia on Sunday. Gambhir, who had played around an angled one from Mitchell Johnson when on 39, decided to make amends and was helped by the presence of his captain, whose calm and sense of responsibility was the perfect foil.They also showed they knew the importance of rotating the strike, taking a total of 71 singles off one of the sharpest fielding units in world cricket. By the end of the innings Sri Lanka’s fielding was a ragged, patchy shadow of the early brilliance and much of this was down to the intelligent batting. Gambhir later noted the team had done its homework on Australian grounds, which usually present an opportunity to convert the “singles into twos”.Stealing runs and rotating the strike are old Gambhir traits, as witnessed at the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa last year where he was the tournament’s second highest run-getter. His form, capped by 75 in the final against Pakistan, displayed a suitability for the shorter versions of the game.Today, though, it didn’t matter if India were going at less than six an over. At the 30-over mark they were 115; ten overs later 162 and the last ten yielded 105 runs. It was like a perfectly worked out script, the urgency coming when most required. “At 80 for 4 we were never in a position to attack. We wanted to play safe without losing any wickets,” Gambhir said.That’s the sort of tricky position Gambhir is used to for a personal reason: he’s usually been on trial of sorts when he’s walked in to bat. “The pressure that comes from playing for India is always like facing a trial,” he said. His biggest challenge has been to deal with the conventional wisdom that he is a stand-in before the departure of Tendulkar and Ganguly.Gambhir says he is less comfortable opening than at No. 3, a point from where he can build a strong platform for a late flourish. “I have always been comfortable in this position as I have played long innings here in first-class cricket. It allows me to anchor an innings as well as attack when need be.”In 13 ODIs at No. 3 Gambhir has an average of 42.54, which is much better than the 25.87 he averages while opening. He concedes he now has the responsibility of being India’s No. 3 in ODIs but is up for it. “It’s time to take on the responsibility, stand up and deliver.”On Monday Gambhir and other youngsters had a chat with Tendulkar about the role of every player in the side. “For me as No. 3 I need to hang in there, take my time, pace the innings and stay till around the 45th over.” Tendulkar has carried that responsibility throughout his career and is still learning. For Gambhir, still in the first flush of his career, it’s not a bad lesson to learn.

Graeme Smith has been here before. An overwhelming victory in very English-conditions at Headingley as South Africa take a series lead

Andrew McGlashan at Headingley21-Jul-2008
Graeme Smith was full of praise for his bowling attack: ‘For me there wasn’t a lot on offer, but we put England under pressure’ © Getty Images
Graeme Smith has been here before. An overwhelming victory in very English conditions at Headingley as South Africa take a series lead. The 2003 success was one of Smith’s most stressful, and he says he slept very little, but this time it was much more comfortable. It doesn’t come much more convincing than 10 wickets with a day to spare and in the process he has become South Africa’s most successful Test captain, overtaking Hansie Cronje, with 28 victories.It was news to Smith that he had created history – “I’ve only just found out”. Thrust into the role at just 22, it took him a while to mature and, importantly, get the team he wanted, but over the past 18 months a new cohesion has emerged. “When you captain your country you want to see positive results,” he said. “I feel like the team has developed really nicely and I feel like it’s my team. To have those rewards, it’s what you feel inside the dressing room that’s the most important thing.”The maturing of Smith and his team has almost happened in parallel. It was evident in this match that every player knew their role. They are a settled unit and, if they retain the same side throughout this series, South Africa will overtake England’s recently-set record of six matches unchanged. How quickly times change.Whereas England fluffed their lines from start to finish, South Africa were all reading from the script from the moment Smith won the toss. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel skittled them for 203, before the match-deciding stand of 212 between Ashwell Prince and AB de Villiers. However, Smith picked out his team’s fourth-day bowling performance – when the sun shone – as the most impressive part of the performance. This was how a five-man bowling attack was meant to work.”In the first innings there was a bit there for us, but if I compare the two bowling performances this one was outstanding,” he said. “For me there wasn’t a lot on offer, we got a little bit of reverse swing, but we put England under pressure. They played a little frantically in the first innings, offering us a lot of chances, so it was nice to see our bowlers back where they can be.”For me, it was the big moments in the game that we played better. The partnerships with Ashwell [Prince], Hashim [Amla], AB [de Villiers]. It’s those sorts of things that make the difference and when you need people to stand up. We had the characters to do that.”As is often the case this was a feisty encounter, sparked into life by two contentious catches on the opening day. Smith made particular mention of de Villiers, who responded to the boos from the crowd and chirps from the England fielders with 174. “The Test was always going to be competitive,” he said. “A lot of things happened, but I feel we handle everything in a very mature way. There was a lot of pressure from crowds and various situations. AB, especially, played a man’s innings. The things he had to cope with, the boos and reaction. It’s a credit to him.”Last week the feeling was relief after South Africa secured a draw at Lord’s and in the glow of victory Smith still remembered the importance of that result. “It probably took a bit of pressure off us. The confidence we gained by taking England to five days and only performing at 60-65%, we knew that if we got things right we could put them under a lot more pressure and we’ve done that in this game.”However, it’s not only a Headingley victory that Smith has experienced before. In 2003 South Africa let the advantage slip – something they have done on each of their tours since readmission – and his focus is now on ensuring that this repeat performance isn’t followed by another failure to make it count.”There’s a lot of cricket to be played. In every England-South Africa series teams have fought back. Edgbaston offers us the chance to close the series out. But it’s important we focus on our cricket, if we do that we believe we can go a long way towards winning.”We are going to enjoy this moment, Edgbaston is a little bit of time away, but it’s something we have been aware of all the time. I think the nice thing to know is that we are on the up and we can improve more.”

The PCA’s chief executive on how England can take advantage of the Twenty20 boom

Sean Morris04-May-2008

Since accepting the position of chief
executive of the PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association) in December I have seen
the cricket landscape change more in three
months than it probably has in the previous 30
years. The question that was immediately on
my lips was: can we have increased wealth without
harming the health of our game?Dressing rooms around the counties are full
of professional cricketers looking forward to
another season, but in every one of them are
players casting their eyes further afield to the
riches of Indian Twenty20 cricket. And who can
blame them?In any profession the opportunity to maximise
earning potential is a natural right of the
employee. We have seen sports stars, particularly
in the United States and more recently in
European football, behave as “free agents”. This has
rarely applied to cricketers, for whom club loyalty is
perhaps stronger, and the most recent rules from
the ECB ensure that restrictions apply if a player
decides to play for the Indian Cricket League.The huge investment in Indian Twenty20
cricket provides potential benefits for our
players. Undoubtedly both their leagues have
significantly increased the market value of the
player and for the first time since the 1970s they
provide alternative employment opportunities for
the leading stars.Importantly, the rapid emergence of the
Indian Premier League has challenged the game’s
administrators. This is a good thing. It forces us
all to make improvements to our own products
and services that we deliver for the cricketer and
for the game’s followers. All the players I have
met on our pre-season rounds are in favour
of the increased investment in the game and
the personal benefits it brings. But before the
players rush off to India, we must look at the
potential impacts these actions could have on
the health of our domestic game.Some would say the Indian approach to
setting up these leagues has been predatory. The
country’s financial control of the international game has just been given a further cash
injection that benefits the Indian board and its
ICC-sanctioned IPL. If it was predatory before,
how would the Indian board behave if it wanted
to pick off England’s leading players?Our domestic game relies on the substantial
revenues of the broadcasting deal. Should
events in India threaten this, then our game
has serious problems that would affect all
professional cricketers and the investment in
grass-roots programmes. Losing top players
to India would lower the value of any future
broadcasting agreement.Twenty20 has been a big financial
success in England and Wales. It has attracted a new, younger audience to the game,
growing our supporter base. If India can create
a global Twenty20 extravaganza that increases
the number of followers, then congratulations to them.
But let us take advantage at the same time. The
opportunity lies much closer home than
Mumbai and New Delhi – in north London.In May 2007 the PCA released a document
called and
many of the recommendations have been adopted
in four-day cricket for 2008. That document
also contained some interesting ideas for the
improvement of our own Twenty20 competition.
These included rescheduling of the tournament
to fit within school holidays, and a mini-break
within the season to accommodate the event.Perhaps we should go further, develop
our own domestic tournament as the world’s
premier Twenty20 club event with the finest
international players participating for our own
clubs and invite the domestic champions from
the other Test-playing nations to participate in a
Champions League-style Twenty20 festival. England (and Wales) has one unique advantage
in that it is the only Test-playing nation that
plays from April to September, so our summer
does not conflict with the others’. This means
the vast majority of international players from
other countries are potentially available during
our season. If we could use this advantage
alongside and create the leading domestic
Twenty20 tournament in the world, then we have
a commercial opportunity that would enable us
to take advantage of the huge appetite for cricket
in Asia.In short, this could reduce the threat of losing
our top players to India during our season; we
could attract the finest international players to
our shores; and we could significantly enhance
the appeal of our broadcasting rights on offer.

Cricinfo staffers pick the highs and lows from the year gone by

26-Dec-2008

Jayaditya Gupta

Best: Underdogs winning big money
The delicious irony: The world’s richest cricket tournament, contested by a clutch of multi-million-dollar “franchises” coached by some of the biggest names in the game and starring players on million-dollar wages, was eventually won by Rajasthan Royals. They had no “icon” player, nor any Bollywood star as owner or fan, but they had Shane Warne, who, showing an amazing instinct for leadership, captained and coached – and clearly inspired – his team to win the first IPL tournament. Several months later, the sport’s biggest ever prize (yes, the title changed hands in the space of months) was won by another team similarly fused together by self-belief; Chris Gayle’s Stanford Superstars defied all the odds to beat England and go home millionaires.Worst: Big money everywhere

Even those moments of pure cricketing joy couldn’t fully block out the most sordid image: a crate full of dollar bills, $20 million in all, at Lord’s. Allen Stanford’s invasion, however brief, of the game’s spiritual home, summed up a year in which cricket moved farther away from its roots – a subtle, nuanced narrative spread over three, four or five days – and increasingly was held hostage to the demands of time and money. Stanford’s trunkload was only the crassest symbol; the motif running through the year was the all-consuming Indian Premier League and its offshoots, steamrolling everything in their path, selling million-dollar dreams that Test cricket couldn’t hope to match. We saw the future and it was scary.

Brydon Coverdale

Best: South Africa chase 414 in Perth
If anyone thought Test cricket was dying, the matches in Chennai and Perth in December were the ultimate defibrillators. South Africa’s successful chase was significant not just for its enormity but for its wider implications. South Africa could no longer be considered chokers; Australia’s claim to being the world’s best team had never been less convincing. A new era had begun.Worst: New Zealand’s decline
“It’s breakin’ me in two, watchin’ you slippin’ away.” Those lines were made famous by the New Zealand-born singer Max Merritt and this year the nation’s cricket fans must have been feeling the same. Their team struggled so much in the Test format that even beating Bangladesh in Chittagong was a battle. They slipped to eighth on the ICC rankings, below West Indies, after losing to Australia in Adelaide, and Martin Crowe called it arguably their worst moment in Test cricket. A new coach at least gave hope of change.

Jamie Alter

Best: Kumble in Sydney
India’s win in Perth in January was eye-moistening but it was Anil Kumble in the preceding SCG Test who set the tone for that unforgettable win. For 111 deliveries in the second innings, with India battling for
survival, Kumble defied Australia and the odds. It wasn’t take-it-on-the-body, Steve Waugh stuff; his fingers didn’t bulge and turn velvet from ferocious bouncers, but he showed what it meant to fight. Kumble epitomised every last iota of what it meant to be a fighter and play for your country. The sight of him unbeaten at one end, seeing his dreams of winning in Australia go down the drain, was something. After the match, faced with the mundanely mandatory task of facing the cameras for Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle and Michael Slater, Kumble quelled
the anger inside admirably. His eyes burnt fierce, he bit his lips, but it
would have been so unlike him to say anything controversial. He refrained
from taking the “I’m a martyr” route. He would go on to rally his troops to
the WACA, and captain them to “the best win” of his career, but that innings
on the last day in Sydney was where the turnaround began, thanks to Kumble.Worst: Sydneygate

For nearly the whole of January, world news took a back seat in India as television channels and newspapers debated the controversial racism row that emanated from the Sydney Test. Effigies were burnt, the BCCI threatened to call off India’s tour of Australia, Steve Bucknor was dropped for the Perth Test. No matter what side your loyalties lay on, the whole affair was sickening. Forget the despicable umpiring at
the SCG, the entire premise for handing Harbhajan Singh a three-match ban –
which was then incredibly overturned – was based on one man’s word against
another. Then the BCCI set an unwelcome precedent by threatening to pull out
of the CB Series. How can teams protest against an umpire? How can that
umpire be changed? How could the BCCI be allowed to think it can get away
with anything? Why did the ICC bend backwards to accommodate the BCCI? The
answers are, sadly, out there.

Andrew McGlashan

Best: Durham’s title
County cricket is often criticised – mostly by those who don’t watch the game – but for the second season running the Championship produced a cracking finish, in glorious late-summer sunshine. Three teams were in the race at the start of the final round – Hampshire, Somerset and Durham – and the title wasn’t decided until the final day. In the end it went to Durham, who gained their first Championship title with an innings victory over Kent. When Steve Harmison claimed the final wicket, broken wrist and all, he ended up at the bottom of a heap of team-mates. The party started on the long journey home and it was no less than the side deserved. They showed what can be achieved with a blend of youth and experience, homegrown and foreign talent. They are breeding England quick bowlers at a regular pace and will be a force on the domestic scene for years to come.Worst: Michael Vaughan’s resignation
England’s most successful captain deserved better than a tearful resignation in a bland room at the National Academy in Loughborough. Graeme Smith’s match-winning century at Edgbaston was the final nail in Vaughan’s captaincy reign, but in truth, doubts had started to set in during the tour of New Zealand. Vaughan appeared more detached from his team and his form was slipping away, to the point where he was almost a walking wicket against Dale Steyn. As he walked off the field in Birmingham there was a sense his time was up, and less than 24 hours later the press conference was called via an ECB text message and press release. Vaughan could barely hold back the tears as he spoke about his family and team-mates. After answering questions honestly, as he had always done, he left and drove home. A day later the new era began under Kevin Pietersen, but what Vaughan achieved won’t be forgotten.

Sidharth Monga

Best: Ajantha Mendis
What a finger freak. Free-flowing originality, all pristine talent. Speaks only Sinhala, and his bowling is just as incomprehensible to the rest of the world. Wears a devilish grin in celebration, letting batsmen know they have been had. The left hand in the bowling action takes the cake: It comes down with the index finger stuck out, ruling the batsman out even before he has bowled. Took his first Test wicket with the ball of the 21st century, a fast legbreak that dipped in, making Rahul Dravid play, then left him, squaring him up, and took the top of off stump. (Mike Gatting finally has someone to share horror stories with.) Took 25 more wickets in three Tests. Most importantly, proved the game, the art, can be rediscovered, even after all these centuries of existence. Welcome, grinning assassin.Worst: day four in Nagpur, India v Australia
Australia in India was not the usual thrill-a-minute slogathon. The puffed-out chests and flaring noses were missing. Instead the teams went to ground, each waiting for the other to make a mistake; still an engaging contest. But the middle season on the penultimate day of the series featured quick Indian wickets, and finally things looked like transforming into a full-blown war, where nobody would hide and strike. There was anticipation and tension, accentuated by the tea break – only for disappointment to follow after. To see Cameron White and Michael Hussey bowl at that stage (with Ricky Ponting and cronies spending seven minutes between balls, discussing field placings) was plain disgusting. Their coach later spoke of how they upheld the spirit of the game by not going for the win – after having stomped, spat and puked all over it.

The multiple-captains saga has hung around the otherwise fragrant Kolkata Knight Riders like a bad smell

Victor Brown19-Apr-2009The multiple-captains saga has hung around the otherwise fragrant Kolkata Knight Riders like a bad smell ever since their coach, John Buchanan, mooted the theory at a press conference last month next while sitting next to a decidedly unimpressed Sourav Ganguly. Everyone had an opinion, which is why Shah Rukh Khan – a man never knowingly ruffled – suggested earlier this week that, contrary to speculation, he would be captain. After everything that had happened, you couldn’t rule it out.On Friday, the Kolkata PR machine – and it is the most impressive of the eight franchises out here – rolled into action, announcing that Brendon McCullum, the combative Kiwi, would be the one and only leader, but with “the full support of the team”. To prevent a complete strop from certain members of that team, a crucial rider in the press release added the words: “including the Knight Rider’s more senior members, such as Sourav Ganguly, Brad Hodge, Chris Gayle and Matthew Mott”. Today, as Kolkata embarked on their first game of this year’s IPL under the Newlands lights, breaths were duly held.The problem with issues flogged to within an inch of their relevance by a near-rabid media is that they quickly lose whatever sting they previously possessed once it becomes clear that the story may have been – how shall we put it? – blown out of all proportion. And while Kolkata were slipping to 101 all out (McCullum 1, Gayle 10, Ganguly 1) leaders appeared thin on the ground.But the real test would come when Kolkata were in the field. Buchanan had tried all along to point out that all he really wanted was for his senior players to share the responsibility. This, predictably enough, was seized upon as a slight to Ganguly, and there are few phenomena in cricket that produce such feverish reporting as a slight to Ganguly. In reality, it was nothing of the sort.And so McCullum, after a cursory huddle and pep-talk, did what any half-decent captain would do and arranged his field according to the assets available to him. Gayle, never the most talkative anyway, was positioned at slip, where he grazes nonchalantly for West Indies. The athletic Hodge was dispatched to the covers, while Ganguly – who has always regarded fielding as cricket at its most inconvenient – was kept out of harm’s way at mid-on.At one point Ganguly discussed a field placing with Ajit Agarkar. At another, the lesser-known Bengali Laxmi Shukla appeared to be offering advice to his captain. McCullum chivvied and chirped, as wicketkeepers do anyway, and waved Murali Kartik a touch squarer at short extra cover. No matter: Rohit Sharma went down the ground instead and lifted Agarkar for six. During the time-out, which the Deccan Chargers took at 69 for 2 – needing only 33 to win in 10 overs – the sermons were delivered by the assistant coach Mott and McCullum.But the truth is that captains only have a limited say in what happens in Twenty20 cricket. Richie Benaud’s old maxim about skippers needing 90% luck and 10% skill probably shift towards a 95-5 split in the game’s speediest format. What constitutes that 5% is, for the moment, most people’s guess. A bowling change here, perhaps a well-placed sledge there. Above all, the appearance of authority.Ganguly had a word with McCullum at the end, but by then it was far too late anyway. He may just as well have been pointing out that captaincy is over-rated in any case. As Kolkata slunk to an eight-wicket defeat with a whopping 41 balls to spare, it may have been the only piece of advice worth imparting.