Some say he is 24, with time on his side. Others say his Test career is going sideways

Rob Smyth15-Jul-2013Try telling Steven Finn that victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan. As England celebrated their victory over Australia at Trent Bridge he will have felt if not alone then certainly detached. Finn’s relief at victory was probably greater than anybody’s – had England lost, he might have been a Fred Tate for the 21st century – but even that will have been overshadowed by the insecurity that surrounds his Test career and his apparently recurring Ashes nightmare.The final day at Trent Bridge was almost humiliating for Finn. Alastair Cook only trusted him to bowl two of the 39.5 overs, and they disappeared for 25 to get Australia back into a game that they had apparently lost. Then he dropped Brad Haddin at deep backward square leg, a difficult chance but one he would have taken to the grave had England been beaten.Finn had allowed Australia back into the match once already, with a poor spell to Phillip Hughes and Ashton Agar on Thursday. He went from taking the new ball in the first innings to not getting a bowl until the 29th over of the second. Even allowing for the context – Stuart Broad’s first-innings injury and Graeme Swann’s early use in the second innings – it felt like a significant demotion. For a bowler there are few things as hurtful as realising his captain does not trust him. The match wasn’t an unmitigated disaster – Finn bowled a superb five-over spell on Saturday evening – but it wasn’t far off, and his place in the team will be England’s main point of discussion ahead of Lord’s.There are two ways of looking at Finn: he is either 24, with time on his side, or he has been a Test cricketer for three years – Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann, established stars, only began their Test careers seven and 14 months before Finn – and is going sideways. The sense that he has not progressed is most acute in an Ashes series, for Finn is enduring the same problems as on the 2010-11 tour of Australia, when he was dropped for the fourth Test despite being the leading wicket-taker in the series. The reason was simple: he was a walking four-ball. The problem has re-occurred two and a half years later. Finn has been set aside for potential greatness for a few years; his development is taking a frustratingly long time.In the age of media training, sportsmen are not encouraged to be lavish with the truth, yet Finn recently suggested that he had not developed as he had hoped. His overall career record is fine – 90 Test wickets at 29.40, a lower average than any of his team-mates – yet a more relevant statistic is his economy rate of 3.65. This compares unfavourably to James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and Chris Tremlett, who are all between 2.90 and 3.10, although Graham Onions concedes runs at a similar rate to Finn.That does not fit the ethos of a side obsessed with bowling dry. The peculiar thing is that, on paper, Finn is David Saker’s driest dream: he could have been invented by boffins trying to create a parsimonious fast bowler, and when he first arrived as an international player, he cited Glenn McGrath as the bowler he wanted to be.Increasingly Steve Harmison seems a more relevant point of comparison. Both make the little girl with the little curl seem like the model of equilibrium. Finn’s outwardly secure exterior suggested he was a different animal to Harmison, yet increasingly he seems to suffer damaging lapses in confidence. His two overs on the final day against Australia were those of a man whose head had gone. Yet at other times he has been unplayable, most notably during a wonderful spell against South Africa at Lord’s a year ago. He has excelled at times in one-day cricket, although he was dropped from the England side during the Champions Trophy.

The most encouraging thing for Finn is that, generally speaking, he is good at the things you can’t teach and not so good at those you can

Much of Finn’s success in one-day cricket has come from a drive-inviting length, whereas in Tests he frequently bowls too short. McGrath is an obvious reference point for a tall fast bowler, but in some ways Finn is more reminiscent of Jason Gillespie. At his best, Gillespie bowled a much fuller length than almost all new-ball bowlers, allowing the snarling seam movement to do the rest. This is something Finn does not do nearly enough at Test level. It is not possible for Finn to simply change his default setting; Finn needs to train his brain over time.In the short term it might be beneficial to replace Finn with Bresnan, merciful even, yet it’s hard to know how that would impact his confidence in the medium-term, especially as it would be the second time he had been dropped in the middle of an Ashes series. After that spell against South Africa at Lord’s it seemed that Finn had left Bresnan in his slipstream forever, and that he would always play when England were picking three seamers. After a decent series against India, he was poor in New Zealand and has not recovered.Finn shortened his run-up during that tour, which has been cited as the main problem by many; equally significant if not more so, however, is Finn’s relative lack of tactical awareness. England, particularly Saker and Anderson, are big on understanding the game and reacting to circumstances. This is one of Finn’s weakest points, and was demonstrated again during Agar’s innings on Friday.The most encouraging thing for Finn is that, generally speaking, he is good at the things you can’t teach and not so good at those you can. There is no need to panic yet. In Anderson he had a perfect role model. The two are incomparable as bowlers, yet their early careers had a similar arc: a burst of success followed by some lost years as they attempt to understand their game and their action.Anderson went through some extremely dark times, far darker than Finn is going through at the moment. At Finn’s age, Anderson had not been a regular in the team for over three years and had 46 Test wickets at 38.39; at Trent Bridge yesterday he went from extremely good to truly great. Anderson may have been born with a degree of greatness in him, but ultimately he had to achieve it. There is no reason why Finn should not do the same.

Matured and focused, Marlon Samuels recognises his responsibility and can now play the anchor role in his cricket and his life

Nagraj Gollapudi09-Jun-2013Marlon Samuels is still waiting for his copy of the . One of the five Cricketers of the Year, Samuels was chosen for the honour after his commanding performance during the three-Test series last May in England, where he was the top run scorer in the Wisden Trophy with one century and three fifties.It was the one of the first times Samuels had handled the responsibility of being a senior batsman. It carried much meaning for him personally because finally he made the headlines for cricketing reasons, his two-year ICC ban forgotten. Even though West Indies lost the series 2-0, Samuels dominated the formidable England bowling attack with a combination of calmness and anger.Twelve months down the line Samuels is back in England, his reputation enhanced after his heroics in the final of the World Twenty20 formed the backbone for West Indies’ first world title in nearly two decades.Yet Samuels curiously remains unconvincing in ODIs. Somehow, despite being one of the few Caribbean batsmen to possess the right combination of flair, patience and bravado, he seems to have betrayed his talent.On the handful of occasions he has succeeded, it has coincided with West Indies victories: Samuels averages 49.54 in matches West Indies have won, with all his four centuries coming in team victories. In 2012 he scored 482 runs at 32.12 from 16 ODI innings, including two centuries; his overall career average is 30.84. But in the Champions Trophy, Samuels has failed – he has scored only 71 runs from eight innings. His performance in England in ODIs is also mediocre – an aggregate of 159 runs from six innings.In West Indies’ thrilling low-scoring victory against Pakistan, Samuels made his presence felt with a valuable third-wicket partnership with Chris Gayle, scoring 30. As crucial as his innings was, Samuels failed to bolt the door shut on Pakistan and exposed the middle and lower order to some anxious moments. In terms of matches, Samuels (143 ODIs) is the third-most experienced player in the team, behind Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, but has mostly failed to perform the role of the senior statesman.Be that as it may, after his comeback from the ban, Samuels has said he now enters every ground purposefully. He even said he channels his anger at being denied international cricket for two years in a positive fashion.”I am determined to score a bit quicker, rotate the strike as much as possible,” Samuels said. “In Test cricket you spend a lot of time out there and wait for the bad balls. It is not so much of a difference batting between both formats.” According to him, conditions in England have posed the biggest hurdle. “The ball moves around. The hardest part is to get a start in England. Once you get a start, things get easy.”

As he sat by the picket fence at The Oval it was the same still nature you observed in Samuels. He can exude confidence and provide reassurance even in the deepest misery

Samuels agrees that he is well suited to perform the role of anchor better than anyone else in the team, considering he has done the same in the past. “I’m batting at four, so I’ve been carrying a lot of load for the team,” he said. “I’ll definitely continue to play that role and take a lot of responsibility. I have to bat through the innings. Depending on the situation I have to speed it up or slow it down. A lot of it is a thinking process. At the moment mine is the anchor role, so I have to bat through, but I can make up for it at the end because there are still a lot of shots that I can play at the end.”It is not just experience he is relying on. Technically he has been trying to work hard on encountering the seaming conditions prevalent in England. Like he had done before the England tour last year, Samuels revealed that he had worked extensively, playing against the taped ball.”It is a rubber ball with tape on one side,” he said. “It swings a lot. I practise with it a lot especially before I come to England. It works well for me.”You can’t just come here and bat. Last year was a big moment for me where I had to come here and score some runs. I make plans and work towards it.”Observed from a distance Samuels can come across as isolated from the pack. At The Oval, on a cold Sunday morning, Samuels sat by the picket fence below the dressing room for about half an hour, padded up, gloves in hand, exchanging banter with a team official. His non-branded bat rested like an oar by his side, even as other batsmen, including Gayle, enjoyed blasting the ball out of the ground in the distance. As Darren Bravo, taking throwdowns from Ravi Rampaul nearby, hit the ball towards him, Samuels remained unmoved, forcing Rampaul to retrieve the ball himself.It is the same stillness you see in Samuels’ stance. He can exude confidence and provide reassurance even in the deepest misery. Take the World Twenty20 final, when West Indies were 32 for 2 after ten overs. Samuels single-handedly swung the momentum with a ferocious half-century as West Indies picked 105 runs off the final ten overs. It was an assault that silenced Sri Lanka.Samuels has reiterated at every opportunity that the biggest lesson he learned from the ban was to be more responsible. And that will always stand him in good stead. “To be honest, for the last two years, being out and coming back and playing have created a lot of responsibility around me outside of cricket,” he said. “So going out there and playing the role that I’m playing right now, I find it much easier because off the field I have greater responsibility.”That includes looking after his kids and taking care of his numerous dogs. “They can’t feed themselves. I’m taking care of my entire family. I can’t afford to fail because I’m the breadwinner. For me to come out here and play the anchor role for the team, the entire Caribbean – I really enjoy it.”

South Africa’s reputation of being arguably the most professional and respectable team has taken a hit by the ball-tampering episode

Firdose Moonda in Dubai26-Oct-2013Once the anger has subsided, there may be some time to appreciate the irony. Pakistan, the last and only other team to have penalty runs awarded against them for ball-tampering in a Test match, were on the receiving end of another side’s wrongdoing.Despite AB de Villiers’ insistence that South Africa “play in a fair manner”, Faf du Plessis pleaded guilty to the Level 2 offense of changing the condition of the ball. His misdemeanour is in cricket circles what not wearing your seatbelt is in real life – it’s the wrong thing to do but it’s so widely done that it only really matters if you get caught.All teams look after the ball in ways they think will advantage them. That is allowed. What they are not allowed to do is change the ball so much that it disadvantages the other team disproportionately. That sounds confusing because it is and with so much grey area, there have been some arguments over the years to legalise “preparing” the ball.That is the term Allan Donald, the current South Africa bowling coach, used to describe what bowlers need to do to ensure they are not shut out of a game that has increasingly grown to advantage batsmen. Four years ago, Donald said bowlers need a defence mechanism to “fall back on” so that they are able to generate reverse swing on flatter pitches. While he said he knew the ICC would “shoot me for saying it”, Donald advocated getting the ball “in the dirt” to accelerate the scuffing up of one side while protecting the other.Televisions pictures showed du Plessis was doing exactly that. He was rubbing the dry side of the ball on his trousers, in “vicinity of the zipper on his trouser pocket” as the ICC’s release put it. Du Plessis’ actions were brazen, they were easily found out by the cameras, immediately picked up by the television umpire, conveyed to his on-field colleagues and quickly acted on. The changes made to the playing conditions at the beginning of this month allowed Ian Gould and Rod Tucker to deal with the issue as soon as it happened.Perhaps South Africa were not aware that could happen. De Villiers revealed he did “not know all the facts of the matter” when runs were added to Pakistan’s total and the ball was changed. He was certain South Africa had not done the wrong thing, even though the ICC immediately called it a case of ball-tampering. That was how the questions began.Why would a team 351 runs ahead, who had their opposition three down with more than two days left in the match on a surface that was deteriorating, feel they needed to do something extra? Yes, the Dubai surface has not got a drop of moisture the seamers can take advantage of, neither has it cracked open. But South Africa should not have been in that much of a hurry.All teams look after the ball in ways they think will advantage them. What they are not allowed to do is change the ball so much that it disadvantages the other team disproportionately•Getty ImagesWhat they may have experienced was extreme frustration, particularly since they had dismantled their opposition for 99 in the same match and have become accustomed to ending Tests swiftly. De Villiers jokingly said South Africa would have liked to finish the match “in two days if we can”. Even though that may be a reflection of what they really expected to happen, it reveals something about their impatience.Given the match situation and the nonchalance with which du Plessis conducted his mischief, could also be a sign this is something that they have become accustomed to doing. And that thought could be the most damaging thing to happen to South Africa in the aftermath of this incident.It means their previous performances will be scrutinised and their many fine achievements in the recent past examined with this incident in mind. Take, for example, just this match and you will find people wondering how it was possible that Dale Steyn managed to find reverse swing from the 20th over of the Pakistan first innings while Pakistan’s bowlers barely found any for the 163.1 overs they were in the field.Having become the world’s No.1 team on the back of a reputation for being a group of cricketers who conduct themselves arguably in the most professional and respectable way, to have a blight of this nature on their reputation will hurt South Africa. They are seen as a team who do the right thing, now one of them is seen as a culprit who got away.Du Plessis was fined 50% of his match fee after David Boon was “satisfied that this was not part of a deliberate and/or prolonged attempt to unfairly manipulate the condition of the ball”. Boon called the sanction “appropriate”. More severe sanctions attract a higher percentage of money being docked – up to 100% – and a match ban of one Test, two ODIs and two Twenty20s, but none of those were meted out to du Plessis despite the visual evidence suggesting he was aware of what he was doing.On the same day as Saeed Ajmal was officially reprimanded for excessive celebrations – something few people even noticed – it seemed as though the variance in the punishments for offenses was too great. When considered in the context of previous players who have been suspended for the same, such as Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi who had to sit out two matches each, du Plessis can be considered to have got off lightly.There may be other consequences and South Africa’s clothing manufacturer may be among the parties involved. The zipped pockets could come under scrutiny and the mechanism may be removed. There may be a debate sparked about the various methods used to shine the ball and possibly another wave of lobbying for ball-tampering to be less regulated.For now, it remains a breach of the code of the conduct and if players are found doing it, they will probably be punished in some way. That is what happened to this South African team. Their defenders will say they just did what everyone else is doing and were not smart enough to hide it. Their critics will call them cheats. Like the other c-word they are called, it’s not a label they will wear with pride.

The fate of the Ashes, and the jobs of numerous senior figures at Cricket Australia, may now hinge on the enigma that is Mitchell Johnson

Daniel Brettig12-Nov-2013Would you bet your house on Mitchell Johnson performing in the Ashes series? Australian cricket just has.It is no overstatement to say that by recalling him to the Test team for the series opener in Brisbane, Cricket Australia have staked the farm on Johnson bowling with more reliable speed, consistency and sustained menace in the forthcoming matches than at any other time in his career. Every spell Johnson bowls may swing not only the fate of the Ashes but also the jobs of the team performance manager Pat Howard, the national selector John Inverarity, the coach Darren Lehmann and perhaps even the captain Michael Clarke.James Sutherland, CA’s chief executive, will not be watching Johnson’s bowling in the Ashes with quite the same level of trepidation, after the chairman Wally Edwards guaranteed his job even in the event of a 5-0 drubbing. But for a series that Australia must win to provide solid evidence of progress on the field two years since the release of the Argus review, an enormous amount now depends on Johnson conjuring his very best.This, of course, is something he has struggled to do consistently throughout a Test career that effectively began with 12th man duty throughout the 2006-07 summer, when he watched the last gleaming of the great sides led by Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting. Johnson’s best stands comparison with the most exhilarating displays of any of those teams, typified by the Perth spell during the last Ashes bout down under when he tore England’s batting limb from limb in the space of little more than an hour. But his worst is risible, and has been glimpsed more often in Ashes contests than those against any other nation.No one was more aware of the Johnson enigma than Ponting, who wrote of the aforementioned Perth spell in his autobiography. It is a telling passage among many. “There were days like this when Mitch was as lethal a bowler as any in my experience; at other times, however, he was so frustratingly erratic and ineffective,” Ponting wrote. “I never questioned his work ethic and commitment, but for someone so talented, such a natural cricketer and so gifted an athlete, I found his lack of self-belief astonishing.”Hence the Barmy Army’s considerable repertoire of Johnson song material, and also his non-selection for the earlier Ashes series in England. At the time, the selectors sought the ability to wear England’s batsmen down with consistency and accuracy – “be prepared to be boring” was a frequent catch-cry among the bowlers at the Brisbane camp that preceded the tour – and also favoured the younger Mitchell Starc. But now Starc is injured, and Australian grounds and pitches are hoped to provide the sort of atmosphere and turf that Johnson can thrive upon.

“I said a couple of days ago if Mitch was selected in this squad, it wouldn’t surprise me if in a couple of months’ time you see Mitch being Man of the Series.”Australia captain Michael Clarke on Mitchell Johnson

Much has been made of the fact that George Bailey’s selection for the Gabba has arrived on the strength of ODI batting form in a different country, against different bowlers, on pitches in no way relevant to the Ashes. Yet the same is true of Johnson, who has convinced Lehmann, Inverarity and Clarke he is in the sort of confident, relaxed frame of mind for five-day battles on the basis of limited-overs form alone. His only first-class appearance since a muted display in the Delhi Test in March took place against South Australia at the WACA ground last week, and while five wickets and sundry other chances were created, he leaked 4.5 runs per over throughout.A similar scoring rate for England against Johnson during the Ashes would release a considerable amount of the pressure imposed by the likes of Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson, should he be fit to bowl. It would undo much of the good, diligent work done by those same bowlers in England, causing Clarke to spread his fields and resort to other options more quickly than he should need to. There would be a toll in terms of fatigue as well as runs conceded. In James Faulkner’s retention in the Gabba squad can be seen not only a reward for a smart and feisty young cricketer but also a potential insurance policy for Johnson’s bad days.Mitchell Johnson’s consistency has improved in recent one-day matches, but can he transfer that form into the Ashes?•Getty ImagesClarke and Lehmann have acknowledged that Johnson had been chosen at least partly on faith that he can demonstrate greater control across the series. Lehmann said that while Johnson can be unplayable when swinging the ball at speed and pitching it right, “he knows he needs to do that and do that more often”. When pondering the scenarios that might await him on the field this summer, Clarke admitted that the upward trend of consistency he saw in England and from afar in India needed to continue.”I think he’s bowling a lot more consistent at the moment,” Clarke said. “His pace is certainly high, which is a great start. But it doesn’t matter how fast you bowl, if you don’t know where they’re going it’s always easy to face as a batsman. I think Mitch has that control. He showed that in the one-day format. I said a couple of days ago if Mitch was selected in this squad, it wouldn’t surprise me if in a couple of months’ time you see Mitch being Man of the Series.”It is this thought of Johnson’s capability, of the damage he can inflict at his best, that has ultimately swayed the selectors. Inverarity, Lehmann and Clarke all saw Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott and others hopping about when faced by Johnson during the ODI series in England, and have not forgotten it. As Inverarity put it, Johnson “really unsettled two or three of their batters”. Harris, not averse to peppering the odd batsman with short stuff himself, spoke with typical frankness about Johnson’s ability to plant fear in the mind of an opponent.”He hasn’t put too much pressure on getting back in there [the Test squad], he’s just wanted to get his game right, get his mind right, work on a few little technical things – he’s gone and done that and come back beautifully,” Harris said. “Watching him bowl in the one-dayers in India and speaking to Brad Haddin who was talking about how quick they were coming through. So he’s back to his best, he’s moving the ball a bit as well, so if he gets it right he’s going to take a lot of wickets. Bowling at that pace, speak to the batters – no one likes to face it. If he gets it right we’re in good shape.”If.

Australia have been the bigger talkers in the build-up to the Test series, while South Africa have attempted to send a message with their relative silence

Firdose Moonda06-Feb-2014″We’re going to water that pitch right now.”Russell Domingo: “To beat Australia, you have to show a lot of character because if they get on top of you, they can be difficult to stop”•AFPRussell Domingo was in a jovial mood and obviously joking when he made the above suggestion at the end of South Africa’s three-day practice match against members on the fringes of the Test squad. Australia are going to use the surface for the next two days, in an intra-squad game of their own to make up for losing their tour match, and South Africa’s coach made his jab in jest.In the end, it would not have mattered what South Africa did to the surface. A typically fierce Highveld thunderstorm broke over Corlett Drive in the late afternoon. Management at the Wanderers warned on Monday that, because of the high levels of the water table given the previous days’ downpours, play would not be possible if any more rain fell.Illovo, the suburb in which the ground is located, remained dry throughout Tuesday and Wednesday and just as South Africa were done, the heavens opened. Whether Australia get on the field tomorrow will depend on how much drainage was able to take place and whether the clouds clear.The sequence of events, and its apparent bias in favour of the home side, is enough to make anyone chuckle, so it was no surprise Domingo was in such good spirits. His team had had a decent run around, his new No. 4 had scored a century, two of his three frontline seamers had been incisive, and the third, Dale Steyn, was “easing into it and showing the right signs”. There was nothing he needed to be concerned about, least of all the jabs coming from the other side.”We are fully aware a lot has been said and we’re fully aware that we haven’t said much and we’re happy with that,” Domingo said. “You can’t play all your shots before the Test match, you’ve got to wait for the game to start.”Australia have been the bigger talkers in the build-up to this series. Their captain declared their attack was the best in the world; one of their leading seamers, Peter Siddle, warned Graeme Smith he could come under attack; and arguably their most aggressive batsman, David Warner, indicated Robin Peterson should prepare for a pasting.South Africa’s responses have been limited to Smith saying they would sift through the “bull dot dot dot”, Allan Donald predicting Dale Steyn would be a factor, which is hardly anything new, and Domingo calling Peterson “mentally, one of the toughest cricketers I have worked with”.In their relative silence, South Africa have sent a message – that they will not be pushed around and that they are pretty amused by Australia’s attempts to try. “All the noise is coming from them. There’s no need for us to get involved in this kind of thing,” AB de Villiers said. “We know Australia have had some recent success…”Then, he stopped himself. “Now I sound like Michael Clarke, ‘did South Africa beat India? Really?'” he joked. The journalist who posed the question about the verbal slanging had to ask. “But you know the Ashes result was 5-0?””Really?” answered de Villiers with mock incredulity. “Yeah, of course. We’ve kept an eye but we’ve also been focused on ourselves. We will do everything we can and that’s it. I think we’ve really peaked in the last two years and we’ve started playing our best cricket.”South Africa have not registered a home series win against Australia since readmission, last losing to them in 2008-9, a series that de Villiers identified as having come “just before we started playing our best cricket”. Their record since then has been flawless. South Africa are undefeated across 14 series and, of those, they won eight. “When we got to No. 1 this time, we really thought we were at a level where we can dominate for the next five or ten years,” de Villiers said.To achieve that, South Africa believe they have to be above their competitors in all respects, including verbal slanging matches. Against Australia, watching their tongues is particularly important to them. “We’ve just got to have focus and calm,” Domingo said. “We can’t control what’s happening in their camp, what happened with their game or what they’re saying.”But what South Africa can do is come up with a plan of their own, which involves a mental strategy above anything else. “To beat Australia, you have to show a lot of character because if they get on top of you, they can be difficult to stop,” Domingo said. “They can be abrasive and quite cocky. We will have to show a lot of character under pressure because there will be pressure moments; it’s a big series.”So far, that demonstration of temperament has led to South Africa playing a silent role. But they have promised to do their talking on the field. Come Wednesday next week, it will become clearer whose voices are loudest.

Murray Goodwin reveals secrets of ageing, scoring big hundreds, and of his own anatomical extras

Interview by Jack Wilson15-Jan-2014What’s the secret to playing into your forties?
Clean-living, Guinness and KFC!Seriously, it’s by having so many good youngsters around. I have to keep my standards up to try to set an example to them of how to go about the game. T20 cricket has helped me change my game, especially because I am not a power hitter like some of the other guys these days. That’s a real great challenge.You’re nearing 100 centuries in all forms of cricket – and many of those have been big ones. Tell us the secret of turning those hundreds into doubles and triples.
You have to stay in the present. Respect the bowler and play each ball as it comes. It’s important to try to do the basics for as long as possible.What has been the greatest innings you have ever played?
It’s hard to say. My international hundreds are special. The 335 I scored to win the County Championship with Sussex for the first time is special too – and the 87 not out to win the Pro40 game against Nottinghamshire in 2008 was up there. We needed 12 an over, there were ten overs remaining and we were eight wickets down – and we won. We needed four off the last ball to win and I managed to hit a six.Do you keep mementos from games?
I have a few stumps from a few games. I also have a couple of signed shirts, which are nice memories to have.Your son is playing for Wales Under-11s. Tell us about that.
I love the fact he is playing and I honestly believe he will be better than me as long as he stays away from booze and girls! As long as he stays humble and works hard, he can go places. His legspinners excite me as he idolises Shane Warne.Are you one of those parents that get too into his games when you are watching?
No, I’m very relaxed. I want him to make mistakes so he learns.Cricketers have all sorts of strange traits. Are you one of the superstitious ones?
Not at all.If there was one rule in cricket you would change, what would it be?
In a dead four-day game, both captains should be able to agree to call it off at tea on the last day.Who’s the funniest team-mate you’ve ever had?
Me, for no other reason other than that I’m hilarious!Who spends the most time in front of the mirror?
Grant Flower.You spent a lot of time playing with Andy Flower. Did you always think he’d move into coaching like he has?
Of course. He was destined to move into coaching. He has a very good cricket brain.We’re seeing more and more players go down that route. Do you want to do that yourself?
Yes. I fancy looking at the options of becoming a batting coach first and see where that takes me.If you had one superpower, what would it be?
To be invisible.Tell us one thing about you that the average cricket fan wouldn’t know.
I have three testicles!What’s your favourite position to bat?
Either at three or four.Which ground in world cricket has the most hostile crowd?
In India there is just sheer passion everywhere. So it would be either there or at Chelmsford. They always get stuck into me there – and they are not very smart. I’m like a brain surgeon compared to the average fan in Essex!

A refreshing dip in the numerical magma chamber of the second New Zealand-India Test, and more

Andy Zaltzman18-Feb-2014English cricket is back. After a Winter Of Wretchedness, in which Cook and his men were thrashed on the field in all three formats by their greatest cricketing rivals, dismantled on the field by their erstwhile anti-nemesis Mitchell Johnson, and dismantled off the field by themselves, things have finally taken a positive turn.In fact, this week has been comfortably England’s best of the 2013-14 season so far, and a stirring comeback from the depths they have inhabited for most of the last few months. And it has all been achieved without the drab hassle of having to take the field.They have watched Australia dole out an identikit clobbering to the world-No. 1-ranked South Africans, and they have seen India’s bowlers, against whom England will play five Tests this coming summer, ground and macerated into a record-breaking pulp by New Zealand’s middle order. The glory days are back. Relatively.It may be, arguably, too early to attribute England’s Lazarusian renaissance of the past week to the ECB catapulting Kevin Pietersen into the international afterlife, but at least it has become clear that England’s failures in Australia were not (a) something that would never happen to a genuinely good team like South Africa, (b) a Baggy Green flash in the pan, or (c) all Pietersen’s fault.Johnson’s obliteration of South Africa in Centurion was even more complete than his demolitions of England had been, a rampaging eruption of targeted venom, and one of the great match performances by a quick bowler. Ten of his wickets were top-seven batsmen, five in each innings.A seam/pace bowler has taken 12 or more wickets in a Test on 43 occasions. Johnson’s match strike rate of a wicket every 16.5 balls was the third-best of those 43. The only two men to beat him were Surrey’s medium-pace genius George Lohmann against South Africa in February 1896, and George Lohmann, the medium-pace genius from Surrey, against South Africa in March 1896. (The South London Sorcerer took 15 for 45 and 12 for 71 in the first two Tests of the series, and, after three innings of the series had the tidy figures of 24 for 73 off the equivalent of 33.1 six-ball overs. Thereafter, he tailed off disastrously, taking a paltry 11 more wickets at the frankly profligate average of 11.8 in the final three innings of the rubber.)Even the most rabid 19th-century fan would concede that the 2013-14 Proteas are a rather more testing challenge for a bowler than EA Halliwell’s rather underwhelming team of 118 years ago. The only thing those two sides have in common is that Jacques Kallis is not playing for them. He understandably ruled himself out of the 1895-96 series due to being 79 years away from birth, and his somewhat inopportunely timed retirement this year left a vulnerable and unbalanced batting line-up. Johnson duly and thrillingly brutalised it, defied only by the sublime talents of AB de Villiers.If Johnson can continue his landscape-shifting barrage of speed, and bowl Australia to another series victory, his performance in the 2013-14 season will stand high in the pantheon of individual cricketing greatness.Meanwhile, in Wellington, a Vesuvius of statistics buried India’s hopes of drawing their series with the increasingly impressive New Zealanders. Matt Prior’s magically adhesive bail denied the Kiwis an almost-certain series victory a year ago, and a limp first innings in Wellington, subsiding to the at least temporarily resurgent Ishant Sharma, appeared to have cost them again this time. Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling, however, set about rewriting, defacing and shredding the record books. The highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history turned the match on its head, the captain and Jimmy Neesham then plonked a sombrero on the match’s now-upturned feet, and India, despite having a richly promising and almost unfeasibly stylish top order, lost yet another away series. On the plus side, they at least bowled well in half of each match. On the minus side, they were series-losingly ineffective in the other halves.Among the stats emerging from the numerical magma chamber:* Since their tour of the West Indies in 2011, India have played 12 Tests away from home. In only two of those Tests have they not conceded at least 450 an innings – at the MCG and Perth on the disastrous tour of Australia two years ago. They have shipped 700 once, 600 three times, and 500 four times.* In those 12 away Tests, India have now conceded eight double-hundreds, including triples by Clarke and McCullum, and Cook’s 294 at Edgbaston in 2011.* McCullum’s 302, rightly lauded for being New Zealand’s first Test triple-century, was insufficiently slammed for being the joint-smallest triple-hundred in the history of international cricket. Only Lawrence Rowe’s 302 against England in 1974 has ended as soon after passing the 300 mark. McCullum has, in the past, failed to capitalise on good starts. On this occasion, he did capitalise on his good start. And then he capitalised on having capitalised on that good start. And kept on capitalising on that capitalisation for two days, whilst memories of India taking the previous 28 New Zealand wickets for 404 disappeared like an absinthe-addled mirage. But then, having passed a historic milestone for his nation’s cricket, McCullum failed to knuckle down and capitalise any more. Deeply irresponsible batting.

The highest sixth-wicket partnership in Test history turned the match on its head and the captain and Jimmy Neesham then plonked a sombrero on the match’s now-upturned feet

* New Zealand’s 680 for 8 was the highest second-innings score in Test history.* The undefeated 137 scored by New Zealand No. 8 Jimmy Neesham was the highest score ever on Test debut by anyone batting lower than 6, beating Romesh Kaluwitharana’s 132 not out, at 7, for Sri Lanka against Australia in 1992.* The highest debut scores by numbers 6, 8, 10 and 11 have all been scored in the past 18 months (No. 6: Rohit Sharma, 177, for India v West Indies, November 2013; No. 8: Neesham; No. 10: Abul Hasan, 113, for Bangladesh v West Indies, November 2012; No. 11: Ashton Agar, 98, for Australia v England, July 2013). The second- and third-highest scores by a No. 2 on debut have also been made in that time, by Shikhar Dhawan and Hamish Rutherford.* Zaheer Khan took 5 for 170 in 51 overs in New Zealand’s second innings (his first Test five-for since October 2010), thus becoming the first pace bowler to take a five-wicket haul and bowl more than 50 overs in the same innings since Kapil Dev took 5 for 130 in 51 overs Adelaide in 1991-92. Since then, spinners have performed the partially successful feat of endurance wicketry on 48 occasions.* McCullum finally ended India’s suffering by declaring after 210 overs – 172.4 overs after the fifth wicket had fallen. The 586 runs added in that time did not just break the existing record for Most Runs Added After the Fall of the Fifth Wicket in a Test innings, they smithereened it like a killer whale in a shop specialising in full-scale porcelain replicas of baby seals.Previously, the most runs added by the sixth- to tenth-wicket partnerships was 474, by Pakistan, against the Kiwis, in 1955-56, one of only previous five occasions on which more than 400 had been scored after the fifth wicket fell.* The almost-all-knowing Statsguru only has full information on balls faced by partnerships dating back to 1998, but in that time, the longest the final five wickets had batted in a Test innings before McCullum and Watling began the Kiwis’ 172.4-over epic was the 123.1 overs it took England to recover from 47 for 5 to 446 all out against Pakistan in the naughty-off-the-field-activities-overshadowed Lord’s Test of 2010. The longest in a second innings was when Zimbabwe’s lower order batted for a barely noticeable 97.3 overs, against New Zealand, in September 2000.* It was the first time a team has batted for more than 200 overs in the second innings of a Test since South Africa’s 209-over Gary Kirsten-inspired rearguard against England in the 1999 Boxing Day Test in Durban, and only the third such occasion since 1975. The other instance was in the innings in which Martin Crowe missed out on becoming New Zealand’s first ever triple-centurion, scoring 299 out of 671 for 4 in 220 overs against Sri Lanka, also in Wellington, in February 1991, in a similarly shaped match to the one just completed.* And a couple of Mitchell Mayhem Stats: Johnson’s match analysis of 12 for 127 was the best by a pace bowler against South Africa since Alec Bedser took 12 for 112 in 1951; and he has become the fourth seamer in the last 25 years to take seven wickets in an innings on three separate occasions, after Waqar Younis, Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hoggard.

Is it time for a Test captain who will be more authoritative in the big moments in overseas Tests?

Sidharth Monga17-Feb-2014Unless New Zealand make a generous declaration and India bat out of their skins on day five, India will have gone 14 Tests and three years without an overseas Test win. Only Zimbabwe have a poorer record over the same period. Admittedly 14 is not a huge number, but that only accentuates the lop-sidedness of the ICC rankings, which give no weightage to how well you have performed away.However, it is not like India haven’t had opportunities to win over the last three years. They shut down a chase in Dominica when there was no way they could have lost the Test; they had an outside chance at Lord’s; they were favourites to win Trent Bridge after two days; they had a good chance to put one past Australia at the MCG; and they had chances of their lifetimes at the Wanderers and Basin Reserve. Except for the Wanderers, there is a common thread running through these missed opportunities: a leadership group adamant that modern cricket is all about drying up runs, and a man signing autographs at the deep-point fence.These turning points have been mentioned before, but they are worth repeating. At Lord’s, England went into lunch on day four at 72 for 5, effectively 260 for 5. Ishant Sharma had just bowled a spell of 5-3-4-3, which included two great deliveries to get Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell out. The ball was only 31 overs old. Forty minutes later, MS Dhoni began the middle session with Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. Yes, India had lost Zaheer Khan, but what was the harm in going down slinging if you were going down anyway?At Trent Bridge, India had England down at 124 for 8, but fearing an apocalyptic counter-attack from Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan, India went on the defensive again, losing all momentum. In the second innings they refused to take a bona fide run-out, a last moment of inspiration that could have galvanised them. The next two Tests were just a nightmarish daze featuring Alastair Cook and an unfit RP Singh.In Australia, India’s fight lasted only one Test, but what an opportunity it was. At the MCG, you have Australia down at 214 for 6 on day one, a real opportunity in front of you, and Brad Haddin has just arrived, but you bowl to him with a long-on, a deep midwicket and a deep fine leg. In the second innings you have them down at 27 for 4 but are almost coy about attacking, thinking about saving runs and thus getting wickets. After that the tour is a recurring reel of Ishant dropping Michael Clarke, and David Warner pulverising the four Indian horsemen of the apocalypse on the quickest pitch of them all.

There is a common thread running through these missed opportunities: a leadership group adamant that modern cricket is all about drying up runs, and a man signing autographs at the deep-point boundary

In Johannesburg, Dhoni had three fast bowlers who maintained the intensity, and he broke away from type, but something about the closeness of the match told you this was the last time in a long time that he would be risking it all. Sure enough, in the second Test he refused to take the new ball until he was forced to do so after 146 overs, preferring to sit and wait than to take wickets to slow runs down, a tactic that drew criticism from Rahul Dravid, a man who rarely criticises.Over to Wellington then. On the third morning, his quicks have nicked three men out, New Zealand are five down with about 130 required to make India bat again, the ball is about 45 overs old, and here we have Ishant bowling to Brendon McCullum with no slips and a 6-3 leg-side field. The dropped catch at silly mid-on will be pointed out, which is fair enough, in that an opportunity was created, but in the desire to place men to snap up that rarest of catches, India sacrificed the slips and not the boundary riders.Ravindra Jadeja bowled 24 unthreatening overs on the afternoon, many of them from over the stumps, just because he was keeping the runs down. He bowled with a long-on and long-off throughout for McCullum, who was happy to milk the singles. This is not to take away from McCullum’s effort, but Dhoni underestimated him, in that he tried to block his release shots, expecting a poor shot around the corner. In a marvellous innings, McCullum showed he had enough restraint and discipline to not hole out to those deep fielders. When a slip catch did arrive with New Zealand still less than 100 for 5, India had only one man stationed there, which, as William Shakespeare wrote, was neither here nor there.Ravindra Jadeja was tidy but posed little threat, and he was still persisted with for 24 overs in the afternoon•AFPIt’s not that this strategy hasn’t worked for Dhoni, but it has worked only in home Tests, where he has actually been able to build up pressure through his spinners. It has worked for him in ODIs. Nor have developments in modern cricket been lost on this space. The bats are heavier, the batsmen are bolder, they generally prefer hitting a slightly risky four to taking four risk-free singles, so captains make them pick up the singles, and boundaries early in the innings give them great confidence, etc. Nor can it be denied that Dhoni doesn’t have a Mitchell Johnson or a Dale Steyn in his attack. Or even Ryan Harris. Or even Neil Wagner.But how defensive is too defensive? Even the fourth day began with New Zealand practically 6 for 5. It was a tense time for the batsmen, who would have had to start afresh against bowlers who had had a night’s rest. A wicket in the first session would have reaffirmed India’s position as favourites to win the Test. The ball was only 19 overs old. The first ball of the day hit the shoulder of McCullum’s bat after seaming away a touch. Still it took India only seven overs to begin to resort to denial as a means of taking wickets. And if India struggled on day four, the seeds for it were sown on the third afternoon when McCullum was allowed to bed in amid strange fields.It became ridiculous at times. Dhoni once asked Ishant and Mohammed Shami to bowl from round the stumps with a 7-2 off-side field. As a bowler it is difficult to keep up with such fancies. When Rohit Sharma bowled, he had a slip stationed where one would be for fast bowlers. Sunil Gavaskar was so baffled he said, “This one takes the cake. No, this one takes the whole bakery.” Throughout, Dhoni kept following the ball, placing fielders wherever the shot went. Those who have watched many of these Tests at the grounds remember all too clearly how a fielder who goes to fetch the ball from the boundary rarely comes back: he is stationed there. Most memorably it happened when Jacques Kallis reverse-swept – yes, reverse-swept – Harbhajan Singh for a four at Newlands, and a deep point was placed instantly.It has been stated previously that Dhoni is a great ODI batsman, a very good ODI captain and Test captain at home, and that he was just the leader of men India needed after the fractious Greg Chappell regime, but in overseas Tests he always seems to lose the big moments.You can’t blame Dhoni alone, though. The other half of this leadership team is a coach who can be credited with giving Test cricket deep point. Dhoni already was a captain who thought New Zealand need to be set 617 to preserve a series lead. And he met a man who defended the idea that India could lose seven wickets in 15 overs if they went for a 2-0 series win as opposed to 1-0. Between the two of them, they will go any length to save boundaries and eliminate risk.India have been lucky that these last two “series” have each been only two Tests long. India were competitive in the initial parts of the England and Australia series too. Once they lost the big moments, the rest of those tours were a blur of defeats. India’s next two assignments won’t be so short. It will be imperative they win the big moments in the initial stages otherwise it is quite possible they will come back with a nightmarish haze. Have India reached the stage where they could do with a Test captain who will be more authoritative in those big moments?

Plays of the day from the first ODI between Bangladesh and India in Mirpur

Mohammad Isam and Alagappan Muthu in Dhaka15-Jun-2014The change-up
Caution seemed to be Bangladesh’s only concern in the early overs. The effort to preserve wickets took precedence over gaining any kind of fluency. But the game plan shifted after Mushfiqur Rahim’s arrival at the crease and the urgency he showed infected his partner as well. In the 21st over, Anamul Haque thrust forward, switched his stance and lay in wait. Parvez Rasool was unable to counter and a reverse sweep sailed to the point boundary. The crowd had largely used the signs bearing “4” or “6” as portable fans. This time, they were up on their feet, waving them enthusiastically.The captain’s compensation
Umesh Yadav tested the hardness of the Mirpur pitch and extracted appreciable bounce in his first spell. However, when he induced the outside edge from Anamul Haque, Suresh Raina could not react sharply enough. He leapt up at first slip, but the ball popped out of his hands and dribbled to the boundary. It took until the 46th over for the captain to remedy his mistake, and he did so in some style. Ziaur Rahman sought the extra-cover boundary, but Yadav’s shorter length lured a miscue. Raina’s eyes were locked on the ball and as it looped to his right, he dived low and the extended right hand clutched the ball before it could spill on to the turf.The desperate appeal
Amit Mishra was on a hat-trick and he had Bangladesh’s No.10 in his sights. The legspinner had bowled a fluent Mahmudullah with one that didn’t turn. The same ploy accounted for Nasir Hossain and he looked to go one better when he opted for a seam-up yorker. Abdur Razzak was slow on his attempted flick, but the ball was slid well down the leg side. Mishra would not accept he had shelled his opportunity and launched a vociferous appeal for both caught behind and a stumping. The umpire firmly shook his head and the keeper was already throwing the ball to one of the fielders.The quiet, erroneous exit
Tamim Iqbal’s wretched run in 2014 continued with an eleven-ball duck. He was squared up by Umesh Yadav in the fourth over, and after the bowler and the fielders appealed in unison, umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised his finger. Tamim was curiously quiet about the decision as replays later showed that the ball hadn’t exactly taken the edge but the bat hit the pad at the same time the ball went past it. Tamim copped booing as he walked off but replays shown at the ground were not definitive.The inside edge
In his first ODI after six years, Robin Uthappa was batting fluently but his innings was cut short by a poor leg-before decision after he edged Shakib Al Hasan on to his front pad. Umpire Enamul Haque waited for Shakib to reach a crescendo in his appeal before raising his finger. Uthappa half-showed his bat when the appeal was taking place but then walked off disappointed. It was the last act before rain came down hard in Mirpur.

Sixteen surprising similarities between two Rajasthan v Kolkata IPL ties that were played five years apart

Aashish Calla03-May-2014History has a strange, and often quite eerie, way of repeating itself.As I watched the tied match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders unfold in Abu Dhabi, it struck me that the proceedings were somewhat similar to what we’d seen when the same two sides played out a tie in 2009.When I sat down to list out the similarities, I was astonished. I ended up spotting 16 uncanny similarities between the two games. Have a look.ESPNcricinfoIf you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line