Plays of the Day from the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens

Nikhil Kalro20-May-2014The dream ball
Pat Cummins made his debut memorable with a ball that is every fast bowler’s dream. The 21-year-old was up against the daunting combination of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum in his first IPL match, and he swung his first ball away, to beat the bat of Smith. The next delivery was pitched on middle stump and on a perfect length, keeping Smith rooted to the crease. It swung away and beat the bat again, but this time the ball hit the top of off stump to dismiss one of the most destructive batsmen of the season.The first-ball anomaly
The days of using the first ball as a ‘sighter’ are long gone, as Smith exhibited. Shakib Al Hasan bowled the first over of the Chennai Super Kings innings and tossed the first one up, Smith responded by planting his foot forward and smashing the ball to long-off for four. One would have expected Sunil Narine to be treated with caution but no respect was shown to him either, as Suresh Raina dispatched the first ball of his spell over long-on for six.The direct-hit
Piyush Chawla was taken for 19 runs in his third over – 14th of the innings – which handed the momentum to Chennai Super Kings, but he redeemed himself with an excellent piece of fielding in the 17th over. Faf du Plessis struck a ball firmly to midwicket where Chawla was lurking. He picked up the ball cleanly and hit the stumps in one swift motion, to find du Plessis well short.The outside edge
Robin Uthappa has been in terrific form in the last few matches, but today he was reprieved twice within the first 15 balls, in the same position – first slip. Ben Hilfenhaus found the edge of Uthappa’s bat in the first over, but R Ashwin dropped the easy opportunity. Suresh Raina replaced Ashwin at a wide first slip, but he could not hold on either when Uthappa offered a touch chance. Ashwin had dropped AB de Villiers at cover in the previous match, and he went on to make a match-winning 28 off 14 balls. This time was no different; Uthappa went on to make a match-winning fifty.

South Africa either need to become more discreet in their management of the match ball or stop trying to manipulate it to their advantage, was the message from Russell Domingo

Firdose Moonda in Galle19-Jul-2014South Africa either need to become more discreet in their management of the match ball or stop trying to manipulate it to their advantage. That was the message from coach Russell Domingo in the aftermath of the Vernon Philander ball-tampering episode.”I’m sure other sides are probably a little bit better at doing it than we are and it’s maybe something that we cut out completely,” Domingo said after play on day four. “It’s not something that we pride ourselves on; it’s not the way we want to play it.”Philander was fined 75% of his match fee after pleading guilty to breaching clause 42.1 of the ICC’s match playing conditions which relate to changing the condition of the ball. Footage, which was not broadcast but was viewed by the match officials after play on day three, showed Philander “scratching the ball with his fingers and thumb.”Although the on-field umpires had not noticed anything amiss with the ball during the day, the evidence was considered “compelling” enough for a CSA source to reveal that it prompted Philander not to contest the charge. Domingo confirmed that the threat of a greater sanction and the existence of video evidence was what prompted Philander to admit guilt.”If didn’t plead and was found guilty, he’d miss a Test match,” Domingo said. “Admitting guilt is almost as though we’re saying ‘lets just move on and focus on what we are going to do here,’ and put it behind us. If they’ve got footage, nine out of ten times the footage will find you guilty so I suppose so it’s difficult to argue if they can see something that they think you shouldn’t be doing. So it’s probably just an easier route to admit guilt and move on.”Domingo has not seen the video evidence and he will not request it but maintained that he regarded Philander’s as unintentional even though it comes just nine months after another South African, Faf du Plessis was fined for the same offence. “We always try and play the game in the spirit thats its intended to. Its not something that we try to do,” Domingo said.”I don’t know if we are getting a reputation. It’s something we don’t try and intentionally do. It’s not that the side says, ‘this is what we are going to go and do.’ Vernon claims to have cleaned the ball and he has been seen on television scratching the ball. The umpires said the ball’s state hadn’t been changed at all and that says it all. We haven’t the seen the footage but it’s done. I don’t think a big distraction at all. It’s unfortunate. We’ve got to move on and focus on the nine wickets we’ve got to get tomorrow.”Sri Lanka’s coach Marvan Atapattu also regarded the matter closed. “It has been taken care of,” he said. When asked what he would say if one of them was charged with the same offence as Philander, Atapattu cheekily replied: “I don’t even have to think about it because I’m sure they don’t do it.”Atapattu was similarly jovial about the task facing Sri Lanka on the final day – to go where no team has gone before in Galle in search of the highest fourth-innings score at this ground. A lead of 369 was considered enough by South Africa to declare with four sessions left in the game and Domingo explained that time, not a target, was foremost on their minds.”In the game where Pakistan batted against Sri Lanka they needed 114 overs to bowl them out. We felt we would need 110 to 120 overs in the last innings,” Domingo said.Sri Lanka have already seen off 32 of those overs and have lost only one wicket. Ideally, Domingo would have liked to have them “three down overnight” but said the squad would “reflect on our plans and come back and bowl better than we did
today.”Although Domingo did not say it, he would likely be expecting more of legspinner Imran Tahir, who has not yet come to the fore at this spinner-friendly venue. The presence of Tahir, JP Duminy and a third spin option in Dean Elgar in addition to their pace prowess gave South Africa the confidence to declare at a time that some have called earlier than expected.This match has already defied some expectations though and Atapattu was not surprised to see another assumption – that South Africa would opt for safety first – dismantled. “South Africa are renowned as a side that poses challenges to the opposition,” he said. “When you have almost everything in your attack – fast bowlers, swing, reverse-swing and a legspinner – it’s a fair declaration and it’s a challenge for us.”

A stats preview to Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka 2014

Bishen Jeswant04-Aug-201422 Number of years since either Pakistan or Sri Lanka have beaten the other in consecutive Test series. In the 10 years between 1982 and 1992, these teams played each other in four Test series, with Pakistan winning three and the other being drawn. In the fourteen series since then, the ten series that have had winners have been alternately won by both teams. The last series that had a winner was played in 2012, with Sri Lanka winning on that occasion.

The last ten Sri Lanka-Pakistan Test series’ that have not ended in draws

Series Start DateMatchesWinnerMarginJune 20123Sri Lanka1-0October 20113Pakistan1-0July 20093Sri Lanka2-0March 20062Pakistan1-0March 2002*1Sri Lanka1-0June 20003Pakistan2-0February 20003Sri Lanka2-1March 1999*2Pakistan1-0September 19953Sri Lanka2-1August 19942Pakistan2-0*435 Number of overs that Rangana Herath has bowled this year, the most by any bowler (the Abu Dhabi Test which started on Dec 31 2013 has not been considered for this stat). He is well ahead of the next player on the list, England fast bowler James Anderson, who has bowled 282 overs in six Tests. Herath has taken 33 Test wickets in 2014, which is the also most wickets for the year, though not by a margin proportionate to the number of overs that he has bowled.37 The bowling average of Sri Lankan spinners against Pakistan since 2001, and also of Pakistani spinners against Sri Lanka in the same period. Both teams have quality spinners and are known to play spin well.

Performance of spinners since 2001

TeamOppositionMatchesWicketsAverageERSR5 wktsPakistanv Sri Lanka1912337.042.7480.94Sri Lankav Pakistan1911037.89
2.8180.649 Number of Tests that Sri Lanka and Pakistan have played against each other in their last three Test series, the first of those starting on 18 October 2011. Since then, only Australia and England have played more Tests against each other – ten. In their history, Sri Lanka have played 46 Tests against Pakistan, which is far more than they have played against any other Test nation. For context, Sri Lanka have played only 48 Tests against Australia (26) and South Africa (22) combined.80 Kumar Sangakkara’s career batting average against Pakistan in Tests (80.19). This is his highest batting average against any top-eight Test nation. He has scored 2486 runs against Pakistan in 19 Tests, which is the second highest number of runs scored by a batsman against a single opposition since the turn of the century. Sachin Tendulkar, with 2528 runs against Australia, is the only batsman to have scored more, but he needed 27 Tests. This is also the most runs ever scored by a batsman in Tests between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Second on this list is Younis Khan with 1808 runs. While Misbah-ul-Haq may not have scored as many runs (860), he does average an impressive 53.75 against Sri Lanka.1.50 Pakistan’s win-loss ratio against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Pakistan are the only away team apart from Australia to have a positive win-loss ratio in Sri Lanka. Pakistan have won six matches there and lost only four. They also lost one neutral match against Australia in 2002. Including this match, their win-loss ratio in Sri Lanka comes down to 1.20.12 Number of times that Sri Lanka have played Pakistan since the Lankan team bus was attacked by armed gunmen on 3 March 2009, midway through a Test series. While no team has travelled to Pakistan since then, it is ironic that, Sri Lanka have played more Tests against Pakistan than any other team. Since the attack, Pakistan have played only 43 Tests, with only Zimbabwe and Bangladesh having played fewer games.57 Number of wickets that Saeed Ajmal has taken against Sri Lanka, his highest against any country. This is largely because he has played 12 Tests against Sri Lanka and not more than six against any other opposition. Despite the bunch of wickets, his strike rate against them is a below-par 73.7. He only strikes at a lower frequency against Australia and New Zealand, against whom he has played only one Test each.2.85 Pakistan’s mean run-rate in Test cricket from 2011 to 2014. Every Test playing nation apart from Zimbabwe scores at a run-rate in excess of three. Pakistan’s batsmen have generally not been at their best in this period, scoring only 26 centuries in all, with only Bangladesh and Zimbabwe featuring below them on that list. Their mean batting average of 31.53 makes them look only slightly better, with only West Indies and New Zealand doing worse than them apart from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Plays of the Day from the second Twenty20 international between Australia and South Africa at the MCG

Brydon Coverdale07-Nov-2014

The maiden

Cameron Boyce picked up 2 for 15 after luring Reeza Hendricks and Farhaan Behardien out of their crease•Getty ImagesIn a Twenty20 international, maiden overs are seen so infrequently that dot balls are often referred to by commentators instead. So it was something to behold when Pat Cummins came on and immediately delivered a maiden, his quick pace and impressive bounce keeping JP Duminy back in his crease and unable to score. It was just the fourth maiden bowled by an Australian in T20 internationals in the past two years, and it made Cummins the Australian record-holder for most maidens in T20 internationals. Cummins has bowled three maidens in his career; the all-time record is five, shared by Sri Lankans Ajantha Mendis and Nuwan Kulasekara, and Ireland’s Trent Johnston. Wayne Parnell also bowled a maiden later in the game and also moved to three for his career tally.

The drought

Not surprisingly in such a low-scoring first innings, South Africa experienced a lengthy drought between boundaries. In the 16th over, Duminy ended it with a thick edge off Sean Abbott that raced away to the third-man boundary. It was South Africa’s first four in 56 deliveries.

The legbreaks

When George Bailey quit as Australia’s captain this year, he nominated finding a world-class spinner as the main thing required in order to take Australia to the next level as a T20 side. It is especially important given that the next World T20 will be held in India, where the conditions will favour the spinners. So Australia must be impressed by the start legspinner Cameron Boyce has made to his career. After taking 2 for 10 against Pakistan in Dubai last month, he claimed 2 for 15 from his four overs at the MCG. That both of the wickets came from luring right-handers out of their crease and turning the ball past them for stumpings was especially impressive.

The flame-free event

After captain Aaron Finch’s eyebrows were nearly singed by flame-throwers during the first game in Adelaide, Cricket Australia not surprisingly made the decision to abandon the fiery decorations for the Melbourne match. “We were very concerned by what took place at the Adelaide Oval and as a result we’re now reviewing the operating and safety protocols of the flame units,” Mike McKenna, CA’s executive general manager of operations, said. “Until such time as we’re satisfied that there won’t be a repeat incident, we will not be using flame units as part of any match presentation.” Hard as it is to imagine cricket without “flame units”, the players and fans seemed to cope. And at least there will be no flame-grilled Finch on the KFC Twenty20 menu.

The home side were thrown into a tour of India and got hammered 5-0 while the visitors are still searching for a way to consistently match the modern one-day game

Andrew Fidel Fernando25-Nov-2014There must be some miscommunication somewhere. Each year, Sri Lanka line up a tour around November, and almost invariably, the series is so beset by rain that most matches go unfinished, and the remaining games advantage the chasing side. With four such tours having taken place in the last five years now, the only viable solution is clear: it is time Sri Lanka’s weather took stock of the cricket patterns in the country, when it next schedules its monsoons.Angelo Mathews scored has maiden ODI hundred in India, but it was a rare high point for Sri Lanka•BCCISo England have arrived to kick off their winter season, dodging downpours like they were questions about Kevin Pietersen’s book, and pumping their words with the positivity they hope will shake up their ODI cricket. Widely touted to flop at next year’s World Cup, the visitors do at least acknowledge that their game needs an overhaul. Moeen Ali was bundled up the order for the warm-up match, and directed to launch a full assault, while batting coach Mark Ramprakash has laid out hopes that the rest of the top order embrace a little more panache themselves.England are after ideas. They want to redesign the ponderous ODI cricket they have stuck by for too long, into a nimbler, sleeker model that will catapult them into that leading group of World Cup contenders.On the surface, there is no better place to uncover that tactical gold than in Sri Lanka. Cricket is the most popular sport on the island, but thanks largely to a Civil War that drained the economy and shut an entire swathe of the country out, Sri Lanka’s talent pools are still among the thinnest around. That they have made five major finals in the last seven years (and two other semi-finals as well), is down more to out-thinking opponents, than outplaying them.England won’t mind if a few of the ambushes Sri Lanka routinely set at short cover, or the slow-chokes they apply to opposition chases, are absorbed into England’s own game. “Funky captaincy” has become a buzz phrase in the Alastair Cook v Michael Clarke Ashes era, but Mahela Jayawardene is the James Brown of that movement, having so often conned batsmen out of their wickets, rather than earned them. Angelo Mathews is a different kind of captain, but by dint of inheritance, the tactical flourishes are still there. Game plans are loose to begin with, then if things go awry, quickly reimagined.It is fitting then, that Sri Lanka would have liked to be a little more like England just a few weeks back, as well. They had had a clearly laid-out pre-World Cup schedule that appeared to be a good mix of match-practice and rest, but the India tour opened up on them like an afternoon thunderstorm, and they were pelted with sixes off India bats for two weeks.Sri Lanka had departed for that tour aiming to experiment, rather than to win the series, but conceding two totals over 350, an individual 264, and suffering their worst ODI whitewash in history, will have dented a few egos. The jettisoning of Nuwan Kulasekara, who had been a pillar of the ODI attack for more than five years, is evidence that damage has been sustained. A surprise tour is not the kind of situation England will ever expect to find themselves in. There are many positives in Sri Lanka’s flexibility, but they are also always teetering a little close to chaos.That the selectors have roped in some old hands is also the kind of conservative move, more often seen in the England playbook. At 32, batsman Thilina Kandamby gets an ODI recall after three years away from the top level, while others like allrounder Jeevan Mendis have been reinstated after a long break, as well.Sri Lanka know their batting has plenty of thrill-seeking pizzazz in their three senior batsmen and Mathews, but what they need now are the steady performers: batsmen who will hit a fifty off 70 balls every other match. England may worry they play a stone-age version of the game, but Sri Lanka would probably take a Geoffrey Boycott in the second opener’s position about now. In the last four innings put together, the men batting opposite Tillakaratne Dilshan have managed eight runs. Mathews has also made stability his goal for the series. By the seventh ODI, he would ideally have liked his World Cup first XI to have emerged.The cricket that Sri Lanka and England play usually stems from disparate philosophies, they’re barely playing the same sport. But in what may be a damp series in the approach to the World Cup, each team is looking for a little of what the other has got.

Damaged by an earthquake four years ago, the city is still recovering. The World Cup will allow it to show off what it has achieved so far

Firdose Moonda10-Feb-2015Global sporting events have the power to influence infrastructure development. Think the 1992 Olympic Games, which allowed Barcelona to turn the neglected neighbourhood of Poblenou into a swanky seaside district, the 2010 Soccer World Cup, which sped up the construction of a modern rail link between Johannesburg and Pretoria or the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which will see the suburb of Parklands in Queensland undergo a major urban renewal project. But the 2015 Cricket World Cup will serve a different purpose for Christchurch.”We may be a little bit broken but we’re still here and this is our chance to remind people of that,” Kelly Stock from Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism explained. “It’s about not forgetting Christchurch.”The city, which will host the opening match of the tournament and two other group games, was forced to begin rebuilding after a catastrophic earthquake in 2011 which claimed 185 lives and changed the face of the city. Eight days short of four years to the day that happened, Christchurch will be able to show how much it has recovered.Understanding the extent to which Christchurch was physically damaged is not difficult. Buildings stand broken, if they stand at all. Every street in the city centre is scarred with rubble, most have fenced off areas separating what was there from what will be there and cranes jut out into the skyline like band-aid. Really understanding how Christchurch was damaged, requires a much closer look.The first place you may see it is at , the poignant memorial to those killed, each of them immortalised by a piece of furniture, lined up opposite the Presbyterian Church, as though waiting for a service to begin. There’s a high-backed dinner chair, a comfortable couch, a regular desk chair and a baby’s car seat. The chills the last one will give you will not be the result of the Antarctic wind that can blow through these parts. It will be cold realisation.Diagonally across the road lies the vacant plot of the Canterbury Television building in which more than half the dead perished. Now dotted with flower boxes, it does not look like the scene of a tragedy but as a place for new life. Throughout the city, that is what Christchurch is trying to create.Conservative, not any more•ESPNcricinfo LtdA little further away was where they decided to , literally. That is the name of a temporary containerised shopping village, which was set-up to encourage people to keep living in the city; really living, not merely existing. For that, they needed a reason to want to be there and the brightly-coloured boxes which host everything from clothing stores to coffee shops provided that.The mobile mall is designed to move once a permanent structure is built; it has already done so twice since its inception and will continue relocating as the city redevelops. Christchurch is no longer afraid of shifting sand. “It used to be quite a conservative city, but now that has all changed. It was forced to,” Stock said.One of the most obvious examples of that is in the architectural styles. Because such a large number of the city’s older buildings were either too damaged or deemed too dangerous to continue standing, there has been a move to preserve the Gothic facades but rebuild the rest of the structure. Some of them even have a splash of public art adorning them such as the ballerina painted by local artist Owen Dippie, who pirouettes on the back of the Isaac Theatre.Not all of the change has been so easily embraced and the cathedral remains an issue of contention. The now 110-year-old building survived four earthquakes before 2011, but this was the only one which threatened its existence. The damage from four years ago ran from the spire into the structure itself and a demolition was seen as the only solution. But midway through that process, a court battle between the church and those who opposed the taking down ensued and all activity paused except for the opening of a new cathedral a few blocks away. The grand old lady lies faceless and exposed to the elements, which some fear will damage her further.The 110-year-old church lies faceless, exposed•ESPNcricinfo LtdLuckily, nature has not been too unkind to Christchurch and the Botanical Gardens serve as a reminder for that. The park, which received the Supreme Award at the Ellerslie International Flower Show last year, stretches across 21 hectares and has more than 250 varieties of roses among myriad other plants. It was untouched in the earthquake. Stock said it became an oasis to the people of the city in the aftermath. Next to it lies Hagley Park where the international cricket ground is nestled.Although the Oval was always there, it was not always the venue for big matches. Those went to Lancaster Park, which was also a rugby stadium, and was another of the earthquake’s victims. When it was destroyed, big sport was forced out of Christchurch.The Crusaders, southern hemisphere’s most successful regional rugby team, were temporarily moved out and more crushingly, the city was taken off the schedule for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The tournament took place just seven months after the earthquake and it was logistically impossible for Christchurch to host the five pool matches and two quarterfinals it was due to stage.Rugby has since returned and cricket has followed, in the quaintest of ways. Because not everyone wanted the public space of Hagley park turned into a commercial cricket ground, it has retained the charm of old with sloping grass embankments and a small pavilion. Temporary stands have been brought in for the World Cup. They are expected to be full of life and so is the city itself.Concerts have been planned, a fan park and trail, and local establishments are preparing for swelling numbers. There’s a vibe of vitality around, zing in the air, a spring in the steps of people who know that the 2015 World Cup will not be the reason Christchurch continues on its long road to recovery but it will allow them to show off what they have achieved so far.

England’s problem – one of their problems – is that they are not strong enough to afford passengers and Eoin Morgan is fast becoming one

George Dobell19-Feb-20151:29

Matt Prior believes Eoin Morgan will be unflustered by the focus on his poor form

In the bad old days of England cricket, a man with four ducks in his last five innings would have been history.In the days when England used 29 players in a series – the Ashes of 1989, for example, – players could barely survive two successive failures. Graeme Fowler’s last four Test innings were 49, 201, two and 69. Andy Caddick was dropped after taking 5 for 67 in the first innings at Port of Spain in 1998 and never played again after a 10-wicket haul in the Sydney Test of 2003. It was chaos.England’s continuity of selection policy was a key part of their success in the years that followed. It provided security for the team. It allowed people to play without fear. It remains a sensible stance. But, taken to an extreme, it creates a blockage and stifles the development of new players.So for many months – long after it had become obvious to the impartial observer – England found encouragement and promise in Alastair Cook’s clear decline. They made excuses for his struggles and ways to mitigate for his failures. As a general role, as soon as you hear someone described as “a resilient character” you know they’re in trouble.The intention, no doubt, was honourable. But there are consequences to such actions and by persisting with Cook for so long, the selectors gave his eventual replacements far less time to learn their trade ahead of the World Cup. It is hardly surprising that Moeen Ali and Gary Ballance, in particular, are finding it hard to gauge the pace to bat at the top of the innings. They have, relative to many of their opponents, only just started in the job.Now England are doing something similar with Eoin Morgan. Despite Morgan’s poor record over the last year or so – worse that Cook’s – the management have chosen to accentuate whatever positives they can find and try to ignore the evidence that is beginning to pile up in front of them.

Ramprakash lauds hard-working Hales

Mark Ramprakash, the England batting coach, is pleased with the attitude of Alex Hales, who has not had a chance to play in the XI but is not letting that affect his mindset.
“The whole trip since we’ve been in Australia I felt Alex had a shift in his maturity and level of professionalism,” Ramprakash said. “It’s always a challenge for any player that if they’re not playing in the final 11, to keep themselves motivated and practice well. But he’s done that really well.
“He batted extremely well yesterday in a very challenging scenario that I set up. I was hugely impressed. He’s knocking on the door hard in my opinion. He’s really chomping at the bit and batting very well. He wants an opportunity.
“He batted very well in the game against Pakistan. It was a surprise when he got out.”
But Ramprakash suggested that Ravi Bopara, who was dropped on the eve of the tournament, could learn a little from Hales’ positive outlook.
“Ravi’s got to kind of take a little bit from that, I guess,” he said. “He has to reassess and get some time away from the game, which is very important. But when he comes to the ground he has to mean business. He has to look to practice with a mentality to keep improving. That’s very important.”

It has become fashionable, in England circles, to repeat the line that Morgan scored a century just five ODI innings ago. As if this run of poor form is a recent blip. As if the critics are jerking knees and over-reacting.Maybe. It was a fine innings, certainly. A reminder of what a fine player Morgan can be. But the fact is, that innings was not a return to the norm. It was a rare spike on a graph that shows a relentless downward slope. It was one of only two scores of 50 or more (the other was an innings of 62 in Colombo in December) dating back a year and 26 ODIs.Morgan’s record when England win is even worse – a highest score of only 33 in the same period – and only once has he passed fifty against a Full Member in a winning cause since September 2012.Which tells us one thing: Morgan is not winning England any games.And that’s the point of being in a team. It is not about individual milestones. It is not about Steven Finn’s hat-trick in Melbourne – possibly the most meaningless hat-trick in the history of international cricket – or face-saving innings. It is about shaping matches. It is about directly intervening in them to help your side win.Morgan isn’t doing that. The unpalatable fact is that Morgan – temporarily – has become a passenger in this side.Eoin Morgan’s form has been an important cause for concern for England•Getty ImagesEngland’s problem – one of their problems – is that they are not strong enough to afford passengers. They would be better allowing Ravi Bopara or Chris Jordan to come in as allrounders. Or give Alex Hales, who is batting nicely in the nets, a run at the top of the order.It doesn’t mean they have to drop Morgan forever. As Bopara could tell him, a player can be dropped and recalled in a single series.So they go into the game against New Zealand desperate for Morgan to contribute. Not just because it is a game they really could do with winning – their fragile confidence might not recover from another reverse like that suffered in Melbourne and defeat leaves them with no room for error in the remainder of the competition – but so they don’t have to take another awkward decision.

ESPNcricinfo’s correspondents at the World Cup pick their best moments from the third week of matches

07-Mar-2015Andrew McGlashan: The cauldron of Eden

Trent Boult? Mitchell Starc? Kane Williamson? I’m not going to pick any of them. The start to the New Zealand-Australia contest was enveloped in an atmosphere of rare tension and excitement. Fortunately, there was outside seating in the Auckland press area. This was a moment to leave the laptop and soak it in. Rarely, if ever, had a cricket match in the country been so hyped. Tim Southee’s first ball was a wide, the first over was all over the place. In his next, Aaron Finch pinged a straight drive over the infamous straight boundaries at Eden Park. Then, next ball, the place erupted. Finch tried to repeat the shot. Southee kept the ball full on off stump. Finch missed. The off stump went back. My goodness, what a noise. And that was only the start.Brydon Coverdale: Timber!

Is there any more thrilling sight in cricket than seeing the stumps rattled by a fast, swinging yorker? Yes. Stumps being rattled by fast, swinging yorkers two balls in a row. With a match on the line. When Mitchell Starc hit the base of the stumps and lit up the zing bails to get rid of Adam Milne and then Tim Southee, a possible hat-trick was the least of his worries. He had just bowled Australia to within touching distance of what could only be described as an improbable, impossible win. In the end, it was indeed impossible. Kane Williamson hit a six at the other end to secure New Zealand’s victory, but only after they had stumbled from 131 for 4 to 146 for 9 in the space of 21 balls. Eden Park erupted when the win was secured, but the tense finish confirmed that sometimes the lowest-scoring contests are the best.Abhishek Purohit: Swing it like Hassan

Australia had soared to 382 for 3 in 46 overs, but the Afghans had not bowled as poorly as that scoreline suggested. They had got in a lot of yorkers at the death too but the Australians had just been too good. The first ball of the 47th found its target though. Hamid Hassan hurled an inswinging yorker and James Faulkner could not prevent it from crashing into his stumps. Hassan – headband, war paint and all – was quite a sight with his chainsaw celebration.Jarrod Kimber: A proud Afghan

The Afghan team were in demand after training before the Australia match. The Indians weren’t playing, or talking, or even shouting, and the Indian press focused on the Afghans. Andy Moles, the coach, gave one-on-ones to everyone. Hamid Hassan did a few as well. But Shapoor Zadran was the most in demand. A flock followed him, waiting on his every word, hoping for more flicks of his hair. Zadran knew what they wanted: pace, hair, bounce, style. And gave it to them. Then a female reporter from a magazine sat with him. Suddenly a whole different Zadran was on show. He talked about his family, his religion and his culture. He wasn’t pace-and-style Zadran. He was just another proud father, proud cricketer and proud Afghan.Firdose Moonda: Looking pain in the eye

Watching a sportsman go down in the line of duty is never pleasant and Elton Chigumbura’s tumble in Brisbane was one of the worst. The Zimbabwe captain was chasing a ball from mid-off to the boundary when he fell. Immediately, it was clear that it was more than just being tied up in his own feet. Craig Ervine was the first man at Chigumbura’s side and helped him sit up but and then stand. He was in obvious pain, which seemed to worsen at every step. He grimaced his way to the sidelines and slowly news filtered through that he had torn his quad but would bat if necessary.That was laughed off as fanciful and, when Zimbabwe stared down the barrel of defeat, unnecessary. But Chigumbura came out anyway and after the first ball he faced, scrunched his face up with so much tension, many wondered why he was there at all. But slowly, ball after ball, he carried on. By the time the innings was ending, he was running between the wickets, torn muscle and all. He took Zimbabwe to within 20 runs, which may have broken his heart more than his quadriceps. Captains make their names on incidents like these and that for Chigumbura, who leads fairly quietly, may have been the moment he announced his credentials.Andrew Fidel Fernando: Take it easy, Kumar

Kumar Sangakkara has scored all the hundreds he could want. He used to speak of 30 Test tons as one of his greatest career ambitions. He now has 38. Even in ODIs, reaching triple figures is now barely cause for celebration. It is now more interesting to watch him at the other end while a younger team-mate nears the milestone. When Thirimanne was striking on 98 against England in the 38th over, Sangakkara tore out of his crease like a madman when Thirimanne had pushed it straight to midwicket. Next ball he set off even more haphazardly and had to dive back into his crease when Thirimanne rightly refused the single. Then the weirdest thing: Thirimanne came down the track to tell Sangakkara to settle down.There are few fiercer, more opportunistic competitors than Sangakkara. He will beg umpires for wickets his team doesn’t deserve. He will fool opposition batsmen, walk when it suits him, then stay at the crease when there is something on the line. But it is in these unguarded, altruistic moments – when he is endangering his own progress for someone else’s – that he endears himself most to his team-mates, and to his nation.George Dobell: Jamshed the cornered tiger

You experience many emotions while watching Nasir Jamshed play international cricket in this form: anger, disbelief, pity and, eventually, bewilderment. No doubt he is, at his best, a fine player. But called into the squad at late notice, he looks like a man who won a competition to represent his county: unfit and horribly out of touch. During Pakistan’s match against UAE in Napier, there was a moment that summed up his experience. Having already failed with the bat, having already flapped at a chance in the field and chased after the ball like an asthmatic tortoise delivering bricks up a steep hill, Jamshed’s defining moment came when he waddled in to field a ball travelling gently towards him on the boundary. He bent down like an octogenarian and formed a tentative long barrier – nearly every other fielder in the tournament would have picked up and thrown one-handed, only to see the ball find a way through his defence – a recurring feature of his form with the bat, too – and dribble away for extra runs. Everyone in the press box burst into laughter. It is often said that Pakistan should rediscover the spirit of cornered tigers. Well, Jamshed is currently fielding like a real one.

English cricket’s new chief Colin Graves plans to reinvent the game from the professional level down to the amateur leagues, making it the “centre of the community”

John Stern23-Apr-2015Day job: Firefighter
Mood: Impatient
Party trick: Keeping Yorkshire CCC solvent
Specialist subject: Costcutter (the clue’s in the name)”I’m starting with a blank sheet of paper,” says Colin Graves, who replaces Giles Clarke as chairman of ECB on May 15.You can take that statement of intent however you wish, given how much seems to be up for grabs in English cricket right now. It might mean a return for Kevin Pietersen; it might mean sackings all round at the top of Team England; a management role for Graves’ fellow South Yorkshireman, Michael Vaughan; four-day Test cricket; live cricket back on free-to-air television; or an IPL/Big Bash-style T20 competition in the middle of the English summer.Graves is deliberately unspecific about the various radical proposals that have been floating around since his election, and that’s only partly because he hasn’t actually started his new role yet.As he sits in a meeting room on the ground floor of the ECB’s offices at Lord’s (all the senior executives have their offices on the second floor), he is giving a very good impression of a man about to start a firework display in his back garden – and those rockets are ready to fire up a few important backsides.He set a Catherine wheel whirring with his first major public utterance when he opened the door for Pietersen to return to the England fold. “The first thing he has to do if he wants to get back is start playing county cricket,” he told BBC Radio 5. “The selectors and coaches are not going to pick him if he’s not playing. It’s as simple as that. I’ll leave it at that.” What appeared at the time to be an unguarded remark now seems to be a carefully calculated attempt to lift the smog that had settled on English cricket since Pietersen’s ham-fisted removal early last year.The less than enthusiastic response from senior figures, including Test captain Alastair Cook, to the prospect of another round of KP rehabilitation has only served to expose the fault-lines that exist at the top of the game. Rather than paper over those cracks, Graves seems determined to confront the issues head on.It is, by grim coincidence, the day after England’s fateful defenestration by Bangladesh at the World Cup in Adelaide. Graves’ reaction chimes with the sort of bewilderment felt by thousands of England followers across the country, although “massively disappointing” is a somewhat more understated comment than that which greeted Yorkshire’s relegation from Division 1 of the County Championship in 2011 when he labelled the players’ performance as “a disgrace”.

“Cricket used to have the summer to itself, it doesn’t anymore. When the football World Cup is in the winter, the Premier League season will encroach further into summer. They might decide they like that. We can’t sit here and just say we’re the summer sport.”Colin Graves

One suspects he might be less charitable about any future debacles. In case anyone needs reminding, Yorkshire are now the reigning county champions with a largely homegrown squad and are also on a much sounder financial footing than when he first took over as the club’s chairman in 2002.So unequivocally wretched was England’s World Cup campaign, that Graves essentially takes the view that it was so bad it’s good. “It’s an opportunity to look at what we’re doing and how we can improve. It’s sent us a message and we’ve got to pick it up. How do we regroup? How do we get better? Simple as that.”Graves, who has been deputy chairman of the ECB since 2010, sees many parallels in his experiences at Yorkshire with what he is about to embark on at national level. Prudent husbandry is one. “I’m a tight Yorkshireman,” he says with a smile and a chuckle. “I want to go through the whole costs of the ECB and see where we spend our money. And if it’s wasted, we won’t be doing it long.”

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Graves made his millions through the Costcutter chain of convenience stores which he founded in 1984. When it comes to his thriftiness, the clue’s in the store name, right? “Exactly,” he says.Another focus is the unification of the recreational game and the professional game. “We’ve got to join them up so the recreational game feeds the professional game and the professional game has links down to the recreational game,” says Graves. “Link all that together and make people feel part of the whole. That’s one thing Mark Arthur [chief executive] achieved at Yorkshire – the Yorkshire Cricket Board and Yorkshire County Cricket Club coming together. If that can happen in Yorkshire then it can happen anywhere.”Thirdly is the challenge that is felt more starkly at Headingley than almost anywhere else in the country: selling tickets for international cricket. As the euphoria of the Championship win bubbled over in Leeds last September, Graves issued a warning to the county’s cricket fraternity that they needed to support international matches at Headingley otherwise their club faced an uncertain future. “It ain’t rocket science,” Graves said at the time.In national terms, he doesn’t use the word crisis but his tone is clear enough. “Cricket used to have the summer to itself, but it doesn’t anymore,” he says. “That will get worse. When the football World Cup is in the winter, the Premier League season will encroach further into summer. They might decide they like that. We can’t sit here and just say we’re the summer sport.”Is more KP rehabilitation on the agenda under the new chairman?•Getty ImagesThere hasn’t been much to sugar-coat the last 12 months for English cricket: the Pietersen sacking and its continuing aftershocks; the one-day hammerings and the early World Cup exit; and the fall in participation figures revealed by the ECB’s own research last November.And the link between Graves’ three priorities is a shift of emphasis away from an obsession with the resourcing, and success, of Team England towards the wider game. “We want to make this better for everybody,” he says. “We are in the entertainment business and we either put bums on seats in stadiums or we put people in front of televisions. So that’s one of my criteria – how do we increase participation in the game, whether that’s playing or watching. That’s where I’m starting from.”Of course I want a successful England team but that has to fit into a jigsaw that suits everybody. We can’t just be dogmatic. Team England is a major part of it but it’s not the only part.”

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Graves, 57, grew up on a farm in South Yorkshire which had its own cricket pitch; so he “started playing when I was four or five”. He played league cricket for 40 years, mostly for Dunnington, and it is his experiences there that are informing his back-to-basics strategy. “We had a railway carriage in the corner of the field that leaked when it rained,” he says. “Now the facilities are fantastic, not just for cricket but for the whole community. And that’s what I want to get back to with cricket – I want cricket to be the centre of the community. It’s virtually reinventing cricket – that’s the way I see it.”He talks about ridding the amateur game of bureaucracy which will be music to many ears in cricket’s army of indispensable volunteers but also sounds a little like populist opportunism.”We can help them [clubs] with lots of things but in terms of ticking boxes … sorry I don’t want to know.” When I suggest that surely the bureaucracy of which he speaks is not simply a ruse to justify the existence of ECB administrators, Graves pulls a face that suggests a degree of suspicion, to say the least, about the way the game is run. “I don’t want the ECB to be seen as a bureaucratic centre that tries to dictate what happens at a recreational level. It’s all down to volunteers and we should make it easier, not harder, for them.”Graves has five years at the helm and he wants “to make a difference” in that time. This includes sorting out the schedule of the professional summer. He isn’t the first – and almost certainly won’t be the last – administrator to believe he can tame the overgrown maze that is the domestic fixture list.”Our English season is congested,” he says. “It’s stop-start in a lot of areas and doesn’t seem to be joined up. Lots of things don’t seem to be working – we had a 50-over final at Lord’s when we only sold 10,000 tickets. We’ve really lost our way with the schedule. I want to talk to all the stakeholders – we’re all in this together. It’s not just about keeping one sector happy at the expense of all the others.”All Out CricketThe various challenges for English cricket that Graves articulates are not radically different to anything the game has faced before but the implication in his words is that the solutions might be. He takes exception to the suggestion that the ‘blank sheet’ philosophy is a kneejerk reaction to the World Cup. “We were already doing it,” he says brusquely. “This process didn’t just start when we got knocked out of the World Cup. This started with Tom Harrison as the new chief executive.”Harrison, 43, who replaced the long-serving David Collier as chief executive in January, is part of the new broom of younger suits sweeping through the ECB that includes a new commercial director, Sanjay Patel, who joined last June, and Chris Haynes, who arrived in March from Sky Sports to replace Colin Gibson as head of communications. “I’m not criticising the old regime but we needed a new executive to take us forward with new ideas, new energy and more vigour,” says Graves. “They’re bringing different ideas and enthusiasm to this business which is what it needs. People are sitting round talking about things that have never been talked about.”For a game that is so widely perceived as conservative, English cricket always seems to be in a state of flux. The big question today is not whether things will change but how. Blank sheet of paper? Not for much longer.

Plays of the day from the Group A match between Sri Lanka and Scotland

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Hobart11-Mar-2015The wheelbarrow circle
Kumar Sangakkara had hit the first five legitimate balls of the 36th over for a six and four fours, so when he shaped to scoop Alasdair Evans again off the last delivery, short fine leg Rob Taylor could be forgiven for expecting that one to go to the fence as well. As soon as Sangakkara made contact, Taylor turned and began running to the fine leg fence, almost as if he was expecting to retrieve the ball from beyond the rope. Only, Sangakkara had mishit this one, and instead of hitting the ball over Taylor, he’d sent it to the vicinity of Taylor’s original position. Once the fielder noticed the ball wasn’t going to the fence, he circled back around to collect the ball, his overconfidence in Sangakkara’s abilities having cost his team a single.The unloved 12th man
Being on the cusp of the playing XI is never fun but Sri Lanka took 12th man Upul Tharanga’s misery to new levels when they refused to partake of the drinks he was running on to the field. There was moisture in the air in the first phase of Scotland’s innings and, in their quest to rush through 20 overs and ensure a full game was played, Sri Lanka had spinners operating at either end. When the umpires called for drinks after the 17th over, Tharanga dutifully jogged his tray on to the field. But Sri Lanka didn’t want to slow the game down. None of the fielders moved from their positions. Unneeded twice over in this match, Tharanga was left to wander off dolefully, occasionally glancing back to see if anyone had had a change of heart.The sole separation
Richie Berrington was bowling another handy spell at the death when his own apparel would conspire against him. Berrington landed his front foot on the crease only to find his foot continued to slide forward, instead of gripping the pitch and stopping. The result was a painful tumble and what appeared to be an ankle sprain. The side-on replay, though, showed that his sole had completely torn from the rest of the boot as he landed his foot. The injury meant Berrington was unable to continue the over, with Kyle Coetzer called on to finish it off.The double-strike
When Tillakaratne Dilshan was sweeping Josh Davey’s medium pace for two fours and a six in the 25th over it seemed as if Sri Lanka had planned to go after him. After the batting Powerplay, Davey might reflect that the strategy played into his hands. He picked up the wicket of Dilshan in the 35th over, then in the next over, removed two legends back-to-back. First he had Mahela Jayawardene miscuing one to mid off, then Sangakkara, who had been flaying almost every other bowler, nicked Davey behind next ball.The surprise review
Sri Lanka have been perhaps the worst users of DRS this tournament, often wasting their reviews on hopeless cases but, in this match, conjured a wicket seemingly out of nowhere through the review system. Michael Leask had swiped at a Nuwan Kulasekara bouncer, but though neither the bowler nor the wicketkeeper felt the batsman had hit it, fielder Seekkuge Prasanna was so adamant he had, he convinced his team-mates to ask for a review. Sure enough, Snicko showed Leask had given a feather edge to the ball as it passed over his head, and Sri Lanka’s referral record improved a little.