Rachin Ravindra and Shivam Dube played key roles with the bat as CSK won by six wickets

Deivarayan Muthu22-Mar-20242:42

Will Mustafizur play a big role in games in Chennai?

Chennai Super Kings, under a brand-new captain, enjoyed a winning start to their defence of the IPL title in front of a raucous Chepauk crowd on Friday night. Mustafizur Rahman, who was among four debutants for CSK, took out four of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s top five in the space of ten balls to set up an eighth successive defeat for RCB in Chennai.Rachin Ravindra, who was playing his first IPL game, also played his part in the victory, with 37 off 15 balls at a strike rate of 246.66 on a pitch that slowed down later in the night. In his first game as CSK captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad started with a first-ball four, but RCB’s Impact Player Yash Dayal cut his innings short on 15 in CSK’s chase of 174.Cameron Green and Alzarri Joseph then briefly silenced the Chepauk crowd with their contrasting styles. While Green bowled slower cutters into the pitch, Joseph operated at high speeds and generated steep bounce, taking the pitch out of the equation.2:42

Do RCB have an overseas combination problem?

Shivam Dube, who was working his way back from injury, replaced Mustafizur as an Impact Player for CSK and laboured to 7 off 13 balls. But he then turned up the tempo to usher CSK home with an unbeaten 34 off 28 balls along with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored an unbeaten 25 off 17. MS Dhoni didn’t get to bat in the chase, but perhaps this is what he had hoped for when he handed over the keys of the CSK kingdom to Gaikwad.RCB’s Jekyll-and-Hyde powerplayAfter opting to bat in what was his first IPL game as an opposition player in Chennai, Faf du Plessis dashed out of the blocks, hitting seven fours in the first three overs. He latched on to any width that Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande offered, repeatedly pumping them over the off-side infield. Gaikwad got into the act and pushed extra cover back to deep cover and, on cue, Mustafizur had du Plessis holing out to Rachin Ravindra there for 35 off 21 balls. Three balls later, Mustafizur found a bit of extra bounce to have Rajat Patidar nicking off for a duck. Then, in the final over of the powerplay, Chahar had Glenn Maxwell guiding one straight into Dhoni’s gloves, also for a duck.After being on 37 for no loss in the first four overs, RCB lost three wickets for five runs in the next two.1:26

Moody: ‘RCB were predictable with short-ball plan’

Mustafizur goes bang-bang once againMustafizur then returned in the 12th over and dismissed Virat Kohli and Green in the space of three balls. While Kohli dragged a pull off a seam-up delivery to deep midwicket for 21 off 20 balls, Green was bowled by a whippy cutter for 18 off 22 balls. It was Mustafizur’s second double-wicket over.Mustafizur might not even have played had CSK’s death-overs specialist Matheesha Pathirana been fit. He ended up with figures of 4-0-29-4 on a night where the other two seamers in his team – Chahar and Deshpande – went at well over nine an over. When Pathirana returns to action, CSK will have a happy selection headache.Rawat and Karthik prop up RCBThat RCB finished with 173 for 6 was down to a counterattacking 95-run partnership for the sixth wicket off just 50 balls that ended off the last ball of the innings courtesy a Dhoni direct hit.At one stage, RCB went 28 balls without a boundary, but Rawat then hit two in six balls to set RCB up for the end overs. He then walloped Deshpande for 6,6, 4 in a 25-run 18th over. At the other end, Karthik looked rusty to start with, but mixed power with inventiveness to give RCB’s innings more impetus.Dube gets the job done for CSKAfter CSK lost Gaikwad in the powerplay, Ravindra lined up RCB’s quicks with pulls and pick-up shots. He even whacked Karn Sharma over midwicket for six, but when he went for another six, he holed out to deep square-leg.Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 19 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (22 off 18) made cameos to take the chase deep in typical CSK style. But when Green snagged Mitchell, CSK still needed 64 off 45 balls. The two-bouncer rule empowered Joseph to run in hard and hit the deck even harder. Dube, however, just about passed the short-ball test and sealed the chase with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

Alex Iwobi has been banned by Fulham from posting behind-the-scenes videos on social media, with the Nigeria international threatened with a fine.

Nigeria international likes to have funLifted the lid on life in the dressing roomForced to stop on advice of the CottagersFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Ex-Arsenal and Everton midfielder Iwobi has been giving fans exclusive access to life in the dressing room since his days at Goodison Park. He has been on the books at Craven Cottage since 2023.

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The 29-year-old tries to play with a smile and does his best to keep morale high in training. During pre-season camps, Iwobi has often treated supporters to Snapchat videos that see him mingling with club colleagues.

DID YOU KNOW?

He has captured himself singing with former team-mate Dominic Calvert-Lewin, while sharing clips of Adama Traore and Calvin Bassey wrestling at Fulham, but Iwobi is having to put the camera down for now.

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WHAT IWOBI SAID

Iwobi said in a Snapchat post: "For those that are wondering why I haven't been snapping BTS in the changing room, one person in the media team has been saying I haven't been catching the right stuff.

"So, there's no more BTS. They also said I might get fined if I continue to do so, they're trying to ban snap in our changing room. That's why I ain't been snapping BTS, it's a shame, I know you guys enjoy seeing what my team-mates are like behind the scenes. But, I have to respect the rules."

India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey credited England for being brave but doesn’t believe the hosts have fallen behind

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2024The reverse sweep was England’s second most profitable shot (48 off 30 balls, no dismissals) in the second innings that took them from 190 behind to 126 ahead. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett in particular were using it repeatedly, throwing India’s spinners off the good length area where most of the danger lurked in this Hyderabad pitch.In all, England made 79 runs off 46 balls using various kinds of sweeps – including a reverse Dilscoop that Pope played late in the day after raising an immense century.India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey credited England for being brave and said the only thing to do when a team comes out with such unorthodox strokeplay is to hold your line and hope for the edge.Related

• Hyderabad erupts as Bumrah collides with Bazball

• England's first outing is oh, so Stokes

• Ollie Pope sweeps England out of deep trouble

“It does happen. If a batsman starts to access different areas, it’s always going to be a challenge,” Mhambrey said. “Someone like Pope who played, he accessed the square, fine leg area as well and the sweep and the reverse sweep and he played it consistently. Credit must go to him. They really played well, took on the attack at the stage where it was needed and sometimes that happens. Someone who plays some shots like these consistently does get the bowlers under pressure in terms of variation in the lines. Credit goes to him.”But as I said, we still have to be patient with the lines, still hit the right areas and hope to get a wicket. Hope to get an edge or something or the other. That can happen. But I think the credit goes to him the way he played.”Joe Root, who spoke in glowing terms about Pope, said the key to playing the sweep and the reverse sweep is to believe you’re going to nail it every single time. This was when he was asked if they might be a better option than a forward defensive on a turning pitch.Ollie Pope reverse sweeps, something he did a lot•BCCI

“It can be if you can play it well,” Root said. “When it’s hardest is when some spin, some don’t. When it’s consistent spin you can work out when to take it on, and which balls from which line you can take a risk on.”The most important thing is you don’t think you are going to miss at all. Have that mindset of committing to the shot and nailing it for four or one, or whatever. Pope did it exceptionally well. It took until 110 to make a small error when he got dropped. There were a couple of balls that ripped past his outside edge but you expect that; it’s part and parcel, almost like in England when it’s swinging and seaming around, and you almost give yourself a pat on the back because you’ve not chased it. It’s exactly the same here. It was a really special knock.”India aren’t bothered that they’ve fallen behind because they believe that the surface in Hyderabad is a little atypical.”If you look at the way the game has progressed over the last three days, looking at the first session, the amount of balls, the pace of the wicket, the pace of the spin, it got better in the second innings and I think it’s only going to get a little better,” Mhambrey said.”It is on the slower side. There’s still turn but it’s not the usual turn that we see on Indian subcontinental wickets where the game progresses and there’s sharp turn. It’s not that. Still a little turn but not as challenging as maybe the other wickets we’ve played on.”

Royals chased the total down with 27 balls to spare to move to No. 1 on the points table with a hat-trick of wins

Sreshth Shah01-Apr-20242:22

Aaron: ‘Chahal the best spinner to have ever played the IPL’

Hardik Pandya’s return to the Wankhede Stadium as Mumbai Indians captain was far from a fairy tale, as the five-time champions lost their third game in a row, this time with 27 balls to spare. Rajasthan Royals – led by superb performances from Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Riyan Parag – gave them a thorough hammering to move to No. 1 on the points table with a hat-trick of victories.Boult left Mumbai gasping within minutes of the start of the match when he dismissed Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis for first-ball ducks in his first eight balls. His 3 for 22 was only matched by the 3 for 11 taken by Chahal, who controlled the middle overs to ensure Mumbai did not stage a batting comeback.Chasing 126 for victory, Parag dragged Royals out of some early trouble and shepherded the chase. He finished the game with six, six, and four to stay unbeaten on 54 to take the No. 1 spot on the orange cap leaderboard – tied on runs with Virat Kohli but ahead of strike rate.Boult sets up the demolition jobRohit had all the support from the crowd, who chanted his name even as they booed Hardik, but his time with the bat lasted only one ball when Boult got one to swing away from him and get him to edge it behind. Next ball, Boult swung it the other way, getting a full ball to nip into Dhir.With two wickets gone inside the game’s first six balls, Mumbai brought in impact sub Brevis in the second over itself, but he too fell prey to the ball angling across, edging it to Nandre Burger at short third.Trent Boult picked up three wickets in his first eight balls – par for the course•Associated Press

With three wickets in his first eight deliveries of the game, Boult gave Royals an advantage that they never let go.Scintillating ChahalAfter Boult’s searing opening spell, Burger got in on the action. Playing as a replacement for the injured Sandeep Sharma, Burger came around the wicket to pick off Ishan Kishan with a length ball that angled away and took his edge.With Mumbai Indians 20 for 4 in three-and-a-half overs, Tilak Varma and Hardik looked to build a recovery, almost succeeding with a 56-run fifth-wicket stand, but Chahal dismissed both batters to snuff out any chance of a comeback.After hitting six boundaries early in his innings, Hardik fell on 34 when he holed out at mid-on trying to hit Chahal. Tilak was sent packing on 32 soon after when Chahal’s googly was edged to R Ashwin at short third.Chahal finished his spell with the wicket of Gerald Coetzee late in the innings. In all, 16 of Chahal’s 24 deliveries were dots, and his four-over spell ended with an economy of only 2.75.A late wicket for Avesh Khan and a second for Burger ensured Mumbai finished on 125 for 9, a score too low on a surface that is traditionally batting-friendly.Madhwal comes good on season debutOnly wickets could save Mumbai after that batting effort, and they played their trump card early when Jasprit Bumrah shared the new ball, with Kwena Maphaka, for the first time this season.But even though Bumrah bowled three of the six powerplay overs, the Royals batters did not give a wicket away to him. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Maphaka in the first over itself, while the other three wickets went to Akash Madhwal, playing his first game of IPL 2024.Madhwal struck with the second ball of his spell when he got Sanju Samson to chop on to his stumps, and added a second when Jos Buttler pulled him to fine leg. He added a third later, in the 13th over, when Ashwin sent a leading edge off a short delivery to point. Madhwal was the standout bowler for Mumbai Indians with 3 for 20.Riyan Parag scored another half-century, and claimed the orange cap•BCCI

Parag’s form continuesParag walked in ranked No. 5 on the orange cap list and finished the day with the cap on his head. With no real scoreboard pressure on this occasion, No. 4 Parag played risk-free cricket early on, but tore into Coetzee with four fours and two sixes.It all started with back-to-back boundaries off Coetzee in the eighth over, followed by another lofted four over the covers in the 11th. He then smoked Bumrah through mid-off in the 14th over before depositing Piyush Chawla over long-on in the 15th.Parag then put the finishing touches on the result by hammering Coetzee for 16 runs off the first three balls of the 16th over. The first ball went for a clubbed six over the covers, and he reached his fifty next ball with a slog over midwicket. The winning runs came over wicketkeeper Kishan’s head and sent Royals and Mumbai Indians to opposite ends of the points table.

Another day, another packed crowd for a Royal Challengers Bangalore game, another win for the home team. RCB took seven games last season to reach four points on the table; in WPL 2024, it’s taken them just two as they put up another solid all-round show to continue their winning march by hammering Gujarat Giants by eight wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.It was Renuka Singh who started the Giants’ fall in a stellar spell of new-ball bowling where she picked 2 for 14 off her four overs. Sophie Molineux then had the middle order in a tangle, finishing with 3 for 25 as Giants limped to 107 for 7 off their 20 overs.In reply, Smriti Mandhana bashed a 27-ball 43, and S Meghana then continued the momentum as RCB raced to their target in just 12.3 overs to move to the top of the points table.

Renuka ‘Swing’ helps RCB hold sway

At the toss, RCB captain Mandhana had hoped for some early assistance for her fast bowlers, as has been the case in a few of the previous games. And Renuka did not disappoint. Giants had a new opening combination in Beth Mooney and Harleen Deol. That didn’t change their fortunes though.Renuka got the ball to hoop around, but it was her in-between lengths that left the batters clueless. Mooney started by getting two fours away off Renuka: one a flourishing square drive that got her off the mark and the other a wristy flick through midwicket.Renuka didn’t take to this kindly. She got the ball to pitch from around wicket angle and curve back into Mooney. The batter played down the wrong line and found her off pole flattened. Then came Phoebe Litchfield, promoted to No. 3. But the RCB bowlers had both her and Deol in a stranglehold. Giants could only manage 16 runs in the first five overs before three fours in the sixth helped end the powerplay better.Renuka then claimed her second wicket taking out Litchfield, who was undone by some smart keeping from Richa Ghosh. Renuka had picked up more wickets in the one game than she had in the last seven WPL matches combined. Giants were well and truly cut to size.

Giants have no answers to Molineux’s left-arm spin

Molineux was out of action for close to 12 months after suffering an ACL injury and is making up for lost time. She came onto bowl in the ninth over and immediately found her bearings. She mixed her pace and length, and had Veda Krishnamurthy slog one down deep midwicket’s throat in just her second over. She then saw Deol go for a non-existent single and ran her out as Giants slipped to 50 for 4 in the 11th over.Renuka Singh was tough to score off•PTI

When she was brought back for her next spell, she accounted for the wicket of Kathryn Bryce, who was beaten for pace. She was taken for a four and six in the death overs but made sure to claim her third wicket, getting Sneh Rana stumped.If not for D Hemalatha’s 35-ball 31, Giants would have failed to go past 100. They had faced 67 dot balls in the innings, the most by a team in a WPL game.

Mandhana, Meghana put RCB in pole position

Mandhana had her eye on the NRR right from the get-go. A backfoot punch past backward point, a pull over midwicket, and a thump through square leg: she struck three fours off Lea Tahuhu’s first four balls and there was no looking back thereon.Bryce was belted past deep midwicket and Meghna Singh was slammed for back-to-back fours as RCB raced to 32 for 0 after three overs. Ashleigh Gardner got the better of Sophie Devine but that did not stop the RCB train.Meghana, fresh from a half-century against UP Warriorz, continued in the same vein going over the top against Bryce twice. Mandhana eventually fell for 43, popping a simple return catch to Tanuja Kanwar, but the damage had been done.Ellyse Perry came in at No. 4 and immediately got the boundaries flowing. She pulled one past short fine leg to seal the win for RCB with 45 balls to spare.Giants now find themselves down at the bottom of the points table.

Royals’ show equalled the record for the highest successful chase in IPL history, which they had held since 2020

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Apr-20242:53

Bishop: ‘Buttler definitely among the great white-ball players of our generation’

Jos Buttler started slightly slow as Rajasthan Royals (RR) aimed to travel at more than 11 an over, making only 25 off his first 18 balls. He was at the crease during what seemed like a debilitating mid-innings slowdown, in which Royals scored only 30 from six overs, and lost three wickets in that time.But although clearly still struggling with the injury that kept him out of the last RR game, and although rapidly running out of batting partners, Buttler stayed the course. He was there turning down singles in the 18th over, after Rovman Powell got out following a decent cameo. He was there to clobber two sixes and a four off the penultimate over, to get the equation down to nine off the final six balls.Related

Smart Stats – Buttler's 107* tops batting performances list, allrounder Narine the MVP so far

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And despite Varun Chakravarthy having bowled three dots in that final over, Buttler was there to heroically hit the winning run off the final ball of the match. Off the first ball of that over, he had also bashed a six down the ground that made RR the clear favourites to get over the line, and in the course of that completed his second century this IPL, to follow the 100 not out he had struck against Royal Challengers Bengaluru only ten days ago.Buttler’s feat meant that Sunil Narine’s century, a staggering accomplishment in itself, was overshadowed. As were his figures of 2 for 30 off four overs.Rovman Powell’s 13-ball 26 put the Royals chase back on track•AFP/Getty ImagesThe 17th over of the chase
After 16 overs of Royals’ innings, they needed 62 runs off 24 balls, six of which were to be bowled by Narine, who had not conceded a boundary up till then.But Rovman Powell then walloped two sixes and a four off the first three balls of the 17th over, which Narine bowled, and suddenly Royals’ challenge didn’t seem so sharp. Narine, however, would nail Powell lbw with the fifth ball of that over.Shreyas Iyer fined for slow over-rate

Shreyas Iyer, the Kolkata Knight Riders captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate against Rajasthan Royals in their last-ball defeat at Eden Gardens on Tuesday. As it was KKR’s first offence of the season – in six games – Iyer was fined INR 12 lakh.

The last three overs
With Powell gone, and no batter he could trust to hand the strike over to, this is where Buttler really shone. He smashed a six down the ground first ball of Starc’s last over, before swivel-pulling him around the corner for four later in the over. Starc did not help himself by bowling five wides soon after, either.Then, with 28 required off 12, Buttler clobbered three sixes and a four off the next seven balls, never losing strike. With the requirement down to three off five, he bided his time. He collected two off the penultimate ball, then pierced a packed infield with a leg-side clip last ball to see RR to their sixth win this season, and arguably their most hard-earned one.3:16

Narine had told me a decade back that he would get a hundred – Bishop

The Narine show
As good as Buttler was, though, Narine was the game’s MVP – he just had less support from his team-mates. Though known as a powerplay aggressor, he let Phil Salt and Angkrish Raghuvanshi take the lead early on, before blooming in the middle overs against the spinners. He smacked R Aswhin for two sixes, and Yuzvendra Chahal for three, as both those bowlerse conceded in excess of 12 an over.It was Narine’s fours, though, that truly powered his innings. He hit 13 of them, all but four of them on the off side.Although Narine had been impressive through the middle overs, he also accelerated towards the death. He hit 35 runs off the last 14 balls he faced. Most impressively, he motored from 79 to KKR’s third IPL hundred in the space of one Chahal over, in which he crashed two sixes and two fours.Rinku Singh provided some closing fireworks to the KKR innings, but Narine’s best stand had been the 85-run second-wicket partnership with Raghuvanshi, who made only 30 of those runs. Such was Narine’s early dominance.

Following Marcus Rashford's arrival on loan, Barcelona president Joan Laporta has made a revealing admission about the club's transfer plans.

• Barca chief Laporta makes transfer window admission
• Confirms plans after signing Rashford on loan
• Catalans have also signed Joan Garcia and Roony Bardghji

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Barcelona president Laporta has confirmed that the club will not make further signings this summer, suggesting that Rashford was the final addition to the first team roster ahead of the 2025-26 season. Laporta also indicated that the club will aim to use La Masia, as they always have, to complete the squad's missing pieces.

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• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  The Catalans have already sealed the signing of Joan Garcia from Espanyol, who is likely to begin the season as the first-choice goalkeeper ahead of Wojciech Szczesny and the out-of-favour Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The reigning La Liga champions were close to signing Nico Williams from Athletic Bilbao, only for the move to collapse at the last minute. Other high-profile names such as Luis Diaz and Rafael Leao made the rounds in the media, but Barca ultimately decided to sign Rashford on loan from Manchester United.

• WHAT JOAN LAPORTA SAID

  Speaking to in an interview, Laporta said: “In principle, there will be no more signings. We have a squad and the coach wants to make additions to the first team dynamic with players from Barca Atletic (the reserve team), but additions are not expected at the moment. We will try to avoid any painful exit. I’m not going to specify players because they are all Barca players and we are all delighted with them, but there will be certain adjustments, because there are too many players in some positions, replicated, and something will have to be done. This is already at the discretion of the coach and Deco.”

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• Getty
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA?

  With new signings ruled out, Flick can focus on tinkering with the first-team squad dynamics in the pre-season tour, which begins on Sunday with a game against Vissel Kobe in Japan. They have two more games lined up, against FC Seoul on July 31 and Daegu on August 4. Both these games will take place in South Korea.

The West Indian coach has been hampered by issues which are far beyond his control

Tony Cozier in Dambulla01-Aug-2005

Although he doesn’t publicly let on, there must be times when Bennett King wonders just what he got himself into when he finally accepted the offer to become West Indies’ coach.King is one of the three Australians in charge of the teams in the triangular Indian Oil Cup. While Greg Chappell, with India, and Tom Moody, with Sri Lanka, have taken over strong, well-settled teams in the past month, King has been surrounded by controversy and chaos over which he has had no control during his eight months in the post.His assignment was difficult enough as it was. Following seven eminent West Indies players since Rohan Kanhai was the first official appointment in 1992, the 40-year-old King, who was the head of Australia’s much-vaunted Academy, arrived last November to what was, at best, a lukewarm reception from the Caribbean public.He was, after all, the first foreigner in the post. Such West Indian icons as Kanhai, Andy Roberts, Clive Lloyd, Malcolm Marshall and Viv Richards had preceded him.After declining his initial announced appointment a year earlier in circumstances that are still unclear, he was second choice this time around to the same Greg Chappell who has now moved to India, a celebrated player who could not agree on the terms with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).Unlike Chappell and all the West Indians previously in the post, King did not possess the credentials of even a first-class playing career. He brought with him an entourage of fellow Australians in support and landed at the onset of the latest, longest and most bitter row between the WICB and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) that has made his job, and any reasonable assessment of it, virtually impossible.He has seldom known, from one day to the next, what players he would have under him for the next international engagement, even whether he would have any at all. Thirty-one players in three separate groups under two different captains have represented West Indies under him, all to the constant detonation of angry words in the war between Roger Brathwaite and Dinanath Ramnarine, the feuding front men for the board and the players.Even when he had the first-choice players available on his first international assignment, West Indies were beaten in four of their five ODIs in the VB Series in Australia in January. It was followed by a 2-0 loss in the Test series against South Africa and unprecedented losses to South Africa and Pakistan in eight consecutive ODIs. The satisfaction of the first Test victory under his watch, over Pakistan at Kensington Oval, was immediately compromised by the disappointment of defeat in the next at Sabina Park.Worse was to follow. The tour of Sri Lanka, for two Tests and the ODI triangular, would have given King the chance to judge the progress of his work, as disrupted as it had been. Instead, it turned into a horror story for West Indies cricket that is still to run its fearful course. On the advice of the WIPA, ten of the originally selected 13 refused to sign the tour contract that contained two clauses – 1(k) and 5 – that were the bones of contention between the two organisations from the start.There was no Brian Lara, no Ramnaresh Sarwan, no Corey Collymore, no Fidel Edwards. Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul, promoted to the captaincy when Lara withdrew from the first Test against Pakistan in April over the sponsorship row, remained as the solitary player of genuine Test experience and quality. WICB managed to raise replacements from the A team that was, coincidentally, on tour of Sri Lanka at the time but they were no more than novices at the highest level of the game.More disturbingly, their decision to go against that of their seniors created an ugly divide between players, the effects of which are likely to further undermine King’s effort in the months to come. At that point, he might well have advised the WICB that the seemingly never-ending disorder had made his position untenable and he was withdrawing from his contract and going back to the peace and calm of Brisbane. He hasn’t.”He [King] and the support staff haven’t whinged about all the problems,” said Tony Howard, the team manager, last week. “They’ve just got on with things.” King doesn’t dwell on the hullabaloo that has swirled around his players.There has been no perceptible slackening in his enthusiasm or that of assistant coach David Moore and Bryce Cavanagh, the unrelenting trainer from the same tough rugby background as Dennis Waight, his Australian equivalent of the Lloyd-Richards era. While the WICB and the WIPA continue to wash their dirty linen in public, King and Howard have busied themselves preparing recommendations for presentation to their employees aimed at, among other things, increasing international competition for the A team and for youth teams at under-15, under-17 and under-19 levels.”The pleasing thing is that West Indies cricket has invested in moving the game forward and not staying where they have been,” said King. “They have taken the approach that they’re not going to do what they always did which is good. My role in West Indies cricket is more encumbering than just the West Indies side,” he explained. “It’s certainly evolved that way although it’s something I didn’t expect. We’ve managed to put plans in place from a developing point of view,” he added. The immediate improvements in whatever team has played under King have been in fitness levels and fielding.Cavanagh has certainly been a hard task master – and King is adamant that the players have responded positively to the challenge. Before the Sri Lankan series, King spoke hopefully of “finding diamonds in coal.””Sometimes you have to go through some pain to get some joy,” he said. “Test cricket can make men out of boys and children out of men. It’s one of the beauties of cricket, finding someone who rises to the occasion.”No individual diamonds appeared from the coal in the two Tests, no men were made out of boys. The depleted team was duly beaten by both Tests in Sri Lanka but what did emerge, as it often does in times of adversity, was a spirit and a resolve that earned the respect of opponents who looked at their collective record and dismissed them as no-hopers who would have been better advised to stay at home.”In terms of this team, it could have some players of the future,” King said. “It’s the way we are thinking, the way we are looking forward.”The future, however, is in the hands of the WICB and the WIPA, rather than King and the management team. The trouble is they don’t seem to appreciate it.

A selection of Cricinfo’s writers recall their favourite players

Cricinfo staff28-Jul-2005As the 2005 Ashes prepare for their second chapter, Cricinfo asks a selection of its writers and senior staff to recall their most memorable Ashes moments – good, bad or downright ugly. Last week, it was lows. Now it’s the favourite players

Jeff Thomson: a great example for impressionable teenagers © Getty Images
David Gower. Had to be; I am a sucker for romance. Even today, I can watch him in the mind’s eye, his bat wafting like gentle breeze, softly persuading the ball to its destination. He didn’t brutalise bowlers, he charmed them. I suspect even the bowlers found it tough to take offence while being taken apart by him. I switched off English cricket for years after he was cast aside callously. Sambit BalDarren Gough played in four Ashes series without getting close to winning, but he always gave his all and was accorded a rare honour by the Australians when they said he would make their side – as 12th man. Gough raised his game when he saw a baggy green and his efforts at Sydney in 1994 even earned the respect of the harsh local crowds. Andrew McGlashanDavid Gower. Jack Hobbs is the only English batsman to score more heavily against Australia but I bet he didn’t do it as stylishly. Gower scored runs in all conditions [he made hundreds at eight of the 11 grounds where he faced Australia] and in all circumstances. He regained the Ashes as captain [and lost them too] but faced triumph and disaster with equanimity. And then there’s the Tiger Moth incident and the theatre date that brought an early end to a press conference. You gotta love him. John SternJeff Thomson. Written off as a beach bum, the sight of him slinging England into oblivion on the highlights in the winter of 1974-75 sent shivers down my spine as I huddled in front of the fire; in the flesh the following summer, he was even more awesome. That spring, the nets at my school were full of 13-year-olds aping Thomson’s unique action, arching their backs and propelling balls in every direction except the right one, leading to the headmaster banning future impersonators. Add into the equation his hard-drinking, no-nonsense approach, and he was the ideal role model for impressionable teenagers. Martin WilliamsonRicky Ponting – you couldn’t fit that much flair into a warning signal. Edward CraigSteve Waugh. Four tours, four trophies, seven hundreds and the defining memory of three series – baggy-green wearing run-machine in ’89, Old Trafford scrapper in ’97 and 2001’s hobbling hero. Peter EnglishGlenn McGrath. Has there ever been a more relentless bowler? Michael Atherton might be the first to say nay. If Geoffrey Boycott invented the phrase, “corridor of uncertainty”, it was McGrath that constructed it, ball after ball, over after over, wicket after wicket. Since he came on the scene, England haven’t had a sniff, so much so that you fear for what will happen once he departs. Dileep PremachandranAngus Fraser. Lumbering, red-faced and knackered. Perpetually knackered. Fraser was the very antithesis of an athlete, which was why I rejoiced in his heroics all the more. With a run-up memorably described by Mike Selvey as “a man trampling through a nettle-bed pursued by a swarm of bees”, he produced one of the great futile performances in Ashes history – 6 for 82 at Melbourne in 1990-91, from 39 hip-jarring overs – before limping out of the game, seemingly for good. Two years later he returned with eight triumphant wickets at The Oval, and against all expectations, he was still hanging in there six winters later. Andrew Miller

It was the naked hunger and opportunism of Vandort that was the most compelling story of the day

Charlie Austin25-Jun-2007

If Marvan Atapattu was given a day off at Lashings CC and was able watch the opening day of this series then it might not have been easy viewing. According to Jayanda Dharmadasa, Sri Lanka Cricket’s chairman, Atapattu has requested more time to overcome the “trauma” of his difficult World Cup on the sidelines. Michael Vandort, meanwhile, a opener that has been overlooked so much in his career that he might be forgiven for seeking professional trauma counseling, was, not for the first time in his stop-start career, grabbing an opportunity with a typically solid 87 not out.The first day at the near-empty Sinhalese Sports Club was dominated by the bowling of Muttiah Muralitharan, who wreaked havoc with his devilish doosra, and the most sublime batting came from Mahela Jayawardene, who was in regal form until a calf strain interrupted his fluency. But it was the naked hunger and opportunism of Vandort that was the most compelling story of the day. With Atapattu taking a mental break in England, Sanath Jayasuriya “resting” with Lancashire and Upul Tharanga nursing a broken bone in his left foot, Vandort once again laid out his credentials.Atapattu’s controversial decision to sit-out the series could have serious repercussions. Whether he really is recovering from trauma or not, when senior players try to pick and choose tours then selectors and coaches are naturally suspicious. Trevor Bayliss may yet be convinced that Atapattu, now aged 36, still has a role to play, especially in tough series against Australia and England at the end of the year, but if Vandort keeps showing this commitment, composure and stickiness at the crease then it will be brutally unfair for him to be unceremoniously unseated later in the year.

It is true that Vandort has a long way to go before he can claim to be equal to Atappatu, a classical batsman with a marvelous record. It is true, as well, that this is Bangladesh, the weakest Test team in the world. But you can’t knock the ability to score runs when under personal pressure. He did this when he was selected back in 2002, scoring a century against Bangladesh only to then spend three-and-a- half years on the sidelines. He did it again when picked for the England tour in 2006, scoring an obdurate 105 on a tricky pitch at Edgbaston. Surprise, surprise…he seized his chance today too.The experts seem to be in two minds about his ability to produce the goods against top-class bowlers. His fielding has also been highlighted as a weakness. But having now passed fifty in seven Test matches spread over six years, he surely deserves a proper chance to disprove his doubters. He is organised in approach, well aware of his strengths and weakness, and quite prepared to graft hard for his runs. In a team of strokeplayers his adhesiveness could be a great asset. Atapattu should be ruing his incredibly short-sighted decision to opt-out of the tour.