Former domestic and international colleagues recall their favourite Sourav Ganguly moments

10-Nov-2008

Billy Bowden, umpireTo be a good winner you have be a gracious loser. From my experience with Sourav he was gracious on both occasions and always had a prince’s smile. To captain your country you must have natural talent and respect from your colleagues. As an umpire, he had my respect. I told him after the game today ‘I can show you a good time in New Zealand’. With a smile he said, ‘Really? Are you sure?’ I said, ‘Yes no third umpire needed’.Kapil Dev, former India coachThat evening in 2002, standing on the Lord’s balcony, when Sourav took off his shirt and waved to start wild celebrations was a remarkable moment. I can never forget it. For the people of older generation like me it was a tremendous occasion. It marked the beginning of a new India. What was really surprising was here was a team’s captain, and not just any player, who had decided to bare his emotions in such a public fashion and that, too, at such an historic venue. It was just unbelievable and fantastic.Javagal Srinath, fomer India team-mateThe Sourav Ganguly people saw in 1991 and the one who came back in 1996 were completely different and people’s perception about him changed in his second coming. Nothing surprised more than that. He had transformed in his game, but, importantly he was on top of his game during those four to five years on the domestic circuit. It’s always good to spend time in domestic cricket to gain experience in those early years, but he performed consistently and that showed in his century at Lord’s on his Test debut.Saba Karim, former Bengal and India team-mateI was Sourav’s captain during the beginning of his domestic career and also played under him. Before his Test debut in 1996 he was a player, who, at times, could be nervous, someone who was not sure of his own ability. But once he started to play for India regularly he found that belief easily. After a good performance in an ODI series in Pakistan [Wills Trophy] he turned up to lead Bengal in a Ranji game against Orissa on a what was a sub-standard pitch. Though he failed in the ODI and and later in the first innings of the four-day game, he came out stronger when it was the most crucial. We were set small target in a low-scoring game and Ganguly decided to push himself up to the No. 3 from his usual No. 5. He made only 30, the second highest in the innings, but the way he took the responsibility on himself calmed the nerves of his team-mates. That day I felt his transformation from a domestic to international cricketer was complete. It showed me how he had held his own to stay put and had learned quickly from playing for the country.Andy Flower, former Zimbabwe captainWhen he used to play a left-arm spinner, not one particular, I was always amazed at his power of hitting over the boundary especially since the ball was coming into him. That to me was my favourite Sourav Ganguly moment.Deep Dasgupta, fomer Bengal team-mateWhen he was dropped from the Irani Cup he was obviously upset as he had been looking forward to play the Australian series. Even before his omission he had been working really hard. Despite the disappointment and his stature he didn’t give up. Next day, he was back to his usual training. That spoke a lot about his dedication, his passion. He just set an example for everyone. That spoke a lot about his personality and his character.

Ravi Shastri, India’s glamour boy of the eighties, talks about making it big early, the kind of captain he might have been, and his reputation for stodgy batting

Interview by Sam Collins19-Oct-2009Was playing for India what you aspired to from childhood?
It was a dream initially. The chances of making it are so remote; that is why it is a dream. As a child I played cricket as a hobby. Once you started playing for your school, you became more ambitious. You reckoned you could play for the state. Then you started to think about the country. But it happened so quickly for me, I started playing for the school at 13, for Bombay at 17, and at 18 I was in the Indian side.You took three wickets in four balls on your Test debut, against New Zealand.
I had flown 30 hours to reach Wellington at 9pm. The next morning I was told I was in the starting XI. We lost the toss and were put in to field. There was no time to think, straight off the aircraft, barely a night’s sleep, and before lunch I had the ball in my hand. I got three out in that first innings, then New Zealand were 78 for 6 in the second and I was given the ball. In the first three overs I took three wickets in four balls.Did you consider yourself a bowler at that stage?
I always considered myself an allrounder. My batting took some time to develop – I was batting at No. 10 initially but my bowling took off. I got 15 wickets in that first series, but soon I was making strides as a batsman. I scored my first Test century in January 1983. I opened the innings in the last Test against Pakistan during that series. From there on there was no looking back.As your batting improved did you begin to neglect your bowling?
Not neglect but subconsciously the focus went more on batting. I was not just batting at No. 6 or No. 5, I was opening for India – a specialist position in its own right. People say I was defensive, but at the top you have a role to play, to hold the innings together, see the new ball off, so you were a lot more disciplined and didn’t take chances.What is your proudest moment on the pitch?
Nothing gave me more pleasure than making hundreds at the top of the order: a hundred against West Indies at No. 3, Test century in Barbados in 1988-89; a double-hundred as an opener in Shane Warne’s first Test. It was during that Barbados hundred that Malcolm Marshall went past Lance Gibbs as the leading wicket-taker for West Indies, and the roof came down when he took that fifth wicket. I was at the non-striker’s end. It was a sight, just the noise in Barbados, his home ground, a packed house on a Saturday. It was a great feeling.Kapil Dev once said you had 50% ability but 200% determination. Is that a fair assessment?
If you get more than 10 Test hundreds, you’ve bloody got ability, but he is right. I was a very determined cricketer. I treated the opening position as a challenge. Big names and tough attacks brought the best out of me. That’s why you see the hundreds at the top, against West Indies, England, a double- hundred in Australia, in Pakistan at Karachi – the first Test hundred that changed my career – against Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Wasim Raja. There were some serious bowlers there.Weren’t you once pelted with fruit by the Indian crowd for batting too slowly?
Not pelted but there was a lot of jeering. Because you set such high standards at a young age, when you went through a bad patch, the crowd would get on your back. I would stick two fingers up at them. Then it spread from one state to another. It just inspired me to get more runs but it wasn’t easy. In hindsight I could have smiled and got the crowd on my side.A week after you made a 325-ball hundred in a Test against England in Calcutta you hit six sixes in an over – in 1984-85.
It was only a few days after. I don’t know what changed. In the first game I was on 26 overnight and went to lunch on 69, so I had scored almost 50 in the session and was batting beautifully. Suddenly, after lunch I don’t know what went into my head – I just blocked the shit out of it. Then the crowd started jeering, and I thought, “I’m not going to throw my wicket away.” It had to be a mental block. It’s not like they were bowling grenades, it was still [Pat] Pocock and [Phil] Edmonds and the same ground. So it was a great release to be able to go and smash it for Bombay against Baroda. I was already batting on a hundred, when the message came from the dressing room that we were declaring in half an hour.You were in Pakistan when Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984. What are your memories of that?
It was sad. She was a great leader. We were introduced to her the three times we played in Delhi, and all three times she at least said a sentence to me. It was disappointing because I was having one of my best tours of Pakistan. I had scored 71 and taken three wickets in the first Test, 139 in the next Test match; but the third one was cancelled.You played for Glamorgan for four seasons between 1987 and 1991. What are your memories?
It was a very young team. It allowed me to relax and get away from India as the press were hounding me. So those six months were a relief. I thought my batting improved tremendously in county cricket in different conditions. Each county had some top players. Greenidge and Marshall at Hampshire, Hadlee and Rice at Notts, Holding at Derby, Desmond Haynes at Middlesex, Gooch and Border at Essex – every side had box office, it was a great time. I thought I should have batted higher. I was at No. 5 when I could have batted at the top of the order.

“When you went through a bad patch, the crowd would get on your back. I would stick two fingers up at them. Then it spread from one state to another. It just inspired me to get more runs but it wasn’t easy. In hindsight I could have smiled and got the crowd on my side”

Is your reputation as the glamour boy of Indian cricket fair?
I think so. It was because I was successful. By the age of 25 I had played over 50 Test matches. I was getting runs, wickets, stick from the crowd. I didn’t hold back, I was no introvert. I just took it in my stride. But cricketers need charisma – it makes a big difference. Some people have it naturally and others develop it as they go along.Did this reputation impact on your captaincy ambitions?
Not really. I won every domestic title that existed in India as captain of Bombay. Sometimes captaincy falls in your lap and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m happy it came to me once in Test matches. It happened to be against West Indies – the best side I ever played against – and we beat them at home for the first time in 11 years. I would have done a good job for India if I had got it full time, let’s put it that way. It’s not my job to say I should be captain, that’s for the selectors. But I would have been ruthless. I would have played to win at all costs. It’s not about drawn games.Who were your biggest rivals in cricket?
Pakistan. Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad – we played a lot against each other at that time. I hated Javed’s guts on the field, but you had to admire him. He was a street-fighter. He got under your skin but he delivered for his side. I know him now, and he’s a great bloke. Playing against West Indies was a highlight. It’s good to know that you played against them whether you succeeded or not. In my case it was a bit of both.You were Shane Warne’s first Test wicket. Did you have a sense then how good he would become?
I always knew Warne would take a lot of wickets but never thought it would be 700. I already had a double-hundred by the time he got me out. When I first played him, I was impressed by his temperament, his control, and his ability to spin the legbreak. He tossed it up, spun it and focused on his legbreak – that was his stock ball to the end of his career. I keep telling the Australians they should make me an honorary citizen. I gave him so much confidence with that first wicket that he went on to take 700.

He’s got all the shots and then some, and now he’s got a bigger, better platform to showcase them on

Andrew McGlashan21-May-2009Eoin Morgan has already played in a World Cup and has 23 ODIs under his belt, but the next international match he plays will be the one that shows he has really hit the big time. After a career with Ireland, he has switched allegiance across the Irish Sea and his chance for a second debut is now that little bit more imminent after Kevin Pietersen’s Achilles injury.Never mind the convoluted route he has taken, Morgan’s call-up comes at an opportune time. England have been striving to find batsmen capable of innovating in one-day cricket who also having the power to clear the boundaries. A couple of weeks ago, in front of the television cameras, he scored a breathtaking 161 in the Friends Provident Trophy against Kent. He showed an astonishing array of shots, with the ability to change his mind at the last minute, depending on how the bowler responded, with a shot he calls the “change up”.He sweeps powerfully in the conventional style, but also paddles and scoops in a way that certainly won’t be found in any MCC coaching manual. He has also tried the switch hit. “I’ve only played it once and it did go for six, but it’s not in my locker at the moment,” he said.With the swapping of international colours Morgan is following in the footstep of Ed Joyce, his former Middlesex team-mate, who played 17 ODIs for England between 2006 and 2007. “Ed’s a very good friend of mine and I have spoken to him a lot since I was given the nod,” Morgan said. “He’s wished me well and said, ‘Go out do your own thing.'”Being his own man won’t be a problem for Morgan. It is what has brought him to the selectors’ attention. There is a confidence about him that belies his 22 years. “I certainly look to express myself and have done that throughout my career, especially in one-day and Twenty20, and it’s something I’ll look to continue doing.”Although ultimately his ability to transfer success from Associate and county level to the international scene will show whether Morgan can step up a level, the early evidence suggests he has the broadest range of shots outside of Pietersen. Importantly, too, he has the confidence in his conviction to play them. “I have got out to the shot and I will get out to it, I haven’t perfected it, but I’ll certainly continue to play it even if it gets me out,” he says of the reverse sweep.Those skills have their roots in the traditional Irish sport of hurling, which Morgan played twice a week for three years in his early teens. Hurling involves using double-sided sticks called hurleys. “I read an article one time that said that sportsmen take skills they learn at between nine and 12 years old, from whatever sport they play, and take it with them throughout their career,” Morgan explained. “It was just a coincidence that I played hurling at school when I was younger, and the actual grip for hurling is the same as [for] the reverse sweep.”Morgan and Joyce faced each other during the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, but despite Ireland’s fairytale performance, where they managed to beat Pakistan and Bangladesh, Morgan struggled against top-quality attacks and ended the tournament with 91 runs at 10.11.Yet that trip makes him considerably more experienced than some of his team-mates in next month’s ICC World Twenty20. Eight of England’s 20-over squad have never appeared at a world event, so perhaps Morgan can pass on some tips about dealing with the pressure, and more pertinently, about how to win important matches. Regardless of the lack of runs, he was part of a close-knit unit that made the most of their talent and enjoyed the experience. None of that can be said of any England World Cup campaign (50 or 20-overs) since 1992.

“It was just a coincidence that I played hurling at school when I was younger, and the actual grip for hurling is the same as the reverse sweep”Eoin Morgan on his innovative strokeplay

“I’ve come a long way since then,” Morgan said. “I didn’t have a great time at the World Cup, but I’m looking to make that right now. I’ve certainly played a lot of cricket since then. My time away at the World Cup and playing against the big nations has helped me out quite a lot.”Staying at hotels with the likes of South Africa and Australia when I was 19 or 20 was a great experience, and just watching how the teams operate. You can learn a lot and take a lot of confidence from that.”Despite his World Cup problems, Morgan’s numbers for Ireland were impressive: he had an average of 35.42. However, England has always been his ambition from the moment he went to Dulwich College to further his cricketing education when he was 13. A few years later he was part of an Irish Under-17 team that played against an England Under-15 side at Eton, where he scored a hundred and was spotted by Jason Pooley, Middlesex 2nd XI coach at the time.”From the time I went to school here this has been where I’ve wanted to be,” he said. “I was always going to play for England, obviously helping out Ireland along the way was a good experience. I’ve got a lot of cricketing heroes who are English, and I’ve always looked up to Graham Thorpe.”England’s gain, though, is clearly Ireland’s loss, and there was very little they could do about it. For someone of Morgan’s talent there is currently only one path to follow for full international recognition and the potential of a Test future. Even though Ireland are the strongest Associate nation, the prospect of them joining the elite is still a distant ambition, and Morgan couldn’t afford to spend the best years of his cricketing life waiting for something that may never happen.”I have some fantastic memories and have taken a lot from playing with Ireland,” he said. “But it was inevitable and everyone at home knew that path I was going to take. When I made the decision it was accepted and encouraged.”The first phase of Morgan’s international career is over and it has served its purpose, but this next stage is going to show what he is really made of. England will hope that he brings with him the luck of the Irish.

The flawed reverse-sweep will not stop replaying in Younis Khan’s head for a while. It will haunt

Sidharth Monga at the P Sara Oval14-Jul-2009Eat your heart out KP. Fret not, Misbah, you have company. For years to come, Younis Khan’s reverse-sweep will be discussed, debated, derided, and blamed for the final collapse that cost Pakistan the match and the series. By the time you read this, shot would have played thousands of times on the loop, reminding everyone of what could have been.Consider the circumstance: Pakistan staged a comeback in true original style. After getting bowled out for 90 on the first morning, they bowled incredibly well to keep the deficit down to 150 following which the debutant Fawad Alam, opening for the first time in first-class cricket, scored a big century. Along with Fawad, Younis had added 200 for the second wicket to stretch the lead to 135. The bowling seemed at their mercy, a big target was on the cards, and the momentum was theirs.Then the rush of blood to the head. Perhaps over-confidence against the spinners. It was the first ball of a part-time spinner’s spell, and Younis inverted his stance. Out came a full toss outside leg, which he chased and connected with. On many occasions it would have lobbed behind the wicketkeeper but today it ricocheted off his right shoulder and went straight to the wicketkeeper, much like Kevin Pietersen’s sweep off Nathan Hauritz in Cardiff last week. Pakistan duly collapsed, losing nine wickets for 35.”Yes [it’s replaying in my head]. I am still thinking if I hadn’t played that shot, we would have been in a completely different situation,” Younis said after Pakistan squandered all the hard work over the last two days.It didn’t answer the questions. Was he not thinking when he played the shot? Was he thinking too much? Did he feel he needed to dominate? Did he not know his undercooked team was prone to collapsing? The truth perhaps is that when you are batting in full flow these thoughts don’t cross your mind. This was after all the same shot that he had so effectively employed repeatedly against the same team during his triple-hundred in Karachi earlier this year. Only against a much better spinner – Muttiah Muralitharan.Still, Younis cannot hide. This shot will not stop replaying in his head and, for a while, it will haunt him. It will also probably hide the other factors responsible for the defeat. What, for example, of the rest of the batsmen, experienced campaigners most of them? For the third time in a row, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal were part of a collapse. That somehow will be forgotten when we look back at this Test two years from now.”I have been saying for the last four-five years that if one person commits a mistake, the others shouldn’t,” Younis said. “If we hadn’t added 200, then what would have happened? I don’t point fingers at anybody – I never blamed Salman Butt [for throwing his wicket away in Galle]. This is a team game.”Or what of Daryl Harper’s umpiring errors, which could make a case for hurrying in the era of umpire review systems? Or, for that matter, carrying reserve umpires on tours to replace a man in poor form. Harper didn’t have a special Test in Galle, and today two of his four lbw calls looked decidedly wrong, and two appeared to have enough doubt.It is also worth noting that the pitch did not have any monsters in it, which would mean that a set batsman didn’t need to take risks and could think of playing out the game. The other argument would be that the pressure had already been lifted and put on the opposition. Logic will also suggest that for once the other batsmen should have fought the momentum swing. Allowance will be made for the way Shoaib Malik got out – many stronger blows to the stumps than this flying kiss have failed to dislodge the bails. In the end, though, we will come back to the shot Younis played.We remember Sachin Tendulkar’s attempt at an inside-out shot off Saqlain Mushtaq at Chennai in 1999, not the last three wickets falling for four runs. Pietersen’s shot is still being talked about in greater length than England’s toothless bowling. It’s a cruel sport, and Younis will be reminded time and again of a task that he started so well but left unfinished because of a cute shot. One shot. No retake.

It is that 1989 series that most readily springs to mind now, with Ricky Ponting elevated to Allan Border’s uber-veteran role

Andrew Miller in Cardiff10-Jul-2009Cardiff’s battle for English hearts and minds, a fight that they were winning hands-down after a sceptic-crushing display during the first half of this Test, was quite possibly completed in the most perverse of circumstances on the third afternoon. Thanks to a timely dose of Welsh mizzle, Australia’s serene progress was stymied just as it was threatening to become decisively dominant, and the late-evening removal of Michael Clarke redressed the balance significantly. Arguably, not since the Oval Test of 2005 have England’s fans been so grateful for a break in the action.Funnily enough, Andrew Flintoff found himself evoking the spirit of that very contest when England left the field at the end of a dispiriting second day’s play. Though they responded after a fashion and improved upon yesterday’s effort of one wicket in 71 overs by claiming four in 67 today, in terms of inspirational rallying cries, Flintoff – like England – found himself comprehensively trumped by the most influential figure in the Australian dressing-room.Ricky Ponting is now on his fourth tour of England – the rest of this team musters five Ashes tours between them. By all accounts, his pre-series address to his troops brought the house down, as he put into his own words what it means to compete in the Ashes. In so doing, he recalled how his own uncle, Greg Campbell, was selected for the legendary 1989 tour, and made his debut during the first Test at Headingley that set in motion a decade of English drubbings.It is that 1989 series that most readily springs to mind now, with Ponting elevated to Allan Border’s uber-veteran role, after a performance of raw Australian determination that has left England struggling to dredge up the requisite response. It just goes to show that all the hype in the world counts for nothing if hype is all it actually turns out to be. By the time they reluctantly resumed play under the floodlights, England’s peculiarly ultra-white kit made them shine like a team of innocents, all too easily manipulated by their down-and-dirty opponents.”We certainly didn’t hit our straps yesterday, whether it was nerves or what, I don’t know,” James Anderson said, “but we were pretty disappointed with the way we started. But we thought about it overnight, and today we bowled a lot better. We got a lot more rhythm, and were maybe a bit more relaxed, and we asked more questions of the batsmen as well.”Nevertheless, the brumbies had bolted by the time England tightened their lines. In a desperate deviation from their intended pre-match strategy, England’s best new-ball bowling was once again left to the ever-willing Flintoff, the man who ought to have been tearing in for short old-ball bursts to shock a dented middle order. Their best spinner, bizarrely, was Paul Collingwood, who spat a brace of offcutters straight out of the rough and away for four byes. And though Anderson and Stuart Broad claimed three of the day’s four wickets between them, it was their pairing – and England’s batting inadequacies – that lay at the root of their problem.”They’re very tired after spending two days in the field,” said Michael Clarke, in a statement that needed only a “there, there” for good measure. In fact, Anderson ended up leaving the field suffering from dizziness – and what would Border have made of that show of weakness? “I just felt a bit lightheaded, so I got more fluid and food on board,” he said. “We’re only two days into an Ashes series, so we’re still feeling pretty fresh. You’re going to get long days in Test cricket.”On this evidence, England better get used to them. After Ponting and Simon Katich had carried their second-wicket stand to 239, the only surprise in the entire day’s play came when Ponting, in a rare moment of less-than-absolute concentration, tried to punch Monty Panesar off the back foot but succeeded instead in inside-edging onto his stumps. A Kevin Pietersen moment this was not, however – there was no pompous assumption of superiority in the shot, merely a fractional error in that all-important execution.That’s the key difference between the attitude of the two nations. For the first time since that 1989 campaign, Australia have arrived as something short of an acknowledged world-beating outfit, and yet that fact has been extrapolated to make them out to be pushovers. For those who fancy a nice omen with their Ashes coverage, England made 430 in their first innings of that series – only five runs shy of their effort this time around. And they still ended up losing by 210 runs.”A lot’s been made of them not being a strong side, but they’ve just come from a series win in South Africa so we’ve not thought that for one minute,” protested Anderson. “We’ve given them the respect they deserve. They’ve played well, made it hard for us, but we’ll keep fighting.”The trouble is, the impression given so far is that Australia are willing to fight harder. “Simon and Ricky were unbelievable,” said Clarke. “The start we got was fantastic and it was up to Northy [Marcus North] and I, first, to get into our innings, and then to play away. Northy has played brilliantly again, as he did in Worcester, and I think he’s looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and getting another big score.”Until his timely 191 at Worcester last week, North had been unable to buy a run all tour. But the determination to make his chance count has been inspiring to behold – and already he is just 16 runs short of becoming the fourth Australian to outscore any of England’s own batsmen.”I’m sure [our batsmen] are very disappointed they didn’t go on,” said Anderson. “There were quite a few guys that got in, and you know in Test cricket you’ve got to make the most of it when you do get in, and on such a good wicket as well. The guys are disappointed, but they know what they’ve got to do in the second innings, and they know that it’s still a good pitch for scoring runs.”The trouble is, so do the Australians. Rain may yet be the best hope for England to rediscover their composure after a chastening few days, and prepare for Lord’s – a venue that really brings out the best in their opponents.

Bangladesh’s bowling coach, Champaka Ramanayake, has faced some strong questions of late, particularly with the decline in Shahadat Hossain’s form

Sriram Veera at the Shere Bangla Stadium11-Jan-2010It’s difficult to say where Bangladesh stand as a bowling unit, as they’ve had to fight the dew in all their games in the tri-series. Their batting, on the other hand, looks in better shape. Never before have they scored more than 240 in four consecutive games against Test playing nations. In fact, the first time they posted over 240 three times in a row against a Test country was against a depleted West Indies last year. It’s the bowling that is the concern, especially the seam attack.Mashrafe Mortaza is recuperating from injury – the selector Akram Khan hinted the other day that Mortaza may never return to Test cricket; Shahadat Hossain is recovering from an injury and is struggling to cope with the tweaks in his bowling action; Sajidul Islam has been replaced by the more talented Shafiul Islam, Syed Rasel, making a comeback, looked his nagging but unthreatening self, but there is something in Rubel Hossain
that makes everyone in Bangladesh optimistic.This is where the former Sri Lankan fast bowler Champaka Ramanayake, who is Bangladesh’s bowling coach, has faced some criticism recently. He has faced some strong questions like: Has Rubel lost his pace? Hasn’t Shahadat disintegrated ? Didn’t Mahbubul Alam, who has been included for the India Tests, lose his rhythm under his supervision recently? What will happen to Shafiul? The biggest concern has been Shahadat’s decline, which is being blamed on Ramanayake and nearly every other bowler is now being looked through the prism of the bowling coach.Ramanayake, who has played a hand in developing many Sri Lankan seamers, isn’t too fussed with the critics as he maintains he didn’t change Shahadat’s action but only just made a few tweaks. “His action was never changed,” Ramanayake told Cricinfo. “We changed his technique as he was spraying the ball around and he lacked control. We changed his wrist position and the front-foot landing style. To me, he is a better bowler now. It’s just that the people haven’t seen him bowl recently.”Shahadat was initially apprehensive about changing things but he is now more comfortable with the idea I think.” This is where it gets murky. Shahadat was frank with his assessment when asked: “I have played six years with my old action,” Shahadat told Cricinfo. “I am not at all comfortable with the changes. I will be going back to my old action when I play next.” It could be a case of a bowler low in confidence, not wanting to get out of his comfort zone and looking for excuses to blame his decline, or it could be a clear case of a bowler struggling with the suggested tweaks in action.

I am not at all comfortable with the changes (to my action). I will be going back to my old action when I play nextShahadat Hossain

The captain Shakib Al Hasan has said it’s up to Shahadat to see what he feels comfortable with. Shakib then said something very interesting. “I haven’t spoken to him [Shahadat] about this. And perhaps, there is some sort of communication problem with the bowling coach and the bowler,” Shakib told Cricinfo. Has Shakib, then, been in touch with his bowling coach? “Actually, not much. He had just joined us a couple of series back and post this series, we will sit and work things down. You can’t blame the bowling coach; you have to give more time.”Ramanayake offered his thoughts on the other bowlers too. He said Rubel was very raw when he came to him, but is more well-versed with his craft now and that he is becoming mentally stronger. “He had the pace and the reverse swing when he came and he hasn’t lost it. The conditions in this tournament weren’t conducive to reverse swing and he is developing his fitness and getting physically stronger. His pace will improve. Not to worry. We have worked on his follow through.”Shafiul [who, today, drew praise from Virat Kohli – “he was nippy off the pitch and I had to be careful against him”] has lot of skill; has a very good slow bouncer and can bowl the yorker also. He has to be given enough chances to shine and we are very confident that he will come through. Mahbubul Alam is a bowler who depends heavily on rhythm. Rasel will only play ODIs and he will always put the other bowlers under pressure as he is very dependable with his line and length. All the bowlers are working hard and it will take some time to improve.”India took 20 years to win their first Test, Bangladesh took just five but the modern-day fans are in no mood to wait and want quick results. Ramanayake might not be feeling the pressure now, but if the seamers don’t start delivering, it won’t be long before he begins to feel the heat.

Mahela Jayawardene’s press conference was a bit like the match itself: done and dusted in less time than he would have needed to strap on his pads. Peter Siddle, however, had more to say

Telford Vice in Centurion20-Sep-2010We came. We blinked. We almost missed the match between the Victoria Bushrangers and Wayamba in Centurion on Monday.This wasn’t so much a game of cricket as it was a reason to be cheerful that it didn’t detain us any longer than was necessary. The brief blip of a match was all over, lock, stock and no smoking barrels, in a mite less than 30 overs.Mahela Jayawardene’s press conference afterwards was also done and dusted in less time than he would have needed to strap on his pads. Asked what had changed since last year’s tournament, when Wayamba beat Victoria by 15 runs, he was as honest as he was brief.”I don’t know,” he said disarmingly. “The line-up of our team hasn’t changed much. We knew they would be very aggressive because they needed a big win, and we needed a total of 150 to 160 to be competitive. But we just weren’t up for it on the night.”And with that he was gone, followed out of the door by his captain, Jehan Mubarak, whose sole contribution was a joke about how he might as well go and make himself “a cup of coffee” while Jayawardene got on with answering the only question put to them.The Sri Lankans took their leave politely and perhaps a little relieved that there was nothing left to say that wasn’t already obvious to all. Part of that has to be that the Victorians have played a positively Germanic brand of cricket. They deserve a place in the semi-finals on the grounds of their ruthlessness and efficiency alone.Not that Peter Siddle, who was understandably granted a longer audience by the media, was ready to accept that bit of praise with good grace. “It’s about time,” he said. “It was disappointing to lose the first one, but since then it’s been good.”That lone loss was suffered against a fired-up Warriors side in Port Elizabeth, the same team Victoria will hope like mad put one over the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. A win the other way at St George’s Park would put Chennai, the Warriors and Victoria level on points, and the Aussies’ net run-rate isn’t great.”It’s out of our hands now,” Siddle said. “Most teams wouldn’t have thought they could win three out of their four games and still miss out.”How confident was he that the Warriors would do his team a favour? “They’ve got some good bowlers and some good batsmen up the top of the order. It should be a game worth watching.” In other words, don’t ask me, mate – I’m not nearly dumb enough to stick my neck out on that one.There will be no such dreaming for Wayamba, who were woeful for the third consecutive match. In fact, that win over Victoria last year is the only success they have to show from five CLT20 outings. Thanks for coming, fellas. Better luck next time, and give our regards to Kurunegala.They have one game left, against the already eliminated Central Districts, also in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. Talk about dead men walking.On Monday, the Sri Lankans were outplayed by opponents who approached their task with what Hemingway would have described as a cold mind. Wayamba wickets weren’t so much taken as scythed off at the roots, and while the Bushrangers’ run chase was more measured than manic, they still got the job done in 13.2 overs.If they make it into the final four, they look headed for a confrontation with South Australia. The Redbacks have ridden rampant through the tournament, reeling off three wins to become the first team to nail down a semi-final spot. For all that, the prospect of taking them on in a knock-out context put a thin, menacing smile on Siddle’s lips and made his eyes narrow until they were slivers of silent aggression.Redbacks, you have been warned.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the third day of the first Test between New Zealand and Pakistan in Hamilton

Andrew Fernando at Seddon Park09-Jan-2011Collapse of the day
In a series with two teams infamous for capitulating, New Zealand produced a top-order collapse that even Pakistan might struggle to match for the remainder of the tour. Trailing by 56, Tim McIntosh began the slide for the hosts, running down the track past a gentle straighter one to get himself stumped, minutes before Brendon McCullum followed him to the pavilion. Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson were all out in a hurry and Daniel Vettori’s dismissal put the icing on the cake for the visitors. Within the space of an hour, New Zealand had lost seven wickets for 35 runs.Shackle-breaking slog of the day Part I
Pakistan’s overnight pair of Asad Shafiq and Misbah-ul-Haq had been tied down by a disciplined new-ball spell when Shafiq decided he had had enough, midway through the ninth over of the day. Tim Southee banged one in short when Shafiq had expected a length delivery outside off, but the batsman wasn’t about to pull out of the shot and ended up performing an ungainly half pirouette suspended in the air, all while getting enough bat on it to send the ball to the square-leg fence.Shackle-breaking slog of the day Part II
Abdur Rehman had batted out 30 deliveries without scoring, before he too decided that enough was enough. Rehman advanced down the track and tonked Daniel Vettori back over his head for six, and followed up the stroke with a four and a six.Steven Finn impression of the day
Graeme Swann believes the reason Steven Finn falls over in his follow-through is because his large nose puts him off balance. Tim Southee though, a tall right-arm bowler of a less nasally-gifted variety, couldn’t claim the same handicap when he took a tumble in the last over of his first spell on day three. Too much hair product in that impeccably maintained mane perhaps?Drop of the day
They say there are no easy catches in the slips, but perhaps after having seen this opportunity from Rehman just after lunch, they might change their minds. Rehman flashed at a wide one off Brent Arnel and the ball travelled directly into the lap of Taylor at second slip, where New Zealand’s overnight millionaire promptly failed to get any more than a finger on it. As easy a slip catch as he will ever get.Shot of the day
Pakistan’s specialist batsmen might have thrilled the Hamilton crowd with sparkling shot-making, but it was their No.10 who provided the most graceful stroke of the innings. Faced with a full wide one from Southee, Tanvir Ahmed dropped one knee and caressed it smoothly through the covers with all the elegance of a right-handed Kumar Sangakkara. Two balls later, he repeated the stroke, this time with a level of class and finesse more befitting of a tailender.Test century of the day
New Zealand fans had little to cheer about when Chris Martin came to the crease at 96 for nine, but he was soon to give them the only positive in an otherwise disheartening day. Three runs short of his 100 career runs, Martin blocked out his first two deliveries, before casually stroking the third through the covers to complete his ton. The crowd rose to its feet to applaud the spectacular feat as their hero pottered about shyly at the non-striker’s end.

The WACA pitch has felt like another planet for most of the batsmen on show in this game, but this stretch of soil is Michael Hussey’s home

Peter English at the WACA18-Dec-2010Michael Hussey’s pulling power has dragged Australia to the verge of a series-levelling win and reacquainted him with the mountainous numbers he achieved in his Test youth. Without Hussey’s 116, his fourth Ashes hundred, Australia would have faced a couple of days of nerves, but the hosts need only five more wickets to head to Boxing Day on level terms.The WACA pitch has felt like another planet for most of the batsmen on show in this game, but this stretch of soil is Hussey’s home. He is safe here. Those running into him have been the ones in discomfort, feeling the cracks and slaps of his driving and cross-bat shots. Hooks and pulls often disappear from view in tense times due to the extreme risk of dismissal.Playing like this in Perth creates more physical danger because of the speed and bounce of the wicket. Hussey doesn’t care.He is among the most calculated batsmen in the game so it would seem a contradiction that he relies so heavily on a method with such little room for error. Except it’s not a risk for him, because he’s been hooking and pulling in Western Australia for three decades. He calls the shots instinctive, but they are ingrained, like chewing nails during tense chases, or roaring when an edge flies behind.Hussey couldn’t stop if he spent weeks in hypnosis. Should an opening batsman who has waited a decade for a debut hook when his only Test earning is a single? Should he let his mind convince him to pull when he’s meant to saving the second Ashes Test on an unpredictable Adelaide wicket? To most batsmen the answers are no.Hussey said yes to those times and thousands more because he knows the shot will pay off more often that it sends him bust. It has boosted his account considerably in this series, which started with him playing for his place. Since then he has hooked and pulled his way to heights not reached since the opening three years of his career, when his numbers were as close to Bradman as any mortal can reach.The cross-bat smacks have been pivotal and productive, creating doubts for the bowlers over their length, and showing he will not be a target for overs of short balls. Seven of his 13 boundaries and plenty of singles and twos came from the shots in a masterful home-ground display. In the middle session England tried an at-the-body approach through Chris Tremlett but quickly gave up.”Mike Hussey is probably not a player you want to bowl too short to,” Peter Siddle said. “He showed that again today, same as he did in Brisbane when they attacked him with it.”Hussey is a traditional player and spent most of the first hour of the day adjusting to the conditions. Once he had, not even a long disruption for a jammed sightscreen could distract him. He also wasn’t put off by three men in the deep at times, an attempted pull that caused an under-edge and a bruised hip, or the frightening short-ball treatment directed at his team-mates.His first punched pull came off Tremlett when he moved to 40, the opening blast of a string of aggressive swipes. The most precise cross-bat effort came when he split fine leg and deep backward square with another cracking strike off Tremlett that landed him on 96. It was appropriate that a pull brought up his hundred, from only 136 balls, and as he ran to the stumps at the bowler’s end he leaped and punched the air.A similar celebration occurred four years ago when his 103 on a sweaty day also put his side in sight of a hugely satisfying victory. Back then he was near his peak; this display provided him with more statistical stardom. He is the leading run-scorer in this series with 517 at 103.40, and he has increased his Ashes record to six consecutive innings of scores of 50 or more. A man who spluttered for much of the past two years has achieved unrivalled consistency again.Equally importantly, his innings built on Mitchell Johnson’s day-two demolition and ensured Australia set England a now unreachable target of 391. Hussey was last out and his innings finished with a pull to Graeme Swann at deep forward square leg, but that didn’t worry him. He knows the risks, and the rewards.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers in Mumbai

Siddhartha Talya14-May-2011Welcome, Michael Lumb
He had opened the innings for Rajasthan Royals in the previous season but Lumb, before this game, had yet to make an appearance for his new team. When he did, he took strike against the wrong bowler. Just his second ball this IPL season, Lumb made room while simultaneously stepping out to Lasith Malinga. It turned out to be a full delivery that he failed to make contact with, and out went the stumps. What a return.Dhawal or Malinga?
You couldn’t make out who was who. That’s pushing it a little, but Dhawal Kulkarni would be proud of the yorker he bowled to dislodge Daniel Christian. It was fired in the blockhole on middle and Christian was done in for pace more than the length, failing to get his bat down in time and you know what happened next.Rumble at the Wankhede
Had this game been a Hindi movie, you’d think the country’s seemingly paranoid film censor board would have edited out its most pivotal scene. The verbal exchange between Amit Mishra and Munaf Patel in the final over of the Deccan Chargers innings marked a decisive turn in a game that Mumbai Indians had controlled until then. Mishra went for the pull, got a top edge that landed just short of the fine-leg boundary, something was said by someone and Munaf lost control.It took the umpire to separate the two, and there was more two balls later when Mishra slashed one past third man. This time, there was a collision and another flare-up. More unpublishables. The result: Mishra won the battle. A full toss followed, it was duly dispatched. Last ball, Munaf pitched on a length and out it went over midwicket. Mumbai never recovered completely from there on.The Duminy cameo
This time, with the ball. Kumar Sangakkara revealed later that the ploy to bring Duminy on in the first over was to test out Aiden Blizzard. The signs of it working were there the first ball Blizzard faced Duminy. He came round the wicket, landed it on middle and got it to shoot away just as Blizzard closed the face. Not only did it beat the batsman, but also keeper and slip. The first ball of Duminy’s next over, the bowler had his reward. Blizzard decided to counterattack, slog-sweeping at a length delivery that spun away to knock back off.Rajan’s day out
Anand Rajan was a surprise choice in the XI, and in his first IPL appearance he didn’t disappoint. In just his second over, he got T Suman with a slower ball and then the big one, Sachin Tendulkar trapped lbw trying to improvise.His biggest test, though, came in the final over. He was bestowed with the responsibility to restrain Kieron Pollard. A six first ball, and the nerves kick in. A wide down the leg side, the nerves show. A four over square leg, it’s crisis time prompting a mid-pitch conference. But there’s relief, finally, when Pollard miscues one to third man to decide the game. In the end, figures of 3 for 27 don’t make for bad reading at all.