Messi and Alba missed two mandatory training sessions for the MLS All-Star team, with some MLS players surprised by their absence

• Messi, Alba have missed both training sessions
• Participation for both in All-Star activities are in doubt
• Carles Gil and Diego Luna among those surprised

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  WHAT HAPPENED?

  AUSTIN, Texas – The MLS All-Stars took the training ground at Austin FC's impressive St. David’s Performance Center on Monday, and 28 of the 30 selections were accounted for – ranging from San Diego's Mexico star Hirving 'Chucky' Lozano to the Vancouver Whitecaps' Brian White.

  Yet, two absentees were glaring as Inter Miami's Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba were not present. It was more of the same Tuesday, as again the former Barcelona stars were again no-shows. It's a development some other MLS All-Stars acknowledged was a bit surprising.

  "I know they are on obviously on the roster, and I don't know if they are coming in today or tomorrow, but, yeah, hopefully they can come like everyone here," New England Revolution All-Star Carles Gil said. "It's just two training days, so this is difficult to have a chemistry."

  Real Salt Lake and USMNT star Diego Luna echoed those sentiments.

  "Am I surprised? Maybe a little bit because they were on the roster, but they've got their own individual things going on," Luna explained.

  Still, Gil and Luna remained optmistic despite the no-shows of the two Miami stars.

  "The only cool thing is they get here tomorrow and we can play together and have fun," Luna said.

  Gil added, "In the end, here you have the best of the best. Everyone has the quality, and everyone has the quality, and in the end is football."

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  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Despite Luna's comments, there has been no official confirmation at to when, or if, Messi and Alba are arriving. There has been uncertainty as to whether either will participate in any All-Star event this week, as alluded to by MLS head coach Nico Estevez Monday.

  “That’s a question for his club. I just coach and use the players I’m given. I hope so – I’m very optimistic and I hope he can be there," he said.

  It is unclear whether or not Messi or Alba will face discipline for missing Media Day or the two training sessions that have been considered mandatory in the past. One report has mentioned Messi is expected to arrive Wednesday. According to MLS rules, unless there is a medical reason, Messi and Alba need to play to avoid being suspended for Inter Miami's match against FC Cincinnati this Saturday.

  Still, if Messi and Alba are available to play, other All-Stars believe it will be fairly straightforward to integrate with the two Miami stars.

  "We're not developing very much chemistry in two days, to be fair. I mean, it takes, it takes months and months, if not years, to develop, like, really good chemistry with the guys," Austin FC All-Star Brad Stuver said with a smile. "But right now, it's just, we're really enjoying on guys that are here. We know that those guys, like they'll be here at some point. But right now, we're just enjoying the group that we have, like bantering, like it's good to have guys that you're normally competing against."

  Orlando City SC star Marco Pašalić added, "For me, it's this no problem. For some reasons, they're not here. I don't know why, but it's up to them. Like we train here, we have fun, so tomorrow we play together, and it's OK."

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Messi was also selected to the 2024 All-Star game but missed it due to the injury he sustained in the Copa America final. If he plays, it will be his first appearance as an MLS All-Star.

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  WHAT NEXT FOR MLS ALL-STARS?

  The Skills Competition, which features Alba as one of the headliners, kicks off Tuesday night before the main event takes place Wednesday at Q2 Stadium.

Schutt will become just the sixth Australian woman to reach 200 internationals across formats

AAP02-Feb-2024Megan Schutt never thought she’d play one game for Australia, let alone 200.But she is revelling at the prospect of achieving the milestone when Australia host South Africa on Saturday in the opening fixture of the three-match one-day series at her beloved home ground, the Adelaide Oval.”It makes you feel a bit old, to be honest,” Schutt, the 31-year-old quick, told reporters on Friday. “Game one, I didn’t even expect to play that in my lifetime. So to get to 200 is pretty darn cool and having it at Adelaide Oval is fate in itself and extremely special.”Schutt is just the sixth Australian woman to reach 200 internationals across formats.”I love the game,” she said. “It’s a stupid game and there’s so much more failure than success but I just love it. I love the people that are involved in it, and it’s a game that keeps evolving as well. I keep striving to be better. Being a fast bowler in a batter’s game is quite tough but I kind of like the challenge.”The most rewarding part is being a bowler and having played that much cricket, there’s not many players around that have played as much cricket as I have. I guess not being an express pace bowler helps me, but [reaching 200 games] as a bowler is probably a special achievement.”Schutt, who made her international debut in an ODI in December 2012, said she would continue playing “as long as my body holds out and as long as Cricket Australia want me”.”Admittedly, it’s a bit harder to get out of bed in the mornings,” she said. “But I’ll keep pushing hard in the gym, doing what I can, and if I keep getting a contract, I will keep playing.”Schutt, who has taken 260 wickets in her 87 ODIs, 108 T20Is and four Test matches, nominated Australia’s 2020 World Cup T20 triumph as her career highlight.”I mean, 86,000 people at the MCG; I was super-sceptical that we were going to get 20,000,” she said. “That was a real life-changing moment for me and something I’ll always remember. If I had to bank one moment in my life, it’s probably that.”

The Mumbai Indians captain said there was no issue with his fitness even though he did not bowl against Delhi Capitals

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-2024

“Clearing a lot of minds”, handling players with “love and care”, along with the belief that they could bounce back, helped Mumbai Indians end their run of three successive losses in IPL 2024.After beating Delhi Capitals by 29 runs at the Wankhede Stadium, Hardik Pandya and the Mumbai squad gave the crowd, a majority of them schoolchildren, a lap of honour to acknowledge their support.”It was a lot of hard work,” Hardik said after the game. “We cleared a lot of minds, made sure our plans are right, the intent is right, and today was one of the days where everything clicked. There has been a lot of love and care going around. Everyone knows we lost three games, but the belief and attitude of backing each other was there, which has been fantastic. We needed just one win, and today is just the start.”Related

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Hardik said the team finally had a settled look to it. On Sunday, they welcomed Suryakumar Yadav back into the XI after he missed the start of the season because he was recovering from injury. While his innings lasted only two deliveries, the start Mumbai made in the powerplay through Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan – 75 for 0 in six overs – helped lay the foundation for 234 for 5, their third-highest total.”It was amazing,” Hardik said of the powerplay onslaught. “To get 77 or 80 after six was wonderful. The way everyone is batting, we needed to find the rhythm to bat. The way everyone’s chipping in with their opportunities coming was fantastic.”Kishan, who made 42 from 23 balls and added 80 with Rohit in seven overs, said it was a conscious decision to attack in the powerplay.”We’ve played enough games here; we know how the wicket plays,” he said. “Because it’s not easy after six overs when the fielders go back. It’s more of a rotation game [after six overs] and choosing the right balls [to hit]. We both felt that powerplay was really important time for both of us, where we can take the bowlers on and that’s what our plan was. And we think we executed in a very good way.”Hardik Pandya: “To get 77 or 80 runs after six [overs] was wonderful”•BCCI

Rishabh Pant, the Capitals captain, was not happy with his team’s powerplay approach. Delhi scored 46 for 1 in the first six overs in a chase of 235.”Definitely we were in contention, but I feel we didn’t have enough runs during the powerplay,” Pant said. “Especially on a flat wicket like that, yes, we tried to chase it afterwards. But when the pressure mounts on you and the required run rate goes over 14-15, it’s very difficult to do that for 10-15 overs.”Capitals got past 200 after Shaw made 66 off 40 and Tristan Stubbs clobbered 71 off 25 but the asking rate had got too high by the end.That Capitals were chasing so much was down to West Indian allrounder Romario Shepherd’s cameo. He came into bat at the fall of Hardik’s wicket in the 18th over and hit 32 off his 39 runs in the last over off Anrich Nortje. The stunning sequence read 4, 6, 6, 6, 4, 6.”Some hitting, nah? The way he came in and won us the game, amazing,” Hark said. “The difference between us and Delhi Capitals was Romario. The way he batted, I like him. He always has a smile on his face, doesn’t run away, and has been in the circuit for quite long. I’m proud of the way he played.”Shepherd also contributed with the ball by dismissing David Warner in the fourth over of the chase. Hardik didn’t bowl but put any concerns over his fitness to rest.”All good [with me],” Hardik said. “I will be bowling at the right time. We kind of had everything covered today, so I didn’t need to roll my arm over.”

UAE’s Pakistan-born top-order batter Usman Khan has been called up to Pakistan’s training camp with the army in Kakul. In a clear sign of Pakistan’s desire to lure him to play international cricket for the country of his birth, Usman was named alongside 28 other players for the camp, which runs from March 26 to April 8.There is, however, no word yet from the PCB concerning Usman’s inclusion, or any official change to his status as a UAE player. Over the past month, he played in the PSL as a registered overseas player, racking up the second-highest run tally in the tournament. Before the PSL, Usman also played in the ILT20, which is the UAE’s own franchise T20 league, and the Abu Dhabi T10 just before that, both as a local player for the UAE.And earlier this month, in an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Usman had appeared to downplay his chances of featuring for Pakistan in the near future, citing his determination to instead complete the residency period to qualify for the UAE. However, another 14 months still remain before he becomes eligible to represent UAE.Related

• UAE investigating Pakistan-bound Usman Khan for breach of contract

• Mohammad Amir comes out of retirement for T20 World Cup

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• PCB chief hints Pakistan could get a new T20I captain

Usman had pointed to the uncertainty in Pakistan, as well as the ease of procuring no-objection certificates from the Emirates Cricket Board, as reasons to switch allegiances. But given he has not yet played for the UAE, Usman can still switch back to Pakistan without any waiting period. However, with the speed with which developments have taken place at the PCB’s end, it seems almost certain that Usman will be included in Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, with a firm eye on the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA in June.

Imad, Amir and Rauf also part of the camp

Pakistan’s training camp also marks the return of two players who recently reversed their decisions to retire, and declared ambitions to play for Pakistan anew. Imad Wasim, whose success in the PSL and whose track record in the CPL makes him an enticing prospect for Pakistan, came out of retirement over the weekend. He was followed by Mohammad Amir, who said he still dreamed about playing for Pakistan, and was thus making himself available.Haris Rauf, who is currently recovering from a shoulder injury, is also included after his central contract was reinstated by the PCB.

Pakistan training camp members

Aamer Jamal, Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Haseebullah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Irfan Khan, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Zaman Khan

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

Deivarayan Muthu24-Apr-20242:15

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

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

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Gaikwad: 'Dew took our spinners out of the game'

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

McClenaghan: CSK made mistakes in the field

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

Cricinfo sizes up the stats of the heavyweights in the Super Series one-dayers, and looks at some interesting individual match-ups

S Rajesh03-Oct-2005

With 2313 one-day caps, 48,945 runs and 1856 wickets among them, the Rest of the World squad clearly comes out on top, on the experience count, against the Australians, for whom the corresponding numbers are 1226, 26,506, and 705. More worryingly for Ricky Ponting and his team, the world’s best outdo the Australians in head-to-head stats, and by some distance as well. The tables below examine the records of batsmen and bowlers versus the players they’ll be up against over the next five days (all numbers since September 2001), and the numbers offer a telling story.The batsmen
Batting is clearly Australia’s stronger suit, but even here Ponting and his mates are outdone by Jacques Kallis and co. As the table here indicates, Rest of the World have three players in their squad who average 50 or more against McGrath, Lee, Bracken, Symonds, Watson and Clarke, the bowlers who will constitute the Australian attack in the series. Kallis and Kumar Sangakkara have outstanding averages and strikes rates against these bowlers, while Shahid Afridi hasn’t done badly either. The one batsman whose numbers are far below his career stats is Virender Sehwag – three of his four dismissals came in the 12 balls he faced from Nathan Bracken when the Australians came to India in 2003-04.

* Includes McGrath, Lee, Bracken, Watson, Symonds and ClarkeMike Hussey leads the way for Australia against the bowlers who will make up the World XI attack, and while he was extremely impressive in England, he will need to maintain that consistency over a significant period of time. Ponting himself has fine stats against these bowlers, but two other big names – Damien Martyn and Adam Gilchrist – have plenty to prove. Andrew Symonds is the surprise packet, with a superb average and strike rate.

*Includes Shoaib, Pollock, Ntini, Flintoff, Muralitharan, Vettori, Afridi, Kallis, Sehwag, and GayleThe bowlers
While Rest of the World might edge it with the bat, they are clearly dominant with the ball. Four of their bowlers have an economy rate of less than 70 against Australia’s top-order batsmen, while Flintoff’s is marginally over 70. And if anyone questioned Daniel Vettori’s inclusion in the squad, the stats below should emphatically answer those doubts – Vettori’s economy rate of 66 runs per 100 balls is better than Muttiah Muralitharan’s and Shaun Pollock’s against the Australians. These numbers are obviously coloured by the fact that all the above-mentioned names are the leading bowlers in their sides, and the batsmen have the luxury of playing them off and attacking the weaker bowlers. With all of them bowling for the same team, the Australians will have no such luxury.The surprise packet here is Shahid Afridi, who goes at only 4.1 runs per over. Shoaib Akhtar is, as you’d expect, more expensive, but he makes up with his wicket-taking ability, as is indicated by an average of 27 and a wicket every 33 balls. If John Wright and the rest of think-tank go by these stats, then Makhaya Ntini is the bowler who’ll most likely be left out of the side.

* Includes Gilchrist, Katich, Ponting, Martyn, Clarke, Symonds, Watson, HusseyIt’s difficult to look beyond Brett Lee and Glenn McGrath as wicket-taking options for Australia. Even McGrath’s numbers aren’t so impressive against the Rest of the World’s specialist batsmen. Shane Watson is a certainty in the line-up, but his batting and bowling stats suggest that the opposition batsmen and bowlers will be queuing up to have a go at him. With the bat, he averages 10; with the ball, he is the only one whose average economy rate are both more than 100.

* Includes Sehwag, Gayle, Afridi, Lara, Dravid, Kallis, Pietersen, Flintoff, Sangakkara,The battles within the war
Afridi against just any bowler is likely to be a thrill-a-minute occasion, and he’ll fancy his chances against this Australian attack, who he picks off at the rate of 163 runs per 100 balls. And for a batsman who takes so many chances, an average touching 32 is perfectly acceptable too.

Here are a few other interesting spots: the most effective spin option against Ponting and Martyn isn’t Muralitharan, or Vettori – it’s Afridi, who has nailed both these batsmen four times, and very cheaply too. Compelling stats that suggest Afridi should be a shoo-in for all three games.

If Afridi has Ponting’s number, then Clarke, it seems, knows exactly how to get Dravid’s wicket: in 41 balls, Dravid has fallen to him three times. Which is still a lot better, though, than the show Sehwag has put forward against Bracken. And of course, there’s that Ashes rivalry waiting to resume – Flintoff had Gilchrist’s number right through the summer. Can Gilchrist reverse that stranglehold on home soil?

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

Telford Vice04-Mar-2006

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

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

A moving homage to Clyde Walcott, one of the legends of the game

Vaneisa Baksh27-Aug-2006

“I can never do more for cricket than cricket has done for me,” he said, wrapping up an interview. “I can never put back what was given to me.”Within this acknowledgement of perpetual indebtedness lay an equally powerful statement: that Clyde Leopold Walcott would never give up trying to repay it. Who else would weigh his cricket life on such an untenable scale?Who could look at his contribution and say more was expected?Sir Clyde Walcott was more than a legend in his time; he was one of the three men who reconfigured West Indies history by defining an era that has come to be known as the age of the three Ws.West Indians, shaped by the molding hands of slavery, indentureship and colonialism, had liberated their spirits through an abiding individualism. Their cricket had thrown up outstanding and gifted players, men who stood out as sharply as silhouettes before the ascending full moon. Individuals whose talents summoned superlatives and overshadowed the team were the stuff of West Indian lore.That is, until the three Ws — Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott — three Barbadians who coalesced into one majestic unit in the public imagination. For the first time in its richly individualistic history, West Indies cricket came to know the power of three. It was a superb blend of the similarities borne by their environment and the differences in their personalities and styles.Frank Worrell was the debonair diplomat, charismatic captain and astute tactician. Smooth, sleek, spirited and smart, he answered all the calls for a new West Indian leader. When he died in his early forties, the cricket world was immeasurably saddened. So young, so much was yet anticipated of this stellar being. The grief was as much for what had gone as for what was to come.Everton Weekes was rated the best batsman of the trio. Coming from a social background that threw needless obstacles in his way, his trajectory was not as steep and he was deeply conscious that scoring hundreds would not guarantee him a place on a West Indies team renowned for its predilection for favouring political and social considerations in its selection process. He would have to score five consecutive centuries to secure his position. Although cricketers revere him, he was the last of the three to be knighted, and his considerable expertise and talent has not been utilized and embraced within the sphere of West Indies cricket as it should have been.Walcott was the danger man. Powerfully built, standing at 6ft. 2ins. he was a mighty hitter with aggressive instincts that rendered bowlers impotent by the sheer force of his drive. Having learnt at Harrison College that he could double his chances of playing if he expanded his skills, he became a wicketkeeper. Though his height complicated this he was good enough to serve in this capacity for the West Indies though it later injured his back.It was fortuitous because although he made his debut for Barbados at 16 – and just after World War II he set a record stand of 574 (his highest, 314*) for the fourth wicket with Worrell against Trinidad in 1946 – he did not score well in his first international encounter with the MCC, and it was his safe gloves that kept him on the side until he and his bat reconciled.It was a grand reconciliation when the team toured India in 1948-49. Walcott kept wicket, but scored two centuries. On the famous 1950 tour of England, he and Weekes scored seven centuries each, with Walcott’s 168 at Lord’s ensuring the first West Indian Test victory in England. Later, in 1955, he set a record by scoring a century in each innings in two of the Tests against Australia.The three Ws kept abreast of each other, such was their synergy. Twice they all scored centuries in the same Test match. Against India at Sabina Park in 1953, Worrell made 237, Walcott, 118 and Weekes 109. The following year in Port-of-Spain, this time against England, Weekes made 206, Worrell, 167 and Walcott, 124.Soon afterwards, Walcott went to British Guiana to work on one of the sugar estates developing cricket. He coached, organised clubs and competitions, and helped improve and create facilities. He described his Guyana sojourn from 1954 to 1970 as “one of the most satisfying periods” of his life. From it emerged players like Rohan Kanhai, Basil Butcher, Lance Gibbs, Joe Solomon and Roy Fredericks. He eventually captained the Guyana team, and even led them to victory against Barbados in 1963. By the time he left, he had been President of the Guyana Cricket Board of Control for two years. Two years later, he would become senior vice-president of the Barbados Cricket Association before assuming the presidency of the West Indies Cricket Board of Control from 1988 to 1993.In this role, he sat at the ICC, and from 1993 to 1997, he became its first non-English chairman. He had also managed the West Indies team for seven tours from 1969 to 1987, including the first two World Cups in England and the third in India and Pakistan.If he felt that he had not contributed as immensely to cricket as it had to him, others disagreed. In 1966, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his contribution to cricket in Barbados, Guyana and the West Indies. In 1970, he received the Golden Arrow of Achievement Award for his contribution to Guyana’s cricket. In 1991, he was presented with the Gold Crown of Merit for his contribution to cricket and cricket administration in the Caribbean and in 1993 he was awarded a knighthood for his contribution to the game globally.In 1958, he published his autobiography, , and ended by acknowledging that the game will continue changing and improving, and that there will always be critics and confusions.”Perhaps,” he concluded, “when Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes, and myself are crusty old men, cricket authority will still be discussing the lbw law, the size of the stumps, the number of fielders on the leg-side…”And, no doubt, we shall shake our heads, complaining that ‘it’s not as good as it used to be.’ But you know, we will probably be wrong.”Worrell went too early, and Weekes is still going strong. Walcott left us at eighty. Went from the youngster defying his parents’ desire to make him a dentist to a life of cricket that segued into coaching and administration.He’d seen it all, lived it fully and more than repaid his imagined debt. We remain perpetually indebted for the gift of his cricket, the gift of his life.