Alessia Russo's brother, Giorgio, was in the crowd as England beat Italy in a game that ended up being more dramatic than any episode of Love Island.
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New Zealand had started the fourth day with hope but that soon evaporated once the offspinner got to work
Tristan Lavalette03-Mar-20242:54
How Lyon and Co made it six out of six for Australia on NZ soil
Nathan Lyon crushed New Zealand’s hopes early on day four to complete a 10-wicket match haul as Australia recorded a convincing 172-run first Test victory at the Basin Reserve.After a stirring fightback on day three, New Zealand resumed at 111 for 3 as they eyed the daunting target of 369 with a near capacity crowd hopeful of a rearguard.But after a sedate start, with the surface appearing to be playing a little easier than the opening three days, Lyon claimed the wickets of Rachin Ravindra, Tom Blundell and Glenn Phillips in two overs to effectively end New Zealand’s resistance.Watching wickets tumble at the other end, Daryl Mitchell held firm in vain and was the last batter dismissed for 38 off 130 balls.On a surface that turned and bounced sharply, Lyon always loomed large and once again he was Australia’s match-winner to finish with 6 for 65 and match figures of 10-108. It was the first 10-wicket haul by a spinner in New Zealand since 2006.Lyon, who also top-scored in Australia’s second innings with 41, was the standout performer alongside Cameron Green, whose masterful unbeaten 174 in the first innings was remarkable on a bowler-friendly surface. It was just the fifth Test match where 13 bowlers took a wicket and the first since 1966.With just one Test victory over Australia since 1993, New Zealand’s misery continued having struggled to muster much resistance with the bat after being bowled out for under 200 runs in both innings.After starting well having sent Australia in, New Zealand rued a wayward bowling effort where they watched helplessly as Green and Josh Hazlewood combined for a record 116-run last-wicket partnership. New Zealand also were left to lament not selecting frontline spinner Mitchell Santner as the surface increasingly offered bite as the match wore on.New Zealand’s capitulation early on day four was an anti-climax after an impressive fightback gave them some belief. But New Zealand needed to rewrite the record books if they were to take the lead in this series with their highest successful fourth-innings run chase being 324 against Pakistan at Christchurch in 1994.Needing a further 258 runs, there were no alarms in the first 30 minutes for Ravindra and Mitchell, who had combined for a calm half-century partnership late on day three.Cameron Green added his name to the wicket taking•Getty Images
They defended well and looked to be proactive although it almost proved their undoing when they took off for a tight single with Mitchell relieved after Marnus Labuschagne’s shy at the stumps missed.Having played watchfully late on day three given the precarious situation, Mitchell started to show glimpses of his innate aggressiveness when on his 82nd delivery he hit his first boundary of the innings after slashing a short delivery from Mitchell Starc.After flowing to a fifty off 77 balls before the close, Ravindra was shackled and started to look anxious in his bid for runs. Australia sensed this and packed the off-side field as Lyon changed to the southern end of the ground.It did the trick with Ravindra falling for the trap as he miss-hit a cut shot to point to trigger a collapse. Later in the over, Lyon dismissed Blundell for a duck after he tentatively pressed forward and inside edged to short-leg much like his soft dismissal in the first innings.New Zealand’s hopes entirely rested on Mitchell and Phillips, who had been their star in this match with a 70-ball 71 in the first inning before claiming his first five-wicket Test haul in Australia’s second innings.But Phillips was no match for Lyon after being trapped lbw on the back foot as he reviewed unsuccessfully. It was Lyon’s first five-wicket haul in New Zealand as he joined Shane Warne and Muthiah Muralidaran as the only bowlers to have reached that feat in nine countries.After his marathon knock, Green had not bowled in the match until day four and showed off his prowess with the ball as he delivered a brute of a delivery that ballooned off the gloves of Scott Kuggeleijn to wicketkeeper Alex Carey.Green’s wicket meant seven Australian bowlers took wickets for the match, which was the most for them since 2012 against West Indies in Roseau.Fittingly, given their heroic performances, Green, Lyon and Hazlewood claimed the final wickets as Australia’s stranglehold over New Zealand continued.
Neil Foster was one of the unlikely heroes when England last won a Test series in India in 1984-85
Andrew Miller27-Feb-2006
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“I thought at the time the India tour was going to be the turning point of my career, having had success out there, but it didn’t really work out like that. It took several years for me to establish myself in the team after that, and so looking back, it was very much the highlight.As a tour it was both fascinating and problematical. I’d never been to a place like it. Admittedly, I’d been to Pakistan the winter before, but that seemed like just a brief stopover. This was a full five-Test tour, and I really got to see a lot of the country.Cricket-wise it was an interesting time to be out there. India were the world one-day champions and tended to be quite aggressive in the way they played their cricket, which helped us get results, as opposed to the long-drawn-out draws that historically tended to happen.And off the field, of course, a lot was happening as well. It was quite surreal to arrive in the country and hear that Indira Gandhi had just been assassinated that morning. Obviously we didn’t know what had happened to start with, but then, as the penny dropped, it became apparent that it would have a big effect on the early part of the tour.Initially we were shunted off to Sri Lanka, which was again a new experience. It was much hotter over there, so for acclimatisation purposes, it was a good thing. But then, when the British Deputy High Commissioner, Percy Norris, was gunned down in Bombay, India seemed quite a dangerous place to be. For a while, we didn’t know why he had been assassinated, and whether it was a specifically anti-British thing. So for a while, we felt vulnerable.For a while there was some discussion between the players and the management as to whether the tour should be called off, but to be honest, it was the management’s liaison with the British High Commission and the Foreign Office that made the final call to carry on. At various times, certain groups of players might have felt uncomfortable, but in truth, that was as much to do with homesickness as fear.We went on to lose the first Test, but that had less to do with low morale and more to do with the umpiring! Swaroop Kishan did not have a good match, and we very definitely came second-best in his decision-making. He only did that one Test and he didn’t get a chance to do another one, and yes we did complain because it was not acceptable. From the second Test onwards, it was more of a level playing field.Before the arrival of neutral umpires, you felt as though your hands were tied behind your back. No matter how well you played, you couldn’t get a win. Their legspinner, Laxman Sivaramakrishan, did bowl well, and because he was new on the scene we hadn’t seen much of him before, but to their credit, in the later games, our batsmen played him much better and his influence really waned. We weren’t a side full of star names, so some of the guys had to step up to the plate and did really well.
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My chance came at Madras in the fourth Test. Up until then, I hadn’t been considered strong enough for the first XI, but Paul Allott had already gone home injured so that made me first reserve, and Richard Ellison bowled a heap of overs in the Calcutta Test and went in the back. So the choice became either me or Jon Agnew.I hate to say it but they very nearly plumbed for Agnew, even though he had only been on the tour a couple of weeks. Had that happened, I would have been distraught, but fortunately it didn’t, and history says what it says. I did bowl well, the ball did swing which helped, but it was a pretty good wicket as shown by two of our guys getting double-centuries. I’m immensely proud of my achievement, and that is the highlight of my career, without a doubt.I think given my tender years [22 at the time], it was the best I’ve ever bowled. In other games, I might have bowled better technically – I took eight wickets in an innings against Pakistan at Headingley, for instance – but given the whole mixture of things; my age, the country we were in, the strength of their batting, it’s got to be the highlight. And perhaps most importantly, we went on to win the series, and my 11 wickets had a big bearing on that. To take wickets in a game you don’t win is pretty inconsequential.The match was set up for us because we bowled them out quickly and cheaply in the first innings. That gave us a lot of time to accrue the runs, and Mike Gatting and Graeme Fowler did brilliantly. As a touring side, when you have two guys batting for as long as they did without losing a wicket, you get to the point where you can relax a little bit, and you don’t generally get that in Test cricket. It was fantastic, particularly in such high temperatures, and to concentrate for that long is an amazing thing.One Test later, Foxy Fowler’s Test career was over. It was harsh, but that decision was always there in the making, with Graham Gooch waiting in the wings to come back from his ban for touring South Africa. Goochy was a fine player and quite rightly reselected, but it was harsh on Foxy, who was a good lively team man, and a great contributor on tour with his sense of humour. You always think that a big game is going to set you up for a few more, but in those days that wasn’t always the case. Now, fortunately, it is.Even though we had a huge first-innings lead, we still had to get past Mohammad Azharuddin, who was in a phenomenal run of form. Usually you’d get to see a player beforehand and bowl with a general theory to him to explore his weaknesses. But Azhar didn’t seem to have any weaknesses. He’d got runs against us in a friendly match before the series, and followed up with hundreds in his first three Tests, a feat that hasn’t been equalled. We couldn’t find any answers for him. He was a fantastic player, but as his career unfolded he tended to play far more aggressively than when we first came across him, and so gave more chances. But at that time, we simply didn’t know where to bowl at him.We went into the final Test needing a draw to take the series, and mentally that does affect your strategy. Ideally you would say you are going out to win a game, and play the best cricket you can. But in crucial matches, you get a lot of talk beforehand about what the wicket may be like. We didn’t expect them to produce a flat wicket, but our preparation was a bit uncertain. As it happened the wicket looked like crazy paving and we thought it would spin, but it didn’t, it just stayed flat. Without playing astonishingly good cricket, and without being entertaining, we managed to grind out a draw pretty comfortably.Historically, India are always a tough side to beat at home, but especially in that era before neutral umpires. People should never underestimate the effect that the umpiring had in assisting India at winning games of cricket. You only have to look at the statistics to see that we would have a lot of lbws given against us, but there would be pretty much none given against them.Nowadays, the umpiring is more even, but India are still very very strong at home. They are used to the conditions and the weather, and a long tour can obviously be trying for visiting sides. There’s the acclimatisation process in general, plus the sights you might see and the illness that sometimes pervades. All of which makes it very difficult. And so, for our side to have come back from 1-0 down, it’s almost unheard of really.
Stats highlights of the third Test between South Africa and India at Cape Town
Kanishkaa Balachandran01-Jan-2007
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Statistical highlights from the first Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Johannesburg
Mathew Varghese and HR Gopalakrishna11-Nov-2007
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Ireland’s crushing innings-and-146-run victory in the Intercontinental Cup against Bermuda brought the curtain on an eventful season for Irish cricket
Andrew McGlashan01-Sep-2007
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Ireland’s crushing innings-and-146-run victory in the Intercontinental Cup against Bermuda last week brought the curtain down on an eventful season for Irish cricket. Under new coach Phil Simmons, who replaced Adrian Birrell after the World Cup, they have consolidated their position as the leading Associate nation. It hasn’t, though, quite been the triumphal march that had been hoped for after their heroics in the Caribbean.Many of the players will find it hard to remember the last time they had a significant break. Before the World Cup they spent time in South Africa, at a high-performance camp. They then found themselves in various far-flung destinations such as Mombasa, Nairobi and Abu Dhabi. Welcome to the world of international cricket.A matter of days after returning from the Super Eights, they were back in action, in the Friends Provident Trophy. But after the giant-killing against Pakistan and Bangladesh, they couldn’t manage a single win against the counties. However, there were mitigating circumstances.Key players already had county contracts: Boyd Rankin, Eoin Morgan and Niall O’Brien quickly disappeared after the post-World Cup back-slapping and celebrations had been completed, although Morgan and O’Brien did turn up for Ireland later in the season. Trying to hold on to their top players would become the defining theme of Ireland’s summer.”It was always going to be tough to maintain the momentum from the World Cup,” Simmons told Cricinfo. “Considering we lost three or four of the players who led the team to their glory, it’s been a very good season. We lost the two matches against India and South Africa, but didn’t lose a game against the other Associates.”It’s going to be difficult to keep hold of players with county contracts. But it’s not something I can do anything about, and it has given me a chance to work with new players who have come in this year.”For a few weeks Irish cricket was the centre of the universe, but it wasn’t going to last, especially after the team started losing matches and unfamiliar faces began showing up in the side. To add to the problems there was growing discontent in the ranks when players didn’t see immediate rewards for their success in West Indies.
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Considering we lost three or four of the players who led the team to their glory it’s been a very good season |
While some players decided they had to return to a normal life, others voiced their disapproval about how the Irish Cricket Union was conducting affairs. Loudest among them was Jeremy Bray, the left-hand opener, who scored a century against Zimbabwe and another in the Intercontinental Cup final against Canada. He made himself unavailable for the ODIs against South Africa and India, plus subsequent fixtures against fellow Associates.But he wasn’t the only person unhappy. During the quadrangular tournament staged in Belfast and Dublin during July, the players refused to undertake post-match media commitments following the match against Netherlands, in protest over non-payment of World Cup fees.In many ways Ireland’s progress to the Super Eights created problems for the ICU. Despite the additional prize money, and the boost it provided to the game, there were increased outgoings in terms of costs of the team’s stay in the Caribbean and wages for the players. There was hopeful talk of central contracts being introduced to give players some security and encourage them to stay with Ireland, but reality quickly began to sink in.To try and generate some much-needed income, and make the most of the team’s new-found marketability, the ICU dipped its toe into the offshore ODI market, only to experience its first taste of the volatile world of international TV rights when the matches involving South Africa and India nearly fell through. However, although Sachin Tendulkar and Co. did make it to Belfast, the weather was poor and the crowds even more so. In the end the ICU only broke even.”Partly it was down to the crowds,” said the chief executive, Warren Deutrom. “But that, in turn, came because of the fact that Zee TV pulled out three weeks before the event and there was very little time for advertising. Nimbus came on board, but we only had one hand and weren’t able to negotiate. Advertisers wanted to know what channel they would be on and we weren’t able to tell them until a couple of days before the match.”The weather didn’t help, either, with people not enticed to the matches in the cold and damp. We didn’t get any walk-up sales, compared to 2000 when Ireland played England [in 2006].”
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When faced with international opposition on the field, Ireland continued to perform admirably without managing a scalp to match Pakistan or Bangladesh. At least the absence of some key players allowed Simmons to explore the depth available to him. Greg Thompson, a legspinner, was handed more opportunities, as was left-arm spinner Gary Kidd. Gary Wilson, who plays for Surrey 2nd XI, covered for O’Brien and Alex Cusack’s Man of the Match display against South Africa was a good-news story.”In many ways it was a good thing that we were without some of the top players,” said Simmons. “It gave other guys a chance and they have done well. There are some good cricketers coming through the Under-19 system and in two or three years I can see a very strong Ireland team.”The side’s Intercontinental Cup form remained impressive when they retained the title against Canada at Grace Road in May. The bowling attack, led by David Langford-Smith and Trent Johnston, was well clear of the next best. William Porterfield remained brilliant in the field and helped form a strong top order. Andre Botha, whose medium pace was key at the World Cup, suddenly found a new lease of life with the bat with back-to-back centuries to end the season. At youth level, too, there was no match for the Irish as they enjoyed success at Under-19, -17 and -15 level. The next major challenge comes for the new generation at the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia next February and March.”Porterfield was excellent throughout the season, right from before the World Cup to the final game [his career-best 166 against Bermuda],” said Simmons. “But many others have done well, and hopefully young players will look at what they’ve achieved and think that it could be them in a few years.”The ICU hopes to organise a pre-season tour in February or March next year, but for most of the players it will be a winter of day jobs and indoor nets. It is a far cry from the year they have experienced and there are many challenges for Irish cricket to face if the success of 2007 is not to be a false dawn.
The first trophy of the county season was decided in July, while the Championship continued to take shape. Cricinfo looks back at the last month of action.
Andrew McGlashan04-Aug-2008
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Team of the month – Middlesex
It’s been a long wait for the suffering Middlesex fans. But 15 years since their last silverware the club celebrated a trophy, and along with their Twenty20 crown comes the chance of unprecedented riches. Given Middlesex’s dire Twenty20 form since the tournament began in 2003, their success this year has seemingly come from nowhere. Under the shrewd leadership of Ed Joyce (standing in for the injured Ed Smith and suggesting he is a viable long-term option) a team has developed with belief and skill. The bowling attack is packed with match-winners, none more so than Shaun Udal at 38-years-young, while Tim Murtagh is one of the most underrated cricketers around. And there’s a batch of exciting youngsters, led by the hugely talented Dawid Malan and the bowling duo of Steven Finn and Danny Evans. Middlesex are certainly pretty in pink.Innings of the month – Dawid Malan, 103 v Lancashire
Yet Middlesex’s Twenty20 dreams would have come to nothing without one innings of outrageous class by 20-year-old Malan. He walked to the crease at The Oval against Lancashire (Middlesex’s home-away-from-home for the quarter-final) with his team on 21 for 4. Andrew Flintoff was charged up and Middlesex appeared to be sinking without a trace. However, Malan responded with one of best displays of clean-hitting you could wish to see. He tore into Lancashire’s spinners and the game changed in the blink of an eye. His century came off 51 balls and Flintoff was one of the first to congratulate him on a breathtaking display. It’s a good time show you can play Twenty20 and Malan’s display has put him in line for some big money.Batsman of the month – Robert Key
It’s easy to forget that just prior to England’s 2005 Ashes success, Robert Key was the No. 3 batsman. In fact, in his penultimate Test he struck a vital 83 at Johannesburg. Since that tour of South Africa, though, he hasn’t had a look-in, but his next chance may not be far away. He is having an impressive season as a batsman and captain for Kent. His highest innings last month was 157 against Yorkshire, a central part to Kent’s three-wicket victory, but the stand-out performance was his Twenty20 final knock. Ultimately, Kent came up agonisingly short in their chase, but while Key was compiling an elegant, forceful half-century his team were well-placed in a tough pursuit. His all-round game has developed in the three years away from England. They may come calling again soon.Bowling performance of the month – Mark Ealham, 7 for 59 v Yorkshire
There have been some very fine performances by county cricket’s elder-statesmen of late and Ealham has shown he’s still a canny operator. He bowled Nottinghamshire to victory against Yorkshire – keeping them top of the table – with his best figures for 12 years. He has always stuck to the basics; bowling wicket-to-wicket and frustrating the batsmen. He once claimed a five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe which were all lbw and he continues to strike the pad with regularity – four of his seven wickets against Yorkshire were trapped in front.Bowler of the month – Kabir Ali
Worcestershire have moved top of the second division with three victories in July and much of their success is due to Ali’s form. He has been tearing through sides over the past month, with three five-wicket hauls and a best of 6 for 58 against Glamorgan. He’s one of England’s one-Test wonders, so will have had some sympathy for Darren Pattinson’s plight when he too was jettisoned after a debut at Headingley. Ali’s figures over the years have consistently been some of the best around, but he hasn’t had an England look-in under the Peter Moores regime. Some say he isn’t quick enough, but when the speed-gun is on him he hits the mid-80s, which is good enough for Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad.Youngster of the month – Ian Saxelby
Gloucestershire have had a pretty miserable month in July, losing two Championship matches heavily, but it could have been even worse without the efforts of 19-year-old Ian Saxelby. Picked for his bowled, he strode out at No. 11 with more than an hour to survive on the final day against Middlesex. No one would have blamed him if he’d succumbed to the pressure, but 67 balls later – and with a little help from the fading light – he walked off having secured an unlikely tie alongside Anthony Ireland. He didn’t make the side for the next match, instead being whipped away for England Under-19 duty where he took 4 for 47 to help his side to victory in the first Test.
England have the top-ranked batsman and bowler in their ranks, and they are set to make a mark on the World Cup
Nishi Narayanan03-Mar-2009
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I can tell you it can be unnerving to sit across from the world’s No. 1 batsman and bowler. Halfway through the interview an errant ball from the nearby nets smacks our bowler full on the leg. A wince and a glare later the conversation is back on. Rattled at the thought that a few inches this way would have meant my leg, I lose my train of thought. But Isa Guha is unflustered; bruised but not shaken.England’s Claire Taylor and Guha lead the ICC women’s rankings for batting and bowling respectively and with the World Cup round the corner, other teams must wish they’d be as gentle with the ball as they are with questions in an interview.But that is not likely to happen. England are a team that Guha says has turned “just a little bit more ruthless” since their third-place finish in the Quadrangular Series in Chennai in 2007. Guha and Taylor have strong back-up in the side, and today, apart from the hosts Australia, England are the strongest contenders to the world title, which they last won in 1993. No one would have bet on that as recently as two years ago.England returned from India – having lost six out of seven games – only to lose 3-2 to New Zealand. They were clearly uninspired as they headed to Australia for the Ashes. However, after an initial hiccup they transformed it into their most successful tour Down Under and haven’t looked back since.At just what point did they begin to peel away the rot that had set in? Guha agrees the Quadrangular was a turning point. “We went in to the tournament thinking we’d beat every team but we didn’t, so we reassessed,” she said. “We were getting into situations where it’s the last five overs and we were losing the game. We realised we had to be mentally tougher.”Taylor pinpoints the final game in Chennai, where England beat India to take the third place, as the first time in a long time that they had played competitively for 100 overs. “Before that we were competitive for around 50 to 60 overs which is not enough,” Taylor said. “I think we’re getting better at touring abroad in the winter. This winter [2008-09] we got off to a very slow start in Australia. We lost the warm-up game but we got better through the tour and played really well in New Zealand on the fast tracks.”Since the Quadrangular, England have won six out of eight games in which Taylor has scored 40 or more. In the same period, of the 30 batsmen Guha has dismissed, 14 fell between 1 and 9 runs and nine were out for ducks.
| “I joined a big multinational company and was working there for four years when I was told I had to cut back on the cricket and spend more time on work and think about being a better manager. In the end I took redundancy” Claire Taylor | |||
Enjoying the form of their lives, the two say they feel a sense of invincibility when they are in the zone. “It’s as if the bowlers are bowling where you want them to,” Taylor said. “You reach a certain stage where the field is set just as you’d like it, the run-rate is where you need it and the ball pitches where you want it to.”Taylor’s own performance turned for the better after her personal coach, Mark Lane, (now England’s coach) returned from an assignment in Kenya in 2005 shortly before the Ashes. “I had a few sessions just before our series against Australia – I had a really good one-day series and then we won the Ashes. He is someone who concentrates on creating effective cricketers. I also went back to work and the balance in my life has been so much better since that time.”Guha thinks she arrived as a bowler in the Bowral Test in 2008, where she took nine wickets in England’s six-wicket win. “From 2003 I have been working on changing my action. Toby Radford, the current Middlesex coach, helped me through that winter and summer. My action was mixed, which was making me inconsistent. So I had to learn how to transfer the consistency I picked up from the nets to matches, while also making it an unconscious one. Since that Test it’s been about adding to my armoury, working on the slower ball – things that will be effective in an ODI.”What helped both do better was the decision to split the squad during the off season and get some of the players to play in Australia and New Zealand, thereby stretching the months of competitive outdoor cricket. This will be England’s USP at the World Cup and their performance there could prompt other teams to try the experiment as well. “The effect of splitting the squad means some people can stay at home and work indoors with the coaches on their technique and it’s up to the guys who go away to ensure they get the right coaching and play some good cricket,” Taylor said. By the time the World Cup comes around, Guha, who left for Australia in November, would have had four months, along with other squad members, to adjust and familiarise herself with the conditions.However, the longer they choose to play in a year, the less money they can earn – a paradoxical situation when seen through the lens of men’s cricket. The England women have Chance to Shine contracts, where they get paid to coach 25 hours a week for a period of eight months. If they have other jobs, they can cut down on the coaching time, which means they get paid less. However, Taylor and Guha, who hold down jobs and don’t avail of the Chance to Shine contracts, feel it is the next best thing to having central contracts like the men. “It’s the most secure part-time job you can get, with a salary coming in every month,” Taylor said. “So the girls can think about renting a house and have plenty of time over the weekend to train. The four months remaining are when we are supposed to be out touring, so there’s plenty of time off as well.
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“I work part-time and Isa works in laboratories. It’s really tough for those who are just leaving university to make the choice between playing or [whether to] get a job and get on the career ladder or the housing ladder. Or someone like Beth Morgan who stood first in university but chose to make a commitment to cricket.” Guha said she worked in labs because it was the career she wanted to pursue. “But a lot of the girls playing in Australia are doing a bit of coaching work.”Taylor was faced with the dilemma of whether to pick cricket over a regular job when she left university. “I joined a big multinational company and was working there for four years when I was told I had to cut back on the cricket and spend more time on work and think about being a better manager. In the end I took redundancy after four years and did what Isa is doing now – I went to New Zealand in the winter and played as a semi-pro cricketer. People do have to make tough choices, and when you sacrifice something you respect the game more.”Sticking it out has certainly helped. Today the merger with the ECB, working contracts, and sponsors have given the game in England a much-needed boost.”All the teams are much fitter than they used to be, which will prove important when we play three weeks of intensive cricket during the World Cup,” Guha said. “We got good coverage when we played a Twenty20 ahead of the men at the MCG.” Point out that it was the game where Australia’s Ellyse Perry hit her for a six into the stands – a feat not many had expected to see in the women’s game – and she sighs. “Everyone keeps reminding me of that! But you know, it’s good for the game.””A couple of years ago we played most of the 1993 World Cup-winning side at Lord’s for a charity event, and they were all commenting on how much harder we hit the ball these days,” Taylor said.As senior players, Taylor and Guha must take charge of England’s campaign. Australia may be favourites for the tournament they will host, but England will make them uneasy. And leading the list of those they’d like to see the least are the world’s best batsman and bowler.
On the eve of the final, Cricinfo takes a look at how Bangalore got there
Kanishkaa Balachandran23-May-2009Bangalore’s turnaround came about when Anil Kumble took over the captaincy•AFPMatch 1 v Rajasthan Royals in Cape Town
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The result shocked everybody. Last year’s champions, Rajasthan Royals, were humbled in the most embarrassing manner by Bangalore, who finished second from last the previous year. They scratched out 133 and in reply, Rajasthan crashed to 58. It was a day for the old folks – Shane Warne was at his mesmeric best, Rahul Dravid scored 66 and Anil Kumble returned astonishing figures of 5 for 5, cleaning up the lower order.Match 2 v Chennai Super Kings in Port Elizabeth
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Bangalore saw the other side of the coin in the following match, collapsing to 87. Matthew Hayden rolled back the years with a brisk 65 as Chennai Super Kings piled on an imposing 179. Bangalore were out of the contest when they lost five wickets for 26 runs before the 11th over.Match 3 v Deccan Chargers in Cape Town
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For the second game in succession, Bangalore were batted out of the contest. Adam Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma slammed half-centuries, scored 123 between them off 75 deliveries, with 88 of them coming in boundary hits. Bangalore lost a wicket without having scored a run for the third time in a row and struggled to keep with the asking rate. Virat Kohli managed a fifty but the rescue effort came too late.Match 4 v Kings XI Punjab in Durban
Kings XI Punjab 173 for 3 (Bopara 84) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 168 for 9 (Kallis 62, Abdulla 4-31, Pathan 3-35) by seven wickets
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The euphoria of their opening win was followed by three successive defeats as Bangalore went down comprehensively to Kings XI Punjab. The match was best remembered for Ravi Bopara’s ice-cool and risk-free 84, helping Punjab overhaul the target with ease. Bangalore were set for a much higher total but lost their way towards the end of the innings.Match 5 v Delhi Daredevils in Port Elizabeth
Delhi Daredevils 150 for 4 (Dilshan 67*) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 149 for 7 (Pietersen 37, Nehra 2-34) by six wickets
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Bangalore had a chance to upset the tournament favourites when their weak bowling attack kept them in the game longer than most people expected. However, their fielding went to pieces towards the end, which allowed Delhi to get away. The image of Pietersen bowled through the gate after attempting a switch-hit symbolised Bangalore’s shambolic state of affairs at this stage.Match 6 v Kolkata Knight Riders in Durban
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Down and out, Bangalore turned the corner against an equally insecure team, but they huffed and puffed to victory. Bangalore’s spinners restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par total and their batsmen put them on track to an easy win before a sudden collapse gave Kolkata hope. Ten were needed off the last over and Bangalore emerged the deserved winners thanks to Mark Boucher’s heroics.Match 7 v Kings XI Punjab in Durban
Royal Challengers Bangalore 145 for 9 (van der Merwe 35, Abdulla 4-36, Yuvraj 3-22) beat Kings XI Punjab 137 for 7 (Yuvraj 50, Praveen 2-27, Kumble 2-25) by eight runs
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Yuvraj Singh stole the show with a hat-trick to keep Bangalore to 145 and he seemed to make the match his own when he strolled to a fifty. But at the stroke of the time-out, Bangalore scripted one of the most amazing turnarounds thanks to Kumble and Roelof van der Merwe. Fortunes oscillated towards the end and Bangalore prevailed under pressure when Praveen Kumar bowled an amazing final over to seal the game.Match 8 v Mumbai Indians in Johannesburg
Royal Challengers Bangalore 150 for 1 (Kallis 69*, Uthappa 66*) beat Mumbai Indians 149 for 4 (Jayasuriya 52, Bravo 50*, du Preez 3-32) by nine wickets
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The once-whipping boys of the tournament meant business against the strong Mumbai bowling attack, strolling to one of the easiest chases in the tournament. The little-known Dillon du Preez set the tone with a double-wicket maiden and that kept Mumbai under check for most part. Robin Uthappa and Jacques Kallis led the chase with brisk sixties and Bangalore, all of a sudden, were in the top four.Match 9 v Rajasthan Royals in Centurion
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Rajasthan had their revenge following a spineless effort by Bangalore’s batsmen. Rajasthan’s bowlers got the measure of the pitch better, keeping the ball short and restricting the opposition to 105. Their counterparts failed to exploit the bounce and overall it was a no-contest simply because there was no cushion of runs to work with.Match 10 v Mumbai Indians in Port Elizabeth
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Bangalore cracked again, this time against a team desperate for a win after being pushed into a corner. Chasing 158, the Bangalore top order failed to click and felt the heat at 58 for 4 at the strategy break. The loss of wickets only piled the pressure on Boucher who made an unbeaten 48 with little support from the other end. It wasn’t a great day for Bangalore’s bowlers either, who managed to pick up only two wickets.Match 11 v Kolkata Knight Riders in Centurion
by six wickets
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Ross Taylor’s blinder of an unbeaten 81 off 33 balls symbolised Bangalore’s late resurgence, one which made them contenders for the semi-final line-up. They looked out of depth in the chase of 174 but later feasted on some shoddy death bowling. Taylor’s brutal assault overshadowed Kolkata’s admirable batting display and gave Bangalore much-needed self belief following some inconsistent results.The misfit from the previous edition, Jacques Kallis, was a valuable asset with both bat and ball in familiar conditions•Associated PressMatch 12 v Chennai Super Kings in Durban
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It was a tale of batting collapses from both sides. Bangalore survived a Hayden-assault to keep Chennai down to 129 and were coasting at 86 for 3 in the 15th over before hell broke loose. The calm Taylor held firm in the nervy moments of the chase and helped Bangalore across the finish line. It was Praveen Kumar’s six in the penultimate over which swing the game in Bangalore’s favour.Match 13 v Delhi Daredevils in Johannesburg
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There were no such anxious moments against a strong Delhi outfit. Jacques Kallis played an important role in keeping Delhi to a chaseable score with a restrictive spell, before shepherding the chase with an assured half-century. Praveen did the damage with 3 for 30 and the below-par target of 135 was approached intelligently by the top order.Match 14 v Deccan Chargers in Centurion
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Bangalore unearthed a talent in Manish Pandey who became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. Sent up to open, Pandey single-handedly led Bangalore’s charge with some fierce hits to push his team to 170. It was game on when Herschelle Gibbs waded into the attack but the script turned Bangalore’s way once the spinners came on and make Deccan’s task tougher by plugging at the wickets. The win sealed Bangalore’s semi-final berth.Semi-final v Chennai Super Kings in Johannesburg
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Bangalore were one step away from the summit clash and batted with the intent of avenging the embarrassment of the last season. They overcame a strong start from Chennai’s openers to restrict them to 146 before unleashing Pandey again. His stylish strokes demoralised Chennai and Rahul Dravid at the other end was just as imposing. After suffering a minor hiccup, Bangalore made it through and set up the final clash with last year’s no-hopers Deccan Chargers.
In a league of inconsistent teams, Kolkata were punished because their troughs tended to be so much deeper than everyone else’s
Cricinfo staff20-Apr-2010MS Dhoni’s massive six-hitting half a country away may have all but ended Kolkata Knight Riders’ chances of making the semi-finals, but the spectators still turned up in their thousands at the Eden Gardens on Monday evening, braving searing summer heat and oppressive humidity. Some came wearing the old black shirt, others were in the new purple one; some had the team logo painted on their faces, while others walked along bemoaning the loss to Kings XI Punjab that had dealt such a crippling blow to their hopes of progress.After what had transpired outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, getting inside the ground was no stroll either. Even those with media credentials had their bags checked four or five times, and there were nervous whinnying police horses to get past before the gates could be glimpsed. Inside, with two of the bigger stands yet to be rebuilt before the World Cup next year, there were a few empty spaces.A season that had begun so promisingly had been pretty much ended by a man who first caught the eye with his big-hitting in Kolkata’s club cricket. The sense of anticlimax intensified with the announcement of the Mumbai Indians team. No Sachin Tendulkar, no Kieron Pollard, no Lasith Malinga, no Harbhajan Singh, no Zaheer Khan. Dwayne Bravo was captain.For Kolkata to have made the last four, they would have needed to bat first and win by close to 175 runs. When they lost the toss, even that possibility, slim though it was, was extinguished. It didn’t lessen the noise though, and a couple of the more inexperienced Mumbai players seemed quite unnerved by the atmosphere.Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu , who had started the season so well, were unfazed but the makeshift XI lost too many wickets at crucial times. Each wicket was cheered, but the biggest applause of the night was reserved for Sourav Ganguly, who had made something of a habit of taking stunning catches this season. The latest grab at midwicket left him winded, but it epitomised a committed effort that belied their position in the lower reaches of the table.With the bat, Ganguly was no less a factor, smacking Ali Murtaza for a six in the opening over. This was a chase devoid of drama and after a while even the crowd lost its fizz. It would rouse itself each time Ganguly or Brendon McCullum found the rope, but most had probably slipped into what-might-have-been mode.Their first victory in six attempts against Mumbai was clinched with 15 balls to spare but by then Ganguly had departed, miscuing one to backward point. Over the past few days, there have been some media reports suggesting he could be a target for the new Sahara-owned Pune franchise and a fresh auction is scheduled for September or October. If this was Ganguly’s last act in a Kolkata jersey, it was a winning one.Once the parties are over and reflection takes hold, Kolkata will reflect on a season that was a massive improvement on last year’s joke, but still left them as the only franchise not to make a semi-final. Ganguly finished with 493 runs, Murali Kartik was easily the pick of the Indian spinners, and Ashok Dinda appeared to regain the spark that had pushed him to the fringes of national selection in 2008.Shane Bond didn’t take as many wickets as some might have hoped, and the injury to Charl Langeveldt was a real blow, but Kolkata were let down by underwhelming displays from Chris Gayle and McCullum when the stakes were most high. Ishant Sharma’s descent from pace-bowling hope to buffet bowler was just as damaging, and the franchise will hope Jaidev Unadkat’s career follows a different trajectory.In the end, Kolkata finished as one of six teams with at least seven wins to their name. The net run-rate though was beyond redemption, stuck in the minuses as a result of some crushing defeats. Afterwards, Ganguly spoke of the failure to defend 200 against Kings XI and the poor batting in the second half of an innings in Bangalore. In a league of inconsistent teams, Kolkata were punished because their troughs tended to be so much deeper than everyone else’s.With the clock moving towards midnight, they streamed out quietly, seeking the buses, trains and cabs that would take them home. Up above Gate 1, a billboard had the team’s motto: Miles to Go, Promises to Keep. The first part was depressingly true. The second, despite Ganguly’s sterling efforts and the improvements supervised by Dav Whatmore, wasn’t.