Both Zimbabwe and South Africa had gains from the one-off Test in Harare, and both teams got what they wanted to a degree

Firdose Moonda in Harare12-Aug-2014Vusi Sibanda’s cheeky cut over the slips. Morne Morkel beating Donald Tiripano’s inside-edge with a seaming delivery that was too good for the nightwatchman. The ball from Dane Piedt that turned from offstump to a foot outside leg stump. Richmond Mutumbami’s cover drive laced with class.Moments.Moments connected by periods of what you would see if you lay down on the grass embankments at Harare Sports Club and looked up at the sky: wisps of white floating lazily, dreamily, even aimlessly. That is the kind of Test match this was.The odd moment of brilliance cut through otherwise predictable proceedings. The expected result eventually came but it took longer than was thought necessary and the resistance was more robust than it was supposed to be.On a surface which the South Africans said made them feel as though they were back in Sri Lanka, the passages of play they did not dictate took place in slow-motion. Their own run-scoring was laboured, punctuated with leaving and blocking, and lacked intent. Where they could control, which was mainly with the ball, they made use of the turn and reverse-swing on offer and in an important period after lunch on the final day, a series of five moments undid Zimbabwe’s 10 sessions of fight.That was really all South Africa needed. They were not looking for a perversely big or quick win, just a win, “even if we win on the last session of the last day”, as JP Duminy put it. That it happened in the dying period of day four served as testament to Zimbabwe’s pluckiness.On their own pitch, designed mostly to protect against the real danger South Africa’s pacers could pose, Zimbabwe persisted for longer than teams ranked places above them who play more regularly than they do. They have only had one opportunity to tussle in a Test in this year so tussle they did, as tough as it was.The good news for Zimbabwe is that, like South Africa, they have three Tests scheduled before next year’s World Cup – but not too many after that either – so this match was an important information-gathering exercise for both teams. Zimbabwe needed to see that they still had both the desire to play Test cricket and the personnel; South Africa the same, although on a different scale.Despite being the No. 1 ranked team in the world, South Africa will only play six Tests in 12 months from this July to next. To hold on their ranking during that drought, they need to get things exactly right most of the time and will need to, again, in the home summer when they host West Indies.Again, it is anticipated they will dominate the opposition and they have made some discoveries over the last month which could help them do that. Hashim Amla’s ease at accepting the captaincy was one of them because he did not once appear overwhelmed by his task. Piedt is one for the future and has shown the direction to take after Imran Tahir. Quinton de Kock’s promotion to the side is another positive. Not only has he relieved AB de Villiers from behind the stumps but he also proved an able No. 6 batsman to add to South Africa’s strength in that department.De Kock was the batsman who showed the greatest sense of purpose in Harare. That he has the ability to score quickly and what appears to be fairly effortlessly does not hurt. He will be one of the players most closely watched in the coming season when local fans are less likely to be as tolerant of the go-slow batting approach they have witnessed from the distance of their television screens over the last two matches.Pitches in South Africa will certainly facilitate quicker run-scoring but the team will perhaps have to relook at at least one of the people tasked with doing that. Before the Harare Test they already identified Alviro Petersen’s spot as one that may become a vacancy and his showing in the Test would have confirmed that. With yet another unconverted start, Petersen has taken his run of the innings without a century to 23. Since the Pakistan series in February last year, he has scored 493 runs, including two fifties, in 22 innings and averaged 24.65.That is lower than his Zimbabwean counterpart Vusi Sibanda, who has also had calls for his head. Since Zimbabwe’s Test comeback, Sibanda has notched up 523 runs in 20 innings at an average of 26.15 with two fifties.In this match, Sibanda acquitted himself well enough to buy himself some time with his second innings showing but he will be expected to deliver more than he has done in the recent past when Zimbabwe tour Bangladesh later this year. They are due to play their first three-Tests series in more than 13 years this October and the duration of the contest will be as much a challenge as the conditions.Brendan Taylor expects the subcontinent to somewhat resemble what Zimbabwe had in Harare and has identified finding “two good spinners” as crucial to success on that tour. Already, they may have one. Offspinner John Nyumbu became only the second Zimbabwean to claim a five-for on debut and although he had conditions in his favour and may still lack some control, he could be an option to partner either Prosper Utseya or Natsai Mushangwe.What Zimbabwe will not want for when they take on Bangladesh is determination. They showed their enthusiasm to embrace the uncomfortable when they took on the best team in the world with brave faces and big hearts. South Africa won the match, Zimbabwe won admirers. Even if only for a few moments.

The legspinner made his first-class debut back in 2002, and grabbed his Test chance when it finally came

Umar Farooq in Dubai24-Oct-2014Pakistan usually have several quality legspinners in their domestic circuit but it has taken four years for one to reach the national team after the decline of Danish Kaneria. And this time the legspinner has emerged from the northern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – a region which is more renowned for producing aggressive fast bowlers. Yasir Shah announced himself on the Test stage with a three-wicket haul that helped Pakistan take a hefty first-innings lead.Shah, 28, is a Pathan by ethnicity and was born in the town of Swabi but mostly played cricket in nearby Peshawar due to the lack of cricket facilities in his hometown. He isn’t someone plucked from obscurity and pitchforked into the national team. He has played at every rung Under-19s upwards but found it difficult to secure a place thanks to the presence of Kaneria, Abdur Rehman and Saeed Ajmal over the past decade.In nearly 13 years since his first-class debut, he has 279 wickets at 24.43 in 76 matches. He did earn his ODI and T20 debut soon after the 2011 World Cup but with Ajmal developing into a world-class performer, Shah couldn’t establish himself. Now with Ajmal facing an uncertain future due to his suspect bowling action, Shah has been afforded another chance. He hails from the same town that produced Pakistan left-arm pacer Junaid Khan and legspinner Fawad Ahmed, who represented Australia in 2013 after being fast-tracked to citizenship.Pakistan has a great history with legspinners, starting from Amir Elahi during the country’s early days in international cricket to Intikhab Alam, Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed and Danish Kaneria. It’s a list Shah aims to join.”I have been waiting for the chance for so long,” Shah said with a big smile after the third day’s play in Dubai. “I think it’s still not late as I have plenty of cricket ahead of me. I had obviously played my whole career in domestic wishing to play Test cricket so I am happy with the opportunity that finally came my way.”Shah grew up watching plenty of Shane Warne videos but his action and stride are different from Warne. He has more of a fast bowler’s temperament, constantly attacking the batsman. While commenting on Shah, Warne said: “I like the look of this leggie Yasir Shah, plenty of energy & nice variations of pace.”When Shah was informed that his hero Warne had praised his bowling, his face lit up. He thanked Warne for his kind words. “I actually started bowling legspin watching Shane Warne and he is my idol so I am privileged that he has acknowledged me. My brother who is in UK used to show me his videos and send me the copies so I tried to model my career watching him. I really appreciate the comment by such a legendary player.”His sixth ball in Test cricket was a no-ball, which was reverse swept by David Warner for a boundary. It was the first no-ball by a Pakistani spinner in the last two years. He conceded six fours and two sixes and conceded four runs per over – the most expensive bowler in the side. He however delivered quality spells, besides getting the crucial wickets of David Warner and Steven Smith. “Initially, to concentrate on line and length, I had to bowl a little quick, as it helped me get into the proper position and land the ball in the right spot,” he said.Yasir also said the experienced pair of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan gave him plenty of advice. “Obviously on a debut you are nervous but I got off to a good start and that further gave me confidence. I was positive as I viewed the match as similar to a domestic game. I am happy I have got an important wicket like Warner.”

For the first hour on day three, despite the heat and the largely unhelpful pitch, India’s fast bowlers showed a level of intensity and penetration rarely seen from them; in the second hour, things mostly reverted to type

Sidharth Monga at the Gabba19-Dec-20144:53

Agarkar: No point trying to blow tail-enders away these days

Sixty-three minutes of pressure. Not one boundary ball, not one loose ball, not one down leg, not one short and wide, not one half-volley. Good hustle with two bowlers bowling quicker than 140kmph, and one not much slower than 140. Three boundaries are hit in this period – an edge, a good shot and a bit of an improvisation. Two wickets fall. Only 39 runs are scored. There is discipline, intensity, perseverance, and aggression. It is hard to remember India quicks under MS Dhoni bowling better as a unit for an hour. Unfortunately, what followed over 57 minutes after that – 14 boundaries and 91 runs for no wicket – is easy to remember. You can take your pick of reference points for a mini session where India lose control of a match.The first 63 minutes, though, can bear retelling, if only because they are a massive improvement from Adelaide. India fast bowlers have taken more wickets in less time previously, but mostly through magic balls on pitches that are assisting them. On hot days, on good pitches with nice even bounce, when there isn’t much seam movement on offer, you usually have at least one bowler releasing the pressure. Not on this hot day. Not in the first 63 minutes at least.It is 32 degrees by the time India come out of their huddle at 10am. Add five degrees to that because of the cauldron of the Gabba and the humidity. India have made yet another change to their slip cordon. Virat Kohli has moved in, and M Vijay has gone to mid-off. Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron begin. Both are outside off, neither is too full nor too short. Steven Smith scores four runs through good shots, but Aaron beats Mithcell Marsh with one that holds its line outside off.For the next three overs, pressure builds. Eleven runs have come off the first 4.5 overs. Slips are around, a gully is there. You can hear the Indian fielders on the stumps mic. They sense they are closing in. It’s important they don’t release the pressure. Ishant doesn’t. He pitches just short of a length, around a set of stumps outside off. Marsh leaves it alone on length. It doesn’t bounce as much as expected. The top of off is hit. You bowl this well, you push the batsman back, you give yourself the best chance to make use of misbehaviour in the surface.Brad Haddin – average under 11 since the last Ashes – is the new man in. India are at Australia again. Smith feels the pressure. He looks to drive off the back foot. The ball is not close to him. He gets an edge, which goes safely through gully for four. It is important to not lose the plot here. Dhoni takes the game a notch higher. Aaron goes round the wicket, gets a short leg in, and a short square leg right behind him. Aaron bowls two good short balls. One at the body, one just outside off.This is a crucial time. On the last trip to Australia, India had Australia down at 5 for 205 in Melbourne when Haddin walked out. He saw another wicket fall immediately. He began his innings with a long-on and deep midwicket in place. Dhoni seems to have learnt his lesson. He has looked a better, more proactive captain all match. Also Haddin is going through a lean phase. Most of all, though, his bowlers have been accurate. He continues attacking. Gets two short legs in. Ishant bowls full and nearly has Haddin lbw. Aaron goes round the wicket and aims for the ribs. Haddin gets one boundary through leg gully, but that gap is plugged.Ishant takes a breather after his first spell of 4-1-9-1, and Umesh begins with a maiden to Smith. When he bowls one short and wide, it is not put away. The batsmen just haven’t been in scoring mode. Dhoni has a chat with Aaron, who gets another over. He goes round the wicket with a short leg and a leg gully in place. This is short, this is quick, headed for the ribs from that angle. Haddin tries to get himself inside its line but the ball follows. He doesn’t fancy a hit in the ribs so he just raises his bat meekly. Short leg takes an easy catch. Mark Nicholas on air is reminded of Mitchell Johnson to Jonathan Trott last season.Johnson was Johnson because he had Ryan Harris building the pressure at the other end. India are looking dangerous with their pace because they haven’t bowled a loose ball all morning.Johnson hasn’t been Johnson this Test. He hasn’t taken a wicket. Rohit Sharma reminds him of that as he walks in to bat with Australia 161 behind. The Indian fielders, it seems, have been given free rein. They have been in the ear of the batsmen. Rohit has had a finger-pointing chat with umpire Ian Gould. India are looking to ape Australia in every way.Johnson gets a short leg and a leg gully first up. India are going to bounce him. They have let him know too. This is life in the fast lane. It can unravel fast. It didn’t at Lord’s. It worked at Lord’s. So India go to the bouncer after one double bluff – a full ball, which Johnson times through mid-on for three. Smith, meanwhile, has ramped a bouncer over slip.Ishant comes back to replace Aaron, who has gone off to get his left shoulder some attention. He has dived badly at the end of his spell of 5-0-26-1. He has bowled better than the figures suggest. Ishant comes back, and wants to continue what Aaron has been doing. What he himself did at Lord’s. Bowl bouncers. He bowls one at 133kmph, it is about chest high, and Johnson scorches it along the ground through square leg for four. This is not just four runs. This should be a message. Johnson can pull. He is going to pull. Use it sparingly. Ishant bowls another. No sting in that bouncer again. Four through midwicket. All of a sudden the partnership is reading 24 off 14.The next bouncer from Ishant is higher than the shoulder, but Johnson manages to keep it down. In the next over Umesh tries to bounce him. The ball is pulled down into the ground again. In the next over Ishant looks to bounce him, and is ramped over slips. In the next, when Umesh pitches it up, Johnson is beaten. Surely there is a message in there?Ian Healy on commentary says Johnson has a tendency of missing full and straight balls. India are not bowling that. They are going at his throat, and going for runs. Johnson is 26 off 20, and has played only three scoring shots in the off side. One of them a ramp to the bouncer. Seventeen of these 20 balls have been either short or short of a length. He’s loving it.Can’t be sure if it is ego or bad planning, but India keep persisting with the short ball. They have even started giving Smith the easy single. So now they have begun to try getting only one man out, and are going about it the wrong way. The rest of the unravelling is mere details, but the figures say it all: the last four added 258 in just 48.3 overs, the top six got 247 in 61.1 overs.It should have been 210 for the last four wickets, but Dhoni doesn’t go for a catch an arm’s length to his left. The ball dies in front of first slip, and Josh Hazlewood adds 32 unbeaten runs to his nought at the time. That’s the finishing touch every self-respecting Indian unravelling in the field yearns for.

Plays of the day from the game between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka in Dunedin

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dunedin22-Feb-2015The crunch
Quicks love the sights and sounds of broken timber, and though Shapoor Zadran may have shattered a few stumps in his life, he busted wood in a less meaningful, but in some ways more impressive manner. The 136kph back-of-a-length ball he delivered was met with a defensive push by Mahela Jayawardene. His bat middled the ball, or was it that the ball middled the bat? The willow in Jayawardene’s hands snapped at the point of impact, and he was left holding the handle and just the top third of the bat, as the rest came flying off to land near the middle of the pitch.The celebration
Hamid Hassan would probably have preferred to send Kumar Sangakkara’s off stump cartwheeling, but the outstanding delivery that made its way through Sangakkara’s defences managed only to send the bails flying. So Hassan took it upon himself to perform the cartwheel. He sprinted close to the batting crease and went head over heels, then squatting, pounded the ground with both hands, in jubilation.The borrowed apparel
Hamid was midway through his fifth over when he began to feel some discomfort in his right boot. He bowled one more ball, and while he was inspecting his boot a second time on the way back to his mark, Shapoor jogged in from cover to ask what the problem was. Between the two, they must have figured out they had the same shoe size, because in a few seconds, Shapoor had his boot off and the pair were swapping footwear. Hamid finished the over, and returned Shapoor his boot, before leaving the field to get a replacement.The start
Najibullah Zadran came to the crease in the pivotal middle-period of Afghanistan’s innings, and he promptly proceeded to bat the only way he knows. A team-mate had already been caught in the deep off Rangana Herath’s bowling, but unconcerned, Najibullah swung hard at the third delivery he faced and sent it high over cow corner for six. On air, coach Andy Moles was being interviewed and said, “He can’t block to save his life.”The miss
The last time the World Cup was held in the Antipodes, Jonty Rhodes gained acclaim for that superman-dive at the stumps to dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq. Najibullah had the chance to do that himself in the fourth over of Sri Lanka’s innings. The opposition two down as well, but inexperience shone through and he fluffed the chance. Sangakkara was well short of his ground as Najibullah collected the ball at point and ran in at the stumps. Najibullah had the time to break the stumps with ball in hand, but instead fired an underarm throw from close range, and missed, to the chagrin of team-mates.

Plays of the Day from the match between New Zealand and Scotland in Dunedin

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dunedin17-Feb-2015The immediate realignment
Trent Boult had picked up an IPL contract worth approximately US $633,000 overnight, but his first over of the day suggested his priorities had not changed. Boult first attempted to angle the ball into the right-hander’s pads by pitching on about leg stump, only to learn there was substantial movement to be gleaned in the air, despite the blue skies. That first one would swing down the leg side, but his next two balls made clinical use of the conditions. Both deliveries straightened late and lavishly, and caught Calum Macleod and Hamish Gardiner playing down the wrong line, to collect two golden ducks.The pad before bat before pad
Preston Mommsen received a nearly-unplayable ball first up when Tim Southee jagged one in from a length, and he did play it. He was given out when ball struck bat and pad, but Mommsen was not sure in which order. Scotland’s review was called for, and though without Hotspot, it was difficult to make out where exactly the ball made contact, replays suggested the ball had brushed front pad, then taken a thick edge, then deflected on to pad again. The on-field umpire’s decision would stand.The spill
With Pakistan and Sri Lanka having toured recently, New Zealand batsmen must almost expect reprieves in the field, and on Tuesday, Scotland fluffed a chance to keep the trend alive. Brendon McCullum flicked a full ball from Rob Taylor towards the man at deep midwicket, and though Gardiner made good ground to the ball, which was dropping in front of him, he never managed to get his fingers around it, and a chance to have New Zealand under slight pressure at 22 for 2 was spurned.The namesake
Rob Taylor bowled to Ross Taylor as soon as the batsman came to the crease in the eighth over. But while Rob, who was born in Northampton to a Scottish mother, could not dismiss Ross, who was born near Wellington and has Samoan heritage, they did manage to get on the scorecard for the same dismissal. Soon after lunch Ross Taylor attempted to bludgeon Majid Haq into the grass bank on the leg side, but his top-edge carried only as far as Rob Taylor, who was at deep square leg and gobbled the chance up.

At his best, Daniel Vettori wasn’t just one of the most economical bowlers around, but won New Zealand matches with his wickets too

Shiva Jayaraman31-Mar-2015Daniel Vettori took a wicket every 62 balls in international cricket and he took 705 of them. Only one other bowler of those who took at least 60 balls for each of their wickets bowled enough balls to take at least half as many. By the time he called it a day to a career spanning over 18 years, Vettori had bowled 43661 deliveries – the fourth-most anyone had bowled in international cricket. Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee bowled at least as many deliveries as Vettori did.Vettori took 305 ODI wickets, the most by any left-arm spinner apart from Sanath Jayasuriya, who picked up 323. Vettori took 297 playing for New Zealand – eight of his wickets came playing for the ICC XI – the most by anyone from his country. Outside Asia, in conditions generally regarded as not conducive to spin, Vettori took 228 wickets – Shane Warne (237) is the only spinner with more wickets in these conditions.Vettori’s value to the New Zealand ODI team was not as much as a strike bowler as it was in drying up the runs for the opposition. Among spinners to bowl at least 1000 overs in ODIs since 1997 – the year he made his debut for New Zealand as the youngest to play for his country – only two others – Muttiah Muralitharan and Mohammad Hafeez – have managed to be more economical. In more than half of the ODIs in which Vettori bowled at least five overs, he finished with an economy rate of four or less. His percentage of such innings is the fourth-highest among spinners who have bowled at least five overs in 100 or more ODIs.

Vettori took on the role of strike bowler for his team on a fair number of occasions too. When Vettori took more than two wickets in an ODI, New Zealand won more often than not: 26 of his 32 hauls of three wickets or more in ODIs came in wins. Among spinners with 20 or more three-plus-wicket hauls, Vettori’s win percentage in those matches is the fourth-best – a significant achievement considering he didn’t always play for a New Zealand side that was as strong as the one that played the World Cup. No surprisingly, Vettori averaged nearly 20 runs less in wins than when his team didn’t win. He took 188 wickets in wins at an average of 24.04 and 117 at 44.05 in other ODIs.

Vettori was at his very best in the middle years of his ODI career – from 2003 to 2010 – when he took 196 of his 305 ODI wickets at an average of 27.90. During these years, he was the second-highest wicket-taker in ODIs among spinners after Muralitharan and among 55 bowlers who bowled at least 3000 deliveries during this period, of whom only three – Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath and Ray Price – were more economical. He took both his five-fors and five of his four-wicket hauls during these years including 5 for 7 in an ODI against Bangladesh in 2007 – one of the best match figures by a captain in ODIs. Vettori was hampered by injuries during the last part of his career – he played only 47 of the 109 ODIs New Zealand played since 2010 – but was still was one of the most economical bowlers. Among bowlers who bowled at least 200 overs since 2010, he was one of only two with an economy rate below four runs an over, the other being Mohammad Hafeez.

Vettori’s ODI career culminated with the 2015 World Cup, in which he was one of the best spinners, if not bowlers, on display. Vettori bowled one of the best restrictive spells of the tournament in the league game against Australia. He finished the tournament as the most economical spinner (minimum ten overs). His 15 wickets – equalling the most by any spinner in the World Cup – ensured he also ended his career as the spinner with the second-highest number of wickets in World Cups.Vettori played his last Test in November last year, after a two-year gap. It was his 112th Test, which made him the most capped New Zealand Test player ever, ahead of Stephen Fleming. His 361 Test wickets for New Zealand are the second-highest after Richard Hadlee’s 431. Among spinners, Vettori ended up as the fifth-highest wicket-taker, and the only left-arm orthodox spinner with 300 Test wickets. He is one of only three non-subcontinent spinners – the others being Shane Warne and Clarrie Grimmett – to take 20 or more five-wicket hauls in Tests.Vettori reserved his best for New Zealand’s trans-Tasman rival, taking 65 wickets in 18 Tests against them when playing for New Zealand (he took one wicket in the only Test he played against them for ICC World XI). Among New Zealand bowlers, only Richard Hadlee took more wickets against the Australians than Vettori, though Hadlee took twice as many wickets in just five more Tests.Vettori’s career-high in Tests came against Australia in Auckland in 1999-00, when he took 12 for 149, taking five-fors in both innings and becoming the youngest spinner and the second-youngest bowler after Kapil Dev to 100 Test wickets. This was also the first time that a spinner had taken two five-fors in a Test against Australia outside the subcontinent in 23 years. Vettori ended his career with six five-wicket hauls in Tests against Australia. Only five other spinners had as many or more such hauls against them.As in ODIs, the middle part of Vettori’s Test career was his best. Between 2004 and 2008 he took 136 wickets at 30.12, including 11 of his 20 Test five-fors. Two of his three ten-wicket hauls came in this period, including a 12-wicket haul against Bangladesh in Chittagong. He took five five-fors in 2008, which equalled the most five-fors by any bowler that year and with 54 wickets from 14 Tests was thesecond-highest wicket-taker among spinners in that calendar year.

Vettori made significant contributions with the bat as well in Tests with 4531 runs at an average of 30.00. He is one of the three players in Tests with 4000 runs and 300 wickets and the only spinner among them. He hit four hundreds and 2227 runs batting at No. 8 in Tests – both the best by anyone from that position. He produced his best against Pakistan, scoring three hundreds and one fifty in nine Tests.He captained New Zealand in 32 Tests – the third-highest but was not very successful at it, losing 16 of them. His win-loss ratio of 0.375 as captain is one of the worst among Test captains who have led in 30 or more Tests. Four of his six Test wins came against Bangladesh. His 9 for 133 against them in Chittagong in 2008 are the best bowling figures by a New Zealand captain in Tests.

South Africa have special memories of the SCG as cricketers and as characters. They will need a bit of both on Wednesday to overcome Sri Lanka, and a healthy dose of enjoyment as well

Firdose Moonda16-Mar-2015There was a time when South Africa enjoyed the journey of a World Cup, without the anxiety of whether they would reach the destination. But it may be difficult for any of the current crop to remember it.In 1992, when South Africa were returnees to international cricket, most of this squad were at school and some were not even born. Their predecessors were unsure what to expect from a major tournament and equally unsure what they would bring to it. They were the kids in the candy shop of their day but they were not as naive.They beat Australia in the tournament opener to announce themselves as serious contenders and shocked even themselves with their resolve. From that day everything changed.South Africa went from a team which was testing the waters of a major tournament, to a team that had already begun thinking of winning it. It did (or perhaps did not) help that the only reason they lost the semi-final was a because of a calculation. Had the equation been worked out using the same system that is used today, South Africa would have won that match. That only made it worse for them. They were seen as a robbed squad, who would have to spend every tournament after that trying to claim back what they were made to believe was rightfully theirs.Call it confidence, call it competitive streak, call it unfair expectation but that is what South Africa carried in ICC competitions for the last 23 years. Jacques Kallis wrote in his column on cricket.com.au remembering 1996: “We absolutely believed we could win.” They were blown away by Brian Lara, a figure so large that nobody would begrudge his success.In 1999, South Africa were justified favourites, not merely puffed up ones. They won five out of six series in the 12 months leading up to the tournament, were considered the best lead side with the most talented contingent of players who could do everything from bat aggressively – Herschelle Gibbs and Daryll Cullinan – to bowl aggressively – Kallis and Shaun Pollock to field aggressively – Jonty Rhodes. And it ended in a heartbreak which has haunted South Africa ever since.It was only after the 2007 World Cup that South Africa became serious about recognising the extent of their scarring, which had already deepened by two layers. They had the miscalculation of 2003 and the mistake in approach of 2007, when they sought to attack Australia and imploded instead and the bruises were starting to show.Graeme Smith, who was captain in 2007, remembered that period as a time when he thought South African cricket needed to take a step up. He was entering the phase of his captaincy where he was no longer content with middling performance and he had the backing of the administration and its growing professionalism to help change that.South African sport took to modern practice easily, even though it remained rooted in traditional philosophies of hard work and tough training. In 2007, the Springboks used a psychologist during the triumph at the Rugby World Cup. By 2011, South Africa’s cricket side roped Henning Gericke in too.That year, they took planning to a different dimension. In preparation for the conditions, they picked a squad with three specialist spinners, an unprecedented number in a South Africa outfit. In preparation for the pressure, they acquired the services of Gericke. But in all that, they took out the fun and that was evident during the group stage. South Africa were covering old ground and were not happy to be covering it either. When they lost to England on a crumbling pitch in Chennai and angrily brushed off suggestions that it was another choke, and demanded not to be burdened with that tag.One more consultant

A head coach, a former head coach, an assistant coach, a bowling coach, a spin-bowling coach, a death-bowling coach, a batting consultant, a fitness coach, a physiotherapist, an analyst and a doctor were all not enough for South Africa – they had to get an explorer too.
Mike Horn, who has worked with the Indian team and South Africa before, met with the squad in Sydney to “put it all into perspective for us,” Russell Domingo explained.
In addition to their regular crew of Russell Domingo, Allan Donald, Adrian Birrel and Claude Henderson, South Africa have also made use of some Gary Kirsten’s 50 days of annual consulting and Mike Hussey’s experience. Their contingent of support staff is the biggest in the tournament and has caused questions over whether Domingo needs support because of a lack of playing experience.
He brushed that off as a non-issue citing counterparts Mike Hesson and Graham Ford’s records as proof. “Whether you’ve played a 100 Tests or whether you’ve played ten Tests; whether you’ve played no first-class cricket or a 100 first-class games, coaching’s not easy,” Domingo said. “It’s a lot about how you are going to manage your players and the selections you make and the strategies you employ.
“Whether I have played a 100 Tests or not, it’s not going to make a massive difference to my coaching when we play the quarter-final. No player is going to batting there and thinking, ‘My coach has played a 100 Tests, I’m going to smoke this out the ground now!’ It doesn’t work like that. It’s all about preparing the players well and making sure they are in the right frame of mind.

It eased when they beat India in the next game and finished as the only side to have bowled out each of the oppositions they faced, but came back with superglue sticking power in the quarter-finals. South Africa’s middle-order meltdown only revealed one thing: so much had changed, everything remained the same.And from that day, what little enjoyment remained in ODI cricket seemed to have been sucked out. They took their joy from the longer format, where in 2012 they became the world’s best. ODI cricket was an afterthought and as the World Cup neared, so did anxiety, which has resulted in the South Africa we see today. Stressed, nervous and at times, desperate.All teams talk the company line at press conferences; South Africa to the point where they confuse themselves as to what that line is. AB de Villiers started off declaring his team the best in the tournament, then said they may not be as good as they think they are and then went back to his original assessment. Along the way they lost their two biggest matches in the group stage, which explains his first change of sentiment and beat up on smaller teams, which does not fully explain his second.Those mixed messages are only the ones going out to the media – so what must be swirling in the dressing room. Some players think South Africa need to prepare more carefully for the venues they will play at – Morne Morkel mentioned using new balls – others want them to do as they have always done with an introspective focus on their own game. And that’s before asking any of the members of supports staff what any of them think.Now there’s one more. Mike Horn has been roped in and be brings a fear factor of his own. “He’s done a lot scarier things in the world than facing Dale Steyn or Morne Morkel,” Russell Domingo said. “He’s done some extreme things…and he will put it all into perspective for us over the next few days – what pressure is like and what fear is like; being out of your comfort zone, because he’s been in that situation lots of times with real life experiences – not just facing a cricket ball.”Is cricket really as serious as all this suggests? Not if you ask some of the members of 1992, who remember the fun between the focus. Luckily for this team, they are returning to a place with a bit of both.South Africa have special memories of the SCG as cricketers – the 1992 World Cup game against Australia, the New Year’s Test the following summer which they won by five runs – and as characters – Smith walked out to bat with a broken hand at this venue. They will need a bit of both on Wednesday to overcome Sri Lanka, and a healthy dose of enjoyment as well.

Five new domestic names who might make a mark during the 2015 IPL season

Amol Karhadkar06-Apr-2015Shreyas Iyer, Delhi DaredevilsTo emerge as your team’s highest run-getter in your maiden first-class season is an achievement. To do it while playing for the most successful team in Indian domestic cricket is incredible.Iyer, who scored 809 runs in the Ranji Trophy at an average of 50.56, was one of the few bright sparks in a topsy-turvy season for Mumbai. Based on his impressive showing in the season-opening Vijay Hazare Trophy, Iyer was handed a Ranji debut against Jammu & Kashmir. He walked in at number seven in that game, but by the time Mumbai bowed out in the semi-finals, Iyer had established himself as their regular number three.At the IPL player auction in February, Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders were locked in a fierce bidding war for Iyer. By the time Knight Riders backed out, his price had soared to Rs 2.6 crore – 26 times his base price of Rs. 10 lakh.Given his success against some of the quickest bowlers on the domestic circuit including Ashok Dinda and Veer Pratap Singh, there is a realistic chance of Daredevils giving Iyer a top-order slot.KC Cariappa, Kolkata Knight RidersYuvraj Singh was the highest earner at the IPL auction, but he had to share headline space with Cariappa, a little known, 20-year-old mystery spinner from Coorg. A legspinner with a three-finger grip, Cariappa’s variations, including an offbreak bowled with barely any change in his action, brought him plenty of success while playing for Bijapur Bulls in the Karnataka Premier League, and brought him to the attention of IPL insiders.A bidding war ensued between Kolkata Knight Riders – whose performance analyst AR Srikkanth had been part of the Bulls dugout during the KPL – and Delhi Daredevils. Signed by Knight Riders for Rs. 2.4 crore, Cariappa joined an already impressive stable of spinners including Sunil Narine, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Brad Hogg and Johan Botha.Even though he’ll face a lot of competition, it won’t be a surprise to see Knight Riders giving Cariappa a game or two this season, since he’s already troubled a couple of their own batsmen. Gautam Gambhir, who faced him in the nets during last year’s Champions League T20, and Manish Pandey, who played against him in the KPL, found it difficult to handle his variations.Sarfaraz Khan, Royal Challengers BangaloreHe has had disciplinary issues at the Mumbai junior teams he has been part of. His father-cum-coach has had numerous run-ins with officials, most notably over an age-fudging allegation. Sarfaraz Khan is only 17, but he’s already used to controversy.What cannot be disputed, however, is his range of strokes and six-hitting power. He gave a glimpse of it during India’s 2014 Under-19 World Cup campaign, scoring 211 runs at an average of 70.33 and a strike rate of 105.50.Sarfaraz made his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai last season, but was dropped after a couple of mediocre outings. But that didn’t deter Royal Challengers from taking a punt on his talent and making him the youngest signing of the 2015 player auction.KK Jiyas, Delhi DaredevilsJiyas is known as the Kerala Maxwell, not because he hits the ball as powerfully as the Australia allrounder, but because of a supposed facial resemblance. But it’s Jiyas’ skill as a chinaman bowler that brought him to Daredevils’ attention.Had Daredevils managed to land Cariappa’s signature, Jiyas might have gone unsold at the auction. But he was destined to be part of the IPL jamboree. Jiyas hasn’t yet played for Kerala’s senior side, and will hope the IPL will give him his big break. He may have to wait a while, though, given Daredevils’ depth of spin resources, with Amit Mishra, Imran Tahir and Shahbaz Nadeem as specialist options apart from JP Duminy’s part-time offbreaks.Chama Milind, Sunrisers HyderabadWhile the rest of his Sunrisers teammates were preparing for the IPL, Milind was bowling for Hyderabad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, in the dry heat of Cuttack. Though he couldn’t propel Hyderabad into the final of the Twenty20 tournament, the left-arm quick made a big individual impact, finishing it on top of the wicket-takers’ list with 17 at an average of 14.58.Milind has not tasted too much success in his handful of first-class appearances so far, but he has proven ability in the shorter formats. He led India’s pace attack at last year’s Under-19 World Cup and picked up a hat-trick against Tamil Nadu in the South Zone leg of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Milind was part of the Sunrisers set-up last year too, but didn’t get to play a game. He will hope he can impress the team management enough this time around to make a long-awaited debut.

It was relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration for South Africa because relief has to be the leveller for a side who have made history but still have more history to make

Firdose Moonda at the SCG18-Mar-2015And breathe. This is what the collective exhale of 23 years of expectation feels like.It is not an unbridled rush of joy – the kind that sends Imran Tahir bolting whenever he takes a wicket – it is just a release. For a South African side that has been suffocated for so long, by themselves, their slew of support staff and the significant expectation shoved down their throats, it is a release and a relief that was a long time coming.For six World Cups, the disappointments have collected like layers of silt and settled on the shoulders of each successive squad. This one could not escape that. There were questions about their strength from the time their squad was selected. Would they be balanced enough? Bat deep enough? Have enough options to make up a fifth bowler? And after the group stage, there was the other question, the one that had been answered in the negative against India and Pakistan – would they be able to chase? In their quarter-final, they answered the last two of those, by dominating in such a way that the first two became irrelevant.Their attack won the game before their balance or their batting needing to be tested and in so doing, allowed South Africa to showcase the strength they have spent so long trademarking as their own. Fast bowling. Aggressive bowling. Short-ball bowling. Incisive, obliterating bowling. When you think of South Africa, that is what you think of but at this tournament that hid in the shadows until now. Sweet relief. It’s back.Dale Steyn was back. His vein popping was back. His scary eyes were back. And he was back with a partner and a follow-up bowler who both looked the part. Relief.Kyle Abbott was picked ahead of Vernon Philander because South Africa could see the SCG track promised bounce and carry. Combined with his pace and passion, South Africa could create a pressure cooker at both ends of the pitch and then “follow up with a lot of heat,” as AB de Villiers put it, with Morne Morkel. Relief.South Africa were not the ones holding their breath. Sri Lanka were. Kumar Sangakkara was. The runs were. Relief, but then could have come release.Sri Lanka’s line-up are more than just capable against spin, they can be merciless against it. They bided their time against the pace pack, presumably to target the spin but JP Duminy did not let them. Not long ago he was just a part-time offspinner who would be used to get rid of some overs in the middle phases of a match, today he was a disciplinarian, holding the line so tightly that he gave almost nothing away. Relief.

Allan Donald, part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003, embraced Russell Domingo, not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness.

Then, he became the only South African with a World Cup hat-trick to his name. The tournament surprises in mysterious ways too.None more mysterious than Imran Tahir, who has come into his own as a limited-overs bowler, particularly at World Cups. Tahir seems to thrive on big tournament pressure. For South Africa, who are filled with players who seem to shy way from that, having one person who is willing to take it head on is a relief.Tahir’s variations are becoming the literacy test for batsmen and most are failing to read it. Mahela Jayawardene may be the highest-profile example of that. Tahir has had Jayawardene baffled since the middle of last year when he dismissed him in three successive ODIs. Today, he added a fourth to that. That wicket had Sri Lanka 83 for 4 and separated the two men who could have done the most damage to South Africa. Relief. So much relief Tahir allowed himself t enjoy it with one his customary over-the-top celebrations. “It’s because I just enjoy every wicket,” he said. And why not?As a whole, South Africa do not allow themselves to get as carried away as Tahir because of the burdens they have borne. Even when they dismissed Sri Lanka with more than 12 overs still left in their innings and a small target to chase, they did not seem to be pre-empting success. They couldn’t. Doing that has been their undoing before. Instead they just enjoyed the relief of knowing that this time, surely, it would not be.When Quinton de Kock hit the winning runs, his inner-child wanted to celebrate it with all the gusto it deserved. He wanted to fist-pump his way to the boundary. He hit the ball but he stopped, mid-salute, before his emotions could overtake him. Relief brings reason before it brings anything else. He took in the moment, and let others take it in too.In the dugout, Allan Donald, who had been part of the heartache in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 and had watched it unfold in 2011, embraced Russell Domingo. Not with a chest-bumping machismo but with genuine tenderness. The rest of the support staff, more than a dozen of them, just grinned. Relief all round. Relief, rather than raucous, rampant celebration because relief has to be the leveller for a South African side who have made history but still have more history to make.For now, they have broken through the ceiling that has capped them at every World Cup they have ever participated in and won a knockout game but they have not yet won the World Cup. And they are not under the illusion that they have. All they know is they have cleared the path and given the country the breath of fresh air it has spent more than two decades gasping for.

This victory was huge for Kings XI Punjab. They had better make space for Shaun Marsh even when everybody is fit.

Sidharth Monga22-Apr-20153:05

Agarkar: Marsh always delivers in the IPL

Shaun Marsh, more than the Sharmas Rohit and Ishant, is the prime paradox of our times. He feasts on Indian bowlers every April and May, but when his side is whitewashing India in Tests at home, all his IPL money can’t buy him a run. If you mix the formats for a second, just the thought that a Western Australian is more at home in India than in Australia is plain wrong.He scores a dazzling century against the No.1 Test side in the world in their own backyard to set up one of Australia’s more cherished series wins, but then fizzles out again to go back to struggle in first-class cricket. He is Kings XI Punjab’s single-biggest match-winner, arguably no one has won more matches off his own bat in the IPL. He has scored fifties in successive BBL finals, winning the match award in one of them, but he doesn’t find a place in the Kings XI starting XI.Then one fine day he arrives, thanks to an injury to a high scorer in the Kings XI side this year, captain George Bailey, and bats as if he has been playing in these conditions forever. He does everything Marsh, stays leg side of the ball to hit it over covers, goes with the spin when legspinners come on and get the better of Glenn Maxwell, the ball flies all over the place, and once again it is the inexperienced Indian bowlers that are in the line of the fire.You can’t blame Marsh for picking and choosing well. In the main match he scored only 11 off 12 balls faced from James Faulkner, Chris Morris and Shane Watson put together, but he made sure he was there when he could put Rahul Tewatia and Deepak Hooda under pressure. And those runs were pressure runs because by the time Marsh found that next level the asking rate had already crossed two a ball, and there were 60 of those balls still to go.Two good aspects of that Marsh innings were that he had still managed to somehow score 37 off 27 by then, and that when he decided to take the lesser bowlers on he did it well. Cover and point remained his favoured regions, but against legspinners he didn’t mind midwicket and straight down the ground either. There was a languidness to the innings that is rarely missing in a Marsh effort; maybe it did on a slow MCG surface when he scored 99 against India in the last Test of the year.Marsh did fall to a wrong’un when he and Miller were on the charge, and he did target the Indian bowlers a little, but come the Super Over and he would take every little question mark off a remarkable effort. There he was at the non-striker’s end, playing his first-ever Super Over – although he would have surely thought of it during the BBL final – watching the ridiculous: Miller, who scored 54 off 30 in the main match, missing a knee-high full toss.Shaun Marsh delivered in the Super Over as well as in the main match•BCCIGet this: you are now as good as nine down. That is an underrated aspect of the Super Over. You can’t just blindly slog as you might have the freedom to do during the final over of a normal innings. One more mistake, and it is all over. And his partner now was Maxwell, who is batting a bit like Marsh did during the 2011-12 Test series against India. And Marsh was not even on strike now. And Maxwell swung, and he sliced it, and it flew towards deep cover. This could have been 0 all out then and there. Marsh looked at the ball as he ran, and luckily it fell short of the man running in.Marsh now had an opportunity to set it all right. To take this escape act to its fruition. Maybe signs were there all along: Sanju Samson missed a run-out in the last over of the main match, Faulkner then bowled length to allow Akshar Patel to hit him for a four to tie the match, and now this. Marsh was going to get another chance. And how he grabbed it. He got a high full toss, but the finality with which he hit it over cover – add to it that it was signalled a no-ball – rattled Morris. In his 4-0-34-1, Morris had been exceptional in the main match. Now he didn’t know what to bowl to Marsh.The next ball was short, and Marsh was clearly on top of him, smoking it through midwicket. Morris got the length right next ball, bowling a low full toss, only a few inches fuller than a yorker, but Marsh absolutely drilled it back down the ground. Marsh had kept Kings XI alive again.As Virender Sehwag said later, this defeat might not mean a big loss to Rajasthan Royals, who have won five out of six, but it is huge for Kings XI, only their second win in five games, a look-in they desperately needed. It felt the same when Marsh launched into Tewatia: 17 runs off the 11th over, and still Kings XI needed two a ball. At that point it didn’t feel like much seeing how Kings XI were struggling; they will hope this win gives them similar impetus on the points table. They just better make space for Marsh even when everybody is fit.