Category Uncategorized

Dinesh Karthik on his productive domestic season, and how he has improved his batting and keeping

Interview by Deivarayan Muthu06-Apr-2017You had a bumper List A season – 854 runs in 12 innings.
I am definitely happy with the season. I am in a good space mentally and when I am on the field. I just ride with the wave. I am just as positive as I can be and do the best as I can.Your confidence as a batsman stood out during the Vijay Hazare games, particularly in the final. You were driving fluently on the off side, despite fielders being placed at point, backward point, cover point and extra cover.
I am hitting the ball well and getting into good positions. When you are doing that, you tend to look at the gaps a lot more and play your shots. The difference between batting well and not that well is that you generally find gaps. I have been lucky that way this season.What’s the difference between the in-form Dinesh Karthik and the Dinesh Karthik of old?
This Karthik prepares well off the field. That has been the difference. Training helps you get physically stronger and a lot of times it helps you push the bar mentally as well. The way we trained at the Vijay Hazare and before the Ranji Trophy, it helped us. You might have spoken to [Hrishikesh] Kanitkar [the Tamil Nadu coach]. The practice situations were like match situations. It was definitely hard – the body is pushed far more than it used to be, and the result showed in the way we played in the last couple of tournaments.From a small sample size, it seems like your bat comes down a lot straighter now. Have you worked on your technique recently?
In the last year I have been working on the technical aspects with Apurva Desai [a former Gujarat first-class batsman who is now an NCA Level C coach]. I can relate to what he says. Before that I had been working with Pravin Amre. I got my backlift corrected. Such things are helping me in playing in different conditions and different wickets. The backlift used to be rounded, it used to come from almost gully in an arc. It is much straighter now and helps me play the ball a lot better.”The difference between batting well and not that well is that you generally find gaps. I have been lucky that way this season”•PTI What is your assessment of your shot selection this season? Kanitkar was critical of a scoop you played in a low-scoring Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai, and you reached the Vijay Hazare hundred with a reverse sweep. You play your shots, but the execution looks better these days.
I have been pretty free-flowing in my batting. I have not let situations change my batting around too much. I have just changed a bit, depending on the situation here and there. I don’t go harder than necessary at the ball. I try to maintain an even tempo in all the games. Sometimes you play well and sometimes you get out. When you get out, you feel it is a wrong shot. Most players in tough situations play shots that could be out, but over time you refine that and give yourself the best chance of performing, the more you play in such situations.Are you consciously looking to build on your starts now?
Yes, after playing so many games it is important to absorb pressure in the middle overs and play at a certain tempo without disrupting the run rate. You will have to find the safest manner to keep going consistently over a period of time before you can launch. I think you need to have a lot of instinctive shots to play that kind of a game. I can understand situations better at this point of time.Your 854 runs – the fourth highest in a List A season in India – will be hard for the selectors to ignore when they pick the squad for the Champions Trophy.
I am not thinking that far ahead to the Champions Trophy. The key for me is to play the IPL as well as I can.With MS Dhoni as India’s one-day keeper, do you see yourself as a specialist batsman if you are picked?
Yes, I believe I can contribute to the middle order as a specialist batsman, like I did in 2013. I have always believed in my batting abilities. I have always put my hand up as a pure batsman and have enjoyed fielding as well. My ultimate aim is to play all formats as a batsman. I have done it before. When Dhoni was there as keeper, I played as a specialist batsman. I keep telling myself there is no reason why I can’t repeat it.Keeping is an accessory. It is always there with me. If somebody is injured, I can always keep. But I am looking at myself primarily as a batsman who can play all formats.”[As a keeper] I am comfortable against fast bowlers, I am athletic. Against spinners you will have to anticipate [the turn] and make sure the hands are not stiff”•BCCIHow have you improved as a batsman and as a keeper?
As a batsman, I respond to situations much better. Experience has helped me be in a lot of different situations, and a lot of that experience and knowledge is coming into play now.Coming to keeping, I need to give a lot of credit to Sameer Dighe [the former India keeper Karthik trained with]. I could not keep for four or five Ranji Trophy games and it was hard on me mentally. The doors opened [when India’s current Test keeper Wriddhiman Saha was injured and Parthiv Patel was picked as his replacement] but I could not keep then [due to injury]. That did not help. Then I started keeping and I am enjoying it.Keeping is like a work in progress. The more hours you spend, the better you get. A keeper sometimes takes five or six catches. It is not about taking the straightforward ones, but it is about the best keeper you can be to spinners and fast bowlers overall. Whenever I find a break, I go and work with Dighe on my keeping. I have got into the groove after the injury. I am naturally comfortable against fast bowlers, I am athletic. Against spinners you will have to anticipate [the turn and bounce] and make sure the hands are not stiff. I am working on it. Keeping, like batting, is a subconscious process.Where do you see yourself in the wicketkeeping pecking order – there’s Saha, Rishabh Pant, Naman Ojha and Parthiv.
I don’t look at the pecking order. Competition is always there. There are 27 states and 27 different keepers. They are all vying for the national spot. What I can do is focus as much as I can and believe in my abilities.What’s your role going to be with the Gujarat Lions in the IPL?
Hodgy [Lions’ coach Brad Hodge] has given me straightforward plans of what I should be doing with the bat in the middle order. I would like to stick to that and do the best that I can for the team.

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson talks about his long association with Brendon McCullum, whose leadership helped New Zealand cricket grow

Melinda Farrell 19-Feb-2016Brendon McCullum walks into an indoor cricket centre in Otago. He is six years old and he has something to prove.He has tagged along with his brother, Nathan, and his father, Stuart, a respected wicketkeeper-batsman. They practice on the periphery of a match and catch the eye of one of the players, a slightly built 13-year-old. The teenager notices the two small boys and watches with interest. They are younger and smaller than everyone else but their competitive spirit sets them apart, particularly the little brother. He refuses to be intimidated by the size of those around him. He throws himself into everything he does, he clearly has talent, and he wants to win.The thoughtful teenager doesn’t realise as he looks on, but in years to come he will form a partnership with this boisterous little boy that will transform cricket in New Zealand and influence the game across the globe.The teenager’s name is Mike Hesson.

****

Hesson is the Felix Unger to McCullum’s Oscar Madison. The neat, quiet, bespectacled band manager to the popular, swashbuckling, entertaining rock star. And he’s about to lose his frontman.He leans back and smiles as he remembers seeing the McCullum boys for the first time.”They just got stuck in,” Hesson recalls. “Regardless of who they were up against, they were highly competitive people, and Brendon, obviously, being the younger brother, was probably the epitome of that. You’re a younger brother, you’re always trying to prove yourself, and you’re competitive in everything you do.”Nine years after that indoor session, McCullum was again demanding the attention of Hesson, who was by then the director of coaching at Otago. The same traits that had singled him out as a small child were still evident. He was playing with others who were older and more experienced, and as a 15-year-old was being selected for Under-17 and U-19 sides.

“I’ve been lucky enough over the last 14 years to grow up from a 20-year-old quite brash person to hopefully what I am today, which is, I believe, a better person”Brendon McCullum

“He was sort of ahead of his time,” Hesson said. “He was playing with kids a lot older than him, so I always felt he had a bit of a point to prove. He was obviously good enough. I just loved the fact he got stuck in.”But the thing I always really liked about Brendon is the fact that he always played to win. He wasn’t the conservative Kiwi who would try not to lose first, and then, if there was a chance of winning, try to win.””His attitude was certainly ‘Let’s look at how we’re going to win this game from here’ rather than the other way around.”That mindset was a key factor when Hesson, New Zealand’s coach, made the difficult, and at the time controversial, decision to replace Ross Taylor as New Zealand captain. While McCullum had proved himself as a wicketkeeper-batsman, there were many who couldn’t see past the tattoos, the brashness, and what they perceived to be a certain recklessness. McCullum didn’t look or sound the way people expected a traditional New Zealand cricketer to look and sound. But Hesson, after watching him develop through the years, felt he was the player and the man to lead the team out of a culture he now describes as “consumed by losing”.”At the time you appoint a captain, you like to think that his performances will improve but not necessarily straightaway,” said Hesson. “But I guess you make change for a reason.”I felt the team was ready for Brendon’s style of leadership and he certainly grew into that role, and he brought a real change in mindset into the team. No longer are we consumed by losing. We’re actually looking at things differently.”It took others a little longer to come around, and McCullum still attracts criticism for the mode of his dismissals and what some perceive to be his inconsistency. Hesson points to the fact that McCullum has been unselfish in moving up and down the order, giving up keeping and taking on any role the team required him to fill.Not your everyday New Zealand cricketer•AFP”As a batsman, when you stop keeping and you bat higher up, you need to contribute in different ways,” Hesson said. “And he’s certainly found a tempo during a two-year period there where he was able to really maximise his skill. Prior to that he was shuffled around and asked to do many different jobs that he perhaps wasn’t best equipped to deal with.”He’s taken on every role the team has required. Whether that’s keeper-bat or whether that’s opening the batting, which in Test cricket I don’t think has ever really suited his game. I think where he is now is right for the way he plays and he can still dictate a game batting at five,” he said. “His record in Test cricket is outstanding. For a keeper-batsman it’s world class. For a No. 5 his average is world class. The stuff in between, maybe not so much.”I think whenever you have someone who puts themself out there and is not consumed by losing, a lot of people almost treat that as a threat and he can become an easy target. Throughout his career he has been a target of many because he’s capable of brilliance, and with that you do get dismissals that at the time look carefree, but I can assure you they’re not carefree.”When he came in and he was a keeper-bat he would stand out because he could turn a game quickly. There were times when he’d get out and people would think that was reckless, but he was always trying to win the game and was playing the way he felt gave him the best opportunity.”And I think over the past few years he’s actually changed a number of the other players in the group as well to think in a similar fashion, not a matter of playing like Brendon but actually starting to think that ‘Hey, we can not only compete with these guys, we can actually beat them.’ So, rather than look at a puzzle and ask, ‘How can we not lose this?’ we’re actually turning it 180 degrees around and asking, ‘How can we actually win this game?’ And that is a major mind shift.”Hesson believes McCullum truly came of age as a captain during the first Test against India at Eden Park in 2014. New Zealand had lost three wickets for only 30 runs when McCullum joined Kane Williamson at the crease. Their 221-run partnership and McCullum’s innings of 224 were instrumental in the eventual victory.

“He wasn’t the conservative Kiwi who would try not to lose first, and then, if there was a chance of winning, try to win”Mike Hesson

“He came out and first of all sucked up all the pressure and then counterattacked in the way we know he can. The sign of a leader is not just about your actions around the group. It’s whether you’re able to step up on the park when you are in trouble, and I think in Test cricket that was probably the catalyst for him and he went on to make three scores over 200 that year. “The next one was, of course, the famous triple-century at the Basin Reserve. The memories of that innings were thick in the Wellington air last week during the first Test against Australia, making McCullum’s dismissal in the second innings difficult to stomach.”Everyone believed it was possible and that’s the beauty of the group,” Hesson said. “We’ve been in far worse positions than we were heading into day four before and we’ve managed to find a way to get out of it and Brendon, Kane [Williamson] and BJ [Watling] have been part of it. When Brendon got out in the last over of day three it was really upsetting because he’d done it before and I think we all believed he was capable of doing it again.”Whether or not Hagley Oval provides the setting for one last innings of derring-do, it seems fitting that McCullum’s international career will end here, with him wearing the “rancid” cap he has carried for 14 years.Plenty of eyebrows were raised when one of the world’s most explosive T20 batsmen announced he would retire just before his country’s campaign to win a World T20 – and Hesson admits he would dearly like McCullum to be there – but in light of the romance of some of those feted matches, it shouldn’t be surprising that McCullum has chosen the Test arena for his final appearance.”It’s nice to be able to go out in the purest form of the game, a game that means so much to cricketers who’ve played for New Zealand over decades,” said McCullum on the eve of his final match. “And to be able to do it in your home town, there’s an element of romance there as well and it’ll be nice. Hopefully we can get the result we want as well and go down to the local pub and have a few beers afterwards.”It is encouraging for New Zealand that Hesson, along with team manager Mike Sandle, will provide some continuity in the environment that has allowed McCullum to develop and thrive.Hesson on McCullum’s 224: “He came out and first of all sucked up all the pressure and then counterattacked”•Getty Images”[Mike Hesson] has been instrumental in the turnaround of this team,” said McCullum. “And Mike Sandle as well, who probably doesn’t get as many accolades as he should. Those two guys have reinvigorated cricket in New Zealand. They’ve allowed us to go out there and just focus on playing cricket and getting good structures and processes in and around the team.”I think their greatest tribute, not just in terms of their organisation, is the freedom that they give guys to go out and just try and push the envelope of their skills sets and try and reach the abilities each player has when they started growing up. Those guys have been phenomenal and the great aspect is they’ll be around for a while longer as well, and allow the next group of leaders to come in and have good solid support around them as they try and take this team to the next level, which I’m confident they will be able to do.”Hesson agrees that the next group of leaders is ready to step into the void left by McCullum but he admits he will miss the stability and equilibrium that the captain brings to the environment.”Every day he’s incredibly positive about where to from here,” said Hesson. “He’s very consistent in how he operates. Whether he’s got a hundred off fifty balls or he’s missed out, you won’t know the next day. He’ll turn up, he’ll train just as hard as he has previously and he’ll expect that of everyone else around him.”His influence over the past few years, in particular in New Zealand but also in other parts of the world too – it’s the smile on the face, the get stuck in attitude. The positive approach to the game in terms of doing things differently and trying to find a different way. His innovation.”McCullum has often expressed a view that international cricketers are merely “custodians” of the game and should leave the sport in a better place than it was when they found it. But it is perhaps a two-way street. Cricket has left its mark.”I’ve been lucky enough over the last 14 years to grow up from a 20-year-old quite brash person to hopefully what I am today,” said McCullum. “Which is, I believe, a better person. Everyone within the group, they would say the same thing about themselves as well.””You look at all the kids around in New Zealand now playing the game,” said Hesson. “And so many of them have been influenced in some way by Brendon. He’s had a huge influence on the game in this country.”

****

It is a glaring, hot afternoon in Christchurch. The infectious noise of raucous laughter filters across Hagley Oval as the New Zealand players and staff play the game of kickabout – they call it spot – that precedes any training session.It’s just like the start of any New Zealand training session. McCullum – still smaller in stature than most of the others – is an irresistible presence. The tattoos spill out from under a T-shirt that seems to struggle to contain powerful arms. The cap is worn backwards, the sunglasses scream “cool”. He has a smile on his face. He is getting stuck in. He no longer has anything to prove but he still wants to win. This one, last time.Hesson is there, too, his slight frame almost dwarfed by a long-sleeved shirt that’s topped by a traditional white cricket vest. He wears his cap the right way around. The band manager and the rock star.It’s just like the start of any New Zealand training session but it’s also nothing like those that have gone before.The next time they train, the rock star won’t be there.You sense the void left behind will be huge.

Shapoor Zadran has already become a cult figure and now Afghanistan’s shock-haired fast bowler faces Australia backed by the quickest, bounciest pitch in the World Cup

Jarrod Kimber03-Mar-2015Too much swing. Bouncer is good. Dennis Lillee, Brett Lee, Shoaib Ahktar. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Shoaib Akhtar. Waqar, Shoaib, Wasim. Too much bounce, too much speed. My height is very big, my hair is very big and I have too much style. I copied Shoaib Ahktar: even when I was a small boy I was running 38 steps. Too much hair. Too much style. Height. Hair. Style. Speed, run up, too much six.These are the English words of Shapoor Zadran.He doesn’t need these English words. His description is quite evident from his every step. Shapoor could be driving a tuk tuk, hosting the G8 summit or piloting a probe to Mars: the pace, the hair, the style, it would still all be there. It is always there.At the WACA Ground, where he was preparing to unleash himself on Australia, they have a large net dividing the middle of the nets. It is there to stop the balls escaping. But what it does is really curtail Shapoor. He kicks off the net. Like a stallion bucking at a gate.At the nets at Manuka Oval, he had to practice in one of the nets on the right, as the ones on the left were about half a Shapoor run up. For all the talk of Eden Park being small, nothing could illustrate that more than Shapoor kicking off the fence before coming in to bowl.Every single thing in his life is about pace. His kid’s haircut is the same as his, and his haircut is the same as Shoaib’s.When he was interviewed about bowling, not one of the bowlers he mentioned wasn’t a quick bowler. Even his sentences are quick.Shapoor wants to be fast, and look good doing it.Before this tournament he was a man that cricket hipsters knew about. Now he is a bona fide cult hero. He is Eddo Brandes. He is Colin Miller. He is Pakistan cricket. He is pace. He is bounce. He is style. He is Afghanistan.There is not a single thing he does that is not worth watching. The flick of his hair seems designed for nothing more than turning on the whole cricket world. People are obsessed with him. I am obsessed with him.When I found out there were clips of him dancing on YouTube, I watched them. More than once. He was dancing the Attan, and it was absolutely every bit as good as you hoped it would be. I don’t watch it because of the religious connotations or cultural importance, but because I truly want to see Shapoor dance. I want to see Shapoor do everything. Shapoor is more than a cult hero, he is a cult.I want to see him hit more match-winning runs, and respond by running as if he invented life itself. I want to see him bowl short balls that slice batsmen in half. I want to see him scream as a catch is missed. I want to see him scream when a wicket is taken. I want to see him play cricket until his run up is quicker than his delivery.I have met most of the greatest modern-day cricketers because of my job. I have never taken a selfie with one. I wanted a selfie with Shapoor. Most of cricket wants one with him. He almost seems too good to be true. Like some film-maker came along and scripted this giant passionate man with style, with hair, with bounce, with pace, to save cricket.At the end of this World Cup, Shapoor will be walking in slow motion to a power ballad while the World Cup blows up behind him and a woman runs over to be in his arms. Sometimes it feels like this happens just on his epic walk back to his mark.And, if it was just Shapoor in this side, that would be enough. But Afghanistan have Hamid Hassan as well. Rocky; Rambo.There are times when it looks as if Hassan is just going through the motions. His run up is not a 12-second ode to joy, it’s like listening to a Rolls Royce engine start. It looks as if he is giving no real effort; that he is just jogging in the park. But you can hear the purr, and you can see the blur.Hassan is pace. Too much pace. Too much pace even for Shapoor.When the ball leaves Hassan’s hand, people make swooning noises. There was an eight-minute period in the nets at the WACA where Hassan either beat his team-mates’ bat or took the edge.Andy Moles, Afghanistan’s coach, yelled out: “That’s where you live, H”. Yes, that is where he lives, in a state of pure liquid awesomeness. Every ball is angled in at the stumps, and then leaves the batsman, it goes sideways, and it goes up. The back net stops it, barely. Without that net, the ball could have just kept going up forever.Later, Moles says: “Bowl there till you’re dead.” What he really means is, bowl there till everyone else is.In 30 minutes the only shot forward of square is a mis-hit drive that comes to an apologetic stop near his feet. He doesn’t bowl a bouncer, he doesn’t have to. This is the WACA. It gives him the bounce, the pace; too much of each. He just provides the ball.After terrifying his top order with length balls, Hassan is told to bowl yorkers. Mohammad Nabi, his captain, is batting. Nabi is told by the coaches that all balls to come will be yorkers from now on. Dawlat Zadran, no slowcoach, bowls a yorker first. Nabi plays it beautifully through cover.The next ball is from Hassan. It starts at leg stump, Nabi opens up, and before his muscle fibres have twitched, his off stump is out of the ground.”H, bowl yorkers” was all the command he needed. Hassan bowled the yorker.And he did it like that. Switched from unplayable length bowling to killer outswinging yorkers.After Hassan took the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, he cartwheeled. At the Fan Zone park in Dunedin, people watched, people screamed. A few minutes later a kid in a Black Caps shirt tried to do a cartwheel. His inspiration wasn’t Rambo, it wasn’t Rocky, it wasn’t Shoaib, it was Hassan.The WACA has been graced by all the bowlers that Shapoor mentioned. It has had Devon Malcolm, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Imran Khan, and Jeff Thomson. The WACA is pace. The WACA is bounce.On March 4 the WACA is hosting a couple of blokes from non-Test playing countries. They are pace. They are bounce. They are Afghanistan cricket. They are cricket.

Weird banners to go with entertainment from Mr. Cricket and Mrs. Dhoni on a scorching Chennai afternoon

Sreekesh Krishnan29-Apr-2013Choice of game
I am an ardent Chennai Super Kings fan, and have been attending all CSK games this season. The KKR game, billed as the revenge match following the IPL 2012 final, was on top on my list. Who would want to miss a mouth-watering clash between two IPL champions?Team supported
I support CSK, not only because I grew up in the city, but also for (‘leader’ in Tamil) MS Dhoni, and Ravindra Jadeja, who has been in the thick of things for a while now.Key performer
Even though Mr. Cricket Michael Hussey stole the show, for me Chris Morris was the key performer. He bowled a splendid last over, literally yorking KKR’s chances.Two things I’d have changed about the match
I’d have liked to change the on-field umpires and the Chennai cheerleaders. The Manvinder Bisla run-out that was not given, was greeted by boos from the ‘knowledgeable’ Chennai crowd. The Chennai cheerleaders seemed quite lazy; they need to practice more, to keep the spirits high.Accessories
Unfortunately, the security at Chepauk is always very high, and thus, one cannot carry a lot of accessories to the stands. So CSK flags without sticks, and an empty water bottle without the cap were the only things I could get into the ground.Wow moment
The Hussey direct-hit that got Bisla out. It knocked the wind out of KKR’s chase and changed the complexion of the game.Close encounter
Before the game, the CSK squad practiced near the terrace stands. We were fortunate to witness a miscued Suresh Raina pull shot sail into our stand. We were allowed to bring the ball home.Shot of the day
The most memorable shot was played by Eoin Morgan. It was a cheeky stroke: he reverse-paddled a delivery that was outside leg stump, and bisected the gap between the wicketkeeper and short third man beautifully.Crowd meter
Despite the 4 pm start, the stadium was jam-packed before the match, with noise levels on the higher side. A single wave from Dhoni was enough to make the fans go crazy. We also witnessed half a Mexican wave, where the wave didn’t complete a full revolution. Instead this one stopped and went in the reverse direction.Twenty20 v ODIs v Test cricket
As a cricket lover, I have always preferred Test cricket. But T20 is food for entertainment. Like it or not, you just can’t ignore it.Star-spotting
As always, we were joined by Mrs. Sakshi Dhoni, who the city seems to have adopted as its own. During each game, her reactions to the on-field action drive the crowd crazy.Banner of the day
One banner got my eye before the start of the match. It said “Sir Jaddu, you are my ” – weird, but attention-grabbing. ( is an Indian sweet.)Marks out of 10
The Chepauk faithfuls were blessed to witness yet another close encounter, even though CSK weren’t chasing this time. I would rate the match 9/10.

Stats highlights from Pakistan’s seven-wicket win against Zimbabwe

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan05-Sep-2011Not on too many occasions do teams manage to win a Test after conceding over 400 runs in the first innings. But Pakistan did exactly that against Zimbabwe. They batted well enough to gain a handy 54-run lead at the end of the first innings and then followed it up with a terrific bowling display to skittle the hosts out for 141. Despite starting off with a fairly inexperienced squad, Pakistan rode on superb performances from Mohammad Hafeez and Aizaz Cheema to complete a convincing seven-wicket victory. For Zimbabwe, the second-innings collapse proved to be impossible to recover from. In 17 Tests, they have been bowled out under 150 in their second innings and have gone on to lose on all 17 occasions.Here is a look at a few statistical highlights from Pakistan’s seven-wicket win

• This was only the fourth time that Pakistan won a Test after conceding over 400 in the team first innings. All three previous occasions came in 2005. On the other hand, it is only the second time that Zimbabwe have lost after scoring over 400 in their first innings. The previous defeat came against India in Delhi in 2000.
• This is Pakistan’s second consecutive win after their win in Kingston earlier in the year. It is only the second time since 2005 that Pakistan have won two consecutive matches.
• Hafeez became the seventh Pakistan bowler to score a century and pick up four wickets in an innings in the same match. Musthaq Mohammad has achieved the feat on three different occasions. However, he missed out on becoming the first player since Jacques Kallis in 2002 to score a century and pick up a five-wicket haul in a Test.
• Hafeez scored his first century in nearly five years. His previous century came against West Indies in November 2006. In ten matches in between, he scored just one fifty and averaged 18.52.
• Cheema’s match analysis of 8 for 103 is the second-best by a Pakistan bowler on debut behind Mohammad Zahid’s 11 for 130 against New Zealand in 1996.
• Zimbabwe’s defeat is their ninth against Pakistan. Only Sri Lanka with ten wins, have won more matches against Zimbabwe.
• The run-difference of 271 between Zimbabwe’s first and second innings totals is their third-highest in Tests. In Bulawayo in 2003, they were bowled out for 104 against West Indies (difference of 273 runs) and in Harare in 2001, they scored 563 in the second innings after being bowled out for just 131 in the first innings. Click here for the list of highest differences between the first and second innings totals.
• Zimbabwe’s poor form in Bulawayo continued with their tenth defeat in 18 Tests at the venue. While they have managed only one win in Bulawayo, they have won six Tests in Harare.
• Tino Mawoyo’s 163 in the first innings is the fourth-highest score by a Zimbabwe batsman in a Test defeat. Andy Flower holds the record with 199 against South Africa in a nine-wicket loss in 2001.

Just how poorly is cricket run in England? This hard-hitting new book has the sorry story

Andrew Miller01-Jun-2008Pommies: England Cricket Through an Australian Lens by William Buckland
(Matador) £15

has been the guardian of the English game for 145 years, but it seems even that venerable tome can get too close to its subject to see the wood for the trees. “Startling” was how Scyld Berry, this year’s editor, described the points raised by William Buckland, a 41-year-old management consultant and England fan, in his remarkable new book, . So startling, in fact, that he invited the author to join him in the pulpit by quoting him at length in this year’s “Notes from the Editor”.The basic premise is this: English cricket is run by and for the exclusive gratification of the 18 first-class counties. They cream off the bulk of the game’s profit in subsidies, and in turn force the game’s elite players to risk injury and burnout by playing them almost non-stop. For their part, the counties provide neither international-standard cricketers to replace the exhausted stars, nor sufficient, affordable access for the next generation of players – leading to situations such as occurred in the 2005 Ashes, when 10,000 fans were locked out of Old Trafford on the final day of the third Test. There are no grounds in the country large enough to satisfy a support base that exists in spite of the status quo.The book requires no over-egging on the part of the author to spell out a game in hazardous and desperate decline. For large tracts of his treatise Buckland does nothing more than join the dots from one tale of bankrupt decision-making to the next, but he does so with such clarity of thought and purpose that at times you’ll find yourself grinding your teeth at the ineptitude of England’s rulers.Each point, and often several at once, has been raised on more than one occasion in the past – usually just after England’s latest drubbing at the hands of the Australians. But rarely have all the gripes been stitched together so analytically to form such a bleak tapestry of dissatisfaction. Viewing the situation from the perspective of England’s most regular conquerors, and taking as his starting point the schism of World Series Cricket in 1977, Buckland argues that England is long overdue a Packer-style revolution of its own. Not least, it would end once and for all the amateurish fallacy that success in sport is cyclical. As Packer so ruthlessly demonstrated more than 30 years ago, modern-day sport is a business, and successful businesses do not flirt with bankruptcy every four years.If the book consisted only of the 52 pages that make up the first two chapters, it would still be worth its £15 cover price. Buckland’s inspiration was a visit to the Melbourne Cricket Ground in December 2002, a towering, multi-sport structure that he places at the heart of everything that is good and functional about Australian cricket. The lessons he doles out about stadium economics, and the case he makes for the adoption of London’s 2012 Olympic stadium as a new permanent home for English cricket are staggeringly persuasive and should be read by every chief executive in the land. Even now, it’s not too late to drop a line to Lord Coe.Berry alludes to the stadium plan in his Notes, but in fact he does not do justice to Buckland’s cool, analytical thinking. After all, how often is it that a national government is willing to build you a new 60,000-seater venue free of charge? Only a fool or a sporting organisation with vested interests could turn down such an offer, which rather proves the author’s point.Buckland cites Arsenal as a prime example of a sporting body that got its priorities in order. All the hallowed memories in the world couldn’t disguise the fact that their cramped old ground, Highbury, had ceased to be fit for purpose. So they dispensed with sentiment, built the grand new Emirates stadium, and laughed all the way to the bank. How many England fans would truly shed a tear if any (or all) of England’s current inadequate venues, from The Oval through Headingley, and even all the way to Lord’s itself, were sent the same way as Highbury? Not enough to justify not doing it, Buckland concludes. Tradition, he says, is just another word for self-interest.

Tector rode his luck in style to make it 1-0 in Sharjah

Himanshu Agrawal16-Mar-2024Ahead of the T20I series opener between Afghanistan and Ireland, all the hype had been about Rashid Khan. He was to return to action after four months out due to a back injury and then surgery. Now, straightaway, Rashid was back in high spirits, almost as if no pain could take his impact away. Except that on the night his efforts of 3 for 19 from four overs were overshadowed by those of Harry Tector, with whom rested a bigger force – luck.Dropped on 19 when Ireland were 90 for 5 in the 15th over, Tector went on to smash an unbeaten 56 off 34 balls to propel Ireland to 149. The ball followed him around on the field too, as he took four catches – the most by an Ireland fielder in a T20I.Ireland’s bowling effort was led by legspinner Ben White, who took 4 for 20, as Afghanistan folded for 111. That gave them a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, even as the stadium in Sharjah seemed to empty only when Rashid fell as the ninth Afghanistan wicket.Tector drives Ireland’s inningsTector arrived at No. 4, and pulled his second ball for four to welcome Mohammad Nabi into the attack in the ninth over. But what was 54 for 1 in the eighth over soon became 72 for 5 in the 12th while he was stuck at one end. Rashid and his spin partner, debutant Nangeyalia Kharote, ran through the middle order after both of Ireland’s openers gave away starts.But Tector remained calm and patient. He gave a hint of the fun that was to come by crashing Kharote for his first six to start the 14th over. When Tector decided to go after Rashid, Fazalhaq Farooqi dropped a manageable catch moving to his left from short fine leg. That rang a warning bell, and Tector saw off Rashid before opening up the floodgates in the last three overs.Naveen-ul-Haq suffered the most. Tector drove a yorker and slashed another near-yorker for four, before chipping a slower ball over Naveen’s head to round off the 18th over with 14 runs. Naveen also bowled the last over, which went for 19, Tector clubbing the last four balls for 6, 4, 4, 4: over deep square, to deep extra cover, to deep point and to deep third. Tector’s last 11 balls fetched 30 runs.Rashid turns it onRashid turned the ball both ways on what was a slow and used pitch, applying the brakes after Ireland hit 48 in the powerplay. He bowled one over for five, and brought himself back for the 11th. A full and flat ball had Paul Stirling mistime a slog to long-on, while a googly turning in to hit middle and leg from outside off cleaned Curtis Campher up next ball. The Afghanistan fans, scattered throughout the stands, jumped at their hero’s skill.Rashid Khan celebrations were a feature on return•ACBRashid missed the hat-trick – the ball turned into left-hander Neil Rock, beating him, the wicketkeeper and first slip – but later dismissed Gareth Delany, who scored a useful 16 from No. 7, while adding 35 with Tector.White’s four-for punctures AfghanistanThree bowlers stood a chance to take a hat-trick on Friday evening. After Rashid, it was Josh Little, who had Sediqullah Atal chipping to mid-off and had Azmatullah Omarzai bowled in the second over of Afghanistan’s chase. The third of those was White, a bit later on.Little’s early blows – and one from Mark Adair – had reduced Afghanistan to 4 for 3, after which Mohammad Ishaq and Ibrahim Zadran staged a recovery. Ishaq had by far been the aggressor, but holed out to fine leg when he swept a full delivery dipping to a middle-stump line in the seventh over. That wicket punctured Afghanistan’s car.Then some controversy followed. White dismissed Nabi off a no-ball on what was to be the fourth ball of the 13th over. However, replays indicated that White’s heel had landed just behind the line, seeing which Stirling had a word with the umpire. But the decision stood, and Nabi got a life.With two balls left in the over, though, White had debutant Ijaz Ahmad Ahmadzai pulling a short ball to deep square leg and then Kharote, who he knocked over first ball, by tossing one up and getting it to dip, while drifting away to hit off stump. White finished with four, and took all attention away from the man whom the crowd had turned up to see.

Victor Boniface speaks out again after his failed transfer to AC Milan and admits he considered retirement due to his recurring knee problems.

Boniface opens up on failed move to MilanStriker didn't pass medical in ItalyNigerian explains why the move didn't go throughFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Boniface has spoken candidly about his battle with knee injuries after a proposed move to AC Milan collapsed. The Nigerian striker was set to join the Serie A side on loan from Bayer Leverkusen for €5 million, with a €24m (£21m/$28m) buy option, but the deal fell through after he failed his medical at San Siro.

AdvertisementAFPTHE BIGGER PICTURE

The 24-year-old joined Leverkusen from Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise in 2023 and was instrumental in his debut campaign at the BayArena, scoring 21 goals in 34 appearances as the German side lifted their first-ever Bundesliga title, won the DFB-Pokal, and finished as Europa League runners-up. However, the two ACL injuries he suffered, first in the 2018-19 season and then in the 2020-21 season, continue to be an issue for the striker. He missed 14 games last season due to multiple fitness problems. Following his failed medical, Boniface returned to Germany. Now, he has opened up on his battles with injuries and explained why his move to Milan ultimately collapsed.

WHAT VICTOR BONIFACE SAID

Speaking on a live stream, Boniface said: "The transfer didn't work out because of my past injuries. I had two injuries to my right knee, and the problem has persisted for a long time. At one point, I had given up. While others were playing football, I was working just to get back to playing. After my second anterior cruciate ligament injury, I didn't even want to play anymore because of the pain from the first one and what I had gone through during the second one. I also lost my mother during that time."

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?

Speaking to , Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rofles spoke about Boniface's failure to clear the Milan medical. 

“If he comes back [to Leverkusen], the Milan deal will be over. It’s no big secret," he said. It is understood that the former Bodo/Glimt forward underwent four medical examinations in Italy. However, the Rossoneri have withdrawn their interest amid concerns over his poor injury history. Per reports, Milan have reached an agreement to sign Sporting CP striker Conrad Harder in an operation worth €24m plus €3m in bonuses. However, the Dane could join French club Rennes instead.

Klaasen thankful for the break Sunrisers got – they last played on May 8 – saying they will go into the playoffs mentally fresh

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2024

Heinrich Klaasen will go into the IPL 2024 playoffs feeling like he is back at his best, having worked his way through a slight drop off in form. He hit 42 off 26 against Punjab Kings on Sunday evening in Hyderabad to help his team chase down 215 with relative ease, hitting a couple of shots along the way that “put a smile” on his face.”I haven’t hit it nicely over this period of time,” Klaasen said after the game. “So I went back into the nets to try and figure it out, [and] got something that helped. And I finally hit one or two today that put a smile on my face.”Klaasen had hit 253 runs in his first six innings this season, at an average of 63.25 and a strike rate of 199.21. But his next six knocks, including this one against PBKS in Hyderabad, brought him 128 runs at an average of 25.60 and a strike rate of 158.02. This run included a 2 off four balls against Mumbai Indians, and a 20 off 21 balls against Chennai Super Kings, both in SRH losses.Related

SRH ride on another Abhishek blitz to finish second in league-stage standings

Asked what he felt had been going wrong for him when his form fell away, Klaasen said: “I haven’t looked at the ball at all. And I was moving way too much. And then I found something. I challenged myself in the nets against the other guys, [like] the spinners. And all of a sudden, everything just clicked again.”So I just went back to the basics of standing dead still, watching the ball, and just reacting. And finally it came [off], so I’m very pleased.”What would have helped Klaasen in this regard was the long break SRH got – partly by design, partly due to the weather. Before today, they had last played against Lucknow Super Giants at home on May 8, before having a match against Gujarat Titans – also at home – washed out without a toss on May 16. Klaasen admitted that was a blessing in disguise.”It couldn’t have come at a better time for us, to be honest,” he said. “It has been a long couple of months. The schedule, I reckon that timing was the best for us. End of the IPL, into the playoffs, will be nice and fresh mentally, and obviously [then] into the [T20] World Cup. So that break was, I reckon, sent from above.”Klaasen and Co had to wait to know which playoff they will feature in, though. The win against PBKS put them second on the points table, one point ahead of Rajasthan Royals in third. Royals played table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders in the final league game of the season, later in the evening.”Yeah, we’ll definitely be awake and supporting KKR tonight,” Klaasen said with a smile. The smile would have remained as news of that game being washed out came through, confirming SRH’s top-two finish.

It speaks of the crossroads at which Dawid Malan finds himself that he will start the 2024 season moonlighting as a batting coach for Yorkshire.Even with the T20 World Cup two months away, Malan, the ICC’s No.11-ranked T20I batter – Phil Salt (second) and Jos Buttler (ninth) are the only Englishmen sitting higher – seems unlikely to make the squad for the 2022 title defence. Despite being halfway through his year-long ECB central contract, he is already looking at what comes after.Malan will turn 37 in September and announced during the 50-over World Cup in November that he would be parking first-class cricket to prolong his white-ball career, which includes the T20 Blast this summer. Though he was left out of the white-ball tour of the Caribbean at the end of last year, stints at the SA20 and PSL kept him busy in a winter that began with the 50-over World Cup in India.He returned from Pakistan two weeks ago and, at present, has no plans to hit balls again until the start of May. In the meantime, Yorkshire batters now have an extra sounding board at Headingley, with over 100 caps and centuries in all three international formats. For Malan, it will show him whether coaching is an avenue he would like to pursue once he decides to call it a day.”It’s quite exciting,” said Malan. “I’m going to do a bit of coaching in my off time and help the boys out two or three days a week. I’ll work with the firsts and seconds, whoever is around. I’ll see if I can share some of my knowledge, if anyone wants it, and if it’s something I enjoy for after cricket.”I still feel I’ve got two or three years of playing if things go well and I can still perform, but I want to give back as much as I can now. It’s exciting to be back and give myself a different kind of challenge for this time of year than I usually have.”It’s an unofficial capacity. Whoever is at home, be it first team or second team, I’ll throw some balls and speak to whoever wants to speak to me about batting without treading on any of the coaches’ toes.”Related

• Meet Jamie Overton, England's T20 World Cup bolter

• Malan dropped for England's Caribbean tour

• Stokes opts out of England's T20 World Cup defence

Malan pitched the role to head coach Ottis Gibson last week, who was surprised. Gibson was in for a further shock on Wednesday when Malan also revealed he could U-turn on his first-class retirement this summer if “that itch” comes back, or his summer is limited to just the Blast and the Hundred, in which he was picked up by defending champions Oval Invincibles in last month’s draft after his release by Trent Rockets.”At first I was a little bit surprised because I was thinking: ‘Is he thinking retirement already?'” Gibson said on the initial conversation, before adding: “And then you tell me that he wants to play red-ball cricket, so I’m like, ‘Wow, where is he going with this?'”Nevertheless, Gibson would welcome Malan back into the Championship fold. He has only played 17 first-class matches for Yorkshire since moving north from Middlesex in 2020, but boasts an impressive average of 55.93 from 1,622 runs, with five centuries. Anything resembling that output will go far in helping a young squad surer of their footing – and no longer weighed down by a 48-point deduction – in their push to return to Division One. Ultimately, the caveat to all the above is Malan’s schedule.At this juncture, international commitments look unlikely. Despite top-scoring for England at the 50-over World Cup with 404 runs at 44.88, Malan was left out of Matthew Mott and Jos Buttler’s squads for the Caribbean. Other high-profile batters missed out to preserve them for the Test tour of India at the start of 2024. Malan’s absence, however, felt like moving on outright.Malan was in and out of the Multan Sultans’ XI in the PSL•PSL

Ben Stokes’ decision to pull out of contention for the World Cup could yet open the door for a recall, with Malan fulfilling a similar role as a left-handed anchor. But Rob Key pointed to his recent output in T20Is when explaining his omission from the squads that faced West Indies and his form was middling over the winter.”I’d like to be,” Malan said, when asked if he was in consideration to defend the T20 title he contributed to two years ago. “I wouldn’t say performance would have anything to do with it. In 2023, I had a pretty good year in 50-over cricket and I wouldn’t say I’m old, considering Jimmy [Anderson] is 42 or something like that! I can’t see it being an age thing, and there’s a tournament in a few months’ time.”Obviously I know they might want to go in a different direction. That’s absolutely fine. They’re entitled to do whatever they need to do that they think is the best way to move English cricket in the right direction. I still feel I’m good enough and young enough to do it. That’s out of my control, selection-wise.”Malan was coy about why his time might be up as an international cricketer. He had a conversation with the management following the conclusion of England’s dire ODI campaign in India, but was unwilling to divulge what exactly was said. A meeting with Key in the next fortnight will give him clarity on where his future lies.”I have no idea what they are thinking at the moment,” he said. “We have got appraisals in 12 or 14 days so I’ll probably find out a bit more then. I will just take it as it comes. I am not looking too far ahead or wanting something that might not be there.”If it is, it is; if it isn’t, it isn’t. I have made peace with that. I have a different path that I am looking at at the moment in terms of the last two or three years in my career and if things pop up, they pop up. And if they don’t, they don’t. It’ll be interesting to see where things are and, yeah, it’ll be good to have a good chat with Keysy.”