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Plays of the Day from the Group A match between Australia and New Zealand at Edgbaston

Nagraj Gollapudi at Edgbaston12-Jun-2013The mistake
“Yes. No. Yes. Okay.” Perhaps that’s how Matthew Wade and Phil Hughes communicated with each other as they decided to take a cheeky single in the fourth over of the match. Facing a short delivery from Mitchell McClenaghan, Wade played with soft hands and rushed for a tight single. Hughes was uncertain from the beginning. He started, but then stopped mid-stride. He then saw Wade running towards the non-striker’s end. Though he tried to run hard, Hughes’ failure to dive robbed him of an extra yard as Martin Guptill, who had run in swiftly from short cover, threw himself forward to hit the stumps and complete a brilliant run-out.The plan
How often does a captain place a silly point for an offspinner, in addition a slip and a leg slip, in a Powerplay? It resembled a placement common in Test matches when Brendon McCullum walked up to field at silly point and encircle the new batsman Mitchell Marsh. The plan was to add pressure and tempt Marsh to go hard at the offbreaks of Kane Williamson. Marsh did exactly that and even though he did not get out, McCullum had sown doubt in the batsman’s mind and tried to cut his areas of scoring. Soon after, Marsh fell top-edging a pull to the wicketkeeper.The not so bold step
McCullum has a penchant for taking brave calls and remains one of the few aggressive captains in the game, but even by his standards the decision to bowl Williamson in the penultimate over of Australia’s innings was taking it too far. Ultimately the move proved to be disastrous. Bowling his tenth over, Williamson erred in his length. In his previous nine overs, he had restricted the scoring rate by bowling gentle offbreaks on a tidy line and length. In his final over, however, Williamson faltered. His flat and short balls allowed Glenn Maxwell to charge, pull, and reverse sweep with freedom. It was the most expensive over of the match, costing 18 runs, which was what Australia had managed in the previous four overs.

Two very different men will have the honour of captaining their countries in their 100th Test with the Ashes at stake

Jarrod Kimber12-Dec-2013Alastair Cook tweeting about his surprise wedding and putting up a picture of him leading his new bride on a white stallion would seem odd. As would a picture of Michael Clarke dressed in military fatigues or with a dead deer at his feet. Cook isn’t about to make much of his body a canvas or become an underwear model. Clarke isn’t likely to wear gumboots and tend to his livestock before dawn. Clarke and Cook are two very different human beings.A Google image search of Michael Clarke will come back with a man who has posed for as many cameras as any wannabe starlet. Red carpets, underwear shots, shoots for GQ, he has done them all. If you’re an Australian cricket fan under 20, you could be forgiven for thinking Michael Clarke has spent your entire life staring back at you in a sultry way or with a painted on smile.Cook’s image search is mostly made up on him looking stern or pensive. Generally on the field, or at a press conference. There are very few shots of him doing anything fun (painting nude girls and holding up a cricket bat in a naked shoot are the exceptions, not the rule). On the occasion he does pose, you often get a look at his hypnotising eyes, eyes that seem to trap you, and which would be better used by a dystopian dictator looking to instill fear into the population.Clarke’s image and game has been sharpened and pushed by a series of well-meaning people. Some who have made much money and great reputations from a stylish batsman. Like many working-class kids who find money and fame early on, he made the most of it. He bought showy cars, lived in the flashy part of town, ate at the cafes where the paparazzi hung out, and dated a C-grade celebrity.Slowly he grew out of that. At its worst, his hometown paper called him a tosser, he felt the need to tweet an apology for not walking, and he was booed at the SCG in his first Test as captain.Cook’s life has always been a bit more straightforward. He went to Bedford, a school with Nobel Laureates, Olympians and the school attended by Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson, Richard Branson’s grandfather. He was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral School. Two-and-a half years into his international career he had his first book out. In it he tried hard to distance himself from his middle class background, but a few paragraphs later talked of how his family often skied.He is barely seen off the cricket field, isn’t the face of many products and almost unbelievably for a professional sportsman of his age, isn’t on twitter. Cook left his wedding in a tractor.The off-field images of them are also pretty accurate of the way they play.Cook looks after himself, does what he has to do, isn’t always stylish or pretty, but is damn effective. Leads from the front at No. 1. Takes few chances. It has been written that if he had to, Alastair Cook would give birth. It wouldn’t be pretty, but he would get it done. Robotic and efficient, at his best he makes massive scores without a bead of sweat. The sort of leader his country has always respected.Clarke is stylish on and off the field (I’m sure that line has been used in the thousands of lifestyle pieces on him). When he started he was brash and aggressive, now he is smooth and reliable. Bats down the order, in part, to shield himself from the swinging ball. Willing to gamble, but never as much as people say. A nervous starter with pretty feet who once set, especially in his home country, is almost impossible to dislodge. A new leader for a changing country.But Cook and Clarke have had amazingly similar cricket careers. They even both married women they knew before they could realistically be presumed to be future Test captains.Clarke started in Bangalore with a blazing hundred. Baggy green on his head, he was the symbol for Australia winning their final frontier in India. Cook started in Nagpur, holding England’s top order together with a half century in the first innings. Then making a hundred in the second dig to push the game beyond India’s reach.Both had major obstacles to overcome once they had been in the side for a few years. Cook’s technique had never been textbook, but with a stagnating career average (it was roughly 42 for 30 Tests), and a sudden angled bat that kept nicking off, Cook had to do something just to get on the tour to Australia in 10/11. In the second innings of a game Pakistan were dominating, Cook made 110. Two Tests later he would play Australia at the Gabba.

Clarke not the tactical genius he gets credit for, nor the terrible man manager everyone assumed. Cook’s captaincy is predictable and safe. His team currently look a bit like him, out of answers, and unable to capture the magic they had previously

Clarke was the golden boy of Australian cricket. He had won in India. Taken on the English bowlers. And seemed indestructible. But he got trapped in a vicious cycle as the boy who didn’t want to be dropped. The worse his form got, the more the press talked about this once in a generation boy not being the missing link. It seemed like he could think of little else. Eventually he was dropped. But thanks to a gift that has happened to many Australian batsmen (a Shane Watson injury) Clarke was brought back, cleaned up his game, kept the ball on the ground and made lots of runs.They both know what it’s like to play in one of their countries’ most successful teams. Clarke came into the team in 2004, has won a World Cup, and enjoyed everything that goes with being the number one Test team in the world. Cook was a major part of England becoming number one, and producing a new, if albeit brief, golden era for English cricket.Both were also the apprentices for the top job well before they got it. Despite much psychological testing, a thorough interview process and England’s endeavour to do things by the book, Alastair Cook was only not getting the job if he shot Giles Clarke in a hunting accident.In the modern era no new Australian captain has been as hated as Michael Clarke was. Yet, there simply was not another option when Ricky Ponting stepped down. Strauss and Cook would appear far more similar than Ponting and Clarke, but the “break your arm” comment would suggest that both men learn from their seniors.As captains, both men have averaged more than their career average. Cook even managing to do so without the very constant daddy hundreds he made under Strauss. His overall average should still be higher, but despite this he will retire England’s highest-ever scoring Test batsman, unless a giant anvil lands on him within the next two years. Clarke is averaging a staggering 63 as captain despite the fact he took over after one of the worst summers of his career. In the summer of 2010/11 Clarke averaged 17 in seven Tests. Suddenly being called a tosser and booed wasn’t his biggest problem.They both changed their careers, and public perceptions, with Everest runs. Before Cook’s innings at the Gabba last Ashes, he was seen as a one-dimensional plodder who could score handy runs but wasn’t a game or series changer. That one innings, followed up with Adelaide, changed how everyone saw him. In two series against India he did it again. And suddenly the plodder became a batting monolith.Clarke had taken over as full-time captain for tours to Sri Lanka and South Africa. As is often the way, Australian tours, Ashes aside, are not really poured over the same way. Instead of 20 to 40 press in the box, it’s two to four. Instead of free to air, it’s cable. So, even though Clarke played one of his greatest innings in South Africa and drew an away series with a heavyweight, few noticed.They did notice when Australia managed only to draw a home series against New Zealand. So in his next series, against a rapidly declining India, he had to win, and win grand. The winning took care of itself when at Sydney he changed his public perception (probably forever) with a triple century whilst wearing the baggy green. Tosser pretty boy was gone; true Australian hero was born.As captains, both men lead much as they play. Clarke is attacking and stylish, yet still flawed. He’s not the tactical genius he gets credit for, nor the terrible man manager everyone assumed. He has survived two coaches being sacked, stood down from his selectorial duties and is currently running a team much in his own image. Not for the first time Australian cricket looks like it could be getting something right, but it’s fallen hard on its face in recent times after good series. Whether they are playing well or not, Australia still seems one massive collapse from a disaster, something Clarke’s batting will try to hold together.Cook’s captaincy is well thought out, predictable and safe. He took over a machine that had just started to show some wear and tear. Strauss, Hugh Morris and Geoff Miller are all gone or going, Andy Flower is the only one who remains from England’s amazing two years. When Cook took over, he fixed the broken Pietersen situation, defeated India from behind and then won the Ashes. He was on a roll.Now his team has run into Mitchell Johnson, every flaw they had has been opened up. His team currently look a bit like him, out of answers, and unable to capture the magic they had previously. But they are still the team that made it to number one, with most of the original playing parts still here. Cook and his team can still turn this around.Alastair Cook: down to earth (as the photo suggests)•Getty ImagesSomehow these two men with similar cricket histories and vastly different personalities have ended up playing their 100th Tests together. Thanks to Mitchell Johnson, the news is not really about them. And with Sachin clocking up 200, and many other players passing 150, 100 Tests is no longer the number played by the only the iron men of cricket. Clarke has brought his up in under 10 years, Cook in under eight.You could argue who is greater and who has achieved more, but such conversations are mostly useless and should be kept in bars or 2am twitter fights where they belong. They’re both pretty damn good. And they both have interesting futures as leaders.Clarke will hope this isn’t a fluke and Australia is finally back. Cook will be trying to work out what has caused this decline, and what to do next.Before this series Clarke had the Ashes loss and Ricky Ponting’s book to contend with. People had openly started questioning whether he was the right man to lead Australia forward. Mike Hussey’s book brought back the Clarke/Katich rift, and even the Hussey/Clarke rift, even if in both cases Hussey was trying to be nice. Alastair Cook just tended to his sheep and gave the occasional positive press conference.There are still many photos to be taken of them in their careers, or even in this series. Clarke’s current twitter avatar is one of him looking disappointed in the rain of Old Trafford. The promotional photos for the Ashes before the series have Cook with an easy smile on his face, next to a stern Michael Clarke. Right now, those photos could be reversed.

Kumar Sangakkara does not usually feature in discussions of modern batting greats. His numbers demand for that to change

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Chittagong05-Feb-2014Kumar Sangakkara approached his maiden triple-hundred at a sprint. When the eighth wicket fell, he had been on 253 – in danger of being stranded short of a milestone he later admitted he desired, if only to “be part of the club”. The team’s goals happily aligned with his own in the late afternoon, lighting a fire underneath his feet. He sped forward from the crease often, with brutal intent.His final 52-runs as a non-member of the 300-club were walloped in 30 balls, but although Sangakkara was still mid-frenzy when he passed the milestone, his celebrations were remarkably collected. A hand-grasp with his partner followed the raising of both arms, before the helmet came off, briefly. Within 90 seconds, he was taking guard again.Perhaps he knew that he had not unlocked anything new in himself in the course of his epic. There were few thorny periods to overcome, and an already-battered opposition had been further hamstrung by an injury to a frontline bowler, as well as their captain and wicketkeeper. His team could not have claimed their commanding position without him, but at a personal level, perhaps his greatest achievements on Wednesday were his statistical harvests.Sangakkara became the quickest man to 11,000 runs on Wednesday. Though outside Sri Lanka he is rarely spoken of in the same breath as the modern batting greats, that discussion is now long overdue.The first port of call for any such exercise is his average. At a career-high 57.83, he comfortably outstrips Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting, and is better than Jacques Kallis by more than two runs. Of the seven batsmen that boast better averages (qualification: 2000 career runs), Ken Barrington had the most recent career, from 1955 to 1968. None of the men above him have scored 8000 runs, nor played more than 90 Tests. The debate then moves to how many of Sangakkara’s runs mean little? He is by far Bangladesh’s lead tormentor with the bat, having struck 1711 runs against them – over 15% of his career total. He has not gone easy on Zimbabwe in six innings either, averaging 89.88.To dismiss all those runs is unwise, particularly in light of this Chittagong innings, where only one other Sri Lanka batsman passed 50 and no one else reached triple figures. But for the sake of argument, Sangakkara has impressive numbers even if those teams are omitted. Of batsmen who have played in the last 15 years (qualification: 2000 runs), only Kallis has a better average than Sangakkara’s 52.68, and that only 0.30 higher. If the last 30 years are considered, Javed Miandad is the only other cricketer to join Kallis above Sangakkara on that list.A charge often leveled at Sri Lanka batsmen is that they make their runs on flat home pitches. Galle’s dry surface, however, is often as stiff a test of batting technique as any track in the world, and the P Sara Oval is regularly a result-venue. Still, omitting draws, and only counting matches among the top eight nations, Sangakkara’s figures hold up. Of the seven modern batsmen who have better averages in wins or losses, four – Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Damien Martyn – are from the legendary Australia team. The remaining three are AB de Villiers and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar. Tendulkar and Lara both rank well below Sangakkara.His away record against the top-eight teams does not place him as highly in the pantheon, but at 45.37, he is hardly liability outside Sri Lanka. Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Lara and Kallis have better away averages, alongside a host of other modern players, but Sangakkara’s returns are marginally better than Ponting’s.Where Sangakkara sets himself apart from Lara, Ponting and Tendulkar in particular, and veers towards all-time greatness, is when his records as a specialist batsman are separated from his career as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Sangakkara has not been the designated keeper for 61% of his 122-Test career, and in those matches, he has averaged 69.55. Only Don Bradman sits above him, and he is almost five clear of the next man. Clyde Walcott surpasses Sangakkara if Bangladesh and Zimbabwe are again stricken from his record, but he drops only that one place, retaining an average of 61.41. The next remotely modern batsman is Miandad, who scored his runs at 53.30.Sangakkara has hundreds against and in every Test nation, but perhaps there are more gaps in his record than the other modern greats. He averages 30.58 in England – a statistic he will hope to partially rectify in two Tests there in June. His average of 36.50 in India will likely remain at retirement, as will his 35.75 in South Africa. Unlike Ponting, Tendulkar and Lara, he was also incapable of demoralising attacks for much of his career – though recently that has begun to change. It is perhaps for this reason he does not place himself in the same realm as batting hero Brian Lara, whose double-century count he matched.”I grew up watching and idolising sir Vivian Richards,” Sangakkara said. “Then Brian Lara came along and he was magical to watch so I am pretty happy to have equalled him in some kind of way. But I don’t think I will equal him as a batsman, because I think he is on a completely different level to most of the batsmen I have seen.”I think I have surpassed him in very little. I may be fastest to 11,000 or whatever, but I don’t think I compare myself to him at all. There is no use of comparing myself to him. To me he is beyond reach.”Whatever Sangakkara’s own view, consistency is its own form of dominance. As he reaps the numerical rewards of his 14-year toil, it is time the wider cricket world appreciated his stature.

Australia are the hot team at the moment, but they’ll be up against a strong South African side who have an imposing record in Centurion, the venue for the first Test

S Rajesh11-Feb-2014They are currently the first and third-ranked teams in the ICC ratings, but recent results suggest they are the two best sides. South Africa are clearly the best team at the moment – they have won eight and drawn six of their last 14 series – but Australia are coming off a fearful hammering of England at home, and have been far more impressive than India, who are currently second in the ICC rankings. However, Australia will take that spot from India if they win the series by any margin; even a drawn series will suffice if India don’t win the second Test against New Zealand and level the series. Moreover, Australia were the last team to win a series against South Africa, when they won 2-1 in South Africa in 2008-09.The fact that the series is in South Africa makes it even spicier, given that Tests between the two countries in South Africa are rarely ever drawn. Since their readmission into international cricket, South Africa have played 17 Tests against Australia at home, of which only one has been drawn; on the other hand, six out of 18 Tests between these two teams have been drawn in Australia. The only drawn Test between these two teams during this period in South Africa was in 1994, which means the last 14 Tests here have all produced results.No matter where they’ve played, though, Australia have had the upper hand, winning roughly two matches for every Test they’ve lost. Their batsmen have averaged almost 35 runs per wicket, and scored 19 centuries in 17 matches. South Africa have averaged 28.77 runs per wicket with the bat at home against Australia, and scored 11 hundreds; they’ve done better with the bat in Australia, averaging 32.92 runs per wicket.

If it’s a contest between these two sides, then the focus is always on the pace attacks, for that’s always been the strength for both teams. Michael Clarke has announced that he feels Australia have the best pace attack in the world, but South Africa don’t have a bad line-up either: Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn are the top two ranked bowlers, with Morne Morkel at No. 13. Australia have Ryan Harris at No. 3, Peter Siddle at No. 5 and Mitchell Johnson at No. 9. In the last three years, South Africa’s fast bowlers have averaged 24.39 runs per wicket, compared to Australia’s 26.70. Those are the two best averages among all teams, and the numbers indicate too that there’s little to choose between the pace attacks of the two sides.Moreover, these fast bowlers will have the added incentive of bowling in South Africa, where conditions have always favoured pace. In all Tests since the beginning of 2006, fast bowlers have averaged 28.87 in South Africa, the only country where they’ve averaged less than 30.

Australia’s quick bowlers have usually enjoyed the conditions here. In the last series between the two teams here – in 2011-12 – South Africa’s pace attack, led by Philander and Steyn, outdid Australia’s, but in the series before that, Australia’s fast bowlers were clearly dominant. In 2008-09, Australia’s pace attack averaged 30.80 to South Africa’s 36.46, and in 2005-06, led by Stuart Clark, they were even more dominant, averaging 21.68 to South Africa’s 34.35.

The three South African fast bowlers in the current first-choice line-up all have excellent home records, with Philander, especially, being outstanding in his first ten home Tests. Australia’s spearhead, Johnson, has had a mixed time in South Africa: in 2009 he was on top of his game, taking 16 wickets at 25, but he had a terrible tour in 2011-12, taking three wickets at 85 each.

The batting comparison
The battle for pace-bowling supremacy is a closely contested one, with little to differentiate the two teams, but what could separate the two teams is the batting, and in that aspect South Africa look more solid, even without Jacques Kallis. In the last three years, South Africa’s overall batting average of 39.03 is well clear of the other teams. Australia are in second place, just like in the pace-bowling department, but their average of 33.33 is significantly below South Africa’s, who have scored 36 centuries in 24 Tests, compared to 39 in 35 Tests by Australia. Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis have formed a solid core for South Africa, while Michael Clarke has scored the bulk of the runs for Australia.

South Africa seem to have the more dependable batting line-up, but even they’ve had problems against Australia at home. Kallis averaged 41.22 in 29 Tests against Australia, but in 14 home Tests against them, he averaged only 33.62, with two centuries in 26 innings.Among the batsmen in the current squad, Graeme Smith has had more problems against Australia at home than in Australia, with his average dropping by about five runs at home. Similarly, Amla’s home average against Australia drops to 42.88 – which is still fairly healthy – from 51.10 in Australia.Australia’s best batsman has also had far more success against South Africa in home conditions: in six home Tests against them he averages 106.55; in five away Tests, he averages 34.11, though that also includes a fantastic 151 in Cape Town in 2011.

A venue for pace
To make matters worse for the batsmen, the first Test of the series will be played in Centurion, a venue which has been quite fast-bowler friendly in the last few years. Since the beginning of 2006, fast bowlers have averaged 28.88 here, and have taken 202 wickets at a strike rate of 50.7. Among venues which have hosted at least four Tests during this period, there are only five grounds where fast bowlers have a better average. On the other hand, spinners have averaged 44.65 here during this period, taking 38 wickets in eight Tests.The list of leading wicket-takers in Centurion is filled with fast bowlers, and most of them have superb averages. Steyn has 36 wickets from six Tests at 17.61, Morkel’s 17 wickets here have come at 23.41, while Philander has 12 at an average of 13.66.Among the leading run-scorers here, Amla (678 runs at 84.75) and de Villiers (866 runs at 61.85) have impressive stats, but South Africa will miss Kallis, who is the leading run-getter here with 1267 runs at 70.38.And apart from all these stats is South Africa’s daunting record in Centurion: in 18 Tests they’ve won 14 and lost one, against England in 2000, in a Test in which both teams forfeited an innings each. Since then, South Africa have won 11 and drawn two in 13 games. No team has such an imposing record at any venue in Test history: with a 12-Test cut-off, the next-best is Pakistan in Karachi, where they’ve won 21 and lost two. Since 1990, the next-best win-loss ratio by any team is South Africa’s record in Cape Town – the venue of the third Test – where they’ve won 18 times and lost thrice.Australia have played only once in Centurion – way back in 1997 – and lost by eight wickets. That, however, was a dead rubber, as Australia had already won the first two Tests of the three-match series. When play begins at Supersport Park on Wednesday, there’ll be plenty at stake for both teams.

Stiaan van Zyl and Dane Piedt were once young boys who dreamed of competing in the big leagues. Now they’re on the verge of playing Test cricket

Firdose Moonda18-Jun-2014It was the final day of the season at Kenridge Primary School. The children were going to play against the teachers in a traditional match-up, whose result mattered far less than the reputations that would be built and broken.The best batsman among the teachers, or at least the person who fancied himself as the best, was in to bat early on. The bowler had had a sleepless night waiting for this moment and was revving himself up as much as he could. He ran in with rage, everything about the furious movement of his arms and legs suggested it would be his quickest delivery of the season and perhaps even his best.And then the ball was released. The hurried swing of the willow was premature; the ball only reached the batsman after he had played the shot but before he could recover in time to attempt another. The bowler could barely believe his pace had abandoned him but watched with glee as the stumps splayed. The slower ball had done the job. Golden duck. The youngster could claim bragging rights for years to come.Nico Aldrich, the Under-12 coach of Kenridge Primary School, chuckles when he tells the story. “It was just one of those funny things. He thought he was bowling really quickly but it must have just come out wrong, and that teacher really thought he was going to score a lot of runs that day,” he said. The teacher remained nameless but the bowler was Stiaan van Zyl.Yes, the man who scored 933 runs in ten first-class matches last season and one of two players to have received a maiden call-up to South Africa’s Test squad for Sri Lanka, was a roaring quick as a youngster – or at least he thought was.The match took place more than a decade or so ago. Aldrich doesn’t remember if Dane Piedt, the other rookie in the touring party to Sri Lanka, was in attendance, but there is a good chance he was. Piedt was also a pupil at Kenridge and being three years younger than van Zyl was probably watching in awe, dreaming of the day he would be good enough to play against the teachers.Piedt’s superiors all thought that day was not far off, given his talent. He was only nine years old when he was identified as a bright sporting prospect. “At that age, kids are in grade three and the following year, in grade four, they move on to hard-ball cricket. But kids who show potential in grade three are allowed to use hard balls from the third term of that year, which is really quite something for them. Dane was one of those kids who was allowed to play hard-ball cricket early,” Felicity Hill, a teacher, remembered.Piedt was part of Hill’s mini-cricket group, formed after she and some of her fellow teachers had a Bakers coaching course at the school. “I never thought I would become involved in cricket but when I started at Kenridge, 25 years ago, they offered the coaching course and I did it. After that, we ran mini-cricket at the school for a group of kids. They even got invited to play on the field at Newlands during one of the internationals,” Hill said. “I’m 61 now and I am still doing it.”The Bakers programme, which ended in 2010 after being a part of the South African game for 27 years, and has been succeeded by KFC, was initiated by Ali Bacher and tasked with allowing children of various backgrounds to learn the basics of the game. After that, more specialised coaching was required and the cricketers of Kenridge Primary found that from a high-profile source.”Eric Simons’ son was also in that group of children with Dane, and Eric would come to the training sessions and offer the kids a bit of advice,” Hill said. “It was just awesome to have someone like him there.”Simons, a former national fast bowler, may have had some influence on van Zyl’s ambition of becoming a bowler but he did not change Piedt’s mind about what he wanted to do. “He was an opening batsman – very talented, a fantastic leader and always smiling, always happy,” Aldrich said.Piedt was the captain of Aldrich’s Under-12 side, which would often go on short cricket trips to compete against other schools. On one of them, in the nearby town of Worcester, Aldrich remembered Piedt being particularly optimistic.”We were sleeping over on the Friday night to play in the tournament on Saturday, and when we met for breakfast on the Saturday morning, Dane came to me and said he had a dream that we would win the tournament. I just laughed but later that day we actually did win.” Piedt was the star batsman.Dane Piedt was the star player in his Under-12 side•Kenridge PrimaryHe continued batting in the Under-13 matches, where his coach Eddie Fitzroy explained that he didn’t bowl much because of his stature. “Dane was short and quite small and everyone who was bowling then was bowling quickly, so he didn’t really bowl.”Fitzroy knew all about wannabe firebrands. Before coaching Piedt, he had coached van Zyl, whose enthusiasm knew no bounds. “Stiaan wanted to play everything across the line. We just couldn’t get him to play straight. And he didn’t want to take singles. Everything had to go,” he said. “So he batted in the middle order and we actually used him more as a bowler. He was left-arm over and absolutely devastating. Schoolboys struggle with that angle and he did really well.”It was up to Keith O’Kennedy, who ran a cricket academy at Kenridge, to help van Zyl refine his technique. “He had the ability to attack and it was about teaching him control,” O’Kennedy said. “After a while, I didn’t think I had seen a batsman who applied himself to playing so correctly as him.”Van Zyl also dabbled in rugby and was the school’s Under-13 fly half on an overseas tour to the UK, but his father steered him towards cricket. “The support Stiaan got from his parents was immense. They were always around to watch the Saturday games,” Fitzroy said. “Stiaan’s dad was very committed to cricket. He was involved with the South African blind cricket team, and then when Stiaan went to high school he coached the cricket team there.”Although O’Kennedy wanted to get talented players into traditional cricketing schools “so their games would progress”, van Zyl completed his schooling at the Boland agricultural school, Boland Landbou. His father took over as a sporting mentor and the teachers at Kenridge didn’t hear much about his progress until he started playing for the Cobras.O’Kennedy tried to get Piedt into Rondebosch Boys’ High School, where Gary Kirsten and Jonathan Trott had studied, “but they were full that year”. Piedt’s parents eventually enrolled him into SACS, Peter Kirsten’s alma mater. Piedt’s progression as a batsman continued and he was selected in the Western Province Under-19 side for the national tournament at the end of 2008, where he opened the batting and bowled.The competition was played in Port Elizabeth, where O’Kennedy had retired to, but he did not manage to see Piedt in action. “He called me and said he had been selected and I wasn’t at all surprised,” O’Kennedy said. “He was such a good player, even from a young age, that I always knew he would reach great heights. To know that I may have played a small part in that, and Stiaan’s achievements, is really superb.”For Kenridge, Piedt and van Zyl’s selections is a sign that they’re doing something right. “We work with so many kids – to see some of them progress so far is a great achievement for us,” Fitzroy said. He described the school as an “ordinary co-ed government school,” which sets them apart from the more elitist, single-sex privately-owned schools that have the resources to spawn international sportspeople.But what Kenridge has are “beautiful facilities,” according to O’Kennedy, and a way of “making sport really enjoyable for all the kids because it’s about having fun, playing games and giving people a chance.”Soon, it will also have two South African Test caps.

Zimbabwe recognise that they don’t have a bowling attack to blast out sides. Instead, they draw batsmen into making errors by sticking to disciplined lines and lengths over prolonged periods

Firdose Moonda in Harare10-Aug-2014There are a variety of ways to show skill on the cricket field. Modern spectators tend to prefer the emphatic ways of fiery fast bowlers, firmly struck boundaries and feisty fielding and are far less likely romanticised by an old-fashioned scrap. Watching Zimbabwe at work may force them into a rethink.The No.9 ranked Test team are held back by a lot of things including fixtures, finances and finely-tuned skills but they have learnt how to work within those limitations to push teams rated much higher than them as far as they can. What they lack in prowess they may make up for with pluckiness, a quality that has the ability to charm even the cold-hearted.That was evident on the first day when they stopped themselves from unravelling against a bowling attack whose reputation intimidates long before their actions do and emphasised on the second day with a bowling performance built on patience. Zimbabwe’s pack does not have out and out quicks or mystery spinners so they know they are unlikely to be able to blast teams out. They have to bore them out, and they’re happy to do that.That is why Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara adopt the Vernon Philander approach to discipline. They both bowl a good length outside offstump over and over and over again. A significant percentage of their deliveries can be watched as they go through to the wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami. They don’t make the batsman play nearly as much as they should and as a result they do not concede many runs.Between them, Panyangara and Chatara bowled 31 overs and conceded just 35 runs. Their message to the South African batsman was clear: if you want runs off us, you will have to come and get them and if you don’t want to, we will wait until you change your mind and when you do, maybe we’ll get you out.The third seamer, debutant Donald Tiripano, is still being schooled in those ways but he was the first to benefit from it when Dean Elgar chased one he would have left alone and was caught behind. Elgar had faced 146 balls for his 61 and the frustration mounted. That’s what Zimbabwe were banking on and it gave them three of the four wickets that fell.The lines and lengths Zimbabwe’s seamers offered and the surface they offered them on – a dry, slow pitch – tested will rather than willow, which is how Zimbabwe could claim some moral victories. Elgar admitted it took only a small lapse in concentration for Zimbabwe to break through. “I went out of my bubble a little bit. I had a bit of a brain fart and all you need is that one ball,” Elgar said.”They are very good bowlers in their conditions. The seamers are very patient. They stuck to the game plan well and are difficult to get away. They have no Dale Steyn, whose pace actually helps, but getting scoring opportunities is quite tough. They bowled well. We are lucky not to be more wickets down.”South Africa’s own laboured approach did not help them move the game forward but, like they said of the SSC two weeks ago, they were batting with brakes on because of the surface. “It’s a very subcontinent-like wicket,” Elgar said. “We felt like we were back in Sri Lanka.”South Africa’s focus on sluggish surfaces like this one is to spend as much time on it as possible and once again, the clock is on their side. After bowling Zimbabwe out early on the second morning, South Africa had the best part of four days to apply their strategy to win this match, which is to bat once, however slowly and leave enough time to bowl Zimbabwe out again.”Any runs ahead of their first-innings total is key for us. We’ve got to try and extend as much as possible tomorrow, even if it’s done slowly. We have to try and bat big,” Elgar said.Even if South Africa continue to score slowly, Zimbabwe will look to continue to bowl with discipline and eventually make some inroads. “Our plan is to keep it tight and do the basics right. If we can get two or three quick wickets we’d be happy,” John Nyumbu, the offspinner said.Nyumbu expects it to become “quite a bit more difficult” to score runs as the game goes on and although he did not say it, Zimbabwe will require a massive effort in their second innings to push for an unlikely win. They will not even tease themselves with that thought. What’s evident is that they are making the best use of their skills to ensure they are still in the game and making statements about it, however subtle those statements are.

Stats highlights from New Zealand’s eight-wicket win in Christchurch, their fifth Test victory in 2014

S Rajesh29-Dec-20147-2 New Zealand’s win-loss record in home Tests against Sri Lanka. In away Tests, they trail 4-6.5 The number of Tests New Zealand won in 2014, their highest ever in a year. Before this victory in Christchurch, they had beaten Pakistan in Sharjah, West Indies in Barbados and Jamaica, and India in Auckland. (Click here for their Test results in 2014.) New Zealand are also one of three teams – Australia and Sri Lanka are the others – to win five Tests this year.142 Wickets taken by Trent Boult and Tim Southee in the 17 Tests that both have played together since the beginning of 2013. Boult has 73 wickets at an average of 24.16, while Southee has 69 at 25.46. Together they have contributed 50.5% of all wickets taken by New Zealand’s bowlers in these 17 Tests. Among bowlers who have taken at least 50 Test wickets since the beginning of 2013, both Southee and Boult are in the top ten in terms of averages.59 The partnership between Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal, which is the joint third highest for the tenth wicket for Sri Lanka in Tests outside Asia. In second innings alone, it’s their fourth highest in all Test matches.1933 The number of runs Kane Williamson scored in all international matches in 2014, the highest ever for New Zealand in a year, and the fifth highest by any batsman this year. In Tests, Williamson scored 929 runs at 61.93 in 2014, while Brendon McCullum made 1164 runs at 72.75. They are the two highest Test aggregates for New Zealand in any year.154 The overs batted by Sri Lanka in their second innings. Only once have they batted longer when following on, at Lord’s in 2006, when they played 199 overs and saved the game. It ranks fourth among all follow-on efforts in Tests in New Zealand.

By elevating Jason Holder to the captaincy of a troubled team so early in his career, West Indies have risked stalling the development of an immensly promising cricketer

Daniel Brettig at the SCG27-Feb-20151:38

‘Have to improve death bowling’ – Holder

At the start of the second season of World Series Cricket, the embattled Australian Cricket Board appointed a new young captain in Graeme Yallop. Asked for his prediction of the forthcoming six-Test Ashes series, Yallop blithely predicted a 6-0 victory. A few months later he was left nursing a 5-1 mauling at the hands of Mike Brearley’s England, and would go on to publish a bitter account of the series entitled “Lambs to the Slaughter”.There is something of the lamb being led to a similarly grim fate about Jason Holder at this World Cup. Following a horrendous mess of leadership, board and player problems, his parachuting into the captaincy as the WICB’s man of choice has risked permanent damage to a fine young man and an allrounder of much potential. Imagine thrusting Steven Smith into Australia’s captaincy not this summer but during the 2010-11 Ashes, when he was still more embryo than cricketer, and you will have a fair parallel.Even AB de Villiers has sympathy for Holder’s situation, though he was never likely to show it during a sunny and warm afternoon at the SCG. Smarting from his own reverse in Melbourne at the hands of India, de Villiers tore at West Indies with a ferocity to match that shown at the Wanderers a few weeks ago. He had no qualms about turning his harshest light on Holder himself, utterly destroying his opposite number’s fast medium in an assault that left the younger man at his wits’ end.In 2000, at a time when West Indies’ decline was becoming apparent, Steve Waugh was asked whether he had any advice for his opposite number Jimmy Adams following a particularly heavy defeat in that year’s Boxing Day Test. Waugh did not hesitate with the rejoinder, “oh, have a serious drink tonight”, prompting widespread laughter in the room. Pondering Holder’s plight, de Villiers resorted to empathy rather than black humour.”While you’re playing it’s definitely not something you think about,” de Villiers said. “He’s actually a really nice guy, so yes, we’ve all been there, and I think every captain goes through really tough games – it was a tough game for him today but we had a tough game in the last one at Melbourne. I know for sure he’s mature enough to handle it, he’s got enough teammates and experience to look after him.”Unfortunately for Holder, the conflicts and intrigues of West Indies cricket leave him unable to know for sure who has their mind completely on the job. It also felt more or less inevitable that after his commanding performance against Zimbabwe in Canberra, Chris Gayle would not trouble South Africa for long at the SCG. Likewise Lendl Simmons showed a bizarre lack of awareness when declining to review an LBW decision when he had clearly edged Imran Tahir onto his front pad.Meanwhile Holder must work to understand his own tactical skills as a captain while at the same time developing and maturing as an allrounder. He may have misstepped in the afternoon by underbowling Gayle and Marlon Samuels on a pitch that later offered up generous spin and bounce for Tahir, and his inability to find a way to contain de Villiers allowed his thinking to veer into quite negative zones – he admitted afterwards that his best ploy towards the end of the innings was to hope he could keep de Villiers off strike.”He was obviously in full flow and my main thing was just to get him off strike and bowl a few more balls at [Farhaan] Behardien who had just come tot he crease,” Holder said. “The dropped chances didn’t help. If you take away my last two overs which AB really took me apart, it could have been a different story. We tried to execute some yorkers and we didn’t land them, but he created room which most batsmen probably wouldn’t have.”It was perhaps a time to note that no less a judge than Rohit Sharma had stated how he rated Dwayne Bravo the most difficult death bowler he has had to face, via a mastery of changes in pace and length that keeps the batsman guessing rather than the bowler. Kieron Pollard has a not dissimilar ability to change his pace, and had scored a fine century on this very ground. Both sit at home at the behest of the WICB.Walking off with a South African tally of 408 staring them in the face, Holder’s men looked beaten, and the early overs of their chase – more of a slump really – proved this beyond doubt. Older spectators in attendance, whether in the SCG’s stately Members Pavilion or other, newer quarters of the ground, were left to think back in puzzlement on how this once great collective of island nations had slumped so low, as yet another match between the ICC’s Full Members failed to produce the sort of willing contest served up by the supposedly lowlier Associates.Many of the crowd had already begun to drift out of the SCG in search of an evening drink in Paddington, Surry Hills or Darlinghurst when the night ended on the only note of any positivity for West Indies. The only consolation to be taken from the evening would be that this note would be played by no one other than Holder himself. In an innings of free spirit and ample leverage, he averted the heaviest ODI defeat of all time and performed some sort of salvage job on his team’s net run rate. There is fight in Holder, which is one reason why he has been given such an onerous job at such a callow age.”I’m pretty good with my game at the moment,” he said. “If I analyse my bowling today just one player took me out. It happens and I just need to figure what I can do better when things like that happen. My batting, we had nothing to lose but we needed to get some runs to try to help our net run rate, so just tried to be positive and stay out there. I was struggling a bit with cramp and felt I couldn’t go off, just had to fight it through and put some runs on the board for the team.”Nevertheless, the question the WICB and more senior players must ask of themselves is whether Holder can be allowed to take on so much of the burden of this team at such a developmental time in his life and career. Were his talent to be lost to a lack of confidence, an emergence of bitterness and a creep of indifference, Holder would not be to blame. It would be those around him and above him guilty of leading a lamb to the slaughter.