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 Rajasthan Royals’ openers produced their first century stand in the IPL, and they achieved it after tremendous hard work against the new ball

Abhishek Purohit07-May-2013A Twenty20 chase finished with nine wickets in hand and 13 balls to spare. As easy as it gets, says the scoreboard. Don’t believe the scoreboard. Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane may have become only the third pair in IPL history to make more than 1000 runs but their first century stand was hard earned against a testing attack on a helpful pitch, with some slices of fortune.Umesh Yadav, Morne Morkel, Siddarth Kaul. That is some serious pace charging in. There was lots of bounce, some seam and some swing. And for the initial few overs, Dravid and Rahane were really up against it. Unfortunately for Daredevils, their batting had failed for the umpteenth time this season, and Dravid and Rahane were never behind the asking rate.And the Daredevils fast bowlers never looked far away from a wicket, although it wasn’t to come until it was too late. Dravid and Rahane were beaten by pace, by bounce, by movement. The pushed, they mistimed, and they survived, barely. Irrespective of the format, two classical batsmen were trying to make it through the early burst with the new ball from fresh fast bowlers on a track that was doing something.Forget the asking rate. This was about getting bat to ball first, something with which Dravid, in particular, was struggling at first as Kaul opened the chase with a maiden. Dravid was beaten on the cut, and he was beaten on the prod as Kaul got it to move away and climb. At the other end, Yadav moved it both ways in the late 140s, and the 40-year old opener looked quite late on the ball. Morkel presented a different proposition with his steep bounce from short of a good length. Rahane escaped with a thick inside edge past the stumps.One thing going for this prolific pairing is its calm, though. There was about one attempt from each batsman to play against their nature, to try to break free when the ball wasn’t quite there for the shot. It is fine when you are beaten for pace and bounce trying a cut a wide ball. The shot is clearly on.This wasn’t the case when Rahane tried to loft a drive over the off side against Morkel, as it wasn’t when Dravid tried to manufacture a cover drive against Kaul. Rahane survived a dropped chance, Dravid managed to awkwardly slice the ball over point.There was hardly another attempt at forcing it. No on-the-up fancy drives when not in position for the shot. No blind charges down the pitch. No cuteness. They just put the loose delivery away, in plain old fashion.As he slowly found his touch, Dravid showed what is your strength at 30 can remain your strength at 40, as he clipped deliveries off the pad for boundaries with minimal effort and maximum timing. Rahane almost never turns to the standard slogging area of cow corner, and once again stuck to what has worked for him in this format. Straight, lofted punches, and carves over extra cover, an area his mentor Dravid targeted as well with inside-out drives.This was a pitch that could take you by surprise even late into your innings. The ball Dravid got his fifty with kicked and flew at him after hitting a crack in the pitch. He was trying to go midwicket, the ball went to third man.Shane Watson came in and smashed it around with power but one wonders if a batsman as aggressive as him would have been able to survive that tense early period. Then again, even Dravid and Rahane could have got out to one of the deliveries that beat them. They got past that stage, though, and made sure their labour translated into lots of runs. This wasn’t a brutal thrashing. It was gritty, hang-in-there and target-the-bad-ball stuff, and it was absorbing to watch.

Plays of the day for the third day of the second Test in Harare

Firdose Moonda in Harare12-Sep-2013The ReactionThe sizeable crack outside the right-hander’s off stump from the north end was talked about as being something to watch out for as the match wore on and it may have found itself in the spotlight shortly before lunch. Asad Shafiq, in almost exactly the same way as he did in the second innings of the first Test, left a gap between the bat and his body when facing Tendai Chatara. Notable inward movement saw the ball sneak into that space and peg back off stump. Shafiq did not seem to know what had happened as he looked around for the ball and Chatara did not react immediately either. Even Richmond Mutumbami was foxed and made a valiant attempt to collect the ball with a full stretch dive and it was only when he got back on his feet that he saw there was no need to.The CelebrationTino Mawoyo, by his own admission, is not the slimmest man on the field but is on a strict diet and exercise regime to shed extra weight. He is, however, one of the quickest to react. After taking a sharp catch at short cover in the first Test, he was placed at short mid-wicket and pounced on a rare lapse in concentration from Younis Khan. When he top-edged while trying to work the ball through square leg, Mawayo popped his arm up, jumped at the right moment and took the catch, much to the delight of his team-mates who held him hoisted in the air for a good ten seconds afterwards.The GiftRahat Ali celebrated his 25th birthday today and he was given the gift of not being out for a duck. Off the second ball he faced, Brian Vitori induced the outside edge, but Mawoyo at third slip could not add a second stunner to his kitty. The ball bobbled away and Rahat was able to get off the mark. His relief was shortlived, however, as Junaid Khan was bowled off the next ball to end the Pakistan innings but Rahat remained not out.The Roar Pakistan’s bowlers made a habit of appealing on almost every second delivery as their spinners started to trouble Mawoyo. But their cries were drowned out when the batsman responded to a loud appeal from Saeed Ajmal by driving the next ball through the covers to bring up his half-century. The crowd at Sports Club, which had grown a fair amount late in the afternoon, applauded with gusto but the loudest cheer came from the changeroom where Mawoyo’s team-mates celebrated his milestone. “That’s it Tino, you keep going,” came the shouts as he raised his bat.The BlushHamilton Masakadza played the shot of the day when he drove Junaid straight down the ground for four. Everything about the stroke was textbook: from the crack of bat on ball, to the placement past Junaid and the timing. Even Tino Mawoyo turned to admire it as it approached the boundary. But Masakadza was bashful in his response. Instead of watching his handiwork, he walked towards the square leg umpire in a physical act of blushing while the rest were cheering the stroke.

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.

After the mayhem of the opening two days, Friday was a test of concentration and hydration. But an infinitely rewarding one

Tanya Aldred at Trent Bridge12-Jul-2013Deck-shoes, flipflops, sandals, trainers; Panamas, cotton hats, canvas, straw. The crowd gently melted into their clothing as the heat bore down on Trent Bridge, and the first Investec Test wound itself slowly, tightly towards the resolution that was coming, probably on Saturday, first blood in a series of ten.If the first two days had been bewilderingly fast, this was deliberately attritional cricket. Deliberately attritional, but not dull and stultifying. Delicious, in the way a bean and vegetable hot-pot sometimes surpasses a bag of chips. For the first time in the series, everyone had a chance to undo their top buttons, loosen their belts and really look at each other. The crowd could watch the players, get their heads around this Australian team of new faces, and the players could study each other, largely undistracted by gangling sixes or devastating spells of reverse-swing. It was a test of concentration and hydration. But an infinitely rewarding one.From the early morning heat, when the rays bounced off the concrete parquet paving on the walkways around the ground, to the afternoon haze which sapped the energy even from those who otherwise might have stood and sung, the sun was king. Spectators sat in their seats and baked till they started to crisp around the ears. Drunken ditties, that grow lazy with repetition, lasted a single verse. Mr Whippys dripped down cones and wrists to puddle stickily in the inside of the elbow. Plastic pint pots stacked up untidily until tired feet kicked them over while uncomfortably stretching away the session. It was a day when lazy afternoon somnolence started at 11 and lasted until six.On a day like this there is a lot of time to think. Too much time to think. To wonder what Ian Bell thinks about when he potters off to do a little gentle gardening mid-pitch, or replays little shots in his own little world. To wonder why Australian baggy greens always fit better than English blue, why the crowd always wakes up with six overs to go. Should you feel sorry for an umpire who is trying his best? Should sports teams learn to accept the hand of fate? Would Ashton Agar still bounce around with the same enthusiasm at six o’clock? (yes).Michael Clarke was a young bloke brought to Hampshire by Shane Warne when most English people first saw him. He’s had lots to deal with since then, not least the indiscipline of his side – the magnificent homeworkgate in India in March which left Shane Watson dropped. Watson flew off home to meet his new baby and resigned the vice-captaincy. There was a widely reported tiff.Yet here they were standing together at slip, a delicate petit pain and a chunky wholemeal loaf, brains and brawn. Clarke, nimble and slim, long-sleeved, crouched down, hands on his knees, sunhat pulled firmly over his head, giant sunglasses covering his face. Watson, titanic, who probably couldn’t get sleeves to cover the vast muscle of his arms, had hands low to the ground, ice-cream scoops waiting for an order. And they chatted away. Or rather Clarke chatted and Watson nodded, filled with the exhaustion of bowling, his huge frame casting a tiny shadow at midday as he trudged back, maiden after maiden from the pavilion end – the first runs off him came from the fourth ball of his sixth over.And as the day went on, and the runs leaked slowly from the bat onto the scoreboard, the Australian fielders made to do some sort of elaborate country dance over a green sward, let by Clarke who held hands and patted and hugged his men as they walked forward and across and backwards and sideways, the creaminess of their flannels adding some old-fashioned charm next to England’s brilliant, modern, whites.England alternated between crawling and boundaries, that stuttered the crowd from their listening and their consumption of sandwiches. The milestones came and went, Kevin Pietersen’s fourth fifty in a home Ashes series, Alastair Cook’s first fifty at Trent Bridge, Bell’s longed for star turn, proper graft, no dilettantism.By lunch England had made 77 runs and lost two wickets, by tea they’d made 72 runs and lost two more wickets. In the final session, as the bowlers tired and the Australians railed against the injustice of an English batsman not walking, and an umpire not concentrating, England clocked up a rocking 96 for no (official) loss.England’s run-rate in their last dozen or so Tests since June 2012 is 2.86, the lowest among all teams except Zimbabwe. This suggests a team of plodders, although they have done without Pietersen for some of that period. They didn’t plod today, they battled against spin, reverse-swing heat and pressure. Slow and steady.This has its place in Test matches. If all anyone wanted was frenetic cricket, there would be only Twenty20s. No Tests in Wellington, no soggy outfields, no light, no shadow. If you could only come to one day of this Test, today might not have been the one you choose. But as part of the whole, it was perfectAnd by the close England had inched ahead. Enough. Probably. Exhausting.

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.

Forcing heart and nerve and sinew, Alastair Cook showed a precious ability to fight even when hope was fading, providing an example of the character and courage required in his team

George Dobell at the WACA14-Dec-20130:00

Michael Carberry defends Kevin Pietersen

England may well relinquish the Ashes in the next couple of days but they will, metaphorically at least, have to be prised from Alastair Cook’s grasp.He failed in the end, but Cook produced a gallant performance on the second day in Perth. His struggle was obvious: like a runner with a limp or a boat with a leak, he was never secure and often painfully uncomfortable. He was battling not just the heat – at one stage a spectator fried an egg on the top of an advertising hoarding – but a disciplined bowling attack and, most of all, his own technique.Like most batsmen, when Cook is in form, the runs flow and batting appears a simple business. But here, unsure where his off stump was and struggling with his balance, it felt as if each run had to be carved out of granite.Yet, through grim determination and a surfeit of obduracy, he recorded his highest Test score since May and his highest score in eight successive Ashes Tests. When he couldn’t run he walked; when he couldn’t walk he crawled. It was an innings as low in style and as high in substance as Cook has played for some time.Those watching the highlights – and from a batting perspective there really weren’t many – may see only a somewhat loose cut to end his innings. Cook will spend much of the night – perhaps much of the next few weeks and months – regretting the thick, top edge that ended his resistance. It wasn’t beautiful and it was the second time this series he has fallen in such fashion.But what the highlights will not convey is the struggle that led up to the false stroke. They will not convey the three-and-a-half hours of fight that preceded it, the wonderfully consistent bowling that induced the false shot, the burden of a situation in which Cook knew that his team were desperately in need of a performance to sustain any hope in this series and that, sans Jonathan Trott, they are horribly overly reliant upon a few senior players for their scores. Somehow, over recent weeks, England seem to have gained the tail of a Diplodocus.

Carberry sympathetic to Pietersen

Michael Carberry defended Kevin Pietersen and praised the patience of the Australian bowlers after England were forced to work hard for their runs on the second day in Perth.
Pietersen was caught at mid-on attempting a pull stroke to leave England struggling to reach parity with Australia in their first innings on a wicket that is expected to deteriorate later in the match.
But while the stroke may have looked an unnecessary risk in the circumstances, Carberry was sympathetic to Pietersen’s intentions.
“We’re out there to score runs and Kevin is a positive player,” Carberry said. “That’s what has made him successful over a long career. He does things that not many of us can and it’s a shot many of us have seen him play time and again and hit the ball out of the ground.
“It’s disappointing for him and us but we want people to play how they play naturally and I wouldn’t want Kevin to leave that shot in the locker.
“Ideally we would have liked to lose fewer wickets. But Australia bowled very well and were very patient. That’s what pressure does. They shut down the scoring at times and we know that, when that happens, wickets are likely to follow.
“It was a good scrap and we’re still in the hunt.”

There will be those who suggest that Ashes defeat should spell the end of Cook’s time as captain. Those, presumably, who have forgotten Cook’s achievement in reintegrating Kevin Pietersen into his side and leading them to success in India little more than a year ago. Those who when pressed can’t think of a better option as captain.But you might equally argue that Cook proved his worth as a leader in this innings. That he forced heart and nerve and sinew to serve long after they had gone. That he showed a precious ability to fight even when hope was fading. That, with men wilting around him and worn out tools, he provided an example of the character and courage required in his team. Anyone can lead a winning side. It takes courage to lead a struggling one.Whether Cook has the same durability as captain as he does as a batsman remains to be seen. But here, despite being beaten more often than a punch bag in a boxer’s gym, he survived through a mixture of grit and that phlegmatic attitude that enables him to shrug off setbacks that would make others lose their composure. It was not, perhaps, quite as dramatic as Brian Close taking blow after blow from the West Indies fast bowlers on his body, but there was an inherent bravery on display in the face of an unequal battle, nevertheless.It has been stated before that there is something of the cockroach in Cook’s batting and the suspicion remains that, the morning after a nuclear holocaust, Cook would be there, quietly marking his guard and waiting for the bowler, as the first survivors peeked around their curtains.Alastair Cook showed admirable heart and desire, battling his current deficiencies•Getty ImagesCertainly he shrugged off several near-misses here. He was drawn into a push outside off stump before he had scored – a result of his current insecurity around off stump – he was dropped on 3 – a desperately tough chance, but the result of playing across his front pad having fallen to the off side – and was later lured into an attempted hook off Mitchell Johnson that he was lucky to miss.It is sometimes overlooked, but Cook is often the man who provides the foundations upon which others build more eye-catching innings of their own. So it was Cook who was at the other end when Pietersen played that remarkable innings in Mumbai, Cook who laid the platform ahead of Pietersen’s remarkable innings in Colombo and Cook who contributed the century in Ahmedabad that showed his team how to prosper in such conditions. While he is at the crease England always have hope.But once he departed, England’s resistance creaked. Pietersen soon followed, having played with uncharacteristic restraint, taking 15 balls to get off the mark – a record for Pietersen in Tests – and 44 balls to hit his first boundary. Again, the shot that brought his departure will not flatter him taken out of context, but Pietersen showed no lack of fight or application. Like his long-serving colleagues – the likes of Trott, Cook, Graeme Swann and James Anderson – Pietersen looks jaded and weary.But the effort and passion shouldn’t be questioned when a lack of fight from England has been most galling at times this series. On this occasion, they fought and came second. There’s no disgrace in that.

As they spurned the opportunity to grab a lead in excess of 200 on the third day in Chittagong, Sri Lanka would have discovered some of their limitations in fielding and the lack of a bowling bench strength

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Chittagong06-Feb-2014Losses, it is often said, are more instructive than victories, and on a day on which Sri Lanka gave up more ground than they have become accustomed to conceding in this series, the team may have discovered some of their limitations.Swept up in the delight over Suranga Lakmal and Shaminda Eranga’s advances and endurance in January, it has been easy to overlook shortcomings elsewhere in the bowling stocks. Now, having lost their best quick and slow bowler to injury, Sri Lanka have found the troops beyond the frontline are raw, still prone to the indiscipline the coaches had endeavoured to eliminate.Nuwan Pradeep had been the catalyst in Pakistan’s first-innings collapse in Dubai, and their subsequent loss. He was somewhere near his finest in Dubai, seaming the ball in either direction, at a slippery pace envenomed by his accuracy and persistence in length. Chittagong, perhaps, found him at his worst.On day two he delivered eight overs and traveled at 8.38. The pitch was unhelpful, no doubt, but Sri Lanka will encounter plenty such surfaces in years to come, not least in Galle. Eranga and Lakmal had made consistency in line and length the blueprint of their success in the UAE but, fresh off the bench, Pradeep could not quite fall in line.The wayward morning spell that yielded 50 from five overs, lent momentum to Bangladesh’s resistance. Pradeep’s worst transgression was an over of short-wide deliveries that surrendered 20. Thrice he overstepped, out of 13 no-balls in the innings an unmissable symptom of poor rhythm. Fast bowlers are entitled to their poor days, perhaps more than any other cricketer in the team, but as Sri Lanka do not yet have quicks that will blow oppositions away, collective pressure is vital to their success. Lakmal was miserly in patches on day two, but as long as batsmen could score at the other end, his menace was vastly diminished.That is not to say Pradeep should aim to emulate Eranga and Lakmal in everything. The glory of the best attacks – even the decent ones Sri Lanka have produced – has been their variety. South Africa have Dale Steyn’s intensity, Morne Morkel’s bounce and Vernon Philander’s metronomic seam. Australia have a pit bull in Mitchell Johnson and a border collie in Peter Siddle. Both outfits have the diversity to make a range of demands from the opposition.Already carrying strikingly similar right-arm quicks in Eranga and Lakmal, Pradeep’s hit-the-deck pace shapes as a dose of flavour. But although it may be unfair – even unrealistic – to expect a bowler of his ilk to become the patron saint of line and length, certain standards of economy may be aspired to. Sri Lanka will almost certainly need a third seamer at Headingley and Lord’s this year, and they will hope Pradeep does not have another crisis of confidence there.Beyond Pradeep, it is also as yet unclear who else can form a battery that will provide adequate cover, when injuries inevitably occur. Vishwa Fernando, a lean left-armer who generates considerable pace with his jarring action, has been identified as a strong prospect by the selectors and has been on two tours as the work-experience kid. His first-class average of 37.26 may be a better reflection of Sri Lanka’s bland domestic surfaces than his own prowess, but the imminent England Lions tour, in which Fernando is expected to play, will provide a clearer indication of his ability.Limitations in the field had been apparent during the tour of the UAE, when the slips were less than secure. In the first innings in Chittagong, Sri Lanka grassed three sitters and two sharp chances, spurning the opportunity to establish a lead in excess of 200. Ajantha Mendis, off whose bowling two of those chances were spilt, suggested fatigue may have weakened the side in the field, but if the Sri Lanka hordes queuing for the IPL auction have their way, most of the team will not arrive in the United Kingdom well rested, having not had much more than a week’s break in one stretch, since December.Mendis was the most successful among Sri Lanka’s bowlers, and his future is a quandary for the selectors. There is little question he remains a threat in the shorter formats, but in Tests, there have been only so many teams who have not yet defused him, and so many surfaces that have proved conducive to his tricks.Bangladesh weakened the visitors’ grip on a 2-0 result on day three, but with more high-profile contests on the horizon, perhaps Sri Lanka can be grateful to the batsmen that uncovered the cracks in their game.

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.