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Plays of the day from the first day of the first Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test in Galle

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Mohammad Isam08-Mar-2013The blowSohag Gazi reaped rewards for his persistence in an otherwise dull day for Bangladesh•AFPSri Lanka batsmen’s bones seem to have been particularly susceptible to upset in the past three months, with Kumar Sangakkara, Prasanna Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara and Mahela Jayawardene all missing Tests due to fractures, and when Dimuth Karunaratne was hit flush on the elbow by a Shahadat Hossain bouncer on 15, he too must have wondered if the same fate would befall him. The outlook seemed grim when Sri Lanka’s physio took one look at the elbow and took Karunaratne off the field, but despite the scare, he returned later in the session to add 26 more runs to his tally.The strokeA cover drive is generally the most alluring stroke in any Sangakkara innings, but though there were plenty of those off the spinners, it was a hook shot that epitomised his mastery of the Bangladesh bowling on day one. Twice Shahadat Hossain tried to bounce him in the 35th over, and both times Sangakkara rocked back in an instant and sent the ball screaming in front of square leg, all along the ground.The dropOf all the fielders, Mohammad Ashraful would know the significance of a Sangakkara wicket, having seen him score two previous double-centuries within a week five years ago. But his slight delay to jump and reach the batsman’s lofted shot cost Bangladesh.Sangakkara, though, added only 31 more before Jahurul Islam caught him at short cover, on the second attempt after parrying the ball with both hands.The wicketSohag Gazi was the day’s best bowler, and his dismissal of Dimuth Karunaratne had him beating a batsman after working him over.Gazi kept the ball up to Karunaratne, the lesser experienced of the two left-hand batsmen at the crease (the other being Sangakkara), and whenever the batsmen drove, he had a small smile on his face. He bowled him a maiden over late in the first session, and kept pegging away until in his 14th over when he brought one back at the batsman. The appeal wasn’t too long as the decision was quick, and it was one of the few bright spots of the day for the visitors.

From Neeraj Narayanan, India

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Why Associates need to play more•AFPOnce upon a time, and a really nice time it was, all that mattered in the world was an evening game of tennis-ball cricket. So even if the sun was blazing, we would run to the neighbourhood park and gather ourselves in poses just like our heroes on ESPN and Doordarshan. Some of us folded our arms and chewed gum like that great Australian captain, Mark Taylor. The bowlers in us swaggered just like Darren Gough each time we walked back to our run-ups. Hell, some of us even ‘did a Sachin’, obscenely picking at our groin, ignoring the fact that we had no guard there to adjust.Coca Cola might have said it first, but it was we – the boys of Sector 55 Noida – who ate, slept and breathed cricket. So we played, and tried to live happily ever after but like always there was a twist in the story. Ever so often, there would be a group of older bullies who would come much later to the ground and take possession of it immediately, irrespective of the juncture at which our match was poised. Of course, you might ask the question as to why I did not stand my ‘ground’, and I will be honest enough to tell you that I would have, but I do not like spanking boys twice my size and age. It hardly reflects well on them, you see. The fact that the one time I did try and poke one of those fellows, albeit gingerly, in his stomach, they sat all over me and made me lick topsoil as well as sub-soil, is a secret that is dead and ‘buried’.The only way we could persuade those ugly buffoons to allow us to stay on the ground was to involve them in a game. But despite their ridicule, we never distributed teams, and insisted on taking on their might and seniority. We lost every time, for they were bigger, stronger and sadly better. It infuriated me, the fact that we never came close to beating them, that we were always put in our place, that we were not good enough. But it made me and my darling team more united, for humiliation might wound and it might hurt, but it also brings one closer to those who suffer that fate. They could toy with our bowling, but not with our pride; they could skittle out our batsmen but not our spirit. Sometimes we came close, but always we lost. They also taught us to enjoy the smaller moments. Every wicket we took, every boundary we hit, the whole team would cheer, sing, cackle, hoot and sometimes even dance in an extremely ungainly fashion that only men can. And we did so because when you don’t have much to cheer about, it is these little moments that you make the most of.And then one day we won. I do not know how or why, maybe they just played awfully badly, or maybe we were lucky, but we did. And I still remember the scenes of delirium. It wasn’t the World Cup, nor the ‘Ashes’, not even an official colony match, but it was our World Cup, our Ashes.Sitting in my office, I was following a warm-up match online, cheering Canada’s every run in their chase against England. In the end they lost, and looked disappointed, but they ran them very close and one day they will beat them too. For that’s how sport is, and will always be. Goliath may crow nine out of ten days, but one day David will rise and beat him. Cricket is a wonderful game, not just because of Warne’s wizardry or Sachin’s genius or even Gough’s swagger. It is also made beautiful by a generously-built Bermuda policeman-cum-prison van driver who weighed 280 pounds and yet almost flew to take a blinder to dismiss Robin Uthappa, and celebrated as if he had won the World Cup. It is also made beautiful by eleven Kenyans kneeling down and kissing the pitch after beating the mighty West Indies in ’96. It becomes a better sport because it gives a war-ravaged country like Afghanistan hope and a little happiness as they notch one remarkable win after another against countries much bigger, much stronger and more fortunate. One day Canada will beat England, and they will know the joy that we knew one day in a small park in Sector 55 Noida.

Mohammad Ashraful’s confession of his involvement in match-fixing and spot-fixing during this season’s BPL has raised questions about the breach of disciplinary protocol put in place by the BCB

Mohammad Isam06-Jun-2013Mohammad Ashraful’s confession of his involvement in match-fixing and spot-fixing during this season’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) has brought some questions into the public domain, the most important one being the breach of disciplinary protocol put in place by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).The BPL’s problems began even before the tournament did. The domestic Twenty20 tournament was arranged hastily for the second year in a row, and had to deal with a last-minute player pull-out. While the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) were present from the start, the BPL governing council had too many issues to grapple with before they could focus on the tournament itself.The ACSU was brought in by the BCB to protect the integrity of the tournament and to maintain the board’s “zero-tolerance” goal of tackling fraud. It was an expensive service (nearly $200,000 for the entire duration of the tournament), but BCB’s inadequate security measures inside stadiums meant that they had to bring in help from outside. ACSU officers were visible during BPL matches in Dhaka, Khulna and Chittagong, and they put in place rules that clearly spelt out the dos and don’ts.The BCB introduced the ACSU to all the franchises before the tournament, and ensured there were enough educational programmes to help a player understand what was expected. During the tournament, there were several warnings from the BCB, significant enough for the players to take notice, regarding people gaining access to the dressing room or dugout. Owners were confined to an area near the dugouts at every venue – a measure the ACSU stressed upon, in spite of pressure to not interfere.The contract with the ACSU also ensured that the standard security procedures of an international match were employed throughout the competition. Unauthorised persons were not permitted entry into the dressing room area, which was called the Players and Match Officials Area (PMOA). There were stringent checks put in place by the ACSU while issuing accreditation cards to those who were needed inside the dressing rooms. Mobile phones were also not allowed in the protected areas.Even before the ACSU came in to the picture, however, there were many red flags. Just a day before the BPL was inaugurated in 2012, Mashrafe Mortaza exposed an offer to spot-fix, made by former Bangladesh cricketer, Shariful Haque who was later banned for life. The matter was immediately reported to the BCB and an inquiry was conducted. Towards the end of the tournament last year, a Pakistani individual, Sajid Khan, was arrested near the dressing room area, as he was trying to gain access. Chittagong Kings owner Sameer Quader Chowdhury later told the media that he had been approached by several people to throw matches.Ashraful’s exact role in this whole episode has not been revealed; the ICC’s ACSU and the BCB have asked for a week before they make the details public. There are a few factors that could, however, possibly explain why players indulge in such activities. First, it is hard to tell whether a team is fixing a match or not. This leads to a second possible reason for players to feel at ease: lack of proper evidence.These factors do not justify a player’s involvement in corrupt practices, but they create unanswered questions about the BPL’s image and integrity. If the BCB wants it to remain a viable tournament, it has to clean up its image, beginning with the punishment meted out to those involved in this issue. Then there are long-term issues that can be dealt with through accountability and shedding of egos.BCB has a mixed track record in terms of enforcing discipline in such cases. After Mashrafe made the allegations, the board dealt with it swiftly and punished Shariful Haque, banning the latter for an indefinite period within seven months of the incident. The board also banned umpire Nadir Shah after an Indian channel’s sting operation had him compromised. But the BCB could not deal with the Sajid Khan arrest in a proper manner. Their security officers handed him over to the local police, but they failed to follow up on the issue and the accused slipped away.Before the BPL can reach the IPL’s levels of popularity, in spite of recent controversies in the Indian tournament, it has to put in the missing building blocks. Some players haven’t been paid their full amount, while others are waiting for half their dues. Many foreign players repeatedly complained about payment issues after the first edition, and have raised their voices again this year. Local players have had a tougher time – some of them haven’t been paid since last year. The BPL governing council itself is supposed to be paid by Game On Sports (the event management firm that organises the event) and the franchises, against whom they are preparing to take legal action.Ashraful could well have opened up a Pandora’s box but his admission of guilt has again underlined the necessity of professionalism. Without it, such incidents are likely to repeat themselves.

The marginalising of grade and Shield competitions has left a painful legacy for the Test team

Daniel Brettig at Lord's21-Jul-2013Amid the usual sea of opinions leading into this series, Andrew Strauss cut to the core of Australian cricket’s troubles with an observation he made about the last Ashes tour down under. While the Test matches of 2010-11 and their margins were clear, Strauss noticed something a little more far-reaching and disturbing on his travels. The standard of the players and teams his side faced in their tour matches was nowhere near the level that England tourists had come to expect. Where once the visitors expected a serious fight no matter where they played, now they were surprised to feel unthreatened.Three years on, and a very public execution at Lord’s has confirmed the decline Strauss witnessed. First evident among the grassroots, it has now enveloped the shop front of the Australian game. The bewilderment experienced by a succession of batsmen as they trudged off with inadequate scores for the fourth consecutive Ashes innings was mirrored on the faces of the Sunday spectators, Australian television viewers and Cricket Australia staff on both sides of the world. How had it come to this?Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Phillip Hughes, Michael Clarke, Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith fell in manners familiar and unfamiliar, technical or mental, to pace or spin. There was no underlying pattern. But the death dive of the national team’s recent performances, including a sixth Test match defeat in succession, is the ugliest and most visible symptom of a collective malaise that has been creeping ever wider for some time, hurried along by band-aid solutions and rampant market thinking that has helped to rot the teeth of the domestic game.Among the most troubling elements of Australia’s current state of poverty is that there is no single person in the team nor around it who has the capacity to provide a remedy. Not the captain Clarke, nor the coach Darren Lehmann, the selectors Rod Marsh and John Inverarity, nor even the high-powered general manager of team performance, Pat Howard. Had he still been employed, the estranged former coach Mickey Arthur would have been equally powerless.They all have had influential roles within Australian cricket over the past three years, and all have a genuine desire to see the team winning matches. All are doing their best to prepare players for tasks such as England. But none have complete control over the areas of Cricket Australia to where the game’s decline can be traced. Perhaps not surprisingly, all are often heard to say the words “not ideal”. All should be speaking earnestly to their chief executive, James Sutherland, who despite much financial prosperity has presided over the aforementioned rot.Several issues stand out as causes of the problems on display at Lord’s. The first is the marginalisation of the grade and Sheffield Shield competitions, for so long regarded as the best proving grounds of their kind in the world. In 2013 they sit at the fringes of CA’s thinking. Grade cricket has fallen behind the much vaunted “pathway” of under-age competitions and Centre of Excellence training as the primary providers of players bound for international duty. The Shield, meanwhile, is now played disjointedly and unhappily around the edges of the Australian season, having ceded the prime months of December and January to the Twenty20 Big Bash League.This scheduling stands in marked contrast to the fixtures now produced in England and India, Australia’s two most recent tormentors. For all the buzz and hype around the IPL and the Champions League, neither competition cuts across the first-class Ranji Trophy, which remains a tournament fought in an environment of continuity and cohesion. Similarly, the English county season offers domestic players a greater chance for building up form and confidence in the format most representative of Test matches. Plenty of battles have been fought within England to keep it so, and next summer its primacy will be further embossed by the spreading of T20 fixtures more evenly through the season.Even if the Shield were to be granted a place of greater centrality to the Australian summer, the matter of pitches is also a source of problems. Australia’s glaring lack of batsmen capable of playing long innings can be related directly to the emergence of a succession of sporting or worse surfaces, as state teams chase the outright results required to reach the Shield final. Queensland and Tasmania have been among the most notable preparers of green surfaces, often for reasons of weather as much as strategy, but their approaches have become increasingly popular across the country. This has resulted in a litany of low-scoring matches and bowlers celebrating far more often than they did during the relatively run-laden 1990s. Batsmen are thus lacking in confidence and technique, while bowlers are similarly less used to striving for wickets on unresponsive surfaces so often prepared in Tests, as administrators eye fifth-day gate receipts.Money is never far from anyone’s motivation, of course, and the financial modelling of Australian player payments must also be examined. This much was pointed out by Arthur himself when the BBL was unveiled in 2011, accompanied by the news that state contracts would be reduced on the presumption that every player would also play T20. Arthur’s words should be ringing in the ears of CA’s decision makers almost as much as his anguished complaints now about the loss of his job.”Your biggest salary cap should be your state contracts with the smaller salary cap being your Big Bash,” Arthur had said when coach of Western Australia. “If we’re really serious in Australia about getting Australia to the No. 1 Test-playing side in the world, we should be reflecting that in our salary caps and budgets. You can feel the squeeze just through the salary caps that we have to work with. You’re getting a bigger salary cap for six weeks’ work over the holiday period than you are for trying to make yourself a Test cricketer. I think that’s the wrong way round.”The wrong way round and the wrong way to maintain a strong Test team. The pain of Australia’s players at Lord’s, not least their clearly upset captain Michael Clarke, was patently clear. But having almost conjured miracles at Trent Bridge, St John’s Wood has provided a much more realistic picture of where the team has slipped to, and why. There can be few more humiliating places at which to be defined as second rate than the home of cricket, for so long the home away from home for Australia’s cricketers. In a moment of hubris after their win at the ground in 2005, Ricky Ponting’s team held uproarious court in the home dressing rooms. This time around any visit to the England side of the pavilion will be made far more humbly.

ESPNcricinfo charts the highs and lows of Steve Harmison’s 17-year career

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Oct-2013September 12, 1996: Steve Harmison makes his first-class debut against Leicestershire, going wicketless and scoring 10 runs in an innings defeat.September 2000: Aged 22, selected in the England A squad for the tour of West Indies but has to be replaced after sustaining a shin injury.August 8, 2002: Makes his Test debut for England in a drawn match against India at Trent Bridge. Picks up five wickets during the game, including that of Sourav Ganguly on 99.December 17, 2002: Harmison plays his first ODI, dismissing Kumar Sangakkara and Marvan Atapattu in quick succession to help England beat Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the VB Series in Brisbane.October 21, 2003: Takes his first five-wicket haul for England in the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka. He is named Man of the Match after finishing with 9 for 79.March 11, 2004: A notoriously poor traveller, Harmison’s fitness and commitment for the tour of the Caribbean were questioned after breaking down in Bangladesh. However, he removes any doubts by blowing West Indies away runs in the second innings of the first Test, picking up seven wickets for just 12 runs. England captain Michael Vaughan calls it “one of the greatest spells of bowling by an England player”. He follows it up with six wickets in the first innings of the second Test, and ends the series as the highest wicket-taker with 23 scalps from four matches.August 2004: Harmison continues his fine form, taking eight wickets against New Zealand in the first Test at Lord’s and, following another impressive showing against West Indies, he moves to the top of the Test bowling rankings, leapfrogging Muttiah Muralitharan and Shaun Pollock to become the first English bowler in two decades to hold the No. 1 position.April 2005: Following a poor series against South Africa where he took just nine wickets, Harmison drops to eighth in the world Test bowling rankings. More eyebrows are raised when Harmison admits that he may end his career early due to homesickness, saying “I will never overcome it because I never really want to be away.”June 19, 2005: Despite recent struggles, Harmison shows his class in the third ODI against Australia, dismissing Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn in a single over, before also sending back Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey to finish with an ODI-best 5 for 33 and seal a three-wicket win for England.July 21-24, 2005: Harmison makes his mark on Australia’s batsmen early in the Ashes, striking Justin Langer with a painful blow on the elbow and bloodying Ponting with a rising delivery on to his helmet. Harmison takes eight wickets in the first Test at Lord’s, but can’t prevent a 239-run defeat for England.September 12, 2005: England regain the Ashes for the first time in 16 years, as a thrilling series comes to a close with a draw at The Oval. Harmison has a vital part to play in the team’s success, picking up 17 wickets from five matches at an average of 32.29.July-August 2006: Injury rules him out of the first part of the following summer but Harmison shines in the home series against Pakistan with 20 wickets, including 11 in the second Test in Manchester. The series would ultimately be overshadowed by a ball-tampering row in the fourth Test.Harmison was Durham’s leading wicket-taker in their Championship title wins of 2008 and 2009•Getty ImagesNovember 23, 2006: However, Harmison’s nerve betrays him during the 2006-07 Ashes, as he sends the opening delivery of the series in Brisbane straight to Andrew Flintoff at second slip. It sets the tone for what proves to be a dismal outing for Harmison, who picks up 10 wickets at 61.40, and for England, who are whitewashed by the hosts.December 2006: Having been left out of England’s squad for the post-Ashes ODI series, Harmison announces his retirement from the format, three months before the start of the World Cup.May-June 2007: Harmison notches 16 wickets from four matches during the home series against West Indies, including six in the third Test in Manchester, but he suffers a setback with a back injury that keeps him out of action for four months.March 2008: After returning to the England squad for Sri Lanka, where he bowls well on unresponsive pitches, he picks up just one wicket in the first New Zealand Test, a 189-run thrashing in Hamilton. He and Matthew Hoggard are subsequently axed from the team.August 22, 2008: Harmison is persuaded back to ODI cricket by England’s new captain, Kevin Pietersen, after nearly two years in self-imposed exile. He makes his return against South Africa in Leeds, taking two wickets.September 27, 2008: Harmison takes the final three Kent wickets to fall as Durham wrap up their maiden Championship title – 16 years after they became a first-class county – at Canterbury.April 3, 2009: Having never quite reached the heights of his Test exploits, he plays his last ODI against West Indies in St Lucia, finishing without a wicket.August 20, 2009: Despite doubts remaining over his fitness, Harmison is involved in two Tests of the 2009 Ashes and plays what would turn out to be his final match at The Oval. Harmison takes three tail-end wickets in the second innings to help England secure a 197-run win and regain the urn once again.September 12, 2009: Again Harmison takes the final wicket – and again he finishes as the club’s leading wicket-taker – as Durham defend their Championship title with victory over Nottinghamshire at Chester-le-Street.January, 2012: During a BBC radio documentary presented by his former team-mate Flintoff, Harmison reveals he had suffered from depression during his international career.October 6, 2013: Harmison announces his retirement from competitive cricket, aged 34.

A picture on Instagram, Irish citizenship, a young family and a long time at the helm. There was plenty pointing towards Graeme Smith preparing to call time on his career. It has been an immense one.

Firdose Moonda03-Mar-2014In the next 48 hours, Graeme Smith will represent South Africa for the last time. Three days short of 12 years as an international cricketer – and on the ground where his career started in 2002 – South Africa’s most successful, longest-serving shepherd will leave his flock to tend to themselves.The news has come suddenly and surprisingly, but not entirely shockingly. Anyone who spent teenagehood and beyond doing something they cherished will want to grow up at some point. Smith has come of age through cricket and through captaincy. He has now come out the other side.Smith led South Africa through their most successful period in Test history. They have been on an unbeaten run away from home for almost eight years and have not lost at home in five years. He has been in charge of the top batsman, top bowler and leading all-rounder, all at the same time. He has taken them to No.1 in the world and kept there for 19 months. He has been their talisman and their frontman, a frontman in every way including the literal, opening the batting in difficult conditions and averaging almost 50 as he approaches the end.Many people will not understand why the end should come now but the truth is that it has been coming for some time. Almost a month before the day Smith announced his decision to walk away, he gave his first hint that he would do so. He posted a picture on Instagram of his wife and and two young children with the caption. “Always miss these guys when away!….. last one I promise.” Now we know what that meant.That was a firm sign and one that was discussed on these pages at the time but the indications had been building for a while. Two weeks before that, Smith traveled to Ireland to collect the certificate confirming his citizenship to that country. When it was reported, he assured fans he was not turning his back on South Africa. He tweeted: “I love my country and remain always a loyal South African. Half my family is Irish now and visiting them is easier with dual nationality.”Before that, in December 2013, a story sprouted that Smith had threatened to resign the captaincy over selection issues. He killed that suggestion too. In November 2012, Smith signed a three-year deal with Surrey which he could not fulfill in its first because of an ankle injury. He had to cut short his stay in London, where he had relocated with his young family, and expressed disappointment.Smith’s family is ultimately the reason he has reached this point and we would have known that as early as after the 2011 World Cup. That was his last assignment as ODI captain and he earned the wrath of the public when he did not return home from the tournament with the rest of the team but instead went to Ireland to propose to Morgan Deane. An over-sensitive public loathed her then but soon grew to love her as the woman who turned their captain into a softer, nicer and more laid-back person.With marriage and fatherhood, the other side of Smith emerged. Far from the bubblegum-chewing hard-arse that stared opponents down on the field, Smith allowed his gentle, loving side to come to the fore. The nation grew to adore him in his new role, even when he did not score the runs they wanted.But cricket is a results-driven game and eventually the lack of positive numbers will catch up. Smith has gone eight innings without a half-century, which is not that many especially considering that less than six months ago he scored a double-hundred against Pakistan in challenging conditions against a challenging attack in the UAE. Still, what Mitchell Johnson has done to him in this series has exposed old weaknesses and it seems Smith has had enough of scar tissue being exposed.Not for the first time in his career, Smith will exit in ungainly fashion. South Africa are two days away from the end of the series against Australia, a series which they will have to fight hard to draw. Should they manage that, they would extend their unbeaten run to 15 series. If they do not, it will be the first time since March 2009 that they have been defeated.Either way, it is the end of an era. An era that began and ended in August 2012 when Mark Boucher retired and South Africa became the No.1 ranked Test team. An era that looked more like ending when Jacques Kallis retired after the Boxing Day Test last year. But an era that can be rightly be called the Smith era. It belonged to him and now it’s over.

The absence of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina means India will go into the Asia Cup with an inexperienced middle order for the first time in a long time

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Dhaka25-Feb-2014Towards the middle of India’s training session on Monday, the team’s media manager carried a life-size foam dummy into the open net at the middle of the National Cricket Academy ground. Running in off a short run-up, Bhuvneshwar Kumar began bowling to the dummy, designed to look like a right-handed batsman at the highest point of his backlift. Gradually, as Bhuvneshwar increased the length of his run-up, Mohammad Shami and Ishwar Pandey joined him. All of them attacked the blockhole.While India’s bowlers tried out this new method of working on an old weakness, fielding coach Trevor Penney aimed flat, hard catches at Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Meanwhile, under a in one corner of the training area, Dinesh Karthik took his pads off.The last time India played without either Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina or MS Dhoni was way back in 2004•AFP”Who’s that guy?” a local journalist asked, pointing at the batsman who had replaced Karthik at the nets.That guy was Stuart Binny, and he might not have been the only unfamiliar figure in the team for that particular journalist. This was an India ODI team without MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. Poor form over the last year or so had cost first Yuvraj and then Raina their places. Dhoni’s side strain, on top of that, had now left India needing to assemble an entirely new-look middle order for the Asia Cup. On Tuesday, when he was asked about this, Karthik said India had enough experienced players to cope.”I’ve been around the scene for some time,” Karthik said. “Given the opportunity, I will try and use whatever little experience I’ve had and bat to the best of my ability. Having said that quite a few guys have played 100 games, which is a lot of experience now. They have been playing now for a year or two. They have been given a good run. Everybody will pull in their experience whatever little that we have, go out there and give it our best shot.”Although only two members of India’s squad have played 100 ODIs – Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma – it is true that most of the players in the squad have had a decent run of games over the last year. The only issue, however, is that all of the inexperience is concentrated in one area – the middle order.Karthik has played 67 ODIs, but has played in the middle order in only 30 of them. Ajinkya Rahane has played 23 ODIs, but has batted lower than No. 3 only five times; in those five innings, he averages 11.20. Cheteshwar Pujara has played two ODIs, both as opener. Ambati Rayudu has played six ODIs, of which four were against Zimbabwe. Stuart Binny has played one ODI, and hasn’t yet had a chance to bat.Ideally, India would want three of those five – Karthik and two others – to slot in at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 when India start their Asia Cup campaign. That would leave the top three undisturbed. But that simple solution might not work in India’s best interests, because the players in that group – Pujara and Rahane, certainly – aren’t necessarily suited to starting their innings with less than 10 overs remaining.It might mean either Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli having to move to No. 4. Of those two options, shifting Kohli down one spot will probably make less of a dent up the order than disturbing the opening combination. Kohli, in fact, has an even better average at No. 4 than at No. 3, and almost the same strike rate. Rohit, on the other hand, averages 44.19 as opener and 31.43 elsewhere. In any case, both of them might have to bat differently, with the knowledge that Dhoni won’t be around down the order.More might be asked of Ravindra Jadeja too. In New Zealand, he showed there is plenty of latent potential in his batting, when he cracked quickfire unbeaten 60s in successive matches. Jadeja’s position in the line-up is unlikely to change for this tournament, but without Dhoni, the batting side of his role might gain extra emphasis.It isn’t easy replacing someone who’s a middle-overs innings-builder, death-overs destroyer and the calmest finisher in the game, all rolled into one. India’s best option of doing that might be to do it collectively.

Jimmy Neesham’s performance in Jamaica means the selectors will have some head-scratching to do over him and Corey Anderson

Andrew Alderson16-Jun-2014The biggest downside to New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham’s two-Test career? His second-innings dismissal for 20 against West Indies in Jamaica saw his average slip below 100. The 23-year-old now averages 99 from four innings, compared to Don Bradman’s 99.94 from 80.Neesham became one of just eight cricketers, and the first New Zealander, to score centuries in his first two Tests, with 107 in 216 minutes off 171 balls at Sabina Park. He joined a batting group that includes Australians Bill Ponsford, Doug Walters and Greg Blewett, Indians Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Rohit Sharma, and West Indian Alvin Kallicharran.Azharuddin has the distinction of scoring hundreds in his first three Tests; which Neesham could emulate, presuming he’s picked for the second match of this series, starting tomorrow in Trinidad.Neesham, an Otago allrounder, certainly knows how to pile on the pressure. First, he helped New Zealand into an imperious position on the second day of the first Test. When the innings threatened to crumble at 279 for 5 after the initial toil of Kane Williamson and Tom Latham, Neesham and BJ Watling (89) put on 201 for the sixth wicket to propel the tourists towards a commanding 508 for 7. New Zealand were able to declare for the first time in the first innings of an overseas Test since October 2008 against Bangladesh.Second, given the way Neesham flayed spinners Sulieman Benn, and particularly Shane Shillingford, they’ll feel threatened knowing he’s prepared to waltz down the wicket and strike them out of the game. No wonder consideration is being given to recalling Sunil Narine for the third Test, despite the decision to rule him out of the series when he opted to stay and help Kolkata Knight Riders win the Indian Premier League. His 12 wickets at 25.66 in the 2012 series indicate he’s capable of stymieing the efforts of Neesham and Co.Most of Neesham’s runs in the first Test came from genuine cricket strokes. That’s commendable, given the diet of T20 cricket he’s been subjected to with the IPL’s Delhi Daredevils over the last couple of months. Perhaps it was fortuitous he only played three matches and scored 42 runs from 46 balls in the IPL.Where does this leave Corey Anderson? Anderson was a revelation over the New Zealand summer, particularly in shorter forms, with the fastest ODI century, in 36 balls in Queenstown on New Year’s Day. Mumbai Indians invested US$750,000 in his IPL services. His Test performances, including a century at Dhaka, have also been solid.Yet Neesham has upped the stakes – if we’re permitted to use such gambling parlance in relation to cricket these days.There appears little between their bowling attributes, so for Neesham to make 137 not out against India in Wellington – the highest score by a No. 8 batsman on debut after sitting in his pads almost nine hours and 123 overs – and reinforce it with a century at Kingston is stupendous.Prior to the first Test was an unfortunate time for Anderson to strain a neck muscle, because there’s no room for both allrounders in the New Zealand side. This points to a potential strengthening of New Zealand’s overall Test game.Posting that many runs galvanises a fielding side by granting bowlers an extra security blanket to help focus their attack.Two other selection issues face New Zealand ahead of the Queen’s Park Oval Test, where they have played three times for three draws (twice in 1972 and once in 1985).If there is sufficient grass on the wicket Neil Wagner will be recalled, presumably at the expense of legspinner Ish Sodhi, given offspinner Mark Craig’s Man-of-the-Match debut.Elsewhere, a decision needs to be made whether Peter Fulton has the form or technique to continue opening. The other contender, Hamish Rutherford, hasn’t made a compelling case to replace him but Fulton has made just one score over 14 (61 against West Indies in Dunedin) in his last 12 Test innings after twin fifties against Bangladesh in October. The selectors’ loyalty must be wavering.

The smoothness with which South Africa moved from a stuttering summer to starting Domingo’s second year in charge with success earned him CSA’s confidence

Firdose Moonda15-Sep-2014Russell Domingo’s contract extension, which will keep him as South Africa’s head coach until April 2016, will serve as an incentive to break new ground at the next year’s World Cup. That is the belief of former South Africa coach Eric Simons who does not think Domingo will regard the endorsement from CSA’s board as a cushion of safety ahead of a tournament South Africa has never triumphed in.”I don’t think any coach would not want to win a World Cup, especially a coach of South Africa because of the history, so even though he knows his job is not on the line, he will definitely want to do well there,” Simons, who was in charge of South Africa at the 2003 World Cup, told ESPNcricinfo. “Actually, it will be motivation because it shows confidence in him. I don’t think he will relax but it will allow him to be more free-thinking and trust his instincts.”Domingo has already been in charge for one major tournament, the World T20 in March-April. South Africa exited at semi-final stage and Domingo was heavily criticised for his tactics, with the bulk of the nay-sayers focused on his use of AB de Villiers. Pundits wanted to see de Villiers bat higher than No. 5, because they believed South Africa’s best batsman should have maximum time at the crease, but Domingo relied on statistics which proved de Villiers performed better when a platform had been laid for him.Domingo’s dependence on numbers came under scrutiny and a popular sentiment was that he lacked the natural nous required to read a game. That perception was fuelled by Domingo’s background which includes no competitive level cricket experience. By his own admission, Domingo did not think he would cut it as a cricketer and gave up the game in his early 20s to concentrate on coaching.Now, Simons has rubber-stamped those same instincts because he has seen how they work. “Russell seems very clear in his thinking and he comes across well in interviews. I’ve enjoyed that,” he said. “And the team is getting it right too. The players are playing with freedom so the mix is good and the signs are good that he is doing the right thing.”Among the decisions Domingo has taken which have paid off handsomely are installing Faf du Plessis at No. 3 in both Tests and ODIs to plug the gap left by Jacques Kallis. Both Kallis and Graeme Smith retired within the first nine months of Domingo’s tenure to leave South Africa on unstable ground and the effects of that was visible in their results.On Domingo’s first assignment, South Africa suffered their worst ODI series loss in almost a decade when they were beaten 1-4 in Sri Lanka in July 2013. They went on to draw a Test series against Pakistan in the UAE and win the ODI rubber which followed. At home, South Africa lost an ODI series against Pakistan but beat India in both ODIs and Tests before losing a first Test series in five years during Domingo’s tenure, when they lost to Australia. The World T20 came immediately but then there was a break, which allowed time for South African cricket to settle.After a brief winter, South Africa returned to Sri Lanka, won a one-day series and the Test series. A South African Test side had not beaten Sri Lanka in a Test for 21 years before their recent triumph. They also went on to a big victory in Zimbabwe that will extend their unbeaten Test series record on the road to nine years.The smoothness with which South Africa slid from a summer of stuttering to starting Domingo’s second year in charge with success prompted his contract extension. “The administrators would have assessed his performance and taken a long-term view on him,” Simons said.That distant lens will also ensure Domingo is around for a pair of high-profile Test series in the next two years. Although South Africa will only play Tests against West Indies at home and Bangladesh away in the next 12 months, the latest version of the FTP has them due to tour India late in 2015 and host England in the 2015-16 summer. Both those series are scheduled as four Test contests and expected to gave a significant say in South Africa’s ability to maintain their hold on the Test mace. CSA have made it clear they are prepared to entrust Domingo with that job.His support staff, which includes assistant Adrian Birrel, bowling coach Allan Donald and spin consultant Claude Henderson, do not have the same guarantees. Their contracts are currently being renegotiated, but given that the national coach often has the jurisdiction to pick his partners, they are likely to be kept on.

Stats highlights from the second day of the Test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Wellington

Shiva Jayaraman04-Jan-201511 Number of 200-plus scores Kumar Sangakkara has in Tests now – only one behind Don Bradman’s record of 12. Five of these scores have come in away Tests, which equals the most by any batsman. Bradman, Wally Hammond and Brian Lara also had five 200-plus scores in away Tests.38 Centuries hit by Sangakkara in Tests. Only Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45) and Ricky Ponting (41) are ahead of him. Sangakkara has scored 12198 runs in Tests at an average of 58.92, which is the second highest after Bradman among batsmen with at least 5000 runs.57.02 Sangakkara’s percentage contribution to Sri Lanka’s score in this innings; This is the second highest by a Sri Lanka batsman when the team has scored 300 or more runs. Sanath Jayasuriya’s 253 in Sri Lanka’s 438 against Pakistan in the 2004 Faisalabad Test is the highest such contribution. Click here for a list of the highest contribution by batsmen in an innings.4 Number of times Sangakkara has contributed 50 percent or more to his team’s score in an innings, which is joint second-highest in Tests. Len Hutton also made 50% or more of England’s scores in an innings four times. Don Bradman and Brian Lara lead this list having made such contributions to their teams’ scores five times.428 Runs scored by Sangakkara at the Basin Reserve in five innings – the highest by any visiting batsman at this ground. Sangakkara averages 107 and has hit two hundreds in three Tests here.278 Runs added by Sri Lanka’s last-five wickets – the most they have added in a Test innings outside Asia. Their previous highest was the 234 runs added in the Lord’s Test in 2006.2 Number of times Sri Lanka have managed to post a total of 300 or more runs after being five down for less than 100. The other instance had come against South Africa in 2006 when they were 86 for 5 before recovering to post a total of 321 in their first innings the Test. Sri Lanka bettered that in this Test by scoring 356.67 Runs added by Sangakkara and Suranga Lakmal – Sri Lanka’s highest and their first fifty partnership for the ninth wicket against New Zealand. This was also only the fifth fifty-plus partnership by Sri Lanka’s ninth wicket outside Asia.130 Partnership runs by Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal – the second-highest stand for sixth wicket by Sri Lanka in Tests outside Asia. Chandimal’s wicket fell with their partnership just eight runs short of the highest which had come against England at Lord’s in 1984, between Amal Silva and Duleep Mendis.