Plays of the day from the third day of the third Test between Australia and South Africa in Perth

Firdose Moonda and Brydon Coverdale at the WACA02-Dec-2012Catch of the day
Hashim Amla showed no nerves when he neared milestones•Getty ImagesFor the second day in a row, Mitchell Johnson took a stunning catch off his own bowling. On Saturday, he took the catch with his quick feet and desperate dive; this time it was down to his lightning fast reflexes. Hashim Amla seemed set for a double-century when on 196 he drove a half-volley from Johnson straight back past the bowler, or rather, he thought it was going to go past the bowler. Instead, he saw Johnson instinctively thrust his right hand out and the ball stuck in it, a remarkable take in any circumstances and especially given how exhausted Johnson must have been during another long, hot day in the field. Another fine catch later in the day was Johnson’s fourth for the innings, making him the first Australian fielder to achieve that feat since Matthew Hayden in 2004.Milestone of the day
If any player could have gone to bed on 99 not out and not have a sleepless night, that man is Hashim Amla. He returned in the morning to nudge a single off his hips off the third ball of the first over and bring up a hundred without showing any nerves. Amla, similarly, was unruffled when he went to lunch on the edge of another milestone on 149. Again, it was on the third ball after the break that he got a single and the acknowledgment was even more bashful. No removal of the helmet, which he had only just put on, just a raise of the bat.Shots of the day
Just two days ago it seemed AB de Villiers’ flamboyance was a thing of the past. Even in the early stages of his innings today, it looked that way. But he issued a reminder that the panache is still there. On 89, de Villiers readied himself for the drive and then got down on one knee to paddle Nathan Lyon past slip. The next ball, he did again to beat slip but it was the third shot which showed off his style. With no risk involved, he sent the ball through point with a flourish and brought up his first century since becoming the full-time wicketkeeper.Reverse umbrella of the day
The umbrella field is a staple of Test cricket but the rarely seen reverse umbrella made an appearance as the Australia considered all sorts of novel ideas to keep Hashim Amla quiet. As Shane Watson ran in to bowl to Amla, he had a cover-point, two men at mid-off a short distance apart, mid-on, two men catching at midwicket, deep midwicket and a deep square leg. There was no cordon, no third man and no fine leg. The only man behind the stumps was the wicketkeeper. It was a short-lived ploy and didn’t bring about a wicket, but at least captain Michael Clarke was trying things.Three-minute delay of the day
On the second day, the umpires and players were in position and ready to start after tea at 3.29pm, but the rules of the game dictated that they had to wait until the clock ticked over to 3.30. The same sense of strictness does not apply to starting late. After lunch on day three, the players ambled out and were in no rush to resume, and were not hurried up by the umpires. Play was supposed to recommence at 12.30pm but it was 12.33 before everybody was ready for action. The vagaries of cricket had claimed another three minutes.

Interview by Daniel Brettig13-Dec-2012Juggling the formats is an ongoing challenge for Australia’s team management, including coach Mickey Arthur and team performance manager Pat Howard•Getty ImagesWhat do you feel has been your chief accomplishment since taking the team performance job in the wake of the Argus review?To get a structure in place at the top level but also with the women’s the Under-19s, changes in medical staff, there’s been a reasonable amount of changing in personnel in 12 months across all those teams, and that has happened, and getting greater communication across all those groups as well as with the states. One of the big things I believe in now is that no-one owns the players, they can be playing for any number of six teams in a year, and the communication and continuity needs to be really good across all those teams. They enter teams, they leave and go play in the BBL, head off to a state team, come into a Test team. Right now we need to be across who’s on the targeted list for the ODIs or T20s and India series and even Ashes series. Getting that across the whole organisation has been very much a platform to start building from.How have you found the experience of coming from outside cricket and quickly becoming such an integral part of decision-making around the game?I’ve asked questions which those who’ve been in the system a long time wouldn’t have asked, and when you ask those questions sometimes the answer comes back that it’s done for very valid reasons. And I think one of the core values of the team is making sure they do engage back with the past, and I think that process has worked very well for the Test series, having past players back around the team, and making sure the communication is very good. They get to understand what the Test team’s doing in that case, and there’s good links back to the past.There has been some scepticism if not outright criticism of your role and expertise over the past year, in terms of a “non-cricket person” having oversight for so many areas of Australian cricket.I haven’t seen it. Not from those on the ground and from an operational level, no. When you have dialogue with any of the states, the BBL teams, those in other countries, I haven’t really seen that. I’m aware there’s always conversations in other areas, but in terms of those you actually have to communicate with and deal with, not so much. There’s always those technical discussions and selection discussions, there’s always different points of view and that’s healthy. I’m not a selector, but making sure the selection panels work with their selection strategy and 80% of the time sticking with that, and the other part of the time asking ‘why are you not, what’s the rationale’, and the discipline behind those processes.One instance that caused some public angst was before the first Test in discussions around whether Shane Watson might play as a batsman. There were a few slightly differing messages, and a perception that you were speaking for the selection panel, which you sit in on but are not a part of?We were all saying the same thing. I freely stated that the selectors are the people who choose the team, they have certain criteria and I was asked whether or not the selection panel prefer if he can bowl, and absolutely they do. So that’s the question I was answering, and I’m absolutely sure they want people who are fit to play, so that was the selectors’ choice, that’s how it was talked about there, and I noted all that discussion, but it took on a life of its own.Communication is clear internally even if it seemed confused in public on that occasion?

“It’s a long sport with no replacements, so you’ve got to get that part right. It’s a unique thing, particularly when there’s three formats of the game, players are sometimes in the sprint mode versus the marathon mode, and it’s making sure the guys are ready across all those at different times.”

Committees invariably don’t all agree on everything, you don’t want them to. Otherwise if the selection panel agreed on everything we’d only need one person. So very much the view is they have some really good, robust conversations around decision-making, they have a selection strategy, there are criteria around it, and I think when John Inverarity announces teams or delegates to Michael [Clarke] or Mickey [Arthur] to do that, I think there’s some pretty clear messages around why they’re chosen, and I think they do that job very well, as a collective.What have you found most challenging about the demands and vagaries of cricket after dealing with other sports?I think the fact that the 11 players that take the field have got to be right, got to be physically right. We saw in the second Test obviously that if a player breaks down that it obviously has an effect on other players. So that is by far the most unique thing about cricket – it’s a long sport with no replacements, so you’ve got to get that part right. It’s a unique thing, particularly when there’s three formats of the game, players are sometimes in the sprint mode versus the marathon mode, and it’s making sure the guys are ready across all those at different times.Where do you stand on the debate over whether substitutes should be introduced to the long form of the game?I’m on the playing conditions committee and there are very valid arguments, one for tradition, one sports science. By no means would I want to test the fabric of Test cricket, that’s not what we’re here to do. There are traditions that are wonderful for the game. But I think in terms of some of the statements [Victoria coach] Greg Shipperd has made around other versions or other formats, I am interested to have a look at it from a health and welfare position. But not Test cricket, that’s not going to change. You’d love to bring players back in to play more Shield cricket at different times without overexposing them at other times. That’s a balance.You are in the role deemed ultimately accountable for the Australian team’s performance. How did you assess the first series loss under your watch, against South Africa?I think we put ourselves in a very good position to win it. We had our opportunities absolutely, but ultimately, when the big times came we didn’t take them. I think the players and the management all take responsibility in that, and so do I. We weren’t absolutely top of the game when we had to be, and all credit goes to South Africa there, because they took their opportunities and we didn’t. One, did we give ourselves a chance to win it? Yes we did. Did we take it? No. Our ability to identify how you make sure you take your pressure situations is pretty important.We’ve got some challenges still. We had some commonalities through the whole series that occurred. We often lost a couple of wickets early, and building resilience in that area isn’t going to happen overnight. There are lots of things to deal with, but you’ve got to look over the whole year as well and look at what’s consistent. For me it’s looking at what happened against the Indians here and what happened against South Africa a year later. There are some things that have happened that we still haven’t got the traction on that we want, there are others where there has been significant improvement.That was a pretty outstanding batting line-up on world rankings, and I think a lot of bowlers stood up to be honest. I think the [public] conversation’s been very funny in that regard. I think there’s been improvement, but to be the best you’ve got to be well and truly the best, and we’ve got a long way to go.It has been said since the series concluded that for a developing Australian side with several faults to assume the No. 1 ranking would be premature?”South Africa played well, we knew they were going to be good and they were. But we had our chances and you’ve got to take those”•Getty ImagesWe don’t want to make excuses. You had your chance to go to No. 1, and I don’t think anyone was having that conversation at the end of Adelaide. You take your chances, great, you don’t take your chances then you don’t deserve to be No. 1. In the end performances dictated that we weren’t there. South Africa deserved the compliments. They won, I don’t take a lot from people making judgements at various points in a series. At the end of the series we’re judged, we lost 1-0, not good enough.What did you glean from how South Africa go about things as the world’s top-ranked team?They’ve got world ranked players in batting and bowling and the players they introduced performed well as well, so they’ve had a significant amount of time in ODIs or had a couple of Tests and come in and out. They’ve got a fairly established team and it’s very balanced, and we made a significant amount of change from a year ago. We’ve got a significant amount of players in their mid-20s, and if you go back to the team that was playing against South Africa a year ago, there’s been some change even since then as well. South Africa played well, we knew they were going to be good and they were. But we had our chances and you’ve got to take those. If you don’t take them … that’s sport, isn’t it?You are now entering a period in which the Test team is again in action without any first-class cricket for players to come out of. It’s not ideal, is it?The scheduling is difficult. In saying this, you get plenty of warning – it’s not like they put that schedule up against you a week in advance. So we know this same round of BBL is between Test one and Test two of the Ashes next year, we’re well across that. So we’re 12 months in advance in our schedule and our thinking, so we need to be making sure those guys in and around the team are getting practice with the right coloured balls at the right time, with the right coaches. And they know they’re playing in game X, but part of their training is going to incorporate Y. That’s been communicated through the national selection panel with the states as well and through the BBL teams. That process has been happening. It’s never easy but it’s part of the challenge that all teams and all countries now have to go through.However well directed and focused it is, training will never be a substitute for relevant match play.It’s not a perfect world, but you want to be able to deal with all the different formats, and it’s complicated. But it’s complicated for everybody. I actually think dealing with this challenge will take a couple of years for all countries, and they’re dealing with it in different ways. For me at the moment you prepare the best you can, but there’s also a balance there – how much long form cricket do you play before you come into a series, depending on how old you are, how much experience and all those questions. There’s a lot of factors to weigh up.One of the major issues confronting Australia is the lack of consistently prolific batting talent available. How are you trying to address that?I think exposing different people and working with the states in terms of being able to expose different people at different levels is important. Using longer format games like Australia A to expose people, Chairman’s XI like we saw the other day when it was lovely to see Scott Henry get 207 down there. There is the ability to expose people at that level, give them feedback. Get some consistency across the board, not so much technical but how do we get the best out of players and not try to clone people across the country?We also need to give them the avenue, part of the pitches discussion with the state CEOs was about a fair contest between bat and ball and to give an environment and create a structure that allows people to score well while keeping the uniqueness of pitches around the country, and batting in different environments. We’re working on that with the states and hopefully creating a system and structure that’s not about tomorrow, but the years in advance.

The Plays of the day from the second day of the Mirpur Test between Bangladesh and West Indies

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur14-Nov-2012The signal
Shakib Al Hasan spent most of the morning under his floppy hat, pulled down, with little to do. He came into the picture at the end of the 110th over, when Shahadat Hossain appealed loudly after his short delivery hit Shivnarine Chanderpaul on the shoulder and was caught at slip. Shakib appeared to be asking for a referral to the third umpire by using the signal for a DRS ruling, but it wasn’t as if he didn’t know the system wasn’t in use. The broadcasters usually haven’t made it available in Bangladesh, a point Shakib had noted two years ago during the England series.The chance
In the final 15 minutes of the first day, Chanderpaul chipped one towards mid-off on the first day which Shahadat couldn’t reach. He offered a chance much earlier on the second day, in the 13th over of the morning, but Bangladesh’s specialist slip fielder, Junaid Siddique, couldn’t reach the edge that popped up off Sohag Gazi. It remained the only chance offered by Chanderpaul all day.The slip
Tamim Iqbal bowled the fifth over of his 25-Test career on the second day, but will probably have to wait a while for his next one after an erratic performance. The first two deliveries were down the leg side and then he sent one virtually off the pitch. It was called a wide, as the ball looped to the wicketkeeper on the half-volley. It probably slipped out of his hand, but Tamim managed to correct himself and the rest of the over was largely incident-free.The counter-attack
Tamim smashed Tino Best for four boundaries in the sixth over of the innings, patting one away through midwicket, then two drives, one straight and another through the covers, before finishing it off with an authoritative pull-shot. It appeared to inspire Shahriar Nafees, the man at the other end. Off a short ball from Ravi Rampaul, who had already bounced out Junaid Siddique, Nafees smashed one high over midwicket. The doubts over his ability to deal with the short stuff was momentarily shelved as he went on to smash three more boundaries, but fell to another short ball from the same bowler who beat him for pace.The self-destruction
It was a wide, short ball that Tamim tried to pull towards the leg side, but flapped it straight to Sunil Narine at mid-on, after rattling to 72 in the final session of the day. He had survived a similar, tennis-like shot off the last ball of Sammy’s previous over when his attempt to flat-bat one towards mid-on fell short of Best at mid-on. He regretted the shot later on, but Bangladesh are by now used to such suicidal strokes by their batsmen.

From Ankit R Gulechha, India
The group stages of the ICC World Twenty20 are over and the Super 8 leg kicked off two days back

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
The group stages of the ICC World Twenty20 are over and the Super 8 leg kicked off two days back. It would interest many of us to see how rules laid by ICC has left a few matches insignificant in group stages and also led to formation of one sided groups.According to the rules, irrespective of the number of matches a team wins in the Group stages or the position in which they finish in their group, they will move forward to the next round based on their ranking which was determined after the last edition of world cup. Just to give an example, though South Africa finished on top of group D, they were ranked as D2 and moved to group E. If ICC had not made such rules South Africa would have moved to group F.Now what this did is that it made the last league match between South Africa and New Zealand insignificant, because irrespective of result South Africa would go to group E and New Zealand to Group F.Similarly the Sri Lanka and West Indies match became a practice match for them before super Eights. If the rules were, and should have been, that group leaders are ranked based on performance in this world cup, and not last years, then the groups would have been like these: Group E: India (A1), Pakistan (B2), Sri Lanka (C1), New Zealand (D2) and Group F: Ireland (A2), England (B1), West Indies (C2), South Africa (D1).If we look at the current group we have to feel for England, West Indies and South Africa on having lost out on a match with Ireland. What this bizarre rule has done is placed three group toppers (India, England and South Africa) in one group, which is unfair.The team which has gained most from this is Sri Lanka. Not only do they play Ireland in Super 8, but also two other teams which finished runners up in their groups. Overall the group E looks tight with the favorites being South Africa followed by a three way race between India, West Indies and England for second semi-final spot from group.Whereas Group F is a three way race with Sri lanka and New Zealand favorites to go through to semi-finals after a dismal performance by Pakistan. I hope the ICC will take into consideration these factors for the next edition of world cup or Champions trophy.

Jaydev Shah has had to overcome various pressures as captain of Saurashtra and his innings today showed why he deserves the leadership

Amol Karhadkar in Rajkot16-Jan-2013With his team’s two leading batsmen missing because of international duty it fell to Jaydev Shah to play a captain’s knock, steady Saurashtra’s innings against the most potent domestic attack and set them on the way to a decent first-innings score in the Ranji semi-final. The innings was replete with the audacious strokeplay that is his forte – risky but effective, and fetching him 87 runs before his dismissal. It helped Saurashtra end the first day in Rajkot on 274 for 5.Afterwards, Shah seemed sanguine about missing out on a rare first-class century – he has just four in 120 innings. “(Missing out on a century) doesn’t really matter,” he said after the end of the first day’s play in Rajkot, munching vada-pav. “Sheldon (Jackson) is playing well. If we score around 350-400, it would be a good score and then we can try and restrict them (below it).”It’s the sort of leadership that has benefited Saurashtra in the nine years Shah’s been captain, during which he has taken them from the lower tier of the Ranji Trophy to first joining and then establishing themselves in the top flight, while also being crowned the national one-day champions in 2007-08.It hasn’t been an easy or smooth personal ride for Shah, though. As the son of Saurashtra cricket’s patriarch and former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, he has had to deal with whispers – not always muted or subtle – of favouritism. His batting record hasn’t helped: as a specialist middle-order batsman he has failed to score a century in two full seasons and his average has always hovered between the mid- and late-20s. Yet he’s got an IPL contract and has represented India A.On Wednesday, Shah offered evidence of why he has been individually recognised, and how he moulded Saurashtra from also-rans to a force to reckon with. For one, he’s modest. He admits that captaincy has affected his performance with the bat. But he doesn’t offer it as an excuse. “My career would be average, I won’t say great. But as time goes, you learn. And I try to improve myself every year. I have to keep on improving all the time.””Of course I should have scored many more hundreds than what I have so far, but this season has been a little average. But I will work harder and deliver the goods in the remaining season,” he said, hoping to make amends in the limited-overs tournaments that follow the Ranji Trophy.”Captaincy could have affected my batting by about 10%. I have always been thinking more about the team than myself. But that is what cricket is all about. You have to think more about the team, so it may have affected my own performance a bit. But it is part of my job. I have to run the team and lead the team, so I have to take it as a challenge. I cannot give excuses. Anybody could get pressurised, I have a lot of pressure on me in a very different way but it’s fine. You have to take up the challenge, that’s it.”So how does he deal with those different pressures, primarily those related to talk of favouritism. “I just have to do my job. And I have been given the captaincy and I am doing it well. That’s it,” he said. “Even a politician’s son is pushed but then, he has to win and prove himself. And I am doing the same.”

The recent success of Moises Henriques and other cricketers from minority communities bodes well for the game Down Under

Adam Cooper27-Feb-2013From Hobart to India via Alice Springs, Australians might one day recall a remarkable week in mid-February 2013 as the moment the nation’s top cricket teams took a major step towards truly representing the many faces who play the game.Moises Henriques, Fawad Ahmed, Ashton Agar and Gurinder Sandhu are not quite household names in Australian cricket, but they have all made significant strides to becoming so in the past seven days. Together they personify a cultural diversity long absent from the national team.While Michael Clarke’s brilliant strokeplay and Australian allergies to spin bowling remained a constant, milestones notched by Henriques, Ahmed, Agar and Sandhu – complemented by Australia’s women, who in the same week won the World Cup, and indigenous teams at the Imparja Cup – made it a heady period for cricket’s minority groups in a game that still counts white males as its most ardent participants and followers.The achievements of Henriques in gaining a Test cap and showing he deserved it; Ahmed, who staked his claim with Victoria; and Agar and Sandhu, who earned places in national sides, were noted with significance by Cricket Australia, which is conscious of the need to have its sides better reflect the composition of the country.”The single greatest opportunity for us is to have a team that represents multicultural Australia,” says Matt Dwyer, Cricket Australia’s national game- development manager, “and the quicker we have that team to give kids that aspiration, the snowball effect from that will be significant.”Grouped together, the four players could form a handy bowling attack. Equally rich are the quartet’s personal stories, bound to be replayed over coming years.In Chennai, Henriques became the first Portuguese-born player to represent Australia in Tests. Born on Madeira, the island that Cristiano Ronaldo calls home, and the son of a professional footballer, Henriques could easily have sought sporting glory outside of cricket, had his family not moved to Sydney.It might have taken him longer to get to Test level than many thought, but Henriques immediately showed he belonged with a fine 68 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, an innings that helped Clarke turn a day that was headed out of Australia’s grasp.That same day in Hobart, Henriques’ fellow New South Wales quick Sandhu also looked assured at international level, admittedly in a match for Australia A against England Lions that carried just a skerrick of the focus on Clarke’s side. But at 19, Sandhu, who was born in Sydney but is of Indian heritage, has impressed those who matter: he was also selected for the Prime Minister’s XI last month to play West Indies.Agar, also 19, must shake his head at his remarkable past two months, which have comprised a debut for Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield, a spot in the Perth Scorchers squad in the Big Bash League, and a passage to India, where he was instructed to soak up as much knowledge as he could.The left-arm spinner did so by playing both warm-up matches, proving his inclusion on tour was no token gesture. Clarke himself is Australia’s most effective left-arm orthodox spinner of recent times, so Agar’s progress is likely to be monitored very closely. The youngster, who is of Sri Lankan descent, will this year head to England to further his development at Hampshire’s international academy. Whether that posting is designed to coincide with the Ashes remains to be seen.Another spinner surely being considered for England is Fawad, following his most mature of first-class debuts for Victoria. The legspinner had played a handful of first-class matches in his native Pakistan before he fled to Australia in 2010, and continues to add chapters to his already wondrous story.Selected as a net bowler to help prepare Australia’s batsmen to face South Africa’s Imran Tahir, Ahmed earned a Big Bash contract with the Melbourne Renegades and turned out for the Bushrangers in domestic limited-overs matches before playing in the top-of-the-table Sheffield Shield match against Queensland at the MCG.Ahmed’s 5 for 83 in the Bulls’ second innings, with bounce, spin and variation, steered Victoria to a win and earned him plaudits from opposing captains James Hopes and Cameron White, who both rated him good enough to represent his new country. White himself was one of the eight frontline spinners Australia tried in Test matches between Shane Warne’s retirement from Tests and before the selectors settled on Nathan Lyon – until he came up against MS Dhoni.Ahmed’s arrival now has Cricket Australia lobbying authorities in Canberra to grant him citizenship in the sort of pursuit traditionally reserved for Armenian weightlifters the year before an Olympiad. Under ICC rules Ahmed could play for Australia in August, but a passport would expedite the qualification period. Really, the key date is July 10, the first day of the first Test against England, at Trent Bridge.England, of course, are no strangers to accommodating overseas players. In their last Test, in India in December, four in the line-up were born in South Africa, while Monty Panesar is of Indian heritage. But England teams have long reflected British society, as have South African sides (regardless of the quota system).

“Four in ten Australian households have got a parent who was born overseas. If we don’t become more diverse and welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds, we’ll be arcane in 100 years’ time”Matt Dwyer, Cricket Australia’s national game-development manager

But in Australia, the national side has been slow to truly represent its multiculturalism. Six members of the first Australian side to play a Test were born overseas, while in 1885, Sam Morris – born in Tasmania to West Indian parents – became the first black man to play Test cricket.But from there, the national side remained firmly Anglo-Celtic in origin, save for exceptions such as Len Pascoe (of Yugoslavian descent), Dav Whatmore (born in Sri Lanka), Kepler Wessels (born in South Africa) and Andrew Symonds, who has a Caribbean heritage. This week 20 years ago, for example, Australia fielded a Test team whose first names could be those of regulars: Mark, David, Justin, Mark, Steve, Allan, Ian, Paul, Shane, Merv and Craig.While cultural diversity has been reflected much better in sports such as Australian Rules football, rugby league and soccer, Australian cricket is trying to close the gap. CA figures show that of the 160,000 children who took part in entry-level programmes last year, about one-sixth were from non-traditional cricketing backgrounds. Initiatives such as Mosaic Programs, run in NSW, and Harmony in Cricket, its Victorian equivalent (in which Ahmed is a mentor), are designed to take the sport to newer communities, through schools and clubs.”If you’ve got a multicultural background and you walk into a traditional cricket club, it could be the last bastion of the stale, pale and male environment,” Dwyer says. “But now clubs are being encouraged to diversify and be more welcoming, to open their doors to the sort of opportunity this brings. The stats are clear: four in ten Australian households have got a parent who was born overseas. If we don’t become more diverse and welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds, we’ll be arcane in 100 years’ time.”But Dwyer acknowledges the most effective way of attracting attention is through those who light the fire for others. It’s why Usman Khawaja was celebrated when in 2011 he became the first Muslim to play a Test for Australia; why national selector John Inverarity highlighted the selections of Ahmed, Sandhu and Khawaja for the Prime Minister’s XI; and why Henriques’ Test call-up brought further encouragement.Sunshine Heights Cricket Club, in Melbourne’s western suburbs, is a remarkably progressive club, having welcomed people from South Sudan, Uganda, Vietnam, India, the Philippines and Afghanistan – many of them refugees – into the fold. Since adopting an open policy of encouraging diversity, dating back to the 1960s, the club has been recognised for the measures it has taken in making the club more inclusive.Club president Chris Hatzoglou says it represents 20 ethnicities across 15 sides (senior and junior), and that breakthroughs at higher levels give players from non-traditional cricketing backgrounds something to aspire to.”These sort of stories are really important. We’ve invested a lot of effort into cultural diversity at our club, and when it starts to penetrate at the elite level, when people from diverse backgrounds start to make it at the Australian level, that for us is an inspiration,” he says.Just as Henriques and his ilk encourage new Australians, the Southern Stars do their part for the women’s game. Their success in India, which followed winning the Twenty20 world title last year, is expected to increase female participation. CA’s records say 150,000 girls and women played in 2011-12, a 27 % jump from the previous season. While the Southern Stars boast a young outlook, they have one of their greatest advocates in Lisa Sthalekar, who retired last week in triumph in the country of her birth.Participation among indigenous Australians is also on the rise. The Imparja Cup, played in Alice Springs this month, had more than 500 participants, and research is underway to determine exactly how many indigenous Australians play the sport. Aboriginal players also have recent national selections to aspire to: Dan Christian made clear his pride when three years ago he joined Jason Gillespie as only the second acknowledged player of indigenous heritage to earn a national cap.When Khawaja was selected for his first tour with the Australian side in 2010, Waleed Aly, an academic and commentator on Muslim affairs, noted cricket still had obstacles at grassroots level among migrant communities, given cricket’s perception of as an establishment sport, its costs and complexities, and instances of racial vilification. The way the game is broadcast, he said, showed the sport is still directed at the white male.But, in an interview with the Wisden Cricketer, he hoped young players could eventually see a national team that reflected society. “You need to look at the field and feel ‘That could be me’, even if it couldn’t be,” he said. “I don’t have the talent but it’s nice to know that’s the only thing standing in the way.”Over the past week, Henriques, Ahmed, Agar and Sandhu have provided encouraging proof of that.

From Tim Wigmore, United Kingdom

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Will South Africa miss “the next Klusener’s” hitting down the order?© Getty Images
Hershelle GibbsHis autobiography may have been a gripping read, but its vivid depiction of the cliques in the South African dressing room helped end his international career. Which is a great shame, because, even at 36, Gibbs’s panache and audacity at the crease, best illustrated in his 111-ball 175 against Australia, have the capacity to thrill – as does his fielding.Marcus TrescothickFor a man often described as ‘stand and deliver’ in his style, Trescothick is remarkably nimble on his feet. Of all the examples of his clean striking in the opening overs of ODI innings, perhaps the best was against Glenn McGrath in the Champions Trophy in 2004: Trescothick, happy to charge virtually any quick, drove McGrath for four consecutive boundaries. If he made himself available, there is no doubt Trescothick would have been opening for England: Andrew Strauss’s forays down the wicket look almost apologetic in comparison.VVS LaxmanToo orthodox for ODIs? Perhaps, but tell Australia, against who he’s scored four centuries at an average of 46. If Hashim Amla can become the top-ranked one-day batsman in the world, it seems strange that there is no place for Laxman in India’s side. His classical style looks incongruous in Twenty20, certainly, but a man with his range of shots and ability to accelerate could be invaluable in ODIs.Brad HodgeDespite seven centuries in his past 20 Australian domestic one-day games and a limited-overs know-how few batsmen can match, there’s no place for Hodge at the World Cup. Labelled the “hard-luck story of the century” by Matthew Hayden, it’s pretty hard to argue – rumours that he never fitted into the Australian dressing room are one potential explanation.Owais ShahOverly intense and a shoddy fielder he may be, but Shah has a six-hitting ability England appear to lack in their middle-order. That much was epitomised by an 89-ball 98, with six maximums, against South Africa in the 2009 Champions Trophy. And his ease against spin helped him average 59 in England’s last one-day series in India. In the absence of Eoin Morgan, could Shah have been England’s finisher?Zulqarnain HaiderRemembered for fleeing mid-series against South Africa last year, promising to blow the whistle on match-fixers, Haider retired from cricket aged just 24. Those who saw his superbly gritty 88 on Test debut last summer will know he should be in South Asia now, rather than England.Albie MorkelThe ‘next Klusener’ will not be appearing in the World Cup. For a fifth bowler, he was always too liable to be expensive with the ball. Nevertheless, South Africa may long for him when chasing eight-an-over: Morkel can exploit the batting Powerplay like few others, most notably when looting Australia for 40* (off 18) and 40 (off 22) in two match-winning innings down under in 2009.Mohammad NabiAfghanistan’s skipper will rue the change in the format from 2007: if 16 teams were permitted as they were then, he would be appearing in the World Cup. An off-spinning allrounder who also has a first-class hundred to his name, Nabi is a useful cricketer who, with 13 wickets at 10 in the World Twenty20 qualifiers last year, did more than anyone to secure Afghanistan’s place in that tournament.Mohammad AmirYes, yes, we know why he won’t be playing, and that is right. But there’s no denying the sight of Amir’s mastery of the left-arm craft would have added to the tournament. Facing him under lights is not a prospect any opener would relish.Simon JonesThe notion of a fit Jones may seem ridiculous, but his performances in the Caribbean Twenty20 competition, including claiming 4-10 in four overs, served as a reminder of his reverse swing mastery of ’05, as well as his oft-ignored subtleties. Still capable of touching 90mph, could he yet play for England again, if used in a manner akin to Australia with Shaun Tait?Shane BondA slight cheat of a selection in that he’s retired, but what a shame it is. His last series – nine wickets at 21 against Australia last year – suggested Bond still possessed a genuine threat at international level. With express pace and canny use of bouncers, yorkers, cutters and slower balls alike Bond, even at 35, would have provided New Zealand’s attack with the cutting edge they are conspicuously lacking.

ESPNcricinfo staff26-May-2013N Srinivasan said it was up to the inquiry commission to determine whether Gurunath Meiyappan was an owner of the Chennai Super Kings franchise•Hindustan Times1. If Gurunath’s sole qualification to sit in the dugout was him being “enthusiastic”, what does that say about the IPL’s security system, about its workings at the highest levels? How did it entitle him access to the innermost circles of the IPL – to the accreditation reserved for IPL owners, to a seat at the auction table, to a place at the IPL workshop for owners? If he was not an owner of the Super Kings, how and why did India Cements allow him owner privileges? And was the IPL not remiss in its duty in checking his antecedents given the security risks involved?2. Gurunath is your son-in-law, he was a senior official of a team owned by a company of which you are managing director. He is now in jail on charges of betting on IPL matches and has been suspended from all involvement with cricket, especially the Chennai Super Kings. Does your close association with him not in any way tarnish the reputation of the BCCI and undermine your position there? To put it in another way: What would the IPL do had this happened with another franchise, where the owner’s relative ran the team and was then arrested on betting charges? Would the franchise owner and/or the team not be sanctioned?3. You mentioned in your statement that the “media had commented on clause 11.3 of the franchise agreement and whether Mr Gurunath is an owner of the franchise”. You repeatedly pointed out that the inquiry commission will have to find that out. Are you saying you do not know who the owner of the franchise is?4. Last Saturday, in a television interview, you condemned the three arrested cricketers in the harshest terms. You called them “dirty cricketers” for whom “no punishment is too little.” “I acknowledge the fact that three cricketers have done this”, you said. Today, you did not choose to talk about your son-in-law, arrested and in the lock-up, in the same words. All you did was try and distance yourself from him. No condemnation, no strong words. Can you explain this difference in treatment?A photograph of Gurunath Meiyappan’s accreditation card in IPL 20085. A related question: Your statements in that interview suggested the problem was limited to three cricketers, who were the “bad eggs”. “Just three people have done something wrong. It doesn’t mean the whole IPL is bad.” With Gurunath’s arrest would you concede that the problem is wider and deeper, that corruption in Indian cricket is a bigger problem than you were initially willing to admit?6. You have blamed the media for carrying out a trial but the media has given you every chance to speak, and carried your statements. In fact the media is willing to interview any BCCI or IPL official on this issue but no one is willing to talk on record. Could you tell us, for example, why the IPL chairman has not held a single press conference since the first arrests were made on May 16?7. Why does the commission of inquiry need any BCCI representation? Given the tangled web of relations here, would not an independent commission, solely comprising non-BCCI functionaries and those not on its payrolls, be a better choice and more credible in the public eye? Also, given that the inquiry into Lalit Modi’s alleged trangressions is not yet completed three years after he was sacked or he resigned, what assurance can you give us that there will be a speedy resolution?8. On the issue of credibility – In your last six years at the BCCI, as secretary and now president, much of the IPL’s workings and practices have been the matter of messy dispute – the conflict of interest issue in the Supreme Court, various foreign-exchange violations, the case against Lalit Modi, the case in the Competitions Commission of India (which the BCCI lost), the cases against two current franchises, the double exit of Sahara. Is this not a reflection of shoddy administration? Had this happened in India Cements, wouldn’t heads have rolled at the top?9. You have said that no member of the BCCI has asked for your resignation and hence the board is unified. What would be your response to Mr IS Bindra, president of the Punjab Cricket Association, a former president of the BCCI and arguably the senior most cricket administrator in the country, when he asks for your immediate resignation? On Saturday, his exact words were: “I demand that he should step down from the BCCI President’s position forthwith and not cause anymore damage to Indian cricket.” He is not a fugitive or a member of the media or someone with legal history against you; he is a current member of the BCCI. His statement is clear and unambiguous. Your response?10. What is your role in the running of Chennai Super Kings? Have you ever had any direct or indirect administrative dealings with the franchise, or with its officials, coaching staff and players? Did you ever hand out bonuses or join the celebrations or perform any of the other sundry duties a team owner would perform?

Holding back the best batsman has been a common strategy in Twenty20. It worked tonight, but its merits are open to debate

Sidharth Monga12-May-2013For all the flashy hitting involved, Twenty20 remains a largely pessimistic sport. Morne Morkel doesn’t get the first over at Delhi Daredevils, Rajasthan Royals protect Shane Watson from the new ball on a testing pitch, at Kings XI Punjab David Miller has often been left batting with lesser batsmen, MS Dhoni doesn’t want to come in to bat if there are more than 10 overs remaining, and Mumbai Indians’ misuse of Kieron Pollard is now well documented. They are all better cricketers than that.Captaining India, Dhoni once made the bold move of playing just six specialist batsmen – which should on paper be enough in a 20-over game – and immediately countered it by sending Irfan Pathan to open the innings. He gave himself that extended warranty of a batsman at No. 7, but that No. 7 sat and saw Irfan eat up 30 crucial deliveries for just 31 runs.You feared Rajasthan Royals were doing just that in their final home game of the season. Chasing 142, they were tested by some good seam bowling at the top. Ajinkya Rahane fell to it, and you moved a little towards the edge of your seat to see how Watson would cope with it. Out came James Faulkner. The pinch-hitting experiment failed soon, you leaned forward again, but you saw Sanju Samson coming out. In a crucial chase, when you want your best batsman to face as many balls as possible, Watson was not to be seen until the third wicket fell. It was a good thing these three batsmen got out early and didn’t waste too many deliveries, but the asking rate had already crossed eight. Soon it would nudge 10 an over.Rahul Dravid, the captain in this instance, will tell you it was all tactics. And Dravid is no defensive captain. There is no way he would have sent in a lesser batsman to face the best bowling in a Test match, a nightwatchman being the only exception. “It was a kind of wicket where we knew we needed to backend our batting,” Dravid said. “And the fact that they had a couple of spinners we needed to target. I wouldn’t say we got the batting order wrong.”We didn’t play the first 10 overs particularly well. I would have liked a few more runs in the first 10. Forty-nine for four isn’t good enough, but we are lucky we had someone like Watson there in the end and Stuart Binny as well.”A stunning assault from Watson and Binny, a period of five overs that went for 81, brought Royals a comfortable win in the end. And as Dravid had planned, a spinner – R Ashwin, the best in India – was successfully targeted. However, Royals are a bit of an exception: they don’t have the best of batting resources, and need insurance towards the end. Royal Challengers Bangalore don’t have similar concerns with Chris Gayle because they have Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers following him.That allowance made, you still wonder if Watson is not good enough a batsman to have played proper cricket against the better of Chennai Super Kings’ quicks. Wasn’t leaving all the eggs in Watson’s basket a risk in itself? Why doesn’t Dhoni, one of the best chasers in ODI cricket, bat early with Dwayne Bravo, S Badrinath, plus Albie Morkel at times, to follow him? In the match that Miller won Kings XI Punjab with a crazy hundred, his third fifty-plus score in a row, he came in to bat in the 10th over.The only plausible explanation for it is, you want your best batsmen to play with a mind that is not muddled with building an innings and pondering the consequences. It’s not the number in the order that matters, but the number of overs remaining when they come in to bat. Somewhere deep inside, they want to take out the fear of being bowled out. That’s 10 wickets in 20 overs. To think of that is pessimistic. It messes around with normal cricket.In a bottom-line world, the success and failure of a strategy is determined by the ultimate result. It obviously worked tonight with Dravid holding Watson back. It failed when Dhoni opened with Irfan to have a cover for a cover. It failed when Kings XI had Manan Vohra and David Hussey batting ahead of a clearly in-form Miller who was left almost stranded against Mumbai Indians.It’s a young sport still. We can’t fully know the dynamics of these decisions because the pressures on the field are different. The captains are pondering these things as they go. Until then, just the thought that there can be a variant of cricket where you don’t want to give your best cricketers to play the most part in the game is fascinating enough. After all these games aren’t quite played on the sticky dogs that once made Don Bradman invert his batting order.

A peek at a tradition enshrined in the longer versions of the game

Steven Lynch29-Jul-2013Cricket is often spoken of as the most English of games, and American visitors in particular are usually amused – or amazed – by the average day at a match. “Cricket,” wrote Bill Bryson (a transplanted American who embraced most things British, but couldn’t quite cope with its summer game), “is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks,” adding that it is also “the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players (more if they are moderately restless)”. Yes, lunch and tea are ingrained into the fabric of a day’s play, although floodlit games do vary the timetable a bit.Actually a day of Test cricket has a fine rhythm to it: two hours play, then a spot of lunch, two more hours of cricket before a cup of tea, followed by another couple of hours, or a little more if the over rate has been slow. The intervals break up the day nicely, and also build in a tension that isn’t there in a one-day game, with its one between-innings break (dinner? supper?).Two batsmen could be well set in a Test… but now there’s only ten minutes to lunch, and you don’t want to lose a wicket then. And after the interval the batsmen have to come out again, shake off the effects of whatever they’ve consumed, and play themselves in once more. Less than two hours later and tea is looming: well, that’s a bad time to lose a wicket too, so better dig in again.It’s actually rather surprising to discover that stopping for tea during the cricket isn’t an English invention at all – the interval was imported from Australia. Going off for a cuppa became standard Down Under in the Tests of 1881-82, but it didn’t really catch on in England for some time. Maybe escaping the midsummer sun was more of a priority in Melbourne than Manchester.Joe Darling, Australia’s flinty captain, suggested a tea-break when he led the 1899 team to England, and it was taken up after a fashion – refreshments were brought out to the players on the field. In 1902 the same system applied, and it wasn’t till 1905, with Darling still in charge, that the players officially left the field. The tradition of taking tea on the field didn’t die out completely for some time – charming photos remain of later Gentlemen v Players matches at Scarborough in which the cricketers are being served tea by waitresses who look like “Nippies” from J Lyons & Co. Most of the pictures also feature the players taking the chance to have a not-so-crafty fag, which seems incredible to modern eyes (except perhaps Phil Tufnell’s).

I remember, as a rather impoverished junior clerk, sometimes lying in wait for the tea trolley to be wheeled back to the bottom of the stairs, and pouncing on any uneaten sandwiches and cakes

These days the tea interval is enshrined in the longer versions of the game, and a common grumble is that it’s not long enough: if an over started before the scheduled time to stop, the break used to be reduced – sometimes the notional 20 minutes shrank to 15 or so. The Cricketers’ Who’s Who, one of county cricket’s standard reference books, always asked the players featured for a suggestion to improve the game – and for years the idea most frequently aired was not fewer overseas players or better pitches, but “extend the tea interval”. Everyone does get their full 20 minutes now, after the umpires finally grumbled, but there’s no sign of any extension beyond that for the tea break.When I worked at Lord’s, in the 1980s, the tea itself – a fine array of well-filled sandwiches and stodgy cakes – was produced at the top of the pavilion by Nancy, the famously volatile Irish cook, and conveyed to the dressing rooms on the floor below on a couple of rickety old wooden trolleys that may have come as a job lot when the pavilion itself was completed in 1890. The home team’s trolley was pushed along the corridor, sandwich plates and antique tea urn jangling, by the genial old dressing-room attendant Roy Harrington, who also seemed to date from the building of the place, or possibly before. He was the only person in the pavilion who had his name on his office door: rumour had it that he was once offered a £50 annual pay rise (not an insignificant sum at the time) or the brass plaque… and he chose the name.Quite what Roy’s wife thought about that was lost in the mists of time – but Jackie Harrington may have got her revenge a few years later, when she took charge of the dressing rooms on the historic day in 1976 when the women of England and Australia played there for the first time in a one-day international. Roy, who had been rather looking forward to arranging baths for the ladies, was disappointed to be sent home for the day.Roy’s little office, though, was quite a treasure trove: I once asked if he had anything to whiten pads, as mine were looking a bit lived-in. From the depths of a cupboard he produced a little box, containing an ancient bottle of “Gleamo”, or some similar name. The weathered cardboard still carried the price tag – two and a half old pence, or tuppence-ha’penny (about 1p). It worked, though. And a colleague asked about a pair of heavy flannel trousers that were another feature of the cupboard: “Oh, you can’t have those,” said Roy, “they’re FG Mann’s. He might need them.” Now George Mann had captained England, but he hadn’t played for Middlesex since 1954, about 30 years previously. Still, we left them there just in case.Old style: players are served tea on the field at Headingley, 1938•Getty ImagesI remember, as a rather impoverished junior clerk, sometimes lying in wait for the tea trolley to be wheeled back to the bottom of the stairs, and pouncing on any uneaten sandwiches and cakes before one of Nancy’s minions came down to collect them. Your timing had to be spot-on, but there were sometimes rich pickings to be had, especially when Mike Gatting was away playing for England.Memories of cheese and pickle suffusing my thoughts, I asked with some trepidation whether the same system is in use at Lord’s nowadays. I rather feared that nutrition bars and power drinks would have replaced the trolley and the trusty old tea urn, but was reassured to discover that sandwiches were still served, although “fruit platters” are also popular, and calorie-packed cakes seem to be a thing of the past. There’s a toaster and a sandwich-maker in the dressing room now too, which Roy would have disapproved of. The trolleys have finally gone, though: Roy’s more youthful successors carry the plates around themselves without wheeled assistance.