Brad Haddin is a batsman, not a wicketkeeping thrasher, even though he can comfortably find the stands with his driving

Peter English at Cardiff11-Jul-2009There is such a light touch about Brad Haddin, whose bat glides in its follow through while his feet skip along the wicket. He is a batsman, not a wicketkeeping thrasher, even though he can find the stands with his driving. A man of average height at 1.8m, he is more about timing than muscle, sitting closer to Michael Clarke in style than his predecessor Adam Gilchrist.While Marcus North provided the stability, Haddin displayed the pizzazz during a 200-run stand that sucked the spirit from England on a day when the fielders kept looking at the sky, willing it to rain. Instead the boundaries poured from two centurions playing their first Ashes Tests. Gilchrist has been gone for 18 months and moves further into history with innings like Haddin’s 121. Andrew Symonds, the previous long-term No. 6, has now been forgotten.Haddin’s second fifty came in 48 balls but at no time did his bat look like breaking. The handle is cuddled, not suffocated, by fingers bent from catching balls behind the stumps. In front of them he dances delicately during his shots before jumping sideways to stop himself from running down the centre of the pitch.Sometimes Haddin didn’t have to bother with scampering towards the bowler’s end. The offspinner Graeme Swann was lifted for six to midwicket with all the effort of pushing a single. A straight drive off Monty Panesar, which brought up 150 runs in conjunction with North, sailed over the rope surrounded by gasps from the crowd. Nobody hits in that direction as comfortably as Haddin.England were already demoralised when Haddin arrived late on the third day, but he and North refused to let them rest on Saturday. They avoided the early danger and were not bothered by the arrival of the third new ball.North’s century came two overs out from lunch and Haddin’s fifty was brought up with a single four deliveries before they ate. After the break the plunder continued and by the end of the splurge the only signs of life from England were the puffing cheeks of those chasing the ball.No batsman, Ricky Ponting included, struck boundaries as smoothly as Haddin. When he strode out to the spinners and Paul Collingwood the spectators between long-on and long-off started to tense. He almost struck a steward with a clearance in front of a Cockspur Rum sign that should have warned “Run”.By then he had reached three figures and the milestone had come in a most un-Haddin-like manner. There was one two and eight singles from him in the 90s, a glance bringing up his hundred and a lengthy double-arm raise in celebration.”He went out to bat, did nothing silly, got himself in, took his time and the situation allowed him to be free-spirited and play that attacking role,” North said. “It’s great for him to express himself in that situation.”Haddin’s previous Test century had come in a burst of explosions against New Zealand, but despite the flat-line of the England attack, this was the more cherished experience. Australia’s Ashes newcomers have settled quickly while the fresh faces in the hosts’ line-up remain shaken.North also raised his second Test hundred, in only his third game, and can now relax in his life as the side’s No. 6. Australia had wanted an aggressor in that position, but with Haddin able to move so freely when in form, North’s pace doesn’t matter. His 125 took 242 deliveries compared to the 151 Haddin used over 121.There were times when North followed through, including a handful of slog sweeps, but he is at his best when waiting to drive. Calculating and sensible, he shifted towards three figures with three twos in a row from James Anderson, finishing with a push behind point which ended in a spectacular slide towards the crease. It was unnecessary, but added to the moment.”Leading into that I was so nervous I couldn’t breathe,” North said. “The emotions had taken over a bit … Looking back on it now I don’t know why I did it, because I wasn’t looking at the ball. It was probably more panic and relief at getting over the line and realising I’d brought up a hundred.”North was unbeaten when Haddin found Ravi Bopara at deep midwicket and Ricky Ponting called him in to England’s brief delight. Cardiff has been a friendly ground for North, who posted 219 here for Durham in 2004, and while he insisted it was hard work, he said his county experience had ensured there were no surprises.”It certainly hasn’t felt easy, Test cricket is an intensity like no other,” he said. “Playing for nine or 10 years before my Test debut certainly helped my game, but I’m still very young at this level.”

Partnerships were crucial to England’s success in 2005, and they will be key again in 2009

S Rajesh06-Jul-2009After being edged out 2-1 in a closely fought and outstanding series in 2005, Australia – and Ricky Ponting, the captain then and now – get an opportunity to reverse that result. For England, on the other hand, it’s a chance to avenge the 5-0 drubbing handed to them when they toured Australia last. There’s plenty riding on the 2009 Ashes, and not just because this rivalry is the oldest in the sport.England had the upper hand the last time the two teams played here, but historically, Australia have held the advantage in their head-to-head contests – a considerable one overall, and a slight one in England, winning 46 and losing 43. England’s win in 2005 was their first in a home series against Australia in 20 years – the last one had come in 1985.

Australia have toured England twice for an Ashes series since 2000, and while their overall numbers are much better than England’s, that is almost entirely due to their convincing win in 2001. In 2005, the stats were much closer, with hardly anything to choose between the two teams – Australia averaged 31.57 per wicket, to England’s 31.84. Four years before that Australia had dominated completely, averaging 49.11 with the bat and 26.44 with the ball.

A look at the partnership stats for England in those two series indicates the areas in which they made significant progress. The biggest difference was the opening partnerships: in 2001 Michael Atherton and Marcus Trescothick struggled to put together substantial ones, managing a highest of 58 in ten innings. The overall average per stand was a disappointing 23.70. In 2005 Trescothick and Andrew Strauss were far more impressive, averaging 53.80 – an improvement of 127% – with two century partnerships and three half-century ones.The other significant difference was the manner in which the lower order came to the party. The stands for the third and fourth wickets weren’t so impressive, but those for wickets five through eight were significantly better in 2005 than in 2001, disproving the commonly held belief – often corroborated by facts – that their innings tends to crumble once the top half falls. There were two century stands for the fifth, one for the sixth and one for the eighth, giving Australia the kind of resistance they weren’t used to from England line-ups of the past. On an average, wickets five to eight added 133 in 2005; in 2001, they’d only contributed 74.

What was also impressive about England’s performance in 2005 was the manner in which their bowlers controlled Australia’s power-packed middle order. Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer got them off to reasonable starts, though their only huge partnership – of 185 – only came in the last Test of the series. However, the big difference was in the partnerships for the third, fourth, fifth and sixth wickets: where Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist would have usually dominated, here they were forced to struggle for runs. The average third-wicket stand was down from 77.42 to 23.44, while there were significant dips in the other middle-order stands as well. The overall average runs per innings for wickets third to sixth in 2001 was 289.17; in 2005 it dipped to 134.31, and that meant Australia never had the kind of scores on the board they could dominate with.

If England are to repeat their results from 2005, much will depend on their top-order batting. The overall records against Australia of those who are in the mix for this series isn’t very impressive, though. Apart from Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, most of the others have patchy records. Andrew Strauss has topped 50 only three times in 20 innings, while Alastair Cook has struggled similarly, with one century and no half-centuries in ten innings. Ian Bell has done better in getting fifties, but his problem has been an inability to convert them into huge scores: he’s got six fifty-plus scores in 20 innings, but none better than 87. On the other hand, 11 times he has been dismissed for less than ten, including four ducks.

Australia’s batsmen, meanwhile, have impressive records against England, though that’s largely because of some big runs at home. Ricky Ponting has an overall average of 48.24 against England, but in England it drops to 42.63; in Australia it climbs to a more imposing 54.73. The difference is even more stark for Michael Clarke – an average of 37.22 in England, and 77.80 at home.

The story is similar for Australia’s most experienced bowler too: Brett Lee has poor figures overall against England, but they’re even worse when he’s playing in the opposition’s home. In ten Tests in England, he has taken 29 wickets at 45.44; in eight matches at home the average is 36.36. Significantly, in 18 Tests against England, Lee hasn’t yet taken a five-wicket haul – his best is 4 for 47.

Among England’s bowlers, Andrew Flintoff has good numbers, which become even better when he plays Australia in England – 24 wickets at 27.29. It remains to be seen, though, if he can get himself to top fitness in time for the series. Monty Panesar has one five-wicket haul but not much else, while James Anderson won’t have too many happy memories of his three Tests against Australia.

With Cardiff hosting its first Test, there aren’t any stats from international cricket here to fall back on, but from the recent of Ashes series in England, it appears the winner of the first Test won’t have that much of an edge. In two of the last three series, the team winning the first Test has lost the series.

The seven-match one-day international series between India and Australia, with its sellout crowds and high TRPs, has made the talk of ‘the death of ODIs’ sound premature

Judhajit Basu and Sidharth Monga15-Nov-2009The seven-match one-day international series between India and Australia, with its sellout crowds and high TRPs, has made the talk of ‘the death of ODIs” sound premature. Over the last three weeks, the world’s biggest cricket market accepted the format with glee: All six matches played were sold out, and TV ratings in India suggested it got more eyeballs than the three big events that preceded it: the World Twenty20, Champions Trophy and Champions League Twenty20.The whole talk of the irrelevance of the ODI format reached its peak in England in August and September when Australia were beating England 6-1 in a lacklustre series. Curiously, healthy crowds came in to watch those matches but the one-sided contests and consequent lack of meaning in the later games did raise doubts. But the recent series in India seems to suggest it is the scheduling, and not the format, that is at fault.The Indian ratings (TRPs) compiled by TV audience measurement agency Audience Map (aMap) for the two ICC premier events this year – the World Twenty20 and Champions Trophy – go in favour of the shortest format of the game, but not by much.While the average TRP for the 27 games of the World Twenty20 was 2.11, the figure was 3.98 when India’s games were taken into consideration. In comparison, the average TRP for all matches in the Champions Trophy in South Africa that soon followed plummeted to 1.1 as India fell at the first stage, though their three matches fetched an average of 3.16. In fact, India’s matches drew 88 million viewers on the government-run channel Doordarshan 1 (DD1).The ratings, expressed as a percentage, took into account 15-years-plus viewers across all-India cable and satellite households (CS+15), with the top six metros in India under survey.The Indian audiences, however, didn’t quite warm up to the Champions League – a new tournament and a relatively untested domain where clubs from across the globe jostled for supremacy – according to data from another TV audience measurement agency, TAM Peoplemeter System. Among the target group of CS+4, the tournament delivered an abysmally low TRP of 0.74, even though the Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils promised much.

The return to form of ODIs was signalled by the India-Australia series, aired in India on Doordarshan 1 and Neo Cricket, which had an average TRP of 5.52 – five times that of the Champions League

The return to form of ODIs was signalled by the India-Australia series, aired in India on Doordarshan 1 and Neo Cricket, which had an average TAM TRP of 5.52 – five times that of the Champions League. The highest figure was recorded for the fifth ODI in Hyderabad at 7.1.The 50-over format also seemed to enjoy favour from players on both sides in the series. After that heady Hyderabad match, MS Dhoni said: “Whenever there are ODIs played in India, we see lots of people for them. I don’t think it will die. It’s an art to bat in one-day cricket. [It’s] Still interesting. Games like this make it more interesting.”Dhoni was the second-highest run-getter in the series, and the leading scorer, Michael Hussey, also spoke about the art of one-day cricket that made the format interesting. “I think 50-over cricket has a huge future in the game,” he said before the series. “It caters to a wide range of players, you can have your very aggressive batsmen, you can have the good runners between the wickets, it calls for tactics, you can have good spinners in the middle. Fifty-overs cricket has a big role to play still.”The marketing man seems to agree. “I always believed the talk about the death of ODIs was premature,” said the head of a media-buying agency. “For me the World Cup will always be a 50-over affair. Eventually cricket is not so much about entertainment, it’s all about the quality of the games. And one-dayers, which will continue to be a powerful property, have eventually demonstrated that it is good cricket.”

England may have lost to West Indies, but plenty of positives can be taken from the World Twenty20 as they finally fix both their eyes on the impending Ashes

Andrew Miller at The Oval15-Jun-2009The end, when it came, was cruel but apposite. England’s dominance of West Indies this summer had been so absolute that, at times at venues such as Chester-le-Street and Bristol, their very future as an international outfit had been called into question by a doom-mongering press. But, for the only nine overs that mattered out of a cast of hundreds since the start of May, West Indies found the focus they so dearly needed to dump the hosts out of the World Twenty20.For England’s captain, Paul Collingwood, however, recriminations were pointless. His team did not help themselves by failing to score a boundary for the best part of ten overs, but after their remarkable victory over India, their bid for a semi-final berth was always going to depend on the ability of their bowling attack, bulked out by the addition of Adil Rashid, to reproduce the hostility and focus that had secured their defence of 153 at Lord’s on Sunday night.By the time the rains closed in, however, the subtlety of their selection was lost in a melee of big hits, and a target of 80 in nine overs was always going to favour the chasing team. England tried their hardest and gave a frenzied crowd plenty reason to believe, especially when West Indies slipped to 45 for 5 with four overs remaining, but in the end it was simply not to be.”I’m very proud of the guys, to be honest with you,” said Collingwood. “The way they’ve fought through the tournament, it’s been a roller-coaster ride. At one point we had a real chance to win it, and to get into that position shows our real character, as it’s not easy to defend a target off nine overs. A lot of positives come out of the whole tournament – maybe the consistency wasn’t there, but we are definitely improving.”Collingwood’s pride was not misplaced, in spite of a tournament record (LWLWL) that reflects England’s enduring frailties in the format. For a team that tasted humiliation on the opening night of the competition to come so close to the semi-finals represents a triumph of the pyrrhic variety. England are still naïve in 20-over cricket as their batting performance showed, but at least they are no longer aloof to the format’s charms.”We’re catching up, that’s the important thing,” said Collingwood. “Even with that lack of experience in Twenty20 cricket, we’re catching up with the skills and thought processes, and we’re understanding situations and pressures. We need a lot more time to get accustomed to the conditions, and it is very important that you do play more Twenty20 cricket if you want to be realistic about winning these competitions, but the boys can take a lot of credit.”England didn’t look like emerging with anything remotely positive after their disastrous opening fixture against the Dutch, but with the benefit of hindsight, Collingwood conceded that the brutality of that reality check had been exactly what his players needed. The constant need to battle back, first against Pakistan and then later in another do-or-die encounter with India, brought the players closer to their public, and more importantly, closer to each other.”When you hurt like that it hurts everyone in the dressing room,” said Collingwood. “You can either go one way – fragment, go into corners and start whispering – or come together as a real close-knit unit, and that’s what we did, and I’m real proud of the guys because it would have been easy to go the other way.”Sometimes these things are real blessings in disguise,” he added. “It didn’t feel it at the time, it was very disappointing, but what we produced after that, the performances against India and Pakistan, proved that when we get it right we can play really good Twenty20 cricket. It would have been easy to lie down and lose confidence, but it was the complete opposite. We kept bouncing back and showed a lot of character.”Even that first game against the Netherlands, we were all disappointed to lose it but it was an exceptional game. The people who’ve watched back home and turned up at the grounds have seen some excellent cricket, and from our point of view we’ve developed some great skills, both before and during the tournament. Being exposed to Twenty20 has been good. And we are getting better at this form of the game.”For now, however, the focus switches with dramatic haste to the great unmentionable challenge that lies ahead. For weeks and months, England have desperately tried not to utter the A word in public, but now – with an honourable exit from the World Twenty20 secured – that embargo can now be lifted. “The boys have been 100% focussed on this,” said Collingwood, “but now it really is time to get the bodies, the minds and the skills right to beat the Aussies in the Ashes.”To that end, Collingwood’s interim tenure as captain has, somewhat remarkably after the early impressions, turned out to be a success. Sometime next week, he will formally hand the leadership back to Andrew Strauss, with most of the key components of England’s Ashes campaign in fine fettle despite their tournament exit. Ravi Bopara’s form shows no sign of waning, Kevin Pietersen’s Achilles issues are not hindering his run-scoring, while the key trio of seamers – Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom – are all at something close to the top of their game. There’s even been the bonus of the successful blooding of Adil Rashid.”I guess part of my job as captain was to keep the same kind of team ethos,” said Collingwood. “Straussy hasn’t been involved, so my job was to keep the togetherness, and to back each other up as players. We’ve continued to do that, and we’ve grown stronger throughout the tournament. Thankfully when I give the reins back to Straussy the boys will be in good spirits and determined to do well. Although we got beaten today and knocked out of the tournament, I think the boys are focussed on what’s coming ahead.”As for his future as England’s Twenty20 captain, Collingwood was non-committal.”I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “There’ve been ups and downs, but this time I can safely say I’ve been very calm and played with a smile on my face, and I’ve enjoyed the tough situations. I don’t know what the future holds, Straussy comes back in now, and I’ll look forward to doing my normal job in the Test side. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the captaincy, because I’ve had a group of lads who’ve put 100% into the tournament.”

Plays of the day from the third day of the first Test at Chittagong

Andrew Miller in Chittagong14-Mar-2010Ball of the day
Tim Bresnan has grown in stature since he first featured in Test cricket, during the miserable home series against West Indies last year that neither the players nor the crowds cared to see. A true test of his mettle is still waiting around the corner, but if he can reproduce the sort of delivery that did for Tamim Iqbal, then a role in the Ashes could yet be on the cards. On a flat, unforgiving surface, and with a 41-over-old ball, he jagged a wicked delivery off the seam and into the top of Tamim’s off stump to end an outstanding knock and reawaken the prospect of a swift demise in the innings.Innings of the day
But not for the first time, and surely not for the last, England encountered the resolve of the Mighty Atom. Mushfiqur Rahim had not been at his best in the ODIs, but he still chiselled his way to a half-century at Dhaka that could and should have set up a memorable maiden win. Today, he allied that natural tenacity to a fluid and confident range of strokes, and with Naeem Islam alongside him, he made sure that England’s bowlers suffered in the sticky heat of the most humid day of the tour so far.Collapse of the day
Bangladesh have often found dramatic ways to undo their periods of good work, and today’s denouement to their innings was no exception. At 296 for 7, with an unbeaten 113-run stand still in progress, it was England at long last who were toiling for inspiration. But then came three wickets in four balls, two of which were spectacular. First there was Naeem, who carelessly turned blind for a second run even as Mushfiqur was completing his first, but was beaten by a bullet throw after a sliding stop by the energetic Carberry at backward point. And the very next delivery Mushfiqur swung into an aggressive and justified pull, only for the substitute fielder, James Tredwell, to stick out a mitt as he dived at short midwicket, and cling onto a blinder.Decision of the day
It was greeted with incredulity by England’s fans, but there was a certain inevitability to Alastair Cook’s decision to bat again. Despite a 303-run lead on first innings – which was seven more than Bangladesh had mustered in their innings – he figured that the sapping humidity would be too much for his four-man attack, and he duly let them rest in the air-conditioned dressing-room and brace for a victory push tomorrow. Now, had he gone in with five bowlers, as perhaps he now realises he should, it might have been a different story altogether.Milestone of the day

A lofted sweep off Naeem towards the end of the 13th over took Cook to 31 not out, and his career tally to a not-insubstantial 4000 runs. It was a mark that Paul Collingwood also achieved during his second-day century, but in Cook’s case it had a special significance. At 25 years and 79 days, he became the second-youngest cricketer in Test history – after Sachin Tendulkar, no less – to rack up a total of that size.Deja-vu of the day
Poor old KP, he just can’t shake them off. His brief innings today was ferocious and commanding, as he rushed along to 32 from 24 balls, with a volley of shots including two emphatic fours from his first four deliveries, bowled by Shakib Al Hasan, and another six and a four as he bombarded the leg-side boundary. But no sooner was he up and running than Shakib responded to cut him back down to size. A slider into the pads eluded his attempted sweep and tempted a slightly marginal decision from umpire Rod Tucker. And so, for the fifth consecutive international innings – and for the sixth time in his last seven on tour – he was extracted by a left-arm spinner.Collapse of the day Mk 2
With a lead in excess of 400, it’s unlikely to have any great bearing on the result … although you never can tell in Test cricket anymore, especially on a pitch as flat as this one. But when Pietersen, Michael Carberry and Paul Collingwood all departed in the space of five overs and five runs, Bangladesh ensured that the day’s honours belonged emphatically to them. Shabash.

The Warriors are just one rung away from the top of the ladder they set out to climb, but South Australia’s trophy cupboard stays barren

Firdose Moonda in Centurion25-Sep-2010Remember that rasping Creed song, Those scratchy, distressed words could well have been the ballad the South Australian Redbacks and the Warriors waltzed to in Centurion. – a world where hunger knows no bounds.The Redbacks have not won a trophy in 15 years and the parched trophy cupboard is getting anxious. Michael Klinger, their captain, always maintained that the team had high hopes coming into the tournament, and he couldn’t hide his disappointment that they couldn’t fulfil those aims. “It’s definitely frustrating, once we got to the semi-finals, we thought we could go all the way,” Klinger said. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to make it to the semi-finals, but we did. We applied ourselves really well, but we were outplayed in all three aspects today.”The Warriors have an appetite of a different sort. After capturing their first two trophies since the franchise system started last season, they have become addicted to the thrill of victory. Davy Jacobs, the Warriors captain, said before the game that the Eastern Cape side had a vision of becoming the best franchise in the world by next year, but hinted that perhaps their time had come a little earlier.They were ready to ask themselves, With eyes wide open, the Warriors appeared to see everything. The only moment of blur was when Ashwell Prince hung his bat out to dry against the second-fastest ball bowled in the competition. “It’s Shaun Tait’s job to take wickets, you can’t stop that. When Ashwell got out, it was important for the next guy who came in, Colin Ingram, to do the job, and he did,” Jacobs said.Ingram and the captain combined for a second-wicket stand of 104, with Jacobs the dominant partner. His 61 saw him soar to the top of the run charts. Despite his scintillating highs, Jacobs didn’t want to say much about himself. “This is basically the way I have been playing for the last couple of years. But, I don’t like to talk about myself; I’d rather talk about the team.”For the Redbacks, visibility wasn’t always that clear. Strangely, they sometimes saw with the precision of a bird of prey, like when Daniel Harris ran from his follow-through to square leg to dismiss Jacobs. At other times, their eyesight, along with a few other factors, let them down. The Redbacks put down Ingram twice and Mark Boucher once. “Most of the catches were pretty tough and some of them just didn’t stick today. We’ve prided ourselves on good fielding for most of the tournament,” Klinger said.The Warriors were seeing the ball like a pumpkin in the field. Boucher watched it climb a stairway to heaven and spiral down into his gloves to send Harris on his way for eight. Johan Botha almost swallowed the ball, when, three deliveries later, it was hit to him on the midwicket rope. Klinger was gone for 13, and the Redbacks had lost their two kingpins.The one man who may have appeared to have weak visibility was the ultimate Warrior himself, Makhaya Ntini. He laboured in the field and bowled two expensive overs. With the Wanderers pitch expected to be bouncy, will Ntini have fitted his pair of lenses, to be back to his best? “I wouldn’t say he is in bad form, he had a good game in the last match. Perhaps the pitch just didn’t suit him,” Jacobs said, adding that Ntini’s experience can never be underestimated. “He has been playing for South Africa for more than decade and he knows the Wanderers very well.”The Warriors are just one rung away from the top of the ladder they set out to climb. Klinger had some words of praise for his opponents, hinting that he thought the scale was ever-so-slightly tipped in their favour. “They have quite a predictable game, so we knew exactly who was going to bowl which over, but it didn’t matter, because they are so difficult to beat. They probably already had their bad game against Chennai,” he said.So, the Warriors go higher. To Johannesburg. To the final.

You’ll lol, maybe even rofl, as you peruse this superbly illustrated parody cricket annual

Andrew Miller07-Nov-2010″Spoof Victorian cricket annuals were funnier when I were playing,” states (Sir) Geoffrey Boycott in one of the (potentially fabricated) tributes on the rear cover of WG Grace Ate My Pedalo. But even if the great man had indeed been persuaded to pass comment on the latest primrose-yellow tome to emanate from the stable of John Wisden and Co, it is hard to believe that he could possibly have reached such a conclusion.There are two reasons for this. Firstly, Alan Tyers and the cartoonist Beach have come up with one of the wittiest and most original sporting books of this or any other year. Secondly, their timing has been spot-on as well. As Tyers himself noted while researching his “curious cricket compendium”, the same issues that vexed cricket’s opinion leaders at the turn of the 19th century – match-fixing, mercenaries and a fundamental loss of innocence chief among them – are back with a vengeance at the start of the 21st. Cue an onslaught of trans-generational lampoonery that would doubtless cause the good Doctor’s great-great-great-grandchildren to LOL, and maybe even once in a while ROFL.Between them Tyers and Beach, whose illustrations are superb, capture every nuance of the publications they are mocking. I should know, because in the spring of 2001, it was my enviable duty to photocopy each and every page of each and every from 1864 onwards (before shipping the amassed sheets of A4 to India, from whence they were loaded into the database of the soon-to-be-launched Wisden.com). It was therefore my privilege to linger at great length over the preposterous, pompous and innately comical prose of the late Victorian era, and to marvel at the range of often absurd topics (and cricket matches) deemed suitable for inclusion.For instance, it was reported in the actual almanack section of an early edition that, on one otherwise nondescript Wednesday in November, “Ripe strawberries had been found in North Wales”, while the very first includes this gem of a digression into the tea-drinking habits of the Victorian household:

The graces of the modern tea-table were quite unknown to the country folk, although that favourite beverage, brought by the Dutch to Europe, was introduced into England by Lords Arlington and Ossory in 1666. It was not till nearly a century later that the middle classes of London and Edinburgh began to use tea daily. In the latter city, in the reigns of the Georges, tea was taken at four o’clock, and the meal was thence called “four hours”.

Apart from affirming that the taking of tea was indeed a deadly serious business during the days of Empire, such a passage lends splendid gravitas to Tyers’ imagined contest between Lord West’s XI and an Afrikander XI at “Potchefstroom Yachting Club in January 1896”, a match that, he reports, was abandoned due to “tea-time beastliness” and other related issues – namely the suicide (via service revolver, naturally) of the English opener, BP “Kipper” Mantelpiece, who upholds his country’s honour after being forced, by local custom, to wait until a quarter past four for his cuppa.Two other such matches are particularly chortle-worthy – a contest against the Cape Colony in 1896, in which the England XI are bowled out for 31 and 43 in reply to 895 for 4 declared, only for the game to be awarded to England after five of the South Africans (including the outrageously monikered Bakkies Baastaard) are “discovered to be English”; and a subsequent game against a Convicts of Tasmania XI, in which every member of the opposition is run out on account of batting in a ball and chain.

Throughout the book, Beach’s grainy pen-and-ink sketches perfectly complement Tyers’ satirical whimsy, and the net result often proves indistinguishable from the adverts that began to find their way into the towards the end of the 19th century

If such accounts strike you as “silly” in the Monty Python sense, then it’s worth remembering that truth can be at least as strange as fiction. Take the match between 2nd Royal Surrey Militia and Shillinglee in 1855, referred to in the original , in which the Militia was bowled out for exactly 0. And then there’s WG Grace’s soul-baring admission that he was “disgracefully well-refreshed” when he piloted his pedal-propelled vessel into the Gulf of Aden… where would such parodies be without the exploits of the modern-day quintessential Englishman, Andrew Flintoff?The discovery of the “Cricketing Irishman”, E.I.E.I.O Morgan, by the “adventurer, botanist and cricket enthusiast, Dr Henry Rutherford” is another laugh-out-loud passage – (“I knew immediately I had found a cricketer of rare talent, so I hit him over the head and shipped him back to England”) – while Dr Aubrey Fotheringhay’s studies in Faciodeductiology (well quite) are brought to life, as with so many other aspects of the book, by Beach’s effortless aping of Punch-style illustrations.Throughout the book, Beach’s grainy pen-and-ink sketches perfectly complement Tyers’ satirical whimsy, and they are particularly fine at lampooning the adverts that began to find their way into the towards the end of the 19th century. The most renowned of these was for John Wisden’s “Newly Invented Catapulta” – the original bowling machine and the furthest cry possible from the Pro-Batter gizmo with which England warmed up for the Ashes.”The great number of unsolicited but gratifying Testimonials received testify the effective manner the above invention substitutes the professional bowler,” states modestly, a turn of phrase that has clear echoes in the blurb accompanying “Pontius Ponting’s Mental Disintegrator – For efficacious removal of unwanted batsmen from the crease; leaves no trace or stain of character.”There are delights aplenty on each and every page of this book, which is destined to become an essential addition to every cricket-lover’s bog-time library. In fact, thanks to the wizard advances in portable wireless stenograph machines, I’m even writing this review while perched upon the Thomas Crapper. It really is that good.WG Grace Ate My Pedalo: A Curious Cricket Compendium
by Alan Tyers and Beach
John Wisden and Co. Ltd
£9.99

Bangladesh and Netherlands may have played each other only once in an international match, but they were involved in two World Cup qualification games that defined the future of Bangladesh cricket

Sidharth Monga in Chittagong13-Mar-2011Bangladesh and Netherlands might have played each other only once in international cricket – in Glasgow at that – but they share a bittersweet history; a history of tears of anguish and tears of joy for Bangladesh. Back in 1994, and then in 1997, the two countries were involved in two matches, which though not recognised as internationals, were key to the future of cricket in Bangladesh. Those were in the days of the ICC Trophy, where the Associates take part in tense contests – a tension followers of Test-playing nations can never truly appreciate, and that includes me – just to make it to the World Cup. Just to let the world know they exist.Akram Khan, arguably the greatest entertainer to play for Bangladesh, was involved in both those seminal matches against Netherlands. He is a national selector now, and often comes to watch the Bangladesh nets. On his way to the ground on Sunday, on the eve of a crucial match against Netherlands, all he could think of was those two emotion-filled games – emotion that perhaps surpasses what we have seen in Bangladesh this World Cup.In Nairobi in 1994, Bangladesh had restricted Netherlands to 205. Understandably, the coach, Mohinder Amarnath, then told them not to take any risks while chasing and just to knock the runs down. Bangladesh took the advice too seriously, as Akram remembers, and it turned out to be ” [fourteen overs, 12 runs].” It sounds funny now, but it was a huge setback. Bangladesh ended up losing by 47 runs.Zimbabwe had been granted Test status, thus opening up another slot among the Associates for the first large World Cup, to be played in 1996. Three teams were to qualify from the ICC Trophy, and Bangladesh were the favourites. Thanks to that defeat, though, Netherlands usurped Bangladesh.Akram and Bangladesh were inconsolable then. ” [It hurt us a lot],” he says, “that we didn’t qualify for the 1996 World Cup. We had got all sorts of help from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They all helped us with the infrastructure and facilities. They used to send A teams. We thought we had let them down, our country down, everybody down.”Three years later Bangladesh went into another ICC Trophy, this time in Kuala Lumpur, as the favourites. They had a strong side, so strong they played the same XI throughout the tournament. The matches were covered live on radio, and the whole nation was hooked. They went unbeaten through the tournament, but rain was cruel to them. When they had bowled Ireland out for 129 in a league game, they had to settle for shared points because of rain. That left them in a must-win situation in their last league game against Netherlands at the Rubber Research Institute in Kuala Lumpur.Bangladesh bowled Netherlands out for 171, and they were just one solid chase short of going through to the semi-finals. However, after having gone unbeaten for seven games, they found themselves at 15 for 4. The dream was crashing. This would be too big a heartbreak. The rain arrived again, this time as the saviour. Or so it seemed at that point.Akram and Minhajul Abedin then put together a partnership. Abedin, a wristy batsman, also came from Chittagong, like Akram. The two street-smart cricketers not only got runs, they indulged in some time wasting too: asking for a helmet during an over, fiddling with other equipment, doing whatever they could to delay things. Arguments ensued. Akram now smiles and says, “I did some bad things. Not good.””We thought if we got away with one point from that game, we would qualify for the semi-final,” Akram says. “But when we came back, the match referee told us we to win the game. We were stunned.”This is where emotion makes the story hazy. All the journalists, the team themselves, and the fans present there, agree with this version: that when Bangladesh came off they thought a draw would be enough, but learned to their horror that nothing less than a win would do.That does not sound entirely accurate because Bangladesh went into that game with three points and Netherlands with one. Ireland had already qualified with five points. So a no-result would have taken Bangladesh to four and Netherlands would have been stuck at two. A defeat for Bangladesh, though, would have tied Netherlands at three points, in which case Netherlands would have advanced based on the head-to-head.There are two plausible explanations for the delaying tactics Bangladesh employed and the celebrations that greeted the rain. Bangladesh may have realised that with the partnership between Akram and Abedin, they were ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis par score, and by slowing the game down they were just ensuring that lead. However, just before they came off, Abedin was run out, which could have pushed them just behind on the reckoning, which would have meant they would lose if no further play was possible.Also D/L was a new beast back then, and perhaps Bangladesh didn’t realise they had already played the minimum number of overs required to constitute a game and were now going to lose.Then again, perhaps the version accepted in Bangladesh is correct, and this conjecture is merely conjecture. It’s all trivial, though. What is important is that the whole of Bangladesh, glued to the radio, was praying for rain, and once it stopped play, they celebrated.Bangladesh ended up winning the 1997 ICC Trophy•Simon King/ESPNcricinfo LtdThen came the news that this wasn’t good enough for them to qualify. The news was relayed on radio. Everybody who prayed for rain was now praying for the resumption of the game. “We worried about our futures,” Akram says. “All negative thoughts came to our mind. The failure in 1994. And now we thought we might never be able to play international cricket.” [It was a Friday]. A lot of Bengalis come to work in Malaysia. They all turned up at the ground. Everybody started praying. Luckily the rain stopped and the play resumed and we had a revised target.”Akram then produced an innings on which Bangladesh cricket stands today, as anybody in the country will tell you. Those who were present there say it was a chanceless innings, with no sense of panic or hurry. “I believed if I stayed there till the end, we would win this,” Akram says. “Nannu [Abedin] was a vital player. He had performed well in domestic cricket, and I got a partnership with him and then one with Saiful Islam. In the end I stayed not out.”That kicked off wild celebrations. Athar Ali Khan, who opened the batting in that game, says it was the same as what we have seen on the streets of Dhaka and Chittagong this year after the national team’s wins over England and Ireland. “My body was draped in the Bangladesh national flag, and we didn’t leave the ground for a long, long time.”Akram says everybody cried that day. The journalists, and their friends, say they cried too. “Gordon [Greenidge, their coach] cried the most. Everybody was crying, he couldn’t hold himself back.”Gordon Greenidge crying. Just imagine a win that makes Greenidge cry; a man who had come from a different country, a different culture. The owner of one of the fiercest square-cuts ever seen, the man with the double-century on one leg, the man whose image first comes to mind when the words “beware the wounded batsman” are said; Greenidge cried after that win. That’s how much it meant to the team.I ask Akram if he agrees with what everyone tells me. Was this the single most important innings in the history of Bangladesh cricket? He pauses. Says yes. Then laughs. Says yes again. It cannot be denied. For because of that innings, Bangladesh played the semi-final, then the final, then the World Cup, where they beat Pakistan and got Test status. If they had lost on that , there would have been no World Cup, and who knows how long they would have had to wait to qualify for a World Cup.We all talk about the pressure of expectation on the current team, but at least they know they will be playing international cricket even if they lose. They knew they would be playing international cricket even when they went 47 games without a win. The class of 1997, though, even after having gone unbeaten in that tournament until then, didn’t know if they would ever get to play if they lost that day. It wasn’t quite a Messerschmitt up the arse, but surely Keith Miller wouldn’t have scoffed if Akram told him he was under pressure that day.

If the management thinks Suresh Raina might not be up for it on a green, bouncy track, it will make sense to look beyond him for the next two games, especially since they will want him confident ahead of the World Cup

Sidharth Monga in Durban24-Dec-2010Those who have followed Suresh Raina’s career closely will think they are caught in a time warp. It was in November 2006 that he first played in South Africa. The game was an ODI in Durban, the same venue where India now strive to keep the series alive. Back then, the whole team collapsed alright, but the way Raina got out has become instructive. Andre Nel bowled a short-of-a-length delivery, around off, angling away, and Raina with his feet stuck poked at it away from the body, and Jacques Kallis accepted the offering at second slip.That was all Raina could manage on that tour. He was sent back home mid-tour, and was not considered for the World Cup, India’s next major assignment.Four years later, just before another World Cup, Raina has come back to South Africa, and nothing seems to have changed. In Centurion, Kallis bowled short of a length, around off, Raina anticipated bouncers, didn’t get close enough to the ball, and poked. Twice in one Test: edging one, and guiding the other to slips. Things, though, were supposed to have changed. In those four years, Raina has established himself as a dangerous batsman in limited-overs cricket. He has become one of the few batsmen in the world with a century in each of the three formats, including a Test ton on debut and 62 and 41 not out in his second, in a stiff chase. He has scored loads of runs in South Africa in the IPL and in the Champions League. Overall he has grown a lot in confidence. The way he got out in Centurion, though, remains a massive worry for India.Moreover, Raina now has scores of 32, 3, 20, 3, 1 and 5 in his last six Test innings. Neither the captain nor the coach has tried to hide concern regarding his No. 6 position, especially given they are in the middle of their biggest challenge in Tests, and in a country where top-class bowling is bound to test Raina. And in Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Kallis, South Africa have top-class bowling that will go all out on a track whose primary feature is thick grass. However, the team management says it is yet to decide on whether to drop Raina.We are always at risk of reading too much into nets sessions, but symbolism was easy to get into as India practised two days before the Boxing Day Test. After the warm-up, Gary Kirsten kneeled down to give slips practice to what has now become a regular cordon of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Raina and Virender Sehwag. A few hits into that session, Raina was hit in the ankle by a half-volley. Soon Dravid went to the physio for some attention to his finger, and in came Cheteshwar Pujara, the man who should be the obvious replacement if the team management decides against Raina, to take slip catches.By the time Raina got repair work done and came into the nets, Pujara was already batting with the regular middle order in the nets either side of him. Raina even bowled a few loopy offbreaks to Pujara, which the latter played comfortably. And when Raina did get a bat – which does suggest that that hit on the ankle didn’t do much damage – he found Pujara in the net on his off side. Pujara remained in his eye-line, and there is no doubt Pujara is in the eye-line of the team-management.However, as Pink Floyd asked Eugene to be, this team has – barring exceptions like Abhimanyu Mithun – been careful with that axe. MS Dhoni’s funda has been to give a player enough chances before dropping him so that he can look beyond the said player without thinking of him. A three-Test series, though, hardly gives him that luxury, especially when his side is 0-1 down already.It is an important decision for Dhoni, Kirsten and the senior players to make going into perhaps their most important Test match. If they do persist with Raina, it could have larger implications. For he is sure to play in the ODIs on this tour, which – going by evidence so far – is more of his game. And Raina is a confidence player. His strength is to make the most of it when the going is good for him. If the management thinks Raina might not be up for it on a green, bouncy Test track, it will make absolute sense to look beyond him for the next two games. There is a World Cup in home conditions to follow after this testing tour, where they will want Raina to be at the top of his confidence.Before coming to South Africa, Raina said, “To succeed in Tests, your temperament is more important than your technique. How you handle pressure situations and how you work your way out of trouble through grit and courage is also important.” If he plays a further part in this series, Raina will need all that grit and courage, for the technique has already been found wanting.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the first Test between England and India at Lord’s

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's23-Jul-2011Shoeing of the day
An inexperienced opening batsman in Test cricket has to expect his fair share of short stuff so it was no surprise to see England test out Abhinav Mukund. He showed impressive resilience although wasn’t always convincing and had particular problems with one bouncer from Chris Tremlett. He took his eye off and was smashed on the grille. Abhinav fell over and in the process lost one of his shoes, but then realised Gautam Gambhir was coming through for a single so calmly picked up his boot and ran with it to the other end before lacing it back up again.Ovation of the day
Lord’s knows how to show great players respect – although Ricky Ponting may disagree – and as Abhinav made his way off having dragged on against Stuart Broad the ground rose as one. The crowd would have been appreciative of Abhinav’s 49, but the reason they got to their feet was the man coming in at No. 4. Sachin Tendulkar emerged from the Long Room and down the steps to a wonderful reception and as the fans sat down they did so on the edge of their seats.Let-down of the day
Either side of lunch the full house was treated to Test cricket in its purest form. England bowled superbly and Tendulkar played superbly. He was beaten plenty of times but responded with elegant cover drives which belied his two months with barely any cricket. Those sessions in the indoor school at Lord’s had certainly worked. He moved into the 30s, where he has been before on this ground but never beyond, and then Broad returned from the Nursery End. The ball continued to swing, Tendulkar continued to play the drive. Something was going to give and it was Tendulkar. He went for another drive, the edge flew low to second slip where it was swallowed by Graeme Swann. Joy for England, but disappointment for so many others.Slips of the day
England, though, were far from flawless in the field. Moments after Tendulkar’s departure the slip cordon was in business again. Firstly VVS Laxman, before scoring, edged a regulation catch to Andrew Strauss who dropped one of the easier chances of his career. It continued a dodgy time for Strauss in the slips after he spilled two in his Championship outing for Middlesex last month. While he was still stewing from his mistake Rahul Dravid, on 42, edged to Swann at second slip. This one wasn’t so easy – Swann had to move low to his right – but it was one he’d expect to hold. Somehow, amid all of this, Broad managed to hold himself together despite knowing three wickets could have been five.Bouncer of the day
Normally a short ball from Broad wouldn’t warrant much comment – except in the context of him needing to pitch the ball up – but, for the first time this season, he chose the right lengths at the right time (and hit the right areas). With Praveen Kumar swinging from the hip Broad was called back into the attack and from the field set it was clear he was going short. Having allowed Praveen to get off strike Broad had one further delivery to him at the end of the over and he made it count. Praveen went to hook a rapid bouncer and top-edged towards a back-tracking Andrew Strauss. In the stands, Chris Broad gave a little fist-pump.Honour of the day

It seemed absurd that no one in this current India team had his name on the Lord’s honours board. Now they have two. First it was Praveen and today one of the famous members of the top order got his name up in black ink. Everyone came hoping it would be Tendulkar, but instead it was Dravid with an outstanding, battling hundred to try and hold his team together. When he brought up three figures with a nudge through midwicket he celebrated with rare emotion. It showed how much it meant.