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Asia Cup trophy 'special' for Dhoni

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MS Dhoni made India the world champions on his captaincy debut in 2007 and has continued to rack up silverware like they are half off at a clearance sale

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur07-Mar-20162:50

‘Asia Cup is a special win for us’ – Dhoni

“It’s a special win.”MS Dhoni is not often prone to such grandiose statements, least of all in front of a cadre of journalists searching for big, bold headlines and hashtaggable quotes. He even confessed to changing the speech he had cooked up for a function at the Indian High Comission last Sunday upon hearing the media would also be present. So when a man who measures his words so carefully felt the Asia Cup “was an important one to win”, you get curious.On the surface, it doesn’t look particularly startling. An eight-wicket victory in a rain-curtailed game where India were chasing 121 in 15 overs. It was their sixth on the trot, meaning they were in form, and everyone from the opposition captain to umpteen cricket experts had tagged them as the favourites. India were ranked No. 1. Bangladesh were at No. 10. Things merely panned out to establish that, right?Sure. If Twenty20 cricket cowed down to logic like that.Dhoni seemed acutely aware of the format’s penchant to make anything happen and he worked tirelessly to ensure he wasn’t caught off guard. He had assessed this to be the “best batting wicket in the tournament”, but keeping the runs down was crucial because “it is a knockout game. If it’s an off day for you, you’re completely out and you have to start all over again.”Going back to the drawing board with a World T20 waiting for them when they return home was not an option. So Dhoni was adamant to stay ahead of the game. He brought Ashwin on for the first over to perhaps see if the ball turning away from the left-handers could offer India an edge. It didn’t so he was quick to bring on Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been absolute nuisances to opening batsmen since the start of the year. Soumya Sarkar fell in the fourth over, Tamim Iqbal followed him in the fifth.Dhoni drew Ashwin out of his sleeve again the minute the Powerplay was done, but that also meant he had only one over left from each of his three lead bowlers for the rest of the innings.He kept Bumrah for the final over – which yielded only seven runs – knocked Nehra’s quota off in the 13th so he needn’t feel too much pressure on the one day he didn’t seem at his best and sprung Ashwin on Shakib Al Hasan in the 10th after the batsman had crashed Hardik Pandya’s pace for a brace of boundaries in the eighth. A lazy sweep resulted in a top-edge and short fine leg was perfectly placed.

“Asia Cup is one tournament that happens every alternate year. So you don’t get a lot of opportunity. Once you get an opportunity, it is important to get to the final and once you are there you look to win.”MS Dhoni on winning another trophy

Dhoni made India the world champions on his captaincy debut in 2007 and has racked up ICC silverware like they are half off at a clearance sale. Big finals seem to be his forte. He is animated, even a bit OCD, when setting the field. He has a helpful word or two to the bowler when things aren’t going well, like after Hardik Pandya was smashed for two sixes in the penultimate over. The two legitimate balls after that conversation – noticeably fuller and straighter – yielded only two runs.In short, Dhoni became very involved because he was playing a final in a tournament that featured four of the ten Test nations. And he wanted his team to be the best.”Recently if you see there have not been too many tournaments where three nations have participated,” Dhoni said. “Asia Cup is one tournament that happens every alternate year. So you don’t get a lot of opportunity. Once you get an opportunity, it is important to get to the final and once you are there you look to win.”There was another player who was as vigilant as Dhoni was. He had come into tonight’s game with scores of 2, 1 and 16 not out and was the guiding force behind a superbly calculated chase: Shikhar Dhawan.His 60 off 44 balls began in familiar fashion – with a four through point – but this one was ever so minimalist. Dhawan hoped to only time the ball and he was careful not to waft the bat out away from his body. The ball, as if thoroughly impressed, sped off to the boundary defying an outfield was still a bit soggy after the storm. Awareness of that fact fed into his running as well. The 94-run match-winning stand he had with Virat Kohli began with a couple, then a single and then a couple again, all rapidly run. And the routine continued. Bangladesh were never allowed to build any pressure.Dhawan made India comfortable with a couple of fours off inexperienced left-arm seamer Abu Hider, punished the experienced Shakib when his left-arm spin was fired in too quickly or was too short in length. A late cut in the sixth over epitomised Dhawan’s ingenuity. Third man was up, the ball was short, his shot selection couldn’t have been more perfect.Then out came Dhoni, who finished the match off in a whirlwind of fours and sixes. The chase didn’t even go to the final over. Neither India nor their captain wanted to leave anything to chance tonight.

The dual cricketizens

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Kevin Pietersen has fuelled the fire over a potential international comeback for South Africa. If the extraordinary did happen, he would join a select group of players to have appeared for two countries. ESPNcricinfo picks out a few names

Andrew McGlashan10-Apr-2016Albert TrottBorn in Melbourne, Trott played three Tests for Australia in 1895 with considerable success, but was ignored for the 1896 tour of England, ironically captained by his brother Harry, and was not picked again. Instead, he joined Middlesex, and in the winter of 1899, played two Tests for England on the tour of South Africa, claiming 17 wickets in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The following summer, he crossed 1000 runs, alongside taking 239 wickets – it was also the season when he famously hit a six over the Lord’s pavilion – but there were no further Tests despite, at the turn of the century, being considered “just about the finest all-round cricketer on earth,” as David Frith wrote in a 1973 edition of .Nawab of Pataudi snrThe only man to have played for India and England, he made a century on Test debut against Australia at the SCG in the Bodyline tour of 1932-33, but returned home before the end of the series after a disagreement over the tactics employed by Douglas Jardine. One more England Test followed before, in 1936, he was named India captain for the tour of England, although he was later not fit for the trip. Due to the Second World War, it was not until 1946 that he appeared in a Test again. By then, his best years were behind him and he made just 55 runs in five innings.John TraicosAn offspinner, Traicos holds the record for the longest gap between Test appearances of (the very neat) 22 years and 222 days. Born in Egypt – another good quiz question – he grew up in South Africa and made his debut in 1970 against Australia, but three Tests were the sum total of his chance. Having then gone to play in Zimbabwe, or Rhodesia, as it was known then, he made his ODI debut for them in 1983, and when they were granted Test status in 1992, was still bowling well enough to earn a place. On his second debut, at the age of 45, he took 5 for 86 in 50 overs against India in Harare – including the scalp of Sachin Tendulkar for a third-ball duck.Kepler WesselsThe most recent dual-nation Test player, Wessels returned to captain South Africa – including at the 1992 World Cup – following their readmission to international cricket post-apartheid. This came after a long career in Australia that included three years at Test level and stints in World Series Cricket. Two of his six Test centuries came for South Africa: the first against India in Durban then a historic innings at Lord’s in 1994 in what would become his final series. While playing for Australia, he fronted up outstandingly against the West Indies pace attack of the mid-80s with scores of 61, 98, 70, 90 and 173 during the 1984-85 series.Luke RonchiThe most recent player to switch between Full Member nations, Ronchi made his New Zealand ODI and T20 debuts in 2013 having previously played four ODIs and three T20s for Australia between 2008 and 2009 – which included a 22-ball fifty against West Indies. He was born in New Zealand, but raised in Australia, which created his first route into international cricket but after his Australia career faded he looked back across the Tasman. He made his New Zealand debut at Lord’s in May 2013, marking the occasion with a duck, and it took him 20 ODIs to pass fifty again when he made 99 against South Africa. His returns have been inconsistent, but the highlight was an unbeaten 170 against Sri Lanka, in Dunedin, when he shared a world-record sixth-wicket stand of 267 with Grant ElliottEd Joyce and Boyd RankinNever mind switching once, these two have done it twice. Joyce and Rankin both started their careers with Ireland before opting to pursue international honours with England. Joyce played ODIs and T20s – including at the 2007 World Cup where he faced Ireland – while Rankin reached Test level with what became a difficult outing against Australia at the SCG in early 2014. Joyce was granted an exemption to return for Ireland at the 2011 World Cup shortly before his four-year re-qualification period had elapsed but, after the ICC tweaked the regulations, Rankin only had to wait two years from his last England appearance and returned to Ireland’s T20I side shortly before the recent World T20 in India.

Will the CPL return to Florida?

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Lauderhill is home to the CPL in the USA currently, but a host of criteria, such as the absence of local fans and the tropical weather, go against it and could force a change

Peter Della Penna08-Aug-2016The Caribbean Premier League’s maiden foray into playing on US soil was a chance for the sport to be revived at the Central Broward Regional Park (CBRP) in Lauderhill to combat the burgeoning presence of soccer at the facility. In some ways, the CPL accomplished this because, India agreed to play two Twenty20 Internationals against West Indies shortly after the league’s conclusion. That would have made it two big-ticket events in successive months at CBRP after going four years without a major revenue-generating cricket event.CPL officials have repeatedly said they are committed to coming back again. Several sources have even said CPL officials explored hosting the finals in Florida, though the limited number of pitches on the square would have posed a basic logistical problem. Whether coming back means Florida or to elsewhere in the USA remains to be seen though.The CPL has declined multiple requests to provide official attendance figures for the games in Florida, but the raw visual evidence for bums in seats over the course of the four days in Lauderhill was a mixed bag.Seating capacity at the venue is malleable based on the desires of each tenant. For the CPL, they opted to cap sales for each day at 10,000 people. The July 28 curtain-raiser between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Barbados Tridents was played in front of a crowd that was comfortably less than half of that total, while a Friday night match on July 29 between Trinbago Knight Riders and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots was marginally better.By far the best crowd of the weekend showed up for the July 30 doubleheader, led off by the Jamaica Tallawahs and St Lucia Zouks and followed by the Warriors and Tridents. Though the 5000 permanent seats on the south half of the venue were officially sold out and total attendance was estimated to be around 8000, it was a deceptive tally. At no point were the permanent seating sections filled up because many fans who bought a ticket for the day either came for the first or second game, but not both, though the crowd was much fuller and noisier for the latter contest with the Guyana expat community turning out in force.A similar scene was on display for July 31. The opening game of a 12 pm doubleheader start was played in front of a healthy crowd with the Trinidad expat community providing overwhelming support for the Knight Riders against the Patriots. However, game two between the Tallawahs and Zouks was played in a stadium that was almost half-empty, exacerbated by an early finish to game one and a 50-minute lightning delay to push back the first ball of game two.Despite the fact that local officials hyped up the Jamaican expat community’s presence in the Lauderhill area as a reason for Saturday and Sunday’s games having better sales than the first two days, this was not borne out by the evidence. Support for the Tallawahs flagged well behind that given to the Warriors and Knight Riders and local fans were hard to find.Instead, out-of-towners provided the majority of the gate revenue. Support was strongest from fans traveling to Florida from New York and Toronto for the weekend. One party of 50 Guyanese cousins and friends living in Queens, New York made the trip down to Florida. According to Kyazoonga, the official ticketing website, tickets were sold online to people from at least 35 states, further promoting the image of a tourist-dominated event. Even if the stands were not jam-packed by locals, they were definitely vibrant and loud.A shining example of this was the Balchand family, who drove down 20 hours from Ozone Park in the Queens borough of New York City to take in the weekend action. Originally from Guyana, Darren Balchand and his wife Shafiqua came to New York in 1991. Their four kids, all rabid cricket fans, were all born in New York. Darren came with his eldest son Ronald, now 20, back in 2012 to see the West Indies play New Zealand, but this time the rest of the family made the trip, including twins Damien and Alicia, 16, and youngest brother Brandon, 14.”We’re West Indians so our cricket is a very festive atmosphere and I like that we don’t have to go all the way to the West Indies to experience that,” says Ronald. “We can have the same experience here.”High summer temperatures added to the fans’ discomfort during the Florida leg of CPL 2016•Peter Della PennaIt wasn’t just the West Indian expats that came from New York though. Joel Katz, 52, and his wife Susan discovered cricket while on vacation in the Caribbean three years ago. They went to six CPL games in St Kitts in 2015 and decided on seeing games in Florida this time around mainly because there were six games slated for Florida, but only four games scheduled at every other home venue. Quite simply they were willing to travel to any venue for the CPL, they just wanted to see as much cricket as possible.”Last week, I saw the Mets at Wrigley [in Chicago] for the game the Mets won in the ninth and I gotta say Cubbie fans are into their local team but here everybody is having a blast,” said Joel, who was decked out in Tallawahs gear all weekend, eager to see his favorite cricketer. “Chris Gayle. Christopher Henry Gayle! He brings such excitement to the game. You never know which Chris Gayle is gonna walk onto the field. It’s just a great experience. I’ve never been to Lord’s but I can’t imagine this kind of experience there.”However, there was a subtle difference between the Katz and Balchand families that was repeated throughout the stadium on all four days. Most fans of West Indian heritage who had their kids born and raised in the USA brought them out to enjoy the festivities, regarding it as a very family-friendly atmosphere. While there were numerous Americans outside of the West Indian community present, none of them brought their kids.This cultural disconnect was summed up by a middle-aged couple from Connecticut who came out for the entire weekend. David and Trudie retired on a yacht to Trinidad and discovered the CPL while based there, going to the finals last year at Queen’s Park Oval in Port-of-Spain. While saying they loved every minute of it, they also confessed they wouldn’t even think of bringing their grandkids, while nodding to a group of carnival girls dancing at the front of their section. “We call this baseball with strippers,” said David.Whether one considered the event family friendly or not, a bigger concern was the stifling heat and humidity, which also contributed to fans leaving early or showing up late on the pair of doubleheader days. Temperatures remained over 90F every day with a real feel climbing over 100F when humidity was factored in. It was one of the few complaints people like the Katz and Balchand families had about the experience and several sources stated that vendors ran out of beer on the first doubleheader day with fans desperate to quench their thirst.Summer in New York can be hot, but generally is a bit more moderate and without the threat of tropical weather interfering. The Cricket All-Stars crowd at Citi Field in New York last November was officially 27,846. Based on the healthy contingent of fans from New York who traveled south for the CPL this year, such a number could be within reach for the CPL should they decide to stage games in New York in the near future.However, league organizers appear to be firm in their stance that the games must be played on fields with true boundary dimensions. A drop-in wicket at Citi Field may have been passable for the All-Stars, but 45-meter boundaries will not be for the CPL. Lauderhill may a default candidate to host CPL games in the USA in the near future if the league decides to persist with it’s expansion in the USA, but as soon as a suitable turf wicket venue becomes available in New York, don’t be surprised to see the league leave Florida behind.

Bangladesh Test attack finally finds its bite

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Taking 20 wickets against England was a significant step forward for Bangladesh – but work is required, particularly on pace bowling, to maintain their progress

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong25-Oct-2016The Chittagong Test has become a prime example for Bangladesh on how to benefit by giving deeper thought to their bowling attack. In other words, the team hierarchy gave more priority to a winning approach rather than settling for a draw.Enforcing their game plan on England, who were playing their first Test in the subcontinent since 2012, was itself an encouraging sign. It was hardly a gamble, though. Apart from Shakib Al Hasan, there was hardly any other reason for the visitors to really fear the Bangladesh attack going into the match.They ended up taking 20 wickets in the game for only the ninth time in their Test history (though this was the first time that they did so in a loss). The three-man spin attack made all the running, taking 18 of the wickets to fall. It was quite obvious that the management would put more emphasis on making sure that the spinners got the best use of a sporting pitch, the best condition of the ball and for them to bowl at almost every juncture. Unlike England, there was no team effort to ensure the ball was maintained for reverse swing because there was hardly any trust put on the two pace bowlers, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Shafiul Islam.Their success was mostly due to the trio of spinners – Shakib, Taijul Islam and Mehedi Hasan – and despite the ineffectiveness of Rabbi and Shafiul.Shakib led the pack superbly by finishing with seven wickets in 52 overs, which included his 150th in Tests. His steadiness through his consistent use of the shoulder and the crease, subtle variety that includes short bursts of spin on the ball and endurance in bowling marathon spells regularly, has been the bedrock of Bangladesh’s bowling for the last eight years. It was at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, on the day before the Test against New Zealand in 2008, when Jamie Siddons pronounced Shakib as the leader of the bowling attack in Bangladesh’s first Test after Mohammad Rafique’s retirement.

“I don’t think Shafiul and Kamrul bowled that badly. It was a learning experience for them, and they realised that they need to know how to bowl with the old ball”Mushfiqur Rahim

Shakib responded with 7 for 36 in the first innings of that game and, since then, he has been the attacker, the stock bowler and the end-blocker in nearly every Test. Because of his quality, specialist spinners in Bangladesh line-ups are often called the second spinner, among whom Taijul moved past Sohag Gazi as the highest wicket-taker during this Test.Taijul, who is slightly different to the conventional Bangladeshi left-arm spinner with his high jump before landing on the crease, has big fingers which help him control the amount of spin he wants to impart on the ball. He picked up four wickets in this game, and was the most economical among the three spinners. He has shown the consistent ability to hold up one end, which is what Bangladesh has always looked for in a second spinner bowling opposite Shakib.Bangladesh also got a glimpse of Mehedi, the debutant offspinner who finished with seven wickets in the game. Coming off a simple action, Mehedi produced heavy turn on the ball. Ben Duckett found out first hand when he went to defend a ball pitched on leg stump but saw it turn back to hit the inside half of the off stump. It was a remarkable way to pick up a first Test wicket, and Mehedi finished with 6 for 80 in the first innings.His ability to make full use of the brand new ball, and then doing the conventional spinner’s duty of bowling with the old ball was impressive, and so was his attitude on the field. He looked eager to be listening in on conversations that involved the senior bowlers. His hunger has been talked about widely in the domestic circuit, where he usually partners left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak for Khulna Division in the first-class competition.A run-out accounted for one of the other two England wickets in Chittagong. The other one went to Rabbi, who was also making his Test debut. It was the only wicket that went to the pace bowlers, who accounted for 28 overs in total, giving away 108 runs. Shafiul was the only one given the new ball, but bowled just four overs with it. Shakib, Mehedi and Taijul were the bowlers mainly entrusted with the new ball.The trend will continue in the second Test for which Bangladesh have picked the uncapped seamer Subashis Roy. If he makes his debut in Dhaka, he will be part of one of Bangladesh’s least experience new-ball attacks with Kamrul Islam Rabbi having played just the one Test. But there’s no guarantee that both will be picked, or whether any one of them will get the new ball.England also handed the new ball to their spinners but, unlike Bangladesh’s quicks, the likes of Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes generated much reverse swing in both innings, tellingly on the final day when Taijul and Shafiul were victims of late movement into their pads.According to Bangladesh’s captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, there is a dearth of pace bowlers in the country who can offer variety in the longer version, especially bowling with the old ball. He said that it would be foolish to expect bowlers like Shafiul and Rabbi to have skills mastered by England’s seam attack. He suggested that Al-Amin Hossain and Rubel Hossain, both of whom have Test bowling averages over 75, wouldn’t have made much of a difference.Shakib Al Hasan led the way with the ball but he was given solid support by Mehedi Hasan and Taijul Islam•AFP”Al-Amin and Rubel also don’t have an extraordinary Test record,” he said. “Does anyone know how many first-class bowlers we have who can bowl well with the old ball? It is hard to find such a bowler. If you look at a scorecard from our first-class competitions, you will invariably see a spinner taking a five-for and the pace bowlers taking one or two wickets.”If a bowler doesn’t know how to set up a batsman, and bowl according to the field, then you can’t expect him to do it at the Test level. It is easy for guys like Broad and Stokes who have been doing it for years. I don’t think Shafiul and Kamrul bowled that badly. It was a learning experience for them, and they realised that they need to know how to bowl with the old ball.”Mushfiqur said that the Chittagong pitch suited their game plan, which wasn’t always the case in previous Tests at home. “[Zahid Reza] Babu bhai made an outstanding wicket. I think this is the first time that we played on a surface which suited our game plan,” he said.”Our bowlers did a great job. If we could have played on such wickets in domestic cricket, we could have prepared differently for this game. But still, we took 20 wickets which I see as a positive sign.”The question mark on Bangladesh’s first-class structure crops up every time a Test is lost, and even on the rare occasions when they win or draw. At other times, it is called “picnic cricket” because that is all it has been sine 1999 – a big picnic where the players get together to play for three months in various towns, get less pay than they do in the Dhaka Premier League and only focus on personal records rather than enriching the four-day game or the competition.There is little effort being made to cleanse this attitude, with most of the interest in Bangladesh cricket lying with one-dayers and T20s. Test cricket, as a result, suffers. But a Test match like the one in Chittagong gives more reasons to take it seriously, and plug the large holes in the make-up of the team. Taking 20 wickets against England is a good start, and Bangladesh must look at ways to maintain this performance.

Spinners stir after change to toss rules

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Changes to the toss in England’s county game were intended to encourage spin back into Championship cricket. But have they been successful?

Alan Gardner28-Sep-2016Last year, when announcing the ECB’s decision to change the coin toss before the start of Championship matches, Peter Wright, chairman of the cricket committee, set out the thinking behind the move: “By giving the away team the option of bowling first, we hope the home side will be encouraged to produce the best possible four-day pitch. That will be good for cricket in general, and not only for spinners.”So, with the dust settling on a four-day finale to remember at Lord’s, has the new regulation succeeded? Did better pitches help to rebalance the game, allowing English spinners to gain more traction?Leaving aside the sight of Alex Lees and Adam Lyth serving up a few declaration lobs against eventual champions Middlesex on Sky TV on the final day of the season (probably not the sort of exposure the ECB had in mind), there were certainly some encouraging signs.Speaking earlier in the month, Andrew Strauss, England’s director of cricket and a member of the ECB’s cricket committee, indicated that the governing body has been satisfied by the trial.”Anecdotally it’s been a really important step forward,” Strauss said. “We’ve played on better pitches, more games have gone to the fourth day, the bowlers who have done well are those more likely to play international cricket, there have been different challenges on batsmen and spinners have bowled more overs.”From an anecdotal point of view I think it’s achieved most of the objectives we set out. I’ve always thought we can judge it too soon. But the noises are encouraging, and once people have got their heads round the idea, in my opinion, it has nudged the right behaviour.”In Division One, the effect was marked by two spinners – Warwickshire’s Jeetan Patel and Somerset’s Jack Leach – topping the wicket-takers’ list. Not since 2009, when Danish Kaneria and James Tredwell led the way in Division Two, were the two most successful Championship bowlers both purveyors of spin.Patel, a vastly experienced international, has been recalled by New Zealand on the back of his good form and was already regarded as the best spinner in the county game, having taken 50-plus wickets in each of the past five seasons, although this was still his best return; Leach on the other hand enjoyed a breakthrough year as Somerset tailored their surfaces to suit the slow left-armer as the summer progressed and they narrowly missed out on a first title.Middlesex also benefited, eventually. Despite drawing seven of their first eight games and not winning at Lord’s until August, they came through strongly in the second half of the season and held off Yorkshire and Somerset in a taut last round. Ollie Rayner’s 51 wickets (another personal best) made him a vital component of their attack.”It has made a difference,” Middlesex’s director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said. “If its design was to get spinners more involved then it’s been a success because you just have to look at the top wicket-takers in the country.”This time last year, Rayner was writing for ESPNcricinfo on the difficulties of bowling spin in England. Given greater responsibility and more overs – 444 compared to 273 in 2015 – he has risen impressively to the challenge, though ultimately neither he nor Leach won inclusion for England’s subcontinental challenges this winter.

“It’s been a new learning skill for a lot of county cricketers, who haven’t had to face the prospect of serious spin before”Somerset captain Chris Rogers was positive about the experiment

Fraser is also an England selector and, as well as having greater options to discuss – Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Zafar Ansari and the 38-year-old Gareth Batty were the slow bowlers selected for next month’s tour of Bangladesh – he suggested cricket “is more complete” when spin plays its full part. He was in no doubt about the strides that Rayner has made.”The pitches have meant, one: he’s bowled more overs, two: he’s been in the game and three: he’s grown in confidence,” Fraser said. “So the fact he’s been used as a potent weapon rather than just a stopgap has given him far more confidence, and extra overs, so therefore he’s got into rhythm and the whole thing’s opened up for him because of it. So it’s been hugely positive for spinners in that respect.”The fact is, he’s done a bloody good job, because on pitches that weren’t offering a great deal, as in the past he’s offered us control, but then on the surfaces when you’d expect him to come to the front, he has done. We would have won two or three more matches but for weather and a lot of that would have been on Ollie.”While Middlesex would have liked to see a bit more pace and carry in the surfaces at Lord’s – they have discussions with the MCC and groundsman Mick Hunt at the start of each year – the team they pipped to top spot went down a different route. Somerset also won one and drew seven of their opening eight matches; they then lost on a green Taunton pitch that improved to the extent that Middlesex chased 302 in 46 overs. After that, in the words of their captain, Chris Rogers, Somerset were “forced to try the spin path and it worked”.Rogers, who has suggested a similar tweak to the toss rules could work in Australia, admitted that the change of tactics did not play to his strengths, as an opening batsman with huge experience against the new ball nibbling around in damp conditions, but said his own game – batting and as a captain – had improved in the process.”Initially it didn’t overly help, there were so many draws and a lot of sides were struggling to find the best ways to create results,” he said. “But certainly towards the back end of the year, there were a lot more results and teams worked things out a bit more – for instance we made the pitches spin and sometimes those games were over very quickly but at least it was a contest.”If anything it’s been a new learning skill for a lot of county cricketers, who haven’t had to face the prospect of serious spin before, and facing so many overs of spin, so in many respects I think it’s been good for the English game.”

By one measure, Division Two spinners were entrusted less. The number of overs of spin delivered in the second tier dropped from 4295 in 2015 to 3581 this year

He did sound one note of caution, however: “My only worry is whether you won’t find as many high-quality seam bowlers coming through that England have always seemed to be quite proud of, and even fewer opening batsmen who learn the skills to be able to play the swinging and seaming new ball. But I do think in the end it’s for the benefit of English cricket.”The full picture will take time – perhaps several seasons – to come to light. While spin became an instrumental factor in Division One, the rule change had a negligible effect in the second tier, where the leading slow bowler was Northamptonshire’s Rob Keogh, with 31. That more than doubled the number of first-class wickets Keogh, a top-order batsman, had taken in his career.By one measure, Division Two spinners were actually entrusted less. While the number of overs of spin delivered in Division One rose from 4395 in 2015 to 6231 this year, in Division Two it dropped from 4295 overs to 3581.This could have been down to a number of factors. There were few experienced spinners beyond Tredwell at Kent operating in the second division, so clubs were inevitably less inclined to set up that way; if young talent is not (yet) there, it will take time to bring through. Another consideration may be that, with only one team going up, there was greater pressure to get results. Essex, the Division Two winners, relied heavily on their seam-bowling strengths but head coach, Chris Silverwood, was positive that better pitches had been good for Essex, and the game in general.”I think it will help everybody produce better cricketers,” Silverwood said. “Playing in good conditions, you’ve got to bowl well to get your wickets but, equally, you’ve got to bat well to get your runs. To me, the blend itself will produce better cricketers, full stop, and possibly bring spin back into the game.”One inarguable statistic was that the number of results dropped from 93 to 71, although if, as Strauss suggests, the priority is to produce battle-hardened players ready for the drawn-out rigours of Test cricket, that need not be a bad thing.There may well be dissenters out there, though. Yorkshire’s captain, Andrew Gale, spoke against the move when it was announced and the change possibly contributed to his team missing out on a third straight title, having suffered rare defeats at Headingley and Scarborough (only one opponent, Surrey, opted not to insert Yorkshire on their own patch). Others grumbled darkly about Somerset switching to turners – their victory over Warwickshire saw 21 wickets fall on the opening day – to fuel an unexpected Championship bid.Fraser has even suggested taking the rule change a step further. “You wonder whether the toss should be taken away completely from the home side, so then you avoid any of those contentious situations,” he said.It is perhaps too early to tell if the fortunes of English spin are on the turn but, either way, the flip of a coin has never been so hotly discussed.

Australia in the crucible, past and present

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Australian cricket finds itself at a critical juncture, not unlike a few instances in the past, and the results of the next two days in Hobart could have far-reaching effects on the system and players

Daniel Brettig14-Nov-2016Australian cricket’s story is littered with crucible moments; times when the national team has either stood up or flaked out. In the moment, these instances may not seem that important, only gaining resonance through what happens afterwards. Other moments stand out like beacons almost from the second they take place. Whatever is decided at levels above, whatever reviews or appointments take place, the fate rests ultimately with the players.The third dull, wintry day in Hobart felt like one such day and the next two to follow are no less important. Australia are so far behind South Africa they have only slim hope of getting out of Bellerive without a match and series defeat, but it is vital that they show evidence of improvement. The jobs of many, from the chief executive James Sutherland down to the debutant Callum Ferguson, are on the line.How much hinges on all this? Remember the words of the coach Darren Lehmann after Australia were bundled out for 85 on day one. Asked about the future, he did not want to think about the consequences of a hiding. “I’ll probably tell you in a few days,” he said. “Hopefully we fight back really well and the future is bright. We know we’ve got to get better in a lot of areas, we’ve always said that. Even four Tests ago when we were No.1. Now we’re way away from that.”Each of the past five Australian captains have met moments of similar weight – of both the winning and losing varieties. For Allan Border, perhaps the most resonant was day one of the 1989 Ashes series at Headingley, when he came out to bat after a pair of early wickets on an overcast day and played an innings so brazen it included one six cut hard over backward point – back in the day when that shot was almost unheard of. Sixteen years of Ashes dominance were forged that morning.Border experienced the other side towards the end of his career, when he and his team were unable to take a chance to defeat West Indies in a series for the first time in 17 years. A chase of 186 to win in Adelaide was left too much in the hands of the tail, leaving Australia one run short of victory, and Border to hurl his “worry ball” so hard into the dressing room floor that it rebounded to strike the ceiling.For Mark Taylor, a personal turning point did not dovetail with team success, but foreshadowed it. By the time of the second innings of the first Ashes Test in 1997, he had gone 19 innings without passing 50, and a previously happy and dominant team were feeling the strain. Rolled by Darren Gough and Andy Caddick, then clattered to all parts of Edgbaston by Graham Thorpe and Nasser Hussain, Australia started their second innings 360 runs behind.Without a hundred, Taylor’s captaincy would have been at an end, and in the early overs the tension was close to unbearable. But in the company of Matthew Elliott and Greg Blewett, he carved out an “ugly” hundred, adding respectability to the scoreboard and allowing the team enough breathing space to regroup and ultimately win the series. Taylor led the team for another two years.Again in England, Steve Waugh’s captaincy came under enormous pressure during the 1999 World Cup, following on from a surprising 2-2 Test series draw against West Indies in the Caribbean. The team was not happy, Waugh and Shane Warne butting heads, and losses to New Zealand and Pakistan left the team needing to win each of their last seven matches of the tournament or face elimination at every stage. Waugh’s response, most pointedly in a pair of nail-biters over South Africa, was to make critical runs. Warne, by now toying with retirement, overcame doubts about a shoulder still regaining strength after surgery to rip the ball in his former fashion. The World Cup was won, and Waugh stayed on as leader until 2004.Michael Clarke’s leadership tale turned triumphant when Mitchell Johnson was given the ball before lunch on the second day of the Gabba Test in 2013-14•Getty ImagesDespite a winning record overall, Ricky Ponting’s leadership is remembered most for a pair of Ashes defeats. The first in 2005 was said to have swung on Glenn McGrath’s injured ankle, but Ponting’s call to send England in even after he knew he would be without his best pace bowler proved much the more fateful juncture, leading ultimately to the loss of the urn for the first time since Border’s 1989 redemption.Move ahead to 2010-11, and a home Ashes series now viewed as one sided may actually have pivoted on the loss of two wickets either side of the first drinks on Boxing Day. Phillip Hughes and Ponting were prospering well enough in front of a mighty crowd when the former skewed Tim Bresnan to point, before next over the captain snicked Chris Tremlett into the slips. The former coach Tim Nielsen still gnashes his teeth about that one and all the ignominy to follow – it proved to be Ponting’s last Test as captain.Michael Clarke’s leadership tale always teetered between triumph and disaster with little in between. The pivotal point leading to the former came when Mitchell Johnson took the ball just before lunch on day two of the first 2013-14 Ashes Test at the Gabba, worrying out Jonathan Trott as per team plans and sending momentum flooding to Australia. The latter, perhaps harder to isolate, was arguably the second afternoon of the Cardiff Test in 2015, when a series of squandered starts sentenced Australia to an opening defeat in a series they would never lead. Clarke, fighting his own inner battles, was en route to retirement from that moment.So it is that Steven Smith’s men find themselves in the crucible at Bellerive. They enjoyed a far better day on Monday than Saturday, even if Quinton de Kock’s impersonation of Adam Gilchrist gathered impressive depth. The batting spine shown by Smith and Usman Khawaja, in particular, demonstrated a level of self-knowledge about where this team now stands after four consecutive losses and the distinct prospect of a fifth. The heaviness of expectation was not lost on Josh Hazlewood.”Extremely important I think,” he said. “Everyone knows we need to improve and improve quickly. We talk amongst ourselves and everyone knows we need to improve. So I think it’s about everyone individually doing what they can on or off the field, and important to do it as a group as well. Hopefully it happens on the field. We’re obviously a pretty tight group, we play a lot of cricket together and we’re on the road together a lot. Everyone gets along fantastically on and off the field, but now’s an important time to stick together and even be tighter.”Australian cricket has never been richer or better resourced. The national team’s players have never been better paid nor looked after. There are problems with scheduling, and issues of coaching philosophy as it relates to the business of batting. But Australia’s Test team is ultimately in the hands of the players who shape it, through their own skill and presence of mind. The next two days will, once again, tell that tale.

'Why don't you admit you're an alien?'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Some of the reactions on Twitter to Virat Kohli’s record-equalling hundred during India’s chase in Pune

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2017Virat Kohli began 2017 with his 17th ODI hundred while chasing, equalling Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most second-innings ODI hundreds. For some, it put an end to a big debate.

While it also opened up a few others.

It was just another awe-inspiring day for Kohli.

There was even a “wow” moment in Kohli’s innings.

33.2 Woakes to Kohli, SIX, that’s unbelievable. Rub your eyes and watch this again. This is against the law of physics. Slower ball, short of a length, no room to free his arms, and Kohli still goes in the air, and clears cow corner. It is just power from arms. I can imagine some West Indies batsmen having the audacity to even try such a shot

It was really jaw-dropping.

We don’t think so.

Kohli put on a partnership of 200 with Kedar Jadhav, who scored a fantastic 120 off only 76 balls.

Tharanga's double hit, Taskin's reflexes

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Mushfiqur’s day with the gloves, Thisara’s absent-mindedness and Taskin’s shoulder catch form part of our plays from the second ODI in Dambulla

Mohammad Isam28-Mar-2017The catchIs it a mere coincidence that Mushfiqur Rahim’s work behind the stumps has improved following the team management’s decision to remove him as permanent Test wicketkeeper? He did miss a stumping during this game but he showed fine awareness for most parts, as he did during Bangladesh’s historic 100th Test in Colombo where he was a last-minute wicketkeeping replacement. In the third over, he called loud and early, and seemed to endlessly chase a top edge from Danushka Gunathilaka. He ended up around square-leg, where he needed to dive to his right to complete the dismissal. Two other fielders had converged but fortunately they stopped and watched their Test captain take a fine catch.The fatal venture-outUpul Tharanga needlessly ran himself out while trying take a single after Mustafizur Rahman bowled a beamer down the leg side. But Thisara Perera did something worse: he ran down the pitch aimlessly after being struck on the pad by Mashrafe Mortaza. Mushfiqur showed alertness by removing one glove, aiming at the stumps and hitting it to catch Perera well short of the crease.The double hitBatsmen find it hard to pick Mustafizur Rahman. It wasn’t too different for Upul Tharanga, who decided to invent a new way to get runs off him, albeit inadvertently. Tharanga pulled Mustafizur’s first ball of the 25th over to the midwicket boundary. Replays showed the ball struck high on his bat, before meeting the middle and racing away. This might not happen regularly, but when Mustafizur is bowling his cutters and varying his pace, all bets are off. If Tharanga had done this in cricket, chances are he would’ve been given out.The awarenessKusal Mendis hammered Taskin Ahmed’s slower delivery back at him. The blow, on Taskin’s left shoulder, may have been a stinging one. He could have keeled over in pain and no one would have said a thing to him. But Taskin showed awareness by turning back quickly, taking a couple of steps backward to complete a catch off the rebound. It was only after exchanging a high-five before he finally winced and asked his teammates not to touch his shoulder.

'A day we won't forget'

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Zimbabwe’s historic ODI series win in Sri Lanka was celebrated by many in 140 characters including Kumar Sangakkara, who also called for measures to improve Sri Lankan cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jul-2017

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