All posts by h716a5.icu

By taking a 3-0 lead against Australia in Mohali, India have produced a sequence of sustained dominance that is rare in their Test history

Sharda Ugra18-Mar-2013In their 81-year-old Test history, India had won three consecutive Tests in a series only twice before. The first time was against Graham Gooch’s England in 1992-93 and the second against Arjuna Ranatunga’s Sri Lanka in 1993-94.Apart from those contests, India had never won three Tests in a home series of any length. Not even during their 17 wins in 30 home Tests during the rampaging 1990s. India’s only other clutch of three Test victories came, along with a chuckle from the gods, overseas. In 1968-69, India achieved their first away series win with a 3-1 result New Zealand.In Mohali, India’s unassailable 3-0 lead against Australia was a fist pump at history. Such a score line had been achieved after a two-decade gap and beating Australia by six wickets had returned the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to India.India’s pursuit of the target of 133 had a bit of a late flutter following Virat Kohli’s departure with 30 left to get. It took two boundaries from Ravindra Jadeja in the 33rd over to ease India and Dhoni’s growing anxiety. Butterflies had begun fluttering during a passage of about six overs after Kohli was out, when all four results became an imagined – even if remote – possibility.This Border-Gavaskar Trophy has turned out to be as unequal a contest as it was in Australia in 2011-12. India had battled in the first Test in Melbourne, and Australia’s mongrel barked and bit as they tried to defend 133 in Mohali. A 3-0 result, however, is the differentiator in quality between the teams in conditions that have asked mind-altering questions of these new-age Australians. And India have discovered with much satisfaction that this Australia are nowhere close to their old-age compatriots.The India in Mohali are new-age themselves, but have so far swept away all doubts of their superiority at home over teams of a particular standard. Australia are ranked No. 3 in the ICC Test rankings, one spot ahead of India. Considering how they have played in this series, a round of polite coughing wouldn’t be uncalled for. Even between their two embarrassing 0-4 defeats in England and Australia, India beat New Zealand, West Indies and now Australia.Following this performance, there’s a good chance the 1-2 defeat against England will be swept away in the wash of euphoria because India’s formula at home has been nailed. The Duncan Fletcher move of including Ravindra Jadeja in the XI and having Dhoni bat at No. 6 has given the captain an additional option with the ball, even if a wee bit more sweat with the bat.This has enabled India to come back in every game that they bowled first, even after conceding 400-plus in the first innings. The efficiency of India’s turnaround against Australia has been impressive. That it came from the newbies – Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, and the born-again M Vijay – gives the selectors the opportunity to walk around whistling.In the chase on the fifth day, India were trotting at more than 3.50 runs an over before Kohli was dismissed. That was when Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc began to put the squeeze on new man Dhoni. Eventually Jadeja’s free-style hitting set his side free, the match eventually won with 15 balls to spare.That margin is a bit supermodel-sized: looks good at a distance, but up close it can appear a little scrawny. It was a result of both the pressure exerted by the Australians after the Kohli dismissal, as well as India’s generosity with time and runs, allowing the last three Australian wickets to put up 97.Somewhere along their press against the Australian batsmen, one of India’s successful bowling formulas, particularly at home, turned into a commandment. Thou shalt give only the new ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.It was Bhuvneshwar who had broken through the top of the Australian batting but following his eight-over burst on Sunday evening, the next time he bowled was after 66 overs, when Australia had scored 129 more runs. The ninth and tenth wicket had put on 55 and Bhuvneshwar appeared, because of course the second new ball had to be taken.India’s spinners had done well to reduce Australia to 143 for 8, a lead of 52, yet somehow even with five bowlers, kept their options down to only four for a better chunk of the day. Yes, it is hard to spread the overs around five bowlers but to not give the fifth a go?Dhoni’s careful explanation for not bringing Bhuvneshwar on had to do with his lack of pace and the need to keep him fresh. “Well Bhuvneshwar is not someone who is too quick but can move the ball, so it’s important that we use him with he new ball more, when the ball is skidding on a bit there’s slightly less time for batsman to adjust,” Dhoni said. “And if that’s not the case I try to keep him fresh. Mostly we bowl 125 overs and which means second new ball is also due.”As I said, first day there was not much pace for the fast bowlers and there was not much movement also. Generally Bhuvneshwar is someone who swings it, doesn’t matter what the condition is he gets the swing, but that was not the case.” Dhoni emphasised that Bhuvneshwar be used, “more with the new ball, especially in the subcontinental conditions.”It is a handsome theory but on the field, as India struggled to get a lower-order wicket with their spinners, it was as if a limited-overs formula – X for the new ball, Y for the middle overs to contain and Z for the slog overs, and if it doesn’t break, no need to fix it – had been put into place in Test cricket. Yet, against a wavering opposition in the comfort of home, India will always have plenty of leeway. And if the result ends up 3-0 anyway, everything else becomes nit picking.

In the 1960s and ’70s, if you wanted to play tough yet attractive cricket, Hyderabad was the place to be

Saad bin Jung28-Mar-2013Playing for Hyderabad pre-1980 was not just about playing cricket. It was a lifelong lesson in the nuances of on-field technique and off-field glamour.Geniuses like Nawab MAK Pataudi and ML Jaisimha (Jai to me) simplified the awfully technical game of cricket in a practical way, and demonstrated it every time they stepped out onto the field. They also added a great deal of romance and flair to the game and filled up stadiums all the time.The swaying Sultan Saleem and Mumtaz Hussain continued that tradition and took the fun to the dressing room. Workhorses like Syed Abid Ali and Devraj Govindraj dedicated their lives in trying to get P Krishnamurthy behind the wickets more victims.While all that was happening at the first-class level, coaches like Pawan, Kiran, Imran, Anil Mittal and John Manoj, to name a few, helped create a batsman like VVS Laxman.Hyderabad cricket then was played hard and in the true spirit of the game. The A league was filled with Ranji Trophy players, and getting runs there was as tough as it was on the first-class circuit.There were few coaches who understood the fundamentals of the game and moulded our instincts into technique. Most importantly, we had many grounds on which to play matches. Today Hyderabad has many coaches who charge phenomenally high fees and don’t have a clue about proper technique. There are hardly enough grounds for the players to play on. To make matters worse, youngsters and their parents seem to feel an urgent and insistent need to learn T20 skills before understanding the basics of the game. This is tragic, because Hyderabad never lacked inherent cricket talent and never will.During our times, we lived cricket. I remember playing a game with Jai !” And once while we batted together on a turning track where the ball was holding up, he came up to me and said, “Saadu, don’t square-cut the offie.” The rest was left to me to understand.One time when Anura Tennekoon, the elegant captain of Sri Lanka, was batting against us, Jai positioned me at a very silly silly point with the order that I was to move just a fraction every time he swayed in to bowl. After the game I asked him why. He said, “Think about it, son.” I did but came up with naught. He laughed and said, “To disturb his peripheral vision.”I also remember the time in our house in Delhi when I asked the Nawab why I was getting out caught at point so often. His reply, short and curt as always, was, “Square cut to covers.” I hardly ever got out square-cutting again.The discussions in our dressing room were usually about cricket, girls and how to keep Tamil Nadu from qualifying for the knockouts, which could be called fixing, but only involved cricket strategy. It was never about money. Had these old boys been offered a few crores, I wonder what they would have done. I would like to believe that they would have asked the bookies to take a hike. I know for sure the likes of Jaisimha, Mumtaz, Nausheer Mehta, Jyoti Prasad, Abid Ali, Jayanthilal and Krishnamurthy would have died rather than sell the game they so cherished. There may have been politics in the game, and the administrators of the time, no friends of mine, may have been nepotists, but they were not known to have been corrupt.The author (centre) with his uncle Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and cousin Saif Ali Khan•Saad bin JungWhen I was younger, visiting players would often come home for dinner – Sir Garry Sobers, Ken Barrington, G Viswanath and many other great players of the world. I would stand behind the curtain and listen to them in awe. Later, my older brother and I would play cricket till the early hours in the verandah with these greats of the game.The contest was the thing back then, and the desire for it was strong in the hearts of Hyderabad’s players. The dressing room at Fateh Maidan Stadium used to be shared by both teams, their allotted spaces separated by a green cloth. One time, Pataudi and Jaisimha were batting when tea was called. In the opposing team was the dashing virtuoso Salim Durani, Salim , content in the fact that the wicket was dead and there was nothing the genius could do. Their intention was to rile Salim , and riled he was. He walked up to them and said, “Call yourself batsmen? The first over, I will get you both.” Both players had made half-centuries by then, so they chided him for his childishness.When play resumed Durani grabbed the ball and yorked Pataudi with his first delivery. Tiger doffed his cap to the genius. Then Durani allowed the new batsman to take a single and when Jaisimha came on strike, he spun the last ball of the over viciously across him. Jaisimha took off his cap and gave it to Salim split the webbing on his hand, tearing it with the effort it took to spin the ball on that dead track. Such were the cricketers I grew up with.Hyderabad cricket was full of romance. Till very recently there were only two instances when a girl ran on to the ground and kissed a batsman. The first time it was Abbas Ali Baig who was the recipient of female affections and the next time I did. Sadly, a don from Charminar was madly in love with the lady who had got to me on the field, and the next day there were threats that my legs would be broken if I ever looked at her again. Who was to reason with this madman that it wasn’t me who was doing the looking! The day after, I sent one of our fast bowlers to negotiate a truce.The bonding between players both on the ground and off it was extraordinary during those glorious days of Hyderabad cricket. Later in my career, things changed.I stood for what I believed to be right, and unfortunately, for my career that is, I also spoke my mind, which wasn’t the done thing in those days. There was an incident where the Hyderabad team was sacked after we demanded the coach apologise for abusing and screaming at our captain, who was my best friend and room-mate. The coach never apologised. The captain joined hands with the coach and the administrators and I was made the scapegoat.ML Jaisimha: flair and grace•Getty ImagesAfter this incident, I saw, from the outside, the game change in Hyderabad. Caps gave way to helmets, the amateur to the professional, and the tremendous team spirit and bonhomie, both on and off the field, to a dog-eat-dog world. I believe it was because both the BCCI and the Hyderabad Cricket Association were in denial about the entry of professionals into the game and refused to define the term “professional” and alter the spirit of the game accordingly. In this confusion many an administrator and player slipped into the cesspool of betrayal, corruption and disgrace.The true old Hyderabad cricket no longer existed, its extraordinary culture and traditions were completely eroded, and for a long time, whenever someone asked me who I had played for, I hid behind “Haryana”.That was till I arrived uninvited to the wedding of the son of my close friend Faiyaz Baig and met all my old boys and reminisced about our glorious days. I dare say there still remains many a player and administrator who can swing Hyderabad cricket on its heels and give it the direction of old, but till that day Hyderabad cricket will rest in my heart and not in my eyes.Hyderabad has an unlimited and unbelievable pool of talent, and if it can produce Mumtaz, Jaisimha and Laxman once, it can, with proper management and a great dose of zealous love for the game, produce their like again and again.I know it for I am a Hyderabadi at heart. We fall like any other, but while others remain vanquished, we rise to conquer again.

Stats highlights from a day dominated by Smith and de Villiers at Dubai

Shiva Jayaraman24-Oct-2013 When Graeme Smith reached his double-century, he became the 12th batsman in Tests to score 9000 or more career-runs. During his unbeaten innings of 227, Smith went past Inzamam-ul-Haq (8830), Javed Miandad (8832) and Graham Gooch (8900) in the list of top run-getters in Tests. Smith has now hit four double-centuries in Tests as captain. He joins Don Bradman and Michael Clarke at the second place in the list of captains with most 200-plus scores in Tests. Brian Lara leads the list with five scores of 200 or more runs. This was Smith’s fifth double-century in Tests. No South Africa batsman has hit more scores of 200-plus than Smith: Gary Kirsten is the next batsman in the list with three scores of 200 or more. Smith’s dogged innings was characterised by the number of boundaries he hit in his knock. His 16 boundaries in this innings so far are the least hit by a batsman in an innings of 200 or more since 2000. The 326-run unbeaten partnership between Smith and AB de Villiers is now South Africa’s best for the fifth wicket, beating the 267-run stand between Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince against West Indies at St John’s, Antigua in 2005. This partnership is the second highest for South Africa against Pakistan, for any wicket, in Tests and the ninth-highest partnership, overall, for South Africa in Tests. Including the 326-run partnership with AB de Villiers in this innings, Smith has been involved in five 300-run partnerships in Tests. He joins Don Bradman as the batsman with most 300-run partnerships in Tests. Mahela Jayawardene, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Ricky Ponting are next in the list with four 300-run partnerships in Tests. This was AB de Villiers 17th century in Tests and his fourth batting at No. 6. Click here for a list of batsmen with most centuries batting at No. 6 in Tests. De Villiers went past 150, batting at No. 6, for the third time in his career; only Steve Waugh (5) and Garry Sobers (4) have more scores of 150 or more batting at No. 6 in Tests. The 99 runs conceded by Junaid Khan are the most he has conceded in an innings in his fledgling Test-career and the first time he has bowled 20 or more overs in an innings in Tests without taking a wicket.

Stats highlights from the first day of the first Test between New Zealand and India in Auckland

Shiva Jayaraman06-Feb-2014 Kane Williamson’s century was his fifth in Tests. He has hit 474 runs across formats at 79.79 from six innings on this India tour, passing 50 every time. In the 2013-14 season, Williamson has scored 522 Test runs at 74.57, including two centuries and four fifties. Williamson’s century is the first by a New Zealand No. 3 in more than nine years. The last No.3 to hit a hundred at home was Hamish Marshall, who scored 160 against Sri Lanka at McLean Park in 2005. Click here for a list of hundreds by New Zealand’s No.3 batsmen in home Tests. Brendon McCullum’s hundred was his eighth in Tests and his third against India. It was his second hundred and his highest Test score as New Zealand captain, beating the 113 he scored against West Indies in Dunedin in December last year. During his innings, McCullum went past Nathan Astle to become the fourth-highest run scorer for New Zealand in Tests. He has 4827 runs from 142 innings at 36.29. Astle scored 4702 runs at 37.02 in 137 innings. The 221-run partnership between Williamson and McCullum was New Zealand’s fifth highest for the fourth wicket in Tests. Their highest also came against India, when Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor added 271 at McLean Park in 2009. The McCullum-Williamson stand was also New Zealand’s fourth highest against India in Tests. The 271-run partnership between Ryder and Taylor is their highest.New Zealand started badly, and were 30 for 3 with a run rate of 1.74. The partnership between Williamson and McCullum shifted gears. They added 221 runs in 51 overs at a run rate of 4.33 – New Zealand’s fourth-fastest 150-plus partnership in the first innings of a Test (where records exist). Four of the top-seven partnerships in this list/a> are against India. This is only the fourth time in Tests that New Zealand’s No. 3 and No. 5 have hit centuries in the same innings. The last time was against Sri Lanka in Napier in 2005, when Marshall and Astle hit hundreds in New Zealand’s first innings. New Zealand’s openers continue to be a concern for them. Since the stand of 158 against England in Dunedin last year, when Peter Fulton and Hamish Rutherford opened for the first time in Tests, they have added 514 in 17 innings at an average of 30.23. They have four 50-plus stands but no century partnerships. Both openers have failed to make substantial scores during this period: Hamish Rutherford has 393 runs at 24.56, Peter Fulton has scored 286 runs at 22.00.

Bangladesh’s performance in the World T20 brought to the fore limitations of skill, accountability and a deep sense of insecurity

Mohammad Isam03-Apr-2014Over the course of the last three weeks, the nation of Bangladesh has shown its love for cricket and cricketers from around the world, and proved that it can manage to hold a World T20 on its own. Its cricketers, however, have sung a different tune.Their on-field performance has been shoddy and un-host like. They have lost five T20 games on the trot, starting with a loss to an unranked Hong Kong after which they became easy targets in the Super10s. At various times during this drubbing, they have repeatedly said how poor they are, why T20 is not their game, how they are genetically unsuited for big-hitting and that their fans should expect very little from them.To conduct a thorough analysis of what the Bangladesh players did and said between March 16 and 31, one has to first detach Shakib Al Hasan’s recent comments from the equation. His belief that home fans should be deprived of the game for two years to temper their expectations was, according to his TV interview with Sanjay Manjrekar before the Australia game, based largely around some hotel staff’s eagerness of wanting their favourite team to win.Also, the controversy that Shakib created was almost expected, after he had created a similar buzz during the 2011 World Cup and immediately after Bangladesh’s exit in the 2012 World T20. Shakib has deflected his own frustration by making these strange comments and it should be left it at that.The focus, therefore, should firmly be on the team’s performances. Most of the Bangladesh players came into the World T20 on the back of two ordinary competitions at home – the series against Sri Lanka and the Asia Cup. The team’s morale was at an all-time low after they were beaten by Afghanistan and then lost to Pakistan despite scoring 326 in the Asia Cup.Bangladesh started their World T20 campaign by crushing Afghanistan and Nepal, but there was hardly any ambition left after they closed in on their goal of confirming a place in the Super 10s. Prior to the World T20, however, statements like, “Even teams like Hong Kong and Nepal could beat us” suggested a deeper problem.Bangladesh appear to be a one-dimensional team with many cricketers comfortable playing in just one format, mostly ODIs, and being one-directional. They seem easily distracted, whether confronted by a loud appeal or a big controversy. It was natural for them to be scared about their livelihoods as serious questions were raised on Bangladesh’s Test status when the ICC revamp position paper was leaked in January. That news admittedly had an impact on the team as they were crushed by Sri Lanka in the first Test.Like most others, this is also a team that wins only when a number of players perform. When they won two ODI series without Shakib – their best player – against West Indies in 2012 and New Zealand a year later, it was a mark of progress. In the final ODI against New Zealand in November last year, they swept to a 3-0 series win by chasing a 300-plus score without Shakib and Tamim and in spite of Mushfiqur’s low score.But form has deserted many of these new performers, like Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sohag Gazi and Rubel Hossain, which means that a large chunk of players from the team built over the last 18 months are struggling. Only Anamul Haque and Al-Amin Hossain have shown significant progress as cricketers, particularly the latter who played seven games in the World T20 without much trouble.Their fielding in every game of the tournament also confirmed that their confidence had hit rock bottom. It wasn’t just dropped catches or ground fielding; towards the end, it was either a stunner or bust. Tamim and Ziaur Rahman pulled off three great catches between them but when someone like Nasir dropped catches, it became a statement of how scattered the ranks are.The players were shell-shocked after being beaten by Hong Kong, having plummeted to a depth they have dreaded all these years. In the second phase of the tournament, as rumours emanated from the dressing room, theories abounded. There is a feeling, with evidence in the form of statements and an outburst by the captain, that new chief selector Faruque Ahmed has got off to a rocky start. It hasn’t gone down well with the team management and several players, particularly those who had grown out of the habit of listening to a senior figure within the team or the BCB.One can be certain that a team which looked aimless after achieving its target of reaching the Super 10s would require a sterner boss somewhere in the chain of command. Given how Bangladesh have reacted to certain situations on the field and how woeful they have been while accepting failure and weakness, it is time for a sense of accountability to be injected into this mercurial team.

Stats highlights from a day which was completely dominated by Kumar Sangakkara

S Rajesh09-Aug-2014501 Runs scored by Kumar Sangakkara off Saeed Ajmal in Tests. Ajmal has dismissed him Sangakkara only three times, giving the batsman an average of 167. The next-highest runs scored by any batsman off a bowler since May 2001 is 431, by Mahela Jayawardene against Harbhajan Singh.10 The number of double-centuries Sangakkara has scored in Tests, next only to Don Bradman’s 12. Sangakkara also has six scores of 150 or more against Pakistan, the second-best by a batsman against one opposition, after Bradman’s 11 against England.84.59 Sangakkara’s Test average against Pakistan. In 38 innings against them, Sangakkara has scored 2707 runs, which is easily the best by any batsman facing Pakistan – the next-highest is Sunil Gavaskar’s 2089 runs, scored in 41 innings.9 Number of centuries for Sangakkara in his last 19 Tests, going back to June 2012. Sangakkara has scored 2504 runs in these 19 Tests – the highest by any batsman at an average of 83.46. Those nine hundreds include scores of 319, 221, 199 not out and 192.1329 Sangakkara’s Test aggregate in 2014, which is the highest by any Sri Lankan in a calendar year. He has scored those runs in 16 innings, at an average of 88.60. The previous-highest by a Sri Lankan in a year was 1271, by Sanath Jayasuriya in 19 innings in 1997.18 The number of century partnerships in Tests between Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Only Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, with 20, have more century stands. However, Sangakkara and Jayawardene average 56.28 per completed partnership, compared to 50.51 for Tendulkar and Dravid.91.15 Angelo Mathews’ batting average in his last ten Tests. In 17 innings, ten times he has gone past 50, with three centuries, three scores in the 90s.1094 Mathews’ Test aggregate in 2014, in 16 innings, at an average of 91.16. Only Sangakkara has scored more runs this year. With Mahela Jayawardene scoring 919 and Kaushal Silva 792, the top four run-getters in Tests this year are all Sri Lankans.933 The number of Test runs Mathews has scored against Pakistan, out of an aggregate of 2947, which means 31.6% of his total runs have come against Pakistan. His next-highest against any team is 449, against Australia.46.2 The number of overs Ajmal bowled before getting his first wicket in the innings, which is the longest he has ever waited for his first scalp. In Abu Dhabi against Sri Lanka in 2013, Ajmal had figures of none for 115 from 49 overs. In an innings in which he did take at least one wicket, the longest he had waited for a first scalp before today was 41.2 overs, against England at Lord’s in 2010.166 The runs Ajmal conceded in Sri Lanka’s innings, which is the most he has gone for when taking a five-wicket haul. His previous most expensive five-for was 5 for 151, against South Africa in Dubai last year.

Kane Williamson and BJ Watlng are good friends who have similar batting styles and scoring areas, and they combined for the sort of tremendous partnership New Zealand are getting used to having

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Basin Reserve06-Jan-2015Eventually you learn to tell them apart, from a distance. Both are slight right-hand batsmen, almost identical in height, and with similar scoring areas.BJ Watling is the more relaxed in his stance, weight hanging back as the bat draws a tight circle in its back lift. As the bowler lets go, he comes forward, crouched – always looking to pounce, even when his innings strike rate is in the 30s. Williamson is still and straight, back-lift perpendicular to the crease, with knees bent and elbows tense. His form seems the more purposeful, poised over the stumps he always looks likely to protect.They are good friends, Williamson said after their unbeaten world-record stand of 365. It helps sometimes, to have a kindred spirit at the other end, as the Sri Lanka team know. Sometimes only the supernatural seemed capable of separating Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but even they were opposites in so many ways, where Williamson and Watling are alike.The New Zealand pair are more about the pitter-patter of steady, stable work than a union of science and art, as Sangakkara and Jayawardene were. The closest thing Williamson and Watling have to a look-at-me stroke is the former’s back-foot-punch. The only beauty there anyway is its compact efficiency. Between the two, they might have a thimbleful of flamboyance, flavouring their boatload of good sense.All day long, each man’s approach was a mirror image of the other’s. The wider balls, whether delivered by blunder or design, were left for the wicketkeeper to collect. Most bouncers were ducked, though occasionally each batsman climbed into a shot; always looking just for the single, wrists rolled over the ball. Even the chance Williamson had given off his hook shot the previous evening had been a mistake. He rolled his wrists then too, but the ball took a slightly higher part of the bat than intended. The major chance he gave on Tuesday, on 104, was from a forward defence.At no stage did it seem to occur to Williamson or Watling that they could gain more ground via counterattack. In Christchurch, McCullum had hammered Sri Lanka into submission, but this was drip torture. Nothing deflates sides like dropped catches, and although Sri Lanka were never floored by the pair, eventually every run seemed like a taunt. Each boundary brought a fresh wave of regrets.The chances were only moments of brief static interrupting the music because for such long phases there was no shaking the pair. Even when the run rate slowed, and Sri Lanka sought to choke the batsmen out, the work never felt like a grind. So light were they on their feet, barely a beat was missed. So smoothly did they dip into their more expansive strokes then return to their usual method, that it felt like a few high notes in the melody, rather than a heavy-handed crescendo.Even when BJ Watling pulled, it was controlled, with rolled wrists minimising risk and maximising New Zealand’s chances of controlling the Test•Getty ImagesThat they stayed fresh in eight hours in the middle together – over 10 hours for Williamson – is further proof of the endurance that has been a New Zealand hallmark this series. In Christchurch, Trent Boult came back at the end of day three to deliver an unplayable ball to dismiss Karunaratne, then continued to bowl at over 140kph, despite having sent down close to 40 overs in the previous 30 hours. Williamson and Watling looked set to bat on for hours when the declaration was called.Any young batsman might be expected to indulge in a little self-exultation following a maiden double-hundred, but Williamson deflected more praise to his batting partner, and the opposition, than he accepted for himself. Even in that, he and Watling are similar. When Sangakkara had bloodied New Zealand on day two, Watling described it as a “hell of an innings” and a learning experience, instead of dwelling on New Zealand’s mistakes. On day four, Rangana Herath didn’t even particularly trouble Williamson, save for one chance off his bowling, yet the batsman labeled his control of line-and-length “incredible”, though he had made 92 runs off his bowling, and clipped him over midwicket against the turn to get to 200.Sri Lanka had almost been in sight of victory, with five wickets down and the opposition only 24 runs in front. How they let it slip so far, even when their bowlers were creating chances, will be a question that haunts them if the series is not leveled. Winning this match with Karunaratne already out will take a batting effort better than what the series has yet seen.Or maybe, given the goodwill plainly clear between these teams, in stark contrast to the dogfight across the Tasman, Sri Lanka will reflect that there is little shame in being bested by a pair of batsmen like this. Likeable, intelligent, highly-skilled, respectful, unyielding and improving, Williamson and Watling lived out everything this New Zealand team hopes to be, and in fact, is already becoming.

Plays of the Day from the World Cup match between Ireland and West Indies in Nelson

Andrew McGlashan in Nelson16-Feb-2015The direct hit
Ireland pride themselves on their fielding. It was not faultless in this match, but there was an early stand-out effort from Andy McBrine, the offspinner, who had been a surprise selection ahead of another pace-bowling option. Chris Gayle got a leading edge towards point and Darren Bravo was stood on his heels at the non-striker’s. McBrine swooped and produced a direct hit to find Bravo well short and send him back with the first diamond duck of the World Cup.The cheek
Very few wicketkeepers stand up to the stumps without a helmet these days – Mark Boucher’s career-ending injury was the final persuasion for most that the risk wasn’t worth it, whatever the comfort issues. However, Gary Wilson was content to wear his cap when McBrine was introduced as the first spinner of the innings. He may have had second thoughts when Gayle went for a cut; the ball was bottom edged into the crease and bounced up into Wilson’s cheek. But he just gave his mouthguard a quick check and carried on.The over
West Indies’ innings made a quiet start, but Gayle loomed and Marlon Samuels had been the stand-out player in South Africa. In the blink of an eye they were gone, in an over George Dockrell will remember for a long while. Firstly, Gayle, who had deposited one six off Dockrell, pulled a short delivery down the throat of long-on. Then, two balls later, Samuels was trapped by one that skidded on. Samuels wasted a review, Dockrell savoured the moment.The limping
Darren Sammy’s back has been giving him problems (although some of his strokeplay didn’t suggest it) and towards the end of Ireland’s stint in the field John Mooney began to struggle with his calf. When the two faced up against each other, it was invalid verses invalid with Sammy’s grimace when he played the ball followed by Mooney flexing his leg in the follow through.The clonk (and response)
Jerome Taylor began with some serious pace and struck Paul Stirling flush on the helmet as the batsman went to pull a short ball. The helmet – and, importantly, the batsman – were both checked and Stirling was good to resume after a few minutes. His response to being struck was impressive as, two balls later, he hooked another short delivery over fine leg for a six.The rarity
Sulieman Benn’s troublesome back and the decision not to play Nikita Miller left West Indies scrabbling for spin options having watched Ireland’s tweakers impress. They turned to Gayle in the 12th over for just the seventh time in ODIs since the start of 2012. In that period he has just two wickets to his name – both against Bangladesh – but it took him only nine balls to add to the tally when William Porterfield edged an expansive drive.The white flag
The game was virtually gone for West Indies, but when Niall O’Brien, on 38, top-edged towards midwicket, Jason Holder, a man with much on his plate, had the chance to take a catch that may just have caused a flutter. Instead, after back-tracking and seemingly getting in position the ball fell through his hands. Heads were already down, they stayed down.

India’s bowling unit has been instrumental to the team’s success in this World Cup, and Mohammed Shami has been the key cog behind it. As the tournament enters its business end, the transformed fast bowler has his eyes set on only one thing

Sharda Ugra in Auckland13-Mar-2015At the World Cup, like all other international fixtures, the Indian team lives and travels separated from everyone outside, in a bullet-proof bubble. It is a bubble bullet-proofed by money and clout to give India a scarcely bearable lightness of being.After the high-octane first two group matches of this World Cup, the players have floated through the tournament on a cloud of success and confidence. They play their final match against Zimbabwe at the Eden Park on Saturday, a ground which on the outside looks like an early 20th century edifice of import and on the inside, is turned into a cricket oval with its head flattened.Eden Park owes its primary loyalty to rugby and on Saturday, the chances of India being spear-tackled onto their head by Zimbabwe are as possible as an All Black doing net-bowler duty for the Black Caps. The eventual outcome of this game doesn’t matter one way or the other. The Indians, or at least that is the message emerging from behind their concrete walls, will want to get stuck into the scrum, because that’s what they have been doing over the last four weeks of this event.As team director Ravi Shastri said, India have approached “every game as a knockout.” Ever since his playing days, Shastri was always known for his front-foot and at ’em guys approach, and this talk is up his street: “Whether it is UAE or South Africa, it is just another team that is trying to beat us. The opposition does not matter.” There will come a point when it will, but only a week or so from now.At the moment all engines are running on full power: India are the only side in the World Cup so far who have dismissed their opponents in every game, to the utter astonishment of the world, an Indian batsman features among the top five run-scorers at a strike rate of 98 and there was even a point when India were been the only team to have not dropped a catch. Now, there’s only so much that can happen in the real world.Mohammed Shami is as far from Ravi Shastri as Eden Park is from the Karnail Singh Stadium, but he too spoke the same language. “It doesn’t matter who is the team we are playing,” he said. “Zimbabwe, Bangladesh or Australia, England, we have to win the match in every possible way. Cricket is such a game that anything can happen so we have only approach no our opponent. That we should play the way we have been playing and be successful with.”Shami was doing his media chatter in Hindi and so when the “areas of improvement,” was put to him, Shami smiled and replied, with inaccurate translation that was: “go with the flow”. He even provided a catch line – “Minimum mistakes and maximum commitment to the fight.”The fact that it was Zimbabwe and a match that didn’t matter, did in fact not matter to Shami, who has become the surprise leader of a surprising Indian bowling attack. He has gone from a bowler who took two wickets at 49 in the Carlton Mid tri series not so long ago, to taking 12 wickets at 11.75 – only behind Mitchell Starc in averages – in this World Cup. Before the clash between New Zealand and Bangladesh on Friday, Shami was in the high-quality company of Morne Morkel, Tim Southee and Trent Boult as the leading wicket-takers of the tournament.”Well it’s the World Cup, everyone’s eyes are glued to it. Our fans at home, the fans all over the world, our families and everyone else. So our motivation is that somehow we have to win this. It’s motivation and a dream that we absolutely have to win, any which way.”Shami and his pace-bowling partners had their first bad match in New Zealand, in Hamilton, conceding more runs in the first ten overs against Ireland than against any other attack. The spinners pulled it back and Shami said the difference between conditions in Australia and New Zealand for the bowlers was the options offered by larger Australian grounds.”In Australia, the options open up, you have a larger area and you can change your length and bowl slightly more up to them. On smaller grounds, your margin for error is very small. It’s those kind of things that stay in your head more, that’s the big difference you have to be spot on about.”Mohammed Shami – “We want to win this desperately. We don’t know which of us will be there at the next World Cup and which of us won’t, so we’re playing this as if it were our last”•AFPThe chances of India returning to a ‘small ground’ in New Zealand have now vapourised, Eden Park and Wellington’s “Cake Tin” being the Kiwi venues now due World Cup games. India’s next match will take place in Australia’s grounds where the use of the shoulder and the back-of-length approach have been, it must be hoped, built into the muscle memory of Shami and his buddies.The venues that India could run into in the knockouts are essentially, only, Melbourne and Sydney. They have done enough to keep themselves from running into New Zealand at their home in either the quarter-final or as the tournament progresses, in the semi-final. This is mainly on the back of an inspired and sustained back of pace and control from Shami and his colleagues.If Shami and Umesh Yadav have been bowling around 130kph to 145kph, beating the batsmen for pace and movement off the deck, Mohit Sharma’s slightly lower band of speed has compensated with a wicket-to-wicket line and an unexpected, skiddy bouncer. While it is the yorker-producing, high velocity left-arm men like Boult, Starc and the fairly under-done Mitchell Johnson who find their names up in bling, the low-wattage efficiency of India’s right-handers Shami, Umesh and Mohit, each of them under five an over, have been a pit-lane crew that has kept the Indian engine working.It is the routine physics and chemistry in the laboratory of bowling: Shami finding the early breakthroughs, with Umesh and Mohit drying up the singles and working with Ashwin at the other end when the batsmen have looked to find their release shots.But as the World Cup cranks itself into a level of urgency, there is a reminder that, as Shami says, that “at the international level, there are no comfort zones. You have to take that thought of the comfort zone out of your head and live up to whatever challenge is presented to you.”The immediate challenge for Shami is to keep what the football pundits call the “shape” that the Indian bowling unit finds itself in going into what is going to be the fast-forward end of the World Cup. Even though there are only four members left from the 2011 squad, there remain some lingering reminders of that heady campaign.”In the last World Cup, everyone knew it was paa-ji (Sachin Tendulkar)’s last world cup and so it was bigger, everybody had put themselves into that mission. We want to win this desperately,” Shami said, “Because we don’t know which of us will be there at the next World Cup and which of us won’t, so we’re playing this as if this were our last.”It may sound too prophetic and too doomsday with the fast-forward end of the World Cup still 48 hours away. So onto Saturday, the truths are easiest to cling onto: that India are through to the knock-out rounds, Zimbabwe are on their way home, and to the MS Dhoni legend is added another layer of coolness.

Once a five-Test series during the heyday of the Australia-West Indies rivalry, the last two Tests for the Frank Worrell Trophy only lasted six and a half days, further highlighting the growing disparity between cricket’s haves and have nots

Daniel Brettig in Kingston14-Jun-2015Jarring as it was to hear him stumble over his words at the presentation, maybe Brendon Julian was onto something. This did not feel like a contest for the Frank Worrell Trophy, lasting as it did for six and a half days and taking in a pair of fearful hidings dished out by one of cricket’s haves to its most widely mourned have not.Signs of the Caribbean’s retreat from Test cricket were everywhere these past two weeks, from the grand old ground Sabina Park being completely devoid of life a mere two days before the match began, to the stumps for the series not even having a fresh logo. They had been prepared for the preceding series, and instead of being emblazoned with the name Australia, England’s lettering was crossed out with a marker pen.The Australians performed well in conditions unfamiliar to them, but everywhere were taken aback by how utterly alien the experience was when compared to the tightly-wound corporate machines that run cricket matches down under – and will do again when they arrive in England. The series winner’s novelty cheque for the series was US $2000, the kind of figure numerous members of the touring team would no doubt have spent on watches.Of course all these disparities off the field were little more stark than that revealed in the middle, where Australia’s rich supply of cricketing resources utterly overwhelmed a West Indian team that could call on only a quartet of plucky individual performances across the two matches. Devendra Bishoo and Marlon Samuels both contributed in the first Test but were absent from the second, leaving far too much for Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder to do, for all their obvious effort and skill.A look down the Australian series aggregates demonstrates their domination in ways not seen perhaps since the drubbing inflicted upon Pakistan in the UAE as far back as 2002. Not a single Australian full-time bowler claimed their wickets at a rate more expensive than 20 runs apiece. For the Man of the Series Josh Hazlewood (12 wickets at 8.83) and his NSW offsider Mitchell Starc (10 at 16.00) it was tantamount to a turkey shoot. One can only wonder at what a fully-fit Ryan Harris might have achieved against such porous opposition.If the batting statistics make for slightly less lopsided reading, there is still the fact that in Steven Smith and Adam Voges, Australia possessed the only two centurions for the series. Their respective averages of 141.50 and 167.00 were near enough to 100 runs ahead of Holder, the only West Indian to make his runs at better than 50. And while the likes of David Warner, Shane Watson and Michael Clarke could not go beyond starts, none had a shocking series of the kind produced by Darren Bravo. Vaunted beforehand as the man to step up in Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s stead, he was totally outwitted and outfought by Australia’s formidable attack, finishing with 49 runs in four innings.The duel between the captains was telling, too. Clarke is now an old hand at this game, but it was still striking to see his nimble work when lined up against some of the leaden decision-making produced by Denesh Ramdin, who seemed always to find a way to spurn an opportunity. Many bemoaned Kemar Roach’s no-ball allowing Clarke to evade a dismissal early on day one, but under Ramdin the West Indians proceeded to drop their bundles in frustration for the next hour even though the ball continued to swerve. Taylor may never know why he got only six overs that morning, when his figures read 6-6-0-2.Opportunities lost tell a story of fragile confidence, but it is disturbing to think that the West Indies could fall in such a heap only weeks after they had registered a stirring victory over England. That result suggested the new coach Phil Simmons had his team on the right path, though it now looks as though it said more for how much England had allowed themselves to slide despite resources every bit as rich as Australia’s. Certainly Alastair Cook’s men will observe the scorecards from the Caribbean with some trepidation as yet another Ashes series creeps closer.But the underlying truth of this series, both on the field and in the stands, is that the West Indies need all the help they can get if they are to return to a position of competitiveness as a Test match nation. The local caravan has moved on to the Caribbean Premier League, which will be played to packed houses and healthy television audiences over the next month, while the region’s most talented senior players are IPL-tied and deeply cynical about the WICB. Simmons’ efforts to mediate may grow more urgent as a result of this drubbing.All at Cricket Australia are increasingly twitchy about the fact that next summer’s showpiece Boxing Day and New Year’s Test matches are due to be played against the West Indies. It will be a most painful return to the scene of past glories for support staff such as Simmons, Richie Richardson and Curtly Ambrose, and more pointedly an event where history and nostalgia will be expected to draw crowds to grounds and television sets when the cricket itself now looks incapable of doing so.Clarke struck a note of some yearning for earlier days when he was asked about the state of the West Indies team and cricket in the region. “I’ve always loved playing against West Indies. My favourite player is Brian Lara, so I’ve always had a soft spot for the West Indies,” he said of a place where he made his first international tour in 2003. “They’ve certainly got some fight in them, they’ve certainly got talent. I just think they need to be patient. Phil Simmons is a lovely guy and fantastic coach, so I’ve got a lot of confidence West Indies will continue to get better. I’m all for growing the game all around the world, so I hope cricket in any format can continue to improve.”Notably, the next ICC annual conference is due to be held in Barbados later this month. While the BCCI continue to quibble over the money lost when the West Indies squad pulled out of an India tour last year, it is beholden upon all the decision-makers assembling at the home of Sir Frank Worrell himself to work on ways to heal the fractures that have helped West Indies decline to this point. The region’s best players need better incentives to play in the maroon cap, and its islands deserve better administration to regrow and develop future generations.None of those administrators were present in Jamaica, but even from their offices, boardrooms, homes and airport lounges around the world they will be able to see what happened here. The game deserves better than lopsided days like this one, when the Caribbean legacy is mangled more badly even than Worrell’s name had been.