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A famous win for South Africa was doubly special for Makhaya Ntini, who became the first bowler from his country to take ten at the ground

Firdose Moonda11-Jul-2012Makhaya Ntini is the only South African so far to have his name on the ten-wicket board at Lord’s. It came on Ntini’s second tour to the United Kingdom, in 2003, by when he had established himself as one of the leaders of the bowling attack. He had shown the willingness to match his great skill, and had the opportunity to show off that combination in the second Test of the series.After a draw in Birmingham, Ntini took a five-for in the first innings at Lord’s to bowl England out for 173. But he does not dwell too long on that innings, since Graeme Smith’s 259 overshadowed any bowling effort by that stage of the match. The pitch had flattened and South Africa declared on the third day with a lead of 509 runs.The instruction was clear: they did not want to bat again. “Corrie van Zyl came to me and said, ‘Now it’s all up to you, you can get ten wickets here,’ Ntini says. “He took me by the shoulder and showed me the board with the names of the people who had got ten wickets and one of the names there was my hero, Malcolm Marshall. At that stage, in my head I took on the responsibility of the game. I asked myself, ‘What to do I want to achieve here?’ The most important thing was not to draw.”Getting a victory would require a massive effort from the South African pace attack, which was missing the young Dewald Pretorius, who was only able to bowl seven overs in the match because of a niggle. “I had a heavy load on myself and I also had my own target – to get ten wickets at Lord’s,” Ntini says.He had the belief. “[Marcus] Trescothick was the one wicket I knew I would get. He was a left-hander and I had clean-bowled him in the first innings.”And he had the energy. “I finished the innings with 31 overs. That was a lot of hard work for a fast bowler. Graeme knew I never said no. Even if he called me back and I had just finished a spell, I was always willing to work for him and win the game for him.””We were close to tea and I got Nasser Hussain out, so we were getting there.” And then Ntini gave South Africa the breakthrough. “Alec Stewart came in at No. 6, and I had him caught second ball. We knew if we could get that one, we’d be in a good position. It was part of the excitement – to go off for tea knowing you had got another wicket,” he says.Shaun Pollock dismissed Anthony McGrath, but there was still someone standing in South Africa’s way. “[Andrew] Flintoff was the hero of England cricket. When he hit fours, the crowds would go berserk,” Ntini says. They also went berserk when Ntini shattered Flintoff’s bat from handle to toe so that the two halves parted like the proverbial Red Sea.”The crowd was unbelievable,” Ntini remembers. “They were cheering like you can’t believe. I went to my fielding position on the boundary and everyone was standing up and clapping. It was hero against hero. It was us against him. He was the only one. We knew that if we got him out, the game would be over.”With the wicket of Ashley Giles, Ntini had nine for the match. When he got Steve Harmison caught in the slips, Ntini sank to his knees to kiss the hallowed ground. “I couldn’t do any more. I was overjoyed. I was excited that the mission had been accomplished. I was over the moon. Even now, when I look at the pictures in my lounge, I feel proud, although I wonder, ‘What the hell was I thinking to kiss the pitch?'”But still, ten wickets at Lord’s. There’ve been so many South Africans who have been there and played there and no one else has done it.”It was Paul Adams who eventually broke through Flintoff’s defences and had him stumped to give South Africa a series lead.”Our families were with us, so there was no boys’ time afterwards,” Ntini says. “We had some time at the ground where we stood on the balcony and put our flags. I don’t care who says what, Lord’s is one of the best dressing rooms.”But Ntini’s efforts were largely overlooked by the English media, who footnoted it after Flintoff’s fighting century. It was referred to in the sixth paragraph of the ‘s match report. Ntini himself did not see the achievement as one signalling greatness, because he still hadn’t completely cemented his place in the squad. “I never felt in a comfort zone. For me it was always that I needed to work even harder to compete with the young stars that came in.”Ntini leads the celebrations on the Lord’s balcony•Getty ImagesNtini’s advice to the team this time is that everybody should feel secure, which he feels they have not been in the past. “The whole team needs to bind together, one frame of mind, one thought. They need to make sure we are together at all times. They must protect one another. That’s one thing we have always lacked, we always want to expose one another, which is wrong. If there are any holes that they see can crack the team, they need to make sure that they close it as quickly as possible without pointing fingers.”He thinks the person who could decide the series is a man he will “always be friends with”, Mark Boucher. He could hardly have imagined Boucher would be out of the series before it got underway. “He mentioned that the tour is his last,” Ntini says. “He must not put himself under pressure but he must go there and enjoy himself and show people why he is the best wicketkeeper in the world.”

Despite being one of the most accurate, consistent and wicket-taking bowlers in domestic cricket, Pankaj Singh has been consistently ignored by the national selectors

Amol Karhadkar20-Nov-2012″ [You have to give it all every time you bowl],” Pankaj Singh, the Rajasthan bowling spearhead for well over half a dozen years now, said after having bowled three spells at his best on the last day of their Ranji Trophy Group A tie against Madhya Pradesh. Such was Pankaj’s energy that each one of his three spells on a meaningless last day, was as good as – if not better than – his opening spell of the match under a blazing sun on the first morning at the KL Saini Stadium.Even though Pankaj, 27, tried to be as optimistic as possible, there was a hint of frustration in his voice. And soon, rather than answering a question, he himself raised one that has been pondering not only him but a lot of Indian cricket followers. “Can someone tell me why is it that I am not picked for India [in Tests]?” he asked. “I have picked 150 wickets in the last four domestic seasons and there have been so many others who have been given an opportunity. Why I am not presented with an opportunity? What more do I need to do to seek attention [of the selectors]?”There’s no doubt that Pankaj has a point while venting out his dejection. After all, despite being one of the most accurate, consistent and wicket-taking bowlers on the domestic scene over the last five seasons, he has been consistently ignored by the national selectors. The only time he was part of the Test squad was during the tour to Australia in 2007-08 but he didn’t get an opportunity to bowl in a competitive game during the tour.The only time he wore the national jersey was during the tri-nation series in Zimbabwe in June 2012 as part of a second-string India squad led by Suresh Raina. While all the other India pace bowlers on that tour have played at least one Test, Pankaj is still waiting for his chance. Since then, he has consistently picked wickets in domestic cricket. He was the second-highest wicket-taker in the 2010-11 Ranji season with 43 wickets [53 in the whole domestic season] and was the third highest wicket-taker in Rajasthan’s victorious campaign last season.Did he try and ask any selector – none of whom is a member of the refurbished national selection panel – about what he needed to do in order to get a national call-up? “I had asked one of them about three years ago. I was told I was lacking in pace, so I worked on it and now, I can consistently bowl 135+ [kph] for hours,” he said. “Then they said I don’t perform against the big teams. I can tell you that I have played six games against Mumbai and barring two of them [including last week’s Group A tie], I have picked rich hauls in the other four games.”Despite his returns of one for 90 against Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai in Jaipur last week, Pankaj has picked three five-wicket hauls in six outings against the domestic stalwarts.While the likes of Ashok Menaria and Robin Bist have gone on to represent India A after starring in Rajasthan’s back-to-back Ranji triumphs, Pankaj’s impressive record has been overlooked. “Let alone the India side,” he said.But howsoever frustrated a sportsperson is, a ray of hope is what keeps him going through the paces day and day out. The case was no different for Pankaj, who signed off with: “I have been ignored even in the A squad for a long time. I just hope that my efforts will be recognised soon.”

70-year-old Peter Chismon, who has been at 54 Test grounds around the world, is currently on a three-month tour of India and is catching as many international and domestic matches as he can

Siddarth Ravindran10-Jan-2013Places in which 70-year-old Sussex fan Peter Chismon has watched cricket in over the past two months: Mumbai, Jammu, Surat, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Sambhalpur, Cuttack, Faridabad, Nagpur, Rajkot. At least those are the cities he can immediately recall. He has been at 54 Test grounds around the world, and is currently on a three-month tour of India and is lapping up international and domestic matches like a man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.Given the travel involved, the hotels, the living out of a suitcase, all of which even well-paid players complain about, why does he do it? “Because I like cricket, that’s my hobby you see, now that I have retired,” Chismon says. Press him for something more than that simple explanation, and all he offers is, “India in winter is better than England in winter.”His cricket watching started early (“I saw Bradman at Hastings, and just about remember it”) but was interrupted by a 22-year stint in the army that ended in 1982. After that, he worked with a gun manufacturer (“very, very expensive shotguns”), and after his retirement has spent his summers watching Sussex and the Lord’s Test, and the winters crisscrossing the globe in search of cricket.He started touring in 1994, and hasn’t stopped since. “I was off work for about six weeks in the winter, it was an Ashes year, so I decided to go to Australia for the cricket.” The reason? “Because the fare was cheap, 600 pounds return to Melbourne.”This is his fifth visit to India. In Rajkot, where thousands thronged the team hotel to welcome the England one-day team, Chismon has perhaps been the only spectator to watch the entire Ranji match between Saurashtra and Karnataka. There are usually several dozen fans milling around the ground, but most drift away after watching an hour or so. He rarely takes his eye off the game, frequently peering through his binoculars for a better look, and doesn’t get up from his seat except at the end of a session. Even while talking to me, he as one eye on the cricket and his answers are punctuated with remarks on the match -“Yes, he’s got him, hasn’t he?”, “there’s the ninth, one more to go,” and so on.

Best grounds
To watch cricket, it is the Wanderers in Joburg, because there is a lot of rain there, the grass is very dark green and you can see the ball wherever you sit, because the stands are steep, but not too steep, you can see red on green all the time, advertising boards and people don’t get in your way
To be in, is Hobart and St Kitts. If you get bored with the cricket you can go to the back of the stand and see the yachts come in on the sea behind you, there’s the sea and the mountain, some beautiful views. St Kitts the airport runs just behind the stadium and you go up on top of the stadium and see, it’s a lovely place
Worst grounds
Faisalabad … didn’t like it, industrial city, Old Trafford just the same, both are cotton towns, cotton cities, one makes it and one produces the goods for it, the grounds are not good to watch cricket in, Manchester stadium, it is not a place to view a match, never has been … the seats … you are watching the crowd all the time

Given that many Ranji games are first-innings affairs, with the final day proving meaningless – like in all three current quarter-finals – doesn’t he get bored? “People like a bit of excitement, that’s why people flock in to ODIs and T20s, but here you need to be more,” he pauses searching for the right word, “attuned to the cricket to see how it goes. Cricket is cricket, it is not boring.” Does he like the shorter formats? “No, no, no, no, no,” is the dismissive answer.Chismon collects autographs of every Test player he comes across, and has an old-fashioned scorebook in which he keeps score every time he watches a Test at a new venue. “I had some photographs for someone, he gave me 10 photos, I’ve got six signed already but have four more to go, I’ve got Dhoni to get but he’s easy isn’t he,” he chuckles. “Another fellow at home collect ties, I’ve only got one this year, that was Tamil Nadu.”As you’d expect from a man with so many miles under his belt, he has plenty of advice for travellers. “Patience is a virtue you got to have in India, if you want it to happen, it will happen in the end, don’t rush it and it will happen,” he says. “You have got to plan properly, get your itinerary sorted out.” He booked his tickets for this trip at the start of 2012, when even the Ranji format for this season wasn’t decided, much less the fixtures.And he has chalked out plans to catch Sri Lankan domestic cricket early next year, and wants to return to India for the 2014-15 season. “I have seen every state except Haryana in Group B, and five in Group C. I shall definitely go to Dharamsala (where he wanted to go this time, but couldn’t as there was no match scheduled), the first match that is played there that season, in November when it is warmer.”Ask him which of the Test venues he wants most to visit, and he starts mentally checking off the grounds he’s already been at. “Done everything in Australia, done all the major ones in West Indies and South Africa,” before he settles on his answer. “Karachi, don’t know whether that will happen, I want to do that, it’s the most important one.”As our chat winds down, Saurashtra get bowled out in Rajkot and he rushes over towards the dressing rooms, searching for Abhimanyu Mithun to add to his collection of autographs.

The eight-over dash between Bangalore and Chennai was as close as cricket played on the field can get to cricket played on smartphone apps

Abhishek Purohit19-May-2013One of India’s greatest Test bowlers ever takes four wickets in two overs and then says all he was doing was counting down the number of deliveries that MS Dhoni could potentially dispatch for six each. “Minimise sixes,” was what Zaheer Khan told fellow fast bowler Ravi Rampaul. So Twenty20, or Eight8, as was the case tonight, has brought us to this. Minimise sixes is the strategy for bowlers, as opposed to hit sixes for batsmen.This is as close as cricket played on the field can get to cricket played on smartphone apps. Zaheer’s two words sum up the kind of mutated farce cricket has degenerated into in the name of catering to what the fan wants. Where avoiding the maximum punishment possible is an achievement for a bowler. Where failing to inflict the maximum punishment possible is a failure for a batsman. Hyperbole or nothing. Repeated 96 times in the same loop.On the face of it, this seems to be cricket. A bowler charges in and bowls. A batsman takes guard and bats. A fielder runs and fields. Runs are scored, wickets fall, catches are taken. But it reduces a fine bowler like Ravi Rampaul into spraying a big wide down the leg side the ball after getting hit for six by MS Dhoni. Never mind that the asking-rate is six runs per ball at that stage and Chennai Super Kings have next to no chance of winning.It also reduces five out of eleven men on each side into hoping they are not hit for six off every delivery they bowl. Which could be theoretically twelve sixes in case of the bowlers who are allowed a “spell” of two overs each, and six in the case of those allowed only one.One over? One? Jason Holder, Mohit Sharma, RP Singh and Vinay Kumar bowled four overs between them, and went for 63. As Zaheer said, you are up against as many as ten wickets over eight overs. It is the very definition of lop-sided. Will bowlers of the future grow up aspiring to bowl just six deliveries a game for a living? Will anyone want to be a bowler any longer? Will it even remain a specialised skill? Anyone might roll his arm over six times and hope and pray strongly enough to avoid conceding 36 runs. And that might be enough to win his side the game. Super Kings scored at 10.25 runs an over and still lost by 24 runs. Or four sixes.Not that the Chinnaswamy crowd disliked what they saw. They cheered with all their might for every six, four, double, single, dot ball, and wicket the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen and bowlers came up with. If you go by stadium experiences during the IPL, what the Indian fan wants is to shout himself hoarse. His standard response to any action on the field is to scream, egged on by the DJs.When in doubt, scream: No stopping the Indian cricket fan•BCCIInside-edged boundary by home batsmen. Scream. Straight six by home batsman. Scream. Leave by opposition batsman. Scream. Dot ball played by opposition batsman. Scream. Every delivery in the IPL is an event and an opportunity to scream, which makes for 120 such events in each innings, and 240 in every game. It is far easier for the vocal chords to keep going for that duration than for say, 540 or 600 times in a day. That is one of the reasons for the popularity of T20, or E8, for that matter.Cricket has consistently kept crunching itself into shorter and shorter formats to be able to draw more and more people towards it. T20 might be the reigning star of the moment but how soon before people – especially the younger generation in India that is increasingly attracted towards European league football – start comparing it with an EPL game and point out it is twice as long, and maybe half as thrilling?Will cricket then tag T20 as the dying format along with the ODI and move on to E8 in desperation? Why is cricket so insecure and desperate to hack at its own body to lure new fans? With so much hacking, what is it that they are being lured towards? So much chopping has robbed cricket of its character and soul. What is left is a hollow shell making and encouraging shrill noises and masquerading as cricket. T20, E8, F5, O1, call it what you want.

The first Test in the Investec Ashes can be interpreted differently. It is how England and Australia respond at Lord’s that counts

George Dobell17-Jul-2013Just as one man can look at an ink blot test and see a puppy and another sees a knife-wielding maniac, so events of the last few days can be interpreted differently.The furore surrounding Mickey’s Arthur’s departure could divide the Australian dressing room or unite it. Australia’s reliance upon their tenth-wicket partnership in the first Test could be shown to demonstrate the depth of their batting or the fragility of their top order. And James Anderson’s display at Trent Bridge could be used to underline his excellence or illustrate England’s reliance upon him.As so often, it is not events that define the future, it is the reaction to them. Much of the peripheral detail amounts to little.It is true that the last few days have gone well for England. Despite a major fright, they are one up in the series, they are at full strength and they have had the opportunity to rest and recover in relative peace as the storm rages around the Australia squad. If a spin doctor had organised the leaking of the Arthur story, they could not have timed it better from an England perspective.Generally, however, these issues are credited with more importance than they deserve. While a healthy dressing room environment is an important factor, it does not guarantee anything. A cosy environment can be just as damaging and the issues of recent days will count for very little once the Test starts.The England dressing room has been portrayed as the more settled of late, but there is nothing cosy about it. Just ask Nick Compton.Now Steven Finn has jeopardised his position and opened the door for a return to either Tim Bresnan or Graham Onions. While Finn, who has claimed 29 wickets in five Tests at an average of 20.65 on his home ground, has a far better chance of fighting his way back into the side than Compton if he is omitted, to be dropped in successive Ashes series would hurt and represent a significant setback in his career.Bresnan and Onions offer slightly different options, but both are seen as steadier than Finn. While Finn is capable of brutish pace and bounce, he continues to concede more runs per-over than England can be comfortable with – 4.68 at Trent Bridge – and, in that game at least, could not be trusted to maintain the pressure built by his colleagues.Even then, however, he produced a couple of fine spells and came within an ace of a hat-trick in the first innings. At his best, he remains the most attractive of England’s three options and he knows the conditions at Lord’s, with its slope and propensity to behave more according to the sky above than the wicket below, than either of them. Were he a batsman, fresh from one poor game, there would surely be little debate about his position. But as part of a three-man seam attack, England fear his unpredictability.Onions would not let England down. While he has lost some of his pace since the back injury that almost ended his career, he remains a nagging seamer who makes the batsman play more often than any bowler in England and can generally be relied upon to maintain pressure and control.If conditions help him, and the Lord’s pitch may start with a covering of grass but is unlikely to provide much assistance to seamers, he can still prove dangerous. He generated just a little reverse swing in the warm-up game at Chelmsford and was rated by the Essex batsmen as the most challenging of England’s seamers in that game.Bresnan may be living off reputation. Before his elbow injury – an elbow injury that has necessitated two operations – he could gain seam and swing, both reverse and conventional, at a sharp pace. The skills remain but, despite protestations to the contrary, Bresnan appears to have lost the nip that rendered him such a dangerous bowler.While he does add depth with the bat, it is worth noting that he has never scored more than 20 in a total where England have scored fewer than 400. In short, his batting has rarely been as valuable as it might appear at first glance.Before the first operation, in December 2011, Bresnan had a Test batting average of 45.42 and a Test bowling average of 23.60. Since then he has a Test batting average of 17.14 and a Test bowling average of 55.43.England captain, Alastair Cook, played his cards close to his chest in his pre-match media conference. While one of those present fainted, it was surely more due to the heat than excitement. Cook did provide just a little hint that England could make a change, though.”You try to be as loyal as you can to your players who won a Test match,” Cook said. “You want to give people the feeling of confidence in the side that they’re going to get a good run. But on the other hand, as always, you pick a side which you think is going to win the game. Sometimes you do have to make tough decisions.”I would love to say that I have the backing and support of the guys who play under me but sometimes you do have to decisions that are tough for the good of the side.”We all know that to win a Test match you have to take 20 wickets but there are different ways of going about that. On a hard bouncy wicket you want a lot more pace and on a different wicket you want control. Sometimes control can build pressure to create wickets.”There is some irritation in the England camp at the suggestion that they are reliant upon James Anderson. Cook dismissed such talk as “a bit disrespectful to the three other guys that are bowling” and pointed out that Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and Finn all have impressive records.”They are world-class bowlers as well in their own right,” Cook said. “Clearly Jimmy is the leader of the attack at the moment, but Broady is almost coming up to 200 Test wickets [he has 198], Swanny has got 240 [226] Test wickets and Finny was the quickest Englishman to 50 wickets in terms of Tests. That shows the strength in our squad. It was Jimmy’s game the other day but the last time at Lord’s, Broad took seven wickets in the first innings.”Cook also provided some encouragement to Chris Tremlett. Tremlett has trained with the England squad over the last couple of days and, while he has not been added to the squad and will not play in this Test, he has impressed in the nets – he bowled Jonathan Trott – and clearly remains in the selectors’ thoughts for later in the summer or the tour to Australia.”We haven’t seen Chris too much because of injury so it’s great he’s around the squad,” Cook said. “In England everyone is playing for their counties and it’s normally just the 11 or 12 who play, so getting other people in as well who have given outstanding service, like Monty Panesar, is great as they can come back in and have a bowl and hopefully feel part of it.”England know they were below their best at Trent Bridge. With Broad hardly bowling in the first innings, Swann enduring a rare poor game and the batsmen taking a while to appreciate the character of the wicket, Cook expects an improved showing this week.”It wasn’t the perfect Test match by any stretch of the imagination,” he admitted, “but what we did was manage to win which is a good sign.”You’re always striving to improve as a side. One of Andy Flower’s big things as a coach is that if you stand still you’ll be caught up. If you’re comfortable with where you have got you can come unstuck. We’re always trying to get higher standards.”There has only been one draw in the last 10 Tests at Lord’s so, with the weather remaining generally fine – some rain is a possibility overnight – a result can be expected. Though the pitch has a covering of grass, it remains a ‘bat first’ wicket and is expected to provide some assistance to the spinners. Swann, who has taken 31 wickets at an average of 27.12 at the ground, gained sharp turn in the Test here against New Zealand but was hardly required to bowl, such was the success of the seamers.Defeat would all but end Australia’s hopes of fighting their way back in the series but England will recall they went one down themselves both in India and in the 2005 Ashes series before prevailing. There is no room for complacency.

Plays of the Day from the second ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa, in Colombo

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the R Premadasa23-Jul-2013The nutmeg
The reverse sweep now numbers among Mahela Jayawardene’s favourite strokes, and he has become so confident at playing it, he occasionally ventures it against fast bowlers. He attempted the stroke one too many times against Robin Peterson though, and the bowler did to Jayawardene what Maradona regularly did to defenders in his heyday. As Jayawardene went down for the shot, knees asunder, Peterson darted the ball through his legs and hit the stumps behind him.The beamer
With all the armour batsmen are dressed in today, plenty have become adept at sending chest-high beamers over the leg side and into the fence. Dinesh Chandimal considered no such thing when Ryan McLaren delivered an uncommonly vicious ball in the 46th over. Coming out of the wayward hand at 125 kph, the ball headed straight towards Chandimal’s face, and having seen it late, Chandimal had to sway rapidly out of the way, losing his balance and finishing up on the turf. Slightly dazed, he looked up in time to see McLaren apologising from across the pitch.The gamble
Tillakaratne Dilshan has not been at his best with the bat in recent months, but his bowling has improved to the extent he might almost be termed an allrounder in the last 18 months. He tossed one up to AB de Villiers in the 12th over, and extracted good turn to evade the batsman’s sweep, and struck him on the front pad. A big appeal ensued, and though it was initially turned down, Dilshan implored both Kumar Sangakkara and Dinesh Chandimal to review the decision. Sri Lanka have burnt reviews on Dilshan’s insistence before, but the pair reluctantly agreed with the bowler and were soon overjoyed when South Africa’s most dangerous batsman was found to be out.The domestic dispute
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene are about as thick as any two cricketers around the world, but had enough of a dispute in South Africa’s innings to leave their captain unsure of how to react. David Miller struck Jehan Mubarak for consecutive twos to wide long-on in the eighteenth over, with Jayawardene having to run around to collect the ball. After receiving the return from the second two, Sangakkara piped up in frustration, signaling to Jayawardene that he should have been squarer to begin with, and should not have allowed a second. Jayawardene yelled back dismissively, and with equal displeasure, pointing back to the place he had been standing. Both men looked towards Chandimal for a final ruling, but he wore an expression of deep discomfort at seeing the two seniors argue, and simply said nothing. It’s always tough to see your parents fight.

It was finding a way to win in the subcontinent that was a key part to South Africa’s rise to No. 1 in the world and now they need to recall some old lessons

Firdose Moonda in Dubai22-Oct-2013Ten years ago yesterday, South Africa lost a Test match in Lahore. A week later they had been defeated in the series, after a drawn game in Faisalabad. They only went back to Pakistan once after that, four years later. Then, they won.Graeme Smith, who was in his 16th Test, “does not remember much” about the 2003 defeat except that it was a “big turning point in our path as a Test team.” That series was not the start of South Africa’s remarkable unbeaten run on the road – that only started after they lost to Sri Lanka in 2006 – but it was a tour in which they discovered some what it would take to compete on the subcontinent.”Any time you lose you learn lessons,” Smith remembered. “We thought about a lot of things after that, things like what kind of cricketers could have made more of an impact. Those losses helped us with the successes we had away from home afterwards.”The most noticeable difference between the personnel South Africa employed for the two series is the type of spinner they used. In the first, it was Paul Adams, who was their leading wicket-taker despite the defeat. In the second, it was Paul Harris, who was also the chief destroyer in victory.The composition and form of the Pakistan team they faced on both occasions was different but it’s still worth noting that while Adams went for 3.38 runs to the over, Harris conceded only 1.96. Harris’ job was primarily a holding one and if conditions and circumstances conspired for it to be more than that, he happily accepted.If South Africa believe in learning from the past, that will tell them something. In Abu Dhabi, only Morne Morkel succeeded in keeping an end quiet for extended periods of time while the person who was supposed to do it, Robin Peterson, was the most expensive and least effective.South Africa seem intent on not replacing Peterson but if they retain him, they need to issue clear instructions that he should concentrate on drying up runs. Smith said Imran Tahir’s “attacking ability will come into consideration,” especially if Dale Steyn is ruled out, which suggests that if he is used he may operate alongside, rather than in place of Peterson.Whatever combination they go with, South Africa need a designated donkey bowler if they want to “find a way to make a greater impact with the ball at different times,” as Smith said. He recognised that was what Pakistan did in Abu Dhabi. “Pakistan’s spinners didn’t dominate but they played crucial roles. They held the game and we weren’t able to break free so they were always ahead of the game,” he said.If South Africa can find someone to do that, it will the first step towards squaring the series. The next, and perhaps more important, will be in the batting line-up.When South Africa lost to Pakistan in 2003, they were bowled out for 320 and 241 in the match they were defeated in. When they won four years later, their first innings score was exactly 450. It does not even need revisiting that history to know that big totals set up wins and Smith knows that. He previously said South Africa need to look at posting scores of “above 400,” in the UAE and today reiterated that. “We need to be posting more solid totals,” he said. “We need to Pakistan work harder for the things that they get in this Test match.”While South Africa have accepted they were outplayed in the first Test, they also believe they allowed Pakistan to dominate. They have not identified a clear reason for their lack of fight but Smith expects the bulldog in them to be back for the must-win encounter. “We lacked a little bit of an edge,” he admitted.Smith is “looking forward” to South Africa regaining some of their razor-sharpness but conceded it will take immense character from a side that will be missing one of its heartbeats. Hashim Amla will sit out this Test as he waits for his second child to be born and Steyn could also be ruled out, depending on the severity of his hamstring tightness.”It’s a challenge to be without your best players,” Smith said. “When you play sport you have injuries and obstacles that come your way and that’s why you need to have a squad of players that can perform.” South Africa’s replacements have included heroics from JP Duminy – in Australia in 2008 – and Faf du Plessis – also in that country last year. Whether they have the depth to do it again will be seen over the next five days.Smith thinks they do. “There is still confidence in our ability. We know we have won all around the world and we know we can win in different conditions.” Pakistan 2007 is an example. Then, it was an indication they were on the up. Last year they reached the top and this is the series that was thought to be their biggest obstacle to staying there. Should South Africa overcome the hurdle, it will prove the lessons they were taught in the past have been learned.

Aiden Markram wasn’t sure he would make it to the Under-19 World Cup, but now that he’s here, he’s showing South Africa the way both in terms of runs and attitude

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Dubai28-Feb-2014Aiden Markram wasn’t even certain if he would be picked for the Under-19 World Cup. The South Africa U-19 batsman had unimpressive numbers in the last tournament the team played in, in Visakhapatnam, before the World Cup. A total of 73 runs in five innings was not on for an opening batsman. Then the unexpected happened. Not only was he picked for the World Cup, he was also named the captain. No wonder then that when the squad was announced, he said he was “shocked” and didn’t know whether to feel happy or not.Markram had been playing league games for the University of Pretoria, where he’s studying sports management, and Titans U-19s in a franchise tournament when the squad was named. He was introduced to the captaincy in Visakhapatnam, where he captained two games and won both, including one against the hosts India. Yaseen Valli was the first-choice captain of the tour. Given Valli’s fine form and all-round capabilities, though, the management thought it best to relieve him of the responsibility of leadership.”Being the captain is a massive addition,” Markram said after the semi-final in Dubai. “I knew it would be an awesome challenge and I will never step down to a challenge, and Yaseen helps me a lot on and off the field. It’s like a dual thing we do.”The gamble has so far worked wonders for South Africa. Markram has hit more centuries than anybody else in the World Cup – two – and is currently third on the run charts with 304. As a captain he has been undefeated so far, and South Africa are one win away from claiming their first U-19 World Cup.His tournament began quietly with the bat, with scores of 3 and 31, before he struck form with consecutive centuries, against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. However, it was his 45 in the semi-final against tougher opposition – Australia – that had a greater impact. On paper, it would appear that he failed to convert a start, but he managed to nullify the effect of the new ball and reverse the malaise of top-order collapses that had plagued teams batting first in Dubai. The noon start would have made batting easier, and Markram and Clyde Fortuin seized early control with an opening stand of 105. Markram had set the example he wanted at the top.”From an opening perspective it’s tough,” Markram said when asked how he plans his innings. “You look to assess the deck and adapt to that, but I look to be quite compact early on. You see my strike-rate in the first 20 balls, there’s not a high percentage of runs, but I don’t mind that at all. I back myself to catch up later in my innings.”Markram grew up in Pretoria where he studied at Cornwall Hill College before moving to Pretoria Boys High School. His love for the outdoors led him to taking up rugby and cricket. His dad, who works as a sales executive, played rugby for the Bulls and that fueled his son’s love for the sport. For Markram, cricket was always his first love with rugby “not too far behind.”As Markram prepares for the biggest match of his life, he hopes his calm demeanour can filter down to the rest of his team. “At this stage of the tournament, the team that panics is the one that’s going to lose. I like to try and keep them [team-mates] as calm as possible,” he said. “Even if we are on top, we need to keep our feet on the ground instead of sitting back.”In an ICC video shot before the tournament, Markram was asked to list three words that best described him. “Positive, confident and responsible,” was the reply. When asked who in the team was “most hurt after a loss”, he said it was him. He hasn’t experienced defeat in this World Cup and, come Saturday, he will hope he continues to go unscathed.

Plays of the day from the match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi

George Binoy22-May-2014The boundary glut
The Chennai Super Kings openers did not run much; their first six scoring shots were boundaries. Dwayne Smith began the flurry, carving over cover, driving straight and square driving behind point to take three fours off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Faf du Plessis matched him in the second over – from Dale Steyn – by flicking, driving and chipping over midwicket for boundaries. Twelve runs had come off each of the first two overs and the batsmen had barely broken a sweat.The mix-up and the run out
In the third over, du Plessis pushed the ball to mid-on, and Smith hared down the pitch for a single. Du Plessis had taken a couple of steps forward before he said no; Smith turned but was so far out of his crease that he gave up in the hope that Shikhar Dhawan would miss the stumps. He was reprieved. In the next over, Smith smashed the ball back at the bowler Karn Sharma, who dived to his left and grazed the ball with his hand before it uprooted a stump at the non-striker’s end. Du Plessis had backed up too far and there was no reprieve for him.The welcome
In his second game, Parvez Rasool experienced how harsh the IPL could be for a rookie. Bowling the final over of the Powerplay, he watched Smith dispatch his first three balls for six – two straight and one over midwicket. The shots were characterised by great balance and minimal flourish. Despite conceding 21 in his first over, though, Rasool bounced back to finish with 4-0-35-0.The mistake
Boundary riders have taken some stupendous catches in this IPL but the opportunity Aaron Finch had to catch MS Dhoni at long-on required no extreme heroics. Dhoni had pulled Bhuvneshwar flat and hard, timing it well but without the height to comfortably clear the fielder. Finch back-pedalled and positioned himself on the edge of the boundary to take the catch but the ball bounced off his palms and over the boundary. Sunrisers paid dearly for Finch’s error.The slaughter
Dhoni and AB de Villiers once shared the record for hitting the most runs in an over off Steyn – 23. Not anymore. Dhoni was scoring at less than a run a ball at the start of the 20th over but he finished with a strike rate of 139. Steyn disappeared for two sixes, two fours and a brace of twos as Dhoni converted a competitive total into a formidable one by plundering 24 runs in the over.

Plays of the Day from Zimbabwe’s victory against Netherlands in Sylhet

Abhishek Purohit in Sylhet19-Mar-2014The second false endingBrendan Taylor gave Logan van Beek the treatment in the 17th over•ICCThere is a point towards the end of the Zimbabwe national anthem where the music tapers off and it appears to have run its course. Before the start of Zimbabwe’s first match against Ireland, the crowd started clapping and cheering at what they thought was the end, only to be cut short as the anthem picked up rhythm again. They were lulled into making the same mistake this afternoon as well, their roar terminated prematurely as the anthem rebounded after the dip.The brain fade IWith his side two down early and in need of rebuilding, Michael Swart pushed one close to the pitch and trotted out. The bowler, Tendai Chatara was on the ball in an instant. Swart did manage to stop and turn back slowly, but he was in an awkward position. He neither had enough momentum to dive in, nor was he close enough to stretch himself and plonk his bat in. He could only watch in disappointment as Chatara hit the stumps.The brain fade IINetherlands captain Peter Borren had made no secret of his frustration with his batsmen’s successive, collective meltdowns in the warm-ups. What Borren did today was no less infuriating. With Netherlands in desperate need of sense at 35 for 3, he stepped out to Prosper Utseya, reached nowhere near the pitch of the ball but still went after it and only found mid-on. He walked away muttering, clearly frustrated again.The failed promotionBrendan Taylor had said after the Ireland defeat that there was a case for moving the aggressive Elton Chigumbura up the order to give him more deliveries to bat. Accordingly, Chigumbura walked in at No 4 in the 14th over, but lasted two balls. He defended his first delivery and slapped the second, a full and wide one, straight to extra cover.The blowsThe asking rate had reached ten by the end of the 16th over. Zimbabwe had wickets in hand, but they also needed someone to start hitting. Brendan Taylor stepped up. He first made room and powerfully lifted Logan van Beek over extra cover for four. Next ball was a slower bouncer outside off with third man up. Taylor waited, got on his toes and forced it past the fielder for four more.The takeBorren wasn’t going down before giving Zimbabwe a flutter or two. In the 19th over, Taylor tried to loft Timm van der Gugten over extra cover. He would have thought he had cleared Borren in the circle, but the Netherlands captain jumped, stretched his right hand over his head and pulled off a blinder of a catch.