All posts by h716a5.icu

'As a kid, I was giving throwdowns to Lara, Chanderpaul and Hooper'

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Chris Jordan remembers his Barbados days, and rates the England players’ football skills

Interview by Arun Venugopal15-May-2017What song has been running through your head lately?
I have been listening to this Jamaican artist named Jahmile. There is a song called “Things Take Time”.What do you miss most about Barbados?
My family, and the beaches.Are you in touch with your celebrity schoolmate Rihanna?
Only when I see her, will say hello and catch up. Maybe a couple of years now [since we caught up] when I was in Barbados last time.Who can claim to be closer friends with her – you or Carlos Brathwaite?
() I don’t know. You may have to ask Carlos that. I am not sure [if she follows cricket]. She’s a very busy girl. I guess ESPNcricinfo can organise an interview with Rihanna and then it would be best to ask her.Have you been a better singer than her at any point?
I highly, highly doubt it. She’s a phenomenal singer, phenomenal performer and a real superstar.There was a time when you used to give throwdowns to Brian Lara.
Those memories are some of my best. As a kid, I used to go to Kensington Oval to watch all the West Indies guys play, and that’s what I wanted to be – a professional cricketer and play international cricket. On more than one occasion I was left behind and had to find my own way home because I was giving Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper throwdowns after the game. They used to allow the kids to come on the outfield and throw a few balls at them. It was a good moment for us.Do you remember the first autograph you got?
I think it was Courtney Walsh. At the time, guys like Walsh and Curtly Ambrose were very encouraging to kids and stuff. Those were guys you looked up to and wanted to be like someday.Where do you keep your England cap?
I actually keep all three of my caps – Test, T20I and ODI – in a special place in my home. I am thinking about building something to have some memories regarding those caps.Who do you think has the best yorker going around the game today?
At the minute, I will have to say [Jasprit] Bumrah.Chris Jordan (second from right) plays with “good footballer” Liam Plunkett (third from right) and the “no good” Jos Buttler (first from right)•AFP/Getty ImagesYou don’t seem to have a bad yorker yourself. In an ECB video clip, you kept pitching the ball underneath a specially designed gate and nailed the yorker more regularly than James Anderson and Chris Woakes. How does it feel to outgun those two?
At that time you are not really thinking about it. But in practice and stuff, you have to find a way to be competitive and try to replicate game situations. Trying to nail more yorkers than the other person is a way of doing that because you put yourself under pressure and you are trying to execute that. But I don’t want to think about it as being better than anyone or anything. We are all one team and striving to be better. The more guys that can be very good at death bowling, the better it is for English cricket.What’s your dream dismissal?
My dream dismissal is always a nick off to the keeper or first slip.Who would you like to see behind the stumps when you induce an edge?
I’d definitely want to see Jacques Kallis at slip. As a keeper, maybe Matt Prior?Who is the most naturally talented player you have come across?
I remember growing up there was a kid called Jonathan Carter – he plays for West Indies right now. In school cricket, even in 25-over matches, he used to take all ten wickets and score a hundred. Just a natural talent. He could bowl offspin, bowl seam, keep wicket and play spin and seam bowling really well.Since you share the same surname, have people asked if you wanted to become like Michael Jordan?
Yeah, a lot of people have asked me that. Actually as a kid, that’s one of the world stars you looked up to. I always had his jersey, obviously for my namesake and stuff. But if I get anywhere near his success and achievements as a sportsman and as a sporting character, I will be more than happy. He was a good example to kids, and someone you can aspire to be like.Which other sports are you good at?
I’d like to say – maybe other people might beg to differ – football, hockey, basketball. I played all these sports as a kid, so I am quite natural at it.Who’s the best footballer in the England team?
I can’t look past myself (). I can play all over the field. Moeen Ali fancies himself, and to be fair to him, he does score a lot of goals. But he is a glory hunter. Jos Buttler thinks he is a decent footballer as well, but no good, no good. Liam Plunkett is a good footballer, for sure. Sam Billings fancies himself, but again he’s just a show pony.The football in the England team is actually of very high standard, very competitive, and we play every day. The guys really enjoy it.Isn’t that some good face fuzz?•Getty ImagesAnd the most romantic guy?
[Joe] Rooty plays a little bit of guitar, and I’d say he is very romantic. Has your name ever been punned in a news headline?
I think I was jumping to take a catch, or during one of my celebrations, I jumped up in the air. The headline [for the photograph] was “Air Jordan” or something, so it was quite cool.What’s your favourite quote?
“You can achieve anything you put your mind to”. We are all human beings, we all have aspirations and we are all striving to do better things. Nothing is beyond you, even if the mountain seems so big to climb. Anything you seriously, seriously put your mind to, you can achieve. That’s what I believe.Are you superstitious?
A little bit. I was a lot more when I was younger, for sure. When I started to play a higher level of cricket, a lot of superstitions went through the window. Something as simple as me putting on my socks – I have to put my left sock on before my right, left shoe on before my right – that’s as far as they go at the minute.What’s the best part about playing T20 franchise cricket around the world?
You get to experience different cultures and you meet different people from different walks of life. One of the great things about it is, you end up having life friends. Meeting some great human beings and really have some lifetime memories, if you like. I think it’s a brilliant thing and that should continue for a long time. Even if you don’t end up playing international cricket, franchise cricket and playing in different leagues is a way of experiencing that and fulfilling a different type of dream.Which is the messiest dressing room from among the different franchise leagues you have been part of?
May have been the [Adelaide] Strikers. But that’s the thing: in most dressing rooms, most people’s gear is all over the place. Most cricketers will tell you that one of the worst things about cricket is when you have to pack your gear and move on to the next destination. But as messy as it might look for someone from the outside, your own area is not that messy to you because you know exactly where everything is.Who is the best dancer among your team-mates in county cricket?
I made my debut with Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh] in 2007. He used to like his dancing a little bit. In terms of the Sussex dressing room, I’d say Ajmal Shehzad. Thinks he’s got all the moves.Who do you not want to be sitting next to on a long flight?
I’d probably want to sit next to Moeen Ali, because he’s almost guaranteed to have a snooze at some point, so I don’t have to do that much talking and I can have a snooze as well. Who I don’t want to be sitting next to? That’s a tough one. Maybe Adil Rashid. No Mr Nice Lad. He’ll hate me for saying that.Who has the best beard – Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid or Ben Stokes?
Mo has a strong beard.How do you rate yours?
Is this a beard? ()

Essex told to 'dream big' in bid to stay up

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Essex have struggled to deal with Division One cricket in their recent attempts, but there is an air of confidence around Chelmsford

Alan Gardner05-Apr-2017Not too much has changed at Essex in the months that have passed since they were confirmed as Division Two champions on a September afternoon last year. Traffic still hums gently by on the Parkway behind the River End. The old brick pavilion, theoretically subject of redevelopment plans, still sits squinting southeast across the square, as it did back in the glory days of Gooch and Fletcher – though there are some new photos on the walls inside, marking the occasion when Ryan ten Doeschate’s side secured their promotion against Glamorgan.There is some fresh signage around the ground and a new sponsor for a place fondly known as the ECG (try saying it with an Australian twang), now officially the Cloudfm County Ground. The Colchester-based facilities management company – no, it is not a radio station – have forked out to renovate the players’ changing rooms, so there are clearly some perks to life in Division One. No one will be complaining about the showers at Essex this season.A sense of anticipation is also in the air, one that has not been felt in these parts since 2010 – the last time Essex attempted to crack Division One of the Championship. They were on a cloud for most of last season, as Chris Silverwood successfully sold his players the dream of getting promoted in his first year as head coach. Now the atmosphere is even more rarefied. “We’ve got to aim bigger, haven’t we,” Silverwood smiles.There is not much talk of survival, although that would surely be an achievement (on three previous trips up, relegation has swiftly followed). Instead, Silverwood and ten Doeschate want Essex to “make our presence felt”, and leave the points table to take care of itself. They may not have an international ground, like the other seven teams in the top tier (Taunton will host a T20I this summer) but that won’t stop Essex getting a little bit bolshy in their attempts to stay in increasingly elite company.Silverwood has another mantra, when asked if a county of Essex’s means can still win the Championship: “Why not?” It is a decade since Sussex’s third title and almost 20 years since Leicestershire; Essex’s last success was a quarter of a century ago, in 1992 under Graham Gooch. In recent times, Test match counties have taken the pennant hostage (although Durham may now plead exception).

We’re very confident with our preparation and the squad we’ve assembled – apart from depth a little bit. But the guys we have, we feel we can competeRyan ten Doeschate

“Why not?” Silverwood counters. “You’re going back to the Keith Fletcher days. I encourage them to dream big but then you’ve got to have the courage to chase it. It’s our job to create the environment for them to do that, go out and chase things down. They’re all so excited about playing in Division One, pitting themselves against the best teams in the country. So, let’s go out there and show our skills.”Every game we’ll view as a must-win game. To me it’s great that we get to play at Test grounds, it’s great experience for the boys. We’ll look at it from a positive stance, not feel the pressure of going there. It’s part and parcel of the fun of being in Division One.”Ten Doeschate is six degrees of separation from Gooch, in Essex captaincy terms, and grew up closer to East London than east London, but he seems to channel what he calls “the tempo and the mood of the club” as well as any native. Last year, also ten Doeschate’s first in charge, was a watershed season in which 1157 Championship runs flowed from his bat but he was surrounded by team-mates making similarly emphatic contributions.Essex will be hoping for more of the same, particularly given their ability to field a batting order that has plenty of Test – let alone Division One – experience, Alastair Cook’s hip problem notwithstanding. Ten Doeschate is not setting any lofty targets, however. “I guess the job of myself and Silvers is to take the pressure away from the players,” he says.”I think it’s very dangerous to make that the goal, to stay up. With two teams going down it doesn’t leave much margin for error. At the moment we’re staying away from numbers and positions, we want to set goals: making our presence felt, being very aggressive, competing all the time. We’re very confident with our preparation and the squad we’ve assembled – apart from depth a little bit. But the guys we have, we feel we can compete.”Essex were competitive for a large part of their previous Division One campaign, in which several of the current squad, including ten Doeschate, Cook, Ravi Bopara and Tom Westley, played a part, but lost four of their final five matches to finish bottom. Ten Doeschate feels better prepared for the challenge this time.”The mindset was very different back then, we’ve certainly grown as a four-day team. One of the things back then was the daunting proposition of stepping up; if anything, the division has become a bit tougher, but I think what we can learn from that is not being overawed by it. But getting that balance right, we need to step up, we need to do better than last year but at the same time not focus too much on how difficult it is going to be.”The difficulty is accentuated by Essex needing to replace two club stalwarts in Graham Napier and David Masters, who retired after taking more than 100 wickets between them in 2016. Neil Wagner, the ultra-competitive New Zealand left-arm quick, was talked into signing by old Otago team-mate ten Doeschate and, although he was playing a Test match this time last week and only landed in the country a couple of days ago, he hopes to be “not too jetlagged” to make an impact against previous club Lancashire – for whom he claimed 32 wickets at 29.28 last season – at Chelmsford on Friday.Adam Wheater could push James Foster out of the wicketkeeping role•Getty ImagesWagner has been given his preferred shirt, No. 13 – “First time I’ve got my number, pretty stoked about that” – and Essex will be hoping that is unlucky for opposition batsmen during his three-month stint.”He’s aggressive, he’s in your face, he bowls loads of overs – he’s exactly the type of character that we want within our bowling attack,” says Silverwood, suggesting that Wagner and former South Africa offspinner Simon Harmer, signed on a Kolpak, will add an “extra dimension” to Essex’s bowling this year.Another thing that may be different around Chelmsford is the identity of the man behind the stumps. James Foster, ten Doeschate’s predecessor as captain and first-choice Essex wicketkeeper pretty much since the advent of a two-division Championship, faces renewed competition from Adam Wheater, who left for Hampshire in 2013 but is back and hopeful of finally dislodging “Fozzy”. Wheater kept in the match against Durham MCCU earlier this week and, perhaps more significantly, scored a hundred. “We just want to pick what we think is the strongest team to win games, and I’d say Adam’s slightly stronger on the batting department,” ten Doeschate said, although a final decision is yet to be made.Cook’s injury means Silverwood can defer another tough decision on whether to leave out one of Nick Browne or Varun Chopra, another Essex product enticed back to old haunts, or tinker with the middle order. It will also deprive onlookers of a duel between Cook and his England team-mate James Anderson, a bowler ten Doeschate admits will provide an immediate examination of his team’s Division One credentials.He doesn’t pause, though, before suggesting Lancashire may have “a chink in their armour with their batting” that he hopes his bowlers can exploit. For Essex, there’s no time like the present to start making your presence felt.

The no-nonsense matriarch of England women's evolution

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Now in her eighties, Norma Izard is a living testimony to the pioneering breed of women’s cricketer who helped elevate the sport to today’s professional levels

Raf Nicholson23-Jun-2017When I meet Norma Izard, now a grey-haired lady of 83, it’s possible to see more than just a glimpse of the woman who remains the longest-serving manager of any England cricket team, men’s or women’s, having experienced a nine-year stint in charge of England Women between 1984 and 1993. She retains a no-nonsense manner, even in her twilight years: “I set my standards high as manager,” she says, “and I never deviated.””They learned in the end,” she adds, ominously.Being manager of a women’s side in the 1980s, even an international one, presented a somewhat different challenge to anything experienced by her male counterparts. Appointed in 1984, she was initially a combination of manager, coach, and physiotherapist, in the days when funds were tight and the still amateur Women’s Cricket Association (WCA) could ill afford to send more than one non-player on international tours. That meant, she says, that she was ” representative of the WCA on tour, and we did it my way”.It was Izard who ensured players were “correctly dressed” while on tour; she who enforced a 10pm curfew. Every detail of accommodation, travel and functions between games was taken care of by her. Once, during a tour of Australia, a player turned up still drunk to a state game after some rather over-zealous celebrations the night before; Izard subsequently banned all alcohol consumption for the remainder of the tour.She is full of tales, nonetheless, of player mischief under her rule. “I used to have to check for cling film on the toilet, grease on my door handles. Once someone sewed up the armhole of my nightdress. I never did find out who it was!”

“You were supposed to send your CV and all this sort of thing. I wrote a letter saying: ‘I understand there may be a vacancy for manager. I wish to apply for it. I’m not putting any more on this letter because you know what I’ve done and what I can do!'”

“The worst thing I ever had was in England in 1986, during the India tour. A couple of players were in the hotel jacuzzi and while they were in there, the others went in and took all their clothes and towels. The next thing we knew was these players coming down in the lift into the lounge in their bikinis. I said, ‘Get back to your rooms before I get really cross!'”We had a match the next day, and they always had to wear their blazers at lunchtime. And one of the girls came in and got her blazer and I suddenly said, ‘You’re covered in white powder!’ I examined all the other blazers, and someone had put talcum powder in the pockets. I had to empty it all out and it made such a mess.”I was impressed,” Izard recalls, grimly. One wonders quite how they dared.It was not a financially rewarding job – Izard was never paid a penny in her nine years as manager – but it was a way for her to help advance the cause of women’s cricket, which she had long felt passionate about.She was born in Beckenham in 1933, and the first evidence of her love of cricket is a photograph of her at three years old, taken on the beach in Cornwall, cap perched on her head, bat aloft. Izard was an only child and it was her father – himself a cricketer for Cornwall – who instilled in her a passion for the game: “He made all my bats. He was always throwing the ball to me.”Izard (back row, fourth from left) celebrates victory in the 1993 World Cup final•Getty ImagesShe tells a moving story about the time when she was aged seven and had been evacuated to stay with grandparents in Cornwall during the Second World War. Her father was called away from a game of cricket in the garden to take a phone call. “I went in and he was on the settee crying his eyes out. He’d heard that our house in Beckenham had been bombed. Everybody in our terrace was killed. If my father hadn’t been convalescing in Cornwall – he’d suffered bomb-blast injuries when on duty as a policeman – he’d have been there that night.”I couldn’t understand why he was crying,” she adds. “Cry over a house? I wanted to carry on playing cricket!”Later, when they had returned to Beckenham, she would accompany her father to his matches for the police force team: “When he wasn’t batting, he would take me into the nets. The other men when they were out used to come along and join in. They always said, ‘I’ll get her out’. And they couldn’t! That was my cricket coaching. There was no official stuff then.”At 11 she went to Beckenham Grammar School and was thrilled to discover that they played cricket there. She made the school team as wicketkeeper, attended one of the first ever schoolgirls’ coaching sessions held in Blackheath, Kent, in 1948, and was selected for the Kent Junior XI. By the time she was 17, she was playing for the senior Kent side, and had also joined the nearest club, Kent Nomads. Pitches, as the club name suggests, were rather hard to come by.She attended Dartford PE College, became a PE teacher, and got as far as being invited to England trials ahead of the 1957-58 tour to Australia and New Zealand. But “they had a wicketkeeper, and the team was pretty well picked”. She had married in 1955, and decided to give up cricket in order to start a family; her two sons arrived soon afterwards.

“Ruth [Prideaux] started all that fitness stuff: we had a javelin coach come in, a dance class for footwork, a runner who taught them to run properly. And she got a sports psychologist too. It took the men a long time afterwards to adopt that”

It was years later, with her sons grown up, that she became involved again, initially as manager of the first ever Junior England side, then as a national selector, then finally – when a vacancy arose – applying to become the manager of the full England side. “You were supposed to send your CV and all this sort of thing. I wrote a letter saying: ‘I understand there may be a vacancy for manager. I wish to apply for it. I’m not putting any more on this letter because you know what I’ve done and what I can do!'” Wisely, the WCA executive chose to appoint her purely on that basis.The crowning glory of her time as manager – England’s 1993 World Cup win at home – came at the end of her nine-year reign. Norma is modest about her own contribution to the team’s success – “I was thrilled for them, but it wasn’t a personal achievement for me. It was their win, not mine” – but it becomes obvious, talking to her, how fundamental she was to the result, working closely as she did with coach Ruth Prideaux.It was Izard who pushed for the appointment of a permanent England coach in the first place. “All the other international teams were getting in coaches, and I said to the WCA executive, ‘It’s no good having different coaches every week.'” Together she and Prideaux drew up a strenuous training programme in the build-up to the tournament, involving weekends spent in sleeping bags on Prideaux’s living-room floor in Eastbourne. Izard insisted that, during the tournament itself, players must remain together for the duration: no returning to their jobs in between games, as had previously been the norm.”They’d never even done warm-ups before. Ruth started all that fitness stuff: we had a javelin coach come in, for their throwing, a dance class for footwork, a runner who taught them to run properly. And she got a sports psychologist to come and work with us too. It took the men a long time afterwards to adopt that.””We’ve done a lot of firsts in women’s cricket,” she adds, proudly.Tony Lewis, President of MCC, welcomes Izard into the Long Room at Lord’s, as one of the club’s first female members•Norma IzardOne thing is for sure: the players retain warm memories of Izard’s time as manager, despite her reputation for strictness. The huge pile of thank-you cards she shows me, received at the end of each tour, is testament to that. “It was like being a parent to the players,” she says of her management role. “And I think maybe being a real parent helped.”Subsequently she served as the last ever president of the WCA, overseeing the eventual merger with the ECB in 1998, and being awarded the OBE for services to cricket in 1995. She recalls that, while president, she invited the prime minister at the time, John Major, who famously attended the 1993 World Cup final, to subsequent women’s matches at Lord’s. “The first time, he said: ‘Don’t introduce me to anybody while they’re playing, because I want to watch!’ He even put off a meeting because he wanted to watch the end of the game. Any other match I used to invite him, and he would come along sometimes. I’m still on kissing terms with him!”Perhaps her proudest moment, though, was being invited to become one of the first ever female members of the MCC in 1999. She shows me the letter from Roger Knight, MCC secretary then – “It gives me great pleasure to be able to advise you of the unanimous decision which was recently made by the Committee” – and tells me that she was the first female member to walk through the door into the pavilion: “I just happened to be standing by the door when the doorman said, ‘Come on in.’ So in I walked!” It was, she says, a very special day.Izard retains a strong interest in the women’s game: she is still a trustee of Chance to Shine, and hopes to attend some World Cup matches this summer, when the current England squad will attempt to replicate the achievement of their 1993 counterparts and raise aloft the trophy at Lord’s. It would be fair to say that – should they manage to do so – their efforts will have been built on the backs of the women who, in an amateur and far from glamorous era, pushed forward with no thought for anything except the game they loved.Women like Norma Izard.

Four omens for England Ashes despair …

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Think England have got a chance on the final day at Adelaide? Pah, think again. Australia always find a way to be killjoys in crucial Ashes contests.

Andrew Miller05-Dec-2017England’s position going into the final day at Adelaide is tantalising to say the least. Chasing a daunting 354, Joe Root and Chris Woakes reached the close on 176 for 4, needing another 178 for a series-igniting victory. But if you dare to dream, prepare for disappointment, for Ashes history is littered with tantalising moments when England have glimpsed salvation, only to have their dreams crushed by the juggernaut…Old Trafford 1993
Getty ImagesEngland might as well have been told their fortunes by a cock-eyed necromancer when they were confronted, midway through the second day of the 1993 Ashes, by the most devastating premonition in the history of international cricket. Shane Warne’s first delivery in Ashes cricket not only bowled a bewildered Mike Gatting from several light years outside his leg stump, it also confirmed the destiny of the urn for the next decade and more. English brains and techniques were utterly scrambled by the time they had been left with a day and a half to survive in the final innings, although one man had seen enough in the course of his mighty career to stand firm amid the chaos. After making 65 in the first innings, Graham Gooch had sailed serenely through to 82 not out by the close of the fourth day – and made light of Merv Hughes’ last-ball dismissal of the hapless Gatting to cruise along to his 19th Test century the following day. But then up popped the pesky Hughes – a short ball caught Gooch on the hop, and as it ricocheted up from the crease and down towards his bails, he stuck out a hand to swat it away. Up went Dickie Bird’s finger – Gooch was gone, handled the ball for 133 – and with Warne unleashed on the middle order, England’s last seven wickets tumbled for 109 as Australia sealed the match with 9.4 overs remaining.Brisbane 1994-95
Getty ImagesTrue to expectations, England had been battered from the very first ball of the series – Michael Slater’s hyperactive slap through the covers off a Phil DeFreitas long-hop had set the tone – and when a Craig McDermott six-for routed them for 167 in reply to 426, they expected to be handed no quarter whatsoever. But then, shockingly, Mark Taylor pulled off the first quirky call of his then nascent captaincy, and chose to bat again instead of enforcing the follow-on. Eighty-eight meandering overs later, he called his men in with a lead of 507, leaving England’s puzzled batsmen some five sessions to survive. By the close of the fourth day, Grah(aeme)s Thorpe and Hick had eased their team along to 211 for 2, and hope truly had sprung eternal. But it was all a dastardly ruse. Unleashed on a fifth-day wicket, Shane Warne picked off both for the addition of nine more runs, en route to match-crushing figures of 8 for 71.Headingley 1997
PA PhotosIt was all up for grabs going into the fourth Test of the 1997 summer. Quite literally in the first innings when, in reply to England’s 172, Thorpe at slip dropped Matthew Elliott on 29, a wicket that would have left the Aussies in disarray at 50 for 5 and ripe for another routing, just as they had so shockingly suffered at Edgbaston in the first Test of the series. Instead, Elliott cruised on to a career-best 199, with a young Ricky Ponting adding 268 for the fifth wicket, and all that England could do was cling on for a draw, and take their 1-1 scoreline to Trent Bridge for the next game. Nasser Hussain dug in for a bloody-minded hundred as England closed on 212 for 4, with faint hopes of seeing out the fifth day, or at least asking the Aussies to bat again. But Warne, inevitably, bagged him the following morning, and Paul Reiffel mopped up the resistance.Sydney 1998-99
William West/Getty ImagesEngland were breaking new ground as they headed to Sydney for the fifth Test in 1998-99. The Ashes were out of reach for another two years, but the series was there to be squared at 2-2 after a frankly sensational win in the fourth Test at Melbourne. And though England were up against it after conceding a lead of 102, they fought back gallantly in a lop-sided third innings. Peter Such and Dean Headley picked up where Darren Gough had left off, with a hat-trick to end the first innings, by claiming nine wickets between them, but Australia’s total of 184 was vastly inflated by a brilliant-if-controversial 123 from Michael Slater – even Slater himself thought he had been run out for 36. Either way, his solo effort left England needing a tantalising, improbable 287 to win – and at 104 for 2 overnight, it couldn’t entirely be ruled out. But with Warne for once playing Australia’s second fiddle on his return from a broken finger, it was Stuart MacGill who turned up for his finest hour – 7 for 50 in the innings, 12 for 107 in the match, to set the seal on a 98-runPostscript…Adelaide 2006-07
59 for 1 … nope, never heard of it…

When the burger stand vendors were on alert for white missiles

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It was an ‘I was there’ sort of day at Trent Bridge. And Melinda Farrell was there

Melinda Farrell at Trent Bridge19-Jun-20181:22

Social Story: England smash their own record

There is a t-shirt you sometimes see gleefully worn by England cricket fans. On the front, a few sparse and lonely numbers interrupt a lengthy series of dots and ‘w’s. Anyone who followed the Ashes in the summer of 2015 doesn’t need an explanation for what the symbols represent: Australia’s first innings in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. 60 all out. It was utter carnage that day.This time, there was coloured clothing and ball was white; it was the bowlers annihilated rather than the batsmen. This time, the front of the commemorative t-shirt will be crammed with fours and sixes. But the sense of witnessing the complete destruction of an Australian side by England was brutally familiar.Sure, it looked like a good batting pitch. Both captains confirmed as much at the toss. And two years earlier, at the same venue, England had set a world-record total of 444 for 3 against Pakistan. Sure Australia are missing their three best frontline bowlers. And yes, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow did set a sprightly early pace. But did anyone really see this coming?The Australian attack has pace – Billy Stanlake topped 90mph in his first spell – but there was little movement in the air or off the pitch and Bairstow and Roy punished anything that strayed in line and length. Heck, it wasn’t long before they were dispatching the good balls with comparable disdain.It was probably around the 13-over mark that the thought first really took hold. England had shot to 96 without losing a wicket and a quick scroll through the commentary from two years ago (thanks ESPNcricinfo) reminded that, at the same point in their innings, they had been 78 for 1. Hello.Andrew Tye went for 100 in nine overs•Getty ImagesBut still, a collapse was only a nudged domino away, right? And when Jason Roy was run out as a result of D’Arcy Short’s sharp fielding, surely that would slow things down. Except that just brought Alex Hales to the crease. The same Alex Hales who scored 171 off 122 balls in that insanity against Pakistan. The same Alex Hales who calls Trent Bridge his home ground and who said before this match that he needed a big score to keep his place in the team. Oh, that Alex Hales.Tim Paine stood behind the stumps with stitches in his cut mouth. But it was his bowlers who suffered bloody noses as the sucker punches rained down from Bairstow and Hales with increasing frequency. The frustration inflicted on Australia by shots seemingly designed to torment them was as palpable as the glee voiced by the crowd. There was the top edge from Hales that dropped just over the shortest boundary in the ground. And when an Australian finally took a catch in the deep, it was a fan on the wrong side of the boundary as Bairstow launched the ball over cow corner.The stats pages were now getting almost as severe a workout as Australia’s attack. Rohit’s record innings, could Bairstow top that? No, as it turned out. And, when Jos Buttler’s stay was kept short, any thoughts of the first 500 total evaporated.Only to be reconstituted by Eoin Morgan.The England captain batted like a man possessed. If his head had spun around and green bile spewed from his mouth, he could hardly have given Australia’s bowlers worse nightmares. There were crazed cross-bat shots and lofted drives and wild hoicks, set off by Hales’ more orthodox power at the other end. Such was their profligacy that the crowd started booing when the ball didn’t cross the boundary rope. It ended up doing so 62 times throughout the innings. The burger stand vendors were on the alert for white missiles landing in their patties.By this stage, the highest innings for a men’s ODI was a no-brainer. And Morgan’s 21-ball 50 meant the magical 500 was back on. England had hurtled from 400 to 450 in the space of 18 deliveries. They had 24 left to reach what could never have been imagined in previous eras. But with 41 runs still to collect, Hales and Morgan were gone, their wickets met by the crowd with a kind of petulant groan, like a child whose parents won’t let them eat a fifth chocolate ice cream.The sight of Joe Root coming in so far down the order said it all: in how many teams would Root be dropped down to bat at No.7?And after obliterating their own innings record by 37 runs, it was left to witnesses to joke they had finished 20 runs short.There will be many who bemoan the flat pitch and the lack of contest between bat and ball. But for the England fans present who witnessed England’s ferocity with the bat, it was an afternoon of which they can boast in the future, “I was there”.For it was utter carnage this day. Perhaps, some enterprising t-shirt printer will provide another Trent Bridge memento.

Cricket's repository of ball-tampering since 2000

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

A list of all ball-tampering offences that led to an ICC charge in the 21st century

Danyal Rasool20-Jun-2018As Dinesh Chandimal becomes the latest cricketer to be punished for ball tampering, we take a look at every ball-tampering offence since 2000 that led to an ICC charge.July 2000Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, ColomboPakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis became the first player in cricket history to be suspended for ball-tampering. Waqar was caught on camera attempting to change the condition of the ball, and was docked 50% of his match fee and banned for one game. Team-mate Azhar Mahmood was also charged with a similar offence and fined 30% of his match fee. Pakistan did not contest the charges.Sanction: Waqar Younis banned for one game, fined 50% of his match fee. Azhar Mahmood, fined 30% of his match fee.November 2001South Africa vs India, Port ElizabethIn the second Test between India and South Africa, Sachin Tendulkar was picked up on television cameras allegedly scuffing the seam of the ball. Match referee Mike Denness banned him for the third Test.It caused an uproar in India, who were aggrieved at the number of players punished by Denness during the match, with Virender Sehwag also being banned for one Test. The BCCI threatened to call off the tour, ultimately leading to the ICC declaring the third Test match of the series as unofficial, and later reversing the ban on Tendulkar, and dropping the ball-tampering charges against him.Sanction: Tendulkar banned for one Test, later reversed.November 2002Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, HararePakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was found guilty of ball-tampering during the first Test against Zimbabwe in Harare. Match referee Clive Lloyd levelled the charge, saying Akhtar had altered the condition of the ball illegally.Sanction: Official warning.May 2003Pakistan vs New Zealand, DambullaFor the second time in six months, Shoaib Akhtar was hauled up in front of the match referee, accused of ball-tampering. He pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty by the match referee, a verdict Pakistan did not appeal.Sanction: Banned for two ODIs, fined 75% of his match fee.January 2004India vs Zimbabwe, BrisbaneIndian batsman Rahul Dravid was reported by third umpire Peter Parker for alleged ball tampering in an ODI of a tri-series between Zimbabwe, Australia and India. He was seen to have rubbed a cough lozenge on the shiny side of the ball. Match referee Clive Lloyd charged him, and he was found guilty.Sanction: Fined 50% of his match fee.August 2006England vs Pakistan, The OvalThe biggest ball-tampering scandal of all took place in England, leading to the first – and to date, only – forfeiture of a Test match. In the afternoon session on day four of the Test, the fourth and final one of the series, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove deemed Pakistan to have tampered the ball, awarded England five penalty runs, and changed the ball. Play continued as normal until tea. After that, the Pakistan team didn’t come out onto the field of play on time. They were registering a protest; however, in the meantime, the umpires awarded the Test to England according to the laws.The ramifications were widespread; Inzamam was eventually cleared of charges of ball-tampering, but sanctioned for bringing the game into disrepute by refusing to take the field. He was banned for four ODIs. After Pakistan were cleared of ball-tampering the result of that Test was changed to a draw in July 2008, but that was reversed by the ICC in February 2009, with England awarded the match again.Sanction: Cleared of ball-tampering charges, banned for four ODIs for bringing the game into disrepute.Darrell Hair and Inzamam-ul-Haq examine the ball•Getty ImagesJanuary 2010Australia vs Pakistan, PerthIn what has possibly been the least subtle attempt to change the condition of the ball to date, Shahid Afridi was caught on TV biting down on the ball with his teeth, apparently to change the seam of the ball. The ball was replaced by the umpires.Sanction: Banned for two T20Is.October 2013South Africa vs Pakistan, DubaiOn the third day of the second Test against Pakistan, Faf du Plessis was seen scuffing one side of the ball on the zip of his trousers. It was spotted by the onfield umpires, who awarded Pakistan five penalty runs and changed the ball. Du Plessis was fined half his match fee for the Test, with South Africa deciding not to challenge the ruling despite team manager Mohammed Moosajee protesting that it “was harsh”.Sanction: Fined of his 50% match fee.July 2014South Africa vs Sri Lanka, GalleHot on the heels of the du Plessis fine against Pakistan nine months ago, South African bowler Vernon Philander was charged with ball tampering. He was deemed to have scratched the ball with his fingers, thus breaching clause 42.1 of the laws.Sanction: Fined 75% of his match fee.November 2016Australia vs South Africa, HobartFor the third time in five years, a South African player was charged with ball tampering. It was Faf du Plessis again, whose television footage seemed to show him applying saliva onto the ball that had residue of a mint on it. The on-field umpires had not charged him, but following the release of the footage, he was found guilty.Sanction: Fined 100% of his match fee.November 2017India vs Sri Lanka, NagpurSri Lankan fast bowler Dusan Shanaka was charged by match officials for changing the condition of the ball. He was seen by on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Richard Kettleborough picking at the seam of the ball several times, and Shanaka admitted to the offence.Sanction: Three demerit points, fined 75% of his match fee.Steven Smith reflects on events in Cape Town•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesMarch 2018South Africa vs Australia, Cape TownVideo footage showed Australia batsman Cameron Bancroft appearing to rough up one side of the ball using sandpaper. After having been made aware that he had been caught on camera, he stuffed the sandpaper down his pants, an act also caught on TV. In extraordinary circumstances, captain Steven Smith appeared with Bancroft at the press conference at the end of the day, admitting a “leadership group” within the team had pre-planned the tampering. The outrage across the cricketing world was enormous, and though the ICC charge only saw Smith suspended for one Test and Bancroft docked 75% of his match fee, Cricket Australia conducted an independent investigation. The sanctions were far harsher, with David Warner and Smith banned for a year each, and Bancroft for nine months.Sanctions: Cameron Bancroft fined 75% of his match fee by ICC, banned for 9 months by Cricket Australia; Steven Smith fined 100% of his match fee and suspended for one Test by ICC, banned for a year by Cricket Australia; David Warner banned for a year by Cricket Australia.June 2018West Indies vs Sri Lanka, St LuciaDinesh Chandimal was accused of altering the condition of the ball using saliva that contained residue of mints he had in his mouth. Umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould added five penalty runs to West Indies’ score on the morning of the third day of play. Sri Lanka were extremely aggrieved, refusing to come out to play on the third day, delaying the start by almost two hours.Sanction: Banned for one Test.

The Afridi bowling Uganda to a brighter tomorrow

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Much like his famous uncle, the 33-year-old Irfan Afridi bowls legspin and gives the ball a mighty whack

Peter Della Penna08-Nov-2018At the top of his mark stands a man called Afridi. The wily legspinner struts in, whirls through his action, left arm swinging through first and ending fully extended to create a beautiful straight line in sync with his left leg, pirouetting à la Mikhail Baryshnakov on the crease. The right hand with his rubbery wrist gives the ball its snappy revolutions out of the hand, with an extra bit of action imparted with a flick of the fingers.Seeing how his team-mates have failed to keep Afridi from knocking back the stumps while trying to defend him on the front foot and the back foot, the batsman tries to attack with a sweep, but the skiddy pace is too quick for the shot and the ball hits the pad. A deep-throated “Howzat!” is roared. The umpire’s finger goes up, and Afridi strikes an unmistakable starfish pose, both arms hoisted up and out at a 60-degree angle, index fingers pointed to the sky in triumph.Everything looks so familiar… except the receding hairline, and the yellow jersey. This isn’t the elder statesman with a full, Grecian-formula black mane, wearing green with the gold star over the heart for Pakistan. It’s a slightly younger – albeit balding – man dressed in bright yellow with black-and-red trim, and a crane stamped over his heart for Uganda. This Afridi is the 33-year-old Irfan, bowling his adopted homeland into a promotion slot to climb up the World Cricket League ladder so that one day he might be able to play in a World Cup just like his more heralded uncle Shahid.Since making his international debut against Qatar at Nairobi in September 2016, Afridi has quickly emerged as a devastating match-winner. Perhaps not since Kenneth Kamyuka, the star medium-pace allrounder of the 2000s, has Uganda possessed a talent that can pose a threat to higher-ranked Associate opposition. Which makes it all the more remarkable that Afridi says he never played a game of hard-ball cricket in his life until moving to Uganda in early 2013, at the age of 28.”The whole time in Karachi, I didn’t play hard ball. Just tape ball, tennis ball,” Afridi tells ESPNcricinfo. If that’s not enough of an obstacle to making an international debut, consider that Afridi barely played any cricket of any kind during his prime years of 24 to 28 because he was doing electrical wiring for a business in Seoul, South Korea. He might still be there today if his uncle Mushtaq, Shahid’s younger brother, didn’t have plans for a new venture in Kampala.”My uncle wanted to start a business in Uganda so that’s why he told me to go to Uganda,” Afridi says. “My uncle sent me here for business. We started a business for import and exporting cars. So from there I started my cricket. I never played hard ball in my life before. I started in Uganda.”Irfan Afridi does the starfish in homage to his uncle after taking a wicket•Peter Della PennaUganda’s East African neighbor Kenya may be considered by most to have a much richer cricket history, thanks to five straight World Cup appearances beginning in 1996 including a trip to the semi-finals in 2003, but Uganda has its share of achievements as well. A little-known fact is that a pair of Ugandans debuted in the World Cup long before anyone from Ireland or Afghanistan. John Nagenda and Sam Walusimbi opened the bowling and batting respectively for East Africa – a squad comprising players from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia – against New Zealand on the first day of the inaugural tournament at Edgbaston in 1975.Afridi knew nothing of this, let alone much else to do with Ugandan cricket culture, before arriving to work on behalf of his uncle Mushtaq, but before long he saw that cricket was plentiful in a healthy club scene. Former Ugandan pace bowler Asadu Seiga was friendly with Afridi, and invited him to come play a leather-ball match for the first time for Seiga’s club Tornado CC.”I played one game for his club. From there I started my career,” Afridi says. “When I played the first game, from there they saw me. My friend Asadu told me, ‘You can play hard ball. So why are you not trying?’ So from there I started to play. Then I tried to come into the national team.”He was the one who brought me in. Every time he was telling me, ‘Afridi do that. Push yourself, work hard. You will get a chance. I want to see you in a yellow national-team jersey for Uganda.’ So he helped me a lot.”Seiga may have helped Afridi get exposure locally, but Afridi has helped Uganda in a big way at recent tournaments. At WCL Division Four in Malaysia this past May, his mystery spin – “80% legspin, 10% offspin and 10% carom balls”, as he puts it – produced a tournament-best 15 wickets to propel Uganda to the tournament title. He followed that up at the ICC World T20 Africa T20 Region B Qualifier with another tournament-best haul of 13 wickets to help Uganda progress to the next phase of qualifying.”He’s been bowling well, and has the ball he pushes with his finger and it’s not easy to play it,” Uganda captain Roger Mukasa says about Afridi’s variations. “People have been struggling with it a lot. His performance is so big for the team and he works hard. He’s played a big role in the team especially in bowling. He’s the guy who gets wickets for us and batting, he can hit the ball far.”Though bowling is his main weapon, Afridi is also capable of producing blistering batting cameos in the middle order just like his uncle. At 2017 WCL Division Three in Uganda, he clobbered an unbeaten 108 off 71 balls featuring 10 sixes in a win over Malaysia while his 51 off 17 balls against Vanuatu at Division Four got Uganda out of a sticky situation to lift them to another win.Afridi’s success is also significant due to the turbulent history of the Asian population in Uganda, who were mostly driven out by Idi Amin in 1972, early in the dictator’s reign. Only in recent years have Asian cricketers been accepted into the national team, and Afridi says he owes a huge debt of gratitude to the support shown to him by captain Mukasa, vice-captain Brian Masaba, and senior spinner Frank Nsubuga.”Every time they push me and they help me, just saying, ‘We are with you, we are with you. Push yourself, work hard.’ Everyone in the team is with me and they help me a lot,” Afridi says.”They’re saying I’m a good bowler and I’m playing for Uganda. I’m in the national team so from there they try to push me more. They help me and push me so that the more that I can do more for my country, for Uganda, I do more. So they help me a lot.”Aside from Seiga, Mukasa, Masaba and Nsubuga, Afridi has also been motivated in a peculiar way by uncle Shahid. The Pakistan international Shahid’s career took off after a century in his first ODI innings against Sri Lanka as a 16-year-old in 1996, meaning he was hardly around while Irfan was growing up. Instead of getting hands-on tips, Irfan has taken to studying as much of his uncle’s video footage as he can in order to improve his own game.”I just watch him on TV,” Afridi says. “The way he’s bowling, the way he runs up, the batting style, just I’m following from the TV. Mostly I’m watching his videos on YouTube, so I’m picking from there.”Now he knows I’m playing for Uganda. After the 17-ball 51 runs, he heard the news so I got a text message from him saying, ‘Very well played.’ I’m feeling very happy and appreciate it from my uncle.”As the start of WCL Division Three approaches in Oman, the starfish celebration may be ready to break out once again for Uganda. The jersey color might be a striking yellow instead of green and the hair a bit thinner on top, but there’s little doubt about the match-winning impact of another Afridi in international cricket.

For UP's Rinku Singh, hardships are opportunities

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

During his Under-19 days, he saved his daily allowances to help his family repay their debt. Now, he saves the senior team from precarious situations

Hemant Brar in Lucknow15-Jan-2019Rinku Singh is no stranger to adversity. Born in a lower middle-class family in Aligarh, a young Rinku saw his father deliver LPG cylinders to take care of the family. Around 2015, when they had run up a debt of INR 5 lakh, Rinku was playing for Uttar Pradesh in the Under-19s, and had started saving up from his daily allowance to help repay it. If that wasn’t enough, he once almost took up a job as a domestic worker, where his primary tasks would have been sweeping and mopping.Compared to all that, even if dealing with the former might not necessarily prepare one for tricky situations on the cricket field, walking in on Tuesday with his team at 54 for 4 would have appeared trivial, even in a Ranji Trophy quarter-final against a strong Saurashtra side that is unbeaten in the tournament so far.It wasn’t a new task for the 21-year-old Rinku, though.In the league game against Jammu and Kashmir, UP were at 79 for 5 when Rinku walked in. His 66 off 88 balls from No. 7 helped lift the side to 188. Then, against Haryana , UP were in similar trouble at 53 for 4. Rinku’s 43 from No. 6 ensured that when he was last man out, his side had the first-innings lead. They went on to win both games.Coming into the quarter-final, Rinku had 803 runs from 11 innings at an average of 114.71 and a strike rate of 71.25. His tally was already the most for an UP batsman. On the eve of the game, Rinku had said that he was aiming for 1000 runs for the season and wanted to get to the mark against Saurashtra as there was no guarantee of another game.Before he got a chance to bat, Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat had used the new ball and early moisture to dismiss Rahul Rawat and Mohammad Saif for ducks. Madhav Kaushik and Akshdeep Nath had then taken the side past 50 before left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja removed both in one over.Rinku is known for his fearless approach, and brought it to the fore when on just 3, stepping out to a flighted delivery from Jadeja and hitting the ball down the ground for a one-bounce four.There was a distinct feeling of déjà vu for those present at the ground during UP’s practice session on Monday. The only difference was that Rinku’s team-mate Saurabh Kumar was at the receiving end on that occasion.

Two balls later, when Jadeja cut down the flight, Rinku reverse-swept him behind point for four. Left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya was pulled off the front foot while Unadkat was punched through the covers as Rinku reached 36 at lunch.After the break, with the sun out and the moisture having dried out, Rinku started toying with the bowling. Unadkat was taken for four consecutive boundaries. Twice he was flicked off the pads and once steered behind point. However, it was the fourth that really helped Rinku stamp his authority. Unadkat went for the bouncer, but the youngster was up to the challenge. He rocked back and pulled behind square with disdain as if telling the opposition that he would dictate the terms thereon.Along with Priyam Garg, Rinku added 145 for the fifth wicket, but such was his dominance that he scored 94 of the runs. While Garg fell for 49, Rinku brought up his hundred – his fourth of the season – off just 136 balls, celebrating the milestone with a David Warner-esque leap.When Jadeja returned to the attack after tea, Rinku once again used his feet to dictate the length, driving inside out through the covers. The next ball was short of a length, and was cut off the back foot for another four.In all, Rinku scored 56 runs from the 47 deliveries he faced from Jadeja, and 35 off 27 from Unadkat. Of his 19 hits to the boundary, 15 came off the two premier opposition bowlers. Saurashtra’s hopes of bowling the home side out cheaply were well and truly dashed as a result.Rinku, though, played his efforts down afterwards, saying that he hadn’t done anything special. “I just batted the way I have been batting,” he said after first day’s play, with UP at 340/7. “To be honest, those were actually loose balls (off which he scored four fours in a row). I just put them away.”He also had an interesting take on his aggressive approach against Jadeja. “I just love batting against spinners. When a spinner comes on, I feel like scoring all my runs in that one over itself.”The only chance Saurashtra had during Rinku’s 150 off 181 – that too a tough one – was when the batsman was on 122. A Jadeja delivery had kicked off the surface but Rinku opened the face of the bat at the last moment and the ball went between the wicketkeeper and first slip.While Rinku fell 47 short of 1000 runs for the season, his counter-attacking innings ensured UP finished day one with their noses ahead.

Setbacks and fatherhood mould Alex Carey the leader

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

Australia A captain balances life as a new dad with his rise as a cricketer and a potential future leader of the national teams

Daniel Brettig09-Nov-2019Run your eye down the list of Australian cricketers going out to play in the tour game against the Pakistanis at Perth Stadium from Monday, and Alex Carey’s name stands out for a couple of reasons: one, most obviously, is that he is the only wicketkeeper, and two, more intriguingly, he is the only father among the group.Referring to Carey’s parental responsibilities, along with his partner Eloise, towards 14-month-old Louis as part of his CV for captaincy may be something of a stretch. But there is little doubt that the maturity he has developed over a life that has featured an attempted AFL career, a spell working in a “real job” in the financial services industry and, latterly, the joys and trials of fatherhood have all contributed to Carey’s rise as a leader in Australian cricket.Cricket Australia, its board, management and selectors, have been on the lookout for moral and ethical as well as tactical and strategic leadership since the Newlands scandal, and the rise of Carey as a potential successor to Tim Paine and Aaron Finch cannot simply be attributed to cricketing factors. Paine, of course, brought plenty of his own perspective to the role of Test captain, after having also become a father while coming within a phone call or two of retiring from the game in 2017.But for Carey, a sporting life in which he has already seen and done so much by the age of 28 puts him not only in rare company in Australian cricket but in society in general. Parenting is increasingly becoming a part of life for those in their 30s rather than 20s, and so Carey’s range of experience is not something to be commonly seen. The Australia A team to play in Perth can and will benefit from a captain who has seen much more of life than the inside of a dressing room.

I love going to games and playing, but I think it’s also great to come home to a smiling little one-year-old. It takes your mind off – if it was a good day or a bad day, it keeps you pretty level

“I’ve got a family now, a little 14-month-old, and having to be away from them, Eloise and Louie quite a bit, is something I’m still managing to get right,” Carey told ESPNcricinfo. “Eloise has been fantastic with the past 14 months of Louie’s life to carry the absolute load. I was lucky enough to have them come over for part of the World Cup. So keeping it as natural as possible, to have them come on tour when possible and making sure that I’m still trying to be a good dad when I’m away, getting on Facetime and doing that.”But I also think it’s great for my cricket to have a family. I love going to training and trying to improve, I love going to games and playing, but I think it’s also great to come home to a smiling little one-year-old. It takes your mind off – if it was a good day or a bad day, it keeps you pretty level. So it’s something away from cricket rather than cricket 24/7. When things are going well you naturally feel pretty good about yourself, and when you have a few tough days, that’s when it can get quite tough to manage.”But I think through my learnings over professional sport, having some setbacks early on in my career with some football and also with cricket, it’s made me realise that this game’s pretty tough – when you have good days, make them really good days. When you have bad days, don’t dwell on them too long and learn pretty quickly from those mistakes.”In a season where the matter of mental health of Australian cricketers has become an even greater issue than before by the high-profile withdrawals of Glenn Maxwell and then Nic Maddinson from the international set-up, Carey has a decent wellspring of memories and life chapters that keep him remembering that this is all just a game in the end. At the nascent Greater Western Sydney Giants, Carey was deemed the best man to be the club’s inaugural captain, but then not good enough to make the senior list when the club graduated to the AFL proper.Tim Paine and Alex Carey in the nets•Getty ImagesAnd, in addition to the advice of Adam Gilchrist, who has grown very much into a mentor for Carey, he also carries with him the words of Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara about exactly how often even the best of cricketers are going to fail. “Kumar Sangakkara said it to Jake Weatherald, and he shared this with me – he was one of the best batters in the world and 66% of his innings he failed,” Carey said. “So naturally you’re going to have some pretty bad days, but it’s about staying up, learning and keep rocking up with a big smile on your face.”Working in finance for two or three years before I got my opportunity with the SACAs has made me realise it’s a pretty privileged job to be a part of if you can call it a job. It’s more a dream come true, really. You want to play well every game, you want to win every game of cricket, and it doesn’t always happen that way. But for me it’s having a really good balance between on-field and off-field, staying level as much as possible, and I think that comes with maturity too.”Starting to play some more games of cricket, I still think I’ve got a lot of learning ahead in my career, but just through the World Cup, through the last 24 months of playing in the green and gold, it makes me realise what’s important. Training the right way, rocking up game day, making sure I’ve got the team’s interest in mind every time I go out to play, how can I help the team win. I’m starting to develop that really healthy balance.”Balance arrives, too, in how Carey weighs up his best fit as a cricketer in any team he is a part of. With Paine ensconced as Test captain, he ponders the possibility of squeezing into the national team as a batsman alone but remains strong in his belief that it is in the all-round skill of wicketkeeping and batting in the middle order that his chance will finally arrive. “For me it is wicketkeeping, it’s my No. 1 craft,” he said. “But there’s such a big role now to play with the batting, I’ve moved up to No. 6 for South Australia with the red ball, which is great.”I’m loving my batting at the moment and I feel really confident every time I go out to bat. I think there’s a lot of great batters around this country that are suited specifically for that role, and for me, it’s to keep improving with the gloves and keep improving with the bat. Hopefully one day the dream of playing Test cricket comes true, but at the moment I think through that World Cup [in England this year] I’ve learned a lot about my batting and my keeping.”Leadership as well, I’m really enjoying that role through the middle order. Big role to play with the bat definitely, but first and foremost, it’s catch ’em.”

Rohit wows after ticket woes

by h716a5.icu Uncategorized

A Jharkhand lad decided to attend the latest weekend of Test cricket in Ranchi, and got to enjoy the Rohit Sharma show after a scramble to get tickets

Nikhil Jha22-Oct-2019Choice of game
Having witnessed the first ever Test in Jharkhand, my home state, I made a pledge to watch every Test match hosted in Ranchi. As soon as the dates for the tour were announced, my friend and I got our travel plans in place. The tickets for the game though, proved to be a scavenger hunt.I would have preferred the third Test to be a decider. But the way India have steamrolled South Africa in this series, I was hoping this Test would be closer than the others.The ticket travails
I have watched quite a few matches across India and have become used to the difficulties in procuring a ticket. But this experience in my own backyard beat all of them.It all started the moment we landed at Ranchi airport, where a huge poster for the match invited us to book the tickets online. The partner site mentioned did not have any tickets listed on the website. On searching for the tickets, we came across a distressing news item which claimed only 1500 tickets were sold.Not to be deterred easily, we headed to the stadium. At the counter, the partner agency told us that the tickets of our preferred stand (North Pavilion) were not available and that we needed to come at 7am on Saturday (day one of the Test) to collect them. We woke up early and made it to the stadium, only to find out that the ticket counters were closed and would open at 8am. Once they did, the personnel behind the counter told us that we could only purchase tickets for that day, and not a five-day pass which is the standard across Test venues. Not to mention that the day pass, priced at Rs 600, is more expensive than at any other Test we have watched in India.It’s not ‘disinterest’ or ‘apathy’ that keeps fans away.Team supported
We were rooting for India to win the match and increase their lead in the Test Championship. However, we also wanted South Africa to put up a fight to make this a close encounter. The first session almost granted our wish, as three India batsmen were dismissed in an inspired Rabada spell.Key performers
In overcast conditions, South Africa’s pacers had a promising start and it seemed like Rabada would own the day. But, as the day progressed, Rohit Sharma weathered the storm and picked up the pace after lunch. He was undoubtedly the standout performer of the day, reaching his century with a six that almost reached our stand. Rahane also played an aggressive knock and would have got to his century had the weather not intervened.On day two, Rohit went about his business and got to his double just after lunch. Rahane had already scored his first hundred at home since 2016. The latter part of the day, however, belonged to Umesh Yadav, who entertained the Sunday crowd with his blitz of 31 off ten with five sixes. He followed that up with a short testing spell, which got a wicket.The Rabada vs Indian batsmen interplay
Rabada’s early spell on day one showed what South Africa were capable of. Once three early wickets were down, the way Rohit and Rahane cautiously saw out the inspired pace attack was great to watch.Filling the gaps
The session breaks were mostly spent lining up for food or water, and deliberating rage-tweeting about the ticket fiasco. Some time was also spent browsing through ESPNcricinfo’s live text commentary.BCCIWow moment
On both the days, we were up on our feet anticipating a Rohit milestone. He did not disappoint, almost Sehwag-esque in his approach. His century came off a six over long-off. He brought up his double-century, on what was Sehwag’s 41st birthday, with a six off a pull shot, sending the limited crowd into raptures.I always enjoy mimicking Ravindra Jadeja’s sword celebration whenever he reaches a milestone. He didn’t disappoint later in the day, and out came the imaginary sword.Player watch
Day one was a field day for trespassers. During one of the drinks breaks, a fan ran towards the pitch, eliciting an amused glance from Rohit. The more interesting incident happened later, when one fan breached the rather porous security and headed towards the pitch at top speed. He suddenly stopped near a surprised Quinton de Kock, and bowed down to touch his feet. The security personnel caught up, and rugby-tackled the fan to the ground before escorting him off the field.Crowd meter
The crowd was sparse on day one but picked up on day two – probably owing to it being a Sunday and to the fans having cracked the code of getting tickets. Rohit’s double got the most cheers, Umesh’s blitzkrieg had everyone on their toes, egging him to hit the ball in their direction.Fancy dress index
Most of the fans turned up in replica jerseys, which were also being sold outside the stadium. The distribution of Virat and Rohit’s names at the back was almost even, with a few Dhoni jerseys to remind us of the venue.The usual superfans, with body-painted Sachin and Dhoni messages, were also in attendance and helped raise the tempo in the stands.Overall
Once we made it to the stadium, the pleasant weather and competitive first session on day one was an amazing experience as a cricket fan. As the day progressed, the gulf between the two sides started to emerge, further extending on day two. It made for less pleasurable viewing as a cricket fan. The only upside was a better atmosphere with more spectators on day two, cheering the dominant Indian display.Marks out of 10
All things considered; I would rate this a 7 out of 10 in terms of experience.
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