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Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Kings XI Punjab in Indore

Firdose Moonda13-May-2011The IPL’s new host
Indore’s Holkar Stadium is the latest venue to join the IPL parade and it had a sizeable crowd for its first match. Audiences have had many chants this IPL, most prominent being the one whenever the Mumbai Indians are playing, “Sachin, Sachiiiiiiin.” The crowd here used the same beat but belted out, “Indore, Indoooooore,” instead, a sign of how thrilled they were that cricket had come to town. They didn’t have any songs for the home team who must have felt like foreigners there, as most of the support was directed at Punjab.The wide that turned Gilchrist into an acrobat
Which one, you might ask. Given that Punjab sent down nine and Kochi five, it’s a fair question. There was one that was more eye-catching than the others, in the same way a particularly large pimple is worth staring at. It was the second wide of the match, bowled by Ryan Harris, which was splayed so far down leg, it would have been wide even if there was a second set of stumps. The soon-to-be-40 Adam Gilchrist dived full stretch to his left, almost ended up horizontal and caught the ball one-handed, saving four runs. He was tested a few more times in the innings, but none as challenging as that one.The noise that ran Owais out
The Indore crowd were having a loud blast. They were making such a din that Owais Shah gestured that he was run out because of it. He was presented with a slower ball from Shalabh Srivastava and got it to long-off who saw the batsmen attempting the second run and threw to the wicketkeeper’s end. It wasn’t clear whether either of the batsmen had called for the second or whether they had said no and went ahead with it because they saw their partner coming. Both were emphatic in making gestures that they couldn’t hear but it made no difference, Owais had to go.The apologetic appeal
It’s not often that a bowler says sorry for appealing against a batsman but it happened. Sreesanth started his spell with a ball that shaped into Gilchrist which the Punjab captain worked away on the leg side. Sreesanth thought the ball had hit the pad first and appealed for lbw, before realising that Gilchrist had managed to get the bat in front. After stifling his appeal, Sreesanth apologised to Gilchrist as he ran through to complete the single.The tag team fielding that flopped
Brendon McCullum was prowling the outfield like a demon and made some outstanding stops. When Dinesh Karthik crunched the ball through the covers, McCullum flew across from sweeper cover to cut off a four. He slid along the ground and shovelled the ball away from the rope but needed someone to pick it up. Sreesanth ran through from long off to clean up, fell over trying to get the ball and in his haste to scoop it up took himself, and the ball, over the line. McCullum’s effort was in vain.

There has been far too little analysis of the economics of the game in India, its financial nerve centre. This book makes a start

Ashok Malik02-Jul-2011For a popular and lucrative phenomenon, the business of cricket in India hasn’t been adequately recorded and analysed. True, there are regular media reports about one deal or the other – whether signed by a cricketer, by the BCCI, or an IPL franchise. Yet where is the big picture? What do these dazzling and bewildering numbers add up to?This book tries to answer those questions. Its conclusions are decidedly limited, and it will need many similar books to adequately complement it. Nevertheless, it is a start and one for which the authors needs to be thanked.The book is trapped between three stools: explaining cricket as a vehicle of marketing and explaining the marketing of cricket; explaining sports marketing; and explaining the business of cricket and the development of properties such as the IPL, which is a story that goes beyond merely sports marketing. Shyam Balasubramanian and Vijay Santhanam make an honest and purposeful attempt to weave all three threads into their narrative. However, the reader does sometimes wonder whether too many themes are being packed into one volume.Even so, in describing the evolution of cricket and cricket marketing in India, in tracing the history of cricket icons – from Sunil Gavaskar in the 1970s, Kapil Dev in the 80s, Sachin Tendulkar in the 90s, to somebody like MS Dhoni in the first decade of the 21st century – and attempting to parallel India’s economic growth and the changing urges of the Indian consumer, the authors make some valid points.Perhaps too much space is devoted to scrutinising and telling the story of individual ad campaigns and what aspect of which cricketer was highlighted in each. There are also some pat conclusions. Talking of Imran Khan’s appearance in an ad for Cinthol soap some 30 years ago, the authors write: “The Cinthol campaign widened the appeal of cricket to include women, for obvious reasons – Imran’s star/sex appeal. As women are the primary decision-makers in the purchase of consumer goods such as soap, this was very significant.”There is a contradiction here. The Cinthol ad did not bring new women fans to cricket; it brought women who could already identify Imran as a cricketer, to Cinthol. It did nothing to enhance and increase the interest of cricket-agnostic women in the sport. On the other hand, say, the IPL is specifically geared towards making a form of cricket attractive to female audiences. There is a difference between the two approaches, and on occasion this book seems to confuse them. makes some telling observations. It correctly points out cricket’s commercial viability and popularity are not the function of some conspiracy against all other sports, especially India’s official national game, hockey. Rather, they are a reflection of fairly regular success on the field, and of performance.Everybody loves a winner, whether a team who win or an individual who wins in a personal contest – Kapil versus Richard Hadlee, to use an example wonderfully illustrated by the authors – within the context of a team experience. Since the 1980s, Indian cricket has delivered such episodes time and again, and this is the single biggest factor why its business graph has zoomed. The book emphasises this and does so persuasively.Second, the authors quote ad guru Sam Balsara as saying, “It is not that Indians love cricket, the game; it is that we love to win.” A few sentences later, this is linked to the IPL – “popular because an Indian team (with a majority of Indian players) wins every match”.This is so true. Indeed, one of the motivations for the launch of the IPL in 2008 was that Indian sponsors had burnt their fingers with the 2007 World Cup – Rahul Dravid’s team were knocked out in the first round, losing to Bangladesh – and wanted a product/tournament that was world-class and yet ensured an Indian presence till the end.The book is useful as a compendium of statistics related to the cricket business, and for offering some keen insight into an industry that should, really, have many more chroniclers. Balasubramanian and Santhanam need to be congratulated for opening the innings.The Business of Cricket: The Story Of Sports Marketing In India
Shyam Balasubramanian and Vijay Santhanam
Harper Collins India, Rs 299

A much-anticipated contest between two top teams turned out to be hopelessly one-sided as England overwhelmed India in every department

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan24-Aug-2011

India’s drastic fall

Stuart Broad’s 25 wickets in four Tests is the joint-highest in a home series for England since 2000•Getty ImagesBefore the series started, the contest was expected to be tight with a realistic possibility of India winning their second consecutive series in England. Instead, the series turned out to be one of the most lop-sided in Test history with England trouncing India 4-0. While the margin reflects the gulf in class between the two sides, it does not do complete justice to England’s exceptional all-round dominance nor does it completely put India’s abysmal show into perspective.India, who were No.1 before the series started, lost the first two Tests by margins of 196 runs and 319 runs and the next two by an innings making it only the third series against England in which they have lost two or more Tests by an innings. Further evidence of England’s superb performance is the fact that all four defeat margins feature in the top sixteen Indian losses since 2000.England’s outstanding display is all the more creditable as they outperformed an Indian batting line-up which was among the best in the business before the start of the series. While India failed to cross 300 in any of their eight innings, England racked up over 500 in three consecutive innings. India’s batting failures were harder to fathom since their line-up featured Test cricket’s top two run-getters in Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.It wasn’t just the batting that failed for India. The bowlers struggled for impact and consistency throughout and the England batsmen piled on the runs in every Test. India managed to pick up just 47 wickets while England picked up 80 wickets, bowling India out on every occasion. England’s wickets-per-match figure in the series (20) is well above their mark in the Tests preceding the series (15.84). The wickets-per-match figure for India in the series (11.75) is much lower than the corresponding number in the Tests before the series (15.63).A look at the numbers before the series and during the series clearly outlines England’s dominance. Both teams had very similar batting averages in Tests played between the start of 2009 and the beginning of the series while England had a slightly better bowling average. In this series though, the difference between the teams’ averages was a massive 34.21 in favour of England.

Outclassed with bat and ball

England’s 4-0 win is their third whitewash in series of three or more matches since 2000. Their previous such results in the home summer of 2004 when they blanked both West Indies and New Zealand. India, who had won at least one Test in every series since their 1-0 defeat to Pakistan in 2005-06, suffered their first whitewash since the 3-0 drubbing in Australia in 1999-00.The average difference between the teams in this series (34.21) is the highest among all series whitewashes since 1999-2000. England’s average (59.76) is more than double that of India’s (25.55) and the ratio of the two averages (2.33) is also the highest among all series whitewashes in the same period. Not only is the run difference of 765 the highest in the table, the 33-wicket difference between the two teams is second only to the 37-wicket difference between Australia and England in the 2006-07 Ashes.

Worst loss against England since 1974

England, who have inflicted series whitewashes on 13 occasions (minimum three matches), completed their fourth such series win over India. It is their first whitewash against India since the 3-0 win in the home series in 1974. While the average difference of 48.33 in 1974 and the wickets difference of 38 in 1967 are the highest in India-England series, the corresponding figures in the 2011 series are not too far behind. The 4-0 margin is only the sixth time that India have lost four or more matches in a series with the previous such result coming in the 1991-92 series in Australia. India also suffered innings defeats in two consecutive Tests in a series for the first time since the 1974 series.

England’s exceptional lower-order batting

England’s top-order batsmen did struggle in the first two Tests but were rescued on both occasions by the lower order. While Stuart Broad and Matt Prior shared a superb century stand in the second innings at Lord’s, it was Broad and Graeme Swann who took England to a competitive 221 in the second Test after they were perilously placed at 124 for 8. The story of the next three innings was completely the opposite. The lower-order batsmen were hardly required as Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook hit top form. Bell, in particular, was brilliant scoring 159, 34 and 235 in his last three innings. Cook shrugged off a poor start to the series with a mammoth 294 in England’s innings-win in Edgbaston. The lower order, however, averaged higher than the top order while also scoring at a higher run-rate.India, who were extremely disappointing with the bat throughout the series failed to stitch together any substantial stands. They had only two century partnerships in the series while England had ten. The top order averaged just 28.85 with only Dravid demonstrating the right technique and application. India’s lower order, in sharp contrast to England’s, averaged under 21 and were rolled over far too easily in almost every innings.

In a league of his own

With none of the other Indian batsmen offering a fight, Dravid’s superlative batting efforts were solely responsible for reducing the margins of defeat. He scored three centuries for the second time in England becoming only the second visiting batsman after Don Bradman to achieve the feat. During the course of his unbeaten 146 in the final Test, he also became the third Indian batsman after Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag to carry his bat. Only Tim Bresnan troubled Dravid dismissing him two times while conceding just 44 runs. In 472 balls from James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Dravid was dismissed only three times. The other Indian batsmen, however, have a balls-per-dismissal figure of 46.71 against Anderson and 37.08 against Broad. Dravid’s average of 56 and 105 against Anderson and Broad is far ahead of the rest of the top-order batsmen who have corresponding numbers of 25.50 and 13.15.

Broad’s all-round heroics

Broad, who was declared England’s player of the series, returned outstanding figures of 25 wickets at an average of 13.84. His average is the sixth-best among fast bowlers who have picked up 15-plus wickets in a series against India. In the second Test, both Broad and Bresnan joined the list of England players with a fifty-plus score and a five-wicket haul in a Test against India. Swann, who wasn’t quite at his best in the first three Tests, bowled superbly at The Oval and picked up his 11th five-wicket haul. His average of 40.69 was much better than that of Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra who averaged 106.66 and 143.50 respectively.As another indication of England’s all-round dominance, Prior, in the hugely-important role of a wicketkeeper-batsman, comfortably outperformed his counterpart Dhoni. He averaged 67.75 at a run-rate of 5.14 and the confidence in his batting was reflected in his quality keeping. Dhoni, on the other hand had an ordinary series as a wicketkeeper and struggled with the bat averaging 31.42 at a run-rate of 3.25.

A lifeless low-scoring match in East London did nothing to dispel the criticisms of 50-over cricket

Firdose Moonda at Buffalo Park14-Jan-2012Keen to time-travel back to the late 1980s? Come to East London. Everything from bad hair to mozzarella music exists here in all the glory it did more than 20 years ago. On Saturday, also present was the 1980s ODI, the one that has always cowered in the shadow of Test cricket and then faced the guillotine when its spunkier cousin, Twenty20, came along.The old-school ODI still exists, and when it makes an appearance the argument that 50-over cricket is outdated surfaces with it. If the 2011 World Cup added years to ODI cricket’s life, the match in East London confirmed why it is still an endangered species, one that probably does not deserve protection. Mediocrity seldom does.Sri Lanka rolled back the years to an era before Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana revolutionised the first 15 overs. They ground out 37 runs from the first 15, a return Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana would have sniggered at. Sri Lanka’s innings had all the makings of an old-school classic: a slow start, and a rebuilding process in which one batsman pushed through and had contributions from a sprinkling of pinch-hitters surrounding him. Dinesh Chandimal’s 92 was built on nothing but hard work, an oddity in the modern game, where flash and flair are the main ingredients.South Africa’s bowlers were accurate without being deathly. At times, they were too short, but usually they were saved by committed fielding. AB de Villiers showed some creativity in managing his attack but even that did not draw too many flutters from a determined Sri Lankan batting line-up.To their credit, South Africa wound the clock forward a little with the bat. They reached the Jayasuriya-minimum of 75 in the first 15 overs and they did not lose a wicket getting there. Steady contributions from the top order set the stage for de Villiers to take the match to its foregone conclusion. When he couldn’t, JP Duminy was there to do it. His contribution was vital but quiet, except for his big six off Rangana Herath, which briefly brought to life a slumbering match.Sri Lanka’s bowlers were better than they were in the first ODI, but still not good enough. The visitors lost interest as early as the 10th over, by which time they had tried five different bowlers and seen South Africa respond with ease. Their lack of motivation was compounded by their poor fielding, and their breakthroughs came too late, when South Africa only had formalities to complete. South Africa’s batsmen, who were careful on a slow pitch, played with a sense of routine and obligation, not passion.If the last four paragraphs almost put you to sleep, then you will have a sense of what the match as a whole was like. That is not to say that games with average scores are always dry and cannot captivate; some of one-day cricket’s best contests have come from low-scoring matches (think of South Africa against India at the Wanderers last year) and some of the highest-scoring ones have turned into one-sided, punching bag stuff.It is simply that this one lacked spark. It could have been different if the chase was tense and the contest absorbing. Any notion that the action was gripping evaporated when the crowd broke out into a fight on the grass banks. When police dragged away one of the perpetrators, the applause was louder than it had been for any of South Africa’s three half-centurions. There were even louder gasps when the lights went out and one of the pylons was set on fire. International cricket only comes to East London every few years but the 12,000-odd people at Buffalo Park were there for their own party. The cricket was merely a side show.The numbers eventually said five runs were needed off 10 balls, which tells a deceiving story about how compelling the match really was. Without being sub-standard, it was unengaging, tiring and lacked the “wow” factor.Like most things, there will be times when cricket, in all its forms, fails to capture attention. The problem with ODI cricket is that it takes almost eight hours to do that. In instances where those eight hours feel like a lifetime, one-day cricket can’t shake off the impression of being unnecessary. If played in a series without any real context, such as this one, it searches for relevance.

Plays of the Day from the first day of the SSC Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Colombo30-Jun-2012Shot of the day
Taufeeq Umar got Pakistan rolling with meaty drives against the seamers, but the most elegant shot came off Mohammad Hafeez’s bat. In need of runs, Hafeez extinguished all self-doubt with a punch through mid-off off Nuwan Pradeep, using the pace of the ball to send it to the boundary. His placement couldn’t have been better. The fielder at mid-off merely turned and watched the ball race away without budging.Let-off of the day
On a flat pitch, the best hope of getting a wicket was the batsman throwing it away. Opportunities were hard to come by all morning, and post lunch, Hafeez had a reprieve. He was positive against the spinners from the beginning, but when he tried to clear the boundary off Suraj Randiv, his heart must have been in his mouth after seeing Nuwan Kulasekara sprinting to his left from deep mid-on. It was a clever field placement. Kulasekara did the hard work of getting there, but failed to catch it on the dive and prevent the boundary.Second let-off of the day
After the umpiring howlers in Galle, Pakistan needed some luck. Hafeez had lots of it. He nearly undid all his hard work in the last over before tea. Angelo Mathews pitched short down the leg side and Hafeez tried to pull it down to fine leg but gloved it. Prasanna Jayawardene took a sharp catch to his left. The umpire Ian Gould wasn’t sure if it was a legal delivery and asked the TV umpire. His doubts were confirmed. Mathews had overstepped and Sri Lanka had to cut short their celebrations.No DRS fault of the day
Hafeez was the survivor again. Shortly before stumps, Rangana Herath had a close shout for caught behind turned down. The ball had spun, bounced and seemed to take the edge off Hafeez’s bat. Prasanna Jayawardene began celebrating but Simon Taufel was not so sure. The magnifying glass seemed to detect an edge, but with no DRS in place, Sri Lanka had to live with the umpire’s decision. Summed up a hard day.

Clare Connor, head of the ICC’s women’s cricket committee, talks about strategy and funding plans for women’s cricket, and the decline of their Test game

Interview by Siddhartha Talya30-Jul-2012What is the biggest challenge facing women’s cricket today? Is it a lack of recognition, a lack of visibility?
I think those are the challenges that have always existed. I won’t say they are the most significant challenges that the women’s game faces.It’s probably better to look at the opportunities the women’s game has got, especially with what the T20 format has brought to the game in the last few years, the growing numbers of women and girls that are taking up the game globally in really exciting pockets of the world that have never experienced cricket at all before. Those are huge opportunities for growth.The obvious opportunity that we must capitalise on is the decision the ICC board has made to commit to the ICC World Twenty20 being a joint men’s and women’s event moving forward. That is a huge opportunity to drive the profile and exposure for the women’s game.Obviously, funding is going to be an issue, with ever-tightening budgets across all sport and across all businesses, so the opportunity to find funding through non-conventional sources, through government funds, corporate social responsibility funds, different commercial opportunities… we have to really explore what those are. What were your immediate objectives when you took over as the head of the women’s cricket committee at the ICC in July last year? You’ve also spoken about the ICC’s strategic plan for women’s cricket – could you share that with us briefly?

One of my short-term priorities when I took over a year ago was to really get our teeth firmly into the Females in World Cricket strategy, which the women’s committee has been working on for the last 12 to 18 months. There are five pillars to the strategy.One is growth, in terms of participation, so the number of females playing the game globally grows, but also growth in investment.[Second is] the performance standards of the women’s game at the highest level, so we’re really trying to push the number of highly competitive women’s teams. We just don’t want to rest on a strong five or six; we need a game that is strong across the globe with more and more international games being played.Profile is another pillar of that strategy, so trying to drive the profile of the women’s game through broadcast rights, negotiations, double-headers in the T20 format, and for more of our Full Members to have female-specific promotional plans in place.There are two other key pillars. One is around integration and influence. How can we, as the ICC women’s committee, really help the full integration of the women’s game? The main way, we think, is through influence – so having more champions for the women’s game across the globe, having regular international forums focusing on females in cricket, keeping the engagement of key staff through the ICC’s senior management, and also across the Full Member level, on everything related to the women’s game – that’s a really big piece for us. From my experience with the England and Wales Cricket Board, which is my day job, the better integrated the women’s game becomes, the more natural it becomes for all members of staff to see women’s cricket as the same entity as boys’ and men’s cricket. Obviously there will be some subtle differences, but in terms of driving opportunity, participation, income, setting budgets, coach education, all of those areas, we have to get as integrated as possible.The final pillar of our strategy is around optimising the enthusiasm for cricket in Asia, especially with the World Twenty20 coming up and the women’s World Cup coming up in India in February 2013, and the next World T20 for the men and women being in Bangladesh. So we’ve got a big opportunity there to engage with Asia and a growing passion for women’s cricket in that part of the world.You spoke of funding. Women’s cricket doesn’t have the kind of viewership among TV audiences that men’s cricket does. What are the sources of funding that women’s cricket receives?

Each member funds women’s cricket differently, so it’ll be hard for me to generalise. As you rightly say, a huge importance is placed on broadcast rights, and one of our aspirations is for all ODI members to include women’s cricket in their next broadcast rights negotiations. I don’t think that’s too lofty an ambition.We have to look at non-conventional sources of income, so looking at the activity agenda, the obesity agendas, health agendas, other government funding streams which might be out there – they certainly exist in England and I’m sure those opportunities exist for other members as well.I think there is a lot of partnership work that can be done. I’m sure with some creative thinking and some partnership thinking, there are funds out there.

“One of our aspirations is for all ODI members to include women’s cricket in their next broadcast rights negotiations. I don’t think that’s too lofty an ambition”

We’ve had about five seasons of the IPL now and one of the things people say is that it has drawn more women and children to the game. If I were to flip that around and ask you, what does women’s cricket need to do to attract more men to watch the format?

It’s brilliant to see loads and loads of young females having a great time at IPL matches, but what we need to focus on is not how do we bring more male or female spectators in; we just have to appeal generally by having good, competitive matches, focusing on where we stage those matches.I think we have to appeal to families. That way we attract young people and we attract men and women. It’s just a case of having a good product, having good competitive teams on display and the importance of maximising the opportunity to play double-headers alongside the men’s game.There have been some key tipping points. For instance, the semi-final of the World Twenty20 in 2009 between England and Australia women, which was played just before the men’s semi-final. Many male cricket fans came out, and cricket writers such as Mike Atherton, Mike Selvey and Nasser Hussain – lots of those guys came out and said that that game of cricket between England and Australia women, where England chased down 164, was one of the games – if not game – of the tournament, regardless of whether we’re talking about men’s or women’s tournament.If we put a good product on and if the skills are high, the athleticism is high, we all know that that will appeal to men and women alike.Speaking of having double-headers, is the women’s cricket committee considering having something along the lines of the FTP that the men have?
We do have something similar in place. It’s not a legally binding contract, as it is in the men’s game, but when the women’s committee meets, that is something on our agenda – to look at the FTP in the women’s game, how much is being played.One of the things we have done in the last six months is increase the number of the minimum standard regulations, the number of games – bilateral cricket – that must be played in the ODI and T20 format. So that’s something we’ve been constantly looking to address – really encourage as much bilateral cricket as possible, so that players have the opportunity to play in all different sorts of environments and all different sorts of opposition. What we don’t want is for members to become too reliant on the ICC events.Women haven’t played a Test match since early 2011. Why is that?

This is a really difficult subject. As you rightly said, the only Test cricket that remains in the women’s game, or has been over the last few years, is between England and Australia. The Test you mentioned was the Ashes Test – it was a one-off Test match in Australia. It really polarises opinion. For me, personally, I would hate to see Test cricket disappear for women.However, the reality is that since the T20 format came into being in international cricket in 2004, there has barely been any Test cricket. That’s because the T20 format gives us that platform. It’s a shorter format, it’s more likely to grow the game from a participation perspective and from a commercial perspective. It gives us probably more opportunity to get on television, and I think that is the way the women’s game is headed. That’s the reality and we have got to embrace that, and we are, with more and more double headers, as we talked about.But I do believe there is a place for women’s Test cricket. I’ve played the game myself and some of my greatest memories as an international player were of Ashes contests between us and Australia. I think until the women’s game is fully professionalised and players can afford to be on tours of up to two or three months, like the men do, it’s very hard to fit in all three formats. The reality is: if we don’t play Test cricket, if Australia and New Zealand, for instance, are no longer going to play Test cricket, in the period of time needed to play a Test match, they could play three T20 games. They can get them on television and they can play alongside the men, and that’s a huge opportunity.Speaking of wanting to professionalise women’s cricket, in a lot of countries women still have alternate careers alongside playing cricket at the highest level. Is there much being done by the ICC to incentivise women’s cricket a lot more, drive more women to take up cricket as a professional career? England and Australia came out with contracts for women in 2008. You do have a contracts system in place in the West Indies.
I do believe the ICC can advise, in terms of the governance areas of women’s cricket, the performance standards and participation and all those things that we’ve talked about. So long as there is a really healthy bilateral FTP in place and so long as the ICC sees that the performance standards in the women’s game are going up, I don’t think it’s up to the ICC necessarily to legislate on whether the women’s players should be fully contracted or fully professional. In an ideal world, yes, we would see that, but I don’t think we are probably ready for it yet, and I don’t think there are enough countries ready to fully professionalise the women’s game for there to be enough women’s cricket to be played that is commercially viable, if you like.Clare Connor: “I don’t think we are in a position yet to fully centrally contract across all teams, and I don’t think it’s the ICC’s decision to force that implementation”•Getty ImagesLots of members are making really good strides with different types of contracts, whether they be central contracts or coaching contracts or part-time contracts. One of the best cases of how that’s helped improve standards has been the West Indies, who in the last four years have really shot up the rankings and are a force to be reckoned with. There is the evidence there to show that some form of contracts is really useful and can be beneficial, but I don’t think we are in a position yet to fully centrally contract across all teams, and I don’t think it’s the ICC’s decision to force that implementation.Finally, if you were to talk of expanding cricket beyond the traditional cricketing world, how has the reaction been among women taking up the sport in Associate countries and other countries? Has the ICC been involved in development programmes in these countries?

Yes they have, and the work that’s being done by the regional development teams across the world is staggering, and I can now see that in the position I now hold on the ICC development committee. I had no idea, really, if I am honest, until the last 12 months, of the fantastic work being done across the regions in terms of developing the women’s and girls’ game.What’s really exciting and provides the women’s game with a huge opportunity is taking cricket to new territories – for instance to Papua New Guinea or to Thailand. What you can do there is grow the women’s game as quickly if not more than the men’s and the boys’ game because it’s completely new in itself anyway. It’s a new activity, a new opportunity, and whilst boys and men might have lots of other team sports in which to participate, cricket provides women and girls with a whole new opportunity that they possibly haven’t had before.The numbers, the growth we’re seeing in places like PNG, EAP, in Thailand – the women’s and the girls’ game is growing far more quickly in Thailand than the men’s and the boys’ game. We have to really harness that enthusiasm, look at why it’s working, what is driving that growth and enthusiasm in those areas, and work to share that best practice in other regions for whom it might also be relevant. That, for me, is certainly one of the most exciting parts of the experience I’ve had in the ICC in the last 12 to 18 months.

The teams comprising Group C in the Under-19 World Cup in Queensland are a microcosm of the disparity among the 16 participating countries

George Binoy in Brisbane10-Aug-2012Hanuabada is a coastal village on the outskirts of Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. In Motu, one of hundreds of languages spoken in the country, Hanuabada means big village. According to Wikipedia, its population is more than 15,000. Eleven of its residents are in Townsville at present, preparing to take on the might of India, the collective strength of the Caribbean islands and Zimbabwe.The teams comprising Group C in the Under-19 World Cup in Queensland are a microcosm of the disparity among the 16 participating countries. There are the haves and the have-nots, and those in between, across all groups.India have all they could want: a large talent pool of high quality to select from, the resources to develop chosen players, and various structures to keep these kids in the game. West Indies have also invested significantly in their youth programme, trying to bridge gaps in their set-up, and the efforts have produced an experienced squad. Zimbabwe have a youth system in place but need to improve their feeder competitions and find ways to retain the talent. That Papua New Guinea are at their sixth tournament is a testament to what they can achieve with basic structures and help from Australia. Two victories from 29 previous matches at the World Cup, however, indicate how wide the gulf between them and the rest is.The disparity starts at the beginning. Twelve out of 15 players in India’s Under-19 squad have represented their states. A few are members of IPL franchises. Those who have not played domestic cricket have tested their skills in high-standard club cricket. Six of the West Indians have played domestic cricket and their captain Kraigg Brathwaite is the only Test cricketer in the tournament. They have experienced what it’s like to play against men – some who are former first-class or international cricketers – and are tougher because of it. Only two Zimbabweans have played for their franchises, and their coach Chris Harris believes his cricketers are a year or two behind where they could have been in their development had they had the same exposure as their competition.”[The youth structure] is not too bad [in Zimbabwe]. We have representative teams right up from colts, Under-14s through to Under-19s,” says Harris. “The players that get into those sides are looked after by very good coaches.

In Zimbabwe, the club structure is not as good as you’d like it to be. Most of these boys don’t even play in club cricketChris Harris, Zimbabwe U-19 coach

“The problem is the competition that feeds into those teams. That’s probably not as strong as we’d like it to be and it’s basically run through the school system. In an ideal world, we need a more competitive environment leading into those representative sides. In Zimbabwe, the club structure is not as good as you’d like it to be. Most of these boys don’t even play in club cricket.”So right from the onset we are slightly disadvantaged, but we are trying to rectify that. We’re trying to get the club structure right. We’re also trying to get a national league up and running. If we can get that in place, it’s going to make a huge difference. It will expose these guys to the type of cricket they will face when they come to World Cups like this. We simply have to play more. I think you become a better cricketer through your experiences. You play an Indian side and their boys may have played 100 competitive games of cricket at club level. Ours might have played 25.”No question that there’s plenty of talent in Zimbabwe. The problem we have is based purely on experience. The talent is not exposed to a strong enough competition.”In Papua New Guinea, there are about 400 cricketers at Under-19 level, according to John Ovia, a former cricketer who is part of their management team in Townsville. Most of them are from Port Moresby and Hanuabada. “It’s like a village challenging a country,” says Ovia of the matches ahead.Papua New Guinea’s first game, however, is against Zimbabwe, who have not had much match practice in the lead-up to the World cup. They haven’t been on any tours outside Africa to assess where they stand against their opponents. And like several other teams, they’ve also had just a week in Queensland to get acclimatised to the weather and the conditions. It’s their first time in Australia.The tournament is also West Indies’ first visit down under but they got here on July 21. “We’ve had a camp while we’ve been in Australia. We’ve acclimatised nicely. Hopefully we can catch a few teams on the hop,” says Roddy Estwick, the West Indies coach. “The board has made a conscious effort. This team went to Dubai [to play Australia], we went to India [quadrangular series], we went to Miami … in the past you would meet up and not have a lot of time together.”The West Indies team also had a camp at the High Performance Centre in Barbados and have travelled to Australia with a heavyweight management team. In addition to Estwick, they also have Courtney Walsh and Stuart Williams to guide them.Seasoned teams have arrived to the World Cup after elaborate preparations•ICC/Bhaskar Rao KamanaIndia’s preparation has been elaborate. They hosted a quadrangular series, went to another one in Townsville and played the Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur, all in the last 12 months. They also went on various team-building exercises during a training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore in July.”They have a lot of self-belief,” says coach Bharat Arun of his team. “There’s little more we can do on the skill front. The mental side is going to be very important because it’s about handling pressure at the World Cup.” To that end, the team had interactions with Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar before flying to Brisbane.India might triumph in Townsville. West Indies could too. It’s unlikely either Zimbabwe or Papua New Guinea will. But the real triumph depends on how many of their players kick on to greater achievements in cricket. And therein lies another challenge.The Indians can go back to the competitive domestic structure they came from and use their learning to perform better in that environment. More of them will play IPL and be employed by corporates that field strong cricket teams. Most won’t have to worry about financial security. Some may not turn out to be good enough, but very little of the talent that is on show at the World cup will be lost for want of opportunity.West Indies, according to Estwick, have taken similar steps to keep their young. “Before, you would come to the World Cup and if you don’t break into your national side, it would be another two or three years before you were seen again. Now they’ve got a chance to get into the High Performance Centre, which does a few tours: Dubai last year, Bangladesh this year.”We’re trying to bridge that gap between first-class cricket and Under-19 cricket. If we can get a few of them breaking into the High Performance Centre and the A team, in a year or two year’s time, then all the work would be worth it. Yes, we want to win the World Cup, but we’ve got to think long term and getting West Indies cricket strong again.”The situation in Zimbabwe isn’t as promising. What happens to their Under-19 cricketers, says Harris, is “the other part of the problem.””Hopefully some of these guys will make it into the franchise system,” Harris says. “But that’s not that easy to get into. Boys that don’t get into the first-class structure, there’s not really too many other places for them to go. They go back to club cricket and as I said we are trying to put systems in place that will make that stronger.”From Zimbabwe Cricket’s point of view, a lot of these boys have had a lot of money invested in them. They’ve come up from Under-13 all the way to Under-19, they’ve been on tours overseas, they’ve come to a World Cup, so it’s really important we don’t lose these players. The difficulty lies in keeping them involved.”The irony is that keeping players who have made it to this level involved with the game seems to be less of an issue in Papua New Guinea, because of the smaller talent pool. “Most of the guys who will play Under-19 will go to the senior team,” says Ovia. “We have national contracted players.” The challenge is how far they can take the senior team.Papua New Guinea have been consistent qualifiers for Under-19 World Cup but are yet to debut at the senior event. They have a shot at 2015, though, if they fare well at two qualifying events over the next two years. Some of Hanuabada’s residents currently in Townsville might have another World Cup in them.

Australia’s performance against Sri Lanka in Hobart so far suggests they are far from being close to the best cricket outfit in the world

Daniel Brettig in Hobart17-Dec-2012Amid the management-speak excesses of Pat Howard’s verdict on the South Africa series, Australia’s team performance manager offered the following succinct line: “To be the best you’ve got to be well and truly the best, and we’ve got a long way to go.” Limping like Michael Clarke was on day four, that journey seems even longer.Whether or not Australia will get much closer to becoming “well and truly the best” during this series against Sri Lanka is questionable. Irrespective of the opposition, their progress in Hobart so far has been at a cost that has reinforced the precarious state of the national team so close to a pair of major assignments against India and England.To lose another fast bowler in Ben Hilfenhaus was unfortunate if not entirely unexpected, given that the Tasmanian’s side ailment makes him the seventh pace bowler somewhere near the national team to fall prey to injury. The sight of Clarke stepping gingerly between overs to assume a stationary position at first slip was altogether more concerning, for while Australia does have a rich supply of fast bowlers, the list of men behind the captain capable of leading the national team is even less numerous than the poorly attendances at Bellerive Oval this week.Clarke’s mere presence on the field, rather than seeking treatment in the rooms for a hamstring problem, spoke volumes about the lack of ready replacements for his tactical flair and ideas when Australia are attempting to bowl an opposing team out in the fourth innings. It did not reflect a great deal of confidence in Clarke’s deputy Shane Watson, who has led his country in ODIs before and now looks a chance of assuming the Test captaincy should Clarke fail to recover in time for the Boxing Day Test.Watson’s value as a bowling option was to be confirmed when he struck the first blow of Sri Lanka’s chase, coaxing an outside edge from Tillakaratne Dilshan with a ball that bounced and seamed away a fraction on an immaculate line. But like Dilshan, Watson’s skills appear best suited to being used without the burden of captaincy, something that he wrestled with at times during his time deputising for Clarke in ODIs in Australia and the West Indies earlier this year.Another issue of considerable worry for Australia on day four was the team’s play against the spin of Rangana Herath. As the world’s most prolific wicket-taker in 2012, Herath poses problems at least the equal to those that will be presented by India’s bevy of slow bowlers in early 2013 and Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar later. But the failure of Watson, in particular, to deal with his flight, spin and variations in pace suggested that the scheduling crossover, which will have most of Australia’s ODI exponents unavailable for the opening match of the Test tour to the subcontinent in February, will be ill-timed for some.”It’s inevitable, with our scheduling at the moment that type of stuff is inevitable,” Australia’s coach Mickey Arthur said. “For us to give best possible preparation to the Test squad we’ve got to get as many of them into India as soon as we can, so they can prepare properly for what’s going to be a tough four Test matches. We’ll split our staff, I’ll definitely see the one-dayers out, I suspect if Michael Clarke’s fit he’ll do the same, because we’ve got that responsibility to the Australian public and to the sponsors, but we wouldn’t be preparing ourselves properly for the four Tests if we didn’t give ourselves maximum opportunity to go out to India earlier and prepare.”Watson batted at No. 6 for Australia on the tetchy 2008 tour of India, and played the odd decent innings against the old ball. In 2010, he played his longest and most patient Test knock against MS Dhoni’s team at the outset of the Mohali match that would end in such heart-rending fashion for a team then led by Ricky Ponting. However the surfeit of ODI and Twenty20 matches played by Watson since, and his continuing shuffle around the batting order, do not appear to have helped his progress against the spinning ball. He was bottled up by Herath and unable to work the ball around, a fretful five also featuring a pair of beseeching LBW appeals before ending with a stumping as ball spun past a groping bat.Herath’s wiles will be useful ahead of India, most notably on the SCG where this summer the pitch has shown a return to its slower, spinning ways of yore rather than the slightly faster and often seaming surface of recent seasons. “He’s a quality performer and he’s shown it this year, he’s got a phenomenal record this year, so hopefully that goes some way [towards] giving us a little snippet of playing [Pragyan] Ojha or [Ravindra] Jadeja, whoever it is, in India,” Arthur said. “And Herath is a really good bowler, so looking forward to that confrontation through the summer.”How Australia fares on the final day in Hobart will be intriguing in itself of course, as Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara dig in for battle amid the increasingly variable bounce offered by the surface. The hosts’ chances of getting closer to the high mark set by Howard, Arthur and the limping Clarke will be best measured on their travels, and they stand little chance of enjoying success if they suffer the sorts of injuries and hiccups against spin witnessed here.

Joe Root’s excellent run, together with an impressive performance from England’s seamers, have left New Zealand outplayed and outgunned again

Iain O'Brien23-Feb-2013’Rooted’, a word in New Zealand parlance that has several meanings. The more savoury one is “something broken, or has been broken”. New Zealand have been rooted among other things; in this instance by a baby faced 22-year-old.With scores of 56 and 79 not out in the first two ODI’s and being the first player to have six consecutive scores of 30-plus starting with his debut, Joe Root stood out, and rightly so, to the New Zealand crowd who hadn’t seen him bat and dash about the field. He was denied a seventh 30-plus score on the trot (28 not out) only because New Zealand didn’t score enough in the second innings to leave him the runs to do so. Although, had he waited for the ball to roll over the boundary and not touched down for the completed final single, it would have been scored as a four and he would have kept his 30-plus run alive. The quirks of the game.Root has time, he has a plan and, most importantly, he has a level head that belies his age. He rotates the strike, he can hit a boundary, when needed, and can happily switch back and forth between the aggressor and the nudger.In the same way a young Root has had success with the bat in this series, the slightly older Steven Finn has been fiery and controlled and been a star at the top of the innings with the ball. Together with James Anderson, haven’t let New Zealand take advantage of the Powerplay – 18 for 1, 21 for 2, and 32-1 in three games – and have taken wickets to compound the run-rate issues New Zealand have had. Finn has shortened his run-up and looks a little more in control of his limbs at jump and delivery. Pace and bounce have been his most important allies and the pitches have suited him throughout.New Zealand played the latest ODI, perceivably, with a lack of real commitment; it was as if they were resigned to being on the wrong side of the ledger after losing the toss and being inserted. Weak dismissals punctuated the batting innings, and maybe New Zealand were lucky to catch the England team’s ODI replacements on the hope in the first ODI in Hamilton.The replacements from the Twenty20 series were based in Hamilton before start of the series, but had no opportunity for a warm-up hit-out, only use of the practice facilities at Seddon Park. Coming in cold to any series has been the burden of the New Zealand team; it has also been the case on recent overseas tours and they have equally not performed in the early international matches.Brendon McCullum seems to have found his rhythm with the bat. The two new balls that are used in each innings means he is more valuable down the order when the ball is older, still hard, but not swinging or seaming as much as they tend to at the top of the innings. The captain has been allowed to “get in” and then get destructive. His best was in Napier during a partnership with the ex-captain Ross Taylor. McCullum pasted the England bowlers for 74 from 36 balls in an innings that New Zealand fans will feel typifies the belligerent batsman; as a finisher.Taylor, after a tough start back into international cricket in the T20 series, found his feet in the first ODI and took that form into the second. A revitalising hundred in front of his home crowd took New Zealand to a score (269) that was never going to be totally secure, but would give them a chance if they took a wickets early. They didn’t. On a side note the perceived awkwardness of the McCullum – Taylor relationship looked a thing of the past. They enjoyed a rollicking partnership in Napier and seeing Taylor chasing a dismissed McCullum to congratulate him on his innings was pleasing to see.Tim Southee’s comeback, two games earlier than expected, having replaced the injured Mitchell McClenaghan (side strain), showed positive signs after an eight week lay-off during which he needed surgery on his left thumb from a fielding incident in a domestic match. Southee was lined up for a Test return and has impressed to the point where it’s hard to tell if he has had a break at all; straight back in and having success. Good sign for him ahead of the three Test series.New Zealand have been outplayed, and outgunned, in the last two ODIs and it’s hard to see the Test series being much different.

Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Pune Warriors and Chennai Super Kings in Pune

Sidharth Monga30-Apr-2013The howler
In their previous game, Chennai Super Kings suffered because of bad umpiring. This time they benefitted when Wriddhiman Saha was caught plumb by Bhuvneshwar Kumar without having scored a run, but the only man that mattered, Subrat Das, disagreed with everybody else watching the match. This is perhaps the biggest conflict of interest: a BCCI product doing its best to make a case for DRS.The sweep
MS Dhoni playing a sweep is rare enough, but today he kept sweeping Ashok Dinda. The first time he faced Dinda, he went down on one knee and dragged the ball from wide outside off to send it to fine leg for four. Two more attempts followed, with Dhoni missing one, and the other being sent to midwicket for four. The plan to bowl full and wide with a strong off-side field was well and truly foiled.The overthrow
This was hardly an overthrow, but Dhoni and Suresh Raina stole it. Both the batsmen were happily settled in their respective creases when Dinda, the bowler, failed to collect cleanly, and the ball rolled onto the adjacent pitch. The batsmen sprinted and were helped by a miss from Robin Uthappa, the wicketkeeper. Eventually this was worth more than just one: Dhoni got the strike back and smacked the remaining two balls of the innings for a four and a six.The let-off
Allan Border won’t be proud of Uthappa. In the first over of the chase, the ball slipped out of Ravindra Jadeja’s hand, and bounced outside the cut strip. Uthappa started charging towards it, but then let it go. Bowling the first over of an innings for the first time in IPL, Jadeja wasn’t complaining. When England toured India last year, Jonathan Trott hit a similar delivery for four in the Nagpur Test. It had slipped out of the hand of … Jadeja.