All posts by h716a5.icu

Oops

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Oops. From an England perspective, that Test match was, at best, a blooper. A joyous occasion for a resurgent West Indies, and thus for world cricket as a whole, but, for England, a 24-carat debacle; a pure, unadulterated fiasco sandwich with lashings of farce. Even the most riotously optimistic England supporter would struggle to find more than the most lukewarm of positives to snuggle up to on these cold winter nights. And as an England fan, it is hard for me to find much humour in a situation so cricketingly bleak, especially when the rest of the cricket world is already laughing its head off.Two days after the event, English cricket is still stumbling around in a state of catatonic shock, this fresh embarrassment heaped upon its recent upheaval, which possibly explains coach Andy Flower’s almost outlandish suggestion that it is now “best to stay calm and not to have knee-jerk reactions on selection”.While I accept that it may be necessary after such a humiliation to allow sufficient time for the investigating authorities to bag and label all the evidence, I would argue that neither staying calm nor artificially fixing the selectorial knee in a rigid brace is now a sensible course of action. The selectors’ response to England’s prolonged stagnation over the last two years suggests that the knee in question is monumentally arthritic in any case – any sign that it retains some capacity at least for bending, if not full jerking, would now be welcome. If Owais Shah does not play in the second Test, he would be fully justified in rifling through Ian Bell’s bag to see if Edgy from Edgbaston possesses incriminating photographs of the selectors dressed up like Douglas Jardine and the Nawab of Pataudi at a Bodyline-themed orgy.I have detailed England’s batsmen’s diminishing returns in previous pieces. In the illusory name of loyalty, England have accepted and indulged adequacy for too long from too many, and their obstinate refusal to contemplate shuffling their batting pack from time to time has left them in the avoidably idiotic position of having a swathe of players in career slumps but no-one with more than fleeting Test experience to replace them.Bell and Cook have both shown sufficient qualities to suggest that they will be good Test players for some time, but surely both would benefit from a spell ironing out the technical and mental quirks of their games away from the pressure of international cricket, to relearn the art of building an innings in less demanding surroundings (Bell’s 199 at Lord’s against South Africa immediately followed a double century for Warwickshire). The Australian teams of recent vintage suggest that many if not most batsmen peak in their late 20s and early-to-mid 30s. For England to obsessively retain their younger players may even be to their long-term detriment.AFPWithout nostalgically longing for a return to the breakneck selectorial speed-dating of the 1980s (when attending a Test match had the added frisson that most of the spectators could entertain realistic hopes of playing in the following game), being dropped should not be a cataclysmic event. Ideally, England should reach a situation where they effectively have a squad of 16 or 17 players who can make up the match XI according to form and fitness, rather than according to from whom the ECB feels it needs to its their central contract’s money’s worth.The two most disturbing aspects of England’s performance were the familiarity of the failings – the visual and statistical evidence is clearly of a team which is not only failing to learn its lessons, but is skiving school altogether – and the increasingly disturbing dependence on Pietersen.The Hampshire Hammer is the only batsman scoring hundreds regularly (9 in his last 23 Tests, plus two 90s; by comparison, Strauss has 4 centuries in his last 26 matches, Cook 1 in 20, Bell 2 in 22, Collingwood 2 in 18, and Flintoff 1 in 35). He is also currently the only frontline batsman who is both willing and able to attack to the opposition (even Flintoff is striking less than 50 per 100 balls since his return last summer). England urgently need at least one more aggressor – too often a couple of wickets leads to a near-total scoreboard paralysis.Pietersen’s wicket is therefore now worth too much to both England and their opponents. If Alfred Hitchcock were directing the television coverage of England’s Tests, whenever Pietersen is out in a tight situation, he would cut straight to close-up shots of the widening eyes of the rest of the team, accompanied by three dramatic, discordant violin chords. (One also assumes that Hitchcock would put an end to the irritatingly excessive use of the zoom whilst the ball is in flight between bowler and batsman.)Nevertheless, from a broader cricketing perspective, this was an inspirational match in many ways, with Benn providing their best slow bowling since Gibbs, and Taylor their best spell of fast bowling since the retirements of Walsh and Ambrose ended the forty-year lineage of great Caribbean pacemen. As new dawns go, this promises to be far less false than any of recent vintage.England, however, are a team with serious, long-standing problems. So, for my second Ashes prediction, I now confidently revise my previous 2-2 forecast to a disgruntling 3-1 Australian win. The Aussies may be declining, but they can be confident that England are getting worse faster.

When overseas, England’s best batsman seems to be playing on a trampoline

Andy Zaltzman15-Mar-2013INTRIGUING KEVIN PIETERSEN STAT ALERT. Strap in, numbers fans.Kevin Pietersen made a carefully constructed and carelessly concluded 73 in Wellington, consolidating the outstanding first-day batting of Nick Compton and Jonathan Trott, before Matt Prior converted it into scoreboard dominance. England’s mercurial superstar thus recovered from a dismal game in Dunedin, in which an excusable first-innings golden duck to a fine Neil Wagner inswinger – bucking the team tactics for the innings by getting out to a good ball instead of planking a bad one straight to a fielder – was followed by a second-innings 12 that was pokier than an agoraphobic’s secret dungeon.England’s well-documented garbageous form in overseas first Tests, which now stands at a solitary victory over Bangladesh in 14 series since 2005, has coincided with Pietersen’s arrival in the team. Pietersen has played in all 14 of those Tests, averaged 29, and scored no centuries (albeit with a couple of very near misses). In the most recent four of those first Tests, he has scored 2 and 0, 3 and 30, 17 and 2, and 0 and 12.However, in few short days between the first and second Tests of away series, Pietersen locks himself in a special magic cocoon, before exploding out for the second Test, like a caterpillar who swallowed a Lancaster bomber, transmuted into an unstoppable force of batting devastation. In 14 second Tests overseas, Pietersen averages 80. He has hit six centuries – including two big ones in Ashes matches in Adelaide, a brilliant 151 in Galle, and his recent Mumbai masterpiece – plus three more half-centuries.Then, with the momentum of a series often turned England’s way, Pietersen once again dons his cloak of vulnerability, a garment he dons and discards with astonishing rapidity. In the third, fourth and fifth Tests of series: 18 matches, two hundreds, average 34. England, therefore, should drop him immediately before his inevitable comedown in Auckland. Or clonk him on the head with an anvil and hope that he forgets the Wellington Test, and plays the third Test as if it were the second.Brendon McCullum might have been out of his mind in suggesting that Alastair Cook is second only to Bradman in the annals of batting magnificence (or talking in some form of secret code to let his wife know that he had left the oven on at home), but he would have been on sounder footing to suggest that Pietersen is in fact better than Bradman. Albeit only in second Tests of series away from home. The Don averaged a paltry 78 in the second Tests of the four rubbers he played away from Baggy Greenland. (To be fair to the statistical Zeus that he was, Bradman outshone Pietersen in the latter stages of away series, averaging a useful 133 in third, fourth and fifth Tests combined.)Pietersen’s scoring in away series constitutes a curious pattern. Particularly when you compare it with his equivalent figures in Tests in England – he averages 56 in first Tests, 56 in second Tests, and 51 in third/fourth/fifth Tests. Reliable equilibrium at home. From low to high and back again like a demented Edmund Hillary everywhere else. If anyone can explain these figures, please alert Pietersen, the ECB, and the International Journal of Psychology. Some comparisons with other players in away Tests: Cook: 51 in 1st Tests; 64 in 2nd Tests; 49 in 3rd/4th/5th Tests. Strauss: 41-28-50. Trott: 47-44-44. Bell: 33-49-37. Prior 35.4-37.2-52.9 (only away 100s in 5th Tests)A random selection of other leading batsmen’s averages in second Tests overseas: Hobbs 67; Sobers 52; Richards 60; Tendulkar 59; Hutton 49; Kallis 60; Ponting 42; Dravid 52; Miandad 33; Crowe 53; Boycott 38; Greg Chappell 77. A very quick perusal of about 20 leading players found only one who outperformed Pietersen in away second Tests – Wally Hammond, who averaged 104, significantly aided an unbeaten triple in New Zealand. Pietersen is not alone in struggling in first Tests overseas. Len Hutton, arguably England’s greatest ever batsman, averaged just 27 in the opening matches of away rubbers. He seemed to warm up as series went on, however, averaging 49 in second Tests, 45 in third, 74 in fourth and 91 in fifth. This pattern was largely replicated in home Tests. Overall, his averages in each match of series ascended as follows: 36-44-58-78-85. The first innings in Wellington was the third time in four Tests in 2013 that four New Zealand bowlers have bowled 30 or more overs in an innings. They had done so just three times in their previous 113 Tests over 13 years.England’s new Balthazar of Block, Steven Finn, has now faced 304 balls and been out three times in this series. Previously in his entire first-class career, he had faced 1327 balls and been out 61 times – once every 22 balls.DRS rightly deprived Bryce Martin of Matt Prior’s wicket, which would have given him the first five-wicket innings haul by a New Zealand spinner in a home Test against England since Stephen Boock, in Auckland in 1977-78. Martin’s nine wickets so far in the first two Tests are already the joint second most by a Kiwi tweakman in a home series against England, behind Dipak Patel’s ten in the 1991-92 series. Daniel Vettori, in his three home series against England, has taken 7, 5 and 7 wickets.

Plays of the day from the IPL game between Pune Warriors and Delhi Daredevils in Pune

Siddhartha Talya19-May-2013The catch
Virender Sehwag isn’t the swiftest on the field, but has pulled off some really good catches in his career. The one that immediately comes to mind is catching Simon Katich at fine leg in Adelaide in 2004. Today, he was made to dive again and he did it well, stretching full length as he ran to snap one from Aaron Finch and plucked it inches from the ground at square leg.The innovation
It seems Raiphi Gomez has been taking lessons from AB de Villiers. Facing his first ball today, which incidentally was the last of the Pune Warriors innings, he reverse-paddled Siddarth Kaul to the third-man boundary, switching at the last moment to place the ball past the keeper. Everyone was caught unawares, chiefly the bowler who had a look of disbelief.The drop
David Warner has had a poor IPL by his standards, and he was tentative at the start of his innings today as well. In the second over of the chase, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a tempting delivery outside off that Warner edged as he tried to drive, only to be given a reprieve by Finch at slip. It was an excellent effort, though, as he dived full length to his right and almost caught hold of it with his right hand but it slipped through his fingers.The downfall
Mahela Jayawardene was well set and appeared to be anchoring Daredevils’ chase until he faced Ali Murtaza. First, he yorked himself to a full delivery from Murtuza and was fortunate not to be stumped as Robin Uthappa failed to collect. However, next ball, he chased a really wide delivery and sliced the easiest of catches to point, when he could have earned a wide had he let it be.The blow
Remember that game between India and Namibia in the 2003 World Cup, when Sachin Tendulkar smashed one back past the bowler, just to miss umpire Aleem Dar who was in the firing line? Umesh Yadav, however, thrashed one straight back at Simon Taufel today, in the final over of the game. It caught Taufel smack on the shoulder, but the umpire didn’t show any pain. He smiled at Umesh, who smiled back and held up his hand; tempers didn’t flare, though it has happened this tournament when batsmen have been at the receiving end of a wrong decision.

Matured and focused, Marlon Samuels recognises his responsibility and can now play the anchor role in his cricket and his life

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Jun-2013Marlon Samuels is still waiting for his copy of the . One of the five Cricketers of the Year, Samuels was chosen for the honour after his commanding performance during the three-Test series last May in England, where he was the top run scorer in the Wisden Trophy with one century and three fifties.It was the one of the first times Samuels had handled the responsibility of being a senior batsman. It carried much meaning for him personally because finally he made the headlines for cricketing reasons, his two-year ICC ban forgotten. Even though West Indies lost the series 2-0, Samuels dominated the formidable England bowling attack with a combination of calmness and anger.Twelve months down the line Samuels is back in England, his reputation enhanced after his heroics in the final of the World Twenty20 formed the backbone for West Indies’ first world title in nearly two decades.Yet Samuels curiously remains unconvincing in ODIs. Somehow, despite being one of the few Caribbean batsmen to possess the right combination of flair, patience and bravado, he seems to have betrayed his talent.On the handful of occasions he has succeeded, it has coincided with West Indies victories: Samuels averages 49.54 in matches West Indies have won, with all his four centuries coming in team victories. In 2012 he scored 482 runs at 32.12 from 16 ODI innings, including two centuries; his overall career average is 30.84. But in the Champions Trophy, Samuels has failed – he has scored only 71 runs from eight innings. His performance in England in ODIs is also mediocre – an aggregate of 159 runs from six innings.In West Indies’ thrilling low-scoring victory against Pakistan, Samuels made his presence felt with a valuable third-wicket partnership with Chris Gayle, scoring 30. As crucial as his innings was, Samuels failed to bolt the door shut on Pakistan and exposed the middle and lower order to some anxious moments. In terms of matches, Samuels (143 ODIs) is the third-most experienced player in the team, behind Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, but has mostly failed to perform the role of the senior statesman.Be that as it may, after his comeback from the ban, Samuels has said he now enters every ground purposefully. He even said he channels his anger at being denied international cricket for two years in a positive fashion.”I am determined to score a bit quicker, rotate the strike as much as possible,” Samuels said. “In Test cricket you spend a lot of time out there and wait for the bad balls. It is not so much of a difference batting between both formats.” According to him, conditions in England have posed the biggest hurdle. “The ball moves around. The hardest part is to get a start in England. Once you get a start, things get easy.”

As he sat by the picket fence at The Oval it was the same still nature you observed in Samuels. He can exude confidence and provide reassurance even in the deepest misery

Samuels agrees that he is well suited to perform the role of anchor better than anyone else in the team, considering he has done the same in the past. “I’m batting at four, so I’ve been carrying a lot of load for the team,” he said. “I’ll definitely continue to play that role and take a lot of responsibility. I have to bat through the innings. Depending on the situation I have to speed it up or slow it down. A lot of it is a thinking process. At the moment mine is the anchor role, so I have to bat through, but I can make up for it at the end because there are still a lot of shots that I can play at the end.”It is not just experience he is relying on. Technically he has been trying to work hard on encountering the seaming conditions prevalent in England. Like he had done before the England tour last year, Samuels revealed that he had worked extensively, playing against the taped ball.”It is a rubber ball with tape on one side,” he said. “It swings a lot. I practise with it a lot especially before I come to England. It works well for me.”You can’t just come here and bat. Last year was a big moment for me where I had to come here and score some runs. I make plans and work towards it.”Observed from a distance Samuels can come across as isolated from the pack. At The Oval, on a cold Sunday morning, Samuels sat by the picket fence below the dressing room for about half an hour, padded up, gloves in hand, exchanging banter with a team official. His non-branded bat rested like an oar by his side, even as other batsmen, including Gayle, enjoyed blasting the ball out of the ground in the distance. As Darren Bravo, taking throwdowns from Ravi Rampaul nearby, hit the ball towards him, Samuels remained unmoved, forcing Rampaul to retrieve the ball himself.It is the same stillness you see in Samuels’ stance. He can exude confidence and provide reassurance even in the deepest misery. Take the World Twenty20 final, when West Indies were 32 for 2 after ten overs. Samuels single-handedly swung the momentum with a ferocious half-century as West Indies picked 105 runs off the final ten overs. It was an assault that silenced Sri Lanka.Samuels has reiterated at every opportunity that the biggest lesson he learned from the ban was to be more responsible. And that will always stand him in good stead. “To be honest, for the last two years, being out and coming back and playing have created a lot of responsibility around me outside of cricket,” he said. “So going out there and playing the role that I’m playing right now, I find it much easier because off the field I have greater responsibility.”That includes looking after his kids and taking care of his numerous dogs. “They can’t feed themselves. I’m taking care of my entire family. I can’t afford to fail because I’m the breadwinner. For me to come out here and play the anchor role for the team, the entire Caribbean – I really enjoy it.”

Stuart Broad reflects on a summer where he has helped win the Ashes again and looks forward to trying to do it again very soon. But he knows England still have more to do to climb back up the rankings

Alan Gardner19-Sep-2013Stuart Broad appears relaxed and contented, his manner as easy as his suit is sharp. In London to present some awards at a charity event, he is happy to chat despite being delayed for several hours on the train from Nottingham. Cricketers know a fair bit about life in transit and Broad had the latest series of to divert him, as well as the comforts of first class. But still, the man who can disappear into Britain’s public transport wormhole and come out the other side looking pretty chipper must be feeling good about life.And well Broad might. Rested for the recently completed ODI series, he has had a couple of weeks to reflect on England’s 3-0 Ashes victory, during which his 22 wickets at 27.45 took him to the top of the list of Test wicket-takers for 2013. His batting, too, showed signs of renaissance, with Broad facing more balls in a series than he had since 2010, when he made his only Test century against Pakistan.Beating Australia was, he says, “really hard work”, the kind of series where “you’re just making a brew and then you lose a wicket and there is massive pressure back on”. The respite for both teams will be short, as there are just nine weeks until the sixth Test of back-to-back Ashes begins in Brisbane. But in these brief moments, Broad is able to reflect with satisfaction on a season of sustained English success in which he has played a full part.It may not have been this way. Less than a year ago, he left the tour of India with an injury that will likely affect him for the rest of his career. The one-time enforcer, England’s fast-bowling big cat had been diagnosed with a kitten heel – a lacerated fat pad for which little could be done beyond rest and careful management – and, as 2012 drew to a close, Broad knew he faced an uncertain future. His comeback began in New Zealand, where, he says, “the first ten days I was in trouble”. But he was able to gradually increase his workload, starting with the T20s and finishing the three-Test series in encouraging form. Then came Lord’s, Chester-le-Street, euphoria.”If you’d have offered me the summer we’ve had – beating New Zealand, Champions Trophy final, the Ashes and, personally, the summer I’ve had with being the leading Test wicket-taker in the world, I’d have snapped your hand off,” he says. “From where I was at Christmas, to where I am now? Delighted.”During the Ashes, Broad became the 15th Englishman to reach 200 Test wickets, fittingly with the dismissal of Michael Clarke, Australia’s captain, who alongside AB de Villiers is the batsman Broad has removed most times. Seven years since he made his England debut at 20, he may well have passed the halfway mark of his career as an international cricketer. It is, he says, “a bit weird when you get to an age where you think you have played more than you’re going to play”, but he has not begun to set targets.

“I am one of these characters who seems to thrive off a little bit of niggle, a little bit of pressure. It’s quite strange, because off the field I’m quite shy, quiet, prefer to watch a bit of TV at home, but get me on the cricket field I like it all kicking off”

Several of England’s higher peaks – Andrew Flintoff (219), Darren Gough (229), Matthew Hoggard (248) – are on the horizon. Broad now has 217 Test wickets, while his new-ball partner James Anderson is second only to Ian Botham, with 329. At the close of the 2009 Ashes, the 27-year-old Anderson had 140. “I feel I’ve learned a huge amount that I can put into hopefully my best years,” is about as far as Broad will go.”I think this year has proved my hot streaks, so to speak, are coming between shorter gaps. So I seem to be picking up wickets more regularly than I did in the past, and that’s going to come with experience, knowing how to do that. I feel excited about what I could offer the team in the next four to five years, having been through bad trots with the bat as well. So it’s an exciting time to be part of this English cricket team.”Has he yet decoded the formula behind those “Broad bursts”, the force-of-nature displays that yielded 7 for 42 against New Zealand at the start of the summer and 6 for 50 on a charged evening to seal the Ashes in Durham? Perhaps not entirely, but he says, “It is happening a bit too regularly to think that it just happens by accident.”I think that the older I get, the more I play, you realise when it’s your time. I mean, when you look through those Durham wickets, they’re not all good balls. Smith sort of dragged one on, then I was on a roll. I’d say at Lord’s I probably bowled a bit better but just didn’t have any luck – you get the plays and misses rather than the nicks. So I think with the experience of knowing that, it means that when you are not getting the wickets you can just hold and hold and make sure you’re doing your job for the team rather than panicking and thinking you’ve got to bowl wicket-taking balls.”Australia have been flamed before, one of Broad’s earliest displays of mercury helping to wrest back the urn at The Oval in 2009, and the contest clearly invigorates him. The pressure – not to mention the ambient media hothousing of every tiny issue – could be enough to cool anticipation of an immediate return series for some but Broad says England are “very fortunate” to have the opportunity to play back-to-back Ashes. Having been called a “cheat” by Darren Lehmann over his contentious non-dismissal at Trent Bridge, Broad is accustomed to the scrutiny and is ready for “a bit of a barrage” Down Under. Away from the game he is more interested in box sets but the middle is his boxing ring.”I am one of these characters who seems to thrive off a little bit of niggle, a little bit of pressure,” he says. “It’s quite strange, because off the field I’m quite shy, quiet, prefer to watch a bit of TV at home, but get me on the cricket field I like it all kicking off. So it’s something I look forward to, it will be interesting. I don’t quite know what to expect but I’m certainly not expecting cheers.”After beating Australia four years ago, England mapped the route they had to take to become the No. 1 Test side in the world. Broad says they have not yet undertaken that exercise again but there is a sense that the team, unbeaten in 13 Tests, are girding themselves once more. Australia consumes their short-term future but there is a bigger, perhaps more-important, target – and a far harder beast to bring down – that England must pursue.”I don’t think we’ll be classed as the best team in the world until we beat South Africa in a Test series,” Broad says. “For me, watching them and playing against them, I think they’re the best in the world. [Jacques] Kallis gives them a huge advantage in world cricket. The bloke’s got 288 Test wickets, averages 56. So, I don’t think as an England team we can class ourselves as the best until we play them, which schedule-wise is 2015-16.”Never one to shy away from getting under the skin of the opposition•PA PhotosIt is two winters until England next visit South Africa to take on the team who swept them aside 2-0 at home last year and left with the ICC Test mace. That, Broad says, is a shame. “Our next stepping stone to being the best team in the world has to be to beat South Africa wherever we play them. But that’s miles away, it’s too far for me to even consider.”England’s players have often spoken about how “making history” motivates them, and winning in South Africa for the first time in more than a decade is a decent-sized carrot. They will get plenty of stick in Australia over the next few months, too, but attempting to become the first England side to win four Ashes series in a row since the 19th century is, Broad believes, plenty of motivation to keep them focused on the task at hand.Broad, as Anderson and Graeme Swann have in recent days, cheerfully accepts that England did not play their best cricket in beating Australia. That, he suggests, is a reason to be confident they will hit the return series even harder. There is also a personal mission for Broad, for whom it was “heartbreaking” to have to return home from the last Ashes tour and miss out on the final three Tests, the sackings of Melbourne and Sydney and a first triumph in 24 years. The thought of playing on pacier pitches is enough to make his blue eyes twinkle again.”We’re in a good place as a team and it’s exciting to think we won a series 3-0 but know we weren’t quite there, we weren’t quite at the races all the time. Being in that changing room and knowing that we weren’t quite as good as we could be gives us every incentive to work harder, to go and win in Australia. There’s a huge hunger for that and no fan needs to be concerned that the guys won’t be properly on it.”Winning is a tricky habit to acquire, far easier to misplace and England’s capacity to grasp the important moments in a Test was evident during the summer. “We’ll find a way to win a half hour that will eventually win us the game, and you need that as a cricket team,” Broad says. An experienced team, in which four players are approaching 100 Tests, gives England a wealth of knowledge on which to draw, and that will inform the campaign ahead. As for the perception that Australia were somehow unlucky, and might have won two, three Tests had the dice fallen differently, Broad responds with a wry smile, informed by his own 62-Test career.”It could have been 5-0 to us. That’s not how sport works, is it? At the end of the day it’s a stats, result-driven business. You get judged on your results. Of course your performance is important but… That’s why I’m not a big predictions man. You look at this series coming up, no one knows what is going to happen, but you have to prepare yourself better than the opposition, you have to train, do your analysis better than the opposition to give you the best chance to win. So yeah, Australia had chances to win Test matches in England, there’s no doubt about that, but they won none. That’s the bottom line, really.”Broad’s personal balance sheet, meanwhile, looks ever more impressive.Stuart Broad was supporting the Chance to Shine campaign to keep cricket alive in schools. The Cricket Foundation’s programme has brought cricket to over two million children since 2005. Just £15 pays for a year’s coaching for one child. Donate at Chance to Shine

The groundsman from a small Kerala town topped the BCCI curators’ course this year

Nagraj Gollapudi16-Dec-2013This September, Tellicherry experienced heavy rains. Within a week the Conor Vayal ground in this central Kerala town was covered throughout by nut grass, a common weed that flourishes in summer and in the monsoons. The biggest headache for a groundsman is that the root of the nut grass grows deep and is like a bulb; there is no way to deal with it but to manually pluck it out. And as nut grass weed is in the same family as the Bermuda grass, which is the original turf at the ground, the groundsman can’t use a chemical because that would damage the whole surface.Weeks before the start of the domestic season Anoop Kumar Chandy, Conor Vayal’s head groundsman, was in a spot. Faced with time constraints, he hired 20 people to pluck out the weed within two weeks. He removed the top surface soil across the damaged sections and applied the required top dressage to restore the surface and get it match-fit.”It was very challenging,” Anoop says. But it’s the sort of feat one would expect from Anoop, who topped the BCCI’s certification course for groundsmen, held for 25 candidates between July 15 and 31 at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. The test, in which he scored 126 out of 150, involved practicals, theory as well as a viva.In the absence of any experienced international curators in his home state, much of Anoop’s knowledge is self-developed – as it is for several of the new breed of groundsmen across the country. “We often lacked information,” Anoop, who has been the head groundsman at the ground from 2006, says. “But we started working based on our knowledge gained from our day-to-day working.”At 36, Anoop is one of the youngest groundsmen in India. A diploma holder in electrical engineering from the Indian Technology Institute in Tellicherry, Anoop turned his attention to cricket in 2000 when he attended a BCCI umpires’ seminar in Tellicherry. That four-day event proved to be a catalyst as he qualified as an umpire and travelled through his home state, standing in tournaments conducted by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA).While umpiring, Anoop got curious about the “behaviour” of the pitches and wanted to dig deeper. In 2006 he attended another BCCI seminar, this time for curators in Visakhapatnam. Fascinated by the process of pitch-making as well as the intricacies of weather and soil, Anoop decided to take it up as a serious vocation. To learn more, he attended a few more seminars and field workshops conducted by Daljit Singh, the head of BCCI’s grounds and pitches committee.Daljit, the head curator at Mohali for 20-plus years, has been the chairman of the pitches committee for six terms. Worried about the quality of domestic pitches across India, Daljit wanted the groundsmen to gain certification on the lines of the umpires.The first certification course to help curators learn about the latest methods and technologies in preparing pitches took place in Mohali in 2012. In June this year Anoop was asked to attend the BCCI certification course for groundsmen in Bangalore from mid-July. Others attending included the former Baroda and India batsman Atul Bedade and experienced groundsmen like Karnataka’s Narayana Raju.In addition to the experiences shared by the members of the BCCI pitch panel, Anoop was fascinated by the lectures of professors from agricultural universities, experts on weed management, soil and sand. “We got tremendous knowledge about what happens beneath,” Anoop says. “Normally we would just focus on rolling and watering, but I had a lot of doubts. The course removed the doubts I had as I now know exactly what goes into construction of a pitch.”Daljit was impressed by Anoop’s hunger and enthusiasm. “He had made a presentation, most of which was what we usually teach and follow ourselves,” Daljit says. “I was happy with the Kerala Cricket Association, the only state to send two curators to the course this year.”Anoop is hungry to work under the guidance of Daljit or PR Viswanathan, the South Zone member of the BCCI’s Grounds and Pitches Committee, to gain more exposure. He is now trying to strike a balance between the BCCI’s preference for sporting pitches and the Kerala team management and administrators wanting a pitch favouring the home team.Of the first three matches played in Tellicherry this season, the first match against Andhra Pradesh had a batting-friendly pitch, followed by a sporting wicket against Tripura. Last week, in a must-win match for Kerala, he made a pitch that took turn right from the first over but with a good bounce for most of the match.”Attending the course taught me a lot to make pitches with different behaviour,” Anoop says. “It allowed me to think of a solution for any situation.”

Umar Akmal batted like he did against Sri Lanka on Tuesday evening, with a lot of awe-inspiring shots particularly through the on side

Mohammad Isam in Fatullah27-Feb-2014After Pakistan’s 12-run loss to Sri Lanka two days ago, Misbah-ul-Haq had rued Umar Akmal’s dismissal, which he thought was ill-timed. If there had been one more of those, against Afghanistan, Pakistan’s collapse would have spread to the tail faster and resulted in a more difficult second half of the game.In the Asia Cup opener, Akmal and Misbah added 121 runs for the fifth wicket, which took their chase to an advanced stage. Pakistan still had six wickets in hand when they entered the last 10 overs, but Akmal fell to a wide Suranga Lakmal delivery that could have been resisted even at that stage of the game. Pakistan lost their way from that point, as Misbah was unable to force the chase without a solid enforcer at the other end.On Tuesday too, Akmal did give a chance when batting on 28 but Samiullah Shenwari misjudged the skier at point. It kept Pakistan on 146 for 6, but it could have been a lot worse. It was unusual to see Akmal bat that way, despite having such a wide repertoire of shots.Some numbers also back him. Since August 2009, when he made his ODI debut, he has scored more runs than MS Dhoni among the No. 6 batsmen in matches won. In all games, Akmal is the second-highest scorer at the position during the same period, this time behind Dhoni. He averages less than Dhoni due to the Indian captain’s ability to stay unbeaten more often.It is clearly not a comparison with Dhoni but just circumstantial, and these figures demonstrate how important a batsman Akmal is to Pakistan’s one-day setup, as well as being an effective No. 6, which he displayed during his hundred.Akmal batted like he did against Sri Lanka on Tuesday evening, with a lot of awe-inspiring shots particularly through the on side. He used the bottom hand very well, particularly in the end overs. He ended up hitting seven fours and three sixes, bringing the momentum back to Pakistan.He had arrived at the crease on the back of Misbah’s comical run-out in the 24th over. He saw Sohaib Maqsood and Shahid Afridi hand more advantage to Afghanistan, but with Anwar Ali, Akmal wrested back the control.Akmal added 60 runs with Anwar for the seventh wicket and another 40 for the eighth wicket with Umar Gul. It helped setup a final thrust, which got them 48 runs in the last five overs.For a batting line-up that was in tatters before the 30th over, the last push was invaluable. Right at the end, Akmal decided to play out the final over, which enabled him to reach his second ODI hundred too. He celebrated long and hard upon reaching the landmark, which would definitely seem out of place for an innings against a less-experienced bowling attack.But it was a personal triumph for Akmal, having now corrected his mistake that was so crucial in the defeat to Sri Lanka. This time he didn’t disappoint his captain with a silly shot, sometimes that can be a big enough triumph.

Ian Butler talks about his highs and lows, the thrill of playing at Otago, and the biggest dressing-room joker he’s seen

Interview by Jack Wilson30-Mar-2014You were told ten years ago you would never bowl again. It looks like they got that one wrong, doesn’t it?
It just shows that what is the medically “normal” diagnosis of an injury can be worked through. Maybe my back wasn’t in a great shape but over the last few years it hasn’t got any worse – and I know how to manage it.When you came into the New Zealand side you were replacing Shane Bond, one of the country’s greatest bowlers. How difficult was it to fill his shoes at such a young age?
In no way did I ever fill them. He was a superb bowler and was one of the players I aspired to emulate. The biggest issue was learning for my first few years of cricket at the international level. I had played two List A games and three first-class games when I was picked. I had no idea about how to play any form of cricket. I didn’t know my game and to say I was very fresh was an understatement.In a way, I’m glad NZC has built such depth as the youngsters now hopefully will get two or three years to learn how to bowl through playing. Only by learning from different experiences at first-class level can you build a game that will withstand international cricket.How close were you – or are you – to walking away from New Zealand to play county cricket over in England?
That’s something I have to consider. We have such depth now that maybe it’s an option, a fresh challenge that can sometimes stimulate that never-ending search to be the best you can be. In the early days it wasn’t even something that crossed my mind as you always dream of representing your country against the best in the world.What would be the toughest thing about doing that?
Leaving the culture we have got at Otago cricket. They are great people throughout, from the players to the staff.Your New Zealand debut came in 2002 – and your last game was last year. Were there times during that 11-year period when you wondered if you’d ever play again?
Lots. The doubts are part of any sport. My way through that is to focus on the steps. You must prove your worth to get picked at provincial level, and with the wickets we play on in New Zealand and the boundary sizes, it’s a tough game as a bowler. In a way, now you can relax. If you do the job and contribute to a successful team on and off the field then you give yourself a chance of higher honours.How do you see your international future now?
No one ever gives up. Before the hiccup this summer I was in the ODI and T20 side, but with the emergence of so many quality allrounders and seamers, I’m probably behind the eight ball. I can’t control the players in front of me so I just focus on what I can do to help Otago win games.Pick the highlight of your career so far.
The Test series win in West Indies with Bondy and [Daryl] Tuffey was pretty special. Also, the Volts’ 16-game T20 winning streak through our domestic competition and into the Champions League was amazing to be a part of. They are a great bunch of guys with so much talent and belief. We managed to win games from positions we shouldn’t have.You have played Tests, ODIs, T20s and four-day cricket. What form of the game do you enjoy most?
I would say Tests. Sadly I played too early to have a good record, and got injured just as I started to understand my game – but it’s the pinnacle and what the best are remembered by.Who is the best coach you have ever worked under?
Mike Hesson and John Bracewell were two that stood out to me. Sadly Braces had me as a young tearaway and probably tore his hair out! The strength of both of them was man-management. Coaching at the elite level isn’t so much technical, it’s about working out how 15 different players need to be treated to maximise performance. Hess outlined my roles well and gave me confidence to play them without fear. Bowling at the death and batting in clutch situations in limited-overs games requires that.And who is the best captain you have played under?
Baz [Brendon McCullum] is awesome for his aggression and no fear. He always wants you to take the foot-forward option and if you back your plan he will too. I also enjoyed Dan’s [Daniel Vettori] captaincy. He has a great cricket brain and didn’t say much. When he did it was always spot on.Who has been the biggest dressing-room joker you’ve played with?
Chris Harris. What a legend. There was never a boring second with him around. He’d always be trying to kick some object a metre above eye level. One moment of hilarity that sticks was him in India throwing biscuits up into the circulating fan blades. The changing room was covered in biscuit particles. Harry thought this was great fun until he was told to clean it all up.And who has had the worst banter in any dressing room you’ve been in?
Scott Styris. He’s a constant chatterer about cricket trivia questions that he is the answer to.What would you rather do: be hit by six Brett Lee bouncers or to be dump-tackled by Richie McCaw?
Neither appeal, really. I’ll go with the tackle and hope the ground is soft.Which of your team-mates past or present is the best fun on a night out?
Daryl Tuffey. He’s the world’s best player of the coin-game Spoof. Aaron Redmond has an obsession with anyone owning a snapback cap. Maybe it’s to cover the hint of a comb-over.Who would be the last at the bar to get a round in?
Scott Styris. He’s the clear winner.

Plays of the day for the match between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings in Cuttack

Kanishkaa Balachandran07-May-2014The bridge
Chennai Super Kings have set high standards in the field so far, and tonight a couple of sharp saves by Ravindra Jadeja at backward point was testament to that. However, one fumble by Dwayne Smith at the boundary stood out like a sore thumb. He moved to his right from long-off to cut off a cover drive from David Miller but failed to bend down in time to stop it. The ball went under the bridge and rolled to the rope. It wasn’t the only fumble during the innings though.The catches
Glenn Maxwell was not offering catches inside the boundary, but beyond the rope everyone had to be alert. He made Smith pay for bowling length in the style best known to him – turn around and play the reverse hit. On two occasions in one over, Maxwell made a mockery of Smith by playing the reverse pull over third man and there was much joy for the ball boy patrolling the rope who took the catch comfortably. The young man, who had his 15 seconds of fame, had a proud smile for the cameras. Three balls later, Maxwell played the same shot but this time his team-mate Rishi Dhawan was forced out of the comfort of the dug-out to take the catch. And he was more than happy to take it.The indulgence
Maxwell did eventually fall to a catch within the rope. Mohit Sharma bowled a slower ball that Maxwell looked to slog over deep midwicket but Jadeja caught it comfortably a few yards in front of the rope. The momentum caused him to back-pedal a step, but he decided to indulge himself a bit by deliberately jogging back a couple of steps more. He then dangled his feet in the air outside the boundary rope, with the ball still in his hands. His antics made Maxwell pause for a few seconds before walking back.The direct hit
Mitchell Johnson may not have made early inroads with the ball, but he wasn’t going to miss out on the field when the opportunity arose. Faf du Plessis clipped the ball towards midwicket and looked to pinch a second run but Brendon McCullum was always under pressure because Johnson was targeting the bowler’s end. Johnson had just one stump to aim at from behind midwicket and fired a flat throw at the stumps. The bowler Murali Kartik wisely opted not to collect the ball first and McCullum, oddly with helmet in hand, was ball-watching and saw it strike the stumps still a yard short. It left Super Kings 98 for 4 with a required rate of 16.75.

Peter Willey feels he has two years left in him and isn’t prepared to turn to his other love just yet

Ivo Tennant01-Sep-2014Peter Willey is having a beer – only one, mind – in the Robin Smith Suite at the Ageas Bowl, following another long day of officiating in the middle. He has played and umpired in first-class cricket for nearly half a century and yet does not look remotely ready for retirement. Mooching around is not for him. On his days off, of which there are all too few given the amount of travelling to and from fixtures that has to be undertaken, he is in the gym or enjoying his other favourite pursuit, fishing.Nor does Willey intend on retiring, even though he turns 65 in December. That is the stipulated end-of-career age for first-class umpires in England, but he and George Sharp, an old Northamptonshire colleague, are taking the ECB to a tribunal on account of the employment laws having changed in 2011. Should they win their case – the date of the hearing should be set within the next fortnight – there will be nothing to prevent umpires continuing into old age, assuming they pass the fitness tests which are already in place.Willey and Sharp are being advised by Prospect, the union affiliated to the TUC, who have acted for football referees and their assistants in the past. The stance that will be taken by Alan Leighton, the national secretary, is that they do not wish to block the advancement of players who wish to take up umpiring in their mid-‘thirties, but that a system should be created whereby the least well-performing officials could be taken off the list each year. Even if this could throw up further legal problems.So does Willey, the epitome of the muscular, silent sportsman whose very stare is sufficient to sort out any miscreants, regard himself as a rampant union man? “Not at all. I am not political. People say I’m a miserable person but I’m not. I just want the game played properly. I am a happy bloke inside. So long as no-one bothers me and my family, or pisses them off, I am okay.”There will be no bitter feelings towards the ECB if George and I don’t win our case. They have been very good to me and I have been lucky to have been paid as much as I have and have the winters off. I would not change anything if I could start all over again at the age of 16. I realise that if I went to the ECB and said I want to carry on umpiring until I drop dead, that would be stupid. But I could do another couple of years – not for the money, but to stay involved in the game. If not, I’ll go fishing. I don’t want to do any cricket committee or PCA work,” he said.”Not every umpire wants to stay on and not everyone wants me to, anyway. But we have regular health checks and if anyone develops an eyesight problem, that can be corrected. What is more tiring is all the long distance travelling we have had of late for 50-over matches. At least where I live, Northamptonshire, is ideal for getting around the country.”Willey will freely admit that his public persona has been of help to him as an umpire. But, he insists, he has not played on it. Stories of him arm-wrestling Ian Botham are mythological. “I have never done that. I have lost my temper only twice, and both times away from sport. No-one has really given me a hard time and I can spot a potential problem building up. Players respect umpires in county cricket and I believe the standard is excellent.”At Test level, the match referees need to be stronger. The Anderson and Jadeja incident at Trent Bridge was a case in point. Instances like that can’t be good for the game and nor is the involvement of lawyers. In international matches, if an umpire upsets too many people, he will be out of a job. A lot of international umpires don’t want to jeopardise their jobs by slapping wrists. How strong is the ICC? Darrell Hair was an umpire who did his job properly. He knew there was ball-tampering going on,” Willey said.The standards Willey maintains on and off the field were inculcated when he began in the game in the 1960s. “I remember appealing when in the field for Northamptonshire at mid off and the Gloucestershire captain, Tony Brown, gave me a bollocking. Now, if the 12th man doesn’t appeal, there is thought to be something wrong. I have played and umpired in more than 1600 matches, which I suppose could be a record. I was lucky enough to be born with a talent. Cricket is all I have ever wanted to do.”The ECB, who have negotiated with Willey and Sharp throughout the summer, will take the viewpoint at the forthcoming tribunal that the progression of young umpires should not be blocked by individuals remaining in the game beyond 65. But Leighton said: “I find it very odd that umpires who are performing perfectly well should be removed from the list.”Several members of the first-class panel pay a subscription to Prospect to be represented in any dispute, although it was Willey’s own initiative to try to stay in the game through recent employment legislation. If the Hair tribunal hearing in 2007, involving prominent administrators and theatrical lawyers, is anything to go by, we are in for fascinating theatre.