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In an age obsessed with speed, Ramesh Powar is charmingly headed the other way. Siddhartha Vaidyanathan met him

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan07-Sep-2007

It’s said that some cricketers belong to a different era. Ramesh Powar belongs to a different century.He is from an age when cricketers came in different shapes and sizes, wore outsized red sunglasses and delectable hair bands, and bowled slow, really slow. We’ve heard about the adrenalin rushes, speed barriers and shoulder-aches that the fastest bowlers experience. Now it’s time to celebrate the slowest among the slow.Over his last five games Powar has defied the modern notion that bowling in one-day cricket is about restriction. In a high-scoring series he has rarely darted the ball in at a flat trajectory, never beaten batsmen with speed. He has wound the clock back to the golden age of cricket, the Edwardian twilight preceding the first World War, and risked conceding runs for wicket-taking rewards. Expectedly he has got wickets (six in five games); surprisingly he has been economical (4.41). Only Andrew Flintoff, who has played two games fewer, has done better.A ten-minute chat with Saqlain Mushtaq, when the Indians played Sussex during the early part of the tour, made a big impact. Powar was fretting over not getting any of the Indian batsmen out in the nets. Saqlain’s advice was simple: “If you succeed in making these guys defend you, then you are bowling very well. Don’t think of getting a Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid out. Even if you are able to bother them in the nets, it’s good enough.”Powar has grown in confidence with every game since, so much so that he has not hesitated in slowing down his pace considerably. He usually operates in the 45-to-55 mph range. Occasionally, especially when he bowls the undercutter that goes straight, he gets slightly faster. More often, when he simply lobs up a moon-ball that goes straight, he gets slower. Once he dropped as low as 41mph. He admits it’s his slowest phase yet but, fascinatingly, thinks he can “easily get slower”.At Edgbaston, in the third game of the series, brought on in the 16th over, with Ian Bell and Alastair Cook at the crease, Powar slipped in a really slow one and nailed Cook on the top-edged sweep.”In the third game it struck me that if I bowl a little slower, they might sweep,” he said. “I knew they wouldn’t try to hit over the fence because they rely on batsmen like KP [Pietersen] and Bell to stay at the wicket. They couldn’t afford to take many chances. So I’ve been taking chances against Cook, Bell, [Paul] Collingwood and Pietersen.”It’s helped that Powar is usually operating with Piyush Chawla, the legspinner, who is comparatively faster. “It always helps with Piyush bowling at the other end, because the batsmen tend to always go after those bowling quicker. So, suddenly when the slower bowlers come on, it becomes difficult for them to work around it. And with my kind of pace, I don’t think they can do that easily.”Does he think he can slow it down further? “For left-handers I might go a lot slower because they play against the spin. For right-handers I think it’s fine. Because I’m an open-chested bowler, I can adjust my action easily. I deliver the ball behind my ear and lose pace since I am a side-arm bowler. And since I’ve been bowling like this for seven-eight years, I know how to lose pace with the same action. Sometimes you don’t tweak the wrist – just let it go. Sometimes you hold the ball in the palm, sometimes you hold it in two fingers rather than three. There are a lot of ways to lose pace and I’ve worked on different methods in the nets.”

Powar’s Headingley dismissal of Ravi Bopara, one of England’s best batsmen against spin, underlined the value of pace variations. Two quick ones, at around the 55mph mark, were followed by a straight dolly, lobbed up at 42.4mph. Bopara, completely deceived, popped a simple return catch.”They had changed the ball just then,” Powar said. “It was a newish ball and I knew that tossing it up may help getting some bounce. Maybe he didn’t expect it to spin or bounce that much. There was not much spin but some extra bounce.”Powar anticipates the batsmen’s intentions much better these days. He has always been a shrewd bowler but thinks his gut feel pays off more often these days. Paul Collingwood’s case is worth mentioning. “Collingwood always played the chip shot against me [lobbing over midwicket]. So I decided not to bowl any offbreaks that will help that chip shot. In ten balls I will probably bowl seven straight balls to him. I’m guessing better right now.”The straight one which he utilises so effectively was mastered by watching a great legspinner on television. “I learned that delivery watching Shane Warne bowl. I used to try it earlier also but it used to spin a bit. That’s maybe because at the Wankhede anything spins. When I tried it here in England at the beginning of the tour, it was going straight really well. I don’t know whether the release has changed slightly but it is working. That’s all that matters.”Powar’s trade requires him to bide his time and wait for success. His philosophy in life – one that has seen its fair share of tribulation – is similar. “I’m not the kind who wants success every day,” he says sombrely. “I’ve seen life in and out. So success and failure in a game shouldn’t be taken too seriously.” It’s a perspective that has made Powar the cricketer he is. It’s also helping him become the bowler he wants to be.

South Africa’s spin bowler reflects on the early weeks of the tour

Paul Harris10-Jul-2008

Everything has gone well in the first two weeks and we could not have really wished for much more. The Somerset match was good for the batters as it was a flat wicket and most of the guys got in and scored runs – Hashim [Amla] played unbelievably well and Jacques [Kallis] scored a run-a-ball hundred, so we were happy. The fast bowlers had to run in really hard and that was what they needed. If they had been presented with a green top, they would not have had to work so hard and may have been under-bowled by the time of the first Test.The thing I will always remember most about that first week, though, was how hard everyone worked in training. We had long net sessions and then we would be in the gym in the afternoons. It’s the hardest I have seen the squad train since I have been around the international team these last 18 months. The determination to do well on this trip from the guys who have been to England before and not won is really obvious.The plan was to be Test-ready by the time we got to our second practice game, against Middlesex at Uxbridge. That was another good workout for everyone and Hashim chalked up another century and showed what spectacular form he’s in. We wanted to play that match with the same intensity we would have shown in a Test match. Maybe it wasn’t as easy to do at an outground like Uxbridge but that was the mentality with which we were approaching it.From my own point of view I got what I wanted out of those first two games, which was to bowl lots of overs and get my legs strong and ready to bowl long spells in a Test. Unlike some of the guys in the team, I chose not to go to the IPL and instead stayed at home to rest, so in the first part of this tour I wanted to bowl a lot as I had not bowled in a first-class match since our tour of India in April. Those first two matches gave us a good start. The only negative would be that they make the tour a very long and tiring one, but it is a small thing and the positives by far outweigh the negatives.There has been a lot of media attention aimed at our pace attack since we arrived and people ask me if I mind being out of the limelight, but I am happy to do my own thing. We are all used to the fact that wherever South Africa tour, the local media are going to focus on our fast bowlers as that has been our strength for years. It’s not a new thing for me. Results and individual performances will ultimately be the proof of the pudding. I back myself to have my time in the sun at some point in the series when I will be needed to play a leading role for my team. But until that happens I am more than happy for the big, burly fast bowlers to hog all the attention.

At least Sri Lanka’s new spin sensation Ajantha Mendis made a name for himself on Sunday. To take six for almost nothing against India in the final of an event like the Asia Cup was amazing and he deserves all the media attention he gets. I feel it was a great advert for spin bowling. I did not get a chance to see much of that tournament and I have not actually seen him bowl, but I hear he has got a strange action.I am well aware that my chance to make a name for myself is in my grasp. There’s no doubt that with all the excellent media coverage cricket gets in the UK, this is the place to put yourself on the map. It’s the tour where I have seen the most press and I have noticed when I am touring that whatever is going on in England always gets more coverage. Results are more important than anything but if people want to write about this team, hopefully being successful, that’s great for South African cricket and hopefully for me.Finally I should mention that on Tuesday evening the squad and all the back-room staff went out together to see . It was a great show and two guys who said they probably wouldn’t like it, particularly enjoyed it. Yes Andre Nel and Jacques Kallis may just be theatre converts!There’s not much else to report on the social front over the first two weeks as everyone has been pretty boring and stayed in the hotel a lot. Basically, it all boils down to how focused we all are to win this Test series. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for us to let our hair down, hopefully after winning a Test or two.

When on song, there are few batsmen in the modern era who can match Yuvraj Singh for power and placement and the assault in Rajkot was a reminder of his potential

Jamie Alter14-Nov-2008

On days like this, you realise what a waste of talent Yuvraj Singh can be. He performs below par for months at a time but, when on song, there are few batsmen in the modern era who can match him for power and placement. England are no strangers to Yuvraj’s big hitting – just ask Stuart Broad – and today’s breathtaking assault in Rajkot, a mix of strength, finesse and improvisation, was a reminder of his potential.Yuvraj on a roll usually translates to India on a roll – India have won 34 of the 46 matches in which he’s gone past 50 – and this incandescent innings had the same result. No bowler was spared as he hit an unbeaten 138 from just 78 balls, with 16 fours and six sixes. His smoothness was astounding; each six struck was more effortless than the last and he pulled off his favoured across-the-line, pick-up shot over midwicket with such delicate touch that you almost forgot the 127-run opening stand forged by India’s gung-ho openers.After a not-so-purple patch, this was the type of game that rusty players so desperately yearn for. “It’s been a hard couple of bad months. I didn’t have a good last ODI series and I wasn’t in the Test side,” Yuvraj said. “So I sat down and got back to what I do best. I’m very happy with my effort. I think it’s one of the best knocks I’ve played. The rate I scored at, and that I was able to continue, was satisfying.”Yuvraj has often grumbled about not getting enough overs to bat in ODIs. Despite some patchy form, he was sent in at No. 4 – a spot he has pretty much occupied since late 2007 – and made it count. The characteristic booming drives to the off didn’t flow today, as he was hampered by a back injury, and he took time to find his rhythm. The first signs of that rhythm came when Steve Harmison tested him with two bouncers, which Yuvraj, though he took his eyes off them, pulled for consecutive boundaries.Once strapped into a back brace, though, he started playing an interesting and ultimately devastatingly successful pick-up, half-arc shot that required minimal twists of the bat and relied purely on timing and wristwork. In layman’s parlance, it resembled a souped-up golfer’s chip shot.Yuvraj’s innings really took off once he got Gautam Gambhir as a runner, for it gave him license to just hit. Some of his shots were outrageous. Aided by powerful wrists, Yuvraj always possessed the ability to flick – or scoop, lap and disdainfully brush, as Broad will attest to – anything on the pads or marginally straight.Yuvraj can start off in style, but he’s also proven he can build an innings. His greatest asset has been his ability to force the pace during the middle overs. In that context, his handling of the third Powerplay – which he entered on 30 from 33 balls – was excellent and gave him the confidence to launch a massive total.The Powerplay, taken after 34 overs, saw Andrew Flintoff return and Yuvraj welcomed him with a lofted six down the ground. With that shot the fluency was back, the floodgates opened. The boundaries followed, one fiercely cut through point, another heaved over long-on. Harmison – who, with Flintoff bore the brunt of the assault – tried a slower ball and Yuvraj backed away to drive sumptuously down the ground, raising fifty from 38 balls.By now he had no problems sighting the ball early. Three sixes formed 18 of the 34 runs taken from 18 Flintoff deliveries, while Harmison was taken for 48 from 26. No doubt he had a runner, but seldom has Yuvraj been so prolific. His first fifty took 42 balls, the second 22, and the last 37 required 13. “When he bats like that, there’s nothing much the opposition can do,” noted Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The problem with Yuvraj, of course, is that it’s a big When. Ever since he sliced and diced his way to a glorious 84 against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australia in 2000 his career has been marked by inconsistency. It took him 16 matches to cross fifty again, and for every dazzling innings at Lord’s, Colombo, Karachi and Sydney, there were periods of scratchy indisposition to fuel his critics. His maiden century came against Bangladesh in April 2003, his next in January 2004. More than a year and a half separated that gem, against Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie in early 2004, from a century against West Indies in August 2005. There were only four fifties in between.This innings came on the back of one such trough. It had been over a year since his last one-day international hundred. When he was stroking handsome runs against Sri Lanka, South Africa, Pakistan and England in 2005-06, it appeared his batting against spin bowling had improved. Then he went to Australia and looked clueless against Brad Hogg.In and out of the team and dogged by a persistent knee injury, Yuvraj had only managed three half-centuries this year. He slumped miserably during the one-day series against Sri Lanka, and stumbled through five matches, scoring just 72 runs with a best of 23. His footwork was indecisive; his bat thrust forward like a dangling carrot, and Ajantha Mendis had his number thrice. This innings came as welcome relief, not least for the man himself.

When Courtney Walsh walked off The Oval arm-in-arm with his fellow fast-bowling destroyer Curtly Ambrose in 2000, West Indies had all but relinquished their long hold on the Wisden Trophy

Andrew McGlashan06-May-2009When Courtney Walsh walked off The Oval arm-in-arm with his fellow fast-bowling destroyer Curtly Ambrose in 2000, West Indies had all but relinquished their long hold on the Wisden Trophy. The two great fast bowlers had done all they could try and stave off defeat, but a day later West Indies folded and a great era was officially over.As Walsh and Ambrose walked into bat on the final day they were both given a guard of honour by the England players. Ambrose bowed out of international cricket after the defeat, but Walsh played on for another seven months as he tried to carry a failing West Indies team. “It was an emotional day,” Walsh, these days an ambassador for Sky Sports, told Cricinfo, “to walk off with Curtly like that to a standing ovation. I’ll always remember that day. But they were mixed emotions because we were losing.”Nine years later West Indies once again return to English shores as holders of the Wisden Trophy following their hard-fought 1-0 victory in the Caribbean less than two months ago. Nobody wants to shout it from the rooftops, because there have been so many hard times, but there are signs that West Indies cricket is slowly turning a corner although Walsh remains cautious about their chances in this series.”It wouldn’t say it’s makes them favourites because England are a very good side at home,” Walsh said. “West Indies aren’t accustomed to conditions at this time in the season and it’s going to be pretty cold for them. Quite a few of the team haven’t played there before so I think England start favourites. But West Indies can still be reasonably confident because of what happened in the Caribbean and the sort of cricket they’ve been playing in the last few months.”It will be a true test of character, a true test of how far they have developed and a true test of how much they have learnt. They will need to show consistency and expertise because conditions won’t be what they are accustomed to with different weather and different pitches.”The team will miss Dwayne Bravo who has been there before and a lot is on the shoulders of Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Brendan Nash was a good find in the Caribbean, but I’m not too sure how he’ll cope in English conditions. It’s going to be a testing time for them all.”From a region that produced an endless list of fast bowlers, of which Walsh was one of finest and longest-serving, it has warmed the heart of many cricket fans to see that West Indies’ upturn in fortunes has been spearheaded by two exciting quicks. Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards are not out of the old-school mould of being six-foot plus, but are still quite capable of causing serious problems.Taylor wrote himself a place in West Indies history as he helped tear out England for 51 at Sabina Park, the spell that effectively sealed the recent series, but by the end of the contest in Trinidad he was on the sidelines and his fellow quick, Edwards, was the one making the visitors sit up. One brief spell, on the fourth evening at the Queen’s Park Oval, was as hostile as anything in recent memory as he almost decapitated Kevin Pietersen. For Walsh, a man who caused batsmen more than his fair share of sleepless nights, it has been welcome viewing.”They both bowled very well and it was pleasing to see,” he said. “Taylor’s performance in Jamaica was especially good to watch because it had been so long since West Indies fans had been able to watch their team do that. People shouldn’t get carried away, but if both can stay fit they can lead West Indies for the next few years.”I think they hold the key for West Indies in this series. Conditions should suit them with the ball moving around and if the pitches have some pace and bounce to go along with the movement they will be handful.”However, despite improvements on the field, life in West Indies cricket is never simple. They have warmed up for this Test series without their captain, Chris Gayle, who has never been quiet about his displeasure at this tour being crammed in the schedule, and arrived two days before the Lord’s Test. Then there were the contract wrangles that threatened to hit the end of England’s recent visit. The history of West Indies cricket is littered with such disputes – barely a tour goes by without WIPA getting heavily involved – and even improved success on the field doesn’t appear to make problems go away.Life seemed so much simpler in Walsh’s time. Of course there were problems, but the fact that West Indies were winning most of the time helped ease any tensions. Walsh dearly hopes West Indies cricket can move past the bickering and do what is best for their game.”It’s a real shame and it always seems to come up when the team is doing pretty well,” he said. “From a former players’ point of view and someone who is involved with the cricket committee I would love to see the team be able to concentrate on what they do on the field and we can do whatever deals need to be done with a little more diplomacy. It’s important to sort out problems before they raise their head in the middle of a series.”If West Indies can maintain their focus on the field over the next couple of weeks they could cause England further problems. It has taken them nine years to get their hands back on the Wisden Trophy and Walsh doesn’t want to see it passed back. “We held it for a long time and it was painful to lose it. Now it’s back, I hope it stays with West Indies for a while yet.”

Shahid Afridi was banned for two Twenty20s after being caught on camera biting the ball during the final ODI in Perth. Disbelief and jokes followed

Cricinfo staff03-Feb-2010″No I just was trying to smell it, [to see] how it was feeling.”

“There is no team in the world that doesn’t tamper with the ball. My methods were wrong. I am embarrassed, I shouldn’t have done it. I just wanted to win us a game but this was the wrong way to do it.”

“I’m just watching like you. If he did that it is not a good image for Pakistan. He can tell you better.”

“Shahid’s desire to win today was there for all to see.”

“He would have had all sorts of things going through his mind for the last couple of overs and as captain you have enough going through your head without worrying about things like that.”

“There must have been a bet, or perhaps he was drunk.”

“Perhaps he didn’t appreciate the lunch he was given in Australia.”

“Whatever justification or excuse … cannot justify the act because in the laws of cricket it is illegal … He’s so talented and you can see the [good] body language when the team is playing under him. All this is going his way. It is so foolish.”

“It’s no secret that everyone wants to change the condition of the ball but that’s through shining the ball and things like that.”

“I don’t think there was any malice in what he did, but given his track record he probably got off lightly. I think five-six matches should have been the minimum.”

After a sleepy start to the tournament M Vijay has taken the IPL by storm with successive Man-of-the-Match awards

Kanishkaa Balachandran at the MA Chidambaram Stadium03-Apr-2010Scores of 34, 12 and 19 aren’t what you would normally associate with Matthew Hayden. Chennai Super Kings’ trump-card at the top will be disappointed with those returns but somewhere at the back of his mind, you suspect that he is a relieved man.That’s because the over-reliance on him to fire has diminished somewhat thanks to the emergence of M Vijay, who after a sleepy start to the tournament has taken the IPL by storm with successive Man-of-the-Match awards. Vijay’s 56-ball 127, laced with 11 sixes and eight fours, was this season’s most destructive innings in a winning cause and helped Chennai break their own record of the highest IPL total.Vijay’s sudden upswing began the last time Chennai played Rajasthan, when he made a breezy 42 off 28 balls. He went one step further in the next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, smashing 78 off 39 balls to set up a successful chase. His appetite for big scores was evident today in Chennai where he cleared the ropes with such regularity that one could have been fooled into thinking this was a computer game in progress with the cheat code on.A pattern in all three knocks was his penchant for the on side; the area from midwicket to long-on is his favoured arc. On a belter of a wicket, Rajasthan did themselves no favours by continuously feeding him length balls on middle and leg and he cashed in.After dismissing two deliveries from Sumit Narwal to midwicket early in the innings, captain Shane Warne immediately stationed two fielders at the boundary on the leg side to check Vijay’s scoring. It didn’t bother him and he continued to challenge the fielders, using his feet against the spinners Yusuf Pathan and Warne. His footwork was the highlight of his knock against Bangalore and today he gave Warne the treatment with a clean hit over the sightscreen to bring up his half-century.He carried on after that milestone, without sparing a single bowler. Shaun Tait ought to have tested him out with some quick, short stuff aimed at the ribcage, but such deliveries were few and far between. When Tait did dig one in short, Vijay slapped him over third man. Two balls later, another short delivery sat up nicely for him to dismiss it over the roof at deep midwicket. Vijay’s favourite whipping boy of the evening, Narwal, was slammed for three more sixes in the region between cow corner and midwicket. The third hit – his ninth six – broke Yusuf’s tournament record for the most sixes in an innings.Perhaps Rajasthan didn’t see footage of his previous knocks to work out where not to bowl. The power and bat speed behind those shots ensured the ball covered a significant distance over the ropes. Besides the bullying leg-side hits, there were a few deft late cut boundaries as well.The delirious crowd got its money’s worth when a powerful straight drive beat mid-off and brought up his century, off just 46 balls. Vijay bent down on one knee, punched the air and gestured to the yellow shirts seated at the dug out. If there were any doubters questioning his place in the XI, he had his answer. It helped that he had an attacking ally in Albie Morkel who made a scorching 60 in a stand of 152. Vijay finished just one short of Yusuf’s record for the most sixes of IPL 3, a curious stat given Vijay’s reputation of being a Test player.Vijay’s knock wasn’t just about giving the bowlers the charge. He used the crease effectively to deliveries pitched up too, such as when he got under a yorker length ball off Shane Watson to scoop it just over the deep extra cover rope. Not all deliveries dispatched by Vijay were terrible – he was in the zone for the almost the entire innings.Vijay walked back to a standing ovation in front of his home fans, reinforcing his worth to the national selectors. With a handful of Tests under his belt, he still remains a fringe player as far as India is concerned. An IPL century is another feather to his cap. Quite a rapid rise for someone who took to cricket only at the age of 17, the same age at which the man he replaced in the line-up, Parthiv Patel, started playing Tests for India.

ESPNcricinfo picks the highlights of the first round of the Ranji Trophy 2010-11

Abhishek Purohit06-Nov-20106, 1, 0, 2, 4, 2, 1, 0
Is this a phone number? No, it isn’t. But it could well become 18-year old Deepak Chahar’s calling card. These were the scores of the eight Hyderabad batsmen who fell to Chahar, the Rajasthan right-arm medium-pacer, in his debut first-class innings. Hyderabad managed 21 runs in that innings at Jaipur, the lowest total in Ranji Trophy history. Chahar, the son of an Air Force employee, snapped up four more wickets in the match as his side won inside three days. After the heady debut, he’s already drawing comparisons with Praveen Kumar and Manoj Prabhakar for his ability to swing the ball. There has even been talk of a possible IPL contract, already.Sree’s shoe, Sony’s show
The secret of Sreesanth’s success is out. It’s in the shoes. Ask Sony Cheruvathur, the Kerala fast bowler, who took a five-wicket haul to help his side take the first-innings lead against Services. “Sree has been giving me his shoes since 2007 when he got his shoe contract. Whenever I have an important match like the first of a season, I wear them. We have different shoe sizes, but they have always fitted me perfectly. I think they are lucky for me,” he told the .Cheruvathur also claims a connection between the shoes, himself and Sreesanth. “Last year, I was playing against Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu. Sreesanth came all the way to Jammu and gave [me] another pair of spikes. I took ten wickets in that match and within a few days, Sree also took six wickets at Kanpur [against Sri Lanka].” He then adds ominously, “So New Zealand had better watch out.”Ground reality
The wicket came into play but not in the manner in which the home team wanted. Delhi’s game against Bengal was the first four-day match in over a year at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The Delhi & Districts Cricket Association’s poor track record encompasses both the animate and the inanimate: selection procedures, ticket procurement, spectator comfort and only then does the wicket come into the picture. But the abandonment of the ODI against Sri Lanka in December last year spotlighted the DDCA’s shortcomings all around the world. As one of the World Cup venues, the heat is now on the association to put the pitch back in order. With the home team dreaming of grass for their pace bowlers, the curators hoping for the fates to be kind to them and the officials looking over their shoulder for ICC approval, the Kotla wicket held together for four whole days and produced the runs, though the ball kept low and didn’t exactly come onto the bat. The Delhi players hope for the wicket to ‘settle down’ after a few matches. ‘Settle down’ in Kotla language actually means the bowlers want it to lighten up.Moving home?
Delhi play five matches at home this season and already there is mass grumbling whether the Kotla wicket is going to work for their fast bowlers. Their fixtures get tougher as the season goes, and while the next two visitors Gujarat and Assam, are far from being the gold standard in the eight-team group, Delhi’s last two ties are against Railways and Mumbai. After the Bengal game, the Delhi management is going to decide whether to ask for a shift of venue from Kotla to the Roshanara Club Ground, where the members may be snobbish, but for Delhi’s pacers the pitch is pure hospitality.The Switch, and then the Hit
Ambati Rayudu has had an eventful career so far. He started on a high with Hyderabad, moved to Andhra and then returned to Hyderabad. He’s been to the ICL and back. He’s had a successful stint with the Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL. He was also part of the Hyderabad side that got relegated to the Plate League last year. He then decided to switch to Baroda, a decision that did not please Venkatapathy Raju, the Hyderabad coach.Good for Rayudu that he did, for he could have ended up as another single-digit number on Chahar’s calling card in Jaipur. However, he was in another part of the country, in Cuttack, where he made an unbeaten second-innings 200 against Orissa – of which 126 runs came in boundaries.<!–
32, 38, 41, 31.5
There is no hidden pattern in these numbers. They are the over-rates in the first session on each of the days of the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Saurashtra. Even as international captains pay penalties for the excruciatingly slow over-rates, it is nice to see domestic sides get on with the job without much fuss.
–>Shaun Tait at a Ranji game
In these times, to spot a celebrity at a domestic match in India is like finding yourself in the same restaurant as Sachin Tendulkar. Both happen rarely. So when Shaun Tait, the fastest bowler in cricket, wandered into the Bandra-Kurla Complex grounds, the club members, otherwise happily enjoying the club’s recreational facilities, thronged the Australian and added some glamour to Mumbai’s season opener against Saurashtra.The rise of Bengal
When Bengal took three first-innings points off hosts Delhi in their opening game, they wanted it to be an omen that the good days were back. Bengal fast bowler Ranadeb Bose, the first-class cricket veteran, said he had never witnessed such “body language” and “attitude” in his team. Even when Virat Kohli was munching through the Bengal bowling, and catches were being dropped off Bose and his bowling partner Ashok Dinda, the visitors “didn’t panic”. It took them 148.1 overs to get ten Delhi wickets, which ultimately happened because the team was like its bowlers – disciplined and patient. At key moments, like the run-out of Kohli, Bengal didn’t choke. Now, the proof in this particular pudding is seeing whether it can hold together when Mumbai comes calling in the second round.

After Jacques Kallis got his first Test double-century, the argument that he is the greatest ever South Africa batsman has grown stronger

Firdose Moonda at SuperSport Park18-Dec-2010After he had stood with his arms in the air for what seemed like hours, his helmet in one hand, the breeze gently brushing his new crop of hair, Jacques Kallis returned to the crease and played a booming, mock drive, almost as though he was teeing off on the golfing greens. Perhaps that’s the shot he wanted to use to get his first Test double-hundred. Perhaps it didn’t matter; all that did was that he had finally got there.When Kallis reached 197, the monkey on his back was as large as Lisa the gorilla at the Johannesburg zoo. His eyes were darting about like fireflies. He realised he was one stroke away from a landmark that had eluded him so far. He played a solid forward defensive, typical of the mental picture most get when they think of Kallis. Then he was given two balls to think about how close he was.AB de Villiers defended first, against Jaidev Unadkat, and then set off for a quick single to the covers. Kallis had to face his reality. It could have been an imminently more scary reality if he was up against Zaheer Khan, Mitchell Johnson or Stuart Board, but Unadkat helped the cause with a delivery pleading “hit me” down the leg side. A glance was all it took, AB de Villiers was celebrating like it was his own double ton at the other end, and the monkey leapt off Kallis’ back.Suddenly, the run machine became a human being. He removed his helmet and said a few words to the heavens. It’s likely they were for his late father, Henry, who had a big influence on his career and passed away while Kallis was on tour in England in 2003. Then, he returned to earth and acknowledged the almost capacity crowd who were on their feet worshipping. His theme song ‘Life is life’ by Opus was being drowned out by their applause. They waved their South African flags for him alone. A man who was always perceived as aloof and distant was being embraced by the crowd and he let them in and allowed them to share in his joy.It was clear that Kallis’ double-hundred meant a lot, not just to him but all of South African cricket. It was the elephant in the room in discussions about whether he can be considered the all-time greatest of South African batsmen. Graeme Pollock, Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten, three of the strongest candidates for that label, had ticked the 200 off their list. Kallis had enjoyed a longer career than all of them but in 15 years and four days of life as an international cricketer, he was not able to do the same.It’s not that he didn’t have opportunities to achieve it; it’s that he never took them. In 2001, against Zimbabwe was the closest he got. On a flat pitch in Bulawayo, Kallis could easily have scored at a quicker rate, but it was at a time when he was deeply immersed in his own game and trundled along like a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. His 50 took 160 balls, his 100, a further 120 balls and he faced 443 balls in all for his 189. Kallis spent 19 minutes short of ten hours at the crease on that occasion and eventually ran out of partners.By November 2007, Kallis was more of a team man, and had wasted a few more chances to get a double-hundred. His best opportunity came against New Zealand, when he looked supremely confident and then lost concentration when he was on 186 and was caught behind off an outside edge. His most recent opportunity came in February in Nagpur. Kallis was off to a blazing start, with 50 off 75 balls, and then settled in for the long haul. Eventually, he was out to an inside-edge that popped up to forward short-leg.All told, Kallis has had ten innings where he has scored over 150 and wasn’t able to push on to a double-hundred. This time it was different. He reached the milestone with such ease that it makes it almost inexplicable why he hasn’t been able to get there before. He reached his century in style on Friday, with magnificent drives the highlight of his hundred. Kallis started slowly on Saturday morning, perhaps mindful that the maximum he had ever added to an overnight century was 37 runs.Once he’d gone past the 150, it was a straight road to the milestone. His achievement was meaningful not just to himself, but to the team as a whole. Graeme Smith led the applause from the dressing room. Kallis’ long-time friend Mark Boucher could not be seen on camera, but his delight will no doubt overflow.The weight of expectation had finally lifted off Kallis’ broad shoulders and although no one doubted his stature, it grew as much as his hair. He is not the most approachable character, he doesn’t relate to fans in the same way as some of the other members of the squad because he simply isn’t as much of a joker. That said, the respect they have for him and his abilities is unquestionable. Now that he has achieved the milestone that evaded him for so long, South Africans pride will only swell in being able to call him their own.King Kallis, as they have named him, laid claim to his crown. Whether it was because of the sudden acquisition of hair on his balding scalp, the fact that he saw an opportunity more clearly and took it or that he had a desire to make a statement to an Indian team that is packed with some of the world’s classiest batsmen, doesn’t matter. What does is that he did it and now that he has tasted the sweetness of a double hundred, how many more will come?

Chris Tremlett’s triumphant return to Hampshire has lasted just 18.2 overs all told, but that’s 18 more than it took for David Saker, England’s bowling coach, to be persuaded he was a talent

Andrew Miller at the Rose Bowl17-Jun-2011If any doubts lingered, they’ve been emphatically dispelled now. When Chris Tremlett took the plunge at the end of a dismal 2009 season, and said farewell to the Rose Bowl in a bid to further his England ambitions, he did so in the knowledge that his career was at its make-or-break moment. Three promising Tests against India in 2007 had given way to two seasons of flaky form and lost focus, and his shift to Surrey was a final opportunity to prove he had the temperament to use his incredible natural fast-bowling attributes.Two years on, it is looking like the best decision he has ever made in his life. So far his triumphant return to Hampshire has lasted just 18.2 overs all told, but that’s 18 more than it took for David Saker, England’s bowling coach, to be persuaded that Tremlett was a talent that no self-respecting team could allow to go to waste. It was in the nets at The Oval last season, bowling to his new county team-mate Kevin Pietersen, that his exhilarating combination of height, strength, accuracy and technique were properly showcased in front of the England management.”I just watched two balls and went up to Andy Flower and said ‘This guy is a Test cricketer’,” Saker recalled. “Any bowler with height excites me, but that day in the nets, because I was so close and watching from behind, it looked even better. I said I don’t know what’s happened in the past, but if we can keep this guy on the park I had no hesitation [in believing] he could play good Test cricket if he could get his body right. I suppose after the last 12 months, he’s shown a lot of people in England he can do the job.”On the second day at the Rose Bowl, Tremlett was formidable. His two-wicket burst on the opening day had confirmed the restoration of his rhythm after a stutter at Lord’s last week, and on Friday he followed up with three further scalps in a vicious six-over burst, before returning for a final surge shortly before the rain. From his first delivery, Suranga Lakmal flinched a panicky hook to the keeper to secure Tremlett his Test-best figures of 6 for 42, and there’s the prospect of one more to come on Saturday morning.This was fast bowling at its nastiest, albeit delivered from one of nature’s nice guys. It was Tremlett’s inability to cultivate a killer instinct that frustrated his captain, Shane Warne, and held his career back for most of his nine years at Hampshire, but in his second coming as an England cricketer, he has quite literally let the ball do his talking.”Chris is a very introverted guy who just gets the ball in the right area time and time again,” said Saker. “When he gets his length right, he’s a huge handful. He’s challenging the stumps, the batsmen’s gloves, the splice of the bat, and batters really struggle against tall bowlers who keep hitting the splice regardless of length. All you need then is a bit of sideways movement that brings the rest of the fielders into play, as well as lbws and bowleds.”Tillakaratne Dilshan would certainly concur with that after being struck three times on the same thumb at Cardiff and Lord’s, and this time it was Thilan Samaraweera who suffered the exact same impact. Tremlett’s second delivery of the day reared brutally into his bottom hand, and before that initial over was out, Sri Lanka’s most obdurate batsman had fenced limply to gully. Arguably not since Joel Garner was in his pomp has such a physically imposing cricketer produced such an impact in the Test arena, and while Saker was cautious about inviting comparisons with one of the greats of the game, he did not deny a certain degree of similarity.Of greater consequence to the England management, however, is the manner in which Tremlett complements and enhances the threat posed by James Anderson at the opposite end of the pitch. With steepling bounce to ram the batsmen back into the crease at one end, and a jagging full length to lure them forward once again at the other, the two men form an alliance that has the same little and large menace that has proven so irresistible for South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.As it happens, Anderson and Tremlett, plus Ryan Sidebottom, were in harness when India last toured England back in 2007, and all three performed admirably against an array of formidable batsmen. However, both of the survivors from that series have developed exponentially ahead of the rematch that is looming ever larger in July, and if the Rose Bowl conditions can be replicated elsewhere in the country, Saker for one believes that they can be a match for any opposition.”India are a handful at any time with their batting line-up,” said Saker. “But if we get wickets with bounce in them, that will suit Chris. The Indians will be troubled by him, and if he can get the wickets he needs, we’re looking forward to that Test series very much. It was very pleasing to see how much it bounced here today, and if we had to wheel out a wicket week in, week out, that’s what we’d like to see.”Before that series gets underway at Lord’s in a month’s time, however, England are desperate for their third seamer, Stuart Broad, to rediscover his best form. He was given every opportunity to scalp some easy wickets today when Andrew Strauss unleashed him on Sri Lanka’s bruised lower-order, but instead he was stabbed and swatted for 20 runs in a wicketless six-over spell. It is unlikely that his mood was lifted when Graeme Swann then struck with his second ball of the match, although Saker was adamant that any problems were strictly temporary.”He’s been dreadfully unlucky, and it’s only a matter of time before he turns it around,” Saker insisted. “He hasn’t put too many games together of late so the more he plays the better he’s going to get. He beat the bat a lot in this Test, and if he’d got two or three more wickets in this series, not too many people would be talking about him.”Nevertheless, for all the bullish support from his coach, Broad does currently look like a man who has lost his purpose in the team. Not so long ago at the start of the Ashes, he, rather than Tremlett, was Anderson’s splice-attacking foil, and yet at Cardiff last month, he found himself being jokingly referred to by his team-mate as a “midget”. In five Tests since the last English summer, he has now taken eight wickets at 62.37, and no matter how much England talk up his value as a team performer, those sorts of numbers are going to start to chafe.”Sometimes when you’re looking for wickets, you do change your lengths a bit too much instead of banging away at an area,” said Saker. “But as a bowling coach I’m really happy with the way he is going.”For the time being, that happiness involves backing Broad’s penchant for the short ball, for Saker – an ugly-tempered paceman in his own playing days – values the intent that’s on show every time the ball is banged down in his own half of the pitch. “When Stuart bowls them you can tell there’s a lot of vengeance and aggression behind them,” he said. “There’s probably no better bowler in the world at bowling bouncers than Stuart Broad.”That’s definitely his personality and we do want him to be the enforcer in our team,” Saker added. “We’ve got three different personalities and we try to bowl to their strengths as well as those personalities. Chris is a very introverted guy whereas Stuart likes to attack and he’s warrior-like. We like him when he’s aggressive and we want him to be like that.”There may yet come a time, with more match fitness and on a less responsive surface than the Rose Bowl, when Broad’s stamina and desire does revert to top billing. But right at this moment, all the talk is of a bowler whose best spells come when he moseys along within himself. When your physique alone does the threatening, there’s nothing more you need do but hit the spot and reap the rewards.

Australia’s bowling, so unthreatening during the Ashes last summer, appears to be rediscovering its elements of mystery, danger and excitement with a trio of bewitching debuts in the space of six Test matches.

Daniel Brettig at the Gabba04-Dec-2011First Nathan Lyon, then Pat Cummins, and now James Pattinson. Australia’s bowling, so unthreatening during the Ashes last summer, appears to be rediscovering its elements of mystery, danger and excitement with a trio of bewitching debuts in the space of six Test matches.Pattinson’s blink-or-you’ll-miss-it destruction of a fading New Zealand on the fourth morning of the first Test in Brisbane was as thrilling for Australia as Lyon’s five against Sri Lanka in Galle, and Cummins’ wickets and winning runs to stun South Africa in Johannesburg.The fascinating thing about Pattinson’s spell, which began with the wicket of Brendon McCullum on the third evening and peaked with three wickets in four balls – Jesse Ryder retained his off stump by a centimetre or two on the hat-trick ball – in his first over on the fourth, is that it had been a relatively long time coming. Unlike Lyon and Cummins, each introduced to the Test team on the strength of their promise within 12 months of a first-class debut, 21-year-old Pattinson had been building up to his baggy green cap for some time. He first toured with Australia to India in late 2010, and has whirred down over upon over in the nets across four overseas trips with the national team. On that first trip Pattinson left a distinct impression with all the batsmen who faced him, and only a back complaint prevented him from edging closer to the Test XI in the summer that followed.Such growing pains are considered inevitable among those who have known the challenge of bowling swiftly for their country, and Pattinson returned stronger still. His innate speed and bounce have been augmented by the development of a powerful physique, a torso convex where once it was concave. The time in the wings has also allowed Pattinson to adapt from the “dry”, short of length bowling desired by his state, Victoria, to the fuller and more swinging approach favoured by Australia’s bowling coach Craig McDermott. Possessing quite pronounced natural curve away from the bat, Pattinson has developed the ability and the inclination to pitch the ball further up, something he was richly rewarded for at the Gabba.McDermott’s role in this is not to be underestimated, for he has spent as much time with Pattinson as any other member of the Australian attack in recent months. As the reserve bowler in Sri Lanka, Pattinson spent an awful lot of time delivering to McDermott’s baseball mitt rather than Brad Haddin’s gloves, and had to deal with the frustrations of a non-playing tourist. In this case, McDermott’s empathy, having lived every experience of a young fast bowler both in and out of the Australian team, has proved invaluable. After spending so much time with Pattinson, there was even a hint of disappointment in McDermott when Cummins was chosen first.”I think it’s been very helpful, particularly with young guys like James Pattinson,” McDermott said in South Africa. “Throughout the Sri Lanka tour he trained his backside off day in, day out and didn’t really play much cricket. He’s come to South Africa and bowled very well in the T20s and was unlucky to not stay on for the Tests.”Much as Pattinson had to wait a little longer for his Test debut, he also had to wait until the second innings to find his best rhythm. Handed the new ball by Michael Clarke on the first morning, Pattinson was understandably nervous, and his palms grew clammier with each brazen stroke by McCullum. Importantly, few of the runs Pattinson leaked were to deliveries fired halfway down the pitch, instead they were full, swinging and loaded with risk for any batsman choosing to chase them. A better second spell would account for the captain Ross Taylor, who dragged onto his stumps in reckless fashion in the same over the bowler had muddled him by moving the ball into him and also away.Having claimed a first wicket and batted capably in Australia’s 427, Pattinson emerged for the second innings with a clearer head. Granted a brief burst at New Zealand’s openers, he added direction and venom to the swing of the first innings, and capped a quartet of overs for one run by drawing McCullum into an edge to second slip. Swift, seaming and indeterminate of length, it would have been difficult to bowl a better delivery to a top order batsman late in the day.When play resumed this morning Pattinson found it was equally useful when those same batsmen were starting again. Variety accounted for Martin Guptill, squeezing a rib-bound rocket to short leg, before Kane Williamson, Taylor and the nightwatchman Doug Bracewell fenced dimly at the away swing and offered catches to the cordon. Late arrivals to the ground blinked at a scoreboard reading 5-28, Pattinson 5-7, and the match decided.Lyon, now a comparative veteran of six Tests, claimed a hopelessly befuddled Jesse Ryder as the next wicket on his way to another exceptionally tidy match analysis of 7-88. With Cummins soon to return from the inconvenience of a bruised heel, Australia’s bowling ensemble is starting to look as rich in 2011-12 as it seemed poor only a season ago. Clarke now has high speed, late swing, and beguiling spin to call on. He is becoming spoiled for choice, where at times his predecessor Ricky Ponting struggled to know who to throw the ball to.