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Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim admitted that club captain Bruno Fernandes loses his temper quite often on the pitch which in turn affects his focus on the match. Amorim shared an advice for compatriot on what to do on the field. Fernandes was on fire during the club's first pre-season friendly in the US tour as his brace helped United pip West Ham 2-1.

Amorim admitted Fernandes loses temper sometimesHailed compatriot's leadershipScored a brace in Man Utd's win over West HamFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

New signing Matheus Cunha started alongside Fernandes in the attacking midfield as the duo operated just behind NO.9 Rasmus Hojlund. The Red Devils skipper broke the deadlock in the fifth minute from the penalty spot, before doubling the team's lead after the half-time break. Jarrod Bowen pulled one back for the Hammers just past the hour mark.

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Despite his heroics at MetLife Stadium, Red Devils manager admitted that Fernandes sometimes has temper issues on the pitch, although he hailed his compatriot's leadership.

WHAT AMORIM SAID

Speaking to reporters after the match, the 40-year-old said: "It was so clear last season, you can see it with the goals and assists. But it's not just that. I think now he has more players, I feel, to help him to lead the group and that is a good thing. He is our leader and really important, not just on the field, but off the field. He leads by example. He works really hard, is always available and, sometimes, he plays with pain.

"Sometimes, the problem is he gets frustrated and loses a little bit of focus of his job. Sometimes, he wants to help the team-mates so much, it is not the best thing to do. They have to do their job and Bruno has, for example, to wait for the ball."

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Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER UNITED?

United will be next seen in action on Thursday as they take on Bournemouth in their second friendly game at Soldier Field in Chicago.

This DVD looks back over Flintoff’s Ashes and is another remarkable effort of stamina from the allrounder – it was filmed the day after those bleary-eyed scenes at Trafalgar Square

Andrew McGlashan06-Dec-2005

Click here to order a copy from CricShop for £15.99

© Cricinfo Ltd
England’s Ashes triumph was, without doubt, a team effort but the team was built around one man: Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff. He was their heartbeat while batting, bowling, fielding and celebrating. This DVD looks back over his Ashes series and is another remarkable effort of stamina from the allrounder – it was filmed the day after those bleary-eyed scenes at Trafalgar Square.Simon Hughes guides Flintoff through the series from inside The Oval dressing rooms – if those walls could talk they would have a few stories to tell, but Flintoff finds plenty of his own. The DVD is split into two main sections; the Test-by-Test account of the series – which still gets you biting fingernails – then Flintoff’s pick of his favourite players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Viv Richards. The second part does feel slightly tagged on, however it is a great opportunity to reel out classic footage of great players in their pomp. It is always worth watching for the scenes of Flintoff batting and bowling against Hughes on The Oval outfieldFlintoff recollections of each Test are honest and entertaining. From the disappointments of Lord’s where the expectation got to England, the epic finish at Edgbaston, the near-miss at Old Trafford, epic finish take two at Trent Bridge and the crowing moment at The Oval. After the drubbing at Lord’s Flintoff escaped to Bovey Castle in Devon with his family after admitting he got too tied up in all the hype. He returned for Edgbaston ready to express himself – and boy he didn’t disappoint.He says the first day at Edgbaston – when England raced to 407 all out in 79 overs – was the most extraordinary period of Test cricket he’d played before revealing that, with Australia needing about 20 in the last day, he turned to Marcus Trescothick in disbelief that they might get the runs. They didn’t and England and Flintoff’s summer took off.One of his best stories is about the final day at Old Trafford, his home ground, when he was forced to drive the wrong way up a street to get past the huge crowds that were trying to get to the ground. He was lectured by a policeman and told: “There are people just as important as you who want to get in.” Around 20,000 people were eventually locked out and Flintoff dryly says: “Usually we try to lock them in for the four-day [Championship] games.”Even though Flintoff played such a huge role he is always quick to give credit to his team-mates during their moments of glory, such as Kevin Pietersen at The Oval and the stand between Ashley Giles and Matthew Hoggard at Trent Bridge.Flintoff’s dry sense of humour and obvious enjoyment of his cricket make this DVD a great way to relive an amazing series. It doesn’t matter how many times you watch him launch Brett Lee out of Edgbaston or run through Australia at The Oval; it still brings a smile to your face.

Worrell inspired, stirred, roused. And therein lay his greatness

Telford Vice07-Aug-2007Frank Worrell bought me plenty of coffee during the 2007 World Cup. That’s odd because he died 40 years ago. But in Barbados the going rate for a double espresso is $4.50 in the local currency, and the face that beams with easy dignity on a $5 bill is that of Worrell. “Go on,” his slight smile seemed to suggest as Australia ground towards their umpteenth victory, “it won’t feel so bad if you have another.” So I did, often, and in the midst of a caffeine buzz it didn’t seem to matter quite so much that Ricky Ponting’s custard column was marching unhalted through another World Cup, or that one-day cricket had marked time since Steve Waugh had lifted the trophy at Lord’s in 1999. What might Worrell have said about all that? “Stop moping and find a way to beat them,” probably.It is for real and imagined reasons like this that Worrell is my favourite player, despite the fact that I was but a year old when he succumbed to leukaemia in 1967. Among the more real reasons is that Worrell donated blood to help save the life of Nari Contractor after Charlie Griffith had bounced Contractor into hospital in 1962.I can easily forgive Worrell’s well-meant but silly insistence that guilty batsmen should walk. That lapse into unreality is more than made up for by his decision, in a match against Yorkshire, to pack the leg-side field and to instruct his bowlers to gun for the batsmen. When Douglas Jardine had employed similar tactics, he had been vilified outside of England as a darkly calculating figure. But no one anywhere accused Worrell of being other than a creative captain who was merely trying to win the match in question, which his team duly did. Was this because Worrell was by all accounts an infinitely better human being than Jardine?Another reason why Worrell is at the top of my list is that he was prone to nodding off in the dressing room, particularly in the middle of a batting collapse. Yes, sometimes cricket really is a boring old business. Interest in the world beyond the game by the more abject professionals who play it for a living would seem to extend only as far as the nearest golf course. Worrell, by contrast, crammed as much life as he dared to into his 42 years.After retiring as a player, he became a warden at the University of the West Indies, and he graced the Jamaican Parliament as a senator. Who would want Kevin Pietersen for an MP? Who would entrust the tertiary education of their children to Shane Warne?Worrell was born in Barbados, spent much of his adult life in Trinidad, and saw out his days in Jamaica. Those are three of the most disparate societies in the West Indies. “He saw the many diverse elements of the West Indies as a whole, a common culture and outlook separated only by the Caribbean Sea,” Learie Constantine wrote in Worrell’s obituary. Worrell propagated his views earnestly enough to berate Barbados for inviting the international community to celebrate the country’s independence. A nation bristled, and for weeks afterwards the newspapers fairly rustled with harrumphing. Worrell was a cricketer who demanded to be so much more than only that.

I wonder what difference Worrell and his team might have made to the history of South Africa had they spent just one summer playing here

And, of course, he was no mean cricketer. Neville Cardus wrote that “he never made a crude or an ungrammatical stroke”. For CLR James, Worrell’s late cut was “one of the great strokes of our time”.Worrell’s finest hour at the crease was West Indies’ tour to England in 1950, where he scored 539 runs at 89.83. But his two stands of over 500 – 502 with John Goddard in 1944, and 574 with Clyde Walcott in 1946, both unfinished, and both for Barbados against Trinidad – provide a better epitaph for him as a player. He did, after all, believe in partnerships above all else.Many will remember Worrell best as the first black man to be appointed West Indies captain. “… He was possessed of an almost unbridled passion for social equality,” James wrote. “It was the men on his side who had no social status whatever for whose interest and welfare he was always primarily concerned. They repaid him with an equally fanatical devotion.” Not for nothing, then, was Worrell snidely referred to as a “cricket Bolshevik” in the corridors of West Indian power.Such treason evaporated in the heat of his first assignment at the helm, West Indies’ epic 1960-61 venture to Australia. Famously, 500,000 Australians lined Melbourne’s streets to bid the West Indians farewell at the end of the tour. And that in an Australia that was in the grip of a racist mindset.As a South African who grew up when apartheid was at its most murderous, I have had cause to wonder what difference Worrell and his team might have made to the history of my country had they spent just one summer playing here. I never met Worrell or saw him play, but in the words of James, “No cricketer… ever shook me up in a similar manner.” Espresso for the soul, you might say.

The one-day series between India and Pakistan is approaching the business end. Two matches remain but Pakistan are 2-1 down

George Binoy in Gwalior13-Nov-2007

Shoaib Malik hasn’t been able to continue his great run against India during the ongoing series © AFP
The one-day series between India and Pakistan is approaching the business end. Two matches remain but Pakistan are 2-1 down and, in Gwalior on Thursday, they play with the series at stake. There is added pressure on them given that they haven’t won much of late; they were runners-up in the World Twenty20 but then lost both the home Test and ODI series to South Africa.Their captain, Shoaib Malik, has flopped on this tour, with scores of 2, 25 and 12 so far. He has been given a vote of confidence by the Pakistan board, which extended his tenure by another year, but he will be aware of the repercussions of going into the Tests having lost the one-day series.And yet you would bet on Malik finding his form sooner rather than later, simply because he isn’t used to failing against India. Two of his five ODI hundreds and eight of his 23 half-centuries have come against them. Before the series began, Malik averaged 47.22 against India, and 55.75 in the 13 matches that Pakistan won. When India last toured Pakistan in 2005-06, Malik began the series with two nineties and a century which extended his run-scoring spree against them to six fifties out of seven innings.That form, however, has deserted him. In Guwahati, Malik pulled a loose full toss from Sachin Tendulkar straight to deep midwicket when Pakistan needed him to raise the tempo in the final ten overs. His 25 in Mohali came off only 28 balls and Pakistan’s margin of victory could have been larger had Malik not fallen at a crucial juncture of a tight run-chase. In Kanpur, he struggled to keep abreast with the asking-rate, scoring 12 off 32 balls before getting trapped leg-before by Yuvraj Singh’s part-time spin. It’s premature to pin the failures on the added pressures of captaincy for Malik was in reasonable form against South Africa, scoring 18, 56, 42, 45 and 23 in five innings. Malik will desperately want to avoid a third series defeat under his tenure and one of the best ways to do it may be for him to walk out, bat in hand, during the early overs The majority of Malik’s significant innings against India, however, have come when he’s batted higher up the order – at No. 3 or No. 4. In fact, he’s scored a century and six fifties out of 12 innings at No. 3 and averages 86.50 after two innings at No. 4, two spots which have been occupied by Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf during the current series. Both players had one good innings – Younis scored the match-winning hundred at Mohali, and Yousuf made 82 in Guwahati – but this has meant that Malik has had fewer overs to bat and under high-pressure circumstances.When Pakistan last toured India in 2004-05, they recovered from a 0-2 deficit to win the series 4-2. Malik scored 75, 65, 41 and 72 in the last four ODIs, batting at No. 3 and 4, while Yousuf and Younis came lower down the order. In this series, Pakistan’s tinkering with the batting order has been restricted to changing the opening combination and giving Shahid Afridi the odd promotion.If they were to bat Malik higher up, his presence could infuse energy into the innings during the middle overs. His agility between the wickets could create more ones and twos; he’s nimble on his feet against spin; and once he’s set, Malik can raise the tempo with either deft touches or the use of the long handle, something Yousuf and Younis struggled to do in Guwahati. It’s a move worth making for, if Malik bats long, the chances are he’ll score at up to or more than a run a ball and, should he fail, Pakistan have the experience of Younis and Yousuf, and the hitting powers of Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi to fall back on.There are no second chances left for Pakistan in this one-day series. Malik will desperately want to avoid a third series defeat under his tenure and one of the best ways to do it may be for him to walk out, bat in hand, during the early overs.

Though brought on only in the 29th over of the innings, Tamil Nadu had run-ins with Powar long before he began to measure his run-up

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Chennai15-Nov-2007

Ramesh Powar: Taking wickets, effecting run-outs and contributing with the bat. What more can he do to earn a recall to the national side? © Cricinfo Ltd
Ramesh Powar must be wondering what on earth he needs to do to earn a recall to the Indian team. He’s taking wickets, he’s throwing his famous rotund figure on rock-hard Indian outfields, saving certain boundaries and effecting run-outs. But the selectors clearly have no intentions of casting him as an allrounder, though he has also shown potential as a batsman. So, he must be wondering, what else is required?When the Indian squad was announced for the first two Tests against Pakistan, Powar wasn’t handed a ticket. The return of Harbhajan Singh, after an impressive showing at the ICC World Twenty20, and yet another comeback by Murali Kartik edged Powar out of the equation. His returns in the one-day series in England a few months ago were impressive – six wickets at an economy rate of 4.57 – and he almost made it a habit of picking up a wicket as soon as Rahul Dravid brought him on.But he went wicketless in his last four ODIs, compounded by the manner in which he leaked runs against the Australians last month. Sent back to domestic cricket to prove himself, Powar is tossing them up, getting them to turn and bounce and, most importantly, striking with his slower ones. Against Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Powar had Dravid’s number in the first innings: a flighted delivery spun and bounced to produce an edge, taken close to the wicket. Karnataka were bowled out for 195 in the first innings and Powar took 5 for 69.Against Tamil Nadu today, the slow death continued as he wrapped up the home side for a disappointing 206 with 4 for 55 in 19.Powar was brought on after 28 overs but troubled Tamil Nadu long before he began to measure his run-up. M Vijay and Dinesh Karthik had put on a confident opening stand of 47 when an alert Powar flung himself to his right to stop a firm flick by Vijay towards square leg, gathered himself to his feet, hurled the ball to the bowler in almost the same action and caught Vijay miles outside the crease.Karthik too wasn’t lucky enough to escape Powar. He was batting on 76 when Powar fired one faster and flatter, testing Karthik’s reflexes. Getting down on his knee to sweep, the ball struck Karthik in front of the stumps and Tamil Nadu lost their most valuable player at the wrong time. Karthik’s displeasure indicated that the umpire’s decision may have been debatable but, until otherwise proven, Powar will deserve credit for out-thinking the batsman.During the tour of England, Powar told Cricinfo he preferred to toss it up at an annoyingly slow pace to the left-handers as they tend to play across the turn. R Ramkumar and S Naresh were both trapped in moments of circumspection as Powar executed this plan again. Bowling round the wicket, Powar lobbed the ball up and Ramkumar, shaping to loft over mid-on with his left foot nailed to the crease, only succeeded in getting a thick edge off the toe of the bat to Wasim Jaffer at slip. Naresh, another left-hander, used his feet but enough to get behind the pitch or line of the ball as another attempted heave over the on side went down the throat of point off a leading edge.Vijaykumar Yomahesh was Powar’s final victim, a bat-pad chance snapped up with both hands at forward short-leg. He was unfortunately denied a fifth wicket when Iqbal Abdulla spilled a skier at deep-backward square leg off R Srinivasan. However, his fielding displays continued amid the fall of wickets, flinging himself at cover on one occasion when the ball flashed off Srinivasan’s bat. Though his fielding in England saw an eclectic mixture of (relative) brilliance and forehead-thumping annoyance, there was a refreshing consistency on view today.

The P Saravanamuttu Stadium has hosted Bradman’s Invicibles, and was the setting for a local renaissance

Dileep Premachandran07-Aug-2008
An overview of the P Saravanamuttu Stadium © Cricinfo Ltd.
For perhaps the first time, two Test captains addressed the pre-match media conference while perched on bar stools. No, they weren’t under the influence. It just so happened that the long verandah in front of the bar at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium made it the ideal location. Less than a day earlier, Chandra Schaffter, who managed the Sri Lankan team on their first Test tour of India in 1982, had spoken of how much it meant to the Tamil Union Club to host the Test match, and the venue where Sri Lanka clinched their first win (against India in 1985) will now be the cynosure of all eyes as this scrap for Asian supremacy enters a third and decisive round.The renaissance of the Tamil Union is a story that makes phoenix-rising-from-ashes look commonplace. When the island slid into a violent spiral of ethnic conflict a quarter century ago, hate-filled mobs burnt the stadium to the ground. It had been Sri Lanka’s premier venue for decades, even hosting Sir Donald Bradman’s Invincibles in 1948, but all that meant nothing to those blinded by propaganda.It was years before the Tamil Union limped back to anything approaching normalcy, and the revival was perhaps complete when the modern-day Invincibles came-a-calling in October 2002. I was fortunate enough to be there, a straggler from the just-finished Champions Trophy. Shoaib Akhtar bowled with real pace and menace on the opening day but it was Waqar Younis who picked up two wickets bowling absolute rubbish.Ricky Ponting struck a magnificent 141, but many of those present will remember the opening day for Mark Waugh’s last significant innings at Test level. He caressed the ball with some of the old elegance on his way to 55, before Saqlain Mushtaq – into which Bermuda Triangle did his Test career disappear? – took a return catch.For men like Sathasivam, Coomaraswamy, Derrick de Saram and Channa Gunasekara, the odd game against touring sides was as good as it got. And while reams have been written on the batsmanship of Vijay Merchant, CK Nayudu and Mushtaq Ali, little is known of these Sri Lankan giantsPakistan’s reply revolved around a wonderfully assured 83 from Faisal Iqbal but, when they finished 188 adrift on the third morning, no one expected anything other than an Australian saunter to victory. It certainly looked that way as Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden added 61 for the first wicket, but this time ill luck wasn’t about to thwart Shoaib. Ponting and the Waugh twins were beaten for pace in one stunning over and, in the next, Adam Gilchrist was befuddled by a yorker that might have reached Trincomalee if the stumps hadn’t been in the way.Shoaib’s 5 for 21 left Pakistan needing 316 to win, a run more than they had famously managed at Karachi in 1994. But despite brave innings from Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan and Faisal [again], an attack of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and the incomparable Warne just had too much quality.The 41-run win was a good deal better than what Bradman’s team managed during their one-day game en route to the Ashes in 1948. Bradman fell to Bertram Heyn for 20, and Sathi Coomaraswamy, who has one of the new stands named after him, took 4 for 45 as the line-up that would go on to rout England 4-0 was restricted to 184 for 8. But in a rain-hit match, Ceylon’s batsmen got no real opportunity to show off their ability against the likes of Keith Miller and Ian Johnson.
Ricky Ponting made a magnificent 141 in the first Test against Pakistan in 2002 © Getty Images
The photograph that has pride of place in the bar features Bradman and Mahadevan Sathasivam, the Tamil Union captain, walking out for the toss. For men like Sathasivam, Coomaraswamy, Derrick de Saram and Channa Gunasekara, the odd game against touring sides was as good as it got. And while reams have been written on the batsmanship of Vijay Merchant, CK Nayudu and Mushtaq Ali, little is known of these Sri Lankan giants who could have stood shoulder to shoulder with them.Schaffter remembers one particular game as though it were yesterday. He was two months short of his 20th birthday when Jock Livingston’s Commonwealth side dropped anchor in Ceylon. Frank Worrell, John Holt and Bill Alley were the batting stars, and the home team struggled as they piled up 355 for 5 in 103 overs, with Winston Place’s 96 leading the way. With Henry Lambert, Fred Freer, and the two Georges, Pope and Tribe, bowling alongside Worrell, the Ceylon innings never got going. “Those were the days of uncovered pitches,” recalls Schaffter. “Sathasivam came out and made 96. I don’t think I’ve seen a more complete batsman.”Sathasivam was almost 35 at the time, and that innings at the P Sara [out of a total of 153] along with his celebrated 215 at Chepauk defines a largely obscure career. These days, saturated media coverage means that you know whether a player prefers baked beans or pate with his toast. Sadly, when it comes to some of the legends of the past, we’re left mostly to rely on the memories of those that lived in the proximity of greatness.After their net sessions, both Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman walked in to have a look at the portraits inside the bar. Two of the finer batsmen of their generation, they will surely have felt history’s gentle touch on the shoulder as they glanced at the greats of long ago. The cavalier Sathasivam has been dead more than 30 years, but tomorrow, they have an opportunity to venture on to his favourite patch and write their own chapter in the history of a storied venue.

Kanishkaa Balachandran on how Beau Casson, Bryce McGain and Jason Krejza are trying to stake their claim for national selection via the A team’s tour to India

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Hyderabad 08-Sep-2008
Beau Casson edged out Bryce McGain for a spot in the Australian Test side in West Indies© AFP
“I’m never going to be a Warne or a MacGill. They’re absolute geniuses.” Those words, from Beau Casson, the only one of Australia A’s spin trio with Test experience, shouldn’t be mistaken for a defeatist attitude. Almost every spinner trying to break into the Australian squad will have to accept with humility, as Casson did, that Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill will be hard acts to follow.Warne retired with 708 Test wickets, a feat unlikely to be matched in the near future; MacGill quit the game, within the year, as the fourth quickest to reach 200 Test wickets. The retirement of Brad Hogg last summer forced the Australian selectors to dig deeper to find new treasures.Assuming the selectors have got it right, Casson, Bryce McGain and Jason Krejza are the three best Australian spinners at the moment. The three are vying for two spots on the Australian Test team to tour India, which will be announced shortly. All three are aware of their limitations and expectations from the public following those high-profile retirements. All three are distinct in their disciplines. All three know that the prime aim is not to shatter records, but to stay in the Australian team for as long as possible. And all three are, most significantly, determined to carve out their own identities and not live under the shadow of any of Australia’s spin legends.McGain’s rise gives hope to late bloomers in any field. For 15 years, he played club cricket in Melbourne, juggling his hobby with a more lucrative day job in a bank as an IT officer. He played just three Pura Cup matches from 2001-02 to 2003-04 but fortunes changed three seasons later when he replaced fellow legspinner Cameron White in the Victoria squad. Soon enough, he claimed a six-wicket haul against New South Wales. He quit his job after earning a state contract and ended the 2007-08 season as the leading spinner in the Pura Cup, with 38 wickets at 34.15. He may be 36, but if the selectors place ability over age, McGain could be in Australia whites soon. This would delight his eight-year-old son, Liam, who’s gained quite a reputation at school for having a famous dad.”My first goal was to make the state side, which I did, and had a steady season,” McGain said. “From there the possibilities seemed endless. My son’s very excited. His dad’s going ok (laughs). He’s getting a bit of notoriety around the school yard.”Only time will tell if McGain can be just as effective as his predecessors, and his access to Warne, his former state team-mate, should come in handy if he eventually steps into his shoes. “I’ve been in contact with Shane regularly,” he said. “I really don’t feel any pressure. I’m trying to be the best I can be.”For years, MacGill was forced to live with the ‘No Vacancy’ sign virtually staring blankly at his face while Warne creditably hogged the only slot in the Australian line-up. Fortunately for Australia’s new hopefuls, it’s not just one slot they’re competing forMcGain doesn’t believe in unnecessarily overexerting himself in trying to match Warne’s mesmeric variations. He thinks there’s no point in bowling six different balls in an over and if needed only for a containing job, he’s fairly content with that.Casson, a left-arm chinaman bowler, looks to be the first-choice spinner having edged out McGain for a slot in the Test side in the West Indies. He made his debut in Barbados, contributing in no small way to Australia’s victory there. His migration from Perth to the more spin-friendly Sydney was a brave move, given that MacGill was first-choice spinner there. However, he stepped up in MacGill’s absence the last season, taking 29 wickets and finishing as his side’s second-highest wicket-taker. Add 485 runs at 60.62 and you have a useful allrounder.Is he bogged down by the pressure and expectation back home? “The pressure is more on yourself,” he says. “I’m just trying to develop a role for myself in the side, whether taking wickets or drying up one end or making useful runs. You have to put that expectation on yourself if you want to play for your country.”I had a chat with Stuey (MacGill). I’ve seen him go about his work and that’s the best way to learn. I’m a bit of a cricket tragic so I’ve loved watching him bowl.”Casson doesn’t believe that there’s a formulaic method in keeping batsmen in check, especially on the subcontinent. The best, including Warne, have used flight to deceive batsmen off the air and the wicket and he feels that’s what every spinner should strive to do.Casson’s is also a story of hope. A congenital heart defect hasn’t prevented him from launching a career in sport and it’s a testament to his will that he’s risen through the ranks of the most competitive domestic cricket circuit in the world, enough to knock on the doors of national selection.
McGain finished the 2007-08 season as the leading spinner in the Pura Cup © Getty Images
Krejza lived under the shadow of Casson, MacGill and Nathan Hauritz in New South Wales, but the competition for spots compelled him to move to Tasmania from the 2006-07 season. The move, he says, helped him “brilliantly” and he relished the challenge of bowling at the Bellerieve Oval in Hobart, not the most conducive venue for spinners.A practitioner of flight, Krejza says he’s adding variations to his armoury. “I’m a very attacking spinner and that’s my mentality,” Krejza said. “I’m not really intimidated by the batsmen here in India. In fact I’m quite excited about this challenge. I’m keen to develop more variations now. This experience here is going to build on that.”Interestingly, Krejza had discussions with Michael Clarke on a three-day camp in Australia before setting off and one of the things he learnt was the importance of staying patient on a tour like this.He admits, like his spin rivals, that the departure of Warne and MacGill has left a tinge of sadness. On the bright side, he notes that this is probably the best time to be a spinner in Australia.The most refreshing part about their Indian challenge is that each has a shot at selection, despite Casson being technically one step ahead with his Test experience. “Do we have one spinner who can put his hand up and walk into the Australian team? Not yet,” coach Simon Helmot said. “It’s all very open.”For years, MacGill was forced to live with the ‘No Vacancy’ sign virtually staring blankly at his face while Warne creditably hogged the only slot in the Australian line-up. Fortunately for Australia’s new hopefuls, it’s not just one slot they’re competing for. The cupboard has suddenly swung open to a new era of Australian spin and time will tell if the search for replacements ends here.

That Netherlands conquered a complacent England was not simply arrogance on the part of their hosts, but the benefits of relying on the basics

Will Luke06-Jun-2009Well. Of all the teams to beat, they beat England. Of all the teams to lose to! How was it Netherlands? Those questions and much more besides will be ringing joyfully in Dutch ears, painfully in England’s, after the lowly amateurs rudely nudged the sleeping professionals. The Netherlands’ four-wicket win yesterday at a gloomy Lord’s is anunlikely chirrup for Associate cricket.The Associates – known as “lesser nations”, “minnows” or simply “who?” – are often given an unfair rap, that the vast gap in quality simply doesn’t warrant their inclusion in tournaments. Or, worse, that their very existence is somehow fortuitous and sneaky; the charity cases of international cricket waiting for handouts. Sometimes these are faircriticisms: despite their lack of money, each country bickers and rumbles with controversies as frequently as England or India. But then days like yesterday happen, just as Ireland shocked Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup and, briefly, the light is shone on a level of cricket much under-rated.No one gave Netherlands a chance and, if they’re honest, they wouldn’t have expected to win yesterday’s match either. That they conquered a complacent England was not simply arrogance on the part of their hosts, but the benefits of relying on the basics. As Kenya’s coach, Andy Kirsten, told Cricinfo last year, all Associate cricketers can hit the ball just as sweetly as those from India, Australia, England or wherever else. Their technique might be agricultural and impure, or not sufficiently watertight to produce longer innings or memorable hundreds, but when chasing small totals none of that matters.As Netherlands showed today, the sheer basics of cricket, learned in parks or schools or in the back garden, remain the most fundamental aspect of a team’s success. Tom de Grooth, Darron Reekers and Ryan ten Doeschate – perhaps the best Associate batsman of them all – lack the purr of Ponting, the sheer power of Sehwag, but in Twenty20 cricket, it’s not how that matters. It’s how many, how quickly.As Associates, Netherlands (and Ireland and Scotland) have so little to lose. Twenty20s are done and dusted in just 240 balls, so they might as well dispense with pragmatic thinking and overly complicated preparation and simply thwack the ball when it’s there to be thwacked. The basics still apply, never more so than in this format. Some of deGrooth’s strokes were as brazen as the luminous orange kit he wore, but the most obviously evident tactics were of simple cricket: keen running, picking the gaps, turning ones into twos.”Today I was just in the zone, it worked for me,” said de Grooth. “I came in at No. 4 – I was supposed to come in at 7 – but after a few early wickets I came in at 4, and said to Bas [Zuiderent] after a few balls: ‘I’m just going to play my game and keep going’. It works. I think we went out there today to play brave cricket, and make England sweat. That was my natural game, how I like to play it.”We have seen so often with England in 50-over cricket their tendency to revert to the 1970s funereal method of scoring runs in the middle overs, nurdling it around asthmatically. And again today (though thanks to Netherlands’ tight bowling) they only managed a below-par 73 from the final ten overs. Not so much a case of seeing the ball,hitting the ball, as evidence of minds cluttered and confused with apparently inventive plans and tactics.

Some of de Grooth’s strokes were as brazen as the luminous orange kit he wore, but the most obviously evident tactics were of simple cricket: keen running, picking the gaps, turning ones into twos.

Twenty20 offers the big guns a chance to utterly demolish Associates. But in turn, the shortest format offers these so-called fledglings to hone in on the absolute basics, and give it a proper go. Such intrinsic simplicities are often disregarded when playing Associate nations, with the fair assumption that they will not sustain such basics overthe course of a match. Shorten the match to 20 overs, however, and the chances of an upset – especially against a one-day side so confusingly inconsistent as England – suddenly become deliciously possible.Ironically, it could be Associates’ background that spurs them to produce these occasional and thrilling upsets. Ireland managed it in the 2007 World Cup, beating Pakistan, and now Netherlands have stunned England. Both teams contain players who have full-time jobs away from the sport, and this is so often their handicap in developing fromamateurs into professionals. It pays to remember, too, that Netherlands and Co. simply don’t play Twenty20s regularly, and if they do, only against a really rusty club side or two, and often on matting wickets.”It costs a lot of money to qualify, because we have to take extra days off,” admitted Jeroen Smits, the captain, “but we really don’t mind. I’d love to take extra days off.”Amateur status is a constant blight on their development andNetherlands, in particular, remain angry at the ECB that they are notincluded in the Friends Provident Trophy along with (the England-feeder sides) Ireland andScotland. Ireland, in particular, are the Associate team to beatnowadays, and their exposure to county cricket cannot simply be acoincidence. “I don’t know [of] any cricket reasons not to be in thatcompetition,” Smits said. “This [win] speaks for itself.”For now, Netherlands are mere temporary visitors to England, but theyhave given their hosts the most enormous of wake-ups. Their victorytoday is a cautionary tale against complacency; that no matter who aside is up against, be they baggage handlers or bursars, even minnowsoccasionally like to win. Sometimes, they richly deserve it, too.

The key numbers from the 2010 IPL

S Rajesh26-Apr-2010More runs and more wickets than ever beforeThe IPL this year had one more match than in the first two editions (for the third place), but in terms of runs and wickets, the stats for this year were way ahead: the aggregate of 18,864 runs is 993 runs more than the tally in 2008, while 23 more wickets fell this year than in 2009. That’s mainly because, unlike in the last two years, not a single game was rained out or shortened: the closest we came to a disruption was the bomb blast in Bangalore, despite which a full 20-over game was played that day.The run rate, though, dropped slightly this year compared to 2008, but it was still much more than the 2009 edition which was moved to South Africa. The marginal drop in run rate was largely due to the slower pitches and more difficult batting conditions in the last two weeks. In the first 41 matches of the IPL, teams scored at an average run rate of 8.40 runs per over; in the last 19 games, it dropped significantly to 7.50. That was also the reason why the sixes tally fell short of 600 this year – there were only 159 of them in the last 19 matches an average of 8.37 per game; in the first 41 games, the average was 10.39 per match.

Comparing the three IPLs

YearRunsWicketsAverageRun rate4s/ 6s200817,93168926.028.301703/ 623200916,32069723.417.481317/ 506201018,86472026.208.121708/ 585Batting and bowling stats for each teamMumbai Indians were the dominant team throughout the IPL, and their domination is reflected in their stats: the difference between their batting run rate and bowling economy rate is 0.80, which is the highest of all teams. Chennai Super Kings improved their numbers considerably towards the end of the tournament, which is why the difference in their rates is a respectable 0.39 despite winning only nine out of 16 matches. Royal Challengers Bangalore are the only other team with a difference of more than 0.20, but the stats for the fourth semi-finalist, Deccan Chargers, is quite poor. They finished with a difference of -0.41, some of which was due to their meek finish to the tournament, when they were walloped by Bangalore in the third-place playoff.The two teams with the worst difference are Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the sides which finished at the bottom of the table. What’s more surprising, though, is that their numbers are that much poorer than Deccan’s.

Teams with bat and ball in IPL 2010

TeamBat averageRun rateBowl averageRun rateDiff in averageDiff in run rateChennai Super Kings29.828.3324.577.945.250.39Mumbai Indians27.108.6323.937.833.170.80Royal Challengers Bangalore27.918.1626.717.951.200.21Deccan Chargers21.007.6224.338.03-3.33-0.41Delhi Daredevils24.487.9222.567.851.920.07Kolkata Knight Riders30.197.8730.028.190.17-0.32Rajasthans Royals23.188.1328.158.59-4.97-0.46Kings XI Punjab28.478.2632.398.73-3.92-0.47Comparing every stageThe overall Powerplay stats in 2010 were a touch better than those in 2008 – the run rate was marginally higher, at 7.89. That’s thanks largely to Delhi Daredevils (run rate 8.53), Mumbai (8.35), and Punjab (8.02), the only teams with a rate of more than eight.

First six overs, in all three IPLs

YearRunsWicketsAverageRun rate4s/ 6s2008535817630.447.70691/ 1352009493318726.377.22554/ 1562010568217632.287.89746/ 123In the middle overs teams were slightly slower than in 2008, with Rajasthan (8.13) the only team to manage a run rate of more than eight. Surprisingly Mumbai (7.14) and Delhi (7.16) were the teams with the slowest run rates.

The middle overs (6.1 to 14) in all three IPLs

YearRunsWicketsAverageRun rate4s/ 6s2008709922431.697.87557/ 2412009602722027.396.72387/ 1482010721725428.417.54513/ 211The last six overs too saw a marginal drop in scoring rate compared to 2008 (though they were all higher than the 2009 numbers). Mumbai were the standout team, scoring at 10.97 runs per over, while Bangalore (9.74) and Chennai (9.68) were the others to score at more than nine-and-a-half.

The last six overs, in all three IPLs

YearRunsWicketsAverageRun rate4s/ 6s2008547428918.949.75455/ 2472009536029018.488.91376/ 2022010596529020.569.24449/ 251The Ashwin and Bollinger factorThe presence of Doug Bollinger, and the decision to open the attack with him and R Ashwin, made a huge difference to Chennai’s fortunes. They had won only three out of eight games till then, but won six out of eight after he came in. The biggest difference was in their bowling in the first six overs: in the first eight matches they were clueless, neither taking wickets nor keeping runs in check – they economy rate of 8.39 was the second-worst at that point.Once Bollinger and Ashwin took the new ball, though, Chennai’s fortunes changes completely, and they became the best bowling team in the Powerplays, taking 13 wickets at an excellent economy rate of 6.35.

Chennai with and without Bollinger, in the Powerplay overs

MatchesWicketsAverageEcon rateWithout Bollinger81040.308.39With Bollinger81323.466.35Both bowlers were equally effective in the first six, which allowed Chennai to choke the runs and force batsmen into errors. Ashwin and Bollinger both managed economy rates of less than five, which is exceptional in this format.

Ashwin and Bollinger in the Powerplay overs in Chennai’s last 8 matches

BowlerBallsRuns concededWicketsAverageEcon rateR Ashwin11489614.834.68Doug Bollinger11494615.674.94The best in the PowerplaysThe table below shows the top batsmen in the powerplay overs in IPL 2010. Sachin Tendulkar, who was the top run getter in the tournament, amassed more than 300 runs at an exceptional average. Virender Sehwag scored at the quickest rate while Adam Gilchrist, who otherwise had a poor IPL, hit the most sixes.

Highest run-scorers in Powerplay overs in IPL 2010

BatsmanRuns scoredStrike rateAverage4s6sSachin Tendulkar3278.24109.00550Jacques Kallis2746.6845.66423Adam Gilchrist2499.2219.152913M Vijay2418.6548.202311Virender Sehwag2409.3526.66387Matthew Hayden2376.9323.70309Michael Lumb2258.8845.00375Sourav Ganguly2196.7373.00355Naman Ojha2087.4726.00305Chaminda Vaas was extremely economical and also picked up eight wickets during the Powerplays. The other revelations were Bollinger and Ashwin, who played crucial roles in Chennai’s success.

Top bowlers in powerplay overs in IPL 2010 (minimum 90 balls bowled)

BowlerBalls bowledEconomy rateWickets takenAverageChaminda Vaas904.8689.12Ryan Harris964.87515.60Doug Bollinger1144.94615.66R Ashwin1325.00715.71Dirk Nannes1025.17329.33Shane Bond906.26423.50Lasith Malinga1206.65622.16Praveen Kumar1687.25450.75Dale Steyn1627.33633.00Zaheer Khan1447.45444.75The best finishersKeiron Pollard scored the most runs in the last six overs, at an average of more than 13 per over. In terms of strike rate, though, he was pipped to the post by Robin Uthappa, who had a strike rate of nearly 14 runs per over.

Highest scorers in the last six overs

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageRuns per overKeiron Pollard234107926.0013.12Virat Kohli186110823.2510.14S Badrinath178127725.428.40Irfan Pathan17491443.5011.47Rohit Sharma163105723.289.31Albie Morkel14790624.509.80Angelo Mathews14493436.009.29Robin Uthappa14362435.7513.83Among the bowlers Anil Kumble was outstanding with an economy rate of 6.36, which was one run better than his nearest competitor, Lasith Malinga of Mumbai. Dale Steyn and Muttiah Muralitharan were impressive too, but Zaheer Khan was the only bowler to take ten wickets during the last six overs.

Bowlers with best economy rates in last six overs (Qual: 90 balls)

BowlerBalls bowledRuns concededWicketsAverageEcon rateAnil Kumble98104714.856.36Lasith Malinga114140817.507.36Dale Steyn90113618.837.53Muttiah Muralitharan90118716.857.86Zaheer Khan1161641016.408.48More numbers97 – The number of sixes struck by Chennai, the highest in the tournament. Deccan and Bangalore conceded the most sixes – 85 each.
27 – The number of sixes struck by Robin Uthappa, which is one more than Murali Vijay’s tally. Pragyan Ojha conceded the highest number of sixes – 17.
23 – The number of run-outs effected by Delhi, the highest in the tournament and one more than Chennai. Rajasthan’s batsmen were run out most often – 34 times.
72 – The number of wides bowled by Bangalore, which is the highest. The two bowlers leading in this regard are also from Bangalore – Steyn (28) and Praveen (18).
185.71 – Kieron Pollard’s strike rate, which is the highest among batsmen who’ve scored more than 100 runs. Uthappa is next at 171.55.

The IPL controversy has included ministers, businessmen, cricket board officials and an assortment of family and friends. Siddarth Ravindran tells us who’s who

25-Apr-2010Shashi Tharoor: India’s junior foreign minister said he ‘mentored’ the Kochi franchise before the bidding process for new IPL teams last month. He firmly denied gaining any financial benefit from it, insisting he only wanted to see an IPL team in his home state of Kerala. However, when Modi released the shareholding structure of the Kochi franchise, Tharoor’s close friend Sunanda Pushkar was revealed to have a stake. Allegations of conflict of interest followed, and the ensuing controversy forced him to step down.

Sunanda Pushkar: It all sort of started with her. A marketing professional based in Dubai, she was given a 4.7% stake – worth approximately US$1.5 million – as sweat equity for her work in the franchise. Her problem was that Tharoor did not disclose it and – as she sees it – made her a victim of a vindictive media. She has since offered to return the stake, saying she wants no part of the IPL.Lalit Modi: The brain behind the IPL as well as its brash face. Three phenomenally successful seasons of the tournament, and his penchant for self-promotion had made him one of the most powerful men in cricket, but things started to unravel once he tweeted the Kochi franchise ownership pattern on April 11. The tussle with Tharoor put the spotlight on the IPL’s financial dealings, and the league’s offices were raided by tax men. There were allegations of bribery by the Kochi franchise, of kickbacks in the reworked broadcast deal, of Modi’s relatives owning stakes in several franchises, all of which led to a fall-out with several of his colleagues in the BCCI, ultimately leading to his suspension.Rendezvous Sports World: A group of seemingly disparate businessmen who came together to bid for the Kochi franchise. They got by with a little help from a friend, Tharoor, but that’s when their troubles – and his – began. Some important people, it seems, didn’t want them to win and allegedly went out of their way to dissuade them. They have stuck to their guns for now but it’s their books the taxmen are interested in.
Shashank Manohar: The BCCI president, and the man who is the front-runner to take over as interim IPL chairman after the ouster of Modi. Unlike the high profile that Modi has maintained, Manohar is low key, almost austere and inscrutable. A lawyer by profession, he mostly operates from his hometown of Nagpur. His biggest strengths are his simplicity and discipline – and, perhaps, his reluctance to entertain the media. Manohar has repeatedly turned down Modi’s pleas for the governing council meeting on Monday to be postponed, and his emails disagreeing with Modi over revealing ownership details of all franchises were widely publicised.

Pranab Mukherjee: The Indian government’s perennial trouble-shooter, he is also the finance minister and in charge of the two departments – income-tax and revenue – whose officials are unearthing the money trail. How far the investigations will go – and how much dirt will come out of them – is eventually his call. Pity he’s more of a football person.Sharad Pawar: He is the ICC’s president-elect, Modi’s mentor and still the most influential man in Indian cricket. Pawar was dragged into the controversy when reports alleging that his son-in-law was part of a consortium that unsuccessfully bid for a new franchise last month. He is also the federal agriculture minister, and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party and has had to defend his party colleague and aviation minister, Praful Patel, after Patel’s office was revealed to have forwarded a mail to Tharoor containing information on franchise valuations.VIP friends and family – They’ve always been part of the IPL but some of them have stayed below the radar. They are in high places – Modi’s brother-in-law owns a large part of Rajasthan Royals; his stepson-in-law owns the company that has the IPL’s media rights. Vijay Mallya’s two step-children work for the IPL, as does aviation minister Patel’s daughter.N Srinivasan: He is the BCCI secretary, owner of the Chennai Super Kings and member of the IPL governing council which has raised plenty of questions, and a lawsuit, over conflict of interest. He has defended himself on the grounds that he had sought the permission of Pawar before buying the Chennai franchise. Srinivasan called the Monday meeting of the governing council, soon after which Modi questioned his credentials to convene it.