Rather than moaning about home advantage, it could be a simple yet efficient solution for learning to tackle hostile and alien pitches at the highest level

Firdose Moonda29-Nov-2015The sun was just starting to splash its way across the Nagpur sky on what would have been the fourth day of the Test between India and South Africa, when four of the city’s cricketers, with no game to watch, started a training session instead. At the Dr Ambedkar College’s Sports Academy, with the Deekshabhoomi monument as his backdrop, one batsman geared up to face a slew of spin.His three compatriots took turns taking a few casual steps in and twirling the ball towards him. He watched, he waited, he lunged forward and then, he dead-batted the ball back to them over and over, as though the sole purpose of the practice was to be as stubborn as possible. Scoring was not an option in the situation anyway, but you got the feeling that even if the netting was not there, he would have approached things in exactly the same way.The South Africa players, who are still in Nagpur for another two days before they make their way to Delhi, may have been interested observers had they ventured to that side of the city. Not because it would have showed them a possible strategy for neutralising the spin threat – they already figured that out on the day they lost the match when Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis stood their ground for seven minutes short of three hours – but to see how early and how earnestly the mastering of the art begins.For those youngsters, spin bowling and defensive batting was the only task of the day. Perhaps they had done work against quicks earlier in the week, perhaps they were going to get to the pull shot and the expansive drive later in the day. Whatever the rest of their agenda was, the fact that those kids were trying to perfect an art that even international cricketers still struggle with, spoke volumes.

It is not outlandish to suggest foreign players go for an exchange in the Ranji Trophy, just as they do in the county circuit. They already spend time in the Indian domestic circuit during the IPL, but as Amla, pointed out, that does not really help when it comes to Tests

It is an accepted practice across sport that the hosts will have a little something more on their side than the visitors. That is what makes winning away so special, and so rare. But there may be a point where the hosts prefer to be less disadvantaged. There may be a point where the hosts stop making conditions tough for everyone and a little less hard for themselves, something South Africa have subtly accused India of doing on this tour.The rights and wrongs of that have been debated, but a solution has not been sourced yet. How does a team like South Africa, who do not often see wickets as worn as the ones they played on here, or a team like India, who do not play on pitches with the pace and bounce of Johannesburg, learn to deal with them at the highest level? The answer may lie in what the quartet at the college academy were doing: start young.South Africa already hold an annual spinners’ camp in India, where they send promising bowlers and batsmen from the franchise and provincial set-up, but maybe they can start even younger than that. Why not send Under-19 players, or even a selection of the best schoolboys? And ten days is too short a time to actually learn something. Why not a whole season?It is not outlandish to suggest foreign players go for an exchange in the Ranji Trophy, just as they do in the county circuit. They already spend time in the Indian domestic circuit during the IPL, but as Amla, pointed out, that does not really help when it comes to Tests. First-class cricket is where future internationals are bred, not the kind of contests that see South Africa A play two unofficial Tests.Just imagine if Stiaan van Zyl or Dane Vilas had spent some time in the Ranji trophy for a few weeks before being given the job of opening the batting on their first senior tour to India. They would certainly have learnt about the extent of the spin they would be confronted with.The pitches in India have been so extreme that even Rahul Dravid criticised the conditions saying they were “no good for the health of Indian cricket.” Even if that is the case – and it might be when it comes to the Indian batsmen’s capabilities of constructing innings over long periods of time – they raised the curtain for the international surfaces India were planning to prepare.The same can apply in reverse. South Africa’s first-class competition is closely contested. In most seasons, there are spirited performances from up and coming seamers and there is a good blend of older statesmen providing stability. A player from the subcontinent would learn a significant amount about bounce there.India could do worse than sending a few of their players there soon. Even though South Africa are only due to host India again in the summer of 2017-18 according to the most recent draft of the FTP, that is not long enough for them to forget what India served them on this trip. South Africa will no doubt plan to get their own advantage back. But proper planning could be the best way to prevent that from happening, and to negate the kind of home advantage that is threatening to blunt competitiveness from cricket.

Stats highlights from the third day in Centurion, when Kagiso Rabada produced his Test-best figures and Joe Root made yet another score between 70 and 89

S Rajesh24-Jan-20167/112 Kagiso Rabada’s figures, his best in Tests, and his second five-for in successive Tests: he had taken 5 for 78 in the first innings in Johannesburg. These are the third-best figures in a Test in Centurion – after Kyle Abbott’s 7 for 29 against Pakistan in 2013, and Mitchell Johnson’s 7 for 68 in 2014 – and the best for South Africa against England since their readmission into international cricket.2 Bowlers who have taken six or more wickets in an innings at least once in Tests and ODIs before turning 21: Rabada and Waqar Younis are the only ones in this exclusive club. Rabada, who is currently 20 years and 244 days old, had also taken 6 for 16 in an ODI against Bangladesh last year. Waqar had three hauls of six of more wickets across the two formats before turning 21. Rabada’s figures are also the third best by any South African bowler under the age of 21, after Hugh Tayfield’s 7 for 23 against Australia in 1950, and Marchant de Lange’s 7 for 81 against Sri Lanka in 2011.110.46 Ben Stokes’ strike rate in the series, the best for any England batsman who has scored at least 200 runs in a series. In all series where complete balls-faced data is available, only three batsmen – Shahid Afridi, Brendon McCullum and David Warner – have done better with the same cut-off for runs scored.Only three England batsmen have been dismissed between 70 and 89 more often in away Tests than Joe Root•Getty Images8 Instances of Joe Root being dismissed between 70 and 89 in overseas Tests, including twice in this series. Among all England batsmen, only three – Alec Stewart, Michael Atherton and Ian Bell – have fallen in this range of scores more often in away Tests. Root has converted only two of his 12 fifty-plus scores into hundreds in away Tests, but at home his conversion rate is much better, with seven centuries in 16 fifty-plus scores.14 Innings since Moeen Ali had last made a 50-plus score in Tests, before his 61 in England’s first innings here: his 59 in the Edgbaston Test against Australia last year was his last such score. In these 14 innings, Moeen had made 232 runs at an average of 19.33, with a highest of 38. Before this lean spell with the bat, Moeen had five 50-plus scores in 22 innings.99 The partnership between Alastair Cook and Root; it is the second time the pair has fallen one short of a century stand, making them one of only two pairs to have two 99-run partnerships in Test history. The only other pair to achieve this distinction is Sri Lanka’s Aravinda de Silva and Hashan Tillakaratne.1.89 Abbott’s economy rate in England’s first innings: he conceded only 36 runs from 19 overs. With a 15-over cut-off, there are only seven instances – four of them by South Africans – of better economy rates in a Test innings in Centurion.

Plays of the day from the third T20I between New Zealand and Pakistan in Wellington

Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Jan-2016Guptill hits the roofIn the World Cup quarter-final at the same ground last year, Martin Guptill had clanged the stadium roof with one of the 11 sixes he hit in his 237. On the eve of this match, Guptill remarked to Ross Taylor that no one had done this twice. It didn’t take him long to pull off this feat. Last ball of the first over, he went down on one knee to Anwar Ali and launched him high over midwicket, not even looking at the ball as it clattered into its target. By then, he had already hit two fours, and become the second player to reach the double of 150 fours and 50 sixes in T20Is.The no-look catchGuptill was hitting the ball to all parts, and Umar Akmal, fielding in the deep, had overrun the ball on one occasion when he slog-swept Imad Wasim to cow corner. Now, in the sixth over of New Zealand’s innings, Guptill miscued a similar shot off Shahid Afridi. The ball hung high over the midwicket region as Akmal ran in from long-on. His catching technique looked questionable, with his hands cupped over his shoulder and his eyes not on the ball as the ball dropped down, but he managed to hold on comfortably enough.The seated throwFive balls after Guptill’s dismissal, Kane Williamson flicked a full-toss, and Colin Munro set off from the non-striker’s end even though the ball had gone straight to Mohammad Rizwan at midwicket. Munro had not gone too far out of his crease, so Rizwan, crouching to pick up the ball, needed to react quickly. This he did, letting loose a flat, powerful throw while still on his haunches. It was a pinpoint accurate throw too, and it needed to be – he only had one stump to aim at, and the bowler was nowhere near the stumps.Rizwan returns the favourBatting at No. 3, Rizwan looked a bundle of nerves. He chopped the second ball he faced straight to Mitchell Santner at backward point, and set off for a single. Santner’s throw missed the stumps, and Rizwan, turning around quickly, would probably have made his ground anyway. But the nerves had not gone anywhere. In the next over, Corey Anderson got one to bend into him and strike his front pad. Even as the umpire turned down the lbw appeal, with the ball reckoned to be pitching outside leg stump, Rizwan ran out of his crease as the ball ricocheted into the off side. This time, he had run too far out of his crease to be able to turn and make his ground, and Santner, swooping over the ball once again, declined to throw, deciding instead to sprint to the stumps and flick the bails off.

Our Twitter round-up this week is hopped up on caffeine, fried chicken and other substances

Alex Bowden13-May-2016

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Attention?Some people have gone a long way on sugar anyway. Jake Ball knows how to celebrate being called into an England squad for the first time.

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That’s living.Or is this living?

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No, wait. This next one is the height of decadence. This is living.

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Whereas we could call this one “still living”.

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James Taylor (also still living) remains upbeat.

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Taylor’s former team-mate Graeme Swann provides an example as to how one can lead a productive retirement.

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And another ex-England player who’s perhaps coping less well.

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But then again, Kieswetter does appear to have found love.

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Kevin Pietersen’s position on coffee is as follows.

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No one comes to mind.KP’s other great obsession is how English cricket needs a franchise tournament like the IPL. Does he ever stop going on about it? Of course he does.

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Last time around, yet another coffee-related incident saw Kevin Pietersen become “Cabin” Pietersen. Apparently he’s not the only one to have enjoyed a name change in recent weeks.

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Somewhere in the world there is always a cricketer moaning about air travel.

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And as we know, you can also count on an in-flight selfie – always with sunglasses.

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Finally, you don’t hear of a cricketer going to Nando’s for months and then suddenly a whole load of them pile in at once.

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And again.

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If Adam Zampa were a superhero, he would be called The Wicket Gobbler

Arun Venugopal in Visakhapatnam18-May-2016If Adam Zampa were a superhero, he would be called The Wicket Gobbler. He is something of an anomaly in Rising Pune Supergiants’ campaign. That they have won as many games in IPL 2016 as the number of players they have lost to injury is the tragicomic nugget that describes their season.But Zampa’s numbers are processed in a distant universe to that of Supergiants. His 11 wickets have come from merely four games at an average of 7.54 and an economy rate of 6.38. Among those who have played at least four games for Supergiants, the next best average belongs to Ashok Dinda, who is the only one in the 20s at 21.50.Ironically, Zampa wasn’t a first-choice selection until about 10 days ago, when he emerged as the least scarred of the bowlers mauled by Virat Kohli. As a reward he got another gig where he turned up, prised out six wickets, and even breezed his way through a press conference. Easy-peasy it wasn’t though. Zampa bowled at the death, sucker-punching three batsmen in the last over.Against Delhi Daredevils on Tuesday night, Zampa, who MS Dhoni said brought stability to Supergiants’ bowling, was assigned a less strenuous role when he was introduced in the 10th over. Daredevils were 42 for 2, and Karun Nair and Sanju Samson were on restoration duty after yet another lukewarm Powerplay – Delhi have scored fewer than 30 in the first six overs on three occasions now.The first two balls were generously tossed up and Nair comfortably drilled them through cover for a brace of twos. Zampa went flatter for the next three deliveries, one of which was a googly. Despite Zampa’s barnstorming show the other night, Dhoni would have gladly settled for the legspinner playing the containing role, as Daredevils were already playing catch-up. Besides, the bowling unit, led by Ashok Dinda, was already hustling the opponents from one end. This was expected to be one of those quiet, consolidation-oriented middle phases.Samson, on 10 from 12 balls, saw an opportunity to impose himself based on the evidence of the last three balls, and probably fancied another perfunctory flatter delivery. He jumped out of the crease but Zampa held it back slightly with ample side spin on the ball, and Samson was stumped yards out of his crease.Zampa then switched ends to bowl the 13th over and by then had his Wicket Gobbler suit on. He sandwiched two tossed up legbreaks with a googly to Nair and Rishabh Pant, and followed them up with a shorter, flatter delivery. Despite the limited weapons at his disposal, Zampa was creating a clever pattern.The fifth ball was a shorter googly and Pant connected with the pull for two runs. The next delivery was also a googly, but fuller on off stump. Pant, possibly playing for the leg break, attempted a hefty swing over mid-wicket, but the ball descended into Thisara Perera’s hands at long-off.In his next over, Zampa continued with the same assortment of flighted leg-breaks interspersed with flatter ones and googlies, and got his mandatory wicket after Nair missed a sweep. But Zampa’s best three deliveries were probably the ones which didn’t fetch him a wicket.In the 17th over, he first bowled a quicker delivery to cramp Chris Morris’ hitting range before serving up a loopy leg-break on leg stump that Morris missed. The last delivery was flat and short outside off and Morris’ cut had a deep point for protection.By the time Zampa was through with his spell, Daredevils had stumbled through the middle overs to 81 for 5. On the eve of the match, coach Stephen Fleming sat down with Dhoni and animatedly discussed the notes he was carrying with him. If it was a list of hits and misses of the season then Zampa would surely figure high up in the first category.

If England win or draw the final Test against Pakistan at The Oval it will mean they hold all nine bilateral series. ESPNcricinfo recaps how they secured, or retained, the other eight

Andrew McGlashan09-Aug-2016Australia: 3-2, 2015England regained the Ashes last year with convincing victories at Cardiff, Edgbaston and Trent Bridge. The series-clinching victory came in astonishing style as Stuart Broad’s 8 for 15 demolished Australia for 60 inside the first session on his home ground in Nottingham. Australia secured two equally overwhelming wins in London, but as in 2009 and 2013 lost too many key moments over the five matches.Bangladesh: 2-0, 2010It remains uncertain whether England will face Bangladesh for the first time in six years later this year due to security concerns. Their last meeting was in England with the home side comfortable winners once they found their stride, but Tamim Iqbal lit up the two matches with back-to-back hundreds at Lord’s and Old Trafford. Steven Finn was England’s Player of the Series.India: 3-1, 2014Like this current series, England went behind with a defeat at Lord’s, beaten at their own game on a seaming wicket. It left Alastair Cook on the brink of quitting – his form had also deserted him – but at the Ageas Bowl there was a rally both individually, as Cook made 95, and collectively as Moeen Ali helped secure an impressive all-round win. After that, England trampled all over India’s batting on two favourable pitches at Old Trafford and The Oval.New Zealand: 1-1, 2015England haven’t lost a series to New Zealand since 1999, but haven’t always dominated. Their victory at Lord’s was outstanding – overcoming an even bigger deficit than they did against Pakistan at Edgbaston – inspired by Ben Stokes’ blistering hundred and a captain’s innings from Cook before England bowled out New Zealand out on a gripping final day. Headingley, not for the first time, did not go well, however, as New Zealand – in the style of their captain, Brendon McCullum – threw caution to wind with the bat then spun to victory on the final day.South Africa: 2-1, 2015-16A significant overseas triumph, sealed, like the Ashes, by a Stuart Broad special. He tore through South Africa on the third afternoon in Johannesburg with 6 for 17 to set up a seven-wicket win. England had opened with an outstanding victory in Durban, followed by Stokes’ record-breaking 258 in a high-scoring Cape Town draw. Kagiso Rabada’s 11 wickets won the dead-rubber, saving face but not the series.Sri Lanka: 2-0, 2016Earlier this season, England did an efficient job on a callow Sri Lanka team overawed by the conditions. James Anderson bagged ten at Headingley then Moeen Ali’s career-best 155 rescued an iffy batting display in Chester-le-Street. After being on the verge of embarrassment in the second Test, Sri Lanka found their fight with Dinesh Chandimal’s hundred but they were too far behind for it to make a difference.James Anderson made his debut the last time England faced Zimbabwe•Getty ImagesWest Indies: 1-1, 2015An unconvincing way to keep hold of the Wisden Trophy. England could not bowl West Indies out in 130 overs in Antigua as Jason Holder made an unbeaten hundred, but Anderson did inspire an impressive final-day victory push on a flat pitch in Grenada to ensure England could not lose the series. However, in Barbados, they capitulated – much to the delight of West Indies who had been labelled ‘mediocre’ by the incoming ECB chairman Colin Graves – as they fell to a five-wicket defeat. It would prove to be Peter Moores’ final Test as head coach.Zimbabwe: 2-0, 2003Due to political reasons, Zimbabwe have not been the opposition since a two-match series 13 years ago. They were overwhelmed by an innings in both Tests. Anderson bagged five wickets on his debut at Lord’s, before the more unlikely swing bowlers of Mark Butcher and Anthony McGrath shared seven in the second innings. At Chester-le-Street, Richard Johnson marked his debut with 6 for 33 – five of his wickets being lbw including two in his first over.

The absence of Ben Stokes and James Anderson gives Pakistan an early opportunity but England have batting depth which could prove crucial

George Dobell13-Jul-20163:12

Pakistan ready to sit their English test

It may lack the history – and hype – of the Ashes or the revenue potential of a tour by India, but rarely has a Test series promised as much as this encounter between England and Pakistan.These are two fine if slightly flawed sides who could, by year’s end, be rated No. 1 in the Test rankings. And, as well as arguably the two best swing bowlers in the world, this series will also feature (again, arguably) the world’s best spinner, one of the world’s most exciting allrounders and the two highest run-scorers in the history of either Test team. Evenly matched teams who play, on the whole, attractive cricket and will be watched by good-sized crowds with over 100,000 tickets sold for the first four days of the series. It really could be a classic.If England win, they will hold the trophies in every bilateral series against other Test nations. While not a unique achievement, it would be an impressive one and reflects well upon a side that may well still be a year or two away from its peak. It is, after all, barely 18 months since the disappointing tour of the Caribbean and only just over two years since they were defeated at home by Sri Lanka. These remain relatively early days in the England recovery.Pakistan, by contrast, are reaping the rewards for sticking with many of the same players for half-a-dozen years and appear to have an excellent opportunity to secure a rare away victory. It is not just that they have prepared more thoroughly than at any time in recent history, with training camps stretching six weeks ahead of the first game of the tour, or that they are boosted by the return of a left-arm bowler of rare skill. It is that they will play England on the least typically English surfaces – Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval – that may negate some of England’s seam threat and bring into play the one area where Pakistan are indisputably stronger: spin bowling. Home advantage, while not surrendered, has not been exploited as it was against Australia.In this first Test especially, where they are without Ben Stokes and James Anderson, England look just a little vulnerable. On a Lord’s surface that rarely favours England’s traditional skills – it may well turn out to be the last Test wicket prepared by Lord’s groundsman Mick Hunt, who is contemplating retirement after spending his entire career at the ground – Pakistan’s batsman have an opportunity to build the type of total that their legspinner, Yasir Shah, can exploit. Jake Ball is a fine, skilful bowler with an exciting future. But he has only been a first-choice player in Nottinghamshire’s Championship side for a few months and clearly cannot hope to replicate the experience of Anderson.England do have some significant advantages, though. Once Stokes returns, they have a lower-middle-order that can dig them out of trouble – with Moeen Ali back to No. 8 and Chris Woakes at No. 9 – compared to the likes of Mohammad Amir (who has a Test batting average of 12.63) and Yasir Shah (who has a Test batting of 10.46). The partnerships between Moeen and Stuart Broad were crucial in helping England win the 2015 Ashes; they could prove just as crucial this summer.England also have more depth with the ball. Pakistan are, at present, committed to a four-man attack. On the flat pitches anticipated, that leaves their three seamers and one spinner with a heavy workload in a four-Test series that features two sets of back-to-back Tests. Yes, England went to No. 1 in the world with their four-man attack. But it took a heavy toll on some of the participants.Gary Ballance has been brought back to add some stability to England’s batting order•Getty ImagesEqually, for all the worries about England’s middle-order – and Gary Ballance’s Test average of 47 might assuage some of them – the Pakistan opening pair look every bit as fragile. And, for all the experience and skill of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, their combined age is now 80. They will not want to be exposed too early to the new ball. Pakistan’s fitness and fielding, while improved and improving, is still not the standard they would like. In a tight series, such factors could be crucial.It is no secret that previous series between these sides – at least, previous series played in England – have been bedevilled by controversy and ill-feeling. So awful was the relationship between the teams after the Tests of 2010, that England’s players held a vote over whether they wanted to complete the limited-over series. In previous years, we had seen arguments over ball tampering, reverse swing, allegations of umpiring bias and match-fixing. There were, no doubt, faults on both sides with the 2010 spot-fixers bringing shame on their sport and England’s concerns over reverse swing evaporating once they themselves learned how to do it.But those days are gone. Misbah inherited a fearful mess when he was appointed captain, but he has built a strong team in desperately testing circumstances and ensured corruption has been eradicated. Few figures in modern cricket history – not even Brendon McCullum – have done so much to shape the spirit with which their side play. Few figures in modern cricket history warrant as much respect.Meanwhile, an England side that regularly includes two Muslim players – most notably Moeen who has embraced the position of role-model and bridge builder – has become a little more respectful, a little more mature and a little more worldly in their outlook. The relationship between the sides is vastly improved.There is no reason the relationship between the supporters should not be equally harmonious. While the Barmy Army trumpeter, Billy Cooper, has been researching prison-themed songs to play when Amir is in action, the organisation hope such gestures are taken in good humour and staged a match against the National Asian Cricket Council on Wednesday evening with a view towards recruiting more Asian members.While the term ‘Barmy Army’ is often applied loosely to cover most England supporters, the actual Barmy Army have distanced themselves from the booing of Ricky Ponting in previous years and the chants aimed at Mitchell Johnson. “We’re not about booing great players,” their founder, Paul Burnham, told ESPNcricinfo. “We want England to win but we want to see good cricket and we respect our opponents.” Burnham insists – pretty much without smiling – that the original rhyme was “his bowling’s not right”.There is a wider context, too. Recent weeks have suggested that the roots of multiculturalism in England and Wales are not as deep as many of us believed. It would be naïve to ignore the rise in hate-crime – some of it Islamaphobic – and not be on our guard against it at these games. It would be sickening if legitimate reservations over the return of Amir were exploited by those with agendas against the beliefs of the team or, more pertinently, its supporters. And it would be sickening if it occurred and the authorities took the same ‘look the other way’ approach they have sometimes adopted in the past.But we have seen, be it in Afghanistan, Ireland, Rwanda or England’s inner-cities, cricket’s ability to unite. This Test series is an opportunity to witness not just top-class cricket but to remind ourselves that England at its best, is a tolerant, multi-cultural nation that celebrates its sporting successes while respecting its opponents. On and off the pitch, the next few weeks have the potential to restore spirits.

Three years on from his sacking as Australia’s coach, Mickey Arthur believes the same adherence to discipline will help Pakistan achieve redemption in England

Andrew Miller27-Jun-2016The main event of the English summer is drawing ever closer, and what a feisty first act it promises to serve up: the return of Pakistan and Mohammad Amir to Lord’s, the scene of the crime on the 2010 tour and, now, an opportunity for redemption six years later.But, before the storm, the calm. For Pakistan’s cricketers, lest it has gone unnoticed, have already been in England for more than a week – holed up at the Ageas Bowl on the outskirts of Southampton, honing their techniques on the practice square behind the East Stand, and sitting tight in the newly completed Hilton hotel at the northern end of the ground, awaiting their call to centre stage.It’s a scenario that could hardly feel more of a rarity in this day and age. England’s exhaustively planned Ashes campaign in 2010-11 involved a similarly lengthy acclimatisation period – and how Andrew Strauss’s men reaped the rewards as that series progressed. But by and large, Test tours in the Twenty20 era are suck-it-and-see affairs, as visiting teams get parachuted into alien conditions, rush through the motions with a handful of low-key warm-ups, and, as often than not, come unstuck as a consequence.The fact that Pakistan are laying such diligent foundations for this tour is, of course, as much to do with PR as practice. The PCB’s desperation to atone for the team’s disgrace in 2010 means that it is leaving nothing to chance, or indeed, suspicion – the last thing they want is for an under-prepared team to come unstuck in the same manner that Sri Lanka’s batsmen did at Headingley and Chester-le-Street earlier this summer.To that end, the Ageas Bowl’s legendary remoteness is ideal. A self-contained bubble of a venue, not dissimilar in its self-sufficiency to a motorway service station, it is – as Scyld Berry noted in the Sunday Telegraph last week – “far from the bright lights and distractions of uncles and cousins dropping in for selfies, and less savoury hangers-on”.It is also a venue that has witnessed the first stirrings of a fascinating social experiment – one that seeks to apply such notions as conformity and best practice to a nation whose on-field representatives are rarely advocates of unnecessary discipline.And yet, in uniting the languid leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq with the clipped and urgent managerial processes favoured by Mickey Arthur, Pakistan have set an improbably high bar for themselves on this tour. And who knows, given everything that’s at stake – all the scrutiny and payback and desire to prove people wrong – it might yet be a partnership that serves the ultimate purpose.”This team did really well after 2010,” Arthur said, “but now it’s time, while we are here where it happened, to prove by playing good cricket and with good conduct off the field, that we can be a force at international level. It’s a good opportunity for us to perform here, not only on the field but off the field also.”Arthur, of course, has his own reasons for seeking redemption on this trip. It was three years ago this week, at the identical stage of his team’s preparations ahead of the 2013 Ashes, that Arthur was dropkicked from his role as Australia’s coach to be replaced by Darren Lehmann.The reports of that saga, he protested now, were “totally way off the pace of what happened” but the surface-level evidence seemed plain enough to the layman. Australia’s senior players baulked at what they perceived as a nitpicking attitude to team discipline – culminating, of course, in the infamous suspension of four players for failing to complete their “homework” during a 4-0 series loss in India.Reports, therefore, of Yasir Shah – only recently restored to the Test squad after serving a three-month ban for a doping violation – rocking up to a training camp in Lahore and protesting “I’m only two days late” are perhaps a harbinger of challenges to come. But for the time being, Arthur is sticking to the methods that he has honed throughout his career and which, let’s not forget, have triumphed in England before, on South Africa’s Test tour in 2008.”I am sick and tired of talking about homework-gate, but in terms of running teams there are ways of doing it,” he said. “You go back and analyse and think about it, and I’ve obviously learnt a hell of a lot from that experience, but I haven’t changed my style because I don’t think you can compromise on what you think is the right way to work.”It will help Arthur’s cause, no doubt, to have been united with a leader of Misbah’s stature and groundedness – the manner in which Pakistan’s captain commands respect is reminiscent of the heyday of Arthur’s partnership with Graeme Smith – and the signs are so far encouraging that the new partnership is gelling well.”Mickey will work more on discipline in our training sessions and fitness,” Misbah said. “That is the key if you want to perform consistently. When it comes to stability on the ground, it’s my job to look after the players and the team. These are the two key factors in our performance. If you want to perform consistently, without discipline and stability it is impossible.””What we do is just give structure,” Arthur added of his coaching team, which includes the former Zimbabwe batsman Grant Flower and Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan spinner who was until recently an insider in England’s dressing room. “We try to make sure every guy is totally aware of his role, and contrary to what’s been written, I’m very personable in terms of working with the players.”We want to cultivate a culture of greatness, we want everything to be done at best practice, and at the highest level,” he added. “And that, for me as a coach, is the non-negotiable. When you are coaching internationally, you have to do the best things more often. You have to have an environment which is one of excellence. An environment that’s mediocre means mediocre results. We push the players to make sure they are in the best possible space to execute their skills, which are outstanding.”Mickey Arthur will try to get the best out of Pakistan’s talented squad•AFPDespite the windy language (some of which, you suspect, might get lost in translation into Urdu) Arthur is not wrong on that final point, and in Amir and Yasir – a matchwinning legspinner fit to inherit the mantle passed down from Abdul Qadir to Mushtaq and Danish Kaneria before him – he has at his disposal two of the most skilful executors that he has ever been able to work with in an international squad”The skill levels the Pakistan team have are unbelievable,” Arthur said. “But, having coached against Pakistan, and watched Pakistan for ages, good has been unbelievable and bad has been very poor. For me I’m trying to make sure the good and bad get a lot closer together, so that we get more consistency.”Other teams have fitness levels, structures and self-disciplines in knowing their own game, so I’m trying to get patience into the skills. Mohammad Amir, and Sohail Khan, they like to bowl outswinger, outswinger, inswinger – so I just want them to hold those lines a little bit longer. The patience isn’t what other teams are, but skill levels are higher.”Where Amir is concerned, Arthur knows that his role could extend into the pastoral as he seeks to restore his reputation as one of the most thrilling young Test cricketers of his generation.”He’s been outstanding,” Arthur said. “His training has been excellent, he’s fitted back into the team exceptionally well, his team-mates have worked brilliantly with him, and as I said, it’s up to me and the coaching staff to make him the best he can possibly be in these conditions. We all understand he’s going to be under the microscope and he realises that too. And the way he’s trying to handle that is to let his performances do the talking.”The challenge of winning a Test series in English conditions is among the toughest assignments in the world game – Pakistan have not achieved the feat since the heyday of Wasim and Waqar in 1992 and 1996. And notwithstanding the intensity of their preparations and the talent at their disposal, Arthur knows that backing up their 2-0 series win in the UAE last winter will require a special performance.”I really do think if we play our best cricket we are as good as anyone in the world,” he said. “We’ve discussed it as a team, it’s like playing at the South Pole versus the North Pole, just as England struggle coming to the UAE so Asian teams have struggled coming to places like England, South Africa and Australia. But the preparation has been outstanding, technically I’ve been really happy and the guys have responded.”We make no bones about the fact that we want to be the Manchester United, or should I say the Arsenal, of world cricket. We believe that every player in our squad, from 1 to 16, believes they can create a bit of history.”

Transformation guidelines, the weakening rand and a domestic structure that offers limited opportunities have forced players and coaches to look for greener pastures abroad

Firdose Moonda07-Jul-2016On Wednesday, Rob Walter became the third South African cricket official in a month to leave for New Zealand, accepting a two-year coaching deal with Otago. Walter was the most successful coach on South Africa’s franchise circuit, having won three trophies in four seasons with the Titans, and was set to take the A side to Australia, which should have put him in line for the national job. Walter, though, did not believe it did, telling ESPNcricinfo he could not see himself coaching South Africa in the “short-term,” and was looking to further his experience.It’s only the latest sign that South African cricket is staring at an exodus of its top talent. A weakening rand, a domestic structure that offers too small a pool for its talent, and the decision to push through transformation is squeezing opportunity, especially for those at lower levels. Employees in coaching, management and administration are heading abroad in search of wealthier pastures.A range of former players and senior officials in the system confirmed to ESPNcricinfo – asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject – that they are also aware of several players considering options abroad. At least four currently contracted internationals are among those named by sources. Consider that the South African Rugby Annual listed 280 players plying their trade abroad at the end of 2015 and South African cricket may not feel too badly, but a significant flight of players will affect the domestic game.”I’d say 80% of the reason players leave is money,” one former player said. “In South Africa we just don’t have the amounts to pay our players what they can get overseas. And when they are at a level that is not international, there is a lot less stress. Some players just decide they don’t need that high-pressure anymore.”Those pressures include anxiety over whether they will continue to be selected, as South Africa target aggressive transformation. An example is fast bowler Morne Morkel, who ESPNcricinfo has learned was ready to retire from limited-overs cricket after being left out of the 2016 World T20 squad. He was close to signing a deal with English county Glamorgan but was convinced to stay on and taken to the Caribbean for the triangular series, in which he played only two out of six games. Morkel also helped broker a deal at the county for Dale Steyn, who South Africa’s selectors said would be rested for the West Indies tour but then gave him an NOC to play in the NatWest t20 Blast.Both Morkel and Steyn are understood to be interested in playing Cricket Australia’s Big Bash League, which will coincide with South Africa’s home series against Sri Lanka at the end of the year. AB de Villiers has already turned down a BBL offer, but another former national player will not be surprised if the pace pair does not.”I don’t blame Morne Morkel for thinking that way. He has been messed around. It is very strange how the senior seamers have been treated. I don’t think they have been managed well,” the player said. “The same thing with Dale Steyn. No-one had the gumption to say that he has had a tough 18 months in white-ball cricket so he is being dropped for the West Indies series and is going to England to find form; instead they said they are resting him. It’s no secret Dale is not the happiest camper out there at the moment.”Morkel and Steyn are not alone. Several younger franchise players are looking at the UK as a destination to further their careers and the player said he would encourage them to go, citing the several variables in South African cricket and the lack of opportunity as reasons. England’s first-class competition comprises 18 counties; South Africa’s has only six franchise teams.South Africa’s system was modeled on Australia’s domestic structure to ensure strong competition, but it is being seen as too small to provide opportunities for everyone who deserves one. There has been talk of expanding to an eight-team structure to ensure more players can participate, to give selectors more options, and to create more jobs for coaches.That may mean the likes of Lance Klusener, whose contract was not renewed by Dolphins, Makhaya Ntini, who is coaching in Zimbabwe, and Walter stay in the system. “Rob wants to coach an international team and sitting at the Titans for another three years might not get him there,” a source close to Walter said. “He knows that Geoffrey Toyana is probably the next national coach and deservedly so, so moving might give Rob the opportunity to coach much sooner.”Toyana is on the verge of signing a three-year extension with the Lions but several sources revealed he may be elevated to the South African job sooner than expected as pressure mounts on the incumbent Russell Domingo. The source was of the opinion, however, that South Africa needed a foreign coach – “someone who can shake things up and challenge the guys” – to help fulfill the potential of a group that has tended to underachieve on the global stage, but said an outsider would not be able to handle the politics in South African cricket.So the focus returns to South Africa’s transformation policy, which is seen as a cause of what is being termed “white flight”. One former player believes it is not so much the policy but the lack of clarity surrounding its implementation that is causing player unhappiness.”If you are good enough, you will play for South Africa no matter what colour your skin and we know that,” the player, who is white, said. “But CSA need to be open and honest about transformation and then you will have fewer players leaving. The players just want to know: these are the rules and this is what we have to do. That’s all. They keep saying there is no quota, there are only targets, and that is a lie.”At the same time we have to stop saying every time someone of colour gets a position that they are only there because of their colour. We have very deserving people.”Not everyone believes the exodus of personnel is a reason to panic, though, and some see it as an effect of the globalisation of sport. “If an engineer leaves to work in Dubai we read less into it than when a sportsperson leaves,” a senior administrator said. “We need to be careful of reading too much into it. The bottom line is that the rand has slipped and guys can make money elsewhere.”

A difficult week was made worse by how the players involved in the match in which Phillip Hughes was struck had their tactics and “nature of play” questioned

Daniel Brettig15-Oct-2016″Nature of play” sounds like a pretty harmless phrase. But for all those involved in the inquest into the death of Phillip Hughes it has taken on a sinister quality none will ever forget.It was these words that caused the New South Wales coronial inquest to veer into truly awful territory at Sydney’s Downing Centre court complex this week, pitting cricketers against one another and causing the Hughes family to bitterly decry the conclusion of a process that had started out with faint traces of optimism.Before the inquest began on Monday, the family’s representative, James Henderson, stated that they hoped “perhaps there will be a positive that comes out of Phillip’s death”. That may be, but this week has not felt like it.When the inquest began with an opening statement by the New South Wales coroner, Michael Barnes QC, he stated that proceedings were not about “apportioning blame”. That may have been the intention, but this week has not felt like it.Mainly because of those three words, “nature of play”. Cricket Australia’s own investigation of Hughes’ death, conducted by David Curtain QC, had carefully outlined terms of reference that did not include issues surrounding the laws of the game nor how it was played on the day Hughes was hit. It had been generally understood that this was the most tragic of accidents, in a game where the hardness of the cricket ball will always necessitate some risk.Sean Abbott, the unfortunate man to bowl the ball that struck Hughes, had concluded exactly that in his statement to the inquest: “I know there is a suggestion that the laws of the game be changed so that bouncers should not be bowled, but the same cricket ball will be hit and flying around whether bouncers are bowled or not. There will always be risks in the game.”Yet the inclusion of reference to the nature of play in the brief outlined by the coroner opened up what has been repeatedly called a Pandora’s Box. Inquests, of course, are devised to determine what remedies may be applied to prevent similar deaths in future, and the coroner is obliged to investigate thoroughly and fully. This most high-profile of inquests was set on the path it took this week from the moment the family questioned how the game had been played, creating – in the words of Greg Hughes – an “unsafe workplace” for his son.The Hughes family’s concerns about the number of bouncers their son faced that day were linked to their apparent disgust at some of the sledging allegedly directed at him, namely the threat of “I’ll kill you” supposedly uttered by Doug Bollinger. All tumbled out at the inquest.What followed was one of the most vexing episodes witnessed in Australian cricket. Convened ostensibly to try to establish how to make the game and its players safer, the inquest instead turned into the most painful and hurtful dredging through the past imaginable. Very little was witnessed in terms of discernible benefits or remedies beyond those already recommended at the start of the week by Kristina Stern SC, counsel assisting the coroner.Instead, players and officials were subjected to cross-examination that at times stretched the bounds of credulity. Crude links were drawn between cricket tactics, verbal exchanges and the freak blow to the side of the neck, from a short ball in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG on November 25, 2014, that resulted in the arterial injury leading to Hughes’ death two days later in St Vincent’s Hospital.So it was that Brad Haddin, captain of New South Wales on the day, had the ethics of his tactics questioned. So it was that Bollinger, exemplar of the angry fast bowler, was asked to justify why he bowled and spoke the way he has always done. So it was that David Warner, who sat at Hughes’ side as medical staff tried frantically to get him breathing, was questioned on sledging. And so it was that Tom Cooper, Hughes’ batting partner that day, housemate, and close friend, was made to feel in some way responsible for not stepping in to prevent the events that unfolded.For Cooper, it was a particularly cruel experience. At the SCG wake that followed Hughes’ death he had spoken to Jason, Hughes’ brother, at a time when all may have been a blur. A few days later, Cooper was a pallbearer at the funeral, in Macksville. Yet a little less than two years later he was being accused of relaying Bollinger’s sledges to Jason Hughes, his evidence pitted against the late submission of another pallbearer, the Mosman club captain Matthew Day.All this seemed at best peripheral to events on the day Hughes was hit, and at worst a sickening re-traumatisation of the players involved. There is a compelling argument to be made that none of the players should have been asked to appear at the inquest at all.Haddin, Bollinger, Warner, Cooper and Abbott had already delivered statements based on interviews with Stern and CA counsel. Once the officiating umpires, Mike Graham-Smith and Ash Barrow, plus the long-time international umpire and ICC training manager Simon Taufel, had all stated to the inquest that they did not consider the nature of play to be outside the laws of the game, the players’ testimony was irrelevant, other than to heighten the visibility and drama of the inquest.The inquest placed a harsh spotlight the “nature of play” on the day Phillip Hughes was struck by a short ball•Getty ImagesOthers were drawn into questions that seemed a long way from relevant. The former New South Wales administrator Donna Anderson found herself being asked about instances of sledging in Sheffield Shield matches, despite never having taken the field as either a player or an umpire. The CA head of sports science, Alex Kountouris, was heavily questioned regarding an internal report he had prepared on the incident.At the same time the media covering the inquest found themselves reliving the same problems that arose in the hours and days after Hughes was hit. Issues of appropriate and sensitive coverage of such cases, that lie at the juncture of sport, police rounds and court proceedings, have tested the limits of reporters, editors, cameramen and photographers. Numerous players are known to have checked out of following all media this week, with good reason.There were some recommendations that can be viewed as constructive pending their inclusion in Barnes’ findings, to be released on November 4. Players and umpires may find themselves being subject to mandatory first-aid training, and clearer communication between participants on the field and medical staff off it may save critical minutes in the moments after any instance of serious injury. And the wording of laws relating to the use of short-pitched bowling is likely to be revisited on Taufel’s recommendation.Yet none of these findings would have been any different had none of the players been asked to speak at the inquest. Nor would they have changed much at all if matters of sledging and team plans had not been probed with considerable thrust by Greg Melick SC, the Hughes family’s legal representative and a former special investigator for CA. Melick represented his clients with zest, left with little choice but to pursue the lines opened by the coroner’s brief.The overwhelming sense around the Hughes inquest this week is that it has been an enormous amount of pain and conflict for very little additional benefit. At its centre has been a grieving family, their suffering no less vivid than it was in the days following the ball that fatefully struck Phillip Hughes on the side of the neck. All that was brought horribly home by the sight of Greg, Virginia and Megan Hughes making abrupt exits on the final day of the inquest, in the midst of a closing submission by CA’s legal counsel, Bruce Hodgkinson.There had been talk, whispered in quiet corners, of a gulf between the Hughes family and the cricket community. Now that talk has been replaced by awful and very public reality, of the sort that leaves any chance of resolution and peace further away than ever. Largely because of three small words.