All posts by n8rngtd.top

A statistical look at the spin pair of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh

Mathew Varghese05-Apr-2008

A pitch with a tinge of green was perhaps not the ideal setting for Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to play their 50th Test together. South Africa’s fast bowlers wrecked India, and the duo hardly made an impact as AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis piled on the misery.Harbhajan himself was forthright with his take on the Motera strip on offer, and indicated how home pitches should have been conducive to spin. After all, the Indian bowling line-up consisted of what perhaps is the most experienced spin pairing of all time.Although the 50 Tests for Kumble and Harbhajan is far behind the most experienced bowling pair of all time – Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne tormented batsmen for over 100 Tests, a factor in Australia’s phenomenal success – they are one of the longest-serving spins pairs in Tests.

Perhaps only one spin pair has played more Tests together than Harbhajan-Kumble; the word “perhaps” is used since the combination in question includes Garry Sobers, whose bowling styles included left-arm fast-medium, slow left-arm orthodox and slow left-arm chinaman. Sobers played 60 Tests alongside offspinner Lance Gibbs. With the Motera Test, Kumble and Harbhajan move ahead of another dubious spin combination – Derek Underwood and Tony Greig played together in 49 Tests, but Underwood could lay as much claim as to being a left-arm spinner as Greig could to being an offspinner.Three Indian spin pairs come in next, all featuring a left-arm spinner. The first two include Bishan Bedi, who played alongside offspinner Erapalli Prasanna and legspinner Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in 43 and 42 Tests, while Chandu Borde combined with the miserly left-arm spin of Bapu Nadkarni in 40 Tests.

Harbhajan wasn’t too off with his suggestions on the pitch, as in the 32 home Tests together for Kumble and Harbhajan, India have won 14 and lost only five. Both average below 20 in home victories.However, they fare far worse in away conditions, though Kumble has been the better of the two both home and away.

In the 49 Tests they played together prior to the Ahmedabad Test, Kumble and Harbhajan have been part of 20 wins, with 20 matches ending in a stalemate and nine ending in defeat. Their averages in victories are less than half of the corresponding figures in draws, an indication that when they have failed to get going, opposition bowlers too haven’t been able to dismiss India twice.

While Kumble’s averages 16.91 in the fourth innings of a match – with 48 wickets in 12 innings – Harbhajan only manages a third of those wickets, at an average of 37.18. The offspinner gives away more than 40 per wicket in the first, but he outdoes Kumble when it comes to averages in the third innings of a match, with both bowlers having taken 77 wickets.

While the inclusion of Harbhajan works favourably on Kumble’s statistics, the same doesn’t hold conversely. One prime reason for Harbhajan’s better performance in the absence of Kumble has to be the 2001 home series against Australia, when India, without Kumble, turned the series on its head. Harbhajan was one of the stars in that series, with 32 wickets at 17.03 apiece in three Tests.

Cricinfo staff20-Oct-2008

It was intimidating to watch. First the openers came out to bat and the heady rhythm of strokes belted out was reminiscent of a manic Keith Moon behind his drum kit. There were 130 runs at five an over in the first session and the rate was maintained later, with 214 runs eventually plundered from 42 overs. It made no difference if it was pace or spin. The leading fast bowler was taken for 72 from his 14 overs, and the spinners were carted for 54 from nine. It would have been exhilarating to watch in a one-day game. As part of a five-day spectacle, it was almost unprecedented.Who else could we talking about but Australia? For more than a decade, while other sides talked of “brave cricket” and then lost their nerve, Australia flattened opponents home and away as a matter of routine. Batsmen came out and walloped 18 runs in the opening over of a series, bowlers thudded deliveries into stumps, helmets and knuckles, and even geriatric stalwarts with avian nicknames threw themselves full-length in the Adelaide outfield to take catches that beggared belief.On Monday morning though, the other side came out swinging and Australia were left bereft of answers. Back in 2001, the juggernaut that had crushed everything in its path for 16 games came to a shuddering halt when India refused to be cowed at Eden Gardens despite the hopeless situation that they found themselves in at the end of day three. By the time the teams reached Chennai for the deciding Test, the aura had gone, and India calmly picked off 510 in response to Australia’s 391 to set up a series win.Since the Ashes were surrendered to an English side that dared to set the tone on an astonishing opening day at Edgbaston, Australia have seldom been challenged. The one time they looked most ill at ease was in Perth last January, when an Indian team seething after the perceived injustices of Sydney pulled off a stunning win at the WACA. Again, someone had wrenched the conducting baton out of Australian hands, and the big boys couldn’t play.His critics can say all that they want to about Mahendra Singh Dhoni being a lucky captain. The toss certainly played a part here, but as his powerful batting displays – such a contrast from the imposter who scratched around at the Chinnaswamy Stadium – have shown, he seems to thrive on the added responsibility. In the first innings, his 92 was the difference between a modest total and an imposing one, and on the fourth morning he decided to trust his shot-making ability after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir had
pillaged 182.

With the famed middle order looking on, it was a move that would have attracted considerable ridicule if it backfired. Instead, Dhoni thumped 68 from 84 balls, including a six off Cameron White that came to a rest 25 yards inside the field after cannoning into the sightscreen. He made sure India didn’t overdo it either. With runs coming so easily, the batsmen must have been queuing up, but the declaration came well before tea, leaving India with 136 overs to ensure that their dominance of the game was translated into the right result.Australia’s chase was in ruins within 10.2 overs. There had been signs in the morning that they were losing the plot. There was an animated argument between Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee before lunch, presumably something to do with the fact that the leader of the pace pack wasn’t required to bowl until after everyone has finished their and butter chicken. And that simmering rage seemed to afflict the batting as well.Matthew Hayden has never been known for the backward step, but even by his standards, the belligerence shown during a 20-ball 29 was extraordinary. It was as if he wanted to hit every delivery into the cement moat that rings the venue. And it was a reflection of the kind of series that he’s having that he fell to the sweep, the stroke that fetched him hundreds of runs back in 2001.Simon Katich fell to a frankly appalling stroke, while Ricky Ponting got the kind of ball that makes batsmen wake up in a cold sweat. That, and the delivery which darted back to trap Shane Watson in front, crowned a magnificent spell from Ishant Sharma, who must surely now be considered one of the best fast bowlers in the world. India’s pace bowlers now have 18 wickets in the series, while it needed a miscue from Sourav Ganguly to gift Lee his fourth of the series. The times, they certainly are a changin’.

Andrew Flintoff’s career numbers are ultimately underwhelming, but against the best team of his era he stepped it up

S Rajesh25-Aug-2009Numbers can never do full justice to Andrew Flintoff: a Test career which fetches 3845 runs at an average of 31.77, and 226 wickets at a touch under 33 will do nicely for most players, but from a player touted as one of the best allrounders of this era, these are somewhat underwhelming. These stats support Peter Roebuck’s assertion – and Flintoff’s own statements – that his career has been more about competence and stout-hearted performances than about sustained out-and-out greatness.There were periods of his career, though, when Flintoff delivered on his promise and then some. The two-and-a-half year period between January 2004 and June 2006 saw Flintoff at his pomp with both bat and ball – his batting average almost touched 40, with three of his five centuries coming then, the bowling average slipped to below 26, with his average wickets per Test exceeding four, and he picked up four out of six Man-of-the-Match awards. He was the only player to score 1000 runs and take 50 wickets during this 30-month period.Unfortunately for him, though, this span only took him through 33 of his 79 Tests. Over the rest of his career, his numbers slipped drastically. In his first 29 matches, he picked up a mere 52 wickets – less than two per game – and needed almost 16 overs to strike, hardly the kind of stats which reflect a potent strike bowler. Similarly, in his last 17 matches, he took only 40 wickets at an average touching 40. During both these periods, his batting came down a few notches from its peak too.

It’s impossible to talk about Flintoff without bringing Ian Botham into the picture. Both were flamboyant, capable of changing the course of a game with bat and ball, and both relished the challenges of an Ashes contest more than most. Botham had the better average as batsman and bowler, scoring more than 33 runs per dismissal and conceding less than 29 per wicket. However, the difference was much starker in terms of their abilities to put in major performances: Botham had 12 centuries and an incredible 27 five-wicket hauls, compared to just five and three for Flintoff. Botham also had twice the number of Man-of-the-Match awards – 12 to six.Both enjoyed the Australian challenge – exactly half of those awards for them came against Australia. Botham’s batting average dropped a bit against them, but it was still higher than his bowling average.Most of the stats below favour Botham, but one area in which Flintoff clearly stole a march was in performances against the leading team of the era. In Botham’s case, that team was undoubtedly West Indies, and Botham undoubtedly struggled against them. In 20 Tests, he didn’t score a single century – his highest being 81 – and his 61 wickets came at a relatively high average of more than 35. He did win one match award, at Lord’s in 1984, for scores of 30 and 81 and eight wickets in the first innings, though he leaked 117 off 20.1 wicketless overs in the second innings as West Indies chased down a target of 344 losing only one wicket.On the other hand, Flintoff has done much better against the top team of his era, though he did lead the team to a rather sorry 5-0 thrashing in 2006-07.

Flintoff’s bowling average against Australia are good enough to win him fourth spot among bowlers who’ve taken at least 25 Test wickets against them since 2000. Only Dale Steyn, Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralitharan have done better, while two other high-class spinners, Anil Kumble and Daniel Vettori, have both been pushed back. Flintoff, though, is the only one among the top seven not to have a ten-wicket haul against them.

Head-to-head battlesSome of his best moments came against Australia, so it’s hardly surprising that plenty of Australians figure in the list of batsmen he’s dismissed most often in Tests. His head-to-head stats (only since December 2001) indicate he had his share of victories against top-class batsmen. Matthew Hayden struggled against him in 2005, and had an overall average of 31.33 against him, falling six times in 407 deliveries. Mahela Jayawardene was the other batsman who Flintoff dismissed six times, at an even lower average.Five Australians figure in the top seven, which indicates what a force Flintoff was against them. He was especially effective against their left-handers: apart from Hayden, Justin Langer, Simon Katich and Adam Gilchrist all lost more battles against him than they won.He had some success against another high-class left-hander: Brian Lara was dismissed by him four times in 263 deliveries, and averaged a touch over 27. Stephen Fleming fared worse, scoring 75 runs while falling to him four times.Some of the other batsmen had more success against him, but none more than Michael Clarke, who didn’t fall to Flintoff even once in 375 deliveries (62.3 overs, or Flintoff bowling continuously to him without success for more than two sessions), during which period he scored 195 runs. A couple of left-handers from New Zealand and South Africa played him well too – Mark Richardson and Gary Kirsten faced 200 or more deliveries without surrendering their wicket. Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid all averaged more than 50 against him.

In the Ashes series Flintoff has generally been a huge force against left-hand batsmen, but overall in his career, he had more success against the right-handers, averaging 27.34 against them (bat runs conceded only, since December 2001). Against the left-handers he was a touch more economical, but conceded more than 36 runs per wicket.

What’s better than watching India beat Australia? Wearing technicolour frightwigs while watching them beat Australia

Yash Jha01-Nov-2009Want to do a Fan Following report for the remaining games in the series? Details here.You want effortless? You got it•AFPIndia v Australia is reason enough for an Indian cricket follower. The added bonus of the game was, it was the first international day-nighter in Delhi. I went with a group of school friends, and was seated in the ONGC Hill Wing A, right next to the ITC End stands.Favourite player from the two sides
In the absence of Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh was the man I had my money, and hopes, on. Even if today’s knock was somewhat subdued by his usual standards, he made sure that all of us admirers left the Kotla satisfied.Key performer
The man himself, Yuvraj Singh. He came in with the game on tenterhooks, and with the Aussies looking to run away with the momentum after Mitchell Johnson’s sensational run-out of Sachin Tendulkar. The nerves were beginning to fray among the crowd, and the fear of another one of those famed Indian collapses was very much in the air. But Yuvraj, along with MS Dhoni, managed to smooth things over with his amazingly responsible knock that won him not only the Man of the Match, but also the hearts of many a Delhiite. His tight spell, which fetched the breakthrough wicket of Shane Watson, was also crucial.Face-off I relished
Yuvraj v the Australian attack. The Australians, for the first half of Yuvraj’s innings, looked as though they had found a way of keeping him quiet, and Yuvi was struggling a fair bit. But the way he clobbered the attack towards the end had the Aussies dumbstruck. So sorry, Ricky. Better luck against the West Indians when you go back home.One thing I would have changed about the game
The pitch, maybe. The Australian batsmen, definitely! Apart from Michael Hussey, none of them looked like they were playing a limited-overs game. For a large part of their innings, we in the crowd thought it was to do with the pitch, but the ease with which Yuvraj and Dhoni batted towards the end of the game made it quite clear that there weren’t too many demons in it.Shot of the day
The six Michael Hussey hit off Ashish Nehra. It takes a herculean effort to smash an Indian bowler into the stands on his home ground and get applauded by the audience. And herculean that effort sure was. Take a bow, Mr Cricket.Wow moment
Our man Yuvraj’s stunning six off Moises Henriques. It was timing at its very best – an almost gentle flick that sent the ball flying over the boundary boards. The pressure was beginning to mount on India’s run-chase, with about 100 runs to get off the last 17 overs, and that shot made us go “wow”.Crowd meter
It was incredible to see the Feroz Shah Kotla jam-packed for perhaps the first time since it was revamped. And there’s no guessing who the 40,000-odd supporters were rooting for. The Oz Army, if there were any of them around, seemed to be on silent mode. We wouldn’t have let them say too much anyway!Accessories
We went fully loaded, with full-sized Indian flags, horns, wigs et al. The wigs were part of our strategy to blind the Australians. As it turned out, we didn’t need to, but nonetheless the orange, green, blue and red spikes, standing approximately a foot tall, endeared us to all those who had the privilege of being in the same stand as ours.Crowd favourites
We screamed and shouted insanely for every Indian player. Sachin, Yuvraj and Dhoni were acknowledged with the loudest cheers. But the clear-cut winners in this category, sorry to say Team India, were the Foster’s girls. And boy, were they worth screaming for!Fancy-dress index
I think it’s fair to say that my friends and I, with our “blink-and-you’ll-not-miss-it, blink twice-and-you’ll-not-miss-it, go anywhere-but-you’ll-still-not-miss it” hairdos managed to occupy the gaze of those around us for a considerable amount of time during the Aussie innings. That guy with Sachin and the Indian flag painted all over him was there too, as he is at all of India’s matches. They say Sachin arranges for his passes. We hope you saw us too, Little Master.Marks Out Of 10
8, I guess. The skeptics might say it was a bit of a boring encounter, but for a true-blooded Indian supporter, nothing beats the thrill of watching the Australians get beaten first-hand. But yes, it wouldn’t have hurt to have a better pitch.Want to do a Fan Following report for the remaining games in the series? Details here.

Paul Collingwood was always supposed to be the player nearest the exit, but he became England’s only World Cup-winning captain and has won the Ashes twice

Interview by George Dobell13-Nov-2010 I recall watching your ODI debut here, at Edgbaston, in 2001. To be honest, I didn’t think you were going to make it.

I don’t blame you. Nor did I. I had come into the England side on the back of one decent year in county cricket. Duncan Fletcher went on gut feeling more than statistics. When I hit international cricket, I struggled. I felt out of my depth. I came up against a couple of strong sides in Pakistan and Australia and I was shell-shocked by the experience. It was horrible. I’d wanted to play international cricket all my life and all of a sudden I realised I was nowhere near good enough.It wasn’t a moment of doubt. It went on for a good few weeks. I was left thinking, “I’m never going to be good enough to play international cricket.” It was a hard thing to take because, from a very young age, I’d always thought: “Right, I’ll
play for England and score lots of runs.” I never thought I wouldn’t be good enough. It really hit me hard.But there are always hurdles. When you make the jump from club to county cricket, you have to jump a hurdle and it’s the same when you move up to international level. It’s a belief thing more than anything. It wasn’t until I played against Zimbabwe [in October 2001] and scored a few runs that I thought I could compete at this level. In retrospect, I was very lucky to have the opportunity to play against Zimbabwe so soon. I gained a lot of confidence from a couple of good innings over there. I had proved to myself I could do this, and everything grew from there.There have been other times in my career when things could have gone either way. There was another game [Edgbaston], against South Africa when I knew it was my last innings. Nobody told me, but I knew. Everybody knew. In a way, that helped. You get so low mentally, so down on yourself. You work harder and harder in the nets. And then I realised that there was only one way to go: that I had to cast off the shackles. I had to go out there and do it my own way. I’ve always
thought that if I had one choice of the way to go, it would be to go down fighting. I guess that’s the way I’d like to be remembered.You seem to be at your best in “backs against the wall” situations…

I think I can adapt. I’d prefer not to be in those situations. It’s just a skill like any other: weighing up the match situation and
adapting your game to suit it. If you play all three forms of the game, you have to be able to adapt. And I feel I can do that mentally. To be honest, I feel I’m getting much better at taking the attack to the opposition. I much prefer that to just blocking it to death, but it’s all about what the team requires.I was fortunate to be picked in the first place. I’d been playing county cricket for five years, but I’d only had one good season. But Duncan Fletcher had seen something he liked. That’s the way he was: he judged people more on how they got through tough situations than whether they could blaze it about when things were easy. He went for guys who showed they had some balls. Trescothick was another one who was selected like that. Michael Vaughan too.

“I was trying to put a bit of pressure on Justin Langer by saying that Phil Jaques was after his spot in the side. But Langer just said, ‘Listen mate, I’m retiring after this series and it doesn’t matter what Phil Jaques does.’ They were playing with no pressure on them”Collingwood recalls the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash

When you made your debut, England were a poor side in both formats. Your career has coincided with a period of sharp improvement.

Yeah, I’ve been through it all. I keep telling the lads: we’ve the best squad together now that I’ve seen in my 10 years in the game. There’s been times when we’ve had some absolutely world-class individuals within the team, who, when they clicked, could win us big series, like the 2005 Ashes. But as a team we’re better now. We’re more consistent and we’re closer knit. I honestly believe that. We’ve got a lot of strong characters in the team, but we’ve a lot of skill too.I remember in my early days Duncan Fletcher used to tell us, “Just bat though the 50 overs in a one-day international,: because we kept getting bowled out in 40 overs. So our aim was just to bat 50 overs! England have never really done very well in one-day cricket. We’d reached a couple of finals but we’d never won anything. It got to the point, last year, when the two Andys said, “Look, we’ve got to do things differently. If we continue to do the same old things, we’ll continue to get the same old results.”They were very good. They really grabbed hold of things and they changed our mentality a bit. It wasn’t just about being
more aggressive. The training changed. There was more emphasis on pressure in training and in the nets and it made it much
easier when we got out in the middle. They looked at what the world’s best teams were doing and learned from them.Duncan Fletcher infamously said he’d seen you bowling at 85 mph. What was the fastest you’ve been timed?

83.5mph. It was in the 2005 Ashes and [Justin] Langer nicked off, but it was too quick for Tresco at slip. But Duncan never said that I bowled at 85 mph. It was just a misunderstanding. Look, I realised quite early on that, particularly on subcontinent pitches, my 70-mph seamers were treated like throw-downs by good batsmen. I had to learn some new tricks, so I’ve worked hard on bowling cutters.When did you start to feel established in the Test side?

Probably in 2006 and 2007. Scoring that double-hundred in Adelaide made me feel pretty comfortable at that level. And then, after the Ashes, I scored a couple of centuries and won the Man of the Series award when we won the CB Series. After the depths of the Ashes, it was great to win that, and even though it wasn’t Test cricket, it really helped me feel comfortable at that level.Michael Vaughan referred to the last Ashes tour to Australia as akin to a booze cruise. Was it really that shambolic?

Nah, you can read too much into those comments. I know people look for reasons why we lost 5-0. People come up with excuses. They say we were boozing or whatever, but I disagree with all that. We were beaten by the better side. They had a lot of motivation to win back the Ashes after 2005 and they were probably the best side ever to have played the game. Langer, Gilchrist, Hayden, Ponting, Warne, McGrath… they’re all great players.”I was fortunate to be picked in the first place. I’d been playing county cricket for five years, but I’d only had one good season. But Duncan Fletcher had seen something he liked”•Getty ImagesI remember a conversation I had with Justin Langer at Brisbane. I was trying to put a bit of pressure on him by saying that Phil Jaques was after his spot in the side. But Langer just said, “Listen, mate, I’m retiring after this series and it doesn’t matter what Phil Jaques does.” They were playing with no pressure on them. They knew it was their last time playing together. They were very good, very motivated, and playing without pressure or fear. That’s why they won.Obviously I’m very proud of having scored a double-century at Adelaide, but it’s not the highlight of my career. The result
just leaves a sour taste. Hopefully I can put that right this time.The last time we went out there, we had a few grey areas in certain positions. There were some injuries. This time around we’ve been playing really solid cricket for 18 months. We’ve been growing all the time and we’ve been getting better. We’re ready for the challenge. The guys are fit and mentally everyone should be pretty refreshed. We’re in the best situation we
possibly could be in. Well, as good as we can be bearing in mind the amount of cricket we play. It’s a long, long winter. We’ve two days at home between the Ashes tour and the World Cup. Then it’s off to the IPL.What should people read into the fact that you quit the captaincy under Peter Moores and took it back under Andy Flower?

I quit for selfish reasons. I quit because I was going to lose my place in the side. As a kid, I grew up wanting to play cricket for England and that was being taken away from me by the effect the captaincy was having on my batting. I never felt I could recharge my batteries. You’re thinking about it all the time – selection, the players coming through, tactics – and mentally I found it exhausting.Andy Flower was a major influence on me taking it on again. He persuaded me. I was quite reluctant. I’m still not performing as well as I want to in Twenty20, but it’s not affecting me in the other formats. When I was ODI captain, it was affecting everything: my Test form, one-day form, Twenty20 form, everything. But this time I knew it was only a three- or four-week period. It wasn’t going to affect me so much. So Andy [Flower] persuaded me I was the right person for the job and I
was happy to go along with that.The two Andys have put a lot of strong values into the team. There’s a strong team ethos now. Andrew Strauss drives home
those values during the majority of the few weeks, and the lads know what is expected of them. I’m not trying to do things in a different way. I just continue what Andrew [Strauss] does the rest of the time. I have an input on selection and tactics and I have ideas about how to build confidence in Twenty20, which is a crucial thing, but it’s not the all-encompassing role
that it was before. It doesn’t take nearly as much out of me mentally.Are you worried about Kevin Pietersen’s form?

Not really, no. We all know he has the talent. He just needs to get that belief back. He just needs to score a big hundred in an
important situation and he’ll be okay. He’s given himself the opportunity by going to play for Surrey and Natal, and he always puts his best performances in on the biggest occasions. We all believe in Kevin. We’re all confident he’ll come good.

“. I’ve always thought that if I had one choice of the way to go, it would be to go down fighting. I guess that’s the way I’d like to be remembered.”

There’s a bit of competition for places in the Test team now.

That’s always been the case. I’m 34 now, so it’s getting harder and harder to keep these youngsters out of the team. It’s something I thrive upon. I always want to be the best at what I do and I’m going to keep working hard. I’m very confident I can keep doing well. You may find it amazing, as I haven’t scored many runs in my last seven innings, but I’ve just had the best year of my international career. It shows I’m improving all the time, and I think I can get better and better.If England were to retain the Ashes and then win the World Cup, would it be a suitable time to think about retirement?

That’s way premature. I’m enjoying it more than I ever have, so why would I give up something I absolutely love? If I knew I was keeping young players out of the side who were better than me, then I’d have a good look at it. But at the moment I feel I’m getting better and better and I feel I deserve a place in the side. My mentality might change if we won the Ashes and the World Cup. I might think, “What else is there to do?” But that would be a massive achievement and I’m not counting any chickens.Is it important for you to win the respect of your opponents?

It’s not something I think about. International cricket isn’t a popularity contest. I only think about contributing to the England team. I know people have said I was having a sledging contest with Warnie, but it was just two players who wanted to do well for their countries. We were both desperate to win. We get on fine now. But if certain players in other teams dislike me, so be it.What were you doing the last time England won an Ashes series in Australia?

It was before I was that interested in professional cricket, to be honest. I loved my cricket but Durham weren’t a first-class
county and my main hero was my brother, who is four years older than me. I just wanted to be better than him at everything.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the fifth ODI between South Africa and India, in Centurion

Sidharth Monga at SuperSport Park23-Jan-2011The casual difficult catch
Yuvraj Singh’s USP has been making big hitting look easy, but every now and then he brings that quality to the field too. Morne van Wyk saw that happen when he hit a drive pretty hard to the left of the bowler, Yuvraj himself. Casually, Yuvraj stuck his left hand out, casually he caught it, and casually he walked towards his team-mates.The rain effect
Something seemed to have happened during the rain break at the end of the 42nd over of South Africa’s innings that affected judgement all around. First of all, the match officials chose not to take lunch during that interruption, which lasted close to an hour, and instead took another half-hour break between innings. Had it rained later in the day, washing out the match, the wastage of time wouldn’t have looked good.Then, South Africa played some crazy shots after coming back, and ran mindlessly between the wickets, losing six wickets for 19. Neither of the blunders cost much: The minimum 20 overs of play in India’s innings were completed, making it a match; and South Africa’s bowlers were good enough to defend their score.The run-outs
Tailenders can have brain freezes at times, but two of them having one in the space of three deliveries is a bit much. It was Dale Steyn first, in the 46th over, who missed an attempted big hit and set off for a single to try to get Hashim Amla on strike. MS Dhoni collected the ball, thought of throwing down the stumps, then saw Steyn didn’t seem interested in coming back, and decided to run towards the stumps. Steyn then showed some desperation to get back in, and Dhoni flicked underarm to run him out. Two balls later, Morne Morkel did the same, and was run out in similar fashion.The catch … or was it?
Parthiv Patel looked the most comfortable Indian batsman in the middle, but when he went for a cover drive off Morkel, Faf du Plessis cut his innings short. It was a low catch and he also had to go appreciably to his left. He did that with the reverse cup, and thus had to twist his hands considerably to make sure they remained under the ball. They did so when the ball arrived, but on impact it threatened to pop out, and he somehow got two fingers under the ball. However, the replays suggested the ball might have touched the ground. Full marks on the effort, but you couldn’t have been sure about that one.The reversal
When Yusuf Pathan reverse-swept Robin Peterson powerfully over point, Simon Taufel signalled four runs, and was ready for the next ball. Morne van Wyk, the fielder at sweeper-cover, however, made sure he signalled to the umpire that it was indeed a six. Replays were called in, and the right decision was made.

England’s performance bore no resemblance to the fatigued 10-wicket loss in the World Cup quarter-final three months ago

Andrew McGlashan at The Oval28-Jun-2011The thunderstorm which held up play for three hours at The Oval wouldn’t have looked out of place in Colombo, but England’s performance bore no resemblance to the fatigued 10-wicket loss in the World Cup quarter-final three months ago. It was vibrant, energetic, confident and aggressive. Yet this isn’t actually a new era of one-day cricket for England because there are a few too many familiar faces on show for that to be true.Even though only five of this side played in Colombo in March, there haven’t been wholesale changes by the selectors. James Anderson, reigniting his one-day career with 4 for 18 which were his best figures since November 2009 against South Africa, and Jade Dernbach were both in the squad, while Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen would have played except for injury. Really, the only significant changes have been at the top of the order with Craig Kieswetter back and Alastair Cook as the new captain along with Samit Patel’s recall. He was tellingly pushed aside by Tim Bresnan who had been back in squad for a single day.Adding further weight to the theory that, rather than this being a new-look team, it’s more the older version with a bit of touching-up was the performance of Anderson. It’s a well-known story that, moments after England secured the Ashes in Sydney back in January, he curled up in the dressing room and fell into a deep sleep. Despite a three-week break at home he was never the same during the rest of the winter and cut a forlorn figure in the closing days of the World Cup. Although his Test place was never in danger there was talk that it may have brought down the curtain on his one-day career.He couldn’t have asked for a better haul of wickets as he removed Sri Lanka’s senior trio, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara. They were ideal conditions for Anderson with a heavy atmosphere conducive to swing but he made them count. “For two days it was lovely sunshine, then today it rained again,” Dilshan said wryly. “It was helpful for the bowlers.””It was a frustrating winter in the one-day form for the team and me personally,” Anderson admitted. “I felt like I didn’t perform to the standards I set myself. I was very disappointed and just glad to keep my place in the squad and get a place in the XI. Happily the wickets came for me but I thought we bowled brilliantly as a unit. Whatever it was during the winter I put it behind me at start of the season with Lancashire and then in the Test series. I’ve worked really hard, there are a lot of improvements I have to make on my one-day game and I’ve started on those things.”Anderson, though, didn’t quite get everything he wished for. “He fully deserves his four wickets and was begging me for one more over to get his fifth,” Cook said. “It was an outstanding performance up front but especially from Jimmy. To get their dangermen out early got us well ahead of the game.”Cook’s satisfaction will come from the victory rather than his personal achievement. All that can be said about his 5 off three balls was that strike-rate wasn’t an issue. Being caught down the leg side – even though bowlers will disagree – was unlucky. “That’s the game, I shouldn’t have edged it so fine,” he said.However, Cook will be very keen for this series not to be dominated by whether he makes runs or not, and for that to be the case he needs England to win. “It doesn’t get much better than that, to win by such a big margin in a shorter game like that was a fantastic effort from the lads,” he said. “But let’s not get too carried with how the team did or how I did. It’s just a good start. We’ve got to keep our feet on the floor.”There was a hint of irony that at 32-overs per side the contest was actually closer to the Twenty20 version that England made such a hash of on Saturday (there were even six Powerplay overs left) than the full one-day international they were due to play. When play resumed at 5pm after the thunderstorms England were left with 25 overs to build a total and the way they did it was far more encouraging than what was on display in Bristol.A pitch with more pace enabled Kieswetter to hit through the line, Pietersen was sparky before pulling a long hop to midwicket and Eoin Morgan added the gloss as he so often does. Then, just as it appeared another England one-day innings would fizzle out, the fit-again Bresnan hit 23 off 14 balls as 210 turned into 230.In his second coming as an international cricketer Kieswetter has promised a tighter technique and more selectiveness, but without losing any of the natural flair that attracted the selectors. An innings of 61 off 56 balls suggests he has found a good balance.”He can hit the ball really hard and showed it here, that’s why he’s in the side and it’s great for him to get back to scoring runs straight away,” Cook said. “He’s worked really hard, let’s not get carried away with one innings but good things come when you put the hours in. That’s why you do it.”That praise of Kieswetter was the second time Cook mentioned not getting carried away. He isn’t the first England one-day captain to start, or resume, the job with victory. Paul Collingwood did it in 2007, Kevin Pietersen in 2008 and Andrew Strauss in 2009. None of those reigns ended happily. Cook knows he will have his fair share of tough days in the job and far tougher questions to answer.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the first Test between India and West Indies at Sabina Park

Sriram Veera at Sabina Park23-Jun-2011The conversation of the day
Rahul Dravid was on 95. Fifteen years ago, to the date, he was out on the same score on debut. Amit Mishra, who had given him admirable support, suddenly went for a big slog against Ravi Rampaul and failed to connect. Dravid rushed down the track for a chat. A couple of overs later, Dravid, on 97, went for a hook and the ball climbed over the blade. This time Mishra came down the track for a chat. Wonder what he said.Frenetic action of the day
Ishant Sharma troubled Adrian Barath in the first innings with the bounce he extracted from short of a length. Barath decided to counterattack in the second innings. He pulled a bouncer over long-leg, square drove over gully and top-edged a hook over the fine-leg boundary.Adrenaline rush of the day
Barath had just edged a delivery from Praveen Kumar through the unmanned third slip region. A ball later, MS Dhoni moved a man in there. Surely, Barath was not going to fall for it? Wrong. He did. He chased a slightly wider delivery and flashed it to third slip where Suresh Raina held a good catch.Deja-vu feeling of the day
Praveen was warned thrice for running on the danger area and couldn’t bowl any more in the first innings. “It’s good that it happened in the first innings of my first Test,” Praveen said at the end of the second day. He did it again on the third day. Again, it was the same umpire Ian Gould who caught his transgression and gave him the first warning. Two strikes to go.

At some point in the next three days, England will be confirmed as the best Test side in the world, but the race for the mace is already as good as over

Andrew Miller at Edgbaston11-Aug-2011The sunsets aren’t the same, and the temperatures were several notches lower, but the sense of imperious inevitability was plain for all to see. On the second day at Edgbaston, England turned in their most dominant display since their Ashes-crushing performance at Sydney back in January.A crowd that turned up in grim and foreboding drizzle watched as the clouds dispersed to leave a glorious day for batting, and by the close, their hymns of praise were soused with that Antipodean sense of absolutism. At some point in the next three days, England will be confirmed as the best Test side in the world, but the race for the mace is already as good as over.Soaking up the adulation, then as now, was the staggeringly indomitable Alastair Cook, a batsman whose concentration levels have been replenished after the briefest hiatus in the first two Tests. He totalled 20 runs at Lord’s and Trent Bridge, his certainty outside off stump scuppered by Praveen Kumar’s sometimes remarkable late movement. At the fifth attempt, however, he extended his extraordinary run of form to seven hundreds in 18 innings, with his overnight total of 182 now his highest on English soil.”It’s been frustrating not getting through that new ball, but when you do, you have to make it count because that makes you forget the low scores,” said Cook, whose tally of 19 Test hundreds now places him on a plateau preserved only for the greats of the game. If that seems a premature accolade to dispatch in his direction, then consider the fact that he does not turn 27 until Christmas Day. Only Sachin Tendulkar, with 22 hundreds, had more to his name at the same age. And he’s not done too badly for himself in the interim.As a point of comparison, Graham Gooch, Cook’s great mentor, played into his 40s for an England tally of 20 (“It’ll be a shame if I match him,” was Cook’s take on that), while the legendary Wally Hammond is the national record-holder with 22. While many people may protest that conditions have changed in the interim and batting in 2010s is nothing like as tough as it was back in the day, both men are sure to be overhauled in the coming months and years by a batsman whose taste for “daddy” hundreds is growing with every knock.A “daddy” hundred, in Gooch’s inimitable definition, is a score in excess of 150, and there was a period in Cook’s early career when his precocious returns were offset by an inability to kick on to anything approaching such heights. The highest of his first seven hundreds was a meagre 127 against Pakistan in 2006, and that three-figured profligacy brought to mind Mark Waugh or Allan Lamb, rather than the arch-accumulation of a man such as Gooch, who converted eight of his 20 tons, including a grand-daddy 333 against India in 1990.”We talk about trying to make daddy hundreds, and my last few ones have all been quite big ones,” Cook said. “I think it’s important I’ve managed to do that, but I’ll try not to get carried away, because we’ve got to keep working hard. You see the team’s work ethic with Goochie coming on board [as batting coach], our results have gone through the roof, but as I proved in first two games, it’s easy to not score runs.”Alastair Cook ended the day unbeaten on 182, his highest Test score in England•Getty ImagesCook’s own returns began to change when he took advantage of a Bridgetown featherbed to make 139 not out in February 2009. Since that date he’s turned six of his subsequent 11 centuries into scores of 148 or more, and by the close of the second day at Edgbaston, his average century score stood at a venerable 184.50 – a particularly impressive notch for an opening batsman.Not for the first time this year, Cook’s efforts over-shadowed those of his captain and opening partner, Andrew Strauss, who made all the running in the critical early stages of the innings, particularly on that awkward first evening when he outscored Cook 2 to 1. However, with his first home century for two years in his sights, he lost his concentration – and leg stump – while lining up a sweep against Amit Mishra.”We said when we got past the 100 that it was about time we did something,” said Cook, after four consecutive failures from England’s prolific opening pairing, who have now amassed more than 4000 runs in 96 stands. But right at this moment, and irrespective of the captaincy, there’s no question which of the two is the key influence on the team . Since his career-redefining 110 against Pakistan at The Oval last summer, Cook has top-scored in 11 of their 19 stands, and has never yet been dismissed for less than 55. Strauss, by contrast, hasn’t passed 52 on the eight occasions when he’s outlasted his partner.That suggests that Cook has perfected the art of cashing in when the going is good to firm. Watching him harvest his scores is, as Graeme Swann memorably quipped, one of the world’s great cures for insomnia, but on his watch it is only ever the opposition fans and players who drift out of consciousness. As the raucous atmosphere inside Edgbaston gleefully confirmed, there’s nothing dull about one of England’s own taking a team as illustrious as India to the cleaners, and the longer and deeper he dragged his own performance, the more the cracks appeared in an increasingly fragile opposition.By the final session, it was just like watching the Ashes – the Ashes in the mid-1990s that is, with England displaying a ruthlessness that no side has matched since the Aussies were in their pomp. The desire to build, and build, and build, was a two-pronged strategy that Cook eagerly acknowledged, and the sight in the final over of Rahul Dravid dropping his second catch of the day, and flinging his cap to the turf in frustration, confirmed how effectively England had baked their opponents.”Yes, we knew that if we put a lot of miles in their legs again, as we have been doing in the last two Test matches, it gives our bowlers time to rest up and takes a toll on their bowlers,” he said. “We have an ethos of trying to improve every time we play. Obviously the Ashes was fantastic and we want to keep hitting those standards, but we’re not satisfied with what we’ve done and never will be. This team wants to stay together for a long time, and do something very special.”It’s impossible to see any get-out for India. The pitch is beginning to show signs of dusting up, which will give Graeme Swann his first and best opportunity to make a major contribution to this series, but long before he gets involved, there’s a host of runs for England to put on the board, and three eager seamers who ought to have had the best part of two days’ rest and recuperation.Not since the 1985 Ashes has an England team enjoyed such unchecked dominance in a marquee home series, and even in that heady summer they allowed Allan Border to extend Australia’s dominance at Lord’s. Before that, the only comparable occasion in which pre-series expectation was matched by such a thorough home performance came in 1957, when Peter May’s world-beaters crushed a West Indies side that had shocked them 3-1 seven years previously. For the first time since that heady decade, England can truly boast that they are the best Test nation in the world.

ESPNcricinfo looks back at the players who helped Pakistan to a famous whitewash over England with the spin bowlers and a fine captain to the fore

George Dobell07-Feb-2012Mohammad Hafeez 7/10
Technically correct, patient and disciplined, Hafeez dealt calmly with a testing England seam attack – they dismissed him only once in the series – but was troubled more by Monty Panesar’s left-arm spin. He made a polished 88 in the first Test to give his side a strong platform and weighed in with useful contributions in a low-scoring game at Abu Dhabi. He also claimed five wickets – all of them left-handers – at an average of just 16 with his miserly offspin. England could barely hit him off the square and he conceded fewer than two runs an over.Taufeeq Umar 3
A series of diminishing returns. Looked disciplined and solid in making 58 in his first innings of the series, but was subsequently unsettled by James Anderson’s inswinger and drawn into a series of unwise pokes outside the off stump. He only made only 29 runs in his next five innings.Azhar Ali 8.5
A breakthrough series for a 26-year-old who could go on to be Pakistan’s Test captain. Certainly Azhar demonstrated a temperament that might have been tailor-made for Test cricket. He also showed a tight technique and a welcome aptitude to shine under pressure. The highlight was his marathon effort in Dubai, but he also produced a match-turning innings of 68 in Abu Dhabi. No-one on either side batted for longer or came within ten of his series average of 50.2.Younis Khan 7.5
He may only have contributed one innings of substance to the series, but what an innings it was. Dripping with quality and class, Younis’ century in Dubai changed the course of a game that Pakistan – bowled out for 99 in their first innings – might easily have lost. He looked in decent touch for the rest of the series, but never went on to register a significant score.Misbah-ul-Haq 8.5
How can we evaluate Misbah’s influence on the team? It clearly extends far beyond making runs; important as they often were. Misbah sets the tone for Pakistan, on and off the pitch, coaxing the best from his team and ensuring calm professionalism pervades whether winning or losing. It would be easy to characterise him purely as a dour, obdurate batsman – and there were certainly periods during his vital half-century in the first Test where those qualities stuck out – but he also showed his selfless, intelligent side with his calculated attacking at Abu Dhabi that brought him four sixes. He may have to watch one weakness with the bat, however, as England soon worked out that, for all his discipline outside off stump, he is a likely lbw victim. He fell that way in all five innings. Despite all the team’s success, some still dislike Misbah. They accuse him of being boring. Maybe, though, after everything that has happened in Pakistan cricket over the last few years, a little bit of boredom is not such a bad thing?Asad Shafiq 6.5
Played a large part in the victory in Abu Dhabi – in a low-scoring game his contribution of 101 runs in total was highly significant – and top-scored with 45 in the first innings rout in Dubai. He showed with his dismissal in the first innings in Abu Dhabi – heaving across the line due to a lapse in concentration – that he is not the finished article, but he displayed enough talent to suggest he should have a long future at this level.Adnan Akmal 6.5
An accomplished keeper who, but for one out of character mistake on the last day of the series, kept neatly to spin and seam alike. He still has some work to do on his batting – he contributed only one meaningful innings as a batsman and may be a place or two high at No. 7 – but this is a man who could represent Pakistan for much of the next decade.Saeed Ajmal was the leading bowler during the series•Getty ImagesAbdur Rehman 8.5
A vastly underrated cricketer. Rehman may not have much mystery, but he has excellent control and a wonderful ability to change his pace quite extravagantly without any obvious change in his action. He finished the series with 19 wickets at 16.73, including his first two five-wicket hauls in Tests. Ajmal ended with more wickets, but how many came partially as a result of the pressure built by Rehman who simply hardly bowled a poor ball? It is hard to think of a better spin partnership in contemporary world cricket. His problems with the bat – and he struggled horribly against Graeme Swann – will be over-looked if he continues to bowl like this.Saeed Ajmal 9
Masterful. With 24 wickets at 14.7 apiece, Ajmal tortured the England batsmen. As if his doosra was not enough – and it was more than enough for Ian Bell, who fell to it four times – he also displayed superb control and a host of other, subtle variations. Sometimes it was the ball that spun that caused England problems; sometimes it was the ball that went straight on. His 7 for 55 in the first Test set the tone for the series and unsettled several England batsmen. He may even have ruined a couple of illustrious careers.Umar Gul 8
An unsung hero in a side built around spin, Gul still enjoyed an excellent series. Wholehearted, strong and fit, Gul gave his side an edge with his committed seam bowling and at times troubled the England batsmen as much with his pace as his consistent line and length. Fully deserved his last day burst of four wickets.Aizaz Cheema 4
In years to come, the identity of the second seamer in the famous victory in the third Test might make a searching quiz question. With just one wicket in his two Tests, it could seem that Cheema was almost an irrelevance. He actually bowled pretty well without much fortune and supported Gul and the spinners better than the figures suggests. He beat the England openers frequently.Junaid Khan 2
On the face of things, Junaid had a shocker: he made a pair in his only Test and dropped an easy catch. He actually bowled very well in his limited opportunities – he beat Trott on several occasions -and, on more helpful pitches, will surely enjoy better games. His fielding does have to improve, though.