Division One leaders seal second win from three games inside first session on day three

ECB Reporters Network21-Apr-2024Jamie Porter and Shane Snater blasted through a brittle Lancashire batting line-up to give Essex victory by an innings inside three days at Chelmsford. The Essex pace bowlers exploited a pitch playing low by taking three wickets apiece as Lancashire capitulated in just 41 overs for the second time in the match.Porter set the ball rolling with the first of nine Lancashire wickets to fall in the session to finish with 3 for 24 before Snater took his match figures to 7 for 59 with 3 for 17 in the second innings. Essex’s second win of the season, worth 22 points, took them further clear at the top of the Vitality County Championship with only three games played.”We have started the season fantastically well,” Essex captain Tom Westley said. “Even that last game against Kent we were a bit unlucky with the weather so potentially, it could have been three wins from three.”We’ve been successful for a while now as a club so every game is a big game and we look to win every single game. We’ve just played some fantastic cricket and I think this is one of our better, most complete performances.”I thought the bowlers bowled amazingly well and I think our challenge is to maintain this momentum and keep the standards as high as they currently are.”We know what a good side Lancashire are, they are always identified at the start of the year as contenders to win the division. So to control the game and win every session is a huge pat on the back for Essex.”Lancashire had started day three on 10 for 1 and requiring another 221 runs to make Essex bat again. They lost five wickets in the first hour and never recovered with the game wrapped up in extra time before the scheduled lunch interval.Essex were forced to field 19-year-old Ronnie McKenna as substitute behind the stumps when Michael Pepper pulled out with a finger injury suffered the night before. The Basildon-born 2nd XI wicketkeeper, the third to do the job for Essex in three Championship matches this season, had four leg byes sail past him down the leg side in the first over from Cook.However, 11 balls into his first-team appearance, he was celebrating a first significant contribution as nightwatcher Will Williams edged Porter into his gloves having hung around for 36 balls.That precipitated a catastrophic collapse with four wickets falling in 16 balls. Josh Bohannon lasted 25 balls before he walked across a delivery from Cook and was lbw, while Luke Wells was beaten all ends up by Snater to be bowled for a 54-ball 21. In the same Snater over George Balderson saw the umpire’s finger go up as he played down the wrong line before Tom Bruce had his off stump sent cartwheeling by Porter.There was a 10-over hiatus while Matty Hurst and George Bell put on 30 runs before the wicketkeeper scooped Snater into square leg’s hands.Offspinner Simon Harmer had not bowled much on this seamer’s paradise, but in his fourth over of the innings he had Tom Bailey walking down the wicket and patting the ball back for a simple caught and bowled. Next over Jack Blatherwick followed Bailey’s lead and gave Harmer more catching practice by chipping the ball back to the bowler.Bell had hung around for 40 balls and appeared to be heading for a third fifty in four innings at Chelmsford when he nicked Cook to Dean Elgar at first slip to wrap up the match.

Arsenal defender William Saliba has issued a huge update on his Gunners future amid Real Madrid transfer links.

• Arsenal want new Saliba contract
• Linked with Real Madrid transfer
• Saliba drops update on his future

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Arsenal have reportedly been trying to extend Saliba's contract, which expires in 2027. The centre-back is said to be attracting interest from Spanish giants Madrid but now the France international has made it clear he wants to sign a new deal with the Gunners.

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  WHAT SALIBA SAID

  When asked about when he was going to sign a new Arsenal contract, former Nice and Marseille loanee Saliba told AFTV on Sunday: "Hopefully soon! God is great. This year, we will try to win everything."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Saliba has earned a reputation as one of the Premier League's best defenders, while forming a formidable centre-back partnership with team-mate Gabriel Magalhaes. The 24-year-old is a vital component of this Mikel Arteta team, and if he extends his stay, that will be a huge boost for the north London outfit.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Aside from Arsenal contract talks, the 6ft 4in defender – who has made 134 appearances for the Gunners – could feature for his side against bitter rivals Tottenham on Thursday as they continue their pre-season tour in Asia.

The flatbed at Faisalabad ensured a high in-control percentage for batsmen on all five days

On the Ball with S Rajesh25-Jan-2006Completely insipid and lifeless pitches have ensured that a series which was eagerly looked forward to is ending up as one of the most boring, and a terrible advertisement for Test cricket. The bowlers from both teams have found little joy – not only have they not taken wickets, they have seldom even looked like making inroads.A sporting pitch is one which is usually a good one for batting early on, and then progressively offers more assistance to the bowlers. The flatbed at Faisalabad, though, remained a batting beauty throughout, as is indicated by the high in-control percentage that the batsmen managed on all five days. Even on the last, despite the flurry of wickets towards the end, the bowlers induced false strokes from the batsmen only 13% of the time.Among the bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar, with his ability to take the pitch out of the equation with his express speed, was the most effective, inducing 17% false shots, followed by Zaheer Khan and the impressive debutant Rudra Pratap Singh (16%). The spinners had a wretched time – Danish Kaneria had a not-in-control percentage of 13, while Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Shahid Afridi could only manage 11%.

A stats lowdown on Trent Bridge, a ground where England have won each of the three times that Michael Vaughan has led the team

Mathew Varghese26-Jul-2007After “getting out of jail” – as Rahul Dravid put it – at Lord’s, a venue at which they have always struggled, India will be relieved that the second Test is in Nottingham. They have played three Tests at Trent Bridge, and while they lost in 1959, they drew their two recent encounters, in 1996 and 2002.India’s batsmen didn’t live up to reputation in the first Test, and the Big Three – Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Sourav Ganguly – will be under pressure to perform in the second. All three batsmen have good records at Trent Bridge, with a century apiece.

Ganguly and Tendulkar scored hundreds in the 1996 Test, during their 255-run partnership, the highest for India in England. They have scored more runs at Trent Bridge than any of the current English batsmen, who have all had an unusually quiet time at this venue.

However, given India’s bowling record, the England batsmen could get an opportunity to boost those numbers for the previous two Tests between the two teams in Nottingham were high-scoring contests.

Although India’s batsmen have done well at Trent Bridge, their English counterparts have done better: in 2002, they amassed 617, the third-highest
total at Trent Bridge. Harbhajan Singh conceded 175 runs, the most
in an innings at this venue.England have won three of their last four Tests in Nottingham. Their only defeat was against Sri
Lanka in 2006, when Muttiah Muralitharan took 8 for 70 in the fourth innings, the best
bowling figures in an innings at Trent Bridge.England, though, have won all three Tests under Michael Vaughan’s captaincy at Trent Bridge. Mike Brearley is the only other captain to have a 100% win record at the venue.

The team batting first at Trent Bridge doesn’t have any distinct advantage, having won 17 and lost 14 Tests. However, in the five matches since January 2002, the team batting first has won thrice and lost once, with one Test ending in a draw. The team winning the toss has chosen to bat in each of the six most recent Tests.Overall, the side winning the toss has won 20 and only lost 11 Tests. Since 2000, the toss hasn’t mattered much, the team that has won it has won three and lost two out of seven Tests.Although England’s bowling line-up is inexperienced, Monty Panesar and James Anderson have performed well in the only Test they have played at Trent Bridge. Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan are the only two Indian bowlers to have played at the venue.

Unlike at most grounds in England, spinners have an excellent record here – since 2000, they have taken 53 wickets at an average of 23. The overcast conditions and the threat of rain, however, could deny Panesar and Kumble the kind of success that other spinners – most notably Shane Warne and Muralitharan – have had here in the past.

Andrew McGlashan talks to Mal Loye about his experiences in Australia, being dumped for the World Cup and how he is now focussed purely on Lancashire

Andrew McGlashan11-May-2007

While England’s top-order floundered in the Caribbean there was one player who would have at least tried to clear the boundaries. But he was splitting his time between a pre-season tour of South Africa and the early throws of a domestic season. With every delivery patted down the pitch or left outside off stump the situation was crying out for Mal Loye’s aggression and innovation.Loye wouldn’t have solved all England’s woes and meant they were the ones lapping up the adulation of an adoring public instead of the Australians. Far from it, the one-day problems run much deeper than the top three but they are symptomatic of the larger malaise. However, Loye would have gone down blazing rather than blocking and England’s total wouldn’t have crept to nine runs in the seventh over of the virtual quarter-final against South Africa.He could certainly be forgiven for feeling a little bitter about the way he was discarded by England following seven matches in the CB Series. “After missing out on the World Cup I had a bit of a sulk,” he admits, “but after that all I have focused on is Lancashire, it’s all I can do. It’s what has made me successful.”Loye’s career record reads more than 13,000 runs in first-class cricket and more than 8000 in limited overs matches. He was on the verge of a Test cap in 1998 when called up to face Sri Lanka after Mike Atherton was injured. But at the last minute the selectors had a change of heart and went for Steve James. “They wanted an opener for an opener and I was told thanks but no thanks.”Loye has had to deal with his fair share of poor communication over the years so, recently, took it as a positive that he received a phone call to tell him he wasn’t in the 25-man development squad. “The selectors let me know that but that’s the only contact I’ve had in my whole career so I’ll take a positive from that. Now it’s about kicking on and getting some scores under my belt.” It’s been a mixed start to the 2007 season for him, a century at Edgbaston and a run of innings in the thirties and forties. “It’s frustrating, I keep giving it away.”

Even if Loye’s international career is done and dusted his brief stint at the top level is still packed with incident, some before he’d actually arrived in Australia. When Kevin Pietersen was hit in the ribs at the MCG, Loye was in New Zealand during a club stint with Auckland. “I was getting text messages and phone calls from people back home who were watching the TV and they were basically telling me I was in. Then Ravi [Bopara] got called up, but I knew I was close so there was still hope.”However, injuries were never far away and it wasn’t long until Michael Vaughan pulled a hamstring at Hobart. “I’d actually just played my first game for Auckland after coming back from an injury,” Loye explains. “Then I came off and noticed that Vaughan needed a runner and I was pretty sure after the feedback earlier that week that I had a good chance.”Two days later he walked out at The Gabba with Andrew Strauss against Australia. Nerves? “I just remember thinking I had nothing to lose. I wanted to make the most of the day because it might have been my one and only chance. If I’d been 24 I would probably have gone in very differently and put extra pressure on myself but as I was 34 I just thought I had nothing to lose.” And just to show he wasn’t going to hold back, the trademark sweep came out, against Brett Lee of all people. “I had a look at it and realised what a good pitch it was. Even though it was a low-scoring game it was a belter, and after watching the Ashes and a disappointing start to the one-dayers I just thought taking them on was the best way to go. Glenn McGrath said a few things but I was just enjoying it so much that I didn’t hear a lot.”

The results were mixed – but mainly on the low side – as Loye found out that McGrath, Lee and Co. don’t take kindly to such treatment. But, given his chance again, Loye would do the same despite taking a crack on the chin in the second final at Sydney. “I wanted to do it again next ball,” he said before explaining his variation of getting back on horse. “It’s a bit like when I had a car crash as a kid and later that same day I wanted to drive because the longer you leave it the more you are going to doubt yourself. It’s a shot like a pull or a hook which you can get hit playing and you don’t stop using those.”So, having watched from the sidelines, what did one of the country’s most aggressive one-day batsmen make of England’s efforts in the Caribbean? “As openers now you have to have an all-round game, you can’t just go in and play one way.” But he still offers his support to Vaughan, the man who took his place for the World Cup. “It depends on conditions. Everyone is going on about Vaughan but I think he has the game to smack it around and also the technical ability when it is doing a bit.”Loye certainly hasn’t given up hope of having another taste of the big time and the Twenty20 World Championship in September is giving him a target to focus on. “Ultimately it’s always at the back of your mind and to play in a tournament like that would be amazing but it depends the route the new management wants to take. I don’t know how they are thinking so all I can do is score runs for Lancashire.”For someone who waited so long for an opening it would be easy to feel contented with a handful of one-day caps and playing a helping hand in a rare one-day success. However, for Loye there is certainly not a feeling of fulfillment. “I’m not satisfied at all. To play at the highest level is to play Test cricket and if that never happens I’ll look back and it will be a huge regret. But you can only do so much and the rest is in other people’s hands.”

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch06-Aug-2007The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Muttiah Muralitharan got to 700 wickets in Sri Lanka’s 50th Test win © AFP
I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere that Sri Lanka’s win over Bangladesh in the recent third Test was their 50th victory in all Tests, in only 25 years or so – how does this rate alongside the other countries in racking up 50 wins? asked Ashley Silva from Colombo
That win over Bangladesh at Kandy was indeed Sri Lanka’s 50th victory in Test cricket (and, by the way, it was mentioned in Cricinfo’s Bulletin of the final day’s play). It did set a new record in terms of time, as it took them just over 25 years: England are next with 35, Pakistan took 40, Australia 44, West Indies 47, India 61, New Zealand 72, and South Africa a whopping 108 (including their 22-year “suspension” from international cricket). However, this statistic is skewed by the increased amount of Test cricket played these days, and a better yardstick is the number of matches it took each country to chalk up 50 Test wins. Here England lead the way with 111 (their 50th win came against Australia in 1911-12), a whisker ahead of Australia with 112 (they reached 50 against England in 1921). West Indies took 160 Tests to reach their half-century, Sri Lanka 170, Pakistan 203, South Africa 205, India 286, and New Zealand 296. Zimbabwe currently have eight wins from 83 Tests, and Bangladesh one from 49 – at that strike-rate they will have to play 2450 Tests (nearly three times as many as England have played in 130 years) before winning 50.Is Murali the only player to have taken more than 100 five-fors in first-class cricket? asked Alex “Spins it a Mile”
Muttiah Muralitharan has currently taken five or more wickets in an innings 110 times in first-class cricket, a record 60 of them in Tests. That’s the most by any current player: Mushtaq Ahmed has 99 as I write. But it’s a long way adrift of the overall record-holder. Eleven bowlers, all of them Englishmen from the days when much more county cricket was played, have managed over 200 five-wicket hauls, with the Kent legspinner Tich Freeman leading the way with a scarcely credible 386, 99 ahead of the next man, Yorkshire’s Wilfred Rhodes.What was the special thing about EM Grace’s 10-wicket haul against Kent? asked Mohammad Imthinal from Sri Lanka
This question even predates Wisden, which first came out two years after EM Grace’s feat for MCC against the Gentlemen of Kent at Canterbury in 1862. The first odd thing was that EM Grace – WG’s older brother – was playing for MCC at all, since he wasn’t a member at the time. They probably asked him to join though, after he carried his bat for 192 as MCC made 344 in reply to Kent’s 141, in which he had taken five wickets. Then Kent batted again, and the ubiquitous EM took all ten wickets for 69, bowling unchanged through the innings of 65.2 (four-ball) overs. This was actually a 12-a-side match, but one Kent batsman was absent in that second innings, so “The Coroner” took all the wickets to fall.When I was small, one of my uncles told me an unusual story about the 1983 World Cup – that a famous reporter had commented that if India won then he would eat his words. And of course they did win … who was it, and did he really eat them? asked Rajish Nair from New Zealand
Yes, it is true. The writer who put that in his World Cup preview was David Frith, the prominent cricket historian who was the editor of Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine at the time. In his defence it should be pointed out that India had only won one World Cup match in two attempts before 1983, and that was against the minnows of East Africa in 1975. They had also lost to Sri Lanka (not then a Test nation) in 1979. So it wasn’t that outlandish a prediction. And yes, he did eat his words, washing down the offending page from the magazine with a drop of red wine.

Simon Guy, in his “Hannibal-mask”, has played 36 first-class games for Yorkshire © Getty Images
Somebody said the other day that Simon Guy is the first Yorkshire wicketkeeper since the Second World War whose surname doesn’t begin with B! Is this true? asked Richard Bailey from Yorkshire (we’re guessing)
Well, most of the regular Yorkshire keepers since the war have indeed been Bs – Don Brennan, Jimmy Binks, David Bairstow, Richard Blakey (who all played for England), and now Gerard Brophy. But a few representatives of the rest of the alphabet have occasionally had a look-in, most notably Simon Guy, who has now played 36 first-class games for Yorkshire, and Neil Smith, who played in eight matches in 1970 and 1971 before joining Essex when Bairstow arrived. Another future England keeper, Steve Rhodes played three matches for his native Yorkshire in 1981 and 1984 before seeking greater opportunities at Worcester.Can you settle a bet for me? I say that although Wasim Akram batted and bowled left-handed he uses his right hand to write. On the other hand, Sachin Tendulkar is a right-hand batsman and bowler, but uses his left hand to write. Am I right? asked Aamir Khokhar from Canada
I wasn’t entirely sure about this, so asked Cricinfo’s Indian office, where Mathew Varghese came up with (almost) the full answer: “Tendulkar writes with his left hand for sure. Not sure about Wasim but this picture suggests that he does write with his right.”

Sidharth Monga looks into the reasons why domestic batsmen come up short on sporting pitches

Sidharth Monga in Vadodara07-Jan-2008

A wicket fell every 13.2 runs in one of the shortest semi-finals in the Ranji Trophy – played between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra at Moti Bagh Stadium in Vadodara. Fifty-four was the highest partnership, 21 overs the longest wicketless spell, and 32 of the 40 wickets fell to medium-pacers. The semi-final ended in all of 191.2 overs, and the question everyone would want to ask is: was the wicket so bad or has India found new sensational bowlers? The answer to both will be negative; UP’s Sudeep Tyagi, though, has the promise but a long way to go.The wicket was helpful, the bowlers smart, and the batsmen incompetent. The surface was firm, had some grass, there was a little moisture, and it afforded seam movement throughout the game. At worst the wicket was merely difficult, and at best sporting.The batsmen, all virtually born and brought up on paatas [flat tracks with no lateral movement], just did not show the application to tackle the moving ball, and never looked at ease. That none of the 40 dismissals came from a shot played early shows that the ball didn’t stop on the batsmen. Nine of the 14 caught-behind dismissals came off deliveries could have been left well alone.That runs could be scored on this wicket was shown by Mohammad Kaif and Jaydev Shah, the two captains, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Kamlesh Makvana, the tailenders who showed the application and the will to hang on with the better batsmen. Kaif is not the owner of the best technique, but he showed the determination to negate the difficult conditions. He cut down on his strokes and once he got used to the movement, he accelerated. It took a special catch from Shah at mid-off to get him out.India have picked many a batsman based on the numbers in domestic cricket only to find them exposed as soon as they play at the international level – against better attacks on better wickets. When dropped, those batsmen have come back and continued to score heavily in domestic cricket.. That, and what happened at Vadodara, is a statement on the kind of wickets domestic cricket in India is played on and the quality of players it generates.Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the national selection committee, who watched the game, was singularly unimpressed. “There is nothing wrong with the wicket; they haven’t shown any application. They are playing way too many shots.”Kaif seemed to agree. “Domestic batsmen are used to playing on flat wickets. The moment they are given a wicket better than that, they seem to struggle,” Kaif said. “And when one or two fall to an inside edge, the others also go with the mindset that the wicket is not good to bat on.”It is interesting to note here that this is the first time the semi-finals are being played at neutral venues. At the same venue earlier this season, Bengal were 221 for 0 on the first day against Baroda, and in another match Baroda drew against Orissa. On both occasions, the team winning the toss had chosen to bat first. Here for the semi-final, when there was no home team around, the Moti Bagh Stadium track, which has a reputation of being helpful to the fast bowlers, returned to its characteristic self.It is obvious and an open secret that no association wants bowler-friendly wickets for its home matches and the curator has to work accordingly; unless the team is in dire need of an outright win, the tracks are all flat.The home captain has a big say in the kind of wickets prepared. Is it a surprise, then, that of all the 15 teams in the Super League, not one has a bowling captain?

Fazeer Mohammed23-May-2008
Amit Jaggernauth had to wait till after the lunch interval to get his first bowl in Test cricket © DigicelCricket.com/Brooks La Touche Photography
It’s a good thing I’m not a gambling man. Fifteen minutes before lunch yesterday at Sabina Park, I suggested to a colleague that it would be a safe bet to put US$500 on Amit Jaggernauth, the debutant offspinner, bowling the final over before the interval.However Ramnaresh Sarwan, deputising for the still incapacitated Chris Gayle, was following a script that apparently had a few alterations from the one that previous West Indies captains have kept in their back pockets. So Jaggernauth didn’t even have the opportunity of a token six deliveries in his first session as a Test cricketer, never mind that the third-wicket Australian pair of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey looked completely at ease against the medium-pace of Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy.Daren Powell, who almost joined the already long injury list while attempting a bit of fielding at mid-on, was summoned for a second spell just before the break, leaving Jaggernauth’s anxiety to increase heading into the afternoon with the prospect of being called upon to stem the tide with the rampaging Ponting in full flow and the remarkably consistent Hussey offering solid support.This is not about making excuses if (or when, as those apparently opposed to any slow bowler getting a fair run in the regional side will say) Jaggernauth is carted to all parts of Sabina Park for the rest of the match. But it is just plain cricketing common sense to seek to maximise the chances of any new bowler – fast or slow – making an impact. To wait until all other options have been exhausted, telegraphs a lack of confidence in Jaggernauth, who will therefore see himself as nothing more than a last resort.Anyway, it’s early going yet, so let’s wait and see if Jaggernauth, the 24-year-old Trinidadian, can rise to the challenge of taking on some of the most accomplished batsmen in the world in the first match of the three-Test series. Even then, it might not be good enough, as Nehemiah Perry will recall, the Jamaican off-spinner having quickly fallen out of favour despite taking five wickets in the second innings of his debut Test against Australia here in Kingston in 1999, a match the home side won by an emphatic ten-wicket margin.Speaking about maximising chances at a time when proven world-class performers are thin on the ground, you would think that the fitness and general readiness of our top echelon of players should be a priority. Yet, here we are, challenging the undisputed champions of Test cricket without our regular captain and the lone fairly-consistent opening batsman (Gayle), the region’s most effective fast bowler of the past 12 months (Jerome Taylor) and an opening batsman who impressed on debut against the Sri Lankans at the Queen’s Park Oval (Sewnarine Chattergoon).Ryan Hinds was also out of consideration for this first Test because of injury, but that is par for the course for a player who has promised much but delivered very little. This is due in no small part to a succession of ailments that can leave any team he plays for handicapped mere hours into the match. This was found out by the West Indies on the mid-afternoon of the first day of the first Test against Sri Lanka in Guyana, when he suffered a hamstring pull.I wonder what the team’s Australian physiotherapist, CJ Hunter, has to say about all of this. Stephen Partridge, the previous physio, didn’t have too many complimentary things to say about the current crop of West Indian cricketers as far as their commitment to a prescribed strength and fitness regimen in between tours and home series was concerned.We’re so much in the business of concocting conspiracy theories involving devious external influences to explain away our shortcomings that I wonder what the excuse is for so many Caribbean players breaking down so regularly. I can hear someone muttering about the folly of expecting Australians (John Dyson, and Hunter especially) to mastermind efforts by a West Indian side to get the better of an Australian team, and being utterly convinced of the veracity of their argument.Still, we can’t avoid the blinding reality that we say we want to be the best, but aren’t prepared to put in the hard work that it takes to reach that level. The injuries that seem to be so much a part of the West Indian cricket landscape don’t occur just by some fluke or freakish accident. On the odd occasion it might, but not with such alarming regularity.Railing against emasculation by ICC regulations or biased elite umpires may strike a responsive chord with an audience that chooses to be blind to reality, but who do we blame when our players are falling down left, right and centre?Even the Australian team’s media officer was doing laps around Sabina Park at lunchtime yesterday. It really is all about nurturing a culture of excellence and a work ethic that transforms the desire for continuous improvement into meaningful progress. Let’s hope we at least learn from this experience.

It is fitting that Graham Thorpe is part of the TV commentary team covering the Kanpur Test: he was always a tough nut to crack, even on a difficult pitch

Sidharth Monga in Kanpur12-Apr-2008

It is fitting that Graham Thorpe, the former England left-hand batsman, is part of the TV commentary team covering the Kanpur Test: he was always a tough nut to crack, even on a difficult pitch. Along with Gary Kirsten and VVS Laxman, both present in Kanpur, Thorpe could well conduct a workshop on how to bat on a bad pitch, all three being ‘experts of tricky tracks’ in their own right.There was a certain bloody-mindedness Thorpe used to combine with his technical nous, and he usually reserved the best of both for difficult situations and pitches. “You need a lot of mental toughness in there,” he says of the up-and-down pitches, “Once the ball is gone it is gone. No matter if it has gone along the ground or spat at you, don’t be fazed by it.”Play the ball and not the pitch,” he says. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But there are tricks to do exactly that, according to Thorpe. Small adjustments like standing outside the crease to the pace bowlers, who can be just as dangerous as spinners on underprepared pitches, opening up the stance a bit, and rotating the strike as often as possible can help. “Don’t get pushed too much on to the back foot when facing the seamers,” he says. “Playing on bad pitches is a bit like playing reverse-swing, so a slightly open stance can help. You don’t want to be getting the front foot over too much, the ball can move in suddenly and get you lbw. You can afford to stand more on leg stump, and show more of your wicket.”Over the first two days, he has seen two clearly distinct approaches to countering spin on a breaking track: the South Africans waited back, played as late as they could, while the Indians, especially VVS Laxman, played Paul Harris mostly from the front foot, looking to either whip him through midwicket or go inside out. “It could be because of the kind of bowlers they were facing,” Thorpe explains. “Harris is more of a skiddy bowler, and he doesn’t have the pace variations of a Harbhajan. You don’t want to be cutting him too much. I am sure South Africa had that plan of working Harbhajan around the corner. To do that, they delayed the movement forward; they only came forward when it was thrown right up. [Hashim] Amla and [Neil] Mckenzie are very good at staying on the back foot.”

Kanpur 2008 reminds Thorpe of Colombo 2001: a similar surface, and a better bowling attack to face. “I remember it was a similar track. The ball had started spinning after the first ten overs. I came into bat in the middle of a collapse and managed to bat through.” He scored a match-winning unbeaten 113.How did he counter Muttiah Muralitharan on such a vicious track? “The key is in having a clear game-plan. You can’t just go in the middle and all of a sudden start trying different things.”I just worked on the principle that sometimes when the pitch is bad, there is just as much pressure on the bowlers as on the batsmen, maybe more,” he says. “As a batsman, you have to keep that in mind. When the bowlers can’t get you out on a bad surface, they start trying too much. On a bad surface, if the ball is turning a lot, it is spinning every ball. It’s easier than when only three balls spin and three don’t.”Only the really tough can even look beyond the pitch and try look at the bowler’s mindset, and it’s not surprising they come up with the most exceptional of innings on the most treacherous pitches.

Despite Vettori’s best efforts, his side fell to the bottom of the table in 2008

Brydon Coverdale29-Dec-2008

The consensus when John Bracewell stood down this month after five
years as New Zealand’s coach was that he had only done half the job.
They had established themselves as a consistently threatening one-day
side during his reign, but in the Test arena their poor results had
become as predictable as Chris Martin’s batting. Never was that
frustrating split more apparent than in Bracewell’s last year at the
helm.New Zealand’s Test schedule had been light in recent seasons; they
played only ten Tests in 2006 and 2007 combined. In 2008 they played
14 Tests and won four but three of those victories came against
Bangladesh. The most revealing moment came when they lost to Australia
in Adelaide and slipped to eighth on the ICC’s Test rankings –
effectively last, as only Bangladesh were below them.In the limited-overs format they thrived, with 10 wins from 15 ODIs.
They didn’t lose a series, beating England at home and away and
expectedly triumphing against Ireland, Scotland and Bangladesh. The
new coach, Andy Moles, faces the task of developing a team that can
perform in both versions. At least he has some of the building blocks.After a year of change in 2007, when they lost Nathan Astle, Craig
McMillan and Hamish Marshall to the ICL, there were a couple of even
more important departures in 2008. Within the first few weeks of the
year, Shane Bond had headed for the ICL and his New Zealand career was
over. Stephen Fleming also retired after the home series against
England, although his exit was as inevitable as the prime minister,
Helen Clark, losing office.Jesse Ryder, Daniel Flynn, Tim Southee and Tim McIntosh all debuted
and showed promise. Iain O’Brien went from a battling trundler to the
world’s No. 11 wicket-taker for the year. He also turned into a highly
entertaining blogger. Ross Taylor consolidated his reputation with the
first two centuries of his Test career.But for all the potential that their emerging men displayed, far too
much was left up to the new captain Daniel Vettori. That he was their
leading Test wicket-taker by a considerable margin was not surprising
– he collected 54 at 26.12 – but that he was third on their batting
List with 672 runs at 35.36 was a sad reflection of their top-order
woes.The incessant chopping and changing with the opening roles continued.
Craig Cumming and Matthew Bell began as the first-choice pair, Bell
and Jamie How were tried, then How and Aaron Redmond, and finally How
and McIntosh. And now How is struggling, so who knows how long the
current combination will last. It has created instability for the
middle order – hardly ideal with young batsmen trying to find their
feet at Nos. 3, 4 and 5. Flynn, Taylor and Ryder could provide New
Zealand with a firm batting core in the future, although 2008 was hit
and miss for the trio.When Flynn arrived on the scene during the tour of England, he would
have preferred miss than the hit he received. In his second Test, at
Old Trafford, he was struck in the face by a James Anderson bouncer
and lost a couple of teeth. Flynn walking off the ground with a
bloodied mouth was one of the enduring images of the year in New
Zealand cricket, but the way he returned to perform solidly for the
remainder of the year proved the team had found a fighter.The tour of England provided another memorable image when
Vettori and Brendon McCullum shouted their disapproval from the
players’ balcony at The Oval after England’s ODI captain, Paul Collingwood, declined to recall Grant Elliott, who had been run out after colliding with the bowler, Ryan Sidebottom. New Zealand went on
to win the series 3-1.At Test level they struggled to match England; they won the first home
Test, in Hamilton, and drew at Lord’s, but lost the other four Tests in the home-and-away tours. They were not helped by the absence of senior
men like Vettori and McCullum for the start of the tour after
they were given permission to stay longer in the IPL, where McCullum’s
incredible 158 in the opening match had set the tone for the tournament.A visit to Bangladesh brought more concerns than it should have; they
lost the first ODI and only won the Chittagong Test because Vettori
carried the side with bat and ball. The signs were not good ahead of a
tour to Australia and the comprehensive 2-0 loss to the No. 1 team was not a major surprise, although Southee continued to show his potential as a dangerous swing bowler after bursting onto the scene
with a five-wicket haul on debut against England in Napier.A more closely-fought home series against West Indies followed, but a 0-0 draw was not the ideal result. It was the first time Moles had been in charge of the side; the coaching role was one of several
management positions that altered during the year. And so a period of
changes on field and off ended with New Zealand at the bottom of the
Test table. The only way is up.New man on the block
Jesse Ryder. Happily for New Zealand there were options in this
category. Flynn and Southee in particular could be cornerstones of the
line-up for the next few years. Ryder has the potential to be not only
a key player but a cult hero. Unconventionally proportioned for a
top-level cricketer, his international career got off to a
smashing start in February when he slammed 79 from 62 balls in his
second ODI, against England in Hamilton, and then it threatened to
crash and burn when he put his fist through a bar-room window in
Christchurch after a late night of drinking. He hurt his hand so badly
that he could not make the tour of England, but on his return he showed
promise in Tests against Bangladesh, and West Indies.

Fading star
Stephen Fleming. It was strange that one of the most respected
captains of the modern era farewelled the game not leading his side
but as one of 10 men playing under the new skipper, Vettori.
New Zealand fans knew at the start of the year the end was nigh for
Fleming, although he surprised many by bowing out after the Napier
Test against Michael Vaughan’s men instead of kicking on for one last
tour of England. He left the game with scores of 59 and 66 in his
final Test and it was somehow appropriate for a man who, for all his
talent, should have made more than nine Test centuries, having passed
50 on 55 occasions.High point
In Tests there were precious few; three of their four victories came
against Bangladesh. Beating England in the first Test at home was the
standout, but it was followed by a pair of defeats. The other high
point for New Zealand in 2008 was coming back from 1-0 down after two
games to beat England 3-1 in the one-day series in England. That arguably their best achievement came in an inconsequential
limited-overs series says much about the state of cricket in New Zealand.Low point
Losing to Australia was not unexpected but the consequences of New Zealand’s defeat in the second Test in Adelaide made the outcome particularly disappointing. That game nudged them down the ICC rankings to below West Indies and Martin Crowe thought that was such a galling position to be in that it was quite possibly the country’s worst moment in Test cricket.What 2009 holds
For a team that clearly prefers the coloured clothing, next year
thankfully features a less hectic Test schedule. They host India for
two Tests in March-April and then head to Sri Lanka for three Tests in
August. At least expectations will not be high in either series; India
are one of the world’s best sides and Sri Lanka at home have beaten
India, South Africa and England in the past couple of years. A trip to
Pakistan later in the year may or may not go ahead; the same for the
Champions Trophy. The reality is that 2009 will be another development
year for an evolving side. It will also start to show whether Moles
can simultaneously run two successful sides instead of one, like his
predecessor.