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Three years ago the Indian board put down its objectives in a vision document. How many of those promises has it fulfilled?

Ajay S Shankar30-Sep-2008

— The Cricket Board in the 21st Century, A Vision Paper, BCCI, December 2005

Cattle class: the BCCI may be the richest board in the world, but you wouldn’t know it from the spectator experience at a typical Indian cricket ground © AFP
Three years have passed since the paper quoted from above was distributed among those attending the first working committee meeting of the newly appointed Indian cricket board. During that time India won their first Test series in the West Indies in 35 years, claimed their first Test victory in South Africa, crashed out of the one-day World Cup in the first round, lifted the Twenty20 World Cup, and rattled Australia in Australia. The board itself signed TV deals worth millions of rupees; gagged its selectors, then kicked them out; experimented disastrously with a coach, was turned down by another, and appointed a third in secret; watched a captain quit in dismay; launched the IPL; dominated the ICC boardroom; and to round it off, hosted a game of musical chairs featuring the same old faces in last week’s election farce.”I look back with a lot of satisfaction and contentment,” Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president during the period, said. Another senior official, who was involved in preparing the vision paper, admitted: “Let me put it this way. We have achieved 90% of what we set out to achieve in that document, but there is still some way to go.” Quite some way, actually, if you run through those four pages carefully.”The buzzword should be transparency,” says the document. “There can’t be a better start to the new-look board than resolve that everything we do from here on will be transparent and in the game’s and public interest, be it election or allotting television rights or the team selection.”Except for a few influential BCCI officials and television executives, nobody knows what transpired during the hectic negotiations that led to Nimbus bagging the home television rights in 2006, and Sony walking away with the rights to telecast the IPL. The selectors were gagged early last year, which put paid to what little “transparency” there was in team selection. And the less said about the recent elections the better: a day after the new office-bearers announced the country’s first paid selection panel, one of the five new selectors had yet to be officially informed about his appointment.The rest of the vision document is an exasperating mix of ticks and crosses. Yes, the BCCI flaunts an income of Rs 1000 crore this year, but no, it didn’t fulfill its promise to deliver a world-class viewing experience for the paying public. The board hiked the wages for domestic cricketers, but it didn’t do enough to make sure its best international cricketers were available to play domestic cricket. It promised professionalism, but its cricketers are still forced to fend reporters away in hotel lobbies because there isn’t a qualified media manager to help.Apparently the BCCI now plans to begin work on a second vision paper. But before that, “we all need to introspect and touch our hearts” and ask: what happened to the first one? Cricinfo attempts to join the dots between the promises and the results.Professionalism Vision
The BCCI said it would appoint a chief executive, who would be assisted by various professionals, including separate managers for international affairs and domestic cricket, and separate directors for the print and electronic media.While the idea of keeping a month free of international cricket has been repeatedly stressed by several former players and experts, it has not happened in practice. The board has a fixtures committee that decides on series dates and schedules, but all that it has done since 2005 is cram the calendar with back-to-back games Verdict
After three years the board has clarified that its secretary is its CEO. However, the CEO’s post remains “honorary”, thus ruling out accountability at any level – including the sort of rigorous annual appraisal that is mandatory in any professional organisation. Currently the board’s domestic affairs are run by a chief administrative officer, who is a paid employee and is assisted by a set of junior employees. Two other vital positions, in finance and marketing, are still occupied by elected board members. Imagine a multi-million dollar business without a marketing head or a chief financial officer.Also missing are a professional administrative manager to accompany the team (this position is usually handed out in rotation to state association officials who retain valuable voting rights), and of course, a full-time media manager who travels with the team. The result: chaos in the team hotel, wildly exaggerated news reports based on inaccurate information, news leaks by vested interests, captains having to organise everything from jackets for the team to meetings, and ultimately, a very harassed bunch of cricketers.Domestic cricket Vision
The BCCI promised to “make domestic cricket attractive” by making sure at least four weeks a year, possibly in the month of October, were kept free of international cricket for the team. It was supposed to make it “mandatory for international cricketers to play in the Irani Cup, Challenger Series and Duleep Trophy before the commencement of the international programme”. A significant hike in prize money and match fees was also promised to domestic cricketers.Verdict
The only domestic tournament that has consistently seen significant attendance by international cricketers over the last three years is the Challenger Series, simply because it serves as a national selection platform.While the idea of having a month free of international cricket has been repeatedly stressed by several former players and experts, it has not happened in practice. The board has a fixtures committee that decides on series dates and schedules, but all it has done since 2005 is cram the calendar with back-to-back games, leaving little time for the cricketers to rest and recuperate. MS Dhoni, the one-day captain, virtually lived out of a suitcase for three months at a stretch last year. The only breaks the India cricketers got were not by design: they came thanks to an abandoned tournament in Sri Lanka in 2006, an early exit from the one-day World Cup in 2007, and now the cancelled Champions Trophy. Otherwise it has been a frightening overdose of tacky one-day assignments, like the DLF tri-series in Kuala Lumpur in 2006, and the Kitply Cup in Bangladesh this year.

Ratnakar Shetty (right), the board’s chief administrative officer looks after the organisation’s day-to-day working with the assistance of a set of junior employees © AFP
What has been welcomed across the pitch is a substantial revision in the rewards for domestic cricketers. The BCCI’s outlay on prize-money payments is now Rs 12.6 crore per season. The Ranji Trophy winners get Rs 50 lakh, a seven-fold hike from the previous Rs 7 lakh. Domestic cricketers now get Rs 37,000 per match day.However, it remains to be seen how competitive Indian domestic cricket is. If it was to any significant degree, the top-performing batsmen and bowlers in first-class cricket would be playing in the Indian team – or at the least be among the frontrunners for a place in it. Yet Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka allrounder who was the leading first-class wicket-taker last season, was not deemed good enough to play in the Irani Trophy, the season opener, last month.Also, while the best cricketers of the domestic season receive awards, umpires and coaches are yet to be recognised similarly, as promised.InfrastructureVision
The board’s stated aim was to create infrastructure of international standards across the country, for the players and the paying public. “The president [Pawar] is very clear that there cannot be any compromise on facilities to players and paid spectators as they are the gods for cricket administrators,” says the vision document.Verdict
Indian cricket’s chief stakeholders are the paying public, who with their remote control buttons and ticket purchases made the BCCI the billion-dollar board it is. Yet, cricket-watching remains a nightmare in the common stands of most stadiums (the IPL ensured that the wealthy at least got to sit on plastic chairs), where the basic facilities are, well, less than basic.It’s not very different in the drawing rooms, where the first and last balls of overs are buried under an avalanche of TV advertisements. The standard of cricket commentary during home series and domestic games is generally abysmal. The commentators during the IPL sounded more like salesmen than cricket experts, and the “layman” anchors in the studio didn’t help matters any.The only consolation, if you can call it that, for spectators is that facilities for domestic cricketers are not much better. Only a handful of cricket centres in India have world-class facilities such as indoor nets and gymnasiums. The Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali is one. Two others, Bangalore and Jaipur, owe their infrastructure to the fact that they host the National Cricket Academy and the Rajasthan Cricket Academy.The Ranji Trophy semi-final between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra last year was played at Vadodara’s Moti Bagh Stadium, where a derelict building served as dressing room, and a tent as the press boxThe IPCL Stadium in Vadodara, where the Irani Trophy was held, can be termed basic. According to a cricketer who played the match, the venue is “just passable”. Last year’s Irani Trophy was played at Rajkot, the home ground of the then BCCI secretary, which has managed to host important domestic matches or tour games every year, and where players had to manage with plastic chairs in the dressing room.The Ranji Trophy semi-final between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra last year was played at Vadodara’s Moti Bagh Stadium, where a derelict building served as dressing room, and a tent outside the extra cover/fine leg boundary as the press box. Even Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, which has gone into renovation now, has neither an indoor facility nor a gym. In fact, most state associations don’t own stadiums and rent them from the local government instead. UP is a case in point.Asked in a recent interview whether the state associations had been able to deploy their funds effectively, Pawar admitted, “There are some problems in getting land for building stadiums and other necessary infrastructure.”PitchesVision
The board had promised to “make a conscious effort to help the state associations to maintain proper grounds and pitches of international standards”.Verdict
There has been a positive shift when it comes to pitches in domestic cricket. Significantly larger numbers of matches produce results now, pace bowlers get much more assistance, and the days of boring one-innings draws seem to be past. The BCCI has held a number of seminars for curators, which were attended by senior officials and experts.Daljit Singh, the head of the board’s pitches committee, says many smaller venues, in states such as Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura, now have sporting pitches. Daljit has put together a comprehensive instruction manual, which is soon to be translated into various regional languages. There is also a plan to grade curators, as is done with umpires, so that the best in the country can be identified.

Mohali is that rare beast, the top-class Indian cricket ground © Getty Images
All is not well, though, as the Kanpur Test against South Africa this year showed. The pitch was deemed to be substandard and the ICC issued an official warning to the BCCI saying as much.Funding for statesVision
The board promised to try and help state associations get sponsors for their teams, as part of its marketing strategy. “Again, in tune with domestic cricket elsewhere in the world of sport, all domestic teams will have brand names that will fetch them sponsorship as well as help them create fan clubs to follow their fortunes,” it said.Verdict
Most of the major state teams do have sponsors, but the line about fan clubs is surely a joke. Then again, the IPL has moved the goalposts by providing Rs 203 crore this year to be distributed among the state associations – 70% of the fees paid by the franchises to the board. This payment is in addition to the states’ share of the BCCI’s television-rights revenue, which totalled Rs 371.89 crore in the financial year 2007-08. This renders the issue of sponsorship moot in many cases. As Pawar said, “When they were getting less money, they certainly needed sponsors . Now that they are getting grants in crores, they need not worry about sponsors.”The vision paper adds: “All avenues for marketing and merchandising which are exploited internationally in disciplines like soccer, golf, tennis, NBA, NFL, World Series Baseball etc. should be done in respect of Indian cricket. Some of the areas are: corporate hospitality, clothing and cricketing memorabilia, brand and image building including protection of copyrights and registration of logo in international market, exploitation of rights in emerging areas like the Internet, cellular including G-4, broadband etc.” When Cricinfo read this section out to a state association official, he laughed out loud. “This can only be Lalit Modi [the IPL chairman],” he said. “This would probably apply to an IPL franchise, but not at any state association that I have heard of. I have no idea what this means.”Marketing and television rightsVision
The board claimed it wanted to end speculation over the sale of television rights. It said in the paper that it “would like to come up with a transparent method which will not only benefit the Board financially, but will also help in restoring its image as an organization which has become the epicentre of international cricket”.There has been a positive shift when it comes to pitches in domestic cricket. Pace bowlers get much more assistance, and the days of boring one-innings draws seem to be past. The BCCI has held a number of seminars for curators, which were attended by senior officials and experts Verdict
This is one area where the BCCI, predictably, has exceeded all expectations. Nimbus Communications bagged the TV rights for all international and domestic games in India for 2006-2010 with a bid of $612 million (approximately Rs 27 billion), which meant the BCCI raked in Rs 559.31 crore from media rights last year alone. In fact, the money has been flowing in faster than anyone can count: Rs 415 crore for team sponsorship, Rs 215 crore for kit sponsorship, and so on.The board clinched a massive US$ 1 billion (Rs 45 billion) deal with Sony for ten years for the IPL, and one with ESPN-Star worth US$ 975 million (Rs 43 billion) for the rights to the Champions Twenty20 League.The BCCI also launched its website last week, 36 months after it promised to. The internet rights to Indian cricket have gone for about US$ 50 million (Rs 2.2 billion).The big question, again, is this: when will all this money translate into a better experience for Indian cricket fans, the so-called “gods of cricket administrators”?The National Cricket AcademyVision
The BCCI wants the NCA to be a year-round technical institute where players can train regularly and interact with experts. “It should be the epicentre for world class coaching facilities so that players from other countries also make use of them. Renowned Indian and overseas cricketers will be part of the faculty,” the vision document says.Verdict
This part of the vision would have been ridiculed as a bad dream until maybe a couple of years ago. But in the last year and a bit, especially after Dav Whatmore, the 1996 World Cup-winning coach of Sri Lanka, took over operational responsibilities, the NCA has developed into the hub of Indian cricket training. New pitches and floodlights have been installed, and the fitness-training facilities have been spruced up. It has also been made compulsory for the players to get fitness certificates from the academy. Experts from India – GR Viswanath, L Sivaramakrishnan – and abroad are invited as consultants, and this year the academy launched a pace wing of its own.Not so long ago, during the height of the agrarian crisis in India, Pawar, who is also the central minister for agriculture, admitted in the national parliament that he was able to devote only two hours a week to cricket administration. Judging by the promises that were made to Indian cricket and the results achieved, Shashank Manohar, Pawar’s successor, will have to spare a little more than that from his busy legal practice.

Stats highlights of the third day of the first Test between New Zealand and India in Hamilton

S Rajesh20-Mar-2009
Sachin Tendulkar scored 100 of his 160 runs on the off side © Cricinfo Ltd
For all those who were doubting Sachin Tendulkar’s run-making ability, he has hit back in glorious style during the 2008-09 season. In seven Tests this season, he averages 64.72, and his three centuries during this period have come within the span of seven innings. With 42 Test hundreds, he is now five clear of the second-placed Ricky Ponting. (Click here for the list of highest centurions.)One of the features of his 160 on the third day in Hamilton was the manner in which he repeatedly peppered the off-side cordon : he scored 75 of his runs in the arc between backward point and extra cover, which is an excellent indication of his form. When he is unsure of his strokeplay, he often reins in those cover-drives, and instead prefers to gather his runs on the leg side. Here, though, 100 of his 160 runs, and 18 out of 26 fours, were scored through the off.The way he changed gears was stunning too. When he first came in to bat, Tendulkar was circumspect: after 40 deliveries he had only scored 14, with a solitary four. His first 50 runs required 118 deliveries, but thereafter he turned it on in style, requiring only 50 more deliveries to get his hundred. Though his rate dropped after he reached his century, he still scored at around four runs per over.Among the bowlers who bowled to Tendulkar, the only one who kept him in check was Daniel Vettori: in 66 balls, Tendulkar scored only 22 off him. Even after settling in and reaching his half-century, Tendulkar wasn’t able to dominate Vettori: in 44 deliveries he faced from Vettori after getting his 50, Tendulkar scored 12. In 73 balls from Chris Martin and Iain O’Brien during this period, he scored 66.

Tendulkar’s progress to 160

First 50Next 50Last 60Balls faced1185092

Tendulkar against each bowler

BowlerRunsBallsStrike rateChris Martin405868.96Kyle Mills1715113.33Iain O’Brien344969.38James Franklin294367.44Daniel Vettori226633.33Jesse Ryder182962.06Tendulkar was also involved in a 115-run stand with MS Dhoni, the 71st century partnership he has been involved in. Only Ponting (72) and Rahul Dravid (74) have been a part of more century stands.Thanks largely to Tendulkar’s 160, India managed their first 500-plus score in New Zealand. It’s also India’s highest first-innings lead in New Zealand, and significantly higher than the 148-run advantage they had in Auckland in 1976.

Plays of the day from the IPL fixture between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Siddhartha Talya at the Chinnaswamy Stadium09-Apr-2010Harris harries Bangalore
In conditions aiding movement, Ryan Harris troubled the Bangalore openers with the away-going delivery, after initially struggling for direction and bowling a couple of wides. Manish Pandey was beaten, squared up and he managed an outside edge in his first five deliveries but the sixth, one that nipped back in, won Harris his reward as the struggling batsman was bowled through the gate.Roy Fredericks… almost
Rewind to the 1975 World Cup final, when Roy Fredericks hooked Denis Lillee for six but, in the process, tripped onto his stumps to be out hit-wicket. Virat Kohli almost measured up, as he tried to hook a short ball off Harris only to miss it and lose his balance. However, he was alert enough to just about evade the stumps and survive. What’s more, the ball was called a wide, and it evaded Adam Gilchrist to fetch Bangalore five runs.A metallic thud
For fans sitting in the upper tier behind the wide long-on boundary, this one was a treat. Kohli swung Andrew Symonds brutally in the 17th over and the ball appeared to be on its way into the crowd, only to be obstructed by the face of the roof and sent back onto the field. The sound of ball striking metal had the home crowd craving for more, and they weren’t let down, as Kohli and Jacques Kallis plundered the bowlers in the death overs, though these sixes and fours were more genteel than the one that sparked the surge.Kumble’s triumph
Anil Kumble’s jubilation after having foxed Adam Gilchrist with a googly to have him stumped – he was struck for a six over midwicket just three balls earlier – was as much for having deceived an old foe as it was for breaking a threatening partnership. However, T Suman and Andrew Symonds ensured the joy was short-lived.Vinay’s gift
Right intentions, but the pursuit of finding the blockhole has scarred many a bowler due to poor execution. With nine needed of the final over, R Vinay Kumar gifted Symonds with a waist-high full toss that was cannoned into the stands. He did better on the second ball, pitching it up, only to be drilled over his head to seal Bangalore’s fate.

Graeme Swann was England’s standout player in this series, troubling South Africa’s batsmen with dip, turn and determination even on unhelpful surfaces, while Alastair Cook, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell and Stuart Broad all played valuable roles in England’

Andrew Miller18-Jan-2010England lost momentum towards the end of the Test series, but emerged looking a unified and dynamic unit•Getty ImagesAndrew Strauss – 5Made the wrong choice in each of the three tosses he won, and was visibly ruffled by Morne Morne’s round-the-wicket line, which accounted for three of his seven dismissals in the series. But Strauss’s influence on this squad cannot be under-estimated, and though his form was below his recent standards, he still managed key contributions in the first three Tests, including an invaluable tempo-setter in the victory at Durban, as he tore onto the offensive in a boundary-laden 54. Where he led, his team followed.Alastair Cook – 7Began the series with the vultures circling, and was conceivably in last-chance saloon going into the second Test, where he responded with a brilliant display of temperament over technique, as he left religiously outside off stump, and willed himself back to form in an indomitable six-and-a-half hour century. Carried that same mindset into the Cape Town rearguard before tailing off in the face of furious pace bowling at the Wanderers. But overall he has taken massive strides.Jonathan Trott – 5Began the series amid massive pressure, ramped up by endless column inches about his background, but responded with a bloodyminded 69 at Centurion to help put the first Test beyond South Africa’s reach. And yet, it all began to unravel thereafter. South Africa’s gripes about his dallying between deliveries appeared at first to have little effect, but the anxious batsman who flapped his way to a total of 13 runs in 17 balls at Johannesburg was not the same man who epitomised sang froid on debut at The Oval last August.Kevin Pietersen – 4One promising performance at Centurion (in which his own appalling running robbed him of a century in his first Test in South Africa), and a succession of mortal follow-ups. After a difficult year on and off the field, compounded by a four-month injury lay-off, Pietersen played like a batsman without foundations. In particular, he no longer had a solid base for his off-side repertoire, and got out far too cheaply to far too many rash swipes and rushed drives. Even great players lose their form, but it’ll take a renewed focus to get back to the player he was between 2005 and 2008.Paul Collingwood – 8Brigadier Block, as he will henceforth be known, revealed himself to be the reincarnation of Trevor Bailey in the course of an outstanding pair of rearguards at Centurion and Cape Town, in which he guarded his off stump with a GPS-like certainty of its whereabouts, and resisted all width like a dieter worried about his waistline. But then, at Johannesburg, while all about him crumbled, he changed his approach, climbed onto the offensive, and singlehandedly produced the style of resistance that could have saved the series. Rarely has he finished a campaign with his value to England more prominently displayed.Ian Bell – 7Has he, finally, surely, cracked it this time? The omens didn’t look great when he left that straight one from Paul Harris at Centurion, but with ridicule looming, he responded with the best hundred of his Test career to date to build an insuperable position in their crushing display at Durban. Then, one Test later, he confirmed his transformed mindset with a five-hour rearguard at Cape Town, where his late dismissal could not undermine the value of the effort that preceded it. Yes, his success has come at No. 6, where he cannot set agendas, but merely responds to them. But if that’s the formula that allows him to thrive, then England should nurture it, and banish forever the prospect of his return to No. 3.Matt Prior – 6Mixed performance. No qualms about his glovework, which was almost faultless to pace and spin alike. But his hyperactive batting wasn’t always suited to the situations into which England strayed. A total of four runs in three second-innings performances tells its own story, and he should have been out twice in two balls in an ugly sign-off at Johannesburg. But counterattackers aren’t designed for rearguard actions – instead, he seized the initiative as best he could in England’s first innings, helping Bell build the lead with his 60 at Durban, before clawing back the deficit with a stroke-laden 76 at Cape Town.Stuart Broad – 6Does one spell make a series? It did in the Ashes, and the same trick worked in South Africa, where Broad aped his efforts at The Oval in August with another scarcely playable matchwinning spell. Using his height to extract lift and seam movement from a taxing full length, he signed and sealed England’s most memorable overseas victory in years with three wickets in 15 balls on the pivotal fourth day in Durban. But either side of that performance, he cut a frustrated figure, prone to arguing with umpires and opponents alike, and it was interesting to note that he attracted more pantomime boos from the ground than any other Englishman. As an allrounder, he was off the pace – with a top-score of 25, and a solitary second-innings run.Graeme Swann – 9Outstanding in every respect. Midway through the 2000s, fingerspin was assumed to be dead, but Swann hauled the art out of the grave with 21 wickets in four Tests, and left South Africa’s left-handers looking like zombies as he allied an immaculate control of flight and line with an appreciable degree of turn on all surfaces. Ashwell Prince fell three times to the five deliveries he faced from Swann all series, while the number of times he struck in his first over of a spell had to be seen to be believed – at Johannesburg, each of his two wickets came from his very first ball. And then there was his unquenchably confident batting, which included a career-best 85 at Centurion, and a supporting role in the Cape Town rearguard. Right now, he’s the first name on the team-sheet.James Anderson – 6One outstanding performance on the first day at Cape Town, but by and large Anderson was marginally off the pace for much of this tour. He came into the series with concerns about a knee injury, and in a wicketless display at Johannesburg he was regularly overlooked at key moments of South Africa’s only innings. In between whiles he seemed to lose his ability to bend the ball back into the right-handers, a vital skill that turns his best spells from good to unplayable. His omission from the squad for the Bangladesh tour will give Anderson time for valuable rest and recuperation.Graham Onions – 7Only eight wickets at 45.75 for the series, but the wave of sympathy that greeted his omission at the Wanderers spoke volumes for his contribution to a superbly entertaining series. Onions’ wicket-to-wicket approach and appetite for hard yakka made him Strauss’s most reliable source of control on a series of shirt-fronts, and he was rightly promoted to take the new-ball ahead of Broad. But, of course, nothing compared to his exceptional efforts with the bat. At Centurion he faced down Makhaya Ntini, at Cape Town he withstood Morne Morkel. And in fact he was not dismissed in any of his five innings of the tour. Dropping him always looked like a bad omen.Ryan Sidebottom – 5Sidebottom hadn’t played a Test for England since Bridgetown in March, and his only previous outing of the tour came in a single day’s work at East London in a warm-up match. As gut instincts go, it was an odd punt from England’s think tank, and while he let no-one down in a wholehearted performance, he hardly set the Wanderers ablaze either.

Just when his country had made it back into the fold after the years of apartheid came Cronje to end the innocence

Telford Vice01-Jul-2010It took a newsstand owner in the mid-afternoon madness of Manhattan to put Hansie Cronje in his place.”What a cricketer he was,” he said after we had established our respective credentials as Indian and South African, “but what a crook.”That exchange took place over the purchase of a copy of the on Lexington Avenue on a drenched day in March, 2005. The Cronje saga had ripped the heart out of South African cricket five years earlier, but the wounds were still raw. Now, another five years on, revisiting that bizarre time when cricket was crime and crime was cricket doesn’t hurt quite so much. We’re over it, but thanks for asking.And if you believe that, you’ll believe that diamonds mark the parking spaces reserved for elephants in the gold-lined streets of Johannesburg.Part of the pain is the fact that a South African was at the centre of the scandal. We had, not many years before, thrown off the yoke of apartheid and been welcomed back into the world as prodigals. After being untouchables for so long we were everybody’s favourite cricketing nation. At least, that’s what being South African felt like back then. Cronje took that from us. He ended the innocence we were indulging in when we called ourselves cricket people. He was, and remains, the Grinch who stole cricket.But as he emerged with puffy eyes, an uncertain mouth and weary shoulders into the blare and glare of the King Commission on June 15, 2000, he looked anything but monstrous. Gone was the square-jawed strut with which he had won the hearts, or at least the respect, of cricket lovers everywhere.”The truth shall set you free,” the judge, Edwin King, told him simply and powerfully. But Cronje didn’t seem to be listening. He bobbed and weaved through the early parts of his testimony, even managing a weak smile at inappropriate moments. It couldn’t last, and as the commission’slegal team found its feet so Cronje lost his. Sportsmen who retire in conventional fashion are afforded a second honeymoon by their public, a gentle time before they ride off into the sunset of real life when they’re treated as if they still are what they once were. Not Cronje. He was demolished as a cricketer and as a man in the space of a few weeks. Then he spent three days in the dock, watching his own funeral from an unsafe distance.At the end, as he left the witness stand, Cronje needed the physical support of two men, one of them his brother Frans. Someone who once bestrode with a swagger the entire cricket world had been reduced to a stumbling mess.It was the last time I saw him. The image will haunt me forever.For some, this was more a beginning than an end. We started asking ourselves why a particularly unsuccessful bowling change happened whenit did. Was that batsman really guilty of nothing more than poor judgement when he drove tamely to short cover and set off on a disastrous single? That catch was easier to hold than to drop, so how come it went down?What would happen, we wondered, if both teams had been paid to lose? Would we see batsmen whose determination to be dismissed wasmatched only by their opponents’ resolve to ensure that they survived and prospered? A diabolical notion indeed, but a contest of sortswould unfold nonetheless. Perhaps the scoreboard, which would have to have been designed by Salvador Dali, would tick backwards in matchesof this strange ilk.We accepted, bleakly, that cricket was not a game of talent, skill and honest chance. Instead, it was a series of suspicious events whichwere not as haphazard as we had been led to believe.The other extreme was occupied by those who refused to believe that Cronje had done anything wrong. Or that he had taken the fall fora host of dirtier figures. These unfortunates were out in force on a particular morning during the King Commission when, from outside the august proceedings, a chant went up.The trickle of reporters towards the noise swelled to a gush as the volume rose. Soon most of us stood on the pavement looking at a bunch of students opposite. Their undone trousers were around their ankles as they sang, over and over: “.” That’s Afrikaans for, “Give Hansie another chance.”On another day I found myself in grim conversation with a member of the Cronje family. “You damn reporters; why don’t you stick towriting about cricket,” he snarled. “I wish I could,” I replied. “If only the cricketers would stick to playing cricket.”

How many other lies did Cronje tell us? How often did he loft a shot and hope like hell that he would be caught? How many players besides Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams did he drag into the darkness of cricket’s underworld?

There had been nothing at all to laugh or be smug about on April 11, 2000, which veterans of that swirl of fact, fiction and fantasy still call Black Tuesday. As I made my way to the first press conference, a Reuters editor called to tell me that the news desk had declared the Cronje affairthe second biggest story in the world that day. What, I thought to myself, could possibly be bigger.For Ali Bacher, then the managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, the day had started much earlier. When the phone rings at 3am, the news can only be as dark as the night it rends. Cronje called Bacher to say he had not been “entirely honest” with him.Before that moment, Cronje had grabbed by the throat reports of his involvement in match-fixing. “I am stunned,” he said on April 7, the day the story broke in India. “The allegations are completely without substance. I have been privileged to play for South Africa since 1992 and I want to assure every South African that I have made 100% effort to win every match that I have played.”Bacher stood by his man: “I have spoken to Hansie and he says it is absolute rubbish. He is known for his unquestionable integrity and honesty.”Two days later Cronje couldn’t quite look a roomful of reporters in the face when he said, “I have never received any sum of money for any match that I have been involved in and have never approached any of the players and asked them if they wanted to fix a game.”A lie, of course. Cronje received an offer of $250,000 for South Africa to lose a one-day international against India in 1996. That was bad enough, but not as alarming as the fact that he put the proposition to his team. Most disturbing of all, the South Africans met three times to discuss the offer before turning it down.How many other lies did Cronje tell us? How often did he loft a shot and hope like hell that he would be caught? How many players besides Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams did he drag into the darkness of cricket’s underworld? How often did he go onto the field not caring a jot about the hopes of a nation he carried with him?We will never know, because on June 1, 2002, Cronje died in a plane crash. He left behind him a South African cricket landscape as desolateas the Cape mountainside on which his life came to a harsh end. Distrust and gloom hung over the game in this country like the fog that caused the aircraft that was carrying him to lose its way.Graeme Smith’s appointment as captain in 2003, which represented a clean break from the Cronje era, heralded a brighter day. But SouthAfrica only re-emerged fully into the light when they won their first Test series in Australia in 2008-09. There was finally a bigger elephant in the room than the match-fixing scandal, and it was a welcome guest.Some thought Cronje would have made a place for himself in the sun of this new time, that he would have returned rehabilitated and readyto give back some of what he took. For these hopeful souls, Cronje’s premature death was a tragedy. For those of a more sober disposition, tragedy had befallen him some years earlier.Will the hard of heart ever forgive him? Don’t bet on it.

There were a few records set in the match, and it was the toss that played a huge role in the result

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan26-Feb-2011Pakistan’s 11-run victory was the fourth in their previous 11 matches against Sri Lanka, but more importantly they maintained their 100% record against Sri Lanka in World Cup matches. Pakistan’s fourth win in eight matches at the Premadasa Stadium puts them second on the list of visiting teams with the most wins against Sri Lanka at this venue.Sri Lanka hardly had any useful partnerships in their innings while Pakistan managed quite a few, including the century stand between Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq for the fourth wicket. Pakistan made the most of the first ten overs, during which they scored 65, and the batting Powerplay – 36 runs. Sri Lanka scored 42 runs in the first ten overs, and were not aided in their big chase by an extremely slow innings by Chamara Silva, who scored his first 11 runs off 41 balls, and was eventually dismissed for 57 off 78 balls.This was Sri Lanka’s first defeat in a home World Cup game. In 1996, Australia and West Indies forfeited their games against Sri Lanka because of security issues in the country and Sri Lanka defeated Kenya and Zimbabwe. In their opening match of the 2011 tournament, Sri Lanka had defeated Canada by 210 runs.Top ODI allrounder
Shahid Afridi produced yet another superb bowling display in the middle overs to give Pakistan the upper hand. He picked up the vital wickets of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews during his spell of 4 for 34. In the process, he took his 300th wicket in ODIs, becoming only the 11th bowler to do so.He also became the second player after Sanath Jayasuriya to reach the milestone of 6000 runs and 300 wickets in ODIs. Afridi has been superb in ODIs since 2008, picking up 89 wickets at an average just over 31.Another record for Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan, currently the record holder for most wickets in ODIs, surpassed Wasim Akram’s tally of 55 wickets in World Cups becoming the second-highest wicket taker in the tournament. His tally is only behind Glenn McGrath’s record of 71 wickets. In his first two World Cups, Muralitharan took only 13 wickets, but added 40 in the next two. His wicket tally was instrumental in Sri Lanka making the semi-final in 2003 and the final in 2007.

Muralitharan’s record in World Cups

YearMatchesWicketsAverageER4+ WI19966730.853.77019995626.333.6702003101718.763.6312007102315.264.14220112324.333.840Woes of chasing teams in Colombo
The bad luck for chasing teams continued at the Premadasa Stadium, where they have won only five of the 25 matches played since 2005. The record is worse when the match is played under lights: only two out of 19 matches have been won by teams chasing. Among grounds that have hosted at least eight matches since 2005, the win-loss ratio for chasing teams is the worst at the Premadasa.

Record of chasing teams at subcontinent venues (min eight matches played)

GroundPlayedWonLostW/L ratioJaipur10732.33Chittagong9632.00Mirpur, Dhaka4427171.58Dambulla2715111.36Ahmedabad9541.25Mohali8350.60Premadasa, Colombo255190.26

India have a poor record in the first Tests of series, but their second-Test numbers are remarkably better

S Rajesh26-Jul-2011Another first Test in an overseas series, and another defeat for this Indian team. While there were admittedly several factors that went against India at Lord’s – the injuries to Zaheer Khan and Gautam Gambhir, and Sachin Tendulkar’s illness all severely affected the team – the fact remains that they were outclassed, and now need to mount yet another comeback to draw level. The only positive, perhaps, is that India would be used to this scenario, since they have faced it five times on their last seven tours (excluding tours to Bangladesh) all within the last four years. Between 2003 and 2007, there were six successive series when India had avoided that fate (twice in Pakistan, and once each in Australia, West Indies, South Africa and England), but the first-Test bug has hit them hard since, with defeats in Australia, Sri Lanka (twice), South Africa, and now in England. (Click here for India’s overseas Test results since 2001.)MS Dhoni can also draw some hope from the fact that the first Test will be followed by the second Test. That’s stating the obvious, but historically their performances in second Tests have been huge improvements on the first. Over the last decade, and excluding tours to Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, India have a 4-9 win-loss record in first Tests of away series, with the four wins coming in Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies. In second Tests, on the other hand, they’ve won six times and lost only four, which means their win-loss ratio in second Tests is almost three-and-a-half times times their first-Test ratio.Overall, second Tests seem to conjure much happier memories for India, with wins in Kandy (2001), Port of Spain (2002), Adelaide (2003), Trent Bridge (2007), Galle (2008) and Durban (2010). Twice in the last three years, India have bounced back to win the second Test after losing the first – in Sri Lanka in 2008, and in South Africa last year. They promptly lost the third Test in that Sri Lanka series, but in South Africa they drew the third Test in Cape Town to ensure the series ended 1-1. Of the eight previous occasions when they’ve lost the first Test overseas since 2001, India have lost the series five times and drawn it thrice. More encouragingly, they’ve drawn the last two such instances, in Sri Lanka (in 2010) and South Africa.Coming back to the current series, it also helps that the venue for the second Test is again Trent Bridge, a ground where they beat England by seven wickets in 2007.

India in 1st Tests and other Tests overseas, since 2001*

MatchesWonLostDrawnFirst Tests18495Second Tests17647Third Tests15465Overall56152021A look at the stats for India’s top batsmen in each Test of these series reveal that most of them have been at their best in the second Test. The difference has been especially stark for VVS Laxman. He has historically struggled in the opening Test: his overall first-Test average is 36.69, with only one century and 16 half-centuries. In overseas Tests in the last decade, Laxman’s story has been one of getting starts and not converting them into significant scores: out of 30 innings, he has gone past 20 on 21 occasions, yet he has managed only seven half-centuries, and no hundreds at all. In second Tests, he has turned it around completely, with three hundreds in 28 innings and an average of almost 60. His last seven second-Test innings read thus: 76, 124 not out, 29, 38, 96, 85 and 87.The difference in averages for Gautam Gambhir is huge too, but the sample size is much smaller for him: Gambhir has only played two away second Tests for that average of 70.75. The numbers are fairly even across the three Tests for Rahul Dravid, but Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag both have very strong first-Test stats. For Tendulkar, the average drops into the 40s in the second and third Tests, while Sehwag’s drop is significant in the third Test, which is when he is expected to return to the team.

India’s top batsmen in each Test of an overseas series since Jan 2001*

Batsman1st Tests/ Ave100s/ 50s2nd Tests/ Ave100s/ 50s3rd Tests/ Ave100s/ 50sGautam Gambhir5/ 34.220/ 22/ 70.751/ 23/ 74.161/ 3Virender Sehwag12/ 59.424/ 212/ 55.263/ 311/ 34.152/ 1Rahul Dravid18/ 47.554/ 517/ 51.244/ 815/ 49.002/ 6Sachin Tendulkar15/ 54.634/ 414/ 44.203/ 412/ 42.192/ 5VVS Laxman17/ 35.140/ 716/ 59.673/ 1014/ 47.332/ 8Most of the focus for the poor first-Test results has usually been on the batsmen, but India’s leading spin bowler’s stats in series openers are abysmal. In his entire career, Harbhajan Singh has taken only 30 wickets in 14 first Tests overseas (excluding one-off Tests), at an average of 60.40 and a strike-rate of 108 balls per wicket. In overseas first Tests since 2001, in countries other than Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, his average is almost 68. In his last four such Tests his figures read thus: 0 for 98 and 0 for 24 in Galle; 2 for 169 in Centurion; 2 for 51 and 1 for 54 in Kingston; and 0 for 152 and 1 for 66 at Lord’s – a total of six wickets for 614 runs, an average of 102.33. The good news is that his numbers improve significantly in the second and third Tests, but he has been guilty of throwing away the initiative in the series opener repeatedly.In 14 away first Tests, Harbhajan has taken only one five-for – 6 for 63 in Hamilton in 2009. He had match figures of 7 for 120 in that game, which means that excluding that match, Harbhajan averages 73.56 per wicket in first Tests abroad.There’s no doubt that he usually lifts his game deeper into the series – in South Africa last year he took 4 for 10 in Durban and 7 for 120 in Cape Town after a similarly ordinary start to the series. An encore of those performances would suit India just fine.

Harbhajan in each Test of a series

1st Tests/ WktsAve/ SR2nd Test/ WktsAve/ SR3rd Tests/ WktsAve/ SRAway, since 2001*11/ 2267.90/ 114.312/ 3939.58/ 77.78/ 3928.30/ 64.1Away, overall14/ 3060.40/ 108.117/ 5139.31/ 78.58/ 3928.30/ 64.1

In every single match in India so far, West Indies have built up their supporters only to let them down by converting surprisingly strong positions into four defeats and one tie-draw

Tony Cozier04-Dec-2011As popular and appropriate as it was at the time, David Rudder’s converted anthem is wearing a little thin for cricket supporters despairing over whether there will ever be a revival.Perhaps the more apt chorus would now come from The Foundations’ hit of the late 1960s, . .It has certainly been, once again, the theme in the current Tests and ODIs in India where, in every single match, the inexperienced West Indies have built us up only to let us down by converting surprisingly strong positions into four defeats and one tie-draw.It is not a new phenomenon, although more pronounced, and thus more frustrating, over the past month or so. There have been several individual “positives”, to use the favourite noun of all captains and coaches, but they are diminished by the results and the manner of them.Darren Bravo confirmed his promise as a star of the future. Kirk Edwards’ consistency at No.3 proved that his debut Test hundred in Dominica in July was no one-innings wonder. Marlon Samuels’ now sanctioned off-spin has given the bowling a new dimension.Ravi Rampaul maintained the form that made him the outstanding bowler in the Caribbean earlier in the year and there are gradual signs that Kemar Roach is regaining the confidence and penetration that made him such an effective leader of the attack on his entry into the team.Without piling up big runs, Kraigg Brathwaite, 18, and Kieran Pollard, 21, showed they were more than just boys in a big man’s world, showed their potential as batsmen with the potential for long and productive futures.So why did West Indies repeatedly squander winning positions? Why did first-innings leads of 95 in the first Test and 108 in the third end in defeat in the first instance, a scrambled tie-draw in the second when a first innings total 590 was followed by a second innings 134?The same questions could be repeated for the two ODIs to date.In the first one-dayer, the pace of Roach and Andre Russell left India lurching at 59 for five in reply to a seemingly inadequate 211, only for them to recover and, finally, for the last pair to squeeze out the last 11 runs for victory by one wicket. West Indies helped them along with 16 wides and four no balls (each worth a free hit) in 23 extras, crippling statistics in a low-scoring match.In the second, Rampaul’s extraordinary record 66-ball, unbeaten 86 at No.10 and his last wicket partnership of 99 with the unruffled Roach was followed by India faltering at 84 for three in the 17th over. West Indies had reason to be bouyant but the balloon soon burst. They missed four catches, and flawed tactics subsequently allowed Virat Kohli (the same batsman whose dislike of bodyline bowling had been exposed in the Caribbean) and Rohit Sharma to comfortably gather singles to the deep-set fields. Inevitable victory was achieved with five wickets and 11 balls to spare.

West Indies “seemed to be trapped in a mindset that dooms them to failure”. It is not a condition easily resolved.

So why does it all go so wrong so often?To be sure, the failures with the bat of the wicketkeepers, Carlton Baugh and Denesh Ramdin, at No. 7 and captain Darren Sammy at No. 8, repeatedly opened the door to late order collapses. The bowling often went flat once the ball lost its shine and hardness.To state that Chris Gayle’s hypothetical inclusion would have been a boost of experience and proven record is to state the obvious, but it wasn’t much different when he was in the XI.The reasons for such stunning reversals go beyond cricket alone. As Harsha Bhogle, the writer and commentator, put it after the first Test, West Indies “seemed to be trapped in a mindset that dooms them to failure”.It is not a condition easily resolved. It is a truism applicable to all team sports that losing becomes a habit as much as winning, perhaps even more so.Floyd Reifer, who is coach of the Barbados champions, University of the West Indies (UWI), and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the regional level, and thus close to young charges, has identified one of his priorities. “Winning is part of development as well,” he said recently, recognising that batting, bowling and fielding are not the be all and end all of his remit. “We have to create guys who, when they get into positions to win matches, know how to win them.”It is easier said than done but it must be an urgent priority for all West Indies’ coaches, especially at the age-group levels.

Stats highlights from a bat-dominated second day in Cape Town

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan04-Jan-2012Kallis scored his second double-century in Tests in his 150th match. His previous double-century came against India in Centurion in December 2010. Kallis now joins de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Dudley Nourse and Graeme Pollock among South African batsmen who have two double-centuries each. Only Graeme Smith (4) and Gary Kirsten (3) are above Kallis in that category.Kallis was involved in his 64th century stand in Tests. He has shared the most century stands with de Villiers (12) followed by Hashim Amla and Gary Kirsten (9 each). Kallis’ 224 is the second-highest score by a South African batsman in an innings in Cape Town after Gibbs’ 228 against Pakistan in 2003. The highest score by any batsman at the venue is 262 by Stephen Fleming in 2006.The 192-run stand between Kallis and de Villiers is the sixth-highest for the fourth wicket for South Africa. It is also the second-highest stand between the two batsmen for the fourth wicket behind the 224 against India in Centurion in 2010. The partnership is also the second-highest fourth-wicket stand in Tests in Cape Town.The South African innings featured three century partnerships. While this is the 11th occasion that a South African innings has seen three or more century stands, it is the first time that there have been consecutive century stands in a South African innings for the third, fourth and fifth wickets. de Villiers scored his 13th Test century overall and his first against Sri Lanka. His strike rate of 78.04 is his fifth-highest for a 100-plus score.South Africa’s total of 580 is their third-highest total in Cape Town and their highest against Sri Lanka. It is also the 15th time Sri Lanka have conceded 500 or more in away Tests since 2000.This is the fifth time since 2000 that four Sri Lankan bowlers have conceded 100-plus runs in an innings.The average runs per wicket so far in the team first innings is 121.5. This is the highest at the venue in Tests since South Africa’s readmission.

The Barbados Test demonstrated the lesson that some Test match victories cannot be obtained without first risking defeat

Daniel Brettig at Kensington Oval12-Apr-2012In the Kensington Oval gloaming, familiar to all who had been here for the unhappy conclusion to the 2007 World Cup final, Australia’s cricketers gave themselves a far more edifying memory of victory in Barbados. In doing so they also gave the world a stirring reminder of Test cricket’s capacity for the wondrous. The heroes in the dying light were Michael Hussey, Matthew Wade, Ryan Harris and Ben Hilfenhaus, all scrounging out priceless runs as the target of 192 was reached in 47 overs. The theoretical final hour had not yet begun, but given the retreat of the sun behind the Greenidge and Haynes Stand, there would scarcely have been time for another six balls.The man who deserved as much credit for the result, and the way it was so enterprisingly pursued, was the captain Michael Clarke. It was he who on the third evening refused to concede a win was beyond his team’s grasp even as they limped to 248 for five, still well short of the hosts’ studiously compiled first innings. And it was Clarke who declared behind shortly before tea on day four, after his tail had responded grandly to the goal of scraping to within 50 runs of the West Indies total. At tea on the final day, after an inert afternoon session, Clarke briefed his men on how the target would be chased. Given what followed, his words cannot have been a million miles from those famously exchanged between Don Bradman and Richie Benaud at the final break in the 1960 tied Test in Brisbane.The visitors chased the game boldly, even ravenously, on resumption. Shane Watson hammered boundaries and a six, Ricky Ponting reverse swept, and even the obdurate Ed Cowan roused himself from two hours of afternoon torpor to pull his first delivery in the evening session to the square leg fence. Hussey’s innings in particular was a masterpiece in miniature, resembling his contribution to a similarly adventurous Ashes win over England at Adelaide Oval in 2006, or his blazing innings to win a World Twenty20 semi-final over Pakistan in St Lucia in 2010. His play told of a desire, and a belief, that outstrips most Test match opponents. Arguably, nowhere in the world is the yearning to perform for one’s country stronger than Australia, even as Twenty20’s marketeers chase its best players with evermore corporate cash.It also demonstrated the lesson that some Test match victories cannot be obtained without first risking defeat. Courage is required to act on that realisation. More than ten years and the entire span of Allan Border’s captaincy passed before the modern Australia team learned that properly. In Bridgetown, Michael Clarke’s team showed Darren Sammy’s West Indies the rich rewards that can be obtained by taking that very risk.Sammy and the coach Ottis Gibson are in a similar place to that occupied by Border and Bob Simpson in the mid-1980s. They are trying to reinvigorate and educate a team that has seemingly become all too de-sensitised to defeat, and have introduced young players with the hope of steeling them for future battles. Basic lessons are being learned, though global Twenty20 competitions are stripping the team of capable players just as the South African rebel tours hamstrung Border.But pragmatism outstripped their opportunism by such a wide margin on the final day, characterised by defensive fields and flagrant time wasting. There was an apparent reluctance to believe, even when Narsingh Deonarine’s burst of four wickets had given them a window to Australia’s tail, that the hosts could win it themselves. They fiddled over field settings designed largely to contain, dithered over drinks and complained repeatedly about the footmarks, though the umpires Tony Hill and Ian Gould had the good sense not to indulge their delaying tactics, nor to spend too much time pondering over the light as the result crept near. Gibson’s plan for this team is clear, but it will be a welcome day when Sammy has the confidence in his players to lead them with more flair than forbearance over five days.Test cricket, of course, needs days like this: when the IPL fades into triviality and the competing football codes into routine. Crowds and television viewers cannot fail to watch matches this compelling, with a backdrop like Barbados offering all the comforts of warmth, sun and no little history. By chasing victory so admirably, Australia chased a wider audience for their game, and a richer place for themselves in the story of its continued survival.As Harris and Hilfenhaus scampered the winning run, the Australian balcony rose to cheer them, and the players embraced in a spontaneous moment of relief and jubilation. They have beaten better sides under Clarke, and won other games in difficult circumstances. This, though, was a performance in which a growing sense of belief was given the chance to burgeon further and become sustained, so that few of Clarke’s XI will fear defeat the next time they set out in search of victory. They have come a long way since Clarke became captain, and there is still plenty to improve upon – seven catches went down to provide a salient reminder. But the confidence of the team is now at a level where the nations above them can start to be worried. The word unshakeable comes to mind.