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All South Africa’s plans had worked beautifully for first half of the series, but one stunning innings left them searching for answer they couldn’t find

Firdose Moonda at Headingley04-Aug-2012Finally, the see-saw has tipped. After one indifferent day and six during which South Africa dominated, England have arrived to ignite to a contest that has simmered, spluttered and even sparked into life, but only in one direction.On Saturday, which marked the middle of the middle Test of the series, that changed. In the wider context it could be decisive because it was day England snatched some control back. It was also the day South Africa had to deal with being under actual pressure, not irritation, not frustration, but the kind of pressure that requires teams to have to rethink plans.Previously, Jacques Kallis said South Africa have a plan A, B and C for every batsman. What they needed for Kevin Pietersen was a plan D – for defence. Wave after wave of attack crashed off his bat and, as it did, it also drowned out the strategy South Africa had for him.They started with an obvious plan: one close catcher on the off-side to block off that avenue and two in the deep on the leg side to wait for the pull. The short ball worked at The Oval and South Africa thought it would work again. All the bowlers had to do was tempt Pietersen into playing a rash shot. They tried, with a barrage of bouncers that would have ruffled a batsman of lesser quality but did not have the same effect on Pietersen.”We wanted to rough him up,” Allan Donald, South Africa’s bowling coach, admitted. “But it came off for him today. He was aggressive, even with the aggressive field that was set. He kept on pulling off hook and pull shots. The thing with plans like these is that sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t work.”It did not work because Pietersen had prepared for it. “It’s South Africa, I grew up there, I know it’s an aggressive country, they are aggressive people and they bowled aggressively to me,” he said. Dale Steyn, in particular, was the bowler Pietersen was ready for. He said he knew the world’s No.1 quick had been instructed to run in hard and bowl fast but Pietersen also knew Steyn was tired and so he was able to take a run-a-ball off him.South Africa knew the plan was not working, so they resorted to their next options. Those included going wide outside off stump to try and bore Pietersen the way they did Jonathan Trott or full on it, to limit the damage. They spread the field to try to get the debutant James Taylor on strike as well, but Pietesen was alert to it. “They did defend, they went out wide on a 6-3 field for a while. They tried to get me off strike. Those guys are fighters,” he said.Again, it did not work. Instead, Taylor’s debut was made easier because he was allowed to push for singles and the bowlers’ job was made harder. They had to continually change their lengths to adjust to the tall and the short of the England line-up, Pietersen and Taylor, and in so doing did not conquer either, until Taylor played on.

South Africa knew that test would come and they knew it would come hard. Maybe they even knew that the one person who could provide that test would be Pietersen

“He was very watchful and technically sound,” Donald said of Taylor’s first Test innings. “England hung in there and hung in there and now they are back in this Test match. We’ve got to make the perfect play in the morning, we’ve got to come out swinging.”Donald is usually one for bravado not bashfulness. He will first point out what the South Africa attack did right before highlighting areas in which they would prove. This time he did not do either. Instead, he dedicated his time to a total acknowledgement of Pietersen’s feat, an indication that he knew South Africa’s bowlers had erred, probably for the first time in the seriesSome may argue that the first day at The Oval was their previous mistake, but it was not as revealing as this one. Although South Africa were not in control then, neither were England. Alastair Cook and Trott had ground the visitors down, slowly and painfully but not angrily.Neither had charged with the force or fury of Kevin Pietersen. They could not, partly because of the pace of the pitch and partly because they do not have the same swagger as Pietersen. Cook and Trott change games delicately, Pietersen does it brutally. Although he was emphatic in saying he did not think he had turned the game, Pietersen may have flicked the switch of the series.Add to that his acrimonious relationships with the country of his birth and it is not hard to understand why he is capable of unravelling their carefully woven plans. South Africa knew that test would come and they knew it would come hard. Maybe they even knew that the one person who could provide that test would be Pietersen.That is why how they react now matters. It is not how easily a lion can feed when antelope are freely available, but what she does when there are none left and the only option is to attack the elephant. For so long and for so many different reasons that elephant in the room has been Pietersen.This time he stands between them and something they believe they are deserving of – the No.1 Test ranking. England may have seemed willing to give that up before today, but Pietersen has made it clear that if South Africa want it, they will have to rip it away.

The year is set to begin with accolades for two of South Africa’s favourite cricketing sons. Having got to the top of the rankings, the team’s goal is to ensure they stay there

Firdose Moonda at Newlands01-Jan-2013When Graeme Smith drove into Newlands Cricket Ground in his white BMW X5 shortly after 9.30am on New Year’s Day, he looked like a man who had enjoyed his festive break. The effects of relaxation were written all over his usually serious expression because for the first time in over a decade, Smith spent Christmas Day with his family.While Smith took the opportunity to enjoy rare time off in the summer, he also used it to reflect on what more he wants to achieve as Test captain. The conclusion he came to was the same one he hinted at from the day he lead South Africa to the top of the rankings: he would not be satisfied with that alone.In a time when the cricket power base has shifted significantly over small periods, Smith eyes an opening for South Africa to establish an era of dominance. Other members of the squad have said the same and the impression coming out of the camp is that they have their lenses fixed on the bigger picture.”It’s great to sit in team meetings and listen to the guys talk about how they’re approaching the year. There is real motivation to be better and not just to sit on our laurels and say we were part of something special and that is enough for us,” Smith said. “Everyone wants to be a part of more.”For two players, some of that “more,” is likely to come in this Test match. Dale Steyn is one wicket away from joining the prestigious ‘300-wicket club’, of which three other South African bowlers, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini are already part of. And Jacques Kallis is 20 runs shy of becoming the fourth batsman in the world to amass 13,000 Test runs.While Steyn is the spark in South Africa’s bowling, Kallis is the very heart, mind, stomach and head of the Test team. His own body has begun to feel the effects of 17 years of international cricket but he has achieved more than most ever will in that time.When the 13,000 comes up, Kallis will be the fastest to the mark in terms of number of matches. Cape Town will be his 159th Test, while Rahul Dravid got there in 160, Ricky Ponting in 162 and Sachin Tendulkar in 163 matches. Kallis would have played more innings than Tendulkar in reaching 13,000 and it seems Tendulkar is the only one Kallis cannot catch. With both Dravid and Ponting retired, there is every chance Kallis could pass them both and finish his career as the second highest run-scorer of all time.Add to that that Kallis is the only one of the top 20 leading batsmen in the world who can be labelled a genuine allrounder and his status as one of the legends is unquestioned. He has often sailed under the radar with pundits reluctant to call him the best allrounder to grace the game but for Smith and South Africa, he is that and more.”Everywhere we go now he is starting to get the due that he deserves,” Smith said. “We hope that he gets even more. He is an incredible player. I don’t think many people understand how immense getting to 13,000 runs is. South Africans will hopefully be very proud of him because he has put South African cricket on the map in a big way. He will go down as an all-time great and we can be proud of that.”That Kallis’ major milestone will come on his home ground is fitting. Steyn has reason to feel the opposition is a chosen one. He announced himself as a major force on the international stage against New Zealand more than five years ago when he took 20 wickets in two Tests against them in 2007-08. In perfect synergy, Donald, the current bowling coach and one of Steyn’s heroes, also took his 300th wicket against New Zealand.If Steyn nips out his first victim at Newlands, he will become the joint third-fastest to the milestone. Dennis Lillee achieved the feat in 56 Tests and Muttiah Muralitharan in 58. Steyn will play his 61st match to put him level with Richard Hadlee and Malcolm Marshall.Although Steyn has copped some criticism in recent times over what some see as waning powers, he maintains that it’s more a case of him saving the savage spells for when they are most needed. His ability to swing the ball at pace is still unmatched and Smith will continue to rely on him to step up in pressure situations.”Dale is our go-to guy and he always seems to make an impact for us,” he said. “As a captain, he is a real asset to have because I can throw him the ball and I know he will make a play somewhere in the match. When he gets that bit between his teeth, you really start to see things happening and other guys feed off him.”Though the opposition are unlikely to pique the interest of England, Australia or India, the first two days of the match are sold out and Smith said it’s this fixture his men most look forward to. “For us, Newlands is the marquee Test match of the year. It’s a great atmosphere and we love playing here. The support that we get here is terrific. People wanting to be a part of this Test match is important to us,” he said.

It’s hard not to admire the story and spirit of a club spinner who believed he would one day make it to the big leagues – and briefly did

Jarrod Kimber16-Jan-2013I grew up in the People’s Democratic Republic of Victoria. I was indoctrinated early. Dean Jones was better than Viv Richards in Victoria, and had a bigger ego as well. Darren Berry kept wicket with the softest hands and hardest mouth of any keeper I have ever seen. Ian Harvey had alien cricket. Matthew Elliott could score runs with his eyes shut. The first time I saw Dirk Nannes bowl, I felt like Victoria had thawed a smiley caveman. And even though I never saw Slug Jordan play, I enjoyed his sledging for years on the radio.So my favourite player has to be a Victorian. But my other love is cricket’s dark art, legspin. I wish I knew whether it was being a legspinner that made me love legspin, or seeing a legspinner that made me want to bowl it. Everything in cricket seemed easy to understand when I was a kid, but not legspin. And that’s where I ended up. I’m not a good legspinner, far from it, but I think that any legspinner, even the useless club ones that bowl moon balls, have something special about them.The first legspinner I ever fell for was Abdul Qadir. I’m not sure how I saw him, or what tour it was, but even before I understood actual legspin, I could see something special about him. His action was theatrical madness and I loved it.Then the 1992 World Cup came. I was 12, it was in Melbourne (read Australia), and this little pudgy-faced kid was embarrassing the world’s best. I was already a legspinner by then, but Mushie made it cool. This was the age where we were told spinners had no place; it was pace or nothing. Limited-overs cricket was going to take over from Tests, and spinners had no role in it. Mushie made that all look ridiculous as he did his double-arm twirl to propel his killer wrong’uns at groping moustached legends.By worshipping Mushie I was ahead of the curve, because from then on, in Melbourne, Australia, and eventually England, Shane Warne changed the world. Mushie and Qadir had made legspinning look like it was beyond the realms of understanding, but Warne made it look like something humans could do, even if he wasn’t human himself.It was through Warne I got to Anil Kumble. He bowled legspin in such an understated way. It was completely different to Warne. His wrist wasn’t his weapon, so he had to use everything else he had. Warne was the Batmobile, Kumble an Audi A4. Anyone could love Warne, his appeal was obvious. But to love Kumble you needed to really get legspin. The legspinner’s leggie.When I was young, my second favourite was a guy called Craig Howard, who virtually doesn’t exist. Howard was the Victorian legspinner who Warne thought was better than him. To my 13- and 14-year-old eyes, Howard was a demon. His legspin was fast and vicious, but it was his wrong’un that was something special. Mushie and Qadir had obvious wrong’uns, subtle wrong’uns, and invisible wrong’uns. Howard had a throat-punching wrong’un. It didn’t just beat you or make you look silly; it attacked you off a length and flew up at you violently. I’ve never seen another leggie who can do that, but neither could Howard. Through bad management and injury he ended up as an office-working offspinner in Bendigo.But good things can come from office work. It gave me my favourite cricketer of all time. A person who for much of his 20s was a struggling club cricketer no one believed in. But he believed. Even as he played 2nds cricket, moved clubs, worked in IT for a bank, something about this man made him continue. A broken marriage and shared custody of his son. His day job had him moving his way up the chain. The fact that no one wanted him for higher honours. His age. Cameron White’s legspin flirtation. And eventually the Victorian selectors, who didn’t believe that picking a man over 30 was a good policy.Through all that, Bryce McGain continued to believe he was good enough. Through most of it, he probably wasn’t. He was a club spinner.Bryce refused to believe that, and using the TV slow-mo and super-long-lens close-ups for teachers, he stayed sober, learnt from every spinner he could and forced himself to be better. He refused to just be mediocre, because Bryce had a dream. It’s a dream that every one one of us has had. The difference is, we don’t believe, we don’t hang in, we don’t improve, and we end up just moving on.Bryce refused.

The world would be a better place if more people saw McGain as a hero and not a failure. He just wanted to fulfil his dream, and that he did against all odds is perhaps one of the great cricket stories of all time

At 32 he was given a brief chance before Victoria put him back in club cricket. Surely that was his last chance. But Bryce refused to believe that. And at the age of 35 he began his first full season as Victoria’s spinner. It was an amazing year for Australian spin. It was the first summer without Warne.Almost as a joke, and because I loved his story, I started writing on my newly formed blog that McGain should be playing for Australia. He made it easy by continually getting wickets, and then even Terry Jenner paid attention. To us legspinners, Jenner is Angelo Dundee, and his word, McGain’s form and the circumstances meant that Bryce suddenly became the person most likely.Stuart MacGill was finished, Brad Hogg wanted out, and Beau Casson was too gentle. Bryce was ready at the age of 36 to be his country’s first-choice spinner. Then something happened. It was reported in the least possibly dramatic way ever. McGain had a bad shoulder, the reports said. He may miss a warm-up game.No, he missed more than that. He missed months. As White, Jason Krezja, Nathan Hauritz and even Marcus North played before him as Australia’s spinners. This shoulder problem wouldn’t go away. And although Bryce’s body hadn’t had the workload of the professional spinners, bowling so much at his advanced age had perhaps been too much for him. He had only one match to prove he was fit enough for a tour to South Africa. He took a messy five-for against South Australia and was picked for South Africa. He didn’t fly with the rest of the players, though, as he missed his flight. Nothing was ever easy for Bryce.His second first-class match in six months was a tour match where the South African A team attacked Bryce mercilessly. Perhaps it was a plan sent down by the main management, or perhaps they just sensed he wasn’t right, but it wasn’t pretty. North played as the spinner in the first two Tests. For the third Test, North got sick, and it would have seemed like the first bit of good fortune to come to Bryce since he hurt his shoulder.At the age of 36, Bryce made his debut for Australia. It was a dream come true for a man who never stopped believing. It was one of us playing Test cricket for his country. It was seen as a joke by many, but even the cynics had to marvel at how this office worker made it to the baggy green.I missed the Test live as I was on holidays and proposing to my now-wife. I’m glad I missed it. Sure, I’d wanted Bryce to fulfill his dream as much as I’d wanted to fulfill most of mine, but I wouldn’t have liked to see what happened to him live. South Africa clearly saw a damaged player thrown their way and feasted on him. His figures were heartbreaking: 0 for 149. Some called it the worst debut in history.I contacted him after it, and Bryce was amazingly upbeat. He’d make it back, according to him. He was talking nonsense. There was no way back for him. Australia wouldn’t care that his shoulder wasn’t right; he couldn’t handle the pressure. His body, mind and confidence had cracked under pressure. He was roadkill.But Bryce wouldn’t see it that way, and that’s why he’s my favourite cricketer. I wasn’t there for all the times no one believed in him, for all those times his dream was so far away and life was in his way. But I was there now, at what was obviously the end. Bryce McGain saw the darkness but refused to enter it. That’s special. That is how you achieve your dreams when everything is against you.Before I moved to London to embark on my cricket-writing career, I met Bryce for a lunch interview. It was my first interview with a cricketer. We were just two former office workers who had escaped. At this stage Casson had been preferred over him for the tour to the West Indies. In the Shield final, Bryce’s spinning finger had opened up after a swim in the ocean. He was outbowled by Casson and the selectors didn’t take him. Surely this was it. Why would anyone pick a 36-year-old who had been below his best in his most important game?Bryce knew he may have blown it. But he still believed, of course. We were just two former office workers with dreams. Two guys talking about legspin. Two guys just talking shit and hoping things would work out.At the time it was just cool to have lunch with this guy I admired, but now I look back and know I had lunch with the player who would become my favourite cricketer of all time.The world would be a better place if more people saw McGain as a hero and not a failure. Shane Warne was dropped on this planet to be a god. Bryce McGain just wanted to fulfil his dream, and that he did against all odds is perhaps one of the great cricket stories of all time.Bryce is one of us, the one who couldn’t give up.

The amount of mistakes committed by both sides is indicative of the continued struggles of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in Test cricket

Firdose Moonda25-Apr-2013Tamim Iqbal should have been run out before either he or the team had scored a run. He tapped the second ball of the morning to mid-on and took off before seeing that it had been stopped. A quick throw, taken off balance, missed the stumps. Had it hit, Tamim would have been well short.He also should have been run out in the over after lunch. After clipping a ball to midwicket, he insisted on the third run and, while making his way back, there was a direct hit at the non-striker’s end. He made his ground, albeit in needless, squeaky bum fashion.Tamim actually run out two overs later. He pushed the ball to mid-off and thoughtlessly charging down the track in search of his 50th run. Shingi Masakadza had watched the earlier attempt with interest, made a mental note of Tamim’s penchant for desperate scrambles and took great pleasure in knocking over the stumps and seeing the opener off.The collective sigh suggested only one thought: does he never learn? As the day went on, that applied to almost every player on both sides.Do Bangladesh batsmen never learn that there are enough aid agencies in the world and they do not have to donate wickets? Has Kyle Jarvis not learnt, especially after the first Test, that overpitching is not a good idea? Has Graeme Cremer not learnt to catch?Remember when Bruce Springsteen sang about glory days? This is not what he was talking about. This was the opposite of two old friends meeting up years later to talk about the good times of the past, regretful that they could not summon the will to return to that. Neither Zimbabwe nor Bangladesh have ever enjoyed golden ages and today they showed why.As far as quality goes, this was as close to unbranded as cricket can get. There was no urgency and no obvious intent. Everything happened behind a sepia film of lethargy, something that was no good for a time where the most vibrant colours are expected.Zimbabwe decided long before they arrived at the ground this morning that they would bowl first if they won the toss. It was probably the right call, with grass covering the pitch, but it was made so far in advance that it backfired on them. The bowlers arrived with the belief that they were pre-programmed to take wickets and when they didn’t pick up early, they became frantic.Jarvis was as ordinary as Tamim joked he was. His length betrayed him and his lines followed soon after. He bowled too full and strayed on to the pads too often. Keegan Meth had more control and moved the ball both ways but Bangladesh’s openers countered the swing well.Having done that, it was needless for Jahurul Islam to try a lofted drive as the first hour drew to a close. He skied it and Malcolm Waller hung on. The next four wickets to fell were all in similar fashion. They were not the result of testing deliveries but of loose shots from batsmen who should know better.Mohammad Ashraful was out on the pull again, Mominul Haque presented extra-cover with catching practice – which we know Zimbabwe need – and even Shakib Al Hasan engineered his own demise. Having just cut Elton Chigumbura for four, he chose to charge him and edged through to Richmond Mutumbami.But Bangladesh’s lack of staying power was not solely to blame for the way the day drifted. Zimbabwe were as responsible. They had four run-out chances in the morning session and two later on. Bangladesh should never have been running between the wickets so frantically and Zimbabwe should have hit more than once.

Matches are not won by waiting for the opposition to put a foot wrong as Zimbabwe’s attack did, or by making small progress and then tossing it away as Bangladesh’s batsmen did, but by taking the initiative

They should also have caught better. On three occasions, ball went to hand and was spilled. On one other, it could have gone to hand. Between them, Cremer and Brendan Taylor were responsible for all four. Zimbabwe did not even need to take all their chances, just half of them would have ensured Bangladesh were all out by the close.Strokeplay was risky throughout the innings. Shakib threw his bat at some, sending them between slips and gully. That he had no third man in place for a significant part of his innings helped too. Shakib was always too good a player not to come back from his two low scores in the first Test and although he rode his luck, he also showed some of his prowess.When he was batting, it was obvious Zimbabwe’s attack were just waiting for a mistake rather than attacking. Shingi Masakadza and Chigumbura bowled well in small patches but even they could not string together as many as four decent deliveries.They allowed Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim to thrive and the captain did so most convincingly. He cut out the gambles and his boundaries were classy: a cut shot when offered width, a delicate steer to third man and his best, a six off the legspinner lofted cleanly over long-off.But he also flirted with danger. He was very nearly stumped after struggling to get his foot back in time. Had Mutumbami been a touch quicker, he may have been out. He was dropped after top-edging a pull but when he was out, it was the first genuine wicket of the day, Jarvis getting one to nip back in and strike Mushfiqur on the pads as he played a fraction too late. For a moment, there was a flashback to how Test matches are won.Not by waiting for the opposition to put a foot wrong as Zimbabwe’s attack did, not by making small progress and then tossing it away as Bangladesh’s batsmen did, but by taking the initiative.Both teams are desperate to prove themselves worthy. Bangladesh edged ahead in that department by crossing the 300-run mark. If they are to continue to clamber in that direction, they will have to bat more sensibly in the morning and urge their bowlers not to emulate Zimbabwe when they take the field.

Plays of the Day from the match between Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals in Delhl

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Apr-2013The drop
With a reputation for being a fast mover and fine catcher, David Warner often traverses the straight boundary for Delhi Daredevils. But in the 13th over he dropped a straightforward chance from Rahul Dravid, and ended up conceding a six. Warner climbed into the air about a metre from the long-on rope to intercept Dravid’s mis-hit off Andre Russell, and having got two hands to it, palmed it over the ropes. Warner benefited from some reciprocal generosity in his own innings though, when Dravid dropped him.The welcome
Mahela Jayawardene strangely held Johan Botha back until the 15th over, but when he did come into the attack, he was savaged so severely, he didn’t bowl again. With Royals at 108 for 2 in 14 overs, Stuart Binny decided it was time to surge, and though his first boundary – an edge to third man – was somewhat fortuitous, a slog sweep into the stands next ball, and an advancing bludgeon over long off straight after, ignited Royals’ death-over dash.The ball
Unmukt Chand, the hero of last year’s Under-19 World Cup, had a rough introduction to the IPL when a fantastic Brett Lee away-seamer uprooted his off stump with the first ball of the tournament. He was in danger of collecting another golden duck when Samuel Badree rapped him on the pads first ball in Delhi, but he survived, only to be bowled by another terrific delivery in the sixth over. Sreesanth pitched one on off stump in the sixth over, and moved it in off the seam just a fraction, and Chand could not get near the ball as it passed between bat and pad and took middle stump out of the ground.The catch
Jayawardene had set himself up to be there at the close with a measured 19 from 15 deliveries, but as soon as he made a mistake, a little magic in the infield ensured he would not play the kind of innings that had given Delhi hope in the tournament opener. Spotting a full, straight delivery from Rahul Shukla, Jayawardene aimed a big drive, but ended up getting a thick outside edge that flew square. The ball’s trajectory would have taken it several metres to the right of Ajinkya Rahane at backward point, but he moved quickly and launched himself horizontally, heels kicked in the air, to complete a stunning two-handed take at full stretch.The throw
Despite a miserly 18th over of Daredevils’ innings, and a quiet start to the 19th, the hosts would have felt in control as long as Warner remained at the crease. A fine piece of fielding from acting captain Brad Hodge, however, dislodged Royals’ chief tormentor and yielded the floor to Kevon Cooper’s last-over heroics. Warner bunted one into the off side and took off, but as quick as he is between the wickets, he had hit the ball too close to Hodge at cover, who swooped on it instantly. Hodge then let rip with a fast, flat off-balance throw, and despite having no more than one-and-a-half stumps to aim at, and hit middle to find Warner metres short.

Lahiru Thirimanne’s innings in the fifth ODI was not very different from some of the other innings he has played before, but his calculated approach to run-making left an impression

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Aug-2013As Lahiru Thirimanne ambled to 17 from 33 balls in the first ODI of the series, his idol bestrode the other crease. Thirimanne had watched Kumar Sangakkara so closely in his teenage years, there is little to pick between the pair’s cover drives, save for the disdainful air Sangakkara has acquired over a decade of mastery. Not even as ardent a disciple as Thirimanne, though, might have guessed at Sangakkara’s capacity for such relentless evisceration as he unleashed that day. At the time, some remarked on how far Thirimanne had to travel before he lost his braid, but later, Sangakkara would call that innings the best in his one-day career. It is a daunting yardstick for any player to be measured by.Since Angelo Mathews was handed the reins in February, Sri Lanka’s quest for regeneration has grown from earnest to rabid, and no one has felt its intensity more than Thirimanne. Dinesh Chandimal has, at least, played the kind of Test innings that have seen him become earmarked as a special talent, and a string of low ODI scores were considered with relative kindness. Meanwhile, calls to leave Thirimanne out for a batsman with a bigger appetite for attack mounted at home, growing to a din after that 17.It is unlikely Thirimanne has muzzled his doubters with his 68 in the fifth ODI, because it is the kind of innings he has played before. There was little pressure perhaps, aside from the personal burden to justify his place in the team. The series had been won and Tillakaratne Dilshan was batting at the other end, fresh from his Pallekele ton. Relative to Sri Lanka’s total, Thirimanne’s runs also seem to have come at a plodding pace – at a strike rate of just over 73. The 53 dot balls he saw out did not suggest an abundance of fluency.Yet it was an innings founded on composure and spurred by calculation. The early demise of a Sri Lankan opener has been the norm in this series, but embracing a new team philosophy of care early in the innings – an approach adopted even by as militant a batsman as Tillakaratne Dilshan – Thirimanne blunted probing first spells from South Africa’s quicks and set about at a considered pace of accumulation. The match situation required little more. South Africa had already wilted once in the Colombo sun during the series, and Sri Lanka’s innings have rarely failed to climax at the close.A sharp straight drive to welcome Ryan McLaren to the attack and a breezy blow through the covers off Morne Morkel provided glimpses of a visceral batting talent, but Thirimanne’s remaining boundaries were borne of contrivance. The slog-swept six off JP Duminy came after two watchful dot balls, and a glance to the leg side with which he reckoned on his chances of success. The lofted four off Aaron Phangiso was no less planned, neither was the chipped shot off McLaren in the 30th over. Thought wedded to execution should be the hallmark of any good No. 3 batsman and, having moved to his favourite position for the first time in the series, Thirimanne underscored his long-term potential there. This year, he has already hit a one-day hundred at first drop, where he averages 53.6.Thirimanne and Chandimal face the dual challenge of making the considerable leap from Sri Lanka’s domestic standard to the demands of international cricket, while also batting at unfamiliar positions to which their games are ill suited. Part of the reason why no Sri Lanka batsman has ever retired with an ODI average exceeding 40 is due to the fact that they have had to routinely launch their international careers in the lower order, as seniors have risen to acclaim in the places above them. Sangakkara averaged almost seven fewer runs than Thirimanne after the same number of innings.”I think as a 24 -year-old, Lahiru is batting a lot better than I did when I was 24,” Sangakkara said. “He’s got a lot of time and he’s a guy who understands situations very well. He also has a lot of shots that he’s unafraid to execute. Lahiru is going to be one of those batsmen who is going to be one of those fantastic, run-scoring batsmen who you can rely upon in any situation to score runs for the side.”I’ve watched him with a lot of pleasure. His work ethic is fantastic and his ability is there for everyone to see. He has batted in some difficult situations and never shirks his responsibility. He just needs a lot of confidence and a strong dressing room to support him when he does make sacrifices for the side.”Sri Lanka’s approaching batting crisis has been billed as imminent for a year now, yet the seniors continue their plunder as freely as ever. Sangakkara and Dilshan were last year’s top run-scorers in ODIs, and they are first and third respectively so far in 2013. Mahela Jayawardene has been less consistent but, as he showed in June’s Champions Trophy, he continues to be Sri Lanka’s best bet on big occasions.Sri Lanka’s ODI focus is now firmly on the 2015 World Cup, and though twenty months may dull the splendor of the old guard, it may give enough time for the young players to rise. Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Dilshan did not tear attacks apart in utero, and perhaps for players like Thirimanne, the promise of innings like his 68 is good enough for now.

ESPNcricinfo looks at five reasons for England’s failure to compete in Australia

George Dobell17-Dec-2013Selection and coaching
When the England squad was announced, there was excitement over the inclusion of three unusually tall fast bowlers – Boyd Rankin, Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn – and the expectation that one or all could play a key role on Australian pitches offering pace and bounce.But anyone who had watched county cricket in 2013 could have confirmed this was always unlikely. There was a mountain of evidence to suggest that Tremlett was not the force he once was and that Finn was enduring something of a crisis of confidence as he weighed up conflicting advice from county and international coaches. It was naive to think that an England set-up with little track-record of improving bowlers – James Anderson and Stuart Broad were international players before the current management took charge – could revitalise such players. It might well have proved helpful to have Graham Onions, the best bowler in county cricket over the last two seasons, on the tour to provide cover and balance.Rankin may still prove a valuable player but he failed to shine in his few opportunities and, under the guidance of England bowling coach, David Saker, has regressed during the tour. Indeed, Saker’s influence requires some reflection: to have failed to capitalise on the substantial talents of Finn is a major stain on his record.Questions might be asked about Graham Gooch, too. There is little doubt that England have brought, give or take a name or two, their best batting line-up on this trip: the records of Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell will stand the test of time. They have proved they are fine players. But England are failing to maximise their talent. While the primary responsibility must always lie with the individuals, it is fair and sensible to raise questions of a batting coach who seems so unable to coax the best from talented players.One man who could feel unfortunate not to make the tour is Nick Compton. He was dropped after two poor games at the start of the 2013 English summer – a decision that suggests cliques – but has continued to churn out runs in the county game. The last time England scored 400 in a Test, Compton and Jonathan Trott contributed centuries. His solidity and restraint would have been valuable.The inclusion of Jonny Bairstow is also questionable. He appears, through no fault of his own, not to be trusted with bat or gloves by the management. So why bring him?Losing Trott
The departure of Trott disturbed England. It was not just the absence of a top-order batsman, a vital buffer despite his drop in form, but the sight of a friend and colleague in obvious distress shocked the dressing room and disrupted the equilibrium of those left behind. All the planning, all the attempts to create a calm environment were dashed in that moment. England have never recovered.Jonathan Trott’s absence left a huge hole•Getty ImagesMental and physical overload
Trott’s descent into exhaustion may be extreme, but it is not unique. Several other members of this squad have progressed further down the same road than should have been allowed. A combination of a reliance upon a few key players in all formats and the ECB’s schedule – a schedule that prioritises income above a duty of care to their most important assets – has asked too much of too few.Since December 2011, no one has faced more deliveries in international cricket than Cook, with Bell and Trott also featuring in the top five. In the same period, no seamer has bowled more deliveries than Anderson or Broad and only R Ashwin has bowled more deliveries than Graeme Swann as a spinner. That is despite Swann undergoing surgery and missing games with a variety of injuries.But it is not just the quantity of cricket that England have been playing. It is also the environment in which they travel and train. The intensity of the England set-up has done nothing to dispel the pressure that can build up over time with the many virtues of Andy Flower – the attention to detail, the drive – slowly becoming vices as they are repeated over a long period of time without levity. It may be no coincidence that three of those who have fared best in this series are the three that have most recently come into the side: Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Michael Carberry.Somewhere, somehow, England forgot to enjoy the journey.Batting and fielding failures
It may seem odd to lump these two aspects of the game together, but the failures in both may well have the same root: weariness and a lack of belief.Fielding is often the barometer of a team’s morale and England’s in this series has been poor. By the time Australia declared in Perth, it had sunk to the level of appalling. England’s inability to take their chances in the field reached its nadir in Adelaide when an opportunity to dismiss Australia for around 350 was punished ruthlessly and fatally.The batsmen have failed to score 400 in an innings since March, 22 innings ago, with Stokes the only centurion in the series so far. The failure in England’s top order simply exposed a soft middle to lower order before the tail were blown away.The domestic system
It is no coincidence that, when the England side enjoyed its best years, it was on the back of a sharp improvement in the standard of county cricket. The move to two divisions, the introduction of promotion and relegation, the appearance of strong overseas and non-England-qualified players heralded a particularly competitive era in the county game, with the likes of Justin Langer remarking that it was as tough domestic cricket as he had experienced.But the ECB could not resist tinkering. It brought in young player incentives, tightened work-permit criteria, took the best players out of the county game for reasons as diverse as Lions matches, rest and gym sessions and created a schedule that squeezed the County Championship into the margins of the season. Furthermore, it allowed games to be staged on homogenised slabs of mud which bear little resemblance to those on which international cricket is played. Many of the initiatives were well intentioned but nearly all of them have backfired.Brydon Coverdale on why Australia were the better side

Thousands of youngsters pitch up in London to find a groove but not many are like Sam Robson, who aims to play Test cricket for England

Alan Gardner31-Jan-2014It is a cold, gunmetal grey day in Loughborough, a market town that trades in future England cricketers among its substantial student stock. Flooded fields in the surrounding countryside are an indicator of how much rain has fallen recently and paths of wet tarmac crisscross the university campus on the way to the ECB’s National Performance Centre. The warmth inside is welcome, the heating turned up as far as it will go, in an attempt to replicate conditions for playing and training in Sri Lanka, where the Lions have now arrived on tour.”It’s certainly a world away,” says Sam Robson, considering the change from where he was previously billeted, in Australia with the England Performance Programme and then for Christmas with his family – though he could just as well be referring to the forthcoming challenge in the subcontinent, where a crop of greenhorns more used to green pitches will attempt to puff their England credentials in sapping heat and humidity. The cooling breeze of Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, where Robson grew up, will seem a distant memory.The thought does not seem to perturb him, however. It is the job of the modern professional cricketer to travel the world from assignment to assignment and there is no job in the world that Robson ever wanted more. It explains the easy shrug of the shoulders at having again left behind family and friends, not to mention the southern sun; as well as his apparent enthusiasm for resuming indoor net sessions in England in January. And it explains why another of his talents may yet go unfulfilled.In one of the other trouser legs of time, instead of practising his cover drive, Robson would perhaps be working on some different strokes. Keen on pencil sketching, he was accepted to study arts at Sydney University – “but cricket panned out the way it did and I deferred, then deferred the next year and by the time you keep deferring, your spot’s gone, so here I am, sitting here now, without a degree.”Now those fine motor skills are more often employed in nudging a cricket ball into gaps in the field, although they are still useful for entertaining team-mates when the opposition have found a way to exile him to the dressing room. “I should do more than I do,” he says, “my mother keeps on to me telling me I should keep doing it.” Fortunately the sporting ability he simultaneously nurtured has thus far served him well.”I think I would have enjoyed university, from what I hear from my mates who tell me about their adventures, I think I would have had a fair bit of fun. [Now] they’re in the real world, they’ve got proper jobs and everything is mapped out for them. It’s a bit different as a professional cricketer but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m aware of how lucky I am.”

A cricketer who bats for love not money (he has only played four T20s), for whom Tests are “the pinnacle”, Robson is also a young man who would rather be outdoors, throwing or hitting a ball, than staring at a screen

As much as it is possible to make your own luck, Robson has. At the age of 18, fresh out of Marcellin College, a Catholic high school in Randwick, he came to London, essentially in search of a hit. From a legspinner who batted down the order when playing for Australia Under-19s, Robson converted himself into a gutsy, acquisitive opener for Middlesex. Last season, during which he qualified to play for England, Robson finished as the third-highest run-scorer in Division One of the County Championship.Martin McCague, the Australian-raised seamer, was called “the rat who joined a sinking ship” when capped by England in 1993. After their Ashes , you might say the current England team have already been sunk, and it is not a stretch to imagine Robson opening the batting alongside Alastair Cook in the first Test of the summer at his home ground, Lord’s.Robson has a studied forward defence when it comes to such possibilities, just as he flicks away persistent questions about nationality. “If I ever become good enough, I want to play for England,” he says, one subject eliding into the other. What he doesn’t suppress is the sense of cricket – and the desire to play good cricket – as an obsession, something that should be worked at assiduously. In the steady accretion of experience and aptitude, the Lions tour is just another incremental step.”Since I started to take the game really seriously, when I was 15, 16, 17 – my whole thing has just been to try and improve and get better and see where that takes me,” he says. “I don’t know where I’m going to end up. I’ll keep working hard. I’d love to play Test cricket, there’s no doubt about it, but what’s worked for me the last few years, and helped me slowly develop and improve is just the fact that I’ve tried to keep getting better each day.”As England have previously discovered to their advantage, there is no zealot like a convert. Robson says he enjoys working with Mark Ramprakash, Middlesex’s batting coach and a man for whom practice and perfect never quite married up at international level, but he seems able to modulate his own intensity. In some respects, Robson is like thousands of other young Australians who pitch up in London and find a comfortable groove. His passion for his vocation is matched by his “love” for the city he now calls home, and having a life outside of cricket is, he says, “good for your game, good for you as a person”.Such a balanced outlook is indicative of Robson’s priorities. A cricketer who bats for love not money (he has only played four T20s), for whom Tests are “the pinnacle”, he is also a young man who would rather be outdoors, throwing or hitting a ball, than staring at a screen – unusually, for his generation, Robson is not on Twitter, seeing it as just “another thing to check”. In a digital world, he seems charmingly analogue.With English cricket in a rare state of flux, Robson’s qualities may become increasingly attractive but his focus remains on the next assignment: Sri Lanka and then the County Championship with Middlesex, continuing this pilgrim’s progress. “Whether anything comes from it or not, that’s life. I’ve just got to do as well as I can.”

Plenty of action in Kotla’s first game of the season

Amit Gupta04-May-2014Choice of game
This was Delhi Daredevils’ first home game this season. Delhi had only two wins in five games. I was expecting Kevin Pietersen to be back in full flow, but that didn’t happen.Key performer
Nobody really expected Karun Nair to play such a composed innings for Rajasthan Royals. He had low scores in the UAE leg of the tournament and there was chatter in the stands about Nair being preferred over Delhi boy Unmukt Chand, who played for Daredevils last season. But Nair played a composed innings and showed that Rajasthan have the knack of bringing out the best in their new talent. He could just be their trump card this season.One thing I’d have changed about the match
I would have wished for JP Duminy to play faster. He slowed down the momentum in the middle overs and could not really accelerate in the end.Wow moment
Pietersen was run out by Sanju Samson in seventh over and even though Rajasthan were confident in their appeal, the umpire, Sanjay Hazare, did not refer it to the third umpire, leading Shane Watson to argue heatedly over his decision. It was more heated in the stands, with abuses being hurled at the umpire.Quinton de Kock, fielding near the boundary where I was sitting in the ground-floor stand, did a bhangra step to a Punjabi song playing over the speakers during an over break. It kept the crowd dancing throughout the over.Shot of the day
Kedar Jadhav hit Kane Richardson for a six over his head off the penultimate ball of Delhi’s innings. It was hit so cleanly that the moment the ball left the bat there was no doubt as to where it was headed.Overall
It was a fantastic experience for my wife and I. We arrived two hours early for the match but didn’t feel bored for one moment. Live music, some hot food and quality cricket made our day. We hope to come again to Kotla, sooner than later.

Stats highlights after the end of the fifth day’s play between Sri Lanka and England at Headingley

Bishen Jeswant24-Jun-2014 Sri Lanka, with this win, have now won seven Test matches outside the subcontinent, excluding Tests in Zimbabwe. The margin of victory in this Test – 100 runs – is the narrowest in terms of runs for Sri Lanka in these countries. They have won five Tests by larger margins and another by 10 wickets. Three of these seven wins have come in England, two in New Zealand and one each in South Africa and West Indies. These seven wins have come in 57 Tests, which makes their win percentage 12.3%. India and Pakistan, the other subcontinental giants, have win percentages of 12.4% (22 wins in 177 Tests) and 21.4% (31 wins in 145 Tests) respectively in these conditions. The overall records of India and Sri Lanka, in terms of win percentages, are now quite similar. Sri Lanka’s performance in this series was largely due to Kumar Sangakkara, who scored 342 runs over the two Tests, and became the first Sri Lankan batsman to score 300-plus Test runs during a tour of England. This is not for a lack of opportunity, because Sri Lanka’s last three tours to England have included three Tests. Sangakkara also overtook Saurav Ganguly to score the most runs by an overseas batsman in a two-match series (or who played only two matches in a longer series) in England. Mahela Jayawardene contributed 174 runs as well, including a couple of half-centuries. Jayawardene and Sangakkara have now scored exactly 11493 runs each and are joint sixth on the all-time list of highest run-scorers in Tests. During the second Test, Sangakkara overtook Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who was previously seventh on the list. It is also worth noting that Alistair Cook moved past Geoffrey Boycott to go fifth on the list of leading run scorers in Tests for England. Jayawardene was the only Sri Lanka captain to have scored a hundred in an away Test victory, in a country other than Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Angelo Mathews has now become the second man to have achieved this feat and also the first Sri Lanka captain to have scored a hundred and taken more than one wicket in a Test win, whether at home or away. Sangakkara came into this series on the back of three consecutive 50-plus scores against Bangladesh. That sequence has now been extended to seven consecutive scores. Sangakkara’s batting average of 90.50 since the start of 2013, is the highest for any batsman in this period. He has scored 1448 runs in 17 innings during this phase, which is second only to David Warner who has scored 1484 runs, but in 32 innings. Rangana Herath has bowled 263.3 overs in Tests starting this year, the most by any bowler. Shaminda Eranga has bowled the second-highest number of overs, 217.5. No other player has bowled more than 160 overs in Test cricket in 2014. This is partly due to the fact that Sri Lanka have played six Tests in 2014, while no other team has played more than four. This in itself is noteworthy, because Sri Lanka have played only 56 Tests in the period from 2007 to 2013. Only Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan (who have had hardly any home Tests in that period) have played fewer Tests in that period. Jayawardene took two catches in this match and thus went past Ricky Ponting on the all-time list of outfield players who have taken the most catches in Test cricket. Jayawardene has now taken 197 catches in Test cricket, going past Ponting who had taken 196. Jayawardene is all set to join an elite two-man list of fielders who have taken more than 200 catches in Test cricket, namely Rahul Dravid (210) and Jacques Kallis (200). Jayawardene bowled six overs in the fourth innings of this Test. This is the most number of overs that Jayawardene has bowled in a Test outside the subcontinent. He had bowled six overs in an innings on one previous occasion as well, against New Zealand at Wellington in April 2005. Since 22 August 2009, Jayawardene had bowled only one over in Test cricket. Dhammika Prasad’s five wicket haul was the 31st by a Sri Lanka pace bowler in away Tests. This is only the second instance of a Sri Lanka seamer taking five wickets in an innings in England, the fourth instance of taking a five-wicket haul in the fourth innings of an away Test.