All posts by h716a5.icu

Bossing it like Superman

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The reactions on Twitter while Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav dominated the England bowling on day four in Mumbai

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Dec-2016India began day four with a lead of 51, and it quickly swelled as Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav took charge. Kohli became the first Indian batsman – and fifth overall – to hit three double-hundreds in a year.

Kohli to break Sachin Tendulkar’s record? He needs only 11,728 more.

The England bowlers looked far from threatening on a fourth-day surface.

A cape? Not sure if Kohli would want one while running between the wickets.

Surely, if the proposal has to be taken seriously, it has to be him in whites.

The Wankhede crowd chanted “Kohli, Kohli” often, much in the fashion of “Sachin, Sachin”.

If you were short of superlatives.

Looking to take your game to the next level. You can seek help.

At the other end, Jayant became the first India No. 9 to score a century in Tests.

It’s been a fine debut series for Jayant.

If only England had held on to their chances.

Skipping Test cricket: never a good idea.

Looking forward to a Kohli-esque 2016 next year…

… and hopefully, fewer puns.

Bounce was Lyon's key weapon to attack

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Aakash Chopra analyses how Nathan Lyon used accuracy, bounce, revolutions and much more to end with as many as eight wickets on the first day in Bengaluru

Aakash Chopra04-Mar-2017We witnessed, perhaps, the best bowling from an overseas spinner in India. The pitch in Bengaluru was a typical Indian pitch, which had cracks running right through but they were neither wide nor loose on the first day. The islands between those cracks were firm and even though the pitch was a little drier than expected for the opening day of a Test match, it was nowhere close to what we saw in Pune. KL Rahul’s innings showed that barring a couple of balls misbehaving, there were no demons in the pitch that can’t be negotiated with skills and application. Considering these factors, Nathan Lyon’s 8 for 50 become unforgettable. He didn’t start as Steven Smith’s first-choice spinner at the beginning of the day but ended not only on a hat-trick (which he could complete in the second innings) but also as arguably the best Australian bowler on the tour thus far.We must focus and spend some time on reading Lyon’s pitch map against the right-handers (he bowled only a few deliveries to Ravindra Jadeja) and it will not only highlight the accuracy (the grouping shows that there was nothing too full or too short) but also the line that was reasonably outside off. By bowling that line, he probed both edges of the bat and created doubts.Nathan Lyon’s beehive to right-handers•ESPNcricinfo LtdThe beehive highlights the amount of extra bounce he managed to extract from the pitch. The best bit about Lyon’s bowling is his action, for he puts his entire body behind the ball. In addition to that, he puts a lot of revolutions with the seam pointing towards leg slip (not even fine leg) and that allows him to get more bounce than the rest. There is a lot of over-spin and very little of side-spin in Lyon’s bowling and the reason for that could be his conditioning to succeed on hard Australian surfaces. Since there is very little grip available in Australia, he has used bounce as his key weapon to attack.The following four dismissals highlighted the whole repertoire of Lyon’s skill set.Cheteshwar Pujara c Handscomb b Lyon 17While facing spinners, the first thing you must judge (besides reading the spin) is the length, for that determines your primary response of either going forward or deep inside the crease. Lyon got the ball to kick sharply so often that those lines got blurred right in the beginning of his spell. The ball that dismissed Pujara was a classic case of the extra bounce creating problems as it pitched at a length that forced the batsman to contemplate coming forward but since it wasn’t close enough to smother the spin, Pujara probably got stuck in two minds and also at the crease. The ball took the inside edge onto the thigh pad en route to the fielder at short leg.Virat Kohli lbw b Lyon 12The ball that dismissed Kohli would seem like another error of judgment in reading the line from the Indian captain, but to know why it happened we must look at the first ball of the same over. The first ball landed a couple of feet outside off (into the rough created by Mitchell Starc), spun and jumped to hit Kohli on the waist. Once the batsman sees that happening, the strategic and technical response is to avoid putting bat to ball for similar deliveries, for there are two fielders (short leg and leg gully) to catch the flick off the back foot and it’s not always possible to ride the bounce and play it along the ground against a viciously turning ball. A similar delivery consumed R Ashwin later in the day and that is a fine example of the dangers of attempting to ride the bounce against spin. There was nothing wrong with Kohli’s planning but he picked the wrong length and line to let one go. the fifth ball of the over was a lot fuller than the one that jumped and a little closer to the off stump too. It’s not easy to deceive a top batsman in the air but Lyon did that, once again.Ajinkya Rahane st Wade b Lyon 17The subtle variation in the air accounted for Rahane. Most of Lyon’s deliveries would start angling into the right-handers and the turn would further accentuate the problems, but on this occasion the ball drifted away ever so slightly in the air and foxed Rahane. Earlier in the spell, Rahane had hit a lofted drive over the midwicket fielder and, perhaps, was trying to repeat something similar. This time, though, the ball kept going away from him after pitching, and that was enough to beat the bat. Another classical offspinner dismissal.Wriddhiman Saha c Smith b Lyon 1Lyon kept the shiny part of the ball towards his palm and bowled it a little flatter with the palm facing skywards. The reason of doing so is to ensure that the ball lands on the shinier surface and goes straight while skidding through the surface, and that’s exactly what it did. Saha got deceived with the trajectory when the ball pitched outside off and he went back to nick the ball to Smitha at slip. Yet another excellent display of top quality finger-spin bowling.

'Had I been captain maybe I wouldn't have scored all these runs'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Osman Samiuddin15-May-2017It remains one of the most enduring what-ifs of Younis Khan’s career: what if, in November 2009, he had not upped and left the captaincy? Where would he, and Pakistan cricket, be now had he continued?Pakistan cricket is no longer as obsessed with that one, in light of the successes of the eventual beneficiary of that decision, Misbah-ul-Haq. But the question has hounded Younis’ career since, up to and including this, his last series.And now, as he steps away from international cricket as Pakistan’s most prolific Test batsman, it seems he has found closure. “People say to me, you should’ve done more captaincy,” he told ESPNcricinfo.”But I think whatever happens, happens for the best. Had I been captain maybe I wouldn’t have scored all these runs. People think that maybe I carry these regrets, but no. Had I done more, who knows whether I would be where I am today? If I had been captain for so long, maybe I would’ve been too distracted by other duties to score as many runs as I did.”Despite leading Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in 2009, Younis’ experience with the captaincy has been difficult. He turned it down first in 2007, having been groomed for it. In late 2006, as an interim captain, he had given it up in anger, only to accept it back a day later. When he resigned in 2009, it was under the weight of, effectively, a player revolt. And yet, over the last couple of years, he has spoken of another tilt at the captaincy, talk that has been encouraged by people around him.Certainly it is difficult to imagine him having done better as a batsman. Though his last series was a poor one, under Misbah’s captaincy, Younis scored nearly 5000 runs and more than doubled his century count: 18 in 53 Tests (16 in 65 before). It is a run that has established him as, arguably, Pakistan’s greatest Test batsman and one of the finest from anywhere in the modern age.”All the cricket I’ve played – for club, department, association, county, in Australia, wherever – when I’m gone if you ask any of them, they won’t be able to say that Younis Khan left something in the tank. I gave 200% everywhere I played.”Two-three years ago, I was about to retire but I got the motivation to try and get to 10,000 runs. As a captain, player, junior, senior, I put it all out there, whatever I had. Whatever I could, with bat, ball, in the field. No regrets either. We won a world title, we beat Australia, leveled a series in England. We performed, I performed so there’s nothing left that I really wanted to do.”So much does he feel he has given to the game that, unlike Misbah, he does not foresee a post-retirement attachment within the game. When he became captain in 2009, he had spoken keenly of helping set up a players’ association, something Pakistan’s cricketers have never known. That is not, for now, on the agenda.”Believe me – I think, in all, I’ve given 27-28 years of my life to cricket. So I have nothing in my mind about any future plans to get back into cricket. I don’t know if I’ll have any energy left after I leave to give to cricket.”A players’ association should happen for sure, but I don’t think I have the energy to be able to do something like this. We should do this, and if others start it up, then I will stand by them for sure.”One thing he will be doing plenty of is fishing, a pastime in which he often sought refuge during his career. “A lot of the dreams I had which I couldn’t get to while I was playing, I will now pursue. People think you achieve all of them in your career but actually this is a new career starting for me now.”

Don't mention the pay war

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

For Australian broadcasters and advertisers, a home Ashes series is something close to a sure thing. But at the moment it is very much the opposite

Daniel Brettig05-Jul-20175:38

Chappell: No deal a PR disaster for players, CA

Steven Smith stares gravely from the cover of Nine’s Ashes launch programme, clad in the baggy green and with bat in hand. These programmes are all over the Centennial Hotel, where Nine’s commercial, marketing and broadcast teams have combined to launch their coverage of the series in which Smith should be leading Australia.Yet there’s something different about this event, complete with all its expected television pizzazz, breathless salesmanship and the added pep and pepper of the Nine commentary team. Given the bitter ongoing pay dispute, there are no players present, nor is there anyone from Cricket Australia, from whom Nine bought the rights for near enough A$100 million a season in 2013, as part of a contract that ends next year.In days gone by, Nine used to sign up numerous members of the Test team to their own deals. Mark Taylor, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh, Ian Healy were all on the network’s books at the time of the previous major pay dispute in 1997-98, and it is still felt these deals helped ward off strike action by the players then. This time, however, only David Warner among the current team has any sort of deal with Nine, and even he is absent from the event.Nine’s Ashes coverage, and its pitch to prospective advertisers to be a part of it, offers a tangible example of how the pay dispute can destabilise the game, and how in many ways it already has. As things currently stand, Nine must rely on images and footage from last season and before to sell the Ashes, because the chance of anything new being shot has been scuppered by the expiry of the MoU and the passing of all intellectual property rights from CA to the Australian Cricketers Association’s new commercial wing – the Cricketers’ Brand.So it is that Nine’s pitch to the array of corporate types in the room starts with a montage of athletes from other sports saying how much they love watching the Ashes: Harry Kewell (football), Matthew Lloyd (AFL), Liz Ellis (netball), Libby Trickett (swimming) and Darren Lockyer (rugby league) are among the luminaries. Nine, it should be said, have taken this lateral approach in previous years, but had they wanted to approach CA to interview Australia’s players this week for a similar montage, they would not have been able to.Next up is Sam Brennan, Nine’s director of sales for sport. With a zeal somewhere between and Michael Keaton in , he outlines why summer is a great time to advertise: “Summer has a positive impact on the way we consume and the way we behave. In summer we’re doing more, we’re spending more time outdoors, we’re eating more, we’re drinking more. Most importantly for this room, we’re spending more. On average we expect Australians over summer to spend about $1200 more per head than in any other period of the year. That’s what’s exciting for us and that’s what all of us in this room are fighting for.”A record crowd watched the Boxing Day Test at the MCG in the 2013 Ashes. For advertisers and Channel Nine an Ashes summer is a reliable prospect from a commercial standpoint•AFPWith that, he goes into the hard sell. “Irrespective of what industry or category you work in, I think the real challenge for us is to find a meaningful way to connect consistently with our customers over summer,” he says.”Thanks to one of the largest ever marketing campaigns over summer through Cricket Australia, we will see for the first time in four years stadiums all around Australia sold out. Add to that the inaugural women’s Ashes kicking off on the 22nd of October this year, there is no doubt this will be the biggest summer of international cricket we have ever seen on Nine in four decades of broadcasting.”Phew.As director of sport, Tom Malone oversees the coverage around which all this prospective advertising may be wrapped. A little over a year and one cricket season into the job, he talks in Olympian terms. “It only comes to Australia every four years. That’s why it’s so special. Everyone involved times their run around the Ashes. Players, administrators, broadcasters, fans, everyone. It’s the Olympics of cricket, but there’s only one sport, only one arena, and only one event going on in that arena. All eyes are trained on that event. At the ground, at home, in pubs, at the beach, you can’t miss a moment, because it only comes around every four years.”

“The players are really pissed off they haven’t been shown enough respect, haven’t been given sufficient detail to make good decisions on the five years moving forwards”Ian Healy

Another montage knits together Ashes footage with images of Australia’s emerging team last summer, espousing the virtues of Warner, Smith, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan “cult hero” Lyon, and the young bloods Matt Renshaw, Pete Handscomb and Pat Cummins. As leader of the women’s team, Meg Lanning gets a brief mention. Nine, it is clear, wants to sell the exploits and personalities of these players to the advertisers who will then sell their products in between overs. It is all set out as a sure thing – what’s more reliable than an Ashes summer?In Brennan’s words: “We will deliver the most comprehensive cricket broadcast from October to February this year. There’s no other media organisation in Australia that can lay claim to that – we will beat everybody by the length of the Randwick straight.”But of course there is nothing sure right now. More than 230 players are unemployed, CA have a mess of commercial deals pending, and an event like Nine’s launch is meant to signal the start of a period in which issues like industrial relations have already been sorted out, opening the way for work on selling and promoting the game. , title of a book and film about the 2008 global financial crisis, would apply readily to the looming season.Studiously and deliberately, Nine’s commercial salesmen avoid any mention of the MoU or the dispute, but their commentators aren’t quite as polite. On a panel compered by Michael Slater – who was drawn into a heated debate on breakfast radio earlier in the week over the question of players being in “partnership” with CA – Ian Healy, Michael Clarke and Ian Chappell put forth their views.Healy terms it a dispute not over pay but its modelling: “The players are really pissed off they haven’t been shown enough respect, haven’t been given sufficient detail to make good decisions on the five years moving forwards. They want a little bit more respect with what they’ve been provided. That hasn’t happened. Then they’ve been presented with this offer that is A$100 million more than the last five years, but they’ve had no negotiations. It’s just ‘there it is’, so they’re a bit suspicious.”Steven Smith and David Warner have been key figures for the players in the pay dispute with CA•Getty ImagesChappell, ever the Atlanta Braves loyalist, draws on his memory of Major League Baseball’s fractious 1994-95 lockout. “It’s ridiculous that it’s got to this stage,” he says. “It’s got to be a partnership, and I think that it has been a partnership in the past with the MoUs, but this time I get the distinct impression they’re trying to split the players’ association. I don’t understand that, having come from an era when the players were on their own.”I think there’s a very good example [in baseball]. The players’ association and the owners didn’t like each other at all, and we had these four or five work stoppages. In 1994 they cancelled the World Series [due to a lockout] and I think that was the catalyst for both sides to look at each other and say, ‘This is stupid, this has got to be a partnership.'” From that moment on, I won’t say they like each other, but there hasn’t been a work stoppage since.”Clarke, meanwhile, takes the high road, urging the two warring parties to call a truce to allow the players to get back to preparing for summer, and then do their dealings away from the public eye. “This is a huge summer for Australia. We’ve all just seen the videos of the guys speaking about how important the Ashes series is for everybody in this room – x1000 for a player. It is the most important series of your career, and I know how important preparation is. So I would like the players to concentrate on that, and that gives CA and the ACA time to sort this out.”Tellingly, this missive draws the day’s only spontaneous applause, from a room of now rather more nervous advertising executives.The biggest laugh is drawn by Bill Lawry, about to commentate on his 40th consecutive season of international cricket for Nine. Cut off after a lively monologue about lifetime union and ACA membership by Slater, plus the enscarved Shane Watson’s resemblance to Harrison Ford, Lawry protests: “What happens if there’s no cricket? I’m getting in now early and getting my money’s worth!”Two strong views circulated in the room after official proceedings concluded. The first was that in a commercial game where perception is all important, the dispute itself is an awfully bad look for all. The second was that dollars and cents decree that some positive movement between CA and the ACA will need to be evident by the time Nine stages a second Ashes launch event in Melbourne on Wednesday.For just as the advertisers wanted to leave the Centennial Hotel with something more than Smith’s picture, CA’s Melbourne-based management would prefer to turn up to the lunch table with gladder and more certain tidings than those offered over the past few months.

When Herath tormented Pakistan

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Five previous instances when Rangana Herath spun Sri Lanka to victory against Pakistan

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Oct-20174 for 64, Faisalabad, 2004 The only one of these spells to be delivered by Rangana Herath 1.0 – before his 2009 renaissance – and the only one to have come in Pakistan, it was the carrom ball that was Herath’s primary weapon as he bowled Sri Lanka to victory. Back then, the term carrom ball hadn’t even been coined, of course, nor did anyone else seem to possess one. Unsurprisingly, it fooled no fewer than three Pakistan batsmen, Mohammad Yousuf among them. It is strange to think of Herath as a mystery bowler – in fact, he is closer now to mystery spin’s complete antithesis. But that he once won a Test for Sri Lanka using a gimmick variation he had devised at school when playing indoors with a tennis ball, underscores how fascinating his career has been.4 for 15, Galle, 2009The spell that made modern-day Herath, and one with a terrific backstory. He had been playing league cricket in Stoke-on-Trent, when Muttiah Muralitharan injured his shoulder a few days out from the first Test against Pakistan. Kumar Sangakkara, then captain, asked Herath if he could make it in time. The day after he arrived in the island, he was playing a Test, and four days later, he was winning it. Pakistan needed 97 to win on the final day, with eight wickets still intact. Herath took four wickets and turned a tight game, setting down a blueprint for so many of his future successes.5 for 99, P Sara Oval, 2009Pakistan had collapsed for 90 in the first innings without Herath really having had to interfere, but after Younis Khan and Fawad Alam had put on 200 together in the second innings, they were fashioning themselves an escape. Not if Herath had anything to say about it. Once Younis had fallen, Herath seized his moment, with the second new ball. He first nailed Mohammad Yousuf with a slider, had Alam caught bat-pad, before another arm ball wangled its way between Shoaib Malik’s bat and pad. What was impressive was the rate at which Herath’s wickets came. Having been 285 for 1, Pakistan were soon 320 all out. Sri Lanka would proceed to win by seven wickets.6 for 48, Galle, 2014A match that for four days seemed destined to be a draw – which by stumps on the fourth day, had still only seen six overs of the second innings, and yet one which Herath managed to bring to a thrilling conclusion. He had removed Khurram Manzoor within those six overs at the end of day four, then, once other bowlers had made the first two breakthroughs on the final day, Herath imposed himself. His first day-five wicket was an in-form Younis Khan, between whose bat and pad Herath slipped an arm ball. A near-unplayable hard-spun delivery then took Azhar Ali’s outside edge. Asad Shafiq and two tailenders would also fall to him, and while Herath was tearing Pakistan down, a huge crowd had built up, on the banks of the stadium as well as on Galle’s Fort. They were treated to one of the most colourful Test finishes seen in Sri Lanka, as a gigantic dark cloud parked itself above the stadium as Sri Lanka attempted to run down the target of 99. Angelo Mathews began hooking like a man possessed, and completed the winning run just as the skies unleashed a downpour.9 for 127, SSC, 2014The only performance on this list to have come in the first innings, though his second-innings haul was not too shabby either, at 5 for 57. As no other bowlers seemed to be getting wickets, Herath took it upon himself to dismiss almost the entire batting order himself. It was the loop and dip Herath achieved on an as-yet unresponsive surface that was the main feature of this innings. The ball just held an extra second in the air, and batsmen’s outside edges continued to be taken. Five catches went to either the keeper or slip. This spell would set up victory in Mahela Jayawardene’s farewell Test.

India yearn for a less slippery cordon

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Since India’s last tour of South Africa, their slip and gully fielders have dropped more often than they have caught. Whether it’s an issue of technique or temperament, they will have to sort it out quickly if they hope to win matches on pitches with pace

Sidharth Monga in Cape Town03-Jan-2018In the last five years of Test cricket, 407 Test wickets have fallen to catches off fast bowling; 131 of them (or 32%) have been taken by slips and gully. The corresponding number for Test cricket in India is 150 and 38 (25%). That difference in percentage should worry India coming to South Africa. And it doesn’t get better if you delve further.From the start of the South Africa tour of 2013-14 – the first time all India’s past slippers were gone – their cordon (slips and gully) has dropped at least 45 and taken 32 of the opportunities their fast bowlers have created in Test cricket. Incredibly, even if through playing five more Tests than South Africa’s 39 over this period, India’s fast bowlers have created more opportunities for their cordon than South Africa’s. Still South Africa have held on to almost as many – 44 – and dropped significantly fewer in a minimum of 23 chances. That despite losing Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith during this period, two of the best slip catchers of all time.Visiting short legs and silly points to India are not known to do as well as the India fielders, but here difference is notable. Almost everybody apart from the really hopeless close-in fielders has had a go and dropped catches for India in the cordon. M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have all hurt the fast bowlers. Karun Nair is not even on this trip. Until last December, if everyone was fit, India fielding coach R Sridhar’s ideal slip cordon was Vijay at first, Kohli at second, Nair at third and Rahane at gully.We have come a long way since then with all of them dropping catches and only Rahane able to lay some sort of a permanent claim to the gully position. Sridhar has often said that with frequent injuries to batsmen – especially the openers – and with India generally chopping and changing – Kohli is yet to field an unchanged XI as Test captain – they have not been able to nail down the ideal personnel for the job.At some point, though, technique has to be questioned apart from just familiarity, especially when embarking on a tour where the quicks will have to pick up more wickets through the cordon than they have to in India. Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid have spoken about the catchers getting up too early and their heads, consequently, having to move quickly for low catches and ruining what the eyes see. In that regard they should relax a little because in South Africa they won’t encounter too many low catches, but not all of their drops have been low catches.Dravid also advocated a narrower stance with the weight on the inside of the feet and not flat or on the heels. Weight on the inside with a narrower stance makes it easy to move to the ball if it is not coming straight at you. Even a tall fielder such as VVS Laxman used to prefer bending his knees to get low instead of going wide and risking losing balance.One of the theories that goes around is these current players are an excitable bunch, which is not the temperament you need in the slips, where you are expected to wait through long periods without an edge and not make a mistake when one arrives. This shouldn’t be an issue with Vijay, though, for example. India’s fielders are not wanting in the number of catches they take every day, but it could possibly be hard hands at slip to go with wide stances.Brian McMillan, one of the best the world has seen, says he doesn’t remember too many catches he dropped. That self-confidence along with big, soft and fleshy hands and the fitness to bend low for long periods made McMillan the slip catcher he was. When he was young he would face golf balls as a batsman, get in line, drop the bat and catch them. Catching those hard balls in his fingers helped him develop those soft hands and the feel for the hard ball hit hard at him.Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in 2011, back when real data was available to players but perhaps not to those on the outside, McMillan said that a success rate of anything between 60% and 70% in the slips was acceptable. This Indian team has been going at under 42% with no real improvement over the last few years. South Africa have been catching 66% of theirs.McMillan spoke to ESPNcricinfo while watching the Newlands Test, a week after India had won the Durban Test to level the series. It was only India’s second Test win in South Africa, following up on the one in Johannesburg in 2006-07. In Johannesburg, India held five catches at slips and gully, in Durban three. More importantly, nothing went down except for one at leg gully off the spin of Harbhajan Singh in Durban. The culprit there, Cheteshwar Pujara, used to stand at third slip to the fast bowlers despite that being his first away tour.Sridhar, who has been with the team for more than three years now, deserves to have questions asked of him. To be fair to him, he is working with fielders who don’t seem to be naturals in the slips, and is also working with a team that doesn’t let slip fielders develop by chopping and changing too often – Pujara, for instance, is back in the slips after a five-year gap – but the cold numbers are just too bad.Some of these drops have hurt India particularly badly. It was before Sridhar joined the backroom staff, but it is a moment nobody who follows Indian cricket forgets. India had England under the pump in England after winning the Lord’s Test, their under-pressure captain provided an early opportunity on the first morning of the third Test, and Jadeja displayed poor technique in dropping him. The series turned on its head, and India lost 3-1.Two-and-a-half years later, in the return series in India, Jadeja found himself at slip again, and dropped Alastair Cook once again, early into the Test. This time, though, the spinners kept producing chance after chance, which is why this drop is not remembered as much. In the last five years, catches in the slips and at gully have accounted for close to one in five wickets in South Africa. That is two such wickets per innings. India can’t afford to keep asking their bowlers to create more than four opportunities for those two wickets, if they are to take 20 wickets.

Adil Rashid's recall is expedient, unprincipled and unfaithful

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Left-field selection confirms that county cricket is in an existential crisis not of its own making

David Hopps26-Jul-2018The selection of Adil Rashid in England’s squad for the first Test will go down as one of the great betrayals of county cricket.And that is quite an accolade at a time when barely a week goes by without England’s professional game being treated with condescension.When, back in February, Rashid informed Yorkshire that he wanted to sign a white-ball contract and turn his back on the red-ball game, it was widely assumed that, unless and until he changed his mind, his Test career was at an end.Now it appears that Rashid can tack a few Tests onto a white-ball contract with the full blessing of those empowered at the ECB.Pragmatic, some might say; blue-sky thinking. The bigger picture is all that matters and there are not many spinners around. If it helps England beat India then all well and good.But as far as the county game is concerned – the game that underpins England’s team – this decision is expedient, unprincipled and unfaithful.There will be fury in the Broad Acres over the decision to select Rashid. That there is fury in Yorkshire should come as no surprise because it tends to happen on a daily basis.But as a sporting example of the difference between metropolitan laws of convenience and the cussed, uncompromising, sometimes self-harming morality that still flavours much of the north, this one will take some beating.Yorkshire are now in a curious position where a player who, by his own request, is on a white-ball only contract is now unavailable for the later stages of the T20 Blast (a white-ball competition) because he is playing red-ball cricket for England.(This follows, incidentally, two Yorkshire players – Liam Plunkett and David Willey – joining the IPL as injury replacements on the eve of the season and an overseas signing, Billy Stanlake, withdrawing entirely from a deal because Cricket Australia changed their mind).When Rashid made his white-ball decision in February, this onlooker, for one, was less critical than most. It was his life, his choice and, however much his critics protested about disloyalty, he was entitled to exercise his own free will.Now that England have persuaded him into double dealing – cognitive dissonance writ large – it is harder to defend him other than to remark that he faced an impossible choice: damned whichever way he fell.The condemnation that could now fall upon him, especially in his own county, will be considerable; the mischief that some will make of this unimaginable.Yorkshire, after all, have just undertaken a Roses match with Josh Poysden, another legspinner, called in on an emergency one-match deal because Rashid remained unavailable in a Championship round in which the vast majority of England players took part.It would have been strong-minded for Rashid to respond to England’s overtures to make himself available for the Test series against India by stating that he had made his decision to play white-ball only and, as long as that stance remained, he had to live or die by that.But Rashid is a complex, uncertain character, the pressure to say “yes” will have been considerable, and he should never have been put in that position.Expectations are that such decisions will soon be outlawed – that in future players will have to make themselves available for red-ball county cricket to be considered for Tests. But even this concession could soon descend into farce and fakery unless the will is there to protect the status of the county game.For Rashid to switch to Test-match mode will be far from easy. He is a wonderful white-ball cricketer when batsmen must attack him, when he can set boundary riders and when his mind is clear. Taking Test match wickets will be an entirely different challenge.If England win the World Cup next summer, there is every chance that he will be a central figure and he will deserve his triumph.If he appears at Edgbaston, he does not deserve to become the victim of this decision. He deserves the backing of every England cricket follower, of course he does. But it will be a time for regret and an exhausting realisation once more that England’s professional game is facing an existential crisis not of its own making.

Travis Head reveals Nathan Lyon's baggy green pledge

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Australia’s baggy green cap presentation was instituted by Mark Taylor over two decades ago, but none have tugged at the heartstrings quite like than that of Travis Head’s

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi14-Oct-2018Travis Head has revealed the years-old pledge made by Nathan Lyon that led to the most emotional of baggy green cap presentations in his Dubai debut, which featured a searching duel with Pakistan’s spinners and a pivotal role alongside the peerless century of Usman Khawaja in Australia’s great escape.There have been all sorts of variations on Australia’s baggy green cap presentation ceremony since Mark Taylor instituted it towards the end of his captaincy. None, however, have tugged at the heartstrings quite like than that of Head by Lyon. Choking back tears, Lyon described Head as “the little brother I never had”, a description apt to a cricketer who has been on the path towards his Test debut ever since debuting for South Australia as an 18-year-old in 2012.Captured on camera and relayed around the world, Head’s cap presentation by Lyon was a memorable start to an even more memorable match, in which his second-innings 75 in partnership with Usman Khawaja was critical to saving a match that would have been lost without a record Australian rearguard lasting all of 139.5 overs. Reflecting on the start of his first Test, Head told ESPNcricinfo that Lyon was initially reluctant to take up the task, before agreeing with the help of the coach Justin Langer. Alongside the late Phillip Hughes, Michael Klinger and Tom Cooper, Lyon had mentored the teenaged Head with the Redbacks.”JL asked me who I wanted to do it and I sighted it with him [Lyon] probably a week before, we were sitting next to each other on the bus and he said ‘you don’t want me to do it’ and brushed it off,” Head said. “And I didn’t want to ruin his preparation, so JL asked and I said I wouldn’t mind Nathan doing it, because we’d always spoken about playing Test cricket together.”He’d always looked after me. It was probably him, Hughesy, Coops, Maxy Klinger, there was that core group of older guys who just took me in and I absolutely loved it. Nathan’s playing Test cricket, Hughesy’s playing Test cricket. I’m 18, and Gaz would ring me, Hughesy would ring me in the morning and I’m just in awe hanging out with these blokes. So it was just amazing. Then I lost them all, pretty much, which was disappointing, but me and Nathan kept in touch.”One thing we always spoke about when we’d bump into each other, before even playing international cricket at all, he’d say keep nailing it, keep doing it, keep being consistent, backing it up and working really hard, because I want to play Test cricket with you, I want to tick that off. I want you to play Test cricket and I want to be there to experience it. So we’d always talked about it for a few years. He’s been amazing, he’s always pushed me, rides me pretty hard sometimes, but he just wants me to do as well as I can, and it was nice he could present it to me. Nice he took that up, and he actually got a bit croaky, and he got me going. He’s been amazing to me, and he’s a good mate, so it was nice.”Head’s first Test was an enormous education in the space of a few days. Having endured through a Pakistan first innings that lasted more than five sessions, he looked nervous and out of his depth in his first visit to the batting crease, pushing hard at a Bilal Asif offbreak in the rough and edging to second slip for a duck. Following a post-play tutorial alongside the rest of the team’s left-handers, Head worked at being more proactive and decisive, resorting to the sweep against Yasir Shah. While those attempts did not make contact, the tactic helped him gain breathing room against other deliveries, as he built a critical bulwark with Khawaja.”It is a tactic that I’ve used a couple of times on day four in Shield cricket, only when the ball is spinning in really. Dutchy [Jon Holland] I’ve faced a bit in Shield finals and day four in Adelaide or the MCG where it’s spun a little bit,” Head said. “I’ve had success doing it, so it was just one of those things, I went back to what had worked, and it was mainly to try to get away from his best ball with blokes around the bat. He’d probably want me playing forward defence out of the rough and bringing his guys in around the bat, but I think being positive on his best ball was my best game plan, and trying to take him away from bowling his best ball.”I’d spoken a couple days earlier about letting them bowl to me a bit [in the first innings], I want to make sure I’m pretty proactive and trying to get them off their best ball. So not letting him get in a rhythm when he was bowling into the rough and can bring more dismissals into play. I don’t think I actually hit one, so I’ve had more success doing it. I had a top-up [net session] today, working on getting rhythm. It’s a shot where you’ve got to have good rhythm on and I’ve been playing on spinning wickets on the Australia A tour and what not but I haven’t really had to use it. I think I used it on day four in the second Australia A tour game with left-arm spin, but I also think that left-arm spin’s a bit easier to hit it because obviously Yasir with legspin they traditionally put a lot more on it, and he got quite good dip and drift.”So I was disappointed I was missing it, not hitting it, would’ve been nice to get up the other end as well, but on the other had I wasn’t too fazed. It’s a bit like the right-arm off spinner, I’m happy to get beaten on the outside edge, but extremely disappointed when I get beaten on the inside, which I did, but for the majority of my innings, you don’t worry if you miss it. On a spinning wicket it’s the same the other way, if I miss it and it hits my pad and I’m outside the line [of off stump] I’m not too bothered about missing the shot, its more about putting in his mind that I’m proactive, on the front foot and making him know that he’s got to bowl his absolute best ball to try to get me out.”Travis Head plays the sweep•AFPHaving seen a way past Yasir, Head was unable to keep out his first, skidding delivery from Mohammad Hafeez with the second new ball, despite being very familiar with what was coming. In this Hafeez recalled a line from Jonty Rhodes about facing Shane Warne’s flipper in the mid-1990s, where he said that despite being able to read the delivery due to the bowler’s different thumb position, he still found it extremely difficult to play.”That was extremely disappointing, we spoke about it the ball before I faced him. I’d faced him in one day cricket, he’s exactly the same in one day cricket so I knew where he was going to go,” Head said. “The discipline part with that is you’ve almost got to get through your first one or two balls of it, get a feel for the pace of the wicket [with a new ball], and I just wasn’t able to do that.”In the first innings, I’d worked extremely hard on my forward defence and got out caught in slips pushing a little bit hard, and did something I didn’t want to do. In the second innings it wasn’t the same mistake but I was working so hard at not getting beaten on the inside of the bat and doing it so well in facing 175 balls, to get done like that was extremely disappointing. The stage of it as well, the second new ball, if we get through that you get a feel for the wicket, it probably wasn’t going to be as hard for Marnus with the threat of it skidding on, so it was quite a big moment of the game and very disappointing to get out when I did.”That left Head to watch the final, tense passages in the team viewing area, joining the assistant coach David Saker alongside the No. 11 Holland and trying to calm his nerves about perhaps being called out to negotiate the last few overs. Fortunately for Holland, Head and the rest of the Australians, Lyon was able to survive the final 12 overs in the company of the captain Tim Paine, meaning that the presenter of Head’s baggy green cap had lived out the values he spoke of on the first morning.”I sat outside next to Dutchy and Sakes [Saker] and it was quite relaxed, the best way for [someone on a] duck to be ready [to go in next]. We were trying to take the edge off and make sure he was nice and calm,” Head said. “I had full confidence in the guys. We had a hiccup there where we lost a couple of quick wickets, but Nathan was unbelievable and he’s been nightwatchman for so long and got a great forward defense. I had full confidence in the guys, a bit nerve-wracking towards the end, but as it went on and on the pressure was more on them to try to get the breakthrough and once you got through your first 20 balls it got more comfortable out there.”There’s no doubt we were up against it going into day five. It just showed great resilience, and it was nice to be one of the guys who contributed to that, but that’s your job. That’s what you expect. It was great to do the job for the team, what I expected to go out and do and it was really nice to do that, even though it was my first game.”Usman was unbelievable and showed the class at the other end, probably the best I’ve ever seen anyone bat on day four and five in tough conditions, so either my first game or Usman’s 34th, we knew what we had to do, so that wasn’t a case of being inexperienced, it was something that wasn’t unknown to me. I went out there with a simple game plan, a clear game plan and I was definitely a lot more positive in the first innings. I was a lot more calm and relaxed, which was nice, it was good to get to stumps in that last session and give us the belief we could do it.”

From Kashmir to the IPL, Rasikh Dar leaps up the cricketing ladder

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

The 17-year-old fast bowler is excited to absorb as much as he can in his upcoming stint with Mumbai Indians in IPL 2019

Tahir Ibn Manzoor 20-Dec-2018From the mountainous Kulgam district in Jammu & Kashmir to steaming Mumbai, it will be a long journey for Rasikh Salam Dar when he takes his place in the Mumbai Indians squad for the 2019 IPL. Dar, a 17-year-old right-arm fast bowler who has hit speeds of 135 kph, has a lovely inswinger and a dangerous yorker, and was signed by Mumbai Indians for INR 20 lakh (approx US $27,000).Dar’s reputation began to grow with the hat-trick he took in a practice match at the Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium. He excelled at a district-wide T20 tournament earlier this year, was drafted into the state’s Under-19 team, and finally moved up the ranks to play for the senior side in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in October. With a skiddy action that bears a resemblance to that of Pakistan’s Hasan Ali, and a desire like Shoaib Akhtar to instill fear in batsmen, Dar took three wickets in two List A matches during the Vijay Hazare Trophy.His next stop was the Mumbai Indians nets. This came about after he was spotted by the franchise’s scouts during the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy, where one of his performances included a six-for. At the nets, he went through a trial with some of his fellow fast bowlers, and come the day of the auction he received the news that he had been picked up by the former champions for the upcoming season.”I am yet to come to terms [with the selection], so is my family. As an individual, I am very excited and equally happy to be the part of Mumbai Indians’ camp. God willing, if given a chance I will give 100%,” Dar told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a proud moment for me to play alongside Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh. I am looking forward to learning tidbits from Lasith Malinga. In many ways, he is a treat to watch when it comes to hitting the right line and length.”That he has shot to such widespread prominence in a state where cricketing infrastructure hasn’t always been great makes his story all the more compelling. Jammu & Kashmir has only one ground with a turf pitch – and the players can use it only when the weather permits. As recently as March, there were no indoor facilities. Nevertheless, it was his performance in the Burzhama Premier League, a privately organised district-level competition, that helped him gain visibility. And seniors such as J&K captain Parvez Rasool and Irfan Pathan, who has joined the team as a player-cum-mentor, have contributed to his growth.”I’ve been very lucky to be nursed by a star player like Irfan, who represented India at the highest level.” Rasikh said. “It has to be quite an achievement to be remembered for a lifetime. Also, the support of Parry [Rasool] in itself has been immense. I had worked hard to go up the ladder and I have a long road ahead.”Rasool, the first cricketer from J&K to represent India, said he was proud to see the assembly line produce players like Dar. Until that district T20 tournament – Rasool says it was the first of its kind in J&K – Dar had been a virtual unknown. He used the stage to showcase his talent and now has the chance to break into a larger playing field.”I am very glad he had made it all through,” Rasool said. “I wish him luck for the future prospects. He has worked hard to shape himself up as a young rising star from the valley.”Former J&K captain Samiullah Beigh urged Rasikh to stay focused. “I hope that boy keeps his head down and utilises this opportunity to learn. I have not seen him bowl yet but have heard a few good things about him. The onus is on him to see whether he gets blown away by the limelight or uses this opportunity to grow and succeed.”All Dar has to do is live up to his name, literally. “Rasikh” means stability in Kashmiri. He has age on his side and is aware that he has the perfect setting to improve. “I often try to work on my basics and execute them to perfection. Whenever I fail to deliver, I go back to the shed and do shadow practice. I have always been a greater believer of making things happen rather than sitting back to live by daydreaming. Fast bowling pushes me to return stronger than before. I’m eager to cash in on the opportunity by the grace of god.”He also credits the efforts of J&K coach Milaph Mwande and attributes his success to his brother Irfan Salam Dar and cousin Nadeem Ahmed in his journey so far.”Indeed, it’s a matter of pride for all of us,” his father Abdul Salam Dar said. “We’ve always backed him to study hard. While following my son closely I found him excelling in co-curricular activities and then I thought let us give him the room to prove his credentials on a wider scale.”There can’t be many wider than the IPL.

Centurion Akshay Karnewar deconstructs Vidarbha's dazzling rearguard

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Much like the Ranji Trophy final, Vidarbha’s top order wobbled in the first innings of the Irani Cup, but their No. 8 was there to save the day

Sreshth Shah in Nagpur14-Feb-2019For the past two years, if there’s any aspect of Vidarbha’s cricket that you could rely on, it was their top order. In a team that has two professionals who are batsmen – Wasim Jaffer and Ganesh Satish – and an India player in Faiz Fazal, getting runs on the board was never a concern. Vidarbha rode on the back of these three men, and young wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar, to post above-par totals through the Ranji Trophy season.Yet, when it mattered the most, like in the Ranji Trophy final against Saurashtra, the Vidarbha top order wobbled heavily. It was left to their young lower-order batsmen to carry the load, and if it wasn’t for them, Vidarbha wouldn’t even have made the Irani Cup. And now that they’re in the Irani Cup, once again, it’s their lower-order resistance that has lifted them into an advantageous position against Rest of India [RoI] in Nagpur.Let’s rewind to February 3 – the first day of the Ranji Trophy final. At 139 for 6 against a Saurashtra attack led by Jaydev Unadkat and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Vidarbha had no business reaching 312, especially after none of their top six batsmen got to fifty. But a dogged rearguard effort ensured they had taken a tiny lead, having bowled Saurashtra out for 307 in their first innings.Then came their second innings, the match’s third. Starting off with a five-run lead, they were swiftly reduced to 73 for 5, with Jaffer, Fazal and Ganesh failing to make an impact once again – and looked destined to lose the Ranji Trophy final. But once again, their last five batsmen added 86 runs on a very difficult track to set Saurashtra a target that eventually was too big for them.The Irani Cup has followed the same template for Vidarbha. Yesterday, when they were struggling at 168 for 5 just after tea, not many would have wagered that Vidarbha’s lower order could go past RoI’s 330, let alone finish with a lead of 95. It all happened courtesy allrounder Akshay Karnewar, and his troupe of Vidarbha boys, who dug in deep.After the third day, Karnewar told ESPNcricinfo that the batting improvements in Vidarbha’s lower order wasn’t just by chance. It was a very conscious effort from their – for the lack of a kinder word – less-fancied batsmen to carry the team’s batting right down to No. 11.”Our lower-order batsmen have worked hard in the nets,” Karnewar said. “Because they weren’t contributing much up until the semis. It’s something that was pointed out by our coaches, and we have consciously worked on this.”In all, Vidarbha’s last five partnerships in the Irani Cup’s first innings stitched together three half-century stands. Even their last pair – whose combined first-class batting average is less than 10 – added 39 crucial runs. In their last three innings, Vidarbha’s last five batsmen, Nos 7 to 11, have made 40.3%, 43% and 41.9% of the team’s runs.A bit of that has come down to home advantage, as Karnewar himself admits, but he also says that as allrounders and bowlers, they understand exactly how the pitch at Nagpur’s VCA Ground behaves. It’s that skill, of reading the surface while batting – even though one’s not a front-line batter – that’s helped the team’s lower-order raise their game.Akshay Karnewar plays a shot•PTI “Firstly, it’s our home ground, so we have an idea of how to play here,” Karnewar said. “We need to play sensibly; just can’t come and start hitting on this ground. You saw how they [Mayank Agarwal and Anmolpreet Singh, of RoI] got out trying to attempt big shots.”It was a memorable day for Karnewar himself – who has shined through the Ranji season with both bat and his slow left-arm spin – but failed to reach three figures up until today. His 94 against Railways in the group-stage game and an arguably match-winning innings of 73 not-out in the final showed brief glimpses of his skill as a proper allrounder. But his 102 today against the best Indian bowlers of the season, took the cake for the 26-year-old from Wagholi.”Feeling very well right now, especially scoring my first hundred, that too in the Irani Trophy,” Karnewar said. “Doing good for the team gives me satisfaction.”The match is very open. The first plan for us today was to cross the lead, and I was happy we did that. But I was disappointed getting out to a loose shot. It’s left the match open.”Karnewar, though, felt his maiden first-class ton was still far away from being a match-winning hundred. What’s important on the fourth day, according to him, is the accuracy with which they bowl to RoI. In overnight batsmen, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari, and a star-studded middle order comprising Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan to follow, Vidarbha have a massive challenge of ensuring that the target in the fourth innings doesn’t bloat up. He, in fact, even had a score in mind, after which the game might slip away from Vidarbha’s grasp.”The wicket is turning, and [there’s] a lot of bounce too,” Karnewar said. “So on this ground, it’s important to not bowl boundary balls, and the pitch will give you rewards. It’s not an easy wicket, it’s very challenging, but if we chase around 150, then we can definitely win this game.”

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