All posts by h716a5.icu

Tony Cozier on West Indies’ fielding lapses during the first day of the second Test against Australia

Tony Cozier31-May-2008
Runako Morton lets one through on a below-par effort in the field for West Indies © Getty Images
It was a day in which West Indies needed to be as sharp and flawless in the field. While their bowlers plugged away with much of their newly-discovered discipline, they lacked the support they enjoyed during the first Test, which was even more essential here to counteract the disadvantage of the conditions.The usually sure-handed Runako Morton put down a chance at point when the dogged Simon Katich square-cut Fidel Edwards straight to him, still ten runs short of his eventual century. He would have backed himself to take that catch ten times out of ten.Denesh Ramdin couldn’t gather a leaping leg-side catch when Michael Hussey was on 4. The prolific left-hander only added another six but it was a rare mistake by the ‘keeper, on which epitomised the decline in West Indies’ fielding standards.Misses, fumbles and deflections on the ground probably cost as many as 20 runs and often eased the pressure of a sequence of scoreless deliveries. Ramnaresh Sarwan, once again standing in for the injured Chris Gayle, and Jerome Taylor, seemingly conscious of the back strain that kept him out of the first Test, were the main culprits.At Sabina Park, there were only two no-balls and not a single wide in Australia’s first innings, during which West Indies bowled 126.5 overs. Here, in 82 overs, there were seven no-balls and a wide from Dwayne Bravo that passed a few feet away from Ramdin on its way to the boundary.It emphasised the point about consistency made by Australia’s coach, Tim Nielsen, prior to the match, and, no doubt, by his West Indies counterpart, and fellow Australian, John Dyson. The difference between the teams at present, Nielsen noted, is the ability to execute their skills and reproduce them “over and over again”.The position is not dissimilar to that of the first Test. On a friendlier batting pitch, West Indies will find it harder here to restrict Australia to under 500, a situation which will place heavy demands on their batting. But, in the continuing absence of Gayle, there is yet another opening combination to start things off against one of the most potent new ball attacks in the game.If the strange make-up of the final eleven was predicated on the announcement of the overall squad, the inclusion of Xavier Marshall was a choice as bewildering as any ever made by our often bewildering selection panels.When he was head coach, Bennett King was so seduced by Marshall’s potential that he pitchforked him into the VB Series in Australia and the Test series in Sri Lanka in 2005. He was 18 and clearly not ready.Since then, his appearances for Jamaica have been spasmodic and unconvincing. He was not even in the playing XI for their Carib Beer Challenge final against Trinidad and Tobago last month. His first-class average is 25, and he is yet to score a hundred.Still only 22, Marshall may yet become a worthy Test opener. At present, he is no more ready to take the leap to the highest level than he was four years ago.

Yuvraj Singh must be one of the more irritating bowlers to face, certainly one of the more amusing to watch, and as I am finding out, one of the most enjoyable to write about

Karna S01-May-2009Yuvraj Singh is perhaps one of the more irritating bowlers to face, certainly one of the more amusing to watch and arguably one of the most enjoyable to write about. What does he do to get under the skin of quality batsmen like Kevin Pietersen and what does he have to get a hat-trick in a Twenty20 game? It’s too easy to dismiss it as luck for there is intelligence – street smartness, perhaps – in his bowling.Let’s get the amusing part out of the way. Look at how he ambles in to bowl, almost like a Sunday park bowler. For someone who used to throw himself around on the field like a kid, Yuvraj has always looked old as a bowler, aged while he was still young. There is an almost disinterested air about as he sways in – a jog conjures up too strong a visual – to bowl as if to say, ‘I have been asked to bowl, so here I am. Do what you want with my pies’. It’s not a carefully developed act of deception; it is how he bowls.Here is where Yuvraj’s street smartness shows. He can turn the ball slightly but what he does do cleverly is vary his pace by using a scrambled seam. He is usually slow, slower and not so slow but can surprise the batsmen – like Mark Boucher today – with his quick one.Before the one to Boucher, Yuvraj had produced his best ball – a skidding arm-ball – to beat the defenses of a shocked Jacques Kallis. And just before that, he had bowled his most clever ball, the first of the hat-trick, to get rid of Robin Uthappa. He had sensed Uthappa was preparing to go after him and the mode of attack would be the slog sweep. Yuvraj could have fired it in but instead, he floated the ball wider outside off stump and Uthappa fell while attempting to fetch it from there. As the catch was held, Yuvraj turned around and shot him an ‘I told you so’ look.Along came Boucher. It was the first ball of a new over and it was almost predictable that Yuvraj would bowl an arm-ball. It’s his only genuine wicket-taking ball, especially when the batsmen are not going after him – he tries to slide it in and get an lbw decision – and also, the one he turns to when he is really desperate to stem the runs. Boucher knew it wouldn’t turn but looked to work it to the leg side and was caught in front. Yuvraj was away even before he had appealed or the finger went up. Suddenly he stopped, shouted out an appeal, saw the finger going up and went berserk, ending up finally at deep midwicket before being enveloped in a hug by Simon Katich.He nearly won the game for Punjab with the bat as well but was out-thought by Anil Kumble, who did what Yuvraj did to Uthappa. Kumble made him fetch a googly from outside off and Yuvraj fell while going for another six.

It took until the final session on the second day at Chittagong for Bangladesh to produce their first disciplined display of Test cricket in this series

Andrew Miller in Chittagong13-Mar-2010It took until the final session on the second day at Chittagong for Bangladesh to produce their first disciplined display of Test cricket in this series, as Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah combined in a fourth-wicket stand of 94 that may not be sufficient to change the momentum of this match, but was nevertheless a timely reminder that the side really has been making progress in recent months. Their defeats may still be stacking up, but the small victories are starting to come about more frequently.To call their stand a victory is still being charitable, however, because picking the positives out of the first two days of this match has involved as many forensics as your average LA homicide. When Mahmudullah lost his patience in the final half-hour of the day, to be caught off a top-edge by Paul Collingwood at slip, it left a gap in Bangladesh’s defences from which they are unlikely to recover in a hurry, especially once Shakib Al Hasan had followed in the day’s penultimate over, bowled by his own impetuosity as much as Graeme Swann’s guile.But all the same, Bangladesh can but soldier on and soak up the experiences, good, bad and downright ugly. Mahmudullah was one of their individual success stories from the recent tour of New Zealand, on which he made his maiden Test hundred while batting at No. 8, and today he showed the technical correctness and sufficient cool under fire to prove that his promotion to No. 5 is on merit, rather than out of desperation.”I always enjoy my batting,” he said. “The team want me to bat at No. 5 and I said ok, no problem, I can go for it. In New Zealand a couple of weeks ago there was a situation like this and we made a very good recovery. So I still hope we can make it in this Test as well. We have got our batting depth. Still Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Naeem [Islam] is there, and Tamim is still there. If we are able to bat properly we can achieve a good total.”Batting properly seemed alarmingly beyond their remit in the opening exchanges of Bangladesh’s innings, however. For all the progress that Imrul Kayes has made in one-day cricket, with a century and two fifties in his 13 matches to date, his cluelessness against the short ball was alarming for an international opener. In 18 previous Test innings, Kayes’ highest score was 33, and when Stuart Broad set to work on him, it wasn’t hard to see whyIn the space of three deliveries, Broad clanged a bouncer off Kayes’ grille and away for four byes, tucked him up with a rib-tickler, and then extracted the limpest of pulls for Matt Prior to complete the dismissal. Junaid Siddique was scarcely any more comfortable with the ball spearing into his ribs, while Aftab Ahmed’s credentials have been long under scrutiny. At 51 for 3 in the 12th over, a three-day finish looked to be on the cards.But the gulf in class between Tamim at the top and Mahmudullah at No. 5 was as sizeable as the difference between their scores and the men sandwiched between them in the order. But on the evidence they produced today, not even the harshest judge could question the Test credentials that those two men produced. With the possible exception of Mashrafe Mortaza in 2003 and the 16-year-old Mushfiqur in 2005, their alliance was the most combative performance that England have yet encountered in the course of three Test series between the sides.”Today we lost a couple of early wickets, two quick wickets for us, but Tamim and I had a good partnership, and I think we both enjoyed it,” said Mahmudullah. “I am hopeful, the pitch is still good and I would say we had some poor shot selection. But Tamim is still at the crease and we have a good depth in our batting. I am hopeful that we will be able to avoid the follow-on and get a good score.”Tamim may need to stay at the crease for several hours yet to save Bangladesh from that fate, but the skill and maturity of his innings once again augured well for the future. By smoking Stuart Broad’s first delivery through point for four he sent out a message that he would not be cowed, and it was reiterated soon afterwards when he lifted a Broad bouncer for six. But in between whiles he knuckled down to defend, for 84 dot-balls all told, while ever mindful of the chance to attack, as he did with 13 fours and a six.”Tamim has been batting brilliantly, especially today,” he added. “The moment he went out to the crease, he was positive from the beginning and played some very good shots. That was very good to watch. But since we have been playing on this pitch, we see it offers some turn on the first day and with every passing day it reduces and becomes flat. It is still like that, doing nothing extra. We have to come up with a very good batting performance tomorrow.”

Never at any point did Pakistan believe they could win this Test and for that alone they deserved the sorry fate that befell them at the SCG

Osman Samiuddin at the SCG06-Jan-2010Pakistan’s grip on this Test was going the minute they took a 206-run lead in the first innings. This morning, with Australia effectively 80 for 8 they knew they had lost it. Hollywood rehab clinics have fewer mental frailties than this side.Like in Melbourne last week, never at any point did Pakistan believe they could win this Test and for that alone they deserved the sorry fate that befell them at the SCG. Publicly Australia spoke yesterday as if they could win this. Pakistan, publicly and privately, only wished they could win this.The morning session was bizarre and instructive, possibly the worst session of leadership of a side in such a dominant position. Sides giving up 200-plus leads in Tests had only won five times ever after all. But Mohammad Yousuf thought Michael Hussey was Bradman and Peter Siddle that Bradman of tailenders, Jason Gillespie, and that Australia were 700 for 3. Effectively they were 80 for 8, Hussey had been dropped thrice and Pakistan began with eight men on the boundary. A more winning lost cause is difficult to conjure.Yousuf has surprised people with his leadership here, but today was the worst of him; defensive, unimaginative, sluggish and unwilling to take risk. Inzamam-ul-Haq’s beard is there and maybe the worst of his captaincy spirit was also floating around. From there, whatever the chase, the writing was being written on the wall.And then nothing matters in these chases for Pakistan; people talk of flat pitches, overhead conditions, surviving the new ball and playing out the old. But the only thing that matters is that it’s them. They could be chasing 90 on cement, with a tennis ball and in 45 degrees heat, but this batting line-up will find a way to get out for less. Who the opponent was didn’t really matter. They were called Panickstan here once, long ago. A regurgitation is in order.Three times this year they have done it – in Sri Lanka, in New Zealand and now. This will hurt the most because it isn’t every day that you dominate Australia, any Australia side, for three days and lose on the last. Australia, any Australia side, still know how to win and more importantly they know how not to throw matches away. Their players are brought up doing it. Peter Siddle’s innings is shining testament to that ethic. Pakistan’s tail presents a sorry contrast. Pakistan know simply how to play well every now and again, not to win, or avoid losing. That might never come and if it does it will take time.The Test was lost at many other stages and that is the wretchedness of Pakistan’s cricket that they could’ve won it still. They should’ve shut out Australia with their first innings, instead batting like lemons and not posting an insurmountable lead. Yousuf keeps talking about how much Twenty20 cricket is destroying Pakistan’s batsmen and with the kind of batting seen here – not least his own dismissals – it is a persuasive argument.Kamran Akmal dropped the Test four times himself through the second innings. He has been better this last year but he should’ve been dropped a few years ago; if he keeps getting selected, there is every chance now and again this may happen. His batting was crucial in New Zealand, but it’s been ill-judged here. Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal – should they really be in this line-up?And yet still it boggles the mind. It will do for many days. Knowing all this, feeling all along that they may lose this, to see it play itself out as it did is deeply affecting. To such an implosion, from such a position, can break you. Who knows what living it can do. Still the question: how have they lost it? Everyone knows but nobody understands, least of all the side itself.

It’s been 10 years since the Cronje scandal, but despite preventive measures the threat is very much alive

Osman Samiuddin21-Jun-2010Why should 2010 be treated as a landmark of any significance in cricket’s match-fixing years? The boom years, after all, were over a decade ago, the mid-to-late 90s, when Mukesh Gupta, “John”s and many others led the cricket world in a finely orchestrated but unholy dance of money and greed. And the practice probably began much before that. So why now?For a number of reasons this year is important. A full decade ago now, cricket first began to fight back. Three big names, captains or former captains, were banned for life in 2000, as a result of various investigations and commissions and inquiries. The ICC set up the anti-corruption unit (ACSU) the same year, the first systemic, if greatly delayed, response to the issue. So the year is important, first, in assessing where cricket stands now.Lord Paul Condon, who set up and oversaw the ACSU through the decade, has just left his post, and that is a natural marker. He believes the game is in a healthier state than when he took over, though he acknowledges that new formats and leagues bring greater threats. In that there is now a body in place to investigate and to apply preventive and punitive measures, there has been progress. Players minded to do so can take an official route to report suspicions. And there has been no rash of high-profile cases as there once was. By and large the game appears clean, or cleaner than before.But setting up a police force doesn’t vanquish crime. If you actually scan the last 10 years and put together in one paragraph cricket’s main run-ins with match-fixing and bookies, is there not still danger? Off hand, just tally them up: Maurice Odumbe’s tryst with bookies and subsequent ban in 2004; the panic over Murali’s visit to a dance bar in Mumbai, whose owner was said to have bookmaker contacts; Marlon Samuels and the tapped Indian phone line in 2007; the persistent murmurs about the ICL in its last season; the approach to an Australian player during the Ashes last year; separate offers made to players during the 2009 World Twenty20; the ongoing investigations into the actions of Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield of Essex; the recent development that county cricket might now be attracting more bookies than old men or dogs; Shakib Al Hasan’s recent revelation that he too was once tapped up.And this leaves out Pakistan’s paranoid world, where every match is fixed. But even among that long, crazed list, some genuinely provide reasons for concern. Who did three Pakistanis meet at a function during the 2007-08 India tour, a meeting that prompted the ACSU to interview the players a few months later? And how suspicious were the men who compelled the team to change floors in a Colombo hotel in 2009? All together, the list is of some heft. And it says that bookies never really went away or stopped trying; they merely aren’t as audacious as they were in Gupta’s days. And looking over the Samuels case for example, it remains absurdly straightforward for a bookie to contact a player.Not only are they still around, but it is only over the last decade that our understanding of just how broad their work is has properly developed. At the time the simple and prevalent belief was that match-fixing involved fixing results. In many cases it was true. It was also convenient, for it left open the romantic, blind notion that one guy, incensed by this corruption, could change the tide. Lance Klusener, for example, is said to have deliberately screwed up a good deal for Hansie Cronje in the Nagpur ODI on the 1999-2000 tour by smashing a late, innings-changing 58-ball 75. There was also the neat chestnut with which we comforted ourselves that all bets on India were off until Tendulkar was out.

Cynical the scenario may be, but even a reasonably intelligent bookie might think it worth his while to approach players from cricket’s third world, who also miss out on the lucre of the IPL

Now we know it doesn’t matter what Tendulkar does, for the reality, as the ACSU’s first comprehensive report revealed in 2001, was far more complex. They called it occurrence-fixing, but soon Rashid Latif would give it a far more evocative name: fancy-fixing, which opens up cricket’s vast statistical landscape. With fancy – or spot – fixing, each ball of a match is effectively an event, an opportunity to bet and thus an opportunity to fix. It emerged that bets were being taken on the outcome of the toss, the number of wides or no-balls in a specific over, the timing and specifics of declarations, individual batsmen getting themselves out under a specific score, even field settings.A visit last year in Karachi to an individual familiar with the world of bookies was mind-altering: bets were placed on what the first-innings total in a county match would be by lunch on the first day, or how many overs a bowler would bowl in the first hour of a session or a day, or on how much difference there would be in first-innings totals, or on how many runs a specified group of players would make. It didn’t stop.In a way, fixing entire results was just the very furthest reach of bookies, the most sensational thing they could do; everything beneath that, initially overlooked, was much more doable, less easier to spot and thus more dangerous. The thirst for fixing results, even if diminished, remains, as one English county player approached by an Indian businessman recently learnt, but the far greater problem and more prevalent is fancy-fixing.Moreover conditions today are such that you can’t help but worry. The 2001 ACSU report listed key factors at the time that led to the entire pickle. Cricketers weren’t paid enough money compared to other professional sportsmen; without contracts their careers were less stable; too many ODIs where nothing was at stake were being played; cricketers had little say in the running of the game. Cricket thinks it has moved on from then, but not as much as it thinks it has.Central contracts are now in place across the board, giving the elite international cricketer some security. Players are generally better rewarded financially than they have ever been. Indeed, some of the amounts cricketers received at the time from bookies seem laughable now: $4000 here, $5000 there. The big fish often took around $50,000 for a really big fix; Saleem Malik was said to have offered Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and Tim May nearly $70,000 each during the 1994-95 Karachi Test. Cronje once even agreed on $15,000 for a fix. In the 2009 IPL, Andrew Flintoff’s two wickets in four Twenty20 games fetched him over $166,000 each, legally and above board.But the riches are limited and wealth is spread more unevenly than ever before; players from India, Australia, England and South Africa enjoy far greater financial benefits than ones anywhere else. The IPL has taken the earnings of some players to a different level altogether, but it has also widened the gap between haves and have-nots. Cynical the scenario may be, but even a reasonably intelligent bookie might think it worth his while to approach players from cricket’s third world, who also miss out on the lucre of the IPL. Maybe it explains why county players have been targeted, or Bangladesh’s Shakib was recently, or why Pakistan’s players might be approached.In 1998 it was revealed that Mark Waugh and Shane Warne had taken money from a bookie in exchange for match information•Getty ImagesAbove all, in 2010 there are more games, and more meaningless ones, than ever before. When Cronje discussed with his team an offer to throw Mohinder Amarnath’s benefit in December 1996, it was prompted in part because none of his tired team was keen to play a match that had only hurriedly been given international status. Since then it has only gotten worse. There is an entire new format to deal with, for one. The seven-match ODI series, pregnant with the possibility of ennui and dead games, is not only still around, there are more of them. Before 2000, there had been eight (one was an eight-match series). Since then there have been 10. Every week, the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket seem to thrust upon a weary world another tri-series. The push to provide greater context and meaning to ODIs should have begun in 2000. Instead, the ICC has dithered for a decade, only beginning to take it seriously now.And it is all on TV. All matches, from English county cricket to the Australian Big Bash, from the South African MTN40 to Pakistan’s RBS Twenty20, from the Under-19 World Cup to the women’s World Cup, can be beamed into your home, mine, or that of the bookie. Every international game, and an increasing number of domestic games, are potentially a target.So in 2010 the threat is very much alive. Over the coming weeks, Cricinfo will bring you a series of special features on the topic. There will be an interview with Lord Condon as he steps down from his post. We examine the effects match-fixing has had on Pakistan, since arguably the country is the one most scarred by the events. We also look back, through journalist Malcolm Conn, at the breaking of the Mark Waugh-Shane Warne story that Cricket Australia had hushed up for so many years. And at the after-effects of the Cronje revelations in South Africa. There will be much else besides.

Imran Tahir has given South Africa the joker they needed to form a full pack of bowling options, If his injured finger forces him to miss the India game, South Africa might turn back to a more familiar asset – their seamers

Firdose Moonda in Nagpur12-Mar-2011Johan Botha and Robin Peterson and have always been very handy cards to have in South Africa’s pocket. They typically perform the holding role, controlling the mid-sections of an innings and taking wickets when needed. Both can also bat a bit. Usually though, only one of them has played at a time and most of the time that has been Botha. They tended not to operate as a pair, one being a left-arm spinner and one an offspinner.Then the joker came along in the form of Imran Tahir, and suddenly the spinners formed a complete pack. Tahir did for them what the right colour scarf does for someone’s eyes. Peterson and Botha, already good spinners in their own right, somehow seemed to be spurred on by his presence, and their own wicket-taking abilities grew. Tahir has emerged as the leader and those who follow him, including the part timers, JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis, have been able to bowl around him with much more success than South Africa has ever had with spinners before.The reality, however, is that the joker has to disappear for ten days and there is a very, real possibility that those ten days have already started, and that he will not feature in the game against India. The challenge for the other spinners, and the bowling attack as a whole, will therefore be to make sure their house of cards doesn’t collapse in his absence. Much will depend on the combinations that are selected for the two matches that Tahir does not play in. It’s unlikely that anyone can replace him as the joker but the king, queen and jack have to be able to devise a plan to make up for what South Africa will lose by not having him.”Now that Imran is out for ten days, they will more than likely play both Johan Botha and Robin Peterson,” Paul Adams, the former South Africa left-arm spinner, told ESPNCricinfo. It would mean a confidence-boosting recall for Botha, who was left out of the last two matches, after opening the bowling against the West Indies. Before Tahir arrived, Botha was South Africa’s premier limited-overs spinner and although he was never as attacking as Tahir, he brought his own brand of aggression.His chief role, as Graeme Smith once outlined, was to control the middle of an innings. It was something Botha had made his own and it has worked for him since South Africa beat Australia in home and away series in the 2008/9 season. At times, it may have been formulaic, with most opposition knowing when to expect Botha to come on, knowing that they would have to work harder for their runs in that period and knowing that he may snag a couple of wickets, but it was a formula that worked.Botha’s job changed with the opening act of South Africa’s World Cup, when he was made to open the bowling. “Botha was used because of number of left-handers in the West Indies team,” Adams said. “It’s a sign that South Africa are selecting their attack according to who they are playing.” It’s that specific selection for the opposition that resulted in Botha missing out on the last two matches, if the logic follows, and because South Africa needed an extra batsman and a backup wicket-keeper, Morne van Wyk, both times. Botha is widely regarded as South Africa’s captain-elect, but the new thinking means that not even the man next in line for the throne is assured of a spot in the starting eleven.Peterson’s journey has not been as clear cut as Botha’s. Usually a fringe player in the side, having been around for almost nine years and only playing in 43 ODIs, his critics believed his job was more to carry drinks than responsibility. In this World Cup, however, he has not only pressed the mute button on them but thrown the remote control away, featuring in all three games and been given the most strategic job of the competition so far – opening the bowling against England. Peterson was the most important part of Smith’s trap that was set up for Kevin Pietersen. The plan worked in more than ways than one and at the end of his first spell, Peterson had figures that read 4-2-4-3.In the games against West Indies and England, it was Tahir who was the highest wicket-taker with four scalps, usually getting a crucial breakthrough in the middle order and then helping to mop up the tail. “Imran has been used particularly to strike at different stages of the game, in the powerplays and at the back end when the batsmen are wanting to more attacking. With his variation and difficulty to read, he becomes more effective in taking wickets then,” Adams said. Without that, the striking job has to be done by someone else.This is where the bowlers that have gone unnoticed at this tournament may come back into play in a big way. The quicks, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who have been outshone by the spinners, have an opportunity to show they are still here, on a surface that should favour them, especially Steyn and his reverse swing. It could even open the door for Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who was the leading wicket-taker in the home series against India over the summer, and who has yet to have a run in this tournament.It could well be a case of normal service resuming for the South African attack in Nagpur – with the seam bowlers opening and looking to create early breakthroughs. “Robbie also brings a wicket-taking option in those middle overs,” Adams said, a statement that illustrates that the spinners may be back to the task of controlling the innings from a certain point. It will again, have to be carefully thought out, but being the usual way that they go about things, it may not seem so. With the number of options South Africa have it’s something that speaks about the strength of their attack that that they can “build a specific plan with each game they play.”

After Simon Katich’s axing, Australia must find a long-term opening partner for Shane Watson. ESPNcricinfo runs the rule over the candidates who could be given chances in the next couple of years

Brydon Coverdale10-Jun-2011Phillip Hughes, 22 (NSW)
Certainly the first in line, although he failed to have any impact during the final three Tests against England last summer when he replaced the injured Katich. However, the selectors were impressed by his 138 and 93 in the Sheffield Shield final in March, and he also made a century in the last Shield game before the decider. His technique will always be questioned, but twin hundreds in his second Test, in tough conditions in Durban two years ago, show that he can score at the highest level. One of the most fascinating subplots in Australia’s next two Test tours, to Sri Lanka and South Africa, will be whether Hughes can grab his opportunities. If not, he’ll be under enormous pressure come the home summer.Usman Khawaja, 24 (NSW)
A fine young batsman who the selectors want to embrace, Khawaja’s main issue is that he doesn’t open for New South Wales. But then, Katich wasn’t opening for his state when he was thrust into the role in Test cricket in 2008, and nor was Justin Langer when he suddenly became a champion Test opener in 2001. Khawaja’s poise was on display in the Sydney Ashes Test when he replaced the injured Ricky Ponting, and with Ponting likely to stay at No.3, Khawaja would need to drop down or move up if he is to keep his place in the side in the immediate future. In 33 first-class games he has made seven hundreds and averages 47.30, and one way or another, he should become a permanent part of the Test team over the next few years.Shaun Marsh, 27 (WA)
Like Khawaja, Marsh doesn’t typically open for his state in the longer format. Unlike Khawaja, his record at first-class level is a fraction disappointing. For a batsman of Marsh’s talent, six tons in 60 first-class appearances is below par, although last season he managed one century and three fifties in only four games, his season having been disrupted by injury. In Marsh’s favour, he has proven himself capable of performing at international level, and his ODI record is strong. In 2009, the selectors made Watson a Test opener based in part on the fact that he had shown ability against the new ball in one-day internationals. It’s not out of the question that Marsh might win a similar vote of confidence.Nic Maddinson, 19 (NSW)
He might not be ready just yet, but expect Maddinson to put his hand up for higher honours over the next couple of years. In October, he became the youngest New South Wales player to score a century in his first-class debut, and he had added a second ton by the end of the summer. Importantly, both came when he was opening the batting. A highly-talented left-hander, Maddinson could very well become part of Australia’s plans for the 2013 Ashes, and if he thrives during this winter’s Australia A tour to Zimbabwe, there could even be a call-up sooner rather than later.Ed Cowan, 28 (Tas)
A solid domestic performer over the past couple of seasons, Cowan opened for Australia A in Hobart last year during England’s first warm-up match of the Ashes tour. He made thirties in both innings and finished the Australian summer with a century in Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield final victory, which earned him the Man of the Match award. However, he turns 29 next week and is perhaps not the young up-and-comer the selectors want, although if he can manage a huge domestic season in 2011-12, he won’t be out of contention.David Warner, 24 (NSW)
Along with Maddinson, Hughes and Khawaja, Warner is heading to Zimbabwe later this month as part of Australia A’s four-day squad. It’s a big step forward for a man who had been viewed as a short-format slogger, so much so that he made his Twenty20 international debut before he’d even played a first-class match. He still has only seven first-class appearances to his name, but posted a mature century while opening in the second-last match of the Sheffield Shield season. A year ago, Warner playing Test cricket seemed about as likely as Katich making Australia’s Twenty20 team. How times change.And who won’t get the job?

Mark Cosgrove, 26 (Tas): Has time on his side but is unlikely to win a baggy green unless his fitness improves dramatically. Has opened at domestic level and topped the Sheffield Shield run tally last summer.Michael Klinger, 30 (SA): Realistically, has probably missed his chance. Had two huge summers with South Australia but fell away last season when given the state captaincy.Phil Jaques, 32 (NSW): The forgotten man. Three hundreds in 11 Tests was a fine record but he has not been the same after a severe back injury, and at 32 his ship has sailed.Chris Rogers, 33 (Vic): Like Jaques, he has had a taste of Test cricket. But will be 34 in August, and is therefore too old for a selection panel looking to the future.

This series might actually be the best way to get the Indian Test team breathing back to normal and ensure that they digest the rest of what awaits them

Sharda Ugra05-Nov-2011When the India v West Indies series, which begins at Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday, first turned up on the calendar, there was much mumbling and grumbling from the hosts. Sandwiched between the tours of England and Australia, it was given the status of a meaningless shred of lettuce in a double cheeseburger. West Indies are amongst the game’s contemporary strugglers (a fact that is easy to understand but hard to keep writing about), they have not been on a full Test series in India for nine years, during which India toured the Caribbean thrice.To mark the moaning and mourning, the Kotla Test will be the first of three week-day specials, from Sunday to Thursday. Eden Gardens runs Monday to Friday game and Mumbai begins on a Tuesday and ends on a Saturday.Yet, suddenly the lettuce is not quite so meaningless for India – because the first of that burger led to a bout of coughing and choking (no pun intended, honestly) that lasted three months. This series, then, might actually be the best way to get the Test team’s breathing back to normal and ensure that they digest the rest of what awaits them.If England became a case study of the “everything that could go wrong did go wrong” tour for the Indians, the three Tests against West Indies will be a check of whether all their best parts can get back to working order. Had this series not been around, the R&R available for the Indians after the bruises in England would have consisted largely of a few first-class cricket games for every player. West Indies, despite all their recent struggles, are an opposition that will ask far tougher questions.India’s comfort at home is expected to give its injured players a chance to test their recovery, their out of form batsmen a much-needed inner kick of confidence and also a return to even keel, the team’s faith in its ability to create and seize opportunities to win five-day games. For the moment, it has certainly given India’s selectors, a chance to offer proof of their bravado before they actually pick the 15 for Australia.That, however, is weeks ahead. Which is where West Indies want India to be looking, far ahead of them, ahead even of themselves. Captain MS Dhoni was not about to be distracted. When asked about the dramas of England, he said, “There’s no good reason why we should be thinking about England. It is all about looking ahead, that is what we have done.” A few minutes later, a query popped up about the Australia tour, to which he said, “the Australia series is too far away, no point thinking about it.” The immediacy of India’s present involves being up against a team to whom this series is quite completely, the real deal. In the time that West Indies have been kept away from a tour of India, the game’s goalposts itself have shifted. Darren Sammy’s men now know where it’s at.

Sandwiched between the tours of England and Australia, it was given the status of a meaningless shred of lettuce in a double cheeseburger

The Tests against India are not about trial-error-tinkering of any kind. When the captain Sammy called the series, “the biggest” for most of his team, it was not as if he was merely talking the series up. The three Tests will be a demanding examination of West Indies’ capabilities as travellers. Victory in Bangladesh, they know, was enjoyable, welcome, rousing even but not exactly the Normandy landing. Bangladesh is one of only three countries where West Indies have won an overseas Test in the last 10 years, South Africa and Zimbabwe being the other two.The big benefit from the West Indies win in Dhaka is that they travel to India with match-winning performances from some of their inexperienced players, particularly legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and top order batsmen Kirk Edwards and Darren Bravo. They bring with them a frontline bowling attack – Fidel Edwards, Kemar Roach, Ravi Rampaul – with more Tests between them than India’s main bowlers have played. (Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha are still one short of a combined experience of 50 Tests and Dhoni has promised two debuts at the Kotla).Outside the more familiar parameters of an Indian home series – slow, flat wickets, heaps of runs – the series will test the resolve in the younger West Indian batsmen and the strength of India’s bowling bench. Even without the presence of Chris Gayle, a series once glumly considered of as a mundane afterthought, is now full to the brim with individual stories. The question about the Tendulkar Hundred is the least of them, at the moment, even to the man himself. What is of greater interest is whether he will be back to the match fitness that makes him both confident and relaxed. Virender Sehwag’s shoulder has to be worked to full stretch, his collective with Gautam Gambhir needs to get going again. Darren Bravo must prove that he is a worthy successor to Sir Brian Charles. Marlon Samuels must make himself truly valuable to the West Indies again. Ishant must be ready to lead the bowling regardless of Zaheer Khan’s medical condition (for the moment, reported to be improving) and ankle-muncher wickets.This week, Delhi’s winter suddenly set in with foggy skies, weak dawns and early sunsets. It is exactly what the India v West Indies series had promised to be when first announced: bleakly grey, largely uneventful, predictable even. On the eve of India’s first Test at home versus West Indies in almost a decade, a series of revelations await. Who knows, we may even be witness to a burst of winter sunshine.

Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down another 200-plus total but such big targets highlight some deficiencies in their bowling

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium07-Oct-2011Another day, another 200-plus target chased down at the Chinnaswamy. And this time Royal Challengers Bangalore got there with time to spare. Fans trooping out of the stadium after the game weren’t re-enacting the heart-stopping final shot as they had two days ago after the South Australia match, but the biggest crowd of the tournament lapped up the entertainment – the endless stream of sixes, the extended fireworks after the win, and the flag-waving victory lap from the team.The two biggest stars in the home team delivered: Chris Gayle added another innings to his year of big-hitting that could end up being the gold standard for domestic Twenty20 batting, and Virat Kohli again showed you could score two runs a ball without resorting to slogging – highlighted by four fours off Mitchell Starc in the sixth over.The fans were cock-a-hoop and the team exhilarated after storming to the final despite the initial mis-steps in the tournament. Even the fielding, a constant source of frustration for captain Daniel Vettori and coach Ray Jennings, was markedly better. Big question marks remain, though, over the bowling, especially the fast bowling.On Friday, part-time offspinner Tillakaratne Dilshan, who hasn’t been called on to bowl all tournament, was outstanding with the new ball, surrendering only ten runs in his four-over spell. Still, the Royal Challengers’ bowling caved to allow New South Wales to power past 200. It may be a flat track, the outfield may be quick, and the boundaries relatively short, but the bowling has rarely inspired confidence throughout the campaign – even when Gayle had provided the insurance of a 207-run target against Somerset, the match was evenly poised halfway through the chase.The biggest worry for the Royal Challengers is the form of Australian fast bowler Dirk Nannes. In the absence of the injured Zaheer Khan, Nannes was expected to be the pace spearhead who would help out up-and-coming medium-pacers like S Aravind and Abhimanyu Mithun. Instead after five matches, he has a double-digit economy-rate, has just one wicket, has bowled the most wides in the tournament and his average stands at an utterly unflattering 198.He can still touch 90mph, bowl a toe-crushing yorker and surprise batsmen with his bouncer, but those skills have been sighted too few times as his inconsistent lines and lengths have been routinely punished by the opposition. Twice on Friday, he managed to fool David Warner, who was powering to a second successive Twenty20 century, with a slower ball that leaves the left-hander, but on both those deliveries were preceded by full ones that were clobbered for six by Warner.As for the other pace options, Mithun was discarded after one poor game, against the Warriors. Aravind began reasonably well, but has been in meltdown over the past two matches. Against South Australia, there were at least three boundaries in each of his overs as he finished with 0 for 69, the second most expensive spell in Twenty20 history. Against NSW, the damage was relatively lesser (55 runs) and he was strangely entrusted with the final over, which went for 23, though Vettori hadn’t bowled out. This after Dan Christian had clouted him for 24 in the final over two days ago.Vettori defended the bowling, though he acknowledged that improvement was needed. “We’ve obviously bowled well enough,” he chuckled after the win over New South Wales. “It’s hard to sum up, you come off the field disappointed, having gone for 200, you have to be realistic and say, ‘It’s an incredibly tough wicket to bowl on, the ball seems to travel.’ So if you can keep them below 200, you have done a good job.”Warner bludgeoned an unbeaten 135 in Chennai earlier this week, but generally the surface there has been tough to score on, and bowlers have had more of a say than in Bangalore. “There are a lot of disappointed bowlers in the room, we have to make sure we’re better than that on the Chennai wicket,” Vettori said. “It’s probably going to be a little easier for the bowlers, but we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to support the batsmen.”The Royal Challengers fans won’t be complaining though if the bowlers flop again on Sunday and the team makes it a hat-trick of successful large chases.

Towards the end of a series in which India have been totally flattened, Adelaide’s batting-friendly conditions and their past record will give the visitors some hope

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan22-Jan-2012After the ascent to the top of the Test table and the subsequent World Cup win, an injury-hit India struggled on their tour of England and were humbled 4-0. In the next major away series, India were back to full strength and were the favourites to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against an inconsistent Australia. Three Tests into the series, India are on the verge of their second whitewash in less than six months.India have lost all Tests in a series (minimum four-match series) on only three occasions prior to the disastrous England tour – in 1959 (England), 1962 (West Indies) and 1967 (Australia). While the inexperienced bowling attack was expected to face problems, the much hyped batting line-up has failed to average even 30 in their last seven away Tests.In the 1959 series in England when India suffered their first ever whitewash, they averaged under 20 runs per wicket while England averaged 40.60. The average difference (difference between the batting averages of the opposition and India) was 20.97. There was a considerable difference in the number of wickets taken by India (58) and England (98). The stats in the West Indies series in 1962 were also similar with an average difference of 18.85 and wickets difference of 40. India were far more competitive in the 1967-68 Australian tour where they lost 4-0. The average difference was just 8.65 and India picked up 70 wickets to Australia’s 80.However, in their 4-0 loss in England in 2011, the gulf in batting and bowling stats is much wider. England averaged nearly 60 while India struggled with the bat, averaging just 25.55 (average difference of 34.21). In the bowling department, too, India, who were missing Zaheer Khan, managed just 47 wickets to England’s 80. In the Australia series, India’s batting average has plummeted to 22.90 while Australia’s corresponding number is 47.08. Perhaps the only consolation for India is that they have managed to bowl the opposition out in three out of four innings, conceding over 400 on only one occasion.

India’s series performance in comparison to series they have been whitewashed (min 4 matches)

Series (total matches)Hosts (bat avg)India (bat avg)Average diff100/50 (India)100/50 (opposition)Wickets (India)Wickets (opposition)England:1959 (5 Tests)40.6019.6320.972/64/145898West Indies:1962 (5 Tests)42.7623.9118.852/125/1560100Australia:1967 (4 Tests)35.9227.278.651/166/147080England:2011 (4 Tests)59.7625.5534.213/97/114780Australia:2011-12 (4 Tests) *47.0822.9024.180/94/53460* Despite their woeful performance in the series so far, India will be glad that the final Test is being played at a venue where they have a fairly good record. In fact, most visiting teams have been quite successful in Adelaide as compared to the other venues. Australia have won just one of their last four matches in Adelaide and lost the previous one played against England by an innings.The win-loss ratio for visiting teams is highest in Adelaide (0.28) and India are one of only two teams to win a match at the venue since 2000. The average difference in Adelaide is 10.29 and visiting batsmen have scored 13 centuries to the 14 scored by Australian batsmen. In contrast, the average differences at other venues are much higher with Brisbane being the highest (26.23). While Perth is the only other venue where visiting batsmen have scored almost as many hundreds as the home batsmen, Brisbane remains a venue where the hosts have completely dominated on the hundreds front too, scoring 21 centuries to the visitors’ six.

Record of visiting teams at various Australian venues since 2000 (minimum six matches played)

VenueMatchesWins/Losseswin-loss ratioBat avgBowl avgAvg diff100s (visitors/Australia)Wickets (visitors/Australia)Adelaide112/70.2834.7245.01-10.2913/14147/188Melbourne122/100.2026.5439.88-13.345/15171/212Sydney152/120.1633.3545.75-12.4015/25196/263Perth122/80.2527.2042.50-15.309/11172/220Brisbane120/90.0025.2551.48-26.236/21127/210Although the Australians lead 3-0, they will be far from satisfied with the form of the batting line-up. But for the second Test in Sydney and David Warner’s extraordinary 180 in Perth, the batting has failed to demonstrate consistency. However, many of the home batsmen will look forward to playing in Adelaide. Ricky Ponting has scored the most runs at the venue (1442) with five centuries and scored centuries in his last two matches against India in Adelaide. Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey have averages over 80 in Adelaide and have performed much better there than at other home venues. The out-of form Brad Haddin will look to regain his lost touch at a venue where he has made his highest Test score while averaging 104.33.

Australian batsmen in Adelaide and other home venues

BatsmanRuns/Average (Adelaide)100/50 (Adelaide)Runs/Average (other venues)100/50 (other venues)Ricky Ponting1442/55.465/55823/57.5617/32Michael Hussey622/88.851/52605/56.6310/8Michael Clarke594/84.853/32423/51.557/7Brad Haddin313/104.331/2897/33.221/5Sachin Tendulkar, who is on his fifth Australian tour, has been the only Indian batsman to demonstrate any consistency in this series. He has got off to starts but has failed to convert a single knock into a big score. Tendulkar, however, has a better record overall at other Australian venues (average 61.79) as compared to Adelaide (36.00). Rahul Dravid, who has had his defence breached on five occasions in six innings, has looked a pale shadow of the player who top scored in the disastrous England series. He will, however, have fond memories of Adelaide, where he scored 233 and 72 in Test in 2003 setting up India’s successful run-chase.VVS Laxman, so often Australia’s tormentor, has looked completely out of sorts in this series scoring just 102 runs in six innings. Laxman’s average of 17.00 so far is his lowest in a series of three matches or more. His solitary century in Adelaide came in 2003 when he scored 148 and put on 303 with Dravid to lead India’s superb response to Australia’s massive 556.Virender Sehwag also has a much better record in Adelaide as compared to his record in other venues in Australia. He scored a century in his previous Test at the venue and will need to use that as an inspiration to find some form at the end of an ordinary series.

Indian batsman in Adelaide and other Australian venues

BatsmanRuns/Average (Adelaide)100/50 (Adelaide)Runs/Average (other venues)100/50 (other venues)Sachin Tendulkar288/36.001/11483/61.795/6Rahul Dravid373/93.751/1742/37.100/5VVS Laxman284/47.33
1/1899/44.953/3Virender Sehwag308/77.001/1560/40.001/2Adelaide has generally been a good batting venue and will be a boost to the beleaguered Indian team hoping to avoid a second consecutive away whitewash. Despite its tendency to favour batsmen, the venue has been highly result-oriented with only two draws in the last 11 Tests.In the first two innings, batting has been fairly simple with teams averaging 45.68 and 50.00. However, as the matches have gone on, the averages drop considerably to 24.68 and 30.30 in the third and fourth innings. Pace bowlers, who have struggled in the first two innings, are much more successful in the third and fourth innings where they average 23.34 and 25.22. Ben Hilfenhaus, the highest wicket-taker in the series with 23 wickets, will look to add to his wicket tally at a venue where he is playing his first Test. Spinners also have had a lot more to cheer about in the latter stages of matches as compared to the first and second innings.

Batting and bowling stats across the four innings in Adelaide (matches since 2000)

1st innings2nd innings3rd innings4th inningsRuns per wicket/scoring rate45.68/3.3750.00/3.3524.68/2.8930.30/3.01Pace (wickets/avg)59/49.1666/50.6855/23.3431/25.22Spin (wickets/avg)33/47.1529/55.3732/27.5912/40.00