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Stats highlights from the second day’s play between South Africa and Australia at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

Shiva Jayaraman21-Feb-2014 AB de Villiers’s century in this innings was his 19th in Tests and his first at this venue. De Villiers has scored 1361 runs at 80.05 including six hundreds and six fifties in his last 12 Tests, since November 2012. Only Kumar Sangakkara averages higher than de Villiers among batsmen with a minimum of 300 runs during this period. De Villiers has hit five Test hundreds against Australia equalling the record for the most tons against Australia by a South Africa batsman. Eddie Barlow, Graeme Pollock and Jacques Kallis. have also scored five Test centuries against Australia. JP Duminy’s 123 was his first century at home and his third in Tests. The innings ended what was a rather lean patch for him in Tests at home. Since his last fifty at home, against England in Centurion in December 2009, Duminy had managed just 128 runs at 11.36 from 11 innings. He also completed 1000 Test runs in this innings. He has now scored 1046 runs at 34.86, with three hundreds and five fifties. De Villiers and Duminy added 149 runs for the sixth wicket, which is the highest partnership for this wicket at St George’s Park, beating the 131-run partnership between Faf du Plessis and Dean Elgar against New Zealand in 2013. Their partnership was also the second-highest sixth-wicket stand for South Africa against Australia and the highest such partnership since 1970 when Graeme Pollock and Tiger Lance added 200 runs for the sixth wicket at Kingsmead. Nathan Lyon’s five-for was the first five-wicket haul by a spinner at this venue in more than 50 years. The last spinner to take a five-wicket at this venue was also from Australia: Richie Benaud took 5 for 82 in South Africa’s second innings in 1958. Spinners have taken only five five-wicket at this ground. Lyon’s five-wicket haul was also the first by an Australia spinner in South Africa since Shane Warne’s 6 for 86 at Kingsmead in 2006. Click here for five-wicket hauls by Australia’s spinners in Tests in South Africa. The last five-wicket haul by an Australia offspinner in South Africa came in 1970, Ashley Mallett’s 5 for 126 in Cape Town. Lyon took his first five-for in four Tests in South Africa. In his previous three Tests here, Lyon had totally bowled 59 overs, taking six wickets at 31.83. In this Test so far, Lyon has already bowled 46 overs and taken five wickets at 26.00. Australia bowlers were made to toil hard on this slow pitch. For the first time since the second Test against India in Hyderabad in March last year and in 22 innings, Australia’s bowlers were required to bowl 150 or more overs to dismiss the opposition. Including this innings, they have had to bowl 100 or more overs in only four of the 13 innings since the start of the Ashes in Australia last year. This was also the first time in 25 innings, since the Mohali Test in March 2013, that Australia conceded 400-plus runs to the opposition in an innings. Since the Ashes, Australia’s regular fast bowlers had taken 96 wickets in six Tests, at 18.23 and at a strike rate of 40.6. However, South Africa’s doughty batting and the benign conditions meant that Australia’s fast bowlers took only two wickets from the 86 overs they bowled between them in the first innings, collectively giving away 229 runs. Mitchell Johnson, who had taken 49 wickets since the Ashes at a staggering average of 13.14 and a strike rate of 27.1, removed Hashim Amla early enough, in his third over of the innings. But since then, he has bowled 135 deliveries and conceded 67 runs without taking a wicket.

OversWktsAveSRSince the Ashes651.19618.2340.6This Test862114.50258.0

It is too early to draw any long-term conclusions, but the home side’s top order was given a rude awakening about the challenges facing them from Australia

Firdose Moonda at Centurion Park13-Feb-20140:00

Cullinan: Advantage Australia, and not just on the scoreboard

A shave over six years ago, South Africa crumbled to 63 for 4 against the touring West Indies in Port Elizabeth. A combination of seam and swing from Daren Powell and Jerome Taylor destroyed the top order and eventually accounted for the rest as well. The only South African batsman who managed more than 30 that day was AB de Villiers who fought himself to a plucky 59.That was the last time South Africa had four of their batsmen out in the first 15 overs of a Test innings before today. This time it was vicious pace and an unforgiving short ball from Mitchell Johnson that sparked the procession. Again, the only South Africa batsman who showed there is a way was de Villiers.He worked his way to a half-century with a combination of cautiousness and counterattack that could serve as an illustration of how much he has progressed from December 2007 but more importantly, could be an example to his team-mates for how they should approach Johnson as this series develops. For all South Africa’s preparedness, even Russell Domingo admitted that they could “never replicate,” Johnson in the nets and nothing “prepared you for the intensity of a Test match” and the “pressure you will face there.”AB de Villiers managed to survive but his colleagues weren’t so lucky•Getty ImagesEven though Johnson has broken Graeme Smith’s hand twice, both times with a short ball that reared up and struck him on the glove, Smith was not ready for that delivery again. Who can be? It is like asking someone to be ready for a rush of oncoming traffic when they are behind the wheel. In the end, he may well have just been grateful his hand was intact when he walked off.Even though Alviro Petersen would have seen a far less dangerous Johnson on Australia’s last tour here in 2011 – Petersen played in the warm-up match but not the Tests – he would have been told to expect a different man. In the end, the ball he got out to was not laced with venom, it was just short and wide and he did not have to play at it. Maybe he was too concerned with looking out for the nasty one that he forgot how to deal with the nice one.Even though Faf du Plessis knew he would be targeted, it still unnerved him. He was squared up by the first Johnson delivery and the edge fell just short of second slip. Four balls later, Johnson became too brutal and du Plessis could do nothing about it. It does not mean he should not be persisted with as the new No.4, it just every now and then he will have to live with getting a snorter like that.Even though the first ball de Villiers faced was a Johnson one, he immediately looked less rattled. Granted, it was not a short ball and he only had to get forward and defend but he did. It did not take too long for Johnson to hold his length back and de Villiers got inside the line and defended again.Johnson did not surprise us – Domingo

Russell Domingo, South Africa’s coach, denied South Africa were surprised by Mitchell Johnson but conceded the Australian quick is in the midst of a “hot streak,” that raised the heat on South Africa. “This is what we expected. He is an x-factor bowler. He has done really well on previous tours here and he has just come off a hot Ashes series.”

Although the pitch did not offer much significantly more on the second day than it did on the first morning, Domingo said Johnson’s danger is in the way he delivers the ball. “Because of his action, the challenge is always going to be knowing which balls to leave and which not to leave. He can be quite skiddy and that’s dangerous,” he said, hinting he is even trickier to face than Morne Morkel. “Morne gets bounce but it is probably more consistent because of the high arm action. Mitchell’s is less consistent.”

Domingo conceded Australia are “well on top,” but said his side have not lost belief in their ability to bounce back, despite consistently starting slowly. “Over the last year or so, we’ve played catch up cricket and that’s something we need to address. But this side’s character has been tested and we’ve come out on top in the past.”

The others had not been particularly poor in identifying Johnson’s line but where they erred was where de Villiers prospered. Unlike at St George’s Park, when he was only 22, de Villiers did not play at deliveries he could have left. He dutifully left them, something South Africa’s batsmen did not do enough against the Johnson short ball.His maturity and ability to assess the situation is what stood out about his innings. No other batsman appeared to have the time he did to play a Johnson ball that was directed at eye level, no one seemed to be able to adjust well enough so that two balls later when Johnson over-pitched, they could move forward and drive him for four.JP Duminy came closest, although he was beaten for pace by Johnson far more often than de Villiers. He gave it away when instead of attacking Nathan Lyon selectively, he tried to do it routinely. Eventually those go wrong and it did. With Duminy gone, it fell on de Villiers solely to steer South Africa to calmer water.Johnson knew that and he also knew if he could somehow get in de Villiers’ way, he could sway the advantage even further Australia’s way. He did that when he managed to deceive de Villiers into playing a pull too early and struck him on the forearm. There was grimacing. There was flexing of fingers of a hand that seemed to have gone numb. And there was a stony expression on his face that de Villiers maintained to try and hide the pain.Unlike the three before him, he did not want to give Johnson a hint that he may have caused a mental scar. That was the weapon used to dismantle England and they helped him by wilting at the sight of him. Whether Johnson has managed to inflict the same on Smith, Petersen and du Plessis will only be known in the next innings or even the next match but it is unlikely he has done the same to de Villiers.

Also, the oldest IPL player, the first Test triple-century by a captain, Test caps in the 90s, and keepers with no wickets

Steven Lynch27-May-2014Is Muttiah Muralitharan the oldest player in the IPL? asked Jamie Stewart from Canada
Muttiah Muralitharan was 42 last month – he was born in April 1972 – but he’s not the oldest swinger in town at IPL 7. Pravin Tambe, the surprise-packet legspinner unearthed by Rajasthan Royals last year, was born in October 1971, so turns 43 later this year. Tambe had never played a first-class match when called up by Rajasthan in 2013, although he did play a couple for Mumbai after that. Earlier this month Tambe took a hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders – an unusual one in that the first victim, Manish Pandey, was stumped off a wide – so the hat-trick actually came from two legal deliveries.Is it true that Jack the Ripper was a cricketer? asked Paul Wheldon from England
The identity of Jack the Ripper, who specialised in gory murders in London’s East End in the 1880s, has never been discovered. It’s true to say, however, that one of the names often mentioned as a suspect was a cricketer – Montague Druitt, an old boy of Winchester College who played several matches for MCC, and took 7 for 18 for Dorset against Wiltshire at Trowbridge in August 1883. Druitt’s body was found in the River Thames in December 1888 – shortly after the last of the Ripper murders – in an apparent case of suicide. A 2004 book, Montague Druitt: Portrait of a Contender examined the possibilities of Druitt being the Ripper, but the author, DJ Leighton, concluded that it was unlikely.Who was the first Test captain to score a triple-century? Was it Don Bradman? asked Keith Powell from England
Don Bradman’s two Test triple-centuries – both at Headingley, in 1930 and 1934 – came while he was still in the ranks: he did not take over as Australia’s captain until 1936-37. The first skipper to score 300 in a Test was another Australian, Bob Simpson, who amassed 311 at Old Trafford in 1964. Since then there have been seven further triples by Test captains: Graham Gooch’s 333 for England v India at Lord’s in 1990; Mark Taylor’s 334 not out for Australia v Pakistan in Peshawar in 1998-99; Brian Lara’s 400 not out for West Indies v England in St John’s in 2003-04; Mahela Jayawardene’s 374 for Sri Lanka v South Africa in Colombo in 2006; Younis Khan’s 313 for Pakistan v Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2008-09; Michael Clarke’s 329 not out for Australia v India in Sydney in 2011-12; and Brendon McCullum’s 302 for New Zealand v India in Wellington earlier this year.How many people have won 90 or more Test caps without making it to 100? asked Suresh Maneckji from India
Fifteen players have finished their careers with between 90 and 99 Test caps. The closest to three figures was Mohammad Azharuddin, whose career ended under a cloud with him stuck on 99. Curtly Ambrose played 98 Tests, Adam Gilchrist, Nasser Hussain and Rod Marsh 96, Alan Knott 95, Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Garry Sobers 93, Godfrey Evans and Gundappa Viswanath 91, and Marvan Atapattu, Herschelle Gibbs, Mohammad Yousuf and Bob Willis 90. This excludes five current players who should yet make it out of the nineties: Chris Gayle (currently 99 caps), Ian Bell (98), James Anderson, AB de Villiers and Zaheer Khan (all 92).How many times have both captains scored fifties in each innings of a Test? asked Siddhartha from India
There have been a total of 171 instances of a captain reaching 50 in both innings of a Test – but of those, only four have involved both skippers in the same match. The first time it happened was in Georgetown in 1967-68, when Colin Cowdrey scored 59 and 82 for England, and Garry Sobers 152 and 95 not out for West Indies. Sobers was involved again in Adelaide in 1968-69, hitting 110 and 52 while Bill Lawry made 62 and 89 for Australia. In Melbourne in 2008-09 Australia’s Ricky Ponting scored 101 and 99 while Graeme Smith made 62 and 75 for South Africa. And finally there was a Taylor-fest in Bulawayo in November 2011 – Brendan hit 50 and 117 for Zimbabwe, and Ross 76 and 76 for New Zealand.Alec Stewart figured in 133 Tests without ever taking a wicket. Who holds the corresponding record in one-day internationals? asked Juan Castro from Argentina
The holder of this esoteric record in one-day internationals is Kumar Sangakkara, who has so far (as at May 22) played 370 one-day internationals without taking a wicket (indeed, he has never bowled). Next come Mark Boucher (295 matches) and Adam Gilchrist (287), before the first non-wicketkeeper, Marvan Atapattu of Sri Lanka, who played 268 ODIs without taking a wicket. The current leader in T20 internationals is Brendon McCullum (68 matches, no wickets), ahead of his New Zealand team-mate Ross Taylor (59 matches). Alec Stewart (133) does hold the record for Tests, although he’s only just ahead of the first non-wicketkeeper, Brian Lara, who failed to take a wicket in 131 Test appearances. Sangakkara has now played 548 international matches across all three formats without taking a wicket, ahead of Gilchrist (396), McCullum (381), and Herschelle Gibbs – the first non-keeper – with 361.

On a pitch that had not yet begun to take huge turn off the straight, a spinner who seemed to have lost some of his bite of late shaped his entire day’s work around one small patch of loose soil

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC26-Jul-2014Rangana Herath was in the Sri Lanka dressing room when his destiny two days into the future began to materialise. On the first morning of the Test, Vernon Philander bustled in from the SSC’s South End and sent his first one down, full and wide for Upul Tharanga to leave alone.But it was not the delivery or the shot that would concern Herath. Half a second after the new ball left Philander’s hand, the spikes on his right boot dug into the SSC clay, about half-a-metre from the popping crease. Over the next two days, Philander, Dale Steyn, Morke Morkel and Suranga Lakmal would land on that same spot, several hundreds of times, raising little puffs of dust. They would loosen, then break off off small clods from the surface. During the breaks groundstaff would rush in and sweep up each fresh supply of debris with a dustpan and brush.After day three, Faf du Plessis had said Herath could “pitch it on a small piece of coin”. But the circular patch of dark soil that burned in Herath’s brain from daybreak to dusk on day three was closer to the size of a small wheel of cheese. Herath’s teammates like to joke that they cannot trust him around a few slices of cheddar. On Saturday, it was the wheel of cheese that consumed Herath.He bowled 192 deliveries from the Tennis Courts End – 143 of those from over the wicket, with little consideration to whether the batsman was right-handed or left-handed. That rough was his target, and like a man with an incurable itch he kept going back to it, ball after ball. He pitched a few on the stumps too, but that was largely to prevent his ploy from going stale. Everything Herath delivered from over the wicket was governed by that half-square-foot of disintegrating clay.It is easy for spinners to be seduced by rough, because out of the loose dirt, all sorts of manic things can sprout. It is a patch of endless possibilities. First there is the satisfaction of hitting footmarks. When Herath hit his target, as he basically always did, a cloud of dust erupted, almost like the beeps and flashing lights when a pinball hits the bonus button in the machine.What the ball does from there is anybody’s guess. Most of the time, it turns more sharply, but on other occasions it grips the other way. Some balls land and gain pace, like the dark dirt is a well of chaotic, kinetic energy. Others keep so low the rough almost swallows the ball up like a portal. Several go through straight, at the same pace at which they arrived. Herath knows better than most spinners that delivering no turn when some is expected can be as deadly as any magic ball. Sending a ball into the rough is almost an act of surrender, of giving yourself up to the whims of the cricket gods.Hashim Amla sought mostly to pad Herath away on the leg side, safe in the knowledge the ball had pitched way outside leg stump. Herath kept looking for the rough nonetheless, hoping one would pitch and burst past his legs to connect with the off stump. All day he kept landing them on his cheese wheel, but they never did turn that far.JP Duminy pursued a similar strategy in his uncompromisingly sedate mood, only as a left-hander, the lbw was often in play. He faced 26 balls from Herath without taking a single run off him. At his best, Herath works batsmen out scientifically, and if he could, he would have taken a sample of the footmark and sent it off to a lab for analysis. But as it was, all he could do was keep hitting it and hope. Duminy never looked like getting out to the balls pitched outside the footmarks.When one eventually turned more than the rest after many speculative appeals, Sri Lanka burned a review to find the ball had still not turned enough. Yet Herath kept at it, every ball a replay of the last; deliveries flocking to that footmark like animals to a waterhole. Over an hour after Duminy had come to the crease, he finally reached the limits of his patience. He strode out to meet the bowler, but soon found the ball diving and jiving out of that same damned spot to beat the blade. Herath and the rough had won that one.On a pitch that had not yet begun to take huge turn off the straight, a spinner who seemed to have lost some of his bite of late shaped his entire day’s work around one small patch of loose soil. It was a day of discipline for South Africa, and one of scant entertainment for the spectators who had come to the SSC. For Herath, day three was about persistence and hope, bordering on obsession. If Sri Lanka bat as well as they hope to on Sunday, his tango with the rough may resume in two sessions’ time.

Moving to a new county to take up captaincy at the age of 38 would be a challenge for most. But Geraint Jones, once of England now of Papua New Guinea, is keen to stay fresh

Tim Wigmore01-Nov-2014At the age of 38, many cricketers have to confront a new challenge. But Geraint Jones is not thinking about retirement just yet: he has just signed a two-year contract with Gloucestershire, and as their Championship captain to boot.Having waited so long to make a mark on the game – it was not until the age of 26 that he became a regular in first-class cricket for Kent, having moved from Australia at the age of 22 – Jones is in no mood to give it up.”The fact that I’ve done various different jobs before cricket definitely has an effect on the way I look at it,” Jones says. “I’m very fortunate to have had a career playing a sport I absolutely love – I make an effort not to take that for granted.”As Gloucestershire captain, he will seek to imbue a young squad with a similar mentality. These are not happy times for Gloucestershire. They came third from bottom in Division Two of the Championship last year, although a quarter-final in the Royal London Cup provided some solace. That was with the Gidman brothers in the side; now former captain Alex has gone to Worcestershire while Will, the talismanic allrounder, has joined Nottinghamshire.”That’s what happens in sport.” Jones says. “You’ve just got to roll with those punches and move on – what it will give is opportunities.” He sees the winter as “a finding-out period, learning the characters and skills of the guys”.It also makes the experience of Jones, an Ashes winner capped more than 80 times by England, all the more critical. He is likely to be one of only two over 30s (Hamish Marshall being the other) in the side.Jones clearly made an impression during in his month-long loan at Bristol last season. As four-day captain – Michael Klinger will remain in charge of the limited-overs sides – Jones says he will aim to follow his long-time Kent skipper Rob Key in “seizing opportunities and knowing when to go on a full-blown attack to win games”.He also looks to the leadership of Michael Vaughan, who he played under during the majority of his England career, for inspiration.”His character as a captain impressed me most and is something I’ll try and emulate quite a lot,” Jones says. “You didn’t know if he’d scored 0 or 150 – he was the same guy no matter what his personal fortunes were. So that was the big thing for me, his calmness as a character in all situations. He may have been flapping on the inside but externally he was always pretty much the same guy. That’s a characteristic which I really admired in him and hopefully I can get close to it.”That Jones decided to leave Kent, with whom he had a 14-year association, was largely the result of Sam Billings’ spectacular progress as wicketkeeper. The situation was “not dissimilar” to the way in which Jones’s emergence led to Kent releasing Paul Nixon 12 years earlier.Like those two, it is anticipated that Billings will go on to play for England. “I always looked at him and thought the talent that this guy’s got is incredible, once he realises that and works the right way and learns about his cricket than he can do good things,” Jones says. “He’s a good kid. He knows where he wants to go and what he wants to do – he’s confident in that.”The two remain in regular contact and Jones does not begrudge Billings’ emergence. He anticipates “a new lease of life and a bit of freshness” at Gloucestershire but he will not be taking up the gloves, which will remain with Gareth Roderick. Jones is looking forward to batting in the middle order – “I had my best years when I was batting at three for Kent so I’m quite happy to be higher up” – although he has not scored a first-class century since 2010.Fielding will present a new challenge, however: “I’ve now got to find somewhere to field and work hard at catching without gloves.”Jones speaks with energy and enthusiasm. He does not sound like a man in need of inspiration to continue playing. But if he did need it, he could find it in the Papua New Guinea players who, for three years, have been team-mates. Jones has forged a second international career playing for the country where he lived until the age of six.”It’s always really refreshing going back and playing with the PNG guys,” he says. “They play with a unique spirit as a team and they really provide me with a bit of a refresher course in my love of the game.”On November 8, Jones will be in the Papua New Guinea side as they play their first one-day international, against Hong Kong in Australia. It will be Jones’ 50th ODI, and it is hard to imagine that many cricketers have had a more unorthodox route to that landmark. He has also begun to think about coaching, for when the time comes to tread a new path. “I definitely want to stay involved with PNG cricket for a long while yet.”

Years after the juggling act of hiding multiple poor fielders making do with the kind of attacks India have had, this current unit has given MS Dhoni some breathing space

Abhishek Purohit24-Feb-2015AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis had added 68 at close to run a ball when the former drove Ravindra Jadeja wide of sweeper cover. Mohit Sharma sprinted towards the ball, picked it up, and staggered back a few steps from the effort of his throw. Even though Mohit lost his balance, it did not affect the accuracy of the throw, and MS Dhoni found de Villiers short on the second run. Both captains later said that run-out was where the game turned towards India.An Indian fast bowler producing a crucial run-out from the deep. Does not happen often. It happened again in the same game, barely ten overs later. This time it was Umesh Yadav’s rapid arm from deep square leg that sent back the dangerous David Miller, despite a slide from the batsman.India outfielded South Africa on a ground as massive as the MCG. Has probably never happened before. Their prowling inner ring carried a greater threat throughout, keeping batsmen wary of attempting quick singles. There were far fewer fumbles and overthrows. The catching was safe. Their deep fielders covered hundreds of metres, saving boundaries and cutting threes to twos, in addition to those two big run-outs. Here again, an instance from a fast bowler stood out.Mohammed Shami had just finished an over and gone to long leg when he had to put in a long run to his left first ball of the next over. He reached there just in time, and stopped the ball with his boot before his momentum took him over the rope. Ajinkya Rahane had chased the ball from the inner circle and was around to pick it up and throw it back. The joint effort saved a run. Shami was breathless from the run, but gathered himself quickly and trotted eagerly back to his position.The fast bowlers are apt examples to highlight India’s fielding display in this World Cup so far because they show just how far the side has come from the previous edition. In 2011, India had Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra. Those were not the only ones who had to be hidden on the field. Senior batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were not exactly sharp. Not many in that squad had a strong arm from the deep. Imagine defending a total, any total, with that unit at the MCG.MS Dhoni will not react much to a dropped catch but a slow reaction from a fielder will have him banging his gloves together in frustration. He hates conceding even one extra run on the field. Years after the juggling act of hiding multiple poor fielders making do with the kind of attacks India have had, this unit has given Dhoni some breathing space. The captain was grateful for that.”What we know is that we can add minimum 10 to 15 runs to whatever we score with the kind of fielders that we have got,” Dhoni said. “There may be one fielder or two slightly slower than the others, but by no means we are bad fielders. I think we have got some excellent fielders, and apart from that we have got fast bowlers who are above average fielders.”Overall I’ve got plenty to play with. I don’t always have to think about which player needs to go where. I have time to think more about the strategies rather than trying to use four or five good fielders and seeing what’s really needed, whether I need to stop the singles or I need boundary riders who can stop the twos and the threes. That actually eases the pressure off me.”Dhoni said that India’s fielding standards could only get better in the future, with an increased focus on fitness levels. “It’s something that you will see in the coming years with more players, the fresh players coming in with the infrastructure that’s provided to them and the importance that’s given to fitness, you will see more often than not the new crop of players, they’ll be really good in fitness, which will reflect in the fielding department.”Rahane is probably the best example of a high level of fitness translating into a quality fielder. He is possibly India’s quickest when it comes to chasing down balls from the inner ring. Against South Africa, Rahane sprawled to his weaker left side at cover to stop a potential boundary from Hashim Amla. The surprised batsman was so far down the pitch that even the backing-up Suresh Raina could have run him out had he hit.”You see him on the field, he’s very quick, and his intensity actually never drops right from the first over until the 90th over if you see a Test match,” Dhoni said of Rahane. “To me that’s what fitness is all about.”As India go deeper into the World Cup, that fitness will be tested further on the field. But they know that they have a unit capable of repeating their fielding performance so far in the tournament, that it was not a one-off. They may not be the absolute naturals like the Australian and New Zealand fielders, but they are still a threat to opposition batsmen.

England needs to learn the right lessons from the Big Bash and not turn to a franchise system that would freeze our thousands of committed fans

Tim Wigmore12-Jan-2015Twelve years after a launch so spectacular that it was dubbed “The summer of love,” English cricket is suffering from existential angst about its Twenty20 competition. Envy of the IPL is one thing but jealously of the Big Bash League is quite another.How can it be that a country with less than half the size of England can put on such an attractive T20 competition even while Australia’s stars are detained by Test duty?To many the solution for English T20 begins and ends with the f-word: franchises. To suggest that these might not represent a panacea for England’s T20 competition is to be labelled a Neanderthal.There are, broadly speaking, two franchise models. The first is the Indian model: franchises being leased from the BCCI on a ten-year period, giving the BCCI a short-term financial boost but franchise profits going to private investors. The second, more plausible in England, is the Australian model.Here, franchises are owned by Cricket Australia (who offered a 33% stake to private investors, though no one has taken up the offer) with all profits pumped money back into the sport. The Australian model would certainly be more palatable to English traditions.Tomorrow in our T20 debate

Simon Barnes: Quality holds the key

Freddie Wilde: What the inventor now thinks

George Dobell and Mark Butcher: Video debate

But neither model would increase the reach of domestic T20 cricket in England. While there is much that England can learn from the success of the Big Bash – the importance of cheap ticket prices, free-to-air television coverage and games coinciding with the school holidays – the notion that the appeal of domestic T20 can be transformed by slashing the number of teams is fool’s gold.England needs to ensure that it learns the right lessons from the Big Bash. It should not forget that, far from halving the number of teams, as supporters of a franchise system advocate, Cricket Australia increased the number of teams playing in its T20 competition.Under the old Big Bash, run on traditional state lines, Victoria and New South Wales played just three home games a season each. The success of the revamped tournament has been to recognise that allowing Sydney and Melbourne so few matches when both have populations of over four million, was a mistake.The Big Bash’s solution was the antithesis of that argued for English T20: not reducing the number of teams but instead expanding them. By having two teams in each of Melbourne and Sydney, the Big Bash guarantees Australia’s two biggest cities eight matches each.For all the romance of Australia as the nation from the outback, it is one of the most urbanised countries in the Western world. The six cities that host Big Bash teams have a total population of 14 million – 61% of the total Australian population. If demographics are destiny, the demographics of Australia are ideal for a city-based T20 competition. England’s, sadly, are not.

While English cricket needs to search for new supporters, it cannot afford to be contemptuous of its existing ones

While the Australian franchise model extended the reach of cricket to more people, an English model would, perversely, have the opposite effect. The most likely franchise system would have ten sides covering nine cities, with London having two.Let us assume that the eight other cities would be Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Southampton, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Durham (and even include Newcastle’s population for good measure, on account of its proximity to Durham). These ten teams would be based in cities that accounted for only 22% per cent of the population in England and Wales – a third the figure of the Australian franchises.So this is the problem that the ECB is confronted with. It has to design a T20 competition for the population it serves – not the urbanised Australian population that it would be much easier to please.It would be a perverse approach to extend cricket’s appeal by making it harder to watch domestic T20. A franchise system played in a block, as many favour, would only be a success if those who do not currently attend matches would be prepared to travel further to watch teams in midweek.That seems a fantastical assumption, especially as the struggles of the previous T20 structure in England showed that teams cannot attract fans to return for several games a week.A franchise system would reduce the supply of match tickets to below the level of proven demand for them, which is hardly a sane recipe for success.Consider Essex fans. They would be expected to travel to the Oval or Lord’s, but these grounds already sell-out regularly for domestic T20 – so, within the area that Essex, Surrey and Middlesex currently represent, fewer people would easily be able to see games than now.For all the difficulties facing English domestic cricket, it is too readily forgotten that support for first-class cricket in England is the envy of the rest of the cricketing world – Australia included.While English cricket needs to search for new supporters, it cannot afford to be contemptuous of its existing ones. A warning of the dangers of doing so comes from the Conservative Party and Labour, who have long ignored the wishes of their core voters in search of trendier ones. They have lost the former without gaining many of the latter; their combined support is now down to as low as 60%. English cricket cannot afford to deprive those fans who sell-out T20 games at Hove and Taunton of a team to support.Essex, seen here in the guise of Mark Pettini, might get no cricket under a franchise system•Getty ImagesIf the rationale is to entice fresh supporters, we already know a guaranteed way of doing so: traditional county rivalries. Think not just of Middlesex-Surrey but the Roses game, which has sold-out Headingley for the last two years, albeit that one of the matches was abandoned without a ball being bowled . In 2014, the attendance at Edgbaston was 6,000 higher when Warwickshire (albeit playing under the moniker of the Birmingham Bears) played Worcestershire than that achieved against any other team.Two years ago, Bristol sold-out its ticket allocation against Somerset six weeks early. Had it not been for ground redevelopment limiting the capacity, Gloucestershire could have sold far more than 7,500 tickets. Yet there was little of the same buzz ahead of the fixture at Bristol in 2014, which was played in front of only 6,500. The difference? Last year the game was played on May 16, but in 2013 it had been played on July 26.When this year’s T20 competition begins in chilly weather in front of middling crowds, we can expect another bout of hankering for the Australian model. But making it harder for people to watch domestic T20 cricket – the opposite of Australia’s approach – would not solve anything.The shame of England’s T20 competition is not the number of teams that compete in it – indeed, even with 18 teams, it is lamentably difficult for fans in Dorset, Cornwall and Norfolk to see live cricket. The problem is that the T20 competition is lumbered with a schedule that doesn’t give it a chance to engage new fans, and is hidden behind pay TV.Rather than try and create a phoney imitation of the Australian model, the ECB would be better off giving the Blast in its current guise a proper chance.

One of the major shortcomings of Sri Lanka’s three-bowler plan is that it has left them with no scope to out-think attacking batting line-ups, particularly in the death overs

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Sydney08-Mar-20152:00

‘Thought pitch would turn but it didn’t’ – Senanayake

There was the opening revolution in 1996. A wrist-spinning offbreak bowler who claimed more wickets than anyone else – in ODIs as well as Tests. Even in this current squad, Sri Lanka have a man whose action is singularly fit for delivering yorkers. The modern progenitor of the carrom ball is also among them.It is a team that has a proud history of innovation. Of outwitting opponents when they can’t outplay them. They glance back, grin, and dare the rest to follow. Sri Lanka haven’t had the power hitters most other teams possess, yet they have been the best Twenty20 side in the world for over two years. Their two previous World Cups were defined by nous, those campaigns brought alive by mischief.But in this World Cup, has their cricket’s greatest strength become a weakness? While other teams crunch par scores, spreadsheet dot-ball percentages, and run Powerplay trends through software, Sri Lanka have held fiercely on to their non-conformity. The cult of the “Sri Lankan brand of cricket” thrives so stoutly now at the top level, that almost every player will speak platitudes on “doing it the Sri Lankan way”, and blazing their own trail, instead of “copying others”. But what if what others are doing works, and your own strategy is failing you? What if, time and again, the same area of your game is becoming exposed?The top teams at this World Cup hail from three different continents. They are led by vastly dissimilar men, in dramatically disparate styles. Yet Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India – and even the recently resurgent Pakistan – are all united when it comes to the primary onus of their team combination: pick four proper bowlers first, then fit the seven batsmen around them.Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have charged off on their own all tournament, and repeatedly fallen into the pit everyone else has carefully avoided. Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi helped plunder 134 from the last 14 overs of the New Zealand innings in the tournament opener. Joe Root and Jos Buttler were protagonists in a 15-over raid that reaped 148. Sri Lanka were saved by the brilliance of their top three against England, but instead of viewing that game as a happy escape, they felt victory was vindication of their strategy. “Our current combination has worked for us so far, so we don’t want to change a lot of things,” Angelo Mathews had said.But even when Rangana Herath – their most reliable bowler in the tournament – was unavailable for the match against a team wielding the most explosive middle-order around, Sri Lanka persisted with three specialist bowlers, and a trio of allrounders. Mayhem predictably ensued.A change of pace dismissed David Warner, and a strange approach to leg spin sank Aaron Finch, but when Steven Smith and Michael Clarke – Australia’s two most rounded, spin-ready batsmen – combined, their century stand was almost effortless. The pitch, Sachithra Senanayake later admitted, did not turn as much as Sri Lanka had expected, so Seekkuge Prasanna was casually clipped through the leg side. Senanayake’s own errors of length and line were slapped, cut, pulled and manoeuvred.Lasith Malinga’s yorkers are firing again but Sri Lanka are missing a bowler to support his efforts•AFPAnd therein lies one of the major shortcomings of the three-bowler plan. When the pitch doesn’t do what it was supposed to, or a frontliner has lost his radar, or the batting is unusually good, there is no scope to reassess and realign. Sri Lanka’s adaptability in the field has been among the most alluring traits of their limited-overs story, but because they are a bowler short, some of the supplest tactical minds in the game have no scope to shine.So Sri Lanka are forced into expectedly catastrophic moves. Thisara Perera has never been an outstanding death bowler. He’s more suited to finding wickets through the middle overs, and even that, only when he’s near his best. But in a tournament in which he has conceded he has not yet found his rhythm, Perera was given the 45th over against England, and disappeared for 25. He was called upon at the death again on Sunday, and conceded 20 runs in the 44th over, which should have seen him leave the attack for the day. But because Sri Lanka have no other options, he came back to the bowling crease and conceded 19 runs in the 49th over.Sri Lanka had Lasith Malinga’s yorkers firing again, as he claimed two scalps and went at less than a run a ball, yet their last 14 overs cost 174. Glenn Maxwell’s hitting was barely believable at times, but there are so many extraordinary batting talents at this World Cup, Sri Lanka would be unwise not to account for them. Maybe this will be the clobbering that breaks the resistance to fielding an extra specialist bowler.”We have to change the plans and we have to do some new things for the death overs, I think,” Senanayake said after the match. “We all know Malinga is the best bowler we have at the death, but someone needs to bowl with him.”After so many recent surges in major tournaments, it is strange for Sri Lanka’s fans to see their team outsmarted as well as outcompeted. At home they still trust that Sri Lanka have the players to triumph, and the same belief exists within the dressing room as well. Sri Lanka should never aspire to be a spreadsheet team. Their magic is what has seen them travel this far. But occasionally, it is okay to learn tricks from opponents. Occasionally, it can help to emulate.

A new Test captain, a new wicketkeeper, a new administration, and whole new set of challenges. Indian cricket’s latest chapter begins now

Alagappan Muthu09-Jun-2015A new Test captain, who makes it difficult to decide whether his pull shot or his press conferences are stronger. A new BCCI regime, systematically dulling the influence of its predecessor. Four wise men trooping back into service to help connect the present to the future. And a new season that is almost like a video game, demanding the team to level up with every tour and winding up with a World T20. There is a lot afoot in Indian cricket. The game itself will join in tomorrow.When 0-8 happened in 2011-12, there were no immediate consequences. MS Dhoni and Duncan Fletcher held on. The N Srinivasan administration bided their time as well. Now, Dalmiya and Thakur are making a lot of moves, Dhoni has retired from Tests, Virat Kohli has stepped in as the leader, and Wriddhiman Saha has taken up the gloves.Test cricket has changed as well. The people’s cry for an attacking brand of play is louder. The onus on the captain to provide as much is starker. Kohli appears to be in tune with that. He wants India to dominate the world.”Over the years I have matured in my mind,” he said. “The people around me in BCCI and my team-mates thought that I was the right guy for the job. I am pretty grateful for that. I have some vision in my mind which I have discussed with the team. We are all on the same page. It is pretty exciting for me to start as full-time Test captain and hopefully it is a positive start.”The Bangladesh tour is a good curtain raiser. The hosts have topped a World Cup quarter-final appearance with a whitewash of Pakistan in three ODIs, and a world record second-innings opening partnership in Tests. They have reason to be confident and might even get a kick out of forcing Kohli into second thoughts. How would he deal with the ebb and flow of a Test? Does he let it drift? Does he pull back too soon? Can he sustain pressure on the opposition? Can he then find a way to create opportunities?The Bangladesh batsmen have showed an improved capacity for occupying the crease. Last month, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes chomped off a 296-run deficit with a 312-run partnership for the first wicket. Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim form a rather hardy batting line-up, while the emergence of Soumya Sarkar lends lower-order firepower.So India’s bowlers need to find some threat. Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav have impressed no less a cricket mind than Glenn McGrath. A lot of that perhaps has to do with the potential they represent – both young and eager to bowl quick. A phalanx of left-handers for Bangladesh also persuaded the selectors to recall Harbhajan Singh. He might well end a two-year hiatus from Test cricket in Fatullah and, in between helping Kohli push for a win, initiate a challenge for R Ashwin’s role as the team’s lead offspinner.Lord’s has been India’s only victory over the last 23 overseas Tests. There will be great expectation to ensure the tally is upped to two, and then more when they visit Sri Lanka, before the attention turns to safeguarding home dominance, against South Africa.Saha could only dream of a calendar as full as that until now. He has played four Tests in five years despite the reputation of being the best wicketkeeper in India.Captains and wicketkeepers share close working relationships. From ascertaining if the ball is swinging, to helping out with DRS calls, to marking fielding positions and working out a batsman’s inadequacies, the vantage point from behind the stumps can be rather useful. Saha has had to wait a long time to enjoy the view. Now, with Dhoni sticking to limited-overs cricket, his Test career restarts at 30.”I think now is the time for Saha,” Kohli said. “He is a super fit guy. His keeping skills and reach are unbelievable. He is a gutsy batsman, confident, technique very good. He has everything to become a very good Test player for India. For next five to six years I can assure you will be exciting time for him. I am happy for him that he got this regular chance now.”Saha’s batting has the skill to last, as a first-class best of 178 not out suggests. He can even up his tempo, as Australia found out for the briefest of moments in Adelaide. India were 87 short of an improbable 364 target when he strode out to bat, tonked a six and a four off Nathan Lyon to tease the visitors’ hopes. He was dismissed the next ball, but that innings is a neat little example of Saha’s utility and Kohli’s methods. Later, the India captain would say he wouldn’t have settled for a draw and neither did he want his team to.One of MS Dhoni’s final addresses to the team was that he thought he was standing with the players who would form India’s core for a better part of the next decade. It starts now.

Vusi Sibanda’s strokeplay is a thing of crisp, almost poetic beauty, but he has never been able to make the most of his talent while opening for Zimbabwe. Evidence suggests he may be better utilised in the middle order

Liam Brickhill16-Jul-2015Chamu Chibhaba’s batting was the main positive to come out of Zimbabwe’s ODI series against India. He was their top-scorer, with 157 runs in three innings, including two half-centuries. Indeed, Chibhabha is in the midst of a rich vein of form this year. Sadly for Zimbabwe, the same cannot be said for his opening partner, Vusi Sibanda, who added 22 runs in two innings before he was dropped for the final game.Chibhabha and Sibanda’s trajectories appear to be heading in opposite directions, and it’s important to try to understand why. Sibanda is in possession of perhaps the finest – and certainly most aesthetically pleasing – technique in Zimbabwean cricket. When in full flow, his strokeplay is a thing of crisp, almost poetic beauty. Yet he has never been able to make the most of it with any long-term consistency on the international stage.Chibhabha, on the other hand, has a more homespun, grafting style, yet in nine matches in 2015, he’s scored 393 runs at 49.12 with a high score of 99 against Pakistan in the second ODI at Lahore. Narrowed down to this season, his numbers get even more impressive, with his batting average inflating to 73.75 from five innings, along with five wickets at 28.00.”A lot of the success I’ve had lately, it’s more of my attitude and mental approach to the game,” he said during the series. “Not to worry about technique or anything, just backing myself to execute.” Perhaps Sibanda’s problem is a mental one.It’s certainly hard to pick out a particular blind spot in Sibanda’s technique. By reputation, he tends to get out going for the pull, but the stroke is also a very productive one, and one that he plays often. So it stands to reason that he would get out playing it fairly often too. Batsmen who don’t pull don’t get out pulling, but also cut down on their run-scoring options.An opening batsman, perhaps more than any other member of the top order, faces an acute barrage of technical and psychological challenges at the crease. These are heightened by the pressure to score quickly against the new ball, and especially the Duke ball, in limited overs cricket. An opening batsmen has got to go about his game in a unique way. He’s also got to be managed very sensitively, given the high risk of failure that is inherent in the position. Success as an opener is built around a clear head, free from worry and distraction. Chibhabha’s words suggest he is in that space right now.Is Sibanda? For large swathes of his career, it has seemed that he is never more than a couple of failures away from being dropped. He debuted, probably too early, as a 20-year-old in 2003 – before Prosper Utseya, Elton Chigumbura or Brendan Taylor, yet those three have played many more ODIs in the interim, with Sibanda in and out of the side.It wasn’t until 2011 that he seemed to blossom, with an average of 37.45 from 11 matches, and two half-centuries against both Pakistan and Bangladesh.He didn’t play any ODIs in 2012, but in 2013 it continued to seem as though he had come to terms with the challenges of opening in limited-overs cricket, as he recorded fifties against West Indies, Pakistan, and India, and guided Zimbabwe to their first international series win since 2011 with a century against Bangladesh. But even in that series, he had been dropped for the first match, and when he was brought back he had to make the most of the opportunity.”It [the hundred] means a lot to me,” Sibanda said after the game. “All the hard work that I have put in, it is finally paying off. I was dropped from the team in the first ODI so it wasn’t easy to come back, but I grabbed whatever chance I got. I hope this is the beginning of more hundreds to come. I will continue to work hard on my game.”Unfortunately, Sibanda’s success did not continue. He averaged just 9.60 in 2014, from eight ODI innings. Steve Mangongo’s ‘perform or be dropped’ selection criteria cannot have helped his mindset during this period. But in five innings this year, with Dav Whatmore in charge, he has averaged 21.50, with three scores in the 20s and a top effort of 28 not out in the washed out third ODI against Pakistan in May. He will continue to remain in the frame for selection as Zimbabwe don’t have the resources to discard him outright, but as an opening batsman he will also continue to be haunted by the spectre of failure.While consistency of selection would help, it might be worth asking if Sibanda is even in the right position, and whether he should really be opening the batting at all.In the Sydney Shires First Grade competition in 2006 he batted at no. 3 for Strathfield, and registered two centuries and a 96 in four games. Five years later he was back playing First Grade Cricket for Eastern Suburbs, but he was asked to open and managed a top score of 86, with no other fifties and three scores between 24 and 28, displaying a general symmetry with his returns opening the batting in international limited-overs cricket.In 2013 he played for Kalabagan Cricket Academy in the Dhaka Premier Division 50-over tournament in Bangladesh, scratching together 40 runs in five innings as an opener. Of Sibanda’s 24 centuries across all forms of professional cricket, eight have been made as an opening batsman. His most productive position has been No. 4, from where he has made ten hundreds. He has also made five hundreds at no. 3, and one at no. 5.Chibhabha, younger by three years and not quite as prolific, with only six hundreds, has made three of those as an opener, and three at No. 3. The difference is that Chibhabha virtually always opens or bats at first drop in domestic cricket. Sibanda appears far more comfortable at No. 4. If Sibanda’s international future is as an opener, one of the hardest jobs in cricket, then he has got to be very carefully managed. He has got to learn to free himself from the worries of failure. If not, then all that will remain is unfulfilled potential, his rasping, sure-footed cover drives and dauntless pull shots reflected only in the dark mirror of all that could have been.