The world body’s CEO, Dave Richardson, talks about the proliferation of T20 leagues, corruption in the game, and the role of technology

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi and George Dobell19-Oct-2012What is the biggest issue cricket is facing currently?
On the cricket side, with the proliferation of domestic T20 leagues, there has to be a way to make sure that they can exist and complement international cricket rather than destroy or cannibalise it.There are huge benefits to having three different versions of the same game which appeal to different audiences and can keep cricket relevant to different people at different times. But with that comes the challenge of making sure that one format of the game does not prejudice the other two and vice versa. So that is probably the biggest challenge: making sure the international calendar works, providing balance between and context for the three formats. All the best players cannot play all of the time and need their periods of rest, and that is a challenge too.Is the Champions Trophy an example of that sort of sacrifice? Isn’t it a shame that if done right, it could have been the best world ODI tournament?
It is not so much about what went wrong. It is a good event. The point is, we now have three viable formats of the game and it makes sense to have one global event for each of the three formats rather than two 50-over formats and no Test event. Yes, it is a pity because the Champions Trophy is a good event – compact, sharp and contested by the best teams, but it is being replaced by the World Test Championship, which will be contested by the top four teams. So it would have a worthy replacement.As important as the many domestic T20 leagues are, don’t you think they are eating into the international calendar, which is the lifeline for the ICC?
That is what the recent at the chief executives’ committee and board have been about and trying to make sure they do not impact negatively on the primacy and relevance of international cricket. But not all the players are going to play in all the leagues. You might have a few who become specialist domestic T20 league players. But in the long term their marketability depends on how well they do at international level. That is where they make and retain their names. So I do not agree that it will be a total disaster. These leagues bring a lot of advantages: they have attracted more fans, they provide more opportunities for a deeper pool of players to play at the professional level. Before domestic T20, there was a very select band of players that actually were providing revenue for the game. Now it is a much bigger pool. And that is good for the game.There has been strong demand for the IPL having a window. Former India captain Rahul Dravid said earlier in the summer that creating a window for the IPL might enhance the quality of Test cricket because all the best players would then play?
In practical terms an informal window will be created for so long as the IPL retains its importance and players want to play in it. Even the likes of West Indies, who have traditionally played during the IPL window, will do their best to start scheduling their international cricket outside of that period. So that will happen just naturally without it being enforced. The difficulty of formally creating windows is, where do we stop? In two years’ time the USA might have a very viable [T20] league with lots of money and backing, so are we going to give them a window? I suspect you have to accommodate these domestic events while making sure international cricket remains relevant and attractive for the top players.

“Before domestic T20, there was a very select band of players who were providing revenue for the game; now it is a much bigger pool. And that is probably good for the game”

A conflict that always makes headlines is when a player requests his country’s board for a NOC to participate in an overseas domestic T20 event. Is that a source of controversy?
The international game and its development depend on the revenues generated from international cricket. Players get to where they are by coming through the system. It is reasonable to expect that cricket must do what it can to ensure that this development pathway is sustained. Ensuring that the best players are available to play for their national teams is very important to retaining the value and primacy of international cricket. NOCs help in this regard. If a restriction placed on players, which might be considered as a restraint of trade, is done for the reasonable purpose of ensuring the future of international cricket, then the court will say that is a reasonable restraint of trade. A restraint of trade is only unlawful if it is unreasonable.Speaking on the alleged corruption scandal involving umpires, you said it is a war you are fighting and it is all-encompassing. How does the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit better train the watchdogs appointed by the member boards to stem the rot of corruption?

We have an anti-corruption unit whose resources have been increased in recent times – they have got more personnel, they have got more money allocated, and their databases have been upgraded. What has happened is, because the international players are well educated now and know the risks, displacement has occurred and the bookies are now targeting domestic leagues. So to counter that we have made sure that every Full-Member country has its own anti-corruption unit in place and its own anti-corruption code, so that what we are doing at the international level can be mirrored at the domestic level. And in doing so we have increased the total resources available [to fight corruption]. Each country now has its own anti-corruption unit and the ACSU provides a co-ordinating role. Next year there is a big seminar scheduled to share information and best practice. Hopefully they can operate effectively as a whole.This has been suggested earlier, but is it possible or necessary for the ICC to run an undercover operation as regards to anti-corruption?
The primary strategy of the anti-corruption unit has been prevention. They are not a police force and have quite restricted investigatory powers. So the focus has been to try and prevent. In other words, gather intelligence, find out who the crooked bookmakers are and keep them away from players. When they come near the players, let us warn the players to stay away. And only if they ignore the warnings then nail them [players].The criticism has been “How come you have never caught anybody?” But actually it is bit like a good lawyer; he keeps you out of court. He does not wait for you to get to court and then try to help you. The ACSU operates on a similar basis.A policy of prevention relies on building trust between the ACSU and the players. Sting operations will only serve to destroy that trust. Obviously in some cases the ACSU has not prevented everything and sting operations have exposed things, but by and large the strategy of prevention is proving very successful.In some ways, can it not be regarded as a success that the sting operations are only exposing the lesser-known people?
Yes, it means that the efforts at education and prevention at the international level are working and the match-fixers have been forced to turn their attentions to domestic levels. We would love to get to a situation where all countries have legislation in place which makes it a serious criminal offence to approach a player to fix a match.The corrupt bookmakers are the problem. On the other hand, the players have got no excuse anymore – every single one of them has been educated, has been warned as to how these guys could entrap them. They have to say no.Was there a loophole in the vigilance in the case of these suspended umpires?
Not exactly. The umpires also have rules which prohibit corrupt conduct. Certainly, one would have expected more of umpires. Maybe at the domestic level there could have been an oversight in not providing proper education. That responsibility and that of taking disciplinary action falls on the member boards. The ICC has no jurisdiction over domestic umpires.”The fact that technology is used to the degree it is used in tennis is proof that it is not something developed in some garage”•Associated PressA big talking point in the last few years has been the extent to which technology is used in assisting umpires, which is proving to be crucial in matches. Does there not remain large room for improvement in terms of consistent use of technology?

Technology is a moving beast. Technology will keep improving. At the moment we use ball tracking [Hawk-Eye] and Hot Spot. We do not want to limit ourselves to those two tools and we have to keep an open mind to new technologies. As far as consistent application of the DRS in all international cricket, the BCCI remains unconvinced. They are against it as a matter of principle; they also have concerns that the technology is not accurate enough. It is our job to try and alleviate their concerns.Is it just the BCCI that is opposing the move?
Pretty much. The only time DRS is not deployed in other countries is due to costs.During the ICC AGM in the Kuala Lumpur it was understood that the ICC was satisfied with the improvements made in Hot Spot and ball tracking by an ICC-appointed Cambridge professor. Has that progress been stalled now?
The testing is work in progress. But the point is, we have presented the results which confirm the improvements in the technology to the BCCI. Hawk-Eye is improving with new cameras, Hot Spot has new cameras. The technology available today is good and provides accurate and reliable outcomes. Often people will say, “Oh, that can’t be right.” But it is more often than not, their perception that is wrong rather than the ball tracking. The fact that the same technology is used to the degree it is in sports such as tennis is evidence of the level of its accuracy. It is not something developed in some garage.We have shown the results of the testing to the Indian board. It is now a case of giving them a bit of breathing space and letting them make their own minds up. I do not believe in forcing anything on anyone. We know that Hot Spot is not going to be effective 100% of the time – there are faint edges which are not picked up at times. Yes, there are occasions when the ball-tracking technology may get it wrong, but it is not often; they occur very occasionally. The BCCI’s view is that until it is 100%, they do not want to use it.In your experience as an ICC employee for many years, what do you believe are the best methods to get the members – particularly Full Members – to approach the concerns of the ICC from a global perspective rather than from a national perspective? Or is this a pipe dream?

No, it is not pipe dream. It is something we need to work on. My view is that encouragement and persuasion always work better than a big stick. What you have to bear in mind is that not everyone’s view as to what’s best for the global game is the same. You might think it is best to have DRS, but someone else does not think it is. Who is right?Does the ICC lack teeth for the purpose?
It is not a case of lacking teeth. People need to understand what the ICC is: it is a collective of members, it is a co-operative. If the ICC management wants to change the size of the sponsor logo on a team shirt, they would need seven Full Members to vote in favour of that move.

“My view is that encouragement and persuasion always work better than a big stick.”

Recently the ICC carried out a detailed review of the governance. There were a whole number of recommendations provided in the Woolf Report. Quite naturally there are differences of opinion as to which recommendations should be implemented and which should not. It is going to be a hard road to get consensus. There is no easy way out. There will be heated debates, differences of opinion among the members. No organisation has ever changed its governance structure overnight. It is a process.Is there a worry the business model of cricket is not sustainable?
I do not think anyone really has all the answers. So finding the optimum volume of cricket which generates optimum revenues is always going to have a bit of trial and error involved. Market forces will come into play. If the TV rights being paid for bilateral series start to drop, that might be a signal that you should play less but with added context.That is why the World Test Championship is a good idea because all the matches will matter and people will fight hard to qualify. But will that trickle down to the teams lower in the rankings, and do we end up in a situation where there is a good argument for promotion, even in the top ten?
Whether that happens in Test cricket in the long run is something to be considered in the future. But certainly in the ODIs, the ICC board had already made a decision to introduce promotion and relegation in 2019. That means somewhere before that we need to start the process where we tell the teams that at a particular cut-off date you will be promoted or relegated. That process would probably need to be put in place sooner rather than later, so that teams have sufficient notice. The details as to how that is going to happen still have to be worked out, but promotion-relegation combined with qualification for the ten-team World Cup will provide incentives for the teams and context to bilateral ODI series.Fortunately because of the traditions, Test cricket has always been about bilateral series. Having the World Test Championship provides fantastic context for Test cricket. The road to the first event in 2017 begins now. Only the top four teams will qualify. Already I am thinking about the cut-off date for the 2017 event. If the cut off were today, would India, for example, be in the top four? The quality of the top eight teams is now so close that we are going to see some very good cricket.

Moises Henriques is seeking to build on a rapid start to 2012-13, having been named the Australian Cricketers Association’s Player of the Month for October

Brydon Coverdale29-Nov-2012Moises Henriques hopes his maiden first-class century won’t be the high point of his season, setting his sights on a full summer without injury and delivering more victories for New South Wales along the way.Henriques has been named the Australian Cricketers Association’s Player of the Month for October, after starting the summer with 78 against Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield match in Perth, followed by an unbeaten 161 against Tasmania.The hundred had been a long time coming for Henriques, who was considered a future Test prospect when he made his first-class debut at the age of 19 in 2006-07. Along the way, Henriques has delivered some fine performances for his state and earned a call-up to Australia’s Twenty20 and one-day international squads in 2009, but a first-class century could become the breakout moment for Henriques, who is now 25.”I always felt it wasn’t far away,” Henriques told ESPNcricinfo of his hundred. “It was good just to get that one under the belt and be able to relax a little bit more now when I sleep at night instead of wondering when that first big one is coming. I always knew it wasn’t going to be far away but it’s very good to get it over and done with early in the season. It is just the start of the season and it’s important to continue on for the full duration now.”The main thing Henriques hopes to achieve this summer is to stay fit. Henriques is in his seventh season of Shield cricket but this week was playing only his 28th Shield match. As Shane Watson has known for a decade and Mitchell Marsh is rapidly discovering, one of the greatest challenges faced by the allrounder is managing the demands on the body.”Last season I tore my side twice, and before the season I had both my groins operated on,” Henriques said. “I’ve had hamstring problems in the past. It’s been a combination of things. So far this season it’s been good and I haven’t missed a game yet. Fingers crossed, that’s the way it keeps coming.”The more cricket you play, I’m hoping that the more your full-grown body gets used to it and starts accepting what you’re doing. That’s what I’m hoping for. All I can do is keep preparing as well as I can for every game. If anything happens during the game with injuries it’s almost out of my control. All I can control is how I prepare and recover.”All the same, the tendency of allrounders to suffer injuries could also work in Henriques’ favour. Watson missed the first two Tests against South Africa with a calf injury having also sat out of the entire home Test summer, Marsh is out for the season with a serious hamstring tear, and Andrew McDonald is also unlikely to play again this summer due to a hamstring injury.Should Henriques find himself fit and in form at the right time, Test cricket could become a realistic possibility. But to realise that goal, he knows he’ll need more than one or two eye-catching performances.”That’s everyone’s dream is to play Test cricket for Australia,” he said. “My first and short-term goals are to win games for New South Wales and to hopefully stay on the park for a full season and win a couple of tournaments. After that, by showing as an individual that you can win games for your team and help your team have a successful season, that’s how I see myself getting selected.”As an allrounder, those strong performances could come with either bat or ball. During a stint with Glamorgan this year, Henriques found life difficult with the bat – his best score in four first-class games was 16 – but the upside was that the conditions helped his bowling, and he picked up 13 wickets at 22.23.”That’s the beauty of being an allrounder – if it’s not suiting your batting it’s more than likely going to be suiting your bowling,” Henriques said. “I concentrate on both just as much as each other. I did bowl a lot in the pre-season because I have had a few injuries in the past and I wanted to build a bit of resilience into the body and make sure I kept bowling and bowling. I do give equal time and effort to both.”During the Player of the Month voting period, Henriques made 289 Shield runs and was dismissed only once, and he also collected seven wickets at15.29, as well as making 78 in his only Ryobi Cup appearance. He finished with 31% of the votes, ahead of Ricky Ponting on 29.3% and Phillip Hughes on 17.2%.

Hashim Amla’s innings wasn’t flawless, but what sets him apart is that he is not affected when his weaknesses are exposed. When handed a life, the opposition usually regrets it

Firdose Moonda at the Gabba09-Nov-2012Australia will sleep uneasy knowing that tomorrow’s return to the Gabba is set up as another day of toil. They will return to bowl to Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s most successful pairing who, on day one, overtook a record that had previously stood between Kallis and Gary Kirsten, now the coach.Together, Amla and Kallis have scored 3607 runs, average 66.79 and have combined for 11 century and eight half-century stands. Their power as a duo was at its best against England at The Oval, where they put on an unbeaten 377.Although they do not even have half that many runs at the moment, they are complementing each other with the same push and pull as they did then. Kallis has scored at an uncharacteristically quick rate to put Australia off their lines while Amla has continued exactly from where he left off against them a year ago.Last year this time, Amla posted back to back centuries against Australia and is well poised to notch up a third. Even if he doesn’t, it will not detract from the achievements of the last 12 months. His run since this day in 2011 has been a remarkable and highly profitable one which has set up much of South Africa’s success.Not counting today’s 90, Amla has accumulated 1049 runs since November 9, 2011. In 18 innings, he has four centuries, including his record-breaking 311 at The Oval. Two of those were against Australia and the other two came during South Africa’s successful campaign to take the No.1 world ranking off England two months ago.That’s not all, of course. Amla has also scored three half-centuries since in that time, against Sri Lanka and New Zealand which speaks about his consistency against all opposition. His lowest average in the last four series is 34.75 against Sri Lanka at home but he has averaged over 45.00 in all the rest.Only Michael Clarke has scored more runs in the last 12 months than Amla. In the process he has also become the second fastest South African to 5,000 Test runs. After a year of form, which looks as though it will become a lifetime of runs, what else is left to say about Hashim Amla?At least this time his stint in the middle wasn’t all pretty. When Amla rolls out the cover drive, decorated as a Turkish rug and every bit as smooth, it’s easy to forget any other shot he plays. But today those unforgettables were interspersed with plays and misses, false strokes and the odd glimpse of vulnerability.The reality is that in three of his last four hundreds, Hashim Amla has been dropped•Getty ImagesBefore he had scored a run, Amla survived an lbw shout from James Pattinson which was a touch too high and the umpire’s not-out call stood. When he was on 30 he prodded softly at a Ben Hilfenhaus ball and the resulting edge fell just short of Ricky Ponting at second slip. Even after Amla had brought up his half-century, he still offered chances.As he moved back to cut Nathan Lyon, Amla got an edge which flew between Matthew Wade and Clarke at first slip, who was not even able to react. On 74, he misread a Peter Siddle slower ball and offered a fairly simply return catch at waist height. Siddle spilt it.This innings proved that Amla is not invincible. What sets him apart from other batsmen is that he is not affected when his weaknesses are exposed and that can only be because he is comfortable with himself and his batting. Instead of distraction or doubt, Amla only shows determination when a flaw is let out.His ability to be unruffled is so well known that Australia’s supposed ‘dossier’ of plans for the South Africans could come up with nothing technical to beat Amla. Instead, they hoped to sledge him out of the game, a tactic Johan Botha was certain would not workIt’s a difficult thing to do – to steel oneself after being almost pushed over – but Alviro Petersen explained that it is possible. And Amla is able to do it better than others. “It’s important to put it behind you. For however long the ball is in there, your heart does tend to leave your body but after that, you have to put it behind you,” Petersen said. “Hashim really forgets about it and makes sure that the next ball is the important ball.”In the shower of accolades that have rained down on Amla in the last year, there hasn’t been too much of a need to examine how he got there. But the reality is that in three of his last four hundreds, Amla has been dropped. Australia were the first guilty party when Michael Hussey put him down in Cape Town last year off the final ball of the day. Amla had a rare rush of blood to the head and drove in the air but got lucky and went on to usher South Africa to victory with Graeme Smith the next day.Amla’s offering of chances did not stop there. On his way to his triple-century, he offered a chance when he was on 40 when an edge went the way of Andrew Strauss in the slips. At Lord’s two matches later, Amla gloved a short ball down the leg side when he was on 2 and Matt Prior could not hold on.The lesson in all of that is simple: don’t drop Amla, and it was one Australia learned the hard way. “You don’t like giving class batsman like that a chance,” James Pattinson admitted. “Because against a good batsman chances don’t come very often but come tomorrow if we get our chances we will be snapping them up as quickly as possible.”

From Andrew Hughes, United Kingdom Exciting news, cricket chums

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Andrew Hughes, United Kingdom
Exciting news, cricket chums. Today saw the official re-launch of the English Premier League. Better still, I was lucky enough to win a ticket to the press conference by successfully guessing how many fairy cakes Giles Clarke can store in his cheeks at any one time. (The answer is twenty-seven). So here it is: the full details of what could be the most significant day in English cricket since the last most significant day.As the ECB’s Head of Corporate Nonsense, it was the hamster-faced Clarke himself who opened proceedings with a short slide show about his recent holiday in Antigua and his friend Allen. There followed a brief interlude whilst the assembled gentlemen of the press adjourned to the bar, before the esteemed leader of the free cricket world resumed his presentation and explained how the highly successful Indian Premier League had influenced the English version.“Obviously, we can’t just copy the Indians, so you’ll see a few differences,” said Clarke, gnawing on a piece of cheese. “For a start no-one will want to watch it, because it’ll be rubbish. So we’ve gone away from the idea of big stadia and we’re holding it in my back-garden. Well it was either that or Taunton. And we’ve sold the rights to Mongolian State TV, so those lazy old buggers in their armchairs won’t be able to see it either.”Asked whether there would be IPL-style player auctions, Clarke chuckled. “Oh yes, sure,” he replied sarcastically. “What am I bid for this Gareth Batty? Do I see ten pounds. Ten pounds anyone? Don’t be daft, lad.”The English Premier League will run from January to December, with forty-eight rounds of matches, a month of play-offs and a Grand Final to decide which is the least worst team. Amongst the galaxy of international superstars scheduled to take part are Jonas Van Kolpack, brother of someone who almost played for South Africa and former Australian 12th man Carl Rackemann or someone who looks very much like him. The eighteen counties have also been specially renamed for the tournament, the names being chosen by a consultancy firm, ‘Old Rope Associates’ and finely tuned to reflect the diverse reality of modern British life:Lancashire DrizzleDurham Beer BelliesYorkshire MoanNottinghamshire AccentsDerbyshire Fly TippersLeicestershire KolpacksNorthamptonshire Traffic ConesWorcestershire WelliesGloucestershire Flood WarningsGlamorgan Slag HeapsSurrey ShootersMiddlesex MortgagesSussex NimbysHampshire ChemicalsSomerset InebriatesKent BigotsEssex NightclubsWarwickshire Idiots

An anti-climax of epic proportions

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013England wrapped up a deserved series win in Nagpur in what was effectively reduced to a three-Test series by an abomination of a pitch that produced a match of unremitting, merciless tedium. It reached even that level of intrigue only thanks to some delusional umpiring and a few careless pieces of batting that can be safely attributed to the players temporarily having the will to live sucked from their souls by a surface with all the vitality of a fossilised brick, 22 yards of cricketing mausoleum upon which the groundsman should have daubed the words, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”, or, at the very least, “I Hate Cricket”. Why he did not do so remains a mystery that may never be adequately explained.It would have taken a superhuman effort of sustained incompetence for either side to lose this match. Neither side obliged, and, amidst one of the most anticlimactic conclusions to a sporting event imaginable, England gained significant consolation at the end of a disappointing year.Alastair Cook’s captaincy tenure has thus begun with an impressive individual and collective triumph. England recovered from a woeful start, and ruthlessly exposed and exploited the seismic faultlines in the Indian team that were apparent in their humiliations in England and Australia last year, and could not be camouflaged by home advantage. Cook’s personal performance was monumental. His century in defeat in the first Test turned the momentum of the series, his hundreds in the second and third Tests ground down and dispirited an increasingly pallid opposition. The skill, craft and persistence of Panesar, Swann and Anderson, and the Mumbai magic of Pietersen, overwhelmed the home team, whose faint hopes of rescuing a drawn series were scuppered by that Nagpur slab of compacted disappointment, which offered nothing to bowlers, batsmen, spectators, commentators, sponsors, men, women, children, the elderly, the living, the dead, or anyone with belief in the existence of a benevolent god.It was one of the worst Test matches of recent vintage. The match run rate was 2.27 per over, the second slowest of the 525 Test matches played since April 2001.Only a late flurry of runs, when even the minimal pressure India had been able to impose had long since dissipated in the inevitability of a draw, raised it past the 2.25 per over of the Bangladesh v New Zealand Test in Chittagong in 2008-09, a game which had the decency to provide 37 wickets and a tight, low-scoring contest that ended with the Kiwis chasing down 317 to win by three wickets. The overall run rate in those 525 Tests is 3.26.Bowlers struck on average once every 120 balls, the 19th worst match strike-rate of the 585 Tests since January 2000 which have lasted for at least 90 overs. The average strike rate in all Tests in that time is a wicket every 66 balls. So in the average recent Test, runs are scored almost 50% more quickly, and wickets taken almost twice as often, as happened in Nagpur.The interminable drudgery was not helped by a soporific over-rate, plodding along at around the mandatory 15 over per hour despite fewer than a quarter of the overs being bowled by pacemen, or the innumerable needless interruptions that have been allowed to proliferate, or by the fact that England had no need to take the initiative, and India no apparent urge or ability to do so. Their batting at the start of day four was bafflingly pointless. And they then helped Cook set what must surely be yet another record – the first batsman in cricket history to have three men defending the legside boundary after scoring 12 off 90 balls.There was some good batting, some decent bowling, particularly by Anderson, and some fine fielding, but it is hard to imagine cricket greyer than this. (We should remember how lucky we are that this kind of match is now exceptional rather than normal. The overall scoring rate in Tests in the 1950s was 2.30, and, from 1933 when the first Test in India was played, until 1989, 55% of all Tests in Asia were drawn.)The series had been set up for a potentially thrilling climax, but instead ended with a squib that was not merely damp, but had been dredged up from the bottom of a stagnant lake. As a dramatic conclusion, it was as tepid as if the film Gladiator had concluded with the heroic Maximus tweaking a hamstring and being ruled out of his vengeance-fuelled fight to the death with naughty Emperor Commodus, before retiring from being a gladiator and training to become an actuary instead.England emerge from the series considerably refreshed as a team. Most of their key players re-found their form as the series progressed, and some new ones showed promise. They will, no doubt, be frustrated that, having fallen short earlier in the year against both the toughest spinners and the best pace attack they could face in world cricket today, they are not scheduled to have the opportunity to test themselves again against either Pakistan and South Africa until the 2015-16 season.Indian cricket, meanwhile, is facing a smorgasbord of selectorial bullets that it could bite. It has been tentatively pushing those bullets around its plate for too long. It will be fascinating to see which ones it decides to chomp, whether they go bang in its face, and whether any of the bullets decide to bite themselves.SOME STATS● England’s spinners took 39 wickets in the four Tests, the most by English slow bowlers in a series since the 1978-79 Ashes, and the most taken by visiting tweakers in India since Australia’s tour in 1969-70. Swann, Panesar and their various slow-bowling underlings collectively averaged 28.6 ‒ the second best average by touring twirlers in the last 34 series of three or more Tests in India, since England’s victorious tour of 1976-77 (bettered only by Australia’s Michael-Clarke-unaccountably-taking-6-for-9-enhanced spin average of 23.3 in 2004-05).● The previous 11 visiting spin attacks to India have returned series averages in excess of 39 (seven of them over 50). England’s spinners’ economy rate of 2.65 was the best by a visiting tweak attack in India since Zimbabwe’s slow bowlers went for just 2.57 per over in a two-Test series in 2001-02.● England’s spinners bagged three five-wicket hauls in the series – as many as had been taken by visiting spinners in the previous 31 Tests in India.● India’s spinners averaged 40.6 in the series – the seventh home series out of the last nine in which they have averaged over 34.● It was the first time in 13 home series that India’s slow bowlers have averaged more than their opponents’, dating back to the 2004-05 series against Pakistan.● India’s spinners averaged 42% more than England’s, the biggest margin by which they have been outbowled in a home series since the tied-Test rubber against Australia in 1986-87, when Yadav, Shastri and Maninder Singh (average 54.7) were bested by Matthews and Bright (33.8) – an offspinning allrounder and a bearded left-armer. Ominously for Panesar, the bearded left-armer never played Test cricket again, and concerningly for Swann, the offspinning allrounder averaged 63 with the ball over the rest of his Test career. England should drop them both for good immediately. You cannot fight historical precedent.● Root’s debut meant that England have fielded 21 different players in Tests in 2012, their most since 2003, when 27 players donned the three lions, 12 of whom never played for England again.● The 12 centuries England scored this year is their lowest tally since 2003, and their collective 2012 batting average of 30.6 is the lowest since they averaged 25.7 in 2001.● England end 2012 with a record of five wins, three draws and seven losses from their 15 Tests – their joint most defeats since losing eight out of ten in a spectacularly disastrous 1993, and only the second time in the last ten years that they have lost more Tests than they have won (they won five, lost six in 2006). They had lost only five of 36 Tests from 2009 to 2011.● India won three, drew one and lost five of their nine Tests in 2012. They also won three and lost five in 2011 – previously, they had not had a losing year since 2000. Their collective 2012 batting average of 29.62 is their lowest for any year since 1996. They have lost ten of their 17 Tests since the start of the series in England last year. Before that, they had lost 10 of their previous 55 Tests.

Australia’s marks out of ten, for the Test series against India

Brydon Coverdale25-Mar-20138
Michael Clarke (286 runs at 47.66)
The only Australian to score a century on this tour, Clarke showed from the first day in Chennai how nimble footwork is key to handling Indian conditions. He scored 130 in that innings, and in the second innings was only done in by a nasty ball that stayed low and turned viciously. That was followed by 91 in the first innings in Hyderabad, which could have become another ton had he not tried to hit out when running out of partners. His move up the order to No. 3 in Mohali failed in the first innings, and in the second he was severely hampered by his back pain. Clarke was such a lone beacon for most of the series that India knew if they could get him, they had won half the battle.6.5
Steven Smith (161 runs at 40.25, 1 wicket at 63.00)
Smith only played in Mohali because of the so-called homework sackings, but the Australians were immediately glad of his inclusion. His 92 in the first innings of that match showed that Clarke was not the only batsman in the side capable of using his feet. Smith was busy against the spinners and always looked confident, which couldn’t be said for most of his team-mates. A mature 46 in the first innings in Delhi added to his value, but given how comfortable he looked, the Australians really needed him to go on and turn one of his innings into a big hundred. His part-time bowling was at times awful, but he produced one perfect legbreak to have Sachin Tendulkar caught at bat-pad in Mohali.Peter Siddle (9 wickets at 33.88, 139 runs at 17.37)
Siddle had little impact in the first two Tests, but became an important player in the second half of the series. His 5 for 71 in Mohali prevented India from stretching their lead into triple figures, and in Delhi it was his batting that provided the greatest value. In his previous 40 Tests, Siddle had not scored a half-century, but he dug in to make 51 and 50, top scoring in both innings. Consequently, he became the first batsman in Test history to score half-centuries in both innings at No. 9. His efforts showed up his batting team-mates, and kept Australia in the contest.6
Ed Cowan (265 runs at 33.12)
Although Cowan didn’t build the big scores required of a Test opener, he at least showed his ability to learn. Early in the series he thought the best approach was to attack India’s bowlers, but dancing down the wicket, attempting to go over the top, got him stumped in Chennai. In the next two Tests his scores and time at the crease grew as he changed tack, and chose to occupy time, forcing the Indians to get him out rather than getting himself out – although a poorly judged sweep in Delhi went against that reasoning. M Vijay was the only player from either team to face more balls in the series than Cowan, and his steadiness was admirable given the carnage that often took place around him.James Pattinson (9 wickets at 27.77, 68 runs at 17.00)
The stand-out Australia bowler in Chennai with his 5 for 96 in the first innings, Pattinson used his pace through the air to challenge India’s batsmen in spite of the slow pitch. There was no question that Pattinson was the most sorely missed of the four men dropped in Mohali for failing to complete a homework task set by coach Mickey Arthur, and when he returned in Delhi he didn’t have quite the same impact. Like all of Australia’s tail, he also showed plenty of fight with the bat.In the final Test in Delhi, Nathan Lyon showed that he had learnt how to bowl in India•BCCINathan Lyon (15 wickets at 37.33, 54 runs at 18.00)
The axing of Lyon for the second Test in Hyderabad was one of the most surprising selection strategies of the tour, for although he leaked copious runs in Chennai, he did pick up five wickets, and nobody could have controlled MS Dhoni in such an unconstrained frame of mind. In the final Test in Delhi, Lyon showed that he had learnt how to bowl in India, avoiding too full a length, and adopting an around-the-wicket line to the right-handed batsmen that brought lbws firmly into play. He collected nine wickets for the match, and it should have been ten but for a dropped catch by Matthew Wade. His resilience with the bat at No.11 showed up some of his top-order teammates as well.5
Moises Henriques (156 runs at 31.20, 2 wickets at 77.50)
Chosen for his first Test in Chennai, Henriques showed remarkable resolve with the bat in both innings, and scored 68 and an unbeaten 81. Although he ran out of partners in the second innings, and missed the chance for a hundred on debut, he was the first Australian since 1979 to score a half-century in each innings of his first Test. However, his batting in Hyderabad and Mohali did not live up to his Chennai promise, and as a bowler he lacked penetration.Mitchell Starc (2 wickets at 100.00, 145 runs at 36.25)
This may seem a generous mark for Starc given his failure with the ball, but it is a reflection of the fight and skill he showed with the bat in Mohali. In the first innings he very nearly became the second Australian centurion of the tour, but was caught behind for 99. His 35 in the second innings almost got Australia into a position from which they could dream of preventing an Indian win. His two wickets for the series came in one over during a spell of outstanding swing bowling, but when the ball wasn’t moving, he was of little threat to India’s batsmen.4.5
Brad Haddin (51 runs at 25.50, 4 catches, 1 stumping)
Given another chance in Test cricket due to Wade’s ankle injury in Mohali, Haddin was clean behind the stumps, and even found himself acting as on-field captain when Clarke was off having his sore back treated. He made starts in both innings but was unable to go on.4
David Warner (195 runs at 24.37)
Despite making two half-centuries, Warner had the worst series of his short Test career. His 59 on the first day of the tour was scratchy, and his only innings of real note was 71 in Mohali, when he and Cowan put on 139 for the opening stand. Two edges from loose flashes outside off with no footwork in the first couple of overs in Mohali and Delhi, were especially ugly.Glenn Maxwell (7 wickets at 27.57, 39 runs at 9.75)
The so-called “Big Show” had no impact with the bat, despite being promoted to open in the second innings in Delhi. He did manage to collect four wickets in Hyderabad, and three in Delhi, but has a long way to go before he can be considered a Test batting option.3.5
Phillip Hughes (147 runs at 18.37)
For two and half Tests, Hughes was mesmerised by India’s spin and the conditions, and at one stage had a drought of 58 deliveries against India’s spinners without scoring a run. A new, more aggressive approach helped him in the second innings in Mohali, and he was unlucky to be lbw for 69 to a ball clearly missing leg. In Delhi he contributed 45 in the first innings.Matthew Wade (113 runs at 18.83, 4 catches, 1 stumping)
One decent score – 62 in Hyderabad – was not what Australia needed from Wade after deciding he could serve as a top six batsman on this trip. He had an up-and-down time behind the stumps, sometimes making impressive saves, and on other occasions letting through byes that could have been stopped. Keeping wicket in India is tough, but his lack of footwork did not help his cause. Wade dropped a regulation chance when Dhoni edged Lyon in Delhi, and missed a couple of difficult stumping opportunities.2
Shane Watson (99 runs at 16.50)
This was a hugely disappointing tour for Watson, who chose to embark on it as a specialist batsman in the hope of avoiding bowling injuries. Twice he was out pulling, which is risky on pitches with variable bounce, but found a number of other ways to lose his wicket as well. The homework saga and his reaction to it was Australia’s off-field low point, and although he returned and was given the captaincy in Delhi, overall this series could hardly have gone worse for Watson.Xavier Doherty (4 wickets at 60.50, 24 runs at 24.00)
A limited-overs bowler with limited weapons in the longer format, Doherty played in Hyderabad and Mohali, as the Australian selectors struggled to find their best attack. He was tighter than the other spinners but also far less of a threat.0
Mitchell Johnson (0 wickets, 3 runs at 1.50)
Johnson’s tour consisted of one Test, figures of 0 for 60, a golden duck, an innings of 3 that featured two close lbw shouts, a near run-out, and ended with a leave to a carrom ball that took off stump. He was also sloppy in the field, costing Australia a couple of boundary overthrows, and failed to complete a homework task. Enough said.

Plays of the Day from the game between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils in Jaipur

Andrew Fidel Fernando07-May-2013The list
Having been virtually knocked out of contention for the playoffs in their last match, changes to Delhi Daredevils’ XI were not unexpected, but the visitors changed more than half their team, leaving the captain Mahela Jayawardene with the difficult task of naming each one of them at the toss. It was not a job he shirked from though, as many captains are wont to do. When prompted by presenter Simon Doull, Jayawardene not only supplied the names of the players who came into the side, but those who were making way as well – 12 players in all. His recital earned immediate praise from Doull, and admiration from opposition captain Rahul Dravid, who applauded the effort.The dive
Though Sachin Baby’s dive at short cover to dismiss David Warner was impressive for its anticipation, it was not a player who provided the most remarkable dive of the evening. Rahul Dravid produced a lofted drive of rare power in the sixth over, when he struck an overpitched delivery from Ajit Agarkar straight back at the bowler. Agarkar attempted to complete a catch, but could do nothing more than deflect the ball, still traveling quickly, towards umpire Aleem Dar. Quick as a snake, Dar spotted the incoming missile, and dropped low, turning his body away from the ball, and ended up on the turf as the ball whistled past, all the way to the boundary.The slower ball
Sehwag has had only one good outing so far in the IPL, but when he struck two fours either side of the wicket in the second over, he may have hoped his lean trot was coming to an end. He was undone, however, by a slower ball – a good one, but the sort that he regularly blasts to the fence when in good form. Faulkner delivered his fourth ball out of the back of the hand, and Sehwag, being too quick on a heave across the leg side, as well as failing to account for the grip that the leg cutter achieved on the pitch, was beaten by a distance, and his off stump rattled.The drop
With a sub-par total on the board, Daredevils could afford few mistakes in the field, but when they did have the chance to arrest a forceful Royals start, they shelled the opportunity and allowed the opposition’s openers to effectively make the game safe. Morne Morkel induced a thick edge from Ajinkya Rahane in the fifth over, but despite Pawan Negi having ample time to get under the chance, going back from cover, he could not get his hands around the ball, and ended up parrying it towards the ropes. Warner and Agarkar combined to save the boundary, but enough damage had already been done, and Rahane was a fixture at the crease until the winning run was hit.

Trent Boult talks about not beating England in Auckland and confesses to providing misleading information about himself

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi06-May-2013Do you still brood about the final over you bowled against Matt Prior in the third Test in Auckland?
It was frustrating to not get that final wicket. I know that the bowling group and myself had put in everything we could, especially on that last day. We tried as much as we could so. It was a case of being so near yet so far.What were you thinking when you turned in to deliver that final ball?
I remember thinking: I have got to make him play. I knew I did not want to bowl a delivery at the sixth stump, which would be a waste of time. If I had my time again maybe I would have thrown in a yorker.Define aggression.
When you can tell from someone’s body language that he is in a fight and it is a battlefield out there. Dale Steyn is a perfect example of that. You can see the fire in his face, how much he is up for the occasion.You have said Wasim Akram is one your idols. What did you like about his bowling?
I loved how he could move the ball. Those are the kind of skills I’m trying to do in my bowling: swing the ball as much as I can and bowl at a good clip. I just loved the way he moved the ball both ways with such control.What is the most difficult thing to do for a left-arm fast bowler?
To move the ball consistently is the challenge.What is the one rule you would like changed or brought into cricket?
Use DRS consistently across the game.Tell us something we don’t know about you.
My player page on ESPNcricinfo says that I would be a chef if not for cricket. That is not actually correct. During the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, I filled out a form and I tried to be funny, saying I wanted to be a chef. And it has stuck with me. I can’t cook.*Do you play golf?
My handicap is 4. Back in New Zealand I am a member of a local club. It helps me take my mind off cricket.Has cricket ever given you sleepless nights?
Many. There was this interesting incident before my Test debut. I knew I was not playing. I turned up on the morning of the game and Daniel Vettori got injured and I only had about 30 minutes to gather my thoughts and get ready. In a way that worked out better rather than if I had known the night before that I was playing.What has been your most embarrassing moment on the field?
When I was younger, my team needed two runs to win and we had something like ten overs left and I ran myself out. For some reason I was trying to win it in one ball.Have you ever hit a winning six?
It came during the second match of the ODI series against India Under-19 in 2007. It all came down to the last ball and we needed six. I hit my first-ever six.Have you ever met Sir Richard Hadlee?
Yes, a few times. His message has been to be consistent and to ask the right questions and ask them over a long time. He is a man who speaks about patience and hanging in there and having control.* May 6 2013 12.45pm GMT The player profile has since been updated

Rajasthan Royals, despite controversy and a poor away record, had their best season in five years

Devashish Fuloria25-May-2013Where they finished

Third. When the tournament started, Rajasthan Royals were the outsiders, a team that relished the role of the underdog and was regarded as arguably the best of the second-tier sides; never too far from making it to the playoffs, but never considered a serious enough challenger to the big four. Led by an inspirational Rahul Dravid, who said the Champions League later in the year may be the last time he’ll play for them, the team proved that the whole was more than the sum of its parts by humbling one side after the other on a juicy pitch in Jaipur, but found the going tough away from home on pitches that were either too slow or too flat.They played their last three matches under tremendous pressure post the spot-fixing allegations and came close to sneaking into the finals during a tight finish against Mumbai Indians. It was Royals’ first top-four finish since winning the title in 2008.What went right

Royals made the most – winning eight out of eight – of helpful conditions in Jaipur which were suited to their bowling attack replete with medium-pacers, and where their technically sound top-order batsmen were able to take their time while Shane Watson bludgeoned his way through. But more than anything, they played as a team, with most turning up with more than one useful contribution during the tournament.Royals preferred chasing and did it well, with nine of their 11 wins coming in that fashion. Ajinkya Rahane was the rock in the batting, Dravid took the role of the floater, young Sanju Samson delighted all with his attractive strokeplay, and Stuart Binny capped off a solid domestic season with some aggressive match-winning hands in the IPL. The balance in their batting was apparent in the numbers – three of Royals’ batsmen scored more than 400 runs in the tournament with Mumbai Indians the only other team to do so.Royals’ bowling lacked express pace, but they swung the ball and mixed up the pace to return with rich hauls. James Faulkner picked up a couple of wickets whenever the team needed one, and he received solid support from Watson, Kevon Cooper and Siddharth Trivedi.What went wrong
As a team, Royals were effective but not feared and more often than not, they slipped while playing away from home, with only two wins during league stages. The lack of a quality spinner in their ranks hurt them when they played on more benign pitches where their medium-pacers lacked potency.The other issue was their batting: Apart from Watson and Binny, others failed to find the extra gear when the situation demanded more runs. Most surprising was the pace at which Rahane scored his runs. Last year, he maintained a high strike-rate throughout the season, but this year, his 488 runs came at a strike-rate of 106.55.The rug was pulled under Royals’ feet the moment the news about the spot-fixing allegations on three of their players surfaced. It was just before the playoffs and took the gloss away from a relatively successful season.Best player
Shane Watson continues to be at the heart of Royals’ campaign. He was there in the first season and he is still here after six seasons, bullying bowling attacks and picking crucial wickets. He started the season with four relatively quiet matches, but found his groove in his batting once he also started to bowl. It was in his fifth match – in Chennai – that he opened up, smashing a 61-ball 101 and followed it up with an unbeaten 98. But his best innings came in Jaipur, against Chennai Super Kings, when he tore the bowling apart in a blinding 34-ball assault that won Royals the match with ease after their batting had been left in tatters by the Super Kings seamers. After taking a few months break from bowling, Watson returned to bowl more than 40 overs and picked up 13 wickets.Poor performer
Shaun Tait should have ideally found the conditions in Jaipur to his liking, but his tendency to spray the ball meant he watched most of the season from the sidelines. In the three chances that he got, he bowled 10 overs and was expensive giving away 98 runs.Surprise package
Bought for $400,000 in the 2013 auction, James Faulkner proved to be an excellent return on investment. Thought to be a handy lower-order batsman, he was pushed up the order a few times with poor results. However, he made it more than up with his bowling, picking up 28 wickets in the season – the joint highest in any season along with Lasith Malinga’s haul in 2011. He also picked up two five-wicket hauls – the only bowler to do so in the IPL.Recommended for retention
Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane

With the identity of Australia’s specialist spinner still undecided, Nathan Lyon has much to gain – or lose – in the next two Tests

Brydon Coverdale08-Aug-2013In the lead-up to this Ashes series, Steven Smith was described in the as “a bit-part leggie who bowled himself into specialist batsman status”. It was an apt portrait, for Smith played his first two Tests against Pakistan in England as a frontline spinner batting at No. 8, his next three in the last, pre-Argus Ashes as a No. 6 or 7 bowling plenty of overs, and now he is a promising top-six batsman whose legbreaks are rusty, if not completely corroded.Somehow, he is also Australia’s leading spinner in the series. In the 22 overs Michael Clarke has asked of Smith in the first three Tests, he has sent down some full tosses so juicy they could be served for breakfast but he has also winkled out four wickets at 22.25, including Ian Bell twice. His bowling is Australian cricket in a microcosm: good enough at its best, park standard at its worst.Nathan Lyon would be pretty happy to have Smith’s record in this series. Left out for the first two Tests on pitches that suited spin, Lyon was brought in at Old Trafford, where there was more pace and bounce in the surface and the fast men bowled well. There was also turn, though, and Graeme Swann collected five first-innings wickets and six for the match. Lyon managed 1 for 95 from his 35 overs.Of course, life is very different for Lyon than it is for Smith, or even for Swann. As a part-timer, Smith’s introduction for a handful of overs can push a batsman into his shell, trying to avoid the ignominy of falling to him, or over the edge, trying to score too freely. Swann has the benefit of bowling to a line-up with several left-handers who must handle the ball turning away, while outside of Smith and Clarke, few of the Australians use their feet well.Lyon must also bowl to a batting line-up stacked with right-handers, for Alastair Cook is the only member of England’s top seven who bats left-handed. That was one of the reasons the inexperienced teenager Ashton Agar was preferred over Lyon for the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord’s, despite the fact that Lyon had taken nine wickets in his previous Test, against India in Delhi in March.Now, the pressure is back on Lyon to show why he is the No. 1 man. Swann has collected 19 wickets at 27.36 so far in this series, while Australia’s specialist spinners between them have three victims at 117.00. Not that Lyon bowled badly in his only appearance, at Old Trafford – he looped the ball at times and found some turn – but he dried up runs more than threatened wickets. Such roles are necessary in a Test attack.But the next two Tests are a big chance for Lyon to add some important wickets to his tally on pitches that will give him some assistance. How often, for example, will he encounter sluggish, grass-free surfaces during the return Ashes series in Australia later this year? “A little bit dry and quite slow” was how Smith described the Chester-le-Street pitch for the fourth Test when he first saw it on Wednesday.The words could just about describe Lyon. That requires clarification, for it is in no way a comment on his intelligence. Rather, it is a reflection of Lyon’s easygoing attitude. He is a laid-back individual with a deadpan sense of humour. He takes everything in his stride. Even after his demotion following the Chennai Test in India earlier this year he was still smiling, pleased with how he had turned the ball through the gate to bowl Sachin Tendulkar.MS Dhoni had demolished Lyon in that Test and at Old Trafford Kevin Pietersen threatened a similar destruction by advancing to Lyon and lofting him down the ground for sixes. Bell replicated the approach. There is no question that England’s batsmen will continue to go after Lyon over the next two Tests. How he responds will be a test of his character. He is the best spinner in Australia but the selectors have shown they are willing to drop Lyon, and he cannot afford a wicket drought on dry pitches.”We would have seen a lot more wickets if Lyono was given a chance to bowl in the second innings,” Clarke said of the Old Trafford washout. “There were things Nathan wanted to work on and has done so over the last couple of months. He’s spent a lot of time at the Centre of Excellence with his spin bowling coach and on the Australia A tour he had him over in England for a while.”I think he’s bowling beautifully at the moment. I think he’s bowling at a good pace. He always seems to get a lot of bounce, which is a great strength to have, and watching him bowl the other day it looks like he’s getting good drift away from the right-handers as well. His shape is there, which is a really positive sign, so I think he’s bowling really well and I think he would have picked up a lot of wickets on that last day if given the opportunity.”The opportunity didn’t come on the last day at Old Trafford, but it will over the next two Tests. There is much for Lyon to gain during these matches, for he can prove why he should have been part of this side from the first Test at Trent Bridge, and why he deserves the initial chance during the home Ashes. There is also much to lose, if he fails to have impact with wickets. By the home summer, Agar could be in the mix again and Fawad Ahmed will be considered if he starts the season well.Lyon has ten days of Ashes cricket to lock himself in as the No. 1 spinner. Outbowling Steven Smith would be a good start.