A stern, stoic resister, Allan Border was the keeper of his country’s flame during their darkest hour. And he ensured that they would be just fine once he left

Gideon Haigh11-Apr-2010When he came to write his epic narrative account of Australian politics in the 1980s, Paul Kelly called it , encapsulating the period’s reforms, realignments and reverberations. To a history of Australian cricket in the 1980s, the same title could be fixed. After a hundred years in which Australians had come to expect a top-two position in global cricket as of right, they found themselves rooting for a middling team: callow, fragile, susceptible even on home soil, ranks thinned further by rebel-tour recruiters.Throughout these austerity years, one presence was constant. When Allan Border took his first faltering steps in first-class cricket, Australian cricket was in rude health. But within a year, plundered by Kerry Packer’s private enterprise, its vulnerabilities had been exposed. And although Packer’s depredations had the effect of expediting Border’s progress to international level, their after effects lingered. For the next decade, the scar left by World Series Cricket was apt to itch and ache and weep when the patient was under stress.To Border, more than any other player, would be left the task of repairing what, especially against West Indies, was sometimes irreparable. His career record attests the tenor of the times: he was on the winning side 50 times in 156 Tests, on the losing side in 46. He played, moreover, in 60 draws. An old Australian joke runs that draw(er)s are for swimming in; in Border’s time, they often seemed the best that could be done and expected.It was tough. It could be gruelling. On 48 occasions Border batted with Australia either responding to a first-innings of 400, trailing by 150 on first innings or following on. But the times also probably rather suited Border, leeching from him reserves of deep concentration, organisation and obstinacy. At the end of his career, he might have wished to start again: Australia’s painstaking investment in youth was about to fructify, and a period of dominance impended. But nobody plays against their predispositions for 15 years. Interestingly, he was significantly more effective away, when Australia needed him more often, than at home, when his team tended to be more comfortable. He averaged 45.94 in his own country, 56.57 in others; he never made a Test hundred at the SCG, but he compiled a couple in Madras. For the role of stern, stoic resister, Border was sent by Central Casting.To a generation of Australians accustomed to the overdog role, it is hard to flesh Border out. A stocky 177cm, he approached the crease with a businesslike bustle. There were no showy rituals or preparatory mimes, just one two-handed shake of the bat with a flex of the forearms when he was about halfway out, as unconscious as a boxer touching gloves. His technique was genuinely ageless. “His straight backlift is controlled,’ wrote that closest of observers, Ray Robinson, in 1979. “His level-eyed stance, once side-on, now shows his left toe-cap. His low-grip makes less use of handle leverage than Kim Hughes, but forearm power makes him one of the most effective drivers and back either side of the stumps.” As an identikit portrait of Border at the end of his career, it could hardly be improved on.Above all, he was versatile. Against fast bowling, Peter Roebuck once likened him convincingly to a boulder; against slow bowling, he moved nimbly, with eagle eyes and twinkling feet. In a boom-or-bust batting line-up, he was as reliable as a bank cheque. His average as player was 50; his average as captain 51. His average up to the age of 30 was 50.35; his average thereafter was 50.74. He was one of the top three scorers in 129 of the 265 Test innings in which he batted. Conditions, climes and other considerations seemed immaterial: his 68 first-class hundreds were achieved on 33 different grounds. If you recall the era in Australia, you’ll remember how news of the cricket then passed around. The first question would be: do you know the score? The second would be: is Border still in? If the answer to the second was yes, then even the grimmest answer to the first was somewhat mitigated.

Grittily, grumpily, he restored in his country a sense of the honour inherent in national representation, eroded by decades of animosity between players and the Australian Cricket Board

To a world that identifies Australia with jagged aggression, it is also hard to explain Border’s demeanour. When Australia toured England unsuccessfully under his captaincy in 1985, captious judges found fault with his friendliness toward the likes of Ian Botham and David Gower. Border was nettled. “Victory has nothing to do with being ultra-aggressive towards opponents,” he claimed. “I’ve been through both experiences, seen both attitudes… If you’re being outplayed, you’re being outplayed. Hard luck but fact.” Yet even an Englishman, Chris Broad, in his golden summer of 1986-87, found the Australians’ reticence strange: “The problem for the Aussies was that the captain Allan Border and his deputy David Boon were both quiet blokes and said hardly anything on the field.”More than any other player, however, Border made such remarks into quaint curios of a bygone age. On the Ashes tour of 1989, Australia’s on-field dominance had an acrid verbal edge. “I’ve been through all sorts of downs with my team, but this time I thought we had a bloody good chance to win,” Border confessed to Gower afterwards. “I was prepared to be as ruthless as it took to stuff you.” This became the prime directive of Australian teams thereafter; likewise was friendliness identified with failure. Twenty years after Border was chided for his pacifism in 1985, Ricky Ponting copped similar criticisms as his team turned the Ashes over.In Border’s defence, it could be said that he was no tougher on opponents than on his own team. From a shy and retiring sort who looked after his own game, he became as captain a martinet, demanding absolute commitment. That could be traced to a night in a bar in Sharjah in April 1985, just months after his unruly succession of Kim Hughes, where he had solemnly laid out objectives for his captaincy, without realising that several of the nodding heads had already done similar nodding over contracts to tour South Africa. Border remained bitter even with the four who withdrew from the tour – Murray Bennett, Wayne Phillips, Dirk Wellham and Graeme Wood – and had to be persuaded to accept them as members of his team in England. They underwent a pre-tour interrogation as unsparing as anything Gower had to cope with: Wellham, who emerged from his “white as a ghost”, thought it an “outrage”, and said he would “not forgive Border his stupidity”. Nine months later Border spontaneously laid his captaincy on the line during a one-day series in New Zealand, pouring forth his frustrations at an impromptu press conference by the practice area at Lancaster Park. “They’re going to have to show me whether they really want to play for Australia,” he groused. “And whether they really want to play for me.” Seldom has Australian cricket so been hostage to one man’s humours.Yet through a rocky period that followed Greg Chappell’s picking and choosing of tours and Hughes’ unhappy role as his locum, Border was also sustaining the idea of the game as a passion rather than a profession. Grittily, grumpily, he restored in his country a sense of the honour inherent in national representation, eroded by decades of animosity between players and the Australian Cricket Board. He was available and chosen for all 30 of the tours in his 15-year career. He learned he had become a father while wearing his pads, awaiting his innings during an Australian collapse at the SCG – which was curiously fitting, as he had a tendency to watch cricket as anxiously as an expectant father, compulsively handling his “worry ball”. His thoughts made easy reading on the field too, hands seemingly always trending towards his hips to form that famous “teapot” pose.The turning point in his captaincy was in India, where Australia was a decidedly unfancied participant in the 1987 World Cup. The transformation in his leadership turned an old cliché on its head. Previously, he had led from the front, valiantly but unavailingly, because there was nothing much to follow him; here he led from behind, with the aid of a sharp and sagacious coach, Bob Simpson. The only survivor of Australia’s previous World Cup campaign, where a talented but disunited team had disintegrated under pressure, Border absorbed all its lessons; henceforward, he would go on learning.What he and Simpson were not destined to accomplish was victory over West Indies, although they went closer than any other country, coming within two runs of the Worrell Trophy on Australia Day, 1992. Border, as has recently come to light, had also already achieved one unacknowledged victory over West Indies at the inception of his captaincy, in an episode where the respective ends of certainty, Australia’s and Australian cricket’s, intersected.The Australian team after winning the first Test of the 1989 Ashes•Getty ImagesWhen Cricket Australia made its archives available for research a couple of years ago, its records revealed the efforts of Prime Minister Bob Hawke in the summer of 1984-85 to install Clive Lloyd as Australian cricket’s guru, a position the government was prepared to fund. Hawke’s infatuation was publicly manifested when Lloyd was honoured with the Order of Australia “for service to the sport of cricket, particularly in relation to his outstanding and positive influence on the game in Australia” – a rather masochistic honour, given that Lloyd’s West Indians were even then beating Border’s Australians black and blue. Privately the board nursed more misgivings, and waited for Hawke’s ardour to cool, which it did; Australian cricket moved on, investing long-term in competence rather than charisma.In an era so smitten with charisma, in fact, Border’s complete lack of it was among his most appealing attributes. He did what came naturally. There were no ostentations or gimmicks; there was no testimonial or farewell tour. Instead, Border dropped back to Sheffield Shield for a couple of years after quitting international cricket, although not for fun; he was as grim and combustible with Queensland as he was with Australia, leaving a forceful impression on the young Matthew Hayden.Australian cricket, meanwhile, went from strength to strength. In Border’s last year of international cricket, a popular Australian troubadour, Doug Parkinson, recorded a sentimental ballad, “Where Would We Be Without AB?” The answer was: just fine, thanks. This, perhaps, was Border’s signal achievement. Great players often leave great holes behind them; it is a very rare great player who effectively renders himself redundant. Certainty might have become a thing of the past in Australia; to Australian cricket, Border had helped restore it.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the day from the Champions League Twenty20 final between Warriors and Chennai Super Kings in Johannesburg

Sriram Veera in Johannesburg26-Sep-2010The turning point of the day
R Ashwin came on to bowl the final Powerplay over. Warriors had got off to a violent start. He squirted one through quickly to beat the reverse sweep, and trapped Jacobs right in front.The thump of the day
Who else but Davy Jacobs? He was beaten first ball, a lovely curvy delivery from Doug Bollinger that teased his outside edge. He sent the second ball flying over midwicket but it was the third that oozed imperiousness: He shuffled across and blasted it straight past the startled umpire Aleem Dar, who did well to get out of the way.The faux paux of the day
It happened before the game had started. They couldn’t draw the curtains across the sightscreen. The reserve umpire Asad Rauf got into the act himself; he jumped over the boundary hoardings and personally guided the people to sort out the mess. The game was delayed by ten minutes. In the background, they played the tournament’s anthem, “I like it!”The miss of the day
It was a full toss from Bollinger and Ashwell Prince set himself to launch it out of the ground. Perhaps it was his eagerness; he swung too hard and completely missed the ball. Timber! That wicket, and Jacob’s, put the middle order under too much pressure.The bunny of the day
Once again Mark Boucher fell to Muttiah Muralitharan. How many times has this happened? Boucher got that sinking déjà-vu again when he went for a pull, but was beaten by the amount of spin on that.

Two cricket stadiums in South Africa have been opened up for football fans, and hardly a soul cares about Graeme Smith and Co over in the West Indies

Firdose Moonda27-Jun-2010Three weeks ago, the Wanderers Stadium, usually left to rest at this time of year, was being invaded. The queue to get in at 3pm on a Tuesday snaked at least 100 metres up Corlett Drive, and an hour and a half later more than 33,000 people were crammed into the Bullring – which this time was not a ring, as it had semi-circular sections marked off on either end to form a rectangle. The hallowed ground that is the square was a blur and instead of 11 players in white sedately strolling about, two blustering storms of men in yellow and red marched onto the pitch.One of those men only stepped onto the field after an hour of play. The noise that greeted him was louder than the cheers that reverberated around Johannesburg when Makhaya Ntini stole that sneaky single during the 438 game four years ago. That man was Cristiano Ronaldo, and his Portuguese team beat Mozambique 3-0 in a friendly match that was played at the home of South African cricket on the 8th of June. The Wanderers probably made more money and saw more people pass through its gates on that day than it does in an entire season of domestic cricket.”You can’t even begin to compare the amount of support that football receives to what cricket gets,” said Dave Emslie, chief executive officer of Eastern Province Cricket. “We have to be realistic about the amount of people we can get to a cricket game versus the people interested in attending the football World Cup.”Since cricket authorities in the country know they will struggle to attract the numbers football does, they’ve jumped on the soccer bandwagon and found a way to get involved in the World Cup. Both St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth and SuperSport Park in Centurion are official FIFA Fan Fests, which means they open their doors to football fans who want to watch the matches on a big screen in a communal environment.It also means they are being used outside of their usual season, and that they will have two months instead of four to recover in time for the Champions League Twenty20, which starts on the 10th of September. It’s still ample time, but with a bitter winter cold seeing the grass turn dry and brown in Centurion and rain make a mud bath out of St George’s, there has been some concern over the two venues.Neither of their CEOs shares the anxiety. Emslie acknowledged that the rain has not been kind to his stadium but said he believes they have “gone through the worst of it”. He also said the weather may have had an impact on crowd flow, with St George’s no longer experiencing “massive crowds”, especially now that South Africa are out of the World Cup. By contrast, Elise Lombard, CEO of the Titans said the crowds have been flooding Centurion. “For the South Africa games, we had 30,000 people for the opening, 23,000 for the second match, and about 15,000 for the third game.”Centurion is on the Highveld, where winter is harsher on grass, and Lombard said they are being careful to ensure that there is no damage. “The square is covered and while the grass has a lot of feet trampling it, it is actually lying dormant. It has gone brown but it usually looks like this anyway because of the frost that covers the grass in winter. We will make sure it is clarified, fed and nurtured after the football World Cup, which will keep us on track to be ready for the Champions League. We would never have offered our stadium as a Fan Fest without the consultation of our curator, who assured us that we would be able to manage.”Lombard said SuperSport Park is hoping to build its own profile after it was selected as an official Fan Fest. “FIFA was to decide between us and the Union Building [the main administrative offices of the South African government, which has large gardens] and we passed all the tests. We have the infrastructure to cope with large crowds on a daily basis, which the Union Building may not have had. I think being at a stadium is more than just about the game you are watching but about the experience as a whole. SuperSport Park wants to make sure that from the time people park their cars when they come in, to the time they leave, the amenities are up to standard and able to cope with any size crowd.

CSA staff learnt the Diski dance, the soccer sequence that puts together moves like heading and chesting a ball culminating in scoring a goal, and Graeme Smith has even showed off his moves for a television advert

“The passion of the supporters has been so tangible, particularly when South Africa are playing.” So does she feel a little envious that cricket doesn’t often yield the same results and generate the same level of income for the stadium from the public? “Depending on which tour we get given, cricket doesn’t always pay for itself. I don’t think cricket is doing anything wrong, but football are rugby are the two dominant sports in the country.”That said, the cricket team are probably pleased that they are not playing a series at home, like their rugby counterparts, as they may have fallen even further under the radar than they are now. The Springboks have played three Test matches in South Africa, one against France and two against Italy, since the football World Cup started, and while there were plenty of spectators at the games, the matches’ profile outside of that was wanting. Similarly the Proteas are on the verge of whitewashing the West Indies, and harsh as it may seem, few sports-loving South Africans know or even care.Cricket South Africa has been active in reminding fans that the team has chalked up many achievements on their current tour, such as Mark Boucher becoming the first wicketkeeper to 500 dismissals. The board has also been mindful of the public’s distraction with football and have been one of the forerunners in showing their support for Bafana Bafana. CSA staff learnt the Diski dance, the soccer sequence that puts together moves like heading and chesting a ball culminating in scoring a goal, and Graeme Smith has even showed off his moves for a television advert.It’s a pity that Smith and his men have spent most of the football World Cup in the Caribbean, because they seem genuinely interested in the tournament. They’ve offered their support, and empathy, to Bafana Bafana, and made time to watch the team’s matches. Smith posted pictures of his team gathering around a big screen at their hotel to watch South Africa play France. AB de Villiers tweeted after the match, which saw South Africa exit the tournament despite beating France: “Great fighting spirit Bafana!!! Awesome effort. Proud of you guys!!!” The Proteas are set to return on the third of July, in time to catch the two semi-finals and the final.

Australia’s bowling line-up for the World Cup could get a wicket with every ball, but they could also go for plenty

Brydon Coverdale14-Feb-2011Shaun Tait, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger, Jason Krejza. Rarely has the word “attack” been more appropriate for a one-day bowling group. Australia have gambled on a wicket-taking line-up as they search for their fourth consecutive World Cup, but it’s a strategy fraught with risk. As the former-fast-bowler-turned-commentator Damien Fleming said, “We could be bowling teams out for 50 or chasing 500”.To some extent, Australia have been steered down this path because of injuries to other bowlers. The economical Clint McKay and Ryan Harris would both have been hard to leave out but for foot and ankle problems respectively. Krejza came from outside the 30-man preliminary squad because Nathan Hauritz (shoulder), Xavier Doherty (back), and Steve O’Keefe (calf) were laid up.But whatever the cause, it has left doubts as to whether their attack can also defend. When they triumphed in the Caribbean in 2007, Tait sizzled and lived up to his “Wild Thing” nickname, but he had the metronomic Glenn McGrath and Nathan Bracken to keep things tight at the other end. A serious knee problem has ended Bracken’s career, and he believes Shane Watson is now the man for his old job.”As we saw through the summer, if Brett Lee gets it right and gets early wickets, he can bowl very tightly,” Bracken told ESPNcricinfo. “But they’re probably going to look at someone like Shane Watson to play that sort of role. He’s going to be the one who’s going to have to shut down an end and put the pressure on that way. When the squad was first picked they had Nathan Hauritz for that sort of role.”That means enormous responsibility for Watson, who will also open the batting. John Hastings will do a similar job with the ball if he makes the starting XI, and Ricky Ponting will look to David Hussey’s part-time offspin for some economical overs. But as for the fast men, as lethal as Johnson and Tait can be, control is not their forte, so Lee and Bollinger must avoid leaking runs.It’s an unfamiliar responsibility for Lee, who in a past life provided the super-quick yet unpredictable option that Tait now offers. At 34, this must surely be the swansong for Lee, who has spent much of the past two years injured but was desperate to play in this tournament, having missed the 2007 World Cup due to a dodgy ankle. Eleven wickets at 24 against England was a good comeback and although his economy rate was over five, Ponting was impressed.”Brett’s been able to turn himself into bit more of a defensive-minded bowler with his changes of pace and a bit more nous,” Ponting said when the team landed in India. “He’s a different bowler than he was three or four years ago. Shaun Tait, I just want to let him go, let him run in and bowl fast and take wickets. He’s probably not his absolute best yet but he’ll work his way up there.”The Tait factor is difficult to quantify. If any bowler at this tournament is to break 160kph, it will be Tait, but he has never played an international match on the subcontinent, and on the slower pitches he might not be at his most dangerous. He no longer plays first-class cricket, and even sending down his maximum allotment in a 50-over game is sometimes too much.He will be used in spells of two or three overs, but along with the stumps that he will shatter, expect plenty of wides and balls flying to the boundary. And while he’s catching his breath at fine leg, the wides could remain a problem if Johnson is bowling. Johnson’s inconsistency makes him a hard man for a captain to use, but the expectation to swing the ball won’t be as great in Asia, and his one-day record in India of 28 wickets at 23.60 is excellent.”He and Bracken have probably been the most dominant one-day bowlers, even ahead of McGrath and Warne, over there,” Fleming said. “The expectation seems to be that you’re not going to swing the ball much over there, so you just run in and bowl fast, hit the deck hard. He uses his slower ball more over there, which is a beauty, and if he continues that record over there, he could have a real dominant series.”Part of Australia’s challenge is working out what constitutes their best attack. Bollinger played all but one of the recent ODIs against England and along with Watson could be a more economical option, but he might be the man to miss out from the pace line-up if Johnson, Tait and Lee all play. That also depends on how Australia treat the spin role.Steven Smith and Hussey could combine for 10 overs but a frontline tweaker is always a good idea on the subcontinent. That means playing Jason Krejza, who in his previous incarnation as an international bowler was seen as an aggressive offspinner who could take wickets but couldn’t contain. It’s a problem he has been working on and Fleming, who commentates on domestic cricket for Fox Sports, has seen a vast improvement.Jason Krejza is Australia’s wow spinner•Getty Images”We’ve been watching him a lot and his economy rate has come down significantly, even in the Big Bash,” Fleming said. “He bowled a couple of half-trackers the other night in Perth, but the Krejza we’ve seen, the criticism was that he leaked too many runs and he’s certainly answered that at domestic level.”The big test is against the subcontinent players, but he got 12 wickets in a Test there. He’s the offspinner in Australia who, when he bowls his good delivery, you go ‘Wow!’ It flights, it drifts in and it turns a mile. With Hauritz and Doherty and Aaron Heal and those types, their variations are more subtle and they don’t have that wow factor.”Wow factor is a common theme in this bowling group, and it could make for some fearsome performances.”If everyone is right and everyone fires, you could see wickets tumbling left, right and centre,” Bracken said. “Then all of a sudden the next time, if they don’t, then the opposition could get away very quickly.”And if that happens, can wow become whoa? Reining in a runaway opponent like Virender Sehwag or AB de Villiers will be an enormous challenge, but Australia’s World Cup hopes could depend on it.

The plays of the day from an epic contest between England and Ireland in Bangalore

Liam Brickhill in Bangalore02-Mar-2011Injury scare of the day
His team-mates must have feared the worst when Kevin O’Brien stooped to field the ball after stopping a drive in the covers and, his left knee buckling underneath him, he fell to the ground, writhing in agony. O’Brien’s booted foot had slipped on the grass, his knee wobbling and then clicking backwards in a stomach-churning movement that drew gasps of horror when it was replayed on the big screen. But after a tense couple of minutes and the attention of the team physio he was back up again – albeit with a little discomfort – and stayed on the field thereafter. And it didn’t seem to affect his batting either …Blasé pose of the day
‘If Sachin can do it, why can’t I?’ Kevin O’Brien may well have thought before heaving Graeme Swann over wide long-on for his second six in three balls to complete the 27th over. As the ball sailed over the rope O’Brien stepped away from the crease and stood left foot over right, leaning on the bat with his left hand and his right propped nonchalantly on his hip, and spat. It was a pose he repeated after each of his 19 boundaries in a 63-ball 113 that set up the most famous victory in Irish cricketing history.Missed opportunity of the day
Kevin Pietersen’s one-day century drought stretches all the way back to November 2008, but in conditions tailor-made for batting in Bangalore it looked as though the platform was set for him to break that lengthy run. He motored past fifty – his first as an England opener – against a relatively tame bowling attack on the flattest of tracks, and a ton looked like merely a matter of staying at the crease. But then came the brainfreeze as, to the third ball he faced from part-time offspinner Paul Stirling, he played the cutest, and most unnecessary, of reverse dabs to present wicketkeeper Niall O’Brien with the simplest of catches. The wait continues …Dropped catch of the day
‘Which one?’ you might reasonably ask. The damage had already pretty much been done when Gary Wilson spilled a chance at deep midwicket in the 49th over of England’s innings but that was at least the only chance Ireland missed in the field all afternoon. England, whose fielding let Netherlands off the hook innumerable times in Nagpur, seemed to drop their guard against the similarly unfancied Irish and let no less than six chances go begging – the most costly being Andrew Strauss’s valiant, but unsuccessful, effort off a Kevin O’Brien skier when the batsman had scored 91.Unlikely milestone of the day
Perhaps it is the distraction of his absorbed, almost obsessive-compulsive manner at the crease, perhaps the machine-like efficiency of his batting that leaves no room for either flaw or flair, but for some reason Jonathan Trott’s equalling of the record for the fastest batsman to 1,000 one-day runs – in just his 21st innings – seems an unlikely milestone for a batsmen initially thought to score too slowly to fit into England’s limited-overs side. And yet with a deep-set whip to leg for two in the 37th over – could it have come any other way? – he drew level with the likes of Viv Richards and team-mate Kevin Pietersen.

Gary Kirsten enjoyed so much success with India that the expectations from South Africa are tremendous. The new job calls for a change of approach, though

Firdose Moonda06-Jun-2011When Gary Kirsten entered the room where he would be named South Africa’s coach, he had a familiar look on his face. It wasn’t the beaming smile he had had during India’s World Cup victory celebrations a little over two months ago. Kirsten wore an expression of determination; the sort of determination that once helped him make South Africa’s highest Test score – 275 against England at Kingsmead a decade ago.After his success with India – he helped them become the No. 1 Test side and ended his tenure with World Cup glory – the expectations in South Africa are tremendous. Kirsten’s reputation as the hardworking back-room boy, who threw thousands of balls until his shoulder hurt, and got the best out of some of the most powerful personalities in world cricket, has earned him immense respect at home. His winning of the World Cup, a success that has painfully eluded South Africa, has turned Kirsten into a miracle man. Many hope his quiet, precise and methodical approach, which worked so well in India, will be superimposed on South Africa and will result in a golden age.But Graeme Smith’s South Africa, and now also AB de Villiers’, is a very different team from MS Dhoni’s India, and Kirsten’s tactics will need altering. Dhoni was the only leader Kirsten had to deal with it, and Kirsten called him the best captain on the international circuit after their World Cup triumph. Dhoni and Smith are extremely different as leaders of men. Where Dhoni is suave, Smith is brash. Dhoni appears a masterful tactician; Smith is driven by gut and heart.Fortunately for Kirsten, Smith and de Villiers are similar characters and the adjustment to different captains when moving from Tests to limited-overs will not be too great. What Kirsten can’t expect is the same “Captain Cool” style of leadership that Dhoni used to guide his men. The South African structure has always followed more of a boys’ school formula, where hierarchy is important and people fall in line. That has started to change, with a more inclusive team culture being built, but there hasn’t been a complete turnaround.Kirsten’s involvement may help speed that up because he believes in relationship-building, which he identified as the key ingredient to his success with India. It required careful crafting, because Kirsten did not know any of the players too well, having only played against a few of them in the past. It ended with everyone, from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli, praising him during the time he spent with them and the determination he instilled.A rapport already exists between Kirsten and many members of the South African squad, although on different levels. He was a team-mate to Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith, a relationship that will now have to shift gear. He was a role model to de Villiers, another association that will have to change. Kirsten said he has to make sure he is an “inspiration leader”, and was careful not mention the words “friend”, “colleague” or “hero”.Kirsten has to be a care-giver, and not like he was in India. The Indian team had more experience than youth, with Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan the old boys under whom the likes of Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina grew. South Africa’s pool of players is different – youth has not seamlessly transitioned into experience. There are gaps.Besides Smith, Kallis and de Villiers, there are young minds who need a different kind of guidance. The middle order is raw; there is no long-term replacement for Mark Boucher; Wayne Parnell and Lonwabo Tsotsobe have yet to fully integrate into the national team; and even the best new-ball attack in the world, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, are yet to play 100 Tests between them.How Kirsten handles this young side will be interesting, because he has to start by healing the wounds some of them suffered at the World Cup. There are concerns that another generation of South African cricketers has been scarred and will struggle to regain self-belief – of the kind that Kirsten gave India so abundantly.He did that partly by instructing them not to consume too much media, especially at the latter stages of the World Cup, because some of the messages would allow doubt and indecision to creep in where Kirsten had laid solidity. That command was probably the correct one for the Indian team, who find themselves mobbed by hordes of journalists and armchair analysts on a daily basis.The South African media is a smaller, less critical group than India’s, largely offering the team support, even when they perform below expectation. They rarely challenge the players, who usually feel safe when addressing them. It only works, though, when the people South African players have to address are their own.When confronted with foreign media, South Africa find them hostile and probing. They retaliate with an aggression that is perceived as inability to deal with pressure. There is a tour to England and a World Twenty20 next year, two events that may prove a test for South Africa’s ability to deal with questions they don’t want to answer.One of those questions will be about “choking,” a term that most in the team react strongly to, and a word that Kirsten himself does not like. The issue is unavoidable, though, and will be pounced on at every available opportunity, and part of Kirsten’s job will be to train his players to deal with it in the mature and stoic fashion that is so natural to him.Kirsten has assembled a support staff that includes Allan Donald, who he played 61 Tests with, and Warriors coach Russell Domingo, who has worked with many of the South African players at A team level. Both Donald and Domingo are well liked by the players and administrators. Kirsten wants to create a culture that is safe, fearless, and one that will achieve its goals. It will have to be a culture that is different to the one he built with the Indian team, but one that still knows how to win.

Yuvraj Singh has had to be strong to get past a difficult 2010; to get past a stomach bug that hampered him during his hundred in Chennai; to carry a failing middle order. It’s time for the rest of the team to hang tough too

Sharda Ugra at the MA Chidambaram Stadium20-Mar-2011Yuvraj Singh spent the best part of the last year climbing out of a trough. He was dropped from the Test and one-day teams, was struggling with fitness and injury, and found his career crash landing. Had he been younger, Yuvraj once said, he may even have considered giving up the game. Within the course of this last month, he is fast approaching what could become his finest hour as a one-day cricketer. Strangely, that does not even depend on how far the Indian team goes in the World Cup because if India looks around their dressing room to identify its most improved cricketer in 2011, it would have to be him.If the team were to pick their totem for the kind of cricketer they need as their sport’s biggest event goes into its most oxygen-depleting stage, it would also have to be Yuvraj again.Other than the opening game, every match won by India at this World Cup has featured their heavy-hitting, loose-limbed, floating middle-order man as Man of the Match. Ireland and Holland may not be the strongest of opposition, but without Yuvraj, India would have floundered, both with runs and wickets.Against West Indies, in the gorgeously renovated Chepauk, India needed an emphatic performance in their last group game, and their 80-run win was led by Yuvraj’s first one-day century since July 2009. The century did not contain Yuvraj’s signature big shots crashing around the ground like waves on the nearby Marina. It was a slow, long, quiet haul, the hundred buttressed by two dropped catches (at 9 and 13), 45 humble singles, stomach cramps, retching and the dehydrating demands of an intestinal bug.In the latter half of his innings, Yuvraj began to squat on his haunches; the hardships focussed his mind to a point where he found a way to push on. Two sixes in 123 balls is docile by his standards, but he clung onto the big picture: bat till the end.It meant keeping the ball on the ground and making the most of having come in at No. 4. “I wanted to get to the 100 mark because this was the opportunity, batting at no. 4,” he said afterwards. He began his media conference by sinking an entire bottle of Gatorade down his throat, and then making wisecracks. At No. 5, Yuvraj said, he never faced enough deliveries to hit his way to three-figures. “I just wanted to bat till the end today … I just wanted to get to the 100 mark, because it’s been a while.”Yuvraj must look around the dressing room and realise that, in this World Cup, it has been an alarming while since India’s middle order has showed up as a collective unit that can build from his singular performances in the tournament. With Sachin Tendulkar walking off early and Virender Sehwag sitting out the West Indies match due to a nagging knee injury, this was the best stage for the next clutch of batsmen – Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and the captain MS Dhoni himself – to treat this particular game as a stage on which to make a statement, rather than merely show off their skill.The batting order suited everyone in the line-up; the team didn’t have to choose between Raina and Yusuf Pathan in the XI, Gambhir could open, and Kohli could bat at No. 3 and have 49 overs in which to “express” himself. Kohli’s two-hour innings, in which he scored 59 off 76 balls, was promising. He built a 122-run partnership in which he gave Yuvraj large swathes of the strike. Yet Kohli’s departure, caused by a missed attempt at a cross-batted shot against the probing and incisive Ravi Rampaul, with 18 overs left to play and his older partner visibly struggling, was a moment that makes coaches want to bang their heads in bathrooms.Ever since they battered Bangladesh’s bowling attack in Mirpur, India seems to have picked the 40th over as the moment their line-up must go down in spectacular flames. In Mirpur, they added 94 in their last 10 overs for the loss of two wickets. After returning home though, they have gone in the opposite direction. In Bangalore against England, India scored 91 runs for the loss of seven wickets from the 40th to the innings close; against South Africa, they managed 28 for 8, and against West Indies, on Sunday, they got 56 for 7.In the previous three matches, it was believed India had taken the batting Powerplay too early; they took it from the 35th to the 39th over against Bangladesh, from 37 to 41 against England, and 39 to 43 against South Africa. Against West Indies, they left it for the very end, and still it trapped them, as they failed to bat out their full quota of overs. Little appeared to have changed since the weeks post Mirpur, yet one thing did: for the first time since the first match of the World Cup, India won big.Their flailing middle order must now realise they have run out of all room for what the tennis folk call unforced errors. Yuvraj was replying to a question about crowd support, but produced what could be a handy dressing room speech to his middle-order partners going into the knockout phase. “You are playing the World Cup quarter-finals for your country. This is the moment of your life. This is the moment you live for as a cricketer.”During his annus horribilius, he said he had hung onto an idea: that tough people outlast tough times. Well, at least now the batting around Yuvraj knows what they need to do to push this team through the World Cup. Be like him. Keep hanging tougher.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the Test between India and West Indies at the Kotla

S Aga08-Nov-2011The drop
Three years ago, it was Virender Sehwag’s 68-ball 83 that made a 387-run mountain look like a hillock in Chennai. With 276 needed here, Ravi Rampaul had the perfect opportunity to deflate the Indian balloon early. Statuesque footwork and a diffident stroke saw the ball come back at him, but though he got a hand to it, he couldn’t hold on. Sehwag went on to add 43 more and by the time he left, another platform had been established for those who followed.The six
With Shivnarine Chanderpaul gone and the end in sight, Darren Sammy wasn’t about to hold back. But even then, the first ball of Ishant Sharma’s 13th over was something special. A jump down the pitch and the cleanest of strikes down to the sightscreen. Many a West Indian legend would have approved.Limpet-turned-road runner
When people think of Chanderpaul, they usually think of that crab-like stance and adhesive qualities. But this is a man with a 69-ball Test hundred and his approach was clear as soon as he came to the crease. The first ball he faced was flashed down to third man and the second neatly guided through point – the tempo set for a rapid-fire 47 that may have a vital bearing on the result.No time to leave
His pace and bustle weren’t rewarded in the first innings, but Umesh Yadav didn’t have to wait too long for his debut Test wicket. It came with a delivery that angled in at 140 km/hr. Kirk Edwards, who had shown real mettle during his 33, bizarrely decided to offer no stroke, turning back to see the off stump head in the direction of Delhi Gate.Jumbo Redux
Marlon Samuels didn’t have a chance. The carrom ball was at least 10 km/hr quicker than R Ashwin’s stock deliveries. Given that the ball turned away from the right-hander to uproot the off stump, it was hard not to think of a certain leggie whose topspinners flummoxed many a batsman in similar conditions. With his height, accuracy and thoughtful demeanour, the Kumble comparisons won’t end any time soon.

Of the 23 wickets to fall on the second day, four of them were given out with the assistance of DRS. Nine decisions were reviewed in total, six that were initially called not-out

Firdose Moonda at Newlands10-Nov-2011Some Test matches produce such compelling contests, are filled with intrigue or are simply so unusual that they need to be named. Test No. 2016 played at Newlands, the first in Cape Town in November in 90 years, is one of them. It will be called the Technology Test.Of the 23 wickets to fall on the second day, four of them were given out with the assistance of DRS. Nine decisions were reviewed in total, six that were initially called not-out. Cricket has not seen this many wickets fall on a day’s play in over a hundred years, and that number would have plummeted today had it not been for the presence of technology.The day’s play was remarkable for many reasons. For three hours and 45 minutes between between the morning and evening session, the Cape Town’s cricket field appeared to have been transformed into Johannesburg’s high-speed Gautrain. Wickets whizzed by at the rate of one every 11 and a quarter minutes. Every ball was at risk of being appealed and referred, no batsman was safe and anyone who could bowl would have backed themselves to try and add to the carnage.Then, technology had it say, turning deliveries that would have previously been judged as close but no cigar, into wicket-takers and showing why moving cricket into the modern age can only be a positive thing.It started when Hashim Amla was struck on the pad by Shane Watson and on first glance, the not out decision did not appear to be obviously questionable. The replays were comprehensive in showing that the naked eye can sometimes err in the worst way possible, and that Amla was not only struck in line but the ball would have gone on to hit middle and leg. The hackneyed expression about technology eliminating the obvious errors has found a way into this piece, largely because of that.It was the next two referrals that may become the DRS’ best case studies of why the system works and should be used. Neither Jacques Kallis nor AB de Villiers would have been given out had technology, and Hot Spot in particular, not been available.Watson was convinced that Kallis had got bat on ball when his attempt at a pull went wrong. At first glance, it looked as though the ball brushed his shoulder, which it did, and nothing else. Hot Spot knew better and the white mark showed a massive edge. It symbolises a major development for the equipment, which has now progressed to picking up when the ball has made contact with the bat, even when the bat is in rapid motion.”Our main problem, over the last year or so, has been the blur, particularly when the player swings quickly,” Warren Brennan, managing director of BBG Sports, the company who pioneered Hot Spot, told ESPNCricinfo. “On the dead bat shots, I don’t think we’ve missed many of those. That [Kallis decision] surprised me. It still was quite blurry but he obviously smacked the cover off the ball so there was a big Hot Spot. But on the ones where they swing quite hard and get a very small tickle are hard to pick up for us. We’ve been trying to improve that.” The Hot Spot camera was the only one at the ground that picked up Kallis’ edge, rubberstamping its worth in the game.de Villiers may not even have faced a review, had Australia not been in such a dominant position at that stage. The appeal for lbw seemed optimistic and it looked like South Africa’s No. 5 had inside-edged onto his pad. Hot Spot immediately dismissed all notion of that, leading to a decision an umpire would likely had been criticised for making if there was no evidence to back it up. “It was quite clear that it hit the pad before it hit the bat,” Brennan said.Mark Boucher, later, had questioned the height of the ball that would give Watson his fifth wicket after being hit above the roll on the back pad. That time it was ball-tracking and Hawk-Eye that showed that the ball was destined for the top of the stumps and so endorsed the on-field call. Brennan said that decisions like that show that, “if you are not going to technology [fully], don’t use all of it.” “Hot Spot with the ball-tracking covers most of it,” he said.The absence of ball-tracking had bothered Brennan, who covered the four Test series between England and India earlier this year, with only Hot Spot. The series resulted in a renewal of the BCCI’s suspicions about the DRS system as a whole and ICC U-turning on their decision for it to be a mandatory part of all Test and one-day series. It was a testing time for Brennan and his team, who felt Thursday’s play in Cape Town was vindication for their work. “In the UK, in the middle of the year, we probably had a couple of bad days where we missed a couple,” he said. Over the last three months, we have tried to do a lot of things to try and improve it like changing different settings on the cameras. There’s a lot of pressure on us to get everything right.”Now, there is also pressure on the players to know when and how to use the technology. Shane Watson could have avoided being the first Australia wicket to fall in their second innings had he reviewed his lbw decision against Dale Steyn – replays showed the ball was going over the stumps. Ricky Ponting asked for his to go to the third umpire, which turned out to be a waste of an Australia review. Vernon Philander called for a review when he thought he had trapped Shaun Marsh lbw, only to be turned down.With players from both sides appearing stunned at the sheer volume of events that took place on the second day of what will become a truncated Test, the one positive thing they agreed on was that the use of technology benefitted the game. “For the big inside edge or the big caught behind with Hot Spot, its working well,” Michael Clarke said. Jacques Rudolph, who had a catch he had taken checked by the third umpire, agreed. “I like it [DRS], because I think if you can bring technology into the game and maybe help the umpires a bit that’s a good thing.”

Boxing Day at the MCG is one of cricket’s grand traditions. For some it’s about being at the cricket, for some the Long Room, for some drinking themselves silly, for others a time with family

Greg Baum09-Aug-2011Matthew Engel argues that the most enduringly successful Test matches are those fixed in a time and place. In a period of chaotic upheaval in world cricket – call it the Big Bash Bang – that dependability becomes more important than ever to the classical game’s viability. In Melbourne, the tradition of the Boxing Day Test, though not old, has the stature and gravitas of a feast day.Like any day of religious observance it has its own rites, texts and traditions – even vestments. The obligations, celebrations and repasts of Christmas Day have finished at last. The new day dawns, with its new temper. Each interprets it in his or her own way. The order of service is flexible. There is ceremony, but it is not much stood upon.It begins invariably with the morning procession. For some that means a suit – probably pinching at the stomach – a breakfast, a guest speaker and a reprise of old lies, no less cherished for their yearly retelling, by the heroes of Boxing Days past. Boxing Day is a celebration of cricket, but also of cricketers.For some it means the Long Room. In the old MCG it was a place of patrician portraits, leathery chairs, musky scents, loud, even raucous chatter, obscured views, and from early in the day, the sickly smell of spilled beer and sticky carpet. In the new MCG it is the same, but roomier.In the old Long Room it was said that the first day of the Boxing Day Test was for being at the cricket, the other days for watching it. In the new Long Room, the same applies.

For some the cricket is the same every year, and that is why they are here. For some it is subtly and infinitely different every time, and that is why they are here. Because it is a Test match, there will be no result at the end of the day, but rather a position and a set of possibilities to contemplate. Hopefully the prospect will be delicious

For some, Boxing Day is a boisterous bar, a group of mates, and in the corners a couple of television screens, dumbly updating the day’s play. In the old MCG the bars were called Mezzanine and Bullring. In the new MCG the lines are cleaner and the names more august – Percy Beames, Frank Grey Smith – but the atmosphere is as ripe as ever.One long-ago Boxing Day, Australian coach Bob Simpson, in team tracksuit, chanced a look into one of those bars while on an errand, and spotted the then-uncapped Shane Warne, pie in one hand, beer in the other, whiling away the day with his friend Dean Waugh, the younger brother of Steve and Mark. Simpson’s stare could not have been more reproving, but history would not be denied. The next week in Sydney, Warne made his debut. The next Boxing Day Test, he was the star.For some, Boxing Day is a morning at the pub, then the outer. Once, it was distinctly different from the members’: more exposed to the elements, more heathen. There were no seats but long wooden benches; both they and the people on them tended to peel in the sun. There were fewer police, no closed-circuit television and the so-called ”limit” was 24 full-strength cans per person.There were famous days and infamous. In 1986, denizens rained bananas down on England medium-pacer Gladstone Small, accompanied by monkey noises. Shameful to report, no authority intervened. This day still, some come to drink themselves into a stupor, to strip almost to the point of indecency, to flirt with eviction, to taunt others as they are evicted, to generate Mexican waves, to make long chains out of plastic beer cups – in short, not simply to have fun but to inflict it. It is as well the beer now is strictly light.Mostly, though, these are mellower times. The outer on Boxing Day is crowded, certainly, but not as on grand final day. Folk come in parties, knots of mates or families, still together from Christmas Day. Some stay all day, some to lunch, some until the sun has done its damnedest.Former British prime minister Tony Blair in the MCG Long Room•Lucas Dawson/Getty ImagesTypically, one has a book. She does not know or particularly like cricket, but loves the cheerful and convivial, and yes, even humorous, atmosphere. For her this is a place of repose and meditation. For her the Boxing Day at the cricket is a hardy annual, cricket its most incidental and least important aspect.For some, an indeterminate number, Boxing Day is about the cricket. It is not about that day especially, but that day as the first of five or thereabouts. There is the toss, and the moment of pregnant suspense just before the first ball is bowled. Dependably, it is short of length outside the off stump, and the batsman lets it go, and then scuffs his guard again, and the fieldsmen squawk like the seagulls still grazing on the outfield, and off we go again.For some the cricket is the same every year, and that is why they are here. For some it is subtly and infinitely different every time, and that is why they are here. Because it is a Test match, there will be no result at the end of the day, but rather a position and a set of possibilities to contemplate. Hopefully the prospect will be delicious. Sometimes, like last year, it will be bleak and interminable. Whatever it is, fewer than half will be back; other duties and pleasures call.In that sense, Boxing Day is like Melbourne’s other secular feast days, Melbourne Cup day and AFL grand final day; it is for the once-a-year fan, the partygoer, the enthusiast of convenience, the spectator who comes not to see but to be seen. But the same can be said of the churches on Christmas Day, too. The one certainty is that they will come for their anointing.The scale of Boxing Day mostly is independent of Australia’s fortunes. In the good times the crowd will be huge, in the dog days still very big. For 15 years it has acted as a stage upon which indomitable Australia and its fans – who also supposed themselves indomitable – could exchange end-of-year salutes, their majesties reciprocating felicitations. Now soberer times have arrived. All that can be said with confidence this year is that the Boxing Day Test still is on. Fortunately it will be enough.