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England captain concedes “challenge of playing on slower wickets” is still an area for batsmen to address

George Dobell in Barbados19-Feb-2019England must learn to win ugly if they are to win the World Cup. That is their challenge with just one more ODI series before the start of a potentially momentous home summer.While England have earned a reputation for explosive batting on true surfaces – they have recorded the two highest totals made in the history of ODI cricket since the last World Cup, both times at Trent Bridge – they have not always proved so dominant in conditions where bowlers have more in their favour. Think of the performance against South Africa at Lord’s in 2017, when they were bowled out for 153, or the match against Australia at Old Trafford in 2015 (they made just 138).But nowhere was this struggle to adapt more painfully exploited that in the semi-final of the Champions Trophy against Pakistan. In that game, on a used surface that provided a bit of assistance to spinners and reverse-swing bowlers, England were dismissed for 211. Pakistan cruised to an eight-wicket win.So, as England start their lead-up to their World Cup campaign – they now play nothing by white-ball cricket until mid-July – they know it is an area they must improve. And, with a possibility that some surfaces in this series against West Indies may prove tough for batsmen, it is a weakness that may confront them several times in the coming days.”Everybody expects us to win,” Eoin Morgan said ahead of Wednesday’s ODI in Barbados. “But the manner it will play out will be different from what people expect.”There is the challenge of playing on slower wickets that don’t necessarily allow us to play an expansive game. We have improved on it, but to produce a level of consistency in performing and winning is something we haven’t nailed down.”I played here last year for Barbados and the pitch was quite uneven and steep bouncing. It offered some turn, too, and the wind plays a big part. So it will be a tough challenge and everybody in our changing room knows that. It’s not an easy place to come and win particularly when they have a lot of match winners.”England misread the conditions ahead of the Test here, however, and it is possible they have done so again. While surfaces on the England Lions tour and in the CPL were not especially good for batting, the pitches prepared for the first two ODIs in Barbados look full of runs.Morgan’s logic is sound, though. England failed to adapt to that surface in Cardiff and, while most pitches for the World Cup are expected to promote big-hitting and high scores, there is always the possibility they will be confronted by a more demanding surface along the way. If so, their batsmen will quickly have to work out what a challenging score might be and play accordingly. It has not been a strength in recent times.England must also grow accustomed to being talked about as favourites and people expecting them to win. This is not entirely new for them – it has been the case for the last 12 months, at least – and they have encouraged such talk in the hope it will”We don’t mind the tag of favourites,” Morgan said. “We’ve spoken about it and we’ve learned to be at ease with it in the last few series. It doesn’t really mean anything: you still have to produce to be rewarded.”But, while England do start this series as favourites – they are No. 1 in the world rankings, after all, and West Indies No. 9 – Morgan made the point that Scotland beat them less than a year ago. There can be no room for complacency.Chris Woakes bowls during England practice•Getty ImagesIn terms of individual selections, the batting and spin bowling looks reasonably secure. But there is at least one seam-bowling position to be finalised, with the likes of Mark Wood, Tom Curran and Liam Plunkett hoping to do enough to see off the challenge from Jofra Archer, who qualifies in about a month.But while Morgan played down any threat to Plunkett’s position, in particular, he did accept that pace – one of Archer’s primary weapons – was an important part of his bowling armoury. And he might have provided a little hint that the loss of Olly Stone, who played in Sri Lanka but has subsequently been diagnosed with a stress fracture, could offer Archer an opportunity.”I’m not concerned about Plunkett,” Morgan replied to a question about the bowler’s apparently diminishing pace. “The trajectory and variations he brings are valuable, too. When you’re facing him, it’s not easy. Particularly here where a bit of extra height does count.”We are very lucky because we probably have only one injury to a guy who might have been involved and that’s Stone. He is capable of bowling 90mph along with Plunkett and Mark Wood. The difference of having those guys is quite significant. You only had to watch the Test matches to see how valuable they are.”One of the best attributes I have is to compartmentalise things. Until Jofra qualifies, he’s not really in our thoughts at the moment.”If Wood is unable to replicate the pace he generated in St Lucia, however, and Plunkett is unable to offer the mid-innings control that he has provided so often in recent times, it is likely Archer will feature very prominently in Morgan’s thoughts before this series is over.

Rajasthan captain Pankaj Singh, the ongoing season’s highest wicket-taker after round seven, reflects on his journey to 400 first-class wickets

Nagraj Gollapudi24-Nov-2016The most memorable domestic wicketMy 200th wicket, when I got Piyush Chawla against Uttar Pradesh in the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy. I value this wicket because I had to work really hard to get to that milestone. I had to bowl nearly 60-plus overs to get there. In the previous match, against Railways, I went wicketless having bowled 38 overs. Against UP I was frustrated as catches were dropped off my bowling. Eventually when Piyush was nearing the 90s, I got him caught and bowled. But I had to bowl almost 30 overs to break the barren spell.The toughest domestic batsmanRohit Sharma. I have played at least four to five matches in domestic cricket against Rohit and have got him a couple of times. He plays all the shots. You don’t have the room to just bowl at a certain pace and restrict him. You just have to keep bowling outswing, outswing and then hope to surprise him by pitching an in-cutter. But once he settles he is very difficult to get out and he scores very quickly.The best spellIn the quarter-finals, against Mumbai, in Jaipur in the 2010-11 Ranji season when we won the title for the first time. Mumbai elected to bat. I got three top-order batsmen in my first spell: Sahil Kukreja, Omkar Gurav and Rohit. We had never even taken first-innings lead against Mumbai, at least in my career till then. Mumbai were firm favourites and had fielded their best eleven which also included Ajit Agarkar, Wasim Jaffer, Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) and Ramesh Powar. So I took the challenge upon me that we had to win somehow.The favourite mode of dismissal?Pitching on middle and hitting the top of the off stump. It does not happen too many times, but I love to do that.The toughest spell in domestic cricket Against Maharashtra last year in Pune. I rate this toughest because I did not succeed. We made 250-odd (270) after being asked to bat. I bowled 27 overs on the second day. That was the maximum I had bowled in any Ranji match in a day. We had Maharashtra in trouble at 124 for 6, but [Shrikant] Mundhe and [Chirag] Khurana rescued them. Usually I back myself in such situations to take a wicket. It was the first time I was unable to do anything. Khurana even hit me for a six in the last over of the day. I was exhausted in the end. Maharashtra won with a bonus point.The best domestic fast bowler in your timeVinay Kumar. I like the way he bowls aggressively, how he uses all his skills and works out his wickets. I bowl quite similar to him. You can feel his presence at all time. I also like his attitude and he is the best in the present era in domestic cricket.The most favourite pitch in IndiaSMS [Sawai Madhopur Stadium, Jaipur] and MohaliThe best compliment you’ve received in domestic cricketRecently after I got him out in Duleep Trophy, Yuvraj Singh told me I was the best bowler in domestic cricket.The one skill needed for a fast bowler to survive in domestic cricketAccuracy.The goal you are after nowTo play once again for India.

The Porbunder All Rounder at the CCI in Mumbai is a throwback to old-school English-style clubs. But it’s not only about cricket

Firdose Moonda02-Nov-2015Just the description should be enough to put you off a gentlemen’s club. Then, when you consider that the establishment in question actually stands for what can essentially be categorised as elitism, it may drive you to campaign to turn the place into a public square so it can be redeemed. I know I do. And it’s why I am a little embarrassed when I have to admit that I find old-school English-style gentlemen’s clubs quite quaint. I could not escape the charms of Mumbai’s Cricket Club of India (CCI), though it did its best to convince me otherwise.It is a place that was born of racial discrimination, when the Maharaja of Patiala was aggrieved he could not sit with the Europeans at the Bombay Gymkhana and decided to build a place of his own. It has since evolved into a place of class difference. The CCI carries the weight of old money. You can see it in the clubhouse. Spiral staircases, thick columns, heavy curtaining, lots of wood. And then there are the people.All straight backs, swift strides and stiff suits: the mercury has no impact on the dress code. These people need to look the part and they do. They also have the unique ability to see through anyone who doesn’t. An unfamiliar face is not even met with a curious side-eye to try and see if there is the possibility of a stranger dropping in. All the members know each other without needing to look; maybe they communicate by the sound of their footfalls.They’re usually headed in the same direction – to one of the dining rooms, which looked inviting, but as a non-member, I was uninvited. The only one I really wanted to get inside was the Porbunder All Rounder, admittedly because of the name. My family traces its history back to Porbunder, in Gujarat, and I was intrigued that there would be a reference to the place in the middle of Mumbai.Restricted: the entrance to the Porbunder All Rounder•Firdose Moonda/ESPNcricinfoAt the first opportunity I got to ask someone about the name, I did. One of the senior administrative staff, a middle-aged lady, who said she wanted to be a journalist when she was younger but was told by her father it was “not a profession for women”, told me the Maharajah of Porbunder had been one of the many funders of the club, and so had had a room named after him. The All Rounder bit was just a random cricket reference.In fact, cricket can seem secondary to the club overall. There are stories of members complaining that when a match is on it prevents them from taking their walks. On some match days if play overflows past the scheduled time, the members line up at the boundary rope with their cane chairs, agitatedly waiting for play to end so they can set up for their bridge games.Even if they wanted to forget about cricket, they couldn’t. The club exists because of it and if the walls could talk, the only language they would speak is cricket. Every one of them tells a different story, with pictures of Indian teams of the 1930s, to a history of Don Bradman, to a photographic display of all ten wickets Anil Kumble took against Pakistan in 1999. Kumble himself is only in two of the pictures. When I see him, I’m going to ask him what he thinks of gentlemen’s clubs.

The pitch has not been the seam-friendly surface Alastair Cook might have anticipated but it stretched his captaincy as England’s bowlers strived to find a way through

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's14-Jun-2014There was a power cut at Lord’s on Saturday – apparently caused by too much weight on the Nursery Ground – as Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were building their 17th century stand in Test cricket. It prompted Russell Arnold, the former Sri Lanka batsman turned TV commentator, to say on air: “It’s so like Colombo – sun shining, power cut in media centre and a 100 partnership by Mahela and Sanga.”The pitch was docile, too, if not quite in the league of the SSC in Colombo. England did not want the ball to scuttle through at ankle height, or not even reach the keeper. They did not want the pitch to sap the life out of deliveries hurled down by their four fast bowlers. Not that it should always be about what England want (although what is wrong with home advantage?) but there was certainly no early helping hand for the beginning of England’s era where pace bowling will need to dominate for them to find success.In the days leading up to this Test, Alastair Cook said he had never seen a pitch so green at Lord’s and England would have been encouraged by what they saw. However, it is not so much the colour of the grass that matters – although English quicks will never bemoan a nice emerald surface – but the pace and carry which means edges carry and techniques are tested, especially for Asian sides.The MCC, as the independent arbitrators of the game, do not see it as their role to offer any side a particular advantage but they want to produce pitches that are good for Test cricket. It remains debatable whether this is leaning too far one way.England’s end result of six wickets in the day was a commendable effort, reward for unstinting toil, and leaves open the possibility of a result if Sri Lanka’s tail folds quickly on Sunday. James Anderson was superb, especially in his first spell of 7-3-12-1 and then his working over of Lahiru Thirimanne, but it was the stamina of Liam Plunkett and Chris Jordan, particularly the former in a nine-over spell late in the day, which was praiseworthy.A look at Plunkett’s figures without seeing the context of the day could easily lead you to question the value of his effort: 30-2-113-1 is hardly flattering. However, he performed the role Cook asked of him.Either side of lunch he targeted Jayawardene’s gloves and ribs from around the wicket – there was barely a delivery in Jayawardene’s half of the pitch, although he said he was “quite happy” with England’s tactics instead of pitching the ball fuller – and on a surface with a touch more pace it would have been harder for Jayawardene to withstand the assault. In his final over the day he was still pushing the speedgun to 90mph.Liam Plunkett continued to charge in and battle a moribund surface late into day•Getty Images”We were saying to the bowlers just now what a good effort it was, they’ve run in and kept going,” Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, said. “I think Liam’s performance at the end there, a nine-over spell, and in his last over clocking 90-93mph sums up the performance of the day. It is an unresponsive pitch but the key today is making sure that we don’t get into the frame of mind of talking about no pace, no bounce, just maintaining a good plan. We talked about using the short ball well and got our just rewards tonight.”

There was a late, much deserved, wicket for Plunkett as Prasanna Jayawardene flicked to leg slip. Luck was involved, yes, but Cook had the man in the right position

Last season England were happy, almost gleeful, at grubby, slow pitches that would offer turn for Graeme Swann and scuff up the ball for reverse swing. That was good for England, but not always good for the cricket on display. In theory, the switch of modus operandi to a pace-heavy attack, forced by Swann’s retirement, should encourage the production of pitches with more life: it could be mutually beneficial.”Bowlers always want more pace and bounce,” Farbrace said. “The key is it’s what we’ve got and we’ve got to get on and play. We’ve got to make sure we bowl according to the surface you have. You will have different surfaces around the world. You don’t always get what you want. There’s been no moaning, they’ve just got on with it.”To be fair to Mick Hunt, the groundsman, draws at Lord’s have been a rarer species of late (and, who knows, this might not be one yet) after a period of six consecutive stalemates from 2006 to 2008. The previous one was in 2011 when Sri Lanka previously visited. There are notable similarities to what has emerged here: England made a big total, 486 on that occasion, after being in some bother at 22 for 3 and 201 for 5 before the lower order rallied, then Sri Lanka replied with 479, which virtually killed off the contest although a delayed declaration by Andrew Strauss also played a part.If England do secure a handy lead the way they play their second innings will be another good test of Cook’s captaincy. The side as a whole, from the moment they went at four-an-over in the first session of the match, have played with positive intent in this match. It was instructive to watch Cook in the field today. Occasionally a deep point was in place – some habits die hard – but neither was he afraid to think more out-of-the-box.There was not a line of attack that England did not try and Cook tried plenty with his field, too. He certainly got funky at times, although whether being off the field when Sangakkara edged Moeen Ali can qualify is probably stretching things.When Plunkett came around the wicket after lunch there was one man in front of square on the off side and that was the captain himself at silly point. Elsewhere there was a slip, a leg slip a short leg, and two men out on the hook. When Sangakkara was on strike, there were three men in a line from short leg to deep square-leg.In the last over before tea there were six men on the leg side, no conventional slips and Cook wandered backwards towards a deep fly slip. Then there was Plunkett’s late, much deserved, wicket as Prasanna Jayawardene flicked to leg slip. Luck was involved, yes, but Cook had the man in the right position. Whether it was funky captaincy or not, he will need some more of it to conjure a victory.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the opening day in Port Elizabeth

Firdose Moonda at St George's Park11-Jan-2013Drop of the day
Teams around the world should have learnt: don’t drop Hashim Amla. But still, New Zealand did it. Amla was on 48 when he slashed at a short, wide Trent Boult ball, Kane Williamson needed to move his left to take the catch. He reacted too slowly and by the time he got to the ball all Williamson could do get a loose hand to it. He gave Amla a second chance and that was all he needed. Amla brought up his 19th Test century and fourth against New Zealand as the day drew to a close.Aggression of the day
Brendon McCullum asked his bowlers to show more intent and at least one of them listened. With the first ball of his second over, Doug Bracewell opted for the short ball and found some awkward bounce. Graeme Smith took his eyes off the ball and as he turned away, was hit on the back of the head. Smith did not seem rattled at first but soon realised he needed a few minutes to recompose himself. He crouched to his haunches and called for the medical team. There was no blood but he seemed a little woozy. After a few sips of water and a quiet word with the physiotherapist, Smith was ready to carry on. Disbelief of the day
In three overs after lunch, Smith scored four boundaries as he muscled his way to a half-century. He was looking as imperious as he did in Perth last month when he scored at seven runs an over with Amla to bat Australia out of the match. Smith turned the ball fine to beat the legslip in the over before he was dismissed but when he tried to repeat that, he gloved it through to BJ Watling. Smith was furious with himself and it showed. He shook his head all the way from the crease to the edge of the boundary where he slowed down to watch the replay of his own dismissal. On seeing how he was caught down the leg-side, he continued to mutter and mumble in anger.Shots of the day
Jacques Kallis greeted Port Elizabeth with an imperious pull shot off Doug Bracewell to bring up his first runs. It was an uncharacteristically aggressive start for Kallis but it became even more so when he followed up with another pull off the next ball. The second shot was played in absolute anger as Kallis hit the ball hard and kept it along the ground. Those were Kallis’ only scoring shots but they were memorable.Non-review of the day
New Zealand considered reviewing an lbw shout against Smith off Bracewell’s bowling. It would have been in vain because even though the ball was hitting the stumps, Bracewell had overstepped. What they should have reviewed was the caught behind off Faf du Plessis after the second new ball had been taken. Watling, McCullum and Boult who was bowling appealed as the ball looked to have grazed du Plessis’ glove but did not ask for it to go upstairs. What should have tipped them off was the guilty look on du Plessis’ face and the sheepish glance he tried to make in New Zealand’s direction. Hotspot showed a mark on the glove and New Zealand missed out on the chance to end day one on a high.

When you are finally done with the league stages of this tournament, when you are getting yourselves ready for the real exciting parts of the World Cup, please take time to send a note of gratitude to England

Sidharth Monga08-Mar-2011When you are finally done with the league stages of this tournament, when you are getting yourselves ready for the real exciting parts of the World Cup, please take time to send a note of gratitude to England. For it’s England who have made the league stages so eminently watchable, and it’s no wonder that the dead and predictable group is the one that doesn’t have the services of England.So far there have been about four headlines about the World Cup coming alive, and those have all followed matches involving England. England were there when Oranje became popular in the city of oranges. They were there when India mentioned Guinness more often in one day than it has done collectively before. They brought the worst out of India’s bowling attack, and for one Zaheer Khan over their best too. They were also there when the balance between the bat and ball was restored in Chennai.England have been pure entertainment so far, having regained the kind of form from the last two years that had them somehow drawing Test matches with batting stalwarts such as Monty Panesar and Graham Onions hanging in for dear life. Give them Netherlands, they concede 292 and work hard to get there. Give them India, they have a chase of 339 all sorted out before messing it up before their tail hits three crazy sixes to tie the thing. Give them Ireland, their bowlers fail to defend 327 after having the opposition at 111 for 5. Give them South Africa, the same bowlers come back remarkably to defend 171 from 120 for 3. Pinch yourself, because England haven’t often evoked the next four words with their one-day cricket: never a dull moment.It takes some team to adapt themselves so well to the opposition that they end up within inches of both Ireland and South Africa, both Netherlands and India. Nor have England been one-dimensional. They have played the dirty kind of close games where the pitches are so flat the bowlers might feel like slitting their wrists. They have played the actual game of the tournament too, where on a turning beauty in Chennai, every run had to be worked hard for. However, the bowler that played a big part in that win in Chennai, Stuart Broad, is not quite appreciative of the value England have brought to the tournament. He says they have had more close games than they would have liked before conceding that it might prove to be an advantage in terms of having experienced tight situations.”It’s happened to us in this World Cup probably a bit more than we’d like, but it’s all good experience in the group stages as long as you get through the group stage because when it gets to the quarter-finals, it’s obviously knockout, and you want to come out on top when it comes to those pressure situations.”Broad wants his team to get both its wings working at the same time. “After the disappointing performance against Ireland, we came back very strongly against South Africa with the ball,” Broad said. “It’s important we click with both bat and ball in this game. Our aim is to get a bit of a run going, to get a bit of momentum in this World Cup, and that starts on Friday. We know Bangladesh are going to come out hard against us, after their disappointing result against the West Indies. They’re always a difficult side to beat on their home turf. I am sure the atmosphere will be fantastic. Every player is looking forward to the game. We need to make sure we put in a strong performance with both bat and ball in the same game.”It all sounds very good to have everybody perform, to create momentum and all the rest, but it is also a bit banal. Just imagine if England had been doing whatever Broad said, we still would have been waiting for the first headline about World Cup coming alive. Whatever Broad says, don’t change, England. This tournament still needs more thrills.

Stats highlights from the second day of The Oval Test

S Rajesh10-Aug-2007

Anil Kumble had to wait 151 innings to finally get his first Test century © Getty Images
The story of the day was Anil Kumble’s unbeaten 110. In 117 previous Tests, his highest had been 88, against South Africa at Kolkata in 1996-97. In his 118th match, and his 151st innings, he wasn’t to be denied, though. It’s the most number of Tests any batsman has played to get to his first century. Chaminda Vaas held the earlier record – his unbeaten 100 against Bangladesh in Colombo earlier this year came in his 97th Test, while Jason Gillespie was playing in his 71st Test when he struck that memorable 201 not out against Bangladesh, again, at Chittagong in 2005-06. Kumble had only scored 79 runs in his 11 previous innings, and his innings is also his first 50-plus score overseas. (Click here for Kumble’s innings-by-innings list.) India’s total of 664 is their highest against England, and their fourth-highest against all teams. It’s also only the 11th time – and the fourth for India – that all 11 batsmen made double-digit scores. As at Trent Bridge, India’s top-order batting was characterised by contributions from every batsman. In all there were six 50-plus scores in the innings. Only twice previously have so many Indian batsmen scored so many in a single innings: at Kanpur against New Zealand in 1976-77, India managed 524 for 9 declared with six half-centuries but no hundreds – a total which remains, thanks to Kumble’s hundred, the highest without a century; against Australia at Kolkata in 1997-98, India scored 633 for 5 declared, with the top six all going past 50, and Mohammad Azharuddin scoring an unbeaten 163. So many significant scores from the batsmen meant there were partnerships for almost every wicket. In all India put together an astonishing eight 50-plus stands, which is a record in Test cricket. There are 25 instances of six 50-plus stands, but no team had managed seven in a single innings. The last-wicket stand between Kumble and Sreesanth yielded 73 at a rate of 5.47 per over. It’s the fourth-highest tenth-wicket partnership for India, and their highest against England. The 133 that Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan added against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2004-05 remains the highest. Not only did the lower contribute handily, they did so at a brisk pace: India’s last five wickets scored 310 runs in 68.4 overs, a scoring rate of 4.51. Much of that scoring rate was due to the 81-ball blitz by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. His 92 is now the highest by an Indian wicketkeeper in England, going past Farokh Engineer’s 87 at Headingley in 1967. In fact, Dhoni and Engineer share the top five scores by an Indian wicketkeeper in England: Engineer also scored 86 at Lord’s and 64 not out at Edgbaston in 1974, while Dhoni contributed a match-saving unbeaten 76 in the first Test of this series at Lord’s. England had a forgettable day in the field, and it’s hardly surprising that a few of them entered the record books for all the wrong reasons. Matt Prior had a terrible time behind the stumps, dropping a couple of catches and letting through 33 byes, which is the second-highest in a single Test innings. England leaked 37 against Australia at the same ground way back in 1934, but there was a good reason for that: Les Ames, the regular wicketkeeper, was forced to retire hurt while batting in England’s first innings, which forced frank Woolley to keep wicket in Australia second innings. Whereas Ames had conceded four byes in Australia’s first-innings score of 701, Woolley allowed 37 in the second-innings score of 327. Prior joins two other wicketkeepers who have conceded 33 byes: John Murray, against India at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in 1960-61, and Jim Parks against West Indies at Kingston in 1968. In fact, the five highest number of byes conceded in an innings have all been by England. James Anderson and Monty Panesar became only the second and third England bowlers to concede more than 150 runs in an innings against India. Andrew Caddick was the first, going for exactly 150 in 40.1 overs at Headingley in 2002.

Cricket in Meghalaya faces a multitude of hurdles. but hope for the future is embodied in the motley crew that makes up the state’s first-ever Ranji Trophy squad

Saurabh Somani20-Nov-2018If a Meghalaya player has a particularly bad outing during this Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season, you might find him teetering nervously on the edge of a cliff, about to jump off. No, literally, you might.This will not be a “leave this world behind” leap, though. It’ll be a bungee jump. Sponsored by captain Jason Lamare. Because Lamare runs an adventure-sports business in Shillong, and bungee jumping is next on the expansion agenda. And when asked if he’d let any players do it, he laughs and tells ESPNcricinfo, “Definitely. It will be a punishment – if you don’t bowl well or bat well, you’re going to jump!”This propensity to laugh is infectious and heart-warming, and it runs across the team. It’s in evidence during their training sessions, when they are on the field, when they are attending an official dinner, or when they are engaging in an impromptu game of foot-volleyball because Cyclone Gaja has stopped play in Puducherry, the venue of Meghalaya’s second Ranji Trophy match.Before the Vijay Hazare Trophy that marked Meghalaya’s entry into senior-level cricket, the team bonded by trekking up Shillong Peak in the rain. During the tournament, whose Plate Group was played across three cities in Gujarat, they watched “all the movies that released that month together” – according to Puneet Bisht, the senior-most professional.The north-east has for long been looked at as football country in cricket-crazy India. It might have stayed that way had the Lodha Committee recommendations not mandated the BCCI to include all of its states in the cricket fold. Nearly all of the cricket in Meghalaya is concentrated in the capital city of Shillong, which has a grand total of ground. But in this cricketing outpost, there might still be hope for a cricketing future.There’s the captain himself, who at 35 is one of the oldest members in the team. He played for Assam before the Meghalaya Cricket Association was formed, and this, he thought, had ended his cricket career prematurely. So did his cousin Mark Ingty, who is 42. Ingty made his first-class debut in January 2002, when fellow fast bowlers Lakhan Singh and Dippu Sangma were in kindergarten. Fun fact: the combined ages of Lakhan and Dippu fall short of Ingty’s.The BCCI has provided support staff for the team, which is a boon because it’s brought them an experienced hand as head coach, in Sanath Kumar. Like each of the other eight new teams, Meghalaya have signed up professionals too, the trio of Bisht, Yogesh Nagar and Gurinder Singh bringing skill, nous and years of experience on the domestic treadmill with them.But while necessary when the team is in its toddler phase, the professional coaches and players are peripheral to the cricketing story of the team. Sure, it’s the professionals who have done the heavy lifting for Meghalaya so far – as they have for every team in the Plate Group. But for those teams right now, the journey is far more significant than the results.Fast bowlers Chengkam Sangma (left) and Dippu Sangma travelled hundreds of kilometres to make it to the Meghalaya team•Saurabh Somani/ESPNcricinfoDippu and Chengkam Sangma’s journey to the senior team was an arduous trek, literally. Chengkam stays in Tura, home to the Garo indigenous group. It’s 323 kilometres of mountainous terrain from Shillong. For Dippu, Tura is the closest “big town” – he lives a further 100-plus kilometres away, in Baghmara.”There’s not much scope for jobs,” Chengkam says, and Dippu nods his assent. An advertisement in local papers for trials for the state team brought them together. There was one initial round of trial in Tura. Both attended, both were selected to go further, and they arrived in Shillong. Both did well once again, and found themselves part of the state team.Chengkam is one of seven siblings, Dippu counts himself among six. Both grew up on tennis-ball cricket, and neither had bowled with a leather ball until three years ago. “I found it heavy,” Dippu says of his first experience with a proper cricket ball. “I couldn’t control the swing also, and while batting, I couldn’t play the swinging ball well.”Chengkam had a similar experience, and neither had access to any coaching that would guide them. They’re now bowling at one level below international cricket, having made an unimaginable journey not just in miles but in learning the game too.”Our village is a bit backward, so there isn’t any big business. I would have done some small business if it wasn’t for cricket,” Chengkam says. His family wasn’t supportive of his foray into the game until recently. Now that he’s representing the state, they’ve relented. Other players might see dollar signs when the IPL comes calling, or in glitzy ad shoots once they make it as international cricketers. Here, the earnings as a journeyman domestic cricketer are gold dust, and a more lucrative career option than any other available.”I was studying before this, I just did my graduation. My college is not very good,” Dippu offers with disarming honesty. “If it wasn’t for cricket, I would have looked for a job, maybe in the police.”They speak Hindi with a lilting twang, but despite an obvious communication gap, there is little difficulty in making themselves understood, especially when they are asked if cricket was the best option for them. “Yes,” comes one emphatic answer. “Definitely,” comes the other.Wanlambok Nongkhlaw will go back to being a traffic policeman after the cricket season•Wanlambok NongkhlawIf any of the Meghalaya team were to break traffic rules while zipping around Shillong, they might cop a fine from Wanlambok Nongkhlaw, a traffic policeman who also happens to be the only left-arm seamer in the Ranji squad.Nongkhlaw was stationed in Shillong, and was active in the local leagues for the Meghalaya Police (MLP) team. Four MLP players were called for trials, and only Nongkhlaw made it to the state team. Once the season is done, though, Nongkhlaw will return to his job – though he might perhaps let a minor infraction or two pass if he spots a team-mate riding down the street without a helmet. “A little bit you can let go,” he says, eyes twinkling.”I have not turned from a policemen to a cricketer, I’ve turned from a cricketer into a policeman,” Nongkhlaw says. “I’ve been playing cricket since childhood, and then in 2008 I got a job with the police and I was posted with the traffic police.”There are signs that a cricketing culture could take root in Meghalaya, but plenty of work remains to be done.”The first challenge is getting enough players,” coach Sanath says. “The other thing is enough place to practice. All cricket used to take place in just one ground in Shillong. Now suddenly you have the men’s team, Under-23, Under-19, women’s team, women’s age-group teams… and with just three or four pitches, everybody has to practice. They are used to unexpected rains too. So for their weather, they definitely need a very good indoor practice facility, which they don’t have yet.”Funding is an aspect Sanath stresses on. It’s needed to build more practice facilities, to send the team for matches outside the state to accelerate their learning, and to maintain and spread the game in Meghalaya.”I feel people in the north-east love sports,” Sanath says. “And they are naturally very agile and athletic. It’s just that they haven’t been given an opportunity to get into the game yet.”Lamare concurs. “We have kids who play and we have youth interested. There is a cricket academy which has 300 students now. It might take a few years, but it is going to pick up,” he says. “Once the youth in all the north-eastern states realise there is potential in cricket, there is a career. You don’t have to work now, you can actually play cricket and earn – so interest will develop.”Meghalaya captain Jason Lamare is leading them on the field, but his first love is adventure sports•Saurabh Somani/ESPNcricinfoDespite that, Lamare almost didn’t want to come back to cricket, preferring to mess about with scuba diving, ziplining, rock climbing and the like. Father Peter, a coach at the Shillong Academy, and Ingty – who has missed the first two rounds through injury – brought him around. “My dad and Mark Ingty convinced me to play,” Lamare says. “His (Ingty’s) mother and my father are brother and sister, so we’ve literally grown up playing cricket. We are very close. He’s feeling really lousy he’s not here. We miss him.”Adventure sports is, in a way, Lamare’s first love. His company, Pioneer Adventure Tours, has been in operation from 2012 and has had visits fro Shikhar Dhawan, Unmukt Chand and the actor Kalki Koechlin, among others.When Meghalaya became an Affiliate member of the BCCI in 2008, Lamare could not play for Assam any more. And at 25, he couldn’t play for Meghalaya either, since they didn’t have a senior team.”That winter I went to Goa to become a certified scuba-diving instructor,” he says. “I worked there for two seasons till 2011. Then in 2012 I started my adventure business. Adventure has always been a part of me, so that move was always going to happen. It just happened a bit earlier because my cricket career halted in 2008. I thought that since my business is stable now, I can keep it aside for two months. January 2 is the last game, and on 4th it’s back to work!”Standing around on a cricket field for 90 overs must be dull for Lamare after that. “Definitely,” he laughs. “When things don’t go your way in the game, though, you think, ‘Man I wish I was back home diving or cliff-jumping or something.'”Meghalaya are one of the few north-east teams for whom “home” games are actually at home – and not in a borrowed stadium in a different state. For Lamare, one thing is certain as soon as they have a stretch of games at home. “As soon as we’re in Shillong, the team is immediately going,” he says. Going, that is, for adventure sports with him.When they do go, whether they’re ziplining or rappelling or camping by the riverside – it will merely be an extension of life as they’ve known it these past few months. It’s been an adventure.

The tiring Vizag pitch threw up wild variations in bounce and confounded other batsmen, but not the Indian captain

Alagappan Muthu in Visakhapatnam20-Nov-20162:32

Compton: Kohli’s confidence stands out

The ball had solemnly sworn it was up to no good. Then it was given to a redhead.It is the 16th over of India’s second innings. Ben Stokes came charging in and hit the deck with considerable force. The batsman picks the length up early. He prepares to get on top of the bounce by shifting his weight back and standing up taller at the crease. He has no idea he is in the worst possible position for what was about to happen. The back- of-a-length delivery turned into a grubber. Mischief most definitely managed.Virat Kohli should have been in trouble. He could even have been bowled off the inside edge. His best case scenario was if he was beaten – the line was quite wide – or if he could somehow keep the ball out. Those watching the third day’s play in the Visakhapatnam Test were introduced instead to the bizarre case scenario. Kohli smeared a four behind point.There were a few things that helped him pull that off. The original shot he was trying to play was with a vertical bat. So adjusting to the lack of bounce was easier than if he had attempted to play a cut, where the backlift gets bigger and therefore has a longer distance to travel. He provided himself with the same advantage in the 34th over, when the legspinner Adil Rashid produced a grubber. Kohli eased onto his backfoot and it came to rest slightly across onto off stump so that his head would be right in line with the ball. The inherent risk here is the possibility of lbw. But by playing the flick with a straight bat, and waiting to roll his wrists until he made the connection, not only did the Indian captain negate the chance of his being dismissed, he found another boundary.Free-flowing batsmen find difficulty keeping up on slow and low pitches. The lack of pace means hitting through the line is difficult and even maneuvering the ball into gaps requires a great deal of effort. Kohli seems to be setting the template to prove that obsolete although if you want to follow it, you’d best hope you have hands as quick and a work ethic as strong as his. The thousands of balls he hits in the nets, the visualisation he does, the tweaks to his technique, all of it is in an effort to make sure he is equipped to make tough runs; to make sure he has a game he can trust when the pressure is high; to make sure he can not only tackle high-class bowling but dominate.Kohli faced more than 100 deliveries on a third and fourth day surface with wild variations in bounce and finished with a strike-rate of 74. No one that had lasted as long in this match has even come close to scoring that quickly. You have to want to be there, he often says, and watching him be there is a lot of fun. There are the bat twirls. The fiddling with the grille. The re-strapping of the gloves. The tapping of the pitch. He just doesn’t want to be idle. He doesn’t want his concentration levels to drop because that’s when he knows he may not read the play as quickly. He barely spends any time away from the stumps. No trips to square leg to slow the game down. He’s ready in his stance, looking at the bowler with the impatience of a child waiting for their parent to take them to the park.It must be draining to be so switched on. But that’s why both his physical and mental strength are high. At stumps yesterday, he had made more than half of India’s total – 56 out of 98. He finished with 81, only because of a spectacular catch at slip, stabilising India from an early wobble and giving them the chance to set a target never before achieved in the fourth innings of a Test in India. Kohli is a fantastic beast and everyone knows where to find him. At the heart of of a fight.

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