All posts by n8rngtd.top

Stats highlights from the second ODI in Visakhapatnam

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan02-Dec-2011

• Rampaul’s 86 is the highest score by a No.10 batsman, going past Mohammad Amir’s 73 against New Zealand in 2010. During his innings, Rampaul hit six sixes, the most by a No.10 batsman in an ODI.
• The 99-run stand between Rampaul and Roach is the third-highest last-wicket stand in ODIs. It is also the second-highest tenth-wicket stand in which the two batsmen involved were the No.10 and No.11. Of the top five tenth-wicket partnerships, West Indies have been involved in three, while Pakistan have been involved in the other two.
• The last-wicket stand lasted 84 balls. This is fourth-highest on the list of most deliveries faced by a tenth-wicket pair in ODIs. The highest is 105 balls, during the 62-run stand between Ajay Jadeja and Javagal Srinath in Sharjah in 2000. The partnership run-rate of 7.07 is also the second-highest for West Indies for all fifty-plus tenth-wicket stands.
• Virat Kohli scored his eighth century in ODIs and his second in two matches in Visakhapatnam. In the ODI against Australia last year, he has scored 118 to lead India’s successful chase of 290. Kohli has now scored five centuries and averages 56.77 in chases.
• R Ashwin went for 74 runs off his ten overs. This is the third-highest number of runs conceded by an India bowler in a completed spell in an ODI against West Indies, after S Sreesanth and Ajit Agarkar, who conceded 79 and 75 runs respectively in Nagpur in 2007. Ashwin, in conceding six sixes, equalled Yuvraj Singh, who also conceded six sixes at The Oval in 2007. Only Dwayne Leverock of Bermuda has conceded more sixes in an innings (eight against India in 2007).
• The 163-run stand between Kohli and Rohit Sharma is the second-highest for the fourth wicket for India against West Indies. The highest is 165 between Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh in Colombo, in 2005.
• Rohit scored his fifth half-century of the year against West Indies. He has scored 434 runs in ten innings against West Indies at an average of 72.33. Rohit’s 90 is his third-highest score in ODIs after his 114 and 101 against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka respectively.
• The target of 270 is the second-highest achieved by India in ODIs against West Indies, after the 325 in Ahmedabad in 2002. The win is also India’s 11th consecutive win in home ODIs. They were last defeated at home during the World Cup game against South Africa in Nagpur.
• Lendl Simmons’ 78 is his third-highest score in ODIs and his fourth score in the seventies. He has been dismissed twice in the seventies this year.

The offspinner had only taken only three wickets in the series previously, but delivered the scalps of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Laxman on the fourth day

Daniel Brettig at Adelaide Oval27-Jan-2012Mark Taylor once joked about ordering Shane Warne to deliver the full toss that England’s Graham Thorpe had played over the top of to be bowled at the Gabba. The next day Taylor discovered, to his considerable mirth, that at least one newspaper reported these chuckling words as truth.Nathan Lyon was not ordered to bowl the full toss that did for Virender Sehwag on the penultimate day of the series at Adelaide Oval, but he was counselled to try something a little higher and loopier to tempt the opener’s hungry eyes. Those words came from Ricky Ponting, who turned out to be the man who took the catch when Sehwag’s hearty swing across the line resulted in a skier and his wicket. There was laughter, as well as jubilation, in the Australian team huddle.”Ricky Ponting came up to me just before that ball and just said ‘do him in the air’, so I was pretty happy with it,” Lyon said. “It wasn’t probably my best ball going around, but they’ve still got to play it, and I’m not going to call him back, that’s for sure.”Having taken only three wickets for the series entering its final innings, Lyon can be forgiven for any lack of charity. He has found the challenge of India’s batsmen a vexing one, but on the most spin-friendly pitch of the summer rewards have started to arrive. In the first innings Lyon did for VVS Laxman at the end of a tidy spell, and in the second he nabbed Sachin Tendulkar and Laxman again to follow up the dismissal of Sehwag.Both Tendulkar and Laxman were playing their final Test innings in Australia, but Lyon had subsisted on too meagre a diet of wickets to roll out any kind of red carpet for the duo. Tendulkar’s wicket was a source of particular joy, as it arrived in classical fashion: the flight and loop landed the ball short of his defensive push, the spin and bounce taking it up onto glove, pad and into short leg’s hands.”I had my own plans and he had to come out and play the best way possible with his plans,” Lyon said of Tendulkar. “Definitely it’s been a privilege to get him out, but saying that we’ve still got another four wickets to go tomorrow and the job’s not done as far as we’re concerned, so we’re going to have to turn up and be on our game and hopefully get these four wickets.Australia are delighted after Nathan Lyon dismissed Virender Sehwag off a full toss•Getty Images”I’ve felt I’ve bowled reasonably okay the whole summer that’s for sure, so it’s just good to be able to contribute to hopefully a team victory.”Lyon spent much of his afternoon bowling around the wicket, an angle he has favoured for considerable stretches of his young Test career, drifting the ball across the right-handers then spinning it back down the line of the stumps. The trace of footmarks left by the left-armer Zaheer Khan on a deteriorating pitch also provided encouragement for Lyon, and his captain Michael Clarke.”Around the wicket was purely [about] spinning up the line of the stumps,” Lyon said. “There was a bit of rough there, which we thought may play in their heads I guess and it just might spit out something. So it was a plan that Pup and myself came up together with.”It’s been a perfect Test match wicket in my book, there’s been some early wickets and some runs scored and now we’re starting to see some natural variation, spin and the ball starting to keep low, so it’s been a good Test match wicket.”Lyon has observed it all as an Australian cricketer, not as part of the ground staff he had worked with in last summer’s corresponding Test match against England. The speed of Lyon’s rise has been dizzying, and the return to Adelaide has brought it all back.”It’s been a different side of the fence you could say right now,” he said. “I’m enjoying the Test match rather than sitting on the roller watching it. It’s been a fantastic experience playing in front of my home crowd and I’ve really enjoyed every moment of it.”

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second day between England and West Indies at Lord’s

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's18-May-2012Quick wicket of the dayThe previous evening Stuart Broad had said how England must not let the last West Indies wicket wag this morning and he was true to his word. Intent on not wasting a loosener to Shannon Gabriel, the No. 11 making his Test debut, he made a delivery climb from a good length to take the outside and the catch was easily taken at second slip. It gave Broad a career-best seventh wicket and England the briefest possible stay in the field.Premature celebration of the dayJonathan Trott was on 17 when Darren Sammy had a huge appeal for lbw turned down and opted to use the DRS. Replays showed it was mighty close but only hitting the outside of leg stump, so it was ‘umpire’s call’ and Trott survived. However, while watching the big screen Fidel Edwards thought otherwise and when he saw the graphics started to high-five Sammy before realising the bad news and slowly walking back to his fielding position.Non-review of the dayHow West Indies will be wishing they had used another review against Trott. He had not added to his score when Sammy seamed one close to the outside edge but it only resulted in a half-hearted appeal from bowler and wicketkeeper with, seemingly, no thought given to using the DRS. However, the stump microphone had immediately picked up a wooden sound and then came the Hot Spot replay which showed a small, but clear, white mark on the outside edge – but by then it was too late.No-ball of the dayFidel Edwards struggled to keep his foot behind the front line against England Lions at Northampton and it twice cost him wickets, so it was not a surprise when the problem came back to bite him again. Running in against Andrew Strauss, on 95, he drew a loose drive that flew to Shivnarine Chanderpaul at first slip. He put down the chance but that did not matter because Aleem Dar had his arm out-stretched.Landmark of the dayWith his 17th boundary, a back-cut off Sammy, Strauss reached his 20th Test century, his first since December 2010 and his second in 51 Test innings. Those are the bare facts, but the emotion in Strauss’ celebration showed how much it really meant. He pumped his fists and then, after almost being suffocated by Kevin Pietersen’s bear-hug, raised his bat around the ground again as the standing ovation refused to die down, with the bowler even having to wait before bowling the next delivery.Dismissive shot of the dayStrauss played many fine shots while Trott’s cover-driving was a pleasure to watch, but nothing stood out quite like Pietersen’s on-drive against Kemar Roach in the 71st over. It was a full delivery just outside off stump which Pietersen whipped through a straight mid-on with a flick of his wrists. It was a stroke full of authority and confidence, with a hint of arrogance thrown in. Three things that make Pietersen such a dangerous batsman.

The 2014 World Twenty20 will be Bangladesh’s most challenging hosting assignment. Nothing but the best hospitality will be expected, and whoever is in charge will have to plan well and more importantly plan early

Mohammad Isam08-Oct-2012On July 1, 2010 the ICC announced the names of two countries that would host the 2012 and 2014 World Twenty20s; it hardly created a ripple in either one of them. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were busy preparing for the next event on the horizon, the 2011 World Cup, while it was also in the middle of the football World Cup, not many Bangladeshis would have noticed it. But two years on from the announcement, with both having co-hosted the 50-over tournament, one of them has just completed the enormous task of hosting a global event solely. Bangladesh will host a bigger event, but as they have shown in 1998, 2004 and 2011, infrastructural limitations have been trumped by an abundance of hospitality and fervour.The 2014 World Twenty20 is likely to be held in March and April of that year, a largely dry weather period towards the end of the winter with spring taking over, as opposed to the constant threat of rain during the 20-day event in Sri Lanka. It is also a time for celebrations in the country, starting from Independence Day to the Bengali New Year’s Day in mid-April.The number of participating teams in the men’s event has been increased to 16 (the number for the women remains unchanged) and the tournament is likely to host a minimum of 60 competitive men’s and women’s matches. Forty-four such games were held in four venues in Sri Lanka with 16 practice matches – played at club grounds in Colombo – included. In Bangladesh, however there isn’t the luxury of excellent facilities in smaller venues which could host practice sessions, let alone practice matches. Instead, stadiums will have to cater to every team’s needs.The Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka hosted the 2011 World Cup opening ceremony•AFPThe Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium has the facilities to host three teams’ training sessions at a time while those in Fatullah, Chittagong, Khulna and Sylhet have been earmarked for the 2014 event. Drainage facilities are being constructed in Fatullah and Chittagong while the grounds in Khulna and Sylhet are ready to use. Khulna still awaits an ICC inspection to be cleared for the West Indies tour as it replaces Chittagong for the season, while Sylhet has hosted England A earlier this year.The real test for cities other than Dhaka is the quality and quantity of accommodation it can provide to the teams, match officials, broadcasters, journalists, volunteers and fans. “From an organisation perspective, the biggest challenge is to accommodate the teams in terms of hotels and practice facilities,” says BCB media manager Rabeed Imam. “When it comes to Bangladesh, and it has happened in 1998 and 2004, it somehow all comes together at the right time. If you tell me to pinpoint, it won’t be possible to say what’s ready. This problem isn’t faced in other countries.

The real test for cities other than Dhaka is the quality and quantity of accommodation it can provide to the teams, match officials, broadcasters, journalists, volunteers and fans

“The World Twenty20s have a very packed schedule and ever since the 2007 tournament, the schedule has gotten shorter. It has been squeezed. The biggest challenge is to arrange all these things in such a short time. The existing facilities will have to be upgraded or created, that’s another challenge.”Bangladesh have already hosted a 16-team international competition when they hosted the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, 54 matches played in eight venues though the vast majority of domestic cricket was postponed that season. Six years earlier, before it had become a Test-playing nation, Bangladesh hosted the 1998 Wills International Cup (later day Champions Trophy) which was a knockout competition held solely at the Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) in Dhaka. The 2011 World Cup is perhaps the nearest model for what is to be expected in 2014. Seven tournament matches and four practice matches were held in Dhaka, Chittagong and Fatullah, as well as the opening ceremony held at the BNS. The organisers can expect a lot more pressure on their ability to coordinate all aspects of a tournament of such scale.A competition such as the World Twenty20, especially since it has to be spread out across the country, will leave a legacy for the game in Bangladesh. One look at Mirpur, where the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium is located, says much about the improvement in amenities and roads in the area. Because of the 2011 tournament, the locality received a facelift it needed for decades. However, it is hard to tell who will be in charge of the Bangladesh Cricket Board in 2014, though an election is supposed to take place later this year.Nothing but the best hospitality will be expected, and whoever is in charge will have to plan well and more importantly plan early. The passion is ever-present, as organisers like Imam have found out over the years. Bangladeshis are keen to prove their worth, whether it is the government or at the private level or the public in general.

A four hour plane flight, 2600km travelled, three days off. The journey from the Adelaide Oval to the WACA could not provide a starker contrast for the players

Alex Malcolm29-Nov-2012″Hey chum. You got a moment?”When a player of Murray Goodwin’s quality calls you over you don’t hesitate.”Sure Muzz.” I responded. It was February 2005. Subiaco-Floreat and Joondalup were about to play a day-night 50-over Western Australian first grade Sunday League Final at the WACA. It was twenty minutes before the first ball and we, Subiaco-Floreat, had won the toss and elected to bat. I was opening the batting, and Goodwin was batting three.”Now chum, I just wanted to give you some advice about batting at the WACA.” Goodwin’s distinctive Rhodesian twang always made me laugh, but not on this occasion. Aged 19, it was my first senior final and I was nervous.”Put your cover drive away early. The extra bounce out here means you can nick a lot of balls trying to drive through cover or away from your body. The nicks are always caught here chum. You can leave those early. Scoring happens naturally here anyway,” he said assertively.Put the cover drive away early. Check.”Try and hit the sightscreens. The boundaries are shortest there and presenting the full face and using the pace and bounce out here will give you great value.”Hit the sightscreens. I nodded. Check.”If you get width, chum, cut with the horizontal bat only. Cut hard to the alleys. Lots of runs to be had on the cut shot here. The ball flies down there. You won’t be caught,” Murray said with a smile.Easy for you to say Muzz, I thought. Goodwin was one of the best cutters in the world. His three Test hundreds and 67 first-class hundreds for mainly WA and Sussex were testament to that. This was just my 11th first grade game.”When you pull, chum, make sure you don’t take on balls outside your eye-line or above your head. The extra pace and bounce make it really tough to control here.”I took special note of that. This was not an U19 attack. Their opening quicks were both in the WA senior squad.”Be sharp on your feet. Get as far forward or back as possible. And most of all chum, enjoy batting here. It is a great place to bat if you follow the rules.”With that he turned and headed up the race.For the record I made 11, in an opening stand of 51, and we won easily. But Goodwin was right. My only two boundaries were straight drives to the sightscreen. One a check-driven half volley, the other a defensive push with the full face that bounced off the rock hard pitch, over the bowler’s head and raced away down the hill. I got out breaking Goodwin’s rule too. I fell across a slippery inswinger from former South African left-arm all-rounder Mike Rindel. I was dead LBW trying to whip through midwicket rather than driving straight. Murray didn’t have time to say “I told you so” when we passed at the gate, but he didn’t need to.I am one of the fortunate few, without ever having reached first-class ranks, to have played a decent amount of cricket at one of the world’s great Test venues, the WACA. And although I failed in my first attempt, Goodwin’s Gospel was imprinted in my mind from that day forward, and has held me great stead for more team and individual success at the ground in the years since albeit at grade level only.I have been lucky enough to play at Adelaide Oval too. But a Perth background didn’t help me at all there. My penchant to let a lot of balls go, drive straight and pull anything short, yielded me two infuriatingly ineffective scores across a total of five hours of batting in a losing four-day game.The contrast between the two venues is stark. It is an adjustment the Test players have to make in three days. In Adelaide you can, and almost have to play at everything. Outside of the new ball, it is difficult to be nicked out. The wicket is so even, so placid, and so devoid of sideways movement that a good eye, sharp hands and simple footwork will bail you out of any trouble. The boundaries square are tiny and you can manoeuvre the ball with the vertical bat, off both feet, with impunity. Once you’re in in Adelaide, it is difficult to get out.The WACA is the complete opposite in every way. Playing the Adelaide way in Perth will guarantee slips catching practice for the fielding side as Goodwin espoused. No matter how well you’re going in Perth if you break the rules, your day will end as quickly as it started.The WACA wicket has varied though down the years and even across the breadth of the square. I have played on some quintessential WACA wickets. Rock hard, shiny white, lightning quick, with long snake cracks and a thin even covering of grass that made for a superb contest between bat and ball. Break Goodwin’s rules and you would be sitting and watching from the sheds. But if you followed the rules and bowlers erred, runs flow with incredible ease.

Playing the Adelaide way in Perth will guarantee slips catching practice for the fielding side as Goodwin espoused. No matter how well you’re going in Perth if you break the rules, your day will end as quickly as it started

There is no doubting that grade cricket is at least two rungs, plus change, below Test cricket, but these tracks are reminders of those that hosted some of the great moments in Test history at the ground. Doug Walters battle with Bob Willis in 1974. Roy Fredericks and Clive Lloyd against Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in 1975. Ian Chappell squaring off to Michael Holding and Andy Roberts in the same game. Ricky Ponting’s tete-a-tete with Shoaib Ahktar in 1999. Five fearless batsmen with peerless hook shots that took on six of the fastest bowlers of all-time and won. These too are the tracks that caused bodily harm. David Lloyd, Brian Luckhurst, and Colin Cowdry still wince at the thought of Thomson downwind in Perth. Geoff Lawson’s broken jaw at the hands of Curtly Ambrose made a louder crack than any well struck hook shot at the ground. You feared for Alex Tudor’s life when he was struck on the temple by Brett Lee in December 2002. Even Kemar Roach made “mince meat” of Ponting’s elbow here.The wickets on the scoreboard or eastern side are very placid and a touch two-paced by comparison. They are still quicker than most wickets around the world but the bounce is more tennis ball than turbo-charged. These are the wickets that have yielded WACA run-feasts and have seen no-one get out. The wickets where Ian Redpath, Geoff Boycott and Jacques Rudolph camped out for days. Where four New Zealanders made centuries in an innings. Where South Africa created history by chasing 414 to win with ease, and where Australia made 527 for 5 in 112 overs during their Ashes demolition of 2006-07.The wickets on the western side of the square are often lush with grass and sickly green. The sideways movement has never abated no matter how long the game lasted. These are the wickets where we have seen Test matches completed inside three days. These are the games where luck, more than skill, decides your fate.But no matter the type of WACA surface that is provided, the Goodwin Gospel always applies. The players that have succeeded here have all followed the rules. Leave well, drive straight, and play horizontally and powerfully with quick feet off the back foot. Some have done it in different ways. There are the violent blitzkriegs of Walters, Fredericks, Richards, Gilchrist, and Warner last year. Then there are the technical masterpieces of Tendulkar, Ponting, Chappell and Michael Hussey.No player has exemplified WACA batting better than Hussey. No real surprise given he knows the ground intimately. In 13 Test innings here he has reached 50 six times, and has two hundreds which would rank high among his favourite innings ever played. But the best I saw from him was not his 103 in the second innings of that 2006 Test against England. It was his 74 unbeaten in the first in a total of just 244. Batting at the WACA is at its toughest first time of asking. He was the only Australian to reach 40, and only Kevin Pietersen managed to reach 50 in England’s reply. But in 162 balls Hussey hardly made an error. It was an exhibition of crisp footwork, exceptional judgement, straight driving, cutting and pulling. He ticked every box that Goodwin covered.You can fear the WACA. With its bounce and pace, its sideways movement, its slips cordons fielding half way to the fence with no concern of a nick falling short. Or you can embrace its challenges, its value for stroke-play, and its reward for discipline. It is an incredible place to play. No better venue for a cut-throat decider.

Pakistan bowled and fielded with discipline on the opening day, and kept South Africa under pressure right through

Firdose Moonda at the Wanderers01-Feb-2013″They are not New Zealand,” was one of the wisecracks muttered in the media box more than once. No, they are not.Pakistan are a world apart from the team that toured earlier, and not just geographically. The five places between them and New Zealand on the Test rankings are the equivalent of many shades of competitiveness and it showed in the way South Africa were challenged. For the first time during this home summer, the No.1 ranked team was put under pressure by a thinking opposition, who delivered the challenge they promised.Everything Misbah-ul-Haq tried, worked. His bowling tactics proved astute both when he brought on Younis Khan and Mohammed Hafeez for the first time and they nipped out Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers respectively, and when he brought back Junaid Khan with the old ball and gave the second new one to Hafeez mid-over. The only question that could perhaps be asked of the captain was why Hafeez, who finished with 4 for 16, did not bowl earlier than the 71st over.Misbah’s decisions were helped by a fielding performance that stood out for its superb catching and displayed a commitment that is not often associated with Pakistan. The same can be said for their discipline. Instead of tailing off after causing problems upfront, they kept at it.

What they said

Faf du Plessis: “It is not the easiest pitch to score on because it is quite slow. Looking at the cracks, we knew the first little bit would be challenging and we would not want to bat last. There is a lot happening for day one. It doesn’t get flat, so when you get to 30, you can’t go on and make runs. But, we should have got more runs. There wasn’t enough from the bottom six. We were looking at 320 to 350, and I’d say about 320 would have been par.”
Mohammad Hafeez: Credit must go to the seamers, they restricted South Africa to under three runs an over and really put them under pressure. We were taking things very simply because we knew we had to play disciplined cricket. Overall, it was a team effort, even the fielding. All of us wanted to do something special in the field and we are really happy with the effort of the bowlers.”

Umar Gul and Junaid Khan set the tone when they found movement with the new ball, and even though the debutant Rahat Ali did not maintain the same amount of pressure, he operated with one of the other quicks to ensure the cork did not pop.Junaid’s opening exchanges were the most impressive. He moved the ball both ways for six overs, gave away just four runs but did not take a wicket. In that first spell, Sarfraz Ahmed told Junaid to simply keep going with the same intensity and accuracy and a wicket would follow. When he was brought back three overs later, it did.It took 90 minutes for the breakthrough to come but in that time Pakistan applied pressure unrelentingly. South Africa’s openers were tested throughout, by the bounce and by the movement. They were beaten many times, they were unsure which balls to play and which to leave and they made Smith’s decision to bat look a brave one.By lunch, South Africa were sitting uneasily with both openers dismissed in the space of five balls and Pakistan clearly on top of things. But any team with Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla at the crease will not consider themselves in too much trouble. It took sensational fielding and clever bowling to remove both but as soon as Pakistan did, they were the ones that laid down a marker because their dogged determination was paying off.Pakistan’s persistence wore South Africa’s patience thin. Four of the top six batsmen gave their wickets away, either through uncertainty outside off stump or weariness of playing the waiting game. As Faf du Plessis said afterwards, South Africa did not feel there was a single bowler they could target and that frustrated them. “Because they’ve got a lot variation, you never feel like there is a guy to attack,” he said.When South Africa tried aggression, it failed them. Smith survived the early test of swing but then went after a ball he could have left alone, Jacques Kallis could not control the pull after hitting from a wider line than normal, Hashim Amla chased after one and AB de Villiers, after losing patience against Saeed Ajmal, succumbed to Hafeez.That gave Misbah the opportunity to experiment without it being a major risk. His best move was giving Hafeez the second new-ball, which the bowler said was not part of the initial plan. “We just thought that, with the left-handers at the crease, we would try,” Hafeez said. “I had done it a few times before, especially in one-day cricket.”South Africa looked like a side that had not done their homework. Not only did they not expect Hafeez to bowl with the new ball, “because we are used to seeing two seamers upfront,” according to du Plessis, but they were also not prepared for the ball that goes on with the arm. “He is a tricky bowler because he skids the ball on and so it was a bit of surprise,” du Plessis said. Robin Peterson decided to leave one that he thought might spin away but it slid on and took the top of off stump.Hafeez’s career-best figures ensured Pakistan started the series with the intent one hoped they would display. It also provided a scene-setter to one of the more intricate battles of the series, the one between the captains. While Graeme Smith celebrated a milestone and a birthday, Misbah showed skill in leading his men.”Misbah is a great character. He makes things very simple,” Hafeez said. “The players always want to perform for him and give something to the captain. He’s turning out to be one of the best for Pakistan.” It is too early to say whether the series could go the same way as the first day, but on this evidence, it has the potential to.

It may not have wowed the punters but in tricky conditions and against good bowling, England may have established a strong foundation in this game

George Dobell at Lord's16-May-2013″Why didn’t England just get on with it?” a spectator asked at the close of play. “Why didn’t they just give it a whack?”It was an understandable question. The fellow concerned had just spent £70 on a ticket – and a good deal more on alcohol judging by the smell of him – to see a day of cricket that could best be described as attritional. England managed just 15 boundaries in the 80 overs before rain condemned the day to a watery grave with only one of those coming between mid-on and mid-off. 30 of those overs were maidens.But England also lost only four wickets. And, in testing conditions against an impressive attack, that might not be considered too bad a result. While their slow method does not allow them to damage opposition quickly, they have ended the first day of this Test with the game just about at a cross-roads. It might have been much, much worse.Some spectators might dispute it – this was not a day’s play to appeal to a generation raised on T20 cricket – but England’s approach was largely vindicated by the close of play score. While the wicket of Ian Bell, drawn into pushing at one he could have ignored with some comfort just 10 deliveries before the close, left New Zealand with their noses in front and a new ball to come in the morning, England need not look back very far to realise how bad things could have been. On the first day of the reverse series in Dunedin, England were bowled out for 167 with several batsmen contributing to their downfall with sloppy strokes when a more determined approach was required.Whatever England’s faults or limitations, there was no complacency on this occasion. All four of the men dismissed batted for more than 90 minutes, with three of them batting for more than two hours. While the failure of those who had built decent platforms for their innings – three men were dismissed for scores between 31 and 39 – may yet come back to haunt England, two of them, Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, were dismissed by excellent deliveries which owed far more to bowler skill than batsman error.It may even prove that England have established a strong foundation in this game. “I still think there’s potential there to set-up the game well,” Jonathan Trott said at the close of play. “We’ve spoken about our batting in the first innings and setting up games. With the batsmen that are in and the new ball that will hopefully come on a bit in the morning, there’s potential for us to kick-on a bit.”These were not easy conditions. While the straw-coloured nature of the pitch might have seduced England into batting first – New Zealand would have bowled first anyway – there was assistance for bowlers of all varieties. The painfully slow pitch – the groundsman had been forced to clear ice from the covers overnight – made strokemaking problematic, while the re-laid outfield, surely the slowest for a Lord’s Test in many decades, provided little reward for shots that beat the in-field.”It’s not what you expect,” Trott continued. “The pitch was a lot slower than people are used to and the ball stopped in the outfield when it went down the slope rather then sped-up. People expect high-scoring games at Lord’s but it might be a little bit different this time.”

It is hard to envisage even a player as good as Kevin Pietersen scoring significantly quicker

Most pertinently, New Zealand bowled beautifully. While Trent Boult, almost immaculate of line and length and gaining incisive swing, may gain most of the plaudits, this was an effort built around team contributions. Tim Southee maintained a wonderfully nagging line and length and Bruce Martin, finding some surprising turn and grip, conceded only three boundaries in his 24 overs.Even Neil Wagner, who offers more “release balls” than his colleagues and conceded a third of the boundaries, played his part, contributing more overs than the other two seamers and, by bowling both over and round the wicket, swinging some into the right-handers and skidding others away from them on the angle, eventually wore away at Bell’s defences. There was no weak link, with every one of the four main bowlers maintaining the pressure and preventing England casting off the shackles that hindered them throughout.”There was no impetus on being defensive,” Trott said. “New Zealand bowled well, didn’t give us much to hit and used the conditions to their advantage. I felt really good and got a good ball. It reminds you how tough Test cricket is. It seemed to stop and bounce a bit. Maybe I pushed at it a bit, but it was a good ball. I’m sure our bowlers can extract similar things from the pitch.”England’s few attempts to attack ended badly. Nick Compton will take some criticism for his dismissal – down the pitch, attempting to loft over the field, but caught at cover after mis-hitting one that turned fractionally – but there was some logic in his approach. Like Bell in the first innings at Ahmedabad, he was attempting to disrupt the New Zealand game plan, push the field back and then pick up runs in the holes. His execution of the stroke was not as he would have liked but we cannot bemoan a lack of positivity and a perceived recklessness in the next breath.Perhaps England might have looked to attack the admirably consistent Martin a little more but, after Compton’s demise and with some balls appearing to stop in the surface, such a ploy would have constituted more of a risk than usual. Besides, with Graeme Swann back in the side and foot-holes from the left-arm bowlers already creating rough, England may yet be grateful for the assistance given to spinners from this pitch.It is worth speculating how other batsmen might have adapted. Kevin Pietersen has shown many times, most recently in Mumbai, that he is the one man in this England side who can transcend such conditions to play an aggressive innings and his absence continues to be missed. But against these bowlers in these conditions, it is hard to envisage even a player as good as Pietersen scoring significantly quicker for any length of time.Besides, while the run-rate was low, this was a far from dull day’s cricket. There was an absorbing passage in the morning in which Cook was forced into a thorough examination of his defensive technique. Southee, generally nipping the ball back into the left-hander sharply but sometimes angling it across him, delivered a wonderfully probing spell that demanded the upmost respect. The spectator bemoaning the slow scoring rate might not have liked it, but it is such passages of play that give Test cricket its unique rhythm and character.

To their detriment, Chennai Super Kings chose the IPL final to demonstrate that wickets have value, even in T20

Abhishek Purohit27-May-2013Chennai Super Kings’ go-slow approach often works, and is often criticised as well for being under-utilisation of a batting order that goes on and on. What is the need for Michael Hussey and Co to preserve wickets and build when you have men like Albie Morkel and Chris Morris coming in as late as Nos 8 and 9? It is Twenty20, goes the argument. There are as many as ten wickets to use, or lose, over just 20 overs. Invitation to start swinging from ball one, and never let up. There is always one hitter more to come in if you fail. No way is there enough time for such a powerful line-up to run out of batsmen, right? Wrong.Super Kings’ collective suicide in the IPL 2013 final showed that go-slow and explode is far more preferable to unrestrained bang-bang. More importantly, it also showed that even in T20, no matter how deep a side bats or how many six-hitters it has, its batsmen are far better off putting at least price on their wickets. Or else, they risk reducing one of the greatest limited-overs batsmen ever to farming the strike with plenty of overs left and hitting defiant, but meaningless, late sixes.MS Dhoni is often blamed for batting too low. For a man whose reputation forces even Lasith Malinga to bowl a wide outside off with an asking-rate over 27, No. 7 was definitely not the position to bat in a tournament final chase. And forget the situation and the occasion, there is no way Dhoni can bat lower than Ravindra Jadeja. But tonight, would it have mattered if Dhoni had come in at No 6 or No 5? Defensive as it was to hold himself for so late, can Dhoni be blamed for the sheer senselessness of what was happening at the other end? Dhoni couldn’t have batted at both ends.The Mumbai Indians bowlers deserved praise for making 148 look like 198, but apart from the inswinging Malinga yorker that took care of Hussey, they didn’t really have to take the other wickets, rather than receiving them on a platter.Suresh Raina has hopes of adding to his 17 Tests. His response to the first ball he faced suggests they are likely to remain just hopes for some time. Now the world and the adjoining galaxy know that Raina expects the bouncer when he comes in. It is one thing when the bowler preys on your expectations, places a short leg or deep square leg and you get out to the bluff full delivery. But it is seriously poor for someone who has been playing international cricket for eight years to meekly fend a bouncer first ball into the hands of short leg.S Badrinath, Dwayne Bravo, Jadeja, M Vijay. All of them threw it away. Badrinath was sent in to enforce go-slow again but chased a wide delivery. Bravo’s was a strange innings. He looked to be trying to desperately counter-attack every ball and still went at less than a run a ball before falling to his own desperation. Jadeja’s heave second ball at 36 for 4 mocked Dhoni’s decision to send the allrounder above himself. Vijay tried patience for some time, but was caught between continuing with it and playing the cool saviour. Forget 120 deliveries, it took a little over one-third of that, 45 balls, for Super Kings to squander their depth, the depth that was supposedly inexhaustible over a mere 20 overs.Contrast this with the way Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu batted. Mumbai Indians were 52 for 4 and down to their last proper batting pair with a long tail to follow. Pollard did begin with a boundary, but it was a risk-free push down and along the ground. He defended successive carrom balls from R Ashwin. The third one was a carrom ball again, but it was fuller and slightly angled in. Pollard launched it over long-on.He got little strike at the death and that made him livid but he confined himself to shouting and swearing and didn’t let his game be affected. After being left agonising at the other end for 15 of the previous 22 deliveries, he cracked the final two balls of the innings for sixes.It is Mumbai Indians who are usually said to get muddled with too many resources to choose from but probably the absence of any more depth in the batting gave Pollard and Rayudu no choice but to play sensibly. To their credit, they did. Probably the availability of depth in the batting made Super Kings abandon their successful policy of preserving wickets for once. To their detriment, they chose the final to showcase that wickets have value, even in T20.

Plays of the day from the Champions Trophy Group A match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Cardiff09-Jun-2013The unintentional run-out
Thisara Perera had three stumps to aim at the non-striker’s end, as Tim Southee and Kyle Mills scampered an ill-judged single with five runs needed to win. He picked up cleanly, gathered himself and threw hard at the stumps only a few metres away from him. He missed. Only, there were three more stumps at the other end. Perera’s throw skidded the length of the pitch and did not miss at the wicketkeeper’s end. Mills, who perhaps thought he was safe, and eased up a yard, was caught a few inches short.The The Cirque du Soleil artiste
In a former life, Brendon McCullum might have been a trapeze artiste, or a salmon – or maybe a bit of both. Kusal Perera had created a lot of buzz coming into the tournament, but he did not last the first ball he faced, thanks largely to Brendon McCullum’s jaw-dropping, flying catch. Kyle Mills’ back of a length ball took a thick outside edge, and McCullum leapt horizontally – heels kicked up – to snatch a ball at head height, two metres to his left . The take was so good, McCullum was soon trending on social media networks.The gate
During the home series against Bangladesh in March, Tillakaratne Dilshan credited his good form, in part, to a technical improvement in his batting. He had tended to be bowled in between bat and pad by straight deliveries, and he hoped he had corrected the flaw. In Cardiff, though, the gate reopened, as wide as ever. Dilshan pushed too far in front of his pad, as he attempted to hit Mitchell McClenaghan through mid-on, and he missed the ball by inches, to have his middle stump clipped.The full toss
Slow, thigh-high volleys usually do not deserve much more than a disdainful wallop to the boundary, but Kane Williamson not only fell lbw to one, he was also almost bowled by the same delivery. Lasith Malinga attempted a slower yorker, but got the release wrong and, instead of attempting to dispatch the delivery square on the leg-side, Williamson tried to tickle it fine. Fooled by the delivery’s lack of speed, though, he failed to make contact, and the ball hit him low on the thigh pad in front of middle stump, before trickling on to the stumps. The bails were not dislodged, but despite a review – perhaps out of sheer befuddlement at the strangeness of the situation – Williamson was out plumb.The comeback wicket
Daniel Vettori was a doubtful starter for the match as he struggled to recover from an Achilles strain, but in his first ODI over in two years, he might have felt like he’d never been away. He had trapped Mahela Jayawardene lbw in his last ODI match in Colombo, in March 2011, and on his fourth ball of the day, he beat Jayawardene’s inside edge to get him in front again. He was ordinary during his remaining overs though, and looked increasingly uncomfortable in the field, so perhaps he has decided to appear every two years to take Jayawardene’s wicket and disappear again.

Most of the DPL clubs have no choice but to train at the same time in Mirpur due to lack of suitable options and poor facilities across Dhaka. It all adds up to an unbelievable chaos

Mohammad Isam18-Sep-2013Junaid Siddique’s rocket of a throw missed Mushfiqur Rahim by a whisker. The Bangladesh captain, leading Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in the Dhaka Premier League, was resting just behind the fielding coach who was conducting drills. A few meters to their left, Soumya Sarkar’s crisp cover drive got everyone to scurry in Mohammedan Sporting Club’s tent. Away on the eastern side, Kalabagan Cricket Academy players’ team bonding exercise was getting louder by the minute, and drawing attention. The two net practice areas were full, with several fully kitted batsmen waiting for their turn as four clubs were using the nets.While all of this was happening, a senior Dhanmondi Club player told the fielding coach to stop the drills, wrap up and come for the team meeting. “That’s enough for today. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. We have a game tomorrow,” he said.Welcome to the National Cricket Academy ground in Mirpur, where most of the Dhaka Premier League clubs have their practice sessions – usually at the same time. The two practice facilities at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, the indoor and the NCA ground, is used by 12 clubs, leading to hurried and cramped training sessions – but no serious injuries yet.Each team has a minimum of 17 players plus support staff and net bowlers, amounting to more than 100 people attending training sessions. Supporters of popular clubs like Abahani Limited and Mohammedan also turn up at times, while there are always fans hanging around for a glimpse of their heroes in a more informal setting.It all adds up to an unbelievable chaos, something that cricket teams can do without. The move has also highlighted the lack of minimum facilities in the clubs around the country’s capital, although they spend an exorbitant amount on players.The facilities in Mirpur are the best in the country, with properly maintained pitches, bowling machines, indoor nets and excellent outfields. But there have been sessions when seven clubs have trained at the small NCA ground on the northwest side of the stadium.As a result, there is very little time for each batsman in the nets, as they mostly take throw-downs. The bowlers too are given more time bowling at a single-stump rather than at the batsmen. The atmosphere has been quite different for the players who are slightly more concerned about being hit by a stray ball rather than making best use of their time in training.Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club have regularly used the Mirpur facilities, but it hasn’t been a comfortable time for the club that is looking to just stay afloat in the league. Doleshwar’s general secretary Mushtaq Hossain said that they will improve their own club ground in the south of the capital, which will again be functional from next season.”We have been training in Mirpur because the wickets in our club ground has not been maintained well,” Mushtaq said. “It has not been an easy time for the players. We are always rushed because other teams have booked the nets soon after, or we have to wait for another club to start our sessions.”The pitches will be improved in Doleshwar, which is a small village in the south of Dhaka. We would like to train on our own, just like we did when we were gaining promotions from Second and First Division leagues. We also provide accommodation to the players in our club.”While Doleshwar has a legitimate reason and its monetary situation doesn’t allow them ground expenses as of now, other clubs with grounds like Abahani, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Brothers Union, Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity and the two Kalabagan sides are in affluent neighbourhoods, based in central Dhaka and some of these clubs have the financial backing to build proper cricket facilities.

Jamie Siddons was famously disgusted when he saw players drinking out of a bucket in one of these clubs

Mohammedan Sporting Club, a major Dhaka club, has also been wandering around town for a few years in search of a proper practice facility. They have hardly used their own ground, located in Motijheel, which they now plan to turn into a commercial complex. They have also talked about a separate facility in Savar, on the north of Dhaka, where they hope to build a cricket academy one day.”Of course it is a problem to train with five other teams. There is hardly any secret left. We can’t surprise our opponents anymore, and all our planning has to be in team meetings rather than in our training,” said one club official wishing anonymity.Many of these clubs like Gazi Tank Cricketers and Prime Bank are corporate entities, and as a result don’t have a ground in Dhaka. Cricket Coaching School is often based in the small Kalabagan ground, but they too have preferred Mirpur because they too don’t have their own ground.A look at most of these clubs venues reveal that the practice facilities are ordinary, with most being held in cement pitches rather than natural turfs.Jamie Siddons, who was Bangladesh’s coach between 2007 and 2011, was famously disgusted when he saw players drinking out of a bucket in one of these clubs. There are several instances and examples that point to a lack of attention to training facilities and more towards beating each other in building teams. Not many DPL clubs can claim to be fully responsible for a player’s upbringing. They only buy the services of the talented ones.The BCB has not been unwelcoming, because the Dhaka clubs are the biggest stakeholders in the board. The grounds committee has allowed all the clubs full use of the facilities, until the NCA or any other representative team requires the nets or the ground. Bangladesh Under-19 are at the academy quarters, preparing for their West Indies tour next month.”The Premier League teams have been using BCB’s facilities ahead and during the competition,” BCB’s grounds manager Syed Abdul Baten said. “They can use it unless our representative sides have to practice at the two facilities. Currently we have one residential camp at the NCA. But we have to accommodate the clubs, because they are important to our cricket.”But training in Mirpur is only a short-term solution for the clubs, and by extension Bangladesh cricket’s grassroots. Since the city-based league is so vital to the cricketers’ development, there has to be more emphasis on building facilities which can be used for 12 months, and not just by the top professionals.Looking back and below should not be so strenuous, but it is less of a habit here in Dhaka.