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Right-arm quick Tom and skillful young allrounder Sam have what it takes to get to the highest level

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Nov-2016It is put to 21-year-old Tom Curran and his 18-year-old brother Sam, sat side by side and dressed almost identically in England stash as two members of this winter’s Lions programme, that the younger sibling is generally considered the most talented. The example offered is Michael Jackson – the youngest of the original Jackson 5, who left the troupe to become the undisputed King of Pop. Sam smirks. Tom responds: “Good thing we’re not in the music industry then, pal!”Brothers in cricket are no new thing. Even at Surrey, before Currans, there were Hollioakes. Both Adam and Ben left such a profound mark on the club that the mere mention of their names gets Brown Caps misty-eyed. As they talk about how Adam led and Ben thrilled, the conversation invariably turns to just how far Tom and Sam can go. The consensus is: far.It was 2015 when Surrey fans got their first good look at both. Tom led the line as an assured and ridiculously skilful right-arm quick in a promotion charge that saw the club finish as Division Two champions, thanks to his 74 wickets. Sam, a genuine allrounder, whippy with his left-arm seam and enterprising with the bat, dropped by halfway through that summer to make his senior debut in a T20 Blast fixture against Kent in front of more than 20,000 people at the Kia Oval, two weeks after his 17th birthday.From then, he was around to offer assistance to Tom, taking 11 Championship wickets and even registering a half-century in the final match of the season, at home to their father Kevin’s former county Northamptonshire. It was in that fixture that the Currans became only the third pair of brothers to take all ten wickets in an innings, with Tom grabbing the big brother’s share of seven and Sam making do with three.

“As three brothers, we’ve been competitive – whether it is golf or in the cricket field. I suppose as cricketers we are team-mates, but on the golf course there are no team-mates. And there are no free drops!”Sam Curran

This year saw a more even share, as Surrey turned around relegation form to finish fifth in Division One. Tom took 33 wickets, Sam 27. Their advancements in white-ball cricket have also been clear to see. Sam’s ability to swing the new ball at pace gets things going, while Tom works the older one with wide yorkers and a bit of reverse swing. Both have taken on more responsibility than most at their age, and it is only when they are together, poking the other in the ribs or trying to spy on each other’s phone activity that you realise just how young they are.”It’s hard sometimes to take it all in,” says Tom. “It’s been an unbelievable journey and things have happened pretty quickly at Surrey.” Particularly, he says, when he was the spearhead of Surrey’s bowling attack at just 20. “As cricketers, you want to be given the ball at the tough times and you want to be leading your attack. I’ve been lucky enough to do that.”The career acceleration meant that, given the age gap, Sam’s Surrey debut in July 2015 was the first time that the pair had played competitive cricket together. Sam, though, offers a caveat. “Well, other than the back garden. I think we had some very good encounters.”Tom interjects, pointing to Sam as he does so: “No, but that’s different because in the back garden you can cheat! This one: geez!” It seems an odd twist, considering garden cricket’s long, sketchy history of the oldest sibling opening the batting and being the sole arbiter of the laws. Not so in the Curran household.If there is an older-brother dynamic that Tom has upheld, it is of leading the way and clearing a path for his younger brother. It was his performance during a school match in Durban for Hilton College in January 2012 that left such an impression on the former Surrey captain, Ian Greig, who was in charge of the opposition, that he alerted Gareth Townsend, Surrey’s academy director, to Tom’s talents.In 39 first-class games so far, fast bowler Tom Curran has taken 132 wickets at 29.12•Getty ImagesLater that year, after the tragic passing of their father Kevin, a former Zimbabwe allrounder, Surrey used their partnership with Wellington College, where Tom was continuing his schooling thanks to a bursary, to bring both Ben – the middle brother and an organised left-hand batsman – and Sam to England to keep the family together.Just as Tom did when he joined, Sam spent 2016 balancing cricket with his last year of A-Levels. And it was Tom’s experiences that, essentially, scoped Sam’s itinerary.”It was quite tricky, actually. In April I played the first game of the season and then there was an agreement that I was going to play no games up until my exams were finished; maybe the odd T20. That was the same with Tom – the relationship between the school and the club was very good.”Did he have a say in how much or what form he could play? “Don’t let him pretend to be Mr Bigshot – he didn’t!” ribs Tom.”Nah, I don’t think I did have a say,” admits Sam. “But the balance was good: we had a psychologist who did actually work well with me and made sure I did everything. There were a couple of four-day games where the lads went out for dinner but I had to stay put. The lads did take the mick out of me a little bit when I had to do a bit of school work. And when school thought I was behind, they would make sure I wouldn’t play any cricket.”By way of thanks, Sam made sure he played a few games for the Wellington side, too. Commiserations to the poor saps who lined up against a player who would go on to average 27.85 with the ball and 39.33 with the bat in Division One. “It was fun,” he beams, though presumably not for the opposition.Refreshingly, the atmosphere of professional sport has merely strengthened their bond. While both are hard on each other in the field – “if he messes up off my bowling then it is a bit easier to spray him than the skipper,” admits Tom – it is simply an extension of the competition that has featured in their family throughout. Fittingly, they can’t decide who is the most competitive.

“”As cricketers, you want to be given the ball at the tough times and you want to be leading your attack. I’ve been lucky enough to do that”Tom Curran

“It’s something that has been with us the whole way through,” says Sam. “As three brothers, we’ve been competitive – whether it is golf or in the cricket field. I suppose as cricketers we are team-mates, but on the golf course there are no team-mates. And there are no free drops!”As for the biggest sulker, Tom is happy to win that outright, prompted by Sam: “See, I’ve only just got my licence, so he sulks when he has to drive home after bowling 40 overs.””It’s an easy life for him!” bites Tom. “He just stands around in the field and then he’s got his feet up on my dashboard!”There are elements that give the other strength, too. For instance, Tom’s sure footing in a young, sparky dressing room enabled Sam to lean on his older brother before making his own impression. The trick for Sam was in identifying the difference between the school set-up and that of a county: “At school you’re looking to impress yourself. But in the Surrey side you’re about enjoying team success and that is something that has really stuck out to me.”For Tom that older presence was provided by Jade Dernbach, who took him under his wing and advised him in matters on the field and off it. It is hard to think of a player more in tune with the fickle nature of the game than Dernbach. “He was my age once,” says Tom, “and he put his arm around me. He made me feel a bit more relaxed within myself. When Sam came into the Surrey side, I tried to do the same for him. I’m sure Sam will do the same when he’s an old man.”Sam’s progress with the bat has also lit a fire under Tom, who has let this discipline slip, despite some recovery last season. As a youngster his batting and bowling progressed at an equal rate of knots, and Surrey’s former captain Graeme Smith and former coach Graham Ford believed that he had the ability to be a world-class allrounder.When he first played for Surrey, Sam Curran had to balance school work with cricket, and at 17, he became the second-youngest player after Tony Lock to make his first class debut for the county•Clint Hughes/Getty ImagesThe lapse has been understandable: Tom’s intense workload of 31 Championship matches and 44 limited-overs matches in the last two seasons has seen him opt for extra rest rather than practice, for fear of burnout (it is worth noting that the only Championship match he missed in this period – Hampshire away this summer – was down to a Lions call-up). It is a lapse he is keen to address over the winter.The Lions tour presents an opportunity for both brothers to further broaden their horizons, with a training camp in Dubai, a short tour of Sri Lanka in February, and the experience of working with new, unfamiliar team-mates who are usually nine-to-five rivals.It may also prepare them for the possibility that, eventually, one might leave the other behind. Having experienced the first throes of professional cricket together, both admit that will be a new sensation.”I was actually thinking about that the other day,” reflects Sam. “Obviously, coming into the Lions side, hopefully we both play. But there will be a stage when it comes down to the pitch or the opposition, where one of us gets left out. I guess we kind of have to take it on the chin. It’ll be a dream to play for England and even when it’s not you, if it’s someone in your family, you’re going to be really proud of them.”To allow a moment’s speculation, Tom looks to possess the requisite skills to be a fine international bowler – perhaps even a long-term replacement for James Anderson – while Sam’s precociousness suggests a role in the top six is not beyond him. As George Dobell reported last week, the England management was considering bringing Sam to India to have a closer look at him but decided against it.Whichever one does take that first step to the next level, you can be certain of one thing: the other will be very proud. And not too far behind.

Both batsmen fell cheaply in the first innings in Bengaluru but after some minor technical adjustments they put on the only wicketless session of the series so far and helped India draw level in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Ranchi15-Mar-20170:54

Kohli applauds quick-thinking Pujara, Rahane

Opposite the practice area at the JSCA International Stadium is a staircase leading up to one of the stands. Ascending one level gives you a terrific view of the nets, with an elevated, square-on view of the batsmen. Imagine standing atop a watch tower at cover point.It is a view you hardly see on TV and the one restricted to the cheaper seats in most stadiums because from here it is near impossible to judge the line of the ball and the extent of swing, seam or turn accurately. But it gives you such insights into a batsman’s technique.India’s net sessions on the two days leading up to the third Test against Australia offered an excellent opportunity to watch Ajinkya Rahane’s footwork against the spinners. Cat-like, nimble, fully forward or fully back. As has mostly been the case since he lowered his stance – a move that contributed to his twin hundreds in the Delhi Test against South Africa in 2015. His head was right on top of the ball when he stretched forward to defend.When Cheteshwar Pujara batted against seam, it was possible to observe how his hands never once strayed even six inches in front of his body when he defended the ball. He grips his bat in an unusual manner, his top hand turned so far around the handle that the back of his hand – rather than his knuckles as is the norm – faces the bowler. While this can hamper his freedom while driving, it ensures he plays closer to his body, and later than most batsmen on the planet. His defensive bat is a cushion that invariably drops the ball by his feet.Just over a week ago, these skills played their part in steering India through what has so far been the only wicketless session of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Through the course of their 118-run fifth-wicket partnership, Rahane and Pujara turned the Bengaluru Test around, slowly, calmly, with growing authority.The partnership also showcased two batsmen coming to grips with a bowler who had caused them and their team all kinds of problems the last time they had faced him. Nathan Lyon had dismissed both Pujara and Rahane while taking eight wickets in the first innings, and while there were moments of discomfort in the second innings too – Pujara was dropped on 4 – both men grew increasingly at ease, eventually keeping Lyon out for a combined 131 wicketless balls.On Wednesday, the eve of the Ranchi Test, India captain Virat Kohli revealed the technical adjustments the two batsmen had made to overcome Lyon.”I saw Pujara opening up his stance, which was an apt adjustment for him to give himself more space to play the ball,” Kohli said. “Ajinkya, again, getting inside the line of the ball and not playing through the covers. I think those are the small adjustments. KL [Rahul, who made fifties in both innings] is batting well anyway but I think those two guys stepped up their game and found a way to score runs on a difficult wicket.”And as I mentioned, that was the difference between winning a game and probably not winning it because there could have been only two results, the draw wasn’t there on the cards anyway. Such minor things can make massive differences in the game. We saw that and credit to those two guys to get runs on that sort of wicket.”Armed with Kohli’s insights, it was rewarding to re-watch Pujara’s 92 and Rahane’s 52 in Bengaluru.A slightly open stance helped Cheteshwar Pujara handle Nathan Lyon and his extra bounce•Associated PressRahane had been stumped in the first innings, while looking to step out and drive Lyon inside-out. It is a shot he plays well, but on this occasion, looking for non-existent turn, he had simply swished at thin air. In the second innings, he changed his guard: his back toe was in line with off stump rather than between middle and off. This brought him closer to the line of the ball, and ensured he was playing with the spin more often than not.It also made the sweep an easier option: from his original guard, he would have had to plant his front leg a fair way across to get his pad outside the line of off stump, thereby cramping him up and minimising the arc into which he could hit the ball. From his new off-stump guard, he did not have to stretch as far across to get close to the ball get his front pad outside the line of off stump. He could be better balanced and sweep the same delivery square or fine, depending on the field.The sweeps played their part in forcing Lyon to bowl wider, returning to Rahane the scoring option he had initially denied himself – the push or drive into the covers. At one point, the ease with which Rahane was handling him made Lyon switch to bowling around the wicket. This, for India, represented a small victory over a bowler who had tasted so much success bowling into the footmarks outside the right-handers’ off stump.A ball that spat out of these footmarks had led to Pujara’s first-innings dismissal, caught bat-pad. In his stance, Pujara’s feet had been aligned to point straight down the pitch, but a front-and-across trigger movement then left him closed-off and cramped up when the ball turned and bounced more than expected.By opening his stance, Pujara gave himself a better chance of negotiating Lyon’s extra bounce out of the rough. There were at least two occasions when this adjustment proved useful. Coupled with his usual ability to play the ball late and close to his body, the offbreaks that jumped at him now hit the part of the glove facing the bowler rather than that facing the fielders at short leg or leg gully.Being chest-on also made it easier for Pujara to play the pull should Lyon drop the ball marginally short. From the five times he played the shot, he collected three singles, a boundary and inside-edged a ball that kept low onto his pads.It wasn’t all plain sailing, of course. The slightly open stance may well have been a factor in Pujara, twice, playing inside the line of the ball and therefore outside-edging Lyon. It is possible that due to the change in his alignment, Pujara’s bat came down at an angle – from wide slip towards mid-on – on both occasions leaving him vulnerable. Had Smith snaffled up the slip catch he offered, Pujara’s open stance may well have come in for criticism rather than praise. Every little technical adjustment solves one problem while potentially creating another.On a difficult pitch, bowlers were always likely to create chances, no matter how ingenious a batsman’s plans might be. Smith, a beneficiary of multiple dropped catches while scoring a second-innings hundred in the Pune Test, knew this well. He had compiled the technical masterclass of the first Test, by playing for Ravindra Jadeja’s straighter one, minimising the risk of bowled and lbw, and not worrying about getting beaten on the outside edge.Pujara and Rahane had matched him with their own masterclass in Bengaluru. With spin likely to remain the dominant theme of the series, who will follow them up in Ranchi?

ESPNcricinfo previews Northamptonshire’s prospects for the 2017 season

Alan Gardner01-Apr-2017Last season:

In: Nathan Buck (Lancashire), Max Holden (loan, Middlesex)
Out: Olly Stone (Warwickshire)
Overseas: Rory Kleinveldt (SA), Seekkuge Prasanna (T20)2016 in a nutshell
Northamptonshire had what some critics are calling “their most Northamptonshire season ever” in 2016. They went in with barely 15 men on the playing staff, faced continued uncertainty over their financial position (“we’re counting every loo roll,” said the chairman in May), recovered from a turgid start to finish mid-table in the Championship, lost a thrilling Royal London quarter-final by one wicket off the final ball of the match and lifted the NatWest Blast trophy for the second time in four seasons. Ben Duckett epitomised Northants’ uninhibited approach to the uncertainties around the club, plundering more than 2700 runs in all formats and walking off with the PCA Player of the Year and CWC Young Player awards. The highlight was T20 Finals Day, when their Moneyball approach (perhaps that should be “no-Moneyball”) saw them triumph against the odds once again.2017 prospects
Could well be another rollercoaster. Promising young fast bowler Olly Stone has left for Warwickshire (though he missed most of last season with injury anyway) but Nathan Buck has come in from Lancashire and may prove an inspired signing – still only 25, he was on the radar of England Lions five years ago. What Northamptonshire lack in squad numbers they will attempt to make up for in camaraderie, with continued success in white-ball cricket the primary focus, highlighted by the recruitment of former England batsman James Taylor as a consultant for the Royal London Cup. No team has managed to retain the T20 title but, if Northants can become the first, they will also draw level with Leicestershire on most wins (three). Championship success looks less likely, although they did finish 2016 impressively with four wins out of their last six.In charge
Since taking over in 2012, things have seldom been easy for David Ripley but he has achieved some extraordinary successes. An unexpected Championship promotion came the following year, as well as a first T20 title (Northants’ first trophy in 21 years) as the club began to embrace a data-driven approach to the format, led by their “statto” head coach. Alongside the shrewd captaincy of Alex Wakely, Northants seems to have found an ideal blend, encompassing modern tactics, attention to detail and old-fashioned team bonding. Along with bringing Taylor on board for 50-over cricket, former Wantage Road favourite David Sales is now helping out part-time as batting coach.Key player
Rory Kleinveldt, back for a third season as overseas player, has become symbolic of performance trumping perceptions at Northants. Kleinveldt’s brief international career is now behind him and, although his kit size looks a little closer to XL these days, he is still a vastly effective allrounder at county level. He has taken 124 wickets across all formats for the club, to go along with more than 1200 runs, and is a respected voice in the dressing room where what you can do is valued more than how you look.Bright young thing
Duckett blazed a trail from talented youngster to England international in little more than a season, while 18-year-old allrounder Saif Zaib has long been highly regarded in Northants circles. Hopeful of making a big impact will be Middlesex loanee Max Holden, a year older than Zaib but yet to make his senior debut. A left-handed opener, Holden captains England U-19s in the long format and, on their tour of India earlier this year, scored 170 as part of a record 321-run stand with Somerset’s George Bartlett. Ripley has been a fan for years, having tried to sign him for Northants’ academy in 2011.ESPNcricinfo verdict
When it gets down to brass tacks, you’ve got to credit the Steelbacks. They won’t be much fancied, as the betting suggests, but that will not bother Ripley and Wakely as they look to mastermind further success on a shoestring. The question of whether Duckett finds his groove again, after a mixed winter away with England, might determine how far they go in the white-ball formats and a lack of depth could limit their Championship chances – but for county cricket’s version of the Wimbledon “Crazy Gang”, up against it is how they like it.Bet365 odds: Specsavers Championship: 14-1; NatWest Blast: 12-1; Royal London Cup: 16-1

After two months away from the game, Alastair Cook is back in action with Essex and facing up to the post-captaincy chapter of his England career

George Dobell03-Apr-20172:21

Cook ready for next phase

Whatever Alastair Cook was meant to be doing with a cricket net – erecting it, presumably – at Copdock Cricket Club, there was a while when it seemed to be getting the better of him.Thrashing around like a recently caught salmon, Cook’s contribution to the NatWest Cricket Force event turned out to be more about boosting morale than adding practical assistance. As he abandoned the net and attempted to paint the new score-box, the thought occurred that a post-cricket career in DIY seems unlikely.But perhaps such a moment serves as a useful metaphor for a man in search of a new role? On his first official outing since resigning the captaincy, Cook admitted that the transition from key man to last year’s man had not been entirely comfortable. It’s not that he regrets his decision – he still feels it was right for him and the team – but he knows he will never have a better job and there is, undoubtedly, a sense of loss.It would be easy to portray Cook as a man from a different era. While the rest of the world has decided impatience is a virtue, Cook is still waiting for the ball he can nudge off his hips. While it seems some are more interested in travelling in style than arriving safely, Cook is still proceeding cautiously. While the new generation amaze us with the shots they can play, Cook is still making a living from the balls he leaves.And yet, he’s only 32. And, in a side whose problems of late have been less about scoring too slowly as being dismissed too quickly, he has qualities that remain of value. While neither of his most significant immediate predecessors – Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss – returned to the side once they had given up the captaincy, Cook’s story is far from over. Keaton Jennings and Haseeb Hameed have offered promise in their brief opportunities, but the procession of opening partners Cook has had in recent years underlines his enduring value to the Test team. He may have lived the first line of his obituary, but he still has an important role for England.Alastair Cook helps out at Copdock Cricket Club for NatWest Cricket Force•Getty Images”It has good days and bad days,” Cook says of the decision to resign the captaincy. “It’s such a big thing to give away.”I don’t like the word ‘relief’. A lot of people have said it, but it hasn’t felt like that. I don’t know why.”I won’t miss going into all the extra press conferences. But being at the centre of it, being involved in a lot of decision-making, was the excitement of the job. Not doing that any more, will probably take a while to get used to.”Ultimately I know it was the right decision for myself and the team but that doesn’t make it any easier. It has been time to move on as a person and a player.”A period away from the game – he did not, he says, pick up a bat for two months following the India tour – has given him time, not just to recover his enthusiasm for it, but reflect on his period as captain and cricket’s apparently diminishing place in the public consciousness. And while he is amused by the much-quoted statistic that suggests he was less recognisable to young people in England and Wales than the wrestler John Cena, he also acknowledges its significance.”My best mate sent it to me and said ‘don’t worry, he’s a legend’,” Cook says. “It made me laugh in one sense.”But it’s probably a realisation of where cricket is in this county. There’s a lot of work to be done. It shows we can’t take this great game for granted. We – everyone – has to work hard so that it is looked after for the next generation.”Cook became aware of cricket’s problem during the 2013 Ashes. While there had been a time when an Ashes win was worthy of open-top bus rides and MBEs all round, the success of 2013 was met, if not with ambivalence, then certainly not the enthusiasm of a few years previously. As a result, it was decided his team would attempt to engage more with supporters and the realisation dawned that, for all the money gained from subscription TV, the value of free to air could not be overstated.”That 2013 series was quite an interesting one in terms of the fact we did win and it didn’t really capture people’s imagination,” Cook says. “Whether people had taken success against Australia for granted, or it was expected that we would beat that team, I don’t know.”For whatever reason, it didn’t [capture the public imagination]. That asked a few questions to everyone. Is it about winning? Is it about entertaining? Ultimately it’s about both. As professional sportsmen, you’re there to win games of cricket. You’re judged on how well you do: did you score runs and win? The balance is: are people coming to watch you play?”We did certain things to be more approachable. We had more interaction with the public. We saw that responsibility from 2013. We saw we needed to do that. Peter Moores started that in 2014 and it’s been taken on more and more. The players have been brilliant at doing that. It helps with the kind of cricketers we have. You’ve seen when we’ve won certain games, we signed autographs for an hour and a half. Players have realised that is very important to the game and to their job and the future of cricket.”Sky have been unbelievable supporters of England cricket and done a lot to financially secure the game. But it would be great if we can get it [the new-team T20 competition] on terrestrial TV. I’d love to see a Test on terrestrial TV again. It can only help.”England’s Ashes victory in 2013 failed to capture the public’s imagination•PA PhotosHe never, he says, felt obliged to change his style of game – or his style of captaincy – to embrace the modern fashion for more aggressive cricket. And while you sense there is still some frustration at the perception of his ODI side – they were, for a while, ranked No. 1 in the world and went close to securing that first global ODI trophy – time has helped him accept its flaws, too.”We should have won that game,” he says, referring to the Champions Trophy final of 2013. “If it was a 50-over game I think we would have won quite easily. We were playing some really good one-day cricket.”Would it have changed how my one-day captaincy was looked at? Absolutely. If you’ve won a major trophy, yes.”But should’ve, could’ve. Ultimately we didn’t win a major trophy. And the game changed very quickly with the changes to the laws, and we were very slow to adapt. I have to take a lot of responsibility as I was captain.”Cook will return to List A cricket this summer – his most recent List A game was in December 2014, just before he was sacked as ODI captain and dropped as a player – but he is realistic enough to know there will be no England recall. “The side is looking for different players than what I can deliver,” he says. There is unlikely to be a T20 return simply because England’s Test schedule would appear to prohibit it, but he is an advocate of the new-team competition: “it’s certainly something the ECB should try,” he says.But he is back in the nets with Gary Palmer, the freelance batting coach he uses, and he is still looking for ways to improve. With a more open technique, he is said to be hitting the ball better than for some time – he made a pre-season century against Middlesex – and has rediscovered his enthusiasm for a game that, by the end of the India tour, looked as if it had become a bit of a trial.”It’s the next phase of my career,” he says. “I’ve really enjoyed playing for Essex in pre-season and that’s the most important thing. I’m refreshed and raring to go. It’s time to move on.”Alastair Cook was speaking during NatWest CricketForce at Copdock CC. Now in its 17th year, NatWest CricketForce has grown into one of the largest sports volunteering initiatives in the UK, with over 2,200 local clubs registering this year. Find out more at natwest.com/cricket

Who among these bowlers has an ODI hat-trick, and who doesn’t? Take a shot at our quiz

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Sep-2017

The attitude towards England’s off-field behaviour all stems from that fateful night in Bristol, but the players need to help themselves to shift it

George Dobell in Perth11-Dec-2017If there was one moment that summed up the hysteria currently surrounding the England squad, it came at the end of the warm-up game in Richardson Park when Moeen Ali was asked if “you and your team-mates will be able to stay away from pubs between now and Thursday”.You would think most reporters sent to cover such a game might know by now that Moeen is a practising Muslim and therefore appreciate that such a question might be considered pretty crass. As Moeen responded dryly: “I’m not much of a pub guy, to be honest.”But the moment did serve to highlight how the image of the England squad has long since separated from reality.The reality of this England squad, containing as it does, such clean-cut young men as Alastair Cook, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood (another teetotaller) and Moeen (to name but four of many), is that they arrived in Australia with a single-minded determination to retain the Ashes. You’re more likely to see them early in the morning running in the park than drinking in a bar late at night.The image, however, is of a group of lads on a stag night for whom sessions in the field are a necessary evil in between sessions in the bar.It’s unfair and it’s inaccurate. But it’s the perception now. And once perceptions are set, they are harder to shift than red wine stains on cricket whites.It’s an image reinforced every time an England player behaves like a fool. Few people can seriously believe Jonny Bairstow or Ben Duckett committed serious indiscretions but, at a time of heightened sensitivity, their actions have provided ammunition for those who want to sustain the narrative that talks of a squad out of control or a team in an alcohol-fuelled crisis.And it’s an image reinforced every time anyone from either set-up is interviewed. The England management, knowing they can’t be seen to minimise incidents that, deep down, most of them feel are trivial, inadvertently fan the flames when they talk of “unacceptable” behaviour or impose fines upon players for actions that, if they are honest, they saw every week of their own touring lives. Moeen, with the best of intentions, did the same on Sunday.Duckett may well need to recalibrate his work-life balance but he is nothing worse than a good-natured halfwit who has been scapegoated by the ECB to show they mean business. A thousand former players – and at least one in the current team – are thinking ‘There but for the grace of God…’ A more senior, more valuable, player might well have been treated more leniently.The Australia management, meanwhile, need only sigh and look serious. Darren Lehmann, the Australia coach, played it magnificently over the weekend when, with the gravitas of a weapons inspector, he suggested the Duckett affair was “not funny”, thereby passively giving credence to the theory that there is a serious problem at the heart of the England set-up.England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow is locked in private conversation with England’s security officer Sam Dickason•Getty ImagesThat’s Darren Lehmann who, a few days earlier in a interview, recalled a story from his career where, having been up all night celebrating Yorkshire’s County Championship success in 2001, he drank the remnants of some champagne out of his helmet before going out to bat. When Australia have a drink it’s portrayed as bonding and banter; when England do so it’s portrayed as aggression and alcoholism.Really, we’re only days from the headline: “England player fails to use coaster in bar”, accompanied by a po-faced interview in which a former player suggests it reflects a lack of respect for Australian furniture and the downfall of British society.All England’s problems here stem from that fateful September night in Bristol. They didn’t just lose a fine allrounder, their best fielder and the balance of their team. They gained a ball and chain. The events of that night hang over this England squad like a cloud; it nags at them like a toothache; they drag it around like an anvil. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the affair, the incident has handed this squad some heavy baggage and a narrative that may well come to define the tour.But it remains absurd and unfair to judge the entire squad on the actions of one man who isn’t even here.It would probably be harsh to pin the blame for all this on the England management. They can’t legislate for a guy greeting an opposition player with a ‘good-natured’ head-butt, any more than they legislate for players pouring beer over one another. And even in a late-night venue such as The Avenue, which could hardly pretend to be salubrious, there is something fundamentally antisocial about a sports team living down to its stereotyping.However, the management might reflect on the wisdom of imposing a curfew. Not only might it have been interpreted as an acceptance of a need to curb a drinking culture within the team, but the decision to relax it on a few, selected nights might also encourage binging. It might encourage a sense of ‘we’d best make the most of this because we’re not going to be allowed out for another couple of weeks’.You wonder, too, how the relationship between the players and their security guards might develop now. It was, after all, those guards that reported Duckett’s behaviour to the team management. They had been asked to, of course, and they are employed by the ECB. But we do not want a situation where the players feel they are being judged and assessed even when they are encouraged to let their hair down or, even worse, a situation where they try to give their security detail the slip.And, all this talk of a drinking culture is a red herring for the issues that actually require confronting. If England really want to improve in Test cricket, they will look at the marginalisation of the county championship programme, the departure from technical coaching throughout the game, and the reliance upon English conditions in home Tests that has provided an illusion that all is well. These subjects may not make for catchy headlines or simple narratives, but if England want to improve their cricket, it’s those factors they’ll need to look at, not what time their players go to bed.It would be much easier to sustain that argument, however, if the likes of Duckett Bairstow et al could just be a little more sensible. Sure, they haven’t been so bad. But they have to understand that eyes are upon them. They have to act accordingly.

Saqib Mahmood can hit 90mph and, as Lancashire prepare to reap the benefit, England will be watching his every move

Paul Edwards12-Apr-2018Rather like the villagers on the Mexican border in the film classic, , the England selectors are looking for help. And similar to the farmers eventually assisted by Chris (Yul Brynner) and his friends, they do not care if the fastest gun comes from the west or any other point of the compass. This could be an intriguing season for George Garton, Tom Helm and Saqib Mahmood.It is still early April and scarcely a ball has been bowled but if composure and a cool readiness for the battle are criteria for selection, the 21-year-old Mahmood is well placed. As the Lancashire players posed in their new kit and the faux Northern video artistes wolfed their bacon barms at Media Day, Mahmood spoke with impressive clarity and purpose about where his cricket might take him.”I find it exciting that the selectors are looking for guys with pace and hopefully, I come into that sort of bracket,” he said. “You can have pace but you have to have the skill. I feel I have those things and it’s now a question of showing it for Lancashire. I’m moving the ball both ways at pace, which is what gets you to the highest level.”People who do not know Mahmood might accuse him of coltish arrogance. He has, after all, taken only 19 first-class wickets and 44 in all cricket. But there is a quiet reflectiveness about his speech which suggests mature self-assessment has taken place.Saqib Mahmood takes a break at Lancashire’s photo call•Getty ImagesHe knows that dismissing Kumar Sangakkara in the final first-class match of the maestro’s career got him noticed and he understands very well that his being able to bowl at 90mph has attracted attention. He is ready for the ballyhoo should he be fast-tracked from the Lions to the full England team.What is more, he knows that for some young pace bowlers the glare of publicity has often been followed by a blaze of obscurity. He has spent the winter preparing for what might come along this summer.”I attended a Lions training camp in Brisbane and Perth before Christmas and it was great to be out there and to put white-ball performances in,” he said. “You have to try different things with the red Kookaburra ball but with my pace I can make things happen on a flat wicket. I’ve got a unique action and I do get the ball to reverse when it’s doing that.”Then I was picked for both of the tours after Christmas. I’d never been to the West Indies before and I learned a lot out there. Now, if I do get picked for England to go to the West Indies, I know exactly what to expect and I don’t have to be there for a couple of weeks getting used to the conditions.Mahmood followed up with nine wickets at 14.88 in three matches in the North v South games with several members of the England hierarchy, including Andrew Strauss, looking on.Saqib Mahmood cleans up Surrey’s Ollie Pope in the North v South series•Getty Images”I really wanted to put performances in with the selectors watching,” Mahmood said. “I was a little nervous last year but this year I adapted my game to bowling in the middle and at the end. That’s where I’ve struggled in the past but I really showed what I could do with my yorkers and my death skills.”But if Mahmood does win further international recognition this season some close observers of Lancashire cricket may recall not his Lions performances overseas but the many occasions when Glen Chapple took the young bowler out to the middle during the lunch intervals of games in which he was not playing.Rather like a geometrician on a field-trip, Chapple would take out a series of poles which he placed precisely at certain points in Mahmood’s run-up and then on the pitch. These attempts to get his apprentice to run in straight and to hit specific lines are now bearing fruit; they can be added to the minute changes in wrist position and the finger pressure on the seam which are gradually turning Mahmood from an apprentice into a young craftsman.”Saqib is very disciplined and pays real attention to advice and help,” said Chapple. “But he is encouraged to formulate his own ideas and thoughts. He bowls quick, he can reverse the old ball and is working on his ability to move the new ball both ways and, like any young bowler, he is working to improve his consistency without taking away the extra pace he has. On the TV gun, he will bowl 90mph, some days more. But there might be more to come from him. I think he will have a blend of everything when he is the finished product. He will be a skilful bowler as well as being fast.”Saqib Mahmood bowls for Lancashire•Getty ImagesIndeed, Chapple’s poles may soon occupy as potent a place in Lancastrian folklore as the Farnworth Social Circle nets from which Haseeb and Ismail Hameed brushed the snow a very few winters ago. It was that work ethic which helped win Hameed his first Test cap and it is not absurd to think that he, Mahmood and Liam Livingstone may all be in the England side before the end of the season.”It’s a big summer for me but I don’t just want to play, I want to be an influential player,” said Mahmood. “When I was coming back from a niggle, I was clocked at 88mph and that was bowling into a mitt. If you can employ skills at 90mph it puts you on a different level.”Test cricket is the biggest challenge. You’re not doing it for one hour or three, you’re doing it for five days. It’s a mental and physical challenge and I get a real buzz off winning a four-day game.”

He was widely credited for his role in the Champions Trophy win, but Pakistan’s wicketkeeper has struggled to make his mark on the Test team

Osman Samiuddin at Lord's23-May-2018Eleven months ago, Sarfraz Ahmed stood on the balcony of his house in North Karachi and we caught a passing glimpse of that which he is waiting to become. A small part of a big city – his constituency let’s call it – was massed below him on the street, rapt and united in adulation and celebration.Sarfraz has lived in that same house his entire life. The area is known as Buffer Zone (don’t ask). There were neighbours in that crowd and people who had known him and seen him grow up who may have realised at some point that he was special but who, until then, may not have realised quite how apart from them he could become.Somebody in the crowd started singing and Sarfraz eventually joined in this exquisite trolling of the trope of India’s dominance of Pakistan. Let’s agree that he’ll never be a dancer but in playing along, he gave this charged, jubilant scene the definition it had been seeking: a leader among his people, as one of them, but also apart from them.Today, a day on from his 31st birthday, a week on from the worst Test he has had personally, a day before the biggest examination of his fledgling Test captaincy, he is Pakistan’s undisputed captain but is still waiting to become their leader.***Nobody really knows what makes the perfect captain and if they tell you they do, don’t buy it. The one thing we do know – and in the case of Pakistan, the foremost prerequisite – is that, without performing himself, a captain is as pointless as a celebrity without an Insta account. Runs are what established Misbah. The example that Imran set is what made his side great. And runs are what smoothed the prickliness of Miandad.If it used to be complicated for wicketkeeper-captains, it isn’t anymore: they need to score runs like anyone else. Sarfraz knows it because, until he became captain, he was scoring runs. And they weren’t just runs – they were crisis runs, mood-shifting runs, runs for fun.On the 2016 tour to England, in fact, there were a handful of Test 40s considerably more significant than just their sum. And he bossed the ODI series. Those were the peak years, from the start of 2014 and his hand in the Sharjah chase, to the lost-cause fifties in Australia at the end of 2016.The batting hasn’t hurtled off a cliff since, but it has begun to trek down it. There was that fifty against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy on which the tournament turned (albeit he was helped on his way by Thisara Perera and his missed sitter at mid-on). The hand-eye coordination that can make his offside game so thrilling is now occasionally revealing the risks that make it appear wafty. The urgency that was so vibrant has, a couple of times already, looked hasty.Sarfraz Ahmed greets crowds outside his house in Karachi•AFPAnd then there’s the noose by which all wicketkeepers eventually hang. So deep are the scars of Kamran Akmal upon Pakistan that for a long time, anyone who could identify which gloves go on which hand was a good keeper. But we’re reaching a moment in Sarfraz’s wicketkeeping – and actually we’ve been here for a while. According to ESPNcricinfo’s records, Sarfraz has missed at least 19 chances in 26 Tests since the start of 2015. He’s dropped or missed 11 catches out of a total of 93 opportunities, but more damningly, has missed eight stumpings out of 19 that have come his way. All in all, that means he is missing roughly one in every six chances. Those are not figures to sweep away easily.Carry on like this for a while and it starts building up into a fair old storm. Everything gets sucked into it, like the constant haranguing of players. Some days, such as the third T20 in New Zealand earlier this year when he was shouting at Mohammad Amir to stop appealing and just pick the damn ball up to prevent a single, it’s okay. That is the alertness to match situations that is intrinsic to Sarfraz’s game.Other days, such as when he ran up to lecture Hasan Ali on his way back to the bowling mark only to be, apparently, ignored, it is OCD micromanagement. And the berating of fielders for poor throws … it’s not a great look if he’s dropping chances himself.Eventually the whispers about his fitness might gather the strength to become actual criticism. He is passing those fitness tests and working hard, no question. But he doesn’t look like the poster boy for the no-prisoners-taken fitness regime they’re trying to implement. And as the captain, you’d think he should be the poster boy.***The thing is, whether the PCB intended it as such or not, Sarfraz has been a captain-in-waiting for years. He’s the closest the board has come to grooming a captain from an early age. Sure, there have been bumps along the way, but he was Under-19 captain just over a decade ago and he is now the national captain in all three formats. That is as straight a line of leadership development as you’ll find in Pakistan cricket.And there’s no questioning that, under his command, Pakistan’s white-ball sides have, at the very least, halted an alarming slide and, at the most, turned into a modern outfit. And no matter how he can be with his players on the field, from a distance it does appear as if he has pulled off that other great captaincy trick – of appearing to be one of the boys while at the same time not.There’s a tale from that Champions Trophy win with which to finish. After the opening defeat to India and heading into their next training session at Edgbaston, Pakistan sat down in the dressing room for a bit of soul-searching. Words were needed – tough, unsparing words. Mickey Arthur had been dishing them out thus far but he now needed it to come from the players. The player who got up to kick that verbal ass? Shoaib Malik.Or, to put it more relevantly, not Sarfraz: the captain no question, but a leader in waiting.

Barring injury, Australia’s bowling attack and wicketkeeper are nailed on for the first Test against India but the same can’t be said about the top order

Alex Malcolm21-Nov-2018

The incumbents

Aaron FinchAt the end of the Test series in the UAE Finch appeared a lock for the first Test against India but he has hit a significant form slump in ODIs and T20s since. Scores of 1, 0, 3, 1, 5, 41, 11, and 7 have caused alarm and he has spoken of the challenges the change in formats have posed to his technique. He only has three T20s and one Shield match to find some touch. Further complicating matters, his record opening the batting in first-class cricket in Australia is poor. He was well suited to opening on the low slow surfaces in the UAE but Australian conditions are a different beast and very few makeshift openers have succeeded in Australia in Test match cricket. Most of his success in first-class cricket for Victoria has come batting at No.5. He looks certain to play. Where he bats is still to be finalised. Victoria coach Andrew McDonald told radio on Wednesday that he was planning to bat Finch in the middle order against Queesland and had not received any instructions from the selectors over where to bat him.Usman KhawajaFitness is the only question mark for Australia’s best batsman. He had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee on October 23. He is back running and replicated some running between the wickets over the weekend. He was set to face bowlers for the first time this week. The last Shield round before the Test starts on November 27 and he expects to be fit for that. If all goes to plan he will play in Adelaide. He should bat at No.3 but there may be some consideration given to him opening in light of his excellent record at the top of the order.Shaun MarshAny doubts about his Test place have been erased. His form since returning home has been sublime. He made 80 and 98 in Shield match against Tasmania at the WACA where the bowlers dominated. He followed that with a supreme 106 against a high-quality South Africa ODI attack in Hobart. Eight days later Marsh peeled off 163 not out to help Western Australia chase down 313 against South Australia at Adelaide Oval, the venue of the opening Test against India and the scene of a century against England last year. The four failures in the UAE are a world away. Despite his success at No.5 in last summer’s Ashes, on current form he is the best equipped to bat in the pivotal spot while Steven Smith is absent.Travis HeadLike Finch, Head showed promise in the UAE and appeared almost certain to retain his place in Adelaide. But like Finch, his form since has given the selectors pause. He was strategically left out of Australia’s T20 assignments. He missed out in his only Shield innings before a nightmare one-day series against South Africa put his Test place under pressure. That may have eased somewhat with a good Shield performance in Adelaide against WA where made a fluent 87 in the first innings and was unfortunate to be lbw. He was equally unlucky to be strangled down the leg side in the second innings for 0. The lack of runs from the other contenders has helped his cause but conversely the ability of South Africa’s paceman to expose him technically, albeit in short-form cricket, has meant a home Test in Adelaide is not absolutely guaranteed.

The bolters

Glenn Maxwell has gone from a contender post the UAE series to a genuine outsider to be picked for Adelaide. The schedule of T20s, ODIs and T20s have done him no favours. But his inability to make some sound situational decisions at the crease saw him slide further down the order in the ODIs and as a result he has slid right out of Test calculations for the time being.
Marcus Stoinis started the season superbly in both 50-over and Shield cricket and his stocks continued to rise during the ODI series against South Africa. But his overall body of work doesn’t stack up against some of the other options with just four first-class hundreds to his name and none in the last two Shield seasons.
Alex Doolan has been a forgotten man. He played four Tests in 2014 and scored 89 on debut at Centurion against an attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander but was dumped on the tour of the UAE and never considered again. He is the stand out batsman this season with scores of 115, 10, 76, 6, 53, 90, 0 and 94 putting him in contention.
Tom Cooper would be a surprise selection but he has scored back-to-back Shield centuries this season, including 178, against Queensland. Langer asked for hundreds and Cooper has provided them.

Mitchell MarshAustralia’s new vice-captain remains a divisive figure. After the failures in the UAE the 27-year-old was left out of Australia’s matches against South Africa and the T20 series against India to get valuable time in Shield cricket. It was the clearest indication that he is still a mainstay in Australia’s Test team. He made a statement scoring 151 batting at No.4 against Queensland and he also bowled 30 overs in the match claiming the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne. He followed that a second innings 44 against South Australia which was vital in the context of the game but Daniel Worrall did breach his defence in the same manner Mohammad Abbas had in the UAE. He looks likely to play given the Australian attack will need extra bowling support but unlikely to bat higher than No.6.Marnus LabuschagneDespite some promising performances in the two Tests in the UAE having been picked seemingly on potential, he appears likely to miss out on Adelaide. Like Matt Renshaw, his Shield form has not helped his cause with scores of 3, 28, 10, 11, 52 and 4 perhaps forcing the selectors hands despite the half-century coming against Australia’s Test attack. Given what he showed in the UAE with bat, ball and in the field, a case could be made to stick with him long-term. But Australia’s dire results of recent time may not allow for such long-term thinking.

The contenders

Matt RenshawAfter his omission in the UAE he appeared almost certain to open the batting in Adelaide but his form has not made his selection a certainty. He made an unbeaten 145 on immediate return from the UAE for his premier cricket team Toombul in Brisbane and made another on November 10 but his Shield form has been far less productive. He was dismissed for 3 and 0 against South Australia in Adelaide by both an inswinger and outswinger from Joe Mennie. He made 89 and 21 against WA on an Allan Border Field surface where two players made scores of 150 plus and six others made half-centuries. He followed that with 21 and 6 against the Test attack, nicking Nathan Lyon in the first innings and being adjudged caught behind attempting to cut Josh Hazlewood in the second.Marcus HarrisThe left-hander has put himself firmly in the mix for Adelaide through not only a great start to the domestic season but solid performances over the previous two years. No man has scored more runs or centuries in Shield cricket since the start of the 2016-17 season than Harris. He announced himself with 250 not out against New South Wales and has backed that up with scores of 65 and 67 in the next two games. He stands up under pressure, with two of his nine first-class hundreds coming in Sheffield Shield finals. The 26-year-old has matured into a very dependable opener for Victoria, and any queries over his ability to bat time and make sound decisions consistently have been quashed this season.Peter HandscombHe remains in the frame after he was omitted from the UAE squad on form. His JLT Cup run was excellent and he produced an impressive Shield century against South Australia at the MCG. But he has left a few starts on the table with scores of just 27, 48 and 23 in conditions where team-mates have made significant scores. The selectors will have taken particular note of his move up to No.3 for Victoria. It has been a wise move to put his technique under pressure against the quicks up front, which has been the question mark against him. Whether he’s done enough for a recall remains to be seen.Joe BurnsAfter mysteriously dropping off the radar for the UAE series he has re-emerged as a contender for Adelaide. In a team crying out for experience, his three Test hundreds opening the batting in Australia and New Zealand certainly count in his favour. He also debuted against India last time they toured, making twin half-centuries in Sydney, and his excellent Shield season last summer should stand for something. His Shield form this season won’t count against him but he hasn’t smashed down the door. He made 64 against South Australia but was one of Lloyd Pope’s seven victims, then made 49 and 80 not out in Brisbane against WA albeit on a road. He copped a poor decision in the first innings against NSW but then did all the hard work on the third evening against Hazlewood, Starc, Cummins and Lyon only to edge a ball first up on the fourth morning to be out for 38.Matthew WadeHe has become a legitimate contender to play in Adelaide as a specialist batsman. England have proven two wicketkeepers can play together in a successful side. He made three centuries last Shield season, the equal most of any player, and has started this summer with four consecutive Shield half-centuries and 137 against the best Shield attack in the country, Victoria. He has two Test hundreds and one came batting at No.6. Tasmania captain George Bailey believes he should be considered given how well he is batting at the moment, particularly his ability to bat with the tail and shift up and down the gears depending on the match situation.

Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis on learning to build an innings, and dealing with criticism on social media

Interview by Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Jan-2019You’ve said in the past that it was your father who lit your passion for cricket. What do you remember of those early days?
My father loves cricket, so he’s the one who introduced me to it. He played Under-13 and U-15 cricket, so he was pretty keen that I play it as well. He sent me for coaching with Jayalath Aponso sir, who worked with the academy in Moratuwa [Mendis’ home town, just south of Colombo] and that was where my cricket started to change. If a foreign team came over, he’d make sure I was in the squad and playing those games.Your father was a three-wheeler driver, I hear. He must have had to make some sacrifices to get you into the game?
He was a carpenter, actually, but then he had an accident and wasn’t able to physically continue in that line of work. Then he started driving a three-wheeler. We got lots of help from our extended family – aunties and uncles. When I went on tours at the age-group level, I was able to make sure we had all the costs covered. There were many times when my father would go into debt to make sure I had the gear I needed. There were a few bats that he bought like that. He didn’t tell me any of that. He just bought me what I asked for. He must have hoped that one day I’d come a long way in cricket. My mother was always encouraging as well. It took everybody’s support – grandparents, teachers, coaches, everyone, but it’s my father who I have to be most thankful for. He must be really pleased about how far I have come. Even though he doesn’t tell me, he must be really happy.