All posts by n8rngtd.top

India were tonight. It was like it was all coming back to someone who had lost his memory in the first half of a Bollywood film. Simple things but somehow forgotten

Sidharth Monga at the MCG03-Feb-2012Finally. After 10 Tests (eight lost, two drawn), four ODIs and two T20Is. India have finally won an international on the road. It is just a Twenty20, but try telling India that. This was a win they desperately needed. You need to actually win to reassure yourself you can win. Losing can be self-perpetuating. And you start to wonder where that elusive win will come from. You start blaming luck, you start blaming pitches, you start hating the crowds, you start detesting the press, but until you finally are the second captain asked to come for the post-match interview, you find yourself in that rut.The interesting part is – it was a completely un-Indian win. It happened in the field. It was a complete transformation from – forget the Tests – the first T20 in Sydney. It was as if a magic switch had been flicked on. India were tonight. There were direct hits, there were diving saves, there were people backing throws up, there was the MS Dhoni stumping without any reverse follow-through, there were clever bowling changes, there was an impetus on getting wickets to slow runs down. It was like it was all coming back to someone who had lost his memory in the first half of a Bollywood film. Simple things but somehow forgotten.Dhoni called this the best fielding side he has played with. He said before the start of the limited-overs leg of the tour that the young fielders will bring a different energy to the team, and the turnaround finally came through the fielding. It was led by Ravindra Jadeja, a man much hated by Indian fans, always the fall guy, until he was dropped in 2010. He missed the 2011 World Cup too. He came back in England, and was one of the shining lights on the tour where India didn’t win a single game.Tonight Jadeja bowled three overs for 16 runs, but his fielding played a bigger part in his ending up as Man of the Match. Yes, it can happen in India too. George Bailey, Australia’s captain, wasn’t surprised India fielded well. He was actually surprised India didn’t field that well in the first T20. Jadeja said they were hampered by the rain a bit in Sydney, but tonight’s conditions were perfect.”Everybody badly wanted to register the first win,” Jadeja said. “In the Tests we lost 4-0, so everybody was desperate to start winning. We were all positive today, the energy was good. Everybody did well in his own department. Gautam [Gambhir] too played till the end.”Jadeja said that when he joined the team after the Tests, the dressing room didn’t look a gloomy one, as you would expect after a whitewash. He said the seven young players who flew in from India brought in a lot of energy. “Test cricket and one-day cricket are different,” he said. “All the boys who came with me were very positive. To make sure we don’t repeat what happened in the Tests. We all did well, the wicket was good, and because everybody was able to give 100% we won.”Jadeja said the win will bring a positive change. “The ODIs will be played on the same grounds,” he said, “so we know what to expect, what we need to do mentally.”India will know this win means a lot, but will also know it might end up meaning nothing if they can’t turn this little win into bigger wins. Looking back at the tour, people will look at tonight’s performance either as just a T20 win or a big turning point of what has so far been an abysmal trip. There is a long way to go to make it the latter.

Stats highlights from Pakistan’s two-run win in the Asia Cup final

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan22-Mar-2012

• Pakistan won the Asia Cup for only the second time. They had previously made finals in 1986 and 2000, both against Sri Lanka; they lost the first and won the second. It is also the closest margin of victory in terms of runs in the history of the tournament. Bangladesh, on the other hand, not only came close to winning their first major tournament but also just missed out on the rare feat of beating three major subcontinent sides in consecutive matches. This is also the fifth time that Bangladesh have failed to chase a target under 250 in ODIs in Mirpur.
• Tamim Iqbal became the first Bangladesh batsman to score four consecutive one-day half-centuries. He is also the only Bangladesh player to score four half-centuries in a single tournament. He was level on three fifty-plus scores with Shahriar Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful before the game. Shakib Al Hasan, who scored his third half-century of the tournament, narrowly missed emulating Tamim’s achievement. Shakib’s scores in the tournament were 64, 49, 56 and 68.
• Shahid Afridi, who scored a crucial 32 and picked up 1 for 28, was declared the Player of the Match. With his 29th match award, Afridi went past Saeed Anwar to become the Pakistan player with the most match awards in ODIs.
• Bangladesh, after reducing Pakistan to 206 for 9, conceded 19 runs off the last over, which helped Pakistan score 236. In their innings, the Bangladesh top-order batsmen (Nos 2, 3 and 4) scored just 44 runs between them in 120 balls and played out 84 dot-balls in the process.
• Saeed Ajmal once again bowled superbly to finish with 2 for 40 off ten overs. He was exceptional in the batting Powerplay, conceding just 15 runs in three overs. In Pakistan’s four matches in the tournament, Ajmal conceded just 62 runs in 12 overs during batting Powerplays, at an economy-rate of 5.16, while picking up two wickets. His economical bowling meant that Bangladesh managed to score only 21 runs off the five overs of the batting Powerplay.
• Mohammad Hafeez, who scored a century in Pakistan’s loss against India, was unusually subdued in the final, scoring 40 off 87 balls. Among innings of 80 balls or more since 2007, it is the slowest innings (in terms of balls faced) by a Pakistan batsman.
• The 89-run stand between Shakib and Nasir Hossain is the second-highest fourth-wicket stand in this Asia Cup, behind the 152-run stand between Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal against Sri Lanka. It is also the second-highest fourth-wicket stand for Bangladesh in the history of the Asia Cup.

An American writer gets swept up in the foaming excitement of the World Twenty20

Wright Thompson10-Oct-2012The West Indies team arrived at the hotel past midnight, to mayhem. Every cook in the Cinnamon Grand, still wearing their white toques, crowded around to watch. Fans pushed and shoved. Security guards held hands, bending but not breaking against the surge. An official led the team in, carrying the trophy won two hours before, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20. The crowd pressed closer, chest to back. The team paraded through the hotel, following its star, Chris Gayle, the most dangerous man in cricket to opposing bowlers and an establishment terrified of what money and fame are doing to its game. Behind him, the trail grew: team-mates, then television cameramen, then reporters reaching with outstretched microphones, then fans, all holding up cell phones, which made the swarm glow with the light of a hundred screens.That’s when the reggae started.It came from inside the centre of the chaos, from the players, thumping and echoing over the tall open lobby. Obviously someone carried speakers, but with a little imagination, it was easy to pretend the music was the players’ soundtrack, conjured to life by the force of their personalities. Then a heavy door shut, and the team was gone. The lobby was quiet again.

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For the last week I’ve been in Sri Lanka for the ICC World Twenty20. This trip completes a cricket trilogy for me. A year and a half ago, knowing nothing about the game, I went to India for the one-day international World Cup – the real World Cup, as it’s described over and over. A few months after that, hooked, I flew to London, to the posh and historic Lord’s Cricket Ground, for a five-day Test match. That’s when I understood cricket, about the hidden dramas and the subtlety of purpose that draws aficionados to the game. Everything about Test cricket, from the traditional whites to the break for high tea, suggests something ancient and meditative, a rebellion against a hyper-connected culture.I’d never seen a T20 match.T20 is the third and newest form of cricket, invented nine years ago specifically to capture the imagination of new, more modern fans – and the television dollars that fund all sports. A five-day Test match, or even an eight-hour ODI, doesn’t work in a medium in which an 11-minute feature is considered an eternity. A T20 match, by comparison, is the same length as an American baseball game.In T20, cricket has a concept familiar to Americans: privately owned franchises. The Indian Premier League, the IPL, has nine teams spread around the country. The best players in the world bank millions for seven weeks of work every year. Other countries are starting leagues, which means that players can make a living in cricket without the powerful national boards.If you immerse yourself in the world of cricket, you will be amazed at how many conversations around lunch and dinner tables end up returning to the future of Test matches, and the crass brutality of T20, and how a game is giving up its soul to chase a profit. When cricket fans find out I’m an American – which means that I carry no emotional attachment to Test cricket and come from a culture familiar with highly commercialised sports – they ask, with an unmistakably leading tone, which form of the game I prefer.I have always answered honestly: Test cricket.For the first week in Sri Lanka, I didn’t see what the fuss was all about. T20 didn’t seem revolutionary, or dramatically different from a one-day international. It seemed, to my amateurish eyes, a shorter version of the same game, not a completely new game altogether.Then came Friday night.

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The Australians are one of the best teams in the world, and for three hours on a sweaty Colombo night, during the second semi-final, the big guns of the West Indies hit them so often, so hard and so far that you could see the Aussies give up.It was violent and personal.The press box erupted not in gasps, or cheers, but in laughter after each massive six. A team gets six runs for hitting it over the boundary, and four for reaching the boundary on the ground or on the bounce. Most balls barely clear the line – traditionally a rope, now replaced by ads.
Gayle almost hit one in the upper deck. Then not much later, he did hit one in the upper deck. It measured 334 feet. Once, in London, he landed a ball in a school across the street from the stadium. He hits tape-measure shots. When he’s particularly excited, he does the “Gangnam Style” dance.

Gayle uses an almost three-pound bat, and when the ball is bowled, the first thing he does is blaspheme against the holy scriptures of cricket

On Friday night, most of the West Indies line-up hit long sixes. Gayle finished with a total of six. Each time a ball cleared the field, the fireworks popped off into the night, leaving low-hanging smoke. Dancing girls ran up on stages, and speakers played loud hip-hop. Strobe lights popped like paparazzi flashes and towers shot flames. In the final over alone, the West Indies hit four sixes, teeing off on the beaten Australian bowler, crushing the last few with massive turns. One was actually a baseball swing, like Ken Griffey Jr. A ball ricocheted off of a luxury suite window.”Barbarians,” a cricket writer says after.An editor from , the cricket bible, says, “Chris Gayle is the coolest man in cricket.”

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The cricket batting stroke is a carefully preserved and rigidly taught art, with a set of commandments handed down from generation to generation in the MCC Coaching Manual. Lead with your foot toward the ball, then keep your foot, elbow, shoulder and head parallel. Swing down on the ball. Clean lines and control. This is how it’s always been done. The philosophy behind the swing is to keep the ball flight low, which protects the batsman from being caught in the air, the easiest way to get out. The greats of the game used timing and a light willow bat to hit the ball through tiny spaces between fielders. Most bats weigh about two pounds, eight ounces.Gayle uses an almost three-pound bat, and when the ball is bowled, the first thing he does is blaspheme against the holy scriptures of cricket.
He plants his lead foot wide to the right, away from the ball, so he can turn and drive, giving him room to clear his hips. It is, at its essence, a baseball or a golf swing, constructed to generate power. Waiting down at his end of the pitch, he’s still and coiled, menacing. Bowlers who’ve faced him say that they can feel him lining them up. Desperate captains pack the boundary with fielders, which actually tells Gayle where the ball is being aimed, really allowing him to step into his shot. The only hope is to get him out early, to confuse him with variations of speed, to try to catch him off balance with spin. He starts a game slowly, getting a sense of the conditions and his opponents, and when he’s ready, the head of his bat rises and it’s on. That’s the tell, and the fielders notice. Once he gets started, he’s almost impossible to stop.”You know he’s lining you up,” a bowler who’s faced him told me, shaking his head. “If it’s anywhere near his strike zone, you know it’s gone.”

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The day before the final, I hung out in the lobby of the West Indies hotel, trying to set up a meeting with Gayle. Philip Spooner is the team’s media manager, and he comes down and finds me in the tea bar. Last night, he looked at the team’s trainer on the bus back from the stadium and asked “Can you believe this?” The trainer silently raised both arms above his head and balled each hand into a fist.Spooner ties this team to the last great West Indian cricket side of the late ’70s and early ’80s, led by star Viv Richards, made famous in America by the documentary . Richards and captain Clive Lloyd believed the showy “Calypso cricket” of the past needed to be replaced with power and aggression. Any team representing the West Indies should reflect the people who lived on the islands, not those who came down to lie in the sun. The rebirth of the team found its voice when England’s star, the South African-born Tony Greig, said before a series in 1976, “I intend to make them grovel.” That comment, which still follows Greig, focused the anger and determination of the Windies, who heard a lot of other things buried in the word “grovel”. They became known for their fast bowlers, who launched bouncers screaming for the batsman’s head. They played to win, and the cricket establishment responded in a spasm.Thousands of pages of newsprint – thinly veiled racism wrapped in the familiar clothing of traditional values – decried what the Windies were doing to a gentleman’s game. When Australia bowled at opponents, of course, it was hard-nosed cricket. When the Windies did it, they were destroying the game.Richards, tall and intimidating, remains a hero in the islands. He stood up. Opponents bowled at his head. He refused to wear a helmet.”He was Chris Gayle before there was Chris Gayle,” Spooner says. “Viv was anti-establishment. Viv was the Bob Marley of cricket.”He smiles.”As you know,” he says, “Chris has had his issues with the establishment.”

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Chris Gayle, you’ll hear in some corners, is destroying cricket.He told the in 2009 he wouldn’t be sad if Test cricket died. He said he’d like for T20 to replace it. In the middle of that interview, which caused a storm in the cricket world that would surprise even American fans used to over-reaction and over-analysis, he is clearly hitting on the female reporter. Seriously. It’s unbelievable to read. He sipped hot chocolate while talking, smiled and said, “It’s sweet, and I’m sweet.”About two years ago, he ripped the West Indies cricket establishment in a radio interview, and the board banned him from the team. That’s always been the nuclear option of cricket boards around the world. They are notoriously iron-fisted. When a television network tried to start a competing T20 league in India, the Indian board threatened its own players with excommunication should they join it. For a century, talented players have seen their careers end because of politics, or petty jealousies, or simply as casualties of someone else’s self-interested power or money grab. Yet here comes Gayle, and he looks at his ban as a gift.For 18 months, as the Windies struggled all over the world, Gayle moved from domestic tournament to domestic tournament, cashing huge checks, an island of one. His biggest payday came from the IPL. He is the league’s leading run scorer, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The season lasted seven weeks. He reportedly made almost $13,000 a day.Finally, a few months ago, with no T20 leagues on the horizon, Gayle was returned to the national team line-up. They needed him more than he needed them, and in that dynamic teeters a century of tradition and power.Reversals, drama, and a West Indies win at the end of it•ICC/Getty

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The world of cricket is small, with generations of former players trying to cash in on the influx of television dollars. Here’s what I mean: as Spooner told me about Viv Richards, a heavy-set man with bad knees wobbled into the bar and sat down two tables away.It was Greig.He’s spent the past 35 years atoning for the grovelling comment, and is known for understanding where the game is going and why. His phone buzzes while we talk. His ring tone is calypso music. A lot has changed since the days of Viv.I ask Greig how the emergence of the IPL is impacting the game.”Cricket has been following American trends, really, in terms of entertainment,” he says. “We’ve now come up with what everyone thinks is the shortest possible game, and I’m not sure that’s the case. I’m not sure it won’t end up at ten overs.”The English cricket powers are believed to be considering a change in the scheduling of Test matches to allow their cricketers to play a full IPL season. For generations, the boards have held all the power. The Indian board, which owns the IPL, still does. But around the world, groups used to being autonomous are forced to make nice. Players, like the West Indies team three decades years ago, are close to finding their voice. The boards have decisions to make. Whatever is happening to cricket is happening right now.”They will try and work with the IPL eventually, try and rationalise what’s happened,” Greig says. “The IPL is a steamroller. It’s like a runaway train. As a result of this, players from all over the world want a piece of it. So this is, at the moment, playing itself out.”

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I strike out with Gayle – maybe after the game, I’m told. He is staying in his hotel room, which is probably a good idea. A few nights before the semi-final, he made headlines in Sri Lanka. Security in the hotel is tight, because organisers are so worried about gamblers influencing the outcome of the matches, a not unreasonable fear since the Pakistani team has been plagued by match-fixing, and Gayle’s close friend and team-mate, Marlon Samuels, was banned for two years for passing information to a bookie. Samuels has only just found his way back, trying to resurrect his career. So when Gayle and some team-mates had three women up on their floor, in violation of the rules, the local police arrested the women for trespassing. Someone with the team was asked about their strategy in the final against Sri Lanka. He laughed and said, “We’ve got five girls coming up tonight.”

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The next night, an hour from the first ball, the air smells fungal and sweet. Gayle is in the nets, working on defending yorkers. The problem is that a bad yorker, like a hanging curve, can end up in the upper deck. The clouds are pink on gray, slowly turning orange, then a jaundiced yellow. I slip on a photographer’s vest and take a seat right on the boundary line, ten feet away from Gayle’s warm-up. The crowd is loud and most fans wave flags, which, combined with the strange, filtered light creates a dizzying feeling when surrounded by it. It’s loud. A television producer wearing a headset comes up to Spooner and tries to get Gayle on camera during the pre-game show. Spooner shakes his head. To traditional cricket lovers, the T20 World Cup is an oddity, something to pass the time while waiting for the real thing. To someone who once told a London newspaper he wouldn’t mind if it replaced Test cricket, it is more important than being feted in the pavilion at Lord’s. “It’s a final,” Spooner told the producer. “It’s the biggest event of his life. I can’t pull him.”

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The Windies win the toss and elect to bat first. The players prepare to take the field. Loud music pours out of speakers lining the grandstands. Allman Brothers loud. Soldiers, arms swinging, march in time around the wicket. Then it’s time.Five minutes into the game, the Sri Lankans take the first wicket. Gayle can’t get started, facing a mix of speeds and deliveries. Three or so times, he seems to let a ball destined for the stumps hit his pads, and the crowd and Sri Lankan players roar, begging for the call. The umpire smiles thinly and shakes his head. A drummer in the stands keeps rhythm and will for the entire game: . It’s electric, and the time passes quickly. Everyone is waiting for the Gayle eruption. “It’s like you’re in the Colosseum,” a South African photographer next to me says.In the sixth over, Sri Lanka brings in an aggressive bowler, targeting a weak-looking Gayle. Gayle has seemed uncomfortable, his bat head sinking lower and lower. On the fifth ball, Gayle misses and it strikes his pads. He’s called out, lbw. He’s only scored three runs. The crowd stands as one, and a roar echoes around the steep grandstands of R Premadasa Stadium. The fireworks go off, and the music cranks up and the cheerleaders run onto their stages to dance.

The purest essence of cricket today is a mob of mostly Indian television cameras, forming a bubble of light around the biggest star in the game, who is being interviewed by an American

A friend who lives in Sri Lanka texts: “Start the bus.”

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It’s Samuels, back from the gambling scandal, who takes over and saves the match. He smashed six sixes, sending them deep into the stands. Before finally being caught, he scored 78 runs and shifted the momentum back to the West Indies.When the second innings begins, Windies captain Darren Sammy sprints down the steps from the pavilion, his jaw set, running out onto the field. Sri Lanka can’t get anything going, and slowly the crowd realises the game is slipping away.This game had seemed won by Sri Lanka when Gayle was out, and the crowd danced and waved flags in celebration. When the energy left the building, it left suddenly. The flags disappeared. Fans held their hands to their faces, mouths open, the hope from an hour ago now gone. Behind me, a man looked at the scoreboard and shook his head. The dim quiet on the field level is shocking after several hours under a bright moon of noise.Kieron Pollard comes out to defend the boundary line in the last few overs, the game now secure. The crowd chants “Sri – Lan – Ka! Sri – Lan – Ka! Sri – Lan – Ka!” He turns and shakes his head, pointing to the West Indies logo on his jersey. Finally the match ends. The Windies crowd around Gayle, the superstar who needed help to become a world champion, and everyone does the “Gangnam Style” dance together. Chris Gayle might not need the cricket officials, but he needs his team-mates, both on a night when he underperforms and in other, larger ways. Something called him back to this team at a time in his life when he doesn’t need the money. He is after something more than commerce, which is the reason Test cricket will survive, no matter how much the IPL grows. The older and more successful people become, the more they care how they will be thought of when they’re gone.

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We’re back at the team hotel, two or so hours after the game. On the way out of the stadium, Spooner saw me in a stairwell and told me to come here. He introduced me to Gayle.A phalanx of security guards formed a bubble around us.Cameramen and television crews walked backwards, flashbulbs popping and bright lights blinding me and Gayle. If we stopped, the mob would swarm, so I had between the business centre and the elevator to ask as many questions as I could. We both laughed at the insanity around us in the hotel lobby. “This is nothing,” he says, in a high-pitched Jamaican accent. “You ought to go to India.”The guards walked us through the crowd, pushing people out of the way. We had a few clear feet in every direction inside the circle. It was, without question, the most bizarre interview I’ve ever done. The essence of cricket might once have been country gentlemen, the landed gentry delicately playing shots on long afternoons. But the purest essence of cricket today is a mob of mostly Indian television cameras, forming a bubble of light around the biggest star in the game, who is being interviewed by an American. Cricket isn’t tea and club ties any longer. It is paparazzi and shouted questions in chaotic subcontinent hotel lobbies. One day it will be something else, then something else after that. There is already talk that the IPL bubble is close to popping, with teams over-valued and television ratings low.”How do you think the old-school cricket establishment views the way you guys play the game?” I asked.”Eventually,” he said, nearing the open elevator doors, “they have to accept it, to be honest with you. A lot of them didn’t accept it. But it’s become a big thing so they have no choice. Everybody’s loving it.”

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The energy of the game is gone, and I am, too. Exhausted, I find a tuk-tuk and head home. I still don’t know how T20 will change cricket, or what might happen to the game. I don’t think anyone does. The very first thing written about cricket hundreds of years ago lamented the loss of tradition. Modernity has always been the instrument of destruction, whether admission fees or a free-swinging batsman named Chris Gayle. But on a Sunday night in a Sri Lankan stadium, when the sky turned pink and orange before it set, I felt angst, sadness, euphoria, and joy, a night full of reversals and drama. I won’t ever forget it, and in those moments when the outcome hung in the balance, nobody would remember how many hours the game would last, or how many days. The only thing in the world was the moment, a winner and a loser, the bat and the ball. When Gayle stood in the crease, I didn’t think about some unknowable future of cricket. The crowd noise rose as the bowler began his run, ringing in my ears. I leaned in, watching the head of the bat, hoping it would rise.

AB de Villiers, it would appear, just cannot wait to face up to and ease the memories of South Africa’s past misdemeanours at this World Twenty20

David Hopps in Colombo15-Sep-2012Anybody daring to ask Graeme Smith why South Africa routinely choked in major competitions was best advised to first check their life insurance. The word was on South African cricket’s banned list during last year’s World Cup and, when it was uttered, Smith bristled in a manner that suggested the conversation was best left unfinished.”So you have been out in the middle?” Smith railed. “You understand all that? Every time we walk into a press conference, it’s the question we expect to get.”It made no difference: South Africa were thrashed by New Zealand in the quarter-final in Mirpur, Smith retired as one-day captain, as he had always planned, after eight years in the job, and even such a redoubtable leader had failed to lead his shrewd, methodical and talented team to a major one-day prize.AB de Villiers, Smith’s replacement as one-day captain, tried a different tack as South Africa arrived in Colombo. Superficially at least, he does not possess Smith’s air of defiance, but he could not wait to face down South Africa’s past misdemeanours, so much so that if somebody had asked him about the price of mangoes in Pettah Market he would probably have said: “Ah, I know you are secretly referring to choking, and there is something I want to say about this …”Few cricket writers know the price of mangoes in Pettah Market but, rightly or wrongly, most think South Africa chokes are ten a penny.The question was framed innocently enough: “South Africa is a powerhouse when it comes to cricket but, when you enter big tournaments, does it play on your mind that the major trophy remains elusive?”De Villiers’s eyes narrowed. “I am going to be very honest with you,” he said. “I am going to put it out there straight up front. We have choked in the past and we know about that – if that’s the word you are looking for. It is as simple as that. We have had some really bad experiences in the past but I would like to emphasise that it is past.”We come in with a whole new look in this team. We have worked really hard with a whole new management team, who have given us a lot of energy and new ideas. We will approach this tournament differently and we would like to win the pressure situations. We are going out there to do exactly that.”Colombo was the scene of one of South Africa’s most bewildering defeats of all. Ten years ago, they faced India in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy and were 192 for 1, needing 70 from 14 overs, when Herschelle Gibbs retired with cramp in both hands. The game was theirs, but cramp spread to the entire batting line-up and they lost by 10 runs.Study a list of South Africa’s defeats in major one-day tournaments and there have been as many pseudo chokes as real chokes. Sometimes they have just been outplayed by a better side and the cliché has been levelled at them anyway. There seemed little appetite for bringing the subject up again. Then de Villiers did it anyway.Smith has surely never felt as much hurt as he did after that New Zealand defeat. He looked mentally and physically broken. “Hopefully in the future somebody will go all the way,” Smith said then. That hope now rests with de Villiers. But nobody will really believe it until they see it.

After a year of tough travelling to secure their top ranking, 2013 will be slightly less demanding for South Africa but they are determined not to lose focus

Firdose Moonda30-Dec-2012Although 2013 holds less daunting challenges for South Africa than the previous 12 months, AB de Villiers sees it as an important phase for the team as they look to establish an era of supremacy. South Africa have seven home Tests and two in the UAE scheduled, contrasting starkly with this year where they competed in nine away matches in three countries and had just one at home.Their upcoming opponents, New Zealand, Pakistan and India are all ranked too far below them to make any of the contests a battle of No.1, which is what South Africa played for in every series in 2012. Unless South Africa suffer a recession-like slump, the ranking is safe throughout the year which de Villiers hopes will signify the start of their reign.”The last time we got to the No.1 spot we threw it away like it did not really matter to us,” he said referring to the four months South Africa spent at the top in 2009 after Australia lost the Ashes. Then the achievement was more a result of shifts in other teams’ positions, although South Africa won away series in England and Australia the season before.Now there is a feeling of ownership of No.1 because it was earned and defended in 2012. “There is a real sense of care in the team and an amazing team spirit,” de Villiers said. “If we can come through this year with solid performances, we’ve got a good chance to dominate around the world for the next four or five years.”With Graeme Smith deemed to have about that length of time left in his career, Jacques Kallis’ niggling injuries the only thing which could prevent him from the same and the bowling unit at their peak, de Villiers thinks South Africa have the personnel to establish a legacy. “We’ve just got a wonderful team at the moment,” he said.De Villiers has been identified as a key component of that success by Gary Kirsten because his taking over the wicketkeeper role has created an extra spot for a No.7 batsman. Although de Villiers was reluctant to do the job at first and went on record saying he would prefer to concentrate on being “the best batsman in the world,” he has since embraced both batting and keeping.He also said his goals are no longer personal. “I want to be in a successful team that keeps the No.1 spot for a very long time and that dominates world cricket for a very long time. That’s what I am after. If I can play my part in that doing that by doing well with the bat and the gloves, so be it.”De Villiers’ u-turn was the cause of some consternation because it forced the selectors to renege on a commitment they made to Thami Tsolekile, who had been told he would get a chance to replace Mark Boucher. It also created debate over de Villiers’ own ability to bat with the freedom and flair of old while spending hours bending his chronically bad back in the field.After the England tour, de Villiers suffered a recurrence of his back injury. Coupled with the fact that he had not scored a single half-century since taking the gloves, there were calls for him to give up the role but he silenced those with a classy 169 against Australia in Perth. Although those runs came in the match where de Villiers spent the least amount of time in the field, he said it was an indication that he is capable of performing in both departments.All it needed, he believed, was time for the adjustment of a dual role. “At first it was tough but I’ve got into a nice rhythm now,” he said. “It took me a while to get into that but now I feel I understand what my role is. I spend time on keeping and batting in training and I don’t feel tired after a day’s play. I don’t feel tired after a Test match. It’s more a mental thing than anything else. The fatigue factor is nonsense. It’s more a concentration thing.”To keep de Villiers fresh, Cricket South Africa agreed to his request to sit out the Twenty20 series against New Zealand, especially after he complained of tiredness following the domestic one-day cup play-off. De Villiers hinted there will be more of the same in future limited-overs contests, even though he captains in those formats.”It’s all about managing your energy levels and injuries and niggles and also keeping the passion for the game and the hunger to succeed and do well,” he explained. “We play a lot of cricket in the year and we are in a situation where we really need to manage it. Some of our guys are getting a bit older and we really have to look after them if we want to maintain the No.1 ranking in Tests.”De Villiers said the break has done him so much good that he is now, “refreshed, energised and hungrier than ever.” The Test team have not played in front of home fans since January and the players are particularly looking forward to this summer.”Playing at Newlands is as special as they come and I’ll enjoy this New Year’s Test even more,” de Villiers said. “We’ve got a good sense of confidence when we play there. It’s almost like we just free up and express ourselves.”South Africa have not lost a Test in Cape Town since 2006 and many of the squad call the venue their favourite because of the large support base there. As proof of that, only 3,000 tickets are still available for the first day of the Test.

From Chris Liston, United Kingdom
We’ve all got our views on past, current and future England captains

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Chris Liston, United Kingdom
We’ve all got our views on past, current and future England captains. I disagree with Doug Perrins that Vaughan should have stayed as captain until after this test, as a “dead” match is a good opportunity to blood a new captain. The value of a good captain is enormous, as Vaughan showed throughout his reign, regardless of how many runs he’s scoring.I think that Mike Brearley was the best captain that I’ve seen before Vaughan and he wasn’t a prolific run scorer, but an excellent tactician. But KP as captain just because he’s about the only player that’s guaranteed to be picked for the next test match? When has Kevin ever showed that he’s got the responsibility and maturity to be captain? He (and umpire Dar) lost us the Edgbaston game because his ego demanded that he got his ton with a blow out of the ground, whereas a responsible player would have picked off ones and twos and waited for the loose ball. Brian Lara was a flamboyant batsman, but regarded his 100 as a stepping stone to the next one and the one after that. Another 30 minutes at the crease at Edgbaston would have won us the Test.I’d have liked to have seen Strauss picked as captain, as it could hardly affect his form, but he knows where to place a field and how and when to change his bowlers. What on earth was a deep mid-wicket fielder there for yesterday? Cook may well be the next captain and probably (like Mike Atherton) has F.E.C. on his bag, but we need a man with a good head on his shoulders and that certainly isn’t KP.

By Shahzaib Quraishi, USA

Nikita Bastian25-Feb-2013By Shahzaib Quraishi, USAAnother Twenty20 league has come and gone. While the Bangladesh Cricket Board did a decent job of putting on a good show – within a reasonably limited amount of time, and with just enough teams to make the tournament competitive yet not long-drawn – there were more cons than pros.The first news to come out of the Bangladesh Premier League threatened the integrity of the tournament itself, with Dhaka Gladiators’ Mashrafe Mortaza reporting an approach from a fellow cricketer regarding potential spot-fixing. Later on, there was an arrest made of a man suspected to be involved in fixing in the league. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ and all that aside, this seriously put a cloud of doubt over the matches played.Payments to players had also been raised as an issue, but this is not unique to the BPL. The now defunct Indian Cricket League had similar problems and even the Sri Lanka board had been under considerable pressure until recently to release overdue payments for its contracted players.What surprised me the most, though, was the general lack of any serious contributions from young, unknown Bangladesh players. Here the unearthing of a ‘star in the making’ was woefully missing, unlike the IPL, which, for all its faults, has given India young hopefuls like R Ashwin, Varun Aaron and Rahul Sharma. Australia’s Big Bash League had some noteworthy local performers as well, like Travis Birt and Ben Edmondson. For sure, it brought some international careers that were considered as good as dead back to life, as in the case of Brad Hogg. But where was any of this in the BPL? Here are the stats:1. Only one of the top-ten run-getters was local (Shakib Al Hasan at No. 10), three of the top 15 (Shakib, Mohammad Ashraful and Junaid Siddique), and five of the top 20 (Shakib, Ashraful, Junaid, Mushfiqur Rahim and Nasir Hossain), none of whom are new to the national setup.2. Among the top 20 wicket-takers, there was only one Bangladesh bowler who does not bowl left-arm spin: Mortaza. Again, Mortaza is no stranger to the legions of Bangladesh cricket fans, and is in no way a “find”. This just highlights the dependency of Bangladesh cricket on left-arm spinners, the lack of variation in any prospective attack.3. No Bangladesh player scored more than one half-century in the tournament. At a time when more consistency is needed from the batsmen, this is as bad a piece of news as any.4. Perhaps the lack of big scores from local players could be attributed to this: in only three innings (for Chittagong in the tournament’s second match, and for Rajshahi in the fourth and ninth matches) out of a possible 66, were both openers local. That is a measly 4.54%.5. In the four semi-final innings, and the two innings in the final, only Barisal Burners had three local batsmen in the top six. All other teams had at least four overseas players slotted in from No. 1 to No. 6, with Khulna Royal Bengals playing four out of four foreign players from No. 1 to No. 4 in the second semi-final.The greatest good to come out of the BPL was young local players rubbing shoulders with players of the calibre of Chris Gayle, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Brad Hodge. One can say that overseas signings like Ahmed Shehzad, Nasir Jamshed and Shahzaib Hassan were successful, but these players were themselves students in the BPL, not nearly experienced enough to impart any considerable knowledge. Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, meanwhile, were not available for long enough to have an impact.Any domestic tournament, like the BPL, looks to produce players for the national setup. Commercial success is usually a secondary aim. The BPL just might turn out to be a commercial success in the long-term but the current format, with five foreign players permitted in the playing XI, hardly allows any local players to make a name for themselves, grab the selectors’ attention, or push for a spot in the national team.

Plays of the day from the match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings, in Mohali

Siddarth Ravindran10-Apr-2013The mystery call
In the seventh over of the chase, with Super Kings coasting, Kings XI Punjab seemed to have found an opening when Ryan Harris arrowed in a throw from mid-off that seemingly had Michael Hussey run-out. Hussey had put in the perfect dive, stretching flat out but looked fractionally short. The third umpire watched endless replays and though there was no conclusive evidence that Hussey was in, the giant screen flashed ‘Not out’. Even Hussey and Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming were surprised by the decision. Rarely has a batsman got such a generous benefit of doubt. As Adam Gilchrist said at the post-match ceremony, “They’re not playing run outs any more”.The triple threat
On the fifth ball of the 11th over, Super Kings had three chances of getting a wicket. First up, the bowler R Ashwin belted out a loud lbw appeal against Gurkeerat Singh, only for it to be turned down. The ball rolled off the pads in the direction of square leg, and there was major confusion over whether to take a leg-bye. The non-striker David Hussey hesitated, and would have been run-out by yards if MS Dhoni had hit direct. Dhoni missed, and there was an overthrow. Hussey motored back for the second, and though there was a direct hit this time, he made it in time. Rarely has there been a more action-packed delivery.The drop
Super Kings pride themselves on being one of the better fielding sides in the tournament. With the likes of Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Michael Hussey and Ravindra Jadeja in the line-up, it is a well-earned reputation. M Vijay is also usually a safe fielder, but he put down a regulation chance at mid-off to reprieve Kings XI’s most important batsman, David Hussey. In the sixth over, Hussey moved away from the stumps and mistimed the ball towards Vijay. It went flat towards the fielder, but Vijay didn’t move forward quickly enough, and by the time he reacted it was too low for him to clasp the ball properly. Chris Morris, on IPL debut, was the unlucky bowler, and covered his face in disappointment at missing out on his first wicket in the tournament.The attempt
There have already been some spectacular catches this season, and Bravo nearly added to the list with a stunning effort. Ashwin bowled a legspinner which Gurkeerat hammered towards long-off, and the ball seemed destined for a six; Bravo, who was a few metres in from the rope, hared across to his left and towards the boundary before leaping with his right arm outstretched. While in mid-air, he nearly latched on to the ball, but his extraordinary effort only ended up saving his team two runs, as the ball dribbled to the boundary for four.The innovation
Towards the end of the innings, batsmen will run for everything, even for byes when the ball goes straight through to the keeper. To counter that, Dhoni decided to keep wickets with only his left glove on, allowing him to collect the ball and throw immediately. The strategy, previously used by Dinesh Karthik in the IPL, paid off for Super Kings in the final over. When Parvinder Awana failed to connect on his fourth ball in a row, Praveen Kumar decided to try steal a bye, but Dhoni’s dead-eye throw caught him well short.

A look at the best batting and bowling performances from IPL 2013

S Rajesh28-May-2013When Chris Gayle scored that 175 not out against Pune Warriors on April 23, in the 31st match of IPL 2013, it was unanimously believed that no batting display would come close to equalling this performance over the entire tournament. Gayle did retain the top position in terms of best batting performance, according to ESPNcricinfo’s performance analysis study, but David Miller’s stunning 101 not out off 38 almost stole Gayle’s thunder, finishing only marginally behind Gayle in this analysis. Averaging out all performances by each batsman, Miller’s average is actually a tad higher than Gayle’s.Among the bowlers, James Faulkner stood out. His 28 wickets was the second-highest of the tournament, behind Dwayne Bravo’s 32, but Faulkner took two of the three five-fors in the tournament. His two five-fors, both against Sunrisers Hyderabad – 5 for 16 in Hyderabad, and 5 for 20 in Jaipur – occupy the top two slots in the best bowling performances of the tournament, while the average of all his performances is also the highest among all bowlers.Among the individual batting performances, the innings by Gayle and Miller are well clear of the rest of the efforts in the tournament. Gayle scored 74.86 points for his 175, while Miller tallied 73.44 for his incredible effort, which came in a high run-chase after Kings XI, requiring 191, had lost four wickets for 64 in the 10th over. Thanks to Miller’s effort, Kings XI ended up winning the match with two overs to spare.The next-best effort was Shane Watson’s 98 off 53 against Sunrisers, which fetched him a tally of 60.70, almost 13 fewer than Miller’s score. Keiron Pollard features twice in the top six, for innings which completely changed the momentum of the games. Against Sunrisers, he came in after Mumbai Indians had slipped to 99 for 3 in the 14th over chasing 179 – he proceeded to smash 66 from 27 to take his team home with three balls to spare. His knock in the final got an even higher rating because of the low-scoring game, and because it was a final: in a high-pressure match, Pollard came in at 52 for 4 in the tenth, and scored an unbeaten 60 off 32, even as wickets kept falling at the other end. That effort won him a score of 58.16 points.The only sub-50 effort in the top 15 is MS Dhoni’s 45 off 16 against Pune Warriors, which lifted Super Kings to a match-winning total of 164. Dhoni also has two other entries, making him the only batsman with three appearances in the top 15. Suresh Raina’s 100 off 53 against Kings XI is in tenth place, while the only other century in the tournament, Shane Watson’s 101 off 61 in a losing cause against Super Kings, is in 18th place.

Among the bowlers, Faulkner is the clear leader with three appearances in the top 15, including the top two performances. Jaydev Unadkat’s 5 for 25 is third, not only because of the number of wickets he took, but also because he dismissed the top three batsmen in the Daredevil’s line-up, and took four of the top six. Similarly, Zaheer Khan finds a place at No.6 for his 4 for 17 in the rain-curtailed match against Super Kings. He went at 8.50 per over, but it was a game in which the average run-rate was almost 12 per over, and the batsmen he dismissed were top names – Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.Most of the bowlers in the list below are seamers, but among the spinners are Amit Mishra, for his spell of 2 for 8 against Royals, and Sunil Narine, for figures of 3 for 17 against Mumbai Indians, in which he dismissed Dwayne Smith, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma.

Averaging out the performances of each batsman over the tournament, it emerges that Miller’s average is marginally ahead of Gayle’s, with Michael Hussey, the tournament top-scorer, in third place. There’s very little to separate the top five players, with Dhoni in fifth place with an average of 20.27.

Among the bowlers, Faulkner is clearly on top, with Johnson and Narine closely bunched together in second and third place. Similarly, there’s little to separate Mohit and Bravo, in fourth and fifth.The most prominent bowler missing from the list is Dale Steyn. He had an excellent tournament, taking 19 wickets at an economy rate of 5.66, but he doesn’t find a place in the top ten for a couple of reasons. Though he was often outstanding with the new ball, he couldn’t convert that into wickets, often beating the bat without getting the edge: of the 19 wickets he took, only five were of the top five batsmen. Eight of his victims were batsmen batting at Nos.6 and 7, and six of them were those who batted between Nos.8 and 11. Fifteen of his 19 wickets came in the last five overs of an innings.Also, the matches that Steyn played in were generally low-scoring, which dampened his economy rate of 5.66. In the matches involving Steyn, the average economy rates of all bowlers was 6.90; in matches involving Vinay Kumar, the average was 8.15.

Salient points about the performance analysis methodology

• Each batting and bowling performance by every player in the IPL gets a score based on the runs scored and the strike rate, or the wickets taken and the economy rate.
• The batting position is factored in, since it’s easier for a top-order batsman to score more runs in a limited-overs format.
• The batting strike rate is weighed against the scoring rate in the match. Thus, runs scored in a high-scoring match counts for less than the same runs scored in a low-scoring game. A similar logic holds for the economy rates for bowlers. However, extra points are given for runs made when batting second in a high run-chase.
• For bowlers, top-order wickets count for more than tail-end wickets.
• Bowlers who bowl their full quota of four overs get full value for their performance, compared to those who bowl only a fraction of their four-over quota.

England’s brand of cricket was not always admired during the Ashes but they able to seize the moment and produce periods of exhilarating play

George Dobell26-Aug-2013It is remarkable how demands change. A decade ago, any Ashes victory would have been celebrated as a stunning achievement. It is not so long ago it warranted an open-top bus parade through the streets of London and MBEs all round.Now, it seems, the bar has been raised. Victory is not enough. England are not expected just to win, but to win with style and flair and grace. Despite the 3-0 result, they have been criticised for their perceived negativity, their perceived gamesmanship and their perceived limitations. They are judged by far harsher criteria than they used to be. They are the victims of their own success.It was probably fitting that the series should end with a controversial umpiring decision. Issues associated with the DRS and umpiring errors have dogged the series with wearying regularity and overshadowed other on-field matters. The farce with bad light just showed, once again, how far the game’s administrators have allowed the rules to stray from the necessity to respect spectators. Common sense is anything but common at the ICC.It was also probably fitting that England’s moment of success was mitigated by another negative news story. Reports that England players may have urinated on The Oval pitch after the game will serve not just to diminish the standing of the winning team, but deflect attention from Australia’s lacklustre display. Australia may have lost the series, but they continue to win the propaganda war.That is not to condone the actions of England’s players. They sound both bizarre and uncouth. But there is a theme here: after almost every game, a story has emerged that has been designed to denigrate and demean the most successful Test team England have produced for many, many years. Whether it has been about England players smoking, England players not walking, the perceived deficiencies of England’s captain compared to Australia’s, or the latest ‘slashes’ story, all too often the narrative of this series has been manipulated to divert attention from Australia’s failings.England set out to win this series. They did not set out to entertain, to revive the spirit of the sport, to win 5-0, or to win Tests in three or four days. They set out to win. So this result can only be judged an unmitigated success. Many England supporters – particularly those who remember how grim things used to be – will find the margin entertainment enough.

Panesar available for Ashes tour

Simon Kerrigan

He’s ok. I would imagine he feels very proud to have been part of a Test win [sic]. He’s a good young man, obviously a good bowler, with a good first-class record, but he had a tough time. I think he’ll come through that well, he’s under a good man up at Lancashire. Hopefully he’s learned a lot from the experience and I hope he comes back and has a successful career both with Lancashire and England. I think he’s a good young man, he’s a strong young man and I hope people get behind him and support him.

Chris Woakes

I thought he went ok. His pace was good. He’s actually a swing bowler but he didn’t get as much swing in this game as we would have liked. He can swing it both ways; he’s quite skilful with the ball. I thought he showed a good technique and a calm mind when he batted. I thought he did really well.

Monty Panesar

He is available for the winter tours. It’s not as if it [the incident with the bouncers] didn’t happen, because it did happen. But there’s got to be a cut-off time at which time he is available for selection and we didn’t feel it would be right to pick him in this fifth Test match but the Ashes away is a few months away and I would imagine, all being well, he’ll be available for selection by that time.

Tim Bresnan

He has a scan on Tuesday, but the results will only come out at the end of the week so we’ll have a better idea then. Even in the worst case scenario, I wouldn’t expect him to be ruled out of the entire tour, but he might not be able to play some of the early games.

Bad light

“It was a very tricky situation, because it was so close to a conclusion and the responsibility to entertain the people that were in the ground and watching on TV has to be taken seriously. So it was a tricky situation and I do sympathise with the umpires. Did they get it right? Ask them. We have spoken to the ICC a number of times over the years, but the description in the regulations of how they judge bad light is, I think, poorly written. The emphasis is on safety and very rarely is there a safety issue out in the middle. In my personal opinion it should be either a very strict reading on the light metre and there is a universal reading they could adhere to or it should be about the fairness of the balance of the contest between bat and ball.”

England play hard, pragmatic cricket. They have developed not just a belief in their ability to win, but a hatred of losing. Those are excellent qualities and they have served the side well. They are now unbeaten in 13 Tests and have won seven of those, including five out of seven this summer. Not since 1977 have Australia contested an Ashes series without a single victory.England went a long way to winning this series in the planning. They reasoned, long before the first ball was bowled, that the key difference between the sides was in the strength of spin bowling. They reasoned that the Australian seam attack was dangerous, that the Australian spin attack was modest and that the best chance of negating the former without incurring risk from the latter was by preparing slow, dry surfaces. That would take the sting out of the Australian seamers and highlight the greater potency of Graeme Swann over his Australian rivals.It worked, too. While Swann claimed 26 wickets in the series – the most by any bowler on either side – the four spinners utilised by Australia claimed 15 between them. Andy Flower, who not only planned this strategy but persuaded the groundstaff to implement it, is, unquestionably, one of the key reasons in England’s success.So, too, is Ian Bell. While the rest of the England top-order endured disappointing series, Bell three times produced centuries when his team most required them. Each one has led to England winning. After a tough year or so, Bell has bounced back with the series that may well define his career. Mature, calm and possessing the confidence to defend for long periods without allowing himself to lose patience or composure, this was the style of batting that Bell’s talent always suggested he could play.The downside – such as there is one – in England’s choice of pitch for this series was contested on relatively slow surfaces. That did nothing to encourage positive, attractive cricket and rendered much of the series attritional. It was, at times, even mediocre, compared to the high-standards of previous Ashes encounters.There is a theory – a theory expounded by those who peddle Australian propaganda mainly – that England will not like the quicker pace of Australian pitches. While it is true that Swann may find less assistance, the top-orders and seam attacks of both sides will probably prefer such surfaces. It may well result in a more entertaining series.But it is simplistic to admonish England for their tactics. Apart from truly outstanding teams, the likes of West Indies of the ’80s or the Australia team that followed, Test cricket has often been as much about patience and discipline as flair and adventure. England have been successful playing a brand of cricket that, in the T20 world, may appear somewhat sedate, but it would be wrong to underestimate its value.Besides, after long passages of careful cricket, England were able to seize the moment and produce periods of exhilarating play. They were behind on first innings in four of the five Tests but, whether it was Swann or Bell or Stuart Broad or James Anderson, they invariably produced outstanding individual performances to define games.Australia might do well to learn from England, not mock them. Certainly James Faulkner, a man without a Test victory to his name, lecturing Flower and co. on tactics at the end of the third day of the final Tests was incongruous. It was like a mouse telling a lion how to roar.There are a few clouds in the distance. Two or three of this England team – and its main coach – are rather closer to the end of their careers than the start and there is no sign of a replacement for Swann. He may be appreciated more after he has gone. His contribution has been immense.But such issues can wait. England have retained the Ashes. They have retained them without losing a game and without playing at their best.English cricket is not perfect, but it is much better than it used to be. And it better than Australia’s. In a landscape where victories between the two nations remain the benchmark by which they are judged, the current team deserve rather more than the begrudging praise they are receiving.