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Graham Thorpe announced his retirement from international cricket

Steven Lynch22-Jul-2005

The announcement was perfectly timed. Shortly after Kevin Pietersen announced his arrival on the Test scene by swinging Shane Warne into the Grand Stand boxes, Graham Thorpe announced his retirement from international cricket.Pietersen had taken Thorpe’s place for this Test, although there were times yesterday, as England’s collapse continued apace, when eyes strained towards the pavilion door hoping that the next man in might be GP Thorpe, with his low-slung footballer’s gait, and his phlegmatic it’s-the-next-ball-that-counts approach.Thorpe was England’s middle-order Polyfilla for so long that we often took him for granted. After becoming the best advert yet for England A tours – he went on five of them – he marked his Test debut in 1993 with his first century, and against Australia too. Now he bows out, with a round 100 Test caps, and 6744 runs at the mid-40s average that has always been thought of as the benchmark for a very good Test batsman.Thorpe has rarely been centre stage – he was one of those team players who get taken for granted, until they are no longer there to paper over the cracks. Ironically he missed yesterday’s parade of England’s 100-cap men only because he’d been left out of this match. He’s also the only one of those centurions not to captain England.He was rarely showy, although his pivot-pull, one foot off the ground and pointing back down the pitch, was a shot all his own. He was more of a partnership-builder, a reassuring presence down the other end for a succession of batsmen with more strokes but less sticking-power.Thorpe and Hussain, in particular, enjoyed their partnerships together, starting with a big one, against Australia again, at Edgbaston in 1997. And it was Thorpe who was in at the end of one of Hussain’s finest hours, the twilight victory that ended Pakistan’s unbeaten record in Karachi at the end of 2000.It’s the end of an era in another way, too. Thorpe was the last of the bristly boys who sustained England throughout the 1990s – Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain preceded him out of the dressing-room door, as what Hussain (the only one of them to miss a 100th cap, and that only narrowly) called the PlayStation generation bounded in. They all moved into the commentary box, but it’s difficult to see Thorpe following suit – he’s a reserved man, softly spoken with a hint of a lisp, and has never had much time for the media scrum. There is an autobiography slated for later in the year, though.Thorpe might have been handy at Lord’s yesterday, presenting that broad bat, with the handle that he tinkered with constantly, to the problems posed by Glenn McGrath. The announcement does stop any speculation about a recall later in the series, although he is in decent form at the moment, and if it’s 2-2 going to The Oval and Brett Lee has broken a finger or two, then David Graveney might yet be thumbing through the phone book for Thorpey’s number.

The fourth wicket stand produced 24 runs in 15 overs, to which Tendulkar
contributed 9 in 45 balls. It was worse than tentative and diffident, it
was supine and unbecoming.

Sambit Bal05-Jan-2007

Watching Sachin Tendulkar bat today was depressing. The bowling was good – Shaun Pollock was on the mark, Paul Harris was turning it from the
rough. The fielding was sharp. Perhaps Tendulkar had a bad back. Perhaps his
elbow was hurting. But none of this quite explained the crawl that
he subjected himself to.He looked like a man weighed down by his own doubts; a man who didn’t
believe he could take runs off a debutant spin bowler. He ended up making the
pitch look more unplayable than it perhaps was, and plunged his team into
despair. It would perhaps be harsh to put the onus of India’s collapse on
one man, but without doubt, it was during those 15 overs when
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid convinced themselves run-scoring was beyond
their means that South Africa took a stranglehold on the match.India started the day with the right intent by sending Virender Sehwag to
open. Some might argue that Sehwag, who knows only one way to play
spinners – either I dismiss them out of my sight, or they dismiss me –
would have been more useful in the middle order to counter Harris, but the
motive was positive. It sent a message to opposition: we are here to win.True, India were set back by the loss of two early wickets and the
confusion over whether Tendulkar could come out to bat at No 4, mustn’t
have been easy on the nerves, but Dravid and Ganguly had batted fluently
enough to bring India to a position from where a 300-plus target for South
Africa looked quite achievable. In the context of the match, the 84
they put up came at a fair clip. Ganguly, after a streaky first-ball four,
had batted with composure and panache to score 47 off 89 balls before he
was suckered into a jab outside the off stump by Jaques Kallis.What followed was inexplicable. Tendulkar pottered and scratched, padded
and swiveled, nudged and groped and the Indian innings came to a
standstill. Harris was bowling over the wicket, and landing a lot of balls
on the rough outside the leg stump, but from Tendulkar, there was simply no
intent.And he seemed to have infected Dravid with his approach, because runs dried
up from the other side too. Dravid had scored 36 from 88 balls when
Tendulkar came in. He made only 11 from the next 46 and hit no more fours.
The fourth wicket stand produced 24 runs in 15 overs, to which Tendulkar
contributed 9 in 45 balls. It was worse than tentative and diffident, it
was supine and unbecoming.

An hour later Dinesh Karthik, all of 21 years old and only in his
10th Test, showed what intent and confidence, combined with skill, can
achieve. He swept Harris from the rough, cut him when he shortened his
length, and reverse swept him from outside the leg stump. Kallis was cut and flicked off the pads,
Steyn was cover-driven and suddenly the demons seemed to have vanished
from a wearing pitch. Had the tail-enders stayed with him a bit longer, he
looked likely to stretch the Indian lead beyond 250.In Tendulkar’s case, it was the opposite. He arrived at the crease at a
juncture when the match was on the line, and instead of imposing himself
on the proceedings as you would expect of a player of such skill and stature,
he let the occasion wear him down. Soon the bowlers acquired such a grip
that every run felt like a struggle. Watching it was embarrassing.India might still go on to the win the match. But if they don’t we know
where they let it slip.

Cricinfo profiles Super League teams in Ranji Trophy

Cricinfo staff31-Oct-2007

Karnataka

One of the strongest contenders for this season’s title, Karnataka have been boosted by the return of Anil Kumble, who will lead the team, and Rahul Dravid. Apart from the duo who will be available for two games, they will bank on the experience of Sunil Joshi and Yere Goud – who joined Karnataka last season after 11 years with Railways. Although they have lost Robin Uthappa to the Indian team, they have a formidable batting line-up in C Raghu, B Akhil, Thilak Naidu and Barrington Rowland, the men who took Karnataka to the final four in the last season.Joshi, as always, will lead the bowling attack, but he can turn to a capable few to share the burden. There is KP Appanna, the talented left-arm spinner making rapid strides, and R Vinay Kumar, the medium-pace bowler who took 27 wickets last season. They will be bolstered by the presence of NC Aiyappa, the medium-pacer who has recovered from an injury that restricted him to just two games in the previous season. In addition they have Akhil, who blossomed into a fine medium-pace bowler last season and Raghu, who picked 10 wickets with his offspin.Karnataka have a new coach in Vijay Bharadwaj after Venkatesh Prasad became the national bowling coach and his successor Rajesh Kamat was pouched by the ICL. Bharadwaj headed a 13-day camp – where batting and fielding sessions combined with drills and exercise formed the daily routine – at the Infosys campus in Mysore as part of the build-up to the upcoming season.What they did last season
A bad start, a strong comeback, and a tame end – they experienced all in their campaign last season. They lost to Baroda in under three days in the first game, collapsing for 85 in the first innings and being bowled out for 283 in the second. Then they beat Haryana comprehensively in the second match with Uthappa and Rowland adding 211 runs for the first wicket in just 32 overs to set up the declaration before Joshi and Appanna spun them to victory. In the next game, against Uttar Pradesh, Vinay Kumar took a five-for to set up an easy target. In a tense chase of 122 runs, a half-century from Raghu got them home with just two wickets to spare.They played out a high-scoring draw against Delhi before batting failure reared its ugly head in the next game against Andhra. Shot out for 111 in the first innings, they held on to a draw, reaching 204 for 7, while chasing 410, in their second innings. At the start of the new year they bounced back strongly with a crushing 10-wicket win over Tamil Nadu, courtesy a smashing 159 from Uthappa and a seven-wicket match haul from Joshi and followed it up with a facile draw against Saurashtra. But, in the semi-final against Bengal, they imploded, making just 89 in the first innings and despite posting 455 in the second, they couldn’t stop Bengal from romping to a comfortable six-wicket win.Men to watch
Apart from the usual suspects, Raghu and Appanna are the ones to watch out for. Raghu, a graceful right-hand middle-order batsman, scored 537 runs at 35.8 in the last season and one can expect him to up the ante in the season ahead. Appanna, with his classical left-arm spin, has been the impressive one and this season could see him come out of Joshi’s shadow.

Uttar Pradesh

Champions one season and fighting relegation the next, over the last two seasons, Uttar Pradesh gave Pakistan a run for their money in terms of unpredictability. What’s in store this season? A tournament that they start without their key pace bowlers: Shalabh Srivastava who has moved to ICL, and RP Singh and Praveen Kumar, who are a part of the Indian team as of now. Ashish Winston Zaidi, their manager this season and the canny pro with the ball, retired last season and there is a void left in the bowling department.There is a freshness to the batting line-up, with captain Mohammad Kaif and vice-captain Suresh Raina leading a young line-up. Gyanendra Pandey, their coach this season, and Rizwan Shamshad, the middle-order veterans, also retired last season. Tanmay Srivastava, who has impressed with India Under-19, Ravikant Shukla, former India U-19 captain, and Shivakant Shukla are exciting young prospects for them.The spin department looks good with Piyush Chawla and left-arm orthodox Praveen Gupta, but the bowling still is a fickle unit. If Kumar and Chawla are available to play, they look a respectable attack, but without them it should be a struggle for them.They play only one game at home this season, which could be a blessing in disguise because most of the wickets in UP encourage draws.What they did last season
Neither their batsmen nor their bowlers ever hit their straps last season, struggling to put up big, sufficient-to-bat-once totals with the bat, or running through the opposition with the ball. After a first-innings lead against Saurashtra, a points-less draw and an outright loss, the low point came in the away match against Haryana when they were bowled out for 71. Following that innings defeat, they just about hung on for two points against Tamil Nadu, who after having fallen behind in the first innings, set UP 129 to win in 25 overs. A positive start was followed by a collapse and at seven-down, Rohit Prakash and Shivakant batted out 7.3 overs to ensure a draw.After being outplayed by Baroda, they had only four points from six games and were one false step from emulating Railways by getting relegated in their title defence. In their last match, they put up an inspired show in beating Andhra by an innings and staving off what would have been a humiliating descent to Plate League.Men to watch
Kaif will know a big season with the bat will do him no harm and so will Raina. Two seasons ago, along with Kumar and Shalabh, they were the main architects of UP’s revival from a hopeless situation mid-season. Shalabh is out, Kumar may or not be available – the same can be said of Raina and Chawla. And with other seniors retired, this is the season for any of the young brigade to stand up and make his presence felt. Tanmay, Ravikant and Shivakant will want to take up more responsibility this season.

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh made their way up to the Ranji Super League after they beat Railways by seven wickets on the final day of their Plate League semi-final in Dharamsala. Then they brushed aside Orissa, who also qualified to the next division, by nine wickets in the final. The winning formula was simple – everyone contributed. The top order batsmen all scored runs and the bowlers, led by talented left-arm spinner Vishal Bhatia, did enough to ensure HP didn’t lose a game last season.Former India offspinner Sarandeep Singh’s move from Punjab to HP proved successful as his 28 wickets and useful runs down the order indicate.Young players such as wicketkeeper Maninder Bisla, Paras Dogra and Manish Gupta were crucial last season, but the competition will be much tougher this year. How these youngster adapt, and how they are led by the seniors, will determine HP’s fortunes.What they did last season

HP topped the Plate League Group B table with 13 points as a result of two wins and three draws. They opened the season with a 342-run win over Jharkhand, based on an all-round effort. Sarandeep led a spirited fightback with a five-for after they had conceded the first-innings lead to Orissa in the next game at Dharamshala, but it proved to have come a bit too late in the day. In the next game, a draw against Tripura at home again, a Bhatia-inspired HP moved to the top of the Group B table and followed it with a thumping win over Jammu & Kashmir by an imposing innings and 75 runs at Jammu. With that win, they ended joint leaders with Orissa in Group B. They expectedly earned two points from the drawn encounter in Delhi, but were unable to force a result on the final day.Nevertheless, they were in the semi-finals, where they beat Railways by seven wickets. HP cruised to the Plate Group title after they kept Orissa to 317, put up 477 in their first innings, and shot Orissa out for 216, before rattling off 58 in 9.4 overs. Dogra was HP’s best batsman with 528 runs at 48, with two hundreds, while Bhatia was the highest wicket-taker in the Plate League, with 38 scalps.Men to watch
The 25-year-old Bhatia would look to carry on with his form. His contributions last season were key to HP’s doing so well; his 6 for 71 helped dismiss Orissa and a further six-wicket haul a week later mopped up Tripura’s tail as HP moved to the top of the Group B table. His eight wickets set up a big win over Railways and a fourth six-wicket haul helped spin HP to the title win. Sandeep Sharma, the experienced captain, enjoyed a successful 2006-07 season with the bat and will be expected to do the same this season, as the stakes get higher.

Few bat with his sense of abandon and certainty, or his way of reducing cricket to its essentials

Ayaz Memon15-Feb-2008

When he walked even though the umpire had ruled him not out in the semi-final against Sri Lanka in the 2003 World Cup, Adam Gilchrist took a quantum leap to become my favourite cricketer. He had always hovered around the top – along with Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Jacques Kallis, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Rahul Dravid – but this extraordinary gesture was the clincher. It revealed that cricket was not just a sport but rather a way of life for him. I am an emotional, conservative sort in such matters.While the commercialisation of cricket has been good, there is a great deal to be said still for integrity. Alas, this quality is altogether too rare in the current game. Therefore, a player who thinks and behaves differently is one to cherish.And, by god, Gilchrist is an Aussie too! By his own admission, his decision to walk did not go down well with his team-mates. Ricky Ponting, if I remember correctly, was candidly critical of Gilchrist after that match, and there were rumblings of dissent from others too. But Gilchrist has been unfazed, indeed even more convinced that he would do it again.I know of scores of cricketers who would scoff at such an ethic. The craving for success blinds most of us to the need for honesty. Gains in the here and now are considered paramount, but Gilchrist’s story holds out an example; and a moral. Shortly after the World Cup, I am informed, he signed a record A$2 million deal with sports-goods manufacturer Puma. Yeah, good guys win too.But enough philosophising. Gilchrist does not need a moral certificate to establish his credentials. What makes him an all-time great is the plain and simple way he plays his cricket. The logic of his batsmanship is uncomplicated, unfussy: the ball is meant to be hit, the bat is a wonderful instrument with which to do so. Very, very few players in the history of the game have done this as easily or exhilaratingly. At the last World Cup I asked Wasim Akram which batsman he found the most difficult to bowl to. He named Tendulkar, Lara and Waugh, for obvious reasons, but rounded off his assessment with fulsome praise for Gilchrist. “He can hit the first ball he faces, or the best ball you bowl, for a four,” said the great Pakistani.That’s two fantastic virtues about batsmanship in one short sentence. Perhaps no more are necessary to describe Gilchrist’s cricketing prowess. Akram, of course, had had the earliest experience of Gilchrist’s ability. Pakistan were touring Australia when Gilchrist made his debut in 1999, scoring a rousing 81 in the first Test and a spectacular, match-winning, unbeaten 149 in the second after Pakistan had all but sewn up the match. Within a couple of weeks of playing international cricket, Gilchrist had quelled the uproar over Ian Healy’s ouster from the Australian side and given ample notice of his own genius.I watched that innings on television and wondered if it was a fluke, such was the derring-do and fluency. It seemed improbable that a batsman so young in international cricket could bat with such abandon, even if he had his wicketkeeping skills as a buffer against failure. But a little over a year later Gilchrist made another swashbuckling hundred, this time in Mumbai against India, which dispelled the doubts. Australia were in deep crisis when Gilchrist joined Matthew Hayden, and the two left-handers broke the shackles with a truly awesome display of power-hitting. What impressed me most about Gilchrist was his refusal to surrender even in a grave situation. He was cool, but only in demeanour. In his batting he was robust, ruthless, riveting. There is no better way to play the game. Gilchrist struggled on the slow turners in the subsequent Tests of that series as the Indian spinners bowled flatter at him and he forgot to use his feet. But the Mumbai hundred had established him as a man with pluck, passion, and the mental strength to tide over any crisis.

A year later he played one of the more remarkable innings in cricket history – a hell-for-leather 204 to set up a win against South Africa. As he reveals in his book, Gilchrist was then going through deep emotional turmoil with the licentious press insinuating that his child was in fact his team-mate’s. To turn a crisis into a personal challenge and then into personal triumph appears to have become the hallmark of Gilchrist’s career. As mentioned earlier, he was a contentious replacement for Healy; now, apart from sundry blazing innings in Tests, he has also become arguably the best batsman in one-day cricket. When Steve Waugh, while eating ice-cream, made up his mind to open with Gilchrist, he was taking a huge gamble, which must now rate as a historic decision, for Australia have won two successive World Cups since.It is simplistic to say that Gilchrist is an exciting batsman. There are a few such around in contemporary cricket. But I doubt anyone bats with the same abandon or the same sense of certainty in strokeplay. He is lean and sinewy, with strong forearms that swing freely in his high back-lift and follow-through. Quick of eye and reflexes, he can adjust in a nanosecond to play off the front or back foot. He is orthodox in the sense that he drives through the line, but he is otherwise a tremendous improviser. I also rate him the best cutter and puller in contemporary cricket.I have not dwelt too much on his wicketkeeping because that is a given, otherwise he would never have made it to this level. Only Clyde Walcott, the big-built West Indian, exceeds Gilchrist’s batting average, but Walcott faded out as a wicketkeeper quickly and concentrated only on his batting. Gilchrist keeps wicket with greater athleticism (though he may lack Healy’s finesse at times) than any other keeper, and bats with the aplomb of a master. His strike-rate of 82 in Tests, 94 in one-dayers makes him perhaps the most dreaded in the world.Find me a More Valuable Player.

Andrew Miller presents the plays of the fourth day between England and South Africa at Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's13-Jul-2008Innings of the day 1

From the fury of youth to the calm of maturity. Graeme Smith’s second Test century at Lord’s was, just like his first back in 2003, a triumph of a very considerable will. There, however, the comparisons end. The anger, bordering on hatred, that carried Smith to his incredible matchwinning 259 five years ago was nowhere to be seen today, as he swallowed his pride, sized up his task, and set out his stall to bat, and bat, and bat. His humility was especially evident in the coolly understated celebration of his century – a lingering glance to the heavens and a slow but deliberate raising of the arms. Though he fell to the new ball before the close, the warmth of the acclaim as he returned to the pavilion was due recognition for one very doughty fighter indeed.Innings of the day 2Smith stole the plaudits, but it was his sidekick who survived to the close. McKenzie’s second coming as an international cricketer, after three-and-a-half years in the wilderness, has been a remarkable tale of redemption. In this third match back, against Bangladesh in Chittagong, he and Smith shared in a world-record stand of 415 – not a bad memory to call upon when batting for two days is the task you’ve set yourself. And one match later, against India in Chennai, he chipped in with twin innings of 94 and 155 not out. In fact, in seven matches since his return, he’s scored 763 runs at 84.77, and boosted his Test average from an unworthy 33.24 to a respectable 39.87.Drop of the dayWho’d be an England wicketkeeper? No position comes in for greater scrutiny, especially on days of hard yakka such as these, when nothing less than the highest standards will suffice. In the 80th over of the innings, with the new ball around the corner and Kevin Pietersen turning his arm over to while away the minutes, he found a bit of rip outside Smith’s off stump, and induced the thinnest of snicks. Tim Ambrose, however, could do nothing more than parry the ball with his left mitt, and the rebound bobbled out of the reach of slip as well. It had all the makings of a Matt Prior-esque clanger.Wicket of the day… but then, to Ambrose’s intense relief, James Anderson made the breakthrough with the new ball. His first delivery was wild and called wide, as it jagged off the seam towards the slips, but it did enough to tip Smith’s equilibrium just a fraction. His next ball was right on target, and bounced as well, as Smith decided that attack would be the best form of defence and climbed into an imposing pull. The ball took the top-edge and ballooned out to point, where Pietersen was on hand to end a mighty innings and give England their only breakthrough of the day.Dummy of the daySometimes, fielders will resort to all sorts of knavish tricks to try and buy a run-out. More often than not, they end up looking rather silly in the process. Take Andrew Strauss’s cunning plan, shortly after tea, with South Africa rumbling along on 146 for 0, and looking utterly invincible. Smith clipped Panesar off his toes through midwicket, where Pietersen was lurking in the deep to cut it off. Strauss, however, took off on a swallow dive to give the impression he’d pulled off a miracle stop, but the only man he managed to fool was his own team-mate. Pietersen abandoned his own pursuit, and the ball dribbled over the ropes for four.Non-appeal of the daySometimes it’s worth going up for everything, just in case the umpire’s feeling twitchy. Unfortunately for England, when Smith was on 22, he played such an uncharacteristically rash shot – a swished pull across the line – that everyone was too astonished to enquire as to whether there might have been a nick as the back of his bat whizzed by. Paul Collingwood motioned as if to appeal, but no-one else bothered. Replays suggested there might have been a graze.

The confidence with which Yuvraj Singh batted on the fourth evening went a long way towards eliminating the slim possibility of an Indian defeat

S Aga22-Dec-2008

Yuvraj Singh’s year started ignominiously, with a sleepwalking performance
at the Sydney Cricket Ground. When he was dropped ahead of India’s famous
victory in Perth, no one raised a voice. One of the prodigals of the
Indian game had been given his chance, and he had blown it. What a
difference 12 months makes, though. With Sourav Ganguly now gone, and having
played his part in the most remarkable of run chases in Chennai, Yuvraj
doesn’t need to look over his shoulder, and the confidence with which he
batted on the fourth evening went a long way towards eliminating the slim
possibility of an Indian defeat.Home turf hasn’t meant happy hunting ground for Yuvraj. This is his third
Test at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium and the 27 he made in the
first innings was his highest score. When he came to the crease midway
through the final session, India were just 231 ahead, and the English
bowlers had slowed the run flow to a trickle.After his repeated run-ins with Kevin Pietersen, who stood at leg slip
while Yuvraj took guard, there was also the prospect of a few verbal
googlies being tossed his way. Yuvraj says he looked forward to it.
“Sometimes it fires you up, sometimes it backfires,” he said. “When you
are chatted to, it makes you stronger, more focused. I really don’t mind
the chat.”I actually look forward to it because I think it brings out the best in
me. It backfired in the first innings in Chennai, in the second it made me
stronger. It’s healthy competition out there, no bad-mouthing. Both the
teams are trying to punch the opposition to win the game, so it’s healthy
competition.”Healthy or not, it spurred Yuvraj into playing some fine strokes. The
run-blockade was eased, and India finished the day in an extremely
comfortable position. “It depends on the weather tomorrow,” Yuvraj said
when asked about the prospects of an Indian victory. “There’s a
disadvantage there because of the weather, we could lose a couple of
hours. Hopefully, we’ll get the maximum possible overs and we’ll be able
to get some runs and bowl them out.”Given the two stunning chases cricket has seen over the past
week, there were no thoughts on what constituted a safe target. “On the
last day, any target is difficult to get,” he said. “For us in Chennai,
387 was tough to get, and I’m sure we’ll set them a tough target.”Chennai was a huge innings for Yuvraj in more ways than one, though he
insisted that the gremlins of doubt hadn’t been keeping him awake at
night. “I never thought that I didn’t belong to this arena because I have
three Test hundreds,” he said. “It’s all media speculation, or I don’t
know what goes on. I never had a doubt and I just wanted to spend some
time in the middle and I knew the runs will come. If you work hard on your
game, the runs will come. That’s what happened in the second innings.”

Following Virender Sehwag’s run-out soon after lunch, India appeared to have
lost their way for the remainder of the session, but Yuvraj was adamant
that this was no one-trick team. “When Viru starts off and gets a
partnership, we get into a very good position early on,” he said. “But if
we lose a few wickets, we need to get a partnership. Gautam and I have had
a good one and it has brought the game towards us.”We’re not depending on any particular person. Sometimes it’s Viru,
sometimes it’s Gautam. Rahul has shown what a class player he is. Mahi
batted so well in the first innings in Chennai. So it’s not anyone
particular, it’s the whole team. It’s just that the team is gelling very
well, enjoying each other’s success.”I think with Gary Kirsten and Paddy Upton, the atmosphere in the team is
good. We enjoy what we do. If we’re under pressure, we know we have a
bunch of guys who can come up with match-winning knocks or spells. Our
bowling has been exceptional. Along with Harbhajan, Zaheer has been the
frontline bowler and Ishant is doing well, so we have a great all-round
bunch of players.”The man who leads came in for more than his fair share of praise. “First,
he [Dhoni] is very cool-headed, that’s the best part about him. When he
took up captaincy, nobody knew that he could do a great job. He always has
a Plan B. Like when England were batting, we got a few wickets, and
then KP and Freddie got a few runs and he slowed down the game. The moment
we had two wickets, we pounced on the batsmen. He’s always thinking, he’s
always asking for suggestions from everyone.”And what of throwing pies? Pietersen was far from amused when Dhoni
brought Yuvraj on for the third over on Sunday morning, and he let his
feelings be known after the day’s play. “When I got up in the morning, I
read the paper, and I said ‘what does this [pie-chucker] mean?’ So I asked
a few people there what it meant, and they said it meant a ‘useless kind
of bowler’. It shows KP hates getting out to me. Well, a useless bowler
getting him out many times would be because of useless batting, I’d say!
But that’s okay.”He’s a phenomenal player and batted like a champion. He’s got 15 hundreds
in 40-odd matches – that’s phenomenal. But he tried to get under my skin
in the last game and that brought out the best in me. I tried the same and
it brought out the best in him. So it’s good competition in the field. But
I don’t have a habit of washing dirty linen in the open, in public. But I
like the name, eh?”If he can get a few more runs on Tuesday morning and play his part in
another Indian victory, Yuvraj, who cheekily offered Pietersen some
bowling tips, won’t particularly care what the English call him. When
you’ve come back from oblivion and the team’s winning, nothing else
matters.

For an Aussie fan it can’t get much better than sitting with the Barmy Army and watching Ponting and Watson dismantle England

Michael De Witt03-Oct-2009.Now that’s a classy shot•AFPChoice of game
I picked this game for the epic history between these two phenomenal teams. My prediction was that Australia were favorites but England, having had the all-important resurgence since landing on South African shores, were the more-than-capable underdogs. Unfortunately the good old Aussies have that undeniable big-match temperament.Team supported
Australia, as always.Key performer
At first it looked like Tim Bresnan, but in the end there is no question that Shane Watson showed maturity and poise to take Australia home. He started off slow but opened up and expressed himself once he and his captain settled into a rhythm.One thing I would have changed about the match
I would have liked to see Australia bat first, to see just how far their explosive batting line-up could have taken them.Face-off I relished
A good match-up was between Watson and James Anderson, with the new ball. Anderson extracted some movement early on and even when England were dead and buried, he still peppered Watson with some spicy short balls.Accessories
We took along all the apparel we could find. There were no guesses as to who we were supporting, oversized flag and all.Wow moment
A tie between a huge six hit by Watson over midwicket which hit a boy on the head at the grass embankment right next to where we were sitting and Ponting’s 12,000th run. Shows that the calls for his retirement are hopelessly advanced.Player watch
James Hopes fielded at the boundary where I was sitting. What a sad day. All the Australians are perceived to be more than adequate fielders, but unfortunately Mr Hopes dropped two catches that might have seen England all out for 120. On a minor note: only the England players were willing to give signatures to the fans.Shot of the day
Watson’s six over midwicket to get to his hundred was fantastically timed, perfectly balanced and a clear sign of dominance over the England attack. But the shot that really spoke to the purists was a pull by Ponting: bisecting the on-side field, it really did look like a tracer bullet under the lights. It was utterly unstoppable – a classic, against a good ball just short of a length.Crowd meter
England were hot favorites at the ground (which might be due to their opponents being Australia in South Africa). The ground was not at capacity but you wouldn’t have known if you were stuck in the Barmy Army section in an Australia shirt. There was one crowd catch, taken over the head off a shot hit straight back over the bowler; somewhat lucky to hold onto it but a great catch in the end.Fancy-dress index
Only the Barmy Army legion near us was really dressed up. If only they kept their shirts on…Entertainment
“” for Ponting, seriously? Not sure what that was about.What a rip-off
Traffic was well controlled and the event very well organised, but the fact that parking cost nearly as much as the ticket is a bitter pill to swallow.ODI v Twenty20
In three simple words: bigger is better. It is unfathomable that this form of the game might be dying out.Banner of the day
A Barmy shirt read: “Marvellous. Bloody Marvellous”Overall
There is no question England were totally outplayed, but still a great game to watch with Bresnan fighting back. And what a show from Ponting and Watson. The crowd was great, with a lot of participation, and great catering from the hosts made it an exceptional day off work.Marks out of 10
9. Any bad day at the cricket beats any good day at the office. Watching Watson and Ponting in full flight turning their opponents into a hapless mound in person is something difficult to express in words..

Cricinfo staff05-Apr-2010Once again Shane Warne won a match with his aura and never-say-die spirit – two traits even his rival captain and one-time Australian team-mate Adam Gilchrist admits he is envious of. From a seemingly hopeless situation at the chase, Warne brought himself on, and with every one of his allotted four overs he pulled the momentum towards Rajasthan.Like all of Warne’s spectacles this was nothing short of drama. It was a low score to defend. So it was futile wasting time, fussing about how many runs Rajasthan fell short of an ideal target. Instead, he loaded the team with hope: apparently each time Rajasthan have scored a minimum of 160 they have won the game. If they were 10-15 runs shorter, the team had to throw themselves at everything. That was the only way Rajasthan could win.But Gilchrist punched his weight straightway to put Deccan in a comfortable position before he vanished to an awful shot. Deccan were still on course for a victory, needing 74 off the final ten overs with eight wickets still in hand. But Warne had not yet bowled. Finally, he arrived in the 12th over but was pulled for six by Rohit Sharma. In his usual fashion, Warne spat into his hands, rubbed his palms on the turf and returned to his mark. Next over, after being pulled for a four by Anirudh Singh, he slipped in the quicker one, the slider, to induce an edge.Warne had found his mojo. The big legbreaks returned, the pace was varied smartly. Like always Warne charmed his opponent with flight and tempted him equally. Dwayne Smith and Ryan Harris fell into the black hole created by Warne. It was not that Warne was bowling unplayable deliveries, but, just like on numerous occasions in the past, he had created a stage of his own where the batsmen were his marionettes and he was pulling the strings.”It is all about the right ball at the right time,” Warne said later during the media briefing. “It is not your best ball: no point trying to bowl big, ripping legbreaks and somebody nicks it and it goes down for four. It is all about setting him up: fast, fast, slower one up, trying and tempt one into it,” he explained.When Warne finished his quota, Deccan were still in a commanding position, needing 19 off the last two overs. But more than his bowling, it was his leadership that clinched the match for Rajasthan. All through the contest he kept cajoling, back-slapping, shouting, screaming and motivating his troops as he knew the enemy was ready to blink and they needed to be in the right position to pull the trigger.But some nerves were tender. Especially Morne Morkel of South Africa, who failed to listen to his general’s commands. Off the penultimate ball of the penultimate over of the match, Warne had set a field for a short ball and asked Morkel to aim for Rohit’s head. Instead, Morkel delivered a lame, fuller-length delivery, which resulted in a straight six. Warne, the exhibitionist, showed his anger on the big screen. “I said knock his head off,” Warne said. “I got everyone up this way (off side) and everyone back (on the leg side) and the plan was to bowl short, and he bowled a half volley.”But Warne walked up to the bowler and asked him a calm question. “I said to him ‘what’s the most important thing, mate?’ The answer was “This ball.” Warne agreed.That skill to never allow his emotions to take of hold him has always seen Warne conquer the moment, conquer the batsman and turn matches and series on their heads. Considering there are only a few who possess that quality, Warne is hence part of cricket’s pantheon. “It just can’t be one person,” Warne said. “[Even] If I believe, I still got other guys to believe [in themselves].”But Gilchrist agrees the genius of Warne is possible only because the man has a big heart. “The aura, the spirt. I have had some pretty fun times standing behind the stumps, watching some startled rabbits in the headlights,” Gilchrist said, in praise of his opposite number. “He bowled really well and led his team extremely well.”

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the day from the Twenty20 between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings in Durban

Sriram Veera in Durban24-Sep-2010Catch of the day
It might have cost Bangalore the game. Dale Steyn backpedalled to take a skier from Michael Hussey, but the ball was going further away from him. He increased his pace and continued to backpedal, in the end arching his back and sticking his hands behind his head to take the catch. He fell on his back, his head hit the ground and he wound up with a concussion. He couldn’t bowl and it opened up a Pandora’s Box for Bangalore.Slog(s) of the day
Suresh Raina is usually a good batsman to watch. On occasions tonight, he was an ugly batsman to watch. Aesthetics doesn’t feature in scorecards, though. Time and again tonight, he cleared his front foot and muscled back-of-length deliveries over the midwicket boundary. His front shoulder almost jarred out of its socket. The bat almost flew out of his hands. The ball almost flew out of the stadium.Misjudgement of the day
M Vijay had heaved towards deep midwicket but B Akhil, usually a safe fielder, stuttered right from the start. He took couple of steps and paused for a brief while before he moved forward hesitantly. Then he spilled the catch.Costly mistake of the day
It came from Manish Pandey. He wasn’t standing at the edge of the boundary line and judging by Kumble’s reaction later, he wasn’t supposed to be standing so far inside. Suresh Raina mowed Kumble to deep midwicket and it went over Pandey, who did well to jump and stop it. But if he had stood near the rope to start with, he would have taken the catch comfortably. Needless to say Kumble wasn’t happy; Raina was on 18 then.