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Cricket’s turbulent last half-decade is chronicled here with an open-minded spirit of inquiry

Ashok Malik02-Mar-2013Asked for his assessment of the French Revolution of 1789, the 20th-century Chinese politician Zhou Enlai is reputed to have said, “It is too early to say.” Cricket buffs would respond similarly if asked about the long-term implications of the past five-odd years for their cherished game. The growing popularity of the T20 format, the invention of the IPL (and copycat leagues from Australia to Bangladesh), the seeming decline of Test cricket, the loss of certitudes in terms of technique and rigour, the limbo-like status of conventional limited-overs cricket, which seems trapped between the paganism of the IPL and the high church of the five-day contest – never has so much happened to cricket in so little time.It takes a brave man to attempt a biography of this period, and to write a first draft of history as it were. Samir Chopra, a professor of philosophy in New York by day and a passionate cricket fan (and ESPNcricinfo blogger) by day and night, attempts this with the honest, open-minded spirit of inquiry that defines the best sports fans. He writes of the IPL and its step-sibling, the ICL, the challenge these leagues – with their notion of private ownership of teams and team franchises, their ability to empower individual cricketers as free agents, and their capacity to permanently cripple the monopoly of cricket boards – posed and continue to pose to the established cricket order.Indeed, quite like in the case of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket and Australian officials, the BCCI won the battle with the ICL by incorporating it and its postulates. Of course, it did this not by surrendering to an individual media baron but by taking the template to its logical commercial and aesthetic conclusion (or absurdity):

“With the ICL, the franchise model has served to highlight the weakness of the nation-based structure of cricket in providing adequate employment to cricketers. And talk of the nation – and of loyalty to it – had, most importantly, also prompted talk about how franchises in a truly international league could put an end to nation-based cricket’s trading in the most problematic of 20th century obsessions, nationalism. The longer the IPL persists, the more successful it will be in raising the club-country question… raised by the ICL when it formed ‘national’ teams, and the more attention it will bring to national boards and the ICC and their claim to be the best guarantors of cricket’s future.”

As Chopra himself points out, the IPL has not entirely effaced nationalism. Indeed, in its conceptualisation as a cultural product and a business enterprise owned and promoted by Indians, it has merely provided the cricket-and-nationalism story another twist. Nevertheless, in giving cricketers the option to bypass old-mode international cricket altogether and to, by manoeuvring their way through the rules, become freelance pros, moving from one T20 league to the next, it has opened up avenues cricket did not have. An itinerant cricket professional, quite like an itinerant tennis pro or soccer star, is more of a reality today than ever before.Chopra examines the IPL franchise model, the top-down creation of a team identity rather than the organic, bottom-up evolution of such an identity from a neighbourhood, town or community, as in the case of established sports teams, whether in English football, American basketball or Australian Rules football. IPL loyalties are at an incipient stage. “Thus far,” Chopra writes, “fan rivalry in the IPL remains benign, for the atmosphere at IPL games is still more carnivalesque than gladiatorial. Older rivalries with their greater emotional hold will take over; the Delhi Daredevils fan returns to hoping David Warner will fail when he plays India. Perhaps this is unsurprising because such a fan is easily diverted by the cricket world’s other offerings once the short IPL season ends. This tenuous hold of the IPL franchise could prevent rabid fanhood, a blessing for the concerned Indian patriot and a curse for the IPL marketer. It could change if the role of franchises in Indian cricket is expanded…” That final half-sentence is pregnant with possibilities.How far can the franchise system go? In a section captivatingly titled “The escape of the franchise genie”, Chopra speculates upon the utopia/dystopia of an “internationalised IPL” with a “growth of franchises in test-playing countries and… in smaller, non-test playing ones”. In turn, this leads to a compelling question: Will such a broad-based international league – which would entail financial commitment and spectator interest in economies and geographies far beyond the subcontinent – remain an Indian product at all? Will such a hypothetical “internationalised” Indian Premier League be any more “Indian” than, say, the Indian Ocean?Cricket is a larger business than previously but in some respects it is also a smaller universe. Technology has brought the game closer to the viewer, literally. It has made the umpire’s job a nightmare. The internet and web-based media have led to such phenomena as ESPNcricinfo but they have also provided an avenue for emotion and petulance far removed from the ideal cricket sets for itself. In a fine last chapter (“Oh say, can you see? Final words”) Chopra talks of this brave new world of cricket, with its hopes and possibilities – such as watching the Ashes series of 2010 at his in-laws’ home in Cincinnati – and its fears: “If the desertion by players of tests turns from a trickle into a flood, the game might well and truly be over. But if cricketers still find the legend of test cricket an inspiration… then test cricket will prosper. But it will still need careful stewarding: the possibility of subsidising attendance at tests and the willingness to incur losses subsidised by other formats should be seriously considered.”Is this a wide-eyed appeal, a realistic proposal, the lament of a dying age, or the opening scene of cricket’s new normal? We don’t know. Chopra doesn’t either, but he asks the right questions, and has his heart in the right place.Brave New Pitch: The Evolution of Modern Cricket

Samir Chopra

HarperCollins India Publishers

ESPNcricinfo present the plays of the day from the third day at Headingley

David Hopps at Headingley26-May-2013Decision of the dayEngland’s decision not to enforce the follow-on brought much debate. They had a 180-run lead when they dismissed New Zealand for 174 (the follow-on figure was 150 because the first day was washed out), and until some last-wicket slogging brought 52 from five overs, they had taken nine wickets for 70 runs in 26 overs. Even after Neil Wagner and Trent Boult’s merry-making, they had still only been in the field for 43.4 overs.So why did they not follow-on especially with the risk of rain on the final day? The temptation is to suggest that England’s management had an eye on the Ashes. Absolutely no risk of overbowling their pace attack or, for that matter, Graeme Swann, who is not long back from an elbow operation, will be ta. There is also the fact that the follow-on is much more likely to go wrong for a four-bowler attack. But there was another reason – and it was that the pitch was still pretty flat as Alastair Cook emphasised with a blissful innings after tea.Ball of the daySwann’s three-wicket burst attracted most of the attention, but a delivery from Steven Finn also sticks in the memory. It was the first ball received by Tim Southee, cutting back steeply off a good length, and almost slicing him in two as he managed an inside edge. Finn, back on his full run, was approaching his best again – more good news for England.Anxiety of the dayNick Compton’s Ashes place is held to be under pressure, for all the protestations within the England camp that he has had a solid start to his Test career, and his anxiety was evident. He got off the mark to the first ball he faced, from Southee, with a dreadful shot – a foot-fast cut which sent the ball whistling behind square on the legside off an inside edge. He became ever more pensive and, even if you could advance a case that he had seen off the new ball, that he had played a team game by contentedly acting as second fiddle to Cook, and that Jonathan Trott was just as pawky, it was an unattractive, not to say limited, innings. The fact Compton had to await a New Zealand review for a clear bat-pad to forward short leg just added to his agony.Injury of the dayThe last thing New Zealand needed as they tried to recover self-respect was an injury to one of their pace bowlers. They suffered one all the same as Boult, who had taken the last two wickets to finish with 5 for 57, pulled out of the attack after aggravating a strained side after only two overs. Boult’s figures were his second best in Tests, outdone only by his six wickets against England in Auckland in March.

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

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

Discarded and unfit, Zaheer Khan sighted an unceremonious end to his career. Then he decided to do something about it

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Nov-2013The change is striking. If you have not seen Zaheer Khan for a while and spot him in person, or on television, you might mistake him for an army cadet. Like a fresher at a defence academy, he is lean, lithe and sports a crew cut. Not the Zaheer with fat around the hips, whom Michael Holding called unfit after a cursory glance from a distance on the first morning of India’s Test series in England in 2011.Hips don’t lie. Today Zaheer’s are slimmer and more flexible as he turns to deliver the ball. Although the run-up is the same, he is now capable of accelerating without breaking sweat. The biggest change in Zaheer, who has been selected for India’s Test series in South Africa, is that he doesn’t have to worry about breaking down.Before his return against West Indies A in October, Zaheer had played no first-class cricket in 2013. He pulled a hamstring in a Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat in the last week of 2012. During the IPL, he achieved tournament-best figures of 4 for 17 in a victory against Chennai Super Kings, but he spent more time in the Royal Challengers Bangalore dugout than on the field.After numerous hours trying to rehabilitate at the frugally equipped National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore over the last couple of years, Zaheer began to get frustrated. His last Test for India had been against England in December 2012, and he desperately wanted to impose himself on batsmen again.Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh at Tim Exeter’s performance centre•Tim ExeterSometime in June this year, Ashish Kaushik, one of the trainers at the NCA, told Zaheer and Yuvraj Singh – who was also keen to get specialist attention on the fitness front – about Tim Exeter, an athletic and performance coach, who runs a centre in the small picturesque town of Brive-La-Gaillarde, between Bordeaux and Lyon in southern France. The place suited the pair’s desire to train in an environment where they could remain anonymous.This was the first time Exeter was working with cricketers. To him, though, the two were just athletes. “I could tell they were not as lean as they needed to be,” Exeter says. “Having not worked with the guys before, I was not familiar about where they should be. But one of Zak’s major goals was to get his body fat levels down and get stronger.”Originally from Scotland, Exeter, who describes himself as an athletic performance coach, moved to France five years ago along with his wife Helen and four children. He played rugby for Scotland at representative level, and once for the national team, before he broke his neck and moved on to coaching. He came to France with a couple of England rugby players – 2003 World Cup winners both – who were, like him, playing for Northampton at the time. Exeter had spent close to seven years with the club but decided to move because he was not happy with the inconsistencies in the coaching system.”I specialise in improving performance and reducing injury risks,” Exeter says. “Making athletes more robust so they don’t pick up silly injuries, or help them come back from injuries better. The areas of specialty, particularly, are speed and agility, and movement efficiency. It is not about making them fast in a straight line. It is about being able to change in all directions. It is three-dimensional.”If your movement is more efficient, you will use less energy, but you will also be more consistent, and that also allows you to generate more.”India might not have had a more skilled fast bowler, but niggles, recurring injures and inconsistent fitness habits were threatening to make Zaheer, who turned 35 this October, obsolete. He knew his chances in ODI cricket were slim, with the selectors set on the World Cup in 2015. The only way back was through Test cricket, which couldn’t have been easy given its fitness demands. Her needed to make a decision about where he wanted to go.

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The first thing Exeter worked out was a strict diet, and Zaheer bought into it without complaints. A combination of the right food and rigorous training became the routine during the six weeks he spent in France.”Where a lot of people go wrong is, they eat too much bread and pasta and a whole lot of stuff like that,” Exeter says. “But if you are not in an endurance sport like cycling or distance running, it is not good to have such food. There has been a fallacy that pasta is king, and you have got to smash carbohydrates down, but it can actually blow you up. So he reduced that a lot, and switched to more protein, like fish, and vegetables along with moderate amounts of fruit to help improve his body composition.”

“Zak said that he is not the fastest bowler in the world. That is not his intention. What he wants to be able to do is bowl at a good pace, do it consistently, and do it all day”Tim Exeter, athletic and performance coach

The message was simple: if your intake of calories is more than what you expend, then you are going to put on weight. An advantage for Exeter was Zaheer knew his body well. “He is like any good professional athlete I have worked with,” Exeter says. “I know what will work, but you always need the coach-athlete relationship to be working to tweak things. In that respect Zak is brilliant. He does know his body. He also knows what he wants. So we were able to develop some interesting stuff specific to him and it worked.”Other than the weight control, Exeter worked extensively on Zaheer’s running technique, which increased his efficiency as a bowler and made him quicker on the field while spending less energy. “Zak said that he is not the fastest bowler in the world,” Exeter says. “That is not his intention. What he wants to be able to do is bowl at a good pace, do it consistently, and do it all day. If he has bowled 120 balls a day, he wants to know that he can bowl the last one nearly as hard and fast as the first one.”According to Exeter, Zaheer has a highly demanding bowling action with a huge impact on his landing foot. “There is a massive force coming down on the leg he plants down before he delivers,” he says. “He has got to have the ability to decelerate, which has mainly to do with his right leg, which is the last part of his bowling action. As he jumps up in the last part of his bowling action, he comes down very hard on his right leg because he uses that as a pivot to generate speed on the ball. That was an area we focused a lot on. That is why you start with the core, the hip area.”Apart from putting the players through a strenuous outdoor training regime, which started at six in the morning on weekdays and focused more on movements and running technique, Exeter asked Zaheer to make waves with heavy ropes – the toughest exercise – in the gym. He also had him lift dead weights while squatting on the ground, and perform vertical jumps. The physical changes started to become visible after about a month. By then Zaheer had lost 5kg, and was more flexible in his movements.”It [the weight loss] just allows him to do better, and more often, and become consistent,” Exeter says. “We worked on flexibility through his hip region, mobility of his hips, which would transfer positively into his bowling and would take a load off his lower back as well. So getting him stronger through the central part of his body would not only protect his back but also allow him to produce more powerful rotations.”When Zaheer checked in, he had failed in the deadlift from the floor. “But by the end he had started to lift some reasonable weight – around 115kg – which he could not do at the start because he had not got the strength in the core and back,” Exeter says. “In that lift he is not only working his legs, he is working his glute, his hamstrings, his upper body, his core, his back, his forearms.”

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Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer’s former team-mate and a good friend, could not believe the physical change. He had met Zaheer in London before he left for France. “He looked determined,” Agarkar remembers. “He told me he was going to push himself to achieve the required fitness.” Injuries and constant niggles pushed Agarkar into retirement this October, so he understood what Zaheer was going through. “It is about bowling with that extra weight for 20-25 overs every day,” he says. “And that takes its toll.”Tim Exeter worked on Zaheer Khan’s bowling action to help him reduce pressure on his body•ESPNcricinfo LtdWhen Zaheer returned from France, Agarkar was amazed at the striking difference. “We could not believe how lean he had become,” he says.According to Sudhir Naik, Zaheer’s long-time coach, his biggest challenge before he trained with Exeter was to last a whole Test. “It was mental, where he would worry how long he could last,” Naik says. “He was always confident as a bowler. He was only worried about fitness. But so far, in the last two months, he has just built on the momentum. Especially in the three Ranji Trophy matches he has played, he has bowled extremely well, with full speed, including long eight-to-nine-over spells at a stretch.”Even though the selectors had ignored him for the home series against West Indies earlier this month, Zaheer’s aim was to get match-fit. Along the way he bowled influential spells that helped Mumbai snatch crucial points. Sulakshan Kulkarni, Mumbai’s coach, agrees with Naik. “In the five-odd matches he has played recently, he has bowled nearly 200 overs [147.3 in five matches] and not once did he come back to the dressing room [for a comfort break or treatment],” Kulkarni says. “You never needed to bother about his bowling. But now he looks the fittest cricketer in the team. So mentally, skill-wise, he was on top.”How can we be sure that Zaheer, who has had an injury-prone body, will last the distance, enough to take him over the last bend of his career? Training smart and focusing on the pre-season training are the key areas, Exeter says. “He told me he has played for 13 years solid. When you are younger, you can get away with murder, but as you get older it is wise to step back and have a preparation period through pre-season training. When you hit a certain age, you only need one injury, and then it just starts a chain of events, but you can definitely get it back when you are more robust. No question about that.”When Zaheer and Yuvraj arrived at Exeter’s centre in the middle of a vibrant European summer, they had excess baggage. “They arrived with four to five jackets, thinking it was going to be cold,” Exeter chuckles. While the summer took care of that, Exeter is satisfied he has played a part in getting rid of the excess body weight.

While conservatism has worked for Sri Lanka in this series, their dour defensive play on day four in Sharjah neither decisively put defeat beyond them nor, it would appear, did much to revive the flagging interest in Test cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Sharjah19-Jan-2014A few days ago, in the Emirate just west of Sharjah, a group of cricket administrators unveiled a proposal that would put the Test-match future of Sri Lanka and Pakistan in serious doubt. On day four, in a series already ruled by attrition, the teams produced the least watchable cricket of the tour. The comatose third session, in which Sri Lanka progressed at 1.36 runs an over, was little more than a staring contest featuring 13 grown men. There are pharmaceutical ads that are more compelling.The few hundred fans that had come to the stadium stared too, only their eyes had long since glazed over. If any new followers of the sport tuned in, they might wonder why Tests between these sides deserve saving.Sri Lanka were almost certainly the more passive of the teams, and though the players will contend that abrasive battles are an inextricable part of Test cricket, they can hardly claim it is the type of play that will stir the flagging interest in the format at home. They will also hold that Sri Lanka’s first away series win since 2000 is much better reward for their fans than risky, aggressive cricket. If the sport is reduced to its scorelines, then perhaps that is correct. But cricket has always been about the journey, not just the destination, as laid out by the two best Tests of 2013, in Auckland and Johannesburg, both of which ended in draws.Before the Test, captain Angelo Mathews had said this: “We need to play positive cricket once again, because we will try to win it 2-0. We are certainly not going for a draw here, because it sends a negative message to the whole team.”To single Mathews out for hypocrisy here would be grossly unfair, primarily because press conferences with almost any athlete have become an exercise in professional pretense. Even the most dour batsman will speak of “being positive” – a ubiquitous cricketing phrase – because anything less conveys weakness. But the fact is, no one likes to lose. When you’re ahead in the series, why bother with winning the match? Sri Lanka have been in control at the close of almost every day since the middle of the first Test, and the prospect of finishing the series on even terms might appear madness to those in the dressing room.Moreover, an inexperienced Sri Lanka side have largely gained ground by playing conservatively and respecting the limits of their ability. The fast bowlers have not attempted magic balls, nor sought to blast oppositions out. The spinners have found safety in the quicker, flatter deliveries, hoping to build pressure with dot balls. In the Dubai Test that Sri Lanka won, they scored at less than three an over in both innings, effectively challenging Pakistan to change the tempo of the series, if they wish to level it.But on Sunday, Sri Lanka discovered the perils of treading too far down the conservative route. An uncompromising focus on defence with the bat allowed Pakistan’s bowlers the opportunity to settle happily into their work, even though the onus was on them to take quick wickets, having finished their first innings with an 87-run deficit and only five full sessions to play. Three of Sri Lanka’s five dismissed batsmen fell offering defensive shots, having earned poor dividends for their time at the crease. Kaushal Silva and Dinesh Chandimal fell to very good balls, but that is hardly unexpected at Test level; if batsmen are to receive unplayable deliveries, it would seem wise to score off the balls that are not so menacing.Mahela Jayawardene stalled for 15 deliveries on 46, allowing Saeed Ajmal to put men around the bat, as he constructed what was among his most threatening spells in the series. Flat pitches in India recently prompted MS Dhoni to compare bowlers to bowling machines, but to Ajmal, Jayawardene and Mathews – whose 38-run stand spanned 176 deliveries – might have seemed the batting equivalent. Predictably, he got one to turn a little more than Jayawardene anticipated, and ensured Pakistan’s slim hopes of winning the Test survived into the fifth day.It is excusable, perhaps even commendable, that Sri Lanka have taken stock of their personnel and embraced conservatism in the series, largely to good effect. Their gains in the series may even suggest it is a strategy that suits them until key men develop the ability to play attacking, intimidating cricket. But in defending to the point of alienating fans, they have also weakened their grip on the match.

The lower profile of the India-Bangladesh series does not dilute the challenges ahead of Suresh Raina – trying to balance the demands of captaincy while reviving his ODI form

Alagappan Muthu in Dhaka13-Jun-20142:05

Muthu: A World Cup audition for senior players

Dhaka’s bustle is loud, vibrant and distracting. The city refuses to quieten down even on holiday but there is a semblance of calm inside the Shere Bangla Stadium. And even here, there isn’t much evidence that a one-day series between Bangladesh and India is on the horizon. Football has usurped the viewership.Every second bus pits Lionel Messi against Neymar, electronics shops proclaim World Cup-themed discounts and tea shops host animated arguments over which team will emerge the last one standing in Rio. The streets are awash with Brazil and Argentina flags, some as large as 15 feet across.Suresh Raina might well wonder about the visibility he could gain in his third stint as India captain. Interest among broadcasters has also been low, so much so that the series might not be on television in India. Perhaps the low profile might help him tackle the challenges ahead: a national comeback, as captain, in a three-match series where one off-day could trigger the walls to close in.India, however, are favourites. The hosts’ potential cannot be discounted, but recent history paints them in unflattering light. Since their 3-0 humiliation of New Zealand in 2013, Bangladesh’s only victories in any format have come against Afghanistan and Nepal in the World T20. In the last six months, their captain has questioned the commitment of his men, the side has been strapped with new team management and a battle against corruption is also visible on the periphery. So a series win – should it transpire – might not fetch as many gold stars for Raina. On the other hand, defeat could cripple his portfolio. The classic lose-lose situation.For the third-time running, Raina has been tasked to lead a depleted India side. Eight first-choice picks have been rested to gauge the pool available for the 2015 World Cup. One-fifth of the squad is uncapped – Kedar Jadhav, Akshar Patel and Parvez Rasool. Manoj Tiwary and international cricket will exchange pleasantries after two years’ silence. Cheteshwar Pujara has largely been untested in limited-overs surrounds. And the bowling has the potential to tempt another Indian captain to say he believed they could concede 10 runs an over. Everything from the batting order to team strategy will need a rehash.Patchy form kept Suresh Raina out of India’s last ODI assignment, the Asia Cup in March•ICCRaina has welcomed his responsibility as an honour. He has been part of a sound set-up for a good chunk of his ODI career and this series demands he harvest the knowledge gained. He will need to find a Virat Kohli among his batsmen to set up the game. Then he will need to find someone to fill in for MS Dhoni and finish the game. He need not look further than himself to bridge both roles at No.4. Raina has documented a thirst to bat up the order and display his skills at constructing an Indian victory. It is a desire that strikes every batsman dubbed a T20 specialist. His promise persuaded the team management to groom him as a replacement for Yuvraj Singh last year, but the venture failed.Raina was cast aside for the Asia Cup. A run of 24 innings with only one half-century meant the weakness against short-pitched bowling had crept into his one-day performance. His bustle was gone, his footwork was nervous and his mind cluttered. The situation had become so dire that Raina was struck with misgivings about his future. But rejuvenating talks with former India captain Sourav Ganguly quelled the negativity. A typically savvy run in the IPL, culminating in a standout innings in the second qualifier would have ushered his confidence to the other end of the spectrum.”He can develop into a good captain in the future,” Duncan Fletcher had said during India’s tour of West Indies in 2011. Raina lent weight to the assessment by guiding a young squad to triumph in the one-off T20 and the ensuing ODI series. It was a welcome balm against reminders of his debut as India captain – two crippling losses to Zimbabwe in 2010 and an early exit in a triangular one-day series.A happy time at the helm did not flow into his batting against West Indies, though. His strokeplay had bordered on rash, limiting his impact to 82 runs in five matches. Fletcher had touched on the difficulties of juggling captaincy along with the process of establishing oneself as a player. “As a young player you are trying to develop your game and trying to establish your game but at the same time you are looking after 10 to 14 other youngsters,” Fletcher said.Unlike those two series, this squad, while fresh, has an average age of 27, the same as Raina’s, which means the time spent cracking the domestic circuit would come in more than handy. The rest will also know the stakes. There are holes in the middle order that need to be filled before the 50-over World Cup. Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu and Raina himself will hope to use this series to stake their respective cases. The make-up of the fast-bowling attack is still in its experimental stages, which would invite Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma and Vinay Kumar to put their best foot forward.There is much to play for and Raina will hope his bowlers seek victims with the fierce gusto of the street vendors in Dhaka, his batsmen channel the city’s perennial activity while at the crease and, on the whole, spread some cricket fever as well.

The heat, the frenzy, and the broken chairs – all made you feel like you had gone back in time

Nandakumar Ganesh28-Apr-2014Choice of game
The temperature was rising towards 40 degrees, the humidity was 78%, and the traffic was literally stop-and-go. The parking area was strewn with dirt and throngs of people were huddled outside the rusty iron gate. But when I entered the ground, a whiff of nostalgia hit me as I remembered some of the greatest matches played here in this veteran host of ODIs. Welcome to the Sharjah Cricket Stadium for the battle between the Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.Team supported
Chennai have hit a purple patch and there is no stopping them. The opening stand between Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith had already devastated three very renowned bowling attacks of Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, so Chennai entered the game as clear favourites.Key performer
A much-improved cricketer now, Smith played with gusto and common sense, giving the utmost respect to Dale Steyn’s bullets and whacking Amit Mishra’s over-pitched deliveries. He made never looked troubled for runs. The ferocity with which he hit the straight fours showed how he had picked up some of McCullum’s batting traits.Shots of the day
Hyderabad’s run-scoring was flagging after Aaron Finch was dismissed. Karn Sharma, an underrated batsman, rose to the occasion and dispatched a Ben Hilfenhaus short ball into orbit. The ball disappeared behind the canopy-shaped tents of the west stand, possibly landing in the traffic outside. The next delivery was pitched on outside off: Sharma used a high back-lift and shaped a wonderful six over deep extra cover.In Chennai’s innings, Smith straight-batted a six over Ishant Sharma’s head and followed through the picturesque shot with a stylish pose, something for the photographers.Crowd meter
Despite Sunday being a working day here in the UAE, spectators flocked in thousands; some even grouping up outside the stadium to watch from the big screens. In contrast to the one-odd Australian, South African or a West Indian in the Dubai Cricket Stadium, Sharjah was inundated with Indians. The seating also had ’90s feel to it – some of the chairs coming off their hinges, the north stand seats sporting no backrests, and the stairs being used as seats in some areas. But the fans were undeterred by all these inconveniences. They had come to get their fill of high-octane T20 action. And they did.Entertainment
The localisation of sound was not all that impressive in Sharjah, as it was in Dubai. The light show made up for this deficit though. Lasers from the east stand reached every nook and corner of the stadium and spot-lit the cheerleaders sporadically, when the chance came.Darren Sammy provided comic relief when he copied a couple of jigs from the cheerleaders while manning the boundary, sending the nearby spectators roaring with laughter.Marks out of ten
6.

England could not have produced a pitch more suiting India’s needs at Trent Bridge if they had gift wrapped it with a note of welcome

George Dobell at Trent Bridge09-Jul-2014The English can be wonderful hosts.While many nations would attempt to use home advantage to the benefit of their team, England appear to have accepted that home advantage should simply benefit their bank balance.Just like the pitches used for the series against Sri Lanka, the surface at Trent Bridge was low, slow and offered England’s seamers almost nothing. Instead, it offered the Nottinghamshire chief executive a fine opportunity to gain five days of gate receipts.Stuart Broad was not the only bowler to withstand a day of frustration•PA PhotosIn the short term, anyway. While Nottinghamshire, like Leeds and Lord’s, may congratulate themselves on a profitable week now, they may reflect in years to come that it was a catastrophic mistake to take for granted the support of the English public. They may put up with high prices for tickets and refreshments, but they may not be so patient with stultifying cricket. Trent Bridge was not full for the first day of this series.It was not so much that the pitch suited India’s batsmen or their bowlers. The lack of pace in this pitch will suit nobody. Not seamers, not spinners, not batsmen and certainly not spectators. Within a few overs, Matt Prior was taking the ball at ankle height.No, the delight in this pitch, from an Indian perspective, was that it did nothing to exploit their potential weaknesses. With only two of the team having previously played a Test in England, there was an opportunity for England to examine their techniques and temperament.But, whereas during the 2011 series, some India batsmen struggled to cope with lateral movement or bounce, this time they have had to contend with little of either.The disappointment from an England perspective was that there were moments which hinted that India’s old failings remain. Even with a ball 80 overs old, M Vijay was struck by a short ball from Liam Plunkett that suggested that, on a more lively surface, he would have to work harder for his runs. And even on a day when there was so little lateral movement, Virat Kohli was drawn into poking at one that he could have left and fell to a slip catch.But when Ajinkya Rahane attempted a loose drive before he had scored, the ball fell short of the slip cordon.And when, on 32, he was discomfited by a short ball from Plunkett that hit his bat handle, the ball dropped just short of Alastair Cook at silly-point.And when Vijay, on 102, was drawn into poking at one outside off stump from James Anderson, the ball again fell short of the slip cordon.It was hard to avoid the conclusion that, had Nottinghamshire gift wrapped this pitch and tied a bow around it, they could hardly have made it more inviting to India. And in doing so, they have done a disservice to the England team.

Groundsman hopes pitch may quicken

The Trent Bridge groundsman, Steve Birks, has admitted he was disappointed with his pitch after the first day of the Investec Test against India.
England took only four wickets on an attritional day as their seam bowlers struggled to gain any movement or bounce from a sluggish surface. But while Birks accepted that he might “have left a bit more grass on” the pitch, he urged spectators to hold off before judging the pitch as he felt it would quicken on the second and third days.
“We wanted to produce a pitch with pace, bounce and carry which hasn’t happened unfortunately,” Birks said. “There’s quite a lot of moisture underneath but it’s a hard surface on top which is why it’s lacking pace. The moisture readings taken earlier in the week were quite high and we haven’t seen enough of the sun to really bake it out.
“Our only instruction [from the ECB] is to produce a good cricket wicket and, with hindsight, we may have left a bit more grass on it but this is the first day of five-day Test and while I don’t expect spin to come into it, we hope it might quicken up a bit.”

In the circumstances, England performed admirably after a first session in which their disappointment for the surface was palpable.Nine of the 14 overs immediately after lunch were maidens and the seamers gained just enough reverse swing to apply some pressure on the batsmen.Cook utilised his bowlers in shorter spells and employed some unusual fields, too. Plunkett bowled with six men on the leg side at one stage, while Anderson picked up the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara after posting a straight, short mid-on and pursuing a strategy of bowling resolutely full and straight. It was one of the only tactics available to them in conditions offering so littleAnd Prior, moving ever closer to the stumps to combat the low bounce, enjoyed a good day in desperately tough conditions. After taking an excellent catch to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan, diving low to his left to take a chance that probably would not have carried to first slip, he managed to avoid conceding a bye throughout the day despite the ball bouncing in front of him on numerous occasions.It was not perfect, though. Moeen Ali was milked rather too comfortably, conceding 5.55 an over and being replaced in the attack, for a moment, by Joe Root. In mitigation, it might be remembered that Graeme Swann conceded 97 runs in 15 overs without taking a wicket in the corresponding Test here in 2011.In the longer-term, the ECB needs to grasp the pitch issue. The game is not so popular in the UK that it can afford to produce such pitches so often.It matters not if there is an exciting finish on the fourth or fifth day. Erosion may cause a dramatic rock fall, but it does not make the previous 10,000 years entertaining.Such pitches are no longer an occasional variation, they have become the norm. Groundsmen centrally contracted to the ECB might solve the issue of corporate pitches designed to please county chief executives, though they will do little to combat the drainage issues that appear to have dried out squares around the country.You might also wonder at the role of Paul Downton. While England’s new managing director has found time to sack England’s record run-scorer in international cricket, break the confidentiality agreement having done so and decided it is his place to sit-in on selection meetings, it seems he has not been able to intervene on one of the key areas of the game: the pitches.If it is his role to help create a winning England team, it is his role to ensure surfaces that benefit his team. He might do well to focus on such core responsibilities and leave the headline grabbing to the players.

Even as Australia come to terms with 2-0 series loss to Pakistan, the wheels of change are slowly turning in the Sheffield Shield, reshaping old methods and ideas to meet the new realities of international cricket

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2014Between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi Test matches, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, expressed total faith in the capacity of Michael Clarke and Darren Lehmann to turn Australia’s fortunes around. “I’m really confident that this week we’ll see a different and improved performance,” he said. “One of the things I’ve been really impressed with under Darren Lehmann is the way the team’s adapted, and I think with Michael Clarke’s leadership and experience in those conditions we’ll adapt this week.”Based on recent Test match results, Sutherland’s confidence was well-placed. But even as he said those words, he was aware of gears grinding slowly and noisily in reverse in the Sheffield Shield, of domestic wickets being recast to better reflect international conditions, and of batsmen and bowlers having to learn how to better operate in climes prepared specifically to trip them up in India, England and now the UAE. The idea of a quick fix in the space of a week was optimistic.As far back as 2011, following the disastrous home Ashes series that concluded in January of that year, Sutherland had spoken of his concerns about Shield pitches no longer reflecting the sorts of conditions found in Tests, even in Australia. “For batsmen they have to work hard and it’s difficult, but at the same time it can lull bowlers into a false sense of security as to actually how good things are,” he said following that year’s Shield final. “If you go and have a look at Test pitches around the world, they are very, very hard, very, very dry and they have very little grass on them.”So in the years since, underneath the publicity generated by the Argus review and the Australian team’s fluctuating results, Cricket Australia have quietly debated the relevant issues with the states. These did not just include pitches but also the styles of play and players being promoted in the Shield, as the national team sought spin bowlers, batsmen capable of long innings and pacemen conversant in both conventional and reverse swing.It has not always been an easy conversation, with successful players and states arguing that they were doing the right thing by performing, so why change? But the penny appeared finally to drop in 2013, due perhaps, in part, to the dire India results that showed, among other things, how one-dimensional Australian cricketers had become. At North Sydney Oval for a CA sponsorship announcement shortly after the tour, Sutherland spoke not only about the “homework” fiasco but also how the experience of Australian cricketers had to be broadened.”As we saw in India, you can’t buy the experience of playing in those sorts of conditions, they’re very much alien to what we have anywhere in Australia,” he said. “You need that experience and part of it is making our Shield pitches more like Test pitches, but it’s also broadening the experience and the resilience of players to work through different conditions. The best players are the ones who can adapt to pitches all over the world – that’s where someone like Allan Border is an out-and-out great because of his ability to adapt his game.”Last summer’s Test results did not reflect that search quite so much as the rejuvenation of Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin and the unity forged by Lehmann and Clarke. But it is arguable that the more significant long-term trend over the summer was actually witnessed in the Shield, where several years of cajoling by the team performance manager Pat Howard, among others, finally resulted in the preparation of pitches more equitable to batsmen and spin bowlers. Both disciplines received a spike in their productivity, while pacemen had to work harder.Trevor Bayliss: “The batsmen don’t face very much quality spin at home, and then the skill set for that is not as good as it could be”•AFPThis tweaking must be balanced to a certain degree – Australian cricket does not need six facsimiles of the Dubai playing surface in Shield competition any more than it needs six green seamers. But the sense was of some kind of balance being regained. In the words of the New South Wales’ Trevor Bayliss, who coached his state to victory under the new conditions last summer and is now subbing in as national Twenty20 coach while Darren Lehmann flies home from the UAE:”If you look at when wickets were very flat, it was more important to bowl spin. Now we’ve had a few different years, the batsmen don’t face very much quality spin at home, and then the skill set for that is not as good as it could be if you’re facing it day in, day out. From a pace-bowling point of view, it’s easy to take wickets because there’s a fair bit in the wickets, but then you get onto these flat wickets that sorts a few of those bowlers out as well. Somehow we’ve got to get back to good cricket wickets, something in it for new ball bowlers, then flattens out to a good wicket and then day three and four it spins. That way we’ll produce more rounded cricketers in all conditions.”The state that suffered most by the change was Victoria, who for some years had been among the most outspoken advocates of doing things their way to secure trophies, rather than thinking more broadly about the production of Australian players. A change to the job specs of the state coach Greg Shipperd and others was significant to that end, raising the identification of international cricketers above the collection of silverware.But the adjustment to a style of play more conversant of spin and tall first-innings scores did not come easily: the Bushrangers finished bottom and averaged only 12 wickets a match – Australia’s weary UAE tourists will know how they felt. “I think part of that was definitely the change in conditions,” Shipperd said. “That was a Cricket Australia directive and I think a directive that was timely because most certainly the conditions had slipped way out of kilter across the country in terms of the balance between bat and ball.”I think the response to that directive was excellent across Australia and our bowling group weren’t good enough to deal with those better wickets. That’s the challenge going forward because hopefully those wickets will stay the same and make it a real challenge for bowlers to get batters out and batters to stay hungry to score significant runs.”

“You will note that with the revised Sheffield Shield points system we are rewarding teams that can dig in and fight for a draw, because there will be times at international level where that’s important.”Pat Howard, Australia’s team performance manager

Further pressing the matter of Shield conditions was the introduction of a fresh points system for this summer, which rewards teams for batting positively in the first innings but also for pushing to 100 overs, an increasingly uncommon innings length in recent seasons. Incentives were also added in terms of points for securing a draw, something conspicuously absent from the former system, which placed a premium on outright results and functioned sturdily until states began to look jealously upon the points tallies regularly racked up by Queensland on the grassy Gabba strip.Having shown a striking ability to twist past England and South Africa in bouncy conditions, Australia have been unable to stick against Pakistan. Dogged fourth-innings efforts and persistent spells are not necessarily the skills most desired by Clarke and Lehmann, but they will be increasingly required in the Shield and by extension, it is hoped, in the national team. Patience as well as pace.”We like to play attacking cricket, but that all depends on the conditions and the position of the game,” Howard said. “You will note that with the revised Sheffield Shield points system we are rewarding teams that can dig in and fight for a draw, because there will be times at international level where that’s important.”Not everyone is a fan of the new system. Bayliss would have kept the simpler former model. Shipperd is warmer to the concept but has raised a couple of queries about it also, namely the loss of the “contest within a contest” for first-innings points and the disparity of scoring conditions at various grounds around Australia.That said, Shipperd and Bayliss both remain open to the concept, even if before taking up Australian duty the latter had told his players not to think too much about the bonus points and simply to “play for the win as we usually do”. “It will all be interesting to see at the end of the season wash-up,” Shipperd said, “but Pat Howard is known for being prepared to take a risk in the pursuit of advancement, so the rest of Australia’s behind him.”Howard will be relieved to hear that, given he has often butted heads with senior figures in Australian cricket, not least for his non-cricket background. In the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi defeat, he stressed that the grinding gears of Australia’s domestic competition still had a way to go to help ensure that Australia are not caught out quite so badly as they have been by the Pakistan.”To be a great side, we have to be able to win consistently on the road and it’s clear that we still struggle to cope with dry sub-continental conditions,” he said. “We’re working hard to address our weakness against spin by getting more overs into spinners in the Sheffield Shield and installing dedicated spin pitches at the NCC. We will also continue to use spin-coaching consultants to help our bowlers and batsmen perform better in those conditions, as well as running a range of assimilation tours to the sub-continent for our elite development squads. All of those things will bring about improvement, but in no way are they an overnight solution. It will take time and hard work.”As unsightly as the UAE has been for Australia, it should at least remind players and administrators alike that their pitched battle has some way to run yet.

Left-arm seamers took 12 wickets in the thriller between New Zealand and Australia, the most ever in an ODI

S Rajesh28-Feb-20156 Number of one-wicket wins World Cups. It was New Zealand’s first win by that margin in World Cups, and Australia’s first defeat.161 The number of balls to spare when New Zealand hit the winning runs. It’s Australia’s second-biggest ODI defeat in terms of balls to spare – they lost with 180 balls remaining against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013.151 Australia’s total, their joint second lowest in a World Cup game, and their lowest when batting first. The only time they were bowled out for less was in 1983 at Chelmsford, when India dismissed them for 129. West Indies bowled them out for 151 at Headingley in the same World Cup. It’s also Australia’s fifth-lowest total against New Zealand, and the second lowest in terms of overs batted.26 Runs scored by Australia for the loss of eight wickets, after being 80 for 1 at one stage. It’s their worst eight-wicket collapse in ODIs, beating two instances of 8 for 27: against Pakistan in Dubai in 2009, and against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013. (Click here for Australia’s worst collapses from the second to the ninth wickets.)Trent Boult’s 5 for 27 was his best in ODIs, and only his second haul of more than two wickets in 20 innings•Associated Press5 The number of times Australia have been bowled out in fewer than 32.2 overs in all ODI matches. It has happened only once in the last 29 years, and once ever when they’ve batted first – against Sri Lanka in Brisbane in 2013, when they lasted only 26.4 overs.5 Number of times, in the last ten ODIs in Auckland, that the team batting first has been bowled out for less than 210.12 Wickets for left-arm seamers in the match – Mitchell Starc took six, Trent Boult five, and Corey Anderson one. It’s easily the most wickets they’ve taken in a single game – the previous best was 9.6 Wickets for Starc, conceding 28 runs, his best ODI figures. It’s the fourth best by a left-arm seamer in World Cup games, and also fourth among all Australian bowlers.5 Wickets for Boult in the innings, his first five-wicket haul in ODIs. His previous best was 4 for 44, against Sri Lanka in Dunedin last year. Those are the only two instances in 20 innings that Boult has taken more than two wickets in an innings in ODIs. His four best bowling analysis in ODIs have all come in 2015.11.33 Mitchell Johnson’s economy rate in the match, his worst in ODI cricket. He leaked nine fours and four sixes in 36 balls.21 Balls it took Brendon McCullum to reach his half-century. It’s the joint third-fastest in World Cups, and also McCullum’s third fastest in these tournaments. He got one off 18 balls against England a week ago, and off 20 balls against Canada in the 2007 World Cup. The only other instance of a 21-ball fifty in World Cups was by Mark Boucher, against Netherlands in 2007.142.39 McCullum’s strike rate in 12 ODI innings in 2015 – he scored 487 runs in 342 balls, with one century and four fifties. Among batsmen who’ve played at least 150 balls this year, two batsmen – AB de Villiers and Luke Ronchi – have a better strike rate.1 Today was the first instance of Daniel Vettori bowling within the first eight overs in a home ODI since the beginning of 2002.15 Runs scored by Australia in the first over of their innings. It’s the joint highest in the first over of a World Cup innings since 1999: Australia had scored 15 in the opening over of the 2003 final, which was bowled by Zaheer Khan.7-0 Win-loss record for the teams chasing in the last eight day-night ODIs in Auckland. One game was tied.