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Moeen Ali is proud to be a visible role model for Muslim cricketers in England but his talent with bat and ball is now also catching the eye

George Dobell16-Oct-2013It’s not the elegant batting you notice first with Moeen Ali. It’s not the ever-improving offspin, either. Or the reliable slip catching.It’s the beard.Perhaps it should not be that way. Perhaps in multicultural Britain we should have progressed to the point where issues of race, gender, religion or sexuality have become irrelevant.The fact is, though, Moeen stands out. Whatever the advancements made in relation to the development of Asian players in domestic cricket – and anecdotal evidence would suggest that, despite very considerable improvements, it is a work in progress – there is no other player anywhere near the England side who wears their religious views so obviously and so proudly. With his long beard – it has been compared to both Hashim Amla’s and WG Grace’s – Moeen has become almost as recognisable a feature at New Road as the chestnut trees and the tower of the cathedral. His image features heavily in ECB literature that seeks to underline the organisation’s inclusivity.There is some unease in bringing up the subject of religion in an interview with a young cricketer. It is hard to think of another member of the England Performance Squad – Moeen was named in the party that will travel to Australia in mid-November – where the issue would warrant a mention in any circumstances. But as it happens Moeen brings the issue up himself and, far from being reluctant to talk about it, insists it underpins every facet of his life and career. He is defined by his religious views and, he says, the beard is a visual demonstration of that. He is happy to be the poster boy for inclusiveness.”I wear the beard as a label,” he says. “I want people to know I am a Muslim and I want people to know I am representing the Muslim faith. I want to show that you can practise your faith and still play cricket to a high level.”Yes, I see myself as a role model. And as a role model, I have to behave in a certain way. Do I see it as a mission? Yes, I do.”It is a lot to take on for a young man but Moeen would have it no other way. Married at 21 and now a father at 26 – his son, Abu Bakr, born a few weeks ago, has been named in honour of the first man to accept Islam – Moeen has a maturity that seems a world away from the tabloid-feeding exploits of so many young sportsmen.”You think it seems mature because you look at society and young men are not behaving in a mature way,” Moeen says. “But isn’t this – raising a family, working hard, trying to be a role model – the way it should be?”Moeen was always going to be a cricketer. Like his cousin Kabir Ali – who had a cricket ball placed in his cot the day he was born – Moeen grew up steeped in the game. Coached by his cricket-mad father and uncle – twins who married twin sisters – Moeen is part of a dynasty that includes two other brothers, Kadeer Ali and Omar Ali, who played age-group cricket for England, and a cousin, Aatif Ali, who has played for various county 2nd XIs.”They said it couldn’t be done,” Munir Ali, Moeen’s father, says. “They said that we, a poor Asian family from inner-city Birmingham, could never break through to the professional game. They said it was all for public schoolboys and the rich. But the boys have shown that if you have the right attitude and ability, there is a way.”Now people say to me, ‘If he didn’t have a beard, or if his beard was shorter and neater, he would have played for England already.’ But we don’t think that’s true at all. Not these days. He just needed to be more consistent and, now that he is, he is starting to interest the selectors. That’s the way it should be.”Moeen is keen to inspire the next generation of Muslim cricketers breaking into the professional game. As far as he is concerned, a “no excuses” culture is key.

“I’ve not experienced racism from other players. You experience ignorance but that’s not the same and I’m always happy to discuss things. If that helps people learn about Islam, to learn there’s nothing to fear, then great, that’s all part of my role”

“A kid came up to me the other day,” Moeen says. “He was no more than ten years old. He asked: ‘Can you tell me which club I should play at where I won’t suffer racism?’ I told him ‘every club’. People use race and religion as an excuse. It sounds as if those guys [Muslims] who played a generation or two before me might have had a hard time but I can honestly say there are no barriers if you’re good enough and you work hard. That kid’s parents had instilled in him an attitude that will hold him back. I blame them.”I’ve not experienced racism from other players. Not once. You experience ignorance but that’s not the same at all, and I’m always happy to discuss things. If that helps people learn about Islam, to learn there’s nothing to fear, then great, that’s all part of my role.”There are differences, of course. After a win, the boys might go to a nightclub to celebrate. They respect that I won’t want to come. I can understand how younger players might want to fit in. But maybe I can be an example to them. I can show them you don’t have to change who you are to fit in.”And, yes, we have discussions about religion all the time. Not politics but religion. There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there, particularly in the difference between religion and culture. For example, I hear people criticise Islam for arranged marriages, but that’s nothing to do with Islam. It is the culture in some places, but it’s actually against Islam.”There have been a few times, at T20 games really, where people have shouted out things from the crowd that I would consider racist. But I can honestly say I’ve never had anything like that from another player.”He is effusive in praise of Worcestershire. He surprised many by signing a five-year contract extension with the club earlier this year and, in doing so, disappointed a host of clubs who were hoping to lure him elsewhere.”Worcestershire were fantastic from the beginning,” he says. “They were sponsored by a beer company at the time, but they quickly gave me an unbranded shirt so I didn’t have to wear anything that advertised alcohol, and they give me space and time to pray. Even at away games. I recall Graeme Hick moving all his kit from the dressing room at Taunton so I had a place to pray. People talk a lot about what a great player Hick was, but he is even greater as a man.”Yes, I could have earned more money at another club. And maybe they would have had better facilities. But they’ve been good to me here, I enjoy being one of the main men in the team and I like the people. Those things are more important. It’s not all about money. Besides, I did get a very good deal.”Moeen did not always enjoy so benevolent an environment. In 2005 he made his first-class debut for Warwickshire and, aged 17 years and 338 days, became the second-youngest man (after Tom Cartwright) to score a half-century for the club, only to be dropped for the next game. A year later he made his Championship debut, coming in against Nottinghamshire with his side reeling on 133 for 6, and stroked a classy 68. Again he was dropped for the next game and declined the offer of a new contract at the end of the season.”That was nothing to do with race or religion,” he says. “And not the reason I left the club, really. It was more that I felt I needed a fresh start. I had grown up with some of those guys at Warwickshire and they knew me as an ordinary teenage kid who had done all the same things they had done. I felt that, to be the Muslim I wanted to be, I had to start somewhere new where no one would remember what I used to be like, and have no baggage.”He credits Steve Sylvester, a sports psychologist, for much of his progress in 2013. Sylvester, a former left-arm seamer who played a handful of games for Middlesex and Nottinghamshire at the start of the 1990s, helped Moeen put his faith and his cricket into context and banish any fear of failure.”He helped me embrace what I am all about,” Moeen says. “He helped me see the bigger picture and the role of cricket in my life. Cricket, basically, is just a game and, by understanding that I have a greater purpose, I can relax and not worry about what happens on the pitch.”Moeen’s bowling could bolster his case with England•Getty ImagesThere were some technical changes, too. Where once Moeen altered his stance every few games – he endured a wretched period while attempting a Chanderpaul-esque crab stance – he has now settled on a method he trusts: feet wide apart so he is able to transfer his weight on to front or back foot without much obvious, or disruptive, movement. The days when he regularly nicked off or, worse, was bowled by deliveries he left, appear to be gone.He is just as elegant as before, but far more compact and far better at picking which deliveries to leave or play. He says he leaves almost everything outside off stump until he has 20 or 30. Last season he made more Championship runs than anyone else (1375) and won the PCA’s MVP and Player of the Year awards.He seems to be at his best under pressure. He made a double-century against a strong Glamorgan attack and scored centuries in both innings of the game against Division Two winners Lancashire. By contrast, against Leicestershire he found the lack of intensity eroded his concentration.If Moeen is to break into the England team, he has been told it will probably not be as a specialist batsman: his offspin bowling will also be relevant. Had this winter’s tour been to Asia rather than Australia, there is a fair chance Moeen would have been included in much the same manner that Samit Patel was in the party that went to India: as second spinner and No. 6 batsman.While Moeen is nowhere near as potent a bowler as Graeme Swann, there are obvious similarities between the two. Both attempt to turn the ball as much as possible – in tests at Loughborough, only Swann and Monty Panesar of England-qualified fingerspinners spun the ball harder – and both have a fine arm-ball.”If I’m honest, I think I need to bowl quicker if I’m going to play for England,” Moeen says. “Swann is a fantastic bowler, the best conventional fingerspinner I’ve seen, and the basis of what he does is getting the ball up and down quickly. I’m going to have to do that if I’m going to play at that level.”Moeen does have one advantage over Swann, though. While playing alongside Saeed Ajmal, he was let into the secret of how Ajmal bowls the .”I stood at slip to Ajmal for a few weeks and I still can’t pick him,” Moeen says. “But he showed me how he does it. He told me that maybe six people in the world know and that he hadn’t told anyone else in England.”I can bowl it, yes. And there’s no problem with throwing or anything like that. Umpire Peter Willey actually encouraged me to bowl it. But at the moment I have to practise it a bit more before using it in a game. I didn’t use it once all season.”With bat and with ball, Moeen could go on to play an important role for England. But even if he never plays international cricket, his role in English cricket may well dwarf anything he accomplishes on the pitch.

Reaction from around the world after Graeme Smith announced his retirement

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2014″He has been a mighty warrior, a leader of men and an exceptional part of our international cricket. Following the recent retirement of Jacques Kallis from Test cricket, there is no doubt that we are now ready to move into a new era and it is our job to build on the solid foundations that these great players leave behind.””He’s a guy who has always played under a lot of pressure … he has always found the inner strength to make sure he concentrates on his own performances, and he leads the team irrespective of what perceptions of him are, his presence alone will be sorely missed.””I thought he had a year or two, look everyone’s situation is different, maybe it is a good time for him to move on, he’s obviously got his reasons, his personal reasons. I’d rather look back to a superb career, and just say congrats on what he has achieved over many years.””He’s been the spearhead of our team for a number of years, leading the team from age 22, he’s been the heartbeat of the team ever since, he will be sorely missed.””@GraemeSmith49 biff,a career to be proud of and a leader who lead from the front!! Our 3 triple century partnerships,my highlight! Congrats.””Hearing huge news out of SA. @GraemeSmith49 is retiring! For what he has done for SA cricket – the man is a legend! Congrats my Surrey BFF!””What a magnificent career @GraemeSmith49 has had as captain and batsman.He can retire knowing he achieved great things in his time.””Congrats @GraemeSmith49 on a wonderful career. Still chuckle at him calling me Peter Schmeichel on tour of 04. #bettergoaliethangloveman””An immense contribution to SA cricket and the game at large. Wonderful career. Congrats and all the very best @GraemeSmith49, #CheersBiff””Huge congrats @GraemeSmith49 on an outstanding career for SA. Great leader and player. SA will miss him @surreycricket welcome him back.””Another great leaves the international circuit @GraemeSmith49 what a legend. Huge loss for SA”

For holding a mirror to the face of the Indian cricket ‘fan’ and introducing him to his true self

Bhaskar Bhowmik08-Apr-2014We shared the jokes, we mouthed the expletives, we published the memes. We vented our ire in all ways we could,some of us even breaching the boundaries of ethics in doing so. We went over the case and passed the verdict. We pronounced the offender guilty.Yes, Yuvraj Singh is to blame. For hitting an English bowler out of the park six times in as many deliveries, and instilling a belief in the minds of India’s cricket fanatics that one of us could destroy an English bowling attack on foreign soil.Yuvraj is to blame for pulling of an unprecedented heist at the sanctum of world cricket that left the cricketing universe gaping in awe, and evoked a feeling of unbounded pride in the heart of each and every fan of Indian cricket, for we had beaten those who ruled us for centuries.Yuvraj is to blame for arduously carrying a billion dreams to fruition and giving this country something its incumbent youth had never seen the country possess, the Cricket World Cup.Yuvraj is to blame for mesmerizing cricket fans of this country with such clean hitting that each and every time a bowler was in his delivery stride, somewhere deep within we expected the bowl to sail into the stands. Every darned time.And Yuvraj is now also to blame for exhibiting the mortal side of a man who we had long believed to be Superman. Yuvraj is to blame for persevering through cancer to perform for fans who manifest their love by hurling stones at his house. Yuvraj is to blame for opening our eyes to the bleak reality that he is a mere human.Those who have truly embraced cricket will now that this loutish display of irreverence was blasphemy of the highest degree. For every stone that was pelted, let a thousand apologies be uttered. Let us show the king where he truly lives in our hearts. Sorry Yuvi.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

A look at some of the most exciting teenage cricketers in the UK and Ireland

11-Jun-2014Hearing about the new kid. There’s nothing quite like it. As fans we’re always looking to a better tomorrow, when it never rains, no one cheats and your precious team never bottles it at the last. And nothing encapsulates that heady mix of tingly, limitless possibility quite like that moment when the next big thing emerges, formidably fresh-faced, to first strut their stuff. They will make us happy, for shared glory will be ours: the records that’ll fall, the World Cups that we’ll win, the open-top bus parades through Trafalgar Square… what a life we’ll have together.Okay, so it doesn’t always work out like that. Not all of the following – a selection from a list of 35 compiled with the help of some of the best-informed judges of youth cricket around – will become household names. But you can guarantee that a few at least will become the Test stars of the future. We shall see. Identifying an early runner and backing them all the way to the line is one of the sweetest kicks that sport can offer. It’s in that very spirit that we present the finest teen cricketers in the land.Sam Hain: “I’ve always played cricket just on a Saturday, but now it’s going to be a job”•All Out CricketSam HainAGE: 18
COUNTY: Warwickshire
ROLE: Right-hand top-order batsman
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: Born in Hong Kong to English parents and once regarded as Australia’s most exciting batting prospect, Hain has set tongues wagging since upping sticks and moving to England to play for Warwickshire. Hain may have been an Australia Under-19 player at 16, but by this year had agreed to a further extension on his existing deal at Edgbaston. The inevitable debate about national allegiance is already warming up.
BEST MOMENT: On first-class and Championship debut for Warwickshire this summer, Hain showed great composure to fashion 42 on an early-season track that had just seen the demise of Middlesex for 167. He batted for 107 balls and, in doing so, ensured Tim Ambrose and Jeetan Patel had easier conditions to register hundreds as Warwickshire eventually sealed an innings victory.
From playing for Australia Under-19s as a 16-year-old to making your Warwickshire debut at 18 in place of Ian Bell, you seem to deal in emphatic steps up. How have you dealt with that constant push and promotion, not just on the field, but off it?
It’s a tough question. I think, growing up, I’ve always enjoyed my cricket and played it because it’s been fun. When I signed for Warwickshire, I just wanted to keep the enjoyment in it, because being away from home would become hard if I lost that enjoyment. As for the hype, to be honest I don’t really read much into it. I’ve still got a lot to prove.You first came to the UK in 2010 to play for Loretto School in Edinburgh and you’ve been back and forth ever since.
It all started at 14. Mike Powell, the director of cricket at the school, sent me down to Warwickshire for a week and they asked me to come back the next year, so I did and played a bit of Second XI cricket for three months. I thought that would be it but then, at the end of that, they said they wanted to offer me a contract and I couldn’t believe it. I’ve always played cricket just on a Saturday, but now it’s going to be a job. I wanted to finish school first – keep mum happy! – and then come over. They said that was all good, and last year was my first on the books.Did the thought of a rookie or full-time contract with Queensland not cross your mind?
Playing the age-groups and grade cricket over there, it was obviously on my mind and I was weighing it up. The seasons are different and, to be honest, it was a game of chance. I didn’t really know if I was going to get signed on at Queensland so when the opportunity came to play in England, having spent a few months a year here and really enjoyed it, I took it with both hands. I’m really happy with the decision I’ve made – my cricket has grown, and I feel as a person I’ve grown as well.Tom Kohler-Cadmore: the 2014 Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year•All Out CricketYour mindset sounds a bit surprising given how much faith Queensland put in you. From the outside, it looked like a contract proper was in the offing.
I know what you mean, but you never really know with professional cricket; you can do your best, score a few runs, but you never know what they’re thinking. Obviously I had inklings about getting signed but I genuinely didn’t really know. Looking back now, maybe I would have been signed but I didn’t have the full guarantee, whereas with Warwickshire I had a contract down and security. There are a ridiculous number of good players in Queensland so it’s really hard to put your finger on whether you’ll get picked up or not. I had to think clearly about it. Something good was on the table here and I was happy to sign and take the opportunity with both hands.Was there anything like that in your first-class debut against Middlesex?
Not really. A few of the guys knew it was my debut and they may have mentioned that but, as soon as I got off the mark, it was weird. They sort of did their own thing and that was that. It was comforting. I mean, I know with Steven Finn and bowlers like that, it could have been interesting times. I was just head down, marking centre and getting ready to face.How much warning were you given to prepare for that game?
About a week. I was a little bit hesitant initially. I didn’t know if I was ready for first-class cricket. Then, going out there, I really felt good. It didn’t feel too different, just that the bowlers are more skilful and will set plans to work you out. It just moved along at a higher pace.So, the big question: England or Australia?
It’s a tough one. I was talking to Sam Robson the other day and, you know, you grow up in Australia, you play there most of your life and then you move country and strive to play for them. It is a weird question but it’s safe to say I want to play for England. It’s where I want to be and where I want to play my cricket.Aneurin DonaldAGE: 17
COUNTY: Glamorgan
ROLE: Middle-order batsman; wicketkeeper
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: At 6ft 3in and with levers to match, Donald has been likened to another Glamorgan youth product in the late Tom Maynard, sharing the former Surrey player’s power and zest for attacking shotmaking.A wicketkeeper by trade, he has excelled at club, county and international age-group cricket, making his debut for Glamorgan 2nd XI and Glamorgan Minor Counties in 2012, before captaining the England under 17s last summer against Sri Lanka. He’s also something of a brain-box and is studying Pure and Applied Maths, Chemistry and Economics for his A-Levels.
BEST MOMENT: The end of 2013 saw Donald sign a development contract with Glamorgan, win the Sporting Wales’ Rising Star Award – Simon Jones was the last cricketer to scoop that gong – and earn himself a spot on the ECB’s Development Programme for 2014.Lewis McManus is only the seventh player to make a hundred on first-class debut for Hampshire•All Out CricketHaseeb HameedAGE: 17
COUNTY: Lancashire
ROLE: Right-hand top-order bat; leg-spin bowler
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: Captain of England under 17s, Hameed is described as “probably as good a player as we’ve had for a generation” by Lancashire’s academy director John Stanworth. Slight of frame and not especially tall, he is currently studying for his A-Levels at Bolton School but has already represented Lancashire’s Second XI and England under 19s, scoring 67 against Bangladesh in an ODI last summer.”We’ve had the academy in existence since 2001 and before that we had a significant array of batting talent like Atherton and Crawley, to name but two,” says Stanworth, “but Haseeb excites me as a young batsman and that’s quite a powerful emotion to have about a young player. He’s not got carried away with the praise that’s come his way, and his humility with the talent that he has is quite evident.” Hameed has signed a scholarship contract with Lancashire and will play Second XI cricket this season once he has completed his exams. Part-time leg-spin is another useful string to his bow.
BEST MOMENT: Scored a century in only his second appearance for Lancashire’s Second XI, against a Scotland A side featuring several full internationals.Tom Kohler-CadmoreAGE: 19
COUNTY: Worcestershire
ROLE: Right-hand middle-order; right-arm medium
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: Worcestershire No.4 has already had a 2014 to be proud of, with a record-breaking season at Malvern College, a professional contract at New Road and a run in the County Championship side at No. 4. Worcestershire have never been afraid to give youth its head and Kohler-Cadmore is one to be very excited about. He scored 1,409 runs at an average of over 100 in his final year at school – breaking a record previously held by ex-Middlesex wicketkeeper David Nash – and was rewarded with the 2014 Young Wisden Schools Cricketer of the Year award, a gong previously awarded to the likes of James Taylor and Jos Buttler.
BEST MOMENT: The Wisden award would have been up there but after a tricky few matches in the LV= County Championship, Kohler-Cadmore scored his maiden first-class ton in a three-day match against Cambridge MCCU in May. The first of many. Lewis McManusAGE: 19
COUNTY: Hampshire
ROLE: Wicketkeeper; right-hand batsman
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: An industrious keeper-bat who went to the under 19 World Cup with England in February, he’s made an impressive start in Hampshire’s Second XI. Last year he made his first ton in the Second XI Championship, and this year he’s knocking on the door of first-team recognition. As a keeper, he has Adam Wheater and Michael Bates to get past, but his record with the bat is compelling.
BEST MOMENT: A ton in each innings on First XI debut against Cardiff MCCU in May. Even before he repeated the trick in the second dig, he had become only the seventh player to make a hundred on first-class debut for Hampshire.Will RhodesAGE: 19
COUNTY: Yorkshire
ROLE: Left-hand bat; right-arm medium-fast
Saif Zaib: a penchant for flair•All Out CricketWHAT HE’S ABOUT: “An outstanding allrounder”, says England assistant coach Paul Farbrace, but Rhodes hasn’t had the easiest journey so far. He was selected, then deselected, from the ECB’s Elite Development Programme, with the consensus that he was going to fall short. Yorkshire gave him two months off to indulge his other love, football, and he returned, more motivated than ever, impressing the EDP coaches and going on to captain the under 19s at the recent World Cup. A strapping seam bowler, he also has great pedigree with the bat, scoring a century for the under 19s against Pakistan last summer.
BEST MOMENT: A mainstay in Yorkshire’s YB40 side in 2013, Rhodes was rewarded in December with a junior professional contract at Headingley.Saif ZaibAGE: 16
COUNTY: Northants
ROLE: Left-hand batsman, left-arm orthodox spin
WHAT HE’S ABOUT: A cultured left-handed strokemaker with a penchant for flair, the word around Wantage Road is that they have a gem on their hands. Senior players and coaches are wowed by his ability to hit both sides of the wicket, off either foot. With academy coach Phil Rowe, he’s working on setting up plans to influence matches, depending on surface or situation, while maintaining his undoubted charisma. While he bowls a bit of left-arm orthodox, it is his batting that has people in a daze. “In terms of skill, he’s as good as I’ve seen at that age,” says Rowe.
BEST MOMENT: In his debut innings for the Northants First XI against Durham MCCU this year, Zaib couldn’t help himself and was caught on the boundary for 19. But in the second, he invested in his innings, batting low-risk for 75 balls to register his maiden first-class half-century.

Signs from India’s training sessions suggest they are ready to move back to their preferred combination of six specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers

Sidharth Monga at Ageas Bowl25-Jul-20148:38

Should India play Rohit or Ashwin?

Stuart Binny has bowled only 20 overs in two Tests of this series. In the second innings at Lord’s, he was not called upon to bowl at all.Although he has played a match-saving innings, signs from India’s training sessions leading into the Test suggest they are ready to go back to the more orthodox combination of playing six specialist batsmen with MS Dhoni batting at No. 7 and with four specialist bowlers to follow.The sixth batsman, if India carry on with the trends from the nets, will be Rohit Sharma, who has scored two centuries in his six Tests but was left out to accommodate the extra seam-bowling allrounder.Leading into the first two Tests, India seemed more or less certain about the combination. While the likely playing XI would get into action right away after the ritual warm-up over a football game, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and R Ashwin would await their turn in the nets. Just before Ageas Bowl, though, Rohit has been getting long hits in the nets. On Friday, he was the first one to get a net.One of the reasons to go back to the orthodox combination could be that Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been providing the runs down the order, and the quick bowlers have maintained a certain amount of intensity over long spells, which was one of MS Dhoni’s concerns over the last two tours outside Asia.Rohit Sharma could make his first appearance of the series•BCCIAlso, the pitch at Ageas Bowl is more orthodox than Trent Bridge and Lord’s. Trent Bridge looked brown and flat, which might have necessitated the buffer of an extra seamer so that the main pace bowlers did not bowl themselves into ground. Lord’s was green, probably greener than it ever has been, which would have meant ideal conditions for Binny, who likes to put the ball there and let the conditions take effect.Ageas Bowl is a hard, quick pitch with good bounce, but it not overly green to afford excessive seam movement. India seem pretty happy about the surface. In a long Test series, they do not want their bowlers to have to slog for their wickets.India could of course go ahead and change the combination on the morning of the match, but Binny has hardly been getting the attention of the coaches that he got in the lead-up to the first two Tests. In fact, he did not even get a hit in the main net on Friday.As far as the role of bowling a few tight overs when waiting for the new ball goes, India will have to rely on Rohit’s offspin. Not to mention M Vijay, who took Moeen Ali’s crucial wicket at Lord’s and has been bowling more in the nets than usual.

Angelo Mathews dubbed Lahiru Thirimanne’s half-century the most encouraging aspect of Sri Lanka’s five-wicket defeat in Hambantota as the batsman continued to prosper in the absence of James Anderson

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Dec-2014At times in the English summer, it seemed as if James Anderson only needed to swear quietly into the breeze for Lahiru Thirimanne to combust at the crease. With Anderson absent from this series, Thirimanne extended his return to form with 62 not out from 47 balls, leaving his captain Angelo Mathews to dub his knock the most encouraging aspect of Sri Lanka’s five-wicket defeat in Hambantota.Failures in England had put Thirimanne in a form rut that saw him dropped, then dropped again, then relegated to the A team. But he has now struck three fifties in four innings upon his return to the top level. The only occasion he missed out, was in the first ODI of this series, when he finished on 27 not out. He led Sri Lanka’s death-overs surge, which brought 62 runs from the final five overs.”I’m very impressed with the way he’s batted,” Mathews said. “He played according to the situation. He had to hang in there and bat till the end of the 35th over, and he did exactly that with the tail. That’s his role. He was very smart in manoeuvring the ball, and rotating the strike. That’s what we want. He’s not a power hitter, but an elegant, classical player.”Lahiru Thirimanne’s half century extended his return to form•Getty ImagesBut while Thirimanne built on his personal successes during the India tour, the team returned to the bad habits that had plagued them. Thirimanne himself dropped a simple catch off Alex Hales – though the batsman was out later in the same over – and misfields leaked runs, perhaps enough to make a difference in the eventual tight finish. Sri Lanka’s bowling was also mediocre, particularly towards the death.”England batted well, but there were too many loose balls from our side,” Mathews said. “It was slightly slippery conditions, but you can’t give any excuses. I thought 235 was a fighting score on that wicket. We needed to pick up wickets and we did, but at the end a few catches here and there and a no ball really put us on the back foot.”The no-ball he was referring to came in the 32nd over, when Joe Root squeezed a full delivery from Dhammika Prasad in the air to cover. Sri Lanka began to celebrate the wicket, and Root started to trudge off, before the third umpire ruled that Prasad had overstepped. England hit 21 runs in that over, which effectively swung the game definitively in their favour.”The spinners were finding it hard to grip the ball, that’s why I brought in a fast bowler,” Mathews said of his decision to bowl Prasad at that point. “He wasn’t able to bowl the balls he wanted to bowl. That’s why there were so many runs.”Mathews also defended his meagre use of Jeevan Mendis during England’s innings, despite Mendis having conceded only nine runs from his first two overs – a better economy rate than any other Sri Lanka bowler managed. “At that time, maybe I should have used him more. But our frontline spinners are Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis, and they are the ones who took wickets in the previous matches as well. So I gave them the opportunity. It didn’t work out. Hopefully we can give Jeevan a few more chances with the ball in the future.”Sri Lanka had three spin options in addition to Tillakaratne Dilshan, in this match, while England chose instead to strengthen their seam attack. Mathews suggested the surface did not turn out to be as spin-friendly as expected, in addition to the rain having made it harder for slow bowlers to grip the ball.”We weren’t sure when the rain would come. The track here also looked a bit slow before the match. That’s why we played with the two frontline spinners and didn’t change the side. When the rain came, maybe the water bound the pitch together a bit, and then the ball started coming on to the bat a bit more.”

Sri Lanka had victory in sight with the opposition effectively 24 for 5 in the second innings, yet the gulf in the teams’ fielding sent New Zealand to their 193-run win, Angelo Mathews said

Andrew Fidel Fernando at Basin Reserve07-Jan-2015When Kaushal Silva cut a ball behind point early in the 29thth over of the innings, third slip, fourth slip, gully and point peeled off to give chase.Kumar Sangakkara had already been dismissed. Sri Lanka were 66 for 3, in pursuit of 390. Most teams would commit one man to this errand, some might send two. But here was more than a third of New Zealand’s fielding resources tearing after it; in each other’s slipstream like a track cycling outfit, even though this ball seemed destined for the fence.Somehow, between the four of them, they found a way to haul it in, one man scooping it back from the rope, another plucking it up and returning it. Each of the four fielders then high-fived the others – even the two that had not touched the ball. Seven high-fives in all. One run saved.It has been like this all series. The New Zealand XI has fielded like they have had twice that number on the ground. It has been like this for all of the past year, with bat and ball as well. New Zealand commit men to the pursuit of the seemingly impossible. Somehow, someone scoops it back. Somehow they find a way.That rarest of sporting achievements: the backs-to-the-wall triumph, has now become almost as routine for New Zealand as the stellar takes that electrify the home crowds that have grown in the past two summers. Just in this Test, Trent Boult plucked one from the skies at backward point, before Kane Williamson leapt high, feet well off the ground, to snatch one at gully, on the last day. For most sides, these are catches that come about once a year. For Boult and Williamson, neither effort is even their best in the past six months.While New Zealand dismissed Sri Lanka’s two best batsmen – Kumar Sangakkara and Angelo Mathews – with those catches, Sri Lanka will reflect they could have won this match if one of three straightforward chances off Williamson had been snaffled. Sri Lanka had victory in sight with the opposition effectively 24 for 5 in the second innings, yet the gulf in the teams’ fielding sent New Zealand to their 193-run win, Mathews said. Sri Lanka have been a woeful catching team in Tests for some time now.”I think clearly the difference in this game was the fielding,” Mathews said. “New Zealand grabbed every opportunity that came their way and we didn’t and we have to pay the price. We just can’t keep repeating the same old mistakes. In training we work hard on our fielding , but it’s just the nerves I think, at that point of time.”New Zealand’s best fielders barely have time to feel nervous, so quickly are they reacting to ball coming off willow. They are not just trained, they appear mentally conditioned to hunt down leather. Sometimes the batsman will hit through point, but the man all the way at mid-on moves to go after it, before reason kicks in to override impulse.The effort is impeccable from overs one to 20, to 120. Sri Lanka’s fielders were virtually dragging the meat of their own carcasses around the Basin Reserve towards the end of New Zealand’s second innings. New Zealand were whizzing about the same ground like pinballs during Sangakkara’s day-two onslaught. Having enforced the follow-on at Hagley Oval, New Zealand were in the field for over 196 overs, yet were reeling in firmly struck balls across the two-and-a-half days. “Every run is important,” preaches McCullum. Right across the team, there are no broken links. No lethargic runners to sneak singles from. No weak arms, from which to make a two into a three.Occasional mistakes are made, of course, as they always will be in a sport played by humans. But even after a chance is shelled, each New Zealand fielder seems to want the next ball to come to him. In Christchurch, Ross Taylor let a simple slip catch spill from his bucket hands, but held firm to a more difficult chance moments later. In the same match, Sangakkara grassed one off McCullum, then within half an hour, had dropped James Neesham as well.The whole operation is set off by the man who evades notice. BJ Watling has a lot of chances come his way, with the attack New Zealand possess, but in this series he has been immaculate, thoroughly outshining, with the bat as well as gloves, an opposite number who once could lay claim to being the best wicketkeeper in the world. In 2014, no one had more dismissals than his 40.New Zealand have had many heroes recently, from McCullum and his triple-hundred last year, to Mark Craig’s 10-wicket haul at Sharjah, and now Williamson’s double-ton at the Basin Reserve. No one will have a plaque unveiled in their honour for cutting off a boundary, or receive the keys to the city for pouching safely at slip, but New Zealand amplify the threat of the collective like no other side, and their opponents will continue to discover that can be the difference between victory and defeat.

In the final leg of this globetrotting adventure, our correspondent and his wife take in more safaris than cricket in South Africa, and are overwhelmed by the World Cup experience

Subash Jayaraman11-Apr-2015Day 136
Get invited to Jamnagar, from where Ranjitsinhji ruled his princely state of Nawanagar. Never imagined Ranji would feature on this trip twice, unplanned, after a visit to his summer castle on the west coast of Ireland. Visit the Summair sports club – Ranji was its founding patron – which houses the stumps and ball from the match in which he passed 3000 runs in the 1899 first-class season for Sussex, the first batsman to do so.Day 139
On a day trip to the various visually stunning forts in and around the city of Jaipur, we come across a poignant message honouring the passing of Phillip Hughes on the wall of the Nahargarh Fort, and are reminded of how tight-knit the cricket community is. There are banners and posters here and there in the city promoting competitions for local kids to be part of the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, but generally cricket is at its lowest ebb in November. One can only imagine what it will be like now with the eighth edition of the IPL underway.Day 148
Visit one of the seven wonders of the modern world, Taj Mahal. No photograph ever could do justice to the beauty of this marble edifice. On the ride back to New Delhi, stop to watch a game of gully cricket in the grounds of a temple, next to a Muslim cemetery across from the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daula. Pile of bricks acts as stumps on a dug-up pitch. The batsman, Ahmed, launches everything to leg-side boundary and has to help the fielders identify the lost ball since he knows exactly where he hit it.Day 149
Teach my wife to make a ball to play cricket with using an old cycle tube. She cuts thin rings from the tube, wrapping them around a center core of small stones and newspaper. After 45 minutes of hard work, she has recreated the ball with which I used to play cricket with my cousins. Childhood relived as we have a hit in a friend’s front yard in Delhi.A herd of elephants walks across the road in Kruger Park•Subash JayaramanDay 153
Interview former India opener Madhav Apte at his spacious residence in Mumbai. He gives us a tour of his home. There is a framed signed picture of Sir Don Bradman, a gift from Clarrie Grimmett and framed paper cuttings from his time as a schoolboy taking all ten in an innings. He’s still active at the age of 83, playing badminton and tennis. After nearly two hours of cricket chat, he bowls some legbreaks to my wife to see how much cricket she has picked up on the trip. Not much as it turns out.Day 155
Any trip to South Africa is incomplete without a visit to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg to understand the troubled past of the Rainbow Nation. A series of well-thought-out exhibits enlightens us on the state-sanctioned discrimination system that disadvantaged a majority of South Africans, and the struggle for liberty and equality led by, amongst others, the great Nelson Mandela. It is a testament to the vile perversion human beings are capable of, and also the indomitable will of the human spirit to overcome the toughest obstacles.Day 157-160
First Test between South Africa and West Indies at the Super Sport Park in Centurion. Take the convenient Gautrain from Jo’burg to the stadium in Pretoria. Incredibly excited to see live for the first time Dale Steyn bowl in a Test. The accreditation has not been sorted but Cricket South Africa makes alternate arrangements and I get to my seat in the outdoor press box just in time for the first delivery. Fans lie on the grass banks, enjoying beers and a variety of foods while keeping an eye on the proceedings in the middle. During the lunch break, fans are allowed on to the field to take part in impromptu games of cricket or to just stroll around.Fantasy cricket: a match at Hobbiton with Richard Hadlee•Subash JayaramanGet to watch two of the greatest modern-day batsmen – Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers – pile on the runs. Steyn has an ordinary first innings but rolls into form in the second, taking a six-for and in the process destroying the overmatched West Indians. The match is over in the first session of day four.Day 162-164
Rent a car and drive 500km to Kruger National Park, a massive preserve of African veld and wildlife. Spend two days exploring the park at 15kph, astounded and surrounded by giraffe, zebra, rhino, lion, cheetah, hyena, and more, and after 48 hours have still barely scratched the surface. Learn that despite their massive size elephants are quite silent when we are ambushed by an entire herd crossing the road. Easily the highlight of the trip: to be driving around in a car inside a park almost the size of New Jersey, watching nature in full glory.Day 166-170
Port Elizabeth. Rain-affected drawn Test. Gives us time to explore some of the game reserves and parks in the area, and partake in the most traditional of South African outdoor activity – the braai. One of the South African journalists is gracious enough to host us and we tuck into the orgy of grilled meat.Day 172-178
Land in picturesque Cape Town on New Year’s Eve. Another braai. Spend the entire New Year’s day at Newlands waiting to interview Kraigg Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels. Brathwaite keeps the appointment but Marlon skips it. After looking for him for an hour, am told that he has fallen asleep in the dressing room!On the SkyWalk in Auckland•Subash JayaramanAt the conclusion of another South African Test victory, opener Alviro Petersen announces his retirement from the international game. All his team-mates line up in the back of the press conference room in support, and the raw emotions of the occasion hang thick in the air.Day 179-185
After a marathon 22 hours of flying, land in Adelaide. Walk around the CBD and make our way to the beautiful Adelaide Oval. Watch a Big Bash game. Surprised by the turnout of nearly 30,000 on a working day even as rain comes down before the start of the match. Kids everywhere are decked out in Adelaide Strikers colours. The BBL marketing team must be doing something right to attract such a devoted audience.Day 186-194
Melbourne. Watch a weekend club game at the South Yarra Cricket Club’s home ground. Heart longs for such easy access to cricket back in the US. Journalist Gideon Haigh invites us to nets. Spend nearly two hours bowling, and the next two days being sore all over.Watch an India v Australia tri-series ODI. India are outplayed for large parts of the game but their bowlers make it a close game. A sign of things to come in the World Cup. Witness pink ball trials at the MCG before and after the ODI.Kids enjoy an Adelaide Strikers match•Getty ImagesDay 195-201
Overnight bus from Melbourne to Sydney. Head straight to the SCG for the Australia Day match between India and Australia. Is washed out after only a few overs of play.Play as the 11th member on a mate’s club side. Do not get to bowl or bat but the team wins – their first win of the season. Everybody congratulates me for being the lucky charm and buy several beers to celebrate the win. Wish cricket were this easy!Day 202-210
Queensland. After a short stay in Brisbane, where we sneak into the locked Gabba and take pictures of the ground, we head north to the tropical Cairns. The gorgeously deep blue portions of the Great Barrier Reef comes in to view as the plane circles around the mountains on the landing approach. Book a day trip out to Green Island to further explore the reef and spend another day driving in the Kuranda National Park.Drive 400kms to Townsville to meet the couple – Patrick and Sharon – who were the inspiration behind this round-the-world trip. It was a chance meeting at Queen’s Park Oval in 2012 that sowed the seeds for this adventure. Patrick takes me out to his club’s nets and then on to Tony Ireland Stadium to watch a first grade match between his club and Wanderers CC, a club Andrew Symonds and Mitchell Johnson played for. Dozens of people are in the stands to watch this game. Australia truly is a cricket country.Deep blue sea: India fans packed the MCG for their team’s match against South Africa in the World Cup•AFPDay 211-214
Back in Melbourne to await the start of the World Cup. Attend the pre-match pressers of Australia and England. George Bailey as captain addresses the media and that will be his last for the tournament as Michael Clarke returns from injury. James Anderson fronts up for England and that will be the last I see of England since my plan to see them in the quarter-final doesn’t work out.Day 215-220
Drive overnight to Adelaide to watch India-Pakistan and then a two-day drive to Canberra and back to Melbourne. Highway rest area facilities in Australia are spectacular, making the drive very comfortable. With no hotels available, choose to spend a night sleeping in the car under the stars somewhere between Adelaide and Canberra.Day 223
Never seen anything like it. A nearly full MCG, almost all of it blue, barracking for the Indians against South Africa. Melbourne has become Mumbai. Indian bowlers make their presence felt and India get home easily.Interview ICC chief executive Dave Richardson for a few minutes in the press box, enquiring about the reduction of the number of teams in the 2019 World Cup to ten. Wishy-washy responses but I understand his plight as the face of an organisation that serves only the narrow interests of its member boards and not the wider interest of the sport.The end: the weary travellers return home•Subash JayaramanDay 228-245
In New Zealand. Watch some of the closest matches of the tournament. Play a promotional game of cricket at the Hobbiton movie set alongside Sir Richard Hadlee and Stephen Fleming. Take in a tour of the wineries in Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland. Walk on the outside of the Sky Tower in Auckland, 192m off the ground.The buzz about the World Cup is more palpable in New Zealand than it was in Australia. The local media and fans have embraced the tournament entirely and the nation is completely behind their beloved Black Caps. Brendon McCullum is repaying their faith in spades with an aggressive and risky form of cricket that has their legion of fans thinking about the trophy.Day 260
World Cup final. Australia crush New Zealand quite easily and prove their superior depth and quality in all facets of the game, in familiar surroundings.Spend the entire match replaying the happenings of the last 260 days in my mind – the serendipitous experiences and the incredible kindness of strangers and friends that made the whole trip possible. The unbelievable journey from watching the 2011 final in my apartment in a snow-covered small town in Pennsylvania to witnessing the 2015 final from the press box at the MCG!Day 262
Flight to New York from Melbourne via Los Angeles. We are home!

Something about a World Cup final brings out the A-game gene in the Australian team’s DNA

Sharda Ugra at the MCG29-Mar-2015There is an aphorism in football that holds true across regions, decades, events, big-game nights: 22 men go out to play and the Germans win. Here’s the cricket version: 22 men go to out to play a World Cup final and the Australians win.On a resplendent night in the biggest ground in world cricket, 93,013 people and a flock of curious seagulls, under a black-inked sky, watched Australia win their Penta, their fifth World Cup. They have made seven finals in 11 World Cups. Never mind football, which has had a far longer World Cup history, not even field hockey – whose World Cup started in 1971 – has one country that has been a part of their event’s grandest night so often across three decades.The 2015 World Cup final game ended at 9:02pm, more than an hour before the scheduled close, New Zealand done and dusted in 33.1 overs on the back of a total that would have been hard to defend in Twenty20. Indian fans had a sentimental laugh over 183 but that was about it. Yes, New Zealand’s bowling had been formidable and yes, a month ago, they had got Australia out at Eden Park for way less.Australia at a World Cup final, however, are completely different beasts. Once they get there – and this is a post-1999 brand of Australian ODI cricketer – some A-game gene springs to life in their DNA. In their last four World Cup finals – 1999, 2003, 2007 and now this – Australia enter the game and shut the door on their opposition. No matter how they get to the big game – whether by the skin of their teeth or knocking the rivals out – on finals day, they reach into their kit bags and pull on their you-can’t-mess-with-us game face. It overrides conditions, weather, wickets, opposition: they have won World Cups in Asia, England, South Africa and the West Indies. And now at home.Tonight, New Zealand were the misty-eyed favourites for this final – an amenable, much-liked team whose cricket contained steel, discipline, daring without any ugly edges. They had a bowling attack of venom and discipline, a quality spinner and a clutch of watchable batsmen. So what, said Australia. Ours have venom, discipline and pace and our spinner takes wickets, we bat down to eight and our No. 9 is not half-bad. Think you can do an Eden Park again? Think you can handle us in a World Cup final? At our home? Dream on.The last final was also won by the home team but in very different circumstances; Wankhede 2011 was a wall of sound, building, building and then erupting in a paroxysm of what could only be called overjoy. There was more than one lap of honour, including one featuring Tendulkar on his team-mates’ shoulders, as fireworks went off for what seemed like forever. The incessant racket of cars tooting horns on the road around the Wankhede Stadium could be heard inside the stadium. The police tried, unsuccessfully, to chase spectators who were climbing over the barricades and into the ground, running wildly around the field, only to climb over the barricades onto the other side and escape. Others were happy to leap over barriers and dive onto the field in ecstasy like celebrating footballers. It was chaotic, rambunctious, disorderly. Like the Indian campaign had been.MCG 2015 had twice the number of people and an ebb and flow of volume and emotion. As Steven Smith and Shane Watson wolfed down the remaining runs required, rock music began to play over the speaker system and the crowd began singing the chorus of Jimmy Barnes’ at top volume. The totally admirable Smith pirouetted about with joy, after producing a pull that would have made VVS Laxman proud, and leapt into Watson’s arms to a waving, clapping mass of Australian supporters. The sight screen threw out regular flames, the players were drowned in a profusion of golden glitter (had New Zealand won, would the glitter have been black? Or beige?). The crowd listened to the speeches and the ceremonies in respectful silence, cheering at appropriate moments, close to 70,000 waiting to partake in the lap of honour.When it was over, the crowd went home walking towards the car parks or the tram and train stops, happy, chatty, satisfied. Within an hour of the celebrations ending, the drop-in pitch was being rolled up and readied to be taken away. Footy season is due to begin in four days. The ground was being put back to what it was – minus the pitch of course – before the first ball was bowled. Like Australia at a World Cup final. Who arrived with a sense of purpose and mission, cleaned up the opposition and performed like they always knew what they were meant to be: world champions.

Plays of the day from the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab in Chennai

George Binoy25-Apr-2015The failed footwork
Brendon McCullum charged at Anureet Singh’s first delivery and aimed for six over long-off. He hit it high, but not far. Mitchell Johnson was pedaling back from mid-off, trying to get under the catch. He got into an awkward side-on position as the ball dropped into his hands, before popping out again. The rebound was too far away for Johnson to get to it with his hands, and so he flicked his foot out to try and pop the ball up for another go. He made contact with his boot, but the ball lobbed and fell out of his reach. Johnson later dropped a more straightforward chance off Suresh Raina at deep square leg.The improvisation
McCullum had premeditated to play the scoop down leg side against Sandeep Sharma and so he moved across his stumps and squared up his stance. Sharma, however, bowled full outside off stump, not giving McCullum the line he wanted. He improvised. McCullum’s body remained positioned for the scoop down leg but he now opened the face of his bat towards point and shoveled the ball past the wicketkeeper to the third-man boundary.The lapses
Some of Kings XI’s senior players were an embarrassment in the field. Virender Sehwag charged in from short third man to attack a ball that was coming at him off Raina’s outside edge. He ran at it without anticipating the ball would spin away from him and then looked silly as it eluded him comfortably. He turned slowly and gave chase but it was in vain. Later in the piece, Shaun Marsh was slow in bending down to his right at point and let a cut shot from Ravindra Jadeja speed to the boundary.The catch
Suresh Raina’s catch to dismiss David Miller was everything Kings XI’s fielding wasn’t. Stationed at leg slip, Raina saw Miller shaping to leg glance Ravindra Jadeja and moved a couple of steps to his left just in case. Sure enough, Miller glanced and the ball flew flow and fast towards Raina. Had he not moved, the ball would have passed by his right hand, but now all he had to do was stoop low and grab the ball inches from the turf.