After the misery of Sydney, Perth provided an enthralling and rewarding day of Test cricket when the focus returned to the contest between bat and ball

Sambit Bal at the WACA16-Jan-2008

The manner in which Dravid has battled his way back, over by over, innings by innings, should be an inspiration to anyone struggling with form © Getty Images
It was in keeping with the script of the day that Rahul Dravid played an uncharacteristic swipe to effect his dismissal and tilt the momentum, in fine balance at that point, in Australia’s favour. After the misery of Sydney, Perth provided an enthralling and rewarding day of Test cricket when the focus returned to the contest between bat and ball.It didn’t quite pan out as expected, though. The build-up to the Test had been breathless with everyone from the curator to former players to newcomers talking up Perth’s restoration to its former fiery glory. The speed gun kept crossing 150 when Brett Lee had the new ball but, one hour into the second session, the field placements told the story.Mitchell Johnson had gone back to his run-denying line, a foot or two outside the off stump with a seven-two field; Shaun Tait returned to bowl with point on the fence; Ricky Ponting stood at short mid-on to Andrew Symonds’ gentle medium-pacers. By tea, Symonds and Michael Clarke were bowling spin at both ends. Even the breeze was blowing in the wrong direction, from south-east instead of south-west.But drama wasn’t lacking. Virender Sehwag announced his return to Tests with a series of swishes that got India off to an explosive start, Brett Lee then bowled an outstanding spell to bring Australia back, only for two batting masters, playing in contrasting manners, to take over.Rahul Dravid’s struggle in the earlier matches has been one of the most fascinating stories of the series. A man of lesser character would have wilted, but the manner in which Dravid has battled his way back, over by over, innings by innings, should be an inspiration to anyone struggling with form. He had the good fortune of being dropped early today but with the innings’ progression emerged the man who scored 619 runs in his previous series here.The manner of his dismissal will dominate the reports tomorrow and it will perhaps grate him the most but in the circumstances and in the context of the match, he played a splendid innings. As always, he was assured against the short ball, either swaying away or getting on the top of the ball and dropping it down, but the key to succeeding on bouncy pitches often lies in how a batsman responds to the full ball and Dravid’s driving through the covers and down the wicket was flawless. It would have been a century to cherish and perhaps the anxiety to get to it quickly induced that stroke.Of course he was indebted to Sachin Tendulkar, who is now batting as well as he ever has. His innings was constructed as much on skill as on cleverness. His greatness is based on balance and versatility and today he displayed both. The Australians had apparently spotted a weakness in his response to the short ball, and it was clear from the beginning not too many would be offered for him to drive. And so he devised his response. Something ought to be done about the slow over-rates. Fines have just not worked. Ian Chappell advocates banning the captain but there might be a even better deterrent. Hit them where it hurts the most by docking them for runs.A few of his early slashes would fool late-comers into thinking Sehwag was still at the crease but followers of Indian cricket would remember it was Tendulkar who showed the way at Bloemfontein in 2001, when Sehwag was a wide-eyed apprentice. Today, if the ball was short and outside off stump, it was evident that Tendulkar would try to hit over the slips for four. A couple of his slashes were edged but the ball was never in danger of being caught. The best of them, though, was manufactured almost after the ball had passed his nose. A short one from Lee followed him as Tendulkar looked to sway out of the way and when it got too close to him, he brought the bat below the ball and gently directed it over the cordon. It was inventive, deft and touched with genius.Not until he got to 64 did Tendulkar hit a four in front of square on the offside, and it was a glorious cover-drive played off Stuart Clark, front foot stretching forward, the upper body leaning in to give the stroke force, and the front shoulder rotating to give it direction. Sixteen years ago he had played a lone and glorious hand at this ground as his seniors crumbled around him; this Indian batting line-up is far more solid but, once again, Tendulkar was the guiding light on the day that could have gone horribly wrong for India. A rough decision and a brilliant over from Lee denied him his second successive hundred at the WACA but it wasn’t until Dravid’s dismissal that the wheel started turning in Australia’s favour.

Brett Lee was outstanding, bowling in the off-stump channel, the wind blowing across his right shoulder, generating a lovely away curve at good pace © Getty Images
Perhaps even the Australians had been misled about the pitch. To add to it, their big weapon, Shaun Tait, failed to fire. Either he was too eager, or too underdone, or perhaps both. He is yet to add variety to his bowling and once the Indians started going they picked him easily for runs. Lee was outstanding, bowling in the off-stump channel, the wind blowing across his right shoulder, generating a lovely away curve at good pace. He could have got Sehwag early, had a catch dropped off Dravid and he alone troubled Tendulkar. Responsibility now sits handsomely on his shoulders.His dismissal of Laxman in the dying moments of the day gave Australia the edge. At start of the innings, they would have expected to knock India out for under 300. After the experience of the first two sessions, they will take 350. For India, the challenge is to push towards 400.An excellent day was, however, marred by hopeless over-rates. The Sydney Test was blighted by all sorts of unsavoury incidents but one offence, committed by both teams in the series so far, is the speed at which the bowlers have gone about their job. When India last toured Australia Sourav Ganguly came close to a ban for failing to keep the over-rate up to speed but on this tour the matter hasn’t even come on the radar.A 90-over stipulation was put in place to rein in the West Indians, who, it was argued, were gaining an unfair advantage by bowling their battery of fast bowlers leisurely. The decision to play with four quick bowlers in Perth was Australia’s and so was the onus to keep it moving. They were found shockingly lacking. They bowled 12 overs in each of the first two hours, 13 in the third, 14 in the fourth, and the second new ball wasn’t due until after ten minutes of the scheduled close of play. That is an unacceptable breach of playing conditions.Something ought to be done. Fines have just not worked. Ian Chappell advocates banning the captain but there might be a even better deterrent. Hit them where it hurts the most by docking them for runs. See how no-balls have become scarce in Twenty20 after they introduced the free hit.

Despite the current political crisis, Zimbabwe and Pakistan both need next month’s tour to go ahead

Steven Price in Harare28-Dec-2007Speculation that Zimbabwe will reconsider the wisdom of going ahead with their tour of Pakistan following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto assumes that Zimbabwe are as safety conscious as other most Full Member countries. The reality is that cancellation is that last thing on the minds of Zimbabwe Cricket at the moment.Over the last four years Zimbabwe has constantly played down suggestions that it is an unsafe destination for tours or that the political situation is such that it would be wrong for sides to visit. It would be the height of hypocrisy for those in charge to now turn round and use those same arguments against Pakistan, however different the reality of their two situations might be.In inviting Zimbabwe to tour at all the Pakistan board took a leap of faith as there is no way such a series makes economic sense. For Zimbabwe Cricket, such invitations are few and far between and to snub it now, however understandable the reasons, might leave the team in limbo for some time.It is vital to the Pakistan board, too, that Zimbabwe go ahead with the tour because hot on their heels come Australia. If Zimbabwe argue that the situation is too unsafe for them to proceed then the chances of the Australian tour happening reduce significantly. It’s looking shaky even now. The financial implications of that to the cash-strapped Pakistan board are huge.Zimbabwe Cricket has relied on the support of the Asian countries in its ongoing battle to maintain Full Member status, and it is aware that it cannot afford to rattle that alliance. That Zimbabwe remain at cricket’s top table is more to do with behind-the-scenes politics than cricket-related arguments. With Peter Chingoka, the Zimbabwe Cricket chairman, facing the results of a potentially devastating forensic audit when the ICC next meets, he needs friends badly.The only way the tour will not go ahead is for the ICC to step in and, using its own security advisors, rule that the situation inside Pakistan is too unstable. That would be a blow to both boards even though from what we know so far it may well be the common sense solution.Since when, though, has common sense been a factor?

In an age obsessed with speed, Ramesh Powar is charmingly headed the other way. Siddhartha Vaidyanathan met him

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan07-Sep-2007

Powar gets another victim with sheer lack of pace © Getty Images
It’s said that some cricketers belong to a different era. Ramesh Powar belongs to a different century.He is from an age when cricketers came in different shapes and sizes, wore outsized red sunglasses and delectable hair bands, and bowled slow, really slow. We’ve heard about the adrenalin rushes, speed barriers and shoulder-aches that the fastest bowlers experience. Now it’s time to celebrate the slowest among the slow.Over his last five games Powar has defied the modern notion that bowling in one-day cricket is about restriction. In a high-scoring series he has rarely darted the ball in at a flat trajectory, never beaten batsmen with speed. He has wound the clock back to the golden age of cricket, the Edwardian twilight preceding the first World War, and risked conceding runs for wicket-taking rewards. Expectedly he has got wickets (six in five games); surprisingly he has been economical (4.41). Only Andrew Flintoff, who has played two games fewer, has done better.A ten-minute chat with Saqlain Mushtaq, when the Indians played Sussex during the early part of the tour, made a big impact. Powar was fretting over not getting any of the Indian batsmen out in the nets. Saqlain’s advice was simple: “If you succeed in making these guys defend you, then you are bowling very well. Don’t think of getting a Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid out. Even if you are able to bother them in the nets, it’s good enough.”Powar has grown in confidence with every game since, so much so that he has not hesitated in slowing down his pace considerably. He usually operates in the 45-to-55 mph range. Occasionally, especially when he bowls the undercutter that goes straight, he gets slightly faster. More often, when he simply lobs up a moon-ball that goes straight, he gets slower. Once he dropped as low as 41mph. He admits it’s his slowest phase yet but, fascinatingly, thinks he can “easily get slower”.At Edgbaston, in the third game of the series, brought on in the 16th over, with Ian Bell and Alastair Cook at the crease, Powar slipped in a really slow one and nailed Cook on the top-edged sweep.”In the third game it struck me that if I bowl a little slower, they might sweep,” he said. “I knew they wouldn’t try to hit over the fence because they rely on batsmen like KP [Pietersen] and Bell to stay at the wicket. They couldn’t afford to take many chances. So I’ve been taking chances against Cook, Bell, [Paul] Collingwood and Pietersen.”It’s helped that Powar is usually operating with Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, who is comparatively faster. “It always helps with Piyush bowling at the other end, because the batsmen tend to always go after those bowling quicker. So, suddenly when the slower bowlers come on, it becomes difficult for them to work around it. And with my kind of pace, I don’t think they can do that easily.”Does he think he can slow it down further? “For left-handers I might go a lot slower because they play against the spin. For right-handers I think it’s fine. Because I’m an open-chested bowler, I can adjust my action easily. I deliver the ball behind my ear and lose pace since I am a side-arm bowler. And since I’ve been bowling like this for seven-eight years, I know how to lose pace with the same action. Sometimes you don’t tweak the wrist – just let it go. Sometimes you hold the ball in the palm, sometimes you hold it in two fingers rather than three. There are a lot of ways to lose pace and I’ve worked on different methods in the nets.” He usually operates in the 45-to-55 mph range. Often, when he simply lobs up a moon-ball that goes straight, he gets slower. Once he dropped as low as 41mph. He admits it’s his slowest phase yet but, fascinatingly, thinks he can ‘easily get slower’ Powar’s Headingley dismissal of Ravi Bopara, one of England’s best batsmen against spin, underlined the value of pace variations. Two quick ones, at around the 55mph mark, were followed by a straight dolly, lobbed up at 42.4mph. Bopara, completely deceived, popped a simple return catch.”They had changed the ball just then,” Powar said. “It was a newish ball and I knew that tossing it up may help getting some bounce. Maybe he didn’t expect it to spin or bounce that much. There was not much spin but some extra bounce.”Powar anticipates the batsmen’s intentions much better these days. He has always been a shrewd bowler but thinks his gut feel pays off more often these days. Paul Collingwood’s case is worth mentioning. “Collingwood always played the chip shot against me [lobbing over midwicket]. So I decided not to bowl any offbreaks that will help that chip shot. In ten balls I will probably bowl seven straight balls to him. I’m guessing better right now.”The straight one which he utilises so effectively was mastered by watching a great legspinner on television. “I learned that delivery watching Shane Warne bowl. I used to try it earlier also but it used to spin a bit. That’s maybe because at the Wankhede anything spins. When I tried it here in England at the beginning of the tour, it was going straight really well. I don’t know whether the release has changed slightly but it is working. That’s all that matters.”Powar’s trade requires him to bide his time and wait for success. His philosophy in life – one that has seen its fair share of tribulation – is similar. “I’m not the kind who wants success every day,” he says sombrely. “I’ve seen life in and out. So success and failure in a game shouldn’t be taken too seriously.” It’s a perspective that has made Powar the cricketer he is. It’s also helping him become the bowler he wants to be.

Good at controlling the controllables? Bitter about those he could not command? Dysfunctional in routine human dealings? A 50-minute interview with Duncan Fletcher doesn’t necessarily answer the questions

Matthew Engel12-Jan-2008

Once given control, he can be a highly effective, indeed exceptional, leader. Inside the England camp, surrounded by subordinates, he was able to pretend he was not in control at all © Getty Images

Four days after our interview I lay awake trying to puzzle out the mystery of one of the strangest men I have ever come across, certainly in cricket. How on earth can one explain Duncan Fletcher?And then it hit me. The key to his character was in the last place one usually looks to understand a cricketer: his ghosted autobiography. It is a seemingly innocuous passage on page 133 of , going back to his days captaining Zimbabwe.”Being an allrounder, I was worried that I might not be able to spend as much time on my game as I wanted, so I asked for a coach to be appointed above me.”So in came Peter Carlstein, the former Rhodesian batsman who had played eight Tests for South Africa, but within five or six net sessions I realised there was a serious problem, because nobody knew who was really in charge. In no sport can the player have two bosses …”His interpretation, according to the book, was simple: “The captain is always the boss, the managing director.” That is not precisely how I interpret it. Let us phrase it slightly differently: Duncan likes to be the boss, whatever the situation.Once given that control, he can be a highly effective, indeed exceptional, leader. Inside the England camp, surrounded by subordinates, he was able to pretend he was not in control at all. It allowed him to work effectively with his captains (all bar one, anyway), to let his players express themselves, to give way to colleagues’ opinions and to acquire his reputation for self effacement.But his dealings with those he could not ultimately command, those who did not necessarily accept Fletcher’s own valuation of himself, were always fraught and, as we now know, left him very bitter. Hence this ill-tempered, ill-judged book, a work whose tone was accurately conveyed by the newspaper serialisation.It was a week when the effects of the serialisation were still reverberating. Fletcher had just been called “paranoid” by Mike Atherton and “pathetic” by Angus Fraser; and they were among the kinder judges. We were due to meet in a hotel coffee shop at 10.30 for a 50-minute interview. I arrived 15 minutes early but was immediately hustled in as if I were late.There was no by-your-leave. I did not expect to be given the benefit of the extra time and so was not disappointed. The pleasantries were perfunctory and there was no suggestion of coffee (he refused on my behalf). It was exactly like his England press conferences.Six months out of the job, Fletcher was dressed as if for a round of golf: he looked fitter, slimmer, far less jowly than the Rod Steiger figure depicted on the book’s dust jacket. I remarked that the photo did not do him justice. He did not smile.And yet he is not an evasive interviewee. He answers questions, again as he did in his press conferences. But there is something not right: it has puzzled me for years. It is partly the refusal to make eye contact.But mainly it is the tone. He addresses people like a disillusioned schoolteacher restating the bleeding obvious to a recalcitrant class for the umpteenth time. One imagines that is how he talked to Boycott, Botham, Blofeld, Graveney, Marsh, Tim Lamb, Barry Jarman and all the others on whom he avenges himself in the book.We talked a bit about the role of coaches, who seem to me to be overblamed and overpraised. He agreed with that. “There are a lot of attributes. You have to understand the biomechanics, how the body works, because you can only move in a certain way and each person is slightly different. And you have to understand the mental aspects.”But international teams can get by without coaching? “It just adds a little bit of everything,” he replied. “Fifty or 60 years ago there were no consultants in business. It’s exactly the same in cricket. The game’s gone forward.”

	The pleasantries were perfunctory and there was no suggestion of coffee (he refused on my behalf). It was exactly like his England press conferences

It is unquantifiable, though, isn’t it? “It’s very hard to explain. During the dips you have a bigger role. If the players go off at a tangent, you have to get them back where you want them to be.” The captain is the boss, though, and you are the consultant? Here he touched on the Carlstein story. “That’s how I see the job, wherever I’ve been. The captain is still in charge. That’s unique to cricket. He’s the one in the heat of battle. I think it’s crucial that the captain is boss of the side.”But surely you insisted on being in charge? The captain has far less power now, doesn’t he?He wavered here. “The final say was between me and the captain. That’s why it’s so important that the relationship was so good.”But you wanted to be the boss and got very prickly if you were not recognised as such? There is an incident in the book when Jarman, as a match referee, gets up Fletcher’s nose by refusing to recognise his authority and insisting on speaking to Phil Neale,
who had the title of manager.”I think on the administrative side the coach has the final say.” I said that on past England tours what he calls “old-fashioned
managers” had far less power than he had. “The captain is in charge. I keep saying,” he replies. Then he looks at his watch, not for the last time.We move on to his father, whom he describes in the book as “a pillar of authority, decency and common sense”. Is that what you strive to be? “I hope I’m someone like that. He didn’t impose himself on things and shrunk from the limelight.” Do you have a sense of humour? “Yes, if I get to know someone and trust them. A sense of fun has been part of every team I’ve been involved with.” They say you enjoy practical jokes, I remarked. “I enjoy practical jokes.”Yet there was the incident when he was with Glamorgan when Robert Croft snipped Fletcher’s socks. He did not think that was funny and gets very pompous about it in the book. “Ach, cutting people’s socks and ties. That’s a person’s clothing. You don’t do things like that. You just don’t. There are practical jokes and practical jokes.”So you have got a sense of humour? “You can speak to other people.” He smiled now, for the first and only time. “The people you play with, you’re going to war with them. Humour’s very important.” Did you learn that in the Rhodesian army? “Nah. When you go to play international sport, it’s a battle.” This is odd. Ex-soldiers are normally cautious about applying military metaphors to more trivial matters.There is another striking passage in the book, understandably overlooked in the furore, about how he had bombed out a Glamorgan fringe player called Phil North, who had been out late, upset his roomie and then turned up at the ground late too. “I was never afraid to make tough decisions like that,” he adds, throwing in the expulsion of players called Cecil Grimmer, whom he actually sent off the field in a club match, and Grant Paterson, who made faces behind Fletcher’s back.You did not take the tough decision when Andrew Flintoff turned up drunk in Australia? “There was more than one decision to make. One decision was: ‘Yes, he’d done wrong.’ But the other was that it would have affected the performance of the cricket team. My feeling at the end of the day was that going public would have disrupted a side under fire. Not bringing it out into the open might have helped them win that trophy.”

“There was more than one decision to make. One decision was: ‘Yes, he’d done wrong.’ But the other was that it would have affected the performance of the cricket team. My feeling at the end of the day was that going public would have disrupted a side under fire.” © Getty Images

You can make tough decisions for North, Grimmer and Paterson, but not for Flintoff? “It’s a totally different situation, because that’s not upsetting the side.” So why reveal it now? “I felt let down.”It is hard on cricketers, isn’t it? We agreed that there were far too many games. No one can spend a long career playing in every single England game, can one? “No, but you can’t pick and choose. You’re part of a team. All for one and one for all. It’s got worse the last two or three years and you have to start to look at that. But you can’t say, ‘I’ll go there, I won’t go there.'”So who decides when players should take a rest? “You’d discuss it with the sports psychiatrist and you’d speak to the trainer. Then you’d make a decision. At the end of the day you’re in charge and you’re accountable.” So the coach is in charge? “At the end of the day it’s the coach’s decision.”Ah!It was 10.55 and Fletcher’s PR man was looking at his watch too. Early in, early out. Do you feel better now you have written the book? “I feel better for putting my side of the story.” He was fidgeting with his mobile now.”I was just trying to put my version of events. When you write a book, it’s very hard to know how it’s going to be interpreted. People may think I’m being personal, but I’m not. I could have been more guarded, but then that would have been misinterpreted too. People would have said I was glossing things over.”Do you feel better now? “I feel better for putting my side of the story.”I said I got the feeling that if anyone was not in Fletcher’s team, and directly under his control, or did not provide exactly what Fletcher wanted, he resented them, people like Lamb and Graveney.”That’s my point. These people didn’t protect me.” Do you think you have enhanced your reputation? “I was just putting my side of the story.”It was 11.05 and the PR man was edging forward now. I got the message. After I grasped the significance of Carlstein, it also occurred to me that Fletcher’s weirdness – and that is the word – must have something to do with his background.Here is a man who can operate brilliantly when placed at the top of a hierarchy, but is almost wholly dysfunctional in routine human dealings. The Wisden Cricketer had been invited by him to help plug his book, yet he was incapable of adding the tiniest dusting of charm or even good manners to the occasion to assist the process.I wondered whether this might have something to do with being brought up in Rhodesia, a society that was both hierarchical and dysfunctional. Sorting that out would require many more sessions with Fletcher, possibly with Mike Brearley in attendance. I think all concerned would choose to pass on that.”How many more interviews have you got today?” I asked the PR man lightly. “Plenty,” he smiled. “Cheers now,” said Duncan. That was not a pleasantry, it was a dismissal. He was still not smiling.

That action, that guile: just 14, Usman Qadir is a chip off the old block and looks set to go far

Shahid Hashmi09-Mar-2008

	His father’s action: Usman Qadir © PCB

Fourteen-year-old Usman Qadir makes the expression “like father, like son” seem an understatement. In his bowling he is the spitting image of his father, the legendary legspinner Abdul Qadir. Amazing it is for one so young to bowl six accurate deliveries across 22 yards; more so for him to not just bowl an immaculate length but also have all the tricks a leggie can boast of.Usman was one of the star attractions in the recently-concluded PCB Under-16 regional competition. He took 5 for 37 against Karachi to anchor Lahore’s win in the semi-final, and then two wickets in the win over Islamabad in the final, finishing with 13 wickets – second-best in the competition.More than his figures, it was the unmistakable Qadir action that caught the eye. It is not strange for little boys to want to grow up to be like their fathers. And in this case, a whole generation grew up on Qadir’s legendary bowling in the 1980s. But with his peculiar action, Abdul has always been tough to imitate. Usman, though, has the bloodlines. At eight he began to copy, frame by frame, his father’s bowling action from videos. He now possesses the sharp look Abdul used to give batsmen, and the same sharp disguise in his bowling.”People say that I have taken a leaf out of my father’s book, and they are right,” says Usman, who would sit in front of the television for hours, watching his father’s matches, etching the pictures into his memory. He would even dream of his father bowling.”The basic lesson I got was to bowl an off-stump line so that I could perfect the googly, which is always dangerous if a legspinner maintains the off-stump line,” he says, giving an imaginary ball a rip.Abdul was a hard taskmaster. “I invited his wrath whenever I bowled the wrong length,” says Usman, who is in the seventh grade at the Cathedral School in Lahore. “My father helped me develop a bowling action, but he always told me that education came first.”Before he took the youngest of his four sons under his wing, Abdul initially tried to dissuade him. “Yes, I did try to stop him from playing cricket,” he says. “I would call it my bad luck that all my sons took to cricket despite my advice, because cricketers’ sons have never been treated properly in Pakistan.”Rehman the eldest, was a better batsman than he was a legspinner. He played for National Bank but failed to make it to the top. Imran then followed in his father’s footsteps, and almost filled his shoes as a legspinner, before a dust allergy impeded his career. Both Rehman and Imran feature in league cricket in England regularly and earn their livings there.Next came Sulaman Qadir. He was different in style and better in achievement. An offspinner and combative batsman, Sulaman was the vice-captain of the team that won the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2004. He didn’t get a chance at national level, though, which irks his father no end. “Sulaman hit a hundred on first-class debut, and despite Shaharyar Khan promising to give him a side match, he was overlooked.”

	I don’t exaggerate, but in his early days Shane Warne didn’t bowl a googly as perfect as Usman does Abdul Qadir

More than his sons’ talent or lack of it, it was perhaps Qadir’s propensity for calling a spade a spade and rubbing the establishment up the wrong way that damaged the boys’ prospects. Usman is yet to reach the stage where his career could be halted in similar fashion, but he is aware of what befell his brothers. “Dad told me that he would only help me master the art and would never go to anyone to beg for a place for me,” he says.Abdul for his part is full of praise for his youngest. “It is not that he was dearer than other sons, but his devotion and ability to pick up a lesson amazed me,” he says. “In a short time Usman has learned all the three frames [according to Qadir senior, every batsman has three frames of motion which bowlers identify and exploit] of a right-hand and a left-hand batsman. I don’t exaggerate: in his early days Shane Warne didn’t bowl a googly as perfect as Usman does.”The boy has progressed in leaps and bounds. His father had him play three games for the family club, Dharampur Gymkhana, where, bowling to batsmen twice his age, Usman bagged five wickets in each match. “Everyone was amazed at his bowling,” Abdul says. “Without my permission, Usman took the LCCA [Lahore City Cricket Association] trials and was picked for inter-district Under-19 matches. He took five wickets in each of the two zone matches. Then he shone in the Under-16 competition, and I felt so proud when some of my Habib Bank colleagues phoned to tell me that they saw the Qadir of the 1970s in Usman.”Unlike Abdul, who never paid much attention to his batting, Usman is determined to contribute in both departments. Already he is a bit of a dasher who can slog to good effect, and his batting idol is Adam Gilchrist. Bowling remains his top priority, though.Usman’s sights are set on making it to international cricket first. After that, the first target is to go past Warne’s tally of wickets and then Muttiah Muralitharan’s world record. His other dream is to bowl at Sachin Tendulkar. That would be a sight to behold: memories of a 16-year-old Tendulkar launching Qadir for sixes during his 18-ball 53 on the 1989 tour still remain fresh in the mind. How would the son fare?

Rahul Dravid joins the 10,000-run club

Mathew Varghese29-Mar-2008
Rahul Dravid celebrated his entry into the 10,000-run club with a century in Chennai © AFP
With the 80th run during his 111 in Chennai, Rahul Dravid became only the sixth player – and the third Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar – to reach the coveted milestone of 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He hasn’t been at his best of late – this hundred was his first since last May – but Dravid’s determination came to the fore yet again; perhaps it was fitting that he brought up the milestone with a typically characteristic knock, stonewalling his way to a hundred while Virender Sehwag stole the thunder with a blazing 319.Dravid reached the landmark in his 120th Test and 206th innings, and although both Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar required lesser number of innings, Dravid has achieved the same in the shortest time span, a few months under 12 years, almost two years lesser than Lara. With an average of 55.41, Dravid has the best average among those with over 10,000 runs.His career average is only bettered by two Indian batsmen, neither of whom has played more than three Tests. With a cut-off of at least 500 Test runs, Dravid’s average is the highest among Indians.

Best averages among Indian Test batsmen (at least 500 runs)

Player Matches Innings Runs Average 100/50

Rahul Dravid 120 206 10,031* 55.41 25/52 Sachin Tendulkar 147 238 11,782 55.31 39/49 Vinod Kambli 17 21 1084 54.20 4/3 Virender Sehwag 54 90 4677 53.75 14/12 Sunil Gavaskar 125 214 10,122 51.12 34/45
*Consistency has been a hallmark of Dravid’s batting: South Africa is the only opposition against which he has less-than-impressive numbers – his average is below 40 both against and in South Africa. He averages 45.78 against Australia, but against all the other seven Test-playing teams his average is more than 50. (For Dravid’s career batting summary, click here.)Like Stephen Fleming, who retired recently, Dravid too relishes the prospect of an overseas challenge. (He averages much higher that Fleming, though, managing over 50 both home and away.) Dravid’s home average is 51.75, while in overseas matches it shoots up to 58.50. Among those with at least 1000 away runs, Dravid’s average is fifth on the list. Don Bradman is far ahead with an average of over 100, while three England batsman – Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Jack Hobbs – occupy the next three spots with averages of 69.18, 66.32 and 59.91. Increase the cut-off to 4000 runs and the only batsman ahead of Dravid is Hammond, and the list of 15 offers a good comparison of Dravid’s away record against other profilic run-getters.

Best away averages (Min 4000 runs)

Player Matches Innings Runs Average 100/50

Wally Hammond41 72 4245 66.32 13/14 Rahul Dravid 69 1185968 58.50 16/29 Jacques Kallis 5291425557.50 14/18 Allan Border 70 1205431 56.57 14/28 Steve Waugh761165083 55.85 16/20The innings in Chennai was Dravid’s 150th at the No. 3 position. No other batsman has achieved the mark, and it’s no surprise that Dravid has scored the most number of runs at the position, closely followed by Ricky Ponting. In terms of averages, though, Bradman, Ponting and Sangakkara have higher numbers.

Top run-getters at No. 3

Player Matches Innings Runs Average 100/50

Rahul Dravid 94 150 7677 57.72 19/38 Ricky Ponting 75 128 7271 66.10 27/26 Kumar Sangakkara 65 100 5628 60.51 16/23 Don Bradman 40 56 5078 103.63 20/10 Richie Richardson 67 107 4711 47.11 14/21Dravid performs better in the first innings than second innings, but unlike quite a few other batsmen, his performance doesn’t crumble in the fourth innings of a match. He averages 46.17 in the fourth, while his third-innings averages is only marginally better at 47.67. Dravid has scored a total of 1293 runs in the fourth innings, but more significantly 878 of those have come in wins and draws, with his average nearly touching a hundred in those games.

Best averages in wins and drawn games in the fourth innings (min 500 runs)

Player Matches Innings Runs Average 100/50

Rahul Dravid28 22878 97.55 1/7 Bruce Mitchell 11 11 583 97.16 1/4 Ricky Ponting 36 26 1087 83.61 4/3 Inzamam-ul-Haq 25 16 609 76.12 1/5 Greg Chappell 28 19 600 75.00 1/4Dravid averages drops to a rather poor 27.27 in the 36 matches India have lost through his career, but he more than makes up in wins and drawn matches, averaging over 70 in those. His average in non-losses is among the best among the most prolific batsmen in Tests, making him one of India’s best match-winners with the bat.

Best averages in wins and draws (min 4000 runs)

Player Matches Innings Runs Average 100/50

Don Bradman 40 58 6044 125.91 27/7 Garry Sobers 68 111 6758 73.45 25/25 Rahul Dravid 83 133 8038 72.41 23/41 Wally Hammond 67 104 6198 70.43 22/18 Kumar Sangakkara 49 72 4485 70.07 13/19A feature of Dravid’s Test career has been his ability to string partnerships. He’s been involved in the most 100-run stands in Tests. Dravid has been part of ten century stands with three other batsmen in India’s middle-order – Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. Gavaskar is the only other batsman who has had ten century stands with three partners.

Most 100-run partnerships by a player – Tests Player Matches Inning Partnerships 100+ 50+ Highest

Rahul Dravid 120 206 539 72 159 410 Sachin Tendulkar 147 238 487 66151 353 Ricky Ponting 116193 354 64 150 327 Steve Waugh 168 260 590 64 151 385 Allan Border 156265 616 63 167 332 Brian Lara 131 232 508 62 146 322 Sunil Gavaskar 125 214 519 58 143 344 Dravid’s last 1000 runs have taken the longest: he needed 30 innings to move from 9000 to 10,000. He required 24 to move from 4000 to 5000, and took 23 for his first 1000. Tendulkar was a slower starter than Dravid, but he caught up and got to 10,000 in 11 fewer innings.

Dravid’s progress to 10,000

Milestone Tests for Dravid Innings Tests for Tendulkar Innings

1000 14 23 19 28 2000 25 40 32 44 3000 39 67 45 68 4000 48 84 58 86 5000 63 108 67 103 6000 73 125 76 120 7000 82 141 85 136 8000 94 158 96 154 9000 104 176 111 179 10000 120 206 122 195

South Africa’s coach has had a fair amount of success in Asia. He offers England ten tips for success in their Tests in India

Mickey Arthur07-Dec-2008

Stay leg, play off: the likes of Ian Bell would be well advised to tweak their games for Indian conditions© Getty Images
1 Deal with pressure
Playing cricket in the subcontinent is all about absorbing and applying pressure. You have to be able to endure dead periods where not much happens. Be prepared to play boring cricket if it’s in the team’s best interests. You will need to close the game down, maybe scoring only 50 or 60 runs in a session, especially when the ball gets older and starts turning. And you need to stop the Indian batsmen scoring. They’re not happy if the ball’s not going to the boundary. Stop that and you have control of the game.2 Adjust to the game’s pace
When you play in South Africa, Australia and England, the game starts off quickly and then slows up. You would generally give the first session to the bowlers because the wicket is fresh and there’s normally something happening. Once you get through that first session the game takes shape and the pitch flattens out. In India the game is very slow to start off with and the first innings is crucial. Say 450 plays 420 and everybody thinks it’ll be a draw. But then the game really quickens up, the ball turns square, the wicket breaks up and you could be rolled for 150 in the second innings. It’s the opposite of how you expect games to go in our part of the world.3 Make first innings count
Win the toss, bat first, but that’s only the start of it. Facing the new ball can be the best time to bat in India because of the attacking fields and the SG ball, which is harder than others and doesn’t swing much. But you absolutely have to make your first innings count. Then the opposition is playing catch-up.4 Stay leg side of the ball
The way our batsmen did well in India was to stay leg side of the ball and score through the off side. Most Test batsmen in England or South Africa are back-and-across guys who look to get in line with off stump before each ball. In our part of the world you need to do that to counter the bounce and sideways movement. In the subcontinent if you do this, you’ll line yourself up for lbw as well as missing out on scoring through the off side. If you stay leg side – and we’re talking about the difference between taking a guard of two legs as opposed to middle – then your foot can go straight down the wicket as opposed to across. If you’re hit on the pad, the chances are it will have pitched outside leg or will be missing leg. And most importantly it leaves you free to score more readily on the off. The balls that you nick to third slip and gully in England fly behind point for four in the subcontinent because there isn’t the pace and bounce.Of England’s batsmen, I think Ian Bell might have to change his technique because he’s very much a back-and-across player. It will be a challenge for KP as well, because he’s not a big scorer in that area. He likes to get right across to the off and play through leg. To do that you need bounce and pace off the wicket. He’s not a huge driver, and unless the ball is short enough to pull, flicking through the leg side is high risk.”Don’t be scared to bowl bouncers. It’s the seamers’ one weapon in India” 5 Plan against spin
You need to have two key scoring options against India’s spinners. Firstly you need an accumulating shot like the sweep, which helps rotate the strike and relieve pressure. But you must also have an attacking option, because if you allow Harbhajan and Co to dominate, you will go nowhere. Equally, Harbhajan in particular doesn’t respond well to being put under pressure. Neil McKenzie slog-swept well while Graeme Smith waited until Harbhajan dropped short and cut or dabbed him through the off side.To prepare for batting against spin we waited until the end of a net session, when the bowler’s end was roughed up. We’d turn the nets around, rake the wicket and then throw balls into the rough. Our batters had to manufacture their strokes in those exaggerated conditions.6 Handling reverse swing
All Indian seamers bowl decent reverse swing, so your batters have to deal with that. One method we’ve used is to stay a bit deeper in the crease and try to hit the ball to mid-on all the time. Jacques Kallis is brilliant at that because he’s such a technically correct player. Hashim Amla is also good because he plays later than others. Whenever bowlers got it wrong he would punish them through the leg side.There are three phases to batting in India: the new-ball period, when there are good opportunities to score; the spin period, often with two slow bowlers operating within the first hour, when you need to accumulate; and finally the reverse-swing period.7 Use your bouncer
Don’t be scared to bowl bouncers. It’s the seamers’ one weapon in India to stop their batters lunging forward all day long. You need to have the ability to hit them on the head, and that is why Steve Harmison is crucial. None of the Indian batsmen pulls; they much prefer to cut. You bowl your bouncer to keep the batsman in his crease for your next delivery. Your bowlers have to bowl more attacking lines in India than you would in England or elsewhere. If you bowl outside off stump, you will simply get flayed. You must bring the ball back into the right-handers and cramp the batters for room. Andrew Flintoff could have bowled more attacking lines to South Africa during our recent Test series. He allowed us to leave too many balls, which someone like Virender Sehwag would get stuck into in India.

Stock and shock: Panesar needs to be a foil to the fast bowlers in the first innings and attack in the second© AFP
8 Role definition
You have to be able to take 20 wickets, so you need to allow certain bowlers freedom to attack. We allowed Dale Steyn to run in hard and go after the Indian batsmen, knowing he would go for four an over. But then you need other guys who can hold down the other end for you. Monty Panesar will be a major strike bowler in the second innings but in the first he must be prepared to hold the game for the seamers. Indian batsmen like scoring, and if you can dry them up for periods, you’re in control. Be prepared to be boring to get a positive result.9 Bowling reverse swing
There’s so little going for the seamers in India that you have to be able to bowl reverse swing. The SG balls lose their shine quickly and they’re also harder, which means they ping off the bat quicker. But they do reverse. In the first innings you should have Panesar at one end with your quicks rotating from the other, hopefully reversing it.10 Play with field settings
We always say that in India “caught cover” is as good as “caught second slip” in our part of the world. Seam bowlers don’t like getting wickets caught at cover but they need to change their mindset. If you do get a batsman caught at cover in India, the chances are you’ve deceived him with a slower ball – it is just as good as bowling the perfect away-swinger in England. Having catchers in front of the wicket is the Indian equivalent of second and third slips elsewhere.There is a lot more scope to play with your fields. Try a short midwicket because your bowling lines will be straighter than normal.Any visiting team should be able to out-field India. Whereas Steyn might dive to stop a boundary at fine leg, Ishant Sharma will stick a boot out and it’ll go for four. India’s fielding has improved but they’re still a way off most other teams. If you take your chances in India, you will have a 20- to 25-run advantage. And in the second innings of a Test over there it will take you an hour to score those runs, so that is how valuable good fielding can be.

An exciting new left-hander of Indian origin may just be the answer to South Africa’s opener crisis

Azad Essa18-Mar-2009Imraan Khan and Hashim Amla were the non-white blue-eyed boys of Durban High School, among South Africa’s premier cricketing institutions, from where the likes of Barry Richards, Richard Snell and Lance Klusener graduated. Together the two tormented bowlers from across the region and later the country.Imraan, a prolific, elegant left-hand batsman, appeared years ahead with his ability to spend hours at the crease, both caressing and bludgeoning his way to hundred after hundred each weekend. The little skinny lad was a quiet riot with bat in hand, and when he decided to turn his arm over one morning, bowling biting offspinners, with ball as well. He would often score a hundred and fetch up to five wickets per game.Immy, as he is affectionately known, is as elegantly murderous on the front foot today as he was as a young lad of 15; a sweet timer of the ball and prolific through the off side, drives and cuts are his weapons of choice. Like Amla, he is blessed with strong wrists that allow him to whip almost any delivery pitched up on the stumps through midwicket with impunity. His occasional tentativeness against short balls is offset by an ability to move inside the line and turn them gently round the corner. In many ways, Imraan’s leg-side prowess is the mirror image of Amla’s; only, his friends say, more stylish.Both boys waltzed through all levels of state cricket, breaking records and announcing themselves as the very future of South African cricket. So talented were these two, even transformation didn’t seem such a daunting prospect after all.Amla joined the KZN Dolphins by the time he completed high school, and thrived in the middle order there. He was soon appointed state captain and then given a fairytale entry into Test cricket in 2004, when he was selected as the first South African of Indian origin to represent the country in a Test match, against, aptly or ironically, India in the bullring of Eden Gardens.Where Amla’s run in first-class cricket was compelling, Imraan’s graduation from the elite youth teams to state level was anything but charming in comparison. As a youngster he had demonstrated immense powers of concentration to regularly bat for long periods of time, but at first-class level it seemed as if he had abandoned his formula and had geared up to merely dominate bowlers, striving for immediate success.Following Amla’s lead proved a little difficult. Since he made his first-class debut for the Dolphins in 2003-04 as an offspinner who could bat, Imraan’s success has been little more than a line of jagged stop-starts marked by unfulfilled promises.The lofted drive was almost always taken at mid-off, the buoyant push to the testing outswinger almost always went to second slip, and a few tight spells of bowling would invariably induce Imraan to self-destruct, wafting at a marginally wide one.While he tasted relative success in the four-day competition – averaging in the mid-thirties for most of the past five seasons – his enthusiasm to dominate often resulted in him looking out of his depth as a reliable opener. Worse still, his once much-lauded offspin, a plus for any South African cricketer, became an abandoned project.But it all changed in 2008.

Like Amla, Imraan is blessed with strong wrists that allow him to whip almost any delivery pitched up on the stumps through midwicket with impunity. His occasional tentativeness against short balls is offset by an ability to move inside the line and turn them gently round the corner

After being selected for the South African Emerging Players tour of Australia, where he top-scored, Imraan turned on the mettle.The 2008-09 first-class season has seen a more patient cricketer, more in touch with his ability and more willing to play within himself. Imraan is among the leading scorers this domestic season, with over 800 runs, an average of above 60, and a tally of five centuries for the season – just one short of the South African record, currently held by Barry Richards, Mike Procter and Peter Kirsten.Imraan says it was just a case of a few technical adjustments. “There is probably a lot more discipline in my game. I used to get a lot of starts and then throw it away, but I am trying really hard to not make those mistakes once I get in.”The Dolphins manager of playing affairs, Jay Naidoo, agrees that the new Imraan is a more mature, focused player: “I think he is older and understands his game better. At Supersport level he has done well previously, but he had this tendency of scoring of seventies and eighties and then getting out. This season it has been his ability to turn those numbers into three figures.”A batting average in the mid-thirties is a basic minimum for wicketkeepers today, not for openers. With South Africa in the midst of an opening-batsman crisis, Imraan knows that this surge in batting form couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. “There was no other opportunity, and it just so happens I’ve been scoring runs. Now is probably the right time,” he says.The Cape Cobras’ Andrew Puttick was an obvious alternative, with a far better career record, but Puttick’s form in the Supersport series this season has been patchy in comparison. The sheer weight of Imraan’s runs these last few months muscles him right to the top of the reckoning. The question remains: is one fantastic season reason enough to select a batsman?”The only thing a player can do is to make runs. And if the opportunities arise, like in this case, where the top order has been struggling, then if you take all the opening bats in the country, he has been in the top bracket,” argues Naidoo.What matters now is that this little Chanderpaul-like figure of a man, having made the runs and earned his call-up, can turn on the magic and grab hold of his destiny rather than seek to chase it. If he does, he stands a genuine chance of becoming Graeme Smith’s long-term partner.Imraan’s unorthodox opening style and yet elegant penchant to bludgeon the ball are exciting, fresh and worth a shot. Now it is up to him to decide how much he wants this chance.

Shortly after his hideous flap at Nathan Hauritz’s threat-free spin, Kevin Pietersen was caught by the cameras slapping his forehead on the pavilion balcony, and little wonder

Andrew Miller in Cardiff08-Jul-2009Kevin Pietersen has his sights set firmly on greatness, but he’ll never scale the heights that are so clearly marked out for him, unless he can find a way for his inner genius to hold sway over the lunatic that, just occasionally, bursts forth to ransack his reputation. His hubristic dismissal to Nathan Hauritz, midway through the final session of another compelling Ashes opening day, was a moment that could have proved fatal to England’s prospects in this first Test.That it had been glossed over by the end of the day was thanks to a stunning, and – if truth be told – unexpected counterattack from Matt Prior, whose No. 6 credentials had still been in some doubt despite his success against West Indies earlier this summer, and Andrew Flintoff, whose straight-hitting 37 was a brief but welcome throwback to his 2005 pomp. Though both men fell before the close, their stand of 86 in 95 balls – including 39 in 40 against the second new ball – transformed a scorecard that had been flaccid in the extreme at 241 for 5, at the moment of Pietersen’s aberration.Shortly after his hideous flap at Hauritz’s threat-free spin, Pietersen was caught by the cameras slapping his forehead on the pavilion balcony, and little wonder. He has a self-destructively disdainful attitude towards spinners of all shapes and sizes. Like Viv Richards, the batsman he most resembles in terms of presence at the crease, he regards spin as little more than a useful setting on a washing-machine, and for the third time in 12 months, a wilfully foolish stroke had handed the initiative straight back to his opponents at a critical juncture of the contest.True to form, Pietersen was defiantly unapologetic at the close, and blamed an imperceptible deflection off his helmet for the way in which the ball ballooned to Simon Katich at short leg. “When you get out, you’re out, you can’t do anything about it,” he said. “It could have gone down to fine leg and I’d have got away with it, but it hit my helmet and I was out. You guys look a lot deeper into it than I do. I got out. I don’t think I pre-empted the shot, he maybe outfoxed me a little bit. But it was just unfortunate it hit me on the head.”So be it. It is simply the Pietersen way, and had it not been for his outrageous contempt for reputation against the last Australian team to visit these shores, England might never have pulled out of their final-day nose-dive at The Oval in 2005, and secured the series that turned today’s contest into the most hyped and anticipated English Test match for four years.But ominously for England, both of Pietersen’s most recent brain-freezes were directly attributable to two of their most traumatic defeats of the recent past. At Edgbaston against South Africa last summer, he went for glory with six needed for his century, and slapped the hitherto cowed left-arm spinner, Paul Harris, straight to mid-on. Then, in Jamaica in February this year, he mowed Sulieman Benn for four, four, six to race to 97, and then one ball later smeared a top-edged hoick to the keeper.Today, Pietersen’s treatment of Hauritz put across the impression that he considers him unworthy of sharing such an illustrious stage, even though his subsequent assessment was improbably (and suspiciously) flattering. Throughout his innings he was two-parts dominant, and one-part disaster-courting. His third shot against the bowler was a top-edged sweep that landed safe at fine leg, and on 27, he gave Hauritz the charge, only for the ball to tweak sharply and crash into his back pad.Against the part-timer, Michael Clarke, he was barely any more complimentary, and in the final half-hour before tea, he came excruciatingly close to being bowled round his legs, as he wandered casually across his stumps and failed to make contact with a wafty sweep. It’s part of the thrill of Pietersen that he can conjure shots that mere mortals would not countenance, but the Achilles heel that hampered his running between the wickets today was nothing compared to the one that ultimately got him out.”It’s just the way he plays, really,” said Australia’s coach, Tim Nielsen. “He tends to take the game on, and he was pretty keen not to let our spinners settle. He swept probably 15 times beforehand and played them all quite well. If you get out to a cover drive you don’t say ‘don’t play the cover drive’. He hits the sweep well, you miss one and hit one in the air, that’s the way goes sometimes.”Of course, seeking to dominate the acknowledged weak link of the Australian attack is one thing, but Pietersen’s blind spot for spinners gives no thought to reputation. During the last Ashes, in that infamous tussle in Adelaide, he memorably claimed to have tamed even the mighty Shane Warne, after grinding him into the leg-side rough during his 310-run stand with Paul Collingwood. However, after bruising first-innings figures of 1 for 167, Warne bowled him round his legs in the second dig with a massive ripper. And the rest very quickly became history.Adelaide was unquestionably on the mind during Pietersen and Collingwood’s redemptive stand of 138, during which they eased through the entire second session without offering a chance or facing an attacking fielder. No England pair had batted with such serenity against Australia since that fateful second Test in 2006-07, which made the subsequent soft dismissals of both men all the more disappointing for a fervent Anglo-Welsh crowd.But as a statement, the speed of England’s scoring – from the top of the order where Ravi Bopara mixed cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof footwork with a handful of sumptuous boundaries, to the Prior-Flintoff alliance late in the day – was reminiscent of the chaotically successful onslaughts that England produced at Edgbaston and Old Trafford four years ago. They have runs on the board and two spinners to exploit what is already appreciable turn. And for the first time for 12 years and seven campaigns, they’ve claimed at least a share of the first-day Ashes spoils.”I could be greedy and say we’d like to be four or five down, and myself and Colly missed out on opportunities to get a real big score, but the way previous Ashes series have gone Australia’s way on day one, we’ll definitely take 336 for 7,” Pietersen said. “The one great thing about today was how positive we all played. We are here, and we want to compete this summer in a very, very big way.”

He has been marked for big things since he was 15; days short of 20th birthday he has announced himself for all to see

Firdose Moonda18-Jun-2009The first bowler Wayne Parnell saw bowl live was Ashish Nehra. The young Eastern Cape hopeful was mesmerised by the man from Delhi. Apart from also being a fellow left-armer, Nehra had the ability to move the ball off the wicket, which caught Parnell’s eye. The new nut swung as though it was dancing to a tune only it could hear, being played by Nehra himself. He changed his line and length ever so slightly, was accurate and pacy, and had an inswinger to behold. Parnell just may have seen a little bit of himself in Nehra.Although Parnell has been in England recently, playing for Kent, he hasn’t lost sight of the first international bowler he watched. In fact, Parnell must have been watching Nehra extra closely during the IPL: he looks just as devastating in the World Twenty20 as Nehra was for the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL. Such has been Parnell’s rise to prominence that it’s difficult to believe that as little as 18 months ago he was captaining his school team.Parnell wasn’t just any other schoolboy. At 15 he was selected for the South African Under-19 team to play in the World Cup in Sri Lanka. South Africa had a mediocre tournament, losing to Nepal in the plate semi-final. Two years later he returned to captain the team. This time it was different. He led his team to the final (which they lost to India by 12 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method) and his individual performances helped him make a name for himself.His voice changes when he speaks of his most special memory of that World Cup. The serious Parnell becomes reminiscent, like a young child recalling his favourite ice-cream. “The standout performance for me was the quarter-final against Bangladesh. I scored 57 and took six wickets for eight runs and we won that match by a huge margin [201 runs]. That is a very special memory for me.”That match-winning performance and his leadership skills throughout the competition all but guaranteed Parnell a career in cricket. By then his life had already significantly changed because of the sport. Parnell discovered he could bowl when he was just seven. He was playing in a game of mini-cricket and hit a batsman with a bouncer, leaving the poor child with a bloodied nose. Parnell continued playing cricket and a host of other sports while in primary school.Christo Esau, the Youth Coach of Eastern Province Cricket, was instrumental in Parnell being awarded a scholarship to Grey College, a respected sporting school, where his cricket could develop the most. That’s exactly what happened. “There were a few matches where I took all 10 wickets,” Parnell says. After a string of good performances Parnell decided cricket was where his future firmly lay. The only hurdle in his path was a logistical one. Parnell was unable to attend some of the practices for the Eastern Province team because his parents’ house was too far away from St George’s Park. A solution was not far away, though. “My English teacher, Lyn Sjoberg, suggested I move in with her, since her children were not living at home anymore, and she only lived about three minutes from the stadium,” Parnell says. “So that’s what I did.”The move was fruitful, and soon Parnell earned a first-class call-up to the Eastern Province side. From there his U-19 success followed and he was selected to play for the South African Emerging side in Australia late last year. Parnell’s record in first-class cricket is not very glamorous: he has taken 37 wickets at an average of 31.29 and has a batting average of 20.23. The longer version of the game is not Parnell’s focus at the moment, and he’s made no secret of his enjoyment for limited-overs cricket. “I prefer the shorter version of the game,” he says, “especially since I haven’t played that many first-class games.”

His voice changes when he speaks of his most special memory of the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. The serious Parnell becomes reminiscent, like a young child recalling his favourite ice-cream

Parnell and his Warriors team mate Lonwabo Tsotsobe, another left-arm seamer, were called up to South Africa’s ODI side to face Australia in January this year. Both had mediocre performances Down Under, but an injury to Tsotsobe paved the way for Parnell to establish himself as the first-choice left-arm pacer in the South African line-up. He shared the new ball with Dale Steyn in the home ODI series against Australia, and that’s where he announced his arrival. In the second ODI, in Centurion, Parnell ripped through the Australian attack, taking four for 25, including the wicket he regards as his most prized. “Michael Hussey’s wicket is the best I have taken so far. All my team-mates tell me it should be Ricky Ponting, but I’ve always thought of Hussey as a really good batsman, so that’s my most valuable wicket.”Parnell finished the series having earned himself a place in South Africa’s World Twenty20 squad. He had played in England before, on a school tour, and went into the competition confident of his ability. “The wickets are softer in England, so the ball swings more, and I can use that to my advantage.” Yusuf Abdulla’s success for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL may have given the selectors a pleasant dilemma in deciding which left-arm seam bowler to opt for, and going by the results so far, they will be pleased with their decision.Just like Nehra, Parnell is starting to make the ball dance to his own tune. His bowling at the death has been deadly. He whipped out the big guns against England and West Indies, taking 3 for 14 and 4 for 13. In the six matches Parnell has played in the World Twenty20, he has taken 10 wickets, at an average of 16.60. More importantly, he has achieved his goal of cementing his place in South Africa’s limited-overs side. Perhaps it’s Nehra who will start watching Parnell from now on.