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Jenny Thompson catches up with Doug Bollinger ahead of Australia A’s tour of Pakistan

Jenny Thompson30-Jul-2007

Freak floods in England haven’t dampened Doug Bollinger’s enthusiasm for cricket, especially now he’s been recalled for Australia A. He may not be excelling for Worcestershire in his first county season – and the poor weather can’t have helped – but his reputation and previous experience have earned the call to tour Pakistan in September.”I’m very excited,” he said. “I’ve tried not to think about it. I’m really excited, very happy, and I’m just going to try to grab it with both hands.”He’s the type of man to make the best of any situation. Take the floods, for example. “I lost my whole kit in the changing room, but then I’m a bowler so it doesn’t really matter! All the guys have been really good, they’ve offered to lend bats and shoes, just been a typical team.”A recommendation from his New South Wales team-mate Phil Jaques landed him a spot at New Road, while his 22 wickets at 24.68 in five Pura Cup matches in 2006-07, and a good word from Glenn McGrath, helped too. “He’s had a couple of good years at home and he’s done really well,” Jaques said.He may not have set Worcestershire alight – his eight first-class wickets have come at 61.75 – but overall the experience has been a positive one. “It’s been good and I’ve learned a few things I can take back to Australia – bits and pieces about my bowling, different lengths and areas, which is good.”Bollinger, 26, will use the knowledge in Pakistan, where it will be a massive help having his friend Jaques with him. Jaques, almost paternally, answers some questions for him when I’m talking to both; he even broke the news to him of his recall to Australia A.The promotion is part of his swift rise, but he takes it in his stride. He only picked up cricket at 15, despite professing a love for the game from being a youngster. “You grow up watching it, saying: ‘Yeah, I want to do that’.”I wasn’t in the New South Wales Under-19s. I started when I was 15 and played my first season when I was 21, after one season of grade cricket back home. I’ve had a really quick upbringing.” Jaques interjects: “You were playing with your friends, weren’t you?” Bollinger nods.”I played one season of grade cricket, then the next I was playing Shield cricket against the likes of Jimmy Maher and Matt Hayden, and playing with Steve and Mark Waugh. It was a dream come true.”It was only once he had played with the big names and had a taste of first-class cricket that he began to hone his skills – until then everything was a whirlwhind. In the last four years he’s had more structured attention, having been to the Academy a few times. “I’ve learnt a lot more now as everything’s slowed down a bit. It’s been great.”The left-arm fast man is nicknamed ‘Eagle’ because of his hairline. He shrugs it off. Still, his team-mates hold back on the champagne jokes, although they did try one name that they quickly had to discard: “A fast bowler called Bubbles didn’t really work,” Jaques laughed. The bubbles are on hold at the moment, but he’s bursting with enthusiasm, and his eye is on doing well in Pakistan.

For most of those who turned up at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, the cricket wasn’t the main event

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Dec-2007

From the time the Indian Cricket League was conceived, the question on everyone’s lips was: will it grow or will it be stillborn? If one takes popularity as the yardstick, the grand finale on Sunday evening at the packed Tau Devi Lal Stadium would have put to rest all speculation. The stadium, which is about equidistant from both the Sector 16 ground in Chandigarh and the Punjab Cricket Association’s stadium in Mohali, can normally accommodate around 6000, but that figure swelled to 10,000 for the final, with people thronging the railings of various stands, and packing themselves into the grass banks that ring the ground outside.Subhash Chandra, the head of the Zee group, the league’s backers, and Kapil Dev declared the inaugural edition a success as they unveiled plans for the future, but their smiling faces hid uncertainty. For the moment the matter of whether the public would recognise the ICL had been dispelled, but one question remains: did those people throng to the ground to witness a sporting spectacle, or was it the other delights on offer that sucked them in?The verdict from Panchkula has been no different to those from other parts of the world when it comes to the carnival atmosphere of Twenty20. “Entertainment” was the most popular response if you asked young and old on Sunday for the reason for their attendance at the final. For his part, Kapil has no problems with that. “Sport to me is entertainment and I’ll let the public decide what is good for them,” he said. Then, in what seemed like an aside, but was delivered in seriousness, he added, “If the crowd would like horse-jumping or a dog show, we’ll get them.”Of course, definitions of entertainment vary. For die-hard cricket fans the sight of Chris Cairns blasting sixes over the stands was a dream come true. For others it was the glitter, the dancing girls, the music. Young girls, not quite impressed with the ICL’s line-up of players, came in to watch the final nevertheless, to experience something different. For them it was all about the festive spirit.Shrieks, whistles and horns swept the stadium every time a performer stepped on to the stage. Tanushree Dutta, a former Miss India, now a Bollywood starlet, had the crowd’s eyeballs glued to the big screen and stage during the final. On the preceding days, Bollywood beauties Kareena Kapoor, Malaika Arora Khan, and Yana Gupta, and popular singers Kailash Kher and Sukhwinder had performed before completely full to near-vacant stands.If anything can grapple with the might of cricket in India, it is Bollywood. No wonder, then, that some in the BCCI took umbrage recently at Shahrukh Khan’s turning up at Twenty20 games and ODIs, in what they saw as an attempt to promote his films using the cricket. The ICL, backed by Chandra’s clout in Bollywood, brought the cast of the forthcoming – Ajay Devgan, Irrfan Khan, and Ayesha Takia – in for the final. Those three together may not have been able to match the star value of Khan, the reigning emperor of the Hindi movie industry, but Chandra understood that something was better than nothing.The other stars who stole the show were the cheerleaders, referred to here as “dancing girls”, none of them Indian. At the end of the evening, amid the Chennai Superstars’ victory celebrations, one bunch of the girls happened to pass through the ground, moving to the other end. The crowd, which had been allowed inside the ring to mingle with the players, turned eagerly to the young women as they walked nervously past, in single file. Fortunately, there were bouncers on hand to see the girls across safe. The atmosphere had something of a college festival or a carnival about it.It wasn’t just the young who had been lured by the glitter and the razzmatazz. Families formed a big chunk of the crowd that braved the numbing cold to watch the Superstars put it across the Chandigarh Lions for the million-dollar prize.

Among the incentives was the fairly priced tickets. Engineering student Vikas Dhiman, a 21-year-old Panchkula native, got a free ticket along with the one he bought for Rs 100. On weekends, for Rs 150 one could watch two games. There were no restrictions on bringing bottles of water or other beverages into the stands. The usual red tape that exists at a regular cricket stadium in India was absent, and the crowd management was smooth, all of which served to make the spectator experience that much more comfortable.Disappointingly for the organisers, though, by and large, except on the opening and closing days, the turnouts were sparse. Even if a fair number of the league games were played over weekends, and there were stars like Brian Lara, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Chris Cairns on view, the masses didn’t pour in. Reportedly, most of those who did turn up were pass-holders from the Haryana Urban Development Authority, which rented the ground to the ICL, and friends and relatives of the various sponsors and organisers.There may have been a yawning gap between what was on offer in Panchkula and the international Twenty20 experience, but those who did turn up seemed to enjoy themselves. Will they be back for another edition? Chances are, they will. As long as the entertainment is dished out, the actual cricket will not matter much. The curtains have just gone up on the ICL show.

George Binoy looks back at the turning points of the India-Australia series

George Binoy11-Nov-2008

Dhoni drops Hussey
India had just broken a 166-run partnership between Simon Katich and Ricky
Ponting, and Michael Hussey was playing his first Test innings in India.
Kumble bowled him a straighter one and Hussey prodded and got a thick
edge. The ball bounced off Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s thigh and fell short of
first slip. Hussey, on 1 at the time, went on to score 146 in
Australia’s total of 430 in the first innings in Bangalore.Zaheer and Harbhajan’s 80-run partnership
Australia were three wickets away from gaining a massive lead in the first
Test, having reduced India to 232 for 7. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh
defied the visitors late on the third day with aggressive strokes that
cleared the infield. Harbhajan scored 54 and, after he was dismissed,
Zaheer went on to make 57. They came together with India trailing by
198 runs but their partnership whittled the deficit down to 118 and the last
few wickets reduced it further to 70. It denied Australia the leverage
they needed to put pressure on India in the fourth innings.Ganguly’s let-off
India’s brisk start to the second Test in Mohali was ruined by three
wickets falling for 17 runs. The innings needed repair at 163 for 4 and
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly had just begun building a partnership.
Ganguly was on 35, and India were 236, when Brad Haddin appealed for a
stumping off Cameron White. Rudi Koertzen didn’t refer it to the third
umpire but replays showed that Ganguly’s foot was just in the air. Ganguly
went on to score 102 and shared partnerships of 142 with Tendulkar and 109
with Dhoni. India scored 469.A debutant hero
Amit Mishra would not have played in this series had it not been for the shoulder
injury to Anil Kumble. Mishra played his first Test in Mohali and ended up
taking five wickets in the first innings and seven in the match. His most
crucial strike came late on the second day, when he went round the wicket
to Michael Clarke and trapped him lbw with the googly. The strike came in
the final over of the day and was a severe dent to Australia’s hopes.

Reverse swing
India set Australia a target of 516 in a little more than five sessions to
win the Mohali Test. The chase was already in trouble after the loss
of three quick wickets but Ishant Sharma struck a body blow late on the
fourth day. During a searing spell in which he got the ball to move late,
Ishant swung one delivery through Ricky Ponting’s bat-pad gap and hit the
stumps. A few overs later he pinned Shane Watson on the back foot leaving
Australia on 58 for 5 and with no hope of saving the Test.The two double-centurions
Australia’s bowlers had struck early in the third Test in Delhi, reducing
India to 27 for 2. Gautam Gambhir and Tendulkar consolidated but when
Australia struck again India had reached only 157. The passage of play
that stretched across the 72.1 overs, however, ensured that Australia
would not win the match. VVS Laxman and Gautam Gambhir both scored
double-centuries and their partnership of 278 took India towards their
total of 613.Dropped. Not once but thrice.
Australia were 350 for 4 on the fourth morning in Delhi, still trailing
India by 263 runs. Clarke was batting on 21 and Watson on 14. India needed
quick wickets to gain a substantial lead which they could build on in the
second innings. Clarke obliged, lofting Mishra hard and flat towards
mid-off. The catch flew to Ishant at head height but he couldn’t hold on.
Clarke gave India two more chances on 90 and 94 but Laxman and Mishra
dropped them. He went on to score 112 and helped Australia save the Test.Eight-one
India lost their last five wickets for 19 runs and collapsed for 441 in
the final Test in Nagpur when they looked good for 600 at one stage. They
lost further ground when Australia’s batsmen attacked and scored at nearly
four runs an over to reach 189 for 2 at the end of the second day. India
brainstormed overnight and came out with a plan to slow Australia down.
Dhoni placed eight fielders on the off side and instructed his fast
bowlers to bowl wide outside off stump. Australia were suffocated and
scored only 42, 49 and 75 in three sessions on the third day. They also
lost eight wickets and conceded a first-innings lead of 86.Dhoni and Harbhajan to the rescue
India had an 86-run lead in Nagpur and only a disastrous collapse in the
second innings could give Australia an opportunity to win the Test and
level the series. India’s openers added 116 runs on the fourth day,
extending the lead to 202 with ten wickets intact. The series was
virtually won. A stunning collapse ensued, during which India lost six
wickets for 50 runs. Suddenly India were only 252 ahead with four wickets
in hand. They were handed a lifeline by Ponting who bowled a part-timer
from one end after tea in order to make up for a slow over-rate. Dhoni and
Harbhajan took advantage of the release of pressure and began scoring
freely. Australia struggled to contain them and they added 108 runs for
the seventh wicket and succeeded in posting a target which was out of
Australia’s reach.

It took 12 teams 54 matches spread over 19 days to determine the best of the rest, the countries next in the queue for an ICC handout and those fortunate four who will play in the 2011 World Cup

Will Luke in Johannesburg20-Apr-2009Marks out of ten | Who got what from the Qualifiers | StatisticsKarim Khan went from a wicketkeeper-batsman to claim 11 wickets – just part of Afghanistan’s extraordinary story•Cricinfo/Ian JacobsIt took 12 teams 54 matches spread over 19 days to determine the best of the rest, the countries next in the queue for an ICC handout and those fortunate four who will play in the 2011 World Cup. The ICC World Cup Qualifiers lurked deferentially in the shadow of the looming Indian Premier League, yet held its own as the Associates’ showcase event and even inducted a war-torn nation as one of the sport’s own. Beat that, Mr Modi.With the favourites Ireland reaching and winning the final, it appears that the whole show went to form, and statistically that is true. Of the top six Associates, only Bermuda lost their ODI status, but we’ll come to that particular miserable tale later. Had Scotland lost their international ranking – they escaped by a cat’s whisker and performed poorly – the ICC would have had two countries into whom four years of investment and nurturing were practically wasted. Instead, bar the occasional flabbergasting upset, the top eight countries have all shown encouraging improvement to justify their rankings. The ICC is pelted with vitriol almost by default by world cricket, but its commitment and hands-on approach to developing nations deserves acknowledgement.Cricket being cricket, the tournament was not without incident. After all, the majority of these players remain amateurs, forsaking careers and families for national pride or simply their own love of the sport. Even Ireland – the envy of opposing coaches with their increasing professionalism – had their difficulties. They were outplayed by the romantics’ choice of refugees, Afghanistan, and the call-up by England of Eoin Morgan led to rumours of a split between him and the towering presence of his coach, Phil Simmons. Morgan is not, and cannot, be blamed for seeking pastures new, or pastures rich. International cricket is his ambition and, judging by his eight innings in this tournament, not to mention his form for Middlesex, probably his calling.Likewise Netherlands’ Ryan ten Doeschate, who cut short his international appearances to commit to Essex. To Netherlands’ credit, they survived without his sublime allround abilities, though ironically it was another ECB-contracted batsman, Alexei Kervezee, still only 19, who anchored many of their innings (461 runs @ 51.22). A brilliant fielder and increasingly mature batsman, it may not be long before he swaps Netherlands for New Road on a more full-time basis. These were the undercurrents of irritation which gently rumbled throughout this tournament, but it was ever thus for Associate cricket, never more so than for the European nations.The story of the past few weeks, however, came from a squad of men hailing from a country that most Europeans associate with two terrible Ts: terrorism and Taliban. Afghanistan stole the hearts, upset the odds and left several teams looking foolishly complacent. Ireland were rolled over by 22 runs, with Hamid Hassan – a fast bowler destined for county cricket one day – snaring five. Scotland, too, were shrugged aside quite comfortably, as were Bermuda. These were victories not of a squad of wannabes, but of cricketers whose ambition stretches far beyond this level.They blew hot and cold, expectedly, but several figures (and characters) enhanced their reputations handsomely. Alongside Hassan was Shapoor Zadran, a tall and accurate left-arm seamer. Karim Khan, too, hits the ball cleaner than most and when his injured finger prevented him from standing behind the stumps, he turned to offspin and picked up 11 cheap wickets.

The story of the past few weeks, however, came from a squad of men hailing from a country that most Europeans associate with two terrible Ts: terrorism and Taliban. Afghanistan stole the hearts, upset the odds and left several teams looking foolishly complacent

Many put their journey to the Super Eights down to fluke or fortune but, by the end of the tournament, opposing teams readily conceded Afghanistan as a talented team and potent threat to their World Cup push, however extraordinary their backgrounds may be. The funding they will now receive will transform their lives as people and cricketers, yet Afghanistan remains a country desperately seeking an identity other than one at war with the west. Some grass pitches would help, too, but now is not the time to pontificate negatively while the celebrations in Peshawar, Jalalabad and Kabul resonate raucously and justifiably.From the good, to Bermuda, whose performance was less a disappointment, more a depressingly predictable blight of underachievement. Poor David Hemp topped the overall averages with 557 runs at 185.66, batting and fielding with the professionalism and self-pride you would expect. With nobody for support, Hemp resembled a man with a bilge pump on a sinking ship while his crew had taken the lifeboats and champagne and were sailing to calmer waters.Gus Logie’s attack on the players’ lack of motivation and focus angered the players, some of whom would rather turn their arm over, gently, in domestic cricket than represent their country. Three opposing players told Cricinfo that their demotion was both unsurprising and deserved. For now, they are out of the limelight. That alone might be sufficient inspiration to breed a new, ambitious Bermuda. Just don’t hold your breath.Bermuda’s tribulations serve as a reminder to other nations and the ICC. With funding comes responsibility. In that respect, ICC is much like the managing director of a business. It is as keen to help these nations – apprentices, if you like – as they are themselves, and will spoon-feed them money, equipment, and create a structure upon which they will hopefully build. It can’t, however, breast feed them forever. The weaning process has to happen at some point.Richard Done, ICC’s High Performance Manager, cut to the chase at the beginning of the tournament when he outlined his and ICC’s blueprint for Associate cricket. Top of the list is professionalisation – a safety net for players who can then concentrate on their own performances without the burden of finding an employer willing to let them take four weeks off every now and then to play cricket. Amateur status still rules the roost. The UAE, for example, are entirely amateur yet are screaming with raw ability (their opening bowler, Amjad Javed, smashed 164). Were cricket to be their full-time career, with a proper managerial board in place, UAE and other countries would improve out of sight. There is no overnight solution, however; look what US$11m of investment by Bermuda’s government has had on the sport in their country.The top six have plenty on their schedule, and the next intriguing instalment is to see how Afghanistan fare as four-day cricketers in the ICC Intercontinental Cup. Ireland may have lofted the trophy on Sunday, and continue to stretch ahead of the pack, but there is no doubt which team has stolen their thunder these past three weeks. The next four years promise to be as exhilarating and unpredictable as Kabul itself.

As another Under-19 World Cup gets underway, we look at the boys of the 2008 edition who are now men with international responsibilities

George Binoy15-Jan-2010Adrian Barath
Barath came to Kuala Lumpur as the boy who had caught Brian Lara’s eye at the age of 11. He was short and stocky, wore braces, and spoke confidently with a strong Trinidadian accent, recalling with pride his rise through age-group cricket, reeling off details meticulously. His earnestness and ambition shone through – both fine qualities to possess when on the cusp of global recognition. Barath, however, had an ordinary World Cup: he was under the weather and, although he possessed a tight technique, made only 84 runs in five matches. His opening partner, the towering Kieran Powell, was the attention grabber for his flamboyant hitting. In November 2009, though, Barath was opening with another physically imposing partner, Chris Gayle, facing the new ball against Australia at the Gabba. His first innings produced only 15 but his second was a 104 remarkable for its poise; a final glimpse of promise in a miserable decade for West Indies. Barath spoke, after his century, of the importance he gave Test cricket in this world of Twenty20. He wasn’t being just politically correct, for he did not register for the IPL auction in 2010. During the time between the U-19 World Cup and his Test debut, the highlights of Barath’s progress were a century for West Indies A against an England XI attack comprising James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Ryan Sidebottom and Graeme Swann; a call-up to the Test squad for the home series against Bangladesh; and a string of impressive performances for Trinidad & Tobago in the Champions League Twenty20.Virat Kohli
As captain of one of the teams tipped to win the U-19 World Cup, Kohli exuded a confidence beyond his 19 years. Walking around the Sunway Pyramid hotel in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops, Kohli, ear studs, tattoos and all, carried the swagger of someone who knew he belonged. It wasn’t a façade either, for he had already represented his zonal side, and exhibited immense mental strength by playing a valuable innings for Delhi hours after his father’s death. Kohli was aggressive during the World Cup – in batting, fielding and captaincy – and played the innings of the tournament: a century off 74 balls against West Indies, notable for powerful drives straight and through the off side. He also led by example during a ruthless defence of 159 in the final against South Africa. Kohli’s performances in Malaysia caught Vijay Mallya’s attention and won him an IPL contract with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. A strong showing during an Emerging Players tournament in Australia resulted in a surprise call-up to India’s ODI squad for a tour to Sri Lanka as early as August 2008. Kohli has now played 20 ODIs and has moved ahead of the likes of Rohit Sharma in the pecking order, though his opportunities have come only when one of the team’s regulars is unavailable or injured. Encouragingly he has made starts in virtually all his games but also displayed a worrying tendency to give it away with ill-advised aggressive shots. His maiden century finally came in his 13th innings, when he scored 107 chasing 316 against Sri Lanka, and it could be the breakthrough that sets his India career on course.Wayne Parnell
Parnell was arguably the most impressive cricketer at the 2008 World Cup. His responsibilities included South Africa’s captaincy, aggressive middle-order batting and potent new-ball swing bowling. He was tough too: Parnell took the field in the quarter-final against Bangladesh despite a fever and sore throat, scored 57, took 6 for 8 in five devastating overs and set-up a 201-run victory. He left Malaysia as the leading wicket-taker, with 18 in six matches. His mates at Eastern Province wouldn’t have been surprised, for Parnell had been a hot talent since the age of 12 and made his first-class debut in October 2006. Thereafter, he started to climb the rungs towards the senior team. He was part of the Emerging Players squad to Australia in March 2008, won the South African Under-19 Player of the Year award in June, was part of the South Africa A squad for the home series against Sri Lanka A in July, and received an inevitable call-up to the national side for the limited-overs leg of the Australia tour in December, where he made his ODI and Twenty20 debuts. Parnell was also included in the squad for the third Test of the home series against Australia in March 2009, although he didn’t play. Later that month he became the youngest player to be awarded a central contract by CSA. Kent signed him for the 2009 county season and it was in England, during the World Twenty20, that he arrived. He bowled with pace and accuracy, during the Powerplay and final overs, and took nine wickets at an economy rate of less than six an over. But it hasn’t been all rosy. He was suspended by his domestic side, the Warriors, for a Supersport Series match because of disciplinary issues and had to wait till the final match of the home series against England to make his Test debut.Mohammad Aamer’s U-19 World Cup was cut short due to illness, but there have been no such hiccups in his impressive international career so far•Getty ImagesUmar Akmal

No other cricketer from the U-19 World Cup has become as important to his national side as the younger Akmal: a precocious talent and the future of Pakistan’s batting. At the moment he’s aggressive, charged by the fearlessness of youth, has technique, and has shown adaptability, playing valuable innings in all three formats: an unbeaten 72-ball 102 against Sri Lanka in his third ODI, a match-winning Twenty20 half-century against New Zealand on a tough pitch in Dubai, and an attacking hundred and a mature fifty on Test debut in Dunedin. He coped admirably at No. 3 on a seaming green top in Wellington, and had success in Australia as well. He averages 55 after five Tests and if he tempers his tendency to self-destruct when in control, he could go far. An indication of what was to come, though, wasn’t on show in Malaysia. Akmal opened the innings for Pakistan and rarely stayed at the crease long enough to make an impact, falling for single-digit scores in three out of five innings. His best, 17 off 13 balls, included four boundaries. His coach, Mansoor Rana, however, had immense faith in Akmal’s abilities, saying he could win a game in 10 overs. Akmal, while speaking, was shy, not as expressive as some of the others in Malaysia. He confessed a desire, before the semi-final against Australia, to play an innings that “will make people forget the failures”. He didn’t do it then but he has now.Mohammad Aamer
Singled out as a special talent as early as May 2007 by no less than Wasim Akram, Aamer, not yet 16 at the time, was tipped to be one of the stars of the World Cup. He began well, with 3 for 12 against Malaysia, but his tournament ended soon after because he caught the dengue virus and returned home. Aamer, however, did not need the youth World Cup to rise. As a lithe, wiry fast bowler capable of speeds around 150kph, he took 55 wickets in his debut first-class season and was included in Pakistan’s World Twenty20 squad. Sohail Tanvir’s poor form gave Aamer a chance to bowl with the new ball in England and he was exceptional. Few more experienced bowlers could have bowled a better opening over in the final – a maiden and the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan, the tournament’s best batsman, bounced out for a five-ball duck. Aamer went on to make his ODI and Test debuts in Sri Lanka in July 2009 and is currently part of Pakistan’s first-choice pace attack.Tim Southee
Southee was one of a kind in the 2008 World Cup – the only player, out of 240, with international experience, having played two Twenty20s against England. He was also the tournament’s fiercest bowler, using his height and strong build to good effect. His pace and ability to bounce the ball sharply brought him 17 wickets at an average of 6.64 and economy of 2.52, and the Player-of-the-Tournament award. He was the first bowler to challenge a strong Indian batting order, taking 4 for 29 in the semi-final. The World Cup performance fast-tracked his career and he was part of the New Zealand line-up for the deciding Napier Test against England in March 2008. He surprised everyone, taking 5 for 55 in the first innings and then biffing 77 off 40 balls with nine sixes in the second. With New Zealand losing players, to retirement and the ICL, Southee was given a national contract the following month. He has been a regular member of New Zealand squads in all three formats and should soon find a permanent spot in the XI.Phil Hughes started his international career with two centuries in his first three Tests•AFPPhillip Hughes
Short, confident, sporting spiky blond hair and ear studs, Hughes was one of only two Australians in the U-19 World Cup squad with first-class experience (Steven Smith was the other). But like most of his team-mates, he had an ordinary tournament – 89 runs in four innings – as Australia were eliminated in the quarter-finals. However, coach Brian McFadyen said Hughes was definitely one to watch out for because it was a rarity for an U-19 cricketer to already have played first-class cricket. Less than a month later, 19-year-old Hughes became the youngest to score a century in a Pura Cup final. He then made the Australia A squad for the tour of India in August 2008, scored plenty of centuries for New South Wales, and was the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year. Matthew Hayden’s retirement at the end of the home series against South Africa in 2008-09 created a vacancy at the top of the order and Hughes beat Phil Jaques to it. At the Wanderers, Hughes became Australia’s youngest debutant since Craig McDermott. He followed a duck on debut with 75, 115 and 160 in his next three innings and seemed destined to be Hayden’s successor. A stint with Middlesex – 574 runs in five innings – preceded the Ashes but that was where the honeymoon ended. England exploited his susceptibility against the short ball, and after failures in three Ashes innings Hughes was dropped and watched Shane Watson forge a productive opening partnership with Simon Katich.Ravindra Jadeja
Jadeja had played the U-19 World Cup in 2006 and in Malaysia he had the confidence that only experience can give. He was one of India’s leading players – a cool head on the field and a jovial prankster off it – and contributed to India’s victory with a crucial spell in the final. His all-round skills – energetic batting, economical left-arm spin, and swift fielding – were vital and he was Kohli’s right-hand man. Jadeja’s performances won him a place in the Rajasthan Royals squad for the inaugural IPL, and Shane Warne’s admiration. Jadeja caught the selectors’ eye with 42 wickets and 729 runs in the 2008-09 Ranji Trophy and was called up for a tour of Sri Lanka in February 2009. He’s been in India’s limited-overs set-up since – moving ahead of Yusuf Pathan in the allrounders’ pecking order – and went to the World Twenty20 as well, but is yet to cement his spot.Seven other players from that World Cup have also made their international debuts: Darren Bravo and Kieran Powell (West Indies), Dolar Mahmud and Rubel Hossain (Bangladesh), Thissara Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne (Sri Lanka), and Ahmed Shezhad (Pakistan).

Whites have been cleaned, pitches have been readied, it’s time to hope again; we look at men who will be expecting slightly more than some of the others

Siddarth Ravindran and Nitin Sundar01-Nov-2010Ashish Nehra
Can Ashish Nehra make the transition to whites?•Getty ImagesAshish Nehra’s skills have never been questioned, not since Durban, where he bossed England with a supreme exhibition of controlled swing. That was the limitless Nehra of 24 years, with the world at the mercy of his seam position. Five years passed, years when injuries blighted him, but he managed to re-emerge. Nehra redux knew his limitations and gave up Tests, wary of not biting off more than he could chew. Two years later, he has become a certainty in a transient ODI bowling line-up, and now believes he has regained the strength and stamina for the longest format. This season Nehra will try to prove that he is ready, and if he succeeds, India could have a fast-bowling attack capable of retaining that Test No. 1 ranking for a while.R Ashwin
Ashwin has made all the right moves since MS Dhoni empowered him with the new ball in IPL 2010. He is now a strong contender for a limited-overs spot but a Test call-up remains a distant dream. Only a compelling domestic season or two can elevate Ashwin on par with Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra. He has started brightly, bagging seven wickets to go with a quick 73 in October’s Duleep Trophy. Crucially, he earned his wickets with classical flight and loop, without overly resorting to the carrom ball and his other Twenty20 variations. Ashwin’s stock will rise if he can sustain that effort through the season, but another average year could bring with it the tag of limited-overs specialist.Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane scored 1000 runs twice in two seasons and followed up with 809 in his third. Another bounty season and the India selectors will not have any excuses for ignoring him. Three vacancies loom in the India batting line-up, and while M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have emerged as serious contenders for two spots, the third is up for grabs. So far, Rahane has grabbed every opportunity available to him, be it the A-tour to England, the Emerging Players tournament, the Irani Trophy, or the tour game against the visiting Australians. There is intense competition for that middle-order berth – chiefly from S Badrinath and Yuvraj Singh – but age and an immense appetite for runs put Rahane in pole position.Ravindra Jadeja
Going by stats, Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the ODI side should not elicit protest. He averages 31.47 with the bat – eight runs clear of either Pathan brother – and maintains an economy-rate of 4.84 on the flattest of tracks. Yet, he is considered a short-term solution, a begrudged patch-up job until a real allrounder arrives. Jadeja’s IPL 2010 ban cost him an opportunity to silence his critics, but the selectors have kept their faith in him. Now, to make that blue India cap his own, Jadeja has to shine in the Saurashtra whites. These are fields he has conquered before: 776 runs and 45 wickets in the 2008-09 season raised him into the spotlight. What he does this year could decide how long he remains there and whether he gains acceptance.Jaidev Unadkat
One prolific season is all it takes for genuine fast-bowling talent to get noticed in India – Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun are examples. Jaidev Unadkat should aspire to follow in their footsteps as he prepares for his first domestic summer. He has started in impressive style: seven wickets at 15.42 and an economy-rate of 3.90 at January’s Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, 13 wickets on first-class debut for India A at Grace Road, a headlining show in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia, and praise from Wasim Akram. That is a delightful list of entrees from multiple cuisines, but only a sumptuous Indian main course will convince the selectors. What does Unadkat have on the menu?Umesh Yadav
If Unadkat wants a role model, he can do worse than pick Umesh Yadav, a seamer who earned his chances through honest performances for Vidharba. A Delhi Daredevils contract followed and he made heads turn with pace and bounce during IPL 2010, earning him a spot in the India sides for the World Twenty20 and the Zimbabwe tour. The selectors have seen his potential, but will now want him to prove his endurance. Can he sustain the 140-plus speeds through an entire day without breaking down? Can he torment left-handers with his natural delivery that angles away from wide of the crease? Can he continue to get disconcerting lift from dead pitches?Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan: the fans are convinced, but can he sway the selectors?•Getty ImagesHe hasn’t played for India in the past one and a half years, but fans still send in plenty of mails to ESPNCricinfo during every India match asking why Irfan Pathan isn’t in the team. Part of the reason is that India are still struggling to find a genuine allrounder, and many believe Irfan remains the best person for that slot. He has been overlooked for tours where plenty of fringe players were picked, despite making 397 runs at 49.62 and taking 22 wickets at 18.54 last season. India coach Gary Kirtsen feels he is “a little bit light on his bowling side”, a perception Irfan has to change to revive his international career.Rohit Sharma
Long acknowledged as a hugely-talented player, Rohit is yet to deliver. Three years since his one-day debut, he averages 28 and is yet to cement his place in the side. Questions have been asked about his mental discipline and his attitude to fitness. He hasn’t been at his best lately, struggling in the tri-series in Sri Lanka, failing on a flat track in the Irani Cup and not making any major contribution during the Challenger series. In the race for a Test middle-order slot, he has fallen behind Suresh Raina and Cheteshwar Pujara. Shedding the excess pounds, and stabilising a shaky Mumbai middle-order will send the right signals to the national selectors.Yuvraj Singh
His troubles during his tenth year on the international circuit are well-documented. A permanent member of the one-day side for much of the previous decade, he was dropped for the Asia Cup earlier this year. He also lost the Test spot vacated by Sourav Ganguly in 2008 to Raina. Three fractures of his hand, a cartilage tear in the wrist, neck strains and dengue fever have made it a year to forget, but Yuvraj started the domestic season strongly – with an unbeaten double-century in the Irani Cup. Besides helping showcase his batting form, the unglamorous Ranji Trophy – a tournament he hasn’t regularly played in since 2004-05 – will also be a test of his fitness and attitude.Piyush Chawla
At 16, he famously dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the Challenger Trophy. At 17, he became India’s second youngest Test debutant. At 18, he was deceiving Kevin Pietersen with his googlies during the tour of England. Now 21, Chawla has been out of the national Test and one-day sides for more than two years. Harbhajan Singh has been India’s lead spinner in all formats, but there is plenty of competition for the back-up spot: Ojha and Mishra in Tests, and Jadeja and Ashwin in limited-overs. A surprising recall to the Indian team for the World Twenty20 earlier in the year shows Chawla remains in the selectors’ sights, and with arguably India’s finest domestic pace attack – RP Singh, Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – supporting him at Uttar Pradesh, a solid season could pitchfork him back into the reckoning.Abhinav Mukund
For a country that has traditionally struggled to find a strong Test opening combination, these are times of riches. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have provided solidity at the top over the past two years and, in his limited opportunities, Vijay has shown he is an able replacement in case either of the Delhi pair is missing. Adding to the options is 20-year-old Tamil Nadu left-hand batsman, Mukund, who averages in the mid-50s after three full seasons. This year, he had a good tour of England with India A, top scored for India in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia, and kicked off the home domestic season with 161 and 63 in the Irani Cup, earning a place in the Test squad against Australia last month.Virat Kohli
India have mostly fielded weakened teams in the past few one-day tournaments, but Kohli has done enough to retain a place in the squad, if not the XI, when a full-strength team is picked. A match-winning century against Australia in Visakhapatnam has pushed him ahead of Rohit in the fight for a middle-order place in ODIs, and he showed in the Champions League T20 that he can adapt his game to the Twenty20 format as well. A place in the Test squad remains elusive, though. The absence of Sehwag and Gambhir for much of the Ranji season will make him Delhi’s most important batsman. Gambhir’s international career took off after a stellar 2007-08 season where he led Delhi to the title; a similarly outstanding tournament could push Kohli’s Test case.

England won two big events in 2010, while Hashim Amla was the only batsman to top 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs

S Rajesh04-Jan-2011It was a year when three landmarks that were generally considered unreachable a few years ago were achieved by two remarkable cricketers: Muttiah Muralitharan touched the 800-wicket mark on the way to a fairy-tale finish to his Test career, while Sachin Tendulkar conjured up two magic moments: early in the year he became the first double-centurion in men’s ODIs, and he capped off 2010 with his 50th Test hundred. England were arguably the best team of the year, winning the World Twenty20 and retaining the Ashes after a 24-year wait, while Australia fell from their lofty perch. Admittedly there were plenty of unwanted off-the-field stories, but there were enough on-field highlights as well. Here’s a look at some of the important stats from 2010:Batsmen’s year in Tests
For the second year in a row the batting average for the year – runs scored off the bat divided by total dismissals – was higher than 34. Since the beginning of 1980, the only other year the average exceeded 34 was 1989, when batsmen scored 36.70 runs per dismissal.However, even though batsmen had a good time in 2010, the top bowlers did much better than they had the year before: in 2009 none of those who took 30 wickets or more did so at an average of less than 27; last year there were five bowlers who averaged less than 25 – Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Zaheer Khan, James Anderson and Mohammad Amir. On the flip side, though, in 2009 only one of nine bowlers in the 30-wicket club conceded more than 34 runs per wicket; in 2010 there were four, and two of them, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha, also bowled plenty of overs. Harbhajan bowled the most overs – 612 – while Ojha was one of only two other bowlers to exceed 500. Both averaged more than 40 – despite Harbhajan’s fine display in the Durban Test – and their figures were largely instrumental in pushing the overall bowling averages for the year higher.

Top teams avoid ODIs
While the overall number of ODIs played was a fairly healthy 142, a break-up reveals that many of them involved the lesser teams. Of the 142 games only 107 involved one of the nine Test-playing sides, and 83 had two of the top nine teams playing each other. In contrast, there were only 126 ODIs in all in 2008, but 110 of them involved at least one of those nine teams.Even among the nine teams, Bangladesh played more games than all teams except India – both those sides led the way with 27 matches apiece, while South Africa played 16 and England 17. India played more ODIs than any other side, but by their lofty standards even their ODI dosage was pretty moderate: only once since the beginning of 2000 have they played fewer than 27 matches in a calendar year. Clearly their success in Tests is causing the powers that be to change their itinerary – India even swapped ODIs for Tests this year. For South Africa too, this was an extremely light ODI year – it’s the fewest matches they’ve played in a year since 2000. With the top teams playing relatively few games, it isn’t really surprising that the overall ODI average and run-rate weren’t very high.

Australia’s downfall
Nothing illustrates Australia’s huge slide as a Test slide better than the fact that their batting average of 33.82 runs per wicket was bettered by five teams in 2010, including their neighbours New Zealand – something that has happened only three times in the last 20 years. Michael Hussey was the only Australian batsman to average more than 50, and even he only barely passed the mark, averaging 50.89 in 12 Tests. The biggest disappointments were obviously Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, both of whom averaged only slightly more than 36 and scored three hundreds in 44 innings.On the other hand Sri Lanka and South Africa were splendid with the bat. The Sri Lankans played only six Tests in 2010, but a couple of their batsmen caused plenty of damage to opposition bowlers in those limited opportunities: Thilan Samaraweera had an average of 114.25 in eight innings, while Kumar Sangakkara missed the 100 average by just five runs, and instead finished with a Bradman-esque 99.28. Meanwhile, three of South Africa’s batsmen – Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers – averaged more than 75, and among them scored 14 Test centuries in 56 innings.In terms of aggregates, though, a couple of Indians led the way: Tendulkar’s 1562 runs was the year’s best, with Virender Sehwag following on 1422. Tendulkar finished with a fantastic average of 78.10, but the Indians also benefited from the fact that no team played more Tests than them in the year. England were the only side with as many Tests as India – both played 14. In 2009, India had played only six Tests.England, India and South Africa also firmly established themselves as the top Test teams of 2010, with win-loss ratios of more than 2. The gap between their win-loss ratios and that of the fourth-best team was huge – Australia only managed 1.20, with six wins and five defeats. They’d lost five in 2008 as well, but before that you’d have to go back to 1985 for a year when they lost as many matches.The team with the lowest batting average was Pakistan – they were the only side to score less than 25 runs per wicket. Strangely, though, despite all the controversies off the field, Pakistan had a couple of memorable results, winning a Test against Australia in England and drawing that series, and also reaching the semi-finals of the World Twenty20. However, as a Test team they were terribly inconsistent, beginning the year with an astonishing defeat in Sydney and then losing five more Tests. The stat of two centuries and 23 fifties shows how poor their batsmen were at making their starts count. (Click here for the list of highest run-getters in 2010.)

England’s top-class bowling unit
England also owed their excellent results in 2010 to the consistency of their bowlers – they were the only team to achieve a bowling average of less than 30 in the year. Three of the top six wicket-takers of the year belonged to England, and each of them – Graeme Swann, James Anderson and Steven Finn – averaged below 27 runs per wicket. That meant England, more than any other side, put pressure on the opposition batsmen with wicket-taking bowlers operating from both ends.None of the other teams had three bowlers who were so incisive, though Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel did an outstanding job for South Africa, while the two Mohammads, Amir and Asif, were equally impressive for Pakistan. However, South Africa’s third-highest wicket-taker was Paul Harris (23 wickets at 50.65), and Pakistan’s was Umar Gul (21 at 43.85). Zaheer Khan, meanwhile, played lone ranger for India, with 47 wickets at 21.97. The second-highest for India was Harbhajan Singh (43 at 40.69).Four teams conceded more than 40 runs per wicket, including Sri Lanka, who obviously missed the genius of Muttiah Muralitharan. West Indies’ bowling woes continued – they’ve averaged more than 40 in each of the last eight years, but this is the first time in 53 years they’ve gone beyond 45.(Click here for the leading wicket-takers in Tests in 2010.)

The ODI story in 2010
South Africa played only 16 ODIs in 2010, but they made them count, winning 12 and losing only four. It helped that eight of those games were against West Indies and Zimbabwe – South Africa won all those matches. They were also the only team to average more than six runs per over in the year. Sri Lanka, England and Australia were the other ODI teams with win-loss ratios of two or more.At the other end of the scale were New Zealand and Pakistan, who had terrible years in ODIs. For both teams 2010 was their worst ODI year since the beginning of this century. New Zealand’s lowest point was their 4-0 whitewash in Bangladesh, which was then followed by five more defeats in India. They ended up winning only six out of 21 matches. Pakistan’s win-loss record for the year was even worse, though they redeemed it somewhat by playing out a close series against South Africa late in the year.The lack of matches for the top teams also meant that the 1000-run mark was breached by only one batsman in 2010. In 2009 six batsmen reached that milestone, but the irrepressible Hashim Amla was the only member of the club last year, though Virat Kohli almost got there, falling only five runs short.Among the bowlers Shakib Al Hasan headed the wicket-takers’ list, which is the second time in five years that a bowler from Bangladesh has topped the chart for most wickets; in 2006 the honour went to Mashrafe Mortaza.

More stats

• Tendulkar scored seven Test hundreds in 2010; only Mohammad Yousuf, with nine in 2006, has scored more. Tendulkar’s previous best was five, in 1999.
• Tendulkar’s Test tally of 1562 is his highest in a calendar year, going past his previous best of 1392 in 2002. It’s the sixth time he has scored 1000 or more runs in a year.
• Jacques Kallis’ six Test hundreds in the year – including his maiden double in Centurion – is a record for him too. His previous best was also five, in 2007 and 2004.
• Amla scored 10 international hundreds in 2010 – five each in Tests and ODIs. Only Tendulkar (12 in 1998) and Ponting (11 in 2003) have scored more international hundreds in all forms of the game in a calendar year.
• Ponting’s Test average of 36.95 in 2010 is his lowest in a year since 1998, when he averaged 29.38.
• Despite the leading wicket-taker of the year being a spinner, the overall Test average for spinners in 2010 was 40.56, which is the worst since 2000. Other than Swann, the leading spin wicket-takers leaked plenty of runs per wicket.
• Morne Morkel had Chris Gayle’s number in 2010, dismissing him six times in all international cricket. It was the most times a bowler dismissed a batsman in the year.
• Michael Hussey scored 196 runs off Swann in all international cricket, which was the most runs made by a batsman against a single bowler in the year. Hussey was dismissed by Swann twice, giving him an average of 98.

ESPNcricinfo recaps all the occasions when there has been trouble at Eden Gardens

Akhila Ranganna28-Jan-2011Fans were angry after India collapsed in the 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden GardensIndia v West Indies, 2nd Test, 1966-67
Trouble at Eden Gardens started outside the ground after local authorities had sold more tickets than there were seats. Angry ticket-holders who were denied access stormed the fences and set fire to stands and the pavilion roof. As innocent spectators were forced onto the outfield, police lathi-charged them and fired tear gas. The crowd counter-attacked and when the outnumbered police force fled, the mob carried broken benches to the middle and started a bonfire as well as gouged holes in the pitch. Against this backdrop, Conrad Hunte was reported to have climbed the flagpole to save the West Indies flag, before fleeing on foot. The second day’s play was written off.India v Australia, 4th Test, 1969-70
The 1969-70 Australia series was played against a backdrop of widespread violence. On the fourth (and final) day in Calcutta, tragedy struck when around 25,000 people who had been queuing all night tried to rush the ticket counters before they opened. Riot police fired tear gas and were met in turn with a hail of bottles and stones. Six died and another 30 were injured. Although play started on time, there was further trouble when spectators in a stand pelted stones at those in a lower tier, forcing them onto the pitch. The police eventually persuaded them to stay on the boundary edge so the match could be concluded. After Keith Stackpole hit the winning runs, the Australian batsmen flanked the Nawab of Pataudi as he left the field to protect him from missiles.India v England, 3rd Test, 1984-85
Public sentiment was already against India captain Sunil Gavaskar after he reportedly backed the decision to drop Kapil Dev for the Calcutta Test. To make matters worse, India took 200 overs to make 437 for 7, with Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri adding 214 for the fifth wicket at under 2 runs an over. A section of the crowd hooted and booed, shouting “Gavaskar down, Gavaskar out” when he appeared outside the dressing-room while Manoj Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma were batting, and he was pelted with fruit when he led India out to field. Play was held up for eight minutes while ground staff cleared the outfield. Gavaskar, who decided to continue India’s innings from 417 for 7 at lunch time on the fourth day, later denied that police had warned him there was a threat to law and order should he delay the declaration any longer. Gavaskar was believed to have vowed never to play at Eden Gardens again.India v Sri Lanka, World Cup semi-final, 1995-96
Chasing 252, India slumped to 120 for 8 after a dramatic collapse during which seven wickets fell for 22. That proved too much for the capacity crowd, who began hurling bottles on the field and setting fires in the stands. Match referee Clive Lloyd took the teams off the field for 15 minutes to try and let the crowd cool down, but an attempt to restart the match proved futile and Lloyd awarded the game to Sri Lanka by default. To this day, the picture of Vinod Kambli crying as he walked back to the dressing room remains one of the iconic images of that tournament. India’s captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, bore the brunt of the wrath for his decision to field first, and his house had to be placed under armed guard.India v Pakistan, Asian Test Championship, first Test, 1999
The first three days of the Test passed without incident. On the fourth afternoon, chasing 279, India were well placed on 143 for 2. Sachin Tendulkar was on 7 when he clipped Wasim Akram to deep midwicket. He took two runs and was on his way back for a third when substitute Nadeem Khan hit the stumps with his throw from the deep. In the ordinary course of events it would have been a straightforward third run, even with the direct hit, but Tendulkar collided with Shoaib Akhtar, who was waiting close to the stumps to gather the return, and as a result was out of his ground, even though he may well have been just inside the crease at the moment of the collision. Steve Bucknor referred it to the third umpire, KT Francis, who, after a long delay, gave him out. The huge crowd erupted and started chanting “cheat, cheat”, pelting Shoaib with bottles and other objects as he returned to his position in the deep.Eventually the umpires took the players from the field for an early tea and it was only after personal pleas from Tendulkar and ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya that the match was able to resume. However, trouble broke out again on the final day when India were reduced to 231 for 9. Wisden reported: “Spectators started burning newspapers in the stands and hurled stones, fruit and plastic bottles on to the field. The match was held up for over three hours as about 65,000 people were removed by police and security men. The crowd’s anger was still concentrated on Tendulkar’s run-out, but there was little viciousness in the riot; it was born of disappointment rather than anti-Pakistan feeling..” It only took Pakistan 10 balls to complete their 46-run win, but they did so in a surreal atmosphere of only 200 spectators in a ground that could hold 90,000.Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers, IPL, 4th match, 2008
Despite a low-scoring thriller in which Kolkata Knight Riders overcame Deccan Chargers, the pitch at Eden Gardens came in for much criticism during the inaugural season of the IPL. It displayed uneven bounce, and looked more like a fifth-day pitch. VVS Laxman, who was struck on his gloves by a delivery from Ishant Sharma, said it was “shocking”. The floodlights also failed during the final stages of that match. Kolkata needed 22 from 20 with five wickets in hand when one of the light towers went off, holding up the game for 30 minutes. The two teams – Kolkata and Hyderabad – were tied on Duckworth-Lewis calculations at that point. The lights did come back on later, allowing the home side to clinch a thrilling win.India v Sri Lanka, 4th ODI, 2009
Once again it was a floodlight glitch that halted play. Sri Lanka were 307 for 6 in 49.2 overs, when the floodlight tower at the High Court end went off, halting play for 26 minutes. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, said a technical snag had caused the lights to malfunction. Among the other theories was that there had been a “voltage fluctuation”. However, a spokesman of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) said that it was not their fault and that “bulbs in the tower developed a snag and it is a maintenance problem.”India v England, World Cup, 2011
The ICC ruled out Eden Gardens as the host of the game between India and England on February 27. The ICC’s inspection team felt the venue would not be ready in time. “Regrettably, Eden Gardens has not made sufficient progress to justify the level of confidence required to confirm that the venue would be ready in good time,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive said. No international matches had been held in Kolkata since the Test between India and South Africa in February last year as the stadium was being renovated.

England have been wildly inconsistent, and are now on the verge of exiting in the first stage of a tournament that was designed to coddle the big boys

Siddarth Ravindran in Chennai16-Mar-2011Over the past ten months, England have achieved their loftiest ambitions in two formats of the game: they were crowned Twenty20 champions after a convincing run in the Caribbean, and retained the Ashes in Australia with a commanding victory over Ricky Ponting’s men. In pursuing the highest honour in the third format, however, they have been wildly inconsistent, and are now on the verge of exiting in the first stage of a tournament that was designed to coddle the big boys.The league phase was supposed to be a month-long snoozefest, in which the smaller teams in world cricket enjoyed some time in the limelight before ceding the stage to the established powers for a high-stakes final fortnight.The memo clearly didn’t reach England, who have put together the most topsy-turvy league campaign in World Cup history, both in terms of the results – defeats to lower-ranked Ireland and Bangladesh, while taking points off the group favourites, India and South Africa – and in terms of the heart-stopping highs and lows of each match itself. Their most humdrum game was their opening victory in Nagpur, and even that came after the no-hopers from Netherlands had set a stiff target of 293.In every match in which England have dropped points, they were in a dominant position before frittering their advantage away: Zaheer Khan’s reverse-swing turned the game against India after England had muscled their way to 281 to 2 at the Chinnaswamy; a pink-haired Kevin O’Brien scripted Ireland’s greatest day in cricket after they were headed for a thrashing at 111 for 5 chasing 328, and a nerveless Shafiul Islam carved 24 quick runs to stop Bangladesh fans from pouring out of the Chittagong stadium, and start partying in it.”I just think we haven’t played a good 100-over match,” Jonathan Trott said. “We haven’t played consistently both sides – we’ve been good with the ball and poor with the bat, great with the bat and poor with the ball. The bowlers bailed us out against South Africa. As a batting unit we’ve got to put our heads down and get a big score, or chase down whatever West Indies set.”One of the reasons for England’s troubles is the batting Powerplay, a concept that has injected unpredictability into the tournament as most teams have struggled to use it properly. The best that England have managed against the Test teams in the group is a poor 33 for 2 against Bangladesh, while against India they lost the plot and nearly the match with a collapse of 4 for 25. In a low-scoring tussle against South Africa, they used it too late to cause any damage.”It changes a batsman’s mindset, the opposition team brings their best bowlers on,” Strauss said. “I don’t think we have done it as well as we would have liked, but hopefully that will change, it’s certainly an important period of play in the match, but it’s only five overs out of 50.”Related to the Powerplay botch-up is the lack of runs from the lower order. Duncan Fletcher’s near-obsession with making the bowlers handy with the bat has meant England’s tail has been productive over the past decade, but in this World Cup the fall of their fourth wicket has generally been the precursor to a collapse. Some mighty hits from the bowlers rescued a point in Bangalore, but there have been few runs from the lower-middle order onwards in the past three matches.The absence of Stuart Broad for the remainder of the tournament with a side strain exacerbates the problem, but it is his fast bowling that will be missed more, as the other experienced quick bowler in the squad, James Anderson, is badly out of form. His mastery of swing with the red ball was one of the main reasons for England’s Ashes victory, but he has been lacking that control with the white ball. The nadir was perhaps the 91 runs he leaked against India, but he was also wasteful at the death when Bangladesh were on the ropes at Chittagong, serving up a nine-ball over when line and length was essential.Strauss had to deflect plenty of questions over Anderson’s form in Tuesday’s press conference, and whether the fast bowler plays in a campaign-defining match against West Indies could now depend on the unwell Ajmal Shahzad’s availability. “Jimmy has had a tough time in some of the matches in the World Cup,” Strauss said, “but we all know what a quality performer he is, he’s done it for us over and over again in course of the winter and previously, so his name is very much in the mix for selection.”Anderson had scrambled a crucial leg-bye the last time these two teams met in the World Cup, in Barbados four years ago, in a match would have fitted perfectly with England’s nerve-shredding run in 2011 – they prevailed with one wicket and a ball to spare. That victory meant that the Test opponent against whom England have their best win-loss record in World Cups is West Indies. It’s hard to say whether that’s good news or bad for England fans, given their side’s extraordinary showing over the past month.

ESPNcricinfo’s Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Galle

Daniel Brettig in Galle03-Sep-2011The rain
The expected overnight showers did not arrive in Galle until 15 minutes into the fourth day’s play, as Mahela Jayawardene and Angelo Mathews resumed their occupation. The intensity of the coming downpour was indicated by how dark the ground became, and by how quickly the groundstaff emerged to cover the pitch – before the rain actually began falling – in the instinctive manner of the Gabba curator Kevin Mitchell jnr. Strong winds hampered their efforts to get the covers down rapidly, but the same winds would also ensure the rain did not hang about. Play resumed at 11.05am; it was hardly the sort of monsoon Sri Lanka needed.The pitch mat
All those who wondered why the pitch mat appeared to change places on day three of the Test have proof their eyes were not deceiving them. Turns out there indeed was something off about it. According to the match officials, the first mat was generated by the host broadcaster, the second by Hawk-Eye. Given that the Hawk-Eye mat is used by the umpires for decision-making purposes, the match referee Chris Broad asked the television crew to re-align their own mat, and to refrain from using it in the broadcast if this was not possible.The tailender
Nothing, it seems, can stop Rangana Herath from playing in a particular vein. When he walked to the wicket after the fall of his spin compatriot Suraj Randiv, Mathews was unbeaten on 84. Even if the match could not be saved, it was hoped that the tail would get Mathews through to his century. However Herath’s innings showed about as much inclination to support as it did to survive. He played a shot a ball, providing fleeting entertainment but showing no desire to adjust his game, having been caught in the deep for a duck in the first innings. Herath had managed 12 by the time he miscued Ryan Harris to short midwicket, after an innings that caused as much laughter as celebration among the tourists.The stats, redux
Ten Sports, the series’ host broadcaster, has responded to claims made by the Melbourne-based statistical and graphics company, Alex Loccisano Broadcast Services, surrounding a late exit from its contracted role for the series. While Loccisano alleges he is owed money from a previous series, Ten’s vice-president production management, Anil Mohan, denies any arrears exists. He says the graphics firm was changed, from Loccisano to the British company Alston Elliot, after the former requested immediate advance payment for this series and the next, between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Dubai. Not prepared to meet this demand, Mohan says Ten Sports judged the contract to be broken and called in the other firm.