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Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga made good use of an excellent batting pitch, putting West Indies in a strong position after the first day

On the Ball with S Rajesh22-Jun-2006Brian Lara won an important toss, and his openers didn’t let him down: Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga put together their fourth century stand, and by close of play West Indies were in a position of immense strength.The pitch was an excellent one for batting, but both batsmen, especially Gayle, were still patient enough to first gauge the pace and bounce before going for the shots. The first seven overs fetched only seven runs, but by then Gayle was comfortable enough to launch into his strokes, after which the Indians couldn’t do much to curb him. Gayle was especially severe on Harbhajan Singh, whose return to the Test side was anything but impressive – his 12 overs leaked 57, of which Gayle’s contribution was 30 from 22 balls. A feature of Gayle’s batting was his driving down the ground in the V between mid-off and mid-on – 36 of his 83 runs came in that region.At the other end, Ganga was solidity personified, especially against Anil Kumble, who had dismissed him twice in the two earlier Tests and was again India’s best bowler. Ganga had an in-control factor of 92% against Kumble, who was desperately unlucky not to have won one of several close lbw shouts against Ramnaresh Sarwan. Sarwan finished on an unbeaten 44, but had an in-control factor of just 71% against Kumble.

Who better to teach England to deal with spin than past master Andy Flower?

Andrew Miller01-Dec-2007

If there’s one characteristic that has defined England’s recent tours of Sri Lanka, it is attrition. Under Nasser Hussain’s leadership in 2000-01, England clung to every fragment of every session, and clawed their way back from a hiding in Galle to produce hard-bitten victories in Kandy and Colombo. Three years later it was Michael Vaughan’s turn to cling to the cliff face. His team mustered a brace of exhausting, straw-clutching draws in the opening two matches, but then lost their footing in the decisive final Test. Two series, two wins apiece, and scarcely an ounce of spare energy upon which to draw.The message for the class of 2007-08 is simple. The challenge that awaits them in the coming four weeks will be, physically, one of the most draining they will ever encounter in their Test careers, but as Hussain’s men showed in the revelry that followed their 2001 triumph, it could also be the most rewarding. The one thing that could count against them, however, is inexperience – Vaughan is the only veteran of both tours, while Paul Collingwood and James Anderson played only bit parts on the most recent trip. The rest are rookies, and no matter that they won the one-day series in October in impressive fashion, the exuberance of youth will not be sufficient to counter the genius of Muttiah Muralitharan.Fortunately for England they have in their ranks a man who knows all about the art of battling beyond one’s boundaries. Andy Flower made his name as the most stubborn nugget in a Zimbabwe side that was invariably outgunned but only rarely embarrassed. For a decade he fought tooth and nail to bring respectability to his country’s cricket, and in so doing rose up the rankings to become recognised as the world’s leading batsman. He’s now England’s batting coach, a somewhat incongruous appointment given the innumerable occasions he crossed swords with the English. But for this series above all, his knowledge is going to be invaluable.Flower has a quiet and deliberate manner about him. He speaks slowly and lucidly, like a man who knows he has time to play his shots, and you can sense him weighing up the value of his every word. “I think we can beat them in this Test series, but to do that we’re going to have to play out of our skins,” he says. “We’re going to have to play really skilful and resilient Test cricket, because there’s going to be a lot of hard times and a lot of fluctuating fortunes. They have a very varied attack, with four very different bowlers and it’s going to be very, very close.”To hear Flower talk of England as “we” comes as a surprise, not least to the man himself. “It’s pretty bizarre, to be coming from a little government school in Harare to this,” he says. “But I’m learning a hell of a lot, and it’s really nice to be part of a really exciting period for English cricket. I’ve been watching these guys prepare, and I’ve been a part of what they do and how they think, and hopefully how they go on to win the series from here. I’m just a small part of a group all going in the same direction, and it’s going to be a whole lot of fun.”Flower has been in and around the England set-up for two years now. He was Peter Moores’ sidekick at the ECB Academy for two winters, and in May of this year, when Moores succeeded Duncan Fletcher as England coach, Flower retired from first-class cricket to take up a full-time role as assistant coach. It was not a career path he had envisaged. “I’ve never been one to plan ahead,” he says. “I went into coaching at the academy because I thought it would be really interesting, and it was. And then this opportunity came up, and it’s been fascinating. Every day I’ve been learning something new – in coaching, in management, in communication. It’s a great way to be working.”It is not what Flower can learn that matters in the short term, however. It’s what he can pass on to his charges. Apart from being one of the toughest nuts to crack on the international circuit, Flower was a supreme technical batsman in his own right, and in the opinion of many who witnessed his most triumphant performances – such as his
tally of 540 runs for twice out in India in 2000-01 – he was one of the greatest players of spin of all time.This, Flower attributes to the influence of two men: the former South Africa and Zimbabwe spinner John Traicos – “one of the most accurate offspinners I’ve ever come across” – and Dave Houghton, Flower’s first Test captain and role model. “Traicos was a wily old fox who gave me a brilliant grounding in playing spin,” says Flower. “We used to practise into the dark of the night, and he always used to bang on about picking length, and choosing my scoring areas, and how I was moving around the crease. He’d bowled against a lot of great players and he really knew his stuff.

“Houghton, meanwhile, was one of the best players of spin I’ve ever seen. I used to watch and copy him, and from him I learnt how to manoeuvre the ball, and how to get your body into position for certain shots. He taught me the sweep, the reverse-sweep, about hitting over the top, and shifting the momentum against the spinner so as not to let him settle. His lessons were invaluable.”There is a fine line between coaching and preaching, however, and for all that Flower has experience in spades to share with his England charges, he knows full well that the battles at Kandy, Colombo and Galle are not his for the fighting. “My experiences are good to call on, but most important are the players’ experiences,” he says. “Most of them have played Murali in Tests or county cricket, so they’ve got their own memories to call on. My job is merely to throw ideas around, and give them options and methods of how to play or think. But they’ve got to choose their own way. They live and die by their decisions.”Flower has another, more subliminal, role in the England squad, however. No other player in the tour party, not even Vaughan, has dug so deep into their soul in the quest for self-improvement. “I’ve always been interested in the processes you have to go through to gain success,” says Flower. “When I used to research my own methods, I would look closely at my technique but also at my emotional well-being or mental strength. I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to train harder, concentrate for longer periods, and become more mentally resilient. I suppose that gave me the preparation to be a coach.”Either way, coaching was always in his blood. Flower’s first contract with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union was not as a player but as a coach – he and his brother Grant worked five days a week around the schools and townships of Harare. Tatenda Taibu, a wicketkeeper-batsman and natural leader, who displays so many of Flower’s indomitable traits, was one of his first pupils, along with Stuart Matsikenyeri and Hamilton Masakadza. “I’ve known all three of them since they were knee-high,” Flower says. “They were lovely blokes to work with.”For now, he has an older but similarly enthusiastic band of cricketers to work with and alongside. Whatever the result of this month’s series, he believes in the journey that Moores and his squad are undertaking. “There’s huge scope for us in international cricket,” he says. “There’s much more capacity in the side than we are seeing, and I genuinely believe we can chase Australia. There’s a huge gap in the rankings at present and that’s about right in reality. But we’re taking steps towards bridging that every day. Every practice we have, that’s our goal, to make ourselves just that little bit better.”

He was England’s inexhaustible colossus in the lean post-war years – both wicket-taker and stock bowler. A salute to Alec Bedser on his 90th birthday

Alan Hill04-Jul-2008

The cricket challenges faced by Alec Bedser in the lean post-war years paled by comparison with the pressures confronting him on more forbidding battlegrounds. He was one of a host of emerging cricketers when war broke out in 1939. Six years of active service, latterly as an investigative military policeman, gave him a steel and maturity to counter all other trials. The returning warrior, then aged 28, was supremely equipped to engage in the tensions and intrigues of a Test match.Sir Alec, as he celebrates his 90th birthday, turns back the years to assess his enduring stamina as a cricketer. His fortitude is attributed to the countless hours of practice in the nets at The Oval. He and his twin brother Eric loved practising as boys. From their early years they set themselves the task of aiming to hit a piece of newspaper on a good length, and then bowling six balls each at a time, with one stump as a target. Alec offers this advice to erring bowlers. “Remember”, he says, “the stumps are only 28 inches high and if you don’t pitch it up enough you won’t hit the wicket and you won’t get anyone out lbw.”John Woodcock, the veteran cricket writer, has referred to Bedser as “loyal, kind and incorruptible”. He adroitly observed: “If his labours as a bowler could be collected and piled up around him in some visible shape he would be seen to be standing beside a mountain.” Bedser’s monumental endeavours were sorely needed by both Surrey and England. Testimony to his workload is indelibly contained in the statistical lists. Between April 1946 and September 1947 – two English summers and one overseas tour to Australia – he bowled 17,395 balls. In five summers of Test and county duties at home, he busily accumulated an aggregate of 5636 overs, well over 1000 each season. Throughout the long haul of post-war summers, Alec was unflaggingly both wicket-taker and stock bowler.The ascent to greatness was accomplished without a settled partner. Fast bowlers traditionally hunt in pairs. As England’s standard-bearer, Bedser had little respite from his labours until the arrival of Trevor Bailey, Fred Trueman and Brian Statham – all of them eagerly accepted as worthy companions. Juggling the meagre resources available, the England selectors discovered and discarded a variable contingent of new-ball allies, 17 in all, through Bedser’s Test career.Bedser would summon his powers of endurance, as he single-handedly held sway before Surrey’s years of plenty. Michael Barton, his captain from 1948 to 1951, conceded that Bedser was overbowled in his formative seasons. “Alec really carried us during that time. There is no question that he was the man who contributed most to our successes. He was a very hard worker, with great stamina, and he was a brilliant bowler, particularly on a bad wicket.”Bedser was nowhere more venerated as a bowler than in Australia, and he especially cherishes his exploits against his rivals from down under. He took 104 wickets, an average of almost five per match, in 21 Tests against Australia. He followed Wilfred Rhodes as only the second bowler since before the First World War to reach this milestone. Another 25 years would elapse after Bedser’s achievement before Derek Underwood added his name to this elite of bowling centurions against Australia.Events were to link Bedser with his good friend, Don Bradman, the greatest batsman to all who came within his sphere of command. From his first triumph at Adelaide in 1947, in the subsequent 15 innings of their rivalry, Bedser took Bradman’s wicket eight times. His feat in dismissing the Australian five times in consecutive Test innings is an unprecedented achievement. The delivery which produced a Bradman duck ten minutes before the close of play at Adelaide was the harbinger of things to come. The wonderful legcutter, deviating sharply and coaxed by enormous hands, was the weapon of confusion. It was “spun at speed” and the effect was a genuine legbreak. Bradman related: “It must have come three-quarters of the way straight on my off stump, then suddenly dipped to pitch on the leg stump, only to turn off the pitch and hit the middle and off stumps.”

Remembrances of the newly installed nonagenarian pay attention to the economy of Bedser’s action – an unvarying run-up of ten paces, all designed to preserve maximum efficiency. It was estimated that each of his overs lasted two and a half minutes each. One former England colleague, Bob Appleyard, says that Bedser was so grooved in his action, which was rhythmical and economical, that he was able to continue for long periods. Staying at the wicket for two to three hours against Bedser constituted an achievement beyond the norm. Trevor Bailey still winces at the memory of his tussles. “The most significant feature was that Alec was responsible for bruising the inside of my right hand. He just kept on hitting the bat. Alec jarred my hand more than any other bowler I faced.”Bedser was called upon to dispense his wisdom and diplomacy in a record-breaking term as a Test selector at the start of the 1960s. The sequence included 12 seasons as chairman when his teams won ten, drew three and lost only five out of 18 series. His renown as a cricketer – and, perhaps more importantly, his integrity and status as a former professional – earned him acceptance as a trustee of the game. He never allowed popular clamour to cloud his judgment. Doug Insole, then chairman of the selectors, provided one telling story. Soon after Bedser’s elevation to the selection panel, he presided at a Test match dinner and was introduced to the assembled players. “If he says you’re fairly useful,” Insole explained, “you can be reasonably sure that he means you are among the best in the world.”Bedser was closely associated with the swiftly changing order in cricket. Usurping the old amateur supremacy was a surge in player power, which carried perils and impending conflict. He had to call heavily on his reserves of tenacity and patience in a succession of crises involving Geoffrey Boycott, Tony Greig and Ian Botham. Botham’s spectacular revival against Australia at Leeds in 1981 was a direct consequence of the unpalatable decision to sack him as captain.For Bedser, in his last season as chairman, the momentous events of that summer were the most pleasing of farewells. “All who know him and admire his sense of duty and enjoy his bluff humour will have been delighted he ended on a winning note,” observed Woodcock, then editor of Wisden. The happiness of the occasion ensnared another cricket correspondent. “That was a marvellous performance by Ian Botham,” enthused Christopher Martin-Jenkins. “Yes,” said Bedser. “Well, he’s a good cricketer.”

For an all-too-brief while, Shane Bond was the world’s finest fast bowler, shattering stumps and scaring batsmen. Now at ease with not gracing the main stage anymore, he looks back at his career

Sriram Veera04-Nov-2008Log on to YouTube and you may get to see the ball that changed Shane Bond’s career: a searing yorker that knocked out Adam Gilchrist’s stumps in a VB series game in Adelaide in 2002.On the morning of the match Bond threw up at breakfast – a side effect of nervousness that he only managed to get rid of years later. The very good players tend to be nervous wrecks before big games. Sachin Tendulkar can’t sleep, George Headley’s bowel movements used to change during a Test; for Bond it was throwing up.”If you are not nervous, I don’t think you can get the best out of yourself,” Bond says. “You need to be on the edge to perform against the best guys. Even during the warm-ups I used to be tense, but as soon as I got the ball in the game, I would relax. Outwardly you try to show you are calm but I think every one is nervous. You do bluff a bit.”I remember walking back to the mark after that wicket and telling myself, ‘Look, I’m good enough to be here.’ That one ball changed my whole thinking. Before that I was still intimidated and thinking, ‘Don’t get hurt here.’ From that point my self-belief went up there. Rather than thinking about don’t do this, don’t bowl a half-volley, don’t get hit, the focus shifted to ‘ this now.’ I thought I could be the best bowler in the world and set out to do what was required.”He held that title, for a while at least, and has the records to prove it. Bond’s strike rate of 27.5 is still the best in the history of one-day cricket (qual: min 1000 balls bowled). He was the fastest bowler to 100 wickets in terms of number of deliveries bowled. In Tests, he has the fourth best strike rate of all time.Bond, still boyish-looking, doesn’t seem a fast bowler. Nor does he look a cop. He was both.Related

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Shy by nature, he transforms into an animated character while talking about fast bowling. Sitting in his hotel room, watching on the telly as Zaheer Khan harasses the Australians, he brightens up: “Ah that was good. How did he bowl that? … C’mon, the batsman should have seen that coming.” Bond is in India playing in the ICL and watches the Test series when he can.

I is for injury

“It’s easy to say that you want to be the best but it’s difficult to go out and do it,” he says. Train hard, work hard when no one is watching you. For me, I had the desire to do it even when no one was watching.”Never was that desire more severely tested than in 2004, Bond’s annus horribilis. He had a back operation – the hipbone was grafted into the vertebra and secured with bolts and wire – and things didn’t look too good. It was three weeks before he was able just to touch his toes, seven before he could walk for ten minutes at a stretch. The surgeon told him that his fast bowling was a thing of past. The future was a blur. Bond had a young family to support. Somehow he had to find a way. He did.He began to walk, went swimming, and changed his fitness training. He slogged through four sessions a day: ten overs of bowling in the morning, followed by an hour of weights. Then a half hour of rest before a 40-minute run. He ended the day with a session of boxing training. No one was watching.Knowing that he did his best to overcome his body is what has allowed Bond to come to terms with thoughts of what could have been. His bid for a spot on the list of the greats will always come with an asterisk: he played only 17 Test matches, the footnote will say.The gamechanger: Bond bowled Adam Gilchrist with a fearsome inswinging yorker in the VB Series match in Adelaide in 2002•Tony Lewis/Getty ImagesBond doesn’t think too much about how his career would have shaped if not for all the injuries. “I don’t see my cricket career as a ‘but’ now. I have worked really hard on my game, especially on my fitness,” he says. “That was the whole point for me. If I got injured, I got injured, but I did everything possible to take care of myself.”On tours, when team-mates went out to party, Bond would usually stay back at the hotel. He didn’t drink a lot, or indulge in anything that could later give cause for regret. “I did everything I could, but I still got injured. For me, it was just not meant to be.”

‘No mate, you’ve got to be the best’

Bond first dreamed of playing cricket for New Zealand at the age of five. When he was 12 he met his hero Richard Hadlee.He was 16 when he decided he had to improve his bowling. “I picked up the phonebook, dialled Dayle Hadlee [New Zealand’s bowling coach then] and asked him whether I could come to his house and have a chat, have a look at my video. As I grew a bit older, he was in charge of the academy and we shared a great relationship.”During his time in the police force, “raiding houses and chasing bad men”, Bond would save his seven-weeks’ holiday to play cricket in the summer. And when he did, he bowled fast and blew teams out in club cricket. After one such annihilation, his first-class coach Gary McDonald said, “That’s the quickest going on in New Zealand. I’m going to call up Richard Hadlee.”Bond played for New Zealand A on a tour of India in 2001, during which he picked up a bunch of wickets. Later that year he made his international debut, against Australia.Short supply: “I don’t like to see them hit on the head and hurt. But the times when they are jumping around, you walk back to your mark with a smile. No one enjoys facing fast bowling”•AFPIt was a conversation with Chris Cairns shortly after that gave Bond direction. Cairns asked the debutant about his plans. “I said I want to take wickets and try to stay in the team, and he said, ‘No mate, you’ve got to strive to be the best bowler, the No. 1 bowler in NZ, and soon the best bowler in the world.” After I played in the first part of that VB series, I thought he was right: I want to be the best bowler in the world.”Bond didn’t have a great start against the Australians, though. He remembers standing in the nets, watching the mighty Aussies go about their task. “All the stars were there. I thought, this is the best team in history and I’m going up against them, but the good thing is that it’s never going to get harder.”I didn’t pick up many wickets but I went past the bat a few times and it gave me confidence that I could compete against these guys. Then Bangladesh came along, which was a good thing. I picked up wickets and my confidence grew. Then the VB Series, which was the turning point for me.”There’s something about the Australians that brought the best out of Bond. In 11 ODIs against them he has taken 34 wickets at 13.88, with a best of 6 for 23. “They can make you look stupid if you don’t bowl well,” Bond says. “And I always felt a lot of buzz when going against them. They like to attack and come after you, but it gives you a chance to pick wickets. I used my swing, bowled fast and kept it full outside off. I’m lucky that I swing the ball. I always believed that I could bowl the ball that can get somebody out. Good luck to them if they keep coming hard.”Bond thought Sourav Ganguly was one of the elite batters who found his bowling challenging to face•Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

Thinking ’em out

Brain triumphs over brawn for Bond. Talk about his famous yorkers and he’d rather tell you about the thought-out dismissals that he cherishes more.Brian Lara was a prized victim. When he was new at the crease, Lara would move back and across in an exaggerated manner; but rarely had he been bowled around his legs. Bond stored that movement in his head.The opportunity came in a Test in Auckland in March 2006. In the first innings Lara was out pulling Bond to midwicket. In the second innings Bond fired his first ball in full, fast and swinging. Lara walked across and his leg stump was out of the hole. “That felt great,” Bond says.He was never the sledging fast bowler. The odd stare or the occasional wry smile to suggest he had got the better of the batsman was more his style. “I just concentrated on keeping at the batsman. Even if he hit me for a four I would be at him the next ball. He would know that I was not going to give up, that I’d keep knocking till I got him out.”Some good-old quick bowler’s meanness does trickle out, though. Bond says with a smile that he loves to see batsmen hop – though he doesn’t like to really hurt anyone. “You hit them on the thigh or back side, you see them grimace and you go, ‘That’s good!’ I don’t like to see them hit on the head and hurt or something. I am the first one to run across. But the times when they are jumping around, you walk back to your mark with a smile. No one enjoys facing fast bowling.”Of the 17 Test Bond played, New Zealand lost only two•Marty Melville/Getty ImagesWho were the good batsmen he liked bowling against, who he felt weren’t too comfortable playing him? “Sourav Ganguly.” A few at his ribcage and then slip in a yorker? He nods. “And I always thought I had a chance against [Virender] Sehwag. I used to swing the ball back in and he had problems with it. [Herschelle] Gibbs always felt that when he was on song he could play me, but I liked bowling to him. Graeme Smith played me well, but then I got my own back.”Who was difficult to dislodge? “I’ve got to say [Matthew] Hayden. If you are swinging into him he has problems, but my strength was swinging away from the left-hand batsmen and so I never had a great chance of bowling him or getting him lbw. Similarly [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul. He knows his off stump and doesn’t give you much chance.”It was in the Auckland game where he got Lara twice that he thinks he produced his best spell of Test bowling. “We were defending 290 and they were nearly 150 for none. [Chris] Gayle and [Daren] Ganga were playing well. Ganga got out and I hit [Ramnaresh] Sarwan with a bouncer and bowled Lara around his legs. The ball started to reverse and I got three more wickets. It was my best-controlled spell: I got players out when and in the way I wanted. I remember the previous night telling myself tomorrow is a big day and I am going to go good.” Bond’s figures read 5 for 69 and West Indies fell 28 runs short.Like his idol, Hadlee, Bond charged himself up by setting targets of wickets and averages. “When I was playing ODIs, I set two wickets a game. I wanted four runs per over and to keep my average under 20. Similarly in Tests I wanted to keep it under 20. I was driven by trying to just keep it there. Stats are not going to define you as a player but I used it to get the best out of myself. I pushed myself to wanting to be the best and get my ranking higher and higher.”And so he rose before injuries pulled him down and the decision to play in the ICL finally froze his international career. He has no regrets about that choice – “When I joined the ICL I thought I could play both and it was just common sense as far as financial reasons go” – but when he eventually hangs his boots up for good he knows he will miss the big time. “Like winning, especially against Australia at their home in front of huge crowds. They give you tremendous stick and when you do well it gives you great adrenaline. Nothing is going to beat that. Life is going to be a bit boring!”

How well Vettori performed, and how well his team followed

Sambit Bal in Johannesburg04-Oct-2009Like the team that he has fashioned in his image, there is nothing flash about Daniel Vettori. Neither is there any posturing. After leading his injury-ravaged team to the Champions Trophy final, Vettori said the value of captaincy was over-rated. “It’s about leading by the performance,” he said. “My team will follow if I perform.”How well he performed, and how well his team followed. New Zealand’s performance wasn’t as grand as Australia’s yesterday, and Vettori’s own didn’t have the epic feel that Ricky Ponting’s hundred carried, but the sum of his contribution was far more valuable to his team.Vettori doesn’t stir the senses, but there is air about him. It’s of self-assurance and poise. From his fingers, the ball doesn’t hiss, spit and turn extravagantly. He doesn’t bedazzle or spook his victims. But he is a crafty and subtle bowler, who has been among the most outstanding ODI spinners of his age. Only Muttiah Muralitharan among the current spinners has a better economy rate than him, and in an age of batting orgies, it can be counted by the fingertips how many times he has been taken for more than six runs an over.And in his relaxed, unfussy style, he was hard to get away again. As always, there were no magic balls, but an honest length and subtle variations in line and trajectory. Vettori was lucky with Umar Akmal’s wicket for the umpire failed to see the deflection off the bat. But he got his opposite number with a lovely one: the drift got Younis Khan trying to reach out to dab it on the leg-side, and the turn caught the leading edge. It looked like a soft dismissal, but the mistake had been induced.Vettori’s fast bowlers had started well, denying the batsmen width and keeping them pinned to the crease with bounce. Vettori made sure that the leash was never loosened. Pakistan had been in a similar situation against India earlier in the tournament, but had had found easy runs in the middle over. Only twice did Pakistan manage to touch a run-rate of five, in the first and the 12th overs, and never did they go beyond it. Almost unobtrusively, Vettori managed to get seven overs out of James Franklin as he held the strings at the other end.With the bat, his contribution was even more precious. Pakistan are the masters of breaking open the wall when they find a little opening, and Ross Taylor had provided them a huge one with a ridiculously ill-chosen cut to a full and hurrying ball from Shahid Afridi whom he had just clubbed for six. It felt that this was the moment Pakistan would siege.Vettori denied them cussedly. He had chosen to come out ahead of Neil Broom, a specialist batsman, and it was apparent why. He was the man with the nerve. Runs came in little dabs and cuts, but never did they dry up while Vettori was batting. Grant Elliott, playing with a broken and numb thumb, was struggling to put them away but there was never any panic. The asking rate crossed seven, but the batting Powerplay remained.

It wasn’t a very memorable 40, but it was an outstanding 75Vettori on Grant Elliott’s innings

When it was taken, Vettori was the one to lead the charge. Saeed Ajmal was swung past mid-on for four, Mohammed Aamer was driven down the ground for another and Naved-ul-Hasan was swung over midwicket. Then, out of nowhere, Elliott found an explosive release and a 16-run over from Umar Gul sealed the match. “It wasn’t a very memorable 40,” Vettori said about Elliott’s innings, “but it was an outstanding 75.”Perhaps the scorecard will tell us the story. That no New Zealand bowler went for over five-and-half an over and none of their batsmen were dismissed in single figures points to the fact the team never the let the match slip away from their grasp. Pakistan under-performed, and as Younis Khan, candid in defeat, admitted, that dropped catch when Elliott was on 42 might haunt him forever. But nothing should not detract from the fact that New Zealand did what they needed to. It was an utterly professional performance that has taken them, the perennial semi-finalists, to one match from their second Champions Trophy win.It was New Zealand’s third successive win, and Vettori spoke about the importance of entering the semi-final on a high. It was also the third time New Zealand had entered the match as the unfancied team and won comfortably. The final will be no different: Australia will be the favourites to win, but New Zealand will not beat themselves.”I hope we have one more good match is us,” Vettori said. That will be an apt finish to a tournament of delightful surprises.

Chandika Hathurusingha has changed the outlook of three cricketers and made them permanent fixtures in the one-day team

Sa'adi Thawfeeq04-Oct-2009In the past two months or so if the once vulnerable Sri Lanka middle-order batting has shown some form of consistency in one-day internationals it is due to the presence of batsmen like Thilan Samaraweera, Thilina Kandamby and Angelo Mathews. What is common with all three players is that they have at some point of their career come up against Chandika Hathurusingha, the former A team coach and presently shadow coach of the national team. What Hathurusingha has done to change the outlook of these players and make them permanent fixtures in the one-day team is simply amazing.Take the case of Samaraweera, who was initially an overly defensive player and rated as a batsman good enough only to play Test cricket. A poor tour of England in 2006 saw him dropped from the Test side. In order to regain his form he was made captain of the Sri Lanka A team that toured England in 2007 and it was then that he met Hathurusingha, who was the coach. What Hathurusingha did to Samaraweera is now history.He transformed Samaraweera from an introvert into an extrovert and opened up new avenues in his batting that had been unexplored for so many years. When he returned to the Sri Lankan team 17 months later against Australia at Brisbane in 2007, everyone saw a new-look Samaraweera who was prepared to score runs from ball one. His new approach not only saw Samaraweera accumulate a mountain of runs – he is only the second batsman for 2009 to score 1000 runs in Tests in a calendar year – but has eventually led to him finding a place in the one-day side. It is something that was unimaginable three years ago.Samaraweera soon established himself in the one-day side by scoring his maiden century in this format of the game last month. It is not so much his personal contributions that mattered but his ability to build partnerships which has brought about a great degree of solidity to the Sri Lanka one-day middle order. He bats at no. 5.The case of Kandamby is different. He was a batsman who didn’t believe in his own batting ability. He would go about using up 30 balls to score 15 runs and after four ODI appearances for his country in 2004 he was virtually lost to international cricket. Even in domestic cricket Kandamby would make a good 90 and then throw his wicket away. The change about him came after he left Bloomfield and joined SSC in 2007.Kandamby scored heavily that season and helped SSC win the Premier League championship. His own personal contribution to that victory was 822 runs at 68.5, with three centuries, including a career best 202. Kandamby then came under Hathurusingha when he was picked to lead Sri Lanka A in the 2007 tour of South Africa.One of the first things that Hathurusingha did was to get Kandamby to lose weight and change his style of living. “The lifestyle that Kandamby was enjoying at that time was not suitable for cricket,” said Hathurusingha. “We gave him a fitness guide to make sure he lost weight and was light on his feet.”Kandamby never believed in himself. He never believed how good he was. I knew he had the potential to make it. The few changes I made to him are that I got him thinking about cricket and his lifestyle. He’s got a good cricket brain and he could one day captain his country.”Since his return to the Sri Lanka team against Zimbabwe in 2008, Kandamby has been in outstanding form; he now enjoys a one-day career batting average of 37 and a strike rate of 70. In his last 17 ODIs since his return, Kandamby has scored five half-centuries, which include two unbeaten knocks in the nineties against India where he ran out of partners before he could complete his century. Some international scribes have started comparing him with Arjuna Ranatunga, whose rotund physique he resembles. He is also a left-hand batsman like Ranatunga and bats at No.6.”Thilina Kandamby’s got a good cricket brain and he could one day captain his country.”•AFP”The advantage I have with these players is I have played with them and know them very well,” said Hathurusingha . “Each of the players has to be tackled differently. Some respond fast and grasp the points quickly others are slow and need to be told several times while there are others where you have to give it to them in writing.”It’s all about asking questions. When you explore options only you find out how much more you can learn and expand your game. You need to push them to the limit to find out what they have. There is always room for improvement.”When I was A team coach it was all about continuous improvement. If it doesn’t work out you can always come back to what you have. What I have given them is the confidence and the freedom to improve their game. That way they have grown in confidence. I can only give them options the rest is up to them.”Mathews is one of three players who Hathurusingha predicted as possessing the potential to make it to the national side after the A tour to South Africa in 2007. The other two were Tharanga Paranavitana and Suranga Lakmal. Two months later Mathews was making his ODI debut in Zimbabwe where he quickly displayed his potential as a brilliant allrounder. Mathews has not looked back since scoring a fifty in this third ODI, and has fulfilled the role of allrounder in all three formats in a matter of ten months. So much so that he has managed to keep Farveez Maharoof out of the reckoning.”Mathews is an intelligent cricketer who knows how to adapt to certain situations without being told. He is a self-learner and doesn’t rely on anyone. You don’t have to push him. He is very good at building on whatever information he is given and improving on it,” said Hathurusingha. “I found about Mathews’ potential during the tour to South Africa where he scored an undefeated 99 when we were chasing 250 to win. He showed a lot of maturity with that knock. I made it a point to make that innings a good example for every player to learn from.”Hathurusingha recalled an incident involving a selector on tour in South Africa where he was questioned why he batted Mathews at No.4 when he was being groomed as an allrounder. Hathurusingha’s reply was Mathews had to first get selected to the national team and to do that he must have enough runs behind him; that is why he batted him at No.4. Now Mathews bats at No.7 for his country.According to Hathurusingha, wicketkeeper-batsman Kaushal Silva is waiting on the sidelines to make it to the national team along with fast bowlers Isuru Udana, Suranga Lakmal and Chanaka Welagedara. “It is only the presence of the best wicketkeeper in the world today, Prasanna Jayawardene, that is keeping Kaushal from making it to the Test side. But he is a cricketer who can adapt to any format of the game if the opportunity arises.”

The performance of the fast bowlers, neither of whom are first-choice picks, will hearten Sri Lanka

Cricinfo staff20-Nov-2009At the end of the five days, 1600-plus runs were scored in three innings, with 21 wickets falling on a pitch that failed to crack even on the fifth day and allowed batsmen to make several records. And, well before the scheduled close of play, the captains agreed that a draw would be a logical conclusion.The contrast between the start and finish, though, couldn’t have been sharper. Motera on Monday morning echoed to the sounds of silence as Chanaka Welegadara asserted himself over the Indian top order with a controlled spell of fast swing bowling. Less than an hour into the game, with India at 32 for 4, a result looked likely. By the end of the day that idea had faded; it would fade further over the next few days and evaporate by Day 5.Much of that was because of the pitch; MS Dhoni initially joked he wouldn’t have played any cricket on it given a choice but eventually did not single out the pitch as the culprit. “The wicket was quite flat, but it was not the flattest I’ve played on,” he said. He did, though, concede there was no help for the spinners. “Even if there was a bit of turn there was no real pace and bounce from the rough for them to exploit.”Consequently the batsmen, safe in the thought that the pitch would behave, only had to play sensibly. For the bowlers, especially the spinners, it was an endless grind. They would turn up every day fresh and ready like hopeful job aspirants, only to retreat into the dressing room six hours later drained of all energy and ideas.Yet there were positives, more for the Sri Lankans, who entered the game with meagre resources – especially in their fast bowling department – and were forced into last-minute replacements. Welegedara was asked to get ready five minutes before the toss, after Thilan Thushara failed to recover from a shoulder injury, for his first Test since his debut against England in 2007. Creditably, he held his nerve, bowled at good speeds and got decent swing to keep the Indians in check. “To respond the way he did shows he has a lot of character, a lot of hunger,” Kumar Sangakkara said of him.Dammika Prasad, Welegedara’s new-ball partner, bowled aggressively and, though he went for runs, he was relentless with his pace and even managed to get some good reverse swing in both innings. Unfortunately he pulled a hamstring and according to his captain has a slim chance of playing the next Test.Sangakkara does have one concern: The performance of his seniormost bowler, Muttiah Muralitharan, who was the most ineffective of all bowlers on duty. Though conceding that the “bulk” of the job was done by his fast bowlers, he didn’t criticise his spinners. “Our spinners are still finding their way round bowling in Tests in India,” Sangakkara said. “This was a good experience for them bowling lengthy spells.”That’s not entirely true of Murali, the world’s leading wicket-taker; he took all of three in the match – none of them in the crucial second innings. He will be under pressure to perform in Kanpur, especially after Sangakkara singled out Rangana Herath’s performance in this Test. The compliment will boost Herath given that his inclusion ahead of the unorthodox Ajantha Mendis had stirred a debate.Yet Sri Lanka’s best chance to win the game, as Sangakkara said, was on the first day when India were on 32 for 4. “We just let it go with the lines and length we bowled after lunch and tea,” Sangakkara said. “There was nothing there in the last two days. It is all about taking the chances that come your way and we didn’t on the first day.”When India walked in for their second innings Dhoni admitted there “was a bit of bother” in the dressing room. The key was to get a good start, which came by way of the 81-run brisk opening stand between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir; Gambhir’s patient century led India to a safe zone. “We needed a good partnership to begin with and we got that,” he said.

A wait-first-and-capitalise-later approach did the trick on the second day for the home side

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2010India are well placed for “moving day.” It’s what their bowling coach Eric Simons called days three and four, when the Test takes large strides towards its conclusion. And it was a patient wearing down of New Zealand, rather than a concerted attack, that allowed India to control the pace of the game and reach a position from where a strong batting performance on Sunday will give them command of the match.To achieve that, India used fields that weren’t popular. Harbhajan Singh began spells, even his first of the day, with a deep point and a long-off. In what appeared to be reactionary tactics, MS Dhoni sent fielders to protect the boundary immediately after Jesse Ryder or Tim Southee slogged Pragyan Ojha in a particular direction. Zaheer Khan had a third slip at the start of the day but watched an edge from Ryder fly wide of second slip in the seventh over.On Friday, the fields for Tim McIntosh had not been attacking either and singles were easily available as the batsman nudged and pushed his way through the nineties to his second international century. Martin Guptill, who was fighting to secure a Test berth, even spoke of his relief at some of the fields set because they allowed him to “just push it around and get off strike here and there.”India always had men in catching positions, though – a permutation of a couple of slips, a short leg, a silly point and a leg slip, waiting for the edge. But between them and the men in the deep, there were expanses of grass with singles for the taking. These in-and-out fields are the vogue and, on pitches where assistance for bowlers is minimal and shot-making is easy, they are effective because they keep the bowling side in the game for longer by controlling the run-rate, even if the wickets aren’t forthcoming. So despite India’s struggle for breakthroughs on day one, New Zealand managed only 258 and were only an early wicket or two away on the second morning from falling behind.And fall they did. Zaheer struck two momentum-wresting blows in the first half-hour after which Harbhajan capitalised to finish with four wickets. Everyone was caught at the wicket, lbw or stumped. Persevere for the breakthroughs, but let’s also keep New Zealand’s scoring in check, was the formula. New Zealand lost six wickets for 92 runs and ended with 350, a total Ryder felt wasn’t enough. “I think we are a good hundred runs short from what we wanted after the start we had yesterday,” he said at the end of play.

We are a good hundred runs short from what we wanted after the start we had yesterdayJesse Ryder

India’s wait-first-and-capitalise-later approach didn’t end there. Perhaps wary of the havoc Chris Martin had caused in the second innings in Ahmedabad, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir fought through a testing period with the new ball. Both batsmen struggled as Martin swung the ball in and Southee moved it out from tight lines and lengths. The openers attempted a few shots and were beaten but they stuck it out until the bowlers tired in the heat and their discipline wavered.Sehwag, who had pottered to 2 off 23 balls, got going soon after a change of bat in the eighth over. Gambhir, in the middle of a slump, attempted to emulate his partner with an unsuccessful waft outside off stump. Sehwag met him mid pitch immediately after and spoke while his partner listened.In the 16th over, after he had struggled to 16 off 48 deliveries, Gambhir played his first convincing shot on the off side – a cover drive against Southee – after which he looked up at the skies and said a few things to himself. Soon, his feet began to move smoothly, he began to place balls in gaps, and though he never matched Sehwag’s fluency, Gambhir had fought his way through a rut and was part of a century opening partnership for the first time since Dhaka in January. When Sehwag brought up India’s 100 with a drive through cover off Vettori, the batsmen met mid-pitch and punched gloves to celebrate. They would do so again a while later, when Gambhir steered Southee to the third-man boundary to reach his fifty.Gambhir and Sehwag eventually fell in successive overs – the 41st and 42nd – but because India had already knocked 160 off New Zealand’s total, the visitors will need a few more quick strikes on moving day to bring the Test back into balance.

Plays of the day from the second day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Galle

Andrew Fernando in Galle16-Nov-2010Miraculous healing of the day
Perhaps Angelo Mathews had taken a sip of some magical recuperative elixir during the tea break, but the man who had not been allowed to bowl a single delivery during the tour of Australia, and the first five sessions of this match due to a thigh strain, was handed the ball to bowl the first over of the evening session. The magic potion can’t have been that great, as the spell lasted just two overs, but I guess that there’s nothing like the opposition being five-hundred -and-something for three for your captain to suddenly forget that you’re injured.Road-safety-equipment imitation of the day
Shivnarine Chanderpaul took his reputation for having a safe pair of hands to a whole new level as he sported a pair of high-visibility batting gloves during his stay at the crease. Given that the fluorescent glow from the bright orange gloves was almost enough to blind spectators hundreds of metres away; it was a little puzzling as to how Chanderpaul himself maintained his concentration amidst the shimmering amber glare. Still, no chance of him being run over by a milk truck mid-innings, or being clipped by one of those pesky road cyclists while taking guard. You can never be too safe.The reprieve of the day
Because obviously, a guy who has scored 287 runs and completely demoralised the opposition attack in the process needs sympathy, umpire Richard Kettleborough decided to make absolutely sure that Chris Gayle was out when he was caught at short cover, by checking that Dammika Prasad had bowled a legitimate delivery. Sure enough, replays showed Prasad had overstepped, and Gayle was called back to continue rubbing the Sri Lanka bowlers into the dirt.Chris Gayle impression of the day
When Prasad thought he had had Gayle caught, the fast bowler chose to celebrate a wicket in the same way that Gayle had celebrated his century yesterday: by sprawling himself out on the pitch. What on earth is happening to the players in this game? Is someone slipping sleeping tablets into the water? Are the beds not quite luxurious enough for them in their five star hotels?Cinderella moment of the day
When Thilan Thushara misfielded an Andre Russell push at mid-off, the batsmen decided to scamper through for a single. Russell took off for the other end, but lost his shoe halfway down the pitch. No word yet on who will be playing the part of the handsome prince who will scour the lands in search of his one true love.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Kochi Tuskers and Kolkata Knight Riders in Kochi

Firdose Moonda05-May-2011The feeble kiss of death

Jaidev Unadkat didn’t manage to bowl the same beauty of a first over Brett Lee did, but he did get the big wicket of Brendon McCullum. Unadkat’s fourth ball was the poorest of the legitimate balls he bowled in that over – short, wide and inviting. McCullum slashed at it and got the faintest of edges that carried to Jacques Kallis at slip. For a few seconds, it seemed as though no-one knew he was out and that the bat had just wafted through the air. But the touch, gentle was it was, was enough to give Unadkat his first wicket.The double bluff

Michael Klinger and Mahela Jayawardene put on the highest third-wicket partnership for the Kochi Tuskers, but it wasn’t without its nervous moments. After the pair had put on 26 runs and Klinger dropped a delivery into the offside and called for the run. The captain listened to his partner, set off and was then sent back. Kallis had done the fielding off his own bowling and his direct hit splayed the stumps. Jayawardene had to put in a desperate dive at the non-strikers’ end and was safe by half a bat. The ricochet allowed the pair to scurry through for a single and Jayawardene had to hurry because there was a shy at the stumps at the other end as well. This time he was well in though.The polyfilla

Iqbal Adbdulla changed ends at the start of the 10th over and was getting ready to deliver his first ball when he abandoned his run up and asked umpire Rod Tucker to move a bit so he had the space he needed. With the umpire out of the way, Abdulla spotted a hole at the top of his run up, in the spot where his back foot would land while delivering. The polyfilla, in the form of dark sand, came out and was used to patch up that area of the pitch.The confused superstars
Eoin Morgan and Yusuf Pathan are two batsmen that most teams would feel confident having at the crease when the required run-rate is climbing, but the two players seemed a bit confused on the day. Pathan played a Vinay Kumar delivery into the ground that popped up to Ravindra Jadeja at point. While the batsmen were completing a single, Jadeja was celebrating what he thought was a catch and threw the ball into the air. The bowler animatedly indicated that the ball should be fielded and Pathan thought of a second, which almost resulted in him being run out. Kochi didn’t have to wait long for the run-out though – it came the very next ball, when Pathan had charged through for a run. Morgan didn’t realise his partner was on the move and sacrificed his wicket.The little man with a lot to say
It was the end of the 18th over and Kolkata needed 25 off seven balls when Brett Lee came out to bat. He faced Vinay Kumar who hurled a yorker length delivery at the big man’s toes, which Lee couldn’t squeeze out and missed. As wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, who is a good foot and a half shorter than Lee, was walking to the other end of the pitch, he stopped to have a few words with his opponent. He had to stand on his tip-toes and crane his neck to have his say, but that did not stop him. It may have had something to do with the 22 Lee conceded off his last over.