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A captain under immense pressure, a coach potentially pushing a claim for the full-time job. There is much at stake for England at the beginning of their Test summer, but at least the cricket is about to start

George Dobell at Lord's20-May-20151:33

Farbrace not looking further than New Zealand

You could be forgiven for not noticing but, in the middle of all the infighting and sackings in English cricket, a Test match is about to break out.Amid the non-stop schedule that, already this year, has included a World Cup and most of an IPL season, a Test series – even a Test series starting at Lord’s – between England and New Zealand cannot demand the attention it once did. Where once touring sides arrived weeks – months even – in advance of the Tests now New Zealand have to accept the reality of their financial situation.While the first Test side from New Zealand to tour England, in 1931, played 32 first-class games on the trip, in 2015 their top four players arrived three days before the game. For many spectators, too, this series will be little more than the overture for the Ashes.That’s a shame. For this is a fine New Zealand side – arguably the best they have had – and an England side which contains six or seven youngish, exciting players who promise to play a fresh brand of enjoyable cricket. Lord’s, at least, will appreciate the tussle: a virtual sell-out is expected over the first few days.There is plenty at stake, too. No. 3 in the Test rankings will belong to whichever side wins the series; a lowly No. 7 for the loser.And, at a time when it has become apparent in England that failure will not be tolerated, this is a particularly important series for several individuals: not least Alastair Cook and Paul Farbrace.Farbrace, the interim coach, does not appear to have been considered as a serious candidate for the full-time head coach role. Not yet, anyway.A few days ago Andrew Strauss all but dismissed Farbrace’s claims of the head coach role. He described him as the “ideal No. 2” and suggested Farbrace saw himself the same way. Strauss also suggested experience of playing at international level was desirable.But such a rating is somewhat disrespectful. Farbrace is, after all, one of the few men vying for the position – Gary Kirsten is the other – to have led an international team to a global title. He was, after all, the Sri Lanka coach when they won the World T20 little over a year ago.He also has a passion for the role that few of the overseas candidates could match. While some candidates might be uncomfortable at the extent to which Strauss has prescribed their tactics – not just in the selection of Cook as captain, but in the selection of Joe Root as vice-captain and the veto over the selection of Kevin Pietersen – Farbrace seems delighted and proud to play any part in the coaching process. Not everyone needs “persuading” – as Jason Gillespie has suggested he would require to leave Yorkshire – to become England coach.That was a theme that came across loud and clear in the pre-match media conference. Underlining his enjoyment at working with the England squad – and he did leave the job of head coach of Sri Lanka for the chance to work with his national side – he clarified that he would be delighted to take the No. 1 position but happy to remain No. 2 if required.”My passion to work with the England team is still very strong,” he said. “I wanted to work with the England team. That’s why I came back from the Sri Lanka job.”I’m in a position where I’m looking after things for a couple of weeks, and see where that gets to. If at the end of that process, I’ve turned out to be someone who has a good chance of getting the job it would be a very hard one to say no to.”Whatever the job is at the end of this process, I am very happy. I just want to be involved in working with the team and helping the team and its players to get better.”Despite everything that seems to be going on, the England head coach’s job would be a fantastic one to have.”Jason Gillespie remains a frontrunner for the role. But for some, the idea of an Australian coaching England during the Ashes will be a step too far. The Ashes is, after all, meant to be England v Australia. The ECB have, too, invested in coach development (it’s part of Andy Flower’s new role) and, only a just over a year ago, Trevor Bayliss was told that the fact that he was not British counted against him during the recruitment process for this same role.Yes, we have seen Australian coaches – the likes of David Saker and Troy Cooley – form part of the coaching team. But for an Australian to lead the unit? It will grate for some. Not least the perfectly capable English coaches who would not need “persuading” to take on such a role.Cook smiled at the thought that Farbrace was the fourth coach in his relatively short stint as captain. But he needs to take some responsibility – some regret, even – for that statistic and, while he appears to live something of a charmed life in the eyes of the ECB, he will need to sustain his much-improved form with the bat he showed in the Caribbean if he is to remain captain beyond the Ashes.Cook also captained perfectly adequately in the Caribbean, but he needs to continue that improvement. Coaches and directors have fallen because of the results of teams he has captained. There can be no-one else to blame if England – and Cook, in particular – perform badly this summer.That doesn’t mean his success is dependent on England winning the Ashes – this is a young side and it would be simplistic to judge their progress simply on results – but there does need to be development.The appointment of Root as vice-captain – and the clear demotion of Ian Bell – was a sign that the ECB are grooming replacements. Cook and Farbrace are on trial.

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2015Mushfiqur Rahim resisted Pakistan from running away with the advantage…•AFP… in the company of Soumya Sarkar, but his debut Test innings was cut short at 33 off 55 balls and the partnership on 62•AFPBut then came the collapse. Yasir Shah claimed two of the five final Bangladesh wickets for 27 runs and limited the hosts to 332•AFPBangladesh got rid of debutant Sami Aslam for 20 off 36 balls, but the opening stand had already added 50 runs by then•AFPMohammad Hafeez struck his third century in as many Tests to establish Pakistan’s dominance on the second day•AFPHafeez and Azhar Ali, who made 65 off 136, batted through to stumps, their second-wicket partnership on an unbeaten 177 runs•AFP

What would have happened had Sarkar stayed longer is hard to tell but it could have meant more entertainment for the Mirpur crowd that was lapping up his boundaries

Mohammad Isam18-Jun-2015Soumya Sarkar doesn’t quite see the beauty in his strokes. At times on Thursday, he did hold his pose when he drove the ball past the fielder. He would have enjoyed his eight boundaries and six in his 40-ball stay but probably not how it ended. An innings that started with much grace ended when Sarkar was found short of the crease by a Suresh Raina direct hit.After a promising 54, Sarkar trudged back and the Shere Bangla National Stadium’s noise, that had grown louder and louder with each of his eight boundaries and six, was muted abruptly.But for close to an hour, Sarkar had gripped Mirpur. Every stroke was admirable and it all came by being mindful of the bowlers’ shifts in lines and lengths. He was comfortable transferring weight to back and front foot from his balanced stance. Ramrod straight he stands, but the gaps he finds has much to do with suppleness of wrists and a fresh mind.Sarkar has been part of winning Bangladesh side seven times in his 10 ODIs before this game, so his batting reflects what he has seen so far in international cricket. It makes a difference; just ask Habibul Bashar or Al Sahariar or even Shahriar Nafees. Sarkar is showing Bangladesh what a winning mindset bats like.His first two boundaries were driven, through mid-off and over cover. His commitment to an aerial shot could put him in trouble but since last December, the upright elbow has looked assured. In the seventh over Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s two short balls were dispatched quite easily, before R Ashwin was cover-driven with glee. Soumya’s favourite shot is the cover drive and it brought him another boundary-ball, Ashwin slipping one down the leg-side and Sarkar tickling it fine.At the other end, Tamim Iqbal was batting in a similar gear, which helped the pair add runs quickly. Tamim got most of his boundaries at that stage through an 18-run Umesh Yadav over in which he got three fours – an edge through the slips, a slash past point and a hammer through mid-on – and a six over cover. But you couldn’t take your eyes off Sarkar.He continued being disdainful in his strokeplay by hammering Mohit Sharma over midwicket before launching into his first six, off Ashwin. The ball ended up beyond the midwicket rope but after getting to the pitch of the ball, he could have dumped it anywhere.In the 14th over, three balls before his dismissal, Sarkar played the finest of upper cuts. You wouldn’t have known Sarkar had that shot but he doesn’t just look like a batsman pleased with his strokeplay. He found runs wherever India bowled, even if it was wayward.The run-out wasn’t entirely Tamim’s fault. He had just dug out a yorker and was falling over in the follow-through, which Sarkar took as a suggestion for a single. Tamim said no quickly, but it was not quick enough. The wicket slowed down Bangladesh, as they lost their way and were momentarily in trouble at 146 for four by the next ten overs. Only an 83-run fifth wicket stand between Shakib Al Hasan and Sabbir Rahman took the home side towards the 300-run mark, their first against India.What would have happened had Sarkar stayed longer is hard to tell. But it could have meant more entertainment for the Mirpur crowd that was lapping up his boundaries.Sarkar’s languid leg-side shots say what a natural batting talent he is while the off-side tells you that he is not one to let go of opportunities. Down the ground he can be derisive, almost aloof at the way he drives the ball. But 56 minutes wouldn’t be enough, not from a batsman who has so much on offer.

Stats highlights from Durban as South Africa succumbed to a third consecutive defeat

Shiva Jayaraman30-Dec-20155 Number of times South Africa have lost in their last six Tests at Kingsmead. Their only win at this venue since 2009 came against India in 2013-14. South Africa’s win-loss record at Kingsmead against England equals their second worst at any venue where they have played more than two Tests.2010 Last time England won the first Test of an away series, which was against Bangladesh in Chittagong. Before that, their previous instance of starting a Test tour with a win came in Port Elizabeth in 2004. England won that five-match series 2-1.18 Number of Tests won by Alastair Cook as England captain, out of 42. He now has as many wins as Mike Brearley had from 31 Tests as captain. Click here for a list of England captains with most wins in Tests.0.25 South Africa’s win-loss ratio in Tests this year – equals their worst in any year since their return to Test in 1992. This is the eighth time South Africa have lost four or more Tests in a year and six of them have come since their readmission.241 Runs South Africa lost the Test by – their third worst defeat at home in terms of runs since 1992. They lost the Centurion Test against Australia last year by 281 runs, which is their worst. Including innings defeats, this is South Africa’s sixth-worst loss at home since readmission. This is also their second-worst defeat against England during this period.2009 The last time South Africa were bowled out by England in Tests for a lower score. That, too, happened at Kingsmead, when the hosts were dismissed for 133 in their second innings. Since 1992, five of South Africa’s lowest Test totals have come in Durban. This was also the lowest total for which South Africa have been bowled out in the fourth innings at home since 1992.5 Number of times since 2000 England won an away Test by a margin bigger than their 241-run win in this Test. Their last such win came at the SCG in 2010-11 when they won by an innings and 83 runs. One of those five wins also came against South Africa in Durban, in 2009, when they defeated the hosts by an innings and 98 runs.2009 Last time South Africa lost three consecutive Tests before this. On that occasion, Australia were the opposition in all three Tests and the defeats came in Sydney, Johannesburg and Durban.6 Number of Tests lost by South Africa since 2014; four of these losses have been by a margin of 200 or more runs. The defeat in this Test was their second such loss in succession, having been beaten in Delhi by a margin of 337 runs.0 Number of century stands for South Africa in Tests in 2015 – only the sixth time a team has failed to put up a single century stand from five or more Tests (with at least one innings played) in a year. The last such instance was by Bangladesh in 2002 when they had no century stands from eight Tests. For South Africa, this is the first year since 1963 when they haven’t had a hundred stand in Tests.0 Man-of-the-Match awards won by Moeen Ali in Tests before this. He took 7 wickets from the 51 overs he bowled in the match and conceded 116 runs at an economy of 2.27. Moeen’s figures in this match were the third best by an England spinner in a Test at Kingsmead.38 Runs added by South Africa’s last six wickets in their second innings – their third-worst collapse in Tests at home since their readmission to Test cricket. Their worst such collapse came in Cape Town in 2011-12 when their last six managed to add just 23 runs.

Australia are favourites to seal a fourth successive Women’s World T20 title, with their main competition likely to come from the team across the Tasman

Vithushan Ehantharajah14-Mar-2016Antipodean shootout?
It’s hard to look beyond Australia and New Zealand for the title. Australia, sniffing their fourth successive Women’s World T20 trophy, seem to be the frontrunners. The Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) can take some credit for that: the success of the competition in its first year has added plenty of sheen to Australia’s game. Despite Australia breaking new ground domestically, though, they have lost their last three T20I series, the most recent of which came against New Zealand earlier this month. Factor in the loss of Grace Harris – one of the most exciting talents – and you begin to look at the team and wonder who beyond Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry you would file in the “match-winner” category. Then again, you might say the same thing about New Zealand with Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine. The two teams square off in Nagpur on March 21 and it’s hard not to think back to the men’s 2015 World Cup, when New Zealand beat Australia in the group stages, before Australia exacted revenge in the final. England, sitting in Group B, will be the match-up they’d want to save for the final.The outside bets
What’s an international tournament without a dark horse? If there’s a side that has shown the best on-field return on investment in women’s cricket recently, it’s South Africa. October 2013 marked a key moment in their history, as they joined England, Australia, West Indies and Pakistan in offering central contracts to their players. The following year, they made the semi-final of the 2014 World T20, which in hindsight might have been a jump too far as they were blown away by England. But, two years on, they have notched their first T20I win over England, along with their first ever T20I series win over West Indies. Theirs is a team mixing youth, experience and the sort of on-field buzz that sees them capable of defending low scores. The issue with this particular call is that they share Group A with New Zealand and Australia. And while they lack depth beyond their first XI, this is the first time Mignon du Preez has been able to have such a well-rounded attack. It is spearheaded by Shabnim Ismail who, in her ninth year of international cricket, has developed a full set of skills to counter some of the best batsmen in the world.India’s Smriti Mandhana, all of 19, is a player to watch out for•Getty ImagesThe next generation
If you’re keen for a home favourite, then look no further than Smriti Mandhana, a 19-year-old left-hand batsman who can unfurl the sort of square drives that will have you falling in love all over again. Then there is her team-mate Deepti Sharma, an 18-year-old offspinner who had spent the last few weeks tying Sri Lanka in knots.South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk has been around since 2009, but it has only been in the last three years that she has enjoyed sustained success with both bat and ball. Australia’s Jess Jonassen is up there with Mandhana as the most watchable left-handers in the game, while compatriot Lauren Cheatle, just 17, is an exciting left-arm quick who took 18 WBBL wickets at 19.72. West Indies’ Hayley Matthews – also 17 – is another fascinating all-round prospect. Away from your usual suspects, Cath Dalton of Ireland is an interesting case. A former England academy player, Dalton switched allegiances to Ireland to further her international career. While she had looked to make her way as a fast bowling allrounder, it is her batting which has become her strongest suit.(A caveat to this is that, disappointingly, only 13 women’s matches will be broadcast: 10 out of the 20 group matches, the semi-finals and final. Still, this is an improvement on previous editions, when only the semis and final were televised.)Not pitch perfect
An issue that continues to blight women’s cricket. It feels like in the last year playing surfaces have come under more intense scrutiny; pitch curators have been sacked, tosses scrapped, soils imported and heated words exchanged over 22-yards of dirt track. We ask a lot of our groundsmen and women with the sheer volume of cricket in the calendar, but it’s hard not to look at the pitches produced in Nagpur last week for the men’s first round of games and worry what might be in store for the women, who often get the short shrift when it comes to pitch rotation. It’s a shame really: the lower bounce and tackier surface that is prepared – or rather, underprepared – for many women’s fixtures rob us and them of their recently developed skills, such as hitting big down the ground and fizzing one past the ears. Good pitches will give these players the confidence to show just how expansive they can be.More money, less parity
For the third competition in a row, the prize money on offer in the women’s competition has increased. The figure this time around is US $400,000 overall, an increase of 22% from 2014’s figure of $328,000. In 2009 and 2010, that collective sum was only $45,000 with a small increase to $60,000 for 2012. This year’s winners will pocket $70,000 of the kitty, with the runners-up netting $30,000. Losing semi-finalists walk away with $15,000, while a group win is sweetened by $2,500. These figures pale in comparison to what’s on offer in the men’s competition: a collective $5.6 million, split into $1,100,000 for the winners, $550,000 for runners-up, $275,000 for semi-finalists and $40,000 for a group win.

In a bold strategic move portended by Afghanistan’s starting XI in Nagpur a week earlier, New Zealand rode the unheralded spin trio of Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi to a stunning win over pre-tournament favourite India

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Nagpur 15-Mar-2016In September 2012, New Zealand went into a T20I against India, in Chennai, with Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Ronnie Hira and James Franklin making up an allrounder-heavy bowling attack. Between that match and Tuesday’s World T20 game in Nagpur, they played 35 T20Is, and at least one among Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan featured in 34 of them.The one match they did not was in December 2014, during a T20I series against Pakistan to which New Zealand sent a largely second-string squad. No one raised an eyebrow when New Zealand revealed their eleven for that game, an experimental combination in a largely inconsequential contest.No one could quite believe their eyes, however, when New Zealand left out Southee, Boult and McClenaghan in the opening game of their World T20 campaign. The big screen at the VCA Stadium flashed each player’s face, one by one, got as far as No. 9 without any mishap, and blanked out after beaming Boult’s face to the crowd. Someone must have told the operator Boult wasn’t playing; the operator clearly hadn’t taken the news well.New Zealand had their reasons of course. Over the course of the next three-and-a-half hours, they proved to be perfectly sound reasons. At that point, however, it seemed to make little sense. Yes, this was a slow pitch, and yes, it would probably take turn as well. But three spinners?Teams playing India in India don’t do three spinners, regardless of format. They might leave out one of their seamers and play a second spinner, and that too only if that second spinner also happens to be handy with the bat. But not three spinners. Not at the cost of leaving out your first-choice new-ball pairing as well as a bustling limited-overs regular.It was a brave move, but also a logical one. New Zealand must have watched the first-round matches that took place in Nagpur, and seen a slow pitch that offered increasing help to the spinners as one match followed the next. They must have seen Afghanistan benefit from packing their side with spinners against Scotland, even at the cost of leaving out Shapoor Zadran and Hamid Hassan, their two most experienced quicks.The stakes for New Zealand were just a little higher.If their thinking had this level of openness to it, it was because they were trying to find solutions to a new problem. They hadn’t played any match in the subcontinent, in any format, since March 2014 at the prior World T20 in Bangladesh, and the tactics that had served them well in other lands since then would have required a tweak in some Indian venues and an overhaul in some others. Nagpur was overhaul territory.Approaching the same game, India’s thinking would have been entirely different. They were on a sensational run of results, winning 10 of their last 11 T20I games stretching back to the start of the year in Australia. The same combination, more or less, had featured in every match, and they had not needed to change their tactics too much from one match to the next. The only jolt they received was a defeat to Sri Lanka on a Pune pitch so green and bouncy that it belonged on another continent and in another era.India would have seen how the Nagpur pitch had behaved through the first round, but a slow turner wasn’t an unknown challenge. They had a team used to such conditions. They had most bases covered. They must have felt little need for changes in personnel.Things went largely India’s way through the first half of the match. There might have been a bit of concern, judging by the sheer degree of turn available, but they would have backed themselves to chase down 127.But now came their first taste of the unexpected. Most of India’s batsmen would never have faced up to a non-Asian limited-overs attack containing three spinners and none of Nathan McCullum, Mitchell Santner or Ish Sodhi are heralded names.Ish Sodhi and the rest of the New Zealand spin attack celebrated early and often on Tuesday in Nagpur•Associated PressShikhar Dhawan was probably looking to make an early statement when he aimed a sweep at McCullum in the first over of the second innings. It seemed like a bit of an ego shot. He picked the worst possible ball for it, pitching on the stumps and straightening, and executed it poorly, failing to get down low and get his head over the ball. He missed, the ball hit his front pad, and India were 5 for 1.When Santner replaced McCullum, Rohit Sharma jumped out of his crease to the left-armer’s second ball. This is Twenty20, and the relationship between risk and reward is nothing like it is in the longer formats, but you are always giving the bowler an advantage when you step out too early. Santner looped it slower, shorter, and ripped it past Rohit. And Rohit made it easier for the ball to spin past him by looking to play against the turn.Three balls later, another batsman perished to Santner. This time the ball stopped on a tentative Suresh Raina and popped up off his leading edge.”I think in every alternate over we lost one wicket,” MS Dhoni later said. “It becomes more and more difficult once the top order gets out. The batsmen who come in at five, six or seven, they have that pressure of an extra wicket falling, so it seems as if cricket becomes very difficult, but what’s important is that the batsmen get some kind of a partnership going.”Even if it’s not big, in terms of the number of runs scored, it just gives that calmness to the dressing room and the batsmen coming afterwards. So I think it was to some extent a lack of application. A few good deliveries, but today I think it was more about the soft dismissals than the good deliveries.”The one partnership that did threaten to develop was between Dhoni and Virat Kohli, who briefly showed how India could have approached their task against the spinners. They played with a straight bat, looked to take singles to the deep fielders down the ground or to the sweepers on either side, and twos when they hit the gaps between those fielders.But New Zealand, thanks to their selection, had plenty of spin overs in reserve. Sodhi produced the ball of the innings to remove the till-then faultless Kohli, flighting it above his eyeline, inviting the cover drive, and getting it to dip and turn away sharply to find the edge. Then he ended the only other partnership of note, a 30-run stand for the eighth wicket, beating the advancing R Ashwin in the air and off the pitch with another ripping legbreak.Ravindra Jadeja had turned it just as big in the first half of the game, but there was a sense, at least in the first few overs of the chase, that India may have felt New Zealand’s spinners wouldn’t be able to find as much purchase. Santner, McCullum and Sodhi proved otherwise.Somehow, at the start of the 18th over, with India needing an improbable 52 from 18 balls, Dhoni produced a horizontal-bat swat, against the turn, to bisect deep backward square leg and deep midwicket. On the next ball, Santner quickly reminded Dhoni of what he was up against, pitching one just short of a length on middle stump, and turning it almost at a right angle.There was no earthly way for Dhoni to play any sort of shot at that sort of ball. There was no earthly way for Dhoni to win this for India. There might just have been, had New Zealand baulked at playing three spinners.

Shaun Tait on the role of outright pace in the shortest format, and how the game has changed over its decade of existence

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi25-Mar-2016Tiger Tait the guys at Rajasthan Royals called you. Can you talk about the aggressive side of you, the fast bowler?
Probably I have mellowed out as I have got a bit older. When I was younger I was probably a bit more aggressive. I don’t know, I suppose when you get a bit older in life in general you mellow out a bit, don’t you? I think sometimes you don’t want to look like too much of an idiot! I don’t mind being aggressive if it helps your bowling in the right way, to intimidate a batsman or put a batsman off his game. But if you are going to be aggressive personally, I think it is not right. And it doesn’t look good on TV. It doesn’t look good for anyone. You lose respect if you carry on like a pork chop all the time. You have got to have some sort of humility and use your aggression the right way.What about being aggressive with the ball in hand? Does it work in T20 cricket?
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It goes both ways. You run in and bowl fast, try and intimidate batsmen, try and take wickets, and be aggressive in that attacking way. Some days it goes your way – you might get two early wickets. Some days you might get none for 25 off two. It has been like that through my career – I had some really good games, I had some really bad games. You’ve got to roll with the punches and get on with it.Rod Marsh said about picking you for the India series: “Shaun Tait returns on the basis that he is the quickest bowler going around in Australia at the moment and he offers us that explosive option if we choose to use it.” Did that come as a shot in the arm at the time?
Well, it was. I played those two games. I didn’t bowl very well. I didn’t do myself any favours. But it was nice to get picked again after a long time. Our best fast bowlers were injured. I had a decent Big Bash and I was bowling fast and they picked me.But it doesn’t matter how fast you are. Yeah, I am the fastest bowler in Australia, maybe, but I am not in the Australian team. But if I can continue to get picked in competitions like these [PSL] and continue playing in the Big Bash because of my pace, then that is good.

“I am a very simple person and a very simple cricket player. That’s it. There is nothing else there. It is what it is. I run in and try and bowl fast”

What are the big differences in the way you operate, from the time you first played T20 and now?
It has been ten years. It is harder now. It used to be a lot easier for a fast bowler. The batsmen, they weren’t really sure of what to do in T20 cricket – there used to be a bit of a laugh, bit of giggle. Now it has obviously become very, very serious. Batsmen have learned to develop their skills really well. Bowling at the death, for example, used to be quite easy: you ran in and bowled yorkers and hit the stumps. But now batsmen can hit yorkers, they can play sweep shots, can face bouncers as well. Most of the guys can pull. So it has definitely become more difficult over time.How do you deal with the challenge? Earlier you probably used sheer pace. Is it the same even now?
That is the only way I have sort of known. To be honest, in PSL I slowed down a little bit and tried to get a bit more control. I was a bit wayward a couple of times in the Big Bash, and then the two games I played for Australia, again I was really wayward. I tried to bowl too fast.Are you a conventional fast bowler even in T20, with a slip and so on?
People come to the game to watch entertainers. You need fast bowlers. You need guys who can bowl 150 because it is great for the crowd to watch as well. Sometimes it goes against me but it is still entertaining. ()It is not very easy to come out and bowl in the late 140s, is it?
Yes, it is not easy. It hurts. It hurts the body. But I have found a way to do it for close to 14 years now. I am not playing Test cricket but it still hurts, even in T20 cricket, every time you bowl.”I don’t see myself playing for Australia ever again. I am not hurt”•Getty ImagesShane Bond said the fast bowler has to walk this fine line, to balance between playing to your strengths and understanding the conditions. Do you agree?
That is true. Sometimes I lose sight of that. I just run in and try and bowl really fast and it doesn’t work and I get hit for runs. Some bowlers are better and smarter at playing to the conditions. That is probably something I should have been better at in the past.An interesting point Bond made was that the challenge for bowlers these days is understanding they have got to have the courage to either bowl length or short at the back end of the innings on some wickets, as opposed to the default mode, which for a long time has been just to bowl full. What do you think?
I am starting to agree with that more now. The last game I played [PSL], I bowled to Grant Elliott, and instead of trying to bowl every ball a yorker, I bowled length outside off stump to try and get him to nick, and it worked. I just backed myself to bowl hard, fast, on a length and it worked. Length is the most important thing in T20 cricket, no doubt. Yes, there are times when you have to bowl the yorker, there are times when you have to bowl the wide yorker and change the batsman’s hands and the batsman’s thinking. So I agree with what Bondy said.Why did you not ever want to add variations to your repertoire?
I feel that if you can run in and bowl fast, you are different. And there are not many people in the world who can do that. If I start bowling 135 all the time or every second game, I am the same as everyone else. If a team has a want for a guy who can bowl 150 or 145, then that’s me. And it is not always easy to develop all these different things. My slower ball has never been a strength of mine. I can bowl it every now and then.When I was younger I used to train a lot, train quite hard, and did a lot of bowling. But as I have grown older, my body has taken a hit. So you can’t train as often as you would have liked. It is only a certain number of deliveries a bowler has in their life, and mine is getting towards the end. So it is very tough to train every single day, play every other day.

“You lose respect if you carry on like a pork chop all the time. You have got to have some sort of humility and use your aggression the right way”

Your knees, they must take quite a pounding. You always wear an elbow brace. Your arms and shoulders must be sore. You once said that you have to perform with pain despite age. Does it become a habit?
Absolutely. Most fast bowlers will tell you the same thing. When younger fast bowlers ask, “How can I bowl faster?” the answer is, “You simply have to hurt your body, take your body to the limits.” You have to play with pain. You have examples like Zaheer Khan, Shane Bond, Dale Steyn, Brett Lee – all these guys have played through a lot of pain.Do you bowl to the batsman or the man?
I try and tend to bowl to the batsman. If I change what I do too much, it takes my mind away from what I should be doing and I end up messing it up.There was this IPL match where Dinesh Karthik took you on and you were not impressed with the field, with the mid-off and mid-on inside the circle. Do you recollect that match?
That was in Delhi, in 2010. And I was told to bowl bouncers every ball, bowl short. I did not agree with that. I think I went for 54 off four overs. I tend to listen to the captain a lot, but I also set my own fields as well. Sometimes the captain has a gut feeling and he will want that field and that is it.What happens when you have an attacking batsman in front of you?
Here he is []. Speak of the devil. Attacking batsmen are a bit different. Guys like Luke Wright are ones who come out and just flay away first ball. I actually enjoy bowling to those guys, because you always feel like you can get them out. Or a Brendon McCullum. You feel like you have a chance to get them out, but if you don’t, you are in big trouble. If they get away with it, they could do a lot of damage.Can you talk about a duel or two in T20 that tested your temperament and patience?
The two guys I found hard to bowl to in T20 cricket are Kevin Pietersen and [Virat] Kohli. Those two are the hardest guys to bowl to at the moment. I’ll have to admit there’s no real obvious way to get them out. I can’t see through Virat Kohli’s weakness. I don’t know what it is. I think Kevin Pietersen’s the same. Early on, if you bowl a good, full ball, lbw maybe. A good bouncer. I got him [Pietersen] out the other night, caught at long-on. I think Kohli also I had once caught at long-on as well. So not exactly blasting through them.”You have to play with pain”•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesBut my favourite duel was with Brendon McCullum. It was in a T20I in Christchurch and he was opening. He lap-swept me over his head for a six. He hit me for about three sixes and three fours. I was bowling mid-to-low 150s at that time. That is the best batting I have ever seen in T20 cricket. He won the duel.We had a couple of good contests in that series. In the previous match, in Wellington, I bowled a good outswinger at 152-153 and he snicked it. I won that battle. We won the game. The next game [Christchurch], after I had bowled a ball and was walking back to my mark, he said to me: “We’re not going to lay over today. We are up for this contest.” I just laughed. The next ball, I bowled Peter Ingram. I turned around and gave Brendon a bit of cheek. “We are going to win this again,” I told him. He just went ballistic. He got a hundred. They won the game. Those few games in New Zealand were my favourite period in T20 cricket.When do you get angry while bowling?
It is probably just at myself now. Even if I take it out on the batsman, it is about myself – not bowling how I should be bowling. I am a bit better now at controlling my anger.What is the most ridiculous shot a batsman has played against you?
That will have to be definitely Brendon in Christchurch. If you have the chance to look over YouTube, he actually did a sort of somersault – he went across the off stump and he hit it [scooped it] and did a somersault. It was a 155.2 delivery.Do you fear for the fast bowler going forward?
You need them in the game. If you look at the really good fast bowlers, they have still got good T20 records. Dale Steyn is still getting picked in the IPL.Steyn wants administrators and franchise owners to look at the fast bowler as a match-winner and pay him commensurately.
I have to agree with that. Or then all the youngsters will stop bowling fast. Look at the days gone by – Lillee, Thomson, Ambrose, Waqar, Wasim, Donald, Steyn, Brett Lee, Shoaib Akhtar. They are all entertainers and they are all big names in cricket because they bowl fast. No one talks about a medium-pacer that bowls 128kph often, do they? Because it is boring. So to keep cricket entertaining, it would be good to see some more fast bowlers coming through.

“If I start bowling 135 all the time or every second game, I am the same as everyone else. If a team has a want for a guy who can bowl 150 or 145, then that’s me”

How difficult is it to coach Shaun Tait?
I am a very simple person and a very simple cricket player. That’s it. There is nothing else there. It is what it is. I run in and try and bowl fast.Sometimes it goes really badly, like I said, and sometimes it goes really well. As far as a coach goes, I am easy. I don’t demand anything. I just run in and bowl.What has been your best T20 performance to date?
Probably the 2010 World T20 in the Caribbean was the best I bowled over a period and the fastest. I was bowling consistently in the 150s and bowled economically. And I was succeeding. We made the final, where we lost to England.What does a fast bowler need to succeed in T20 cricket?
You just have to keep believing in what you are doing and stick to it. A lot of guys over the years, they slow down their pace. Sometimes you are afraid of getting smacked.There is always going to be a demand for a fast bowler somewhere. If it is not in the IPL then might be in the Big Bash, might be in PSL. There is always going to be a demand for a guy bowling 140, 145, 150.Other than that, try to work out as fast as you can how your body works. You have got to know your own body, what your limits are, what makes you feel good before a game. It might be doing nothing, it might be going for a swim, it might be having a few beers the night before, it might be never touching a beer. Just find a way to get your body moving and the best way to perform.Considering you don’t play international cricket anymore, how difficult is to maintain those routines?
I could be a lot fitter. That is one thing I can do, and I am going to go home and get a lot fitter. Hopefully I can stretch it out a couple more years.Is there anything you learned in the PSL, or from your Peshawar Zalmi bowling partner and Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz?
Wahab is a genuine fast bowler. He is extremely confident in his own ability. He does not like to beaten. The one thing I can learn from him is getting up for the big occasion. Shane Watson walks out to bat, automatically Wahab Riaz bowls faster. The exchange he had with Ahmed Shehzad [against Quetta Gladiators], he changed the game for us. Not the actual incident, but he started bowling really fast and well after that. He gets in the zone. I used to be able to do that but now I have lost the ability to get in the zone a little bit. So I find it hard to kick into the next gear. Probably being out of international cricket is one reason. Probably a bit older…What are your goals now?
I don’t see myself playing for Australia ever again. I am not hurt [not being part of the World T20 squad]. The selectors wanted to see how I went in the T20I series against India. I knew exactly what it was: if I bowled well, I get picked, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t. In hindsight, I could have bowled a whole lot better. I would love to win a tournament, a Big Bash maybe.

England are a fun, often thrilling, side to watch – as typified by Jonny Bairstow’s Lord’s hundred – but they are not making it easy for themselves by frequent top-order wobbles

George Dobell at Lord's09-Jun-2016If you steered your car into a tree and emerged unscathed, you wouldn’t congratulate yourself on your driving.And if you crashed your ship into a rock and swam to safety, you wouldn’t congratulate yourself on your sailing.So England, despite largely getting away with their errors on day one at Lord’s, should not allow it to mask their continuing top-order frailty.The fact is, had Shaminda Eranga not put down a relatively straightforward chance offered by Jonny Bairstow on 11, England would have been 102 for 5 and in serious trouble. Better sides will take such chances and England will know that, if they are to reach No. 1 in the Test rankings, they will have to play better sides in conditions that suit them.England’s problem is that such top order failures are the norm rather than the exception. In 21 of their last 34 Test innings, England have lost their third wicket before reaching 75 and, in several memorable cases, they have been the beneficiaries of dropped chances for allowing them back into the game. The example of Joe Root, dropped on 0 before making a match-defining century in the Ashes Test at Cardiff is an especially pertinent example, though Moeen Ali, dropped on 36 before making 155 in the most recent Test, is another example.They have shuffled their side and provided opportunities for several candidates. But England remain reliant upon their middle-order bailing them out time after time and question marks over at least two of the top five remain.

Lord’s hundred lifts weight off Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow admitted his failure to score the five extra runs he required for a maiden Test century at Lord’s in 2012 had “loomed over” him for several years.
Bairstow, who earned a place on the much-coveted honours board with his third century in his six most recent Tests on the first day of the match against Sri Lanka, was dismissed for 95 here when playing his fourth Test four years ago.
“Why didn’t I do it four years ago?” Bairstow said rhetorically afterwards. “They are five runs that loomed over me for a few years. But it’s nice to put the record straight and I’m happy with the way I’m playing.
“This is a special place to play and I’m very lucky to join an illustrious bunch on the honours board. Maybe it should have happened few years ago, but I hope it’s not the only time I get my name on that board.
“To have gone one step further than I did in 2012 and made a hundred in front of a packed house is a very special feeling. The ovation from the crowd was something I will never forget. A pinch yourself moment with goosebumps.”

Where once Test batsmen would have reacted to a surface like this – grindingly slow – with application and patience, the modern England side seem to know only one way to react to adversity: with aggression. But, on a slow pitch and in conditions offering just enough lateral movement to encourage bowlers, such a tactic is akin to driving as fast as possible to get through fog.Perhaps that is a bit harsh. Alastair Cook produced a fine innings to keep his side from imploding, but while his skills are now seen as somewhat outdated, many of the younger players appear reluctant to accumulate in such fashion. Instead of learning from the example of the top run-scorer in England’s Test history, they seem to want to do everything quicker.None of this should detract from Sri Lanka’s performance. Dealt a poor hand by losing the toss in such circumstances, they played that hand with admirable sense and skill. Realising, at least after the first hour, that they had little chance of blowing England away on such a surface, they instead resolved to play upon England’s lack of patience. So Alex Hales, having gone 22 balls without scoring, was seduced into attempting a hideous slog-sweep off the second delivery he faced from the spin of Rangana Herath and edged to slip.Sensing that Nick Compton might be tentative – even his nearest and dearest will understand that this game represents a final chance at this level – he was invited to drive at one outside off stump. The resultant stroke – half-hearted, with slow feet and tight hands – brought only an edge. He goes into the second innings a man on death row hoping for a pardon from a Texan governor.Cook and Joe Root both paid the price for playing across straight balls – a sign, arguably, of impatience – while James Vince missed one that came in a fraction on the Lord’s slope. These are early days, but this has been an unconvincing start to Vince’s Test career. He has yet to counter the allegation that he is an unusually elegant destroyer of mediocre bowling, but unproven against better. That County Championship average of 28.57 last year continues to beg questions. As does the gulf of 20 runs between his average in Division One (about 30) and Division Two (about 50).Moeen Ali was dismissed to a defensive prod – the result of a fine bit of bowling – but had earlier survived a lavish backfoot waft at a back-of-a-length delivery from Suranga Lakmal on 12 that spoke volumes for the approach of this England side. They are fun to watch, for sure, but they also have a reckless streak that will keep opponents interested.But Bairstow, wonderfully confident at present, rescued England. There will be days when the thick edges that flew through gully or slip – he survived such moments on 38 and 68 – might go to hand and days when the leg-before decision that he survived on 56 will go the other way. But such is the conviction with which he is currently playing his strokes that those edges fly hard and, such is the speed that he scores – and runs between the wickets – that any failure to take a chance off him will soon be punished.Alex Hales wild swing at Rangana Herath came after a short build-up of pressure•Getty ImagesWhether pitches like this give Test cricket the best chance of surviving in the modern age is debatable. Slow, low and promoting discipline and patience above all other skills it was the sort of surface that, a couple of decade ago, might have been acceptable. But now, in the age of T20, falling attendances and, it would seem, lowering attention spans, it was the sort of surface that benefits neither batsman nor bowlers. The sort of surface that may well hasten Test cricket’s decline.Test cricket has changed. There hasn’t been a match that lasted five days in England since New Zealand played at Lord’s a year ago. And there hasn’t been a draw in England since India found themselves confronted with a pudding of a surface at Trent Bridge almost two years ago. What once seemed normal now seems out of time. And while players cannot be blamed for reacting to such circumstances with attritional cricket – they have to adapt to the conditions they are given – the authorities that stage these matches can be blamed for providing such surfaces.Some will point to the full house – despite the continuing redevelopment work in the Warner Stand, the attendance on the first day here was only 3,000 fewer than the attendance from four days in Durham – and the close-of-play scorecard and claim there is nothing to worry about. Others will claim that, in Test cricket at least, there is still room for this sort of pitch and the old-fashioned cricket it tends to encourage. And perhaps they are right: plenty of modern cricket is aimed at a young audience; maybe there is still a place in the game for “a purist’s” pitch.But the number of “purists” is dropping. At almost every venue around the world, the number of people prepared to sit through hours of attrition in the knowledge that it will eventually build into a compelling encounter is dropping. Those who were entertained are those who are already converted and that may well not be a sustainable demographic. Test cricket needs to attract a new audience; Test cricket has to do a bit better than this.

How Tamil Nadu’s captain went from wanting to quit the game to scoring heavily

Arun Venugopal26-Oct-2016Abhinav Mukund last played a Test match more than five years ago. Five years is a long time – governments change, inflation pinches, and new fads are born. Five years is a particularly long time in sport. Abhinav has risen, fallen and risen again in that time.He began the 2016-17 domestic season with 77 and 169 in India’s first-class debut with the pink ball, and then went on to smash 91 and 82 not out in the semi-final and final of the inaugural Tamil Nadu Premier League T20 tournament to help Tuti Patriots clinch the title. A few weeks later, he scored a fifty and two centuries in the first three matches of the Ranji Trophy. His recent numbers and markedly relaxed approach, however, were a world away from his struggles in the last few years.In 2012-13 he was, in his own words, at an all-time low. He wanted to give up the game. He didn’t even want to watch cricket. Abhinav does not call it depression, but rather a case of wanting something too badly. It reflected in his performance – his average dipped from nearly 73 in the previous Ranji Trophy season to under 30.”I think I was caught in a mix of trying to get back [into the Indian team] constantly,” he says. “To be honest, till I played for the country, I wanted to play for the country, but never played for that. I always played to perform, I always played to win each game and do well for my team in each game. My expectations changed of myself.”The 2012-13 season was a complete blur. I had played about 60-odd games in 2011-12, and had scored a 154 in the Irani Trophy and a double hundred in the Ranji. Yet, I was left out of the Indian team. After the 2012 season, I was also left out of the IPL. So, it was all a big hit on the head.”In 2013, things appeared to look up for Abhinav when Derbyshire showed interest in signing him. He was even given a contract, but the signing did not take place eventually because of a “miscommunication”. Abhinav tried to get over the disappointment by relentlessly working on his batting; he altered his trigger movement and made a few other technical changes, but they didn’t work for him.”I think the mistakes – if I look back at it I wouldn’t call it a mistake, I’d still call it learning – cropped up because I wanted to do well so badly. I wanted to refine my technique to be the most perfect batsman. Then again, that’s a process every cricketer goes through – learning and unlearning.””I wanted to do well so badly. I wanted to refine my technique to be the most perfect batsman. That’s a process every cricketer goes through – learning and unlearning”•PTI Things continued to go downhill, as Abhinav was dropped from Tamil Nadu’s side for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the domestic 50-overs tournament. He says there were people saying things behind his back, but he didn’t take it personally. “It is an insecure world when you don’t perform. Even in a corporate job, they will chuck you out,” he says. “People will see you as a baggage because you have played for your country and you are not doing anything for your state. There were so many times I wanted to quit. I didn’t quite enjoy what I was doing. I even told my family about it.”Abhinav’s family and friends, however, didn’t push him any harder and instead allowed him the space to look inwards. For two months in 2014, Abhinav didn’t even pick up his bat. Instead, he binged on movies, took up surfing lessons and even learnt a foreign language.Abhinav says his father, TS Mukund, a former cricketer himself, was his biggest sounding board at that time. “Unlike what everyone else in the city thinks – that my father drives me to play the game – it’s in fact the other way around,” he says. “My dad and mom obviously want their son to be a great cricketer, but more than that they want to see their kid happy. Thankfully I didn’t get into any sort of bad habits because I had a core group around me – my friends and parents.”It was around that time that Abhinav received an offer to play club cricket for Loughborough Town CC in Leicestershire. Like every club cricketer, he had to remain self-dependent while playing as a professional; the experience gave him a completely new outlook on life and cricket.”There they play cricket for fun. That’s a concept that doesn’t exist in our country. They play cricket during the weekends to relax,” he says. “I had to do everything by myself – I had to drive, I had to arrange for my own net bowlers, roll the wicket, pull the ropes for the ground and pull the sightscreen. During some games it would be raining, but we would still play on. I think as a lot [in India] we have been so pampered by how we should be careful in such conditions.”Sometimes, when you went out there, half the wicket would be damp, the other half would be good for batting. There is no room for complaining. Even though the cricketing standards weren’t great, it was good for me as an all-round cricketer. I think that’s what got me through that season.”

“My dad and mom obviously want their son to be a great cricketer, but more than that they want to see their kid happy.”

When Abhinav returned, he found himself captaining the Tamil Nadu side midway through the Ranji Trophy in 2014-15. He also found form to score 858 runs at an average of 45.15 and led Tamil Nadu to the final. Even when most people within Tamil Nadu’s cricket circle weren’t aware of what Abhinav was going through, WV Raman, the state’s coach at the time, always listened.”Both times when I was struggling for form – in 2009 and then recently – I was lucky to have him around,” Abhinav says. “I have always felt he used to take a lot of pressure from external sources and protect the younger players from it. He would never give me any sort of bullshit, which is something I always appreciate. We had a lot of arguments about my technique. I could tell him that I wasn’t comfortable with it.”Even as captain, we used to have arguments about a certain player, but at the end of the day he would give me the player I wanted. A lot of people think he is extremely short tempered, but I genuinely feel he’s a reasonable man.”Rather than being bogged down by captaincy, the cricket junkie in Abhinav relished the opportunity. “I constantly watch every single game on television. I love looking at a batsman and thinking how can I get him out, where can I keep a field for him or what bowler I bowl to him.”Being privy to the insecurities of so many players was also an eye-opener as captain. “I am actually proud to say I helped a few players along their way. I don’t think Vijay Shankar started his career well, I don’t think [Baba] Indrajith started his career too well. [Baba] Aparajith was already established, but was still struggling in the scene a little bit. I faced a lot of pressure from the management to drop players because they weren’t performing, but I still backed them.”Now captain of Tamil Nadu, Abhinav takes pride in backing his players and helping them through tough phases•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn recent times, Abhinav realised he needed to do more to attain the fitness levels required of elite athletes. He subsequently trained for three months this summer under the guidance of the India team’s trainer, Shankar Basu, and brought his fat percentage down to 16. He has continued to stay off rice and substituted it with quinoa. “I really worked my ass off,” he says. “I did some power work, I did a lot of running on the ground. I had a mobile app with which I used to count every single gram of protein I had each day.”Until a few years ago, Abhinav would reward himself every time he scored a hundred. He has revived that habit again. “I feel I am in a good space physically and mentally right now. There is no fear of getting out.”I was so dejected after the first innings of Duleep Trophy. I got a 77, I wanted to get a hundred. That’s something that gives me joy. That’s something I used to do before I got selected into the Indian team. Maybe I got too casual that I was getting hundreds so easily. So, I started gifting myself in February.”As Abhinav steps into his tenth year of domestic cricket, it is easy to mistake him for someone older than 26 and, thereby over the hill especially when it comes to international cricket. Abhinav feels such perceptions are unfair, but he can’t do much about them. “I am not saying I am the most competent batsman around, but I have worked really hard to be constantly playing the Duleep Trophy and A tours. That’s a lot down to the selectors as well because they are constantly looking at me. I don’t want to talk much about India selection because it’s not in my hands.”Abhinav is grateful for how things have fallen in place, and doesn’t want to put undue pressure on himself like in the past. “I just want to be one of the best players I can be,” he says. “I don’t want to look at numbers. I have done that in the past, but not anymore. This is the happiest I have been in a long time, and I just want to continue enjoying the game like tomorrow is the last day I am playing.”

Jake Ball’s tactful use of angles and Alastair Cook’s problem of having too many bowling options feature in Aakash Chopra’s technical breakdown of the third day’s play in Mumbai

Aakash Chopra10-Dec-2016Cricket – game of angles
Jake Ball is playing only his second Test but has shown maturity in using the crease. He has gone to the corner of the box while bowling bouncers and has come closer to the stumps to bowl fuller. The first ball of the third day was bowled from the outside half of the box and Pujara left it comfortably. The second ball that dismissed Pujara was bowled from closer to the stumps and while the length remained almost identical, the closer release point ensured the ball pitched six inches closer. Pujara failed to read the subtle variation and let it go, instead of playing, and was bowled.England spinners inconsistent
The fact that fast bowlers have taken only one wicket is this Test suggests that the pitch is spin-ready right from the outset. While the pitch has definitely assisted spinners, one must not start assuming that if you’re a spinner, you will be among the wickets. Engand’s spinners have realised the importance of peppering the same length and also that it is difficult to do consistently. The lack of bounce on most Indian pitches allow you to get away even when you miss the length by a foot on either side but the red-soil Wankhede pitch is severe if you err in length. The ball sits up to get hit. It’s not often in Test cricket that you see so many full tosses and half-trackers.Moeen Ali’s pitch map•ESPNcricinfo LtdEngland’s problem of plenty
Adil Rashid was held back until the 22nd over of the day. He might have been expensive on the second day, but it’s unfair to ignore the fact he is England’s most successful bowler in the series. Alastair Cook has an option too many at his disposal and one way or the other, one bowler gets under-bowled. Chris Woakes has bowled only eight overs so far and he did not bowl in the first 70 overs on third day. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that England have played with ten players in most games in this series.Defend higher
We, the players from north India, are given invaluable advice while traveling to the western part of the country. In Delhi and Mohali you can easily manage with low hands while defending but on pitches with extra bounce it’s critical to keep the hands higher.Adil Rashid’s pitch map•ESPNcricinfo LtdSecond new ball delay
India waited for 121 overs to opt for the second new ball. England took it after 129. Mohammed Shami’s absence and the presence of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja could explain India’s approach but England’s choice was interesting. They have played as many as four fast bowlers, and both Rashid and Moeen Ali haven’t bowled with the same penetration. Also, the absence of reverse-swing could have prompted such a different approach.New-ball tactics
James Anderson found the outside edge of Jayant Yadav’s bat in the first over with the second new ball. Because he had bowled only 12 overs till then, a long spell was expected from Anderson. But surprisingly he bowled only 2.4 overs with the new ball. It was equally baffling that even Woakes bowled only two overs from the other end. In addition, the lack of bouncers after the morning session showed poor planning.