West Indies succumbed to Galle’s humidity as chances went down and Sri Lanka’s score mounted inexorably on the second day of the first Test

Andrew Fidel Fernando15-Oct-2015It’s the humidity that gets opposition sides in Sri Lanka. The airport doors open and it hits visitors like a tidal wave. They cannot be free from it, day or night. For those who call Sri Lanka home, it is the motherland’s glorious, unceasing, sweaty embrace. You know you’re home when the pores in your skin swell to the size of grapefruits and weep profusely for joy.For others, of course, it can seem like nationwide oppression -a human rights abuse carried out by nature itself. West Indies hail from islands roughly on Sri Lanka’s latitude. Temperatures don’t vary much from Colombo, to Bridgetown; from Galle to Port-of-Spain. Yet the weather is a challenge, the Caribbean men report. They speak of heat, but it’s probably the humidity they mean.On day two, as forecast rains failed to arrive, West Indies floundered through two early, oily sessions. They ambled, slouched and meandered. Sometimes, their fielders were like balloons strewn around the backyard after a children’s birthday party; blown by the wind from place to place, deflating incrementally in the sun. Other times, men chased balls in slow motion like they were wearing latex fat-suits.In that period, West Indies reprieved Dinesh Chandimal twice: once on 82 when a cut burst through Jermaine Blackwood’s hands at point, and once more on 107, when Jerome Taylor did a nervous jig around the spot he was standing instead of moving forward to attempt the catch at mid off. The same man had already dropped him on 11 the previous day. A run-out chance to dismiss Dimuth Karunaratne was also missed.

Chandimal honoured to be at No 4

Seeing plenty of spin in the India and Pakistan series may have helped ease Sri Lanka’s troubles against slow bowling, according to Dinesh Chandimal. Yasir Shah, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra had been instrumental in bringing about Sri Lanka’s defeat in the two previous series, but the top order have now helped mount a total of 484 against an attack featuring legspinner Devendra Bishoo, and the part-time offspin of Marlon Samuels.
“When you take Indian and Pakistani teams, both of them have good spin attacks,” said Chandimal. “When we came into this series we had faced a lot of quality spin bowlers and that could be one reason why we played the West Indies spinners so well. We also had a good training period before the series. We are benefiting from that work.”
Chandimal, who hit 151, said he was honoured to play in the No 4 position formerly occupied by Duleep Mendis, Aravinda de Silva and Mahela Jayawardene.
“The players who batted in that position have been greats of Sri Lankan cricket. I want to develop my game and become consistent, as they were. For me, having batted at No 7, to bat at No 4 is a massive difference. I need to be a little more patient.”

The worst reprieve came in the afternoon. Angelo Mathews was so excited to have come in, for once, at 3 for 339 instead of 3 for 3 that he sent an edge to slip early in his innings. Jason Holder bent low and grassed a simple chance. The opposition’s best batsman is not the man to drop, particularly if you are the captain. It must be especially embarrassing when your own name happens to be Holder.While chances were being grassed, Sri Lanka’s batsmen whisked the game away. They made intelligent raids for quick runs when support bowlers came on. They awaited mistakes. The bowlers themselves had held their lines well for most of the innings, but lethargy is infectious. Shannon Gabriel, who had persistently threatened the previous day, slung successive balls to the fine leg boundary in the afternoon. Devendra Bishoo’s long hops increased in frequency. Even Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor turned in flat, insipid spells.Sri Lanka made 94 runs for 1 wicket in the first session, then 104 for 2 in the second. By tea they had 448 for 5, which is generally enough to declare on, on this pitch, which often descends into a foul mood on days four and five.In mitigation, it has to be said that Galle is a particularly sadistic venue. The sea is both seen and heard from deep midwicket or fine leg, but tempted though fielders might be by thoughts of a refreshing dip, they can only endure the conditions.More pertinently, this is a side that has had its approach to the series upset by the suspension of Phil Simmons, its head coach, days before the team was due to land in Sri Lanka. Their preparation was further hampered by rain in Colombo. And they are led by a 23-year-old rookie in the ninth Test of his career. None of this lends itself to the sort of team unity that is known to breed excellent fielding, though perhaps Holder’s team will get there yet.And it is not as if the opposition are much good at catching, stopping and throwing either. Lately, Sri Lanka’s fielders have been known to wander aimlessly around the ground like a herd of livestock the farmer has forgotten to bring in. But the hosts have stronger batsmen and bowlers on paper, and if the West Indies eclipse them in one discipline, it has to be fielding. Legspinner Devendra Bishoo, in particular, is in a fragile state, still finding his feet in a team that had not needed him since 2010. He finished with 4 for 143, but could have had a five-wicket haul had his teammates been sharper.”It is disappointing, but it happens,” Bishoo said after the day’s play. “I would have liked to get five or six wickets but we have to work on that part of the game. It’s hard to digest when a catch goes down. It’s frustrating for any bowler. But at the end of it you have to keep your head up and keep going.”West Indies await a trial by spin on Friday. Rangana Herath has begun a mini-charge. They will need greater powers of concentration than they displayed on the field today to emerge from that challenge with credit.

Yorkshire have won their second successive County Championship. Do you think their first-choice XI would beat the Rest of England?

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Sep-2015See how Yorkshire compares with the Rest of England, and take the poll below.

As the WACA ground starts to lose its pride of place on the international circuit, we look back at the finest innings at the iconic venue

Deivarayan Muthu12-Nov-20150:00

Archive – Ian Chappell on Sachin Tendulkar’s 114: ‘Incredible for an 18-year old’

Roy Fredericks 169 v Australia, 1975
Roy Fredericks took on Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, and Gary Gilmour, lashing 169 off only 145 balls. The bowlers kept targeting the body with short balls and Fredericks kept playing full-blooded pulls. Lillee and Thomson had combined figures of 37-0-251-5 while the centuries of Ian Chappell and Clive Lloyd were thrust into the shade. Such was the brutality of the assault.Read more about this innings: Shine on me, RoyBob Simpson 176 v India, 1977-78
Bob Simpson, the 41-year old former captain, who had retired a decade ago, returned to lead Australia against India, and how. The lead up to the series, however, was bizarre. It was overshadowed by Kerry Packer’s World Series of Cricket (WSC) and Australia were left fielding a third-string side, but Simpson’s heroics illuminated the series. Australia won the series 3-2 with Simpson striking 539 runs in five games at 53.90. His 176 in the second Test was the highlight of his series.Read more: The return of Bob SimpsonMark Greatbatch 146 v Australia, 1989-90
Driven by David Boon’s 200, Australia rattled up 521 and amplified their advantage by bowling New Zealand out for 231 with only Mark Greatbatch’s 76 offering some resistance. Asked to follow on, New Zealand looked buried but Greatbatch flicked on the blockathon switch and stonewalled Tim Alderman, Jeff Lawson, and Merv Hughes. Greatbatch occupied the crease for 655 minutes and shepherded the lower order, inspiring New Zealand to save the game when a heavy defeat loomed. Greatbatch was 462 minutes reaching his second Test century, which at the time was the slowest first-class hundred in Australia.Read more: One man against the mobSachin Tendulkar 114 v Australia, in 1991-92
Even as the senior batsmen folded, Sachin Tendulkar, only 18 then, stood to up the to the formidable combination of the Perth pitch and a four-pronged pace attack. Coming in at 69 for 2, Tendulkar watched six batsmen fall before he added 81 with No.10 Kiran More to lend a semblance of respect to the scorecard. The zippy movement off the cracks and chest-high bounce was tamed, the short-arm pull proving an effective ally. The counterattacking century, punctuated by 14 fours, was described ‘incredible’ by former Australia captain Ian Chappell.Read more: My favourite Sachin hundredDavid Warner’s blazing century burnt India on the first day of the 2011-12 Test•Getty ImagesBrian Lara 132 v Australia, 1997
With the Frank-Worrell Trophy wrapped up by Australia before the final Test, Brian Lara’s first century of the series arrived late. Nonetheless, it was a special innings. On a pitch where the Australia batsmen struggled in the first innings, Lara was largely untroubled. Andy Bichel was thrashed down the ground, Steve Waugh was pulled with authority, and Shane Warne was drilled through the covers. Lara then acted as a runner for the injured Courtney Walsh as West Indies carried on to complete their fifth win at the WACA out of five Tests.Justin Langer 191 v Pakistan, 2004
After Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had chosen to bowl, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami cut through the Australia batting, reducing the hosts to 78 for 5 inside 27 overs. Pakistan would have scented a breathe-easy time but Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist had other ideas. They collared the attack with an amalgam of solid and powerful strokes, adding 152 at a run rate of over five. Langer was the last man dismissed for 191 and Australia went on to gain a first-innings lead of 202. Langer was at it in the second innings too. his match aggregate of 288 delivering Australia’s third-largest victory.Read more: Australia’s opening idolAdam Gilchrist 102 v England, in 2006-07
Coming off two ducks in his last two innings before the Perth Test, Adam Gilchrist unleashed his old self, razing what was then the second-fastest Test century. His half-century arrived off 40 balls and then took only 17 balls for his next fifty. The highlight of the wildfire innings was the three sixes against Monty Panesar in an over; all three were smote straight down the ground. The Michaels – Hussey and Clarke – set it up while Gilchrist blew it up, as Australia regained the Ashes with a 206-run win.Read more: England surrender to the old GilchristHashim Amla’s 196 swung the deciding Test South Africa’s way in 2012-13•Getty ImagesChris Gayle 102 v Australia, 2009
West Indies had lost two of their best batsmen – Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath – to injuries ahead of the third Test. Having batted first, Australia racked up 520 on the back of five half-centuries. Chris Gayle, though, said no problem and struck a 70-ball century. The then West Indies captain had earlier stated that facing Nathan Hauritz was like facing himself and pinged the offspinner into the roof of the Lillee-Marsh stand, which left Lillee himself cheering: “I must admit I was barracking for him a little bit there. I’m an Aussie, but I was barracking for him.”West Indies went down by 35 runs but Gayle scooped the Player-of-the-Match and Player of-the-Series awards.Read more: Hurricane Gayle bows to loyal team-matesDavid Warner 180 v India, 2012
Another buccaneering century, another crushing Australian win at the WACA. David Warner was at the forefront of it, muscling 180 off 159 balls, which all but slammed the doors on India after the visitors were skittled for 161 in the first innings. The clam Ed Cown proved an able foil for the uninhibited Warner as they set up the second double-century opening partnership since the Justin Langer-Matthew Hayden era. Each of India’s frontline bowlers was left nursing economy rates of over four and the hosts surged to an innings win.Read more: Warner’s blazing ton destroys IndiaHashim Amla 196 v Australia, in 2012-13
Hashim Amla’s sparkling century led South Africa’s demolition of Australia as the visitors cemented their place as the No.1 Test team. Usually the tortoise, Amla unlocked the hare in him, racing to his 18th Test century off only 87 balls in the second innings. He drove imperiously, profited from picking away balls from outside off to the midwicket boundary, and fed off AB de Villiers’ aggression. It looked like the pair were batting on a different track as Australia faced a record chase of 632. South Africa claimed their second-largest win against Australia and crashed Ricky Ponting’s farewell.Read more: Hashim Amla performs in one-day gear

Or: Four Stats I Have Dug Up and Polished Before Deciding it Was Bedtime and They Would Have to Do For the Stats of the Year

Andy Zaltzman19-Dec-2015Stats correct up to the start of the Hamilton TestSTAT 1. In their recent tweak-aggravated demolition by India, South Africa were bowled out in less than 50 overs on three occasions – as many less-than-50-over skittlings as they had suffered away from home in the previous 83 years, in a total of 152 Tests.
After being demolished at the MCG in February 1932 – bowled out for 36 and 45 in a total of 54.5 overs – the South Africans had been bowled out in fewer than 300 balls only at Lord’s and Nottingham in 1960, and in Ahmedabad in November 1996. Then they went to India. And India saw them coming. In the space of five weeks of remorseless slow-bowling cross-examination on pitches that must have made Hedley Verity and Clarrie Grimmett contemplate comebacks from their long-occupied graves, the Proteas added Mohali, Nagpur and Delhi to that list. They lasted a comparatively heroically long-winded 59 overs in their one innings in Bangalore before the merciful rains denied them the opportunity to subside again.Furthermore, South Africa had not posted a sub-150 score in 33 Tests over four years, since November 2011. They failed to reach the 150 mark in four innings in the four Tests in India. Away from home, they had been bowled out for under 150 only once in 57 Tests since August 2003.Overall it has been a good year for collapse fans. In the 40 Tests played this year, teams have been bowled out for under 150 on 15 occasions, ranging in length from Australia’s 111-ball, Ashes-surrendering, Broad-immortalising 60 all out at Trent Bridge, to South Africa’s epically ineffective, Boycott-shaming 143.1-over 143 all out in Delhi.Seventeen times in 40 Tests has a team been dismissed in under 50 overs, the most in a year since 2005, and a rate of 2.35 Tests per sub-50-over blast-out. From 2000 to 2014, teams had been bowled out in under 300 balls once every 3.56 Tests. In all Tests played from 1920 to 1999, the rate was once every 7.05 Tests.Stat conclusions:
a) Modern batsmen possess many skills that previous generations did not have. Disappearing down a collective plughole in an array of technically questionable shots is one of the less useful of those skills.b) There have been some silly pitches this year, and even sillier batting, and not just in the recent Indian triumph.c) Bring back Kallis. And Gary Kirsten. And Jackie McGlew. And Bruce Mitchell. Will there ever be a true South African grinder again?STAT 2. West Indies have completed a 21st consecutive year in which they have failed to win more Tests than they have lost.
The last time West Indies had a “winning year” was 1994, with four wins and two losses. They had the same number of wins and losses in both 1995 and 1996, then 15 consecutive losing years from 1997 to 2011. Wins over Bangladesh helped them achieve results parity in 2012 and 2014, either side of a dismal 2013, when they were thoroughly clouted in India and New Zealand.In 21 consecutive years from 1976 to 1996, West Indies never lost more Tests than they won, and posted 17 winning years out of 19, up to and including 1994. Watching their “display” in Hobart, it was possible to conclude that some of the current side would have struggled to get in as spectators in the 1980s, let alone as players.A loss in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG would be West Indies’ eighth Test defeat in 2015, equalling their record number of defeats in a year, set in 2004 and 2005.It would also make them only the second team in Test history to play 10 or more Tests in a year and lose at least 80% of them, after England in 1993 (played 10, lost eight).Stat conclusions:
a) I really don’t want to think about it.b) Cricket doesn’t really want to think about it.c) Someone should really think about it.STAT 3: Test stumpings have occurred at their highest rate since 1956.
If you like seeing bails whipped off by grinning wicketkeepers, this has been a fun year for you. There were 37 stumpings in the first 40 Tests of the year this year. With three Tests remaining (including the Hamilton Test now underway), that is already the second most stumpings in a year, behind the 41 sets of bails whipped off by glovemen in 2004 (in 51 Tests).Even if there are no more Test stumpings, and the current figure of 0.92 stumpings per Test drops to 0.86, it will remain the highest rate since 1956, when 16 batsmen were caught out of their ground in 15 Tests (although only two of Jim Laker’s 46 Ashes wickets was a stumping).Before Hamilton, there had been one stumping every 338 overs of Test cricket this year, again the highest rate since 1956 regardless of whether or not there are any more such dismissals before the end of December.This decade as a whole has seen the highest rate of Test stumpings since the 1950s. Up to the end of the 1950s, 3.46% of all Test dismissals were stumpings. Since then, that figure has fallen to 1.61%, suggesting that as the world became more sexually liberated in the Swinging Sixties, batting became considerably more prim and less willing to be caught with its metaphorical trousers down.Hedley Verity: said to be contemplating a resurrection-induced comeback in the wake of the pitches for the recent India-South Africa series•Getty ImagesThe least stumpedous decade was the 1980s, when there was on average only one stumping every two and a half Tests, or one every 808 overs, making stumping less than half as frequent as in the 1950s.Of the years in which more than five Tests have been played, the stumpiest was 1921 – 20 stumpings in 11 Tests, one every 178 overs, suggesting that, having survived the world’s most devastating conflict, batsmen were not too fussed at the prospect of being stranded a yard or two down the wicket having a swing at a cricket ball. Perspective is a wonderful thing.Stat conclusions:
a) Perhaps, T20 has made batsmen more willing to come down the pitch, but not necessarily better at it.b) There have been some silly pitches this year, and even sillier batting, and not just in the recent Indian triumph.c) I love stumpings.STAT 4: 2015 was, comfortably, the best year for ODI batsmen, with record scoring rates (5.51 per over), the highest collective batting average (31.40) (excluding 1974, when only six ODIs were played), the highest strike rate (87.1), and the most centuries (106, smashing the previous bests of 77 in 2013 and 79 in 2014).
The 2013-2015 ODI fielding regulations unsurprisingly resulted in a deluge of run-scoring, such that even England, who began their ODI year apparently trying to bat their way back to the 1980s, found themselves scoring 400 without being unduly surprised or even slightly disappointed. There were six 400-plus scores in total this year; there had been only one between March 2010 and October 2014, and 11 in all ODIs played up to the end of last year. There have been a year-record ten individual scores of 150 or more.Those 106 centuries have been scored at a rate of one every 1.33 ODIs, comfortably a record, and down from 1.55 in 2014 and 1.77 in 2013. From 2000 to 2012, ODI hundreds were scored at one every 2.42 matches; up to 1999, it was one hundred per 3.24 games. Furthermore, in 2015 the conversion rate of ODI fifties into hundreds hit a record high of 24.8%. It was 21.5% in 2013 and 2014 combined; in the 2000-2012 period, it was 16.2%, and in the 20th century, it was 13.5%.Stat conclusions:
a) It is easier to score hundreds when there aren’t so many fielders on the boundary. And when the ball never gets more than 25 overs old.b) Modern batsmen possess many skills that previous generations did not have.c) If things keep progressing at this rate, by the year 2143, every single ODI innings will be a triple-century.

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2016Jason Roy looked to get going but fell for 8•Getty ImagesImran Tahir claimed the first two wickets and his plea for a review against Joe Root paid off•Getty ImagesAlex Hales continued his impressive series with a fifth consecutive fifty•Getty ImagesBut David Wiese ended Eoin Morgan’s lean series when the England captain edged behind•Getty ImagesKagiso Rabada changed the course of the innings with two quick wickets in an over•Gallo ImagesThe second of Rabada’s wickets was Jos Buttler who edged into his stumps for a duck•Getty ImagesWiese could not quite believe his luck when Chris Woakes flicked a catch to long leg•Getty ImagesHales continued to fight a lone hand as he reaches his second ODI hundred•Gallo ImagesChasing 237 to seal the series, South Africa lost early wickets to Reece Topley…•Getty Images…Quinton de Kock caught behind and Faf du Plessis bowled first ball•Getty ImagesTopley also removed Rilee Rossouw in his opening spell to leave South Africa 22 for 3•Getty ImagesAB de Villiers steadied his side with a 46-ball fifty•Getty ImagesHashim Amla contributed a half-century as he and de Villiers put on 125•Getty Images

Lord’s might be widely considered the pre-eminent cricket ground in England, but The Oval has a strong claim to the title too

Aditya Gadre16-Feb-2016In the Seinfeld episode “The Doll”, Elaine gets her boyfriend an autograph of Jose Carreras – his favourite of the Three Tenors. Throughout the episode, the characters tend to always remember Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo but keep forgetting Carreras’ name – referring to him as “the other guy”.It is very hard to argue that Carreras lacked talent compared to the other two or that he was any less of a legend or about the value he brought to the Three Tenors. Yet, some things lend themselves to fame and recognition more easily than other equally capable or deserving ones. People at large always remember the Pavarottis while the equally important but lower profile contributors like Carreras – are forgotten, the “other guys”. There has been enough written about the Pavarottis of the world, let’s talk about the Carreras.Last year, I got the opportunity to visit two iconic cricket grounds – Lord’s and the Kennington Oval. One common theme I noticed in my interactions with several cricket fans was that Lord’s is the pre-eminent ground, while The Oval is the “other ground” in London.Both the grounds are similar, yet vastly different. In the opulent borough of Marylebone, unassumingly stands among several residential buildings Lord’s, perhaps the most famous ground in world cricket. Across town, The Oval is also located in what is currently an upmarket neighbourhood – Kennington. However, while Marylebone has always been a posh area, when The Oval was founded in the mid-1800s, Kennington was not even a part of London. In fact for large parts of its history up until the 1970s, the area was a largely working-class neighbourhood – the iconic gasometers visible in all TV coverage of The Oval are testament to this. It is perhaps these differences in the local social circumstances that lead to the grounds giving off vastly different vibes.Both grounds are similar in that they have been controlled by influential and wealthy figures throughout their history. The big difference is that while The Oval is the ancestral property of the Duchy of Cornwall, Lord’s has always been a privately owned ground, completely controlled initially by the aristocrat Thomas Lord and later by the all-important Marylebone Cricket Club. The way sports developed in the 1800s, there was a flurry of private clubs that emerged to control the sporting scene, leading to most of the common folk having to ask the royals to allow usage of some of their private land for sporting activity. This meant Lord’s always hosted only games of other cricket clubs, or reputed schools or counties, while The Oval hosted anything the Duke of Cornwall gave permission for – which was mostly everything the local government asked for.In light of these differences, it becomes a little clearer why everything at Lord’s (starting from the ground’s name itself) seems to scream “aristocracy” while The Oval seems significantly more inclusive.To illustrate, even today the MCC members in their mustard and tomato jackets gather outside the Grace Gates to enter Lord’s while non-members have to walk around the corner to a smaller gate at the back of the ground to get in. The good-natured guard tells me this entry is possible for the common folk after a mere 29-year wait for MCC membership. At The Oval, one just walks in through the main gate heading straight to the entry lounge through the lovely red stone façade.The stadium tours at both grounds also reflected to a large extent the “other ground” status of The Oval. The one at Lord’s was crowded – over 40 people from all cricketing nationalities coming to pay homage to the game they love. The green blazer clad tour guide joked that there were enough Indians and Australians to make teams and start a game of cricket. By contrast, at The Oval, I was literally one of two people in the walking tour, both of us Indians.It is not just the composition of the tourist population that is a contrast – the contents of the tour are vastly different as well.The Lord’s tour starts at the spectacular cricket museum. The first thing one sees is a glass enclosure – with the word “War” written in big, upper case letters at the top. Inside we see the story of Sir Edward Creasy, a jurist and historian remembering that when Lord Wellington was walking past children playing cricket on the playing fields of Eton he remarked: “Here grows the stuff that won Waterloo.” This quote (most likely misattributed to Wellington) accompanies a cartoon showing Wellington hitting a ball representing Napoleon. Next to this are a few more similar glass boxes for “Politics”, “Race”, and “Religion”. The cricket museum at Lord’s is structured to give the visitor an insight into the other aspects of life that shaped and were shaped by cricket over history before leading the visitor on a journey into the history of the game itself.By contrast the museum at The Oval focuses almost entirely on the history of Surrey (who lease the ground from the Duchy of Cornwall). The Oval museum is charming, endearing and cosy, but constrained by the fact that it exhibits only its own history and not of the game as a whole.The Lord’s museum’s proudest artefact, its priceless crown jewel, stands behind a wall of bullet proof glass – the Ashes urn. Most of the people who huddle around to grab a glimpse of the tiny trophy are ignorant of the origin of the term “the Ashes” which came about when the ran a mock obituary for English cricket after a loss to Australia, not at Lord’s but at The Oval, during the 1882 tour. Oddly enough, even though the Ashes were born there, there are only a few references to the Ashes at The Oval.Outside the museums, as you walk around the stadiums, greatness surrounds you at every corner – reminders of brilliant performances adorn the walls and the doorways. Once you get over this, what also becomes apparent that The Oval is perhaps a better sports ground. The rectangular patch that is Lord’s also has a slope of 2.5 metres – the most for any Test venue in the world. The Oval by contrast is nearly perfect in all respects. One cannot help but think that it is perhaps the blinding brilliance of history that hides some of the obvious shortcomings of Lord’s as an international sporting venue. One wonders if not for the history steeped in aristocracy, would this pre-eminence be justified? Would Lord’s by any other name still be considered the greatest ground in the world?Even outside of cricket, I have always maintained that The Oval, having hosted England’s first international football match, the first England v Wales and England v Scotland rugby internationals, the first FA cup final, and the first cricket Test match in England, has perhaps the strongest claim over the title of the most important sporting venue around. Yet, Lord’s is the home of cricket, Wembley is the home of football, Twickenham is the home of rugby – and The Oval is the “other ground”.There is not much to choose from between the actual cricket played at the two venues – the histories of the grounds don’t seem to rub off on the type of cricket played. At Lord’s, for every sublime 254 from Bradman, there is a gritty 11-hour long controlled epic by Sidath Wettimuny. And at The Oval, for every imperious 364 from Hutton, there is the aggressive, savage 158 on the final day from Kevin Pietersen. So, like most such comparisons in sport, this is largely a subjective viewpoint and not a definitive statement of how important the two grounds are in their own right.I am certain there are several people out there for whom Lord’s is the “other ground” – much like in the Seinfeld episode we spoke of at the beginning, where Elaine’s boyfriend is thrilled that he has the autograph of his favourite tenor, Jose Carreras, who sings with those two other guys.Want to be featured on Inbox? Send your articles to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

On the eve of the World Twenty20’s marquee clash, both India and Pakistan were doing their best to block out the constant swirl of India-Pakistan

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Kolkata18-Mar-2016India’s cricket team is undoubtedly, indisputably, unarguably, and by a massive distance, better than Pakistan’s cricket team. At football.It was probably the only definitive bit of knowledge anyone could have gleaned from watching the two teams’ training sessions on the eve of their World T20 clash at the Eden Gardens. If Saturday’s big match involved goalposts and a large, inflated ball, India would lose no sleep over it.It is, instead, a cricket match. And not just any cricket match. It is the cricket match that causes a spike in the frequency of Venkatesh Prasad sightings on Indian television in the days leading up to it. And of Aamer Sohail and Kiran More and Javed Miandad and Ajay Jadeja and Waqar Younis and Joginder Sharma and Misbah-ul-Haq.It is an India-Pakistan clash at a World tournament, and it will come with the inevitable trappings. Famous people will sing national anthems. Massive names will be present among the massive numbers in attendance. Sachin Tendulkar will be there. So will Imran Khan. And Sunil Gavaskar. And Wasim Akram. And Kapil Dev. And Inzamam-ul-Haq.In the middle of all this, India and Pakistan, the cricket teams, will try and tune out the constant swirl of India-Pakistan.R Ashwin reinforced this during his pre-match conference on Friday, in a packed and insufficiently air-conditioned media room that evoked the pressure cooker cliché.”This rivalry is huge,” he said. “It’s very hard to put a finger [on it] and say how huge it is. It’s probably bigger than the Ashes is. As far as the Indians go and the Pakistanis go, I don’t think they watch this as a game of cricket. It’s more of a border rivalry, they want to get one up on each other.”So there is much more to this game rather than the game itself taking centrestage. As far as people are concerned, they put their emotions into it. For the players it’s about trying to keep the emotions aside and playing the game the best we can.”It is something India have invariably managed to do against Pakistan at World events. In six World Cup meetings and four in the World T20, they have never lost. It’s the sort of record that can put pressure on both sides, but on this occasion India are under more of it, given that they are playing at home, and given that they were beaten soundly by New Zealand in their first game and therefore to win this one. Over recent years, Pakistan have usually been underdogs going into matches against India, and on this occasion have the cushion of a big win in their opening game against Bangladesh.”History can change, too,” Waqar Younis, Pakistan’s head coach, said. “We are confident, a little more this time because [India] can go out of the tournament also. They will be under a lot of pressure. We have to take it positively. We have won the last match, so there are lots of things going in our favour, hopefully. Yes, there is no doubt that our history hasn’t been so good but history can always be changed.”In all the previous games, the pressure was on Pakistani team. This is the first time that the pressure is more on India – not arising from victory or defeat at the hands of Pakistan but because this is a very big tournament. I have been a cricketer all my years and it is impossible that India won’t be feeling the pressure. I am sure they will be feeling the pressure and we are going to take advantage of that.”India arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday night, but only had an optional training session – which only Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane and Pawan Negi attended – on Thursday. Their first full session ahead of the match was on its eve. Ashwin said the light schedule was followed to allow the players to relax after the loss to New Zealand, and not put themselves under too much pressure.”I think it was more about trying and relaxing,” he said. “It had nothing to do with who we are playing, what game we are playing and all that. We have been on the road for the last three months and we thought it’s time now to sit in the hotel room and revisit what we did in the last game. The best thing that we can do is to think for ourselves than sitting together and practising.”What happens after a game like that is we tend to go into nervous practice, try and overdo everything, and eventually end up going into the match a little more tired than we actually should be. That’s the idea behind it.”India’s practice session on Friday reflected this mindset, with the bowlers hardly taxing themselves and only the middle-order trio of Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya spending any real length of time batting. Pakistan – after their unconvincing footballing warm-up – had a more traditional nets session, with the fast bowlers coming off their full run-ups and sending down a relatively large quota of deliveries.Two training philosophies, neither definitely better or worse than the other, both geared to the same end: to keep minds focused on bat and ball, to tune out the crowds and the last-minute venue changes and the razzmatazz of the build-up. As Virat Kohli said before the start of the tournament, “On the field is the safest and quietest place for you”. And until they actually get on the field, the match will live a parallel existence that has little to do with the actual cricket. It might as well be a football game where Mohammad Irfan and a magically young-again Venkatesh Prasad are goalkeepers in a penalty shootout.

One manages a branch outlet for a cellular network provider. Another runs a pest control and landscaping business. In a matter of minutes, the lives of six people completely changed; they are now Caribbean Premier League players

Peter Della Penna11-Feb-2016Somewhere in the middle of Ohio, a 25-year-old man just went a step closer from working at Cricket to working in cricket at the stroke of a mouse click in Barbados. Ali Khan, whose day job is managing a branch outlet for cellular network provider Cricket Wireless, was less than two hours into his shift for the day when he slipped into a back room to see the 16th and final round of the CPL draft. At 11:52 a.m., he heard his name called out by the owners of Guyana Amazon Warriors.”I almost blacked out for a minute,” Khan told ESPNcricinfo just after his name was called. “I’m really happy, excited. I got big high-fives and everything from my co-workers. If I wasn’t picked I don’t know how my day was going to go but now it’s gonna be a good day. I was talking to my dad earlier too. He was watching from France. I’m gonna call him after.”Khan was one of six Associate players from the region who were picked on Thursday during the CPL draft. Nikhil Dutta and Steven Taylor, who debuted in the 2015 CPL for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots and Barbados Tridents, were retained by their respective franchises. Jamaica-born Orlando resident Timroy Allen was taken by the Jamaica Tallawahs while Calgary resident Hamza Tariq was picked up by the Trinbago Knight Riders and Toronto’s Nitish Kumar was claimed by St Lucia Zouks.The journey of Khan is perhaps the most remarkable one. He has never played for the USA national team, but was plucked from relative obscurity through the open tryout process conducted by the ICC Americas office at September’s inaugural player combine in Indianapolis. Khan not only made it into the group of eight players invited to progress out of an opening group of 68, but even made the cut from a second batch of 32 players into a final 15-man squad to play as a combined USA and Canada team at January’s Nagico Super50 tournament in Trinidad.Sitting in the fast-bowling pecking order behind Allen, Canada’s Jeremy Gordon and USA’s Hammad Shahid, Khan only managed two games in the Super50. However, his ability to bowl yorkers at the death, which caught the attention of Courtney Walsh among other evaluators in Indianapolis, was on display in the pair of appearances he made against Jamaica and resulted in four wickets. A few weeks after the end of the Nagico Super50, that key skill set also helped him garner a CPL deal.”I think this is the biggest thing that has happened to me in my life so far, and my cricketing career also,” Khan said. “I just stood up and jumped in the air and shouted ‘Yeah!’ I’m really looking forward to [being with Guyana]. I really like Chris Lynn. I’ve watched his Big Bash games and the way he hits the ball is amazing. And Martin Guptill of course. He has a lot of experience and in the bowling lineup Sohail Tanvir.”The career-trajectory for the players varies widely. Since Taylor and Dutta were included at the ages of 21 and 20 in the CPL a year ago, they have been pursuing cricket full-time, with Dutta able to parlay his CPL stint into a Bangladesh Premier League deal. Nitish, 21, is currently attending university at Loughborough MCCU in England with hopes of becoming a County pro.The eldest of the lot, 29-year-old Allen, is at the point in life where like Khan, he needs a day job to make ends meet. When not moonlighting as a dynamic pace-bowling allrounder, Allen runs his own pest control and landscaping business. Tariq, though, is stuck in the middle of the two worlds, a 25-year-old whose clock is ticking closer toward Khan and Allen than the younger three.Canada’s Hamza Tariq – “All I can tell you is my eyes are red at the moment. It’s a pretty big thing for me and I’ve been working hard towards getting something like this for a while”•AFPAt one time, Tariq was on a Cricket Canada central contract, but when they bombed out of the 2014 World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand, Canada lost its ODI status and with it, much of the ICC funding necessary to be able to pay players to play full-time. On Wednesday night, Tariq was busy sweating about a mid-term exam in accounting at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology he was due to take early Thursday morning as part of his junior-year business degree coursework.In a brief chat less than 24 hours before the draft, he pinned his chances of being picked at “one percent”. Even though he was tabbed to be the ICC Americas number one wicketkeeper heading into the Nagico Super50, Tariq felt his draft prospects were hurt by the fact that he missed the first two games of the tournament due to coming down with the flu on arrival in Trinidad.However, Tariq held out that one percent of hope that his 35 off 14 balls in the final match against Jamaica – in which seven of his deliveries went to the boundary – was enough to convince a franchise to pick him. Preferably, that franchise would be the Trinbago Knight Riders. He has long been an admirer of Daren Ganga’s captaincy for all T&T sides. As a kid growing up in Pakistan until the age of 12, he acquired an appreciation for all things Bollywood, including the films of owner Shah Rukh Khan.Just minutes after exiting his morning mid-term in Calgary, Tariq opened up his laptop and saw his name and profile picture on the CPL draft live stream being dragged with a mouse into the Knight Riders pool. The Americas team-mates may have been separated by 1900 miles, but the moment was just as overwhelming for Tariq in Alberta as it was for Khan in Ohio.”All I can tell you is my eyes are red at the moment,” Tariq said. “It’s a pretty big thing for me and I’ve been working hard towards getting something like this for a while and finally I’ve got it. It’s just something very special. I had a little bit of a preference of playing for the Knight Riders and getting picked by them is something very special.””I’m very blessed. The prayers from my friends, family and well-wishers, it’s all because of them. I didn’t think that I would get picked, especially by the Knight Riders, but getting picked by my favorite team is something that I wasn’t expecting and something very very special to me.”Before he could get carried away celebrating too much though, Tariq once more had to embrace his current reality.”I’ve got another class at one o’clock so I’ve got to finish that class and then I can go and celebrate.”The six Americas players are only guaranteed base contracts worth $3000. However, as Dutta has shown, the opportunity to showcase themselves on the CPL stage can be worth much more. It’s something that most players like Khan and Tariq never dreamed of happening less than a year ago. Today, it turned into reality.

Far from a towering, inspiring, regal presence, Angelo Mathews just stood and watched as England steamrolled his side once again

Jarrod Kimber at Chester-le-Street28-May-2016At Headingley, Angelo Mathews won the toss and bowled. He walked out on the ground in front of his team, between the flag holders, and there was something regal about him. It stood out. It might have been the memory of the last time, it might have been his posture, or his focus, but he looked like a leader.This is a man who plays his best cricket in big game situations, or when his team needs it the most. A man so proud he went out on a field in a shirt on which he had corrected the spelling of his own name. A man who through the era of Kumar and Mahela, still found ways to steal the show.Mathews has just looked taller than his team-mates, he has stood out from the beginning.

****

Mathews’ captaincy on this tour hasn’t been incredible. Nick Knight isn’t rushing to his side to get a lesson on modern cricket tactics like he did with Brendon McCullum. Shane Warne is not using Mathews as a blunt instrument to beat Alastair Cook’s captaincy with. And his captaincy in general isn’t what the cricket hipsters are talking about. While MS Dhoni, McCullum and Michael Clarke’s captaincies have become cricket fetish items, Mathews just does his thing.Fielders are put in places, often not grouped too close together. Bowlers are brought on at fairly appropriate, and yet very predictable times. Five minutes to lunch he says, “hey Rangana, fancy an over?” In the funky captaincy era, it is a Donny Osmond record.Mathews doesn’t try to make things happen, he waits for things to happen. On a good day it makes him look like a calm leader who knows when to pounce. On a bad day it makes him look like a man who refuses to leave his car until the storm passes, oblivious to the fact the road is now a lake.If his batting and captaincy were in the schoolyard together, the batting would mock the captaincy for being boring all lunchtime.When Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow started out their innings at Headingley on day two, Mathews greeted them with two slips. He might as well have delivered them cheese and an appropriate brandy.He took that to a new level when Moeen Ali batted with Steve Finn at Chester-le-Street. Modern captains are well known to like the everyone-on-the-boundary fielding move when a batsman bats with the tail. But that tactic comes with certain rules. The main one being that at the end of the over, balls five and six, you bring the field in so the next over can start with the tailender on strike. If that stupid tactic is to work, you have to execute all of it, not just the first part.Mathews took the only part of the bad tactic that made sense, and threw it away. If that tactic is what makes cricket fans head butt a wall, he set fire to the wall.Sure his fielders had let him down, and he was already daydreaming about how his batsmen were about to let him down. But it was the lack of fight, the lack of vision, and at times, the lack of actual movement that was so shocking.

Mathews is one of the best cricketers Sri Lanka has ever produced but, with England nine down, he reduced himself to the guy who relayed the ball from keeper to bowler

Mathews was at cover for most of it. It isn’t a short cover, it’s in the ring, but he has decided to stop moving at all. For whole overs he takes less than 20 paces. He doesn’t walk in with the bowler, he adopts the catching stance, despite the fact he might be the world’s deepest catching cover. When a ball is dropped at the feet of the batsman, he jogs over, but he manages to make the jog slower than a walk, like he’s on an invisible treadmill.Another ball dribbles out to him with all the ferocity of a basket of kittens, and yet he still manages to fumble – it’s a fielding yawn. Only when the ball is smashed at him do his natural athleticism and cricket senses switch back on and suddenly he is saving a boundary. Had that not occurred, he could have been replaced by a waxwork dummy and the game would have gone the exact same direction.Like a pot plant in a crack den, the Test was still technically alive when England were nearing the end of their innings, but Sri Lanka refused to acknowledge that fact. Mathews had all but stopped moving. The field placements were from 20 minutes earlier. The bowling plans were non-existent. The innings could have gone on for decades to come. People would have visited the ground to see the never-ending sporting spectacle and marvel at its stillness.Luckily England, who were frolicking along towards 500, decided that round-number totals are actually meaningless psychological missteps and, instead of pushing their way to the last few runs, they just put the Sri Lankans out of their misery. When the batting team is too bored to grind you into the dirt or reach their round-number declaration targets, something has gone horribly wrong.When Sri Lanka batted, it kept going wrong. If time was standing still when they bowled, when they batted their batsmen were fast-forwarded into dismissals at breakneck pace. It is usually those times, when Mathews is at his best.

****

Mathews doesn’t look sure. He doesn’t look right. His drive is a waft that connected. His forward defence is barely forward and unsuccessful as a defence. Then he pushes again. This time there is an edge, and it was time for him to simply walk off. First he looks at the pitch, as if the answers are there. Then he looks back down the track.There is an unwritten, and not very trustworthy, rule that when a batsmen is given out caught behind, and they didn’t hit it, they review straight away. Those who don’t are hoping technology is in bad form.Mathews didn’t review straight away, he didn’t even review just after that. He reviewed after walking down the wicket and having a chat with the non-striker. He reviewed so late that the third umpire could have given him out purely on hunch and no one would have blamed him.Instead he used the technology, and Mathews used a review. In both situations he made a mistake, but that happens. What is worth was that in both situations he was unsure. He wasn’t leading. He hasn’t led at all. Not with bat, not with his two overs on day one, not in the field.The only time he looks like the Angelo Mathews who won at Headingley last tour was when he sprung into life to take a hanging one-hander at slip. That was muscle memory; when his brain has been needed, he has been asleep.

****

A team without its two best-performing bowlers is going to struggle. A team without its two best batsmen is going to struggle. They need their best player, their captain, to do something. Anything. Not stand around waiting for pity declarations, not pathetic wafts, and not half-hearted DRS mistakes.This is a player who can pull victory from defeat, who has held Sri Lanka up for draws. Given them their most honourable defeats. And instead of inspiring, he’s insipid.This is a leaking team, they need leadership, if not through strategy, then from actions, if not actions, then from intent, if not from intent, then from Mathews picking up every single player and putting them on his back and fighting England on his own. He has achieved with athleticism, skill and intelligence some amazing things on the cricket field. This is one of the best cricketers Sri Lanka has ever produced but, for a while here, he reduced himself to the guy who relayed the ball from the keeper to the bowler while England were nine wickets down.He was standing out because he was the only man within 50 metres of the batsmen. There he stood, not regal and tall, but tired and broken.

Sunrisers Hyderabad were the sole winless team remaining in IPL 2016, but the pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran and Mustafizur Rahman paved the way for a first win

Nagraj Gollapudi in Hyderabad18-Apr-2016In the two matches they had played before Monday, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowlers had managed just six wickets. On Sunday their captain David Warner was clear that his bowlers had “missed the mark” in those two matches, away against Royal Challengers Bangalore before hosting Kolkata Knight Riders. As the sole winless team remaining in IPL 2016, Sunrisers were under pressure to get it right at home on Monday night against Mumbai Indians.After his side’s swift disintegration when batting first against the Knight Riders, Warner was happy to allow Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai to set a target. Sunrisers’ bowlers thus assumed the responsibility of getting the team off to a good start, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided the perfect first over. He bowled a probing Test match line to Martin Guptill, finding the outside edge though to Naman Ojha with a ball that straightened, to ensure that the New Zealander’s IPL debut lasted just four balls.Bhuvneshwar’s opening partner was Barinder Sran, who had hit the headlines during the limited-overs series in Australia earlier this year for his canny changes of pace and potent yorkers. In his first over, the left-arm quick offered width, which Parthiv Patel slapped for a four.As Sran commenced his second over, Mumbai sat at 12 for 1 in three overs and Parthiv was desperate to up the ante. Sran offered up three wides in the over. The first was an intended slower delivery that drifted down the leg side. The second was a short delivery which the umpire deemed too high. The third was a short, slower delivery outside the off stump which floated over the tram line, and which the umpire was perhaps harsh to call a wide.In between, Parthiv hit Sran for two fours – a pull and a straight loft over the bowler’s head off a fuller delivery. But Sran kept his emotions in check. He had watched Parthiv charge down the pitch earlier only to swing and miss. He finished the over with a lovely back-of-the-hand, loopy slower ball that fooled Parthiv before crashing into his stumps.Sunrisers went on to capitalise on the early gains. Rohit Sharma ran himself out to start the eighth over and at the halfway mark Mumbai were in a desperate spot at 58 for 3. From there, Sunrisers were ruthless in maintaining their advantage. Sran returned for an over in the eleventh and directed a short ball at the ribs of Englishman Jos Buttler, who could only glove it to Ojha behind the wicket.Left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma, playing his first game of the season, used opposing batsmen’s anxiety to his advantage by cleverly pulling back his length whenever Ambati Rayudu charged him. He also varied his pace smartly to give away just 14 runs off his first three overs.Before they reached a point of no return, Mumbai’s batsmen decided to go for the slog. But even when Krunal Pandya and Rayudu looted 26 runs in the 14th over off Bipul, the rest of the Sunrisers bowlers held steady. Warner was smart with his bowling changes and consciously left Bangladesh left-armer Mustafizur Rahman for the death overs, with ‘the Fizz’ working out the perfect plan for the right-left pairing of Rayudu and Krunal.For Rayudu, Mustafizur pushed mid-on back while cover and mid-off were kept in the circle. When Krunal was on strike, point was pulled back into the circle. The plan was clear: Mustafizur would bowl full-length cutters, yorkers and mix it up with his slower deliveries. Even when Rayudu tried to back out and make room to hit inside out over the inner circle, Mustafizur pitched the ball short of a length and fast, leaving the batsman in a helpless position. Only five runs came in the 17th over and Mustafizur had begun the process of stalling the momentum that Mumbai had generated in the 14th over.At the start of the 18th, a fatiguing Rayudu played a tired drive against an angled, fuller delivery outside off from Sran into the hands of Moises Henriques at point. Hardik Pandya joined his elder brother, but the siblings were pushed into a corner by the accuracy and skills of Bhuvneshwar and Mustafizur for the final two overs.Throttling the opposition towards the end of the innings was something Sunrisers’ bowlers did well last season. On this day, the Sunrisers bowlers took advantage of a vulnerable Mumbai batting unit which had been thoroughly exposed so far in the tournament. They did so courtesy a well-executed all-round bowling effort. Surely captain Warner would agree that his bowlers were on the mark this time.