In an extremely slow-scoring series, Australia’s all-round strength and fighting ability proved crucial to the series outcome

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan29-Apr-2012Given the extent to which Australia have dominated West Indies in recent years, the three Tests turned out to be more closely fought than expected. West Indies tried hard but were never quite able to sustain their intensity long enough in any of the matches. Both teams struggled to raise the tempo on pitches that provided assistance to spinners and it was only Michael Clarke’s enterprising declaration that provided a chance of a result in the first Test in Barbados. West Indies, who had shown some form in the ODI series, were unable to match up to it in the Tests and ended up losing their sixth consecutive series against Australia. In Barbados, which was once their stronghold (no defeat for 59 years), they have now failed to win a single Test against top-Test teams for almost seven years. Meanwhile, Australia, who were not quite at their dominant best, won their third series since the Ashes defeat in early 2011. In the same period, they have compiled an excellent 9-2 win-loss record including series wins against Sri Lanka and India.Australia were the team who ended West Indies’ extraordinary run of 22 straight years without a home series defeat when they won 2-1 in 1995. Since then, they have completely turned the tables on West Indies and won seven out of eight series. The only series West Indies avoided defeat in was the 1999 home series when Brian Lara’s batting exploits ensured a 2-2 draw. Since 2000, Australia have won 17 Tests against West Indies, the most they have against any opposition team in the same period. While their overall numbers against West Indies (win-loss ratio 1.65) are very good, it is their recent record that tilts the balance in their favour. In the period between 1970-1999, West Indies had a 25-20 record but that has fallen away sharply to 1-17 since 2000 with their solitary win coming in Antigua in 2003 when they chased down a record 418.

Australia’s Test record against West Indies

PeriodWinsLossesDrawsW/L ratioOverall1930-present5432241.67In Australia1970-1999121460.85In Australia2000-present1001-In West Indies1970-199981190.72In West Indies2000-present7127.00The teams have played six series since the start of 2000 and Australia have emerged victorious in all of them. Between 2000 and 2005, Australia boasted a top-class team and West Indies hardly stood a chance. In the drubbing in Australia in 2000 when they lost 5-0, Australia averaged 40.53 with the bat while the corresponding number for West Indies was just 20.05. In the 2003 series in West Indies, not only was Australia’s average high (56.66), their run-rate through the series was almost close to four runs per over. In contrast, West Indies were way behind and the average difference (difference between Australia’s batting average and West Indies’ batting average) was 22.89. The average and run-rate difference (difference in run-rates of Australia and West Indies) were even higher in the 2005 series in Australia. However, since the retirement of their top players, Australia were not quite able to dominate West Indies similarly. Although they won 2-0 in both 2008 and 2009, the average difference and run-rate difference were greatly reduced. In the 2012 series, Australia’s batting was highly inconsistent and they averaged under 40 against West Indies for the first time since 2000. West Indies, however, did even poorer averaging just 27.82. Another stand-out aspect of the series is the run-rates of both teams. For the first time, both teams scored at lower than three runs per over and the series was the slowest-scoring one between the teams since 1990.

Stats for the teams in series since 2000

Series (Host)MatchesSeries resultAustralia (bat avg)West Indies (bat avg)Avg diffAustralia (RR)West Indies (RR)RR diff2000-01 (Australia)55-0 (Australia)40.5320.0520.483.282.700.582003 (West Indies)43-1 (Australia)56.6633.7722.893.943.230.712005-06 (Australia)33-0 (Australia)50.3323.8526.483.702.850.852008 (West Indies)32-0 (Australia)41.8931.3410.553.383.200.182009-10 (Australia)32-0 (Australia)45.0230.3014.723.433.53-0.102012 (West Indies)32-0 (Australia)30.6627.822.452.812.730.08In a series where batsmen struggled to counter the bowling on slow pitches, batsmen from both sides were unable to capitalise on starts. Except for Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who had scores of 103, 94, 68 and 69 in the three Tests, no other batsman was able to display any consistency. The top-three batsmen for Australia averaged under 30 and managed four half-centuries but could not carry on to post a single century. West Indies’ top three were very ordinary with Kraigg Brathwaite in particular having a woeful run (three consecutive ducks). Brathwaite and Adrian Barath were often in trouble at the start, especially against Ben Hilfenhaus who dismissed them three times each.The openers managed just two fifties and had a strike rate below 40. West Indies’ middle-order (4-7) batsmen did much better than their Australia counterparts primarily because of the remarkable efforts of Chanderpaul, who became the tenth batsman to reach the 10000-run mark. West Indies’ middle-order batsmen finished with a better average and a higher number of fifty-plus scores. Australia’s lower-order batsmen averaged higher than those of West Indies, and demonstrated grit and patience in all three matches to frustrate the hosts’ bowlers.

Batting stats for the two teams in the series

Batting positionAustralia (Runs/avg)Australia (100/50, SR)West Indies (Runs/avg)West Indies (100/50, SR)1-3516/28.660/4, 43.54315/18.520/2, 39.224-7751/32.651/3, 43.56730/38.421/5, 40.788-11293/22.530/1, 45.56294/19.600/1, 55.05The series turned out to be one of the lowest scoring ones in the West Indies in recent years. It was no surprise then, that the teams found it extremely hard to stitch together useful partnerships consistently. Although Australia’s opening pair averaged under 30 (two fifty stands), West Indies did not even manage to aggregate fifty runs in the six innings. Their partnership average of 7.83 is the second-lowest for a West Indies opening pair (minimum six partnerships in a series) since 1990. West Indies did slightly better than Australia for the second wicket, sharing a century and fifty partnership while Australia managed only two fifty stands. Australia did better for the third wicket but were well behind West Indies on the fourth and fifth-wicket partnership stats. Chanderpaul, who gave West Indies some hope in all matches, was crucial to their middle-order success. Matthew Wade, Australia’s only century scorer, featured in a couple of vital stands in the lower order and this was a major reason why their lower-order partnership average was better than the hosts’.

Partnership stats for the two teams in the series (runs/average, 100/50 stands)

Partnership wicketAustralia (Runs/avg)Australia (100/50 stands)West Indies (Runs/avg)West Indies (100/50 stands)1178/29.660/247/7.830/02193/32.160/2227/37.831/13196/32.660/1106/21.200/04267/44.500/2270/54.001/25122/20.330/1254/50.801/16183/30.500/154/10.800/07135/22.500/1133/26.600/18-11382/31.831/2328/23.420/1For years, spinners had found it almost impossible to have an impact in West Indies as most venues were extremely conducive to pace bowling. However, in recent years, that has changed drastically. When Pakistan toured West Indies after the World Cup last year, Saeed Ajmal performed superbly. In this series as well, not only did Nathan Lyon and Shane Shillingford trouble the batsmen, even Clarke was able to extract sufficient turn and bounce in the final Test in Dominica. Clarke picked up only his second five-wicket haul in Tests to give Australia a 75-run win in a match where 26 wickets fell to spinners (average 21.73). In contrast, pace bowlers managed only 12 wickets at an average of 41.00. Barbados, however, continued to favour pace, as fast bowlers picked up 25 wickets at 29.00 while spinners managed only eight wickets while averaging 52.75. In Trinidad, where Kemar Roach picked up a ten-wicket match haul, pace bowlers were slightly more successful than spinners. Overall, in the series, the fast bowlers picked up more wickets (54) than spinners (47) but had a slightly higher average (30.16) than the slow bowlers (28.21).

Pace and spin stats in the series

Pace (wickets/avg)Pace (5WI/10WM)Spin (wickets/avg)Spin (5WI/10WM)Barbados25/29.000/08/52.750/0Trinidad17/24.232/113/26.071/0Dominica12/41.000/026/21.732/1Overall54/30.162/147/28.213/1

The next step in Afghanistan’s journey is closing the gap between them and the second-tier Full Members. With players like Mohammad Shahzad forging an identity that commands attention, that day may come soon

Peter Della Penna in Dubai24-Mar-2012Some call him pugnacious, others just pudgy. For the opposition he’s definitely a pain in the backside. But for the thousands waving their black-red-and-green flags inside the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday night, Mohammad Shahzad is the pride of Afghanistan.Hamid Hassan may be the most glamorous of the Afghanistan players, but in his absence the grittiness of Shahzad stands out. Two years ago in the final of the same tournament, Shahzad scored an unbeaten 65, hitting the winning runs in Afghanistan’s eight-wicket victory over Ireland. Ten days later against Canada in the Intercontinental Cup, he scored an unbeaten 214 as Afghanistan chased 494 to record a sensational six-wicket win. While playing for the ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI this January, Shahzad held his own against England XI with a pair of half-centuries interspersed with a healthy sprinkling of chat with England’s fielders.His 77 against Ireland today may have been in vain, but it’s an innings that will have caught the attention of India and given a reminder to England about the kind of player Shahzad is. Both countries will be tasked with avoiding an upset at the hands of Afghanistan in September at the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. The Associates might be seen as little brothers in the eyes of the Full Member nations, but Afghanistan showed against Pakistan last month that they won’t be pushed around lightly and Shahzad embodied that fighting spirit once again against Ireland.Shahzad came in at No. 3 after the loss of Karim Sadiq in the third over and hit a boundary off his pads to get off the mark. He followed that up with six dot balls but on the final ball of the fourth over bowled by Trent Johnston, Shahzad flicked for two. Halfway through completing the first run, Shahzad collided with Johnston and in between overs he demonstrated his displeasure by gesturing at Johnston and the umpires.He may have still been a bit sore from bouncing off the tree trunk that is Johnston, but it wasn’t long before he decided that Ireland’s bowlers should get their own dose of pain. Shahzad used the incident to fire himself up and in the next over pulled Max Sorensen over midwicket for six before slashing the next ball over short third man for four.Over the course of the next hour, Shahzad demonstrated a wide array of shots on his way to becoming Afghanistan’s leading scorer in the tournament with 352 runs. For a brief time he was No. 1 overall before Paul Stirling usurped the top spot with a sublime knock of his own in the second innings. In a format which sometimes encourages players to be crass with their shot selection, Shahzad showed he has plenty of class with some elegant late cuts. Shortly after passing 50, he backed away to loft left-arm spinner George Dockrell over extra cover for a six and four off consecutive deliveries.When he was finally dismissed with eight balls to go in the Afghanistan innings, Johnston gave Shahzad a pat behind the head. He may be combative, but he also has the respect of his Associate-level opponents. Pretty soon, that respect will come from the Full Members too.In May 2008, Afghanistan was in Division Five of the World Cricket League. By the spring of 2009, Afghanistan had moved up to Division One, falling just short of qualifying for the 2011 World Cup. A year later, they were in the Caribbean at the World Twenty20 going up against India and South Africa. They might have been overmatched in those games, but Afghanistan have continued to progress at warp speed in the two years since. In September, they’ll have another shot to show the Full Members what they’ve been learning, and perhaps teach them a thing or two as well.The past 12 days showed the gulf that exists between the cream of the Associate and Affiliate crop, Ireland and Afghanistan, and the 14 other teams that participated in the qualifier in the UAE. The next step in Ireland and Afghanistan’s journey is closing the gap between them and the second-tier Full Members. With players like Shahzad forging an identity that commands attention, that day may come sooner rather than later.Edited by Abhishek Purohit

Cricketers and those associated with the game pay tribute to VVS Laxman, after he announces his international retirement in Hyderabad

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2012″When i walk out to play in Hyderabad I will feel a deep void. A void that can never be filled. My dear friend, VVS Laxman…”
“The whole team will miss you VVS. One of the best human beings I have ever met in my life. Spent a lot of time with him while batting and fielding and the chat would always be about the team. Personally, I will really miss you Lachu .”
“The best part about Laxman was his sense of grace on and off the field, both in good times and bad times. I will remember him most for his sense of balance while batting, his ability to keep smiling whatever the situation and the tenacity to keep bouncing back.”
“That was the brightest day in Laxman’s career. That innings had a big impact on Indian cricket. It had given us a huge sense of relief and made us have belief in ourselves that we’re not behind… Since then, we never looked back as Indian cricket kept improving.”
“Laxman has had an outstanding career. He is one of the few batsmen who was a great chaser, an art only a few could master.”
“Laxman you were amazing [at] cricket everyone knows, but you were surely the best human being I have ever met. God bless you with all the happiness in future.”
“VVS is one of the finest human beings to have played cricket. One of the main pillars of the team and a true friend. Words are not enough.”
“From carrying his innings to carrying himself, VVS has shown immense class. Will miss you Laxman .”
“Laxman has always been an inspiration for all the cricketers. Gonna miss watching him play for India. Wish him all the best for future!”

Congrats to VVS Laxman on an amazing career.

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) August 18, 2012

“Laxman. His attitude is infectious. Felt at peace after talking to him. A salute to him for a great career and inspiring many lives.”
“Requires a very special man to turn his back on a grandstand end and accept the moment has come. Rose in my eyes if he could any more.”
“Not many batsmen made batting look as easy as VVS Laxman. If a cricketer’s greatness is to be measured in terms of his performances against the best opposition of his time, then Laxman stands right at the top; his record against Australia, the world’s No. 1 team for the better part of his career, speaks for itself. Indian cricket-lovers, and the game of cricket itself, will miss him for the elegance and grace that he epitomised, on and off the field.”

ESPNcricinfo assess the performance of the eleven players who took South Africa to the top of the world

Firdose Moonda21-Aug-20129Hashim Amla
The leading run-scorer of the series, with 207 runs more than his nearest rival, and the only one with two centuries from the three matches, Amla’s form has hit its peak. At The Oval, he broke the South African record for the highest individual Test score with a sublime, undefeated 311 in an innings of class, finesse and style. He wrote his name onto the Lord’s honours board for a second time with a score, with a more contrasting knock of grit and grind. Like all the other batsmen in the match, Amla struggled to time and place his shots but unlike them, he survived and gave South Africa the base from which they could win the match, the series and rise to the top of the Test rankings.8Graeme Smith
He did not account for an England captain this time – at least, not yet – but he did take something of equal importance from the opposition: the No.1 Test ranking. His development as a leader was evident as he made two positive declarations at The Oval, a decision which saw South Africa take the series lead, and Headingley, where if weather had been better, a result could have been achieved. A hundred in his hundredth Test match was his best contribution with the bat and it was an innings that set up a massive victory but he also weighed in with two half-centuries. More telling than his individual efforts was his tactical management of the bowlers and it was evident that he had a plan for every England batsman. Smith is world cricket’s longest serving Test captain, having broken Allan Border’s record at Lord’s, and after this triumph, few would argue that he is not also world’s cricket best captain.Dale Steyn
The world’s best fast bowler showed why he is the world’s best fast bowler. Steyn steamed in every time he had the ball – bar the first day of the series at The Oval. He swung it prodigiously and attacked from all angles. His five-for at the Oval won the match for South Africa and he finished the series as the overall leading wicket-taker. Steyn did not bowl with the new ball – a mystery to many – as part of a strategy to avoid having him bowl to left-handers and to save him for targeting Jonathan Trott, who he has dismissed seven times over the course of his career. Steyn also batted in nightwatchman capacity twice, one failing but the second time doing his job and more when, at Lord’s, he shared in a stand with Amla that lasted 12.4 overs.7.5Vernon Philander
Five wickets in the second innings at Lord’s will be what Philander is remembered for but that was not his only contribution to the series. Philander bowled well throughout, using the same skills that brought him to the fore in the seven Tests he had played before this tour. He maintained a line around off-stump, more than half his deliveries were on a good length and he got seam movement and occasional swing. The result was that he ended as the second highest wicket-taker, the lowest average and the lowest economy rate. Although his claim to being an allrounder was laughed at, Philander scored vital runs at Lord’s, with an accomplished 61 in the first innings and a handy 35 in the second. As a measure of the significance of his batting, he scored more runs than England captain Andrew Strauss in the series.Morne Morkel brought hostility to South Africa’s attack and continued his hold over Andrew Strauss•Getty ImagesJacques Kallis
World cricket’s premier allrounder ended what could well be his last tour of England on a high, having previously had a poor record in the country. Kallis averaged less than 30 before this tour but righted that with an undefeated 182 at the Oval which pushed it up to 35.33. His name will not appear on the Lord’s honours board after a two umpiring decisions with which he was unhappy about ended his innings on both occasions. Kallis was used in his new impact role with the ball and took four wickets, including two in the Oval Test, of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, which helped South Africa open England up. What the numbers could not tell was that Kallis, the senior most member of the squad also played an important part in the leadership of the side and the advice he provided to Smith is unquantifiable in its value. His catching was also outstanding.7Morne Morkel
He accounted for Strauss twice to bring his head-to-head record against him to nine times in 11 innings and found what Allan Donald called his “mongrel.” Morkel was more aggressive than before, attacking the stumps, the batsmen and their heads. His bouncer will be remembered as one of the best weapons of the series. If not for his splatterings of inconsistency, which were at their worst at Lord’s, he may have had better figures. He ended as South Africa’s third-highest wicket-taker, behind Steyn and Philander, but encouragingly, did well with the new ball again since it was taken away from him after Philander’s meteoric rise. No bunny with the bat, Morkel also ensured South Africa’s tail was not hollow and provided resistance as far as he could.6.5 Alviro Petersen
A hard-fought 182 made Petersen’s series, after a lean run with the bat in the warm-up matches and the county season. Petersen’s century in Wellington was forgotten when he made a duck at the Oval, sandwiched between the hundreds but he returned to see off a more determined England attack at Headingley. He held the South African line-up together there and was impressive in the way he continued his innings on the second morning, where others, like Kevin Pietersen, were out early. Injuries also played a part in Petersen’s tour. A food niggle kept him out of the first warm-up and a hamstring strain out of the last one and problems in playing across the line returned at Lord’s, where he was out cheaply in both innings.JP Duminy
He made a case for himself to leapfrog Jacques Rudolph in the queue should South Africa want to field a batsmen less in future. Duminy’s maturity was obvious as he batted with the lower order at Headingley and Lord’s, showing patience and aptitude that many thought he had lost after he broke onto the scene against Australia in 2008. His 72-run partnership with Philander in the first innings at Lord’s proved to be more significant than initially thought, given the margin of victory at the end. Duminy is an energetic outfielder and offers a few overs, which make an attractive option for future South African sides.AB de Villiers did not quite sparkle in his new role•Getty Images6AB de Villiers
Thrown into a double role – of batting in the middle order and keeping wicket – at the start of the tour meant it was always going to be an experimental tour for de Villiers. In four innings his top score was 47 and his usually fast-paced belligerent batting style was shelved away. As a wicketkeeper, he averages significantly less with the bat, 30.33, than he does when not burdened with the task – 48.85. His glovework was solid, although he initially struggled with keeping to the legspinner at the Oval but he made few errors.Imran Tahir
Another series has ended without Tahir having officially “arrived,” on the international stage. This time he had more suitable surfaces to work with, particularly at Lord’s, but there was still not a lot of turn on offer. Tahir made a crucial breakthrough in the second innings at The Oval, where he removed Matt Prior, wrapped the tail in the first innings at Headingley and created the opening at Lord’s when he bowled Jonny Bairstow. He may be remembered most for his run out of Graeme Swann, an effort which involved throwing the ball at the stumps, rather than simply breaking them. Still guilty of using too many variations and giving away too many runs, Tahir has plenty to work on before South Africa’s next tour.5Jacques Rudolph
The one forgettable member of the South African squad, Rudolph did not have the same impact as the rest of the team. His only innings of substance was the 68 he scored at Headingley, when he opened the batting in place of the injured Petersen. Rudolph looked uncomfortable against the short ball and offspin – he was Pietersen’s victim twice at Headingley and he only faced two balls from him. If South Africa have one concern after this series, it will be the No.6 position, which Rudolph has so far failed to make his own.

Tony Greig was one of England’s premier allrounders and a man who didn’t mind being villified for fighting for what he believed was his right

David Tossell29-Dec-2012With barely two of his enormous strides, Tony Greig crossed the Lord’s hospitality box, into which his sister Sally Ann had invited me for tea, and stuck out his hand. “So,” he said, smiling down in my direction, “have you sold all of those books of yours?”It had been a year since publication of my biography of the former England captain, a project in which he had generously participated without there being anything in it for him. He had even offered to do some interviews “to create some headlines” in order to publicise the release date, and had duly taken swings at everyone from Dennis Lillee to the BCCI in the cause of publicity.When I’d suggested he might want to see the book before helping to publicise it he’d responded: “I can’t believe I wouldn’t want it to do well.” After the interview time, the family contacts and photographs, and the endorsements he’d given on my behalf to doubtful interviewees, this really was above and beyond the call of duty.As we chatted now, guests of his brother-in-law, MCC president Phillip Hodson, while England and Australia fought out an ODI below us, I ventured the question to which I dreaded the answer: “You never did tell me what you thought of the book. Did you like it?””Well… I have to admit I haven’t read it from cover to cover,” he said, and in his reply was the implication that he’d probably read not a single word. It should have come as no surprise. Tony Greig, the South African-born captain who was accused of betraying English cricket, a man for whom controversy lurked at every turn of his career, had long since ceased worrying what people said about him.Nor did he ever back away from the challenges that confronted him, whether it was the bouncers of Lillee and Thomson, Roberts and Holding, or the cricket authorities he defied by becoming a leading figure in Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in 1977. It was why news of his death by heart attack early on Saturday as he fought cancer came as such a shock. If anyone was ever going to beat that most cruel of diseases, surely it was this greatest of competitors.Born in Queenstown, South Africa, on October 6, 1946, Greig had a comfortable childhood, but it was never quite the idyllic upbringing that a white, professional family in the era of apartheid might have expected to offer.That was due partly to the alcoholism that afflicted his Scottish father, Sandy, after a distinguished wartime RAF career that ended with his posting to South Africa as an instructor. Just as significant was the discovery, following Greig’s collapse during a teenage tennis match, that he was epileptic. As a result, Greig began a lifetime of disciplined medication, keeping his condition from all but the closest of his team-mates over the years until acknowledging it publicly in 1980.Sussex team-mate Peter Graves, one of those in the know, recalled the threat of an attack being a constant presence. “You always worried whether it was going to happen,” he said. “Tony was like this juggernaut and he used to get really tired and that was when it could strike. He used to take a lot out of himself. But he wasn’t a boozer and he wouldn’t be up late.”Greig had arrived at Sussex in 1966, scoring a century against Lancashire on his Championship debut the following season. A striking 6ft 7in blond, he quickly established himself as an attacking middle-order batsman and purveyor of useful seamers off a jerky, pigeon-toed action.Taking advantage of the opportunity denied his countrymen by South Africa’s sporting exile but offered to him by his English residency and a British father, Greig won a place in the England team against the Rest of the World in 1970. The downgrading of that series meant it was not until the Ashes contest of 1972 that he played his first official Test, beginning an England career that lasted for 58 matches. During that time he dominated the team in a manner that few have done before or since.His best performances were reserved for overseas tours, many of which are lost to cricket history due to the lack of TV coverage. On four consecutive tours – India (1972-73), West Indies (1973-74), Australia (1974-75) and India (1976-77) – Greig was England’s outstanding player, proving himself Test cricket’s pre-eminent allrounder.

It was not until 20 years after Packer that the MCC life membership traditionally afforded to former England captains came his way; not until the 2005 Ashes series that Greig was invited to commentate on a full England home series on a British station

In the Caribbean, he set up a series-saving victory in Trinidad by taking 13 wickets after deciding to try his hand at offspin. He’d already scored two centuries in the series and now, according to his great friend Alan Knott: “In that match he was the greatest offspinner I have ever kept to.”In Brisbane, in the first Test of England’s disastrous Ashes defence, he thrashed 110 off Dennis Lillee and new fast-bowling discovery Jeff Thomson. When he wasn’t deliberately upper-cutting Thomson over the slips, he was driving Lillee through the covers and celebrating by signalling his own fours.His marathon effort in Calcutta two years later, when he defied India’s spinners, the stifling atmosphere of an 80,000 crowd and a temperature of 40ºC, to score a match-winning 103, could not have been more different in character. “I have two memories that qualify Greigy as a top-quality player,” said Derek Underwood. “The hundred in Brisbane and then the century in India against the best spin attack of all time. It shows that against any attack he was very high quality.”His Test batting average of 40.43, including eight centuries, and a bowling mark of 32.20 speak for themselves, placing him in the company of Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff as England’s great post-war allrounders. That he is not always acknowledged as such is because he was never a man of the people like “Beefy” or “Freddie” and that his exploits are not all over YouTube or retro TV sports channels.Not to mention that two episodes as England captain tend to dominate popular memory of Greig.Leadership of his country passed to Greig in 1975, in spite of reservations among those who felt his attempt to run out Alvin Kallicharran while stumps were being drawn at the end of play in the West Indies were indicative of an over-competitive nature unbecoming to the post.When he announced on the eve of West Indies’ visit in 1976 that he intended to “make them grovel” it wasn’t just those dissenters who were outraged. Michael Holding remembered: “He was a white South African and ‘grovel’ was an offensive word for him to have used. It smacked of racism and apartheid.”As Holding and his team-mates made England pay with a brutal 3-0 series victory, Greig, who acknowledged immediately that he had made a clumsy choice of words, even went on his hands and knees in front of the West Indies fans at The Oval to do his own piece of grovelling.Greig always knew how to charm. As Sussex and England skipper, he was accommodating to journalists – which could also be a source of trouble – and understanding of how to get the crowds on his side. Nowhere was that more evident that in his team’s 3-1 win in India, where he praised the umpires, encouraged his men to play up to the stands, and walked away a hero.Yet it was soon after that tour that his crown slipped, when it was announced that not only was he defecting to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, but that he had been busy recruiting players for the Australian tycoon in his battle against established cricket over TV rights.Greig was no longer English cricket’s saviour; he was a money-grabbing South African. Alec Bedser, chairman of selectors, was one of many who said Greig had “betrayed” his adopted country. When his children began getting abuse in the playground, Greig knew it was time to head permanently to Australia. His protestations that all cricketers would benefit were met by deaf ears and closed minds.
One of the first players to understand that he had a commercial value to be exploited, Greg said in later years that he went to WSC primarily for himself and his family, and secondarily because the cricket establishment needed shaking up. He saw that England players merited more than £210 per match and that county players deserved better than to work as shelf-stackers in the winter.Within a year, Test fees were up to £1000. And when, only a couple of years after WSC, his brother Ian showed him his new contract offer from Sussex, which was more than he’d ever been offered even while captain of his county and country, he knew he had been vindicated.Greig with his team-mates after winning the 1977 Ashes•PA PhotosForgiveness took longer. It was not until 20 years after Packer that the MCC life membership traditionally afforded to former England captains came his way; not until the 2005 Ashes series that Greig – an established and typically controversial commentator on Packer’s Channel 9 – was invited to commentate on a full England home series on a British station, Channel 4. It was completed earlier this year when he was asked to deliver the MCC’s prestigious Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s.No one who heard that predictably forthright speech knew that Greig’s rehabilitation had come just in time; that a few months later he would be gone. He had seemed invincible.He leaves a wife, Vivian, and four children, Beau and Tom, and from his first marriage, Mark and Samantha. And to cricket, cricket lovers and cricketers he leaves a legacy of defiance and brilliance; images of an upturned-collar and long-legged cover drives; and a debt of gratitude that every young professional in his sponsored car should acknowledge.

Pakistan’s new first-class competition has got off to a good start – but there could be more changes to come for the domestic structure

Umar Farooq30-Nov-2012Pakistan domestic cricket has been stumbling over shaky ground for the last decade, with a lot of experimentation. The current season, with another revamped structure, got off to an ideal start, however, with well-contested games and competitive results.The season began with the President’s Trophy, as ten departmental teams played a round-robin league phase, with nine matches each. Habib Bank Limited and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited qualified for the final, which has been pushed back for an indefinite period to make way for the domestic Twenty20 Cup starting on Saturday.Previously, first-class competition centred on the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which for the last two seasons comprised 22 teams (13 regional and nine department teams) in two divisions, formatted on a promotion and relegation system. It was revamped this year by separating regional and departmental cricket, creating two first-class events with equal quality. The new structure has created a sense of stability and promoted a competitive spirit, with the top teams in the President’s Trophy playing against a mixture of tough opponents rather than the rookie cricketers of the region.Several batsmen enjoyed the best seasons of their careers. Umar Amin was the leading run-scorer, with 767 in nine matches at 45.11, but Haris Sohail of ZTBL had a big impact, making 673 runs at 134.60, with four hundreds. In the bowlers chart, left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar has changed the precedent of fast-bowler dominance, leading the table with 62 wickets, followed by Ehsan Adil (53) – a promising prospect from the Under-19 side.Apart from the structural changes, the PCB ensured star presence in the inaugural edition of the President’s Trophy. Leading Test cricketers, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Umar Gul, and Saeed Ajmal all featured for their respective teams. This perhaps was largely to do with the upcoming India series, wanting them to get some competitive match practice before the tour.Domestic cricket in the country has been accused of encouraging too many dead-rubber matches, undermining efforts to produce ‘world class’ Test players, ready for the bigger stage. The structure has suffered for many years due to the unique peculiarities of Pakistan cricket but PCB director general, Javed Miandad, has defended the inconsistency in the system and hinted that more changes could be offing.”We can’t compare our system to any other country not even with the neighbouring India,” Miandad told ESPNcricinfo. “Every country has a unique system in place, with its own resources. Look at India – a country with a huge population, even they are suffering to produce a world-class cricketer at the moment from the domestic system. So [the new format] is mainly a trial and taking chances in cricket is very important. Nothing is permanent and it can’t be until you start feeling it is close enough to perfection.”In the past few years, a majority of players who have represented the national team have come from the departments and corporate teams and these teams dominate the competitions. The regional teams tend to serve as major nurseries for emerging talents, with the players that perform well over time being recruited by the corporates, who provide higher levels of remuneration and/or other employment opportunities. The previous first-class tournament, with a mixture of regional and departmental teams, did not allow selectors to get a clear picture of players’ relative merits.”The major reason to separating regions and department is to see the difference by putting the teams at a level where the strengths of the teams competing against each other are same,” Miandad said. “We got good, positive feedback from the players and officials who are at the games and playing the games. With their feedback, there might be a possibility that next year’s structure will be different again, but again it’s for the betterment [of Pakistan cricket] that such experimentation could continue.”In our country, some non-technical people have made our cricket sensitive. Rules are meant to change with the passage of time and problems we face. We have unique problems in our country with limited resources. There are opinions that may be good but practically are not applicable within our system.”

Problems for Kieswetter and Bairstow bring opportunity for Buttler just eight games ahead of the Champions Trophy

George Dobell22-Jan-2013Jos Buttler is likely to win a major opportunity to kick-start his career in the fourth ODI of the series against India. Buttler, the 22-year-old from Somerset, is not first choice wicketkeeper for his county team but, through some eye-catching performances with the bat and a succession of setbacks that have afflicted his rivals with the gloves, he now has an excellent chance to secure a place in the side.With a maximum of eight ODIs to play, including this match in Mohali, before England begin their Champions Trophy campaign, the timing is far from perfect for England. Buttler is not only learning his trade as a keeper – as recently as a few weeks ago, England were expressing reservations about his glove work and suggesting it was not ready for international cricket – but as a batsman. He has played just one previous ODI, in the UAE, and in it failed to score a run. This opportunity represents a major promotion.He owes it, in large part, to the misfortune of others. Most pertinently, England appear to be losing faith with Craig Kieswetter. While his statistics since being moved into the middle-order at the start of 2012 are far from awful – Kieswetter has averaged 30.62 at a strike-rate of 78.27 – he has not fully convinced, either. While the failure to register a half-century in that period is forgivable as middle-order batting is often about impetus or rebuilding and leaves little room for personal milestones, Kieswetter has lacked the subtly required for ODI cricket; struggling to rotate the strike or pace the innings. In short, he remains a batsman who tends to either block or slog with precious little in between. The lack of improvement has been frustrating.Kieswetter may consider himself unfortunate. Asked to make himself into an opening batsman by England, he was subsequently moved back down the order to accommodate a faltering Kevin Pietersen during the series against Pakistan in the UAE, a move which did pay off when Pietersen scored two hundreds, and failed to adapt to his new role.Aged 25, he has the time and talent to come again though when he looks around county cricket and sees Phil Mustard, Chris Read, James Foster, Tim Ambrose, Steven Davies, Matt Prior, Geraint Jones, Marcus Trescothick, Paul Collingwood and Virkam Solanki – all of whom who have kept wicket for England in addition to Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Kieswetter – he may reflect that his turn, like that of those before him, has come and gone. Continuity of selection has not always seemed to apply to the position of keeper.The absence of Bairstow, currently in the UK due to a family illness, is also relevant to Buttler’s promotion. Bairstow, an original selection for this series who last year replaced Kieswetter during the World Twenty20, is almost certainly better qualified to take the gloves than Buttler and, having shown himself a more than capable batsman, would surely have won this call-up had he been in India. While the hope remains that he will be able to travel to New Zealand, that is yet to be clarified. Besides, if Buttler takes his chance, the position may be taken for some time.It is odd how history has repeated itself. In similar circumstances, just ahead of the 2011 World Cup, England lost confidence in Steven Davies during the CB series and recalled Prior. It would be no surprise if they did the same thing ahead of the Champions Trophy. Prior may well be playing the best cricket of his life at present but, after three half-centuries in his 68 ODIs, he cannot claim he has not already enjoyed an opportunity to establish himself.Buttler is a cricketer of rich potential. Blessed with a wide range of strokes, power and an ability to improvise, he has earned a reputation as a devastating finisher of an innings. In the longer-term, he has aspirations to be far more than that and his remarkable List A batting average of 58.42 suggests a substantial talent. With Bairstow absent he had another opportunity in the Twenty20s before Christmas and responded with a match-winning in Mumbai. It was, however, an innings of just seven deliveries. His role in ODI cricket is likely to be a little more akin to a marathon than that sort of sprint.

England’s options

Craig Kieswetter
Age: 25
A career that has stalled after a bright start, Kieswetter was first selected barely a week after qualifying for England. Having made a century and half-century in his first four games at the top of the order, he has passed 50 only four times in his next 42 matches and not at all in the 12 innings since moving into the middle-order. His keeping, while raw, has improved, but his struggle to rotate the strike or build an innings has counted against him.

Jos Buttler
Age: 22
A Somerset team-mate of Kieswetter, Buttler rarely takes the gloves at county level and, despite some exciting innings at domestic level – his List A average is currently just under 60 – remains a work in progress as a batsman and keeper. While he possesses an unusually large range of strokes and might be an ideal man to come in with four or five overs remaining, his ability to rebuild a faltering innings is less clear.

So this call-up owes more to his potential than his achievement. Certainly it would be asking a great deal of him to keep wicket in an important global event before he has established himself as first choice keeper with his county. In the longer-term it seems inevitable that one of Kieswetter or, both of whom play for Somerset, may have to look beyond the county if they are to fulfil both aspects of their careers.The wicketkeeping position is not England’s only problem in ODIs. But while their batsmen have underperformed, there is little doubt over the identity over the top five for the Champions Trophy. The real uncertainly concerns the identity of their fifth bowler and, ideally, allrounder. Jade Dernbach has all but bowled himself out of contention – Stuart Meaker must be worth a look in this game – while the reputations of Tim Bresnan and Chris Woakes have not been enhanced on this trip to date.What more the England selectors think they can learn from watching Bresnan is unclear – he is clearly not the player he was before elbow surgery in December 2011 – but Woakes may be worth another chance. While his bowling may lack bite on flat wickets, he has the batting skill to hurt opposition sides.The disappointment for England is that they went into this series with a fair idea of the identity of nine of their first choice 11 for the Champions Trophy and, as yet, have failed to find other suitable candidates. Buttler, at least, may have a chance to fill one of those positions in Mohali.

From S

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013S. Giridhar, India
There is something extremely seedy about the way the inexorable finish to the glittering careers of India’s finest ever quartet of middle order batsmen is being dissected with complete insensitivity. Compare this to the times when we peacefully bid adieu to the other ‘Fab four’ nearly 30 years ago, the incomparable and finest ever quartet of spinners.Ah but those were different times! The mind goes back to the 60s and 70s – the era of this unmatchable spin quartet. No live TV coverage for almost the entire part of their career, those were the days when the fruity voice of Pearson Surita and the nasal drone of Ananda Rao in India, and the vivid description of John Arlott in England and Alan McGilvray in Australia brought them into our lives. Remember Arlott in the summer of 1971 describe Venkat and Chandra….”Here comes Venkat, tall, slightly flat-footed, 5 languid steps, left hand reaching for the sky…” and “Chandra, shirt tail flapping in the breeze, sleeves buttoned down, turns, begins his run, 1,2, 3….11, 12 past Umpire Eliot…”Yes, very romantic times those…..we won a match or two now and then and were happy to hug those memories. And then we won some more and we realized that these four magicians were in fact setting up opportunities for victories more frequently than ever before. And so this quartet was forged over 15 long years. Prasanna the eldest came into the Indian side in 1960, Chandra in 1964, Venkat in 1965 and Bedi in 1966. Each of them made their debut at age 20 or earlier, for their entire careers four spinners, brothers in arms, but fighting forever for three places in the team.Each was poetry in motion…..fluid, smooth, economical of action and with unending guile. Bedi the supreme artist, warm-hearted, always the first to applaud the sixer from the batsman but owner of the best arm ball in cricket history; Chandra the least demonstrative, quiet, magical, unplayable destroyer; Prasanna, cunning, cocky, plotting all the time to make a fool of the batsman; Venkat, of fierce tigerish resolve, almost a fast bowler’s temperament to complement his spinner’s brain, bowling for the team than for his own ego.By the time the Indian team went to Pakistan in 1978 – to resume cricket ties after 18 long years – it seemed that these four icons had been playing forever. Prasanna was 38, Venkat and Chandra 33 and Bedi just a year younger. And between them they seemed to have bowled a million overs! They had bamboozled Sobers and Lloyd, lulled Chappell and Walters to doom; toyed with Fletcher and Edrich….they seemed to have taken every wicket for India in the last 15 years! But 15 years is a long time and these intelligent men knew that they were approaching the end of wonderfully illustrious careers.What they did not know was that in a matter of weeks, just three Test matches to be precise, the quartet would hurtle from the twilight of their careers to oblivion. What these maestros received in Pakistan was a hiding of soul-searing proportions from Miandad and Zaheer, Asif Iqbal and Majid Khan. No newspaper devoted columns to discuss the imminent demise of the quartet. The end was almost instantaneous for three of the four spinners. Prasanna never played again after returning from Pakistan. Bedi and Chandra made a token appearance in a couple of Tests and were dropped. Venkat, the warrior kept plugging away for a few more years but must have been a lonely man missing his three comrades till he too faded away.There is perhaps a lesson for us here from the way the spin quartet went out of our lives. None of the ‘Fab four’ spinners ever announced their retirement from Test cricket. They were fearless samurai, when the time came for them to be dropped they accepted this with dignity and the press gave them the space and the respect that they deserved. When 4 great spinners with 900 wickets between them could go with grace and dignity, is it too much to ask that 4 great batsmen with 35000 runs between them also go the same way? I agree we live in noisy strident TRP times but surely we can lower our tones, stand aside, and salute them as they go back to the pavilion one last time. Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman, rare gems all and for all four to be playing at the same time for India. We will never know how blessed our country was till they are all gone.

Like other Australian spinners in India, Gavin Robertson finished his tour with a good idea of how to bowl there. Somehow the lessons keep getting lost

Daniel Brettig01-Mar-2013Sitting towards the back of a Bangalore function room in March 1998, Gavin Robertson and Steve Waugh shared a glum, quiet dinner. Australia had been overtaken by India in the first Test, in Chennai, and then obliterated in the second, at the Eden Gardens. Robertson’s offspin had been toyed with, while Waugh was coming to terms with his first Test-series loss in four years. Noticing the duo away from the gathered dignitaries, the august figure of Erapalli Prasanna ventured over to join the New South Welshmen. By way of a greeting he offered the words: “You have no idea what you’re doing here.”Robertson’s mere presence in India had been a shock to many. Touring Pakistan in 1994, then opposing Waugh for Australia A in the World Series Cup of the following home summer, Robertson had drifted so far from international reckoning that in the summer preceding the India Tests, he had played only a solitary Sheffield Shield game for the Blues. In it, however, he had taken seven wickets at Adelaide Oval, keeping his name from sliding completely. Shane Warne’s desire to be paired with a spinner in the vein of the retired Tim May, and some prodding from Waugh and Mark Taylor subsequently, had Robertson trading his day job managing grocery shelves for a six-week journey through India.”I was only training two or three days a week, which I almost find hilarious,” Robertson recalls. “I wasn’t that physically fit, I would eat whatever I had to at work to do long days, and play grade cricket on Saturday. The next thing I knew, I was playing Test cricket in 84% humidity and 44C. I think I lost 8kg on the trip.”Perhaps not surprisingly, given his preparation, Robertson struggled to find the right method, though he fought admirably in Chennai, taking wickets and making stubborn lower-order runs. Despite the team’s pre-eminence as the world’s top-rated side, there was a lack of knowledge and understanding about India, a country most had visited once or twice at most – this was Warne’s baked beans tour, after all.”It was a rollercoaster three Tests. We didn’t really know what we were doing in the first Test, and my pace was wrong, even though I took five wickets. What happened to me the Indians did to both myself and Shane Warne. Every time you’d bowl a good ball they negated it and waited for that patience to go, and then they really went after you. If you had a moment where you bowled two or three bad balls in an over, then you all of a sudden went for 12 or 16 runs. That’s where the pressure builds.”So when Prasanna made his challenge about Australia’s ignorance of India, Robertson found himself nodding. Waugh was a little more feisty, remonstrating with the man often considered the best of all India’s offspinners, and author of the immortal slow-bowling maxim “Line is optional, length is mandatory.” Perhaps throwing in a four-letter word or two for emphasis, Waugh asked Prasanna, “Well, if you know so much, how about you tell us?” What followed would change Robertson’s tour.”Prasanna talked about how you’ve got to understand a batsman,” Robertson says. “You want to try to lock the batsman on the crease with the amount of spin you’ve got on the ball and your pace and dip. You’ve got to combine that to make sure the batsman feels like if he leaves his crease to take a risk, it’s going to drop on him and he’ll lose the ball.”So he’ll search quickly to defend, and that will cause him to feel nervous about leaving his crease, and that’ll start to get him locked on his crease. Then you’ll get him jutting out at the ball and jabbing at it with his hands. Then he’ll start trying to use his pad and his bat together to negate a good ball. Finally he said, ‘All you have to do is get that right pace and create that feeling, and then you have to do it for 20 or 30 overs in a row, and you’ll bowl them out.'”

“It’s about finding the right pace and line that locks the batsman on the crease. If you can do it for long periods of time, you win the pressure battle, you break them down, you get wickets”Gavin Robertson

Subtlety, discipline and consistency. These were not outlandish tactics, but they mirrored what Robertson had seen from his Indian counterparts, both in 1998 and on the tours to follow. Over the next few days before the third Test, in Bangalore, Robertson worked at this method, quickening his pace slightly and seeing useful results in the nets. By the time he came on to bowl again on the first morning of the match, his confidence was restored to a decent level. Flicking the ball from hand to hand, he thought of bowling a couple of tidy maidens before lunch then settling in for the afternoon.Nathan Lyon is familiar with the sort of thing that happened next. Those two overs went for plenty, leaving Robertson’s mind to race again. “I went to lunch with 0 for 31 off two and I thought, ‘I’m in real trouble here,'” he says. “When I came back on after lunch Stephen [Steve Waugh] was at mid-off and I said ‘I’m going to go for it here, I’m going to try to spin a bit harder and bowl a bit quicker.'”I added two extra steps to my run-up, which I’d never done. I told myself to bowl like a medium-pace offspinner – you bowl with a quicker arm action and actually get more on the ball. I bowled to Tendulkar and he came forward, it gripped and it spun, went past him, nearly hit Ian Healy in the head and went for four byes.”I just kept doing it. I went from 0 for 31 off two overs to 2 for 58 off 11.2 overs, and in the second innings I took 3 for 28 off 12 and we won the Test. Those were the lessons. It sounds quite simple, but it’s having the experience and the patience to keep doing it. They’re not worried about you unless you bowl really well.”Robertson’s awakening to what was required to bowl spin effectively in India is a tale that is true for many Australian spin bowlers who have ventured to the subcontinent. Robertson describes it as cases of “failure, failure, then some success by the time you go home”. Jason Krejza was all but a lost cause on the 2008 trip until he worked with Bishan Bedi in the Delhi nets, and subsequently harvested 12 wickets – albeit expensive ones – in Nagpur. Nathan Hauritz was never able to settle in 2010 as he entered the tour after injury and then had his bowling style changed, not by the locals but by Ricky Ponting, who desired his tweaker to “bowl more like Harbhajan Singh”, whatever that meant. None were granted a second chance to tour India and use the knowledge gained on the earlier visit.”You could almost have all those learnings on a whiteboard or some sort of document that relays ‘This is the plan for this, we know what we’ve been up against before, knock it over,'” Robertson says. “That’s what I thought we were supposed to be doing when we went two and half weeks early. We probably haven’t learned from those past tours.”For now, Lyon is trying to work out how best to succeed in Hyderabad, having taken four wickets in Chennai but at an enormous cost. Robertson recalled Prasanna’s advice, but also the example set by R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in Chennai.”Have a look at the pace the Indian bowlers bowled at in the first Test,” he says. “Just over, say, an hour or 15-over period, and watch how many times they’re full and they’re up outside off stump and spinning back. And then watch us and see how many times in that period we get short and get worked. How many times do we get scored off short balls, and how many times the other way?”The Indians always bowl full with the right pace, the ball is dropping at sufficient pace and there’s not enough time to get down the wicket to it. In Australia, Nathan Lyon can bowl on middle stump and a little bit short. Because the wickets are so quick here, it’s so much harder for a batsman to punish it. Over there it’s so slow, as soon as you bowl too short and on the wrong line, it just sits up like a cherry and it goes.”It’s about finding the right pace and line that locks the batsman on the crease. If you can do it for long periods of time, you win the pressure battle, you break them down, you get wickets.”Prasanna could not have said it better himself.

From Josh Barnes, Australia

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Don’t give up the reins to ‘Pup’ just yet•Getty ImagesWhile many people voice their determined opinion about how Ricky Ponting should step down from captaincy, from cricket altogether and Swisse Vitamins commercials, I thought it would be fair for somebody to stick up for the great battler, and against better advice I decided to take on the task. Ponting can remain the Australian Test captain and an integral accumulator of runs. Just by giving up a couple of the things that makes him so great.ODI cricket: Firstly, Ponting might need to step away from one of his favourite past times: pulling medium-pacers for six in coloured clothing. Following the World Cup (where Super Rick will attempt to win his fourth consecutive World Cup, third as captain) he should be told that reducing his workload may be overly beneficial. Stepping down from ODIs will keep him to Test matches only and allow him to focus on returning to powerful form. Although he remains one of the greatest batsmen to ever don the colours, ODIs must go.Move down the order : While his pride will already be dented by being told ODIs were finished, Ricky Thomas will have to move down to No. 4 or 5. Facing the new ball is no longer his game, being successful in the middle order is. Ponting has averaged beyond 58 at No. 3 for almost ten years, yet he is obviously moving along in age and reflexes, so holding down the middle order while a younger member of the team takes over No. 3 (or even Shane Watson) is the right move to make.Stay as captain: Australian cricket has finally made its way to the great, inevitable fork in the road. It can take that beautiful glorious road of return towards the rainbow or glory, or the deadly, dark and dangerous road towards disaster and mediocrity. Australia needs the experience and smarts of Ponting, at least until Michael Clarke grows up and proves himself, or a better replacement is found. Now is not the time to make drastic action to remove the captain, it is time for security and solidity. Panic doesn’t help anybody. Ponting is Australia’s second greatest batsman and deserves to be treated with respect. But if he wants to retain his position in international cricket, he needs to make a couple of changes. Following these changes we will return to the glorious days of the giant pull shot, the brilliant straight drive and the celebratory bat raise. Or, at least, less sleepless nights.