Aakash Chopra analyses Mushfiqur Rahim’s response to India’s spinners on the fourth day of the Hyderabad Test

Aakash Chopra12-Feb-2017Mushfiqur’s varied responses to the same length
Mushfiqur Rahim has played the Indian spinners quite well in this match. Confidence in the forward defence has formed the foundation of his game. Bowlers try to target the good-length area and to counter that regularly you need a good defence. He has played with soft and high hands while keeping the bat ahead of the front pad. The second response to a same length ball is his wide range of sweep shots. He can play the ball fine, square and even drag it from outside off to hit towards midwicket. Once he was set, he started using his feet to drive through covers and down the ground. That forced spinners to drag the length shorter and he is quite good at cutting. A bit of a masterclass in playing spin.A unique trigger movement
In his stance, Mushfiqur’s back toe is on the middle stump and the front toe on the leg-stump mark. Most players either go back and across or have a forward press, but Mushfiqur is different. He goes slightly towards square leg with the back leg, which leads to the front foot falling across. He makes up for it by playing late.Bhuvneshwar’s first four balls
Bowling the first over of the day, Bhuvneshwar Kumar brought the first ball in, and swung the next one away. Then, he went to the corner of the crease, for the first time in the match, and kept the shine as if he was bowling an outswinger but used the angle to bring it in. He followed it with the sucker ball from the middle of the box, which finished within the stumps and dismissed Mehedi Hasan. It was a good example of using the crease and the old ball well.A pitch map depicting the lengths Indian seamers bowled to the Bangladesh batsmen•ESPNcricinfo LtdYorkers gone missing
While everyone has, quite rightly, appreciated the Indian seamers’ ability to reverse swing, the absence of yorkers has left a little void. Shoaib Akhtar’s suggestion for the old ball is to target the nose and the toes: bowl a couple of bouncers to soften the target and then follow it up with a few toe-crushers, especially when bowling to the tail.Captain’s hunch
At the start of the fourth day, Umesh Yadav gave his hat and sunglasses to the umpire to prepare for the first over before Virat Kohli intervened. He asked Bhuvneshwar to bowl that over and told Umesh to bowl from the other end. As luck would have it, Bhuvneshwar dismissed Mehedi on the fourth ball. Cricket captaincy is a lot about hunch and gut-feeling, and Kohli’s decision was a fine example of that.Tamim’s distinctive front-foot defence
Tamim Iqbal is one of the four Bangladesh batsmen who’ve scored more that 3000 Test runs, and is currently their leading run-scorer in the format. He has a unique way of defending the fast bowlers on the front foot, for his front toe never touches the ground. While he allows the ball to come to him and is a fluent player on the front foot, the toe in the air suggests he would not be throwing his weight towards the ball. It’s never a bad idea to bowl full and a little wide early on.

A five-match one-day series gives those jostling in the ranks for England recognition a chance to impress the selectors

David Hopps in Dambulla01-Mar-2017If England Lions needed any reminder that they are just one step away from the international stage as they embark upon a five-match series in Sri Lanka, Tom Curran’s dead-of-night text message from the national selector, James Whitaker, duly provided it.When Curran went to bed in Dambulla after the four-day leg of the tour, he was an England Lion, just looking forward to advancing his reputation in a series that he knew would make little impact back home. When he awoke around 4.30am it was to discover instructions to pack his bags and join England’s senior tour of the Caribbean. All it took was a couple of sentences for his aspirations, at 21, to move a step nearer reality.Andy Flower, full of vim again in his relatively new role as England Lions coach, recognises that fact. “The loss of a player from our squad and being promoted to the full England squad is always a reminder to them about how close they are to fulfilling their dreams,” he said.Such reinforcement does no harm as the Lions prepare the face Sri Lanka A, a series which will be quickly followed by the North v South affair, another 50-over series, in the UAE. Together they realistically represent the last chance for players to advance their case for late inclusion in the Champions Trophy in England this summer. It is quite a prize. Unbeloved in some eyes it might be, its future permanently under question, but this is the tournament that will dominate the first part of the English summer.

Clarke, Overton set to play

Joe Clarke and Craig Overton, the only two members of the England Lions’ four-day squad not to get a game in Kandy or Dambulla, will both play in the opening 50-over match against Sri Lanka A.
Clarke will play as a specialist batsman at No. 4, with Ben Foakes keeping wicket. Overton will join a pace attack which is missing Tom Curran, after his call to join the senior England squad in the West Indies.
Keaton Jennings, who continues as captain, is expected to open with Ben Duckett, who is one of five new arrivals for the one-day section of the tour with his Northamptonshire club-mate Graeme White, the Warwickshire legspinner Josh Poysden, Kent opener Daniel Bell-Drummond and Middlesex seamer James Fuller.
Lions one-day squad: Keaton Jennings (capt), Ben Duckett, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Toby Roland-Jones, Craig Overton, Tom Helm, Ollie Rayner, Josh Poysden, Graeme White, James Fuller, Tom Alsop

Curran might yet become a Champions Trophy bolter especially as the composition of England’s seam attack remains uncertain: Mark Wood’s recovery from injury is ongoing, Liam Plunkett’s enforcer role has not entirely convinced and Stuart Broad’s ambitions about a white-ball comeback have yet to receive much official encouragement.To come into the reckoning as a batsman seems a harder task, but Ben Duckett, in particular, will want to restate his credentials over the next 10 days after his blip in the Test series in India when his technique against spin, most strikingly involving his method of staying markedly leg side of the ball, was unpicked by R Ashwin.Duckett’s prolific 2016 was never more wondrous than during his appearances for the Lions last summer. Against the same Sri Lanka A opposition, he registered the highest-ever score by an England Lions player, making 220 in Canterbury in an unbeaten stand of 367 with Daniel Bell-Drummond, the joint-second highest List A partnership of all-time. Duckett and Bell-Drummond will be reunited on Thursday, but it remains to be seen whether confidence will come flooding back on subcontinental pitches.It might be asking a lot of Liam Livingstone to make his own case. He is only two years into his first-class career, still not all that well known outside Lancashire. But two hundreds in a match in the last four-day game against Sri Lanka A have already done much for his self-belief and reputation, revealing him as a destructive hitter with a selective cricket brain. “He hits the ball as hard as anybody I can remember,” said Flower, and he does not give praise glibly.In cricket’s brave new world, where international cricket and Twenty20 jostle for attention, England Lions tours can these days pass by almost unnoticed. Spectators will be virtually non-existent, media interest patchy at best. Passion has to come from within. England might no longer be able to discover at Lions level who can withstand the pressure of a shrieking and hostile crowd, but they can still find out a lot about the internal drive that should rightly turn every representative match into something to cherish.Flower accepts this fact of life. “Ideally we would love a packed crowd but realistically these days we aren’t going to get it so recreating the atmosphere of a true international game with that regard is not going to happen,” he said.”However, what they are getting is scrutiny. They have selectors watching their results constantly and they are competing with their peers. These are all ambitious young guys, looking at each other and judging each other. There is that individual ambition, but there is also the fact that they are representing their country with a lot of pride.”The presence of a selector on Lions tours is an admirable development (Mick Newell has replaced Angus Fraser for the one-dayers). It adds to the sense of scrutiny, enables players to develop a working relationship with those who sit in judgment on their careers, and also provides an opportunity for selectors to gain an impression of the next generation not just as players but as personalities.There was a time when a developmental side pulled in the crowds. Twenty-five years ago, with such trips still in their infancy, England A fulfilled a ground-breaking tour to Sri Lanka, which had been starved of international cricket for several years because of a nationalist uprising. Now tourism is booming; then a Sri Lanka dressing room attendant was able to say without too much exaggeration: “You are the first foreigner I have seen for years – I am lucky to be alive.”An unorthodox spinner called Muttiah Muralitharan attracted attention for the first time and, for England, Nasser Hussain, Mark Ramprakash and Graham Thorpe all emerged with credit. The crowds flocked in. In Murali’s first appearance, the stand roof fell down like a pack of dominoes, but nobody much seemed to mind.These days, beginning with the first match in Dambulla on Thursday, the only certainty is that the ubiquitous Dambulla dog will put in an appearance. It sat attentively for England’s sole practice session before it was curtailed by a heavy downpour. Most of these young Lions might only have a dog’s chance of a Champions Trophy spot, but that won’t stop them trying to make it over coming days and weeks.

Ben Hilfenhaus talks about his old job as a bricklayer, the best captain he has played under, and the number of Test wickets he finished with

Interview by Arun Venugopal22-Apr-2017What is a must-do for someone who visits Ulverstone, your hometown?
Not much (). To paint a picture for you, Ulverstone is a small, little town. Not really a lot there.Do you like going back there?
It’s nice, yeah. It’s nice to go back and catch up with friends and family.What do you miss most about your days as a bricklayer?
I don’t think I miss it, that’s for sure. It’s pretty hard work, but it is something that put me in good stead. The hard work involved with that sort of job set me up pretty well and showed me the real world out there, and you know that you have got to work hard.Was moving from Ulverstone to Hobart for cricket a difficult thing to do?
I was fortunate enough to have my cousin living down at Hobart at that time, so I moved in with him for a while and he showed me around and looked after me there. It was good to have his support.Ninety-nine Test wickets is an interesting number. When you look back at your career, do you think about missing out on that one wicket?
Ah, not really. I am just quite grateful that I have been given the opportunity to represent my country, and probably I have been fortunate enough to be able to take 99 wickets more than most other people.

“The hard work involved with being a bricklayer set me up pretty well and showed me the real world out there”

How did you come to be a fast bowler?
I guess from a young age I was always able to swing the ball. But it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s, when I actually started to generate a little bit more pace, that it made the swinging ball a little bit more effective for me. As your body matures, you bowl quicker and have an understanding of how to swing it later, how to swing it out of the hand and all these sort of things. I guess with experience you gain that knowledge.Who were the swing bowlers you grew up admiring?
I always admired Glenn McGrath and how he went about his cricket – just his immaculate line and length, even though he wasn’t really a swinger of the ball. I tried to take away from him that it’s about being patient and in control and putting the ball in good areas for long periods of time.If you could go back in time and get one of the best swing bowlers to coach you, who would you pick?
() I don’t know. I have been quite fortunate along my journey that I have had some pretty good coaches who have helped me. I don’t think I would change anything, to be honest.Are you the superstitious kind?
Not at all ().Who is the most superstitious of your mates?
I wouldn’t say people are superstitious. They just have some habits, I reckon. I found Michael Hussey quite funny. He has to have his bats lined up exactly the right way and facing the right way, and it always used to be a bit of fun turning his bats around. Coming back five minutes later, he would have them turned back around again.Hilfenhaus on his poor hat-trick-attempt ball against Hobart Hurricanes: “You can’t always execute your skills exactly how you like. Maybe the moment, maybe I was trying a bit too hard on the ball”•Getty ImagesBrett Geeves, your former team-mate, said you once showed up for training after a full day on the bricks and ran six kilometres in 22 minutes. He reckons you were capable of pursuing an Olympic career.
I think he is making a little bit of that up (chuckles). I do enjoy the physical side of the game and the preparation involved. I guess it is something that I have always thrived on and really enjoyed.He also said that the more you drank, the better you got at the game. Is that true?
Sounds like you are talking too much to Brett Geeves at the moment (laughs).We all like a bit of fun, don’t we? And a bit of downtime. That’s what it is, really.What other sports have you been good at?
I wouldn’t say I am good at them, but I do like participating. I do enjoy a game of golf, and used to enjoy Aussie Rules [Football] back in the day. As a kid, just gave every sport a bit of a crack.Do you still do sudokus when your team is batting?
Ah, you have talked way too much to Brett Geeves (laughs). Again, it’s a bit of downtime and I enjoy that sort of stuff.If a movie was made about you, which actor would you pick to play you?
I am not sure. Who would you pick?I would pick you…
Exactly.…But you would require a lot of training.
(laughs) Yeah, I will do the training and play it myself. Why not?

“I haven’t copped a lot of sledges. I am just never out there long enough”

In the recent game against Hobart Hurricanes, you bowled two peaches and then bowled a full toss to Kumar Sangakkara, which was called “one of the worst hat-trick balls in the history of cricket”.
Ah, it just didn’t come out very well, did it? I mean that’s the game. You can’t always execute your skills exactly how you like. Maybe the moment, maybe I was trying a bit too hard on the ball. Obviously I was pretty thrilled to get off to a pretty good start and it ended up being a good game of cricket. [My mates] bring it up every now and then, but hey, that’s just part of the banter and the fun you create within a team environment.Who takes the piss with you the most?
We all have a few jokes along the way. No one in particular [takes the piss] more than the others, but we definitely give as much as we get, that’s for sure.What’s the funniest piece of sledging you have copped?
I haven’t copped a lot of sledges. I am just never out there long enough. Being a tailender, I don’t actually get exposed to a lot of sledging. That’s not part of my game, so I don’t really have a lot of stories for you (laughs).Are you one of those rare Australian cricketers who don’t sledge?
Yeah, I don’t see a lot of point in it. When I am batting, I am not out there long enough. In the field, I am down at fine leg for most of it. So, you miss that little build-up to it all, and I like it that way. I am happy to listen to everyone else’s stories. I think I will leave [the sledging] to the smart people.”Ricky Ponting was amazing. [He was a] fantastic leader on and off the field”•Getty ImagesWhich is the cleanest dressing room – Melbourne Stars, Canterbury, or Delhi Daredevils?
They are all clean at the start, until everyone gets in there and starts training and batting and fielding and throwing their gear everywhere. It’s pretty hard to keep it a tidy dressing room.Are you messy yourself?
No, I am not. I consider myself quite neat and that’s why everything is in its little spot and ready to go.What’s the best part of playing in different T20 leagues around the world?
I think it’s just a very good learning environment. To sit there and talk about the game with some of the greats and also different players from different countries on how they see and play the game, I think it’s good for the game of cricket. And I think the game will just keep evolving because of this.Who were the best captains you played under?
Just about all the captains I have played under have been quite good. They were all slightly different, which has been good. It’s good to get different ideas on how they see the game, the role they want you to play, different fields and how they see different batters’ strengths. But if I have to pick the best captain, I think Ricky Ponting was amazing. [He was a] fantastic leader on and off the field.You are one of the most successful Tasmanian bowlers of all time. Is it something you are particularly proud of?
Tassie is quite a small state, so to have the career that I have had… I am obviously quite honoured and privileged to be given that opportunity. It’s obviously nice knowing that you have given the game a little bit and hopefully created a bit more interest in the sport in Tassie.

“To sit there and talk about the game with some of the greats and also different players from different countries on how they see and play the game, I think it’s good for the game of cricket”

Are you a good dancer?
Not at all. I have two left feet.Who among your team-mates do your reckon is a good dancer?
There are a lot of people who think they can dance, but I am not sure they can. That’s why we play cricket (laughs). I haven’t seen enough of them [Australian team-mates] dance.Why is Ben Hilfenhaus not on Twitter?
I am just not really into social media. I am on Instagram now. I find that’s quite good, just sending photos and stuff up there. I am starting to [get the hang of it]. I am a bit of a novice too, but hopefully my Instagramming can improve.

Nathan Lyon claimed 5 for 34 on Test debut in Galle in 2011 but since then he has had to grind for every bit of success

Jarrod Kimber in Dharamsala26-Mar-20171:13

Chappell: Lyon’s overspin, bounce deceived India

Nathan Lyon flings himself across the pitch like he’s trying to take a bullet aimed at a president. He completes the catch, tumbles across the Galle square before getting up and running a victory lap. It’s about as ethereally wonderful as your first ball in Test cricket can be.It all started when Lyon’s first ball in Test cricket was a wicket. It was not any wicket, it was Kumar Sangakkara’s. It was a hard-spinning offbreak that pitched wide of the stumps and found the edge with Michael Clarke hanging on to a diving catch at slip. Later, Lyon dismissed Angelo Mathews when he exposed his leg stump in an attempt to sweep, and was bowled.Rangana Herath then top-edged a catch to a sweeper while Suraj Randiv smashed a ball off his toes straight into the hands of short midwicket. Then he claimed caught and bowled, and finished with a barely believable 5 for 34.As wonderful as that was, almost everything since has been a struggle for Lyon.Australia had a similar start to this series. In Pune, Australia seemed to have found an Indian team that never played and missed, and only played and edged, when they played at all. It was essentially a magic pixie dream girl moment for the Australians. One that was so bizarre, so captivating and so ultimately surprising, that they were almost watching it happen with a self-deprecating, wisecracking, and ironic monologue. Since then, Australia have fought for every last scrap, and not won a single major battle, while they have managed to stay in the series.Lyon’s career trajectory has been much of the same: small battles won, endless struggle, and one failure from ending at any time. A question on #PoliteEnquiries on Sunday from @thejoshya read, “Don’t you think it’s time Australia accept the fact that they have one of the best spinners in the world?” The shadow of Shane Warne still looms over Lyon, despite the fact he is his country’s all-time greatest wicket-taking offspinner. Despite his decent average or that he has the second-highest wickets for a visiting spinner in India and basically had to learn Test cricket without playing much first-class cricket. Lyon must lay awake at bed at night, thinking: what more do I need to do?But Lyon doesn’t have any big, defining series. He’s either pretty good or not that great. Even his big meme, “Nice Garry” is more about Matthew Wade than him. It is something that can haunt him in a country that doesn’t really understand offspin as a thing. No matter how much last innings success he has, he’s seen as a failure to deliver Test wins. Even in 19 Tests that Australia have won when he has bowled in the fourth innings, he has taken only one five-wicket haul and averaged a decent – but modest considering the conditions – 28.85. He has seven and eight-wicket hauls in India, both in losing causes.Nathan Lyon had Cheteshwar Pujara caught at short leg with drift and turn•Associated PressEven before this match, there was some talk that maybe Jackson Bird might come in ahead of Lyon. There are not many players in world cricket who could be dropped two innings after an eight-wicket haul, but Lyon is one of them. And there was talk that if this pitch would help the quicks, Bird might replace Steve O’Keefe or Lyon. If Pune was Australia’s absurdist fantasy moment this series, the first innings in Bengaluru was Lyon’s. The ball spun the right amount, it bounced dangerously, and Lyon was scarily accurate. But he hasn’t been the same since even if since is only two innings.That could be down to the conditions, the batsmen (read Pujara) using their feet to him far better, or maybe it is as simple as his finger. The callus on your spin finger is a well-earned part of spin bowling. It means you rip the ball, not roll it. And when it opens up, bowling with the same kind of venom in each ball can be tough.On Sunday, Lyon started like the finger still wasn’t working. The first ball was overpitched, and a little wide, with KL Rahul crashing it through the covers. The next ball he turned a single so easily that Lyon looked like a change bowler. Lyon got one more over before disappearing out of the attack; so Steven Smith could bowl the fast men to near exhaustion. Lyon would come back later and would be better, but it was clear that Smith saw Lyon and O’Keefe as support for his quicks, on a pitch where Kuldeep Yadav tormented the Australian batsmen. Lyon and O’Keefe were never used in tandem until the 50th over.It looked like another fruitless day for Lyon when Wade or Smith shouted down the stump mic: “I like it when he comes down to you”. Which seemed desperate considering said that Pujara was averaging over 200 when coming down the pitch. But as good as Pujara looked, it was Lyon who took his wicket, not through coming down the pitch, but with bounce. It was bounce which caused Karun Nair’s dismissal as well. There was nothing surprising in those wickets; it was Lyon getting bounce on a pitch that most resembled what he bowls on back home. And India were still only four wickets down.They went on the attack after Josh Hazlewood had been crashed away by Ashwin, who then started feasting on O’Keefe as well. Then Lyon, who had bowled a maiden, was double tapped by Rahane who spooned him over midwicket before crashing away a short ball. India were trying to cash in on what had been brilliant and tight bowling, and in 37 balls they scored seven boundaries. Had such scoring continued for much longer, it would have broken the series for them.Lyon could have just kept hitting a good line and length, hoping for a bouncy bat-pad. Instead, he tried to think Rahane out. In Bengaluru, he sensed Rahane wanted to come at him, so he gave him a wide ball and sucked him in. Here, he was mixing his pace so that Rahane couldn’t sweep, and dictate the length. And then when he had Rahane re-thinking his plan, he went wide and full, the sort of ball that Rahane might have slapped through the covers. Instead, he was back and nervous, and when it didn’t spin Smith took a sharp catch. Two overs later, Lyon ripped one past Ashwin, the man he had pretty much outbowled so far this series, and Australia were on top.Behind the stumps, Wade shouted: “Shown you can do it all over the world Garry, not just a one-trick pony Garry”. The bowling team was pumped up and Lyon was at the heart of it.This wasn’t entirely unexpected. He had toiled, not just today, survived, not just today, and adapted his game, not just today. But today, much like Australia, he got something back for all his effort. Is it enough to keep him in the side the next time his form slightly waivers, there is a flirty young legspinner in form, or do they want four seamers? Who knows. And as always for Lyon, and as always for Australia this series, there is much left to do.The Hollywood beginnings for Lyon’s career and Australia’s series never continued. Instead, both have to fight for everything they get. Today in Test 67 of however many he will end up playing, and on the second day of the decider, both of them continued to fight. Australia could ask for nothing less from Lyon, even if they sometimes hope for something more. On the third day, they will ask and hope for Lyon’s most magical day, the one that wins them India and him the respect he has earned.

Bangladesh returned to the scene of one of their finest hours, and the occasion brought out the best in two players who have been pivotal to their rise

Andrew McGlashan in Cardiff09-Jun-2017Cardiff has again been good to Bangladesh. The full worth of a remarkable chase won’t be clear until Saturday evening, but Mashrafe Mortaza may have been tempted to find the number for a local limo firm even before knowing if England or the elements do them a favour to earn a semi-final spot after one of their great one-day performances.They were taken to victory by their record ODI stand of 224 between Shakib Al Hasan, who carried Bangladesh during the fallow years and has since helped them rise, alongside Mahmudullah, a player who is inspired by global one-day tournaments. In the 2015 World Cup, Mahmudullah scored back-to-back centuries, the first against England in Adelaide, which set up the victory that put them into the quarter-finals, and the second against New Zealand. Today, he backed those up with another mighty showing.This was his first ODI hundred since that New Zealand meeting in Hamilton, and it can rank alongside the England century as his finest innings. Shakib has achieved more in his 11-year career, but his hundred – brought up with a top-edged six over fine leg – can also sit in the highest echelons of his accomplishments. A slightly shell-shocked Kane Williamson called them “unbelievable knocks”.When asked before the match how much rested on Tamim Iqbal after his scores of 128 and 95 in the first two games of the tournament, Mashrafe had been quick to remind everyone that Bangladesh’s rise up the one-day rankings has been far from a one-man show. And they had the perfect chance to show it here after Tamim was lbw to the second ball of the innings, but even Mashrafe doubted their chances from 33 for 4.”To be honest at that time, it was very difficult,” he said. “But once the partnership got to 100 I started to believe because I knew that these two can make the difference as they have a lot of times. But I never thought that they will have more than a 200 partnership. That was phenomenal.”We knew Tamim wasn’t going to get a score every day. That’s exactly what happened today. And we knew that we have some extraordinary players. I knew that Shakib and Mahmudullah could make a difference. We have the players, we knew that, and 266 we knew that it was gettable but after being 33 for 4 it was hard.”There was a small crowd, the ground less than half full, but the majority were supporting Bangladesh and as reality dawned that the chase was on, the noise grew louder. “Bangladesh, Bangladesh,” rang around this corner of Cardiff. Well before the target was hunted down, Shakib and Mahmudullah were cantering, flogging a dispirited New Zealand attack to all parts of Sophia Gardens. This was another statement. Bangladesh have not reached the ranking of No. 6 by accident.3:29

Fleming: Shakib and Mahmudullah’s composure was the key

Both needed more than a dose of fortune to survive the new ball during one of the most testing periods of bowling seen in the tournament from Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Adam Milne’s rapid early burst. The partnership will go down in Bangladesh cricket folklore, but there was little chest-thumping emotion from the pair in the middle.”There was nothing in my mind at that time,” Shakib said of the parlous scoreline he faced. “I was just thinking of batting as long as I can because there were so many overs left and not many wickets. When we had a 100-run partnership and were still in the game, then we were thinking we had a chance.”The ball was doing a bit, the first 10 overs I thought they did really well and created a lot of chances. Once it stopped swinging it became easier.”Without Shakib and Mahmudullah, Bangladesh would have been sunk, but they would have been chasing a tougher target if it had not been for a superb final 10 overs in the field when they kept New Zealand down to 62. The surprise package in that period was the offspin of Mosaddek Hossain, introduced in the 42nd over and finishing with 3 for 13, which was complemented by a series of pinpoint yorkers from Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman.Mashrafe picked out Mosaddek’s brief but starring role. “You see that most of the days he bowls maybe three overs only and can change the game. He’s a youngster and can also bat really well.”Regardless of whether Bangladesh progress, Mashrafe said that this experience will serve his younger players well ahead of the 2019 World Cup, which will also be staged in England and Wales. “We have been improving over the last three years and performances like this really help us move forward.”This was a glorious day for Bangladesh. But now all they can do is wait. A squad of 15 players, the backroom staff, and hundreds of millions of fans around the world will be supporting England or cheering the rain at Edgbaston. Still, they will once again always remember Cardiff.”It would be nice if England won, but we can’t just ask that Australia will lose that game,” Mashrafe said. “But I would like to say to both teams, best of luck. Whatever we could do, we did. That is the most important thing for us.”

The two were deadly together with the ball, but never got along. Now, a possible reunion at Multan Sultans has been called off

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Aug-2017

The fast bowler – who is returning from a ban for not reporting bookies’ approaches – says he had accepted his mistake right away, and is now looking forward to bowling his way back into the Pakistan team

Umar Farooq20-Sep-20174:47

Mohammad Irfan on how he stayed fit during his ban, and his hopes for his career going forward

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who recently finished serving a six-month ban, has said that the period “felt like six years”. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, the 35-year-old said he didn’t “lose anyone’s respect” because he was banned for not reporting bookies’ approaches; there were no fixing allegations against him. He also said he sees himself as a good prospect in T20 cricket and is eyeing the PSL and first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to get back in contention for Pakistan.Irfan was barred from playing all forms of cricket for a year – with six months suspended – after he pleaded guilty to failing to report two corrupt approaches made to him. He was also fined PKR 1 million. During the suspension period – which started on March 14 – he took up gym work and fitness training privately. His contract with domestic team WAPDA has resumed after his ban period ended, and he will feature in the upcoming Quaid-e-Azam Trophy starting from September 26.”The last six months have been very tough on me. In fact, it felt like six years, during which I incurred great losses,” Irfan said. “Indeed, it was my mistake, and I admitted it instantly, but there was no fixing allegations against me. But, in all this, I am thankful the situation wasn’t any worse.”I was actually working in my private gym at home to keep myself fit. But I had been training privately, so I hope things will go well. These six months, I think I can view it as a rest period which will help me rejuvenate.”Irfan came under the scanner during the second edition of the PSL in Dubai when a fixing scandal broke that eventually had Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan banned for five years. Irfan was found guilty of failing to report two approaches over a six-month period, to which he had admitted. Besides him, Mohammad Nawaz was the other player banned for two months for a similar indiscretion.”I regret that I didn’t report it and I have realised how serious it is if you don’t report a corrupt approach. But I am still very much accepted and people still like me. I don’t want to go into details about whether the punishment was harsh. There were reasons I didn’t report instantly but I did reject them [the bookies] straightaway.”After my mother and father’s death, I was lost and wasn’t able to decide what to do, hence the delay. Then, I went to the PSL, where the PCB came up with some information and since it was correct [to report], I did so, and I am happy that I am back after a minor ban and still have a chance to revive myself.”Mohammad Irfan appears at the Federal Investigation Authority to record his statements•Associated PressBeing the tallest fast bowler in top-flight cricket and prone to breaking down, Irfan had been struggling with his fitness since he made his debut in 2010. He went on to play four Tests, 60 ODIs and 20 T20Is, but had been overly inconsistent with his fitness and hasn’t played for Pakistan since an ODI last year in September.Since Mickey Arthur’s arrival as coach, Pakistan has made improving their fitness standards a central priority, with high-profile players like Umar Akmal axed for failing fitness tests. “In the last six months, I have been resting with no workload, and that has really helped me,” Irfan said. “I got time to take a break from cricket; otherwise, the early part of my career, I was playing a lot. Due to my height and body structure, I get tired early, and need more time for recovery. In Pakistan, there was no one to manage me, but as soon as an English trainer [Grant Luden] came, I did exactly what he told me to do which really helped me.”Over the last few months, a lot of young fast bowlers have come in, pushing Irfan further down the pecking order. Appreciating the enhanced competition, Irfan said he still had a chance, but wanted to focus on limited-overs cricket, especially T20s, to remain in contention. “For now I am not really worried about the competition because I am unique because of my height. But over the last few months, I have seen there are a lot of young bowlers who have come in, which is actually a good sign for the country. And playing with competition around makes it more fun.”WAPDA’s captain Salman Butt believed that the player hasn’t lost much in the last six months but, being an extraordinarily tall bower, needed to be handled sensibly. “He has done well in the nets and in practice matches ahead of the tournament,” Butt said. “This is the first time I have seen him over the last six months and I believed he bowled well. He looks determined and we will try to use him in a way not to risk injury. We will manage his workload and use him in important games. He did well last year and I hope he responds well this year too.”Obviously he is not somebody who can bowl longer spells, but somebody who with short bursts can turn a game and we will try to take advantage of that. If he is used sensibly and kept fit, he is definitely a very good prospect for any form of the game.”

It has been an odd month in cricket

Andrew Fidel Fernando02-Nov-2017The lapsed villain
Reports from New South Wales have suggested this month that former international umpire Darrell Hair, who had lorded it so stubbornly over several controversial incidents, pleaded guilty to stealing from the liquor store he was working at. Apparently, this was in order to fund a gambling habit that had spun out of control. The news was particularly startling for Sri Lankans (and perhaps Pakistanis) of a certain generation, because it humanised the man who had been among their foremost childhood villains. It was like discovering Darth Vader put out of action by a hip replacement, or that Hannibal Lecter no longer eats his victims because his teeth had started to fall out.The non-war
In the build-up to the Ashes, David Warner was roundly criticised for comparing the coming series with England to “war”, in addition to suggesting he would “dig deep” to develop “hatred” of the opposition. Apparently, Ashes sledges now cannot be one iota more inflammatory than abuse based on opposition players’ legitimacy of parentage, choice of preferred species for sexual relations, promiscuousness of spouse, stupidity of offspring, and gingerness of their hair. I suppose a line had to be drawn somewhere.The straight face
Chris Gayle won his defamation suit against Australia’s Fairfax Media, but the best line of the case surely goes to Gayle’s friend Donovan Miller, who without flinching told the court that Gayle had become reserved “and scared, especially [around] females” since the 2015-16 Big Bash League. It is unclear if he is referring to this condom ad in which Gayle cannot stop cowering amidst a gang of cheerleaders or this Instagram post in which Gayle appears to have been frighteningly ambushed by a posse of swimsuit-clad models.The victims of historical irony
For two decades, the Barmy Army’s go-to chant down under was one that preyed on Australia’s history as a British prison colony. Even when their cricketers were being resplendently shamed 5-0, England fans may have felt they could draw themselves to their feet, wipe the tears from ruddy cheeks, and croak out a sobbing rendition of “they’re the convicts over there”. The world, however, has been upended in 2017. Team England has left for the Ashes without Ben Stokes, who is suspected of exactly the sort of action that would have seen him transported to Australia in past centuries. As one of their own players now stands accused of antisocial behaviour, could it be possible that when groups of England supporters sit shirtless in sunny Australian stands, painted lettering upon flabby chests, lips foamed from the ninth beer of the day, they will reflect they are not intrinsically a more refined species of human being than the natives?”We essentially beat Pakistan in their own game”•Getty ImagesThe pitch scandal
The spectre of corruption was raised again in October, most notably with the allegation that Maharashtra Cricket Association curator Pandurang Salgaoncar had given pitch information to people posing as bookies, ahead of India v New Zealand ODI in Pune. However, it was not the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) – whose job it is to stamp fixing out of the game – that presented evidence against Salgaoncar. The issue was brought to light by an Indian TV channel, just as the 2010 Lord’s spot-fixing scandal had been the result of a media-driven exposé. All of this highlights long-held concerns about what the ACU actually does, apart from, as in this case, allow international matches to go ahead unhindered on what was apparently a suspect pitch.The tough act to follow
Commiserations are due to Cricket South Africa. One month after the IPL bagged what was effectively the biggest television rights deal in cricket, CSA was forced to postpone the 2017 T20 Global League, thanks partly to an inability to land a decent broadcast deal. This must have been like watching Michelangelo sculpt the famous statue of David before stabbing yourself with the chisel.The altruist
Particularly irked at this cancellation was would-be GLT20 star Kevin Pietersen, who tweeted: “I feel so sorry for all the youngsters who were going to learn & earn out of this comp!” Yes, what a pity for… “the youngsters”. We can have no reason to doubt that Pietersen’s immediate worry was for the younger players’ loss of earnings, based of course on his career, which was most distinguished by the concern he displayed for people other than himself.The collapsathon
If Pakistan are the classical masters of the batting collapse, Sri Lanka have in recent years perfected their own equally dramatic version: the neo-collapse. Their two-Test series early in the month, became, at times, a festival of batting incompetence. When Sri Lanka went into the third innings of the first Test with a three-run deficit, for example, they hurtled comically to 138 all out. They should have lost the match had they not been out-collapsed by Pakistan, who were all out for 114 less than a day after they had made 422 (in the first innings). The second Test was almost as extraordinary. Sri Lanka crashed to 96 all out after claiming a 220-run first-innings lead. Though at times in the chase Pakistan seemed like they had the measure of a big total, they lost 5 for 52 and 5 for 23, with a 173-chase in between.

The eight-time champions have replaced the old with the new, and the changes are now bearing fruit for the title favourites

Akshay Gopalakrishnan15-Dec-2017Barring Mumbai, arguably no team in India’s domestic circuit has captured the imagination of fans quite like Karnataka in recent times. Since their historic double-treble over two successive seasons, plenty has changed in the state’s cricketing landscape. Top among them is a number of players – such as KL Rahul, Karun Nair and Stuart Binny – who were at the center of their rise earning the India cap. Several others are on the fringes of the India A team. And this, astonishingly, despite the state’s Under-23 side faltering in successive seasons.Karnataka’s inability to qualify for the semi-finals over the last two seasons may seem like a blot. But it doesn’t tell you that they dominated the group stage both times. A bad slip-up against Maharashtra, where they only needed a first-innings lead, cost them a knockouts berth in 2015-16. Last season, they were sent packing inside two days on a treacherous Visakhapatnam surface by Tamil Nadu. The results raised questions about team harmony, players’ commitment and their hunger to succeed.A year later, these seem a thing of the past. Under the captain Vinay Kumar, Karnataka are now frontrunners to win their ninth Ranji Trophy title. Their demolition of Mumbai, who suffered only their fifth innings defeat ever in the tournament, has added to their aura of invincibility ahead of their semi-final clash against Vidarbha starting on December 17 in Kolkata.Karnataka set the template for their supremacy early, starting their season with three successive outright wins. It helped them edge out Delhi in a tight finish for the top position on the Group A table. It was precisely the start Vinay had wanted. His message to the team at the start of the season had been pretty explicit: they weren’t settling for anything less than outright wins.

****

In 2013-14, Rahul was Karnataka’s highest scorer with 1033 runs. The following year, it was Robin Uthappa. Those were the days when the likes of R Samarth, now a regular and one of the first names on the XI, and Mayank Agarwal were rookies. Today, Rahul has graduated to Test cricket and Uthappa has switched allegiance to Saurashtra. And with Nair and Manish Pandey, too, only sporadically available because of national commitments, it has given the two younger players a longer rope to establish themselves. And they have grabbed it to become driving forces of the batting unit.Agarwal is this season’s highest run-scorer, and should Karnataka go the distance, he even has a realistic chance of surpassing VVS Laxman’s all-time season record of 1451 runs. Agarwal and Samarth are already the third most prolific opening combination, after Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer and Ajinkya Rahane, and Gujarat’s Priyank Panchal and Samit Gohel, in a single Ranji season in the last 12 years.K Gowtham, the offspinning allrounder, returned from a three-year hiatus last year, and has since reinvented himself. Stints with India A and notable performances at the KPL brought him back into the reckoning, and he has become a key member of the bowling group. Shreyas Gopal, the legspinner, has been groomed to become a more attacking bowler.These younger, less-heralded players have become the engine room of Karnataka’s success, and their emergence has underpinned the team’s season. “I’ll be very happy if most of them play for India,” Vinay, whose hat-trick set-up Karnataka’s quarter-final win, tells ESPNcricinfo. “It gives an opportunity for others to step up. We have so many talented cricketers. (Kaunain) Abbas is sitting out, Pavan Deshpande, Sunil Raju, KB Pawan, Amit Verma, Shishir Bhavane… these are names that can easily fill any team-sheet in the Ranji Trophy.”The success of these players has resulted in more names coming into the national reckoning. Agarwal recently returned to the India A fold for the home series against New Zealand. Samarth travelled with them to South Africa and also played a part against New Zealand A.PTI But the downside of this kind of individual success has already been felt by the team in the past, when individual goals preceded the team’s. The problem peaked in 2015-16, during the infamous CM Gautam-Uthappa wicket-keeping swap. For a team whose success was built on the virtues of a closely-knit group, that was a low.”I think last year too we weren’t gelling too well, because almost every other game we had changes, with two guys going into the Test team and two in the one-day team,” Gautam, who was vice-captain during their dominant run from 2013 to 2015, says. “It was tough for them also to get back and play. This year, we decided that we can’t say KL is coming and he has to take extra responsibility. We have some strong players waiting in the wings. So whether they come or not doesn’t make a difference to other batsmen.”Karnataka have now settled back into a harmonious group, and regained sight of the common goal. Vinay’s role in this transition, as a senior member and captain, has been significant. Since taking over as captain, Vinay has unfailingly led by example, fetching bagful of wickets season after season. Reticent by nature, he isn’t quite an in-your-face leader. But he is a quiet source of strength. He is smart about managing his bowlers’ workloads, as demonstrated when Sreenath Aravind, the injury-prone left-arm pacer, was rested midway through the season only to be brought back before the quarter-final.”Being a senior and captain, I need to be very shrewd,” Vinay said. “But I can’t keep everyone happy; if the captain is keeping everyone happy, he is not doing his job.”Quietly assisting Vinay in the background is PV Shashikanth, the coach. The former Karnataka captain, who led a severely depleted team to victory over Rest of India in the 1996-97 Irani Trophy, has often dipped into his own experience as a player to bring out the best from this team.The core of Karnataka’s pace pack, which has been their strength over the last five years, has largely remained the same. And so, when he took over as coach, finding a second line of batsmen was on top of Shashikanth’s list. So far, the pursuit has been rewarding.Abbas, who struck a half-century against Mumbai in the quarter-final, was once considered to replace Agarwal. Others such as Dega Nischal and Abhishek Reddy scored heavily in the CK Nayudu Trophy and pressed their cases for future selection. Nischal, in fact, struck 195 in just his second first-class match, against Uttar Pradesh, and shared a 354-run stand with Pandey.Though he took over from the hugely successful duo of J Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan, Shashikanth didn’t find it hard to impress his style of coaching upon the team. His 15-year experience in coaching age-group state teams had already made him a familiar face to several members of the squad.Coming in as coach of a team that has already recorded substantial achievements, Shashikanth set out trying to take them to the next level. The process began with introducing specific targets for players, which has given them more clarity regarding their roles.”JAK [Arunkumar] was a positive coach,” Gautam says of the former Karnataka captain. “He told us to play positive cricket and didn’t care about the number of balls or anything. He likes attacking players. PV sir, on the other hand, gave batsmen a target of playing 250 balls. But, at the same time, he encourages us to be positive. Such clear roles that are easy to follow have worked well for us.”On the bowling front, it’s about consistently delivering around the fourth-stump channel. “The important thing about this side is you give any surface to the bowlers, they are up there,” Shashikanth explains. “That’s a rare quality. Otherwise, it’s a horses-for-courses thing. If there is lot of grass, pacers come to the fore, or if it’s turning track, spinners come to the fore. But this team is unique in that whatever surface we bowl on, they are up there. That is a striking quality.”Those attributes were visible in Abhimanyu Mithun’s robust spells in Pune and Alur. On flat surfaces, Mithun steamed in with purpose to pick up successive five-fors. Hitting the deck hard, he has often made docile tracks look a lot livelier, in the process overcoming his own slump and injuries that have riddled him over the last two seasons.In the last three seasons, Karnataka have made the knockouts twice. By normal standards, that qualifies to be a more-than-decent performance for most teams. But for those that have followed this Karnataka side, especially through their ruthless, unblemished streak of six titles in two years, nothing short of winning the title would count as an acceptable result. Success does, after all, come at a price.

Another cheap dismissal pushing at Trent Boult extended Alastair Cook’s run of indifferent form – but it never pays to write off England’s leading Test run-scorer

Andrew McGlashan in Christchurch01-Apr-2018With a push outside off stump, Alastair Cook’s series with the bat was done. His tally of 23 runs in four innings was the leanest series of his career.Before this series he spoke about coming through dark times in Australia with the double-century in Melbourne. It was his second double in 12 innings which is impressive. The problem has been what has come either side of those huge innings: outside of those doubles, he has made 216 runs in 16 innings. Shortly before his 243 against West Indies, his 88 against South Africa at The Oval was an innings of absolute class in demanding conditions. But is one major innings per series enough?”It is an easy story to write when a slightly older player isn’t scoring runs,” Cook said a couple of weeks ago. “Is he going to give up? Is he thinking about it? Phil Mickelson is to me a prime example… I’m not saying I’m anywhere near Phil Mickelson’s league, but he hadn’t won for five years [when he won the Mexico Championship in March]. But people weren’t doubting his hunger or desire to play, just because he wasn’t quite getting the results.”So it’s amazing how a little period in a cricketer’s life can get transformed into a lot bigger than it is. If you hang about in Test cricket long enough, there are going to be little periods when you play really well and little periods or slightly longer periods when you don’t play well.”This is not a time to write him off. He has proved doubters wrong at numerous times in his stellar career. But neither should the issue be ignored. The start of the English season, and a spell with defending County Champions Essex, is shaping as important with runs needed to stop a debate igniting.The opening bowlers took all 20 wickets in the first two innings of the Test•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn this series he has been outdone by Trent Boult bowling at his best, so there is no disgrace in that, but he has looked out of nick in New Zealand. Perhaps that was caused by the far-from-ideal lead-in period which consisted of a muddled four days in Hamilton and nets. The early signs at Seddon Park were that he was actually hitting the ball nicely, but Boult has proved a demanding prospect.The second-innings flick down the leg side in Auckland can be put a little down to bad luck, but in the other three innings he has been unpicked by classy swing: edging to the keeper/cordon twice and losing off stump to a beauty in Christchurch.There were hints when he began his innings on Sunday that there was positive intent. There was a good stride into a delivery from Tim Southee as he drove through the covers and after lunch he pulled the same bowler strongly through square leg, then in the same over flashed over the slips.A curious aside in Cook’s career against New Zealand has been the difference in facing Southee and Boult. Southee has never dismissed him 11 matches; when Boult found the outside edge it was the ninth time he had removed the left hander in nine Tests.The challenge of a left-armer will follow Cook in the first part of the English season with Mohammad Amir set to lead Pakistan’s attack in the two-Test series. Amir has spoken of managing his Test workload, but surely the England series won’t be one to make way. He has removed Cook five times in eight matches. India will also bring an impressive seam attack with them – arguably their best ever – and both touring sides also likely to be among the better-prepared visitors.At the start of the English summer it will be 18 months since Cook gave up the captaincy. He has spoken about how he is now finding his place in Joe Root’s team, knowing when to offer advice without compromising the current captain, but for a player who invested so much in leading his country it will have been a significant change. There is the carrot of another crack at Australia on home soil in 2019, but after 153 Tests only Cook will really know how much more he has to give.