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West Ham bowed out of Europe last night at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-finals as a historic opportunity escaped from their grasp.

David Moyes had steered the Premier League side to a first European semi-final since 1976 and despite a 2-1 defeat in the first leg, there were genuine hopes that they could turn it around.

The Hammers got off to the worst possible start, though, with Aaron Creswell receiving his marching orders following a VAR check in the 19th minute, leaving his team to play for more than an hour with ten men.

Three minutes later, Manuel Lanzini had to be taken off and replaced by Ben Johnson. Frankfurt took full advantage of this opening 25 minutes of chaos from the away side to score a splendid goal which put them in pole position to secure a place in the final.

The goal seeped any life out of West Ham, but some performances were poor. Lanzini was particularly off-colour before he was replaced.

The £69k-p/w dud barely contributed during his time on the pitch, losing 100% of his duels and taking only seven touches. His 22-minute spell also saw the Argentine lose possession twice, make only four passes and get dribbled past on one occasion.

All in all, it was a forgettable performance from the player on a night when Moyes needed everyone to step up and make themselves heroes. Although Lanzini was taken off after only 22 minutes, this was a time in which West Ham really needed to take advantage and score an early goal to give themselves some degree of hope.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for Moyes and his team, but he can be proud of the European run and how much it meant to the supporters, even if the 29-year-old Argentine let his side down last night.

With the Hammers sitting seventh in the Premier League table, there is hope that the Scot can deliver Europa League football again next season.

AND in other news, Forget Rice: Moyes now set for West Ham disaster on “remarkable” £125k-p/w giant

Plenty, and then some more, as we found out in February

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Mar-2018Test cricket’s decades-long demise continued at breakneck velocity yet again this month, with many warning that the format is not merely dying, it is dying more, dying faster, and – now that Ireland and Afghanistan are involved – dying in more nations than was ever thought possible. But who is responsible for this planet-wide butchering of the format? Can Test cricket’s legitimate offspring – ODIs and T20 internationals – expect their inheritance soon, or will the uncouth, bastard love-children that are the franchise T20 tournaments carve up the estate instead? And just how much dying can Test cricket really do anyway? The Briefing takes you deep.A spirited decline
Among the many wringing hands about cricket’s future is Moeen Ali, who has expressed “fear” for the future of the long format, based on his experiences in Australia. How could you fail to worry, after all, following the latest Ashes, for which no fewer than 867,002 tickets (the most in 80 years) were sold? How sad it must have been to see such multitudes turn up – many in fancy dress and high spirits – to watch Test cricket in such energetic throes of emperishment. How gut-wrenching to see the sport disco so vibrantly towards its grave.The sucker
Let us mourn for a Mr Dinesh Chandimal, who once was an attacking batsman suited for the exhilarating world of franchise T20, but like an idiot has recently become a very defensive sort and thus wedded himself to this doomed long format.Hang on, what do you mean he used his Test form to propel himself into the limited-overs captaincy and has just led Sri Lanka to victory across formats in Bangladesh?ESPNcricinfo LtdAnother pink-ball party
WICB will become the sixth board to host a day-night Test, when Sri Lanka come to Barbados in June. As the format moves evermore into the night, could it be that it is not dead, but undead?Remorseless dropouts
Adil Rashid and Alex Hales became the two latest players to plunge daggers into Test cricket’s bedridden, life-support-addled body, announcing that they would refrain from first-class cricket in the impending county season. Shame. Not because they are effectively giving up the most challenging format for the shorter ones – no, plenty of cricketers have done that before. Shame, because unlike the long-format quitters before them, these two have not even had the decency to pay empty lip service to the wondrous glory of the Test game, with its five-day picket-fence ebb-flows and its cherry-red ball stains upon player groins and buttocks. Rashid and Hales have neither bothered to invent long-term injuries that prevent them – regretfully – from partaking in the best of the formats, nor at any stage spoken of magnanimously making way for the next generation of red-ballers. Rashid instead just said that his “heart is not there” and Hales has merely suggested that his decision “wasn’t taken lightly or on the spur of the moment”. I mean, throw in a hollow “nothing has given me more satisfaction than to represent England in whites” or something, at the very least.The Briefing award for tokenism
Sunil Narine, meanwhile, in choosing to play the Pakistan Super League over helping West Indies qualify for the World Cup, has said that playing for West Indies remains his “ultimate goal” and he will rejoin the team the moment he regains some “self-belief”. See, Adil and Alex – this is how it’s done.When you break up with someone, you should do them the courtesy of saying “it’s not you, it’s me”•Getty ImagesDave Cameron’s diagnosis
In other news, WICB president Dave Cameron has this month pinned the cricketing decline of Jamaica not on the WICB’s horrendous recent record of managing its players, but on “female PE teachers” in Jamaican schools, who “don’t know cricket” because it is “very complicated”. Enormous congratulations are thus due to Stafanie Taylor and Co, whose winning of the most-recent World T20 trophy is even more impressive for apparently having come despite their indifference towards the head-smarting rules of their sport.The embarrassing dad
Think you had it bad when your parents turned up to check on you in school? Think you suffered when you father cracked terrible jokes in front of friends you were trying to impress? Well, spare a thought for Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who was batting for Guyana in one of the biggest games of his 21-year-old life – the semi-final of the Super50 one-day tournament – when his dad Shivnarine turned up and ruined everything. Tage had worked himself nicely into the innings, having hit 12 off as many balls, before a blunderous straight drive from Shiv ricocheted off the bowler’s boot and into the non-striker’s stumps. Having run out his son, Shiv would proceed to lose his own wicket soon after, and Guyana would go on to lose the game.Next month on The Briefing:
– Unveiling plans for his future political career, David Warner details his pro-literacy “Speak English” policy.- Moeen Ali profoundly concerned for profitability of superhero films: “I mean, has even a single person gone to see ?”- “Shut up, Dad. I don’t need to go to the bathroom before going out to bat.”
Tagenarine’s plea for some space in the dressing room.

Kuldeep Yadav, who idolised Wasim Akram and wanted to bowl fast, talks about his journey, from his coach convincing him to bowl spin to Anil Kumble advising him about the art of bowling long spells

Arun Venugopal12-Oct-2016When Kuldeep Yadav bowled chinaman for the first time, he had no idea what it was called. Left to him, he wouldn’t have bowled spin, or even turned up at a cricket net. As with many Indian kids, Kuldeep found himself chasing unfulfilled dreams of the previous generation. Kuldeep’s father Ram Singh, a brick-field businessman in Kanpur, had wanted his younger brother, Janardhan Singh, to succeed as a professional cricketer. Janardhan played district-level cricket, but couldn’t graduate to the next level.Ramsingh was disappointed his brother’s career didn’t take off, but he wasn’t going to accept defeat; instead, he decided to invest in his son. When Kuldeep was 11, he was sent to a cricket academy to train alongside his uncle. Kuldeep remembers being a “timepass” cricketer initially; he played a lot of table tennis, but it wasn’t as if he wanted to make a career of it either. “I was too young to decide what to do, so I just studied, played and generally had fun for about a year,” he says.Kuldeep’s coach Kapil Pandey, however, thought he had enough talent for serious cricket, but insisted he switch to spin bowling. Kuldeep wasn’t happy about it: he idolised Wasim Akram and was obsessed with fast bowling. “Even my dad isn’t very tall, so my coach thought I wouldn’t shoot up enough to become a fast bowler,” Kuldeep says. Pandey was proved right as Kuldeep grew no taller than five feet eight inches.When Kuldeep gave spin bowling a shot, he didn’t tweak the ball like a fingerspinner would and instead bowled it from the back of his hand. Kuldeep says he doesn’t know why he did it, but Pandey liked what he saw. “He was impressed with the way my hand opened up at the time of release. He thought I had a rare talent and I should continue bowling that way.”Kuldeep is glad he heeded his coach’s advice. “If I had remained a fast bowler, I would have probably never got to meet Wasim sir,” he says with a chuckle. “When I told Wasim about it [years later, at Kolkata Knight Riders], he was happy that I stuck to spin bowling.”Thereon, Kuldeep never slacked off, packing in two practice sessions every day in the morning and evening. That there was no reference point – there weren’t any chinaman bowlers around him to emulate – wasn’t a hindrance to learning. Kuldeep would try to copy the action of Ravindra Singh Chauhan, a legspinner in his academy. He would also watch videos of his idol Shane Warne and observe his action and rhythm closely. Even now, Kuldeep goes back to Warne’s videos, particularly from the 2005 Ashes, whenever he feels he has a problem with his bowling.When he was 14 or 15, Kuldeep was considered too young to play for Uttar Pradesh’s Under-17s. In a year or two, Kuldeep was a regular in the India under-19 side, but didn’t make the squad for the 2012 World Cup. Kuldeep, then only 17, wasn’t perturbed; he knew his time would come. Two years later, he went on to take a hat-trick against Scotland in the Under-19 World Cup and also became the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, along with Kagiso Rabada and Namibia’s Bredell Wessels.In 2012, Kuldeep’s first IPL experience was little more than a brief flirtation with Mumbai Indians. A more purposeful, career-defining relationship was forged with Kolkata Knight Riders, who signed him up two years later. While he didn’t get a game in the 2014 IPL season, Kuldeep finished as Knight Riders’ second-highest wicket-taker in the Champions League T20 later that year, as the team finished runners-up. A little over a fortnight later he made his first-class debut.Kuldeep remembers making an impression on his first day at the Knight Riders camp by dismissing Gautam Gambhir in the nets. He is grateful to Gambhir for playing him in the first XI despite the presence of senior spinners such as Sunil Narine, Brad Hogg, Shakib Al Hasan and Piyush Chawla. More reassuring was how Gambhir never fretted over Kuldeep going for runs.”He would just say, ‘it doesn’t matter, he scored off a good ball,'” Kuldeep says. “When I was playing CLT20, Shoaib Malik took 18 [21] runs off me in an over. So, I went up to Gauti and said I wanted to bowl from the other side because the end I was bowling from had shorter boundaries. Gauti bhai insisted I bowl from the same end. I thought to myself, (what has he done).”The game he’s referring to is the semifinal against Hobart Hurricanes. It proved an important, even if chastening, lesson on second-guessing the batsman’s motives. Kuldeep had started well, conceding only 10 runs in three overs and taking the wicket of Ben Dunk. The first ball of his fourth over to Malik was a dot. Then Malik smashed him for two sixes and two fours.Gambhir’s faith in Yadav has been career-defining for the spinner•BCCI”[Malik] told me after the match I was bowling very well, and that he was reading my mind during my first three overs,” Kuldeep says. “He knew exactly when I would flight the ball or push it faster. When you come up against a big player, he is always one step ahead of you.”A key figure in Kuldeep’s development has been fellow left-arm wristspinner Hogg. Apart from teaching him how to bowl the flipper – Kuldeep admits he needs to become stronger to bowl it as well as his senior partner – Hogg has hand-held Kuldeep through match situations. During a match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2016 IPL season, Kuldeep, after a tight over, was anxious to attack in the quest for wickets.With Sunrisers chasing 172, Hogg knew the batsmen themselves would be under pressure to go after the bowling, and advised Kuldeep just to keep things tight. Kuldeep duly dismissed Shikhar Dhawan in his next over.Hogg has also endeared himself to Kuldeep by being a sounding board. “He has asked me to Skype him if there is any problem I want to discuss with him,” Kuldeep says. “That’s a big deal for a youngster when someone you look up to takes a keen interest in you.”Kuldeep went through a traumatic period during the Ranji Trophy last year. While his numbers – 13 wickets from five games for Uttar Pradesh at an average of nearly 47 – were middling at best, he believes he could have done with a few more opportunities. “I was struggling so much to play for my state, but I don’t know why I wasn’t being picked,” he says. “I had come back after having picked wickets playing for India A, but I would be dropped here. I felt like I was being ignored.”One of the reasons he doesn’t find a regular place in the UP team is the presence of Piyush Chawla as the lead spinner, especially on pitches that don’t require more than one spinner. It’s also possible his success in the shorter formats has led to him being typecast as a limited-overs bowler. Kuldeep, however, insists he is a classical spinner whose heart lies in the longer format.”If you are a spinner, you should turn and flight the ball. I can’t fire it in fast; that is beyond me,” he says. “I love Test cricket the best. I get a lot of enjoyment playing four-day cricket, and my bowling style suits four-day cricket because I flight the ball.”Help, though, was forthcoming from two senior members of the side – Chawla and Suresh Raina. “PC supported me a lot, and asked me to keep working hard,” he says. “Raina is very caring. He always calls and keeps tabs on what is happening with me. I worked very hard on my bowling during that phase. Such phases are part and parcel of life – sometimes you do well and sometimes you don’t.”By the time the Duleep Trophy began – a day-night affair that trialled the pink ball for the first time in India’s first-class cricket – Kuldeep was more at peace with himself and finished as the leading wicket-taker with 17 wickets in three matches. With India’s head coach Anil Kumble and then selectors Vikram Rathore and Saba Karim in attendance, Kuldeep picked up four wickets in the final. Yuvraj Singh, his captain at India Red, called him (magician).Kuldeep’s performances in the tournament didn’t earn him a place in either the Test or the ODI sides against New Zealand, but they didn’t go unnoticed, as he was invited to train with the Indian team. Only once before had he been part of the senior squad when he was picked for the ODI series against West Indies in 2014.”When you are with the team and training with them, you feel that you are a part of the team,” he says. “I had some good conversations with Anil this time. He spoke to me about how I should bowl when the body starts tiring and what I should do while bowling long spells. He would stand next to me while I was bowling and took very good care of me.”The more I am used to bowling to batsmen like Virat [Kohli] or Jinks [Ajinkya Rahane] and Puji [Cheteshwar Pujara] , it’s easier to understand where I stand and how I can improve when I go back to Ranji Trophy. They tell me what’s the right pace to bowl and what variations I could bowl.”Kuldeep didn’t have to wait too long to put some of that wisdom into practice, as he was picked for UP’s season-opener against Madhya Pradesh. But he would know from experience that getting there is only half the job done.

Plus: oldest debut centurions, youngest to 9000 Test runs, and the highest completed innings without extras

Steven Lynch23-Jun-2015What is the smallest amount of play on any day in a Test match – maybe owing to bad weather, or because the match finished? asked Sreeram from India

The one that came to my mind first was the final Test of the 1936-37 Ashes series in Melbourne, when the fifth day started with England 165 for 8, still 200 short of avoiding an innings defeat. Australia wrapped up the match – and a unique come-from-behind 3-2 series win – when the left-arm spinner Chuck Fleetwood-Smith took the final two wickets with the first two deliveries of the day, in front of a crowd of around 12,000, admitted free.There are, however, two other instances of a day’s play lasting only two balls. In Georgetown in 1964-65, Lance Gibbs completed West Indies’ 212-run victory over Australia by dismissing Graham McKenzie second ball. And at Edgbaston in 1992 only two deliveries were possible on the second day of England’s Test against Pakistan because of rain (the first day had been completely washed out too). Pakistan’s opener Aamer Sohail did manage to score three runs in that time.There is one other instance of no runs being scored on a day in a Test where there was some play – at Adelaide in 1972-73, when it took Australia 14 deliveries to take the last Pakistan wicket to complete an innings victory in the first Test of the series.And there are two cases of a day’s play containing just one run. In Sydney in 1932-33, in the first Test of the Bodyline series, Australia – 164 for 9 in their second innings overnight, having just drawn level overall – lost their last wicket without addition, which left England needing one to win, which they scored off the first ball bowled. And at Old Trafford in 1976 England started the final day at 125 for 9, needing just 427 more for victory: they managed one before Mike Selvey was out.In the Test in Fatullah India had scored 259 runs – and Bangladesh had bowled 62.4 overs – before there was an extra – was this a record? asked Hemant Kher from the United States

I knew it wasn’t a record, as the highest completed innings without any extras at all was Pakistan’s 328 in 187.5 overs against India in Lahore in 1954-55. I wasn’t sure, however, about the highest total reached before an extra was recorded, so am indebted to Charles Davis, the Melbourne statistician, who tells me it came during India’s recent series in Australia. In their first innings in the third Test in Melbourne in December 2014, India had reached 402 before the first extra – a leg-bye off the fourth ball of the 106th over. In terms of overs bowled, in Johannesburg in 1957-58 Australia had faced around 149 eight-ball overs – the equivalent of 198.4 of six balls – before South Africa conceded the only extra of the innings, a leg-bye which took the score to 400 of the eventual 401. That innings included two no-balls, but as they were scored from they did not, under the regulations of the time, register as extras as they would now.I read that Adam Voges was the oldest man to score a century on Test debut. Who held the previous record? asked Mohammed Majendie from Pakistan

That’s right, Australia’s Adam Voges was 35 years eight months old when he completed his Test-debut century against West Indies at Roseau earlier this month. The previous record was held by Dave Houghton, who was about four months younger when he made 121 in Zimbabwe’s inaugural Test, against India in Harare in 1992-93. Before that the record had been held for around 45 years by Sussex’s Billy Griffith, who scored 140 for England after being pressed into service as an opener against West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1947-48. Legend has it that Griffith, who later became MCC’s secretary, ran out his opening partner early on, and thought he’d better hang around to make up for it. He made only 17 runs in his other four Test innings. Australia’s Bert Collins (in 1920-21), Aminul Islam of Bangladesh (2000-01) and the English legend WG Grace (1880) were all 32 when they made a century in their first Test. Another England opener, Arthur Milton, was 30 when he did it in 1958.Now that Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s international career seems to have ended, who are the longest-serving current players in Tests and ODIs? asked Subramanian from Singapore

The recent recall of Harbhajan Singh, for India’s one-off Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah, gives him the longest span of any current player if you exclude Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Harbhajan made his debut against Australia in Bangalore in March 1998, so has lasted more than 17 years so far (and he’s still only 34). Chanderpaul’s Test career stretched just over 21 years from his debut in March 1994. Only 11 men have enjoyed longer Test careers; for the list, click here.The longest one-day international career of any current player appears to be nearly 16 years by Chris Gayle, who made his debut back in September 1999. Next comes Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik (debut October 1999). Three players who have appeared in ODIs in 2015 had longer careers, but announced their retirements from the format after the World Cup: Shahid Afridi (well over 18 years), Daniel Vettori (18 years four days), and Mahela Jayawardene (17 years 53 days). For that list, click here.Sydney Barnes has taken twin five-fors in a Test six times – a record•Getty ImagesAlastair Cook reached 9000 runs in the second Test against New Zealand. Is he the youngest player to reach this mark? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines

Alastair Cook scored his 9000th Test run in the second innings against New Zealand at Headingley – and was then immediately out, giving him a nice round career figure to take into the Ashes series. He was 30 years 159 days old, 94 days younger than Sachin Tendulkar was when he reached the 9000 mark in January 2004. Ricky Ponting was 31 when he got there, and Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene and Graeme Smith all 32.Which bowler took two five-wicket hauls in a Test the most times? asked Amit Kumar from India

It’s no great surprise to find Muttiah Muralitharan on top of this list: after all he took 67 separate five-wicket hauls in his long Test career, nearly twice as many as the next man (Shane Warne, with 37). Murali took at least five in both innings on 11 occasions, his biggest haul being 16 for 220 (7 for 155 and 9 for 65) against England at The Oval in 1998. Warne took twin five-fors on five occasions, the same as Clarrie Grimmett and Richard Hadlee. But this illustrious trio are all shaded by the legendary England bowler Sydney Barnes, who did it six times – in just 27 Tests, in which he took 189 wickets at 16.43.

As the cricketing world goes into a farewell frenzy, the city’s humble and school playgrounds that moulded Sachin Tendulkar into the cricketer he is today remain as simple and unpretentious as ever

Sidharth Monga and Amol Karhadkar13-Nov-2013They’re naming gymkhanas after him, they’re minting gold coins with his face on it, politicians are falling over each other to honour him, jealous administrators are trying to pull the rug out from under each other’s feet, but thankfully they have left alone the places that made Sachin Tendulkar, some of which were made by Tendulkar. More than any other cricketer of his era, Tendulkar has been about his fans. How nice it would have been had the politicians, businessmen and administrators running Indian cricket sent some of them to visit these places in the weeks leading up to his farewell.The unkempt maidans (fields), the unassuming school, the residential buildings, they all have something genuine to say about Tendulkar. Mumbai cricket even. Mumbai even. They don’t stand out or lose their simplicity just because Tendulkar was there. In the week in which Tendulkar will end his international career, it is business as usual in the places where Tendulkar has spent most of his life outside international cricket.Shivaji Park in Dadar has kids playing even at 11am because the Diwali holidays are on. Different clubs, teams and individuals own plots here, as on other maidans, where they hold their nets sessions, training and games. Some parts of the ground are bald, some have long, untended grass, and some are well taken care of. There is no boundary rope, and no white-paint markings anywhere, though. The young Tendulkar’s coach, Ramakant Achrekar, used to teach at the Kamat pitch. Not all the players here can point to it. It is not a patch of great interest.The Kamat pitch is close to the centre of the ground, leaning towards the northeast. Next to it, a serious match of cricket is on. The whites worn by the kids – no older than 15 – are immaculate, there is no sightscreen, the umpire moves to the other end at the end of the over, and the keeper wears a helmet. The field is pretty attacking, but there is no boundary here either. That’s the Mumbai way: you don’t think of hitting boundaries, you just bat. You have to run your runs, and are not allowed to hit in the air. “Hawet maaraycha nahee.” These kids have picked up a lot of mannerisms from televised cricket, but the coaches here are making sure they play proper cricket, at least in their formative years. The Bombay school of batsmanship lives on, at least for the time being. There is something peaceful about Shivaji Park despite its being bang in the middle of busy mid-town Dadar. You get to watch innocent cricket, sit in the shade of the many trees, eat (peanuts) and wonder what others whiling away their time here are up to. Some of them are fast asleep on the benches.Shardashram school teacher Ragini Desai flanked by a young Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar•ESPNcricinfo LtdAbout three kilometres to the southeast is Shardashram, Tendulkar’s school since 1984. Except you can’t spot it without having gone past it two or three times. The Shardashram residential society opposite the school is more prominent. The school doesn’t have a single photo of Tendulkar. The only signs that he – and others like Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar and more than 100 Ranji cricketers – studied here are the trophies in the cabinet in the principal’s office. The board outside is small, the front of the building is rented out to a bank and a gym, and its simple colour scheme makes it look every bit like a school meant for, as principal Krishna Shirsat puts it, the “lower-middle and middle class”.Shirsat used to teach maths and chemistry when Achrekar brought Tendulkar here in 1984. Cricket was the sole reason for his move from a school in his suburb, Bandra. Shardashram would even move its internal exams when they clashed with the cricket. And cricket was all Tendulkar did.”We used to win everything,” says Shirsat. “Harris Shield, Giles Shield, Vinoo Mankad, Matunga Shield… And because we won everything, there would be a first round, second round, third round, and so on. So as soon as the cricket season started in July, you would rarely see Sachin in school.” Shisrat would always be available to help Tendulkar, should he need help with maths and chemistry after school hours. When he was selected for Mumbai in 1988-89, the match clashed with a practical board exam, and Shirsat tried to use all his influence to make a special allowance for Tendulkar so he could take the exam after the match.About two years after Tendulkar enrolled, along came Ragini Desai, a physical training and Hindi teacher, a jovial woman with an expressive face and constantly moving eyes. Achrekar was Shardashram’s cricket coach, she was the team’s manager. She was present when Achrekar blasted Tendulkar and Kambli for batting on and on and putting on a 664-run partnership against a weak team. She knows of all the (a street food) escapades of the two friends, and she has a valuable notebook titled “Cricket”.When she went to matches with the team, Desai recorded brief scores in this notebook. She added clippings from newspapers next to the scores as the kids became more and more famous. She has preserved that notebook, and would love to show it to Tendulkar, but she hasn’t ever had the opportunity to meet him after he left school. She hasn’t tried to do so either. She would love to go to the Wankhede Stadium for Tendulkar’s last match, but she is not complaining about how the chances of getting a ticket are minimal.A view from the corridors of Shardashram Vidyamandir•ESPNcricinfo LtdThis school-playground duo is complemented by the tag team of Sahitya Sahawas and MIG cricket club, further north, in Bandra East. Along the way you pass two other influences on Tendulkar’s life: the Siddhivinayak temple where he sneaks in to pray late in the night, and St Michael’s church in Mahim, where his wife, Anjali, lights a candle for him every week.Sahitya Sahawas literally translates to “literature living together”. A building in Worli where Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar lived is named Sportsfield. Sahitya Sahawas is the Sportsfield of Marathi literature. It is where Tendulkar lived as a child. The Tendulkars have neither sold their house here nor rented it out. The guard – stern but not rude – says it will take an application to the secretary of the building a day in advance for him to even point to the window of the Tendulkars.A stone’s throw away, MIG is more open to intruders. A huge Tendulkar mural has come up only a couple of days ago on its main wall. So close to his childhood home, in a city with houses with no outdoor spaces to play sport in, MIG has been Tendulkar’s personal laboratory. Over the years – 25 to be precise – MIG has fulfilled his odd wishes, says Aashish Patnakar, the club’s secretary.Before going to Australia, Tendulkar would practise on half-pitches with rubber balls; he got that here. Before going to England he wanted to bat against wet balls on moist, grassy pitches; he got that here. When he was recuperating from a back injury, he wanted to jog here, but not during the day; they would open up for him at 4.30am. During the busy season when all grounds are occupied, Tendulkar can come to MIG and expect to get a proper facility during the lunch break, which is extended to one hour for his benefit.The Sahitya Sahawas colony, where Sachin Tendulkar lived as a child•ESPNcricinfo LtdIt is here that Tendulkar and his friend Atul Ranade used to do what technology has just started doing: simulate different bowling actions and release points on a bowling machine. Ranade was a master at doing impressions, and he would run in imitating different bowlers and help Tendulkar prepare for different actions. Even when Tendulkar moved to Bandra West – closer to the sea, posher – he would come here to practise.In Bandra West, Shirsat went to meet Tendulkar about five years ago at his residence in his new building, La Mer. “I told his PA I wanted to meet Sachin,” Shirsat says. “His PA said I would have to wait for 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, he came and told me Sachin was too busy. I got angry, and asked the PA to tell Sachin that Shirsat sir has come, does he want to meet him?”And Sachin came running like a four-five-year-old kid comes running to his parents. And then we spoke for 15 minutes with him looking down. Even in school he would look down after saying something “Tendulkar has now given up that apartment for a bungalow of his own, not too far away, in the same suburb. A police van outside the bungalow is a permanent presence nowadays. He is also a member of parliament, although the other day he drove himself far into the north of the city, to the suburb of Kandivli, for a Mumbai Cricket Association function. The bungalow now looks like a fortress.When he was desperate to move in here, he got the workers to do double shifts. The noise in the night obviously disturbed the neighbours. The neighbours were each given a handwritten letter from Tendulkar, asking for their co-operation with the Tendulkars who needed to shift there as soon as possible. No one complained after that.It’s back in south Mumbai that the boy became a man in the world of cricket, playing Kanga League matches in senior sides on wet pitches at Oval Maidan, Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan. His debut as an 11-year-old came for a side housed at Azad Maidan, which is equally well known for being a venue for strikes and agitations. Two days before Tendulkar starts his final Test, about three kilometres from here, fasts until death are being observed for 100% subsidy by the higher-secondary school committee, for railway admissions under notification 1/2007; and an indefinite protest – among others – for an 8% reservation for a particular community. Big photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara abound.Many such protests would have been on when Tendulkar went into the tent of John Bright Club in 1984. These maidans are all heritage sites, so no club can build permanent structures here. The notices outside clearly ban any kind of commercialisation in the form of posters, banners or advertisements on the fences of the maidans; cooking, hawking, peddling et cetera are outlawed; water connections can only be used by proper authorities for “in general, only cricketing activities”.Tendulkar’s next club, SF Sassanian, is like John Bright in betraying no signs that Tendulkar was first seen by the cricketing world while playing in the Kanga League for them. All it has for a dressing room is six ramshackle benches and a few cupboards.All this, Tendulkar’s world before he scored a century on first-class debut, hasn’t changed much over the years. Everywhere you go, Shivaji Park, Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan, you can imagine that curly-haired boy squeaking away – he was quiet only while teachers were around, every teacher of his says – from net to net, from to riding pillion on Achrekar’s scooter, having fun with not a bother in the world, eating , going to school once in a while.You can find a bit of Tendulkar all over Mumbai. And you don’t need plaques, commemorative coins or extravagant felicitations to establish that bond.

After a string of defeats since their Test comeback last August, this is a series victory to get Zimababwe cricket going again

Firdose Moonda24-Jun-2012Zimbabwe’s victory in the unofficial Twenty20 tri-series, which included a stunning nine-wicket win over South Africa in the final, is an indication that they are “on the right path” according to their coach Alan Butcher.Zimbabwean cricket started its upward trajectory since they made their Test comeback against Bangladesh last August but hit choppy waters soon after. Tough series against Pakistan and New Zealand set them back but their coup in this competition is an affirmation for Butcher that improvements have been made.”This is a real sign that we are on the right track,” Butcher told ESPNcricinfo. “It can sometimes get hard to convince people that things are going well when we don’t get the results so this has been really good from that perspective.” Since making their Test comeback with a victory over Bangladesh, Zimbabwe have lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in all formats, the latter both home and away.Their 2012 schedule is sparse, with no cricket from January until the World T20 in September. The tri-series was organised at the request of South Africa coach Gary Kirsten, who wanted to give his team match practice and a chance to experiment ahead of the World T20. It was initially supposed to be a bilateral five-match series played over five days. But, after Bangladesh had their tour to Pakistan postponed, they requested to join in. Their participation brought with it television coverage which gave the series a far higher profile, something Butcher said will add to the publicity of his team’s showing, albeit in a series of practice matches.”It didn’t matter that it was unofficial, we took it very seriously,” Butcher said. “We had training camps since the beginning of May and we worked very hard for this, so I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out. The guys worked well as a unit.”The coach had a few special words of praise for one of his stand-out charges. Hamilton Masakadza was named man of the series after finishing as the tournament’s top run-scorer with 267 runs at 66.75 and notching up four half-centuries in five matches. He also scored a hundred in the tour match against Bangladesh and is enjoying what some like Zimbabwe cricket committee chair Alistair Campbell, have called the form of his life.”I am very pleased for Hamilton. He had his problems and he was even left out of the side but he has worked on them,” Butcher said, referring to Masakadza’s exclusion from the 2011 World Cup squad. “He had an outstanding tournament and he deserved this.”Masakadza’s unbeaten 58 and Brendan Taylor’s 59 not out took Zimbabwe to a comfortable win in the final, but Zimbabwe gained the advantage first-up when their bowlers pinned South Africa down to 146 for 6. “We had a good start, which helped, but generally all the bowlers have worked well as a unit,” Butcher said. South Africa were 6 for 2 in the second over and had lost both their openers, Richard Levi and Hashim Amla.Chris Mpofu was the joint leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with seven wickets and an average of 16.14. He showed good ability on a familiar surface to mix up pace with cutters and performed the role of the senior seamer that he is. Mpofu said he benefitted from being pushed by youngsters like Kyle Jarvis and now has another pace bowler to contend with as well.Richard Muzhange was the find of the tournament. He bowled with control and executed the yorker with perfection, especially at the death of an innings. Jason Gillespie, who coached Muzhange at the Mid-West Rhinos last season, identified him as a future star and Butcher could not be more pleased with what they have found. “He is definitely one for the future. He showed great composure and that he is willing to learn.”That is quality that could be associated with almost all of the Zimbabwe side. They have found that knowledge of what to do in certain conditions and how to play in certain situations has made them a more competitive team and Butcher said it has also had an influence on their mindsets. “The players are growing in confidence and self-belief. Hopefully, we will take that with us into the World T20.”

Two Test wins, 14 in ODIs, an inspiring captain, and a promising newcomer made Bangladesh’s 2009 their most successful 12 months ever

Abu Choudhury29-Dec-2009If 2008 was a year to forget for Bangladesh cricket, 2009 has been a rare treat: one to savour.At first glance, heading into the year, it seemed that cricket’s youngest Test nation was destined to have a tumultuous 12 months. Having lost arguably some of their best players to the ICL, Bangladesh also had to contend with injuries to their most reliable bowler and the change of captaincy that ensued. Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza and Shakib Al Hasan have all skippered the side at one time or another in 2009. Shakib, who signed for Worcestershire late in 2009, proved to be an inspirational captain, and largely under his leadership, Bangladesh have had their most successful year since they gained Test status.Bangladesh played three Tests in 2009. Having lost the first against Sri Lanka in January in a predictably nonchalant style, they went on to surprise the world and possibly themselves by notching up their first Test series victory against West Indies, who fielded a depleted side. But the victory was no less sweet for success-starved Bangladesh supporters.Bangladesh’s year in Test cricket was notable for other reasons too. They made a top score of 345 in St Vincent, where Tamim Iqbal scored his maiden Test century, and on all but one occasion they were able to post at least 200 runs in an innings. For a side that is accustomed to the ignominy of innings defeats, this was no mean feat.It was in ODI cricket, however, that Bangladesh made the most impressive strides in 2009. Of the 19 ODIs they played, they won 14 and lost five. This compares favourably to 2008, when they only won five of their 26 ODIs. A success rate of 74% is impressive by itself, but they also twice scored over 300 against Zimbabwe in Bulwayo – a remarkable statistic for a side that frequently struggles to score above 250 in 50-over cricket.It will be argued that Bangladesh hardly faced the better-ranked sides in 2009, and while this is of course true, it is also worth noting that one of those ODI victories came against a full-strength Sri Lanka side and that Zimbabwe fielded one of their strongest teams in recent years.High point
There is no doubt that the team’s tour to the West Indies in July was the highlight of Bangladesh’s year. Bangladesh had tasted Test success just once previously, against Zimbabwe in 2005. Since then, they have come close but ultimately failed to cross the finish line. In 2009 they not only swept the Test series but also the ODIs.A cursory glance at the scorecards for those Tests will reflect that West Indies fielded an inexperienced side and that both matches were closely fought. However, statistics alone cannot paint an accurate picture. Although lacking big-name players, Reifer’s side contained some cricketers who were an injury or two away from selection to a full-strength side (for example, Kemar Roach, Travis Dowlin and Darren Sammy are all currently touring Australia). Moreover, while West Indies were undercooked before the first Test, they were certainly better prepared for the second. It was the nature of those wins that gives Bangladesh supporters cause for optimism.

Bangladesh continue to be overly reliant on their army of spinners and will be acutely aware that matches are rarely won through left-arm spin alone. The lack of seam-bowling support will need to be addressed

Amid all the uncertainty and controversy on that tour, Bangladesh could easily have succumbed to yet another loss. Followers of Bangladesh cricket will know only too well the team’s habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. But this proved not to be Multan in 2003 or Fatullah in 2006. Ultimately Bangladesh triumphed.There were other high points too. In Zimbabwe, Charles Coventry posted the highest individual ODI score, but this could not prevent Shakib’s men taking the series 4-1, and then repeating the feat with an identical scoreline at home in November. Bangladesh supporters only dare to whisper it right now, but there is an increasing suspicion that their side has finally discovered the art of winning.Low point

It was not all success and accolades for Bangladesh this year. In Twenty20s, which would appear in theory to be tailormade for the trigger-happy Bangladesh batsmen, the team have had a year to forget, losing every match they played. The most embarrassing of these was against Ireland at Trent Bridge, where the Bangladesh batting reverted to type and the O’Brien brothers enhanced their reputations.In this review last year Utpal Shuvro nominated Mohammad Ashraful as Bangladesh’s “fading star”. This year he averaged just under 13 in Tests and under 25 in ODIs. Ashraful’s career has descended into cliché; an apparently gifted young batsman unable to assert himself on the international stage is a story heard before, as the careers of Mark Ramprakash and Mohammad Kaif will attest. Ashraful did make some valuable contributions in 2009, but these were with the ball rather than the bat.The loss of the captaincy means Ashraful is no longer guaranteed a place in the side. He may be only 25 but he has also played 50 Tests, and more ODIs than Andrew Flintoff. His future must now surely be in doubt.Rubel Hossain: Bangladesh’s answer to Mohammad Aamer•AFPNew kid on the block
Just one cricketer made debuts in all three formats for Bangladesh in 2009, and what a debut it was. Rubel Hossain is young, energetic and capable of regularly hitting 85mph. He returned figures of 4 for 33 from just 5.3 overs in his maiden ODI, against Sri Lanka in January. The 19-year-old from Bagerhat is Bangladesh’s answer to Mohammad Aamer, and while he has much to learn, he is certainly an exciting prospect.What 2010 holds
Bangladesh have a surprisingly busy schedule in 2010, when they will face some of the bigger beasts in world cricket. Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and England will all provide much sterner tests.Although they have performed admirably in 2009, there are still unanswered questions. It is not yet clear whether the injury-prone Mortaza will reclaim the captaincy or whether the selectors will keep faith with Shakib. The selectors must also decide whether to recall any former ICL players, who become eligible for selection in the New Year.Bangladesh continue to be overly reliant on their army of spinners and will be acutely aware that matches are rarely won through left-arm spin alone. The lack of seam bowling support will need to be addressed.A relatively successful year has come to an end, but Bangladesh’s performances in 2010 will provide a truer reflection of how much they have evolved. Greater challenges lie ahead, but a side that constantly has to battle for respectability can venture into the New Year full of hope and optimism, and it is not very often that one can say that.

Declan Rice believes new Arsenal signing Noni Madueke is going to "shock" a lot of people this season in a passionate defence of the winger.

• Madueke swaps Chelsea for Arsenal
• Big backlash over winger's move
• Rice defends new Gunners signing

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Madueke swapped Chelsea for London rivals Arsenal in a £52 million ($69.9m) deal earlier this month, but the move was not well received by many Gunners fans. However, Rice, who reportedly played a part in convincing the winger to head to the Emirates, thinks the 23-year-old can excel at Arsenal and gave a glowing review of his fellow England international.

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  WHAT RICE SAID

  When asked about the backlash Madueke received over joining Arsenal, Rice said: "I didn't like it, if I'm speaking honestly. But I know how driven he is. I've spoken to him and you're going to see what he's about this season. I think he's so driven and he's really, really proven. He wants to prove and show everyone what he really can do and I think you're going to see that. There's a hunger inside his belly. I think you see it, when he signed, he had like 10 or 11 people with him, the excitement, it's a good thing. He's hungry, he wants to play for Arsenal and that's the type of players we want. It's so positive. I think he's going to shock a lot of people and I can't wait for him to come. That's what I said in my letter and I really mean it because I really like him as a person."

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  When news of Madueke's impending Arsenal move broke, the hashtag #NoToMadueke trended on X, with some fans feeling a return of 13 goals and five assists in 67 Premier League games was not worth a £52m fee. Despite that, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is excited by the former PSV Eindhoven man's acquisition as they seek to win their first Premier League title since 2004.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Madueke, who is not part of Arsenal's pre-season tour to Asia after his Club World Cup exploits for Chelsea earlier this summer, could make his full debut for the Gunners in their Premier League season opener against Manchester United on August 17.

The path ahead for the women’s game certainly looks brighter. Raunak Kapoor is joined by Lydia Greenway, Marina Iqbal, Valkerie Baynes and Sambit Bal to look at the possible impact of India’s Under-19 T20 World Cup win on the sport – the increased interest, attention, cash, coverage and acknowledgment.