Cricinfo examines the decisions made in the Super Test courtesy of TV evidence – plus one that wasn’t

Andrew McGlashan15-Oct-2005

Flintoff dismissed Gilchrist, yet again… © Getty Images
Australia 1st innings – resumed on 331 for 6Over 85.2 – Andrew Flintoff to Adam Gilchrist
The World XI needed early wickets to stop Australia progressing past 400 and Flintoff provided the perfect start with the second ball of the day. The delivery was full and swung back into Gilchrist, similar to his manner of dismissal in the last two Ashes Tests against the swing of Matthew Hoggard. It initially appeared plumb, and Darrell Hair confirmed the ball had pitched in line.
World XI 1st inningsOver 4.5 – Glenn McGrath to Graeme Smith
Like Flintoff, McGrath also swung the new ball and set Smith up with a series of away swingers which almost found the outside edge. McGrath then got one to straighten on Smith, who was late in getting his bat down after initially shaping to leave. On first viewing, the appeal looked very close but the TV replays showed the ball had struck the back leg and would have carried on over the stumps. Despite the TV evidence, McGrath still huffed and puffed his way down to fine leg at the end of the over.
Over 10.3 -McGrath to Brian Lara
Lara shuffled across his stumps and was struck in front of middle-and-off; the appeal looked very adjacent but Rudi Koertzen decided to use the TV to ascertain the height of the delivery. A couple of replays showed the ball was on target to hit the top of the stumps, although this is an example of a decision that could have been made much quicker. The longer a decision is scrutinised, the more doubt can be created – even when gut instinct is the correct decision.
Over 30.5 – Shane Warne to Inzamam-ul-Haq
The umpire’s judgment on what decisions to refer was certainly put to the test with the spinners in action, and Warne is not shy at appealing. His second ball to Inzamam clipped the front pad before hitting the bat – the type of appeal that the on-field umpire will rarely give out because of the doubt about which was hit (bat or pad) first. The TV replays confirmed it was pad first and Darrell Hair took a long time reaching his decision, suggesting it was a close call. Eventually he told Koertzen it was missing the off stump, although Warne was still far from convinced.
Over 31.2 – Stuart MacGill to Inzamam-ul-Haq
A conventional decision for Hair this time, as Inzamam raised his foot and Adam Gilchrist produced a smart stumping. Just as Inzamam had gained the benefit of the new use of technology in the previous over, it was the original style third umpire decision that did him in this time. Some you win, some you lose. Although MacGill would have benefited from this use of the third umpire under the standard rules, he is excited about the prospect of being able to use replays for other appeals. “A wrist spinner can get a lot of extra decisions by referring to the third umpire. I really want to see whether this works because I think we can benefit immensely from it.”
Over 38.5 – Warne to Mark Boucher
This decision proved that even with all the technology at the umpire’s disposal, you can’t achieve perfection – umpires will still act on their instincts – and mistakes are still going to be made. Boucher played and missed at a legbreak, brushing his pad with the bat. The Australians went up in unison and Koertzen gave him out. Boucher left swiftly but was far from happy.

A review of by Ralph Dellor and Stephen Lamb

Jenny Thompson11-Jan-2006

Green Umbrella, hb, 127pp

Do you know how an elderly faith healer and pebbles helped Derbyshire bowler Fred Swarbrook? Well, get the and find out.Or get it for your friends and family because there’s something for everyone in this, an A to Z of the game. In many respects it’s perfect for the Johnny- or Jenny-come-lately to the game – as it’s easy to dip in to and is broken up with vivid photography – but there are also some gems in there which may surprise any cricket lover, like Swarbrook et al.Newcomers attracted to the bright lights of this summer’s Ashes may just want to find out a brief history of the urn, while old-timers may want to rethink what’s so interesting about the fact that cricket’s played on grass. Well, do you?The book informs and entertains and it’s all done in a light-hearted, accessible tone. So if you didn’t get one in your stocking at Christmas, you could fill your boots now.Click here to buy a copy from Cricshop

We asked you to pick out the greatest Test you had ever seen (or one you wished you had), and the responses ranged from the famed – Barbados 1999 – to the long-forgotten (Dunedin 1980)

Cricinfo staff26-Aug-2005After our correspondents, it was your turn, and over 200 of you wrote in with accounts of your favourite Test. Some were poetic, others not so, and a couple of our winners managed to strike a fine balance between the dramatic and the humourous. After trawling through all the entries, we picked out nine – an eclectic collection of matches that includes both the famed – Barbados 1999 – and the long-forgotten (Dunedin 1980). Those that missed out can console themselves with the fact that even the cricketing titans of this world fluff their lines sometimes.Warne and the Great Train Robbery
Omar Nawaz on

This match figures as one of the all-time upsets in Test cricket, and Allan Border called it the biggest escape since the Great Train Robbery. What was it like to a Sri Lankan, huddled in a French campsite – without television, TMS, nor internet cafés – to be rudely awakened by Sports Round-up on the BBC World Service to hear the dreaded news: “Australia has beaten Sri Lanka in the first Test in Colombo in one of the most dramatic…”My two children, five and three at the time, did not know what had hit their father. My groan and grunt, louder than that of Maria Sharapova, woke my camping neighbours, whose concerned queries were answered with “rien, rien”. How was I to tell them that Sri Lanka had lost by a mere 16 runs? That was easily translatable to French but I would have had trouble with “lost their last eight wickets for 37 runs”. I remember the incident vividly since it is almost 13 years to the day since Sri Lanka suffered one of its biggest humiliations, and launched Warne on the glory path in cricket – he took the last three wickets for 11 runs in 5.1 overs.Incidentally, Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s present coach was a member of that infamous – to Sri Lankans – Australian team. I only hope he will do us justice and repair the damage by inflicting a bigger loss on his compatriots one of these days.
Genius thwarts Australian might
Romel Ollivierre on

In order to understand fully the greatness of this Bridgetown drama one must first understand the disastrous condition of West Indies Cricket at the time. The boys had just returned from a nasty 5-0 licking in South Africa and just did not seem to be able to put up a challenge against your local primary school under-15s, leave alone mighty Austraila. The Caribbean people wanted Brian Lara’s head, but because there really was no one else to take the mantle, the selectors reappointed him captain. The entire team was on “two-Test probation”.The first went as expected as the West Indies were bowled out for a record low of 51, but the genius of Lara emerged in the second Test as his 213 ensured an amazing 10-wicket win in Jamaica. Nothing prepared the cricketing world for the drama to follow.
The third test was one of the greatest battles the cricketing world has ever seen. Amazing performances abounded, with heroic knights fighting for the supremacy of their kingdom. Steve Waugh’s brave 199 was ably supported by Ricky Ponting’s 104. Then Sherwin Campbell’s 105 still left the Windies 161 behind at the end of the first innings.It was Ambrose and Walsh who gave us a semblance of a chance bowling the Aussies out for 146, leaving an improbable 308 to win. Enter Lara. The man whom everyone wanted out of cricket a few weeks earlier mastered the mighty Shane Warne, a nasty McGrath and an unplayable Gillespie. I remember the drama when he was hit on the head by a nasty McGrath bouncer – the two icons had to be separated by the umpires – and the sound of the next ball as it crashed into the midwicket boundary. When Lara truck the winning four to the cover fence to carry him to 153, he was proclaimed by Tony Cozier as the “Prodigal son turned Messiah”. The last 63 runs came with Ambrose and Walsh at the wicket.
Fanie’s finest hour
Gysbert Engelbrecht on

I had to switch my days and nights around to watch South Africa play Australia – I would sleep during the day and watch the cricket in the early hours of the morning, alone. The first Test was a washout and this game wasn’t going our way at all. The South Africans were inexperienced and were totally outplayed for the first 4 days. Shane Warne took 12 wickets in the game and it looked as if he would take one with every ball he bowled to us.In the end, we set Australia 117 runs to win. On that fourth afternoon, Australia were cruising on 51 for 1. And then Fanie [de Villiers] came back to bowl. He had this irrepressible spirit, and three quick wickets later, Australia closed the day with four down and about 60 runs to get. The odds were still heavily with them. On the fifth morning, Fanie bowled from the start. And this time, Allan Donald joined him, taking three wickets of his own. Australia were wilting under the intensity. They just couldn’t score any runs. Damien Martin looked like a hare caught in the headlights, and got out to perhaps the only stroke he played all morning, having faced almost 60 balls for his 6.Fanie just kept pegging away. At last, he bowled to Glenn McGrath. This was back when McGrath had no illusions about his ability with the bat and a tentative prod from him sent the ball looping gently back to Fanie, who grabbed it with glee. Australia were short by five runs, and it felt as if Fanie’s sheer force of will beat them. I woke up my whole family and we celebrated till morning.
TMS and the German connection
Sebastian Altenhoff on

Although my favourite match has received some attention during the last few weeks, it would, for all its class, not feature in the lists of most other cricket lovers. It was more of a personal experience for me, which was to have a tremendous significance on my life.The Test I have in mind is Edgbaston 1997. Coming to England as a 17-year-old German in February to spend five months at a Northumbrian school, I was completely unaware that something like Cricket even existed. I had decided, however, to soak up anything that looked, smelled, or tasted English, prompting me to spend my lunch breaks and a full weekend in front of a television set watching the likes of Atherton, Hussain and Caddick hammer the Aussies. Not that I understood much about cricket then, but the hype and the excitement had already found their way into my head.Because of my returning to Germany, I wasn’t even able to follow the remainder of the series more closely, yet the images of my first Test match will remain in my memory forever. You could wake me at three o’clock in the morning and ask for the innings totals and the final scoreline, and I would give these figures to you on the spot. By the day we won that match (you do notice that I write “we”, don’t you?), cricket – and England – had gained a most dedicated fan. Imagine a German getting stomach pains from listening to TMS.
Near-part-timers conquer Lloyd’s destroyers
Dylan Cleaver on

West Indies and their famed and feared foursome – Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner and Colin Croft – had breezed past Australia 2-0 in a three-match series and probably viewed New Zealand as an unwanted and unworthy addendum to their tour. Indeed, Viv Richards was given dispensation to skip the New Zealand leg of the tour and Roberts missed the first Test. However, New Zealand, led by county pro Geoff Howarth and spearheaded by Richard Hadlee, were in the process of gathering the self-belief to become one of the hardest teams to beat at home during the ’80s.This Test was the spark that ignited that belief. Played at Carisbrook, dreary and cold, the Windies were bundled out for 140 with only a Desmond Haynes half-century saving complete embarrassment. Bruce Edgar played a similar role for New Zealand with Hadlee’s hitting at the end providing a 109-run lead. Haynes scored a gritty 300-ball century in the second but when West Indies were again bundled out cheaply, New Zealand needed just 104 to win.Suddenly, it seemed to dawn on West Indies that they might lose to this bunch of predominantly part-timers, and they bowled with a fury never seen on these shores. Howarth had his helmet knocked off twice and wickets tumbled regularly. Just three fours were scored as New Zealand inched their way to glory. Lance Cairns top-scored with 19, though he was bowled without the bail dropping much earlier, but was the ninth man dismissed with four needed. Gary Troup and Stephen Boock, one of the world’s great bunnies, eked out three singles before Boock’s front pad provided the most cherished leg bye – via a missed run-out opportunity – in New Zealand cricket history.
A Junior Waugh special
Sriram Vaidhyanathan on

As far as see-sawing action goes, few Test matches can compare to the thriller at Port Elizabeth in 1997. On what was an extremely green pitch, South Africa struggled to 209 in their first effort, with Australia apparently on top. The next day, the Aussies crumbled to 108, and the South Africans proceeded to march to a 184-run advantage, with all second-innings wickets intact. Mark Taylor – himself in the middle of a horrific run of form – and his men were staring down the barrel, but incredibly, they staged a valiant recovery, leaving themselves a target of 270.Few gave them a chance, but nobody told Mark Waugh. He produced a classic of elegance and poise – 116 of the finest on a minefield against the might of an Allan Donald-led pace attack, in a match where there was only one other half-century. When Healy slogged Cronje over square leg, they had closed out a two-wicket win, replete with some of the most exciting cricket ever seen in South Africa.
Sriram Vaidhyanathan works in the finance industry in Chicago. He is a fervent fan of Brian Lara, desperate to watch him bat live in a Test match at least once before he retires. Cork shows his bottle

Russell Hope on

England’s recent revival can be traced back to one of the most extraordinary wins ever. They trailed 1-0 to a weak West Indian side coming into the second Test at Lord’s and had already pressed the panic button (remember that?) by making four changes, including the recall of Dominic Cork.The first day, which the West Indies closed on 267 for nine highlighted their batting frailties but no one was prepared for the incredible events of day two. The crowd saw play from all four innings as Caddick knocked over the last man with the first ball of the day. Ambrose and Walsh then put their side’s total into perspective by taking four wickets each as England conceded a lead of 133.If England had gone on to lose the match, and with it probably the series, who knows where they might be now? I’d love to know what was said to Caddick between innings because he produced an unstoppable spell of hostile fast bowling that left West Indies all out for 54.Remember that this was a team England hadn’t beaten since 1970. There was still time for England to start their run-chase, which culminated in Saturday’s diabolically nervous crawl to the depths of 160 for eight, from where Cork’s penchant for limelight-stealing rescued them.Thrilling, emotional stuff.
Greatbatch and 14 hours of adhesion
Michael Thorn on

In November 1989, New Zealand played Australia in a one-off Test at the WACA. New Zealand were without Richard Hadlee and Andrew Jones, and were expected to lose heavily against an Australian team that had been rampant in England. The game started predictably enough when Australia won the toss and ground out 521/9. David Boon scored a double-century and Dean Jones was given out to an appallingly bad lbw decision on 99.
By the time Jones was dismissed, I had lost almost all hope of New Zealand escaping defeat, so to make up for it, brainless teenager that I was, I jeered at my television as Jones walked from the pitch and tried to soak up as much malicious glee as I possibly could from his expression of anguish.New Zealand started day three with nothing ahead of them except for the distant hope of a draw and the more obvious prospect of a heavy defeat. Terry Alderman bowled Robert Vance almost as soon as play got underway and that brought Mark Greatbatch to the crease. The scorecard tells me that Greatbatch must have spent some of the next three days sitting in the stands and that other people must have batted, but if that’s true, I don’t remember it. What I can remember is that for 221 minutes in New Zealand’s first innings and for 655 minutes in the second, Greatbatch stood firm.Carl Rackemann was ferocious and had the ball bouncing and screaming from the hard and fast WACA pitch, but each of his rockets was met by a Greatbatch defensive stroke which dropped the ball, quiet and dead, to the ground. Even more strongly, I can remember the faint prospect of a draw looming larger and larger and this causing a fear of that hope being crushed to grow at an exponential rate. There were no flashy strokes and no prospect of a New Zealand victory, just a solid forward-defensive shot that acted like a hypnotist’s charm, a buzzsaw of tension and a building realisation that there was a damn sight more to cricket than jeering at Dean Jones.
Inzi stays cool in a Karachi classic
Haris Anis on

Australia had not won a Test match in Pakistan for more then three decades and were looking to break the jinx with their inexperienced bowling attack led by the two future greats, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. The Aussies had the upper hand in the first innings getting an 81-run lead but the real drama started in the second innings.Australia started disastrously with Mark Taylor, captain for the first time, gone for his second duck of the match. David Boon played a classy and courageous knock to hold the innings together but the two W’s, Wasim and Waqar, started an all-too-familiar collapse with the last four wickets adding just 26. Pakistan required 314, and ended the fourth day still requiring 159 with seven wickets in hand.On the fifth day, Warne weaved his magic, rattling the home team with his vicious leg breaks. Pakistan slumped to 258 for 9 and were staring at defeat, but a brilliant rearguard led by Inzamam-ul-Haq kept them in the hunt. In the end, with three runs still needed, it came down to the battle of three legends – Ian Healy, Warne and Inzamam. Warne’s leg break pitched on middle stump, turned a little, touched Inzi’s pads and skidded along the ground. Inzamam was out of his crease but Healy missed the stumping much to the joy of home crowd. Pakistan were gifted the winning runs, and Inzamam was the saviour, adding 58 for the last wicket with Mushtaq Ahmed.So ended one of the great Test matches of all time, one that was never out of reach of either side but never in the firm grasp of one or the other. The Aussies were made to wait another four years to win a Test in Pakistan, and Dickie Bird, the legendary English umpire, termed it the best match in which he stood.

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Steven Lynch06-Nov-2006The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:Is it true that John Wright took the catch that prevented Sachin Tendulkar becoming the youngest man to score a Test century? asked Sunny Vachchani from the United States

It is – John Wright, later India’s coach but then New Zealand’s captain, caught Sachin Tendulkar 12 short of his hundred off the bowling of Danny Morrison at Napier in February 1990. Tendulkar was still only 16 then: by the time he did make a Test century, against England at Old Trafford later that year, he was 29 days older than Mushtaq Mohammad had been when he scored his first one, for Pakistan against India at Delhi in 1960-61. Both of them have been surpassed since, by Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful, who was only 17 years and 61 days old when he hit 114 – on his Test debut – against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2001-02. For a full list of Test cricket’s youngest century-makers, click here.I was asked the other day to name the man who played for five of New Zealand’s six first-class sides … and I drew a blank! Can you help? asked Austin Thompson from Auckland
The much-travelled player in question is the left-hand batsman John Guy, who started with Central Districts in 1953-54, moved to Canterbury in1957-58, played for Otago in 1959-60 and Wellington in 1960-61, briefly returning to CD before turning out for Northern Districts in 1964-65: he played for them on and off until 1972-73. The one province he didn’t play for was your local one – Auckland. Guy won 12 Test caps, scoring 102 in his second one, against India at Hyderabad in 1955-56, and he also played a couple of matches for Northamptonshire in 1958.In the World Championship of Cricket one-day tournament in 1984-85, two West Indian batsmen retired hurt in their group match against Sri Lanka. What happened?! asked Ayon Dutta from India
That match was played on a sporty pitch (Wisden reported that “morning rain and evening dew may have accounted for the uneven bounce”) at Melbourne in that tournament, which was staged to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the state of Victoria. (India won it, beating Pakistan in the final). Sri Lanka struggled to 135 for 7 in 47 overs, and although West Indies knocked off the runs inside 24 overs (they were trying to improve their run rate to ensure they finished top of their group), they did lose two batsmen retired hurt: Richie Richardson had made 11 when he was hit in the face by a ball from Ashantha de Mel, then – still before West Indies had actually lost a wicket – Larry Gomes (20) was hit by Rumesh Ratnayake. Gomes lost two teeth and also broke his nose: Ratnayake was so upset by the sight of Gomes’s blood that he almost fainted.Many people born outside England have played for – and even captained – England. But how many non-Australian-born players have represented Australia? Most recently Kepler Wessels springs to mind, but I suspect there are relatively few? asked Barry Mollett

You’re right in thinking that there have not been very many recent Australian players who were born elsewhere. One from the current team is Andrew Symonds, who was born in Birmingham in England: the only other one since Kepler Wessels is the tall left-armer Brendan Julian, who was born in New Zealand. Ken MacLeay, who played 16 one-day internationals for Australia in the 1980s (including several in the 1983 World Cup) but no Tests, was born in Wiltshire in England. The most notable Australian Test player who was born outside the country is probably Clarrie Grimmett, the master legspinner of the 1920s and 1930s, who was born in New Zealand. In all 21 players born outside Australia have represented them in Tests – six in the very first Test of all, at Melbourne in 1876-77, including Charles Bannerman, the scorer of Test cricket’s first century – he was born in Woolwich in south-east London. For the record, the others not previously mentioned are George Alexander, Hanson Carter, William Cooper, Tony Dell, John Hodges, Tom Kendall, Percy McDonnell, Eric Midwinter and Harry Musgrove (all born in England), Bransby Cooper and Rex Sellers (India), Tom Horan and Thomas Kelly (Ireland), Tom Groube (New Zealand), Archie Jackson (Scotland) and Dav Whatmore (Sri Lanka).Which Australian player had a father who played professional football in Scotland? asked Derek McMurray from Aberdeen
The man in what sounds like a north-of-the-border quiz question is Bob Simpson, who captained Australia in 39 of his 62 Tests before becoming the national team’s coach. Simpson wrote in his 1966 autobiography Captain’s Story: “There was no cricket heritage on the family Simpson. Both my parents were born in Scotland, where Dad [William] as a young man played first-division soccer for Stenhousemuir in the Scottish League.”Regarding last week’s question about a batsman being the victim twice in the same hat-trick, didn’t it also happen when Glamorgan played the Indians in 1946, when Peter Judge was bowled by successive balls from Chandu Sarwate? asked Lionel Rajapakse from Sri Lanka
In a strange sequence of events, the Glamorgan fast bowler Peter Judge was indeed bowled twice in two balls from India’s Chandu Sarwate in the tourists’ match at Cardiff Arms Park in 1946. Judge was the last man out, and the Indians asked Glamorgan to follow on: there wasn’t much time left, so Glamorgan’s captain Johnny Clay (who was the not-out batsman) decided to give the crowd some fun, didn’t bother with the usual ten minutes between innings, and reversed his batting order. Judge stayed out there, and was promptly bowled by Sarwate’s first ball of the second innings, thus completing first-class cricket’s fastest-ever pair, in around a minute. Now, some reference books refer to this as part of a hat-trick: Gerald Brodribb, in his usually reliable Next Man In, a study of cricket’s laws, says Judge was “twice bowled first ball by successive deliveries from Sarwate”, which implies that it was a hat-trick – but it wasn’t listed as such in the books I consulted for that previous answer. So I asked Andrew Hignell, the Glamorgan historian, whether he could throw any light on the matter. He said: “I have looked at the 1946 scorebook, which is not in great condition, and it appears to have been three wickets in four balls. Sarwate bowled Haydn Davies with the first ball of his 14th over, and then repeated the trick against Judge with the third ball of the over. Judge was then bowled again by Sarwate with the first ball of the next over, and Glamorgan’s second innings.”

Four batsmen scored fifties in the fifth ODI at Trinidad, and the factor that won the game for West Indies was that they had three of them, whereas India had only Virender Sehwag

George Binoy28-May-2006Four batsmen scored fifties in the fifth ODI in Trinidad and what won West Indies the match was that they had three of them, whereas India had only Virender Sehwag. Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo scored contrasting half-centuries: Gayle provided a blistering start with a flurry of boundaries, Sarwan tided over the middle overs patiently before Bravo accelerated during the slog.For India, however, Sehwag played the roles of both Gayle and Sarwan. He got the run-chase off to a rapid enough start after India lost two early wickets, and held fort in the middle overs. His inability to stay until the finish, like Bravo did, was what swung the game for West Indies. The graphic below shows the percentage of dot balls, singles, doubles and boundaries in the four fifties.As you can see, Gayle and Bravo played very different innings. Gayle’s first seven scoring shots were fours as he took advantage of the hard new ball. He hardly ran any singles and kept trying to find the fence even though Rahul Dravid chose to delay the Powerplays. Bravo, however, entered when boundaries were hard to come by. He made up for this by dabbing the ball into gaps and running like wildfire. Bravo’s first 37 runs took just 31 balls but included just one four. The most telling stat as to how effectively Bravo adapted to the conditions is his dot-ball count. Bravo played just six dots in his 44-ball innings while Gayle had 44 in his 61-ball innings. Bravo’s tendency to take a run off every ball and convert ones into twos at the slightest fumble put immense pressure on the Indians, and they cracked. Throws were wide, tight run-outs were missed, and crucially, Bravo was dropped when he had made just 24.Sarwan’s solid innings ensured that West Indies had wickets intact for Bravo to up the tempo at the death. Though Sarwan’s 52 off 97 balls could be regarded as slow, he did what the Indian batsmen couldn’t – bat patiently on a slow pitch without losing regular wickets. Sehwag’s riposte was fitting: he scored 11 boundaries, one more than Gayle, and comfortably outpaced Sarwan. But for a single person to accomplish what three batsmen had done was asking too much.

Wasim Jaffer on consistency, making comebacks to the Indian side and maturing as a batsman

Nagraj Gollapudi08-Dec-2007

Wasim Jaffer knows where he stands. He knows he is only the third batsman in history to get a double-hundred at Eden Gardens after Rohan Kanhai and VVS Laxman. He knows he is up there among the top run-getters in Tests in 2007 so far. He knows that in a team full of batting legends he has logged the most runs this year for India. For the first time in a stop-start international career that has lasted almost eight years now, he is confident of his place in the team.Jaffer has finally come some way towards fulfilling the promise he showed all these years as a talented opener for Mumbai. So far this year in Tests, he has two centuries, four fifties and that double to his credit. After the selectors gave him a third life – he made an inauspicious debut in 2000 against South Africa and then lasted five Tests in his second comeback, in 2002-03 – recalling him for the home series against England in March last year, he has made sure to cling on to the rope he has been given. “2007 has been really going well, [all praise belongs to God],” he says.As on the field, Jaffer has a placid, quiet disposition off it. It is often mistaken. “I’m a reserved person by nature and if I meet you for the first time I’ll have to trust you to open up. It’s not arrogance as people think,” he explains.The turning point arrived four years ago. “I was the youngest of four siblings and was really pampered from the beginning, but after my mom died in 2003 I got quite responsible in my own life and that has helped in my game.” In the past Jaffer has spoken about growing in maturity each time he was dropped from the Indian team. Exactly what is maturity to him? “Identifying situations and finding a solution,” he says.Technically Jaffer’s Achilles heel has been the late movement of his feet as he gets into position to play. It’s still work in progress on that front, but he has improved considerably, even if he sometimes fails to pick the length early, as when he shouldered arms to a Mashrafe Mortaza delivery and lost his off stump to the first ball of the Chittagong Test. Jaffer for his part thinks it’s more to do with focus.There has been no easy solution in this instance. He still tends to be a scratchy starter, scoring either low or big. In 17 of his 45 Test innings, he has been dismissed for single-digit scores; his average score when he gets past 50 is 98.71.He is beginning to be more consistent, though, and thinks he is increasingly capable of hanging in there to convert starts – unlike in the first phase of his international career. Since March 2006, when he made his latest comeback to the side, he has scored highest (1473 runs) and has the best average (47.50) among Test openers who have scored at least 500 runs. “Giving a good start and getting a big score – that’s what I’m trying this year, to be more consistent,” he says.Had Jaffer found that elusive consistency back when he played his first Test, he would possibly be a senior pro in the side by now. “It does cross my mind. Had I played consistently from 2000, I would have played 80-90 Test matches by now. But that’s my destiny. I don’t complain about too many things.”I’ve had three comebacks and earlier I felt I wasn’t ready for international cricket, where you need to be mentally really prepared,” he says. “Over the years as I went back to domestic cricket, I worked a lot on my game and my mental side, and whenever I was dropped I learned quite a lot.”My game is more about concentration, spending time at the crease, rather than going bang-bang.”Having said that, he has not managed to completely lose the impulsive streak that has often seen him play a false stroke and give it away. An example came during the Boxing Day Test in Durban last year, in the second innings, when he picked one from outside off and miscued a pull into the hands of square leg. In his defence Jaffer says, “That is one of the shots I score runs with, but sometimes you don’t pick up the line and when you get out, it looks bad. But the situation was such that I should have avoided playing that shot, because if we had played 30 or 40 more overs, we could have drawn that Test.”All through our hour-long chat Jaffer talks about the help he has received from providence. How has his faith benefited him? “I believe in destiny,” he says. “You put in the effort, but He is the one who gives the results, right or wrong. I believe in Allah and am quite religious.” He turns 30 this February. They say the third decade in a man’s life is when he establishes himself in the personal and professional spheres. Jaffer thinks he has attained a certain balance.A large part of that has to do with his marriage, last October, to Ayesha, his girlfriend of four years. “In a way, yes, I’ve become more stable,” says Jaffer. “My wife looks after me a lot. She comes from London but she’s willing to give many things up for me and I’m really happy that I have her.”Another significant relationship, this time on the field, has been his partnership with Dinesh Karthik. Jaffer’s hundred in Cape Town at the beginning of 2007, came in a defeat for the team, but it saved him in the nick of time from being dropped again. He had had a miserable tour going into final Test of the South Africa series, and is thankful the team management kept faith in him. He draws parallels between his example and the mini-slump Karthik finds himself in. “He has not done well in just three innings and already the media are talking about dropping him,” Jaffer points out.

It’s no secret that camaraderie between the openers can be key to a team’s prosperity, and both Jaffer and Karthik have managed pretty well on and off the field. “Our wives have become good friends,” smiles Jaffer. He thinks having a long-term batting partner helps, and that even though Karthik’s restlessness may be a stark contrast to his own demeanour, “it gels with my laidback self”.The two have combined well in the past – notably during the England series, where they gave a semblance of stability to the top order with some valuable partnerships. “[In England] I was consistent even if I was not as successful as I would’ve liked to be. I didn’t get a hundred, but as a team we performed well and won the Test series.”Despite the double against Pakistan, Jaffer thinks the true test of his cricketing life is around the corner – the forthcoming Australia series. He started on his preparation a month ago. “Yes, we are short of time for practice, but as a sportsman one has to adapt fast. And seniors do help. I asked [VVS] Laxman, before this Pakistan series, to help me with understanding the Australian surfaces, since he is one who has done well there. So he gave me some plastic balls, and he thinks if I practise with them on cement wickets, the ball comes on at the same speed as on pitches in Australia.”A hidden side of Jaffer is his interest in the history of the game. As a kid and into his teens, he enjoyed reading books about players of various eras. Reading, he says, helps him acquire “a knowledge of how things were at different times. It helps me to get good concentration at times.”His reading, and his experiences of having watched – and now playing with – the greats, have inspired Jaffer. “I want to be noticed, too. I want to become one of the great players, too.”Part of that quest is about earning the respect of his team-mates and the opposition. “If the opposition respects me as they respect [Sachin] Tendulkar, [Rahul] Dravid, [Sourav] Ganguly and Laxman, if I can be counted in the same breath, it will be some achievement,” he says. “And for that I need to be consistent in my batting.”

The merger of women’s bodies with the ICC wasn’t all good news, and politics still shadows the game, but 2008 holds exciting changes

Jenny Thompson26-Dec-2007

Dual-international Elyse Perry is among the rising young fast bowlers hoping to fill Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s shoes for Australia © Getty Images
Women’s cricket this year proved less an opportunity for review, more a preview of the future. The biggest news came just in time for Christmas, and what a present. The women are to have their own World Twenty20 alongside the men’s in 2009, pending budget approval, which could pave the way for some much-needed exposure and massive sponsorship opportunities.The women’s game, then, will use next year much as they did this year, as World Cup preparation. Only, now they have two tournaments to prepare for in 2009, with the 50-over version early in New South Wales, then on to England for the short jab of excitement.If this year is anything to go by, Australia will be pretty confident of retaining the 50-over cup and being the inaugural winners of the Twenty20. While they echoed their men in shedding their old players and their coach (Mark Sorrell going to South Australia men, Lisa Keightley coming in), underneath they proved polished, cold-hearted, and possessed of a familiar bite, retaining the Rose Bowl and snapping up the Quadrangular series in India. And such is their strength in depth that, for example, there is healthy competition for the fast bowler’s spot vacated by Cathryn Fitzpatrick, in Emma Sampson and dual international Ellyse Perry, who also plays football.Unlike the men, though, their captain couldn’t hang on to the ICC Player of the Year award, which was claimed by Jhulan Goswami for her feats the previous year, which included helping India win their first Test on England soil; this year, though, India came fourth in the Quadrangular.Off the pitch, the game was affected by politics and the ICC merger, in good ways as well as bad. Sometimes the two were linked, as when West Indies stared at extinction. The financially dire WICB was saddled with a step-sister it had no feelings for and tried to shun. Even their one rock – automatic qualification for the women’s World Cup – looked like crumbling to powder. It still could: they need to fulfill a quota of games to be eligible for the 2009 tournament. The talent remains, though.Being part of the ICC now means that all teams must play Tests – which led to the farce of Netherlands’ crumpling in their one-off, and first-ever, Test against South Africa – although both teams enjoyed the experience. New Zealand are happy to eschew Test status, however, and continued to concentrate on one-dayers and Twenty20s. With a series win in England, they looked handy as the build-up towards the World Cup continues.However, the eight teams still bidding for the two remaining places were denied their chance this year, as politics locked them out. With Pakistan unsafe, the qualifiers scheduled for the end of November were rightly postponed, leaving Ireland and Zimbabwe in particular, both of whom were on a roll, frustrated, as they were tournament-ready; all their players have had to reschedule work and study plans. Zimbabwe – led by Julia Chibhabha, Chamu’s sister – had hoped to build on the momentum of winning their first matches in the Africa qualifiers, while Ireland had also put in handy performances in Europe over the summer. The qualifiers will have to be played before the end of May, although where and when remains unanswered.Off the pitch, the game was affected by politics and the ICC merger, in good ways as well as bad. Sometimes the two were linked, as when West Indies stared at extinction. The financially dire WICB was saddled with a step-sister it had no feelings for and tried to shun The ICC merger’s positives, however, far outweigh the negatives. Bangladesh have followed in their Indian sisters’ footsteps, and have begun to get financial rewards. The Asian Cricket Council brought out their first tournament, and there was progress, too, in the Americas, with Canada winning the inaugural Americas Women’s Championship title against such teams as Bermuda and the developing Argentina.And, of course, the biggest filip of all was the news of the Women’s World Twenty20, which could turn the ICC into the fairy godmother for the Cinderellas of cricket.Rookie of the Year
Trinidad and Tobago’s batsman Amanda Samaroo, who set the Americas tournament alight, is certainly one for West Indies’ future (whatever it may hold), giving them hope in the general gloom.Bowing out
Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick, who is now Victoria’s coach, and England’s vice-captain Laura Newton, who is to continue her studies in biomechanics.High point
The Twenty20 between England and New Zealand at Bath. Perfect entertainment in a perfect environment: intimate, accessible, and family-friendly.Low point
Shared between West Indies’ worries and the postponement of the World Cup qualifiers.What does 2008 hold?
Hopefully the World Cup qualifiers, sometime before May, and more preparations for the 2009 world tournaments for the big girls, and more adjustments to international cricket for the rookies.

Some work with the bat, not too much with the ball, but a great win and a big boost for the rest of the tour

Paul Harris24-Jul-2008

Paul Harris: a quiet Test at Headingley, but expecting more work at Edgbaston © Getty Images
After the great effort from our batsmen to save the Lord’s Test, we knew we had to raise our game going to Headingley. It was great to see the boys play smart cricket and come back strong.Our bowling wasn’t up to standard in the first Test but there was a huge improvement in the second. Graeme [Smith] asked for us to play clever, patient cricket and that’s exactly what we did. Morne [Morkel], Dale [Steyn] and Makhaya [Ntini] bowled really well and improved hugely.I also have to make special mention of our batsmen, in particular Ashwell [Prince] and AB [de Villiers]. Ashwell went in when we were in some trouble and he showed incredible patience for his second century in as many Tests. AB showed what he was made of after the crowd got stuck into him over the catch that had bounced. I have to say that knowing AB as well as I do – we both play together at Titans – he would never claim a catch he knew had bounced. He said straight away he wasn’t sure and that it should be referred. For him to go on and score that big hundred says a lot about his character and mental toughness.In England’s second innings we were smart and patient and managed to keep the pressure on the batsmen for long periods. Personally it wasn’t the busiest Test for me as the pitch encouraged the seamers more. But I’m sure my chance will come in the next two Tests. It was nice, at least, to get in and play my part with the bat and put on 80 with AB. All bowlers enjoy batting and it was great to contribute to the win.I really enjoyed the lively Headingley crowd at this game – I don’t think I have ever seen such good fancy dress! My particular favourites were the three blind mice and Buzz Lightyear. The atmosphere was great and we even got the odd cheer. The “Paul Harris for England” chant was good banter.This week we move on to Worcester for a tour game against Bangladesh A. I will be playing in that game to get a bit more bowling in before the Test match at Edgbaston rolls around. That’s a match I’m particularly looking forward to as I played county cricket for Warwickshire. Although some might think it is a time for us to take our foot off the gas and relax after tiring back-to-back Tests, it’s not the case. We know we have to work hard in the next week to keep up the standards we set at Headingley, so we go into Edgbaston with good momentum and still on the roll we started.There were some good celebrations after the Test. A few of us found a local pub in Leeds and had a few quiet drinks to celebrate. There were some well-earned hangovers on Tuesday morning but a drink always tastes better after a win! It was great to venture out for an evening as the boys have been very focused in the last two weeks and it seems like we have hardly been outside the hotel apart from travelling to matches or practice.Although it feels good to be 1-0 up, we all know it’s a long tour and we still have two Tests left. We’re determined not to fade away as the tour goes on. There is a real hunger to win in the UK. We’ll be working hard in the next three weeks to achieve exactly that.

Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman put India in a state from where they could have evened out the disadvantage of having to bat last

Sidharth Monga in Kanpur12-Apr-2008

Bob Dylan could well have written this for the famed Indian batting after the first session in Ahmedabad: “And nobody has ever taught you how to live out on the street/ And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it.” If ever there was a mean street, the track at the Green Park was. Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn, bowling at high speed and getting variable bounce, were one Mean Street Posse, but two Indian batsmen did get used to living there all right.Sourav Ganguly, who for one reason or another is always one failure short of a debate over his place in the Test side, and VVS Laxman, arguably India’s best bad-pitch batsman, did that well enough to put India in a state from where they could have evened out the disadvantage of having to bat last. Then came a couple of irresponsible shots to let South Africa back into the match: a 23-run deficit with one wicket left shouldn’t worry them much as of now.The Indian batsmen as a unit – the pampered kids, the “masters of good surfaces” – worked hard for every single run, were prepared to drop and run, and were not lazy with their footwork. Such traits were very crucial on this track and yet India’s batsmen managed to retain their elegance when they hit boundaries. But perhaps most importantly they put the shooters and spitters out their minds, even letting a few of them go for byes. They tried to score off every overpitched ball, knowing fully well that an unplayable delivery might come up anytime.The beauty with bad pitches is that they usually bring out the best in Laxman. The little adjustments he makes, the way it seems he is batting on one pitch and his partner on another, is an education on how to bat on difficult surfaces. His shots remain beautiful to watch, and the changes he makes are so subtle that you don’t even notice he has altered his approach. In his stance today, he crouched fractionally more than usual, negating the low bounce. His stance was a bit more open, making sure he didn’t fall over when he came onto the front foot. That conscious effort to not fall over resulted in his only boundary that was not pretty – an outside edge off Morne Morkel early in his innings.To Paul Harris his approach was quite unusual. Instead of playing the ball as late as possible, Laxman consistently kept coming forward, looking to play inside-out from the rough, something he has successfully done in the past against Shane Warne. That Steyn didn’t show variations in pace meant Laxman could be sure of himself. The wrists ensured he kept the ball down even if it misbehaved.But when Laxman did eventually get one that was too good, India were very much in trouble. That dismissal had followed the nasty delivery to Rahul Dravid, and at 123 for 4 India needed a special effort. That’s when Ganguly played, as he said later, one of his best innings ever.In the first over of spin he faced, Ganguly prodded half-heartedly at Paul Harris, was hit on the glove, and the ball lobbed to an empty space in the covers. He was so cross that he kicked the ground in disgust, turned around, regrouped, and went back to work. Of course he was beaten again, more than once, but those balls he couldn’t have done anything about, and none of those deliveries upset his composure.

There was a definite plan to Ganguly’s batting: an obvious one was trying to score off every opportunity, and also to not let Harris settle into any rhythm. Ganguly had perhaps recognised Harris as the least dangerous of the South African attack. The next ball after that prod was swept away, the first sweep shot of the innings. He kept stepping out to Harris on a regular basis, hitting him both with the spin, over midwicket, and against the turn through extra cover. The stepping out wasn’t premeditated, as were the cases with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Neil McKenzie when they were stumped.What was even more remarkable was the urgency to take singles. This was a pitch on which every batsman needed to be a bit selfish and spend more time at the non-striker’s end. Ganguly kept doing that with relative ease, running 53 out of his 87. With every run scored the bowlers kept feeling the kind of pressure that comes when you have been given a vicious track and are still not getting many wickets. They started trying too much, looking to bounce Ganguly out, and only served him with pull-me deliveries. Makhaya Ntini won’t be forgetting in a hurry the pull Ganguly unleashed off his attempted bouncer.On a track where survival was difficult, Ganguly managed to control the whole latter half of the Indian innings. When he got out, close to stumps, eight wickets had fallen and he knew he had to take complete charge and farm the strike. Ganguly compared this innings to his comeback knock at the Wanderers in December 2006, and said the conditions here perhaps made this one a better knock. However, there won’t be a bigger tribute to this innings than to say he successfully took the bar one level higher than where Laxman had left it.

With increased audiences tuned in, Neo Sports, the channel which holds the broadcast rights for the four-Test series, will be as pleased as punch

Judhajit Basu16-Oct-2008
Sourav Ganguly’s farewell series is expected to attract record numbers to the TV screen © AFP
A Test series that was the focus of all attention way before it started – since January, really, when these teams last met – has become all the more riveting since it started. Exit policies, records, injuries, verbal battles will give way, over the next five days, to the possibility of a result on the field. If that’s good news for Test cricket, currently overshadowed by newer forms of the game, it’s good news for the broadcaster, which has staked big money on it.With increased audiences tuned in, Neo Sports – the channel holding the broadcast rights – had upped its advertising revenue targets for the India-Australia series from the earlier Rs 114 crore [approximately US$23.5m] to Rs 124 crore [approx $25.5m]. It has also managed to get eight sponsors for the series – Airtel (the presenting sponsor), Hero Honda, Toyota, Coca Cola, Nivea, Pidilite, Royal Bank of Scotland and HDFC Standard Life.The title rights for the series are believed to have been sold for Rs 50 lakh ($100,000) per Test for main sponsor Airtel, with associate sponsors shelling out Rs 15-20 lakh ($30-40,000) per match. “The ongoing series is also expected to break all previous ratings records,” Sanjay Bhoer, vice-president marketing & sales strategy, Neo Sports, said. “The highest average TRPs for an India-Australia Test series are 3.70 with a peak of 9.71, back in 2004. This time around, Neo expects to achieve a record figure of around 4.0-4.25 with a peak of 11+.”Sunil Manocha, executive vice-president – advertising revenue, Neo Sports Broadcast, confirmed the entire ad inventory for the series had been sold outThough the figures are a considerable improvement from the last Test series at home against South Africa, the question is whether Test cricket can actually hold up to the Twenty20 format. Many see this series as a test – no pun intended – for cricket’s oldest version. “The comparison with the South Africa series would have been unfair as Pakistan and Australia have always the big draws in India, hence the marked improvement in sales and projected ratings. But the debate over the superiority of Twenty20 does not hold good here,” Manocha said. “It is pointless as two events are not on simultaneously. True, that Twenty20 has raked in more sponsors – most notably FMCG companies hopping on to the bandwagon – but a well-fought series will always have advertisers tuned in. It is unfortunate that people believe that Tests are being killed.”What people need to understand is that the business windows for tournaments like the IPL open only for a seven-week window whereas the BCCI properties, which include series like the one against Australia, are for a season. Hence, brands want sale from cricket throughout the year and hence cannot be restricted to the narrow window like that of the IPLVenu Nair, WorldSportGroup’s India headLokesh Sharma, whose Twenty-First Century Media is in charge of the in-stadia advertising for the second and third Tests at Mohali and Delhi, echoed the sentiment. “I don’t think Test cricket has lost out to the Twenty20 at all in terms of revenue. Even earlier, they had to contend with the one-day format, a shorter version, and haven’t they managed to survive well?”Shailendra Singh, joint managing director, Percept Holdings however was still wary of the impact of the shortest version. “Twenty20 is the glossier version of instant returns. It’s cricketainment at its best. The shorter, more exciting version gives the advertisers the best option – 60 days of high viewership numbers for something like the IPL.”While WorldSportGroup (WSG) formed a consortium with Sony to dish out $914 million for securing the broadcast rights for the IPL, the ground/in-stadia naming rights for international matches to be played in India till 2010 have come at Rs 185 crore for the Singapore-based sports marketing company alone.Venu Nair, WSG’s India head believed the commercial viability of Test match cricket, more importantly, the India-Australia series is still strong though the numbers may suggest a tilt towards the Twenty20 format. “Earlier series have also seen the entry of newer clients like Future Group, Mecon and RBS now. We also have lined up some inventory innovations for the current series as well with Toyota presenting their latest model Corolla Altis to the Man-of-the-Series.”What people need to understand is that the business windows for tournaments like the IPL open only for a seven-week window whereas the BCCI properties, which include series like the one against Australia, are for a season. Hence, brands want sale from cricket throughout the year and hence cannot be restricted to the narrow window like that of the IPL.”