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

Andrew Fernando in Galle15-Nov-2010The unintentional batting innovation of the day
Chris Gayle has made a reputation for himself as one of the best T20 batsmen on the planet, but his capacity for finding boundaries generally has more to do with power than touch. Not so today, as the West Indian unfurled a cricket stroke that might have impressed Dilshan himself. Faced with a short ball from Dammika Prasad, Gayle shaped to pull, but decided against it at the last moment. The ball then thudded into the back of the bat which ramped it high over the keeper’s head to the unprotected boundary. Wonder if he practices it.The mid-afternoon siesta of the day
Scoring a Test match hundred in the Sri Lankan heat is hard work. And no one seems to have appreciated this more than Chris Gayle. Upon reaching triple figures with his second six of the over, he acknowledged his teammates applause, then promptly lay down in the middle of the pitch, limbs outstretched and eyes towards the heavens. I’d heard he was laid back, but frankly this was a little ridiculous.The non-event of the day
Following the extravagant celebrations after reaching his century, the crowd was itching to see what would happen when Gayle reached 200. Would he lie in the middle of the pitch for twice as long? Would he call for a pillow and a teddy bear and settle in for a proper snooze? Alas, it was not to be. A smile and a simple wave of the bat later, he was taking guard again.The ball retrieval effort of the day
With Gayle in full flight, the ball boys at the boundary had plenty to do. But when Suraj Randiv was launched way out of the stands, no one expected that particular ball to be returned to the field of play, least of all the umpires who called for a new ball to be delivered. But lo! The ball, stunningly, was found and returned. Kudos to the kid who ran halfway across town to fetch it.The false alarm of the day
In non- Chris Gayle news, Sri Lanka thought they had Darren Bravo on 15, when he drove an overpitched delivery square of cover, where it hit the shin of the man fielding at silly point and popped into his hands. The Sri Lanka players were busy congratulating themselves on their good fortune, but replays showed the ball had bounced just before hitting the fielder.

Plays of the day from the third day of the second Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Colombo

Andrew Fernando in Colombo25-Nov-2010The déjà vu feeling of the day
Yesterday, Kumar Sangakkara danced down the track to loft Shane Shillingford over mid-on for six and then four off consecutive deliveries. Another left hander, West Indies no. 3 Darren Bravo, must have been taking notes. In Rangana Herath’s sixth over, Bravo waltzed down to hit him over long-on for a six, and then dispatched his nex ball for four. Same ploy, same end, same area, same result.The catch of the day
Rangana Herath is, perhaps, the least athletic looking player in the Sri Lanka side. Standing at a smidgen over five feet and with a portly build, he is not known for his fielding prowess. But today he pulled off a blinder that would have made even Jonty Rhodes or AB de Villiers proud. Spotting a leading edge off Darren Bravo that spooned towards extra cover, Herath sprinted in from backward point and launched himself horizontally towards the plummeting ball with arms outstretched. His teammates swooped in delighted, and Bravo departed – scarcely able to believe what he’d just seen.The ramp of the day
Cricket helmets have changed a lot since they first arrived on the scene, and Kumar Sangakkara’s preferred model, which is sleeker and flatter than most other helmets, might just be the next wave of them. When Sangakkara was hit on the helmet by Kemar Roach in his third over of the morning, rather than lobbing lamely to slip or gully, the ball ramped up over the smooth beak and flew high over the wicketkeeper for four leg-byes.The riposte of the day
What’s the best way to reply to being hit on the lid by a pumped up fast bowler? Slam him for consecutive boundaries. After Kemar Roach caught a ducking Kumar Sangakkara in his second over of the morning, the batsman responded in style. The next delivery was dispatched emphatically to the square leg boundary, beating the man at deep backward-square and the following ball rocketed to the fence through the covers.The party pooper of the day
If there is one thing cricket in the West Indies and Sri Lanka have in common, it’s the music in the stands. But just as the band were getting warmed up for the day, Chris Gayle stopped Suranga Lakmal in his run-up to ask the musicians to stop playing. Apparently, if it’s not calypso, it’s distracting. He wasn’t even on strike.

Eight of their ten wickets went to the spinners, not because there was excessive turn, but because the batsmen didn’t know how to play them

Firdose Moonda at Shere Bangla stadium23-Mar-2011It’s sometimes easy to forget that West Indies have specific cricketing problems. Look at them through a wide lens and it seems that everything is in disarray – the batsmen can’t form partnerships, the bowlers can’t break them, the batsmen can’t build on foundations and the bowlers allow the opposition to do exactly that.From a distance, the whole picture is chaotic and it’s easier to leave it that way, but zoom in a little and there are a few details that are worth examining. In this case, it was the way the West Indian batsman allowed the Pakistan spinners to run circles around them, until they were eventually spun out of contention in the match.Eight of their ten wickets went the way of the tweakers, not because there was excessive turn on offer, but because the batsmen didn’t know how to play them. Head coach Ottis Gibson admitted as much. “The wicket didn’t get anybody out; it was not a bad wicket at all,” he said. “It’s a combination of poor batsmenship and perhaps very low confidence.”Only with better results will confidence levels improve but poor shot selection and approach is something that can be worked on and something that West Indies should have known they’d have to concentrate on from the first match, when their fragility against Johan Botha became apparent. The offspinner’s turn away from the left-handers had Chris Gayle and Darren Bravo confused and they both fell to Botha in that match. Devon Smith and Bravo did the same against James Tredwell in the match against England and Graeme Swann caused endless problems to the other batsmen, left and right-handed sprinkled all through the order.Today, they went in with four of the top six being left-handers: Gayle, Smith, Bravo and Chanderpaul. Again, two of them, Smith and Bravo, fell to the offspinner. Smith faced just five balls from Mohammed Hafeez and looked more clueless with each one. He went back to two of them, went forward to two and then didn’t know what to against the fifth – ended up being caught in the crease and struck dead in front of middle.Bravo, whose problems against offspin need some urgent addressing, was even more even more at sea against Hafeez, first trying to cut a delivery that was too full and defending haplessly against the straighter one. It wasn’t the turn that beat either of them, but the fact that it didn’t turn as much they expected.Gibson said that they coaching staff had addressed the issue of the arm ball in team meetings and had spoken about how to deal with it, but the batsmen were unable to execute. “With the DRS system, the spinners are bowling a lot straighter and bowling at the stumps a lot more. We spoke about using the bat more but we ended up playing for turn and a lot of the balls went straight on and that’s why we got a few lbws.”When it wasn’t the offspin giving the left-handers problems, it was the legspin doing the same to the right-handers, but not just any legspin, it was the efforts of the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, Shahid Afridi.Ramnaresh Sarwan has struggled to find his form in the tournament and it showed again tonight. Afridi looked like he would Sarwan’s number from ball one. Sarwan was either getting tangled up in Afridi’s googly or jumping out of the crease to play through the off side, with minimal success. In the end, it was extra bounce that cost Sarwan his wicket.Kieron Pollard, who staying power in anything longer than a twenty-over game is going to be questioned again, is already not the best player against spin. He likes the ball coming onto his bat with about the same speed as he likes to hit it off his bat. He only faced spinners, Afridi and Saeed Ajmal in this match and even though he saw a good few short balls, he was unable to adjust to the length. Pollard wanted to cut more than anything else and it was that shot that cost him as he eventually succeeded in only getting an edge.The end result was the batsmen ended up looking like zombies, unsure of what to do and hesitant about how to do it. It was their performance that cost West Indies throughout the tournament – against England and India, when they should have won chasing and now, against Pakistan, when 112 was a pitiful account of what they may be capable of.It proved a good reflection of their performance as a whole in the tournament, which Gibson said resulted in them “stumbling” into the quarterfinals after “good performances against Ireland, Bangla and Netherlands.” They showed that they are good enough not to be grouped with the smaller teams, but not that they are good enough to be counted among the top teams. “We are yet to beat one of the big boys. We thought today would be that day and we are very disappointed.”

The Twenty20 experience at the Champions League has exceeded all expectations

Nick Compton30-Sep-2011Arriving in Bangalore for the latest stage of the Champions League Twenty20 has been wonderful. Seven-star hotel treatment, touching shoulders with Sachin Tendulkar at the hotel bar and watching Chris Gayle strutting his stuff on the catwalk in the evening fashion show is a further reminder that this is not everyday life. Most of us are getting an insight into what Twenty20 cricket is offering and I can see why the likes of Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Yusuf Pathan don’t pay too much attention to the longer format. Why would they?It’s interesting how my views have shifted slightly with regards to how I see the different formats of the game, from first-class cricket (whether that’s four-day or Tests) to one-dayers and Twenty20, especially when it comes to how the game is potentially impacting Indian cricket. If you watched India in England recently it was nothing short of embarrassing. As soon as the ball moved, or was bowled quickly with any hint of aggression, their technique – and sometimes courage – was brought into question. And these weren’t ordinary cricketers, yet many were made to look ordinary with the obvious exception of Rahul Dravid, who showed outstanding batsmanship.However, over here many of the same batsmen step away, crash the ball clear over the boundary, earn millions of dollars and, what’s more, they are huge celebrities. It begs the question; what is a good cricketer these days? The answer is multi-dimensional, of course, but how many can actually do it? Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Michael Hussey are three who spring to mind, otherwise there aren’t a great deal of cricketers who excel in all three formats.It has been clear for a while that Twenty20 has had – and is still having – a revolutionary impact on the game, raising questions, and some uncomfortable ones at that, about where it is all heading. Playing for three hours once every three or four days isn’t very difficult. It’s actually fun. The games are intense and fast and there are thousands of fans. Even though the stadiums haven’t been packed, county players may experience this sort of atmosphere once or twice a season. Sometimes never. Yes, you are expected to whack a few out the ground, and there are often hugely pressurised situations such as our chase against Kolkata Knight Riders, but it’s not a grind.The debate then evolves towards what sort of cricket people want. It’s not as simple as saying we are heading towards the fast-food culture of Twenty20 as opposed to the fine-dining of Test cricket. True cricketing connoisseurs still value Tests just like real foodies love a classy restaurant. Yet, there is no one-size fits-all and Twenty20 is proving a valuable tool to sell the game.It’s tempting to be drawn into the glitzy world that is currently surrounding us and wonder if it’s the way to go. However, I still sit firmly with the older guard and regard temperament and the ability to face quality bowling – including pace, bounce and swing – as the real attributes to be a good cricketer.Without a doubt, though, Twenty20 can instill great confidence in a player, which is invaluable. Having that freedom to forget about the stumps behind you, let go of inhibitions and think “what the heck,” is a hugely liberating feeling. Maybe in trying to grind out county runs day-in and day-out that fear of failure has been too prevalent. In this tournament the cricket is played with a more raw instinct and a freer spirit.One thing that is certain, however, is that this experience of Twenty20 at the Champions League has exceeded all expectations.

Few batsmen will lament the fact, but plenty of others will be sorrowful that Shaun Tait has slung down his final ball for South Australia

Daniel Brettig10-Oct-2011Australia’s emissaries at the Twenty20 Champions League returned home with a sense of the hollow. Neither New South Wales nor South Australia quite deserved the fates that befell them, as subcontinental opponents chased down tall totals. For South Australia there was the added gall felt by any team that concedes defeat to a six from the final ball.Something else was lost too, and once the disappointment of a less substantial tournament pay cheque has dissipated it will be much the more significant hole for South Australia’s cricketers to fill. It will be cause for sorrow among all those who follow state cricket that Shaun Tait has slung down his final ball for his state team. As of this season, Tait will only play T20 for a range of franchises, including the Melbourne Renegades in next summer’s Big Bash League. He signed off with 5 for 33 against Royal Challengers Bangalore, a suitably fearsome finish.That loss was also oddly fitting, for Tait seemed perpetually cast as South Australia’s tragic hero. He never won a domestic trophy, coming closest in 2006, when a ferocious 6 for 41 could not prevent New South Wales from winning the domestic one-day title after they bowled his team out cheaply in moist morning air.Though Tait will be bowling in Australia this summer as a signing for the Renegades, he will not do so in the colours that have always been those of home. Like David Hookes and Darren Lehmann in the generations preceding his, Tait – especially in his younger days – was a cricketer with a particular affinity to South Australia and the Adelaide Oval. That team, and that ground, saw the very best of him, however much he terrified international batsmen on the days when he was in suitable sync.An unfortunate truth of Tait’s career is that by the time he was picked for Australia, on the 2005 Ashes tour, his body and mind had already started to waver. Up to that point his bowling for SA had been little short of extraordinary, and it was a privileged few who watched his white-knuckle spells at the Adelaide Oval, often with only a handful of runs to defend. In all, he would take 320 wickets for his state across three formats. No fewer than 146 were bowled or lbw.As a youthful quick with South Australia, Tait was blisteringly fast, swung the new ball out and the old ball in, and was relaxed, happy and fit enough to bowl in stints far longer and more consistent than perhaps anything he managed for Australia. It is true that the pressures of Shield cricket are not those of the international brand, and the Perth match of 2008 against India sits as a sobering reminder of the mental and physical drain Tait struggled with when he was tried as a Test match fast man. He did not play another Test.But that cannot distract from the exhilarating memories of his earlier days as a bolt of lightning from the Adelaide Hills. On debut against Western Australia in 2003, Tait defeated Chris Rogers for his first wicket, and hurried up Test batsmen Justin Langer and Murray Goodwin even as they ground out stodgy centuries, in a match that featured a hat-full of wickets for a young wristspinner called Beau Casson. His action was the subject of much discussion even then, as much for the violent strains it placed on Tait’s body as for the fiendishly difficult task of picking up a good sight of the ball from the hand.A string of startling performances followed, peaking in the summer of 2004-05. That season Tait fired out 65 batsmen at a cost of 20.16 runs each, a record for South Australia and only two short of Colin Miller’s 67 in 11 matches in 1997-98, and struck every six overs.His frequent solo efforts to lift the Redbacks were illustrated vividly in the December match against another West Australian side, this time with a top six of Michael Hussey, Rogers, Goodwin, Marcus North, Shaun Marsh and Ryan Campbell – internationals all. Twice Tait ripped out three of the first four batsmen, and twice the rest of the attack was unable to exploit the breach, as Brad Hogg carried his side with 109 and 61 from No. 8. South Australia lost by 106 runs, but the visceral impact of Tait’s swing and sling stayed with all who witnessed it.

“I had the chance to captain him for eight games that season, and to see someone display skill like that was just phenomenal. It felt a real privilege to be a part of that.”Graham Manou on Shaun Tait’s 65 Shield wickets in 2004-05

When he retired tearfully from first-class cricket earlier this year, Graham Manou named the experience of keeping wicket to Tait that summer among his most treasured times in cricket. There was real awe in his voice when he said: “I had the chance to captain him for eight games that season, and to see someone display skill like that was just phenomenal. It felt a real privilege to be a part of that.”Beyond those matches Tait would be chosen for Australia, wrestle with burn-out, spend prolonged time away from home, and bear a body that started to buckle under the strains of his action. He would also play a role in Australia’s 2007 World Cup win, the summit of his international achievements. In India during the CLT20, the country where he has found personal happiness in his relationship with the fashion model Mashoom Singha, Tait reflected on a career trajectory that resembled that of a short-period comet. “For me, the burnout occurred very early as a series of injuries took a toll on my body,” he said. “I had to live only with Twenty20 a lot earlier than many.”Tait’s best was seen by the state batsmen who faced him, and by the handful of SACA members, staff, journalists and strays who chose to visit the Adelaide Oval for domestic matches. They will not see his like again, and the Australian summer that begins this week is poorer for it.

South Africa have played better away than every other team in recent times. There’s a pot of gold waiting for them if they keep it going in New Zealand

Firdose Moonda16-Feb-2012If the last three months have taught us one thing about cricketers, it’s that they do not travel well. India could not contend with the pace, bounce and aggression of Australia, and England before that. England found themselves tangled in a web of spin against Pakistan. Sri Lanka, though they took a Test off South Africa, were mostly stunned by the conditions. And Zimbabwe were worked over by a rampant New Zealand. If the trend is to change, it will be up to the team who have been the best tourists over the last six years to do it.The last time South Africa lost a Test series away from home was in Sri Lanka in 2006, and they currently have the longest unbeaten away streak of all teams. But their dominant away record was made to lurk in the shadows of their struggles at home. The in joke in South African cricket circles over the summer was that while teams from the subcontinent could not win away from home, South Africa could not win at home. Before the recent victory over Sri Lanka, they had not won a Test series on their own turf since they beat Bangladesh in 2008.Now that they have turned that around, they are on cusp of securing a reputation as the best unit in any condition, if they continue their away form. Threaded through their three drawn series at home, South Africa have achieved the feat of winning in both England and Australia. Their 2008 series win in England was the first since readmission, and the victory in Australia, their first in that country. In 2010, South Africa drew a series in India and one against Pakistan in the UAE. Sandwiched in between the two was a win in the Caribbean against West Indies.Another year of travel beckons, during which South Africa play three series outside their own borders. If they are successful, they could return home with the No. 1 Test ranking, which they have long hankered after. The first opportunity to rise to the summit will present itself in New Zealand, where a whitewash of their hosts will see South Africa emerge top dog.To do that, they will have to travel as well, and perhaps better than they have done in the past. New Zealand has been labelled as one of the tougher places to tour. Although the conditions are not considered as different as those in the subcontinent are for a team from South Africa, they are sufficiently different enough to make adjustment crucial. For South Africa, that adjustment can be broken down into a few crucial areas that they will have to focus on if they hope to conquer New Zealand.Superficial as it may seem, the time difference will be their first challenge. New Zealand, 11 hours ahead of South Africa, is the place furthest from home that the team ever travel to play. Jacques Rudolph and Paul Adams, who both played in the 2003-04 series, said the jetlag in the first week or two took some overcoming. Gary Kirsten, who played his last Test match on that tour, also cited it as the first test. “We have to get a feel for the place quickly,” he said. A good thing for South Africa that the Tests come last on this tour, then.Getting a feel of the place will start with the most basic of things, the weather. February and March are blazing summer in South Africa, and although it is nominally the same season in New Zealand, they enjoy a milder version. Temperatures in some places will be closer to those in a South African winter, with rain and wind occasionally lashing the fields. Dunedin, the venue for the first Test, is the closest place cricket is played to the South Pole. Former South Africa bowling coach Vincent Barnes said playing there was “the coldest I have ever been on a cricket field”. Adams said it was “freezing, but you have to embrace it. You can’t be thinking that it’s warm in South Africa and you are there in the cold.”The other two venues, Hamilton and Wellington, are expected to be easier but Dave Nosworthy, the former Canterbury coach, who currently looks after the Lions franchise, said there will still be some acclimatising to be done. “Hamilton will be the most pleasant and it’s a real Test ground there, which is very nice,” he said. “But in Wellington you could have four seasons in one day, and bowlers will have to understand that sometimes they will be bowling into a strong wind. It has a big effect on whether the ball will swing or not.”

South Africa will have to brace for a test of their mental strength if they are to make a statement in New Zealand. That’s a department South Africa are known to have weaknesses in, weaknesses that were exploited as recently as last year’s World Cup by New Zealand

The weather will also have an effect on the pitches, which Kirsten identified as among the most unpredictable in the world. “The wickets can be quite different every time we come here, so it will be our responsibility to understand that,” he said. Nosworthy advises that South Africa pay heed to a tip he was given when he first came to South Africa. “I was always told when you are assessing the pitch, don’t look down, look up, because the weather will tell you what the pitch is going to do,” he said.Whatever the conditions overhead, it is likely the pitches will have something in them for the bowlers. New Zealand have recently started preparing greener strips to accommodate their four-pronged seam attack as well. Rudolph said it is likely there will also be sideways movement, as a lot of catches in the Zimbabwe series were taken in the slips. However, Barnes thinks that if New Zealand stick to that strategy against South Africa, it would be a mistake. “I think we will have the batsmen to combat their bowlers but they won’t have the batsmen to combat ours.”It’s fighting talk from the man responsible for moulding most of South Africa’s current attack and it may even be seen as the start of a war of words. Beyond the physical hurdles South Africa will have to leap over, they will have to brace for a test of their mental strength if they are to make a statement in New Zealand. That’s a department South Africa are known to have weaknesses in, weaknesses that were exploited as recently as last year’s World Cup by the New Zealand side they will play now.Bulldogs on the field, New Zealand are known for their tenacity and shrewdness. South Africa, by contrast, are known to be vulnerable in that regard. “New Zealand make it hard work. They get under your skin. They are very competitive and they target certain players,” Adams said. In the 2003-04 series, Graeme Smith was the one most of the words were directed at.One of the ways South Africa can ensure that they handle the verbal onslaught is by building and maintaining a strong team spirit. Before the Twenty20 squad left, AB de Villiers indicated that the series will give the squad an opportunity to bond as a group. “On a tour you have no choice but to be with your team-mates,” he said.de Villiers is in a charge of a relatively young T20 side, which will be beefed up by some experience for the ODIs before the heavyweights roll in for the Tests. Adams thinks it will be important for the team management to help the younger squads overcome the initial adjustment phase. “The support staff will have to try and hold the team together,” he said. “They must not let the sideshows take over, because sometimes that can happen.”There is hope that the new members of the side will not have the same emotional baggage some of the experienced have dragged with them, so helping them deal with that aspect of cricket will be easier. “It’s a fresh side with a new energy and a positive vibe,” Adams said.Much like New Zealand, South Africa have reached an enviable equilibrium between youth and experience, one that their camp thinks is superior because of the quality of the opposition they have encountered on the way to New Zealand.A classically gruelling series against Australia and one that was testing in parts against Sri Lanka will be worth more than the experience New Zealand have had. “I wouldn’t read too much into the series against Zimbabwe,” Adams said. “New Zealand know they will be tested now. Their senior players will have to put their hands up.”Names like Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori and Chris Martin stand between South Africa and success, but rather than view the New Zealand big guns as obstacles, South Africa may look to history as their driving force. They have never lost a Test series in New Zealand, have won three of the five series they played there and whitewashed the hosts once, in 1931-32. In the two bilateral ODI series they have played in New Zealand, spoils were shared. Given how well they have always travelled to New Zealand, they will see no reason why they can’t do it again.

South Africa’s much-vaunted bowling attack endured a tough opening day of the series that left them scratching their heads for inspiration

Firdose Moonda at The Oval19-Jul-2012Not since 2001 has Jacques Kallis been given the new ball for South Africa. Today, he was presented with the second one. As incongruous a sight as it was, it was an act that summed up the day for the visitors and emphasised their need to innovate as compensation for having their plans being pulled out of shape.Do not mistake that for confirmation of the suspicion that they were undercooked. South Africa did not come into the match underprepared. They were short of match time but long on tactics and research which initially paid off.Morne Morkel took the new ball for the first time in eight Tests, since Vernon Philander made his debut, solely because of his record against Andrew Strauss. He had dismissed Strauss six times before today and it took him only four balls to do it for a seventh time. Allan Donald confirmed that it was a strategy South Africa specifically prepared because Morkel “wanted to front up to Strauss. He knows that he has got a little bit of a psychological advantage over him.”By pairing Morkel with Philander, South Africa also avoided using Dale Steyn against the left-handed opening pair. Steyn’s average against southpaws is 31.50, considerably lower than his 18.94 against right-handers.What it did not do was stop South Africa from being exposed against left-handers. Donald had discussed with his attack ways of “suffocating the left-handers” but admitted that at times, their execution of those plans was not entirely correct.Even with the situation not entirely under control, the thinking was still evident. A short midwicket was put in place for Jonathan Trott, who has a habit of dragging balls from outside offstump to the leg-side. He does not have a habit of doing it rashly though, but South Africa were hopeful as Smith kept the close catcher in place.That was where the South African scheming erred. Trott bats in a bubble as dense as a diamond and the idea of being able to pierce that with mind games proved naïve. Instead, South Africa should have tried to remove him in the most literal way rather than through a complex and multi-layered strategy that involved frustrating Trott into getting himself out.It would have meant better use of the short ball, which South Africa stayed away from with alarming regularity. Morkel, the seamer with the most deadly bouncer of the pack, bowled his first at the end of his fourth over. By mid-way through the second session, South Africa had only bowled a little more than an over worth of short balls.

Tahir had developed a defensive side to his game before this match but abandoned it in the quest for wickets.

They allowed the batsmen to get on the front foot too often and to leave comfortably on too many occasions. Donald said they knew “width was not an option”. Still, they continued to bowl wide of offstump, making the opening pair’s powers of judgement appear precision perfect as they left with ease. By the time Cook had scored his half-century, he had left just under half the balls he had faced.Despite the dry, unresponsive surface which offered South Africa almost nothing, their attack also lacked the intensity and aggression that Allan Donald has been infusing in them since he took over.Steyn was battling with either a physical niggle or a bruised ego, although Donald was adamant it was not an injury which appeared to affect the way he bowled. On previous tours, and most recently in New Zealand, he unashamedly showed his annoyance when he did not see immediate success and glimpse of that emerged again today. During his first spell, he constantly and perhaps even desperately clutched the advertising boards in between overs, he had his ankle strapped later on in the day and conducted a publicly-viewable animated chat with Gary Kirsten in the changing room shortly before the second new ball was taken.Philander lacked dynamism. He plugged away with line and length and was able to keep the run-rate under control but the small bursts of magic he produced to capture his 51 Test wickets were missing. The subtle seam movements and nip was not there. Increasingly, he also grew frustrated and it showed when he flung the ball back to Cook a spell after the England centurion had driven him down the ground for four.Imran Tahir could not have been expected to produce much on a first-day flat deck but he did less than that with an assortment of full tosses and long hops that became free runs. Tahir had developed a defensive side to his game before this match but abandoned it in the quest for wickets. He got some turn which could be promising for later on in the match but did not result in too much today.Kallis and Morkel stood out as the most effective bowlers on the day, the former with late swing and the latter with the way he accepted greater responsibility. Kallis had to bowl more than his quota of overs, which has stood at between 10 and 12 a day in recent times.Morkel was the man that “stood up” as Donald put it. He grew in confidence as the day went on and was the only one actually deserving of wickets. For the rest, it was the day of tough Test cricket they needed to remind themselves of exactly what it will take it to dethrone the No. 1 ranked team in the world.”The only thing that really lacked was the moment that we could pounce,” Donald said. To succeed over the next 14 days in the series, they will have to create, not wait, for those moments.

For 16 years, Shane Warne was Australia’s primary match-winner. Now he hopes Australia can accept spinners whose main role is support.

Brydon Coverdale23-Oct-2012Shane Warne had a bowl in the MCG nets on Tuesday. At 43, he is slim and fit, but he has plenty of rust to shed over the next couple of months, before his first match as captain of the Melbourne Stars. Even the greatest legspinner the game has seen was unable to land his first ball, a full toss. As Warne has been saying ever since his retirement, spin bowling is damn hard. Spinners need to be treated with patience.It is nearly six years since Warne last wore the baggy green. Throughout that time he has been adamant that Australia’s selectors should choose a spinner and stick with him. Show some faith. Give him a chance to settle in. Instead, they used 11 slow bowlers in Test cricket in four years. Not even Elizabeth Taylor discarded men at such a rapid rate.But over the past year, Warne’s words have been heeded by a new panel of selectors, who have chosen Nathan Lyon for 13 Tests, flinching only when they chose four fast men who ended up demolishing India in two and a half days at the WACA last summer. Now that patience has been shown, Warne wants Australians to accept that spinners in this country are unlikely to be match-winners over the next few years.That doesn’t mean they can’t do an important job. Without question, there is depth in Australia’s pace bowling stocks at the moment, from the older, tougher trio of Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Ryan Harris to the stars of the future, James Pattinson, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. If Lyon can play the kind of supporting role Ashley Mallett did to Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson and co during the 1970s, he will have done his job.”We’re very lucky that we’ve got some super quick bowling, a great corps of quick bowling,” Warne said. “It might be an era where the quicks dominate and the spinner takes a bit of a backward role and just does his job. When the time comes, when the pitches start to rag, whether it be Adelaide on day five or Brisbane on day five or Sydney – although Sydney hasn’t turned for ten years – we get on a wicket that starts to really turn, that’s when it’s payday for them and they go ‘hang on, it’s my turn now’.”The idea of playing a spinner who was more foil than frontline wicket taker was common throughout the 1970s and 80s, from Mallett to Bruce Yardley to Greg Matthews to Tim May to Peter Taylor. It was only when Warne redefined legspin in the 1990s that the perception changed. The presence of Stuart MacGill as his backup re-enforced the notion that the spinner could, and should, deliver regular victories for his side.”We’ve just got to have a bit of patience with them and let them develop,” Warne said of the next generation of slow bowlers. “They’re not going to be matchwinners from day one and in their first season take 50 wickets – no one has done that for ages in Shield cricket.”Not since MacGill has a spinner really dominated the Sheffield Shield. In the past decade, there have been 86 occasions when a fast bowler has claimed 30 wickets in a Shield season. In the same period, spinners have done it only five times (MacGill three times, Bryce McGain and Dan Cullen once each). That is as much a product of green seaming domestic pitches as a decline in the quality of Australia’s spin bowlers.The lack of turning surfaces has done little to encourage legspinners in particular. Queensland’s Cameron Boyce is the only wrist-spinner currently being given regular Shield action. Steven Smith now considers himself a batsman who bowls occasionally, the same career progression that was followed by Cameron White. South Australia’s Cullen Bailey was given a few chances last summer under the state’s open-minded new coach Darren Berry, but hasn’t been sighted this season. Nor is there an abundance of legspinners coming through the junior levels.”I’ll tell you why there’s no wrist-spinners … It’s hard. It’s not easy. You need encouragement,” Warne said. “I think sometimes the captaincy at junior level that I’ve found with a lot of the kids playing is when they do get to 14 or 15 and they get smacked around the park, or they bowl a few double-bouncers, the encouragement is not there and they get taken off and they say this is a bit hard, let’s just go with a medium pacer.

“They’re not going to be matchwinners from day one and in their first season take 50 wickets – no one has done that for ages in Shield cricket”Shane Warne on the next generation of spinners

“A lot of people who had a lot of talent around 15 or 16 and wanted to do it then lose interest and go, ‘well I might go to the beach instead, this is not much fun’. Cricket back in the under-age [levels] should be fun. If they can have fun as kids and have a bit of fun with the ball and get supported by their captain and coach, be encouraged rather than ‘let’s not do that, let’s bowl really fast and don’t get hit’. That’s not really encouraging spin bowling.”It’s not just the way spinners are used in junior cricket that has occupied the thoughts of those in cricket recently. After returning home from the World T20, where unconventional spinners like Ajantha Mendis, Sunil Narine and Saeed Ajmal were stand-out performers, Australia’s T20 captain George Bailey said he hoped that Australia could one day find similarly unusual bowlers, which could only happen if they were encouraged at under-age levels. But Warne doesn’t believe it should be a major point of concern.”I don’t think in Australia we do that. We do the basics, we’re traditional,” Warne said. “Sure, we do a few things out of left field and always look to improve the players, but I don’t think we’re into all the different [styles]. How do you coach it? If someone comes along that’s really unique you’ll embrace them and encourage them, but you’re not going to go and teach doosras and all those sorts of things, because really, great if you can do it, but for me I’m all about the basics.”It’s all about the mindset and how they approach the game. Sure, you have to spin the ball if you’re a spinner… That’s the first thing you work on is spinning it and if you can make it go a few different ways, then great. But I wouldn’t be coaching different sort of techniques that might push the 15-degree level.”And that goes to the heart of Warne’s argument about the state of spin bowling in Australia. Get the basics right, play a role and don’t worry if it’s the fast men who take all the accolades. Because as Warne himself showed on Tuesday, it’s not always easy to make the ball talk. Even if you were once the best in the world.

Build-ups to Ranji Trophy matches can be pretty lukewarm, but thanks to a certain presence Wankhede Stadium has a different story to tell

Siddhartha Talya in Mumbai01-Nov-2012There was plenty of anticipation at the Wankhede Stadium on the eve of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy opener against Railways. As early as 8.15am, a small crowd had gathered outside the main entrance to the ground, hoping for a glimpse of their favourite star, the hometown boy, playing for his domestic side after three years. A vehicle passed through the Polly Umrigar Gate, with a short, stout, fair, chubby man wearing a hat seated on the back, bearing, at least from a distance, a slight resemblance to the most famous face of Indian sport. Unfortunately for the small gathering, who had already given up hope seeing that the vehicle was a Fiat taxi, it was Railways coach Abhay Sharma who paid the fare, stepped out and made his way into the ground.Sachin Tendulkar did come, but didn’t bat or practise at the nets. He was being treated for a stomach bug, but was fully expected to take the field on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy. He didn’t miss too much on the eve of the game: the warm-up on the day was relatively light, the drills not rigorous and Tendulkar’s own preparation had happened in the days before.Ahead of a major series against England, India’s Test stars are returning to their respective domestic sides. If those expectant eyes outside the entrance are anything to go by, the Ranji Trophy has been provided that early fillip it needs in its new avatar.Tendulkar’s three dismissals in almost identical fashion – all bowled – during the home Tests against New Zealand have ignited concerns over technique and the impact his age is having on his batting. But back playing for Mumbai, and gearing up for the England Tests, his training for the road ahead shows a determination to bounce back. “He comes around 8am here, does his own fitness training and then joins the team,” Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni said. “The way he is playing in the nets, he is very serious. He was batting everyday in the nets, 45 minutes to an hour, non-stop. His feet movement was going very well and I don’t remember any other player, maybe Rahul Dravid, go without a single ball break.”It is an achievement, to play five bowlers at a stretch for one hour – in 20 minutes you get 100 balls. That means around 300 balls in an hour, so you have to concentrate hard in the nets.”There were those who had a chance to share the field with Tendulkar for the first time and bowl at him in the nets while not being part of the immediate squad: guest bowlers, net bowlers, some of whom are not even part of the Mumbai probables or the Under-19 side. One of them, a left-arm spinner, has been getting special attention, and advice, from Tendulkar.However, his team-mates, some of whom have shared the dressing room with him during the IPL if not in first-class cricket, have learned to resist being overawed by his presence. “I remember, around 20 years back, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sunil Gavaskar said to youngsters in the dressing room: don’t expect sympathy, don’t give sympathy,” Kulkarni added.Zaheer Khan will also play for Mumbai – who are looking at an attack of three seamers and two specialist spinners – but did not turn up on the eve of the game. It’s not something unusual for Zaheer, who’s known to go easy on the final day of preparation.The return of two senior Test players went beyond boosting the profile of the tournament and giving youngsters an opportunity to rub shoulders with the best. “Not only will they try to get back into their rhythm for the sterner Tests ahead, but it also gives them insight into what is happening at the ground level,” said Sanjay Bangar, the Railways captain. “They can also probably evaluate whether the standards of the Ranji Trophy have gone up or down. This is also a chance for them to look at the talent available.”If they play a couple of more games they will get a wider audience, but even we can’t really complain because they are playing against us and all our boys are wanting to do well against the genius.”The last time Tendulkar played in the opening game of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy campaign was in 1998-99. Times were different then, schedules less cramped, challenges for the tournament to stay relevant for players not as serious as today. The contest against Railways may well be preparation for the England series, but his own approach to this match reinforces the significance of what first-class cricket means to those who wish for success in the toughest format.Starting November 2, watch out for the Ranji Trophy Live blog on match days

From Paddy Briggs, United Kingdom
One of the Australian team’s sledges during England’s woeful last tour of Australia was the one directed at Paul Collingwood who had been awarded the honour of becoming a Member of the ‘Most Excellent Order of

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Paddy Briggs, United Kingdom
One of the Australian team’s sledges during England’s woeful last tour of Australia was the one directed at Paul Collingwood who had been awarded the honour of becoming a Member of the ‘Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ (MBE) for his innings of 7 and 10 and his 0-17 in the 2005 Oval Test match. Lovely chap Colly but, as the Aussies suggested, was this performance really worthy of a gong?This brings me to the subject of honours and cricket and an invitation to you to join in a discussion of the most surprising omissions from the cricketing gong list.Let’s start with a trio of England captains, Wally Hammond, Ted Dexter and Tony Greig. When I was a kid Dexter was referred to as ‘Lord Ted’ but I was disappointed to learn that (like Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood) this was an honorary title. Boycs has an OBE but Ted remains not even a Member of the British Empire, let alone anything more distinguished. Greigy’s involvement with Packer perhaps scuppered his chances and Hammond did have some dodgy business dealings but their cricketing achievements are surely not in dispute?There are a fair number of batsmen in the gongless list who would be close to the top of a cricket fan’s list of England batting greats. Herbert Sutcliffe, Frank Woolley and Ken Barrington to name but three, and Allan Lamb and Robin Smith wouldn’t be far behind. Add all-rounder Wilfred Rhodes and you have the core of a pretty good side. Then the fast bowling would be lead by John Snow aided by Andy Caddick, Devon Malcolm, Graham Dilley and spinners Laker, Lock and Verity would be in the frame ‘how can they all never have been honoured?’But for me the biggest omission of all on the list of cricketers unhonoured in my lifetime is the man I regard as England’s greatest ever wicket-keeper Alan Knott. Now it may be that the shy and elusive Knotty turned down an honour – but if not it’s not too late is it? But what do you think, are there even more deserving cases than his?