The spectators, like the bowlers, had to earn their rewards on the opening day in Melbourne but, once again, the pressure built by Australia’s attack kept them on top

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG26-Dec-20130:00

‘Getting KP would have been nice’ – Harris

Colin McDonald scored five Test centuries but reckons his most memorable innings was the 91 he made against West Indies at his home ground, the MCG, in 1960-61. “I would rather have got a hundred,” he said, “but I can still dine out on the fact that I got one run for every thousand people there.”There were 90,800 at the MCG when McDonald missed his century 52 years ago, a world-record attendance for a single day of Test cricket until 91,092 turned up on Boxing Day 2013. No batsman can claim a McDonald-like feat this time, so dour was the play. Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle accumulated a dot ball per thousand spectators (and then some), but if they try to dine out on the story they’ll go hungry.Dot balls and maidens are not sexy. When Australian fans think back to this series in future years they’ll remember Mitchell Johnson’s speed, the way he had England’s batsmen jumping. That will be true also of the record crowd on Boxing Day. For the first six hours, the spectators largely entertained themselves. Boxing Day is as much a social event as a cricket occasion, a once-a-year-catch-up.As stumps approached they were roused – and probably soused. Johnson’s spell with the second new ball drew the kind of cheers, chants and hand-clapping that close one-day finishes did back in the 1980s. As Tim Bresnan ducked a bouncer nudging 150kph, as he failed to evade another soon afterwards and was nearly caught at leg gully, the crowd bayed.Johnson has rightly stirred the spectators throughout this series; the line of children at Cricket Australia’s family day at the MCG on Monday was full of kids who wanted to be the next Mitchell Johnson, or the next David Warner. Whatever they did, it had to be exciting. The roars when Johnson had Ben Stokes caught at slip, and then rattled Jonny Bairstow’s off stump during his quick and fiery late spell suggested the adult fans agreed.The 91,092 spectators will remember that last half hour, the bouncers, the five slips, the plays and misses, the sense that anything might happen. They won’t recall the dots and maidens, dots and maidens, dots and maidens that accrued earlier in the day, as they have throughout the series, often from the opposite end to Johnson, enhancing the pressure felt by batsmen facing him.Lots of dots and not of shots, Dr Seuss might have observed if he’d watched the first day at the MCG. England’s batsmen spent much of their time playing for survival, a natural instinct against Johnson, and an expected reaction given the thoughtless way some of their players have been dismissed in the first three Tests. But rotating the strike would have alleviated the pressure that built, in particular from Harris and Siddle.Harris sent down 104 dot balls throughout the day, Siddle 110. The lengths bowled by Harris made him harder to drive than a monster truck. Siddle was especially miserly against Kevin Pietersen. He bowled 69 deliveries to Pietersen and only six were scored from. This year Siddle’s method of drying Pietersen’s runs has generally returned his wicket. Here it didn’t, but Pietersen nearly succumbed twice to Harris.It was as if Pietersen had decided Siddle would get him an 11th time in Test cricket, and thus felt Harris was the man to score runs off. Pietersen had 6 from 44 balls when he hooked Harris and was caught at fine leg, only for Nathan-Coulter Nile to carry the ball over the boundary. By the time Pietersen had faced 110 deliveries, that six was one of only two boundaries he had managed; not surprisingly he tried to pull when Harris gave him the hint of a short ball, but George Bailey at short midwicket couldn’t cling on.Mitchell Johnson’s late burst built on the pressure Australia applied throughout the day•Getty ImagesIan Bell was similarly becalmed, ultimately edging a ball he might have left had he not been starting to fret about scoring runs rather than surviving. “[Bowling in areas they’re not comfortable] is what we didn’t do in England, especially with Bell. We sat down at the start of the series and really concentrated on him and trying to tie him down, and that worked today with him nicking one,” Harris explained. “The same as the rest of the batsmen, we’re trying to tie them down and put as much pressure on them as possible and make them make the play.”If we’re bowling like we did today we’re going to have days like that where they’re not scoring many runs for the day because we’re putting so much pressure on them. I think they are aggressive normally, I just don’t think we’re letting them be aggressive. Cooky came out this morning and was aggressive, and once we got through that first hour we pulled it back and he got himself out I guess. KP’s normally aggressive but we’ve bowled well enough to him to not let him dictate and play his own game.”Australia’s economy has been the envy of the world during the global financial crisis and the envy of England during this series. Again it was accumulating dots and maidens that accounted for Joe Root, though in his case it was Johnson stopping the runs and Harris who claimed the reward. Root seemed incapable of rotating the strike against Johnson, so intent he was on surviving.He batted out 34 dots to Johnson from 40 balls faced; his last 42 balls from any bowler brought only six runs. Harris came on, Root wanted to feel bat on ball, maybe push a single, and edged a superb outswinger behind. Alastair Cook, too, pushed outside off, though he was a victim not of dots and maidens in this match so much as in the first three of the series. His prior lack of scoring intent seemed to weigh on his mind and led to a brisk opening and an edge to a Siddle ball he might have left.England finished the day at 6 for 226; not since 1997 had a team batted throughout a full, non rain-affected first day in Melbourne and scored so few runs. The Australians in the crowd will remember few of the runs and little of the pressure built by Siddle, Harris, Johnson, Shane Watson and Nathan Lyon, whose early spell especially was economical.Johnson’s late, quick spell will be the lasting memory. But as in Brisbane, and Adelaide, and Perth, Siddle and Harris built the pressure. They may not dine out on their figures in years to come, but they should be satisfied with their work in front of a record crowd.

ESPNcricinfo presents plays of the day from the deciding one-day international between West Indies and England

Andrew McGlashan05-Mar-2014Blow of the dayThe pitches for these one-dayers had previously been tricky for batting, but not because of excessive bounce. Joe Root, therefore, can count himself unlucky for copping a painful blow on his right thumb from a Ravi Rampaul delivery which spat off a length and jarred his digit against the handle of the bat. For a moment it looked doubtful whether he could continue, but after some strapping and painkillers showed plenty of Yorkshire grit. The end result was worth it. Quite how bad the damage, though, was not clear.Review of the dayJos Buttler was on 22 when he flashed at Marlon Samuels. There was a curious appeal from West Indies – Ramdin threw the ball up and Samuels, in his Mr Cool way, just strode through in a matter-of-fact acceptance of the wicket. Buttler stood there then after an age Marais Erasmus raised his finger; almost in unison Buttler made the DRS signal. There has been no Hot Spot or Snicko available for this series, but after considerable viewings of the replay the third umpire Rod Tucker felt confident enough to advise that the decision could be overturned.About-turn of the dayWhen Dwayne Smith pulled Stuart Broad’s first ball to deep square-leg it left West Indies 10 for 2. In walked the No. 4 batsman, Samuels. But not for long. He had been off the field during England’s innings and the early fall of wickets meant the innings was not old enough to make up the time he was absent, so he had to make a quick u-turn and was replaced by Lendl Simmons.Appeal of the dayBroad was amazed when Simmons survived a review for a caught behind. He was roaring another appeal a short while later, convinced he had Ramdin caught behind, and again umpire Joel Wilson said not out. With his review gone Broad just had to turn around and get on with his over but his face was turning a bright shade of red, and not just because of the Antigua sun.Awareness of the dayBroad had plenty on his mind in the closing overs as Ramdin flayed England’s bowlers around the ground, but still had his wits about him to be in the right position to pull off the run out of Sunil Narine. Ramdin had clubbed the ball to midwicket, Narine was backing up almost halfway down the pitch and was always struggling to regain his ground. However, Broad had to be careful not to crash into the stumps before collecting the return and then managed to flick the bails off despite his weight carrying him the wrong way.

Plays of the day from the match between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi

Siddarth Ravindran26-Apr-2014The single
“Gambhir, please open your account,” read a banner as the Kolkata Knight Riders captain walked in to bat after three ducks in a row. He was nearly dismissed first ball again as a leading edge was almost taken by the bowler Sandeep Sharma, who dived to his right and got a hand on the ball but couldn’t hold on. There was a Mitchell Johnson bouncer to survive soon after, and then Gambhir guided one to fine leg to score his first run of the season. The relief was short-lived for Gambhir, though, as he chipped a catch to short extra cover without adding to his score. At least he will be spared the “Audi” nickname Mark Waugh earned after scoring four ducks in a row against Sri Lanka in 1992.The run-out
Cheteshwar Pujara has played some lengthy innings in this tournament during which he struggled so much some of his fans wished for his dismissal. He didn’t last long today, but it was still a struggle. He wafted at his first delivery and was beaten, on his fifth he needed a big stretch to get home in time to complete the second run. After the first ball of the second over, the umpire raised his finger, when Pujara gloved (though his hand was off the handle) a Morne Morkel bouncer to the keeper only to be reprieved as replays showed the bowler had overstepped. Pujara heaved at the free hit and gave a catch to mid-off for a single. He never got the strike back, as he was run-out attempting a quick single three balls later. His luck had run out.The yorker
Morkel has been fearsome with the new ball this season, and was causing havoc with his bouncers. However, it was a pinpoint yorker that brought him what is currently the most prized wicket in the tournament. Glenn Maxwell has been laying bowling attacks to waste so far, and it was perhaps the confidence from those knocks which prompted him to move across the stumps and attempt a brash flick against Morkel. Even in this form, though, it was a tough shot to pull off against a 149kph yorker. Maxwell missed, and the ball lasered in to leg stump.The googly
It was the googly that first brought Piyush Chawla fame nearly a decade ago when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar with it in a Challenger Series match. He showed why it remains a potent weapon in limited-overs cricket, when he confounded a well-set Virender Sehwag, the most destructive player of spin in the Kings XI side, with one that spun in to sneak between bat and pad and take the top of middle stump.The comeback
When Mitchell Johnson came out to bat, he was made to look clueless by Sunil Narine. The ball spun in between the big gap between bat and pad, handing Johnson a golden duck.The match was virtually over as a contest when Narine came out to bat in the 14th over with Knight Riders at 65 for 7. That didn’t prevent Johnson from firing a full, fast ball that that took out Narine’s offstump. If that wasn’t enough, Johnson also screamed in joy as though he had turned the game around, and not just taken a tailender’s wicket. Perhaps a reminder to Narine that Johnson too can make batsmen look clueless.

Otherwise good batsmen who had unaccountable dips in form when they moved to a different spot in the batting order

Andy Zaltzman06-May-2014A learned cricket-loving shrink with some time to spare could probably write a book about the psychology of batting positions. Why do some players thrive in a certain spot in the order but struggle when just one place higher or lower? What causes a world-beating No. 5 to be a ploddingly pedestrian No. 4, or a useless No. 10 to come alive when batting in single figures? Admittedly, such a book might not instantly topple JK Rowling or Dan Brown from the top of the bestseller charts (unless Rowling and/or Brown were to ghostwrite it with their magic unit-shifting typewriters), but some cricket fans would at least peruse its back cover before deciding to buy a copy of The Official ECB “How To” Guide To Controversially Sacking High-Profile Cricketers instead.The positive and negative effects of pressure, expectation and confidence can all affect players in different ways. Some might like the sinuous curves of the number 8 gleaming out from the scoreboard, but be terrified of the angular threat of the 7. One player might have fallen in love with the number 6 whilst watching Sesame Street as a child; another might suffer from recurring nightmares about being chased out of a pavilion by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and as a result be unable to bat at second wicket down. Some cricketers are statistically impervious to changing places in the batting order. Others become completely different players when shunted up or down. This XI is dedicated to them, to those whose Test match statistics suggest a surprising frailty in a specific position in the batting order, which might be caused by any of the above factors, or by something completely different, or my mere numerical chance. There are, I think, some unexpected members of what would undoubtedly be a highly competitive team. If all of the players were batting in different spots in the order.Qualification: minimum 20 innings in the position in question (ten innings for numbers 8 and below), plus a significant body of evidence from elsewhere in the batting order.Stipulations: to qualify for this XI, a batsman need not necessarily have failed in his position, but his returns in that position should be oddly disappointing, compared to his run-scoring exploits when batting elsewhere. He should have played a significant proportion of his career in the position, ideally to the point of selectorial questionability. His relative failures in the position in question should have been accumulated over the course of several years, rather than being attributable to having struggled there early or late in his career (thus excluding, for example, Matthew Hayden at No. 1 (average 34), Shivnarine Chanderpaul at Nos 3 and 4 (averaged 34 in both positions). All selections are final, legally enforceable, and spiritually binding. All team members, alive and dead, are to report to whatever that big cricket facility in Dubai is called, next Monday morning, for pre-season training and psychological evaluation by a batting-order specialist.Number 1: Geoffrey Boycott (England; 117 innings at 1, average 43.9; 74 innings at No. 2, average 55.2)

Boycott is the archetypal Test match No. 1. Defiant, resilient, technically unimpeachable, capable of facing the first delivery of a Test whilst thinking: “I will still be batting in five days’ time.” However, his average as a No. 1 is significantly and strangely inferior to his record at 2. And by the time he dropped permanently to No. 2 in 1979-80 to accommodate Graham Gooch, his record at 2 (averaging 72 with five centuries in 28 innings) was almost 30 runs per dismissal better than his performance at 1.To put this in context, Chris Gayle, who is many things as a cricket, but is certifiably not the archetypal Test match No. 1, has a better average when facing the first ball than Boycott does (45.1 to 43.9). And of the 41 batsmen to have batted at 1 in 50 or more Test innings, Boycott has just the 20th highest average.By contrast, of the 27 batsmen to have batted at 2 in 50 or more Test innings, Boycott has the third-best average, behind Herbert Sutcliffe and Hayden. Other players have greater disparities between their averages at 1 and 2, but Boycott’s relative statistical ordinariness at No. 1 is more surprising than any shot he played in almost two decades of international cricket.Number 2: Mark Taylor (Australia; 96 innings at 2, average 36.1; 90 innings at 1, average 52.0)
Taylor did not come across as the kind of player to become discombobulated by minor distractions. However, the statistics suggest that, in contrast to Boycott, he was significantly less effective when he was not allowed to face the first ball of an innings. Perhaps a minute or two fiddling with his gloves, humming classic Gregorian chants to himself (as one assumes all Australian openers have always done), or exchanging small talk with the umpire, rendered him too relaxed to bat to the best of his Baggy Green ability. Perhaps not. What is indisputable by all those who acknowledge the existence of numbers is that, using those same lists of openers with 50-plus innings at 1 and 2, Taylor is the third-highest averaging number 1, but only 23rd out of the 27 number 2s.

The statistics suggest that Mark Taylor was significantly less effective when he was not allowed to face the first ball of an innings. Perhaps a minute or two fiddling with his gloves, humming classic Gregorian chants to himself (as one assumes all Australian openers have always done), or exchanging small talk with the umpire, rendered him too relaxed to bat

Number 3: Norman O’Neill (Australia; 21 innings at 3, average 32.0; 41 innings at 4, average 57.4)
Great things were expected of the young O’Neill after some dazzling Sheffield Shield performances and a striking Test debut. As a No. 4, he largely fulfilled these expectations, and remains in the all-time top 10 in that position, second only to Greg Chappell among Australians.The Baggy Green selectors then decided to change a winning formula, and picked their dominant and consistently successful No. 4 as a No. 3. He played there in 21 of his final 46 innings, without scoring a century, and, despite continuing to average well in his favoured slot, was finished as a Test player at the age of 28. As the old saying goes: “Do not force Muddy Waters to sing Abba songs. He will do them adequately at best.”Number 4: David Gower (England; 91 innings at 4, average 38.3; 56 innings at 3, average 49.4; 49 innings at 5, average 49.5)
If Boycott seemed to be the perfect No. 1, then Gower would appear to be the identikit No. four – perhaps too loose to bat at 3, and too important to the team’s success to be sacrificed to the newish ball, but with the flair, technique, temperament and range of strokes ideally suited to shaping the innings from one place lower in the order, and too good to be hidden at No. 5.Gower duly batted more often for England at 4 than anywhere else. However, he scored only three of his 18 Test centuries at 4, and averaged 11 runs fewer, and scored at a significantly inferior strike rate (45 runs per 100 balls), than he did at both No. 3 and No. 5, where his statistics are almost identical (average 49, strike rate 54 in both positions).One can easily understand why a No. 3 faces different technical challenges to a No. 4; and, to a lesser extent, why the demands of batting at 5 are also distinct from those faced at 4. But for a batsman to be so excellent at both 3 and 5 (Gower is England’s best of the last 40 years at 3, and second best at 5, in terms of average), whilst being relatively unexceptional in the position in which he was most often selected, is as curious as some of the shots, socks and aeroplane flights for which Gower used to be so regularly criticised.Nevertheless, he remains England’s most elegant No. 3, its most graceful No. 4, and its most stylish No. 5 of the past 2000 years. His cover drive could solve the Ukraine crisis, and his flick through midwicket could make a fossilised dog bark with joy.Number 5 and captain: Nawab of Pataudi Jr (India; 45 innings at 5, average 26.2; 38 innings elsewhere, average 46.0)
Pataudi batted at 5 in well over half of his Test innings, but scored only one of his six centuries there, and sits a lowly 90th on the table of 94 batsmen who have batted No. 5 in 20 or more innings. Counting only innings at 4, 6 and 7, however, Pataudi’s average of 47 in 37 innings places him alongside Martin Crowe, Clive Lloyd and Kevin Pietersen. As a No. 5, he was marginally superior to Ashraful. Which is, as suggested above, nothing to write home about. Unless that letter reads: “Dear Everyone, I hope you are all well. I must try really hard to score more runs when batting at No. 5. Yours sincerely, etc., the Nawab (Jr).”Next time: Which all-time-great allrounder was a surprisingly run-of-the-mill No. 6? Which modern-day legend has been less than half as productive when batting in his normal position than when one place higher or lower? Can Ajit Agarkar work his way into yet another Confectionery Stall XI? And which perfectly decent No. 8 was also one of the worst No. 10s in Test history? Tune in next week for the second and final thrilling instalment of The Curiously Disappointing in a Particular Batting Position Test XI.

India’s recent track of record of lower-order runs is poor, but they began correcting that with a mammoth 10th wicket stand which showed the application and mindset that has often been lacking

Sidharth Monga at Trent Bridge10-Jul-20143:18

Agarkar: Last stand reduced India’s chances of losing

The key for Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar was that they did not just throw their bats•Getty ImagesYou would need a bad memory – not always a bad thing – to have not thought of Durban just after lunch. Back then, in the last week of the last year, India had been given a flat slow pitch, they had won the toss, had got a good start to the innings, but their tail showed no fight whatsoever when they could have batted South Africa out of the game, made sure they would not lose the series and gone after the South Africa batsman with a free mind. The last five wickets went for 14, India lost the series, and nothing summed the situation up better than Zaheer Khan’s second-ball duck ending through a slash after moving away from the stumps.It showed poor team culture. These were the same bowlers who had given India valuable runs when the team was playing at its best; they were now either running away or not taking their batting seriously. In an era when every tailender, armoured and spoiled by pitches going flatter by the day, makes bowlers get him out, India’s tail was non-existent in away matches. Between July 2011 and July 2014, before the start of this match, India have averaged 16.62 for the last three wickets. Only West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe have fared worse. Until today India did not feature in any of the big last-three wicket partnerships over that period.Going by that track record, this game was going away, and going away fast. And this was an innings where you would have expected extra responsibility from the lower middle order given the bold move of playing only five batsmen. MS Dhoni showed that responsibility, although he was aided by some good fortune. Ravindra Jadeja did not, and got out to a loose shot, although it did seem that Jadeja going for his shots was part of a plan. Debutant Stuart Binny played a horrible nothing shot, and Ishant Sharma misjudged a leave. This was Durban all over again: India had lost four wickets for four runs, they were going to get bowled out for a sub-par score on a flat pitch, and hand over all the momentum to the hosts.Tail-end runs are as much about attitude as they are about skill and luck. Sometimes you enjoy some good fortune and have a bit of a lark. Sometimes your No. 9 has the skills of a batsman. Mostly, though, they start with a bit of application, an attitude that says ‘I am not getting myself out’, and you enjoy the luck, the bowlers get tired, and it gets difficult to get you out because most of bowlers’ training is in getting proper batsmen out. Everything worked out for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami here, and they ended up scoring their maiden Test fifties, posted India’s longest last-wicket partnership outside Asia, and all but made sure India cannot lose this Test now.This pitch was similar to Durban. And although there was no Dale Steyn, India still needed some application from somewhere because this match was slipping out of their hands. A calm head needed to arrest that momentum. Bhuvneshwar provided that calm head. He once scored a Duleep Trophy century, which featured a 127-run stand with a No. 11, out of which the No. 11 made only 39. He began similarly here, protecting Shami for a period before letting him become an equal partner, once assured that he could fend for himself on this benign track.”We just wanted to bat for as long as possible,” Bhuvneshwar later said.Bhuvneshwar batted almost like a proper batsman while Shami had a bit of fun. Most important was that they were not playing soft shots, at least not at the start of the innings. Good fortune followed. A half chance flew wide of short mid-on, the position that had claimed Cheteshwar Pujara on the opening day. Another edge was missed by umpire Bruce Oxenford, who had another shocker with ruling M Vijay out incorrectly.Dhoni has often spoken of the value of the lower-order runs, not just as pure runs but also as a nuisance for the other team, especially their openers. With the whole team coming out to the balcony to applaud the duo’s milestones, you could sense the importance they attached to this partnership, especially after more than a couple of them had been naughty with their batting.You usually associate entertainment and hilarity with partnerships between two tailenders, but there was not much here, thanks largely to an unresponsive pitch. Bhuvneshwar acknowledged this was more like an Indian surface than an English one. Not many might have been entertained by this particular stand, but the value of it in that Indian dressing room is immense. For starters, they will not be thinking of Durban too much.

Birds on the pitch provided more entertainment than the batsmen

Sudhindra Prasad16-Aug-2014Choice of game
The deciding Test of the series at a ground with a good atmosphere, during a month that normally offers the lowest rain interruptions during the English summer, wasn’t one I could pass on. I decided to do three days this time around.Team supported
India. Trailing 1-2 and with the game starting on the Indian independence day, I was fervently hoping the return of the lucky charms of the Lord’s Test – Siva, my friend from Dresden and from my hometown, Stuart Binny, and I – will change the team’s fortunes. I don’t think we worked, though.Originally set for the legendary Brabourne Stadium, we had to change our travel plans to Mohali to watch the last match of the India-England Test series in 2008. That Test proved to be the last for Peter Moores in his first stint as England coach. After the recent Lord’s Test defeat, I was quietly hoping to be the Moores’ jinx yet again. If only the Indian team showed some fight since that landmark Lord’s Test.Key performer
It was the day of Chrises. With some questions raised recently about Woakes and Jordan, both played their parts to perfection. Whilst Woakes’ consistency was wow-worthy, Jordan’s consistent spray-gun style bowling makes one wonder as to how big a match-winner he would be, once he gets his radar consistently right.Shot of the day
The first of the two off drives by Sam Robson. Playing for his place in the side, that shot had a touch of class, especially after the Indian struggles earlier in the day in that corridor of uncertainty.Face-off I relished
Varun Aaron against the England speedsters. With a score to settle after Stuart Broad’s injury, the pace attack did unleash a few short ones at Aaron. After taking a few blows, Aaron succumbed rather tamely to Woakes.Accessories
More saffron, green and Team India blue than ever. Back in the day in Bangalore, I used to get my mom to give me saffron, red and green dress materials to make funky headbands for the cricket. A good 20 years since, I see myself digging into my daughter’s painting materials to fix up face paint.Crowd meter
A full house, with the majority being home fans, came into its own during the second session. The OCS stand saw an interesting duel between the fans and the stewards over beer snakes. As the first snake got snaffled by the stewards, various sections of their crowd started to contribute to newer snakes, with the rest of the crowd firmly behind them. This made up for the somewhat lack of entertainment out in the middle.Stuart Binny got his first song today, to the tune of Pink Panther. It went “Stuey Stuey, Stuey, Stuey Stuey Stuey, Stueyyyyyy, Stuey Binny”.Pitch inspection

This happened on a few occasions today, with the curious inspectors being of the feathered variety. On one particular occasion, it took all of MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, James Anderson and Robson to get them off the pitch. Hmmm… were there any jellybeans on the pitch?Lord’s v The Oval
Though lacking in history stakes to Lord’s, The Oval always made up with their fabulous atmosphere. The recent introduction of free internet to all spectators at Lord’s has made it even more convenient. The Oval stewards’ bizarre request to a couple of Indian supporters chanting the bowler’s name to “keep it down since the umpire cannot hear the edges” will dent The Oval’s atmosphere edge. Lord’s is my choice.Marks out of 10
6. Insipid and gutless batting display by India, which was in contrast to the comfort shown by the England openers. It will be a hard game to save from here on for India.

South Africa’s premier spinner was selected as an attacking option, but in the Galle Test when conditions were in his favour, Imran Tahir was unable to be effective and might have to change his mindset going forward

Firdose Moonda 22-Jul-2014What is it they say about leopards? They cannot change their spots, right? Wrong.Four years ago, it was discovered, Rudyard Kipling was onto something when he wrote his tale of how the leopard got its spots. It was described as a gift from an Ethiopian, who said, “Now you can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves; and you can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular.” The leopard was being prepped for camouflage, which implicitly implies change. It has taken the better part of a hundred years but scientists now agree coat-marking helps animals blend into their surroundings, and even changes over time to better adapt. Leopards that live in dense bush will have more intricate and complex spots than those that migrate to grasslands, where future generations adapt to fit the less-is-more theory.Claude Henderson, South Africa’s spin consultant, wants Imran Tahir to change his spots too.Once heralded as an attacking addition to the Test pack, Tahir’s lack of wickets in Galle has led to questions over his role. His lone strike in 45 overs would cause further raised eyebrows considering Galle welcomes his kind with open arms, especially in the latter stages of a Test.Although the turn was described as being slower than normal, Sri Lanka’s two spinners shared 11 victims between them. Tahir, who bowled on the fourth and fifth days, could not be a similar threat. Given that he is South Africa’s premier spinner, he should offer more in the twilight stage of a Test, especially in one where conditions suit him.Henderson wants to put paid to all that. “He must not fall into the trap that, because we are in Sri Lanka, wickets are dry and the spinners come into play, he feels he must take five wickets. It’s about building the pressure. Wickets are a bonus,” Henderson said after the Galle Test.If you are searching the memory bank for where you have heard sentiment similar to that before, it is what South Africa used to say when they spoke about Robin Peterson, Paul Harris, Nicky Boje and Henderson himself.”We always talk about spinners trying to be consistent in the areas that they bowl, that doesn’t mean how many runs they go for but how many singles they go for in an over,” Henderson said, about what is expected of Tahir now.

He [Tahir] must not fall into the trap that, because we are in Sri Lanka, wickets are dry and the spinners come into play, he feels he must take five wickets. It’s about building the pressure. Wickets are a bonusClaude Henderson, South Africa spin-bowling coach

He thought Tahir showed improvement on the fifth day, that “he was more consistent,” and “that’s what coaches want their bowlers to do.” On day four Tahir bowled 11 overs for 41 runs and his variation was the googly-turned-long hop. On day five he bowled nine overs for 24 runs and he used the googly better. There was a difference, albeit not a threatening one, but Henderson didn’t mind that.”On day four there were too many inconsistent deliveries within overs, which didn’t create enough pressure,” Henderson said. “My message will always be to the spinners, yes we have to spin the ball but can we create pressure? Can we be consistent in our areas? Immi knows what works for him. He has got his way of thinking and practicing to get it right so I’m quite happy with the way he bowled on day five.”We talk about partnerships in batting and we also talk about partnerships in bowling. If your spinner is going at sixes one end, Steyn will struggle and we saw that this morning. If you don’t strike it’s not a problem, but let’s hit our areas consistently and I thought he hit them really well today.”That is Tahir’s homework for Colombo, rather than improving his strike rate. “The challenge in the longer format for us is not to put that pressure on yourself,” Henderson said. “In one-day cricket you’ve got four guys on the boundary, in Test cricket there is none but the secret is just to try and build pressure.”It’s to ask yourself: how many dot balls can I bowl as a legspinner? How many dot balls can I bowl when I bowl my googly? How many dot balls can I bowl when I change my angle on the crease? I think that’s the recipe for us. I don’t think Imran feels the pressure of, ‘I have to take wickets’. It’s just a way of thinking of what his role is and sometimes spinners fall in the trap and think they have to be the strike bowler, when what makes us consistent is stopping the game.”All that means is Tahir is no longer seen as a strike bowler because South Africa have realised their seamers can do that job just about anywhere. With Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel taking 16 wickets in Galle, there is little argument against that belief, but it also means Tahir will be asked to change his mindset.Tahir is a naturally attacking bowler. He has described himself that way on many occasions and even said he does not mind being hit around a bit in order to take wickets. South Africa had been moving away from using their spinners in defensive roles, which suited Tahir, but everything Henderson said indicates they are on their way back there. Tahir has also been open to change, willing to try to develop other skills such as fielding, batting and holding up an end, and he has been successful in all three. Whether he can do any of them as a primary function is doubtful.What that means for JP Duminy is that he may be asked to bowl more. What that means for Dane Piedt – the reserve spinner on tour, who topped the first-class wicket charts last summer but has an impressive economy rate – will only be known in the future.But what it means for Tahir is that unless he changes his spots, he may find his Test career fading sooner than he would have liked.

Plays of the day from the Group A match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Dolphins in Hyderabad

Rachna Shetty29-Sep-2014The fumbled returns
Manish Pandey had two lucky reprieves in successive overs before he began his rampage. In both instances, he was dropped by the bowlers. Prenelan Subrayen failed to hold on to the one-handed return chance 13th over. Then in the next over, Cameron Delport dropped a straightforward chance, letting Pandey off again. The theme continued in the second innings as Piyush Chawla missed a low catch to his left from Andile Phehlukwayo.Pandey’s attack
Kyle Abbott turned in two accurate overs at the start of Knight Riders innings but when he came on to bowl towards the end, he was facing two batsmen who had already marched to the highest third-wicket partnership for Knight Riders. Manish Pandey mauled the bowler for 4, 6, 6, 4 leaving Abbott’s tidy efforts in disarray.A duck for Delport

When he sees replays of his dismissal, Cameron Delport may justifiably be a tad disappointed. Yusuf Pathan served up a short, wide ball up front, but Delport turned the ball to midwicket and Knight Riders were spared of the mayhem the opening batsman is capable of creating. It was also Delport’s second successive duck in the tournament; the opener has played just three deliveries in his last two games.The riposte
Jacques Kallis has had a string of low scores but he made a confident start against Dolphins, getting off the mark with a rasping upper cut off Craig Alexander. Two balls later, however, an angled delivery from Alexander knocked over Kallis’ legstump.

A new T20 cup competition, featuring minor counties and premier league club sides could banish the dark clouds surrounding the county game

George Dobell28-Nov-2014Times may have changed, England’s season may now stretch around the calendar and we might now have an endless diet of summer sport on television, but for the many who suffer from Cricket Season Affective Disorder, the release of the county fixtures for the coming year offer as much hopes of better times ahead as the first glimpse of snowdrops, daffodils and a new council tax bill. They all mean one thing: the cricket season is just around the corner.And with that hope comes all the familiar debates: does the season start too early (the Championship begins on April 12); does it end too late (September 25); doesn’t playing a 100-over final at Lord’s on September 19 damage the integrity of the competition (a resounding ‘yes, yes, yes’); why does the T20 competition stop just as the school holidays start? And why on earth does it start so early?There will also be the familiar refrain about there being too much cricket. And it is true that, while many spectators can never have too much, the burden on players, on pitches, on coaches and on the wider public’s interest, is sometimes counterproductive. While the season starts with some shape – Championship matches regularly begin on Sundays – by mid-July it is chaos: Championship games begin on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday, clubs play all three formats within the same week and it becomes impossible for all but the most diehard county cricket lovers to keep track of the season. By August it is worse.So it might sound counter-intuitive to suggest more cricket as the solution. But if Championship matches were played Monday to Thursday, T20 reserved for Friday nights and the 50-over competition returned to Sundays, it would free-up Saturdays for something different. And that something different could be a knockout T20 cup, incorporating the minor counties and club premier league teams.There is little peril in county cricket. Apart from the knockout stages of the 50-over or T20 competitions, sides can recover from a bad result. The campaigns are so long, that the importance of each result is diluted.But a knockout competition changes that. It provides pop drama in a schedule offering epics, it can inspire excitement and the prospect of “giant killing” – though whether any defeat of Leicestershire at present could be called as such is debatable – it can inspire new or lapsed spectators and more media interest. Not only that, but it provides a shop-window and incentive for club cricketers.To maximise the benefit of the competition, it would need to be played on free-to-air television to give it a chance to reach a new audience – Sky deserve and have the ability to deliver this – and the opening round of games that involve the first-class counties (the equivalent of the FA Cup third round), should be played at the home ground of the non-professional team.That is not just to increase the prospect of a giant killing – though the shorter boundaries and sometimes less manicured pitches might well do that – but to ensure the cricket is played at small grounds – not stadiums – where kids can get close to their heroes and a relatively small number of spectators can provide an atmosphere that might fall flat at a huge stadium such as Lord’s or Edgbaston. Besides, there is no point providing more cricket to those that already have plenty; the aim has to be to reach further and re-connect with a community that has stopped engaging with the game. It might even boost the coffers of hard-pressed clubs.The benefits of the competition extend far beyond the potential thrill of a giant killing. By including the minor counties, the ECB would ensure the competition’s relevance is spread across the country. So local media in Cornwall and Devon and Cambridge and Shropshire – media that might show little interest in professional cricket for the rest of the year – would cover the game, sponsors would be attracted by the extra reach and spectators who might not be inclined to travel to a first-class venue, might be attracted to Truro, or Wellington or Torquay.It would, in short, make county cricket relevant to people who, right now, find it irrelevant.It is not a new idea. For many years, such a competition – the Gillette Cup, the C&G or the NatWest as it was variously known – was a feature of the season. But the players and coaches didn’t like it and their views – oddly, bearing in mind that it is meant to be a spectator sport – seem to count more than those of spectators. There was a sense that, with the schedule bursting at the seams, something had to give. That something was the knockout cup.Some of us have been recommending its return for years, including to David Morgan as part of his review into domestic cricket. In recent days Michael Vaughan has thrown his support behind the idea and says he will present the notion to the ECB shortly.He will face the normal obstacles. He will be told that the current schedule is demanding on players and coaches. But he should point out that this is the reason counties retain squads of up to 30 players and how a rotation system would promote opportunities for young players. He might also point out that cricketers play a great deal less often than their counterparts in US sports such as baseball.It may also be, in time, that some county games are played overseas. The ECB mooted the thought a couple of years ago to very little support but there are those in positions of power who still favour further exploration of the idea. It could turn out to be relevant that this is the last year that the MCC has a deal to play the Champion County fixture in the UAE. It would be no surprise if the match was played in the Caribbean in future seasons and only a bit more of a surprise if, in time, it was followed by the first round of Championship games in the same venues.Either way, let us not pretend that a continuation of the status quo is adequate. We have seen a fall in participation numbers, a fall in average attendances at the re-launched T20, awful ticket sales at what might have once been considered big games (the Ageas Bowl Test is one example, but the semi-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup at Edgbaston was, in its own way, even more alarming), newspapers cutting their cricket reporters and an unhealthy reliance upon cricketers brought up at least in part overseas or at public schools to represent England.Eden is burning and we are doing our game a disservice if we look the other way. An FA Cup-style competition might help arrest the decline.

The journey of Bart and Jan Singh’s 19-year labour of love in rural Canada – the alluring Inverhaugh Cricket Club – which they built from scratch

Justin Robertson 25-Oct-2014After an hour of driving along the concrete-slabbed 401 and through a series of interconnecting highways, you come to a leafy rural Line 8 Road. Either side are turkey farms, corn crop fields and harness racing racks. Tucked underneath the armpit of a hill is a hamlet called Inverhaugh, 113km west of Toronto, where a small county-looking cricket ground exists, home to the Inverhaugh Cricket Club.I recognised Bart Singh from 50 metres away. He was busy organising a collection of sprinklers on the ground in the distance, wearing a dark blue cricket vest with a lighter blue collared shirt underneath. His wife, Jan, calls for him and waves him in. He was in post-cricket season mode: making repairs before the long Canadian winter set in.There is a whiteboard next to his shed and on it are miscellaneous to-do lists written in green sharpie: “TRIM the patio, tennis court, laneway fence, tree stumps and CUT the tennis court, the field, the pitch.” Then there are notes on rolling the pitch, regular clean-ups for match days, setting up chairs, pumping the toilets, setting up the boundary markers. On average, he says, he spends 40 hours a week to maintain and prepare the ground to an above-normal state of affairs.The 7.4-acre property he bought at an auction almost 20 years ago is up for sale for $1.89m because the Singhs can no longer maintain it on their own. They have had some support from Bart’s brother Roy and a rotating cast of volunteer players over the years but the cricket ground, the ten-wicket square and training nets were largely cultivated by Bart and Jan.For Bart, it is hard to imagine life without cricket and life without the Inverhaugh Cricket Club. He started the team in 1995, when he was 43, during the time Canada were inching up the international cricket ladder. He has never missed a game in 19 seasons. When the property was purchased in the mid-’90s, Bart decided to appoint his cricket club with the motto “”, which is simply defined as “For the Love of the Game”: a constant reminder of how cricket should be played.

“If you are going to do something, you do it right. Guys that play with me have to share that vision. Otherwise they won’t fit in here. And most of them do. They probably think I’m nuts, driving for such perfection”

Inverhaugh is an alluring ground. The surface is relatively flat and is surrounded by a ring of elm trees. It has a pavilion and an old silo used for changing rooms. There are two sightscreens, and a tree sits on the field, which, if hit, gets you four runs, just like at Canterbury’s St Lawrence ground. A lawn tennis court is pitted between the house and the cricket ground, and a six-hole golf course is hidden at the back of the property, which runs along side the flowing Grand River, full of brown trout.To keep the acreage in good shape, Bart relies heavily on a community of players and friends, arborists and mechanics, to prune the elms and tend to mowers on the blink a few hours a week. On game days, players will park their cars on the property and roll up their sleeves to remove the covers, prepare and paint the lines on the pitch.”This evolved. This was going to be a weekend getaway for us. It was just a log cabin when we bought it. Then we saw the potential,” Bart says. “I was not a curator. I did a lot of research, talked to professionals, sat through tutorials [on YouTube] and now after doing it for so long it is all second nature to me. Apart from being a professional accountant, I’m an unpaid groundsman.”It was that constant striving for perfection that drove the accountant and former tax auditor to dedicate a quarter of his life to managing a cricket ground in his backyard. “If you are going to do something, you do it right. Guys that play with me have to share that vision. Otherwise they won’t fit in here. And most of them do,” Bart says. “They probably think I’m nuts, driving for such perfection. Does the grass need cutting before the game? Yes, it does. People only play here once a year. They need to see it the way it should be seen.”In their first year at Inverhaugh, Bart and his wife chalked up more than 3000 hours of labour to clear away ratty trees, overhanging grapevines, and boulders buried underground. It was so thick you couldn’t see Grand River from the house. But to him, the grunt work was all for cricket, a sport he has played all his life.The Inverhaugh Cricket Club, with its laidback county-ground appeal, was created nearly 20 years ago•Justin RobertsonHe played with his school’s 1st XI at the age of 14, made the Ontario cricket team as an allrounder at 19, tried out for Canada’s World Cup squad in the late-’70s, and then played in the Hamilton District League for 22 years before he founded his arcadia in Inverhaugh.Almost two decades on, Inverhaugh Cricket Club has been the intersection between international cricketers and visiting amateur teams. In August, former West Indies Test batsman Alvin Kallicharran brought a team to take on Bart’s mob and made a first-ball duck trying to hook a short ball bowled by raking left-armer Ian Singh – Bart’s son. Larry Gomes has also taken centre at Inverhaugh, along with Leslie Wight, who played one Test for West Indies.Roy Singh will most likely go down as the club’s most decorated player, having topped the batting averages for every season but two, scoring the most hundreds (four), scoring 3544 runs in 110 innings at 47.25. Roy says it is the visiting teams that will stick in his mind perpetually: the Quebec team that called themselves The Pirates, a mixed team of men and women who all held hands after one match and danced off the field; the British Officers from Philadelphia whose roots go back to the 1800s; and there are the baffling team names such as Colonials Behaving Badly, The Leg Trappers and Curry Goat Match, which will always make Roy smile.”I remember one game where Ian [Singh] took three wickets in four balls bowling leg-side wides – all of them leg-side stumpings,” Roy says. “Then there was the time where one of our players, Harold Nairu, put together a team that included five national Guyanese players. They were very, very good and slaughtered us. From that day on his nickname became ‘Harold Can’t Lose’. Just a lot of good cricket moments.”Inverhaugh has accumulated 124 games in 19 seasons, with a record of 91 wins, 32 losses and one draw – against Heritage Cricket Club in 2007. This also includes two undefeated seasons of 12-0 in 2006 and 2014. Monish Walia is the only club man to take a hat-trick, in 2013 against the Pirates of St Lawrence, taking figures of 6 for 15 from 5.5 overs, claiming the last six wickets and bowling the Pirates out for 85 some 59 runs shy of victory.Vince Correira recalls his very first match in 1995, when the wicket was playing low and slow. He drove 140km from Pickering to Grand River only to be adjudged lbw first ball. In the last match of 2013, when players knew the Singhs were selling the property, Correira took 5 for 18 and scored 70 not out. “I wanted to do something special,” he said. “I thought that would be my last game of cricket for Inverhaugh. So Bart gave me the ball and moved me up the order.”On Saturday August 23, the 2014 season came to an end. Inverhaugh played their final match of the summer against Hector Duncan’s XI. Bart captained the side as usual, spread the batting around, but was expecting to roll his arm over. Inverhaugh batted first and made a very competitive 225 from 35 overs. What Bart didn’t expect was for his opening pair to bowl them out for 20 in less than nine overs to give them a 205-run victory in what could be their last win as the Inverhaugh Cricket Club.Bart knows that at 62, his time playing cricket is almost up. He said he might watch the World Cup early next year but admits Test matches are too long. Life after cricket will mean more time to golf, tennis and rest for his body.”We’ll miss everything. We created everything from scratch,” Bart says. “The sad part would be if we can’t sell it and end up subdividing it into seven or eight lots on the land – it would be a shame to just destroy everything we’ve built in the last 19 years.”