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Where and how it all began

Steven Lynch17-Sep-2007The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket. This week, after a happy event in the Lynch family (surely it must be a good omen when a legspinner has a son who shares a birthday with Shane Warne?), it’s all about births.

Which Test player was born on the Sydney Cricket Ground? asked Vishal Nehra from Trivandrum
The youngster born to cricket was Syd Gregory, who played 58 Tests for Australia between 1890 and 1912, 52 of them against England, a record (he made eight Test tours of England, and was captain on the last one, in 1912). Gregory was born on the site of the current Sydney Cricket Ground, where his father Ned Gregory lived as he was the SCG’s curator (groundsman) at the time.Who was the first son of a Test player to play a Test? asked Andy Lawrence from Nottingham
The answer to that one is the same as the first question: it’s Syd Gregory again. His father Ned played for Australia in the inaugural Test at Melbourne in March 1877. For a full list of related Test players, click here.Have any Test players been born at Lord’s? asked Vicky Johnson from London
As far as I’m aware no Test players have actually been born at Lord’s. The nearest miss was probably by John Carr, who was very close to selection for England, particularly during 1994 when he averaged 90.76 for Middlesex and topped the national averages. He was born in a house backing on the ground. It was owned by MCC and occupied by the former Derbyshire batsman and one-time England captain Donald Carr, who was MCC’s assistant secretary at the time. He later became secretary of the TCCB, the forerunner of the ECB, in which John Carr now holds a high-ranking position.

Were any Test players born on February 29? asked Gordon Donaldson from Beckenham
Two Test players were born on Leap Year Day, and thus sentenced to having a proper birthday only once every four years. The more famous of them is the Surrey and England fast bowler Alf Gover, who was born in Epsom (in a house overlooking the cricket ground) on February 29, 1908. Gover, who was England’s oldest Test cricketer when he died in 2001 at 93, won four Test caps, but is probably better remembered as the proprietor of a famous indoor cricket school in south London. The other Test player born on February 29 is Gavin Stevens, a batsman from South Australia who won four caps on tour in India and Pakistan in 1959-60. But perhaps the most famous cricket event to have taken place on Leap Year Day was Kenya’s upset victory over West Indies in Pune in the 1995-96 World Cup.Who was the first Test player to be born? asked Rahul Dhinshaw from Delhi
The versatile bowler James Southerton is the answer: he was born on November 16, 1827, in Sussex, one of three counties he represented during a long career (he played for them, Surrey and Hampshire in first-class matches in 1867 alone, a feat not repeated until this year, when Kyle Hogg played for three different counties in the Championship (as mentioned in last week’s column). Southerton played, aged 49, in the first Test of all, at Melbourne in March 1877. He also holds a more unwanted record: he was also the first Test cricketer to die, in 1880.Who has fathered the most international cricketers? asked Patrick Leonard from Wokingham
My first thought was that it would be Sheikh Ismail, the father of the prodigious Mohammad clan: four brothers – Hanif, Wazir, Mushtaq and Sadiq – played for Pakistan, and that is indeed the Test record. Reggie Ranatunga, a former Sri Lankan government minister, has three Test-playing sons – Arjuna, Sri Lanka’s
former long-serving captain; Dammika, who was briefly the chief executive of the Sri Lankan board; and Sanjeewa, while a fourth brother, Nishantha, played for Sri Lanka in ODIs. But you asked about “international” cricketers, which widens the field beyond just Tests and ODIs, and I think the winner then comes from Ireland. James Joyce has three sons who have played for the Irish national team: Ed, who has also played for England; Dominick, who made his ODI debut in the same match as Ed, but for the opposite side (in this match at Belfast); and Gus, who
played one first-class match for Ireland in 2000, before they gained full ODI status. But the Joyces also have twin daughters – Cecelia and Isobel – who have both played for Ireland’s ladies’ team. Of course, there might just be someone whose 11 sons all played for Vanuatu, but we haven’t got his name yet …

The West Indies board faces challenges from all directions to keep West Indies cricket viable in an increasingly competitive market-oriented environment

Fazeer Mohammed17-Mar-2008

This is one time when our widespread mediocrity is a blessing.You could imagine the sort of mess we would be in at the start of the home series against Australia if West Indian cricketers were really in demand? Well, thanks to a period of steep decline that shows no sign of levelling off anytime soon, only Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan have been signed up for the money-spinning Indian Premier League that gets underway just three days after the last one-day international of Sri Lanka’s visit.It’s interesting to note that while, as expected, the IPL has snapped up all the top Australians with the exception of Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson (who declined the offer of going on the auction block because of concerns related to the demands of too much cricket in an already packed schedule), the players and their employers, Cricket Australia, seem at the moment to be prepared to operate on the premise that national duty comes first, never mind the staggering financial inducements of the IPL which it is understood will earn the Aussies more than three times their annual salary for just six weeks’ work incorporating a maximum of 15 Twenty20 matches.Contrast that with the position of West Indies Cricket Board CEO Donald Peters, who was quoted over the weekend as saying that the regional administration will not deny the trio the No Objection Certificates required to facilitate their participation in the IPL. Peters, who is now in Dubai with WICB president Julian Hunte to attend an ICC meeting at which they are expected to raise issues threatening the viability of the game in the Caribbean, explained that it made no sense to adopt a confrontational position with the players as he expected them to head for India with or without the WICB’s blessing.So unless the chief executive is privy to information that has not yet been made available to the general public, his assertion that the three-Test series should still be an interesting contest because the Australians will also be fielding an under-strength squad for the first two Tests in Jamaica and Antigua seems to be some way off target.Simple common sense dictates that Australia’s administrators and players achieve mutual agreement on the priorities between wearing the baggy green and wearing whatever it is they will be wearing for their various IPL franchises. As much as their prolonged dominance of the game at all levels is a testament to strength in depth, there can be no way that a situation where only Clarke and Johnson of the current crop of first-choice players are representing Australia in the first two matches of the three-Test series will be considered acceptable Down Under.In other words, we should brace for a full-strength Aussie side – Ricky Ponting, Brett Lee et al-taking on a home side that will be without Gayle (Kolkata), Chanderpaul (Bangalore) and Sarwan (Mohali) for the Tests at Sabina Park and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, especially if their teams make it to the semi-finals of the inaugural tournament.For those who may have missed it, the first season of the IPL runs from April 18 – three days after the last ODI of Sri Lanka’s visit – to the final on June 1. The first Test against the Aussies begins May 22, with the second of the three Tests set to get underway on May 30. The round-robin phase of the IPL wraps up on May 27 with the semi-finals scheduled for May 30 and 31, so there is still the chance that the trio could be back for the second Test if their franchises fail to finish in the top four.There is, however, no chance that Pedro Collins will be involved in any part of the upcoming international season.Collins, the 31-year-old left-arm seamer, appears to have drawn the curtain on his West Indian representative career in turning down the invitation to be part of the squad for the first Test against Sri Lanka, beginning on Saturday in Guyana, due to his contractual commitments with Surrey.

Having not played a Test since the final match of the home series against India in Kingston in 2006, Collins is probably being pragmatic in putting a lucrative two-year county deal ahead of the unpredictability of what has been a spasmodic international career.Another Barbadian fast bowler, 26-year-old Tino Best, had already effectively said farewell to ever again wearing West Indian colours by signing for the Indian Cricket League, joining Trinidadians Brian Lara and Mervyn Dillon in the Twenty20 tournament that had its premier event last November but suffers by comparison to the IPL because it is not sanctioned by the Indian authorities or the ICC, and has therefore struggled to attract the contemporary big names in the game, who would like to have their and eat it too.What all of this suggests is that the WICB faces challenges from all directions to keep West Indies cricket viable in an increasingly competitive market-oriented environment.
More than just the indifference of the ICC to the plight of the Caribbean game, there is now the worrying prospect of the available talent putting considerably greater financial rewards ahead of what was once the pride and honour of wearing the burgundy cap.Clearly from the WICB’s perspective, pride and honour don’t count for much anyway, which is why it’s probably so good that we’re so bad, and can therefore still put out a fairly decent XI.

Sanjay Manjrekar, Ian Chappell and Tony Greig on the issues facing cricket in 2009

Sanjay Manjrekar02-Jan-2009
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Sanjay Manjrekar: Hello and welcome to the Cricinfo Round Table.Two thousand eight has been an eventful year for cricket. Sandwiched between the lows of Sydneygate and the Mumbai terror attacks, there have been several pivotal moments. The IPL made an explosive start; technology in cricket took a leap with the introduction of the review system; Australia found themselves in a full-blown transition phase; and finally, India claimed the most important series of the year, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.What can cricket look forward to in 2009? Will security concerns continue to disrupt cricket in the subcontinent? Will Twenty20 cricket continue its rapid ascendancy? And can England really win back the Ashes? To discuss all this and more, I have with me Tony Greig and Ian Chappell, former captains of England and Australia respectively and also well-respected observers of the game. Welcome to the Round Table, gentlemen.The first question, beginning with you Ian, is: The security concerns in the subcontinent have led to serious disruption in cricket tours – Pakistan hasn’t played a single Test this year. Do you think that a split in world cricket would happen over touring disagreements because of the political scenarios in the country? Could there be financial repercussions?Ian Chappell: There is obviously a lot of concern. Pakistan have been facing some issues for quite some time now and there is a real problem with their cricket. Not having any serious cricket in the country is going to have an effect on the future of the game in Pakistan. So that is an enormous problem and I’m not sure how they are going to get around that. I guess there is hope around the world that Barack Obama can do some good things, but that would be putting a lot of responsibility on one man. As far as the financial repercussions are concerned, well they would be serious if India became unsafe, because 70% of the finance comes from India. So there are obviously lots of concerns, but many of them are out of the hands of cricket.SM: Tony, a few years ago the ICC and many teams pledged their support for countries that were riddled with terrorism and violence. They said that in spite of all that, they would still go and play cricket in those countries to support them and to show that terrorism cannot stop the world from going round. That pledge seems to have fizzled out a bit, but at the same time you can understand teams’ concerns to tour countries like Pakistan.Tony Greig: I can understand. We were targeted with Black September in the 70s and the attitude then was that we won’t take notice of these guys and we won’t and cannot allow them to pressurise us. But things have changed quite dramatically now.It is all in the management and this is what the ICC is for. As Ian has pointed out, there is not much that we can do other than resolve it politically. I’m not too sure that cricket has the people who can make the sort of contribution required to change anything in Pakistan. They certainly didn’t do it in Sri Lanka. But I really do think there is a role to be played by the cricket countries in looking after countries that have these problems on the home front. For example, Pakistan have got to find a way to generate revenue and the only way they can do it is by playing cricket in a place where teams like Australia will play. Dubai, for example, is one option for them.Pakistan and Sri Lanka are vital countries because there aren’t too many countries that play cricket. Let us not forget that we have had blasts in London also, and who’s to say that such things won’t happen in Australia? The ICC needs to sit down with all the member countries and work out how they can make sure that some funds – a larger chunk of the funds – go to Pakistan to shore up their domestic competition, because that is one way of making sure that they maintain a decent standard of cricket. Then we need to wait and see and hope that a political solution is found and that some of these nasty things that are happening go away.

SM: Moving on, the Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20 championships that will be held in 2009. These are two major ICC tournaments to look forward to. We have seen the growing popularity of Twenty20, but what about the Champions Trophy? Do you think it is starting to suffer with an identity crisis, Tony?TG: Yes, I think it is. I have no doubt that with the popularity of Twenty20 cricket – certainly in the short-term – there is going to be a cutting back of 50-over cricket. We just cannot keep playing as much cricket as is being played around the world. So I see the Champions Trophy being under threat. The World Cup is obviously fine, though. Unfortunately the ICC have taken all the money. There is a huge contract in place for all these ICC tournaments, and that money could be used to help places like Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who have financial problems at the moment. In the short term I’m not sure they are going to give away all the cash that they are getting from ESPN-Star for broadcasting those competitions.SM: This is a very exciting time in world cricket because so much is changing, and among the exciting developments were the IPL, the ICL and the Stanford Super Series. They became quite popular and the players were so attracted to these tournaments that there have been disruptions in the Future Tours Programme, with Sri Lanka pulling out of the England tour. How do you think the ICC should handle these private tournaments while ensuring that the FTP is not disrupted?IC: As far as I’m concerned, the FTP has been pretty unworkable right from the start. And the problem with it – as far as I know – is that it is planned out ahead till 2012. To me, that is just unworkable and sooner or later it is going to become a real burden to the ICC. It is going to be an albatross around their neck.When the IPL was mooted, I thought that would have been the perfect time to sit down with everyone in cricket involved: to get all the stakeholders around the table, including IPL, ICL, Stanford, the players, associations, the sponsors and everybody else to flesh out a plan to make all three formats of the game work together. I have had this feeling now for quite some time that the FTP is just a runaway train with no one at the levers.As Tony quite rightly pointed out, there are a whole lot of television contracts in place and the ICC is not going to want to disrupt them. But they all need to sit down and work something out properly. I think if you have lesser tournaments that are more prestigious, you could sell that to the television people and make it a pretty good package for them. You could probably bring in the same about of money, but the key is to have some sanity in the programming because at the moment there is absolutely none.TG: The point, Sanjay, is that the situation with the television companies is also not as rosy as it is made out to be. I can tell you that television companies are seeing a huge downturn as a result of the economic crisis in the world. Their revenues are dropping big time and they are not going to be able to make back the money they thought they would be able to make when they first put these huge contracts in place with the ICC, and for other tournaments around the world.As Ian points out, there is an opportunity to address that situation. I would have thought that the television companies would be quite keen to have another look at the whole situation, because above all else it needs to make economic sense.SM: What is interesting to see is that without the ICC planning anything, inevitably market forces have dictated the change. Do you think in the near future we will see less international cricket between countries? I know for a fact that the West Indies-New Zealand Test series wasn’t shown in India, despite Sony having the rights to it. So do you think the IPL and Stanford and other such private tournaments will perhaps become sought-after television products? And are the marketing forces doing the right thing by toning down on the quantity of international cricket? Ian?IC: That is what I would like to see. Sometimes more is not necessarily better. You need to make the tournaments prestigious and then the television companies will be very interested. The competitive side of it is also terribly important as well.

There is another thing the ICC need to look at. To me, a lot of the cricket in some parts of the world is virtually unwatchable on television. The companies paying for the rights are paying such hefty prices that to get their money back they have to sell every second of the game. The ICC have to remember that it might be terrific to have all this money coming in, but if people, particularly young people, who are the future of the game, say: “I can’t watch this anymore, it’s rubbish,” it is not doing the game any good. It has been the perfect time for a while now and it is time to get all the stakeholders around the table and bring some sanity into television programming also.SM: Tony, one of the points that England made was their reluctance to play Bangladesh at home, purely citing commercial problems. And staying with that, let me have your thoughts on Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and what their future is in world cricket…TG: I think they both have a very limited future at the moment in terms of Test cricket. I would keep them going in the one-day game and in the Twenty20 format. I have seen some very good cricket by the Bangladesh side in the ICL. That is not real cricket and you cannot make a Test side out of those players, but they are good in the short format.England have a point. In Australia we have used that situation quite well because we are lucky, we’ve got a big country; we’ve taken Bangladesh to Darwin, where almost no cricket is played. So at least there is a positive move there and there is some cricket in that part of the world. It may not be the greatest cricket of all times but the truth of the matter is, they are getting to watch some cricket, and as Ian pointed out, youngsters like to see their cricket stars.Maybe England have got to think about something along those lines. But the bigger issue there is that you cannot have sides playing if they are not up to it. We have to try and get Bangladesh and Zimbabwe back to where they used to be and that is not going to happen in Zimbabwe while they have the political situation that they have going. I’m disappointed in Bangladesh, to be perfectly honest. They are taking too long and it is just not good enough.SM: They have played 57 Tests and they have only one win, and that is against Zimbabwe.TG: It is just not good enough, and that should be part of that discussion Ian was talking about with the stakeholders. They need to say: We need to cut back on cricket. We need to make sure the cricket that is played is good cricket, and therefore, without really being nasty to Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who need our help, both of them need to be excluded from the FTP. That will give us a few more days by eliminating both of them from Test cricket.SM: Moving on to cricket, away from the commercial aspects of the game. Ian, slow over-rates, the negative field placements that you see these days, and sledging have continued to be a problem for cricket. What do you think needs to be done to ensure that cricket in 2009 is not affected by such problems?IC: Slow over-rates are just ridiculous. The ICC haven’t done anything, and though they make it out like they are doing something, they really have done nothing at all. In fact, they have contributed to the slow-over-rates situation. The talk I’m hearing suggests that the ICC is going to get serious about some of the things you just mentioned. Slow over rates will obviously be very high on the list; sledging also will be high on the list. It would be terrific if the ICC are going to get serious about it, but for god’s sake, why has it taken them so long?SM: How do you think that should be tackled, Ian?IC: As far as I’m concerned, and I’ve talked about it often enough, the administrators have got to give the players something if they expect them to get off their backsides and bowl the overs quicker.There are four or five very simple things that the ICC could do. You could have full sightboards so you don’t have to move them. Get rid of the stupid advertising on the sightboards, because it always causes a problem. Don’t have replays for boundaries, because if the ball doesn’t hit the rope, it is whatever the batsmen have run and it doesn’t really matter where the fielder’s feet or hands are. Also, they should go back to the back-foot no ball rule. So you need to make all these concessions, and then you say to the players: You have to bowl the number of overs that have been fixed, per hour. If you don’t bowl those many overs, and come up short in the day, then the captain is suspended for two Tests or five one-dayers, depending on what format of the game you are playing. The umpires need to be told to tell the guys to buzz off when they come on with the drinks every two seconds. The umpires need to be given some authority or power, and if they don’t use that authority, get rid of the umpires and get some people in who will. These sorts of things need to be implemented if they are going to seriously resolve these issues.The fact that this has been going on for so long with the ICC doing nought about it doesn’t fill me with too much confidence. But now I’m at least hearing that the right noises are about to be made. I don’t want to hang by the neck waiting for them to be implemented, but I’m hoping it will happen.SM: Tony, what about negative field placings? How would you want to tackle that? You see strong off-side fields that sometimes seem negative…

TG: Field placings are not particularly a great worry for me. People would like to see attacking cricket and attacking captains will prosper. Those who set negative fields and play negative cricket give us an opportunity in the commentary box to have a go at them.I’m not as concerned as Ian is about slow over-rates. I’m not too sure that the ICC are going to do anything about it either. I’ve sort of got used to them, and I don’t think the general public sitting out there is saying: “It’s all too slow for us.” I just don’t get that feeling.As far as sledging is concerned… just take Andrew Symonds as an example. He gets cheered on to the ground every time he walks on and every time he does something. He has been in a spot of bother. Shane Warne was a similar sort of character. Some of these guys accused of sledging don’t do it very nastily.So I’m not too worried about those things. One area that I’m concerned about is that the ICC should be quadrupling its anti-corruption activity. That really does worry me. With the advent of Twenty20 cricket, a whole new market for gambling has been created. I’m not talking about any particular tournament but about Twenty20 cricket everywhere. It is very vulnerable in that regard and I think they should quadruple the amount of money they spend trying to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.SM: Moving forward on to what 2009 holds for world cricket. Another key on-field development in 2008 – Tony, you and I were there following that series closely – was the umpire review system. We know your thoughts on it – you like it – but let us get Ian’s thoughts on what he saw in Sri Lanka. Does he see more technology coming in to play to enable the umpires to make better decisions?IC: I don’t think you can stop it now that they have got the ball rolling, though I don’t agree with it. The one thing I would like to see happen, and Tony has been saying this for ages, is that the responsibility should be with the third umpire and not with the players.Daniel Vettori made a very good point the other day, referring to Daniel Flynn’s lbw decision which was a marginal decision and could have gone either way. Vettori said that the system wasn’t put in place to decide such marginal decisions. The system was put in place to get rid of the absolute shockers. I think if you put the responsibility back on the third umpire, if he sees something, he should on the walkie-talkie tell the on-field umpire to reverse the decision. It won’t take very long that way. Sticking with just three challenges is a joke, because you have a team game with 11 players and you will find that the top-order guys in the batting side are going to use up the referrals, and the lower-order batsmen won’t get an opportunity to challenge the shockers because they have exhausted their chances.

The responsibility should be put back on the umpires, and I would rather see them go down that path instead of giving authority to the players.SM: Tony, do you want to add to that?TG: Lately we are seeing that umpires forget there has been a wide and they call an over one ball short. It takes no time to get the message across that there is another ball to go and you’ve just called a five-ball over. That way they’re back in position straight away and we finish it there. I think that is the way to go. I agree entirely with Ian and I wouldn’t like to see the players involved in the decision-making process.SM: Coming to the end of our discussion, we just have a couple of questions left. We have seen a couple of great Test matches in 2008 involving England, Australia, South Africa and India. These are the top teams fighting against each other and there will be a few clashes in 2009 as well. How do you see these contests shaping up and what do you think the hierarchy is going to be?IC: It is terrific that we got such terrific Tests. We had two shocking series with Australia playing New Zealand and playing West Indies. But then suddenly we had India playing England and Australia playing South Africa. They were fantastic matches and there is potential for such similar clashes. The only disappointing thing, for me, is that it has taken Australia to come way back into the field to have this situation. India is the only team that has really challenged Australia – with the exception of the 2005 Ashes. India was the only team that on a regular basis challenged Australia, even when they were at their prime.Looking at the programme, England have a hell of an opportunity now to push ahead and get to No. 1 because they are playing a lot of Tests in 2009. They play West Indies in the Caribbean, then they play West Indies at home, and then they have the Ashes. So they have three big opportunities to push ahead. South Africa have got a big opportunity here in Australia and then at home playing Australia again. So they have tremendous opportunities to move to the top of the list. India doesn’t have much of a chance because they play New Zealand in March, so India’s opportunities are going to be a little restricted.The two teams that have a wonderful chance to push towards the top of the ladder are South Africa and England.TG: Ian is right as far as the table is concerned. If you ask me which team is the best in the world right now, I would say India. They have the most balanced attack and they still have some fantastic batsmen there, who are aggressive as well. So India are probably the best side in the world.The Australian attack looked very ordinary against South Africa in Perth.If Kevin Pietersen can keep firing up Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison and get a spinner to keep taking wickets, England and South Africa are fighting for a No. 2 spot. So for me it is India first, England and South Africa second, with Australia slipping fast to third.SM: That is incredible. I think that is the first time that I’m hearing a neutral observer put India right on top.It is truly an exciting team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This is perhaps the first time that an Indian team has been put right up there as far as the cricket pundits are concerned.Final question. Going back to individuals we saw this year, we saw some sensational players coming into the fray – Ajantha Mendis from Sri Lanka made a real mark, Ishant Sharma from India is an exciting prospect, and so is Morne Morkel from South Africa. Who is the one that excites you the most, whose performance would you be looking forward to in 2009?IC: I think, of the batsmen, the guys who look like they are about to break through are Hashim Amla – I have been absolutely impressed with the tremendous improvement that he has shown; Gautam Gambhir, who probably has already made the leap to the next level; and Jean Paul Duminy – he is a bit of an outsider but I was really impressed with him in Perth. He’s a young man with a terrific temperament. He is probably not at the point of making a breakthrough, like Amla will and Gambhir already has.Of the bowlers, Mitchell Johnson has had the breakthrough and has moved to the next level. It’s the same with Ishant, who is a tremendous bowler. Mendis is unfortunately not going to get many opportunities in Test cricket, but he is at that stage where he is pushing through to the next level. Morkel certainly has some potential and Dale Steyn has probably made his breakthrough.

One name I’m going to throw in, just based on something I heard the other day from Ashley Mallett, former Australian offspinner in Adelaide. He said that he had been doing some work with Jeetan Patel from New Zealand and that he was staggered by the ability of Patel. He said there were a couple of issues, but if Patel fixed them he could be something really exciting. I noticed that New Zealand played him in the last Test against West Indies and he took some wickets. So he may have made that bit of an improvement, and Mallett is a guy who understands offspin bowling, and if he thinks the guy has got exceptional talent, I will be keeping an eye on him.Just to throw another name in there as a wicketkeeper – Brad Haddin. He is a very exciting young player in Test cricket.SM: Tony, you have the final word on the exciting talent that we will see in 2009.TG: I agree with all of those people Ian has mentioned. I’m particularly excited by the leadership of Dhoni and the Indian side and the way he is going about his cricket. He is a nice, aggressive player who is a good captain as well. I love Mendis and he is causing all sorts of problems to everyone he bowls at in every form of the game. Ishant is just fantastic, no doubt about that.I was a little disappointed in Morkel. Someone needs to say to him: “Listen, when you step onto that ground, you’ve got to get a little bit nasty.” There aren’t many nice fast bowlers around, certainly not on the ground!Amla was fantastic and Duminy playing only his first Test was outstanding. The South Africans must be over the moon with him. These are two previously disadvantaged guys and I think the South Africans should be very proud of themselves. It is not easy when you go through what they have been through in terms of change while maintaining a high standard. While they haven’t always played the greatest cricket, and they have been a little defensive at times but they are now looking a decent team and they have maintained their standards. The people responsible for that should take a bow because it is very important.The rest are the people Ian mentioned. Gambhir is playing beautiful cricket. As far as the fast bowlers are concerned, apart from Ishant it seems the rest of them are going off the boil. Brett Lee seems to be going off the boil a little bit. But it is just fantastic to be in world cricket at the moment, sitting in the commentary box where, at last, we have four sides that are playing against each other – there could be five or six even – who are much closer together in terms of standards.SM: On that note I thank you, gentlemen, for joining us on the Cricinfo Round Table as we look forward to year 2009.

A look at Australia’s batsmen and bowlers at each Ashes venue in England over the years

S Rajesh29-Jun-2009Lord’s hasn’t always hosted the first Test of an Ashes series, but the Australians have been understandably miffed about the decision to have Cardiff host the first match this time. Lord’s has traditionally been Australia’s strongest venue in England, and the only ground where they won a Test in that historic series in 2005. Ricky Ponting went as far as to say that England had deliberately switched venues this time to ensure the series doesn’t start at Australia’s stronghold.That’s a debatable point – Lord’s didn’t host the first Test in 2001 either, when the series started at Edgbaston – but what isn’t debatable is Australia’s overwhelming dominance at the venue. In 33 Tests against England there, they’ve won 14 and lost only five, giving them a win-loss ratio of 2.80, easily their best among all venues in England. The last time Australia lost there was way back in 1934. Since then, in 18 Tests, they’ve drawn and won nine times each.Trent Bridge is next best, but unfortunately for Australia, that’s not on the fixtures list for the five-Test series. Edgbaston and The Oval are the two venues where Australia have lost more than they have won, and they’ll be playing at both grounds, in the third and fifth Tests. The Oval has been a particularly poor venue for them – they’ve won six and lost 15 in 34 matches. In the last nine Tests, Australia have only won once and lost three times, though two of those defeats, in 1993 and 1997 were in dead-rubber games, after the series had been won.

Batting and bowling stars at each venueDon Bradman is obviously a name that is among the top of the list in terms of batsmen who’ve done well at a specific English venue, but he doesn’t lead the table (for batsmen who’ve played at least three matches at a venue). The leader of the pack is Steve Waugh, whose three innings at Headingley read 177 not out, 157 not out and 4, for an aggregate, and an average, of 338. His stats were obviously helped by a couple of not-outs, but Don Bradman had only one of those in six innings at Headingley, and yet finished with an average of 192.60. Between them, they topped fifty six times at the venue and they made it count each time, going on to a three-figure score.Bradman and Waugh share the next two spots too, for performances at The Oval and Lord’s, before allowing David Boon to take fifth spot. Waugh makes another appearance lower down the table, in eighth place, thanks to an average of 99.25 at Old Trafford, where he scored two centuries and two fifties in five innings. Allan Border is the other batsman with more than one appearance in the top ten: he is in seventh and tenth place due to his performances at Lord’s and Old Trafford.The top ten in the table below covers only four venues, though. The best at Trent Bridge was Stan McCabe, who averaged 79.50 in six innings, including a cracking knock of 232 out of a team total of 411 in 1938. He is closely followed by Mark Taylor, who averaged 79.20 from five innings. The best at Edgbaston is Mark Waugh, with an average of 63.50 in five innings.

The bowlers’ list is headed by the irreplaceable Glenn McGrath, who, in just three Tests at Lord’s, took 26 wickets at an incredible average of 11.50, with a five-for in each match. Those stats include figures of 8 for 38 in his first innings at the ground, a performance which sparked an Australian revival in the 1997 series after they had lost the first Test at Edgbaston. Fred Spofforth was equally impressive in his three Tests at The Oval, with 20 wickets at an average of 12.50.In fact, The Oval dominates the top ten list, which is slightly surprising considering Australia’s poor record at the venue. Ray Lindwall, Dennis Lillee, Hugh Trumble and McGrath all enjoyed bowling at this ground. Shane Warne, though, preferred Trent Bridge and Lord’s – averaging less than 20 at each of those two venues – and Old Trafford, where his average barely exceeded 20.Warne is the only bowler in the top ten list three times, while McGrath makes an appearance twice. Edgbaston and Headingley aren’t represented in the top ten list, but Warne top the Edgbaston chart as well, with 25 wickets in four Tests at an average of 21.76. Clarrie Grimmett, the legbreak bowler from the 1920s and 1930s, leads the way at Headingley, with 20 wickets in three matches at 22.20 each.

Much had changed statistically since these two teams last met, but in terms of familiarity of sequence it was pretty much the same story

Jamie Alter14-Apr-2010It was in the field that Bangalore began repairing the damage from their morale-sapping defeat in the previous match. There was a familiar theme to Rajasthan’s troubles, with pace and seam causing most of the problems. During their last match against Mumbai Indians, the new-ball pair of Zaheer Khan, especially, and Dhawal Kulkarni caused Rajasthan’s batsmen many problems and here it was Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh and Dale Steyn repeating the dose. Steyn was hostile with the new ball, despite not achieving significant movement, Vinay varied his pace and Pankaj went hard into the pitch and generated appreciable bounce. Throw in Jacques Kallis’ back-of-length precision and it again made for a forceful attack, especially when fielding first.Vinay set the tone in his first over, and the rest of the pace bowlers took a cue. Vinay doesn’t stand out as the ideal Twenty20 bowler. He doesn’t have a searing yorker or mischievous changes of pace, and relies on plugging away to take wickets, seemingly not the best tactic when a bowler has just four overs. But his efforts tonight, which began with a clear short-of-a-length strategy, propelled Bangalore into the groove early. He began with a good delivery that was squirted for three, and a run-out followed. Then came an aggressive bouncer to Amit Paunikar, on debut, which was top-edged to the wicketkeeper. The intention was evident – Bangalore were here to hustle.Then it was over to Pankaj with his with his hit-the-deck, back-of-a-length attack. In his first game of the tournament, Pankaj showed the adaptability that is required in Twenty20, mixing his pace and cramping the batsmen for room. Naman Ojha was kept quiet and a poor slog resulted. Pankaj began with a wicket-maiden and preyed on the batsmen’s patience. Shane Watson was not given any room and that led him to pull a short-of-a-length ball, while Yusuf Pathan was welcomed with the short stuff.The most crippling blow came when Steyn returned and cleaned up Yusuf first ball of the 14th over, but that was merely the finishing touch on a planned approach, which Vinay admitted to during the mid-innings break. During these teams’ last encounter, the use of the bouncer to Yusuf was a central part of Bangalore’s thumping win. So was the case tonight. He was welcomed with a bouncer from Kallis well outside off stump which was called wide. The second ball was a sharper short delivery which Yusuf pulled away. Cut to Pankaj, a rank rookie playing his first match of the tournament, who began with a bouncer to Yusuf. He went for the upper cut and missed, beaten for pace. That’s gotta hurt. The next ball was also short and Yusuf inside-edged it onto his thigh pad. Another short ball followed, and Yusuf connected with a loose pull for one. Back on strike a delivery layer, Pankaj tried another slower bouncer which Yusuf pulled with ease for four. Forget that it sped to the boundary; the bait had been set.The next ball Yusuf faced was an entire over later. Steyn was called back into the attack. Yusuf was expecting the bouncer and stood back in his crease. Steyn served it full and very fast and off stump went for a walk. Yusuf’s frailties against the short ball had again led to his dismissal and with their most destructive player gone, Rajasthan had no chance of attempting a late surge.Bangalore’s fielding was another throttling aspect. Virat Kohli was amazing inside the circle, especially on the off side where he regularly intercepted drives and pushes from Watson, and alongside Manish Pandey and Kevin Pietersen he saved runs on reputation alone. With Rajasthan unable to locate the boundary regularly, the momentum never arrived. Pietersen took a sharp catch at square leg to get Watson, and Anil Kumble, hardly the most agile fielder on the field, plucked a neat running catch to deliver Bangalore their sixth wicket.

Harbhajan Singh’s match haul of eight wickets took his tally at Eden Gardens to 46 in eight Tests, the highest by any bowler

S Rajesh18-Feb-2010There’s something about Eden Gardens that transforms Harbhajan Singh: this was his seventh Test here, and his match haul of eight wickets not only won India the Test and helped them hang on to the top spot, it also took Harbhajan’s tally at the venue to 46 Test wickets, the highest by any bowler here. He went past Anil Kumble’s haul of 40 wickets in eight Tests during South Africa’s first innings. In was fitting that Harbhajan achieved this feat in the same Test in which VVS Laxman achieved the 1000-run mark at this ground.Coming into this Test Harbhajan was under immense pressure, but here he got most things right. The South African left-handers, Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy, contributed by misreading his length, but Harbhajan impressed with his control over line and length, especially in the South African second innings. Not only did he take five wickets, he also achieved an amazing economy rate of 1.21, conceding only 59 runs in 48.3 overs. In terms of economy, it’s his best effort in an innings in which he’s bowled more than two overs. It’s also the best economy rate by an Indian bowler who’s bowled at least 20 overs in an innings since 2000.As his pitch map indicates, Harbhajan was on target against both right-handers and left-handers. For the right-handers he pitched most of his deliveries outside off, either turning them in or making them go straight through after pitching. Against the left-handers his round-the-stumps line was very effective, as it brought the lbw into play and also allowed him to beat the batsmen with drift and turn. This was his first five-for since he took 6 for 63 against New Zealand in Hamilton last year, and helped India to their first innings victory against South Africa.The margin of defeat could have been much worse but for the heroic displays of Hashim Amla, who became only the fifth South African batsman to score a century in each innings of a Test. Surprisingly, all five have achieved this feat overseas. (The current Indian coach had achieved it at the same venue 14 years ago.)Amla finished the series with 490 runs, which is the sixth-highest by any batsman in a two-Test series. Sanath Jayasuriya leads with a tally of 571 against India at home in 1997. In terms of averages, though, Amla is in second place: he was dismissed just once in the series, giving him a colossal average of 490, next only to Wally Hammond’s average of 563 in New Zealand in 1933. In only six Tests in India, Amla has already racked up 823 runs, which is more than half the runs he has scored in 24 Tests in South Africa.Amla’s was a monumental defensive effort, best illustrated by a break-up of the 394 balls he faced. In the two Tests, he batted a total of 1402 minutes, which is 23 hours and 22 minutes.

Amla’s innings ensured South Africa’s second innings lasted 131.3 overs, which is their second-highest in the second innings in the subcontinent. Sadly for them, it still wasn’t enough to stop the Indian juggernaut at Eden Gardens – since 2000, they’ve won four out of six Tests, and drawn the other two.

The impasse between the Guyana Cricket Board and the West Indies Players’ Association days before the Champions League served as a repeat of the crisis involving Trinidad and Tobago last year

Tony Cozier15-Aug-2010A West Indies team is ready for an international engagement. Suddenly, the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) notices something in the players’ contracts not to its liking.
It presses its case. An impasse develops with the relevant, unprepared board, leading to frantic, last-minute negotiations, always overshadowed by the threat of strike action.It is a well-established tactic, generally known as brinksmanship, and it has served WIPA and its members well since Dinanath Ramnarine took over as its president and chief executive seven years ago. So it has done in the latest instance.After Guyana won the first WICB regional T20 tournament last month to qualify as the West Indies’ representative at the second Champions League in South Africa, the WIPA raised several objections. It questioned the WICB’s decision to keep a third of the participation fee of US$500,000 that is paid to the board of each participating team, stating that “retaining such a large sum could have a direct negative impact on Guyanese cricket and its players”.It noted that the WICB passed on the full fee, then US$200,000, to the Trinidad and Tobago Board (TTCB) last year when Trinidad and Tobago were the West Indies’ representative.
WIPA also charged that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) had not responded to its proposals, made ten days earlier, as to how its two-thirds of the participation fee (US$333,333) and the allocated prize money (at least US$100,000) should be shared with the players. It reportedly pressed for a 75% split.And it doubted the contention that discussions over players’ image rights would have to be done directly with the Champions League, rather than with the WICB or the Guyana Cricket Board. It contended that its off-shoot, the West Indies Players Management Company Limited (WIPMACOL), holds its members’ image rights and should be involved.The WICB promptly issued a statement of “clarification” on two points. It justified its retention of a third of the participation fee as a way of offsetting the costs of just over US$2 million for staging the 2010 tournament, pointing out that there were no such costs in 2009 as there had been no tournament.It stated that the Guyana players had signed terms with the Champions League, agreeing to their images being used by the league during the tournament. Any alteration to such contracts, it stated, would have to be made with the league.

Ramnarine succeeds because he has the most influential players firmly behind him and all contributing to the operation of the WIPA. He has his way, too, because of the proven weakness of administrators he regards with disdain.

By now, the GCB seemed ready to confront the WIPA on its demands. It secured an interim injunction from Guyana’s acting Chief Justice Ian Chang, restraining the WIPA, Ramnarine and WIPMACOL from interfering in its contract with the BCCI, the Champions League’s parent body. In its application, the GCB said that WIPA’s demands would not be met.The injunction barred WIPA, Ramnarine and WIPMACOL “from doing any act which has the tendency of causing or inducing the GCB to dishonour or act in breach of the agreement for Guyana to participate in the upcoming tournament”.At the same time, the acting Chief Justice granted GCB president Chetram Singh and secretary Anand Sanadie a writ against WIPA, Ramnarine and WIPMACOL seeking in excess of $10,000,000 damages for intrusion in the GCB’s contract with the Champions League and a similar amount “for conspiracy” to “prevent the GCB’s team selected from taking part unless it does so on their terms as to the sharing or remuneration or otherwise”.It was now clear that, unless there was a settlement, Guyana would not be in South Africa, an unthinkable scenario. The whole country–indeed the whole diaspora-had been energised by the triumph in the regional T20 tournament and the prospects of following Trinidad and Tobago’s inspiring example in finishing runners-up in the inaugural Champions’ League.
Guyana’s cricket has been down in the dumps for a long while. Now, according to Travis Dowlin, a linchpin of the team, everywhere they went the players were being hailed as champions. As it happens in sport, their success had galvanised the nation.Inevitably, the government felt compelled to intervene to break the deadlock. The acting Sports Minister Irfaan Ali summoned a meeting with Singh and Guyana captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, a staunch WIPA member, to sort things out. At the end of it, Singh said “a consensus on various aspects of the Guyana team’s participation in South Africa was reached”. He offered no details, except to say that he no longer saw the need to follow up the proposed legal action against WIPA. “What I can say is that after today’s meeting we have agreed on several issues and now everyone should be focusing on giving the team the best chance to be successful in South Africa,” Singh said.Whatever spin is put on it, it was not difficult to deduce that most of the concessions would have been the GCB’s. As a long-standing member of the WICB, Singh would have had plenty of such experiences through its dealings with the WIPA.Once again, Ramnarine had carried his opponents to the brink. So it has been repeatedly in the past and, last year, just days prior to the Trinidad and Tobago team’s departure for the first Champions League in India.As subsequently revealed by Anil Roberts, ironically now Minister of Sport in the new government, negotiations between the TTCB and WIPA over contracts had broken down when he was on the spot in his role as a sports media personality. Conscious of the repercussions, he stepped in to get them back together. Agreement was reached and Trinidad and Tobago was free to fulfil its date with destiny. As it turned out, the players received an extra 25 per cent from a newly-constituted TTCB on their return.It might be the same this time but such last-minute disputes are clearly untenable. Ramnarine boasts that the WIPA has won all seven issues with the WICB that have gone to arbitration. He has ensured that even players who twice withdrew from teams on the eve of international series returned to the fold (some as captain) and saw to it that their fees increased to the extent that they are among the best paid anywhere.He succeeds because he has the most influential players firmly behind him and all contributing to the operation of the WIPA. He has his way, too, because of the proven weakness of administrators he regards with disdain. Perhaps his greatest coup was to wring out of the compliant WICB hefty compensation for loss of earnings for those players who went on strike prior to last year’s Bangladesh home series.Yet performances on the field continue to be an embarrassment. One of the principal reasons for this interminable decline was again clearly evident in events in Georgetown this past week. So it will continue until such nonsense is ended, once and for all.

At the first notes emerging from the iconic Bangabandhu National Stadium on Thursday evening, a young nation will pause for a moment to reflect on just what it has achieved

Mohammad Isam17-Feb-2011At the first notes emerging from the iconic Bangabandhu National Stadium on Thursday evening, a young nation will pause for a moment to reflect on just what it has achieved. Little more than a decade after being admitted to cricket’s top table, Bangladesh is hosting the opening ceremony – and, two days later, the opening game – of the sport’s biggest event. It’s a time of celebration – and there’s plenty of it going round – but it’s also an opportunity to remember the hundreds of players and administrators who lost out to politics in the quarter century between Partition and Independence.”This means the world to the people, to put it simply,” Saber Hossain Chowdhury, a Member of Parliament, said. Chowdhury was president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board when the national team won the ICC Trophy – its biggest success so far on the field. “This is the best dream, this event is what every citizen of this country has been waiting for. Cricket brings the country together.”When we took over in 1996, our target was to try and achieve the Test status and then set in motion the process of bringing the World Cup to Bangladesh, host the opening ceremony. People thought it was a pipedream.”Well, that dream has now come true, and the signs are everywhere. Business is booming, especially in the hospitality sector, with the expected influx of tourists and expats leading to hotel rooms – especially for Bangladesh’s games against India in Dhaka, and England in Chittagong – being sold out months in advance. Analysts expect around $10-15 million as additional income during the tournament; it could have been more had things been better planned but few new hotels were built, or attractive packages designed by travel companies. No such worries for the restaurants around the two host cities’ stadiums though, or cricket gear manufacturers, who are rushing to meet huge demands.It’s boomtime for the media, too. The Daily Star and Samakal both brought out special-edition magazines, the largest-selling Prothom Alo and its competitor Kaler Kantha have started broadsheet supplements and the highlight on TV is a daily show hosted by former captain Habibul Bashar.But the biggest attractions have been the decorations in around the city – especially in Dhaka’s suburb of Mirpur, where the matches will be played. Lights from Singapore have been installed to create one of the most dazzling displays the city has ever seen, drawing in Dhakaites late into the night. It could be argued, of course, that the “beautification” drive has been taken too far – the reports of beggars and old buses being taken off the streets, and of people being asked not to air their dirty linen in public (literally!) sound ludicrous but the intention is good.It’s almost as amazing as the story of Bangladesh cricket itself, a sport that till little more than a decade ago was second in popularity to football. It took that ICC Trophy win in 1997, after a disastrous campaign in which they failed to qualify for the 1996 World Cup on the subcontinent, to change the paradigm.Senior sports journalist Arifur Rahman, who was in Kuala Lumpur to witness that triumph in 1997, says the World Cup is a natural conclusion to the country’s passion for the game. “They say cricket is religion in India but is it too far away in Bangladesh? It is part of the people’s daily life and for the country itself, hosting the World Cup is the biggest triumph. This time takes me back to those moments in April 1997.”The arrival of the World Cup gives the fans – Bangladesh cricket’s most precious asset – a reason to cheer, a happy interlude from the usual litany of calamities cricketing and otherwise. One man who has seen it all – the 1989 Nehru Cup, 1999 World Cup or the annual derby games between Dhaka’s two big clubs Abahani and Mohammedan Sporting – is Kazi Zahurul Qayyum, possibly the country’s most famous cricket tragic. A businessman in the aviation sector, he’s travelled extensively with the national team despite having no links with the BCB. His abiding memory is of the 1997 ICC triumph. “I went there to support the team, knowing that there wouldn’t be a guarantee of going through,” he said. Count on him being present at every Bangladesh game during the World Cup.As the country braces itself… hang on, this is the phrase we use when there’s a cyclone alert. The line here should be: The people of this country have, after a long time, felt a strong connect with each other. They’ve held their breath for the longest time; now they’re waiting to exhale – and exult.

Few captains have enjoyed an apprenticeship as lengthy as Michael Clarke’s, and the coming months will reveal whether the apprenticeship has been as thorough as it has been longwinded

Daniel Brettig29-Mar-2011Having waited so long to hear his path to the Australian captaincy was no longer blocked by the seemingly ageless Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke was caught off-guard by the moment. Clarke’s first reaction to Ponting’s morning phone call was to say that he wished he had known of the senior man’s intentions a little earlier, so better to help with his leader’s final days at the World Cup on the subcontinent.There were portents of good about this, for it conveyed Clarke’s innate desire to help his team and teammates, an attitude enjoyed by the players who have sampled Clarke’s captaincy in Twenty20 and one day matches.But there was also the sobering realisation that from this day forward, Clarke cannot afford to be caught off-guard – anytime, anywhere.Few captains have enjoyed, or endured, an apprenticeship as lengthy as Clarke’s. Ponting himself was never completely sure of becoming Test skipper until the moment it was announced, as first Shane Warne, and then Adam Gilchrist, also had persuasive claims. Instead of worrying about something that was out of his hands and perhaps never going to land in them, Clarke has trained, played and toured with the ever-present knowledge that he was highly likely to be next. At the start of the Ashes summer, chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch stated flatly to the Cricket Australia board that there was no-one near Clarke in the race to become the next leader, and no-one likely to be. Vacating the position, Ponting offered an endorsement every bit as conclusive as that of Hilditch.Clarke has long shown a natural flair for the captaincy, and an ability to elicit strong responses from those players placed under him. Revered by younger teammates if not always loved by older ones, Clarke has boundless energy and plenty of tactical ideas, plus an affinity for spin bowling that Ponting was never able to grasp. There is curiosity in the fact that widespread popular affection has eluded Clarke so far, but it is a truism of leadership that the best do not overly concern themselves with opinion polls. He will need to be far more preoccupied by the task of extracting the very most from the players under him. They are not the copiously talented and supremely confident bunch that Ponting inherited in 2004, having rather more in common with the struggling souls Allan Border took command of, in the wake of a tearful Kim Hughes, 20 years ago.One problem with Clarke’s long wait for the job is that, unlike Border, there is some suspicion his batting may have begun to wither on the vice-captain’s vine. Clarke’s Ashes series was every bit as wretched as Ponting’s, and before that he floundered in two Tests in India, previously known as the scene of an ebullient century on his 2004 debut. Even now, the weight that can be ascribed to Clarke’s apparent batting resurgence in limited overs matches in 2011, is questionable next to a lack of recent Test match runs. Apart from his earlier days when vibrant strokes were offset by inconsistency, Clarke is not a batsman with the sort of presence often seen among Australian captains. In paring back his strokeplay to pursue a steadier runs return, Clarke lost some of his earlier verve, and chronic back problems have also conspired against him at times across his career.Counterbalancing this is the fact that Ponting’s exit has been timed with the maximum consideration for Clarke, allowing him to ease himself towards leadership with a three-match limited overs series in Bangladesh and then a four-month spell at home to grasp the complexities of the job. Clarke will need every second of this, because his captaincy skills are to be tested most severely by back-to-back tours of Sri Lanka and South Africa. On his team’s return home they will face a New Zealand side no doubt hoping to capitalise on tour fatigue, before there is the small matter of a four-match Test series against current world No. 1 India, followed by a trip to the Caribbean. This calendar will be either the making or the breaking of Clarke, and the ultimate measure of whether his apprenticeship has been as thorough as it has been longwinded.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the first day of the first Test between India and West Indies in Delhi

Sharda Ugra at the Feroz Shah Kotla06-Nov-2011False dawn of the day
Darren Bravo walked off the Kotla for lunch after a creamy on-drive off Ishant Sharma. It was the last ball of an otherwise frugal session and Bravo promised a delectable feast. But he was to return from the break and make a complete meal of his moment, just five balls into the second session. Trying to create a cut out of nothing, Bravo gave Ashwin his first wicket, scattered his own stumps and re-established his reputation for following the sublime with the ridiculous.Shot of the day
Shivnarine Chanderpaul gave his tremulous, tied down younger team-mates a clear lesson on his method of tackling the spinners on a slow low slight turner. Having tootled his way to the mid-30s, he leapt out against R Ashwin and struck him clean, sharp and straight into the terrace over long on. An hour later, he dished out some of the same to Pragyan Ojha: this shot came with less elevation but identical destination and result.Déjà vu of the day
Misfortune is chasing Gautam Gambhir in the field. Having recouped after being struck on the arm and concussed in England, and ready to go into partnership with Virender Sehwag again, Gambhir gamely took up short-leg duties. He had survived the better part of the day, with few sweeps or pulls in his direction. Then came Chanderpaul. With a century in sight he swept Ojha and Gambhir was struck on his right forearm – at least it was not the left one this time. The ball insultingly ballooned off it into empty mid-wicket space. Gambhir doubled up in pain and VVS Laxman chivalrously took over for the rest of the over, before Virat Kohli took up the unenviable duty for rest of the day’s play.Kiss of the day
Chanderpaul celebrated his 24th Test century with due protocol. He raised his arms, hugged his partner, waved his bat towards the dressing room and acknowledged the spectators’ applause, and like he always does after a 100, went down on his knees and kissed the pitch. The Kotla track has rarely warmed too many hearts (other than that of Anil Kumble) and the gesture won over the noisiest part of the crowd. As Chanderpaul kissed the Kotla, he was given a fresh roar of approval by the lower tier of the East stand. It sounded like they were saying, ‘at least someone loves us’.Quick fingers of the day
Whatever the condition MS Dhoni’s fingers are in, when it comes to stumpings, they work like pure gold. The adhesive-like Braithwaite would probably still be batting had Dhoni drawn an extra breath as the opener took a big stride in his attempt to reach one of Ojha’s wider ones. But he didn’t and, by the time the ball had gone past his line of sight, Braithwaite knew he had not sent his foot back home. The bails toppled, the umpire called for the replay but Dhoni was dead confident. He had seen the ball coming, the foot departing and he didn’t stop to breathe.