All posts by n8rngtd.top

From Akash Kaware, Canada

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Revolver EntertainmentIn 1995, West Indies lost their tag of undisputed champions of Test cricket to Australia in a seismic series and started the slide down a slippery slope of defeat and despair that continues to this day. For someone like me who started following cricket only in 1996, the current bunch of strugglers in maroon is a much more familiar sight than the juggernaut that steamrolled anything and everything that came in its way for a mind-boggling period of 15 years.For young cricket fans and old, , the much-acclaimed documentary on Clive Lloyd’s great West Indies team, is a delicious glimpse into the rosy past of a proud group of cricketing nations. The best thing about the documentary is that it is not a bunch of doddery old cricket historians talking about this dominant team in flowery language. The speakers are the very people whom the documentary is about, the players and to some extent the fans. Viv Richards and Michael Holding are the show-stealers, but Lloyd, Andy Roberts, Derryck Murray, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge all make an appearance. Add to that a bunch of truly eccentric characters like Bunny Wailer, Frank I, some Calypso artists and groundsmen, and the narration of the documentary is representative of the spirit of West Indies cricket in a way a historian or statistician could never have been. In fact, when one groundsman pronounces, “When West Indies lose, we cry tears maan”, you can’t help but be moved and wonder how many tears he must be shedding these days.And then of course there are those unforgettable images; Michael Holding with that graceful run-up, which was a thing of beauty to everyone other than the hapless batsman at the other end; Richards, helmetless and chewing gum, getting hit on the face by a bouncer, and hooking the very next ball for six; Malcolm Marshall bowling with a broken arm in a plaster and batting with one hand; That famous picture of Roberts, Holding, Croft and Garner together, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse; Each time a batsman had his jaws, nose, ribs, hands or other features rearranged – and there are plenty of such instances through the 88-minute documentary – the watcher is sure to wince, yet feel a visceral pleasure. One can only imagine what went through the minds of the batsmen themselves.Exhilarating as it is to watch, the documentary is not without its flaws. The cultural impact of the success of the West Indies team and cricket’s role in bringing together those independent countries in the Caribbean is undeniable. But the aspect of ‘Black Power’, the portrayal of the West Indian success as a payback for years of oppression by their colonial masters is a tad overplayed.Many players in the documentary talk about taking out their anger on the ball and the batsmen, but the fact is, no amount of anger can make a batsman play like Richards did at The Oval in 1976 or Greenidge did at Lord’s in 1984. They could play like that because they were supremely talented players, their skills honed by hours of practice. After all, when a batsman is facing a bowler bowling at 90mph, if he is thinking about the weight of history rather than the ball itself, it is hard to imagine him scoring any runs at all, forget about breaking records!You can try to find a higher political meaning in all events with the passage of time, but in this case, the documentary attempts to attribute the phenomenal success of the team to socio-political factors, rather than more believable ones like outstanding skills with bat and ball, and years of hard work. Ditto with the intimidating bowling. Throughout the documentary, fear and intimidation are a common theme. Batsmen are shown hopping all over the place to avoid bumpers, many are seen getting hit and poor old Brian Close, an elderly, but awfully brave English batsman is seen getting a thorough working over from Holding.Yet there was more to the West Indian attack than bouncers. Roberts was, in Sunil Gavaskar’s words, the cleverest fast bowler there ever was. When Holding took those 14 wickets on a featherbed of a track at the Oval in 1976, he did so by sending those batsmen to the pavilion, not to the hospital. In fact, a look at the scorecard of the particular match would tell you that of those 14 wickets, 12 were either bowled or LBW, suggesting a bowler targeting the stumps rather than batsmen’s heads. Marshall was not exactly a brainless brute either. He, along with Dennis Lillee, was probably the most complete fast bowler the game has ever seen. To the uninitiated, it would appear that the West Indian quicks were all about intimidation. But they were more, so much more.Also, the portrayal of the West Indies team before 1975 as ‘Calypso cricketers’, a bunch of players who could entertain but not win, was shocking. The tour of Australia in 1975-76, which resulted in a chastening 5-1 defeat, largely the handiwork of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, is said to have galvanized the team to come together, and go on to conquer everything there was there was to conquer on a cricket field. However, it must be noted that though West Indies became truly invincible under Lloyd, they had been winning more than they had been losing since the time of Frank Worrell, who doesn’t find more than a passing mention. The 1976 shellacking of England is said to be the ultimate triumph against their old colonial masters, when in fact, they had beaten England in England in 1963, 1966 and 1973 as well.A movie might be forgiven for taking dramatic liberties, a documentary cannot. However, for all its faults that might irk a knowledgeable cricket fan, the documentary still makes for delightful viewing. After all, when the subjects themselves are so fascinating, you hardly need to create drama. Sometimes true stories are enough to give you goosebumps..

What does a live falcon show in the Arab desert tell us about Shoaib Akhtar’s career?

Osama Baig13-Apr-2013I’m sitting on top of a small sand dune in a remote part of Ras Al Khaimah in UAE, waiting for a falcon show to begin. The falconer comes up, with the falcon fastened to his gloved hand by a few hooks on her leg. He explains how the falcon is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 300 kph. A friend quips (“The falcon flies faster than Shoaib Akhtar bowls.”) Shoaib Akhtar?The falconer unhooks the falcon. Freed, she stands perched on the glove and surveys the crowd gathered round her for a few seconds while also giving the crowd an opportunity to watch her closely; clearly she’s into showmanship. She takes off. The falconer proceeds down the sand dune to a clearing some distance away, and pulls out a length of rope at the end of which are quail feathers rolled into a ball. He swings them over his head like a lasso trying to get the attention of the now quite far away flying falcon. Sure enough, the falcon spots the quail feathers and starts her dive. She’s getting bigger as she’s getting closer, and seems to be getting faster too. And just as she is sure to grab the quail feather ball, the falconer pulls it away: she misses and whizzes past him.It’s at this point where I get an image of Shoaib Akhtar charging in, off his insanely long run. Getting bigger as he’s getting closer, hurling down a ball which rips past the batsman. I never got an opportunity to watch him live.The falcon flies back to her original far away position even though the falconer had started swinging his rope right after she missed. The falcon wants to charge back again. She doesn’t want to disappoint the expectant watching crowd by diving from a shorter starting point, and sneakily snatching the quail feathers. Thrill is an important part of her image; she isn’t going to give it up.She misses again, and then again. Finally the falconer calls out for what was going to be the last time, and she doesn’t miss. I walk closer. She’s panting quite heavily. The falconer had let her get the quail feathers in her fourth go so she could stop. He understands that she can only be allowed to hunt in short spells. It’s demanding on her to put so much effort, and since it isn’t in her nature to back away and stop, her caretaker would have to intervene.Show over, the falconer puts on a hood over the falcon’s head. Can she see through it? “No,” the falconer explains. “After all the excitement, the hood helps the falcon calm down. They can injure themselves, you know.”I start leaving. Everyone’s excitedly taking about the show. I’m gutted though, for this isn’t Shoaib Akhtar. He wasn’t always used in short bursts. The effects of his craft on his body weren’t always considered. He was never protected from hurting himself.If only this falconer from a remote area in Ras Al Khaimah had been consulted by the Pakistani cricket management, the country’s fast bowling situation could have been slightly better.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

Australia have got close to England a few times in the series only to be unable to quite catch them and when they have let chances slip they have done so in style

Jarrod Kimber at Chester-le-Street12-Aug-2013Wile E. Coyote spent his entire cartoon life thinking he would catch the roadrunner. On so many occasions he thought he had his dinner, only to end up falling off a cliff, getting caught in his own trap, being outsmarted or just blowing himself up.Australia put England in an innings-long chokehold to gain the momentum. And then give it away with a bad collapse in their innings. Snap. Australia take three quick wickets to take charge of the match. And then can’t stop Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell. Beep, beep. Australia take Bell and Matt Prior in two balls to keep the total chasable. And then England’s tail mock them. Thud. Australia start their innings like the total of 299 is easy. And then they lose one wicket. Bam.Other than routinely giving away good positions, Australia have done nothing consistently. Even their two collapses in this Test weren’t consistent. One was half hearted after trying very hard to get a lead. The other was whole and complete. They stepped into the doom entirely, even before the clouds came over.There are things they cannot be blamed for. Bell is better than them. Stuart Broad has those Tests. England are more professional. England have better players. England have a coach they’re used to. England are playing at home. England are the better side.But Australia are now 3-0 down from four Tests. In three of those Tests they have had chances. One was denied by weather, and KP. The other two they combined their worst with some of England’s best. As far as losers go, they’ve been good ones. But losers just the same.Ryan Harris probably doesn’t deserve to be thought of as a loser. When in two years time he can’t walk without wincing, it’ll be because of days like today when he had to do the entirety of the world. As Tim Bresnan slogged him you could hear the fluid in his knee joints boil.Peter Siddle was the batsman who offered the final catch as the dark clouds hovered above Lumley castle. In Ashes cricket he’s taken hat tricks, large hauls, and put every single vital organ on the line Test after Test. For his trouble he’s lost three Ashes series. Nathan Lyon, the spinner that nobody wanted, took seven wickets. Shane Watson came in at No. 6, a position he would have found unpalatable a few weeks ago, and played his best Test innings since he was at the Wanderers in 2011.Even the accidental opening partnership did well. A player that Australia ignored because they always assumed they could find someone better, and the other who almost missed the entire tour for being an idiot. They batted in such a way that Australia believed they could finally catch England. David Warner proved again that when his head is still, and he wants to use it, he can score runs at important times. Chris Rogers hang on to the side of the boat for both innings, but no matter how many times England tried to force him off, he clung on.But that’s all Australia have been this Test, this series and of recent times, a team that can cling onto the edge and wait for the other team to break their fingers so they fall off. And when Australia fall, they fall. Today they fell so quickly it was impossible to distinguish each body from the next.Had they been beaten by a truly great team, or even a team playing at their very best, they could draw something from that. This is not the case. England can only get better. Australia are two injuries to Harris and Clarke away from being a club side with grand ambitions. If Tony Hill and Aleem Dar could see Australia’s future, they’d take them off the field for being too dark.They will continue to fight, win the odd moral battle, have some great individual performances, and even steal the odd Test.They can see the roadrunner, but he’s just better than them, and despite the odd good sign, they might not catch it for a long time.

In this Ashes series, Tim Bresnan was statistically unspectacular but impactful

Andy Zaltzman05-Sep-2013Has a player who did not score a half-century or take three wickets in an innings ever had a greater impact on a series than Tim Bresnan on this year’s Ashes? He totalled 103 runs at an average of 25 and ten wickets at fractionally under 30. Hardly numbers that explode out of the scorebook, but his performance was of enormous value.With the bat, his turgid nightwatchman’s grind at Lord’s helped to snuff out Australia’s microscopic hopes of coming back from the dead, then, more importantly, he played with solidity in the first innings at the Riverside, helping Graeme Swann and James Anderson add 40 precious runs for the last two wickets. His second-innings 45 – solid while supporting specialist batsmen, then punishingly aggressive with the tail – was priceless, as England’s last three wickets added a match-turning 79.With the ball, nine of his ten wickets were of top-six batsmen, including two of the first three wickets at Lord’s, sparking the Australian implosion that essentially confirmed the destination of the urn, and the pivotal wicket of David Warner in Durham, just as the intermittently brilliant left-hander was on the verge of turning the game decisively Australia’s way. He added the wicket of Shane Watson, leaving Brad Haddin and the tail to either (a) score 120 to win, or (b) be swept away by Stuart Broad. They chose (b). Or perhaps had (b) chosen for them by Broad.He was statistically unspectacular but impactful. In his five Ashes Tests, two in the last series and three this time, 17 of his 21 wickets have been top-six batsmen; one more was Haddin; he has also dismissed the bowling allrounders Mitchell Johnson and Ashton Agar; his sole genuine tail-end Ashes wicket was Ben Hilfenhaus, and even that had the added glory of being the final, Ashes-confirming wicket in the MCG Test in 2010-11.Like Ian Bell, he was emerging from a significant slump. It was aggravated by injury but two wickets for 420 in four Tests, against South Africa and in India, while conceding 3.5 runs per over, and failing to pass 20 with the bat, were hardly numbers to write home about, unless that missive was to say, “Stock up on my favourite biscuits, I won’t be playing much Test cricket for a while.”The selectors trusted him to recapture his form of 2010 and 2011; Bresnan rediscovered his game. Both deserve great credit.He is the first bowler to have taken ten or more wickets in an Ashes series without taking three in an innings, and only the third England bowler to reach double figures in any series without bagging a three-for (Flintoff took 10 at 59 in five Tests against South Africa in 2003, and Laker 11 at 29 in the five-match rubber in South Africa in 1956-57). Only four other players have scored at least 100 runs in a series at an average of 25 or higher, and taken at least ten wickets at an average of 30 or lower, without either scoring a half-century or taking four wickets in an innings. And only Bresnan has done so without even taking three in an innings. To future cricket-loving generations, he might barely be noticeable on the 2013 Ashes scorecards, but Bresnan has been England’s unsung micro-Botham.I’ll be back in late September, with some thoughts on Cook’s much-maligned and much-praised captaincy – I think both sides of the argument are, essentially, right. I will also, hopefully, be touring India with a cricket-and-global-politics-themed stand-up show in October. I’ll keep you posted here, and on my @ZaltzCricket Twitter feed.In the meantime, one final statistic for all those who sat through England’s miserable batting on Friday and thought to themselves: “I have paid £65 for this. I wanted to see history being made.” Well, you did see history being made. For the first time ever in Test history (admittedly including only games for which balls faced have been recorded), a team’s top six all scored 25 or more, and all at a strike rate of less than 40 runs per 100 balls. This was not “proper Test cricket” or “a day for the connoisseur”. It was unnecessary, and unparalleled, (and, I would argue, not particularly effective) collective hyper-caution.Until late September, goodbye, all hail to the Sledgehammer of Eternal Justice and his three series-defining centuries of Dravidian silk and steel, some of the finest English batsmanship of all time.

Stats preview of the ODI series between South Africa and India

Shiva Jayaraman04-Dec-2013India are currently on a roll in ODIs, having won their last-four ODI series played away from home, but they will be posed with a much stiffer challenge this time around. India have never been happy tourists to South Africa, having won only two of the last-ten ODIs they have played against them at their home. Their overall away record in ODIs against South Africa reads even worse: India have managed to win just five out of the 25 ODIs against them. Unsurprisingly, India’s win-loss ratio of 0.26 against South Africa is their worst against the top ODI teams away from home. They have played three bilateral ODI series against South Africa in South Africa and are yet to register a series win. In fact, South Africa is the only country where India haven’t won an ODI series.Part of India’s poor performances there can be attributed to the fact that South Africa have themselves been resilient at home. Till late 2009, Australia were the only to team to win a bilateral series against South Africa in South Africa. From October 2002 to November 2009, South Africa won 17 consecutive bilateral series. But since their loss to England in November 2009, South Africa have lost four of the seven bilateral ODI series they have played against major ODI-teams at home- to Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and England.

The Indian batsmen haven’t fared particularly well playing against South Africa in ODIs away from home. MS Dhoni is the top scorer with 214 runs at 23.77 from nine innings, while Rohit Sharma’s five innings here have yielded just 49 runs and a top score of 23. Yuvraj Singh averages 16.66 from nine matches and has only one fifty-plus score, and Suresh Raina, the other batsman in India’s middleorder has scored a paltry 115 runs at 19.16 from six innings, and is yet to hit a fifty. Virat Kohli is the only batsman with some semblance of success: he has 193 runs at 48.25 from five innings with two fifties.

South Africa’s batsmen have had reasonable success playing against India at home. Jacques Kallis has hit 519 runs against India from 11 innings at 64.00. Hashim Amla and JP Duminy, both average more than 60 against India playing in South Africa. South Africa captain Ab de Villiers’ however has only a disappointing 119 at 22.80 from five innings. But these numbers may not mean much considering that since their last series against India at home, he has scored 835 ODI runs – the highest by any South Africa batsman – at 83.50 in South Africa.

South Africa’s bowlers have clearly had the better of Indian batsmen ny playing on pace-friendly conditions in home. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, all average less than 20 against India in South Africa. Tsotsobe is the leading wicket-taker- 13 wickets at 13.53 with two four-fors in five matches.

The current bowlers in the Indian team haven’t had much experience playing against South Africa away from home, as Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin are the only full-time bowlers in the squad to have bowled in South Africa before. Yuvraj Singh is the highest wicket-taker for India with five wickets from six innings. Overall, Zaheer Khan – who is part of the Test-squad but doesn’t find a place in the ODI-squad – is the leading wicket-taker for India in South Africa with 15 wickets at 27 apiece from nine matches.

India are starting their campaign at the venue where they beat South Africa the last time they played an ODI here. India may also get encouragement from the fact that the New Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg is the venue where South Africa have one of their worst win-loss records at home in ODIs.

The last time Australia played an unchanged XI for four successive Tests was back in 2004. It is likely that the 10-year drought may be broken in the fourth Ashes Test, a significant achievement considering how the team was formed in a chaotic 2013

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne22-Dec-2013Darren Lehmann wondered out loud on Sunday when Australia had last chosen the same XI for four consecutive Tests. Nobody could fill him in. Lehmann should remember better than most, for it has not happened since the final four Tests of his career. Not since Australia beat New Zealand in Brisbane and Adelaide in November 2004, and then took a 2-0 lead against Pakistan in Perth and Melbourne the next month, has the same team taken the field for Australia in four straight Tests.It is possible that Lehmann’s first four home Tests as Australia’s coach will break that near decade-long drought, for the selectors will be loath to tinker with a winning team when the Australians take the field at the MCG on Boxing Day. Provided the fast bowlers, Ryan Harris in particular, have recovered well from their win at the WACA, it is unlikely that changes will be made; the resting of bowlers to prevent injury appears a distant memory.Already Chris Rogers, David Warner, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Steven Smith, George Bailey, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris and Nathan Lyon have achieved more than most people believed possible, considering the way they were thrust together in an otherwise chaotic 2013.They are hardly the equal of the last XI to achieve the feat – Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Glenn McGrath – but their 3-0 triumph so far in the Ashes series has raised the question of how long this side can stick together, given that seven of them are aged 30-plus. After the remaining two Tests against England, a three-Test tour of South Africa follows in February-March.”You judge it on each series,” Lehmann said in Melbourne on Sunday. “From our point of view, you’d love them to play as long as they can, but also you’re realistic about that. What we have to do is have them keep playing well so that they can stay in the side. That’s what they have to do individually and collectively.”We don’t look any further ahead than this Test match and then we’ll make our assessments at the end of the Test series and see where we go from there. But at the moment, the side is doing the job and, as I’ve always said, you try to pick the best XI each and every time to win the Test match.”It helps that every member of the side has contributed through the series, though some have offered more than others. Chris Rogers spoke on Saturday of his concern that he was the only member of Australia’s top five who was yet to score a century in this series. Given he is 36, that might otherwise have placed him under pressure to hold his place, but Lehmann said Rogers had been a valuable contributor in Australia’s opening partnerships, even if his partner David Warner had outshone him.”He, with David Warner, has had some good opening partnerships for us, which we didn’t get in England,” Lehmann said. “That’s a pleasing thing for us. It doesn’t expose our middle order and that’s what every team tries to do. [There was] the 150 they put on the other day in Perth when we had a lead but we had to start well, Brisbane I think we were 0 for 65 at stumps on day two, which was a really important opening partnership for us to take control of the game, so he has contributed.”The first innings at the WACA was less pleasing for Rogers, who was run out for 11 from nine balls when he attempted a suicidal single to midwicket and was well short when James Anderson hit the stumps at the bowler’s end. Rogers knew it was an opportunity missed on a good pitch.”I like to think I’m a smart guy, but that was very dumb,” Rogers said. “I think sometimes instinct takes over and I hit it harder than I thought I did and you don’t expect one of the best fielders in the world to be hanging out at mid-on, so I’ll try not to do that again.”And first-innings runs from the top order is one of the areas in which Australia should be aiming for significant improvement in the remainder of the series for, too often, Brad Haddin has needed to rescue the team from shaky situations.”We were 6 for 132 in the first Test, [4 for 174] in the second Test and five for a hundred and something in Perth,” Lehmann said. “Our top order know they’ve got to make some more runs, and one of the big things is making them in the first innings. We need our guys performing straight up on day one if we bat first.”The Australians gathered in Melbourne on Sunday after a few days in their home cities, and they will train at the MCG over the next three days as they aim to take a 4-0 lead. Nathan Coulter-Nile and Doug Bollinger will again be with the squad as reserves in case any of the fast bowlers are unable to back up from the Perth Test.

It can’t get better than a tied Super Over to finish off the Abu Dhabi leg of the IPL

Anil Joseph30-Apr-2014Choice of game
This was the last IPL match in Abu Dhabi, so I didn’t want to miss it. It seems another 20,000 people in Abu Dhabi had similar sentiments so yet another sell-out crowd turned up to bid adieu to the IPL from Abu Dhabi. Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals had identical 2-2 win loss ratios, and this match was crucial for both to keep their noses in front in the race for the IPL play-offs.And what a fitting farewell it turned out to be for Abu Dhabi – easily the closest match this season, and one where fortunes swung from start to finish.Team supported
I guess loyalties are not as deeply entrenched in the IPL (as compared to international matches), so most of the spectators applauded good performances from both sides even if they were more inclined towards Kolkata.I was supporting Rajasthan due to its connection with my favourite cricketer, Rahul Dravid. However, I also wanted to see Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine and Gautam Gambhir do well for KKR, albeit in a losing cause.Getting to the ground
Parking at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium is quite an experience. The stadium is surrounded by acres of plain sand, which serves as a parking lot for the thousands of cars. I saw at least three cars that got stuck in the sand and their owners desperately trying to extricate their cars (mostly in vain). Long queues of arriving cars sometimes also caused miniature sand storms, but that would not deter the cricket enthusiasts. The security checks were extremely efficient and in no time, we were inside the stadium.One thing I’d have changed
Shah Rukh Khan made an appearance in the 18th over of the Rajasthan innings, and as has been the norm in all IPL matches, a large section of the crowd decided that catching a glimpse of SRK eclipsed any entertainment that cricket could possibly provide. For a diehard cricket fanatic like myself, ignoring a battle of Rahane-Steve Smith vs Narine-Morne Morkel in the final two overs of a T20 game for a long shot sighting of SRK was nothing short of sacrilege.Wow moment
The wow moment of the day for me was the crucial 19th over bowled by the birthday boy, James Faulkner. The three wickets he took in this over of Suryakumar Yadav, Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar resurrected Rajasthan’s hopes from a position of utter despair. What makes this performance all the more fascinating was that till that point, Faulkner’s only notable contribution to the match was being caught sleeping at the boundary line when Kallis offered a chance in the deep off Rajat Bhatia’s bowling in the seventh over.Shots of the day
The most stunning shot of the day was Suryakumar Yadav’s six off Shane Watson, which he picked up from way outside off stump (almost near the wide line), and casually slog-swept over square leg in a manner reminiscent of some of Moin Khan’s audacious sweeps.The other amazing shot of the day was Ajinka Rahane’s pulled six off Vinay Kumar. The first impression was that the ball was unlikely to carry very far, but the ball somehow hung in the air and went over for a highly unlikely six.Crowd meter
The excitement levels and associated decibel levels for this match remained relatively subdued for a large part, perhaps due to the attritional nature of cricket being played and the relatively fewer number of sixes and fours. However, the excitement and noise gradually rose to a crescendo during the second half of Kolkata’s innings as people realised this was going to be a close one. Towards the end, everyone was screaming, and as we trooped out of the stadium you could see the satisfaction on the fans’ faces at having witnessed something special.IPL v Pakistan’s home games
Having watched a Pakistan Test, ODI and T20 each here, I must confess only the T20 international could match the IPL for crowd support. The Test match had barely a few dozen people in attendance and the ODI was also played in a half-empty stadium. The IPL, in comparison, has been a runaway hit in these parts. I guess the Indian population in the UAE has been starved of watching Indian cricketers in action for over a decade now, and the IPL has been an avenue for the huge Indian population here to make a statement that we want to see more of Indian cricketers playing here. I have no doubt that if an India-Pakistan T20 match played here, a stadium three times the size of the existing stadia, would be insufficient to meet the demand.Overall
It was a thoroughly enjoyable day of cricket for me and my friends. A big thank you to the organisers for choosing the UAE as hosts and to Sheikh Nahyan for his unwavering support. The IPL has been the talk of the town for the last two weeks, and many of us Indians in Abu Dhabi are already feeling sad that the UAE leg is drawing to a close – a bit like a favorite cousin having visited us on a holiday and now heading back. I really couldn’t have asked for more.

Firdose Moonda21-Aug-2014There was little evidence of neighbourly niceness during South Africa’s whitewashing of Zimbabwe in the three-ODI series but that does not mean all love was lost between the two sides. The next time South Africa think seriously about this Zimbabwean outfit will be on Valentine’s Day 2015 – the eve of their opening World Cup game.It is no accident that South Africa will begin mission ‘Win the World Cup,’ for the seventh time, against the same team they beat 3-0 when they began their build-up. South Africa have planned to play the teams they will face in the tournament, with West Indies up soon, and to play in the host countries, with visits to New Zealand and Australia in the next three months. That’s how they roll. Clinically. And so when they hark back to this Zimbabwe series, they will remember it gave them both that winning feeling and the knowledge that their cupboard is full.”We covered our bases pretty well,” Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s stand-in captain for the third ODI, said. “The bowlers were solid throughout the series and there were no blow-ups with the batters. It’s nice from a confidence point of view that we’ve dominated Zimbabwe.”For du Plessis, the series was confirmation that he is a one-day player because there was a time when that was in doubt. Du Plessis had been dropped from the squad ahead of last year’s series against India, following a run of middling scores and a moderate average, but was brought back for the Sri Lanka series in July, although he did not play.He got a second chance when he was asked to step into Jacques Kallis’ shoes for this rubber and it proved the perfect place for him. Du Plessis acted as the stonewaller when the innings needed steadying and brought out his more expressive side in the third game, when there was a small total to get and the series was already won. “When you’re chasing you want to put the pressure back on the opposition,” du Plessis said, when discussing his approach in the final fixture.”I assessed the wicket and I felt it was a much better one to bat on, so I felt I could play a little more freely. It was nice to play like that. We both put the pressure on the bowlers and the runs kept flowing.”The second person in the ‘we’ that du Plessis mentioned was South Africa’s find of the series, if someone who has already been discovered twice before can still be described as such. Quinton de Kock’s three centuries in three matches against India was his breakthrough, his century in the ODI series in Sri Lanka was a show of his progress in subcontinent conditions, and his twin fifties in this series was evidence of his maturity.Kyle Abbott is another addition to South Africa’s well-stocked pace battery•AFPAlthough his 100% century conversion record was broken, de Kock played the situations on slow, turning wickets with understanding. He attacked upfront to allow Hashim Amla and du Plessis time to settle, held himself back when he could see that rushing would be too risky, and when he thought the time was right to up the tempo again, he did, it even if meant putting his own milestone on the line because numbers aren’t what de Kock cares about.”Records don’t interest me. That’s more for the fans to keep them interested,” de Kock admitted. “I’m sure some of the players like stats and that kind of thing, but I’m very chilled about it. My approach changes on different days. If I have to bat for long periods then I’ll do that, but if I don’t have to then I’ll play the way I want to.”His next test will be against a team that will not allow him to dictate proceedings the way previous oppositions have. Australia’s attack is likely to prove both a handful and a mouthful for de Kock, with their tactics as important as their talk in the breaking of young players.Just as he approaches everything else, de Kock is gearing up for Australia with nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders and a smile. “I’m not one for planning. I know some of the guys in the team are – they like to sit down and watch videos of the opposition, but I just like to hit a few balls in the nets and when it comes to the day, I’ll play,” he said. “I’ve seen them bowl enough as a youngster coming up to now, so it’s enough for me.”An almost full-strength Australia, who are missing just David Warner and Shane Watson, will also prove a challenge for South Africa’s attack, which is why they have brought back the heavyweights for the tri-series. But even apart from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, South Africa are well-stocked with sufficient variation to be successful.They have the left-arm option of Wayne Parnell, whose accuracy has improved, and the pace of Marchant de Lange, although he will not appear in the tri-series. Importantly, they have added control of Kyle Abbott and Mthokozisi Shezi. The Dolphins’ pair had the lowest economy rates of the pack and conceded just 3.50 and 1.33 runs to the over.Abbott has the added element of height to extract extra bounce and can swing the ball while Shezi showed crafty change of pace. If used in an attack with Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, either could act as the container while allowing the two front-liners license to attack. They may soon get the chance to show whether they can perform that balancing role because both were retained in place of the injured Vernon Philander and Beuran Hendricks.”Fortunately we’re getting Dale and Morne back, and we’re also coming up against some proper opposition with Australia coming. Against teams like that you’ve got to be on top of your game,” du Plessis said. No disrespect to Zimbabwe, but South Africa’s real planning starts next week, and after that they will be able to judge what still needs to be done ahead of the World Cup.

Our correspondent makes his way from Trent Bridge to Nuncargate to find out more about one of England’s most fearsome fast bowlers

Sidharth Monga10-Jul-2014His ground
I like going to Test venues early. Not training-day early, but early enough that only groundsmen and the permanent staff are there. There is something about the empty stands four days before a Test; you can visualise the future, you can summon up ghosts.Trent Bridge is a beautiful venue. Intimate. Pleasant. Traditional, with its old-worldly dressing rooms; modern, with a new stand that looks like an aircraft wing and gives you an unobstructed 360-degree view; and those compact light towers that look like one end of a retro telephone receiver. Majestic yet not exclusive: gates are thrown open to visitors from 9.30am to 4.30pm.Sit in one of the stands and try to imagine the cheers for the greatest allrounder ever, Garry Sobers, whose home ground this used to be. Or what Richard Hadlee’s swing and seam would have looked like.One ghost who might be reluctant to answer your call is Harold Larwood’s. After Bodyline, he was so disillusioned with the cricket establishment he hardly ever came to the ground that had, at one time, been his escape from working underground in the suffocating, lifespan-reducing coal mines of Nottinghamshire.When he should have been the biggest fast-bowling star in cricket after the 1932-33 Ashes series, Larwood instead played small-time cricket and sold sweets and cigarettes in the seaside tourist town of Blackpool before Jack Fingleton found him and took him to Australia, a country that loved him despite the fact that he had ravaged its team. Larwood, who wouldn’t apologise for Bodyline, had been cut away from official cricket. So he cut himself off from everything that would remind him of it, even selling his house in Nottingham.This great ground on the banks of the Trent river rarely saw him after his retirement, although it honours him with a pub called Larwood & Voce and a gym called Bodyline. Imagine, though, how great it would have been if he had come to watch Test matches, signing autographs for kids who must have heard stories about Larwood while sitting in their mothers’ laps.Larwood’s bowling boots at the Trent Bridge library•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfo LtdHis boots
I make my way to the Trent Bridge library. Peter Wynne-Thomas, archivist, historian, author, and the man in charge of the library, was once coached by Larwood’s mate and new-ball partner for England during Bodyline and at Nottinghamshire, Bill Voce. We start talking about the two bowlers. Wynne-Thomas insists Larwood needed protection from the press and that the then county captain Arthur Carr failed him. Larwood’s name sold newspapers, while Voce stayed inconspicuous.Wynne-Thomas shows me a file he has painstakingly maintained. It has newspaper clippings, scorebooks, photographs, letters, and a copy of Larwood’s first contract, which offered him £2 a week, with no wages to be paid in case of illness. I find my way to the excellent Larwood book written by Duncan Hamilton. It describes the day Larwood came for county trials with his father from his mining village of Nuncargate. Larwood senior was a miner too. He had scraped together £9, six weeks of wages, for a new kit, and a shilling each for the train. They walked five miles to the nearest train station and two more after reaching Nottingham.Larwood wasn’t tall. He didn’t look like a fast bowler at less than 5’4″ (though he went on to add four inches to his height). He began nervously. The selectors, who hadn’t given him a chance, were forced to change their minds once the netting began to “stretch and bulge” as Larwood beat the bat continuously and hit the back net hard. Nottinghamshire only offered him as much as he used to earn working with coal, but he signed the contract without arguing because he wanted to escape the dark mines.Just as I am getting into the book, Wynne-Thomas has a visitor who wants to see . The librarian has received a package from Larwood’s grandson in Australia. It is the talk of Trent Bridge. It contained Larwood’s bowling boots. Hamilton’s book informs me that Larwood was a fastidious collector of his own memorabilia. “It’s for when me memory goes,” he used to say.To look at his boots is to imagine what excruciating hard work it must have been for Larwood to bowl in them. Hard, unforgiving, they don’t look bigger than size 9, and have what look like carpenters’ nails dug in as spikes. You can’t imagine any modern fast bowler bowling in those. Were these the boots, I wonder, that he was wearing when Douglas Jardine forced him to stay on the field – despite a broken bone in his left foot – until that “bastard” Bradman was dismissed for the last time in the series? These were the boots whose spikes batsmen could see as the left foot was raised high in his delivery stride – as Hamilton describes. Were these the boots in which he bowled 1687 Bodyline-series deliveries?His journey

Now that I have acquainted myself with the shoes of the fastest bowler of his time – and probably one of the fastest of all time – I decide to walk a mile as he might have done. Except it is more than one mile to Nuncargate, and I am wearing much more comfortable Asics running shoes.Nearly every man in Nuncargate used to work in the coal mines. You can sense soot and grime everywhere. The place still doesn’t have a train station. Back then even the roads were bad. The nearest station now, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, is somewhere between five and six miles away. In between is not much but wilderness.Opened in the 1990s, the train line that takes you from Nottingham to Kirkby-in-Ashfield is named after possibly the only bigger hero than Larwood that Nottinghamshire has had: Robin Hood. Service on Sunday in infrequent. You can’t book a ticket for the route online.It takes me 15 minutes to walk from Trent Bridge to Nottingham station. The real walk begins only when I reach Kirkby-in-Ashfield. For the first mile I pass a convenience store, an old run-down boxing club, semi-old snooker parlours. The remaining four miles are desolate. Larwood used to make his way down these roads twice a day, and bowl 15 to 20 overs in between, or help roll pitches on the days he was not playing. I am carrying a small backpack with a laptop in it; he used to carry a full kit bag on his shoulders.The house Larwood lived in in Nuncargate•Sidharth Monga/ESPNcricinfo LtdIt gets incredibly lonely after the first mile. The road is narrow; you have to get off it as the odd car passes. Other than that you can’t see a soul for miles on end. This is the stretch where you doubt if what you are doing is wise. At least I have green pastures to look at; Larwood would have walked past the debris and dug-out clay left by the mines, still breathing in soot but not as much as he would have done inside the mines.His village
I finally make it to Nuncargate, and then to Chapel Street, where Larwood grew up, without losing my way. Nuncargate is now much more affluent than you would imagine a miners’ village to be. That’s because the mines are all gone. It’s all green, almost idyllic English countryside, with neat row houses. No. 17 Chapel Street looks no different from the others, except that this was once Larwood’s house. There is a plaque that says as much. A hand holding a ball along the seam, with an inscription that says, “Harold Larwood, Nottingham and England cricketer, lived here from 1904 to 1927.”I stand outside it for five minutes debating whether I should ring the bell. I want to know what it is like to live in this house, how long the new owners have been here, if they had or have any contact with the Larwoods, if they ever knew them, how many times this house has been resold. Should I just ring the bell? Eventually I decide against it. Larwood wouldn’t have approved. It was similar intrusiveness that drove him to faraway Blackpool. Even there he didn’t like sitting at the counter of his shop because people would recognise him.I walk away and find the Cricketers Arms, a pub just up the road. Behind which is the ground where Larwood first played cricket. It is home to the Kirkby Portland Cricket Club. Its pavilion is named after Larwood and was inaugurated by his daughter in 2002, when she flew down from Australia. Inside the pub a plaque similar to the one outside Larwood’s house says, “In memory of Harold Larwood, Nottinghamshire and England cricketer, who spent his early life and cricketing career in this locality.” They also proudly display his birth and marriage certificates. This might be the ideal place to honour Larwood because it has the two things he probably loved the most: cricket and ale. I walk back to the station in a hurry because I don’t want to go through the lonely stretch in the dark.

****

The world is more informed now. People appreciate the skill, endurance, courage and determination behind Larwood’s actions in the Bodyline series. They understand that Larwood was unfairly vilified and shabbily treated by the MCC. A YouTube slow-motion clip of his majestic bowling action lays to rest all implied accusations that he chucked, which you can imagine must have caused him a lot of trauma. You wish you could summon up his ghost to an empty Trent Bridge, watch him beat the bat and thud into the nets, show him the awe with which people come to look at his boots, and tell him that people are willing to walk a mile in them.

The plainspeaking Indian batsman is focusing on life beyond cricket, having set up an educational institution with world-class facilities for academics and sports

Gaurav Kalra09-Dec-20146:34

‘Education is the best way to give back to society’

Monday morning. There’s mayhem on Delhi’s roads. The traffic crawls as we make our way through it. ” [The traffic is very bad today],” our driver complains. His boss quips from the back seat, ” [So get wings installed and make the car fly. Relax, we are in no hurry.]”Virender Sehwag settles into his spacious seat and starts to hum along as an old Hindi film tune crackles through the stereo. He is about to begin his 17th season of first-class cricket. It has been nearly two years since he last played for India. He is no longer on the radar of men who select Indian teams. In fact, they have all but ended his international career by leaving him out of the 30-man list of probables for the World Cup. No surprise, really, that the sparkle that defined his batting in its pomp only makes an occasional appearance these days.Like that one night in this year’s IPL when he caned an all-international Chennai Super Kings attack for 122 off 58 balls to take his new franchise, Kings XI Punjab, into their first final. Nights like those make his legion of fans believe there might just be another coming for Sehwag, but the man himself loses no sleep over that possibility. He misses being part of the India dressing room but it is not an all-consuming thought. Being dropped, he says, has gifted him a precious resource – time. And he is using it to pursue the other passion in his life.We are headed to Jhajjar, 65km from Delhi. It is one of 21 districts in the northern Indian state of Haryana. The town is dotted with decrepit structures. The historically inclined may be drawn to a couple, but for the most part Jhajjar is the kind of place you pass on your way to somewhere else. Except for one building that catches your eye. The Sehwag International School.”My father told me, if you become a player and earn some money, open an institution where kids can study, stay and play as well”•Sehwag International School”This is my father’s dream, not mine. I never thought I could open a school,” he says. “When I was growing up, I was travelling almost five hours a day for cricket coaching. My father told me, if you become a player and earn some money, open such an institution where kids can study, stay and play as well.”Krishan Sehwag died in 2007. Less than five months later, his son plundered a strong South African attack for 319 in Chennai. It was his second triple-century in Test cricket. Only three men in the history of the game have made as many. A couple of days after that innings, Sehwag got a call from the then Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda. On offer was a piece of land to build a cricket academy in Jhajjar. His father’s words resonated in Sehwag’s ears. “Sir, can I make a school as well?” he asked the chief minister. “It is a bit difficult for kids to come here just to play cricket and go back.”So began this labour of love. He signed cheques from his own savings. He took loans. He spared no expense, although there was little chance of the venture breaking even in the near future. “Whatever I spend here, if I don’t earn that money back, I am still living happily,” he laughs. “If you think about money, you can’t stop. You should be happy with what you have in life.”In 2011, Sehwag’s mother finally inaugurated the school. His father’s dream had come true.Walking around the 23-acre campus, its founder’s influence is all too obvious. The focus has been on providing world-class facilities for both sport and academics. “Education is the best way to give back to society,” he says. “You can donate crores of rupees for causes but it won’t give you the same satisfaction.”Sehwag rejected suggestions to use fancy marble to make the reception area more attractive to visitors. Instead, he invested in three types of tennis courts – grass, clay and hard. There are six cricket pitches in the nets areas and a perfectly manicured field that has already hosted Under-19 matches for state teams.Students listen as Sehwag offers homespun wisdom•Sehwag International School”Sport increases your stamina and strength,” Sehwag says. “That is why we tell our kids to play three to four different sports. That will help you use different types of muscles and use different strategies and techniques. That is how you will develop your body and mind.”Sehwag is drawn to the cricket nets instinctively every time he comes to the school. He is careful not to “coach” specifics, because “just like me everyone has a unique style of their own”. But every now and then, he talks about his experiences in the game to his wide-eyed students, who cling to every word of the earthy wisdom offered.The coaching staff that runs the daily drills comprises men Sehwag played age-group cricket with and ones he implicitly trusts. For the kids, practice begins once the academic session for the day is over. Unlike in the days when Sehwag had to take five-hour bus journeys back and forth for an hour of training, students now simply have to walk down from their lodgings.While Sehwag is an occasional visitor to the school because of his playing schedule, his wife, Aarti, the chairperson, handles the daily nitty-gritty. He says she has pretty much appointed him chief marketing officer. “She was the one who convinced me into talking to ESPNcricinfo about our school, since you have such a wide reach,” he says.”If you want to build something, it should last for at least 50-60 years. I never had these facilities when I was growing up.” He takes this marketing role quite seriously, pointing me to a certificate that ranks the school as No. 1 among day-cum-boarding schools in the state.Sehwag says education has always been important to him. “I wasn’t a great student but I did complete my graduation,” he says. “We want to prepare our students to achieve excellence in all aspects of life,” he goes on. He cherishes moments when a kid or a parent says “Thank you.”One day he hopes to send his young sons to the school that bears their father’s name and stamp. For now, though, the focus is to improve the infrastructure. Laboratories are under construction for the first batch of standard XI and XII students. Sehwag is looking for ways to fund a synthetic running track. While fellow cricketers are buying sports teams, opening restaurants, and lending their name to designer fashion labels, he has chosen a distinct path.The school has been a labour of love for Sehwag and his wife, Aarti•Sehwag International School”Dreams keep changing. I first dreamt of playing for India. When I achieved that, it changed,” he recalls. “Keep chasing dreams but what we keep telling our kids is that you must become good human beings rather than just good in sports or academics. If you are good at sports and not a good human being, people won’t give you respect.”At 36, Sehwag knows he may not play again for India but the respect he has earned is undeniable. While the school’s growth is a priority, cricket remains an important part of his life. He intends to play for “another two to three years”, and chuckles that he will announce his retirement on Twitter. “Why should I invite you media guys?”I ask him if he would be okay never to play for India again and the retort is immediate, “Whose loss?” he cheekily responds. “Does it make a difference if I score 8000 or 10,000 runs in Test cricket? Not in anybody’s life. Even if I make 10,000 runs, who will be happy? Only me, maybe? Because people don’t care about 8000 or 10,000 or 15,000 runs. It is about individual satisfaction.”The sun is setting over the rural landscape as we hop back into the car for the long ride back to Delhi. Virender Sehwag peers through his window as the silhouette of the school he has built begins to disappear in the distance. He is a content man.