A dry but much needed account of Sri Lanka’s startling ascent to the summit

Daniel Brigham04-Apr-2009

Ivo Bligh captained England’s first team to play in Sri Lanka on Friday the 13th, October 1882. There was no bad luck that day – they won comfortably – but their fortune did not last: setting sail for Australia a few days later, they collided with a ship in mid-ocean and had to struggle back to Galle for repairs. Well over a century on and England – along with all other Test nations – are still leaving the island of Sri Lanka shamefaced.Sri Lanka are cricket’s biggest success story. Given Test status in 1981, they have overcome a civil war and political interference to become a top Test side, redefine one-day cricket and reach two World Cup finals, winning one.Their short acclimatisation period makes a mockery of Bangladesh’s Test status. It also makes a mockery of Kapil Dev, who captained India in Sri Lanka’s first Test win in 1985 and said: “Sri Lanka will never win a Test outside her shores.”How they got to that stage is a fascinating story that goes unheard in this country. Mahinda Wijesinghe is our guide and an internationally respected one too – he submitted the first third-umpire proposal to the ICC back in 1984.This is a mixed book of his own essays and statistics. You will surely learn a great deal – from how the locals routinely beat European settlers in early 20th-century matches to the first hero of Sri Lankan cricket – “Derrick” de Saram, who won an Oxford Blue at cricket in the 1930s but refused to tour with MCC in order to play for his own country.The fun is in the learning, not the reading – Wijesinghe prefers his prose dry. He also writes on umpiring, dissent, and his dislike of Bishan Bedi – odd in a history of Sri Lankan cricket. It turns the whole book into a bit of a vanity project and leaves one hoping that a more skilled and objective writer will one day tackle the subject of cricket’s greatest underdog story. Sri Lanka Cricket at the High Table: the amazing feats in her first 25 years
by Mahinda Wijesinghe
self-published

A tough series will maintain the credibility of New Zealand’s Test side, a win will set them forward by leaps, but they can’t afford to get outplayed

Sidharth Monga in Hamilton17-Mar-2009New Zealand cricket is going through a tough period, in that they don’t have a battery of experienced, proven match-winners at their disposal. The Indian leagues have hurt them badly. The biggest tragedy of New Zealand cricket in recent times is fit and still languishing in domestic limited-overs tournaments. Shane Bond is still the best fast bowler in the country but he cannot contribute to the national team.The collective loss to the ICL of other senior players who were nearing retirement has meant the transition to the young bunch has not been smooth. The IPL and excessive limited-overs cricket have consumed Scott Styris’ Test career too. An injury at the same time to Jacob Oram hasn’t helped either.New Zealand admit they are the underdogs going into the Test series. But they love to confound the odds. When they went to India in 1999-2000, the hosts were busy steamrolling opponents at home. But on the first morning of the Test series, they bowled India out for 83. India managed to win the series but, by the end of it, some of their players said it was the hardest home series in a long time. New Zealand weren’t supposed to be that hard to beat on Indian tracks then.Ten years later, New Zealand aren’t supposed to challenge India in a home series. Theoretically, man for man, India should beat New Zealand in any game, in any conditions. Try choosing a collective XI from both teams and only Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum will come close to making the cut. Vettori could edge out Harbhajan Singh as No. 1 spinner, and it would be touch and go between McCullum and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.They weren’t supposed to draw an ODI series against Australia, in Australia, in February. But for rain in the final ODI, they would have won it. New Zealand are dangerous underdogs. And they will relish the challenge of facing, in home conditions, a team trying to push for the No. 1 spot in the Test rankings. Also, when it comes to their head-to-head record against India, they still have the upper hand. And even when they have lost, they haven’t been outplayed.Each time, there’s been one unheralded player to make a name for himself. Simon Doull was not a big star when he took 12 wickets at 16.25 each in two Tests in 1998-99. Nor was Daryl Tuffey when he took 13 at 8.69 apiece in two Tests in 2002-03.Daniel Vettori is looking for someone similar to put his hand up, in far less helpful conditions. “For our bowlers, anytime you get one of those players out, it can sometimes be one of your best memories in cricket,” Vettori said. “If the guy steps up and gets five or six wickets against this much-vaunted batting line-up, that’s going to be a special day for the bowler and vice-versa, if someone scores runs. So we are trying to challenge the guys in the team through that aspect as well as trying to win games for New Zealand.”The team has players capable of doing that: Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill, to name two, showed that by sending Indian fielders helter-skelter on various occasions in the one-day series.New Zealand are mindful of the challenge at hand. “We can take some confidence into this series knowing that India haven’t [performed] that well [in New Zealand],” Vettori said. “But they probably haven’t brought out as good a team as this in the past. This is one of the better batting line-ups you will ever see, and it is complemented by some very good bowlers. We have to play very well to beat these guys, regardless of their history here.”There will be few inhibitions about the task at hand. “You have to take them on,” Vettori said. “The war of attrition probably won’t work. I think we have to be aggressive, but in saying that we have got to be disciplined too. Those are the things we didn’t quite get right in the one-day series.”The one-day series has set a dangerous precedent. The mental block that India came here with has been almost completely lifted through the way they outplayed the hosts in the ODIs. After three losses in that series, Vettori talked about maintaining the credibility of the one-day team. A tough series will maintain the credibility of their Test side, a win will set them forward by leaps, but they can’t afford to get outplayed.

Highlights of the ICL’s second season

Siddhartha Talya15-Nov-2008The curtain is coming down on the second season of the ICL 20-20 Indian Championship. Cricinfo looks at some of the highlights:

Dream spell: Ali Murtaza’s 4 for 7 against Lahore Badshahs was the most economical in the ICL © ICL
The bowl out
Delhi Giants and Chandigarh Lions were involved in perhaps the best game of the tournament, with both sides scoring heavily and the winner being decided by a bowl-out. Chandigarh batted first and got off to an ideal start, with the openers putting on 98 in a little over ten overs. Graeme Hick, one of ICL’s newer recruits, made 36 as Chandigarh scored 200. Delhi, though, replied strongly, with the openers adding 126, but then lost quick wickets. They needed nine off the final over. Andrew Hall bowled the first five balls accurately but, with five needed to win off the last ball, Paul Nixon glanced down to the fine-leg boundary to level the scores. The bowl-out yielded just two hits, both from Delhi, and Bipul Sharma, Chetan Sharma, Daryl Tuffey and Hall failed to hit the stumps for Chandigarh. Ali Murtaza and Dhruv Mahajan struck their target to hand Delhi a nerve-wracking win.The knock
Reetinder Sodhi’s unbeaten 41 brought Ahmedabad Rockets within four runs of victory against Hyderabad Heroes in Gurgaon. Chasing 166, Ahmedabad were 113 for 1 in the 17th over. However, their acceleration came late and they went into their final over needing 27 more to win. Just when it seemed that Hyderabad had the match wrapped up, Sodhi gave them a serious scare, dispatching Shahabuddin’s first two balls for a six and a four. However the next three yielded only seven runs but Sodhi lofted the last ball, off which ten were needed, for a massive six over the bowler’s head. He finished with 41 off 15, a valiant knock, but his team was left ruing their decision to accelerate so late.The fiasco
Hyderabad Heroes lost by one run against Delhi Giants, losing their way thanks to some shoddy running after being in control for most of the run-chase. Four of their six dismissals were run-outs and they slipped from 75 for 1 to 113 for six. The seventh wicket pair of Anirudh Singh and Chris Harris revived the innings and reached a situation where 16 runs were needed off the last over, and 12 off the final two balls. Dale Benkenstein had bowled an economical final over until then but Anirudh almost spoilt Delhi’s party. The penultimate ball of the match was struck powerfully over long on for six. Benkenstein, however, made amends by bowling a yorker which produced a thick outside edge to the third-man boundary for four.The catch
It was a catch that swung the match Hyderabad Heroes’ way. Ahmedabad Rockets were 113 for 1 and Damien Martyn, batting on 16, was just getting into his rhythm. They needed 54 off the last four overs. Chris Harris bowled a short ball on middle and leg and Martyn pulled it powerfully between long on and deep midwicket. Ambati Rayudu, who was fielding at deep midwicket, ran to his left and dived full length to pluck the catch inches away of the boundary. Ahmedabad ended up losing the match by three runs, but if Martyn, who added 59 for the second wicket with Murray Goodwin, had stayed till the end, the result might have been different. Rayudu was given the Man-of-the-Match award for that catch, despite a poor performance with bat.The crowd
Ahmedabad once again provided the ICL with a much-needed fan-base, with over 40,000 people thronging to the match between Lahore Badshahs and Dhaka Warriors. Lahore won that match by five wickets and all but ensured their place in the ICL semi-finals. Most of the matches in Ahmedabad were nearly housefull.The debut
Mohammad Yousuf’s 12 against Dhaka Warriors may not appear among the most impressive of debuts but those who witnessed his brief stay at the crease will testify that his innings was one of the main highlights of the season. Yousuf was ICL’s latest recruit and he got off to a near perfect start, hitting boundaries off his first three balls. The first was a delightful square-cut followed by a trademark on-drive wide of mid-on. The third was the best of the lot, a beautifully executed extra-cover drive, but then an attempted drive on the up through cover produced a thin outside edge which was snapped up by Dhiman Ghosh.The controversy
Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia were suspended for the entire season. Cairns was reportedly carrying an ankle injury into the tournament, which he did not disclose to the ICL officials. As that constituted a violation of the player’s contract, Cairns was sent back. Mongia apparently knew about Cairns’ injury in advance but did not share the information with the ICL authorities. However, there were rumours that allegations of match-fixing may have been the reason for such a harsh penalty, but Mongia categorically denied that match-fixing had anything to do with his suspension, and so did Cairns’ lawyer.The spat
Deep Dasgupta and G Vignesh were involved in an on-field altercation during the match between Chennai Superstars and Royal Bengal Tigers in Panchkula. Dasgupta dispatched a full-length ball from outside off stump for a six and then got into a scuffle with Vignesh. Both players were fined 50% of their monthly fees for the incident. Royal Bengal Tigers stakeholder Mithun Chakraborty said Dasgupta had been provoked on the field, and was satisfied that both the “offender” and the “conspirator” were found to be equally guilty and duly penalised.The spell
Ali Murtaza took 4 for 7 in four overs to put the brakes on Lahore Badshahs as Delhi succeeded in restricting them to 147, which they successfully overhauled with nine balls to spare. Murtaza’s spell was the most economical in the ICL and each of his victims in that match was a frontline batsman. Murtaza first dismissed Imran Farhat who tried to loft him over the long-on boundary, but holed out to Justin Kemp. The second wicket, that of Humayun Farhat, was a result of a brilliant stumping by wicketkeeper Paul Nixon. Shahid Yousuf was trapped lbw in the same over but the biggest scalp was that of Inzamam-ul-Haq who was also lbw to a quicker ball that would have hit off stump.The find
Dhaka Warriors proved to be a worthy addition to the teams participating in the ICL. After all the turmoil their players went through after joining the league, they put up an admirable show and at one point, were among the front-runners for a semi-final berth. They started off poorly, losing to Chennai Superstars by six wickets, but won hearts in their next match against tournament champions Hyderabad Heroes. Alok Kapali scored the competition’s first century and Dhaka were favourites to win until some sloppy fielding and a terrific innings from Chris Harris helped Hyderabad snatch a win. Dhaka came back strongly, winning four out their next five games, but lost a must-win game against Lahore.

Take no prisoners, show no mercy. So what if you’ve got to wear pink on occasion?

Fazeer Mohammed03-Jun-2009His name alone was enough to attract attention.Coming from a country considered for long to be on the very distant frontier of West Indies cricket, Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts had to be exceptional to break new ground for the people of his home island of Antigua.But it was not his raw pace, or those clever variations in the speed of his bouncers, or the growing list of batsmen he sent to hospital that first drew my attention to him. Nope, it was Andy Roberts the match-winning batsman, the cool, unemotional cricketer who became my hero.For a 10-year-old well on the way to being totally absorbed with the game, the first World Cup in 1975 came at just the right time. And it was in their second match of a memorable sun-blessed tournament that West Indies were rescued by a 64-run last-wicket partnership between wicketkeeper-batsman Deryck Murray and Roberts, which took them to victory over Pakistan at Edgbaston.So many years later, the moment when Roberts played Wasim Raja’s fourth delivery of the final over to midwicket for the winning run remains palpably fresh. We Trinidadians obviously had a lot of faith in our compatriot Murray. But Roberts? From an island that not too many of us even knew existed? This fellow had to be someone special. Seeing that as far as most of us myopic “big islanders” were concerned, the only cricketers of any worth came from Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, and Guyana.Even before those heroics in Birmingham, Roberts had already gone a long way towards shattering the mould, harvesting a previously unheard of 32 wickets in India in 1974-75, his first full series. So by the World Cup he was already an established member of the side. He had left a trail of destruction the previous season in England, taking 119 first-class wickets for Hampshire.I had yet to see him in the flesh and he was already my favourite, especially after he destroyed Australia with 7 for 54 in the second innings of the Perth Test of 1975-76 series. Listening in the dead of night to the radio coverage, it seemed that even the commentators seemed to be in awe of this fast bowler who was leading our response to Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson.The otherwordly feeling of our boys battling it out so very far away, not to mention being robbed blind by Australian umpires, made Roberts’ effort all the more heroic. Watching the black-and-white television highlights a month later, by which time the series was already lost, took nothing away from the enjoyment of the spectacle.There was no comparison, of course, to the silky smoothness of newcomer Michael Holding’s run-up. But Roberts was the man, exploding into his delivery stride and letting those no-good Aussies have it full blast. And it was his demeanour of a cold-blooded assassin – shoulders hunched, brooding and expressionless – that contributed to his intimidating aura. In an era when Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson were lighting up the cinemas, Roberts was right up there with them, even if he had to wear white, and then that sissy pink during the days of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.Roberts the match-winning batsman, the cool, unemotional cricketer, won many a fan•Getty ImagesYet behind that sullen exterior was a very proud man, not one preoccupied with propriety and diplomatic niceties but a thoughtful fast bowler who, like most outstanding cricketers of his and earlier times, could identify the strengths and weaknesses of an opponent after just a few deliveries and didn’t have to wait for the coach to point them out on his laptop after the day’s play.It is said that Roberts had to be physically restrained after Tony Greig’s “grovel” remark ahead of the 1976 series in England. Out in the middle, though, there was no holding back. By uprooting the home captain’s off stump before he had scored in his first innings of the series, Roberts let another lethal delivery do the talking for him, and for all of us back home who wanted to see the haughty South African suffer for his insensitivity.Yes there is a rejoicing in the ruthlessness, like when Peter Toohey, one of the few quality players in a weakened Australian side, dared to hook Roberts in the opening session of the 1977-78 series, at the Queen’s Park Oval. The sound of leather on bone as the batsman was caught almost flush between the eyes seemed to reverberate around the ground. No one likes to see someone get hurt, but if you want to take on the finest fast bowler of the day on a rain-affected pitch, then brace for the consequences.Next morning the front page of a local newspaper showed Toohey just about semi-conscious, blood trickling down his face, Viv Richards cradling his body and waving to the pavilion for assistance. And just on the perimeter of the shot, there was Roberts, back to the camera, leaning over for a closer look.He may have been genuinely concerned about a fellow player’s welfare, yet he looked for all the world like a hired gun examining his handiwork before walking back to the top of his mark and awaiting the next victim in the firing line.Whatever his failings since the end of his playing days, nothing will diminish his stature to me as a great fast bowler pure and simple. Lethal and ruthless, but certainly not thoughtless, he was the forerunner in the glorious era of unprecedented Caribbean domination by speed.I cherish the memories, and wait and hope for his kind to come this way again.

It must have been a heady feeling being the Indian captain on Friday at the Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein

Krishnamachari Srikkanth22-Jul-2009It must have been a heady feeling being the Indian captain on Friday at the Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein. Sourav Ganguly’s men hardly broke a sweat while pounding a hapless and pathetic Kenyan side. The contest might have been farcical but, believe me, all cricket teams desire such comprehensive wins every time they take the field.It went like a dream for India from the moment Maurice Odumbe won the toss and elected to bat. Ajit Agarkar, in particular, bowled a beautiful line and length. It is always thrilling for a bowler when he rattles a batsman’s stumps as Agarkar did Ravindu Shah’s and David Obuyo’s in the space of three overs. And then he broke Kenya’s residual resolve by dismissing their best batsman, Steve Tikolo, a classy stroke-player on his day.Agarkar’s initial breakthroughs have laid the ground for India’s win in the last two matches. The Mumbai lad bowls a fuller length than all his other fast bowling partners and also has the ability to move the ball away from the batsman. He has built up a nice rhythm in this tour backing it up with some useful pace.The 22-year-old never lacked attitude. Now there is the added fire provided by his raging hunger to do well. If he continues in this vein , he will surely prove his captain right once again.Let me use this column to commend Sourav Ganguly for backing the men whom he believes in and for taking up cudgels on their behalf even when it meant he had to be a lone ranger on occasions. What has been impressive is the way in which he has proved right on most occasions. The famous instance that comes to mind is his backing Harbhajan Singh ahead of the series against Australia. And how the young man repaid his captain’s faith…No wonder then that Ganguly has won the respect of his players. It is a good sign for Indian cricket that we have a positive captain who is not afraid to speak his mind. I firmly believe that only confident leaders can breed a confident team.The match would also have done our two senior bowlers – Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble – a world of good. Srinath had been rather erratic in the first two matches. Though he was patchy on Friday, two no-balls and three wides in seven overs do no justice to a bowler of his stature, he returned very economical figures. Sri has been India’s premier fast bowler for long and it is in India’s best interests to see him back at his best. Hope the figures and the bowling award help him on his way.Kumble was impressive again. It sure helped him to have umpire Dave Orchard at his end. Orchard is one of those umpires who frown upon batsmen who use their pads as the first line of defence. This fact and his wicket-to-wicket line helped Kumble claim three wickets through leg-before decisions. Harbhajan Singh, his young spinning partner, meanwhile, had a rather mundane Friday after a super Wednesday at the Centurion.It was good to see Virender Sehwag and Deep Dasgupta walk out to open the innings after the bowlers had cleaned out the Kenyans. I felt it was a powerful statement that the team management was sending out – telling the Kenyans in no uncertain terms that any of our batsmen are good enough to do the job.Dasgupta, who has played as an opener for Bengal in the Ranji matches, had a good essay in the middle and this would have helped him feel more at home on the international stage.Sehwag, returning to the top of the order for the first time in South Africa, blazed away at the other end. He is, as Ganguly later said, one of India’s most promising batsmen, and a match-winner on his day.The young man looked good while playing both off the front foot and the back foot. The only time he seemed to be in some discomfort was while handling the short stuff. But that shouldn’t cause him much unease in the one-dayers where bowlers can only bowl one bouncer an over.The Kenyans bowlers were, like their batsmen, very, very ordinary. The performance of the side did no justice to an international-level team. Their coach Sandeep Patil and Bob Woolmer, set to join them as an expert, would have to work a minor miracle to turn them into a competitive outfit on Sunday. You can trust the South Africans to come at their neighbours with all the firepower they have got. Kenyans would do well to avoid it from turning into yet another massacre of the innocents.

Sachin Tendulkar’s 134 in Sharjah in 1998 set the bar for his centuries in a one-day final, but damned if today’s effort doesn’t at least nip at its skirts

Jamie Alter at the Premadasa Stadium14-Sep-2009Sachin Tendulkar’s 134 in Sharjah in 1998 set the bar for his centuries in one-day finals, but damned if today’s effort doesn’t at least nip at its skirts. The biggest performers – and few come any bigger than Tendulkar – invariably deliver on the big occasion and today, with India looking to snap a run of five straight completed finals defeats to Sri Lanka, Tendulkar dazzled. When Tendulkar bats like he did today, he is as irresistible as he is artistic, and you can only sit back and enjoy it.He had got starts in the previous two games, but India’s decision to send Dinesh Karthik to open meant Tendulkar was under pressure from ball one. When Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid walked out today, there was a tinge of the 1990s solidity. As it panned out, the innings that followed harked back to the Tendulkar of yore. Dravid, for long India’s most technically sound batsman, allowed Tendulkar to play his game. They did their job efficiently, taking the shine off the new ball, wearing down the quick bowlers, denying Ajantha Mendis a wicket, and paving the way for the batsmen to follow.From the first ball Tendulkar faced, when he stood tall and punched Thilan Thushara wide of mid-off, he oozed confidence. Batting wasn’t too difficult in the first ten overs against a tidy bowling attack on a flat track, but he was intent on sticking around. This wasn’t the kind of pitch to chase the ball and apart from one delivery that he flashed at and edged for four, Tendulkar was patient. A couple of deliveries beat the outside edge; he bided his time and then pushed Nuwan Kulasekara superbly through the covers for four. It helped that the opening bowlers didn’t pitch the ball up enough, and when Kulasekara did, Tendulkar drove past extra cover and clipped past midwicket.Between overs, Tendulkar twirled his left arm and tapped the track. These were the moments needed to gather his thoughts. Significantly, he drew on all his experience to upset the bowlers, especially when they tried something different. Thilan Thushara veered his line to just outside off stump, and Tendulkar forced the ball through the off side for four. Lasith Malinga bowled a couple of testing deliveries, but when he held back the length marginally, Tendulkar glided back and forced the ball through the covers. Tendulkar judged the line flawlessly and was lissome with his footwork as he turned length deliveries away at precisely the right moment. His cover and square-driving were of the highest quality: the balance was perfect, the weight transfer faultless and the ball seldom hit in the air.On a surface where other batsmen often failed to work the ball off the square, Tendulkar’s fluency was astounding. He struck the ball with grace, either when going back or working it across the line. Deliveries pitched on a length were turned through midwicket and square leg, others back of a length were crisply steered between cover and point.As the ball got old in the middle overs, Tendulkar and MS Dhoni found the gaps and rotated the strike. Dhoni complemented Tendulkar beautifully, and the two denied Sri Lanka any wriggle room. On 87, Tendulkar waltzed out and drove Mendis over extra cover for four. A punch off Mendis past mid-off took him to 99, and a single pinched through cover took Tendulkar to three figures for the 44th time. A raise of the arms, a wave of the bat to the dressing room, a lingering look at the heavens and a hug from Dhoni followed, and then he marked his guard again.Dhoni tried to up the tempo in the batting Powerplay and fell for 56. Here Tendulkar’s batting shifted down a gear as he batted with cramps, using Dravid as a runner, but he was no less determined. His strike-rate slowed down as he worked the ball around to get Yuvraj Singh on strike, yet the shot selection was impeccable. Seemingly invigorated by not having to run, Tendulkar launched an onslaught against Mendis in the 45th over, when in three successive deliveries he smote a six over extra cover – the high elbow said much about the strength needed to execute the shot – and reverse-swept fours. He fell attempting another, but his work allowed Yuvraj to smack a belligerent half-century that helped India set an unachievable target at this venue under lights, despite Thilina Kandamby’s bravado.The last time India played a final here it appeared they had forgotten how to play like a half-decent team. Today they took a massive step toward, freeing themselves from a spectre that had haunted them for too long. In Tendulkar – who has now scored nine international centuries and seven 90s since May 2007 – India have a batsman showing no signs of slowing down. With the Champions Trophy next week and the World Cup in 2011, this becomes especially relevant.

Punjab’s batting never imposed itself, the bowlers lacked the venom to stop Bangalore, and their fielding … well that was just deplorable

Jamie Alter in Mohali02-Apr-2010
Nothing’s gone right for Brett Lee in this season•Indian Premier LeagueA perplexing innings
Sent up the order to open, Manvinder Bisla ate up 26 balls for 28 runs. Once Shaun Marsh was dismissed early, the pressure was on Bisla to justify the decision to open with him. Bisla scored the majority of his runs off the South African pair of Dale Steyn (eight off four balls) and Jacques Kallis (nine off eight balls), whom he seemed keen to charge and waft at. Watching him repeatedly charge or back away, it was evident how limited a player he is. Apart from the cut, when he made room, and the uncontrolled clip off the pads, a shot he appeared eager to play but couldn’t pull off regularly, there was little to his stock. No matter what the line or length, Bisla wanted to jump out of the crease and put the ball over the infield. You couldn’t help but contrast his methods with those of Virat Kolhli, who paced his innings with solidity while scoring at the frenetic pace required in this format.And what was Bisla attempting against Anil Kumble? When veteran international players have had troubles against Kumble’s wiles this IPL – the delivery that beat Matthew Hayden was one of the season’s best – Bisla should have been more cautious instead of trying to step out first ball. On the third ball from Kumble he tried to hit across the line and was beaten. He then made room and streakily cut Kumble in the air wide of the catchers. After again trying and missing, his dismissal was the result of an apparent brain freeze. He tried to scoop Kumble over short fine leg, exposed the stumps, and had the furniture rearranged. Instead of helping Punjab, Bisla’s inning hurt them.Catches win matches … oh dear
This was the worst fielding effort I have seen this IPL and when – not if, as there is now virtually no chance – Punjab sit down and look at on-field reasons as to why they didn’t reach the semi-finals, this match will return to haunt them. In the 14th over, Sreesanth put down what will rank as one of the easiest chances of the competition; Kohli hit a slower ball straight to Sreesanth at long-on but it went in and out at about shoulder height.The less said about Ravi Bopara’s fielding the better. First he ran around from third man and let the ball through his legs to give Kevin Pietersen a much-needed four. Then, in the 16th over Bopara was again at it, running in from long-on and failing to take a simple catch from Pietersen that came at him at a nice catchable height.But … drum roll … the enduring image of the evening. After glaring at his butterfingered fielders, it was time for the captain to step up. After a 25-run over that turned the match around, Kumar Sangakkara ran backwards from cover to a swish from Pietersen, settled under the ball, and muffed it. It wasn’t over: before lying on his ground wondering how he’d missed the catch, Sangakkara managed to kick the ball to the boundary for four. These were international cricketers fielding like middle-aged men in .Let down by Lee
With 48 required from 24 balls, Punjab were still in with a shot. Enter Brett Lee, the team’s strike bowler, their most expensive overseas name, and a figure they had been dying to have back in the side. Lee begins with a full toss, which Robin Uthappa dumps 15 rows behind the straight boundary. The next ball is also wretched – length – and is slammed for four. After two near-yorkers Lee reverts back to length and watches Uthappa send the ball over midwicket for the biggest six of the game. He then sprays five wides down the leg side. That horror over took Lee’s IPL returns to three games, 63 deliveries, zero wickets, 111 runs, and an economy rate of 10.57. Lee has been short of match practice but there are no excuses – that 25-run over cost Punjab the match.

This romantic tour through the 2009 English season is a must-read for those who love the game, and those who control it

Alan Lee18-Sep-2010Anyone who has watched cricket from the prim old Ladies’ Pavilion at Worcester, gazing through the green-and-white canvas to the cathedral and river beyond, will appreciate that such moments are made for profound thoughts on the best-loved game.Duncan Hamilton, whiling away a dreamy afternoon and doubtless awaiting the homemade cakes, found himself musingon what it is that sets Anglo-Australian rivalries so distinctly apart. “Beneath the thick crust of cynicism England and Australia are like the two old men in Somerset Maugham’s short story “The Sanatorium”, who squabble and feud, complain about and provoke one another – mostly over trivialities. The fractious relationship gives meaning and purpose and identity and definition to both their lives.”It was a summary to linger in the consciousness, encapsulating the work of a book that achieves more than its ambitions.Hamilton, already the recipient of five prestigious book awards, can confidently expect more to follow for this lyrical, evocative but absolutely timely volume, a kind of travelogue of the English cricketing summer of 2009.His inspirations were threefold: first his grandfather, who had introduced him to cricket and whose memory lives with himstill; secondly JB Priestley’s , a ramble round a changing land in 1933; finally Hamilton’s deep fears that the rhythms and romance of the game were about to be lost forever, bulldozed by rampant commercialism.Because cricket has, indeed, become avaricious and celebrity-led, Hamilton’s thoughts are not fashionable; these days the banal soundbites of Freddie or Jimmy or KP are so much easier to market. If sales of this book suffer for that, however, it will be the greatest shame. Everyone who loves the game, and especially those who administer it, should read this and prepare to weep.Hamilton admits he is something of a modern misfit. “To describe oneself as a ‘cricket purist’ these days risks derision. You’re dismissed as ultra-conservative, unprogressive and as fogeyish as a pocket watch and chain. I am that cricket purist.” He calls himself a “raving sentimentalist” and adds: “I am always measuring today against yesterday. I know there are times when it makes me sound one hundred years old.”

Mostly Hamilton’s comparisons are sharp and his longing for the eroded joys of the county game shrewdly expressed. Unsurprisingly he reserves his bile for Twenty20, and specifically for the noise and ballyhoo seemingly inseparable from it

And, yes, just occasionally, he does get almost tiresomely wistful, straining a shade too far for the right, regretful image. There is, too, the odd misspelling of a player’s name to irritate.Mostly, though, his comparisons are sharp and his longing for the eroded joys of the county game shrewdly expressed. Unsurprisingly he reserves his bile for Twenty20, and specifically for the noise and ballyhoo seemingly inseparable from it. He loathes “the show-off announcers” and the “acts of forced jollity”, comparing the experience to “someone at a party constantly blowing a streamer in your face and telling you to enjoy yourself”.Hamilton regards the IPL as “plastic cricket, pre-packaged and oversold”. The domestic product, he warns, has already been given undue priority. “Twenty20 is barging in on every summer like an exasperating holiday guest; not only demanding the best room in the house but insisting that everything is run to fit around its whims.”His graphic disapproval of the beer-drinking marathons that have been allowed house room in English cricket will strike a chord with many. He experienced it at the Edgbaston Test and reports his revulsion at the abuse and “rank obnoxious” conduct of the drunks. “If the ECB ignores the drinking culture, or allows it to go unchecked, it will at some stage find itself trying to explain away a profoundly serious incident.”Hamilton starts his odyssey at Lord’s, for the MCC v champion county fixture, and ends it at Canterbury deep in September. He is at his best and happiest away from the rowdy throng – at Colwyn Bay, for instance, earwigging on endearing conversations in the crowd, or at Scarborough, where his cricket-watching routines are engrained.At Cheltenham he reflects how county cricket has lost so much of its character through the steady elimination of outgrounds. He steals a look at a 1978 and counts 26 that have since disappeared. “It is as if cricket’s own version of a flint-eyed and unfeeling Dr Beeching stared at a map of England one summer’s day and tut-tutted his disapproval.”Hamilton feared the end of the line for the cricketing time tables he reveres. Most of us join him in hoping he is wrong.A Last English Summer
by Duncan Hamilton
Quercus
377pp, £20

Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Darren Sammy and their colleagues tested Australia like they haven’t been tested for some time

Daniel Brettig at Kensington Oval08-Apr-2012Not since March 2009 against England had West Indies enjoyed the luxury of declaring their first innings closed. Not since Sri Lanka, nine Test matches and more than six months ago, had Australia’s cricketers been made to sweat in the field like this. In their contrasting styles the old and new of West Indies cricket, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Sammy, each found a way to enhance the visitors’ sense of disorientation.The Bridgetown pitch demanded a substantial first innings tally to do justice to its trueness of bounce and ease of pace, and after Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo had smoothed a path, Chanderpaul and Sammy made sure it was achieved. Their manner of doing so reflected the typical method of each batsman: Chanderpaul the ultimate survivor, Sammy the ebullient cameo artist. But they also demonstrated qualities in tune with the occasion, stretching Australia’s patience and leaving their spin bowler Nathan Lyon, in particular, with plenty to ponder about his technique and mode of attack on these shores.If Sammy’s innings of 41 was no more substantial in volume than many of those he had previously played for West Indies, its manner was highly significant. Fairly bristling with attacking intent, and the confidence derived from his firm-handed contributions during the limited-overs matches that served as the entree to this series, Sammy advanced boldly towards the tourists at the fall of Carlton Baugh’s wicket.His first target was Lyon, who had to this point bowled tidily without impact on a surface that offered only a fraction of the spin he had found at the Three Ws Oval during the Australians’ only tour match. Lyon has typically prospered via an enticing loop that finds the batsman short of the ball’s pitch more often than not, but here Sammy leapt into him, pinging boundaries and a six over the bowler’s head.Still possessing the aggressive attitude that had launched his international career so successfully in Sri Lanka last year, Lyon did not shirk from tossing the ball high, but Sammy’s attack narrowed focus on the bowler’s apparent wrestle with his technique. In his approach to the wicket, the position of his front arm and the torque of his body action, Lyon gave Sammy little trouble picking his length and swinging accordingly. Turn was elusive, and while Lyon furnished his figures with a tail-end wicket, he spent most of the innings reminding locals more of Greg Matthews’ destruction by Viv Richards and Richie Richardson on the 1991 tour than Lance Gibbs’ feats in the 1960s and ’70s. If that weren’t unsettling enough, David Warner claimed the best figures of the innings, his leg breaks now less likely to carry the prefix “occasional”.Having forced Lyon’s exit from the attack, Sammy turned next to Shane Watson, a commonly crafty operator on wickets offering little to others. Watson greeted his allround opposite number with a skidding bouncer that struck Sammy a fierce blow to the helmet, forcing its change. Now followed the most compelling passage of the day. Watson’s next delivery was fuller, on off stump and inviting a cautious prod down the wicket. However Sammy, still somewhat dazed and destined to call for further treatment at the end of the over, chose now to be the right time to launch into the purest lofted straight drive for six, sending Kensington Oval into raptures and obliging Watson to resort to another bouncer and a Bollywood villain’s stare next ball.Having been looked over once again by the team physio, Sammy renewed his attack, forcing Watson to join Lyon in exiting the bowling crease, spanking him straight for four then depositing him uproariously into the Greenidge and Haynes Stand for six. Ben Hilfenhaus resorted to a less than edifying string of bouncers at a batsman who had suffered a blow to the head, but after one more straight six Sammy miscued a hook and was taken in the deep. His performance offered a staunch example of the attitude Sammy wants from his team, and he need only add a little more duration to his stays at the batting crease to become a bowling allrounder of genuine chops.At the other end, Chanderpaul had simply done what he does, scratching his way to a substantial score via the legside nudges, third-man deflections and occasional forcing strokes that have driven all manner of international opponents – not to mention impatient spectators – to distraction. Apart from an lbw referral by Lyon when he was 85, Chanderpaul did not offer a chance for six-and-a-half hours, balls both good and bad treated without the merest trace of premeditation. Along the way he passed Brian Lara as the man to score the most Test runs at Kensington Oval, a marker of his persistence but also the commitment to the game that he had reasserted after Sammy and the coach Ottis Gibson sought to enlist him to their cause in 2010.As the innings wound down, Chanderpaul’s search for a 25th Test century was intertwined with another matter of some importance. Each ball the hosts kept Australia in the field would add to their fatigue when batting, and each run would enhance the hosts’ chances of pressuring the visiting batsmen when their turn came to take the ball. Chanderpaul trusted the last man Devendra Bishoo, his fellow Guyanese, with a little of the strike, and was not harried into a risky single or an attempt to turn one into two. Clarke became as preoccupied with denying Chanderpaul as ending the innings, but his efforts to do both were thwarted: the 37-year-old former captain kissed the Bridgetown pitch and added a pesky 28 with Bishoo before Sammy called them in. Bishoo’s innings meant that all 11 Caribbean batsmen had passed double figures for the first time in the region’s history: a statistic to warm hearts.Trudging off after 153 overs of sobering Caribbean reality, Clarke’s team was weary but also a little more worldly-wise. Over the next three days, and the next three weeks, they must find ways of blunting Chanderpaul, and of sapping Sammy’s enthusiasm before it filters completely through his team. The second day of the Barbados Test made these two tasks appear far more vexing than many might have predicted. Having given West Indies a foothold, Australia must locate the kind of resourcefulness not required in quite some time to prise them out.

The start to his career had not always been easy, but Tom Maynard’s development hinted at a future at the top level

George Dobell18-Jun-2012Sometimes it is in the most emotional moments that a man’s character is most apparent. Returning to Cardiff in April 2011, just months after he and his father, the former England and Glamorgan batsman Matthew, had departed under acrimonious circumstances, Tom Maynard recorded his maiden first-class century.While some may have taken the opportunity to settle scores, Tom Maynard took the chance to praise his family and build bridges. “I’d like to dedicate that innings towards the family rather than anything malicious towards the management,” he said. For a 22-year-old bristling with emotion and pride, it was a remarkably gracious reaction. It was telling, too, that even in the aftermath of Maynard’s departure, no one at Glamorgan uttered a negative word about him. He had handled an impossible situation perfectly: with honesty, loyalty, firmness and restraint. In a situation from which few emerged with credit, Tom Maynard shone.Maynard was, no doubt, as flawed and confused as any young man finding his way in the world. Only fools and obituary writers look for perfection. But he also had bountiful positive qualities, and as that innings and his reaction afterwards showed, innate class on and off the pitch. His loss casts a long shadow over English and Welsh cricket.Tom Maynard, who has died aged 23, was born to play cricket. Steeped in the game from birth, just nine months after his father’s Test debut, he used to accompany his dad into the Glamorgan dressing room from his early years, and progressed smoothly through the club’s youth system to earn his place in that same dressing room through talent. He attended Millfield School, played county 2nd XI cricket at 16, first-class cricket at 18, and on List A debut, thumped a run-a-ball 71 against Gloucestershire. He hit the ball hard, cutting and pulling with the same panache as his father, but was perhaps blessed with an even better ability to play straight. He was brilliant in the field.His progress was not always as smooth – he averaged just 19.16 in first-class cricket in 2009 and 27.50 in 2010 – and struggled, initially at least, in alien conditions on last winter’s England Lions tour to Bangladesh.But having left Glamorgan for Surrey at the end of 2010, when his father’s position as coach was rendered untenable after the club management imposed a new captain against his will, he began to add consistency to his undoubted flair. It was no coincidence that Surrey won County Championship promotion and the CB40 title in his first season. Like a seed transplanted from rocky ground to rich, he soon excelled on the better pitches and in a high-achieving environment. His final first-class average – just 32.65 – may look modest on the surface, but it is surely relevant that his first-class average for Surrey – 42.48 – was almost double that for Glamorgan – 21.38. This season, on testing pitches and against Division One attacks, he increasingly displayed the calm shot selection and the calculated aggression of a special talent. His was a life and a career just about to flower.Maynard passed 1000 first-class runs for the first time in 2011, scoring a match-winning century in the final Championship match to help his side secure promotion. He was also the club’s leading scorer in T20, with 392 runs at a lofty average of 43.55 (only two men had higher averages in the country) and he replaced Mark Rampakash in the Surrey one-day side. He flourished in all three formats of the game.His future would, no doubt, have been filled with the highs and lows, the triumphs and disappointments that make up any life. Young people do not come with guarantees, but Maynard had everything it takes – the talent, the temperament, the technique and the environment – to have played for England with distinction for many years. It seemed he had a golden future.It was not to be. While the details of Maynard’s death remain unclear, it may prove, in time, that the tragic circumstances of the final chapter in his life and the somewhat prurient reaction to it in some circles, reflect more on our society than they do on the deceased. A 23-year-old man may want for many things; hope should never be one of them.The cricket community is not large and the pain of this loss will be felt widely. Not just at Surrey and Glamorgan but in the England set-up and beyond. The tragedy seems all the more acute for the contrast with Maynard’s obvious vitality: his youth; his potential as a sportsman and a man. Put simply, he seemed so full of life. So full of potential.Some in the dressing room at the time felt that the shock and grief of Ben Hollioake’s death in 2002 was a huge contributory factor in Surrey’s subsequent struggles. It was not spoken about publicly for fear that cynics might presume it was being used as an excuse. But the Surrey and Glamorgan dressing rooms of 2012 will also struggle for equilibrium. They will want the world to stop for a while. They have lost a team-mate and a friend.More importantly, a family has lost a son. You don’t need a weatherman to tell you, this has been a bitterly harsh summer.