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Rob Key, England men’s managing director, says full squad will convene ahead of Pakistan series
Matt Roller30-Apr-20241:49
Why Hartley beat Rehan to England’s second spinner spot
The ECB has made members of England’s T20 World Cup squad unavailable for the IPL play-offs and will call them home ahead of a four-match T20I series against Pakistan which starts on May 22. As things stand, the decision is likely to affect Jos Buttler (Rajasthan Royals), Phil Salt (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Moeen Ali (Chennai Super Kings).Rob Key, England men’s managing director, spoke to the players selected in their provisional World Cup squad on Monday to tell them that they had been picked, and told those involved in the IPL that they will not be available for the knockout stages. The play-offs run from May 21 until May 26, clashing directly with England’s Pakistan series.The other players who are involved in both England’s World Cup squad and the IPL are: Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone (all Punjab Kings), Will Jacks and Reece Topley (both Royal Challengers Bengaluru). Both franchises have struggled this season and may need to win all of their remaining group fixtures to qualify for the play-offs.ESPNcricinfo understands that players will be expected to return to the UK on the weekend of May 18-19, which could rule them out of their respective franchises’ final group-stage fixtures. The group stage runs until May 19 and England are keen for their World Cup squad to have a few days together before their first T20I since December.Phil Salt has been in formidable form for KKR but will miss their likely play-off matches•Associated Press
“You can’t just call people back for no reasons: there are protections,” Key said on Tuesday after announcing England’s provisional squad. “Without injury or England commitments, we couldn’t say to Phil Salt, for example, come back and have a rest for the next 15 days. But there is a window just before an England series when you can bring players back for England duty or injury.”Key revealed that Buttler, who has hit two centuries for table-topping Rajasthan Royals, had instigated the decision to come home before the end of the IPL. “I asked him very early on in the piece and said, ‘Look, as England captain, you’re obviously going to have this series against Pakistan. How do you see it?’ And straightaway, he said, ‘No, no, I want to come back and start getting ready for the World Cup in that series that’s just before it.’Buttler and his wife Louise are expecting their third child next month, so he may miss the start of the Pakistan series on paternity leave regardless. “When the due date is and when the baby comes is slightly fluid,” Key said. “But whatever happens, I think you put your family first and make sure you’re at the birth of your child. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”Key told players when they left for India: “Look, there is a good chance that you’ll be coming back [early],” he said. “There is a chance you could stay out there. We may feel that if you get through to an IPL final that, maybe, that’s the best thing to do. It might be that if there’s only one of you then you’d let you go on and do that… we have to keep it pretty fluid.”Related
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But he said that England’s management decided the Pakistan series would help them to find clarity in the players’ roles ahead of their opening T20 World Cup fixture, against Scotland on June 4. “We’ve got to the point where actually, we think it’s more important that you come back and that group gets together: the likes of Phil Salt, opening the batting for England, getting that role going with Jos Buttler.”You just want them to get together and spend a bit of time and build up to it. So much of what our white-ball team has done has been turning up a couple of days before and, bang, we’re into a series, whereas I think that Pakistan series is going to be important for that, so they’ll all come back ready for that.”You want people to really start understanding what their roles are, what your best XI is going to be, and that’s what we want to make sure: when we hit Barbados, we know exactly what that is. Last time, for the [50-over] World Cup, Adil Rashid was injured in that series versus New Zealand and we probably didn’t take into account how much, when he came back, that altered the balance.”Other boards’ approach to clashes between T20I series and the IPL play-offs have varied. New Zealand fielded a second-string team in Pakistan earlier this month, while the BCB have pulled Mustafizur Rahman out of the IPL early for a series against Zimbabwe. CSA will allow their players to stay in India for the play-offs, despite a clash with a three-match series against West Indies.
One-time Test batter suffered symptoms after a blow to the head in a 2nd XI game last week
Alex Malcolm01-Feb-2024Will Pucovski has been ruled out of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield clash with South Australia after experiencing delayed concussion symptoms after a blow to the head in a 2nd XI game last week.Pucovski, 25, was struck on the head attempting a pull shot off South Australia quick David Grant in a match at Karen Rolton Oval in Adelaide and was forced to retire hurt. However, he passed his initial concussion tests and was cleared to resume batting. He went on to make 89 from 146 balls to help set up a Victoria win but he was subbed out of the match after the first innings as a precaution ahead of the Shield season recommencing this week.However, Victoria did not name Pucovski in their 13-man squad to face South Australia at the Junction Oval starting on Saturday with Cricket Victoria’s head of male cricket David Hussey revealing that he had suffered delayed concussion symptoms.Related
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“Will passed the relevant tests following the knock in Adelaide last week but has subsequently experienced symptoms over the following days,” Hussey said. “We’ve spoken to our medical staff and the advice is clear that he won’t be able to play this match. While he’s in otherwise good spirits, it’s important that Will focuses on recovering with the support of our broader team.”It is estimated that Pucovski has had up to a dozen concussions in his career dating back to playing multiple sports as a junior. It was hoped he would have an uninterrupted run this summer for Victoria having spent the winter playing club cricket in England. He played five of the first six Shield games before the BBL break but did miss one against Queensland as part of his ongoing management.Since making his debut for Victoria in February 2017, Pucovski has not managed to play a full domestic season. The closest he has come was the 2019-20 season where he played the first half of the summer for Victoria, four List A and six Shield matches, before taking an indefinite break in December of that summer and not returning until the 2020-21 season.Pucovski has signed a short-term deal to play for Leicestershire in the first five games of the County Championship season starting in April.In better news for Victoria, wicketkeeper Sam Harper has been cleared to play after suffering a horrific head injury at Melbourne Stars training in the later stages of the BBL. Harper ramped a ball into his throat while batting in the nets and was sent to hospital. He missed the last three games of the BBL with a severe concussion but has been cleared to play against South Australia.”Sam has completed all stages of the medical return to play,” Hussey said. “He has no ongoing symptoms and feels confident ahead of Saturday’s game.”Victoria’s Shield captain Will Sutherland and allrounder Matt Short are unavailable after being included in Australia’s ODI squad for the three-match series against West Indies. Victoria’s 50-over captain Peter Handscomb will lead the side in Sutherland’s absence.Nic Maddinson has been named to play his first Shield game of the season after missing the early part of the summer due to a knee injury. Scott Boland also returns after being carefully managed before the BBL due to his inclusion in the Test squad but he did not play any of Australia’s five home Tests across the summer.Victoria Sheffield Shield squad vs South Australia: Peter Handscomb (capt), Scott Boland, Xavier Crone, Sam Elliott, Marcus Harris, Sam Harper, Campbell Kellaway, Nic Maddinson, Jon Merlo, Todd Murphy, Fergus O’Neill, Mitch Perry, Tom Rogers
Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the fourth Test against England beginning on February 23 in Ranchi. KL Rahul, who missed the second and third Tests, is set to miss the fourth Test as well, while his participation in the final Test in Dharamsala is subject to fitness.The decision to give Bumrah a break has been made keeping his workload in mind – he’s bowled 80.5 overs in the first three Tests – with an IPL season coming up followed closely by the 2024 T20 World Cup beginning on June 1. There was speculation that Bumrah was going to be rested for the third Test in Rajkot but, with the series level at 1-1, he eventually played the fixture.Mukesh Kumar, who was released from the squad for the third Test in Rajkot, has joined the squad in Ranchi. He played the Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Bihar after being released, where he picked up a career-best match haul of 10 for 50 in a massive win for Bengal.ESPNcricinfo Ltd
India now lead the five-match series 2-1 after a record 434-run victory in Rajkot, and they will have to find a way to make up for Bumrah’s absence: he’s the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17 wickets at 13.64 apiece. He was the Player of the Match in India’s win in the second Test in Visakhapatnam, where he took 9 for 91 across both innings.Mukesh, meanwhile, had played the second Test against England when Mohammed Siraj was rested but bowled only 12 overs in Vishakapatnam for figures of 1 for 70. If India play two fast bowlers in Ranchi, the choice for the second quick will be between Mukesh and the uncapped Akash Deep, who was included in the squad for the last three Tests after topping the wicket charts for India A in the recent first-class games against England Lions.Rahul had made scores of 86 and 22 during the defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad – the highest aggregate for India in the match – before missing the second Test with a quadriceps injury. He was included in the squad for the third Test subject to fitness, but was eventually ruled out with a sore knee.The fourth Test between India and England begins this Friday, just four days after the end of the third Test, while there is an eight-day gap between the end of the fourth Test on February 27 and the start of the fifth and final Test on March 7.India squad for fourth Test: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep
Lou Vincent and Mark Richardson played the percentages well, while the Indian seamers erred in not making the batsmen play enough
S Rajesh06-Jul-2005The last time India and New Zealand played a Test match here, seven wickets fell in the first session, and 13 by close of play on the first day. The script ran along very different lines today, primarily because of the nature of the pitch, but also because of New Zealand’s discipline with the bat and the Indian bowlers’ inconsistency.Both Lou Vincent and Mark Richardson played the percentages, leaving plenty of deliveries outside off – a strategy which brought them rich rewards against Glenn McGrath in Australia in 2001-02. Among the bowlers on view today, Zaheer Khan was the worst offender at the start: almost 50% of his deliveries (26 out of 54) in the first session did not require the batsmen to play a stroke. L Balaji was more accurate to begin with – 19 out of 49 balls he bowled before lunch were left alone – but by close of play both bowlers had wasted more than 40% of their deliveries. Richardson ended up letting go a quarter of the deliveries he faced – 73 out of 284.
| Not making the batsmen play enough | |||
| Balls bowled | Left alone | % left alone | |
| Zaheer Khan | 109 | 44 | 40.37 |
| L Balaji | 103 | 43 | 41.75 |
Vincent’s innings was characterised by his excellence off the back foot. The contrast against his front-foot play was especially stark in the first session – 28 from 31 balls when playing back, and 1 from 49 deliveries when playing forward. In his entire innings, Vincent ended up scoring at more than a run a ball off the back foot – 77 off 67 balls. Is there a lesson there for the Indian bowlers when they bowl to him next?
| How Vincent and Richardson played in the first session | ||||||
| Front foot | Back foot | |||||
| Runs | Balls | Strike Rate | Runs | Balls | Strike Rate | |
| Richardson | 14 | 56 | 25.00 | 15 | 32 | 46.88 |
| Vincent | 1 | 49 | 2.04 | 28 | 31 | 90.32 |
Lawrence Booth reviews The Hansie Cronje Story: An Authorised Biography by Garth King
Lawrence Booth06-Mar-2006
It was April 12, 2000 and Hansie Cronje was being driven in a rush from Cape Town to his wife Bertha and his parents in Bloemfontein. The match-fixing claims had broken five days earlier and his life was beginning to fall apart.As the car approached the Free State border, his driver was pulled over for speeding. “Officer, we’ve got to get to Bloemfontein urgently, man,” Cronje pleaded with the policeman. “Sorry, Mr Cronje. Yes, of course. My apologies.” The author takes up the story: “Hansie offered his thanks,waving goodbye as the car drove off. In the rear-view mirror the cop stood, his hand up in the air, in salute to his captain.”Non-South Africans have always struggled with the discrepancy between Cronje’s folk-hero status back home and the fact that he accepted as much as $140,000 (around £80,000) from bookmakers. The full extent of his dealings was not known when the traffic cop sent him on his way but the less-than-strong arm of the law was symptomatic. Yes, many South Africans felt betrayed by Cronje. But the overall impression left by this biography – a best-seller at home – isthat more of them have felt inclined to forgive and forget.To British humanists and atheists exposed every day to a deeply cynical media – the columnists of Fleet Street would have eaten him alive – this might seem strange. But Cronje was cut from a different cloth. The first half of the book refers only fleetingly to the cash-for-information scandal which brought him down, and this allows room for an exploration of the man himself: a magnetic personality from a privileged, sports-mad Afrikaner family steeped in the unquestioningcertainties of the Dutch Reformed Church. He was a star. And it made his fall to earth all the more painful.Garth King was chosen as the author because, in the words of Hansie’s brother Frans, he is “an independent writer without any strong preconceived views about Hansie”. He does his best not to stray into the realms of hagiography but the tear-jerking interviews with members of Cronje’s family, especially his wife, make objectivity even trickier than usual.In one sense this is no bad thing. It is easy to dismiss Cronje as a cheat and a liar who deserved everything he got. But King’s closeness to Bertha, Frans and Cronje’s parentshelps redress the balance. Cronje, we learn, spent several months being economical with the truth because he did not want to get any of his team-mates into trouble. He sank intoa dark depression during the King Commission, where the remorse he showed later was not always evident. And, until his death in a plane crash in the Outeniqua Mountains in June2002, he maintained that he had never thrown a match for money. Evidence was never unearthed to the contrary.This is a painstakingly researched book but there is no doubt whose side it comes down on. King says there were three reasons for writing it: for the lessons to be learned; for the sake of balance (the Cronje family came to despise the mainstream media); and for closure, a rare concession to psychology in a society where the answer to most problems is to get on your knees and pray. The religion might jar but the message is clear: Cronje was no angel but nor was he the monster of popular imagination.
Australia are pioneering a new brand of one-day cricket, and South Africa are not far behind. Power Cricket is here
Sambit Bal25-Apr-2007
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Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen, Australia are playing South Africa. Balls will fly into the stands, fielders will move like lightning, sliding and diving, throws will be rifled in from 70 yards, and batsmen will find inexhaustible supplies of energy not only to muscle the ball beyond the ropes, but to continue charging between the wickets till the very end.The above scenario might or might not play itself out in St Lucia on Wednesday. The pitch could be slow and low, it could break up, it could turn and it could be a low-scoring game. But there will be no let up in intensity. Australia are pioneering a new brand of one-day cricket, and South Africa are not far behind. Power Cricket is here.Power cricket does not merely mean hitting the ball hard and long. It means keeping up an unrelenting stream of aggression and incredibly high level of intensity, and pushing the limits of physical prowess and human endurance. It means marrying a strong body with an equally strong mind.In March 2006, Australia and South Africa were involved in an epic one-day match which South Africa won chasing 434. Eighty-seven fours and 26 sixes were hit. Ricky Ponting scored 164 off 105 balls only to be outshone by Herschelle Gibbs’ 175 off 111. The match was considered a freak, never to be bettered again.Almost a year later, they met again. Australia batted first and scored 377. In response, South Africa were 160 for 1 in the 21st over. It was a direct hit from Shane Watson from the backward square-leg boundary that ran out AB de Villiers and changed the tempo of the game; Graeme Smith cramped and South Africa ended at 294. If the pitch plays true in St Lucia, no one knows what score will be safe.It’s not a change that has come overnight. Australia have been at the forefront of pushing the boundaries for years. In 1987, under the leadership of Bob Simpson and Allan Border, they perfected the art of total cricket, mastering stealing and saving the singles. Under Steve Waugh, they lifted the pace of Test cricket. Under Ponting, they are taking one-day cricket to another level.They are closely followed by South Africa. Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, minces no words. “It is a power-based game now,” he says, “it’s all about being aggressive and having the confidence to take risks.” It was a path he and Smith chose when Arthur joined the national team two years go. They reckoned if South Africa were to stay a force in the limited-overs arena they had to change their brand of play.
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If a spinner beats the batsman in the air, the ball has to at least stay within the ropes, even if it doesn’t end as a catch Ian Chappell |
“It was called brave cricket then,” Arthur says, “and it has become an over-used term. But that’s what it is. It is a game based on the confidence to hit over the top, the confidence to take the sweepers on, and while bowling, having the confidence to go for wickets all the time. We are always looking to strike, with both bat and the ball.”It’s a spirit embodied whole-heartedly by Smith. In South Africa’s must-win match against England, Smith and de Villiers came out needing to score just over three an over, but there was not even a pretence of trying to play out the first few overs safely. The second yielded 14 and from then on, South Africa galloped at more than eight an over. de Villiers was dismissed trying to play a shot too many and it was the cue for Smith to step up a gear. Monty Panesar was bludgeoned for two fours, and a few overs later, Andrew Flintoff was spanked for three more. His 89 came off 58 balls and contained a dozen forays down the wicket.Smith is a big man with shoulders and forearms designed to hit. But de Villiers and Mark Boucher have been revelations. They are both small men, but they clear the rope with relish and effortlessness. In the Super Eights game against West Indies, de Villiers injured his calf just after he got to his hundred. He hobbled on, however, hitting four sixes and three fours in the next 15 balls, grimacing and collapsing to the ground after every effort. It seemed like madness, but there was serious method in it.There is a lot going for the power hitters. Small boundaries and high quality bats are big factors. If Viv Richards had the modern bat, Ian Chappell says, they would have had to fetch a lot of balls from out of the park. Chappell had a chat with Andrew Symonds recently and Symonds told him that the quality of the bats had become far superior in the last couple of years.
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In Australia’s Super Eights match against West Indies, Matthew Hayden, who has belted three hundreds so far, charged down the pitch to Marlon Samuels, and found himself a couple of feet away from the ball. Struggling and almost kneeling, he managed somehow to reach and scoop out the ball with one hand. It sailed over long-on for six. “That was so bloody unfair,” Chappell says. “If a spinner beats the batsman in the air, the ball has to at least stay within the ropes, even if it doesn’t end as a catch.”But short boundaries and the big bats are not the creation of players. Australians, South Africans, and, to an extent, New Zealanders, have been smart enough to consciously develop their game to take full advantage of the changes. And the concept of power cricket goes beyond batting. It’s a predatory approach that involves all aspects of the game. If either India or Pakistan had been on the field instead of South Africa at St Kitts, Australia would have perhaps ended at 430. It is unimaginable that the Indian or Pakistani fielders would have been quick enough to save the boundaries on the short, straight field that the South Africans did.Arthur recognises the advantage. “Some of the teams of the subcontinent and England are playing far too a conservative game,” he said. An Indian player echoed the sentiments. “The one-day is running away from us,” he said. “If we don’t step up a gear, we’ll be left behind.”One team from the subcontinent seems to have learnt its lesson quickly. Sri Lanka have not abandoned their natural game. They are still wristy, they still rely on timing and touch. But they are fitter, they run quickly between the wickets, they save runs, and they have bowlers who hunt for wickets. They look contemporary. It’s no surprise that Sri Lanka have made it to their second World Cup final.
Nicole Faltum has been impressive for Melbourne Renegades in the WBBL, but a way into the Australia national team looks some way away still
Ekanth12-Dec-2025Nicole Faltum is a wicketkeeper’s wicketkeeper. She can break down and put back together elements of her game in detail, be it the technicalities of being behind the stumps or the tactical nuances in front of them. She is also sharp when it comes to rationing her attention for the right elements.Having batted in every position, she has enjoyed promotions in the batting order, and shown the responsibility and the ability to score consistently as it helps her contribute with match-winning performances and have an impact on games. And yet she has had to learn just how good she is from reliable external sources.”I probably still struggle with it now, to be honest,” 25-year-old Faltum tells ESPNcricinfo about her confidence levels, particularly with the bat. “You always know that you can do something, but every athlete, and every female athlete, especially, at times, really struggles with their self-confidence, and probably you don’t realise how talented or how good you are until other people tell you, or you get the backing from other people. I think everybody struggles with it. Probably their whole careers, to be fair.”While batting has made her a mainstay for Melbourne Renegades, it was her wicketkeeping that got her into Melbourne Stars back in WBBL 2017-18. In her first two seasons, she took five catches and effected ten stumpings.She credits her success to the bowlers, like Alana King, whom Faltum kept to in her early days, as well as strength and conditioning coach Richard Johnson, former Renegades assistant coach Adam Crosthwaite and current high-performance manager Wade Seccombe for her evolution.Nicole Faltum has come through the system in Australia, but playing for Australia might be some way away•Getty ImagesOver time, she has honed a customised keeping technique combining Australian and English styles. The English style involves “standing back from the stumps, they’re quite tall,” Faltum says.”They don’t really go into that deep squat and don’t have heaps of footwork, where traditionally [in the] Australian style, [you’re] getting down really low to the floor, getting your hands on the ground in a deep squat, and then having lots of footwork. I’ve tried to hybrid those two techniques, and just try and find one that is really efficient and works for me.”Her technique factors in variables for fingerspinners and wristspinners, and her priority is to make space for herself and let her reflexes do the rest.”The way that I try to approach it is just expecting and wanting the ball,” Faltum says. “When you’re keeping to legspinners, you’re thinking it’s going to beat the outside edge a lot more and probably anticipating the ball [in that direction], but then, to the offspinners, it’s probably more likely to come through the gate or beat the inside edge. So, [you’re] just preparing yourself for all the different scenarios. But, at the end of the day, it’s really just watching and reacting.”A lot of it is reflex, and just being able to react to that bounce. Your set-up and your technique does help a fair bit with that. In my opinion, there’s so many different styles and types of keeping, and there’s so many different ways of doing it. My technique is just all about creating space. So if my set-up allows me to be able to move and create space for bounce, but then it also allows me to get low balls or wide balls, then, yeah, I think that’ll hold you in good stead.”
“My technique is just all about creating space. So if my set-up allows me to be able to move and create space for bounce, but then it also allows me to get low balls or wide balls, then, yeah, I think that’ll hold you in good stead”Nicole Faltum on her wicketkeeping style
It has been a long journey from when she debuted for Stars as a “specialist fielder” in 2017. She batted at No. 9, a fact she recalls with a chuckle. At the time, she was “excited just to play, and finally live out my dream.”Cut to the previous WBBL season, where Faltum scored 136 runs at a strike rate of 134. She backed that up to become the fourth-highest scorer for Renegades this season. She was also promoted to open against Sydney Sixers in Renegades’ final game of 2025 with their season on the line. While she didn’t click on the day, the fact that she was promoted shows the faith her captain and coach have in her.State cricket for Victoria has also helped her find her stride. She got promoted to open the batting, a move that boosted her belief in herself and confidence in her skills.”I love cricket. I love batting. So my theory was, if I can face as many balls as possible, then hopefully that can translate to making as many runs as possible,” she says. “So much of batting does come down to watching the ball and reacting to the ball, but I feel if you’re one step ahead of the game, and you kind of know what the game requires, and what you need to do, it just takes a lot of elements away.”Over the last couple of seasons, just when I’ve been able to really contribute and see some scores, and, especially in one-day cricket, by having a little bit more responsibility at the top of the order, and opening the batting, and being able to consistently score runs. I feel like that’s really helped with my confidence.”The presence of Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney means there is no role for an additional wicketkeeper-batter in the national team•ICC via Getty ImagesLet go by Stars in 2023 to lifting the WBBL title the very next year with Renegades, Faltum has gained perspective from both experiences. She is as positive as she is pragmatic about her goals – in the short-term, to contribute to every team she represents and win the WBBL again.Faltum’s dream of winning back-to-back WBBLs with Renegades wasn’t meant to be this season. Her journey towards those goals though continues, one deep squat at a time, accounting for turn and bounce along the way.Beyond that, she wants to complete her degree in business and play for Australia. That might still be a little while away with Alyssa Healy the incumbent and Beth Mooney her accomplished back-up. The upside for Faltum is that she has in-game experience thanks to ‘A’ tours, and she has interacted with Healy and Mooney.”Both of them have been amazing with their time and so generous in helping me, which I’m extremely grateful for,” Faltum says. “I had a few rough games at the start of the season in the WBBL and Beth Mooney was one of the first people to reach out and message, and just offered her support. She is such a kind human who is willing to help out.”Sophie Molinuex, Renegades’ captain, also happens to be Faltum’s favourite bowler to keep to.
“She’s got such a good cricket brain,” Faltum says. “I feel like she’s one step ahead of the batters, which is really cool when you’re standing behind the stumps to watch, especially when you’re thinking about the game yourself and different situations and scenarios, when you can really tell, ‘yeah, you’re playing under a really good captain’.”
After being hailed as English spin’s saviour, Panesar has had a less-than-miraculous sophomore term. Sure the talent is still there, but he needs to get his self-belief back, and get out of his shell some
Andrew Miller25-Jan-2008
Panesar may be “working as hard as ever” on his cricket, but that certain something has been missing from his game over the last six months or so © Getty Images
Like a FTSE-listed victim of the global credit crunch, Monty Panesar’s stock has fallen dramatically of late. He’s slipped from his June high of No. 6 in the world rankings to a lacklustre No. 20, he’s lost the one-day spinner’s role that was his during the World Cup in March, and he’s even had to make do with a third-placed finish in the annualBeard of the Year awards – the title he scooped during his Ashes zenith last winter.This week his England team-mates jet off to New Zealand for the startof their spring campaign, but Panesar has been asked to take thescenic route Down Under. Yesterday he arrived in Mumbai with theEngland Lions, where over the next couple of weeks he’ll hone hisskills in the Duleep Trophy, India’s premier domestic competition.Nobody expects it to be a holiday camp – one on famous occasion on thelast such tour in 2003-04, Rod Marsh’s squad somehow allowed SouthZone to chase 501for victory in the fourth innings – but for Panesar the triprepresents an urgently needed break from the limelight.His game has been stuck in a rut for the past six months, and in SriLanka before Christmas, the frustration was evident. Monty’s mantrathroughout his brief career has been that most enervating ofcricketing clichés, “Put the ball in the right areas”, but for longperiods in all three Tests, he was palpably unable to do just that.His impact may have been dulled by the broad blades of KumarSangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but instead of backing himself tobowl maidens and bore his opponents into error, he sacrificed hisestablished strengths of line and length, and set about searching forthe elusive magic delivery.It was not a recipe for success, personal or collective. Panesar stillfinished as England’s leading wicket-taker in the series, but that wasentirely down to the shortcomings of his fellow bowlers. His eightscalps at 50.62 were his worst return since his debut tour of India inMarch 2006, but they mirrored almost exactly the eight at 50.37 hepicked up in his previous outing, the home series against India. If amental block is forming in his game, then the selectors should bepraised for spotting the right moment to pull him from the front line.”He didn’t have the best of times in Sri Lanka,” said David Parsons,the ECB’s performance director, who will oversee the Lions tour. Priorto his appointment in December, Parsons had worked alongside Panesaras the England team’s spin coach, and few know the mechanics of hisgame better. “Monty’s the sort of guy who wants to play all the time,so I’m sure he’s looking forward to the trip,” Parsons added. “We all seethis as an opportunity for him to work on his game so he’s ready forthe Test matches in New Zealand.”England’s former coach Duncan Fletcher would doubtless seize uponthis form slump as vindication of his own, controversial, assessmentof Panesar’s talents, but not everyone sees it quite like that. Writing in the Observer, Vic Marks, himself a former England spinner, suggested that Panesar was in need of nothing more than a “10,000-ball check-up”. “Monty is a mechanical bowler rather than an intuitive one, which need not be a major disadvantage,” said Marks.”But [he] looks as if he’s starting to panic when his tried-and-trusted mechanism is no longer producing the results.” If a touch of vertigo is setting in after Panesar’s stellar rise ininternational cricket, it’s hardly surprising – he has not evencompleted two years in the Test team, but he has ridden such atidal wave of hype and celebrity, he’s sure to feel weighed down byinflated expectations. Mind you, his lofty profile is largelyself-inflicted If a touch of vertigo is setting in after Panesar’s stellar rise ininternational cricket, it’s hardly surprising – he has not evencompleted two years in the Test team, but he has ridden such atidal wave of hype and celebrity, he’s sure to feel weighed down byinflated expectations. Mind you, his lofty profile is largelyself-inflicted – in 2007, thanks to some pretty avaricious cash-insby his team of advisors, he was the face of everything from DVDs topotato snacks, and even found time for an unfortunately prematureautobiography.”A few people have suggested I might be getting too commerciallymotivated, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Panesar.”When you become a recognised face, people want to get to know you andwith that can come opportunities, but I am working as hard as ever onmy cricket.”Few who saw him in the nets in Sri Lanka would doubt thatfinal assertion, but somehow he lacks a spark of belief at present.His predecessor, Ashley Giles, also struggled to cope with the burdenthat is placed on England’s anointed spinner, but in hindsight Giles hadit easy. In an era dominated by three of the greatest (and weightiest)wicket-taking spinners in history, no one realistically expected himto match the matchless. Panesar, for one reason or another, does nothave that luxury.In truth, he’s been pretty unfortunate in his timing. Five of hisfirst seven series (and 15 of his 23 Tests) have featured one of thebig three – Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne and Anil Kumble – whocurrently outweigh his wickets tally by the small matter of 25 to 1.Coming from a culture where deference to one’s elders is ingrainedfrom birth, that’s quite some mental hurdle to have to overcome.Panesar’s reaction ahead of each of these series has been the same.”How can the student be a rival to the teacher?” he said of hisimpending meetings with both Kumble and Muralitharan last year. Theanswer, to judge by his stats, is that he can’t. Monty’s record inmatches involving the big three is 41 wickets at 41.68, compared to 40at 23.62 against the spin-light opposition of Pakistan and West Indies.Moreover, he’s contributed to two victories in 15 attempts in thefirst bracket, compared to six in eight in the second.
Doctor, doctor: Panesar with David Parsons, then the England spin coach, in Sri Lanka late last year © Getty Images
That’s not to say he hasn’t had some measure of success in thesegames, but at no stage – except arguably in Perth during the Ashes, whenhe was pumped to the gunwales with indignation after his earlieromissions – has he gone in with the same belief that so overwhelmedWest Indies and Pakistan. With that in mind, his next destination,after the Indian interlude, is an intriguing one. New Zealand’scaptain is Daniel Vettori, the most durable left-arm spinner in theworld today. He’s respected and renowned, but hardly the type to berevered. In fact, his average of 34.22 is two clicks higher thanPanesar’s, and his strike-rate some ten balls slower.Perhaps that goes to show that Monty’s off-colour moments simply comewith the territory. Despite the hype, he is not the messiah thatEngland dearly wish him to be. He is merely the best slow bowler thatthe country has to offer. A touch more self-belief would not go amiss,however, and to that end he could doubtless be helped by his captain.In one of the most candid passages of his autobiography, Panesar tellsof the excitement he felt when selected for his debut against India atNagpur. Up he bounded to the room of the then-skipper, AndrewFlintoff, armed with a bundle of plans and potential field placings.
When I knocked on Flintoff’s door and handed over the resultshe seemed a bit bemused.
“This is what I’m thinking of doing,” I said.
“Ah, okay,” he replied, sounding as puzzled as he looked. “No worriesat all, mate. I’ll take it all on board and you have a good night’ssleep.”
I decided I ought to leave quickly because I wasn’t sure whether hewanted me in his room
Michael Vaughan, take note. Monty is his own man, and has plenty ofideas to make his own game work better. But to judge by the passivityof his recent performances, he could probably do with being coaxedback out of his shell a touch.
Test cricket in Sri Lanka may not always whet the appetite. However, the scenes are quite different when England are in town
Kanishkaa Balachandran in Colombo11-Dec-2007
England fans soak up the sun © Kanishkaa Balachandran
Take one look at the grass embankment on the foot of the giantscoreboard at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, you could beforgiven for thinking you were watching an Ashes Test at the AdelaideOval. The England flags dot the railing near the fence, the vocalcords are in full flow, the beer tent’s a constant hub of activity andsupporters brave the heat and humidity of Colombo with a sense ofpurpose. The only thing missing from an identical resemblance to theground in South Australia is a cathedral in the background.Watching Test cricket in Sri Lanka may not always whet the appetite -it’s often played to half-empty stands and a few crows. Dead silenceis the order of the day, at least for most of it, interrupted by theoccasional vociferous appeal and tunes from the local band. However,the scenes are quite different when England are in town. Supporterswalk around in packs and fill up the seats, the budget travellers parkthemselves on the grass and just have a raucous time. In the age ofdwindling audiences in Test cricket, an England visit is a godsend forthe local organisers.England cricket teams are rarely without home support, irrespective oftheir performance. The Barmy Army came to prominence during the1994-95 Ashes, and were so named because it seemed utter madness tofly halfway across the world to support a side that went on to bedrubbed 3-1 in the series. Times have changed, but the level ofsupport hasn’t. In fact it’s got bigger.For the legion of English fans, the cricket’s a great excuse to visitthis part of the world. The result barely matters. Brendon from Leeds,says: “Cricket is secondary. For us, it’s a holiday with cricket wovenin.”It’s only natural for spirits to sag, especially after England’s nasty5-0 hammering at the hands of Australia earlier this year. ButJonathan, another supporter who’s made his way from Yorkshire, puts ahumorous spin on it: “A bad day at the cricket is always better than abad day at the office.”There are a few oddities as well. Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook’s133-run opening stand on the first day was devoid of the customarychants and cheers. Polite claps followed after every run and thedecibel levels increased, though only marginally, after every boundaryor sliding stop in the field. The first chants, rather ironically,came after England were in a spot of bother following Kevin Pietersen’sunfortunate dismissal.Pietersen’s spontaneous reaction only spurred them on, and the soundsemanated from all corners of the field for once. When asked about thereasons for the unusual silence in the morning, one fan blamed it onthe influence of alcohol from the previous night. It wasn’t exactlysurprising.The second day turns out to be livelier than the first and the standsfill out much quicker as well. England are bowled out for a mildlydisappointing 351, but suddenly, all’s well as Monty Panesar sprintstowards the boundary, takes his position in the deep, and earns a fewencouraging cheers for his efforts.The Barmy Army section at the opposite end from the embankment isabuzz as well after Ryan Sidebottom snares two early wickets. Thereare trumpet renditions of , the theme trackfrom the film and Bon Jovi’s hit .One supporter, wearing a rather hilarious combination of a stripedblazer, a and a straw hat to top it all, does the honoursserving the beer. After serving his clan, he reaches out to a group ofsecurity guards, who are laughing nervously at the prospect of bendingthe rules while on duty. They politely turn down his offer, but herefuses to give up: “C’mon lads. Nobody’s looking.” Unfortunately forthem, when England are in town, everyone’s watching.