MS Dhoni isn’t making any predictions about giving up Test cricket or any other format after 2013. But his matter-of-fact statements are open to interpretation

Sidharth Monga in Sydney31-Jan-2012″I just said my statement. The best thing about statements is, you can assume it the way you want to.”That was MS Dhoni’s response when told how his statement that he might have to give up Test cricket at the end of 2013 if he is to captain India to their World Cup defence was seen by many as a general disinterest in Test cricket.”Maybe by 2013 I’ll have to,” Dhoni said. “It is two years away, and the kind of cricket we are playing – IPL, 45 days; Champions League; and back-to-back series; lots of games. We have to see where we last. It’s not a calendar year where you get a lot of rest, and you get away with small niggles during that rest period.”Dhoni then sought to clarify his thought process. “I said end of 2013,” he said. “Now it’s the start of 2012, 2013 is two years. I don’t know whether I will be alive in two years. That’s a long time. What I said was, by the end of 2013, I will have to see whether I can play the World Cup. It wasn’t about one format, it was about cricket. I can’t play till 2014 and say I am not fit enough to survive till the next World Cup. And you’ll have a player coming in who has played just 25 games.”When pointedly asked if he was as interested in Tests as he was in other formats, and whether Test cricket was as important in his mind, Dhoni’s response was emphatic. “Of course. Test cricket is the real cricket.” However, he went on to say he wasn’t running down the other formats either.”Every form of cricket has its own challenges,” Dhoni said. “You have the Test format, the longer version. You have ODI cricket where you can see glimpses of Test cricket and Twenty20s, especially with two balls getting used. And all of a sudden a team loses three or four wickets, and you go and do the consolidating job and then go on with the slog. And then there is the shortest format where you lose five wickets, you go in and the longest consolidating period you get is one over and you start hitting again. All of them are very interesting, and as long as I am able to, I will play all the three formats.”Dhoni was then asked where he felt he was on his Test journey. “I am still on my way. I have not reached any place,” he said, suggesting there might finally be something in a Dhoni press conference that might reveal his inner feelings, before going on to show it was just a tease. “If I remember, the thing I said was 2013, which is two years from now on. I don’t know if you will be covering cricket or not. I don’t know if I will be playing cricket or not. That’s a long time.”

“Now it’s the start of 2012. 2013 is two years. I don’t know whether I will be alive in two years”

That’s the thing with Dhoni. You never know. If you haven’t been to a match, you won’t be able to tell from Dhoni’s face if he has won it or lost it. There is a sense of detachment, whether real or rehearsed, that has worked for Dhoni, ridding him of the pressures Indian captaincy brings. It has consumed the best of them, even the best tactical captain India has had, Rahul Dravid.Dhoni has fought it by not acknowledging it, but over the last 12 months, especially after India won the World Cup, you wonder if he has been too detached when India needed a more involved leader to oversee the transition to the next phase. In Australia, loss after loss brought the same combination, same strategy, same faces, same answers. You didn’t get a feeling somebody was taking charge. You didn’t see Dhoni change his tactics on the field. You can’t blame the thinkers for thinking he didn’t care. Dhoni, though, will tell you only he knows how much he cares. However, people who wanted to see a sign didn’t get to see one.Then there was intrigue off the field. There were reports of Virender Sehwag wanting the captaincy, and that he was not very appreciative of Dhoni’s work. Not to forget that Sehwag can’t be very appreciative of his own work, either as batsman or captain at this stage. Sehwag, of course, denied all that. Now that the series is gone, though, rumour mills are abuzz again. Dhoni’s captaincy in Tests away from subcontinent is bound to come under scrutiny.When asked where he saw himself vis-à-vis the captaincy issue, Dhoni said: “It’s an added role and responsibility for me. It’s not a position that belongs to anyone. That responsibility was given to me three-and-a-half years back. I have been trying to do well, get along with the team, perform well wherever we play.”It’s just a position I hold. It’s something I’ll always look to do well [as long as] I am in the job. It’s not something I want to hold on to or stick on to. If there’s a better replacement, it’s a very open thing. He can come in. At the end of the day you want India to perform. If there is someone who can do a better job, then it’s a place that should be given to him. It’s not something you have to cling on to.”When asked if, given his workload, he had enough left to go on and lead India’s attempt at rebuilding from the defeats, Dhoni said: “It’s not an individual who decides whether he is good enough or not. It’s others who decide if you are good enough or not. When it comes to effort, I am still giving my 100%.”To paraphrase Dhoni himself, the beauty of statements is, they are open to interpretations. As are the last two. Is he resigned to losing his Test captaincy? Is he so detached he won’t fight if it is taken away? Will he not be desperate to correct the lasting memory of his captaincy – back-to-back whitewashes? Or – and this is interesting – is he daring the powers to find a man better suited to the job because there isn’t anybody in sight at the moment?

A match between France and MCC to mark cricket’s inclusion at the 1900 Olympics highlights attempts to grow the game across the Channel

George Dobell17-Jun-2012The scene could hardly have been more incongruous. In the gardens of a château, deep in the French countryside outside of Paris, Richie Benaud is watching a cricket match between France and the MCC. Occasionally the roar of a lion from the château’s wildlife park rises above the sound of bat and ball and birdsong.A press officer interrupts Richie: “Could we take you to the elephant enclosure for an interview about cricket in France?””Of course,” says Richie, with the good-natured, phlegmatic air of a fellow who had been interviewed about French cricket in elephant enclosures on numerous occasions. “Are we walking?””No, an antelope might attack you,” the press officer replies. “Or a lion might eat you. And that’s not really the sort of publicity we’re after.”Were an unicycling unicorn to take a turn at umpiring, the whole scene could hardly be any more odd. Or appealing. Château de Thoiry, the backdrop for this game, which was staged to commemorate cricket’s only appearance at the Olympics (in Paris in 1900) is an achingly beautiful place. The Count and Countess de la Panouse, who own the château, have welcomed cricket teams into their gardens for 20 years (“They keep the grass down beautifully,” the countess says. “It’s true that I could have bought goats, but cricketers tend to eat fewer flowers.”) and Thoiry Cricket Club has established itself not just as an idyllic venue for touring teams but a beacon of excellence in instilling a love of cricket in young people.Yet, beneath the beautiful but somewhat surreal surface, there is a real – and rather heroic – battle for survival in progress. Cricket in France is at a crossroads. Thwarted by a lack of facilities, particularly pitches, and its perception as the epitome of Englishness – and, round these parts, it is deemed better for your daughter to marry an axe murderer than an Englishman – the game has progressed little over the last 20 years; 50 years, even.There is hope, though. Inspired by a new general manager, Mark Moodley, and his group of volunteers, a new team and a new spirit is emerging. Indeed, Moodley might just be the architect of a quiet miracle.Unsurprisingly the French team is overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) comprised of first-, second- and third-generation Asian immigrants. A few, such as 17-year-old legspinner Zika Ali, who will shortly return for a second trial at Kent, possess extravagant talent. Just as they lost in the 1900 Olympics (they took silver to Britain’s gold), France lost the 2012 Olympic commemoration game – a T20 encounter – by 35 runs on Saturday to a strong MCC team containing Josh Marquet, who was once thought of as one of the fastest bowlers in the world, and Rob Turner, who was a key part of the Somerset team of a decade or so ago. France’s flaws were tactical more than technical and their commitment in the field bordered on the insane. There was plenty of talent.Next week France travel to La Manga in Spain to play games against Belgium (“Our bogey team,” Moodley says), Gibraltar and Austria. If they win all three, they will be admitted to Division 8 of the ICC’s World Cricket League (WCL). They would have taken a step on the road that leads, eventually to ODIs, World Twenty20s and, one day, perhaps even Test status.Elevation would bring its own challenges. Promotion to the WCL would not bring an increase in funding from the ICC, which currently provides around €250,000 ($315,000) per year, but would demand commitments costing around €800,000 ($1 million) per year. While Moodley insists that France would not – unlike at least one of their rivals – decline the invite into the WCL, cricket in France desperately requires extra funding. The search for a sponsor goes on.The Olympics presents one obvious solution. As is the case with many nations, the government provides funding for Olympic sports from seven years ahead of the event. It would also bring widespread exposure for a sport that often talks with self-satisfied pomposity of its global reach but can act with small-minded parochialism.There are several substantial impediments to cricket’s return to the Olympics. For a start, it seems unlikely that the ICC will even bid for cricket’s inclusion. Such is cricket’s reliance on broadcast revenues that the Future Tours Programme is packed for many years ahead. You may as well try to convince one of the lions at Thoiry of the virtues of vegetarianism as attempt to persuade some of the major figures within the ICC to compromise their short-term commercialism for some long-term vision.MCC beat France by 35 runs in a Twenty20 match to mark cricket’s appearance at the 1900 Olympics in Paris•Getty ImagesBesides, even if the ICC applied for Olympic inclusion, it seems unlikely that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would receive the application with warmth. Cost is one issue. It is unlikely that any cricket-playing country will bid for an Olympic Games in the foreseeable future and so a future host might be reluctant to put on a stadium sport like cricket, even T20, in addition to football, due to difficulties in finding venues. The Games are already unwieldy, containing 27 sports.What the IOC calls “gender parity” is another issue. In the London Games, the IOC hopes, for the first time, that there will be equal participation in all sports between men and women. The ratio was 42:58 in Beijing. Women’s cricket, though developing, has not taken root everywhere, and the IOC is unlikely to sanction a sport that would set back their efforts. Realistically, if cricket could not win inclusion at London, it will not win inclusion anywhere. The chances of cricket becoming an Olympic sport before 2032 are very, very slim.That is a shame. In France, as elsewhere, it would bring new sources of funding and new levels of exposure. If cricket is serious about developing into a global sport, it is exactly the sort of step the ICC should take.But there is still Moodley’s miracle. Preposterously unlikely though it sounds, Moodley has persuaded schools in France – well, 200 of them, anyway – to not just allow him to expose their children to cricket but to introduce it as part of the curriculum. By the end of this year, he hopes to have 3900 French children playing cricket. In three years’ time, he aims to have reached 200,000.At first glance that might sound surprising. At second glance, too. But football’s reputation – particularly among teachers – has waned considerably. It has developed – or regressed – into a sport where role models do not just question authority, they snarl and sneer and swear in its face; where fair play is seen – like penny-farthings and shire horses – as a charming relic of a bygone age. It is seen, by some teachers who have to deal with children copying the actions of their heroes, as ugly and disruptive.That is not the case in cricket. Despite the likes of Cronje, Butt and Westfield, the reputation of cricket is still synonymous with fair play and respect. Those are qualities that any teacher would like to instil. Moodley has recognised that and taken advantage. Given some investment, he could reap a rich harvest on soil that once seemed inhospitable to the sport.Relations between England and France will always be tinged with that love-hate dynamic that is inevitable in neighbours who have been to war over their boundaries. But amid the lions and limes of Thoiry, it seemed the was more than ever.”The English lead the world at three things: binge drinking, teenage pregnancy and cricket,” a French spectator said as the match came to a close.”Yeah, but we were expecting you to surrender as soon as the umpires called ‘play’,” replied his English companion.The pair laughed heartily and departed together for tea – pâté, brie and cucumber sandwiches. Wherever you find yourself – Los Angeles, the Caribbean, Afghanistan or Europe – cricket’s power to unite and heal remains quite remarkable.

Missing their top three from the ODIs, as well as Kevin Pietersen, England are being asked to create a new team ahead of their World T20 defence

George Dobell23-Jun-2012Stuart Broad may have captained before and all but one of his squad may have some T20 International experience but it was hard to avoid the conclusion that England were at the start of a new age as they prepared for Sunday’s match against West Indies at Trent Bridge.The England squad is not only without the recently “retired” Kevin Pietersen but also without their ODI top three: Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott. James Anderson, too, cannot find a place in this side. While the bulk of the team that won the T20 series in the UAE remains – 10 of the 11 that won the final game may well play here – it is increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that England’s schedule and their priorities are likely to count against them as a T20 side.Indeed, such is the callow look to England that Stuart Broad, who will mark his 26th birthday on Sunday by captaining his country on his home ground, seemed to be playing down expectations ahead of the World T20 to be staged in Sri Lanka from September. “We are going to be a hugely inexperienced side going into sub-continent conditions,” Broad said. “So we are not expecting the world.”While admitting that Pietersen’s absence “didn’t seem to effect the one-day team a huge amount” Broad accepted that Pietersen, man of the tournament when England won the World T20 in 2010 “is a world-class Twenty20 player so of course it is disappointing that he is not with us. But it’s a great opportunity for someone else to put their hand up and stake a claim for that spot.”There is some irony in the annual hand-wringing and soul searching that invariably accompanies the start of the English domestic T20 season. While poor scheduling and dreadful weather have combined to dampen the early stages of this year’s Friends Life t20, it is worth remembering that, only 10 years ago, county cricket was the birthplace of T20 and that England are not only currently rated as the No. 1 T20 side in the world, but they are also World T20 Champions. When you hear people insisting that England should learn from the IPL and India – a team ranked No. 7 in the T20 rankings – it tells you how easily style can mask substance in a world depressingly over-impressed by cheerleaders and fireworks.That having been said, England’s prioritisation of ODI cricket may have consequences. While it is understandable – having attained No. 1 status in Test and T20 cricket, they have set their focus upon a global ODI trophy – it may also come at a cost.

Judging by how few West Indies players attended their optional practice session, they must feel remarkably confident.

Not only has the five-match ODI series against Australia resulted in the Test series against South Africa being cut to just three games – a rare case of a cricketing encounter being undersold in modern times – but it has prevented England’s core group of players participating in the domestic FLt20 competition. That, in turn, weakens a domestic event that was once strong enough to sow the seeds of England’s World T20 victory. Anderson, for example, has played only one T20 match in the last two years. Cook has not played one in a year.To compound the problem, England play very few international T20 fixtures. “It’s been four months, then we have a one-off game, then it’s another three months,” Broad said. Those core players have little chance to force their way back into the T20 side.They are also thwarted by a bulimic domestic schedule that starves its audience of T20 for the best part of 11 months before cramming, in several cases, three home matches in a week down its throats. By staging the whole competition in a mid-season window, it will always be at the mercy of the weather. The argument that it renders it easier to attract the most exciting overseas players can be negated by a quick glance at some of those involved this year. All are worthy cricketers; very few are box office.The arguments for the introduction of a franchise system in the UK are equally fallacious. It presupposes that a country with a population of over 60 million and in which cricket is a niche sport can replicate the success of a country of well over a billion and where cricket is an obsession. It also overlooks the pesky fact that each of the IPL franchises is based in a conurbation of over six million people. There is only one city of that size in the UK.Furthermore, it overlooks one of the great strengths of the county game: the presence of first-class teams right around the country. In an age when so little cricket is available on free-to-view television, that is an important factor. Besides, it seems most unlikely that the introduction of a franchise system would stop it raining or result in a less cluttered international schedule.The truth is, given a fair chance, the domestic T20 program could still flourish. Were the T20 season scheduled on Friday evenings from late May to September, were England players available more often, were salary caps, young player incentives and other bureaucratic obstacles to be removed, then it would thrive once more. But, after years of tightening regulations, complicating the schedule and compromising the county game to the point of pawning its soul, there has been a sudden realisation from the ECB that they have diluted their own product.The T20 at Trent Bridge also presents a final opportunity for West Indies to salvage some tangible reward from this tour. While there have been limited signs of progress, the fact is that West Indies have been beaten in all four of the international fixtures in which there has been meaningful play. Even the Black Knight of Monty Python fame – sans arms and legs – would struggle to “take the positives” from that.On paper, they remain a side well-suited to the shorter formats. Many a wise pundit quietly fancies them for World T20 success. Broad rated Chris Gayle as “one of the best T20 batsmen in the world”, while Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard are among those with IPL pedigree. Judging by how few of them attended their optional practice session on Saturday afternoon, they must feel remarkably confident.

The performances of Sarfraz Ahmed and Aizaz Cheema played a critical role in the outcome of the Asia Cup final

Siddarth Ravindran at the Shere Bangla National Stadium23-Mar-2012Pakistan’s biggest star may have won the Man-of-the-Match award, but the Asia Cup would not have been won had it not been for crucial contributions from two players who are less celebrated. Fast bowler Aizaz Cheema’s bowling at the death and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed’s career-high, unbeaten 46, after walking in at No. 8 played a huge role in separating the sides.In Pakistan’s versatile attack, Cheema is seen as the weakest link. Shahid Afridi’s mix of legbreaks and fast googlies have routinely confounded batsmen, Saeed Ajmal and his mystery variations make him the top-ranked spinner in the world, Mohammad Hafeez has shown himself as a credible option for regularly bowling 10 overs of tidy off-spin, and Umar Gul, despite a recent dip in form, with his reverse swing and on-demand yorkers is seen as a threat.Afridi bowled out early and strangled the runs in the middle overs, while Hafeez finished his quota in the batting Powerplay. As the match headed to the final ten overs, though the asking-rate had climbed, it was felt Bangladesh weren’t out of it – Cheema or Hammad Azam had to still bowl four overs, which could be targetted.That seemed to be Bangladesh’s plan as well, as Shakib Al Hasan launched the only six off the innings on the first ball of Cheema’s final spell, immediately putting the bowler, who is still in his first year of international cricket, under pressure. Cheema, though, bounced back superbly, mixing up his lengths and his pace to not concede a single boundary for the rest of his spell.More importantly, he got the potentially-decisive wickets of Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim. A confident Shakib was shuffling around the crease every delivery, but he missed a paddle off a length ball and was bowled behind his legs. Another length ball that Mushfiqur wanted to send to the grand stand only went as far as the deep square-leg fielder.Still, Bangladesh didn’t give up, and they took it down to the final ball. Cheema again delivered, with a yorker on leg stump that was too good for Shahadat Hossain to hit what could have been the most famous shot in Bangladesh cricket history.”I think Cheema was very confident, and Misbah [ul-Haq] did a great job as a captain,” Hafeez said. “It was a pressure game and Cheema was the one who was really confident to bowl the last over, and on the last ball we were confident he would bowl a good ball.”Shahadat would have needed to hit a six off the final ball if it wasn’t for some shoddy fielding off the previous delivery, when the man at long-off wasn’t quick enough to stop the second and Sarfraz then flicked the ball towards the stumps to concede an overthrow.But for that gaffe, Sarfraz fully justified the faith shown by the side in picking him for the final. Despite having Hafeez and Afridi as the two allrounders in the XI, Pakistan haven’t nailed down the balance they want in the side.They have grappled with the wicketkeeper conundrum for a while now. Is it better to pick a specialist gloveman, especially with three quality spinners in the side, or go in with either a specialist batsman or bowler or an allrounder in that spot? Pakistan have tried everything in this tournament: playing Sarfraz and the extra batsman in Asad Shafiq in the first game, Sarfraz and an allrounder Azam in the next, replacing Sarfraz with the extra bowler in Wahab Riaz against India. Riaz’s meltdown in the India game, and the fact that they would have exactly five bowling options in case Shafiq played, forced them to go with Sarfraz and Azam in the final.When Afridi’s typically manic cameo came to a close in the 42nd over, Pakistan were seven down and looked unlikely to last the full stretch. It was down to Sarfraz to lift Pakistan from what seemed a sub-200 score, which even their world-class attack would have had little chance of defending, to a more competitive one. His boundaries off Shahadat, including in the final over when the bowler doled out freebies, boosted both Pakistan’s spirits and their score.When it came down to the crunch, both the headliners and the unsung players did their part for Pakistan, the combination of which proved good enough to take down Bangladesh.

ESPNcricinfo picks out five overseas players who are on their way up in the international game and likely to make quite an impact in their debut IPL seasons

Kanishkaa Balachandran03-Apr-2012Richard Levi
The South Africa opening batsman was among several players who went unsold at the auction in Bangalore. He was not an unknown at the time – he toured India with Cape Cobras in last year’s Champions League T20. He soon found himself in South Africa’s Twenty20 plans, touring New Zealand earlier this year. One knock was enough for the franchises to take notice. At Seddon Park, Hamilton – by no means the biggest ground in the world – Levi smashed a record century off just 45 balls with 13 sixes, the most ever for a Twenty20 innings. Several hits went many rows back, showing that he had the power to clear bigger grounds as well. Sahara Pune Warriors were reportedly interested in him, but he was ultimately picked up by Mumbai Indians as a replacement for Andrew Symonds, who pulled out. Levi hopes to open with Sachin Tendulkar and use this Indian experience to master subcontinent conditions.Sunil Narine
The Trinidad and Tobago spinner is not a new face to Indian audiences. He emerged from last year’s Champions League as one of the players to watch in the future. His stock ball is the offspinner, but he has developed the mystery delivery called the knuckle ball, a variation delivered with a loose wrist and a corkscrew twist of two fingers that makes it grip, turn away from the right hander, and bounce alarmingly. At the Champions League, he confounded Chennai Super Kings on his way to figures of 3 for 8 – a haul that including the wickets of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. He’s now a regular in West Indies’ limited-overs squads and is in the reckoning for the Tests against Australia as well. If picked, Narine could show up for Kolkata Knight Riders only by the end of the month. His base price was US$50,000, but the franchise was willing to fork out US$700,000 to get him.Marchant de Lange
This soft-spoken South Africa right-arm fast bowler is anything but shy with the ball. It’s all raw pace and bounce, as he’s capable of bowling consistently at 150kph and above. Kolkata Knight Riders bought him at the auction at his base price of $50,000. A new entrant to international cricket, de Lange showed the touring Australians what he’s capable of, nipping out five wickets in a tour game. Some Australia players told Kolkata: “This guy is bowling fireballs”. He took seven in an innings on Test debut, making him the most successful Test debutant of 2011. He also showed his temperament in a close Twenty20 against New Zealand in Auckland. With six to defend off the last over, captain AB de Villiers tossed the ball to the inexperienced de Lange. He conceded just three runs and took two wickets in South Africa’s heist. Will he be a last-over specialist for Kolkata too?Doug Bracewell
This right-arm fast bowler was one of New Zealand’s finds of the season. The nephew of former national coach John Bracewell, Doug Bracewell took a five-for on Test debut in Zimbabwe, but his match haul of 9 for 60 in a winning cause in Hobart is a performance he will never forget. It took a rookie to break New Zealand’s Test jinx against Australia. Delhi Daredevils bought him for his base price of $50,000. He has pace, hits the deck hard and is a capable lower-order batsman. He took nine wickets in eight games for Central Districts in the Twenty20 HRV Cup in New Zealand.Andre Russell
Delhi Daredevils bought the West Indies allrounder for $450,000 – nine times his base price. Though still a relative newcomer to international cricket, his all-round abilities in limited-overs cricket caught the attention of team owners in Bangladesh and India. Like Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, Russell is capable of massive hits – he has a Twenty20 strike-rate of 148.58. He demonstrated that during West Indies’ one-day series in India last year – not a bad stage to audition for the IPL. His highest ODI score of 92 also came against India. He bowls at good pace – though not as quick as de Lange – and has variations in his yorkers and slower balls. His athletic fielding was also impressive in the recently-concluded one-day series against Australia. Delhi should have his services all through the tournament, unless he’s picked for West Indies’ home Tests.

Irrespective of how easy the conditions were, Vijay’s 10-hour arduous effort should help him in the race for an India Test spot

Siddarth Ravindran in Bangalore23-Sep-2012For a batsman ignored by the national selectors, nothing helps make a case like a big hundred. M Vijay scored the biggest in the Irani Cup’s 53-year history, a career-best effort that deflated the Ranji champions Rajasthan.There will be carping about the blunt Rajasthan attack – three quick bowlers bowling at an amiable 115kph, and two spinners with career averages over 50 – and the featherbed at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on which each of the specialist Rest of India batsmen scored at least a half-century.The combination of a weak opposition and a flat track might seem a perfect fill-your-boots formula for a batsman, but the trouble is that a failure will be greeted with a, “he can’t even score against these guys?” response, and any runs scored will be pooh-poohed.The sheer magnitude of runs Vijay accumulated, though, should help almost completely sidestep that conundrum. A small century in Bangalore, and it would have grabbed no one’s attention, but sticking around for more than ten hours is arduous, irrespective of how easy the conditions are.There was plenty to admire about Vijay’s innings, not least the endurance and concentration of a batsman who has made the headlines in the past year and a half more for his IPL performances. There was no slogging either, the bulk of his runs coming through orthodox drives down the ground and through cover.”My conscious thing was the wicket was getting slower, so I didn’t want to play across the line,” Vijay said after the third day’s play. “I just wanted to keep it straight, maybe if the ball swings a bit I can use the flick because that is my strength.”Till he had almost reached 200, it was a flawless innings as well – he was hardly beaten. The only blemish was the lackadaisical running between the wickets at some stages.Another highlight of the performance was Vijay’s fitness. Even after a day-and-a-half in the middle, he didn’t look tired, and when Rajasthan came out to bat late in the evening, Vijay didn’t choose to rest up after his batting exploits, coming out to take his place in the field.He could have even gone on to a bigger score. “Not really thinking of a triple-hundred then, not really, I just wanted to get close to it and if it is my day… now that I have missed it, I feel bad.”Vijay was also pleased that he had scored in the season-opener. “I was just preparing for this game, after a long time I was playing a five-day game, after Ranji Trophy I hadn’t played any five-day game, more or less 50-50 or Twenty20, so I just wanted to get my flow going in the longer version, because that will help me a lot.”Finding his form in the five-day game is crucial for Vijay, who had an intermittent three-year spell as Test opener before a disastrous tour of the Caribbean pushed him out of his position as back-up opener. A year on, he has fallen so far down in the selectors’ estimation that he wasn’t even considered for the A squads.How badly was he affected by the axeing? “It’s not all in my hands, I can just take it in my stride and move forward, be a better cricketer,” he said. “It was really a test for me, initially I was disappointed and I accepted the reality, you know, you have to work on your game, and this is a nice chance for you to analyse yourself and become a better cricketer.”He began the Ranji season poorly after being dropped from the national team, and though he started turning in better performances in the second half to help Tamil Nadu reach the final, he was firmly behind both Ajinkya Rahane and Abhinav Mukund in the race for the opening berth. With Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir not having as firm a grip on their spots, opportunities are bound to arise for the chasing pack. Vijay’s 266 is the perfect start to the season, at least to keep him in the openers’ race.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the first World T20 semi-final in Colombo

Andrew Fernando and David Hopps in Colombo04-Oct-2012False omen of the day
Sixteen years ago to the day, Shahid Afridi had walloped Sri Lanka for 102 off 37 balls, which is still the fastest century in ODI cricket. His stay at the crease this time around wasn’t all that much shorter, but it was far less effective. During that hundred, which was his first ODI innings, Afridi had had his most productive over against left-arm spinner Sanath Jayasuriya, hitting 28. On this occasion, Rangana Herath exacted revenge for Sri Lankan left-arm spinners by bowling Afridi first ball.Slip of the day
Sohail Tanvir replaced Abdul Razzaq for Pakistan and bowled an insistent opening spell that deserved to take a wicket. At the end of his third over, he found the edge of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s bat but Dilshan, who had 8 from 15 balls at the time, survived as Kamran Akmal only got a finger on it. Mohammad Hafeez must have rued the fact he had removed the slip prematurely.No-ball of the day
When Jeevan Mendis walked across his stumps to be lbw to Umar Gul with 15 balls remaining, it seemed to have ended an increasingly tortured innings. But Gul had overstepped and Mendis, perhaps a little reluctantly, returned from the boundary edge to resume an innings that had brought him only 14 from 17 balls.Adrenaline-boost of the day
The Premadasa crowd had been subdued into nervous silence after Pakistan had built a solid platform from which to attack Sri Lanka’s modest total. By the ninth over, the thousands of Sri Lanka flags that had been on show during Thisara Perera’s last-over blitz were stashed out of sight. An Angelo Mathews double strike in the tenth over, though, breathed life into the crowd, and had them believing once again.Drop of the day
Hafeez seemed to have set himself for a long, responsible innings, but erred in the 12th over when he miscued a lofted drive which appeared to be heading towards Lasith Malinga at long off. The ball hung in the air for an age, and Malinga advanced, almost to the 30-yard circle, set himself, and promptly turfed a sitter. Hafeez made Sri Lanka pay immediately, hitting two fours and a six in the next six balls he faced.Equipment removal of the day
With a boundary needed of each of the last five balls of the innings, Umar Akmal was willing to try anything to take Pakistan home, even if it meant risking injury. He called the 12th man onto the field and relieved himself of his helmet, despite having to face a seamer. The ploy didn’t work though, and with nothing to gain from the last two balls from which 21 were needed, Akmal called for his helmet again.

The familiar failings and self-inflicted wounds suggest England’s batsmen remained scarred by recent experiences in Asia

George Dobell in Ahmedabad17-Nov-2012Chris Broad, during his brief spell in the media, once remarked that he had “run out of expletives” to describe a passage of play. While it was not, perhaps, quite what Broad meant – you suspect he was searching for the word “superlatives” – it would have proved rather apt to describe England’s first-innings batting display in Ahmedabad. They were, quite simply, wretched.Indeed, the first half of the third day of this Test was wearingly familiar. England groped around against spin like blind men reaching for a bench that wasn’t there. All the talk of improvement, all the talk of game plans, all the confident predictions were exposed as bluster. England looked no better than they had in the UAE. In fact their total – 191 – was almost identical to the average score they made in that series against Pakistan: 190.66. It seemed nothing had changed.Ian Bell’s dismissal will gain the most attention and there is no getting away from the fact that he played a horrid shot. Kevin Pietersen, too, batted as if he were on ice and could have been out on numerous occasions before he played around one. Both looked as if they were carrying baggage from previous campaigns; mental scars that have left them nervous and uncertain.Bell has been skipping down the wicket to spinners from the start for some time. He did it to his first ball in the warm-up match against Haryana, too, and only just survived as the ball dropped behind mid-on. It is, if the ball is there for him, an appropriate tactic. But he is not selecting the shot on merit; he is selecting it on chance. It is a remarkable error for such an accomplished player and speaks of panic and desperation.But perhaps it would be wise to suspend judgement. While England must not delude themselves into thinking they are simply unfortunate, there are several mitigating factors. For a start, the toss has been a huge factor in this game and batting first an advantage.It is also worth noting that the umpires endured an unfortunate third day. England benefited more than they suffered, but the arbitrary nature of some of the decisions proved that even the best – and Aleem Dar may just be the best umpire the game has ever had – can make mistakes and increased the element of chance involved in this match. Interestingly, while the BCCI continue to resist the use of DRS, they have installed Hawk Eye on their own website, as a tool for following the game. It may be a sign of a move towards acceptance.Most of all, though, England batted far better second time around. To some extent, their second innings served to rob them of any excuses for the first. They could no longer claim that the pitch was unplayable or the bowling full of mystery or magic. They had just batted haplessly.But the second-innings performance – unfinished though it is – should have provided them with some confidence. Nick Compton looks admirably solid; Alastair Cook has little to prove. Their job has only just begun but they have shown themselves and their team-mates that with patience, application and calm, it is possible to prosper in these circumstances. Talk of Leeds 1981 or Kolkata 2001 is mightily premature, however.

“There will be calls for Bell to be dropped and, on his form in Asian conditions, it is hard to defend him. He now averages just 18 in his five-and-a-half Tests in India”

England learned a few things that could be useful, too. They learned that Zaheer Khan can, despite a slightly larger girth, still reverse swing the ball prodigious distances in both directions. They learned that Umesh Yadav is quicker than any of their bowlers involved in this game. And they learned that even the spinners are more effective if they are used in shorter spells. The Indian spinners, Pragyan Ohja in particular, gained appreciably sharper turn than Graeme Swann. Weariness is, no doubt, a factor.England also learned, or perhaps that should be were reminded, that Duncan Fletcher is a cunning man. Almost every little trick he has planned – and they are all legitimate – has worked a treat: the lack of spin granted to England in the warm-ups; the docile warm-up pitches; the lush outfield in Ahmedabad when this match started and dozens of other details. He has been plotting this revenge for months.But perhaps England could also take some comfort. Much was made about Ashwin’s variations ahead of this series but, so far, he has delivered them poorly. Not only are they relatively easy to pick, but his legbreak, in particular, is delivered with little control. His offbreak is still a decent weapon, but it really is not anything England have not seen before.Ojha looks a fine bowler. He has good control, unusually good variation of pace and he turns the ball appreciably. But he is a conventional left-arm spinner. Just the sort of thing that England have faced many times before. He is to be respected, certainly, but not feared. There is no Saeed Ajmal in this series.The one thing that England must not do is dismiss their first innings as ‘just a bad day.’ If they reflect honestly, they will accept that all but two – Samit Patel and Tim Bresnan – of the wickets to fall on day three had a self-inflicted element. While that will be the cause of great frustration in the England camp, it might also be termed as encouraging: they really can do better than this.There will be calls for Bell to be dropped and, on his form in Asian conditions, it is hard to defend him. He now averages just 18 in his five-and-a-half Tests in India and departs on Monday to attend the birth of his first child. He may find it hard to win his place back. It is hard to deny, however, that when England go to New Zealand or when they play Australia, Bell will remain as likely a match-winner as just about anyone in the team. His problems against spin might be viewed as a microcosm of the problems of English cricket in Asia. The England selectors will search in vain for a better all-round batsman in county cricket than Bell.Would this Test have been any different if England had won the toss? Maybe. But they would still have needed to bowl and bat far better than they have done. They lost the toss in Adelaide in 2010 but, because they took half chances and bowled well, they turned it to their advantage. To this point, they have been comprehensively outplayed by India and they would be best served not looking for excuses but solutions.

Sri Lanka’s batting, which crumbled against New Zealand’s seam attack in parts in the first Test, must find a way past them in more testing conditions at the P Sara Oval

Andrew Fernando in Colombo24-Nov-2012Though New Zealand lost the first Test early due to their failure against spin, Sri Lanka’s batsmen hadn’t fared too well either. On the second day, four top-order batsmen and the nightwatchman had fallen for 50 runs, and a first-innings lead, which they eventually achieved, seemed a long way away. A measured partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews rescued them then, but it was made easier by a Galle pitch that withdrew its assistance for the seamers after the 25th over. The pitch at the P Sara Oval is less generous to batsmen, and Sri Lanka’s top order cannot afford another collapse.But it is perhaps harsh to cast Sri Lanka’s wobble as a failure against swing bowling because the movement Tim Southee and Trent Boult generated was of the highest quality. Almost every delivery in the first 20 overs curved in the air, and many moved off the seam as well. At one stage, Ross Taylor had eight men stationed in a catching position, six of them behind square on the off side.But it is also not an anomaly for Sri Lanka, who have failed against the moving ball before. Against England at the P Sara Oval in March, James Anderson dismissed Sri Lanka’s top three for 30, effectively paving the way for a large first-innings total for England, and thereby, a series-levelling victory. In Sri Lanka’s tour of South Africa three months earlier, they had surrendered 30 wickets to Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn, who had a combined average of 16.8. In the third Test at Newlands, Sri Lanka lost 16 wickets to South Africa’s seam attack, while their own pace bowlers could only manage two wickets. There is no doubt that Steyn and Co are in a different league to Chanaka Welegedara and Dhammika Prasad, but the batsmen must bear some blame when they average 29.05 per wicket in a Test in which their opponents average 145.It is a weakness Sri Lanka’s batsmen have always had, and though those playing international cricket are now exposed to seam-friendly conditions even at home – with the pitches in Pallekele and Hambantota helping the quicks – a diet of dour domestic wickets that remain slow, low and dry have not allowed burgeoning talent to develop effective technique against effective seam and swing bowling. Tharanga Paranavitana is a prime example. He is adept at working the spinners around the park, and has even flayed fast men with a flowing range of strokes on the off side, but only if the ball is not moving. His judgment outside the off stump has been found wanting. He has left balls that have cannoned into his off stump and prodded at others that were never threatening the stumps, and brought his demise via a catch to the keeper or the slips.Jayawardene was perhaps the most complete batsman to debut for Sri Lanka, but ever since his maiden hundred, his record outside the subcontinent has been the cudgel with which his bids for greatness have been thumped away. Though his technique has improved despite a poor tour of South Africa, he is still far more uncertain outside off stump than a man befitting his experience and talent.Southee and Boult have barely had a bad game this tour, and if Doug Bracewell can find that difficult length for his hit-the-deck away-seamers, New Zealand will test Sri Lanka’s most obvious chink. The P Sara Oval hasn’t been a happy venue for Sri Lanka of late because of its bounce, and their pace attack is New Zealand’s best hope of sparking an upset win.”It looks a very good wicket and a competitive one, probably with something forbowlers more than in Galle,” Jayawardene said on the eve of the second Test. “We need to make use of that opportunity and try and make sure that we get on top. In Galle, we thought after the first day we were in a good position, but after two sessions on the second day, we felt that we were behind them, and had to fight our way back. On the third morning, we managed to take control of the game, but we need to make sure that we don’t get into those sorts of situations and be on top from throughout.”Having already picked their squad for Australia, the longer-term significance of their performance in this Test is not lost on Sri Lanka. If they are to avoid another overseas trip replete with an innings loss and a near-innings loss, as they did in South Africa, Sri Lanka’s top order must learn to conquer pace, bounce and movement. Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus await, but first they must win past Southee, Boult and Bracewell.

There was no chance Graeme Smith was going to get the ball out of Dale Steyn’s hands as he raced towards a career-best performance

Firdose Moonda at the Wanderers04-Feb-2013Dale Steyn took the new ball. An hour and 40 minutes later, he was still bowling with it. In a spell that lasted 10 overs and four balls, Steyn grabbed four wickets to take his match tally to 11 and his status as the best bowler operating on the international stage at the moment to a new level.Long spells and Steyn have not had to walk the same road for a while. Graeme Smith prefers to use his strike bowler in bursts to get optimum usage of his pace. Today was different.South Africa earmarked the new ball as being the starting point to end the Test match. AB de Villiers hoped the final wicket would fall just after lunch. Steyn made sure the script was acted out to plan.His away swingers were perfect, he drew the batsmen forward and then beat them and it took only ten balls for him to find the edge of Asad Shafiq. The first of the overnight batsmen had departed. The next over the same. Misbah-ul-Haq. The second peg plucked.By the time Steyn had bowled five overs, Vernon Philander had already taken a third wicket in the morning session and there was a drinks break to catch his breath. So he bowled another one. Then Morne Morkel claimed the fourth. So Steyn bowled another. And another. And another. And another.As the spell grew, so did the questions about when Steyn would be replaced. It was one Smith was not going to ask. “I sort of left it in his hands, it’s a bit dangerous for me to make that move when he’s in the middle of his spell,” Smith said.Steyn would not be moved. He wanted to finish the job both for the team and himself. “If they were still seven down, it would have been a different situation. It was just that we needed two more wickets,” he said. “I wanted to push on. It was about trying to take the last wickets and get off the field. Graeme came and said to me do you want to stop some time, but I said I would just carry on bowling, it’s no train wreck. I’m pretty fit.”The final two fell in the space of two overs and Steyn completed the job five minutes into what would have been lunch. The praise was all his but he only accepted fractions of it. “In this team we all want to share the rewards with a win like this. It’s nice to have a standout performance but everyone in this team is capable of doing what I did today with the ball.”The South African team that hold the No.1 Test ranking has built its culture on togetherness so to hear Steyn sharing it is not a surprise. What has not been divided is the danger factor, which belongs mostly to Steyn. Although Misbah said Steyn is not the scariest bowler he has ever faced, he acknowledged that the “areas that he bowls makes him special.”It is with that knowledge that Smith hopes Pakistan have been mentally scarred. “I don’t know how much getting bowled out for 49 will affect them, but hopefully our bowlers have affect them when they thinking about the type of people that they have to come up against,” he said. “Some personal battles were won.”The most obvious of those is Steyn’s against the top-order. Recently, he has ripped through tails and Vernon Philander has been largely responsible for dismantling at the outset. This time, Steyn did the damage upfront in the first innings.His six-wicket haul in the first innings was split perfectly between frontline batsmen and tail-enders to show that his poison remains as powerful even though there are other bowlers to contribute. His standards have remained high and that is what Smith demands from the team as they look to widen the gap on the rankings.Rather than play simply to beat a team, Smith wants South Africa to impose themselves on their opposition. Since becoming No.1 at Lord’s last August, South Africa have not lost a match. The four they have won have all finished inside four days and have been achieved consecutively, something that evaded South Africa since 2010 which was the last time they won back-to-back Tests.Against New Zealand, both victories were by an innings. Against Australia in Perth and Pakistan in Johannesburg, South Africa recognised the moment where they had to make their advantage count. On the second afternoon at the WACA, Smith and Hashim Amla scored at more than six runs to the over to bat Australia out of the game. On the third morning at the Wanderers, Amla and de Villiers put on 68 runs in nine overs to do the same and prompt the declaration.Smith called them in because he “did not want to let the game drift,” and “another good day would help us land the blow.” The decisiveness of Smith’s actions points to a new determination to finish teams off in as emphatic a way as possible so that their morale is as dented as their performance.As Test cricket’s most experienced captain, the only criticism of Smith was that he was sometimes too passive. That has changed too. His confidence now allows him to take the initiative, instead of allowing it to come to him and it is a good thing his premier bowler understands that too. “The key thing is that we don’t get complacent if we want to keep dominating cricket,” Steyn said.