Mitchell Johnson was prematurely washed up, written off, a has-been. Then he turned it all around and rocked the world

Jarrod Kimber18-Nov-2015From the outside it would have looked like any other plumbing van.It was being driven by a bloke who had lost his state cricket contract. He was once a kid who could bowl seriously fast, but his body was not a weapon – rather, a wasteland of stress fractures. His boss, also his coach, Brett Mortimer, had given him the job as driver.Mortimer knew there was something special there. Had the bloke disappeared right then, he might not have even been a what-if. When he crashed his van into a team-mate’s, there was no reason for it to make the papers. He was no one; probably one bad week, one niggly injury, from packing up his life and travelling back up the coast and living out his life in obscurity. But Mortimer saw him every day in the nets. And he didn’t need Dennis Lillee to tell him this was a serious bowler. Mortimer had played cricket for years and he’d never seen anything quite like this.Mortimer had one last crack. With Brendan Nash away on state duty, Northern Suburbs had a space open at the top of the order. So the bloke was thrown up the order to have some fun, instead of being depressed that he couldn’t bowl. He scored well, and while it was never a science, it wasn’t the first time in his life that runs led to wickets. But really, it was about belief with him. It always would be.No one would have seen that plumbing van and believed there were 310 Test wickets in there. Not even the bloke driving it.

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A few years earlier others didn’t believe the speed gun. They looked at it again. There must be something wrong. The speed gun was part of a plan by Queensland to find a real quick. But this quick? Surely not. This 17-year-old kid, wearing his father’s golf spikes, was bowling quicker than the entire Queensland squad. That can’t be right.Wicketkeeper Chris Hartley was standing 25 metres back in a Queensland Under-19 game. Ed Cowan was facing. Hartley was taking the ball above his head. Hartley and Cowan were sharing glances. This can’t be right.Dennis Lillee saw this kid in the nets. The kid was already thinking about joining the army to “shoot guns and get fit”. But then Lillee saw this kid bowl and said he was a “once-in-nine-lives player”. This can’t be right.After Mortimer pulled the plug on Mitchell Johnson’s bad mood, Johnson only took a couple of years to play for Australia. The white ball seemed to love him. It exploded off the pitch and into the gloves of keeper or batsman. You couldn’t watch Johnson bowl at that point and not feel the excitement.For whatever reason, the red ball didn’t get the hype. Even in Shield cricket, Johnson and the red ball hadn’t got along. Two five-wicket hauls, never more than 29 wickets in a season. But the white-ball work, and hell, just the look of him, it was electric. You didn’t need data analysis, biomechanists and speed guns, you just needed eyes.

The pressure and failure was all around him. Johnson couldn’t be what Australia wanted, and worse, he looked like he didn’t even know how to ever do it

Johnson was now also dedicated to cricket. There was no need to drag or convince him. He wanted it. Bad enough that he even travelled to the MRF pace academy in Chennai to work with Lillee. But his numbers didn’t improve.His early Tests involved wickets from right-handers who chased wide balls. They had to chase them, because otherwise they’d spend hours waiting for one at them. His arm seemed to get lower almost every innings, until he was bowling fast, almost accidental, offcutters. When the batsmen didn’t chase the wide ones, he just let off pressure for whoever was at the other end. After 13 Tests he was averaging 34 with the ball.Just when the excitement was fading he found a green pitch, against New Zealand, and their tail still shudders about it.Two Tests later he was up against South Africa on a sluggish wicket (by WACA standards). AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis had the score at 234 for 3; both had half-centuries. Johnson had a ball that was 70 overs old, with no reserve swing, but just his fast, and slightly more accurate, cutters. In 21 balls he took out five batsmen. He ended with 8 for 61. It was a goddamn Curtly Ambrose spell.In South Africa for the following series he did something he hadn’t done for 20 Tests. He swung a ball perfectly. Hashim Amla could only stutter and lose balance as Johnson struck his pad. Immediately it became the thing his team, and the cricket world at large, fixated on. You could hear people whisper around the world, “No, it can’t be, but maybe it is, a Wasim Akram incarnate”.In the next Test he made a hundred. Australia were always going to lose. But the way Johnson did it, with such long, fluid hitting, the ball just seemed to want to be smashed over mid-on. Parts of Paul Harris are still left in Cape Town after one over. Johnson’s hundred took 86 balls. In the series he was the leading wicket-taker and Australia’s third-highest scorer. Australia were fighting for the Test crown, and Mitchell Johnson Bothamed South Africa out of the series.Johnson had almost crushed Graeme Smith’s hand. He’d discovered swing. Terrorised New Zealand. Defeated South Africa. He was the biggest, baddest damn thing in Australian cricket. No one needed Dennis Lillee to tell them how special he was.And he hadn’t even played a Test against England.At Lord’s in 2009, Johnson was out of answers•Getty ImagesYou can smash all the other nations you want. Antagonise India. Destroy West Indies. End Bangladesh. But Australian and English players get their legend status from being great in the Ashes.That was what Johnson was supposed to do in the 2009 Ashes. He was to lead the attack, continue England’s misery, and confirm he was the legend Australian cricket demanded he be.By the end of the series, none of those things happened.Johnson couldn’t bowl England out in Cardiff. Johnson couldn’t stop stories started by his mother. Johnson completely lost the plot at Lord’s. Johnson lost control of the attack. Johnson all but lost his spot in the team. And Johnson couldn’t win the Ashes.By the time the 2010-11 Ashes came around he was an okay performer in an okay team. The beast that would become a legend was a distant memory. There were good matches, there were bad matches, this was just a cricketer doing his job.The Gabba Test was a chance to do something special. Johnson took no wickets, made no runs, and dropped a catch. For the next Test he was either dropped, in his words, or rested, in those of Cricket Australia.There was a moment during the next Test when Johnson was in the Adelaide nets as England smashed his team on the field. During his session, a ball got wedged into the top corner of the nets. Johnson spent the best part of ten minutes trying to get this ball dislodged. He threw balls at it, he shook the net, he tried to climb up, he used a bat, but nothing would do it. He was supposed to be looking to rekindle his magic, and instead he was doing the job of the support staff. And he couldn’t even do that right.There must have been a part of him that thought he was an impostor. Even at his best, destroying South Africa with bat and ball, it was as if Johnson never believed in himself as much as everyone else did.Impostor syndrome can hit anyone. Every single person in the world can tell you how good you are, they can praise you, they can idolise you, but some people can’t process it. Can’t accept it. Keep waiting to be found out. Think their success was all luck.

These weren’t spells of bowling, these were physical experiences. There ain’t no TV that could do it justice. You had to be in it, feel it, live it, survive it, smell it

They say it comes from childhood, that sensitive children who are overlooked and then become successful never truly accept it. That even when they win, it all feels like it is a mistake and no one must find out. That the pressure to not be found out almost becomes the problem. They start to believe that because they had no control over their success, they have no way of finding it again.Not that Johnson wasn’t trying to find it. Whether in the nets, or much more noticeably, out on the ground, Johnson was in a near-constant state of trying to fix his bowling. This didn’t look like a Test bowler who had led his nation. It looked like a teenager hoping that something would fix him. It was far more common to see him trying to fix his action on the walk back to the mark than it was seeing him terrorise batsmen.The Amla inswinger pressure had never gone away. Being the guy who led an unsuccessful Ashes attack was part of what defined him. Now he had been dropped, one Test into his next Ashes. The pressure and failure was all around him. Johnson couldn’t be what Australia wanted, and worse, he looked like he didn’t even know how to ever do it.The call was made to Dennis Lillee. Johnson had already spent the week working with his bowling coach, Troy Cooley. He had already watched his spell from 2008 against South Africa to psyche himself up. Now the big gun was needed. Lillee would come and see Johnson in the nets the day before the WACA Test. Lillee wasn’t even sure what he could do for Johnson, so he told Johnson how great he could be.At the WACA, Johnson was great. His pace was great, his swing was great, and even his batting was great. Sixty-three runs, nine wickets and one Man-of-the-Match award.But in the press conference he seemed to shrug and suggest the ball swung a bit luckily. The next Test was Boxing Day, and the luck wasn’t there.The MCG gets into full voice like other stadiums dream of. That sort of guttural, communal, sweaty chorus of echoes. It’s the middle-aged man whose life has never been what he wanted it to be, bellowing at the moon while half cut. They had done it for Lillee. They had chanted his name, turning him from a cricketer into a beam of pure light.Johnson stirred strong emotions in fans, whether it was despair and mockery or joy and love•Getty ImagesFor Johnson the accent of the chants changed. He wasn’t the alpha and omega but the punchline. In his own country, he was a musical joke, a wreck. Even in cricket’s biggest ground there was nowhere to hide. It was overcast during that Test, but the clouds over Johnson seemed the darkest.After Perth, Johnson only got two massive English innings to bowl in – 2 for 134 and 4 for 168. He had played more than half the Tests he would ever play, and he was still no closer to finding out how to get the best out of himself. He was still bowling to the left. He was still bowling to the right. And now their chanting kept him up at night.The mental problems weren’t all of it. People can claim it is the all-round skill, the sling action, or even the left arm that makes Johnson exciting, but it’s the pace. That raw, uncontrolled pace that makes the best in their game look slow. That makes tailenders cry. That makes commentators scream. Fans jump. That pace.That pace was going. There was the odd spell, but mostly he was a fast-medium bowler with questionable control who didn’t seam or swing it. It was at its worst when he played against South Africa in Johannesburg. Johnson seemed to fall into medium pace. Slower than he had been as a teenager using his dad’s golf spikes. At the other end Australia had found their newest pace bowler, Pat Cummins. Josh Hazlewood and James Pattinson were around as well.Johnson was battling injury, form and belief.In almost three years since the last Ashes in Australia he’d managed nine Tests. His body and mind weren’t right.This time he couldn’t go to the army and shoot guns. He couldn’t move back to Townsville. He couldn’t drive a plumbing van. He was Mitchell Johnson, and for all the baggage that came with, it also came with something pretty damn special. And Johnson fought for that.

Johnson had almost crushed Graeme Smith’s hand. He’d discovered swing. Terrorised New Zealand. Defeated South Africa. He was the biggest, baddest damn thing in Australian cricket. No one needed Dennis Lillee to tell them how special he was

With a stable home life as a new father, a chance encounter with an SAS vet and a career-affirming net session with Lillee and John Inverarity, Johnson started to get himself right. All those people played a part, but it would have meant nothing if he didn’t put in the effort. For the first time, he believed.The first people to see this were the IPL folk. Then a few teams got glimpses in ODIs. People, Sachin Tendulkar included, started to talk Johnson up again. And, for perhaps the first time ever, so did Johnson. His words didn’t sound hopeful, like they had done earlier in his career. They sounded like a threat, like premonition. As if he saw the summer of Mitchell Johnson before us.At the Gabba, Johnson started with the new ball. A full toss down the leg side. More full tosses followed. More balls down the leg as well. After three overs of the 2013-14 Ashes, Johnson had been dragged from the attack. There were times when that would have been enough. It wasn’t.Second spell: Jonathan Trott faced Johnson. First ball, he hit him. He glared. Johnson had never had a good glare. No matter how old he was, he always looked young, fresh-faced, like a boy playing tough. The tattoos didn’t make him tough, nothing did. But this was different. Even without the charity moustache, just looking at his eyes, there was something going on in them. This wasn’t an empty glare. Trott and England felt it. So did every single person at the ground. Every single person at every single ground that summer.Mitchell Johnson believed. Oh, didn’t we get to see what that meant. All that frustration, all those flirtations, all those false starts, all those injuries, all those chants, all those headlines, all those punchlines, all those days that he felt like a fraud, a lucky bastard, an impostor, they came out of his hand like the devil himself.There is no way to properly explain what it felt like to see Johnson in full flight in his summer. You can talk about the noises, the fact that for every ball in that Test and the seven that followed, it felt like he was on a hat-trick. About the blood- and stump-lust that took control of you. That at times he looked like he was actually in flight, like some fighter jet roaring through the crease. That in Melbourne the entire ground, the entire city, shook for him like it had for his mentor. That in Adelaide he was one ball away from destroying the entire Adelaide renovations. In Sydney the fear, the excitement, that desperation to see his every ball was still there, still so strong. People were rushing to have grandchildren just to tell them about it. You could feel the pain of England like every wicket was being tattooed on your body. No one dared blink when he had the ball. Smartphones were in airplane mode. Fun times were on pause.None of that gets it across, the fear, the danger, the pace, the excitement, the carnage. The everything. It was a roller coaster through hell. Like his hands were made of dynamite, like the world had found a new demon soundtracked by an endless death- metal musical.No, this still isn’t doing it. These weren’t spells of bowling, these were physical experiences. There ain’t no TV that could do it justice, you had to be in it, feel it, live it, survive it, smell it. You weren’t watching it, you were part of it, some great big throbbing muscle thrusting him through the sound barrier. No, still not right.Anarchy in Adelaide: you had to be there to believe Johnson’s pace and fury•Getty ImagesSorry, it can’t be fully explained. You weren’t there, man.It was a once-in-nine-lives summer. Dennis Lillee was right.And unlike the best of Australian summers, it didn’t end in Australia, it kept going. When Johnson destroyed England, a meme started online. It was a picture of Dale Steyn, pointing down the lens, and the writing said, “You beat the Poms 5-0. How cute.” Steyn had held the title of world’s best bowler for so long it had barely been a decent conversation starter for half a decade.The old Johnson might have overthought it. Worried about it. This Johnson just bowled. At South Africa, through South Africa.Hashim Amla almost lost his head. Ryan McLaren his consciousness, Graeme Smith lost his career. Steyn threw everything he had back at Johnson, but even Steyn, the greatest bowler of his generation, had to sit back and watch as another man shook up the world.When the summer of Mitchell Johnson was over, so were England as a team, South Africa as the undisputed champions. This broken-down non-believer hadn’t just reached out and touched the sun, he had grabbed it and bounced someone with it.

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Stuart Broad saw something. Perhaps he just didn’t want to look at Johnson. Not square in the eyes, at least. He pointed to a shiny bolt and turned a ravenous crowd into a screaming beast.Johnson was already in his dream over with two earlier wickets. He had already bowled his dream ball to Cook the night before. He had already played his dream Test the match before.Broad wasn’t delaying a ball, he was delaying inevitability. Certainty.Johnson delivered a fast ball on leg stump. There were days, whole seasons, perhaps even whole years, when the same ball would have been flicked to the boundary. Broad would have fidgeted with his gear while Johnson put his hands to his head.Now England believed every ball would be a wicket, and so did Johnson, so did everyone.Broad hopped away from the ball, Broad’s leg stump hopped too.Mitchell Johnson ran frantically down the pitch. Like he was in the world’s greatest dream.No one watching this spell could actually believe he was doing this. Let alone the bloke bowling it. He couldn’t believe how easy it had become.

ESPNcricinfo looks at five factors, which sparked Tamil Nadu’s turnaround in the Vijay Hazare Trophy after an early exit from the Ranji Trophy

Deivarayan Muthu25-Dec-2015After facing the ignominy of their lowest aggregate in first-class history and suffering an early exit in the Ranji Trophy, Tamil Nadu’s players watched their state submerge in the floods. United by crisis, many players had set out to provide relief to help repair the damage. Later, buoyed by the return of R Ashwin and M Vijay, the Tamil Nadu team got together to repair their domestic season, and secure a semi-final spot in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. ESPNcricinfo looks at five factors, which sparked the side’s turnaround.Ashwin’s captaincy
Just two days after wrapping up India’s 3-0 win over South Africa in Delhi, Ashwin was back to train with Tamil Nadu. He lifted the team, “fired the boys up”, and laid the template for an attack-first approach. Ashwin’s captaincy was proactive: he used funky fields, rotated the attack, and kept chatting with the younger bowlers.After Tamil Nadu edged Uttar Pradesh by one wicket in the quarter-final, Ashwin said that captaincy has worked out well for him, something coach M Sanjay fully endorsed. “Ashwin is a fantastic, thinking captain. He fired the boys up ahead of the tournament and we did not want to hold back. We wanted to play aggressive cricket which has not been seen in Tamil Nadu in the past few years,” Sanjay told ESPNcricinfo. “L Balaji was pushed to [No. 5 in the quarter-final], it did not work. But mostly it has worked well overall. Ashwin thinks out of the box, and we want to keep the opposition guessing.”Batting revamp
Tamil Nadu also welcomed back the experience of the country’s first-choice Test opener Vijay. But, he was not sent to open. Instead, he was slotted in the middle order, while Dinesh Karthik was hiked to the top to partner Abhinav Mukund. Karthik was sprightly behind and in front of the stumps, forming a solid union with Mukund.Vijay settled into his new role in the middle order and accumulated 266 runs in six matches at an average of 44.33. He was also tasked with the responsibility of marshalling the Baba twins and Vijay Shankar in the middle order. The effect of the batting revamp was on ample display when Tamil Nadu whipped up 384 against Rajasthan, surging to a 252-run win, their biggest in List A cricket.Pace-bowling bite
For a side that has thrived on spin for years, are Tamil Nadu even allowed to have pace-bowling bite? Ashwin has been the side’s leading wicket-taker, Rahil Shah produced a six-wicket haul, but it was M Mohammed, from small town Dindigul, who gave the attack a new dimension. A skiddy bowler, who can find some extra bounce, Mohammed conceded close to six runs an over but bowled with good pace until a knee injury ended his tournament before the knockouts. He had claimed ten scalps in four matches, highlighted by his maiden List A five-for, against Services.Tamil Nadu’s bowling-coach-cum-player Balaji, who had been wrapped in cotton wool for the Ranji Trophy, returned and tutored the inexperienced seamers even on the field. “Balaji has been working with the bowlers throughout the season; his role is to develop the next generation of fast bowlers in Tamil Nadu. He has played internationals and is a wily old fox,” Sanjay said.All-round options
R Sathish, Vijay Shankar, J Kousik have all pitched in with handy contributions with the bat, ball, and even on the field. Shankar had to be helped off the field due to a troubled hamstring sustained while batting, in Tamil Nadu’s first match against Assam, but he came back to bowl tight wicket-to-wicket lines, sometimes with a newish ball.Sathish, however, has been the pick of the allrounders, helping Tamil Nadu seal their semi-final berth with a cool head. He first tied down UP with his cutters and wobbly seam bowling in an unbroken spell of ten overs for only 14 runs. He then finished the game on a tricky pitch with an unbeaten 34, which eventually proved the difference between Tamil Nadu and UP. Ashwin too has been amongst the runs, which bodes well for Tamil Nadu going into the business end of the tournament. B Aparajith coming into his own
In side with plenty of strokemakers, Tamil Nadu looked out for a failsafe. They looked out for B Aparajith, who had failed to push on after starts in the Ranji Trophy, to come into his own. Aparajith answered the call, striking three fifties and one century in six matches to tally 383 runs, only 11 behind Mandeep Singh, the tournament’s highest run-scorer.

The young strokemaker has the temperament to become a top-order mainstay as Bangladesh look to improve on their success of last year

Mohammad Isam05-Jan-2016Soumya Sarkar radiates a sense of calm you don’t often see in modern Bangladeshi cricketers. When he stands tall and clips the ball over midwicket’s head, or powerfully pulls the ball, or especially when he half-leans into his cover drive, there’s a detached air about him.Off the field when you are with Mashrafe Mortaza or Nasir Hossain, it’s laugh-a-minute, with anecdotes and jokes, sometimes at their own expense. Shakib Al Hasan is outwardly shy though he often comes across as aloof. Mahmudullah is poker-faced, Tamim Iqbal is passionate, Mushfiqur Rahim is all business, and Mustafizur Rahman doesn’t speak much in front of the camera but can be chatty in a comfortable environment.Sarkar mostly keeps to himself and slips into the dressing room without much small talk. He has been this way since he was first picked in the Bangladesh squad in 2013. The runs, the recognition and the new life haven’t affected him, at least from what he allows people to see of him.He started 2015 as Bangladesh’s No. 3 in ODIs before being asked to open the innings with Tamim. He did well in both positions, working well with Tamim in the World Cup.Sarkar made 672 runs in 15 ODIs in the year, with the highest average in his team. He also has the best average in a calendar year for a Bangladeshi batsman who has made at least 500 runs in that year. He has given Bangladesh a fresh perspective in the top order and become a batsman who is reliable while still turning heads.Sarkar on coach Hathurusingha: “He doesn’t try to influence any changes in my batting. He always gives us the freedom. A batsman batting with freedom has more chance to do well”•AFPBangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said he first saw Sarkar when he took a catch at slip. So soft was his grasp that it was hard to ignore his ball sense. During the World Cup, Indian spinner R Ashwin tweeted praise for Sarkar’s batting.

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I met Sarkar in Mirpur during the BPL. He had just completed training for a couple of hours at the indoor nets and walked to the Academy ground, where some of his Rangpur Riders team-mates were practising. He talked to a TV reporter for a few minutes on camera and then headed to the Academy building for a late lunch.As we walked, some fans saw him and screamed. “Shommu” and “Shommo” they yelled at him. He looked up for a second to wave, then asked me a second time if I would like to join him for lunch before heading to the dining room.When he returned, he took me through the year he had had, candidly talking about how it was not just challenging but also taught him a few important lessons about style and substance.”Most of my innings in international cricket haven’t really been in very difficult situations,” Sarkar said. “I think the one against New Zealand [in the World Cup] was on a very good wicket. I needed to survive and there were matches when I made 30-40 quickly and got out. If I had batted according to the situation, it would have helped the team and I would have scored more runs. It is not always important to bat in my own style. Batting according to the team’s needs is a bigger matter.”I had a good year. I started my international career against Zimbabwe and the year ended with Zimbabwe, but I couldn’t play against them [in November] due to injury. It would have been a better end of the year had I played in the Zimbabwe series.””I rate that 50 against New Zealand quite highly. In that game, I made runs through some tough moments”•Getty ImagesAfter making his international debut in December 2014, Sarkar had an outside chance of making it to the 2015 World Cup squad. Hathurusingha, who spent considerable time with Sarkar in the nets, was certainly going to push his case.On the day of the announcement, as the coach and captain, Mortaza, discussed the squad with the selectors in the board president’s room at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, down on the ground Sarkar made a sparkling 97 for his club in the Dhaka Premier League.”I would thank Prime Bank for letting me and the other players express ourselves better. Before I took the field, everyone kept saying that the World Cup team will be announced today. When I reached 50, someone said that you did well on the day the team is being announced. We were playing against Abahani and I made 97. There was some regret [about missing the hundred] but it was gone when I got the call-up.”The World Cup is always a tough assignment, but for Bangladesh’s players it was doubly so since they were to play in two countries they hadn’t toured much before. And now everyone was saying that Afghanistan, their opponents in their first game, were their bogey team.Sarkar’s 25-ball 28 in Canberra breathed life into a poor start after which Shakib and Mushfiqur blasted away and put up a big enough total to keep them Afghanistan at bay.”To be honest, I didn’t really feel like I was playing in such a big tournament at that time,” Sarkar said. “If there were any nerves, they were gone after I played the first ball. The Bangladeshi crowd on that day in Canberra really helped. It made us feel that we were playing a home game.”Sarkar mixes in unorthodox laps and ramps with his attractive drives and cuts•AFPHis 40 and 51 against England and New Zealand respectively were more meaningful contributions.”I rate that 50 against New Zealand quite highly. The wicket was tough, the match situation was different – and the bowling attack. In that game, I made runs through some tough moments.”After the World Cup, Sarkar played Pakistan at home and was frustrated by two low scores before he realised he was facing a hump after spending about 20 minutes at the crease. Once he went past that mark in the third ODI, he belted the bowling for an unbeaten 127. Some of his drives looked to be simply flowing out of his body, since he doesn’t rely on footwork while playing the shot.Sarkar, now less focused on how he bats than how he scores runs, said he slowed down when approaching his fifty but got sound advice from batting partners Tamim and Mushfiqur along the way. When he drop-kicked one to the leg side off Umar Gul, you could see Tamim’s big smile through his helmet. Mushfiqur clapped with glee when Sarkar reached his hundred with a six.”The innings was memorable. I didn’t think I could end the innings with the same rhythm I started. When I reached 50, I felt I should stay at the crease for longer. When I made 75, I told myself I have to stay not out. I batted with that in mind.”Everyone supports me a lot. They tell me when I make a mistake. It helps my batting a lot that they instantly tell me what I did wrong. I think it is a big deal. Maybe when I become a senior player nobody will tell me these things. I think it helps me a lot now.””Everyone supports me a lot. They tell me when I make a mistake. It helps my batting a lot that they instantly tell me what I did wrong”•Getty ImagesSarkar made his T20 and Test debuts within the following week. He rode out a tough final session on the fifth day with Shakib as Bangladesh drew the first Test against Pakistan in Khulna.Against South Africa, Sarkar had three low scores before his 88 not out and 90 played a big part in Bangladesh’s first one-day series win over them. His periscope shot over the wicketkeeper’s head and the powerful hit over long-on were novelties among his drives, pulls and cuts.”South Africa had the best bowling line-up among the three teams we faced at home,” Sarkar says. “I would rate them ahead in all aspects. Of course, India and Pakistan had bowling attacks with variety. I rate the innings in the second ODI [against South Africa] ahead of the third game. I hadn’t done well in the previous game. I needed the confidence boost to make a comeback against that bowling attack.”The hit over long-on, off Morne Morkel, was as much a shot of authority as Tamim’s similar stroke off Zaheer Khan in the 2007 World Cup.”So far it is natural [the charge over long-on],” Sarkar explains. “I am not committed to that shot. I think it is quite good when I am batting in flow, which doesn’t stay the same at all times. But it is important to enjoy when I am batting. I want to be the sort of batsman who plans well against all types of opponents.”Sarkar acknowledges the support he has received from Hathurusingha in improving his batting. “He has always supported me fully. He doesn’t try to influence any changes in my batting. He is strict in all ways, especially about the game. He always gives us the freedom, which, I personally feel, is a good concept. A batsman batting with freedom, playing his own shots, has more chance to do well.”Sarkar’s first steps towards international cricket were through the familiar route of the BKSP (Bangladesh Krira Shikhha Protisthan). “I was inspired by my older brother, Pushpen. I used to go to the ground with him, learned pretty much everything from him before I went to BKSP,” Sarkar said. “The biggest moment of pride for me was when both my brothers were with me when I was called up to the Bangladesh team for the World Cup. They had come to see me play. I really felt proud of that moment.”Sarkar has begun his international career with a reasonable amount of success, but hardships and disappointments certainly lie in wait. And while he seems unaffected by success, the next 12 months will indicate how quickly he can turn his good start into a long international career.

Wicketkeeper Sam Billings talks about hair care, his golf handicap, and his biggest six

Interview by Jack Wilson07-Jan-2016If a catch went up for England to win the World Cup, who would you want to see under it?
A skier? That’s tough. I’m going to say anyone. We’re a seriously good fielding side and I’d back any of the lads to take it.Who has the best hair in cricket?
() Me!And how long do you spend on it?
Let’s just say it gets some good preparation time.The England squad are on the start line of a 100-metre race. Who wins?
Chris Jordan.Which of your team-mates has the worst habits?
Fabian Cowdrey at Kent. His personal hygiene and general eating habits are horrendous.Who in the England team is the best golfer?
All the lads will say me because I’ve got the lowest handicap. I’m off eight. But [Alex] Hales, [Jos] Buttler and Jason Roy are absolute bandits off 12. I don’t think I’ve won yet!Who is the worst?
Reece Topley. He’s not that great – and not that interested!Who has the strongest arm in cricket?
Ben Stokes.What is the biggest six you have hit?
I hit Danny Briggs into the top tier of the Frank Woolley Stand in a T20 at Canterbury. It’s the biggest hit of my life.Billings (second from left) and his team-mates celebrate England’s ODI series win over New Zealand in June•Getty ImagesHow old were you when you first made a century?
I was 12.Who is the worst sledger in cricket?
Matthew Coles. Some of the things he says aren’t too well thought through.Who is the most naturally talented player you have ever shared a dressing room with?
Jos Buttler is unreal.Describe yourself in four words.
Posh has to be one. Then I’ll go with driven and good fun.What is your favourite shot?
That’s a tough one. I’ll go with either the paddle sweep or the reverse sweep.If you could be a professional at another sport, what would it be?
Football, golf or rugby. If I had to choose one, I’ll go with rugby.What did you do with your first England shirt?
It’s in the process of getting framed and I’m giving it to my parents.As a wicketkeeper, who hits the gloves the hardest?
Liam Plunkett.

Kamindu Mendis can bowl orthodox left-arm spin. He can bowl right-arm offspin as well. He is also a handy batsman. And his unique skills were on show against Pakistan in Mirpur

Vishal Dikshit in Mirpur03-Feb-2016On the first ball of the 18th over in Sri Lanka Under-19s’ chase against Pakistan Under-19s, in Mirpur, left-handed batsman Kamindu Mendis attempted a reverse sweep off left-arm spinner Ahmad Shafiq and it fetched him three runs. That was not the first time Mendis had switched hands or his stance or his style of playing – whether during the day or his career.When Pakistan were batting, Mendis was brought on to bowl in the 27th over with two right-handed batsmen in the middle and he started with some orthodox left-arm spin. After a run-out in that over, left-handed batsman Salman Fayyaz took strike. Mendis then switched to right-arm offspin.”I practice with both arms but I bowled with both arms [in a match] for the first time in Under-17 against St Joseph’s College two years ago,” Mendis said after the match. “I took four wickets in that match.”The junior Sri Lankan selectors first spotted him and his unique skill about a year ago in school cricket and held several trials before picking him for the home Youth ODIs against Pakistan last October. “He does it very well and he’s just 16 years,” junior selector Ranjan Paranavitana told ESPNcricinfo. “And he can bat at any position…it’s an added factor for Kamindu.”Mendis first started practicing with both arms in the nets at the age of around 13 when his coach Dhanushka Dhinagama came up with the idea. The plan was simple – turn the ball away from the batsman. And that’s what he did today too – left-arm orthodox against right-handed batsmen and right-arm offspin against left-handed batsmen.”When two left-handed batsmen are batting, we have to use two offspinners,” Paranavitana explained. “When Kamindu is bowling he can bowl to both kind of batsmen.”Mendis is also aware that he is not the first Sri Lankan to try it out. Hashan Tillakaratne, a part-time offspinner, had done so in the 1996 World Cup in a league match against Kenya. Defending 398, Sri Lanka had the match in the bag when Tillakaratne came on to bowl the last over of the innings and bowled left-arm orthodox spin and right-arm offspin. Even though Mendis was not even born then, he has played with Tillakaratne’s son who happens to be a chinaman bowler.Naturally a left-hander, Mendis is more of a classical spinner compared to the spinners of this age and era. Right arm or left arm, he flights the ball and often pitches it up to tempt batsmen to drive with a slip in place. In Sri Lanka’s 23-run loss to Pakistan, Mendis bowled only four overs without any success and conceded 21 runs.Mendis took to cricket because of his cricket-following father and represents Richmond College in Galle, like his captain Charith Asalanka. And the two recently made their List A debuts together for Galle Cricket Club. Mendis and Asalanka, in fact, have been playing together since the Under-13 level.Mendis is one of the youngest members of the squad and likes to call himself a batting allrounder. It was his batting that proved more handy on Wednesday when he hit 68 runs at No. 3, even as the rest of the batsmen did not provide substantial support. In a chase of 213, Mendis took his team closer to 150 with a patient knock, which lasted nearly two hours, before holing out to long-on. Sri Lanka then lost their last five wickets for 32 runs.”My idea was to play 50 overs but I played a poor shot and got out,” Mendis said. “So I think I should do less mistakes and do well in remaining matches.”The other young and promising allrounder in the team is Jehan Daniel, the only player younger than Mendis in the squad, and assistant coach Avishka Gunawardene said the idea to pick them early was to hone them for the next Under-19 World Cup.”That is the plan in our mind,” Gunawardene said. “In every Under-19 tour we are planning to have 16 or 17-year-old guys go on the tour so they can play for a couple of more years in Under-19 and take over when the senior guys go. That has been the plan in the system.”I think Sri Lanka’s school cricket structure is really good, it is one of the best in the world. That is the backbone of Sri Lankan cricket. So until they come out of school, they hardly play first-class cricket.”Mendis bats left-handed, can he bat right-handed too?”Can’t bat with both hands (laughs) but I can reverse sweep,” and he used quite a few of them after the 18th over too.

Our writer puts himself in the shoes of the India fans watching their team’s collapse against New Zealand

Jarrod Kimber15-Mar-20162:33

Chappell: India can’t complain about the pitch

This is very touching, Martin Guptill is crying while they honour his hero Martin Crowe.Then he is at the crease. R Ashwin is in front of him. With his 5 for 32 and 7 for 66 from the last Test here. We are screaming, chanting, pure noise. We have beaten the BCCI ticketing system, the trip out of town to the ground, the traffic, and the endless queues just to get into the ground. Guptill’s job is just to get out. That is all.But first ball he plants Ashwin over the fence. We are surprised, and we cheer, maybe just out of shock. This is our event though, so the first ball should be a six, even if we didn’t hit it. There was a rumour of games here earlier in the week, but this is the start, no?Guptill is out. Spin is already king. Colin Munro hits a six, then gets out too. This is awesome, maximum maximums and wickets everywhere. And now Williamson, ha, the Kane Williamson, he is almost, almost, as good as our boys, and he is gone.This is our party, our celebration, our moment, our tournament, our country, our everything. We are bossing it, smashing it, destroying it. New Zealand are performing their role of live chum to perfection.They can slow the game down if they want, they can consolidate, we will party. We don’t need fours and sixes to have a good time, India will make them, enough for both sides, on their way to inevitable victory.Of course the pitch was tough; India hadn’t batted on it. Sure it spun; India had bowled on it.Ashwin was just warming up, the bowling equivalent of cracking his knuckles. Ravi Jadeja was firing them at the pads for fun. Suresh Raina was inventing the run-and-bowled manoeuvre.Corey Anderson, one of the higher stocks on the IPL exchange, couldn’t hit the ball. Ross Taylor was confused. Mitchell Santner was just moving the ball around. Grant Elliott was struggling. Only Luke Ronchi looked good. Heck, New Zealand’s best over in the middle of their innings was from 10 extras. Even while New Zealand batted, India was outscoring them.The total wasn’t even that, it was an incomplete. It was an inadequate chase for our superstars, if anything it would mean fewer maximums would be hammered as the pitiful score was helicoptered out of Nagpur.There was no way India could lose. Not our India. Not at home. Not with this total. Not with all the face paint, the flags, the official replica jerseys, the knock-off replica jerseys, the noise and the passion. It was worth 100 runs on its own. We were doing our part, now our men, our stars, our legends, would collect their win and we would all bathe in the beautiful glow of a victory for our nation.Shikhar Dhawan would end this total. Rohit Sharma can make more than double this on his own. Suresh Raina would compete his all-round match-winning performance. Yuvraj Singh could get a quarter of the score in one over. Jadeja and his bag of triple centuries.Oh, Virat, he averaged like a million in T20 chases.Oh, Dhoni. MS. Mahi. Nuff said.I mean what is a Santner? An Ish Sodhi? And Brendon McCullum’s brother, come on, you are not being serious right now, come back later when you are serious. Trent Boult, gone. Tim Southee, gone. Adam, Milne, a back-up, Anderson, hardly threatening, Elliott, no, that is not an attack that can defend 126, not against anyone. Not against India. Not in India. Not against Dhoni.Shikhar is out, pfft, not a big deal, plenty more of that in the dugout. Rohit, ha, his nohit will not bother us today. Suresh and Yuvi, ok, ok, this is odd, but Virat, Dhoni, come on, who do you think are New Zealand, all you are doing is delaying our gratification, giving Dhoni a chance to just do what Dhoni does.Even without Virat. Even without Jadeja. Even without, wait, what, Ashwin. Why is Ashwin here? What is he doing out in the middle, is this a confusing joke, a huge prank, or is Dhoni trying to make this as hard as he can for himself. Is he waiting until he has to hit a six every ball, and then he will hit a six every ball, and he will tell us that we should always believe in him, and we will quickly pretend like we always did?When did New Zealand even find a whole three spinners, did they clone Daniel Vettori? This is just silly. How are these men we don’t know beating us at our game, in our country, in our tournament.A six, a Dhoni six. It hit the commentators. It is long and beautiful. He was rope-a-doping New Zealand. He was making them bowl out their spinners. He was leaving it until the last minute, the Dhoni minute. Aha, yes. This is it. Yes, our Dhoni, he will deliver us to glory.There is not enough time for man, but there is time for Dhoni.What is that moving at mid-on? It’s going so fast. It’s diving. It’s throwing the ball up. Why is Dhoni leaving? What 79? No. No. Please, no.We are leaving now. This is not what we came for. Now we want to cry.

How Tony Cozier won over the travelling members of a Hong Kong club

Adrian Lee12-May-2016I play for Craigengower Cricket Club (CCC) in Hong Kong, the second-oldest cricket club in the territory (established 1894). Every now and then, our club organises a tour to a foreign destination to have some fun, and play some cricket, in that order.In 2012, we decided to visit Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis. Going halfway across the globe was a challenge itself, but the cricketers at CCC have no fear!Every tour, we would produce a tour brochure that tells the story of CCC. As brochure editor, other than the normal “welcome messages”, I was looking for something distinctively Caribbean. A few legendary players came to my mind but I knew if I got Tony Cozier, I would get the whole region.One little difficulty, though: I did not know Tony and I did not have his contact. Despite the power of the internet, the only thing I could get was that he wrote for . And in true retro fashion, I sent him a snail mail and just hoped.A month before the tour, a pleasant surprise came through my email account and it was Tony. He apologised (which was unnecessary) for the delay, and attached was his generous contribution to our brochure. The article was beautiful in a sense that it is all genuine – not the kind of “thank you for coming, wish you enjoy it” standard stuff. For Tony to do that for someone he didn’t know was very moving.Tony Cozier’s write-up for the CCC tour brochure•Adrian Lee/Craigengower Cricket ClubOur tour group also had the pleasure of meeting Tony during the tour. It was at the 3 Ws Oval and we were playing the Wanderers Cricket Club, his club. He came late in the day to greet and chat with us. To have the pleasure of his company and talk cricket was splendid.He even went the extra mile. Our tour group was at the first day of the West Indies-Australia Test in Barbados, and he requested the cameraman to have a shot at our group and introduced CCC to viewers across the world. We got multiple messages on our phones saying, “We saw you on TV!” Being called out by one of the greatest commentators of all time will remain a treasured memory forever.RIP Tony.

A new memoir speaks to a generation of fans who were also losers

Andrew Miller30-Apr-2016The 1990s. God, they were a tough decade. It may be fashionable now to fear for cricket’s relevance in an age when satellite TV has whisked the sport out of the reach of the majority of Britain’s spotty, impressionable teenagers, but at least on the flip side, there’s a team out there somewhere that knows, intermittently, how to win.My generation, on the other hand. Well, we were saddled with losers – “literally, losers”, as Emma John’s wincingly honest memoir reminds us. And what did that make us by proxy?In fact, give or take a few undertones of unrequited love (and let’s face it, most of us probably exhibited more give than take…), could have been the tale of any thirtysomething England cricket fan of any gender or persuasion.Every detail of John’s own cricketing awakening feels as familiar as the “tick-tick-tick” of the BBC’s Test match theme tune, “Soul Limbo”. There’s that first accidental introduction, in her case during one of her mother’s deliberately hoarded ironing sessions, during which the question: “Mum, what is a wicket?” acts as an open-sesame moment into a world of figures in white who had previously appeared to do a whole lot of not a lot, while blotting out the TV schedules for days on end.There are the invaluable newspaper cuttings of that pre-internet age, lovingly collated in John’s case into bedroom posters (proof, in her mother’s eyes, of her “industrious” teenage nature, proof to her sister that “she was such a nerd” – take your pick). And then there’s page 341 and all that, those sibling Ceefax squabbles that inevitably resulted in being brained by the TV remote (but Emma, did you never discover that double-tapping the button allowed you to overlay the text on the actual picture?)BloomsburyThere was no easy way to be an England cricket fan in that desperate, defeat-ridden decade – least of all a trainee one, learning the complexities while at the same time processing the failures. For all the gratification on offer, we might as well have taken up computer coding as a hobby. (And yep, a fair few of us did that too…)And yet, our generation always knew there was more than just victory and defeat at stake. “If cricket hadn’t been so difficult to understand, I might never have bothered with it at all,” writes John in the first of several passages that ring utterly true to my own experience of learning cricket’s ropes. “You had to work hard for the privilege of understanding what you were watching.”But none of that quite encompasses the depths of masochism that were required to cope with England’s serial failures throughout such a formative decade. And so, to aid her own quest for self-discovery (or closure, as it turns out), John enlists the help of the men in the middle themselves.If there is a weakness in the premise of John’s book, it isn’t exactly one of her own making. It just so happens that most of the players she idolised are now among the most recognisable voices in the sport. So, while there is situational comedy in several of her encounters with the class of the 1990s, some of the insights on offer are fairly run-of-the-mill – the likes of Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain and the absolute apple of her teenage eye, Michael Atherton, are simply too experienced in the art of broadcasting to offer much more than sound bites.That said, John’s expertise in player profiling – honed during her years as the Wisden Cricketer‘s deputy editor – does unearth some gems, not least her fascinating portrait of a hungover Phil Tufnell. As Tuffers consumes one of the best-timed sausage sandwiches ever committed to literature, and swings his way through his full gamut of emotions, it dawns on John why she had always had a soft spot for him.”He was sulky and moody… he was needy for affection, and desperate to please… he just wanted to have fun; he just wanted to sleep. I didn’t need Mike Brearley to diagnose Tufnell, I could do it myself. He was a teenager.”Following On. A Memoir of Teenage Obsession & Terrible Cricket
By Emma John
Bloomsbury
260 pages (hardback)

Stats highlights from fourth day’s play at Old Trafford where England sealed a huge win against Pakistan to draw level in the series.

Shiva Jayaraman25-Jul-2016330 Runs by which England won this Test – their second-biggest win by margin of runs against Pakistan. Their record margin against the visitors came at Trent Bridge, in 2010, when they won by 354 runs. This is also the second-biggest win for a team, by runs, at Old Trafford. The hosts had lost to West Indies in 1976 by 425 runs, which is the biggest at this venue.289 Wickets taken by Glenn McGrath in Tests in Australia, which were the previous most taken by a fast bowler at home. James Anderson passed this tally with the dismissal of Azhar Ali in Pakistan’s second innings. Anderson has now taken 291 wickets at an average of 25.51 in Tests in England. Click here for a list of bowlers who have taken the most wickets in Tests at home.325 Runs scored by Joe Root in this Test – the fifth-highest by an England batsman in a Test and the second-highest ever by an England batsman in the last 50 years. Graham Gooch’s 456 runs against India in the 1990 Lord’s Test remains the record.6 Number of Man-of-the-match awards won by Joe Root. Among England players, only Ian Botham had won more such awards by the age of 26. Botham won nine such awards before he turned 27. Stuart Broad is third on this list with five such awards before turning 27. Click here for a list of most Man-of-the-match awards won by England players.24.50 Chris Woakes’ bowling strike-rate in this series – the best for any England bowler to take at least 15 wickets in a series in Tests since 1950. Overall, in this period, there have been only seven other instances in which a bowler from any team with at least 15 wickets in a series has struck more frequently. Woakes’ 18 wickets are also the joint-most wickets taken by an England bowler in the first two Tests of a series in the last fifty years. Ashley Giles took 18 wickets in the first two Tests of the series against West Indies in 2004. James Anderson also took 18 wickets in the first two Tests of England’s previous series, against Sri Lanka.Only once have England beaten Pakistan by a bigger margin in Tests•ESPNcricinfo Ltd540 Runs scored by England’s top three batsmen in this Test – the fourth-highest they have made in a Test. While Alastair Cook added 181 to Root’s 325 runs, Alex Hales contributed 34. The highest England’s top three have made in a match came at Lord’s in 1990 against India, when Gooch alone contributed 456 runs to the tally of 608 by the top three.13 Number of times Cook has made two fifty-plus scores in a Test. Cook followed up his first-innings century with an unbeaten 76 in England’s second innings. Only Ricky Ponting (15) and Jacques Kallis (14) have made two fifty-plus scores on more occasions. Kumar Sangakkara is next in this list with 12 such instances.1 Number of higher fourth-innings targets that Pakistan have been set in Tests than the one set by England in this match. West Indies had set a target of 573 runs for them in the Bridgetown Test in 2005, which remains the highest. The 565-run target is also the fifth highest ever set by England.266 Runs conceded by Yasir Shah in this match – the third highest by a bowler with one or no wickets in a Test. Australia’s Chuck Fleetwood-Smith conceded 298 runs for one wicket at The Oval in the Ashes Test in 1938. Relatively recently, India’s Rajesh Chauhan conceded 276 runs in exchange for one wicket, against Sri Lanka in 1997.21 Tests won by Cook as captain – the third-highest by an England captain. He passed Peter May’s 20 Test wins with this latest win against Pakistan. Only Michael Vaughan (26) and Andrew Strauss (24) have won more Tests as captain of England.2001 The last time England were beaten in a Test at Old Trafford, which was against the current visitors Pakistan. Since then, however, they have remained unbeaten in ten Tests at this venue and won eight of them. In Tests since 2002, only Australia’s 11-0 record at the Gabba is better than England’s at Old Trafford. This win for England’s is their first in eight Tests against Pakistan. They had previously won at Lord’s in 2010 by an innings and 225 runs.

England are a fun, often thrilling, side to watch – as typified by Jonny Bairstow’s Lord’s hundred – but they are not making it easy for themselves by frequent top-order wobbles

George Dobell at Lord's09-Jun-2016If you steered your car into a tree and emerged unscathed, you wouldn’t congratulate yourself on your driving.And if you crashed your ship into a rock and swam to safety, you wouldn’t congratulate yourself on your sailing.So England, despite largely getting away with their errors on day one at Lord’s, should not allow it to mask their continuing top-order frailty.The fact is, had Shaminda Eranga not put down a relatively straightforward chance offered by Jonny Bairstow on 11, England would have been 102 for 5 and in serious trouble. Better sides will take such chances and England will know that, if they are to reach No. 1 in the Test rankings, they will have to play better sides in conditions that suit them.England’s problem is that such top order failures are the norm rather than the exception. In 21 of their last 34 Test innings, England have lost their third wicket before reaching 75 and, in several memorable cases, they have been the beneficiaries of dropped chances for allowing them back into the game. The example of Joe Root, dropped on 0 before making a match-defining century in the Ashes Test at Cardiff is an especially pertinent example, though Moeen Ali, dropped on 36 before making 155 in the most recent Test, is another example.They have shuffled their side and provided opportunities for several candidates. But England remain reliant upon their middle-order bailing them out time after time and question marks over at least two of the top five remain.Lord’s hundred lifts weight off Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow admitted his failure to score the five extra runs he required for a maiden Test century at Lord’s in 2012 had “loomed over” him for several years.
Bairstow, who earned a place on the much-coveted honours board with his third century in his six most recent Tests on the first day of the match against Sri Lanka, was dismissed for 95 here when playing his fourth Test four years ago.
“Why didn’t I do it four years ago?” Bairstow said rhetorically afterwards. “They are five runs that loomed over me for a few years. But it’s nice to put the record straight and I’m happy with the way I’m playing.
“This is a special place to play and I’m very lucky to join an illustrious bunch on the honours board. Maybe it should have happened few years ago, but I hope it’s not the only time I get my name on that board.
“To have gone one step further than I did in 2012 and made a hundred in front of a packed house is a very special feeling. The ovation from the crowd was something I will never forget. A pinch yourself moment with goosebumps.”

Where once Test batsmen would have reacted to a surface like this – grindingly slow – with application and patience, the modern England side seem to know only one way to react to adversity: with aggression. But, on a slow pitch and in conditions offering just enough lateral movement to encourage bowlers, such a tactic is akin to driving as fast as possible to get through fog.Perhaps that is a bit harsh. Alastair Cook produced a fine innings to keep his side from imploding, but while his skills are now seen as somewhat outdated, many of the younger players appear reluctant to accumulate in such fashion. Instead of learning from the example of the top run-scorer in England’s Test history, they seem to want to do everything quicker.None of this should detract from Sri Lanka’s performance. Dealt a poor hand by losing the toss in such circumstances, they played that hand with admirable sense and skill. Realising, at least after the first hour, that they had little chance of blowing England away on such a surface, they instead resolved to play upon England’s lack of patience. So Alex Hales, having gone 22 balls without scoring, was seduced into attempting a hideous slog-sweep off the second delivery he faced from the spin of Rangana Herath and edged to slip.Sensing that Nick Compton might be tentative – even his nearest and dearest will understand that this game represents a final chance at this level – he was invited to drive at one outside off stump. The resultant stroke – half-hearted, with slow feet and tight hands – brought only an edge. He goes into the second innings a man on death row hoping for a pardon from a Texan governor.Cook and Joe Root both paid the price for playing across straight balls – a sign, arguably, of impatience – while James Vince missed one that came in a fraction on the Lord’s slope. These are early days, but this has been an unconvincing start to Vince’s Test career. He has yet to counter the allegation that he is an unusually elegant destroyer of mediocre bowling, but unproven against better. That County Championship average of 28.57 last year continues to beg questions. As does the gulf of 20 runs between his average in Division One (about 30) and Division Two (about 50).Moeen Ali was dismissed to a defensive prod – the result of a fine bit of bowling – but had earlier survived a lavish backfoot waft at a back-of-a-length delivery from Suranga Lakmal on 12 that spoke volumes for the approach of this England side. They are fun to watch, for sure, but they also have a reckless streak that will keep opponents interested.But Bairstow, wonderfully confident at present, rescued England. There will be days when the thick edges that flew through gully or slip – he survived such moments on 38 and 68 – might go to hand and days when the leg-before decision that he survived on 56 will go the other way. But such is the conviction with which he is currently playing his strokes that those edges fly hard and, such is the speed that he scores – and runs between the wickets – that any failure to take a chance off him will soon be punished.Alex Hales wild swing at Rangana Herath came after a short build-up of pressure•Getty ImagesWhether pitches like this give Test cricket the best chance of surviving in the modern age is debatable. Slow, low and promoting discipline and patience above all other skills it was the sort of surface that, a couple of decade ago, might have been acceptable. But now, in the age of T20, falling attendances and, it would seem, lowering attention spans, it was the sort of surface that benefits neither batsman nor bowlers. The sort of surface that may well hasten Test cricket’s decline.Test cricket has changed. There hasn’t been a match that lasted five days in England since New Zealand played at Lord’s a year ago. And there hasn’t been a draw in England since India found themselves confronted with a pudding of a surface at Trent Bridge almost two years ago. What once seemed normal now seems out of time. And while players cannot be blamed for reacting to such circumstances with attritional cricket – they have to adapt to the conditions they are given – the authorities that stage these matches can be blamed for providing such surfaces.Some will point to the full house – despite the continuing redevelopment work in the Warner Stand, the attendance on the first day here was only 3,000 fewer than the attendance from four days in Durham – and the close-of-play scorecard and claim there is nothing to worry about. Others will claim that, in Test cricket at least, there is still room for this sort of pitch and the old-fashioned cricket it tends to encourage. And perhaps they are right: plenty of modern cricket is aimed at a young audience; maybe there is still a place in the game for “a purist’s” pitch.But the number of “purists” is dropping. At almost every venue around the world, the number of people prepared to sit through hours of attrition in the knowledge that it will eventually build into a compelling encounter is dropping. Those who were entertained are those who are already converted and that may well not be a sustainable demographic. Test cricket needs to attract a new audience; Test cricket has to do a bit better than this.