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There were notable performances from Ben Foakes, Moeen Ali and Keaton Jennings but almost everyone contributed to England’s first away Test win in two years

George Dobell in Galle10-Nov-2018For all its imposing ramparts, ownership of the fort in Galle has changed hands often over the years.At one stage the Dutch, struggling with the attentions of the French closer to home, invited the British to look after it for a while in the expectation they would retake control when resources allowed. It was a bit like asking the fox to mind your chickens while you have a snooze.Sri Lanka were almost as obliging at moments during the second Test as the Dutch had been at the end of the 18th century. To see Kusal Mendis slice to mid-off, Angelo Mathews pull to midwicket (where the chance was spurned), Kaushal Silva playing against the spin or Dhananjaya de Silva attempting to thrash a wide ball for seven was to see a side lacking the discipline or determination required at this level.The Sri Lanka coach, Chandika Hathurusingha, compared his batsmen to “school kids”, which seems about right. It is a side that could learn much from the scrupulous professionalism and commitment for which Rangana Herath was known.For that reason, this was not quite an England victory to rate with similar subcontinental Test triumphs in India in 2012, Pakistan in 2000 or those here in 2001.It was significant, though. Given England’s away record – they were, remember, in the midst of their longest winless streak away from home in their history – and their record against spin, in particular, any victory in Asia is worthy of respect. It was Joe Root’s first win overseas as captain and England’s first win with a Kookaburra ball since Stuart Broad’s inspired spell in Johannesburg in January 2016.This Sri Lanka side, flawed though it may be, had some decent scalps, too. Pakistan in the UAE, for example, and Bangladesh in Bangladesh. England couldn’t manage either of those results.The most pleasing thing from an England perspective was that just about everyone contributed. James Anderson and Sam Curran only took a wicket apiece but, by striking with the new ball in the first innings, they played their part. Ben Stokes only took one wicket, but the hostility he generated – remarkable given the docile surface – unsettled the Sri Lanka middle order. And while Adil Rashid bowled well below his best, he did make the vital breakthrough in the first innings, breaking the partnership between Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, and was an affordable luxury in a three-man spin attack.But more than that, it may have marked something of a changing of the guard. There was no Alastair Cook and no Stuart Broad – England had only won Test without either of them since the 2005 Ashes and that was in Mumbai in March 2006 – and, such was Ben Foakes’ excellence, it raised the possibility that neither Jos Buttler or Jonny Bairstow will ever again keep in a Test. Keaton Jennings provided grounds for belief that he may yet develop into a reliable Test opener and Buttler provided two key supporting contributions.Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler celebrate the fall of Angelo Mathews•Getty ImagesEngland used their one unique selling point – the remarkable number of allrounders they currently have – to ensure they had a deep batting order and both variation and contingency plans in the attack. So Curran, at No. 8, and Rashid, at No. 9, produced valuable runs while the presence of six bowlers seemed to take the pressure off Moeen Ali. He has never had better match figures in an overseas Test and rarely bowled better in a fourth innings.And then there’s Foakes. It is naive to pretend we can ever return to a time when keepers could hardly bat, but it’s also foolish to suggest the value of a keeper’s run can offset a missed chance. In Foakes England have a batsman good enough to bat at No. 7, at least, and a better keeper than they have had since the days of James Foster. Matt Prior, who watched this match in his role as a commentator, suggested Foakes may already be better than Foster, who was once rated the best there has ever been by Jack Russell.They are strong words and time will tell, but there is huge value in having such a skilful keeper. While there may be a temptation to classify his first Test dismissals as routine, it’s worth remembering that, between November 2012 and December 2015, England didn’t take a single wicket by a stumping in Test cricket. The best tend to make things look easy.There is a lesson to learn from Galle, though. While the instinct of most batsmen on both sides is to counterattack in almost all circumstances, the key innings in this match were old-school, patient affairs. England remain insistent that their first-morning batting was appropriate – Root suggested his side could have been “50 for 5 if we had sat in our bunker and waited for a good ball” – but the fact is they were dug out of trouble by Foakes’ century, while Jennings shut Sri Lanka out of the game in the second. Neither tried to take the attack to bowlers as much as they sought to defy them and accumulate steadily.If England want to go the next step, from being an attractive and dangerous side to one of the very best, they need to tailor their aggression just a little more. Three-session centuries might not be as much fun as 60-ball 50s, but Tests are still won more by the former than the latter. Root, in particular, will get more out of his substantial talent if he realises that.England need to develop their defensive game – there’s no way they should be 50 for 5 if they trust their defensive techniques – and remember the old adage about allowing bowlers the first session of a Test. This match ended more than a day early; there’s plenty of time to defend, or even leave, a few more balls. Even Lewis Hamilton slows down for corners.

Four Tests into their Test tour of Bangladesh and India, George Dobell provides a half-term report on the England squad

George Dobell23-Nov-2016Good:Ben Stokes:
Averaging 20.84 with the ball and 51.57 with the bat, it is hardly surprising that Stokes is rated England’s “golden player” by captain, Alastair Cook. He has looked England’s most dangerous purveyor of reverse-swing and at times troubled batsmen – he has hit several on the head or body – with his hostility even on slow surfaces. But it is his improvement against spin bowling that has been revelatory. More secure in his defence and more mature in his shot selection, he has a century and two half-centuries on the tour so far. This trip was always likely to offer one of the defining Tests of Stokes’ career: so far he has been deeply impressive. He is England’s best fielder in just about every position, too.Haseeb Hameed:
An impressive start. Described as “unflappable” by his captain, Hameed has taken to Test cricket with a sense of calm proficiency that bodes well for his future. Slightly unfortunate to miss out on a century on debut – he fell as England tried to set-up a declaration – he nevertheless demonstrated a sound technique and more scoring options than many had expected in registering the highest Test score made by an England teenager. While the short-ball remains an area of potential weakness, he has looked more secure against spin than several more experienced colleagues and promises to answer half of England’s opening questions for a decade and more.Stuart Broad:
Has bowled better than the figures (8 wickets at 26.37 apiece) show. Immaculate in conditions offering him little (he conceded fewer than two runs per over in Chittagong), he delivered 29 overs in the first innings in Rajkot (nine of them maidens) and has offered his side control even at times when the spinners have struggled. He was especially impressive in Vizag, where he demonstrated his mastery of the leg-cutter and gained just enough seam movement from the cracked surface to trouble all the batsmen. The only downside is the foot injury sustained in the opening moments of that Test. The manner in which he shrugged it off to produce by fair his best performance in Asia was though, in Cook’s words, “extraordinary.” He has gone a long way to answering the questions facing him in these conditions. Only judged as a bowler; the all-rounder days are long gone.Chris Woakes:
Proving the point that you can’t judge a player simply on statistics (he has taken four wickets in the three Tests he has played), Woakes has contributed heavily without personal reward. Impressively accurate – he conceded 63 runs from 35 overs in Rajkot – he has also impressed with his hostility on slow surfaces and troubled Cheteshwar Pujara, in particular, with his bouncer. Rotated out of the side for the Vizag Test, England missed his batting notably.Jimmy Anderson:
A controversial selection in this category, perhaps. But Anderson’s determination to regain fitness and play a part on a tour where conditions offer him little is reflective of his whole-hearted commitment to this side. Despite finding almost no swing, he was England’s best seamer in the first innings in Vizag – to bounce out an opener on that surface must have been especially pleasing for a man whose pace is questioned these days – and produced a peach of a delivery to bowl Pujara (set up by cutters, he was then bowled through the gate by a quicker inswinger) in the second.Adil Rashid:
Rashid has shown improvement after an undistinguished start. Slightly flattered by his figures in Bangladesh – he picked up some cheap wickets in Dhaka but conceded more than four-an-over in both innings and wasn’t trusted to bowl in Chittagong as the game built to a conclusion – he has bowled better in India. It is probably no coincidence that his improvement has coincided with Saqlain Mushtaq’s arrival. Encouraged to back himself and forget about previous instructions to bowl faster, Rashid has looked more confident, bowled fewer release deliveries (he conceded only seven boundaries – five fours and two sixes – in 34.4 overs in the first innings in Vizag) and claimed 13 wickets in the two Tests so far. He was referred to as “our best spinner” after the Vizag Test by the coach, Trevor Bayliss, and has contributed a couple of useful innings, too.Jonny Bairstow:
Standing up to the stumps used to define a keeper’s ability and Bairstow has generally kept well in demanding conditions. Certainly he has demonstrated that he has improved greatly with the gloves. While he does not have a substantial score to show for his good form with the bat – only once in seven innings on this tour has Bairstow failed to 24, but he has not passed 53 – he made key runs in both innings in Chittagong, rebuilt nicely at Vizag and fell selflessly trying to push on in Rajkot.Gareth Batty:
A bit unfortunate to be dropped after a one-match recall in Chittagong. He opened the bowling in both innings and bowled more than respectably – he looked to have the most control of the England spinners, though possibly lacks just a bit of pace for modern international cricket – but has paid the price for being a second off-spinner (Moeen is first choice) in India against a line-up stacked with right-handed batsmen.Could do better:Joe Root:
Only because of the high standards Root has set himself does he find himself in this category. He has once fluent century, albeit in fairly benign conditions, but has twice been out just after making a half-century – his dismissal in Vizag, caught at long-off was especially frustrating – and is averaging a relatively modest 38 from the four Tests. From most players, that would be fine. But England need more from Root.Alastair Cook:
Averaging 37 over the four Tests, Cook looked some way below until well into the Rajkot Test. Cook scored 89 in four innings in Bangladesh – 59 of them in the second innings in Dhaka – but, after a torturous start to his second innings in Rajkot, found his form with his 30th Test century. He followed that up with a typically defiant 50 in Vizag – his slowest Test half-century – and looked to be back in form. He has generally juggled his bowlers OK – he has a difficult task because of the modesty of the spin attack – but will surely regret the lack of a gully with the second new ball in Vizag and the failure to post one of his best catches at deep backward square when setting up a hook trap.Moeen Ali:
Only because of the high-standards that Moeen sets himself with the bat does he find himself in this category. While he made an important half-century in Chittagong and a typically pleasing century in Rajkot, those are the only occasions he has reached 15 in seven innings in the two series. Now batting at No. 5, more is required than a batting average of 30.28 over the four Tests. With 18 wickets at a cost of 27.27, his bowling has been better. He has looked very dangerous for left-handers but has found life against right-handers harder. Still not quite able to offer his captain the control he would like – 3.20 an over is not a disaster, though – his strike-rate of a wicket every 51 balls remains impressive.Steven Finn:
Bowled 11 overs in conditions offering him little in Dhaka. Too small a sample-size to make a judgement.Disappointing:Ben Duckett:
Dismissed in strikingly similar three times in the four Tests – with foot planted on leg stump he has been undone by off-spinners’ turn – this tour has so far suggested the elevation to Test cricket might have come a little early. One counter-attacking innings in Dhaka apart – his 50, either admirably uninhibited or oddly reckless depending on your point of view (there was probably an element of both) – took 61 balls – he has not passed 15 in his other six innings. Uncharacteristically, he missed a relatively simple chance in the field in Dhaka and is expected to be dropped ahead of the Mohali Test. Young and talented enough to come again it was, in retrospect, asking a great deal of Duckett to cope with a trial by spin at this level at this stage of his career.Zafar Ansari:
It’s harsh to put Ansari in this category. He has only played three Tests – all of them in demanding circumstances – and the last one of them saw him suffering from illness and injury. But a batting average of 9.80 and a bowling average of 55 leaves little alternative. He has also conceded more than four-an-over. After a nervous start in Dhaka – he bowled several full-tosses – he performed much better in Rajkot with bat and ball. He is up against fine players of spin, though, and the decision to introduce him before the other spinners in Vizag resulted in a release of pressure.Gary Ballance:
Dropped after four single-figure scores in Bangladesh. Conditions were demanding, for sure, but a batting average of six left the England management with little options.

There are more frequent tours, better technology, and easier pitches today than before. So why do teams struggle to win away from home more than they did in the past?

Tim Wigmore26-Aug-2015Those playing Test cricket away from home have never had it so good. Journeys to play series once lasted several weeks – and the boat trip from England to Australia a full month – but now a day of air travel suffices. Players stay in plush hotels, accompanied by a backroom team designed to prevent them worrying about anything beyond the cricket – and they no longer have to wait for months to see their families. The broadcasting of games all around the world, the use of modern analytical tools and training facilities designed to replicate foreign conditions before players have even got on the plane have all taken the mystique out of playing overseas. Neutral umpires and the Decision Review System have long ago destroyed any remaining semblance of home bias in officiating.Yet home advantage is becoming more potent. In every decade since the 1940s, sides have performed better at home. An away side in the 1940s had 77% as much chance of victory as the home side, but just 50% in the 2010s (excluding Tests involving Bangladesh or Zimbabwe).

Number of teams (Zim and Bang excl)SpanMatchesAway winsHome winsTiesDrawsWin/loss ratio61946-494510130220.76971950-5916448650510.73871960-6918640571880.70161970-7919845690840.65271980-89266568711220.64381990-993077112901070.5509 (incl the one-off Super Test)2000-093629216801020.54782010-1517244870430.506

“Fail to prepare and you prepare to fail” is the clichéd refrain from coaches to their players. Perhaps those who schedule tours should be admonished instead. England’s two most notable away victories in recent years, the Ashes success of 2010-11 and the win in India in 2012-13, both came after they had played three warm-up games before the first Test – the sort of thing the 21st century international fixture list seldom allows for.”That’s one of the big challenges of modern tours,” says Graham Thorpe, England’s batting coach, who credits an extensive lead-up with being critical to England’s victory in Pakistan in 2000-01. “In an ideal world you’d love three warm-up games.”When Australia toured England in 1997, they fitted in ten first-class matches outside of the Test series, compared with four in 2015. Last summer India managed to get through the entire tour of England without playing a first-class match outside of the Tests. In a desperate attempt to ensure all squad members have some game time before the Test series, warm-up games often descend into farcical non-first-class matches that provide meaningful practice for no one: 18 Indians played against Leicestershire and Derbyshire last summer.

When Australia played Yorkshire it was famously regarded as the “sixth Test”. Now even nominally first-class warm-up matches have become glorified exhibitions

“If you have warm-ups as a glorified net session then you don’t have that intensity – the intensity is the most important thing in practice and warm-up games,” Thorpe reflects. “I always used to like hard, intense warm-up matches to try and replicate what you’d get in a Test match the week later.”It is not only tourists who show disdain for warm-up games: domestic sides, in England and beyond, increasingly regard them as an inconvenience. When Australia used to play Yorkshire it was famously regarded as the “sixth Test”. Now even nominally first-class warm-up matches have become glorified exhibitions. Apparently under order from the clubs, Kent and Essex inserted Australia on benign wickets this summer: maximising chances of the game lasting four days was prioritised over maximising chances of winning. Playing on flat wickets against weakened pace-bowling attacks gave Australia scant preparation against the swinging ball.Such a derisory programme of warm-up matches prevents touring players from adjusting to the different requirements overseas. “In England a fast bowler will bowl 20-24 overs in a day’s play,” says Jerome Jayaratne, the head of coaching for Sri Lanka. “In our domestic cricket our bowlers are not used to that workload. So in England the chances of them breaking down is greater and it’s very difficult to get the best out of them – especially when you only have a gap of three days between Tests.”The unremitting schedule once a series has begun renders it impossible for struggling players to locate form: last year in England, India played five Test matches across 42 days, with no tour matches after the first Test. “You really want those games, particularly if you’re a batter,” says former India coach John Wright.Graham Thorpe: “I always used to like hard, intense warm-up matches to try and replicate what you’d get in a Test match the week later”•Getty ImagesVirat Kohli, who ended the series averaging just 13.40, would doubtless have agreed. His fate reflected a deeper trend. As one Test metamorphoses into the next, weaknesses become exacerbated. A small gap between sides can morph into a chasm, as England proved in their 5-0 defeat in 2013-14 and Australia reiterated during their calamitous performances in the third and fourth Tests this summer.Conditions in both series played a critical part. “In England the wickets are getting slower, so the batsmen are not being exposed to fast, bouncy wickets,” Graeme Swann said recently.” When they go to Australia it is a culture shock. They can’t deal with these guys with raw pace on fast, bouncy wickets The Aussies come here and nick everything. We go there and get bumped out. That is it in a nutshell.”It is certainly a seductive explanation. Yet favourable home conditions are nothing new: the Old Trafford groundsman in 1956, when Jim Laker took 19 for 90 in the Test, admitted that England captain Peter May had pressured him into not watering the pitch before the game.Neither Thorpe nor Wright believes pitches around the world have become any harder for away teams over the last 20 years. To Wright “pitches now are probably more consistent”. Complaints about “chief executive’s wickets”, as pitches brought about due to the apparent wish of many grounds to produce surfaces to prolong Tests are labelled, have become a common refrain. So the real change has not been in how much conditions benefit the home side, but “the players’ ability to adapt to each environment,” as Thorpe says.

It was telling that after Australia’s Ashes defeat, Mitchell Marsh declared his intention to have a stint in county cricket: “Everyone that comes over here says that it’s awesome for your cricket”

Trent Bridge, scene of Australia’s 60 all out, has become symbolic of the failure of touring teams to adjust to the moving ball. Over the past 30 years, the wickets here have remained “very similar to how they’ve always been,” according to head groundsman Steve Birk. What has changed are the performances of touring sides. England have won nine of their last 12 Tests at Trent Bridge, after having won just two of the previous 15.Birk believes the change stems not from the pitches but the attitude of touring batsmen: “People now are not prepared to leave the ball – everyone wants to score at four or five an over.”Thorpe also suggests that adhesiveness has become a scarcer quality among Test players today. “A lot of people say, ‘Do we have the ability still to play long Test innings?’ Maybe that type of player is becoming rarer.” While the influence of T20 cricket is detectable in the approach of both home and away teams in Tests, it is more corrosive on the performances of away sides, who lack experience of the demands in overseas conditions.It was telling that after Australia’s Ashes defeat Mitchell Marsh declared his intention to have a stint in county cricket: “Everyone that comes over here says that it’s awesome for your cricket.”Dale Steyn has an impressive away record because of South Africa’s lighter international schedule compared to the other top teams, and because he is sometimes rested him for limited-overs matches•AFP”From Justin Langer to Matt Hayden and Rahul Dravid, players benefited because they had to adapt their games to different conditions and solve different problems,” Wright reflects. “A lot of them improved their batsmanship and ability to adapt to conditions through county experience. You’re continually playing in different conditions. And as an overseas player you’re expected to perform – that’s what they pay you for so, you’ve got to work it out.”The same was true for bowlers. “When you’re playing in different countries the lengths you need to bowl are different – a good length in England is a different length to Australia or India because of the different pace and bounce,” says Wright. The onerous schedule of domestic T20 and international cricket means that few can use county cricket as a finishing school.Just as young players from the subcontinent can benefit from experience of English conditions, so Englishmen stand to gain from playing in Asia. Having toured Sri Lanka in early 2014, England Lions will shadow the senior side in the UAE next month. “If we can get lads to tour countries before they play for England that’s a starting point,” says Thorpe who advocates “extreme practice” as the best preparation for foreign conditions. Facing spin in the nets, batsmen are compelled to use smaller bats and are sometimes even barred from playing a forward defensive on the crease to imbue them with the urgency of moving decisively forward or back.But such steps can only count for so much, set against the unrelenting schedule of international cricket today. Players do not merely suffer from a paucity of warm-up matches but also often from being weary before tours even begin.

“A lot of people say, ‘Do we have the ability still to play long Test innings?’ Maybe that type of player is becoming rarer”Graham Thorpe

Perhaps it is no coincidence that South Africa, by far the most successful away side this decade – they have won eight of their 16 Tests against the top seven teams and lost only one, while every other country has lost more Tests than they have won – are also one of the countries to play the least. This means campaigns can be planned further back in advance. A lack of Tests (and his regular omission from the ODI team) also ensures that Dale Steyn, whose pace can render conditions irrelevant, need not sacrifice speed for longevity: his 75 wickets at 23.58 apiece have underpinned South Africa’s away success.For too many of the game’s elite players today, international cricket has become relentless. Inevitably it is away from home, with scant time to prepare for series and no time to recalibrate techniques or minds once the skirmishing has begun, that the effects manifest themselves.”It’s become even more challenging in this era because of the different formats they have to play,” Wright says. During a bad tour overseas, “there are times when you look at it from a coaching perspective and think, ‘We’ve got to get the side up for this game.’ But if you’re in that situation you’re in a lot of trouble.” It is not only in Tests that home advantage is becoming more significant: home teams have won a higher percentage of ODIs in 2015 than in any previous year.The boon teams enjoy from playing at home is intrinsic to cricket. Yet increasingly the advantage accrues less from the hosts’ familiarity with conditions than in their visitors being underprepared and overfatigued.

Herschelle Gibbs on the infamous tag, the 438 match, playing golf with Viv, Tiger and Ronaldo, and his football World Cup predictions

Interview by Richard Sydenham21-Jun-2014What have you enjoyed most about being out of international cricket?
Not doing warm-ups every other day. The playing side of things was lovely but once players give up international cricket, most are quite happy to not have to do the warm-ups every day.What have you enjoyed the least about being out of international cricket?
I miss the buzz, the big crowds, the big stage, the big tournaments. You live for these things as an international player for so long, so when it’s not there any more, you miss it.Was there one thing you never got to do, individually, in your 90-Test and 248-ODI career that you would have loved to have done?
I wanted a Test triple-century – even a 250 would have been nice. But frankly I am happy with my two double-centuries (228 v Pakistan and 211 v New Zealand). I got bored at 200!How many times do you get asked about dropping Steve Waugh in the 1999 World Cup?
Happily not so much anymore, but on Twitter every now and again there will be a smart alec who will come up with that one, but fortunately it’s not very often now.And on that topic – did Waugh really say, “You’ve just dropped the World Cup?”
Adam Gilchrist told me that Steve Waugh didn’t say anything of the sort but he was quite happy to go along with that rumour!What did you enjoy the most – six sixes in a World Cup, or scoring 175 in a total of 438 to beat Australia?
Definitely the 175 against Australia; when I hit the six sixes, Sir Garfield Sobers had already done it, though not in international cricket, so it was nice to be the first in that sense. But from a purely enjoyment point of view, the 175 was probably on a day when my most complete talent was on display. It is satisfying when I think of the people that were there to see it and the people who saw it on TV. And to win the match also was the icing on top.Have you still got the bats from those innings?
I have never really been interested in keepsakes. The only thing I wanted was a World Cup winners’ medal. I gave the bat from the six sixes to Allan Lamb to auction but never heard any more. The only thing I have kept is my Proteas blazer. I have nothing else left.Who is the funniest cricketer you have ever met?
I would probably say Neil McKenzie. He is just a fantastic bloke, a great team man, and I’m sure the lads at Hampshire would agree with that. He is exceptionally funny. Very superstitious, but his humour is second to none.Who was the bowler you used to dread batting against?
I would say Shoaib Akhtar. Even though I enjoyed facing fast bowlers, his action made it really awkward. He wasn’t very nice to face at all – was awkward through the air and off the wicket. You couldn’t get any quicker than that. He always felt quicker than Brett Lee, though Lee was also as quick as hell, but his action was easier to track.And who was the bowler who made you think: “I hope this bloke doesn’t get taken off just yet?”
Daan van Bunge, obviously!I really took a liking to Mick Lewis in the 438 game. And because I scored a lot of runs against England I would probably say one of their guys but couldn’t possibly single one out!Who was the most uncomfortable to face in the nets: Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini or Dale Steyn?
I would probably say Allan Donald. I remember one of the first nets I had for South Africa in 1996. He hit me on the leg just below the thigh pad. I went down like a sack of potatoes and couldn’t walk for three days. I will never forget that day.Who is the one player you have shared a cricket field with and felt genuinely privileged to have done so?
Sir Vivian Richards, when playing for Lashings. Fortunately we were on the same team. Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting also, because they made everything look really easy. It’s almost like they were taking the mickey.Who was the one player you shared a dressing room with who you were proud to go into battle with?
Mark Boucher, because it felt like he was always putting his life on the line for the team.Does it annoy you that the media often labels South Africa as chokers, or do you think it has been justified down the years?
It has been justified. You can’t really stop the media from writing what they want and they have every right to call us chokers. In the 1999 World Cup semi-final, we should have won for sure. And in 2003 we underperformed. The fear of failure for a lot of the lads was the biggest issue. And it seems to have continued right up to this day.Was there a ground that always brought the best out in you?
I would mention two: The Oval and Wanderers, Johannesburg. I always seemed to score runs at The Oval and I played some fantastic innings at Wanderers. I remember my 143 against New Zealand in the 2003 World Cup, when I was in the form of my life. The coach, Eric Simons, said to me beforehand it would be nice if I could get a scratchy 50. That was his way of saying: “Don’t go all out blazing from the word go.” And I did scratch my way to 50 but went for it after that!Which country was your favourite tour?
Australia or West Indies. Beach every day in the Caribbean. From a physical point of view, when you play every day and can then go in the sea, you hardly ever get stiff. In Australia they love their cricket. It’s hard cricket but you get plenty of respect when you do well.We know you’re a keen golfer, so who would be your ideal four-ball companions?
Tiger Woods, Sir Viv Richards and Cristiano Ronaldo. They have been the best and to be with the best in the world as a sportsman would be the ultimate. I would love to share a few stories with these guys over a beer about their careers.Which team will win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and who will they beat in the final?
This might shock a few but I feel the pressure will get to the South Americans. My last four would be Spain, Netherlands, Portugal – because of Ronaldo – and Germany. The winner could be any of those four.Is retirement from playing cricket close?
The hunger and passion is still there and I don’t want to call it quits simply because I didn’t have any opportunity anymore. But I still want to play and prove myself because I still love the game. There’s still plenty of runs in these old bones yet.

There are signs of a fragile recovery in West Indies cricket and a place in the World Twenty20 final – the prospect of silverware – would give long-suffering fans something to cling to

David Hopps in Colombo04-Oct-2012When you can boast the two fastest men on the planet, it has to do a lot for your sense of sporting well-being. West Indies meet Australia with the exploits of Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake at the London Olympics still fresh in the mind. They won gold and silver over 100m and 200m for Jamaica, but throughout the Caribbean the millions looking on with pride felt able to take ownership of a magnificent spectacle.For decades, West Indies cricket has been the unifying force for the Caribbean. At times it has seen an unwelcome task as the individual islands increasingly seek out an independent identity. But Bolt and Blake proved that the Caribbean can still think as one and, if West Indies follow up Olympic glory with victory in World Twenty20, they can ensure the sense of belonging deepens.There was a time during the Olympics, for a few hours or more, when Blake – perhaps with the exclusion of Chris Gayle – was arguably the Caribbean’s most famous cricketer. He suggested ambitiously that he was a better cricketer than a sprinter, ceremoniously rang the bell at the start of a day in the Lord’s Test and claimed that he was seriously eyeing an opportunity in the Big Bash League. Bolt followed suit, although unlike Blake he could not claim to have a bowling machine at home cranked up to 90mph. Whatever, it was great theatre; a marketeer’s dream.In Colombo we have reached the second semi-final of World Twenty20 and the bona fide cricketers of West Indies now hope to capitalise on such uplifting memories. Their coach, Ottis Gibson, would have missed a trick if he had not extolled the achievements of Bolt and Blake at the start of the tournament and West Indies are contesting World Twenty20 under the slogan: “One team, one people, one goal.”It has to be said that 24 hours before the match unity in West Indies cricket was not 100% apparent. In Port-of-Spain, the entire Trinidad and Tobago squad had threatened not to travel to the Champions League in South Africa because of issues of the share of the payments received by the board for the involvement of Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo and Sunil Narine in IPL. The Trinidad contingent in Colombo with the West Indies were said to be closely involved.At such times, an old inspirational speech by Gibson might be recalled with a raised eyebrow or two, but Darren Sammy, West Indies’ captain, referred to it with pride intact.”That was definitely remembered in our preparation,” he said. “What happened in the Olympics has given the Caribbean people a lot of inspiration. I remember being in Jamaica watching the men and women’s 100 and 200 metre finals. Even though it was Jamaica winning, it felt like the entire Carribean.”Cricket is a game that unites the Carribean people so I know everyone at home is rooting for us. With all that’s happened at the Olympics, it’s another step for us to put a smile on the face of our fans’ faces. We dedicate this tournament for all the die-hard fans supporting us through thick and thin. Now it’s a golden opportunity to go out and win this for them.”If Jamaica, a country of 2.7 million people, can take a clean sweep of the men’s Olympic sprinting gold, then it can also produce, in Gayle, a cricketer worthy of a winner’s medal in the World Twenty20. The charisma of both is undeniable. They keep in contact quite regularly. Gayle once batted against Bolt in a charity match and is happy to suggest that Bolt made him hurry with a “competitive bouncer.”Sammy even uses imagery from athletics to describe West Indies’ progress to the semi-finals. “Since the coach came on board, we’ve instilled a positive, can-do attitude in the team,” he said. “In any organisation, any team, any group – the more you work together, the more you achieve. We have a lot of belief, and that’s been the biggest factor for us. We saw it as a 100-metre hurdle. We’ve got two more hurdles to jump to reach the finish line. Tomorrow is about jumping that hurdle.”It has to be said that West Indies have struck a few hurdles along the way. They were well beaten by Sri Lanka in the Super Eights at Pallakele, hammered by nine wickets after making only 129 for 5 against an unorthodox Sri Lankan attack, bamboozled by Ajantha Mendis’ spin assortment, Nuwan Kulasekara’s mix of inswingers and huge slower balls and Jeevan Mendis’ skiddy legrollers.They also lost to Australia in the qualifying group, but it was a game wrecked by rain and Australia’s 17-run winning margin on Duckworth Lewis was largely an irrelevance in which batsmen flayed bowlers out of sight all night. Pitches have deteriorated at Premadasa in the intervening days.”We believe we can go onto win matches. We’ve not had the best tournament, but we’re still in the semi finals,” Sammy said. “We’ve always had good games against Australia. We’ve always scored heavily against them. We back our guys and their pace attack seems to favour us. Our game against Australia was shaping up to be a very exciting one. Hopefully we have another exciting game and we come out on top.”They have a lot of experience at the top of the order, but as we saw against Pakistan, you can get into that middle order. We back ourselves and we think we have the bowlers in there to get wickets against them.”It’s a different stage of the tournament. It’s the semi finals and there’s a lot at stake. We just have to bring our A game.”

The side is not inexperienced, just the development of many has been stunted from a lack of Tests

Osman Samiuddin at the MCG30-Dec-2009Over the course of five days at the MCG, one truth about Pakistan gradually emerged from the strange haze of timidity and gloom and the starburst of youth: the fallout of 2008, their Year of No Tests, is not to be underestimated. By the end of the Sydney Test next week, Pakistan willhave played 18 Tests in three years. Australia will have played 32 in the same period by then. And only one Pakistani – Kamran Akmal – has actually played in every one of those 18 Tests.Test cricket requires strange ways of men. It has its own disciplines and rhythms and it isn’t for everyone. Patience is needed, but not at the expense of alertness; lethargy is loathed but not always punished, where sometimes rushing things is. Sensing and riding the flow of a Test, of asession, of a period or situation is critical and it comes only over time. But if, like Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Asif and to an extent even Mohammad Yousuf, you have not been playing Tests regularly, these things are missed. And it hurts. The side is not inexperienced, just the development of many has been stunted from a lack of Test cricket.Pakistan had good periods in Melbourne, good passages, mostly on the third and fourth day. But as happened in Sri Lanka and New Zealand earlier this year, those passages cannot be sustained. Good sessions are followed by flat ones, other crucial sessions they start off too slowly, concentration levels are poor at the start of sessions.Catches are dropped at stages when they can be least afforded, runs are given away cheaply just after wickets are picked up, wickets are thrown away just when batsmen are set: recognising the importance of what is happening when you are doing well and why it is happening is as critical to sustaining it as anything else. Not being able to do it is Pakistan’smisery.Batsmen have been hit particularly hard by this intermittency of Tests. Numbers are not needed, only memory: how many batsmen were set in this Test, and in Tests against New Zealand and Sri Lanka when dismissed? The batting gods do not forgive that sin readily. In their last 14 Testinnings now, Pakistan have crossed 350 – a basic minimum Test score – only twice. Younis Khan is no magic wand either for he was present on six of those occasions.Admittedly Pakistan teams – even winning sides – have always reacted to their own, inconsistent rhythms and moods, session to session, day to day, but usually they have had men who can defy everything and win a Test from nothing. No such blessing is at hand just currently. The lack of Tests is hurting; coupled with the many basic issues Pakistan have always had -catching, slack running, fielding in general – it hurts doubly hard.But if you’re an optimist – and there are more of them per square mile than there ought to be in Pakistan – then the way to look at a tenth successive defeat against Australia would be to suggest that despite all this they managed to push Australia on some days. Depending on how you rate a nine-wicket defeat, a 170-run loss is the closest in terms of result between the two sides for five Tests and some years probably. At a stretch, they were still in with a shout as the final day dawned and certainly the captain thought so.There was no humiliation here – though avoiding that is hardly an ambition – even if Australia declared twice. And it took, Ricky Ponting said later, the best bowling performance from an Australian side since the days of McGrath and Warne to win it.There remains hope for Sydney. Something needs to be done about the fielding and batting, though little can be done on a tour. They will hope that the young can maintain their verve. Every day that the Test developed it became clearer too the folly of Umar Gul’s omission and DanishKaneria’s absence was felt. That is the smaller picture and similar stuff could probably be said for just about every loss Pakistan have had for a while, maybe ever. The bigger picture is that they go to Sydney with at least one more Test’s experience than they came into Melbourne with.

Neil Foster was one of the unlikely heroes when England last won a Test series in India in 1984-85

Andrew Miller27-Feb-2006

“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.

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.

“He might be a little bit inconsistent but he’s the sort of guy who in big moments can win you something”

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-2023

Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s recent lean form, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes India should back him going into the home 50-over World Cup later this year.In India’s last ODI assignment, Suryakumar was dismissed for three consecutive golden ducks as Australia won the series 2-1 in India. But Ponting said that he is the kind of player who can “win you a World Cup”.”Everyone around the world knows what Surya [Suryakumar] can do in white-ball cricket. They should stick with him, I feel,” Ponting told the . “Because he is I think the kind of player that can win you a World Cup.Related

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“He might be a little bit inconsistent but he’s the sort of guy who in big moments can win you something,” Ponting said. “A bit like the late great Andrew Symonds did for Australia.”When you invest in these guys, you give them an opportunity, you give them a pretty clear direction and get some clarity around the role you want them to play, they’ve got so much talent that they can single-handedly win you games.”That’s definitely the way that I’d look at it for India. I wouldn’t be playing it safe, I’d be going with match-winning players and I think he’s a match-winner,” he said.Suryakumar, in 21 ODI innings, has scored 433 runs at an average of 24.05 with two half-centuries.Ponting picked out the No. 5 slot as the best option for Suryakumar.”I think he was only batting at 5 anyway, and I wouldn’t want him much lower than that, especially with Hardik [Pandya], [Ravindra] Jadeja and Axar [Patel] and all those guys there,” Ponting said. “I’m a big believer in giving your best batsman as much time as you can in all formats of the game.”Because if you keep them down the order quite often, sometimes you don’t get to use your best players and that’s the last thing you want. So I think the No. 5 slot is perfect for him and he just needs to grow into that role.”