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Seemingly collecting his runs in fractions, South Africa’s captain bent himself to the task of stalling Sri Lanka

Firdose Moonda at the SSC26-Jul-2014On the same day South Africa’s first match on this Sri Lanka tour took place – July 3 – CSA announced a new sponsor: Rolux. The lawnmower manufacturers became an official supplier. Change one letter and you will get the name of the company they should have signed: Rolex.Time was the theme of the day traditionally known as “moving day” in a Test. The only things that seemed to shift were seconds, minutes, hours and sessions. Somehow that became runs and wickets, eventually. But that was because time was going to be used by South Africa as a luxury and they were going to do it with it what one does in a bath after a long day – soak among the soap suds, lean back and read a magazine, sip a cup of tea.In these conditions and with 1-0 lead in the series, they made it clear it would be up Sri Lanka to pull the plug and force the water to drain. That the hosts were frustrated in their efforts for a large part of the day only worked to South Africa’s advantage because it gouged chunks of time out of the match.For all but the third and fourth overs on the day, when 25 runs came, in an unexpected and spluttering burst of life, South Africa stuck to the task of almost standing still. Even AB de Villiers, who usually finds that impossible, did his best to do so but only half-succeeded. He put on 51 runs in the first 16 overs with Hashim Amla at a rate of 3.18.Hashim Amla’s 22nd century was his second slowest in Tests•AFPWhen both de Villiers and Quinton de Kock were dismissed in the same over, Amla and JP Duminy became statues. The remaining 13 overs of the first session produced just 13 runs. They had their fill at lunch instead.Then they were back to being stone walls for another eight overs in which they scored 12 runs before Duminy was dismissed. In total, from the morning session until the last recognised batsman left, South Africa scored 77 runs in 37.4 overs and crept along at a rate of 2.04.Usually that decimal point in the run-rate does not mean anything beyond the purely mathematical. We understand if the rate is 2.5 an over, it means 10 runs were scored in four overs. Today it seemed possible that runs were being collected fraction by fraction.Amla was the one taking all the bits and turning them into whole parts. His century will not be remembered for silkiness, like the 21 others, but for skill. Specifically, the skill to resist. Some of the signature strokes were still there: the cover drive snuck out once Amla had reached his half-century and again as he entered the nineties but most of his innings was about self-denial.Even when it was invitingly tossed up, Amla lunged forward and blocked. That was the shot he played more than any other. He used it to smother the turn and suffocate any chance Sri Lanka may have had of dismissing him. Sprinkled among the forward defensives, Amla had the opportunity to pierce the field many times but often he picked out the man in white, as though to save himself the trouble of having to make his way from one end of the pitch to the other.There was no need for over-exertion, as Amla conserved energy to be able to bat long rather than bat expansively. Not many batsman can do that without making a mistake. De Villiers was beaten by one that spun in; Duminy looked like he would be beaten by his own approach to pad up to fuller deliveries and was eventually done when he came dancing down the wicket.

Amla’s eight hours and six minutes nibbled away at more than a day’s worth of cricket and sent a warning to Sri Lanka: you will have to do all this again to win the match

Instances like that exposed the risks in South Africa’s strategy. Because of how slowly they were scoring, if wickets fell quickly they were facing a large deficit. But the cluster of scalps never came. South Africa’s tail showed they could actually be classified as lower middle-order allrounders.Vernon Philander shared in the fastest-scoring partnership of the match with Amla, in which 29 runs came in 50 balls at 3.34, Dale Steyn contributed to a stand which lasted almost 20 overs and even Imran Tahir did his bit. He batted for more than an hour at Amla’s side, even as his captain tired.The intense concentration Amla employed took it out of him. He required water several more times than he usually does, although Russell Domingo could not remember him changing his batting gloves once. His sprightly jog became a laboured trudge and in the 127th over, when South Africa had faced five overs and two balls more than Sri Lanka but scored 151 runs less, he refused a run when Tahir was in the mood for a second.Amla would have known that at some point his bowlers would want a licence to try something. Tahir’s came five overs after the run was turned down. Like Steyn before him, he wanted to go big but ended up holing out. By then it mattered a lot less than if he had done it when he had just got to the crease and Amla deserves the credit for that not happening.He also deserves the credit for taking South Africa to a position from which they will probably not have to bat as long as they did in Adelaide or Johannesburg to save the game. His eight hours and six minutes nibbled away at more than a day’s worth of cricket and sent a warning to Sri Lanka: you will have to do all this again to win the match.It took Sri Lanka 134.5 overs, eight hours and 42 minutes, and the best part of four-and-a-half sessions to dismiss South Africa once. Even on a surface that will become more difficult to bat on on the final day, Sri Lanka will be mindful of needing time, more than anything else, to break through a stubborn South Africa line-up. And they don’t need a Rolex, or any other kind of watch, to know that one eye will have to be on the clock.

Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the second Test between South Africa and Pakistan

Firdose Moonda at Newlands17-Feb-2013Noise of the day
The tracks that run past Newlands add to the atmosphere but it’s not often a train catches any attention. On Sunday, an unusual toot emerged from the Kelvin Grove side of the ground that sounded like an old-fashioned steam train. Within a few seconds, a black-and-red locomotive sailed past, presumably a tourist venture. It seemed to so surprise Azhar Ali that he didn’t react to the late movement from a Dale Steyn delivery and got a leading edge that dropped just short of Jacques Kallis at second slip.Bad luck of the day
In a mirror image of Faf du Plessis’ dismissal at the Wanderers, Asad Shafiq could only watch as the ball looped back towards his stumps and shaved off to remove a bail. He defended a Vernon Philander deliver but did not act as it bounced behind him and then spun to hit the base. Had he turned around quicker, he may have been able to kick the ball away but like du Plessis wasn’t aware of where the ball had gone and had to make the walk back to the change-room.Hat-trick of the day
It didn’t belong to an individual but to the team as South Africa took three wickets in three balls to seize the advantage. Sarfraz Ahmed has not batted as well as he is capable of in this series and will regret leaving a Robin Peterson ball that pitched in the rough and turned significantly. He did not offer a shot as it spun towards the stumps and hit middle. Azhar then poked at one from Philander and then Alviro Petersen took a stunning catch to seal the collapse. Umar Gul did not have to reach for the ball outside off but tried to drive and Petersen, at fourth slip, flung himself to the left to put Pakistan in some trouble.Almost bouncer of the day
It is a common fast bowler’s trick to try and hit their counterparts when they are batting but Steyn couldn’t get his bouncer high enough to 7ft 1in Mohammad Irfan. The world’s tallest cricketer even had a swing at Steyn, the ball looping over mid-off, and the world’s top-ranked fast bowler wasn’t happy. Given the height of Irfan, Steyn’s short ball wasn’t going to ping him on the head. Irfan was hit on the chest and Steyn probably would have been no-balled for height if it was any other batsmen.No-ball of the day
Dav Whatmore, Pakistan’s coach, joked that he was unconcerned about Irfan running on the pitch because he simply “has big feet”. They did him another disservice today. Irfan had Petersen caught at mid-on after he mistimed a pull shot but the no-ball check showed that his foot was just over. After many replays, Petersen was called back.Annoyance of the day
Graeme Smith was out sweeping to Saeed Ajmal in the first innings. So when he was trapped lbw after doing the same thing in the second, he was rightly irritated with himself. After deciding not to review the decision on consultation with Hashim Amla, Smith walked off the field but not before hitting himself, fairly gently, on the helmet with his bat.

Jacques Kallis faced more adversity on the fourth day than he did in the first innings and came up trumps again, winning the mental battle against the Indians

Sidharth Monga at Newlands05-Jan-2011Jacques Kallis makes everything look smooth: be it batting, bowling or catching at slip. He has this cool air about him. A man who knows he is good at what he does, a man who knows he looks graceful when he does what he knows he is good at. Sometimes he can even give the impression that he is not even stretching himself to the fullest. It comes across the most when, at times, he gets off to a quick start, and then settles down into accumulation mode as opposed to domination. It is still a pleasure to watch him because he does things beautifully. The real joy, though, comes when you put him on a bad pitch, or in a pressure situation, asking him to stretch himself, to show you all he has got.This Test did that. On the first day, he came in a crisis situation on a pitch where the ball seamed all over the place. He also got hit in the rib area, hard enough to put him out for two weeks, but was the last man out after having scored a century that we scarcely thought could be bettered. Today, with the batting crumbling, with four to five painkilling injections in his system, with the sun spewing out 35 degrees-celsius heat mercilessly, with puffs of dust when the ball landed in the rough, with the series on the line, Kallis showed us his first-innings effort could be bettered.And as he did that, he didn’t mind looking ungainly, as if stretching himself. He was in a fight, he wasn’t going to run away from battle-scars. You hardly see him play the reverse-sweep; that’s not a shot for a batsman who plays proper cricketing shots so well. Yet today that reverse-sweep stood out. Great batsmen do that. They play one calculated, precise shot to change entire games. One shot. Think Sachin Tendulkar’s upper-cut off Shoaib Akhtar in the 2003 World Cup.If Tendulkar put Shoaib off his game with pure audacity, here Kallis got into the bowler and the captain’s heads. It was all going well for them until then. The ball was turning appreciably, and bouncing alarmingly. The leg-side fields were there to make sure no easy singles could be taken when playing with the turn. They even removed the silly point to make him play against the break. And what did Kallis do? He reverse-swept – in a Test, no less. And it was not just any reverse-sweep; the wrists rolled on it to keep the ball along the ground all the way. Not for a second did you feel that he was in danger of getting out.That shot rattled Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni. The man who went to collect the ball from the boundary didn’t come back. We now had a fielder for a reverse-sweep. Kallis started toying with that fielder. He hit square of him, the fielder went squarer. He hit fine of him, the fielder went finer. It was a clever little mind-game from a hurting batsman, and India – perhaps surprised that he played that shot so well – lost that mind-game. Once he had played around with the fields and Harbhajan’s lines, Kallis was free to score as he wanted to.Battling through the pain, Jacques Kallis bettered his first-innings performance•AFPExcept he was batting in mad pain, thanks to the bruising and contusing in the ribs area from the hit he took in the first innings. Mark Boucher, who added 103 priceless runs with Kallis, later said it was impossible to imagine what kind of pain his mate was going through. “I don’t think anyone actually understands the kind of pain he is in at the moment,” Boucher said. “I just spoke to the doctor, and he reckons it’s like someone actually breaking their own rib. Just goes to show the character of the guy. Lot of people talk about this cricketer, that cricketer, but in my eyes, in my opinion, we have got probably one of the greatest cricketers that has ever lived in our own country. It’d be nice if people start realising that as well.”In that kind of physical pain, just his coming out to bat after Alviro Petersen fell in the second over of the day was a brave act. The collective relief around the Newlands could be felt as soon as they saw it was Kallis walking out to bat. King Kallis, as they call him.Despite the pain, despite the pressure, despite the misbehaving bounce, Kallis managed to make things look smooth, at least he made batting look the easiest anyone has done in this Test. He still played beautiful on-drives and straight drives. Except for the times when the ball bounced and he had to hold onto his side to fight pain, he still was cool Kallis.”I have not seen many people bat the way he batted today,” Harbhajan, who took seven wickets today but couldn’t find a way past Kallis, said. “I have not seen many who could take up the responsibility the way he did. It was difficult conditions on the first day. It was overcast, and the ball was doing a lot for the seamers, it was nipping around, and there was a lot of bounce and swing. He has got the technique to play in all conditions. I would rate him up there, very up. After Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis is the best player in the world.”Kallis’ effort has all but made sure that South Africa won’t lose the series. In the process, he must have surely aggravated the injury, which could keep him out for longer than the original two weeks expected. Other cricket can wait, though. There can be no bigger thrill than to almost single-handedly save your side a Test, and put them on the victory road. The same can be said of watching a man doing it.

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions
about (almost) any aspect of cricket. This week it’s a World Cup
special

Steven Lynch26-Mar-2007The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Jeremy Bray carried his bat through Ireland’s 50-over innings against Zimbabwe. How many times has this happened in the World Cup? asked Rae Clarke from Galway
That fine effort from Ireland’s Jeremy Bray at Kingston was the 10th time someone had batted through his country’s allocation of overs in the World Cup. The first instance was on the opening day of World Cup matches, in 1975: after England made 334 for 4 in their 60 overs at Lord’s, Sunil Gavaskar occupied 174 balls for 36 not out as India crawled to 132 for 3 and a 202-run defeat. For a full list, click here. The only man to carry his bat through a completed innings in the World Cup is Ridley Jacobs, for West Indies against Australia at Old Trafford in 1999.What is the highest partnership in the World Cup? asked Satyender Singh from Delhi
By the end of the qualifying matches in the current World Cup the highest partnership remained the 318 of Sourav Ganguly (who made 183) and Rahul Dravid (145) for India against Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999. For a full and updated list of the best partnerships for each wicket in the World Cup, click here.Who was the first Test captain to bag a pair? asked Reuben Johnson from Stoke
The unfortunate holder of this record is Australia’s Joe Darling, who was out without scoring in both innings of the only Test ever played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, in 1902. Despite Darling’s problems Australia still won the match by 143 runs. For a full list of the 19 captains who have bagged a pair in Tests, click here.I enjoyed watching Bermuda during this World Cup. Have any of their players made a century? asked Kevin McNamara from the United States
None of the Bermudian players managed a century in this World Cup – their highest score was David Hemp’s 76 not out against India at Port-of-Spain. But they do have one century to their credit in one-day internationals: Irvine Romaine, their World Cup captain, made 101 against Canada at Toronto in August 2006.I seem to recall that David Boon kept wicket for Australia in a couple of one-day games. When was this? asked Andy Haensel from Australia
David Boon only started one match as Australia’s designated wicketkeeper – appropriately enough, it was during the World Cup, in 1991-92, after Ian Healy injured his hamstring in the previous match, against South Africa at Sydney (Boon kept wicket in that game, too, as Healy was unfit). The next match was against India, at Brisbane, and Australia ended up winning by one run after Boon collected Steve Waugh’s throw from the boundary to run out India’s last man, Venkatapathy Raju. Boon might have deputised behind the stumps in the odd other game – the records don’t always mention stand-ins – but that was the only one of his 181 one-day internationals which he started as wicketkeeper.Which player is known as “Baby Boof”? asked Ryan Berriman from Brisbane
This is Mark Cosgrove, the South Australian left-hander who was close to a place in the Australian World Cup squad, and it comes from his resemblance to his SA skipper Darren Lehmann – another comfortably built left-hand batsman – whose usual nickname is “Boof”.

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.

Former England captain questioned by ECB counsel during Yorkshire racism hearing

Osman Samiuddin03-Mar-2023

Historic tweets from Michael Vaughan took centre stage on the third day of the ECB’s racism hearings, as the former England captain denied having made the statement that forms the core of the ECB’s charge of bringing the game into disrepute.As he has done publicly before, Vaughan emphatically denied ever having said, “There’s too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that” to Azeem Rafiq, Adil Rashid, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Ajmal Shahzad at a T20 game in June 2009. The ECB’s charge stems from Rafiq’s recollection of the remark which was, on Thursday, supported by the testimony of Rashid.Vaughan, appearing at the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) hearing in London, said of the day in question that he had “a very clear mind about back in 2009” and that he knew he did not say what had been alleged. He added that he would never have gone on to the field and said something to team-mates that could “put them in a bad state of mind” before the game.Related

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“Knowing me in 2009, that’s not the sort of thing I would’ve said.”Vaughan was questioned by the ECB’s lead counsel Jane Mulcahy KC for nearly 90 minutes, during which she argued that some historical tweets of his were “remarkably similar in tone” to the alleged remarks.The tweets she referenced were from 2010 and 2017. In one he tweeted, “Not many English people live in London…I need to learn a new language”. The other was his response to a Piers Morgan tweet calling for Muslims “to expose, name and shame radicalised members of their communities…” , to which Vaughan tweeted: “Totally agree.”Vaughan said the tweets were unacceptable and that he had apologised for them before and would continue to do so. But he disagreed with the suggestion that they were similar in tone. Mulcahy pointed out that both Rafiq and Rashid claimed Vaughan likely made the alleged comment as a “bad joke” and said the tweet was similar in tone because it was “lighthearted but offensive”.Asked if he agreed, Vaughan said: “No.”Vaughan said he was “disgusted” with the tweets. “I apologised for them. I put myself on an online course, Inclusion. I wanted to lead the game in knowing how to lead in modern times. The tweets are disgusting, awful, and other words you could use. But the most important thing is I have said sorry and I am learning from them. As I say, if I get things wrong in my life, I stick my hands up.”He went back to his recollection of the day of the game – which he has written about in his memoir – that he “could not have been more proud [of] four Asian players, three of whom had come through the system.”Vaughan was also questioned about his meeting with Rafiq in November 2021 saying he felt the need for it because “the whole situation was escalating out of control”. Vaughan said he was apologetic in the meeting with Rafiq because he was “disgusted” by what Rafiq had to go through at Yorkshire but did not accept he made the alleged comment.Vaughan: ‘Team-mates fighting it out terrible for game’Vaughan said that the CDC hearing was a “terrible look” for cricket. “It’s not been easy for anybody. This is not the right process to deal with word-against-word comments from 14 years ago. Ex-team-mates fighting it out over hearsay is a terrible look for the game and a really bad look on how cricket has dealt with this situation.”Earlier in the morning, scrutiny fell on the ECB’s scope in the investigation of the incident as well as the rigour deployed, with Meena Botros, its director of legal and integrity, facing a three-hour grilling from Christopher Stoner, Vaughan’s lawyer.The line of questioning took in a recent interview with Lord Kamlesh Patel, the outgoing Yorkshire chair, in . In it the claim was made that the ECB had “urged” Lord Patel to “get rid of people” at the county when he took over. Talking about his role, Patel said: “I was asked by the ECB to meet a set of criteria that most people would have winced at, would have thought there’s no way we can deliver this, and I delivered it.”I was asked by the ECB to work with them to create a framework and an environment where we would prove to the world that we want a non-racist institution, and I did all that. I was asked by the ECB to ensure some people who were there from the previous regime did not take part in that governance process, very clear about that.”Stoner suggested those comments showed that the ECB was “actively involved” in the Yorkshire investigation, in breach of the process as described in Botros’ witness statement, that the ECB remained independent of action being taken by one of its counties in such matters.Botros said he couldn’t talk about what Lord Patel had said but insisted that Stoner was “mistaking” the ECB’s regulatory function in getting involved, from its other roles in such cases. Stoner pointed to Botros’s witness statement which read: “In its capacity as a regulator, the ECB must remain independent of action being taken by one of its member first-class county clubs.””That’s just not what happened, is it?” Stoner asked.Botros replied: “It is what happened.”Stoner then zeroed in on the day Vaughan is alleged to have made the remark, questioning whether the ECB could and should have gone further in its investigations of events. He confirmed with Botros that the only players the ECB had spoken to about the incident were Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad.Stoner asked why all Yorkshire players that day weren’t spoken to. Botros said the ECB “did speak to the individuals where we were able to” but that “certain individuals either didn’t want to take part or engage”, or that the ECB “weren’t able” to get contact details for others.Stoner also asked Botros why the on-field umpires that day had not been contacted by the ECB for their version of events.”There is no suggestion that the umpires were close enough to hear it,” Botros replied. Botros added that if it was such an important point, Vaughan’s team could have taken it on themselves.The hearing is scheduled to end next Tuesday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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