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Victoria were two wickets away from a win that would take them to the top of the table, but the weather played spoilsport

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2024The thunderstorms that swept through Sydney on Monday denied Victoria an all-but certain Sheffield Shield victory over New South Wales with the home side eight down when play was suspended after Scott Boland had claimed five of them.A win would have put Victoria on top of the Shield ladder, but the players left the field about noon and did not return, with NSW 116 for 8 and needing another 86 runs to make Victoria bat again.Tasmania now have a massive home match against Victoria from March 1. NSW, who had turned their Shield campaign around with three wins from their previous four games, remain in the final hunt in fourth spot, behind Western Australia.NSW resumed their second innings on 40 for 3 and Victoria snared five more wickets before rain forced an early lunch and ultimately ended the match.Boland, who will head across to New Zealand for the Test series later this month, starred with 5 for 41 and took eight wickets for the match. On the final day he uprooted Moises Henriques’ leg stump, had Ollie Davies taken at second slip and then found the edge of top-scorer Sam Konstas.His Australian team-mate Nathan Lyon played a crucial innings for NSW to hold Victoria at bay before the weather intervened. Lyon faced 47 balls in tough conditions to make an unbeaten 17. Mitch Perry struck twice but it wasn’t enough.Despite going frustratingly close to a win and top spot, there was a significant highlight out of the match for Victoria. Will Pucovski returned to the Shield team and top-scored with 131 – his first ton in the competition since November 2020.

Sophia Dunkley helps seal last-over win after stuttering batting display by reigning champions

ECB Reporters Network20-Apr-2024Tash Farrant made a fairytale return to cricket as South East Stars beat reigning champions Southern Vipers by four wickets in a thriller on the opening day of the 2024 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Beckenham.England star Farrant, after missing almost two years of cricket with stress fractures of the back, struck a career-best 94, sharing a stand of 165 with skipper Bryony Smith – a record for any wicket for Stars – as the hosts got home with three balls to spare.Australian Charli Knott kept Vipers in it until the final over with a tidy spell of 2 for 35, but England batter Sophia Dunkley’s composed unbeaten 48 saw Stars home amid rising tension.Earlier, Freya Kemp, a day short of her 19th birthday made a maiden List A 50 with Georgia Elwiss 44 and Knott 41 propelling the visitors to a competitive total, Ryana MacDonald-Gay returning figures of 3 for 46.Ella McCaughan and Knott survived some early fishing outside off stump to post an 80-run opening stand after Vipers were put in. Knott impressively drove MacDonald-Gay for successive fours, one square of the wicket and another straight. However, Macdonald-Gay would have her revenge, thanks to a stunning catch by Phoebe Franklin, diving full length to grab a ball dropping over her shoulder.McCaughan soon followed, trapped lbw by Danielle Gregory, but it proved the high point for the Stars spinner, later banished from the attack for a second head-high full toss, the first despatched by Vipers’ skipper Georgia Adams for the day’s first six.Adams became the first of two lbw victims for slow left-armer Bethan Miles just as she looked set to dominate but the visitors were well placed at 190 for 3 with 13 overs remaining. Miles though struck again, ending Elwiss’ polished innings after which wickets fell at regular intervals, Dunkley picking up two with her legbreaks.That Vipers posted 273 was down to Kemp, mixing aggression with good running to reach 50 at better than a run a ball. Alice Monaghan also hoisted MacDonald-Gay for a huge six before falling to another wonderful catch from wicketkeeper Chloe Hill.Farrant was promoted to open with skipper Smith and gave the hosts early impetus with five boundaries in the powerplay. Smith then clicked through the gears, taking two fours in an over off Mary Taylor.Farrant won the race to 50 from 56 balls while Smith took 13 balls longer, before upping the pace, drilling Linsey Smith for two fours in an over to take Stars to 131 for 0 at the halfway mark.History was made when the stand reached 156, eclipsing the 154 posted by Dunkley and Alice-Davidson Richards against Western Storm at The Oval in 2021 before the fun ended when Linsey Smith struck Adams into the hands of Monaghan at cover.Knott quickly removed Paige Scholfield, but Farrant responded by lifting Freya Davies for a straight six as she moved into the 90s. But there would though be no maiden hundred as the excellent Knott struck again to pin the allrounder in front for 94 with 78 needed.As the tension mounted, Adam damaged her left hand failing to cling onto a caught-and-bowled chance offered by Alice Davidson-Richards, but the drop wasn’t costly as the England allrounder was castled by Linsey Smith for just 8.Franklin struck three fours in a rapid 19 before being run out with 14 needed from 15 but Stars got home with a scrambled leg bye in the last over.

Manchester City’s Norwegian sensation Erling Haaland has long been a source of admiration for young footballers across the globe, and the 24-year-old’s influence continues to grow with every game he plays. Among those looking up to him are Brighton’s emerging Greek talents, Charalampos Kostoulas and Stefanos Tzimas, who recently shared their thoughts on the prolific forward during a light-hearted Q&A session.

Haaland idolised by KostoulasTzimas wants his shirtForward being revered by several emerging talentsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

At only 24 years old, the Norway international has already amassed over 300 career goals, a staggering feat for someone still so early in his playing years. He’s twice claimed the Premier League Golden Boot and has become a key figure in Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City side.

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Being managed by Guardiola, a coach widely regarded for refining and extracting the best from elite talent, has undoubtedly helped accelerate Haaland’s growth. The duo have already achieved significant success together, lifting both domestic and continental silverware, including the UEFA Champions League and multiple Premier League titles.

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WHAT KOSTOULAS & TZIMAS SAID

Kostoulas didn’t hesitate when asked about the player he most admires. With a grin, he named Haaland as his footballing idol. Next, when he asked if Tzimas would celebrate if Haaland scored against Brighton, the striker laughed and made it clear that he wouldn’t be joining in any goal celebrations. But he cheekily added that he would seize the opportunity to collect a memento. "No," Tzimas said, "But I’ll take his shirt."

This prompted further banter from Kostoulas, who encouraged Tzimas to think big. "Maybe he’ll ask for your shirt if you score. Bro, come on, aim high. Score a hat-trick in that game," he said.

When a bespectacled and studious-looking Anil Kumble made his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, he was still a few months short of his 20th birthday

Dileep Premachandran in Bangalore25-Jun-2005

Anil Kumble celebrated in style after reaching 400 Test wickets, at his home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore © Getty Images
When a bespectacled and studious-looking Anil Kumble made his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, he was still a few months short of his 20th birthday. And even as he tested out international cricket’s waters, he was eclipsed by the brilliance of a youth 30 months his junior. Sachin Tendulkar made his first century in that game, a stroke-filled 119 that thwarted England’s push for victory.In a sense, that occasion encapsulates Kumble’s career. For all his achievements and status as India’s No. 1 matchwinner bar none, Kumble’s name has always been mentioned as an afterthought, after the hosannas have been sung for Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly. And when aficionados sit down to chat about India’s glorious slow-bowling tradition, they invariably hark back to the quartet of the 1970s, or to Subhash Gupte and Vinoo Mankad from the generation that preceded Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan.Yet, with the exception of Chandra, who picked up his wickets every 65.9 balls, none of the quartet has a strike rate that can compare to Kumble’s 67.1. And his wickets-per-match ratio of 4.73 is way ahead of even Chandra (242 wickets in 58 Tests), the bowler he has been compared to most often.It hasn’t helped that almost from the first ball he bowled, Kumble was pigeonholed as a Glenn McGrath-like character, a robotic performer who relied on metronomic accuracy and steep bounce off the pitch to wear down opponents. And to be fair to the critics, there weren’t too many variations in pace or loop in those early years when he destroyed visiting teams on underprepared tracks – uncharitably called Krumblers by the cynics – with deliveries that spat up off a good length at near-medium pace.When he took the field this morning, Kumble was wearing the dog-eared, ashen-coloured cap he had been given in 1990, and his jubilation at 4pm, when Simon Katich was bowled via the hip to give him entrance into a 400-wicket club with only eight other members, was understandable when you consider how shabbily he has been treated at times during the years. Thinly veiled jibes from former greats about his limited repertoire – blatantly unfair when you consider how much he has expanded it in the past few seasons – surely hurt, as did being left out of showpiece occasions like the World Cup final.But like any genuinely great performer, Kumble avoided petulant ripostes and let his bowling answer the doubters. And the figures amply illustrate why he can stake his claim to be India’s greatest ever bowler. Kapil Dev was playing in his 115th Test when he trapped Mark Taylor leg-before at the WACA in January 1992 to take his 400th wicket. Kumble got to the landmark in 30 fewer games, and unlike Kapil, who proceeded to linger on two years past his sell-by date in his attempt to overhaul Richard Hadlee, he still retains the potency that made him such a feared competitor in his prime.Last winter, he went to Australia and sat watching in Brisbane as Harbhajan Singh – who had supplanted him in the team management’s eyes as the leading spinner – bowled abysmally with a finger injury. Given his chance at Adelaide, Kumble, whose previous five wickets in Australia had cost 90 apiece, proceeded to scalp 24 in three Tests, almost single-handedly bowling India to victory at Sydney on a final day dominated by Steve Waugh’s farewell and renditions of True Blue.The purists have also tended to compare him unfavourably with Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, regarded as the era’s two titans of spin. And while Kumble’s career average and strike rate might not stack up favourably, it’s revealing to look at his and Murali’s records against Australia, who have set the standard for almost a decade. Prior to today, both had played 10 Tests against the Aussies, with Kumble taking 61 wickets at 27.96 (strike rate of 59.8) as opposed to Murali’s 50 at 31.42 (strike rate 61.8). This, despite the disadvantage of having played only four Tests at home, to Murali’s eight.The greater variety has come at a price, and these days, Kumble does send down the occasional half-tracker and half-volley, almost unthinkable a few years ago. But the maturity that was his most eye-catching feature even as a raw 19-year-old, and a refusal to get flustered, have seen him win more battles than he has lost. Some day soon, India – whose fans remain singularly obsessed with batting landmarks – will wake up and realise that they have had a champion in their midst for almost 15 years. And the fact that he hasn’t bothered to advertise it makes him all the greater in many eyes.

While India let Pakistan off the hook in their first innings, the Pakistani bowlers kept up the pressure throughout the Indian innings with incisive bowling

George Binoy30-Jan-2006India won a marvelous toss but wasted the huge advantage of having Pakistan under their thumb at 39 for 6. Kamran Akmal’s hundred and Shoaib Akhtar’s defiance revived Pakistan to 245 before their bowlers rattled India. In allowing Pakistan to claw back into the match, India may have lost their best chance to win the series.While India let Pakistan off the hook in their first innings, the Pakistani bowlers kept up the pressure throughout the Indian innings with incisive bowling. They pitched far more deliveries just short of a length and their faster pace made those deliveries much harder to play then the good length favoured by the Indian bowlers who bowled around 130 kmph. Shoaib Akhtar in particular used the bouncer effectively and even Abdul Razzaq lured Sourav Ganguly into a fatal hook off a short one. The Indian batsmen found Akhtar more than a handful and their not-in-control factor against him is a high 26%. The picture below shows the lengths bowled by the Pakistani and Indian fast bowlers in the first innings.Just how helpful were the conditions on the first day? If Pakistan’s not-in-control factor is any indicator, surviving the initial period of the second innings was remarkably easier than the first. Without the prodigious movement off the pitch, Imran Farhat and Salman Butt played shots with aplomb and cantered along at more than four runs per over. In the first innings the Pakistani batsmen missed, edged, or were beaten by 31 balls in the first 25 overs. That figure dropped to just 13 in the second innings. The picture below shows Pakistan’s not-in-control factor for the first 25 overs of each innings.

The return of the regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch18-Sep-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Geoff Boycott averaged 102.53 in 1979 and 100.12 in 1971 © Getty Images
I recall that in my boyhood there was great excitement one year at the prospect of Geoffrey Boycott finishing the season with an average of more than 100. I haven’t seen any similar comment about Mark Ramprakash’s current efforts. Have season averages greater than 100 become commonplace? asked Stephen Sheen
They’re certainly not commonplace: since Geoff Boycott averaged 102.53 in 1979 (he also managed 100.12 in 1971), the only two men to average over 100 in a whole English season (given a minimum of eight competed innings) are Graham Gooch, with 101.70 in 1990, and Damien Martyn, who averaged 104.66 from nine matches on Australia’s 2001 tour of England. At the time of writing Mark Ramprakash is averaging 103.54, with a possible two innings to come at Derby later this week. Ramprakash has a fairly modest record against Derbyshire: he averages 35.35 from nine previous matches against them – the only county against whom he has a worse average is Essex (29.18). The target for him to aim at is 115.66, the highest average ever recorded in an English season, by Australia’s Don Bradman in 1938. Ramps would beat that if he makes 267 not out (or 383 runs if he’s out once).Sachin Tendulkar has just made his 40th ODI century, but India lost again. How many of his hundreds have led to Indian wins? asked Sumit Bhave from Jharkand
India have won 28 of the one-day internationals in which Sachin Tendulkar has scored a century, and lost 11 of them: there was also one no-result, against England at Chester-le-Street in 2002. Rather worryingly for India, though, they have ended up losing on each of the last four occasions that Tendulkar has reached 100.Are the current DLF Cup matches the first official one-day internationals to be played in Malaysia? asked Priyantha de Silva from Galle
Yes they were: Malaysia had previously hosted the ICC Trophy in 1997, and the cricket competition of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but those were not official one-day internationals. When it staged the match between Australia and West Indies last week, the Kinrara Academy ground in Kuala Lumpur became the 161st different venue to stage an official ODI: for a complete list of the grounds, click here.Who has made the highest score at the Melbourne Cricket Ground? asked Chris Macdonald from Carlton … Melbourne
The highest score in a first-class match at the MCG is 437, by Bill Ponsford for Victoria against Queensland in 1927-28. Ponsford also scored the only other quadruple-century there, 429 against Tasmania in 1922-23. The Test record is 307, by Bob Cowper for Australia against England in 1965-66, and the highest individual score in a one-day international there is 173, by Mark Waugh for Australia against West Indies in 2000-01.

Bill Ponsford made 437 for Victoria against Queensland in 1927-28 © Cricinfo Ltd
Which cricketer called his autobiography Playing With Fire? asked Robert Richards from Cornwall
That was Nasser Hussain, who brought out his life story after his retirement in 2004. Published by Michael Joseph Books, it weighed in at a chunky 512 pages, which I suspect was the record for a cricket autobiography at the time, although the mark was smashed by Steve Waugh’s 816-page monster Out Of My Comfort Zone in 2005!There’s an update to last week’s question about the former Zimbabwe captain Brian Murphy, from Debashish Biswas
“Brian Murphy is the pro at Henley Cricket Club, on the Berkshire/Oxfordshire border. He has been there since at least 2004. Their First XI play in the Home Counties Premier League.”And there have also been a few responses to last week’s appeal for the missing words for Tony Woodward’s poem:
Mike Staveley from Canada suggests:
I wondered how she’d look without her Extra Cover,
And how she would respond if I tried my Leg Break tricks …
While Tony McGowan attempted:
Did she spot your googly coming,
Or your other fancy tricks?
And Farrukh Aziz from Pakistan tried:
Wanting to drive Through the covers, I just got a nick,
I heard the Third Man saying “Oh what a nice flick”.
But possibly the best one came from Chandramouli in India:
I thought she would be a good catch,
And we would make a perfect match.

Bangalore may have replaced their CEO but their problems lie squarely in cricketing issues, on the field and off it

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan06-May-2008
Rahul Dravid is yet to play a match-winning knock for the Bangalore Royal Challengers (file photo) © AFP
‘A Test side that can’t even draw games’. The glum look on the face of the teenager who held up the banner at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, at the end of Bangalore’s latest defeat, told a story. A forgettable IPL journey so far – Rahul Dravid booed on his homeground, Wasim Jaffer heckled on the boundary line and five defeats in seven matches – became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons on Tuesday with the ouster of Charu Sharma. It’s unclear, though, what impact a change of CEO will have because Bangalore’s poor form stems from poor cricket-related decisions.Most didn’t give Bangalore much of a chance before the tournament – simply because the side was packed with so many Test specialists – and the prediction has been spot on so far.”After the first round of auction in Mumbai, a few friends congratulated me on my Test team,” Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, said before the IPL. ” I mentioned this to our captain Dravid and he laughed it off and told me that Test cricket is the ultimate test for any cricketer and if a player can do well in that format, then he can do well in all other formats, be it one-day matches or Twenty20.”That theory has been torn apart. Bangalore are yet to settle on an opening combination – at a time other teams are riding on fire-starting partnerships up front; they haven’t gelled as a unit and are yet to string together two successive wins. Their two victories have been against two of the weakest sides in the tournament and both were clinched in the final over. Here’s a look at some of the key problems:Little Twenty20 experienceDravid had hoped his experienced internationals could deliver under pressure but what’s actually happened is the converse: their lack of Twenty20 experience is hurting. Jaffer started the tournament without a single Twenty20 game; Dravid and Anil Kumble had only experienced two apiece; and Mark Boucher, the most experienced, could still be termed callow with 16 matches. Compare that to the Rajasthan Royals, who chose Dimitri Mascarenhas (31), Graeme Smith (27) and Shane Watson (17).”Everyone thinks Twenty20 is hit and miss but experience actually counts for a lot,” Jeremy Snape, Rajasthan’s mental-conditioning coach, told Cricinfo. “It’s tough to react under pressure if you haven’t felt the intensity and pressure earlier. That’s the reason we chose players who had Twenty20 games under their belt.”Martin Crowe, the director of operations, conceded as much. “Take out Misbah [ul-Haq] and we don’t have a specialist Twenty20 player,” he told Cricinfo. “We don’t have a specialist Twenty20 opener (even Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a converted opener).”While the team management seethes about the quality of surfaces being provided – “worst in the tournament,” thundered one member – the ground staff insist they were under instructions to prepare tracks to assist a side relying on bowlingSeveral questions need to be asked at this stage. Why was Misbah benched when he was available for games against Rajasthan and the Delhi Daredevils? Why has Chanderpaul got just two games? Why did it take six games to ease out Boucher? And what justifies the excessive faith placed in Jacques Kallis?No Indian fire-powerOne glance at the points table and it’s obvious that teams with good Indian contingents are thriving. Rajasthan have unheralded stars stepping up to the plate – Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel have proved their value while Swapnil Asnodkar and Siddharth Trivedi have exceeded expectations. Punjab ride on a quality Indian bowling attack – Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh and Gagandeep Singh backing up Piyush Chawla – while Delhi have struck gold whenever the top three – Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan – have fired.Barring Praveen Kumar, Bangalore’s young Indian players have hardly made any impression. “Both Indian and foreign players seem to be distracted,” a member of the contingent told Cricinfo. “Probably the only people who seem to be really hurt by the defeats are Rahul and Anil [Kumble]. Some of the other internationals have simply not shown the (spirit) they usually show when they play for their countries. The other thing that is disappointing is that the local players, except for Rahul and Anil of course, have not stood up for the team, when you compare with, say, somebody like Abhishek Nayar for Mumbai. It is really mysterious because the communication between players have been excellent, the meetings and discussions have been of a very high standard.”Opening woesSix different batsmen (Jaffer, Chanderpaul, Bharat Chipli, Kumar, Virat Kohli, and Dravid himself) have opened in a tournament when wins have been largely based on opening partnerships. “We haven’t got that right at all,” said Crowe, “but again you need to try out new combinations if the existing one isn’t working. You can look at it as a good move or a bad one. But we thought trying out different partnerships will help us settle on a combination.”
Misbah-ul-Haq, one of the few Twenty20 specialists in the Bangalore side, was benched for two games when he was available for selection (file photo) © AFP
Pitching it wrongTake out Brendon McCullum’s hell-raising 158 and run-scoring hasn’t been easy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Dravid’s 66 has been the second-highest score and the five games have produced only eight 50-plus scores. While the team management seethes about the quality of surfaces being provided – “worst in the tournament,” thundered one member – the ground staff insist they were under instructions to prepare tracks to assist a side relying on bowling. Bangalore’s defeat on a belter in Delhi, when the batsmen lost their cool in a tricky chase, shows that the personnel, rather than the surface, needs attention.LeadershipThe top teams are those with innovative captains. Dravid has looked out of place so far – oozing tension rather than calm – and has been caught out by surprises (remember his first ball duck to Shane Watson’s bouncer?). Outfielders have looked uncertain at various points – Jaffer wasn’t sure whether to stand in the circle or outside during several stages of the Deccan match – and Dravid’s bowling changes have back-fired more often than they’ve come off. He is yet to play a match-winning knock and he’s not shown a willingness to stash away his conventional technique and innovate here. In the two games he’s won the toss, he’s lost the match.Crowe has been making press conferences lively with his theories (“We’re looking to de-humanise the opposition”, “You need to play Warne as if he’s a straight bowler”) but plans have come unstuck so far. Venkatesh Prasad has insisted the young Indians are learning a lot from the foreign players but the sight of B Akhil refusing a single to Kumar (when Kumar simply had to be on strike in the climactic stages of the Chennai match) or Vinay Kumar drifting down the leg side when fine leg had just been brought in (against Rajasthan) reek of an unprofessional approach.

Cricinfo’s senior editors on the best passages of cricket they watched in 2008

05-Jan-2009

Hold on to this one, he’s a goodie: his team-mates swarm Mendis in the Asia Cup final © AFP
Osman SamiuddinMendis in the Asia Cup final
This was the beauty of it, of cricket and cricketers in the subcontinent. A young guy, very much his own guy, little heard of, coming out on a big stage and torpedoing a giant. Even if Ajantha Mendis never bowled another ball or got another wicket, his six-for would stand as tribute, a most beautiful tribute in fact, to the art and joy of this region’s cricket. It doesn’t matter if it is a fleeting thing – often that enhances it – for in that moment, or prolonged moment, you are sucked in and taken along on a ride where nothing makes sense but everything makes you smile and makes the hair on your body stand up. Cricket becomes an experience, a very visceral experience, and not a sport, to be sensed, even touched, but above all to be felt.These bouts are difficult to explain. The National Stadium in Karachi had been a graveyard for the bowlers. Three hundred was the new 240. Two seventy-four was thus a gettable thing, and with Virender Sehwag in flow and India 76 for 1 in the 10th over, it threatened to be a miniscule total. Mendis – rested in the group game against India – came on, Sehwag charged a straight, wide one, missed, and was stumped. Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma also missed straight balls; they expected something to happen with that strange grip and yet nothing really did. Suddenly India were all out for 173. These things happen in such a sudden burst of flair.There was about the whole spell, a very Pakistani air – something a Waqar or Wasim could do, but more pertinently something a guy like Mohammad Zahid from Gaggu Mandi, who only his parents had heard of, could do. Stuart Broad took a superb five-fer against South Africa last summer but it was all so pristine, so sanitised: straight-up swing; nice, coached upright action; edges to slip; boy who has worked his way through a structure.This was nothing like it, because it induced in India a very visible panic and in everyone else the purest thrill, from a guy nobody knew much about. Fielders suddenly become more alert, batsmen more incompetent, balls turning who knows which way, and that is the joy of cricket surely, at its absolute base level: in a team game, one man changing the mood of a match, of entire countries, in a trice, just like that, as you or I might turn on a switch. Indeed, the best was that until the very end, nobody could say for sure that someone like Mahendra Singh Dhoni – an equal of Mendis in unorthodoxy – wouldn’t do what Mendis had just done and switch it all back. Ajantha Mendis, long may he live and bowl; the glory of this region’s cricket, long may it flourish.Peter EnglishSession one at the WACA, Australia v South Africa
Opening sessions that justify the pre-series hype are rare and whenAustralia are involved they usually occur only in Ashes contests. SouthAfrica provided the perfect gatecrash in the first Test at the WACA with abrilliant 30 minutes that involved three wickets and showed Australia werefinally in a serious contest at home. Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini had beentalked about as major weapons and they provided the early bullets. Gettingthrough Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey can sometimes takesdays, but the opening pair managed it in less than six overs.An out-of-form Hayden was uncertain outside off stump and edged to Ntini,who followed next ball by having a driving Ponting caught superbly by AB deVilliers in the cordon. Hussey avoided the hat-trick but was quickly linedup by Steyn’s angle and de Villiers was sharp again. It was the sort ofspell that excited neutrals, shocked Australian fans and gave South Africanshope.It also did something that few teams manage Down Under, by getting the homeplayers to doubt themselves. To achieve all that in half an hour was anincredible feat. While it set up the series, it did not gain South Africaimmediate control, with the advantage swinging from side to side throughoutthe three sessions – and the entire game. The opening day couldn’t match thestart of the Ashes in 2005, but it was so addictive.

Flintoff wonders just what he needs to do after a plumb lbw against Kallis has been turned down © Getty Images
Andrew MillerFlintoff to Kallis at Edgbaston
A spell so good, it deserved to win a Test match. That it did not wasultimately down to the skill of Graeme Smith, whose incredible 154 not outin the second innings secured an improbable run-chase, but when AndrewFlintoff tore into Jacques Kallis to turn the Edgbaston Test match on itshead, it was the moment a great competitor announced his rehabilitation atTest level. Until his intervention, England had been drifting out ofcontention. Their first-innings 231 had been all but matched and six SouthAfrican wickets were still standing. Then Flintoff upped the ante. Twobrutal bouncers and a pair of perfect yorkers, the second of which struckKallis plumb in front of middle, revived memories of Flintoff’s inspiredover to Ricky Ponting on the same ground in 2005, except it took anotherfour deliveries to get the desired result. Another wicked bouncer and aperfect outswinging yorker ripped Kallis from the crease, to scenes of wildadulation.The over had a twin impact. Firstly, it was indisputable proof of Flintoff’senduring class at international level – at the age of 30, and after fourankle operations, seeing was believing, and for the packed Birmingham crowdthat day, belief had rarely felt so good. Secondly, it reminded England thatall the line-and-length merchants in the world cannot make up for the rawthreat of a genuine 90mph speedster. For the next Test at The Oval, KevinPietersen’s first in charge, Steve Harmison was recalled to the fold, andthe improvement in the team was plain for all to see.Dileep PremachandranYuvraj v England’s spinners in Chennai
As VVS Laxman trudges back, some fans clutch their heads in despair.Yuvraj Singh strides to the middle a minute later, but on a final-daypitch taking dramatic turn, he’s not the figure you want to see. Sachin Tendulkarhas made sedate progress to 32, and it’s becoming increasingly obviousthat he will have to seize the initiative if the effervescent Graeme Swannand the less bubbly Monty Panesar are to be kept at bay.Tendulkar starts Panesar’s next over with a typically precise paddlesweep. As it streaks past Matt Prior and the helmet for four, the crowdfinds its voice again. After a nervous Yuvraj sees off another over fromSwann, Tendulkar targets Monty once more. This time, a short ball isdismissed to the rope at square leg. He seems to be warming into his roleas Yuvraj’s guardian.But does the younger man need such cotton wool? Having been flummoxed by aSwann delivery that turns right across his bat and into Prior’s gloves,Yuvraj decides to trust the attacking instincts that have served him sowell in coloured clothes. A lovely back-foot push through the covers givesSwann reason to think, and when the next ball lands on leg stump, it’sswept with awesome power for four more.

Ishant Sharma draws first blood in what turned out to be the rivalry of the year © Getty Images
When Monty resumes, Yuvraj is out of his crease and lofting withconfidence down to long-on. Pietersen swiftly calls off his spin twins andbrings back Steve Harmison and Andrew Flintoff. The tide has turned, the Red Sea partedby a man who allegedly can’t play spin.Sambit BalIshant v Ponting in Perth
It isn’t coincidence that four out of five in this collection of memories of the best cricket we watched last year – are about triumphs by bowlers. It¹sa reflection of our times. What’s rare is precious. When the standardwicket-taking method is boring the batsman out with run-denying lines andsmart fields, which often include a deep point, out-and-out wicket-takingperformances are the ones to hold on to.After a bit of juggling I settled on Ishant Sharma’s dismantling of RickyPonting over Ajantha Mendis’ dumbfounding of Rahul Dravid in Colombo – if only because the first was a spectacle that lasted an hour. Already in the same Test we had seen a thrilling duel between the game’s two premier players, Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee, but this was between a rookie and a master, and the master ended up looking like a rookie.In the first over he bowled to him on the fourth day, Ishant could have hadPonting twice – one went away missing the outside edge by a fraction, andanother jagged back and hit in front – but that he didn’t only prolonged thedrama. Ishant charged in over and over, hurrying Ponting with pace, getting himto fend with bounce, beating him with movement. Every over probably seemedlike an eternity for Ponting, who couldn’t even get off strike. Thereward finally came in the eighth, which came about as a last-secondchange of mind prompted by Virender Sehwag, who had seen Ishant bowl longspells as his captain for the Delhi team. The ball pitched on off stump and rosewhile leaving Ponting, who could only edge it to Rahul Dravid at slip. Thatwas Ishant’s only wicket in the innings, but it was the one that mattered.

Already 1-0 down in the series, and with their No. 1 ranking under severe threat, Australia couldn’t have asked for a better venue to mount a fightback

S Rajesh24-Dec-2008Already 1-0 down in the series, and with their No. 1 ranking under severe threat, Australia couldn’t have asked for a better venue to mount a fightback. A Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Cricket has been synonymous with absolute Australian dominance in recent times: since the 1999-2000 season, they have a perfect 9-0 win-loss record here. Not only have they won each time, they have also done so with plenty to spare – out of those nine wins, one was by an innings, four by a margin of more than 175 runs, and three by nine wickets. South Africa were at the receiving end on two of those occasions, losing by nine wickets in 2001, and by 184 runs in 2005.

Australia and South Africa at the MCG

PlayedWonLostDrawnAustralia – overall100572815South Africa – overall11272Autralia – since 1990191522South Africa – since readmission4022For a beleaguered and harried team, the numbers at this ground will please Ricky Ponting, the under-pressure captain . In the last nine Tests at the MCG, Australia average almost twice as many runs per wicket as the opposition, and score at a much faster rate too. They also tend to take the early initiative with both bat and ball – their average partnerships for the first two wickets here are 50 and 66.21, while the opposition’s is 30.55 and 29.27. Once they’ve take the early initiative, they’ve refused to let go. (Click here for Australia’s average runs per partnership, and here for the opposition’s.)

Australia’s dominance at the MCG since 1999-2000

Runs per wicketRuns per overAustralia batting45.283.63Australia bowling23.372.77Australia come into this match, though, with plenty of problems. Their biggest worries have revolved around the form of their most experienced players, and there again, Melbourne has been kind to most of them in the past. Matthew Hayden has had a horror run in the last couple of months, scoring 282 runs in his last 13 innings, but the MCG has been his most prolific venue: in nine Tests he has scored 1072 runs at an outstanding average of 76.57. In his five most recent Tests here, his record is even more scary – his scores read 136, 53*, 9, 56*, 65, 137, 153, 124, and 47, giving him an aggregate of 780 and an average of 111.42. Ricky Ponting, another batsman who has had a patchy year so far, averages more than 61 here, though his last three innings have only fetched him 14 runs.

Australian batsmen in Melbourne

BatsmanTestsRunsAverage100s/ 50sMatthew Hayden9107276.576/ 3Andrew Symonds330761.401/ 1Ricky Ponting1191761.133/ 3Michael Hussey319739.401/ 0Michael Clarke311829.500/ 1Simon Katich12929.000/ 0Among the bowlers, Brett Lee has been the biggest concern – he has taken 21 wickets at 42.23 in his last seven Tests, including returns of 1 for 132 in Perth – but at the MCG he has racked up 34 wickets in just seven Tests at an average of 25. The accuracy of Stuart Clark will be missed again: in two Tests here, Clark averages 10.50, at an economy rate of 1.66; in four innings, he has never conceded more than 1.87 runs per over.South Africa have far fewer worries going into the match, and Jacques Kallis’ two half-centuries in Perth means the one batsman who has struggled for runs this year has found some as well. Kallis needs just 79 more to become the first South African to score 10,000 Test runs, and if his past record at this ground is any indication, he should get it over the next five days: Kallis averages averages 47.50 at the MCG, which is where he scored a century in his first Test in Australia. The next time he played here, he almost got another century, being run-out for 99. He didn’t get many in 2005, but now would be a perfect time to make amends for that.Australia’s selection quandary includes the question-mark over their spinner, and while Nathan Hauritz has come in for the profligate Jason Krejza, recent record here suggests Hauritz won’t have much success. In the last nine Tests, fast bowlers have taken 196 wickets at an average of just over 30, nine runs fewer than the spinners’ average. Surprisingly, spinners have taken more five-fors, with fast bowlers sharing the wickets around most of the time. All the five-wicket hauls by spin bowlers have been by wristspinners – two by Anil Kumble, and one each by Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill and Danish Kaneria.

Pace and spin at the MCG in the last nine Tests

WicketsAverageStrike rate5WI/ 10WMPace19630.7861.14/ 0Spin7339.6370.85/ 0

Bangladesh’s new captain retains the exuberant spirit that marked him as a talent to watch, and he wants his team-mates to play the same way

Utpal Shuvro09-Jul-2009Every cricketer’s dream is to lead his country, and even if you didn’t seek Mashrafe Mortaza’s reaction you could almost predict it – it is a dream come true. But what sets Mortaza apart is, he never had ambitions of being captain, he says. This may just be a carefully constructed persona to ensure he stands out. Or it may just be the truth – because the notion of him as captain is so unbelievable. In any case, Mortaza repeats his stand: “Believe me, I never ever harboured ambitions of being captain. I like playing under someone else.”There are two ways of seeing this. One, that the honour bestowed on Mortaza by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after removing Mohammad Ashraful has proved to be a crown of thorns. The more positive explanation goes thus: Mortaza doesn’t see the captaincy as a do-or-die situation and isn’t weighed down by pressure, but instead cherishes the respect and recognition attached to the job. When the responsibility has been entrusted to me, why don’t I try and make an impact seems to be his attitude.It is this attitude – a stubbornness, if you will – that helps one understand Mortaza better. Hailing from the small district town of Narail, he exploded like a meteor on to the Bangladesh cricket scene when he caught the attention of a coach, resulting in his induction at the Under-17 level. A few days later, he was steaming in during a Test match, and he looked every bit Bangladesh’s best fast bowler – a spot that had practically not existed in the previous eight years.However, the bigger challenge lay elsewhere. There have been times in his career when the meteor looked to be a falling star. The past four years have been largely injury-free but the earlier part of his career has coexisted with fitness issues, beginning with a dodgy back and problems with his knees. In fact, both his knees have been operated on four times, with the landing foot going under the knife thrice. It’s a wonder, then, how Mortaza continues to be bowling fast. Perhaps it’s his inherent stubbornness that helped him fight the battle against injury. If so, it’s a quality that will help him when he captains the team.Will that be enough, though? Cricket and captaincy at the international level is a whole new ball game and Mortaza’s stubbornness, his refusal to quit when others have done so, may not be enough. Where will Bangladesh’s players get the strength from? Theirs is a weak domestic set-up; opportunities and facilities are scarce. When they are thrust into the trying conditions of international cricket, you have to feel for them.Ultimately, the captain is only as good as the team. The coach, Jamie Siddons, points out that captaining Bangladesh is the toughest task in international cricket. Mortaza will have no go-to bowler who will guarantee a wicket when handed the ball, nor a batsman on whom he can depend to bat out a session.

Cricket and captaincy at the international level is a whole new ball game and Mortaza’s stubbornness, his refusal to quit when others have done so, may not be enough

The assignment has become even tougher in recent times. The hopes and expectations of achieving the impossible have also gone up. The joke went that there was no easier task than captaining Australia and Bangladesh, for albeit polar opposite reasons: While the Australian captain knew that his team would always win, his Bangladeshi counterpart had no expectations to fulfill.The expectations first surfaced in December 2004, when Bangladesh defeated India; the tag of “giant-killers” in ODIs has stayed on ever since. Even as Bangladesh lost 47 matches on the trot, their fans revelled in the sheer joy of international cricket. Repeated failure, though, has now resulted in impatience.Ask Mohammad Ashraful, whose two-year stint at the top was tumultuous. Under his captaincy not only did Bangladesh defeat New Zealand and Sri Lanka in one-dayers, they played two closely fought Test series against those opponents. It seems a trifle unforgiving, then, that Ashraful was shown the door after one Twenty20 defeat to Ireland.The BCB’s stated reasoning was that it wanted Ashraful to concentrate on his batting without the pressures of leading the side. The youngest Test centurion on debut, Ashraful is perhaps associated with inconsistency, and it’s easy to apply that to the captaincy as well. Mortaza remains a huge fan of Ashraful’s batting. “He is the biggest match-winner for Bangladesh. When Ashraful is on song, Bangladesh are a different team,” he says. Whether cricket watchers will warm up to a changed Ashraful under Mortaza remains to be seen.Whether cricket watchers will warm up to a changed Ashraful under Mortaza remains to be seen•Bangladesh Cricket BoardMortaza, though he has matured, has retained his simplicity and a childish streak – neither hidden too far deep. Star power and fame don’t interest him; instead, like a hyperactive teenager, he usually seems hellbent on spending his vast reserves of energy.His impishness came through a few days before the West Indies tour, when he was visiting Narail. Covered in debdaru [a tall, bushy tree] leaves, his face dirty, he and his group of friends were wild with excitement as they went around the town one afternoon.Will captaincy change the carefree spirit? Mortaza doesn’t think so. He wants his colleagues to enjoy the game with the teenage spirit and exuberance he embodies. He has just the one wish, which he clarified at his first team meeting as captain: that everyone, whether they have the ability or not, give 100% on the field. He has promised that he will never let down a player who ensures his best performance always.Mortaza may not have dreamt of being captain, but the significance is not alien to him. He understands that the fans, with little success to boast of, have also made them their carrier of dreams. They celebrate every success, though they mostly have cause to shed tears at defeat. As in the rest of the subcontinent, cricket in Bangladesh is not just a sport but something bigger, a way of life perhaps.It’s a point Mortaza acknowledges. “It’s actually the national flag we are holding in our hands,” he says. He may not feel it yet but his load is the heaviest of the lot.