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A “humble young man” and “a pleasure to be around” are not the words that must be going around in the England players’ heads, considering Trent Boult’s recent form and craftsmanship with the new ball

George Binoy in Wellington19-Feb-2015Trent Boult was sitting on a cardboard box – presumably containing water bottles – all padded up and waiting for his turn to bat at the Basin Reserve nets. An elderly gentleman came by and asked him if he would like a chair, because that box did look rather low, but Boult cheerfully said he was all right.Not long after that Boult’s turn was up, but as he entered the gate, he paused for a moment at a whiteboard listing the net bowlers and their style of operating. He bent down, rubbed out the F from the RAF (presumably, right-arm fast) next to one of the names and sketched in an M (presumably for medium) to the amusement of those close enough to observe his act. The friendly sledge – it must have been – as he walked into the net was inaudible.Those few minutes may not be indisputable proof of Boult’s sunny disposition, but they did not contradict his Northern Districts coach James Pamment’s assertion that he is a “humble young man” and “a pleasure to be around.”England, though, are unlikely to see that side of Boult during their World Cup match against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday, because Pamment also says Boult is a “fierce competitor” – be it fishing or playing golf – and “a very aggressive guy with the ball in his hand.”They have also had problems against left-arm quicks in the recent past. Their batsmen’s failings against Mitchell Johnson across the Tasman sea have been meticulously documented, and even Mitchell Starc has troubled their top order in the recent tri-series. Boult swings the new ball later and to a greater degree than both the Mitchells, and England will have to watch for both deliveries, the one that bends in viciously late and the one that zips across, and spotting the movement is only half the challenge.Brendon McCullum talks about a blueprint his team has been playing to in the lead-up to the World Cup – one that prescribes attacking cricket – and Pamment says Boult is the sort of bowler who complements the New Zealand captain’s philosophy. Boult is at present one of New Zealand’s best two quicks – the other is his good mate and sounding board Tim Southee – across formats and it’s certainly not because they are short of options. It wasn’t so not too long ago, though.When India toured New Zealand in early 2014 and played five ODIs, Boult didn’t get a game. New Zealand chose their specialist quicks from among Southee, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Hamish Bennett, Adam Milne and Matt Henry. Boult was reserved largely for Test cricket.”The sheer volume of cricket we were playing meant we weren’t necessarily able to give him [Boult] the opportunity we would have liked to with the white ball,” McCullum said. “Other guys were standing up and performing well. So that’s probably why he didn’t get a great deal of opportunities, but I think the way he’s stepped up and performed the role for us so far – him and Southee are a very dangerous bowling partnership.”His ability to swing the ball – and also the two new balls help too – he’s really developing nicely as one of our strike weapons at the start. He’ll face some challenges where opposition teams will try and be more aggressive against him, but I think he’s got the skills to overcome that. He’s a nice level-headed guy…so I’m confident he will be able to do a good job for us even if he is under a bit of pressure at times.”Boult won his place in the World Cup squad ahead of Henry and then his spot in the XI ahead of Mills and McClenaghan. It wouldn’t have surprised Pamment.”I’ve known Trent for a long number of years. We’re from the same, small district, we’re from the Bay of Plenty,” Pamment said. “His desire and determination to be an outstanding bowler has always been evident. I guess the most significant thing about Trent is that he’s very self-sufficient. He drives himself very diligently. He’s a good learner and he’s always been passionate to be one of the best in the world.”The goal of being among the best in the world seemed distant in 2009, when after a limited-overs tour of Australia during which he didn’t play an international game, an 18-year old Boult had stress fracture of the back that sidelined him for about two years. His brother Jono Boult, who also plays for Northern Districts, said Trent had taken that experience on board. “I think that helped him to getting back to where he is now,” Jono Boult says, “with the strength and conditioning sort of stuff.”Strength, conditioning and athleticism are words often spoken by Pamment when talking about Boult’s growth as a bowler over the last few years. He says a tremendous improvement in the bowler’s fitness has allowed him to exploit his greatest gift.”He’s got a lovely wrist position and the fact that the wrist goes right behind the ball gives him that control,” Pamment says. “And as he’s got stronger as an athlete, he’s increased his pace and he’s increased his accuracy through being stronger at the crease. He’s always presented the ball fantastically well but as he’s got stronger he’s been able to hold himself at the crease and run in with more vigour. It just complements what has always been a great strength of his, which is that wrist position.”He’s a fantastic athlete now and I think he’s still developing as an athlete as well. He’s very diligent around his preparation with his strength and his conditioning. He’s an outstanding athlete first and foremost and then his skills as a cricketer come to the fore.”Pamment also believes Boult can get far better, and given his penchant for self-improvement he could develop steadily over several years to come. “I think he’s got a lot of development to do and he is passionate about doing it. He’s probably enjoying the success that he has been experiencing but he will be working extremely hard to continue to develop, and most importantly to contribute to what is a good team at the moment. He’s passionate about that, I don’t think he’s anywhere near his peak. He’ll get fitter, he’ll get stronger, and his knowledge around what is required to do the job especially in white-ball bowling will only develop with more experience.”Boult’s burgeoning skills were recognised at the IPL auction three days into the World Cup, when a bidding spiral ended with him being bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise for $633,000. There have been concerns in the past of how young cricketers deal with the challenges of sudden fame and fortune. Boult seems well equipped.”He’s from a very good family, a very supportive family,” Pamment says. “He’s very humble, he loves his golf, he loves his surfing, and he’s a pleasure to be with, you know. He’s a nice young man. He’s got a very good balance in his life.”Jono Boult also painted a similar portrait of his brother – that of a “normal sort of Kiwi young guy…into his golf and fishing and surfing. Just the same as other cricketers really, nothing too interesting there!”Apart from the ability to swing the ball prodigiously and late, and accurately, at pace, as England might find out on Friday.

A fierce competitor yet unfailingly polite, Daniel Vettori draws the curtains on his 18-year international career

Brydon Coverdale31-Mar-2015It was typical Daniel Vettori, modest to the last. “Is this it, is this the official announcement?” a reporter asked at Auckland airport on Tuesday after New Zealand arrived home following their defeat in the World Cup final. “Ah, yeah, I suppose it is,” Vettori replied. With that casual acknowledgement, international cricket lost one of its finest ambassadors.But it could hardly have been any other way. Cricket has no shortage of headline-grabbers, men who enjoy being the centre of attention. Then there are those who let their deeds speak for them, the game’s unassuming champions. In the past couple of decades, perhaps only Shivnarine Chanderpaul has matched Vettori for understated brilliance.He has given 18 years to the New Zealand team, but in his own mind it has never been about Daniel Vettori. After he took the catch of the World Cup this month, a leaping one-handed take above his head on the boundary to get rid of Marlon Samuels in Wellington, he looked almost embarrassed. No fuss, no histrionics. Just modest Dan.Softly-spoken and unfailingly polite, Vettori is the very essence of what New Zealand cricket has become. In 2009 and 2010 he captained New Zealand when they won the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award. In 2012 he won it on his own, for declining to appeal for a run-out in the Bulawayo Test against Zimbabwe, when he was bowling and had accidentally impeded the other runner.”It was the right thing to do at the time and we as a team try and play with the right spirit of cricket,” Vettori said after receiving the award. “It’s hard to define the spirit of cricket, but go out on the field with the general mindset to play the game in the right way and always in the right frame of mind.”But zero slip-ups in 18 years would be remarkable, and not even Vettori could maintain that strike-rate. When he was fined most of his match fee for engaging in verbals with South Africa during a heated World Cup quarter-final in Dhaka in 2011, it was like hearing your parents swear for the first time. Really, you know those words? It was notable because it was so out of character.If Michael Hussey was Mr Cricket, Vettori was Mr Spirit of Cricket. Under Brendon McCullum, New Zealand have coninued down that path. But to focus solely on Vettori’s manner is to do him a disservice. That he joined Kapil Dev and Ian Botham as the only men to score 4000 runs and take 300 wickets in Test cricket tells of his immense talent. If Richard Hadlee is New Zealand’s greatest bowler, Vettori is their finest spinner.Enough said: Daniel Vettori has been a darling among the New Zealand masses•Mark Kolbe/Getty ImagesIn 1997, when Vettori at 18 became the youngest Test cricketer in New Zealand’s history, he had just enrolled in a health sciences course at university and wanted to become a pharmacist. You could easily picture the bespectacled Vettori behind the counter helping patients. Instead he dispensed more than 43,000 red and white pills to batsmen over the next 18 years.His subtle variations in bounce and spin, his mastery of drift and drop, these were the weapons that brought Vettori 362 Test wickets and 305 in one-day internationals. He often troubled the Australians at a time when they were the world’s best side, and his career-best 12 wickets in the Auckland Test of 1999-2000 gave New Zealand a realistic chance of a historic victory.But when New Zealand finally beat Australia in Hobart in 2011, their first Test win over their trans-Tasman rivals for more than 18 years, Vettori watched from the sidelines. He had missed the match due to a hamstring injury. Only 34 of his 112 Tests for New Zealand resulted in victories, but he finished Test cricket on a high, with an innings win over Pakistan in Sharjah last November.That Vettori was even able to play that match was testament to his determined nature. Some people assumed he had already retired from Test cricket, having not played since 2012. Persistent back problems had troubled him for years, and in October he told ESPNcricinfo that his fitness concerns were “a bit of everything – you get to a certain age and things start to give up.”But the lure of a fifth World Cup campaign was so strong that he pushed through, and was the tournament’s leading spinner. New Zealand sides of the past two decades have not always looked threatening, but opponents knew that whenever Vettori was present there was at least one bowler who must be respected, and a lower-order batsman who would be hard to budge.Six Test centuries were evidence of Vettori’s competitive nature. His range of strokes was limited, but he would not give up his wicket without a fight. This was a man who wanted to be in the game at all times. His mother Robyn once recalled how distraught an 11-year-old Vettori was when a bus driver forgot to take him to Auckland for an Under-14 representative soccer tournament.”There was this absolute competitiveness there,” Robyn told ESPNcricinfo in 2010. “Contained, but competitive and a quiet confidence in himself.”Vettori was raised by parents Renzo and Robyn in Hamilton. Renzo’s parents had moved to New Zealand from Italy, but loved seeing their grandson hit the big time. “It was nuts,” Renzo said in 2010. “They suddenly became cricket experts. It was the last thing they knew, or thought they knew.”Robyn and Renzo were far more nervous than their son when they watched him make his Test debut against England in Wellington. His calm nature was present even then, and belied his age. Upon his call-up, one of the New Zealand newspapers printed a back-page with headline that screamed: “But he’s only 18!” New Zealand fans might today be screaming: “But he’s only 36!”That means Vettori has spent half his life playing cricket at the highest level. It takes its toll; it was no surprise to see him limping through the World Cup final with a calf injury. The time has come. Few international cricketers inspire universal praise and admiration. Vettori was one of them. And in this most understated of retirements, we again saw why.

R Ashwin has reaped the benefits of reverting to classic offspin bowling and with the confidence his captain shows in him, he can become deadly

Alagappan Muthu in Fatullah15-Jun-20152:00

Insights – Insights – Ashwin India’s go-to spinner in Asia

“Have they shook hands?”The thought couldn’t be helped. India had bowled Bangladesh out in 66 overs, and with enough in the bank to cash in on a follow-on. But the clouds had gathered again and there was only an hour or so left in the game. Barely two days’ play has been possible in the Fatullah Test. Chances of a result had gone down the drain, along with rain water to fill three dozen swimming pools. Yet with the potential for 30 overs including extra time, Virat Kohli wanted one last gamble. And he took out his ace in the hole: R Ashwin.An offbreak fizzed from outside leg, as it was supposed to. It drew Imrul Kayes into a prod, as was planned. The edge hitchhiked off the thigh pad to the first of two slips but was put down. If Bangladesh survived long enough, play was certain to be called off by the mandatory 15 overs. As it was. But Ashwin wouldn’t make it easy.India have said they are on the hunt for wins. So the lead spinner will be pestered for miracles. Trying too much can never be ruled out under such circumstances. But Ashwin had secured his first (of 10) five-wicket hauls outside India – 5 for 87 in 25 overs – through classic offspin bowling in the first innings. He would loop the ball up and then get it to dip. Turn and bounce become academic after that. He trusted his stock delivery, the only variations he tried were those of pace and length and he stuck to a rhythmic, repeatable action. Nothing needed to change.”He’s priceless, to be honest,” Kohli said, “In a subcontinent Test match, you won’t get any better than him. He can bowl at right-handers, at left-handers, he can deceive people with pace, with spin, with bounce. I mean you name it and he has it.”So nothing needs to change looking ahead either. Even in limited-overs cricket, Ashwin had worked out that he is at his best when dealing the ball enough flight. The results were on show at the World Cup: 13 wickets at an average of 25 and an economy of 4.28. Among spinners, he’d bowled the most overs – 77 – and maidens – 6 – and was only two wickets shy of Imran Tahir and Daniel Vettori’s tally.A clever Ashwin is an asset, but an Ashwin who is clear enough in his mind to base his attack around his offbreak can be deadly. Especially in subcontinent conditions. Batsmen are most nervous when the length of the ball prevents them from deciding whether to go forward or not. Often times that means they push with their hands to make up the distance. As Tamim Iqbal did, to be stumped here. As Mushfiqur Rahim did, to be caught. As Shuvagata Hom did, to be caught again.But with a well-stocked bag of tricks comes the compulsion to dip into them. There have been times when the carom ball was strutted out so often that the offbreak might have felt like the jealous understudy. Then there were the changes he often made to his bowling action. As though it had fallen behind the times and he wanted to stay hip. Ashwin had even ceded as much to explain his borrowing Sunil Narine’s action, replete will the full-sleeved shirt that hid the elbow.”I just wanted to see if you can get more revs on the ball, if you can do a little bit with your elbow, as much as [is allowed], that is,” he had said after the Asia Cup in March 2014. “That’s what it was all about. You can get a lot of advantage with these things. So why should I lag behind if someone else is getting a competitive edge?”He’d returned to his normal routine immediately after that match against Bangladesh, including ditching the full-sleeves.Besides, his own tinkering, captains have assigned defensive mandates to him. Especially in away Tests. And when protecting runs enters into a spinner’s equation, it can get ugly. The switch to a limited-overs mindset can come unbidden. The urge to bowl around the wicket and at the pads would seem appropriate. The fact that the batsman is quite comfortable with that, since you are diminishing your chances of getting him out, slips the mind. And the good ones find ways to milk that line far easier.Ashwin had discovered that on his first tour to Australia in 2011: 168 overs, 565 runs, nine wickets. On his next trip abroad, he was dropped after the Boxing Day Test in Johannesburg. Eight months outside the Test team. The murkiest time of his career so far. It is difficult to ascertain if he had fallen off the wagon himself, or if his confusion was a byproduct of the team wanting his role to be summarily overhauled: from attack to contain.”I think he is not being handled properly,” former India left-arm spinner Maninder Singh had said in February 2014. “Somebody who came into the Indian side because he had the capability and the urge to take wickets, he was eager to take wickets in 20-overs cricket, becomes defensive in Test cricket where you are supposed to take wickets … Something is going wrong somewhere, someone is giving him the wrong advice.”So Ashwin decided to block out the noise. The World T20 arrived. He did too, with a simple action and a fetish for flighted offbreaks. India waltzed into the final and wowed the audience with the guile their spinners persisted with even in the one format where they were supposed to be most endangered. The flatter trajectory was as good as outlawed, and Ashwin said, “The ball is landing exactly where I want.”There were evidences of similar form in Fatullah. He was able to assess the pitch quickly, the batsmen’s weaknesses in double that time, plan his traps and spring them. The confidence he had was exemplified when he was miffed at the appointment of a deep cover towards the dying stages of the fifth day and demanded he stride back inside the circle.”He understands the game well,” Kohli said. “As a captain, you don’t need to tell him much because he’s very clear about what he wants to do, and I’m pretty confident of his contribution in the coming season, and he’s pretty geared up as well. He’s going to be really important for us.”It would take courage and self-belief not to abuse his variations. More so against batsmen he will meet soon: AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla and Kumar Sangakkara can frighten bowlers to dig for plan Z and beyond. But the offbreak is a classic and there is a reason why the classics are highly rated.

Craig Kieswetter talks about falling out of love with cricket a little bit and eventually having to give it up

George Dobell22-Jun-2015″Not many people get ‘Jerusalem’ sung to them as they go to work,” says Craig Kieswetter wistfully. “I’ll miss that.”Kieswetter is coming to terms with life beyond cricket. At 26, an age where many are just starting their international careers, Kieswetter played his final first-class game, and has concluded that he will play no more. Not for country, county or club.It’s not that he cannot. It’s that he cannot to the level he once could. And once you have been to the top of the mountain, the view from base camp doesn’t appeal.It looked for a while as if Kieswetter had the world at his feet. Fast-tracked into the England side – he made his debut barely a week after qualifying and declined a late request from Graeme Smith to return to South Africa – he made 107 in his third international match, becoming the second youngest England player (after David Gower) to score an ODI century. Less than ten weeks later, he won the Man-of-the-Match award as England won the World T20 final. He was 22.The moment that changed Kieswetter’s life came in July last year. Struck by a delivery from David Willey that snuck between the grille and lid of his helmet – Kieswetter does not recall whether he top-edged the ball – he sustained a broken nose and fractured orbital socket. While he was able to make a comeback before the end of the season, it soon became apparent that his eyesight was not what it had been. It might have improved over time, but Kieswetter was never really the sort to eke out a career.”The day games were pretty much fine,” he says. “But then I went to play in South Africa, and as soon as I played under lights, I was in trouble. I couldn’t see the ball in the field. I couldn’t see the ball when I batted. The ball was coming down at 90 mph and I couldn’t see it.”He could, he reckons, have fashioned some sort of career. He could have developed into a county stalwart and played at Somerset – the club he hails as “brilliant” for their treatment of him during his crisis – until his mid-30s. But that was never his style.

“I couldn’t see the ball in the field. I couldn’t see the ball when I batted. The ball was coming down at 90 mph and I couldn’t see it”

“I know I can’t play at the level I want to,” Kieswetter explains. “I liked being a swashbuckling player. And I felt I had the talent to play for England. I don’t feel that way any more. I’m not the same player. I’m not as good as I want to be and I never can be.”This game has been my life since I was nine. It was all I wanted. But I wanted to play a certain way and I can’t do that now.”I can still play. I can still be okay. But when I came back at the end of last season, there was a lot of bravado and adrenaline involved. In the end I just thought, there are too many mediocre players in county cricket – and good luck to them – but I don’t want to be another one.”Confidence was a factor too. The man who excelled in the World T20 final of 2010 on a blisteringly fast wicket and against Shaun Tait at his quickest, admits – with some courage – that, with his eyesight impaired, he no longer feels comfortable against quick bowling.”I’m not going to lie to you,” he says. “Of course that’s an issue. Going through what I went through – such a gruesome injury – going through the operations and the pain and the uncertainty… I don’t want to go through that again. Of course that trauma is in the back of your mind, and of course it effects how you play.”The specialist tells me that the injury is muscular. And like most muscular injuries, you can work on it. It can improve. But my sight will never be what it was, and after everything that has happened, I’ve fallen out of love with the game just a bit.”I still love it. I still respect it. But they say that when you know, you know. And I know it’s time to move on. I’m not saying ‘never’. If my sight improves in a couple of years, I might come back. I’ll only be 30. It would be one hell of a story. But Somerset have always been good to me, and I wanted to give them a chance to sign other players. I know this is the right decision.”The high points of his career almost all came early. He talks of making his Somerset debut as an 18-year-old who was still at school, of winning his county cap, and only a few weeks after a career-changing innings for Lions (the day after he qualified for England, he made 81 against the full side to win immediate promotion to the senior squad), making his England debut, scoring that ODI century and winning the World T20 title in May 2010.”It was a surreal three weeks,” he says about the World T20 success. “Of all the England teams I played in over five years, that was the one that had the best spirit.”To be honest, I don’t remember it that clearly: we played golf, we went to the beach and we drank rum. Training tended to be optional. KP was at his best. So were Broad and Swann. But we were a proper team and everyone got on brilliantly.”It was all new to me. I was so innocent. I was just loving playing for England and didn’t even think about any of the stuff that comes with it.”It was not always that way. As England became more successful, so the tensions grew between those in the team. The trappings of success became more important and cliques started to grow.”Success changed people,” Kieswetter says. “It wasn’t just us competing against the opposition; there was a sense that some of us were competing against one another. By the time we were No. 1 in the world, it was a very different dressing room.”Cliques developed. There were jokes made in the dressing room if you had South African background. When we warmed up in training, we were split into sides: South Africans v English. There was lots of talk about it in the media and here we were making it worse. It created an unnecessary divide. A sense of them and us.The world at his feet: Kieswetter’s fifty in the World T20 final of 2010 took England to the title•AFP”The Test players were together so much that, when the limited-overs players turned up, it felt like you were on the outside. The Test guys hung out with each other, the limited-overs guys hung out. The spirit I experienced in those first few weeks was never there again.”While he talks about Somerset with nothing but affection and pride – “the Overton brothers could be phenomenal cricketers” he says at one stage – he describes his relationship with representing England as “love-hate”.”I have some proud memories and I have some frustrations. Sometimes I felt I was messed around a bit, but at other times I was frustrated with myself for failing to adapt to what was required of me.”I started out playing with freedom. I ended up caged. I guess if I was in the current set-up I would thrive, but I had a good record as an opener and they asked me to bat at No. 6. It’s tough, but I’m disappointed with the way I responded to it.”You are ridiculously well paid to deal with the stuff that is thrown at you. But being dropped is gut-wrenching. Really horrible. And dealing with the media is very, very difficult. To see your game picked apart on TV, to hear it criticised… it’s pretty hard to take.”I think I probably came across as aloof. It was just my way of dealing with things. It was a way of not letting yourself become upset or distracted. I sort of regret that, but it’s very hard to deal with that stuff.”And when I talk about cliques, sometimes the ECB made them. Players were exhausted and asking for time off, but would be told they couldn’t have a central contract if they dropped out of one format. They were terrified to miss a game in case it counted against them and they lost their place.”Just compare how Australia treat Ryan Harris: he’s wrapped in cotton wool, he’s kept fresh for the Ashes. While our players are forced to play all the time. It’s not hard to see why we have so few fast bowlers.

“Cliques developed. There were jokes made in the dressing room if you had South African background. When we warmed up in training, we were split into sides: South Africans v English”

“But I don’t regret it. I don’t regret committing myself to England rather than South Africa and I never have. There was the quota thing going on in South Africa and I had the option to play in England through my Scottish mother. I never regretted it.”He is generous in praise of his old friend Jos Buttler, but admits that their relationship was strained by the pressures of competing for the gloves with Somerset and England.”That did become tough. We were good friends and we pretty much grew up together. And it was nobody’s fault and nobody’s intention, but a wedge was driven between us.”He’s not in the least bit malicious. He’s not in the least bit vindictive. Far from it. We both understand that we were two guys competing for one role. It is nothing personal. He’s done brilliantly and I’m pleased for him. But we don’t talk much these days.”Kieswetter will continue to live in the UK. The family are involved in the alcohol industry and he has the security of knowing there is an opening in the business.But he hopes his experiences in cricket won’t be completely wasted. While a future in coaching does not appeal, he thinks he might have a role in the media, where his forthright views on county cricket – he calls the NatWest Blast “a complete shambles” – and England’s limited-overs cricket could be aired.”I’d think I could add something to the T20 commentary,” he says. “A lot of the people doing it never played T20 cricket. And sometimes they are so negative… I think I could bring a bit of entertainment to it.”I loved playing the T20 leagues around the world, and I can tell you our system is archaic. They are too many teams, too many games and too many players. The standard in the Big Bash is higher. It’s as close as I experienced to international cricket. County cricket can be brilliant. But it’s patchy.”I’d hope that all my experiences – the success, the failures, the good and the bad times – could help me provide a perspective that you don’t always hear. I hope I’ve still something to offer the game.”

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2015… as Moeen Ali top-edged a slog sweep to Younis Khan at slip•Getty ImagesIt was another failure at the top of the order for Moeen, who has now scored 62 runs in five innings in the UAE•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook was England’s mainstay in the morning session•Getty ImagesHe added 71 for the second wicket with Ian Bell•Getty ImagesHowever, soon after lunch, Cook fell for 49 to Yasir Shah•Getty ImagesIt was the third time in three innings that Yasir had captured the England captain•Getty Images… and the second time that Cook had fallen to a close catcher on the leg side•Getty ImagesIt was the breakthrough that Pakistan needed to revive their spirits•Getty ImagesJoe Root then fell for 4 to a fine low catch by Sarfraz Ahmed•Getty ImagesRoot initially stood his ground but replays showed the catch was clean•Getty ImagesHowever, Bell endured, growing in confidence as his innings progressed•Getty Images… and James Taylor started well in his first Test since 2012•Getty ImagesBut, after tea, Yasir lured Bell out of his crease to be stumped for 40•Getty ImagesJonny Bairstow arrived at a key moment of England’s innings•Getty ImagesTaylor looked solid as England ground towards first-innings parity•Getty Images

Jalaj Saxena, who produced the joint second-best figures in the Ranji Trophy, hoped to carry Madhya Pradesh into the knockouts

Shashank Kishore09-Nov-2015Jalaj Saxena’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing. As he settled into his seat and turned his phone on, soon after Madhya Pradesh’s nine-wicket win over Railways in Gwalior, he realised his inbox had far more messages that he normally receives after a day’s play. First he mistook them for Diwali greetings, but realised that wasn’t the case after reading the first message. “A local journalist texted saying I had broken some sort of record,” Saxena told ESPNcricinfo. “I wasn’t sure what exactly, but as I scanned through, I slowly found out. It is a proud feeling to win a game, but all the more special because I could play a part in the win.”This wasn’t any ordinary performance. His incredible figures of 16 for 154 were the joint second-best figures in Ranji Trophy history. Only Anil Kumble, someone he has worked quite closely with during his time with Mumbai Indians, has better figures – 16 for 99 for Karnataka against Kerala at Thalaserry in 1994-95. He equaled the figures held by Pradeep Sunderam, who achieved the feat for Rajasthan against Vidarbha in 1985-86.To put things into perspective, it was Madhya Pradesh’s second successive victory to put themselves back in the running for a knockout berth, something that has eluded them since 2011-12. “It’s an incredible feeling to top the group at the moment, but there are still three games to go, so the message within the group is not to get too ahead of ourselves. We have the team to qualify though,” Saxena said. “What we have been harping on is to cash in on the key moments. We have done that in the last two games.”Saxena, who has picked up 26 wickets this season, said that success in recent times stemmed from better use of the crease and sticking to his strengths. “My stock delivery is the offspin,” Saxena said. “Sometimes, with so much of emphasis on the need to have different deliveries, you tend to get carried away. But the key is to stick to your strengths, that is what Daniel Vettori (coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, who Saxena represents in the IPL) told me. I’ve also understood the importance of using the crease. But that’s not to say I don’t want to bring in subtle variations.”What do his chats with Vettori revolve around? “He’s a legend, you learn by watching him bowl,” Jalaj said. “I’m trying to get more control over my flight, because on good wickets, you will need to beat quality batters in the air. That is what I tried to do in this game against Railways, and it paid off.”Even before the talk wheels towards the pitches, Saxena is quick to credit the 22-yard strips. “Last two-three seasons, we have had to play on green wickets, where the ball just skidded on. You had to be lucky if you got one long spell,” he said. “This year, the pitches have been better from spinners’ point of view maybe because we started the season in October. The wickets I have bowled on so far have been on the drier side. There have been a couple of good batting wickets too.”It’s easy to get swayed by his record tally of wickets, but Saxena has been a handy batsman too. He is currently the second-highest run-getter for Madhya Pradesh after Aditya Shrivastava, with 391 runs in eight innings at an average of 55.85. “Maybe because of the IPL I am a better striker of the ball, but I have always tried to be aggressive,” Saxena said. “I have worked hard on it, because you need to contribute in all facets.”As part of his learning, Saxena goes back to analyse his bowling spells with Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner. “He has been a great influence, especially when the domestic season is on. He is a knowledge bank on spin bowling in general,” Saxena said. “Talking to him about my cricket makes me feel good about my bowling.”What about the aspiration to play for India then? “That is definitely there. When Naman Ojha got picked in the Indian squad for the third Test in Sri Lanka, it wasn’t just a message that domestic performances don’t go unnoticed, but also reinforced belief into everyone that we too can play for India. For now, I would be happy if we first qualify for the quarterfinals and then take it from there.”

A wrist injury put the Australian legspinner’s career and life in a tailspin. But now he’s slowly getting back on track

Tom Morris02-Dec-2015Do you remember James Muirhead? The fresh-faced wristspinner who fell off the scene faster than he burst on it two summers ago. Ring a bell?At the start of the 2013-14 Australian season, Muirhead was not deemed good enough to warrant a Big Bash contract. By the end of it, he was Australia’s first-choice wristspinner in limited-overs cricket.Nicknamed “Vegemite” for his rosy red cheeks, Muirhead has had a journey not yet a fraction complete. Already the uncertainties, tribulations and utter frustrations of being a professional cricketer have forced him to question the path that, in relative terms, he has only just begun.I must confess I share a close bond with Jimmy. I’ve kept wicket to him, batted with him many times, and trained alongside him. I’ve watched him grow from a supremely confident 3rd XI legspinner at Shane Warne’s old club, St Kilda, to an international cricketer who tumbled back down the ranks again.One week he was playing 3rd XI club cricket on the Ross Gregory Oval, the next, it seemed, he was dismissing Indian maestro Virat Kohli in a World T20 encounter in Dhaka.He’s only 22, but already his career reflects a game of snakes and ladders.Muirhead played the last of his five international T20s last March and, in the 18 months between then and now, his troubles have brewed internally and materialised externally in disturbing fashion. Watching from just 22 yards away, I’ve had front-row seats and at times it has not been pretty. The troubles first started in October 2014.

“I used to think I’d dominate no matter what. Now I know I have to work really hard to compete”James Muirhead

In February that year, an article was published on ESPNcricinfo, titled “The rapid rise of James Muirhead”. Even the man himself now concedes it would be fair to write a story that is the precise mirror image of the original. “I was at rock bottom earlier this year,” Muirhead said last week.”I went to South Africa with Australia and then to the World T20 in Bangladesh. It was an amazing experience. I sat next to Dale Steyn after a game in the change rooms and couldn’t even speak, I was in such awe.”I came home and played a Shield game against NSW at the SCG. That’s when my wrist that I rely on for spin began to ache.”Towards the end of last season, the zip and bounce that had been his forte deserted him. I’d watch in amazement as he would ask club captain Rob Quiney to remove him from the attack. “I’m struggling, bruz,” he’d say before trudging down to fine leg. Confidence shot, he was a shadow of his former self. This happened Saturday after Saturday and game after game for months.Throughout this period, fellow Victorian legspinner Fawad Ahmed was on his way to claiming a competition-high 48 wickets for the season, making it almost impossible for Muirhead to force his way back into the team – even if he did bowl well at club level.”I didn’t really tell anyone about my wrist until it got really bad. It wasn’t one incident, it just got progressively worse the more I bowled. I couldn’t hear the clicking sound in my hand when I let the ball go, so I knew something was wrong. When I bowl well, my wrist clicks and the ball fizzes out – this stopped happening,” he said.”Having no confidence really got to me and I struggled to get out of bed some mornings. I didn’t want to train and I have no doubt I was depressed. It was very difficult times. Everything just spiralled down.”In a short span of time Muirhead went from turning out for St Kilda’s 3rd XI to dismissing batsmen in the World T20•Associated PressCricket clubs can be ruthless places, especially successful ones like St Kilda Cricket Club. From 2000 to 2006, the Saints won five two-day 1st XI premierships and this win-at-all-costs mantra still exists today. Every individual gets analysed, people talk, nobody is spared critical judgement.Success is expected, both individually and collectively. Hardened professionals like Michael Beer, Graeme Rummans, Peter Handscomb, Quiney and Muirhead train alongside school teachers, carpenters and University students. So when Jimmy was struggling, it was natural that people would wonder why.”I couldn’t get the revolutions on the ball and I began to worry about what people were saying about me,” he said.”I’d never cared before, but for some reason now I did and it consumed me. It was as if everyone from the firsts to fourths were looking at me thinking I was shit. I didn’t want to train and I just wanted to quit.”I started to think I might have to find a job even though I knew I had three years left on my state contract. Mentally, I was in a shocking place and I now know I will never be lower than that again.”There was one summer evening where he refused to bowl in the nets – unheard of for someone of his standing. I later found out it was because he was terribly embarrassed. He was bowling a long hop every second ball and being belted out of the net. He’d go and retrieve the ball, put on a brave face, and the same thing would happen again. It must have been demoralising. There was nothing any of us could say that could make him feel better. Physically he was struggling with his wrist, but mentally, he had plummeted to an entirely new low.

“You can see he’s a real natural legspinner. There’s a lot of sidespin on the ball. He gets really big turn. I think that’s got everyone excited”Cameron White

Surgery was initially delayed in the hope that rest would be the cure. It didn’t, so in June 2015, Muirhead went under the knife. The recovery period was six to eight weeks, but in reality he is only just finding his old self again now.”I was in such a bad way mentally because of my bowling,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why one day I would be dipping and ripping the ball, and then a couple of months later I was in pain and was hardly spinning it. Surgery allowed me to refresh and almost start again in some ways.”But to paint a picture of eternal doom and gloom would be to dismiss the journey of fellow twirler Brad Hogg, or to a lesser extent Chris Rogers and Adam Voges. For cricket is a pursuit that often favours the stubborn over the skilful – a fact Muirhead, who has a Perth Scorchers and Cricket Victoria contract, is acutely aware of, following a harrowing 18 months. Like so many before him, he knows he possesses the raw skills. Yet at the elite level, pure talent is nowhere near enough.In many respects it has been his close bond with talismanic chinaman and eternal optimist Hogg that has allowed the western suburbs-raised Muirhead to gain perspective in times of despair.”I work very closely with Hoggy at the Scorchers now and he’s really kept me going through the bad times,” he said.”It doesn’t matter where he is or what time of the day it is, he answers my calls and he’s been exceptionally influential on my life. I actually spoke to him yesterday. He rang me to speak to me about my goals and to see how I was going. Without him I am not sure where I’d be.”I understand now it is not going to be easy. I used to think I’d dominate no matter what. Now I know I have to work really hard to compete.”The other person who he credits with helping halt his rapid slide is Cricket Victoria psychologist Tony Glynn.Glynn, who worked closely with Victoria’s cricketers after Phil Hughes’ tragic death last year, has been spending an hour per week with Muirhead for the past eight months – something the legspinner would have laughed off had he been offered psychological assistance three years ago.In an Ashes tour game in November 2013, Muirhead took the wickets of Alastair Cook (twice), Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen•Getty Images”I would have said, ‘What are sports psychologists for? You don’t even need them. They are a waste of money’,” he conceded. “Now I realise, having experienced the highs and the bad lows, that they are crucial. Tony helps me develop routines, set goals and gives me another person to talk to.”Roger Federer, Adam Scott, Steve Smith, and all these elite athletes have deeply embedded routines. I never thought about it before, but now when I watched these guys play, I see their routine. I didn’t have one but now I do. It allows me to have a default setting for when I play if things go wrong.”When he’s at his pomp, Muirhead’s greatest asset is the wicked revolutions he imparts on the ball. Facing him in the nets, your audible signals are just as important as the visual cues. His legbreak fizzes through the air, the tiny rope on the seam rotating so viciously it creates enough friction to hear quite unmistakably. Probably the only thing more daunting than facing him is keeping to him on a tired wicket.”I’ve stood at slip in the three T20 games he’s played for Australia and you can just see he’s a real natural legspinner of the ball – there’s a lot of sidespin on the ball,” Cameron White said last year. “He gets really big turn. I think that’s got everyone excited, including the people he plays with.”Muirhead, who has played for three Big Bash franchises, does not see himself as the next Shane Warne, despite the early comparisons. He does not aspire to be Stuart MacGill or Yasir Shah, or anyone else, really. As his club and state team-mates will strongly attest, Jimmy just wants to be Jimmy and turn the ball as sharply as his rehabilitated wrist will allow. Last week he played for Victoria’s Futures League team against the ACT at his home ground, the Junction Oval, in a four-day game. Although his figures were modest (one wicket in the first innings), his control was back. “It was a flat deck and was relatively happy with how they came out,” he said. “I’m getting back to where I want to be.”Muirhead has been forced to wade through thick mud. Dirtied and demonised by the terrors in his own mind, he could have thrown in the towel, but he didn’t. If he makes it back to the apex of the cricketing mountain, he will undoubtedly be better for what he has endured. His list of scalps does not include names like Gayle, Pietersen, Duminy, Gibbs and Kohli for nothing.

Sri Lanka Under-19 captain Charith Asalanka has risen through the ranks of Sri Lanka’s school cricket system by the sheer weight of his performances and is fitting in well into his role in the side

Vishal Dikshit in Sylhet30-Jan-2016Afghanistan Under-19s chinaman bowler Zahir Khan had just taken two wickets in the 27th over to put Sri Lanka Under-19s on a precarious 96 for 5. Sri Lanka had lost five wickets for 48 runs and, with Afghanistan looking to run through the remaining wickets, Charith Asalanka took strike against legspinner Rashid Khan, the only player in the ongoing World Cup with international experience.Asalanka, the Sri Lanka captain, blocked the first ball of the over and then unleashed three fours – a back-foot cut, a delicate leg glance behind square and a cover drive that pierced the off-side field.”I don’t know about him (Rashid Khan),” Asalanka told ESPNcricinfo with an innocent laugh holding his Man-of-the-Match award for his all-round show. “I still didn’t know he’s an international cricketer, only you told me. But I just played the ball. Whoever bowled it, international cricketer or whoever, I just played the ball.”Asalanka, who top-scored with 71 and struck twice with his offspin in six overs, has risen through the ranks of the Sri Lankan school cricket system with a load of runs and wickets to his name. He was named the Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year and won the national award for the best allrounder last year while representing Richmond College from Galle, which does not have a long history of producing international players. An aggressive left-handed batsman, he scored 780 runs with the help of three hundreds and four fifties in the 12 matches of the previous school cricket season and missed four matches due to the Under-19 tours. In the 2014-15 season, while playing for Galle Cricket Club, he broke a 30-year-old record becoming the youngest player to score a first-class century in Sri Lanka, at the age of 17.Asalanka bats at No. 4 and is a punchy strokeplayer when he gets into the attack mode. On a day when the Afghanistan spinners could have toppled a strong Sri Lankan top order, Asalanka counter-attacked with several boundaries even though wickets fell around him. He took 10 balls to get off the mark and then targeted an in-form Zahir with a six to the midwicket boundary and two consecutive fours in his next over.”I am the captain so I have to play a major role in the team,” Asalanka said. “So I think when we lost quick wickets, I had to change my game and play a different game. When we are in a good position and have lost only one or two wickets then I can play my natural game. When we lose quick wickets, I change my game and play a different game for the team.”Leg side or off side, back foot or front foot, Asalanka took flicks, pulls, cuts and drives out of his bag whenever a loose delivery was offered to haul the team score towards 200. “I think I have an all-round game, I like to play on the off side, it’s my favourite area. When they bowled on the leg side, then I played on leg side.”When Sri Lanka’s turn came to defend the total, Asalanka chipped in with two wickets too to remove wicketkeeper-batsman Ikram Faizi and allrounder Muslim Musa and turn the match in his team’s favour. From 66 for 2, Afghanistan were 74 for 4. It was not considerable turn that got Asalanka the wickets. He bowled flattish deliveries not too far from the off stump to offer hardly any room and both batsmen gave away catches to fielders in the 30-yard circle. Asalanka finished with figures of 6-1-18-2.”From the beginning, I’ve been an allrounder. When I come to the 50-over game I like to bowl flat and be more economical. When I play three-day or first-class matches, I like to give flight.”With two straight fifties and Man-of-the-Match awards, Asalanka has marshalled his team to the quarter-finals with a game in hand against Pakistan. He is already the fourth-highest run-scorer in the tournament, was second on the charts in a recent tri-series involving India and England in Colombo, and if he can curb his instinct to hole out against spinners after building on strong starts, Sri Lanka’s opponents will have to come up with solid plans to cap this force. Does it have something to do with who his favourite player is?”My parents want me to become like Sangakkara. And my favourite player is Sanath Jayasuriya.”

The beauty about AB de Villiers is he forces a change in mindset, be it the opposition bowler, captain, his own teammate or even a spectator. He makes one realise that boundaries can be pushed just by making the effort

Nagraj Gollapudi in Pune22-Apr-20161:04

‘Kohli and AB are quality players’ – Rahane

There is an urgency that AB de Villiers brings to the crease. Restless energy, but always full of positivity – in this mood he can murder an opposition and uplift his teammates in case they are stuck in a rut.The South African was in one such mood today when he joined his captain Virat Kohli, with whom he had already shared one half-century and two century partnerships this IPL. It is easy to see intent on de Villiers’ face most times. He wants to score and score fast. He reads the field quickly and picks his areas, but most importantly de Villiers picks his moments.Ishant Sharma was bowling the final over of the powerplay. Having delivered a no ball off the second delivery, Ishant had recovered well by bowling an off stump yorker against Kohli that was guided into the off side for a single. On the next ball, de Villiers jumped out of his crease – even as Ishant bowled a short one into the body – to smash a pull over midwicket.He could have even stayed back and played the same shot, but de Villiers’s intent was to hurt the bowler mentally too. It also helped Kohli to make the bold move of charging Ishant on the final ball of the over with a slap to the third man boundary.Some observers feel de Villiers plays too many premeditated strokes, but the element of surprise is always wrapped up nicely. When Ankit Sharma tossed one on the off stump he might have thought de Villiers would push him to the cover for a single. Instead the South African quickly moved outside the line of the ball to unleash a powerful sweep for his first six.Even before he walked to the crease de Villiers had an advantage with his knowledge and success at the ground. In three previous matches in Pune, de Villiers has two half centuries: 50 not out against Pune Warriors in 2013 and 66 against Rajasthan Royals last year. So de Villiers was aware when he swept Ankit, he was trying to clear the shortest boundary in the ground.Stunning the bowler is something de Villiers gets excited about quietly. When M Ashwin came to bowl immediately after the halfway stage, the South African took on Ashwin’s first ball, picked his legbreak from the off stump and swept it over backward square deep into the stands. The expression on the legspinner’s face showed what a batsman like de Villiers can do leave a bowler blindsided.De Villiers was not yet done with the legspinner. As he was taking guard to face Ashwin in the 14th over, Dhoni moved Kevin Pietersen to square point. Ankit Sharma was at backward point, five yards to Pietersen’s right. Dhoni asked Pietersen to go back a few yards. All of Dhoni’s fine tuning left no impression on the South African. De Villiers reverse swept Ashwin exactly between the two fielders. To remind Dhoni that he had a lot more gaps to plug, de Villiers then swept Ashwin for an easy four between fine leg and deep square leg.The beauty about de Villiers is he forces a change in mindset, be it the opposition bowler, captain, his own teammate or even a spectator. He makes one realise that boundaries can be pushed just by making the effort. Today, Kohli played the supporting act superbly, but de Villiers understood that if Royal Challengers needed a strong finish, Kohli had to not just bat till the end but also score runs.De Villiers had noticed that Kohli was playing to his strengths, playing in the V, but he was not going the distance. De Villiers was frequently in his captain’s ears, uttering the encouraging word and at one point, possibly, asking him to move down the off side and paddle sweep the ball past the fine leg that had been pulled inside.The understanding between both men is very clear and the numbers support that fact. Both men also agree that they cannot stop running. They would rather be breathless than keep quiet. It means the opposition is left out of breath too in the process.”Till you are allowing him a second run and sending AB to the non-striker’s end, you are doing a good job,” Ajinkya Rahane, Rising Pune Supergiants leading scorer on Friday, said with a smile. “The way cricket has moved forward and the way AB de Villiers bats the margin of error for the bowlers is very less. Our bowlers did not bowl that badly, but you need to give him the credit. You need to have a daring to reverse sweep and sweep the fast bowlers.”Among the various stand out characteristics about de Villiers is his sporting spirit. As soon as his South African teammate Faf du Plessis dived forward to interrupt his lofted drive at long-on in the 17th over, which saved a certain boundary, de Villiers tapped his bat to appreciate the fielder’s effort.When Harshal Patel had been hit for a six and four boundaries, de Villiers charged towards Harshal, took the ball, swept the dew off it, put an arm around the helpless bowler and asked him to keep his chin up. All the time keeping that smile on his face. His energy is both restless and boundless.

Having come close to an international debut once before only for rain to thwart it, Jon Holland is ready to make the most of his second chance after earning an unexpected call-up

Daniel Brettig02-Aug-2016An expired passport, replaced in a hurried 24 hours before flying to Sri Lanka, says a lot about how much Jon Holland has thought about playing for Australia in a Test match lately. But canny displays in training for the tourists, ahead of a game they must win, spoke equally loudly for a level of ability the selectors have always rated.The call from chairman of selectors Rod Marsh to tell Holland he needed to travel to Galle to replace Steve O’Keefe and partner Nathan Lyon in the second Test necessitated a journey from Brisbane back to Melbourne for a hurried renewal of documents. It is seven years since Holland last made an Australian tour, an ODI sojourn to India in 2009.”Rod rang me when I was up in Brisbane, getting ready for Australia A, and told me that SOK was not good and I had to get over here,” Holland said. “It was a bit of a surprise, so much of a surprise that I didn’t have a passport ready, so I was a bit nervous.”I went back to Melbourne, I had to renew it, it had expired. Getting over here, just being around the group it hits home a bit more.”I will be a little bit nervous if I do get a chance to play, I have worked hard on my bowling the last couple of years. I am pretty comfortable with where my bowling’s at. Hopefully, if I do get a chance, I can get myself into the game and get a couple of results.”On that previous tour, Holland was so close to a debut that he had “the chat” with then captain Ricky Ponting informing him he would play in the final match of the series in Mumbai. But rain began to fall almost as soon as Ponting spoke those words, and so, Holland returned home without playing.”It was the last game, we’d already won the series,” Holland said. “Ricky told me on the bus after training which was the next day, and as soon as he told me, it started raining and it didn’t stop until we got on the plane to come home, so unfortunately I missed out, but that’s the way it goes.”I guess it was in the back of my mind that time was getting away from me, but I really enjoy playing cricket for Victoria. They’ve stuck with me through three shoulder injuries and supported me and given me the chance to play cricket, I have to thank them. It’s here now, it’s all a bit surreal still and I will just have to wait and see if I do get the chance to play.”Usefully, Holland is dropping into the Australian side in a manner he has become familiar with for Victoria. The selectors’ preference for Fawad Ahmed as the No. 1 spinner has meant Holland only plays on spinning pitches, and has harvested 22 wickets at 16.41 from his past three Shield games, spread over two seasons. Eight wickets in the Shield final piqued the selectors’ interest ahead of this tour.”I would like to play every game for Victoria but that hasn’t been the case,” he said. “Fawad has bowled extremely well for Victoria and it’s been hard to get in there, and especially in Australia – playing two spinners doesn’t happen too often, but my opportunities for Victoria have come and I enjoy playing for Victoria.”The Shield final was a big game for me. I’d missed out on a couple, one through injury and one not being selected the year before. It was a big dream of mine to play in a winning Shield for Victoria, and to get the opportunity and do well was a really great week for me.”In watching the first Test of the series on television, Holland was reminded of the left-arm spinner’s art by the clever variations of Rangana Herath. There has been evidence of similar skill from Holland in training, varying his pace and degree of spin to beat Australian bats on numerous occasions. Cricketers rather than athletes, Herath and Holland share an instinctive understanding of deceit.”He knows the conditions extremely well here,” Holland said of Herath. “He just bowls on the spot and knows how to subtly change his spin and variations and pace and that sort of thing. I think just about every time he bowls the ball it’s hitting the stumps, which is a big positive. I try to take a bit of that on board and try to do the same as that.”If Holland’s passport was unready, he has at least got in his kitbag a handful of good relationships with Australian team-mates from days gone by, whether it be Under-19 tours or his Academy intake.Most critical of all, he shares a good rapport with Steven Smith. Captain and spinner must stay close this week. “I’ve known Smithy since he was pretty young,” Holland said. “I guess we have got a pretty good relationship, so, hopefully, he backs me in and looks after me.”