Sreesanth’s spell reiterated the importance of carrying along a difficult member in the team through the bad days, since he has the talent to produce magical moments out of nowhere

Sidharth Monga at Newlands03-Jan-2011Everybody likes laying into Sreesanth. Not always unjustifiably, for Sreesanth gives them opportunities. He threatens to throw the ball at the batsman every time it is hit back to him, regardless of whether it is a solid defensive shot off an ordinary delivery with the score reading 300 for 2. He is painfully poor with his over-rate, going through elaborate rituals before every delivery. Often the umpires have to wait for his bending over and worshipping the crease before they can get his sweater and hat. The opposition captain has also singled him out when it comes to aggression on the field, accusing him of making comments about his family.Sreesanth’s own captain has not backed him much, at least not in the media. MS Dhoni has said during this tour that taking six to seven minutes an over is not on, and also that it is difficult to control Sreesanth when it comes to verbal aggression. Sreesanth has also had his share of stick from the crowd: it has been so bad that spectators have been escorted out of SuperSport Park and Newlands after getting abusive with him, fielding at the boundary.That being the state of affairs, Sreesanth has mostly been a lonely man on this tour. However, apart from being good at inviting trouble, Sreesanth can also do something else. He can produce mad, wicket-taking deliveries, both out of nowhere and during honest, hard-working spells. He got AB de Villiers with a beauty against the run of play in Durban, but the Jacques Kallis snorter in the second innings there was part of a spell where you could see he was running in harder, and not merely putting the ball in. Just when you thought Sreesanth had finally hit some rhythm – and he was rewarded for it when the new ball was given back to him on the first morning in Cape Town – he started off-colour again. Lazy, as he himself put it.For the best parts of three spells in this Test, though, his captain and even the crowd was won over. It helps that most of the times, even when the line is wrong and pace low, the seam is upright, giving him the best chance of mischief from the pitch and in the air. Outswing comes naturally to him, and he has been bragging about the inswinger in the nets, of late. A day before the match, he told his co-bowlers – in the midst of a spell of outswingers – that the next delivery would be an inswinger, and would beat Cheteshwar Pujara. Seconds later, inside edge onto the pad. In becoming the first Indian bowler to take a five-for on this trip, Sreesanth extended that form to the middle. Those inswingers didn’t get him any wicket here, but he came close on a few occasions last evening.The ball to get Ashwell Prince, almost a legcutter after having drawn him into a drive, was special because he was a set batsman, and 27 had come in the nine overs on the second morning without much bother. “Probably the best ball I have ever bowled to a left-hander,” was Sreesanth’s description of the delivery. “I wish I could produce that more often.”That was the inspiration India needed, and smoothly, as if he had been doing it all his life, Sreesanth followed it up with a perfect outswinger to Mark Boucher, facing his first ball.Towards the end of his spell, after having completed the five-wicket haul, which he celebrated with folded hands and a look towards the sky, Sreesanth went back to trying for wickets with every ball, conceding easy boundaries and no-balls. It did play a role in two crucial lower-order partnerships. That, he said, was the case in Centurion too. “When I came here, I was expected to perform,” he said. “Because, in 2006 I did really well in South Africa. Including myself, there were a lot of expectations, that I am going to get five-for, five-for, five-for. I had a put a lot of pressure on myself. I didn’t get a single wicket in centurion, but I was fortunate that Dhoni had faith in me, and the team management gave me an opportunity and I could deliver. The big difference is, I started enjoying the game rather than putting pressure on myself.”It is a delicate state of balance with Sreesanth, which he can lose easily. From bowling unplayable deliveries to real gifts is just a blur. While those spells with perfect deliveries give a reason to carry him on bad days, such unpredictable bowling – and behaviour, which seems to be a big concern for Dhoni – makes it difficult for the captain to back him. With Sreesanth, there is no guarantee of a minimum level of control. More than anybody else, then, he needed this spell. To reiterate the importance of taking difficult characters along in a team game. More than anybody else, he needs these spells regularly, for his rope will always be the shortest.In terms of natural talent, he is the likeliest member of the Indian attack to produce these special moments. His temperament, though, often prevents him from doing so. Between talent and temperament, it is a fascinating tussle, and we haven’t seen the last of it.

As a batsman alone Garry Sobers was among the very best; to add to that, he had talent to spare to take 235 Test wickets

S Rajesh12-Dec-2010First there is Sir Garry Sobers, and then there are all the other great allrounders in Test cricket. Sir Don Bradman unquestionably qualifies as the best batsman ever seen in Tests, but several pundits are willing to bet that in terms of all-round match-winning ability, none has surpassed – and perhaps no one ever will – the sublime Sobers.Bradman himself called Sobers the “five-in-one cricketer”, and with good reason: apart from being an outstanding batsman and fielder, Sobers the bowler was so versatile that he could bowl three different styles – left-arm seam and swing, slow left-arm orthodox, and left-arm wrist spin. Sobers’ skills with the ball allowed West Indies to often play an extra batsman – in fact, it was almost as if they were playing with 12 members in the team.Sobers’ leading suit, though, was his ability with bat in hand. He finished with an average of almost 58, and even that doesn’t do full justice to his skills. Throughout his career, Sobers never particularly bothered with trivialities like stats and numbers, which make his achievements even more remarkable. It’s astonishing that even after scoring at a rate that most specialist batsmen couldn’t keep pace with, Sobers still had enough talent to spare to go ahead and take 235 Test wickets at a bowling average of less than 35.Unlike a Sachin Tendulkar, though, Sobers didn’t immediately set the world on fire when he entered Test cricket. For the first three years or so he was fairly ordinary, with only one half-century to show in his first 15 innings. The first sign of his truly precocious talent came during the course of a resounding defeat at the hands of England at The Oval in the summer of 1957. In extremely difficult batting conditions, in which West Indies were bundled out for 89 and 86 in their two innings, Sobers scored 39 and 42. No other West Indian batsman touched 30 in either innings.From 1958, Sobers’ batting graph soared. In only his third Test of the year, against Pakistan in Kingston, he scored a monumental unbeaten 365. It was the record for the highest Test score, and stayed that way for the next 36 years, which is the longest any batsman has held this record. His career average shot up almost 15 runs after that one innings, and in his next Test it touched 50 for the first time, from where it never dipped below 50 again. In fact, from the beginning of 1959 to the end of his career in 1974, his average never went below 56.And then, of course, were his knocks outside of Test cricket. One of his finest batting displays – one that the Don said was “the greatest exhibition of batting ever seen in Australia”, came at the MCG in 1972, when Sobers, playing for World XI, destroyed an Australian attack that included a rampant Dennis Lillee on the way to 254. Lillee had taken 8 for 29 in the previous Test, and had dismissed Sobers first ball in the first innings in Melbourne, but in the second innings Lillee finished a distant second-best, as Sobers cut and drove him to distraction. A few years earlier, a much lesser bowler, Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash, had been at the receiving end when Sobers spanked him for six sixes in an over, the first time it had ever happened in first-class cricket.

As a bowler, Sobers’ stats aren’t as stunning, but he was more than handy with his ability to bowl various styles. His peak period as a bowler was understandably much shorter, but during the eight years between 1961 and 1968, he was quite a handful, averaging less than 28 and taking almost four wickets per Test.In fact, his bowling career can be divided into three distinct parts: till 1960, he bowled quite sparingly, taking only 43 wickets in 34 matches, without a single five-for. Then came the best passage for him as a bowler, during which period he delivered two of his most incisive performances: at Headingley in 1966 he returned figures of 5 for 41 and 3 for 39 to help West Indies win by an innings; at the Gabba a couple of years later, his orthodox left-arm spin was good enough to give him a second-innings haul of 6 for 73 and bundle Australia out for 240 as they chased 366 for victory.

More than most other cricketers, Sobers was able to, on more than one occasion, deliver his excellence with bat and ball in the same series. Scoring 300 runs and taking 20 wickets in a series is no mean feat – it’s only been achieved 15 times in the entire history of Test cricket – but Sobers managed it three times on his own, twice against England, and once against India. The Australian allrounder Keith Miller did it twice, but no one else has achieved it more than once. Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and Shaun Pollock were among those who did it once each, while Imran Khan didn’t even achieve it once.Overall, Sobers’ all-round numbers are outstanding – his batting average is nearly 24 more than his bowling average. In terms of this differential, only Jacques Kallis of South Africa has a slightly higher difference.

Excluding the first three years of his Test career, when Sobers was still finding his feet in international cricket, he averaged nearly 63 in 79 matches, which was easily the best during that period. England’s Ken Barrington was the only other batsman whose average was close to 60. Even Sobers’ overall career average of 57.78 is among the very best: with a cut-off of 3000 runs, only five batsmen have done better.

And in the eight years when Sobers was at the peak on his bowling powers, he was among the best in that aspect too: only three bowlers took more than 100 wickets at an averge lower than Sobers’ 27.93. West Indies had a pretty useful attack during that period too: Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith took care of the fast-bowling duties, while Lance Gibbs was the number one spinner. Since Sobers obviously wasn’t the leading fast bowler or spinner, he was more of a support act, and hence seldom got the opportunity to bowl fast with the wind or slow against it. Later in his career with West Indies’ fast-bowling resources dwindling, Sobers bowled long spells with defensive fields, but he managed that too without his bowling stats suffering too much.

As a captain Sobers was a mixed bag. Of the nine series he led in, West Indies won three, but those were the first three series he captained. In 1966 in England, especially, Sobers was immense: in five Tests Sobers scored 722 runs, including three hundreds, at an average of 103.14, and took 20 wickets at 27.25. At Lord’s in the second Test he played arguably his greatest innings: his unbeaten 163 helped turn around a first-innings deficit of 86 and helped West Indies recover from a precipitous 95 for 5 in the second innings. With David Holford, who made an unbeaten 105, Sobers added an undefeated 274 for the sixth wicket. He scored another century at Headingley and starred with both bat and ball in that game.Thereafter, though, his captaincy stock fell, especially when his reckless declaration at Port of Spain leading to an England win in a Test in which they took only nine wickets.Despite the pressures of captaincy, Sobers’ batting standards remained high, with an average of almost 59 in the 39 Tests he led in. Among captains who’ve scored at least 3000 runs, only Don Bradman has a higher average.

Sobers was also one of the greatest match-winning batsmen in Test cricket: his average in wins was 77.42, which remains among the highest. Only the Don and Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq have higher averages.

Some of Sobers’ most memorable innings came against England. From 36 Tests against them, Sobers scored 3214 runs, which accounts for 40% of his total aggregate. He played eight full series against them, and averaged more than 75 in four of them. His poorest series against England was his last one, in which he managed only 100 runs from five innings, including scores of 0, 0 and 20 in his last three innings. Despite that, he finished with a 60-plus average against them, which is among the highest for any batsman who’s scored more than 2000 runs versus England.

And unlike some of the current batsmen who are much greater batsmen in the first innings than the second, Sobers had no such problem. Even in the fourth innings of matches, Sobers managed an average of almost 47. Apart from that unbeaten 163 at Lord’s mentioned earlier, one of his most meaningful second-innings contributions came against India in Kanpur in 1958. Both teams had been bowled out for 222 in their first innings, and in their second, West Indies were struggling at 83 for 4 when Sobers struck a magnificent 198 to lift them to 443, a target which turned out to be well beyond India in their second innings.Sobers’ overall second-innings average of 55.15 is the second-highest among batsmen with 2500 runs; only Jacques Kallis of South Africa has done better.

Plays of the day from Australia’s comfortable victory over Canada

Brydon Coverdale and Sriram Veera at the Chinnaswamy Stadium16-Mar-2011Dummy-spit of the day
The first piece of advice any cricketer should learn is that when the captain talks, you listen. And when the captain shouts, ignore him at your peril. Steven Smith didn’t heed that suggestion when he ran around from mid-on and Ricky Ponting was moving from mid-off to get under a skied catch struck by Harvir Baidwan. Ponting called for the take and moved into position, but Smith kept coming and the pair collided, although Ponting still managed to make the catch. But immediately he hurled the ball into the turf and walked away from Smith, not celebrating with the rest of his team-mates. “I had a chat to Smithy about it and I think we both actually called for it at exactly the same time,” Ponting said later. “I was probably a bit more disappointed that a few of the other guys didn’t yell out and make it clear that it was my catch. It wasn’t a great reaction … if it looked bad then I apologise for it.”Eye-watering moment of the day
Zubin Surkari might never play another World Cup match, and he’ll certainly remember his last two, ahem, balls. Facing Shaun Tait must be a daunting enough experience for some of the Associate batsmen, and when Surkari saw a 146kph full toss searing towards his groin, he might have wished he’d chosen another profession. The ball smashed into Surkari’s inner thigh and he collapsed in heap, writhing in pain as Tait came up and apologised. After a few minutes of recovery time, Surkari bravely got back up and batted on, but in the ultimate case of being softened up, he lost his middle stump next delivery as Tait went fast and full, and Surkari inside-edged his attempted drive.Shot of the day, mark I
Hiral Patel didn’t have any such worries against Tait. In the third over of the match, Patel launched the most audacious slap over cover and struck the ball so cleanly that it easily cleared the boundary. And if Tait thought things were going to get any easier once Patel was out, he was wrong. Ashish Bagai, the captain, provided another contender for the shot of the day when he drove a Tait half-volley back over the bowler’s head with magnificent timing, although it bounced just short of clearing the boundary.Shot of the day, mark II
Take your pick. Shane Watson hit four sixes in 14 balls as Australia’s chase accelerated, and they just seemed to get bigger and bigger. A slog-sweep off Balaji Rao went 94 metres, and a similar shot later in the same over went 99 metres. But in the next over, Watson went 104 metres over long-on with a lofted drive off John Davison that was the biggest six of the tournament so far. The next one was only 85 metres, but the crowd still seemed to enjoy it.Miss of the day I
Balaji Rao had a deep midwicket placed for Shane Watson. The ego-trap was simple: If you dare, go over the fielder’s head. The ball was sufficiently short to warrant a pull and turned just a tad bit to make the timing go awry. Watson went for it and seemed a goner as Nitish Kumar ran to his right at deep midwicket but he suddenly lost the plot. Perhaps blinded by the floodlights, he just gave up the catch when he had almost reached the ball. The camera panned to Balaji who went, “what the …”Miss of the day II
Fat men hardly get any luck on most days and the portly Balaji was twice unlucky today. He delivered a ripper that drifted towards leg and middle before turning and bouncing right across an ugly slog sweep from Brad Haddin. Alas, Ashish Bagai, a fabulous keeper, chose that very moment to slip up for probably the first time this tournament. He couldn’t adjust to the extra bounce and broke the stumps without the ball in his gloves. Haddin’s back foot was not inside the line and for a moment it seemed that the ball landed on the stumps but it wasn’t sure whether the bails came off in time. Balaji was taken off the attack and returned later for an over, only to be walloped for two sixes by Watson.

Lime-green clothing can confuse one, can’t it? And who’s more fun – fans of Surrey or Essex?

Stuart Croll14-Jun-2011Choice of game
This game was to define Surrey’s Twenty20 season, as another defeat may have prevented them from progressing in this competition. It was an opportunity to see how Surrey shaped up against an undeniably powerful Essex team consisting of Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Twenty20 specialists Scott Styris, Graham Napier and Tim Southee.Also, it offered a chance to see darts legend Phil “The Power” Taylor, who was the half-time entertainment.Key performer
Surrey’s Twenty20 debutant, Zafar Ansari. His late cameo, a not-out innings of 30 runs from 18 deliveries, gave them a defendable total, and his four overs for 24 runs helped defend said total.One thing I’d change
As it was a Twenty20 game, asking for more runs might be a quibble. But with such classy strokeplayers and big-hitters involved, it is a disappointment that the top-scorer – the impressive Tom Maynard – made just 45. However, one has to feel sorry for Essex bowler Tim Phillips, who bagged two wickets in two balls but was denied a hat-trick delivery because his four-over spell had ended.Interplay I enjoyed
Batsmen weren’t around long enough for there to be any meaningful interplay. However, in the stands there was a wonderful argument when Surrey were fielding. Surrey’s limited-over shirts are lime-green, and this clashes with the umpire’s lime-green jacket. One animated Surrey member shouted at a home fielder for not stopping a James Foster sweep shot, before realising it was the square-leg umpire he was berating. As he was ridiculed by Essex fans for his mistake, he said the umpire and players shouldn’t wear similar clothing. That didn’t help his case as he had to accept that the traditional white jackets worn by umpires clashed with traditional whites worn by the players. For the rest of the game this fan was very quiet.Filling the gaps
As always with Twenty20, not too many gaps, except for the interval, and this evening we watched – dare I say endured – a darts match between Phil Taylor, teamed up with a Surrey fan, against Adrian “Jackpot” Lewis and an Essex fan. (For those who care, the contest was won by the Essex fan.) The only conclusion to make from this so-called half-time “entertainment” is that if this was a forerunner for Lord’s hosting the archery during the London Olympics, those who have not got tickets in the ballot should count their blessings.Wow moment
The three run-outs by Surrey fielders, especially the one of the dangerous Styris. The momentum of the match turned after that.Ah moment
The caring side of Foster. When a Zander de Bruyn shot clobbered a pigeon on its way to Bopara on the boundary, the Essex wicketkeeper stopped play, collected the injured bird in his gloves, and after an initial juggle handed it to a member of the groundstaff to be taken off the field.Shot of the day
The two sixes during the Surrey innings, from Jason Roy and Ansari, were well received, but the biggest cheer of the day was for a sweetly struck four from Bopara that ricocheted off the boundary rope onto the head of an unsuspecting steward. Why is that always funny?Player watch
Yes, he was born in South Africa, and yes, it will cause arguments that the England team contains too many South African-born players, but Roy’s quickfire 31 showed – yet again – his potential for England.Crowd meter
As always, the Essex fans were great fun, even allowing for the shout of “We can still win this” with nine wickets down. I guess if they shout it a thousand times when their side is in a hopeless position, there is always a chance they will be proven right.The Surrey fans have also found a new favourite in Roy. His name was spelt out in chant form as he fielded on the boundary. The fact that his surname is three letters long makes singing it easier for fans who are drunk, have short attention spans, or both.Marks out of 10
8. When the bowling dominates a Twenty20 game the initial thought is that it’s less entertaining than when the batting does. Having said that, the excellent bowling of both sides, and the brilliant fielding from Surrey, elevated this match above the norm.

Plays of the day from the 1st semi-final between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in Colombo

Firdose Moonda in Colombo29-Mar-2011The corker yorker
Lasith Malinga was always going to target the toes of the New Zealand batsmen and the delivery he got Martin Guptill out on was the most attractive yorker of the lot. It was a perfect inswinging ball that would have taken exemplary defence and the ability to the bat down at just the right moment to keep out. Guptill didn’t time it badly, but he didn’t time it perfectly and that was what made the difference. He was properly corked, the stumps were out of the ground and Malinga’s poison had worked.The first and the last
He was far from a fully fit man and even thought he was hobbling, the crowd were ecstatic when Muttiah Muralitharan came on to bowl. It would be his last match on Sri Lankan soil and every ball was cheered. The anticipation for a wicket grew with every ball and after two overs, it came. The ball received a thin edge off Jesse Ryder’s bat and found itself nestled in Kumar Sangakkara’s gloves and the stadium stood up. Every fan was off their feet, every pair of hands was being slapped together, ever face was smiling, as though they never wanted his spell to end. A few hours later, it had to. Murali lined up to bowl his last ball in ODI cricket for his country and it caught Scott Styris on the pad. The decision was reviewed but it was upheld and Murali sauntered off the home stage with a wicket. The clapping was thunderous and the smiles were huge, the biggest smile came from the man himself.The fabulous fielding
Sri Lanka lived up to their reputation of being the best subcontinental fielding side at the tournament with a committed display of groundwork. Tillakaratne Dilshan, in his white floppy hat at mid-off, was one of the best. He pounced on balls that were played awkwardly to him, stopping singles when he could easily have let the batsmen hurry through. Off an over from Rangana Herath, the 39th of New Zealand’s innings, Dilshan did it three times, all athletically, all saving one.The Leverock moment
He is not quite as heavy as Dwayne Leverock, but the earth probably still moved when he took the catch that may become the catch of the tournament. Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan were looking comfortable enough for another century stand, the bowlers were getting irritable and the boundary balls were mounting. Tim Southee bowled one, short, wide and cuttable and Tharanga obliged. Up went the ball, but only as far the leaping Ryder. He was at full strength, poised like a ballerina and he times his move perfectly. Thud. He was back down to earth, ball in hand, wicket claimed.The effortless boundary
Which one? Dilshan and Sangakkara were feasting off the fours at will and looked as though once they’d decided which shot to play, they’d play it no matter what or who was in their way. Dilshan was doing it with almost no care in the world and when Daniel Vettori put two gullies on the offside, he didn’t care. Dilshan drilled the ball between the both of them, timed so well that neither would have got to it if they’d move, so it’s probably just as well they didn’t.The silencer
As the middle order marched one by one to the crease, the feeling in the Premadasa Stadium become more and more nervy. Then, Chamara Silva had an audacious attempt at cutting a short ball and in his haste found a bottom edge on to his stumps. Tim Southee’s toothy grin said that New Zealand knew they were putting up enough of a fight. The stillness of the crowd said it even louder. The singing, dancing, cheering masses went eerily quiet, but not for long.The premature ending
Sri Lanka still needed four runs to win the match when a fireworks display started around the stadium. The last two overs had to be bowled with the sound of firework going off all around and it proved a distraction, in more ways than one. Umpire Aleem Dar called a dead ball before Andy McKay delivered the first ball of the 48th over, which neither McKay, nor Thilan Samaraweera saw. McKay bowled, Samaraweera sent it through the covers for four and started celeDbrating but was stopped by Dar’s signal. The players looked perplexed, thinking the match was over but it wasn’t. Four balls later, it was. And the fireworks went mad.

Australia’s success thus far in Sri Lanka could not have taken place without Ryan Harris and his combination of speed, swing and seam

Daniel Brettig in Pallekele12-Sep-2011Ryan Harris, all bustling pace and wickedly late movement, has become Australian cricket’s most precious bowling commodity. The great pity for Harris and Australia is that at the age of 31 he is also among its most fragile. The heavy rain that shrouded Pallekele and ruined any chance of a result on the final day could not obscure the outstanding quality of Harris’ bowling on a dead pitch. But a hamstring scare illustrated why Australia’s team management had already discussed the possibility of resting Harris for the final Test in Colombo should the series be decided.Those who first saw Harris bowling at little more than medium pace for South Australia, with the Redbacks keeper Graham Manou standing up to the stumps for him, have been endlessly amazed and fascinated by the leap he made in subsequent years. He gained in pace, accuracy and self-assurance, augmenting the amiable temperament that made him a popular team man even before first-class and Test wickets started to arrive in bunches.Harris himself puts the change down to growing up, gaining in fitness and strength, and also becoming a little more comfortable in revered cricket company after years of uncertainty and single-season contracts with South Australia. Adelaide’s rusted-on cricket culture, which alternates between extremes of lethargy, drinking and infighting, might also have held him back. Nonetheless, he was as quick, if not as confident, as he is today before he chose to leave. A move to Queensland – they offered a three-year contract following Harris’ one and only full season with SA – completed the transformation.Australia’s success thus far in Sri Lanka could not have taken place without Harris’ combination of speed, swing and seam, all achieved with a level of accuracy that has given the hosts very little room to manoeuvre. His run to the wicket and bowling action are things of more power than beauty, making his epithet “Rhino” all the more fitting. But he explodes through the crease with exceptional rhythm at his best, then utilises a strong wrist and seam position to gain the sort of deviation few batsmen can counter. In Pallekele, Harris defeated top-order opponents in each innings by conjuring the most dastardly of tricks, shaping the ball one way and then seaming it back the other.On the first morning it was Tharanga Paranvitana who could not counter this, edging behind to Brad Haddin. But the collector’s item was the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, seemingly entrenched for a long stay to make the game safe on day five. Harris’ first over with the second new ball had been met largely with the full face of Sangakkara’s bat – he was seeing it well enough. Then in his second a straighter deliver curled subtly in the direction of leg stump before zipping towards the off. Sangakkara’s bat was angled, understandably, towards wide mid-on, and the cut away from him resulted in an edge to Michael Clarke at second slip. Clarke’s praise for Harris after the Galle Test was the warmest a captain could offer to his bowler, and on the evidence of this ball it was entirely warranted.Among other international bowlers in 2011, perhaps only South Africa’s Dale Steyn and the English quartet of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan can be considered Harris’ equals or betters with the new ball in hand. Across the admittedly small sample of seven Test matches, an average of 20.90 and strike rate of 42.6 places Harris in the most rarified of company. Steyn’s 238 wickets at 23.21 and a strike rate of 39.9 has him well out in front as the most destructive bowler of his time, but the comparison with Harris will be intriguing if the Australian can hold his body together for the Test matches in South Africa in November.This, unfortunately, is a more open question than anyone would like it to be. Harris’ career has been so speckled with injury troubles that the Australian team hierarchy is presently grateful to have him for however long he has, even if it is only a handful more matches. Following last year’s Perth Ashes Test, in which Harris’ nine wickets played a key part in securing Australia’s only win of a dire summer, he spoke candidly about the battered knee that requires constant management and selective training to keep him on the park. He is closer than most are to their surgeon.There was plenty of painful irony then at the MCG, when it was not Harris’ knee but his ankle that fractured under the stress of his whole-hearted run to the bowling crease. The break ended his season, and he was not sighted again until the Indian Premier League, which he used as a warm-up to the upcoming Australian schedule with a program more dedicated to physio and rehab than the bars and parties that would have been his usual haunts in earlier years.During that latest convalescence, the Australian selectors decided that in future they would use Harris as a Test match specialist, leaving him out of the ODI squad for Sri Lanka even though his record in the format – 41 wickets at 16.12 – is even more spectacular than his Test match figures. To that end Harris trained with longer spells and back-to-back Tests in mind, and in Pallekele he pushed himself through a number of punishing stints at the crease, extracting life from a pitch that had very little to offer once the initial moisture of the first morning had evaporated.After Sangakkara he took one more wicket for the Test, his sixth, when Prasanna Jayawardene edged a ball that left him after the previous two had angled in towards his stumps. The celebrations were soon followed by the worrying sight of Harris heading off to assess a hamstring complaint, and there were plenty of concerned looks among his team-mates as he left. They know exactly how much Harris can add to the Australian attack when he plays, and how much is lost when he does not.

India’s three stalwarts will never win a Test series in Australia. How broken they must feel

Sidharth Monga at the SCG06-Jan-2012It’s all over, as Bill Lawry would say. Sachin Tendulkar: 22 years of international cricket, five Test tours to Australia. Rahul Dravid: close to 16 years of international cricket, four tours to Australia. VVS Laxman: same as Dravid. They will never win a Test series in Australia. How broken the three must feel. Australia, the land that loved them and also broke their hearts, had to be part of reason they kept going at their age.Australia, the big tease. Australia, where they came within three wickets or an enforced follow-on of winning a series in 2003-04. Australia, where they played the most bitter Test in recent memory but couldn’t bat out two sessions and a bit. Australia, where Tendulkar is closing in on 2000 runs at an average of 58, where both Laxman and Dravid have more than 1000 at averages of over 45. Australia, where they shall never win a Test series.The dream didn’t even reach Perth. It sounds more natural when Lawry says, “It’s all over at the WACA,” as opposed to, “It’s all over at the SCG”. Well, it was tragicomic in the end, with the Indian tail swinging and reaching scores that have now become milestones for this side. Three hundred was almost slow-clap-worthy. Three fifty surprising. Four hundred unbelievable.It gave you time to forget empathising. To stop wondering what the three would be going through, how they would be taking this. Later on, though, you did. You realised that – and you knew it for a while – the end is near. That the three might not have enough left in them to make it to late 2013, when India start playing away Tests again. They only come to Australia in 2014-15. For non-Australian players of this era, the World Cup and Australia tours have been the big motivation, the events they build up to. Brian Lara managed to win one series here, Jacques Kallis too.Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman came here this final time with their best pre-series chance of winning. Two weeks in, the chance is no more. They were part of the reason this team was expected to do well. They have seen the team through the worst times. Times when the team wasn’t even expected to compete outside India. They played a part in turning the team around. They went through disappointment and despair to finally see a time when they could actually be expected to win matches abroad.They played a big part in this disappointment too. How they must be cursing themselves. Laxman scored 2, 1 and 2 in his first three innings. Dravid was not the Dravid of the last year, but fought to score a fifty at the MCG. He has been bowled thrice in this series. Tendulkar has looked in glorious touch, but was dismissed at the worst times. They are known for converting starts into big innings, for grinding the opposition down. Not a single century between them. Today, though, even the most hard-nosed analyst would have felt bad for them. Sport doesn’t.The Melbourne Test was within their grasp on three occasions, but they watched it slip: twice in the field, once through their collapse. Dravid dropped a catch, too. It was the bad old days of Indian cricket coming back. Too often in the recent past India have been napping at big moments in Tests.The despair was reminiscent of their disappointment in beautiful Cape Town when, a year to the day, India let South Africa escape through defensive fields and uninspired bowling. The three saw their last chance of winning a series there disappear then. At least they came close then. At least Laxman made a big contribution in the previous Test. At least Tendulkar scored a superlative hundred against a red-hot Dale Steyn at Newlands.At least India drew the series in South Africa. Here it will take a miracle for India to even come close to drawing the series. In all likelihood the three will have to live with the fact that their teams never played good enough cricket for long enough periods to win series in Australia and South Africa.Trying to draw this series 2-2 and retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will keep them going. Life will go on as well. In fact it already has. An hour or so after the defeat in Sydney, the BCCI released the next IPL schedule, a whopping 53-day event. It’s all over.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the second Test between New Zealand and South Africa in Hamilton

Firdose Moonda at Seddon Park17-Mar-2012Hopeful review of the day
After Jacques Kallis had Daniel Vettori caught behind, South Africa seemed in a hurry to end the match as quickly as possible. Three balls later, they asked for a review on an lbw appeal that was turned down against Kruger van Wyk. The diminutive wicket-keeper was struck on his front pad, after getting a good stride in and looked, to the naked eye, to have been hit outside the line. The review confirmed that he was and although the ball would have gone on to clip off stump, the umpire’s call stood. It appeared to be an act of desperation, though, as South Africa hoped to run through New Zealand and give themselves two days off.Captaincy move of the day
As lunch approached and South Africa looked for something to tease their appetites with, Mark Boucher decided he would take over. He walked over to Dale Steyn to offer some advice and kept going all the way to the fast-bowler’s mark with him. On his walk back to his own position, Boucher ordered Hashim Amla, who was fielding at short leg to hand over his helmet and move to deep square, to wait for the pull shot, and rearranged the slips. Steyn’s next delivery was a fiery bouncer but van Wyk didn’t have to do much other than duck under it.Shot of the day
Mark Gillespie proved himself to be an all or nothing man with the ball and he seems to be that way with the bat as well. He faced nine entertaining deliveries including one that he sent sailing for six with all the carefreeness of a balloon left to coast through the air. It was a good-length ball, Gillespie made room for himself and slogged over long-on. The boundaries are not particularly long so the big hit found itself well over and as a bonus, a member of the crowd caught it and won 200 New Zealand dollars for his efforts, the first time that has happened successfully in the match.Walk off the day
Vernon Philander has become used to leading the pack off the field and he did it again at the end of New Zealand’s second innings. With ball in hand Philander was first through the white picket fence and onto the paving where Gary Kirsten greeted him with a high five and Allan Donald with a pat on the back. South Africa let Dale Steyn walk in next and Morne Morkel after him as all the bowlers were allowed their moment of glory. At the back of the queue was a reluctant Imran Tahir, who bowled 17 overs without a wicket and must feel as though Test cricket isn’t giving him what he hoped it would. Tahir hoped to slink in with the rest but AB de Villiers nudged him forward and clapped him in, a gesture of reassurance over his role in the side.Nail-in-coffin moment of the day
New Zealand must have known they were out of luck when Gillespie appealed for lbw against Graeme Smith and was found to have overstepped on review. The ball appeared to have struck Smith in line and ball-tracking replays showed that it may have shaved leg stump. None of it mattered because Gillespie’s foot was a good few centimetres over the line. Doctrove also missed a no-ball in the first Test, off Doug Bracewell who appealed against Jacques Rudolph in the first innings in Dunedin. The only joy New Zealand got out of both of those was that they were given their reviews back.

They’d rather be playing Test cricket, but Edwards and Co have plenty of T20 to look forward to over the next few months

Tim Wigmore30-Jun-2012Anyone who berates the standard of women’s cricket should watch Lydia Greenway field. With her athleticism, catching ability and cricketing awareness she brings the same intoxicating thrill to any match as Jonty Rhodes used to do.In England’s two Twenty20 victories against India, Greenway took four outstanding catches, both at backward point and at deep midwicket, a position she patrols with vivacity. And she can do much more than just catch, as shown by her awareness to throw the ball back into play after she was about to carry it over the rope after a boundary catch. No wonder the captain, Charlotte Edwards, said the side is “completely in awe” of her fielding ability. Overall, England’s fielding oozed professionalism, and the contrast between theirs and India’s was perhaps the most obvious difference between the sides.But there is much more to admire in England’s team: they are simply a very fine cricket side. Their second win over India was their 13th consecutive victory in T20 internationals. Add to this their record of seven consecutive one-day international wins and their status as the best women’s international side is indisputable.Katherine Brunt’s new-ball bowling, with a steady action, pace in the mid-70s, consistent nip off the seam and a dangerous yorker, is formidable. Edwards is a model of calm – never flustered, and with a knack for canny bowling changes, as well as being a superb batsman in her own right. She has the most international one-day caps of any female cricketer. And then there is Sarah Taylor.The batting of her namesake Claire, most notably a wonderfully paced 76 not out against Australia in the World T20 semi-final in 2009, earned her the accolade of one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year. Yet Sarah, no relation, increasingly looks an even better player.Taylor’s real strength lies in her exemplary technique. She is imperious driving down the ground, cuts with authority and skilfully uses her feet against spin; few would say there is a better female batsman in the world today. Taylor hit two serene 60s in England’s two T20 wins over India – earning the Player-of-the-Match award in both games – as well as 109 not out in England’s last ODI, against New Zealand. As if that wasn’t enough, she’s also a brilliant wicketkeeper whose poise and quick hands contributed to the five Indian run-outs England affected in Chelmsford.But those who want to see much of Taylor better have a stomach for T20 cricket: ten of England’s 15 internationals this summer are T20s. As Edwards says, “The game is so marketable in the T20 format.”One key reason for this is that it is perfect to be played before men’s games – as was the case for both T20s against India, which were hosted at Canterbury and Chelmsford and preceded domestic men’s T20s. Given the attractive proposition of free entry to the women’s international before the Essex-Hampshire T20, well over 1000 supporters were in place for the start of the women’s game. And many were attending out of more than curiosity, with England having an outstanding record there in recent years. As Taylor says, “Chelmsford’s perfect for us – the crowd keep wanting to see us play, which keeps bringing us back.”Taylor is an enthusiastic champion of the double-header format: “It’s definitely a bit more exciting when we play before the men.” Edwards emphasises: “The girls react really well to the TV and the crowds; it’s a huge boost for us.”Yet England’s women also play in some rather more obscure locations. Truro in deepest Cornwall, which has a population of 17,000, will host an England-India ODI on July 8. But Edwards is enthused about the prospect, saying, “We love playing at the outgrounds”, and is confident that after a concerted marketing campaign, the game could be watched by as many as 1500 people.While limited-overs games, especially T20, may attract the crowds, the great frustration for England’s women is that they seldom have the opportunity to showcase their skills in the longest form of the game. Indeed, their last Test was in Sydney in January 2011, when they failed to defend the Ashes. The lack of Tests does not owe to any absence of desire on behalf of the players. Edwards says it is frustrating: “We would love to play more Test cricket but we understand that’s not where the game’s going at the moment.”Still, there is much else to be occupied with. After five ODIs against India, the preparations continue for the World T20 in Sri Lanka in September and October, when England will aim to regain the title they lost in the Caribbean in 2010. Far from being worried about playing in different conditions, Taylor is confident the side will be able to adapt. “Out there it doesn’t really do much in terms of movement, so that’ll suit my game down to a tee if I’m hitting straight. A lot of our girls hit very well straight, so hopefully we’ll come good.”After the World T20 there is not long to wait until the next big challenge: the 50-over World Cup in India in March. While Edwards accepts that T20 is “probably” the priority of most players now, she thinks differently. “For me the 50-over cricket is what women’s cricket is judged on and the World Cup is the ultimate prize in the women’s game.”It is undeniably a great shame that England’s women play so little Test cricket. But happily they are not lacking for stages on which to show off their considerable talents.

Plays of the Day from the one-off T20 international between England and West Indies

George Dobell at Trent Bridge24-Jun-2012Disappointment of the Day
Alex Hales’ dismissal for 99. In a game where personal milestones sometimes obscure team achievement, the disappointment of Hales and his home crowd was perfectly understandable. Had Hales scored just one more, he would have become just the seventh man to record a century in a T20 International and it would have been the first for England. He later said that he could not have asked for a more obliging delivery from which to score his century – it was a quick half-volley, really – but instead he was bowled. He need not worry: it is a team game and here he produced the matchwinning contribution.Wicket of the Day
West Indies recovered well through Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, but the early wicket of Chris Gayle was still a vital moment in this match. It meant West Indies endured a sluggish start – they scored only 38 off their first eight overs – and, despite some steep acceleration towards the end of their innings, they never fully made up time. Gayle was the victim of good planning and good fast bowling: cramped for room by a sharp, short ball from the distinctly hostile Steven Finn, Gayle was unable to control the stroke and top-edged to fine leg. It was the first of two very well judged catches from Jonny Bairstow and also reward for some smart captaincy from Stuart Broad, who had just moved the deep fielder from square to fine leg.Catch of the Day
Sometimes, given his skill in the outfield, it is hard to remember that Bairstow is also a wicketkeeper. His catch to dismiss Lendl Simmons, running in from the midwicket boundary and diving, was exceptionally good. Bairstow not only covered the ground quickly but, despite the potential distraction of Hales, running back from midwicket, threw himself forward to cling on to the ball. It was an example not only of Bairstow’s value to England, but also of the team’s athleticism and skill in the field. In a format where games can be decided by such moments, it provides England with a substantial advantage.Shot of the Day
As ever in T20 cricket, there were several contenders for this: Ravi Bopara, with some elegant cuts, and Hales with a series of pulls and hooks, were impressive, but for sheer power West Indies’ batsmen were hard to beat. Smith, in particular, hit the ball murderously hard and struck five sixes in all. The second of them, a lovely straight drive off Graeme Swann, landed in the second tier of the Radcliffe Road Stand and almost hit a cameraman. It was an enormous hit.Milestone of the Day
So long has Broad been a fixture of the England team that it can easily be forgotten how youthful he remains. Broad celebrated his 26th birthday at Trent Bridge and, while some people might balk at the idea of working on their birthday, the prospect of leading his side to victory on his home ground would have softened the blow. Already the most-capped player in this side, Broad could have the best part of a decade of international cricket ahead of him and may well break every England wicket-taking record in all formats. He and Graeme Swann already hold the record (41 apiece) for most T20I wickets for England.