A selection of Cricinfo’s writers recall their favourite players

Cricinfo staff28-Jul-2005As the 2005 Ashes prepare for their second chapter, Cricinfo asks a selection of its writers and senior staff to recall their most memorable Ashes moments – good, bad or downright ugly. Last week, it was lows. Now it’s the favourite players

Jeff Thomson: a great example for impressionable teenagers © Getty Images

David Gower. Had to be; I am a sucker for romance. Even today, I can watch him in the mind’s eye, his bat wafting like gentle breeze, softly persuading the ball to its destination. He didn’t brutalise bowlers, he charmed them. I suspect even the bowlers found it tough to take offence while being taken apart by him. I switched off English cricket for years after he was cast aside callously. Sambit BalDarren Gough played in four Ashes series without getting close to winning, but he always gave his all and was accorded a rare honour by the Australians when they said he would make their side – as 12th man. Gough raised his game when he saw a baggy green and his efforts at Sydney in 1994 even earned the respect of the harsh local crowds. Andrew McGlashanDavid Gower. Jack Hobbs is the only English batsman to score more heavily against Australia but I bet he didn’t do it as stylishly. Gower scored runs in all conditions [he made hundreds at eight of the 11 grounds where he faced Australia] and in all circumstances. He regained the Ashes as captain [and lost them too] but faced triumph and disaster with equanimity. And then there’s the Tiger Moth incident and the theatre date that brought an early end to a press conference. You gotta love him. John SternJeff Thomson. Written off as a beach bum, the sight of him slinging England into oblivion on the highlights in the winter of 1974-75 sent shivers down my spine as I huddled in front of the fire; in the flesh the following summer, he was even more awesome. That spring, the nets at my school were full of 13-year-olds aping Thomson’s unique action, arching their backs and propelling balls in every direction except the right one, leading to the headmaster banning future impersonators. Add into the equation his hard-drinking, no-nonsense approach, and he was the ideal role model for impressionable teenagers. Martin WilliamsonRicky Ponting – you couldn’t fit that much flair into a warning signal. Edward CraigSteve Waugh. Four tours, four trophies, seven hundreds and the defining memory of three series – baggy-green wearing run-machine in ’89, Old Trafford scrapper in ’97 and 2001’s hobbling hero. Peter EnglishGlenn McGrath. Has there ever been a more relentless bowler? Michael Atherton might be the first to say nay. If Geoffrey Boycott invented the phrase, “corridor of uncertainty”, it was McGrath that constructed it, ball after ball, over after over, wicket after wicket. Since he came on the scene, England haven’t had a sniff, so much so that you fear for what will happen once he departs. Dileep PremachandranAngus Fraser. Lumbering, red-faced and knackered. Perpetually knackered. Fraser was the very antithesis of an athlete, which was why I rejoiced in his heroics all the more. With a run-up memorably described by Mike Selvey as “a man trampling through a nettle-bed pursued by a swarm of bees”, he produced one of the great futile performances in Ashes history – 6 for 82 at Melbourne in 1990-91, from 39 hip-jarring overs – before limping out of the game, seemingly for good. Two years later he returned with eight triumphant wickets at The Oval, and against all expectations, he was still hanging in there six winters later. Andrew Miller

The pitch was affording of assistance to the spinners, but Harbhajan Singh still had to pitch them at the right areas to fox the batsmen, and that he did superbly

On the Ball with S Rajesh28-Mar-2006The pitch was affording of assistance to the spinners, but Harbhajan Singh still had to pitch them at the right areas to fox the batsmen, and that he did superbly in a ten-over spell which turned the game around and gave India a dramatic win at Delhi. Six of his last ten ODIs against England had failed to fetch him a wicket, but here he was unstoppable: his 5 for 31 was his second consecutive five-for against England at home. In six games against them in India, Harbhajan’s stats read an impressive 15 wickets at 15.47.The key here was the line he maintained – 55 out of 60 deliveries he bowled pitched on or just outside off, a perfect line considering the turn the wicket was offering him. The line meant he had the batsmen in trouble both with the conventional offspinner and the doosra.It also gave India the opportunity to win after scoring just 203, the lowest score that they have successfully defended against England, beating their Lord’s total in 2004 by a whisker – on that occasion they won after scoring 204.England, on the other hand, continue to struggle while chasing what should be achievable targets in the subcontinent. In their last three run-chases – all of which have been unsuccessful, England have scored 188, 197, and 164, and on two of those occasions, the targets were 211 and 204, scores that should have been achieved.The only saving grace for them was the bowling performance by Ian Blackwell, who bowled with excellent control to return figures of 1 for 24 in 10 overs. Only two spinners have returned more economical figures in a spell of nine or more overs against India in India – Tauseef Ahmed, the Pakistan offspinner, took 2 for 18 from 10 at Pune in 1987, while Mohammad Rafique, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, had figures of 2 for 21 from 10 at Mumbai in 1998.

Statistical highlights, South Africa v Australia, 2nd ODI, Cape Town

Kanishkaa Balachandran04-Mar-2006Australia’s capitulation for 93 is not something we normally associate with the best side in the world. In fact, only three times have they been dismissed for a lower total, as the table below shows. This is also the first time they have collapsed for a score below 100 in over 19 years.

Australia’s five lowest totals in ODIs

Total Overs faced Against At

70 25.2 England Edgbaston, 1977 70 26.3 New Zealand Adelaide, 1985-86 91 35.4 West Indies Perth, 1986-87 93 34.3 South Africa Cape Town, 2005-06 101 33.5 England Melbourne, 1978-79Australia’s previous lowest total against South Africa was 125 at Melbourne in 1997-98. Australia’s whopping defeat by 196 runs also escapes their worst defeat in ODIs when batting second, but it is their most comprehensive overseas.

Australia’s five worst defeats in ODIs

Margin (runs) Against At Season

206 New Zealand Adelaide 1985-86 196 South Africa Cape Town 2005-06 164 West Indies Perth 1986-87 133 West Indies Port-of-Spain 1994-95 128 West Indies Melbourne 1981-82Makhaya Ntini achieved his best bowling figures in ODIs (6 for 22) and claimed the South African record in the process, beating Allan Donald’s 6 for 23 against Kenya at Nairobi in 1996-97. This was also the first time a South African bowler had taken six wickets in an ODI against Australia – the previous best was Nicky Boje’s 5 for 21 in 2001-02, also at Cape Town.

The ICC’s changes to associate countries will have far-reaching effects

Martin Williamson29-Jun-2005

Canada are one of the countries likely to benefit from the ICC changes © Getty Images

The announcement that, from now on, the top six associate countries will be able to play full one-day internationals against each other, or any of the Full Members, is a massive and timely boost to world cricket’s second-tier nations.Until now, the gulf between the Full Members – the Test-playing countries – and the rest has been wide and seemingly unbridgeable. In the one-day game, the only real chance for the minnows to shine has come in the four-yearly World Cup.But the ICC’s announcement that one-day member status – the sole preserve of Kenya – was being scrapped has been accompanied by something much more significant and far-reaching. Not only will the six leading associates be granted ODI status, they will also benefit from considerable additional grants of US$500,000 over four years, which should enable them to build a sound cricketing infrastructure to underpin their national sides. That will help to ensure that any future aspirants to Test status have built their success on a solid foundation.As a result, the ICC Trophy, which starts later this week in Ireland, takes on far more importance than ever before. Until now it has been a qualification tournament for the World Cup, with a one-off opportunity to appear alongside cricket’s big boys. That aside, there has been little tangible reward.Now the lure is the four-year investment from the ICC and one-day status, on top of the World Cup place. Five places are up for grabs in Ireland – the sixth slot is already guaranteed to Kenya as part of the sweetener for them losing their one-day membership – and those six will get all the benefits until the 2009 ICC Trophy when they will all have to qualify again.What could be a fearsome struggle is likely to come down to five from Canada, Ireland, Namibia, Netherlands, Scotland, UAE and the USA, although outsiders such as Uganda have the potential to grab one of the places. The downside is that the price for failure is considerable.And while a final decision has yet to be reached, it is likely that the one-day world rankings will be expanded to include the newcomers, meaning that matches at the bottom end take on much more significance. Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and even West Indies have had the safety net removed from under them, and might well find the likes of Scotland and Namibia snapping at their heels.At last, global cricket is genuinely democratic. Any associate or affiliate is eligible to enter the qualifying stages of the ICC Trophy, and so in theory any one of them can land the jackpot. Rather than relying on politicking and schmoozing, finally the international stage is now a meritocracy.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene average 72.10 per partnership in Tests, which is the highest among all pairs who have batted together at least 50 times

S Rajesh13-Jul-2007

Bangladesh’s bowlers had no answers as Kumar Sangakkara, in the company of Mahela Jayawardene, turned it on again © AFP
A series that has brought little joy for Bangladesh got even worse on the third day at Kandy, as Sri Lanka mercilessly hammered them into the ground, amassing a monumental 500 for 4 by close of play. The protagonists were, yet again, two batsmen who have made it a habit of getting together and making life miserable for opposition bowlers. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene celebrated their 50th stand together with a mammoth third-wicket partnership of 311, which is, quite amazingly, less than half their highest stand – an unforgettable 624 against South Africa at the SSC Stadium in Colombo last year. The 311 they added is also the second-highest partnership at Kandy, after the 335 that Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya added against Pakistan in 2000.Among all the pairs who have played at least 50 times together, Sangakkara and Jayawardene have now become the most prolific in terms of averages, edging past the Australian pair of Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting (which means that the Australia-Sri Lanka series later this year will be a battle of, among other things, the two best batting pairs in the game). As the table below shows, the gulf between these two pairs and the rest is huge – Jacques Kallis and Gary Kirsten, third in the list, average ten runs fewer per dismissal.

Most prolific batting pairs in Tests (at least 50 innings)

Pair Innings Runs Average 100s/ 50s

Sangakkara-Jayawardene 50 3389 72.10 8/ 12 Hayden-Ponting 69 4591 71.73 16/ 21 Kirsten-Kallis 64 3592 61.93 9/ 17 Tendulkar-Ganguly 61 3478 59.96 10/ 12 Lawry-Simpson 64 3600 59.01 9/ 18 Inzamam-Yousuf 55 2982 58.47 10/ 13 Hutton-Washbrook 53 2900 58.00 8/ 13 Dravid-Laxman 54 2748 57.25 10/ 6 Dravid-Ganguly 54 2779 55.58 9/ 10 Lara-Sarwan 58 3198 55.13 12/ 8 Sangakkara and Jayawardene have been especially unstoppable when playing at home – they average 88.60 per partnership, with five century stands. Overseas they haven’t quite turned it on in similar fashion, though the numbers are still very impressive – 1174 runs at an average of 53.36.Thanks largely to the two, Sri Lanka piled on 470 runs today, which is the second-highest scored in a day in all Tests in Sri Lanka, and the 15th overall. (Click here for the entire list, before today’s play.)Bangladesh could have been forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu: five years back against Sri Lanka they had leaked 509 runs in a single day, though their misery was slightly mitigated by the fact that they managed nine wickets. They’ve now been involved in three instances where more than 450 have been scored in a single day – the third occasion was at Chester-le-Street against England in 2005, when 475 were scored on the second day. Instead of being hapless onlookers in the field, Bangladesh had contributed with the bat on that occasion – they scored 297 of those runs.

It was strange to watch Matthew Hayden become overwhelmed and a little teary at the launch of his second eponymous cookbook

Peter English07-Nov-2006

Hungry for runs © Getty Images

Matthew Hayden’s reputation is as tough as his favourite chopping board. Scyld Berry, the perceptive English writer, noted before the previous Ashes tour Hayden “opens the batting and the sledging” and his hulking size and forceful approach has caused many bowlers – and fielders – to feel like breaking down.So it was strange to watch Hayden become overwhelmed and a little teary at the launch of his second eponymous cookbook. He had just started to thank his wife and two children when his eyes reddened and his words stopped. “Whenever I talk about my family I can’t breathe,” he says. “So I better move on.”In the audience Noela Wilson, whose chicken pie recipe appeared in the first collection, shouted “don’t worry, Matt, real men do cry”. It was an example of Hayden’s contradictions. A strong man on the field, he’s a muscular Christian, cuddly daddy and dedicated chef off it.Like his batting, Hayden has tunnel vision in the kitchen. While he swirled the ingredients for a pad thai, he was supposed to be commentating for the audience of about 100. Jamie Oliver’s television shows aren’t in danger yet as the apron-less host’s speech again struggled to emerge with the smells of the dish, but the food was produced quickly and with complementary spicy, sweet and prawn flavours.The bondas – fried balls of mashed potato, chick pea flour and chillis – were popular with the prawn rice rolls as nibbles and Hayden also helped pre-prepare salmon quiche and melting moments. Michael Kasprowicz, Hayden’s long-time Queensland team-mate, reckoned it was the first time he had cooked for him.Hayden’s batting approach might not be subtle, but his cooking touch is delicate and his variety impressive. “I’m really happy with this cookbook,” he says. “I really enjoyed the first book and this one is more about the outside, fishing, friends and family. This is a great passion for me and the book is full of things I love doing. Skating with the kids, surfing in South Africa, being in India, playing games in the dressing room. It’s my life.”Having tested Hayden’s recipes, it doesn’t take much longer to boil an egg (too simple to be included in either book) than to realise the publication is not just a gimmick. While Glenn McGrath produced a sponsor-dominated advertisement for barbecues and sauces before last Christmas, Hayden has searched for his ingredients and found tips and tastes from the Scottish highlands to New Zealand, where he baked pizzas for the one-day team in a takeaway van.

Cricketer-cum-cook © ABC Books

The well-presented recipes fill about half the book – he says the best meal is the wok-fried snapper – and the rest of the text is taken up with stories of how he discovered them and tales of cricket, friends and family. Filling a lifestyle-biographical genre, he covers the game, surfing, India on a houseboat, making lemonade scones for the doctor who diagnosed his pneumonia and his personal outlook. “On my surfboard it says ‘Endless Progression’,” he writes. “I try to apply this philosophy to everything I do.”Hayden also gives insights into the mouths and stomachs of the Australian team. Ricky Ponting is a roast pork man, Adam Gilchrist likes penne arrabbiata, Shane Watson eats anything and Stuart MacGill’s palette enjoys grass-fed Riverina beef fillet with truffled mash. And his opening partner Justin Langer? “The boys reckon that Alfie is such a ‘brown nose’ that he’d say his favourite food is anything that I cook.”On their last night in England after the 2005 Ashes loss Hayden and Damien Martyn were heading out for dinner when they were told Ricky Ponting had booked them a ride in a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a table at one of London’s swankiest restaurants. Both players’ Test spots were in danger and it reads like a moving thank you from their captain. At the Japanese eatery Ainsley Harriott, the host of , was the pair’s first celebrity spot before most of the jubilant England team entered after their triumphant Trafalgar Square parade.Hayden says he shouted a beer for Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan, who was involved in regular verbal exchanges with Hayden during the series. “In the heat of battle no one likes to get too close to their opposition,” he says. “It’s certainly hard for me to think someone is a great bloke and then have to go out the next day and belt his self-esteem and ego to billy-o! On that night we couldn’t avoid facing up to our loss, with the England team celebrating right before our eyes.” It didn’t make him cry.

The tour got off to a super start when we put one over Australia for the first time in an ODI Down Under in nearly two decades

Charlotte Edwards06-Feb-2008

Well begun: Sarah Taylor gets Karen Rolton out caught in the first ODI © Getty Images

It was a bit of a relief to eventually arrive in Geelong for our second game
against the Australian Under-21 side, the Shooting Stars, and the third of our
tour.Among other hiccups, our convoy’s lead car had decided to follow the completely wrong vehicle off the freeway. We finally arrived, for a shorter warm-up than we’re used to. I won my first toss of the tour and elected to bat on what was a fantastic wicket. We made 249 for 9 with Beth Morgan and Sarah Taylor both passing 50. It was good to see Beth get 70: she’s worked really hard on her batting since she’s been in Australia and it’s paying for her.The girls gave a good bowling performance and we bowled the opposition out for
174. All in all it was a really good day for the team considering the start we had to the tour, with two losses. Everyone seemed to be hitting their straps and getting ready for the Twenty20 at the MCG.It was fantastic to get the series underway with the Twenty20 at the MCG. We were the curtain-raiser to the Australia against India men’s Twenty20 match, which was great exposure for the women’s game and something we were all really excited about. Our game started at 3.30pm and when I went out to do the toss at 3pm, I was quite surprised to see the stands already filling up.By the end of our game there were 27,000 in there. The atmosphere was amazing and both teams put on a good show for the crowd. Unfortunately, we missed out by 21 runs, but to have a game of that standard to promote women’s cricket was fantastic. There are plans for more women’s games to be played ahead of men’s and that can only benefit our game in the long-run. There was a bit of coverage after the game and a few write-ups in the papers over here the following day. It was also great to have Channel Nine there
throughout to do a highlights package. It’s always good to get the game on TV for more exposure.The other highlight of the day was going into hospitality, courtesy of
Cricket Victoria and KFC after the game to watch the men’s international. It
was there that I got to meet Shane Warne, Cathy Freeman, and also a
favourite of all the girls – Kel from . He’s a legend and even
entertained ideas of us getting on the show! It was also the first time we’d
managed to pull out our lovely Number 1s by the Irish designer Paul Costelloe. They looked amazing on everyone and attracted plenty of compliments.After the carnival that is Twenty20, our attention turned quickly to the one-day series. A good practice session on Saturday meant the girls were ready for their back-to-back ODIs on Sunday and Monday. Both of these were played at the MCG, which was fantastic for everybody. Playing at these great venues is always an experience and something we’ll always remember.The first ODI started with the two national anthems. Though we were very loud, we were a bit out of tune, so I don’t think any of us will be going for auditions on ! It’s always really special to sing the national anthem and makes you feel proud to be wearing the England shirt.I lost the toss again and Australia asked us to bat. We posted 233 for 6 which was a fine score considering the conditions, and a great partnership of 80 between Lydia Greenway and Jenny Gunn was a highlight for me. In reply, our bowlers, especially Jenny and Nicky Shaw, got us off to a good start. They were backed up brilliantly by Holly Colvin who had literally only been in the country for 24 hours.We bowled the Australians out for 177 and we had won our first ODI on Australian soil for the first time in 19 years. It was a real team effort and I was so proud of the girls after a disappointing start to the tour. We showed a lot of bottle and determination to overcome the best team in the women’s game.We were back in our huge changing room the next day for the second ODI of
the series. I lost the toss again and Australia elected to bat. They posted
240 with Alex Blackwell scoring her maiden international hundred. She was
ably supported by her twin Kate, who hit her second one-day international
half-century. We got off to a disappointing start and found ourselves 24 for
3, which we never quite recovered from. We were bowled out for 156 and
Australia levelled the series 1-1.

The girls, natty in their Costelloes, with their coach Mark Dobson, watch the men’s Twenty20 in the hospitality area at the MCG © ECB

It was a complete role reversal from the day before and we all look forward to
the games in Sydney with everything to play for.We have a practice session on Wednesday before the third ODI on Thursday. We’ll be working hard with our assistant coach Mark Lane and head coach Mark Dobson. It’s Dobbo’s first overseas tour with us and he’s got us working hard. He’s a big believer in
training under pressure, and because of his degree in psychology he has a real interest in the sporting side of that to make us tougher cricketers.Jenny Gunn is a prime example of that with the way she deals with the stick she gets from us about how she’s best mates with all the South Australian players, who she’s played alongside prior to the tour. She’s learned to laugh it all off.All in all it’s been a really eventful couple of weeks with some highs and lows. The girls are a great group to captain because they’re so receptive to everything we tell them. We’re now looking forward to the Sydney leg of the tour, especially the four who have been out here since September and feel like they’re going home.We’ve got a tough week ahead with three one-day internationals to play. We just hope the rain stays away and we can get on with the cricket.

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.

Syd Gregory was born where the Sydney Cricket Ground currently stands © The Cricketer International
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.

Alf Gover could only celebrate his birthday every four years as he was born on February 29 © Cricinfo Ltd
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’sformer 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, whoplayed 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 …

How Dhoni changed his game to become the world’s top ODI batsman again

Sidharth Monga05-Sep-2008

Not pretty, effective: Dhoni watches one from Mendis closely © Getty Images
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a rock star among cricketers. Everything about him is cool – his hair, his adverts, his bikes, his Bollywood friends, and his general demeanour on the field. His cricket has a raspy, rough edge to it; when he riffs with the bat, it is fascinating to watch.Shortly after a sensational start to his career, the world’s bowlers sorted Dhoniout. At one point he looked no more than an extremely powerful man who had two orthree strokes. Seamers on helpful pitches and good spinners seemed toexercise a fair amount of control over him. No longer was lusty hitting possible.But the thing about Dhoni is that he manages to find a way. He may fail once, but no matter what the predicament, he goes back, does his homework and somehow finds away. After a superb series against Sri Lanka, during which he tackledAjantha Mendis creditably, Dhoni has returned to the top of the ICC’srankings for one-day batsmen. It would not be an overstatement to say that since the end of the World Cup last year he has been the best ODI batsman in the world.Long before Mendis, there was Muttiah Muralitharan. Long before the Asia Cup, there was the World Cup. Dhoni’s dismissal in the World Cup match against Sri Lanka wasthe enduring image of India’s debacle in the tournament. He went back to cut Murali, his bat coming down from the fifth floor, and the ball skiddedthrough to hit his pad before the bat had come down to thelevel of the stumps. It was one of the most comprehensive lbws ever; Dhoni evenwalked for it. It seemed time – and there seemed evidence enough – to dismiss Dhoni as a bully on true tracks and against predictable bowling.That was then, though. Now that huge, unwieldy back-lift has been cut out almost completely, courtesy an almost Rafael Nadal-like resolve to eliminate a mistake from one’s game. So much has Dhoni changed that the image of that dismissal is now a comfortably distant memory.Weeks after the World Cup, India found themselves in another mess,against Bangladesh in Mirpur. They had lost five wickets for 144, and needed another 107 in 19 overs. It was a match India simply couldn’t afford to lose: they were supposed to extract revenge after the World Cup, not embarrass themselves again.That game, perhaps, was when Dhoni traded exuberance for efficiency for good. He was running out of body fluids and partners fast, but he remained the last man standing. A dasher and a finisher he had been until then; now he took the first steps towards becoming an accumulator and a pressure-absorber, while still finishing matches. India didn’t lose on the tour after that jailbreak. Rahul Dravid, Dhoni’s captain in the match, observed: “He does not play in just one fashion. He has got the ability to change gears, to change the tempo of the game, play according to the situation, and that’s a fantastic gift to have at such a young age.” Dravid had seen what the world had yet to.Aided by bad light, Dhoni went on to save the Lord’s Test, another turningpoint for India in their rehabilitation after the World Cup. Towards the end ofthat trip to England, the captaincy of the one-day side fell to him, and soon hecreated for himself a circumstance that would demand he take his batting toanother level altogether. Slowly he got rid of the older players, thereby placing more responsibility on himself than there already was. Grandly he invested in youth, though seldom was his faith repaid: while the youngsters brought a much-needed freshness to the fielding unit, only one of them, Gautam Gambhir, batted consistently. This is a batsman whohas completely rediscovered his game, in the public eye, in the face of the addedpressure that his captaincy moves have surely brought It was Dhoni who absorbed the pressure and took it upon himself to lead India’s batting. Much of his success as a captain flows from his being a leader by example. When the team fails, he is the first one to take the blame, the first to go back to the drawing board.When Mendis bamboozled the batsmen in the Asia Cup final, Dhoni wasthe only one to provide any sort of resistance, trying desperately to readthe bowler from the hand, in the air, off the pitch, hanging in somehow,delaying the inevitable for as long as possible. The next time he facedMendis, he was up against a different monster altogether, one who had begun theend of the most feared middle order in modern Test cricket.It took Dhoni a match and the best part of another to successfully tackle Mendis. In the second game he soaked up the pressure that the fall of early wickets in a low chase brought. In the third he gave Mendis a bit of stick, punishing any error in length, scoring 29 off the 28 balls he faced from him. And in the fourth he accumulated like a true workman, running hard despite cramps, showing just why it is his team-mates respect him so. The way he pushed Suresh Raina while the two ran between wickets sent a strong message. Dhoni had promoted himself ahead of two men who were playing as batsmen alone, and was key to the wins that resulted in India’s first series victory in Sri Lanka. He may not have the immense natural talent of Virender Sehwag, or the quick footwork of Gambhir, but he managed to do better than the rest of the Test line-up.Since the World Cup he has scored more runs than any other batsman in the world, at an average of more than 50, but it’s the manner in which his runs have come that tells a story. His strike-rate in his 69 matches up to and including the World Cup was 98.51; since then, he has scored at 84.51 per 100 balls. In 51 matches in this period he has doubled his centuries and half-centuries tally to four and 24 respectively. The 1987 runs he made before the World Cup featured 161 fours and 63 sixes, and 51.43% of his runs came in boundaries. After the World Cup he has hit 137 fours and 27 sixes in 1805 runs – a boundary percentage of 39.31.In the last year and a half Dhoni has performed well in almost every situation the middle order has thrown up. He has accumulated on difficult pitches in Guwahati, Brisbane, and more recently in Colombo. He has soaked up the pressure of tricky run-chases in Mirpur, Adelaide and Dambulla. And every now and then, when the need has arisen, he has brought out the big hits, like in Chandigarh, against Australia, and variously in Karachi during the Asia Cup.

Not only has Dhoni raised his game, he has been an inspiration to the likes of Raina, who have fed off him © Getty Images
Less tangibly, but more importantly, he has inspired the batsmen around him: Raina has fed off him, Yuvraj Singh has enjoyed competing with him, and Gambhir has revelled in the faith shown by Dhoni, which has had its part to play in his transformation as a successful Test opener. Versatile and consistent, Dhoni is on his way to becoming a complete ODI batsman, both in setting up scores and chasing down totals.The transformation could not have come easy, though. This is a batsman whohas completely rediscovered his game, in the public eye, notwithstanding the addedpressure that his captaincy moves have surely brought.The abbreviated back-liftis believed to be the single most effective technical change he has made.It has been asimple change, but one that no doubt required a thorough knowledge of his game tobring about.The way Dhoni tackled Mendis, especially, was exemplary. Forstarters, he didn’t mind looking ungainly at times. He didn’t commit and lookedto play as late as possible, taking his front pad adjacent to the line ofthe ball, eliminating the lbw.With his heavy, bottom-handed grip, whenhe nudged the balls round, it seemed he was actually putting the ball intothe gaps more with his hands than with the bat. He has always had thebull-like strength to fall back upon, whether it is the occasional big hitor the running between the wickets.When he came back into the side from the self-imposed break during the Test series, it was without any promise of a magical transformation, just renewedcommitment. “Do you have any special plans for Mendis?” he was asked a daybefore he left for Sri Lanka. “You’ll see once the time comes,” he said. Andso we did.

Sanath Jayasuriya is one of those rare cricketers who doesn’t care about records, and worryingly for bowlers, he isn’t slowing down even at the age of 39

Sidharth Monga in Karachi30-Jun-2008

	Sanath Jayasuriya shows no signs of slowing down © AFP

The beauty about Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist is that there are certain records they are the most likely to set – and they don’t give a damn about it. For them the journey is the thing. They can’t bear to take the joy out of their batting just because they are close to a record – in that sense, they derive a Keith Miller-like sense of pleasure from their cricket.For some reason, in our consciousness, the difference between 200 and 190 is more than just the 10 runs. For these batsmen, though, nearing a landmark is not reason enough for them to not hit a ball that is there to be hit. Scoring, and not records, is their primal emotion.
It could have been the ease with which Jayasuriya was playing, it could have been the pace of his devastating hitting, it could have been the flatness of the track, or it could have been how he suddenly exploded in the 10th over, but one sensed a special innings in the making and a threat to Saeed Anwar’s record for the
highest score in ODIs.From 29 off 23 balls, he reached his century in 55 balls – in the 18th over. The wicket was placid, so was the bowling, the fielders demoralised and Jayasuriya going strong. Kumar Sangakkara, his opening partner, gave him most of the strike, and 200 no longer seemed a fantasy. Off went the helmet and, after a brief calm Jayasuriya cut loose again. The journalists in the press box rummaged for Anwar’s contacts. Two fours and a six later, Jayasuriya had reached 130 off 87 balls, with 22 overs still to go. Then came a short one outside off, and Jayasuriya, perhaps going for a four and slightly misplacing, or going for a six but not getting the power, was caught at sweeper-cover. Had there been a crowd here, a loud sigh would have been followed by generous applause.”I think it’s more natural about instincts than milestones,” Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s captain, said of Jayasuriya’s batting. “He just looks to contribute to the team. If he is in his groove, he can score 250 on his day. But that’s how he plays. If he changed his game, he probably would get out anyway. He knows exactly how he has been playing for 18-odd years. It’s amazing to watch him bat.” Jayasuriya has himself said previously that his batting is all natural; he doesn’t even think about hitting fours or sixes, they come instinctively to him.In the past, against India in Sharjah in 2000-01 (189 off 161 balls, out stepping out in 49th over), against Pakistan in Singapore in 1995-96 (134 off 65), against Netherlands in Amstelveen in 2006 (157 off 104), he has looked he would get to the record, but the approach didn’t change with the record in sight.Not long ago, though, Jayasuriya was too old and too out of form to be playing the young man’s game of limited-overs cricket. When he was dropped for the West Indies ODIs earlier this year, he had gone 20 innings without having scored a half-century. “Due respect to selectors too, because when they dropped him he wasn’t in form; he wasn’t scoring runs,” Jayawardene said. “They had to look at the future too.”Despite his replacements not doing well, Sri Lanka chose to persist with them. The selectors had picked a squad – excluding Jayasuriya – for the Asia Cup as well, but a not-so-happy sports minister delayed in ratifying it, in which time Jayasuriya made his case with a sizzling century for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. The result: he won back his place.He chose the perfect day to score his first century on return to the national side – the day he turned 39. Some of his team-mates hadn’t even made it to primary school when Jayasuriya had made his debut. “He doesn’t surprise me. I have been lucky to have him; his attitude is the same, he hasn’t changed.” It’s just as well that Jayasuriya doesn’t change, as 52 days from now he can have a go at another record: become the oldest man to score an ODI century. Are we being greedy if we ask the oldest centurion to score one that challenges the fastest one too?