All posts by h716a5.icu

Cricket Australia cannot afford to be lenient on David Warner if it finds him guilty of attacking Joe Root.

Brydon Coverdale12-Jun-2013It doesn’t matter whether the punch David Warner reportedly threw at Joe Root in a Birmingham bar missed, made glancing contact or struck flush on the chin. That Root has accepted an apology from Warner is of no real consequence either. All that matters is that Warner did something stupid. Again. Stupid and verbal is easy to forgive, stupid and violent is not. Unless further details emerge that show some justification for Warner’s actions, it is difficult to find any reason for leniency.Of course, there needs to be a caveat of sorts, for Warner is yet to face a Cricket Australia Code of Behaviour hearing, and only those who were present can really be sure of what transpired. But the reports that emerged throughout Wednesday do not paint him in a flattering light. Why should a man who thinks it is acceptable to throw a bar-room punch at an opponent continue to be given the privilege of playing for his country? What sort of example would that set for a society in which alcohol-fuelled violence is a growing problem?At the very least, Warner should be stood down from the rest of the Champions Trophy. His Ashes role must also be seriously considered, and Cricket Australia is in the unenviable position of having to decide on the appropriate penalty. Is it overkill to send Warner home and leave him out of the Ashes? Perhaps. But maybe it’s the only way he will get the idea, for messages seem to be as slow getting through to him as if they’re delivered by sea-mail.”An unprovoked physical attack on a member of the England team” is how an ECB statement described Warner’s actions. It went on to say that an ECB investigation had found that Root (although not named in the statement) “was in no way responsible for nor retaliated to the attack”. Root, Warner and other England and Australia players had been at the Walkabout pub in Birmingham when the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, following England’s win over Australia at Edgbaston.Details began to filter out on Wednesday; Root, it seemed, had been wearing a wig that he moved to his chin and used as a fake beard. Warner reportedly grabbed the wig before throwing a punch when Root asked for it back. The reported that Clint McKay stepped in to break things up. The “boys will be boys” attitude does not fly; throwing punches has no place in society or sport, save for the boxing ring. And after the year Warner has had, he is on very thin ice if not up to his neck in a freezing puddle already.On the Test tour of India in February and March, Warner’s fitness and skin-fold testing was unacceptable. That was one of the transgressions that led to the heavy-handed homework sackings, although Warner at least had handed his in and thus avoided a suspension. Last month, he was fined A$5750 for a lengthy Twitter spat with two journalists when he was unhappy with a photograph of him being used to illustrate a story on the seedy underbelly of the IPL.”In hindsight, clearly I let my frustrations get the better of me,” Warner had said after being fined over the Twitter row. Apologies begin to sound hollow when they are repeated time and again. Andrew Symonds found that out during his tumultuous career and Warner risks heading down the same path if he cannot control himself. Symonds was given plenty of chances, including after narrowly-avoided brawl with a Super-12s rugby player in Cape Town, and Cricket Australia learnt that indulging him was a mistake.Warner should not assume they will make that error again, especially for a man whose form is poor and who is one of five openers in the Ashes squad. You’d think those odds would make a bloke desperate to impress. But Warner seems to believe he is indispensable to Australia. He appears to think he can play by his own rules. He’s not, and he can’t. And maybe he’s about to learn that the hard way.

One of the objectives of the in­au­gu­ral Caribbean Premier League was to provide young West Indies players a showcase for their talents, as the fashionable phrase has it

Tony Cozier18-Aug-2013One of the objectives of the in­au­gu­ral Caribbean Premier League was to provide young West Indies players a showcase for their talents, as the fashionable phrase has it. What it meant, in essence, was the chance to advertise themselves to the IPL, the Big Bash and the other global Twenty20 franchise tournaments.As different from the other two for­mats as it is, the CPL could hardly be a guide to the West Indies selectors for the packed international schedule over the coming year, starting with three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20s in New Zealand in December and January.Yet, a few whose time seemed to have passed–Lendl Simmons and Andre Fletcher, most notably–have restated their case for further elevation. Others already established as T20 spe­cial­ists at regional level but largely ignored for internationals have remin­ded selectors of their value.Leading into yesterday’s super Sat­ur­day triple-header, one teenager had arrived from out of the blue–well, red to be precise–to make his mark at first time of asking. Nicolas Pooran, the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel wicketkeep­er and left-handed batsman, at 17, the youngest player in the CPL, announced himself with his uninhibited ag­gres­sion that counted six sixes in his 24-ball 54 in the opening match against the Guyana Amazon Warriors.IPL owners and scouts watching on TV back home would have rushed to their phones to find out more about this precocious Trinidadian. The im­pe­tuousity and confidence of youth makes it difficult to smash every ball, so in the next three matches, Pooran didn’t manage to repeat, but there can be no doubt that someone must have recognised a special ability to sign him on in the first place.Sheldon Cotterrell, the 23-year-old Jamaican soldier on the Antigua Hawks­­bills roster, is another who need­ed just one performance to confirm what has been known around here, if not elsewhere, for some time.His speed and hostility scattered the Barbados Tridents at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium last Tuesday; as a left-arm bowler, he offers the variety of different angles from either side of the wicket to complement his pace. His athleticism in the field and muscular hitting in the lower order are bonuses.He has already been chosen for the West Indies A team where he surely will be for the tour of India in October. The tour of New Zealand should follow to examine his effectiveness at the highest standard; indeed, more adventurous selectors would have had him in the recent home ODIs in the tri-series with India and Sri Lanka and the subsequent ODIs and T20s against Pakistan.Just as much as his bowling, his smile that lit up the night and the ela­borate salute with every wicket stamped him as the classic box-office star for T20 TV. The hierarchy from the Delhi Daredevils of the IPL, observing first hand in Antigua, would have taken notice.Others who have made their mark are older and been around for some time, many either given little opportunity or discarded by West Indies after failing to make use of earlier chances.At 28 and six years after he first appeared in the maroon uniform, only an injury to Dwayne Bravo and timely runs against Sri Lanka A regained Simmons his place in the Pakistan series. He has taken the cue to again string together consistent scores, both then and now in the CPL. The coming year will tell whether he has finally managed to marry responsibility to experience. If he has, a return to the Test team beckons.Fletcher first attracted attention in the Stanford Twenty20. He opened with Chris Gayle for the Superstars against England in the contentious 20/20 for 20 million match in 2009, the two knocking off the winning target of 101 in 12.4 overs.In the World T20 in England, his share of their stand of 133 off 11.3 overs in the West In­dies victory over Australia at The Oval was 53 off 32 balls. His 54 against Australia in Johannesburg was the top score for the strike-hit West Indies in the Champions Trophy.Then, inexplicably, the runs dried up. There were four ducks in five T20 innings, two in three ODIs. His ODI average slipped to 10.64 in T20s, and to 17.06 in ODIs. The predictable upshot was that he was dropped.A stint at the Sagicor High Per­formance Centre seems to have reboo­ted his confidence. It is evident as much in his slick wicketkeeping in the CPL as in his batting (57, 23, 20, 14, 2, 76, 46*); it is a position that remains wide open for applications in West Indies squads in all three versions.Other names that have faded out of T20 selection–Andre Russell, Krishmar Santokie, Garey Mathurin, Nikita Miller–have again presented themselves. It is a mystery why Santokie has been confined to two Twenty20 inter­nationals. He is, by some distance, the most effective bowler in T20s; his 80 wickets, most bowled or lbw to full-length deliveries, have been taken at an average of 11.58 and an eco­nomy rate of 6.03.His dismissal of Chris Gayle for the Amazon Warriors against the Jamaica Talla­wahs at their shared home ground of Sabina Park on Thursday was typical Santokie, wicket-to-wicket yorkers with a hint of inswing that finally found the inside edge of the game’s most in­ti­mi­dating hitter on its way into the leg stump.Mathurin, the left-arm spinner, is another who has been kept on the outer since his 3 for 9 Man-of-the-Match spell that shocked England to defeat at The Oval two years back. He has had only two more matches since.His skidding, incoming deliveries with the new ball have resulted in miser­ly economy rates of 5.50 in his 38 T20s and 5.76 in the CPL. Santokie and Mathurin are specialists in a version that requires especially tight control of length and line, and an unflustered attitude. They shouldn’t be underestimated because they don’t come into the reckoning for anything but T20s.And, as is evident since its creation in England a decade ago, T20 cric­ket has become a significant part of the game.

The best performances in the Champions League came from teenagers, from established Indian stars, and from forty-somethings

Siddarth Ravindran07-Oct-2013MS Dhoni 63* off 19 v Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Dhoni rampage that included an over Thisara Perera will be desperately trying to forget. At the start, a typically brutal Dhoni hit over long-on was sandwiched by two wides. The over ended with four consecutive sixes – over square leg, over point, over long-on and over third man and ended up costing 34 runs. Perera will be ruing Ishant Sharma’s misfield off the second legitimate ball of the over, which allowed Dhoni to hurry back for the second and regain the strike. Dhoni went on to his half-century in 16 balls, the quickest in the Champions League – and eighth fastest in all T20 – as Chennai Super Kings accelerated past 200 and out of Sunrisers’ reach.Sunil Narine 4 for 9 v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Narine is a dead cert to be a millionaire at next year’s IPL auction. He’s had two outstanding IPL seasons and his mystery hasn’t faded in the CLT20 either. The success over the past two years means his reputation now precedes him, and teams are happy to play out his four overs and target the other bowlers. His teams turn to him at every crucial juncture. Defending 160 against Sunrisers, T&T brought him on in the 5th over to rein in a strong start and he delivered with a first-ball wicket. There was another in a two-over spell in the middle of the innings, before he signed off with wickets off his final two deliveries in the 18th over. The only runs he conceded were nine singles.Sanju Samson 60 off 33 v Mumbai Indians
Once Mumbai ran up a total in excess of 200 in the final, most people thought the game was as good as over. Not 18-year-old Sanju Samson though. Walking in after the first wicket fell in the first over, a fearless array of strokes kept Royals in the chase as the asking-rate of 10 was matched for more than half the innings. It began with an effortless straight hit for six off Harbhajan Singh and he peppered the arc between long-on and midwicket as Royals reached 117 for 1 in the 12th over, but even with heavy-hitters like Shane Watson to follow, they couldn’t complete the victory.Harbhajan Singh 4 for 32 v Rajasthan Royals
Harbhajan Singh may no longer be among India’s first-choice spinners but he reminded the selectors once more of his big-match temperament, in the final. After Samson’s onslaught had helped Royals keep pace, Watson had begun with a monstrous hit for six. Harbhajan removed the dangerman though with a straighter one that Watson top-edged towards wide long-on. Then came the over that completely transformed the game: the well-set Ajinkya Rahane and two big hitters in Stuart Binny and Kevon Cooper were all packed off and for the second time in three years a single Harbhajan over had put the title within Mumbai’s grasp.Neil Broom 117* off 56 v Perth Scorchers
Before the match against Perth Scorchers, Broom’s Twenty20 career stats were middling: 65 matches, average 21.23, strike-rate 112.08. So when Hamish Rutherford (career strike-rate 143.89) and star batsman Brendon McCullum were dismissed cheaply, Perth were a satisfied lot. No way could they have expected what came next. Broom played the T20 innings of his life with nine fours and eight sixes flowing as he ran up 117 off a mere 56 deliveries. Hard to pick a highlight from that smash-a-thon but the three successive sixes in the 19th over to bring up his century and reach the highest score over five seasons of the CLT20 will be up there. No wonder he has such a devoted fan club back home.Pravin Tambe 3 for 10 v Chennai Super Kings
Pravin Tambe’s rise provided one of the most heart-warming cricketing stories in recent years. For a retirement-age cricketer to get his chance to play alongside the all-time greats is a dream, leave alone ending up as the bowler of the tournament. With his skiddy legbreaks and accuracy, Tambe proved difficult for most batsmen. Thoughts that his bowling would fall apart under the pressure of a big match were brushed aside as he turned in 3 for 10 against the mighty Super Kings in the semi-final. It included the prized wicket of Suresh Raina and two other vial cogs, S Badrinath and Dwayne Bravo. He was Man of the Match as Royals pulled off a giant-killing act and marched into the final.

On an unusually dry Kingsmead surface, South Africa’s attack struggle to cope with their talisman’s longest-ever wicketless streak

Firdose Moonda in Durban26-Dec-20130:00

Match Point: ‘Disappointed to see Steyn bowl slower’

Dale Steyn began his fifth over the way he may have wanted to start his first. He delivered a snarling bouncer that soared towards M Vijay at almost 146 kph. Having already faced 17 balls and made some assessment of conditions, Vijay ducked under it.Dale Steyn has gone wicketless for 67 overs since this celebration of Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal in the first innings in Johannesburg•AFPIt was as though Steyn had remembered who he was, with that ball. He followed up with another quicker one, pitched up, then one back of a length that jagged back in and hit Vijay on the arm, and then one he could leave alone on bounce. The fifth ball of Steyn’s over preyed on the uncertainty caused by the previous four: with Vijay unsure whether to go forward or back, he was struck on the front pad. Steyn aborted his appeal when he realised it was likely going down leg, but he’d made his threat clear.Why Steyn didn’t start like that is anyone’s guess. His first four overs were ordinary. His pace was down, he overpitched and he conceded 21 runs. Perhaps, like the rest of the South African attack, he was taken aback by the surface he was given. “It’s very dry and a touch on the slow side,” Morne Morkel said. “What surprised me is that after the 13th over, the ball already looked like it was 60 overs old. It’s the type of wicket that’s going to be tough to strike on.”South Africa would have known that much two days ago, when they first laid eyes on the Kingsmead pitch. Once the green mamba of the South African circuit, it has taken on subcontinent characteristics over the last few years. South Africa would not have forgotten this, even though they didn’t play a Test here in 2012. Even so, they might have been stunned by just how different this looked from what they consider home conditions.Steyn should have been the least startled because he has succeeded on decks like this before, Nagpur 2010 a case in point. Then, Steyn’s aggression coupled with the reverse swing he got buoyed South Africa and led them to an innings win. Morkel admitted South Africa had been angling for something similar today. “We were hoping the ball would reverse a little more,” he said. “We need to find a way to get reverse going.”There was some reverse swing but the Steyn factor was nowhere near what it was in Nagpur and it reflected on South Africa as a whole. Like him, they tried hard. Smith had a fine leg and a deep backward square leg waiting for the pull but it never came.Morkel was the most threatening. He set the tone with a maiden when he was brought into the attack in the seventh over. He used the short ball well and found extra lift. After Morkel’s opening, Steyn hit his rhythm.Usually, it’s the other way round and Steyn is the bowler who dictates the mood. Vernon Philander bristled when that suggestion was put to him at the Wanderers – when Steyn went wicketless in the second innings – and said it was up to every member of the attack to play their part, but you need only to think back to The Oval last year to remember the impact a firing Steyn can have.The Kallis Tracker

Jacques Kallis led the South African team onto the field in his final Test match. He was the first man down the Kingsmead steps, jogged through the customary guard of honour that was formed by the children participating in the sponsor-related activities and was then greeted with warm applause.
A little hesitantly, Kallis waved his left arm – sporting a black armband after the death of a family friend – to the crowd. Then, realising they’d want much more, he removed his hat and waved to all parts of the ground. His team-mates followed shortly and Kallis took his place at second slip.
Kallis saw action only after the first hour of play, when he bowled from the Old Fort Road End. His first delivery was a half-volley and went for three, his next was pitched up on the pads and yielded a boundary. The next three balls were on a good length outside off and Kallis did not concede again that over.
He was taken off after three overs but returned for a second spell after lunch. Vijay reached his half-century off Kallis when he slapped behind point. Kallis bowled a tidy second spell, with only ten runs coming from his four overs. His final one was a maiden. With India only one wicket down and little assistance for the seamers, the wait for his final innings continues.

In that match, Steyn made it obvious he was irritated. He hung onto the boundary boards in what seemed like discomfort and was spotted engaged in animated conversation with bowling coach Allan Donald. This time too, Donald was on the sidelines offering advice but Steyn was not as heated up as he can be. He jokingly signed a blow-up doll, did his fielding duties, and slowly cranked it up.After Morkel’s first over, Steyn operated in the right channel for the rest of the day. He delivered 12 more overs at speed, with better lengths, and gave away just 28 runs. An unhelpful surface, confident driving from the Indian batsmen and the impenetrable new wall that is Cheteshwar Pujara meant that the intent did not bring success this time. Not for Steyn and not for anyone else.”We were guilty of maybe attacking a little bit too much. We didn’t get balls in the right areas, we were a touch too straight as we searched for wickets,” Morkel said. It did not help South Africa that, again, their spinner failed to play his part. Robin Peterson offered a first ball that looked like it could have come from Imran Tahir. It was a full toss.He didn’t get much better as the day wore on, leaving South Africa with what may become a more pressing problem in the future. If their spinner cannot take wickets, he should at least be able to dry up an end. Neither Tahir nor Peterson has looked like doing that in this series but Morkel stressed the attack as whole needed to be econimical. “If we are not getting wickets, we have to make sure they are not scoring,” he said.Frustration, South Africa hope, will bring some reward and there will be some crossed fingers hoping the fortunes swing Steyn’s way. He last took a wicket 67 overs ago, in the first innings of the Wanderers Test. It is the longest Steyn has gone without a scalp.

Plays of the day from the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad

Abhishek Purohit12-May-2014Finch’s placement
Aaron Finch had already moved to the leg side and lofted Pragyan Ojha for six over extra cover in the left-arm spinner’s first over. Finch continued to make room and Ojha tried to outwit him by bowling full and wide of off stump. Finch was far from the line but he somehow reached out and drilled the ball through the off side. Despite his awkward position, he also managed to pick the small gap at extra cover.Bumrah’s failed tag
In Ojha’s second over, Finch timed one through extra cover again. Jasprit Bumrah ran across from sweeper cover, Corey Anderson did so from long-off. As the fielders converged, Bumrah dived, and parried the ball away. It would have been an ideal team effort if Anderson had picked it up but by the time Bumrah palmed the ball, Anderson had overrun it and was behind his team-mate. The ball rolled into the boundary as both fielders watched helplessly.Tare’s misfield
Mumbai Indians had leaked a few late runs after keeping Sunrisers Hyderabad in check for most of the innings. David Warner pulled the penultimate ball of the last over in the air. It bounced in front of Aditya Tare at deep square leg. It spun a bit as it bounced, but Tare seemed to have it covered, until he let it slip through. His captain Rohit Sharma was so incensed he swore in frustration.Steyn’s rage
Sunrisers did not have a good night with the ball. Even Dale Steyn went for 12 runs in his third over. At the end of the over, he collected the ball as it came in from long-off, and slammed it into the stumps, uprooting the middle one. He collected his cap from the umpire and walked off in a huff.

Having averaged only 30 in England before this tour, Kumar Sangakkara has finally restored his record

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Headingley22-Jun-2014When Kumar Sangakkara arrived at the crease on day three, Liam Plunkett hurled a rocket at his chest. The Headingley pitch had been misbehaving since the second afternoon, and this was one of its naughtiest moments. The game’s fastest bowler was provoking it to mischief.In the first innings, Lahiru Thirimanne had got a similar delivery first-up, and he fended a catch to short leg. Given the abysmal series Thirimanne has had, maybe surviving the same ball does not mean much. But the one Sangakkara got was a brute all the same. The kind that makes kids want to become fast bowlers.Sangakkara deflected that one in front of short leg, but he knew the bowler had had the better of him. He looked down at the spot on the pitch that had caused him grief, then looked away, walking toward square leg, then back again. He shuffled his feet and took guard. The next legitimate ball was wide and full. He stretched out and cracked it through the covers as hard as he has hit any ball in the series.Sri Lanka aim at 225 target

Sri Lanka believe a lead of around 225 could be the basis of a famous win at Headingley, fielding coach Ruwan Kalpage said. The visitors close day three 106 runs ahead, with six second innings wickets in hand.
“The next two wickets are very important for us to get a comfortable lead, of about 225 runs,” Kalpage said. “Anything more than that is a plus for us. We have two great batsmen in the middle and Dinesh Chandimal to follow. In the last three days the game was pretty open, and the next two days will be very interesting.”
The pitch has also begun to take appreciable turn, as witnessed from Moeen Ali’s dismissal of Lahiru Thirimanne, but Sri Lanka also used the medium pace and cutters from Angelo Mathews effectively on the third morning.
“If you’re a medium pace bowler, if you’re not bowling in these conditions, you can’t expect to bowl anywhere in the world. I think the pitch helped him. He bowled really well – a good line and length – so he got the results.
“It’s a bowler friendly pitch compared to Lord’s. Whenever a new bowler starts a spell, there is a chance. It’s a difficult pitch to score on.”

A hush hung over Headingley for a moment, then lifted with a swell of appreciation. The Yorkshire crowd is partisan, urging England on, saving their loudest for the local lads, but they know cricketing excellence when they see it. When Sangakkara was dismissed – perhaps for the last time in England – the ground stood to their feet to clap him off the field. But few will have known Sangakkara’s curious relationship with the cover drive when the clapped that first four. Many will also have been unaware of the batsman’s troubles in England, before this tour.The cover drive has been Sangakkara’s signature stroke for much of his career, because it is almost a marvel of engineering. The step forward is swift and precise. The still head and fast hands, practiced and mechanical. The back knee bends just enough to stabilise him, and the entire movement is set off by a checked flourish forged of control. The ball only ever goes in a slim arc between cover and extra cover. Mahela Jayawardene played a cover drive too on the third day, but his rendition of the stroke is languid and musical; more dependent on his mood, than the ball and the fielders, and capable of going almost anywhere in front of square.In many ways, the cover drive is a microcosm of Sangakkara’s cricket – meticulously refined and supremely efficient – but on previous tours of England, it had sometimes been his undoing. In the 2011 tour, he was out to it in Southampton and at Lord’s lunging at the ball when it had curved away from him. It has frustrated him in other parts of the world too, across all formats.In the last match at Lord’s, England tempted him wide of off stump for a good ten overs, when he arrived in the first innings. But in that innings, Sangakkara was hell-bent on his raid for a hundred. He could not be drawn into the shot until he was past 30, and even then, he applied it economically.The stroke was a risk at Headingley too, particularly against Plunkett, whose extra bounce had done Jayawardene in, when he drove outside off stump in the first innings. But for Sangakkara, the third day was no day for restraint. He was in the middle to move his team’s cause forward, but also to make a mark. In all likelihood, this is his last outing in England.Kumar Sangakkara played cautiously to ensure his side’s lead grew•AFPHe was glad for his error-riddled 79 in the first innings, but when he came off the field, most people would not stop deriding the innings. Sangakkara has been a dream interview for several major English papers since he arrived in the country, but when a radio station spoke to him before the second day, and led with “Wasn’t the best innings you’ve ever played, yesterday, was it?”, Sangakkara was audibly agitated: “That’s the way it sometimes goes in cricket, the important thing is getting the runs.” The reply was uncommonly brief. Over the next few minutes, one of the game’s most eloquent speakers would not offer more than a six-second answer to any of the interviewer’s stream of questions.On Sunday, the first ball from Plunkett elicited the only ugly moment from Sangakkara. From the very next ball, he was intent on reassuming dominance. He scored faster than any Sri Lanka batsman on the day, and sent four balls through the covers during his 55. The cover drive accounted for a higher percentage of his runs in this innings, than in any other this series.He has now scored as many 50-plus scores on the trot as any batsman has ever managed, only, he has a triple ton and a couple of centuries among that string of scores. He has raised his average in England to 41.04, when it had languished at just over 30 before the tour, creating doubt over his greatness. His 342 runs is more than any Sri Lanka batsman has scored in a single series in England.On day three at Headingley, he recovered from Plunkett’s first ball, and his strange first innings. For many in the country, where his record has now recovered too, that cool, calculated cover drive will be the enduring hallmark of the memory of his career.

Neil Burns assesses the Kevin Pietersen saga in the shoes of the man who tried to facilitate his talent in the England dressing room

Neil Burns14-Oct-2014Brilliant teams need an understated leader who watches the process unfold moment-to-moment and nurtures the process whilst simultaneously being able to look ahead into the distance and see the danger to ensure the ship can be steered to calmer waters whenever it is needed.Part of this is challenging the team and its individuals from getting too cosy and thus allowing a level of complacency to enter a team’s consciousness. The slippage can be subtle, but it is so destructive to the winning culture if not attended to day by day. You are effectively the team’s conscience and have to regularly hold up the mirror to show the less appealing elements of the team’s activity and responses.Demanding leader that he is, Andy Flower must have annoyed even his greatest supporters in the team at times. Leading an elite sporting environment is not a role for anyone who wants to win a popularity contest.The sadness for me is in the clarity of the black-and-white thinking KP appears to prefer. Whilst it may help his performance it would appear to hinder his ability to engage fully with people he appears to have little regard for. Being able to co-exist with all types is an important quality to have, especially with the group’s leader, whatever one’s differences.For those who wear their preferences so openly, having a disregard for others can have a detrimental effect on people feeling comfortable around them. When this happens in a team environment, long-term performance suffers.If it is ‘the main man’ (from a performance perspective) then it can intimidate others and thus become a block to an individual feeling central to the team and producing the level of performance which comes with that genuine sense of inclusion. People want to, and need to feel valued.With young players, such personalities can have an inspirational effect on performance if ‘the main man’ rates them. Unfortunately, the polar opposite is also true. That’s where great coaches and great captains step in, and work on the environment to ensure strong personalities do not overpower the team culture and its need for shared ownership.It must be a place where all voices are heard and all feelings respected for a team to grow over time into a high-performing unit, and be a caring family system.Egotistical behaviour and immaturity in many players can make elite sport a difficult environment for coaches. As a head coach, achieving all-round success within a team sport is limited by the quality of thinking held by one’s charges.With a joined up long-term development plan, players can be inculcated with a respectful culture whereby each person supports each other’s growth. This leads to a healthy learning culture that enhances a team’s chances of enjoying sustained success.Is the highly-respected Andy Flower a demanding leader who managed to extract high-level performances from his charges through skilful management of a complex group of people? Or, is Andy Flower the big problem for English cricket and the reason for its downturn as Kevin Pietersen would like people to believe?The data supports the view that the intense, passionate and determined Flower led a group of good cricketers into a world of dedication that enabled them to become very good cricketers over time. The results were aided by the outstanding contributions by some brilliant performers like Kevin, Graeme Swann, Matt Prior, and James Anderson. But could they have done it without him? History suggests not, but we will never know.Maybe the answer to the above questions would have been clearer if Andy Flower had stood down from his role after the Ashes success in 2013? If so, he would have been feted as a truly remarkable coach who transformed an international sporting team from also-rans into the world’s best team over time.Andy is a man whose precision, both in terms of planning and choice of words, created a new level of professionalism for professional cricketers in Zimbabwe (when captain) and with England (as head coach). Apparently, there was no cosying up to star players and no soft-soaping of what success in top sport required in terms of attitude and commitment. But clearly the intensity of the environment became too much for some players the longer his reign continued with England.Andy Flower coached England to the most successful period in their history•Getty ImagesShould he, as the England coach have lightened up more? Or, should the selectors have realised that players reach a stage in their careers when they can no longer commit the same energy to a role that they were prepared to when they were busy establishing themselves in the team?But, the problem is that if there are insufficient players of quality pushing to get into the team, it is a massive risk to de-select any player whose attitude and approach is on the wane, albeit subtly, in favour of an untried newcomer.Thus, what happens, is the coach remains demanding, the players get tired of his/her approach, and resentment builds in a team which they don’t reveal other than to fellow players with a similar axe to grind. Thus, the team culture gets polluted with a silent mutiny about the coach and his/her methods.Performance then suffers, and the coach gets frustrated, sometimes angry and increasingly demanding and the cycle of resentment gets worse and worse, until eventually the whole thing explodes in people’s faces. The coach feels let down because they have continued to give all they can in the best way they knew possible, and the players feel relieved that disaster may bring about a new regime.Then, because of the fall-out, any individual who is believed to have been central to the undermining of the culture then gets the blame, and takes the hit.In 2013, the signs were there that Andy Flower’s team was decaying: specific players falling out with each other; a coterie of senior players forming an unhealthy tight bond that seemed to make life difficult for outsiders; the influential captain (Andrew Strauss) retiring a year beforehand; players urinating on the pitch at The Oval after winning a third successive Ashes series as part of a victory celebration; the indifferent quality of players moving through a revolving door to replace established senior players; egotistical players wanting to receive greater recognition for being greats (in their minds) and publicly talking about team and personal legacies.If he were really smart (and also selfish) Andy Flower would have walked away from English cricket’s top job in September 2013, and protected his record.Andy Flower is a smart guy who is less concerned with image and reputation than he is doing the best job he can for his employer, and serving his family’s needs. In this way he is very similar to Gary Kirsten. They love and respect the game of cricket, and they want to help others experience a similar experience and depth of connection. They are evangelists for their sport.However, there is no doubt in my mind that spending too long a period of time as a performance manager with an international sporting team can have a detrimental effect on one’s humour, perspective and ability to relax. It can become all-consuming for those at the coalface.The more times a person sees the same thing, the less they see. Historical perspectives of individuals can become entrenched views and where the eyes were once fresh, they become tired and stop exploring the detail with a child-like curiosity. Most significantly, the team can get bored of you and your voice.Nurturing effective relationships with star players is vital for a coach in professional sport. Without the support of the senior player group, a coach is dead in the water. But sometimes, over-indulgence of a star can also become a major problem because the rest of the senior player group can feel resentful about such treatment. Perhaps that is their problem, and they need to manage their own jealousies better, but it is a difficult dynamic to manage once it develops in a team. People rarely admit to having it, but it is there.Andy Flower would seem to be the recipient of much of Kevin Pietersen’s ire in his new book, though Matt Prior seems to be reviled for positioning himself as the ultimate team man. I have always believed that unless one is in the space it is impossible to know the exact nature of the relationship between two people but clearly Kevin has had little regard for Andy’s ability as a coach from way back.The role Kevin has played in the England team has been the one of a brilliant individual. His performances have been sensational at times. In fact, without his 158 at The Oval in 2005, England would have lost the match and with it, been unable to regain the Ashes. Who knows how long that sequence would have gone on without the belief of winning them back in 2005?Kevin Pietersen made some serious allegations in his autobiography•Getty ImagesDisappointingly, Kevin seems unable to recognize the role played by Andy Flower (and some others) in the management of the group process that culminated in some exceptional team results being achieved on a consistent basis between 2009 and 2013. By Kevin suggesting his own five-year-old son could have done what Andy accomplished, reveals to me a lack of understanding on Kevin’s part about what goes into facilitating top performance in others. I find it a disrespectful comment too.Trust is a vital element in enjoying successful relationships and maybe his opinions were as a result of losing trust in key people and some of his comments were an emotional release emanating from deep scars. I certainly felt it was unfair to portray him as the bad guy because I have first-hand knowledge of some very good things he has done behind the scenes to support English cricketers.It has been the most horrible 12 months in the ECB’s history. There have been no winners.The reality is elite sport is a messy place. Individuals are driven by a desire for the spotlight, recognition, feeling valued, wanting a sense of belonging and needing some financial and emotional security because it could all end in a split second through loss of form, confidence, or fitness.Insecurity dominates most people but they are too afraid to acknowledge their human frailty in the team context and thus have to wear – to quote Dr Ken Jennings – ‘the mask of competency’, which means the reality of the issues get buried quite deep until a demanding moment brings them to the surface. When it does, they can explode like a boil being lanced and pollute the environment for longer than it takes to clean up the mess.Every team faces the need for renewal. Doing so ahead of bad times is vital if the horrors experienced by the England cricket team last year are to be avoided by others in future.The fascinating aspect of renewal for me is the unknown. How will it play out as consequence of change?When space is created in a system, it can be fascinating to observe who has the desire to fill it. Who, despite having all the credentials to fill it ,decides to remain in their previous role? Some very good players seem unable to, or choose not to, influence the culture of the team in a more dominant manner once their more senior teammates move on.Often it is an ambitious young person who has the chutzpah to seize the moment and make a big impact on the new culture which then inspires other more established members of the group to follow their lead. For example, it was Kevin Pietersen who filled the space in 2005, despite being a debutant.In my experience, sport is not a hierarchy where people shift up one notch in an orderly fashion as a consequence of those at the top of the tree moving on. The coach’s challenge is to create an environment in which people can become exceptional.The skill for every coach is in creating a learning context that people want to be part of because they see the value in their own personal growth as well as being part of others’ development too. Ultimately, when a person/player understands that their life is about being in service to others it all becomes so much easier.Being more loving towards all is what makes the difference in life.

Australia’s best player of spin failed in both innings, as Pakistan’s tweakers made life difficult for Clarke and the rest

Brydon Coverdale in Dubai25-Oct-2014You have to hand it to Michael Clarke, he doesn’t shirk responsibility when things go wrong. In a different era, the Australians used to ask then coach Tim Nielsen to answer the hard questions on days like this. “Tough Day Tim”, the media called him. But often during Clarke’s captaincy he has insisted he front the press when the team has failed, most notably when they were skittled for 47 in Cape Town in 2011. Add day four in Dubai to that list.This was a day on which Pakistan scored 248 runs with what seemed the greatest of ease. At length, Australia claimed two wickets of little consequence as the lead ballooned. Then came the other side of the equation. In the space of 23 balls, Australia lost four wickets for five runs as the spinners Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah bamboozled the batsmen. And most critically, Australia’s best player of spin was one of them.Clarke was on 3 when he prodded forward to Yasir and was adjudged lbw to a ball that straightened. A lengthy chat with his partner Chris Rogers led to a glum-looking Clarke deciding against a review and trudging off. Replays suggested that Clarke had got an inside edge on the ball and would likely have been reprieved had he challenged the decision. That he didn’t said something about Australia’s lack of confidence.”Ah, I’d like to know as well,” Clarke said when asked what had gone through his head. “There’s a number of things. The fact that I wasn’t sure if I hit the ball and I was unsure if it hit my bat before my pad. So I was thinking it was probably pad then bat if I did hit it at all. Chris was unsure as well up the other end.”My mindset is because I’m unsure I didn’t want to waste the referral when I knew the rest of my team-mates were probably going to need them tomorrow. It was certainly a mistake, an error on my part looking back at the replay once I walked off the field. I’m extremely disappointed. I’m disappointed that it was even that close. The ball didn’t really spin much. I should have used my bat.”It continued a disappointing tour for Clarke, who scratched to 2 in the first innings before inside-edging onto pad and up to short leg in the first innings, having made 10 and 5 in the warm-up game in Sharjah. His limited preparation was unavoidable, given the hamstring injury he suffered during the one-day series in Zimbabwe in August, but has left him short of game time in the lead-up to the Test.”My performance in this Test match has been disappointing with the bat. There’s no doubt about it,” Clarke said. “I read somewhere the other day that I’m short of match practice and that probably sums my form up at the moment. In the last Test match I played I scored a big hundred for Australia. But I’m short of time in the middle.”It has been seven months since our last Test match and I’ve only played one one-dayer in between that time. That doesn’t make it easier. But you’re playing at the highest level. You’ve got to find a way to fight your backside off and spend time in the middle and then once you get in the game it gradually gets easier.”The problem for Australia’s batsmen in this Test has been surviving long enough for batting to become easier. Five of Pakistan’s batsmen in the first innings faced more than 100 balls, and two in the second innings. The only men who achieved that feat for Australia in the first innings were the openers David Warner and Chris Rogers, while rapid-fire wickets in the second ended any hope of players building an innings.”I’m not looking to blame anybody else or criticise anybody else,” Clarke said. “I’ve always loved the challenge of facing spin bowling. I’ve been out twice to spin bowling in this Test match. The guys are working hard, they’re doing everything they can. In subcontinental conditions, generally your first innings is your key, you need to go as big as you can.”I know Pakistan had the best of batting conditions, but I think in the second innings they showed again their class, batting on wickets that have a little bit of spin. But it’s not so much the spin, I think it’s the slowness of the wicket. The spin is a little bit inconsistent and I think that’s probably what has caught us out today, guys have played for spin and a lot of us have been out to balls that actually haven’t spun too much.”It has not just been Pakistan’s bowlers who have troubled the Australians in Dubai, though. The efforts of Younis Khan in particular to score two centuries in the game, and Pakistan’s batsmen more generally have frustrated Clarke and his men in the field. Clarke said the Australians had been outplayed in every facet of the game over the first four days, and could learn from the way Younis and his colleagues batted.”We probably haven’t been able to find as much out of the wicket as Pakistan have on one hand,” he said. “On the other hand Pakistan have batted a lot better than us … They’ve got a lot of experience in their Test team, and I think you’ve seen that so far over the four days. Younis has played exceptionally well and generally does in these conditions.”You need to take notice, watch and learn and all of us, for the guys that are out, we need to find a way to be full of confidence and be hitting the ball better than we are come the second Test match. For the guys that are left to help see us fight tomorrow. It’s really important they play their natural game and back themselves. Anything can happen in this game.”Clarke is usually a believer in the Shane Warne “win from anywhere” mantra, but the word “win” did not spill from Clarke’s mouth even once during his 12-minute press conference. Realistically, a draw is the best Australia can hope for with only six wickets in hand, and even that requires a good deal of optimism. This is one place in the world where praying for rain is pointless.”I don’t think Australians give up without a fight and that’ll be our goal tomorrow, to fight our backsides off and you never know,” Clarke said. “Steve Smith is a very good player of spin bowling, Brad Haddin has a lot of experience, Mitchell Marsh looked good in the first innings and Chris Rogers is fighting. So we’ll wait and see.”

And one that will be the same. A look at what has changed since 2011

Alan Gardner26-Jan-20151. Fielding restrictions and Powerplays
In 2012, the ICC made a number of alterations to the playing conditions for ODIs. The one that will likely have the most noticeable effect at this World Cup is the change from a maximum of five to four fielders outside the 30-yard circle for the majority of the innings. There will also be two blocks of Powerplay overs rather than three: the first covering the opening ten overs, when only two fielders are allowed outside the ring; the second, a five-over block to be taken by the batting side before the 40th over, restricting the number to three outside the ring.2. Two new balls
The move to a new ball being used from each end came about shortly after the previous World Cup, in late 2011. Previously the white ball, which is prone to degradation, was changed after 34 overs (although not for a new one). Providing two new balls has made batting more challenging for openers in conditions that assist quick bowlers but also preserves the hardness throughout the innings, meaning faster run-scoring later on. It also means reverse swing will likely be less of a feature.3. Reduced role for part-timers
The first two factors are likely to affect the balance of sides at this World Cup. Rahul Dravid has suggested there will be less leeway for part-time bowlers than four years ago, when India regularly got ten overs out of Yuvraj Singh, due to the lack of protection. The 1992 World Cup was the heyday of wobbly seam-up but even New Zealand are more focused on genuine pace these days, with specialists expected to shoulder the bulk of the workload in most attacks.There might not be much of a role for part-timer bowlers in this World Cup•BCCI4. The swing to seam
Conditions as well as rule changes will contribute to a major shift from 2011, when spin bowling dominated. Australia is generally inhospitable to spinners and that gig has only got harder since the reduction in the number of fielders allowed outside the ring, making it more difficult for sides to defend the boundary. Assistance for seam and swing will be expected in New Zealand, with pace and bounce on the Australian menu – although the fact the World Cup is at the end of the summer, when pitches will likely have become worn, could yet prevent spin from being snuffed out entirely.5. The post-chucking environment
There is another shadow hanging over the spinners, however. The zeal with which the ICC has sought to eradicate illegal actions means even those who have not been called or have undergone remedial work will be wary. The No. 1-ranked ODI bowler, Saeed Ajmal, will be absent; Sunil Narine, currently No. 2, is included in West Indies’ squad despite not having played internationally since being called in the Champions League; and Sachithra Senanayake is being eased back in by Sri Lanka after a ban. It may be up to Shahid Afridi, joint-leading wicket-taker in 2011, to fly the flag again.6. New kids on the block
This is not expected to be a tournament particularly high on those making their first World Cup appearances but there will be a host of fresh faces in the vanguard. Since India’s players hoisted Sachin Tendulkar on to their shoulders and carried him around the Wankhede, several giants of the game have retired or been dispensed with. There will be no Jacques Kallis or Graeme Smith, no Virender Sehwag or Zaheer Khan, no Muttiah Muralitharan, no Ricky Ponting, no Kevin Pietersen. Instead, the likes of Virat Kohli, Corey Anderson, Aaron Finch, Mitchell Starc and Moeen Ali will take centre stage.It will be a tournament short on mega stars•Getty Images7. The DRS
The ICC only confirmed what tools would form part of the DRS a week before the start of the tournament. Real-Time Snickometer, which had not been developed in 2011, is available this time but again there will be no Hot Spot. One thing that will be clearer from the outset is the process for reviewing lbw decisions via ball-tracking technology. Ian Bell’s reprieve in Bangalore four years ago incensed India and forced the ICC to issue revised guidelines; that 2.5-metre rule is now set at 3 metres, beyond which not-out decisions cannot be overturned.8. Increased prize money
The total pool of prize money on offer has been raised by 25% from US$8m to $10m for the 2015 tournament and the winning team could collect more than $4m, if they remain unbeaten. For the first time, the six nations who fail to make the quarter-finals will also be rewarded, to the tune of $35,000 each, with $45,000 also on offer for each group-stage win.9. No Super Overs in knockouts
In 2011, the ICC introduced the one-over eliminator – or Super Over – as the method of determining which team would progress in the event of a tie during the knockout stages. That replaced the Bowl Out from 2007, which had in turn superseded the method famously used to separate Australia and South Africa in 1999: group standings. Now things have gone full circle, with Super Overs dropped for all knockouts, except the final.10. Run rates
This one requires some theorising. The last World Cup was the first to have an average run rate of above five an over, going past the record of 4.95 set in 2007. Tighter fielding restrictions might suggest a continued upward trend, although a year after the regulations were tweaked, little had changed – in fact, armed with two new balls, bowlers had prospered in Australia and New Zealand. However, since the start of 2014, the average runs per over has ballooned to 5.32 in Australia and 5.66 in New Zealand. The dawning possibility of how quickly teams can score at the back of the innings, as evidenced by AB de Villiers’ record-breaking hundred in Johannesburg, means this World Cup could be the most supercharged of all.And one thing that will be the same…In case of a tie in the final, there will be a Super Over•AFP11. The format
Days after the 2011 final, the ICC announced that the next two tournaments would be contested by ten teams, sparking protests from the Associate and Affiliate nations – in particular Ireland, whose feats had helped reinvigorate the event. That decision was duly reversed a few months later, meaning that there will again be two groups of seven from which the eight quarter-finalists will emerge. It may make things somewhat predictable but that is more a consequence of needing to guarantee the major teams a certain number of games for television. A slimmer 2019 World Cup may be sadly lacking in romance.

Stats highlights from the India-Zimbabwe match in Auckland

S Rajesh14-Mar-20153:52

How does Taylor compare with Flower?

288 India’s total, their highest when batting second in all World Cup games.196 The unbroken partnership between Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni, India’s sixth-best in a World Cup game, and their best partnership in a World Cup run-chase. The previous-best in a run-chase was 174 between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma against Ireland just four days ago.62.14 The average partnership between Dhoni and Raina in ODIs. They’ve batted together 66 times, and have nine century stands and 17 half-century partnerships. It’s the second-best average stand for any pair which has put together at least 2000 runs in ODIs – only Hashim Amla-AB de Villiers (average 81.96 in 35 partnerships) have done better.The last 70 runs that Brendan Taylor scored came off 29 balls•AFP71.50 Suresh Raina’s average in World Cup matches. In seven innings he has scored 286 runs, while this was his first World Cup century.2 Number of 50-plus scores for Dhoni in World Cup games. In 15 innings, his only other half-century was an unbeaten 91 in the 2011 final against Sri Lanka.433 Brendon Taylor’s aggregate in the tournament, the highest for a Zimbabwe batsman in any World Cup. The previous best was 367, by Neil Johnson in 1999.5 The number of Zimbabwe batsmen who’ve scored World Cup hundreds. Apart from Taylor, the others are Andy Flower, Dave Houghton, Neil Johnson, and Craig Wishart. Taylor is the only one to score two hundreds in World Cup games: in his previous match, against Ireland in Hobart, he made 121 off 91.9 Number of batsmen who’ve made hundreds in successive innings in the World Cup. Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah achieved the feat against New Zealand yesterday, while the others to achieve it are Kumar Sangakkara, Mark Waugh, Rahul Dravid, AB de Villiers, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Saeed Anwar.70 Runs scored by Taylor in his last 29 balls, including seven fours and five sixes. In his first 81 balls, he had made 68.155 Taylor’s strike rate against R Ashwin – he scored 42 in 27 balls, including six fours and a six. Against Ravindra Jadeja he had a strike rate of 142 (44 off 31), while against each of the three seamers he scored at exactly a run a ball.8.17 The run rate during the Taylor-Craig Ervine partnership – they put together 109 off 80 balls. It’s the second-fastest 100-plus stand for Zimbabwe in World Cup matches: in the 2003 tournament, Grant Flower and Craig Wishart had added 166 off 117 balls (run rate 8.51) against Namibia.75 Runs conceded by Ashwin in his ten overs, the most he has ever conceded in an ODI. His previous highest was 74, against West Indies in Visakhapatnam in 2011. Jadeja went for 71, his fifth-highest.