All posts by n8rngtd.top

Now that we’ve all calmed down a bit, I have another statistic for you

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013A series that has seen England plumb some extremely murky depths ended with a second joyous and outstanding triumph. Broad’s meteoric spell on Friday was supported by superb batting on Saturday, leaving Australia with an unrealistically Himalayan mountain to climb.Ponting and his men had been bafflingly, unAustralianly passive and negative in the field as England piled potentially crucial extra rocks on top of what turned out to be a 546-run Everest. They set off confidently enough, but Hussey and Flintoff then combined to steal Ponting’s crampons and send him tumbling off the mountain, and then Clarke was unluckily bullocked off it by a passing African rhino in a hang glider (if I may attempt to convey quite how unfortunate he was when run out). It remains a mystery why North and Haddin then chose to hurl themselves down a ravine when there were still technically enough rations to at least attempt to reach the summit. It was a strange way of proving that Australians never give up.Yesterday was a great day for English cricket, and in particular for Strauss, whose batting and coin-tossing were of the highest calibre, sparking celebrations that, rightly, did not touch the wild exultation of four years ago. For my part, I celebrated with a romantic evening in with Statsguru, and, well, without wishing to go into too much indelicate detail, things got a bit frisky between us, and a statistic emerged. A beautiful, bouncing new-born statistic. And its first words were these:England averaged 6.49 runs per wicket less than Australia in this series, but still won. This is the biggest runs-per-wicket deficit ever overcome to win a Test series. In the entire history of cricket, the human race and the universe put together. Here endeth the stat.Let’s all take a couple of minutes to think about that.

Come on, concentrate.

Good. This was the 35th time in 539 Test series that a team has won with an inferior average (and only the second Ashes contest in which the statistically weaker side has triumphed since 1902). Never has that inferiority been greater than 6.49 runs per wicket. The previous record margin was 6.03, when England hoodwinked South Africa in 1998 after narrowly escaping with a last-wicket-remaining draw at Old Trafford. Coincidentally, that was Flintoff’s first series – his career has been bookended by two of cricket’s greatest statistical heists.So, did England deserve to win the series? Taking the five matches as a whole, perhaps they didn’t. Taking the two sides’ performances in the final, winner-takes-all shootout at The Oval, they probably did. Taking Australia’s first innings failures at Lord’s, Edgbaston and The Oval, they certainly deserved to lose it.This statistic certainly confirms that this has been one of the oddest Ashes series of all time – two teams equally capable of both very good and genuinely atrocious cricket produced a series that was close overall without containing a single close game. Four of the Tests were massively one-sided (first innings leads of 239 at Cardiff, 210 at Lord’s, 343 at Leeds and 172 at The Oval). Only very briefly at Lord’s was there a match in which both sides had a realistic chance of winning, and this was rapidly snuffed out on the final morning.All in all, it was a bit like watching a boxing match in which the fighters were punching their own faces as often as their opponent’s, or a two-horse steeplechase in which the horses alternately sail majestically over one fence before ploughing face-first straight into the next without even attempting to get off the ground. Australia ended snout-down in the last, leaving England to prance past them and trot down the final furlong punching the air in delight that there were no more fences left to crash into.The destination of the urn was ultimately decided by England’s belated competence and resistance in Cardiff, and by Broad’s magnificence at the Oval on a pitch where no other fast bowler made a significant impression.From the crucial day-four rain in Cardiff to the toss and Michael Clarke’s supernaturally unfortunate run out at The Oval, England had better and more influential luck than Australia, and were certainly holding the right end of the umpires’ collective white stick. But, when the summer was reduced to a single winner-takes-all shoot-out, England produced the series’ best bowling (by Broad) and batting (by Strauss and Trott). And I stand by my previous assertion that the real man of the series, in terms of the player whose contribution proved most influential, was Monty Panesar.I should also apologise for my assertion in the last blog that The Oval pitch was “an embarrassment”. It was not ideal – could a so-called ‘result’ pitch not be fast and bouncy, rather than crumbly and random? However, on Saturday, almost 400 runs were scored for six wickets (including three slogs and a run out), and four of the first seven Australian second-innings wickets were due to silly, silly batting, and one to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune picking mercilessly on Michael Clarke.I will post The Official Confectionery Stall Review Of The Series later in the week.For those who enjoy tables, here is a list of the Top Ten Biggest Runs Per Wicket (RPW) Deficits Overcome To Win A Test Series. Commit it to memory, then destroy it.A more accurate measure of the extent of cricketing superiority overcoming may be The Heist Percentage – the difference between the sides’ averages as a percentage of the losing team’s average. By this measure, England’s 2009 Ashes win is the 7th greatest heist in Test history – a 15.9% heist, some way off Australia’s burglary of the 1891-92 Ashes, when they filched the urn despite averaging 21.6% less than England. The injustice still rankles today, and clearly motivated Strauss and his men at the Oval. In fact, as Graeme Swann celebrated the final wicket, lip-readers would have seen him screaming the words, “This one’s for WG Grace and his boys.”There you go. Now I must spend some quality time with the wife. If she sees me looking anything else up on Statsguru in the next month, she’ll start telling me she can’t go on with three of us in the relationship.

A few thoughts and observations on Pakistan’s much elongated Hour of Need

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Hello Confectionery Stallers. I have been tied up for the last few weeks attempting to entertain the masses at the Edinburgh Fringe festival (if you will excuse a numerically inappropriate use of the word “masses”), and latterly with unexpected family commitments, and to be honest I could not have chosen a better time in which to be almost fully distracted from cricket.Cricket has itself been fully distracted from cricket, buffeted about in an inevitable typhoon of outrage and sanctimony, as the latest unfolding gambling farrago batters the sport like a cheap sausage, all amidst the queasily sinking suspicion that this particular has not quite finished ramming into what may be a distressingly large iceberg.Here are the official Confectionery Stall thoughts on the most cricketingly depressing story of recent years.1. It was slightly odd to see ECB chairman Giles Clarke being so affronted by Mohammad Amir that he simply could not bring himself to look at the bowler when presenting him with the Man Of The Series Award after the Lord’s Test-match-cum-debacle. Whilst all cricket fans are, without doubt, disgusted by the alleged spot-fixing, and saddened that it should have involved the most exciting young player in the game, it should be remembered that Clarke himself has not proved immune to the allure of taking easy money from dubious sources.Just two years ago Clarke and the ECB prostituted the England cricket team to Texan billionaire and current resident of the Federal Detention Centre, Houston, USA, Allen Stanford, who pitched up at Lord’s in a fake helicopter with 20 fake million dollars in mostly fake dollars bills.Merely hearing the words “Texan tycoon” and “cricket” in the same sentence should have set alarm bells twanging. The helicopter and Perspex-coated wodge of cash should have made them go off like a hungry-monkey enclosure at a slightly delayed feeding time. But the ECB willingly bent over and pimped out the national cricket team to such an extent that they might as well have made them all go out to bat up in fishnet stockings and push-up bras, whilst a threatening-looking gangster stood by the scorebox taking 90% of their runs away and counting them for himself.Months later, after one toe-curlingly awkward and flirtatious cricket match, Stanford was accused by no less an authority than the United States Securities and Exchange Commission of one of the biggest frauds in human history, and the ECB emerged from the whole humiliating episode with egg not just on its face but stuck in its hair, caked all over its once-woolly jumper, and dribbling apologetically down its cash-stained trousers, a walking omelette of a sporting organisation.For Clarke, the man who sold his nation’s cricket team to be a tycoon’s plaything, to refuse to shake hands with someone accused of accepting cash from someone dodgy for doing something he patently should not be doing, perhaps shows the lack of self-awareness required to be a successful businessman and sports administrator.Clarke is not alone. One cursory glance at the ICC international schedule reveals that organisation’s pathological inability to say “No, thanks” to money, its steadfast refusal to protect the soul of cricket from commercial interference.None of this is intended to justify the alleged actions of the accused players, but to highlight the fact that few at the highest level in cricket have shown much ability, willingness or effort to spurn the attractions of money and place the integrity and welfare of the game ahead of financial acquisitiveness.2. Nevertheless Clarke deserves credit for calling for a proper, communal effort to aid Pakistani cricket in its seemingly endless Hour Of Need, an hour which has now stretched some way beyond the standard 60 minutes, and which, for various reasons, shows no signs of being interested in taking a breather and being at least temporarily replaced with an Hour Of Stability, or a Few Minutes Of Hope, or even a Quick Tea-And-Biscuit Break of Normality.As they have proved again this summer, Pakistan’s cricket team is generally the most fascinating, irritating, compelling and frustrating in world cricket. Their bowlers, in particular Amir and Mohammad Asif, have regularly made budget porcelain mugs of both England and Australia’s batting line-ups, whilst their batsmen have made a strong, prolonged and resolutely determined statistical case for being the most inept to have visited England in more than 50 years.Cricket needs Pakistan, and whilst it is true that Pakistan cricket has not traditionally been the most reliable friend to itself, the world of cricket must set aside its various vested interests and strive to ensure that Pakistan cricket remains alive in the international arena.3. Human history shows that, in general:

• many humans throughout history have found easy money far more attractive than hard money (for examples, see, for example, the recent history and current state of the global economy, the MPs’ expenses scandal in Britain, the existence of the Cayman Islands, the IPL);
• financial inequality leads to wrongdoing (it must be much easier to spurn the offer of a few thousand pounds if you are already earning a few hundred thousand);
• where gambling is legal, legal gambling thrives; where gambling is illegal, illegal gambling thrives; where illegal gambling thrives, people become aggressively naughty; people like gambling (witness the popularity of religion – what greater punt can there be in life than betting for or against an afterlife?);
• teenagers thrust rapidly into the public spotlight frequently balls things up; and
• when a British tabloid newspaper starts taking the moral high ground, you know things have gone very, very badly wrong.

4. The ICC has, evidently, not adequately decapitated the particularly snakey Medusa of cricket corruption. ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat, has, however, stated unequivocally: “We will not tolerate corruption in this great game.”It is reassuring to know that there is at least one thing in the universe that the ICC will not tolerate. Amongst the things it will tolerate are:

• the potentially terminal decline of cricket in some once-great Test playing nations;
• the premature elevation to Test status of nations due to political and commercial vested interests;
• large amounts of money from TV companies in return for artificially and soullessly elongating one-day tournaments;
• shamelessly pricing local cricket fans out of attending said tournaments, leading to embarrassingly sparse attendance at showpiece events;
• international schedules, pitches and regulations designed to break bowlers;
• infantilically draconian restrictions on what paying spectators are allowed to wear or consume inside cricket grounds;
• being held to ransom by various other organisations with three- or four-letter acronyms;
• needlessly snoozy over-rates;
• umpires leading players off for bad light whenever they get a bit peckish;
• idiotic implementation of an untested and patently-unready TV umpiring system;
• Daryl Harper being allowed control of said system;
• sundry other bloopers.

Still, it is nice to know that the ICC will draw the line somewhere. And that line is at corruption (of the on-the-field variety, at least).5. Amir, if found guilty, deserves another chance. Who knows what pressures he was under and from whom? If he was being urged by some or all of his captain, team-mates, his agent, gambling gangsters, the Pope, and/or the FBI to bowl no-balls and he caved in to those demands, with minimal impact on the game, whilst simultaneously obliterating England’s batting in one of the finest displays of bowling seen at Lord’s in years, is that surprising? His brilliance with the ball and determination with the bat were not indicative of a man unconcerned by the performance of his team.If and when the full story emerges, it may be that Amir is seen to be a naive pawn in a game beyond his control. It may emerge that he was a fully willing participant. Either way he deserves both an appropriate period of punishment and a second opportunity. And it will help, if and when he is afforded that second chance, if the PCB does more to prevent the tentacles of temptation winding their way into the dressing room. Its tactic of sticking its fingers in its ears and singing 1980s rock ballads at the top of its voice does not seem to have worked.6. Spot-fixing is a curious beast. The fraud of the kind and scale that seems to have taken place at Lord’s has far less influence on the game than, for example, the widening gulf in finance and facilities between different Test-playing nations, batsmen not walking, incompetent umpiring, or poor pitches. As Amir’s performances have shown, it is possible to be fully committed to helping your team win and to break cardinal rules of sporting fairness and honesty at the same time.If spot-fixing ever migrates into stand-up comedy, I and my fellow comedians will be permanently under the spotlight. Was that joke about the International Monetary Fund simply not funny or did I deliberately flunk the punchline? It would be almost impossible to tell. I have had gigs during my career in which audiences seemed to think I had purposefully tanked every single joke in my set.7. Until scientists stop piddling around trying to find out why dogs bark at cats, and what happens if you feed nothing but pastrami and gherkin bagels to a laboratory orangutan, and instead focus on developing a cure for people with an unquenchable urge to bet on when no-balls are bowled in cricket matches, these controversies will continue to occur.Meanwhile, in the cricket, England are playing well in a series of training matches.

The home side showed commendable resolve to almost reach 400, but they started poorly with the ball and their hard work could easily unravel

Firdose Moonda in Harare18-Apr-2013Only once since February 2004, when they piled up 441 against their current opponents, have Zimbabwe managed a greater total than their effort in Harare over the last two days. In 2011 they made 412 on a docile Bulawayo surface against Pakistan (although still lost) and other than that had not past 370 in almost a decade.This rare substantial total was achieved through patience, application and largely, the determination of one man. Brendan Taylor’s 171 was the highest by a Zimbabwean captain and the most runs any individual has scored since 2001. It was an innings that tested his natural style as a strokemaker and required him to put into practice the things he has been discussing with batting coach Grant Flower over the last few weeks. Things like reading situations, knowing when to hold back and fostering partnerships.On seeing Taylor act those out, Flower rated the innings as one of the best he had seen by one of his countrymen. “It’s right up there. He showed amazing application and he changed his game, particularly yesterday, to the type of wicket he was playing on,” Flower said. “He left the ball really well and bided his time. That was great to see. He struggled in the West Indies but he came back got fitter and worked on a few things and it’s paid off.”While receiving more throwdowns than the number of zeroes on an old Zimbabwean banknote to get himself technically ready, Taylor also had to gain an understanding of his role. Being the captain, he shoulders a lot. Being the side’s key batsmen, too, requires him to take on even more. Being expected to lead and bat well, puts the weight on him close to tipping point.Flower can see some of his brother, Andy, in Taylor and has tried to pass on some of his sibling’s values into him. “Brendan as always been under pressure as one of the best players like Andy was,” he said. “We’ve spoken about just batting and the runs will come and sometimes just being selfish, play for yourself and you will end up playing for the team. Sometimes, especially in ODIs, Brendan ends up trying to make up for the other players like Andy used to and this time he didn’t have to that.”The latter part of Flower’s analysis is the perhaps the most important. Because Taylor shared in two century stands, with Malcolm Waller and Graeme Cremer, and had Shingi Masakadza and Keegan Meth to fight on without him, Zimbabwe benefited from more than just a solo effort.That is also because of behind the scenes work, as Zimbabwe sought to change their reputation of their batting ending at No.6. “I’ve spent a lot of time talking to the lower-order batsmen about how important their position is and how we have got a reputation of having a long tail. I made them aware of it and put a bit more emphasis on it so we can work on it,” Flower said. “We did more work in the nets, we had specialised sessions with the so-called all-rounders so we could get them ready.”The most obvious change in Zimbabwe’s lower-order was their willingness to dig in. They frustrated the Bangladesh attack with stubbornness and took Zimbabwe to 11 runs shy of their goal – a total of 400. “We got to where we wanted to,” Flower said.Bangladesh may feel the same. Their coach, Shane Jurgensen, admitted he would have been satisfied with bowling Zimbabwe out for under 300 and although his team conceded an extra 89 runs, they wiped out the excess quickly scoring with far more ease than the hosts. So much so, that it took Bangladesh 73 balls to achieve what Zimbabwe had in 174 – 50 runs on the board.While the pitch was still a testing one, Bangladesh were helped by poor bowling from Zimbabwe’s opening attack. Kyle Jarvis created chances in every over but he also gave away boundaries. Meth did the same, Masakadza was the best bowler, he beat the bat regularly, he hit good lengths but even he veered on the side of too short.Against batsmen who enjoy attacking, that was a mistake. Jahurul Islam and Shahriar Nafees both drove strongly, sending boundaries down the ground at will. The inexperience of the bowlers may have been to blame, and their eagerness to prove themselves as the batsmen did, but Flower was far from impressed.”We bowled way too full and sometimes too short and wide. Of course, it doesn’t help if you drop an early catch but our bowling was far from good enough,” he said. “There’s definitely a bit in the surface for the bowlers and it will still be there as the game goes on. We can definitely bowl a lot better than that.”Zimbabwe’s bowlers will have to emulate their batsmen and employ discipline and patience, rather than look for glory immediately. The batsmen have waited the better part of a decade to see the rewards of that kind of calculated approach. The bowlers have tasted success more recently – in 2011 against Bangladesh – when they took the side to victory on a similar surface.Bangladesh also remember that Test, when their batsmen could not do enough and their attack was at times impotent. That’s why they have come out with such a different approach this time. “We think we can win this match. We are playing positively with the bat and we think we can get them out again,” Enamul Haque Jr said. Whoever can learn from history better will ensure their words match their actions.

Not as much as they look at the moment, is the answer, children. Ten irrefutable splodges of statistical truth-telling to get you through the night

Andy Zaltzman19-Mar-2013″The unstoppable clock of an Ashes megayear is already ticking towards April. The cuckoo will soon bark for the beginning of the English summer, and one of the founding superpowers of international cricket is struggling. Mired in the murky gloom of a run of just two victories in their last ten Tests, and with five wins set against seven defeats since Christmas 2011, they must be casting envious looks across the hemispheres at their ancient foes.

“The team against which they will be scrabbling for ownership of the urn – the kind of battered old trinket that could fetch upwards of £1.25 on eBay – have won twice as many of their last ten Tests, and are roosting on a proud record of nine wins and just four losses in 16 five-day matches since Santa Claus plopped down their chimneys 15 months ago, waiting for an Ashes triumph to hatch into life.

With two back-to-badly-scheduled-back series in the offing, His Excellency Judge Form-Guide has surely cast his verdict. Only one of the two combatants has the taste of habitual victory fresh in their gullets. Only one of the two teams can, when the Test averages of both teams since Christmas 2011 are set against each other, boast five of the six best bowlers, and six of the eight best batsman. There can be only one winner. Australia.”

This is an excerpt from a joint press release that fell into my in-tray this morning, issued by the Australian Institute of National Optimism, the English Society For Fearing the Sporting Worst, and the International Foundation for the Selective Use of Potentially Misleading Statistics.Admittedly there are a number of caveats that need to be added. England might have scored only two victories in their last ten Tests, and flunked their major challenges of 2012, but five of those games have been drawn (four rain-affected, one on a mummified corpse of a pitch in Nagpur), and the two wins were strikingly good ones. Australia, by contrast, had, until their Indian jaunt, won nine and lost one of their last 13 Tests, but they had faced some of the most inept opposition in recent cricketing history, and the one loss had been a soul-sapping one at the end of a series with South Africa that they should have been leading. Since when, they have been chomped in Chennai, hosed in Hyderabad, and marmalised in Mohali.Of those five Australian bowlers with better averages since Christmas 2011 than any of their English counterparts (other than Graham Onions, who has played only one Test in that time), only one played in the Mohali Test, none has much of a record against England, and all have benefited from some less-than-competent visiting batsmanship in Australian conditions. Of the six Aussies in the top eight Anglo-Baggy-Green batsmen in that time, two have retired, two are bowlers, one is Steve Smith (on the basis of one match), and the other might be comfortably the best batsman on either team, but is also battling with an uncooperative back. And averages, as the old saying goes, are like miniskirts – they only really work with the appropriate figures. And should not be used on their own.What can we read into all this? Not much. This Australian team is not as bad as a regenerating Indian side is making it look. Nor as good as the 2011-12 disintegrating Indian side made it look. And they have concocted a formidable strategic masterplan. The last time they lost the first three Tests of a series was against West Indies in 1988-89. Their next series was the Ashes in England. They won 4-0, and kickstarted a decade and a half of England-pulverising dominance.India, for their part, look a far better side than they were three months ago. In fact, they do not just look a far better side, they are a far better side. It helps that they are playing against a less good side than they were three months ago, but the changes at the top of the order, which were more overdue than a forgetful agoraphobic’s library books, have been spectacularly successful. Shikhar Dhawan’s staggering debut innings, at the age of 27, suggests that India’s selectors have shown an unnecessary lack of trust in their own first-class system, akin to Neil Armstrong turning up for the Apollo 11 launch with a homemade rocket he and his wife cobbled together out of an old Renault, some lawnmowers, and a tumble-dryer.Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling has been perhaps unexpectedly successful, and, with the influx of new, younger players, India have inevitably become a more vigorous side in the field. That said, scientifically they could not have become less vigorous in the field than they were against England, when at times it seemed that several of the team were about to hibernate. Greater challenges lie ahead overseas, but the process has at least begun.A Mohali stat blast to help you get to sleep tonight. Adults: take up to three stats with a litre of cask-strength whisky to ensure an uninterrupted night of top-quality snooze. Children aged 6-12: take one stat with water, under strict supervision. Children under six should not take cricket stats other than in an emergency, or where no other treatment is available. Avoid contact with the eyes. If you take more than the recommended number of stats, seek immediate psychological assistance. Do not share stats with other users. If symptoms persist, watch some snooker.

Children under six should not take cricket stats other than in an emergency, or where no other treatment is available. Avoid contact with the eyes. If you take more than the recommended number of stats, seek immediate psychological assistance

1. India’s batsmen have posted five scores of 150 or more in the first three Tests, the joint-third-most ever in a Test series. Only Pakistan (seven 150-plus innings, v India in 1982-83), and England (six, in the 1985 Ashes), have scored more. Eight teams have previously scored five 150s in a series. The last side to do so: Australia. Against India, in the 2011-12 series. Which must seem a long time ago to the current side, as they counter-debacle India’s pitiful efforts in that 4-0 whitewash. India have also become the 11th team to have had four different players reach 150 in a series. Only the 1938 England team have had five century-and-a-half-mongers.2. Ishant Sharma bowled out Brad Haddin and Moises Henriques in three balls in his 18th over in the first innings. He thus tinkered the timbers more often in three balls than he had in his previous 496 overs in Tests, since bowling Trott at Lord’s in July 2011. In the 14 Tests (plus the end of the Lord’s game and the beginning of the Mohali match) he had played since then, just one of his 23 victims had been bowled – Michael Clarke at the MCG, in the Boxing Day Test of 2011-12.3. The Mohali Test was the third ever in which all four openers have scored 70 or more in the first innings. This was the first of those three not to end in a draw.4. Dhawan and M Vijay were the 14th pair of openers to both score 150 in the same innings, and the second Indian partnership to do so. The previous occasion was when Vinoo Mankad (231) and Pankaj Roy (173) added 413 for the first wicket against New Zealand in Chennai in 1955-56. It was the first time both openers have passed 150 against Australia (a) anywhere other than the MCG, and (b) without one of them being Jack Hobbs. The Surrey Statisticosaurus did so in partnership with Wilfred Rhodes in 1911-12, and with Herbert Sutcliffe in 1924-25.5. Australia’s first innings was the ninth occasion on which four players have scored 70 or more in the same innings, without any going on to score a hundred (and the fifth involving Australia),
and the seventh time three batsmen have reached 85 without any of them reaching the cricketing nirvana of a century.6. Mitchell Starc became the first No. 9 ever to be out for 99 in Test cricket. By way of consolation, he also became the 11th man batting 9 or lower to score 35 or more in both innings of a Test, and the first Australian to do so since 1924-25. Starc also gave Test cricket its first recorded instance of a No. 9, 10 or 11 surviving 100 balls in both innings. He became the first Baggy Green paceman to both bowl and face 200 balls in a Test since Tony Dodemaide, against New Zealand, at the MCG in 1987-88.7. Jadeja became only the fifth bowler ever to take three wickets in five separate innings in a series, after Ian Botham (1985 Ashes), Malcolm Marshall (v Australia, 1990-91), Stuart Clark (2006-07 Ashes) and Peter Siddle (v India 2011-12). The Saurashtra Southpaw has taken 17 wickets in the series, without taking four in any innings. If he takes three and two, or two and three, in Delhi, he will become the top wicket-taker in any series who has not taken four in an innings.8. Dhawan’s 187 off 174, at a strike rate of 107, was the fourth-fastest 150-plus score by an opener in Test history, after Roy Fredericks’ legendary assault on Lillee, Thomson, Walker and Gilmour in Perth in 1975-76 (169 off 145), Virender Sehwag’s 293 off 254 against Sri Lanka in 2009-10, and David Warner’s laceration of India (180 off 159), also at the WACA, 14 months ago.9. And a couple from Wellington: England’s first-innings 465 was the second-highest total by a team that has lost all ten wickets to catches, behind West Indies’ 486 v India in Barbados in 1983. Something for the Wellington duck to ponder on.10. For the second time in three Tests, Monty Panesar bowled exactly 52 overs in the match, conceded less than two runs per over, and only took one wicket: 1 for 81 in Nagpur, 1 for 91 in Wellington.And, relax.

New Zealand are eyeing their first Test win of the year after their top-order began well on a grassy pitch and Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum sealed that advantage by registering long awaited centuries

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin03-Dec-2013

Taylor benefits from Crowe’s advice

A pre-match chat with his mentor, Martin Crowe, helped Ross Taylor score his first Test hundred in a year after he was reminded to “enjoy the battle.”
“I had a chat to him last night and he told me a few things which was good. He was just telling me to relax and get out there and enjoy the battle. There’s different times during the innings where you need to do that and it was a nice timely reminder.”
Taylor was able to enjoy the moment of his hundred alongside Brendon McCullum who had brought up his own cathartic ton a few moments earlier. They have often been seen as rivals within their own team, especially since the controversial change of captains, but New Zealand are undoubtedly stronger with them as a united force.
“It’s been well documented that Brendon’s been under the pump and it’s nice for him to score a hundred after he has been in a lean patch and nice for him to do it in front of family and friends.
“There’s always going to be that comparison with us until he retires or I retire,” he added. “But we can’t control that. We just have to do our best every time. We’re not going to score runs every time, but if we do our best shot then hopefully that’s enough.”

New Zealand could barely have dreamt of a better start to their home season. Despite losing the toss, one where they too would have inserted the opposition, they hurtled along at four runs an over with their captain and former captain laying markers for the summer ahead with much-needed hundreds. Already they are in a position from which they should not lose and can push to register their first Test victory of the year.West Indies were a gentle opposition in the opening forays, with the honourable exception of the wholehearted Tino Best whose early afternoon spell was the most impressive of the day. Their slow start was hardly unexpected, and though they pulled themselves together briefly either side of lunch – largely through Best and Shane Shillingford – New Zealand had been given a head start that they did not relinquish. Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum consolidated in forceful fashion during the evening session, which brought 173 runs in 35 overs.It was a day that ticked many boxes for New Zealand, from the start given by Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton (reminiscent of their 158-run stand against England in March) and then the way Taylor and McCullum ensured they did not waste that platform when the pair joined forces at 185 for 3 – a score from which New Zealand’s innings could still have fallen away.They were fed some rubbish as Darren Sammy, not for the first time in recent weeks, spread his field with little impact. Only Shillingford, in a commendable effort given the cloud over his action, gave him a semblance of control, although McCullum profited against him later, and New Zealand’s batsmen knew they could just play the offspinner out and feed off the poor deliveries that regularly came their way.The hundreds for Taylor and McCullum had been long awaited and were vital for different reasons. Taylor hadn’t reached three figures since losing the captaincy last year, his batting having become studded with racy fifties that did not do justice to his talent or provide the ballast the middle order needed. His previous hundred was in Colombo, which was both New Zealand’s most recent Test victory and the last match for Taylor as captain, although the die had been cast before that win.McCullum, meanwhile, had waited three years to score his seventh Test hundred. He had recently spoken about the “dark thoughts” he experienced after returning early from the Bangladesh tour with a flare-up of his chronic back condition after a period where his runs dried up. Last week he played a club game in Dunedin for local side Albion where, by all reports, he looked horribly scratchy and troubled by his back. He was bowled by a New Zealand Under-19 seamer; the difference between that attack and today’s may not be as vast as you would envisage.Even two days out from this Test, during New Zealand’s first practice day, McCullum had a horrid net session according to Taylor, who offered his captain some words of advice.”The way Brendon was batting on Sunday, I think he was trying very hard in the nets and sometimes when you really want to do well you over-train and he was doing that,” Taylor said. “His balance was all over the place. Obviously there were a couple of words from other people and I just said keep your balance. That was the only thing I was going through and his balance was beautiful. He played the strokes that he’s famous for and he was back to the Brendon of old.”McCullum is a batsman who lives on his instincts and if there were any doubts when he walked in, they did not show. This was also an opportunity gift-wrapped for him: a solid position forged by the top order, a soft ball, a shallow bowling attack and a fast outfield. He regularly played in similar fashion against England earlier this year, but either fell in the team push for quick runs or was left with the lower order for company.There was the occasional flex of the back, as there will be for the rest of his career – Taylor said his captain was “cooked” at the end of the day – but he was moving well enough to deposit Shillingford twice down the ground for six and pull Shannon Gabriel over midwicket for another. There was also the sight of two reverse sweeps, the second of which took him into the 90s.Taylor, as so often, was fierce on the cut and strong on the drive. He also had injury concerns leading into the series – a knee problem picked up during training after being rested from the Sri Lanka one-day tour – but for him, long considered the classiest batsman of this New Zealand generation and labelled as one of the country’s best ever, it is about producing the volume of runs his talent demands. He will make far tougher hundreds than this one, although he admitted having to battle out of one-day mode for his first 20-30 runs, during which he gloved one over the slips from Best.”My first initial reaction was to hit the ball,” he said. “Obviously Test cricket, that’s not what it’s about. I was working through my head the right tempo to play and just slow myself down. I was battling and trying to hit every ball for four. It was nice to come through the other end and felt pretty good.”There will have been few positive emotions in the West Indies camp. They wasted a chance in helpful morning conditions although Taylor believed the pitch would develop into the usual comfortable batting surface seen here for Tests. New Zealand’s cricket is not consistent enough for anyone to get too giddy, but already this match has the feeling of another lost cause for West Indies.

The abrupt discarding of England’s highest international run-scorer appears to have been the result of catastrophic mismanagement. The ECB owes us all an explanation

George Dobell05-Feb-20140:00

‘The ECB has to be more accountable’

It is no coincidence that Kevin Pietersen’s international career has run concurrent with England’s greatest period of success for at least 50 years.When England won their first Ashes series in almost two decades, Pietersen’s century sealed the triumph. When England won their first global limited-overs trophy, Pietersen was Man of the Tournament. When England went to No. 1 in the Test rankings with a 4-0 defeat over India, Pietersen led the way with a batting average of 106.60. And when England came from behind to win in India, Pietersen played the series-turning innings in Mumbai. He has been at the forefront of almost every success England have enjoyed in the last decade.Even amid the rubble of the recent thrashing in Australia, Pietersen led the way. On the pitch, he was England’s leading run-scorer; off it, he could be seen helping other players in the nets.James Anderson and Stuart Broad both adopted Pietersen’s batting stance having worked with him, while Pietersen was also conspicuous in his encouragement of young players such as Gary Ballance and Ben Stokes. There is no suggestion that he stinted in his fitness or technical preparation. He looked, most of the time, like the model senior professional.Kevin Pietersen offered advice to James Anderson, among others, on England’s tour of Australia•Getty ImagesSo what has changed? What has changed since Ashley Giles, one of those who supposedly gave his support to the decision to cut Pietersen adrift, rated him a “million-dollar asset” on January 15; since Andy Flower praised his “determination” and labelled him a “great player” on December 10; or since Graeme Swann rated his attitude as “great” on January 27. Indeed, as recently as Christmas Day, Alastair Cook said Pietersen “has a huge part to play in the future” and praised the “excellent” way his squad had “stuck together in the dressing room”.Whispers suggest there were a couple of incidents, including a heated row with Cook in Sydney, in the last days of the tour. But, if Pietersen was so disruptive, why was he not disciplined at the time? If Cook and Pietersen had such a fierce row are they not both responsible and is Cook really the man to make a dispassionate decision? If, in a team meeting, Pietersen was asked for his views at the end of a chastening series, can he be penalised for stating them? And why is the ECB unable to tell us the reason for this drastic course of action?The manner of the announcement – with Pietersen appearing to go quietly – suggests a deal has been done. But it is not just Pietersen who must be placated here.England supporters deserve answers. It is unacceptably arrogant to dismiss their legitimate interest with an evasive media statement. It is unacceptable to discard England’s highest international run-scorer without explaining exactly why the management believe the team will be stronger without him. It is absurd to claim that, with two global events in the next 12 months and one within weeks, that this is the time to start a long-term rebuilding operation. And it is disingenuous to claim, via off-the-record briefings, that all the senior players were canvassed and gave negative views on Pietersen. Several, at least, claim to be as confused by this episode as Pietersen seems to be. The ECB has to be more transparent and accountable.The finality of this announcement will also hinder the next team director. Any credible applicant for that job will want to assemble their own team, appoint their own captain and make their own judgements on players. Yet the ECB has decided, without justifying its decision, to commit to a captain who, despite his many positive qualities, has only once averaged even 28 in five series against Australia, and a team without the man who might well be rated, upon reflection, as England’s best batsman in half a century.England’s new management team may feel that this is a strong decision. But truly strong leaders accept alternatives, diversity and imperfection. Strong leaders are flexible and embrace difference. Strong leaders understand that genius very often comes at a cost, but a cost that is worth paying.

By allowing the situation to reach this conclusion and in taking such a drastic decision, this is a catastrophic failure of management. England are not embracing change, they are embracing mediocrity

If you can’t manage, you shouldn’t be in management. By allowing the situation to reach this conclusion and in taking such a drastic decision, this is a catastrophic failure of management. England are not embracing change, they are embracing mediocrity.It is also a mistake to think this matter is closed. Until the ECB explains exactly how this happened, the questions will remain. Furthermore, England now face the potential prospect of finding new players to bat at No. 2 No. 3 and No. 4 in their Test team and will know that, every time they fail or Pietersen flourishes in whichever domestic league he finds himself at that time, the same questions will be asked: why not pick him? Cook has taken on a burden that will become wearisome very soon.Pietersen is not perfect. He can seem brash, he can seem arrogant, he can seem self-interested and the manner of his dismissals can be infuriating. But if you accept a player who can hit good bowlers out of the attack – it was his assault against a ferociously quick Shaun Tait that won England the final of the World Twenty20 in 2010, to name one of dozens of examples – then you accept that he will, at times, fall to catches at long-on or long leg. If you ask your players to play fearless cricket but then hammer them for failing, you will create the culture of fear and inhibition that choked England throughout their tour of Australia.There are parallels here with the end of David Gower’s international career. Just as England’s last genius batsman was pushed into early retirement by the Gradgrinds of the world, so Pietersen is being pushed away by those who should feel gratitude for his contribution. Had county cricket not lured Pietersen to the UK, the careers of Giles Clarke, Andrew Strauss, Andy Flower and Cook would all be much altered.England cricket is the poorer for the absence of players such as Gower and Pietersen. It will be less colourful, less entertaining and less competitive. But in England the greater sin is to be seen to give your wicket away with a loose stroke rather than leaving a straight delivery and allowing it to hit your stumps. Failure is accepted so long as it is not accompanied by flair. Genius is doubted and distrusted and, in England, you are forgiven for turning your back and going on a rebel tour – Gooch, Gatting, Graveney et al – but not for rocking the boat. In England, success has been a brief interlude in a general drama of failure.This England environment, in recent times, has a record of ruining players. A confused Steven Finn has regressed, an over-used Swann has retired, an exhausted Jonathan Trott has taken time out and the loss of form of the likes of Cook and Joe Root suggests that the schedule is part of an unsustainable business plan that risks ruining the greatest assets of all: the players.It is increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that it is the institution at fault, not the individuals. Change may well be required, but it is right at the top that it should start.

Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in Dubai

Abhishek Purohit19-Apr-2014The drops
Royal Challengers Bangalore couldn’t seem to catch anything at the start. Third ball of the game, Michael Hussey scooped a drive straight to Yuzvendra Chahal at backward point off Mitchell Starc, and the fielder put it down. Second ball of the second over, Aditya Tare drove weakly at an Albie Morkel outswinger. The outside edge went straight to slip this time, where Nic Maddinson failed to hold on.The triple tag
Fielders regularly speed after balls in pairs now, one of them slides, stops and lobs up the ball to the other to make the throw. Here, three Royal Challengers man were after a Tare mis-hit over cover. Chahal reached the ball, and relayed it to the man closest to him. The fielder slipped but help was at hand, as another relay found the palms of a third man, who threw the ball towards the wicketkeeper. There might have been a run-out after all this teamwork, had Parthiv Patel not removed the bails without collecting the ball.The strikes
Chahal continued to make up for dropping Hussey, on the field and with his legspin. He first had Rohit Sharma mishit a googly to long-off. The legspinner continued to toss the ball up, and the reward was the big wicket of Kieron Pollard, who slammed a full delivery for long-on to take a leaping catch.The delivery
This was vintage Zaheer Khan. He’d already dismissed Virat Kohli and welcomed Yuvraj Singh with an away-going lifter that he thought had been edged, but Tare could not gather the high take behind the stumps. Zaheer did it all by himself next ball. It was fast, just outside off, and nipped in after pitching to strike a surprised Yuvraj plumb in front.

Plays of the day from the game between Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders

Rachna Shetty11-May-2014The start
Playing a match when the temperature is hovering around 40 degrees is never easy, but despite the heat Jacques Kallis had a few problems warming up. Coming on to bowl the first over, he offered a gift to Virender Sehwag – a full, slightly wide ball that was duly flayed over cover’s head. Searching for swing, he overcompensated down the leg side and Sehwag took another three fours. The 17-run over turned out to be the second most expensive opening one this season.The effort
He did not have his best day with the ball but Kallis was as good as ever in the field. In the 13th over, fielding on the fine-leg boundary, Kallis sprinted to stop a sweep by David Miller, and in one move, executed a sliding save and tossed the ball to Umesh Yadav.In luck
With three 40-plus scores behind him, Robin Uthappa once again looked in imperious form, smacking Sandeep Sharma for three fours and Mitchell Johnson for 18 runs in successive overs. When spin was introduced in the form of Akshar Patel’s slow left-arm, Uthappa played a reverse-sweep straight to point. Two balls later, he tried another reverse sweep. The ball ballooned off his glove and helmet and fell just out of reach of a diving Wriddhiman Saha.Chawla’s rewind
In the last match between the two sides in the UAE, Piyush Chawla finished with figures of 3 for 19 in four overs, accounting for the wickets of Virender Sehwag, David Miller and George Bailey. He finished with the same figures in this game, too. Virender Sehwag was bowled by the legspinner for a second time, and he dented the Kings XI innings with the wicket of Glenn Maxwell. His third scalp was Rishi Dhawan. Incidentally, Sehwag was the top-scorer in Abu Dhabi, too, where Kings XI recorded their lowest total batting first in the IPL this year.The regulation miss
Bailey is not usually sloppy in the field but he had a forgettable moment during the Knight Riders chase. In the 17th over, with Knight Riders needing 15 off 21, a well-set Gautam Gambhir top edged a pull and it came straight to Bailey at midwicket. The Kings XI captain got his hands under the ball, which promptly popped out and landed on the grass. Bailey, who normally has a smile ready for most occasions on a cricket field, wore a slightly sheepish one this time.

Afghanistan’s former coach may have quit cricket to pursue religion, but he remains with the side in spirit

Tim Wigmore22-Aug-2014Taj Malik will not be in Australia and New Zealand when Afghanistan play their first World Cup next year. But Afghanistan might not have gotten that far without Malik.The story of Afghanistan’s first, glorious attempt to qualify for the World Cup – the transformation from a side praying for rain to spare them from playing Jersey to one defeating Ireland in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in 12 months – was immortalised in the documentary . Taj Malik was the film’s hero. Temperamental, bombastic and with insatiable enthusiasm and self-belief after spending 16 years as a refugee, he had no time for realists who thought that his dreams of Afghanistan reaching the World Cup were incredible.It is a remarkable tale – and there is no better guide than Malik. “I started playing cricket in 1987, when England was touring Pakistan during Mike Gatting’s captaincy. We used a tennis ball,” he says. “When we were refugees in Pakistan, we got interested in watching international matches.”And then we started playing with a tennis ball and then slowly got more interested and established a refugee team in the Kacha Gari camp and then started our dream to have an Afghanistan team.” This refugee side, which Malik named the Afghan Cricket Club, served as a platform for future Afghan stars, including Karim Sadiq (Taj’s brother) and Nawroz Mangal, a former Afghanistan captain.During his time as a refugee in the Kacha Gari camp, Malik turned the Afghan Cricket Club, through sheer force of will, into a formidable side. Afghanistan’s cricketers can hardly claim to have been lucky, but it was fortunate that their years in Peshawar coincided with the game flourishing in that part of Pakistan;.Test players including Umar Gul and former offspinner Arshad Khan are recent products of the system. When the Afghan Cricket Club was invited to play against clubs in Peshawar, it was a formidable education for the side.When he finally returned to Afghanistan, Malik vied with Allah Dad Noori for control of the nascent Afghanistan cricket team. While Malik was in Pakistan, Noori had formed the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (which later became the Afghanistan Cricket Board) in 1995 with the Taliban’s approval. Eventually, they hit upon a compromise: Noori assumed the presidency of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation while Malik became the general secretary and national coach.In 2001, the ICC awarded Afghanistan Affiliate membership. Afghanistan’s first official fixtures came when they were invited to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy in 2004, a tournament featuring 15 teams. Afghanistan finished sixth, and were soon to embark upon their remarkable cricketing surge.Malik credits much of their success to the experience of playing in Pakistan. “We started to beat the strong Peshawar clubs,” he says. “The ACC teams were very easy for us so that’s why in 2008 I was pretty confident, if you watch .”That is – uncharacteristically for Malik – an understatement. He used to boast that Afghanistan would score 400 runs in their 50 overs, and threatened to throw himself into the Atlantic if Afghanistan failed to progress to Division Four of the World Cricket League.Thankfully he did not have to stick to his word: Afghanistan beat Jersey by two wickets in the Division Five final. “All the matches were very interesting, especially because the conditions were against us,” Malik says.But the tournament’s aftermath was less kind to him. Some players felt Malik was putting too much pressure on them. His default reaction to any collapse was to chain-smoke. After a disappointing performance in the ACC Trophy in 2008, he was relieved of his post as coach.It still rankles. “Up to Jersey, there was no government involvement in cricket, and there was no support from any department,” he says. “When cricket became more popular all people got interested, all the nation got interested, and the government removed me from my post.”They told me, ‘Now we are going to the big stage and you are a low-level coach.’ But I’d done the most difficult job to help the team play with a hard ball, and I gathered the team and motivated them.”Malik was replaced by Kabir Khan, a former Pakistan Test cricketer. And though he could be considered a foreign coach, Kabir could not be called a carpetbagger. Like many in the Afghanistan side, Kabir was born in Peshawar. His father was Afghan. Kabir will lead Afghanistan in the World Cup: he resigned in 2010 citing interference from the cricket board during a tour to Scotland, but returned in 2012 after receiving assurances that he would be able to get on with his job in peace.Malik credits his team’s experiences in Pakistan with helping them aspire to a higher level•Afghanistan Cricket FederationUnder Kabir, Afghanistan progressed to the final stages of the 2011 World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, in 2009. They just missed out on qualification. As their World Cup dreams ended, Malik was at home, listening on a crackly radio stream.But soon he would return, as assistant coach to Kabir. “I give thanks to Allah that again I show my performance and we qualified for the World T20 held in the West Indies,” Malik says. His his return didn’t last long, though.”There is no justice,” Malik says. He says that the problem was one that many cricketers could relate to – greedy administrators.”We had a conference and we decided that the prize money should go to the players because everybody had economic problems,” he says. “When we went to the cricket board administrators and the chairman, they refused. They said this money should go for other things.” The board eventually relented but Malik was not made aware of it by the players. “I resigned and then the cricket board changed and then they hired me as the Afghanistan A coach.”He left that position two and a half years ago and since then Malik has focused on Islam; he is now in Tableegh, a religious movement.”I worked for seven-eight years with these players when we had no facilities, no money,” he says. “Now some of the senior players want to come and talk with me. I’m not the kind of person to have bad behaviour with them.” The current captain, Mohammad Nabi, recently described Malik as “a great man”, saying “I meet him from time to time when I go back to Afghanistan. We don’t talk about cricket.”Malik is pleased with the quality of life now enjoyed by Nabi and his side. “I’m happy that they’re playing on a good level, they have good salaries, they don’t have economic problems. They have cars.”But he doubts the ability of women’s cricket to gain acceptance in Afghanistan. “It’s very difficult in the country because Afghanistan is a Muslim country and Islam does not allow women and girls to participate, especially in Afghanistan,” he says. “They cannot move without Islamic rules – to walk from home. So how can they play?”Although he has moved on from cricket, Malik has lost none of his bluster. The words rattle out of his mouth like machine-gun fire. While he remains a staunch supporter of the side, he believes that professionalism has come at a price: the essence of Afghanistan cricket has been lost.”Afghanistan has a distinct playing style. A lot of the national coaches working with the team tried to change their playing style,” he laments. “Like in Pakistan and India, there is a lot of spin bowling and defensive batting to rotate the strike, getting ones and twos. This was not our style. Our style was just like the style which West Indies have. We have big hitters and score a lot of runs hitting sixes and fours. In this style we won so many games from 2002 to 2009 everywhere in the world.”One such occasion was against the UAE in the ACC T20 tournament in 2009. “In the last two balls, ten runs were needed and we all felt like we had lost the game. Our last pair was at the crease, Shapoor Zadran and Hamid Hassan, and the UAE captain was bowling full tosses. I shouted at Hamid Hassan to not go down the track, stay at the crease and hit it far. He hit the first ball for four and the last for six and we won and that match was telecast live in Afghanistan. That was my favourite match in Afghanistan’s history.”Malik thinks that a bit more of that spirit would make Afghanistan ever more successful today. “If I was there, I’m sure, with the help of Allah, we would be the No. 5 or No. 6 team in the world today.” As Afghanistan’s rise continues, Taj Malik does not deserve for his role to be forgotten. And if he has anything to do with it, there is no chance it will be.

Plays of the day from the fifth ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand in Abu Dhabi

Abhishek Purohit19-Dec-2014Substitute Bond
Kyle Mills and Daniel Vettori had already gone back home. James Neesham and Corey Anderson were ruled out with groin injuries. New Zealand were down to 11 men fit and available for the final ODI. A couple of UAE national team players had to be drafted in as two of the substitutes. The third sub on the team sheet was bowling coach Shane Bond. Bond had company, as South Africa bowling coach Allan Donald had also been kept on the substitute list in the Centurion Test against West Indies with his side hit by a string of injuries.Accurate Irfan
New Zealand were on the charge in the slog overs but Mohammad Irfan wasn’t willing to play along. He started the 49th with a couple of yorkers to Tom Latham. Latham tried coming down the track but the next ball was a sharp bouncer that he could only duck. Three successive dot balls. Top-class death bowling.Jamshed’s non-review
Nasir Jamshed was done in by Matt Henry’s pace fifth ball of the chase and rapped on the pad. He was given leg-before but there was enough doubt about the decision for him to have a long discussion with the non-striker Ahmed Shehzad. Even as the two batsmen conferred, the time available for Pakistan to review elapsed, and Jamshed had to trudge back, only for replays to show the ball pitching well outside leg stump.Shehzad’s shocker
Shehzad had led Pakistan’s recovery from 38 for 3 and guided the score past 100 in the company of Haris Sohail. Matt Henry had been brought back and bowled a half-tracker to Shehzad, batting on 54. Shehzad could not quite make up his mind whether to slog or pull and ended up lobbing it tamely to midwicket. He let out an anguished cry as soon as he hit the stroke, but the damage had been done.