The money on offer and the world stage may not be a huge deal for the IPL superstars, but for the more workaday cricketers, it can be career-transforming

Liam Brickhill29-Oct-2012The Champions League had its fair share of negative press. From the unfairly skewed guestlist to attend this cricketainment party to the utterly superfluous gaggles of gyrating cheerleaders and the dime-store razzmatazz of fireworks and dance music after every six and every wicket, it would be easy (almost too easy) to focus on the negatives.Given the rise of the Twenty20 franchise model and the sway and influence that the Champions League has in international cricket, there are legitimate worries that it’ll be about as effective in maintaining the health of the game as the League of Nations was in preventing World War II.But anyone who’s listened to a post-match interview will have learned that cricket is based upon the virtues of mustering up all the momentum one can and taking as many positives as possible even in the face of defeat. While sticking to the basics and keeping the ball in the right areas. And so it is valid to ask: What good has come of this?Cricket is a business these days, and thus to understand a tournament such as the Champions League, one has to follow the money. Sydney Sixers, who are champions among champions after their win over the Lions on Sunday, took home US$2.5 million after their win – or rather, US$2.65 million as they graciously allowed Brett Lee to play for Kolkata Knight Riders and were remunerated accordingly.The Lions picked up US$1.3 million as losing finalists, while the losing semi-finalists got $US500,000, and the teams finishing fifth to 10th got US$200,000 each. As Lions captain Alviro Petersen put it: “There’s a lot of money floating around.”Indeed, it’s not hard to imagine any one of the professional cricketers involved in the Champions League standing on a chair, channelling late 90s Cuba Gooding Jr. and screaming “show me the money!” down the telephone at their agents before the paychecks for this tournament land.Given the increasingly moneyed nature of Twenty20 cricket, the figures involved might not mean a lot to the IPL stars in attendance, located in the upper echelons of the wage brackets as they are, but to the workaday cricketers of Auckland and Gauteng they mean a great deal. “For young guys, who are in the first year of their contract, this means a lot financially,” explained Petersen. “This will help them to focus on their cricket and for a period of time not focus on financial stuff.”There is certainly a lot of potential for the prize money involved to be put to good use – particularly if the tournament expands and teams from Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are eventually included. The Champions League also allows relatively unknown cricketers a space in the global shop window. Aaron Phangiso, who was the Lions’ best bowler and the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 scalps at an average of 11.80 and an economy under a-run-a-ball, may not land himself an IPL contract but his performances will have shown up on the international franchised Twenty20 radar. For a 28-year-old domestic cricketer an offer to play in the Sri Lankan Premier League, the Big Bash or the Friends Life t20 tournament will be jumped at.Money, however, isn’t everything. Many of the players involved would never have experienced anything like this before and, to a man, they must surely dream of playing for their country one day. Facing up to some of the world’s best cricketers – even if it is only in a truncated Twenty20 match – is invaluable experience.”In general, for us to play against the top players in the world without our gun players and still compete, the guys will take a lot of confidence in that going forward,” remarked Titans captain Martin van Jaarsveld.Van Jaarsveld’s words echoed those of Perth Scorchers’ Simon Katich. “There’s a lot of guys in our squad that haven’t played a lot of international cricket, and they’re trying to press for higher honours,” Katich said. “It’s a great experience for them to come up, and for Beery [Michael Beer] to bowl at the likes of Pietersen, Sehwag and Ross Taylor and face Morne Morkel, because these guys are all very good international players.”Beer probably won’t be expecting a call from John Inverarity any time soon, but Sydney Sixers’ Mitchell Starc has been rewarded for his efforts. He was the Champions League’s leading wicket-taker, with 14, and has been included in the 12 to face South Africa in the first Test at the Gabba.Mahela Jayawardene drew similarities between football and cricket in the franchise model, going so far as to suggest that the widening of borders that comes with multinational teams and tournaments is a healthy development. “Wherever we went we had some great support,” he said. “It’s good for the game. It’s a franchised-based thing, like a football Champions League. You have your favourite teams, and the fans will come and support you, so it was great.”Where football has gone, will cricket follow? It certainly appears so, and the waters separating the growing Twenty20 hydra and the besieged bastion of Test cricket remain muddied. The Champions League need not be a cause only for alarm and despondency, however, as long as the positive effects of the tournament are paid forward into other areas of the game.

After another impressive debut, the benefits of working with Saqlain Mushtaq are clear for Sohag Gazi

Mohammad Isam in Khulna30-Nov-2012The day before the first ODI against West Indies, Sohag Gazi spent close to an hour bowling at Saqlain Mushtaq. The former Pakistan offspinner stood behind one stump, baseball mitt in one hand, on the wicket next to the one where the Bangladesh offspinner would make his ODI debut.Apart from the bowling, the only other activity during the whole exercise was when Saqlain moved the markers. It happened only a few times, to indicate what lines and length to bowl when the bowler switched to around the wicket, but there was very little exchange of words. It was clear that the plans were set and had been spelled out to the youngster, who devotedly carried them out the next day.Gazi’s 4 for 29 were the best bowling figures for a Bangladesh bowler on debut in one-day cricket, beating Rubel Hossain’s 4 for 33. The first plan was to keep bowling full to Chris Gayle because Saqlain had told him of the Jamaican’s strength off the back foot. That sounds like a ploy to keep Gazi from bowling short and the offspinner obliged. Gayle got out early, off his second delivery, and though the ball was fuller than where a conventional offbreak would land, the trajectory pulled Gayle out of his crease. Tamim Iqbal completed the dismissal with a superb catch at long-on, giving Bangladesh some breathing space.That success brought another, in the next over. Gazi was confident enough to try a similar length to Marlon Samuels, and the in-form batsman’s drive was not a committed attempt as he edged to slip that had been in place for that over. Devon Thomas holed out to long-on after a clever little move from captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Gazi completed his four-for with the crucial dismissal of Sunil Narine in the 47th over, just as the West Indies tail threatened to take the game away from Bangladesh.Apart from the wickets, Gazi’s build-up of pressure on the West Indies batsman, in his three spells, was central to Bangladesh’s dominance with the ball. It helped free up one end for Mushfiqur, who rotated his bowlers, and gave the captain enough room to manoeuvre the more experienced Abdur Razzak’s overs. It was all Saqlain and Gazi had talked about. Saqlain discussed the need to create pressure through dot balls, a different way to see the new fielding restrictions that leave five fielders inside the circle for 35 overs in the game.Gazi has so far carried out whatever he has been asked to do. He should have been flustered when Gayle banged him for two sixes in his first over of international cricket – as happened in the Dhaka Test – but Mushfiqur calmed him down with the assurance of another over. He could have grown impatient when long periods of bowling drew little results in the Test but he didn’t and was rewarded.He is slowly changing from the offspinner who bowls unchanged from one end for Barisal, to a well-rounded spinner. But he has had to quickly change his nature. Now a keener personality, Gazi has opened up, which is significant for a young man from a small town as far away as Patuakhali, which is way down on the southwestern coast of the country.Three months before Gazi had gone anywhere near Gayle, he was desperately seeking some time with Saqlain, then the newly appointed spin bowling consultant of the Bangladesh team. He wanted to improve on his action, the lengths to bowl and have a clearer idea about bowling plans. He wanted to take all these back to Barisal Division to get more wickets in first-class cricket.But at that time he was hesitant to approach such a big name in spin bowling. Now that he has met, spoken and planned so many wickets with Saqlain, it is time he asks more questions and finds out a lot more about offspin than he would ever learn on his own.

At 32, Henry Davids is on the verge of fulfilling his father’s dream for him to play for South Africa

Firdose Moonda20-Dec-2012Henry Davids Snr was playing cricket for Coronation Cricket Club in the small town of Pniel, best known for its proximity to the wine estate Boschendal, when his wife went into labour. By the time news from the hospital reached the ground, it was too late.”My dad actually missed my birth because he was on the cricket field. That was probably a sign in a way,” Henry Davids tells ESPNcricinfo. An indicator that Davids would take in interest in the game? Perhaps. But an omen that he would go on to become an international cricketer? Few in his family or community would have believed that.For the 2500 people who live in Pniel, life could sometimes be small. “Everybody was very work-oriented,” Davids says. Everybody that was an adult, that was. Young children played sport at schools that were not in the same league as the establishment heavyweights, whose pupils were sometimes chosen for representative honours on reputation alone. “Sometimes at the bigger sporting schools their players would get higher honours,” he says. Still, the small-town kids played as hard as they could and enjoyed every minute of it.Rugby was the big sport in Pniel but cricket was not too far behind. Davids started playing when he was six years old. He took part in primary school and then at Stellenbosch High, where he was selected for the Under-17 provincial trials. There Davids was picked for the Country Districts team and could take sport a little more seriously.He also had someone to look up to. Henry Williams (before the match-fixing scandal of 2000) was a popular, successful member of the community and a good friend of Davids’ father. “Him and my dad used to do a bit of pigeon racing together and he used to try and guide me with my cricket. It was at that time of growing up when I was stubborn and didn’t want to listen to people because I thought I knew everything.”At some point Davids paid attention, though, and he spent a few seasons playing for the provincial team, Boland. But he never quite made it. Three years ago, when contract negotiations broke down, he decided he needed a change.”I just thought it was time for a new challenge. I had a few offers but I chose to go to the Titans because of the sporting history they have there, and I also knew a couple of the guys. I thought it would be the best place to become a better cricketer” he said. With the Titans being the most successful franchise in the current system, that was not something many would argue with. Davids left his family behind in Pniel and moved.He bubbled under in his first summer up north but got noticed the next season when a new coach took over. Matthew Maynard has been credited with the success of Faf du Plessis in first-class cricket, some of Morne Morkel’s new-found control, and now Davids’ batting. “Matthew really helped my game. I think it was because he understands me as a person. He is also very calm, which works well for me because I’m a pretty chilled person.”The most important lesson for Davids was patience, which Maynard, in his relaxed way, teaches well. “In the past, I thought my role was to go out there and to have a 150 or 200 strike rate, so that’s where inconsistency came from” he said. “Last season I decided to work with the coach to take a little bit of time instead. I know that, with the way I bat, I can catch up in the middle, so I concentrated on just hitting my areas. If I knew this five years ago, maybe my career would have been different, but I am happy with where I am at the moment.”

“My dad pushed me a lot. It was his dream for me to play for South Africa. He took me all over, to schools matches, cricket weeks and all of that. So I hope he is looking down on me”

When the season began, Davids was announced as the new Titans captain, to take over in first-class matches after the Champions League Twenty20. Maynard said he saw leadership potential in Davids and the maturity he had shown over the past summer was evidence of that. First there was a major tournament to consider, and Davids repaid Maynard’s faith in him by making himself one of the batsmen to watch.He scored 162 runs in the five matches he played, which included two half-centuries. The first came in the opener, against the Perth Scorchers, and was worth noting despite being almost overshadowed by Jacques Rudolph’s 83. Davids gave himself time to settle in before bringing out the shimmy down the pitch, the drive through the covers and the flamboyant flick.He followed up with a strong showing in the domestic one-day cup, where he ended as the third-highest run-scorer, with 450 runs at an average of 40.90, which included a massive 166 against the Knights. It was an innings of panache and power and it helped Davids leapfrog his way up the South Africa pecking order. “I made a bit of a mental change and I am more in control of my game now,” he says.By the time South Africa were due to name their new-look T20 squad, it seemed obvious Davids would be in it. Sheer weight of runs had forced him there. He got the phone call on his mobile while he was talking to his mother on the landline and she heard the news as it was told to him. “Five minutes later all my friends from home were sending me messages. My mom told the person next door and it spread like a veld fire.”It was very overwhelming and a great honour. It was also very humbling when people tell me they are proud of me and what I have achieved.”He will probably open the batting with Richard Levi for the three-match T20 series against New Zealand. At 32, Davids will be one of the older debutants but he believes the best years lie ahead and hopes to have half a decade of cricket left in him. His week with the national side so far has told him where he wants to spend most of that time. “I am not putting any pressure on myself but I really want to be involved with the national team.”That will require a strong showing in this series. Davids is hopeful the format will give him the opportunity to display his talent, especially because he thinks he has now adjusted to its requirements properly. “When T20 first started, the guys went from ball one and there were either very big scores or very low scores. Now guys have adapted very well. They have a look and then play accordingly,” he says. “It also makes it a little bit easier to give yourself a couple of balls to get your eye in.”The time has come for Davids to put that into practice and he will have one person on his mind when he does. His father passed away last year, before Davids had earned his call-up. “My mom was crying when that phone call came. She said he would have been so happy and so proud. He always pushed me because he knew what I was capable of. My dad pushed me a lot. It was his dream for me to play for South Africa. He took me all over, to schools matches, cricket weeks and all of that. So I hope he is looking down on me.”

While some of the fighting individual performances in Hobart were consolations for Sri Lanka, many in the team did not reach their full potential; they must strive for more in the two remaining Tests

Andrew Fernando in Hobart18-Dec-2012As Sri Lanka’s Nos. 10 and 11 trudged off the Bellerive square just after 6pm, their expressions conveyed no pleasure at having held off the juggernaut until the final hour, only disappointment. There will be temptation to cast Sri Lanka’s loss as a moral victory – the runt that had more scrap than expected, but that was always going to be too weak to roll with the big dog – but Sri Lanka owe themselves a more honest evaluation than that. They were outplayed consistently across all disciplines in this Test, and their talent demands better than their showing in Hobart.From a purely statistical perspective Sri Lanka may have edged out sessions on day four and five but, in truth, their only really dominant period in the match was the morning of day three, in which Tillakaratne Dilshan and Angelo Mathews made rapid runs and suffered no setbacks. There was much to admire about Sri Lanka’s grit on the final day, and the welts they will wear as they recover from the match will remind them that they were at least in a fight on a fiendish, fissured pitch. Mahela Jayawardene even described each chunk of clay amid the cracks as “plates” – and it was not hard to imagine the surface as a tectonic map. But Sri Lanka should never have fallen so far as to be clawing at their opponents so desperately on the fifth day.Before the Test Jayawardene had called on his experienced batsmen to rally, and though they were given a golden chance to conceal a blemished bowling performance through an adventurous declaration from Michael Clarke, they spurned that opportunity by clattering to 87 for 4. Dimuth Karunaratne, playing his second Test, and having received a fine ball from Ben Hilfenhaus, might be forgiven. But the other three who fell on the second evening cannot allow themselves so generous an assessment.Kumar Sangakkara is contending for greatness, not only in Sri Lanka’s pantheon – where he is deservedly hailed by some as the country’s best-ever batsman – but on a global scale as well. Notoriously hard-working, the many hours he would have spent in preparation for this Test were not done justice in his second innings fifty when hopes of victory seemed remote. Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera also showed some ticker in the fourth innings, but Sri Lanka had the best of the batting conditions on days two and three, and yet did not convert that advantage into a more competitive total.

Sri Lanka have escaped the least likely venue of the tour to have suited their strengths with a bruised but unbroken spirit. They cannot, however, allow such small successes to overshadow the opportunities missed.

“We were a little loose with the bat in the first innings and we need to tighten things up a bit more,” Jayawardene said after the match. “In the first innings we need to consolidate a bit better. When you put runs on the board in the first innings of the Test, that’s where you take control of a match.”Sri Lanka’s fielding was also lacklustre during the Test. For years they have prided themselves on being the best fielding side in the subcontinent, but the dropped catches and misfields served mostly to further deflate a faltering bowling effort in the first innings. If they are to take 20 wickets in either of the remaining Tests, Sri Lanka’s energy in the field must make up for what they lack with the ball.There are signs the bowlers can learn to be effective however and perhaps, even more than Dilshan’s hundred, that is the most reassuring thought with which they leave Hobart. Rangana Herath’s five-wicket haul will give Sri Lanka hope that they can at least hope for penetration in the second innings and on a better pitch for spin, maybe even in the first. Chanaka Welegedara’s improved performance in the second innings also suggests that his long road back from injury is coming to an end, and he may once again be ready to don the pace spearhead’s mantle that he carried creditably in 2011.”There were glimpses of Chanaka’s form coming back,” Jayawardene said. “After eight months away, he showed a lot of improvement.”We can take positives out of the way Dilshan batted. It was a very controlled innings the way he dominated the attack. Angelo batted really well in a tough situation as well when we were four down. Even in the second innings, even though we knew the pitch was going to be tough, everyone buckled down and batted really well. We were getting a few blows on the body, but everyone stuck to their task. Very proud of the way the boys fought.”These are consolations; perhaps, considering the supposed chasm in quality between the teams, Sri Lanka deserve to linger on happy notes as well. They may be facing a series deficit, but at least Sri Lanka have escaped the least likely venue of the tour to have suited their strengths with a bruised but unbroken spirit.They cannot, however, allow such small successes to overshadow the opportunities missed. There are plenty in the visiting side who know they did not realise their potential in Hobart, and they will hope to turn disappointment into desperation in the matches to come.

Naeem Islam is a transformed batsman from what he was three years ago, and the changes he has made seem to be paying off richly

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur15-Nov-2012Naeem Islam has completed the shift from being a bit-and-pieces allrounder to a top-order batsman with a maiden Test hundred against West Indies on the third day in Mirpur. He is now only the second Bangladesh batsman after Aminul Islam to score a hundred at No. 4, a position which couldn’t be filled adequately by 16 different batsmen.Naeem’s innings was a revamped version of his batting, and the revamping process had begun two seasons ago; he has grabbed every opportunity since to make the transformation successful. The result of all that work was the gritty 108 off 255 balls, which kept him at the crease for nearly six hours. A clip to the fine-leg boundary in the 88th over took him to the three-figure mark, and was followed by a shout, a fist pump, some tears, a hug and an instantly flashed smile towards the dressing-room.”I got a little emotional there,” Naeem told ESPNcricinfo. “It was an innings that took some time coming. Over the last year I have worked hard on my batting, corrected a few shots. I spent a lot of time in the nets and, of course, the matches for Bangladesh A, in the Dhaka Premier League [the club one-day tournament] and the National Criket League [the domestic first-class competition] helped me become a better batsman.”Naeem broke through into the first-class scene in 2004, after winning the Plate trophy in the Under-19 World Cup that same year. Over the next four seasons, he made 2,178 runs at an average of almost 37 for Rajshahi, including four centuries. The runs earned him a place in the Bangladesh side, lower down the order, and three years ago to the day he was an altogether different batsman. On November 13, 2009, he struck six sixes in an over during a domestic league match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium (which was a first time by a Bangladesh player at any level). That came a week after he blitzed Zimbabwe in a one-wicket win. These knocks defined him as a lower-order hitter and the limited opportunities he got jeopardised his place in national side. Soon he was cast aside for long periods, particularly in Test cricket where he never batted above No. 7.Now, in his first innings at this new position, Naeem calmly saw out the second evening without any more damage after Tamim Iqbal’s dismissal. On the third morning, Naeem’s plan was to control the innings, and while he went about executing that plan, he added some much-needed solidity to Bangladesh’s first innings. His partnership with Shakib grew into a Bangladesh record for the fourth-wicket, and when he added 76 runs for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim, the pair took the team past the dreaded follow-on mark.

“I try to follow a certain game plan: select only a few shots and try to execute those properly. I always try to play strokes to the deliveries in my zone and avoid anything otherwise.”Naeem Islam on his batting

“I kept telling myself not to play any silly shots,” Naeem said. “This is what I have done for the last two years – keep telling myself to be disciplined at the crease. It has certainly helped me bat long.”I try to follow a certain game plan: select only a few shots and try to execute those properly. I always try to play strokes to the deliveries in my zone and avoid anything otherwise.”He revealed how chief selector Akram Khan had sounded him out two months ago for a possible call-up, at this position, for the West Indies Tests. “When we were playing against the West Indies High Performance team, Akram told me to bat at No. 4 in the NCL. At that point of time I felt that if I could perform in the NCL, I would have a chance in the senior team. I prepared well, scoring two hundreds, so I think I made my case stronger.”Having made a mark on the big stage, Naeem is not looking too far ahead: “The first match of a series is always important. I have started well, so I want to build on this. It actually becomes a lot easier to execute your plans after you have had some success.”If Naeem can repeat this performance for Bangladesh, it will go a long way in helping them take advantage of Tamim’s early shows of aggression and allowing the likes of Shakib and Mushfiqur express themselves. And his story could well be one to follow for players who are reluctant to make adjustments even during the course of a single innings.

After the joy of securing the first ODI, England were brought back down earth with a bump and given a harsh reminder of the challenges in India

George Dobell15-Jan-2013Like fog and drizzle and queues and football hooliganism, England’s performance in the second match of this series provided a startling reminder of the bad old days of English cricket.All the familiar failings were there: a collapse against spin; 14 unused overs; a bowling display that leaked 108 runs from the final 10 overs and some timid batting that saw 19 runs scored in 10 overs in mid-innings. Had a miners’ strike broken out in the Powerplay it would have been perfectly fitting. No doubt the rubbish in the England dressing room is yet to be collected.But, on the basis that sides really do learn more in defeat than victory and England are looking to build towards future events, then they may reflect on this match as a valuable experience. While it is too early to reach conclusions over the ODI future of many of these players – we are not even halfway through this series, after all – it is becoming clearer who might, and who might not, be of use to England in the Champions Trophy and beyond.Fitness permitting, England’s attack for the Champions Trophy will contain James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann and Steven Finn in a first choice team. So this series can be used, in part at least, to decide on the identity of the fifth member of the attack.The answers, to date, may prove a little inconvenient. In both the Champions Trophy, in the UK, and the World Cup, in Australia and New Zealand, a fourth seamer may be of more use than a second spinner. And, if England are to play two spinners, they would surely prefer the second to be a left-armer to offer variety to Swann’s offspin.However, in this series at least, England’s most reliable bowler has been the offspinner James Tredwell. His 20 overs have cost only 4.60 apiece and he has demonstrated a calm temperament and level of controlled skill that should translate well to any surface or situation.Samit Patel might prove even more attractive for England. After enjoying an excellent game with the bat in the first ODI, he enjoyed a decent game with the ball in the second. His left-arm spin would be a concern going into a big game on a flat pitch but his all-round ability may yet balance the England side better than any other options.It is worth noting, however, that while England’s three spinners – Patel, Tredwell and Joe Root – delivered 22 overs and took one wicket at a cost of just 96 runs, India’ s bowled 18 overs and claimed 5 for 70. Such statistics are unlikely to be replicated in England or Wales.England’s seamers were less convincing. While each of them impressed at times, they were plundered horribly in the dying overs and delivered only one yorker in the entire India innings. Chris Woakes, given an opportunity in place of the injured Tim Bresnan, looked tight initially but lacked answers when India’s batsmen went on the attack. In first-class cricket his main weapon is swing but sans that, and lacking the pace to force the batsmen on to the back foot, he is going to have to learn supreme levels of control to prosper at this level. The long full tosses he delivered when searching for the yorker were a concern.Jade Dernbach conceded 20 from his final over and, like Woakes, was punished for bowling a good length in the dying overs. Until the death, however, he had shown glimpses of the talent that keeps the selectors persisting with him. His variations briefly made a one-day batsman as accomplished as MS Dhoni – and few are more accomplished in this format – appear foolish and he produced a beauty to dismiss Gautam Gambhir.Like Woakes, Bresnan and Steven Finn, though, he – and England’s bowling coach – would do well to work on a yorker than can be relied upon under pressure. If a bowler can consistently produce a yorker, their variations will prove all the more valuable. The game may have developed but it is worth recalling how few slower balls the likes of Joel Garner or Mike Procter delivered. If the yorker is good enough, the batsman will always be taking a huge risk in attacking it. It’s an area in which England must improve.Let us not worry about Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan and Finn. They have shown what they can do and they are in this side for the long haul. Those who suggested after the win in Rajkot that Jonathan Trott may prove superfluous need to think again, though. Trott is sure to bat at No. 3 in the Champions Trophy and might well have provided the calm head and steady accumulation to have kept England in the hunt. Sometimes a players’ value is more apparent in their absence.Concerns about Craig Kieswetter should be far more pressing. His innings in this game was unusually poor: having laboured over 19 deliveries for his first run, he managed 17 more from his next 19 before tamely pushing one to midwicket. Twenty-nine of his 42 deliveries had been scoreless.It is this one-dimensional element to his batting that remains so damaging. While he can, like many talented young biffers, hit a poor ball a long way, his difficulty in rotating the strike is allowing the opposition to build pressure and failing to provide a release. His keeping has improved but, after 45 ODIs, he is struggling to convince in either department. It is hard to deny that stronger options exist.It is worth keeping this result in perspective, too. Before Rajkot England had not won one of their last 13 ODIs against India in India and have now won only two of their last 20. There were bound to be days like this on this tour. Few will recall them if England go on to win the Champions Trophy in June.

Lessons to be learnt from series gone past

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Four of the six Test series played so far in the 2012-13 season have been followed by an ODI showdown between the teams involved, tagged on for the commercial and logistical hell of it, as so many ODI series are nowadays, like a bowl of porridge after a Michelin-starred meal. Bowls of porridge have their virtues. They can be tasty and nutritious. If properly prepared. And served at the right time. Which, most food-scheduling experts would agree, is at breakfast, before ‒ not after ‒ your main meal of the day.All four Test series produced decisive, almost worryingly dominant victors. West Indies won both Tests in Bangladesh, averaging 64 runs per wicket and registering their third and fourth away wins in the 46 away Tests they have played since 2003 (one of the other two victories was also in Bangladesh, whilst the other, in South Africa in 2007-08, was one of their only two away Test wins against top-eight opposition since 1996-97). England, after a disastrously sluggish Ahmedabad beginning against a misleadingly potent India, soundly beat their decreasingly competent hosts in every facet of the Test game.Australia clobbered a Sri Lankan team whose seam attack was statistically the third-least effective bunch of visiting pacemen to play a series of three of more Tests in Baggy Greenland in the last 85 years, averaging 59 against an Australian batting line-up that is by no means the third-best to play a home series in the last 85 years. South Africa eviscerated a weakened but nonetheless historically abject New Zealand, in one of the most imbalanced Test series of recent years, a cricketing equivalent of Shark v Baguette in a Who Has The Most Teeth? competition.In the ODI series that followed, the best result any of the four triumphant Test nations secured was Australia’s slightly fortuitous 2-2 draw with Sri Lanka. West Indies lost 3-2 to Bangladesh. England began their series in India well with the bat, and ended it well with the ball, but were soundly curdled in the three decisive matches in between. The Kiwis bounced back from their record-breaking Test mauling to win the ODI series, and came within one ball of scoring a 3-0 whitewash. Sri Lanka thrashed Australia in Adelaide, humiliated their batting in Brisbane, and were in position to claim a 3-1 lead when rain intervened in the Sydney game, before losing in Hobart to end with a 2-2 series draw, and compensating themselves by claiming the best collective average (24) by a visiting seam attack on an ODI tour of Australia in 17 years. And by then winning the two T20Is.We thus have the slightly peculiar situation of four teams who should be taking some long, hard baths with themselves over their performance in the Test arena, ending proceedings in triumph.So what conclusions can we draw from all this? You decide, from the following options:(a) That one-day cricket would be more exciting and relevant if it was played before Test series, as a rivalry-establishing curtain-raiser before the most important phase of the action begins. Test cricket is the Undisputable Pinnacle Of The Game As Everyone Keeps Saying, Even If That Is Not Always Obvious In The Way The World Game Is Managed, and needs and deserves to be scheduled as such.(b) That one-day cricket would be less exciting and relevant if it was played before Test series. The underdog has a better chance of victory in the shorter formats, and this is further enhanced if the overdog thinks he has done his job already, and has settled down for its afternoon snooze. Besides, one-day cricket deserves more than to be relegated to a warm-up slot when more people want to see it than the supposed headline act.(c) That it makes no difference when one-day series are played. It is a different format with different teams. As it T20. So relax. Besides, cricket is only a game. Or, to be more accurate, cricket is only three games. And we should appreciate each for its own qualities.(d) None of the above. And none of anything else. These were just one set of coincidental results.Write down your answer on a piece of paper, hide it in a hole in the ground for 50 years, then dig it up, consult with a passer-by over whether or not Test and ODI cricket still exist, and decide whether you were right, wrong, or somewhere in between.● I am still not entirely sure what all of the latest tweaks to the ODI format are, or what they mean for the game. As a cricket fan, I have to make an executive decision whether to attempt to assimilate the latest alterations into my brain, or to assume that they will soon be jettisoned, re-altered, de-altered, superseded or rotated with a squad of other new regulations to keep them all fresh and motivated, and instead devote my valuable remaining headspace to more lasting and valuable knowledge, such as when my children’s birthdays are this year, international advice on how to safely address Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels in a potential combat situation, and where in the kitchen my wife might possibly have hidden the food processor.From what little I have seen so far, the reduction to a maximum of four fielders outside the 30-yard circle will have a major impact on how the one-day game is played, but, personally, I would still like to see more regulations pre-emptively regulated into existence to prevent further staleness in the format.I have previously suggested an additional Powerplay in which the batting team’s captain controls the fielding side for five overs of mayhem. I remain befuddled that the authorities have not implemented this. TV viewing figures would go through all available roofs. I would also like the following to be implemented:‒ Two further Powerplays, in which (a) either captain can opt to revert to the regulations from a previous era of ODI cricket, and (b) the batsman can designate exactly what ball the bowler has to bowl in the first three balls of the over, but then has to tell the bowler exactly what shot he is going to play for the last three deliveries.‒ Rather than the curious use of two balls throughout the innings, each over should be bowled with a different ball selected at random from a specially adapted silo filled with hundreds of cricket balls ranging in age from brand new to 150 overs old, plus, to add a much-needed element of unpredictability, a few large tomatoes.‒ A one-run bonus for any boundary hit with what a majority of a jury of cricket commentators judge to be a “proper cricket shot”.‒ Umpires to be replaced with warlocks.I have no idea what impact these changes would have on the game, but, as a means of maintaining or provoking interest in ODI cricket, they deserve ‒ no, demand ‒ to be trialled.● Ravi Jadeja’s 40.4 overs in the series against England cost only 142 runs, giving him an economy rate of 3.49 – the lowest by an Indian bowler who has bowled more than 20 overs in an ODI series since Zaheer Khan against Sri Lanka in 2008 (3.10 per over in 47 overs), and the lowest by an Indian spinner since Harbhajan Singh against South Africa in 2005-06 (3.42 per over in 40 overs).● James Tredwell was England’s best bowler in the series, taking 11 wickets in the five matches at an average of 18.18, and with a tidy economy rate of 4.25. The Kent Konniver thus recorded the lowest average by an England spinner who has bowled in four or more innings in an ODI series or tournament, edging out Graeme Swann (18.37 v India in 2011) and Vic Marks (18.92 in 1983 World Cup). Swann also occupies fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth and 12th place on the list.Spinners have rarely been central to England’s ODI strategy, so the advent of the partially fathomable two-new-balls regulation has been celebrated with wild street parties across the nation. Swann, despite lean returns in the last year, has been comfortably England’s best one-day tweaker of the last 25 years, and needs two more wickets to become the first England spinner to take 100 in ODIs ‒ 32 tweakers and twirlers from other nations have done already passed that milestone. Tredwell’s 18.18 average might be groundbreaking by English standards, but it is not even in the top 100 ODI series or tournament averages by a spinner from anywhere else in the crickosphere (in four or more innings).

Plays of the day from the IPL game between Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pune

Abhishek Purohit17-Apr-2013Bhuvneshwar’s ripper
In every match he plays, there is at least one Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery that makes you stop and say ‘wow’. Often, it is the way batsmen are caught by surprise that magnifies the impact. In his second over, Bhuvneshwar bowled Parthiv Patel with a delivery that did not do what the batsman expected it to – swing back in. The next ball did, though. It swerved back sharply into Cameron White, with the same result. White was stuck on the crease and was in no position to keep it out.De Kock’s disappointing startQuinton de Kock was considered good enough for the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kumar Sangakkara to drop himself in favour of the 20-year old South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman. White, the stand-in captain, said Sangakkara would not have played in Chennai against Chennai Super Kings (on April 25) anyway, so effectively, de Kock had three games to get going. He started disappointingly in his first game, making 2 off 8 before holing out to Mitchell Marsh at cover.Perera’s carelessness Sunrisers held back big-hitter Thisara Perera, but they had to send him with the score at 41 for 5 in the tenth over. Perera had half the innings to himself, but his approach did not take that into account. He almost yorked himself trying to drive his first ball, went for another drive off his third and got away with a single to third man. He was out off his fourth ball, going for another big drive and edging to the keeper.Rahul’s persistenceIn the tenth over, Karan Sharma tried to turn a Rahul Sharma legbreak to the leg side, but it popped up in the air close to the crease. Rahul’s appeal for leg-before to umpire Asad Rauf went on and on. He paused, then started shouting again. He took a break once more, and would have probably resumed but Rauf was convinced. Rahul’s team-mates did not seem too interested in the appeal but, as replays showed, the ball had hit the flap of the pad in front of the stumps.

Plays of the day from the fourth day of the first Test between England and New Zealand

George Dobell at Lord's19-May-2013Milestone of the day
It may be an achievement overshadowed by the events that followed it, but Tim Southee bowled wonderfully well to become the second New Zealander to claim a ten-wicket haul in a Test at Lord’s. He sealed the haul with the wicket of Graeme Swann, wafting outside off stump, but it was the wicket of Ian Bell, drawn into driving outside off stump and edging one that nipped away, that was more typical. That wicket also made Southee the fifth New Zealander to appear on the bowling honours board at Lord’s for a five-wicket haul, following Sir Richard Hadlee (who appears three times), Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori and Chris Cairns. Nash is the only other New Zealander to complete a ten-wicket match.Catch of the day
It was a fairly regulation chance but Matt Prior, after a disappointing game by his standards, finally had something to celebrate when he accepted an edge from Peter Fulton. It was the 200th dismissal of Prior’s Test career – 13 stumpings added to his 187 catches – and made him the 14th wicketkeeper to reach the landmark. He is the fourth England keeper, following Alan Knott (269 dismissals), Alec Stewart (241) and Godfrey Evans (219) ahead of him.Wicket of the day
The word ‘unplayable’ tends to be overused in cricket. Dean Brownlie could console himself as most unfortunate, however, that he received a perfect delivery from James Anderson that bounced and left him off the pitch to take the edge of his bat. To compound Brownlie’s difficulties, the previous delivery had swung in on him prodigiously. With Anderson masking the ball so well before delivery and moving it so sharply in both directions, he really does represent a tough proposition.Injury worry of the day
Bruce Martin being unable to take the field raises obvious concerns about his availability for the Test at Leeds starting on Friday. Martin, who sustained a calf injury on day three, is the only specialist spinner in the squad. As a result, it is probable that Daniel Vettori, arriving in the UK as part of New Zealand’s limited-overs squad, will be called up to join the squad. While BJ Watling is also an injury doubt for Leeds, New Zealand are well covered for keeping options within the current Test squad, with both Brendon McCullum and Tom Latham options.Defining moment of the day
It was probably fitting that the New Zealand second innings was finished off in chaotic style. Neil Wagner pulled Anderson to long leg only to see the sub fielder, Adam Dobb, misjudge the catch. But Jonny Bairstow delivered a powerful throw back to Anderson who found Wagner and Trent Boult dithering in the middle of the wicket and comfortably completed the run out. It was the first time since 1936, when Bill Voce and Gubby Allen bowled out Australia for 58, that two England bowlers had bowled the whole way through an innings to dismiss a side on their own.Sighting of the day
There was a familiar face on the England dressing room balcony after lunch. Kevin Pietersen, currently recovering from a knee injury, arrived at the ground to see the conclusion of the game.

From truant schoolboy to junior Surrey member to member of the press corps

Steven Lynch24-Aug-2013Considering I spent a large portion of my adolescence there, it was a surprise to realise that I hadn’t actually been to The Oval for three or four years. The ground was sparkling for the final Ashes Test this year – at least until it started raining on the second morning, which spoiled things a bit.As a teenager I often thought The Oval was a better idea than school (I later discovered that if I wasn’t there, bets were taken in the staff room on whether I was at Lord’s or The Oval; unless it was Wimbledon fortnight, in which case the odds shifted).More recently I’ve been lucky enough to be closeted in the press box, which has been shunted around the ground a bit. After a long time on the fringes of the pavilion, there were spells in a Portakabin near Archbishop Tenison’s School, and a box on stilts opposite the pavilion. Now the media are housed in some splendour in the new OCS Stand, at the Vauxhall End – an area that has been transformed from the lunar landscape it was back in my schooldays.For a while, until recently, the press box was in the oddly flat-fronted Bedser Stand that sits next to the pavilion – the angles were all wrong in there, and the rake of the seat rows was too narrow: for a match in the 1999 World Cup I was allocated a seat from which I couldn’t actually see one blade of grass. Matters weren’t improved when my neighbour developed a prodigious nosebleed, possibly because of the altitude (it was on the fourth floor). And the lift was the slowest in the world. So you won’t catch me complaining about the new place.I never have liked the Bedser Stand much, though. It doesn’t seem to accommodate very many people, but my main objection is that it replaced a building which was a big part of my formative years: as a junior Surrey member, I wasn’t permitted in the pavilion on match days, but was allowed to roam free in the West Wing (no presidents in sight, only the occasional 100-year-old steward).Soon after I became a member at the age of 12, I sat in front of the pavilion, wondering if was reasonable to eat my tea-time sandwiches before the start of play (the lunch-time ones had somehow disappeared during the trip on the Northern Line tube), and was very politely ushered away by a kindly old gentleman who turned out to be Geoffrey Howard, Surrey’s urbane secretary.

I sat in front of the pavilion, wondering if was reasonable to eat my tea-time sandwiches before the start of play, and was very politely ushered away by a kindly old gentleman who turned out to be Geoffrey Howard, Surrey’s urbane secretary

By chance I saw the West Wing again the other day. I was watching a TV documentary about Basil D’Oliveira, and after his epic 158 in the 1968 Ashes Test the modest hero was interviewed outside the England dressing room, with a backdrop of what appeared to be a large shed roof. But us Surrey junior members knew better: it was the corrugated-iron roof of the pavilion’s West Wing, which protected anyone who sat at ground level from the ravages of the Kennington sun. The West Wing was, like most of the ground, a warren of interesting corridors, dead ends, oddly sited flights of stone stairs, and unbelievably antiquated toilets.Whenever rain stopped play – which was quite often – exploring the stand was the favoured option. I once found a door (no combination locks or security cameras in those days) that led to an opening under the seats themselves. The floor was encrusted with wrappings and newspapers and other rubbish, and I remember thinking even then that it wouldn’t be good if someone dropped a lighted cigarette down there.That is, of course, roughly what happened on the fateful day in 1985 at Bradford City’s Valley Parade football ground, when 56 people died in a fire that started under the main stand. Sports stadiums, including cricket ones, couldn’t carry on in the same old way after that, especially in the light of the later Taylor Report into ground safety.It wasn’t just The Oval that was ramshackle back then. Lord’s was a similar adventure playground, with swathes of corridors and inviting doors, although disappointingly, more of theirs were locked against the inquisitive schoolboy. The old Grand Stand, for example, had passageways in it that I wasn’t fully aware of even after working there for years: people in the boxes had to traipse for miles to find their lunches, in musty old rooms at the back, and in a masterpiece of 1920s design a lot of the seats – the most expensive in the house – were unsaleable, as the buttress in the middle, which housed the iconic old scoreboard, got in the way of the view, so if you were at the back you could see only half the playing area.A bird’s-eye view•AFPGoing back to The Oval pavilion, though, is an odd experience: for a start, most of the building has been jacked up by a storey or two, so the top is now level with the Bedser Stand. And the atmospheric bar behind the Long Room, which used to be presided over by a buxom woman whose opening gambit was invariably “I only do teas”, has been cut in half, but augmented by a balcony overlooking the back of the pavilion.Back in the day, we juniors were allowed in the pavilion on Sundays – I never understood this, as there were always more people than for your average Championship match – and again we made the most of it.A friend and I would turn up improbably early for a 2pm start, in order to bag a seat on the middle balcony, which comprised just one row of those canvas-backed S-shaped stacking chairs. I suspect it was actually committee-room territory, but no one (not even Mr Howard) ever chucked us out. From there you could see both dressing-room balconies, and a bit further behind was that familiar old corrugated-iron roof. When I go up there now I’m still transported back to the age of 15 or so. Unfortunately, the feeling doesn’t last!