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.

After their World Cup misadventure, Kenya remains an object lesson for other Associates of just how easily things can go wrong

Martin Williamson21-Mar-2011World Cup performanceCollins Obuya’s innings against Australia was the only silver lining in what was a very forgettable Kenyan World Cup campaign•Getty ImagesKenya travelled to the World Cup with the lowest expectations of the five Associates after a fairly dismal build-up in which they had shown only glimpses of the form which led them to the 2003 semi-finals and made them, for a time, the leading Associate country. Realistically, their aims were to try to beat Canada, the other Associate in their group, and possibly give Zimbabwe a good contest. They failed in both, losing to Canada by five wickets (two late wickets gave the result a more even slant than the reality) and Zimbabwe by a whopping 161 runs. The four games against Full Members were all woefully one-sided. By the end, all too familiar stories had started to circulate about rows between various player factions and the coach. The only professional – financial at least – Associate side was again behaving in a thoroughly unprofessional way and sadly the whole edifice could fall apart on their return home.HighsThere were no real highs to speak of, although at least against Australia the Kenyan batting offered a little fight even if they were never close to pulling off an upset. For a brief period Collins Obuya (98*) and Tanmay Mishra (72) allowed them to dream, but you felt the Australians had quite a bit in reserve in case the Kenyans began to threaten. And that was about as good as it got.LowsPlenty of them to choose from, but their opening match against New Zealand, a side with painful memories of the subcontinent following recent dismal tours, set the tone for the rest of Kenya’s World Cup. Jimmy Kamande won the toss, batted, and Kenya were blown away for 69 – their worst total in a World Cup – in 23.5 overs. New Zealand’s openers knocked off the runs in eight overs and it was downhill from there. What was supposed to be a grand farewell for the veteran Steve Tikolo turned out – as predicted in the team preview – to be the dampest of squibs – 44 runs in five innings. Off the field he was, not for the first time, cited as being involved in the disagreements with the coach. He deserved a more dignified farewell after all he had achieved but this was one – some might say two – World Cups too far.StrengthsThe glimmers of hope that there are come from the youngsters in the squad, even if Mishra was the only one to convert promise into achievement. A year ago Kenya’s selectors toyed with dumping the old guard and throwing the kids in at the deep end. In the event, they decided against that, but on the showing in these six games, they could hardly have done any worse.WeaknessesWhere to start. The batsmen lacked application and technique, the bowlers provided far too many loose deliveries to ever be able to peg back even more moderate opponents. The old guard failed to deliver, and the youngsters simply lacked the experience to cope, and as a unit they never appeared to realise or accept what is needed to play cricket at this level. If Eldine Baptiste stands aside as coach then he will not be the first to have tried and failed to turn around a Kenyan side that too often gives the impression it believes it is the finished article.

“What was supposed to be a grand farewell for the veteran Steve Tikolo turned out to be the dampest of squibs – 44 runs in five innings”

ProspectsIt is hard to see where Kenyan cricket goes from here and the decline which set in seven years ago risks becoming terminal. Since beating Canada in the opening match of the 2007 World Cup, Kenya have lost 14 successive 50-over matches in major tournaments (World Cups and the ICC World Cricket League Division One).What the World Cup underlined is that keeping a group of players on full-time contracts with a decent coach is a waste of time if they are not given good opposition to play on a regular basis. Cricket Kenya finds it impossible to attract anything other than other Associates and a few Indian state sides, as well as the occasional series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. It’s simply not enough for the younger players to learn and improve. In that regard Kenya is no different from other Associates, but they feel the effects far more.The board is trying. There are attempts to establish a domestic structure which will at least give a decent standard of cricket for the leading players, and the school structure is slowly beginning to bear fruit, but what is happening now is largely a result of a decade of neglect.Kenya have slipped from the No. 1 Associate in 2003 to probably not even being in the top five now. Aside from Netherlands, Ireland and Canada, they are also trailing in the wake of Scotland and Afghanistan, and there is nothing to suggest they are likely to arrest the decline any time soon.What is needed is a complete clear-out. It is also time for Cricket Kenya to look at whether it can maintain a professional side which has achieved so little.Kenya remains an object lesson for other Associates of just how easily things can go wrong. However much money the ICC pumps in, success is not guaranteed, especially without the right level of exposure to good opposition, a strong grass-roots structure and players all pulling in the same direction.

The weather wasn’t too hot, nor was the bowling, but the Sri Lankan batsmen gave the fans something to shout about

Adam Shoesmith16-May-2011Choice of game
It was an easy decision to go to this one. Never before did I have such a short journey to make to a cricket match: a 20-minute bus journey to see a world-class international team for a mere £10. It makes the £70 that Lord’s are charging for next month’s Test look positively astronomical in comparison. After Strauss helped himself to a century on day one, I predicted a dominant Sri Lanka would rack up the runs.Team supported
With no great loyalty to either side, I was looking for a good day’s play. Early on, Dilshan had a half-hearted appeal against him and at that point I was certainly hoping he would stay in so I could see more of him in action. However, by the time tea ticked around I was desperate to see Middlesex take a wicket that didn’t involve the word “retired”.Key performer
How could it be anyone other than Dilshan? He was still probably jet-lagged, and a swirling, biting wind across the pitch could have made life difficult for Sri Lanka’s new captain, but he thrived on a flat track against a listless, impotent Middlesex attack to kickstart his campaign on English soil with a century. His acceleration in the morning to take himself to 69 by lunch, while Paranavithana was down the other end on half that score, was the most impressive aspect of the performance.One thing you’d have changed about the day
The weather. It was a day of thick woolly jumpers all round. A cold wind, with heavy cloud and spitting rain, was only partially interrupted by the briefest rays of sunshine. Not much problem if you are playing, but very chilly for stationary spectators. Jumpers in the merchandise tent sold out before lunch.The interplay you enjoyed
Unfortunately this game was not much of a contest. Middlesex were just unable to apply any consistent pressure. This was to be expected as they played many of their 2nd XI bowlers, but it meant the most gentle and sedate of introductions to English conditions that the tourists could have hoped for, and little for the crowd to get stuck into.Wow moment
A period in the morning session where Dilshan clearly thought he was still batting for Royal Challengers Bangalore, taking 14 runs from Tom Smith’s first over of the day.Shot of the day
From that expensive over, the big shot of the day was a smashed six straight by Dilshan, over the bowler’s head, over the sightscreen, out of the ground, and into a nearby residential front garden. It took a few minutes to fetch that one back.Player watch
I sat by the players’ balcony, and there was a steady buzz throughout the day as an army of Sri Lankan fans had taken advantage of the small, intimate ground, plus the relaxed nature of their heroes, to get as many autographs and photos as possible. The Middlesex players did not have much to cheer; the most animated that young bowler Gurjit Sandhu, fielding near me, got was when motioning to the balcony for liquid refreshment. He must have been tired from having to fetch the ball from the boundary so often.Crowd meter
The large turnout of Sri Lankan fans helped boost not only numbers, but to create a bit of a buzz around the ground. I am sad to report that yet again the anti-fun police sprung immediately into action when a Sri Lankan fan dared to wave his small flag around in support. I simply do not understand why flags are banned from matches at some grounds in this country. This was a warm-up match, played in front of just a few hundred people, it wasn’t televised… was he really doing any “harm” with his flag? It was a highlight, though, when after remonstrations with stewards, the flag owner offered the witty riposte: “So, will you also be confiscating that Sri Lankan flag flying above the pavilion too, then?”Entertainment
Good selection of food on offer from the Indian stall, including those favourite staples – and . Braver folk than I sank cold beers and ice-cream on what was an unseasonally cold day in Uxbridge. I think cups of tea were the day’s number one seller.County v Twenty20
Following the World Cup and a recent diet of two matches daily of sugary IPL, this certainly looked like a return to the more patient long form of the game. Overcast conditions, the red Duke ball, and a 90% male crowd with scoring books in hand certainly gave this illusion off the pitch. On it, however, clearly no one had told the Sri Lankans, who cantered along at over five runs an over. Their innings would not have looked out of place in a 50-over game.Overall
Seven on 10. A great, inexpensive day out for a cricket fan of any denomination, seeing two world-class players make fine centuries, even though there was nothing by way of competition or contest between the two sides. You were out of luck if you were hoping to see any wickets.

The Australia allrounder’s account of how he overcame injury to become integral to his side gives you the story, but the telling is not spectacular

Daniel Brettig23-Oct-2011Had Shane Watson maintained faith in the advice of Cricket Australia’s medical staff, he might easily have been invalided out of the game by now, forever to be regarded as a subject of ridicule. Stricken by recurring injuries at the age of 26, seemingly the result of a body that could not adapt to the demands of bowling, Watson reached the limit of his endurance four years ago. A hamstring had twinged yet again at the wrong moment, this time during the 2007 World Twenty20. Watson was told by CA’s exasperated medical minds “there’s nothing more we can do for you”. That exasperation was shared by the Australian public, some of whom had taken to using his name as a byword for flakiness.This advice sent Watson spinning at first, but ultimately whirred him towards Victor Popov, a physiotherapist of world renown with fundamentals drawn from life with the Australian Olympic team and also the relentless world of European cycling. With Popov’s help, Watson reshaped his attitudes and retuned his body, to the point that he is among the most durable and indispensable members of the Australian team. He also commands far more respect as a cricketer and a leader than anyone might have thought possible in 2007. Watson’s is a story rich with meaning, and one of the many lessons to be drawn from his journey is that the vague or the second-best should never be accepted.Given that, it is sad to relate that Watson’s autobiography is a clunky piece of work. The story is there, and so are plenty of frank observations; admirable, too, is Watson’s motivation for writing, which was to encourage others to seek out additional medical opinions when sport or life seem to have presented an insurmountable obstacle. Yet the manner of the telling leaves much to be desired. The book’s pleasures are those of the potboiler, not the well-constructed work. Having released at more or less the height of his powers, Watson can be expected to pen another tome once his career ends. It is to be hoped that the lessons of his cricket and his body will be applied to any subsequent depictions of his life.Having begun with the aforementioned medical advice in 2007, Watson and Thomson cast back to the start. These scenes are perhaps the most affecting ones featured in the pages, showing Watson dealing with stress fractures for the first time when only 13, and living a young life devoted almost utterly to cricket. Take this passage on Watson as a teenager: “I never went to parties in high school because I always had cricket the next day, and I never used to smoke pot like everyone else. I loved playing cricket and I wasn’t interested in anything that might interfere with that. As for girls, when I was at school I suppose I was always a bit of a nerd in a way. We weren’t that well-off and I never had all the new fashions. Also, whatever my dad wore, I thought was cool. I guess I was an under-achiever on the social side.”The very next paragraph deals with Watson’s early motivation in cricket, and can perhaps explain a number of his decisions, both cricketing and commercial, down the years. Fame was always in his sights: “I wanted to do something so that people knew I existed. I was going to make a name for myself in whatever way I possibly could, and the obvious way was through cricket.”Stress fractures and social ineptitude subsided enough for Watson to grow into a promising young allrounder, and he attended the Cricket Academy alongside Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Hauritz. It was there that Rod Marsh lauded Watson’s batting technique and, with Queensland in the midst of its most prodigious success, helped engineer his temporary move south to a grateful Tasmania.A first-class debut encounter with the spurned Bulls is recounted vividly, where the senior batsman Stuart Law went out of his way to make the young Watson uncomfortable about moving states. Here Watson relays one of his most important lessons, about the need to build strong relationships within a team: “Even if you’re a brilliant player, if nobody likes being around you, as soon as there’s an opportunity, you’re gone.” Having absorbed many of Law’s barbs, Watson asked him in a subsequent Sheffield Shield match why he made 56 not out on Test debut then never played again, and pushed the point that he may not have been popular among team-mates. Law lost his composure, and soon after, his wicket.

“I never went to parties in high school because I always had cricket the next day, and I never used to smoke pot like everyone else. I loved playing cricket and I wasn’t interested in anything that might interfere with that. As for girls, when I was at school I suppose I was always a bit of a nerd in a way. We weren’t that well-off and I never had all the new fashions”Watson looks back at his growing-up years

The passages that detail Watson’s rejuvenation as a physical specimen with Popov, and also as a batsman with the help of Greg Chappell in 2008-09, are instructive. His thoughts on the demise of Andrew Symonds – a rival but also a state team-mate – are clear. The 2006 boot camp engineered by John Buchanan is recounted in detail; Watson enjoying a ringside seat as the coach and his most wayward pupil, Shane Warne, were grouped together.But there are also swathes of the contradictory and the grating. Watson’s recollections of the 2008 Nagpur Test against India, when Ricky Ponting let his tactical thinking be damagingly clouded by the matter of over rates, centre on the poor health of Michael Clarke and Brett Lee. There is no mention that Ponting did not call on either Watson or Mitchell Johnson until India had wriggled clear of a parlous position, only a frustrated jab at the media. It is not the only time Watson trains his sights on those who cover the game.Recurring through the pages are a series of “drinks breaks”, brief passages on various topics. Some, like a comparison between county and Shield cricket, are useful, some are rote (Australian and international pitches get a fairly humdrum run-through), and some leave a nastier taste. Watson has always spoken generously and fairly in public, but he offers plenty of criticism of the media, generally suggesting that their observations and stories are too harsh, too critical. All this feels a little forced, especially when many of Watson’s own opinions elsewhere are as bold and sugarless as anything found in the daily press.Last summer’s Ashes offer the best example. Watson describes Australian cricket being “at an all-time low” following the “disaster” of a home defeat to England. Looking at team selections for the series, Watson reckons the bowlers were “absolutely shitting themselves” each time they took the field, for fear of being dropped for one poor performance, while the batsmen were unaccountably cloistered. He also lashes out at the CA decision-makers, who ignored David Saker’s skill as a bowling coach to the point that he was employed by England. “It’s been very frustrating over the last couple of years to see some of our best coaches not coaching where they should be,” Watson laments.Watson’s general tone is one of frankness and honesty, if a little self-justification, yet the book’s is that of the cash-grab. There are views within publishing in Australia that quality does not sell and that populist, lowest-common-denominator fare will do better with a public perceived to be losing interest in anything that delves too far beyond the shiny surface. A better book may have been crafted over a longer time-span, employed a co-writer with a greater background in cricket, and found a voice more authoritative than that found at times within these pages. But it would also have been more expensive to write, edit, print and publish, and may not have been ready precisely in time for the outset of the Australian summer. Still, Watson’s own contributions are measurably fuller and better than those in many cricket biographies in the past – the same books he mentions reading in vast quantities as a youth.Ultimately the player that comes through in these pages is a man who has learned much about himself and his body, and who has remained honest and transparent in his opinions throughout his time in cricket. The great pity of is that the lessons that have taken its subject from an injury-speckled beginning to a successful and pivotal present place in Australian cricket have not been applied quite so rigorously to his story. There is a great book to be written about Shane Watson, but this is not it.Watto
Shane Watson with Jimmy Thomson
Allen and Unwin
A$35

India’s opposition has given them all possible indicators as to how turnarounds, while difficult, are neither impossible nor complicated

Sharda Ugra at The Oval18-Aug-2011On a tour when much has rained down on India – bad planning, injuries, woeful form – the English summer skies finally opened up too. Play was washed out after lunch, probably in protest against the visitors’ poor first session on the opening day of the Oval Test. It brought a halt to the one-sided proceedings after England’s openers had motored along to 75 for no loss and set in motion more questions about where the Indian team was headed.At the moment, in real terms, down the hatch. If this series has brought anything for Indian cricket, it would have to be the awareness that their golden age is slipping away faster than they imagined it would. To be in England when this is happening is fortuitous: India’s opposition has given them indicators as to how turnarounds, while difficult, are neither impossible nor complicated. They may just take a while.Ask Peter Moores, who coached England at their most tumultuous four years ago. Taking over from Duncan Fletcher, he headed straight into a commotion that looked like it belonged to an airport novel. Moores is widely regarded as the man who re-established the link between the first-class game and the England team, re-opening doors for James Anderson and Graeme Swann, introducing Ryan Sidebottom into the elite set-up and also hiring key members of his support staff: Andy Flower as batting coach, Ottis Gibson as bowling coach and Richard Halsall as fielding coach. Of the three, Gibson has left England to coach West Indies but Flower is now the alpha male of the support staff, with Halsall one of his deputies.On the outside, however, Moores’ 18 months with England looked like one dramatic turn of events after another: in the summer of 2007, India won their first series in England after 21 years, Michael Vaughan quit as captain in the middle of a series a year later and a theatrical bust-up with new captain Kevin Pietersen followed at the end of 2008 which resulted in both Moores and Pietersen being removed from their jobs.Moores today coaches Lancashire, who are currently heading the County Championship table and are in line to win their first title since 1950 (when it was shared with Surrey), and he watches the England team with great satisfaction. He believes the links between the first-class game and the England set-up have played their own part in the rise to the No. 1 position.”We see players come in from first-class cricket and do well straight away. Matthew Prior is one person who came up, we’ve seen Jonathan Trott come through, Eoin Morgan… I think you see many more players come into the England side and be successful. That’s quite a big credit to county cricket.”The high standard was best reflected, he believed, in the opinion of the overseas pros in county cricket, “We’ve asked them [the overseas players] what they think of the standard and they say, it’s strong, it’s competitive. I think you need strong links between the two because the players at first-class level need to know what’s expected of them if they go up to international cricket. I think those links have got stronger, and I think they need to stay stronger if England are going to remain the force in world cricket.”Along with the first-class feeder line he said elite teams needed good structures around them, “I don’t think it’s come by a fluke, there’s been a lot of hard work behind the scenes and of course Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss have done a fantastic job to manage the side. In order to become successful, you need a good support structure and a lot of good support staff around you. You need good players and you need depth. What England have got now is not just good players within the team but they have also got depth outside.”From this position, England, he believes, wants to “leave a legacy and become one of the teams of this era. We’ve seen the West Indies do that, we’ve seen Australia do that, we’ve seen India dominate over the past couple of years. I think we’ll see that England want to try and do that, to stay at No. 1. To do that, that needs a lot of hard work. The only way it will ever happen is if there’s a drive and hunger within the set-up to do it. And it sounds like it is.”India’s challenges, Moores says, lie not in any shortage of talent but in how it is identified and handled. India’s big question was finding replacements for its high-quality Test batsmen. “Which batsmen are going to replace the quality of the likes of Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid and their maturity as Test match players?” Moores says, “No one has done it yet, come from being a good one-day player into a good Test match player. So can the likes of Raina, or someone like that, fill the boots of some of those obviously outstanding Test match players? That is going to be the challenge for India over the coming time. India are always going to have a big pool to select from – they have got to make sure they select the right players.”The one England batsman Moores believes can become the best ‘crossover’ player from ODI to the Test format is Eoin Morgan. “Morgan is one person who has made his mark in ODI cricket, and has now established himself as a Test match player. If he comes through and ends up being a very good Test match player, he’d be the one who actually does it. The normal route is to become a good first-class player and then you adapt that game to the one-day game.”The lure of the shorter formats, Moores said, was powerful and “for every nation that wants to be strong in both formats, you have to try and make sure you create good opportunities for people to be successful for both formats. And that the incentives for Test match cricket remain strong enough for people to want to do the work to become a very good Test match player.”It is where India must look ahead, not merely four months down the road when they tour Australia but perhaps four years down the line, when they return to England.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the day of the third ODI between New Zealand and Zimbabwe, in Napier

Andrew Fernando09-Feb-2012The innovation
When Martin Guptill deposited Elton Chigumbura into the straight stand Brendon Taylor sent mid-off back to the boundary and brought fine leg in. Without missing a beat, Guptill shaped to play the over-the-shoulder scoop next ball, but was surprised by a delivery shorter than he expected. He went through with the shot, turning it into a part-pull, part-shovel, part-evasive manoeuvre and collected four for his troubles.The drop – 1
Zimbabwe have been atrocious in the field for virtually the entire tour, and they began the third one-dayer in similar fashion. The New Zealand openers were threatening to attack early, when Brian Vitori banged one in and induced a top edge from Rob Nicol. Going backwards from square leg, Tino Mawoyo ran a tad too far, and in his attempts to lean back and take the catch with his fingers pointed upwards, he managed only to get a wrist to it and down it went.The drop – 2
Brendon McCullum was destroyer-in-chief during the final overs, but he too had a let-off, long before the boundaries began to flow from his blade. In an attempt to reach fifty with a six, McCullum mistimed a straight hit off Vitori and offered a simple running catch to Regis Chakabva at long-off. This too was predictably shelled and McCullum added 60 more runs at a strike rate of 189.The tangle
For the third time in the series, Martin Guptill bossed the Zimbabwe bowlers, before finding a way to get out with a hundred beckoning. Napier provided the most bizarre dismissal of the lot, when he was stumped down the leg side off a Ray Price wide. With the ball spinning past his thigh pad, Guptill glanced back and stepped out of his crease having decided Tatenda Taibu had not collected the ball. No sooner than he had done so, he saw Taibu did in fact have the ball, but the keeper was struggling to collect it properly himself. Knotting himself up in an attempt to get back, Guptill almost did the splits and hit the ground. Taibu eventually took off the bails, leaving Guptill frustrated and a tad embarrassed.The full tosses
Vitori may have been unlucky, with two chances going down off his bowling, but he only had himself to blame for some hapless death bowling. In the 45th of the innings, he bowled three successive thigh-high full tosses to Nathan McCullum who sent them all sailing over the fence. Having also had a previous ball in the over dispatched for four, Vitori’s eighth over disappeared for 26.The foot race
With Zimbabwe seemingly not attempting the target of 373, there was little need to take quick singles at 14 for no loss after five overs. Tino Mawoyo, though, hadn’t got the memo at the non-striker’s end. When Stuart Matsikenyeri defended one down to his feet, Tom Latham was swooping in from a close midwicket but Mawoyo chose to test the fielder’s speed and called his partner through for a run. Despite an almighty dive, Mawoyo came up a metre short, as Latham proved there are white men who can win a sprint.

A back injury, technical problems and a tendency to have big batting peaks and troughs have all contributed to his Test troubles

Daniel Brettig at the Adelaide Oval24-Jan-2012A handful of months ago in Sri Lanka, Shaun Marsh reminded Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke how to bat in a Test match. Calm, judgement, awareness of the off stump, leaving the ball with intent, forcing the bowler to drift straighter in search of wickets, and concentration maintained over a period of hours. Neither Ponting nor Clarke were entirely in command of their games at the time, but Marsh showed them precisely how to do it. His 141 on debut in Kandy was the consummate top order innings, an 81 in his second match in Colombo not far behind. No-one watching from the dressing room or the stands was in any doubt that Australia had found their new No. 3.Yet here was Marsh in Adelaide, pondering an uncertain future in the players’ viewing area as Ponting and Clarke showed him exactly how well they had learned from his example. Marsh had lasted 12 balls for 3, his stay ended when he brought his defensive blade across straight delivery from R Ashwin that went on to flick the off stump. Since returning to the team after a back injury, Marsh has tallied 17 runs in five innings. Among top six Test batsmen to have played at least as many innings in a series, only the teenaged Ken Rutherford’s West Indian nightmare of 1985 has been worse. With Shane Watson in the wings, there can now be no guarantee that Marsh will be given the chance to venture to the Caribbean himself. In batting terms, he has a migraine that cannot seem to be shaken.As Noel Gallagher found himself asking in song after Oasis receded from their peak, Marsh had to ponder the question: where did it all go wrong? Injury had something to do with it, certainly. A back complaint hobbled him when set in the first innings of the incomprehensible Cape Town Test against South Africa, and kept him out of the team until the start of the India series in Melbourne, near enough to two months later. He was kept around the squad as much as possible, in line with the team performance manager Pat Howard’s emphasis on the value of proximity and communication, and proved his fitness for Boxing Day by coshing an unbeaten 99 for the Perth Scorchers in the Twenty20 Big Bash League.While the injury was inconvenient, it could not have ruined Marsh’s game so comprehensively as it has appeared during the India Tests. Marsh, it must be said, is used to the rhythms of rehabilitation, having fought a succession of back and hamstring problems dating back to his earliest stints in the Australian limited-overs team. Each time he has resumed and done well enough to keep himself in the selectors’ thoughts, while in three summers preceding the winter of 2011 he had compiled enough Sheffield Shield runs to make the Test squad for Sri Lanka. The back complaint did not help Marsh, but its obstacles were not insurmountable.

Among top six Test batsmen to have played at least five innings in a series, only the teenaged Ken Rutherford’s West Indian nightmare of 1985 has been worse than Marsh’s 17 runs

Technique can also be ruled out as the sole source of Marsh’s troubles. His run of dismissals has not resembled that of Phillip Hughes against New Zealand, the monotony being more to do with the slim nature of his scores than the manner of his exits. In Melbourne Marsh was caught at point and bowled off an inside edge, in Sydney he edged a delivery zipping away from him, in Perth he edged one angling across, and Adelaide had him bowled between bat and pad by Ashwin’s straight-break. If anything there has been a trace of the tentative about Marsh’s approach, a fact acknowledged by Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur. But a man once described by a team-mate as “technically the best player in the country” should have more than enough motor resources to keep out an Indian attack more modest than menacing.The best clues as to why Marsh has proven so unable to match the standards he had set in his first series can arguably be found in his own personal history. Since the start of his time in the first-class game, Marsh has invariably followed feast with famine, or famine with feast. He had gone seven innings with a highest score of 46 before he made a Sheffield Shield 119 against New South Wales that so impressed Steve Waugh. It was another 12 innings, with a highest of 47, before he added a second century. So it has gone for most of Marsh’s career since, in a pattern common to many Western Australian batsmen of recent vintage. Marcus North, Adam Voges, Luke Ronchi and Liam Davis, contemporaries all, have uncannily similar knacks for extremes, though they span a broad gamut of character and batting style. Not surprisingly, trophies have eluded them.Another element to the Marsh conundrum is the self-imposed pressure of scoring runs at home. A century at the height of summer can carry far more perceived weight than a finer one constructed on foreign shores when the nation’s minds are occupied by other things. Marsh was watched by his father Geoff in Sri Lanka, but few others. In Australia he has found himself being questioned by a great deal more pairs of eyes, on surfaces that have punished a moment’s hesitation against the new ball. There have been other talented batsmen to freeze under this spotlight, Michael Bevan, Greg Blewett and North among them.Clarke and Ponting also dealt with poor scores and the selectors’ wrath during home Tests. Both lost their place (Ponting in 1996 and 1998, Clarke in 2005), and emerged much the stronger for it. They were granted recalls after returning to domestic ranks and clattering plenty of runs, an option open to the selectors if they choose to omit Marsh from the triangular limited-overs series squad that follows two Twenty20 matches in Sydney and Melbourne. Either way, Marsh’s place in the Test team is now well and truly out of his hands, and it would take a very generous selection panel indeed to allow him the chance to seek another overseas feast in Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana.

A T20 friendly between an International XI and Asia XI in Toronto’s Rogers Centre was hit by poor organisation. The saving grace, though, was that the loyal fans were just happy to be there

Faraz Sarwat15-May-2012For what may be the first time ever in a Twenty20 match, international cricketers actually got to sit in a genuine, bona fide, baseball dugout. Toronto’s impressive Rogers Centre (formerly Skydome), home of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays, on Saturday hosted what was to be a match between an International XI and an Asia XI. Both teams looked good on paper, with the Asia XI apart from having Sanath Jayasuriya, Tamim Iqbal and Nasir Hossain, also slated to have the bulk of the Pakistan team: Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal and Hammad Azam, not to mention the inventor of the doosra himself – Saqlain Mushtaq.Lining up against them was to be a Brian Lara led team that included the likes of Jacob Oram, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Stuart MacGill and a trio of wicketkeepers: Mark Boucher, Brendan Taylor and Canada’s own Ashish Bagai.Word had been out for a few days prior to the match, that there were issues surrounding the participation of Pakistan’s players, but it was only on the eve of the match that organisers formally announced that the Pakistanis would not be coming because of NOC issues. Tamim was also quietly removed from the players’ roster without official explanation. The press conference went on with the organisers putting on a brave face despite the setback, while players practiced behind them looking tired but enjoying being in the Rogers Centre. After spending countless hours flying Auckland-Sydney-Abu Dhabi-Toronto, New Zealand’s Tim Southee was irritated to learn that there was a direct flight from Auckland to Vancouver, and then a short one to Toronto. MacGill and Grant Flower expressed disappointment at not having the Pakistanis playing and with the roof of the Rogers Centre closed on a warm and sunny day, the mood seemed sombre.Match Day and with the news of the Pakistan stars’ absence more widely known, many in the crowd seemed subdued going into the great stadium. Toronto is one of the world’s great cosmopolitan cities and fans showed up wearing jerseys of players from West Indies, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa you name it – even Canada. When Canada’s Rizwan Cheema was told there were a few fans wearing jerseys with his name, he said “there were more than a few – there were like, ten or twelve” prompting Cricket Canada president Ravin Moorthy to kid Cheema about how he knew that.Once into the stadium anticipation grew, but it was hard not to feel for the fans wearing Afridi jerseys and clutching Pakistani flags. The mood during the match was going to depend a lot on them.With the Pakistanis out, the Canadian duo of Bagai and Cheema were shifted to the Asia XI and were joined by Canadian team-mates, Jimmy Hansra, Ruvindu Gunasekera and Hiral Patel, whose aggressive World Cup half-century against Australia would not have escaped the notice of the bigger names in the International XI.Toss time, and Jayasuriya came out with Boucher instead of Lara. Lara was said to have arrived in Toronto the previous evening but nobody seemed to know where he was. Boucher won the toss for him, and decided to bat when word came down that Lara was being replaced in the line-up with yet another Canadian player, Cecil Parvez. At this point, no one would have blamed the crowd if they expressed their displeasure with a chorus of boos, but instead a remarkable thing happened – when the umpire standing at what would be 2nd base called play, the crowd enthusiastically cheered the first ball and groaned when Devon Smith patted it back to the bowler Chanaka Welegedara. This crowd was here to enjoy a Twenty20 match and it didn’t matter too much who was playing.A few overs in, Lara was finally spotted in the players’ dugout in his street clothes. Misplaced chants of “Pakistan Zindabad” were now replaced with “Lara, Lara”. The great man appeared unmoved.Meanwhile, the game continued and every boundary, every stop, every catch, every quick ball (those courtesy of Tino Best) were vociferously cheered. The boo-birds only came out once, when Hossain let a catch drop a couple of feet in front of him. The loudest and most sustained cheer of the match came when Saqlain, the only Pakistan player on show, was given the ball. Jacob Oram who had struck two big sixes off Jayasuriya in the previous over, attempted a third off Saqlain that went high but was expertly caught by Hossain within an inch of the boundary rope – the crowd went wild, for Saqlain’s wicket, Hossain’s redemptive catch and Oram’s whirlwind innings.With the Asia XI now dominated by Canadian players, Cheema found himself in a partnership with Patel and both struck powerful shots off MacGill, Oram, Mills and Best. A half-tracker from Oram was duly smashed by Cheema for the biggest six of the game.The Asia XI, unfancied in this match and chasing a target of 165, won the game with an over to spare, in no small part because of the efforts of the Canadian players and a vintage assault from Jayasuriya who hit a six and seven fours in his innings of 41.An estimated crowd of 12,000 looked small in the massive Rogers Centre, but they had a great time and once again this match showed the potential of cricket in Canada – as a destination for foreign teams, but also for more games involving Canada itself. Fans do appreciate the game here and are starting to learn who the players are on the Canadian team, something that can only further fuel the growth of cricket in Canada and get a few more people wearing Cheema jerseys.

When it comes to the atmosphere, the Kotla is far better than the Sawai Man Singh Stadium

Madhav Narayan21-May-2012Choice Of game
I’m not a resident of Rajasthan, but since I had literally nothing to do, I decided to take a trip to Jaipur – to get away from the Delhi heat. Well, let’s just say I got lucky. I had tickets to Rajasthan Royals’ game against Mumbai Indians. I didn’t feel like going (having been to five games already), but since it was the last league game of the IPL 2012, I decided not to skip it.Team supported

Born and raised in New Delhi, my loyalties lie naturally with Delhi Daredevils. So going for this non-Daredevils game, I didn’t have a clue who to support. The result of this game was inconsequential – Mumbai Indians had already secured a spot in the playoffs and Royals had missed out on the race after they lost to Deccan Chargers a few days earlier.I had enjoyed watching Royals play in Delhi, and on television, and liked how they played all their games with diligence and humility. I am also fond of their strong batting line-up (Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Owais Shah, Ashok Menaria). So I went to this match hoping Royals would win, and Dravid, whose prospects of playing next year are slim, would finish on a good note.Key performer
Dwayne Smith. He usually doesn’t open, and his highest score in seven innings for Mumbai Indians before this match was 24. But Sunday was different. He made 87 off 58 balls, scoring 58 of the runs in boundaries. It was great to watch him work his magic live and these kinds of things have made the IPL fun to watch in stadiums.Shot of the day
Smith swept Ajit Chandila for two consecutive sixes that went long – 92 and 103 metres. The first one was blasted over midwicket without any fuss and the second was powered over the long-on boundary. Even though the majority of the spectators in the stadium supported Royals, they seemed to switch sides each time Tendulkar or Smith cracked a boundary.Entertainment
The DJ at the stadium did his best to entertain the crowd with the latest numbers and the IPL trumpet. Be it English or Hindi, the ’60s or ’90s, the crowd greeted each tune with excitement. There were also the team songs of Royals and Mumbai Indians, and of course the IPL theme song which echoed during the strategic timeouts. However, local rules state that music can’t be played at such public venues after 10pm. By the time the Mumbai Indians innings started, the DJ’s job was done and the crowd went quiet.Close encounter
Sachin Tendulkar fielded below my seat for the majority of the Royals’ innings, and his stature was acknowledged widely with fans screaming “SACCCCHIIIIIIIINNNNN” and waving towards him each time he turned his head even by a degree. He responded to their greetings, by turning back, and smiling and waving at the spectators, making their day.Nothing like home
I have been fortunate to watch five of Daredevils’ eight home games this season. Watching a game at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium does not, by any standards, match up to the Kotla. The lights, the atmosphere, the music, the crowd, the flags, the enthusiastic MC, the crazy DJ, the loudspeakers, the catchy chants, the homely stadium, all bring the Kotla to life. And I saw none of that in Jaipur yesterday.Crowd meter
Surprisingly low. The weather was good and it was a relaxed Sunday evening. I expected the crowd to make a lot of noise and see off Royals’ team with loads of enthusiasm. Those expectations weren’t met.Overall
The game became one-sided the moment Mumbai Indians got Dravid, Rahane, Watson and Binny. I expected Royals to take the total past 170, but their slow batting didn’t allow that. The game had its highlights, though – Smith’s 87, his 13 boundaries, Dhawal Kulkarni’s bowling and the Tendulkar-Smith partnership.Marks out of 10
Seven. I deduct one for the slow, and almost boring, batting. Another, for the relatively dull atmosphere. And one more since I didn’t get the exciting finish I wanted in the final game of the league stage.

Ahead of Stuart Broad’s 50th Test appearance, and 100th first-class game, he reflects on his career to date

Interview by George Dobell16-Aug-20122005: The beginning
I had an offer from Durham University and a contract offer from Leicestershire. I took the contract home to my mum and we decided I should approach my cricket career as someone else might an apprenticeship in another profession, such as plumbing. University was a real temptation, but the decision worked well, and a year or so later I was playing for England.2006: England ODI debut
I had only played six List A games before my ODI debut, so the selectors took a bit of a gamble on me. But there are two ways to learn, aren’t there? You can spend years learning your trade in the county game, or you can be thrown in at the deep end. I feel very fortunate that they did that with me. It was an intense experience, but I learned quickly and feel it was hugely beneficial for me. I’m 26 now and most bowlers peak between 28 and 32.2007: Being hit for six sixes in an over by Yuvraj Singh
It was a learning experience. I’d had a good summer but, it turned out, I didn’t have the variations required for that level of international cricket. When you’re growing up, you’re taught to bowl six balls in the same spot, but after that I learned pretty quickly that you have to mix it up. It was all part of the learning curve. The other thing was, at least that over didn’t cost us anything. We were already out of the competition and it was a dead game.2008: Leaving Leicestershire for Nottinghamshire
I developed through the system at Leicestershire and consider myself very fortunate to have done so. They were fantastic for me. A bigger, richer club wouldn’t have put me in the first team so soon but at Grace Road I had lots of opportunity. But, at the time, I wasn’t in the Test side and the view was that I needed to be playing Division One cricket. There’s a huge gap between the two divisions now. Nottinghamshire have been brilliant. Mick Newell is an amazing coach and man manager, the facilities are excellent, and it’s a big club playing in the top division. I’ve not looked back.2009: Man of the Match at The Oval as England beat Australia to reclaim the Ashes
That changed my life. I was only 23 and it had been a tough summer, but that spell turned it around. It was a special time. And the celebrations after the series were even more special. We became celebrities after that series. It was the biggest series I had played to date and, at the time, it was probably my career highlight.2011: Hat-trick against India at Trent Bridge
That’s what I see as my career highlight. It annoys me when people say India were rubbish in that series. It makes me think that they know nothing about cricket. India were a very strong side and, until then, they had us under real pressure. We were under the pump in that game. We had been bowled out cheaply in the first innings and they passed us with only four wickets down. But then I was able to put my hand up in a big game on my home ground and we bowled them out in about an hour. India were a good side, but we were fantastic in that series.Current workload
I’m not one to complain about playing cricket. We’re very lucky, aren’t we? I love playing cricket, and when you think about those people who have to get up on a cold morning and go to work on a building site, you realise pretty quickly no one wants to hear us moaning. It’s true that we’re away from home a lot, but a million people would swap positions with us in an instant. And you’re a long time retired.Yes, I play all three formats and yes I’d like to play IPL, but the priority is playing for England. It is with most guys. When you look back on your career, it is the memories you make playing for your country that are most special.The England set-up is very well managed now, too. Andrew Flintoff just played until he broke. That doesn’t happen anymore. Every ball we deliver, in the nets or in the middle, is monitored, and we are told when we need a break. We’re very well looked after.Bowling speeds this summer
I don’t think the speed guns should be trusted. We don’t really see the figures from those as players, anyway, but the way I understand it, the speeds have been down for the South Africa bowlers too. There’s no way Dale Steyn is bowling at 79mph, I promise you. We use Hawk-Eye data2012: South Africa at Lord’s
This Test against South Africa is huge. We have a good record at Lord’s and we are very excited by the challenge. It is a must-win game and we are up against one of the best sides we’ve played. It’s a huge challenge but one I absolutely believe we can overcome.Stuart Broad was speaking at West Bridgfordians CC. The club is one of three who have won the chance to take on the NatWest Legends in a one-off match to help boost their fundraising efforts. To find out more about the NatWest Locals vs Legends T20 Series and for more details about all three matches, visit natwest.com/cricket