All posts by h716a5.icu

The reputation of being a walking cricket encyclopaedia can be hard to maintain, but sometimes it leads to a wonderful story

Steven Lynch13-Apr-2015I wish I had a pound for every time I’ve been told, “You must know my father/uncle/grandfather – he played a lot of cricket.” It usually happens after someone has mentioned my supposedly vast knowledge of the game, and it usually ends with embarrassment all round when I’ve never heard of the aged relative, who turns out to have played once for Sussex’s Second XI in 1952. There are, after all, thousands of gifted players who are legends in local circles but never quite cracked the pages of Wisden.But this latest instalment was different. At the quiet surroundings of a fish-and-chip supper outside Melbourne at the church where my brother is the assistant curate, I was given the usual worrying introduction as the cricket man, and out it came: “You might have heard of my father. Although it was a long time ago.”I was just preparing the usual get-out-of-jail-free answer, when my inquisitor served up the Ask Steven equivalent of a leg-side full toss: “He went on the Ashes tour in 1930. Don Bradman’s first time in England.””What’s your surname?” I gasped. “Hurwood.” Aha. I’d read the books, seen the cigarette cards. “Alec, then?” “Yep, that’s him.”I wasn’t the only one who was relieved. My father was nervous after bigging me up with the old cricket-encyclopaedia intro, and my brother was pleased as he knew something I didn’t: the questioner – the Rev Phil Hurwood – was his boss.

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Alec Hurwood was a bowler from then-unfashionable Queensland who sent down offbreaks and offcutters at a brisk pace from a very short run – only about four or five paces. Oddly, he probably owed his place on that Ashes tour to a bowling performance during a batting world record. On the first morning of the Sheffield Shield match in Sydney in January 1930, Hurwood dismissed Don Bradman for 3, and troubled him in the second innings too, rattling the stumps when he had 80 – but the bails stayed on, and Bradman stayed in. And in. He rolled on to 452 not out, the highest first-class score at the time. New South Wales piled up 761 for 8 – but Hurwood took six of those wickets, for 179. The Sydney Morning Herald admired his persistence: “His outswing, with the threatened offbreak which came through straight, or occasionally went a little bit away, was always disconcerting. He was able to make the ball rise sharply.” Their correspondent concluded sniffily that “the other bowlers were futile”.

“That a bowler able to spin the ball as he could should not have had more opportunities certainly caused a good deal of surprise. Although never scored off with any approach to freedom, he was rarely kept on for any reasonable spell” on Hurwood

Queensland fell a bit short of the 770 they needed for victory – all out for 84 – but the Cairns Times looked on the bright side: “Hurwood must be considered by the Australian selectors.” And he was duly called up for the Ashes tour that followed, although he didn’t have much luck in England, and failed to make the Test side. In 20 other first-class games on tour he took just 28 wickets, although Wisden did express surprise that he wasn’t used more: “Of Hurwood curiously enough not much was seen. That a bowler able to spin the ball as he could should not have had more opportunities certainly caused a good deal of surprise. Although never scored off with any approach to freedom, he was rarely kept on for any reasonable spell.”Bradman blamed three-day matches for this (in Australia at the time, Shield games were played to a finish). “On an English tour the speed with which a bowler captures wickets is terribly important,” he wrote. “Alec Hurwood’s lack of success in 1930 could be directly traced to such a consideration: he bowled excellently, but [captain Bill] Woodfull could not afford to keep him on. It would have meant more time in the field.”Back at home, Hurwood did get a Test cap when West Indies made their first full tour in 1930-31. He took seven wickets in the first Test, at home in Brisbane, and 4 for 22 in the concluding innings of the second match in Sydney, including the great George Headley for 2 as the Windies folded for 90. But that was that. Hurwood had trouble persuading his employers, General Motors, to give him more time off, and played no more that season. He ended his Test career with 11 wickets at 15.45: only Tom Kendall (14 in the first two Tests of all in 1877) and the offspinner Jason Krejza (13 in 2008) have taken more wickets in a two-Test career for Australia.The 1930 Australian Ashes tourists: Hurwood (back row, second from left); Bradman (front row, first)•PA PhotosEarly in 1932, Hurwood moved south. “I am sorry to be leaving Queensland,” he said, “but I have to earn my living, and that seems to be in Sydney.” It was a time of Depression, and cricket took a back seat: he never played first-class cricket again.

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Hurwood didn’t actually go to Sydney: he ended up down in Melbourne. Says Phil’s brother Ross: “I know he lived the life of the distinguished bachelor living in the Chevron Hotel – in St Kilda Road I think – playing golf regularly, and I would think grade cricket. He took me to a practice ground once, saying it was where the grade team practised.”And sister Jan, the eldest, recalls: “When he enlisted in the army during WW2 he played in the Middle East with an Australian Army side under Lindsay Hassett. By the end of the war he would have been 43 so didn’t play much after that I guess… I remember he and Mum talking about Hassett as a good friend. They also told me that Alec Bedser came to visit us at home when I was a baby – would have been the 1946-47 series after the war. I have a MCC touring team Christmas card signed ‘Eric and Alec’.”There’s some more treasured memorabilia shared between the three Hurwood siblings: Jan also has a battered baggy green cap. But among Phil’s most prized possessions is a framed letter from Bradman to his father, from January 1934. In it the Don sympathises with the choice Hurwood had been forced to make: “It must have been a break for you at first to give up cricket but you have adopted the best course without any doubt. Despite the position I hold in the cricket world I would give up cricket tomorrow if it stood between me and a business career. Cricket means absolutely nothing but honour and glory which is only hollow. At present I am more or less at the crossroads and may have to leave Sydney to find a position which carries some sort of promise of a career with it because my cricket lifetime will end in a very few years. Quite a shame you won’t be on the next tour Alec – we’ll miss you but actually you may be better off.”Bradman did soon move, taking up a position as a stockbroker in Adelaide – although his storied cricket career carried on until 1948. The tour to which he was referring was the 1934 trip to England, in which Australia recovered the Ashes lost during the acrimonious Bodyline series.

“As I think the correspondence with Bradman suggests, Dad was of the view that cricket was just a sport, not the be-all and end-all”Phil Hurwood

Phil Hurwood remembers: “My father didn’t marry till the end of the war – 1945 – so by the time we came along he was not actively involved with cricket, though people remembered him. He didn’t talk much about it. He certainly held Bradman in high esteem, but was not a fan of Woodfull, perhaps relating to his lack of opportunity on that 1930 tour. He basically lived in Melbourne, where we were all born, before retiring back to Queensland in 1973.”I know he was really upset when Trevor Chappell bowled that underarm ball against New Zealand at the MCG back in 1981. My mum said he couldn’t eat his tea that night. As I think the correspondence with Bradman suggests, he was of the view that cricket was just a sport, not the be-all and end-all.”And finally, did the cricket gene make it to the sons? “I’m not sure it rubbed off all that much,” smiles Phil. “I played when I was growing up and to my early twenties, never at a high level, then study and work took priority, though I have always enjoyed ball sports and followed cricket a lot, especially when younger. I still have a pile of old ABC cricket books stashed away. He never drilled us or even coached us very much that I can remember. My brother headed to the outback when he was 17, so he didn’t play a lot.”There’s one more intriguing piece of memorabilia. Jan says: “The most interesting, I think, is a personal diary that Dad kept during the 1930 tour. It’s really very comprehensive and maybe I’ll transcribe it some day! Some days he writes a lot more, other days less, but seems to have written something every day of the tour.”An example entry is: ‘Friday August 1st, 1930. Played golf at Burnham Links – very hard seaside course – Ben Travers our host. Left for Swansea at 6. Arrived 10.15. Looks like raining for a week. Wish we could get a spell of fine warm days and hard wickets. Oldfield and Woodfull not playing in this game – have gone to London. Oldfield is neurotic and has to be humoured. Bradman getting a little reserved. He is wonderful the way he looks after himself.'”

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Bradman’s first Ashes tour in 1930 is very well documented, but the Hurwood Diaries still sound like compelling reading. All this from a chance meeting, which provided some great insight on Australian cricket in the 1930s. And some pretty good fish and chips too. I’m very glad I managed to get that first question right.

26-May-2015The Zimbabwe bowlers couldn’t find the breakthrough though and with time in the middle…•AFP…Azhar stepped on the gas soon enough•AFPHafeez too found his rhythm. Both openers cruised to fifties and together they put on 170 for the first wicket•AFPShoaib Malik and Haris Sohail then raised 201 runs for the third wicket. Malik cruised to 112 off 76 balls as Pakistan amassed 375 for 3, their highest total at home•AFPThe Zimbabwe openers put on 56 runs but Sikandar Raza fell in the 10th over, after making 36 off 31•AFPAfter Vusi Sibanda’s fall, Hamilton Masakadza and Elton Chigumbura steadied the chase with a 124-run stand for the third wicket•AFPMasakadza made a run-a-ball 73 that included four fours and two sixes before holing out to Hammad Azam in the 33rd over, leaving Zimbabwe on 189 for 3•AFPCaptain Chigumbura struck some massive sixes during his maiden ODI ton. But he was undone by a Wahab Riaz yorker after making a 95-ball 117•AFPThough Zimbabwe batted for 50 overs they were left with too much to chase and slipped to a 41-run loss•AFP

Both South Africa and New Zealand are hoping to discover the strength of their bench during this three-match ODI series, starting on Wednesday

Firdose Moonda18-Aug-2015A style of play, rather than the styles of individual players, could become the defining feature of cricket in an increasingly full schedule and the upcoming ODIs between South Africa and New Zealand could be a case study. Both teams are missing senior members but do not envisage that will change their overall strategy in the series.”Around the world you are seeing guys either rested or injured or what have you. I think every team is looking to expand their squad,” Hashim Amla said. “These type of things are really healthy, especially building up to the Champions Trophy in two years’ time and the World Cup in four years’ time. There’s probably no better time to have a look at your depth than now.”Experimenting with several players who are not part of the regular squad can change the composition of a team but, with “brands,” of cricket becoming the new buzzword, it should not change the way they play.South Africa, for example, could be without both Faf du Plessis, who is nursing an injury, and JP Duminy, who is on paternity leave, in this series. This robs the middle order of two of its most resolute players. In their places would come Rilee Rossouw and Farhaan Behardien, neither of whom have shown the patience or maturity du Plessis and Duminy are known for. That isn’t entirely their fault because Rossouw and Behardien are far less experienced at international level than the men they are replacing. That will change with time. In the interim, they can work towards it with the knowledge that the rest of the line-up will provide the aggression they may feel obliged to display.”The brand of ODI cricket we play is a mixture of attacking with an element of measure,” Amla explained. “We can attack, but when the need is to be a bit more circumspect – to build the game up to an attacking position – we have the ability to do that.” Solid starts, steady middle periods and flourishes towards the end are what South Africa are after.Contrastingly, New Zealand like to start quickly and have been able to thanks to Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill. McCullum has been given time off for this series so Tom Latham will open the batting and has already indicated he will emulate McCullum by “playing with that aggressive nature.”McCullum actually has to be replaced in two places, because he is also the captain, but Latham said the transition of the stand-in skipper, Kane Williamson has been smooth. “He has done a fantastic job. He has got a great head on his shoulders and he thinks a lot about the games. He has taken a little of Brendon’s captaincy and he has his own twist on it,” Latham said. “We are playing the same brand of cricket that we have been over the last couple of years so there hasn’t been too much change and not making too many changes has helped a lot.”Keeping the same style of play and seeing which players best fit into it is actually how teams are developing depth and New Zealand hope it will create a steady stream of cricketers ready to step up to international level. “If we can do well here then its good for New Zealand cricket in terms of depth and then if players get injured or retire, then people are waiting to come in and fill their shoes,” Latham said.South Africa are still grappling with having not adequately done that especially when it comes to the allrounder. A replacement was never found for Jacques Kallis – a top-order two-in-one – while they rotated between lower-order options including Ryan McLaren, Wayne Parnell and Chris Morris. Now, David Wiese has been given the chance to make the role his own.”That’s something that this ODI team has always been searching for – somebody at No. 7 who can bowl seamers and also contribute with the bat,” Amla said. “David Wiese has been an outstanding bowler in the T20s, and it’s a great opportunity for him to put his name into the hat as a long-term solution for our No. 7.”And if he isn’t, Amla is not too concerned yet, with the next fifty-over tournament still far enough away for South Africa to keep searching for players to fit into their style of play.”Most teams, post World Cup, are finding more variety in their teams to find the right team for the Champions Trophy and the next World Cup. That’s a healthy thing. As you build towards a World Cup you always see a more settled team, and the further you get away you the more variety you will see,” he said.

Scyld Berry does just that in his new book, delving into the game’s history, as well as musing on the topics of language, race, numbers, and more besides

David Hopps19-Sep-2015For the past 40 years or more Scyld Berry has been one of cricket’s most erudite and distinguished writers. Whether as a cricket correspondent of the or as an editor of , he has reflected on the game with depth and originality.His multifarious musings have been brought together in , which is essentially a consolidation of the historical research, reveries and suppositions that have sustained him over a lifetime. Berry believes that cricket is worthy of serious contemplation on many levels – it has brought structure to his life since childhood – and all those who ponder widely upon the game’s qualities will find many elevating thoughts to detain them.The cornerstone of his wide-ranging work is a study of the game’s early development. Taking what he terms cricket’s hot spots, Berry analyses why the game evolved, concentrating on England, India, Australia and the West Indies. In England, he presents the Duke of Wellington as a critical supporter of the game at a crucial juncture in its history. In India, it is the relationship between the British and the Parsi community that strengthens the bonds of Empire and ensures that cricket eventually flourishes.There are some engrossing studies, beginning with the domination of Lascelles Hall in the Yorkshire Pennines – cricket’s first hot spot, says Berry – the strongest team in England in the 1860s, all occasioned by the fact that most inhabitants of this unassuming village were hand weavers, and their ground was at the top of a steep hill, so sharpening agility, hand-eye co-ordination and general fitness levels. Berry goes to the ground and bowls an imaginary ball towards the sheep on the moor. Regrettably, he does not test his theory on the present-day locals.

Original thinking has always been one of Berry’s most singular qualities. Perhaps only he would discuss whether the Babylonian numeral system would make cricket a lesser game because the nervous nineties would no longer exist

But in Berry’s hands, this fulfilling study is much more than a rural idyll. England’s historic hot spots are cause, if not quite for savage indictment, certainly for regret. “Very few of the 584 Test cricketers born in England and Wales have reached the top without the help of at least one of these four stepladders,” he writes: “1, A fee-paying school; 2, A close relative who has played either Test or first-class cricket, or will do so; 3, Professional football, with the benefits entailed; 4, Being born in Yorkshire or Lancashire where even small communities have a cricket ground. The majority of the male population of England and Wales does not fit into any of these categories. The waste has been enormous.”The social limitations of cricket in England – indeed in many parts of the cricketing world – are scandalous, but Berry does not express the game’s shortcomings in such hostile terms. He is no tub-thumper. He is too nuanced for one thing, and in any case this is essentially a book of celebration.He becomes most assertive when considering how the West Indies were fired to rebel against the “white man’s game”. The story of Tommy Burton, one of the first black Barbadian cricketers, is worth repeating. Burton was selected for West Indies’ first two tours of England, but he refused to carry the team luggage on the second occasion, in 1906, and was sent home for “attitude problems” and banned from cricket for life in the Caribbean.Hodder and StoughtonHis strongest burst of venom is reserved for the match-fixers. “The fixers have lived to fight, and deceive, another day, often in the guise of coach and commentator,” he scolds.At times he seems somewhat conflicted by, on one hand, his desire for cricket to speak to all nations, all social groups, genders and ages, and on the other hand, by his respect for its qualities and its history and the milieu he has so valued. Cricket has given him, like so many, a sense of belonging. He writes revealingly about its comforts in the face of the early loss of his mother (who first took him to watch Yorkshire at Bramall Lane), boarding school life at Ampleforth College, and a traditionally distant academic father.Original thinking has always been one of Berry’s most singular qualities. Perhaps only he would entertain the idea of a chapter on numbers and introduce it with the thought that in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea the villagers only know to count in terms of “one, two, three, plenty”, so any attempt to keep an accurate scorebook is therefore impossible. Or to wonder at length why the hat-trick is celebrated more than four wickets in four balls, or to discuss whether the Babylonian numeral system – which works in 60s and is still used for telling the time – would make cricket a lesser game because the nervous nineties would no longer exist.He ruminates, too, on the language of the game, concluding that it has always been tipped in favour of batsmen rather than bowlers, a view predicated on the fact that batting initially was a very hazardous business. “From the beginning, therefore, the language of cricket sympathised with the batsman as the underdog,” Berry concludes, Batsmen are given desirable qualities; bowlers can be close to the devil.It will be a reader with a keen historical bent who shares Berry’s detailed interest in the Kent v England match of 1744, the first game for which a match report survives, and which Berry pores over for a whole chapter. Equal weight is attached to a match between the Parsis and GF Vernon’s XI at the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay in 1890. The length of these sections seems at odds with the pace of the book elsewhere.Bu there is much pleasure to be found here. He concludes: “This game can bring together so many sections of society to play and watch, whether people do so for the camaraderie; or the gratification of physical sensations; or to make a statement about themselves; of their ethnic group, or their country; whether they enjoy the game’s language or literature; whether or not they are intrigued by the numbers the game generates; whether they admire the game’s ethics, or enjoy its aesthetics; whether or not they are fascinated by the game’s psychology; whether they use the game’s time frame like a Zimmer frame, as something to cling to in the face of eternity. This sport can support us all. Cricket is the game of life.”There is much to celebrate. On that, many of us will heartily concur.Cricket: The Game of Life
by Scyld Berry
Hodder & Stoughton
432 pages, £25 (hardback)

After a difficult week in which his very place in the team was being questioned, he answered back with an innings of hope, skill and defiance

Alagappan Muthu in Indore14-Oct-20153:14

‘If I can’t take pressure, no one can’ – Dhoni

Indore was in pandemonium. At least a kilometer around the Holkar stadium was cordoned off. The four-way junction at Janjeerwala Square – the final turn before reaching the media persons’entrance – was teeming with people, not traffic. India were playing here after four years, and every bird in the know has been tweeting about a possible run-fest. Finally, the curtain lifted, but India were in pandemonium. At the centre, however and absolutely unaffected, was MS Dhoni. Hopeful. Skilful. Defiant. Tall.”A lot of people wait with open swords and want you to make mistakes,” he said at the presentation ceremony. That number would have grown and their restraint would have waned quickly with India at 124 for 6 and 20 overs left to play. Dhoni is the India captain, and India has a demanding press corps. He has to answer for everything – his poor form, the team’s poor form, death-bowling complaints, and possibly even why the chicken crossed the road. Clearly a lot to handle, and he was frank about it in the post-match press conference.”Even when you score hundreds, the expectation level keeps going up,” Dhoni said. “So we only move one way. The expectation level keeps going up and it definitely puts a lot of pressure on the individual. You can’t really get away from it. I played a lot of international cricket, a lot of different opposition, but I have never played a game where we were not under pressure.”Even if we are playing teams ranked below us, then also we are under pressure. And if we have not done well the media put a lot of pressure on us.”The scrutiny has gotten far more profound in the last few years, and peaked during this series with questions raised over his place in the side, let alone his captaincy. That he could not win a last-over showdown with a 20-year old novice – Kagiso Rabada is clearly talented but he has played only a handful of international games – in Kanpur sharpened the spotlight. Indore could have been the scene of a meltdown. Almost half the innings to play and only Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 11 for company.But Dhoni was hopeful. He couldn’t not be. From 18 off 20 balls in the 31st over, he dabbed and dinked and sliced and glanced to get some runs on the board amid the chaos. Some kind of a launchpad. Then he needed to light the fuse himself because India had no one else. Nine, 10 and Jack can not belt the ball around against Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Rabada.Now for Dhoni’s skill. It seemed like he was barely on strike from the time he got to the crease till the end overs. But then on, Dhoni was everywhere. He would deny singles, hurtle up and down for twos, and pull the leather off the ball for boundaries. South Africa did not get any shot at the tailender. He usually calls finishing a gamble, and this time he did everything in his power to make sure it paid off. Dhoni had come in during the 19th over, and faced only 35 balls by the 35th. So out of the 90 that were left, he took strike for 51 and finished with 92* off 86 balls. The rest made 142 off 215.

Dhoni is the India captain, and India has a demanding press corps. He has to answer for everything – his poor form, the team’s poor form, death-bowling complaints, and possibly even why the chicken crossed the road

Defiance. Of his limitations. Dhoni’s big-hitting ability has decreased. A younger Dhoni used to say he did not need too many balls before putting one into the crowd. At 34-years old, he can not quite deliver on that. Besides, no player at the top of his game would commit to retirement, but Dhoni had mentioned he might have to take a call after the 2016 World T20. That is only five months away. And he is an honest man. He would not express a desire to bat higher on a whim. He must have felt his value to the team would be greater at No. 4 because he would get in early and with time, gain access to his full range of shots. Here, he had the time, and he spent it carefully. No big shots until absolutely necessary. Only two boundaries – both on the leg side when the bowler erred – until the 40th over, and then six fours and three sixes.Let us not forget his defiance of a very fine captain in charge of a very fine team either. “We tried everything in the book to break that partnership,” AB de Villiers said “And I thought we did pretty well to get down to No. 9 and 10 there, but unfortunately he managed it very well and rotated the strike really well and paced his innings really well.”Dhoni was tall. Very tall, especially in his team-mates’ eyes. Every one of them was willing their captain on as he neared a century. It did not matter that the score was far lesser than what they had hoped. They wanted to celebrate Dhoni for taking it all on himself. To show Dhoni the world might criticise him, but they were firmly in his corner. He could not get to triple-figures, but “It doesn’t really matter if I get a hundred or not,” he said. “Definitely it will help the stats, I have more 90s than hundreds. There are not many batsmen who have that so I can proudly say I have more 90s than hundreds.”The impact Dhoni’s 92 had on his bowlers and fielders was stark. India were predatory in their defence of 247. Only 20 times since 1986 have India managed to do that at home. This one was all down to their captain, MS Dhoni.

Shadab Khan was inspired to become a legspinner by Shane Warne, but the bowler he wants to emulate is Steven Smith. He has been puzzling opposition batsmen in similar fashion throughout the World Cup

Vishal Dikshit07-Feb-2016″”Pakistan Under-19 legspinner Shadab Khan’s choice of words left journalists befuddled in Mirpur when he was asked about his bowling action. He simply meant his action was pretty unique and he had not modeled it on anyone he had grown up watching. Before you could come to terms with what he said, added that legspinner he wants to follow is Steven Smith.Shadab has been puzzling oppositions the same way in the World Cup and is Pakistan’s second most valuable player so far, after allrounder Hasan Mohsin. Shadab is the team’s highest wicket-taker with a tally of nine at an astonishing average of 9.33 and has been jolting oppositions’ middle orders after Mohsin does the early damage.Shadab likes to flight the ball. He is not exactly a product of his times in which spinners often rely on mystery balls, flat trajectories and focus more on limiting the runs in one-dayers, instead of taking wickets. Shadab likes to take wickets and it is a reflection of who he grew up watching.”I used to keep watching Shane Warne take wickets on TV,” Shadab said. “So when I started cricket I decided to become a legspinner.”In his run-up, Shadab comes in from wide of the crease and suddenly gets close to the wickets, just like Warne, to either bowl a tight line and length or get some drift before the ball turns. It has worked very well on turning pitches in Bangladesh as he has picked wickets in every match so far.Against Afghanistan, he picked up four wickets for only nine runs in five overs, against Canada he finished with 2 for 44 from 10 overs and against Sri Lanka he sealed Pakistan’s victory by finishing with 3 for 31 in 8.4 overs. Most of his dismissals have been caught and he stumped one batsman in each of the three matches.One of the biggest surprises about Shadab is he did not have a proper coach during his childhood. He was born in Mianwali, a city in north Pakistan that has produced the likes of Imran Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. But Shadab hardly played any cricket there. He started taking the sport seriously after he moved to Rawalpindi at the age of 12 and then represented his school team. Since then, he has climbed one ladder after another and when at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, he got tips from Abdul Qadir and Mushtaq Ahmed.” (I am my own coach),” Shadab says with a laugh. “When I started cricket I did not know much, but then slowly I gained experience, came to NCA. They (Qadir and Ahmed) used to tell that as a legspinner it is important to give flight if you want wickets.”Shadab made his youth Test and ODI debuts last October against Sri Lanka and returned with 7 for 146 in his first outing. He picked wickets regularly in the one-dayers too and was Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in a tri-series involving Australia and New Zealand in Dubai in January.”I did well in whatever chance I got,” Shadab said. “It’s just that I was not getting many breaks there. The focus was just to bowl in right line and length and the batsmen will give their wickets.”So far, he has been helped in some way by the pitches in Sylhet and Mirpur but for the quarter-final against West Indies on Monday, he might have to use his wrist more to extract turn on the flat Fatullah pitch. If he can do that successfully, he might even become the highest wicket-taker of the series. He is currently joint third even though the two above him – pacers Saqib Mahmood and Rory Anders – have played more matches than him.

Vidarbha batsman Faiz Fazal was gearing up for training in chilly Hetton-le-Hole when he received the warm news of his maiden call-up to the India squad, for the Zimbabwe tour

Shashank Kishore23-May-2016Faiz Fazal, the Vidarbha batsman, was packing his bags for training on a cold and wet Monday morning in Hetton-le-Hole, a small town in the north east of England, when he received a call from his father in Nagpur, informing him of his selection in India’s limited-overs squad for the Zimbabwe tour in June. Fazal, who was not part of the IPL auction in February, has spent more than a month in England, where he has scored two centuries in four matches for Hetton Lyons Cricket Club in the Premier Division of the North East Premier League in Durham.”This is a massive surprise for me,” Fazal told ESPNcricinfo. “For two years before this, I kept looking up to see if I was picked every time a squad was announced. But I was disappointed each time. I’ve tried to consciously steer away from thoughts about selection, so to receive this news early morning from India is a big surprise, but I’m happy. It’s funny how when you stop expecting something you have always chased, things start to happen.”Fazal said that the prospect of wearing the India cap was yet to sink in, but the disappointment of having missed the Under-19 World Cup in 2004 in Bangladesh because of an injury was still fresh. Fazal was withdrawn from the squad, days before the team’s departure, and was replaced by Shikhar Dhawan. Incidentally, Fazal is likely to open in place of Dhawan in Zimbabwe.”It’s a huge thrill, no doubt,” he said. “Apart from playing a few games against MS Dhoni, I haven’t really had a chance to interact with him. That’s something I’m looking forward to. At 30, you don’t really know if the chance has bypassed you or not, but I had the belief. That has kept me going. So this is a sweet moment, and I’ll cherish every minute of the experience.”With over 5000 runs in 79 first-class matches in over a decade, Fazal has been Vidarbha’s batting mainstay. While his numbers in the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy season – 559 runs in 15 innings at 39.92 were underwhelming, his century in the Irani Cup helped Rest of India pull off a historic chase against Mumbai in March. Prior to the Irani Cup, Fazal had also made a match-winning century for India A in the Deodhar Trophy final.”That Irani knock gave me immense satisfaction,” Fazal recalled. “I think that turned it around for me, probably. We needed 380 with nine wickets in hand on the final day. But at no stage did we think of playing for a draw. Obviously if you do well against the Ranji Trophy champions, you will get noticed, so the plan was for me to bat through, which I nearly did. So that knock was a big confidence booster for me. In terms of batting and adjusting to short-format cricket immediately after the Ranji Trophy, I thought I did quite well in the Deodhar Trophy too.”Fazal is tall, upright and a classical left-handed opening batsman, who relies on timing instead of power. It’s a method, which has brought him considerable success over the years, and he doesn’t want to trade it for anything. “There’s no substitute for the work you put in at the first-class level. I grew up watching greats of the game scoring big runs there,” Fazal said. “Flashy knocks may give you the thrill, but ultimately I wanted to score big runs. That was ingrained into me. Getting a chance to work with a few like Wasim Jaffer (professional) and S Badrinath (captain) at Vidarbha was an amazing experience. Watching them go through their batting drills, talking to them about the game, the rigours of living up to the demands season after season is something I’m fortunate to have got.”With temperatures touching 45 degrees in Nagpur, Fazal decided to play in England. He stepped out of his comfort zone and improved his game. “Playing on seaming wickets is a learning experience,” he said. “Getting 100s here gives you a different kind of thrill, because it is cold, the ball moves all day, and you can’t really switch off while batting at any time. I’ve spent a lot of time in the nets trying to play late, working on my trigger movements. I hope it will pay off. Hopefully I can get in a couple of more games before joining the Indian team.”This wasn’t Fazal’s first stint in England, though. He had played in the Yorkshire League as a 21-year old in 2007. Fazal then spent the next four summers with Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, before he was left out in 2012.”That was an eye-opener,” he said. “To be left out of a team like the Royals was tough, but I kept expecting to be picked in the IPL, and missed out on opportunities to play competitive cricket between March and September. This year, I thought irrespective of whether I am picked or not, I will apply and seek clearance to play in England, and so far it has been a wonderful experience. I hope this experience will benefit me a great deal in Zimbabwe.”

Stats highlights from the final day in St Lucia where India clinched a series victory over West Indies

Bharath Seervi13-Aug-2016237 Margin of victory for India in this Test – their third-largest win, in terms of runs, outside Asia. They had won by 279 runs at Headingley in 1986 and 272 runs in Auckland in 1967-68. The win by an innings & 92 runs in the first Test was India’s biggest innings-win outside Asia.1986 Last time India won two Tests in a series outside Asia excluding Zimbabwe. Before two wins in this series, they had won two matches of the three-match series in England. Including Zimbabwe, this is only the fifth time India have won two or more Tests in a series outside Asia.15.75 Average of India’s fast bowlers in this Test – their best in a Test in West Indies. The fast bowlers took 12 wickets in this Test.0 India captains who won two Tests in West Indies, before Virat Kohli. Bishen Bedi, Ajit Wadekar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and MS Dhoni won one Test each as captain in West Indies.6 Times five India bowlers took at least one wicket each in the fourth-innings of a Test. India have won five of those Tests and the last such instance was also against West Indies in Kingston in 2011.6 Man of the Match awards for Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests – most by any India player since his debut in November 2011. During that stretch, only Rangana Herath has won more Man of the Match awards than Ashwin, with seven. Stuart Broad, Joe Root, Steven Smith and Ross Taylor are all level with Ashwin on six awards since November 2011, though Ashwin has done it in the fewest Tests, 35.1 Lower totals for West Indies against India in Tests than the fourth-innings 108 in St Lucia. They were all out for 103 at Sabina Park in 2006.1999 Last time West Indies were all out for a lesser total than 103 in the fourth innings of a Test. They were all out for 51 against Australia in Port of Spain in 1998-99. The 108 in St Lucia is their fifth-lowest fourth-iinnings total in Tests.67 Runs added by West Indies’ in this Test by the final six partnerships in each innings – their second-lowest in home Tests batting twice. Their last six partnerships added 23 runs in the first innings and 44 runs in the second innings. Prior to this Test, their last six partnerships had never aggregated less than 100 runs across two innings against India.1997 Last time a West Indies fast bowler took a six-wicket haul in Tests against India. Before Miguel Cummins’ 6 for 48 in this Test, Franklyn Rose took 6 for 100 in Kingston in 1996-97.9 Innings without a fifty-plus score for Darren Bravo in Tests at home, before making 59 in the fourth innings of this Test. He was dismissed between 10 and 30 in seven in those innings. He averages 46.66 in the fourth innings of Tests – his best in any innings.

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Jul-2016Cook was watchful against the new ball•Getty ImagesAlex Hales, however, never quite settled …•Getty Images… and on 10, he was bowled by a beauty from Mohammad Amir•Getty ImagesAmir celebrated with gusto after prising the opening•Getty ImagesJoe Root received a warm welcome from Amir, who struck him on the shoulder•Getty Images… but Cook continued to grow in confidence•Getty Images… while Root settled in against the legspin of Yasir Shah•Getty ImagesRoot was especially strong through the off side•Getty ImagesAfter lunch, Root reached his fifty from 86 deliveries …•Getty Images… and Cook followed suit from 90•Getty ImagesYasir endured a frustrating afternoon…•AFP…as Cook and Root took their partnership beyond 150•Getty ImagesWith tea looming, Cook reached his 29th Test hundred•Getty Images… placing him level with Don Bradman in terms of hundreds scored•Getty ImagesRoot was first to congratulate his captain•AFPCook was bowled for 105 by a delivery from Amir that kept low•Getty Images…but Root soon added a hundred of his own, his tenth in Tests•Getty ImagesJames Vince, however, failed to impress before falling for 18•Getty ImagesVince has now made 130 runs at 18.57 in seven Test innings•Getty ImagesRoot continued on serenely during the evening session•Getty ImagesGary Ballance added 73 with Root before chopping on to his stumps late in the day•Getty Images

The Australian captain has had a busy first year as leader, and is coming off a draining Test series; if he doesn’t rest now, he’ll have little chance to do so later in the season

Brydon Coverdale27-Aug-2016A captain should stand up and be responsible for his team, Matthew Hayden said on Saturday. Steven Smith, in Hayden’s mind, should not have returned home from the one-day series in Sri Lanka for a rest. The captain should call the shots, not the coach or selectors or high-performance staff. Hayden calls the whole thing “absolute horseshit”. Ex-players often get on their high horse, but if Hayden’s was any higher it would be a giraffe.”Some of your best performances are always those that come when you have to bloody dig deep, and when you’re in subcontinent conditions, mate, you’re digging deep the entire time,” Hayden said on radio station Triple M. He went on to invoke the “fabric of the baggy green”. Well, that settles it, then. Just Aussie up the rhetoric, mate, mention the myth of the baggy green (even though the series in question is one-day cricket) and who can possibly argue?But here’s the thing about Matthew Hayden: he never once captained Australia, in any format. And here’s the thing about Steven Smith: he is currently Australia’s captain in every format. And if Smith was to play all of Australia’s remaining matches for 2016, he would break the all-time record for captaining Australia in the most games in a calendar year. Not only that, he would do so in his first full year as skipper.Smith has led Australia in 30 games this year across all formats, and there are 19 matches remaining. Imagine Smith played all of those games. Of all comers from all countries, only Sachin Tendulkar would have captained more internationals in a calendar year (51 in 1997) than Smith’s 49. And how did that finish up for Tendulkar? He was sacked at the end of that year.The Australian record was the 48 matches that Ricky Ponting led in in 2009. Did Ponting, in Hayden’s words, call the shots that year? In fact Ponting not only rested in 2009, he rested on separate occasions: first during the home Chappell-Hadlee Series in February, then for the whole of a limited-overs tour of the UAE, and finally during the limited-overs games in England and Scotland that followed the Ashes.In any case, by 2009 Ponting was a leadership veteran, accustomed to the day-in day-out commitments that come with captaincy: the pre-match planning, the in-game decisions, the extra media responsibilities, the constant need to focus not only on your own performance but on the team as a whole. Only international captains can truly empathise with that workload – and Hayden is not in that group.Smith this weekend marks one year in the job, and in that time Australia have played only three games he did not captain – all T20s during the home summer, before the T20 captaincy was taken away from Aaron Finch and handed to Smith. So Sunday’s third ODI in Sri Lanka will be the first time Smith the captain has had a rest. Is that so much to ask?We know from Smith’s own comments that this break had been floated before the tour of Sri Lanka even started, and that he took some convincing to agree to it. Naturally a captain never wants to desert his side. Equally, a team’s coach and selectors and management never want a captain to burn out. A bilateral one-day series is the logical time to have a break.Hayden is not the only ex-player to have criticised the move. Michael Slater – another non-captain – tweeted that he did not understand the decision, and that “the captain should be there to the end”. Perhaps a more qualified critic was Michael Clarke, an ex-captain who himself at times was rested. He tweeted that he would have liked Smith to stay until the ODI series was won, or if he had needed a break sooner, he should have gone home straight after the Tests.Maybe that’s true. Maybe the coach and selectors floated such a plan, Smith protested and staying on for a couple of ODIs was a compromise. What is certain is that after the next few weeks, there will be little chance for a rest for the remainder of the year. The final match in Sri Lanka is on September 9; the first ODI on a tour of South Africa is on September 27. Then comes the home summer.There are of course those who sneered at national selector Rod Marsh’s comments that Smith needed a rest ahead of the South Africa tour. Rest from one bilateral ODI series to prepare for another? Ridiculous, they said. But burnout is far more likely to occur at the end of a long, stressful and unsuccessful tour of the subcontinent than during a two-week trip to South Africa.Absolute horseshit? Give us a break. And give Smith one too.