Piyush Chawla believes that if he does well in the Champions League Twenty20, against “highly-ranked batsmen”, he stands to earn a recall to the Indian team

Nagraj Gollapudi10-Oct-2009Piyush Chawla seems obsessed with Twenty20 cricket. The other day he was sporting a Sussex Sharks t-shirt – they’re the team he represents in the Champions League Twenty20 – and today he had on a red Kings XI Punjab vest. Asked if he had his priorities correct, Chawla replied with a laugh: “This is just because I’m going to take a nap.” He confesses he enjoys the format a lot and knows if he does well against highly ranked batsmen in this competition, he stands to earn a recall to the Indian team.Chawla was dropped after an indifferent Asia Cup last year, where apart from against minnows Hong Kong, he managed two wickets in two games and went for over five an over against Pakistan. The Indian selectors then decided he needed to further develop his skills and command over the ball before they could think of grooming him for the legspinner’s slot, once a bastion of Anil Kumble and now occupied by Amit Mishra.”I’m just knocking on the doors all the time. I know I’ll be back soon. It is just a matter of time,” Chawla told Cricinfo on the eve of Sussex’s game against New South Wales. Many, including one of India’s selectors, Narendra Hirwani, believe Chawla relies too much on the googly and needs to work hard on controlling his stock delivery, the legbreak.Chawla himself doesn’t buy the theory. “I can’t say anything went wrong. I just had couple of bad games.” According to him, he now can turn the ball enough to trouble batsmen. “I depend more on variations, and if you bowl the same kind of ball, batsmen will get smarter, and I wouldn’t stand a chance.”Chawla is 20. His positive demeanour owes plenty to his relatively sound first-class stint with Sussex, where he made a strong impression.”When I reached there, the first question the Sussex press asked me was would I be able to fill Mushy’s shoes?” he recalls. Mushtaq Ahmed, the former Pakistan spinner, is a legend in those parts, having helped Sussex to more than one County Championship.”I felt good as people looked up to me,” Chawla said. In his first game he scored a century and picked up eight wickets; in the next he took a match haul of 11 wickets. It was enough to earn him his own nickname at Hove – Pushy.”I felt really good,” he says. “Once people start expecting things of you, that adds pressure, but it gives me a positive vibes.”Chawla had two stints with the county, beginning with a month as replacement for Yasir Arafat, the club’s overseas player, who left to join Pakistan during the ICC World Twenty20. The day Chawla was leaving England after his first stint, he met Mushtaq for a casual chat, during which Mushtaq encouraged him to continue doing what he was doing. It was not the first time Chawla had spoken to a spin maestro.During the first season of the IPL, Chawla sought out Shane Warne. Their first meeting was after the game between Punjab and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur in the first round. Chawla, who had gone through two bad games, wanted desperately to get the legend’s advice.Warne simply asked Chawla what he thought when he had the ball in hand. “I said I just look to contain the batsman.” Warne wasn’t impressed and said a legspinner’s job was to take wickets even if he went for runs. Their conversation lasted an hour. It was enough for Chawla to gain a lifetime’s worth of confidence.During their one-on-one Chawla also checked with Warne if he too thought something was not right with his bowling action, and if he didn’t turn the ball enough. “He said, ‘You are a good bowler, there is nothing wrong with you and you turn the ball enough,'” says Chawla. About a month later, at the end of the tournament, the two met again and Warne said, “Bro, there is nothing to tell you now.” By then Chawla had changed his approach, become more open-minded and more attacking. He was the third-highest wicket-taker in the 2008 IPL.Chawla has used that chat to inspire himself every time he goes into a shell or misses playing for India. During this year’s IPL, Warne had a pat on the back for Chawla on the back in the Punjab-Rajasthan game in the first round, where Rajasthan put up a 200-plus total. Despite the eventual loss, Chawla had impressive figures of 2 for 28 in four overs.Recently when Chawla was at the National Cricket Academy he ran into Kumble. “Anil asked me to stay positive and not think about selections and all that.” With such illustrious names backing him, Chawla has cause to believe he must be doing something right.He is still feeding off the recognition he received at Sussex and expects to return to Hove next year. He misses playing for his country – “every game.These are delicate times for India’s second-youngest Test debutant.

Sri Lanka’s prolific opener used to be a bits-and-pieces player before he discovered his mojo, got a lock on the batting slot he wanted, and stamped his patent on the most talked-about new stroke in cricket

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Jun-2009Sir Garfield Sobers is not a person to be easily overlooked. Yet, when the greatest allrounder called on the Sri Lankans, as they trained before the second semi-final of the World Twenty20 at the Oval, Tillakaratne Dilshan had no idea who he was exchanging pleasantries with. “I just said hello,” Dilshan says with an embarrassed smile. Sanath Jayasuriya, standing next to Dilshan, realised his younger team-mate didn’t know who the visitor was. “He was shocked,” Dilshan chuckles.”I never seriously followed cricket when I was young,” he says. The first live cricket match he watched was on TV – the last 10 overs of Sri Lanka’s momentuous 1996 World Cup triumph over Australia. Dilshan was at a family wedding when people in one corner perked up as they watched Aravinda de Silva tear the Aussies to shreds. Something stirred inside Dilshan.Relaxed, attentive, at ease, not unduly modest, Dilshan exudes confidence. His innovative, outrageous scoop shot into the no-man’s land behind the wicketkeeper, christened variously “the Dilscoop” (Dilshan prefers this) and “the starfish” has become the talk of cricket. “I now have a shot in my name, na,” he says in the trademark sweet Sinhalese tone. The sparkle in his eyes cannot be missed.Hours after our meeting Dilshan went on to script a memorable and considered 96 to take Sri Lanka to the final. Unfortunately, two days later he failed in the big game against Pakistan, pull-scooping lamely and returning with a duck. “There were only two matches I didn’t get runs. I am really disappointed in myself that I didn’t do my best in the final,” he said after the defeat. Still, he finished as the best batsman in the tournament, with the most fifties and fours.From being a fringe player and then a bits-and-pieces one who batted at nearly every position in the order, Dilshan seems to finally have nailed the opener’s slot in ODI and Twenty20 cricket. His batting is not about thwacking; it rests on a more measured approach. His shot selection is precise and he can switch between the roles of anchor and attacker without much sweat.”He is someone who needs to be kept on the edge,” Paul Farbrace, Sri Lankan’s assistant coach of two years, says. According to him, Dilshan may take 10 balls for 10 runs, but if he faces 30 balls he will score 50; his strike-rate rises with the amount of time he spends at the crease. “He is one of the best counter-attackers in world cricket,” Farbrace says. “He has such belief in his own ability and is very strong-minded, and sometimes that’s his downfall. But every top player has that inner belief that they are going to do well on that particular day. Dilshan has that in abundance.””I realised I wanted to cement one spot,” Dilshan says, leaning forward on the couch to make himself heard above the din in the hotel lobby. “Opening was the best slot because Sanath will retire in the next few years and I wanted that responsibility. I want to play the role Sanath has played.”It was under Jayasuriya’s captaincy that Dilshan made his Test debut, in 1999 in Zimbabwe. He made just nine runs in Sri Lanka’s only innings, but before doubts could invade the youngster’s mind, Jayasuriya wrapped a blanket of comfort around him. “‘Dilly, just play this like an A team match,’ he told me. That removed a huge pressure after the first Test,” Dilshan recollects.Ten years on, Dilshan is coming to his father-figure’s rescue. Jayasuriya’s form was scratchy in the World Twenty20: apart from a dominating 81 against West Indies, the man who has hit some of cricket’s most blistering knocks failed to find his feet. But Dilshan made sure he made up when “Sanath ” (elder brother) was finding it hard at the other end. He outscored Jayasuriya by miles (317 to 177), laying to waste opposition bowling attacks.

It was during the IPL, when facing the bowling machine, that he came up with the scoop, He tried a paddle sweep against a short-of-length delivery and ended up flicking it over his own head

Despite his own failure, Jayasuriya had a hand in Dilshan’s second coming. “He has always asked to me play my game,” Dilshan says. At the start of each innings the pair assessed the pitch before deciding on a feasible plan. Jayasuriya as the experienced old hand played navigator, drawing up the gameplan – which bowler to attack, when to rein in, and when to accelerate. That made Dilshan’s job in the driver’s seat much easier. “I know if I get a start I can go for runs and put the opposition under pressure in the Powerplay,” Dilshan says.At the end of 2007, Dilshan was caught in a whirlpool mostly of his making. Immediately after wrapping up the home ODI series against England, he tied the knot with long-time friend Manjula Thilini. A month before, he had separated from his first wife, Nilanka. Thilini was an actress and the marriage invited plenty of negative press.Dilshan does not want to talk about whether his personal life had any bearing on his loss of form in cricket. Exactly a year after the second marriage, he was dropped following the four-nation Twenty20 event in Canada. He was furious at having to sit out ODI series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. “My wife heard me and said I should do what I’m comfortable with and not think twice. Her confidence helped me,” Dilshan says. “I’m more free after my second marriage.”Dilshan first opened for Sri Lanka in a 2007-08 CB Series game against India. Immediately after India’s innings Mahela Jayawardene told Dilshan he was opening. Dilshan put on his pads and scored a brilliant 62. But in the 18 games he played from then till the time he was dropped, he opened only another couple of times; he played at No. 6 on 13 occasions and once at No. 7.By the time he played for Sri Lanka again, in the Test series against Bangladesh in December 2008, he had made up his mind to become assertive about opening in ODIs and Twenty20s. He had done so successfully in domestic cricket in the two months away from national duties.”He is one of those players who could bat anywhere in the top six in any form of the game,” Farbrace says. “Sometimes, when you are such a player who is so versatile, you don’t nail a set position, and probably in the past that’s been his undoing. Such a player can lose his spot when he has a slightly bad run, since he hasn’t really nailed down a position of his own.”Dilshan scored handsomely on the Test leg of the Bangladesh series, which prompted the selectors to recall him for the Pakistan tour, where he was Man of the Series. He carried that form into the IPL, for the Delhi Daredevils. He was promoted to No. 3, after having played at Nos. 6 and 7 in the first tournament.After the hundred against Pakistan in Lahore earlier this year•AFP”I’m thankful to Viru [Sehwag] that he gave me the opportunity in the top order,” Dilsan says of his Delhi captain. Sehwag asked Dilshan to play as he knew best, and Dilshan did not need any further motivation.It was during the IPL, when facing the bowling machine, that he started playing the scoop. He tried a paddle sweep against a short-of-length delivery and ended up flicking it over his own head. “‘Wow, this is something,’ I thought to myself, and tried to play it again.”It takes guts but I have the confidence to do it and I’ve been successful so far,” Dilshan says, adding that he has not been hit in the face yet. The first time he played the shot in a match was against Deccan Chargers, when he scooped Ryan Harris twice. The shot, he says, offers him an alternative plan to deal with a length ball: he plays the paddle sweep usually to a yorker-length delivery, but to one pitched on a good length, he now has the option of the scoop.The stroke may be the most striking new thing about Dilshan’s game, but also notable is how he has been playing a lot straighter, and giving himself more time to settle in. “Sanga and Mahela have given him that free rein to go and hit, but to do it responsibly and not recklessly,” Farbrace explains.A touch of hot-headed recklessness was on show, though, in the IPL, in a game against Hyderabad. Dilshan and Fidel Edwards exchanged words as the fiery Barbadian sprayed a barrage of short-pitched stuff; one ball hit Dilshan on the helmet. Dilshan came out the winner with a handsome pulled six. “I told him to go and fetch the ball,” he says, flashing another big smile.

The two Gs are once again the names most prominent among the shortlist of who should be at the helm, ahead of the tour to Australia

Tony Cozier26-Oct-2009It is a fitting irony that Daren Ganga should have, in the space of a couple of weeks, suddenly returned as a credible candidate as West Indies captain through his leadership in the shortest form of the game. Even more so, since the principal claimant to reclaiming the post is Chris Gayle. The two are closely linked in the ever changing story of the captaincy.Ganga, based on his influence in bringing Trinidad & Tobago from near-bottom to the top in regional cricket within a few years, was placed to lead the West Indies A teams on tour along with the two Tests in England in 2007 when deputy to the injured Ramnaresh Sarwan, before Gayle came into the picture.Gayle was first elevated for the three ODIs on the same England tour only because of Sarwan’s absence and Ganga’s perceived inability as a limited-overs batsman. Even then, Gayle’s nomination by the selectors was initially rejected by a West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) executive committee dubious of his suitability. In the end, under pressure, it had to make an embarrassing U-turn.Now, on the eve of a tour to Australia for three Tests, the two Gs, so different in every way, are again the names most prominent among the public’s shortlist of who should be at the helm.Gayle was the incumbent before he and all those players originally chosen for the series against Bangladesh walked out two days before the first Test to press the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) case in its long-running disputes over contracts with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). Through a tenuous agreement that had to be brokered by CARICOM politicians, the issues are now supposedly settled and the aggrieved players are all once more available for selection.Gayle has asserted that he is ready to resume his role, stating that “it is always an honour to captain West Indies”.Ganga has sensibly made no mention of such ambitions. He has simply once more come to the fore following his universally-praised leadership during T&T’s advance to Friday’s final of the Champions League Twenty20 final in India, paradoxically the kind of cricket that cost him the West Indies captaincy in the first place. He is now being promoted, inside and outside of T&T, as the one needed to instill the same discipline, unity and pride shown by his team in India.

Even with a board that has been embarrassed by his words and deeds, Gayle’s numbers and the regard with which he is held by his players are likely to regain him the captaincy

There can be no doubt that he has special qualities of leadership. As astute a judge as Ian Chappell alluded to it in the television commentary. Given the responsibility at whatever level, he will hardly shirk from it.Yet, from his experiences with fractious ‘A’ teams, Ganga himself will know that leading West Indies is an entirely different challenge. He has captained T&T for eight years. He knows his men intimately, and vice-versa. They play together at club level and, as was evident in their remarkable performance in India and in the two regional Stanford 20/20 tournaments, have a passion for each other and for the flag.In his two years in charge of West Indies, Gayle has gained the publicly-stated support from several of those under him, Dwayne Bravo of T&T the latest, but his messages have been confusing.He resigned as captain after the home series against Australia just over a year ago in circumstances never fully explained, before WICB president Julian Hunte persuaded him to change his mind.In an interview with a British newspaper during the tour of England last May he said he was tiring of Test cricket and that he would “soon” give up the captaincy.His arrival from South Africa two days before the first Test at Lord’s last season seemed to place his commitment to his contract with the IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, above that to his West Indies team. As forthright with his words as he is with his hard-hitting batting, he had several public run-ins with the WICB prior to the July strike, especially after he was controversially installed as captain, over Ganga, in 2007 in England.In his two years in charge of West Indies, Gayle has gained the publicly-stated support from several players under him, Dwayne Bravo of T&T the latest•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography He refused to apologise for his open criticism, as called on to do so by then WICB president Ken Gordon, noting that “there is no love lost between myself and the Board”.It was hardly the ideal relationship between the organisation charged with administering the game and the leader of the team. But Gayle’s settled position as commanding opening batsman and useful offspinner and his evident popularity within the team, if not his tactical acumen, were enough to retain the captaincy.As far as Ganga’s claims are concerned, there remains the perennial question of whether his batting merits selection. He averages 25.71 in 48 Tests in the ten years since his debut as a promising 19-year-old in South Africa. By comparison, Gayle’s record is 39.58 in 82 Tests along with 41 wickets.Even with a board that has been embarrassed by his words and deeds, Gayle’s numbers and the regard with which he is held by his players are likely to regain him the captaincy.Whoever is chosen faces an intimidating task.Australia have been the game’s most consistently powerful team for more than a decade, time in which West Indies have plummeted from their once similar position as champions to the bottom of the international ratings. They last won a Test there in 1997 and have been beaten in all of their last seven.Coming, as it does, only weeks after the end of yet another divisive players’ strike, Brian Lara is not the only one who fears that West Indies “could be in for a bit of a hiding”, as he told the media in Melbourne last week.Leadership, and not from the captain alone, will be a critical element in ensuring that it is something less than a hiding. The captain, the management, the senior, most influential players and, above all, the WICB and the WIPA, must do everything to ensure unity.

The former Kolkata and Australia coach lays out his vision for Twenty20, but don’t expect the inside story on KKR’s disastrous second season

Jayaditya Gupta22-Aug-2009Sometime in early May, West Indies captain Chris Gayle set off a storm when he said he “wouldn’t be so sad” if Test cricket eventually gave way to Twenty20. Two months later he, and the entire West Indies team, walked the talk, pulling out of a Test series against Bangladesh and putting their international careers at risk.The decision could be taken only because of the insurance provided by Twenty20, which has evolved in its brief lifespan into perhaps the most democratic version of a game long underpinned – and pinned back – by tradition. That notion of democracy works at three levels: the format itself, where anything can happen in 20 overs of cricket; the way Twenty20 is actually played out, through transnational leagues a world away from the traditional inter-national element of cricket’s contests; and the overall effect of both these elements, which combine to make the player more powerful than ever by simply offering him more choices.It’s a scenario predicted by John Buchanan, arguably the game’s most innovative coach, whose radical thinking polarised opinion even within his own Australian team. Buchanan’s appointment at Kolkata Knight Riders raised fascinating possibilities, given that his boss was the hands-on megastar Shah Rukh Khan and his captain the mercurial Sourav Ganguly. The relationship could have gone either way, but two tumultuous seasons later Buchanan was gone, given the thumbs down by SRK after the crowd bayed for blood and the gladiators shrugged their shoulders in bemusement.Unfortunately – and this is the book’s biggest failure – there’s nothing here of the 2009 season, where KKR finished last amid a string of controversies; the book stops a few days before the second term was to begin. That’s a shame, because it denies us an explanation of some of the disasters, including the inflated fee paid for Mashrafe Mortaza after what seemed to be a Bollywood battle between SRK and Preity Zinta, the “batting strategy” tactic relentlessly pursued through a losing streak, and of course the multiple captaincy theory that saw Ganguly axed in favour of a clearly overawed Brendon McCullum.Buchanan’s spectacular failure at KKR was all the more surprising given his reputation as a sharply analytical, inquisitive person who challenges both his players and his sport. Or perhaps it’s because of that, for despite his championing of the IPL, he is deeply concerned about its inherent problem: It is too powerful. That, he says, makes it hidebound, an irony given how truly radical it is as a concept. Having captured the market, is it open to change and evolution, he wonders. He faults the franchise owners, largely far-thinking entrepreneurs who seem to have got cold feet when it comes to continuing the cricket revolution or even in forming a lobby to push for their agenda.

Despite his championing of the IPL, Buchanan is deeply concerned about its inherent problem: It is too powerful. That, he says, makes it hidebound, an irony given how truly radical it is as a concept

That doesn’t stop Buchanan from ideating on taking things forward. Twenty20, he thinks, is best suited to selling the game to new markets, and there’s no better way to do that than through the Olympics, beginning with (pun not intended) the 2020 Games. The process needs to be taken out of the dressing rooms and the traditional boardrooms and into the hands of big business. Other prescriptions include a Duckworth-Lewis formula specifically for Twenty20, the concept of “double-plays” (getting two wickets with one ball), advancing the coin toss, and restructuring stadiums to include baseball-type batting- and bowling pens.Then there are the nuggets, the insights of a keen observer into the game and its players. The Naga boy Hokaito, for example, who was desperate for a place on the team because of what it would mean to people back home. And Buchanan’s take on Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who he writes are unfit for Twenty20 at this stage of their careers; bold words, but who’d really argue with them? He seems fascinated with Ganguly and was both right and wrong in this observation on their relationship: “If push came to shove there would only be one winner, but I doubt it will come to that.”It did, of course; Buchanan’s biggest failure was to underestimate what Ganguly meant to KKR – and thereby to its owners. Push came to shove and Buchanan left – but one gets the feeling the loss is as much the IPL’s. The game is changing rapidly, but can those in charge change along with it? This coach could have helped ensure they don’t miss the bus.The Future of Cricket: the rise of Twenty20
John Buchanan
Orient Paperbacks, 191pp, Rs 295

There are teams with more talent and flair at this tournament than New Zealand, yet no one can surpass them for their resilience

Andrew McGlashan in Bridgetown08-May-2010You have to admire New Zealand. Their victory against Pakistan was a stunning effort in defending a small target. To make it even more impressive Ian Butler, the man entrusted with the final over, was playing his first match of the tournament. The celebrations at the end suggested they’d won the tournament, but the win has ensured they still have a chance to do just that.It was also the match the competition needed. The four Super Eight matches so far had included plenty of eye-catching action but the results had been one-sided. Yesterday, both India and West Indies were out of their run chases within the first few overs of the reply. Twenty20 not only needs outstanding individual contributions; it also needs close finishes.New Zealand have been involved in the two tightest finishes of the tournament so far. They opened the event with a penultimate ball chase against Sri Lanka and it’s no surprise they have come out on top in both edge-of-seat encounters. They are that sort team; fighting until the last and often finding that unlikely figure to pull off an unexpected victory.Previously it was Nathan McCullum and this time it was Butler. He had the benefit of a recent positive memory against Pakistan after taking 4 for 44 in the Champions Trophy semi-final at the Wanderers. On that occasion he helped set-up victory, but this time he had to complete it.The final over started with 12 needed and it was a series of six mini-dramas, each changing the momentum. The first four deliveries went dot, four, dot, four as Salman Butt, who held together Pakistan’s faltering reply, slashed boundaries over short third man and through backward point. Crucially, though, he lost the strike with a penultimate ball bye which left Abdur Rehman on strike.One run would have secured a Super Over and Daniel Vettori set an in-out field as he tried to cover his options. Rehman went for the victory blow but could only pick out deep square-leg who barely had to move. Butt sank to his knees while New Zealand players ran around like excitable children.”You usually back yourself with 12 runs,” Butler said. “I said to Hoppy [Gareth Hopkins] ‘that’s why we play the game’, but after the four through point I was starting to doubt whether that was the case. As long as you keep yourself in the game death bowling is what you have to be good at.”It was a day where selection decisions – and tactical shifts – certainly played dividends. New Zealand took the brave call to leave out Jacob Oram, a potential match-winner with the bat even when not in the greatest of form, along with the more logical move of replacing the struggling Tim Southee. Between them the two replacements, Butler and Kyle Mills, took 5 for 52 from their eight overs. Shane Bond and Vettori, New Zealand’s Twenty20 bankers, took 1 for 59 in their shared eight.Even before the tense last over Butler had played a vital role as he removed Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi as Pakistan fell to 58 for 5. New Zealand’s fielding earned them Afridi’s scalp as Nathan McCullum recovered from a slight misjudgement at midwicket to take a superb catch diving forward at deep midwicket.”We knew we were a little under par but we back ourselves as a bowling and fielding unit, that has always been our strength in any form of the game,” Vettori said. “The selection of Ian and Kyle gave us a bit more impetus. We managed to take wickets and kept taking them which makes a difference. The total wasn’t enough but we knew if we started well we had a chance.”Until today New Zealand had opened the bowling with McCullum’s offspin – and he produced another vital display of 1 for 19 – but this time they reverted to the conventional ploy of two quicks. Mills and Bond responded with three wickets in the first 20 balls which put the skids under Pakistan and gave Vettori’s team real hope.”Looking through our history Kyle has been outstanding at the top of the order and we knew we needed to take early wickets,” Vettori said. “Pakistan are pretty good players of spin so we wanted to give our swingers a chance. Also, the last time Ian bowled against them in the Champions Trophy he took four so we backed some past reputations and they came to fruition.”It’s quite exhausting playing in that heat and in an emotional game in terms of us scrapping to make 130-odd then putting them under pressure with the balance swinging backwards and forwards,” he added. “We are pretty proud of what we achieved and it gives us a chance of going into the semis.”There are teams with more talent and flair at this tournament than New Zealand, yet no one can surpass them for their resilience.

Jesse Ryder battled with himself at the start of his innings, before going to complete an impressive century under pressure

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Nov-2010Jesse Ryder is easy to like. Sportsmen with human traits – Ryder had weight and alcohol issues – generally are. His fans and managers in New Zealand cricket might have lost their patience with his frequent indiscretions but the neutrals didn’t have to worry about the effect those flaws might have on the team. He clearly isn’t an obnoxious character; he doesn’t snarl and bite on the field, nor off it for that matter. Shorn of that “attitude”, he seems docile, often spaced out in the middle with a gentle smile across his visage. Even his walk – a shuffling gait – is endearing.Watching Ryder bat is a serene activity more in keeping with those traits than with the nature of his indiscretions. One would expect him to be a violent batsman, but while he can hit hard, he is usually soft, almost unobtrusive. He doesn’t attack your senses; he flows by like a gentle river. The back-lift is minimal, the foot movement is limited but very precise, and you can sense that he is extremely aware of his game.He started very scratchily on Saturday. It wasn’t the attack, it wasn’t the pitch; it felt more like an inner battle. He hadn’t played much competitive cricket for a while – his last Test was in August 2009. In August 2010, he feared for his career after yet another indiscretion. He knew this was his last chance; the administration might loosen their grip on the rope, he might fall back into the whirlpool. It has happened before to other sportsmen .And so the pressure must have been intense. India can be a difficult place for such men to save their careers. Indian pitches require patience. There was a fear that Ryder might try to force the pace and push hard at deliveries early on. Luckily for him, this pitch wasn’t a spinning track. The balls weren’t turning and leaping. Still, during the initial nervy moments Ryder pushed and stabbed at deliveries. A couple of times he edged his defensive pokes to untenanted areas. One bounded off his pad wide of short-leg and another went dangerously close past the same fielder. Ryder walked towards square-leg with his head bowed. At other times, when he top-edged his sweeps, he kicked his bat or stamped the ground.It was Ryder v Ryder, a riveting battle. There was more nervy action: when he was on 11, Sreesanth hurled a full-length delivery slightly outside the off stump. It seemed like a trap. Ryder saw width and freed his arms. The ball flew off the edge to right of Rahul Dravid, statistically the safest pair of hands in Test cricket. The ball went into the palms and spilled out. That was the moment that turned things around. India further helped his cause by introducing part-time bowlers at this stage. Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina helped Ryder to find his rhythm and start moving his feet. His game changed. The worst was over.Fast forward now to the moment when he was one short of a hundred. The same bait was laid: it was another full-length delivery outside the off stump from Sreesanth. Blink. The ball was thrown back from the cover boundary. Ryder pumped his fist and turned towards the dressing room. The plump face tightened, the right hand tapped his chest. It could be his defining image of this series. The camera swung to catch his happy team-mates.”We saw the passion when he scored his hundred and when he got out as well,” Brendon McCullum later said. “He knows he has made some mistakes in the past that he is not proud of. He is not happy that he let down his team-mates in the past. But all that is in the past. We have tried to move on. Every member in the dressing room is confident and backing him up when he walks out to bat. As you saw today, he is an incredible talent.”It’s difficult to isolate and focus only on Jesse Ryder the batsman. Often he has been the cause of his problems, as he himself has admitted. “I have brought it upon myself by the way I have behaved,” he said before this Test. Hopefully, now, that’s all in the past and the time for Ryder the batsman has truly come. It’s up to Ryder. As he said the other day, it was always up to him.

Mohammad Amir wrecked England’s middle order and was the youngest bowler to get his name on the honours board at Lord’s

Nagraj Gollapudi at Lord's27-Aug-2010An ambulance screeched past the Grace Gates at Lord’s as Mohammad Amir started the first over of the day from the Pavilion End. The impact of those loud sirens lingered long in the ears of the thousands clustered inside the ground as Amir shot out the England middle order with the ruthlessness of a sniper. His attack was cold-blooded, quiet and quick. All of England shivered on an overcast Friday morning.Having been unlucky during the brief spell of play possible on the first day, when a hapless Umar Akmal dropped an easy offering from Alastair Cook, Amir returned today undaunted and not haunted. Also, he was that bit smarter after Waqar Younis, Pakistan’s coach, had suggested he bowl a little closer to the stumps having noticed him going wider on Thursday afternoon.A quick learner Amir did not break any sweat in adopting the suggestion. In his first three overs of the day he fired in one unplayable delivery after the other, casting a spell over a startled England line up. Cook, who seemed to have crushed his demons at Edgbaston with a resolute century, was forced to play the perfect outswinger which he duly edged to Kamran Akmal behind the stumps.The fact that Kevin Pietersen was hunting in the dark for fluency was not lost on Amir as he slanted a fuller and wider delivery that was thoughtlessly chased leaving Pietersen to pay the price. Paul Collingwood was next, going back deep in the crease only to be beaten by an in-ducker that swung in sharply to trap him in front. Amir then proved that Eoin Morgan still has plenty to learn at Test level as he drew Morgan into an outside edge third ball. Amir’s mind never stopped ticking and England looked in danger of folding for a total under 100 for the first time this summer.Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior persevered to avoid that ignominy but Amir achieved a personal landmark when he induced the England wicketkeeper to edge a delivery that straightened late after pitching. It was Amir’s 50th Test wicket. He may not be the quickest to the landmark, but his statistics reveal a young talent that is unique. In his 14th Test, Amir’s strike-rate is 55.6 with 51 wickets. It compares well with some of the best fast bowlers of this generation: Wasim Akram (63.7/45), Waqar Younis (38.7/71), Dale Steyn (42/61) and his team-mate Mohammad Asif (44.2/70). Just 18 years old, Amir is already walking the same path the good and great started out on.Numbers, though, aren’t a true reflection of Amir, who is on the shortlist for ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year. It is his fighting attitude, his perseverance, his knack of reading batsman’s grey areas, and his ability to ignore the woeful fielding mistakes that stand out like logos of prestigious brands. It means the captain can depend on him regardless of the conditions.
The captain can throw him the ball when the situation is getting out of hand. The captain can walk up to him to seek advice. Champions prove pressure builds them and Amir is already a matchwinner.Earlier in the summer, against Australia at Headingley, on the first morning in severely overcast conditions, he put Pakistan in the winning position straight away by rattling the Australians into submission. Then, in the third Test of this series at The Oval, in far brighter light on the third afternoon, on a true pitch, he worked hard on the ball to get the reverse swing to trigger England’s sudden collapse and put Pakistan in a winning position.A critical element of Amir’s success is he enjoys his bowling immensely, just as he is enthusiastic about targeting the opposition’s best batsmen. Even if he is only a teenager in Test cricket he already has an enviable list of victims: Ricky Ponting and Andrew Strauss (four times in four matches); Collingwood and Cook (three times in four matches); Michael Hussey (three times in four matches).Sadly for him, and Pakistan, the day did not end in the rousing fashion it had begun. Butt missed a trick when Amir and Asif had England under the cosh before lunch. Instead of having fielders at vital close-in positions such as a third or fourth slip, an extra gully and a short leg, Butt showed his inexperience by wasting men at thirdman, deep point and deep square-leg. The wilting English hearts suddenly started swelling with hope and by the end of the day it was England who held the edge in the final Test. “If we were 110 all out this Test series would end two-all,” said Stuart Broad, who got his name on the honours board at Lord’s with a maiden Test century.Amir, the youngest bowler to get a five-for at Lord’s (he became the youngest to achieve the feat in England at The Oval last week), was proud but pointed out it was disappointing to end the day behind England. “It was special day considering I got the best figures in my career but I’m a little sad because they are [now] in good position. Now we are on the backfoot.”Yet Amir and Asif, his comrade-in-arms, who was unlucky not to take a wicket today despite delivering his usual stack of marvels, will return unfazed in the second innings to create panic in the minds of the batsmen. Renowned for their unpredictability, Pakistan can be certain of that.

Also, Dhoni’s frank but unscientific knowledge, what to say in Port Elizabeth to show dislike, and why Jozi is like Delhi, kinda, in part three of the South Africa tour diary

Sidharth Monga24-Jan-2011January 11
Roop’s tuk-tuk. Owner claims it is the only auto-rickshaw in the country. Haven’t seen any other so will believe him. Innovative circular seating inside. Big enough to seat six or seven. Brought in from Thailand. With loud music and a sort of open-air ambience, it is quite the rage on Durban’s Marine Parade. Like the Mercedes sign on it. Will see cycle rickshaws later in Cape Town, but this is something else.January 12
Another late-night walk in Durban, along Florida Road in Morningside. Innovative streetlights that hang from a wire that runs along the edges of the streets. Last night in Durban. Remember how Durban cricketers describe a good cricketer. “He can play.”AB de Villiers livens up the middle overs, scoring 76 off 69, finding gaps with precision, running hard, using his feet well against spin, setting up a comfortable win for South Africa in the first ODI. Durban approves. AB can play.January 13
Back in Johannesburg. Also called Jozi. Perhaps the least likeable of South African cities. Something about it. Just doesn’t have the warmth of Durban and Cape Town, and that’s not a comment on weather. The distances perhaps, which make it impossible to walk around, unlike in Cape Town and Durban. Cabs costly, eat up one’s allowance. A bit like Delhi, where people live in big houses in big spaces. Would help if Jozi had Delhi’s street food.January 14
South Africa Football Association (SAFA) not happy. Reason being SABC (the national broadcaster) telecasts the cricket match live in place of the 7pm news. The same news slot that the SABC has used as reason to shift football matches to 8.30pm kickoffs. “Soccer is the sport of the poor man in our country. It is simply not fair to expect the man in the street to look for public transport late at night to get to and home from a Bafana match,” says Leslie Sedibe, SAFA’s CEO. Agree with the second part of his statement, after many a late night without transport.January 15
Live choke. South Africa freeze. Absolutely freeze. It’s a word to be used with caution, understandably so, but there is no other description that fits this better. Need 38 in 18 overs with five wickets in hand, and then three in eight overs with two wickets standing. Not happening. Two men cut short and wide deliveries straight to point in what proves to be the last over.Munaf Patel, bowler of that last over, later says he was under pressure because people from his village were there. “They will still come to hotel to say bye.” How different the definition of pressure for each of us.January 16
Greenmarket Square in Cape Town. Lovely flea market. Buy t-shirts for 15 rand each. Knock-offs of team jerseys from football World Cup are the most popular. Netherlands, South Africa, Ghana. That’s just 45 rand, equivalent to about US$7, or the price of transport from one block to another in Johannesburg. Duidelik.Not to be found: light blue jerseys. That’s because Uruguay knocked out South Africa’s new favourites, Ghana, on penalties after a deliberate handball – a genius of a move from Luis Suárez that denied Ghana a winner in the last minute of the quarter-final. Ghana missed the consequent penalty, and then the shootout. Heartbreak in South Africa. They love Ghana so much they started calling them Baghana Baghana, after their home team, Bafana Bafana. The nation then turned against Uruguay. A front-page photo awaited anyone wearing a light blue shirt on the fan-walk on semi-final day. No one did.

“I have always seen the commentators saying that the lights are on and it will do a bit. Frankly it does do a bit more. Scientifically I don’t know”MS Dhoni displays his knowledge of what the ball does under lights

January 17
Taxi in Cape Town means mini-bus. Take one back from Newlands, a suburb, to town. “Taxi ” is the name for the conductor in these mini-buses. “Claremont-Mowbray-Cape Town” said in singsong is a common taxi- cry in Cape Town. Don’t like their urge to fill those taxis with as many human beings as possible.January 18
Going to the cricket in Cape Town is an experience. Begins with the walk to the Cape Town train station. Unlike Mumbai, where people take trains from the suburbs to town, to either Wankhede or Brabourne, here one goes from town to suburbs. Team jerseys, flags, beer, coolers, sunscreen, dressed-up people, give the Metro a colourful appearance. And it’s not a bad ground to go to, is Newlands.At the cricket, Yusuf Pathan bats with ridiculous ease on a pitch on which everyone else struggles. Hits Johan Botha for three sixes in one over. Helps India chase 221.January 19
Port Elizabeth. Earthiest of cities, never mind the Indian Ocean almost all around. No make-believe. Old buildings have stayed old. Some call it the forgotten city, some the friendly city. Both could be true, especially the latter.Accent gets thicker moving from the Western Cape to the Eastern. When they don’t like something, they say, “Na, bru, na.” When they like it, “Nna” with a click and in a deep, guttural voice. Works when bargaining in the flea market. Keep saying “Na, bru, na” until the price is right. Nna.January 20
Time for another MS Dhoni classic. Asked just why is it that the ball starts moving under the lights. Says: “Frankly speaking, I don’t know too much about it. I never used to watch cricket a lot. I have never watched a full 50-over game, but I have always seen the commentators saying that the lights are on and it will do a bit. Frankly it does do a bit more. Scientifically I don’t know.”When in South Africa, don’t wear or buy these colours•AFPJanuary 21
PE is the land of Chevrolets – and many other car manufacturers. Notice many old Volkswagen Beetles. Loud but the real deal. Chevrolet sponsor the local team, the Chevrolet Warriors. Have placed one car in the stands, behind the square-leg boundary. Any batsman who hits it gets the car. Sadly it has been there for four years and not many have come close.As the game starts, without power in the ground, the famous PE band, much in Sri Lankan style, livens up the stadium. No national anthems before the match because of power cut, but the band plays the South Africa one even as the match continues.JP Duminy scores just two fours and a six in his 71, most of them with the tail, and sets up a series-equalising win. “JP, jou lekker ding,” says PE.January 22
“Barbara Streisand” by Duck Sauce. Track of the season. Remix of “Gotta Go Home” by Boney M, with “Barbara Streisand” thrown in every 30 or 40 seconds. All over the place – clubs, cabs, cricket. It’s the cricket version that is most enjoyable. Morne Morkel has it as his entry music. The local DJ has mixed it so that every time they are supposed to say Barbra Streisand, they say “Morne Morkel”. Pretty cool.January 23
Last Dance With Mary Jane. One final day of a memorable tour. Hashim Amla and Yusuf Pathan make it more memorable with contrasting centuries, the first of the series. Morkel’s four wickets prove to be the difference in the end, winning South Africa the series, and himself the Man-of-the-Series award. New DJ at the ground. Doesn’t play Morkel’s song. Morkel later says he is disappointed he didn’t get to hear it.Stay for a bit at the ground to finish wrap. Suddenly farewells start flowing. It’s all over here at SuperSport Park. Fittingly the last song played in the hospitality suites in “Save Tonight”.

And also the shortest game ever for which so much effort was taken to procure tickets

Nihad Kabir05-Mar-2011Choice of game
Thank God it’s Friday! Most of Bangladesh’s matches are in Bangladesh, and on Fridays, which is our weekend. Weeks were spent cajoling, coercing, begging and borrowing for tickets (my cohorts and I have just stopped short of stealing – although not by much …). So eight of us turned up to watch this match, all pumped up after Bangladesh’s show against Ireland. Match? What match? Thirty-odd overs do not make an ODI. A week’s effort for the tickets blown away like a puff of dust in just short of two and a half hours of mayhem from one side and mass self-destruction from the other.Team supported
Having tried to scream, shout, wave flag, jump up and down for Bangladesh in the first innings, together with only about a hundred million other citizens of this country, I promptly switched in the second innings to the team I’ve supported since in the glory days of Papa Lloyd and King Viv, all through their own desperate straits. I still love the West Indians and their cricket, but when Bangladesh play, all other bets are off.World Cup prediction
Would Pakistan vs West Indies be a prediction or wishful thinking? Probably the latter. Pakistan versus Australia or South Africa would be fun, the former team being good for a few thrills one way or the other, and their progress has been remarkably smooth (for them) so far.Key performer
Umm, didn’t have time to figure that one out. I guess after reading last night that Darren Sammy’s recent bowling average over the last few matches was nearing 80 and his batting average around seven, his three-for qualifies, together with the bowling of Kemar Roach and Sulieman Benn. As for Bangladesh, the sooner someone realises that Mohammad Ashraful is responsible for more key non-performances than not, the better.One thing I’d have changed

The result! Okay, a fast and ferocious innings from Tamim Iqbal right up front – that might have changed the complexion of the day for a lot of people, regardless of win or loss. Maybe Shakib Al Hasan should stop winning the toss as well.Wow moment
A murderous flat-batted swat from Chris Gayle over the head of mid-on. And the arrival of my little nephew in a Bangladesh jersey and yellow sunglasses, all of two overs before the match ended.Crowd meter
Someone cut off the power to the meter, methinks, except when the Bangladesh team came out to field to noises of derision, and the huge cheers from the sparse crowd that remained at the fours hit by the West Indies batsmen. The largest cheers overall came when Shakib won the toss, and after the Bangladesh national anthem. Says it all, doesn’t it?Fancy-dress index
Never got a chance to check it all out given the breakneck speed of the game, but today it goes to the eight traditional drummers in yellow doing the cheerleading. Everyone else hid their tiger costumes faster than a Thommo bouncer.Banner of the day
Outside the stadium at the end of the game, I spotted a poster in Bangla that read: “How did Tigers turn in to mice? BCB answer us!” The original was rather more colourful.ODIs v Twenty20
Test matches any day. Since that’s not an option here, ODIs. Twenty20s are too short and gimmicky, and those cheerleaders are dire.Marks out of 10
For Bangladeshis, about 3; at least we got to see Chris Gayle close-ish up. For West Indians, a resounding 10.

A statistical review of Edwin Boaler Alletson’s great innings for Nottinghamshire against Sussex at Hove in May 1911

ESPNcricinfo staff20-May-2011Edwin Boaler Alletson’s great innings was for Nottinghamshire against Sussex at Hove in May 1911.First a brief recap of the match: Notts won the toss and batted first. Though the captain A.O. Jones and George Gunn (stumped for 90) batted well, Nottinghamshire totalled only 238 all out. Ted Alletson scored 7. Nottinghamshire were undone by the “occasional” bowling of Killick (5-14). Sussex spent the rest of the first day and most of the second establishing a commanding 176 run lead.When Nottinghamshire went in again, Jones was out immediately but his opening partner Iremonger and George Gunn put together a good partnership until Gunn was stumped again at 129. Before long, Hardstaff, John Gunn, Payton, Whysall and Iremonger were out; Nottinghamshire were 185 for 7 and lletson was in. His partner was Lee, another allrounder in name, if not in practice. Together, they put together a bright 73 runs for the 8th wicket in 40 minutes when Lee was dismissed. In the very next over the new batsman Oated was bowled and lunch was taken at 260-9. Alletson had compiled 47* at lunch, at a rate which was as brisk as he ever had scored.During lunch Alletson was heard to ask his skipper Jones if, with one wicket left and only 84 runs on, it really mattered how he now played. Jones said he thought not. In that case, said Alletson, he was going to go for Tim Killick. What happened in the next 40 minutes made the No. 9 batsman famous.The figures tell the tale:Edwin Boaler Alletson: 189, Notts vs Sussex, May 20, 1911Whole Innings After Lunch——————————–Runs 189 142Time (min) 90 40Balls 106 (approx) 516’s 8 84’s 23 183’s 4 22’s 10 61’s 17 4Balls not scored off 44(approx) 13Scoring rate (runs/hr) 178 278Runs scored by team 227 152% of total runs scored 83.26 93.42Balls bowled by Sussex 156(approx) 68Runs/over by Notts 8.84 13.81Runs/100 balls by Notts 146 213Scoring after lunch:(Balls faced by Riley in parentheses; * = no score)Killick * 4 4 1 (*)(1) Leach (1) 2 4 2 * 1-do- 6 * 4 2 4 6 -do- (*)(3) 4 * 6 3-do- 4 4 * 2 1 (*) -do- 4 6 * 4 3 (*)-do- 4 6 6 * 4 4 4 6 Relf (1) * * * * 4Cox (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(3) -do- (1) 4 2 2 6 1-do- 4 4 outTim Killick’s last over (which included 2 no balls) yielded 34 runs to a rampant Alletson (the record until Sobers smashed 36 off Nash). However, the two new bowlers introduced immediately after the over, Cox and Relf did seem to contain Alletson a bit, but Alletson was beginning to hit them as well when he was caught at the boundary (all reports say that the fielder was actually outside the boundary). In the course of 5 consecutive overs- 3 from Killick & 2 from Leach, Alletson scored 97 runs out of a 100. Notts was all out for 412 & nearly won the game as Sussex hung on for a draw at 213-8, needing 237 to win.Alletson never played as devastating an innings again, though he did manage 60 in 30 minutes in his very next innings and 88 in 40 minutes two years later, an innings in which he hit the great Wilfred Rhodes for 3 consecutive 6’s.