From a plumber to a fast bowler, the story of Mitchell Johnson

Dileep Premachandran02-Oct-2007

A couple of months ago Mitchell Johnson packed his bags and got on a flight to Chennai. It was Australia’s off season, but after having spent the World Cup in the Caribbean sitting in the dressing room while his mates went through another undefeated campaign, Johnson was anxious to ensure that he started the new season fully prepared. After all, with Glenn McGrath having traded the 22 yards for the Hall of Fame, there was a new-ball place up for grabs.For Johnson, who can nudge the speedometer up to 150kph when his rhythm’s right, sharing the new ball with Brett Lee would be the culmination of a dream that almost had its requiem three years ago when he was axed from the Queensland squad. For a young man who battled so hard to come back from near-crippling back injuries, it was the most bitter of blows, and one that nearly forced him to turn his back on the game.For a while he drove a plumbing van for a mate but his heart and mind were elsewhere. “When I lost the [Queensland] contract, it was a very tough time for me,” he says. “I did think about what I was going to do with myself. I wasn’t sure if cricket was the answer. But I spoke to friends and family about it and they put me on the right path. I’m glad []. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”Within a year he had made his one-day debut in the Chappell-Hadlee series against New Zealand, and though he has yet to lay his hands on the cherished baggy green, there’s a feeling that the moment is nigh for a 26-year-old that Dennis Lillee referred to as a “once in a generation” bowler nearly a decade ago.With the pacy but erratic Shaun Tait out through injury, Johnson’s main rival for the new ball is Stuart Clark, and the two couldn’t be more dissimilar. In everyday life Clark wouldn’t be out of place in a pinstripe suit, whereas Johnson would blend in perfectly with the surfer boys who congregate on Australia’s Sunshine coast.”I’d love to bowl with the new ball,” he says with a grin. “That’s what I do for Queensland. If I get the opportunity, I’m going to take it. But if I don’t, there are a few things I can still work on with the old ball, like cutters and changes of pace.”Those old-ball tricks have been handed down by one of the masters of a generation past. Lillee and Troy Cooley, Australia’s bowling coach, accompanied Johnson to the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai earlier this summer, and the work they did was mostly geared towards success on the placid pitches of the subcontinent.”The cutters were something I’d never really tried before,” says Johnson, looking back at his initial stints with Lillee at MRF. “I think that’s going to be important here. The pitches are flat, there’s not much bounce. There’s not a hell of a lot for the bowlers here, but if you have those tools, it helps.”His last trip to India, for the Champions Trophy in 2006, highlighted his potential. Against England at Jaipur, he had 3 for 40, and the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen was the perfect fast bowler’s set-up. A wicked lifter jolted Pietersen, and the next ball angled away to take the outside edge.

Those were not typical Indian pitches, with some grass and plenty of bounce, but Johnson insists that the short ball still has a role to play in these conditions. “I think it’s very important because you’re testing the pitch to see what it can do,” he says. “The one in Jaipur where I got Pietersen … that might not have bounced on another pitch. It can be a surprise for the batsmen if you bang it into the pitch hard and you get the odd one to bounce a bit more.” At Bangalore in the first game of the current series he got Sachin Tendulkar with a lightning-quick delivery that swung in.Johnson has given a lot of thought to how he’ll bowl in conditions that are vastly different from his stomping ground at the Gabba. “It’s harder to bowl on a flatter pitch, but it brings in your offcutters and your legcutters and your changes of pace,” he says. “But I’m also not going to forget about hitting the pitch hard and getting as much bounce as I can.”Lee is back after missing the World Cup, while Clark has slipped seamlessly into the void left by McGrath. Johnson himself managed a few games alongside McGrath, including in Malaysia last year where he rocked India with a stunning burst of 4 for 11 at the Kinrara Oval. What did he learn from the legend, and from the likes of Lee?”You’ve just got to be yourself,” he says earnestly. “You’re picked in the team for what you do. So just go out there and bowl like you do. Don’t change anything. It’s a different level to your state cricket but you needn’t change anything because you’ve got to this mark for a reason.”State cricket may be a notch below, but the early days at Queensland provided an invaluable education. Among his seniors were Michael Kasprowicz and Andy Bichel, and Johnson is well aware of the success that Kasprowicz had on subcontinental pitches [he won Australia the Bangalore Test in 1997-98 with a spell of 5 for 28].”I’ve spoken to Kasprowicz and Bichel about bowling when I started out with Queensland,” he says. “We’ve talked about India and they basically told me about reverse swing and cutting the ball and all that stuff.”Johnson is rarely without a smile these days, and says he’s “honoured and proud” to be here. And why wouldn’t he be? Instead of possibly installing jacuzzis and fixing leaky faucets, he has resurrected the dreams he had as a teenager. And in the days to come, it’s the batsmen who’ll get that sinking feeling.

Ian Botham’s autobiography is a welcome and timely update on his rock ‘n’ roll life

Simon O'Hagan13-Nov-2007


Every few years someone brings out a new Elvis Presley compilation CD and we go off and buy it, even though most of the songs are on the others we already own. It is the same with Ian Botham autobiographies. The stories do notchange but, like small children, we are happy to read them over and over again, preferably tucked up in bed with a hot-water bottle. And it is nice to have them repackaged from time to time.A folk hero means folk tales – to the extent that those that attach to Botham now seem less like the exploits of a real person than something dreamt up by Aesop. This comfort reading is now part of the national heritage, and aswith free museum entry, access to it should be the inalienable right of every English citizen.So I have words of only welcome for , in effect an update on volumes of autobiography that came out in 1995 and 2000, and see no reason why it will not become a No. 1 bestseller like the two others. It might have been different if it had appeared a couple of years ago, when Freddie Flintoff was the new Botham and the afterglow of the 2005 Ashes triumph was still bright, but now that subsequent failures have put those events into some sort of historical context, and Ian has become Sir Ian, it is more important than ever to be reminded why Beefy mattered so much.Once again it is Elvis who springs to mind. There is Botham’s sensational arrival on the scene (seeing off Andy Roberts aged 18), and the force of nature who reshapes the world around him (Headingley ’81). There are periodic bouts of mediocrity (the Ashes tour of 1982-83, any series against West Indies). There is the dubious Svengali figure who thinks Hollywood is the way to ultimate fulfilment (the egregious Tim Hudson in the Colonel Parker role). There is the Comeback Special (1986 v New Zealand and the Ashes tour that followed). There are the Vegas years at Worcestershire, Queensland and Durham. There is the drinking, the battles to lose weight, the marital strife, and the celebrity rollercoaster that nobody in those respective fields had experienced to such a degree before.Mercifully Botham never dropped in on Margaret Thatcher to offer his services as a federal agent at large, as Elvis once did with Richard Nixon; and even more mercifully he did not keel over at 42. But on the 1986-87 tour of Australia, Botham paid for his own suites so that the team had somewhere to party in peace, a set-up that has echoes of theJungle Room at Graceland and the gang that gathered round the King.Like Elvis, the Botham that comes across in is one hell of a mixed-up kid – preternaturally gifted but so often his own worst enemy. From the vantage point of contented middle age Botham can see it all clearly now, and he knows how many mistakes he made and what a long time it took him to grow up. Perhaps this had to do with an inherent contradiction in his character: on one hand there is the patriotic conformist and hero of middle England who walks out at a function in Australia when a drag artist insults the Queen. On the other there is the aggrieved class warrior who mistrusts a lot of people in authority. How his charity walks – arguably his greatest achievement – must have simplified issues for him.
Those who believe Botham’s heart is in the right place might revise their views of May, Roebuck and Gooch and Border in light of what he says about them With Botham it is less a case of judging him by his friends than judging him by his enemies. And those who believe his heart is essentially in the right place – even if they are glad not to have been caught up in one of his drinking sessions and would deplore some of his behaviour – might have to reassess their views of Peter Roebuck, Peter May, Graham Gooch, Allan Border, Ted Dexter, Alec Bedser and others in the light of what he says about them. New in this volume is sometrenchant criticism of the post- 2005 Ashes England team.How fair and honest has Botham been? Never the most analytical of cricketers – with him it all came down to your “ticker” – he does not duck the issue of his failures, cricketing or otherwise. In the last chapter there is real pain in his confession to a two-year affair that might finally have done for relations with wife Kath, a woman for whom thedescription “long-suffering” seems hopelessly inadequate. has answered the call for a new Ian Bothamautobiography just when we needed it. I am already looking forward to the 2015 update. Wonder if Amazon’s taking pre-orders yet.The Wisden Cricketer

Cricinfo looks back at some of the best county performances from August

Andrew McGlashan01-Sep-2008

Team of the month – Hampshire
There’s nothing like a crisis to inspire a team. First it happened with Middlesex, who called a special general meeting to discuss the team’s lack of success – then they went on a winning streak which cumulated in the Twenty20 Cup. Now it’s Hampshire’s turn. In the same month as it was announced that Paul Terry was leaving the club they have registered two Championship victories (and have remained unbeaten through August) to ease relegation concerns and put themselves in touch with the top. At times they have been down to the bare bones of a team, but have benefited from Dimitri Mascarenhas being overlooked by England and the superb form of Imran Tahir. Sean Ervine, too, has found a new lease of life. An outstanding Pro40 century against Middlesex (they are still in with a chance there as well) was followed by a crucial, match-winning 94 against Durham.Batsman of the month – Marcus Trescothick
Thanks to the release of his autobiography – one that should actually be worth reading – Marcus Trescothick is making plenty of headlines. He is revealing all about his struggles over the last few years that forced an early international retirement (and Kevin Pietersen won’t be able to change his mind) and England’s use of Murray Mints. Most importantly, though, he is happy again. Which is a triumph in itself. It is showing in his cricket as he has churned out runs galore after a slow start to the season. Bowlers have been put to the sword in Championship cricket, but the most destructive displays have come in the Pro40 – particularly his 183 against Gloucestershire (which still ended in defeat). It’s time to let him move on.Bowler of the month – Robbie Joseph
At the beginning of the season Robbie Joseph was probably playing for his county future. He was under pressure after failing to make the most of his talent, but over the last few weeks he has spearheaded Kent’s attack. It began with nine wickets at Chester-le-Street in a match that lasted little more than two days and the top score was 53. Then came the Friends Provident Final where his three scalps kept Kent in with a fighting chance. Finally his success helped complete a victory when he ran through Lancashire at Canterbury and to wrap up August he took six more against Yorkshire. His three in the second innings was almost enough to force an unlikely win.Innings of the month – Sean Ervine 94 not out
It wasn’t a thrilling one-day century by Trescothick, or Championship double ton by Mark Ramprakash, but Sean Ervine’s 94 against Durham – his best score of the season – was worth more than either of them. The game at May’s Bounty in Basingstoke had been dominated by the ball, with Hampshire all out for 96 in their first innings. Chasing 240 few gave Hampshire a chance, especially at 77 for 5. But Ervine has found some strong form and held the innings together. On the final morning he chipped away at the target while wickets fell at the other end. It was nailbiting stuff. The ninth wicket fell with 21 still needed, but Imran Tahir held firm as he and Ervine gave Hampshire the points.Bowling spell of the month – Mark Davies, 8 for 24
It’s been a strange old career for Mark Davies. When you look at his statistics, 220 wickets at 20.83, you wonder how he hasn’t been talked about as an England bowler. But, as is often the case, the numbers only tell half the story. He has suffered a horrendous run of injuries and illness including a lung infection and a stress fracture of the back. This season, though, he has been able to string matches together with impressive results, none more so than his eight-wicket haul at Basingstoke. Already in 2008 he’d demolished Lancashire back in May with 7 for 33 (albeit in another defeat) and was at it again on a bowler-friendly strip. An England Lions tour isn’t out of the question this winter.Youngster of the month – Liam Dawson
From having one of the most potent spin attacks in the country with Shane Warne and Shaun Udal, Hampshire were suddenly left with a bare cupboard after both departed over the winter. But during the second half of the season a talent has emerged in the shape of Liam Dawson, a left-arm spinner who is also turning himself into a fine batsman. It is, in fact, the runs that have often caught the eye, scored at vital times in one-day games, but he has put in some important spells with the ball, including 4 for 45 against Middlesex at Lord’s. He had a successful spell with England Under-19s, but now it’s the time to give him his head at first-class level. It’s vital, too, that he concentrates on his spin. The county game isn’t overflowing with young English talent in that department.

A look back at the magical, surreal summer that ended with Kapil Dev raising aloft the World Cup

Ayaz Memon24-Jun-2008Show me a person who gave Kapil Dev’s team any chance of winning the 1983World Cup: I will show you a liar and an opportunist.The story of how David Frith, then editor of , hadto literally eat his words after he wrote India off as no-hopers has been told far too often to be repeated here, yet is symbolic of the utter disdain with which the Indian cricket team was viewed before the tournament. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the situation was “hopeless, but not serious.”My own belief in the Indian team’s prospects, too, tended towards zero. True, there had been some glimpses of excellence when Kapil Dev’s team beat mighty West Indies at Berbice in a one day game preceding the 1983 tournament, but India’s track record in one-day cricket, and especially in the two previous World Cups, had been pathetic to say the least.So while I was obviously privileged to be covering a World Cup, on the nine-hour flight to England in May 1983, two issues jostled for pole position in my mind: Did I really want give up law practice to pursue writing on cricket as a vocation? And secondly, did it make any sense to watch India play West Indies at Old Trafford first up when I could watch England play New Zealand at the Oval?By the time the plane landed at Heathrow, at least one issue had been resolved. The Oval it would be. This decision was not, as might be misconstrued, based on the kind of cynicism journalists are known to acquire over a period of time. I was on only my second overseas assignment, un-jaded and curious, but frankly, what logic in watching India play the best team in the world?I have lived to regret that decision. Watching the classy, elegant Martin Crowe was a delightful experience in itself, but not seeing India floor the mighty West Indies was such a bad miss that I was immediately chastened.The topsy-turvy nature of sport is something only the foolhardy would ignore. This lesson had been painfully learnt. For the next month and more, I followed the Indian team diligently across the length and breadth of the country, spending long hours on British Rail, making scores of trips on the London Underground, as the World Cup wound its way through that magnificent summer. The budget was modest, the travel itinerary intense but the experience was unbeatable – and there other attractions an English summer offers, like catching a concert by Dire Straits at Earl’s Court.India’s road to victoryJune 9/10: India 262 for 8 (60/60 ov) beat West Indies 228 (54.1/60 ov) by 34 runs. Yashpal Sharma 89, Binny 3-48, Shastri 3-26June 11: India 157 for 5 (37.3/60 ov) beat Zimbabwe 155 (51.4/60 ov) by five wickets. Patil 50, Madan Lal 3-27June 13: Australia 320 for 9 (60/60 ov) beat India 158 (37.5/60 ov) by 162 runs. Trevor Chappell 110, Yallop 66*, Hughes 52, MacLeay 6-39June 15: West Indies 282 for 9 (60/60 ov) beat India 216 (53.1/60 ov) by 66 runs. Richards 119, Srikkanth 80, Holding 3-40, Binny 3-71June 18: India 266 for 8 (60/60 ov) beat Zimbabwe 235 (57/60 ov) by 31 runs. Kapil 175*, Madan Lal 3-42June 20: India 247 (55.5/60 ov) beat Australia 129 (38.2/60 ov) by 118 runs. Madan Lal 4-20, Binny 4-29June 22: India 217 for 4 (54.4/60 ov) beat England 213 (60/60 ov) by six wickets. Yashpal 61, Patil 51*, Kapil 3-35June 25: India 183 for 4 (54.4/60 ov) beat West Indies 140 (52/60 ov) by 43 runs. Amarnath 3-12, Madan Lal 3-31Thatcherism was taking firm control of political and economic life in England in the early 80s, and Prime Minister and “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher was the undisputed Queen Bee. Only occasionally was she forced to share centre-stage with US president Ronald Reagan. In that sense, even the World Cup enjoyed miniscule importance, but for those weaned on cricket lore, England was still a dream come true.The grounds of Sussex spoke of the exploits of Ranji, and the two Pataudis, apart, of course, from CB Fry. At Lord’s, passing through the Grace Gates was like a pilgrimage in itself, though the good doctor himself was from Gloucestershire. But my personal favourite as a diehard Surrey fan was The Oval, home to Jack Hobbs, the Bedsers, and my childhood hero, Ken Barrington.The World Cup carousel took me to most of these historic grounds. When no matches were scheduled, I made day trips to soak in the history and nostalgia. Through the tournament I stayed at Surbiton, a few stops from Wimbledon. My host was a young engineer I knew from Bombay, who was on a work permit and who knew everything about cricket, tennis – indeed all the sport played in England. “For a sports buff, there is no place like this,” he would say. Oh, to be in England that summer!There were only six journalists (if I remember correctly) from India. The explosion in the Indian media, with its din, clamour and suffocating competition to grab soundbites, was nearly two decades away. In 1983 there was still easy access to players and the dressing room.I remember watching Dilip Vengsarkar get hit on the face by Malcolm Marshall from the dressing room. There was a flurry of abuse when the batsman returned retired hurt, and not from Vengsarkar, poor chap, who could barely open his mouth. When India played Zimbabwe in the historic match at Tunbridge Wells, I watched a fair bit of Kapil Dev’s memorable innings, sitting next to Gundappa Viswanath, from just outside the dressing room. Vishy, who hadn’t yet retired, had failed to regain his place after the disastrous tour of Pakistan, but was still an integral member of the Indian team.He was also the main source of hope, I realised, as the team tottered. When India were 9 for 4, he was to say with a sense of righteous belief, “Don’t worry, the match is not over yet.” He must have been the only man then to believe this. Talk of prophetic words.As the tournament progressed, the small media corps became almost like an extended family of the team, but this did not mean we did not look for “controversies”. The composition of the team showed a distinct north-west divide so to speak, and anybody who knows anything of Indian cricket knows how much these things mattered in those days. Did it influence Kapil Dev? More importantly, was Sunil Gavaskar dropped for the first match against Australia, or “rested”, as manager PR Man Singh insisted?All such doubts died by the time Kapil Dev had finished his business at Tunbridge Wells. Gavaskar was back in the team, despite his mediocre form; Vengsarkar was still out of contention through injury; but by a process of trial and exigency India had hit on the right combination.The academically inclined are still locked in endless debate about which has been the greatest ever one-day innings. In my mind there is no doubt that Kapil Dev’s unbeaten 175 that day stands supreme. There have been bigger scores since, innings with more sixes and boundaries hit, runs scored at a faster rate, but for sheer magnitude of impact (in a myriad ways) nothing quite matches up to Kapil’s innings. It not only helped India win victory from the jaws of defeat, but also dramatically altered the course of the tournament, and subsequently, the future of Indian and world cricket.In the context of the tournament, this innings was to be a rallying cry from a field-marshal to his troops, as it were. Remember, Kapil was in his first season as captain, having taken over from Gavaskar after the rout against Pakistan a few months earlier. This change had been contentious.Moreover, India had come into the World Cup on the back of a series defeat against the West Indies, and there were muted discussions on Kapil’s future as leader even before the tournament began. The pressure on him was to not only justify his reputation as one of the game’s greatest allrounders, but also to hold his team together, and thereby hold on to his captaincy.Examine the scorebook and you find that India’s performances till then had been modest — despite the first-match win over the West Indies – and not at all indicative of the heady climax that was to follow. There had been a couple of exciting 50s, some of the swing bowlers like Roger Binny and Madan Lal were enjoying the helpful conditions, and the fielding was much improved by traditional Indian standards. But nothing to suggest that this was a world-beating side.The next week flew past in a flurry of wins, banter and laughter as India knocked over Australia and England to earn a place in the final against the world champions. This was surreal stuff from a side which had now forged such enormous self-belief as to become unstoppable.Australia were a team in disarray, with Greg Chappell not available, and unconfirmed reports suggesting massive infighting between some of the senior pros and skipper Kim Hughes. Having lost their first game, against Zimbabwe, the Aussies were on the back foot when they met India at Chelmsford. As it happened, neither Dennis Lillee nor Hughes played that game, and the result was a massive defeat which was to culminate in Hughes surrendering the captaincy in tears a year later.The two semi-finals involved India and Pakistan. Could it be a dream final between the two arch rivals from the subcontinent? It was not to be, as Pakistan lost badly to West Indies. With Imran Khan unable to bowl, Pakistan relied heavily on their batting, but in this crucial match missed Javed Miandad who reported unwell. I happened to meet Miandad in his hotel room on the eve of the match. He was obviously suffering from influenza. I wondered, though, if he could miss such an important game; he did and that was that.Getty ImagesOn the same day, India’s players marched to Old Trafford like born-again gladiators, bristling for the kill. It was a surcharged atmosphere, and by the time the match ended in a flurry of boundaries by Sandeep Patil off the hapless Bob Willis, many fights had broken out between the fans of the two sides all over the ground. One placard captured the Indian performance and the result of the match tellingly: “Kapil Dev eats Ian Botham for breakfast”.So incredible had been India’s run of success and such was the disbelief that even the stiff stewards who manned the Grace Gates were completely nonplussed. “Oh, we now have Gandhi coming to Lord’s,” said one to his colleague in an obvious reference to Sir Richard Attenborough’s memorable film on the Mahatma when a few of us landed up to demand accreditation for the final. After some haggling, we were not to be denied accreditation for the match.On June 25, India took the field against the West Indies, and within a seven-hour roller-coaster ride, the cricket world had been turned upside down, a billion lives changed forever.At a personal level, the second issue which had dogged my flight into England had been resolved too: the law degree would find its place on the mantelpiece; writing on cricket was to be my lifeline.

An account of the highs and lows in the life of former Indian wicketkeeper Sadanand Viswanath who now revels in his role as umpire in domestic Indian cricket

Sriram Veera05-Sep-2008

Fame. Tragedy. A battle with the bottle. Hope. Dream. Faith. Sadanand Viswanath has been to hell and back. After 14 years as an umpire, the ‘A’ Test between Australia and India in Bangalore is his first major game – and, possibly, his redemption song.”The angry young days of Vishy are over,” he says as dusk descends on the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “It has been some rollercoaster ride but it’s about finding peace now. I have made my share of mistakes (but) I managed to step out of the whirlpool.”Indian cricket’s shooting star of the 1980s, Viswanath acquired a huge fan following with his sleight of hand behind the stumps, his boisterous camaraderie with seniors and his flamboyant personality. Sunil Gavaskar, in his book One-Day Wonders, says one of the main reasons for India winning the World Championship of Cricket in 1985 “was the presence of Sadanand Viswanath behind the stumps.””Fame does funny things,” Viswanath says. “The adoration from the fans is indescribable. You have to be there to understand it.”He had it all. Then, suddenly, the lights went out.He’d already dealt with tragedy once, when his father committed suicide – following financial problems – in 1984, a few months before he made it to the Indian team. His cricketing achievements helped overcome that but an even bigger calamity awaited.In 1985, just before he went on the tour of Sri Lanka, his mother underwent open-heart surgery. She never recovered. That was the beginning of the end for ‘Sada’; a broken finger hampered his wicketkeeping and, though he picked up six dismissals to equal the Indian record in his last Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy, he was out of the reckoning next season.

Syed Kirmani, whom he had startled as a teenager a few years earlier while hitching a scooter ride – “Kiri, one day I will take the gloves from you” – came back with a vengeance and waiting in the wings were Kiran More and Chandrakant Pandit. Sada, emotionally vulnerable and “trying to get his life in order”, couldn’t handle the competition.There followed a failed relationship and a battle with alcohol, which resulted in his giving up cricket. “Yes, I went over the limit, attended great parties where I had lots of alcohol but, luckily, I never reached the point of no return. To fill that personal void people turn to alcohol but you don’t make it the core of your existence. It was about looking for affection, a shoulder to cry on … a cry in the wilderness.”He refuses to blame anyone for that period, calling it a cause-and-effect situation. “I knew then that if I get my thoughts right and go towards my target I will get back what I achieved.”Having quit the game, he left the country and moved to the Middle East on a 14-day visa. He advertised for a job in the local papers; offers came but he was hesitant to join. “With two days left for my visa to expire, the friend who’d brought me to the Middle East introduced me to an NRI, Raghuram Shetty, who offered me a job.”His salary was 4,000 dirhams; his first paycheque was celebrated over a bottle of Johnnie Walker. But – there is always a ‘but’ in Sada’s life – he longed for India, for home. “They told me the first year is the most difficult in the Gulf. If you survive that, you are fine. But I couldn’t stay after seven months. India was where I was adored, loved and the people I cared for lived there. I returned home and rejoined my bank job [in Bangalore] after a month.”This was in 1991, and for four years he lived a relatively anonymous life. But in 1995, determined to break out of the sedentary lifestyle, he quit the bank when they transferred him out of Bangalore. The finances dried up and he moved out of his rented house into a hotel where he lived for five years.

“Hotel Kamadenu [now closed down] offered me a room at a monthly rent of 2500 rupees, which was cheaper than the house.” Sada shared a room with a chef from a five-star hotel and began thinking his way out of the mess. “Friends suggested a benefit match for me; [the then state chief minister] Ramakrishna Hegde had given me a plot of land in Bangalore after the World Championship of Cricket and I wanted to develop that.”He spoke to Imran Khan and the Pakistanis and a couple of West Indians about an India v Rest of the World game but it never happened. A few years later, a match between “Hansie Cronje’s Devils” and “Indian Angels” fell through when Cronje was found guilty of match-fixing.In between, his second innings – in the game, in life itself – began. A letter arrived from the Indian board asking if he was interested in appearing for the umpiring examinations. “Ten of us, including Kirmani, Bishen Singh Bedi and Lalchand Rajput, landed up in Hyderabad. I did well in the viva…that made me dream of living a life with cricket.”Not long after, he met officials of the Karnataka State Cricket Association [KSCA] including the secretary, the former India player Brijesh Patel, and was informed of his benefit match. “It was 2003, 16 years after I last played the game.”To ensure the money wasn’t frittered away, Patel put it in a joint account with the association. Soon an auto showroom opened on his plot of land and “finally”, as he says, the financial worries eased.However, the loneliness has remained as he looks to take a bigger step in his umpiring career. “I have a coaching camp and i am busy with that for three days in a week. I have been umpiring for the past 14 years. I just wait every year for the season to start. With a promotion, I will be officiating in 15 games, instead of six games currently, which means 60 days of umpiring.”Life is certainly looking up for Sada. “Thankfully, with the help of friends, the KSCA, Brijesh Patel and the BCCI, along with my sheer determination to keep fighting, I’ve kept to the right path. Tomorrow nobody should say here was an Indian keeper who went down the dark abyss. That’s not a good thing to hear.””You should go out on a high and leave the public lingering with a happy memory.”Fate denied Sadanand Viswanath that exit the first time around; now he has a chance to make amends.

He used to partner Richard Hadlee for New Zealand; now Ewen Chatfield drives a taxi around Wellington

Sidharth Monga27-Feb-2009
“Once I get that hundred, I’ll be gone. Vanished” © Cricinfo Ltd
“Good morning, Ewen Chatfield here.” The voice is loud, warm and clear. You request an interview, a day before coming to Wellington, where he lives.”Where will you stay in Wellington?” You tell him where you will stay.”So I’ll be there at 1pm.””No, Ewen, I don’t want to bother you. I’ll come and see you.””But I will be driving my taxi then, so I can’t be sure where I will be.”How can Ewen Chatfield drive a taxi? I mean, you cannot drive a taxi in India, and most other places, if you have played 43 Tests and have had a successful pairing with the most iconic player of that country. And Chatfield of all players? He of the unruly hair, the long sideburns and the mo?Next day. Phone rings. “Ewen Chatfield here. I am in the foyer.” You go down and miss him. Most would. Imagine Chatfield with properly parted hair, a dark-grey suit and a tie. Without the moustache.But the name tag on the breast pocket does say “Ewen”. He asks you for some identification to prove you are indeed who you say you are. It’s you who should be asking him for that reassurance.You still can’t get over the fact that he drives a taxi. Not that it’s sad. Far from it. Chatfield has seen hardship at times, but he is a satisfied man with no complaints.Doesn’t he get recognised by passengers? “Surprisingly, it took three or four weeks for somebody to recognise me,” he says. “I look a bit different now. No mo. And I have to wear glasses for driving.” When he was coaching a side, his wards shaved bits off his moustache during a celebration and he had to take it all off. He was told he looked younger and has let it stay that way.If you go by what you read of him, the personality might not be the same either. He was a man of economy – of run-up, of action, of words. He was the man who once got Viv Richards out caught down leg and told Ian Smith, the keeper, “That should have gone for four.” That’s what you read.Chatfield is a funny man with faraway eyes. With long pauses when he speaks. Is idiosyncratic. Makes you laugh when he talks about his debut Test. Except that he almost died during it. Thirty-four years and two days ago; after a bouncer from Peter Lever struck him in the head.”We were going to get beaten. There was no doubt about that,” he remembers. “We had four days, then the rest day, and then the fifth day. Geoff Howarth and I had batted for an hour on the fourth day, which they grumbled a bit about. They wanted to go home. They had been to Australia and had been away from home for long.”On the fifth day the forecast was for rain. So we carried on. We batted for another hour. We frustrated them.”It was just one of those unfortunate things. I don’t remember whether it was a bouncer or whether it was a shortish ball. It hit the top of the bat handle, hit the glove, and ricocheted onto my head.”I knew there was something wrong. And when I got hit, I just went and knelt at the side of the wicket. If it hadn’t been for him – I forgot his name, the England physio [Bernard Thomas] – I wouldn’t be talking to you today. When I woke up on the way to the hospital in the ambulance, I knew exactly what my score was and what Geoff Howarth’s score was. So, yeah, everything was okay.”Lever sobbed on the ground that day. He went to meet Chatfield later. But he never got any of his own medicine in return. “I never bowled a bouncer all my life,” Chatfield says. “I wasn’t quick enough for that.”Was it difficult mentally to come back? “No, it wasn’t difficult. Just carried on as if nothing had happened… I got a helmet.”Chatfield was also a man who very rarely appealed. Not for him the backslaps and the send-offs. “I might have missed a few by not appealing.”India was never the place for him. His first time there, during the 1987 World Cup, he became the final victim in Chetan Sharma’s hat-trick, and in the same match got hit for 39 in 4.1 overs. Sunil Gavaskar scored his only ODI century,a fiery one, in that game.It is Bangalore a year later that Chatfield remembers. “Everybody told me how it was to tour India,” he says. “Guys in the past, like Richard Collinge, came running in to bowl, and kept going. I went the first time and I thought there were no problems. There was no place greater than India.”But after Bangalore, we all got very, very ill. Any New Zealander that was in India could have played for New Zealand. We were down to no one. There was times when guys got out of bed, took the bus, came to the ground, and went back to bed.” When he was coaching a side, his wards shaved bits off his moustache during a celebration and he had to shave it all off. He was told he looked younger and has let it stay that way It hasn’t been a great time after retirement. He coached his minor association, Hutt Valley, for a long while, only to lose the job when Hutt Valley merged with Wellington. His last job before the current one with Corporate Cabs, was that of a lawn-mower. Then two successive wet winters came.”There was no income. I got frustrated that I couldn’t do enough in summer without killing myself to make up for that.” And just like that he called Corporate Cabs, because he “liked driving around”. He got the licence and was employed. In between he has worked as a courier, a salesman at a chip shop, and has driven a dairy van. “One of your compatriots,” he says of the dairy owner.”I start at 5.30 in the morning, and I am only allowed to work for 13 hours a day. That’s all. You think that’s enough? Thirteen hours a day?”He is not in touch with any of his team-mates. He claims he doesn’t get nostalgic, doesn’t watch old tapes (“I haven’t even seen the 50-run partnership with Jeremy Coney, against Pakistan, to win the match”). There’s no bitterness either.What did New Zealand cricket mean to him? “A vehicle to be able to play against the best in the world. It wasn’t a full-time job. I had to work as well. But, yeah, they enabled me to play.” The faraway eyes. “Though I didn’t dream of it when I was young. Later on, when I didn’t get picked [for the 1978 tour to England] I was disappointed.” Pause. “It must have meant something to me.”Does he have any regrets? None, but for that 1978 drop. “But I got over it.”There’s one last wish before he can leave cricket. One hundred. He plays club cricket still, and the quest is on. “Once I get that hundred, I’ll be gone. Vanished.” Simple as that.”We play on artificial wickets, only 40 overs. If they give me a good, flat wicket, and the bowling is not too good, I open the batting. Everybody knows I’m trying to get this hundred, but I’m getting slower and slower. I got to 70. Don’t think it will ever happen.”You want to take a picture before he leaves. “Come out. We’ll do it in front of the taxi. Let’s get them some advertisement.”From a farm boy, to a Wellington player – Wellington, where he knew only five people when he first arrived – to a New Zealand Test player, alongside superstars like Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe, to a taxi driver, Chatfield is living an extraordinary life in a normal manner. Still being his own idiosyncratic self. Maybe he still is a farm boy. “I wasn’t interested in farming,” he says.

A former officer in the Royal Green Jackets, Matthew Fleming – who played 11 ODIs for England – will open a cricket camp in Afghanistan, the newest of the ICC’s one-day international countries

Will Luke29-Apr-2009In another life, Matthew Fleming might have embarked on a trip to Afghanistan waylaid with bivvy bags and ponchos rather than pads, stumps and a weighty remit from cricket’s oldest establishment. A former officer in the Royal Green Jackets, Fleming, 44, is off to Jalalabad on Thursday to open an MCC Spirit of Cricket camp and two school pitches in the country, just two weeks after Afghanistan qualified for one-day international status.Fleming was first dispatched to the country at the end of 2007 following a successful tour by Afghanistan to Britain funded by MCC. “One or two of us argued very strongly that while we’ve created this momentum, let’s keep it going,” Fleming told Cricinfo. “In economic terms you get real value for your buck out there, so anything the MCC can do which fits its remit [is beneficial]. And while there are British soldiers out there, if we can help win the hearts and minds of Afghan people, that must be a good thing. The Afghan Cricket Federation were after help – they wanted help finishing their national stadium and so on – and having looked at everything, the best way we can support is at the grass-roots level, building facilities in schools, to help broaden the pyramid.”The pyramid Fleming talks of is conceptual at the moment, but so rapid has Afghanistan’s rise been that MCC are at the forefront of building the game’s newest of cricketing nations. Their performance in the recent World Cup Qualifiers surprised their opponents – they beat Ireland, Bermuda and Scotland twice – but never themselves. When they shocked Ireland by 22 runs, one senior player told me that they could beat Australia or South Africa on their day. The logic to this was wonderfully simple. “Ireland beat Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup. We have beaten Ireland. And Pakistan have beaten Australia in the past. So can we.”For fiction to become fable, pitches and equipment are desperately needed. Most of the senior players learned the game as refugees in Peshawar, in camps or on dusty roads without conventional kit. The national stadium in Kabul is nowhere near complete, more famous as the forum for the Taliban’s executioners a decade ago. But with the help of the MCC and a charity, the founded and chaired by Dr Sarah Fane, schoolchildren are now able to play the game. Fane has built a network of schools serving over 26,000 schoolchildren – a remarkable feat in itself – and her influence as a force for change, Fleming said, cannot be underplayed. Today, for example, Fane and her crew were in a remote valley in northern Afghanistan, introducing the game to local people.”Sarah’s charity has been absolutely instrumental,” he said. “Firstly, delivering projects in Afghanistan is incredibly difficult. Sarah’s experience out there and the respect her charity has [has been invaluable], but also her relationship with the Swedish Committee, this extraordinary group who deliver projects on the ground, was fantastic. The last thing we want to do is give our money to someone who then disappears with it.”Unfortunately corruption is endemic in Afghanistan. Rather than spend US$100,000 on finishing a stadium, we thought we could spend a lot less than that building concrete and artificial cricket wickets and providing kit, in underprivileged areas, through the schools that Sarah was building.”With the recent high-profile success of the national team, their timing could not be better either.”What’s not to enjoy?” enthused Fleming. “You’re going to an extraordinarily historical country with an amazingly different culture, with this fiercely independent and warrior-like spirit, where they have a natural passion and aptitude for a game we all love, where you can see the very tangible difference that cricket can make on people’s lives. And at the same time, you can help heal, in a spiritual way, a country’s wounds.”Cricket really is an amazing healer. Sport is probably the only true global language. Anywhere in the world if you have a cricket ball, football or tennis ball, you can speak to someone. And that’s just the same in Afghanistan.”

These are players who are deeply religious who understand the opportunity that they have made for themselves, and they understand the opportunity that cricket can provide Afghanistan. And they are to lead Afghanistan. While you’re nervous that some of the money will disappear, the great positive spirit that exists, the desire of enough people to make a difference, and the very low base from which they start means those fears should be offset by optimism and hope

The optimism and feeling of hope is tinged, or singed, by war. Afghanistan remains a nation under siege, a country suffocated by prejudices. To underline the perilous security situation, MCC cannot disclose Fleming’s whereabouts on Thursday and Friday. The aftermath of war brings corruption and, almost as inevitably, potential embezzlement: Afghanistan are now eligible for a vast increase in funding by ICC, and Fleming fires a hasty warning.”The ICC need to be very careful that the increase in funding doesn’t get swallowed up in the wrong way,” he said. “Inevitably some of it will fall between the drains, but if the ICC work with organisations like the Swedish Committee, or the Afghan Connection – proven deliverers – then they’ll make it work.”These are players who are deeply religious who understand the opportunity that they have made for themselves, and they understand the opportunity that cricket can provide Afghanistan. And they are to lead Afghanistan. While you’re nervous that some of the money will disappear, the great positive spirit that exists, the desire of enough people to make a difference, and the very low base from which they start means those fears should be offset by optimism and hope.”The ICC’s latest buzzword is support structures, something Afghanistan need more than most. Their success from obscurity has relied upon their lion-hearted belief, but the framework itself is worryingly flimsy.”They’re not going play in Kabul in the next ten years, are they? That’s not going to happen. Pakistan are talking about playing domestic games in UAE, and there’s absolutely no reason Afghanistan shouldn’t do that,” Fleming said.”I’m not worried about the players or the talent. Somehow linking the top of the pyramid with the bottom is going to be very hard, putting a structure in place, so they’re going to have to overcome and adapt to that challenge. And I suppose the only way you can get that is by getting a good governing body and that’s their greatest challenge: finding an honest, passionate but realistic governing body who actually concentrate on putting a strategy in place that can be delivered. And that’s where MCC should be able to help.”MCC is a terrific force for good. Every time we tour somewhere we leave a financial legacy behind, or a legacy in terms of local infrastructure. We help in areas in the world where others don’t want to go to; we’re committed to as many people as possible in the world, to not only enjoy the game, but enjoying the values that underpin it.”And Afghans deserve to enjoy cricket and have earned the right to be proud of their national team. That much can’t be denied. How long the benevolence of MCC and other charities lasts, however, could determine the country’s long-term future as a nation of cricket, not just of war.

No fireworks from Smith and Gibbs but an enjoyable game nonetheless, at freezing St George’s Park

Barry de Klerk03-May-2009Team supported
Rajasthan Royals. Last year, because of Graeme Smith and also their underdogstatus; this year also because of the way Shane Warne leads the team.Key performer
Yusuf Pathan. He bowled and fielded well. Then when he came in to bat he used the platform established for him and left his successors with an easy target.One thing I’d have changed about the match
Batting form for Smith. A mute switch for the stadium announcer. Oops, two things.Key face-off
The indirect one between Smith and Gibbs. Today it was a case of may-the-least-hopeless-man-win, but maybe Smith will regain his form for in time for the Twenty20 World Cup.Star-spotting
How could anybody at a cricket field be a bigger star than Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist or Graeme Smith? Of course the perennial star at St George’s is the band, today resplendent in blue turbans.Wow moment
Venugopal Rao dropping Shane Warne in between two sixes.Cheerleader factor
The Royals’ cheerleaders turned up in three different colour schemes. The yellow Royals cheerleaders did once seem to dance for the Deccans, while the skimpy blue Royals cheerleaders were so far away I could barely photograph them even with a telephoto lens.Crowd meter
Just over 12,000 people, less than for the previous two matches. Season-ticket seats and related seats, presumably bought for tax reasons, stayed empty. Crowd alive, but not humming like last week. Old stand, where the band is, still the place to be for the buzz.Local hero
Neither Smith nor Gibbs did well, neither got a lot of response, unlike JP Duminy the other day, who got the whole “” from the old stand. “?” “” is “thing”, often also used for a person. “” is much more complicated to translate. When used for food it means “tasty” or “delicious”. Once, on tour in the West Indies, Gibbs got a Man-of-the-Match award after a spectacular innings, and Desmond Haynes in handing the award to himsaid “Herschelle, that was a lekker innings.” “Lekker” is one of those words that makes Afrikaans such a lekker languageEntertainment
We had an winner called Heinz Winkler performing during the breaks. He was slightly less dismal than some of the other entertainers at previous games.Banner of the Day
“I escaped from prison to be here”Marks out of 10
9. Great match, including pressure and panic, but a subdued crowd. Last week’s crowd would have combined very nicely with this week’s game. Bloody cold on the Duckpond Stand. I left on a high. Great fun.

Mark Ramprakash has ruled the shires for five years but is now reaching the end of his long playing career. He talks about the past, present and future

Interview by Sam Pilger31-Oct-2009″So often when my name and career are spoken about it is in a negative manner. I actually have to keep reminding myself that I am really very proud of what I have achieved in the game.”Having turned 40 in September, Ramprakash recently published his autobiography , which is his counter-attack to redress the balance and take control of his legacy in the game.Don’t expect any Trescothick-style soul baring. Ramprakash does not allow you inside his head to see the anguish he must have felt at failing to fulfill his enormous potential in Test cricket, and there remain traces of bitterness at his belief that a succession of English coaches failed to exploit his prodigious talent properly.But it would be wrong for Ramprakash to be defined solely by his Test career. He could have scuttled away from the game long ago but he has relentlessly accumulated runs for Surrey and become only the 25th batsman in the history of the game to score a hundred first-class centuries. His is a career to be celebrated now, not pitied.While admitting he can come across as aloof, in person Ramprakash proves good company, charming and expansive and seemingly no longer tortured by earlier failures. He believes he is now a contented man, ready to assume an elder-statesman role in the game and to reflect on his life in cricket so far.How have you achieved such longevity?
I suppose I have good genes, but above all else it is an overwhelming love for the game. The players who started at the same time as me have retired a long time ago because they don’t have that same love. My experience has kept me going as well because eight times out of 10 when I go out to bat I’m not feeling as good as I would like, I am not middling the ball, the feet aren’t moving; but experience helps you deal with it.How has the county game changed in the last 20 years?
When I started, the bowling was faster. Back then there was an amazing conveyor belt of West Indians, so every team would have a bowler who could bowl at 90mph. Now there are few bowlers who can push you on the back foot. With the slow pitches, too, it can be very, very hard work for the bowlers.And how would you assess the present quality of spin bowling?
In my formative years there were a lot of spinners, like Vic Marks, Eddie Hemmings, Nick Cook, obviously Phil Edmonds and John Emburey, David Graveney himself. It is very hard to be a young spinner now because you get lashed around with short boundaries, quick outfields and big bats. We have to nurture the spinners more.Does “Bloodaxe” still lurk within or is he long gone?
Angus Fraser gave me that name because when I was younger I was ambitious, and if things weren’t going my way, I would get frustrated. But as you get older you learn more about yourself, and I have been better behaved in my 30s. I have always walked a fine line between being very competitive and it boiling over.

“The selectors have said to me the door is always open but it appears to be closed. People say to me all the time, ‘Ramps, how come you’re not being selected, you have scored over 6000 runs in the last four years and averaging over 90?’ It seems unfair”

Who have been the biggest influences on you as a player?
My idol was Viv Richards and I remember him approaching me once in the pavilion when we were playing West Indies. I was upset at how things were going and he told me: “You have got everything as a player but there is clearly something missing.” I asked him what and he just said: “Belief.” That was so perceptive without even knowing me. To hear him say that was powerful but it didn’t sink in for five years. I had a lot of self-confidence until I was 21 but after a tough start in Test cricket, my confidence began to ebb away and then it came back years later.In your book you say: “An encouraging word [from the England coaches] would have made all the difference but there was no support, no communication.” How much did that hinder you as a Test player?
I don’t want to make excuses for not playing well for England. I had lots of opportunities, I tried my best at the time, so I am happy in that knowledge. But, if you look back and analyse it and compare the set-up of the England side in the early 1990s to now, there are big differences in the way new players are welcomed and integrated. I was just left on my own to get on with it but now England are aware of the pressures and they do everything to help new players.Did you ever seriously think you might be recalled for the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval this summer?
No, because the selectors did not seem open to the idea of recalling me. And that was disappointing. After being dropped in 2002 I went back to Surrey, continued to work hard, scored runs and developed as a person but the selectors’ impression of me is stuck in the past and I have been tagged unfairly. They are out of date in their opinions, they talk about me as if it is 1995 and I have not had success at Test level – but I have. The selectors have said to me that the door is always open but it appears to be closed. People say to me all the time, “Ramps, how come you’re not being selected, you have scored over 6000 runs in the last four years and averaging over 90?” It seems unfair.But you have said you wouldn’t swap winning for the chance of playing another Test? Really?
Yes, that’s true, I wouldn’t swap it because I had such a wonderful time on . I had done cricket for 20 years, so going on the show took me out of my comfort zone. It will stay with me for life.Did you look at Jonathan Trott making a century at The Oval and think you could have done that as well?
He played with a calm assurance you rarely see in a debutant, so credit to them for choosing him. What it does say about Trott is, he has done his time in county cricket, which often gets criticised. I would have loved to have had another go myself. I was ready.Was it a shame the selectors chose a South African-born player in Trott and not someone nurtured in England?
Yes. All English supporters want English players to play for England and by that I mean someone either born here or who has come through the education system. I have heard it mentioned in football as well. There is talk that [Arsenal’s] Manuel Almunia might play for England and plenty of supporters come on the radio and say: “No. He’s Spanish.”Ramprakash with partner Karen Hardy on : “going on the show took me out of my comfort zone”•BBCAfter England’s batsmen scored only two centuries in the Ashes, how can they improve and make bigger scores?
I am a big fan of Ravi Bopara. He is going to be a very good player but I never really fancied him at No. 3. He is at the start of his career, so batting three puts him under pressure. I would have eased him in at five or six. I am a big supporter of Ian Bell too. Technically he is good and there is more to come. Paul Collingwood’s place is under discussion with Trott playing so well.Which county player would you tip to break next into the England side?
When the selectors look at county cricket it is important everyone starts from a level playing field. Michael Carberry has played extremely well for Hampshire, scored a lot of runs, but his name was not mentioned to play at The Oval. It would appear that it is a good time to play for Warwickshire. I am not suggesting that there is anything unfair going on but you have a selector in Ashley Giles who is also a county coach. That is a position England have to be careful with because it can lead to accusations of favouritism.You called the treatment of Monty Panesar “scandalous”…
Yes. Monty has six five-wicket hauls in Test cricket and he has won Test matches for England, yet all I seem to hear is what Monty can’t do. I don’t believe other players get treated that way. There is a lack of understanding of spin bowling. This was reinforced when Adil Rashid performed so well in the first one-day game against Australia but was left out of the following matches. There are other players who can have lengthy poor patches but somehow they seem to be in the ‘In Club’ in the England set-up and continually get to play.What changes would you like to see at county level?
One radical idea, which I don’t see happening, is to create nine regional teams and pair counties together, so you could create a London side from Middlesex and Surrey, pair together Essex and Kent, while creating a Manchester side, a Birmingham side and so on. You would produce a strong competition, one in which you would have to perform at your best in every game.How much longer will you go on playing?
I know I have two years left on my contract but enjoyment is a big thing for me at my age and it hasn’t been very enjoyable lately with Surrey bringing up the rear and losing a lot of games. No longer playing cricket is a scary thought, without a doubt. It has been my life since I was 17, so being without it and dealing with the transition will be difficult. Going into a career in coaching could help.

It is neither a definitive work nor a useful one for reference. At best it’s a match-by-match account

Vaneisa Baksh30-Jan-2010Understanding the strategic intent of an enterprise is useful if one has to assess it. Clifford Narinesingh remarks that there is hardly any substantial literature on West Indian cricket that recognises its role in “creating and fostering a sense of nationalism and solidarity” among its peoples. He says his book, is a response to the requests of critics and commentators for “definitive works” and he suggests that it can also be viewed as “a response to the quest for literature which enhances the drama on the field.”He has chosen Brian Charles Lara as the subject of this work, and although this is not an “authorised biography”, unlike Narinesingh’s book on Sunil Gavaskar, , it gamely attempts a sort of biographical documentation of Lara’s career in West Indies cricket. Narinesingh says he tried to record Lara’s pursuits without “reckless indictment or partisan loyalty”, and it can be said that is what he has done. The book is simply a record of Lara’s career, almost match by match, with scores, and sometimes dates, woven together mainly by liberally quoting various commentators on the game. In that regard it is hardly the seminal contribution that the foreword, written by Balan Sundaram, assures us it is.The book could easily have found great value as a reference work, except that it doesn’t quite have the rigour that would make it reliable.Narinesingh doesn’t name the sources of the phrases locked inside his numerous quotation marks, not all the time, so that sometimes the reader is left wondering which of the earlier cited names is being called upon to comment. In the opening paragraph of Chapter 14, for example, the third sentence reads: “As a result of this image of a fallen or failed cricketing region, the South Africans who were to visit in 2005 were ‘in search of plunder, knowing that the defending forces were in more disarray than ever’.” Since no one was named in that paragraph or the one following, the reader cannot know whence this insight came.The book also doesn’t offer much by way of the analysis that Sundaram describes as a “monumental task”. While it is clear that the author loves cricket and has followed it avidly, his personal testimonies lack depth. Rather, Narinesingh dutifully records what others say about Lara’s performances from match to match; these too are largely confined to comments on the quality of each innings. So Paul Weaver is quoted as saying, “Against the finest attack in the world, and in the context of the immense pressure that surrounded him, with his own captaincy in jeopardy, this was the innings of his life”. This is in reference to the famous 1998 series against Australia, and Lara’s score of 213, and there is not much analysis of the context or meaning of his achievements in that period. Narinesingh restricts his analysis to, “It seemed that the insurrection within had propelled him to greater heights and growth and development as a person.”Later, commenting on the rapid turnover of captains at the turn of the century in the wake of the public’s “unease of defeat”, Narinesingh offers this spare and succinct description:”With the losses suffered, Adams’ captaincy also came to its conclusion. There were no new faces to fill the void except either Carl Hooper or Ridley Jacobs. Walsh had had his turn and then Lara had been at the helm. The selection was Hooper, an elegant batsman who could also weave some spin. It was felt that as a batsman in the classic mold, he had never fully lived up to his true potential. His record reveals that he could have been more consistent. He was called upon to lead the team in a time of low morale and amidst some new faces.”Narinesingh then abruptly goes on to describe the first Test in Georgetown (March 2001), and leaves us hankering for some discussion of how it all came to pass.And so the book goes. It does offer a broad collection of newspaper and match reports and is helpful in that way. It is, though, marred by poor editing, the most irritating part being the misuse of hyphens and dashes and the spaces they inhabit.All in all, what could have been a much more valuable product, is flawed by inattention to detail, and a mismatch of strategic intent and final outcome.Lara: The Untamed Spirit
by Clifford Narinesingh
Royards Publishing Company