A few key numbers involving Delhi Daredevils, Deccan Chargers, and Centurion, the venue for the first semi-final of the IPL

S Rajesh22-May-2009RP Singh is the owner of the purple cap with 20 wickets, but against Delhi he only has one wicket from two games•Associated Press0 – Number of times Deccan have beaten Delhi in four tries over two IPL tournaments.67 – Number of wickets lost by Delhi in the round-robin matches in this IPL, which is the lowest by any team. Deccan have lost 91, which is next only to Bangalore and Rajasthan, who’ve lost 93.2111 – Runs scored by Deccan, which is the most by any team. Delhi are fourth with 1978.8.23 – Deccan’s run-rate in the first six overs. Delhi’s average run-rate in this phase of their innings is 7.94.505 – Runs added by Deccan’s opening pairs, which is the highest of all teams. They average 36.07 per partnership, at 8.94 runs per over. Delhi’s opening stand averages 28.38, at 7.66 runs per over.11 – The number of 50-plus scores for Delhi in the IPL. Deccan have only seven.11.36 – Adam Gilchrist’s runs per over against Delhi. In two matches he has scored 72 from 38 balls.1 – Number of wickets, out of 20, that RP Singh has taken against Delhi. He has been economical, though, conceding 6.57 per over in his seven overs.9.62 – Ashish Nehra’s economy rate against Deccan, which is his worst against any team – in eight overs he has conceded 77 runs and taken three wickets.5.25 – Pradeep Sangwan’s economy rate against Deccan (42 runs in eight overs, for four wickets). Dirk Nannes too has an excellent economy rate of 5.87 (47 runs in eight overs).7 – The number of games, out of 11 in Centurion, won by the team batting second. However, in seven night games, four have been won by the team batting first.159 – The average score of the team batting first in night games in Centurions. In seven matches, four times teams have scored in excess of 160, and twice in excess of 180.43 – Wickets taken by spinners in 11 games in Centurion, at an average of 26.97 and an economy rate of 7.31. Fast bowlers have taken 63 wickets, at 33.17 and 8.09 runs per over.

Football, tennis, baseball on screen, and some cricket – there’s a welter of games on offer in England in the summer

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Jun-2009May 27

Warming up has never done any harm. Off to London a week before the main event. Players like to talk about acclimatising in foreign environs. Press people can do it too.Reach the airport about two hours before the flight, brooding about events at the Stadio Olimpico, the venue for the 2009 Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. Didn’t expect TVs at Mumbai airport to telecast the game. Minutes later, am proved wrong. As luck would have it, even get to watch that slippery Cameroon cat Samuel Eto’o sneak through porous Manchester United and open the account with a neat finish. Cristiano Ronaldo stares glumly, chewing gum. Sometimes you are in the right place, at the right time. It just takes effort. And, of course, luck. Isn’t that what sport is all about – making luck?May 28
Newspapers on the tube scream “Barcelona 2-0”. (I missed Lionel Messi’s stunning header).Something doesn’t seem right: after a tube ride lasting a football game, which needs me to change lines three times (there are more train lines here than fingers on both hands) I’m yet to see a sign, placard, poster, advertisement, something, anything, that will tell me that the world’s best cricketers will be here to play in the World Twenty20. The ICC turns 100 in less than a month’s time, but it is truly behind the times when it comes to marketing such a high-profile event.May 29
“Vegetarian – Indian word for ‘lousy hunter’ ” reads a black t-shirt worn by a big, burly, Englishman. I can’t help but agree and smile. Wait for my London office colleagues to pick me up. Turns out one of them is meeting Fidel Edwards. I go along, and once there I ask Fidel to do his John Cena celebration. He obliges without much fuss.May 30
One of the advantages of attending team training sessions is being able to watch and listen to the players have a nice time. The Indian squad, which arrived the previous evening, is still in IPL mode. Dhoni and Co. stream around, taking catches hit by their fielding coach, Robin Singh. Robin hits one past the ring and Ishant Sharma takes off in chase. RP Singh, part of the victorious Deccan Chargers, says to him, “Your fate is bad even here, just like your team’s [Kolkata Knight Riders].” When RP’s Hyderabad team-mate Rohit Sharma scampers to take a high catch, Dhoni chants the Deccan theme song, “Go, Chargers, go, Chargers, go.”Murali Kartik, Ishant’s Kolkata team-mate, who plays for Middlesex, pays the team a visit. Yuvraj Singh, on a high after his two hat-tricks in the IPL, playfully instructs Kartik on how to bowl perfect left-arm spin, and more importantly, how to take a hat-trick.May 31
A day filled with the captains’ press conferences (11 in all). The best moment comes courtesy the cool dude from Jamaica, Chris Gayle. At the end of the press briefing the captains are supposed to pose with the trophy for pictures. As Gayle poses, he says: “Controversy! West Indies beat India.”June 1
On the sidelines of India’s first game, a warm-up against New Zealand which they lose, Lalit Modi blows his trumpet once again. This one to announce a charity game at Lord’s on July 6 between inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals and England’s domestic Twenty20 Cup winners Middlesex. The game is also being marketed as Shane Warne’s final appearance at Lord’s. Former England and Middlesex spinner John Emburey, too, is around, looking dejected after the virtual fall of the ICL, for whom he was a coach. He says he is looking for a job, but before that he plans to go on a sailing trip. Nice.Now you see him, now you don’t: Fidel Edwards does his John Cena impression•Nagraj Gollapudi/ESPNcricinfo LtdJune 2
Travel to Southgate, one of the training grounds for Middlesex, to watch a Pakistan training session. An old English couple are enjoying the sight of Shahid Afridi and gang hit the ball into the car park. The rest of the car owners rush up to check if their bonnets have dents. The husband, who could easily pass for an older, bigger version of Laurel from Laurel and Hardy, reminisces about a certain Glenn McGrath, who “never could do much on his own without the support of Shane Warne”. The Ashes are coming.June 3
Pakistan are handed a nine-wicket defeat by Dhoni’s men. Younis Khan had this to say on the eve of the game “Will it make a difference if we win or they lose?”June 4
Andrew Symonds is back in the news. He is apparently being sent back by Cricket Australia for breaching his customised code of conduct. All plans for the day go for a toss as I set off on a wild goose chase to Heathrow. The most significant piece of information after a six-hour wait comes from a tabloid photographer, who tells a couple of the other media men that this is the second time in the week he has got the airport beat; the first one was snapping Dannii Minogue. June 5

Say hello to Dirk Nannes, who is on his way to Lord’s for the tournament opener. Three hours later he will be seen dancing around with his Dutch mates after pulling the rug out from under England’s feet at the home of cricket.June 6
The view from the press box for the print media at The Oval, located in the Jack Hobbs Stand, is diagonal with respect to the main pitch. So you don’t get a clear picture of the live action and rely on the TV, or go upstairs into the stands, where the views are much better and one is also kept alive by the buzz of the crowds. Scyld Berry, the ‘s cricket writer and current editor of the , informs that Edgbaston has the best press box in England.June 7
Once upon a time, before Facebook and Twitter, in the days when the mind was free, June 7 was marked in the memory as Anna Kournikova’s birthday. She may have had the ability to unleash lethal groundstrokes, but she became more famous as the world’s favourite pin-up. To this day she has the sort of fan following people like Gordon Brown would die for. Anyway, it was Roger Federer I missed seeing as he scripted his 14th Grand Slam while I watched Pakistan lose their way against England. I still have some time left in England. Who knows, I may just run into the genteel Swiss somewhere round the corner.June 8
No games in London, my base, so I go to see this lovely film called , the story of an aspiring baseball star from the Dominican Republic who travels to the USA, where his family wants him to be, though it isn’t what he himself really wants. Life is sometimes about following what one’s heart says. At least that’s what I got out of the movie. Check it out.Tendulkar has a DNA sample taken•Nagraj Gollapudi/ESPNcricinfo LtdJune 9
Am brought face to face with Lord’s notorious etiquette book. Andrew Hall, the former South Africa cricketer, who played in the ICL and will be playing for Worcestershire, is hanging around below the dressing room, waiting for his former mates to board the bus. The stewards politely ask him, and the rest of us, to vacate the area for safety reasons. Hall puts his head down and walks away without a word.June 11

Turn up at a gig where Sachin Tendulkar is promoting a forthcoming book on himself that will weigh more than an airline’s permitted baggage limit (30kg) and will cost a price (3000 pounds) that you could buy a Nano, the world’s cheapest car, with and still have some left over. The book, a collector’s item, has a first to its credit: it will have Tendulkar’s DNA profile mapped and then reproduced in a diagram. Tendulkar recently unveiled a waxwork of him on display in Madame Tussauds, and now this – a perfect immortal.June 12
One image that will always stay from Gideon Haigh’s – his magnificent account of how Kerry Packer changed the face of cricket in the 1970s – is of Ian Chappell’s first meeting with Packer. Chappell arrives in jeans and a country-and-western singer’s shirt. Packer’s first words: “What are you, a f***ing cowboy? Well, who do you want in this team of yours?” Chappell reminds Packer he is no longer captain of Australia. “What do you think this is, son, a f***ing democracy? You’re the f***ing captain.” To this day Chappelli, as Chappell is popularly known, remains a master storyteller himself. I overhear him telling Colin Craft, the menacing former West Indies fast bowler, about who Keith Miller thought was the best batsman in the world. Don Bradman, of course.June 13
A not-so-amused Daniel Vettori, after his team’s defeat to Pakistan at The Oval, wonders how Umar Gul, the match-winner, who lit up the evening with record bowling figures, could get reverse swing as early as the 12th over. He repeats the statement thrice. It is impossible to ignore. Surely, this is not the end of the matter.June 15

Tours are mini adventures. There are bound to be occasional clutch-your-head moments. Mine arrived today. Distracted as I speak to the New Zealand media manager on the mobile phone about Vettori approaching the match officials after the Pakistan game, I get off a train on my way to the game. Little do I realise I’ve left my bag on the train. The rest of the afternoon is spent in futile attempts at getting it back. I’m holding Vettori responsible.

The ominous question still lingers: is the win a sign that England are going to dominate cricket for the next decade, and what could that mean for the future of other nations?

Alice Dean21-Jun-2009New Zealand coach Gary Stead put it best. His side’s defeat to Englandin Sunday’s ICC World Twenty20 final was, he said, like the amateursplaying the professionals. He only meant it figuratively, insofar as his team were outclassed on the day against a surprisingly clinical England. At last, the homeside’s bowlers and fielders truly rose to the occasion in a way whichthey hadn’t throughout the rest of the tournament.Stead was almost correct in the literal sense too, and therein lies a potential problem. The ECB has invested in English women’s cricket for more than a decade now, but the tree naturally takes a long time to first take root and then bear fruit. Only in the last 18 months have England looked like world-beaters. Now they have the World Twenty20, the World Cup and the Ashes in their pockets, and better investment than ever before.The ominous question goes thus: is this a sign that England women aregoing to dominate cricket for the next decade or more, and if so, whatdoes that mean for the future of other nations?England’s women are, through Chance to Shine coaching contracts, thenearest thing the women’s game gets to professionals; the gulfbetween them and the rest of the teams is in serious danger ofwidening. They have beaten world No. 2 New Zealand seven times in their lastmeetings, while India, the third-best in the world, have been their whipping girls for several years.Only Australia – whose players have a contract-lite version of England’s, but still have to work – have presented anything of a challenge. Players can attend the Academy in Brisbane and have funding through grants, but one wonders what’s going to happen in the next few years when Karen Rolton, Shelley Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekar cart all their weighty experience off with them into the sunset.New Zealand lost captain Haidee Tiffen earlier this year – she wroteon Cricinfo that this was partly down to a lack of funding – whileplayers such as Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine are in eternal danger ofdefecting to their other international sports of basketball (Bates)and hockey (Devine). The players are desperately keen to get morefinancial assistance and, given their record, certainly deserve it.Investment can only make the powerhouses stronger.England, partly due to the funding, have a well-gelled team who canconcentrate as much as they like on cricket. They have a young teambut one which is already very experienced and Charlotte Edwards – whois the same age as Tiffen – intends to be around for many years yet.And even though they have hardly played perfect cricket in eithertournaments this year, it’s still been more than enough to reignsupreme.So the future is certainly an issue. But at the same time, thepresent is very much worth celebrating. England’s women already beattheir men to an ICC trophy when they took the World Cup in March, thefirst tournament under ICC regulations. They promptly did the double on Sunday andare flying the flag in style.The investment from the ECB continues to pay dividends and Edwards waskeen to note that the World Twenty20 success shows the 50-over tournament “was nofluke”. The victory is also a win for women’s sport in England. While theimpact on the press may not be long-lasting in terms of a general liftin column inches, the fact that writers and editors witnessed theplay at Trent Bridge, The Oval and Lord’s for the first time might lead them to look more kindly on the women’s game in the future.The double-header staging of the tournament has been an unmitigatedsuccess. While there were no upsets in any of the games, thecricket was exciting and there were some superb performances, such as the West Indiesbatsman Deandra Dottin’s fastest international Twenty20 fifty againstAustralia in Taunton, and New Zealand captain Aimee Watkins’ 89 not outin Nottingham against India. The most memorable game will long standout as Australia versus England at The Oval where Claire Taylor, the player of the tournament, stroked her side home in thrilling circumstances.The ICC took a gamble on embracing the women’s game, or perhaps itwould be more accurate to say a calculated risk, the women havingalready been on the same stage as the men in domestic andinternational games. And the decision paid off handsomely.Women’s cricket has arrived on the world stage, and nobody tried toboo them off. Rather, they applauded a surprisingly entertaining newact which represented good value for money, and has the chance toshine again in the future.With the format to be repeated next year in the Caribbean, the ICC canboth breathe a sigh of relief at the successful staging this timearound, but also give itself a pat on the back.The ECB, too, should be applauded for setting the example – and nowit is hoped other countries can catch up with their view to a golden future.

To those in his native Trinidad, who always regarded Adrian Barath’s advance into the West Indies Test team as a matter of when, rather than if, the opener’s delightful debut hundred would not have been surprising

Tony Cozier29-Nov-2009To those in his native Trinidad — Brian Lara most prominent among them — who always regarded Adrian Barath’s advance into the West Indies Test team as a matter of when, rather than if, the opener’s delightful debut hundred in Brisbane on Saturday would not have been surprising.Bryan Davis, the one-time Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies opener, and currently the cricket manager at the famous Queen’s Park Cricket Club in Port of Spain, tells the story of this tiny boy brought to the indoor nets by his father and friends who proceeded to pepper him to such an extent that he feared for his safety.Barath senior assured him that his son, even smaller than he is now at 19, could handle himself. It didn’t take long for Davis to agree. That 11-year-old’s progress since has been measured and true to expectations.At 16, he was into the Trinidad and Tobago first-class team and scoring hundreds in successive matches, against the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands in his first year.Last season, there was 192 against the Leewards and 132 for West Indies A against the touring England party, who had James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann in their bowling arsenal.It might have been enough to gain him selection for the home and away Test series that followed but he had to wait for Bangladesh in the Caribbean, and wait some more again when, like the others chosen, he lost he chance of an earlier and less demanding initiation because of the West Indies Players Association’s (WIPA’s) contracts dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).He came to wider international attention during Trinidad and Tobago’s stirring showing in the Champions League Twenty20 in India in October when, in his second match, he thumped four sixes in 63 off 41 balls off the Eagles, the South African team.The next step in the progression was the Test hundred, although it was a bit much to expect it on debut at an age even younger than the 20-year-old George Headley’s second-innings 176 against England at the Kensington Oval in 1930, a Test hundred and, at that, in a land down under where they are scarce for visiting batsmen.Fair enough but what would have strengthened Lara’s comparison with a young Sachin Tendulkar, publicly, boldly and honestly expressed when he took Barath to England to expose him to the culture of the game at Lord’s and other famous cricket venues in 2007, were the circumstances in which his Brisbane feat was fashioned.Even by recent West Indian standards, they could not have been more dire. The team had lived up to all the denigration heaped on it by the Australian media since its arrival.The captain, Chris Gayle, had jetted back to Jamaica to be with his ill mother and no one quite knew when he would be back, if at all. He did return, only to wrongly predict the toss of the coin, giving Australia the advantage of batting first. By then, it was known that Ramnaresh Sarwan, the key No.3 batsman with a double-hundred, three singles and an average of 76.2 in his seven Tests for the year, was enduring back spasms and would not be in the playing XI.By the time the first day was half through, Jerome Taylor, the only fast bowler with genuine Test experience and depended on to spearhead the attack, had done something to his hip that would restrict him to nine overs. It placed more responsibility on the untested rest and, dutifully as they tried, their efforts were blunted by determined Australian batting and typically faulty West Indies catching.When Ricky Ponting thankfully declared the innings at 480 for 8 just before tea on a second day of blazing 30 degrees heat, it left Barath and his teammates to initially aim for a total of 280 to avoid the follow-on.Four wickets in the space of three-quarters of an hour in the second session, Barath’s among them, rendered it mission impossible. Dogged resistance for more than four hours from Travis Dowlin, a 32-year-old journeyman provided with a belated, utterly unexpected chance at the highest level through the withdrawal four months earlier of disgruntled others, and a little flurry from the lower order couldn’t stave off the inevitable.Barath found himself returning to start the second innings in his first Test with the beleaguered Gayle after lunch yesterday, a deficit of 252 to be cleared to make the opposition bat again. A revival seemed to depend on Gayle and the reliable Shivnarine Chanderpaul, a pair of contrasting left-handers with 204 Tests, 14,000 runs and 31 hundreds between them.Instead, Gayle, whose general method is shot-a-ball, offered none at all and was soon lbw for the second time. Chanderpaul, for most of the past two years an immovable object, paddled a catch high off the bat to the fielder alongside the square-leg umpire. The No.10 would be out later to a similar shot but it was excusable for Kemar Roach. For Chanderpaul, it was completely out of character.Dowlin was sandwiched between them so that, by the end of the 17th over, the mismatch predicted by the Australian press was confirmed.At his age, Barath might well have been frozen into inactivity or else become careless and extravagant by the turn of events. Brendan Nash fell into the former category, Dwayne Bravo and Jerome Taylor, who hooked medium-paced long-hops precisely into long-leg’s lap, into the latter.

What would have strengthened Brian Lara’s comparison with a young Sachin Tendulkar, publicly, boldly and honestly expressed when he took Barath to England to expose him to the culture of the game at Lord’s and other famous cricket venues in 2007, were the circumstances in which his Brisbane feat was fashioned.

In contrast, Barath stoutly defended the good balls on a pitch behaving itself in spite of its mosaic of cracks and indulged his offside penchant whenever a boundary presented itself. The balance was clear in the 19 fours he stroked and the 102 balls of his 138 faced that he blocked.The innings was a gem and acknowledged as such by wise observers in the television commentary box, all of whom know the euphoria of a Test hundred, by his teammates in the West Indies, including those who managed to overcome their individual shame to rise in applause, and the 12,000 or so spectators who saw Barath off to a clearly heartfelt ovation.As was mentioned more than once, it was a performance that should be an inspiration to other young cricketers in the Caribbean.In this match, the bowling of Roach, 21, and in his third Test, caught the attention. Denesh Ramdin’s wicketkeeping and aggressive batting moved Ian Healy, a kindred spirit, into a prophecy that the vice-captain, still only 24, will be among the best in the game by the time he is through.Others wait in the wings, not least another Darren Bravo, the 20-year-old left-handed batsman, and the Nevisian Kieron Powell, another left-hander, aged 19. There is, however, a warning light for those responsible for such matters.The last West Indian to score a hundred on his debut Test was Dwayne Smith, against South Africa in Cape Town four years ago and every bit as spectacular as Barath’s. Significantly, he is now a Twenty20 gem for Sussex but no longer in the West Indies team.Given his background and the organisation of the game in Trinidad and Tobago that now produces batsmen as Barbados and Guyana once did, it is unlikely that Barath will suffer the same fate. But the WICB need to ensure that the structures are in place to harness the best of all the budding Baraths. Perhaps it could consult its affiliates in Port of Spain and Couva for guidance.

Eating out, getting sick, waiting at airports, trying to understand team-mates’ choice of music – all part of a touring cricketer’s life

Nicky Shaw26-Feb-2010Right, it’s game on now. We are in Visakhapatnam, having lost the third match by a big margin. But we are optimistic about levelling the series yet again.The night before the second game we went out to Hard Rock Café in Bangalore. The next day, unfortunately, I missed the match because of an upset stomach. Watching the match go to the final over from my hotel room was nerve-wracking. It was great to get the three-run win. After the game we sang our team song – Take That’s “Never Forget” – and reviewed our performance.The journey to Visakhapatnam – for games three and four – was okay, apart from the early start. Airports involve a lot of waiting – though this time we didn’t have to hang around a lot – and we usually spend the time listening to music, reading magazines or having a look around the shops. Of course there’s always someone from the team sleeping as well.We all have different tastes in music and you’d think Ebony Rainford-Brent has the best collection, considering the way she bobs her head and dances in her seat on the bus when she has her iPod on. But Katherine [Brunt] has some “interesting tunes”, a mixture of rock, pop and country and western.We carry quite a bit of luggage because of our cricket kits, but outside of that, I’d have to say Charlotte Edwards’ bags would be the heaviest, for all the toiletries she packs in!The weather here is more humid than in Bangalore. The third game was disappointing but we are ready to bounce back.On an aside, the MCC women, who will be touring West Indies, will play with pink balls during the series. We trialled pink balls against Australia in the summer in 2009 and we were all very positive about it. It tends to keep its colour better than the white ball.

All the game’s greats started – or end up – at local clubs alongside local players. So what is it like sharing your home dressing room with a legend?

Josh Burrows09-Sep-2010When Shane Warne retired from international cricket in 2007 with 1001 wickets, his reputation as the game’s greatest bowler was confirmed. But in 1992 that same cocky Victorian was not deemed good enough to deserve a second season at Accrington CC. At 20 Warne had played a summer with the Lancashire League side as an overseas player – one of several cricketing giants who have spent time picking up cheap runs and wickets in English club cricket.Warne was picked up only at late notice when the club’s first-choice overseas player was injured. Accrington’s Peter Barratt remembers how it took Warne only two days to fax back the contract he was offered before turning up a few weeks later with his cricket gear and a reputation for giving it a bit of a rip.”He was a good friend for the five months he was with us,” recalls Barratt. “Yes, he misbehaved and he was a bit over the top sometimes but he wasn’t bad at all. He was 20 years old and wanted to be one of the boys. He had to be told a couple of times that the club professional had to keep himself fit. Whenever he was in any difficulties he’d always call me up. That included things like boils on his bum or car breakdowns.”Despite taking 79 wickets that season and attracting the interest of Australian selectors, Warne could not keep his place at Thorneyholme Road. “He was popular with spectators but the committee decided that he didn’t get enough runs,” recalls Barratt disbelievingly.At Lansdown CC in Bath the members would have been only too happy to have their overseas player of 1973 come back for a second term. But the old-timers at Combe Park are happy enough to be able to tell stories about the one year they played alongside their own legend – Viv Richards.He was a 21-year-old West Indian prodigy when his love affair with the West Country began. Len Creed, then chairman of Lansdown and a Somerset committee member, had spotted him while on holiday in Antigua a few months earlier and Richards had jumped at his offer of a season in England.While he was at Lansdown Richards lodged with the third-team captain, Alan Bees – a thoroughly mediocre cricketer who became a very close friend. It was Bees who introduced his new mate to jazz and cider, and in return the big Antiguan spent a season thrashing length deliveries through midwicket.”There was Accrington’s Peter Barratt

Viv Richards, West Indies
121 Tests, 8540 runs, Avg 50.23, HS 291
187 ODIs, 6721 runs, Avg 47.00, HS 189*
Lansdown’s Martin Veal

Wasim Akram, Pakistan
104 Tests, 414 wickets, Avg 23.62, Best 11-110
356 ODIs, 502 wickets, Avg 23.52, Best 5-15
Smethwick’s Gordon McKenzie

Allan Donald, South Africa
72 Tests, 330 wickets, Avg 22.25, Best 12-139
164 ODIs, 272 wickets, Avg 21.78, Best 6-23
Knowle and Dorridge’s Ian Maddocks

Adam Gilchrist, Australia
96 Tests, 5570 runs, 47.60, HS 204*
416 dismissals, 287 ODIs, 9619 runs, Avg 35.89, HS 172, 472 dismissals
Richmond’s Chris Goldie

“He was an absolute gentleman but, believe you me, he was flipping fast,” says the club secretary, Gordon McKenzie. “He didn’t take that long a run-up and he never held back. He was the quickest thing I’ve ever seen at Broomfield.”One poor batsman got one that rose off just short of a length and broke his jaw. If it had been anyone else’s short ball the lad could have got out the way but Wasim was that quick that it just hit him.”After Akram left, the respite for Birmingham League batsmen was only brief. Three years later Allan Donald turned up to play for Knowle and Dorridge a few weeks after retiring from Tests with 330 wickets and a reputation as one of the game’s fiercest competitors. Anyone expecting “White Lightning” to take things easy on a
Saturday afternoon was to be disappointed.”As soon as he walked across that line on to the pitch he wanted to win. It didn’t matter whether he was playing for South Africa, Warwickshire or Knowle and Dorridge. It was a game of cricket and he didn’t like to lose it,” recalls K&D’s Ian Maddocks.”There were one or two batsmen who thought they were better than they actually were and decided to have a little chat with him. That didn’t go down very well and, if you were stood at slip, you took a couple of paces backwards because you knew what was coming.”Donald’s season at K&D was curtailed by injury but like Akram, Richards and Warne he greatly enjoyed his time out of the international spotlight. No player, however, has maintained his association with a club as keenly as Richmond CC’s illustrious adopted son – a lad named Adam Gilchrist, sent over in 1989 aged 17 with a note from his dad explaining that he had been looking in quite good touch.”What stood out about him was his willingness to tuck in and score big hundreds,” says Chris Goldie, captain of the 1st XI in a summer during which Gilchrist scored more than 2,700 runs in all competitions. “I said that season that I thought he could go all the way. It sounds prophetic but it was just obvious that he was going to become an international opening batter.”More than 20 years later and having reached the pinnacle of international cricket, Gilchrist came back to Richmond’s Old Deer Park in June to play a Middlesex-Glamorgan Twenty20. He hammered 51 on the pitch where he first started breaking English hearts as a club cricketer and then strolled into the bar as if he had never been away.”It’s a mark of the lad that he volunteered himself to play at Richmond,” Goldie says. “I think it was an emotional time for him, going back and playing on a ground that he has very fond memories of.”Two decades previously, despite studying by correspondence while living in the pavilion at nearby Twickenham CC, the young Gilchrist was every bit the model first-team professional – though he was a technically minded accumulator rather than the batting tornado he became. His dedication has continued and he now helps run a scholarship that gives a young Australian a chance to spend a season with the West London club. Each player comes with a similar recommendation from Gilchrist’s dad, Stan.Warne may have been more fun off the field, Richards more laid back, Akram and Donald more vicious on the pitch but in Adam Gilchrist Richmond CC got particularly lucky. “He’s a genuine Richmond man and a special guy,” says Goldie. “We’re all very proud of him.”

Even specialised net sessions haven’t been able to rid the home team’s bowlers of the overstepping problem

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2010A usually rare occurrence is becoming increasingly frequent when India are fielding: opposition batsmen getting dismissed and then being called back after the bowler is found to have over-stepped. Martin Guptill was the most recent beneficiary after he nicked Sreesanth to MS Dhoni and the umpire Kumar Dharmasena, after speaking with the third umpire, called no-ball. The Indians were frustrated and their bowling coach Eric Simons said as much after play.”It’s strange, Sreesanth bowled 90-odd balls today out of which four were no-balls and one was a wicket. And that’s very frustrating,” Simons said. “It’s very frustrating that they introduce this new system and in two Test matches we lose two wickets. It’s something we’re aware of and working on constantly.”This method of consultation, between the on-field umpire and the one watching replays, about whether the bowler had over-stepped or not is a recent development and India have been on the wrong end of reversed decisions three times.In Mohali, during Australia’s second innings, Michael Clarke was leaving after flicking Ishant Sharma to midwicket but Billy Bowden asked him to wait and confirmed with the third umpire that the bowler had over-stepped. In Bangalore, Tim Paine edged a slash off Sreesanth to Dhoni and was halfway off the field when he was called back by Ian Gould. Count the no-ball from Ishant in the first innings at Mohali, which was spotted by the on-field official, that Ricky Ponting nicked down legside to Dhoni and that’s four batsmen let-off in as many Tests.What hasn’t been clear, though, is the process of consultation between the umpires. Does the on-field umpire take the initiative to check with the third umpire because he isn’t certain? If so, why would Dharmasena allow Guptill to walk past the boundary if he was unsure about the legality of the delivery? Or does the third umpire spot the no-ball on replays and contact his colleague in the middle? And if so, does he watch for a missed no-ball on every dismissal to ensure consistency? Guptill didn’t know who referred it to whom, but Simons said it was the on-field umpire who contacts the third umpire when in doubt, adding that it was “bizarre” India had been caught by the system twice.There’s a simple way to avoid being found out, though. Stop bowling so many no-balls. India have bowled 140 in 11 Tests in 2010: Ishant 56, Amit Mishra 35, Sreesanth 28, Pragyan Ojha 13, Zaheer Khan 5 and Virender Sehwag 3. Ishant’s and Sreesanth’s numbers are inexcusable, and for spinners – Mishra in particular – to have bowled so many is appalling. Achieving a solution, according to Simons, isn’t as simple as it seems.”The no-balls are a very strange problem. Everyone says move your mark back six inches and it should be fine, but it doesn’t work like that,” Simons said. “It’s a really slow process. It literally comes down to re-programming a bowler’s mindset in the nets.”When India practise, Simons said there was someone watching every ball for a no-ball. There were net sessions during which bowlers worked only on their landing and these were separate from ones in which they honed their lines and lengths. Simons is aware of the gravity of the problem and stressed the issue was being monitored “very carefully.””My job as coach is to create a habit where you are right behind the line,” he said. “The no-ball affects the mindset and if you are confident about where your foot is, you bowl better.”Ishant’s rhythm went haywire during the Mohali Test, in which he over-stepped 15 times, and he hasn’t played since because Sreesanth took his opportunity with impressive performances, barring the no-balls. Simons said Ishant was improving and was considered for selection in Hyderabad before India decided to field an unchanged XI.”Ishant had a real problem with no-balls and I think we’re getting to a point where he’s solving it,” Simons said. “I was very disappointed with that Australia Test because he was bowling so well going into it. There were a few problems with no-balls in the nets but we didn’t expect it to be as big a problem when the Test match started. He’s bowling really well in the nets and I’m pleased with where he’s at.”New Zealand ended the day on 258 for 4 and Simons said they were “probably just ahead” and that India would have liked about six wickets. Had Guptill not been let off on 5, though, the day could have played out extremely differently for he went on to score 80 more. There was another moment off another Sreesanth no-ball when Tim McIntosh, batting on 35, missed a pull. The ball went off his pad towards the vicinity of the stumps and McIntosh swivelled around to check whether he needed to kick it to safety. He didn’t and, for Sreesanth and India, it was perhaps just as well.

Plays of the Day on day three of the Wellington Test between New Zealand and Pakistan

Andrew Fernando17-Jan-2011Nude sprint of the day
Perhaps it is because five-day cricket is a relatively sedate pursuit or because Tests attract a more refined breed of spectator, but streaking is a rare occurrence in the longest form of the game. A young Wellingtonian, though, proved that even cricket’s proudest incarnation wasn’t above being besoiled by the naked human form with a somewhat commendable streaking effort just after lunch. Sidestepping the guard at fine leg, the poorly covered intruder sprinted onto the field, donning nought but a cape and wielding a plastic sword. He circumvented the pitch as he ran towards the opposite end of the ground, shaking his sword at the security personnel who were closing in. He ran into trouble at long-on though, as he was cornered by three guards who tackled him to the ground, forcibly covered his genitals and escorted him out of sight.Shot of the day
Misbah-ul-haq played a number of attractive strokes throughout the day, but perhaps the best of the lot was his gorgeous cover drive off the first ball of the evening session. Tim Southee pitched full and wide, and Misbah went down on one knee to caress it languidly through the infield for four.Miser of the day
In a match where spinners have been resigned to bowling into the wind, Vettori produced the meanest spell from the scoreboard end, just before tea. He began with five consecutive maidens to Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, bowling an immaculate line to his packed off-side field, before the batsmen managed to break free with a spate of ones and twos. By the break his eight-over spell had cost 12 runs.Howler of the day
Given the number of umpiring howlers so far, the Test at the Basin Reserve has been a painful exercise in proving just how much Test cricket needs the UDRS. Seven bad umpiring decisions had been made by stumps at day three and perhaps the cruelest of them was Younis Khan’s dismissal on the stroke of tea. Younis came forward to a Vettori arm ball and failed to get bat on ball. The ball struck his pad and popped up to Jesse Ryder at short-leg, and almost before Younis had had time to look up, he had been given out. Pakistan, who had cruised for most of the day towards a handy first-innings lead, lost their remaining six wickets for 90 runs.Lacklustre appeal of the day
Reece Young may have been impressive with the bat and tidy with the gloves, but his appealing behind the stumps may not be at the level required for an international wicketkeeper. He failed to join in with his teammates after Umar Taufeeq had edged one behind yesterday and his half-hearted effort when Tim Southee demanded Adnan Akmal’s wicket after tea was a dead giveaway that the batsman had not touched it. Perhaps the New Zealand coaching staff could get him onto videos of Kumar Sangakkara or Kamran Akmal to show him what he should be doing.

The heat was sapping, the wind was nearly non-existent, but the home fans finally had reason to cheer

Dylan Copeland18-Dec-2010Choice of game
Nothing draws a crowd to the WACA ground like an Ashes Test. We joined the milling mob as they descended upon the WACA like ants returning to the nest. Despite the large number of people the line through the bag search area progressed quickly and smoothly and we were seated just in time for the start of the day’s play.Although the forecast maximum was only to be 33 degrees Celsius, the day was already hot by the start time of 10:30am. The lack of wind meant that there was no relief from the bright Australian sun. Despite the conditions, or perhaps unbelievably, because of them, many spectators had removed their shirts.Crowd meter
Judging by the respective cheering, it seemed that a large proportion of the crowd was made up of England supporters. The Australians outnumbered them slightly (at least in volume) but such equality is rare at international fixtures.The English certainly had more cause to make themselves heard at the beginning of play. Having dismissed Australia the day before for the seemingly low total of 268, each run scored by Cook and Strauss was warmly applauded.Each run disheartened the Australian fans, mindful not only of the lack of English wickets in the first two Tests, but also keenly aware that if England got away in the morning session then they would take with them any hope that Australia had of regaining the Ashes.Key performer
The heat was such that I was keenly watching the flags on top of the scoreboard for any indication that the sea breeze – known locally as the Fremantle Doctor – was coming in. The few gusts of wind there were, however, were coming from the complete opposite direction.Face-off I relished
With the conditions remaining still, Cook and Strauss scored at a brisk rate. The introduction of Mitchell Johnson into the attack did nothing to unsettle England initially. But then the flags stiffened in the breeze, not the much desired Doctor, but from the north-east. From the end which Johnson was bowling, the wind was blowing from left to right, helping Johnson move the ball away from the left-handed Cook and swing it into the right-handers, Trott, Pietersen, and Collingwood.Wow moment
Cook’s dismissal was met by cautious optimism but a couple of overs later with Trott and Pietersen back in the shed, the crowd could barely stay in their seats.Aye for UDRS
There has been much said about the decision review system but for a jubilant crowd the excitement and tension of watching a decision review on the big screens around the ground is an exquisitely involving experience. Everyone stands and cranes their neck, watching every piece of footage intently, cheering or otherwise in anticipation of official confirmation when they see something conclusive.Overall
Whether it was the heat, or a big first day, or simply because the day belonged to Australia, at any rate the famed Barmy Army were noticeably quiet, so much so that we saw no sign of them until the last session. Even then their singing was sporadic and short-lived.The second day at the WACA was action-packed, which, given the way the first two Tests unfolded, was much appreciated by the large crowd. The standout performance of the day was Mitchell Johnson’s six wickets. But runs also flowed and the highlight was the large number of hooks and pulls played, however unconvincingly. The crowd was good-natured and both sets of fans had plenty to cheer.

S Badrinath and Yusuf Pathan had a golden opportunity to cement their spots in the ODI side in the series against West Indies. Sadly, both have failed so far

Sriram Veera in Antigua15-Jun-2011It’s easy to like Yusuf Pathan. It’s easy to grow to like S Badrinath. Yusuf can thrill you with his big hits; he appeals with his primal spirit and gives you instant gratification. Badrinath, with his years of hard toil in domestic cricket, can make you sympathetic to his cause. However, both are guilty of throwing away the great opportunity presented to them in the ongoing ODI series in the West Indies. Especially Badrinath, who is yet to prove that he belongs on the international stage.It wasn’t that long ago when Dale Steyn made Badrinath look out of his depth in a Test in India. Here, in the West Indies, Andre Russell, nowhere close to Steyn in class or pace, made Badrinath hop and jump awkwardly on a docile pitch. Badrinath is not a very wristy player; his strokeplay is all arms. Under pressure, those hands start gripping the bat tighter, the arms start stabbing, and the ball doesn’t seem to move off the turf. It looks like a struggle, it feels like a struggle and perhaps, it is a struggle.He arrived here on the back of a very good domestic season and an impressive showing in the IPL. This series was supposed to be his carpe diem opportunity. Instead, it’s turning into a nightmare. He was given a chance to bat at No. 4, ahead of both Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma – except in the rain-shortened second ODI – but has averaged just 13.33 in four games so far, with a high score of 17. His critics are having a field day: ‘oh he is just a domestic batsman and is a misfit. He can’t rotate the strike if the bowling is accurate and he will eventually be eaten up by the pressure,’ is their line of thought.It’s not that Badrinath is not mentally tough: if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have survived the years of rejection and continued reaping runs in domestic cricket to the extent that the selectors were almost forced to pick him. The real question though, and one he has so failed to answer is whether he is international class? This is the same Badrinath who handled the short balls well in South Africa during the second season of the IPL; constantly side stepping to upper cut them. Those deliveries had more pace and bounce than the ones he faced in Antigua. But the pressure of playing international cricket is vastly different from the IPL and it does strange things. Badrinath is a very intense man and by his own admission feels he has to learn to go easy on himself . He has one more game before the Test series to get it right. Will he be able to produce a knock of real substance?Yusuf, too, is mentally a tough nut. Everyone knows his weakness against pacy bouncers. Batsmen with this problem tend to start expecting it off every ball. They are likely to hang on the back foot or hop and get caught out by the full deliveries. Yusuf isn’t one of them; even as he would deal awkwardly with the short deliveries, he has rarely let a full delivery in his arc go unpunished. However, his career is threatening to spin out of control after his showing in this series so far. He has lasted only 17 deliveries in his three knocks. He gave a tame return catch in the first, lapped to short midwicket in the second and was brilliantly pouched by Lendl Simmons, and threw his wicket in the third, slugging to long-off. Each time, he stood there almost in disbelief at what he had done.Again, like Badrinath, each game had presented Yusuf with a great opportunity. There were lots of overs left, there was no pressure from the run-rate, and he could have played himself in. He didn’t. Was it adrenalin kicking in to counterattack and impose himself or were they shots played under pressure? Was it overconfidence or nerves? The former can be easier to correct; the latter indicates vulnerability and is difficult to overcome. Only Yusuf knows the truth.When the biggies return, both Yusuf and Badrinath will rarely get chances like this. Five ODIs on featherbeds against a team struggling to paper its cracks and compete. Five chances to resuscitate your career and cement your spot. Now both have just one final shot at redemption. They will have to take it. Else, there might not be a second chance. Especially for Badrinath. Yusuf, with his brutal knocks against South Africa in South Africa not long ago coupled with his bowling, is likely to get more chances in the future. If Badrinath fails on Thursday, this could be the last time he plays in coloured clothes. Even his Test chances might be in jeopardy. The stakes are that high.