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Kumar Sangakkara left the ground after almost everyone he knew very closely had. Then it rained a little. Sangakkara had played his last match for Sri Lanka; even the elements allowed themselves a bit of emotion

Sharda Ugra in Colombo24-Aug-2015Test match days in Sri Lanka are relaxed – gates are usually wide open, the guards cast a sideways cursory check at the accreditation dangling around the neck and there is a general hand-waving in which direction to go. Of course, there are a handsome number of policemen around; this is Asia and cricket, the constabulary always turns up in large numbers.But Monday morning at the P Sara Oval suddenly felt serious. Very serious. The main gates at the stadium were sealed shut, a single-file entrance, bags opened, scanners passed over computers and other equipment. With, it can safely be said, such a thorough, highly personal frisking by security guards that were it any more thorough, it would have become a civil rights violation.This had happened because the President and the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka were arriving because Sanga was leaving.It was Kumar Sangakkara’s final day as a Sri Lanka cricketer and the country’s two most powerful people had come to say goodbye. There was a Test match to be concluded and it took about 111 minutes for the Indians to take the last eight Sri Lanka wickets and level the series. Once the game ended, the occasion that its end contained took over. Only a small heart or a narrow mind or both would not understand or absorb what that occasion stood for.The first sight of Sangakkara on his final day of Test cricket was of him walking out dressed in his Sri Lanka blue to shake the hands of the India team, who walked towards the home dressing room entrance after leveling the series. Sangakkara was hugged by every India player, then the umpires, other officials on the ground, the team’s official fans and even some groundstaff who felt emboldened; for a man, who always knew how to keep himself together in victory or defeat, Sangakkara didn’t hold back from letting everyone who wanted a piece of him get close.The farewell ceremony took a while to get organised but the crowd waited patiently, not merely in the most posh stands, where Tamil Union members and officials occupied seats covered by spotless white cloth, but in the public stands, on the grass bank near the old ivy-covered scoreboard.There were ten dignitaries including his President and Prime Minister waiting to present him with “special mementoes” and Sri Lanka’s head of state Maithripala Sirisena produced the most presidential of them all – an open invitation to Sangakkara to take over as the Sri Lankan ambassador to the United Kingdom.The crowd heard the other shorter speeches, clapping approvingly at the many good words and gestures but they wanted to hear the man speak himself. Sangakkara’s was a short eight-minute address, his voice wobbling only when he thanked his parents. He got the formal opening to his speech absolutely right – “Your excellency, the President of Sri Lanka, the honourable Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, all the well wishers and the invitees, fans, all my friends, my family – who are all here, which is a rare occasion that all of us are together – Virat Kohli and the Indian team, Angelo and my team, I have got so many people to thank here.” Working his way through that long list, he forgot, he was to tell reporters later, to mention his wife and children by name. He smiled, “I’m quite a chaotic person. I’m only organised in my batting.”When Sangakkara’s speech was over, the cheers and applause from the T. Murugaser and Tryphon Mirando stands from where the President and the Prime minister had watched the game, were loud, rousing. He moved into the knot of the Sri Lanka players; like fast bowler Dhammika Prasad had strenuously promised on Sunday afternoon and had done with both Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene, he was going to take charge of Sangakkara being carried by his teammates around the ground.Prasad and young quick Vishwa Fernando hoisted him onto their shoulders and the gathering moved away from the members stands into where the general public waited. In what are only referred to as the “tennis court” stands only because they adjoin the club’s tennis courts, where men squeeze through gaps in the wall to dodge the gatemen, boys clamber onto any scaffolding to get a better view and from where the papare band plays.When they saw Sangakkara come towards them lifted above the heads of everyone around him, the noise from the tennis court stands became a sonic embrace, an aural welcome. Louder than any other crowd in the ground had managed, coming from somewhere inside their core, their gut, gathered up in one voice up from the soles of their feet almost.For Sangakkara had spoken to them in his speech, like he was talking personally to every man and woman there or watching on television all across his country. Six-odd minutes into his speech, he said, “thank you to the Sri Lankan fans, it has been an immense pleasure and privilege to represent all of you.”From his perfectly grooved English, Sangakkara switched to Sinhala. These were his words to his people: “It’s been one of the most special privileges of my life to play in front of the Sri Lankan people and Sri Lankan fans. I’m especially thankful to your love and support.” He went on to tell them that “my innings has ended. I won’t play international cricket again.” He then made a promise. “But I’ll come with you to Khettarama, to Galle, to Tamil Union, and to SSC to watch the young Sri Lanka players.”Kumar Sangakkara didn’t hold back from letting everyone who wanted a piece of him get close.•AFPIt was why when he went past them in his lap of honour, their goodbye carried an echo into the future.There emerged from Sangakkara’s speech and later, through his 20 minutes of media interaction, the cricketer and the competitor. He said to the Indians “thank you for the toughness, for giving no quarter” referring to both to this series and his many previous contests with his country’s closest neighbours – large, loud but still kindred on a cricket field.When someone questioned how he went from being a “just a good” Trinity College cricketer to an international “legend” he smiled widely and said, “For me it was a case of working, changing, working, changing and trying to find a formula. More often than not, I was fortunate that what I tried worked. I wish there was a secret like I knew exactly what’s working. At time you just don’t know what is working and you keep doing it. You don’t count the teeth of a gift horse when it’s running. You change it only when you hit a stumbling block and try something new.”What he had learnt about himself from the game, Sangakkara said, was to rediscover and tap into its fundamental joy. “You need to play it with an almost childish wonder, where you just play and you enjoy. If it doesn’t work, you give up with disappointment, come back and try and enjoy the game. If you have that attitude and that kind of perception of the game, and I think that’s kind of changed in me. I have been able to let it go and come back with a bit of balance. I don’t know how that happened.” But it had happened and the latter half of his 15-year career turned out hugely successful and prolific – for himself and his team.Sangakkara appeared weary when he turned up for a short media interaction, but retained both generosity and humour. Whether he was asked what he liked to cook or whether the offer by the President was intended to be a step from cricket to diplomacy to politics.Or some comparison to Bradman. Or the future of the game. And Sri Lanka cricket. Outside there were people waiting, reporters and cameramen were asking him to sign their accreditation cards, match tickets, notebooks. It took a while before the questions could actually begin and it took a while for him to leave the room after it ended.Amid this tumult, a young schoolboy, reed thin, wearing a green t-shirt and white trousers streaked with mud and grass stains. “From practice.” Cricket nets at the famous Royal College. Where Cheran was an allrounder, not a wicketkeeping allrounder though. He’d come to put his hands together and doff his hat at Sanga. Who’s side was he on in Sri Lankan cricket’s subterranean Big Match? Cheran leans forward and says, in a low voice, “Mahela.”You think both men would guffaw and the sniping between Maheliacs and the Sangaphiles would continue forever more. Sangakkara’s words to his team rose above the argument: he spoke to captain Angelo Matthews, or as he is endearingly called, “Angie”, and told him that he had an “amazing team, you’ve got an amazing future” and asked them to enjoy the sport.”This sport we only play for a short time, it comes and goes … take pride in what you do, don’t be afraid to lose when you are searching for a win, and keep Sri Lanka and the flag flying high.”Sangakkara left the ground after almost everyone he knew very closely had. After his teammates, who got into their team bus and headed back to their hotel.After his entire clutch of friends who had filled into a “Sangakkara Box” on a Monday morning. After his parents and his siblings and his wife. He got into his car with his six-year-old twins, a son and a daughter, in the back seat and did what dads do, sweeping out of a cricket ground to take them home.The P Sara Oval had been emptied of its dignitaries, cricketers, celebrities, people and their colour, noise and feeling and then it rained a little. Not a torrential, tropical downpour, but a brief, slight late afternoon drizzle, with a dipping sun slanting in from over a shoulder of the stands. Kumar Sangakkara had played his last match for Sri Lanka; even the elements allowed themselves a bit of emotion.

Historically, the Mohali pitch has had a reputation for good true bounce but the focus, ahead of the first Test between India and South Africa, is on the seemingly dry appearance of the track

Sidharth Monga in Mohali 02-Nov-20152:06

Manjrekar: SA batsmen will be tested on turning pitches

– Faf du Plessis on the Mohali pitch
– MP Pandove, secretary of Punjab Cricket AssociationThe intrigue surrounding a pitch just before the start of a Test series is one of the things to behold in our storied sport. Perhaps in no other ball game does the surface where the ball bounces vary as much as it does in cricket. In tennis, for example, you go from grass to clay to hard courts, but the Paris clay behaves somewhat similarly every year. You can look and tell. Cricket pitches can have minds of their own despite best efforts.Everybody who is allowed near the pitch looks at it eagerly. On Monday afternoon, around 3pm, three Indian players and India’s three assistant coaches came to the PCA Stadium in Mohali for an optional training session. Daljit Singh, the chief groundsman, got a call immediately that they had arrived. So he took an assistant with him and walked towards the pitch. The first thing Virat Kohli and the coaches – Sanjay Bangar, B Arun and R Sridhar – did was walk to Daljit and the pitch. Oh the suspense around the pitch.Like a good Punjabi boy, the first thing Kohli did upon reaching the square was touch Daljit’s feet. Daljit patted the youngster’s back. Intense discussion around the pitch followed for about 10 minutes in which Kohli spoke little. Arun, the bowling coach, seemed to do most of the talking. Bangar shadow-practised at the top of the pitch, and looked intently at a good-length area. Before the Indians arrived, Daljit had asked his groundsmen to make brushes by intertwining a coir rope. Four of the groundsmen then began to scrub the surface with those brushes. To bring some sheen without shaving off the grass, a groundsman said.Most of the curators guard their pitch zealously. Daljit did too. On Monday you could have a conversation with him about any old thing but the pitch for this Test match. The pitches are so in focus because towards the end of his Test captaincy, MS Dhoni finally managed to convince Indian groundsmen to prepare pitches that began turning from day one. More intrigue is added by the controversy around the pitch in the last match that India played. Sudhir Naik, the head groundsman at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, complained to his state association that he and an assistant were abused by India team director Ravi Shastri and Arun, because they didn’t like the surface on which South Africa batsman amassed 438 in 50 overs. Dhoni’s parting shot after the ODIs was a call for surfaces similar to the ones on which India beat Australia 4-0 in 2012-13.

The pitches are so in focus because towards the end of his Test captaincy, MS Dhoni finally managed to convince Indian groundsmen to prepare pitches that began turning from day one

There is every reason for South Africa to not trust the surface even though it looks green. The grass will obviously be taken off closer to the Test. Du Plessis says the pitch is unnaturally dry for a surface three days before the start of a Test. He says it would be a concern for them if they were not expecting it. He has followed with some amusement the whole saga of the Mumbai pitch.”I don’t think they would be complaining about the wickets if they were winning,” du Plessis said. “I think it’s a reason to perhaps shift their attention from losing. For me one-day cricket is about runs. You don’t pitch up to a game expecting 180 plays 190. One-day cricket is about entertaining the crowd. That last ODI game in Mumbai was great for the fans.”I do think they are perhaps putting a little bit of pressure on the groundsmen to give them the wickets that they want because they know the slower the wickets the more they are in the game. But we are expecting that – and we did expect it in the one-dayers – and if on the day it changes then you have to just adapt your game plan to it. The way the wicket is looking at the moment perhaps that [India’s complaining] has worked.”Historically Mohali has had a reputation for good true bounce, but this is now a 23-year-old square when it is advisable to relay squares about every 12 years. Spinners have won India Tests recently. The quicks have become effective mostly with the reversing ball. Yet it has never offered alarming turn to the spinners.From a distance the pitch doesn’t look alarming: an even covering of yellowish grass. How much of it will be retained depends on the weather over the next couple of days and perhaps more such discussions between Daljit and the Indian think-tank. From a distance, though, you can’t tell how dry or hard it is. It must be said, though, that it is no longer hot in north India, which means it won’t lose too much moisture in the coming days.Three days to go, either South Africa are being alarmist or the PCA doesn’t want to make a song and dance about a turning pitch tailormade for the hosts. This is not the end of conversations around the surface.

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2016Masakadza struck a pleasant 79, leading Zimbabwe to a promising position•AFPBangladesh, however, pulled things back with five wickets in the last five overs, restricting Zimbabwe to 163 for 7•AFPTamim Iqbal got a start before falling for 29, and Zimbabwe struck with quick wickets•AFPSabbir Rahman took charge of the chase, striking a 36-ball 46 to lead the side’s recovery•AFPSabbir found support from Mushfiqur Rahim, and the pair added a quick 44 to help the side keep pace with the equation•AFPZimbabwe fought with quick wickets but Bangladesh, led by Shakib Al Hasan, calmly completed a four-wicket win•AFP

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2015Hashim Amla, the overnight batsman, then combined with Faf du Plessis to play out a tough session•BCCIThe pair added 72 runs for the fifth wicket, the highest partnership of the game•BCCIHowever, Amit Mishra provided the breakthroughs, sending back both batsmen in the space of two overs as India inched closer to a series victory•Associated PressAshwin then cleaned up South Africa’s tail with the second new ball, claiming seven wickets in the innings, taking his match tally to 12 for 98•BCCIIndia eventually completed a 124-run victory to seal the series. It was Virat Kohli’s first as Test captain at home•BCCI

Stats highlights from the Irani Cup, where Rest of India chased down 480 to clinch the title

Bharath Seervi10-Mar-20162 Number of higher successful chases in first-class matches in India, than the 480 chased by Rest of India in this Irani Cup. The top two successful chases in India are: 536 by West Zone against South Zone in Hyderabad in the final of Duleep Trophy 2009-10 and 501 by South Zone against England A in Gurgaon in 2003-04. The previous highest chase in Irani Cup was 421, also by Rest of India, against Delhi at Feroz Shah Kotla in 1982-83. This is overall the tenth-highest successful chase in first-class cricket history. The total of 482 is the fifth-highest fourth-innings total in first-class cricket in India.603 Mumbai’s total in this match, which is the highest first-innings total in a losing cause in first-class matches in India and the fifth-highest in overall first-class cricket. The highest losing total in Indian first-class cricket, irrespective of the match innings, is 604 in the fourth innings by Maharashtra against Bombay in the 1948-49 Ranji Trophy final, which is also the highest fourth-innings total in India.421 The difference between Mumbai’s first and second innings totals, which is the highest for a team in the Irani Cup and the ninth-highest in first-class matches in India. They scored 603 in first innings but were dismissed for 182 in the second innings. The highest difference in first-class matches in India is 521 by Punjab against Mumbai at Wankhede in 2012-13 – 580 in first innings and 59 in the second.297 The first-innings deficit for Rest of India after which they went on to win the match – highest in first-class matches in India. The previous highest was in the Eden Gardens Test of 2000-01 where India won after having faced a deficit of 274 in the first innings.0 Number of times in Irani Cup history the first six batsmen of a team had scored 50 or more previously. Mumbai’s first six batsmen all scored 50 or more in their first innings in this match.2 Number of higher totals than Mumbai’s 603 in the Irani Cup by the Ranji Trophy-winning team. Delhi had made 628 for 8 in 1980-81, and Karnataka 606 in 2013-14.9 Number of times in the last 11 Irani Cups that the Rest of India team won the title. The two times the Ranji Trophy-winning side won the Irani Cup was Karnataka in the last two seasons. Click here for the results of the Irani Cup.8 Consecutive Irani Cups lost by Mumbai. The last time they won was in 1997-98. They have lost in all their eight appearances since then.1 Number of scores in the nineties for Karun Nair in his first 50 first-class innings before this match. He was out in the nineties in both innings in this match: 94 in the first innings and 92 in the second. Incidentally, his first score in 90s was also in the Irani Cup, 94 for Karnataka in 2013-14.5 Consecutive scores of 50 or more in first-class innings for Shreyas Iyer. He scored 81, 90, 58 and 117 in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the Ranji Trophy before making 55 in the first innings in this match. He has ended the 2015-16 Indian domestic season with 1414 runs in 21 first-class innings at an average of 67.33 and strike rate of 92.23. He hit four centuries and eight half-centuries.0 Ducks for Shreyas Iyer in first-class career, before he was for duck in Mumbai’s second innings in this match. He had played 42 innings before his first duck. This was only his third single-digit score in his last 37 first-class innings; he was out three times for less than 10 in his first six innings.

Despite being sanctioned by the government, South Africa’s cricket system is not all that far from being able to call itself representative

Firdose Moonda26-Apr-2016It may not seem like it but South Africa’s cricket bosses can breathe a little easier. Although they received what seems a hefty punishment – being banned from bidding for or hosting major tournaments – for the slow progress of transformation, unlike their rugby counterparts they have both enough time and enough resources to ensure the sanction is lifted before it could make a real difference.South Africa was not in line to host a senior ICC tournament until at least 2023 and has only been pencilled in to stage the Under-19 World Cup in 2020. The government’s transformation targets are reviewed annually, which means that by next year, CSA could see the penalty reversed. But the board will need to make some changes and many are wondering what those have to be.The curiosity begins in the question itself, because the terms of the memorandum of understanding five South African sports federations signed with the sports ministry have not been made public. At Monday’s press conference, where sports minister Fikile Mbalula received the transformation reports and delivered his verdict, the barometer for measuring progress was set at 60%.That means that in order to avoid sanctions, 60% of players in the national cricket, rugby, football, netball and athletics teams had to be players of colour, which refers to anyone of black African, mixed-race or Indian descent. Only football met this target.Cricket was not that far off the mark, though, with a representation rate of 55%. Bridging the gap will be CSA’s first task.Using the 60% mark, South Africa would have to field seven players of colour in the national team, which would leave space for four white players. The significance of that ratio will not be lost on some. When transformation targets were first introduced in 1998, the quota was four players of colour in teams. The new requirements have essentially reversed that. They also require South African cricket to go where it has only gone three times before.

“I know what it was like to have to take three or four taxis from the township to the stadium for practice, not having a job but having pressure to earn a salary for a family”Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana

In 2013, in ODIs against Netherlands, Pakistan and India, South Africa fielded seven players of colour. On 17 other occasions – eight ODIs and nine T20s – South Africa teams have included six players of colour. The most they have ever had in a Test is five players of colour, in 17 matches. In the 2015-16 season, the South Africa XI typically consisted of between four and five players of colour. So where will the extra players come from?The obvious answer is the domestic system, where at least 36 players of colour regularly ply their trade at franchise level, in line with the transformation targets of six players of colour per team. Should CSA want to put that in line with the international target, it may look at increasing that number to seven, as it considered doing last year.It did try to implement a target in the second-tier system – the 13 provincial teams – of seven players of colour but backtracked after a legal threat from the South African Cricketers’ Association, who said it was told too late about the proposed changes. Instead, CSA used last season to increase the black African quota from two to three.This subsection of the target is also something the ministry of sport addressed, although there is no explicit target. Black African representation in South Africa’s cricket team sits at just 9%, which translates to one player in an XI. Last season, most often, this player was Kagiso Rabada, although Eddie Leie, Temba Bavuma and Aaron Phangiso also featured. The ministry continues to monitor whether this number will go up.The systems put in place at domestic level suggest that it has to. Even without increasing the franchise targets, there are 18 black African players in the franchise set-up and 18 other players of colour. Naturally, the next question will be whether any or all of them are good enough to make the step up or if the system is merely colouring by numbers.CSA’s transformation goals run from players and coaches right through to administrators•AFPAmong the top five franchise performers in each format were: one batsman of colour in first-class cricket, Qaasim Adams, and two bowlers of colour, Dane Piedt and Tabraiz Shamsi; three batsmen of colour in the 50-over format, Alviro Petersen, Rudi Second and Justin Ontong, and four bowlers of colour – of which three were black African – Malusi Siboto, Wayne Parnell, Junior Dala and Tshepo Moreki. In the T20 tournament, there was one batsman of colour in the top five, Reeza Hendricks, and two bowlers of colour, both black African, Sisanda Magala and Phangiso.This analysis, albeit brief, is proof that players are coming through but also evidence of a glaring problem. There is a lack of batsmen of colour, particularly black African batsmen, and a lack of first-class performers of colour. If CSA is to address the national team’s transformation issues, these are the areas it needs to focus on, by ensuring the development of black African batsmen – for whom Test centurion Bavuma has become a role-model – and nurturing players of colour in the longer format.The issue of mentoring these players is also a transformation issue, not least because the number of coaches forms part of the ministry’s assessment. Willie Basson, a member of the group that puts together the transformation report and a former acting president of CSA, explained that the relationships between coaches of colour and players of colour are different because they often involve a level of understanding about background that can be absent in the relationship between a white coach and player of colour.Lions’ coach Geoffrey Toyana is a case point. Toyana is a former first-class cricketer from the storied Soweto township and has previously spoken of how he can relate to the socio-economic difficulties players of colour face as they try to make it as professional sportsmen. “I know what it was like to have to take three or four taxis from the township to the stadium for practice, not having a job but having pressure to earn a salary for a family and that kind of thing,” Toyana said. It is seen as no accident that under Toyana’s watch, Lions have become the team with the most black African players, including Test successes Rabada and Bavuma.

There is a lack of batsmen of colour, particularly black African batsmen, and a lack of first-class performers of colour. If CSA is to address the national team’s transformation issues, these are the areas it needs to focus on

Toyana is one of two black African coaches at franchise level, along with Warriors’ Malibongwe Maketa, and one of three coaches of colour – Paul Adams of Cobras is the third. That number could increase to four in the 2016-17 season, with Yashin Ebrahim and Roger Telemachus in line to succeed Lance Klusener as Dolphins’ coach.South Africa are also transforming their coaching of feeder sides for the national team. Lawrence Mahatlane, a black African who won trophies in charge of the Gauteng provincial team, is the Under-19s coach, while Shukri Conrad, a franchise trophy winner with Cobras and Lions, is the national academy coach. Vincent Barnes, a successful bowler who was denied the chance to play for South Africa in the apartheid years and a former national bowling coach, is CSA’s high performance manager.Administratively, South African cricket is also keeping up with transformation requirements. Three of the six franchise CEOs are people of colour, although none is black African. CSA’s president, Chris Nenzani, is black African and the CEO, Haroon Lorgat, a person of colour.All these things are taken into account when the transformation report is compiled, so it is not only about the composition of the national team but about wholesale change. Not everybody likes this way of looking at things – former allrounder Jacques Kallis even said it made him embarrassed to be South African – but it is clear that cricket is not far from meeting the requirements and having the sanction lifted, and thus being able to call itself a sport that represents all South Africans.

Ireland embark on their biggest summer of cricket with their golden generation on the wane but the next generation on the rise

Tim Wigmore15-Jun-2016Ten years and two days ago, Ireland welcomed England to Stormont. It was Ireland’s first ever one-day international. This was a heady day, but also a faintly incongruous one. Ireland’s best player, Ed Joyce, was playing for England; their next best two, Niall O’Brien and Eoin Morgan, were unable to play because they had been retained by their counties. In the circumstances, Ireland’s margin of defeat – 38 runs – was far better than feared, but the match felt more like an exhibition game than a fully fledged ODI.As they prepared for the 2007 World Cup, not everyone wished Ireland well. “The idea that they can provide proper opposition for any genuine Test team is ludicrous. But the World Cup will be substantially ruined to perpetuate this myth,” warned the Editor’s Notes in Wisden 2006, while lamenting that ODIs like Ireland against England would “add another layer of distortion to cricket’s poor old statistics” and would “create yet more bad cricket, leaving less time for the great contests which the public want to watch.”It was a mainstream view, and for good reason. In 2001, Ireland played in the ICC Trophy in Canada, the qualification tournament for the 2003 World Cup. They finished above only Denmark and USA, and twice had to enlist the journalist James Fitzgerald as a substitute fielder.”I went up to the team manager and asked him who his 12th man was going to be that day,” Fitzgerald later recalled. “He kind of looked around and said, ‘Are you available?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I could give you a bit of time as I don’t have to file my copy until later this evening’.”The following year, Ireland were defeated by Berkshire in the first round of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy. Their top score was extras.In the years since, Ireland have enriched cricket. They have bested five Full Members in the World Cup, scoring over 300 in three of those games, and did so with a team that is overwhelmingly homegrown. They have transformed cricket’s image within the Emerald Isle. Most importantly, their performances have won respect the world over, and changed the way cricket fans view Associate nations.These are formidable achievements, and Ireland have done it all while feeling shunned by the ICC. They only played nine ODIs against Test teams between the 2011 and 2015 World Cups: four wasted years for an international team. They have won four of the last five editions of the Intercontinental Cup, but Test status has remained elusive. Until 2015, Ireland got by on about one-eighth the ICC funding of Zimbabwe.Ireland fans can look forward to their biggest summer of cricket at home•Getty ImagesThere is now cause for optimism on all these fronts. Ireland’s funding has ticked up under the new ICC regime, and could do so more in the coming months. The ICC is close to agreeing to the introduction of two divisions, of seven and five, in Test cricket, with promotion and, in essence, everything that Ireland have long advocated with such passion. Quiet fury remains at the contraction of the World Cup to ten teams, but Ireland have been heartened by their progress in securing top-level fixtures.Sri Lanka and Pakistan play two ODIs each at Malahide this summer – the first summer ever that Ireland will host two Test nations for multi-match series. Afghanistan also play five ODIs, and Ireland will play Australia and South Africa during a tour of Southern Africa this autumn, which could yet take in matches in Zimbabwe too. Bangladesh and New Zealand have already signed up to playing a tri-series in Ireland next May.Yet such heartening news conceals a lingering fear: that these opportunities are arriving only as the generation that has compelled the world to take note of Irish cricket is nearing retirement. The side’s most reliable batsmen – Joyce and Niall O’Brien – and the leaders of the attack, Tim Murtagh and Boyd Rankin, are all well into their 30s. Trent Johnston, Ireland’s skipper a decade ago and recently retired, has advocated an end to William Porterfield’s eight-year reign as captain, at least in T20 cricket, and implored the selectors to shake up the team.There will be signs of that against Sri Lanka. An injury to O’Brien has created a vacancy in the top six, which is likely to be filled by Stuart Poynter, who has been in fine fettle for Durham’s 2nd XI this season. Barry McCarthy, an athletic fast-bowling allrounder who has broken into Durham’s first team, is primed to make his international debut.Though he lacks express pace, McCarthy is a very modern cricketer, zestful in all three disciplines across all three formats, and with the temperament to seize the moment. A probing spell to Ben Stokes in the Malahide nets in 2013 so impressed Stokes that he alerted Durham to McCarthy’s talents; this season, he has responded with a five-for in a Championship game against Lancashire and a brace of three-fors in T20s. His presence, and O’Brien’s absence, mean that, unusually, Ireland look stronger in their bowling than batting, and have a pace attack to exploit any Sri Lankan jitters.There is an obvious way that McCarthy and his emerging generation can improve on the achievements of Ireland’s old guard: by toppling Full Members at home, something Ireland have not done since besting Bangladesh in 2010. They are yet to defeat a Test side at Malahide, their cricketing home.Ireland have spent longer than they would have wished bemoaning the intransigence of cricket’s governing elite in depriving them of chances to prove their worth. Now, at last, the side is beginning to get the opportunities it considers its right. For the game’s future in Ireland, the team has to take them.

Through a mix of skills, imperfections and changes in the pitch’s behaviour, the opening day in Kanpur held the attention in a manner befitting of the occasion of a landmark Test

Sidharth Monga in Kanpur22-Sep-20161:49

Agarkar: Consistency was key for Santner

Kane Williamson the Test captain has big boots to fill. In the World T20, for example, not one press conference would go without a question on the leadership of Brendon McCullum, how New Zealand were going to miss him, and how Williamson was going to carry forward McCullum’s legacy. Williamson is his own man, he leads in his own way, and New Zealand fans would have hoped that Williamson would dissociate himself from McCullum’s habit of not winning tosses. It’s early days – Williamson came into this series with an even record – but if there was ever a series a visiting captain wanted to win tosses in, it is one in India, against this Indian Test side.Tough surface to score on, agree Vijay and Santner

On where the match is right now
Vijay: “I think we are in a good position. We have put the runs on the board. All we got to do now is to go there, put pressure on them while bowling. It is a good total to play around with.”
Santner: “After losing the toss, I think we are in a reasonably good position. It was pretty flat to start with. They did bat well. We were lucky we got a few wickets here and there to pull it back. Obviously, we have to pick up this last wicket and then bat well, build partnerships.”
On the nature of the pitch
Vijay: “I won’t say it was difficult. It was difficult to score runs on this wicket. We have got to have a plan B, and patience. We have got to rethink our shot selection and stuff like that, and come back in the second innings and put up a better show.”
Santner: “The more you’re on the wicket, the more used you are going to get in terms of the surface getting a little harder to bat on, maybe. If you bowl in the right areas, it’s still quite hard to play. I guess you just have to do it for a longer period of time and then go from there.”

Especially on this Green Park pitch, which was dry, which had cracks, but which was watered enough in the lead-up to make sure it didn’t break up on day one. The humidity must have made it worse for New Zealand. You could see they were looking to bang the ball in, not just to test India against the short ball, but to rough it up for reverse swing. The first rule of reverse swing is no moisture on the rough side, but you can imagine how tough it would have been to execute that for Mark Craig, whose kit was dripping wet even before the end of the first session. You have been called upon to do a job in the first session of the series, you are looking to find the right length on a new pitch, but can you mind the sweat please while you are at it?”It’s very tough when you’re sweating quite a bit, but you just have to find a way to keep the ball dry to try get the reverse swing,” Mitchell Santner said. “Even for the spinners, to try and keep your hands dry is key to grip the ball.”It wasn’t helping that New Zealand’s spinners had shown that they were not versatile enough to be threatening on a surface that wasn’t yet doing much for them. It might be a slightly unfair expectation for bowlers who are rarely called upon to do the job on good surfaces. Yet, there were technical shortcomings, as noticed by Simon Doull on commentary. Santner doesn’t use his non-bowling arm much, which denies him dip and drift; Ish Sodhi’s release is beyond the perpendicular, which denies him sideways turn. These things begin to matter less when the pitch starts to turn square, which it wasn’t. So, they kept getting cut and pulled.Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay were now putting on a workshop on how to demoralise spinners who are unfamiliar with the conditions. Pujara frequently left his crease to take balls on the full or on the half-volley. Both Pujara and Vijay were alert to cut when this act forced the spinners to pitch short. Also, it has seemed New Zealand’s spinners have come more prepared for square turners where accuracy is more important. That’s what Daniel Vettori told Santner.”Our conversation was more about bowling the ball in one area for a longer period of time but still having plenty on it,” Santner said. “Not try and do too much, let the wicket come and play its part. With not so much turn, you try and be patient and build more dots, try and get wickets that way through false shots.”You can’t overnight become different kind of bowlers, but what will hurt New Zealand is that the spinners couldn’t stay as accurate as they would have wanted to on a slow pitch. “The wicket is on the slower side and it is difficult to score runs,” Vijay said. “That’s what we felt. It is going to be difficult for them as well with the quality of Ashwin and Jadeja in the side.””Yeah, I guess we might have been on the shorter side, but it’s about trying to find the pace that will suit for that wicket,” Santner said. “It might change in the second innings, I don’t know.”New Zealand’s bowlers were still going at 3.2 an over when things began to change. Around half-way into the day, Pujara got quite close to the pitch of a ball from Santner. There wasn’t a lot of distance for the ball to travel, but the ball still turned. It spooned off the outer half of the bat for an easy return catch. The ball had begun to turn now. The techniques mattered a little less, and New Zealand dipped into their reserves.This was a day when it seemed this new batting core will finally put things past a side when it’s down without any dramas. Pujara and Vijay had been fantastic, but they left the door ajar, which the rest failed to shut. Virat Kohli possibly came in looking to dominate. He is that kind of a player. He has been itching to dominate a touring side with the bat. This was his opportunity, he possibly thought. When you see a partnership of 112 at a fairly brisk pace, you don’t want to lose that momentum as the batsman going in. Neil Wagner played on the batsman’s ego, and drew the top edge.M Vijay admitted that it was a combination of poor shot selection and the deteriorating surface that had cost India•Associated PressAjinkya Rahane will be the first one to admit he didn’t move forward enough to be playing the defensive shot off the front foot. This was the mode of dismissal that had troubled him last year, but he overcame it. Rahane will be working to overcome this too. Vijay said the whole team will be.”A bit of both,” Vijay said. “We got out to loose shots as well. The wicket was deteriorating as well. We have got to be really patient on this wicket. It is a lesson learnt. We will, hopefully, put up a better show in the second innings.”The biggest lesson to learn is there for Rohit Sharma, who fell to a nothing loft, 20 minutes before stumps, giving Trent Boult the opportunity to run through the lower order. Vijay, though, extended Rohit the leeway that he didn’t to himself. After calling his dismissal a “bad shot selection”, he wasn’t as harsh on Rohit.”That’s his area, I guess,” Vijay said. “When it comes off, it always looks good. When it doesn’t, you fall on the wrong side. So I think we still got to back our instincts and play because we are playing in a sport where have got to win matches rather than just participate in a team. Whatever has got you here, you have to back that.”In the end, through the wonderful mix of skills, imperfections, passing of time, changes in the pitch, the toll of weather that Test cricket is, we had a day’s play befitting the occasion that India’s 500th Test has somehow become. Both teams – India because they have Ashwin and Jadeja, New Zealand because they made a comeback and because the turn is slow – could lay claim to holding the advantage.

ESPNcricinfo looks at the major talking points from the second round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2016-17

Umar Farooq10-Oct-2016Ugly altercation mars Habib Bank-Islamabad clashHabib Bank Limited beat Islamabad by five wickets within three days at Diamond club ground in Islamabad, but the result was marred by an ugly altercation. A minor altercation between Habib Bank’s Azeem Ghumman, who was fielding at gully, and Islamabad’s Umar Kiyani, who was batting then, grew into a heated one after Kiyani was found to be pushing Amad Butt, the bowler, with his right hand. The umpires and the senior players then intervened in an effort to calm things down. Later, a video of Kiyani aiming a punch on Amad’s face went viral on social media. The incident was duly reported to the PCB, and the matter is currently under investigation. According to the preliminary findings, Kiyani was found to have indulged in physical contact twice in addition to using abusive language.Kiyani, the 21-year-old middle-order batsman, was playing only his seventh first-class game, for Islamabad. In the previous season, he had made 273 runs in seven matches at an average of 22.75. Amad, also 21, was recently called-up to Pakistan’s squad for the one-off T20 international against England in Old Trafford last month.’Misunderstanding’ between Umar Akmal and Wahab DarUmar Akmal led Lahore Whites to a 96-run win over Pakistan International Airlines with a match tally of 175 runs, including a century in their second innings at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. This match too involved a heated exchange. Captain Umar had an argument with reserve player Wahab Dar, as the latter failed to carry a kit.Wahab, son of Lahore Cricket Association secretary Shoaib Dar, was added to the Lahore squad as the 16th member. Shoaib then complained to LCCA president Nadeem Ahmed that Umar had insulted Wahab. However, according to the president, it was only a misunderstanding, which was blown out of proportion.Butt and Irfan misfire but WAPDA win againCaptain Salman Butt managed only scores of 5 and 4 against Karachi Blues, but Water and Power Development Authority won their second successive match, at National Stadium in Karachi. WAPDA currently top Pool A with 18 points. Mohammad Irfan, who struggled with fitness issues during the England tour, took only two wickets for 88 runs in 33.4 overs.Ghanchi hits triple-tonTwenty-one-year-old Hamza Ghanchi hit an unbeaten 300 in only his ninth first-class match in a draw between Karachi Whites and National Bank of Pakistan in Karachi. The left-handed opener struck 43 fours during his 420-ball knock, spanning 654 minutes. Ghanchi is the third-youngest player to score a triple-century in first-class cricket in Pakistan after Javed Miandad and Aftab Baloch, and only the sixth batsman in history to convert his maiden first-class century into a triple-century. Behram Khan, batting at No.3, made his presence felt too with 155 off 309 balls, before Karachi declared at 628 for 5 in 159.3 overs.

Ankit Bawne is a domestic veteran at 23: talented, consistent across formats, and hardened by early setbacks. Having enjoyed another fruitful Ranji Trophy season, he is confident an India call-up isn’t far away

Arun Venugopal11-Dec-2016Ankit Bawne has had an intriguing career. He made his first-class debut at 15, in 2007-08, and established himself as a regular in the Maharashtra side in three years. Since 2010-11, he has never averaged less than 45 in a Ranji Trophy season. Six days shy of turning 24, Bawne is already some sort of veteran: he has played 68 first-class matches and scored 4663 runs at an average of 52.98, including 15 hundreds. A List A average of 43.08 from 43 games suggests he is not a one-format player.Despite his numbers, Bawne has never been part of India A or IPL squads. He doesn’t deny feeling disappointed but offers a practical alternative to sulking. “There is just one goal – to play for India. Till that time, I have to keep fighting,” he tells ESPNcricinfo at the end of Maharashtra’s Group B match against Assam in Chennai. “I look at it positively because in cricket there is no point in being negative; you only get demotivated.”Five years ago Bawne could have easily become demotivated after making headlines for the wrong reasons. He was removed from the India under-19 squad ahead of a quadrangular tournament in Visakhapatnam after the date of birth in his passport was found to not match the one in his birth certificate and the BCCI’s records. As it didn’t meet the cut-off date for the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, Bawne, who was originally named captain for the quadrangular tournament, was omitted. Unmukt Chand took over the captaincy and went on to win the World Cup, even as Bawne lamented that the agent who had arranged for his passport had mixed up the dates.Bawne does not think the episode hindered his future selections, but admits the controversy was a test of his mental toughness, especially with the odd taunt tossed at him on the field. “You have to endure such stuff. In cricket, there are no easy days,” he says. “The support of my family, the team coach and Ajay [Shirke] sir, our president [of the Maharashtra Cricket Association], was crucial. But, you have to be tough and remain steadfast in your goals. The character I showed at that time has led to where I am now.”The Under-19 was a shortcut for me to the national side, but the ultimate dream is to play for the senior team. I don’t think [my performances are overshadowed by the controversy] because Ranji Trophy is not an under-19 tournament. The selectors have played enough cricket to know that Ranji Trophy performances count as far as selection for Test cricket is concerned. Many players obviously get a chance by virtue of the IPL, but I am not a part of the IPL, so Ranji Trophy is everything to me.”Many quality players in domestic cricket have rued the chance for lesser talents to attract selectors’ attentions with a few good IPL performances. Bawne too says not playing in the IPL is a setback because of the recall value it brings.”It is a little tough at the Ranji Trophy level compared to the IPL; this time there are no [league] matches being broadcast in contrast to the IPL where every match is shown live. (the game spans three hours and there are 14 matches. Even if someone plays two good shots, he gets noticed).”Bawne, however, understands there are many routes to the Indian dressing room, and that batsmen better than him have taken the harder route and succeeded. He derives comfort from how long the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had to grind it out in domestic cricket before breaking into the national side. A chat with Virender Sehwag further strengthened his belief that the rigours of the Ranji Trophy would ultimately prove rewarding.”Pujara and Rahane got their chances after scoring about 5000 runs in first-class cricket,” Bawne says. “When you play 60-70 first-class matches and then play Test cricket, you see how these players dominate in international cricket.”During the last season, when we were playing against Haryana, I asked Virender Sehwag sir how I could make the step up to the next level. He told me I was playing well and I will get my chances. It wasn’t like I would be completely ignored.”Bawne knows he has to score at least 700-800 runs every season – his personal target hovers around the 1000-run mark – to be on the selectors’ radar. He is Maharashtra’s leading run-getter this season with 687 runs at an average of 57.25, but will not get any more opportunities to inch towards 1000 runs with his team failing to make the knockouts.The accomplishment of a maiden double-hundred, though, has given him plenty of satisfaction. His 258 came in the course of the second-highest partnership in first-class history in the company of captain Swapnil Gugale in Delhi.”Whatever I have set out to achieve – to score big runs, to remain consistent and average around 50 – I have done that. I wanted to score a double-hundred this time,” he says. “I bat at No.5-6, so I mostly have to score runs with the bowlers for company. Luckily against Mumbai, since Kedar Jadhav was away for the New Zealand [ODI] series, I got to bat at No.4. It was a good wicket and there was a quality opposition in the form of Delhi, so I couldn’t let go of that chance.”Bawne also sees a role-model in India’s limited-overs captain MS Dhoni. In 2014-15, when Bawne hit a dead-end in his limited-overs batting, he decided to re-invent his game. Bawne says he picked up cues from watching Dhoni on TV and applied the knowledge during practice. The results were instant as Bawne scored two hundreds and an unbeaten 78 from four innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.”I have been inspired by how he [Dhoni] makes runs in the one-dayers, especially with the lower order, and how he plays percentage cricket,” he says. “I didn’t want to be a one-dimensional player and wanted to average around 45-50 in one-dayers. I was trying to clear the ropes, and focusing on my release shots as well.”Closer home, Bawne has found inspiration in Jadhav, whose recent successes in international cricket, he feels, have provided him and his team-mates a template to follow.”When six-seven players from Mumbai or Delhi used to make it to the Indian team, it became easier for the others to stay under the radar and keep performing,” he says. “I got to know what the path was after seven-eight years of hard-work. Had there been an India player in the side, you would have learnt it in two years.”Now we know the path to succeed – Kedar has scored 1000 runs and progressed. When I talk to Kedar, he says it’s a big deal to have 5000-odd runs at my age and keeps telling me to stick it out.”That would be good advice, especially with the chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, taking notice of Bawne’s performances. “His records have been good, but this year he has been very consistent,” Prasad tells ESPNcricinfo. “My colleagues have watched him bat this season and I have seen him bat last year. He is a good player.”Bawne feels he is currently in the best form of his life. “This year I am feeling very comfortable,” he says. “I am not trying to take risks and I don’t feel nervous at all.”