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Roger Harper remembers West Indies’ one-wicket defeat to Pakistan at the 1987 World Cup

Alagappan Muthu20-Feb-2015When you log in to Facebook from a new computer or a new country, you might be given a security check. The site asks you to prove you are who you say you are before granting access and one way to do that is by recognising your friends/adversaries/competitors from a set of pictures.The World Cup put West Indies through its version of that test and they are struggling to prove they are who they say they are.Kemar Roach just about picked out Scotland in the warm-ups but, in their first group game, a leprechaun disguising himself in a new fluorescent green outfit (minus the shamrock) confounded everyone. By the time Darren Sammy and Lendl Simmons got the hang of it, West Indies were locked out.So maybe it is good that they play a more familiar face on Saturday. They have met only one team more often than Pakistan in 50-over history (and that is Australia). More pertinently, West Indies have won 68 of those 128 matches against Pakistan and an even healthier six out of nine at World-Cups. As comforting as that is, Jason Holder and his men might be better motivated by pain and the urge to not feel it again.Perhaps they should remember 1987. Roger Harper sure does.Lahore. Imran Khan captaining in Imran Khan territory. The hosts were favourites. The visitors were a fading power, at least in one-day cricket. Partisan crowds. The World Cup like never before.The match see-sawed wildly. An Imran special to start. A Viv Richards counterattack for flavour. An Abdul Qadir six for kicks. A dash of controversy from Courtney Walsh and Saleem Jaffer. West Indies had only 216 to defend, but they did it like it was 116. Pakistan needed two runs off the final ball. Nails were torn off, nerves jangled but the noise never ceased.Two taken. A classic. And a heartbreak. Twenty-eight years later, Harper still retains that feeling of disappointment.”The team had just come back in the dressing room,” he said. “Some things were shared about the importance of the match and what it meant to our chances of progressing in the tournament. It was a World Cup and we had fought our way back into a winning position and then just fell short.”As it turned out, they could have made the semi-finals with one more victory; instead, England and Pakistan progressed from Group B.

“We felt that we had a competitive total, a defendable total. And it would have been had we taken our chances”Roger Harper

It might be jarring to inspect those wounds, but West Indies’ class of 2015 does mirror their seniors. Like Sunil Narine, Malcolm Marshall had pulled out of the tournament. Michael Holding and Joel Garner had run their last. It was a new side; a young side seeking to establish their identity and keep up with their history. The 15 men in Christchurch right now preparing to face Pakistan again might empathise with that.”We weren’t as good as we used to be,” Harper said. “But at the same time we had guys who had been around for a couple of years or so. I still thought we had enough talent. Youth was blended in with the experience of Richards, [Desmond] Haynes and [Jeffrey] Dujon. We were confident of getting the job done.”Pakistan were not lacking talent, either, all the way down to No. 7 Saleem Yousuf. It didn’t matter that he was facing Walsh with his tail up. It didn’t matter that he had walked in with his side 107 runs off their target. It didn’t matter that until then he had worn an ODI average of 14.45 with no fifties. It is understandable that West Indies felt “more in control”, according to Harper, but Yousuf’s 49-ball 56 began creating problems. They were compounded by a deafening home crowd and the noise only escalated when he was dropped.”We were looking to get close to 250. Though we fell short, we still felt that we had a competitive total; a defendable total,” Harper said. “And it would have been had we taken our chances. Yousuf was dropped at, I think it was long-on, off Walsh in the 48th over or something like that and it took Qadir in the end to get them through.”West Indies had squeezed out the ninth wicket in the penultimate over and 14 runs were still needed. Then Qadir defied his position at No. 9 by belting Walsh over the long-off boundary midway through the final over. Blood pumping, breath heaving, field closing in on him, Qadir sliced the final ball of the chase – an attempted yorker – to third man and raised his bat in glory even as he was completing that second run.A half-century for a helmet-less Phil Simmons on debut gained a bitter aftertaste; the way he had milked Qadir and took on Imran and Wasim Akram to very nearly match Richards’ strike rate became consolatory praise. Walsh received more press for choosing not to run out a rapidly backing-up Jaffer at the non-striker’s end as he pulled out from bowling the last ball, than for the spell that returned West Indies’ hopes. Four crucial wickets that cut through the middle order and nearly turned the game around. Nearly.

Lancashire bet their house on a redevelopment that would return Test cricket to Old Trafford; with the arrival of Australia, that dream has been realised

Paul Edwards29-Jul-2013In sport, as in life, some events are freighted with so much significance that the moments in which they occur seem barely capable of holding the weight.For Lancashire’s officials and supporters, just such an event will take place at 11am on Thursday when, Manchester’s weather permitting, the first ball will be bowled in the Third Investec Test between England and Australia.An Ashes Test is always something to be savoured, of course, but this contest will be uniquely special for Mancunians because in the eight years since the last such game, Old Trafford has been redeveloped – some might say reborn – to the extent that spectators at the 2005 match might initially struggle to recognise the new stadium if they had seen no cricket at the ground in the intervening period.Gone are the broadcasting boxes at the Stretford End; gone is the massive stand opposite the pavilion; gone are the seated areas to the right of that twin-towered pavilion, which itself has been virtually gutted and rebuilt with only the façade and the towers remaining. Lancashire have even realigned the square on a north-south rather than east-west axis. If some have problems getting their bearings on Thursday, that is partly because those bearings have changed.In place of the old structures, which were, truth be told, a rather ramshackle collection of buildings badly in need of refurbishment, Lancashire have built a stadium with all the shock and awe that size often evokes.There are new player dressing rooms and a media centre at the Statham End, both of which seem to have the “wow” factor; there is a huge temporary stand of 9,500 tiered seats at the old Stretford End, all of them in the distinctive scarlet livery used elsewhere in the new arena; and there is a massive hospitality and function suite, The Point, which overhangs the ground like a symbol of the modernity its architecture exemplifies. If the familiar intimacy of the old ground has been lost, the new Old Trafford possesses a confident swagger befitting a stadium in Manchester, a world city to which many businesses and organisations, not least major departments of the BBC, are relocating. The new place may have only a third of the capacity of the other Old Trafford across the way, but it no longer looks like its poor relation.Yet the moment when the first ball is bowled on Thursday will be charged with even more emotional power because of what Lancashire risked in order to create their new home. The £44m redevelopment was financed, in part, by a four-way agreement between Lancashire, Ask Developments, Tesco and Trafford Council. As part of this agreement Tesco were given the go ahead to build a huge new superstore in Trafford. A rival developer, Albert Gubay of Derwent Holdings, objected to this permission being granted and took his case to the courts.Indeed, Gubay took his legal proceedings so far that he imperilled not only Old Trafford’s redevelopment but also the very future of the county club. Reviewing what he agrees was the most fraught time of his entire professional life, Lancashire’s chief executive at the time, Jim Cumbes, makes no attempt to hide the stakes for which Lancashire were playing. Given legal costs and the possibility of losing vital grants, Old Trafford officials had bet their beloved house on winning the case.

“If we’d lost, there was really no Plan B. The club might have just disappeared or we would have downsized and become a county ground”Former Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes on the legal battle to redevelop Old Trafford

“In that two- or three-year period there were times when you’d wake up at 3.30 in the morning and argue with yourself,” Cumbes says. “Outwardly I was confident and optimistic and I always thought we’d win, but I didn’t know when or how much it would cost.”It was hard because we were getting into financial difficulties. We were spending money on legal cases and as soon as we got over one hurdle, another appeared before us. All the staff were nervous but we ploughed on. Nobody got a rise in salary for three years but we told them there’d be no redundancies. We kept that promise and the curious thing was that we won the Championship in the year in which we’d had to clip the financial wings of Mike Watkinson and Peter Moores, as regards player recruitment.”And all the time that Cumbes was being reassured by the club’s QC Robert Griffiths that he was very confident of winning in court, he was also mindful of the barrister’s “but”: you never know what happens on the day.”If we’d lost, there was really no Plan B,” Cumbes says. “The club might have just disappeared or we would have downsized and become a county ground like Taunton, Northampton or Leicester. We wondered about the wisdom of going ahead with our plans but ultimately we thought we owed it to our members, to Manchester and to the people of the northwest to try to build a ground fit to stage an Ashes Test.”That Old Trafford was no longer fit to stage an Australia Test had been made abundantly clear by the ECB in 2006 when Cardiff, well-funded and soon to be well-presented, had got the nod in preference to Manchester for a game in the 2009 series.”We were going ahead with redevelopment before we heard the bad news in 2006,” Cumbes points out. “But we were all former sportsmen and being told that we had lost the Ashes made us all that much sharper and competitive. That was in our nature and when it went to court we were all saying, ‘We’ve got to win this bloody case.'”All the same, being reminded that hosting a Test was a granted privilege, not an inalienable right, was good for Lancashire officials who quietly accept that they had become a little complacent. So whatever emotions are felt by Old Trafford’s present hierarchy on Thursday morning, complacency is unlikely to be among them. On the contrary, Lancashire are now keen to present the best case they can for their new ground staging as many Test and one-day international matches as possible. Thus, there was manifest concern and urgency when a brief but embarrassing power cut occurred in part of the ground during last week’s FLt20 game against Yorkshire.The ground has changed significantly, more than half a century on from Jim Laker’s famous Old Trafford Test•PA PhotosDoes the new stadium have as much character as the old ground? Of course not. Or, at least, not yet. This is partly because experience often endows a place with character and only when spectators associate the new Old Trafford with games to cherish in the memory will they really think fondly of the place. What’s more, massive banks of tiered seats can be found in most Test venues now and not everywhere can be Trent Bridge. That said, while the old ground was an eccentric and endearing collection of bits and pieces, it was also a pain if you were queuing for almost anything.Ultimately, though, the story of Old Trafford’s rebirth illustrates the granite truth that heritage counts for diddly-squat in the brutal business of international cricket. When the Old Trafford hierarchy were fighting for Lancashire’s very future three or four years ago, they knew that little consideration would be given to black-and-white footage of Jim Laker modestly hitching up his flannels after taking 19 wickets against Australia in the 1956 Manchester Test, and even less to the epic battles of 1896 and 1902, both won by Australia.More recent memories of comparable richness – Benaud bowling May behind his legs in 1961; Botham’s hundred in 1981; Warne to Gatting and Gooch being given out handled ball in 1993, both watched by this journalist, who wondered if it was too late to make an honest woman of cricket writing – helped to make Old Trafford a much-loved home. If the match beginning on Thursday can produce one innings, one spell, or even one moment of comparable stature, Jim Cumbes may permit himself a quiet inward smile of satisfaction. The epic battle will have been worth it, after all.

ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day for the match between Australia and India in Adelaide

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval12-Feb-2012The sacrifice
Rohit Sharma continued his good work in the field when he dived at cover-point and ran David Warner out. The batsmen reacted strangely: Warner and Michael Clarke both thought there was a single available there, but Warner was more cautious and went back in his crease when he saw Rohit had stopped the ball. Clarke, though, kept strolling towards the striker’s end. At this point, Warner left the crease to sacrifice his wicket. Perhaps it had to do with how well Clarke had been striking the ball until then. Warner was 18 off 24, and Clarke 26 off 20.The tackle
In the 48th over of the Australia innings, Matthew Wade drove Vinay Kumar towards long-on. It wasn’t well hit, and Vinay thought he could dive and save the single. Except he would have to dive around Dan Christian, the non-striker. He delayed the dive for a split second, but it wasn’t enough and he dived into Christian’s legs, tripping him. Christian, though, recovered fast enough to make the single.The run-out
Christian was run out next ball, attempting a second. It was observed immediately that he ran the second a bit casually, and that he didn’t dive for the second. Christian, though, didn’t know that the throw was coming to his end. That was thanks to the street-smart MS Dhoni. Dhoni never lets on that the throw is coming in at his end. This was a good example. While running towards the stumps, even before Christian had finished his first run, Dhoni signalled to Ravindra Jadeja to throw at his end, and then came and stood casually by the stumps, looking blank. Only when the ball approached did Dhoni get into action, and by then it was too late for Christian to dive or make up ground.The edge
In the Test at the Adelaide Oval, Virender Sehwag fell to two full tosses, both leading edges. There must be something about this track then. Today he got a terrible loosener from Clint McKay, short of a length, down the leg side, a wide if he hadn’t touched it, not a slower ball, but he somehow managed to get a leading edge on it to be caught at point. We could call it the Adelaide edge.The Clarke touch
That Clarke is going through a captaincy honeymoon has been obvious this season with how his bowling changes have brought immediate wickets. He added to that tally today with an even more startling immediacy. McKay got Sehwag with the first ball he bowled, and when Clarke brought him back in the 35th over, he struck first ball again, getting Gautam Gambhir lbw for 92.

The women have played eight World Cups so far and Cricinfo asked former and current players what their lasting memories from each tournaments was

06-Mar-2009

.1978, India
Megan Lear
This was my first World Cup with the England side since the previous time I played for Young England, and my first time in India. The most memorable part of this tournament was playing in front of crowds of 40,000 plus.When we left our hotel, we would be followed for autographs.India is certainly a country of many experiences, and on one occasion we had handed our cricket whites in to the hotel laundry and on a journey by coach to the practice ground we saw them all being washed in the local river and laid out to dry on the rocks!The hospitality was fantastic under very difficult circumstances for their association, which was only a few years old.My best personal cricket memory was of a warm-up at Eden Gardens when I scored 96 not out and hit two sixes and two fours off last over. When I came in to the pavilion it was as if I had won the FA Cup – everybody leant over to try to pat me on the back.

Grace Scrivens anchors chase with unbeaten 63 as Sunrisers start campaign with victory

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2024Jodi Grewcock and Nicola Hancock claimed three wickets apiece as Sunrisers launched their Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy campaign with a comprehensive eight-wicket victory over Western Storm at Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens.Seamer Hancock took 3 for 15 in 5.4 overs and teenager Grewcock bowled unchanged for 10 overs to return impressive figures of 3 for 28 with her legbreaks as Storm were dismissed for a wholly inadequate 114 in 30.4 overs.Offspinner Mady Villiers weighed in with 2 for 36, while Esmae MacGregor took a wicket and contributed a run out as Sunrisers produced a disciplined performance in the field after winning the toss. Only Nat Wraith offered meaningful resistance with the bat, top-scoring with 42 as Storm opened this campaign as they finished the last, by suffering heavy defeat.Sunrisers skipper Grace Scrivens then led by example, compiling a composed innings of 63 and sharing in a reassuring partnership of 59 with Cordelia Griffith for the second wicket as the visitors comfortably overhauled their target with 16.2 overs to spare.Victorious in their final four matches of last season, Sunrisers have picked up where they left off and will go into their next match against Thunder at Sale in confident mood. For their part, Storm have now been beaten in their last five outings in the 50-over competition and will need to find improvement ahead of their trip to play Northern Diamonds at Headingley on Wednesday.Put into bat, Storm were unable to recover from the loss of early wickets and were shot out inside 31 overs, only three batters managing double-figures in an innings which the home side will no doubt want to forget in a hurry.Hancock produced a probing new-ball spell to remove Alex Griffiths for 2, but fellow opener Sophia Smale responded in positive fashion, helping herself to three leg-side boundaries to advance her score to 16. Calamity then struck, Smale clipping Villiers behind point and setting off for a quick single, only to collide with partner Sophie Luff halfway down the track and be run out by MacGregor while getting back to her feet.That unfortunate mishap sparked a dramatic collapse which saw five wickets fall in just 8.1 overs as Storm subsided to 64 for 6, their top and middle-order batting undermined by spin. Luff played and missed at a delivery from Grewcock that nipped back and was adjudged lbw for 7, while Dani Gibson was also undone by the England Under-19 legspinner, playing back to a ball that struck her on the pad and departing for 3.Plying her offbreaks at the other end, Villiers trapped Katie Jones in the crease and then struck a telling blow, inducing former England international Fran Wilson to drive straight to Jo Gardner at mid-on. Wilson had made 18 and with her went Storm’s best chance of posting a competitive total.Fearing she might run out of partners before she was able to do anything to remedy a parlous situation, Wraith adopted a forthright approach and dominated stands of 24 and 26 with Niamh Holland and Amanda-Jade Wellington for the seventh and eighth wickets respectively. But Holland eventually offered a return catch to MacGregor and Wellington miscued a drive to extra cover as Grewcock continued to deploy clever variation in flight to strike again in her final over.Attempting to take matters into her own hands, Wraith plundered half a dozen boundaries in carrying the fight to the Sunrisers bowlers, her luck finally running out when she hoisted a ball from the returning Hancock to deep midwicket. Her combative innings of 42 spanned 52 balls and at least enabled embattled Storm to realise three figures.Hancock required just four deliveries to wrap-up the innings, having Chloe Skelton caught at the wicket, the seventh Storm player to perish either in single figures or without scoring.Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Storm’s bowlers did their utmost to build pressure and new overseas recruit Wellington provided a silver lining when gaining an lbw decision to remove Ariana Dowse with the score on 21 in the eighth over. Making a good first impression on her debut, the Australian international spinner finished with 1 for 24 from nine overs and discomfited the top-order batters sufficiently to suggest she is going to make a positive impact in Storm colours this season.But the implacable Scrivens overcame all attempts to unseat her, playing a captain’s innings to ensure her team reached their target without enduring any undue dramas. She found the perfect partner in Griffith, who adopted the role of chief support in an innings of 28 that spanned 48 balls and included a quartet of fours before she holed out to Holland in the deep off the bowling of Skelton.Unperturbed by that setback, Scrivens went to 50 via 65 balls with her ninth four, a fluent cover drive plundered at the expense of Griffiths. Perhaps fittingly given her performance with the ball earlier, Grewcock hit the winning runs as she finished unbeaten on 15.

Caleb Jewell and Beau Webster put Tasmania in a strong position

AAP14-Mar-2023

Queensland’s decision to send Tasmania in to bat at Bellerive Oval failed to pay dividends thanks to half-centuries from Caleb Jewell and Beau Webster.The in-form Jewell seemed set for a third century is as many outings for Tasmania, only to fall for 98 after a 228-ball innings.Webster ended the day unbeaten on 91, having struck 11 boundaries in a 157-ball knock. He was joined at the crease by Tim Paine, on 41 not out.Queensland, who are in a tense battle with Victoria for a spot in next week’s Shield final, commenced the day disastrously with the loss of strike bowler Michael Neser.The Test paceman was ruled out minutes before the start after suffering an ankle injury during the warm-up, with Liam Guthrie coming into the side in his place. To compounded Queensland’s woes, Mark Steketee could only manage 10 overs before limping off with a hip problem.Jewell, having hit three figures in his last Shield and One-Day Cup outings, fell to the new ball after edging a Guthrie delivery to Joe Burns at first slip.The 25-year-old left-hander had shared in two century partnerships, putting on 104 with Jake Doran (58) for the second wicket, and then 120 with Webster for the fifth.Left-armer Guthrie made the most of his eleventh-hour inclusion and made a double breakthrough after lunch, with two wickets in three balls knocking over Mac Wright and captain Jordan Silk for a duck.Steketee, the Shield’s second-highest wicket-taker after Neser, struck in just the third over removing Tim Ward for 2, but had little further joy despite the green-tinged wicket.Second-placed Queensland must at least equal Victoria’s result against Western Australia in Perth if they are to secure a spot in the season decider.

India’s latest No. 4 has learnt to temper his aggression and play according to the match situation

Deivarayan Muthu in Cuttack21-Dec-20191:23

Versatile Shreyas Iyer ‘open to batting at any position’

Since the 2015 World Cup, India have tried out as many as 14 players at No. 4 in ODI cricket: Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, Manoj Tiwary, Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav have all had a crack at this slot over the past four years, with no batsman really nailing it down in this period.The Indian team management turned to Iyer following the 2019 World Cup, and although he has had just two hits at that position, the 25-year-old has shown the gears and temperament to become a long-term middle-order option, with Iyer and Rishabh Pant, who has got the chance to bat at No. 4 seven times since March 2015, tending to swap positions in order to maintain a left-right combination.”At the start, when I started playing first-class cricket, I was a flamboyant player and I never used to take responsibility,” Iyer recalled on the eve of the ODI series decider against West Indies in Cuttack. “I just used to back my instincts and go with the flow. Lately, I’ve realised that once you play at the highest level you’ve got to take that maturity to another stage.”You’ve got to play according to the team demands, and that’s what I did the other day [in Chennai]. The team didn’t demand me to score big shots at that time and we just needed a big partnership and we just needed the scoreboard to keep going. And that’s what I did. I feel that whatever the situation demands, you’ve got to play accordingly and I’m really happy with what I did in the first game.”Iyer’s temperament came to the fore on a sluggish Chepauk track in the ODI series opener after India had lost Rahul and Virat Kohli cheaply. He collected runs in risk-free fashion in a 114-run partnership with Pant and lifted India to 287 for 8. When Iyer entered at the end of the seventh over, left-arm seamer Sheldon Cottrell was in the middle of an incisive spell, but Iyer saw him off and then worked his way through against the rest of the West Indies attack.Iyer’s middle-order gears were on bright display when the series was on the line in Visakhapatnam. After Rahul and Rohit Sharma had reeled off centuries, Iyer extended India’s dominance with a 32-ball 53. He was on a run-a-ball 20 at one point during the second ODI, but then lined up Roston Chase’s offspin for five successive boundaries in a 31-run over – the most India have ever scored in an over in an ODI – to swell the total to 387 for 5.Shreyas Iyer is getting into his stride as India’s No. 4•BCCIThe Iyer that turned up in Visakhapatnam was the one that had torched Indian domestic cricket with his thrilling stroke play. In the 2015-16 Ranji Trophy final, Iyer made a counter-attacking century on a green top against Saurashtra in Pune. He struck 117 off 142 balls at a strike rate of 82.39 to set up Mumbai’s push for their 41st Ranji title.Iyer, though, said that he had since tempered his natural aggression to meet the demands of international cricket. He echoed Pant’s thoughts, saying that he had learned to play according to the situation in international cricket.Some of that responsibility and maturity has come from having led a young and vibrant Delhi Capitals line-up to the playoffs in IPL 2019 earlier this year. Iyer had been thrown into the deep end midway through IPL 2018, after Gautam Gambhir had stepped down as the franchise’s captain.In his very first innings as captain, Iyer scored a match-winning 40-ball 93 not out against Kolkata Knight Riders at Feroz Shah Kotla. Then, in Delhi’s run to the knockouts the next year, Iyer hit 463 runs in 16 innings at an average of 30.86 and strike rate of nearly 120. Most of those runs came on the tough pitches in Delhi and it had impressed coach Ricky Ponting.”Ricky Ponting is a very positive guy,” Iyer said. “[He] backs every player and that’s the best quality about him and he also treats everybody equally. So, he’s got an amazing nature as a coach. His man-management skill is outstanding.”Having rattled off four successive fifty-plus scores in his last four innings – two of those from No. 5 in the Caribbean and the other two at No. 4 in the ongoing series in India – Iyer believed that he could also float in the middle order.”The previous ODIs that I played, I was batting at No.5, so it’s not like I’ve been stable at No.4,” he said. “But right now in the last two games, I’ve been batting at No.4. So, I’m flexible at batting at any number. It’s just that you’ve got to play according to the situation and what the team demands and that’s what I did. And I know I can play in both flows. I can even play strokes and I can even nudge the ball and take singles. I know my game really well now and I can play accordingly.”Iyer also drew confidence from India’s thumping victory in a must-win game for them in the second ODI and hoped for more of the same in the decider on Sunday.”The last game was also do or die. If we lost that, we’d lost the series,” he said. “So, we will play this game with a similar approach. When the stakes are high, all the players lift their socks. One of the main players [should] perform and take the team to a platform from where we can win. Someone will take responsibility and create a magical moment tomorrow.”

It was not always easy, but a worthy role model and the belated discovery of a cricket club helped keep a childhood passion alive and kicking

Amod Sugiyama01-Jul-2017I never thought a day would come when I would shed a tear while reading a cricket book. Especially when the book was a gloriously funny memoir, Emma John’s .Was it because the protagonist of the memoir was Mike Atherton, her idol growing up, and my favourite person in the cricket world? But while I admire Atherton and eagerly wait for his column every Thursday, I don’t love him the way many Indian fans love Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli.I cried because the book reminded me of my childhood.I was ten years old in August 2005, visiting my relatives in India, when I caught a glimpse of the most memorable Test series ever played. I don’t know if it was Andrew Flintoff’s heroic performances or Kevin Pietersen’s ridiculous hairstyle that made me fall in love with the game, but I became interested right away. Disney villains like Jafar and Maleficent were quickly replaced by Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden in my head. It took almost ten more years for me to learn to respect these two modern cricketing greats.I do not remember much about my previous visits to India before 2005 but my dad tells me now that during a train journey, I was struck by the sight of kids playing cricket everywhere – even on the railway tracks. All I remember from that journey is seeing people throw used paper cups from the train windows. Had I joined them, I might have been a better ball thrower now.My friends say cricket is in my blood. Sure, having an Indian father made it easier to get into the game, but the same didn’t happen to my younger brother. I wanted to know why a blond, slightly overweight Australian man who was apparently bowling much slower than his team-mates was troubling the English batsmen. My brother did not. No, cricket didn’t choose me, I chose cricket.The author learning the game in India as a kid•Sarang UrdhwaresheMy dad bought me a DVD boxset of the 2005 Ashes for my birthday that year and I watched it again and again. Browsing through old cricket scorecards on Cricinfo became a daily activity. I learnt that Test cricket could be both wonderfully exciting (Edgbaston 2005) and incredibly boring (Colombo 1997). I loved listening to my dad’s old cricket anecdotes too, stories of the West Indian greats and Sunil Gavaskar, who was his idol.The epic series of 2005 had made me an England fan and I spent many Saturday afternoons revisiting their previous tours in the last two decades on Cricinfo. It turned out they were not exactly world-beaters in the ’90s. Going through all the scorecards, one man caught my attention. He was the captain of the team for five years in that period and it seemed like he was anchoring many innings, only to find out he lacked partners who could stick it out with him. “Dad, why did Atherton only average 38? Tendulkar averages 57, right?” I asked him one day. “Well, he was an opener. And it was a bloody tough job in the ’90s,” was his answer.I came across the scorecard of the 1995 Johannesburg Test, which Atherton saved by batting for more than ten hours. “How can a man bat for that long knowing his team cannot win,” I wondered. Atherton had been part of the commentary team for the Ashes that year. I could not believe the man with a kind, gentle voice was capable of such a heroic performance. I was also obsessed with Tolkien and at that time and my favourite character was Faramir. Thinking back now, maybe I found some similarities between the young captain of Gondor and Atherton: both were students of history and loved literature. And both could be incredibly brave when they needed to be.Next gen: Kosuke (left) and Naoki Okamoto•Alan MargerisonBut even though I was growing up a cricket fan, my engagement with the game was limited to following professional games on the internet and playing the occasional game in the park while visiting relatives in India until I turned 18. Born and raised in the small town of Takamatsu in Kagawa, Japan, I had no access to playing the game. (This is the excuse I use when I have to explain why I am such a bad cricketer!)Luckily my college prefecture had a club, so I was finally able to play the sport. Shiga Cricket Club (we rebranded the club as Shiga Kyoto Cricket Club this year) was a beacon for cricket-loving expats living in Japan for work or education. When I joined the club five years ago, I was the only Japanese in the team, and all we did was get together on Sundays and have a hit among ourselves in various parks in the area.Now we are playing matches regularly with other teams in this area. There are four university cricket teams and one high school team in our area, though we are still the only adult team around here. Despite all the difficulties – there is no cricket ground in Kyoto, so we play most of the games on a rock-hard baseball ground with matting wicket – cricket is growing here.Our club boasts the best wicketkeeper in the region in Ashley Canning. I owe him for all the stumpings he has got me with my rubbish left-arm spin. But it’s best to leave him alone when he gets out since he will be looking for ways to smash his bat or gloves on something. He’ll be okay five minutes later.Alan Margerison, a Yorkshireman who pretends to be an Aussie, has a good defensive technique, so it’s a shame that we only play 20-over games. He bowls handy offspin too.Indranil Mukherjee (Indi) is not only a good batsman and a true team player but also our team’s fashion guru. Unfortunately, he is pretty busy with his postdoc these days and cannot join us every time. We need you more, Indi!A Shiga match on a baseball pitch•Ashley CanningRemesh Palakkad joined us at the end of the last season and is quickly becoming a central figure in the team. He is a genuine allrounder and our quickest bowler at the moment. I ask him every time whether he wants to take the new ball and he always says no and bowls the second over. We cricketers are superstitious people, aren’t we?Our newest Japanese player, Ikuo Ogita, watched a little cricket footage on CNN years ago and that was how he got interested in the game. He finally started playing this year after finding us on Facebook.However, the two biggest shining lights of our club are a pair of Japanese brothers, Naoki (11) and Kosuke (14) Okamoto, Alan’s family friends. The first time they watched cricket was a Big Bash game on TV during a holiday in Australia. The game looked familiar to them. What form of baseball was this? After a few games in the park while on holiday, they started to practise with a rubber ball. Soon, the temptation of hitting the hard ball became too strong for them and they started to come with Alan to our games. A Japanese version of the Chappell brothers in the making!Emma’s book is a coming-of-age story of a slightly awkward teenager. In chapters three and four, she writes how she tried to be an “evangelist” and introduce cricket to her friends only to find out they “tolerated [her love for cricket] and gently ignored” it. I know how you felt, Emma! I tried too, here in the land ruled by baseball. Some friends and teachers were nice enough to ask me the latest India scores. “How did India go last night, Amod?” “Not good. Lost to Australia again,” was my usual reply while I thought, “Bloody hell, I don’t even support India.”It was tough being the only cricket fan in school. I tried to explain cricket to my school friends many times but to no avail. I now think that the only similarity between cricket and baseball is that you use a bat to hit the ball. They are completely different sports. My friends all thought cricket is a much easier sport to play because there is no foul ball and you can hit the ball to 360 degrees. That is probably true but in cricket, you are judged by your whole innings rather than “one hit”.I sometimes wonder if I’ll get the chance to meet Atherton. “Hi, Athers! Pleasure meeting you. I know you have no idea but you had a big influence on one Japanese teenager growing up. By the way, why on earth did you declare when Graeme Hick was 98 not out in Sydney?”Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Our correspondent goes on a culinary bender through Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi, no thanks to the taxi and rickshaw drivers of the land

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Apr-2016March 13
When I come in from the airport on a Sunday, Kolkata residents are spending the late afternoon on the streets. As the taxi goes through a residential neighbourhood, three children are in heated argument over their cricket match. We turn the corner and a group of old men are sitting on a mat on the pavement, in heated argument over their card game. There is an infectious buzz about the city. The old Raj-era buildings are in various states of disrepair, but that just serves to bring them to life.March 14
Almost anyone who has lived in or hails from Kolkata still refers to it as Calcutta. It is a city that industrialised rapidly as the capital of the British Raj during the second half of the 19th century, so perhaps it is understandable if it wishes to hold on to a fragment of what some perceive to be glory days.The reluctance to use post-colonial names, however, extends to street names as well, which makes Kolkata a slightly confusing place for visitors. The map on my phone tells me my hotel is on Shakespeare Sarani, for example, but cab drivers furrow brows and shake heads until I say “Theatre Road”, which is what the British had called it. I can’t say I blame the cab drivers. Not only does it seem odd to take the name of a famous Brit in a name-changing exercise that purports to reassert a local identity, but “Theatre Road” is also so much easier to say.And I can’t say I am surprised by the continued use of old names either. In fact, as a resident of Colombo, I find the new names underwhelming for their relative usability. At home, we have a former Albert Road, which is now officially known as Sri Dharmakeerthiyarama Road. And a Church Road that is more recently Sir Mohamed Macan Markar Mawatha.Where the streets have new names: it’s only tourists who use official road names, and to no avail•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdNice try, Kolkata, but when it comes giving streets names that no one will ever use, Colombo will not, and cannot, ever be beaten.March 15
Though it’s thought the Sinhala people have their origins in East India, the two cultures have diverged substantially when it comes to food. A lot of southern Sri Lankan cuisine is loosely defined by roaring flavours and heat. From the admittedly little I’ve had of it, the strength of Bengali cuisine seems to be subtlety and relative simplicity.The fried river fish at Suruchi – a low-key Bengali restaurant run by a women’s group – bears flavours of mustard and turmeric. The Kolkata biryani at Zeeshan is also far milder than the better-known Hyderabadi equivalent, and features flavour-soaked potatoes.March 16
Many of the cabs in Kolkata are beautiful old Ambassador cars, painted yellow with a navy blue stripe running horizontally just below the window. Almost all these cabs also have “No Refusal” printed on the side, which naturally leads me to believe that the drivers would not dream of refusing me a ride.I approach one and ask if he can take me to Eden Gardens for the Pakistan v Bangladesh match. He shakes his head and drives on. I approach another with what I feel is a very generous fare, but am again rebuffed. This happens at least twice more. I wonder if they forgot crucial punctuation on the “No Refusal” signs. They should instead have read: “No! Refusal!” because in peak hours, that seems to be what potential customers can expect.Raavana: demon to one, king to another•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 17

A sublime mutton curry at a dimly lit Kolkata institution called Peter Cat, and in the afternoon, my colleagues and I head to the India Coffee House, off College Street. The place can’t have changed much in the last half-century at least. A portrait of Rabindranath Tagore looks over patrons, as rows of ceiling fans whirr overhead. There is even a mezzanine floor above, and the yellow walls are a trove of local art. One line drawing in the corner, which seems to have been done by a Kolkata artist, features a man with a Maori facial tattoo.March 18
The first sign I see as I walk into Bangalore airport reads: “Pollution ” (Stop the Raavana of pollution, change the air). This is a public service announcement from the Indian government, which vilifies Raavana – a mythical king from the drop-shaped island south of the Palk Strait.Way to make a Sri Lankan feel welcome, Bangalore.March 20
Where Kolkata cab drivers gave fairly straightforward refusals, some Bangalore auto-wallahs are wonderfully theatrical about it. I stop a three-wheeler going roughly in the right direction and ask if he would mind taking me to the stadium. He shoots me a look of emphatic disdain, which asks who the hell I think I am and how dare I ask him to go to the Chinnaswamy, crinkles his nose, and without a word drives on.March 22
Nine days into the tour, halfway through a heavenly meal at a restaurant called Junior Kuppanna’s, I get just a tiny bit homesick. The place serves South Indian food, on banana leaves – just like they do in joints all over Colombo or Anuradhapura or Jaffna. And the flavours – of ground coriander, cumin and curry leaves – are close to those encountered in the north of Sri Lanka, just without Sri Lankan touches like cinnamon or and leaves.Humayun’s Tomb: the inspiration for the Taj•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 23
I had been thumped at squash by former colleague Devashish Fuloria during last year’s World Cup, but I fancied that in the intervening time I had improved enough to match him. This was delusion. My match went about as well as Sri Lanka’s World T20 campaign, except that I couldn’t blame my showing on a bad knee or board politicking. Playing with a broken racquet, Devashish wins six sets to three in an inferno of a squash court. Then perhaps out of sympathy, he books and pays for my Uber back to the guest house.March 24
The man running the small hotel next to our Delhi Airbnb apartment has a good bouncer. I find this out, as I have nothing to do but join the game of galli cricket taking place in the street.My colleague Andrew Miller has gone to a Holi party some way out of town, and without him vouching for me, the security guard will not let me through the gate. I plead with him to at least let me put my luggage in the property. I try to explain that I had had to catch an early flight and hadn’t slept. He looks me up and down with narrowed eyes, then delivers a blunt “no” and shakes his head.Eventually Andrew returns, doused in red and purple dye from head to toe. It is maybe the second time I have met him, and I don’t tell him at the time because it would have been weird, but I’ve rarely been gladder to see another human being.March 25
There is a Delhi bar called Odeon Social that is definitely worth the visit if you like good beer, decent food, and hearing loss. A few of us have come here to watch the West Indies v South Africa match, and though the music is already quite loud to begin with, it becomes progressively more offensive as the match goes on. We are not far apart from each other, but by the end of the evening, smoke signals would have been more efficient than any verbal communication. I am quite certain several frequencies have been lost to my hearing forever.We eventually leave and cross the road to a rooftop bar that is much more relaxed, and affords a nice view down into the street. If only it had shown the game.A view of Delhi from the Jama Masjid•Andrew Fidel Fernando/ESPNcricinfo LtdMarch 26

My wife is visiting for the long weekend, so we decide to see a few of the sights. First stop is Humayun’s Tomb – one of the first Mughal garden tombs on the subcontinent, and a precursor to the Taj Mahal. The ponds in the causeway leading into the main building are drained when we visited, but the tomb itself is arresting nonetheless, the marble dome shimmering when sunlight strikes it. There are as many as 100 tombs in the same complex, leading to it being called the “dormitory of the Mughals”, though no one seemed to be bunking.In the afternoon, we visit the Jama Masjid mosque. The highlight of this trip is the climb up the southwest tower, below which the captivating old Delhi neighbourhood stretches out. We can see as far as the bright floodlights of the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, which is hosting the Australia v Ireland Women’s match.March 27
We are staying very near Connaught Place, a zone of three concentric circles that is home to one of the most important business districts in India. At the centre of Connaught Place is an Indian flag about twice as big as any single piece of fabric I have ever seen. It would take a proper hurricane to fully unfurl it.Delhi auto drivers commonly refer to the area as CP, but when they venture the full name, seem to pronounce it “Cannought Place”. This is both endearing and profound, because: “Can you take me to CP please?” In this traffic, “No, I cannought.”March 28
Back to Old Delhi and through the bustling, centuries-old warren of a bazaar, where everything from sarees to meat to electronics to holidays are sold on lanes each as wide as a tree trunk, and shops the size of thimbles. One of the many culinary highlights of the trip is the chicken tikka at Karim’s, which is just through an alleyway near the Jama Masjid. The man behind the counter tells me Karim’s has been in the same family for five generations. There must be a hundred places of business in stone-throwing distance that could make similar claims.March 31
Through the tournament some Sri Lanka fans have theorised the ICC is out to get their team since so many bad decisions have gone against them. In Bangladesh, a number of people had protested the “unfair suspensions” of two key bowlers. A few New Zealand fans have groused their side had to play at five separate venues, in comparison to England, who only played at two. There have been familiar Twitter whinges from Australia about Asian bowlers with dodgy actions.Back in a Kolkata bar for the second semi-final, R Ashwin is shown to have overstepped upon review, and a man at the table next to me bellows: “Why are they only checking no-balls for India? They just don’t want India to win the cup!” It is thought that the Big Three rules cricket. Victimhood must be a close second, though.

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

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