For the second time in the Kitply Cup, India’s openers laid the platform for victory with an aggressive partnership

George Binoy in Mirpur12-Jun-2008

For the second time in the Kitply Cup, India’s openers laid the platform for victory with an aggressive partnership. Gautam Gambhir took centre stage today and, after an opening stand of 85 in ten overs, went on to score an unbeaten match-winning century.”I always had confidence in him,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s one-day captain, said of Gambhir. “We were on an India A tour to Zimbabwe and Kenya. We played together and I’ve always regarded him as a batsman. He’s quite aggressive at times and he gives it his all. Even if he’s got a big score in the last game, he wants to score in the next game. He always gives more than 100%.”Gambhir’s fifth ODI century was an extension of his recent Twenty20 form, especially in the IPL where he was, predictably, one of the leading run-scorers with 534 runs at 41.07 from 14 games. Gambhir is also no stranger to opening the innings in ODI cricket; he has taken guard at the top 29 times out of 49, scoring three hundreds at 35.88.His form has been complemented by his opening partner, Virender Sehwag. His 89 dominated their partnership of 155 against Pakistan on Tuesday and his 59 off 32 balls against Bangladesh got India off to a furious start. Dhoni praised the efforts of his openers and said that their contribution was doubly important because of the conditions in Mirpur.”It [the start] is extremely vital especially in these conditions,” he said. “When the ball gets old it is difficult to score fluently. So it is always great if you have two openers who give you good starts. Today’s wicket was better for batting compared to the last game. So far in the two games, we’ve got the starts we wanted. Hopefully we’ll get it in the final too.”The colour of the pitch, unusually dark because of the black soil used, also makes it difficult for new batsmen in the middle order to sight the ball because it gets discoloured around the 25th over. The pitch also tends to get slower as the ball gets older, hence it is imperative for the openers to score significantly while the ball is new.India made just the one change for this game, bringing in RP Singh for Ishant Sharma, when it was thought they’d use this opportunity to give the bench strength a shot. Dhoni simply felt it was an “appropriate” change.”You look at the team composition and you want to win whether you are playing either Pakistan or Bangladesh,” Dhoni said. “We could have changed a batsman but several batsmen didn’t get a proper opportunity to bat in the first game. So it was a tough call but we are playing many games in the near future so most probably everyone will get a chance.”India’s victory over Bangladesh today has ensured Pakistan’s qualification for the final of the Kitply Cup on June 14.

Australia’s former World Cup-winning captain will keep an eye on the next generation during the tournament

Peter English07-Mar-2009

In her playing days Belinda Clark spent years as the world’s best batsman and the captain of the strongest side, but she had the misfortune of never appearing in a home World Cup. Clark led her side to victory in the 2005 tournament in South Africa, the second time she was in charge of a global triumph, and by the end of that year had retired as one of the most celebrated figures in women’s cricket.The tournament began today in her home state of New South Wales, and though Clark won’t have an on-field role she will be busy. “I remember watching the 1988 World Cup final on the TV, but it’s been a while since then,” she says. “I managed to squeeze my career in between the two home World Cups. On the one hand I will miss not being on the field, but on the other hand I’ll be involved in other ways. This tournament is going to be fantastic.”Clark, who played 15 Tests and 118 ODIs, is the manager of Australia’s Centre of Excellence (formerly the Academy) and runs a close eye over the men’s and women’s squads as part of her administrative duties at the complex in Brisbane. So even though the outfit is no longer her side, she has tracked it since planning began for March 2009 shortly after Australia beat India by 98 runs in Centurion four years ago. She was involved in the early re-setting of goals for the team, then part of the exit of senior players, before watching the regeneration of the side.Over the past 12 months the team has increased its matchplay, including series against New Zealand and India in the Australian summer, and during the off-season five representatives spent extended periods at the Centre of Excellence to fine-tune for the World Cup. Clark was there when Karen Rolton, the captain and experienced batsman, spent 11 weeks at the facility. The stints of Ellyse Perry, Kate Blackwell, Emma Sampson and Shelley Nitschke varied between a fortnight and a month.”Karen’s 11 weeks were to get her physically ready to embark on the season and we did that for a specific reason,” Clark says. “We were really pleased to have had them here.” All of it was geared towards the World Cup, which kicks off an A-list winter that includes the World Twenty20 and the Ashes in England.The entire squad also goes to Brisbane a few times a year under the direction of the head coach, Richard McInnes. While the men’s Centre of Excellence intake gets months to focus on positioning front elbows and back legs, the women don’t have the luxury of a major overhaul in the few days they spend at Allan Border Field.

“The work they do here has to be quite specific and it has to be tangible because there’s no point trying to change the world in five minutes when you have them for three or four days,” Clark says. “Then they go back to their states for three or four months, then you have them back for three or four days again. Because of the difference in attendance time, you have to hit the mark pretty quickly, so the girls have been doing a lot of that type of work for the past 12 months.”McInnes, who was the Australian men’s team’s performance analyst until the 2008 tour of the West Indies, has relied heavily on being games-focussed when the squad is together, developing the players’ ability to perform their skills under the highest pressure. That way they know that if they are needed in the final on March 22 to strike a last-ball four over point, or deliver an off-stump yorker, they are ready.During a Centre of Excellence camp the attendees will also undergo series of tests to measure their bodies and performances. There will be medical and physiotherapy examinations along with fitness and skill analysis. Batsmen will learn how many places they can hit the same sort of delivery, while fast bowlers will discover their speed and accuracy. Spinners will see to the centimetre how much they turn the ball.”We get in all the experts from the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra,” Clark says. “All the high-speed cameras come up here and we go from there. It’s part of the picture, not the full picture. We also do psychological profiling. We gather information and find ways to determine whether they are moving forward, as well as identifying strengths and weaknesses.” Those attributes will be tested over the next three weeks.Clark, who will be doing television commentary and radio stints during the World Cup, will remain involved throughout the tournament. “I’ll be working closely with the coach,” she says, “and overseeing the strategies we have in place for high-performance cricket.”

Finally there is some breathing space in the Ranji Trophy season, and finally there is room to look back

Sidharth Monga04-Dec-2008
Ishant Sharma took 11 wickets against Orissa on an outstandingly bowler-friendly Kotla surface © AFP
The gap in the Ranji Trophy season offers a chance to look back at the most sensational match of the fifth round, between Delhi and Orissa at the Feroz Shah Kotla . Sensational, because it took a few minutes more than five sessions to fold up – 40 wickets fell in 128.5 overs. The contest featured quality batsmen including Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra, Shiv Sunder Das, Virat Kohli and Mithun Manhas against the gentle swing bowling of Debasis Mohanty, Basanth Mohanty, Sukanta Khatua and Sumit Narwal, and more fiery pace from Ishant Sharma.The immediate explanation of such a wicket-feast is the inability of batsmen brought up on flat tracks to handle anything approaching green. “The batsmen don’t usually play on these tracks, so they are obviously taken by surprise,” Venkatapathy Raju, Orissa’s coach, affirmed. Something similar happened in the semi-final between Uttar Pradesh and Saurashtra in Vadodara last year, which lasted 191.2 overs, or a little over two days. Dilip Vengsarkar, the then chairman of the national selection committee, was there, and was not impressed. “There is nothing wrong with the wicket; they haven’t shown any application. They are playing way too many shots,” he had said.This pitch was different from the one at the Moti Bagh ground. There was a lot of grass left and more than enough moisture just under the surface – and the overcast skies made sure it stayed there. One player called it a “wet” surface from the good old days. The movement in the air was a given. That’s not what undid the batsmen, though. Upon pitching, the ball moved exaggeratedly, without pattern. An outswinger could move in after landing, an inswinger away.One instance summed up the pitch. Cricinfo was among those who reported that Chopra went for a booming drive in the first innings, got an inside edge, and lost his stumps. In the absence of replays, it seemed the only way he could have got out to that outswinger was by playing on. Chopra had a different version. “I didn’t touch it,” he said. “It was an outswinger all right, but it pitched and came in sharply.” Another batsman said he had played on even grassier tracks, but the moisture underneath made this a real difficult pitch to bat on.If there were too many shots played, it was because that was the only way to go on that surface. Not surprisingly, only seven batsmen were out caught-behind to traditional swing – two of them being tailenders. Eighteen were cleaned up, five of them leaving alone balls well outside off, only one of them to a superb outswinger from Debasis.The match revealed a lot about the curators in India, the nature of pitches, and the way domestic cricket is played. This was the same pitch on which India and Australia couldn’t buy a result a month earlier, the same pitch where Sahil Kukreja scored a double-century, and Ajinkya Rahane 160, two weeks ago. This match proved that the Kotla is not a natural and that sporting – or lively – pitches can be made here. It’s a different matter that this wasn’t sporting at all. Something similar happened in the Vadodara game last year. At the same venue earlier that season, Bengal were 221 for 0 on the first day against Baroda, and in another match Baroda drew against Orissa.”It was a tough pitch, but we get these only in special circumstances,” Raju said. Indeed, there are only two circumstances when difficult pitches are on view in domestic cricket: when games are held at neutral venues or when the hosts are desperate for an outright win. This was the second case. Delhi, defending champions, had only six points from their first four games, and anything less than an outright win would have meant a huge blow to their title hopes. Hence the gamble.That gamble may have backfired but for Ishant’s extreme pace, the like of which Orissa batsmen hadn’t faced before. Ishant’s presence should actually have prevented Delhi from opting such a desperate measure; he has, after all, taken wickets on much flatter pitches, and giving such a green track would have only played into Orissa’s hands for their bowlers revel in conditions that help swing.Delhi’s coach, Vijay Dahiya, didn’t think the tactic was prompted by the need for an outright win. “We wanted a similar wicket at the Roshanara but that wicket’s nature is that the moisture doesn’t stay,” said Dahiya. That match, in fact, featured early movement, but no threatening bounce and hence petered out. “We wanted a similar wicket against Mumbai, but Ashish [Nehra] was not fit then.”But was this exactly the pitch Delhi wanted? “No, this was a little damp,” Dahiya said. “But these are not made regularly. So you don’t really know how to make a real sporting wicket; you leave a bit of moisture. Half the curators don’t know how to make a good track. You ask them to make a flat wicket, they can do it. Apart from that, it’s either the nature of the surface and soil, or extreme measures.”Delhi, sadly, don’t have any more home matches this season. Otherwise it would have been interesting to watch more Kotla games, because the home side still needs outright wins from their last two games to progress to the knockouts. They next travel to Saurashtra, who are placed well at the top of the group. Normal service should resume in Rajkot.

Was Bodyline’s chief protagonist the quickest ever? Duncan Hamilton does a good job of convincing us

Steven Lynch18-Jul-2009

To suggest that an athlete from the 1930s might have been faster or stronger than today’s trained-to-the-toenails professionals is a tough argument to win. Modern sprinters are quicker, jumpers soar higher and longer, and swimmers (even without their techno trunks) just keep going faster and faster: Johnny “Tarzan” Weissmuller’s 100-metre freestyle world record was around six seconds slower than the current women’s mark. So was Harold Larwood, the scourge of Australia during the Bodyline series, really the world’s fastest bowler, ever? He was shorter than average, especially for a quick bowler, at around 5ft 7in. His training regime apparently involved lots of walking and lots and lots of beer. Nonetheless Duncan Hamilton, whose previous books include an award-winning salute to another Nottingham hero, football manager Brian Clough, makes a convincing case for Larwood.He possessed a superb action, astonishing stamina, given all that beer, and the priceless asset of dead-eye accuracy, without which the Bodyline tactic would have been stillborn. Starting by beating his hero Jack Hobbs for pace with a nipbacker – not once but twice – Larwood gradually became the most feared bowler in county cricket, and for a while in Tests too. He was fiercely loyal – he remained a steadfast supporter of Douglas Jardine, his captain on that infamous 1932-33 tour, throughout his long life – and straightforward and trusting: too trusting, actually, as he would allow journalists to write columns for him and sign them off without reading them. Even his book , rushed out soon after the tour that defined his whole life, seems to have been completed with a minimum of involvement from the “author”.His criticism of the MCC, and Australia and Australians, eventually put him beyond the pale. The MCC, a more autocratic institution then than now, ordered him to apologise for his part in Bodyline: Larwood predictably refused, considering he had done nothing wrong, as he was a professional carrying out his amateur captain’s instructions. He never played for England again: actually, he might never have done so anyway, as his pace was never as searing after he badly injured his foot in the final Bodyline Test.Ironically, Larwood later moved to Australia, where he lived quietly out of the limelight (apart from a brief renewal of the Bodyline hate campaign after a dramatised TV series was aired in the 1980s).”Lol” emerges from this well-produced book, which received assistance from his surviving daughters (and so includes many rare family photographs), as a determined, upright character. Others are less lucky. Don Bradman always seemed uncomfortable in Larwood’s company; Fred Trueman recalled The Don snubbing his old adversary in the England dressing room in the 1950s. And Plum Warner is unmercifully denounced as a self-serving hypocrite by Hamilton, whose turn of phrase is occasionally delicious (especially when talking of John Arlott’s “ravishing voice marinated in vats of fine wine”).But was Harold Larwood really the fastest ever? Hamilton does a good job of convincing us. He was obviously appreciably faster than other pacemen of the time, and yes, he must have been up there with the fastest of all.Harold Larwood: The Authorised Biography of the World’s Fastest Bowler
by Duncan Hamilton
Quercus, hb, 400pp, £20

Call it a choke, but Deccan Chargers were gleefully strangled by an immensely confident Delhi Daredevils

Sriram Veera in Durban13-May-2009The last seven Deccan Chargers wickets fell for 12 runs. Call it a choke, but they were gleefully strangled by an immensely confident Delhi Daredevils side who have lost just one close game yet. Deccan should have won this but under pressure, with a semi-final spot up for grabs, they depended too much on Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds.The moment that captured Delhi’s confidence was in the last ball of the 19th over and came from an unlikely source. Chaminda Vaas, Deccan’s last recognised hitter, ran for a single that would allow him to retain the strike for the last over. Amit Mishra, not known for his electric fielding, charged to the ball and picked it up. Vaas was still short of the crease.Normally, in these tense situations, the fielder doesn’t go for the direct hit to avoid the risk of an overthrow. It’s a thin line between bravado and foolhardiness. Mishra went for the throw and hit the stumps. Vaas was just home but that’s not the point. It was the sign of a player thriving on the confidence derived from a team used to winning. It was seen through the evening; Delhi’s walk on the thin line.Dinesh Karthik entered with the score at 103 for 4 in nearly 14 overs before he played a delightful cameo to push Delhi to a healthy score. And while defending the total two men from the domestic circuit, one a novice and the other an experienced player, nailed Deccan. Both Pradeep Sangwan and Rajat Bhatia performed under immense pressure.Sangwan came on when Gilchrist was going berserk, threatening to kill the game in a blink. He has dismissed Rohit Sharma before in domestic cricket; he has spoken about Rohit’s tendency to be late in shifting his weight forward. Today he did it again. With a short extra-cover in place, he lured Rohit into a fatal uppish cover drive. Just before that he had kept T Suman on a leash before taking him out on the attempt to break free. He kept his head and kept things really simple. Sehwag brought him on again in the 11th over and he struck, bowling Gilchrist with a full delivery. It wasn’t a sensational delivery but it was not short, it wasn’t overpitched and it wasn’t wide; it wasn’t anything that Gilchrist would have dispatched without having to stretch himself. And it did the trick.And Rajat Bhatia came on at the end to complete the job that Sangwan started. Again, there was confidence on display and the cool head that kept things simple. “I was confident that something will happen,” he said later. “It was just a mind game. I wanted to bowl yorkers or slower ones when the opportunity comes.” He did both.Andrew Symonds was on the rampage and had almost taken Deccan home. Just 24 runs were needed in 17 balls when Bhatia sensed the chance to slip in a slower one. Symonds was fooled enough to go for the flick early and was cleaned up. And Bhatia removed Dwayne Smith with another slower one. When things are tight, you go for your main shot. Smith’s is the slog sweep. Last night, when Ross Taylor ran amok against Kolkata Knight Riders with his slog sweep, they didn’t bowl slower ones. Bhatia didn’t make the same mistake. Smith went for his heave and missed. The game hurtled to the climax.Ashish Nehra, who had leaked runs during Gilchrist’s onslaught, kept his cool and fired in a bouncer at Venugopal Rao who was surprised enough to glove it. And Nehra threw in a direct hit to get rid of RP Singh next ball to shove Hyderabad further into the abyss. Bhatia made sure they didn’t crawl out with two more wickets in the last over. If Delhi can retain their cool they can do more than enter the semi-finals. The danger of overconfidence will stalk them, though. It’s going to be interesting to watch their progress.

Some statistical highlights for teams competing in the Champions League Twenty20

Cricinfo staff07-Oct-2009David Hussey holds the record for most sixes in Twenty20 cricket•Getty Images92The most sixes hit in Twenty20 cricket. David Hussey of Victoria holds the record, while Brendon McCullum of Otago is next with 76.250Among the teams involved in the competition, Somerset hold the record for the highest score in Twenty20 cricket, against Gloucestershire in Taunton in June 2006. Victoria are second in the list, with 233 for 7 against New South Wales in Sydney in January the same year.47Eagles have had the honour of bowling out their opponents Titans for the lowest score in Twenty20 cricket in Centurion in 2004. In this year’s IPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore skittled out Rajasthan Royals for 58 in Cape Town. Eagles and Sussex have each been bowled out for 67, the lowest among the teams this tournament.8Eagles, Victoria and Sussex have enjoyed the run of most successive wins among teams in this competition. Sussex’s run is still in progress. The record for most consecutive wins among teams in all Twenty20 cricket is 20 and still going strong, by Pakistan’s Sialkot Stallions.It’s also the second-highest number of bowlers used in an innings. Sussex have done it three times, Somerset twice, Bangalore, Deccan Chargers and Cape Cobras once each.7Deccan Chargers have also been at the receiving end of the most consecutive defeats in Twenty20 cricket among competing teams in the Champions League. They experienced this poor run in the inaugural IPL.5Bangalore hold the record for most ducks in an innings among participating teams; the achieved the unenviable feat against Kings XI Punjab at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the inaugural IPL.Dave Mohammed (Trinidad and Tobago) is the only bowler in the competition to bag a five-for in his debut Twenty20 game. He took 5 for 8 against St Lucia in February 2008.Dillon du Preez’s five maidens in his Twenty20 career is the second-most overall in the format.17Sussex have conceded the most sixes in a Twenty20 innings, against Essex at Chelmsford. Among the competing teams, New South Wales hold the record, conceding 14 sixes against Victoria in Sydney in 2006.31Somerset have struck the most fours in an innings in Twenty20 games, against Glamorgan in Cardiff in June 2003. Second in the list among competing teams is Otago, scoring 26 fours against Central Districts in Dunedin in January 2006.Dave Mohammed [with hands folded] picked up a five-for on debut in Twenty20 cricket•Stanford 20/202Most century partnerships in a Twenty20 match – Eagles and Cobras had one each in their innings. Cobras eventually won the high-scoring contest in Kimberly by six wickets.2288The runs scored in Twenty20 cricket by Victoria’s Brad Hodge, who is the highest run-getter in Twenty20 cricket, averaging 41.60 in 68 matches. Hussey is second in that list, and McCullum is fifth with 1695 in 63 games at 30.26.109Adam Gilchrist’s score in his 47-ball innings against Mumbai Indians in the inaugural IPL. It is the second-highest score by a wicketkeeper in Twenty20s.41The number of balls taken by Henry Davids of Cobras to get his hundred against Warriors in Cape Town, which is the second-fastest hundred in Twenty20s among players in this competition. He’s behind Andrew Symonds, who reached his ton off 34 balls for Kent against Middlesex in 2004.12The number of fifties Gautam Gambhir (Delhi Daredevils), JP Duminy (Cobras), and Herschelle Gibbs (Cobras) have scored in this format. Overall, they are joint third in the list of players with most half-centuries in the format. Brad Hodge tops the tally with 17.It’s also the number of zeroes for Gibbs in this format, which is the most by any batsman in Twenty20 cricket.3The number of successive ducks for James Kirtley of Sussex. It is second in the list of most consecutive ducks in Twenty20 cricket, though he tops the list among the players in the tournament. The slump came in 2004.67The most runs conceded by a bowler in an innings, by Kirtley – again – versus Essex at Chelmsford in 2008.58The number of dismissals by Morne van Wyk (Eagles), which is the highest by a wicketkeeper in Twenty20 cricket. He accounted for five dismissals against Eastern Cape in 2004, the second-highest by a keeper in a match. He’s done it twice, and joining him in the list is Lanka de Silva, for Wayamba against Kandurata in 2008.

The kid who almost missed the boat has grown up fast, physically and mentally

Daniel Brigham27-Jun-2009Stuart Broad does not just enter a room, he fills it. He is unfathomably tall, somehow appearing even greater than his 6ft 6in, and with shoulders to match. Yet on top of this mammoth frame sits a youthful face with plenty of wavy blond locks and blue eyes. He is not quite Nordic God, more baby-faced Viking warrior.It is these striking looks that have him fast becoming the poster boy of English cricket. Girls who do not usually follow men in whites show an interest normally reserved for Mark Ramprakash. Broad is the glamorous face of the Twenty20 generation, already accustomed to being interviewed by glossy lifestyle magazines like and .Yet, like his physical appearance, things are not quite as they might first seem. His path into cricket has been a very conventional one – an England cricketer for a father and a private boarding school in love with cricket. He turns 23 in June and the youthful arrogance often associated with a new kid on the block has already disappeared. He gives the sort of considered, thoughtful answers expected of someone at least eight years older.”A lot of people who meet me say ‘I can’t believe you’re 22, you act much older,'” Broad says. “But then a lot of people also think I look about 12. I still get asked for ID whenever I go out.”Like his cricket, Broad is multi-dimensional. He was very nearly not a sportsman at all. A now famous (and painful) growth spurt when he was 17, which turned him into a bowler who bats rather than a batsman who occasionally bowled, coincided with a life-changing phone call.”There were times when I started thinking about what I had to do because cricket wasn’t really working out for me up until the age of about 17,” he says. “I got left out of a Leicestershire Under-17 squad, then someone got injured and I came in and scored around 195. The next day I was in the academy and then within a year I got a professional contract. I was literally sitting at home and got a phone call asking if I could play and it changed my life.”Seventeen Tests and nearly 200 first-class wickets later that phone call has been well and truly vindicated. Broad was probably always destined to play cricket to a high standard. Dad Chris played 25 Tests and slayed the Australians. Mum Carole spent Broad’s teenage years happily paying for new tennis balls and replacing broken windows. He also went to a school that took cricket seriously: Oakham in Rutland.

“A lot of people who meet me say, ‘I can’t believe you’re 22, you act much older.’ But then a lot of people also think I look about 12. I still get asked for ID whenever I go out”

“I owe a lot to the school I went to,” Broad says. “Oakham was one of the best batting wickets in the country and we had the likes of [former England cricketers] Frank Hayes and David Steele as coaches there. We had a real love for cricket at school. I remember we had free periods when most people would be studying, but some of the teachers would let us sneak off and have a bowl and a bat in the nets. They would turn a blind eye to it because they knew we loved it so much.”Broad knows he was lucky, well aware that cricket struggles to attract children who have not been to a cricket-playing school or do not have parents who follow the game – the kind of children that the ECB hopes will be inspired by Broad to pick up a bat or ball. He would like to see cricket back on terrestrial TV to attract more children to the game, while acknowledging the reasons why the ECB sold it to Sky.”It’s a difficult question,” he says. “But from when I was a young lad and we didn’t have Sky, there was nothing better at school on the first morning of a Test. We would get out during our 10.30 break and quickly put on BBC or Channel 4 and everyone would gather around to find out who was in the team or who’d won the toss. That was fantastic.”Despite this, Broad was not such a keen watcher of cricket when he was growing up – he much preferred playing it with friends from around the village during his summer holidays. “I had a routine,” he says. “I’d play all morning and come in and try and watch the highlights. Then I’d go out again and play some more, then come in again for the highlights after play. I was lucky because our back garden was basically a cricket pitch with nets up to stop the ball.”His love of cricket is palpable. He is an enthusiastic talker about the game, admitting to still getting excited about hearing England squad announcements being discussed on the radio. One of his biggest joys is the coaching days with kids that the ECB arranges with England players.He does not mind the label of cricket nerd. “Cricket has always been a hobby,” he says. “I’ve always read every cricket magazine and subscribed to them since I was about eight. I like to see what’s going on around the world and who’s doing well. I think it’s important to stay in touch with what’s going on.” This may seem rather obvious for an international cricketer, but it is not always the case. When we interviewed Kevin Pietersen last July, two weeks before he became England captain, he was unable to answer a question about the new Sri Lankan bowler Ajantha Mendis because he had not heard of him.Broad has just moved into a new house (“I had my mum sorting everything out”). He is not a big fan of sitting around, preferring to keep himself busy. He still sees many of the friends he played backyard cricket with. While most of them are finishing university, living in house-shares and playing computer games, Broad’s career path could hardly be more different.”I had to grow up quickly,” he says. “But that comes from international sport, I think. Because I’m in the England dressing room there are a lot of mature characters around and most people I hang out with are that little bit older than me, so it probably rubs off. But I still have time to enjoy myself, and I love going on a night out and catching up with mates and sitting in front of the TV getting thrashed at Fifa Soccer.”It’s not like I have to dedicate every minute of my life to cricket, but it certainly is pretty hectic. There are a lot of times when your mates are just nipping to the pub. but you can’t because you’re training in the morning. But I wouldn’t change it for anything.”When Broad made his ODI debut in 2006 it was clear he was a man with inherent talent. But his natural, wicket-taking bowling action seemed to change. His father was not best pleased, and last October, Hayes, his cricket master at Oakham, said that England told him to bowl more chest-on to avoid injury. It resulted in a loss of swing and fewer wicket-taking deliveries.With the appointment of Ottis Gibson as England bowling coach, Broad’s action reverted to its old, natural style and the wickets started coming. James Anderson’s action has also gone back to its unconventional beginnings, bringing him more wickets and greater confidence.Does Broad think Hayes’ assessment was accurate? “Yes,” he says, after initially hesitating. “I mean, everything always develops. When I came into the international set-up my action got tweaked a little bit, but I’ve gone back to how it felt good for me. I think working with Ottis has helped me tremendously. He’s a very simple character with very simple drills. I think for any young person you need to keep it as simple as you possibly can. You know when it feels right and when you’re bowling well.”I think injury prevention is huge, but I think it’s important to keep your natural flair. If you’ve bowled well in the past and taken wickets, there’s a reason why you did that and I think it’s crucial that you don’t let people change you too much.”Kevin Shine was the England bowling coach who was criticised by Hayes and others for his handling of Broad. He is now the ECB’s lead fast-bowling coach and runs its fast-bowling development programme. He says: “Stuart was very happy with the work that we did with him at an early age, when we thought there were issues, relating to his lower back, that could affect him. We had to get him to understand how his body worked.”Stuart’s a very strong-minded individual. We explained it all to him and he wanted to know all the information. He had to give it a yes or a no. At no point did he say he was upset. The programme had his best interests at heart.”Glamour boys: with friend and new-ball partner James Anderson•Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty ImagesBroad is strong-minded indeed. He went very much against the grain by opting out of the IPL while other England players filled their boots (or bank accounts). Although a difficult decision, he does not regret it, happy with his choice to hone his skills in Test matches rather than Twenty20 cricket. When we speak, it is four weeks into the tournament and he has not watched a game.As the bright, young thing of English cricket, Broad should represent the Twenty20 generation – quick, exciting bowler who does not hang around with the bat. Yet that is not quite true. Broad will have gone through his formative years without Twenty20 as an early influence – anyone a year or two younger than him will no longer be able to do that. In some ways he is the last of a breed of cricketer whose loyalties were not tested by the big bucks of Twenty20 from the moment they first picked up a bat.He was 16 when the Twenty20 circus hit county cricket and was at the first Finals day at Trent Bridge as a fan of the semi-finalists Leicestershire. “Twenty20 cricket is hugely exciting for youngsters to watch and play and it does create a lot of new skill in the game and that can only be good for Test cricket.”But I don’t think there’s a better buzz in the game than a first morning at Lord’s or the first Test of a summer. I hope that buzz will always be the same in Test cricket throughout my career.”With Twenty20 has come an increased celebrity around cricketers – they suddenly seem more accessible to the public, led by the poster boys Broad and his new-ball partner and good friend Anderson. So, does Broad mind the little celebrity perks that come with being a hyped young international sportsman? “I suppose when you put yourself up for naked photo shoots you put yourself out there a bit,” Broad says. “But everything that can take you away from cricket on the odd occasion is refreshing and good for your mind and it’s good life experience.”The naked photoshoot he talks of was for in April 2008 (for charity, of course), with Anderson and Alastair Cook for company – plus one bat apiece to maintain their modesty. Broad says he was nervous – especially when eight women appeared to be hanging around the shoot for no other reason than to pretend to make tea. Broad drops eye contact for the first and only time during the interview when asked whether he and Anderson are the glamorous face of English cricket, mumbling “No, not at all.”Is there a rivalry between him and Anderson? “No. Although he’s the sharper dresser, but then that’s because his wife’s always on his case. It’s safe to say he’s dressed by his wife. He definitely holds the advantage in the fashion stakes. It’s hard for me to get clothes that are long enough, so I have to use a tailor, one up in Manchester that a lot of Manchester United players use. I’m pretty much a typical sportsman, wearing hoodies and trainers.”Broad fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear on the BBC’s and does not rule out following Ramprakash and Darren Gough into TV. “Well, hopefully not on with my dancing ability. Being in the spotlight isn’t something that fazes me. TV is something that I’d enjoy doing when my cricket career slows down.”That should be a long way off. For the moment he is happy learning, improving and hitting 93mph at Lord’s against West Indies – something the Australian batsmen, battered and bruised on their last trip to England, will not have ignored. In 2005, Broad was caught up in the hysteria around the Ashes as a cricket fan, watching glimpses of it on TV during his first season in Leicestershire’s first team. Just four years later and despite still getting asked for ID in pubs, all 6ft 6in of him will be spearheading England’s campaign to reclaim the Ashes.

The lack of Tests in India’s upcoming schedule could limit the duration of their No. 1 ranking

Cricinfo staff06-Dec-2009Ironically, India have risen to the top in a format some would accuse them of neglecting – and their low frequency of Tests could cause them to lose their crown sooner rather than later. They are only the third team, after Australia and South Africa, to reach the summit of the ICC’s Test rankings since they were introduced in 2001 but their time there could be brief because of a schedule that contains only two Tests in the next 11 months.Which means the duration of their reign will be determined by how their closest rivals, South Africa and Australia, fare in the next few months. “It is a bit of a concern, as we play only two Test matches in the next six months, so it will be tough for us to maintain the position,” MS Dhoni said after India’s victory in Mumbai. “I can’t do anything about the schedule. It is good to play Test cricket, at the same time we are here to play whatever cricket we are asked to play.”Before their 2-0 victory, India were ranked third with 119 points after Sri Lanka and chart-toppers South Africa (122). The two consecutive innings victories in Kanpur and Mumbai earned India five points, taking them two clear of South Africa, while Sri Lanka slipped below Australia to fourth place.During the period in which India have only two Tests – against Bangladesh – to maintain a hold on their No. 1 position, South Africa play at least four and Australia eight. A 2-0 win against Bangladesh isn’t likely to give India too many ratings points either, so they could be overtaken depending on how South Africa do against England, and how Australia go against West Indies and Pakistan at home, and in the away series in New Zealand and against Pakistan in England.What is certain is that India will end 2009 as the No. 1 Test side because even a 3-0 victory for Australia in the ongoing series against eighth-ranked West Indies will give them only one point, taking their tally to 117, and no improvement in position.India’s immediate threat is South Africa, but they will have to beat England by a 2-0 margin or better to reclaim the No. 1 spot. A 2-0 or 3-1 victory for South Africa will take them marginally ahead of India, 3-0 will given them 126 points, and 4-0 will extend their lead over India by three. However, if England win 1-0 or 2-1, South Africa’s tally will reduce to 117, increasing India’s lead by seven points.If South Africa fail to recapture the top spot against England, India’s reign will receive an extension because even if Australia blank Pakistan 3-0 at home, following a 3-0 win against West Indies, their ratings points will increase only by three to 119. They will then need to win in New Zealand and beat Pakistan in England – an away series for Australia – to move up the ladder.

ICC Test rankings Team Matches Points Rating

India 323957 124 South Africa 30 3672122 Australia 31 3600 116 Sri Lanka 31 3574 115 England39 4102 105 Pakistan 171424 84 New Zealand 25 200180 West Indies 25 1910 76 Bangladesh 19 255 13Click here to see the ODI and player rankings rankings.

Viv Richards, the only captain under whom West Indies never lost a series, speaks about the sense of confrontation he brought to his cricket, his first Test in Antigua and his success against England

Interview by Benj Moorehead22-Feb-2010What was it like having all those great West Indian fast bowlers to face in practice?
You may say it was good enough practice. But I’ve never enjoyed being in the nets, because I felt enclosed. My batting practice would be a guy throwing balls in the way in which I liked it. It was all about getting ball on bat, rather than something whizzing past your ear. Each bowler has his own pride when bowling in the nets but it’s vital that you get ball on bat and then you are ready to use the opportunity when you are out in the middle.In 1969 you refused to walk when given out in a match for Antigua, sparking crowd trouble. How do you look back on that now?
It was a difficult start to my career, but if you are confident enough about the decisions that you make and about how you can correct them, then it becomes history. It’s all about pushing on and learning from mistakes. You are going to have some hiccups, especially as a young man. I felt I wasn’t out at the time and I stamped my feet – I’ve seen people not be banned for worse. Obviously this sent a message to the crowd that all wasn’t well. The crowd reacted and I was responsible. I paid my dues – I was banned from first-class cricket for two years. If you do a crime, you must do the time.What was it like arriving at Somerset in 1974?
There seemed to be a lack of self-esteem with certain individuals at the club. You heard about Somerset not winning anything in over 100 years. I’ve always been a competitive guy. I want to win. I want to make an impact. At the time I was on the fringes of the West Indies team and I was going to a club that knew nothing about me. I felt I could bat. I looked around the county circuit and saw the professional cricketers and I’m saying, “Wow, I could do a little bit better than that.” I tried to pump that motivation into my team.What was Brian Close like as a captain?
Closey is someone I have an enormous amount of respect for. I was fortunate to have him around at that time. He was instrumental. I felt he saw something in me. He took me under his wing and I would travel with him on most occasions. In those days county cricketers travelled their own way. I was Closey’s co-pilot. During the long journeys around the country we would talk about the game, about what I could do to move forward. He taught me about being tough with your decisions and fighting hard. Closey did not reap the success of the team and the characters he built. In came Brian Rose and by that time the players were ripe. They were battle-hardened by playing under one of the hardest skippers I’ll ever know. It was the perfect platform. And in the end it came good for Somerset. We became a fancied county. The Garners and the Bothams came on board and we had a good connection.You were more successful against England than against any other Test side. Was there added motivation?
When I first came to this country there were folks who felt I was coming from a hotter climate so I wouldn’t adapt to English conditions. They thought I wasn’t going to do well because of my style of play – of hitting across the line. I didn’t call it hitting across the line. I felt it was inventive. If you stay to the basics – hitting the ball in the V – it would be a rather boring game. I felt I was an artist. If I hit a fielder I wasn’t doing my job well enough. It was all about avoiding fieldsmen and scoring runs. No one was going to put me off my plan.I could have hit the ball through the off side as well as any. I know that. It was my choice when to and when not to. So I wanted to prove these guys wrong, prove that I am a soldier where the bat is concerned. Wherever the fight is, I’m going to be fighting. I didn’t want to be rude to anyone, but anyone who is rude to me, then I was going to be rude in the right way: my bat was going to tell the story. You had guys who didn’t believe in the black man. If you feel you are superior to me, then you should be knocking me over every goddamn time. There were a few ass***** out there. All these factors were a motivation for how my innings would go.Perhaps Tony Greig’s promise in 1976 that the West Indies would “grovel” helped too?
I’m not into the talk stuff. You have guys who talk a lot but cannot deliver. Tony was talking himself and England into believing what they could do. Maybe he took the wrong route. I’d played against Tony a few times and didn’t see anything that was extra special, apart from the lip he had at the time. I felt he was a guy who knew he didn’t have any trump cards and was bluffing.Did anyone dislike your famous leisurely walk to the crease?
There were crowds who wanted to test me, especially in a hostile environment like Yorkshire. “Hurry up!” they’d say. That’s why, when you look at the records and see Vivian Richards’ record against Yorkshire, I think I could be high up where averages and runs are concerned. Sometimes you get crowds who give you that opportunity to hate everyone. My beef was with them. And it was the guys who were representing them on the field who were going to suffer. That was a simple, plain fact.

Wherever the fight is, I’m going to be fighting. I didn’t want to be rude to anyone but anyone who is rude to me, then I was going to be rude in the right way: my bat was going to tell the story. You had guys who didn’t believe in the black man

What about bowlers who confronted you?
I love a guy who is up in my face. I didn’t like it when a guy would beat my bat and just smile. I wanted him to say something, to give me something to fuel my emotions. Guys used to tell me to eff off when I was out. I enjoyed that. I wanted to come back every time. I thought, “Have your day. You knock me over, it takes only a couple of seconds to walk off, but I tell you, I back myself enough to know that so long as I’m batting you are going to see my face for a long time and it’s going to hurt. Big time.”What are your memories of Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket?
It was the hardest cricket I played in my life and I loved it. There were no prizes for coming second. That period had the best fast bowlers in the world. Everyone had somebody. I got a few centuries and I think it’s unfair that they are not officially recognised. There was no cricket like that. I hope that the establishment look back and provide some sort of clemency.What was it like scoring a hundred in 1981 in the first Test to be played in Antigua, where you were born?
My game was all about emotion. There must be something on the line – then Viv Richards is at his very best. Some people are weak in situations like that; they need a second chance. But sometimes there is no second chance. This was a great opportunity to prove myself. A Test in Antigua – wow! We in the Caribbean are pretty hard to convince. The people had listened to John Arlott and heard I was okay, but they wanted to see for themselves. The whole persona of that innings was about how I felt and what I wanted to achieve. You dream of these things: scoring a Test hundred in front of the folks you grew up with.How did captaincy suit you?
I didn’t quite have the numbers as captain. In those days we didn’t have all these coaches; the captain and manager were responsible for keeping everyone fit and arranging practice. With captaincy you tend to ignore yourself a little. I didn’t do enough work on my batting because I had to channel my energies into the team. Captaincy slowed me down and put my thinking cap on, but it also took away what I contributed as a player – like being in the field, running around and picking the ball up. I loved my fielding. As captain I had to be a bit closer to the activity and I missed being in the outfield. I was pretty handy out there as well.What is your greatest achievement as a cricketer?
I don’t look solely at what I achieved. I look at what the Caribbean and the other guys achieved in showing what teamwork can do. We all think so differently in the various parts of the Caribbean. We each have our different spices, we boast about them and other things because we are from another country and we represent that country. Being able to be in the same team as all these guys, to know the differences between us but still fulfill your goals – that to me was the greatest achievement. On a personal note, I didn’t wrap myself up in cotton wool – with a helmet, a chest guard, an elbow guard – I did it the way men should and I’m proud of that. When the helmet came into play it helped a lot of careers. Batsmen felt they had this suit of armour on. Guys who could never hook a ball in their lives suddenly felt they could do it. That’s when you started getting more injuries.Do you have any regrets about your career?
I may have regrets but I hate to lament them because it could have been much worse. Today I walk in the streets and people remember me for my style of play. I’d like to be playing today. That’s the only thing I’d love to change. If I was playing today, I would have been seriously rewarded for what I feel I would have given to the game.

As batsman, Taylor was safe as houses; as captain, he was an adventurer

Sharda Ugra17-Oct-2010Grace, flourish and a love of fireworks were the reasons Kim Hughes was my chosen one. He batted beautifully and behaved impeccably – even when beaten, which used to happen rather a lot with Australia then. So what if he was the subject of public meltdown when he quit the captaincy mid-series? Clearly this was also a very sensitive guy – even better. But then Hughes blew it, agreeing to lead a rebel tour to South Africa. Nelson Mandela was still in jail then and we Indians took rebel tours very personally.With Hughes gone, you couldn’t turn to the Indian team and pick a favourite from among them because it was always all of them – together in the breach. As long as they just , anyone could play hero. You would gladly line up and worship.Exactly when Mark Taylor broke into this personal citadel of flamboyance and nationalism is tough to tell. But he’s there – entrenched, like at the crease, probably chewing gum, like at slip. He wasn’t stylish nor was he Indian. So how did he slip past the guards?One season at a time, the unobtrusive way. Clearly more than the sum of his runs or the manner of his run-making, Taylor was a cricketer who could be both old-fashioned and new-fangled, belong to yesterday as much as tomorrow. A Test opener from an ancient mould, his vision and instinct came from a sharp, shiny toolbox. Taylor the batsman was a creature of unrelenting reliability, a frontman who did the dirty work so that the sons of Errol Flynn who followed had something to showboat on. Taylor the captain was an adventurous frontiersman who would have given Flynn a headache from keeping up with the twists and turns he engineered in the plot of a day’s play. It was an intriguing combination, like discovering that the insurance agent next door is also world limbo-dancing champion.Today’s Aussies, skilled in the art of Waugh, and even Sun Tzu, preach to us the modern gospel of victory built on their pursuit of 300 runs a day, but it was an idea patented in the Taylor era. If Border stopped Australia from losing, Taylor taught them how to win. There was none of the trendy rubbish about mental disintegration either – Taylor never had a problem reining in his team, which included some who went on to become the Inflammables. Yet no one mistook his civility for weakness. Taylor’s toughness was not a string of profanities but a state of mind. Off a cricket field, it’s not a bad way to be either.Before India was nominated the Final Frontier, there was only one forbidden kingdom – the West Indies. It was Taylor who led the first raiding party in 1995. He was minus his two opening bowlers, Craig McDermott and Damien Fleming, but orchestrated West Indies’ first home series defeat in 22 years through the wicket-taking of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, (until then only a raw first-change), Paul Reiffel and Brendon Julian. The sheer daring of it.In a business dominated by large, fragile egos and feet of clay, Taylor was Everyman. He didn’t preen, gloat or, praise the Lord, sermonise, and even responded to the nickname Tubby. He was a very square left-hander with a huge appetite for runs and, evidently, good dinners. A decent, ordinary fellow but, and that was the magic, someone who made the extraordinary happen. Not so common after all.In the 18 months and 21 innings between 1995 and 1997 that he didn’t score a Test fifty, Taylor didn’t miss a trick on the field. He won every series in that time, other than the one-off Test in New Delhi. Arriving in England for the 1997 Ashes tour, he was greeted by Heathrow immigration: “Mark Taylor, the captain… ah, but for how long?” An English tabloid wanted him to pose with a bat that was a metre wide. He refused. Yet he turned up match after match, to answer the inevitable questions about his form. Of course he was only being polite (an entry in his captain’s diary of the time went, “Have to face the press now. Time to put on my smiley face again.”) but did such a good job of it that after his final press conference of the tour, one reporter stood up and made a formal speech in appreciation of Taylor’s conduct.The trademark Taylor move of that series – a favourite piece of quiet heroism – came in the third Test. Down 0-1, still rusty despite a first-Test hundred, Taylor won the toss and had to choose: should he go with conventional wisdom, put England in on a damp Old Trafford wicket, and as opener give himself the chance to bat when conditions were better? Or should he face the unfriendly and unpleasant in order to give Shane Warne a chance to hustle England in the fourth innings? Taylor picked the tougher option and scored 2 and 1. But Australia won that Test and the next two and retained the Ashes. The captain struggled on, making only one fifty in the series after that.So when he declared on 334 in Peshawar, eager to pursue any chance of his team’s victory, and content to sit alongside Don Bradman rather than chase Brian Lara, it wasn’t a moment of revelation or the great big exclamation point. It was reaffirmation, QED, full stop. Taylor, cricketer and captain, was always an honourable man. He wasn’t named Mark Anthony for nothing.