West Indies have an improving attack and more fighting spirit than they have shown for some time, but the same old cracks still appeared when it counted, writes Vaneisa Baksh

Vaneisa Baksh26-May-2008

By the morning of the fifth day spirits had flown, sensing once again a forlorn return to the familiar. The captain Ramnaresh Sarwan and the opener Devon Smith were gone, it was 60 for 3, and the target of 287 shimmered up ahead in the distance. Could it really be that Shivnarine Chanderpaul was to be called in again to save the match?In the first innings, he had been the hero. Not only because he had scored a vital century – his 18th – but he had done it under frightful circumstances. The sickening blow to his head from the Brett Lee ball stunned onlookers far more than it seemed to stun him. His inert body on the ground invoked every horror story of sports injuries. I was appalled that he was allowed to play even if he said he could, so my heart was in my mouth right through the innings as he transformed to legendary status by simply batting on, as we say, regardless.It was typical of the Tiger, though, that same stoicism he brings to his cricket was evident. He’d come there to do a job and he was going to do it, no question about it. What might have seemed another day’s work to him was evidently a source of inspiration to his team, as indeed are all acts of heroism.For with an hour’s play left on the third day after the West Indies innings closed on 312, they came out with an energy and purpose that was reminiscent of olden days – that “long-time something” whose return one spectator cherished on his banner. Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell seemed supercharged and looked – not for the first time in the match – truly formidable, spewing focus and speed consistently enough to take four wickets before poor light gave a reprieve to the bemused Australians.They could not have anticipated this crumbly end to the day’s play. It is not yet within the Australian psyche to envisage themselves as a weaker team than their 15-year record of dominance allows. The team has lost some of its finest players, and was also without Michael Clarke this match, and it is clear that this is a greener team than we have seen from the baggy boys from down under for years. That is not to say it is a weak team, it has just lost its veneer of invincibility, and this is what must have been drilled in to the West Indies players as they came into the series. It showed that they were not as intimidated by the sheer idea of playing against the world champions.It was particularly evident in the manner of the bowlers. Speed again was the West Indian force, but again it became evident that the arsenal is not full enough to sustain the hostility. Unfortunately for the debutant offspinner, Amit Jaggernauth, his captain carelessly put him on simply to get slaughtered by a fully charged Andrew Symonds. It reminded me of the comment by former slow bowler, Rangy Nanan, that most West Indies captains don’t know how to use spinners. It will probably lead to another long stay on the shelf for spin bowlers, especially given the success of Edwards, Powell and Dwayne Bravo, and the shine coming through on the injured Jerome Taylor.Still, it was important for the team to know they have actually taken 20 wickets in the last couple of Test matches they’ve played. It had become a disturbing inadequacy of the team, one that more than anything else communicated the inefficacy of the attack. For not only did it expose a weakness, it exposed a weakness at the very pillar on which West Indies cricket built its proudest house.So, here was the team with not just better bowlers, but showing more of a fighting spirit than had been seen in some time. Bravo commented that he felt the team was now more united than it had been before, and praised the assistant coach David Williams for instilling that unity. Many believe that enough time has lapsed since the coach John Dyson took over to warrant him some credit for the cohesiveness and the capacity to sustain the will to fight.In any case, on the last day too much indicated that while there may be new cracks appearing in the Australia line-up, the old cracks in the West Indies team are far deeper and wider. At 82 for 6, with Chanderpaul too falling in a battle that was at least far more competitive than we could have imagined, it seemed clear what the end would be, and that there is much more work to do.At 185 for 8, with Powell and Edwards slogging away fours and all, I wondered how far we were taking the idea that bowlers win matches. The day before, heady at the prospects for the fifth day, it was easy to hope with the target under 300, now even getting to 200 needed imagination; not even the team could provide that as it all ended at 191. Such is cricket.Fortunately, the nature of the encounter was a welcome reminder of the beauty and intrigue of Test cricket, and that a game well contested is worth every minute of it.

He may not have played for England since his encouraging display against India last summer, but he’s ready to stake his claim again

Interview by Will Luke08-May-2008
‘I’ve not heard from the selectors so I guess it’s just down to me. That’s the way it is. If you’re not a centrally contracted player that’s the way you get treated’ © Getty Images
You were ignored for the Sri Lanka tour and left New Zealand early with a side strain. How frustrated are you that Stuart Broad, for example, can make such an immediate impact in your absence?
Well, it doesn’t piss me off. Broady bowled really well in the ODIs. Obviously it’s frustrating not to get picked, especially after I’d bowled really well against India. I felt unlucky not to go on the Sri Lanka tour or the original [squad for the] New Zealand tour, but that just makes you more hungry to prove them wrong. I’ve worked hard since getting back from New Zealand: it’s just a matter of trying to get some good overs in domestic cricket, lots of wickets and force my way in.How do you remain motivated when you keep getting injured?
I got a taste of Test cricket last year and that’s where I want to be. I really enjoyed my time in the side in both forms of the game, but probably more in Tests, and I didn’t do myself too much harm. Hopefully I can find the form I showed last summer, get some good performances under my belt. But in terms of motivation, even playing for Hampshire gets me going: I love playing for them and still get nervous going out to play. I still get butterflies – that’s motivation enough. All I want to do is play cricket. That is my motivation.How do you respond to the detractors who question your passion for the game?
Yes, well, those people don’t know me. Or at least they don’t know me very well. Cricket has been my life and has always been my motivation – there’s never been anything else I wanted to do. Sometimes it might look like I’m not trying or that I might not care, but I do, deep inside. I guess it’s the way I carry myself, maybe the way I’m perceived from the outside. But the way I feel on the inside is that I’m trying my hardest. It might not show, but that’s just the way I look. I’m laidback, I guess, but I always try my hardest.Your former captain, Shane Warne, spoke of his wish to find a more aggressive Chris Tremlett. Have you found him yet?
I think I have definitely got more aggressive over the years, certainly. The quicker I’ve got over the years – I’ve gained a bit ofextra pace – which makes you more aggressive when you know you’ve got that in the bank when you need it. But it’s a balance. I find that if I’m over-aggressive, then I can’t concentrate, so it’s about trying to find a balance between being aggressive and being myself, and not trying to be someone you’re not. People have said I should be aggressive, but if I went out there and acted like a lunatic, I don’t think people would believe it was me and they’d probably laugh at me, or not take me seriously. I think I’ve got a good enough presence these days. It’s about making people aware of your presence, makingthem realise that you’re there and not going to back down to the batsman at the other end. If you’re hit for four, you’ve got to find something else – you can’t back down and you need to give off the impression that you’re in a fight. It’s the way you think about your bowling that matters: trying to be more in a contest with the batsman and trying to hate the batsman more Didn’t it hurt that your captain should have made such a public declaration?
It didn’t nark me, no. It’s just Warne’s way of getting the best out of people I think. When I first started playing with him in 2003 I was very shy and still a young bowler in the county scene. I hadn’t played for England and he saw potential in me. I was naturally quite shy and laidback and he wanted to get the best out of me. Having a more aggressive approach is probably what you need, especially in Tests. There’s nowhere to hide. If you’re hit for four, you’ve got to find something else – you can’t back down and you need to give off the impression that you’re in a fight. You’ve got to fight as a bowler in the good times and the bad.I think it’s the way you go about your cricket, the way you think about your bowling, which matters; trying to be more in a contest with the batsman and trying to hate the batsman more. When I first started playing, I didn’t really think like that. I just wanted to bowl well. But now my thinking is more “Right. I want to get this guy out. What’s he doing?” It’s me versus him – almost a personal battle, instead of running up and bowling willy nilly. It’s about ensuring I don’t back down and that he knows he’s in a battle.Are Geoff Miller and the selectors in regular communication with you?
No. I’ve not spoken to anyone (in the England management) since I’ve got back. I’ve just been back with Hampshire, and I guess the England physio keeps an eye on me, fitness-wise. But I’ve not heard from the selectors so I guess it’s just down to me. That’s the way it is. If you’re not a centrally contracted player, that’s the way you get treated. That’s always been the case as long as I’ve been involved – not had too much communication with people when I’ve been out of the set-up. Maybe that’s a bit wrong, I don’t know. Hopefully when the selectors come down – it’s still early season – I can find out what I need to do to get back in the England team.How is Hampshire life post Warne?
It’s pretty good. It wasn’t a huge shock that he didn’t come back – we weren’t really expecting him to, so we were prepared for the post-Warnie era. It’s a good thing for us as we need to move on. We’ve had that stage of learning from Warnie who has been absolutely brilliant, but there’s always going to be a time when he has to retire and move on. We just need to keep doing what we were doing, but so far the atmosphere’s been great and everyone’s really keen to get going. It was pretty relaxed with Warnie around, as it is now, apart from the odd occasion … obviously Warnie’s fairly passionate and wants to win, and he made us fight all the time. But we’re quite relaxed, while trying to be aggressive at the same time.

A look back at Surrey’s season, which disappeared down a drain of injuries and ill-judged signings, and ended in relegation

Lawrence Booth04-Dec-2008

The year it all went pear-shaped: Surrey didn’t take enough wickets, dropped far too many catches, and were brittle with the bat © Getty Images
Surrey are supposed to know all about schadenfreude. In the days when the swagger was said to be the favoured gait around Kennington, they were accused of doling it out. Last summer, though, they attracted it by the lorry-load. The side that lifted the County Championship in 1999, 2000 and 2002 was relegated without winning a game. For Surrey the experience was unprecedented. And, well, it was hard to take.”What disappointed me most was that some of the criticism was quite gleeful,” says Mark Butcher, the captain, whose season finished in May because of knee trouble and whose father, Alan, ended up losing his job as cricket manager. The wicketkeeper, Jon Batty, agrees. “People are quick to stick the knife into Surrey for various reasons, most of them dating back to before the days when most of the guys currently at the club were even playing,” he says. But Martin Bicknell, once the club’s most reliable seamer, now a member of its committee, gets straight to the point. “We had a shocking year.”But why so shocking? How did a side that continues to top county cricket’s financial league table fall so short out in the middle? The headline answer is “Not Enough Wickets”. Not once in 16 games were the opposition bowled out twice, and only Saqlain Mushtaq (three times) and Jade Dernbach (once) managed five wickets in an innings. But the stats hide a multitude of other sins, themselves a mixture of poor execution and even worse luck.For a start, Surrey kept dropping catches – 46 in the Championship according to Batty. Since they held only 89, this meant they were missing more than one chance in three: their bowlers thus needed to create 30 wicket-taking opportunities per match to have even a sniff of victory.Injuries and illnesses did not help. Butcher had been in prime form before his knee went, hitting 139 in a Friends Provident Trophy match in Canterbury, followed immediately by a Championship double-century against Yorkshire. Meanwhile Matt Nicholson, the leading wicket-taker in 2007, spent most of the summer struggling with flu. In the Championship he averaged 56 with the ball.Three signings that didn’t work out
Shoaib: “a desperate measure” © Getty Images
Chris Lewis Eyebrows were raised when the 40-year-old former England allrounder was signed for the Twenty20 Cup on the back of some nippy performances for the PCA Masters XI in 2007. They were raised even further when his first outing was a FP Trophy game against Middlesex (6-0-51-0 followed by a hard-hit 33), and in the end he played only one Twenty20 match (against Essex: 2-0-29-0 and 2 with the bat). “It was very bizarre that they picked him for the Friends Provident game,” says Bicknell, who was instrumental in bringing Lewis to the club. “That knocked his confidence and then he was carrying an injury.” Expect an absence of 40-year-olds next summer. Alex Tudor It’s hard to believe that the man who removed both Waugh twins on his Test debut in Perth, then hit 99 not out as nightwatchman against New Zealand at Edgbaston, was scrabbling about for county cricket at the age of 30 nearly a decade later. But here he was, back at the club that released him in 2004, after Essex had cut their ties in August. Three Championship matches produced only five wickets and 48 runs but Surrey still felt confident enough to offer him a one-year contract for 2009. Shoaib Akhtar He arrived promising to demonstrate his fitness to the Pakistan selectors and hoping to help Surrey stage a last-gasp bid for survival but ended up missing one Championship match because he had to fly home to get the right visa and then took a single wicket in two games. “Shoaib Akhtar was a disaster,” says Bicknell. “It was a classic case of trying to clutch something out of the burning fire. It summed the club up – a desperate measure for a desperate team.” But Batty has a different view. “I have nothing but praise and admiration for the guy. He helped the younger seam bowlers, and when he missed the Pro40 game [against Leicestershire] because of a slight calf niggle, he demanded to do 12th-man duties when there were a couple of younger guys around who weren’t so keen. I thought it was funny how people criticised Surrey at that stage of the season for bringing Shoaib in. Yes, it was a gamble but what choice did we have given the other choices available? We might have played the same had he not been there, so credit to Alan Butcher for bringing him inButcher, who in late October underwent a successful second operation, pinpoints other areas too. “Injury and form meant that three of the four youngsters who had been emerging didn’t do much this year,” he says. “Jade Dernbach pulled through and became the first name on the teamsheet, but Chris Jordan was out injured with back and side problems, and James Benning had back injuries too.” The fourth, Stewart Walters, averaged 15 in eight Championship innings.Then there was Mark Ramprakash and his Godot-like wait for 100 hundreds. Opinion is divided over whether the delay – and one or two outbursts by Ramprakash himself – loomed detrimentally over the dressing room. Bicknell believes the 10-innings sequence between Nos. 99 and 100 “clearly got to him and that probably had an adverse effect on the side”. But Butcher feels “it’s too simplistic to say our season changed when Ramps stopped scoring runs”. He adds: “It was poor that we were reliant on him. Contributions from other players were not consistent enough.”Never was Surrey’s brittleness with the bat more evident than during a painful home defeat by Kent at the start of July. Batty, who insists the players remained united throughout the summer, points out that performances had not been bad during the weather-beaten first half of the season. Surrey made 500 against Lancashire, 400 against Sussex, 450 against Yorkshire, and in-between were two wickets away from beating Hampshire. But when they blew a first-innings lead of 127 against Kent by slipping from 50 without loss to 130 all out, it was as if not winning had become a habit.”That was a massive kick,” says Batty, whose first-innings 136 not out went to waste. “It really did hurt us. But what I’ve learned is that individual events swing individual matches, and individual matches swing whole seasons.” If there was a turning point, the defeat to Kent, inspired by Martin van Jaarsveld’s twin hundreds and unprecedented five-for, was surely it. And since it came so soon after a disastrous Twenty20 campaign in which eight games were lost out of 10, the effect felt like a knee in the groin after a prolonged spell on the rack.The weeks that followed were a mixture of bloodletting and introspection. Ali Brown, a Surrey stalwart for two decades, was released. Butcher senior had his contract terminated with a year still to go. Ramprakash wrote in a newspaper column that he didn’t want to finish his career in the second division, which may have been a message to the club hierarchy to get their act together rather than a genuine threat that he would leave. Shoaib Akhtar was widely derided for taking one wicket in two Championship appearances. Graham Thorpe was drafted in as batting coach, while Gus Mackay arrived from Sussex to take up the new role of managing director of cricket and oversee the appointment of Butcher’s replacement.In the wake of suggestions that the communication between players and management was not up to scratch, Mackay describes his role as trying to achieve “a joined-up approach and a no-excuse environment” with a focus on homegrown players and youngsters. “Otherwise,” he says, “what’s the point of investing money in academies?”Reassuringly for those who felt Surrey have paid the price for failing to invest in younger talent when they were last relegated in 2005, Mackay talks of a “five- year plan”. In theory, then, Oval members should be seeing more in 2009 of Matt Spriegel, Jordan, Walters and the 19-year-old seamer Stuart Meaker, and less of 30-something, readymade imports.”I think it’s a very positive thing for the club that we’ve gone down,” says Mark Butcher. “If we’d stayed up we’d just have had the same problems next year. At the moment we’re about the equivalent of 10th or 11th in the old 18-team league and that’s no disgrace. It’s where we were in the early 1990s. Now we have a chance to build a team like we did back then. You don’t fashion something like this out of thin air. That side was six years in the making.” The hard work may have only just begun.

Michael Hussey has become so good at stabilising potentially worrying situations that he could get a job straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Brydon Coverdale at the Adelaide Oval29-Nov-2008

Michael Hussey is probably the world’s most organised cricketer and in an Australia team so unsettled that they haven’t picked the same XI in consecutive Tests for 11 matches, his reliability is invaluable. Hussey has become so good at stabilising potentially worrying situations that he could get a job straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa.Australia’s circumstances here were far from dire, although when he came to the crease at 2 for 49 on a pitch where scores of 500-plus are commonplace, solidity was required. Ricky Ponting currently features in a television ad where he calls his helmet “the rock of Gibraltar” but in most situations the term would be more appropriate for Hussey. His calmness and dependability allowed Ponting to lead Australia in strengthening their position with a terrifically fluent half-century.When their hundred partnership came up, Hussey’s contribution had been 27. Ponting was drawing applause for his frequent boundaries while Hussey was disciplined but no less important. It is a role that has become Hussey’s niche in the past year. When he burst onto the Test scene with a Bradmanesque first couple of seasons he was coming in after Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer, arguably the most in-form opening pair in the world, and Ponting at the height of his powers.Langer has gone, Hayden is struggling and Ponting is still a menace to opponents but with bigger gaps between peaks. The batting line-up remains relatively strong – 3 for 241 is an excellent position at stumps on day two in Adelaide replying to 270 – but it is less intimidating than it was. As a result, Hussey’s role has been tweaked: he is the No. 4, the anchor and usually the trickiest man to get out. A self-described traditionalist, Hussey is a throwback to Test batsmen of old and he stubbornly protected his wicket on a benign Adelaide surface where the likes of Bradman and Clem Hill played much of their cricket.”It’s still not easy you know,” Hussey said after finishing the day unbeaten on 69 from 178 balls. “Test cricket’s hard. You have to do a lot of hard work to reap the rewards at the end of the day. I think we’ve just got to get back into that mode of being patient, working hard over long periods.”If Australia lose Hayden over the next year an in-form and confident Hussey will become even more important. In Hussey’s short Test career he has constructed more purple patches than Barney the Dinosaur’s tailor, so it’s tempting to view his 2008 average of 46.78 as below par. But that is an unfair assessement and although Hussey felt scratchy earlier this year, he is sure that his best form is not far away.”I felt pretty good in India to be honest,” Hussey said. “But I’ve felt like since being back in Australia I’ve had to work very hard for my runs again. I have been working on a couple of technical things since the start of the season, since we were up in Darwin and I’ve continued to work on those. It feels pretty good.”Hussey has so many plans and set thought processes in his head it’s a wonder it doesn’t explode. He is an obsessive list-maker and is constantly thinking through the way he should construct an innings. When he batted with the brilliant Ponting, he knew his task was simply to turn over the strike and watch the boundaries tick over at the other end. But when Ponting pulled to midwicket, Hussey’s role changed. At the time he had 28 from 105 deliveries; his tally from that moment onwards was 41 from 73.”I felt more comfortable after tea because I had been in for a while and I was sort of used to the conditions a lot more,” he said. “I felt I was trying to get some scoring options against [Daniel] Vettori. But you do feel probably a little bit of added pressure when the man that’s set gets out, you feel like right now it’s my responsibility to go on and bat throughout the day and try and build a big score.”Hussey would be a good poker player. He is an excellent judge of situations and doesn’t gamble with what he can’t afford to lose. He is a frustrating man to deal to because whatever he is handed he can make work to his advantage and most importantly, he plays the percentages to a fault.He is no cross-bat slogger but at the Adelaide Oval, where the square boundaries are so short that fans on opposite sides can wave hello to each other, Hussey slowly started to use the venue’s dimensions for his own purpose. His eight boundaries all went more or less square of the wicket and he was able to sweep against Vettori, whose 28 miserly overs cost 54, and clubbed him over midwicket to reach his half-century.The fans cheered, although they had more reason to roar for Ponting earlier in the day. Ponting’s 79 from 124 balls featured 13 fours and it is the innings that the spectators on this Saturday at Adelaide Oval will remember. But for a team that will in the next year face one of the world’s best pace attacks in home-and-away Tests against South Africa and then proceed to England, where they lost the Ashes in 2005, Hussey’s consistent contributions might get the attention they deserve.

Stats highlights from South Africa’s historic eight-wicket win, which gave them their first series win in Australia

S Rajesh30-Dec-2008

• South Africa’s nine-wicket win ended Australia’s 16-year unbeaten run in home series. The last time they’d been beaten was by West Indies in 1992-93, which was also the last time they’d lost successive games at home. For South Africa, it was their first win in Melbourne in five attempts since their readmission to Test cricket, and their third in 14 Tests in Australia during this period. They end the year with a 11-2 win-loss record, easily the best among all teams.
• South Africa’s 11 wins in 2008 is also a record by any team in a single year, and a feat that has only been achieved twice previously – by West Indies in 1984, and by England in 2004. Australia’s best is ten, which they’ve achieved three times – in 2002, 2004 and 2006.
• South Africa haven’t lost a Test series in more than two years, during which time they’ve won nine series and drawn one: their last defeat was to the Sri Lankans in a two-Test series in July 2006.
• The chase of 183 made it ten successful run-chases of 175 or more in 2008, with South Africa contributing exactly 50% of those. They finished the year almost exactly like they started it: in their first game of 2008, they chased down 185 against West Indies in Cape Town, losing three wickets.
• Graeme Smith had led that run-chase too, scoring 85 and sparking off a fourth-innings sequence which is quite incredible: in six innings this year he has scored 85, 62, 3*, 154*, 108 and 75. His matchwinning 75 in Melbourne lifted his aggregate in fourth-innings victories to 919, which is the most by any batsman. Matthew Hayden is next with 913, while Ricky Ponting has 835.
• Smith’s knock also lifted his aggregate for the year to 1656 from 15 Tests at an average of 72. Only two batsmen have scored more in a calendar year – Mohammad Yousuf accumulated 1788 in 2006, while Viv Richards made 1710 in 1976.
• With so many South African batsmen in superb form this year – four scored more than 1000 – it’s hardly surprising that they dominate the partnership stats too. Smith and Neil McKenzie put together the most number of partnership runs – 1552 – followed by Smith and Hashim Amla (1090). In fact four of the top eight pairs of the year are South Africans.

The only difference was the absence of a voluble crowd, especially on the Western Terrace. Otherwise, the first day of the second Test between India and England in Mohali, could have been a facsimile of the opening day at Headingley in August 2002.

S Aga19-Dec-2008
The partnership between Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid on the first day was uncannily similar, even in terms of numbers, to Sanjay Bangar and Dravid’s on the opening day at Headingley in 2002 © AFP
The only difference was the absence of a voluble crowd, especially on the Western Terrace. Otherwise, this could have been a facsimile of the opening day at Headingley in August 2002. The passage of time has caused a few roles to change though. Gautam Gambhir, Indian cricket’s new Mr. Reliable led the way today, helped along by a man who showed fleeting signs of the player he once was. The partnership was uncannily similar, even in terms of numbers, and India will no doubt hope that the result too is repeated over the next four days.Back then, Rahul Dravid was the main man, in the midst of a five-year run of excellence that would cement his reputation as one of the greats of the modern game. His accomplice was three months older, and is these days still seen doing his duty for Railways in the Ranji Trophy. No one would ever say that Sanjay Bapusaheb Bangar belongs in the highest echelons of the Indian game, but the part he played in one of its greatest Test victories can never be underestimated.He opened that day and few expected him to put up more than token opposition against an attack of Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Caddick, Andrew Flintoff and Alex Tudor. He was on five when Virender Sehwag edged one to second slip, and Dravid walked out to yet another crisis situation.By the time they were parted 67.3 overs later, India had added 170. In bowler-friendly conditions, Sourav Ganguly’s gamble to bat first had reaped spectacular rewards. He and Sachin Tendulkar would flay a tiring attack in spectacular fashion the following evening, building on Dravid’s monumental 148 as India built up an unassailable position.Such was Dravid’s mastery of those conditions that it was impossible to ever imagine him in a Bangar-like role, eking out runs through sheer strength of will. On another day, Daryl Harper might have given him out leg before to Stuart Broad almost as soon as he arrived at the crease, and given his recent luck, it would have surprised no one if one of the several deliveries that seamed past the bat took a thin outside edge.They didn’t though, and slowly, the runs started to come. A magnificent pull off James Anderson was followed by a stunning on-drive off Flintoff, while Monty Panesar, the only player out there who was probably even lower on confidence, was twice driven through the covers with impeccable timing.A scorching clip through midwicket off Stuart Broad hinted at a more fluent afternoon, but the shutters were downed abruptly in the hour before tea.Having reached 39 from 87 balls, it took him another 64 deliveries to bring up his 50. Gambhir too was more subdued than usual, though Broad bowling way wide of his off stump didn’t exactly help the scoring rate. At Headingley, it took Dravid 220 balls to score his century. Here, Gambhir achieved the feat in an over less. Bangar’s contribution to the partnership had been 68.Back then [in 2002], Rahul Dravid was the main man, in the midst of a five-year run of excellence that would cement his reputation as one of the greats of the modern game. His accomplice was Sanjay Bangar, and the part he played in one of its greatest Test victories can never be underestimated.At Mohali, by the time the partnership reached 170, Dravid had contributed 64. It wasn’t pretty, but it was just as effective.You certainly wouldn’t assess Gambhir’s innings the same way though. Some would point to those carves over gully as evidence of a reckless nature. Others will see them as the strokes of a man who knows he can do pretty much as he wants once he settles in. Already, there have been 16 partnerships over 50 with Sehwag [in just 34 innings] and all the signs are there that he could become a nuggety Justin Langer-like foil.But even as he basked in the limelight of a second successive century at Mohali, Gambhir didn’t forget his stolid ally. “We were 6 for 1 and the ball was doing a bit when he came out to bat,” he said. “The way he handled the seam bowling was fantastic.”It eventually took him and Dravid four balls less to accumulate 170 runs, and the grey skies prevented an examination against the second new ball. India though had much to feel satisfied about at the end of day one. After the helter-skelter run chase inspired by Sehwag, this was old-fashioned Test cricket, with two committed batsmen staving off a disciplined attack.The best sides don’t only play at one pace, and under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, they have shown that they’re not too proud to take small steps if bigger rewards await.

A veteran and a novice, who couldn’t be more different in personality, made the difference for Bangalore by playing in character

Sriram Veera in Durban14-May-2009A veteran and a novice, who couldn’t be more different in personality, made the difference for Bangalore by playing in character. Anil Kumble did the job with the ball and, though Virat Kohli didn’t finish the game, he provided the edge to the successful chase. It was left to Ross Taylor, the Man of the Match, to play a subdued, mature knock to see Bangalore home. It’s something Kohli’s fans hope he will someday grow up to do because in the here and now he seems to leave you with a tease act.Kumble, even after all these years, never ceases to surprise with his commitment and intensity. His prominent features in caricature are his ears but the astute cartoonist will have the proud chest sticking out and the eyes frozen into a steely glare. On the field, he almost mirrors that image and today he once again led by example. He took upon himself all the tough things that he might have asked other bowlers to do. With Matthew Hayden in murderous form, he bowled the first over and gave away just four runs. He returned for the seventh over, with Hayden in full flow, and gave up only two runs. And, with Chennai at 101 for 3 in 13 overs, he came back to remove Hayden and prove to be the catalyst for Bangalore’s spirited revival.His art is not a visual delight like Warne’s but an intellectual treat. Today his bowling against Hayden was of high quality. He kept bowling slower and slower. Hayden seemed to expect the quicker one and was early in most of his attacking shots. Kumble gave him the googly, a odd skidder, the round-armed legbreak and couple of floated topspinners.Then came the wicket ball, the game’s turning point. Kumble had just shouted had an lbw appeal turned down, Hayden hit too high while sweeping early. Hayden seemed to have made up his mind about the next ball and planned an attacking stroke. In his brutal art, Hayden likes to let the bowler know what he is going to do and intimidate him into committing an error through astonishing skill. Today, though he was done in by a cleverer bowler – and a man who doesn’t get too intimidated. Hayden gave him the charge and Kumble slowed down the googly even more. It almost hung in the air, forcing Hayden to lunge for it, and ended up at deep midwicket where Vinay Kumar took a fine catch. With Hayden’s exit, the runs dried up and Chennai ended up with a below-par score.Kohli showed today why he is rated highly, why he earned the India cap early – and also why he excites, infuriates and frustrates people in equal measure. Ray Jennings, Bangalore’s coach, had one succinct observation on his young ward: “He is a very talented kid but sometimes thinks he is better than the game.” It’s his strength and weakness. It’s that confidence that elevates him above the rest of India’s fringe players. Today, he took on Muttiah Muralitharan, just as he had done Shane Warne in an earlier game. He charged and swept both of them.At the end of the tenth over, as he returned after facing one over from Muralitharan where he had tried going after the bowler, Kumble took him aside for a chat. Virat spoke animatedly, excitedly and Kumble nodded encouragingly and gave him a pat on the back. It was a like father listening to his son’s plans for the future. Kohli returned to play more shots against Muralitharan. One almost did him in – he went for an impetuous lofted shot but was saved by a mess-up from Hayden at long-on. The situation didn’t require him to play such a risky shot but that’s how Kohli plays. Next over, he hit a six over long-on before falling to a hook shot. His dismissals are typical – either aggressive or a wrongly timed ‘cute’ shot. Though Bangalore wobbled a bit after he left, Ross Taylor and the tail got them over the line.Kohli is yet to mature but a few more years should temper his instincts. Especially if he spends some of that time with Kumble.

The ICC’s panel of experts picked the best XI from the players in the Women’s World Twenty20. Here’s the XI and what they did in the tournament

Cricinfo staff22-Jun-20091 Shelley Nitschke (Australia)
Shelley Nitschke was Australia’s star in the tournament, finishing as their highest run-scorer and wicket-taker. Her prolific scoring ensured she ended fifth overall on the run-scorer’s charts. If her highest of 56 off 38 balls against West Indies in the group stages was one of authority, she followed it up with a superb display with the ball, picking up 4 for 21 in the next match against South Africa.2 Charlotte Edwards (England)
Fresh off the success of the ODI World Cup, Charlotte Edwards masterminded another success on home soil, leading England to the World Twenty20 crown. She was on song during the group stages, blowing away India with a quickfire fifty before her all-round display against Pakistan made sure England finished top of Pool B.3 Claire Taylor (England)
At 33, if there were any doubts about adjusting to the shortest format, the player of the series from the ODI World Cup put them to rest soon. Second on the run charts, a run behind Aimee Watkins’ 200, her average of 199.00 meant she once again walked away with the honours. She was in prime form scoring two unbeaten fifties – the one against Australia in the semi-final was of significant note – and it was only fitting that she hit the winning runs, a boundary, in the final.4 Aimee Watkins (New Zealand)
She had the additional burden of the captaincy to bear after Haydee Tiffin’s retirement, but the leading lady for New Zealand hardly put a foot wrong. Unfortunately, like her predecessor, she had to be content with being second-best. With the leading run-getter in the tournament in their ranks – 200 at 66.66 – New Zealand could have done without a blip from her when it mattered the most, in the final.5 Sarah Taylor (England)
Sarah Taylor impressed with her safe wicketkeeping, along with her steady batting through the tournament. She was the third-highest scorer in the England team with 119 runs, playing as an opening batsman. With one fifty against India, she was instrumental in giving her team good starts at the top of the order.Captain Fantastic: Aimee Watkins•Getty Images6 Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
Suzie Bates finished the fourth-highest run-getter of the tournament, showing consistency as the opening batsman for New Zealand. With scores of 41 not-out, 60 and 24 in successive league matches, she was the mainstay of her team’s batting line-up. She was also handy with the ball, bowling medium-pacers and chipping in with two wickets.7 Lucy Doolan (New Zealand)
An allrounder who can play the big shots, Lucy Doolan was an integral part of the New Zealand team which reached the final. Doolan kept things tight with her off-breaks, picking up a total of four wickets. Her effort against West Indies in the group match stood out, as she followed up a 38-ball 41 with a three-wicket haul.8 Rumeli Dhar (India)
Rumeli Dhar is another allrounder who had a fruitful World Twenty20, scalping six wickets at an impressive economy rate of 4.78 runs per over. However, she had an ordinary time with the bat, scoring just nine runs in four innings. In the match against Pakistan, Dhar blew away the Pakistan top order to set up a comfortable Indian victory.Sian Ruck was clearly the find of the tournament•Getty Images9 Holly Colvin (England)
Holly Colvin, the left-arm spinner, was one of England’s most consistent performers in the competition, bagging nine wickets at 11.77 at an excellent economy rate of 5.30. She was the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, and played a crucial role in helping her team inflict heavy defeats on India and Pakistan in the league stages, taking three wickets against each of them and easing England’s passage to semis.10 Sian Ruck (New Zealand)
Sian Ruck proved a revelation with her left-arm seam bowling, confounding batsmen with her ability to swing the ball both ways and working up some decent pace. She was New Zealand’s star player with the ball, taking seven wickets at 12.28 at a miserly rate of 4.78 per over. Her 3 for 12 in New Zealand’s first game set up a convincing win over Australia, and her 2 for 18 in the semi-final knocked India out. After excelling in her first stint in international cricket, she remains a great prospect for her team in the years to come.11 Laura Marsh (England)
Laura Marsh took at least a wicket in each of the five games she played, and was extremely economical. She wasn’t taken for above six-an-over in a single game and played an important role in boosting England’s bowling line-up. She finished with six wickets at 11.33 at a rate of 3.40-an-over, including an incredible spell against Sri Lanka where she conceded just seven runs in her allotted four overs. In fact, she’s one of the most economical bowlers in the women’s circuit, conceding just 4.23-an-over. She gave away just 12 in the semi-final against Australia, who still posted a competitive 163 which Claire Taylor and Beth Morgan helped overhaul.12th man: Eshani Kaushalya (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka’s only claim to fame in the competition was a win against fellow minnows Pakistan but not much could be asked of a team previously unexposed to the Twenty20 format. But Eshani Kaushalya was their best player, finishing as the second-highest wicket-taker with eight wickets at a stunning average of 6.87. She took 3 for 16 against Pakistan to keep them down to a chaseable score and then came up with an even better effort in the next game against England, taking 4 for 18, though the tournament favourites managed an imposing score. She was the only seamer to take four wickets in an innings in a competition where spinners performed better.

Pakistan are close, very close, to something very big. But in Australia you are never over the line until you are over the line

Osman Samiuddin05-Jan-2010Last evening, Mohammad Yousuf spoke for an entire nation. A two-hundred lead was very good he thought. Against any other country it was probably insurmountable. This was Australia though, he said, and three hundred would’ve been nice. In that exchange lies not only one law of cricket – that Australia shall never you a match – but years and years of Australian rule over Pakistan. It doesn’t matter if Shane Warne and everyone else are not around.Yousuf himself has been on the receiving end of seven losses in nine Tests before this so the nerves are understandable. Across Pakistan probably much the same feeling is floating around. Until the winning runs are hit and the result is inked into the books of history nobody will allow themselves to think otherwise.Pakistan started today accordingly, as if Australia were 206 ahead not behind. Catches were dropped, lengths were missed, lines lost and fielders too far from the bat. The first session was a muddle. But they stuck at it, placing their fates in the hands of Danish Kaneria.His poor start added to the tension, though also to the humour. Before the Test, Yousuf had asked for more respect for Kaneria’s achievements and his first contributions seemed calculated efforts to do precisely the opposite. He dropped a catch, bowled full tosses and found the left-right opening combination as comprehensible as a blind man might the Rubik’s Cube.But Kaneria’s career is nothing if not a song to persistence and belief; having Kamran Akmal as a wicketkeeper decrees as much. Belatedly, post-lunch he began to find some kind of rhythm though the groove wasn’t properly locked in until after tea. Then he was a changed man, focused, intense and still comical. The surface wasn’t as spin-friendly as it was the last time he bowled here, but in the wickets of Marcus North, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson, he went through a dangerous lower order.The day was a Kaneria highlights reel: poor bowling, good bowling, many overs, wickets, runs, dropped chances, nearly an entire lap of the ground in celebration. Then he fell over and limped off, job nearly done. If Pakistan do win this, he will not have bowled them to a more important win.It was that kind of day, bathed in sun, on an improving surface and a determined opponent. Pakistan had to grind their way through, running in the sand against the wind with a bagful of cement for company. It was also a day for Umar Gul.It’s been an odd year for him. He led his side to a grand triumph in England but Test fruits have been harder to come by. Maybe he hasn’t adapted back to five-day cricket. The lengths have been missing, sometimes too full, often too short. Waqar Younis said his rhythm was missing and he wasn’t getting his run-up right. It has never been as fluid as others and the action is clunkier always, with potential for things to go wrong.He should still never have been dropped in Melbourne even if in the first innings he was the least threatening of the three fast bowlers. But he picked up the slack today in one of those thankless mid-day spells that the least-pampered fast bowler must endure, when the sun is as much an opponent as the batsman. He ran in well, was quick and did well with his lengths. In Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson – both very clever pieces of bowling – he picked up the day’s biggest wickets.As much as Australia, Pakistan were fighting themselves today. Tomorrow they must do so again; 80 for eight is not up to much for most sides but Australia. Shane Watson says they still believe they can pull this off. Of course they do. If he had said otherwise you’d ask to check their passports. No one in the Pakistan camp is willing to even express supreme confidence. Decorum dictates it obviously, but they also know this is not over. They are close, very close, to something very big. But in Australia you are never over the line until you are over the line.

England’s World Cup-winning U-19 players went on to have very different lives. Some of glory and Tests, others of loneliness and broken dreams

Tanya Aldred28-Aug-2010In 1998, 15 young men, slightly wet around the ears, slightly cocky, lifted the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. No one had anticipated that they would be English, and it emerges no one quite knew what to do with them.Eleven years later David Tossell decided to track them down, from the fields of Northampton’s County Ground, to the offices of Gray-Nicolls, to the London sanctuary of a property investor. Each one spoke openly and what emerges is an ode to the joy, cruelty and terrible loneliness that can come with being a professional cricketer.Only seven of the 15 still play first-class cricket: Stephen Peters, Paul Franks, Chris Schofield, Owais Shah, Robert Key, Graham Napier and Graeme Swann – the undoubted star of the book. Swann’s vivid memories from the World Cup, his astute reflections on his team-mates, his self-awareness and his own bizarre career path make him a wonderfully quotable subject.There are thoughtful reflections from passing coaches and selectors. The cosseted lives of today’s players are discussed by David Capel, the Northants coach, who tells Tossell that, “…[my generation] were like old men compared to today’s players. We all looked 40. We were a more life-hardened set of people. Many had been labourers since 16 years of age.”But the soul of the book comes from the broken dreams of those less fortunate. As Angus Fraser said to Owais Shah, the U-19 captain and outstanding batsman of his generation, who has only played four Tests, there are more bad days than good. Chris Schofield, who at one point was reduced to ferrying my next-door neighbour and his friends from Littleborough to Manchester United games, tells of how he turned up for his Test debut to find no one had seen him bowl; Stephen Peters, once tipped for England, talks of seeing grown men crying in the dressing room; and Jamie Grove, whose career finally floundered on one over that went for 20 runs on Twenty20 finals day in 2003, tells a horrendous story of mistreatment by club and supporters.”After that game I had death threats. I had people saying they were going to rape my wife. I went to the club’s office and said I want to call the police… but they refused to let me. In the end they said they would put a line on the website saying, ‘We fully back Jamie Grove in everything he has done and he is a professional person.’ It was not really the support I was looking for.” is painstakingly researched and is perhaps slightly lumbering in format simply because Tossell has so much to fit in. But the incidental gems – that during an England’s Under-19 World Cup game, “Lady in Red” came on in place of Australia’s national anthem – outweigh the slightly preachy moments when Tossell gets bogged down by his own opinions. Perhaps any 18-year-old dreaming of the smooth and sunny path ahead should read this before contemplating the dotted line.Following On: A year with English cricket’s golden boys
by David Tossell
Know the Score
240pp, £14.99