On the face of it Bhuvneshwar Kumar has no quality that’s likely to catch a layman’s fancy. But face him with a bat in hand and you’ll know his worth

Aakash Chopra at Queen's Park Oval06-Jul-2013If you were to make an assessment about a fast bowler, from a distance, what are the attributes that are likely to catch your eye? The first few would be a fast run-up, high jump, strong action, pace and bounce.Those are exactly the virtues you won’t find in India’s best strike bowler at the moment. He gives the impression of just ambling in; his feet barely leave the ground as he loads up in his action. And since most of the time batsmen are on the front foot, it all gives the impression of a lack of pace. The wicketkeeper rarely collects his deliveries with the fingers pointing up, so even the bounce he gets isn’t appreciable.Prima facie, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has no quality that’s likely to catch a layman’s fancy. But to know his real worth, you need to stand at the other end with a bat in your hand. That’s when you realise how one of the most innocuous-looking bowlers is also one of the toughest to handle, especially if he has the new ball and the pitch has a little bit of assistance for seamers.So what makes Bhuvneshwar a serious threat?Bowling close to the stumps and a high-arm action
Bhuvneshwar’s approach to the crease reminds me of the great Shaun Pollock. Just like the South African, he gets really close to the stumps. The closer the bowler gets to the stumps, the tougher it gets for the batsman, for there are less pronounced angles to play with. The line of the ball is always in line with the stumps, which means the batsman has no choice but to play at most deliveries.And if the positioning on the crease is complemented with a high-arm action, like it is for Bhuvneshwar, the problems increase manifold: you, as a batsman, can’t play inside or outside the line of the delivery as you would for someone bowling with a round-arm action or from wide of the crease.For example, if Lasith Malinga was bowling from close to the stumps with a new ball, a right-hand batsman would play outside the line of the bal, assuming that the ball would swing away from him. Similarly, you would play inside the line while facing Makhaya Ntini to account for the acute angle he created by bowling from the edge of the box.Strong wrist position
The best way to swing the ball in the air and to get lateral movement off the deck is to release the ball with the seam bolt upright. The more still the seam is in the air, the better the chances that it will not only deviate in the air but also hit the pitch on the seam and dart around. While it sounds quite simple in theory, it’s extremely difficult to execute, for to keep the seam upright at the point of release, the wrist needs to be strong and also right behind the ball. That’s what Bhuvneshwar has; his immense control over his wrist allows him to not only release the ball with the seam upright but also allows him to make subtle changes (like pointing it towards slips or fine leg) by tilting his wrist to move the ball both ways. If you’re able to do that with control, you will trouble the best batsmen.A full length
Bhuvneshwar has neither the pace of Umesh Yadav nor the bounce of Ishant Sharma. What he does have is an understanding of the importance of hitting the right length time and again. He realises that since his strength is movement, he needs to pitch it a lot fuller, for the longer the ball stays in the air, the better the chances of it moving. Also, it’s a length that batsmen, especially openers, hate in the early part of an innings. Bhuvneshwar is not afraid of being hit through the line and that quality allows him to find edges often, for it isn’t possible for batsmen to always keep middling the ball when it is swinging.While the match between West Indies and India is likely to be remembered for Virat Kohli’s scintillating century, not mentioning the spell of quality bowling by Bhuvneshwar would be a grave injustice, for Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo and Kieron Pollard – the batsmen he dismissed – had the ability of changing the complexion, and perhaps the result, of the game.

England’s recurring first-Test failure may this time point to more ingrained issues

George Dobell in Brisbane24-Nov-20130:00

#politeenquiries: Australia win at The Gabba

Had you never seen England play Test cricket before this match in Brisbane, you would be forgiven for concluding that they had no hope of fighting their way back into this Ashes series.This defeat was as emphatic and complete as any in recent years. Indeed, only five times in history have England lost a Test by a larger run margin. It is understandable that some are suggesting that this game may be remembered as the start of a new era. An era in which Australia hold the upper hand.But we have seen England play before. We know that they have experienced similarly crushing defeats – Leeds 2009, Perth 2010 and Ahmedabad 2012 – and bounced back to win the next games and the series in which they were played. Perhaps they can do the same thing again?Certainly that was the view taken by Alastair Cook. England’s captain conceded that his side had been “outplayed” but then insisted that “there’s plenty of time to fight back”.”We’ve done it a lot of times in the past and that’s what we’re going to have to draw upon now,” he said. “In Ahmedabad everyone was looking at us and wondering how we could play cricket and we bounced back to win an amazing series in India.”The first thing we have to do is remember we are a very good side and there are some very good players in the dressing room. We’ve had a bad game and we can hold our hands up and say that. But we’ve got 10 days now. We’ll stay strong as a unit and we’ll come back fighting.”Whether that proves to be wishful thinking remains to be seen but it would be a mistake to dismiss the Test as an aberration. A team that has failed to score 400 for 18 consecutive innings is not in a barren run; it is in a famine. A team who continually start poorly in series and rely on their bowlers to bail them out of tough situations are not unlucky; they are flirting with danger. This result has been an accident waiting to happen.Just as worryingly, England have only played two Tests on quick wickets in the last four years – here and in Perth – and they have lost them both heavily. It bodes ill that Perth, perhaps the fastest wicket in the world looms again just around the corner in the third Test.0:00

England’s batting was amateur’

By reputation, Adelaide, the location of the second Test, is something approaching a batting paradise. It might, in normal circumstances, be expected to provide a tonic for England’s beleaguered batsmen. But no-one is quite sure how the fresh drop-in pitch will play and it would seem oddly hospitable of Australia to offer anything other than another pitch of pace and bounce. There may be no respite in store.The headlines will be dominated by Mitchell Johnson and England’s batsmen’s struggles against pace and bounce. Probably quite rightly, too. Even his poor deliveries – and there were a few – proved beneficial as they left the batsmen unsure what to expect from his slingy, low action. His success was another example of the benefits of unorthodoxy in cricket. The debate over whether such a player could emerge through the English system can wait for another day.There were other issues at play apart from Johnson. England also played the offspin of Nathan Lyon like novices; the lack of an effective third seamer saw them unable to exploit Australia’s position of 132 for 6 on the first day and Graeme Swann, arguably the best spinner England have ever had, was out-bowled by his Australian counterpart.The individual form of a couple of players is causing concern, too. Jonathan Trott appears most rattled by Johnson’s pace and, in his last nine Tests, has a better bowling average than batting average: 21.50 with the ball and 31.94 with the bat. Matt Prior has averaged 15 in the eight Tests he has played since May and only 17.50 in first-class cricket since the start of the last English season. He has passed 50 only once in 24 innings.England will be loathe to abandon their consistency of selection policy, but there was just a hint that changes could be made. Ironically after a defeat due to poor batting, it is the position of Chris Tremlett, the third seamer, which is most under threat, but Trott, too, is looking as insecure as at any stage in his four-year Test career.0:00

‘Adelaide has become much more important now’

“We are going to have to be very honest with ourselves in how we go about trying to play Johnson,” Cook said. “You can’t brush the issue under the carpet, he’s hurt us in this game and we’re going to have to come back show our ability in the next game.”We all need to be honest with each other as a group. It’s not just those three who haven’t had a good game – all eleven of us really need to improve if we want to win this series.”Trott has had a tough game and he knows that. But you have to remember the guy is class. He is a very good player. He’s had a little blip in these last couple of games but he’s a class player and class players bounce back.”I know he’s been working incredibly hard at playing the short ball and anyone who has seen the net sessions can see he is trying to work on it. It is just a matter of him trying to take that into the middle. When the emotion and the pressure of the game is on, it can be quite tough to think as clearly as you need to.”In the long-term, Trott has a good chance of finding a method to deal with the line of attack with which he is confronted. He will know, too, that his captain endured a similarly grim run of form in 2010 and benefitted from England’s loyalty and patience. But if the team management feel that Trott is, for now, mentally shot, he may not win a reprieve for Adelaide. It may be to his benefit that none of the squad’s reserve batsmen – Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance or Ben Stokes – is hammering at the door of the team.England can take consolation from one area: they know they have prevailed against Australia – with Johnson – on several previous occasions. Indeed, Trott’s debut century was against an attack that included Johnson.”We’ve got to look at the way we’re going to play him,” Cook agreed. “He’s bowled well in this Test. He bowled well in Perth last time and he hurt us there.”But there have been times in the past when we’ve played really well against him. We can draw on that. You can’t brush the issue under the carpet, he’s hurt us in this game and we’re going to have to come back and show our ability in the next game.”Perhaps most damaging of all for England is the fact that this result will encourage an Australian team who have been starved of success for almost a year. Motivated and now full of confidence, they may prove hard to stop.

Stats highlights from India’s fifth consecutive Test-win, at the Eden Gardens

Shiva Jayaraman08-Nov-2013 Mohammed Shami’s bowling in this match was a rare high in the annals of fast-bowling performances for India at home. His bowling figures for the match are the fourth-best by an India fast-bowler at home and the best since Javagal Srinath took 13 for 132 against Pakistan at the Eden Gardens in 1999. Before that, a better bowling performance than Shami’s by an India fast bowler came way back in 1983 when Kapil Dev took 10 for 135 against West Indies in Ahmedabad in 1983. Shami’s bowling figures for the match are the best by an India fast-bowler on debut and the second-best by an India bowler on debut. Shami’s five-wicket haul was only the third by an India fast-bowler on debut in Tests. Including him, only eight India bowlers have taken a five-for (or more) on debut in Tests. This is the first time that India have won five Tests in a row. This sequence started for them with the Test in Chennai against Australia earlier this year. Before this, India have had two sequences of four consecutive wins – against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2009-10 and against England and Zimbabwe in 1993. Rohit Sharma’s 177 in India’s first innings beat Doug Walters’ 155 against England in Brisbane in 1965, which was the previous highest by a No. 6 batsman on debut. Rohit fell ten runs short of Shikhar Dhawan’s 187 against Australia in Mohali, which is the highest score by an India batsman on debut. Rohit is only the fifth India player to win the Man-of-the-Match award on Test debut and the second India player this year after Shikhar Dhawan. Click here for a list of players who have won Man-of-the-Match award on debut in Tests. Shane Shillingford’s bowling figures of 6 for 167 in India’s first innings are the second-best at the Eden Gardens in Tests by a visiting spinner. Richie Benaud’s 6 for 52 in 1956 are the best by a visiting spinner at the Eden Gardens. Shillingford’s figures are also the best by a West Indies spinner at this venue and only the second instance of a West Indies spinner taking a five-wicket haul (or more) at the venue. This was Ashwin’s second hundred in Tests. Ashwin now averages 41.11 in Tests and has scored 690 runs at an average of 40.58 batting at No. 8. MS Dhoni and Mahmudullah are the only other batsmen to have scored 500 or more runs at an average of 40 or more in Tests at No. 8. Ashwin continued his good all-round form against West Indies in this Test. He has now hit a hundred and taken five wickets for the match against them in consecutive Tests. He had hit a hundred and taken nine wickets the last time India played against West Indies in Mumbai in 2011. Only four other India players have hit a hundred and taken five or more wickets for the match. Ashwin’s the only one to do it twice. The 280-run partnership between Rohit and R Ashwin is India’s highest in Tests for the seventh wicket, beating the unbeaten 259-run partnership between VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni against South Africa at the same venue in 2010. This was also the second-highest partnership for India against West Indies for any wicket in Tests. The Eden Gardens has clearly been a productive venue for India against West Indies as far as partnerships are concerned. India’s highest partnership against them, an unbeaten 344 between Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar, also came here in 1978. Also, four of the top six partnerships for India, against West Indies, have come at the Eden Gardens. There was hardly any resistance with the bat from West Indies’ lower middle-order and tail in this match – the 154 runs that West Indies added for their final seven wickets wickets in the match are their lowest ever against India in Tests. This was Dhoni’s eighth win in Tests by a margin of an innings as captain. He has equalled Mohammad Azharuddin’s record for most wins by an innings in Tests by an India captain. Sourav Ganguly is next in that list with seven wins. With this match, Dhoni has captained India in 48 Tests and is now second in the list of players to have captained India in most Tests. Only Sourav Ganguly (49) has captained India in more Tests than Dhoni.

On the surface, a seamer’s paradise looks like the way to go against India, but with a few struggling batsmen in the team, a backfire cannot be ruled out

Abhishek Purohit13-Feb-2014New Zealand have rolled the dice. They wanted a green pitch, and a green pitch they have got at the Basin Reserve. They have left out the legspinner, and are playing three specialist fast bowlers and two seam-bowling allrounders. Brendon McCullum is an aggressive captain. He wants to go for 2-0, and he thinks the best way to go after this Indian team is through an all-pace attack on a grassy surface with the ball expected to seam, and also swing on an open ground.Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner have had a terrific home summer, having been denied only by rain and Darren Bravo in Dunedin in four Tests against West Indies and India. Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson are more than capable change bowlers. The ball swung around considerably, especially for Boult, in the previous Test at Basin Reserve, against West Indies, which lasted three days. McCullum says this pitch is greener and harder than the one for West Indies, and expects it to have pace, bounce and seam.The young group of Indian batsmen could possibly face their toughest examination so far on overseas soil, going by the composition of the opposition attack and the conditions. You would be wary of going into a Test on such a surface as a visiting side that has been winless in six games on this tour. Then again, wouldn’t you be wary if your batsmen have made 105 in their previous innings, like New Zealand did in Auckland? Ross Taylor made 41 out of those 105 in that madcap second innings at Eden Park. He is at home in Napier, expecting his second child, and New Zealand are fielding a debutant batsman instead at No. 4.New Zealand’s openers have had their spots in the side questioned even before this series began. Those questions became louder after the first Test. Peter Fulton made 13 and 5 at Eden Park, Hamish Rutherford 6 and a golden duck. Both could possibly be playing for their places at the Basin. Not exactly the frame of mind you want your openers to be in on such a pitch.McCullum is coming off a game-changing double hundred in the first Test, but his style of batting will always involve risk against the moving ball. Same with Anderson’s style. You can understand why New Zealand have a batsman as promising as Neesham coming down at No. 8, and not a fourth-specialist fast bowler.Given McCullum’s luck with the toss this tour – he has lost all six of them – he thinks New Zealand could well be batting next morning at the Basin. What gives him confidence is that New Zealand have been asked to do so three times this summer, twice by and once by India, and their first-innings scores have been 609, 441 and 503.”It [toss] is likely to go against me,” McCullum said. “Obviously we will look to have a bowl if we win the toss, but if we find ourselves batting, with Neesham at No. 8 as well, there is quite a bit of batting. We found ourselves in some precarious positions having to bat first so far in the summer, and we have come through those tests pretty well. Have found ourselves batting first on seamer-friendly wickets, something that we have had to overcome and we have done it really well so far…. but the opening batsmen, struggling for runs, might not be too thrilled•AFP”So getting big first-innings totals, and that allows us to obviously dictate the pace of the game and how we want to attack the opposition. It is going to be a challenge if we find ourselves batting first tomorrow. But we think we have had some success doing it and we should not be overawed by it, albeit it is going to be a tough proposition. We have one more big effort if we do find ourselves batting first on this wicket to make sure we get a competitive total in that first innings.”McCullum’s confidence is not misplaced, but there is also no doubting that this is a double-edged sword for New Zealand. They are sitting pretty with a 1-0 lead in a two-Test contest, and in trying to go flat out for 2-0, they are also giving the Indians a chance to square the series.Not that there is any chance of that happening if India bowl the way they did in the first innings at Eden Park. However, they went the other extreme in the second. MS Dhoni said he had not seen such a performance from his bowlers in the past three-four years. Zaheer Khan went even further, saying the last similar collective display he could recall was in 2002.You would normally expect something in between. A normal showing from the Indian seam attack will be where they release the ball, pitch it with discipline and expect some help from the pitch. Normal could work at the Basin. Dhoni said after Auckland that he preferred green pitches for his quick bowlers away from home, even if that made it challenging for his batsmen. The dice has been rolled by the hosts. Which way will it turn?

Plays of the day for the qualifying match between Bangladesh and Nepal in Chittagong

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong18-Mar-2014The split-second decision

Sagar Pun and Subash Khakurel had added just 19 runs as Nepal’s opening pair but they made a bigger impact with Anamul Haque’s run out. The batsman too contributed to his own dismissal. Pun first timed his dive at point well to intercept Anamul’s square-cut and was quick on his feet and mind to get up and throw the ball to wicketkeeper Khakurel. The split-second decision to throw at the right end is not an unusual occurrence but always worth a mention. Anamul walked off an angry man, perhaps at himself, but he did have a long conversation with Sabbir Rahman who had initially called a loud ‘no’ and never quite got going for the non-existent single.The smear through cover
Khadka got going in the last five overs, hammering boundaries mostly in front of the wicket. Two of his off-side boundaries matched any top-class international batsman, especially with the placement and power. The first one off Farhad Reza scudded to the extra cover boundary, and it was his statement of intent that got his opposite number Mushfiqur Rahim a bit worried. The second one came off Abdur Razzak in the next over, and perhaps this was the better blow as it came against an accomplished spinner.The missed stumping
Mushfiqur had a lot of time in hand when Vesawkar jumped out of the crease to Shakib Al Hasan in the 14th over. But the ball kept very low, beating Vesawkar and Mushfiqur, who had a tough time gathering the ball. It was still a missed opportunity for the keeper.The ungainly slog
Tamim Iqbal was missing out on all the fun as Anamul played some handsome shots from the other end. He struck a six, which just about cleared long-on but in his next big try two overs later, the shot looked more ungainly. He went after Basant Regmi in the eighth over, and almost fell over trying to hit the ball out of the ground but ended up giving short third-man a simple catch. It was similar to his dismissal in a Test match against Sri Lanka in January.

India are in top form going into the World T20 final, but the on-field challenges they pose are not the only ones Sri Lanka will have to contend with; they must also shed the mental baggage of many global finals lost

Andrew Fidel Fernando05-Apr-2014As Sri Lanka fans watched Virat Kohli gun down an imposing South Africa total on Friday evening, a familiar shadow of dread crept upon many. A final against an unrelenting India, whose belief and demeanour suggest they are champions already. This has all happened before.After four major finals in seven years, a clot of public superstitions has developed around big games. Among the more amusing is the notion that the country’s president’s attendance brings bad luck. This thought had been cemented in the 2012 World T20 final, when the president’s arrival at the Premadasa coincided roughly with the moment the match turned, swiftly and dramatically, for the opposition.There are other appeals to the supernatural to make sense of Sri Lanka’s spectacularly heartbreaking run. A middle-order batsman, no longer in the side, was believed to be the Jonah on Sri Lanka’s ship for some time. Batting first is an ill-omen, but depending on whom you speak to, chasing can be as well. Some say the curse will not be cast off until Arjuna Ranatunga is welcomed back into the administrative fold.Fortunately for fans, Sri Lanka’s players have not drunk from this irrational whirl of swill. But as they approach another grand occasion, they would be almost inhuman if the garbage compactor of previous failures had not begun to close in, in their minds.It is an odd thing to contend with, because the team’s meltdowns have come so specifically at this stage of the tournament. Sri Lanka’s campaigns have often been forged on mental strength; on valiant innings, desperation in the field and soaring, irresistible spells. Twice already in this tournament, against South Africa and New Zealand, Sri Lanka have reaped victory on fallow ground. In the semi-final, even against the opponent that had set a fire on their hopes in a home final 18 months ago, Sri Lanka were nerveless and professional.”I guess it could be the fact that you’re so afraid of losing the final that it can actually contribute to you doing badly,” Kumar Sangakkara had said, as he reflected on Sri Lanka’s finals downfalls. “When you’re playing in a final it’s not really hope, it’s almost a delivered certainty at times, where you think, ‘This is our game and we are going to win it.’ When you’ve done all of that and you lose, it’s a much worse feeling than going out earlier in the tournament. There’s no comparison between the stages of the tournament. There’s a huge difference between the semi-final and the final. It’s a very tough place to be, not just for players but even for spectators. The fact that you’ve come this far… You’ve won every game so far, so why couldn’t you win the most important game?”In a Sri Lanka cricket utopia, where the board does not contemplate sending a second XI to the tournament 24 hours before they depart due to monetary reasons and the best captain retains the reins until he retires, the team might have had some preparation for this eventuality: a formal exercise, led by a psychology professional, which allowed players to confront and shed their fears, and perhaps break free of the inhibition that has visibly damaged their title-hopes before.But instead, the team is left largely to its own devices – to hope the Asia Cup triumph was enough to snap the noose, to put hearts and minds at peace and in focus. In the past, the team has sought to view each final as “just another match”, but after Thursday night’s victory, the senior players will have given serious thought to making drastic adjustments to that approach. They may now feel frank discussion and collective acceptance of the gravity of the next match, for themselves, their families, their fans and their country, is the surest way to ward off inhibition.”It’s also not something that we like to talk about because I think sometimes we have that fear that if you talk about it, you might jinx it, or if you talk about it being a final you might change your attitude or the way you think,” Sangakkara had said.”At the back of your head you know it’s a final. You know what winning it means. You know what it means for yourself and the team and the people supporting you. One of the most important things that we’ve got to do is work on better, clearer communication, especially before big games – about exactly how we feel, because how we feel has an impact on what we do on the field and how we approach a game.”The one thing we haven’t done is express our fears, or whatever our feelings are, fully, before a final – especially the day before and the two or three days leading up to the final.”Whether those feelings have been laid out in the open before this game is unknown. Sri Lanka players rarely give much away in public, and in any case, it is not ideal to bring the public in on a heartfelt, load-shedding exercise. Perhaps Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene’s departure from the T20 team may spur the flow of raw emotion that might make this discussion effective. Whatever the case, Sri Lanka have far more to overcome than Kohli’s broad blade and Amit Mishra’s drift and spin on Sunday evening.

Ramnaresh Sarwan talks about scoring six fours in a Test over, struggling to find a helmet that fit, and lessons from watching Brian Lara

Interview by Jack Wilson29-May-2014When you started out as a kid playing cricket in Guyana, could you ever have imagined you would captain your country?
As a young player, it’s always the ultimate honour to represent your country and perform for them. With the captaincy, as time goes by you gain experience and people look at you and assess your credentials. It was a great feeling for me when I was made captain. So many great players have captained the West Indies team through the years.You have played 286 times for West Indies. Do you think you will ever add to that?
Quite frankly, with the players that are about now, I think it will be difficult. I’ll just try to keep doing what I’m doing and scoring runs.On June 23, 2006, you wrote yourself into the history books. Do you know why?
Was I the youngest player to get to 5000 runs?No, you hit six fours in an over against India off Munaf Patel.
Yes, I did! Although, I got a bit of luck. One of them I got an inside edge past the stumps and another went past Yuvraj Singh, who dived. It was all done pretty instinctively.You used to wear a bandana under your helmet but now you don’t. Why?
Before I wore a bandana because the helmet was a bit too big for me. I could never find the right size to wear and the bandana supported me and made my head a bit bigger. When I found the right size I got rid of the bandana.What is the best innings you have ever played?
The 105 I made against Australia in 2003, when we chased 418 on the final day. The way I played made it the pick of my innings. It gave me confidence to kick on at that stage of my career.Where were you when you received your first Test call-up?
I’d just played a game in Guyana. They gave me a call on my landline to tell me I was in the squad.Where do you keep your first Test shirt?
Safely in the wardrobe.Which of your team-mates past or present has the best arm?
Dwayne Smith.Which one bowler did you hate facing in the nets?
Tino Best.Who was the messiest in the West Indies dressing room?
I’ve got to say myself. I have my stuff all over the place.Who is the biggest joker?
Chris Gayle. Everything he does in the dressing room is funny. He is so laidback and he makes everyone laugh. The “Gangnam Style” stuff is a typical example.We know the West Indies love a dance. Who has the best moves?
Dwayne Bravo.What is the biggest thing you learned from playing with Brian Lara?
Batsmanship. The way he goes about building an innings and the way he knows when to pick on bowlers.What is the worst injury you have seen on a cricket field?
Rahul Dravid got hit by Merv Dillon once [back in 2002]. It struck him on the helmet, which was pretty nasty.If someone came up to you and handed you a book, and you started reading it and realised it was a book about your entire life, would you read it until the end?
No way. There’d be too much stuff I wouldn’t want to know!How does a night out in Guyana compare to a night out in Leicestershire?
It’s very quiet in Leicestershire! The music is totally different. Back home in Guyana the music is better to dance to. There’d be a lot more dancing there.

As Kevin Pietersen watched on, Gary Ballance produced a maiden century with many qualities of the man he has replaced, Jonathan Trott

Andrew McGlashan at Lord's15-Jun-2014Kevin Pietersen was back at an English Test ground on Sunday. And he was very close to the ECB. Two hospitality boxes away to be precise. It was, therefore, unfortunate timing that England produced a floundering batting display, especially as Pietersen left the ground well before Gary Ballance completed the rescue mission by reaching a maiden Test hundred with a six.Pietersen began his day by tweeting his hopes for what lay ahead. “Going to Lord’s today. Want to see SL out 460 & ENG bat positively to a 380 lead then declare…entertain today pls, Cook’s men!”His numbers were remarkably prescient: Sri Lanka were bowled out for 453 and England ended with a lead of 389 although the declaration did not arrive. With his 104 Tests of experience, he should be well aware that plans do not always come together perfectly.At 121 for 6 it was far from perfect for England, who were grateful for every one of the 122 runs they led by on first innings. Ballance, though, kept them steady, with further help from the lower order – an impressive display after his somewhat skittish display in the first innings. The split of his fifties was telling: 130 for the first and 54 for the second, while he went from 67 to his hundred in 17 deliveries.And of more significance to Ballance than to whether Pietersen was still in his seat, his parents and brother had flown in from Zimbabwe a few days before the Test. “It’s special to score a hundred in front of them,” he said. “It’s a great feeling, can’t really describe it to be honest, just very special. I’m over the moon.”But while the Ballance was very much right for England, there will again be questions over whether Alastair Cook got the balance right. He decided the chance for a maiden Test hundred (personal stats are of the utmost importance to most cricketers, whatever they may say) and a few extra runs outweighed the advantages of having a bowl this evening.Maybe Middlesex’s mammoth chase of 472, achieved for just three wickets, was preying on the mind. It came against Yorkshire and three of the England side – Ballance, Joe Root and Liam Plunkett – played in the game. But you sincerely hope that was not the case. That match was played on the edge of the first-class square with a very short boundary and captains should not be swayed by freakish results.

Going to Lord's today. Want to see SL out 460 & ENG bat positively to a 380 lead then declare…entertain today pls, Cook's men! #lords

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) June 15, 2014

When Matt Prior fell shortly after tea the lead was a precarious 243, but once it had passed 300 England were far more secure. Cook was proactive in the field on Saturday, but today he was not about to take a leap of faith, although giving Sri Lanka 20 minutes before close would hardly have been jumping into the abyss. Ballance will be forever thankful to him.He has barely batted at No. 3 in his professional career and while too much can be made of the difference in batting positions he is learning on the job. The man who has left the hole that needs filling, Jonathan Trott, would have been proud of the way he built the innings although Ballance showed acceleration that Trott may have struggled to reproduce. It was the first hundred by an England No. 3 since Trott made 121 against New Zealand, in Wellington, last March.The way he handled himself against Mitchell Johnson on his Test debut in Sydney earned praise – although partly because so much else around him was feeble – and a strong start to the season for Yorkshire meant he was not one of those jettisoned, although coming into this match his position felt the most awkward of the top order.Still, a few pieces to the jigsaw have slotted into place for England, from Root’s double century, Prior’s successful recall and Chris Jordan’s lively debut. It would be ideal if Moeen Ali could winkle out a couple of wickets on the final day.”I learnt a lot over the winter and then started well with Yorkshire,” Ballance said. “I was in good form in the one-dayers but didn’t get the big score, then to get the chance to bat three for England I wasn’t going to say no. It’s quite daunting batting anywhere in your first Test at Lord’s but at three I was in quite early in the first innings so didn’t have much time to worry about nerves.”After being caught behind driving in the first innings Ballance left studiously this time although he admitted a “heart in mouth” moment when Sri Lanka went up for an edge on 36 and used the DRS. But outwardly there appeared precious few nerves as he approached his hundred, racing through the 80s and 90s with drives, reverse sweeps and the occasional bludgeon, all the while knowing the close was approaching.”Luckily I got a few boundaries away and got to three figures,” he said. “With one over to go I needed three, I think, and didn’t want to nurdle around in singles so thought I’d go with the slog sweep I hit it out the middle but the breeze was blowing down the slope so I thought I might not have got enough of it but when I saw it go over the rope it was a great feeling.”Pietersen could not have done it better himself.

With his success on the domestic circuit and a style similar to Rangana Herath, Australia will hope Steve O’Keefe can emulate the Sri Lankan spinner during the UAE tour

Brydon Coverdale08-Sep-2014Last month, Pakistan were routed by a short left-arm spinner who relied on accuracy more than extravagant turn. When Rangana Herath bowled Sri Lanka to a 2-0 victory by taking 23 wickets in two Tests, Australia’s selectors were watching. Watching and wondering if they might just have their own Herath up their sleeves for October’s series in the UAE.As it happened, last year’s leading Sheffield Shield wicket-taker was a left-arm orthodox spinner. And as it happened, he had spent plenty of time working with a Sri Lankan coach, Chandika Hathurusingha, at New South Wales, developing plans on increasing his effectiveness. Not surprisingly, they studied Herath. Not surprisingly, Steve O’Keefe is now in Australia’s Test squad.”He’s certainly someone I copy or implement my game the same as him,” O’Keefe said on Monday. “He’s a short spinner who bowls very similarly, attacks the stumps, mixes his pace up really well and he’s probably the leading left-arm spinner in the world. Not a big spinner of the ball but he’s shown at that level that he can take wickets. For me, that’s inspiring.”The comparison was also made by national selector Rod Marsh, who said O’Keefe’s Sheffield Shield form warranted inclusion in the 15-man squad. It remains to be seen whether O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon will be used in tandem in the UAE – spinning allrounder Glenn Maxwell is also in the touring party – but Marsh said if O’Keefe was given a chance he was confident he could perform well.”Pakistan haven’t had a great record against left-arm orthodox spinners,” Marsh said. “Herath is about the same size as Stephen O’Keefe. Herath is not a big turner of the ball; Stephen O’Keefe is not a big turner of the ball. They both rely on accuracy rather than huge amounts of turn and that’s another reason he was chosen.”Steve O’Keefe: “I’ve certainly grown up over the last couple of years.”•Getty ImagesA reason, that is, beyond the 41 wickets that put him on top of the Sheffield Shield tally last summer. It was the second consecutive year that O’Keefe had been the leading spinner in the Shield, and four years since he was first called into the Test squad to replace the injured Nathan Hauritz when Australia last played Pakistan away from home, in England in 2010. Steven Smith played those two Tests instead of O’Keefe.In the meantime, O’Keefe has gone back to domestic cricket and continued to perform, watching as more and more spinners were given a chance at Test level. He was especially unfortunate to miss out on last year’s tour of India, when Xavier Doherty was picked based on one-day international form and played two of the Tests, with limited impact.At times there has been speculation that O’Keefe’s non-selection stemmed partly from perceptions about his attitude. After finally winning his call-up for the UAE tour, he conceded that he had “grown up” over the past few years.”The modern-day cricketer is certainly going to be a lot more opinionated with what they believe,” O’Keefe said. “If that’s hindered me in the past, well then I’ve just got to learn and grow as a person and you’ve got to let the bat and ball do the talking in all forms of cricket.”I really think that if you want to push your way into this class Australian team, you have to do it through performances. And you also have to fit into that group culturally as well, that’s an important part. I’ve certainly grown up over the last couple of years and I’d like to think that’s helped my cause in terms of selection.”Being left out of the Indian tour might have hurt at the time, but in hindsight O’Keefe believes it has left him better prepared now for a possible Test debut, with another productive Shield season behind him. However, he knows that he will travel to the UAE behind Nathan Lyon in the pecking order, and hoping that the expected spinning conditions will encourage the selectors to choose two slow bowlers.”Nathan’s the No.1 spinner in the country at the moment and he’s earned that right and he’s done very well when he’s got that opportunity,” O’Keefe said. “I think we play well together, we complement each other really well. Hopefully that’s the way the selectors view it and the conditions deem a left- and a right-arm finger-spinning option.”

A maiden Test hundred, a century at Lord’s, a triple against South Africa, and a 180 when his team-mates floundered are among Mahela Jayawardene’s virtuoso performances

Andrew Fidel Fernando12-Aug-2014167 v New Zealand in Galle, 1998
Mahela Jayawardene’s maiden hundred, not only announced his transition from schoolboy hero to Test asset, in his fourth Test, it also set down major themes of his career: superb technique against spin bowling, and a hunger to succeed where all else has failed. On a Galle surface that was crumbling from the outset, Jayawardene defused a spin attack headed by Daniel Vettori, and attacked the fast men who had begun to achieve inconsistent bounce from early in the first innings. No other batsman in his team scored more than 36. The highest score in the opposition was 53. Replete with the cover drives and late cuts that would become his trademarks, Jayawardene’s innings was the point on which the series pivoted, allowing Sri Lanka to win the Galle Test and the next one at SSC, to reverse a 1-0 deficit.119 v England at Lord’s, 2006
If the maiden ton in Galle was Jayawardene’s coming of age as a batsman, this knock marked his arrival as captain. Batting first, England piled on 551 before Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Flintoff and Sajid Mahmood combined to knock Sri Lanka off for 192, of which Jayawardene had scored 61. Following on after the team had a shellacking from coach Tom Moody, Jayawardene arrived at the crease late on the third day to begin his six-hour defiance. Typically for Jayawardene, even in rearguard-mode, he would not shelve his shots. He was driving and hooking early in his knock, and he continued to be positive against the quicks, if not always aggressive. Sri Lanka still had to bat out most of the fifth day after his dismissal – which Jayawardene felt should not have been given out – but he had seen the team out of immediate danger, and set them on course for a famous draw.374 v South Africa at SSC, 2006
The big one. Sri Lanka had gunned South Africa down for 169 after the visitors chose to bat, then Dale Steyn removed Sri Lanka’s openers in his first two overs to suggest the wickets would keep coming. Then, Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel ran into the most monumental Test counterattack of all time. Jayawardene’s first fifty runs came off 72 balls, and he sustained a strike rate of around 65 for the duration of his innings, while Kumar Sangakkara kept pace as well. Nel and Steyn were walloped. The spinners were milked. Jayawardene batted in seven different sessions before Nel sneaked a low one through his defences. The tempo Jayawardene had achieved during his knock meant the bowlers still had plenty of time to complete the innings win.123 v South Africa at the P Sara Oval, 2006
South Africa rebounded from that hiding to have Sri Lanka under pressure at the P Sara Oval just over one week later. They had taken a first-innings lead and made 311 in the second dig to leave Sri Lanka with a target of 352 – a figure higher than any that had been chased either in the country, or by Sri Lanka. Sanath Jayasuriya crashed 73 off 74 balls to set the hosts on track, but it was Jayawardene who bound the innings together, intelligently composing the only century of the match, on the kind of track on which batsmen found it difficult to stay in. Given the enormity of the task, and the quality of the opposition attack – which featured Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock – the fourth innings at the P Sara arguably saw Jayawardene at his finest.180 v England at Galle, 2012
Kevin Pietersen’s hundred in Colombo the following week is talked up as a great innings, but in Galle, Jayawardene produced another long, lone effort, denying a James Anderson’s swing and Graeme Swann’s bite to carry his team toward a respectable total. He was not just the only man to reach triple figures in the first innings, he was also the only batsman to pass 30 for Sri Lanka, after most of his colleagues had scattered at the sight of the pressure England’s bowlers exerted. Sri Lanka’s batsmen collapsed in the second innings, and Jayawardene’s 180 would prove to be the difference between the sides, as the hosts claimed a 75-run win.