From being whitewashed in 2012, England could take heart from a valiant 2-0 defeat – but problems with spin bowling and converting hundreds were glaring

Andrew McGlashan in Sharjah05-Nov-2015″This was an eye-opener and a wake-up call and with two more tours on the subcontinent coming up, things won’t get easier. We have to be up for this challenge.”
“I hate the words ‘you’ll learn from it’ but you do, especially in conditions such as these because we go back to India and Bangladesh next winter. We’ll see then whether we have learned.”
Those two comments, by two England captains, nearly four years apart sum up the never-ending battle of competing in Asia. Strauss was speaking after the 3-0 whitewash on the previous tour to the UAE, Cook earlier on Thursday after England fell to a 2-0 series loss with a 127-run defeat in Sharjah.The final outcome in 2015 is harsh on England. On the previous tour they were so dumbfounded by the spin that that 3-0 was a perfectly fair reflection. This time, there was not quite the difference between the teams that 2-0 would suggest.In 2012 there was a feeling of a team, crowned as world No. 1 and perhaps believing their own hype a little too much, that had not fully appreciated the task against Pakistan. This time the overriding sense is of a side still in a development process (patience has been a buzzword but not without reason) that dug deep into its resolve. They almost stole Abu Dhabi in the gloom but, from the moment Pakistan escaped, while clinging to their coat-tails England never pulled away from them.They had a chance in Sharjah, dismissing Pakistan for 234 and then reaching 228 for 4 in reply. But with Ben Stokes injured, no one able to convert into three figures and a profligate spin attack which undid the tireless work of James Anderson and Stuart Broad they did not have enough daylight.England’s Test year now reads: Played 13, Won 5, Lost 6, Drawn 2. So there is more in the wrong column that the right one. There is one Test remaining for them in 2015, a daunting prospect against South Africa on Boxing Day in Durban, and while their year will always be defined by those contests at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge which regained the Ashes it cannot blithely be called a successful one overall.A feature of the Ashes earlier this year was how, before that heady first morning at Trent Bridge which sealed the series, they seized key moments when Australia could have fought back. In Cardiff there was Moeen Ali’s second-morning counter-attack with 77 followed by the third-morning new-ball bowling to secure a significant lead then at Edgbaston, with England only 54 ahead, Moeen and Broad added a rollicking 87 for the eighth wicket. They could not quite conjure those moments in the UAE.Joe Root was England’s second-leading run-scorer but failed to convert one of his three fifties into a hundred•Getty ImagesHowever, winning this series was always expected to be a step too far for this side. Progress has been made, not least because this was the first Asian Test experience for six of the players used, although quite how much is open to debate. Cook said earlier in the year that he wanted to end talk of showing fight and desire – they are elements that should be present in top-flight sport regardless – and instead wanted the side to express their skills. Clearly this has been a far better performance than 2012, but how do various elements stack up?In 2012, England made just five half-centuries in the series, this time it is nine plus Cook’s 263 in Abu Dhabi. That’s not enough hundreds, but Cook’s 450 runs is miles ahead of anything managed last time, when Jonathan Trott’s meagre 161 runs topped the charts. Joe Root also contributed 287, although tellingly the next best was 158 runs by Ian Bell. But it took until the final day of the series – the 15th day of tough cricket – for a batting meltdown close to 2012. In Abu Dhabi they piled up 598 for 9, in Dubai batted 137.3 overs in the second innings and in Sharjah secured a 72-run lead.Last time here, three players – Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan – all averaged under 15. Now, James Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Adil Rashid and to a lesser extent Stokes (his injury knocked his numbers further) have spent considerable time in the middle rather than being walking wickets. Misbah-ul-Haq acknowledged that nothing has come easily for Pakistan, which could not be said about 2012 or even Australia’s visit here last year.The pace bowlers have been outstanding again – Anderson has rarely bowled better – while the issues with spin are well-document and not easily rectified. Another area where the 2012 side was better off was having Matt Prior as a world-class wicketkeeper-batsman. The current side is in flux with Bairstow having taken the gloves from Jos Buttler.England did learn quickly after the 2012 tour, securing a drawn series in Sri Lanka a few months later and a famous victory in India the following year – that in Cook’s first series as full-time Test captain – but two fundamental elements of competing on the subcontinent are scoring hundreds and spin bowling.Fixing the latter is a long-term task and next winter in India and Bangladesh could still be too soon for radical improvement. England’s next three Tests assignments, away in South Africa then a home summer against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, may not expose that discipline as harshly as has been the case on this tour, but a lack of top-order centuries will hamper them wherever and whoever they are playing.

Scyld Berry does just that in his new book, delving into the game’s history, as well as musing on the topics of language, race, numbers, and more besides

David Hopps19-Sep-2015For the past 40 years or more Scyld Berry has been one of cricket’s most erudite and distinguished writers. Whether as a cricket correspondent of the or as an editor of , he has reflected on the game with depth and originality.His multifarious musings have been brought together in , which is essentially a consolidation of the historical research, reveries and suppositions that have sustained him over a lifetime. Berry believes that cricket is worthy of serious contemplation on many levels – it has brought structure to his life since childhood – and all those who ponder widely upon the game’s qualities will find many elevating thoughts to detain them.The cornerstone of his wide-ranging work is a study of the game’s early development. Taking what he terms cricket’s hot spots, Berry analyses why the game evolved, concentrating on England, India, Australia and the West Indies. In England, he presents the Duke of Wellington as a critical supporter of the game at a crucial juncture in its history. In India, it is the relationship between the British and the Parsi community that strengthens the bonds of Empire and ensures that cricket eventually flourishes.There are some engrossing studies, beginning with the domination of Lascelles Hall in the Yorkshire Pennines – cricket’s first hot spot, says Berry – the strongest team in England in the 1860s, all occasioned by the fact that most inhabitants of this unassuming village were hand weavers, and their ground was at the top of a steep hill, so sharpening agility, hand-eye co-ordination and general fitness levels. Berry goes to the ground and bowls an imaginary ball towards the sheep on the moor. Regrettably, he does not test his theory on the present-day locals.

Original thinking has always been one of Berry’s most singular qualities. Perhaps only he would discuss whether the Babylonian numeral system would make cricket a lesser game because the nervous nineties would no longer exist

But in Berry’s hands, this fulfilling study is much more than a rural idyll. England’s historic hot spots are cause, if not quite for savage indictment, certainly for regret. “Very few of the 584 Test cricketers born in England and Wales have reached the top without the help of at least one of these four stepladders,” he writes: “1, A fee-paying school; 2, A close relative who has played either Test or first-class cricket, or will do so; 3, Professional football, with the benefits entailed; 4, Being born in Yorkshire or Lancashire where even small communities have a cricket ground. The majority of the male population of England and Wales does not fit into any of these categories. The waste has been enormous.”The social limitations of cricket in England – indeed in many parts of the cricketing world – are scandalous, but Berry does not express the game’s shortcomings in such hostile terms. He is no tub-thumper. He is too nuanced for one thing, and in any case this is essentially a book of celebration.He becomes most assertive when considering how the West Indies were fired to rebel against the “white man’s game”. The story of Tommy Burton, one of the first black Barbadian cricketers, is worth repeating. Burton was selected for West Indies’ first two tours of England, but he refused to carry the team luggage on the second occasion, in 1906, and was sent home for “attitude problems” and banned from cricket for life in the Caribbean.Hodder and StoughtonHis strongest burst of venom is reserved for the match-fixers. “The fixers have lived to fight, and deceive, another day, often in the guise of coach and commentator,” he scolds.At times he seems somewhat conflicted by, on one hand, his desire for cricket to speak to all nations, all social groups, genders and ages, and on the other hand, by his respect for its qualities and its history and the milieu he has so valued. Cricket has given him, like so many, a sense of belonging. He writes revealingly about its comforts in the face of the early loss of his mother (who first took him to watch Yorkshire at Bramall Lane), boarding school life at Ampleforth College, and a traditionally distant academic father.Original thinking has always been one of Berry’s most singular qualities. Perhaps only he would entertain the idea of a chapter on numbers and introduce it with the thought that in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea the villagers only know to count in terms of “one, two, three, plenty”, so any attempt to keep an accurate scorebook is therefore impossible. Or to wonder at length why the hat-trick is celebrated more than four wickets in four balls, or to discuss whether the Babylonian numeral system – which works in 60s and is still used for telling the time – would make cricket a lesser game because the nervous nineties would no longer exist.He ruminates, too, on the language of the game, concluding that it has always been tipped in favour of batsmen rather than bowlers, a view predicated on the fact that batting initially was a very hazardous business. “From the beginning, therefore, the language of cricket sympathised with the batsman as the underdog,” Berry concludes, Batsmen are given desirable qualities; bowlers can be close to the devil.It will be a reader with a keen historical bent who shares Berry’s detailed interest in the Kent v England match of 1744, the first game for which a match report survives, and which Berry pores over for a whole chapter. Equal weight is attached to a match between the Parsis and GF Vernon’s XI at the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay in 1890. The length of these sections seems at odds with the pace of the book elsewhere.Bu there is much pleasure to be found here. He concludes: “This game can bring together so many sections of society to play and watch, whether people do so for the camaraderie; or the gratification of physical sensations; or to make a statement about themselves; of their ethnic group, or their country; whether they enjoy the game’s language or literature; whether or not they are intrigued by the numbers the game generates; whether they admire the game’s ethics, or enjoy its aesthetics; whether or not they are fascinated by the game’s psychology; whether they use the game’s time frame like a Zimmer frame, as something to cling to in the face of eternity. This sport can support us all. Cricket is the game of life.”There is much to celebrate. On that, many of us will heartily concur.Cricket: The Game of Life
by Scyld Berry
Hodder & Stoughton

432 pages, £25 (hardback)

The batsman has made a name for himself with Hong Kong, but he knows that his best chance of making it big lies elsewhere

Tim Wigmore02-Dec-2015Ten cricketers have scored a century on ODI debut. The group is small and distinguished, including Desmond Haynes, Dennis Amiss, Andy Flower, Phillip Hughes and Martin Guptill. On November 16, Mark Chapman became the second-youngest to join their ranks, when he hit an unbeaten 124 for Hong Kong against UAE.It is unlikely to be his last ODI hundred. Who he scores them for is perhaps more debatable.Charlie Burke has spent over a decade coaching in Western Australia, the East Asia Pacific region and Hong Kong, where he has been involved, with the odd hiatus, since May 2010. He has seen three players “I would put my house on to play at the highest level – Test cricket”.The first is Mitchell Marsh. The second is Sam Whiteman, who is widely tipped to be Australia’s next Test wicketkeeper. The third is Chapman. “These three are carbon copies of each other as young men. They are cheeky, hard-working, want to learn, passionate, and don’t take the game too seriously, but on the field they are as competitive as you will see. Chappy will play for New Zealand if all goes his way.”Chapman is qualified to play for New Zealand because his dad is from there. He has lived in the country since he was 14, first attending boarding school and now studying at Auckland University. Yet he is at least as much a product of Hong Kong, where he was born and, after his dad took him to a junior training session at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, learned the game.For the Hong Kong Cricket Association, Chapman is not merely a poster boy because of his precociousness. He is the only player in Hong Kong’s squad with Chinese blood (his mother is Chinese), and the HKCA hopes Chapman can help grow the game in the Chinese community. Even if only for a match, they would like him to captain Hong Kong Dragons, the all-Chinese side that plays in the Sunday league.Chapman does not regard his background as significant while playing for Hong Kong, but knows it could aid cricket’s development there. “We’re all out there for the same cause. Because I’m half-Chinese doesn’t make me any different – if people want to see it that way then so be it,” he says. “If it helps grow Chinese cricket, I’m very happy with that, but I don’t see it as a critical factor.”An all-format player: Chapman can pull off the odd scoop over fine leg•ICC/SportsfileHe has no doubt cricket can make it big among the Chinese population, in China and Hong Kong alike, provided the sport gains Olympics status. “It would be huge because Olympic sports get so much more funding in China and Hong Kong. We’ve been in and out of funding with the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Cricket becoming an Olympic sport would give it that extra push and get it extra funding,” he says. “The Chinese people are very driven. As soon as you put that carrot in front of them they’re definitely striving to achieve that goal.”

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Chapman has been forced to grow up while playing international cricket. When he was 16, Burke successfully pushed for his inclusion for a World Cricket League Division Three tournament. “His maturity as a young man and as a cricketer stood out to me from the outset,” says Burke. After an inauspicious start, Chapman clung on to his place for the final, against Papua New Guinea, and made a match-winning 70 not out an innings he still regards as his best.Even a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee the following year, sustained while playing rugby in New Zealand, has not stifled his progress. At 21, he is already vice-captain and a gnarled veteran of five years of international cricket. “I definitely see myself as a senior player,” he says,Increasingly, he is playing like one too. Diminutively built, Chapman is imperturbable at the crease. His game is built upon finesse, playing the ball unusually late, caressing it into gaps, and harrying fielders with his running between the wickets. The players he most admirers are Kane Williamson and Kumar Sangakkara, a fellow left-hander. But Chapman can eschew orthodoxy to suit the T20 age. He shuffles brazenly around the crease and has a penchant for the dink over fine leg, and he is deceptively powerful when hitting the ball through the off side.”I’ve batted around guys a lot but I’ve looked to take on a slightly more dominant role, not just anchoring and fiddling the ball around. I have to push on a little bit and also guide the guys along – especially the younger guys, I’ve got to help them and keep them calm in situations they may have never faced before.” A 39-ball half-century during Hong Kong’s recent T20 against a Pakistan XI provided further evidence that he is not easily overawed.Chapman impressed against Afghanistan in the 2014 World T20, top-scoring after he was hit on the helmet•ICCWhen Hong Kong played an England XI a few weeks earlier, Chapman was following the game from the library at Auckland University, cramming for the end of his third-year engineering exams. “It’s not easy to be sitting halfway around a world looking at a computer screen but it’s not something I can control.” After completing his exams and flying 20 hours from New Zealand, Chapman arrived in Dubai two days before his ODI debut.Just as well that self-reliance is a Chapman hallmark. “He is his own best personal coach,” Burke observes. “He loved it when I introduced a team analyst, as it gave him more opportunities to develop, learn, observe and improve.”Outwardly laidback and with an impish streak – as a 17-year-old, he fired a toy rocket launcher at his coach, Burke – Chapman does not lack steeliness. During the last World T20, he was smashed on the grille by Afghanistan’s Dawlat Zadran but remained at the crease and top-scored.”Chappy has the ingredients I love in a young cricketer,” Burke says. “He dreams of playing cricket but it’s not the only focus. He loves life and what it has to offer, trains hard but also enjoys having a laugh, and expects and demands effort from everyone around him, including the coaching staff.”Such traits could be imbued in others in the Hong Kong set-up. While the side is brimming with talent, consistency has proved elusive: in the World T20 Qualifiers, Hong Kong beat Afghanistan and Ireland, with Chapman playing crucial innings in both games, but they also lost to Jersey and the United States.”To be a professional cricketer you have to consistently be able to perform your skills,” he says. “We haven’t quite reached that level yet where we can consistently day-in-day-out perform our skills. Until we make that change and adjust to being true professionals, those sorts of inconsistent performances will happen. It’s not ideal.”Charlie Burke (right): “He [Chapman] is his own best personal coach. He dreams of playing cricket but it’s not the only focus. He loves life and what it has to offer”•HKCASince being awarded ODI status in January 2014, Hong Kong have gained funds to contract eight cricketers. Yet professionalism “doesn’t just happen in an instant”, as Chapman says. “There’s also got to be a mental change – thinking this is what you’re doing for a living. We’ve still got a little bit of work to do. I’ve seen the guys have responded really well to full-time cricket but a lot more work can still be done.”Games like the England and Pakistan matches have been great for us – because we’ve had exposure against the Test nations, how they warm up, how they go about their business. Playing against true professionals is something we can’t buy and something we learn so much from.”Even as he prepares for Hong Kong’s second consecutive World T20, Chapman remains a part-time international cricketer who plays alongside studying for his degree. When he finishes at university next November, Chapman intends to put all his energy into cricket. The HKCA is in the process of reviewing their contracts, and plan to switch from their current deals, which are designed to allow players to do part-time work alongside, to genuinely professionals deals. “He will no doubt be offered one. It’s up to him if he is interested,” Burke says.But Chapman’s future is “more likely to be in New Zealand”, he admits. He has trained extensively with the Auckland 2nd XI, working with former New Zealand allrounder Andre Adams. “He’s very supportive of me playing for Hong Kong and getting the exposure internationally, and they’re quite keen to have me in their Auckland system, which I’m delighted about.”If you asked any cricketer what they wanted to play, nine out of ten would probably say Test cricket. That’s still technically possible for Hong Kong with the Intercontinental Cup, but the chances probably aren’t as great as me giving it a go in New Zealand – trying to make the Auckland side and then really putting up some numbers for them.”Hong Kong would be wise to enjoy Chapman while they can.

The concerted effort towards tackling conflict of interest and the appointment of an ombudsman to deal with conflict cases comes as the BCCI aims to make itself more accountable and transparent

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Nov-20153:57

‘We will run BCCI in a transparent fashion’ – Manohar

The BCCI set in motion the reforms promised by its new president Shashank Manohar by taking a raft of decisions at its annual general meeting on Monday that aim to make it more accountable, transparent and streamlined. The decisions range from resolution on various issues of conflict of interest, appointment of an ombudsman to deal with conflict cases, trimming bloated sub-committees and making all these decisions, and others taken during the day, public almost instantly.The most contentious issue going into the meeting was the conflict of interest, which had been at the heart of most BCCI controversies since 2008. Various members had, before the meeting, expressed reservations over the issue – especially with regard to the exact definition of the word “conflict” in relation to the role. The issue, Manohar said in his opening remarks, was resolved unanimously and speedily. “Contrary to the expectations of the media, the members unanimously approved the rules with regards to conflict of interest, they also unanimously approved the amendments to the constitution and everybody spoke in that meeting in favour of a clean and transparent functioning of the Board.”The stringent application of the conflict rule saw several changes in personnel. Roger Binny, the South Zone member of the selection panel, had been in the spotlight because of his son Stuart’s role in the national limited-overs side. His position was seen to fall foul of the conflict clause as defined in the interest paper Manohar had submitted to the BCCI working committee on October 18. The clause read: “No member of the selection committee including the convenor and the invitee, i.e. the coach or captain, or their near relative shall have any financial interest or business association with any player considered for selection to any team selected for and on behalf of the BCCI.”Manohar sought to soften the blow, by saying that allowing Binny to continue would hurt the chances of his son. “There should not be injustice towards Stuart Binny,” Manohar said. “If he is a deserving player he should not get not flak from media that he is playing because he is Roger Binny’s son. We can’t destroy his career.”The other major decisions at the BCCI AGM•ESPNcricinfo LtdAnother change involved Anil Kumble, who was replaced by Sourav Ganguly as head of the BCCI’s technical committee. Board secretary Anurag Thakur explained the conflict by pointing out that Kumble has been working with an IPL franchise which led to the change. “He is still with the Mumbai Indians, right,” Thakur said.Asked how Ganguly, who is president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, could be head of the technical committee as well as be part of the IPL Governing Council, Manohar said that as long as Ganguly was not gaining commercially from the BCCI he was free. “He is not doing commentary but he can pursue whatever profession he wants. The conflict would arise if he has a commercial interest in the Board because we can’t stop him from pursuing his profession. I am a lawyer and I can’t be told I should not practice, what can be told to me [is that] I should not appear in Board cases.”Perhaps the most significant decision, in this context, was the appointment of AP Shah, a retired chief justice of the Delhi High Court, as ombudsman. “We are not going to decide [whether a person is in a position of conflict or not], it is the ombudsman who is going to decide. It will be decided in the most transparent manner. To eliminate bias from the decision-making process we have appointed Justice AP Shah,” Manohar said, adding that Shah’s word would be final and binding.Manohar said the code of conduct had already been set in motion and anyone could approach the BCCI if they noticed a conflict. The BCCI would then forward the request to the ombudsman. Asked if the BCCI had identified any current players under the conflict code, Manohar said it was for the player concerned to reveal it. “There is no deadline. They have to reveal it on their own. If there is a conflict they have to reveal it,” he said.On the eve of his formal appointment as BCCI president, Manohar had met RM Lodha, the head of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court to recommend reforms in the structure of the BCCI. The committee will present its report to the court next month but it is clear – though officials seek to deny this – the BCCI is trying to pre-empt and second-guess that report by driving reforms off its own bat.A senior board official said Manohar’s first directive immediately upon the AGM’s completion was to ask for the BCCI’s Annual Report to be put on the board’s website. Manohar has come a long way from his previous tenure where, in the company of N Srinivasan as the secretary, all matters and decisions were kept hush-hush. Manohar today said that what happened in the past he could not change and he would not want to dwell on now. The key was to move forward and adopt the right changes.

Ziyaad Abrahams is one three South African bowlers to have taken six-wicket hauls at the youth level. He idolises Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shaun Pollock, but hopes his career will follow the path of another young South Africa seamer

Mohammad Isam02-Feb-2016South Africa’s Ziyaad Abrahams says that he bowls medium-fast, but when you see him run off the 14 steps, stretch his arms out to the fullest and deliver the ball with a marginal sling and a hard pump in the follow-through, he seems much quicker.In the game against Namibia, Abrahams tried as hard as the other South Africa bowlers to defend a small total but it was his off his bowling that Fritz Coetzee took the sharp single to win Namibia the game, and leave Abrahams in his haunches.Abraham had bowled 8.3 overs with enough effort, taking 2 for 18. But that was not enough, and as he walked off with the cap pulled down on his face, you could make out that he was spent for the day. He went wicketless against Scotland, bowling six overs for 18 runs. He seemed like a patient bowler.Abrahams comes across as a patient an upright young man. He has taken inspiration from Kagiso Rabada’s performance from the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. Like Rabada, he is one of three South African bowlers at this level to take six-wicket hauls. Growing up, it was Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis who gave him goosebumps with their late swing and yorkers, after which he followed Shaun Pollock closely. His bowling action, though not intended, has mild similarities with Pollock in the way he extends his non-bowling arm high up.About two years ago, Abrahams was lucky to spend a few hours with Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir at the Boardwalk Hotel in Port Elizabeth where over pastas and curries, they spoke about cricket and what it is to be a humble person. Amla later spent some time with the Under-19 squad in 2015, talking personally to each player. But for Abrahams, that dinner gave him a sense of what it is like playing at the highest level.”About two years ago, I had dinner with Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir,” Abrahams told ESPNcricinfo. “We were just chatting about how it is being up there. They said hard work will always pay off. I think the way he [Amla] dresses himself towards the game, how humble he is. Taking the logo off, that just shows the respect for him. The others look up to him also. I asked them a few questions. They are very humble people. They always make their namaaz five times a day.”Abrahams comes from a family of cricketers with his father, brother and uncle all having played in Port Elizabath, his childhood home. He started off as an offspinner and then tried leg-spin before his father told him to bowl pace.”I started off playing soccer at the age of three. I grew up with sports. My dad and uncles played cricket. They played for Western Province and Eastern Province. I grew up in Port Elizabeth. I played my first senior game at the age of 10. I was fortunate to play with my dad. I started off as a right-arm offspinner but four years ago I switched to pace bowling.”My father is also an opening bowler. I have a brother who played a part in my career. His name is Shaakir Abrahams and he bowls left-arm spin. They stay in Port Elizabeth at the moment. I moved out of Port Elizabeth to Cape Town when I was in Grade eight. I bowled legspin in that first year in Cape Town so my dad suggested that I bowl pace because I was quicker and stronger than the other boys in the first team of my school, the Western Cape Sports School. I picked up lots of wickets for them.”Abrahams made it to the South Africa Under-19s through good performances for the Western Province Under-17s team for whom he picked up 12 wickets in a tournament in Stellenbosch. Then, in Gauteng, he was the leading wicket-taker with 15 scalps.”My strength is to hit the areas. I think more or less, hitting the good lines, keeping the pressure building and bowling my yorkers in the death overs. This is what I am good at,” he said, and he was quite accurate in the self-assessment.Abrahams’ immediate aim after the Under-19 World Cup is to get a contract in South Africa’s franchise cricket. He dreams of playing for South Africa one day, and said that he was inspired by how Rabada made it to the national team soon after playing the Under-19 World Cup. The lessons from his dinner with Amla and Tahir would also be handy. Maybe if he can ride high like Rabada, there would a few more of those dinners.

England Women’s new coach is keen to help them regain their belief, by encouraging them to push their limits and win back lost ground

Vithushan Ehantharajah14-Mar-2016On November 11, after an exhausting morning of press engagements for his new role as England women’s head coach, Mark Robinson, away from the cameras and dictaphones, sat down with captain Charlotte Edwards.”I think he was quite cooked,” Edwards remembers. She was also recovering from a gruelling, Ashes-losing summer that “felt the worst” of any defeat she had endured – something she reiterated to Robinson. She spoke of her disappointment and that of the team that they did not give a good account of themselves. That they let themselves down. She outlined some things they needed to work on – where they might go from here. There was anger, too, about how she felt she had been written off in the press. Her hunger was called into question, and she wanted to prove “them” wrong. In running through it all, the disappointments of the summer came screaming back to her.Robinson took stock of what Edwards was saying. He had already made a mental note of the insecurity that had begun to creep into an England side that had once been at the forefront of the women’s game. He was aware that Australia were moving ahead of England, while the peloton behind was gaining ground.After Edwards had put her cards on the table, Robinson had one question: “Why don’t you slog-sweep the seamers over deep backward square leg?” Edwards was taken aback. “You know,” Robinson continued, “against medium-pacers that just land it on a length – get down on one knee and lap them over there.””Yeah, I suppose we could,” Edwards replied eventually.This opening exchange typifies what Robinson is looking to do: challenge a group of players who need challenging. Edwards concedes that previous coaches have been afraid of making changes. But for Robinson’s first official match in charge, an ODI against South Africa in Benoni, he shuffled the pack, moving Heather Knight and Sarah Taylor into the middle order, while Edwards was switched from opener to No. 3 for the first time since March 2009. Crucially, the players bought into it.The renewed sense of enthusiasm is felt on both sides. Sussex’s relegation last summer was a bitter pill to swallow, but Robinson’s position at the club was not under threat. In fact, he was due to move into the role of director of cricket at the club in a bid to try something different. Twice he had applied for the England job, interviewing for it in 2014 and hearing nothing back, and in 2015, when Peter Moores was dismissed after a year in charge – a sacking that Robinson sees as “a knife for all English coaches”.”We needed one of our own to succeed,” Robinson tells ESPNcricinfo. “My thinking was that the only way I was going to get recognition now was to work abroad to improve my CV. Or go in a different direction altogether.”It was his daughter, a cricketer at Sussex, who convinced him to pitch for the women’s coaching job. Now that the role is his, she has been pestering him to pick her as a thank you. “I’ve warned the girls to watch out if she’s around, in case she puts something in their food,” he says.”It’s been really refreshing. I’m on the shop floor, coaching every day, and I love that. You can forget just how enjoyable coaching can be when you’re doing budgets, sorting out transport and what not. When you’ve got those kinds of responsibilities, your one-on-one time with the players gets shorter.”Even as a player, Robinson spent most of his time on the shop floor, eking out every last drop of talent. His preparation was meticulous, with nothing left to chance. The cornerstone of his work as a coach is to offer such diligence to his players.

“The women don’t play the volume of games that the men do, and so don’t have the exposure to different match scenarios”Mark Robinson

Whether it is access to statistics, a breakdown of the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses, or practice facilities, Robinson ensured all were available upon request. The last bit is key: for a relentless thinker about the game – at Sussex he was not averse to calling up his captain in the evening to talk pitches, or to bringing up an erroneous shot as the bell rang for last orders – he appreciates that every player is different.He draws on his own experiences to add layers of empathy to his work, which the England squad are “comforted” by. “He’s been on the journey that we’re on now,” Edwards says. “Knowing that as players gives his words so much more weight.”To gain some insight on his nine years at Sussex, beneath the hood of the two County Championships and four limited-overs trophies, you only need to look at those who improved under him. Chris Jordan is the most high profile “project”: he arrived at Hove before the 2013 season as a bowler out of sorts and let down by his own body, before making his England debut later that year. He is now part of the England men’s World T20 squad, having worked meticulously with Robinson to develop and hone an action that has served him well. It was Robinson’s ability to mould talent that the ECB looked to exploit by handing him the reins of the England Lions for the 2013 and 2014 winters.His new project, without doubt the biggest of his career, has not had an ideal start. Last month’s South Africa tour was the first time Robinson was able to have the full squad at his disposal.With various players on winter assignments, such as the Women’s BBL, he was only able to take half of the squad to Sri Lanka with the England academy before Christmas. The tour itself, featuring matches against sub-par opposition, taught him little.Sarah Taylor carries England’s batting. Robinson is looking to have others step up and expand their game•Getty ImagesRobinson then met the majority of the main squad just before the flight out from Heathrow to South Africa. Even then, another three were waiting for him at arrivals. The warm-ups were another set of mismatches before South Africa eventually pushed England in the ODIs and T20s, with the tourists winning both series 2-1. As a result Robinson didn’t feel he was able to influence selection for the World T20 too much. When confronting any marginal calls in doubt, he went by committee.One issue he did pick up and wants to address is the “lack of depth of knowledge” within the playing group. While it has surprised him, he understands the possible reasons for it.”Already, I’ve seen there are a lot of things they can learn – the sort of things that can be addressed for easy wins down the line,” he says. “How to package an innings, for instance: I want the batsmen to take the bowlers on, but that doesn’t mean just throwing your hands at the ball. It’s about how you get out of overs or take games deep.”Even things like conditions: how you read a pitch, how you become aware of overhead conditions. These are the kinds of things you just pick up from being around good cricket people.”When I delved into it, it started to make sense: they don’t play the volume of games that the men do, and so don’t have the exposure of playing in different match scenarios.”As such, Robinson regards many in the squad as raw, with high ceilings for improvement. And the challenge, he believes, is getting the players outside of the team’s high-profile core to free themselves up and, in turn, learn more about their own game.”There are three players, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield, Amy Jones – I can’t believe their averages. I’m watching them practise and thinking there’s something fundamental here that needs to be addressed.”People have written them off and I’m looking at them and seeing what they do. You want to get them through because they hit the ball well and differently.”It is early days, but the players seem lifted by Robinson’s approach and the processes he is looking to implement. For starters, he wants them to embrace expansiveness: to shoot for 160 and 180 instead of settling for 130. Women’s cricket is accelerating at such a rate that it is not simply about catching up – it’s about leading the way.The 15 players selected for the Women’s World T20 have the first shot at showing they can do that. Some players will be able to play a more confrontational form of the game. For others, it might take a lot of work to change. Some may be unable to commit altogether, especially given the quick turnaround into a world tournament.But one thing is for sure – in Robinson they have a coach with a track record in healing, improving and winning. In his own words, his role is to believe in the players and, in turn, give them belief and direction. That direction is back to the summit of the world game.

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Delhi Daredevils and Kings XI Punjab

Deivarayan Muthu15-Apr-2016Dropped and run out
That Zaheer Khan was playing his first competitive match in 11 months was apparent in Delhi Daredevils’ IPL opener against Kolkata Knight Riders. He was sluggish on the field against Kings XI Punjab too, but it somehow worked in his favour. Seeing Kings XI opener Manan Vohra aim for a big shot, left-arm spinner Pawan Negi slowed the ball down and deceived the batsman. The outside edge lobbed up but Zaheer, lumbering to his left from cover, could not catch it and the ball bounced towards the point boundary. Vohra and Vijay had completed a second run by this time and looked for a third. And Zaheer, with a little help from team-mate Karun Nair, outsmarted them. Zaheer under-armed the ball to Nair, who threw it flat and hard to the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock to effect the run-out of Vijay for 1.Mishra does a Bravo
Dwayne Bravo had broken the back of Kings XI’s middle order on Monday by dismissing Glenn Maxwell and David Miller in one over with contrasting yorkers. On Friday, Amit Mishra, playing his 100th IPL match, repeated the feat. Mishra trapped Miller lbw with a skidder that pitched on leg stump, beat the sweep shot, and hit the batsman’s pad in front of middle. Maxwell then departed for a three-ball duck when he shovelled a tossed-up ball to Carlos Brathwaite at long-off.Morris also does a Bravo
Chris Morris hit speeds north of 140 kph consistently and unleashed pinpoint yorkers against a sinking Kings XI batting line-up. He began with an inducker, which zipped through Shaun Marsh’s defences. His fifth ball did the same, and pinged the batsman’s back boot. Morris belted out an appeal for lbw, but replays showed the ball had pitched marginally outside leg. The fast bowler finished his spell with a 146 kph yorker, but it was the slow yorker, clocked at 125 kph, à la Bravo, which caught the eye. Morris lobbed one up in the penultimate over of the innings and got it to dip late on Pardeep Sahu, who managed to jam it down the ground.Iyer’s misfortune
Shreyas Iyer was one of the reasons Dardevils went looking for unheralded talents at the IPL auction. He was pushed down to No. 3 and bagged a duck in his first game this season. Iyer’s bad luck continued despite a return to his opening position and Sandeep Sharma bowled an innocuous delivery down the leg side in the third over and Iyer tried to play a glance. There was a noise, and after a prolonged appeal the umpire adjudged Iyer caught behind. Snicko, however, picked up nothing.

While it might be a belated discovery, with only one game to go, Mumbai Indians have found an assured opener who can take the load off Rohit Sharma

Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam16-May-2016Before Sunday night, Mumbai Indians had only two double-digit opening partnerships in IPL 2016 and neither lasted beyond the Powerplay. Rohit Sharma has been a near-constant presence at the top but he has had three different partners so far. His longest association was with Parthiv Patel – their nine innings together yielded a meagre 129 runs – while he opened once each with Lendl Simmons, who was subsequently injured, and Unmukt Chand. Mumbai needed stability at the top, especially in the aftermath of two miserable batting performances. They needed Martin Guptill.Guptill has had an interesting IPL. He was ignored at the auction despite being explosive during New Zealand’s home summer. Even as franchise officials were trying to rationalise the likes of Guptill going unsold, Simmons’ injury brought him to Mumbai within a week of the tournament having begun.Zaheer Khan on…

Spinners’ expensive outing: I think the left-right combination kind of helped them [Mumbai]. When someone plays an innings like that, [Krunal] Pandya just put the pressure back on us. The important thing was the start they got. Rohit [Sharma] played a good innings, to take on spinners in the first over itself kind of put us on the back foot. I felt 150-160 would have been good on this track [to chase].
Bowling spinners from overs six to 14: When you are playing three spinners, the idea was to use the spinners in the middle overs. Chris Morris and myself have been bowling at the back end, so that was the plan. In fact, I came back to bowl the 15th over, so that’s still early for me to come back. The important thing was the partnership [between Pandya and Guptill] . We were hoping that our spinners would put the brakes on. Our bowling unit right throughout the tournament has been fantastic, [but] these kind of things happen, it was an off-day for the bowling unit. We still have three games to go and we have to win two to qualify.

Guptill’s debut, in Hyderabad, was the only time Rohit didn’t open this season. He made 2 off 4 balls and didn’t get another game for almost a month, but that didn’t affect his morale. During a practice session in Visakhapatnam, Guptill, golden beard and all, revelled in the role of a pantomime villain in a mock wrestling bout with an uncapped Indian player. It seemed like Guptill was content to be behind the scenes. With the tournament at its business end, however, Rohit & co. sought him out for a more hands-on role.On Sunday, Delhi Daredevils, who have been quite savvy this season, wanted to exploit a slow pitch from the start and gave the first over to left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem. Rohit seemed nervous as the ball stopped and turned, but a mental switch to attack took care of that. The Mumbai captain had found his rhythm with a slog sweep and a lofted cover drive so Guptill was happy playing second fiddle.Besides, he was still finding his bearings. Zaheer Khan spotted, and exploited, it with a bouncer that pinged Guptill on the helmet in the fifth over. The batsman was clearly shaken, and a ball later, he was beaten again. But Guptill persevered. He even went on the offensive after Rohit was dismissed in the seventh over, with the score on 46, to deflect pressure off the new batsman Krunal Pandya.An inside-out drive through cover and a cut past point against the legspin of Mishra and Imran Tahir took Guptill to 23 off 21 balls. By then Krunal had assumed charge and was going for broke on the leg side. He found 58 of his 86 runs between midwicket and long-on, and acknowledged that Guptill’s guidance was important to his unfettered stroke-play.”When I went in at No. 3 the message was clear – I had to go [after] the spinners,” Krunal said. “There were two legspinners and one left-arm spinner. So, in between Martin helped me a lot. We discussed that, ‘you stay back, play through the innings and I will take the charge’ because both legspinners and left-arm spinner was there. So it was easy for me. The kind of wicket was you need one batsman to play till 15-16 overs so you can lay the foundation for the other players.”Guptill was aware Krunal was in overdrive and ensured he got most of the strike. From 61 for 1 in eight overs, Mumbai found 36 more in the next four overs, with Guptill consuming only three dot balls out of the 10 he faced. And when Tahir switched ends in the 13th over, he decided to supplement Krunal’s efforts with a few hits of his own. Guptill took Tahir by surprise, picking his googly early and slog sweeping it for six. Next ball, Tahir went for the conventional legbreak but Guptill saw it coming and, having given himself a little room, carted it over extra cover.With powerful strikers like Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard to come, Guptill tried to step up the run-rate and by the time he was dismissed in the 15th over, Mumbai had reached 144 for 2. Forty-eight off 42 balls may not be a jaw-dropping tally, but in Guptill Mumbai had found an assured opener to take the load off Rohit. While it might be a belated discovery, with only one game to go, it may yet be opportune for Mumbai in what is shaping to be a tight battle for the top-four spots.

The hosts have picked a first-choice squad, but they haven’t cut it at international cricket over the past 12 months and will have a tough job on their hands even against an inexperienced India team

Alagappan Muthu09-Jun-20160:46

Quick Facts – Dhoni 275 ODIs, Rest of India 83

Tangible gains go hand in hand with intangible ones in every cricket series. There are runs to get, wickets to take, and a trophy to win just as there are careers to establish, experiments to conduct, and markers to lay for the future. India’s tour of Zimbabwe, for three ODIs and T20Is, beginning on Saturday is almost entirely about the latter.The next ICC tournament – the Champions Trophy – is 12 months away so the biggest contribution of this series could be in identifying new talent and giving them exposure.India’s selectors seem to think so, judging by the fact that MS Dhoni is perhaps the only first-choice pick in a 16-member squad, nearly a third of which are uncapped players. Zimbabwe have taken a different route towards the same end. They have assembled 18 members for each format – a huge number considering it is a home series – with 12 finding a place in both squads. Considering Zimbabwe’s calendar is often characterised by a paucity of matches, their administration had to make the most of a series against one of the premier teams in international cricket. Picking a roster bursting at the seams, but with the same core of players, is a step in that direction.India have viewed Zimbabwe tours as proving grounds in the past and it is no different this time with eight of the most recent XI that played in the semi-final of the World T20 nowhere near Harare, which hosts all six matches of this series. Many in the squad have never played in Zimbabwe before. Yuzvendra Chahal, Faiz Fazal, Mandeep Singh, Karun Nair and Jayant Yadav have not played international cricket before. The clearest measure of the lopsidedness in experience in this touring party is that Dhoni has played more limited-overs matches than the rest of the 15 combined.Zimbabwe have to deal with an interim captain and coach in Graeme Cremer and Makhaya Ntini, after Hamilton Masakadza and Dav Whatmore were sacked mere weeks before this series. And yet, it is quite likely that their XI may not appear as untested as the one Dhoni will be leading.Teams usually assimilate rookies amid a buffer of well-worn hands who can take the pressure off. That way the new player can concentrate on his performance rather than worry about the consequences, and the team is also insured against a punt gone wrong. But judging from the make-up of the Indian team, it is hard to shake the perception that they don’t think Zimbabwe will upset them.Stand-in coach Sanjay Bangar was concerned by alien conditions. Dhoni explained that the tour was about adaptability. But there wasn’t much discussed, at least in public, that barring Tinashe Panyangara, who was advised rest after a recurrence of his lower back injury, Zimbabwe have called up the best players they have.Zimbabwe’s best, however, hasn’t cut it in recent results. They were the only Full Member to not qualify for the Super 10s at the World T20. They are ranked below Afghanistan in ODIs and have lost all five T20Is between the two countries. That is a reminder of how cricket around the world has surged forward, leaving Zimbabwe behind.Catching up is going to be hard. India might look raw, but that is no longer a terrible liability in the age of T20 franchise cricket. All of their personnel have played the IPL.Ambati Rayudu has been a two-time champion. Karun Nair introduced himself with a rash of centuries in first-class cricket but the 24-year old is next-gen authentic considering the skill with which he sweeps and reverse-sweeps. Manish Pandey made his international debut on the previous Zimbabwe tour and, six months later, against Australia in Sydney, enforced his candidacy for a permanent place in the XI. A profitable series could tip them as frontrunners for the role Yuvraj Singh performed in the middle order – take control after the Powerplay and then give the innings a good old kick at the end. T20 leagues do not necessarily replicate the intensity of an international game but most of them comprise teams who buy their players to win them a trophy, and it is notable that Zimbabwe’s are among the least sought after.The best way to change that is to start winning and Zimbabwe haven’t done that often enough over the last 12 months. It wasn’t that they didn’t have plans to beat their opposition. The core of the problem was that they didn’t have enough players who could execute them – a batsman who can last for as many of the 50 overs as possible, someone who can bat 30 balls and score 60 runs, a bowler who could take a wicket when it was needed most. Game-changers. That’s who Zimbabwe need. India are on the hunt for the same as well. And two weeks from now, there will be some indication of who has done better in this race.

Stats highlights from a rain-interrupted third day at Old Trafford

S Rajesh24-Jul-20162 Instances of England not enforcing the follow-on after a first-innings lead of more than 391, which is their lead in this Test. Against West Indies in Kingston in 1930, they batted again in a Timeless Test despite a lead of 563 – George Headley scored a double-hundred in the second innings to save that game for West Indies – while in 1928, in Don Bradman’s debut Test, England batted again after taking a lead of 399 in Brisbane, and won by a record margin of 675 runs. There are only two other instances of any team not enforcing a follow-on after a lead of more than 391, both by Australia against England: in 2006 in Brisbane (lead 445), and in 2013 in Adelaide (lead 398).1 Instance of England taking a bigger first-innings lead in Tests against Pakistan: at Trent Bridge in 1954, they took a lead of 401 and went on to win by an innings and 129 runs. Only five times have Pakistan conceded a lead bigger than 391 in Tests, twice when batting second, and three times when batting first.7 Fifty-plus scores for Misbah-ul-Haq in his last ten Test innings. In these ten innings, which started in July last year, Misbah has scored 577 runs at an average of 64.11, with two hundreds and five fifties.60 The partnership between Misbah and Wahab Riaz, Pakistan’s third best for the ninth wicket in Tests in England.16 Instances when Pakistan have been eight down for less than 120 in Tests in England, out of the 77 occasions when they have batted long enough for No. 10 to have a bat. There were five such instances in the 2010 series alone.39 Wahab Riaz’s score, the fourth best by a Pakistan No. 10 batsman in Tests against England. The three higher scores were all made before 1985, with the highest being 90, by Sarfraz Nawaz in Lahore in 1984.92.45 Alastair Cook’s strike rate so far in the second innings (49 not out off 53), his best in a Test innings in which he has faced at least 25 deliveries. His previous best was 92.30 (36 off 39) against India at Lord’s in 2007.402 The highest fourth-innings total at Old Trafford, by Australia in 1981. The next best is 394, by West Indies in 2007. In terms of overs batted, the highest in the fourth innings here is 145.1, by India in 1959.