All posts by h716a5.icu

Cricket is coming home for its 2000th Test, but even if the game’s a dud, it cannot take away from the glory of the ground hosting it

Michael Henderson21-Jul-2011Lord’s, glorious Lord’s! Whose step does not quicken at the prospect of visiting the greatest sporting forum in the world? Yes, greatest because it is not merely a place where cricketers play: it is the living, breathing home of the sport they practise. People come from all over the world just to set foot in it. And forum because it tends to attract those people who love the game most, and for whom the Lord’s Test is a never-ending conversation.Let’s summon a few witnesses.”Welcome to the greatest room in the world.” With these words Harold Pinter greeted guests to a bash in the Long Room, organised on his behalf by the BBC, which was presenting a festival of the playwright’s works on radio and television. Pinter loved Lord’s. He bunked off classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to watch the great players of the post-war era, and later in life could usually be found in a box during Test matches, watching intently the contest between batsman and bowler. Whether the Long Room is the greatest room in the world, it is surely the greatest room in sport, and the heart of Lord’s. All those famous portraits on the walls, great figures from the past secretly judging today’s players as they process through the room to take their place in the middle.”Lord’s is a pendant to the Royal Parks of London.” So says Philippe Auclair, French journalist, broadcaster and author. Auclair was taken to Lord’s when he first came to London, and now he never misses a Lord’s Test. He is not an uncritical observer. “These people wandering round in blazers, trying to recreate the Golden Age. They’re just buffoons. Don’t they know that Grace and Ranji were pioneers? They weren’t looking back.” Lord’s is indeed a pendant to the Royal Parks. What a wonderful phrase.”It’s a reason for living in London.” This is how Michael Billington, the ‘s long-serving theatre critic, sees Lord’s. Growing up in Leamington Spa, a keen follower of Warwickshire, he imagined the delight of popping into Lord’s for an hour or two to be part of London life. And it is certainly true that while Lord’s looks magnificent , with a full house savouring a classic Test, it looks pretty good all summer long, whether Middlesex are playing Glamorgan, or Eton playing Harrow.What makes the Lord’s Test unique? The setting, the history, the occasion. There are bigger grounds, and grounds some may consider to be more beautiful – Trent Bridge, Adelaide, Cape Town spring to mind. But Lord’s stands alone, not in an arrogant way, simply as a plot of earth that knows its worth and sees no reason to apologise for its breeding. It has a dignity that nothing can erase.

There are bigger grounds, and grounds some may consider to be more beautiful – Trent Bridge, Adelaide, Cape Town spring to mind. But Lord’s stands alone, not in an arrogant way, simply as a plot of earth that knows its worth and sees no reason to apologise for its breeding

As for a sense of occasion, that must never be overlooked. Even when people are not watching the cricket (and there are hundreds of people dining on the lawn of Coronation Garden who hardly see a ball bowled after lunch), they are still playing their part in the drama. It would be wrong to call it part of the “season” but it is a gathering of the cricketing clans. The invisible threads that link English society, through school, university and club, twitch vividly into life behind the Warner Stand every lunchtime. And Friday is the great day.The best Lord’s Friday of all? It is hard to beat the 2000 Test when England skittled West Indies for 54 to set up a victory target of 188. The next day was one for the annals. Not a mouse stirred as Michael Atherton and Michael Vaughan added 92 of the most valuable runs either man ever scored. Time and again Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh went past the bat. If an over yielded as much as one run it was a boon. The crowd, mindful of the circumstances, drank it all in, silently. Things reached a hectic pitch in the afternoon, as England won with two wickets to spare, and the celebrations were loud and long, yet it was the silence in the morning that remains the abiding memory of that day. It showed Lord’s at its best, and the best of Lord’s is unmatchable.We live for such days, storing them in our minds, sharing them with friends so that they acquire a fresh lustre with each recollection. There are those who speak of Ted Dexter’s batting against Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith in 1963, the match when Colin Cowdrey came out to bat with a broken arm. Others recall how the pavilion stood to acclaim Greg Chappell in 1972, when he made one of the great centuries. More recently Mohammad Azharuddin charmed everybody with his century in 1990, and Andrew Flintoff’s ferocious bowling against the Aussies in 2009 added another chapter to the old story.The 2000th Test match promises to be a classic contest. There are two good teams, and Sachin Tendulkar needs one more century to make it 100 hundreds in international cricket. Whatever befalls him, and the other players, we shall all leave the greatest ground with happy memories – even if it rains for five days.

When he’s not laughing at a famous caricature of himself, former Australia bowler Max Walker is writing books, doing charity work and developing iPhone apps

Brydon Coverdale25-Jul-2011Remember the time when Max Walker hijacked the Channel Nine commentary box? He’d been sacked from the commentary team and wanted his job back, so he sneaked in and held Richie Benaud hostage. You know, big Max. Like the hamburger. Remember that?If you don’t, that’s probably because you didn’t grow up in Australia in the 1980s. To a generation of young cricket followers, Max Walker wasn’t the fast bowler who was the perfect foil for Lillee and Thomson. No, he was the slightly unhinged character in Billy Birmingham’s hilarious 12th Man series*.Yeeess, that version of Max was a man with an eye for a bowler’s run-up – “left foot first, then the right, then the left again” – who would do anything to get back into the commentary team, although bribing Benaud with copies of his new book didn’t seem to work. And like the rest of the 12th Man commentators, he doesn’t mind dropping a few f-words.The impersonation has been so enduring that Walker, who has been out of the commentary business for two decades, still gets stopped in the street by 12th Man fans. He’s 62 and his hair is now silver, but when we meet at a café in Melbourne, on a cold, wintry morning, his face lights up at the mention of the 12th Man.”When I go and speak now at all sorts of conferences, later in the night there’s always a better Maxie Walker than me,” he says in a deep Tasmanian drawl. “Billy Birmingham’s legendary for basically being able to verbally kneecap any of a number of Australia’s characters, particularly in the commentary box. I don’t think Ian Chappell is that enamoured with him, and Richie is becoming less enamoured with him. But Bill Lawry, Tony Greig, myself and others enjoyed it.”The first time I heard it, I was driving down the Doncaster freeway. I put the cassette in, and I had two of my three boys in the back seat – they were under 10. I just looked in the mirror as Richie Benaud dropped out the first audio bomb, and the boys were saying ‘Dad, what are you listening to?'”I think Bill Lawry might have suffered the same sort of fate. He took it home to his wife and two daughters, picked up a clean shirt, got on the Ansett plane, and we took off commentating. He came back home to his wife, who said, ‘William, where did you get this thing!'”In a subsequent album, Max is so desperate to win his job back that when he learns he is competing with Ken Sutcliffe, his co-host, for a commentary gig, he knocks Ken out and stuffs him in a closet to tip the scales in his own favour. Kenny, the Male Model from Mudgee, still got the job.A pessimist would view the impersonation as character assassination. But Walker is no pessimist. In any case, the 12th Man helped Walker out of one of his darkest times, when his younger sister Lexie died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 38. Seeking to lift the spirits of his mother, Dulcie, Max came up with a novel method.

“I was driving down the Doncaster freeway. I put the cassette in, and I had two of my three boys in the back seat – they were under 10. I just looked in the mirror as Richie Benaud dropped out the first audio bomb, and the boys were saying ‘Dad, what are you listening to?'”Max Walker on the first time he heard his 12th man character

“My sister died and my Mum was really distant, as you do – you don’t expect your offspring to die before you. I thought I was bulletproof up until that stage. I just said, ‘Mum, have a listen to this’, not quite thinking, and well, she just broke down laughing. I thought, wow, this is crazy! She became a fan.”On the subject of family, Walker is content in the knowledge that the decision to stop commentating with Richie and the boys was his own. In the early 1990s, after the first half of his career was spent on the road, he declared that his wife and children had to come first.”‘You want your job back, Maxie’ is a very memorable line in that particular disc,” Walker says. “But Test cricket probably cost me one marriage. To be standing at third man or fine leg on another side of the planet over so many years – there’s a cost there. I remarried and our first daughter was born. Then I had to seriously make a choice on whether I continued to travel the world as a commentator.”You didn’t have to be a visionary to see where that was going to end, if I spent long spaces of time on another continent. So I had to make a choice as to whether it was commentary or not. I chose at least to be in Australia and host and the .” It’s a decision he doesn’t regret.Walker seems to have few regrets about anything he’s done. He has tried his hand at just about everything over the years, succeeding in more fields than most others would. He grew up in Hobart but was enticed to Victoria in the late 1960s to play VFL football for Melbourne under the legendary coach Norm Smith. Walker managed 85 matches at the highest level, but within six years he had too much else going on in his life to continue as a league ruckman.Test cricket had taken over his life and he was finishing a degree in architecture, a career he pursued for a decade. After retirement he was a bestselling author, TV host and cricket commentator. This year he was given an Order of Australia for his philanthropic work, and now, the latest twist in his career path has taken him into the digital age.Walker still writes the manuscripts for his books by hand, using a fountain pen, but as we chat, his eyes keep glancing down at his iPhone. Together with the former Channel Nine weatherman Rob Gell and a few others, Walker has formed the bhive Group, a company that specialises in media streaming and digital technology.To listen to Walker, the larrikin fast bowler from the 1970s, talk about building apps and QR codes is about as incongruous as seeing Benaud in a jacket in a colour other than cream, bone, white, off-white, ivory or beige.”We just won an award for the Brighton Grammar School,” Walker says. “We’ve created an app where you don’t have to write your lunch order on a brown paper bag and put $5 in it any more. You can do it on the iPhone. The teacher streams media out to the parents. That’s won an award from Apple.”Walker in his fast bowling avatar•Getty ImagesThere are a handful of former players of Walker’s era who have embraced the digital era – Rodney Hogg, for example, is a natural on Twitter, with his sometimes unconventional thoughts. But Walker is on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and has his own website. It’s not something he would have anticipated 10 years ago.”About 1998, when and the came to an end for me, I couldn’t type,” he says. “When I started architecture, it was a very aesthetic, creative, an almost art process, where lettering and thick line were how you expressed yourself on the paper. It was almost a no-no if you got somebody who could type notes onto a set of working drawings.”It’s been amazing to step out of a bottle of ink on to an iPad. There’s no better time than right now to embrace this fabulous sandpit of technology. Because intuitively, at the touch of a finger, most of it is possible. [With] 300,000-plus apps you can find stuff for anything. They’re not going to cost you much, but they will make creativity so much easier.”Creativity is what Walker prides himself on the most. He’s a keen photographer and has already decided that his next book will be a combination of text and DVD slideshow. Whenever it comes out, Benaud could be getting a copy in the mail.*contains strong language

The missed opportunities early in his career have made the England offspinner determined to make the most of the rest of it

Interview by George Dobell03-Aug-2011How had the England dressing room changed from your first experience of it in 1999 to your return eight or nine years later?
It had changed massively. We are much more together now. Back then there was quite an insular, selfish feel to the team. There were cliques. It wasn’t 11 guys playing for one another. It was six or seven guys playing that way and four or five playing for themselves. Look, I could be wrong. I was hardly in the dressing room back then. I was an outsider and I’m just giving you my impression. But I was quite surprised by it at the time.I came back in eight years later and it felt different. It’s hard to put your finger on what has changed. Central contracts have made a big difference. So has the policy of continuity of selection, as guys aren’t looking over their shoulder all the time. But one way or another, things feel much more united now. The sad thing is that many of those guys playing in 1999 would probably have performed really well if they had come into this set-up. They’d have found it a much better environment.I don’t know if you recall, but I was asked to write your tour diary in 1999-2000. What would we have put in it?
Ha! It would have been like Paul Merson’s , wouldn’t it? Yeah, we could have called it .Murali has said England missed out on not selecting you in those intervening years. But had you changed, too, or was it just that the England environment had changed to welcome characters like you?
Oh, there are myriad reasons. It was probably a bit of both. But I had improved by the time I was recalled. It’s only natural that you evolve as you play more. I know I had improved as a bowler, but it’s hard to say to what extent. I just felt I knew what I was doing more. But it’s true that the environment had changed too.Was the turning point in your own career moving from Northants to Notts at the end of 2004?
Yes, probably. It was a case of moving or giving up cricket. I wasn’t enjoying it at all, and it had got to the stage where I was dreading going to work in the morning. I didn’t have a plan to do anything else, but I couldn’t have gone on like that. Then Mick Newell [Notts’ director of cricket] came along. He just asked me to come to Trent Bridge and enjoy my cricket again. He said he wanted me to play with a smile on my face and be myself. As those were qualities that were actively discouraged at Northants at the time, it was a chance I leapt at. It was lovely.How do you feel about Northants now?
I’m still very fond of Northants. I check on their results and I still want to see them do well. It’s the club where I grew up and that I supported as a kid. I’m really happy to see they have started the season so well and I hope they go up. I know that will surprise a few of the people who gave me a hard time when I left, but hopefully they now understand there was a problem there and the reasons behind my decision. At the time, I seem to remember some of them calling me a quitter. Looking back, I still can’t believe that Northants didn’t win more trophies. They had some amazing players.I have a theory that young cricketers would benefit if, alongside going warm-weather training in South Africa or playing grade cricket in Australia, they spent a few weeks each winter working in a call centre or the club office so they realise how good they have it and to focus their minds on the alternatives. What do you think?
I love it! It’s a great idea. But don’t let them work in the club offices; that’s too soft. Young cricketers should be made to do National Service. Or labouring. Look, we have got the best job in the world. It’s brilliant. We travel around the world, staying in great hotels, and we play cricket. Occasionally I hear someone moaning about another flight and I just remind them that we could be collecting bins or laying bricks on a cold morning in England. We’re very lucky and we shouldn’t forget that. Millions of people would kill to swap places with us.So, yes, I think giving young players a bit of that fear factor – showing them what they will be doing if they don’t make it in cricket – wouldn’t do any harm at all. It would give them a good kick up the arse.Have those years out of the international game given you a greater appreciation of your current position?
Yeah, I think there might be something in that. I love touring. Absolutely love it. You’re travelling around with your best mates – and that really is how it feels most of the time – and you’re being paid to do something you love. Obviously you miss your family and there are times when it’s tiring, but generally it’s a fantastic life and I love every moment of it. Look, one winter I helped out in Ian Poulter’s golf shop. It was the worst time of my life. I was bored out of my mind. So I’ll never take playing for England for granted.

“You wouldn’t ask Usain Bolt why he doesn’t run marathons, would you? I’m a traditional offspinner. I can bowl the carrom ball, but it’s just not me. It’s just not what I do. My action is so different when I do it that there’s no point”

So you won’t be asking to miss the odd tour so you can have a break?
No, no. I have missed enough international cricket. I want to play every game I can. In 2009, just before the Ashes, I knew I was going to get picked. It was all I had ever wanted. I was finally in the position that I wanted to be in. So I treat every game as if it’s going to be my last. I play with a bit of , and that seems to work for me.I have been lucky with my coaches, too. If I bowl rubbish, Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed, England’s spin bowling coach] just says to me, “Don’t worry, Mr Swanny. Everything is still okay. The sun will still shine tomorrow.” It helps you relax and not get too intense about it all.Sometimes when someone misfields off your bowling your reaction is pretty ferocious. Does that ever cause a problem?
When people misfield off my bowling, it makes me hate them. Really. I’m not joking. I want to do them and their family ill. I want to hunt them down and do them harm. That feeling doesn’t last long, which is probably just as well, but it’s there for a moment. It’s funny, the three of us who were the most grumpy with England – me, Broady and Sid [Ryan Sidebottom] – were all from Nottinghamshire. I don’t know why that should be. Look, we all make mistakes in the field. The best thing you can do is acknowledge it, say sorry and get on with it. There’s never been any problem afterwards. We all care a lot and we all understand that passion to do well.During all those years when you weren’t playing international cricket, did you ever think of learning to bowl the doosra or any other type of variation?
You wouldn’t ask Usain Bolt why he doesn’t run marathons, would you? Well, it the same thing, really. I’m a traditional offspinner. I can bowl the carrom ball, but it’s just not me. It’s just not what I do. My action is so different when I do it that there’s no point. I might as well tell the batsman what I’m going to bowl next.Had you given up on an England recall?
I absolutely thought that any chance I had of playing for England had gone. And I had accepted it. I was happy with life. I was loving playing at Notts and England wasn’t even something I thought about. It really didn’t bother me as it didn’t even seem like it was an option. I didn’t even bother to check the touring parties when they were announced, as I just knew it wasn’t anything to do with me. Well, I say that: I sometimes had a peek and thought, “He shouldn’t be in there”. But no, I wasn’t thinking about England.A couple of years before your England return, you became a much higher-profile figure in the media. Was that a deliberate plot to gain some support in an attempt to convince the England selectors to pick you?
No, not at all. You are right that it didn’t harm my profile, but it wasn’t about playing for England. It was more about thinking about life after cricket. I was just trying to open some doors for a future career in the media.You seem to relish that part of your job. Much more so than some of your team-mates.
Yeah, that’s probably right. I think I understand the media. I don’t mind if they criticise – that’s their job, isn’t it? – and I’m not afraid of it. Look, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy being the centre of attention. An interview like this, where I’m asked to talk about myself, well, that’s fine: it’s my favourite subject. I think some of the guys do fear the media, but there isn’t much need. If you approach it as something that can be fun and you just relax and be yourself, then there really isn’t a big problem.Your Twelfth Man diaries were a great success. Why have you stopped them?
We haven’t stopped them. They are for winter tours. We’ll still be doing them, but we wanted to keep them special. Hopefully you’ll see them again this winter. That’s as long as Barney Douglas, who is the guy behind the camera, hasn’t gone off to be a rock star by then. His band, The Sunbeat Revival, have just released their first EP. It’s brilliant, euphoric stuff.It was Peter Moores who recalled you to the England side. Does he get the credit he deserves for his role as England coach? I think Andy Flower would be the first to praise him.
And so he should be. Peter Moores hasn’t had the credit he deserves. He’s an exceptional coach and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he was coaching an international team again sooner rather than later. He was brilliant when I was selected. He said, “We picked you to be you. We want to see the same cricketer we saw when you were playing county cricket: just be you.” I feel really lucky to have had him as coach when I came back into the side.There has been quite a lot of nonsense talked about him, but as far as I’m concerned, he did a lot of good things and he’s definitely part of the reason behind the England team’s revival.You have opened the batting with some success in limited-overs cricket at county level. Would you like to do it at international level?
Ha! I’d love to have a crack at it, yes. I’m not sure it would work so well at that level, but I’d love to have a go. I love batting. It’s the best thing about cricket. I get quite bored in the field sometimes.”Captaincy just isn’t on my agenda. I just want to bat and bowl for England and I don’t think I could still be the light-hearted, piss-taking guy if I was in a position of authority”•Getty ImagesYou weren’t interviewed for the captaincy. Why was that?
I didn’t put myself forward for the job. Captaincy just isn’t on my agenda. I love my role in the side and I don’t want to change it. I just want to bat and bowl for England and I don’t think I could still be the light-hearted, piss-taking guy if I was in a position of authority.Presumably you are a big fan of the DRS?
I am. I was a bit sceptical at first, as I wasn’t sure about the technology, but now I think it’s brilliant. It’s meant that we are now giving guys out who should be given out. For years batsmen were getting away with it.What went wrong at the World Cup?
Weariness was a factor, but we can’t use that as an excuse. It’s not as if we were not fit enough to get through a schedule like that, and we went there to try and win it. But if we are honest I think we would have to admit that the World Cup was our secondary aim of the winter. Our primary aim was to win the Ashes and we put a huge amount into that. Maybe mentally we were a bit jaded. But as I say, that’s not an excuse. I thought we were exceptional in some games and very average in some others.Graeme Swann is a brand ambassador for Kingfisher beer

Madhya Pradesh’s last pair was at the crease when the Mumbai captain Wasim Jaffer pushed back seven fielders to the deep. It set the tone for a day when Mumbai just refused to take charge.

Abhishek Purohit at the Holkar Cricket Stadium02-Jan-2012You have the opposition on 171 for 9 in a knockout game at their homeground after having decided to bowl first. It is no exaggeration to saythat you are completely on top. Ideally you will want to get the lastwicket as soon as possible. Ideally that will reflect in your fieldsettings against the remaining batsmen, No. 8 and No. 11. Ideally you willnot have seven men in the deep against No. 8. Yes, Mumbai captain WasimJaffer had deep fielders for TP Sudhindra, who has afirst-class batting average of 16.05.Third man, deep point, long-off, long-on, deep midwicket, deep square legand fine leg made for quite a sight as Mumbai repeatedly tried shortdeliveries against Sudhindra, as if the only way to get him was to bouncehim out. The last wicket partnership consumed 40 minutes and added acrucial 21 runs in what is turning out to be a low-scoring game. Suchastonishing defensiveness characterized Mumbai’s approach on a day theyshould have thoroughly dominated after Madhya Pradesh’s batting failed.It wasn’t only against the last pair that Mumbai refused to take charge ofthe game. After having got a wicket in the first over of the match whenZafar Ali was trapped leg-before by Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaffer took men outof the slip cordon as soon as Mohnish Mishra started to attack. That didnot stop Mishra from driving at anything pitched up. It instead allowedthe surprisingly defensive but in-form Naman Ojha to score a few runsthrough where third slip would have been.Mumbai then ran into a batsman who was prepared to treat their attack forwhat it was – not exactly threatening. Dhawal Kulkarni kept dropping itshort and Udit Birla kept pulling and cutting for boundaries. MP werestill in trouble at lunch on 115 for 5 but the way Mumbai began the secondsession further revealed their state of mind. Deep point was in place notonly for Birla but also for new batsman Murtaza Ali.No wonder the same safety-first attitude characterized Mumbai’s batting.They had the opportunity to shut MP out of the match by stumps. Anuncertain opening partnership of 26 in 14 overs led to the pressurebuilding up on Mumbai instead. No doubt, MP’s new-ball attack was disciplined, but itwas clear from the manner in which the openers played that their mandatewas to bat out time.It is only for so long that modern batsmen can play the waiting game, though. After having left deliveries for an eternity outside the off stump, Onkar Gurav fell after getting too far across to work a delivery on the leg side. Even Jaffer, of all batsmen, went chasing a rare wide delivery without moving his feet.After all this, Mumbai still had time left for one more defensive move.With more than 20 minutes left for stumps after the dismissal ofSuryakumar Yadav, they sent in a nightwatchman. That he lasted only onedelivery is a different matter.The point is that even by the conservative standards of Mumbai captains ofthe past, Jaffer’s approach bordered on the extreme. It cost them thechance to take control of the quarter-final. It may or may not cost them aplace in the semi-final. And for the record, Sudhindra was finally outcaught. Not in the deep, but in the slip cordon.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first day of the third Test in Dominica

Daniel Brettig at Windsor Park23-Apr-2012Pad-up of the day
Ravi Rampaul has sat on the boundary’s edge for two Test matches as Australia’s openers David Warner and Ed Cowan have generally made a smooth start to their innings. However Rampaul is known for producing wickets with the new ball, and on his return to the team he did exactly that once more. Apart from one play and miss, Cowan looked sure enough against Kemar Roach in the first over but in the second he faced Rampaul, who has shown the capacity to swing the ball back into left-handers. Seemingly oblivious to this, Cowan let his second ball from Rampaul go as he had done the first, only this time to find it was fuller and straightening, hitting him in line and going on to strike the top of off stump. Tony Hill’s finger was raised, and, unlike in Trinidad, Cowan chose not to refer the decision.Strategy of the day
When the teams returned after lunch, Darren Sammy opened up with the tidy bowling of himself and Shane Shillingford. Given Australia’s sound, if slow start, and the prospect of a long day in the field if more wickets were not collected, it seemed a conservative decision, leaving Rampaul and Roach to ruminate in the outfield. However Sammy’s confidence in his and Shillingford’s ability to frustrate David Warner and Shane Watson, two batsmen who like to keep the runs flowing, proved well-founded. They struggled to score at better than 1.5 runs per over after the break, and on 41 Watson fell to the leg trap, hooking to deep backward square.Field setting of the day
Shillingford’s bowling was again thrifty and crafty, making use of the turn on offer to him at Windsor Park. Supported by a raucous Dominican crowd, he went close to a wicket with plenty of deliveries before Warner gifted his by slapping a shortish ball to cover point. Michael Clarke soon came close to perishing too, when he turned an off break around the corner to land millimetres short of backward short leg’s hands. However Sammy and Shillingford allowed a little of the pressure to lapse by sending mid on back to the fence for Clarke and Ricky Ponting, despite neither showing the inclination to loft down the ground. Instead, they were able to milk a few singles as tea approached, alleviating some of the hosts’ stranglehold on the scoring.Record of the day
When Ponting reached 23 with a single pulled to deep square leg from Shillingford, he became the second-highest run scorer in Tests, a position he is likely to occupy in perpetuity given that the man he passed, Rahul Dravid, is retired while the man ahead, Sachin Tendulkar, is a long way off in the distance. The moment arrived without much fanfare, and Ponting was unable to stretch his lead over Dravid by more than that one run – in Shillingford’s next over he squeezed a catch to backward short leg as another off break fizzed and bounced on the Roseau pitch.

Stats highlights from a riveting final day at Lord’s

S Rajesh20-Aug-2012 For the first time in nine series between the two teams since South Africa’s readmission, the margin for the winning team was more than one Test. On eight previous occasions, the series were either drawn (1-1 or 2-2), or one of the teams won by a 1-0 or 2-1 margin. Also, this was the first time during this period that one of these two teams won two series without the other winning one in between: South Africa had won in England in 2008 as well, while the series in South Africa in 2009-10 was drawn. Lord’s continues to be a stronghold for South Africa. In their last five Tests, dating back to 1994, they’ve won four times and drawn once. England, meanwhile, suffered their first Lord’s Test defeat since 2005, when Australia beat them by 239 runs. In 13 matches after that defeat and before this game, England won six and drew seven. After slightly disappointing returns in the first two Tests of the series, Vernon Philander was back at his best, taking his seventh five-for in ten matches. His career tally is 63 wickets at 15.96. It’s also his fourth Man-of-the-Match award in ten Tests, which puts him in joint tenth position in the all-time list for South Africa. He is already level with Hashim Amla, who has won four in 62 Tests, AB de Villiers (77 Tests) and Ashwell Prince (66). England’s resistance was led by Matt Prior, who improved his Lord’s stats to 762 runs in 16 innings at an average of 54.42, with three hundreds and as many fifties. Prior’s tally is the highest by an England wicketkeeper at one venue, and the third-highest by any wicketkeeper. Only Andy Flower has scored more runs than Prior at a ground: he has 1403 runs in Harare and 778 in Bulawayo. England’s total of 294 is their third-highest in the fourth innings of a Lord’s Test. Their only 300-plus total was against West Indies in 1988, when they scored 307 in a losing cause. Their run rate of 3.54 is the seventh-highest in the fourth innings of a Lord’s Test (with a 50-over cut-off). Jonny Bairstow’s 47-ball 54 is the second-fastest 50-plus score in the fourth innings by an England batsman (for all matches for which balls-faced data is available). The quickest is Graham Gooch’s 42-ball 54 against Australia in Sydney in 1991. Dale Steyn finished with five wickets in the match, but struggled for wickets yet again in the fourth innings, taking 1 for 61. Over his entire career, Steyn has taken only 26 fourth-innings wickets in 17 innings, at an average of 33.50. That’s a huge contrast to his stats in the other innings: he averages 22.03 in the first innings, 24.41 in the second, and 21.27 in the third. In his last eight fourth-innings efforts, he has taken five wickets at 77.80.

The Haryana allrounder was desperate to return to cricket after a car accident last year. His coach and physio had key roles to play

Siddarth Ravindran in Hubli25-Dec-2012″I had a major head injury, fracture and clotting, was in the ICU, needed head surgery and about 40-45 stitches,” recounts the Haryana allrounder Joginder Sharma, talking about his car accident last November which nearly ended his cricketing career. A year on, he has returned to the Ranji circuit, signing autographs as a knot of kids surround him before the day’s play in the cricketing outback of Hubli.It has been a difficult journey back to the field for the man who has been the cornerstone of Haryana’s Ranji side for several seasons. “My family was a little apprehensive,” he says. “The doctors were cautious, because that’s the nature of head injuries. (anything can happen).”Still, Joginder was desperate to play again. “My willpower was good,” he replies when asked how he pulled through the tough times. “I started training, started running, physio Amit Tyagi was there, he worked a lot as well, it is because of him that I am back on the field. I spoke to our Haryana coach Ashwini Kumar as well.”Ashwini says the team could sense how badly Joginder wanted to return. “When three-four months after the accident he came to the ground he kept feeling, ‘ (I need to do something), so I just told him, ‘, just listen to the advice of the doctors and the physio Amit Tyagi. Just do what they ask you to do’.”At the start they gave Joginder some light exercises. “Our primary aim was that his health should not be affected by cricket,” Ashwini says. “We kept him at a minimum level of exercises, like we would to a beginner. We told him to not take up a big load at the beginning itself, however you can bowl, even if it is slow, just bowl like that. Slowly he began to find his rhythm.”There was a bigger challenge than getting Joginder back to full fitness. “The mental trauma was as tough for him to deal with as anything else,” Tyagi says, “because you can build on the physical aspect any time but when somebody is mentally down, somebody is psychologically down, it makes things very difficult.”Tyagi explains how the process of building Joginder’s mental strength began. “We, everybody, basically reminded him of his past performances for Haryana, and for the country,” Tyagi says. “As everybody knows, he bowled the final over, possibly the most pressurised, stressful moment of anybody’s cricket career. Everybody reminded him about the tense moments, the victory and we motivated him about his performances.”After the initial part of the recovery, in an attempt to increase his confidence, the Haryana camp decided to not treat Joginder differently from the other players. “When you have had an accident you start to doubt yourself as a lot of things come to your mind, ‘what if I get hit on the head?'” Tyagi says. “When you go through physical training, you realise ‘Okay, I’m normal’, when you play a bouncer you think ‘Okay, I’m normal’. We didn’t ask our bowlers to do anything different, we didn’t ask them to bowl slow, or not bowl bouncers, that’s how he gained confidence. He felt he was absolutely normal now; breaking down the psychological barrier was the most important thing.”Joginder has had plenty of injury problems in the past couple of years, even before the accident: an ankle problem that needed surgery and a neck injury as well, and there was more trouble on the comeback trail. “I started cricket about six months ago, bowling in the nets, our district matches, but I was finding it difficult to last an entire match,” Joginder says. “I played a tournament in Delhi, I did quite well there, so two-and-a-half months before the Ranji season I was in good rhythm. Then I played in some practice games and I picked up a shoulder injury.”Once he recovered from that, Haryana’s physio and trainer put him through several fitness tests. “He cleared all of them,” says Ashwini. “As our Ranji season started, we organised matches between the Under-19 side and the Ranji probables whom he played for. Then, when we were satisfied that he can withstand four days of cricket, that he can bowl 20-25 overs, then we slowly brought him back to the squad.”Joginder’s first step back to first-class level was in the match against Uttar Pradesh earlier this month. He had been out of top-flight domestic cricket for nearly 14 months. “I was a little agitated at the start of the UP game,” Joginder recalls, “but once the match started I bowled, after five-six overs I got some confidence, then I batted and did well, scoring 65, which increased my confidence even more.” A further indication of his fitness levels came from the 30 overs he bowled in the second innings against UP.”I’m really happy about the improvement in his physical fitness, and his performance also,” Tyagi says, “If you are working on somebody, some project and if you are successful in that, you feel really happy.”The coach is also thrilled with his progress, but says Joginder is still not at his best. “There’s no doubt about his class and ability. I have tracked his progress for a long time as he used to play in my academy as a child,” Ashwini says. “In the batting he is ok, but in the bowling, the level he was at before, he has not reached it yet, and it will take him two or three months of physical training.”The famous final over against Pakistan was Joginder’s final act in international cricket so far, not having got another India match since, something he is hoping will change. “I’m doing better than I expected, there is no pain now,” he says. “My goal now is to stay fit and play as many matches as possible, to keep performing and the rest is in the hands of the national selectors.”

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013At last, the waiting is over. Again. A tortuous, seemingly endless five entire days with no Test cricket have finally wended their pointless way into the history books, and the long-awaited England versus West Indies rematch now marches towards its thrillingly decisive climax at the Riverside today. The Wisden Trophy is still literally anyone’s. The two captains have been at each other’s throats like two top surgeons in a one-on-one emergency tracheotomy competition. And the Ashes (not to mention West Indies’ forthcoming home clash with Bangladesh) loom with massively gargantuan enormity as the players strain every conceivable physical and mental sinew to touch the elusive heavens of cricketing immortality. Truly, the eyes of the universe are trained through excited binoculars on the green Durham sward, and it is hard to envisage that this will not prove to be the greatest match cricket has ever seen.Perhaps I am guilty of talking things up a little. The advance ticket sales suggest I may even be guilty of talking things up more than a little. Following three days of medium-to-low calibre action at Lord’s, and with the West Indian captain essentially proclaiming that he would rather be doing something else somewhere else than spending a long weekend standing outside in the north of England in the middle of May, the cricketing public is showing little appetite for this game. In fact, it is pushing this game around its plate. It may nibble the odd morsel, but it is clearly watching its weight and saving itself for a far more satisfying main course – Ashes pie.The first Test was an unsatisfying match, despite its nail-biting denouement. Admittedly, it was only nail-biting for the friend with whom I watched the evening session of day 3 – he had tickets for day 4, and would have missed out on his refund if the West Indies had resisted until stumps. The tension in his wallet was unbearable.England played well enough, but the startling ineptitude of their opponents in the field and with the bat renders judgement largely irrelevant. If the Australians are not quite quaking in their boots, it is at least partially because the Ashes remain sufficiently far away that they have not yet put their boots on.Here, then, are the official Confectionery Stall Conclusions To Be Drawn From The First Test:England’s main concern will be about Ravi Bopara. He is clearly a good player, and, on the evidence of his last two Test innings, a lucky one. However, questions must be asked about his temperament under pressure. He had a chance to carve himself a unique place in the history books – he could have been the 700th player to be out in the 90s in Test matches. No-one could ever have taken that away from him. Instead, he played himself calmly to a century, the 3281st century in Tests, yet another name on an overfilled honours board. He had the chance to make his mark by throwing his innings away to any one of the 20 balls he faced after passing 90 before reaching three figures. And he blew it.Graham Onions, after perhaps the most inept two-ball start to a Test career (100% bowled out by a full toss, then a long-hop demolished to the boundary), showed himself to be a decent bowler, and his giddy enthusiasm was magnificent to see. He prompted some slightly overexcited comparisons to Glenn McGrath. Other than a good action and a propensity for skittling teams out in Lord’s Tests, this may be a little premature. Onions’ first-class economy rate is 3.7, compared to McGrath’s 2.5. Onions has also thus far shown no capability for unleashing needless barrages of verbal abuse into batsmen’s faces. If he wants to match the Australian’s 563 Test wickets at 21, he will have to work on both of these aspects of his game. The McGrath-style batting is clearly almost there.However, the British media clearly do not consider Onions to be a long-term prospect. They blew every conceivable onion-related headline and wordplay at the first available opportunity, rather than pacing themselves over a 70-Test career. Already, journalists and sub-editors will be rifling through their recipe books trying to find more onion-based dishes in case the Gateshead Goliath transpires to be one of England’s greats. Tim Bresnan will never be a Test cricketer. Unless he stops (a) being given out lbw when the ball was not even contemplating hitting the stumps, and (b) not having to bowl very much.Those wickets in the West Indies really did flatter the batsmen and insult the bowlers. A boring five-day Test is much, much more boring than a boring three-day Test.History will never know whether Chris Gayle would have played better or worse had he arrived more than two days before the game began. He would certainly have played in the same way. Arguably, he would have been stroppier for having had to leave the IPL even sooner. In fact, it is possible that Gayle had too much acclimatisation time. If he had arrived just in time for the toss, he might not have had time to remember that he doesn’t like Test cricket much any more.On then, to the Riverside, the mostly empty Riverside. During his entertaining to-and-fro with Gayle, Andrew Strauss said: “The important thing is that Test cricket gets the attention it deserves. And that means that people prepare themselves properly for any Test match you play. You don’t want Test cricket to be devalued in any way, shape or form.”These are noble thoughts, which all Test fans would support. But these words ring a little hollow before a Test at a ludicrous time of year against a team that had not been planning to be involved. Test cricket is the pinnacle of the game, but it is not always treated as such by its authorities. Teams (both home and away) are habitually underprepared, some are depopulated by the tedious political squabbling over the ICL, series are raced through at breakneck speed, and pitches are often designed to provide time-span rather than contest. Test cricket is increasingly often devalued in many ways, shapes and forms.Gayle’s recent mutterings to the media also proved what a phenomenal entertainer the man is, both on and off the pitch. After encouraging Strauss not to “sleep with Chris on his mind” (sage advice at any time, unless the Chris to whom he was referring was Chris Tavare, who was often prescribed as an insomnia cure by the NHS in the 1980s), Gayle bemoaned how the demands of captaincy force him to go through innumerable onerous tasks. “There’s always something you have to go and do, you know, extra,” said the Kingston Cavalier. “Lunch or dinner, some other thing.” These, of course, are meals of which Gayle would normally steer well clear. He is very much a breakfast, elevenses, teatime nibbles and bedtime snack man. The fact that he is prepared to alter his dietary timetable for the needs of the team is a mark of the man.England should win this game – they have beaten West Indies in 11 of the past 13 Tests in this country, and it seems unlikely that Gayle’s comments about wanting to give up the captaincy and not being particularly fussed about the future of Test cricket will serve to inspire his troops to follow their captain in a Test match. Let us hope it is a better game than Lord’s, however, and that Captain Chris enjoys it. He might not need Test cricket, but Test cricket needs him.

At an open session organised for the media in Chennai, Taibu came across as an engaging young man. He had a ready smile, sparkling eyes, and stories to tell

Nikhilesh Bhattacharya25-Feb-2013News from Zimbabwe about Tatenda Taibu’s decision to quit cricket for the church took me back to my only meeting with the man ahead of last year’s 50-over World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.At an open session organised for the media in Chennai, Taibu came across as an engaging young man. He had a ready smile, sparkling eyes, and stories to tell. He laughed when he was told that his life had been quite a journey, starting as he did as an international cricketer at 18. “Yeah, as I tell them in the dressing room, ‘take care of the old man, guys’,” Taibu, 27 at that time, said, prompting laughter all around.When talk veered to his family, the wicketkeeper-batsman said he had two sons: the elder, unimaginatively named Tatenda Junior, was “um, seven” at the time. The younger, only a few months old in February 2011, is called Gershom. Now, “if you know your Bible,” said Taibu, Gershom means a stranger in a strange land, a name Moses had given his first-born son.What struck me then was that Taibu himself had been a stranger in strange lands for quite some time after quitting the Zimbabwean set-up in 2005, plying his trade in Namibia and at one point declaring his intention to qualify for South Africa. But in 2011, after yet another comeback to the Zimbabwe team, Taibu appeared settled in his role as he hoped to “steal some fans from soccer to cricket” with a big performance in the World Cup. Now we know it was only a temporary refuge.

Bracing weather, a picturesque landing, and men with famous surnames making their mark – they all feature in the first edition of our correspondent’s New Zealand diary

Andrew McGlashan12-Mar-2013February 25
London-Dubai-Sydney-Christchurch. Not really sure what day it is. First time back in Christchurch since the devastating earthquake in 2011. On the drive from the airport you can see corrugated road surfaces that are among the effects of the quake. Decide to take a walk around; quite a sobering experience. A section of the CBD is still cordoned off, although shrinking all the time as construction continues. The hotel I stayed in on my previous visit is one of many buildings no longer standing. This will be a low-rise city from now. Love some of the initiative shown in temporary structures, such as a shopping area made of shipping containers, and an entertainment block of packing crates. The city wants to be a host for the 2015 World Cup. Hope it comes their way.February 26
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun out descent into…” When the captain makes that announcement it is not, normally, a precursor to much more than closing your tray tables and putting your seats in the upright position. However, when those words are followed by “Queenstown”, it is the cue to fix your gaze outside the window, or to politely ask the other passengers in your row if they mind some encroachment into their personal space.Arriving in Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island, is one of the world’s great landings. Google a list and it is often alongside places such as Hong Kong, St Maarten (where you land just metres beyond the beach), and some of the white-knuckle runways in the Himalayas. Aircraft take a narrow course between the mountains, banking left and right. As the landing gear is lowered, and the earth approaches, you can see the Queenstown Events Centre – the rather unglamorous name for the cricket ground, which has provided the foreground for many airplane-landing-over-match pictures.Straight from the airport to England’s first red-ball training session. Andy Flower is back in charge and directs the centre-wicket practice. Alastair Cook and Nick Compton bat together. Presume that means no batting changes.February 27
There are not many better locations for a cricket match. The contest on the pitch is good too. New Zealand’s eager attack nip the ball round and it needs a classy ton from Ian Bell to keep England on track for a decent total.After play, make it to the waterfront in time for sunset. The light catches the top of the mountains. They are truly remarkable.February 28
It’s always interesting when players likely to appear in a Test a few days later face the opposition in a match such as this. Notes are taken by both sides. Hamish Rutherford makes an impressive 90. The England bowlers are forced to work hard. During his innings he has contact-lens trouble. “It ended up somewhere near my brain,” he says afterwards.March 1
Corey Anderson picked up a side strain bowling in the first innings, but it doesn’t appear to impact his batting as he clubs England for 67 off 62 balls. One over from Graham Onions costs 22. Then England’s top order falls to 67 for 4. Not a convincing day.The evening is spent with Mike Walters, who is covering the trip for the and is back on tour for the first time in seven years. Listen to some great stories of touring years ago. Things have certainly changed.March 2
Neil Wagner has close to the perfect day. Gets added to the New Zealand Test squad and hits the winning runs as the XI chase down 334 with eight balls to spare. Isn’t afraid to speak his mind at the press conference: “It’s good that Kevin Pietersen hasn’t batted very long.” Looking forward to Wagner v KP in the Tests.Last evening in Queenstown, but it’s a quiet one, spent with a couple of colleagues discussing the new county cricket season. (Well, it’s only a month away.)March 3
Another lovely journey, this time from Queenstown to Dunedin. You really do get spoilt over here. Valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, forests and wildlife. Pass through a small town called Waihola just outside of Dunedin. Sign on arriving says, “No doctor, no hospital, one cemetery.”Immediately feel the chillier climate of the east coast, although, like most of New Zealand, Dunedin has had a warm, dry summer. There’s a cricket match in town. Isn’t that normally the signal for a change?An entertainment block in Christchurch, where packing crates feature prominently•Andrew McGlashan/ESPNcricinfo LtdThe game also coincides with Freshers’ Week for Otago University. That coupled with the Barmy Army in town means it should be lively.March 5
It’s New Zealand census day and visitors to the country have to fill a form in as well. The census has been delayed two years because of the Christchurch earthquake, which caused so much displacement that it would have distorted any survey. The news channels have stories of the lengths the census-takers go to to ensure everyone fills out a form and all properties are logged. It means going around abandoned buildings and making trips to the many remote islands, especially in New Zealand’s north, where people who don’t want to be found often go. I make it easy for them. One page, a few tick boxes and my duty is done.The early evening is spent at a function put on by Otago Cricket at University Oval. They are immensely proud of hosting this Test. “Four years ago we set out our aim to get an England Test,” Ross Dykes, the Otago CEO, says. “This is the pinnacle for us.” Finishing touches are being put to the ground, which looks a picture.March 6
The cricket-weather jinx strikes again. The cloud rolls in almost as Brendon McCullum says, “We’ll bowl.” The front row of the press tent quickly gets soaked – not ideal for the electrics – and the grass banks, which were filling up moments earlier, start to empty as fans hunt for cover. Feel desperately sorry for the local organisers.March 7
Close-of-play score: 167 all out plays 131 without loss. Not the dominant start many expected England to make. They have been inept; New Zealand have had a day they could scarcely have dreamt of. Wagner is the main man, marking his first home Test with the notable scalps of Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell.March 8
Hamish Rutherford makes a magnificent 171. Feels like we’ve seen the start of a long Test career. His father, Ken, followed every ball from his home in South Africa and his mother, Karen Broad, was at the ground. ”I remember when he was six months old and from the moment he could sit up he had a little bat. We spent all day bowling to him,” she tells the . “And Tom [Hamish’s younger brother] was no different. “It is overwhelming. I’m just so proud of him. He has just done so well and he is so confident and calm.”March 9
Turning into a family Test at University Oval. Following Rutherford’s innings, Nick Compton fights to his maiden Test century. He gives a press conference of rare emotion and openness. When asked about the family name, he just replies. “It’s nice to do something my grandfather did, sure, but right now I’m happy for myself and my family.”March 10
Catch a few minutes with Richard Compton, Nick’s dad, while queuing for coffee. He is still beaming with pride. The photos of his first-pump when Nick reached his hundred are all over the press. “The support from South Africa has been amazing as well,” he says, “I spent all night replying to messages.” He was particularly delighted with a couple of Nick’s cover drives. “I hadn’t seen him play them so well before. In England he would say it was just too risky.”The batting story of the day, though, is Steven Finn. He doesn’t quite seem to know how to celebrate when he reaches 50. Maybe he’ll get another chance. Anyway, it’s all square. Next stop Wellington. I bet it’s windy.