All posts by h716a5.icu

Australia’s success against England and South Africa is down to the arresting form of their most talented players – David Warner and Mitchell Johnson

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town04-Mar-2014In examining Australia’s resurgence against England and South Africa, many possible catalysts can be tossed up for consideration. The arrival of Darren Lehmann as coach stands as one signal moment, and the collective hunger for success that had built up in Australian cricket over some years lurching between mediocrity and ineptitude offers another explanation. So too does the fact that in Australia and South Africa, Michael Clarke’s team have largely found fertile conditions for their preferred approach to the game, favouring velocity with the ball, initiative with the bat and high energy in the field.Yet the most fundamental marker of the team’s success can be found in contrasting personal narratives for a handful of cricketers in each of the three countries. Australia’s two most outsized talents, David Warner and Mitchell Johnson, are at a peak of fitness, motivation, skill and mentality that has allowed Clarke to unleash them at their very best. In contrast, England and South Africa have grappled with the reality of pivotal figures beyond their peak as players, leaders or team-men, time and tide having caught up with them.It is quite a list, of those senior men reaching a moment of personal crisis or retirement realisation when confronted by Clarke’s team. Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann, Kevin Pietersen and now Graeme Smith have all passed from Test match view across these two series. Andy Flower, England’s erstwhile team director, also slid from his role in that time. Australia, grown increasingly bold in their outlook as they witnessed the feats of Johnson and Warner, have meanwhile remained happily settled, all team members equally focused on the task at hand and not feeling any need to think beyond it.This is not to say that Australia’s show of strength has been the deciding factor in any of the decisions made. In Smith’s case it was just one of many, from a young family with roots in two nations and a career now 12 years old, to the labyrinthine politics and distractions of leading a cricket nation of such diversity. Trott was overwhelmed by stress and dark thoughts he had largely been able to manage over his time in an England cap, Swann felt the increasing effects of a chronic elbow problem, Pietersen exhausted his state of détente with team management, and Kallis recognised the dulling of his reflexes even before battle was joined, leaving an enormous hole in his team.Yet the sight of a hungry horde rushing headlong into one’s path has the tendency to crystallise any encroaching desire for the quiet life. It has been Johnson and Warner leading that charge for Australia, playing a kind of muscular, intimidating cricket that is thrilling to watch and disheartening for an opponent unable to summon the resources to match it. On day four at Newlands, both men offered up passages of their most brazen play, no doubt providing Smith with a certain reassurance that he had made the right decision – so swift and sure were Warner and Johnson that only the most alert and committed of combatants could be expected to hold them.Warner’s finest batting of this match and series had already been and gone when he walked out to bat in the morning, his first-innings hundred the best and most complete since he compiled a first, against New Zealand on a seaming Bellerive Oval wicket in 2011. But the disdain he exhibited in crashing the hosts to all parts of a ground they had been accustomed to dominate on was still breathtaking. Among the most compelling qualities Warner can offer a team is the confidence he inspires in other batsmen. Morne Morkel has been terrifying at times in this series, but his treatment by Warner has made every other batsman think him a little more mortal.For Smith, setting a plan to claim Warner’s wicket has been perhaps the most maddening on-field exercise of his entire captaincy. The more Warner has matured, the more adept he has become at manipulating a field and a bowler to his advantage. Morkel is often criticised for dropping too short – against Warner the bouncer has often seemed his only option to prevent a boundary or a single. Similarly Smith has not been able to win through either attack or defence. The lopsided battle between captain and batsman reached its climax when Smith sent all nine fielders to the Newlands fence, only to watch Warner squirt a boundary fine of third man.The only time Warner did not crash through Smith’s fields was when JP Duminy pursued a line wide of the stumps into the footmarks with his part-time spin. This seemed more a matter of Warner stubbornly unprepared to fall for such a stratagem than a sudden aversion to scoring; after lunch normal service resumed, and the opener’s familiar leap toasted his second century of the match. Instances of batsmen cracking more than 500 runs in a three-Test series are few. To do the trick in this series, on foreign territory, is an achievement Warner may never quite top.Mitchell Johnson troubled Graeme Smith all series, and he dismissed him in his final innings•Getty ImagesJohnson has of course had a previous peak on South African shores, his 2009 series the ideal he was striving to return to when taking an extended break from the game in 2011-12. On both occasions his furious speed has been allied to accuracy, leaving batsmen with nothing loose on which to feed, and nowhere to hide. His command over Smith in this series has been near total, and it was fitting that the captain’s final innings ended with a short ball, a fend and a catch at short leg – grateful no doubt to have avoided another broken hand from a Johnson bullet. Dean Elgar was then no match for a facsimile of the ball that castled Alastair Cook in Adelaide, pace and just enough movement to beat a groping blade before dismantling the stumps.At 32, Johnson is older than many fast bowlers at their peak. But as Michael Holding has previously observed, the earlier break from the game and a wayward career before it leaves Johnson fresher than he might otherwise have been, and the better to accompany Warner on further ransackings of international opposition. Pondering how he and Johnson had met England and South Africa at an opportune moment, Warner recognised now was their time, a fruitful phase that will eventually meet its end.”It’s always handy when someone bowls 150kph, but I just think where we’re both at in our stage of our careers, we don’t go out there and think these guys are going to retire,” he said. “Whether it was form that might have brought that down with Graeme Swann or Graeme Smith, we’ll never know, all we can do is keep playing to the best of our ability. It’s going to happen in time as well, India with Dravid and Laxman retired as well. We’re coming to the age where the older guys are starting to push on a little bit and look for other careers after cricket.”Australia have numerous key components far nearer to the end than the beginning; Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris and Chris Rogers to name three. Yet Warner and Johnson were both followed up on day four by cameos from others who can ensure a continuity of success from one generation to the next. Steven Smith’s impish talent took him to 36 runs from 20 balls as the declaration ticked near, before James Pattinson’s pace and reverse swing accounted for Hashim Amla in lengthening evening shadows. For Johnson and Warner the moment is now, but there is enough around them to suggest the sun can shine on Australia’s cricketers for some time yet.

There were a few occasions on the opening day at Headingley when Sri Lanka could be satisfied with their effort, but a succession of loose shots eventually proved costly and it could be a long road back

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Headingley20-Jun-2014As Sri Lanka’s hero and nearly-villain from the last over at Lord’s came together in the middle in the third session, the innings took a turn toward slapstick. England’s quick bowlers launched throat-high bouncers at Nuwan Pradeep, and the batsman made it seem like they were firing cannonballs. He spent more time on the ground than a bank-robbery hostage, but quickly learned to back away instead. Maybe he was just making room outside off stump. His deliciously late, accidental uppercut over the slips, is a shot most of the Sri Lanka top order would not attempt.Shortly before that, Sri Lanka had folded in such a sorry heap, even Stuart Broad could not quite believe he had taken three wickets in a row for the second time in Tests. Sri Lanka have almost become skilled at awarding surreptitious hat-tricks. Jacob Oram only found out about his feat, well after the 2009 T20 in Colombo had finished.Sri Lanka’s first-ever day at Headingley made for enjoyable viewing, right up until Shaminda Eranga copping one in the back from the cheddar chucker of the Western Terrace. There was a sumptuous cover drive from Mahela Jayawardene, and a dreamy stroke through cover-point from Kumar Sangakkara. Dinesh Chandimal’s recent form had suggested he is not suited for limited-overs cricket, but here, played a bright, counter-attacking innings. Angelo Mathews had gone even faster for his 26.The visitors will have known the history of the venue before they took the field on Friday. “We would have batted first,” Chandimal said after play, because the team had reasoned good first-innings totals often translate to good results at Headingley. But if a tall score was their aim, Sri Lanka chose a strange approach. Compelled to lock away their strokes, as they strove for a draw at Lord’s, Sri Lanka reopened the cupboard for this match, and were buried as all their shots came tumbling out at once. Of the top seven, five fell playing expansively.In the morning, under grey skies, the openers had suggested Sri Lanka would sink their hooks in like leeches and wait until all life was drawn from a slower-than-expected pitch. Kaushal Silva had outlined the importance of leaving well, during two fifties at Lord’s and perhaps he alone struck the appropriate approach for Sri Lanka’s plans. Few batsmen in the world can resist James Anderson in swift, swerving flight, and Silva received an almost unplayable stretch of deliveries.But as well as Broad and Liam Plunkett also bowled, Sri Lanka chose to live by the sword, before falling on it. Few young players can at once seem as gloriously effortless and jarringly fretful in the same innings as Dimuth Karunaratne. On Friday, he managed the slide from serene to unseemly in the space of two deliveries. His push down the ground for four off Plunkett was delivered with such balance and poise, it suggested this would be the innings he pushed through the tense twenties and twitchy thirties and on to a breakthrough score. His waft at the next ball, which came in at an angle and swung between bat and pad to send leg stump careening, is easy fodder for his naysayers.If the entire top order had played like Sangakkara, they might have been all out for 150 on another day, but instead, his innings was slam-dunk evidence for the existence of cricket’s supernatural elements. England missed a straightforward run out when he was on nought, then failed to appeal when he nicked Plunkett behind. He was dropped on 57, but most astonishing of his escapes was the caught behind on 27. Matt Prior had the ball wedged close against his chest, but seemed to be too distracted by something in the sky to hold it there. A UFO sighting is probably the only acceptable excuse.Jayawardene and Mathews gave edges to the slips, pushing at balls they may reflect they could have left alone. At no point past the first hour, did Sri Lanka seem tied down, or in desperate need of quick runs. Lahiru Thirimanne did not even have a chance to confront his mortal nemesis, Anderson. The vice-captaincy has recently been such a poisoned chalice for young Sri Lanka players, perhaps the selectors should stop naming one.”It’s really disappointing that as a batting unit we didn’t click today,” Chandimal said. “The bowlers deserve a lot of credit for the way they bowled on this pitch. When myself and Sanga were batting well in that middle part, we were thinking about 350 would be a good score. But we couldn’t get that in the end.”Sri Lanka may have battled on the last day at Lord’s but their lack of mettle on Friday reasserted their unwanted reputation for being fun, free-flowing, but ultimately lightweight Test cricketers, particularly on foreign soil. There was a hint of turn for the spinners on the opening day, but if Sri Lanka are to take the game long enough for Rangana Herath to force his way into it, they will not want to be so cavalier in the second innings.

James Anderson and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been the leading bowlers in the series so far with similar stats, but in their head-to-head battles Bhuvneshwar is ahead

S Rajesh05-Aug-2014Over the last few days, all the talk has been about the off-the-pitch battle between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja. In this series, though, the more relevant on-the-pitch battle has been between Anderson and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The new-ball bowlers from each team have been the two top wicket-takers in the series, and have led the attacks for their teams admirably.The overall numbers for the two are remarkably similar so far: Anderson has bowled 26 more overs and has 16 wickets to Bhuvneshwar’s 15, while their series averages are separated by a run. Against the top six batsmen, though, Anderson has done significantly better: when bowling to India’s top six (Vijay, Dhawan, Pujara, Kohli, Rahane and Rohit), Anderson has achieved figures of 10 for 221, compared to figures of 6 for 163 when bowling to the rest of the Indian batsmen.Bhuvneshwar, on the other hand, has been more successful against England’s lower order than their top six. Against Cook, Robson, Ballance, Bell, Root and Moeen, he has only managed eight wickets at 33.12; against the other England batsmen, Bhuvneshwar has been outstanding, with figures of 7 for 76.

James Anderson v Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the Test series so far

AndersonBhuvneshwarOversWktsAverageStrike rateOversWktsAverageStrike rateSeries stats151.11624.0056.6124.51523.0049.9v top 6 batsmen*98.51022.1059.3102.3833.1276.9v the rest52.2627.1652.322.2710.8519.1Among India’s top order, only two batsmen – Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay – have averaged more than 40 against Anderson in this series. Rahane has been the best among them, scoring 51 off 100 balls and getting out just once – a superb caught-and-bowled effort when Rahane was batting with the tail and looking for quick runs at Lord’s. Vijay has been extremely patient against Anderson, scoring 94 off 259 balls. Both Vijay and Rahane have similar control percentages against him.Shikhar Dhawan has been Anderson’s bunny in the series, getting out to him three times in 78 balls, but surprisingly, his control percentage isn’t very different from those for Rahane and Vijay – in fact it’s marginally higher. Jadeja has scored runs at a fair clip against Anderson, but his control factor is poor – only 62%. Cheteshwar Pujara has a much higher control factor, but has been kept scoreless for long periods.However, the biggest non-contest of the series so far has been between Anderson and Virat Kohli. Coming into the series, they were the leading bowler and batsman for their respective teams, but while Anderson has lived up to that tag, Kohli has struggled. In their head-to-head battles, Kohli has scored two runs from Anderson, and been dismissed twice – in the first innings at Lord’s and Southampton. Before this series, Kohli had 23 runs off 81 balls from Anderson in Tests, and had been dismissed once; now the numbers read 3 for 25 from 102 balls – average 8.33, runs per over 1.47.In fact, the only batsman who has faced more than ten balls from Anderson without being dismissed by him in this series is Bhuvneshwar, whose numbers against England’s leading bowler are excellent – 32 runs from 61 balls, and a control factor which is the best so far by any Indian batsman.

Indian batsmen v James Anderson in this series

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageRun rateControl %Murali Vijay94259247.002.1786.1MS Dhoni54122227.002.6586.1Ajinkya Rahane51100151.003.0686.0Ravindra Jadeja4268221.003.7062.1Cheteshwar Pujara38126138.001.8085.7Shikhar Dhawan3278310.662.4687.2Bhuvneshwar Kumar32610-3.1490.2Rohit Sharma4914.002.6666.6Virat Kohli22121.000.5776.2All batsmen3849071624.002.5482.4Among England’s batsmen, Gary Ballance, Joe Root and Alastair Cook have all done pretty well against Bhuvneshwar so far, being dismissed only once each and achieving a pretty high control factor. Ian Bell and Sam Robson have been dismissed twice each, which is the highest number of times Bhuvneshwar has dismissed any England batsman in this series so far. Moeen Ali has a reasonable control factor against Bhuvneshwar, but has struggled to get him away for runs, scoring 10 off 63 balls.Anderson has done well to be dismissed only once from 42 balls against him, but Bhuvneshwar can point to the control factor to show that he has been edging their head-to-head contest. (It’s also pertinent to point out here that Bhuveshwar has a first-class batting average of 30.59, compared to Anderson’s 10.40.) The overall control factors for batsmen against Bhuvneshwar and Anderson are also very similar, indicating there’s been little to separate the two bowlers so far.

England batsmen v Bhuvneshwar Kumar in this series

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageRun rateControl %Gary Ballance86160186.003.2286.2Joe Root5192151.003.3289.0Sam Robson43127221.502.0384.7Alastair Cook4297142.002.5989.7Ian Bell3376216.502.6085.5James Anderson2542125.003.5765.8Stuart Broad13926.508.6666.7Moeen Ali1063110.000.9587.3Ben Stokes01020.000.0080.0All batsmen3417491522.732.7283.5Where the runs have been scored v Anderson and BhuvneshwarWhere the runs have been scored against James Anderson and Bhuvneshwar Kumar•ESPNcricinfo LtdMuch has been said and written about the number of runs scored through the third man region in this Test series, and the wagon-wheel of runs scored against Anderson bears this out. Out of the 55 fours that have come off his bowling, 23 have been behind the wicket, either through third man or backward point; in all, 126 out of the 384 runs he has conceded have come in that region. Against Bhuvneshwar the runs scored in that region are considerably lesser, possibly because of his lesser pace. On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar has been hit through the covers more often, conceding 13 fours, and 88 runs, in that region.

The best flat white in the world, and the watersports aren’t bad either

Iain O'Brien03-Nov-2014Feast your eyes
A visit to Lyall Bay and Maranui Café is a must, especially if you can get a window seat to sit in, eat, drink and enjoy the views. It’s my favourite café anywhere. The views include the beach, sea and surf, and planes landing and taking off from one of the more horrible places to land in the world. While you’re looking out over Lyall Bay, watching the surfers, wind/kite surfers (if wind conditions are right), you could also be eating some of the best NZ café food – and drinking the best flat white in the entire world.Take the Interislander
The Cook Strait ferries go across on their journey from Wellington to Picton (North Island to South Island). If you have a free day, and it’s not blowing from the south, a return day trip on the Interislander isn’t the worst way to spend it.Hang by a thread
Take a cable car from Lambton Quay to the top and walk down via the Wellington Botanical Gardens. Watch out for the cricket ground halfway up, with the big fountain – one of the prettier views in Wellington.Oriental Parade is a man-made beach situated inside the harbour, just a few minutes’ walk from the heart of the city. A family-friendly swimming beach, it’s a great place to sit on the sand and soak in the sun. When the wind is down, a fountain erupts like a seaside geyser.Chill at the mall
A wander and squander around Cuba Street Mall is a great way to get a feel of the more relaxed side of Wellington. From trinkets to tat, crafts to coffee, the bohemian to the famous Bucket Fountain, Cuba Street Mall has it all.Te Papa is NZ’s national museum. If the weather’s a bit iffy, it’s well worth spending half a day wondering and learning about NZ, its culture and history.Climb up to Mt Victoria Lookout
It offers views across all of Wellington. Look north across the harbour and you’ll see Petone, my hometown. On a good day, you’ll see the Kiakora Mountain range on the South Island. Visit Jackson Street in Petone – it’s where I’m from. And the coffee is great from any one of the many cafés. Oh, and look down – when you’re walking past the adult shop, you’ll see a plaque just past it with my name on it.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from a record-breaking one-day international at the Wanderers

Firdose Moonda18-Jan-2015The pink spot The Wanderers and everyone in it were decked out in the colour but one of them ended up with a slightly more permanent pink mark. Rilee Rossouw’s first delivery came from West Indies captain Jason Holder, who picked up where he left off at the end of the first ODI when he peppered South Africa’s lower-order with short balls. Rossouw tried to work a back-of-a-length delivery to the leg side but did not connect and was hit in the stomach instead. He was in immediate pain and lifted his shirt to rub the area only to reveal a big, pink mark. Michael Holding was not impressed. “That’s like a mosquito bite, a little tickle,” he said.The sound A brass band is among the additions of noise to the Wanderers stadium but it seems not every sound is picked up as it should be. When Rossouw was given out lbw reverse-sweeping against Sulieman Benn, he immediately asked for the review, confident he bottom-edged the ball. Replays showed a clear deflection and change in the ball’s trajectory but Snicko had not picked up much which made it a tricky decision for the third umpire. Sense prevailed and the decision correctly overturned despite Snicko’s relative silence.The six South Africa smashed 18 sixes and AB de Villiers hit 16 on his own so it seems unfair to single out one but let’s try. De Villiers was on 98 from 30 deliveries when Holder presented him with yet another full delivery outside off. He slog swept it over midwicket to break the record for the fastest century in ODIs. His came off 31 balls in 40 minutes and allowed South Africans to relive the 438 game with one more run.The let off West Indies needed a blazing start if they were to have any chance of chasing 440 and Dwayne Smith knew that. He took a boundary off the first ball and looked to do the same off the next legitimate delivery he faced but picked out a fielder. Smith upper cut Morne Morkel straight to Vernon Philander at third man, but Morkel’s front foot was over the line and he had to bowl that ball again.The catch Farhaan Behardien did not get the chance to bat but contributed in other ways by taking the two most important catches in the West Indies’ innings. He judged the chance at deep midwicket to dismiss Chris Gayle which removed the main threat to South Africa and then sealed the deal with his next effort in the field. Behardien was on the edge of the circle at extra cover when Marlon Samuels tried to clear him. Behardien timed his jump perfectly, stuck one arm up and snatched the ball out of the sky to make South Africa’s win only a matter of time.

As Pakistan and Zimbabwe meet in Brisbane on Sunday, an important part of their strategies will be crafted by two men who have been on the other side – Grant Flower and Dav Whatmore

Firdose Moonda in Brisbane28-Feb-2015In a modern era where video material can be shared with the simple click of a smartphone’s send button – just ask Tinashe Panyangara about that – the surreptitious spy is going the same way as the sub-300 first-innings total. But Pakistan and Zimbabwe are two teams who’ve always enjoyed a bit of the old school so it’s hardly surprising their ‘secret’ weapons are in their dressing rooms.Grant Flower, a man as Zimbabwean as they get, is Pakistan’s batting coach while Dav Whatmore, the man who led Pakistan through one of their more consistent periods, is Zimbabwe’s head coach. You may not find two men more different involved in such different outfits trying to achieve the same thing.Whatmore is a teddy-bear of a man who offers players support through a wealth of experience across continents, conditions and cultures. Flower is a person you’d rather shake hands with than hug, if only so you can see for yourself what fingers that have been broken 14 times – by his own count – look like. Whatmore is the favourite uncle, Flower the class nerd. Between them, they have infused two limp outfits, who claimed to be frustrated by a string of poor results, with enthusiasm. But now they need results.Flower had a few when Pakistan’s batsmen repaid him with nine centuries and a Test series win against Australia. Afterwards Younis Khan – who scored three centuries in that series – said it would be “unfair not to mention” Flower’s role in their success. “He worked very hard with all the batsmen. Grant was the key to our improved batting performances – he has played a role in changing our attitude towards batting,” Younis said.Ahmed Shehzad echoed the praise a few days later. He said Flower had helped Pakistan’s batsmen “raise the bar” through hard work. Pakistan are more easily linked to unpredictability than industriousness but Flower began to change that notion by bringing to them the only method he knows to be foolproof: if you lose, train; if you win, train harder.When Brendan Taylor, a beneficiary of Flower’s tireless work ethic, saw the compliments, he chimed in with one of his own on Twitter. He posted a message saying Zimbabwe were “lucky” to have had Flower as their batting coach for three years. “Great guy, great coach,” Taylor said.At that point, Zimbabwe were in the midst of sinking to an all-time low. They were on tour in Bangladesh, a series in which they lost every match they played, and their unhappiness under a strict disciplinary regime was obvious. They returned home embarrassed and in need of uplifting. Few in world cricket are capable of the latter as much as Whatmore.Having spent the bulk of his coaching career under the pressures only cricket in the subcontinent can subject someone to, Whatmore knows how to separate the very-serious from the not-so-serious. He knows when it’s time to panic and when there has just been an exaggeration, and he knew that Zimbabwe’s issues were exaggerated by the panic.From the moment his interest in the job was made public, Whatmore was calm. He used words like “sincerity” and “genuineness” to explain the Zimbabwe Cricket administration, words that have long been considered antonyms for an organisation drowning in debt and drama. He injected a sense of belief into players who had no reason to trust even themselves. He allowed them to just be, in every sense, even by letting them play football warm-ups although it gives him the heebie-jeebies for fear someone will break something.”Dav has brought a lot of positives into the team and everyone is comfortable, everyone just wants to express themselves and play the best cricket that they’re capable of,” Chigumbura said.From the distance of the opposition dugout, Flower will know that if Zimbabwe play to potential, they could be too much for Pakistan. He was part of Zimbabwean teams that beat Pakistan, both as a player and as a coach. From that same vantage point, Whatmore will know that even if Pakistan don’t play to potential, they could be too much for Zimbabwe. He saw that himself when he was in charge of them.What both men know about the other’s team is enough to prepare their own sides to win but to actually win, both Zimbabwe and Pakistan will need more than just inside knowledge. They’ll need some old-school grit and guts and the Gabba will bear witness to who has more.

And a quiz on how best England’s performance in the West Indies can be described

Andy Zaltzman21-Apr-2015Welcome to the Confectionery Stall’s world-exclusive coverage of the 2015 cricket season. The World Cup has been consigned to the record books/memory banks/stuff of nightmares (delete as applicable), the IPL is in full, shiny swing, and Test cricket is back with more of a bang than most people were expecting from the least eagerly awaited England tour of the West Indies since way before Columbus set sail.As I write, England – now unbeaten in two international matches across multiple formats – prepare for the second Test in Grenada, buoyed by Jimmy Anderson breaking Ian Botham’s long-standing national Test wicket record, deflated by their failure to force victory in 130 overs, cheered by a good all-round performance in the Test arena after plumbing some extremely murky depths at the 50-over World Cup, disconcerted that even a good all-round performance fell considerably short on the final day, encouraged by the continuing progress of their young batsmen, and the return to batting form of Ben Stokes, disappointed by the continuing lack of progress of some of their older batsmen, and relieved that they now only have 16 Test matches to play in a stupidly compressed schedule, rather than 17.Was England’s performance in Antigua:(a) perfectly acceptable given the lack of preparation time and the moribund surface;(b) a good effort by an emerging team, continuing its strong rebound from the cataclysmic 2013-14 Ashes and an awful start to last summer;(c) what you would expect from a team that has good players but opted for conservatism in at least two selections, and lacks the bowlers to create mayhem in unpromising conditions;(d) nowhere near good enough to make either New Zealand or Australia even contemplate twitching in their boots, let alone quaking in them; or(e) all of the above?Write your answer down, lock it in a secure bank vault, and check back here at the end of August to see if you were right.

My mother always seemed blithely indifferent to the career-shaping dramas of, for example, the young Mike Atherton progressing towards three figures against New Zealand in 1990. “That’s nice, dear. Can you take the dog for a walk?”

West Indies were their now-traditional mix of quite promising, fitfully brilliant, and quite awful, but finished rousingly with an excellent captain’s rearguard by Ramdin, and one of the more astonishing Test hundreds of recent years by Jason Holder. Quite how Holder had never scored more than 52 in his 26 previous first-class matches is one of the universe’s more impenetrable mysteries, alongside how the Big Bang kaboomed, where the lost city of Atlantis is, how, why or if economics works, and the authorship (human or otherwise) of Danny Morrison’s thesaurus.Holder’s innings, a rare combination of defiantly immovable and gloriously stylish, as Moeen Ali’s similar but ultimately unsuccessful hundred against Sri Lanka was last summer, was the fourth century by a player batting at eight or lower in the fourth innings of a Test. Of the previous three, two were in heavy defeats (Ajit Agarkar’s 109 v England in 2002, Daniel Vettori’s 140 v Sri Lanka in 2009), and the other was by Matt Prior in Auckland two winters ago, when he was batting a place lower than normal after a nightwatchman had been promoted.There is always excitement in seeing a player reach his maiden Test hundred, especially when that player is young and promises a new tranche of regular run-making, and even more especially when his team has recently lacked regular run-makers. (If cricket is your thing, that is. My mother, an admirable woman and high-class parent in most respects, has remained tragically uninfected with the cricketing virus, and in my formative years always seemed blithely indifferent to the career-shaping dramas of, for example, the young Mike Atherton progressing towards three figures against New Zealand in 1990. “That’s nice, dear,” she would offer in response to the news that English cricket could be witnessing the epoch-defining launch of a new batting standard-bearer. “Can you take the dog for a walk?” Walk the dog? While Graham Thorpe is on the verge of a historic debut ton? Against Australia? What kind of negligent parenting of an 18-year-old son is that?)Given the match situation, Holder’s is one of the greatest fourth innings by a lower-order batsman ever played, even allowing for the somnolent avocado of a pitch. Looking at the list, it might be trumped by Dave Nourse’s unbeaten 93 batting at eight for South Africa against England in January 1906. Nourse came in 105 for 6, chasing 284 in a match in which neither side had reached 200. Almost four hours later, and after a last-wicket stand of 48, South Africa had snuck home by one wicket and Nourse was 93 not out. But Nourse was essentially a frontline batsman in a team packed with allrounders, and did not have to deal with the added distraction of his nation’s cricket having been written off as mediocre, or people banging on about how he was probably only in the team because most of the first-choice players were playing in India for big bucks, even when those so-called first-choice players would actually have only been second or third or fourth choice.It might seem pointless comparing cricket from 2015 with cricket from the early 20th century, but since some of the media seems to have set itself the task of calculating whether the undeniably excellent and often mesmeric Anderson is better than the very dead SF Barnes, I am quite happy to compare Holder’s innings with Nourse’s, which I had not known about until searching the aforementioned fourth-innings tailender stat, but which seems nail-bitingly thrilling just by looking at the scorecoard.”Here, take this invisible token and go to the back of the queue”•Getty Images● According to some hopefully correct late-night communing with Statsguru, Jermaine Blackwood and Holder became only the third pair of team-mates aged under 24 to score debut centuries in the same Test – Mominul Haque and Sohag Gazi (both 22) did so for Bangladesh against New Zealand in October 2013, and Ali Naqvi (20) and Azhar Mahmood (22) both scored hundreds on their debut against South Africa in 1997.England have also been unusually replete with youthful Test centurions of late (perhaps oddly for a country that has just recalled one batsman who is about to turn 34, and whose newspapers and airwaves are stocked with chatter about the possibility of a recall for one who is almost 35). They have had four hundred-makers under the age of 25 in the past two years – Root, Stokes, Ballance and Robson. In the 27 years between David Gower’s maiden hundred in 1978 and Ian Bell’s in 2005-06, only five England players aged 24 or under had scored Test centuries. Three were specialist batsmen (Atherton, Thorpe and Crawley), and two allrounders (Chris Lewis and Flintoff), and they collectively managed a total of seven centuries before turning 25. Root already has five, and does not turn 25 until the end of December this year, in approximately 83 Test matches’ time.● This is the first Confectionery Stall since the death of Richie Benaud, who in 1981 uttered the line of commentary from which this blog took its title. Like for most cricket fans of the past five decades, Benaud’s commentary and television presence was woven into the sounds and conversations of my formative years, a conduit into the world of cricket that has entranced and entertained me since childhood. Not only was he one of the most influential people in the history of cricket, he was also, in effect, my surrogate fifth grandparent.I wonder what he would make of Adil Rashid’s situation in the West Indies, waiting for his Test debut at the age of 27, more than six years after he was first picked in an England touring squad. Benaud’s breakthrough series was in the Caribbean, in 1955. Before then, in his first 13 Tests, over three years, he had taken 23 wickets at almost 38, and averaged 14 as a batsman. Even after taking 18 wickets at 26, and scoring his maiden century, in the West Indies, he failed again in the 1956 Ashes, with just eight wickets in five Tests, and only one major innings, in victory at Lord’s.Thereafter, in his last 40 Tests, he took 199 wickets at 25 (including an extraordinary golden period of 131 wickets at 19 in 21 Tests), averaged almost 27 with the bat, took 42 catches, and captained his country to five series wins out of six, the exception being a drawn rubber with England that retained the Ashes for Australia. Even the finest legspinning allrounders have needed time and patience. England should pick Rashid and see what happens, rather than not pick him and assume what might happen.

ESPNcricinfo staff31-May-2015Stuart Broad finally found some form with the bat during a lusty 46, which helped England add 83 runs for the last two wickets and finish on 350, level on first innings•Getty ImagesBroad picked up where he left off with the ball and took two wickets in his opening spell•Getty ImagesRoss Taylor decided attack was the best form of defence, hitting 48 from 48 balls during a 99-run stand for the third wicket•Getty ImagesMartin Guptill was also in attacking mood and went past 50…•Getty Images…but became Mark Wood’s second wicket shortly before tea. At that stage, New Zealand’s lead was 141 with six wickets standing•Getty ImagesBrendon McCullum was a little more watchful than usual, ensuring England would not find a way back into the match•Getty ImagesBJ Watling and McCullum both recorded fifties during a stand worth 121•Getty ImagesWood picked up his third wicket when he trapped McCullum lbw, despite a review•PA PhotosEngland also removed Luke Ronchi but Watling reached his hundred in the penultimate over and remained unbeaten at the close, with New Zealand’s lead 338 – a higher target than England have ever successfully chased•Getty Images

Rajeev Shukla, IPL chairman, has stated that the IPL will be played with eight teams, but sponsors and commercial partners are cautious of the league in the aftermath of the Lodha panel verdict

Amol Karhadkar and Arun Venugopal17-Jul-2015A few days after the Lodha panel’s verdict in the IPL 2013 corruption scandal – in which the panel suspended the owners of the Chenai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchises for two years – sponsors and commercial partners of the tournament are waiting to see the steps the BCCI will take as it attempts to restore confidence in the IPL brand. There is little doubt, among industry experts, brand managers and a few BCCI members, that the IPL has been affected adversely after one of the biggest crises since its inception in 2008.”If I were to put a number around the reputation loss, if 100% is pure reputation, it [the current reputation of the IPL] is around 60%. There is a 40% loss of reputation owing to all the controversies,” Anisha Motwani, director at Max Life Insurance and an expert on brand reputation management, said.The tournament has also been hit in terms of financial valuation. “I would say it has taken a beating of 10 basis points [10%],” R Ramakrishnan, director and co-founder, Baseline, a sports marketing, entertainment and licensing firm, said. “The IPL is still in its infancy compared to other global leagues. The brand is still growing and learning. As long as there is match-winning on-field performance and a loyal fan base, the valuation will have a steady rise. We are still eight months away from the next IPL.”A dip of 10 basis points for a league that is valued between $3-4 billion by various finance firms is a setback, and it will only drop if the market sentiment continues to drive sponsors and prospective bidders away from the league.Over the last three days, PepsiCo India, the title sponsor of IPL, has been reportedly considering not to renew its deal after the 2017 edition. Aircel and Ultratech Cements, the main sponsors of the two suspended franchises, are reconsidering their association with the IPL. The JSW Group, which was interested in buying an IPL franchise until last week, has decided against it due to the “negative aura” surrounding the league.”I think it’s a ‘No’ at this point of time, purely based on the whole negative aura that has been generated,” Parth Jindal, who oversees JSW’s sports interests, said. “We don’t want our brand to be associated with a league that is so tainted at the moment.”Executives from various companies that are sponsors of the IPL say they have taken a “wait and watch” approach, but admit their managements might reconsider the association with the IPL given the “negative publicity”.Even some of the BCCI officials admit this is the biggest crisis for the tournament. “The brand of the IPL has definitely been affected. Some of the sponsors are reportedly drifting away from the IPL. It will be a more than challenging task for everyone in the BCCI to restore the faith of the market in the brand,” Ajay Shirke, an IPL governing council member, said.However, IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla is still upbeat over the future of the league. “We are always concerned about the IPL, and let me assure you the next edition will be a bigger success. The IPL is a robust product and this judgement [suspension of teams] should not affect IPL as a product,” says Shukla. “The idea is to have the tournament in full format with a minimum of eight teams. We can’t hold the event with six teams.”Shukla’s confidence is based on the tremendous response for IPL 2015. The tournament has been embroiled in controversy since the arrests of players and team officials in May 2013, but the eighth edition saw a surge in advertising revenue and viewership figures. While television ratings rose considerably, MSM India Pvt Ltd, the official broadcaster of the tournament, reportedly generated in excess of Rs 1000 crore [approx. $165 million] from advertising revenue.”When you look at last year’s [IPL 2015] statistics, IPL as a sport is an established property,” Motwani said. “Despite all the controversy around the BCCI, the IPL ratings grew from 3.1 to 3.7 TV hours. The [ad] rates went up by 20%. The viewership time per match went up by around 45-46 minutes, which was significantly higher.”Shukla’s clarification that the BCCI is not looking at a six-team IPL, will have come as a relief for MSM India. A six-team IPL is not a viable option since MSM India has paid more than $800 million for a nine-year broadcast deal running till 2017 with a minimum of 60 matches per season.Even if broadcast fees were lowered with a six-team IPL, MSM India will take a huge hit in terms of revenue. “The broadcaster will be in a tight spot if the IPL takes place with six teams. Then there is certainly a revenue loss,” Ramakrishnan said.Motwani explained the “broad math”. “Each 10 second-slot is priced at Rs 5 lakh [approx $830,000] approximately. I am taking some ballpark figures here,” she said. “There are 15 matches less, which means there are roughly 35,000 seconds of advertising inventory left and if 35,000 seconds of inventory costs around Rs 5 lakh per 10 seconds, it comes to roughly Rs 180-200 crore [approx $30-33 million], a straight hit for the channel.”A media planner who has been associated with MSM India earlier said the broadcaster is not “overtly worried” after the BCCI made it clear it will not reduce the number of teams. But for the broadcaster and the rest of the market to be convinced about, the BCCI needs to initiate procedures to add two new teams at the earliest.That is unlikely to be easy, and deciding the base price for two new franchises will be one of the toughest tasks. IPL insiders and industry experts alike are convinced that no investor will come forward if the BCCI invites bids for a two-year period, the suspension period for the owners of Super Kings and Royals.”Ideally it has to be a ten-year cycle offered to the new investor, if not five-year period. It needs at least five years for a franchise to break even,” says a former executive of an IPL franchise. “If the base price exceeds Rs 500 crore [Approx $83 million] for a ten-year window, I don’t see too many interested buyers coming forward to invest in the IPL at this point of time.”At the inception of the IPL, Royals was the cheapest franchise at $6.7 million per year for 10 years while Mumbai Indians was the most expensive at $11.119 million per year. In 2011, when two franchises were added to the IPL bandwagon, Sahara India paid a whopping Rs 170 crore [$38.63 millon at then exchange rate] per year. In 2012, the Sun Group acquired the Hyderabad franchise at approximately $15.9 million, per year for five years.However, industry experts feel the new bids, if invited, would be far cheaper than the Sun Group’s bid for Sunrisers Hyderabad, although there are companies like the RPG Group and Videocon, interested in acquiring an IPL team.Motwani, however, feels prospective buyers will want to wait until the uncertainty over the format has been cleared. “I have a feeling they would want to wait for the controversy to be at least cleared,” she said. “What are they buying into? They could just be buying a hot potato.”Even if it comes free, if it ends up burning you all the way, nobody wants a hot potato. Whatever little you save will just be completely ruined by the fact that it will cause a bigger hole in reputation and many other things.”

England’s limited-overs captain has not played for a month and says he feels “twice the man” after the break as he prepares to face Australia

George Dobell30-Aug-20151:04

Morgan has his eye on World T20

As English cricket tears itself apart once more, searching for the perfect domestic and international schedule to appease all the different agendas and priorities, the message coming from their limited-overs captain is clear.After a month away from the game, Eoin Morgan described himself as “twice the man” he was. He described himself as “fresh” and “raring to go” and his “attitude, mind and body a lot better.”It is an intriguing message as the review into the structure of English cricket continues. While the traditional view has been that players benefit from several matches ahead of an important series, Morgan will go into the T20 at Cardiff on Monday having not played a match since August 1. And, in that match, he was dismissed without scoring.Morgan has never made much effort to hide his view: the county schedule – the quantity of matches, the travel and the lack of time for rest, recovery and practice – hinders the progress of England players. The domestic grind, with its priorities more towards consistency than flair, has rarely brought the best out of a man who appears to thrive on adrenalin, excitement and the big crowd atmosphere. There are echoes – albeit extreme ones – of the PCA’s recent survey of their members in Morgan’s views.And to some extent, that is great. There have been many players who have excelled in county cricket only to wilt under the pressure of the big occasion. If Morgan is to be the other way around, it could well benefit England. David Gower was not so different.So, a month ago, enduring a wretched run of form in County Championship cricket, Morgan approached the Middlesex director of cricket (and England selector) Angus Fraser and spoke about his need for a break. He was helping neither himself or his team by attempting to fight his way through his modest form – he had suffered a pair in his last Championship match – and concluded that a fresh mind would be of more benefit than more work. It is the sort of decision that might have benefitted Jonathan Trott at one stage.

He dismissed the idea that he will not return to red-ball cricket, but the thought is not so outlandish. There may be merit in him dedicating his future wholeheartedly to limited-overs cricket

The original idea was to take only two weeks away from the game. But as the deadline for a return loomed, Morgan decided that a full month off would be, in his words, “ideal” and thanked Fraser for his ability to see the bigger picture and put England ahead of Middlesex. “I can’t imagine there are many county directors that would have taken English cricket as a priority over possibly Championship or one-day games,” Morgan said.He dismissed the idea that he will not return to red-ball cricket, but the thought is not so outlandish. He has averaged just 10.16 for Middlesex in first-class cricket this season – lower than Steven Finn or Tim Murtagh – and has not made a half-century. There may be merit in him dedicating his future wholeheartedly to limited-overs cricket.That might seem like quite a sacrifice for a man who has always said he left Ireland in the hope of playing Test cricket, but increasingly it looks as if that chapter in his life is over. He does not have a bad record in his 16 Tests – he averages 30.43 and was good enough to score two Test centuries; one of them an excellent innings against Pakistan in demanding conditions – but there are many younger men ahead of him in the tussle for a place now and, if a fresh body and mind is key to his best form, there seems more benefit in concentrating on becoming exceptional in the shorter formats than trying to be decent in all three.And, if England are true to their promise to award equal priority to the shorter formats, there should be no stigma attached to the decision to specialise. England’s record at the last couple of World T20s and the last half-dozen World Cups is wretched. Perhaps having a captain who is not compromised by the demands of Test and county cricket would go some way to changing that.Morgan insists that England’s priority has now turned to “the World T20 and driving our one-day cricket forward.” But even now, those priorities are compromised. Joe Root, arguably England’s key batsmen in all three formats these days, has been – quite sensibly – rested to preserve him for winter tours against Pakistan and South Africa and four of the 13-man squad were involved in T20 Finals day on Saturday.It will be intriguing to see which fare better: those who have recently played or Morgan, who feels refreshed and renewed. The problem for Morgan is that, if he fails, he opens himself up to the charge of having not prepared properly.With only five T20 games to go before they pick their squad for the World T20 (they will play two in South Africa after the squad is announced), England have limited opportunity to look at new players.James Vince, who looks in sublime form and top-scored in the NatWest T20 Blast season, is one man pushing for opportunity, while Reece Topley, the tall left-arm swing bowler who has been the subject of interest from nine counties and is quite certain to leave Essex, is also an intriguing option. Moeen Ali looks set to return to the side, probably in the top three, in place of Root.”The ideal scenario is that we don’t change the ODI team that much to the T20 team,” Morgan said. “That’s Plan A at the moment. We want to get a formula together before the World T20.”I’m hoping we can add five or six more names to the group of players we saw in the last one-day series and then stick with over the next two or three years to build something.”In the last two World T20s, our skill level hasn’t been good enough to string enough wins together. We have, I think, the players to do that, but we need them in good form and to form the right plan to suit the players that we have.”Part of that plan has to accept that several of the squad that travel to India for the World T20 in early March – certainly Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Finn and quite possibly Adil Rashid and Alex Hales – will have already had busy winters.The tour of the UAE to face Pakistan, which starts at the beginning of October, ends at the end of November. The tour of South Africa – which starts in less than two weeks later – ends in the final week of February. The benefits of rest may be illustrated by Morgan, but it is hard to see a way that the rest of the squad can be accommodated in the same way.