Virender Sehwag has taken the art of opening to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of him

Andrew McGlashan in Durban27-Dec-2009If the Durban weather plays ball over the next three days – and sadly that is anything but certain – this match has the makings of an extremely compelling contest. Each time one side has seemingly grabbed the advantage, the other has evened the scales, never better illustrated than by the cameo nature of the batting so far in this game.Batsmen have threatened to dominate, but then have been cut off either by a good ball or poor judgment, and that has made for engrossing viewing. It started with the dual efforts of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who thwarted a hostile new ball in tough conditions before succumbing meekly after tea; it continued with AB de Villiers’ punchy counter-attack and Mark Boucher’s bustle on the second morning, then Dale Steyn’s tail-end hitting which lifted South Africa to 343.England continued in the same vain with Andrew Strauss looking in prime form. He so often does these days, but he failed to build on an aggressive 49-ball half-century – the fastest of his career – when he was dramatically bowled by Morne Morkel to be left with one stump standing. Although Strauss’s innings ended too early for England’s liking, it was a vital response from the captain after the frustrations of South Africa’s last-wicket stand of 58 between Steyn and Makhaya NtiniStrauss and Steyn are separated in batting talent by almost the full length of the order; a tailender and an opener, one whose runs are a bonus against one who is expected to lead the scoring. But they both played equally valuable roles for their sides. Without Steyn, South Africa would have been dismissed for under 300 and without Strauss’s counter-attack the home side would have had the chance to build on that lower-order boost.There is nothing better for a team than to be boosted by a tailender who bats above his means, not least because of the frustration it brings to the fielding unit. It’s far better for an innings to end with a bang rather than a whimper. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there is the impetus that a positive opening batsman can bring when the opposition have hoped to make inroads with the new ball. Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden were masters of it, Virender Sehwag has taken the art to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of them all.”I came out of the shower, and he was already on 30, and I don’t take that long in the shower,” said Graeme Swann. “It’s great to see him go out there and play shots from the word go. He’s very disappointed to have only made 50-odd and lose his wicket after tea, to a very good ball.””We didn’t sit down and say ‘let’s go all guns blazing’ to get back on top,” he added. “But it was important that we did that, because it’s wrestled straight back the initiative that South Africa have taken from us.”Strauss has developed into one of the premier opening batsmen in the world and is finishing 2009 in the same positive form he has shown throughout the year. His innings included three fours in four balls off the struggling Ntini, and was Marcus Trescothick-like in its impact. That was a role he tried to perform in Australia in 2006-07, when Trescothick pulled out of the tour, but he mislaid his disciplines in his quest for aggression, and that played a part in his career-threatening dip in form. The latest version of Strauss can play in variety of guises, however. He also took the pressure off Alastair Cook, who was able to concentrate on survival in his battle for form.It looked for all the world as though Strauss would be the batsman who would build on his start, but Morkel has caused him problems throughout the tour – having him caught behind in the second innings at Centurion from round the wicket – and ended his stay via a thin inside-edge. In 16 balls Strauss faced against Ntini he scored 24 runs, but the 21 deliveries from Morkel produced just 11 and four of those came from an outside edge through gully which shows the difficulties he posed.It also means that the wait for a substantial innings in this match goes on, but the bowlers have managed to hold sway. This contest is crying out for a hundred. It could prove to be a matchwinner.

Down Galle way lies a village where one of the world’s leading fast bowlers delivered slingers with a softball on the beach and swam in the local lake

Sidharth Monga17-Jul-2010Rathgama. One of the most violent villages in Sri Lanka, announces Saman, the auto-rickshaw driver.”But they seem nice people.””Yes,” says Saman, “They are nice when you are smiling at them. Actually, they are very nice people, but that’s only when they are nice. When they get bad, they get really bad.”Saman uses his thumb to make a throat-slitting motion, pauses, and then says, “Like Lasith himself. He is very nice, I have played with him, played only two balls and got out twice. Gem of a person, but when he fights while playing cricket…”Rathgama is, of course, the village, 12km from Galle town, that Lasith Malinga comes from. It’s a small place, with a population of about 1000. You ask anyone where Malinga lives and they will tell you. And they say “lives” even though the Malinga family has moved to Moratuwa, because they have not left the house; they still come here on weekends.Everyone can tell you the way, but directions are not enough. It’s an intricate village, green, with myriad twists and turns. It’s extremely easy to miss a turn. After having missed three, up the hill, we reach this house that has nothing extraordinary about it. Nobody is around, but it is clean, with two easy chairs and two neat pairs of slippers on the veranda. The front of the house looks renovated, but they haven’t bothered about the dilapidated back.SK de Silva, neighbour, keen cricketer in his day, and former captain of Kaluthura Maha Vidyalaya, says Malinga came to the house two days ago – four days before the Galle Test.In this “violent” village, playing in the grounds nearby with a softball, Malinga perfected bowling round-arm, slinging balls at high pace. The softballs were light, the sea breeze heavy, it wasn’t possible to bowl fast with a high-arm action. Uncoached, untaught, Malinga developed his low-arm action. Some people know just what to do.There is another theory: that Malinga can pull off that action because the strength in his shoulders comes from years of winning swimming championships in the lake that’s barely a few hundred metres from his house. Free-style swimming is round-arm, not high-arm.”Every New Year [Sinhala New Year, mid-April], we have the competition,” says a kid biking around the lake, “We start from here [pointing to the start of lake], and go until there [pointing to a rock just before a small island inside it]. Last year he finished fourth. The winner was a 10-year-old kid. This year he missed the competition.”This year of, course, Malinga was responding to some of the loudest chants in cricket, “Ma-lin-ga, Ma-lin-ga”, in the IPL. The boy remembers how Malinga came soon after the IPL and fished with them. “He comes often and plays cricket with us,” says Bovidu Sammu, a 16-year-old neighbour.”He plays softball still. In some random competitions, he goes and plays,” says Champaka Ramanayake, former Test bowler and now national bowling coach. “He goes and takes hat-tricks and all. It’s proper softball competition, proper professionals playing. Loves, just loves playing softball. Just goes and bowls yorkers.”The Malinga residence in Rathgama, where the family returns to spend weekends•ESPNcricinfo LtdIf Malinga comes to Rathgama for a peaceful weekend, he gets it. “Only the first time he came back from playing for Sri Lanka did a huge crowd gather, and we had a big cultural thing,” says de Silva. “Now nobody bothers him.” Says Saman: “Why should they bother? He is just another man.”Except Malinga isn’t. He is one of the few men who bowl really fast today. He is perhaps the most recognisable face in Sri Lanka, with his funky hairstyles. De Silva, though, remembers a shy kid, “as ordinary as others”, who just played well.Ordinary Malinga wasn’t, when at 16 he caught the eye of Ramanayake. “It was probably 1999, 11-12 years ago. The first thing I saw about him was… I was batting, facing him, but I never batted after that. I had the privilege of telling him, whenever he came to bowl, ‘Lasith, you come later, not now.'”I don’t know what he bowled, I couldn’t see the ball. I was doing a talent search, he came for that, so I went and batted, and couldn’t see the ball. I went and said, ‘Lasith I am going to pick you for my team, Galle Cricket Club, and whenever you have time, you come for practice.'”Malinga was a skinny kid then. Ramanayake’s biggest challenge was to get some muscle on him to sustain the heavy-duty action. Also, he had to get Malinga, son of a man who did small jobs for a transport company, to a better school. He had to fight with clubs, get him a job. The strength and the muscle came, and Malinga showed good aptitude for studies, having moved from Vidyaloka Mahavidyalaya to the better Mahinda Vidyalaya.”He was an ordinary boy, but very studious,” remembers Ramanayake. “Good at studies. O level also he did well. That helped him grow as a cricketer.”His action, his uniqueness, we didn’t want to change, but his skill had to be developed. He was fast all right, and fast meaning, at 16, he was around 135ks. But he didn’t bowl reverse swing – he learned that. He didn’t know his fields and all, and the bouncer. Slower ball, he never had. But whenever I said something, he tried, tried, tried.”Ramanayake, the captain, coach and manager of the Galle Cricket Club, had a role to play in Malinga’s first-class debut too.”It was the year 2001, the first time he was selected for the squad, not for the playing XI,” says Ramanayake. “We used to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but one Thursday I had a stiff neck. I was the opening bowler, and we had two or three seniors. So I thought I would introduce this boy, 17 years old, against one of the leading cricket teams in Colombo, Colombo Cricket Club. He took eight wickets in the match and won the match all by himself. I never forget that. Because I didn’t play, he played.”Ramanayake is working hard with Malinga, who is going to play his first Test in two-and-a-half years on Sunday. The action, despite the strengthening work, has taken its toll. Malinga has slowly and gradually made his way back from the injury setback, playing Twenty20 first, then ODIs, and is now a day from a Test comeback. Ramanayake lays to rest fears that Malinga might want to play only the lucrative and less taxing short forms, as many a fast bowler nowadays does.There are nerves, but also there is excitement. “He is perfectly fit at the moment,” says Ramanayake. “Bowling one-hour spells. Our trainer has done good work on him. Lasith is very keen, needs seven-eight for 100 Test wickets.”Last year, during the Test against Pakistan, Malinga walked into the Galle International Stadium unannounced, every bit an ordinary Galle man except for the hair and the piercings, and watched, from among the crowd, his team win the Test. This year he will want to do it rather than watch, and tick an important box in any player’s career: Test cricket.

Plays of the day for the final of the tri-series between Sri Lanka and India

Siddarth Ravindran in Dambulla28-Aug-2010Watch out for that car
It’s usually only in neighbourhood cricket that you have to worry about breaking car windows. In the 12th over of the day, when Tillakaratne Dilshan hammered Ishant Sharma over long-on for one of the biggest sixes of the tournament, the sponsors would have had an anxious moment as it flew perilously close to the car to be presented to the Man of the Series. Or perhaps they wouldn’t have minded the extra publicity caused by a smashed windscreen.Silva loses his grip
In the 48th over, Sri Lanka needed some big hits to get close to 300. Chamara Silva looked to slog a slower ball from Ashish Nehra towards midwicket, but the bat slipped out of his hand and flew over his head towards the keeper. Just before the bat took off, the ball hit the edge and sailed towards fine leg for four, increasing India’s frustration.Praveen loses his cool
With the ball in hand, Praveen Kumar is usually an intense man, looking angry even when he gets a wicket. With Sri Lanka already set for the highest total of the tournament, Silva tucked Praveen to long-on and scampered two in the 49th over. The throw was wide from the fielder, Dinesh Karthik, and Praveen showed how annoyed he and India were, hurling the ball to the ground in disgust.Malinga’s birthday gift
At regular intervals, the giant screen flashed a picture of Laith Malinga in a white suit and a black bow tie wishing him a happy birthday. He was gifted a wicket in his first over when the umpire, Asad Rauf, deemed Karthik caught-behind though the ball flew off his pad. Karthik was stunned by the decision, leaning on his bat and lingering in the middle in disbelief. On the walk to the pavilion, he looked at the heavens cursing his luck, his helmet falling to the ground as he absent-mindedly tried to put it back on. When he reached the dressing-room, the first thing he did was point to his team-mates where the ball struck him.Sehwag on caffeine
Faced with a huge target, Virender Sehwag seemed determined to get India off to a flier. He put in an all-action 22-ball effort containing everything from delightful offside boundaries, leading edges, manic running, two botched free-hits, before finally ending in a manner befitting the frenzied knock – he was a run-out by a direct hit by Chamara Kapugedera from backward point when attempting a single after a typically vociferous Sri Lankan appeal for lbw was turned down.Benefit for batsmen
It wasn’t the greatest of days for the umpires. On most occasions, it was the batsman who gained from the poor calls: Mahela Jayawardene survived a close lbw call in the first over of the day, Yuvraj Singh nicked his first ball to the keeper but escaped, MS Dhoni was deemed to have an inside-edge on a confident lbw shout on 12. Perhaps the umpires were sympathetic given how difficult it has been to score in Dambulla right through the tournament.Another Rohit no-show
Rohit Sharma has had a wretched run over the past three weeks, and if he was looking for a slice of luck to turn things around, he didn’t get it on Saturday. India picked him as an extra specialist batsman in place of the allrounder Ravindra Jadeja, but Rohit wasn’t able to contribute the runs expected. He fell for 5 after being drawn forward and beaten by the spin of Suraj Randiv; the keeper didn’t collect the ball but, to Rohit’s dismay, it ricocheted off Sangakkara’s boot onto the stumps with the batsman just out of the crease.

How to approach this politely? Ian Chappell was pretty polite. “If his batting was as good as Don Bradman’s,” he said on air, “he couldn’t score enough runs to make up for what he costs them with his keeping.”

Osman Samiuddin in Pallekele08-Mar-2011How to approach this politely? Ian Chappell was pretty polite. “If his batting was as good as Don Bradman’s,” he said on air, “he couldn’t score enough runs to make up for what he costs them with his keeping.”There are many ways in which the depth of denial in Pakistan – in all spheres of life – presents itself to the observer. No better example of it exists than the continued presence of Kamran Akmal in the side, the man to whom Chappell refers so politely. The world knows the worth of Akmal as a wicketkeeper: to be short, he is not one anymore. He is, to steal and twist the wonderful sledge Jimmy Ormond dished out to Mark Waugh once, not even the best wicketkeeper in his family. He’s not even the second-best: Umar Akmal has looked safer than him on the occasions he has kept.Yet as Pakistan has changed everything about its cricket over the last four years – captains, selectors, chairmen, players, coaches – Akmal has remained unchanged, unchallenged in his incompetency. Until the beginning of Pakistan’s last summer in England, when there was still a will left to count, he was fluffing comfortably more than one chance per Test: 32 in 25 Tests. His ODI rate cannot be far behind.There appears no sane reason for it and even an insane one right now would be handy. Shoaib Malik thought him the second-best wicketkeeper-batsman behind Adam Gilchrist during his captaincy, a hallucination rather than delusion. The pair are close, so nepotism was as good a reason as any. But what were the reasons for Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt and now, Shahid Afridi to persist with him?After every show of calamity, when the question is put to anyone in charge, the response is to say it is only one match, that everyone drops a catch occasionally, or the line Waqar Younis trotted out today, that we can’t just blame the one person. We can at least blame those who keep selecting him. Those who argue that he compensates with his batting will kindly direct themselves to the brutality of Chappell’s verdict: no amount of runs can make up for the matches, and as importantly the moments in matches, he has lost.Despite consistently letting his side down, Kamran Akmal has been a mainstay of Pakistan’s team over the last few years•Getty ImagesThe few times he has been dropped in the last four years – for the Asia Cup 2008, after the Australia tour last year, during the English summer – the performances leading into it have been so monumentally negligent that not dropping him might have risked the kind of revolution in Pakistan seen in the Arab world. It would probably take that still to shift him.In any case he has returned back to the side at the first opportunity. Whether they forget or choose to overlook his errors is irrelevant: it is criminal in both cases. He sneaked into this squad only after being cleared by a board integrity committee. A wicketkeeping committee might have been better placed to rule on it.Akmal’s three misses – two off Ross Taylor – set the tone for the rest of the innings, Pakistan’s most bedraggled performance in the field in this tournament so far. Their last one, against Sri Lanka, was sparked incidentally by two missed stumpings.Short of injuring Akmal and sending him back, the only option Pakistan could explore is to play the younger Akmal as a wicketkeeper. In keeping with the cautious nature of the team’s leaders, that seems unlikely. Asked whether they would consider it, Waqar Younis said, “After the World Cup maybe we can think about it, but we are in the middle of the tournament and I don’t think we can make such a change. We have five days off in which we will try to rectify his mistakes because in such a short time we can’t rectify all mistakes. We can’t kick him out at the moment, we can try to make him better for the next game and make sure he won’t make the same mistakes.”Meanwhile, the state of denial Pakistan remains in about the balance of its side should also take a few knocks here, hopefully. They persist in playing a specialist bowler short to buffer their batting. Playing a batsman at eight – Abdul Razzaq may open the bowling but he is no opening bowler, as tournament figures of 21-4-111-1 testify – has not helped their batting much in their last two games, precisely the situations the strategy is aimed at. Razzaq’s 62 will, no doubt, be used as justification at some point in the future.When Umar Gul had to be bowled out during the batting Powerplay – and his fine bowling will not even be a footnote – it left the last four overs to be bowled by someone who wasn’t Gul. Those four overs, shared by Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar and Abdur Rehman, went for 92. Razzaq’s four overs of the day went for 49, “a bit off-colour” Waqar said: a little yes, like black and white.Yet the top order collapse seemed to confirm to Pakistan they need the batting. “We were 120-7 so we were short of batsmen,” Waqar said. “I think 300 was chaseable. We can’t afford to have another bowler in the side, as we are playing with six if you consider Mohammad Hafeez and Razzaq. I don’t think we can manage another bowler.”

Stuart Broad has almost single-handedly kept England alive in this pulsating Test match. It’s quite a turnaround for someone who was one tough call away from being sent back to county cricket

Andrew McGlashan at Trent Bridge30-Jul-2011Firstly with the bat, then with the ball Stuart Broad has almost single-handedly kept England alive in this pulsating Test match. It’s quite a turnaround for someone who was one tough call away from being sent back to county cricket, but now he has a career-best 6 for 46 and a hat-trick to his name.In a neat turn of events Broad was the third victim of the last Test hat-trick when Peter Siddle struck at Brisbane in the opening Test last November. On Friday he inflicted India’s first three-in-three in Test cricket and the 12th by an England bowler when he had MS Dhoni caught at slip, Harbhajan Singh lbw despite an edge and clean-bowled Praveen Kumar. The sight of a bowler in full, destructive, flow is thrilling viewing and Broad has shown his capability for such bursts before at The Oval and Durban in 2009. This, though, reached a new level.His spell with the second new-ball was worth 5 for 5 as, for the second time in two days, England claimed the final session of the day to keep themselves in touch in a match that was drifting away while Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh, who was dropped off Broad when he had 4, added 128. As Broad hustled through the lower order the atmosphere became electric; a hat-trick always conjures huge emotion but the intimacy of English grounds – and Trent Bridge especially – made this a compelling moment.”The crowd were fantastic today and they lifted us with that second new ball, they knew it was going to be a key period as the players did,” Broad said. “It was quite a fearsome atmosphere for the Indian batsmen to come into.”Fearsome, maybe, but Broad still had to keep his cool and it was a mark of his soaring confidence that the hat-trick ball was full at the stumps when so many are often off target as the bowler gets carried away. His family, including father Chris Broad, were in the stands watching. It wasn’t Broad’s first hat-trick, but he had to go back his teenage years at Oakham School to remember his previous ones.Stuart Broad’s hat-trick dragged England back in contention but India are ahead•AFP”The atmosphere wasn’t quite as good at school with the parents watching,” he joked. “In the context of the game it was important to pick those wickets up quickly so to get a hat-trick was special but it won’t mean much if we don’t go on and win this Test. You always have fond memories when you win so it’s important we go on and build a big score which we have done a lot in the past year.”And that win won’t be easy; the last England hat-trick was taken by Ryan Sidebottom, at Hamilton, in a Test that was lost. They have already lost Alastair Cook, have Jonathan Trott injured, are still 43 behind and will face a fairly new ball in the morning. “We are still a little bit behind in this Test but hopefully we can have a blazer of a day tomorrow and put us in the ascendancy,” Broad said.It could be suggested that if England want to be the best in the world then they shouldn’t put themselves in such difficult positions. However, the character to keep fighting back is not to be sniffed at and something this team has in bucket loads. Remember the World Cup where each calamitous group-stage defeat was followed by an often mind-boggling victory? There is the danger of inconsistency from them, but they have a belief to come back for a difficult session, day or match.”There’s a lot of positive talking in the dressing room,” Broad said. “We are very good at reassessing the position we are in and setting new goals. We knew after tea it would be a huge effort to fight through – we probably weren’t expecting to bowl India out – but we wanted to go at two-and-a-half an over and really clog them down then pick up a couple of wickets. To bowl them out was pretty special but Saturday will be our biggest test in this match to see if we can get 300 runs.”Yet for all the emotion created by Broad’s hat-trick England didn’t make the most of the conditions especially in the first two sessions while dropped catches raised their head again. The match could yet come to be decided by Kevin Pietersen’s spill at gully when Yuvraj was in single figures. The fifth-wicket stand with Dravid wasn’t terminated until they’d put India in the lead.Andrew Strauss played down the missed chances before this game – he was guilty of two at Lord’s – saying the team catch most on offer, but two more here (Alastair Cook shelled one off Ishant Sharma late in the innings) will frustrate Andy Flower and Richard Halsall, the fielding coach, while Strauss told his team at tea to lift their energy levels.Dropping Yuvraj was a bit of a concern when he and Dravid were going well,” Broad admitted. “We knew that new-ball period would be a huge hour for us. Strauss asked as a tea if we could raise our intensity during that hour to put some pressure on the Indian batsmen. Fortunately there was some swing and the edges came our way. We’ve got ourselves back in this game. Like I said yesterday India probably won three quarters of the day and we’ve nicked the last session.”Two post-tea surges have kept England within touching distance, but they can’t afford to keep leaving their best performances for so late in the day if they want to extend their series lead in Nottingham. And Broad would probably be grateful for some help.

On the occasion of Harbhajan Singh’s 400th Test wicket, a look back at five of his most memorable spells in the format

Nitin Sundar07-Jul-201113 for 196 v Australia, Kolkata, 2001Matthew Hayden was at his best in the 2001 series, but Harbhajan Singh’s 32 wickets helped India finish on top•AFPHarbhajan Singh chose one of the most gripping Test matches of all-time to announce himself to the world. Matthew Hayden’s robust 97 seemed set to give world-champions Australia full control on the first afternoon when Harbhajan intervened with his wicket, and followed it up with Mark Waugh’s. He then sliced through the middle order, dismissing the out of form Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne off successive balls – the first Test hat-trick by an Indian bowler. Despite his seven-wicket haul, India fell behind quickly and were forced to follow-on after a batting collapse. VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid then produced an epic 376-run stand, including a close-to chanceless vigil through the entire fourth day, to set Australia 384 to win in a little over two sessions. The tea-time score of 161 for 3 suggested the game was headed for a stalemate, but Harbhajan’s bounce and loop combined lethally with Sachin Tendulkar’s irresistible turn in the final session. Gilchrist and Warne collected pairs, while Ponting added a duck to go with his scratchy first-innings 6 as Australia disintegrated on the dusty track in the dying light. Harbhajan trapped Glenn McGrath in front moments before stumps as India surged to an astonishing win to end Australia’s 16-match winning streak and level the series.15 for 217 v Australia, Chennai, 2001Australia, with the exception of Hayden, had clearly not managed to decode their nemesis in time for the decider in Chennai. Hayden again propelled Australia towards dominance on the first day before Harbhajan scythed through the middle order on the second morning. Steve Waugh’s freak dismissal, palming away a back-spinning ball after dead-batting it, gave India the opening and Harbhajan barged in rampantly. Gilchrist managed a single this time, while Ponting collected his second successive duck, and Warne his third as Australia lost their last seven wickets for 51, rendering Hayden’s magnificent double-hundred futile. Tendulkar’s measured century, ably supported by the rest of the top order, gave India a 110-run lead, allowing Harbhajan to bowl with attacking fields. Hayden and Michael Slater added an attacking 82 for the first wicket, but Gilchrist’s promotion to No. 3 ended in failure as he once again fell lbw to Harbhajan. The Waugh twins scrapped in the Chennai heat, but Harbhajan’s persistence and the devils in the pitch finally broke their resistance, before the tail surrendered. Chasing 155 on the fourth day, Laxman scattered the field with a sublime half-century as India sped to 101 for 2 before Jason Gillespie and Colin Miller dismantled the middle order. With two wickets remaining, and McGrath charging in with purpose, Man-of-the-Series Harbhajan squeezed the winning runs through the covers, completing one of the most remarkable comebacks in cricket’s history.10 for 153 v Sri Lanka, Galle, 2008Harbhajan’s best performance in Sri Lanka is mostly forgotten since it came in a series remembered for Ajantha Mendis’ grand arrival, and in a match remembered for a mind-boggling double-century from Virender Sehwag. Unmindful of his team-mates’ travails against Mendis, Sehwag battered an unbeaten 201 off 231 balls to steer India to 329. Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene set up a strong response before Harbhajan, supported by Anil Kumble, began to chip away. Warnapura was enticed into slicing a loopy delivery to point, before Sangakkara scooped a leading edge back to the bowler. Thilan Samaraweera was pinned on the crease by a slider, and Tillakaratne Dilshan – still a middle-order batsman – jabbed at a rapidly dipping offbreak to be caught close-in. Sri Lanka finished 37 runs behind, before Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir ensured they would need more than 300 in the fourth innings. Ishant Sharma and Zaheer removed the top order cheaply even as Samaraweera resisted, while Harbhajan ran through the lower order in haste to finish with a ten-wicket match haul.8 for 123 v South Africa, Kolkata, 2010Harbhajan Singh celebrates after helping India retain their No. 1 ranking in the dying moments of the Eden Gardens Test in 2010•AFPIndia’s No. 1 ranking was at stake after Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla mauled them in the first Test in Nagpur, and Harbhajan copped his share of criticism for failing to pull his weight. The pattern seemed to be repeating at Eden Gardens as debutant Alviro Petersen and Amla slammed tons to push South Africa past 200 for the loss of only one wicket. Zaheer Khan broke the momentum by accounting for both batsmen in his afternoon spell, leaving the middle order prone to Harbhajan at his favourite venue. Jacques Kallis top-edged a topspinner before left-handers Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy were nailed by straighter ones from round the stumps as the visitors slumped from 218 for 1 to 296 all out. Sehwag, Laxman, MS Dhoni and Tendulkar replied with centuries as India piled on a lead of 347. Their push for a series-levelling win was interrupted by intermittent rain and poor light on the fourth day, though they managed to pick up three wickets. On the final day, Amla, in the form of his life, was determined to stone-wall India’s intent, forcing the hosts to concentrate their efforts on the other end. Harbhajan led the way with a mixture of drift and bounce that made him lethal from round the stumps. Prince’s defiance ended when he stabbed at an overspinner, before Duminy and Steyn were foxed by sliders. The tail hung in gamely as Amla threatened to save the game. No. 11 Morne Morkel survived for well over an hour and South Africa were minutes away from a draw when Harbhajan struck Morkel’s pads and took off as Eden Gardens roared.7 for 195 v South Africa, Cape Town, 2011The new year Test in Cape Town was lit up by a battle for the ages involving Tendulkar and Steyn, and by Kallis’ masterclasses in both innings. It also featured the best and worst of Harbhajan. He had gone wicketless in the first innings, as Kallis countered Sreesanth’s verve and zip to take South Africa to 362. Gambhir defied the new ball ably, but his and Laxman’s dismissals just before the advent of the second new ball exposed the lower order to Steyn’s fury. Tendulkar stood up to his menace with his 51st Test ton, while Harbhajan contributed a ballsy 40 to help India match South Africa’s effort even as the pitch wore away to resemble a subcontinental sandpit. Harbhajan got to work immediately in the second innings, making clever use of the uneven bounce to trap Graeme Smith, Petersen and Paul Harris in front. He then got Amla to miss a sweep as South Africa stuttered to 64 for 4. Kallis then produced his second classic of the match, defying a side strain and a brute of a wicket to tame Harbhajan at his best. He neutered the offspinner’s intent to use the rough outside the off stump by deploying a series of reverse-sweeps, and with each stroke managed to deflate Harbhajan’s confidence. Inevitably, Harbhajan slipped into a defensive mindset and the lack of support at the other end allowed Kallis to push South Africa ahead. He was immovable, but Harbhajan accounted for the tail to end South Africa’s resistance. It took a gritty Gambhir rearguard on the final day to earn India a draw.

In his last season of competitive cricket, Shane Warne looks back at his years with the Rajasthan Royals and at the art of captaincy, but he isn’t wasting any time thinking of what might have been

Interview by Harsha Bhogle14-May-2011Harsha Bhogle: I know you had a stunning career with the Australian cricket team, but what you have achieved with the Royals must satisfy you enormously?SW: I was very lucky to play, I suppose, in a pretty special time in Australian cricket. I got into the squad in first-class cricket in the late 80s and then started playing [internationals] in the early 90s. So I saw the turnaround of Australian cricket when they won the ’87 World Cup and ’89 Ashes, and I sort of got involved. Then I was the first young player with Bruce Reid and Geoff Marsh and David Boon and Allan Border, etc. They made me feel welcome even if not many other teams did. I was smashed all over the park against India, against Ravi Shastri – which he keeps reminding me of all the time. Thanks, Rav!Then we sort of got a squad together where a few guys retired, but we got some good people. [Glenn] McGrath came a couple of years later and a few more. That period, from about 94-95 to 2005-06, around that ten-year period we played everybody home and away, which was a pretty amazing achievement. I was pretty lucky to play in a good era of Australian cricket.But then, you know, to achieve what we did in the first year with the Royals, I think all of Rajasthan would be pretty proud of. I think the squad we had and the players we had, compared to everybody else, and then to go off and win it was…As captain and coach, I had the faith of the owners, so I could create an environment, and I suppose it was justified because we won it. We’ve got the same spirit in the group this year, but now we have got a tough finish to go.HB: The one thing that strikes us about the Royals is that as a team, man for man, they should not have made a single semi-final. And yet they have consistently punched above their weight. People who didn’t have great records in the Ranji Trophy play for the Royals and they play bigger than we have seen them. What is the secret?SW: I think you’ve got to be better planned than everybody else. You have to have better tactics and you have to actually make these guys believe it’s the right tactic.HB: But then that’s easily said. How do you get them to do it? I’m imagining I am Ashok Menaria, I’m 19 years old, I’m bowling to Sachin Tendulkar. My captain, who has been a legend of the game, tells me, “Listen, you can do it.” How do you get him to believe?SW: You ask him the question: in that situation, how would you get him out? And he will say, “He’ll hit one up in the air.” I will say, “No, let’s work on how we can get him out.” So we try to work it out and think of where he is going to try and hit. We’ve got to get the players to buy in and believe it. Otherwise we have got no chance.So once you sort of convince them that those are the right tactics, we talk about it. “Right, if we do this he will hit me over mid-off. He might hit it for six but he might miss it.” So it’s little things like that.HB: A lot of these boys don’t know English too well – definitely not Australianisms.SW: There have been a few times when… I remember a couple of times with Kamran Khan, we had to put Munaf Patel next to him at mid-on [to translate]. I would say to Kamran, “What are you bowling? Bouncer?” He’d say, “Yes, sir.” I would say, “You were going to bowl a slower ball outside off stump, so I could set the field… what happened?” So occasionally that would happen. It’s a bit of a breakdown in communication. We would have a bit of a laugh. I think the key is creating an environment where everyone feels the same and everyone feels equal.

“The environment we created [at Rajasthan] was about having fun. No fitness coaches, no big team meetings, it was all about enjoyment and fun and sitting around and talking about cricket “

I think early on in the first year, having those things like that, certainly they gained respect from the way you communicated with them and made them feel important. But at the end of the day it was my call on a few things, and a couple of tough decisions made in the first year, that I think gained the respect of the group pretty quickly, and that was really important.HB: And those tough decisions, were you taking them yourself?SW: There was one particular decision that really set the tone for the rest of the series.It is really tough to make a squad, the final squad, and there is always disappointment from players on missing the squad. And we were getting a little bit of pressure from certain people about playing certain players, and I said to the owners, who I had only known for 10 days, “Look, that’s fine if you want X player in the squad, but book a flight on the QF9, I’m going home.” They said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Well, I have worked hard to get this squad together and these guys are all here on merit.” I said, “You can make your call, either me or this guy in the squad, or these two guys in the squad – you put them in and I’m out. Simple.” They said, “Are you serious?” I said, “Well, I am, yeah.”[Knowing that] we were all there on merit, that made them feel good straightaway, the way they were treated at training, the environment we created was about having fun. No fitness coaches, no big team meetings, it was all about enjoyment and fun and sitting around and talking about cricket. And I think when you are sitting and talking about cricket, you just pass on things that you know…HB: Is there too little of that?SW: Sometimes you have job justification, whether it be from sports side… I am not saying there is no role. I say there is, at the right time. We don’t need a support stuff of 25 people to do fitness.The players are getting good money to play IPL and international cricket. The guys are going to look after themselves, and if you keep making people do stuff, they sort of rebel against it. They don’t like being told, “Train at this time, go to the gym, we’ve got a fitness test,” all that. No one likes being told to do that.HB: That’s interesting. Your style will probably work very well with a driven cricketer – someone who has a fantastic personal work ethic. But not every player is like that. There would have been players whom you have got to tell, “Listen, you better do this” or they never will.SW: No, because at the end of the day cricket is a perform-and-play game, and if you don’t perform you won’t play. So if these guys don’t want to go to the gym, they won’t get stronger. If they don’t do fitness, they are going to get tired after a couple of overs, and they can’t run in the field and run between the wickets. Their performance will suffer and they won’t play. So it’s up to these guys if they want to do it or not. And then you are able to find out who the hungry cricketers are, and you find out who is really passionate.HB: One of the boys who played under you said it was the first time ever that he was told he was a match-winner. He said “I never knew I was considered a match-winner, and Warnie told me, if I pick you in my XI, it is because I believe you can win a game.” And he said when he walked onto the field, he was walking about two inches higher.SW: I think you’re talking about Yusuf [Pathan], aren’t you?HB: It’s Abhishek [Jhunjhunwala].SW: Ah! Okay.HB: But Yusuf is a good example, because he really became the player he was with you and the Royals.SW: He was. Then there are a few guys who can turn games. You need match-winners in your side. You need guys to bowl here and there and bat all the time – bits and pieces. Guys who can turn the course of a game.HB: What do you look for in a player? How do you identify a match-winner?SW: I think everyone can be a match-winner. If you are going to bowl a bouncer, think: this is the best bouncer I have ever bowled. Or this is the best slower ball I have ever bowled, this is going to be the best yorker… Match-winners have got that attitude about it. They just don’t bowl and get hit for six. “It’s Twenty20, so I got hit for six.”You look for attitude in a player straightaway. You look for different things, the little things – whether they help out other players, whether they throw balls to other players, whether they just do their own thing and don’t worry about anybody else.You look for their technique. You look for awareness of different scoring opportunities. You look at match-awareness, ability to sum up situations. If they sum the situation of the game – like, you’ve got to get a single here, and you can manipulate and hit one down and get mid-off back up so that there is an easy single.”Rohit Sharma could be a match-winner, a world beater, and one of the best Indian cricketers ever”•AFPIf you look at players who can do those sorts of things then you know they think about the game. And once you know they think about the game, you know they’ve got half a chance.HB: I know you don’t rate John Buchanan very much, but he said something interesting to me once. He said leadership is about not just knowing the cricketer who takes the field but understanding the whole person. And without quite saying it, that’s also what you do.SW: Common sense. ()HB: Probably common sense is one way of saying it. But is that what you strive to do as a leader? Understand people?SW: Look, it is a real difficult one sometimes, as captain, because you want to be their friend. I think it is important to be their friend and let them know. Because once you get their friendship and trust then you can talk direct and be honest with them. If you haven’t really built up that trust, you can become a dictator. And there is a big difference between being a dictator and friend. It is a lot easier to accept criticism from you friend or a decision you may not like from a friend.But you still need to keep that distance as a captain and let them know that you are in charge.HB: Is it always you as captain or is it a democracy?SW: We are very lucky that we have had guys like Graeme Smith, Rahul Dravid this year. I love playing with Rahul. I really have admired him as a player for a long time. And I’ve really enjoyed playing with him this year. He is just such a class act.So I watch him prepare, I watch him talk to the younger players. He has been great to bounce a few ideas off as well. But somehow in Twenty20, the way the field is, it is lot harder to talk to players and say, “Hey, mate, what do you think?” So you sort of look around and sometimes you might have to run halfway during the over and in sort of sign language say, “Harsha, mate, which one in the next over? What do you think?”HB: Is your captaincy an extension of your bowling?SW: Probably. It is a good question. Probably is. It shows, I suppose, how I think when I am bowling. And I’m not going to get it right all the time. I’m going to make mistakes. But I think it can only be judged over a period of time, and over a period of time I would like to think that it has come off more times than it hasn’t.HB: I look at the Royals, Warnie. And I think you could have spent three years thinking about what you didn’t have. Instead, I get the impression you have looked at what you have, and that’s a big lesson for everybody else: that you always look at what you have rather than what you don’t.SW: That’s spot on. Because you can’t change what you have got. It is like the past. You can’t change what happened in the past. If I thought about what happened in my past, I could be in a straightjacket and padded cell somewhere. But I can’t change it, so I don’t spend any time worrying about it. It’s what I’m doing now and in the future.So for our guys it’s about just thinking on their feet. Not “We haven’t got this, we haven’t got that.” This is our group, let’s come together as quickly as we possibly can, let’s enjoy each other’s company, create an environment where we all have some fun and enjoyment. We are going to enjoy when other people get their success, and I know I am going to get my turn eventually.

“I think the captaincy seems to bring out the best in me. If I didn’t get the opportunities then so be it”

HB: Is there regret that Warne the leader of Rajasthan Royals could never be Warne the leader of Australia?SW: No, not at all. I was very lucky to play under a couple of good captains. Allan Border was fantastic when I first started and Mark Taylor was probably the best captain I have played under. His communication and I thought his tactics…HB: What do you look for in a firm leader? What do you look for in a leader when you are the player?SW: Very similar. I think you look for someone who is going to back you. Someone who says, “You’re the man, we need you. You perform and we will win.” Someone who always backs you, no matter what. I think their communication, their honesty [are important].HB: There was the feeling that maybe Warne the person, in the eyes of some, came in the way of Warne the captain. The suits in the boardroom said, “Would it be almost embarrassing if we had Warne the person as Warne the captain?” Do you think that was true? Does it rankle somewhere when you think you would maybe have made a great captain of Australia?SW: I think the captaincy seems to bring out the best in me. If I didn’t get the opportunities then so be it. I think the suits and ties, they were probably fair because I have been through a few things. I made poor calls and some poor choices. So they were probably right in the way they were thinking, saying “It’s too much of a risk”. Anything could have happened in that stage of my life. I understand that. I don’t regret it one bit.I think, looking back, it would have been nice to have had the opportunity, but you can’t do anything about it. So I don’t spend any time, I don’t sit and wonder.HB: It’s a great way to live because a lot of people can say that but very few can actually believe it.SW: I live it. I don’t just say that. That’s exactly how it has been.HB: You have seen as much Indian talent now as anybody can see. Are there names that you can look at and say, “Wow, you are a good player”?SW: I saw [Virat] Kohli in the first year and thought, “There is something about the kid.” He could play the short ball well. There are not too many young cricketers in the world who have played just a couple of games and can play with so much comfort. You have to get into stride first.I think the one thing that the IPL has done for these players is let them mix with international players, have exposure with the big crowd.To me Sharma is one. Rohit Sharma has got all the talent in the world – if he could just get his mind right and get his attitude right. If his one thought was “I want to become the best cricketer I possibly can”, every morning he needs to wake up and try and talk to Sachin [Tendulkar] and ask him “Sir, if I could have lunch or dinner [with you]…” I would be hanging out his pocket. “How do you think about batting? How do you approach it in these conditions?” Every minute of the day, until Sachin says, “Mate, can I have five minutes’ break?” Be a pest to him.And ask Malinga: “How are you trying to get the batsmen out?” He should do that every morning he gets up. Think, “How am I going to become the best I can possibly be?”He could be a match-winner, a world beater, and one of the best Indian cricketers ever. He has got that much talent.This interview aired on CNN-IBN in India. Repeat telecasts at 11.30am and 3.30pm IST on May 14 and 3.30pm on May 15

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first day of the second Test between West Indies and India in Bridgetown

Sriram Veera at the Kensington Oval 28-Jun-2011Redemption of the day
Redemption was in the air at the Kensington Oval. Darren Sammy, who dropped Rahul Dravid – and perhaps the game – in the first Test got his man on the first day in Bridgetown. He nearly did it with his first ball when he got one to straighten just past Dravid’s outside edge. Not long after, he produced another beauty to get the edge. He ran away from his team-mates, past backward point, and pumped his fist.The stunner of the day
The ball did not kick up all that much but Virat Kohli just froze. He held his bat limply as it rose below to just below his chest and went off his glove to the wicketkeeper. Perhaps Kohli’s mind was stunned into numbness when the ball was pitched short. Twice in three Test innings now he has been dismissed by a short ball. His next innings should make for fascinating viewing. Will he come back in style?The late adjustment of the day
When Suresh Raina was new to the crease, he got a ball that reared up at him. He too started to freeze like Kohli. The bat was in an ungainly position, the head was falling away, and it appeared he was going to fend it to a catcher. Right at the last instant, he adjusted and somehow managed to get behind the line and tuck the ball down in front of him.Bouncer of the day
In the first over after lunch, Raina received a nasty lifter from Ravi Rampaul that he couldn’t get out of the way of. It flew up, crashed into his helmet and bounced away. Rampaul stared, Raina had a look at his helmet. Two balls later, he swivelled to pull away another short ball to the boundary.The inevitable dismissal of the day
It came from Praveen Kumar. Twice he lunged forward to try to thrash Devendra Bishoo out of the park. Both times he was beaten. There was a long-on in place. Could Praveen control himself? He doesn’t think like that. In his mind, perhaps, he couldn’t connect with the previous two deliveries because he hadn’t stepped down the wicket. And so, he charged out to the next ball and of course was stumped.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the Galle Test between Sri Lanka and Australia

Daniel Brettig in Galle02-Sep-2011The hair-dryer
Heavy overnight rain and lighter stuff on the third morning meant that play did not start until 12.10 pm. Before then the groundstaff were delayed by a handful of damp spots on the pitch, where water had seeped through the cover. They were evened out by the rather novel use of a hair-dryer, which was applied in small circular motions to the patches of moisture with the help of one of those industrial length power cords that allow the toss and pitch report to be televised. The irony of damp spots on the driest Test pitch many of the Australian players had ever seen cannot have been lost on Michael Clarke and Tim Nielsen as they watched the hair-dryer in action.The target
By the time Sri Lanka dismissed Australia for 210, they were facing a target of 379, the biggest chase in their history if it was to be achieved. The best remains the thrilling pursuit of 352 against South Africa at the P Sara Oval in 2006, when Mahela Jayawardene’s 123 anchored the chase and Lasith Malinga scrambled the winning run after Muttiah Muralitharan had been bowled with two needed. The outlook for the Sri Lankans in Galle was bleaker, given that the highest fourth-innings score here is 210 for 9 by England in 2003, while the highest successful fourth-innings chase is a mere 96, albeit with 10 wickets in hand, by Sri Lanka against India in 2010.The pitch mat
The first two balls of Sri Lanka’s innings demonstrated the narrow margins by which innings and careers can be decided, and why suspicions of imprecision continue to linger around ball-tracking technology. Ryan Harris’ first ball to Tharanga Paranavitana was straight, short of a length and kept low, thudding into his pads in front of the stumps. The Hawk-Eye pitch mat showed the ball had landed millimetres outside leg stump, though Paranavitana declined to review the decision. Next ball, Kumar Sangakkara was struck in line by one that swung back at him, and after the appeal was declined the Australians referred it. Initial replays suggested the ball had pitched in line with the stumps, as it generally has to if it swings back to threaten a left-hander’s pads. However the Hawk-Eye mat subsequently showed the ball landing on the same line as the previous delivery. Sangakkara survived, amid widespread mutterings about whether two wrongs can ever make a right.The follow-through
When Nathan Lyon and Trent Copeland were batting together at the end of Australia’s second innings, discussions broke out over the question of whether or not Lyon had scuffed the pitch with his spikes. Mahela Jayawardene certainly seemed to think so, and he pushed on with his line of inquiry when Copeland was bowling in the late afternoon. Australia’s combative wicketkeeper, Brad Haddin, also became involved, before Ricky Ponting added his opinion during a conversation with the umpires. Given the margin between the teams it all felt a little empty, but the state of the pitch made the issue of its preservation a stickier topic than usual.

Shakin Al Hasan’s removal of captain has raised questions about the precedent it sets while Mushfiqur Rahim is seen as the only candidate to replace him

Mohammad Isam06-Sep-2011The Bangladesh Cricket Board’s decision on Monday to sack captain Shakib Al Hasan and vice-captain Tamim Iqbal wasn’t the most unexpected, but the unprecedented haste of the dismissals has prompted some observers to question the reasons for the decision.Among some board directors, there is a feeling that BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal’s hand had been forced into making the decision on the urging of a faction that did not want Shakib and Tamim to continue leading the team. There is also some concern that the sacking sets a dangerous precedent as not all the directors were consulted before the decision was taken and future captains could be undermined if they think they don’t have the support of the full board.What is clear is that with Shakib and Tamim having run out of the several “get out of jail” cards provided by the board, a new captain will lead Bangladesh against West Indies next month and it is also obvious who that would most likely be, given Mohammad Ashraful’s uncertain presence in the side and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s injuries: Mushfiqur Rahim.More than his leadership experience and his maturity, it is Mushfiqur’s assured place in the side that is his biggest advantage. Apart from Tamim and Shakib, Mushfiqur is the only other player who is guaranteed to be in the playing XI, although the names of Mahmudullah Riyad and Shahriar Nafees are also in the mix.If the 23-year-old Mushfiqur is made captain, he won’t be the first wicketkeeper to lead the side. Khaled Mashud was Bangladesh’s second Test captain and though he was the least successful, his leadership is still regarded highly, especially in the National Cricket League, where he shaped Rajshahi into the country’s top first-class side.It was in the Rajshahi side where Mashud first saw Mushfiqur seven years ago, a fresh face from the Bangladesh Institute of Sports, and Mashud believes Mushfiqur won’t have a problem earning the respect of the rest of the team.”I think everyone already respects Mushfiqur for the work that he puts in. He is a very disciplined person and I like that in a player,” Mahsud said. “Before a match, you’ll see how beautifully he’s set up in the dressing room. That says a lot about Mushfiqur and I’m sure he is respected within the team.”But the former national captain wants a strong setup around whomever is the new captain. “If the people around the team can handle the players properly, give them adequate mental support, it frees up the captain’s duty. Then he will only lead the team on the field and make sure he represents the country in the right manner.”I think Shakib has a huge role to play here. If he gives the necessary support, the new captain, if it is Mushfiqur, will feel more solid ground under his feet with the best player in the team with him. If he doesn’t get a supportive management, he will be busy putting his house in order. In that case, who will stand up as the country’s cricket captain?”Mashud, who has experienced life as a quality wicketkeeper, dependable middle-order batsman and captain, doesn’t think leading the team will be difficult for Mushfiqur. “I don’t think it is a difficult job. I say this under the condition that the new captain gets people within the team management who are good at man-management. Dav Whatmore used to do it very well.”Even if it someone else as captain, he mustn’t be bothered about the trouble that has already happened. He has to lead from the front and garner respect from all around. I would like to suggest that the board doesn’t name a vice-captain so soon. Frankly, Shakib, Tamim and Mushfiqur are the automatic choices and the rest, for reasons aplenty, are not.”So maybe they may have someone like Riyad or Nafees in touch with the management when holding meetings so that one of them can take over if Mushfiqur is injured but not in any official capacity, at least not now.”The absence of solid management was at the heart of Bangladesh’s woes over the past year, including the disappointing World Cup campaign. A better set-up can can only be put in place by the BCB, but they have shown less professionalism than the players and this week’s decision sets another harmful example. If they don’t get it right in the future, the captaincy could become a poisoned chalice that no one in the dressing-room would want to hold.