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“We’ve had injuries, we’ve been a little bit unsettled, but the main thing is getting guys in key areas and in form,” CSK coach Fleming says

Deivarayan Muthu24-Apr-20242:15

Fleming: ‘We’re a little bit uncomfortable with some areas’

Form – or the lack thereof – and the unavailability of key players have left Chennai Super Kings searching for their ideal team combination, eight games into the season. This is the assessment of CSK head coach Stephen Fleming after they suffered their first defeat at home, against Lucknow Super Giants, on Tuesday.CSK had left out Rachin Ravindra to bring back Daryl Mitchell and pair up captain Ruturaj Gaikwad with Ajinkya Rahane at the top. But the changes didn’t bring the kind of output that CSK were looking for, with Mitchell falling for 11 off 10 balls and Rahane for 1 off 3.”It’s a mixture of trying to find that [combination] and also form,” Fleming said at his post-match press conference. “We’re a little bit uncomfortable with some areas, so we’re trying to find not a quick fix, but the right combination where players are going to contribute for the back end of this tournament.”Related

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At various points during the tournament, CSK’s balance has been disrupted by injuries to Matheesha Pathirana (hamstring niggle) and Rahane (calf niggle). Mustafizur Rahman had also missed CSK’s away game against Sunrisers Hyderabad to tend to his US visa for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Mustafizur is available to CSK till May 1, when they will face Punjab Kings at Chepauk, and will then return to Bangladesh for their home series against Zimbabwe. Devon Conway’s replacement, Richard Gleeson, the England quick, is yet to join the CSK squad.”We’ve got another change coming up with Mustafizur [leaving] in a couple of games,” Fleming said. “So, we’re just trying to prepare and get a side that will give us the run home. We’ve had injuries, we’ve been a little bit unsettled, but the main thing is getting guys in key areas and in form. That sometimes takes a bit of time. Yes, there has been more change; some were forced upon us and some of it is form.”Mitchell, for whom CSK splurged INR 14 crore at the auction, has managed only 146 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 123.72. That he has batted in four different positions in seven innings hasn’t helped his cause, but Fleming is hopeful of Mitchell finding his feet at No.3, a role where he has had success for New Zealand.”There’s a lot of pressure obviously,” Fleming said. “Getting up the order is more comfortable for him. Me putting him down the order in the hitting role wasn’t his best position. So, we’ve looked to rectify that and get him up the order where he has had his best performances internationally. That might take a little bit of time, but the top three need to contribute the majority of runs.2:22

McClenaghan: CSK made mistakes in the field

“Ruturaj did that today, so hopefully he can continue his form and the others can pick that up… We’re not firing on all cylinders by any means but we’re in each game and we’re asking teams to play well to beat us. We just got to get a little bit better.”The surfaces in Chennai this season haven’t been as spin-friendly as they had been in the past, nullifying one of CSK’s major strengths. On Tuesday, in conditions that became better for batting with the onset of dew, Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali bowled just two overs each. Overall, CSK’s spinners have picked up just four wickets in four home games and in contrast, the fast bowlers have taken 22 wickets in those games.”There’s not much assistance, we’ve had one pitch, which turned, and we won comfortably,” Fleming said. “Yeah, I would like more synergy between the pitch and what we’re trying to do. I unashamedly say that; it’s your home ground and you have to defend and pick teams accordingly. So, when it’s out of sync, you find it very difficult, so it’s not quite right yet.”But we just have to be good enough to play on what’s in front of us. So, while you can moan off the field and love to have a little bit different, it’s not the case and we just have to make sure we’re good enough to win and we have been. Again, today, we created a chance. It’s not like we’re down and out, but we know we could be stronger, if conditions are a little bit different.”The Chepauk conditions will come into sharp focus once again, ahead of CSK’s next game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday. While CSK have depth in their spin attack, SRH are missing Wanindu Hasaranga and their Indian legspinner Mayank Markande has leaked runs at 11.42 an over – the third-worst economy rate among bowlers who have bowled at least 15 overs this season.SRH have never beaten CSK in Chennai in four attempts.

If anyone should have a handle on what Glenn McGrath’s absence means to the Australian team, Shaun Pollock should. McGrath is, after all, Australia’s own Pollock

Telford Vice04-Mar-2006

Glenn McGrath: missing from Australia’s attack © Getty Images
If anyone should have a handle on what Glenn McGrath’s absence means to the Australian team, Shaun Pollock should. McGrath is, after all, Australia’s own Pollock. Not as a batsman, in terms of which he used to be Australia’s own Courtney Walsh, since he significantly improved. McGrath also isn’t nearly as versatile as the South African in the field. And, of course, we don’t know what sort of Test captain he might have made. But, purely as a bowler, he’s right up there with Pollock.Apologies to readers who have not spent half the southern summer grinding their teeth through the Channel 9 commentary team’s numbing insistence on comparing everything anyone could ever think of anytime, anywhere, to some lofty Australian ideal: “NASA wants to put a man on Mars? Aw, mate, but the view’s so much better from Ayers Rock.” But there can be no argument about McGrath’s status in Australia’s cricket history. He has grooved a place among the very best of their players.Pollock has an illuminating take on what the outback’s own automaton means to the team that owes him so much of its success. “When you’ve got a class act like ‘Pidge’, who’s been around for many years, he is so difficult to replace,” he said. “You might get guys who come in and they do a sort of a job for a while. They have games where they are good and they have games when it doesn’t go so well. That’s all about gaining experience.”People talk about experience and mention a lot of things about experience, but you don’t understand it until you are really out there and doing your job. When you have built up some experience you have a feel for what conditions are like, what you should be doing on that certain day to make things work. You get a good feel because you’ve been there and done it.”Some of the guys who come in, not to say they don’t have the skills, or aren’t as good bowlers, but sometimes they just don’t realise what’s required on the day. That’s the big plus of experience and that’s what they can miss. Some of those young guys have a lot of talent and their actions are good, but sometimes it’s just that experience you gain from playing 50 or 60 one-day internationals that really does help you on certain days.”McGrath has played a few more than 50 or 60 ODIs – 221, in fact. He has also played 119 Tests. But he is not in South Africa with the Australian team, having done the right thing and withdrawn from the tour after his wife suffered a recurrence of cancer.Batsmen who face McGrath must wonder whether he files his toenail clippings in chronological order or according to size. There is no more organised, precise, bloodlessly efficient bowler in the game. It’s a good thing he blows his top every so often, otherwise we would have to put his heart-rate on the scoreboard just to know he’s alive.The continued pursuit of utter consistency, which the more fallible among us tend to regard as “the last refuge of the unimaginative”, as someone once said, has to be McGrath’s only remaining reason for dragging himself to another net practice. And if you happen to see these words, Glenn, please take them from whence they come – a South African who has to stifle a groan of apprehension every time you mark out your run-up in matches against our lot.McGrath’s absence, and with it the injuries to Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds, have stripped Australia of a fair amount of prickle. Gone, it seems, is the team that rebuffed South Africa almost effortlessly Down Under. In its place is a suddenly vulnerable bunch in which an injury to a fringe player like Stuart Clark is immediately upgraded to a “setback”. An Australian Test team sans McGrath might also put the skids under another venerable denizen of the once omnipotent juggernaut. At least, that’s according to Gary Kirsten.

Shaun Pollock and Graeme Smith: plotting Australia’s downfall © Getty Images
“Our batsmen can play Shane Warne out,” Kirsten said. “Previously McGrath has been at the other end and he is almost impossible to score off. Naturally batsmen have tried to go after Warne a bit because he is seen as easier to get away than McGrath. Not having him will affect how Australia plays because he and Warne bowl so well together. Batsmen can now try to see out Warne and go after the bowler at the other end.”Australia found out just how valuable McGrath is to their cause in the last Ashes series, when they lost both the matches he missed through injury. Who will dare to step into the space previously occupied by such a giant is not a question to be answered without thorough thought. Do the Australians stick with the men they have on tour, which would mean asking Nathan Bracken to share the new ball with Brett Lee? Or perhaps a recovered Clark? Or do they hark back home and resurrect the career of Jason Gillespie or Michael Kasprowicz?Bracken seems to feel the gravity of the moment, judging by his delicate dance around the subject. “I’d love to take the new ball … I enjoy doing it and it suits my style of bowling, swinging the ball,” he said. “It’s unfortunate for Glenn but it’s a chance for me to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m never going to replace a Glenn McGrath, but if I can come in and give something different to the team then I can do a job.”Over on the other side of the fence, the grass is dazzlingly green. “When we got together [after the tour to Australia] there was a lot of energy,” Pollock said. “We were laughing and joking and there was excitement in the air.” That mood lingers, and it went a long way to earning South Africa victory in the Twenty20 tour opener and the first two ODIs, the second of which was a Makhaya Ntini engineered rout.A month ago many South Africans spoke of their team as if they were discussing a man with a drinking problem. Now they can’t stop toasting their success and talking of winning the one-day series, at least. A major factor in what remains a few wins short of a resurgence is the roaring return to form of Graeme Smith, who smashed 89 not out off 58 balls in the Twenty20 and 119 not out in the first ODI.”I think he’s probably had a good look at his game and had a look at how he got out in Australia, and tried to rectify that,” Ponting said of Smith. “It’s up to us to come back with something different. We’ve spoken about him and we know what we want to do.”A subplot in all this is that, in these times of hysterical crowd behaviour, had McGrath been on this tour he would have been treated with the dignity he deserved. The hype surrounding Australia’s likely hostile reception in South Africa, fuelled by the disgraceful conduct of some of those who blighted Australian grounds this season, has fallen flat. Why? Because South Africa are winning again.Designated baddies like Lee and Adam Gilchrist will always be jeered here, and Ponting should brace himself for a verbal mauling when he returns to fitness, particularly if he dares to ask an umpire a question. But McGrath’s space would have been respected almost as if he were one of our own. He is, after all, Australia’s own Pollock.

Using swing, movement, pace and precision, Zaheer Khan destroyed Sri Lanka’s batting

Sidharth Monga in Margao14-Feb-2007

Running in full steam, with the knowledge that things are going for him, and a worked-up crowd to boot, is a scary sight © GNNphoto
Eleven minutes before the start of play today, Zaheer Khan walked out of the dressing room, tape in hand, and Greg King, the team trainer, alongside him. They spent a considerable while marking Zaheer’s run-up at both ends with the help of the tape, measuring it to perfection; a couple of hours later, the result was for all to see. Zaheer’s 10 overs of pace, precision, movement and swing gave him figures of 5 for 42 and his burst at the start of Sri Lanka’s innings – 2.2-0-3-3 – decided the course of the match.It was his first ODI five-wicket haul and he was naturally pleased with himself at the post-match press conference. “I hit the length early”, he said, explaining his phenomenal bowling. “In the subcontinent, the ball does something for the bowlers in the first half an hour. So if you bowl in the right areas, you definitely get the rewards.”Easier said than done, of course, as is his continued dominance of left-handed batsmen. Having recently tormented Graeme Smith and Sourav Ganguly, he took out the top three Sri Lankan left-hand batsmen today. First was Sanath Jayasuriya – still dangerous at 37 – who could not free his arms to pull an accurate bouncer. Upul Tharanga got a mean in-cutter and played late from the back foot. Kumar Sangakkara, who scored a century in the last match, was also found late on an incoming delivery and played it on to the base of the stumps.”I think I’m able to bowl both my deliveries to left-handers”, he said, explaining his edge. “The one that comes in and the one that goes away.”Later in the innings, when Sri Lanka had semi-recovered from his early strikes, Zaheer returned to thwart any chances of a late surge. At the death he bowled with imagination, accuracy and, most importantly, with success. The last three overs cost him 11 runs and brought him two wickets to complete his five-for and bag him him the man-of-the-match award too.He is one of two high-profile players making a comeback return in the past few months and his return has been overshadowed by that of Sourav Ganguly, yet Zaheer has quietly and surely made the most difference to India’s performance. The comeback has not come without hard work; he put in the hard yards in county and domestic cricket to earn his call-up. “It’s been a long season for me,” Zaheer said, before pointing out the positives in that. “I have been able to hit the length consistently because I have bowled so many overs. I have been able to keep up the match fitness and practice. I have kept the rhythm going because I haven’t taken any break for the last one year now.”Zaheer is an impact bowler. Bowling a tight line and length just to stifle the batsmen probably bores him; long spells to tie the batsmen down is not his forte. The way he announced himself at the international stage with yorker to Steve Waugh at the ICC Knockout in 2000 testifies to his liking for the big occasion. Running in full steam, with the knowledge that things are going for him, and a worked-up crowd to boot, is a scary sight. The way he looks at the batsmen from the corner of his eye just before the big leap, the way he demands – not seeks – lbw decisions by just running off after trapping a batsman, with one hand facing the umpire, only looking back as an afterthought or a formality, adds to the intimidating effect.Yet only a few months ago, his attitude was being questioned. Four years ago, in the final of the last World Cup, he choked in that first over. And if he was indeed out of the team, as speculated, for attitude problems, he has shown through simple practices – like coming out well before the match to mark his run-up – to show he is a changed man. He now has a second bite at the cherry; you can bet he’ll make it last.

Sixteen-year-old Adil Raza has stepped up to the responsibility of being Pakistan’s pace spearhead at the Under-19 World Cup

George Binoy in Kuala Lumpur25-Feb-2008
Adil Raza has been the pick of the Pakistan bowlers © Getty Images
Pakistan’s lavishly talented new-ball attacks have set the Under-19 WorldCup alight in recent tournaments: Riaz Afridi finished near the top of the wickets table in 2004, and the trio of Anwar Ali, Jamshed Ahmed and Akhtar Ayub sensationally dismissed India for 71 while defending 109 to retain the trophy in 2006. Inevitably, their squad for 2008 had a potent pairing as well,formed by Mohammad Aamer and Adil Raza.However, that partnership has been on view only once in the World Cup,when Pakistan destroyed Malaysia for 75 with Raza taking 6 for 29 andAamer 3 for 12. Since then, Aamer has been hospitalised with a denguevirus and will not play any further part in the World Cup. His absence hasadded to Raza’s responsibility and, encouragingly for Pakistan, he hasstepped up and delivered. Raza is only 16 and is the thirdhighest wicket-taker in the tournament so far with 11 at 8 runsapiece. His first-over dismissals of both the Australian openers for ducksplayed a significant role in Pakistan qualifying for the semi-finals.The quarter-final against Australia was Pakistan’s first game at theKinrara Oval, and the conditions were different from those in Johor, where theyplayed their group matches. Imad Wasim, the Pakistan captain, said thatthe pitches in Johor were wet and Raza agreed that there was far moreassistance for the fast bowlers there.”There was more moisture in the pitches in Johor for about 20 overs so theball moves a lot,” Raza said. “Here there is moisture for about 5-7 overs and after that it’s a flat wicket.”My plan was to first check what the conditions are like, get an idea ofhow much the ball is swinging and bowl accordingly. If the ball was moving[off the pitch] too much then I try to make the batsmen come on the frontfoot, and if it doesn’t move much I try to keep the batsmen in thecrease.”Evidently he did not take long to understand the conditions at the Kinrara, forhe induced an edge from the left-handed Phillip Hughes with his third ball and trappedMarcus Stoinis lbw with his sixth. Both deliveries were sharp offcutters, which Raza calls his “main ball”, one that he learnt from Mohammad Asif during a three-month stint at the National Cricket Academy in Pakistan.Demonstrating his technique for the delivery, Raza says that the secret ofthe incutter is getting the wrist position right, and one can’t help butnotice the ring finger on his right hand is oddly shaped. The portionafter the DIP joint (the joint closest to the fingertip) is almost at aright-angle to the rest of the finger.”I injured my finger when I was four,” Raza said. “It got jammed in a doorbut I can grip the ball well because of this finger. It helps support theseam position.”While several U-19 cricketers in this tournament have said that theymade their first forays into the game at the ages of nine and ten, Raza,who is from Gujranwala, started relatively late. It’s been only threeyears since he began playing seriously.”When India came to Pakistan after the previous U-19 World Cup, Raza justcame for the trials and was selected because he was the best among the lot,”Mansoor Rana, the Pakistan U-19 coach, said. “He had not played anydistrict or regional cricket before that. Raza was one of the finds of theyear but he got injured and didn’t play against India.”Raza made his U-19 limited-overs debut in the last of five one-dayersagainst Australia in October 2007 and scalped 4 for 36. He remembered thathe had bowled Kumar Sarna, who opened for Australia in that match and fell to Raza intoday’s quarter-final as well. Since then he has gone on to represent Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy. “I played four matches this season and took 18 wickets which included Faisal Iqbal and Wajatullah Wasti.”Ironically, Raza said that he began as a batsman and batted at No. 6 or7 in the line-up. “When I was a batsman nobody used to play me in theteam. There was a senior called Adnan Farooq who made me understand that Ibowl well and that’s when I started working on my bowling. Then peoplestarted taking an interest in me.”Several Pakistan bowlers have turned heads at the Under-19 World Cup butfew have gone on to establish themselves in the national team. Afridi, astar in 2004, made his Test debut that same year but hasn’t played since.Ali, Ahmed and Ayub from the class of 2006 are active on the first-classcircuit but haven’t taken the next step yet.”There’s a big gap,” Mansoor said. “Apart from exceptions such as WasimAkram, Javed Miandad and Salim Malik, who played right after U-19,cricketers need to play two to four years of first-class cricket to mature.” Razahas at least one more opportunity to perform in front of a world-wide televisionaudience before he slips back into the rigours of domestic cricket.

An expertly compiled collection of Allen’s letters home from the Ashes tour of 1936-37 does nothing to enhance his reputation

Stephen Fay06-Apr-2008


The letters ‘have lasted rather longer than Allen’s reputation’ © The Cricketer International
Gubby Allen, the autocrat of the Lord’s Long Room, was known as “Gubby” because his initials were GOB. His family knew him as “Obie”;that is how he signed letters to his mother and father written when he was England captain during the Ashes tour of 1936-37.That series was won by Australia after they had lost the first two Tests, and it is probably best known for Allen’s response when Walter Robins dropped Don Bradman: “It has probably cost us the rubber, but don’t give it a thought,” he said. If the catch had been dropped in the third Test, Allen’s cruel jibe might have been true, but Brian Rendell tells us that the exchange took place in the second Test, which means it had no decisive bearing on the outcome of the series.But the remark is authentic Allen. Rendell’s slim and revealing volume shows Allen as a master of self-pity, quick to complain about having to make too many speeches and not being free to attend parties given by his Australian relations and their posh friends. He was a control freak who insisted that he chose and ran the team and then moaned when they lost. “I think we were a rotten side,” he concluded. He seems to have been happiest when he left the team behind and partied with film actors in Hollywood at the end of the tour.Rendell tells the story of a fascinating and frustrating tour plainly and well, letting details from the letters bolster the narrative. This leads to some duplication but the full text of the letters does Allen’s posthumous standing no good. He describes the aboriginals at station stops on the Nullarbor Plain: “They really are a ghastly sight and the sooner they die out the better.” They have lasted rather longer than Allen’s reputation.

Most of India’s Test regulars are likely to be the picked in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy match against Delhi, the reigning Ranji Trophy champions

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Sep-2008
This season’s Rest of India squad will be very different from the one that played in the last, given that most of India’s Test regulars are likely to feature © Cricinfo Ltd
Most of India’s Test regulars are likely to be picked in the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy match against Delhi, the reigning Ranji Trophy champions. With India not playing any international cricket till the Australia Test series next month, the selectors will probably choose the best XIV for the domestic season opener from September 24-28.Anil Kumble, India’s Test captain, is likely to lead a strong squad; the last time most Test players featured in the Irani Trophy was in 2003-04, when the Sourav Ganguly-led Rest of India beat a Mumbai side led by Sachin Tendulkar. Usually, the selectors use the Irani Trophy as a platform for upcoming talent to display their prowess, but this time they are averse to including new faces since the match will be the ideal warm-up for India’s players before the first Test against Australia, which begins in Bangalore on October 9. In all probability, they will retain the Test side, with replacements for the players from Delhi – Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma.The players representing India A in the ongoing series against Australia A are unlikely to be considered, since they’ll have more opportunities to play for the A side: besides the three-day games against Australia A, they will also be involved in a tri-series against the A teams from Australia and New Zealand. The one exception could be Robin Uthappa, who is in the A team but could make it to the Rest of India squad in the absence of Test openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Wasim Jaffer and Dinesh Karthik are the other contenders for the openers’ slots. If he makes the cut, Jaffer can count himself lucky since he was dropped from the Test team after a dismal run which fetched him just 175 runs in his last 11 innings.Rest of India (probable)Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma.Karthik, who’s also the team’s second-choice wicketkeeper after Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had cemented his Test place as a regular opener after showing patience and character in challenging conditions during the England tour last year. However, two poor Tests in the subsequent series against Pakistan cost him his place at the top of the order. Karthik got another opportunity – as a wicketkeeper-batsman at No. 7 – when Dhoni opted out of the recent Test series in Sri Lanka. However, after just 36 runs in two Tests, he was dropped in favour of Parthiv Patel for the third and final Test. A good performance here could help one of the openers seal their place in the Test squad as a back-up for Sehwag and Gambhir.The rest of the batting order will probably see no changes. Sachin Tendulkar has declared himself fit for the match, and is likely to play in the middle order alongside Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and VVS Laxman. The likes of Mohammad Kaif, S Badrinath and Yuvraj Singh will have to wait for another chance.The bowling line-up, too, is set to remain unchanged with the exception of Ishant Sharma, who was declared fit by the NCA physio, and now can play for Delhi. Zaheer Khan will most likely share the new ball with Munaf Patel, and RP Singh will be picked as the the third seamer. Pragyan Ojha will be the third spinner along with Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.The selectors, who will meet in Mumbai on Monday, will also pick the India A squad for the tri-series against the A sides from Australia and New Zealand.