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‘To be honest, I believe in [the yo-yo test]. I was disappointed in a way as to why I could not clear the test, so I worked towards it and cleared it’

Shashank Kishore in Bengaluru23-Aug-2018In July, when India were playing an ODI series in England, Ambati Rayudu was enjoying his time in the Yorkshire sun. Only a month prior to that, he had been withdrawn from the ODI squad because of “fitness concerns”, which he later confirmed was a failed yo-yo test.Rayudu, though, wasn’t sulking at the axe, even if an international comeback after two years had just been put on hold. He enjoyed a week-long trip to England, mentoring a bunch of age-group cricketers, handpicked by his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, on an exchange programme. Incidentally, it was in England that Rayudu had first stormed his way into the national reckoning in 2002, with a 177 in a one-dayer against England’s Under-19s.Now he finds himself back in the fray again, after passing the yo-yo test. Less than 24 hours after being drafted into the India A side, Rayudu weathered a probing burst of fast bowling from Billy Stanlake and Jhye Richardson to make a fighting unbeaten half-century. In the bigger scheme of things, it gives the national selectors another option as they search for a consistent middle order batsman with the 2019 World Cup just 10 months away.”I was disappointed with myself that I could not clear the test [before the England tour],” he said on Thursday. “[I have] nothing against the test at all as everybody has to be there at a certain fitness level, to play for India. To be honest, I believe in it. I was disappointed in a way as to why I could not clear the test, so I worked towards it and cleared it.”After he returned from the coaching stint in the UK, it was business as usual at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. At a time when many of the fringe players were locked up in a tussle against South Africa A, Rayudu was immersed in his own routines.Every morning, barring the one weekly day off, he was at the gym for cardio, followed by strength and conditioning sessions. Those were followed by two hour-long batting stints with a small lunch break in between. The evenings were spent in recovery. This routine helped him regain “lost fitness” and set himself up for the yo-yo test again.When the teams for the quadrangular series were announced, Rayudu wasn’t included among the 30 players across the two Indian squads, because he hadn’t yet taken the yo-yo test. Earlier this week, Rayudu completed his test, met the parameters prescribed by the team management, and made the India A squad.The IPL, where he was the highest run-getter in a victorious campaign for CSK (602 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 149.75), seemed a distant memory, but Rayudu showed no traces of rust or a dip in form when he returned to action on Thursday.He was his calm self, absorbing pressure, trying to play on the patience of the bowling unit, before cashing in once the spinners were introduced. The end result – a carefully crafted half-century in a winning chase – pleased him, even though he showed no outward elation afterwards.Rayudu has been unlucky in the past too with fitness issues. In 2015 he had to return from Zimbabwe, where he was part of a second-string India ODI side, because of a quadriceps injury. In the two innings on the tour, he had made 42 not out and an unbeaten century. He lost a year after that in recovery, and when he was eventually declared match-fit he couldn’t quite regain his place.These episodes, Rayudu said, taught him valuable lessons in channeling his frustration. He also underlined how important it was to be in a good headspace and accept injuries to deal with them better. Asked about the frustration of not being termed “yo-yo fit” despite being “match fit in the IPL”, Rayudu was forthright.”Fitness is definitely important for cricket. Obviously one has to be absolutely fit to play,” he said. I am happy that there is a certain kind of a benchmark and a bar. It is just that everybody has to respect it and move forward. For me, it is just keeping things simple. I missed a year due to an injury. This year, I could not clear the test for the last series, so I am actually happy to be back to play for India A.”Rayudu is a man of few words. The anger he can sometimes show on the field can, at times, come as a shock if you’re used to his polite off-field persona. He smiles more than he talks.From being touted as one for the future in 2002 to playing in an Under-19 World Cup in 2004 to disappearing into the rebel ICL and then returning to the mainstream, Rayudu’s career has been one of promise not entirely fulfilled. He has seen many of his Under-19 contemporaries – Robin Uthappa, Suresh Raina, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik to name a few – bypass him for the India cap. After his return from the ICL, he switched from Hyderabad to Baroda and Vidarbha before returning home again.As he readies himself for another audition ahead of next year’s World Cup, there are bound to be sterner tests. But Rayudu isn’t perturbed. “In a country of billion people, if you are able to represent your country, you will be happy, it is always a matter of pride. I am happy that I am now in the scheme of things. I am just waiting for another opportunity.”

A team from MLB Advanced Media are looking at how they can develop new statistics to analyse performance in cricket

Peter Della Penna in Florida28-Aug-2016The arrival of the India squad in Florida this weekend brought in huge throng of supporters hoping to spur a new age for neutral-venue cricket possibilities in the USA. But their presence also drew attention from an unlikely source, with a series of Major League Baseball data miners camping out in Lauderhill for the weekend to see how to bring their analytics to another sport.Eleven members of MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), who help curate data for the online services known as MLB Statcast and MLB At Bat, set up a trailer at the Central Broward Regional Park to collect as much player and ball-tracking data as possible in an effort to bring their new-age stats approach to cricket from baseball.”We’re doing some research on how can we apply our Statcast data acquisition technologies to other sports, i.e. cricket, because baseball and cricket are very similar to each other,” says Kevin Prince, a broadcast analyst with MLBAM who is originally from Kent, England, but has been working in the USA for more than 30 years. “We’re here to gather all the player-tracking and ball-tracking data, hopefully to provide a system that can provide the Statcast type of analysis that we’ve perfected for baseball, and hopefully provide that for cricket.”As part of their technical set-up at the stadium in Lauderhill, the crew set up six cameras mounted to the floodlight towers on the west side of the ground, as well as a radar above the sightscreen on the north side. The cameras track player movement while the radar tracks ball movement. The crew visited Lauderhill last month for the Caribbean Premier League and their interest was sufficiently piqued for them to make a return for the India-West Indies T20s to see what they could apply from baseball principles.”It’s the fourth-generation stats, more performance-driven on the field,” says Per Von Rosen, a technical manager with Statcast, originally from Stockholm, Sweden, who came to the USA last year but has previously done cricket analysis in England. “So, how hard did you pitch, how hard did you hit, exit velocity of the ball coming off the bat. In fielding, the route efficiency taken to catch the ball.”We know where a fielder was when the play started, we know where he caught the ball, and therefore we can know which path he took. Was it a straight line, did he deviate from that straight path, and how fast did he react to the ball off the bat – all of these things. It’s basically putting together his athletic capabilities. Some guys always happen to be in the right place to make the catch, and now we’re putting numbers on that.”One of the most popular data points in terms of fan traffic for Statcast online is exit velocity. Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins, the 2016 All-Star Game home-run derby champion, has nine of the 15 highest exit velocity measurements of the season, with a highest of 123.9mph speed of the ball coming off the bat. However, six of the nine connections only went for singles and none for home runs.”The hardest you can hit a ball has to be a trajectory that’s a little more flat,” says Rob Engel, a senior software engineer with MLBAM. “Any time you hit a home run, you have to put a little more launch angle on the ball, and you’re not actually hitting it as square as you would hit a line drive. So the farthest home runs are technically hit a little softer than a hard line drive straight back to the pitcher, because the bat maintains contact with the ball longer, so you hit it harder.”In cricket, the use of these metrics could demonstrate that players who hit sixes aren’t necessarily swinging or connecting harder, especially compared to a drive straight back down the pitch or a cut straight to point. Little nuggets like this are what Engel says draw fans in. “Big numbers are sexy.”How quickly does Virat Kohli get to the ball once it leaves the bat?•AFPWhere the Statcast appears to be having a significant impact in terms of media scrutiny for players is in terms of the fielding aspects, which have long been neglected. Engel, who is originally from San Francisco, was at his first ever cricket match on Saturday, but says he has immediately identified areas where cricket data could be improved for fielders based on what he has done with baseball.”Things are really registering well with fans, as well as smaller things like arm strength, route efficiency and distance covered, they’re easy to comprehend,” says Engel. Arm strength measures the speed of the ball out of the arm from an outfield throw, route efficiency tracks the distance and time it takes to field a ball from the moment it leaves the bat and is cross-analysed against raw distance covered.Another area is base-running speed, including acceleration time it takes to reach top speed as well as top overall speed from home to first, first to third base and so on. But even subtler things are tracked, such as how big a lead a base runner gets off the base before attempting to steal. They are learning the slim margins that allow for a slower runner to gain a bigger advantage and get to the next base quicker than a runner with a higher speed rating.For cricket, it can be taken to measure fastest runners between the wickets and the impact of acceleration and deceleration while converting one run into two or two into three. Not only are the measures of interest to fans, but teams are able to utilise them for scouting purposes to gauge whose arm they can’t or can take on for a second run from the boundary.”There’s an outfielder for the Yankees who threw a ball 105mph with a crow hop earlier this year – Aaron Hicks,” Engel says. “That sparked a Twitter controversy – how can an outfielder throw harder than Aroldis Chapman? But if you look at the physics of the throw, with a running start and a crow hop, it makes sense you can throw the ball harder than from a [pitcher’s] mound without a running start. So those things are really registering well with fans, as well as smaller things like route efficiency and distance covered, they’re easy to comprehend.”Traditional fielding stats only credit you negatively, and it’s basically who screwed up the least rather than who gave us the best performance. So now we have a forward-thinking model on what fielders can give us the most out of their physicality as opposed to who screws up the least.”Prince says they are currently in discussions with the ECB, IPL teams, and Big Bash franchises. who are all keen to gain access to the Statcast capabilities. “Baseball has the leading digital asset creation and development tools out there,” says Prince. “The whole Statcast aspect has been recognised by all the other sports as being a groundbreaking structure, so there’s a lot of people interested in these aspects of the game. A lot of people are interested in seeing how we’re going to go here.”Von Rosen says in his time watching cricket in England, he noticed how fielders were underappreciated, with only catches and run-outs marked in traditional stats. The Statcast technology can track fielders at point, for example, who may be cutting off singles with their speed to the ball off the bat, but have not got the recognition they deserve. In that way, MLBAM’s data could transform how cricket analyses player performance.”You go online and you start reading your cricket news or baseball news, what we want to do is put material on there that you’ll never stop looking for news,” says Von Rosen. “You’ll be watching video after video, play after play with all of this information you can see, so you never really want to stop.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

A superb innings by Katich, a sharp run-out by Mitch Marsh, and a near-full house at the WACA

Scott Hazebroek04-Jan-2014Choice of game
This was the game that could end the season for the Sydney Thunder and keep the Perth Scorchers’ season alive. I expected it to be a close match, as the Thunder would be aiming to end their losing streak, while the Scorchers would be hoping they could keep their chances of making the semi-finals.Team supported
As always I was hoping the Scorchers would come away with the win.Key performer
Simon Katich was the difference between the two teams. He was the only batsman who converted a start into a big score and he guided the Scorchers’ run chase very well. His experience proved to be vital.One thing I’d have changed
As a Western Australian I would have loved it if Michael Hussey was still playing for the Scorchers. As it is, he chose to move to the Thunder and in doing so joined a team without a lot of recent success. He got the odd boo but didn’t cop too much sledging from the WACA crowd. The revenge was his team losing!Face-off I relished
It was interesting watching Brad Hogg bowling to Eoin Morgan: two world-class players battling it out. Morgan attempted a couple of reverse sweeps, one of which went for four, however, he didn’t really look comfortable against Hogg. Unfortunately Morgan got run out, in rather strange circumstances, between Hogg’s second and third overs, preventing any more face-offs between the pair.Wow moment
The run-out of Morgan by Mitch Marsh. The ball on which it occurred was a free-hit. Marsh bowled a yorker that Morgan just managed to squeeze out. Not realising the ball had bounced straight down the pitch to Marsh, Morgan left his crease. Marsh flicked the ball at the stumps, and Morgan dived back. The ball hit the stumps but Morgan appeared to be comfortably in. There was a half-shout from the Scorchers, so the third umpire decided to go upstairs just to be sure. The Scorchers were not too confident. They all returned to their positions in readiness for the next ball. There were a couple of replays played on the big screen which seemed to confirm Morgan had made his ground, and then it cut to shots of the crowd. A minute later more replays were shown, and the crowd soon realised that Morgan might just be out. Hogg ran in from the boundary at deep midwicket to congratulate Marsh, and the rest of the team soon followed. The verdict was delivered soon after and the crowd cheered.Close encounter
Craig Simmons fielded in front of me during the Thunder innings and took a great diving catch to dismiss Michael Hussey. Dirk Nannes was there when the Scorchers were batting. He fumbled once to allow an extra run and got a cheer from the crowd. A couple of balls later when he fielded one cleanly, he got an even louder cheer and he doffed his cap to the crowd.Shot of the day
Katich’s six over cover off the bowling of Tillakaratne Dilshan was a marvellous shot, timed beautifully and easily clearing the fence.Crowd meter
There was barely a spare seat anywhere. The crowd was enthusiastic and cheered the Scorchers loudly. There were lots of beach balls being thrown around, and whenever a security guard took it upon himself to pop one he got a huge boo. There were also a fair number of Mexican Waves towards the end of the match.Fancy-dress index
There wasn’t a whole lot of fancy dress at this game, just lots of orange everywhere. There were orange wigs, face-paint, hairspray, and anything else you could think of.Entertainment
There were the usual fire and fireworks when the Scorchers entered the field. Under the Inverarity Stand there were three people playing big drums with drumsticks with fire on the end of them. There was also a dance group dressed in orange that performed during the innings break.Overall
It was an exciting game of cricket with plenty of runs and wickets and a fairly close result. The crowd was good as always, so overall it was another great experience.Marks out of 10
8.5.

Every day, Virat Kohli’s young batting colleagues are seeing a live manual on how to manage their careers

Abhishek Purohit in Colombo01-Aug-2012Just how far is Virat Kohli ahead of his peers now? Sample this. It is an achievement for Manoj Tiwary, a very fine batsman, to get a game. Rohit Sharma, probably the most talented of the lot, wonders how he can make some runs, somehow. Ajinkya Rahane seems to have accepted his position on the sidelines for now. Kohli, the youngest of the four, thinks he has no business getting out soon after reaching a hundred. You can bat in the zone. Kohli, at the moment, is living in the zone. When you are so far ahead of others, you can feel lonely at the summit. Kohli is searching for higher peaks to conquer.You aim to improve on your routine. Kohli’s routine right now is making centuries. So now, he wants to make them “big”. As if making 133 not out, 108, 66, 183, 106, 1, 38 and 128 not out in your previous eight innings is not big enough. That 38 he made in the third ODI bothered him. He was disappointed that he got out, disappointed that he took 65 balls to make 38, disappointed because he rarely fails nowadays.”So I thought about it in the nets,” Kohli said. His brand of thinking was to bash every bowler during practice with an intensity that was searing to even watch. On the eve of this game, he was clobbering everything thrown at him in the nets. Spinner or fast bowler, Indian or Sri Lankan. He almost broke Ashok Dinda’s hand with a piledriver of a drive.Come match situation today, and Kohli the brute became Kohli the machine, again. Lasith Malinga’s swinging yorker had taken out Gautam Gambhir in the first over. Kohli jogged in and calmly left his first ball alone. The man’s aggression may be in-your-face, but he knows an international batsman has to respect international bowlers at times, though he can display his intent when he gets the chance.The first came off his ninth ball, a short one outside off from Malinga. Kohli hooked. Not the desperate hook borne out of insecurity, but a calculated, crisp one. The ball almost went for six over deep midwicket. Intent shown, he went back to displaying more respect again.He was 23 off 40 at one stage, a strike-rate lower than what he managed in the third ODI. Today, though, he was determined not to throw it away. When Kohli starts churning the singles and twos calmly, you know he has switched into marathon mode. His fifty soon came, in 65 balls, with just two boundaries.Meanwhile, Virender Sehwag sparked briefly and went, Rohit’s struggles continued, Tiwary fell after a start. Kohli was asked what his approach was with Rohit, probably playing for his place in the XI. He said he told Rohit to let him take all risks as a set batsman and try to play himself in. Too bad Rohit lasted 14 balls.Kohli finally found support from Suresh Raina. Apart from some nervy running initially, there was no knowing that they had come together at 109 for 4 chasing 252. Kohli had an explanation for the running as well. “They have some really good fielders inside and [we made] an error of judgment. You don’t run singles off good fielders. It can happen every now and then but after that [we] pretty much sorted it out – who has a good arm, who is quick across the outfield and in the inner circle. [We] made a few mistakes but corrected them quickly.”The explanation shows that Kohli and panic just don’t go together. “It is very easy to [panic],” Kohli said, before going on to tell why he doesn’t. “When you play about eight dot balls it is very easy to step out and go for that big one. But when you get out you realise that you lose one more wicket and the new guy going in, he might play 10-15 dot balls more. So you have that advantage over that guy coming in to bat because you are set. You can actually start rotating the strike and hit the odd balls in between for boundaries.”It is all about analysing what’s going on in the middle. Today was not one of those quick wickets. Wickets in Sri Lanka are pretty slow so it was all about assessing that. We have players like Viru [Sehwag], Suresh and MS [Dhoni] coming in who can smash the ball at will. My job was to make sure we don’t lose any more wickets. That’s what I and Suresh discussed in the middle. Because defending 250 you need to take wickets at regular intervals. So our main plan was to stop that and try and create some sort of partnership. We knew we had the batting Powerplay and we [can] cash that in the end.”Fifty-five runs came in the batting Powerplay, Raina got to another fifty, Kohli to another century, after which he finished the game in the 43rd over with eight boundaries off his final 16 deliveries. Kohli’s been cracking hundreds for nearly a year now but he said the vice-captaincy, which he got during the Asia Cup in March, had made him more responsible.”If people think you have those qualities for handling responsibility … I have been given a post, I was happily surprised with it and I feel much more responsible when I play in the middle. Not that my behaviour or my attitude towards my team-mates has changed. It is all about thinking yourself in a more responsible way. That’s how you get more mature. If you are given challenges you got to live up to it and it makes you mature as a player and as a person as well.”His growing maturity and productivity is reflected in the fact that he has already made more than a 1000 ODI runs this year, after making 1381 in 2011. We are fortunate to be witnessing one of the most productive streaks in international cricket. His young peers are lucky to be witnessing a live manual every day on how to manage their careers. Whether they learn from it, and how they apply it is another matter.

Lots of rain, lots of entertainment, lots of noise

Sanjeev Datadin04-May-2010The game
I’m a big cricket fan and love live cricket. I’m also a box-holder at the Providence Stadium in Guyana. This match promised a good old-fashioned rivalry between England and West Indies. Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard were in good nick after the IPL, as were Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan.Team supported
West Indies. I’ve been a fan since my father took me to see India v West Indies at Bourda, Georgetown in 1983.Key performer
Morgan played an excellent innings. So did Gayle and Luke Wright. But because of the rain delays, the DJ turned out to be the key performer of the day.One thing I’d have changed
To have no rain. England were a bit hard done by, and the crowd was robbed of some entertainment. It would have been interesting to watch a West Indies batting line-up of Gayle, Pollard, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dwayne Bravo chase 192.Face-off I relished
Gayle v Sidebottom. Given all the talk about left-arm quicks against Gayle, I was interested to see how the contest with Sidebottom would pan out. Gayle took him for 15 in the first over. To be fair, the first boundary was off the edge, but as a spectator shouted out immediately after that boundary, “He paid for the whole bat… edge included.”Shot of the day
Craig Kieswetter smacked Ravi Rampaul over long-off to scatter the cheerleaders right below where I was sitting. But the shot of the day was Chanderpaul’s switch hit for six off Graeme Swann. The noise that followed was deafening.Player watch
Darren Sammy was cheered every time he touched the ball, no doubt because of his heroics against Ireland. It helped that he took two wickets when England were on the charge. Since it was Guyana, hometown boy Chanderpaul was inundated with advice and comments every time he came to field below where I was sitting.Crowd meter
The stadium was packed. It was so loud, you could not hear your own phone ring, much less anyone you were trying to speak to. Horns, beach shells, whistles, thunder sticks, tassa drums and the steel pans contributed to the noise. Then, of course, there was the typical Guyana crowd, shouting all sorts of advice and remarks to the players. It was loudest when the umpires came out to inspect the conditions after a prolonged rain delay and approaching darkness; there was definitely no shortage of encouragement to bring the players back out to continue the game.The spectators stayed through the heavy and prolonged downpour. The Providence is a semi-open stadium and many patrons were simply standing, or dancing, in the rain.It was amazing to hear what sounded like every spectator screaming “wiiddde” every time and English bowler bowled a wide.A new discovery
In our box the very unusual (at least in these parts) drink of scotch and tonic became the order of the day. I think I might stay with this one for a while.Entertainment
Plenty. There was chutney, soca, reggae, dancehall, and even some 80s hits. The live artists were average and sounded as if they were screaming into the microphone at times. There were cheerleaders perched on stages around the ground, tassa drummers, and colourfully costumed assortments of characters carrying a kind of horn, who provided their own brand of loud entertainment during any slight break in an over.Banner of the day
There were no banners up around the ground; a consequence of the stadium being sanitised in the name of ambush marketing. There was a t-shirt with a picture of Kieron Pollard smacking the ball, with the caption, “Polly what a cracker!”Marks out of 10
8. Plenty of rain, but also plenty of music, dancing, unusual drinks and great atmosphere.

Such was the draw of WG Grace that after a public spat with Gloucestershire, who he had captained since its formation in 1870, he was able to move to London and help establish a side that within a year had been given first-class status

Martin Williamson27-Jan-200682 pp, hb

Much has been written about WG Grace – perhaps more than any other cricketer with the exception of Don Bradman. But while his 19th-century exploits are well documented, less is known about the twilight of his career, and in some ways that is one of the most interesting periods. Such was the draw of the man that after a public spat with Gloucestershire, who he had captained since its formation in 1870, he was able to move to London and help establish a side that within a year had been given first-class status.Brian Pearce’s Cricket At The Crystal Palace helps to fill in the gaps about the brief history of the London County Cricket Club (by 1905 it had lost its first-class status, a victim of financial troubles and poor attendances). But in those five seasons, it was jazz-hat cricket at its best. Led by Grace (he only missed one of their first-class matches), LCCC attracted some of the best players of the era and also took on a quasi-MCC role of nurturing and encouraging the best young cricketers. The club was dominated by the Old Man, and Pearce manages to convey the sense of what it must have been like to play with and under him.This book is not just about WG. It gives the story of the Crystal Palace, which dominated the whole enterprise and ultimately led to its demise, and of the LCCC. Pearce injects colour and life into the narrative, and the illustrations are copious and interesting.This is clearly a labour of love but Pearce has managed to produce a book well worth buying. It’s not long – 82 pages in all – and if there is a criticism it is the rather slapdash and poorly formatted statistics. But that is one minor gripe which does not really tarnish the overall product.

The Test readiness of England’s rookies is perhaps secondary to the sense of purpose that their inclusions project

Andrew Miller at Lord's08-Aug-20181:47

Pope gets the nod for England, but who’ll miss out?

The kids are alright, you know. For the fourth time in 2018 alone, and for the fifth time since the selection of Haseeb Hameed on the last tour of India in November 2016, England have plumped for youth over experience, excitement over stability, the bold approach over the same old narrative with interchangeably seasoned campaigners.At the age of 20 years and 219 days, Surrey’s Ollie Pope will bat at No.4 for England in the Lord’s Test – a position that effectively leaves him man-marking one of the game’s all-time great batsmen in India’s captain, Virat Kohli, the scorer of 200 formidable runs in last week’s Edgbaston Test.With just 15 first-class matches under his belt, Pope slots into England’s Test history as their third-youngest specialist batsman behind Denis Compton (19 years and 83 days) and Hameed (19 years and 269 days), and does so in the wake of his Surrey team-mate and fellow 20-year old, Sam Curran, being named as Man of the Match for a precocious allround display in the first Test.Throw into the mix the bloodings of Mason Crane (20 years and 320 days) at Sydney in January, and Dom Bess (20 years and 306 days) for the Pakistan Tests in May and June, and is clear that the only thing being fast-tracked more quickly than young English talent is a sense of revolution from the new national selector, Ed Smith, who whiled away his time during England’s nets session by patrolling the Nursery Ground outfield with phone glued to ear and with shades and rolled-up shirtsleeves transmitting a stockbroker’s air of urgency.What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything and nothing, in the opinion of England’s captain, Joe Root (who was himself a grizzled 22-year-old when he made his own Test bow at Nagpur in 2012-13). Before this sudden baby boom, England had chosen just 19 under-21s in their first 140 years of Test history – most recently Steven Finn as a last-minute replacement on the tour of Bangladesh in 2010. But with the team’s current Test record perhaps as erratic as it has been in a generation, there is arguably a perverse prudence to such an abrupt change of strategy.”If you’re old enough, you’re good enough,” Root said. “A lot of the selections of late have been quite bold, we’re not shy of being a little bit brave and doing things slightly differently. It’s worked out for us so far.””I think when you give exciting young talents responsibility, they tend to surprise you,” he added. “We’ve seen that so far. The challenge for them moving forward is to try and sustain that and not put too much pressure on themselves and too much expectation on them to deliver on a really consistent basis.”Ollie Pope and Sam Curran warm up ahead of training•Getty ImagesThe issue of youth and renewal is one that cuts to the core of everything in English cricket at present. The question of whether the likes of Pope and Curran are truly ready for the step-up in class is perhaps secondary to the sense of purpose that their inclusions project.Much as was the case with Adil Rashid’s recall at Edgbaston (and maybe, if you want to extrapolate even further, the ongoing mayhem that is The Hundred), the noses that get put out of joint by the ECB’s sudden predilection for thinking outside the box are less important than those outside the game’s usual confines who get wind of this disruption to the status quo, and poke their noses in for a first sniff of the action.Certainly Root was at pains to make it clear that the door is not closed to county performers who earn their recognition through the more traditional formula of runs and wickets over time. But, tellingly, he also seemed less interested in immediate dividends, even with a series as important as a five-Test rubber against India on the line. The long game is what really matters as England attempt to reboot their red-ball fortunes.”I think we’ve got to be really realistic that these guys are exciting young players and they will do some very good stuff,” said Root. “It might not all happen straight away and we have to be a little bit patient with that.” Join us for the ride, in other words, and invest in these guy’s stories. Whatever transpires, it is unlikely to be dull.Even India’s captain seemed rather engaged by Pope’s tale. “We want to try and knock him over as early as possible, but on a larger front, I am happy for him,” Kohli said. “As a cricketer I understand how important it is. I will tell him to enjoy the occasion, and not get too many runs!”The prospect of Pope having his credentials scrutinised by the best batsman in the world may be daunting, but it is not as if England’s rookies are being thrown into the fray without a serious support network behind them. In Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad – not to mention Root himself, whose 6000 Test runs are still only the start of what he could achieve – this team’s senior pros are among the most senior ever to have played the game.”We’ve got some very good experienced players around them so they can learn and mould their games at the highest level,” said Root. “For young guys coming in, that’s exciting for this team, and for people around it, seeing a young man in Sam performing how he did last week with a real bright future, it’s exciting for English cricket. That should fill a lot of other lads around the country with a huge amount of confidence.”And if the beauty of Test cricket lies in its narrative, then what could be more beautiful than these kids-turned-veterans, looking back in 15 years’ time on the priceless nuggets of wisdom that they received first-hand in their earliest outings? It may be wildly out of kilter with everything that English cricket has preached about Test cricket in the course of its first 990-odd engagements. But since the turn of the year, there’s been a turning of the page. And are you not entertained already?

Stats highlights from the first day’s play in Pallekele, where the hosts were bowled out for 117 in just 34.2

Bharath Seervi26-Jul-201634.2 Number of overs that Sri Lanka’s first innings lasted, which is their shortest after electing to bat. Before this, they had lasted 38.4 overs, bowled for 95 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2000-01.1 Number of lower totals for Sri Lanka against Australia at home, than the first-innings 117. They were bowled out for 105 in Galle in 2011. Tuesday’s total is the lowest total by any team in Pallekele. Sri Lanka themselves had previously made 174 against Australia in 2011.22.30 Test average of Sri Lanka’s top three batsmen at home since July 2015, which is the lowest among all teams. In 36 innings, their top-three has managed only two centuries and one half-century.10.50 Sri Lanka’s average opening partnership in home Tests since July 2015 – again, the worst among all teams. In 12 innings, only once have their openers put on more than 50.2003 The last time Sri Lanka fielded two or more debutants in the same Test. Sri Lanka handed out debut caps to Dhananjaya de Silva and Lakshan Sandakan on Tuesday. Against New Zealand in Colombo (PSS) in 2003, Kaushal Lokuarachchi and Prabath Nissanka made their Test debuts. De Silva’s first scoring shot was a six, which makes him the first Sri Lanka player to start off his Test career with a six.

1 This is the first Test in Sri Lanka in which both teams’ openers were dismissed for single-digit scores in the first innings. Overall, there have been 19 such Tests, the last of which was at Wanderers in 2006-07 between India and South Africa.2006 The last time Sri Lanka’s top five were all dismissed for 15 or fewer runs in a Test innings at home, against Pakistan in Colombo (PSS). This is the sixth such instance for Sri Lanka in home Tests.19.16 Angelo Mathews’ average in his last six Test innings against Australia, with a highest of 35. In his first six innings against them, he averaged 87.25 – he remained unbeaten twice – with a century and three half-centuries.2 Consecutive ducks for David Warner in Tests against Sri Lanka. Warner was dismissed for a duck in the first innings of this Test, as well as in the second innings of the SCG Test in 2012-13. Incidentally, in the other four innings against them, he has made half-centuries. Sri Lanka and India are the only teams against whom Warner has two ducks.

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

Alagappan Muthu in Fatullah15-Jun-20152:00

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

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