All posts by h716a5.icu

Five uncapped players who could have a memorable debut IPL season

Abhishek Purohit07-Apr-2011Ashok Menaria, Rajasthan Royals
On a turning fourth-day pitch, Rajasthan had lost four wickets for 61 against Baroda in the Ranji Trophy final in January. Bhargav Bhatt, the tounament’s leading wicket-taker, was posing problems when Ashok Menaria took matters in hand, and shifted the momentum in Rajasthan’s favour. He hammered Bhatt for three straight sixes in four balls and Baroda wilted after that. Menaria, India’s captain in the Under-19 World Cup, had been drafted straight in to the Rajasthan side for the Ranji quarterfinals after a long injury break, and went on to score hundreds in each knockout game. His batting style resembles Yuvraj Singh’s, and what’s more, he also bowls handy left-arm spin. He hasn’t played a Twenty20 game yet, and is looking forward to the IPL. “My style of play is naturally aggressive, and I hopefully should not have any problems in adapting to this format as far as skills are concerned,” Menaria told ESPNcricinfo. “Rahul Dravid has been advising us on the mental aspect, things like playing in front of a big crowd in a major tournament and how to focus amid the noise levels.”Ishank Jaggi, Deccan Chargers
Jaggi’s growing reputation for solidity has been built over the past three seasons, when he’s been the bulwark of Jharkhand’s middle order along with Saurabh Tiwary. He was instrumental in their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy triumph this year, finishing as the tournament’s highest run-getter with 346 runs at 57.66 including half-centuries in the semi-final and the final. A strike-rate of 98.01 in eight Twenty20 innings does not do full justice to his talent, and he hopes to carry on his good form for Deccan Chargers. “The modern player must be able to adapt to all three versions. Being part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad earlier has helped me a lot in improving my game,” Jaggi said. “Facing Dale Steyn in the nets has been a different experience altogether, and he has even given us tips on how to face up to pace bowling. Darren Lehmann, our coach, has emphasised the importance of being able to find gaps in this format.”Varun Aaron, Delhi Daredevils
Aaron hit the limelight when he bowled a delivery that was clocked at 153 kph on the speed gun in the Vijay Hazare final for Jharkhand. In his next game, he took 5 for 47 against West Zone in the Deodhar Trophy semi-final, including the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Nayar. Pace is a rare commodity in India, more so extreme pace, but Aaron has said that he consistently bowls above the 140 kph mark. Previous such prodigies have often been clouded by fitness and form worries, but Aaron remains positive after having battled a stress fracture in the past. “I just want to bowl fast, I do not want to cut down on my pace,” Aaron said. “I know this format demands a lot of variation from bowlers, and I have been working on the yorkers and the slower balls. But I think that speed is very important even in Twenty20s.” The speed guns will be out in full force during the IPL.Harshad Khadiwale, Pune Warriors
Maharashtra’s Khadiwale possesses a solid record across all three formats, and finished as the second-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 214 runs from five games at a strike-rate of 132.91. His overall strike-rates of 140.08 in Twenty20s and 95.67 in List A games suggest an aggressive streak, and Khadiwale says that it’s his natural game. At 22, he has already been around for five seasons, and prior to that, was a prolific scorer at age-group level. He would like to be a more consistent first-class batsman, but as long as he can blaze away in the IPL, his side Pune Warriors won’t be complaining.Mayank Agarwal, Royal Challengers Bangalore
Agarwal was a bright spot in a disappointing Under-19 World Cup for India, top-scoring for his side in the tournament. He is an explosive batsman with a strike-rate touching 100 in Under-19 one-dayers. He was a consistent performer for Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 166 runs at a strike-rate of 139.49. He was also Man of the Series in the 2010 Karnataka Premier League, making the only century of the tournament. Facing up to Zaheer Khan, Dirk Nannes and Daniel Vettori in the Bangalore nets will be a different experience for this 20-year old, but he has lots of potential.

Aakash Chopra tells the story of the 2010-11 Ranji champions with insight, warmth and attention to detail

Suresh Menon11-Dec-2011It was a story that needed to be told; we are lucky that it has been told by an insider who is as comfortable with his square cuts as he is with the smooth metaphor, and one who appreciates the passion, humour and the myriad human stories contained in victory and defeat.Rajasthan, bottom of the lower division of the Ranji Trophy in 2009-10, finished national champions the following season. The fairy tale has all the implausibility of and others in the genre, and Aakash Chopra describes it with warmth and attention to detail.In this case, of course, every bit is true. The creativity lies in the telling. “When you are Rajasthan,” says Chopra in the prologue, “last in the Plate Division, never having won the title, never even coming close to a final in over three decades, you don’t play to win the honour, you play to save what you can of yours.”How did Rajasthan get it so right after a season when they had got it so wrong? For one, they hired the right professionals. Two of them, Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar , had international experience, and more importantly, were bristling to make a point after being treated poorly by their original teams, Delhi and Maharashtra respectively. For a professional, that is usually motivation enough.Then there was the attitude of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA), which was both professional and understanding of player needs. Officials cut through red tape when it was warranted, players were given the confidence they would be looked after (despite the usual politics), and loyalty was earned rather than demanded.Chopra pays due tributes are paid to the RCA, but ultimately the book is about the real heroes, men like the opening batsman Vineet Saxena, who in a three-month period lost his father, his daughter and his job. As Chopra says, “Cricket was no longer about scoring runs, it was the only way to keep his family going. Failure was no longer an option.” Hours after burying his daughter, Saxena was in Jaipur to play a match.It is about Deepak Chahar, who was told by Greg Chappell that he was “not cut out for cricket”, but began the season with figures of 7.3-2-10-8 to dismiss Hyderabad for 21. Cricket to him was a means to enabling his father to pay off his loans.It is about Vivek Yadav, who ran away from home because of opposition to his playing cricket; Pankaj Singh, who travelled ticketless on a 30-hour train ride; and a host of others, each with a unique story. Men like these form the backbone of the domestic game in India – mildly feted in small circles, forced to make huge sacrifices to keep playing, but somehow managing to keep their vision alive. A world away from the Tendulkars and the Dravids.There is a romance about the underdogs coming good which is the essence of sport. Rajasthan might have been languishing in the boondocks of Indian cricket, but with every victory (discussed in detail, with scorecards, here), self-belief grew, and the improbable toppled into the realm of the inevitable.Chopra, who made a mark as a writer and thinker of substance with his first book, brings to his task a deep knowledge of the game and an empathy for the players. is the story of a classic journey, with ups and downs and unexpected beauty in strange places. It is also the story of the mindset of a professional cricketer in a team of amateurs almost too used to being treated as men who don’t matter in the larger scheme of things.The author’s honesty and generosity are summed up in this description of team-mate Rashmi Ranjan Parida: “He is one of the best players of spin bowling I have come across… it looks like he is trying not to hurt the ball while hitting it. When I see someone like that at the top of his game I count my blessings. I may not be half as good as him, but I am the proud owner of an India cap.”Aakash Chopra played ten Tests for India, but his best days in the service of the national team might be ahead of him. Out of the Blue: Rajasthan’s Road to the Ranji Trophy
by Aakash Chopra
Harper Sport, Rs 299, 262pp

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ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day for the second final of the CB Series between Australia and Sri Lanka, in Adelaide

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval06-Mar-2012The drop
Sri Lanka dropped several catches today, but this was the most surprising of the lot, as it came from arguably their best fielder. In the 12th over of the Australia innings, Shane Watson cut Farveez Maharoof straight to Tillakaratne Dilshan, shin high, at backward point, but Dilshan failed to hold on. It went straight in and straight out.The repeat
In the previous game, Rangana Herath had misjudged a catch at the boundary, but redeemed himself by back-pedalling and pulling off a spectacular one-handed over-head pluck behind his body. He did the same today, but all he could manage was a touch on the ball. The beneficiary, again, was Watson, and the frustrated bowler Maharoof.The DIY
Having seen Watson dropped off his bowling two overs in a row, Maharoof finally took matters into his own hand. In the 16th over, when David Warner called Watson for a quick single after bunting the ball to the leg side, Maharoof fielded it with his left hand, turned around, transferred the ball in his right, and threw the stumps down to catch the diving Watson short. The funny thing is, despite doing it all by himself, Maharoof didn’t get any addition to his wickets column.The off glance
There have been many new shots added to cricket’s repertoire, but you don’t associate Michael Clarke with those fancy, unorthodox hits. In the 44th over, though, Clarke played one. He premeditated to paddle Herath, but got a full toss on the stumps, and belatedly reverse-closed the face on it to guide it past short third man. For the want of a better name, let’s call it the off glance. Had it not been for his hampered running, Clarke could have run four for that one.The redemption
It wasn’t a good day for Herath in the field. Apart from going for 58 in his ten overs, he dropped a second catch in the 49th over, this time a sitter at midwicket. One ball later, though, opportunity presented itself again, when Clarke tried to pinch a single to midwicket. Clarke was slow because of some discomfort in his left hamstring, and Herath took aim and hit the stumps direct to claim his man.Edited by Nikita Bastian

Now cricket has its own version of baseball’s power-hitting duo, and they belong to the West Indies

Peter Della Penna01-Jul-2012Baseball’s Oakland Athletics gained a bit more recognition around the world last year with the Hollywood release of . A generation before heavy statistical analysis became en vogue, the Athletics of the late 1980s had a simpler philosophy: get Rickey Henderson on base so that Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco could hit a monster home run to bring Rickey home. The intimidating power-hitting duo that led the Athletics to a World Series title in 1989 became known as the ‘Bash Brothers’.Now cricket has its own version of the Bash Brothers and they belong to the West Indies: Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard. Cricket purists have a special place in their hearts for players who possess the grace and finesse of the likes of Kumar Sangakkara or Ian Bell. But Twenty20 cricket is causing a shift towards brute force and Popeye muscles. For those in south Florida who saw Gayle and Pollard in person for the first time at training throughout the past week, there was no doubt which two players ate the most spinach in the West Indies squad. Each man blasted five sixes on Saturday just to confirm it.On Saturday, their unbeaten third-wicket stand of 108 runs took a big bite out of New Zealand. Pollard dominated the partnership, accounting for 63 in just 29 balls, but it was Gayle who took home Man-of-the-Match honours after top-scoring with 85 not out. It’s that appetite for runs that makes the return of Gayle to the West Indies set-up vital in the lead-up to September’s ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.West Indies coach Ottis Gibson said his lineup had been starved of a consistent run-getter and having Gayle back in the squad shored up what was previously a weak link.”We’ve been struggling for runs, we know that,” Gibson told the assembled media after Saturday’s 56-run win over New Zealand. “Chris [Gayle] especially in this format has been a world leader. It’s great to have him back in the team. He did exactly what we know he can do today. We hope that he comes out and does the same tomorrow. Obviously tomorrow is our last Twenty20 before the World Twenty20. That’s a big thing for us. [We’ve] got to make sure we get all our plans sorted so that by the time we get to Sri Lanka for the World Twenty20 everybody’s very clear what their role is and how we’re going to approach trying to win that tournament.””[Johnson] Charles played a good innings but credit must go to Kieron [Pollard] for taking the pressure off me,” Gayle said after play. “I think power’s a key factor. You don’t want to do a lot of running. You can accelerate in the end.”Gibson was especially pleased with how Gayle took his time to get in while assessing a pitch that they weren’t sure about before play began.”Because the pitch was new, we had to be tentative at the start,” Gibson said. “You saw Chris start very slow and tentative and we had to be because we don’t know what the surface is going to offer. As we got past the first six overs, the message came back that it was a good batting track so we knew that with the power we have in the back end of our team that we can catch up.”Did they ever. West Indies were 67 for one after 10 overs, but the final 10 saw them more than triple their output with another 142 runs. Only one over out of the final 10 went for less than double-digits and that just missed out with nine runs coming in the 18th. There was a slight delay in figuring out who to send out when Charles departed on the first ball of the 14th over with the score at 101. Marlon Samuels had been padded up, but Gibson decided to pull the trigger on Pollard and the move paid off.

‘I think power’s a key factor. You don’t want to do a lot of running.’Chris Gayle

“We’ve got a lot of options in our team, a lot of power hitters,” Gibson said. “One of the things that we’ve done recently is try to get the right sort of person in at the right time. We know that Pollard is a dangerous hitter. We had a lot of wickets in hand. Pollard is in good form as well so we utilised his power in that situation and it worked for us. He just came off a very good Twenty20 innings in England as well so he’s very confident and we know that once he gets in and gives himself some time that he can be very dangerous which he was today.””When I went in, it [was] just a matter of supporting Chris as we looked to build a partnership,” Pollard said. “It was a very good pitch for batting and when I hit my first ball I realised things could go our way. We all know the kind of player Chris is so once we both got in we were able to target the bowlers close to the end of the innings.”Not only did the two men leave New Zealand bruised and battered psychologically, but the New Zealand squad resembled something closer to an MASH unit than a cricket team by the end of the match. Jacob Oram was the first man to go down, injuring his knee after getting his foot stuck in the turf, while making a sliding attempt along the long on boundary to stop a ball hit by Gayle off Ronnie Hira. It looked fairly gruesome live, but Oram, who went off for a while at the end of the 18th over, soldiered on and finished the rest of the match. He will have a fitness test in the morning to see if he can play any part on Sunday. The outfield was a bit uneven in spots and Gibson said he had warned his own players about it ahead of play.”In some spots close to the square it’s okay and as you get further away from the square it becomes a little bit softer,” Gibson said. “We practiced on it for three or four days and we told our players to be careful, be careful diving especially on the boundary and stuff because the boundary edges tend not to get as much service. You have to be very careful. When I saw Jacob Oram, the first thing that came to my mind was Simon Jones in Australia in a sandy sort of soft-ish outfield, and we don’t want to see that sort of stuff happen anymore. Our guys have been told to be careful how to dive out on the boundary edges.”Ronnie Hira was New Zealand’s next casualty after his hand got in the way of a howitzer from Gayle on the second ball of the 11th over. Hira dislocated the middle finger on his left hand and has been ruled out of Sunday’s second Twenty20 contest.Third and most devastating to New Zealand was the shoulder injury sustained by captain Ross Taylor. Pollard top edged an Oram delivery on the last ball of the 17th towards Taylor, who was stationed at fine leg right on the circle. Off the bat it looked like a straightforward chance but the ball swirled in the wind and Taylor landed awkwardly on his left side after making a late dive which failed to corral the ball. It was one of multiple drops on the day by New Zealand to go along with a missed stumping and a missed run out chance for Gayle on 8. Taylor has been ruled out of the second Twenty20 and most likely the first few ODIs that begin next week in Jamaica.As for West Indies, they’ll be happy to have the ‘Bash Brothers’ continue to entertain the Florida crowd by wreaking more havoc on New Zealand, regardless of whether they’re full strength or injury-depleted.”There’s a hell of a lot of people here today and I believe it’s [going to] be the same tomorrow,” Gibson said. “They’ve come out to see us play in the US. It was good that we could put on a good display for them today and hopefully we’ll do the same again tomorrow.”

Pat Cummins’ hero is Shane Warne and, on the evidence of a startling rise to the Australian team, his talent is almost as singular

Daniel Brettig28-Jun-2012Nineteen ninety-three is a year an Englishman can still break into a cold sweat thinking about, and one that will cause an Australian to unveil a grin. For it was the year of Shane Warne, starting with “the Gatting ball” at Old Trafford and rolling along until the Ashes had been meekly surrendered to Australia, the peroxide blond legspinner plucking 34 wickets along the way. Warne cast a spell that year that would never truly be broken until his retirement, 14 years later.No one knew it at the time, but there would be another significant event in 1993 that could possibly have a major say in the outcome of England v Australia contests. Halfway around the world from Warne’s exploits, Pat Cummins was born in Sydney. As he grew into a strongly built youth with a taste for cricket, Cummins followed Warne closely, admiring his style and his ability to turn a match with the flick of his wrist. Though Cummins chose to bowl pace instead of spin, he aspired to having Warne’s influence, his command of the ball and the contest.”Once he got thrown the ball you knew something was going to happen,” Cummins said last summer of his idol. “Even if they’d put on a hundred partnership, you knew a wicket wasn’t too far away. He was always in the contest and he was just awesome to watch. I think for all bowlers, that’s their aim.”As quantified by the speed of his rise into the Australian team, and the awed assessments that have surrounded his development, Cummins has shown a gift almost as prodigious as Warne’s had been. He has the ideal physique for bowling fast – tall, strong and wiry – and an action that extracts sharp bounce and late swing at the kind of pace reached by only the very swiftest of bowlers.Yet Cummins’ ability extends well beyond the parameters of his physique. He is smart, almost spookily so for a 19-year-old fast bowler, and knows instinctively where a batsman would least like the ball, whether it be full at the stumps, short at the ribcage or somewhere in between. His control, too, is startling. In his junior days Warne wowed his coaches by spinning the ball enormously while remaining accurate. Cummins floors them by hurling it down at terminal velocity but with command of its line and length.He demonstrated all this last year against South Africa in Johannesburg, so far his only Test match. He was its most outstanding player. Six second-innings wickets opened the way for Australia to record a thrilling victory. Cummins’ sustained burst to defeat Jacques Kallis in the second innings was brutish but highly thoughtful and disciplined, culminating in an outswinger and an edge. Shane Watson watched it all unfold from the Australian slips cordon.”Just to see the maturity he had in Johannesburg, for such a young guy, to see the execution of his skill was something I’ve never seen from a bowler of that age really,” he said. “To be able to swing the ball both ways at good pace, having the innate ability of knowing when to bowl a bouncer, when to bowl a change-up, that’s something that’s not learned, that’s just inside of you, so to see that, even in the first innings, was very special.”It is very exciting to see someone like him coming through, because just with being able to stay fit and stay on the ground for a period of time, he is certainly going to shake a few sides up with the quality of his bowling.”The quality Watson speaks of was spotted early. Cummins was playing for New South Wales at 17, turning heads in the domestic T20 competition. Even at that early stage it was evident that he was ready for international cricket, as Ed Cowan’s diary of the 2010-11 season confirms: “Let’s pray he is well looked after both on and off the field by the powers that be in the coming years; part of me wants him to be left alone to slowly mature, the other part, knowing bowlers only have a certain number of balls in them, feels that with good workload management he may as well be thrown in the deep end of international cricket sooner rather than later. There is no need to be wasting good balls on players like me…”

“Simon Katich threw me the ball and said ‘give them a few bouncers’. So I just ran in and tried to knock Marcus North’s head off every ball”

Soon Cummins was playing in the Sheffield Shield and being used as a battering ram by his state captain, Simon Katich. At the SCG against Western Australia, he caused Marcus North’s life to flash past his eyes with a spell of short-pitched fury on a dull surface. “Simon Katich threw me the ball and said, ‘We can give them a few bouncers if we can’t get them out any other way,'” Cummins recalled. “So I just ran in and tried to knock his head off every ball, which in hindsight was pretty mean…”That meanness extended to the Sheffield Shield final, where an injury-laiden Blues team had to rely on Cummins to bowl an enormous amount. In the first innings he sent down a scarcely believable 48 overs, returning 3 for 118, and it was no surprise when he was diagnosed with a back stress injury soon after Tasmania had completed their seven-wicket victory. What stood out about Cummins in that match was his accuracy and his stamina; he asked questions ball upon ball and proved every bit as precise as Trent Copeland’s seaming mediums at the other end. Katich said of Cummins: “For a kid who is only 18 years of age, he has an amazing brain on him already.”What followed was a mild wrestle between NSW and Cricket Australia to manage Cummins’ future. He became the youngest CA-contracted player in the history of the system, but missed an A tour of Zimbabwe because of the back trouble spawned by his Shield exertions. Andrew Hilditch’s selection panel, soon to be disbanded in the wake of the Argus review, wanted to choose him for the Sri Lanka tour but ultimately waited until South Africa. Cummins promotion here had an unintended side-effect, for it held back the similarly fast and confident James Pattinson.A tourist in Sri Lanka, Pattinson lost his place to Cummins for the ODI and Test legs of the South Africa tour, and went home to develop into the bowler who would nab 26 wickets in his first five Tests. “I watched him on TV [in Johannesburg] and thought, ‘That could’ve been me’, but I knew that one day it would come,” Pattinson said.Johannesburg was a moment in time, as Cummins helped Australia rebound from the humiliation of being bowled out for 47 to lose a Test match in Cape Town that they should have dominated. The captain, Michael Clarke, considers the match a turning point in the development of his team, and it could not have been accomplished without Cummins, who made a final contribution to the drama by swiping Imran Tahir’s googly for the winning runs. The correspondent Greg Baum wrote: “On this tour, he has graduated from a project to a plan. There is a sense of knowing about his bowling that is not always apparent in Australia’s more senior bowlers. Hereby he is dubbed postman Pat: he delivers.”Cummins was a Test-match winner on his debut as an 18-year-old•Associated PressInjury again curtailed Cummins on his return home, a nagging pain in his heel turning out to be stress hot spots. He was one of the most marketable faces of the Sydney Sixers’ inaugural season in the Big Bash League, but made his appearances for the team in a business suit rather than his playing kit. When Cummins finally returned to competitive bowling in the new year it was, in a reminder of how young he remains, for Australia’s Under-19s team.Now, a little less than 12 months into his time as an international cricketer, Cummins has the chance to emulate Warne by tormenting England. There have been plenty of winces in the nets so far on tour as Cummins and James Pattinson have warmed into their work, but plenty of smiles too. For if it’s difficult for the Australian batsmen in the nets, how fiendish might it be for their England counterparts in the middle? Whatever the trite lines about this tour having nothing to do with the Ashes, retaliation is on Australian minds. Much as the West Indies did over their extended period of pace dominance, Clarke’s new model team is intent on raining blows with the bowlers now at their disposal. And England, the team that so humbled them down under, are next on the programme.So far, the hosts have performed the English trick of saying one thing while meaning quite another. After facing Cummins for Essex, Ravi Bopara said he had nothing to say about Australia’s players. Tim Bresnan was similarly lacking in insight, offering only “We’ve not looked at any videos yet. I don’t really watch much cricket.” Instead, it has been the team’s video analyst, Gemma Broad, doing all the research, collecting footage of Pattinson against Leicestershire at Grace Road, and Cummins against Essex at Chelmsford. England know this attack will not be brushed off with the ease of the last Ashes series.Broad’s camera captured Cummins sending back three Essex batsman at little cost, demonstrating the control and thought that has been his calling card. But there was also the sense that Cummins was not letting himself go completely, that there were more gears left to shift through. Warne, it should be remembered, foxed England in 1993 by offering up only his stock ball to a greedy Graeme Hick at Worcester, then spinning the ball a metre at Old Trafford. Nineteen years on, Cummins will be hoping for a similarly dramatic start to his meetings with England. His talent is that rare.

South Africa’s Test touring party to Australia contained few surprises, but it also outlined the clear contrast in how the two teams will handle their fast bowlers

Daniel Brettig11-Oct-2012If the South African Test touring party to Australia arrived more or less as expected, it also confirmed a battle of contrasts among the fast bowlers: South African dependability versus Australian depth.Among South Africa’s travelling 15, there are only four pacemen. The uncapped bowling allrounder Rory Kleinveldt will back-up the outstanding trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander, while Jacques Kallis provides his familiar versatility. The captain Graeme Smith and the coach Gary Kirsten are in no doubt what their best XI is, and far from fearful that one of their top three quicks will break down.Australia’s pace planning for the series is far more preoccupied with depth, likely to include the presence of five quicks, plus Shane Watson, in training before each match. The seasoned duo of Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus can be expected to play in all three Tests, but there will be rotation beyond them, as James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins all appear likely to get at least one match against the South Africans to spread the load among their younger bodies.Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur said that while a settled side was an advantage for South Africa, the home batsmen had the chance to make fatigue a factor in the series if they could stick out the early spells of Steyn, Morkel and Philander.”It certainly can be a help for us, if we can get those guys back and having to bowl third and fourth spells then we’re in a good position,” Arthur told ESPNcricinfo. “That might fatigue them just a little for the next Test match.”They’ve got the three top guys, Kleinveldt and then Kallis, but they’re very clear on the team they’re going to play, and they’re just looking at who best can slot in as a like for like replacement if any of their quicks go down.”The tall and strapping Marchant de Lange would have been favoured as South Africa’s reserve, but was unable to be considered as he recovers from back stress fractures. Arthur said Kleinveldt is drawn from a similar template, offering a “bang it in” approach for hard Australian pitches, though his lack of any Test experience will mean a vexing initiation if one of the top trio does get injured.”I think Marchant’s got a little more pace, but they’re obviously looking for bowlers who can really hit the deck hard, which Rory does,” Arthur said.The presence of two spinners, Imran Tahir and Robin Petersen, suggests that the tourists may use a different tweaker according to the conditions they are presented with. Petersen may be called upon to perform the kind of stopping role Paul Harris filled on the successful 2008-09 visit to Australia, particularly in Brisbane and Perth. This would leave Tahir to take up a more attacking commission in Adelaide, with a surface more given to sharp spin. Arthur could not envisage both slow men playing in the same side.”That would really surprise me, it’s not really their style,” Arthur said. “They’re pretty much like us, their best attack is when their quicks play, so I guess they’ll use Imran Tahir as an attacking option certainly in Adelaide. I can’t see them playing two though.”While Australia’s selection of Test-proven fast men appears broader, Arthur acknowledged there would be considerable weight on the shoulders of both Siddle and Hilfenhaus to stay fit and in strong rhythm. They will again be asked to deliver the sorts of sustained spells that were so effective against India last summer, a requirement heightened by the early season absence of Ryan Harris due to his recovery from shoulder surgery.”Peter’s got a massive role leading our Test attack, him and Benny, they’ve got a massive amount of leadership work to do,” Arthur said. “Peter’s embraced that and he showed us last year that he could handle that.”

So impressive were his returns from the first two years of Test cricket that Jonathan Trott’s current run of form seems like a bad patch

Amol Karhadkar 06-Nov-2012Twelve months ago, Jonathan Trott was England’s “go to” man. Whenever the team needed someone to rise to the challenge – be it during the Ashes, against Pakistan’s spectacular swing or during the World Cup – not just the supporters but even the team management looked up to him.Trott had never disappointed anyone for well over two years ever since marking his arrival on the international stage with a century against Australia in August 2009 – helping to regain the Ashes is no bad way to introduce yourself to world cricket.Back then, having emerged as the first sole England recipient of the ICC Player of the Year in 2011 (Andrew Flintoff shared it with Jacques Kallis in 2005), Trott was not just the torch-bearer of English cricket but a rapidly declining school of players who could excel in all three formats of the game, especially in the longest.Cut to November 2012 and the winds seem to have started blowing in the other direction. As he addressed a group of journalists in Ahmedabad ahead of the first of a four-Test series and spoke of his potential plans to take on the Indian bowlers (read spinners), Trott was put on the backfoot about his performance in the side.This year has been undoubtedly been a mediocre year for Trott, and England as result. In 21 innings, Trott has managed to score just one century and averaged 37.42, well below par any specialist batsman in Test cricket these days, let alone a No. 3. His poor form has resulted in his average that was soaring towards the 60s at the start of the year having almost dropped below 50.But instead of being bogged down by all sorts of scrutiny, Trott faced all the queries with a straight face, just like his blade during the best of times at the crease. First and foremost, he dismissed the possibility of him having to open the innings during the four-Test series, with two debutants vying for the slot vacated by Andrew Strauss. “I have never really had any discussion like that,” Trott said. “Maybe it has been coming more from the media.”In his three preparatory outings at the crease ahead of what would be his first Test series in India, Trott got his eye in but didn’t manage the big innings he was accustomed to playing during his purple patch. He didn’t hesitate to admit he was a touch frustrated but going into the Test series, he preferred to consider the glass half full rather than half empty.”I am slightly disappointed with the mistakes I have made so far,” Trott said. “Maybe in hindsight I would think I am gladder to have made these mistakes now that in Test matches. I am looking forward to spending more time at the crease in the four-day game so I will be ready.”With England seeking their first Test series win in India for 27 years, the England management seems to be leaving no stone unturned to get the players ready – especially those like Trott who have never played Tests in India. One such measure was to let the batsmen bat in the nets with speakers blaring crowd roars during their training camp in Dubai before arriving in India.”Our management are very keen on when we get ready for the game time, we are not overawed or surprised by anything,” Trott said. “I have played one-dayers in India before and you get a feel over there. It feels good. Probably feels similar to walking out at Melbourne with 90,000 Australians wanting you to do badly.”If Trott does what he did at the MCG almost two years ago – scoring an unbeaten 168 helping England retain the Ashes – at Wankhede or Eden Gardens, not only would he silence the doubters but would also help his team achieve a major goal of winning a series in India. After all, the last three years suggest whenever Trott does well, England do too.

The Women’s World Cup was memorable because the powerhouses were challenged by lesser teams, but the game needs significant investment immediately

Abhishek Purohit20-Feb-2013Sri Lanka beating England and India; West Indies beating New Zealand and Australia. Women cricketers have been playing World Cups for the past 40 years but such results were scarcely imaginable, even as late as the 2009 edition. For showing that traditional powerhouses Australia, England and New Zealand can be beaten on the biggest stage by sides that hardly get to play them otherwise, this World Cup is a watershed in the spread of the women’s game.This tournament came amid increasing visibility for the women after the ICC’s commendable move to have them and the men playing the World Twenty20 together, with the women’s knockouts preceding the men’s on television. The cheers from the Premadasa crowd – growing every minute in anticipation of the men’s final – for Jodie Fields and her Australian team after they won the tournament in Colombo were spontaneous and heartwarming.While the people of Mumbai were largely ignorant of or indifferent to the Women’s World Cup, it was their loss as they missed out on some fascinating cricket. The women put up a spectacular display throughout – the power of Deandra Dottin and Eshani Kaushalya, the swing of Anya Shrubsole, the aggression of Katherine Brunt, the athleticism of Ellyse Perry, the tactics of Jodie Fields, the skill of Lisa Sthalekar, the talent of Harmanpreet Kaur, the vivacity of Holly Ferling, the dominance of Suzie Bates and much more.Sri Lanka and West Indies came out of nowhere and impressed, but the old order showed staying power. Australia were outstanding right through, and England would have probably given them a fight in the final, had they not suffered two narrow losses. To West Indies’ credit, they did a complete turnaround in the Super Six, winning all three games after suffering heavy defeats to India and England in the group stage. Hosts India were the biggest disappointment of the tournament. Sri Lanka ambushed them with the bat, and Mithali Raj’s comment that she had never expected Sri Lanka to make so many runs said it all.New Zealand captain Bates, the Player of the Tournament, said that with teams such as West Indies and Sri Lanka getting better and better, her team was in danger of falling behind if more resources and tours weren’t organised. Such a prognosis from one of the foremost players of the game should be taken note of, and not only by New Zealand Cricket.All boards have to invest more, and all teams have to play more. If ever the administrators needed evidence that most of the major teams can play consistently competitive women’s cricket, this World Cup provided that. If the cricket community is serious about women’s cricket, it will have to put in the money now. Looking at short-term or even medium-term returns is no way to grow a product. In industries such as insurance, companies take decades to break even. That does not mean the world lives without insurers.Player of the Tournament Suzie Bates said her team needed to play more matches to stay competitive•AFPThe business acumen of India’s administrators made the men’s game the lucrative industry it is today. It is a cash cow in India, generating massive profits far beyond what is required to keep it growing. In business, a cash cow is used to finance and grow other operations of the same company. Will the BCCI do the same for the Indian women’s team? At the moment, it is not even a remote possibility.Just providing your academies and grounds to the women and paying them peanuts is apologetically insufficient investment. What is the use if they don’t play most of the time? Twenty six ODIs in four years between the 2009 and 2013 World Cups? MS Dhoni and his men played around five times that number. Merissa Aguilleira and her West Indies women played close to 40. No wonder India sank at the slightest hint of pressure against England and Sri Lanka.For all their potential, Sri Lanka and West Indies have a limited pool of players at or close to the top level. It is understood to be just about 50 women in Sri Lanka and they will face a problem in the coming years when the likes of Shashikala Siriwardene, Kaushalya and Chamani Seneviratna depart. It is almost always a struggle for West Indies when Stafanie Taylor and Dottin don’t fire. There is no reason, especially after their World Cup heroics, why both sides have to wait for the next World Cup to play the big opponents.There is also no reason, after a few stars have hopefully been created in this World Cup, why the world has to wait for the next World Cup to hear about them again. A great like Mithali Raj might possibly not even be around when the next one comes along.It is here that the ICC needs to make its goal of a binding FTP for the women’s game come true sooner than later. Cricketers are supposed to play cricket, after all, and not lay dormant waiting for the big stage to be made available once in a while. There couldn’t be a better time for women’s cricket to be taken seriously by everyone, especially the administrators. It will be unfortunate if the world keeps waiting for 2017.

A certain Australian allrounder seems to get unfairly overlooked when talk turns to the greatest of that breed

Steven Lynch01-Mar-2013I recently had an email from an Australian reader, Steve Chaddock, asking why Alan Davidson never seemed to feature in discussions about cricket’s great allrounders. And when you look at the figures, you have to admit he has a point: Davidson took 186 wickets in 44 Tests, at the excellent average of 20.53 – that’s lower than anyone else with more than 100 wickets who played after the First World War, apart from the England slow left-armer Johnny Wardle (102 at 20.39).Davidson also averaged 24 with the bat, usually coming in low down in a strong batting side: he was the first man to achieve the double of 100 runs and ten wickets in the same Test, and chose a pretty good one to do it in – the famous tie against West Indies in Brisbane in 1960-61. And he was also a superb close fielder, known as “The Claw” when he wasn’t plain old “Davo”.So just why is Davidson rarely spoken of when the bar-room discussion turns to great allrounders? My theory, for what it’s worth, is that he was generally overshadowed by larger-than-life team-mates or other events. On his first two Ashes tours, in the 1950s, the focus was mostly on the legendary new-ball pairing of Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller. In 1958-59, with the charismatic Miller retired and Lindwall absent at first, Davidson took 24 wickets at 19 as Australia trounced much-fancied England 4-0… but the first thing that usually comes to mind about that series now is the dodgy bent-armed actions of the other fast bowlers, Ian Meckiff (who took 17 wickets) and Gordon Rorke (eight).After that, Davidson took 29 wickets at 14.86 in India in 1959-60 and, the following season, 33 in four Tests against West Indies. But even then he was overshadowed by the general euphoria surrounding that calypso summer. His charismatic skipper, Richie Benaud, attracted a lot of the headlines, especially by bowling Australia to an unlikely victory at Old Trafford in 1961 – but Davo took 23 wickets in that Ashes series, and 24 at 20 in the next one, in 1962-63, after which he retired, still only 33. Since becoming Australia’s undisputed fast-bowling spearhead, in South Africa in 1957-58, he’d taken 170 Test wickets at 19.25.It probably didn’t help his cause that this was a vintage time for Aussie allrounders: Miller, Benaud and Davidson were joined for a while by Ron Archer and the inelegant but effective Ken Mackay. In almost 50 years since, Australia haven’t really had a genuine Test allrounder.But don’t just take my word for Davidson’s place in the pantheon. Richie Benaud told me: “When I first met him we played against one another. We were both spin bowlers, attacking batsmen and keen in the field. Davo was a left-arm spinner – not orthodox but over the wrist. He was very good but had to give that away when the skipper of the Gosford area team found his opening bowler hadn’t arrived, and gave the new ball to Alan.”Grainy black-and-white films of those 1960s Test series show Davidson, greying but well-built, loping in to deliver his left-arm swinging deliveries at a high pace. Ted Dexter, England’s captain in the 1962-63 Ashes, dissected his technique perfectly for me: “Unlike the moderns who rush through the crease, Davo made a full turn, getting his front foot close to the stumps and then making a full body rotation. Swing and cut were a natural result. So he had good control, which accounts for his excellent career stats – details of which he always has readily available for anyone willing to listen. And he could have been a Test batsman alone, because he had all the strokes and good technique – not the man you wanted to see coming in at No. 8 when the bowlers are tired.”Davidson was teased in his time for his habit of complaining about aches and pains: “A martyr to injuries real and imagined,” writes Gideon Haigh on Davidson’s ESPNcricinfo player page. But like Gordon Greenidge later on, Davo often seemed to perform better when limping or grumbling: Benaud often had to cajole his ailing go-to man into an extra over or six. Still, says Dexter, “Davo was a fine athlete – at least when he wasn’t complaining about an ache here and an ache there. He was an excellent competitor who had no need to scowl and sledge.”But the last word must go to Benaud, his long-time friend and captain: “There is no question Alan Davidson was one of the greatest allrounders in the history of the game.” And I wouldn’t dare argue with that.

Australia will have to put behind the less-than-ideal lead-up to the Mohali Test to bounce back from their Hyderabad defeat

Brydon Coverdale13-Mar-2013A strange thing happened at the Mohali cricket ground on Wednesday. An Indian player gave a press conference. Over the past three days it has felt like there has been only one team in town. On Monday, David Warner, Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke all spoke to the media: Arthur and Clarke on the suspension of four players for a disciplinary breach, Warner on other issues. Shane Watson was bailed up by journalists as he checked out of the team hotel.On Tuesday, James Pattinson fronted up to speak of his contrition at forgetting his homework. Back in Australia, Pat Howard explained Cricket Australia’s support of the team management’s drastic move in Mohali, and in doing so inadvertently added fuel to the fire surrounding Watson’s departure. Later that night, Watson landed in Sydney and was again mobbed by a press pack. On Wednesday, Clarke gave his official pre-match press conference.And so did India’s debutant batsman Shikhar Dhawan.Oh, that’s right. India are here too. The past three days have been so chaotic for the Australian camp that it was easy to overlook the reality of a Test match starting on Thursday. A Test match that Australia must win to have any chance of retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The challenge for Clarke and Arthur is to ensure their men are switched off from the controversy of the homework saga and switched on to their on-field jobs and how to beat India.By their own hand, they will do so with a team lacking its vice-captain, its best bowler, another bowler who took five-for last time at this venue, and the main backup batsman, who was otherwise certain to come in for this Test. As bad luck would have it, they will also most likely be without their first-choice wicketkeeper through injury. There will be no official vice-captain to replace Shane Watson, although Brad Haddin will probably serve as a de facto deputy to Clarke.It is, to put things mildly, less than ideal. One Indian journalist jokingly suggested that perhaps the batting coach Michael di Venuto could be called in to the side. After all, 25,000 first-class runs is a pretty good qualification for a baggy green, and he only retired last year.Before the squad left for India it was clear this tour would be Clarke’s biggest challenge as captain. This Mohali Test will unquestionably be his toughest task of the trip. Apart from the self-imposed stripping of personnel, the team needs to find a way to bounce back from its tenth-biggest loss in Test history. This is a squad that has been slipshod on and off the field and has had its failings aired publicly, yet Clarke must refocus his men away from all of the off-field issues.But this match does provide an opportunity. When the touring squad was chosen, Steven Smith appeared about as likely to play a Test as Mickey Arthur. Now he has a chance to show what he has learnt since his last Test incarnation two years ago. Phillip Hughes was almost certain to be axed but now will get a reprieve. Xavier Doherty and Nathan Lyon will probably be tested in tandem. Mitchell Starc is back. Clarke has carried a hefty burden since Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey retired. It will be fascinating to see how Clarke rallies his men here.”The reality is it’s a different team now in regards to experience,” Clarke said. “When you lose so many experienced players it takes time to build that up. With Ricky’s retirement and Michael Hussey’s retirement, more than anything I think those two players as friends of mine led by example. We had those guys to talk to a player, to show the younger players how to train, how to go about their work. They were great players for a number of reasons and not just about their performance.”Clarke has made a point of telling his men that they don’t need a ‘c’ or ‘v-c’ next to their name to be a leader in this young and inexperienced group. The next five days in Mohali provide a chance for some of the same players from the Hyderabad thrashing and some new ones to show what they are made of. To see if the off-field issues have pulled them closer together or driven them apart. The signs at training have been good. The vibe has been upbeat.Of course, the likely outcome is short-term pain for what Clarke and Arthur hope will be long-term gain. But after Hyderabad, losing by less than an innings would be a step up. A draw would feel like a win. A win would make this one of the most remarkable weeks in Australia’s Test history. Now to see what those Indians have been up to while all of this was happening.