Cricket in Assam has long struggled under adverse circumstances. Things just may be about to change

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan09-Nov-2007

Rajesh Borah is perhaps the finest cricketer Assam has produced Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
The North-East Railway Stadium is a picturesque ground in Maligaon, on the outskirts of Guwahati. Nestled in the verdant Narakasur hills that envelop the ground is the famous Kamakhya temple, one of the most venerated shrines in India.Assam’s Under-15 side are playing Jharkhand in the east zone edition of the Polly Umrigar Trophy. Construction workers are busy digging up the turf at the basketball end of the ground, and trains chug along every few minutes at the railway end. Keeping a close eye on the cricket is Rajesh Borah, by all accounts Assam’s greatest cricketer.Borah, currently the head coach at the Assam Cricket Association, turned out in 66 first-class games for the state, and made five centuries in a career spanning 18 years. Most of Borah’s games were on this ground. His 62-ball 126 against Tripura in 1988, included 11 fours and 11 sixes and remains one of the fastest hundreds in Indian domestic cricket. (“Don’t forget the four consecutive sixes,” he smiles). Old-timers in Guwahati still speak of his explosive batting.A forgotten history
Borah is one in a long list of Assamese cricketers who rarely got any recognition outside their own playing fields. Locals still speak of torchbearers such as Munna Kakoti and Anup Ghatak, fast bowlers who weren’t noticed in the days when India relied solely on spin. Kakoti, nicknamed “Lillee” for his ferocious bowling, faded away after a promising start. Some say he sought refuge in drugs.”No exposure, no backing, no patron, no recognition,” is how Bimal Bharali, a former Assam captain, describes the cricket in the state. “It’s continuing even today. I am not surprised that four promising players have decided to join the Indian Cricket League. They might have thought there is no real future here.”Bharali himself showed tremendous promise early on, including a battling 45 against the visiting MCC side in 1976, but then languished in the lower rungs of the domestic scene.”There’s hardly any infrastructure, no stadiums [the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati remains a multi-purpose stadium], and very little off-season training,” he continues. “It rains for seven to eight months in a year, so one can’t think of off-season training. There aren’t too many indoor facilities. Most of the cricket that used to happen here [until last year] was 25-30 over games.”The pitches were of poor quality. Most of the administrators haven’t played the game, so it’s tough to expect too much. Many promising cricketers quit the game early. They either took up other sports or decided to settle down in a job. Playing cricket in the north-east is a long, hard struggle.”Silver linings
Yet Borah and Sanath Kumar, the former Karnataka medium-pacer who is currently coaching Assam, are optimistic about the future. “We started the SP Barua Trophy last year, the first off-season tournament in the state, and cricket is gradually moving away from Guwahati.” says Kumar. “Silchar, Dibrugarh and Nagaon have talent. There is one Ranji fast bowler [Krishna Das] from remote Barpeta in lower Assam. Mark Ingty, the medium-pacer, is from a tribe in Shillong. It’s a positive sign.”Borah, too, is upbeat about the future. “We were unbeaten in our five Ranji league games last year. We also won the East Zone Ranji one-day tournament. It was the best season in Assam’s history. Also, we’re sending the Assam team outside the state during the off season more often. Playing in tournaments like Moin-ud-Dowla and Buchi Babu will surely help. We will soon have an exclusive cricket stadium in Barsapara. That’s a first.”

Pretty as a postcard: the North-East Railway Stadium Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
Assam have benefited from having a number of players from outside the state in their side. This season three veterans from Tamil Nadu – Sridharan Sharath, now the Assam captain; former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh; and former Tamil Nadu captain Somashetty Suresh – are guiding the youngsters along. “Interacting with these cricketers, watching them practise, seeing them approach match situations, helps the local cricketers immensely,” says Kumar. “I am trying to get Assam’s cricketers to play in some local leagues too.”One step forward, two back
The positives have been accompanied by setbacks, though. Just when Assam appeared to be tracing a path back to the Super League, and a few youngsters had emerged as future prospects, along came the Indian Cricket League. The departure of four youngsters – Abu Nechim Ahmed, Pervez Aziz, Sujoy Tarafdar, and Pritam Das – and one senior player, Zakaria Zuffri, left Assam depleted.Nechim and Aziz were seen as two capable of breaking into the national side – which no player from the north-east has yet done – but the lure of the ICL’s money was probably too much for them. Local observers point out how these cricketers come from poor families, and how they have cause to be frustrated at the treatment they get from the system. “There is no real follow-up here,” says Kumar. “In other states talented youngsters are spotted early and persisted with. Even if they fail, they don’t lose their place. Here people want instant results.”He talks of Palash Jyoti Das and Mrigen Talukdar, both 22, who were Under-15 stars in the ACC Under-15 tournament in Malaysia in 2000. Palash was adjudged the best batsman (317 runs, including two hundreds) of the tournament and Mrigen (13 wickets) the best bowler. Yet they find themselves in the Ranji reserves, at a point in their careers when they should have been thinking about national selection.Early this month Assam suffered a heavy defeat against Gujarat in the opening round of the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy. Borah isn’t too perturbed, and prefers to look at the bigger picture. “Five years back I wouldn’t have been speaking about an exclusive cricket stadium in Assam, neither would I be watching talented 15-year-olds play three-day games. Cricket in Assam has come a long way. Give us three years and you could see an Assamese play for India.”

Bangalore are not yet in crisis territory. But if they lose in Delhi on Wednesday, they just might be

Cricinfo staff28-Apr-2008

About three overs into the Bangalore innings there was a grim suspicion – one which would come back to haunt them later in the evening – that Rahul Dravid had actually chosen a Test team looking as much like a Twenty20 franchise as the bearded women resemble men in stoning scene.Bharat Chipli, seemingly the umpteenth opener tried by the Royal Challengers in their four matches, was being jeered by the Chinnaswamy faithful for failing to break Jacob Oram’s shackles, while at the other end Wasim Jaffer was batting like a latterday Ken Barrington, apparently booking in for bed and breakfast.Poor Bangalore. Jaffer, Dravid, Jacques Kallis, even the hastily discarded Shivnarine Chanderpaul (two in nine balls against the Rajasthan Royals on Saturday) – it was hardly a line-up to strike fear into Twenty20 opening bowlers. Moments later, Chipli was bowled by Manpreet Gony and local eyebrows were raised with knowing resignation.And then the Royal Challengers got a stroke of luck. Gony dropped Jaffer at long-on. It was a sitter as boundary catches go. Gony wrung his wrist in pain but the bowler, Palani Amarnath, looked like he wanted to do a Sreesanth (burst into tears, that is, rather than collect a slap in the chops). The mood, already faintly surreal with the looming clouds and the swirling wind, changed.Taking his cue from Ross Taylor – who, remember, was not even snapped up until the second, much cheaper, round of auctioning – Jaffer decided to play shots no one knew he ever had. He went inside-out to drive Amarnath over extra cover for four, and even managed to make the stroke look elegant. He pulled Albie Morkel for six and then played an imperious pick-up off his pads to deposit Joginder Sharma for six more. His half-century, from just 32 balls, came courtesy of a cheeky shuffle across his stumps and a flick to fine-leg for four. Amarnath could barely believe it.But old habits die hard, and that is Bangalore’s fundamental problem. The ball after reaching 50, Jaffer – man who has played two one-day internationals and only two Twenty20 innings of any kind before tonight – drove Amarnath to long-off and the wheels began to loosen on their axels. Nine overs and nine wickets later, they had come off completely.Jacques Kallis nicked one from Sharma and did his best to con Russell Tiffin by walking full circle with his back to the umpire; Taylor, a star in the making, slapped Amarnath to cover; Mark Boucher skewed Gony to third man, where Mike Hussey made a tricky catch look easy; Dravid failed to get the benefit of the doubt – Gony’s shout looked high – and departed first ball; and Virat Kohli lost his leg-stump to the deserving Albie Morkel. The rest seemed determined to run themselves out. “It was one of those days,” said Dravid. The locals might be forgiven for thinking it was actually one of the Groundhog Days.In all, nine wickets fell for 63 in 52 balls. When one of the advertising boards collapsed just before the post-match ceremony, knocking over a trophy in the process, it seemed strangely symbolic. This is a side that might still be scarred from the pummelling it received from Brendon McCullum here nine days ago. But the problem goes deeper than that. Well though Jaffer played, there is only one genuine Twenty20 batsman in the side and that’s Taylor, who is about to join up with New Zealand’s tour of England. Pugnacious he may be, but Boucher can’t be expected to win matches on a regular basis by himself.The sight of Dravid coming in at No. 7 after he had opened in the previous three games suggests the kind of muddled thinking that does not befit a side with Dravid and Martin Crowe at the helm. The Super Kings, by contrast, were able to slot in Mike Hussey and Mahendra Singh Dhoni after Matthew Hayden, and have Stephen Fleming still to come – batsmen who hit the ball in different places and hit it very hard indeed. If just one of them had been playing for the home side tonight, Bangalore might have won.Instead, they have now lost three games out of four and Dravid, who – as an icon player – had a say in the selection of his squad – is scratching his head. Bangalore are not yet in crisis territory. But if they lose in Delhi on Wednesday, they just might be.

Jesse Ryder is not your everyday cricketer – on the ratio of natural talent to hard work, he relies heavily on the side of talent

Sidharth Monga in Auckland14-Mar-2009

This was no ordinary series for Jesse Ryder, who was on notice before it began. One more disciplinary offence and he would be out. For a man living his last chance, he has not done badly at all.This was Ryder’s first series after his latest trouble with alcohol and a shoulder injury. This was a home series against the most-watched team in the world. This series came just after his IPL signing which, like it or not, has become a big stage. Ryder needed to get through this series with a clean record and good performances to back up the sobriety.An average of 56.25, a strike-rate of over 100, and the most runs for his side will please both him and his side.Ryder is not your everyday cricketer. On the ratio of natural talent to hard work, he relies heavily on the side of talent. But he also has a paunch to match his talent. He has missed his share of cricket for fitness problems. Outsiders may enjoy rooting for one who doesn’t fit the typecast of an athlete but it puts Ryder under extra pressure to keep up with the modern game. So he chips in with the ball as well. His flamboyant batting, the smooth, natural, cricketing shots, should be beyond doubt after the Christchurch century anyway.Coming into a match, where his side needed to prove its “credibility”, Ryder showed the best of both abilities. “It was a big game for him and he did everything that was asked for him,” Daniel Vettori said. “It was probably not usual for Jess to come in and bowl so early. But he hit the right areas and got the ball to do a bit.” His job was made easier by the double-strike from Jacob Oram, but the middle overs was still an area New Zealand needed to improve on. Ryder found the pitch to his liking, got some movement from it, and looked to take wickets rather than contain.Yuvraj’s wicket was a just reward for bowling wicket-taking lengths, the ball moving away from a perfect left-hand batsman’s line. Mahendra Singh Dhoni tried to upset him by walking down the pitch and to the off side time and again. Dhoni succeeded for a while as the keeper came up, and the length automatically shortened. But Ryder pushed Peter McGlashan back, and went back to bowling fuller lengths. Twice or thrice Dhoni walked down again but Ryder stayed cool. Finally he bowled Dhoni with one that moved in. Defensive is not Ryder’s style.Ishant Sharma will have first-hand knowledge of the aggression. He was hit for a short-arm pull that evokes Sanath Jaysuirya and also shows just why New Zealand Cricket has persisted with Ryder. The ball was not there for the pull, but he saw it early, the wrists turned fast, and he cleared the midwicket fielder. Three other pulls went for huge sixes.One of them enraged Ishant but Ryder didn’t back off. Words were exchanged, Ishant got an extended spell, and was launched to the same spot again – only this one went even further. While Zaheer Khan got the respect, Praveen Kumar also felt the power of his wrists. By the way Ryder said later he is still trying to under-hit the ball and spend more time in the middle. Oh well.It would have been easy for Ryder to fall into a defensive mode, especially when he saw Brendon McCullum’s bail fly to the third-man boundary and Martin Guptill play and miss a few. But Ryder took the adventurous route minus the risks. There was no slogging in his innings just as there wasn’t any in Christchurch, where his performance more often than not would have ended up on the winning side’s.The New Zealand bowlers had looked innocuous coming into this match and their batsmen – even while batting first – were always trying to catch up. They needed some positives from the series, something special to go into the Tests with confidence.In the end they not only beat India, but outplayed them. Especially pleasing will be the fact that it was set up by their biggest gain of the series.

The Gauteng Cricket Board agreed to smile for the cameras and do exactly what everybody expected them to

Firdose Moonda14-Aug-2009It’s all over because the fat lady sang. Or rather, the fat cats agreed to disagree and smile for the cameras and do exactly what everybody expected them to. Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) resolved their dispute, the Wanderers was handed back international status, which means that England will play at the ground that CSA president Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka calls “the Mecca of SA cricket.”What has gone unnoticed is the fine print and CSA’s perfectly executed trade-off. In return for lifting the ban on the Wanderers, the mediation agreement between the parties stipulated that the GCB has to undergo a management makeover and make greater commitments to transformation. The GCB are required to change the representation on its board so that 50% of the members are from previously disadvantaged (black) clubs, and the remaining 50% are from advantaged clubs (traditionally white clubs). Once the new board is in office, a committee of six will be chosen, whose job it will be to specifically address transformation.This way, CSA has smoothed over the issue of the IPL contract and hosting rights with the GCB and the issue of racial bias that threatened to split the GCB from within. In both cases, the parties see the agreement as a step forward. “We were not trying to isolate the issues, be it over the IPL contract, hosting rights or transformation; instead we were trying to tackle the issue of leadership at the GCB as a whole. If you look at the complaints that were being raised against the GCB they covered a range of things, from cricketing issues such as lack of results in the province and also a lack of transformation. We saw the leadership problem as the root cause and this is what we are looking to solve,” Nyoka said.The GCB have accepted the criticism of their management, admitting that they, “had to make some concessions” in brokering the deal. Barry Skjoldhammer, president of the GCB, said “the animosity has been taken out” of the situation and gave every indication the GCB was willing to change the composition of its board. “Our annual general meeting (AGM) was originally scheduled for next Wednesday (August 19) but it has been postponed. Instead we will have a special general meeting on that day, in which we will inform all our members of the changes we intend to make and hopefully within three weeks will have the AGM and elect the new board”.The new board will have to adopt a transformation charter, which Nyoka said CSA will help the GCB to implement. “We have a transformation committee of our own, who are experienced and who know how to deal with the issue and we hope the GCB will make use of them,” Nyoka said. “In fact, if the GCB wants assistance with aligning their new constitution with CSA’s model, we will be happy to provide help.”The GCB and CSA are presenting a united front with the GCB saying they will accept CSA’s assistance and understand that their board needs to be more “inclusive.” The body that brought the complaint of racial discrimination against the GCB, the Concerned Cricket Fraternity, is reacting with a little more concern. While they also lauded the progress made and said they believed their concerns had been addressed. It’s whether or not the transformation charter is implemented that has the Fraternity uneasy.In launching their original complaint, the Fraternity made clear that they had waited over fifteen years for a change in their province, and had tried on numerous occasions in that time to engage in dialogue with the GCB. Hussein Manack, their spokesman, explained that was their reason for calling on higher authorities, such as CSA and the Minister of Sport to intervene in their dispute.

The GCB are unlikely to risk ministerial intervention again and will probably want to stay out of CSA’s naughty kid’s roster for a while. They being so compliant with the governing body of cricket that they don’t even want to see the IPL contract anymore

Even after those authorities have got involved; the Fraternity remains concerned that the commitment to transformation is sustained. Nyoka provided some reassurance. “We will definitely be monitoring the progress of the GCB. It’s not just CSA who will be acting as a watchdog but the local government as well, because they have their own guidelines regarding transformation.”The Fraternity may only be convinced once they see aggressive development. Manack said they want “rapid transformation”. While the GCB and CSA agreements have been made in good faith, they have yet to set clear deadlines and this concerns the fraternity. Manack hoped to see “complete” change in one to three years, which includes development of facilities in disadvantaged areas, such as Soweto, Lenasia and Eldorado Park, and the development of players from those areas.”In the last meeting with the GCB (before the agreement), they presented us with a ten-year plan for transformation and we don’t want to be in that situation again,” Manack said. “While we understand that this time the Minister will be monitoring the process, we don’t want to be going nowhere slowly again.”The GCB are unlikely to risk ministerial intervention again and will probably want to stay out of CSA’s naughty kid’s roster for a while. They are being so compliant with the governing body of cricket that they don’t even want to see the IPL contract anymore. “Our issue is more about hosting rights,” Sjkoldhammer said. Nyoka confirmed that CSA and all the affiliates were working on defining the hosting rights for all grounds.What everyone seems to have realised is what Nyoka plainly states, “South African cricket needs a strong Gauteng, as the richest province and the province with the most players, so we need the problems fixed”. It’s the understanding of a “strong Gauteng” that differs. For CSA and the GCB that means an organisation that doesn’t cause problems but for the fraternity it means something a lot more intricate. It means ensuring players like Johnson Mafa and Sushil Parbhoo are no longer sidelined and are given the same chance as any other white player in the province, it means having the Soweto Cricket Stadium up to international level so that one day England will be able to play a match there and it means not waiting another 15 years for change.

This was not a day to ask questions. This was a day to believe, like Fawad Alam did

Sidharth Monga in Colombo13-Jul-2009It was a day to forget the shuffle. It was a day to forget technique, too, which was perhaps over-rated. It was a day to forget that Fawad Alam had never opened in first-class cricket before this. It was a day to go back to 10.29am yesterday.With three Pakistan wickets down, a desperately hopeful Younis Khan scribbled on a tape-ball something to the effect of “Fawad Alam will get a hundred.” Fawad soon got out, and Younis kept the ball away.After yesterday’s play ended, Fawad called up his father, Tariq Alam, the man who has taught many modern Karachi players how to play spin, but who himself could never win a Pakistan cap. Fawad was obviously disappointed, having scored just 16 on debut. Tariq told him, “So what if you have scored just 16? The next time you call me – just text me, I’ll call you back – you would have got a hundred.”A great turnaround began this morning, after the ball got scratched on one side by an edge. Pakistan spotted it, shone the other side, got it to reverse, and ended Sri Lanka’s innings with a deficit of just 150. Unfazed by his first-innings failure, Fawad came back and scored a century to make sure the good work didn’t go waste this time. When he got to three figures with a delicate late-cut, Younis was batting at the other end. After he had done his , Younis told him he had got something for him which he would show in the dressing room.”I saw the ball and read bit by bit. Fawad Alam … debut … 100 … signed by Younis ,” said Fawad. “To know that the captain believed so much in me is an indescribable feeling.” He put that ball in his bag and wouldn’t let anybody take it away even for a second.So much of this story is difficult to explain, yet so much is easy to understand. Despite a mountain of runs in domestic cricket, Fawad remained on the fringes of the Pakistan team, many times hearing the whole “You are a very good cricketer but we don’t have place for you yet” spiel.During the recent ICC World Twenty20 Fawad began by warming the bench; then he got a chance in four games but didn’t once bat and only bowled one over, conceding 15, in Pakistan’s semi-final victory. According to Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s coach, Fawad didn’t let any disappointment show. “He never loses his focus. He never shows frustration. He stays dedicated.”For the man himself, just being in the Pakistan squad was special. “When young I used to watch Younis , Yousuf , Shahid play. They are such big players, it was enough to be with them.”Cut to Colombo, after a disastrous collapse in Galle. Salman Butt felt low on confidence before the start of the Test and therein, finally, came Fawad’s opportunity. But it came with a risk: Fawad would have to open.Others would have seen it as a gamble but not Fawad – nor, evidently, his seniors. “The coach and captain called me to their room on the eve of the match. They told me they were not playing a gambit here, they had faith in me. This is not a sacrifice. If a man dreams of doing something – and more than me it was my father’s dream to see me wearing a Test cap – he should be prepared for everything.”Tapping the side of his head with his left index finger, he explained: “It’s all here. If you are strong here, you can play anywhere.”If it was a gamble, Younis tried his best to leave as little as possible to chance. From the time Pakistan arrived in Colombo, he had told Fawad that he was going to open. During the nets he spent hours with Fawad, bowling at him with the new ball. “He told me from the off that if I opened the innings, I would make it to among the best. He gave his own example, how he had moved up from No. 7-8 to No. 3,” said Fawad. “He told me he knew I would do well. When the captain is taking so much interest in you, you also feel you must have something.”It’s a different story altogether but this shows in Younis definite shades of Imran Khan. Yet what remains unanswered is how Fawad managed to score a century despite such a pronounced shuffle that got him out on 16 yesterday. “If you want something so badly, you have worked towards it with complete honesty, you eventually get it,” he said.And how did he regroup after such a start to his career? Were there doubts about the risk he had taken? “I can’t think negative. I don’t have doubts.”But this was not a day to ask these questions. This was a day to believe, like Fawad did.

Alex Brown in Cardiff10-Jul-2009They have been ships in the night; two careers that embarked from different ports, intersected ever so briefly, and then continued in opposite directions.When Michael Hussey made his blazing entry into Test cricket in 2005, Michael Clarke was bracing for an inglorious exit. A difficult Ashes series followed by an indifferent performance in the Super Test had dimmed the lustre of Australian cricket’s one-time “golden boy”, and when the axe finally fell in the ensuring series against the West Indians, few were surprised. Clarke managed just five runs in his final Test for 2005. Hussey, in just his second appearance in the baggy green, scored 137 and 31 not out.How times have changed. Clarke, reprogrammed into a middle-order accumulator these days, compiled a determined and composed 83 before strangling a Stuart Broad delivery down the leg-side to Matt Prior in the failing light in Cardiff. That took his tally to 824 runs since the beginning of the last Australian summer, all at the robust average of 58.85. The golden boy has become the steely man.Hussey, meanwhile, continued his worrying slide with a scratchy innings of three that barely advanced his record to 325 runs at 21.66 over the corresponding period. The batsman who once redefined “intense” at the crease looked only tense against the second new ball, and eventually fell pushing at a full, subtly-swinging Anderson delivery in the period before lunch.Whether this was a temporary glitch, or a sign of insidious decline, is yet to be determined. Hussey’s innings of 150 and 62 not out against a strong England Lions attack in Worcester last week convinced many that the drought was set to break, but the first innings in Cardiff has left his recent record parched.”He’s one guy that’s probably not had the best year in Test cricket and we certainly let him know that,” Jimmy Anderson said. “Luckily we got him cheaply today because we saw what good form he seemed to be in at Worcester.”Clarke, too, was impressed with Hussey’s form in the West Midlands, and predicted “a big hundred was not far away” for his middle-order partner. Certainly, the Australian vice-captain has played his part in easing the pressure on Hussey during a year in which his own consistency has covered for his team-mate’s stumbles.Only once in their respective international careers have Clarke and Hussey struck form together; a period that began with the triumphant Ashes campaign of 2006-07 – during which they combined for in excess of 800 runs – and carried through to the ensuing home series against Sri Lanka. Since then, the fortunes of Australia’s No. 4 and 5 have traveled in different directions; a pattern that continued at Sophia Gardens on Friday.Clarke’s mission to atone for an underwhelming 2005 campaign in England began strongly. A cover drive off Graeme Swann took him to his 14th Test half-century, and a pull-shot to the mid-wicket fence propelled Australia beyond England’s first innings total of 435.”I would have liked to have been there for the end of the day,” said Clarke, ever the perfectionist. “I’m just disappointed to get out like that. You always would love a hundred, especially when you get to 80. I’m disappointed with the shot more than anything. I’ve played enough cricket under lights and with rain around to know the ball skids around a little bit. The replay looked like the ball was bowled across the seam as well, should have ducked it or let it go.”

One man’s audacity was outdone by another’s tenacity

Siddarth Ravindran16-Aug-2009How Coventry missed the double (reproduced from Cricinfo’s ball-by-ball commentary)Coventry was on 191, three short of equalling the record, when the final over started.49.1 Syed Rasel to Coventry, 1 run, full outside off, driven straight to deep cover, just the singleMupariwa needs to get a single now49.2 Syed Rasel to Mupariwa, OUT, slower one bowled just outside leg stump and cutting in, he tries to work it past square leg, is struck on the pads and is given! Pitched outside leg that one, Coventry will have to waitT Mupariwa lbw b Syed Rasel 0 (1m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00Utseya, the captain, walks in49.3 Syed Rasel to Utseya, FOUR, a boundary! They were on their way to get a single, picks the slower one wide of long-on, the fielder overruns it to concede a boundary, Coventry will have to wait again49.4 Syed Rasel to Utseya, 2 runs, two more, short on leg stump, pulled away wide of fine leg, why two? His partner’s on the verge of a major landmark here, a single should have been fine49.5 Syed Rasel to Utseya, 1 run, pitched up on middle, struck away to deep midwicket for a singleCoventry has one ball to break the record. Three to get. What’s your call?The keeper comes up49.6 Syed Rasel to Coventry, 2 runs, full toss outside off, slaps it back past the bowler wide of long-off for a couple to equal the world record!! A double-century in an ODI remains an elusive dream for batsmen. Fans are fascinated when a batsman has 200 in his sights, sparking ‘Can he do it?’ discussions. Several batsmen have neared the mark but fallen agonisingly short: Saeed Anwar probably had the best chance but was undone by the brutal May heat of Chennai, Sanath Jayasuriya’s one-man demolition job in Sharjah ended 11 runs adrift, and Herschelle Gibbs had hotfooted to 175 as early as the 32nd over before holing out to long-on in the famous 438 game at the Wanderers.In an unglamorous series in Bulawayo, a man with few credentials on the international stage, Charles Coventry, joined that illustrious list of nearly men. A masterfully paced knock in the fourth ODI against Bangladesh has catapulted him to the top of the most-runs-scored-in-an-innings chart, and this in his first series back with the senior side in more than three years.He walked in after Zimbabwe had made their usual poor start, losing Mark Vermeulen in the second over. With the other opener Hamilton Masakadza, fresh from his maiden century on Friday, being watchful, it was left to Coventry to make sure the Powerplays were exploited.After taking a few overs to settle in, he tore into Bangladesh’s gentle medium-pacers. Coventry showed off his clean, uninhibited swing of the bat by clouting Mahbubul Alam over long-on, and then driving fiercely through mid-off. Syed Rasel was next in the firing line, glanced past fine leg for four, and then slashed through point for another boundary.The spinners, Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan, were also dispatched, but the wicket of Masakadza ended the carefree swinging and Coventry started looking for the singles. With fellow comeback men Brendan Taylor and Sean Williams also departing soon after, a phase of consolidation followed, where there was no boundary for 81 balls.After dabbing and nudging the ball around until his century came up in the 37th over, Coventry started to go for his shots. It was only once the Powerplay was taken in the 45th that the record became a possibility. Enamul Haque jnr disappeared for 16 in that over, Shakib for 21 in the next and after 47, Coventry was on 180. A mighty six over his preferred long-on region took him to 189 with ten deliveries to spare, but he could only equal Anwar’s mark because he got to face only four of those.He walked off to a guard of honour from his team-mates, the supposed Twenty20 specialist showing them how to build an innings. “It’s a great feeling,” Coventry said immediately after his effort, before adding that he was “sure we can defend it.”That prediction didn’t come to pass, thanks chiefly to another man not known for playing long, responsible innings, Tamim Iqbal. If Coventry’s knock came after a middle-order collapse, Tamim’s gem came in the face of a daunting target. There was plenty of similarities in both knocks; both players concentrated on hitting straight, both were smart in choosing when to hit out, and when to be restrained.Tamim, in particular, has built a reputation for electric hitting but also as someone who squandered good starts as the large number of 20s and 30s in his CV demonstrate.He refrained from trying to bash every ball and was initially content playing second fiddle to the rampant Junaid Siddique. Even when Junaid was dismissed and Mohammad Ashraful was struggling to make runs, there was no impetuosity.Tamim was past his half-century when he decided to target the inexperienced, part-time offspin of Malcolm Waller. He slammed straight sixes off consecutive deliveries, followed by a slash past point, and then reverted to hunting the singles and twos. During a steadying stand with Raqibul Hasan, he brought up his century in the 35th over. It was only Tamim’s second hundred but his celebrations were muted, knowing that the task was still not accomplished.After reaching triple digits, he and Shakib targeted getting a boundary early in every over, heaping the pressure onto the bowlers. He was finally dismissed for 154, the highest score by a Bangladeshi in an ODI, with his side well on the way to victory. Still, he was disappointed after the match, saying he would have preferred to be there till the end.Bangladesh need more of that attitude if they are to graduate from being a side that occasionally surprises top teams into one that consistently challenges major opposition.

Stats highlights from the first day of the Kanpur Test

S Rajesh24-Nov-2009Virender Sehwag has been involved in five 200-plus opening stands•AFP

• The first couple of sessions on the opening day was almost entirely about Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and their 233-run opening partnership. It’s only the ninth 200-plus opening partnership for India, and the third highest. Sehwag and Gambhir became the first Indian pair to get two double-century stands for the first wicket – their earlier such effort had come at the same venue almost exactly five years ago, when they added 218 against South Africa in a high-scoring draw in November 2004. In fact, Sehwag has been involved in five of those nine doubles – Sanjay Bangar, Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer have been his other partners.
• The Sehwag-Gambhir pair is fast climbing the rungs among the all-time opening pairs. During the course of this stand they went past the aggregates of a couple of English pairs – Trescothick-Vaughan and Atherton-Gooch – and are 12th in terms of partnership runs by opening pairs. Among Indian pairs, Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan have scored more, but they are only 506 runs in front. Sehwag and Gambhir are also one of only 12 pairs – and the first Indians – to have two or more double-century stands for the opening wicket.
• Among opening pairs with at least 2000 partnership runs, only four pairs average more than Sehwag and Gambhir’s 59.61.
  

  Best opening pairs in Tests (Qual: 2000 runs)

  Pair	Innings	Runs	Average	100/ 50 stands
  Hobbs-Sutcliffe	38	3249	87.81	15/ 10
  Hobbs-Rhodes	36	2146	61.31	8/ 5
  Lawry-Simpson	62	3596	60.94	9/ 18
  Hutton-Washbrook	51	2880	60.00	8/ 13
  Gambhir-Sehwag	43	2504	59.61	6/ 13

• Equally impressive is the rate at which Gambhir and Sehwag score their runs – their average run rate is 4.68, which is the highest among all opening pairs who’ve faced at least 1500 balls. (Click here for the full list.)
• Gambhir outstanding Test form continues unabated – it’s his seventh century in his last nine Tests, a run which started with the second Test against Australia last year. During this period, he averages 93.81, with 11 fifty-plus scores in 17 innings. It was also Gambhir’s fourth hundred in successive Tests – he’d got a couple in New Zealand and a 114 in the first Test in Ahmedabad. That makes him only the third Indian batsman – after Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid – to score centuries in four successive Tests. (Click here for the full list.)
• The table below shows how the openers, and the entire team, scored their runs on the opening day. Sehwag and Gambhir struck 27 fours during their stand, but what also stands out is the number of singles they ran – 71 of them. They also ran two threes, which none of the other batsmen managed. They only played 133 dot balls, which is 53% of the total balls they faced. Overall, the Indians played 308 dots, which is almost 57% of the total deliveries.
  

  The Gambhir-Sehwag partnership, and India’s overall run-scoring pattern

  	Dots	Singles	2s/ 3s	4s/ 6s	Bat runs	Balls faced	Run rate
  Opening partnership	133	71	16/ 2	27/ 2	229	251	5.47
  Indiaon the first day	308	159	31/ 2	41/ 2	403	543	4.45

• For Sri Lanka, the day was bitterly disappointing. Ajantha Mendis was toothless, and while Muttiah Muralitharan conceding 100 runs in 18 overs. If he continues leaking runs at this rate, it’ll be his most expensive bowling performance in an innings in which he’s bowled more than two overs.

The pitch look threatening at the start and Shaun Tait seemed set to capitalise, but Davy Jacobs had other ideas

Telford Vice in Centurion25-Sep-2010It looked a miserable brute of a pitch, an ugly stretch of sad, scorched, squashed earth scarred with strange skew stripes. Who knew what lurked beneath as the Warriors and the South Australia Redbacks prepared to play the second semi-final of the Champions League T20 Centurion on Saturday.When the second delivery of the match blipped off the edge of Ashwell Prince’s clumsily offered bat and into Daniel Harris’ hands at gully, worst fears worsened.Never mind that the man who bowled it, Shaun Tait, had no doubt been growling grimly in a dark corner somewhere since Tuesday, when he missed the game against Guyana with an elbow issue. Never mind that the ball had blitzed past Prince at an obscene 151.4kmph. The pitch was still the subject of malevolent mutterings in the second over, when Colin Ingram drove Aaron O’Brien for four, pulled him for six, and cut him for another boundary.In fact, it was only in the next over that the pitch’s bona fides were accepted. Tait swooped in to Davy Jacobs, unleashed a wickedly swinging delivery at 147kmph, and had his follow-through undone as the missile came screaming back past the non-striker’s stumps at boot height on its way to the sightscreen.Jacobs, all gangly and slight, does not look like a man physically equipped to inflict grievous bodily harm on a cricket ball. But, as was the case with the pitch, appearances can be deceiving. Back bounced Tait with his next delivery, this one hissing towards its target at 151kmph. From somewhere Jacobs found the time to steal a step to the off side and murder the ball over midwicket for six.Tait resorted to a slower ball before roaring once more unto the breach. Another boundary tore through the on-side as Jacobs again employed sleight-of-foot to play the stroke from outside his off-stump.By the time Jacobs sent a ball from Harris into the stratosphere and was caught and bowled at – yes, folks – square leg, he had scored 61 off 41 balls and reclaimed the mantle of the tournament’s top run-scorer.The emphatic cricket played on the pitch inevitably seeped into the outfield, where South Australia dropped three catches, but also clung to a clutch of spectacular grabs.Callum Ferguson carved his nugget-y niche in the face of a fearsome bowling and fielding performance by the Warriors, who have learnt in recent times what it takes to win trophies. Playing with a swagger that could knock the tattoos off a sailor at five paces, the South Africans refused to let their opponents into the game. Ferguson earned the respect of all who bowled to him. But he couldn’t do it all on his own; Daniel Christian’s 19 was South Australia’s next best effort. It was a long way behind Ferguson’s in every sense.For some, the most outrageous moment of the night came in the 11th over of the South Australia’s innings, when Nicky Boje did what only his best friends surely thought him capable of, and turned the ball damn near square. It spat past Ferguson’s outside edge, past the diving Mark Boucher, who didn’t try to hide his astonishment, and all the way over the boundary.The drama even spilled onto the grass banks, where a youngster wearing a Blue Bulls rugby jersey made rude acquaintance with a batted ball. He was carefully lifted onto his father’s lap and sat silently holding an ice pack to his head.After the match, South Australia put aside the disappointment of losing for the first time in the tournament – and when it mattered most – by presenting the bruised but otherwise unhurt boy with one of their playing shirts and a helmet.Like the well-mannered kid he was, he said thank you and duly donned his prizes. But as soon as the Aussies were out of sight he whipped off the new kit and reverted to his rugby gear.The Bulls, you see, tend to win big games.

Plays of the Day for the second day of the second Test at the SSC

Sidharth Monga at the SSC27-Jul-2010Great partnership, part I
During the course of their 193-run stand, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene overtook the combination of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting to become the second-most prolific partnership between non-openers. By the time they were separated, they took their tally to 4798, behind only the 5993 that the Sachin Tendulkar-Rahul Dravid combination has added, in 42 more innings and at an average which is 12 runs lesser.Great partnership, part II
That great minds think alike was manifested when Sangakkara and Jayawardene thought of running on the same part of the pitch in the 111th over. They ran into each other, but a major collision was avoided. Not sure if the Indians had any energy left to laugh at it, though.Harper and his body parts
During Sri Lanka’s chase in the first Test, Daryl Harper copped one smack on the chest when he couldn’t get out of the way of a pull from Tillakaratne Dilshan. During the second Test, he was spotted showing his badly bruised chest to a Sri Lankan batsman. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Today, a throw from M Vijay got the umpire on the back side. Spare us the details this time, Daryl.Dhoni gets Jayawardene, finally
India needed something out of the ordinary to unsettle Jayawardene and get his wicket. That had not happened until MS Dhoni lobbed a throw back to the bowler, and managed to hit Jayawardene, softly, on his head. That did the trick, and soon Jayawardene lobbed one to midwicket. That also earned the Indian fielders a mercy declaration.Harbhajan gets a wicket
Stop the press. That Jayawardene wicket was also Harbhajan’s first of the series, in 449 deliveries spread over three innings.The SSC stats dossier
Jayawardene extended his own record for most runs at a venue, taking his tally at the SSC to 2641 runs at 82.53. He also broke Sir Don Bradman’s record of nine centuries at the MCG the most at a venue – with his 10th at the SSC. Sangakkara who made 219, took his tally to 1822 at 72.88, also scoring his seventh century here. Thilan Samaraweera was not to be left behind; by virtue of staying unbeaten, he took his average here to 81.93, and the runs-tally to 1229 in just 14 Tests.Welcome to Test cricket, son
If you are a spinner on debut, you don’t want to be bowling your first delivery to Virender Sehwag, who has scant respect for the breed. Suraj Randiv’s first act in Test cricket was to be cut away for a four, first ball, and then go for another four through the off side in the same over. As soon as he put a fielder deep on the off side, Sehwag dropped it into the off side and took another single.