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Stats highlights from day four which was dominated by West Indies’ tenth-wicket pair of Tino Best and Denesh Ramdin

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan10-Jun-2012Best’s 95 is the highest score by a No.11 batsman in Tests. The previous highest was Zaheer Khan’s 75 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2004. Wesley Hall’s 50 against India in 1962 was the previous highest by a West Indian No.11 batsman. Best faced 112 balls in his innings. It is only the 12th time that a No.11 batsman has faced 100-plus balls in an innings (in matches where balls-faced data is available)Best hit 14 fours in his innings of 95. This is the highest number of boundaries hit by a No.11 batsman in a Test innings. His strike rate of 84.82 is the second-highest for a No.11 batsman for a fifty-plus score behind Pat Symcox’s 128.57 during his 54 against Australia in 1998. Denesh Ramdin’s century is his second in Tests and first since the 166 against England in 2009. It is also the 17th century by a West Indian wicketkeeper and the sixth by a West Indian wicketkeeper against England. Jeff Dujon has the most centuries by a West Indian wicketkeeper (5). Ramdin’s century is only the third by wicketkeepers in Edgbaston. The highest score remains Adam Gilchrist’s 152 in 2001.The 143-run stand between Best and Ramdin is the third-highest tenth-wicket stand in Tests. The record is jointly held by the Richard Collinge-Brian Hastings (v Pakistan in 1973) and Azhar Mahmood-Musthaq Ahmed (v South Africa in 1997). The partnership run-rate of 4.61 is the fourth-highest for a 100-plus tenth-wicket stand. The 143-run stand is only the second tenth-wicket century partnership for West Indies after the 106-run stand between Carl Hooper and Courtney Walsh against Pakistan in Antigua in 1993. It is the sixth tenth-wicket century stand against England and the first since the 118-run partnership between Nathan Astle and Chris Cairns in 2002. Since 2000, this is only the fourth 400-plus total for West Indies in Tests in England. On two of the three previous occasions, they went on to draw the game. It is their third-highest total in Edgbaston Tests.Andrew Strauss moved level on top with Ian Botham and Colin Cowdrey on the list of England fielders with the most catches. While Strauss has taken the fewest matches (97), Botham did so in fewer innings (179) as compared to Strauss (184). The 137-run partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell is the sixth-highest fourth-wicket stand for England in Edgbaston Tests. It is also their second-highest against West Indies at the venue after the massive 411-run stand between Peter May and Cowdrey in 1957. Pietersen’s strike rate of 96.29 during his 78 off 81 balls is the fifth-highest for an England batsman against West Indies (fifty-plus knocks only). The record is held by Andrew Flintoff for his 56 off 42 balls at Lord’s in 2004.

Plays of the Day from the fifth ODI between Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Kanishkaa Balachandran at the Premadasa Stadium18-Jun-2012Akmal v Malinga
Lasith Malinga’s bouncer barrage at Umar Akmal in the fourth ODI had set up the batsman’s dismissal and triggered Pakistan’s collapse. So, much was anticipated when Akmal took guard for the rematch, but Malinga’s first over to him was uneventful. The second one was more action packed. After three dot balls, a short one on the ribs was fended to fine leg. A repeat delivery two balls later was sent to fine leg again, this time with more conviction. In Malinga’s next over, a top edge from Akmal cleared the wicketkeeper. Realising the bouncer wasn’t the right ploy, Malinga hit back in his next spell with a series of fast yorkers outside off stump that Akmal failed to put away. Still, 21 runs off 23 balls for Akmal was an improvement from the horror of the previous game.Tanvir thrills
Shortly after knocking down Tillakaratne Dilshan’s leg stump with a sharp incoming delivery, Sohail Tanvir produced arguably the delivery of the match. Bowling from over the wicket, he landed the ball on a good length, got it to hold its line, beat Upul Tharanga’s drive and sent the off stump cartwheeling almost halfway to the wicketkeeper.Tanvir spills
In the field, though, it was a different story for Tanvir. A drive from Kumar Sangakkara should have been stopped at mid-on, but Tanvir was a bit too late with the dive. His worst was yet to come. Fielding at deep cover, Tanvir sprinted to his right to stop the ball at the boundary’s edge, but decided to take the easy way out and stuck his boot out instead. The ball bounced off his right boot and deflected off his leg to the boundary. A peeved Misbah-ul-Haq, already at his wits’ end thanks to Pakistan’s fielding lapses, banished Tanvir to third man, in front of the noisiest section of the crowd.Redemption for Sarfraz
Tanvir wasn’t the only culprit. Sarfraz Ahmed also wanted to look for the nearest place to hide when he dropped Sangakkara on 25. Sangakkara drove at a length ball and got an outside edge that ought to have been taken by Sarfraz. He fluffed the catch, though, and covered his face for a few agonising seconds, fearing the drop would cost Pakistan the game. Sarfraz, however, had a second chance. Sangakkara, on 40, dropped the ball close on the off side and set off for a run. To his horror, he saw the ball spinning back towards the keeper. Sarfraz collected the ball and in one motion broke the stumps before Sangakkara could get back. The batsman cut a desolate figure on one knee.Lahiru’s luck
Lahiru Thirimanne had two close shaves during his innings. When trying to cut Mohammad Hafeez, Thirimanne ended up getting a bottom edge into the pitch and the ball top spun towards the stumps. He tried desperately to block it with his bat but the ball struck the stumps. The bails, however, did not fall. There was a similar incident in the following over as well. Like Sangakkara, Thirimanne dropped the ball on the pitch and tried to steal a single. Sarfraz collected it and flicked the ball back on to the stumps. Once again the bails did not fall, but Thirimanne had made his ground.

Their assent to No. 1 is proof of the changes made in South Africa cricket under Gary Kirsten – the most important of which is mental

Firdose Moonda22-Aug-2012Over the last year, South Africa have transformed from a squad that could be counted on not to lose, especially over the course of an entire series, to one that can be expected to win when it matters. A gradual build-up of results took them to the brink but it was an added push that tipped them over. Their change from solid to spectacular is what allowed them to become world No. 1.Their triumph in England – a second, successive series win in the country – is proof that changes have taken place. Some of them are are obvious and have come in the form of personnel. The addition of a third seamer, Vernon Philander, genuinely complements the existing two, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, and has given the pace attack an added dynamic. Meanwhile, although the legspinner, Imran Tahir, has not performed to expectation his mere presence forces a more attacking approach.An entirely new coaching team is also in place with Gary Kirsten transplanting some of the techniques he used with India, not from a skills perspective but from a man management one. Allan Donald has brought the added intent and Russell Domingo the knowledge of the local game and masterful strategic planning through statistics, which is his forte.The most important change, though, is the one that does not stick out so brazenly because it has come in the mind, through careful coaxing. To ignore that South Africa stumbles in their own head space would be to think of football without mentioning Brazil. Something held them back like an invisible hand, the force that no-one could quite explain.It was most evident at major tournaments when South Africa would reach crucial stages and simply stop. It was less apparent in the Test format but still there. The two draws they allowed England to get away with in the 2009-10 series came with Andrew Strauss’ men down to their last wicket and South Africa’s high quality attack was unable to dislodge it. Take nothing away from the England tail, but those were matches South Africa should have won and may have had they been mentally tougher.To get there, they needed a different perspective. South African sport was, and in some places still is, conducted like the army in its rigidity and focus to discipline. It was not a space to be creative. It was not a space to introduce too many outrageous ideas. It was not a space to express. It was a space to do as you had been taught because that was the way that would breed success. If they failed, and there were times when they did, it was never the method that was at fault, only the way they were executing it.While South African sportsmen may have thought that way, all South Africans did not. Unconnected to cricket, Mike Horn, the adventurer, began his first mission. He swam down the Amazon River and when he grew tired of that, decided to hike across South America, a journey that took six months. As he conquered heat, he decided to opt for the other extreme and spent two years and three months in the Arctic circle and another three months in the ice of the North Pole.For Horn, life was not about how well or thoroughly he followed instructions but about how flexible he could make them. He always sought something more demanding and always wanted to find a new way to handle it. He did it all because he wanted to form a collage of different events, with different degrees of difficulty to be the canvas on which he painted his dreams. “If you don’t have any challenges, you don’t have experience and if you don’t have experience you haven’t lived life,” Horn told South African broadcaster Craig Marais.It was that experience of the “other,” that the South African team lacked. Playing cricket was about cricket to most of them and occasionally involved a round of golf. When Kirsten took over, he wanted playing cricket to be about more than that.

Simply put, Kirsten took the schoolmaster mentality away. That type of thinking is what Horn thinks often held South Africa back because it created a false ceiling of how much they could achieve

He started by giving a team that had had their longest winter break in 14 season an inordinate amount of time off. Between the Australia one-day series, which only contained three matches, two of which were spread over five days, Kirsten allowed the squad to disperse. They had been together but a week. In New Zealand, he sent Donald home early while some of the squad went on a fishing trip. Traditional team dinners the night before a Test became a thing of the past as well and in Leeds, Jacques Rudolph was allowed out with his wife and friends and the rest were not subjected to a compulsory squad meal.Simply put, Kirsten took the schoolmaster mentality away. That type of thinking is what Horn thinks often held South Africa back because it created a false ceiling of how much they could achieve. “We all have dreams as kids and some of the great dreams that we as South Africans have is to play rugby or cricket for the national side,” he said. “Once you get to that stage where you get to play for the Proteas, their dream actually stops but that’s where it should start because you can only rewrite history from there onwards.”Perhaps the legacy of South Africa’s isolationist past, where international sport was not an option for many who are now parents to the children who are playing at a high level, is part of the reason for this. Perhaps it is the effect of always chasing the leaders, instead of leading themselves that has caught up with them. Horn believes the past has a lot to do with it and said his has tried to exorcise the current team of that.”You have to get rid of all the garbage and baggage that slows you down. I can’t teach batting or bowling, but teaching how to be a better team player is my contribution. I try to get the boys to think like one and play as individuals but for the better of the team.”Their camp in Switzerland provided the biggest lesson in that. Gruelling alpine tasks, such as cycling and walking at high altitude for miles, brought them close together. After that was done, Kirsten allowed them to be apart. Even practice sessions were not mandatory because as Alviro Petersen explained, “if you feel you need some time out of the game and that is going to work for you then you must do that.”By empowering his squad with freedom, Kirsten has created an environment ripe to breed accountability and responsibility. Every member of that team knows what is expected of them and knows that if they fail to produce that, and have not prepared in the right way, it will be obvious and there will be consequences. They also know that if they fail to produce but have done everything possible to succeed, it will be part of what Kirsten calls the “process,” and eventually it will turn into results.A year into Kirsten’s tenure he would have most thinking he has brainwashed the side to repeat phrases like, “we are not a results-oriented team,” and “we are process driven.” To the average person those sound like empty phrases, made up to be deliberately obtuse about plans. What they actually are is a sign of the change in the South African mindset to one that is not afraid to fail along the way to ultimate success and that is able to reach higher than it thought was possible previously.

Plays of the Day for the opening day of the second Test between Bangladesh and West Indies in Khulna

Mohammad Isam in Khulna21-Nov-2012The anticipated outcome IThe talk about bouncers went up a notch when Junaid Siddique was dropped to make way for Nazimuddin in the Bangladesh top-order. There was some sympathy for Siddique, but what happened next was expected. At the first sign of bounce, at the start of the third over, Nazimuddin took a backward step and popped an easy catch to short leg off Fidel Edwards.The strange callAn hour in the first session, in the last ball of Sunil Narine’s second over, Tamim Iqbal jumped out of his crease, attempting to send the ball towards Khulna city. He only found the long-on fielder on the first bounce. With Tino Best operating at the other end, and given Shahriar Nafees’ fitful batting, it was strange that Tamim refused the single that would have given him the strike against the fast bowler.The anticipated outcome IIA batsman doesn’t necessarily look to go over the top in the second session of the first day, but Nasir Hossain, coming in to bat at 98 for 5, had plenty of options. The field was up and he struck eight fours and a six, but just as the session was drawing to a close, his vulnerability was exposed. Just as Nazimuddin’s struggle against the short ball was too predictable, so was Nasir’s witless charge that ended up in mid-on’s hands.The crucial dropKieran Powell’s drop off Abul Hasan, on 42, didn’t seem a big deal at the time. Bangladesh were 266 for 8 in the 69th over, and there was still time for West Indies to take the remaining two wickets and have a bat in the evening. The two batsmen, Mahmudullah and Abul, went on to add a further 99 runs, with Abul progressing to his debut century.The shot of the dayOf Abul’s three sixes, the last one was a scud missile of a straight drive. It looked like a mere punch off the left-arm spinner Veerasammy Permaul, but the debutant sent it zooming towards the press box, the volunteer having no chance of reaching it. It crashed into wall behind the sightscreen as he moved into the 80s.

Yes, the punishment was harsh, but it is time Australia’s players took some responsibility

Brydon Coverdale11-Mar-2013Put yourself in the position of an Australian cricketer. You have just been part of an embarrassing loss. Humiliating. The tenth-biggest defeat in Australian cricket history. You are gutted, the fans are disgusted. On-field, the judgement shown by players has been poor. Poor shot selection, poor bowling, a poor attitude. The match finishes inside three and a half days. Nobody is happy. Plans have been made and have failed, or have just not been followed.On the night the match ends, the coach tells you and every other player to go away and think about why things have gone wrong. To consider where you and the team have failed on this tour. To use your own brain instead of having someone else think for you. He asks you to come up with three ideas for how you and the squad can improve. It doesn’t matter if you played the first two Tests or not. It doesn’t matter if you’ve made a hundred or taken a five-for. This is about more than just you.He gives you four days to come back to him. You don’t have to write an essay. Bullet points would do. Everyone can manage three bullet points. Or go see the coach and talk through your thoughts in person. Meanwhile, you train on what should have been day five of the Test and travel the next day. You have hours of downtime in airport lounges and on planes. Maybe you listen to music, maybe you watch some movies. Do you think about that embarrassing loss? Do you think about how to improve? The fans are thinking about it. So are the coaches. Are you?Then you have two days off in Chandigarh. The coach wants you to freshen up. That means no training, it doesn’t mean no thinking. That has been made clear to you. Maybe you play golf, maybe you go to the zoo, maybe you take a little trip out of town. Maybe Saturday night comes around and you haven’t got back to the coach. But guess what, 12 of your team-mates have. They’ve been thinking about how the group can improve. Have you?Perhaps you have no ideas. Then why not come to the coach and tell him that? You’re back at training on Sunday. If you haven’t been thinking about cricket over the past few days, you damn well should be now. Maybe you just forgot. But if you forgot, how switched on are you? This is the thing you’ve had to do and you haven’t done it. Where is your head at? Not in the space it needs to be in to play a Test, clearly.The captain spent his time off making the long trip to the Taj Mahal. You’re on good money but he is earning enormous seven-figure amounts. He’s also the only batsman who has looked much good on this trip. He’s scored a quarter of the team’s runs. Like everyone else, he was asked by the coach to complete this one task, even though he has been carrying you. He has done it. Why haven’t you?

Mark Waugh says this is not schoolboy stuff. It’s not Under-6s, he says. That’s right, you’re a grown man with your own brain and you get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least, to play this game. You’re a professional. So why haven’t you acted like one?

Monday morning rolls around. The next Test is now only 72 hours away. You’ve been given a day’s grace but have still not done what was asked. Think you’re exempt? Think the coach will let it go? He’s always smiling, he must be a pushover. After all, other lapses have been allowed to slide on this trip, hell, even before it. They might have been yours, they might not. But within the team there have been lapses. That’s the problem. This is the final straw, and you’ve dropped it on top of the others.You’re out of the team. You won’t be considered for the next Test. Nor will three others who failed to complete this one small request. In other weeks, perhaps other players might also have neglected such a task. But this was an embarrassing week for Australian cricket and you couldn’t slack off. You’ve let your team-mates down. Is it a harsh punishment? Definitely. But will you learn from this mistake? You’d better believe it. If you don’t, you never will. And then what good are you to the Australian team?This, the coach said, was the buy-in moment. The time when every player had to commit to the team’s methodical philosophy. To the aim of regaining the No. 1 Test ranking. Most of the players have bought in but you haven’t. Oh, you still can. But the price has risen since Saturday. If you want to buy in now it’s going to cost you a Test match on the sidelines.You see messages of support from back home. On Twitter, past players are angry. Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Tom Moody. This is not how things were done in the old days. Filling in forms? Writing notes? What’s wrong with sorting it all out over a drink in the bar or a feisty team meeting?Mark Waugh says this is not schoolboy stuff. It’s not Under-6s, he says. That’s right, you’re a grown man with your own brain and you get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least, to play this game. You’re a professional. So why haven’t you acted like one? This is not 1993, it’s 2013. This is the modern, ultra-professional era. With big salaries and contracts come responsibilities.Perhaps you’re already learning. Every day you’re supposed to fill in wellness reports to allow the fitness and medical staff to assess your health and help work out your training regime. Every day, a few players forget, or just can’t be bothered. After the events of this morning, after you let the team down, everyone is on notice. For the first time, every single player submits their report.Yes, for now it feels like a crisis point for Australian cricket. But a synonym for “crisis point” is “turning point”. And if you all buy in to the wider team ethos, there is no reason this should not be a significant turning point for the team under this coach and captain.

Plays of the day from the first day of the Auckland Test between New Zealand and England

Andrew McGlashan in Auckland22-Mar-2013Decision of the dayIt was only the second time in Alastair Cook’s nine Tests as captain that he had to make a decision at the toss. In Nagpur he batted, in Auckland he bowled. Brendon McCullum said he would “probably” have done the same. It was the 23rd time since 2000 that England had put the opposition into bat and their record is good: of the previous 22, they have won 12, drawn eight and lost just two – one of them being Nasser Hussain’s infamous “We’ll bowl” in Brisbane in 2002.Top edge of the daySixes were never going to be far away in this match and it was a bit of a surprise that it took until the 23rd over to register one. Peter Fulton got the ball rolling, but not in convincing style, as he top-edged a short ball from Stuart Broad that sailed over the keeper for all of the 53 metres it needed to travel to cross the rope. The record for sixes in a Test is 27 between India and Pakistan in Faisalabad from January 2006 where Shahid Afridi and MS Dhoni peppered the boundary. If any ground could break that milestone, it’s here.Challenge of the dayThe dimensions of the ground make it a challenge for spinners and it did not take long for Monty Panesar to get a taste of what was ahead. Hamish Rutherford tried to attack him straight away and in Panesar’s second over cleared the straight boundary with nothing more than two chip shots, leaving Monty to ponder his lot of the day.Modest celebration of the dayHaving gone to tea on 95, Fulton had plenty of time to ponder reaching his maiden Test century. It did not come easily for him, either, as England started to bowl wide outside off but, finally, from his 203rd delivery he pushed the ball just to the left of mid-on. There was no Compton-style leap of relief and joy, instead a deep breath and an understated salute around the ground. Having waited so long for this, he did not want to get carried away.The ‘it hasn’t gone to plan’ moment of the dayThe sight of Jonathan Trott and Joe Root bowling in tandem during the final session was not quite the white flag from Cook, but it certainly showed the day had not gone to plan. Instead of using the second new ball to try and wrap up the innings, England needed it to try and break the second-wicket pair.

Mission impossible? Not quite

Aakash Chopra27-Apr-2013Following the incredible Chris Gayle spectacle in Bangalore earlier this week, cricketers around the world must be wondering exactly what this man did to produce such a performance – besides having pancakes, an omelette and hot chocolate for breakfast, which will now probably be declared the staple diet for T20 batsmen everywhere.Gayle made the Pune Warriors bowlers look schoolboyish, and an international stadium like a backyard (though his cause was helped quite a bit by a bit of a pedestrian performance by the opposition).Gayle’s aura is such that most teams now opt for a radically different approach to assess what total would be par for course when playing Royal Challengers Bangalore. The consensus – and not without reason – is that the aim should be to post a total and hope Gayle gets out cheaply, because when he fires, no total is insurmountable, no bowler threatening enough, no ground big enough.Once set, Gayle hits sixes at will, and does so with percentage cricket shots at that. He isn’t one to look for a lap shot or a reverse sweep; he prefers to hit in the V, and so connects more often than not. And his power does the rest, taking the ball over the ropes.In spite of the heroics he produces regularly, Gayle has his weak spots, like the rest of us. While he possesses an air of invincibility, he is liable to bungling occasionally. Here are some points for teams to consider when putting down plans for Gayle.Attack first up
As a T20 freelancer, Gayle is acutely aware of the importance of being consistent in this volatile format. He needed to find a template that allowed him to optimise his strengths and also score consistently. So he has looked to resist the temptation to try to exploit the field restrictions at the start, and has looked to give the first few balls or overs to the bowlers instead. By playing a few balls out quietly, he gives himself more chances to succeed.This offers the opposition a small window to dismiss him in, by bowling attacking lines and lengths, with fielders in catching positions. It makes sense at this point to shelve the typical T20 lines and lengths and adopt a more conventional Test match bowling strategy. If there’s some swing on offer and the bowler has the ability to move it away from the left-hander, he must pitch the ball fuller and pitch outside the off stump, inviting him to drive through the off. While Gayle plays most shots in the book, he isn’t the best driver of the cricket ball when it is new and moving. Though he doesn’t mind leaving a few deliveries alone, there’s a chance that he might fall for one that’s too tempting to resist.

“To make a batsman play an attacking shot is the biggest challenge a spinner faces”Stuart MacGill

However, right-arm bowlers angling the ball across him with the swing don’t quite do it, for Gayle, like most left-handers, gauges the angle quickly and leaves them alone. If a left-arm quick is capable of taking the ball away at pace, he has a reasonable chance of dislodging Gayle.Cramp him for room
Chris Morris and Dirk Nannes discovered another way of getting the better of Gayle in Royal Challengers’ match against Chennai Super Kings. Instead of bowling length on the fourth-stump line, they bowled quick and into his body. It wasn’t a barrage of bouncers but more just cramping him for room, with most balls finishing at thigh height.Both bowlers peppered him so much with that line that they got Gayle to abandon his template. He played a couple of uncharacteristic shots, trying to put the bowlers off their game, seemingly not realising that they were trying to do the same to him. Eventually Morris succeeded, getting Gayle caught as he attempted a wild heave to a wide delivery – a ball he would have left alone on other occasions.Morris and Nannes made a concerted and relentless effort to bring Gayle out of his comfort zone and they succeeded. The contest may have lasted only ten balls, but it was worth watching for the drama.Spin it away
This is a bit of a hit-or-miss strategy to counter Gayle. If it was guaranteed to work, every team would play an offspinner against him. While even part-time offspinners have managed to dismiss him a couple of times, it is the quality ones who have earned respect consistently from the big Jamaican.R Ashwin got him a couple of times in last year’s IPL by inducing a false stroke, and since then, Gayle has changed his approach against offspinners: instead of going after them, he prefers to milk them for singles and attack the bowler at the other end.”To make a batsman play an attacking shot is the biggest challenge a spinner faces,” Stuart MacGill said recently on his show . While T20 cricket does that bit for a spinner by default, for everyone is trying to hit the spinners out of the ground, it’s not a given with Gayle, who is likely to play safe early on. So even if it’s worth gambling with a spinner early on, the quality of the bowler makes all the difference – you need one who can make Gayle play an attacking shot and induce a mistake.It would be worth watching someone get the better of him. The small battles between batsman and bowler are what make the big contest fascinating. While most bowling plans go out of the window once Gayle gets going, it is better to plan and fail than to not plan at all.

James Faulkner talks about adding swing to his repertoire, and striking a balance between tough talk and tough cricket

Interview by Daniel Brettig25-Jun-2013You came over to England no doubt hoping to consolidate your spot in the ODI team and then push for a place in the Ashes squad. Are you progressing as you’d like?
I don’t look at it in terms of keeping my spot. Every time you play for Australia you’re playing as a team, and I know personally I’m not looking at how well I go. The ultimate goal is to win games of cricket. I don’t look at it as keeping my spot, I just want to do as well as I can and the end result will be keeping your spot.Something that is very notable about your domestic displays, and a few of your Australian appearances so far, is that you tend to play well in the team’s hour of need.
I feel a bit of responsibility, I suppose, when I’m home, and in any game I play in as an allrounder, you know you’re going to be in the game and you know there’s going to be moments when you have to step up. There’s going to be times when things don’t go to plan as well. I know I’ve had a couple of those experiences. One back home was the one-day final in Adelaide [in 2012] when I didn’t get the job done there, but it gave me more incentive and more of an urge to perform in other finals after that. I’ve done that now, so that gives me more confidence.There was also the BBL semi-final last summer when you bowled a critical no-ball. What do you gain from difficult days like that?
You learn a lot. When you lose those sorts of big games you reflect on what could have happened and what you did wrong and right. The big thing about it now, with the scheduling and how many games there are, is not to try to kick yourself too much. Reflect and move on and not hold it too close to you.Something that stands out about your development is that you were playing club cricket at a very young age in Launceston, and also playing underage matches against guys a couple years older than you. Did it help you mature a little faster?
When you play older, more experienced people, you’ve got to adapt and raise your levels. I’m grateful for the opportunity Tassie gave me to play at a young age as well. Looking back at it now I probably wasn’t ready for first-class cricket at 18. But even in that game I got injured and it just put everything in perspective – it gave me the desire to play more.Do those experiences also mean you’re more capable of thinking your way through a situation than a lot of players your age?
No matter if you’re 19, 20 or 30, everyone’s still learning. There’s going to be a time when you think you know your own game, but you probably don’t, so I know everyone in our team is still learning and I certainly am, being the age I am. But the quicker you can pick things up and pick little aspects apart and learn from other players, the better you’ll be.You’ve been a very consistent wicket-taker at all levels, even though as a left-armer you don’t possess the natural inswinger often considered vital. You appear to use angles on the crease and variations in line very well, however?
A lot of people say that and I’ve read a lot about that. But every bowler’s different, and if everyone bowled a perfect outswinger or inswinger the game would be pretty boring. The same with spin bowlers – they’re all different, there’s doosras now in the game. I know I’m working on something at the moment and we’ll see what happens, whether I start swinging or seaming it more.Ultimately it will be up to the selectors whether or not you play and the captain where you bat, but do you have any preference or concept of where you’d fit into the Test side?
I’m not going to think about where I’m going to bat or bowl. The games I’ve played so far in domestic cricket, I’ve batted everywhere, so it’s just a matter of when you get told where you’re batting you get your head around what your job is and do it the best you can. You don’t think about fifties or hundreds or five-fors or anything like that, just go out there and play your natural game and back your preparation.Tasmania and culture get bandied around a lot. How much have you benefited from playing in a team that has set standards in that area?
I know back home the culture is very strong, and I know other states feel that way with our team. But it’s hard to comment when you don’t know what other cultures are like in domestic cricket. Ours is very strong and I’m happy playing my cricket there. Hopefully I spend a bit more time with this group, but I know whenever I go back there it’s going to be good fun.

“If everyone bowled a perfect outswinger or inswinger the game would be pretty boring”

That fun and sense of unity develop over time a team spends together. There is a bit of a need for Australia to develop that sort of continuity and culture with a younger team.
Tasmania’s been so successful, players are helping each other’s game, everyone’s so close as well. Back home it’s a phone call and our whole team can get together in 15-20 minutes because it’s Hobart and everything’s so close together. But I suppose in Sydney, Perth anywhere else it could be more difficult. It is easier to assemble and catch up with each other. What I’ve seen so far in this team is that we get along, and everyone’s catching up with different people for dinner and talking cricket.Who have you looked up to as an allrounder, and who have been some of your mentors in the game?
I don’t really look up to anyone in particular; I take aspects from different people’s games. I’ve been lucky to be involved in a few different teams now when it comes to T20, state cricket, and now Australia. So I’ve asked different people what they think about different stages of the game and different skills with bat or ball. I sift through all that and pick out the bits that I think can develop my own game and develop myself as a person, not just cricket-related. Some of the people like that would be my captain back home, George Bailey; Shane Watson was a big help over in India in the IPL; Ricky Ponting when he’s been around Tasmania. People like that have been really supportive. George and Dan Marsh were important for backing me at a young age and giving me support, so it’s been good – I’ve been well looked after.You are known for your combativeness on the field, but can you also draw a distinction between puffing your chest out and playing tough cricket – standing up and delivering in tight or difficult situations?
I suppose you can say it is easy to puff your chest out on the ground. I’d say the good players can do both. They can puff their chest out and play good cricket. There’s no point puffing your chest out and not playing good cricket, because you’re going to be looked at as a bit of a dill. I like to play my cricket hard but fair, I try not to step over the line. But you’ve got to play with that competitive nature, and that’s what gives me that edge to want to do well, to get batsmen out or to score runs. I’ll continue to play that way but make sure I don’t cross the line.

Plays of the Day from the first semi-final between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings in Jaipur

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Oct-2013The stroke
Ajinkya Rahane’s 56-ball 70 was populated by serene strokeplay, and perhaps the shot of the tournament came from his blade against R Ashwin in the 12th over. The bowler delivered a legbreak, which has been successful for him in this tournament, but picking it early, Rahane backed away a touch and did little more than caress the ball gracefully over cover. Though his bat speed did not suggest an abundance of power, Rahane timed the ball so well it sailed high above the boundary and into the stand.The run-out
Michael Hussey remains one of the most prolific runners between the wickets in world cricket, but M Vijay’s reluctance to steal a quick one cost the former his wicket and set the tone for Super Kings’ innings. Hussey drove Shane Watson down the ground, which the bowler parried to mid-on in the third over, and immediately set out for the single, with Vijay also seeming to respond to the call. When Vijay looked back however, he had second thoughts which proved fatal. Hussey was already two-thirds down the pitch when his partner sent him back, and Kevon Cooper, the mid-on fielder, needed only lob the ball to the keeper to send Hussey on his way.The deflection
Dishant Yagnik, playing his first game of the CLT20 this year, stumped S Badrinath in the ninth over of Super Kings’ innings, but had done little to deserve it – perhaps through little fault of his own. Pravin Tambe’s legbreak kept unnaturally low to evade the batsman’s advance, and although the low bounce fooled Yagnik as well, he had at least managed to get his body behind the line of the ball, which hit his pad and bounced back on to the stumps, long before Badrinath could return to the crease.The delivery
While Tambe took three wickets for seven runs from his last three overs to cut down Super Kings’ middle order, it was Rahul Shukla who took dismissed the key man in the opposition ranks, with perhaps the best ball of the match. MS Dhoni had not yet begun finding the boundary, but Shukla, his state-mate from Jharkhand, deigned to deny him that chance by angling one in to pitch on off stump, before straightening off the seam at a rapid pace. Dhoni played down the wrong line and was struck on his outside pad, and after a prolonged appeal from the bowler, the umpire agreed the ball would have hit the top of off stump.

It was a long time coming but England finally beat Australia and it was the all-round performance of Ben Stokes that went a long way to ending the barren run

Vithushan Ehantharajah at the WACA24-Jan-20140:00

England win; nothing else matters

Alastair Cook smiled. There were definitely teeth. Teeth that were not hidden behind a frown or his own consoling palm. Then there were hugs – the sort of hugs miners give each other upon finally seeing daylight after months of being trapped underground with nothing but your own thoughts and a dead budgie for company.England had won their first competitive game on this tour, and done it in some style. No one was more surprised than Cook, who momentarily lost the ability to speak post-match. When he regained it, he muddled his words, referring to “bowling plans” as “bowling machines”, before smiling some more. Relief, for one night, thy name is Alastair.It was the batting what done it. Maligned in the Tests, England’s ODI form has been a major plus. Yet again they set a target of greater than 300, with this 316 becoming England’s second-highest ODI score on Australian soil. It’s a score they will have to be able to reproduce elsewhere, but it does look to be developing into a habit.They were professional with the ball, as Ben Stokes finished with four wickets. He was hot-headed yet focused, but it was his 70 in the first part of this encounter that really mattered.The Perth track, with its deep running cracks, is probably the hardest in the world to roll up and carry around with you. Stokes would probably have to pull it out, piece by piece, before eliciting the services of a puzzle-shrewd nan to reassemble at his behest. He should seriously look into it.Cook on Stokes, Buttler contributions

“Ben has had a really good tour. I just said to him, he likes playing at the WACA; obviously he had a very good Test match here and very good one-day game here. He was doing everything right until he dropped that catch at the end.
“The thing I love about Stokesy, he had a tough last over in Brisbane and didn’t get it right, but there was no stopping him coming back today and wanting to bowl in those last ten. And you saw he improved from Brisbane and if he keeps on that curve of learning and dusting himself off when it doesn’t go well, he’s going to be a hell of a cricketer.
“I’ve seen Jos do that a huge amount of times for Somerset, and actually a couple of times against Essex. I think he will be the first to admit it took him a little time to find his feet in international cricket but he’s growing all the time – obviously the game is very different to a county game. What’s impressed me is how he’s adapted his shots to be able to still do the damage at the end. Seventy off forty balls, you’re thinking how you would captain against it, it’s very, very hard.
“They’re guys that are going to take this side forward – they’re going to have some tough times along the way, because that’s what international cricket is. But there’s a lot of talent there.”

Unflustered by the crumbling mosaic before him, his maiden Test hundred in the fourth innings at the WACA was a silver lining on the mushroom cloud of England’s capitulation on the day they handed back the Ashes.The most impressive thing about Stokes is the extra force he puts into shots, without losing his form. This extra strength means he can stick to a relatively orthodox game between Powerplays, and back himself to beat boundary riders to the rope.Deep leg-side fielders were given the run around, particularly off Mitchell Johnson, as Stokes used express pace on the ball to time perfectly through square leg and midwicket. More timing was evident when he went to fifty, as he danced down to Glenn Maxwell and helped him over his head for six.Quite whether Stokes at No. 3 is a viable option in home conditions remains to be seen, but on today’s evidence he looks a good bet on these quick batting tracks which will host next year’s World Cup.Stokes’s departure, and that of Ravi Bopara, set England back in their pursuit of 300 and more, until Jos Buttler arrested the funk and then brought his patented noise, to the tune of 71 off 43 balls.For all the deserved fanfare that comes with the England’s keeper ability to hit far and true over and under his shoulders, the highlights of his 34-ball fifty were his shots along the carpet. He drove Johnson expertly past mid-off early on, before pulling him in front of square as if time wasn’t an issue, before repeating the trick off Nathan Coulter-Nile.Immediately past 50, he took 14 off three consecutive balls from James Pattinson with a lap shot, wide swipe and a shot down the ground for six into the off-beige seats in the Prindiville Stand. He had time to dish out one more clubbed six before he departed.Those on the grassy bank to the left of the press box didn’t quite know what to do with themselves. It could have been the heat, as a potentially raucous bunch of Bucketheads went from cheering every wicket to applauding sixes between reapplying sun cream. But there was an audible sigh when Buttler holed out to third man. He clearly looked frustrated that he wasn’t there at the end.No one in the dressing room would have told him to take solace in his herculean effort. On the field, he’s a ruthless operator. Off it, he’s shockingly docile.Watching him hold court with the media earlier in the week was an oddly enlightening experience. The first time you hear him speak you wonder how someone so shy in front of tens can perform so emphatically in front of thousands. All his words are delivered with the good grace of the well behaved do-gooder at school that your parents wished you were.His conversation on the eve of this fourth ODI contained a healthy smattering of management speak, punctuated by the odd “obviously” and “if you want to win games of cricket” (they do, by the way). But such was his delivery, each word showcasing seemingly bottomless dimples, you wanted him to feel like you were hearing it all for the first time: “That’s a good point, Jos; you do have to be confident to be a professional sportsman.”Ben Stokes impressed with bat and ball•Getty ImagesStill, there was one moment where the charm dissolved in an instant and, as his brow furrowed, his eye tightened to adopt a stern, almost reptilian, stare. It’s a look county and, slowly, international bowlers are all too familiar with. It’s a look that promises calculated malice.This time, away from the middle, we were treated to it at close quarters when he was asked if there was any chance of him moving up the order. “No,” came the frank reply.It wasn’t as ridiculous a question as Buttler made it seem. Admittedly English cricket, particularly in the limited-overs form, gets twitchy when a player below No. 5 displays any sort of aptitude with the bat. But the truth is England can get more from Buttler simply by moving him up one space, ahead of Ravi Bopara, who has proved ineffective in the second Powerplay.Of the 120 deliveries England have had between overs 35 and 40 during the first four ODIs, Bopara has faced 44 of them and only managed to score 38 runs. By comparison, Eoin Morgan has scored 62 runs off the 45 balls he has had. Buttler has only batted for 12 of them.This is no new issue for Bopara. By Opta’s calculations, since the rule change came into effect at the end of October 2012, Bopara, against Test playing nations, has faced the joint-highest number of deliveries in this particular Powerplay (96) yet has a personal tally of 81 for 7. Buttler on the other hand is 77 for 4 from a less wasteful 68 balls.With Kevin Pietersen to slot back in, re-reintegrating pending, not to mention Jonathan Trott, who is said to be “in great fettle”, Bopara’s position will only come under further scrutiny, soon; though his bowling performances in this series work firmly in his favour.But not tonight. Maybe not even on this tour. For now, let these men who have been hammered, from pillar to post, bask in the glory of victory and sweat out disappointment with its warm glow. Just don’t mention the series score.