ESPNcricinfo staff19-Apr-2015Unmukt Chand struck eight fours and two sixes in his 37-ball 58 before falling to Yuzvendra Chahal, leaving Mumbai at 182 for 3 in the 18th over•BCCIYuzvendra Chahal managed to end with figures of 4-0-28-2 despite Mumbai scoring at 10.45 runs per over•BCCIRohit Sharma launched four sixes and three fours for his 15-ball 42 but got out playing a rash shot•BCCIDavid Wiese picked up three wickets in four balls but Mumbai eventually crossed 200 after a few meaty blows by Hardik Pandya to finish on 209 for 7•BCCIChris Gayle took 24 balls to score 10 runs and got out leaving Royal Challengers in a difficult position•BCCIDespite losing Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik and Rilee Rossouw, AB de Villiers looked like he could turn the tide as he smashed 41 off 10 balls…•BCCI… But Jasprit Bumrah had him caught at deep mid-wicket to end the onslaught•BCCINeeding 81 from 30 balls, Wiese wasted no time in attacking the Mumbai bowlers as he struck an unbeaten 47 off just 25 balls but he was left with too much to do in too little time•BCCIHarbhajan Singh picked up his 100th IPL wicket as he ended with match figures of 3 for 27. Mumbai hung on for an 18-run win to open their account for the season•BCCI

This was Bangaldesh’s big day out but their fans were forced to swim against a surging Indian tide

Devashish Fuloria at the MCG19-Mar-2015The Bangladeshi fans, most of them from Sydney, were the first to arrive at the ground, a good few hours before the start of one of the biggest games in their team’s history. A World Cup knockout.Their team deservedly made it to the quarter-final on the back of consistent and tough cricket. That’s what they came to see, driving a long way straight to the ground in cars and family vans, sombrero hats and green t-shirts, Bangladesh flags flapping from their windows. The concourse outside the ground was green.”It was a big occasion for our team, so we travelled the distance,” said one. “I told my boss I need a day-off. Had he not given it, I would have happily resigned,” said another.They filled the stands first. “Bangladesh, Bangladesh, Tigers, Tigers,” they danced when their team was stretching in the outfield, an hour before the start. And they came with their props: the stuffed tigers, the numerous flags – the green with the red dot and the original one too, the green with the red dot with the map of the country in yellow.They said they were 30,000 of them in the ground. They were probably less than 30 per cent among 50,000 present, but they certainly sounded like 30,000. By the time the match started, the ground was mostly blue with islands of green; islands that stood tall like mountains and competed with the Indians roar for roar, flag-wave for flag-wave. They were outnumbered, but by no means, outshouted. But by the end of the day, they were not just disappointed, they felt “angry” and “excluded”.”We knew India were too strong, but we wanted to see a good game, to see our team compete,” said Rimon, another fan from Sydney who lasted the whole game to see Indian fans partying around the ground. “You saw those decisions on the big screen. We would have still lost, that is not the point, but it leaves a bad taste.””This was supposed to be a World Cup game,” Rimon’s friend said. “Not some bilateral series being played in India. It was as if India were playing a home game. There were no Bangla songs being played, only Indian songs. What kind of a World Cup is that?”

When Tamim hit Shami for three fours in an over, the entire stand stood up, bouncing, with their flags fluttering in the strong breeze. It was manic and energetic, like being at the Shere Bangla.

Maintaining extreme level of energy over a period of more than seven hours is a skill that the subcontinent followers have in truckloads; they do it with ease, game after game, but they do need their recharge. Roving groups, popular numbers – these are fuels that keep them going. There is no doubt that there was more English pop music than Indian, but that there was barely any Bangla music was glaring too, even when Bangladesh were doing well.They competed for 60% of the first innings. India started well but the moment the bails flashed for the first time, you could have been in Dhaka. Shakib Al Hasan was bowling, Shikhar Dhawan missed, Mushfiqur Rahim flicked the bails off – the crowd was not going to wait for a decision. When the large screen confirmed the dismissal, the roar generated from different corners bounced around and grew louder. Louder still once Virat Kohli was dismissed. All until Rohit Sharma was reprieved.”When you see that kind of decision on the big screen, you lose faith in the game,” said a father who had flown from Sydney with his young son. His wife added: “Everything seemed to exclude Bangladesh. We were here for the match against Sri Lanka, the one we lost, but in the stands, it was enjoyable. We know India run cricket, but when you put advertising like Jeetega bhai jeetega, India jeetega [India will win, India will] on the big screen throughout the game, how are the supporters from the other side going to feel?”In the tightly-packed lower-tier, just behind the bowler’s arm, Bangladesh supporters found voice, briefly in the second innings. Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes set in motion their most confident start in this World Cup yet. When Tamim hit Mohammed Shami for three fours in an over, the entire stand stood up, bouncing, with their flags fluttering in the strong breeze. From behind them, you saw the game from their perspective; manic and energetic, like being at the Shere Bangla.Then just as Tamim edged behind, you realised there were Indians in the stand too, more than the Bangladeshis. In a second, the stand changed its hue from green to blue. It never changed colour again. By the time, Mushfiqur top-edged Umesh Yadav in the 36th over, the result was a foregone conclusion. What was surprising to see was blank spaces in the stands. Most Bangladeshis had already left.An hour after the finish, an elderly man in a Bangladesh shirt made his way through groups of partying Indians. He was alone. When asked how he felt about the match, he gave an alternate view: “It was good. We played this World Cup very well. I am proud of it.” On a disappointing night for Bangladesh fans, he was also probably the only one to spot a silver lining.

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2015Trent Boult’s swing and pace got the better of both South African openers, leaving them on 31 for 2 after eight overs•Associated PressBoult claimed the New Zealand record for most wickets in a World Cup by overtaking Geoff Allott’s record from 1999•Getty ImagesRilee Rossouw came in at No. 4 and combined with Faf du Plessis to put on 83 for the third wicket•Getty ImagesDu Plessis brought up his 15th ODI fifty as he anchored the recovery even after Rossouw fell for 39•Getty ImagesAB de Villiers injected pace into the innings as he clobbered eight fours and a six before the rain came down•AFPThe rain delay in the 38th over lasted a while and reduced the match to 43 overs per side•AFPCorey Anderson had du Plessis caught behind for 82, only to bring in David Miller…•AFP…who smashed 49 off 18 balls, taking South Africa to 281 for 5, setting New Zealand a target of 298•Getty ImagesBrendon McCullum ignited New Zealand’s chase with a rapid 26-ball 59; 56 of those came in boundaries•Getty ImagesMorne Morkel halted the flow of runs and got rid of McCullum and Kane Williamson in successive overs•Getty ImagesRoss Taylor played a steady hand to push New Zealand to 128 for 3 in the 18th over•AFPAnderson, who came in with 149 needed off 128 balls, carved out 58 off 57 to keep New Zealand in the hunt•Getty ImagesThe pressure rose, New Zealand felt the pinch first as Grant Elliott almost sold Anderson down the river in the 32nd over, but de Villiers missed a tough run-out chance•ICCDespite the early nerves, the fifth-wicket pair rode the pressure admirably to record 103 runs, taking the score past 250•Getty ImagesBut a passionate South African team did not give anything away. Du Plessis took a nerveless catch to dismiss Anderson and reduce the equation to 46 off five overs•Getty ImagesIt came down to 12 off the final over, and then five off two when Elliott launched one of the most important sixes in New Zealand ODI history to take his side to a maiden World Cup final•Getty Images

Players who made a pair on debut before carving solid Test careers

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2015Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lanka)
Tests: 90 Runs 5502
When he retired in 2007, he had six Test double centuries – only Bradman, Hammond and Lara had more at that time•Getty ImagesSaeed Anwar (Pakistan)
Tests: 55 Runs 4052
Ended up as one of Pakistan’s greatest and most elegant openers•Saeed Khan/ALLSPORTKen Rutherford (New Zealand)
Tests: 56 Runs 2465
Went on to not just become a regular in the New Zealand side, but captained it as well•Getty ImagesGS Ramchand (India)
Tests: 33 Runs 1180
Captained India to their first Test victory over Australia in 1959-60•Getty Images

Can you tell one Overton from the other?

17-Jun-2015

New Zealand have already bounced back from their defeat to Zimbabwe and South Africa will hope that with a few flicks of the bat, AB de Villiers will magically make all their blunders from the Bangladesh series disappear

Firdose Moonda11-Aug-2015Much like Christmas in July, cricket in August is a bit of novelty in South Africa. Most of the country is still coming out of winter, except in Durban where they are never really in it to start with, and therefore unplayable. The wet West Coast and chilly central areas are no-go zones for cricket, so it’s up to the thawing Highveld and evergreen Kwa-Zulu Natal to host a New Zealand series that has as much context as a tabloid headline.

Duminy ruled out of T20s

JP Duminy has been ruled out of the T20 series as his wife prepares to give birth to the couple’s first child this week. Duminy was originally given paternity leave for the three ODIs but has now been allowed to sit out the whole series. South Africa have not named any replacement for Duminy which means David Wiese and Farhaan Behardien will be left with the allrounder duties.

What New Zealand did to South Africa in Auckland in March – the last time they met, in the World Cup semi-final – cannot be undone, not because these are two teams playing for something much less important than a place in the World Cup final but because something like that is forever. It just is. It just was.South Africa are still grappling with it, not necessarily the defeat but the waves of aftershock, which included a selection controversy around Vernon Philander that continues to permeate in every XI that takes the field and a first-ever series defeat to Bangladesh. But they are unlikely to have any hard feelings towards New Zealand, who they shared a drink with on the night of the semi-final and whose players they enjoy the company of. Dale Steyn has already invited Kane Williamson to go surfing; someone is bound to ask Grant Elliot to join them for a beer.There is really nothing to prove in the next two weeks for anyone on either side, except for one man: Morne van Wyk. The 36-year-old has the opportunity, perhaps his last opportunity, to complete unfinished business and prove himself worthy of a more permanent position in the South African side. That he should have had one from his last international series, when he struck a T20 century against West Indies, has to water under the bridge if van Wyk is to make this chance count.These two T20s and three ODIs are the only matches he will have to make himself indispensable for the upcoming tours against India and England, and ultimately for next year’s World T20. And he will have to make himself absolutely indispensable because of the man he will have to keep out: Quinton de Kock.De Kock’s woeful form has resulted in him being dropped but already he is making his case for a comeback. He scored a century in South Africa A’s loss to India on Sunday, despite suffering a bout of food poisoning which resulted in 10 members of the side being hospitalised. Jokes about being in the runs aside, if de Kock continues to find himself there, he could be back in the senior side before van Wyk has the chance to stake a claim for the spot.Diplomatically, van Wyk told he does not think de Kock’s revival will happen overnight. “He’s got lots to learn in cricket and also off the field. He’ll pick up some experience and I’m sure he’ll start scoring runs soon. If he gets back in six months or two years, whatever the time frame is, I’m sure he’ll be a lot better and a lot stronger for it.” In that same time, van Wyk may have hung up the gloves, which will suit him just fine.Apart from that, there is not much to play for in the next two weeks. New Zealand have already bounced back from their solitary defeat to Zimbabwe not to be too bothered about avoiding being labeled as being in a slump. South Africa have AB de Villiers back and will hope that with a few flicks of the bat, he will magically make all their blunders from the Bangladesh series disappear. There’s only the novelty of cricket in August before another month in which South Africa will disappear from the international stage with no fixtures scheduled in September, which may be enough to garner some interest.

The common thread through all three suspensions – 2005, 2007 and 2015 – has been Gladstone Dainty. His reign, which began in 2003, has been an unmitigated disaster through and through

Peter Della Penna27-Jun-2015It may have been jarring to hear the words as they were spoken in a Barbados hotel by ICC chief executive David Richardson, to read the words in print in the ICC’s official press release. But like a defendant on trial who holds out hope – no matter how farfetched, misguided or delusional – of escaping with an acquittal before hearing a verdict of “guilty”, the sobering truth of USACA’s accumulation of administrative failures became real with the uttering of “suspension”.In the two months leading up to Friday’s decision, Richardson and several of his lieutenants – including ICC head of global development Tim Anderson and ICC Americas regional development manager Ben Kavanagh – spent considerable resources reaching out to more than 100 stakeholders currently engaged or recently involved in US cricket affairs.Even though Anderson denied that the purpose of the interview process was to compile a dossier against USACA, many other indications pointed in that direction. A scathing 19-page letter from ICC chairman N Srinivasan to USACA in January warned them of an imminent suspension and the ICC followed that up in April with a proclamation that they were “not satisfied” with USACA’s response.Two points of emphasis were highlighted by Richardson during his press conference to announce the suspension. One was that USACA had lost the right to ICC funding, a blow for an organization already weighed down by more than $4 million in debt, and that USACA had lost sanctioning authority to determine what is classified as approved and unapproved cricket.Few people could fault USACA if they could not organize big cricket events on their own due to their limited resources and lack of professional full-time staff. What has rankled with countless organizers though is not that USACA wasn’t staging major events, but that they regularly stood in the way of those who had the resources to do so by refusing to approve events.Mayor Richard J Kaplan of Lauderhill, Florida, frequently complained about USACA’s habit of freezing the city’s negotiations to host revenue-generating drawcards at the $70 million, 20,000 capacity Central Broward Regional Park, such as a proposed Pakistan v West Indies T20 series in July 2013 and Caribbean Premier League matches in the summer of 2014. Those negotiations may warm up again now that the likes of Kaplan can bypass USACA for sanctioning and go straight to the ICC, which should be a bit more accommodating.On the governance front, USACA had operated with impunity since their last suspension was lifted in 2008, especially when there were few consequences to unconstitutional delays and the stripping of 32 member leagues’ voting rights in the 2011-12 election. However, the ICC’s long leash on USACA became very short following last year’s resignation of chief executive Darren Beazley, a man the ICC handpicked to push through governance reforms that the USACA board rejected.Gladstone Dainty may have scored a landslide win on the April 2012 election day but three years later it has proven to be a pyrrhic victory. More than a dozen of the member leagues who were disenfranchised in 2012 reached a breaking point after years of frustration under USACA and were spurred on to break away and form what became the American Cricket Federation.Election improprieties on their own were not enough to raise a red flag with the ICC, but a competing governing body to USACA’s hegemony was a key reason behind USACA’s first two suspensions and played a supporting role in the one handed down on Friday.Separate from the power struggles within the USA, the parlous state of USACA’s finances made for a ripe target to justify suspension. USACA’s ledger has remained in the red for as long as their financial records have been made public. In the last two years though, USACA’s debts have more than doubled from $1.8 million to $4.1 million.Rather than accuse USACA of sweeping financial mismanagement though, the ICC cleverly zeroed in on a special $200,000 loan granted to USACA by the ICC in the summer of 2013. In the grand scheme of things, $200,000 is a pittance to make a major fuss over for a global body generating roughly $2 billion through its latest television rights contract.Other far more egregious membership violations allegedly carried out by USACA, such as accusations of election fraud through the rumoured ploy of registering ghost leagues to secure winning votes, have been difficult to prove. So is judging the legitimacy of a challenge for official status made by the upstart ACF.But by holding USACA to account over what it deemed to be misuse of the $200,000 loan, the ICC finally had concrete evidence they could pin on USACA of the organisation’s fiscal irresponsibility, and thus find them culpable of improper governance to a standard sufficient to warrant suspension. The ICC tacked on USACA’s poor public reputation and substandard national team performances as supplementary reasons for a reprimand, but those are subjective measures. It is harder to mount a defense against objective data laid out in black and white.Richardson concluded his comments in Barbados by stating that the ICC was willing to extend a helping hand to get USACA up off the mat, including sending a local advisory team to assist USACA to remedy their “conditions”, as if USACA is a sickly patient, “relating to governance, finance and cricket activities”. Rather than issuing a statement pledging to do penance for their sins and fall in line, there has been nothing but radio silence on USACA’s airwaves.The common thread through all three suspensions – 2005, 2007 and 2015 – has been Dainty. His reign, which began in 2003, has been an unmitigated disaster through and through. After making the Champions Trophy in 2004, USA has now been leapfrogged in the Associate rankings by Ireland, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong, four countries that combined don’t have the adult player pool to equal USA. Dainty has left the US cricket community broken but blame must also be shared by the USACA league presidents who, swayed by his election promises, have used their votes to keep him in office on multiple occasions.Questions may remain about who is best suited to take US cricket forward, and it may not necessarily be ACF, but by now it’s crystal clear that a USACA executive board under Dainty is not the answer. If USACA’s administration had any words on how they plan to fix the mess they’ve spent the last decade creating, they haven’t shared them.But with just one word on Friday, the ICC spoke volumes.

Imran Tahir has a wide repertoire of variations but has to blend that with consistency. To do so, he might also require delicate management

Firdose Moonda08-Nov-20151:21

Manjrekar: Tahir dismissed top batsmen while they were defending

It happened. Imran Tahir celebrate a wicket. Really.A smile barely bubbled on the face of South Africa’s effervescent legspinner when he nailed Umesh Yadav’s middle stump with a classic googly. Three balls later, the same delivery brought the same result against Varun Aaron but the champagne stayed corked.Those scalps were the last rites in an Indian innings that had already been dismantled by Dean Elgar and Tahir knew his contribution would only be an afterthought. That was not something to get excited about. He accepted the high-fives and back-pats with polite resignation.Tahir’s Test career to date has been a story of anti-climax. He made his debut in the same match as Vernon Philander, in November 2011, in the 47 all out Test. Understandably, Tahir was not a talking point that day.In the Tests that followed, he continued in the shadows of South Africa’s pace pack which had become complete with the addition of Philander. Previously Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel had lacked a third prong, someone who mastered the more subtle art of seam movement to complement their speed, swing, and bounce.There was no space for an attacking spinner in the South African set up then. By the time Tahir could sink his teeth into the opposition line-up, only the scraps were left. In his desperation to gobble them up, Tahir tried everything. He would send down all the deliveries in his repertoire. A liquroice allsorts package of inconsistency.Eventually, South Africa could no longer afford the novelty Tahir offered and returned to their comfort zone with a containing spinner even though Tahir never really disappeared from their thoughts. He kept himself in the mix with impressive performances in shorter formats. His ability to control the middle overs of an ODI innings begged the question of why he could not replicate that in Tests.Some theories suggested Tahir could adapt easier to the limitations of only bowling 10 overs (or four in the case of T20s) and that kept him from trying too many things. He concentrated on effective use of his stock ball – the legbreak – and intermittently unfurled the googly and the flipper. He showed tact in Mohali, something he displayed only once at Test level before.In Dubai two years ago, Tahir took what is to date his only five-for running through Pakistan on the first morning to dismiss them for 99. Some of those wickets, though, were results of rash shots from the batsmen – Shan Masood went out to drive a full, wide delivery and played on, Asad Shafiq was bowled after missing a slog – but others, like Misbah-ul-Haq, who was trapped lbw by a googly, were part of a plan. Tahir picked up eight wickets in the match but his stay in the team was shortlived.He was rotated in and out of the side as South Africa went back to Robin Peterson and then tried to go forward with young offspinners Dane Piedt and Simon Harmer. South Africa would probably have stuck to those two if the schedule did not send them to India just months after Piedt and Harmer had been blooded. They needed a spinner with experience in India and Tahir was the most viable option.In the days leading up to the match, it became evident Tahir would make a comeback. The news was met with nervousness by South Africa’s supporters who wondered whether he was being given a chance too many but hoped that a different captain – Hashim Amla – would find new ways to manage him.In the first innings, Amla’s method seemed to be to shield Tahir for as long as possible. He only brought him on in the 44th over, after the other specialist spinner Simon Harmer and part-timer Elgar had bowled. Tahir’s first spell was just three overs long, he seemed anxious to make an impact. He tossed it up, he bowled short, he threw in a few googlies, he rushed, he slowed down – all in the space of 18 balls. That was exactly what had undone him in the past and Amla did the right thing by taking him off and calming him down.Tahir was much more controlled in his second spell. He maintained a fuller and used flight. Best of all he showed patience. The two wickets which came at the end may not have been the ones he wanted – on a spinner-friendly surface Tahir would want to be snaffling the big names – but he had something to show for his efforts.He would have known he had to build on that to justify his recall and he did. In the second innings, with South Africa needing something special from the spinners, Tahir delivered.Amla used Tahir only in short bursts of three of four overs and in that time, he showed the control that had been lacking in previous displays. He used variation as a strength and mixed up his pace on a pitch where batsmen were already uncertain. He was rewarded with the two biggest scalps of the day.M Vijay was befuddled by the bounce of the googly and offered a catch to short leg and then Chesteshwar Pujara, half going forward, half hanging back, edged a tossed-up delivery that turned from outside off and Amla took a low catch at slip. And then, it really happened. Tahir could not control his enthusiasm.He was so pumped he seemed ready to run all the way to the country of his birth. He had to be reined in before he got to the third-man boundary by team-mates who were also keen for Tahir to keep catching India’s batsmen off guard and not the train to Pakistan.Tahir was consistent and attacking for the rest of the innings. He used the legbreak to surprise as well as he used the googly and picked up two more wickets to finish the match with a six-for and claimed his best average in a Test to date.Those efforts did not result in a South African win but they did their bit to ensure the team was in a position to push for victory at one point. It also told South Africa they probably made the right decision by recalling Tahir, but that they need to be careful with when and how they use him.In conditions and circumstances which suit him, Tahir can be a handful. That means he should not just be used on slow on turning pitches but also at times in the match when he is neither under too much pressure to perform nor when there is nothing left to get pumped about. He needs to be managed delicately, but don’t all legspinners? And if he is, South Africa may have a reason to celebrate again on this tour.

Last year’s World Cup-winning Under-19 squad is graduating to senior cricket, and the future looks good for most of them

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-2015Imagine if there were others from where Kagiso Rabada came from. Imagine more potential match-winners and record-breakers whose careers have only just begun. You don’t have to imagine too hard. They are already out there.Rabada came from a South African squad that made history when it won the Under-19 World Cup on March 1, 2014. The senior side has tried six times and failed. The youngsters were, as South Africa’s sports minister Fikile Mbalula put it, “a bunch of winners”, and Rabada is not the only one who will bloom.”All of them have the potential to make it big,” Ray Jennings, who coached the U-19 squad, said. “Kagiso was obviously the stand out, and there might end up being two halves – those who go on and actually make it and those who just fade away, but all of them have what it takes.”Clyde Fortuin, a wicketkeeper from Western Cape, had the most dismissals at the World Cup – 19 catches and a stumping – double that of his nearest competitor, and has been signed by Warriors as their first-choice keeper across all formats this season.Andile Phehlukwayo played for Dolphins in the Champions League last season•Getty Images”We recognised that he could come into our set-up and balance the team. Of course, he still needs to make sure he selects himself through performance, but we signed him with the intention of him being our No. 1,” Malibongwe Maketa, Warriors coach, said.Fortuin is replacing Davy Jacobs, who hung up his gloves after a prolonged period of injury. He will some face competition for the spot from Gihahn Cloete, who played in the 2012 U-19 World Cup.At 23, Cloete, who also moved provinces after playing in the Free State for the last five seasons, is three years older than Fortuin, but experience may not trump youth at Warriors. “Fortuin is quiet and down to earth but with a little bit of arrogance. He really believes in his own ability,” Maketa said. “He has come on his own into a foreign environment and that already shows a lot of maturity. We want to make sure we can create an environment for him to grow and give him as much opportunity as we can to perform.”That has already been happening for two of Rabada’s other team-mates – allrounder Andile Phehlukwayo and fast bowler Sibonelo Makhanya. They are both on Dolphins’ books and are fast establishing themselves as regular members of the set-up.Chad Bowes, who played the 2012 U-19 World Cup for South Africa, has moved to New Zealand in hope of better opportunities•ICC/GettyLast year they travelled with the team to the Champions League T20, where Phehlukwayo played in all four Dolphins games. It was tough going for him – he only bowled four overs and went wicketless at the tournament – but he got exposure on a grand scale. This summer, they have both been part of the Africa T20 Cup squad and are playing in the ongoing domestic one-day cup.Phehlukwayo and Makhanya are not only crossing the bridge from U-19 to franchise cricket. They are also two success stories among several promising black African players – the demographic group Cricket South Africa is targeting in a bid to overcome apartheid’s legacy of marginalisation. They are what happens when transformation works.Both come from humble backgrounds. Phelukwayo is the child of a single parent who was a domestic worker; Makhanya grew up in the township of Verulam, about 30 kilometres outside Durban, and had to travel more than 60km to get to school daily.They received scholarships to Glenwood High, the alma mater of South Africa Test cricketer Steven Jack, to ensure they had access to better facilities and coaching.Makhanya was eventually offered a scholarship that included boarding at Durban High School, where Hashim Amla and Barry Richards studied. In an interview with the last year, he recalled the difficulties of settling in and overcoming the odds.”It was the first time that I was exposed to that kind of a world. When I first got to Glenwood I had my tired, cheap kit, and I looked up to white guys. Then I grew up and became more mature and began to understand where I want to be in life,” he said. Now it seem as though he is getting there.Class of 2014: South Africa’s World Cup-winning U-19 squad with the trophy•ICCLower down in the system, at the semi-professional provincial level, Rabada’s World Cup captain, Aiden Markram, South Africa’s top run scorer in the tournament, has a contract with Titans. Markram opened the batting for Northerns in the Africa T20 Cup and scored a half-century in the semi-final against the Kwa-Zulu Natal team Phehlukwayo and Makhanya were part of. Markram, along with Fortuin and Corbin Bosch, was also part of the South Africa Emerging squad that toured Sri Lanka in August, and he and Bosch are currently part of the University of Pretoria squad in India defending their World Campus Title.Five other members of that champion U-19 team are also part of university outfits – Dirk Bruwer played for University of Free State, Justin Dill for Stellenbosch University, Ngazibini Sigwili is at the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, Jason Smith turns out for University of the Western Cape and Yaseen Valli is at the University of Johannesburg. And all of them are involved in provincial outfits as well.Jennings believes they are the players most likely to be on the right path to success because they are giving themselves options not dependent on cricket. “Players need to get educated to do other things because a lot of sports people, especially young players, can overrate themselves. They think because they have school colours they are heroes and the world owes them a living, but that’s not the case,” he said. “Varsity is important. You need to be educated and learn to feel the heat of life so that when you are 21 or 22, you’re not still getting out of bed at 11am and going to the movies at 12 and that’s your day.”Ngazibini Sigwili is one of several young players playing for South African universities•ICCBut what about those who feel their chances of becoming professional sportsmen take too long? Bradley Bopp, part of the World Cup team, has decided to try his luck in the UK, while former U-19 captain Chad Bowes, who was South Africa’s second highest run scorer behind Quinton de Kock at the 2012 World Cup, has emigrated to New Zealand and hopes to qualify to play for them after failing to make headway at Kwa-Zulu Natal.Jennings does not see a talent drain as a potential pitfall of a system that sometimes makes players wait for a contract. “It’s always a good idea to achieve your dream and if you can’t achieve it where you are, you may have to go somewhere else. You must have a positive, energetic system with a good structure that is pushing people from the bottom up. That’s when you know it’s working.”Rabada and Co are proof of that.

With the World T20 around the corner, one may ponder on the relevance of the bilateral ODIs between India and Australia, but there are plenty of factors to keep fans interested

Sidharth Monga11-Jan-2016″For me, when you talk about bilateral series, Tests are what matters. No one remembers these ODI and T20I bilateral series. In those formats, it is the World Cups that matter.”Possibly India’s team director Ravi Shastri was trying to deflect the attention off the ODI series India lost (to South Africa and Bangladesh) and retaining memories of events where they did well (Test series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, and a semi-final position in the World Cup) when he said this to the Indian cricket board’s website in December. There is still, however, a grain of unwitting truth to his words. Shastri is there in Australia, the venue where India played a “meaningless” tri-series last year without winning a match, as India take the hosts on in a five-ODI series to be followed by three T20 internationals. At a time when the World Twenty20 is around, one can see the context in the T20s, but why should one care for a bilateral ODI series that, in Shastri’s words, “no one remembers”?There is dual interest, though. In the new world order, India have replaced Sri Lanka as their dial-an-opposition with Australia. There was a time in the late 2000s and early 2010s when hardly a season would go without India facing Sri Lanka in bilateral ODI series or tri-series that “no one remembers”. Now they have split their bilateral engagement of Australia into Tests and limited-overs over separate tours, which means hardly a year goes by when either of these teams is not spending at least a month in the other country. By the end of this tour, India will have faced Australia in 38 internationals since December 2011, 13 more than the next most common opposition for them.India’s frequent visits to Australia – this is Rohit Sharma’s fourth tour to Australia, as many as Rahul Dravid managed through his career – mean that the administration of Australian cricket looks at them as it did at West Indies in the 1980s. West Indies back then were the biggest entertainers, and much to their chagrin the Australian batsmen would find themselves facing up to the most menacing fast bowlers every year.India are hardly as successful as that West Indies side, but they are arguably a bigger commercial draw: 4000 people turned up for a warm-up Twenty20 against a second XI of Western Australia on a Perth weeknight last week. They have played in two tri-series and the World Cup since their 2007-08 trip, and have beaten Australia only twice – in an ODI and in a Twenty20 – but they have made sure Cricket Australia is reporting a profit from the international summer despite little commercial interest in the visits of New Zealand and West Indies earlier in the summer. Of particular interest will be the attendance for the Melbourne ODI after 80,000 turned up for the BBL derby clash.These bilateral series also have a way of coming to life once the matches begin. Narrative develops, rivalries bloom, sledging happens. The last time these two sides played each other in bilateral ODIs, no target was safe yet Mitchell Johnson would get Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina just by turning up. These three characters won’t be playing this series, James Faulkner and Ishant Sharma will. Don’t worry about the buzz, there will be more than a hum when the rejuvenated Ishant bowls to the Man of the World Cup final after Faulkner took 30 off an Ishant over in the previous ODI series between these sides.Don’t try telling Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni either that there is no context to this series. Kohli, who scored four Test hundreds on the last trip to Australia but averages 15 in ODIs in Australia against Australia, was asked before he left if he was eager to go. “I am all suited up. The shoes are shining. Can’t wait to get on the flight.”Dhoni is definitely in the last quarter of his career. He is not a big training man, but he has spent the two-month break he got by the virtue of the Test retirement “toning” himself down through proper training and playing badminton. Watching him operate of late has been fascinating: the shots are not all there but his presence of mind has kept him in the hunt, and the wicketkeeping to spin remains as amazing as ever. Every now and then the old Dhoni threatens to come out of the shell, but the truth that others have caught up quells that Dhoni. He has felt the pressure of late, having led India to those two ODI series defeats, ones that the team director wishes to write off. He will take every opportunity to show he doesn’t need such spurious defence of his team. He has put in all the hard work to prepare for this series. To perhaps lead one final regeneration in Indian cricket.Regeneration means new faces. Quicks Scott Boland and Joel Paris have already been told they are debuting in Perth. Barinder Sran and Gurkeerat Mann will surely make their India debuts over the series. Manish Pandey, all of 26, will get a shot at personal regeneration after having been left aside after just one ODI and two T20Is. It is often during such series missing conventional context that the future greats take their first steps.Here’s to big crowds, great debuts, a comeback or two, and most importantly a contest from India.