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The preview of the first Test between West Indies and New Zealand in Antigua

The Preview by Siddarth Ravindran24-Jul-2012Match factsJuly 25-29
Start time 1000 (1400 GMT)After dominating the domestic scene in New Zealand in recent years, Neil Wagner is set to turn out at the highest level•Getty ImagesBig PictureMidway through the limited-overs leg of the tour, you felt sorry for New Zealand as, bereft of several seniors, they slid from defeat to defeat. Their stand-in captain Kane Williamson, all of 21 years old and looking even younger, earnestly defended his inexperienced team after Chris Gayle effortlessly dished out half-century after half-century.Two senior batsmen, Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum, were available in the final two ODIs, and New Zealand will be further boosted by the arrival of two old hands, their man-for-all occasions Daniel Vettori and their pace spearhead Chris Martin. Their presence lifts a bowling line-up that looked pretty fragile during large parts of the one-day series, as does the inclusion of Neil Wagner, a man in whom New Zealand fans have placed an almost inordinate amount of faith.New Zealand pulled off one of their greatest Test victories last year against Australia, and competed against South Africa in a home defeat. It’s been more than a decade since they won a Test series away from home (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe), and while they enter these contests as underdogs, it still presents them with their best opportunity for an overseas victory.For that they need to find answers to the same players who gave them plenty of headaches in the limited-overs matches: Gayle and Sunil Narine. Gayle returns for his first Test in more than 19 months, and West Indies will hope that solves their top-order troubles; in recent series, West Indies have typically been three for almost nothing, leaving the middle-order facing a salvage job. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been their rescuer-in-chief for years now, and his presence solidifies a batting line-up that was explosive but inconsistent in the one-dayers.The focus will also be on Narine, who continued to be a match-winner in limited-overs matches, but is yet to show whether he can be similarly effective in the five-day game. His Test debut in England was a disaster, but on more familiar surfaces and in more comfortable temperatures, Narine should prove more dangerous. If he clicks, West Indies’ chances of only their second series win in more than nine years (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) will be considerably bright.Form guide (Completed games, most recent first)
West Indies DLLLD
New Zealand DLDWWWatch out for…Neil Wagner, the South Africa-born left-arm seamer, has dominated the domestic scene in New Zealand in recent years. The days remaining till he qualified to represent New Zealand were eagerly counted down, and he was picked as soon as he was available. He impressed in the practice match, and with fast bowlers Trent Boult and Mark Gillespie injured, he is expected to make his Test debut.Kemar Roach was on-song against Australia in the home series earlier this year, and troubled England’s batsmen as well before pulling out of the tour with an ankle injury. The warm-up game against the New Zealanders was his first match since then, and he showed he was ready to go with a four-wicket burst in the first innings. With his raw pace, Roach provides West Indies with a genuinely threatening spearhead.Pitch and conditionsThere were runs available in the warm-up match on the same ground if batsmen had the required patience, but there should be plenty of opportunity for the bowlers on this surface. Chris Martin, the New Zealand fast bowler, said: “The warm-up game showed us that if we’re in the right areas for long enough the up-and-down nature of the pitch is probably going to get us results.”Team newsGayle’s return and the form of Marlon Samuels, who scored plenty of runs in the recent England Tests, means the batting burden on Chanderpaul is reduced. One of the harder decisions West Indies will have to take is who between Ravi Rampaul and Tino Best to pick.West Indies: (probable) 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Adrian Barath, 3 Kieran Powell, 4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Ravi Rampaul/Tino Best, 11 Kemar RoachWith Trent Boult injured, Wagner is expected to start, possibly the only change from the XI that lined up for the final Test against South Africa.New Zealand: (probable) 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Daniel Flynn, 3 Brendon McCullum, 4 Ross Taylor (capt), 5 Kane Williamson, 6 Dean Brownlie, 7 Daniel Vettori, 8 Kruger van Wyk (wk), 9 Doug Bracewell, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Chris MartinStats and triviaNew Zealand last lost a Test against West Indies in Barbados in 1996. Since then, they have won five and drawn five.Chris Gayle is just 63 runs away from surpassing Gordon Greenidge as the highest run-getter for West Indies against New Zealand. Gayle has scored 820 runs in seven Tests at 74.54.Quotes”A warm-up game is a warm-up game. We got what we wanted out of it. We were lucky to come away with the draw but most of the batsmen had a decent bat out there and the bowlers got a good trundle for one innings.”

Andy Flower, has suggested that the player’s desire to appear in a whole season of the IPL proved to be the catalyst that destabilised his relationship

George Dobell21-Aug-2012Andy Flower, the England team director, has defended England’s handling of Kevin Pietersen and suggested that the player’s desire to appear in a whole season of the IPL proved to be the catalyst that destabilised his relationship with his team-mates and the ECB.Flower, speaking for the first time since Pietersen was omitted from the final Test against South Africa, admitted that batsman may never play for England again, but insisted that the team could retain their No.1 Test ranking even without the man many consider to be their best player. Flower also joined those calling for a window in the international schedule for the IPL, though he conceded there was little realistic hope of that at present.”I think it’s fair to say that Kevin’s issues over being available for the entire IPL have changed his attitude,” Flower said. “I think that was the catalyst for a lot of the stuff.”The IPL and the international fixtures in England are an area of conflict. And it will continue to be an area of conflict in the future. It would be better if there was a very clear window prior to our international season starting. But it doesn’t look like that is an issue that is going to be sorted out in the future so it may well recur.”Flower did accept responsibility for some failures of man management within the England set up, but insisted that Pietersen was guilty of far more serious errors of judgement.”You are questioning whether he has been managed properly,” Flower said. “I suppose it’s fair to ask that question. I think that’s what we’ve been doing over the years. There are certain behaviours that are unacceptable and I think we’ve seen some of that just recently. So to move forward we must get over those hurdles.”If you are asking if we take some responsibility for it I’m quite happy to take responsibility for a number of issues if that is the case. I don’t think text messages from an England player to South African players with some of the content I’ve heard that is in them is my responsibility.”I think one issue that I could have handled better is when I heard that some of the players were occasionally looking at that Twitter account that had been set up by some England supporter, or Nottingham supporter. I could have nipped that in the bud earlier.Andy Flower has said there is a long way to go before Kevin Pietersen can return for England•Getty Images”But let’s just be perfectly clear on the severity of the situation. There is one thing a few players having a giggle at a Twitter account, there is another on some of the issues that we have seen rear their heads over the last two weeks. It is not just about the text messages, there are other issues to be resolved.”Flower confirmed that the ECB had approached officials with the South Africa touring team with a view to being shown the text messages Pietersen sent to their players that are alleged to have contained derogatory comments about England captain Andrew Strauss, but insisted the issue extended deeper than a mere spat between two senior players.”The issue is not specifically between the captain and Pietersen,” Flower said. “There are a number of unresolved issues and it would be inaccurate to judge it as just an issue between those two.”At this juncture there’s no meeting in the diary. We’ve just finished this Test match. I understand some people would like this resolved overnight, but I don’t think it is something that can be resolved overnight if we want to go about it properly. There are a number of outstanding issues to be resolved. An example of that would be finding out exactly what these text messages contained if we do really want to move forward either way.”I think face to face and man to man, where you can look people in the eye, is always the best way to resolve most issues. I think these things should remain private. I don’t think they should be played out in the media so leaking information, using PR agencies etc to resolve this issue is not the correct way to go about it.”I’m not sure of exactly the best way to investigate it, to be honest. We’ve tried to focus on playing cricket leading up to this Test match which is how this Test series should have been. It’s really sad for everyone involved the focus wasn’t on playing cricket here.”Flower was quite clear that Pietersen’s current apology – either the YouTube video or the letter sent through his management company – was inadequate and did not constitute a resolution to the situation. He also hinted that it was hard to see the issue being resolved before central contracts are offered to players, which is likely to happen before the team departs for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in mid-September. That suggests Pietersen may well not be considered for England’s tour of India. He confirmed that Pietersen would not be offered a central contract until the issues were resolved.”He sent an apology via his agent to the ECB,” Flower said. “If you are going to move on from situations such as this you need to know exactly what situation you are moving on from. So I think we need to get to the bottom of some of this speculation and rumours before we move on.”Regardless of central contracts, I wouldn’t like to put a time frame on it because that might unrealistic. To resolve certain issues of trust and mutual respect, it might take longer than that. I would rather not speculate [on whether Pietersen may have played his last game for England]. But he was speculating on it during the Test series, so there is a chance I suppose.England’s one-day side has shown it can flourish in the absence of Pietersen with Ian Bell slotting into the openers’ role, while Alex Hales made 99 in the Twenty20 against West Indies. Flower believes that, if the situation is not resolved, the Test team can move back to the top of the rankings without Pietersen.”Without a doubt,” he said. “English cricket has a great history and it has a great future. It is bigger than any one player. You will always move on from anyone, whether it be a captain, a coach or a player. I think the most important thing is that we do the right thing for England cricket. That’s how we will make our decision.”We try to make decisions that are in the best interests of the England cricket team or English cricket. That is what I’ve tried to do since I joined this team and that’s what I will continue to do.”

Leicestershire have signed Robbie Williams from Middlesex on a one-year deal

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Sep-2012Leicestershire have signed Robbie Williams from Middlesex on a one-year deal. Williams, a right-arm seamer, had been on trial with the club in the closing weeks of the 2012 season and appeared in the Second XI Championship final defeat by Kent.Williams, a product of Durham MCCU, is relatively inexperienced for a 25-year-old. He has played only nine first-class matches and none since 2009, taking 23 first-class wickets at 32.82, with a best of 5 for 70. On Middlesex debut, Williams opened the bowling with England seamer Steven Finn and picked up 5 for 115 against Essex.Leicestershire chief executive, Mike Siddall, said: “Robbie impressed whilst playing for the second XI. He adds to the selection opportunities within the seam bowlers and we hope that he will make his mark at Grace Road.”

New Zealand paid the price for trying to be too aggressive without earning the right to, in the first Twenty20 in Durban, according to their new captain Brendon McCullum

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2012New Zealand paid the price for trying to be too aggressive without earning the right to, in the first Twenty20 international in Durban, according to their new captain Brendon McCullum. The visitors collapsed for 86 and were beaten by eight wickets in the opening fixture of their tour of South Africa.”We obviously wanted to be aggressive today, and we wanted to put South Africa under pressure right from the get-go, but we learned a lot about earning the right to do so first,” McCullum said after the game. “Ensure that you stick to your fundamentals, and first and foremost give yourselves that opportunity to be able to be aggressive. I think one thing we’ll definitely take out of this game is that we were just a little over-keen to try and put some pressure on South Africa from the outset.”We 100% believe that we can win the next game, we’ve just got to fine tune a couple of areas. I can’t fault people for being overly keen to want to get into a series. It’s just that we didn’t quite earn the right to be as aggressive as we wanted to be and put South Africa under pressure. And we’ll ensure that in 48 hours time, we’ll definitely put up a much better performance …”After choosing to bat at Kingsmead, New Zealand had slumped to 36 for 6 by the ninth over, with only Colin Munro making it to double figures among the top-seven batsmen. Munro was one of four debutants New Zealand included in their XI. Corey Anderson, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell McClenaghan were the others.”It was a bit two-paced,” McCullum said of the pitch. “I think some balls were keeping a little low, especially the cross-seamers were keeping a little bit low, and some kicked a little bit … We just played too many out-shots early on when we weren’t quite set. We didn’t get the pace of the wicket, so that’s something we can definitely learn from.”Faf du Plessis, the South Africa captain, said his team had learned from the mistakes New Zealand’s batsmen made. South Africa achieved the target in the 13th over, with du Plessis top-scoring with an unbeaten 38 at No. 3. South Africa also had three debutants – Henry Davids, Chris Morris and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock – and du Plessis was pleased with the attitude of the new-look Twenty20 side.”We put a lot of emphasis on that we’re a young side, so we want to have a lot of energy and we want to have a good presence,” du Plessis said. “That’s what I was telling the guys, we’ve done an excellent job of doing that. He [Quinton de Kock] surprised me. As a young guy coming in, you’d think that he’d be a little bit more nervous but he made it look easy. That’s what we strive for as a team, and so he did very well.”South Africa and New Zealand will play the second Twenty20 international in East London on December 23.

Saeed Ajmal, who was a notable omission from the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award list, has swept the bowling awards at the inaugural PCB annual award function

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jan-2013Saeed Ajmal, who was a notable omission from the ICC Test Cricket of the Year award list, has swept the bowling awards at the inaugural PCB annual awards function. Apart from being named the best bowler in all three categories – Tests, ODIs and T20s – Ajmal also won the PCB special prize for Best Bowler of the Year.”Around the cricketing world, Pakistan over the years has been known for its bowling attack,” Ajmal said. “To be named the best for the year from such a special group, for me this is an out of this world feeling. It took me 16 years to reach at this point in my life.”Bowling in a Test match requires fitness, perseverance and skill. You have to think the batsman out. I am happy that I was rated as the best out of an attack that is considered second to none.”In 2012, Ajmal played six Tests in which he claimed 39 wickets at an average of 20.56, which was the best among the top ten bowlers. His best came in the UAE, where his 24 wickets at 14.70 helped Pakistan demolish England, the then No. 1 side in the world, 3-0. He also bagged 31 wickets in ODIs and 25 in T20s in this period.Nasir Jamshed, who made a comeback to the Pakistan team last year, also won awards in more than one category. He was named Batsman of the Year in both ODIs and T20s, while the prize for the Test Batsman of the Year went to Azhar Ali, who scored 551 runs at an average of 55.10.Mohammad Hafeez, who took over the reins of Pakistan’s T20 team last year, was named the Player of the Year for his successes with both bat and ball. Junaid Khan, the young fast bowler, was named the Emerging Player of the Year.The awards were decided by a jury comprising of Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s chief selector, Iqbal Qasim and veteran journalist Qamar Ahmed.List of winnersPlayer of the Year – Mohammad HafeezTest Bowler of the Year – Saeed AjmalTest Batsman of the Year – Azhar AliODI Bowler of the Year – Saeed AjmalODI Batsman of the Year – Nasir JamshedT20 Bowler of the Year – Saeed AjmalT20 Batsman of the Year – Nasir JamshedSpecial prize for Best Bowler of the Year – Saeed AjmalEmerging Player of the Year – Junaid KhanLifetime Achievement Award – Imtiaz AhmedMost Valuable Domestic Bowler of the Year – Zulfiqar BabarWoman Cricketer of the Year – Sana MirBlind Cricketer of the Year – Muhammad JamilDeaf Cricketer of the Year – Muhammad ShakilUmpire of the Year – Ahsan RazaCurator of the Year – Haji Muhammad Bashir

The BCCI has decided to shift all matches of the ICC Women’s World Cup out of the Wankhede Stadium as the Maharashtra Cricket Association wants to use the venue for the final of the Ranji Trophy

Amol Karhadkar21-Jan-2013The BCCI has decided to shift all matches of the Women’s World Cup out of the Wankhede Stadium as the Mumbai Cricket Association* (MCA) wants to use the venue for the final of the Ranji Trophy.”We had requested the BCCI to allow us to stage the Ranji final against Saurashtra at the Wankhede Stadium, the home of Mumbai cricket,” MCA joint secretary Nitin Dalal told ESPNcricinfo. “We are glad that they have agreed to it.”A BCCI insider confirmed that “no WWC match” will be played at the Wankhede, with the new schedule still being worked upon keeping Cuttack as co-hosts along with Mumbai. “This would also help in letting the Wankhede host the Irani Cup from February 6, should Mumbai go on to win the Ranji Trophy.”As a result, the Women’s World Cup is now set to be played at five stadiums: the Barabati Stadium and the DRIEMS stadium in Cuttack, and the MIG Club, Brabourne Stadium and MCA’s Bandra-Kurla Complex facility in Mumbai.Meanwhile, both Saurashtra and Mumbai are set to go in to the Ranji final without the services of two key players each. Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane (both Mumbai), Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja (both Saurashtra) are part of India’s squad for the five-match ODI series against England. With the fifth ODI to be played on January 27, the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) had requested the BCCI to postpone the start of the Ranji final from January 26 by two days. Once that was refused due to inability to change the telecast schedule, the SCA had requested for at least Pujara, who hasn’t featured in the series along with Sharma, for the final.However, a BCCI insider said that none of the four players will be released. “Rahane and Jadeja have been playing in the eleven. And since Rohit and Pujara are the only two reserve batsmen, there is no way they can be released two days before an ODI,” he said.*15.40GMT, January 21: The article had incorrectly qualified MCA as Maharashtra Cricket Association.

A day after India and Pakistan met to decide who would finish last in the tournament, another traditional rivalry, between Australia and England, will kick off the Super Six stage

Abhishek Purohit in Mumbai07-Feb-2013A day after India and Pakistan met to decide who would finish last in the tournament, another traditional rivalry, between Australia and England, will kick off the Super Six stage. Brabourne Stadium is miles away from Lord’s or the SCG, but as England allrounder Arran Brindle put it, regardless of the venue, “a game against Australia means a huge amount to both teams.”While most of the spotlight was on Group A, which had the defending champions England, hosts India, exciting West Indies and surprise package Sri Lanka, Australia quietly racked up three wins out of three in Group B in Cuttack. They are the only side to have carried the maximum possible four points into the Super Six stage. If anything, they have only upped their level over the past week, as have England following the shock last-ball defeat to Sri Lanka. In Australia’s final group game, against New Zealand, they chased down 228 with more than 11 overs and seven wickets to spare.”I think we have actually been able to improve over those three games,” Lisa Sthalekar, the Australia allrounder, said. “The first two games [v Pakistan and v South Africa] were against an opposition we weren’t familiar with. We were faced with some difficult situations but we were able to get through and then the last game against the Kiwis we finally came out with the type of game we wanted to play in this tournament.”That was in Cuttack, though, on the eastern part of India. On the western seafront in Mumbai, Sthalekar said conditions were different. “In Cuttack there wasn’t a lot of turn. The wicket was two-paced and had variable bounce, especially the game against South Africa. The wicket that we played against New Zealand was truer and that reflected in the scores.”Here, what we had been able to see over the televised matches and in our warm-ups, there’s a bit of turn that excites me as a spinner. The fast outfield and the warm-ups that we played here have given us a good insight as to what the wicket will hold.”England have played two of their three group games at Brabourne Stadium and Sthalekar admitted that gave them a slight advantage. “They have played three more matches to get an idea of the pitch and the conditions. It depends on what wicket you were on and how many times that has been played. But I still feel that our match – the warm-up – was a good enough preparation. We just trained out there which is similar conditions so the girls are getting a good grip and understanding of the wicket. They might have a slight advantage but we are coming here fresh as well, so they might be a bit over the scenery.”Brindle said England now knew the lines and lengths they needed to bowl at Brabourne Stadium and felt the surprise loss to Sri Lanka in their opening game had been an early wake-up call. “As soon as you lose a game in any competition it makes you re-evaluate and fine-tune every part,” Brindle said. “We have done that in the last two games. We are looking to carry that into the Super Six. I think you sometimes learn more in defeat than you do when you go on winning every game.”We have played the last few games with the pressure of having had to win those games. If we perform like we have had, we’ll be a tough side to beat.”England are yet to beat Australia in an ODI at a neutral venue, following 13 defeats and a tie. The previous time the two sides met on neutral territory, in October 2012 in Colombo, Australia won the Women’s World Twenty20 final by four runs.

Pakistan’s former opening pair, Mudassar Nazar and Mohsin Khan, have called for Kamran Akmal to be given an extended run in the top three

Umar Farooq13-Mar-2013Mudassar Nazar and Mohsin Khan, the former Pakistan opening pair, has urged the team to settle on the opening three positions in the side, in order to bring about stability to the batting line-up. They support the idea of Kamran Akmal being used either as opener or at No. 3 in limited-over matches, in order to get the best out of the wicketkeeper batsman.During the ongoing South Africa tour, both captain Misbah-ul-Haq and vice-captain Mohammad Hafeez were reportedly at loggerheads over playing Kamran Akmal in the opening slot. Hafeez was asked to bat at No. 3, but this apparently did not sit well with him.Akmal has played 62 of 144 ODIs as an opener, scoring 1617 runs (55.15 %) of his career runs. He has been asked to compromise in the past by batting in the late middle-order. In the middle order slot, he has scored 669 (22.82 %) of his runs, with only one hundred. His other four hundreds were scored as an opener.Hafeez, in his last ten ODI innings, has scored 233 runs at an average of 23.30, including three ducks. He has consistently played as opener since Salman Butt’s exit in 2010. During the recent Test series against South Africa, Hafeez averaged 7.16 in six innings as an opener. As a result, Hafeez was demoted in the batting order.”I don’t know what is going on, but demoting yourself down the order is difficult and tough only when you are insecure,” Mohsin said, who started his career as a No. 3 batsman, opened on the request of his captain Imran Khan. “It’s all for the sake of the team, and if you continue to be stubborn it will eventually cost the team and become a liability.”The key reason for Kamran’s selection is because of his skills with the bat, although there are other wicketkeepers on the domestic circuit who can replace him. Mohsin, who was a former chief selector, believed Kamran is there for a reason, and should be utilised accordingly. “Using Kamran in the middle order is ineffective,” Mohsin said. “Despite being a talented batsman, he is being misused. If your top five batsmen aren’t performing, then it’s unfair to expect something big from the number six.”After the Nazar/Mohsin pair, and the departure of Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan have been experimenting with several players in the hope of finding a reliable opening duo. The last enduring opening pair in limited-overs was that of Salman Butt and Kamran, between 2005 and 2010. Both added 1000 ODI runs in 29 matches. In the last ten years, several combinations have been tried, but a stable pair is yet to be found.”Pakistan have not backed their opening combinations since early 2000s, and this is the main reason we have not achieved stability yet,” Nazar said. “We can stick to Hafeez and Nasir at the opening slot, but the scoring rate by Younis and Misbah is very slow and that is damaging. We need to reshuffle the batting order in order to make it steady. The No. 3 batsman is very important and at the moment I see Kamran as the best man [for the position]. Playing him at No. 6 or 7 is wasting him.”

Dinesh Chandimal has declined to participate in the IPL as he wants to prepare for the Champions Trophy in June, and a busy limited overs schedule to follow

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Mar-2013Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 captain Dinesh Chandimal has made himself unavailable for the IPL, and has instead planned an intensive training programme to prepare for the Champions Trophy, and a busy limited-overs schedule to follow for Sri Lanka. Chandimal will also take English lessons and media training in Sri Lanka during the next two months, having been named captain in Twenty20s, and vice-captain in the other formats in February.”Over the next two months, I’ll be doing a lot of training,” he said*. “I still have a few issues with my technique that need to be sorted out, so I will be working very hard with the national coaches to correct those issues, looking forward to a busy season. I’m also hoping to do some studies, and spend time with family as well.”Chandimal had been approached by at least one IPL franchise, who were seeking a replacement for an injured overseas player, but although no formal offer was made, he has decided to rule himself out of the tournament.Chandimal had gone unsold in the 2013 IPL auction, and if a franchise had signed him as a replacement, his contract would have been worth his base auction price of $100,000. He is unlikely to have regularly been in the playing XI however, and may have collected significantly less than that amount. Training opportunities may also have been limited during the tournament. In 2012, he was released by Rajasthan Royals midway through the IPL to allow him to return home to train ahead of the home series against Pakistan.”Chandimal hasn’t requested a no objection certificate (NOC), and so he won’t be playing in the IPL,” Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ajit Jayasekara said.Thirteen other Sri Lanka players have signed contracts for this year’s IPL, but will not play in Chennai, due to political upheaval over the treatment of Sri Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu.Sri Lanka’s next international assignment is the Champions Trophy in June, after which they play a tri-series with India and West Indies, and a home limited-overs series against South Africa, in quick succession.* March 31, 2013 6.00pm GMT This story has been updated with Dinesh Chandimal quotes

Graham Napier played one of his best innings to guide Essex over the line against Hampshire and provide coach Paul Grayson with some much-needed respite

David Hopps at Chelmsford01-May-2013
ScorecardGraham Napier described his matchwinning innings as one of his best•Getty ImagesThere have been times in the past week or so when Paul Grayson must have felt like he had entered the harsher footballing world of his older brother, Simon. Calls for the manager to be sacked are forever part of a football manager’s lot – and Simon Grayson has experienced just that at Leeds United and Huddersfield Town. But Paul is a county cricket coach. Such demands, especially in the first flush of a new season, are a rarity.The younger Grayson, who issued a public apology after Essex’s capitulation against Northants last week, has presided over an ordinary record in the Championship but he will no longer feel so beleaguered after this four-wicket win against Hampshire. Not that the win came easily. At 31 for 6 on a challenging surface when the ball was hard, the target of 143 seemed an age away and Grayson retreated to the office with his bowling coach and ex-Yorkshire team mate, Chris Silverwood, and awaited the worst.Then came the game changer: Graham Napier. His 74 from 88 balls, with 10 fours and three sixes, in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 112 in 29 overs with Mark Pettini, turned a nightmarish situation into a three-day victory achieved in golden sunshine. Essex got home in the third over of the extra half-hour to escape from the bottom of Division Two.Napier’s reputation as a boisterous hitter was strengthened by his world-record six-hitting spree against Sussex five years ago – a record broken by Chris Gayle only last week – but that disguises the selectivity with which he approached his task. With six wickets lost by the 12th over, Napier and Pettini had some shine still to withstand before Napier, in particular, took toll of Hampshire’s change bowlers.Grayson was quick to recognise his contribution. “Graham is in a great place at the moment,” he said. “He just seems to get better and better. He is a good professional now. He has got his body sorted out. This is as good a knock as I have seen from him. He is really maturing as a cricketer.”It has been a stressful couple of weeks. We had a few home truths in the dressing room after our defeat against Northants and I think the guys have responded really well. We were outstanding with the ball throughout the game. It was just an hour’s panicking with the bat that nearly cost us. There were a couple of good balls there and a couple of stupid run outs and all of a sudden we felt under a bit of pressure.”It was by no means certain until the closing minutes that Essex would wrap it up with a day to spare. Napier’s slog sweep for six in a brief appearance of left-arm spin from Danny Briggs upped the tempo, as did ten in two balls from James Tomlinson, an inswinger helped over the midwicket rope followed by a rousing straight drive. Hampshire’s recourse to the left-arm spin of Liam Dawson, who had not bowled in the game, with the match almost over was an oddity and Pettini struck him through midwicket for the winning runs.”There were no plans to finish it in three days,” Napier said. “As it was we were close enough to have a little dip. The new ball was a key part of the game and we got ourselves in a hole. It is a massive win for us. To bounce back in this game was crucial in our season. That is up there with my best innings. I don’t often get the chance to see the team home.”David Balcombe bowled a particularly impressive new-ball spell, swinging one back in to strike Alastair Cook’s off stump and having Ravi Bopara caught at slip. There were also two wickets in two balls for James Tomlinson: a flat-footed waft by Rob Quiney and a first-baller for Ben Foakes, whose vast potential has yet to bring dividends. But he did hold two stunning catches at short leg.That left the comic run out of Tom Westley. Quiney clipped Balcombe through midwicket whereupon Jimmy Adams stumbled and fell not once, but twice, as he failed to dive to intercept, bringing laughter and jeers from the crowd. As Adams gathered to throw, Quiney wanted a third run, but Westley’s thoughts were elsewhere. By the time George Bailey had ferried Adams’ throw to the bowler’s end, Westley was not even in the picture. Adams doffed his cap to the Members stand – a nice touch that spoke volumes for his character.It got worse with the James Foster’s self-destruction. He attempted a tight single to George Bailey at extra cover and was run out by a direct hit. If the captain was losing his head it did not say much for Essex’s chances.David Masters, an Essex beneficiary this season, was again their mainstay as Hampshire crawled to 199 at two runs an over. He dismissed four of Hampshire’s top five, two of them on the previous evening, to finish with 5 for 41 and 9 for 70 for the match. James Vince, whose 67 was as fluent as Hampshire got, was the most valuable. There were three late wickets for Bopara, too, and he deserved his analysis brushing up because his discipline had played a substantial part in Hampshire’s second innings never getting away.