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Highlights of the fourht round of the Ranji Trophy’s Super League and Plate matches

Cricinfo staff27-Nov-2008

Drama at the lovely beach town
J Arunkumar, former India A and Karnataka captain and the current vice-captain of Goa, has made himself unavailable for selection for the rest of the season. It’s learnt that Goa administrators weren’t too keen on continuing with “foreign” players. It will be interesting to see what Ryan Ninan, the offspinner who switched from Karnataka earlier this season, will do. Goa is coached by former Karnataka player Dodda Ganesh, who is expected to continue.All out for 60

Punjab were shot out for 60 in the first innings in Bhubaneswar as Basanth Mohanty, playing his seventh first-class game, grabbed 7 for 27. Only Pankaj Dharmani made it to double figures and Orissa went on to clinch their first win of the season. Double joy for Orissa as Shiv Sundar Das, the captain, reached the 10,000 run-mark in first class cricket during the game.The threat of Muralitharan and Dada

In the new format the top three teams from each division of the Super League will join the top two teams from Plate league in the quarter-final. Simple eh? But a few teams are wondering whether it’s a good idea to finish on top in the Super League. Reason? They fear Bengal might be one of the Plate teams and they might unleash Muttiah Muralitharan and Sourav Ganguly for the quarterfinal clash. Ah well.The run machine
Cheteshwar Pujara has accumulated 675 runs at 168.75 from four games. The run orgy came from only 798 balls and includes three hundreds with a highest of 302*. Is he thinking about national selection? Pujara just wants to concentrate on scoring runs and runs. And more runs. “I will try not to think too much about selection,” Pujara said. He might have to wait a little while, though, because England have postponed the ODI series and are yet to take a decision on Test series after the terror attacks in Mumbai.Superstitious debutant and an umpire under fire
Yogesh Nagar, the 18-year old debutant for Delhi, fought hard to give his team the first-innings lead against Gujarat in Valsad but was thwarted by umpiring errors. Delhi were struggling at 162 for 6, chasing Gujarat’s 350 but Nagar added 108 runs for the seventh wicket with Sumit Narhwal. Nagar wore the same pair of sweat-stained whites that he had on the previous day but the luck finally ran out as the fatal finger of the umpire intervened. Narhwal was given out lbw despite an inside edge and Nagar (79) was adjudged caught behind. Umpire Sameer Bandekar, the man who made both decisions, apologised later. But Delhi were not satisfied. Sunil Dev, the DDCA sports secretary, said: “I will write a strong letter against Bandekar, he has a special dislike for Delhi. This kind of umpiring has taken away the spirit of the game.”Push me out if you can
Sunil Joshi grabbed a six-wicket haul to bowl Karnataka to ten-wicket victory against Baroda in Bangalore and move to the top of the points table in Group B. And it was Joshi’s 28th five-for in first-class cricket. The Karnataka bowling machine refuses to come to a halt. His figures in the second innings read 33.2-12-48-6. Oh, and he hit a breezy 55 in the first innings as well. “The young spinners have to push me out,” Joshi said. No one has managed so far. KP Appanna had a good first season but disappointed in his second season last year. Sunil Raju has started off well in his first season this year.Powar play rescues Mumbai

Saurashtra piled up 643 for 4 declared but Mumbai capitulated in the first innings for 214 as the debutant left-arm medium-pacer Balachandra Jadeja picked up four wickets in Rajkot. Jadeja struck again in the second innings to reduce Mumbai to 89 for 5 but Ramesh Powar proved a killjoy. The gritty Powar, who had played a bad shot in the first innings to get out, stuck adhesively to the crease to hit an unbeaten 171-ball 23. Debu Mitra, the coach, was thrilled with Jadeja. “The four wickets on the third day are worth much more than a hundred on this track. It is flat track but that was an excellent spell of swing bowling and it opened the game.” Powar was over the moon about his effort. “When I came in to bat we couldn’t have afforded to lose one more wicket. The only option I had was to keep my head down and spend as much time as possible.” But he said Mumbai have learnt the lesson. “It was an eye-opener for us. We took the opposition lightly and paid for it.”<!–
Blast from the past

V Ramnarayan writes in his blog about a story involving Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok Mankad during ML Jaisimha’s benefit match. “Sunil Gavaskar had pulled a long hop from me straight into Mankad’s hands at deep square leg, and one of the guests, a police official, who was generally inflicting his company on the celebrity cricketers at the party, now reminded Kaka about that. “Mr Mankad,” he said, wagging a naughty finger at Kaka, “is there an old rivalry between you and Mr Gavaskar?” Not satisfied with Kaka’s firm reply in the negative, he said, “Then why did he fling his bat in the dressing room after getting out and mutter, ‘Sala, drops catches in Test matches, holds mine in a benefit match’?”Mankad’s riposte was a classic, but one he was quick to stress was just a joke. He said, “Reddy Saab, catch me dropping Sunil Gavaskar! Wake me up at midnight and I will hold his catches!”–>

Not long ago he was a Test specialist, but with a few minor mental adjustments he has transformed into a valuable Twenty20 player

Firdose Moonda04-Jun-2009Jacques Kallis is a fairly tranquil fellow. In a South African television advert he jogs serenely along the beach, each stride a long, leisurely leap, like a gazelle. Or, given Kallis’ size, a herd of gazelle. Think about the way he steps onto a cricket field. No hurried sprint to the middle; more of a determined march. No squirming and wriggling at the crease; just a resolute, measured approach. In many ways, he is the epitome of traditional cricket as we know it. Or so we thought.Meet the new Kallis: a man who is not afraid to brandish his bat like a bludgeoning weapon and bang in a barrage of fearsome bouncers.So what has changed? Perhaps the lucrative jingle of his IPL salary sounded a warning that unless he put in a better performance in the second season, he may have to say goodbye to the glamour of the tournament. Or maybe the thought of missing a second World Twenty20 tournament was what reignited the fire in his belly.Kallis doesn’t attribute the change to either. Instead, he says, it is simply “a slight mindset change” that has transformed him. His Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, Ray Jennings, agrees and says some of Kallis’ new-found 20-over form stems from his time in the 2009 IPL.”All he needed was to find his niche in 20-over cricket. I got him to relax and back himself more. I have a very good relationship with Kallis. He understands exactly what I need from him and has responded magnificently to me. I think that made some of the difference as well.”What a difference it has been. Kallis was the top scorer for Bangalore, with 361 runs at an average of 27.76. He made three fifties in the tournament, two of those at crucial stages of his team’s campaign. His unbeaten 58 against Delhi Daredevils in Johannesburg kept Bangalore in the competition, and set them up for a place in the final four. That innings stood out in the mind of South Africa’s chairman of selectors, Mike Procter, who said, “In that match, when I saw the way Kallis batted, I just knew he would be there at the end of the innings. Throughout the tournament he scored quickly when he needed to, and contributed some bigger scores. It’s evident how much he has learnt.” That new-found knowledge is what earned him a place in South Africa’s World Twenty20 squad.It has been an arduous Twenty20 journey for Kallis, who played his first match in the format in 2005, and has played only four Twenty20 internationals since then. Under most circumstances he would be a shoo-in for a national team, but his experience of Twenty20 cricket has been markedly different. He was dumped from South Africa’s squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007, and he wasn’t happy about it. In fact, he was so dissatisfied with his exclusion that he promptly resigned as vice-captain of the national team. The mini-tantrum didn’t earn him any extra Twenty20 caps, though. In those four matches he notched up a paltry 43 runs.The pressure to improve his strike-rate mounted on him like the Dirk Nannes delivery he shouldered arms to when the latter dismissed him for a duck in the IPL, and the swarm of young, athletic, quick-scoring, fast-thinking, ball-bashing cricketers was growing ever larger, threatening to keep Kallis out of South Africa’s international Twenty20 set-up for good. But even that cauldron didn’t prompt him to alter his game drastically. “I have never played to prove anything to anyone. I always play because I enjoy the challenge of the game.”Jennings believes Kallis’ approach was correct, and that all he needed was some proper nurturing and the ability to capitalise on his experience and natural ability. “Quality players will remain quality players, no matter what, as long as they are handled properly,” says Jennings. “A good team plays around its match-winners, and the important thing to realise is that Kallis is one of them. His strength is that he can bat or bowl anywhere. In fact the only weakness I can think of is that he can’t keep wicket.”For Jennings, Kallis’ exclusion from the national Twenty20 side was an aberration and a symptom of a flawed set-up. “Any system that can’t find a place for Kallis has a problem.”But Mickey Arthur, coach of the South African team, offers an explanation, and even a justification for the omission. “In the past we didn’t take 20-over cricket that seriously, and we saw it as an opportunity to rest key players,” Arthur says. “So that’s why Kallis rarely played. But as this format of the game has got bigger, we’ve started taking it more seriously, and winning games has become more important.”Does that mean there is now a permanent spot for Kallis in the national Twenty20 side? And if so, where exactly does he fit in? Jennings successfully used Kallis to open the batting, but Arthur says that may not fit in with the national side’s structure. “We only have 20 overs and the challenge is to fit Kallis into that. With Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs to open the batting, he is probably best suited at No. 3.”In Twenty20s Kallis can come in and bowl four good overs anywhere in the order•Getty ImagesKallis himself doesn’t seem to have too many qualms about where he bats, and the confidence Jennings spoke about comes through when Kallis speaks of his batting preferences: “I think I can bat in any position, but I have enjoyed opening.” Despite the uncertainty over his position, he was used to open the batting in South Africa’s warm-up match against Pakistan, where he scored 26 off 22 balls.Arthur also sees Kallis playing a dual role for the team, and that involves being an essential part of the bowling attack. He says Kallis’ bowling style can be used anywhere, depending on the composition of the attack on that particular day. “If we are going to go with a spinner or two, then we could use him to open the bowling, but if we are going with a more pace-dominated attack, then we will use him as first or second change.”Kallis displays similar self-assurance when he speaks of his bowling; he seems to have worked out his strategy for bowling in Twenty20s. “I don’t mind if I bowl all my overs at once, or if my spell is broken up, but one thing I want to make sure I do is have variation. That’s the only way to stay one step ahead of the batsman in 20-over cricket.”JP Duminy believes Kallis’ new-found form will have positive effects on the rest of team. “He is one of the world’s best, and the fact that he has made a comeback of sorts in 20-over cricket can only be a good thing. If he is performing well, that will give the team a lot of confidence going into the tournament.”Even though Kallis is enjoying being part of the Twenty20 circus, he’s not going to be robbed of his unhurried pleasures just yet. He still prefers that long jog on the beach to the mad dash along the pier, and in so doing he’s made no secret of where his first cricketing love lies. “I do enjoy this form of the game. However, 99% of cricketers will tell you that Test cricket is still where they want to be judged, and is still the ultimate challenge.”

The emergence of 20-year-old Abhimanyu Mithun has injected some serious pace in the Karnataka bowling. His 38 wickets this season has been one of the keys to extracting them from the mediocrity they had been trapped in over the past few years

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium05-Jan-2010During their golden run in the 90s, Karnataka’s fast-bowling contingent was the envy of the country, being able to choose from Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Dodda Ganesh and David Johnson. Since that quartet faded, they have rarely had a seam attack to be proud of.R Vinay Kumar have proven a reliable performer for six seasons now, but support from the other end has been thin. NC Aiyappa briefly got the Karnataka fans excited but a series of injuries eroded his pace and confidence. B Akhil was a willing trier, but he was never going to run through the opposition, as one five-wicket haul in 51 matches indicates. This season, though, left-armer S Aravind has proved effective and, of far more importance, the emergence of 20-year-old Abhimanyu Mithun has injected some serious pace.Mithun’s 38 wickets, one less than country-wide leader Vinay Kumar, has been one of the keys to extracting Karnataka from the rut of mediocrity they had been trapped in over the past few years. He jumpstarted the season with a match-winning 11 wickets on debut, including a hat-trick, against Uttar Pradesh in Meerut, that earned instant comparisons with the last Karnataka bowler to take three-in-three in his first game – Srinath.It was his speed that made the difference on Tuesday, on a placid track where more celebrated pacers like RP Singh and Praveen Kumar had barely troubled the batsmen. In the first over of the morning, it seemed it would be another day for the batsmen after most balls reached the wicketkeeper only after the second bounce. Mithun, though, got rid of Tanmay Srivastava by tempting him to flail at one well away from his body.That was followed by an exhaustive appraisal of Rohit Prakash Srivastava’s technique against the short ball. Rohit somehow preserved his wicket against the bouncers: several times he barely ducked under, once he was struck on his back, once on his forearm. At the other end, Kaif was also not having an easy time, nicking Mithun once between slip and the wicketkeeper. Kaif was finally dismissed after his attempted defence only had the ball trickling back on to the stumps.It wasn’t all about the chin music, though. When Amir Khan walked out for his first ball, he was greeted with a pinpoint yorker, the same delivery that had undone Amir for a golden duck during Mithun’s Meerut hat-trick. Amir lasted two deliveries more this time, before Mithun had him spooning a catch to square leg.Even after Rahul Dravid’s double-century, there was an outside chance that UP could sneak through to the finals, by outbatting Karnataka as they had last season at the Chinnaswamy. Mithun’s heroics made sure there was a different script this time.

Abhimanyu Mithun jumpstarted the season with a match-winning 11 wickets on debut, including a hat-trick, against Uttar Pradesh in Meerut, that earned instant comparisons with the last Karnataka bowler to take three-in-three in his first game – Javagal Srinath.

The wildly successful start to his first-class career is an unlikely story, given that he took to leather ball cricket only three years ago. He had a similarly successful start to his Under-19 career, taking a hat-trick in his third match on his way to being among the leading wicket-takers in the 2007-08 Cooch Behar Trophy. Was he hoping to join Karnataka team-mate Manish Pandey in the squad for the U-19 World Cup where Virat Kohli’s boy triumphed?”Yeah, I did very well at that time, I was thinking I might play,” he said, “but I thought since that was my first year, some more experienced players will there.”Despite the bucketload of wickets in the U-19s, he came into the spotlight only after Bangalore Royal Challengers coach, Ray Jennings, spoke highly of him ahead of the second IPL season. “He gave me a lot of confidence during the IPL season,” Mithun says. “Bowling coach Eric Simons also helped me a lot.”His one IPL appearance was not one to savour, leaking 42 runs in four overs. One reason for that was the lack of variation in pace. “I still don’t have the confidence to bowl the slower ball. As of now, I’m focused on bowling some good outswingers (his stock ball is the in-cutter).”In the Ranji Trophy, though, his incisive partnership with Vinay Kumar has Karnataka eying a first title in 11 years.

The final Test at the Wanderers brought the thrilling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel terrorising England

Andrew McGlashan in Johannesburg17-Jan-2010There is nothing more exhilarating than the sight of fast bowlers steaming in at batsmen. Raw aggression versus survival instinct; it is cricket stripped down to its most primal form and it has always been a feature of touring South Africa. The final Test at the Wanderers brought the thrilling combination of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel terrorising England and they rightly shared the Man-of-the-Match award. That the pair can forge a long partnership is a tantalising prospect for a world game shorn of high quality pace.Steyn’s position was already well established and he remains the No. 1 ranked bowler in the world. Yet he began the series with an injury and wasn’t fully fit for Durban when South Africa were heavily beaten. What is more, this series was against the one Test nation he had never shown his true colours – his previous wickets against England had come at more than 40 each. It was time to put that right.However, it is the development of Morkel that has really boosted South Africa’s firepower. Someone with height and pace is an invaluable asset and it is why England, for so long, tried to be patient with Steve Harmison. During the early stages of his career Morkel was compared to Harmison after some wayward spells and a loss of confidence, but his second stint in the national side is promising riches indeed.”England were the one side I hadn’t really performed well against and really wanted to put that right,” Steyn said. “After not playing at Centurion I knew I had to lift my game for the remaining three and make a massive contribution. But watching Morne bowl throughout the series has been the highlight for me. With Makhaya [Ntini] falling away Morne has stepped up and he’s bowled tremendously. I think he deserves all the credit and I have actually been bowling behind him. He’s been the spearhead.”Graeme Smith knows he’s a fortunate captain to have such strike power at his disposal and with Wayne Parnell making an encouraging debut the loss of Ntini suddenly doesn’t look so drastic for South Africa.”Dale has performed unbelievably well for a period of time, deserves his ranking and has led our attack well,” Smith said. “But the fact is that Morne came back from being left out, worked on his game and came back a far better bowler. He was able to have really good series so credit to him for that.”Parnell is 20 and was on debut. There’s a lot of learning for him to do and a lot of developing this attack needs to do. But to have two spearheads with pace and bounce, certainly on a wicket like this, does look great.”Morkel was far more modest about his achievements as he sat at the opposite end of the table to his new-ball partner. “It isn’t really something I can put my finger on,” he said of his improvement. “After being left out I went back and had a good look at my action. The main thing for me was to keep it simple and not confuse too many things or try too hard. I wanted to have one simple, clear goal to run up, hit the deck hard and enjoy my cricket again.”Morkel’s fearsome spell of 5-2-15-3 on the fourth and final morning at the Wanderers – which included 3 for 0 in seven balls – meant he finished the series with 19 wickets at 21.47 and Steyn, despite his slow start, took 15 at 23.80. Compare that to England’s two leading quicks; James Anderson managed 16 wickets at 34.25 and Stuart Broad 13 wickets at 33.46. They both performed up to their career averages, but that’s the problem for England who can’t find a bowler to average in the mid-20s.Andrew Strauss said conditions were tailor-made for the South Africa pair and that they proved too good. “On wickets that have a bit of bounce and swing, that’s playing into both their hands – Morkel with the bounce and Steyn with the swing. We’ve always felt their first spells are as good as anything you’ll see in world cricket. We’ve always felt if you can get them into the second and third spells, things get a bit easier. But we weren’t able to do that often enough without losing a number of wickets.”Team-mates believe the duo have the ability to go on and dominate the game in a similar way to Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock. “They are different sorts of bowlers to those guys, but all I can say is I’d rather be catching the ball rather than facing them,” Mark Boucher said. “They still have a lot of learning to do, they are young and will learn quickly, but have the potential to be up there with the best to play the game.”That is high praise indeed, but on the evidence of recent weeks it is not misplaced.

For New Zealand’s No. 3, conquering the turning ball was one of the big challenges in his comeback innings

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Nov-2010In the first Test, it was a man now walking the straight and narrow and a debutant that took the game away from India. Having travelled a thousand miles south-east to Hyderabad, they were thwarted for half the day by an opening bat coming off a pair, and a No. 3 not considered good enough to play the first Test.Martin Guptill could be forgiven for thinking that he got the chop because of his poor form in the one-day arena. His last Test innings had been 58 against Australia in March, and BJ Watling, who replaced him at the Motera, had only passed 50 once in 10 attempts. Given his chance here, he used up his quota of luck very early on. Sreesanth produced a peach to take the outside edge when he had just 5, and Guptill was pretty much into the plush changing room by the time Kumar Dharmasena had a change of heart.”I’m not sure who refers it,” said Guptill after the day’s play. “I was pretty much in the tunnel on the way out when I got called back. I was pretty angry with myself, and was preparing to sit down and ponder what happened. Getting called back gave me a second wind and I carried on from there.”There was one more kiss from Dame Fortune when he had 11, with MS Dhoni unable to hold on to a sharp chance off Harbhajan Singh’s bowling, and Guptill made India pay either side of lunch with some superb strokes, especially down the ground. He and Tim McIntosh added 147, a stand in which he was the aggressor, growing in confidence with each over that went by.McIntosh’s hundred was even more unexpected given how he had struggled at the Motera. No opening batsman from New Zealand had scored a century overseas since Stephen Fleming at Trent Bridge in 2004, and only 11 players have ever rebounded from a pair with a hundred. Here, the first half of his innings was patchy, but by the time he stepped out to Pragyan Ojha and swatted him into the stand at midwicket, he too had taken an infusion of confidence. The lovely lofted drive off Harbhajan that took him to 98 was another stroke that caught the eye, illustrating just how his mood had changed during the course of the innings.”We were just telling each other to keep backing ourselves and be positive,” Guptill said. “The wicket is pretty flat, but the Indians bowled in some pretty demanding areas and we tailored our games to counter that. We got through it well and put on a good partnership. It really gave the momentum. It was disappointing to lose Tim at the end of the day but that’s how cricket goes. Hopefully, we can push on tomorrow and get a big total on the board.”For Guptill, whose back-foot play hasn’t always been convincing, conquering the turning ball was the biggest challenge. “I’ve worked on playing spin very hard over the last year or so,” he said. “I was just telling myself to be positive. I showed intent and got through it very well.”

“I think we need to get 500. That would be a competitive score. If our bowlers can put in a good performance, we can rock n roll India.”Martin Guptill

Even though they had India reeling at 15 for 5 in the second innings in Ahmedabad, Guptill’s assessment of what would be a par score said much about the fear factor that India’s batting line-up can inspire. “I think we need to get 500,” he said. “That would be a competitive score. If our bowlers can put in a good performance, we can rock n roll India.”Both sides appeared to be far happier with the surface prepared than they had been in Ahmedabad. “There’s something in it for everyone,” said Guptill. “There’s a lot more pace in the wicket. The batsmen can drive down the ground with comfort. There’s more bounce for the bowlers. That’s good for the game.”Eric Simons, India’s bowling coach, was a little more circumspect. “One can really only assess the wicket once you get to days three and four,” he said. “We call it moving days when the Test really moves forward. But on first opinion we think there’s more in it for us, the way our bowling line-up is set up. There seems to be a bit more bounce for the spinners in particular. We’re all quite pleased with the carry the seamers got as well. We’ve started seeing some reverse which is something that our seamers can exploit.”They’ll need to on the second day if Jesse Ryder and New Zealand aren’t to reprise the doughty batting that so nearly embarrassed India in the opening game.

For the past two decades Australia has provided the benchmark of, and framework for, success. England heeded the lessons but have now crafted a method that can lead them to the top

Sahil Dutta09-Jan-2011After racking up three innings victories and a dazzling collection of statistics over the last five Tests, England have a side that can rank, in the record books at least, alongside the best in Ashes history. Their true standing will be revealed over the next few years and though they have some distance to travel before they can claim to be world No. 1, Andrew Strauss and his team of unwavering pragmatists might just have forged a modern formula to challenge for the title.England are the golden generation without the glitter, the champions without the swagger and the Ashes heroes without the talisman. Unlike even 2005, there was no ‘Freddie’ figure in this series. Alastair Cook was no less gargantuan but, despite spending over 2000 minutes at the crease, it was difficult to remember even a single stroke. The two players most naturally suited to the starring role – Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen – had their moments, but never stole the show.Instead, a team built on the earthly qualities of hard work and patience quietly etched their way into history. In part, the conservatism that filters down from Strauss and Andy Flower is a response to their own resources. Good as they are, James Anderson and Swann are not yet Glenn McGrath and Warne; Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan hardly Joel Garner and Malcom Marshall. But it runs deeper than that. On that heady fourth evening at the SCG, with the Barmy Army in full voice and England marching to victory with an end-of-term sparkle in their step, Strauss would still not part with his mid-on run-saver. And that with Tremlett on a hat-trick and Australia’s No. 9 in his sights.In the equivalent situation it’s difficult to imagine Steve Waugh operating with much less than an eight-slip umbrella. For Waugh the show of bravado was crucial to instilling that all-important ‘aura’ of invincibility. But it’s just not England’s way. Strauss and the rest of the team have entirely bought in to the strategy of ‘bowling dry’. The gaping space between third slip and gully may infuriate former fast bowlers in the commentary box but Strauss does not waver. Suffocate, rather than intimidate, is England’s route to success.In an era where batsmen’s egos and averages have been fattened on a diet of flat pitches and fat bats, and their patience thinned on a conveyor-belt of instant cricket, England’s instinct for caution could be what separates them from the pack. Four years ago England came to Australia wanting to recreate the drama of 2005 and went looking for wickets in rush. They were dispatched at almost four runs an over (3.83) and lost five-nil. This time they’ve stacked up 178 maidens and conceded almost a run an over less (2.99). That kind of thrift demands that each bowler toes the party line (and length), shunning the self-interest of the headline ball for a greater team purpose.Fittingly it was Anderson who provided the model. As recently as a year ago he was more likely to rattle the scoreboard with boundary-balls than he was with wickets. But now he’s a poster-boy for austerity. Gone is the search for the start-leg-hit-off magic-balls and down too is his pace, which barely touched 90mph all series. In bowling within himself he protected both his economy rate and his body and it’s a formula his team-mates followed.Tremlett learned the hard way that saving his hulking frame by sacrificing fire for accuracy is a better strategy – both for surviving the congested fixture list and also for taking top-order wickets. Bresnan too has gained, finding stardom that never looked possible a year ago, simply by piling up dot balls. In doing so they have proved that winning in Australia doesn’t need mystery wrist-spin or 95mph thunderbolts. Instead common endeavour and a demon ring of cover fielders will suffice.The comparison with Australia’s bowlers is revealing. They suffered from having to chase the game and in their desperation to amend their batsmen’s mistakes leaked well over three an over (3.41). Worse still the harder they strove, the more they lost. Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris both hared in, only to limp off with injury. The one time England were forced off their own pace – trying to recover an 81-run first-innings deficit at Perth – the bowlers disappeared for 3.59 an over.That they had the luxury of hefty scores behind them at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney was again down more to prudence than panache. It’s notable that England’s leading run-scorers in this series – Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott – are their two most risk-averse players, both absent from the side of World Twenty20 winners. Compared with the magnetism and inspiration of the stars in past great teams – be it Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Adam Gilchrist or Matthew Hayden – England’s caution may not feel like the recipe for domination but allied to the togetherness instilled by Flower and Strauss, they have landed on a combination that will yield results.For the past two decades Australia has provided the benchmark of, and framework for, success. England heeded the lessons but have now crafted a method that can lead them to the top.

This behind-the-scenes look at the 2011 World Cup is interesting, and has a good background score, but lacks a narrative

Sharda Ugra09-Jul-2011What are diaries meant to contain? An inside, measured look at events, people, places, with some careful finer points, and maybe even a few secrets. Turn a set of diaries into a two-hour film and they can get entangled in complications extending beyond a mere collection of words. is a gallant first attempt at a behind-the-scenes look at the “flagship” event. The film is about two hours long, and more than compressing 49 matches in 13 venues over six weeks, it is meant to cast a fond eye over the event with a sweeping, affectionate gaze. It stops briefly at its important bits and is intended to leave the viewer with a soft-focus, feel-good sensation of what went by and is now, happily for all, trapped on DVD.So was the venture successful? It’s a start, but it’s not as good as it could have been.Before the griping, some credit. There are more than a few snatches of the World Cup’s , and a couple of game shots you just wish you had seen live. Limited-overs cricket is projected with an alternative background score: who would have thought the also caters to mass consumer interest, with a pleasant-enough portrait of the cricket circuit for fans hungry to see what the big game is like away from cameras. There’s Bangladesh at their breakfast table the day before their opening match, and a quick view of England’s dressing room. On the eve of opening night, Virender Sehwag walks past, the echo of his tuneful whistle lingering; and Kevin O’Brien and Yuvraj Singh let the cameras into their hotel rooms, one the day after the fastest World Cup hundred, the other before India’s first knockout game.The most memorable of these snatches is of the Kenyan batsman Maurice Ouma’s meticulous preparation the night before a match against Australia. Bats, pads and helmet are lined up neatly by the wall before an hour of contemplation, visualisation, and then thinking, he says, of his wife and daughter, and what has brought him to this day.The film’s piece de resistance comes in its last quarter, featuring the World Cup final. Right at the end the camera is allowed into the Indian dressing room. A bunch of players pose for pictures with the trophy. Sachin Tendulkar, sweaty, drenched, emotionally “stoked”, visibly bubbling over, manages to strings together lucid sentences. Sehwag appreciates his young son’s patience at spending eight hours watching “Papa”. Ashish Nehra, right hand in a monster cast, ruffles Tendulkar’s son’s hair with his left. Family mill around; the team’s mascot, Sudhir Gautam, is given the trophy to hold.Against the calming background score, the likes of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and the much-glazed-over “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor are not missed because the crowd provides the noise, and the commentators turn up for their mandatory tub-thumping and biblical pronouncements. “One of the great wins in the history of World Cup cricket” (Mark Nicholas on Pakistan v West Indies), “most amazing contest here in Premadasa” (Alan Wilkins on Sri Lanka v England), and “politicians, bureaucrats, heavyweight corporates, people from all sections of society” (Ravi Shastri describing the crowd for India v Pakistan).The TV commentary pans out ever so often from the stadium and is taken onto the streets, playing over like radio commentary still does on urban working days. To show the subcontinent’s general quietude outside pressure-cooker stadiums is a workable and noble idea, but this is where the Diaries turns into jottings, leaving empty spaces around them.While there are many shots of people bathing, russet sunsets, street life, garbage, joyful children and loopy fans, lacks a – the narrator in Indian folk theatre who keeps the story tied together and moving along. The voiceover takes the viewer on a rather plain, chronological traipse through the Cup, without an on-screen, ever-present context-alert: of days, places, times, tournament phases. Why, for instance, there are random scenes from may have set off to marry the cricket World Cup with a South Asian travelogue, but over most of the film, the two live together with irreconcilable differences.While the cricket side gets better as the tournament progresses, the film’s lapses show outside the ground. The final, over 32 very watchable minutes, is played out in three places: at the ground, in a pub, and an ordinary middle-class home: 10 people gathered together in a sparse living room, a few sitting on the floor, sheet spread out in front of them, with munchies at hand. We are not told who these people are, where they live, what they do other than they letting documentary-makers into their home. The stars are well covered, the public that made 2011 the Cup That Counts, not at all. lacks detailing either on the screen or in the voice.ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – Diaries
Sony Pictures
120 min; $24.99

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the World Cup, Group A match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Pallekele

Osman Samiuddin in Pallekele14-Mar-2011Decision of the day
Overcast conditions, worried about a top order that has performed in just one game so far, against a side with a dangerous pace attack but a potentially wonky batting order; what do you do when you win the toss as captain of one of cricket’s weaker sides? You don’t bat Elton.Catch of the day
Never has a straightforward edge behind to the wicketkeeper brought as much relief to the XI on the field and millions back home as that held by Kamran Akmal in the very first over of the game. Brendan Taylor had timed one through the covers beautifully, but off Abdul Razzaq’s fifth ball of the innings he stepped out and nibbled at one. Kamran moved to his right easily to pouch it; it was probably one Taylor too late, but there you go. It set up a near-flawless performance behind the stumps.Dismissals of the day
One day a thesis will be written: “Ego and bluster – A history of Pakistan batting failure against left-arm spin.” Who knows what goes on in their heads the second a left-arm spinner comes on? Clearly not much, given what has gone on in the past. Kamran Akmal has already done it twice in this tournament and you just knew way back when the schedules were drawn up for this shebang that the moment Ray Price came on, some young, brash kid would charge down the pitch, hit only air and be stranded halfway down the pitch, close enough to hear Price giggling away. It took ten balls on this occasion for Ahmed Shehzad to meet that very fate. And Shahid Afridi? Well, the only surprise was he wasn’t charging down the pitch.Surprise of the day
Pakistan v Zimbabwe in Pallekele you say? Wouldn’t have thought that to be in many people’s plans for a rainy Monday evening 15km outside Kandy? You would think wrong. Nearly ten thousand people turned up for this rain-interrupted, and to be honest, fairly predictable game at this spanking new stadium. If that doesn’t seem a lot, it certainly sounded a lot through a day with heavy showers and more than two hours playing time lost. They didn’t get bored easily either, only attempting the Mexican Wave once.Cheer(s) of the day
The charismatic Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was greeted by rapturous cheers every time he did, well, anything: when he was introduced as a bowler, as batsman, or when shown randomly hanging around in the dressing room on the big screen.Stat of the day
This was Pakistan’s first successful chase in a World Cup match since the 1999 semi-final against New Zealand in Manchester. They have won six World Cup games in that time, but all while batting first.

South Africa haven’t played international cricket for six months and their rustiness showed in the first ODI against Australia

Firdose Moonda21-Oct-2011Six months is a long time to be out of international cricket. Just ask the South African team.In that break, some of them got married and others holidayed, but out of all those days, only three were spent training for the series against Australia. Professional cricketers have it busy enough and no-one can begrudge them a break, but when they appear as undercooked as tender pieces of fillet steak in the opening acts of an important series, as South Africa do now, questions will be asked.After an unlikely comeback in the second Twenty20 against Australia, the rust seemed to have been shaken off. But, in the first ODI in Centurion, it leapt back on as South Africa put on another lethargic performance, showing distinctly less energy and enthusiasm than Australia.In the field, only Lonwabo Tsotsobe impressed, and while Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel were economical, the usual fire had been put out of the South African attack. And after opting to bat second, because of the possibility of rain, South Africa approached the challenge of chasing 233 with hesitation. Runs rarely came fluently against a more purposeful Australia attack.”We’re playing against one of the best sides in the world, to come off no cricket as some of the guys have done is tough,” Kallis said. “It’s the first time we’ve been together as a group, but it’s still no excuse, we were a little bit rusty. We can improve in places both with bat and ball, where we perhaps let ourselves down a little bit.”Graeme Smith is a particular concern. He fell in predictable fashion to Doug Bollinger in the first Twenty20 after again wobbling awkwardly at the crease. He was out lbw to Bollinger in the first ODI as well but chose not to use DRS to review the decision after consulting Amla. “I thought it was hitting leg stump,” Amla said. “In that situation you have to go with your gut but I should have known better.” Replays indicated the ball would have gone over the top of the stumps.Of the players in the South Africa squad, Smith has played the least cricket during the winter. He picked up a knee injury in the IPL in April and had surgery in August. He missed out on the Champions League T20, where he would have played for Cape Cobras, and participated in two club matches before the start of the season. He has since looked out of sorts, particularly against left-arm bowlers, and with the Test series looming, Smith would do well to play a first-class game or two.Amla has had to cope with Smith departing early, the responsibility of rebuilding the innings and the captaincy, after AB de Villiers was injured. Familiar middle-order problems have added to his worries and, with de Villiers out for at least two more weeks, seem no closer to being solved.With JP Duminy at No. 4, followed by the inexperienced David Miller and Faf du Plessis, even the addition of Mark Boucher has not made much difference yet. South Africa’s young batsmen need experience and they can only get that by spending time in the middle, but when that middle is a mangled pit, created by the top order, from which they need to clamber out of, they can be forgiven for crumbling.South Africa have to recover quickly because defeat in the second ODI will lose them the series. “We have to come out fighting, we’ll take it one game at a time, where we have to win both to win the series,” Kallis said. “We mustn’t put too much pressure on ourselves. We’ve just got to go out there and play the cricket that we have done over the last while and hopefully put in a better performance than we did the other night.”Both teams admitted South Africa had the worse of the weather conditions in the first ODI and the balance should be more even on Sunday. Port Elizabeth has no rain forecast. “I don’t think it’ll [the pitch] change too much and it won’t have the pace that Centurion had,” Kallis said. “It’ll be probably a bit lower but it’ll still be a good batting wicket. The ground is a fairly small ground so I think it’ll still be a fairly high-scoring game.”South Africa released Robin Peterson and Wayne Parnell to play in the SuperSport Series this weekend. As a result, the only change they could make is to bring in legspinner Imran Tahir for one of the fast bowlers, so the batting line-up is not shortened.