A look at how Canada, one of the Associates in Group A, fared in the 2011 World Cup

Sriram Veera22-Mar-2011World Cup performanceAshish Bagai and John Davison, who announced his retirement at the end of the tournament, celebrate Canada’s victory over Kenya•Getty ImagesCanada viewed this World Cup as a major turning point in their cricketing journey. Self reliance appeared to be a mirage until this tournament, but according to board president Ranjit Sahni, sponsors are beginning to show up at their door. Plans are afoot to launch a five-team competition along the lines of the IPL in Canada, with the involvement of foreign players. They are striving to go beyond the handouts they get from the ICC and script their own destiny. Much depended on their young team stringing together a few good performances in this tournament and they have done that.They gave a real scare to England in the warm-up game but were pinned down near the line by Stuart Broad. Realistically, their goal was to beat Kenya, the other Associate team in their group, and maybe also beat Zimbabwe. They achieved a five-wicket win over Kenya but were thumped by Zimbabwe. Where they really sparkled, albeit in phases, was against some of the Full Members. Apart from that warm-up encounter against England, they bowled out Pakistan for 184 and reached 104 for 3 before collapsing for 138. Against Australia, they raced to 82 for 1 in just 11 overs, courtesy of a dazzling knock from Hiral Patel, and reached 150 for 2 in the 29th over before the inevitable collapse.HighsA win is priceless and so the defeat of Kenya stands out. To make the Australian captain lose his rag – a frustrated Ricky Ponting threw down the ball in anger, ostensibly due to a team-mate, but Canada’s blitz would have contributed to his overall sombre mood – was another mini-highlight. But the two performances against Pakistan and England will be treasured. They came close to beating both and if not for Broad and the wily Shahid Afridi, they might even have done it.LowsIt has to be their performance against Zimbabwe. Getting crushed by Sri Lanka is one thing but being thumped by Zimbabwe would have saddened them. Zimbabwe waltzed to 298 before Canada were shot out for 123.StrengthsThe youth provided hope, a couple of experienced players impressed, and the management seems keen on developing the game. Hiral Patel hit a 45-ball 54 that included a mind-blowing back-foot six over covers to a 158.5kph thunderbolt from Shaun Tait. Ashish Bagai was fabulous behind the stumps and very purposeful, and calm, in front of it with the bat. Balaji Rao treated your senses with his legspin when he dared to flight the ball. The seamer Harvir Baidwan picked up 13 wickets at 23.61 and Jimmy Hansra made over 200 runs with the bat.WeaknessesThe inability to maintain their hold for long. Whenever they had the game, if not in their grasp, at least on an even keel, they collapsed. The cause can’t be simply a lack of skill. It reflects a mental weakness as well, probably stemming from the lack of exposure to such competitive games. There was enough evidence there, though, that suggested that this team can improve with more games.ProspectsManagement visions can be dangerously illusionary. They talk of pumping in money, improving infrastructure, spreading the game to the grassroots but this, as we know, is not an easy task. What Canada seem to possess, though, is the desire and the will to do something. The first thing they plan to do is extend year-long contracts to players. They have formed a close alliance with the West Indies cricket board and are involved in exchange programs; they have already featured in the Caribbean domestic Twenty20. Bigger things are being planned in terms of a jazzy local competition in Canada and they are even thinking about setting up a winter base in India. A cricket village offshore where the boys can spend time improving their game and play the local teams is being planned. A scholarship program is being planned for young kids interested in the game which they hope will act as feeder system for the national team in due course.Ashish Bagai, the captain, said the game can get corporate and government support only if the locals get involved in the game. So far, it’s the expat community that is interested in the game. This will be the most arduous task for the administrators to pull off. Cricket Canada plan to produce and broadcast cricket from around the world, including the local game, on broadband internet in the country. Only time will tell whether that translates into viewership and kick starts interest in the Canadian kids. If they can learn from the mistakes made by Kenya and remain professional, Canada can only grow from here.

Plays of the day from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur

Siddarth Ravindran09-May-2011Three strikes
Suresh Raina and M Vijay were timing the ball beautifully during their half-century stand, and with their kamikaze running, a run-out seemed Rajasthan Royals’ best chance to break through. In the 14th over, Vijay glanced the ball to fine leg and was zipping back for the second when he realised Raina didn’t want the second. The throw missed, and he survived. Two balls later, he was haring for a single which Raina didn’t want. Again the throw missed, and he survived. In the next over, Vijay toe-ended the ball towards backward point and jogged through for a single, looking back to see where the ball was. Johan Botha fielded and unleashed a slide-rule throw which caught the dallying Vijay just short.Dwayne Bravo checks in
It took a marathon journey, including four stopovers, to transport Dwayne Bravo from the Caribbean to Jaipur. He was so tired that he was the only member of the Chennai squad to be given a business-class ticket for the final leg of his flight, from Mumbai to Jaipur. If he was feeling any effects of the exhausting voyage, he didn’t show it during the match. In the second over of Rajasthan’s chase, he almost pulled off a stunning bit of fielding. He swooped on the ball from point, and under-armed it at the stumps as he fell over. He would have got the big wicket of Shane Watson if the throw had hit. It narrowly missed, and Watson batted on.How not to catch
Shadab Jakati doesn’t have the reputation of being the most sure-fingered of fielders, and he showed why in Jaipur. When Watson top-edged a sweep, the ball swirled towards Jakati, who settled under it but nearly fumbled. The ball popped out of his hands two times, and a relieved Jakati clasped it on the third attempt. In the 12th over, another top edge looped towards him at mid-off. He got under the ball early and attempted to take it Australian-style but he overbalanced and the ball bobbled out of his hands, and on to the ground.How to catch
Suresh Raina is among the finest fielders in India, and he showed why in Jaipur. Rajasthan’s challenge was just about being kept alive by a dashing half-century from Ajinkya Rahane. In the 15th over, Rahane tried to club Bravo over long-on. It was a flat, brutal hit that seemed headed for the crowd, but Raina intercepted it with a well-timed leap to pluck the ball overhead, landing just a couple of yards inside the rope.A double take
There have been plenty of surprises from the bowlers this season. There have been several double-bouncers, and Vinay Kumar has shown off a Lasith Malinga-style sidearm delivery. Add to that list the Jakati two-timer. On the final delivery of the 11th over, he walked up to bowl, and half-rolled his arm over without actually releasing the ball. He went through with his bowling action once more, and the second time he did fire the ball in towards the unsettled batsman, Johan Botha, who chipped it to mid-on. Umpire Simon Taufel quickly walked over to Jakati and warned him not to repeat the trick, as it constituted unfair play.Keeping his feet on the ground
Doug Bollinger has always been termed a trier, someone who gives it everything when he’s on the field. Bollinger found himself on the floor early during the Rajasthan chase, when he fell over after attempting a pacy bouncer. Even in the penultimate over, with the match safely in Chennai’s bag, there was no shortage of enthusiasm. He slipped in another short ball, which Botha top-edged. The ball soared high and was going to land just behind the stumps. Bollinger called early for the catch, and sprinted to pouch it. He got there in time, and hung on to it. Once again he couldn’t balance himself, though, and tumbled over clumsily.

The last time 230 was chased at the Premadasa was six-and-a-half years ago. It was fitting then that on the big day the home side lost the toss, and put in a supreme performance to comfortably chase and win

Sidharth Monga at the Premadasa26-Mar-2011Today the R Premadasa Stadium became only the fourth ground to have hosted 100 ODIs. Yet it is a much-maligned venue, and not without reason either. It was actually a surprise that they kept playing ODIs under lights here, with the side batting first at an obvious and a significant advantage, what with the evening moisture and the ordinary floodlights deciding most of the games between evenly matched sides at the toss. The last time 230 was chased here was six-and-a-half years ago, a statistic that speaks for itself.However, for the year and a half running into the World Cup, they stopped playing here. As they renovated the stands, they also tried to figure out what they could do to address that imbalance. They realised that because the ground is in a low-lying area, the moisture comes up in the evenings and assists seam movement. So they raised the square by three-and-a-half feet, and also installed new, improved floodlights. Hosting a World Cup is a matter of prestige, and nobody would have wanted two unfair knockout matches in Sri Lanka.It was natural that the statistics were thrown around in the lead-up to the match. “Toss crucial,” ran the headlines around the world. Meanwhile Sri Lankan players told anybody who would listen that things had changed, a glimpse of which was shown in how they had looked comfortable chasing 278 against Pakistan before losing their way. It was fitting then that on the big day the home side lost the toss, and put in a supreme performance to not only chase and win, but chase and win comfortably at that.Of course they didn’t win because batting second was easy. Batting was still a bit difficult; 230 was still a good target on a low and slow pitch, in a high-pressure World Cup knockout game. And they didn’t win because they just batted well; their bowling was superb for the conditions, never mind the three dropped catches. More importantly, for all of England’s tenacity – and they were tenacious even today for 70 overs – Sri Lanka had enough class to fall back upon and pull the opposition back. Don’t forget that Muttiah Muralitharan was one of the most expensive bowlers on either side, and yet – except during the partnership between Jonathan Trott and Eoin Morgan – Sri Lanka never really looked in trouble.Shrewdly they opened the bowling with Tillakaratne Dilshan, knowing England would be circumspect with their third different opening combination of the tournament. Dilshan, a smart cricketer, gave the openers little pace to work with, and by the time he was taken off, England had the uninviting prospect of facing 30 overs of specialist spin out of the 42 remaining. England played Muralitharan well, getting to the pitch of the balls and dabbing, paddling, reverse-paddling him for ones and twos. Then came a period when the game seemed to be running out of Sri Lanka’s butter fingers. Three catches went down, a chance to challenge a not-out lbw call was missed, and England looked good to get even 260, which would have seriously challenged Sri Lanka, evening or no evening.England called for the batting Powerplay at 182 for 3 after 42 overs, with set batsmen in the middle who had added 87 in 15 overs. Kumar Sangakkara called for Lasith Malinga. Malinga needed one loosener before firing in three yorkers followed by a slower ball that accounted for Morgan. The fielders woke up again, with Dilshan and Chamara Silva not allowing twos in the outfield and Malinga and Ajantha Mendis not allowing boundaries. Andrew Strauss admitted later that they were not allowed to play well by “a very good side”.Putting Dilshan and Upul Tharanga together at the top of the order has been Sri Lanka’s biggest ODI investment over the last two years. Dilshan had been a middle-order batsman, and to persist with Tharanga, the team management has had to fight undue outside pressures to bring Sanath Jayasuriya back. Both were bold moves, and both have paid off: in 32 attempts the two have added 2023 at an average of 65.25, incidentally surpassing tonight the Jayasuriya-Tharanga combine to become the third-most prolific opening combination for Sri Lanka.It was evident why they work so well together. When Dilshan struggled for timing in the first half hour, it was Tharanga who took the initiative and cut Tim Bresnan and lofted Graeme Swann. There was a clear understanding that Dilshan could throw things away if the runs didn’t come fast enough, and that’s where Tharanga came in. Once Dilshan got in, he took charge of the scoring, and in synchronicity they moved towards their centuries.The freedom with which they batted proved two things. The Sri Lankan bowlers were much higher in quality, and the conditions weren’t as tough as it seemed when England batted. There was the aggressive intent that is necessary to score runs on these pitches, something neither England’s technique nor their loss of wickets allowed them to do.Not long into the Sri Lankan innings, the stands turned into a party. The steel bands blared in every stand, the people danced, exaggerated defensive shots from Dilshan ensured there were enough runs left for Tharanga to get to his century too. Amid all that, a ground was possibly sent on redemption path too.

While Michael Clarke has looked the part of leader of his team in the series so far, Tillakaratne Dilshan seems to be finding it hard to cope with the complex demands of captaining Sri Lanka

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele08-Sep-2011Michael Clarke became Australia’s Test captain after at least three years of waiting for Ricky Ponting to grant him the privilege. Tillakaratne Dilshan inherited Sri Lanka’s crown only once all his contemporaries had taken their turn. This difference was as striking as the Pallekele sunshine on the first day of the second Test, in a series that is rapidly becoming a mismatch between a natural leader and one who looks anything but.Those wishing to be critical of Clarke often point out, among other caustic observations, that he has never led his state side, New South Wales. The job was shared among Brad Haddin, Simon Katich and Stuart Clark in the years following Steve Waugh’s retirement. But this lack of domestic experience in leadership reflected Clarke’s progress as a player, rather than shortcomings as an on-field marshall. He debuted for Australia at 21 (23 in Tests) and was spending more time outside the NSW XI than in it by the time he may have been considered for the captaincy. He led many representative teams during his teenage years, and has always appeared to think like a captain on the field, irrespective of his official status.Such alertness has been writ large across his first series as Australia’s fully-fledged leader. Clarke wants to make things happen in Sri Lanka, and so far he has done so. Bowling changes have regularly brought wickets, seldom has an edge flown where a slip fielder was not posted, and the bowlers have followed through on his plans with a thoroughness that suggests they want to do their best for him as well as themselves. While the success in Galle had an element of “critical toss” providence about it, Clarke’s leadership on the first day in Pallekele, when both captains regarded the pitch with far less suspicion, was expert.The early life offered by Pallekele’s pitch and altitude was used with almost as much precision as England had managed against Australia on the first day of the second Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval last year. That track, much like this one, promised to flatten out into a pristine batting strip once the first hour’s life had been negotiated. Here, Clarke kept Ryan Harris and Trent Copeland in partnership to provide the early breakthroughs, then gambled with his deputy Shane Watson as the first change bowler, instead of Mitchell Johnson, to see if any more conventional swing could be extracted.He introduced Nathan Lyon in the penultimate over before lunch and was rewarded when Prasanna Jayawardene swung at the bowler’s teasing loop once too often, Sri Lanka losing half their side in the morning session. But Clarke’s most inspired moment would arrive at the day’s midpoint, just as Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews threatened to build a hefty partnership. Most would have handed the ball to a frontline bowler; some might have handed it to the captain himself. Instead, Clarke opted for the slow mediums of Michael Hussey, and third ball was outrageously rewarded with the wicket of Sangakkara, pouched at short extra cover. One of the great Richie Benaudisms on captaincy says it is “90% luck and 10% skill, but don’t try it without the 10%”. In this instance, the share of luck went with the bowler, but the skill fully belonged to Australia’s captain. How his counterpart Dilshan must have cussed.Captaining Sri Lanka is complex and requires taking on all manner of responsibilities, duties and pressures that Clarke and his Australia predecessors could scarcely contemplate. Where in Australia it is said in jest that the national cricket captain holds the second most important job in the nation, in Sri Lanka there are times where such a label can seem entirely justified. Mahela Jayawardene, summed up the role for ESPNcricinfo: “It is not like in other countries. In Sri Lanka leading the team for a year is like you’ve done it for two or three years – it is a lot of responsibility and a lot of things happen around you. Controlling those variables drains a lot out of you.”The strains of the role wore through Jayawardene and Sangakkara in the space of five years, and when the latter exited the job was thrust into Dilshan’s hands. Subtract the final session of the Cardiff Test in England and his first series in charge was a creditable effort by the new captain and his team. But, so far, the home matches against Australia have been little short of disastrous, and leave ugly questions for the team to contemplate. Their lack of a fulltime coach since the exit of Trevor Bayliss after the World Cup cannot have helped, for Dilshan appears to need a stronger guiding hand at the back-room tiller than he seems to be getting.The morning of this Test brought with it several problems for Dilshan to negotiate. Chanaka Welegedara passed a fitness test after a knee problem, but an injured finger for Rangana Herath and back trouble for Ajantha Mendis robbed the captain of his two most likely sources of wickets. The last minute reshuffle contrasted with an Australia XI that was known two days prior to the toss.Dilshan is not a natural tactician, and his flighty batting cannot be expected to set an example for all to follow. He tried to play the long game in Pallekele, having swatted ignobly in Galle, but was undone by Copeland’s suffocating line and the movement readily available off a fresh pitch. The decision to leave a rather straight ball was a possible reflection of mental fatigue.With the exceptions of Sangakkara and Mathews the rest of the batsmen folded all too readily and, by day’s end, the series was galloping away from the hosts. At this point it does not appear as though the side fiercely wants to play for Dilshan, and that the captain is being pulled in more directions than his skill and character can handle. He looks very much, as the Sri Lankan cricket establishment decided long ago, the third choice.

Australia’s new bowling coach, Craig McDermott, has been drumming it into his students that they need to get the ball up there and swinging. The results are now starting to show

Daniel Brettig08-Nov-2011Isolated to its most fundamental point, cricket could be described as the duel between a bowler tempting a batsman to drive and a batsman trying to ignore that temptation. Save for Bodyline and a few West Indian bouncer wars, this battle has endured across more than 2000 Test matches, often entrancing spectators as much as it has consumed the combatants.Last summer in Australia, Craig McDermott noticed that the struggle seemed at times to have been won by the England batsmen before it began. Time after time, England’s top order were not sufficiently tempted to drive by Australia’s fast men, and time after time Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and others settled in happily for the long innings that were crucial to keeping the Ashes in the visitors’ possession. Wicketkeeper, slips and stumps, all likely to be involved at the start of an innings, were often little more in it than the crowds were. With the exception of the Perth Test, Australia’s bowlers were not posing the questions that the new ball should invite.The failing was made even plainer during England’s time in the field, when their bowlers zipped the ball about from the foundation of a relentless line. In Adelaide, Jimmy Anderson had at best 20 minutes of early swing and seam to exploit before the pitch turned totally placid. He duly accounted for Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, pushing firmly at full deliveries, and tilted the match inside its first half-hour.When McDermott took over from Troy Cooley as Australia’s bowling coach, it was with a simple but clear policy for change. The pace bowlers had been dropping far too short, particularly early on, robbing themselves of new-ball swing and narrowing the avenues for wickets.Unlike Cooley, a modest seam bowler with Tasmania before his coaching career blossomed, McDermott had his own record and method to call on, having harnessed speed and swing to harvest 291 Test wickets in one of Australian cricket’s more under-sung careers. His early meetings with Australia’s bowlers, at a Brisbane training camp and then in Sri Lanka, emphasised the virtues of a fuller length.”My emphasis has been, and was when I got this job, to have the fittest attack in the world and also have the bowlers, by being the fittest attack in the world, being able to execute for the longest, at that fuller length – therefore we will win Test matches.”We showed that in Sri Lanka, and I’m sure that if we do that in South Africa with the attack that we have, we will swing the ball, and we’ll take a lot of wickets.”In addition to pressing his case in words, McDermott did it with statistics and footage. Tellingly, he requested a change to the team’s video analysis parameters, pushing the “good” and “full” lengths on CA’s bowling graphics closer to the bat by about a metre to further encourage deliveries that could swing and catch the edge of a probing bat.This met with some initial scepticism from bowlers raised on the back-of-a-length, fourth-stump mentality favoured famously by McDermott’s former pace partner Glenn McGrath, and a host of coaches and bowlers who followed him. Some states, Queensland and more recently Victoria, have excelled at bowling “dry” – a shorter length that gives up the possibility of swing in favour of bounce, preying on an impetuosity that may be found in Australian domestic batsmen but can be far harder to locate among Test cricket’s best exponents. For Australia, the results of one of McGrath’s few unsuccessful series, when New Zealand’s batsmen shouldered arms repeatedly in 2001, had become something like the norm. On his arrival in Sri Lanka, Ryan Harris was taken aback by what McDermott told him.

“I found it really hard to believe that we were not bowling full enough. [McDermott] showed us footage of fuller bowling and where we had been bowling. You can notice the difference”Ryan Harris on the new length directive

“The length we were brought up to bowl on, for me especially, was probably half a metre too short and you’d see the pitch maps on the TV that show your short, good and full lengths,” Harris said. “We go by them and all the coding that’s done on the games these days are done on those lengths. I got to Sri Lanka and spoke to him about that and I found it really hard to believe that we were not bowling full enough. He showed us footage of fuller bowling and where we had been bowling. You can notice the difference, and that’s something we’ve worked really hard on and talked a lot about before Sri Lanka.”Balance and personnel were other significant considerations. In earlier years Stuart Clark had been a vital component of the Australian team, bowling tight yet full enough to move the ball in the air, and in Sri Lanka the tourists had Trent Copeland to call on for a similar service. Shane Watson’s presence was also useful, as he had found his first genuine success as an international bowler by pitching the ball up and learning to swing it, either by conventional means in England or reverse in the subcontinent. Combined with the speed of Mitchell Johnson and the fledgling spin of Nathan Lyon, Australia’s ensemble in Sri Lanka provided a wide selection of attributes. Bolstered by McDermott’s direction, they did far better than anyone might have expected.”I was very happy with the way our pace bowlers and all our bowlers stuck to their plans,” McDermott said. “Certainly in the first Test match it was a very spin-friendly wicket, our quicks stuck to a good, fuller length, which has been important to us over the last three or four months, on the back of the way we bowled in the Ashes last year. Nathan Lyon bowled very well in his first Test on a very spin-friendly wicket.”Out in the field, the likes of Harris and Copeland were enthused by the results to be derived from a fuller length and a tight line. Harris was particularly effective, moving the ball both ways at a length that meant a very late adjustment indeed for any batsman to survive. Having taken 11 wickets at 14.54 in the first two Test before a hamstring strain ruled him out of the third, Harris went home intent on bowling fuller in all conditions. As if to ram home the point, he plucked 9 for 83 against Tasmania at the Gabba before flying to Cape Town.”After doing it and seeing how much difference it can make, how much more the bowler comes into the game, it is going to be very, very beneficial,” Harris said. “I found it quite tough, to be honest, to be able to come in and try to bowl fuller, but it was something [McDermott] harped on every time we bowled in Sri Lanka, and eventually we got it right. There was no coincidence that the results went our way and we bowled as well as we did.”Harris is not the only Australian bowler benefiting from a full philosophy. Mitchell Marsh returned from a stint in the national ODI team to swing through 13 batsmen in the space of two matches against Queensland at the WACA ground.Ryan Harris reaped the benefits of a fuller length against Tasmania, against whom he took nine wickets before the South Africa tour•Getty ImagesPeter Siddle started the Sri Lanka tour bowling too short and fell behind Copeland by doing so. By the time the third Test came around he had reconfigured, and he has now taken 16 wickets since, at low cost, in a variety of fixtures for his country and state. Mitchell Johnson, swinging the ball in the manner of his pomp, has claimed 20 victims in five matches since he finished up in Sri Lanka.For a former swing bowler and fellow coach like Damien Fleming, the sight of curling deliveries and driving batsmen has been a tonic. “Each specialist coach is going to want to put their stamp on things, and Billy wants them to bowl fuller and to bowl a little more at training as well,” Fleming said. “Someone like Peter Siddle can really benefit from that. Pete’s pace is very good, his bouncer’s good, his heart’s good, but there’s been a feeling that he hasn’t done a lot with the new ball. He’s trying a wider grip to get a stable seam position. It doesn’t swing for a long while in Australia, with the Kookaburra, so I don’t think you want to be bowling too far outside off stump. You should be attacking off stump on a full length, forcing the batsman to drive and trying to get those nicks behind.”It’s the culture within the team as well. If you’ve got a swing bowler, you’ve got to say to him ‘Even if you leak runs early, we really want you to get the ball up so they drive it’, so if he gets driven a couple of times in the first over, it’s not panic stations. If they’re good enough to play a couple of cover drives, then you give the batsman a tick.”A lot of us [former bowlers] in hindsight would say we should’ve bowled fuller. We were hitting the splice of the bat okay, but conditions were dictating that we should get it up and swing the ball a bit more – that’s the beauty of a specialist coach, to be able to say, in a game, ‘Boys, we need to be bowling it fuller’ and not wait for the review after the match.”In the days before the Cape Town Test, Australia’s bowling was questioned by the South Africa A coach, Vincent Barnes. He queried its quality and its fitness, suggesting the hosts’ batsmen would not have much trouble at all. “We should go one-nil up in Cape Town,” he said. While it remains true that Clarke lacks a bowling attack with the record of some of its predecessors, confidence is growing. This has been greatly aided by McDermott’s reversion to a simple philosophy, one that has worked for bowlers since Test cricket began: tempt a batsman to drive and reap the rewards. After a few years of shying away, the battle has been rejoined.

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.

From the highs of leading a team to the Ranji title and another to promotion, Amol Muzumdar finds himself no longer being the leading scorer in Ranji and having to prove himself before he can play first-class cricket again. Not that he’s complaining

Tariq Engineer24-Dec-2011Challenges. Amol Muzumdar uses the word a lot. He likes challenges. They motivate him, get his competitive juices flowing. He has been feeding off them all his career.From dreaming of playing for India, to scoring runs despite the disappointment of not being selected; from leading Mumbai to their most unlikely Ranji Trophy title, in 2007, to leading Assam into the Elite League, he has been at his best when tested. His latest challenge, though, he didn’t see coming. For the first time since 1992, Muzumdar is not playing Ranji Trophy cricket. Instead, the tournament’s all-time leading run scorer is plying his trade on the maidans of Mumbai among school cricketers and weekend enthusiasts.On this particular evening he is sitting by the tennis courts at the Khar Gymkhana, in a suburb of Mumbai, watching his five-year old daughter, Devina, hit a ball against the wall. He takes her bright pink Hannah Montana bag out from behind him and puts it on the table. She will need it when she goes swimming later. Meanwhile in Guwahati, Assam, the team he captained for two years after leaving Mumbai in 2009, was losing to Maharashtra. And in Rajkot, his former Mumbai team-mates were battling to a draw with Saurashtra.How did he get here?It began with an ending. Assam narrowly missed out on retaining their Elite status in 2010, being relegated on the last day of their last game. Muzumdar had led them into the Elite league the year before, the first time Assam had been promoted, and felt he had done his job. The time had come to return to Mumbai. He had missed the dressing room, the players, the buzz that came with chasing trophies. He still had the desire to succeed, the hunger to make runs.He applied to play for his hometown team again, confident he would make it through the selection process. He was told there was now a mandatory one-year cooling-off period. “If I had played, this would have been my 19th year in first-class cricket,” Muzumdar says. “I didn’t know about this rule. But there is a rule and the rule has to be followed.”Four years after leading Mumbai to the Ranji title, Muzumdar was faced with proving himself all over again by playing club cricket. The runs he had made through his career didn’t matter. Being a former Mumbai captain didn’t matter. The many rescue acts he had directed for Mumbai over the years didn’t matter. He could have walked away and played for another team. Wasim Jaffer, the Mumbai captain, took Muzumdar’s record for the most runs in the Ranji Trophy two days ago. If he had been playing, Jaffer might not have caught up.On the other hand, having accomplished practically everything there is to accomplish in domestic cricket, Muzumdar could even have retired and hopped on the television bandwagon – which he has explored with stints on Neo Cricket. (He happened to be commentating on the game in which Jaffer broke his record).But he wasn’t ready to give up. At a time when the virtues of youth are touted from every rooftop, Muzumdar, all of 37 (though he looks 10 years younger), believes he still has a lot to contribute. “I am fit, I have got the motivation, and I really want to give something back.” Besides, even batting in club cricket is still batting. And Muzumdar loves nothing more than batting. “It is an addiction,” he says. “You can’t just let it go.”Off the field, his family helped him cope with the changes. When he questioned, back in 2002, whether he wanted to keep playing, his wife helped him realise that he still loved the game; that there was more to life and cricket than playing at the top level. When it came time to discuss playing club cricket with her and his parents, their answers were the same: the fire still burns, so make the most of it while you can.”You have to move on and find something else to motivate you,” Muzumdar says. “My family has made me realise that you have to focus on the present, on what you have and do the best you can. Whatever comes, accept, and move ahead.”That attitude is why he chose to go to Holland earlier this year to be coach-cum-player with Quick the Hague in the Dutch top-tier Topklasse competition. The offer came as a surprise. Muzumdar was looking for a club contract in England, where he has played for the last 16 years, when he got a call asking if he would be interested in going to Holland. Not knowing much about cricket in the Netherlands, Muzumdar looked Quick up and thought it sounded interesting (former Zimbabwe batsmen David Houghton and Grant Flower have played for the club). He discussed it with his wife and in the first week of April the family found themselves on a plane.He expected to have an easy time of things but was in for a bit of a shock. The day after he arrived, he was handed a sheet that told him exactly what he would be doing, hour by hour, for the next three months. He was the coach for the Under-12, U-18 and senior sides, and played for the last of those as well. He led the U-18s to the championship for the first time in 60 years.Muzumdar says his time in Holland rejuvenated him. “It really got me going and I think it has helped me to focus more.” He enjoyed himself so much he has signed up for another go-around in 2012.After returning to India to discover he was not eligible to play for Mumbai, he strapped on his pads to lead Reliance Energy in the Times Shield on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and turned out for the National Cricket Club on Saturdays and Sundays in the Police Shield. On Fridays he would head over to Khar Gymkhana for a net session. “For one and a half months, I was the busiest cricketer in India,” he says with a smile.There were adjustments to be made, of course. For one, he wasn’t travelling. Even Devina noticed that. Muzumdar says that after he hadn’t gone anywhere for about two weeks, she asked him what he was doing at home. “I told her, ‘Enjoy it while it lasts. It won’t be for long.'”

At a time when the virtues of youth are touted from every rooftop, Muzumdar, all of 37, believes he still has a lot to contribute. He loves nothing more than batting. “It is an addiction,” he says. “You can’t just let it go”

Other changes have been more subtle. Playing for Mumbai meant not needing to worry about anything but the cricket. It was a set pattern of practice, rest and playing in games. Playing for National Cricket Club meant sometimes dropping Devina off at school on his way to a match. Once the game started, though, all the differences evaporated. “When you go in to bat and take the leg-stump guard, that is the time you switch on and it all falls into place.”Muzumdar led Reliance Energy to the quarter-finals of the Times Shield, scoring a century and two fifties in four games. He made another hundred and two fifties from five games as National Cricket Club made the finals. Playing on these pitches forced him to work on his technique, Muzumdar says, after he had grown used to the good batting wickets that predominate in Indian first-class cricket. “You get a wicket which will turn on the second and third days viciously. You have to cope with it.”Muzumdar misses the atmosphere of first-class cricket, but he has no regrets about his decision. He has “loved every moment of the last two months. It [maidan cricket] is the very essence of Mumbai cricket.” The expression on his face echoes his words. He does look happy; just glad to be back.Rajesh Powar, who captained National, says it is rare that someone of Muzumdar’s stature chooses to play club cricket and that they would not have made the final without him. “He could not play the final and we lost badly,” Powar says. “From that you can tell how important he was for us.”Muzumdar, he says, was not only very motivated on the field, he was also clearly enjoying himself. “He has the same attitude in Ranji and in Police Shield. He never seemed like he was taking it easy. He was just as motivated and focused. He tells us always to just enjoy cricket. It was a big plus point [to have him].”It is the opportunity to compete for a place in his beloved Mumbai side again that kept Muzumdar going this year. He has stayed in touch with many of his former team-mates. They called him when he broke the record for most Ranji runs, in 2009. He called them when they won the title. He would love nothing more than to be back in that dressing room.The most important thing he learned playing for Assam was patience and that is helping him bide his time now. But he plans to keep playing, even if he doesn’t make the cut for Mumbai next year.”I personally feel that everything has its own time. This is what I believe. For me, this is not the time where I need to get into something other than cricket.”

Analysis of individual and overall bowling performances across the four IPL seasons

S Rajesh and Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan10-Apr-2012Twenty20 cricket is thought to be a batsman-dominated game but, over four seasons of the IPL, the bowlers have held their own – and in many cases turned around games with match-winning spells. Lasith Malinga and Anil Kumble, the top bowlers in the overall and innings-wise lists, have proved themselves all over the world, but the lists below also include some less famous names who have grabbed the opportunity to mingle with the best.Take Amit Singh, a 30-year-old medium-pacer from Gujarat who has played only 18 first-class matches. Playing under Shane Warne for Rajasthan Royals, he turned in a bowling performance that comes up in third place, taking 3 for 9 against Kings XI Punjab in a matchwinning display.In the overall list, though, most of the names are high-quality ODI bowlers as well, which shows that they’ve adapted well to another form of limited-overs cricket. And for those who thought that 20-over cricket would favour one form of bowling over another, this study goes against that theory: there’s a fair mix of fast bowlers and spinners who’ve done well, with five of each in the top ten for both, the innings-wise and the overall lists.Key components of the bowling analysis- The economy rate of a bowler’s spell is weighted against the match run-rate. So, a bowler who bowls economically in a high-scoring match gets a higher score than one who achieves the same figures in a low-scoring game.Consider two performances: Rahul Sharma’s spell of 2 for 7 against Mumbai Indians, 2011 and Anil Kumble’s 5 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals, 2009. Rahul’s economy rate of 1.75 is slightly higher than Kumble’s 1.57 but, relative to his match run-rate (7.67), Rahul’s performance is better than Kumble’s because the overall run-rate in Kumble’s game was lower (5.43).- The wickets taken are weighted according to the batting position of the batsman dismissed. A bowler who takes top-order wickets thus gets a higher value than one who dismissed tailenders.- A bowler who doesn’t bowl his full quota of overs gets a slightly dampened rating (weighted according to the number of balls bowled), since it’s possible for bowlers, especially part-time ones, to get away with one or two inexpensive overs in which they take a few wickets. Bowling a full quota of four overs without conceding too many is far more difficult, and is hence recognised as such.Consider Laxmi Shukla’s spell of 3 for 6 in 0.5 overs v Delhi Daredevils, 2008 and Lasith Malinga’s 3 for 9 v Deccan Chargers, 2011. While Shukla bowled just five balls in the end and picked up three wickets, the bowling score is higher for Malinga who bowled his entire quota of overs.- As in the overall rating for batting, there’s a minimum number of bowling performances required for him to get a full rating in the overall rating for bowlers as well. For players who haven’t bowled in the required number of innings, their overall rating gets dampened. Just as with batting, the cut-off for the minimum number of innings is 20.Top ten bowling performances1. Rajasthan Royals were facing a target of just 134 on a difficult track in Cape Town. Kumble bowled 3.1 overs and picked up five wickets while conceding just five runs. Although it was a low-scoring match (match run-rate of 5.43), Kumble’s figures were still outstanding, even in the context of the relatively low scores.2. Mishra helped Deccan Chargers defend 198 with a superb spell of 4 for 9 off his four overs. His economy rate of 2.25 stood out in a game where the scoring rate was 8.05.3. After Rajasthan Royals set Kings XI Punjab a huge target of 212, Amit Singh produced an excellent spell of 3 for 9 at an economy rate of 2.25. In comparison, the match run-rate was 8.60. Another notable aspect of Singh’s performance was that all three of his wickets were top-six batsmen.4. Tanvir’s initial burst left Chennai Super Kings at 11 for 3 and he returned later to pick up the wickets of the top scorer Albie Morkel and the lower order. Tanvir’s haul of six wickets is the best in the IPL and helped set up a comfortable win for Rajasthan Royals.5. In a fairly high-scoring game, Rahul’s spell of 2 for 7 in four overs was exceptional. It is a top performance primarily because the match run-rate (7.67) is more than four times Rahul’s economy rate in the game (1.75). Added to that, both his wickets were of top-order batsmen.6. Malinga’s burst of three wickets including two top-order wickets set up Mumbai Indians’ 37-run win. His economy rate of 2.25 stood out in a match where the scoring rate was 7.67.7. In a high-scoring game (376 runs in 40 overs), Mishra’s spell of 5 for 17 helped Delhi Daredevils win by 12 runs. His economy rate of 4.25 was excellent in a game where the scoring rate was 9.40.8. Tanvir picked up two of the top three batsmen in his initial spell and reduced Royal Challengers Bangalore to 5 for 3 in their chase of a huge target of 198. In a game where the run-rate was 8.30, Tanvir’s economy rate was 2.50.9. After being restricted to just 129, Deccan Chargers fought back to win a low-scoring contest by 55 runs. Although Ishant’s economy rate of 4.00 in such a match (run-rate 5.53) does not stand out, his haul of five top-order wickets (all in the top six) gives him high overall score.10. Hodge picked up 4 for 13 to enable Kochi Tuskers bowl out Rajasthan Royals for 97 and chase down the 98-run target in just 7.3 overs. Hodge had an excellent economy rate of 3.25 in the match but the stand-out aspect is the fact that he picked up four wickets in a complete spell.

Top individual bowling performances in IPL

BowlerTeamOppositionSpellPointsAnil KumbleRoyal Challengers BangaloreRajasthan Royals5/571.80Amit MishraDeccan ChargersKings XI Punjab4/967.11Amit SinghRajasthan RoyalsKings XI Punjab3/966.04Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsChennai Super Kings6/1464.89Rahul SharmaPune WarriorsMumbai Indians2/763.48Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansDeccan Chargers3/961.52Amit MishraDelhi DaredevilsDeccan Chargers5/1760.32Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsRoyal Challengers Bangalore3/1058.69Ishant SharmaDeccan ChargersKochi Tuskers5/1255.79Brad HodgeKochi TuskersRajasthan Royals4/1355.54S AravindRoyal Challengers BangaloreKings XI Punjab4/1455.53Harbhajan SinghMumbai IndiansDelhi Daredevils4/1755.09Munaf PatelMumbai IndiansKings XI Punjab5/2154.95Harbhajan SinghMumbai IndiansChennai Super Kings5/1854.80Sohail TanvirRajasthan RoyalsMumbai Indians4/1454.36Rohit SharmaDeccan ChargersMumbai Indians4/654.09Piyush ChawlaKings XI PunjabRoyal Challengers Bangalore4/1753.94Ashish NehraDelhi DaredevilsKings XI Punjab1/653.74Shaun PollockMumbai IndiansChennai Super Kings1/953.62Lasith MalingaMumbai IndiansDelhi Daredevils5/1353.47The overall bowling scoresLasith Malinga, who is on top of the overall list of IPL bowlers, has an excellent economy rate of 6.38 and has also managed to pick up 61 wickets in 42 matches (1.45 per match). Amit Mishra, who has the same number of wickets as Malinga, has a slightly higher economy rate and lower values of wickets-per-match (1.35).There are others, though, who haven’t been so prolific in terms of wickets but have superb economy rates. Rahul Sharma (21 wickets in 20 matches) and Harbhajan Singh (48 in 46) have only taken marginally more than one wicket per match, but both make it to the top 20 on the strength of excellent economy rates – 6.22 for Rahul Sharma and 6.76 for Harbhajan.

Top bowlers overall in IPL

BowlerMatchesPointsLasith Malinga4225.33Amit Mishra4524.72R Ashwin3024.12Doug Bollinger2124.11Farveez Maharoof2023.37Anil Kumble4222.97Rahul Sharma2022.96Muttiah Muralitharan4522.56Ashish Nehra3122.25Dale Steyn4021.80Munaf Patel4521.69Daniel Vettori2521.47RP Singh5621.17Ryan Harris2920.99Harbhajan Singh4620.63Pragyan Ojha5420.48Dirk Nannes2420.47Irfan Pathan5620.43Shane Warne5520.07Zaheer Khan4619.99Click here to download the list of top 50 individual bowling performances and here to download the list of top 50 IPL bowlers.

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.”

****

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.”

****

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.”

****

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.

****

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.”

****

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.