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The Madhya Pradesh batsman, on the cusp of 100 Ranji matches for his state, looks back at his career and what drives him to turn out season after season

Amol Karhadkar23-Nov-2012While Virender Sehwag made his 100th Test appearance amid fanfare in Mumbai on Friday, a domestic stalwart will reach a similar feat in front of near-empty stands on Saturday. Devendra Bundela will reach 100 Ranji games when Madhya Pradesh take on Bengal in Indore, a central India town also known as mini-Bombay and where Sehwag scored his ODI double-century. Before the 35-year-old Bundela, only 25 other cricketers have achieved the feat. And when it comes to representing only one domestic team, as Bundela has, the list shrinks to 15.For a workhorse such as Bundela, featuring in 100 Ranji games, that too for his home state Madhya Pradesh, is one of the biggest feats in his cricketing sojourn that started when he was 12, in Ujjain. “It matters a lot that I have been able to serve Madhya Pradesh for so long. Madhya Pradesh has given me so much that I always try to give it back by doing whatever I can to the best of my abilities. And the fact that I have lasted for so long means that I haven’t fared badly,” Bundela tells ESPNcricinfo.Just like his achievements as a batsman have been downplayed over the years, the soft-spoken Bundela – known as “Bundi bhai” among his team-mates – tones down the feat. Recounting his formative years, his eyes glitter. “‘ [I started playing club cricket in 1989]. There was a camp in Ujjain when I was 12 years old. Nobody else used to play the game in the family. I was fond of cricket so I started playing it. Saleem Khan and Vijay Bali [his coaches] taught me the basics,” Bundela says.Once Bundela, along with his coaches and family members, realised he was better than most batsmen his age in Ujjain, the next step was to shift to Indore, the hub of MP cricket. “It wasn’t easy. Since my father was a State Bank employee, he had to stay back in Ujjain but I shifted to Indore along with my brother,” says Bundela. “While he concentrated on studies, my sole focus was cricket. Sanjay Jagdale sir was my coach then. Once I came to Indore, I played for MP Under-16, then U-19, toured Australia with the India U-19 squad, and then played the Ranji Trophy.”Having featured in an ODI for India U-19 in Australia in March 1995, Bundela was included in MP’s Ranji squad at the start of the next season. However, he had to wait till the last match to make his debut – against Tamil Nadu in Indore. “I spent most of that season serving drinks and observing the routine of seniors – both in my team and the opposition. I played in what eventually turned out to be the last game of the season for us. It was a spinning track, and I remember I got some 25 [26] in the first innings and 30-odd [34] in the second as we lost by an innings.”Even though his maiden season in first-class cricket was far from ideal, it gave Bundela an indication of what was in store for him. “I realised that there was a lot of gap between the U-19 and Ranji Trophy standards and I needed to improve my game if I had to establish myself at that level. Accordingly I started preparing for the next season,” he says.That preparation must have helped him not only survive the rigours of domestic cricket for 16 years but also in becoming the highest-scoring MP batsman, having featured in a Ranji final and in the side that was the domestic one-day champion. It also put him on the fringes of the India side for a brief period.Though he couldn’t make the most of his limited opportunities during India A’s tour of the West Indies in 1999 and in the tour game against the New Zealanders later that year, Bundela has no qualms in admitting he was perhaps not good enough for the biggest stage. “What I feel is perhaps I needed to perform better,” he says. “I don’t have any regrets in not playing for India. I feel perhaps I should have done more to earn the India cap. Somewhere, somehow I may not have done enough to have achieved it.”How many cricketers are so frank about their limitations these days? And most importantly, in a day and age of instant money and fame, how many push themselves to the hilt in order to keep excelling in domestic cricket? That’s the difference between them and men like Bundela, who lend meaning to the domestic set-up. “I love this game,” Bundela says. “It’s more important for me to play the game rather than playing for India. Obviously, I dreamt of playing for India, worked hard towards it but it doesn’t happen that if you don’t play for India, you give it up.”Once a player accepts this, the perceived grind all through the year in order to keep himself in shape doesn’t appear so. A man who naturally has a sweet tooth has to resist the temptation of having sweets. He has to work harder on his fitness, with first-class cricket having become “more competitive than ever”. He can do anything that will help him in turning out for his state team, something that gives him the much-needed “kick”. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that after fielding under the blazing sun in Jaipur for a full day, the first thing he does is to hit the hotel swimming pool for more than half an hour.”It’s not easy to motivate yourself, but if you love the game and play it for self-pride, self-respect and love of the game, you don’t need to motivate yourself much,” Bundela says. “All I have to tell myself is I am playing for my reputation and I have to give my best for MP. That is more than enough for myself.”Even though not getting his hands on the coveted Ranji Trophy is one of his biggest regrets, when they were “so close and yet so far”, losing to Karnataka after gaining the first-innings lead [in 1998-99], his highs include scoring a fifty and 80 in the semi-final and the final to help MP win the Wills Trophy (domestic one-day championship) the same season. Though he thinks long and hard to recount his top three knocks, he has no trouble remembering the biggest compliment he has received.”It has to be at Wankhede in 2004,” Bundela says. “We had gained the first-innings lead but had lost three wickets for virtually nothing on the board. And then I managed to score about 140 [139] to bat Mumbai out of the game as we batted nearly a day and a half. After I got my century on the third day, Dilip Vengsarkar walked in to the MP dressing room and congratulated me. Beating Mumbai in Mumbai and a former India captain coming to shake hands with me are the two most memorable feats for me.”As you wind up the discussion, you realise that it is men like Bundela who are hardly given their due. No doubt the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association is planning to felicitate one of their stalwarts ahead of the game on Saturday. However, it would be a fitting tribute to add Bundela’s name to the Hall of Fame section on their website along with the MP players who have played international cricket – from the legendary CK Nayudu to Naman Ojha.

Beyond losing a world-beating batsman, Ricky Ponting’s international retirement severs one of the last links to a previous era of the game

Daniel Brettig29-Nov-2012Five years ago, Australia went on an ODI tour of New Zealand without a resting Ricky Ponting. In their final warm-up series before the 2007 World Cup, the tourists were stunned by a 3-0 defeat. They were led by Michael Hussey, and after the three games he was desperate to see Ponting again. “It’s pretty difficult and I feel pretty demoralised really,” Hussey said. “I’ll probably take a little while to get over it.”Those words echoed back from the past when the news filtered through that Ponting had chosen now as the time to take a more permanent rest from his role in the Australia team. Bad as Hussey felt then, cricket the world over is feeling similarly empty about Ponting’s loss to the international game. The tears on display at the WACA ground from Australia’s captain Michael Clarke hinted at the painful truth that it was not only runs, catches and run-outs being lost with Ponting’s exit. It is not too melodramatic to state that with Ponting, Australian cricket loses something like its soul.Ponting’s attitude to playing the game was uncompromising, but so too was his love for it. In the age of Twenty20, Ponting clung to values fostered in his working class origins in Launceston, Tasmania, and strengthened by years as a young batting urchin in the dressing room of David Boon, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, among others. His views on the game were simple, and at times during his captaincy of the Test side his tactics could appear inflexible. But Ponting’s love of cricket was such that he could always be relied upon to defend it with as much staunchness as he played it – this is not a laurel that can be placed so naturally on many of his contemporaries or successors.Never was Ponting to be more angry than when his integrity was questioned twice in 2008, during the heated aftermath of the Sydney Test and again after an over-rates fiasco in Nagpur, both against India. He was a polished press conference performer, always answering as candidly and honestly as he could to questions, however banal. But at the SCG he very nearly lost his cool, pointing his finger at the Indian journalist who had asked about a grounded ball on the final afternoon. It was used at the time as an example of Australian aggression or arrogance, but it now seems fair enough to observe that Ponting’s anger was justified – his loyalty to the game can be judged by his tackling of three topics in particular.T20 cricket never sat with particular comfort with Ponting, and while still captain of Australia in the format his indifference to it may have held the national team back in the first two editions of the ICC’s World T20 event. But his reluctance to embrace it was born of his own experiences as a youth, when he discovered the best way to learn to bat was to play in matches where he could do so until someone had the skill or good fortune required to dismiss him. Take for example these words in Sri Lanka in 2011, when pondering the effect of T20 on Australian batting.”Cricket for me, when I was growing up, if I was batting, it meant I was batting until someone got me out, and if that took them a week then that’s how long it took them,” Ponting said. “For the guys who played in my era, that’s what it was all about – not going out there and facing two overs and then being told that you had to go and stand in the field; that’s not what cricket is. And that’s the worry I have about a lot of the developmental phases. Even Under-17s and Under-19s now, they’re playing T20 games in national championships, and at the detriment of two-day games.”Good state players these days are averaging 35. If you were averaging 35 when I was playing, your dad would go and buy you a basketball or a footy and tell you to play that. So there’s areas of concern there. I don’t know how you change them. Everyone we listen to says that kids want to play T20 cricket, but the real cricket-loving kids? They don’t want to play T20 cricket; it’s the kids that aren’t really that good or technically that good who want to play T20 cricket.”In 2009, when Ponting’s former Tasmania team-mate Jamie Cox floated the suggestion of moving early season Sheffield Shield matches to venues in Queensland and the Northern Territory to create more room for what was then a proposed expansion of the Big Bash League, there was no surprise when the Australia captain voiced his opposition. Ponting’s belief in the primacy of Test cricket, and the Shield below it as the proven pathway competition, goes well beyond the pleasantries uttered by administrators.

“Without Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket will look a lot more like most other sports, having lost a man who held its values as dearly as any”

”There seems to be a lot of talk about ways and means to make the Big Bash bigger and give more time to the Twenty20 game,” Ponting said. ”Moving games to the Top End, you’re going to lose something there somewhere. Those young guys are not going to get the chance to play at the MCG and the SCG and those sort of venues, [and] play at the Gabba early in the season when the wicket is green. Those things are what have made Australian Test players as good as they are, because of the way that they have learned to adapt to different conditions — and on the conditions that you play Test matches on.”Look, I’m sure they’ll find some way around it. I’m not sure what exactly it’s going to be because it sounds like at the moment all the talk is about just trying to make the Big Bash even better. And I’m supportive of that because it’s obviously been a great tournament this year. ‘But I just don’t want it to interfere with young and up-and-coming Test players getting the right opportunities and experience to play good hard, solid Sheffield Shield cricket.”The decline of the Australian team in the seasons between 2008 and the loss of the Ashes in 2010-11 had as much to do with poor management around the side as Ponting’s leadership of it. His tactics were stilted at times and his views unbending, but it was also true that he had long argued for many of the structural changes around the Australia team that the Argus review ushered in. Ponting benefited from the enthusiasm injected by a new captain in Clarke and a new coach in Mickey Arthur, while lauding the direction the team was now taking. In it he saw the sort of attention to detail that he had demonstrated in his own game down the years, even if his batting had started its slow and inexorable decline, stayed momentarily by last summer’s Indian jaunt.This season, Ponting was better prepared than perhaps at any other time in his career. Refreshed by time at home, reinvigorated by Shield matches with Tasmania, he was sure the South Africa series would provide an endorsement of his capabilities at the age of 37. But the lack of runs that followed were compounded by the manner of his dismissals, pushing out at one he need not have in Brisbane, then bowled twice in Adelaide. There had been an air of melancholy about Ponting on his return to the scene of his earliest days at the Academy, as Adelaide Oval disappeared, soon to be replaced by four fifths of a football stadium. Once again, Ponting spoke candidly about what was lost.”That’s definitely something we’ll notice when we come back in years to come,” he said on match eve, not yet prepared to admit retirement. “One thing that has always defined this ground and made it different from most around the world is what you actually get to see from the middle. A lot of the other places you go are like big concrete jungles. You see corporate boxes, dark windows, corporate logos and sponsors all over the place and that’s something you haven’t had to ever see much of at Adelaide Oval. They’re doing their best to keep what they can, with the old scoreboard and the hill area and some fig trees down the back, but other than that it’ll end up looking like most other grounds around Australia.”Without Ricky Ponting, Australian cricket will look a lot more like most other sports, having lost a man who held its values as dearly as any, even if at times his aggression on the field did not endear him to other nations. Quite apart from the task of following him as a batsman, those that follow have a mighty job ahead to emulate Ponting as a figurehead for the game, espousing the ideals and virtues that cricket was built on. No wonder Clarke wept.

From Ramesh Kumar, India
There is a certain dignity to a great cricketer, an icon in his field, relinquishing his chances to be the highest run scorer or wicket taker in history and deciding to quit even when this is distinctly possible if he

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Ramesh Kumar, India
There is a certain dignity to a great cricketer, an icon in his field, relinquishing his chances to be the highest run scorer or wicket taker in history and deciding to quit even when this is distinctly possible if he carries on for a few more years. Sir Donald Bradman could have played one more test and scored a few runs that would have carried his test average over 100. The fact that he didn’t and quit with his average just under 100, in my opinion, has added to his mystique and greatness.Warne, Lara, Steve Waugh – to name a few – all quit when they could have continued and accumulated enough runs or wickets to cross milestones that could have possibly remained unbroken for a long long time. Indeed we find that the very great sportspersons fall short of perfection. The lack of perfection often only makes them more admirable as they become more human and less robotic.On the other hand, a sportsman who merely accumulates points or runs chasing a statistical target seems to lose some of the lustre although he may achieve his target. This is why I feel – that the ‘fabulous four’, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman – should chose to retire at a time when they are still playing well, before they are forced into it by frequent failures and the emergence of new talent that is bound to expose their decline in sharper contrast.I guess this must be in the minds of most people who love these players, but out of respect for the icons, only the most brashly outspoken media may express this thought in public, as of now. But such reticence may not last long. What is the point in achieving a target in bits and pieces when one is only a shadow of what one was in the peak days? The icons do show flashes of brilliance now and then, but these are too few and far in between these days, showing that the decline in their powers is real and representing the irreversible losses associated with age.If Sachin retires now, people will remember him as the greatest batsman India has produced and also one of the greatest who adorned the game in its history. On the other hand, if he continues to play another 5 tests to get the hundred odd runs that he needs to become the highest run scorer in cricket, it will only be a pain to watch and the target he achieves would even lose some of the gloss it is supposed to have. In any case statistical targets have not much meaning except to the frenzied media with a penchant for the hyperbole and who seek value where there is very little.

Samaraweera’s Test career is best defined by his successful return from injury, capped by his brilliant performance in South Africa in 2011-12

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan07-Mar-2013Although Thilan Samaraweera ended his career as one of Sri Lanka’s most prolific batsmen in home Tests and one of their more consistent players away, he is likely to be remembered for two very contrasting episodes. The first was the unfortunate injury he suffered on the ill-fated tour of Pakistan in 2009 when the Sri Lankan team bus was fired upon. The second, however, was his brilliant performance in the series in South Africa in 2010-11 where he scored two centuries in the second and third Tests in Durban and Cape Town.In a team filled with batting stars like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, Samaraweera was the ideal foil and quite often proved to be a tough batsman to dislodge in the middle order. Like most Sri Lankan batsmen, he was most comfortable in home Tests and struggled to hit top form most times when Sri Lanka toured outside the subcontinent. Only three of his 14 centuries came outside Asia but the two he scored against South Africa stand out because they came against the most potent pace attack in bowler-friendly conditions.Samaraweera played a total of 81 Tests scoring 5462 runs at an average of 48.76 (14 centuries). In 45 home Tests, he was very prolific scoring over 3000 runs at an average of 53.84 (eight hundreds). Of his six away centuries, only three were scored outside the subcontinent (average 35.96). He tasted a lot of success against Bangladesh (600 runs at 66.66) and Zimbabwe (254 runs at 84.66). However, his record was very good against top teams (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) too; in 68 Tests, he scored 4608 runs at an average of 46.08 with 12 centuries and 23 fifties. He is one of only six Sri Lankan batsmen to score over 2000 runs in Test wins. His average (58.59) and tally of centuries (9) in wins are third behind the corresponding numbers of Sangakkara and Jayawardene.

Samaraweera made his debut against India at the SSC and scored a century in Sri Lanka’s innings victory. Between his debut and the end of 2005, he had a modest run, scoring 1329 runs against the top teams at an average of 39.08 with three centuries. Each of his first three hundreds (one against Zimbabwe) was scored at the SSC before he broke the sequence with a century in Faislabad in 2004. In the second phase (2006-2009) of his career, he was far more prolific. In 20 Tests (against top teams), Samaraweera scored six centuries and averaged 56.61. He also scored the first of his three centuries outside the subcontinent during the same phase (against West Indies in Trinidad). He started the Pakistan tour in 2009 with a bang, scoring double-centuries in Karachi and Lahore, before being injured in the gunmen’s attack. He added two more centuries against New Zealand in the home series later that year.Samaraweera started the home series against India in 2010 with a duck in Galle but proceeded to score 76, 137 and 83 in the next two Tests. His 83 in the second innings in Colombo helped Sri Lanka recover from 125 for 8 and post a competitive target of 257 (India won by five wickets). On the tour of South Africa in 2011-12, Samaraweera produced what is arguably his best series performance when he scored consecutive centuries, in the process enabling Sri Lanka achieve their first ever win (Durban) in South Africa. His career graph, however, plummeted after the high of South Africa. In the next ten Tests, he managed to aggregate only 440 runs at an average of 24.44 with three fifties.

Throughout his career, Samaraweera never quite managed to get on top of the Australian attack. In home Tests, he had moderate success (231 runs at 33.00) but struggled to find form in Australia (215 runs at 17.91). In ten matches against Australia, he managed to score just two half-centuries. Against England, he did much better in home Tests (average 46.37 with one century) but was less successful away. Samaraweera had an excellent run against both New Zealand and West Indies both home and away, scoring three centuries and nine fifties in 17 matches (both teams combined). His record against South Africa was boosted by his run in the 2011-12 away series (339 runs at 67.80).Samaraweera boasts terrific numbers against India in home Tests (652 runs at 130.40 with three centuries) but has ordinary batting stats in India (193 runs at 24.12 with no century). Against Pakistan, however, the numbers are reversed. In home Tests, he averages just 29.42 (no century) but in Pakistan, he scored 633 runs at an average of 90.42 with three centuries. Samaraweera’s average of 90.42 is the third-highest among batsmen who have scored 500 or more runs in Pakistan.

Against top teams, Samaraweera enjoyed a much better run of scores in the team’s first innings. While he averaged just over 50 in the first innings (ten centuries), his average dropped below 40 in the second innings (two centuries).In the match’s first innings, he averaged 57.88 with eight centuries and six fifties. In the next three match innings, he averaged 40.46, 43.15 and 32.08 respectively. His association with Jayawardene yielded 3247 runs at an average of 61.26 with 11 century stands. The partnership average (61.26) is the best ever for Sri Lanka and the ninth-best overall among pairs with 3000-plus partnership runs.Since gaining Test status, Sri Lanka have always been plagued by the inability of the batsmen to perform consistently outside the subcontinent. Till the Boxing Day Test in Durban in 2011, Sri Lanka had failed to win a single Test in Australia, South Africa and India. Samaraweera, who had failed to convert on starts in both innings in the first-Test defeat in Centurion, scored 102, 43 and 115 in three of his next four innings as Sri Lanka managed to clinch the game in Durban and take the series to a decider in Cape Town. Samaraweera’s run-aggregate in the series (339 runs) is the third-highest by a Sri Lankan batsman in a series outside the subcontinent (three-Test series). Although Aravinda de Silva and Asanka Gurusinha have managed higher series aggregates, Samaraweera’s effort stands out because of the nature of the bowling attack and the conditions. His aggregate is also the highest ever by a subcontinent batsman in South Africa and the sixth-highest by a visiting batsman in a three-Test series in South Africa since South Africa’s readmission in 1991. There have been only two other series (against top teams) when Samaraweera has managed a higher aggregate.

Like most subcontinent batsmen, Samaraweera played spinners far more comfortably than pace bowlers. He was dismissed only 34 times by spinners and averaged 72.55 against them. In contrast, he was dismissed 66 times by fast bowlers and managed an average of 40.75. His record against Saeed Ajmal, however, is very ordinary. Ajmal dismissed Samaraweera five times at an average of just 7.62 (27.71 balls per dismissal). Samaraweera was also dismissed four times each by Harbhajan Singh and Shahadat Hossain (averages of 43 and 26.25 respectively). Mitchell Johnson and Jermaine Lawson, who dismissed Samaraweera three times each, had excellent averages of 12.00 and 5.66 against him.

A small town is infected by cricket fever and lives to tell the tale

Nikhil Jha13-May-2013Choice of game
In January 2013, Ranchi hosted its first international cricket match and praises were heaped from all over on the amazing new stadium and its state-of-the-art facilities. I watched on TV and felt extremely happy that finally Jharkhand, my state, could boast of a facility that could put it on the world map, and could complement MS Dhoni’s status as the sporting ambassador of the region.I had made a mental note to try to make a trip home whenever Ranchi hosted its next match. I was fortunate to get a few tickets for this game, courtesy my generous friends. The excitement level in the city for this game was huge.Taking into account the form of the two teams coming into this match, I backed Royal Challengers Bangalore to win easily. I was as wrong to predict the result as Virat Kohli was to judge the pitch!Team supported
A tough question. The IPL is still a long way away from forging dedicated, passionate fan bases a la its global cousins, say the NBA or EPL. It becomes increasingly difficult for people like me, who have confused regional identities (schooling in Jamshedpur, college in Mumbai, working in Delhi, in my case). To complicate matters further, cricket icons of a particular region play for franchises in other cities.My head starts to spin when I have to pick a team to support in the IPL. Over the years I have developed a couple of thumb rules. First, support teams of your favourite players – so Chennai Super Kings for Dhoni and Rajasthan Royals for Rahul Dravid become my choices (which seems like a good line-up to back this season). Considering Dhoni has won a lot of trophies over the years, I would love Dravid to lift one this season.Second, support the one team that matters, your fantasy team. After all, they are ones getting you points.Key performer
On a slow pitch, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir read the conditions perfectly, getting in an extra spinner, Sachithra Senanayake, at the cost of in-form Eoin Morgan.You can trust one man to make the most of such conditions – Sunil Narine came to the party, taking four wickets for just 22 runs in his spell. Some credit must go to the other bowlers who choked the stellar Royal Challengers batting line-up for runs.One thing you’d have changed about the day
The occasional light drizzle had made the weather perfect to watch the match. Unfortunately the action in the middle didn’t live up to the expectations. We had hoped for a high-scoring encounter, a Chris Gayle blitz or an AB de Villiers special, followed by a tight chase by Gambhir & Co. All we got was three sixes in the entire match – two from a team that had earlier hit a record number of sixes. I would most definitely have wanted a high-scoring encounter, or a Super Over, to make up for the low-scoring game.Face-off I relished
I was eagerly waiting to see how Gayle would approach his Windies team-mate Narine. It was an anti-climax, to say the least, as Narine dismissed Gayle in his second over. Gayle’s innings was a letdown since he took 36 balls to score 33, which was 1/3rd of what he usually notches up in a stay that long.Shot of the day
On a day when the boundaries were hard to come by, there was hardly a shot that stuck in memory. One that did matter though, was the last boundary of the match – a dead straight four that Ryan ten Doeschate hit over bowler Vinay Kumar to finish a tricky chase.Crowd meter
The town was infected by an anticipatory buzz for a week. There was a mad scramble for tickets – local papers had pictures of people camping overnight to get tickets, which reminded me of Wimbledon queues. It was refreshing to see since cricket matches hardly registers a blip on a metro’s event radar.
So considering all this, I expected a jam-packed stadium, but even at its peak, the stands were no more than 80% full. The guilty parties were mainly the VIP stands, where, I assume, the ease of getting tickets fails to motivate people to turn up and watch the game. It’s a shame.Although technically this was a Knight Riders’ home game, you wouldn’t know it if you had watched it on TV. People, especially the younger lot, were on the Gayle bandwagon, some even painting their faces with his name. Royal Challengers’ flags could be seen aplenty in spite complimentary Knight Rider’s flags being handed out by the organisers. Chants of “RCB… RCB” echoed through the stadium even when they were up against it. Only towards the end of the match, and that too on the prompting by the stadium emcee, did the crowd start shouting “KKR… KKR”. I suspect that had something to do with people backing the team that was winning.The (non)-hardship factor
The experience was near-perfect. We walked in without any hassles or long lines. The stadium infrastructure, including the seating arrangement, was really good and we chose seats with a good view. It was heartening to see such spectator-friendly arrangements in my backyard. The ghosts of my horrifying experience in Jamshedpur in 2002, when the crowd threw bottles to express unhappiness at West Indies’ win, were finally exorcised.The only letdown was the food. Expensive food stalls at stadiums is understandable, but below-par quality is unpardonable, that too from a reputed coffee chain that ran that stall. We were not the only ones who had to throw away the visibly stale sandwiches.Entertainment
I know expecting the Allman Brothers Band to be played over the PA system is unlikely and wishful since it’s the modern pop numbers that get the crowd on its feet. Still, I was horrified to hear Yo Yo Honey Singh numbers being blared here in Ranchi, an experience I thought would not haunt me outside Delhi. That’s pop-culture for you.The early entertainment was provided by a light Cessna aircraft – which I suspect was the same one used in the match in January – that performed low fly-bys across the stadium to cheers from the crowd.Twenty20 v ODIs
The age for instant gratification make Twenty20s a perfect fit – exciting, entertaining and brief.TV v stadium
I love watching Test matches from the stands, and was there to savour the 4-0 whitewash against the Aussies at Kotla.T20s are a fifty-fifty case since I have had more indifferent experiences than good ones. That said, the experience of this excellent new facility in my own hometown really tilted the balance in favour of watching at the stadium.Overall
The cricket was a departure from the usual T20 matches. The bowlers looked in control throughout, keeping the run rate in check. The Knight Riders’ slow bowlers spun a web around the Royal Challengers’ batsmen and the Royal Challengers’ bowlers gave little away when they bowled, except in a couple of overs when Jacques Kallis and Irfan Pathan broke the shackles. Since we end up judging a T20 solely by its entertainment value, I would say this one wasn’t fun to watch, though the close finish did manage to keep the crowd on its feet till the last over.The atmosphere was great since this match was the highlight of the season for Ranchi. People were really excited to see and root for their heroes – most of them for their first time. That enthusiasm showed in the vocal support they extended throughout.Marks on 10
7. 5 for the facilities and 2 for the match.

Vernon Philander stresses the importance of working on your skills, but he’s not a big fan of being called the new McGrath

Interview by Jack Wilson17-Aug-2013The start of your Test career was immense. You took 50 wickets in your first seven matches – the second-fastest ever. That’s some record, isn’t it?
It came down to the hard work prior to that. In the end the hard work pays off. You go through a lot in the years leading up to playing for your country. If you put it in, you get your rewards. Success isn’t guaranteed. Put in the hard yards and that’s what comes.Is that the secret – hard work?
Yes, hard work pays off. You have to spend time getting your skills up to standard. Hard work makes me appreciate things I achieve a lot more. The more and more I achieve the better it makes me feel. I want to keep making things happen, going forward too.Are you someone who’s into their stats?
I’m not into stats, no.So if I asked you how many Test wickets you’d taken, would you know?
I just take each game at a time. I play each time to try and take the team across the line – that’s what I’m worried about.What’s the strangest game you’ve ever played in?
We bowled New Zealand out for 45 on the first day of a Test, which was crazy, but my debut – the win over Australia – was the most bizarre. To bowl them out for 47 in the second innings and then knock off the runs was a good game to be a part of.Last year Allan Donald said the bowling attack – with you in it – was the best ever. How did that make you feel?
(Laughs) It was great to hear that, especially coming from him. As far as we’re concerned, as a bowling unit we just try and take 20 wickets a game. The more we do it, the more people may rave about us. Getting teams out is our job and we take pride in doing so.You’ve been dubbed “the new Glenn McGrath” by some. That’s high praise.

I’ve heard some people say that, but I’m not too concerned what people call me. I just focus on my game, and as long as I go out and produce the goods, I’m happy. Personally I don’t like it but it’s not a bad compliment.If you could go back in time and bowl at one batsman from the past, who would it be?
Jeez, that’s tough. I’d say my school mates. A few were highly rated at school level and for me it’s important to be humble and remember where you came from.Who’s the messiest player in the South Africa dressing room?
The boys are generally pretty good. The bowlers – me, Dale Steyn and Morne [Morkel] – tend to unpack all our kit. It’s not untidy, though. It’s all together.And the funniest?
Morne Morkel tells lots of old-time stories and jokes, I’ll give it to him.Who hits the ball the furthest?
There are a few strikers in that team, huh? I’d say, from the Test side, it’s AB [de Villiers]. He can hit it pretty clean and pretty far.If I gave you a ball and you had six balls to bowl at one stump, how many times would you hit?
Probably none! (Laughs) Seriously, well, it depends on the conditions. I’ve got to back myself. I’d say I’d hit it two out of six times.How do you spend your time away from cricket?
I’ll be on the golf course most of the time. That’s where I like to go. The golf course or a wildlife park.What’s your handicap?
I play off a horrible five.Where’s the best place to play cricket in the world?
There’s only one place, isn’t there? Cape Town. There’s no better setting than that. Although I enjoy it wherever I go. It’s always a different experience playing against different players and seeing people from different cultures. It’s special to travel the world.What’s the first piece of advice you’d give to a young fast bowler?
I’d say to the young guns out there: try and enhance your skills to a level in which you understand them. Once you understand your action and once you understand what you are trying to do with the ball, you can showcase it to the world. Go out there and put in the hard yards.Favourite shot?
Pull shot.Does cricket ever pop up in your dreams?
No, not really, although I had one prior to my debut.

Stats highlights from the second of the Trent Bridge Test, which was dominated by Australia’s latest No. 11, Ashton Agar

Shiva Jayaraman and S Rajesh11-Jul-2013

• Ashton Agar’s 98 is the highest by a No. 11 batsman in Test history. The previous highest was 95 by Tino Best of West Indies, also against England, at Edgbaston in 2012. The previous-best for Australia was by Glenn McGrath, who handed Agar his Baggy Green on Wednesday; McGrath scored 61 against New Zealand at the Gabba in 2004. Agar’s 98 was also only the second half-century by a No.11 batsman in an Ashes Test – the previous one was by Frederick Spofforth in this match, way back in 1885.
• When Agar drove James Anderson through midwicket and picked up three runs to move from 43 to 46, he broke the record for the highest score by a No. 11 batsman on debut. That was previously held by Warwick Armstrong, who scored an unbeaten 45 against England in 1902. Click here for a list of highest scores by No. 11 batsmen on debut.
• The 163-run partnership between Phil Hughes and Agar was the highest ever for the tenth wicket in Tests. This was also only the fifth hundred partnership for the tenth wicket in an Ashes Test, and the 23rd tenth-wicket century partnership in all Tests.
• This was only the ninth instance of a No.11 batsman top-scoring in an innings. Four of these nine instances have been by Australia batsmen, the most by a team, and four of these have come against England, the most against a team. The previous instance of a No. 11 top-scoring was by Nathan Lyon, the player who Agar replaced in the XI – Lyon scored 14 out of a total of 47 against South Africa in Cape Town in 2011. The previous such instance in an Ashes Test was way back in 1896, when Tom McKibbin scored 16 out of 44 at The Oval.
• A break-up of Agar’s runs against each bowler indicates just how proficient he was against both pace and spin. Against Graeme Swann’s offspin, he scored at a run a ball, taking 36 off 36, including four fours and two sixes. Against the three quick bowlers, he scored 62 off 65, including eight fours. And as his wagon-wheel shows, he scored on both sides of the wicket, scoring 42 runs on the off side, and 56 on the leg side.While Agar was dominant against both pace and spin, Hughes scored his runs almost entirely against the fast bowlers. Against Anderson, Finn and Broad, he scored 74 off 89 balls. Against Swann, though, he only managed 7 off 52 balls.
  

  Ashton Agar v each England bowler

  Bowler	Runs	Balls	Strike rate	4s/6s	Dots
  James Anderson	21	27	77.77	2/ 0	16
  Steven Finn	23	16	143.75	4/ 0	8
  Graeme Swann	36	36	100.00	4/ 2	25
  Stuart Broad	18	22	81.81	2/ 0	13

• Hughes’ unbeaten 81 was easily his highest in ten Test innings against England – his previous-best was 36 in Cardiff in 2009.
• Agar was clearly the star of the day, but England had their heroes too. James Anderson picked up his 14th five-for in Tests, his second against Australia and his fifth at Trent Bridge; at no other venue has he taken as many five-fors. He ended the day with 44 wickets at Trent Bridge, the highest by any bowler at this ground.
• For the first time in his 44-Test career, Jonathan Trott was dismissed for a first-ball duck. This was also his first duck in England; his three previous ones were in Sydney, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. With Ed Cowan also being dismissed without scoring, this was the 11th instance of two zeroes by No.3 batsmen in an Ashes Test – the previous such instance was in 1995.

Mike Hussey’s autobiography traces Australia’s 2006-07 peak and the decline that followed with candour and insight

Daniel Brettig13-Oct-2013No matter what he achieved, how brilliantly he batted, or how much respect he gathered among team-mates, opponents and spectators, Michael Hussey always thought of himself as an underdeveloped nicker and nudger, to whom power and puberty arrived embarrassingly late. Like William Miller in , Hussey was the kid who looked as though he’d been skipped a grade or two, shorter, skinnier and less hairy than it was socially acceptable to be in his teenage years. Batting was an unrelenting struggle against inner voices telling him he wasn’t good enough.But also like Miller, and his real-life inspiration, Cameron Crowe, on the rock ‘n roll road of the early 1970s, Hussey learned valuable lessons from those awkward days. He was always respectful, thoughtful and keen to do the right things by those around him, while the self-doubt born of being smaller and less capable of muscling the ball ensured that as a batsman he never took anything for granted. Hussey was intense but personable, earnest and enthusiastic, and far, far more talented a batsman than he ever gave himself credit for.At times, the lack of assurance made his life less enjoyable than it might have been, and it probably scuppered his leadership ambitions after a belated but spectacular entry into international cricket. Nevertheless, he developed into arguably the most complete batsman the game has yet seen, as much at home in the hustle and bustle of a T20 contest as in the cut and thrust of a Test, and anything in between. Seldom has a cricketer known better how to operate in a partnership than Hussey. He enjoyed the thrill of victory as much as any Australian cricketer ever has, becoming much more gregarious and entertaining company in those moments, and rightly being granted the privilege of leading the team song when Justin Langer retired.The title of the song, “Underneath the Southern Cross”, has become the title of Hussey’s autobiography, a valuable account of a late-blooming career but also an admirably frank survey of Australian cricket over that time. Like the team around him, Hussey’s account peaks during the 2006-07 Ashes series before slipping down into more regretful, even mournful, territory, as success gave way to defeats, introspection, unrelenting media speculation about his place, and finally the emergence of an insular team culture Hussey does not pretend to say he enjoyed.Starting with a bruising duel against Dale Steyn in Durban in 2009, an encounter he viewed dimly as a failure while team-mates marvelled, Hussey retraces his life. With the help of an accomplished ghostwriter in Malcolm Knox – also the penner of Adam Gilchrist’s – what emerges is a detailed picture of life as a cricket-crazed child, a battling first-class cricketer, then finally an international batsman of rare versatility. Key moments are discussed candidly and at times revealingly, from the SCG dressing-room confrontation between Simon Katich and Michael Clarke over Hussey’s singing of the team song, to the confused circumstances of his final night in that same dressing room earlier this year and the hurtful email rumour that resulted from it.

At times Hussey’s lack of assurance made his life less enjoyable than it might have been, and it probably scuppered his leadership ambitions. Nevertheless, he developed into arguably the most complete batsman the game has yet seen

As valuable, however, are insights into other cricketers great and small. At the DLF Cup in Malaysia in 2006 for instance, a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4, 4 by Brian Lara against the South Australian spinner Dan Cullen had its catalyst in the young bowler calling his opponent a “cocky p***k”. Then there is a curious interaction between Michael Clarke and Sachin Tendulkar during the fractious 2007-08 summer. After an ODI win in Sydney, Michael Clarke called out Tendulkar on his habit of not shaking hands after a match, trekking into the visitors’ rooms and startling India’s maestro, who said that he’d forgotten. “You don’t forget to shake hands after an international match,” Hussey notes. “Perhaps Sachin wasn’t a god, just another human like the rest of us.”Hussey’s portraits of Clarke and his predecessor, Ponting, are two of the more fascinating passages of his tale. He struggles to find strong enough words to convey his admiration for Ponting as a batsman, a leader and a man, while speaking warmly of Clarke as a batting partner and a nimble captain stepping into enormous shoes. The contrast is summed up by observations of how his slow medium pace was used. Under Ponting, a tidy over against a rampant Tendulkar in Hyderabad has Hussey earning another, more expensive over. Hussey is convinced the experiment is complete, but Ponting chances a third, which promptly goes for 14 runs. Clarke, by contrast, uses Hussey as a surprise weapon, striking it lucky by grabbing wickets in Sri Lanka and the West Indies then immediately taking him off.Hussey’s own brief flirtation with the Australian captaincy is also unpacked. A demoralising visit to New Zealand with an under-strength team before the 2007 World Cup ended his chances of pursuing the role any further. He admits to not having the conviction to impose his ideas on the rest of the team, particularly the bowlers, as New Zealand twice ran down scores of well over 300. “I tried to be very consultative, supporting the bowlers individually, but I went too far,” he writes. “If the bowler thought differently from me, I let him have his way.”Aware that many have assumed they did not get along, Hussey goes out of his way to depict a strong relationship with Clarke, demonstrated by a string of partnerships that humbugged Sri Lanka, India and South Africa in 2011 and 2012. Over that time, Hussey’s own enthusiasm for the task was waning as the Argus review took the team in different directions to those he preferred, removing a coach he admired in Tim Nielsen and replacing him with one he was unsure about in Mickey Arthur. There was success for a time, but Hussey saw signs of decay in the West Indies. His concerns were relayed to Arthur but went no further.At the same time the wages of constant travel were draining both Hussey and his wife Amy, a steadfast presence in his life since they met and courted endearingly as teaching students at Curtin University in the early 1990s. Eventually he decided that, as with Miller on the Stillwater tour bus, he had to leave the circus. It had changed into something he felt less warmth about than previously, and there is something elegiac about the comparisons made between the Australian team he walked into and the one he was to leave.By keeping his retirement plans a secret, Hussey found himself following the insular lines he had seen set around him. He was self-effacing to the last, only allowing himself the indulgence of walking first on to the field of his final Test after Clarke refused to take the field until he did. Now Hussey’s career account is on the shelves, and he is preparing to take on a role in the Nine commentary box. It is a worthwhile reminder of how great players can be made as well as born, and how the influence of formative years can shape a cricketer for the term of his career.Underneath the Southern Cross
By Michael Hussey
Hardie Grant
400 pages, A$49.95

David Warner and Michael Clarke produced arguably two of their finest knocks to lift Australia into a commanding position in Cape Town

Daniel Brettig in Cape Town01-Mar-2014When pondering how David Warner might respond to a raft of South African sledging expected to come his way in this match due to his howled down allegation of ball tampering, Michael Clarke offered his opening batsman the inelegant but appropriate sobriquet of “tough bugger”.On the critically important opening day of the Newlands Test, Warner lived up to Clarke’s choice of words with arguably his finest Test hundred, but no more so than the captain himself, who carved out an innings of enormous courage and presence.There had been many reasons entering into this match for both Warner and Clarke to be distracted, even agitated. Warner had earned the rebukes of teammates, opponents and officials alike for his broadcast suggestion of sharp practice on the part of AB de Villiers.It was certainly provocative and formally deemed disrespectful, drawing an ICC sanction and the sorts of headlines that have followed his career a little too often. The South Africans had plenty of reason to pour on the vitriol once Warner strode to the wicket.Clarke’s problems were of a different and deeper nature. In order to overcome his immediate difficulty – a lack of runs over his past 11 innings – Clarke had to surmount a longer term foible, namely the spectre of short-pitched bowling and its capacity to expose the lack of flexibility in his back.The man to deliver such bowling was Morne Morkel, a man with no rival as the fastest and tallest exponent of the bouncer in world cricket. Add to this the chance to defeat top-ranked South Africa at home, and the occasion weighed heavily.Fortunately for Clarke and Warner, the captain performed ably in his first duty of the day, winning one of the more important tosses of his life. Centurion and Port Elizabeth had well and truly established Australia’s preference for making the running by batting first, particularly on a pitch not given to early life. Taking first strike in Cape Town on another late-season surface promising little in the way of sideways movement allowed the fast-scoring method preached by the coach Darren Lehmann to place pressure on South Africa, even as they carried plenty of momentum from St George’s Park.Irrespective of the prevailing conditions, the runs still had to be scored, and in the early overs Warner once again too the initiative from the hosts with some help from Chris Rogers. They raised a half-century stand inside 10 overs, prompting Graeme Smith to disperse his catching men and post sweepers to the boundary in search of greater control over the scoring rate. To some degree he achieved this, but he also allowed Warner the room to feel more or less impervious to dismissal, given so many options for turning over the strike.Across the series, Warner has repeatedly forced Smith’s fielders back, to the point that his latter phases of centuries at Centurion and Newlands have been played out in the manner of mid-innings ODI batting. Very little onus has been placed on Warner to split the field or avoid the clutches of slips or gully, allowing him to throttle back into a gear of comfort while still scoring rapidly. Ten boundaries in Warner’s century were the minimum to be expected from a powerful opener on a fast outfield, but a strike rate of near enough to a run-a-ball showed how Warner had hemmed in Smith, rather than the other way round.”He puts pressure on the opposition so quickly,” Shane Warne said of Warner. “Duminy was bowling in the 10th over so very early you’ve got a part-time spinner bowling. It just puts pressure on the opposition captain by how fast he scores and the way he scores. I saw maturity in his batting when Graeme Smith had point back and he got a couple of singles, Smith brought point up and he hit two fours past him. It wasn’t like he was just about smashing the ball, he was quite clever about it.”One of the hardest things as a bowler is if you go through all your plans and say ‘we’ve just got to stop this guy scoring for a while’ and when he manipulates the field it is a really tough spot to be in as captain. Someone like a Darren Lehmann when you used to bowl against him he’d manipulate the field very well. Smithy ended up just being defensive about stopping runs, then Davey can just knock it around. He can do that to a captain because he’s such a good player.”If Warner was in command of his game, then Clarke was on bended knee beseeching his to comply with his fervent wishes for a score. His early play was scratchy, and when Morkel chose to go around the wicket, Clarke found himself with no escape. Not limber enough to duck or sway easily, nor swivel to hook in the manner of Ian Chappell, Clarke was instead battered after the fashion of Steve Waugh. Neck, jaw, body and fingers all took fearsome blows, the icepacks piling high in Australia’s dressing room to greet Clarke whenever he returned.But Morkel was unable to follow up these raining blows by coaxing an outside edge or a miscue, Clarke’s determination underlined by the perfunctory wave he offered the physio Alex Kountouris and doctor Peter Brukner when they jogged onto the field at the end of the over when Morkel felled him. Warne called it batting in the “over my dead body” category, and there was scarcely a better way to describe it. Clarke stood firm, untroubled by how ugly he looked, and with Dale Steyn absent due to a hamstring complaint he was able to endure.By stumps Clarke was on the outskirts of a century to rank with any in his career, his unbeaten status a fitting capstone on one of the best Australian first innings, first day performances of Ricky Ponting’s prime period. Every partnership had been worth at least 50, meaning even the likes of Rogers and Alex Doolan had played some part. But it was Clarke and Warner who deserved the chief plaudits, two “tough buggers” setting aside their earlier travails to set Australia on the path towards the sort of victory that would echo down the years.

Bangladesh, organising its first major tournament, had only been a Full Member for a year or so when the idea was mooted. Now, in an expanded format, the World T20 welcomes three newcomers from the ICC’s frontiers

Alan Gardner in Chittagong15-Mar-2014For hundreds of years, the geographical area now known as Bangladesh has been a nexus of people: Bengalis, Mughals, the British, merchants from across the globe. The landscape is crisscrossed by rivers, the paths of which are continually shifting. India, with which it shares a 4000km border, looms large in national affairs. It seems an apposite location in which to examine where world cricket has come from, and where it is going.After more than a decade of Twenty20, the game’s shortest, ritziest format continues to drive innovation, expansion and wealth creation. The fifth World Twenty20 may come to be the most powerful confluence of the three yet. Bangladesh, organising its first major tournament, had only been a Full Member for a year or so when Stuart Robertson pitched the idea of T20 cricket at an ECB board meeting in 2001. Now, in an expanded format, the World T20 welcomes three newcomers from the ICC’s frontiers.The aspirations of Nepal, UAE and Hong Kong may not have soared on the back of recent politicking to redistribute world cricket’s funds – even if everyone gets richer, the divide will also widen – but here is tangible encouragement: the chance to play against the leading nations. Albeit the chance is small, with the ICC having effectively added a qualifying round to the start of the tournament, pitching the six Associates (which also include Ireland, Afghanistan and Netherlands) against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe for two spots in the main group stage, the Super 10.The result is a larger, longer World T20 and the first few days could provide something of a slow burn, with games in Groups A and B having to compete for attention against a backdrop of the major teams arriving. Evangelism is what the ICC should be about, however, and recent scenes of celebration in Kabul and Kathmandu have been worthy reward for the governing body’s commitment.It is surely a gamble requiring the hosts to qualify – only the top eight-ranked teams avoid the first round – and grumbles have emanated from the Bangladesh camp but alongside the expectancy which weighs heavy on the team, causing Shakib Al Hasan to murmur cautiously about their chances, there is a sense that the World T20 can surf a wave of local ebullience for the next three weeks. Political strife that at one point threatened the tournament has receded; a Sri Lanka tour and the Asia Cup have passed off successfully. Now the world will be welcomed.Bangladesh was a co-host of the 2011 World Cup, of course, but the global cricket caravan actually passed through the delta long before, when Dhaka’s Bangabandhu Stadium was the venue for the 1998 Wills International Cup (a tournament that gradually morphed into the Champions Trophy). Then, the funds raised to aid the game’s development, were some US$10m. Fifteen years on, Bangladesh’s government and the BCB have ploughed US$70-80m into renovating stadiums, transport links and infrastructure. Growth, capital, T20.Such is the importance of putting on a successful show, Bangladeshi authorities have asked the majority of the country’s fertiliser factories to close production in order to prevent power cuts in the three stadiums, in Dhaka, Chittagong (where a warm-up game between Afghanistan and Netherlands was affected by floodlight failure) and Sylhet.Energy of a different sort should be in plentiful supply, even if Bangladesh’s participation is not guaranteed beyond three first-round games. Despite being a neutral host for the Wills International Cup, the enthusiastic Bangladeshi support won praise from . “The moment Bangladesh gets a national team which does them credit, it will be cricket’s boom country,” wrote Matthew Engel. It is arguable that the prevailing situation remains a case of bust.The most dangerous Tigers will likely turn out to be in the Sundarbans but the possibility of upsets should prowl all the three venues throughout. Afghanistan and Ireland, who have torn up the second tier to widespread acclaim, will have genuine hope of unseating Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in their respective groups to expand their remit for giant killing.If there have been fewer surprises at the two most recent World T20s – perhaps an indication that the strong have developed a touch more respect for the weak – the warm-up victory for a vibrant young Hong Kong side over Zimbabwe was a reminder that the format retains a piquant flavour of unpredictability, even as the video tapes roll and the datasheets fill up. The “quants” may rule in the backroom but there is still room for the unquantifiable, particularly at this level.With eight Asian teams, three European, two African, two Australasian and one Caribbean, the ICC’s T20 jamboree is more global than it has ever been. As the players arrive, they will be greeted by ubiquitous corporate signage to go alongside arrangements of fairy lights that carry a little more charm (there will be plenty of time to soak in such sights while negotiating traffic). The cricket world will be watching – a record-breaking potential audience of 1.8 billion, according to the ICC – ready for the “Char, Chokka, Hoi, Hoi” (the name of the official song, which roughly translates as “fours, sixes, fun and games”) to begin.But fun and games are only part of it. In the 16th century, as Europeans began to encroach on south-Asian trade routes, the Dutch referred to Bengal as “the fat meadow”. The fact Bangladesh remains one of the poorest countries in the world reflects that prosperity was not for all. The lesson for cricket does not need spelling out.