All posts by h716a5.icu

Plays of the day from the IPL game between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur

Sidharth Monga29-Apr-2013The view
The best view – as you will know if you have played snooker – is from the same level as the ball is. In the first over of the match, Chris Gayle tried to sweep Ajit Chandila, slipped, and landed on his face. However, instead of looking embarrassed he lay down there and watched the ball travel all the way to the square-leg boundary for four. As if watching TV from the bed.The reaction
When Shane Watson removed Gayle with an innocuous shortish delivery outside off, he didn’t exult as bowlers who get Gayle should. Gayle had already scored 34 off 16, but this was still a huge wicket. Watson just smiled with his face brighter than ever. It began as a smile of relief, then glee, and it stayed just as wide until he had walked past Gayle and to the cordon.The reprieve
In the 12th over, AB de Villiers lobbed Stuart Binny straight to deep cover, but Sreesanth was too charged up, ran in too far, completely misjudged the catch, and watched it lob him like a tennis player after playing a poor approach shot. And no, he couldn’t have lost it in the setting sun because the sun was behind him.That was not the reprieve, though. The reprieve was for Sreesanth. His captain, Rahul Dravid, threw him the ball and asked him to right the wrong. He responded with a wide half-volley, but de Villiers lofted it to the deep cover again, and this time James Faulkner took the catch easily, despite the sun being in his eye. Sreesanth was relieved, and followed it up with six dot balls in a row.The slower balls
Faulkner has been bowling back-of-the-hand slower balls well, but as with all good and bad things excess is not good. In the final over of the Royal Challengers innings, with the visitors stuck and the final kick nowhere in sight, his slower ball became predictable, and R Vinay Kumar smote two of them over long-on for massive sixes. When Faulkner corrected the length, Vinay smote that length ball too. Not how you wish somebody on a birthday.

One man spent over a year cycling from England to Australia to watch the last Ashes. If that’s not devotion to the game, what is?

Alan Gardner04-Jul-2013Oli Broom is not a member of the Barmy Army, though he is surely qualified. He is not strictly a journeyman cricketer, though he has played the game in locations all over the world. Having spent 14 months during 2009 and 2010 cycling from England to watch the Ashes in Australia, he is easily cast as a cricket tragic, though he doesn’t come across as an anorak. He is an ordinary fan who came up with an extraordinary plan; and now he has written a book about it.On his journey from London to Brisbane, which raised £75,000 for charity, Broom pedalled more than 14,000 miles across 23 different countries on four continents, equipped with little more than a cricket bat and a few panniers of camping gear.Abandoning his career as a chartered surveyor, Broom set off on an adventure that saw him feature in TV bulletins and newsprint around the world – sample headline: “He cycled to Serbia armed with a stick” – and become a mini social-media phenomenon. All quite impressive for a man who describes himself as a “home bod”.Cricket certainly attracts its eccentrics – from Vic Flowers to the club players who organised a game on Everest, and Peter Chismon, the globetrotting Sussex fan – but Broom doesn’t come across as a Mongoose-toting loon. He seems a little sheepish about being compared to wilderness expert Bear Grylls, quoted on the book sleeve, and is genuinely happy to have a “proper job” for the next year (working on the Tour de France’s 2014 grand depart in Yorkshire). He’s not the cricketing messiah, just a slightly nutty boy.”Even now, two and a half years after I got back, I wouldn’t want to do it again,” he says cheerfully, reflecting on a tour that took him along 1500 miles of the Danube, across the deserts of northern Africa, through the heat and bustle of the subcontinent and into the Australian outback. “It was a hell of a long time but it just flew by. Before I left, I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be able to get to Australia, and now that I’m back I almost don’t believe that it was me.”There are plenty of pictures, tweets and blog entries to prove it was – as well as a potential documentary, still being pieced together by Laszlo, a Hungarian film-maker and one of the many friends Broom made along the way. Daft caper as it sounds, the experience clearly had a profound effect on its protagonist.”It’s the best thing I’ve ever done by a hell of a long way. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that but it was just amazing to meet all these different people from around the world. That was the best bit about it, meeting these random, hilarious characters and having some very weird experiences. Part of me is a bit sad I didn’t have any death-defying moments because that would have been great for the book but it shows what a good place the world is. Some of the best people I met were in Sudan, Syria – you don’t hear a lot of good news about those countries in the Western press.”

Broom was pole-axed by dengue fever in Thailand, knocked off his bike by a truck in Bulgaria, and had a few nervy moments with the wild dogs of the Anatolian plains

Even if he didn’t confront his mortality, Broom still had to deal with a few scrapes. He was pole-axed by dengue fever in Thailand – threatening his chances of making it to the Gabba for the first Test as promised – knocked off his bike by a truck in Bulgaria, and had a few nervy moments with the wild dogs of the Anatolian plains. And that’s without mentioning the sore knee that almost convinced him to give up before reaching Dover.His fitness improved, though he could not quite keep to the original schedule he set for himself (using a thumb to measure rough distances on the map). The book conveys a sense that Broom set off on a whim and a prayer, and he candidly describes the tears and exhaustion, as well as the moments of epiphany.”I was a stranger everywhere I went; vulnerable – emotionally and physically,” he writes, after an encounter with a Serbian turnip farmer who doesn’t speak English but donates him some produce for the road induces another bout of sobbing.”I was completely underprepared and so I didn’t really know what I was getting myself in for, which was the only way to do it, for me,” he says. “There’s a guy called Alastair Humphreys, who cycled round the world for four years, and he says in his book, if he knew everything he knew now he wouldn’t have set out in the first place. So there’s a sort of naivety and ignorance attached to cycling off round the world.”The undertaking was inspired by the “malady known as wanderlust” but Broom didn’t return with a cure. “It definitely hasn’t answered all the questions. I didn’t come back at the end and think, ‘Ah, I know what I want to do with my life.’ I never thought I would.”While the book contains moments of introspection, Broom leavens the tale with regular comic episodes, often sending himself up. He writes of composing his own tune, “The Majesty of Industry”, to sing to himself whenever he came across appropriate subjects. “In my low moments it was a melancholic Leonard Cohen-esque dirge. When I felt chipper it turned into a bouncy number that Stevie Wonder might have been proud of.” In India, he is like Ahab in search of a spot of shade, only to end up in the middle of yet another scrum of men who want to touch his bike. what jazz is to (although the comparison stops there). From the grave of former England spinner Colin Blythe in Ypres, via the unexpectedly devoted converts of the Serbian Cricket Federation, to playing in a hotel hallway with the West Bengal youth team, Broom maps the game in obscure European outposts as well as its commonwealth redoubts. The only place he couldn’t get a hit was in the Australian outback.”What I enjoyed most was just meeting people who were much madder on cricket than I am. I love cricket but meeting people like Vladimir, Haris and Slobodan in Serbia – they cricket. They used to stay up watching the Ashes and that series, after I got to Australia, they were up all night every night supporting England, in former socialist tower blocks in the middle of Belgrade. You just can’t believe how committed they are.”Broom admits he didn’t keep a tally of runs and wickets on tour, like any self-respecting tragic would. But his story is more about self-discovery and the life-affirming experience of making friends of strangers all over the world than a obsession with sport.He knows as much as anyone about spreading the game in foreign lands, though, having worked in Rwanda for the last 18 months on a project to build a cricket stadium, in addition to his travels. His “get cape, wear cape, fly” attitude may have been hung up in the wardrobe for now but when we meet he mulls the possibility of examining cricket’s ever-strengthening toehold in China.”I’d like to do some more travelling but I probably won’t do a 14-month bike ride again. I definitely want to explore cricket further. I’d love to go and explore the game in India and would like that to be in a book. We’ll see.”

David Warner is still learning to curb his natural instinct off the field when it can get him into trouble but on the field he has returned to trusting it

Daniel Brettig in Brisbane23-Nov-20130:00

Chappell: Australia have gained psychological points for the series

Instinct is important to David Warner, if occasionally dangerous. Instinct drove him to an outrageous international Twenty20 debut against South Africa at the MCG in 2009. Instinct pushed him to equally stunning centuries against India in Perth and the South Africans in Adelaide three years later.Instinct overtook him when he punched Joe Root in a Birmingham bar in June and almost cost him his international career. And instinct swayed him to hook Stuart Broad’s first ball of the Ashes series to the backward square leg boundary.Two days later, Warner allowed his instinct to flourish gloriously into a hundred that took full advantage of the opportunity afforded him by the dramatic bowling of Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Lyon and Ryan Harris.Warner’s first Ashes century was a masterwork of channelled aggression, not allowing England’s bowlers any respite but likewise not granting them any easy avenues for his wicket. It looked exactly the way that Warner should play every innings, on every surface, backing up Brad Haddin’s pre-Test observation that “rascals win you comps”.But Warner’s path to reaching the zone he has occupied in Brisbane this week has not been as straightforward as it might have been. There have been pitfalls and pratfalls, on the pitch, in the dressing room, in the nets and in the bars and clubs of India and England. Away from the game, Warner is still learning to curb his natural instinct when it can be inclined to get him into trouble. On the field he has returned to trusting it after being advised for some time to do otherwise.The decision to aim a hook at Broad’s first ball was particularly significant, for there was a time when Warner would have been rebuked for doing so. Under the former coach Mickey Arthur, Australia’s batsmen had been pressed to adhere to a certain conservatism on their arrival at the crease, based on the notion that the first 20 balls were always those most likely to dismiss them. Such theories can be useful, disciplining the mind while a batsman is still getting his bearings in the middle, but for Warner they clouded an approach that has generally been more productive when as uncluttered as possible.So it was that Warner made a mottled contribution to the Ashes in England once his penance for swinging at Root had been served. A shuffle down and then back up the batting order added to the confusion. Only one innings in six, a bold start to Australia’s quest for an unlikely target at Chester-le-Street, was entirely convincing. Even then, Warner perished right at the moment he had started to raise thoughts of an Australian victory, snicking an admittedly fine delivery from Tim Bresnan. Instead of ushering a win, Warner became the first crack in a spectacular collapse. He resolved to carry on with the job next time he had the chance, but remained muddled in how he might do so.The process of batting transformation began at the start of the domestic season. Dropped by Australia’s selectors from the ODI and Twenty20 teams, Warner had the chance to settle into a rhythm at home, training with New South Wales and preparing for the domestic limited-overs tournament now to be played as a carnival in Sydney. His physical readiness for the task was not in question, following a diet and exercise regime begun earlier in the year that has made Warner more lithe than at any other time in his career.Playing with his natural aggressive instinct is clearly the best tactic for David Warner•PA PhotosPrepared as he was, Warner still looked conflicted at the start of an innings. His first appearance for the Blues was an ugly one on a poor Bankstown pitch, his second not much better. Caught between trying to score and survive, Warner was doing neither. Elsewhere he continued to court the displeasure of authority by skipping a grade game, earning a suspended sentence from the NSW chief executive Andrew Jones. Early rumblings began to emerge about his place in the Test team for Brisbane.Around this time, Warner re-established contact with Trent Woodhill, his batting coach at various times. Together they discussed where he had struggled and why. Problems were traced back to the earlier directives to be secure early in an innings then attack later on, a mind-set deemed too mixed for Warner’s instinct to follow. Instead it was decided that Warner must think always of attack, of scoring runs and placing pressure on the bowler to defeat him. Defence became not the first resort but the last, and boundaries were to be hit when offered by the bowler, no matter whether the ball was his first or 50th.As Warner described it before the match: “If I just concentrate on looking to score, my defence takes care of itself. I was too worried about trying to be so defensive and then attacking. We talk about intent – if you’re not looking to score, I feel that person who’s bowling to you has already got the upper hand, because you’re looking to defend. I’m at my most vulnerable when I’m looking to defend. If I look to score and I nick off, so be it, but I’ve got to be looking to score and have that intent because if I’m not looking to score I have no intent at all.”Results from such meetings are not always immediate, sometimes taking weeks, months or even seasons to take hold. But this time, Warner’s improvement was near enough instant. Domestic teams were soon sent running for cover at North Sydney Oval, as he reeled off three centuries of escalating venom to drive NSW to the tournament final. In the Sheffield Shield, Warner cracked a fourth hundred against Victoria at the MCG, spending a mere 87 balls over his 104.At the Gabba, Warner’s first innings ended with the sort of dismissal he had foreshadowed, a somewhat presumptuous back foot slap landing in the hands of cover. Undeterred, he played with plenty of freedom but plenty of good sense too when batting again, negotiating an awkward period with Chris Rogers on the second evening when England might have kept up the destruction wrought by Australia with a few wickets of their own under overcast skies.Building the lead the following morning, Warner looked entirely at ease with himself and his batting, choosing the right balls to smite but also those to defend. He was compelling in all he did, and helped his captain Michael Clarke to grow in fluency after an ugly day one exit. England’s bowlers were treated sensibly but not courteously, poor balls dispatched and some good ones too. There was a minor stutter as Warner closed on his hundred, James Anderson finding a modicum of reverse swing. But a positive outlook helped ensure he survived, and he punched firmly through cover to bring up the milestone.As he ran the 100th run, Warner could not help miming another punch. This was not a drunken shot at Root, but a jubilant thrust at the air. Instinct had again taken over.

The Test was moving at a slow pace on a sluggish pitch while South Africa batted and they may have lulled Australia into a distracted mindset which proved costly late in the day

Daniel Brettig in Port Elizabeth21-Feb-20140:00

#politeenquiries: Can any bowler in the world stop AB?

Unable to find his permission slip to join the rest of Springfield Elementary on their afternoon trip to the chocolate factory, Bart Simpson is consigned to the numbing task of licking envelopes in the office of Principal Skinner. As he does so, the wall clock ticks slowly and tortuously towards 3pm and the end of the school day. Losing momentum with every stroke, it eventually begins to tick backwards.Something of Bart’s interminable wait ensnared Australia on the second day in Port Elizabeth, as they were frustrated and ultimately brought to heel by a South African side well attuned to playing Test matches at the kind of deliberate pace unfamiliar to, and unloved by, the touring captain Michael Clarke and coach Darren Lehmann. Graeme Smith’s men cannot afford to lose this Test, and on a pitch where application and determination can be enough to keep out most kinds of bowling, they pushed doggedly towards a position from where it was difficult to do so. Then, ball in hand, they swarmed over an opposition that chose precisely the wrong moment for a seaside siesta.Australia did not do a whole lot wrong in the field, erring slightly in places but never transgressing so badly as to drop a catch or make a poor misfield. But they were slowly, gradually lulled into a sense that the game was going nowhere – never more so than when JP Duminy’s batting partners Vernon Philander and Wayne Parnell soaked up 74 balls between them for 16 runs after lunch – and when asked to bat for 25 overs before the close showed the kind of inattention that can cost a Test match. Suddenly the clock ticking backwards was free-wheeling forward on South Africa’s schedule.

What followed was a chastening reminder of how the Australian top order is still worryingly erratic despite the team’s recent success

The first day had been a good one for the tourists, given the minimal life to be found in the pitch. Central to their corralling of South Africa had been the harvesting of early wickets with the new ball, thanks to an excellent first spell by Ryan Harris and a decent one from Mitchell Johnson. Harris took the first over from the Park Drive End and Johnson followed up, downwind, from the Duck Pond End. So comfortable they had seemed at these ends that it was odd to see Harris and Johnson commence from opposite directions with the second new ball, particularly as the breeze had not shifted.It might have been a minor issue, but the essential truth of the morning was that the ball did not swing, and neither Harris nor Johnson overly troubled Duminy or AB de Villiers. Given the narrow window for the ball to offer some assistance and the evidence of the first day, this was the sort of oversight Australia have seldom made in recent times under the guidance of Lehmann and the pace bowling coach Craig McDermott.For the remainder of the innings there was little either coach could do, apart from encourage their men to keep things tight and be patient. If Duminy and de Villiers declined to push the game forward at any sort of proactive rate, they were also averse to making mistakes. Both strolled to centuries, while Vernon Philander and Wayne Parnell were less concerned with batting than occupation. These passages were torpid, straining the endurance of Australia’s batsmen, who ultimately walked out to bat after tea with senses just slightly deadened by the experience of their longest stint in the field since Hyderabad in March 2013.What followed was a chastening reminder of how the Australian top order is still worryingly erratic despite the team’s recent success. Chris Rogers has not enjoyed South Africa to date, and was close to lbw against Dale Steyn before falling in the same manner to Philander – he would not have missed either ball during the rich vein of form he found late in the Ashes series. A short-term fix for those contests against England, Rogers is now under pressure for his place, particularly as Shane Watson regathers fitness.Having spent more than 150 overs in the field, Chris Rogers was trapped lbw early in Australia’s reply•AFPAlex Doolan and Shaun Marsh fell to a high quality first over from Parnell, nibbling the ball around on his home pitch and coaxing a pair of edges from batsmen not yet set. Neither Doolan nor Marsh could be heckled too harshly for this, given their sturdy efforts at Centurion. But nonetheless it was a circumstance in which they needed to be fully alert, and in Marsh’s case his edge ran from a bat angled in the manner of his India horrors rather than straight as it had been last week.Briefly, Clarke and David Warner countered, their aggression consistent with that of Brad Haddin and Steve Smith at critical moments against England. But they were not in control of proceedings, as Morne Morkel in particular extracted previously unseen life from the pitch, using every inch of his gargantuan frame and high arm action. When the wicket fell it was not to be Morkel, who was most unlucky to have Warner dropped by de Villiers of all people, a swift delivery not settling into the gloves. Instead Philander celebrated Clarke’s waft to short cover, the captain defeated not by an excess of pace but a lack of it.Most troubling of all for Australia is the fact that Clarke is now in the midst of something like a batting slump, having gone eight innings since he last reached 25 – his first innings century at Adelaide Oval. In statistical terms it is a streak unmatched in his career, though he did also struggle mightily in 2010-11, immediately before taking over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting.While winning arrived so handsomely, Clarke’s thin run of scores looked as much a blessing as a curse, showing that Australia were not entirely reliant on his batting. Now however it does become a matter for some concern, against opponents glimpsing a way back into a series that looked beyond them only days ago. Without a significant rearguard over the next three days, it will be Australia stuck in the principal’s office, wondering how they came to be gazing helplessly at the slow moving clock of the world’s best team instead of enjoying the sweet tastes of a winning African excursion.

Featuring a career cricket administrator, a former national minister, and Lalit Modi

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Jan-2014The board outside the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) academy is rusted, tilts backwards, and the lettering, originally dark blue, is faded, so you can barely read the sign: “Ready to battle. India.”The swimming pool is empty, the floor surrounding it chipped. The indoor academy looks like an old warehouse, not like a state-of the-art one built in 2006. The Astroturf is torn in patches, especially near take-off points at the bowler’s crease. Bowling machines gather dust in a corner. The walls are damp and cracked.Across the road stands the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur’s ground for international matches and nearly all its domestic matches. The stands in the SMS, as the ground is popularly known, are dusty.This was the ground from where Lalit Modi launched himself into the BCCI. Within six months of laying the foundation stone, he managed to build not only an international stadium but also a world-class academy. Now this showpiece of Modi’s empire lies in disrepair. Whichever group comes to power in the RCA elections has a task on its hands: return to Rajasthan cricket some of the pride and glitter it enjoyed just a few years ago.

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The recent messy history of Rajasthan cricket can be squarely put down to politics and personal clashes. A few names crop up repeatedly.”The RCA has been in limbo ever since CP Joshi took over as the president,” a former RCA managing committee member, says. Joshi, a former federal minister from the Indian National Congress, became the RCA president in December 2009 after he ousted the incumbent, Sanjay Dixit, a straight-talking civil servant, from the elite Indian Administrative Service. Dixit had lasted barely nine months as president after defeating Modi, who, people felt, had in the end been distracted by the BCCI’s politics and power.Dixit’s ouster, in turn, was engineered by Modi, who formed a group within the RCA that made it difficult for Dixit to function freely. Modi used his clout to ask the BCCI to allow two representatives from the RCA – one from Dixit’s group and the other from the faction – to attend board meetings. Dixit’s position was further undermined when, at the BCCI AGM in 2009, it was decided to shift an ODI against Australia from Jaipur to Vadodara. The divide in the RCA prompted the Rajasthan government of the time to appoint an ad hoc committee before holding fresh elections, where Joshi – whose Congress party was in power in the state – became the president and Dixit its secretary.Dixit lasted in the new position for two years, but his relationship with Joshi became strained with time. “Joshi had no interest in cricket,” the committee member says. “He came here for glamour and visibility and favours that he could extend to people.”Joshi further curtailed Dixit’s powers by passing an order that a committee had to ratify all decisions, which made the secretary’s position virtually redundant. Dixit says that among the reasons he and Joshi fell out were his decisions not to allow non-Ranji cricketers to become selectors, unqualified persons to become coaches, marks to be fudged in umpires’ exams, and to not tolerate any interference in player selections.Eventually Dixit was forced to step aside, and was replaced by Joshi’s choice, KK Sharma, then the secretary of the Bhilwara Cricket Association. Dixit then realigned with Modi – two old friends-turned-foes united once again in their aspiration for power.ESPNcricinfo tried contacting Joshi, KK Sharma, and Mahendra Sharma, the treasurer until last month’s elections, but they weren’t available for comment. Joshi said he “did not want to talk about cricket” while the RCA election matter was being heard in the Supreme Court.

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There’s a third axis in this battle for power in Rajasthan. Kishore Rungta is a member of the family that ruled the RCA for 32 years before Modi won the 2005 election by a solitary vote, thanks to a new law passed by the Rajasthan government that abolished the voting rights of individual members and allowed only the district associations to vote during elections in all sports bodies.

One player says that when he asked Joshi if he could do something for Rajasthan’s performers at the national level, the president asked him to fax the request to him. “I am talking to my state cricket president, not a politician”

Till then the voting rights had lain with 67 individual members and 32 district associations. Rungta has challenged the law and the matter now rests with the Supreme Court, with Modi’s fate tied to the outcome of the case.”According to us, voting is a fundamental right,” Rungta said. “RCA is a private body, so you cannot prevent somebody from voting in order to benefit one individual. No other state has such a law.”The district associations, Rungta says, are run by individuals. “In each district ten to 12 clubs registered in each district form the association. Out of these, three would belong to the president, few to the treasurer and the rest to the secretary. Barring Jaipur no new members have come into the district associations.”Rungta said one of the main reasons why his family held power in the RCA for three decades was because the managing committee then comprised not only individual members but also former cricketers, including former BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur, Hanumant Singh and other senior Ranji cricketers.Modi and Joshi continue to head the two major groups that control the RCA. Rungta supports neither, but agrees with others that Joshi’s lack of involvement has had a negative impact on the RCA and that things have stagnated.Rajasthan have won the Ranji Trophy twice during Joshi’s presidency, but Rungta says the association is run on auto-pilot. “Whatever tournaments we started still carry on. There are no discussions on cricket as such. There is no thought process and application of minds on how to improve cricket in Rajasthan. Cricketers are never assured about their places. There is no talent hunt. While I have seen eminent people of RCA mingling with Bollywood actors and attending BCCI meetings, I have never seen them going to the districts and attending Under-19 matches or encouraging U-16 boys.”Rungta says that under Modi, rival though he may be, the administration gave priority to cricket. “To the credit of Modi, at least he built the infrastructure. At least there was some concentration, took the ground on lease. There were some positives. But during the time of CP Joshi, nothing happened.”A former RCA official agrees with Rungta that the players have suffered in the absence of proper administration. “The casualty was cricket and the players,” he says. “Pankaj Singh missed out on being picked in the national squad. Youngsters like Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Robin Bist lost people who could provide guidance and nurture them.According to him, some of these players often in the past needed mentors who could raise their confidence, pinpoint areas of weakness, show the best way forward, and try to promote their names during selection meetings for Duleep Trophy and Challenger Trophy tournaments. During Rajasthan’s triumphant years in the Ranji Trophy, it is said that no official from the Joshi administration talked to senior players about their concerns.The RCA Academy’s swimming pool lacks one vital ingredient•ESPNcricinfo LtdPlayers say they never met Joshi during his four-year term other than for a few handshakes at functions. One player says that when he asked Joshi if he could do something for Rajasthan’s performers at the national level, the president asked him to fax the request to him. “I am talking to my state cricket president , not a politician,” the player says.To some sceptics it’s surprising that Rajasthan managed to win the Ranji Trophy in succession in that period. One reason could be that during 2010-11 season, when they won their maiden Ranji title, Dixit was in charge and closely involved in cricketing matters. The following season Joshi did not alter anything.”The good thing is all the administrative heavyweights are so busy fighting among themselves that they just don’t have time for us,” says the player. “It results in the captain and coach getting a free hand, and perhaps that’s what has resulted in the team’s success. There have been occasional changes in the selection panel based on change of guard in RCA. But never ever have the office bearers made sweeping changes, which tends to disrupt the consistency in team policies. And with the captain having been an integral part of selection panel meetings, even the odd pushover by the ruling faction has been avoided.”In contrast, Modi inspired confidence in the players. “Whatever we have experienced is because of Modi. We are still using the same indoor academy and the same Astroturf that was installed during his years,” another Rajasthan player says.The general perception among most cricketers from the state side is that Modi had the power and voice in the BCCI to get them an opportunity to play for an India team, whether it was Emerging Players or A tours. “Regardless of whether he was after power, and that is why he wants to come back to RCA now, Modi at least at times would ask us what he could do,” the player says. “Forget performers like Pankaj, even a youngster like Deepak Chahar, during his debut season, when he took 40 wickets, was not even in Challenger Trophy. Let him at least be in the squad. Allow him to dream big. Look at Imtiaz Ahmed [Uttar Pradesh]. He did well last season and was part of the India A squad,” the player says.

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The Supreme Court is likely to declare the RCA election results on January 17. The general feeling in Jaipur is that Modi will win, with only three district associations voting against him.It does not seem to matter to his supporters that Modi is banned by the BCCI, a target of Indian government investigations for several alleged foreign exchange violations during his IPL term, and the holder of a revoked passport, which makes him liable to be arrested if he lands in India.Even if he wins, with his inability to travel to India, he will be an absentee president. People acknowledge that his absence could affect the day-to-day administration, especially given his propensity for the outrageous and unprecedented.There is also a feeling that Modi will not enjoy the same level of political support in Rajasthan that he had in his previous stint as RCA chief. His old friend Vasundhara Raje Scindia, the sister of the former BCCI president Madhavrao Scindia, is back as Rajasthan chief minister. It was her government that framed the law that helped Modi unseat the Rungtas. But Scindia’s victory in the recent Rajasthan legislature elections was due in no small part to her senior party colleague Arun Jaitley, the former Delhi and Districts Cricket Association president, who, along with BCCI president N Srinivasan, is a bitter enemy of Modi. Jaitley was part of the BCCI disciplinary committee that took the decision to expel Modi from the BCCI for various charges of misconduct. Modi has challenged that ban in the court and continued to publicly oppose Jaitley.The players remain optimistic. “It is not like if Modi comes we can play for India. I know he will overhaul the cricketing structure at grassroots. At least he is a person who will listen to you. That will be an advantage to everyone.”

Plays of the day from the match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals in Ranchi

Karthik Krishnaswamy13-May-2014The confused non-shot
Steven Smith had just hit Mohit Sharma for four with a safe, authoritative shot – a punch over cover after coming down the track. Next ball, he tried to be cute, and shaped for the scoop over fine leg even before Mohit Sharma released the ball. Seeing this, the bowler fired it straight and full instead of sending down his stock slower ball. Smith tried to adjust, and tried to play what can approximately be described as a ramp shot from knee-height, and came nowhere near connecting. The ball instead crashed into leg stump.The sticky bails
Kevon Cooper was making his first appearance of the season for Rajasthan Royals, and he almost struck with his first ball. Faf du Plessis defended a length ball from him, and the ball bounced down on the pitch and rolled back under his bat. It rolled all the way back to the base of the stumps, and Cooper began celebrating, before he realised the bails had not come off. Super Kings had just lost Suresh Raina in the previous over. Losing du Plessis at that point would have left them at a tricky 48 for 3, chasing 149.Royals tear up the template
In their last match, the Royals pulled off the perfect chase, staying ahead of the corresponding Royal Challengers Bangalore score at the end of every over. Their opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair had laid the base for them with a half-century stand. Royals, who are known for their unpredictable tactical decisions, promptly sent in an entirely different combination in this game.You could argue it worked, looking at the 60 runs Ankit Sharma and Shane Watson added, but you could also argue it moved Rahane and Nair out of their comfort zones. Between them, batting at Nos. 3 and 4, they scored 12 off 18.Ditto Super Kings
One can never quite predict Royals’ selections or their batting order. With the Super Kings on the other hand, it’s a surprise if they deviate from a largely set formula. It was a surprise, therefore, to see them leave out Mithun Manhas and hand an IPL debut to the Tamil Nadu allrounder Vijay Shankar.It was even more surprising to see him take the ball in the 10th over of Royals’ innings. Super Kings had only taken one wicket before that, but they had kept things reasonably quiet. Now, an honest, up-and-down medium-pacer – who, from today’s admittedly scanty evidence, does not seem to possess the cunning changes of pace of, say, Rajat Bhatia – was up against Shane Watson, who relishes that sort of bowling. Watson, predictably, teed off. He started the over batting on 24 off 24 and ended it on 42 off 28. Shankar getting a bowl also meant Ishwar Pandey ended up bowling just three overs, even though he only conceded 18 runs.

Naman Ojha’s performances for India A in Australia are rewards for almost two years of work with batting coach Pravin Amre

Amol Karhadkar17-Jul-2014Over the last fortnight, Naman Ojha has exemplified the skill of extending one’s batting form across seasons. Touring with the India A side in Australia, Ojha hit three successive hundreds and finished the four-day leg of the tour with 430 runs in three innings. The results were Ojha’s reward for nearly two years of work done with batting coach Pravin Amre.After a disappointing series against New Zealand A in 2012, where he scored 70 runs in four innings. Narendra Hirwani, the former India legspinner and national selector, came up with a suggestion. Hirwani, who has known Ojha since the latter’s first-class debut in 2000-01, asked the wicketkeeper-batsman to approach batting coach Pravin Amre for guidance.Amre, who had coached Ojha’s corporate team, Air India, agreed and the duo have been working closely at the Air India facility in Mumbai. “We realised there was not much wrong with his technique. In fact, his extraordinary bat speed is his biggest strength, so there was no point in tinkering with it,” Amre told ESPNcricinfo. “Instead, we realised it was more of a mental problem for him when it came to batting long. We then decided to focus more on building an innings.”The rewards followed quickly for Ojha, known as an underachiever in first-class cricket, despite India caps in the shorter formats. The 2013-14 Ranji season turned out to be his best in domestic cricket. Between his debut in 2000-01 and 2012-13, Ojha had scored nine first-class centuries. In 2013-14, he scored four hundreds and finished as the eighth-highest run-getter in Ranji Trophy, even as his team, Madhya Pradesh, had one of their worst seasons in the last decade.Ojha carried that form into Australia, too. His knocks of 219 not out, 101 not out and 110 were scored while batting at No. 7 for India A and each one came with the team in a precarious position. Moreover, he scored the centuries after long spells keeping wicket, thus underlining his fitness.In the first innings of the first unofficial Test, Ojha came in to bat with India A at 191 for 5. With the aid of the tail, he ensured the score reached 475 for 9 before the innings was declared. Then, he took three catches, including a diving take down the leg side, while keeping for more than 140 overs. In their second innings, India A slumped to 86 for 5 and there was a remote possibility of a loss to Australia A. Ojha was at it again, pulling the team to safety with Ambati Rayudu.In the second four-day game, Ojha had to keep wicket for almost a day and a half before taking guard with India A at 199 for 5 in reply to Australia A’s 423. He completed a hat-trick of centuries and took the team close to Australia’s total before Umesh Yadav’s blitzkrieg ensured a sizeable lead.”Even before we started preparing for the tour to Australia, we knew he had to make this opportunity count. He had realised that he may not get many opportunities to prove himself in the longer form, so he took it as his last chance,” Amre said. “I am glad he has grabbed the opportunity with both hands. To score three centuries, that too after keeping wickets for so long, is just incredible. It’s also a compliment to his fitness levels.”Hirwani, who has been a guiding force for Ojha, first as a senior team-mate and then as a selector and coach, called the wicketkeeper-batsman a late-bloomer. “His talent is unquestionable,” Hirwani said. “What was perhaps lacking was temperament and patience. I thought Amre would be the best man to help him out in such a case and I am delighted that it has worked.”There are players who realise what their game is all about at a tender age and there are some who take time to know themselves. It’s a question of maturity and I think Naman has matured now – both as an individual and as a cricketer. This is his right age. I hope he continues to excel and hopefully bring in richer laurels for himself, MP cricket and possibly the Indian team.”

Bangladesh’s fans, and the local media, were put through the wringer as the side’s batsmen stumbled from one wicket to the next during their nervy win against Zimbabwe in Mirpur

Devashish Fuloria in Mirpur28-Oct-2014There was a roar of laughter inside the press-box and outside, in the stands, as the big screen showed a cat trudging, somewhat nervously, behind one of the sight screens. It was cheeky work by the cameraman given the state of the home team – the tigers – in the chase of what had seemed to be a trivial target. The humour of the visual reference punctured the nervous energy that had been accumulating throughout the afternoon and provided a release. If anyone from the Bangladesh team found it funny, he might have had to laugh away from the cameras; it would have been imprudent otherwise.Mushfiqur Rahim was in the middle at the time, staging a lone battle against two opponents: one, a team of underdogs fighting tooth and nail; the other, and the more dangerous one, his own batsmen who were, figuratively, intent on bungee-jumping without bungee cords. Not for the first time, the tendency of Bangladesh’s batsmen to attempt good-looking shots had left the team’s chase on life support. Only a few hours ago, the Bangladesh captain was heard hollering at his men to reduce Zimbabwe to 60 for 5. Now Bangladesh were 62 for 6, after losing a couple of wickets in an over, and Mushfiqur was the last recognised batsman.The brief air of humour faded quickly and the grim buzz was back as the crowd realised the batting bust was happening again. They have experienced it before this year – against Hong Kong in the ICC World T20, and then in June, in an ODI against India. Perhaps the crowd were to blame, for creating so much noise in a flood-lit stadium that even though their team wore whites and played with a red ball, they were still pushed into a limited-overs trance. Perhaps it was Shoaib Ali Bukhari’s fault, for painting himself as a tiger yet again, for bringing another painted friend along and for waving the flag so vigorously it seemed time was running out. Or maybe it was Taijul Islam’s blunder, for taking wickets in such a hurry that the batsmen did not get enough rest.The batsmen were the least likely to make mistakes, so the crowd rallied behind them. They were up on the feet, making noise – roars and drums – as Shahadat Hossain, or as he is affectionately called, leaned into a drive to hit a boundary. They got behind him as Sikandar Raza, stationed at point, made advances towards their Shahrukh after every ball. And they cleared their throats properly when he hooked Tinashe Panyangara for a six over deep square leg. Bangladesh were still a few runs away from victory but, with that shot, Shahadat felt the need to respond to Raza – he pointed his bat towards the stands, showing Raza the quality of the connection. That drew even more cheers. Shahrukh was in town. The next ball, he edged to slip. Shahadat was back, the score 82 for 7.After a few nervous overs, Bangladesh finally crossed the line with a narrow three-wicket win, taking 1-0 lead in a series in which they are eyeing a clean sweep. They had to thank Taijul for his 15 critical runs and for not following in the footsteps of the senior batsmen. Bangladesh had the win they were after, Taijul was the man of the match for his special spell, but the result left a sour taste. The stands did not go on cheering; the supporters quickly found the nearest exit and slipped away. They had been through too many emotions in the day.The journalists went through a lot of emotions too after the match when Mushfiqur talked at the press conference. “We were saying that we needed 20 wickets to win a Test, but I think what was more important for us was to put the runs on the board,” Mushfiqur said. “Had we won this game easily then there would have been a number of areas regarding which we would have forgotten about. So at least now we know that we have a number of areas to work on.”Earlier in the day, the innings break had signalled lunch in the eating hall two floors below the press box. By the time the chicken curry and pulao were laid on the table, Tamim had left with the score at 0 for 1. That did not distract anyone from their conversations or the meal; it was almost as if the early wicket was a given. A seven or eight-wicket win being discussed earlier in the press-box must have made an allowance for this. The heads started turning when Shamsur left at the same score. The custard was lapped up quickly, replay watched, it was time to head back. By the time everyone got back to their seats – some 50 seconds in all – another replay was up. Mominul Haque was gone, the score 0 for 3.Journalists checked the records, shouted from one end to the other to confirm whether India still held the record of 0 for 4. A feeling of discomfort was probably hidden in the sighs of relief when Shakib pushed one away from his body to pick up a single. Mahmudullah was relatively calmer; he had talked about the importance of patience the previous day. Patience, however, was not Shakib’s choice as he flayed at a wide delivery and got a thick outside edge. John Nyumbu dropped the catch and ignited the stands.”Shakib, Shakib,” the crowd chanted. In the first innings, those chants had coaxed Mahmudullah to hit consecutive sixes in the last over before lunch on the second day. What was he going to do today? A few balls later, he was beaten by the low bounce as he pushed away from the body. He repeated the same shot next ball, got a thick outside edge and again, Nyumbu dropped a simple chance at gully. The crowd roared, the press-box grimaced, and it probably helped Mahmudullah reset.There was no stopping Shakib. In the next over, he went for a hook and missed. He tried it again the next ball and missed. He tried it for the third time in a row and top-edged it over the wicketkeeper. “Shakib, Shakib,” they went, probably for the bravado he showed against the bouncer barrage. Mominul, a compact and upcoming batsman, was in the dressing room, along with other young batsmen, perhaps taking notes on how to chase down totals in Test cricket. Shakib had 10 runs to his name, six off those from edges, when he decided to charge Panyangara and hit him over mid-on. In the next over, he departed for 15 off 21 balls, to the customary silence.Mahmudullah was solid and stylish before he drove away from his body and chopped the ball on to his stumps. Shuvagata Hom, one of Bangladesh’s best batsmen in the pre-matchday nets according to their coach, followed Mahmudullah back in the same over. It was time for the cat to make an appearance.

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

George Dobell19-Feb-20151:29

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

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

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

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

The South Africa team left for the 2015 World Cup amid a merry celebration and words exhorting them to win the title

Firdose Moonda04-Feb-2015Thousands of people gathered at the piazza of a popular shopping complex in Johannesburg for South Africa’s World Cup send-off. In addition to a moving rendition of the national anthem sung by Grammy Award winners, the Soweto Gospel Choir, this is some of what they heard:”Greatness. We’re all capable of it.This is the moment where you find out who you really are.Beyond the ball lies your destiny.It’s time for you to look within yourselves and what you will realise is that you are more powerful than you can ever begin to imagine.You have to hate losing more than you love winning.You have to control the situation, don’t let the situation control you.Be true to the game and the game will be true to you.Success is often the result of not being afraid of accomplishing anything you want to because anything is possible.”
“I am very scared because I get the feeling the Proteas are going to win the World Cup.”
“The closest we came was 1999 and I think after that is now. We’ve got the make-up, the ingredients of a team that is totally all-round. If they all perform to their true potential and skill, they will win.”
“Forget about the final but win each and every game until the end of the tournament. You represent more than 50 million hearts. These hearts deserve to be given hope.”
“Every World Cup has expectation. It’s nice to know we’ve got a quality side going there. We are confident. We understand the expectation. We want to go there and do well.”
“I am part of history. It’s just about going down and giving it horns.”
“We have always had a lot of support but in the last two months we can feel a support we’ve never experienced before. I cannot guarantee to you the cup but we can guarantee you we will fight for every single inch. We will fight for every run, for every wicket. We owe a fight out there. To my boys: it’s not going to be easy. We are going to have to overcome a few obstacles. Forever we will keep the fire burning.”
“I couldn’t fall asleep last night. I was so excited. I’m ready to knock these guys out. I’m extremely nervous, extremely excited. We are going to do everything we can. We will fight ’til the very end.”
“We’ve got a reputation as one of the best bowling attacks in the world. It’s important for us to put that aside and really focus on doing well.”
“This is the best send-off ever. The guys can feel the fire, the enthusiasm, the energy.”
“This team is primed to do something special. I think they are ready to do it. It’s going to be a collective effort.”
“We got it right. We will only be judged after the World Cup but we think we’ve got it right.”
“We’re excited to get on that plane now. It’s a long tournament. A lot has to happen before we get to the knockout stages. All our focus is on the first game. We’re looking for some big fish while we’re over there.”
“You represent the soul of this nation. Sport is not a useless business. We call it the RDP of the soul – reconstruction and development program of the soul. Please win it for us. South Africans are accustomed to winning because we are the children of warriors. Nelson Mandela. Kepler Wessels.We don’t want you in the World Cup to add numbers and just become a bunch of losers. You are not going to be playing with robots, you are playing with people. You are the special ones. You are the chosen ones. It does not mean you are irreplaceable but all of you are capable of doing the duty for us.Forget about 1992. Forget about what happened in Bangladesh. When Allan Donald and Lance Klusener could not get us over the line [sic]. To AB and your bunch of winners: you are not playing against cows. You are not playing against donkeys. Don’t undermine any of them. Go and win it for us. Winning is a statement of courage. We are releasing you to go and win it for South Africa. (Beat them/Smash them up).”
No Pressure.