Victory in the Twenty20, led by Alex Hales, capped a fine start to the season by England who continue to find new matchwinners

George Dobell at Trent Bridge24-Jun-2012It is true that sterner tests await, but the first portion of England’s summer could hardly have gone better. Victorious in Tests, ODIs and their only Twenty20 international, they have once again made decent opposition look deceptively poor. Whatever their issues in Asian conditions, England remain desperately tough to beat in their own backyard.Their Test success was not, perhaps, surprising. West Indies were lacking several senior players and, in these conditions, England were always likely to prove too strong. Still, it is worth remembering how England struggled in the winter. No victory should be taken for granted.But the limited-overs success is particularly impressive. West Indies, blessed with the return of most of their leading payers, looked strong and confident and England were forced to confront a series of unforeseen challenges. The sudden retirement of Kevin Pietersen, for example, could have unsettled both the ODI and the T20I teams.Instead England adapted with admirable aplomb. Indeed, such was the way that Ian Bell embraced opening in ODIs and Alex Hales flourished in this T20I that Pietersen’s departure left barely a ripple. There will, no doubt, be times in the months ahead when he is sorely missed – talents like Pietersen are rare and precious – but it is testament to the strength of the entire England set-up – the county game, the Lions, the England team management, the success of the three-captain experiment et al. – that such a blow can be born so lightly.”It is an inexperienced batting line-up,” Stuart Broad, England’s Twenty20 captain admitted afterwards, “but with inexperience you also get fearlessness. Guys just go out and hit the ball. Chasing 170 is quite daunting, but I don’t think we ever had any negative thoughts in our mind. We just expected to get it; 170, on that wicket, was very gettable, and we had guys left in the changing room who could have won that game.”On paper we would all have looked at their line-up, with Gayle and Smith and Samuels and Bravo and Narine all successful in the IPL, and thought of them as favourites. So to have won in the manner we did was hugely pleasing.”We have guys who are consistently performing on the county circuit and it is good to see them step-up and do it on the international stage as well. It’s great to see young players come into the team and perform. It’s a sign of the team developing that you give guys responsibility and they really grab their opportunities.”There were some areas of concern for England. Jade Dernbach’s last two overs cost 33 runs; Craig Kieswetter has passed 18 only twice in 11 innings and his strike-rate is an underwhelming 113.85; Jos Buttler was unable, through no fault of his own, to provide any further clues of his readiness to prosper at this level. Generally, however, this was an impressive performance with Steven Finn, with the ball, Jonny Bairstow, in the field, and Hales and Ravi Bopara, with the bat, providing the match-winning contributions.Hales needed this innings. Under some pressure for his place from Alastair Cook – Broad admitted that a recall for Cook had been discussed – he has not made a century in Championship, T20 or one-day cricket for Nottinghamshire this season. Here, however, he showed a welcome ability to play on both sides of the wickets – his reputation as a predominantly off-side player looked silly as he pulled and hooked and worked to leg – and, as his innings progressed, some unusually deft touches which hinted at real class. Aged just 23, too, he has time on his side.Ravi Bopara played a mature innings to suggest he is finally settling at the top level•Getty ImagesBut if is Hales who will win the headlines, Bopara was just as impressive. He timed his innings perfectly, played selflessly and looked a player of some composure and maturity. For a man whose temperament has been question in the past, it was another demonstration that he may well be on the cusp of finally fulfilling his talent in all forms of international cricket.It was, perhaps, fitting that the moment of defeat should be secured by a West Indies’ misfield. For all the hints of improvement West Indies have shown during this tour, the fact is they have lost all five international games in which there was meaningful play. On each occasion, they have promised for a while only to let themselves down with a poor passage of play.Darren Sammy, looking exhausted, admitted his side had been out played and offered warm praise to England.”We have just been dominated by the number-one team in the world in all formats of the game,” he said. “On paper we had a really strong team, but you need to go out and string together consistently good performances and that’s what England have done throughout the series and we haven’t.”We have got to be consistently good in all three departments, batting, bowling and fielding. We are doing some good stuff but we are not doing it consistently for long enough. We have to string together performances that will get the team to win.”Nor will Sammy and his team enjoy any respite. They fly out of England on Monday and start another T20 series against New Zealand, in Florida, on Saturday. “We don’t get a break until the August 7,” Sammy said with the air of a man who had circled the date in his diary with some anticipation.Sammy also defended the performance of Sunil Narine, who has been disappointingly innocuous in all formats in England. There was just a suggestion that the mystery of Narine, like Ajantha Mendis before him, had quickly been dispelled.”To be fair to Sunil, the wickets he’s played on haven’t always suited his play,” Sammy said. “The more he plays out there on the international scene, there is more footage, so batsman find ways to score off you. It happened to Mendis: when he first came out he was very difficult to pick but after a while people got used to him. But I know once Sunil gets the type of wickets that really suit him he will be very difficult to play. Swann has not been so effective in this series and he has been playing here throughout his career. It is Sunil’s first away tour, so he will learn from this experience.”Perhaps the most important lesson on this tour from a West Indies perspective was that there will be no quick-fixes to their problems. It will take more than the return of a big-hitting opening batsman or the emergence of a mystery spinner to paper over the cracks of a Caribbean cricket system that is fatally flawed. Sammy has been asked to put out a forest fire with a mug of water. He has an almost impossible task.

With only five specialist batsmen in the line-up, Pakistan are overly dependent on their bowlers to deliver in every game

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Colombo12-Jun-2012Pakistan came in to the ODI series with the recent head-to-head record overwhelmingly in their favour. A big reason for their consistency, not only against Sri Lanka, is their penetrative and balanced bowling attack. The presence of two spin-bowling allrounders has given them the option of playing more specialists, depending on the conditions and opposition.For all their strengths as a unit, Pakistan now find themselves in a predicament similar to Sri Lanka’s after the first ODI at Pallekele. Their bowlers may have conceded 280 against an inconsistent batting line-up, but as the captain Misbah-ul-Haq conceded, the batsmen had to shoulder the blame for a heavy defeat.Both teams have gambled in the two matches so far. In the first game, Sri Lanka invested their senior-most batsmen at the top, but in the process exposed a relatively inexperienced middle order. It prompted a reshuffle and helped them double their score in considerably better batting conditions two days later. For the hosts, it was a matter of identifying the ideal batting positions for their line-up, which has a mixture of youth and experience. Pakistan gambled by playing just five specialist batsmen in both games. It didn’t matter in the first game, where they were chasing 136, but in the second, they were caught short in their big chase of 281.It has put Pakistan in a scenario where they’re made to rethink their composition. Unlike Sri Lanka, it isn’t merely a case of playing around with the batting order. It’s about bringing in the extra specialist, at the cost of a bowler, to give themselves more security.Misbah, however, didn’t drop any hints. “We will have a look at the conditions, see the wicket and decide,” was his straightforward response on the eve of the third ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.The pitch at Pallekele was seamer-friendly for the opening ODI, aided by the recent rain and moisture. It prompted a three-man seam attack, which shut Sri Lanka out of the game before the Pakistan batsmen could pad up. Pakistan retained the composition for the second game – albeit weakened by Mohammad Sami’s absence – but later had to digest the truth that if the bowlers have a forgettable day, the pressure piles up on a batting line-up low on resources.It compounds when the seniors fail. On the one hand, it can be seen an ideal opportunity for someone like Umar Akmal to show he has the temperament to occupy the crease, knock the singles and marshal the middle-and lower-order. It could also boost his chances of a Test recall. After Younis Khan and Misbah failed to make an impact, it left the lower middle order much to do, increasing the responsibilities on Azhar Ali, who worked hard for his 96. He dispelled the tag of being a stodgy Test player by breezing to his fifty, off the same number of balls. If only support was more forthcoming at the other end.Akmal got a poor decision, and it left Shahid Afridi a lot to do. Afridi has shown in the past that he can play responsibly after a top-order collapse, like in Sharjah against the same opposition last year. However, inconsistency has been his biggest enemy, which explains why, by his own admittance, he’s a bowling allrounder.Misbah was honest in his assessment of the team’s failure. “I have always felt that a strong middle-and lower-order is important if we have to win games. From the position we were in, we should have at least scored 250-260 runs. It should have been a closer game.”The bright spot was the ease with which Azhar settled into his new role as opener. “He’s got a fine temperament and technically one of the better batsmen in our side,” Misbah said. “With the two new balls at either end it’s important we have a batsman who has the technique to face the new ball and especially in Sri Lanka where the ball does a bit early on. I think he can be a consistent performer for Pakistan in the opening slot.”The defeat has sent signals to the seniors, including Misbah, to step up. But picking another specialist, like Asad Shafiq, wouldn’t hurt either.

England might be forgiven for considering themselves unfortunate after the first day of the Headingley Test. But great teams do not trust to luck, they shape their own fortunes.

George Dobell02-Aug-2012England might be forgiven for considering themselves unfortunate after the first day of the Headingley Test. They might bemoan the dropped chances, the catch from a dead ball and the lack of assistance they found from the green-tinged surface on which they inserted the opposition. They might curse that fact that Alviro Petersen got off the mark with a four edged past the slip cordon, that the sun came out shortly after South Africa started to bat and that the alignment of Jupiter in the house of Orion made this a tough day for bowling.But great teams do not trust to luck, they shape their own fortunes.So, while it may be tempting to curse their luck, England would be ill-served in the long run by doing so. It is not poor luck to drop catches; it is not poor luck to select an unbalanced side; it is not poor luck to gamble on inserting the opposition and then wasting any assistance that might have been available because some of your bowlers have failed to maintain a good line. And it not poor luck for a leading bowler to go into a Test match with a flaw such as bashing into the stumps that might be considered an accident waiting to happen.Indeed, England might consider themselves fortunate to have ended the first day of this game just about still on level terms. They might consider themselves flattered by the close of play scorecard and fortunate to have taken as many wickets as they did. After all, one (Graeme Smith) came from an innocuous leg stump delivery, one came from a run-out (Hashim Amla) and another came when a bastman (Jacques Kallis) cut to slip. England would be deluding themselves if they hid behind excusesIt all combined to leave the game just about in the balance. But England will know that, for long periods, their bowling was again rendered close to innocuous – they had, taking into account their experience at The Oval, spent three minutes over 10 hours in the field without claiming a wicket when Smith clipped the ball to square leg – and that the problems with their slip catching are now too frequent to be dismissed as an aberration.It was not all negative from an England perspective. James Anderson bowled tidily, Steven Finn added a degree of hostility to the attack and, in the last hour or so, Stuart Broad finally rediscovered some of the intent that had made him such a dangerous bowler over the last year or so. Every one of the attack bowled appreciably better after tea when South Africa added 99 runs in 35 overs for the loss of two wickets.In some ways, though, that just rendered so much of what went before all the more frustrating. Why did it take a second new ball and an increasingly daunting scoreline to summon the best out of Broad? And, while Finn’s pace was an asset, he still conceded close to four-an-over which was the reason he was dropped from the side after the Adelaide Test on the Ashes tour of 2010-11. England, who for so long have made consistency their greatest strength, are suddenly becoming inconsistent.Afterwards Anderson insisted that England were “pretty pleased” with their day, though he confessed to having “no idea” why England’s slip catching had deteriorated.”We created chances all day,” Anderson said. “They played a missed a lot against the new ball and we had a few catches go down. We were pretty pleased with the way we fought all day and the new ball burst by the two big lads could have swung it back our way.”We didn’t really get frustrated. We knew there was a lot more encouragement in this pitch than there was at The Oval. We knew if we stuck at it, the wickets would come. We didn’t really let them get away and we created some pressure.”I really can’t explain the issue with the slip catching. We’ve put a few catches down, but our work ethic with our slip catching is as hard as ever. We work flipping hard at it. We worked on it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. But we’re putting chances down and it’s really frustrating. We’ll be striving very hard not to do it in future.”Anderson appeared to distance himself from the decision to omit Graeme Swann, however, underlining how unusual it was for England to enter a Test without a speiclaist spinner. The last occasion was also at Headingley in 2003.”Obviously the captain and the coach thought the pitch lent itself towards four seamers and didn’t think spin would play a massive part on it,” Anderson said. “I imagine it was a very difficult decision. He – Graeme Swann – has been an integral part of team for a couple of years now. It’s not often you see a team going into a Test without a spinner.”

The match was underwhelming but the atmosphere was anything but

Mohsin Gheewala01-Oct-2012Choice of game
When planning a weekend in Colombo to watch cricket, we chose D1 and D2 matches hoping Pakistan would qualify as D1. What we didn’t realise was that the format was planned in such a way that if Pakistan and India qualified, they would meet in this game irrespective of their positions in their groups. When it hit us that we had tickets for this match, it was like we had died and gone to heaven!Given Pakistan’s track record against India in World Cups and their woeful batting performance against South Africa, we were expecting India to win. But watching India bowl half-trackers against the Aussies gave us hope that Pakistan would make a big score here.Team supported
As a Pakistani, I am supporting Pakistan. My second-choice team are Sri Lanka. I’d like to see Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene win a World Cup before their career ends.Key performer
I wanted to see how India’s part-time bowlers would do against the likes of Umar Akmal, Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal. MS Dhoni had got a lot of flak in the press for playing three spinners against Australia so when he went in with four bowlers here it was a case of how well the bit bowlers would do. In the end, it was Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli’s bowling, along with R Ashwin’s, that restricted Pakistan.One thing I’d have changed about the match
Unfortunately for us, the only obstruction in the stand blocking the view of the field was placed right opposite our seats. However, these were the light poles beaming out colourful flashy lights as the cheerleaders danced in between overs. That made up for us not being able to really watch the bowlers complete their delivery strides.Face-offs I relished
I wanted to watch Kohli bat live against a quality spin attack and wanted to see his bat speed, his placement of the ball, and, especially, his timing. He did not disappoint at all. His footwork and confidence against the Pakistani spinners was a joy to watch and confirmed to me that he will be one of the best (if not the best) batsmen of the next decade.Wow moment
The goose-bump moment for me was when two massive flags of India and Pakistan were brought out by little kids. The national anthems of the two countries were played and the crowds joined in, which reaffirmed my belief that whatever may be happening in one’s country and however much may we criticise the governments and the “systems”, national pride runs deep in all of us. At the end of the day, we are all the same, and that’s an ideal starting point for peaceful living.Shot of the day
Two shots stood out. Umar Akmal smacked Irfan Pathan for a huge six out of nowhere, and then Kohli timed a sweet cover drive to the boundary against a decent length ball from Saeed Ajmal. Fans are lucky to have such talented young batsmen to enjoy for years to come.Crowd meter
The most amazing thing about the match was the build-up. Playing on a neutral ground doesn’t matter when it comes to India-Pakistan matches. The stands were packed and the frenzy was unbelievable. The flags, horns and other noise-making instruments were played at ear-shattering decibels. All that could be seen in the stands were the waving flags and thousands of loud supporters. Superb atmosphere!From the last eight overs of the Australia-South Africa match that preceded this match all the way to the end of this game, the fans were either on their feet or shouting and chanting at the top of their voices. There was the occasional Mexican wave and shouts of “Jeetay ga bhai jeetay ga…” depending on which team’s wicket fell and who got a boundary. Yuvraj, Shahid Afridi, Kohli and Umar Gul got the biggest cheers.Pakistan-India matches are all about colour. It was the Pakistani sea of green versus the Indian tri-colour. Some people were wearing the 1999 World Cup shirts. The drums and painted faces added to the buzz.Entertainment
The DJ was the star of the show. He played a lot of Bollywood music before the match started, which had the crowd dancing and singing along. Then he played some choice Sinhalese hits. At one point I nearly forgot I was at a cricket match and not a music concert. The Indian fans went crazy when “We Will Rock You” was played as the eight Pakistan wicket fell. The Premadasa was a sight to behold as fireworks kept going off from time to time. It was well worth the money to be present here for this event.Neutral venue? Never•Associated PressODI v Twenty20?
Although I consider myself a purist (and probably old) and still find the batting team trying to hold on for a draw by blocking every single delivery fascinating, I do feel that for spectator entertainment and promotion of the game, there is nothing better than a Twenty20. But T20s are producing batsmen with poor techniques and spinners who are boring and interested only in run-saving. Still, whatever fills the coffers, I suppose.Marks out of 10
7. The cricket was pretty disappointing since it was a one-sided game lacking the thrills we usually expect from these two teams. However, the brilliant atmosphere, packed stands, music and entertainment went a long way in making up for the lack of a thrilling match. Credit goes to the organisers for hosting a superb show and handling also some of the over-zealous supporters well. When an Australia-South Africa Super Eights game is seen as an opening act, it shows that as a spectacle there is nothing better than an India-Pakistan match. Well done, Colombo!

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the second day in Mumbai

George Dobell in Mumbai24-Nov-2012Tactic of the day
India’s tactic of opening the bowling with two spinners is remarkably unusual. It is thought to be the first time England have faced an all spin opening attack since the 1967 Trent Bridge Test against Pakistan. On that occasion, requiring only three for victory in the fourth innings, England were confronted by Mushtaq Mohammad and Saeed Ahmed. England also opened with two spinners after South Africa were obliged to follow-on at Lord’s in 2008. With bad light threatening, England utilised Monty Panesar and Kevin Pietersen instead of their seamers. Both of those occasions were in the opposition’s second innings, though, and it is thought that this game marks the first occurrence of two spinners opening the bowling with spin bowling (there were occasions when spinners bowled a couple of overs of seam) in their opposition’s first innings since 1910.Milestone of the day
The wicket of Harbhajan Singh leg before gave Graeme Swann his 200th Test wicket. By doing so in his 48th Test, he became the fourth quickest England bowler to reach the landmark after Ian Botham (41 Tests), Alec Bedser (44 Tests) and Fred Trueman (47 Tests). Later Swann claimed two more wickets to draw level with John Snow on 202 victims; only 12 England bowlers have claimed more.Reprieve of the day
A recurring theme of England’s recent cricket has been the number of chances they have missed in the field. While the one offered by Harbhajan, edging a delivery from Monty Panesar when he had scored 1, was far from easy, it was the sort of half chance that the best sides take and England, of late, rarely have taken. On this occasion the ball flew between the wicketkeeper Matt Prior and Jonathan Trott, at first slip, with neither man laying a hand on the delivery. While Trott’s view would have been impaired by Prior, England may also want to reflect on the positioning of their slip fielders. For the second day in succession, they paid the penalty for leaving too large a space between them. Whether it is a reflection of their desire to cover as much space as possible or simply a teething problem as new individuals feel their way into the role remains to be seen.Shock of the day
It cost them 382 runs, took them 790 balls and 1,016 minutes (that is four minutes short of 17 hours) but England finally dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara. Such has been his assurance in this series that there have been times when Pujara has looked impenetrably solid but, left with only the tail to accompany him, he selflessly opted to attack. Skipping down the wicket to a Swann delivery that was pushed slightly wide and barely spun, Pujara was slightly deceived in the flight and ran past the ball. It was the first time he had been stumped in his 70 match first-class career.Blow of the day
England may have struggled to get rid of Pujara when he batted, but Alastair Cook may have inflicted a more telling blow on him when he was fielding. It was Pujara’s misfortune to be at short-leg when Cook middled a sweep off the bowling of R Ashwin only to see the ball thump into Pujara’s rib cage. He was helped form the field in obvious discomfort and did not reappear for the remainder of the day. His replacement, Ajinkya Rahane, later also sustained a crushing blow in the same position as he felt the full force of a Kevin Pietersen sweep.Error of the day
Aleem Dar has a well-earned reputation for excellence as an umpire but, proving that even the best are fallible, he is enduring a disappointing series. Here he adjudged Zaheer Khan caught at short leg when replays suggested he had missed the ball by a relatively large distance. While it was probably not a decision that will turn a game, it was a reminder of the benefits of the DRS and an example of the type of ‘howler’ that it is designed to eliminate.

The first session of Test cricket in 2013 produced 48 runs and 11 wickets as New Zealand were bundled out for 45 in 19.2 overs. Here are some of the stats highlights from the collapse

S Rajesh02-Jan-2013

• New Zealand’s 45 all out is their third-lowest in their Test history, and the joint 12th-lowest by any team. It’s the lowest Test total since India’s 42 all out at Lord’s in 1974. It is also the lowest ever against South Africa.
• New Zealand’s dismal batting performance lasted 19.2 overs – that is the shortest completed Test innings for New Zealand ever. It came after their captain, Brendon McCullum, had won the toss and chosen to bat. Only once has a team lasted fewer than 116 deliveries in the first innings of a Test after winning the toss and batting: Australia were bundled out in 22.3 five-ball overs against England way back in 1896, which makes this the shortest such innings in 116 years. (It’s also the second-lowest number of balls played in a completed first innings of any Test.) In terms of runs scored, this is the third-lowest by a team winning the toss and batting first: South Africa had been bowled out for 36 against Australia in 1936, while New Zealand were all out for 42 against Australia in 1946.
• Vernon Philander finished with figures of 5 for 7* – only three times has a bowler taken a five-for conceding fewer runs. The last of those was by West Indies’ Jermaine Lawson, who took 6 for 3 against Bangladesh in 2002. The last bowler to take five wickets in his first overs at the start of an innings in Tests was also a West Indian: Fidel Edwards took 5 for 26 in his first five overs against Bangladesh, again, in 2011.
• Ten out of New Zealand’s 11 batsmen didn’t touch double-digits. It’s only the 30th time this has happened in Test cricket, and the sixth time since the beginning of 2001. The only other instance when New Zealand suffered this ignominy was against England in 1955, when they were bundled out for 26, which remains the lowest Test total by any team.
• Dale Steyn completed his 300-wicket haul in his 61st Test, making him the joint third-fastest in terms of Tests to achieve the mark, after Dennis Lillee (56) and Muttiah Muralitharan (58). Richard Hadlee and Malcolm Marshall also reached the mark in their 61st Tests.
• Jacques Kallis became the fourth batsman to reach the 13000-run mark in Tests. He is the second-fastest to the landmark in terms of innings (269) after Sachin Tendulkar, who did so in 266 innings. He also became the fifth player to aggregate 1500-plus runs in Tests against New Zealand. Only Javed Miandad has more fifty-plus scores against New Zealand.
• Alviro Petersen’s century is his fifth in Tests and second against New Zealand. Both his centuries in home Tests have come in Cape Town. Petersen shared century stands with Hashim Amla and Kallis for the second and third wickets. It is only the fifth time overall (second time for South Africa) that there have been century stands for both the second and third wickets in an innings against New Zealand.

*16.36GMT, January 2: The piece had incorrectly said Philander took a wicket in each of his first five overs. This has been removed.

Vernon Philander’s rise since his Test debut has been astonishing. His captain, though, feels an extra yard of pace will improve his old-ball spells

Firdose Moonda at Newlands18-Feb-2013There is a certain look of disbelief that passes over a Captonian’s face if they are told something in their city could improve. Who can blame them? The jewel of Africa seems perfectly polished in every way with a sea as azure as the skies above it and plenty to suit all tastes.The same incredulity was felt by those in the presence of Graeme Smith when he mentioned after the Newlands Test he believes Vernon Philander could get better. Philander was not named Man of the Match despite his nine wickets because Robin Peterson’s 84 was the real difference between the two sides but it would have been a tough decision given Philander’s feat.He claimed his ninth five-wicket haul in just his 15th Test. It was also his fourth at Newlands and took his total tally of Test wickets to 87. His wickets per Test sit at 5.8 (his new-ball partner Dale Steyn’s are at 5.1) and his average remains a staggering 16.81, statistically making him the most dangerous bowler on the international circuit. Of all current cricketers, Philander has the lowest average by some distance. Steyn is next with an average of 22.68.If Philander gets any better, batsmen will stand even less of a chance than they do against South Africa now and Smith warned that is possible he will. “Vernon will be the first to admit that he is still a work in progress,” Smith said. “He would like to see his pace up. His skill factor is at a very high level and his seam action is unmatched. He is like the seam version of Saeed Ajmal. But if he can pick up a little bit of pace, his old ball spells will get better. His new ball spells are already so effective and if he can get the old ones to the same level…”When Philander broke onto the scene in 2007 the main concern was that he as too much of a trundler to cut it. He rarely goes beyond 135 kph although he is a major threat despite that. Philander’s danger is in the subtlety. Like Ajmal, batsmen are unsure what the ball is going to do when it comes out of the hand.Philander’s secret is not prodigious swing as he only moves the ball a few centimetres but because he can do it both ways, it creates uncertainty. Most of his wickets result from edges because batsmen are not sure whether to go forward or back to him and they are often found out on the drive.With the new ball, his seam movement is more pronounced as expected and there were some concerns during this series that South Africa lacked the ability to attack with the old ball. Philander proved that wrong with his second-innings burst that was aided by poor shot selection from the Pakistan middle order. Philander showed he can still make the ball talk later in the match.”We knew an old ball spell could win us the Test match”, Smith said. “When we are able to control the run-rate and then frustrate them, we thought if we could make the old ball work for us, we’d be able to get close to dismissing them and having a chaseable target.”Creating something even where conditions don’t suit is what has always been seen as Philander’s challenge. So far, he has been able to succeed at home, in England, New Zealand and Australia but the subcontinent remains his biggest test. South Africa’s next Test series will be played in such conditions in the United Arab Emirates against Pakistan and it’s there that Philander could claim his 100th scalp, unless he manages 13 wickets at Centurion starting Friday.It also means that Philander will probably not become the fastest to 100 Test wickets because George Lohmann holds the record, having achieved it in 16 matches. SuperSport Park will be Philander’s 16th. He is, however, in line to become the fastest South African to the mark.Had injuries not kept him out of three matches he could have played in, Philander may have had his 100 haul already. Those niggles are another source of concern. Three Tests after making his first appearance, Philander picked up a knee problem that ruled him out of the 2011 Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka. Marchant de Lange replaced him and became the year’s most successful debutant with 7 for 81 but has since had stress fractures that kept him out of action for most of the season.In November 2012 in Australia, Philander woke up with back spasms on the morning of the Adelaide Test and Rory Kleinveldt replaced him at the 11th hour. It allowed Kleinveldt, who opens the bowling with Philander for their franchise, the Cobras, to redeem himself from a poor first outing in Brisbane and to show his own skills. Kleinveldt also stood in for Philander in Port Elizabeth against New Zealand in January when a hamstring injury ruled Philander out.Although Philander has recovered from the hamstring problem, it has been described by the team manager Mohammed Moosajee, who is also a medical doctor, as chronic. Philander will not be managed in the same Jacques Kallis is – where his quota of overs in monitored – but his participation domestically is looked at as one way of keeping a handle on the problem. Given Philander’s value to the national team, it is not a problem anyone will complain about too much.

When one thinks of Australian keepers, one tends to think of Queenslanders, New South Welshmen and Western Australians

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013From Alan & Philip Sutherland, Australia

For those to whom an organised fan tour, offering such delights as golf with players and drinks with coaches, has about as much appeal as facing a fit Shane Bond with little but a miniature signature bat for protection, there are alternatives. There is still the odd place, or two, where traditions appear to mean something. In the modern world this makes them very odd indeed.Take the Adelaide Oval as one such example. Despite some modernisation, this remains a cricket ground – a ground for cricket rather than a stadium for herding cattle into. It comes as no surprise then, that the captain of the resident Sheffield Shield team in Adelaide is none other than one who appears to mirror the traditions of the ground – Graham Manou. Also somewhat of a throwback to a bygone era, Manou is a wicketkeeper’s keeper, one who puts his glovework first.When one thinks of Australian keepers, one tends to think of Queenslanders, New South Welshmen and Western Australians. South Australia, however, has an equally fine tradition behind the stumps. If Jack Blackham, the bearded 19th century Victorian, was known as “The Prince of Keepers” and, as writer Jack Pollard described him, “an original Australian hero”, then Arthur Jarvis, an Adelaide coach-builder of rather taller and more solid proportions was the prince in waiting. Fellow South Australian and Test captain George Giffen wrote of Jarvis, also known as “Affie”, as an outstandingly courageous taker of pace-bowling, standing up to the stumps to the express Ernie “Jonah” Jones and yet maintaining unbroken fingers.Undoubtedly, were it not for Blackham, Jarvis would have played more than 11 Tests. Jarvis did, however, manage to win one, according to former English captain Alf Shaw, largely by his own efforts. This was the third Test of 1884-85 at the SCG, where Jarvis took five catches plus a stumping off the bowling of “The Demon” Fred Spofforth.Better known than the 12-stone Jarvis, was another burly South Australian, Barry Jarman. Even heavier, at 13 stone 7 lbs, Jarman was long in the shadow of Wally Grout. In 191 first-class matches, he completed 560 dismissals, including 129 stumpings. One particular single-handed diving catch off Graham McKenzie in Melbourne in 1962-63 to dismiss England’s Geoff Pullar is long remembered.Trapped between Bert Oldfield and the Second World War was Charlie “Chilla” Walker. Quite possibly the best Adelaide keeper of them all, Walker recorded over three hundred first-class dismissals, an incredible 46% being stumpings. It no doubt helped his cause greatly to have legspinners of the quality of Clarrie Grimmett and Frank Ward in his Shield team. In a match against NSW at Sydney in 1940, Walker completed no less than three catches and six stumpings. Charles Walker died two years later while on active service for the Royal Australian Air Force.Like Walker, Manou has over 300 dismissals and seems destined to be a Test reserve. With just five first-class centuries and an average in the mid-twenties his batting lacks the gusto of Brad Haddin’s. However, Manou’s keeping is undoubtedly world class and if it wasn’t for the unreasonably heightened expectations from keepers with the bat since Adam Gilchrist appeared on the scene, he might well be accepted as the best in the country. Manou has certainly served a long apprenticeship, whereby his glovework has developed a silky smoothness.Another who seems set on doing the same, is his state deputy, Tim Ludeman. A country boy, born in Victoria’s Western District, Ludeman travelled further west for an opportunity at Shield level. Good enough to open the batting in the shorter forms of the game, Ludeman has already racked up quite a number of catches in just a few matches. One hopes that his destiny is not to be stuck behind Tim Paine. As good as Paine is, there should be enough room in the modern schedule for both of them.

Bump him up to No. 6 and see the magic unfold

Andy Zaltzman26-Feb-2013You did not need to be a qualified mathematician to calculate that – as of the close of play on day four of the Chennai Test – MS Dhoni had scored 224 runs in the series so far. At an average of 224. After one mesmeric innings, Dhoni has already posted his second highest ever series aggregate, his best having come more than four years ago, on Australia’s 2008-09 visit to India. Since then, Dhoni has played three Tests in seven separate series, and four Tests in two (as well as five two-Test rubbers). His previous highest series aggregate in those encounters was 220, in eight innings in England, as he led his team on their post-World-Cup “Back To Earth With A Splodge 2011 Comedown Special” World Tour. Even since his best period as a Test batsman ended in early 2010, his performances have been adequate rather than disastrous for a wicketkeeper, but, for a man who so regularly grabs ODI matches, series and tournaments by the scruff of their necks and barks at them until they call him “Sir”, he has often had little or sporadic impact on Test series.Perhaps this is changing. In his two Test innings since he elevated himself from his customary No. 7 spot to bat at 6 (or was forcibly elevated from 7 to 6) (ask him if you see him), he has scored 99 and 224. Is this coincidence, or a man reacting to a fresh challenge and the deservedly increased pressure on his captaincy?Over the course of his Test career, Dhoni has batted predominantly at 7 in Tests – 89 innings, with two centuries and an average of 31. Batting at both 6 and 8, he has hit two hundreds and averages over 70 (in 13 and 10 innings respectively). This pattern is repeated, to an extent, in ODIs. He has batted most often at 6 – 82 innings, averaging 42, with no hundreds and a strike rate of 81. In his 114 innings batting elsewhere in the order – most often at 5 and 7, but with striking success in his few innings at 3 and 4 – he averages 58, with eight centuries, and a strike rate of 92, and he has found or cleared the boundary rope 25% more regularly than when batting at 6.Perhaps these are statistical coincidences. Perhaps not. Perhaps India’s captain is a man who thrives when out of his zone of comfort and familiarity, and thrust into novel scenarios, voluntarily or otherwise. Since the knives started being earnestly sharpened and waggled in his captaincy’s general direction after India’s abject subsidence in December’s Kolkata Test, he has scored his first ODI hundred for almost three years, after coming in at 29 for 5 against Pakistan, and, in Tests, played a dogged if ultimately pointless innings in Nagpur, and his match-grasping masterpiece in Chennai.Australia’s green bowling attack, in which only Peter Siddle has taken more than 100 first-class wickets (but which should be far better suited to English pitches), presented less of a challenge than England’s seasoned pack of proven Test performers, who were themselves toothless in their first Test in November. It would, moreover, be simplistic to say that what we saw in Chennai was a great player seizing the moment when his team most needed it – there have been too many moments since his World Cup final apotheosis have not merely been unseized as barely even tickled. But Dhoni’s innings was a monument of skill and will, another spectacular chapter in one of 21st-century cricket’s most fascinating personal narratives.● Seven Indians were bowled out in their first innings, the first time this millennium that the bails have bailed by the ball seven times in an innings, and the equal most occasions that bowlers have tinkled the timbers in a Test innings since eight Englishmen were castled by Kiwis in Wellington in 1950-51. No team has bowled out seven Indians in a Test innings since West Indies, led by an explosive Roy Gilchrist, repeatedly smashed the ash to wrap up India’s heaviest ever defeat at Eden Gardens in 1958-59.● In India’s last four Tests, since Umesh Yadav and Zaheer Khan took five wickets between them in England’s second innings in Ahmedabad, their pacers have taken 5 for 413 in 151 overs. They have not bowled much, and when they have, they have been almost heroically ineffective. Only two of those five wickets have come in the first 100 overs of an innings – the exceptions being Ishant’s early bolts from the statistical blue on that comatose hippopotamus of a pitch in Nagpur.If Ishant fails to harvest Australia’s final wicket in Chennai this morning, it will be his first wicketless match in the 26 Tests he has played since February 2010. On an extremely flippety flip-side, however, it will also mean that he has taken the less than Philanderian, almost Salisburyesque, total of 16 wickets in his last 12 Tests, averaging close to 80, and dispatching a batsman pavilionwards once every 25 overs.● Moises Henriques, batting with the poise and panache of someone who should have a higher first-class average than 30, not only became the first lower-order batsman to pass 60 in both innings of his first Test match, but also ended the three-decade wait for an Australian to score two half-centuries on debut.In the late 1970s, you could hardly move for baggy green batsmen who hit twin debut fifties. Or at least, you couldn’t if you were stuck in a bobsled with Peter Toohey, Rick Darling and Bruce Laird. Which you might have been, for all I know. Before the Australian government commissions too many 100-foot-high gold statues of the man who looks set to establish himself as the greatest ever Portugual-born cricketer, however, it should remember that passing fifty twice in your first Test is no guarantee that you will go on to serially singe the pages of Wisden with incendiary deeds of batting brilliance. Darling, Toohey and Laird between them played a further 47 Tests, posting just a single century – Toohey’s 122 against a Packer-ravaged West Indies in 1978 ¬¬- and collectively averaging 29.By way of a counter-however to that however, however, before prime minister Julia Gillard completely dismisses the plans for a giant golden Moises in every town square by 2025, they should also remember that the last three players to hit double debut demi-tons in India have been Alastair Cook, Gordon Greenidge, and Clive Lloyd. Who have scored over 7000 runs each, and collectively played 305 Tests, hit 61 centuries, and averaged almost 47.Conclusion: Moises Henriques might or might not prove to be an adequate or outstanding Test Match batsman. As I write, at close of play on day four, he is, with a Test career average of 143, a 43.08% better batsman than Don Bradman. And 7150% better than Pommie Mbangwa. He is unlikely to remain ahead of both over the course of his career. He will be disappointed if he remains ahead of neither. (It will take immediate dismissal today, followed by 70 consecutive ducks, to get him below Pommie’s career average of 2.00.)● AB de Villiers has scored three centuries and three half-centuries in his most recent six Tests as wicketkeeper, over three months. His only half-century in eight previous Tests with the gloves had been an unbeaten 52 in his first game as keeper, against England in 2004-05. He has now scored more hundreds in his last six Tests than Mark Boucher did in his last 123.

From Kaushik Bhattacharya, UK

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Under-rated, despite his Test achievements•Getty ImagesGiven he’s the most celebrated cricketer India have had (with the exception of Tendulkar), it feels strange to say MS Dhoni is underrated. But I do think he’s not given due credit for his achievements as a Test match wicketkeeper-batsman.Partly, I think it’s his excellence as an ODI cricketer (second-highest batting average among all players with 4000-plus runs) that overshadows his achievements in the Test arena. Add to that, he looks somewhat ungainly (both as a wicketkeeper and a batsman), and for some unfathomable reason most people have the view that great Test match players need to be elegant or graceful. The recent Test thrashings meted out to his team in England and Australia have given fodder to his bashers to begin the “Oh, but he can’t play Test cricket” refrain.Ultimately, the things that matter are performance on the field, the numbers you rack up and the results you deliver. Let’s have a look at the stats. Starting off small-scale, there’s no doubt that Dhoni’s been India’s best Test wicketkeeper-batsmen ever (and he’s not finished yet). He has the most dismissals already and at a rate (dismissals per innings) higher than anyone else who’s played at least 10 games with only Dinesh Karthik coming close. Also (again for keepers who’ve played at least 10 Tests), his batting average is higher than his closest rival (Budhi Kunderan) by over four runs per innings. And he needs to play only 22 matches more to go past Kirmani as the most tenured Indian wicketkeeper.Going further afield, if you look at top wicketkeepers of all time, Dhoni ranks ninth in terms of overall dismissals and 14th if you look at dismissals per innings (for players who’ve kept in more than 30 Tests).Turning to batting, his average is the sixth-highest of all time (again for players who’ve kept in more than 30 Tests) and ahead of men like Alec Stewart and Brendon McCullum who’ve played as specialist batsmen at times.Plus, he’s captained the side in 37 of his 67 Tests and has a win-loss ratio that’s the best ever for an Indian captain and the eleventh-best for all captains (who’ve led their side in 35-plus Tests). This without a bowling attack half as good as that which any of the ten men above him had at their disposal. He didn’t even have Srinath and Kumble (unlike Ganguly, who had at least the latter for much of his reign) who are probably India’s best modern-day pace and spin bowlers respectively.So, give the man his due and stop branding him as only an ODI and T20 champion. He’s been good in Tests but needs better support from his team (especially the bowlers) to keep proving.P.S: For those who say he can’t score runs in pace-friendly conditions, he averages 39 in England and 31 in South Africa, though he’s been poor in Australia, averaging 19.