It was expected that the visitors would struggled with an inexperienced bowling attack in England and that proved the case against two in-form batsmen

ESPNcricinfo staff28-May-2011This is Sri Lanka’s first overseas Test series without Muttiah Muralitharan since a visit to New Zealand in early 2005, and the big question for them was how to take 20 wickets in a match in the absence of the game’s greatest wicket-taker. On Saturday’s evidence it doesn’t look good for Sri Lankan fans, with no silver linings on a cloudy Cardiff day.It wasn’t just that the only wicket Sri Lanka prised out on the day was that of the injured nightwatchman, James Anderson, but worryingly there weren’t even too many half chances. There were no debates over the pros and cons over the use of DRS as they were no referrals, giving third umpire Rod Tucker one of the easier days of his career.When Sri Lanka were making their way to a satisfactory 400, England bowlers had still posed all sorts of questions. Anderson was getting the ball to nip around, Chris Tremlett troubling the batsmen with his bounce and the crowd got to see some signs of Stuart Broad’s petulance on his Test return as a string of appeals were turned down.There was little of that drama when Sri Lanka’s bowlers got the ball. At the toss Tillakaratne Dilshan had said he was expecting the ball to turn late on the second day, or at least from the third day onwards, justifying his decision to bat first, and also the last-minute move to pick two spinners. There was hardly any sign of that on the third day as the trio of Ajantha Mendis, Rangana Herath and Dilshan himself toiled away although the lack of sun and wear on the surface will have played a part.There was a half chance when Cook swept Herath into Tharanga Paranavitana at short leg and Dilshan spun one past Cook’s outside edge late in the day, but there few other alarms against the spinners. Mendis had complained during his month-long stint with Somerset before this series that he was struggling to grip the ball in weather that was significantly chillier than he was used to He had the long sleeves on to keep out the cold, but that had little effect as his variations were calmly handled.The three medium-pacers had precious little to be happy about either. With all three quicks being right-armers operating in the early-to-mid 80mph (130kph) range, and reluctant to go round the wicket, there was a sameness to the attack. The pitch had lost some more pace and there wasn’t any menacing movement making it all too easy for the in-form England batsmen. Perhaps the inclusion of the left-arm fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara could have posed some questions with the different angle.By the middle of the final session, with little in terms of a contest between bat and ball on offer, the fancy-dress day crowd began to lose interest. They entertained themselves by flinging a pocket-size rugby ball from one stand to the next, amid much cheering.There were mitigating factors for Sri Lanka’s dismal performance though. Despite the morning rain, and the cloud cover through the day, there was no spice in the Cardiff pitch, easing out into a slow-and-low track where it was difficult to dislodge a set batsman. In Cook and Trott they came up against two who are full of confidence after a run-filled winter, who were suited to the patience game this pitch demanded and weren’t given to the extravagant Hollywood shot that could give away their wicket. The injury to Dilhara Fernando robbed the attack of experience, and the injury to Nuwan Pradeep robbed them of their most promising young quick bowler.It was a tough enough day for Sri Lanka to decide against sending anyone from the squad to face the press at stumps. Dilshan will need to steel himself for more days like this until his new-look attack matures enough to cope with the retirement of the country’s three leading wicket-takers. With Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Eoin Morgan itching to get their batting summer underway, and England looking to post a massive score, Sunday could well be another difficult day for Sri Lanka’s bowlers.

An extraordinary batting display from Kings XI Punjab has significantly improved their chances of qualification. Here’s a look at some of the stats highlights from the game

S Rajesh17-May-2011

Adam Gilchrist’s onslaught has boosted Kings XI Punjab’s chances of qualifying for the play-offs•AFP
• Punjab’s total of 232 is the third-highest in IPL history. The two higher totals have both been scored by Chennai Super Kings – 246 against Rajasthan in 2010, and 240 against Punjab in 2008. (Click here for the highest totals in all Twenty20 matches.)
• The victory margin of 111 runs is the second-highest in IPL history; the highest is 140, with Royal Challengers Bangalore at the receiving end on that occasion, too, against Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match of IPL’s first edition.
• The 206-run partnership for the second wicket between Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh is the highest in an Twenty20 game, and the first instance of a double-century partnership in this format. The previous highest had been 186 between Justin Langer and Cameron White in a Twenty20 Cup game for Somerset against Gloucestershire. (Click here for the full list.)
• Punjab scored 202 runs in their last 14 overs, which is also a record in IPL history. The previous best had been 187 by Chennai against Punjab in 2008, when they finished with a total of 240. In this match Punjab scored more than ten runs in 12 of their last 14 overs. They only missed out in the 13th (seven runs) and 17th (eight).
• Adam Gilchrist’s 55-ball 106 is the sixth century of this IPL, and the third-fastest 100-plus innings: the two speedier ones were Chris Gayle’s 49-ball 107 against Punjab – which Gilchrist responded to quite fittingly – and Virender Sehwag’s 56-ball 119 against Deccan.
• Punjab’s thumping win pushes their net run rate to 0.271, and puts them in a much better position to qualify. Their NRR is already better than Mumbai Indians’, which means they’ll make the cut if they win their last game and if Mumbai lose their last two. The team under greater threat, though, is Kolkata: even if Punjab lose their last match by 20 runs, they could still make it if Kolkata lose their games by 20 and 25 runs. If Kolkata win one of their last two games, they could still be eliminated if Punjab win their last game by a reasonably big margin which will help them go past Kolkata’s NRR.

A perfectly paced one-day innings set up Sri Lanka’s victory and opening could now be Jayawardene’s role for a while

Andrew McGlashan at Headingley01-Jul-2011Before the second one-day international, Mahela Jayawardene said he had sympathy for Alastair Cook as he tries to find his feet as England’s captain. However, there was none of that sentiment on show at Headingley as Jayawardene ensured Cook was pushed to his limits in the field by a majestic career-best 144. It is a mark of the longevity of his career that Jayawardene set a new high 11 years after his previous best made in 2000.And he could go on for a while longer yet. At 34 – a spring chicken compared to the now-retired Sanath Jayasuriya – he could carry on batting for at least another four years if the hunger remains and 10,000 runs in both formats is within touching distance. If he carries on as long as Jayasuirya a whole mountain of milestones are still his for the taking, but in a volatile set-up such as Sri Lanka it’s always possible that a player may decide to quit sooner than expected. Jayawardene must be savoured while he’s around.He struggled during the Test series, which was a surprise because, with a pair of Lord’s hundreds in 2002 and 2006, he was the one Sri Lanka batsman to arrive with an impressive record in England. However, since the change to one-day cricket he has looked much like his normal self. Either side of being lbw to James Anderson for 5 at The Oval, which has happened to many batsmen, he has toyed with the English bowling in the Twenty20 at Bristol and now at Headingley.”We all had a chat after The Oval about what our roles were and our plans,” Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, said, “We said one of either myself, Sanga or Mahela had to bat a long time and Mahela did a great job. That’s why we got 300.”Being on the end of a Sri Lankan hundred in Leeds is not a new feeling for England. In 2006 their whitewash was completed when Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga added 286 for the first wicket. Three England players survived from that day – Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Tim Bresnan – and yesterday Bresnan was asked about his memories of his two overs for 29. He played down the impact, of course, but the home side probably wouldn’t mind not having a one-dayer here next time Sri Lanka visit.On that occasion the damage to England’s bowlers was done largely by brute force, but it was difficult to remember anything approaching violence from Jayawardene in his innings. Yet the results were just as impressive for Sri Lanka. It was much the same story with his elegant hundred in the World Cup final which, purely as an innings, didn’t deserve to finish on the losing side. In fact, the most anger he showed at any point was a momentary confrontation with Jade Dernbach who, Jayawardene felt, had tried to get in his way.Jayawardene’s final score of 144 actually sits behind Jayasuriya’s 152 on this ground in 2006 and Viv Richards’ 189 at Old Trafford as the third-highest score against England on their home soil. As he has shown many times in one-day – and Twenty20 – cricket there is more than one way to build a limited-overs innings. He had his luck by being dropped at slip by Graeme Swann on 7 but was experienced enough to allow the opening bowlers a few tight overs before opening up as the innings progressed.It was only the seventh time in his 343-match career that Jayawardene had opened the batting but he now has three hundreds in that position. In this series Upul Tharanga is absent due to serving a doping ban and Jayasuriya has now retired after the opening match. However, as Jayawardene has shown in Twenty20 cricket, it’s a position that fits well with his natural game of building an innings and he is likely to get the job on a more full-time capacity.”We are looking to have Mahela open for us on a permanent basis,” Dilshan said. “But he wants to play for another three or four years so may need to be rested for some matches which means we’ll need to rotate players. We have about four openers who we can rotate which will allow us to give other people a chance.”Jayawardene hit 14 boundaries but didn’t clear the ropes, a clear sign of how progressing at a run-a-ball can be achieved by manipulating the field. Cook, who is trying to develop as a one-day opener, should keep a copy of this innings as reassurance of how traditional batting still has an important role to play. At the moment, though, the England captain will be hoping he doesn’t get another first-hand example in this series.

India’s batting might gives them a major advantage against West Indies, who have generally struggled to stay competitive in away series in the last decade

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan04-Nov-2011No more the feared opponents
No other team’s Test record has plummeted as rapidly as that of West Indies. From a position of virtual invincibility in the 1980s and the early 1990s when they did not lose a single series, they have gone nearly 15 years without a single away series win against a major Test team (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe) while barely managing to maintain a decent home record. Most teams, including India and England, who for years struggled to win a single match against West Indies, have been able to register multiple series wins against them in the last ten years. A lack of batting discipline and dwindling fast bowling reserves, coupled with numerous administrative problems, have plagued West Indian cricket for more than a decade, resulting in a severe loss of form. Following the retirement of Brian Lara and the subsequent standoff between Chris Gayle and the board, the team has found it extremely hard to find a single match-winning batsman. Under Darren Sammy, West Indies showed glimpses of consistency in the home series against Pakistan and in the two-Test series in Bangladesh. They will, however, be hard-pressed to perform against India, who have lost just two home series since 2000.A recent spate of defeats brought West Indies’ win-loss ratio below 1.00 for the first time since the end of the 1960s. Their overall win-loss ratio now stands at 0.94 (excluding matches against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) and the average difference is only marginally above zero. In sharp contrast, the corresponding numbers in the 1980-1995 period are 3.15 and 7.36. After the home series defeat in 1995 to Australia, their fortunes dropped sharply. In the next five years, they lost by a 5-0 margin to both Australia and South Africa. Between 1996 and 2005, their win-loss ratio and average difference fell significantly to 0.32 and -8.24. Sadly, this decline was only the beginning. In the 45 matches played since 2006, they have managed just four wins while losing 21. Perhaps the best indicator of their struggles in the last few years is their abysmal away record. While they had a win-loss ratio of 2.42 in away Tests in matches played between 1980 and 1995, the number has dropped to just 0.05 in Tests since 2000.

India dominant in recent clashes
It is ironical that West Indies, whose Test form is in the doldrums, have by far the best record in India among visiting teams. They have won 14 and lost just seven matches (win-loss ratio of 2.00) with only South Africa, with a win-loss ratio of 1.00 (five wins and five losses) coming close. They have, however, not toured India since 2002-03, when they lost 2-0. Till that defeat, the only series defeat suffered by West Indies in India was in 1978-79 when a weakened side lost 1-0. India, who boast an outstanding home Test record, will undoubtedly be a formidable opponent for a West Indian team that is still in the process of rebuilding.Overall, West Indies have the better head-to-head record in both home and away Tests. They have a win-loss ratio of 2.50 in home matches and 2.00 in away games. The story, however, is vastly different in matches played since 1990. India hold a 3-1 advantage in home Tests played since 1990 and have also managed two series wins in the West Indies in the same period (2006 and 2011). The drop in average difference (difference between the batting and bowling average) for West Indies in recent home and away Tests against India also reflects their waning Test record.

Contrasting records for teams
Despite a 4-0 drubbing in the Test series in England, India have had an excellent run in the last three years. They registered two home series wins over Australia and drew home and away against South Africa. West Indies, on the other hand, have had very little to cheer about in the same period. Their solitary series success came when they defeated England 1-0 at home in early 2009. In 13 series played since the start of 2008, West Indies lost seven and drew four.India’s powerful batting line-up has been the dominant factor behind their recent success in Tests. Their batting average of 39.03 is fourth among all teams during the same period. However, in the absence of Zaheer Khan, their bowling has been the weak link. On the tour of England, India struggled to bowl England out and lost on two occasions by an innings. Their bowling average of 38.60 is much higher than those of England, South Africa and Australia. On the other hand, West Indies’ batting woes have meant that their batting average is lower than 30. They have the lowest average difference (-10.08) among all teams but a better hundreds-to-fifties ratio as compared to Pakistan and New Zealand. India’s corresponding number (0.44) is fourth behind those of South Africa, England and Sri Lanka.

India streets ahead on batting front
In recent years, West Indies have had very little to talk about when it comes to their batting stats. Only the experienced Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who recently became the highest-capped player for West Indies, has a record that matches those of India’s top players. He has been fairly comfortable against pace and spin and has a high balls-per-dismissal value against both. Darren Bravo, who scored 195 in the second Test against Bangladesh, and Kirk Edwards are among the promising finds for West Indies. Edwards has scored two centuries in his first three Tests and is likely to retain his place in the middle order. Marlon Samuels, who scored a century in his last series in India, has made a return to the team after three years. Denesh Ramdin, however, has struggled against fast bowling, falling 26 times (74% of dismissals) and averaging 41 balls per dismissal.Although their technical lapses were exposed in the bowler-friendly conditions in England, India batsmen will be far more comfortable at home. The top-order batsmen have outstanding records in the last few years and this provides India with a distinct advantage going into the series. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, India’s top two run-getters in matches played since the start of 2008, have similar dismissal stats against pace and spin but Sehwag does have a lower balls-per-dismissal value as a consequence of his highly aggressive approach. Rahul Dravid, who was India’s stand-out batsman in the disastrous England series, has excellent numbers against pace and spin. Dravid, Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, who have all scored more than 1000 runs in Tests against West Indies, are part of the Indian middle order, thus making it an extremely challenging task for the inexperienced West Indian bowlers.

The absence of Zaheer and Harbhajan Singh means that India go into the first Test with a depleted attack. The fast-bowling department consists of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron. On the spin front, R Ashwin will look to grab the opportunity presented to him and cement his place in the Test side. West Indies have a fairly strong pace attack following the return of Fidel Edwards from injury. He, along with Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul, will form the core of an attack which can be more than a handful. Devendra Bishoo, who has had a good start to his Test career with 32 wickets in his first seven Tests, will provide much-needed variety to the West Indian attack.Mumbai, which will host one of the three matches, has not hosted a single Test since 2006. It has traditionally been a difficult pitch to bat on as can be seen from the batting averages across innings. However, it has been a result-oriented wicket with all five previous games producing results. Both pace bowlers and spinners have been highly successful in Mumbai although spinners have a better average. Both Delhi and Kolkata have been much better batting venues and have significantly better averages across the four innings. In both venues, spinners have picked up more wickets and average lower than fast bowlers.

Michael Clarke and Ross Taylor are new leaders with talent, but on the first day of the series each had moments to forget as their sides edged nervously into action

Daniel Brettig at the Gabba01-Dec-2011Watching a damp first day of the first Test of the Australian summer, it was hard not to conclude the occasion had played as much a part in a muddled day’s cricket as the attributes and failings of two modest teams. Years ago, The Band’s composer Robbie Robertson had penned the song Stage Fright with the lines, “Your brow is sweatin’ and your mouth gets dry / Fancy people go driftin’ by. The moment of truth is right at hand / Just one more nightmare you can stand.” In Brisbane there seemed to have been plenty of players on both sides who endured a sleepless night before curtain-up.First it was Australia, then New Zealand, then Australia again. The hosts and the visitors took turns fluffing their lines on the first day, before the weather decided to fluff its own by serving up dull light, then a storm. Neither side looked quite ready for the mental demands of a Test. New Zealand having played only three such matches this year, and Australia sporting three debutants, plus another trio with a mere 24 matches between them.The captains had made all the appropriate noises on match eve, while the coaches, John Wright and Mickey Arthur, are widely known as advocates for those two accomplices – patience and pressure. Arthur, of course, has only been Australia’s coach for a week, and at times in the lead-up it felt as though the sheer newness of the team and its support staff might overwhelm the hosts even as they faced one of the world’s more modest international teams. Wright has had more time with his men, but few Test matches with which to educate them. The last, against Zimbabwe, took place on a Bulawayo pitch about as similar in character to the Gabba surface as the earth is to the moon.On a helpful pitch under skies amenable to swing, Michael Clarke’s young pace attack made a halting start, before tightening up just enough to coax Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder into three of the daftest shots seen on the first day of a Test match. Gifted the momentum by these strokes, the Australians then contrived to drop Dean Brownlie twice, allowing him and Daniel Vettori to mount something of a recovery.Clarke and Taylor are new leaders, both possessing talent, but on the first day of the series each had moments to remember, and others to forget. Taylor’s decision to bat upon winning the toss was brave, backing the aggression of Brendon McCullum to transcend conditions best described as slow and seaming. But his haywire over against James Pattinson, culminating in an edge onto the stumps little more than a minute before lunch, was indefensible.Marshalling a bowling attack composed of three striplings and Peter Siddle, Clarke might have made an early misstep by giving Pattinson the first over of the match. He certainly erred by not having Siddle or another man of experience at mid-on or mid-off to ease the nerves, and Pattinson was set about by McCullum to surrender 13 from his first six deliveries in Tests. Clarke and his bowlers would improve from there. In Mitchell Starc, he located a left-arm bowler with plentiful natural gifts but also a tendency to be lucky – Napoleon Bonaparte would have considered him for General after watching McCullum pick out point with an airy cut.Less fortunate was Usman Khawaja, who does not look a natural at short leg. Plenty of deliveries flew past him or at him, and a trio of difficult chances went to ground. He would claim an easier one, but a tendency to place his weight on his heels made Khawaja look like he was under the helmet because he was one of the juniors in the top six, rather than for any accomplishment close to the bat.The most compelling passage took place when Nathan Lyon joined the fray before lunch, gaining sharp spin and disconcerting bounce to defeat Kane Williamson – an apparent graduate of the Blair Pocock / Matthew Sinclair school of footwork – while ever so nearly tempting Ryder to push a catch to cover with his first ball. The Gabba can offer useful early spin while the pitch is still somewhat moist, as Daniel Vettori had discovered the first time he played at the Gabba in 1997. Lyon exploited it artfully, and had plenty of support from Clarke’s fields. Ryder did not settle from his early tribulations against Lyon’s spin, and shortly after resumption followed McCullum in carving Starc straight to point.Grateful for these offerings from opponents unsure of themselves, Australia would nonetheless go on to spurn all further ones. Brownlie’s origins are in Western Australia, and his mind appeared to wander back west when he picked out Clarke at slip, then Warner at point. But both chances went down, much to the surprise of the crowd, and perhaps to the sly advantage of Steve Rixon, the fielding coach absent from Gabba preparations as he negotiates the possibility of another contract. Rixon’s drills had Australia fielding more sharply than at any time for some years, in Sri Lanka and South Africa.The reprieves allowed Brownlie and Vettori to craft a fighting stand, and quietly they constructed the most prolonged period of control by either side on the first day of the series. Rain culled 39 overs from the day’s play, leaving both sides to ponder plentiful wrong moves. For Australia the occasion seemed to affect a handful of their number, and for New Zealand the fifth wicket fell before there was a full appreciation of the format being played. It is clear the visitors need to play more Test cricket, and equally clear that Clarke’s team needs time to settle. The nerves in evidence on day one at the Gabba will not subside otherwise.

Mahela Jayawardene has turned Sri Lanka’s performance around in a matter of a month. The young players he backed have rewarded his faith in this tri-series

Andrew Fernando03-Mar-2012″Every country needs to have the best captain, and the best captain in Sri Lanka is Mahela Jayawardene, and I think everybody knows that,” Geoff Marsh said at the end of his brief stint as head coach.In March 2009, Jayawardene’s first captaincy stint hit an abrupt blockade, figuratively and literally, when Sri Lanka’s bus came under attack in Lahore. Three years of a different sort of tumult later, he is back at the helm. As the nine-run win in Melbourne and Sri Lanka’s progression to the triangular series final proved, it’s a job he should never have left.Severely crippled by the loss of two major links in the bowling attack (who also happen to be two of the side’s best fielders), Sri Lanka’s defence of 238, on a surface that offered little for the pacemen and even less for spinners, was nothing short of a heist. Jayawardene didn’t simply limit damage when he turned to part-timers who hadn’t bowled through the entire competition – and in Lahiru Thirimanne’s case, never before in ODIs. Stacked ring fields conveyed a clear mandate to the makeshift attack, allowed even the most pedestrian operator to become a wicket-taking threat.Jayawardene’s efficient use of Lasith Malinga was perhaps the captaincy highlight in an innings dripping with the stuff. Resisting the temptation to bring Malinga on to halt Shane Watson’s ominous association with Michael Hussey, he waited until the ball was older before probing for that heavy blow. In the second over of his second spell, Malinga produced a tailing yorker as unplayable as any in the match, to uproot Watson’s middle stump. Had he been introduced earlier and the reverse swing been less pronounced, Watson, batting on a half-century, may well have dug it out.Throughout the evening, the field placings were bold and the mood impeccable. A leg gully – a startling rarity in Tests, let alone limited-overs cricket – shut down the leg side for David Hussey. The in-out fields for James Pattinson and Clint McKay ensured any dents they made into the target would have to be hard-earned and well thought-out. The short, straight cover that ambushed David Warner at the top of the innings, was an almost forgotten piece of trickery after the thrill of the finish.All this too, following that crushing loss to India in Hobart. Losing after having made 320 is disheartening enough, but the manner in which Sri Lanka were mauled made for one of the most deflating losses in recent memory. Jayawardene himself admitted it had taken 24 hours to move on. But three nights after the Bellerive horror, Sri Lanka delivered their most tenacious defensive effort in the tournament. Jayawardene’s ability to haul a young attack out of its funk and prepare it for a virtual final is almost as impressive as his craft on the occasion.The emphasis on youngsters, and their subsequent success, is a Jayawardene hallmark. In 2006, he kept faith in Chamara Silva after the batsman collected a Test pair on debut, even as critics in Sri Lanka clamoured for a more experienced batsman to take his spot. Silva made 61 and 152 not out in the next match to ensure a series-levelling win. Upul Tharanga was under similar scrutiny during the 2007 World Cup before going on to score 73 from 74 in the World Cup semi-final and contribute heavily to the campaign in the subcontinent four years later.After years of being two ODI batsmen short of a formidable middle order, in 22-year-olds Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, Sri Lanka finally have players who can ease the pressure on the three big top-order bats.Thisara Perera, too, has made the second allrounder’s spot his own. That Chandimal and Perera have finished near the top of the tournament run-getters’ and wicket-takers’ lists respectively is testament, in part, to their talent, but also to Jayawardene’s gentle hand that has coaxed the best out of them.After nine months of woeful collapses, listless long spells in the field and off-field drama to rival Pakistan, Sri Lanka are again looking like the side who battled to two consecutive World Cup finals, and were once within (however undeservingly) a game of the top Test spot. Under Jayawardene, the side is focused and hungry again. Even without Muttiah Muralitharan, the bowling has rediscovered a penetrative edge and the batsmen are constructing innings as a group. And as ten run-outs in eight matches show, the fielding has been on par with Australia’s. A side that couldn’t muster competence in any discipline in Paarl seven weeks ago is now excelling in all three. The speed of transformation under the new leader has been mind-boggling.Kumar Sangakkara made an admirable attempt at navigating the unique challenges the Sri Lankan captaincy presents, but a limited tolerance for those who did not operate to the same high standards he set for himself shortened the span of his captaincy, while his reliance on intellect over nous limited the effectiveness of his leadership. Under Jayawardene, Sri Lanka have resumed the aggressive, unrestrained, mirthful style that once characterised their cricket. In fact, with him at the top of the innings, the 1996 blueprint that bred the Sri Lankan brand of cricket seems reborn. With a keen finger on the pulse of an innings, a fine temperament and a desire to build for the future, Jayawardene has all the makings of a great captain. Perhaps he already is one.

Allrounder is reaping the benefits of a new attitude and a commitment to fitness with both bat and ball

Nitin Sundar30-Dec-2011It was just after tea on the first day of Karnataka’s final league game against Uttar Pradesh in Shimoga. The visitors had sliced through Karnataka’s top six on a flat pitch, and Stuart Binny had only the bowlers for company as the score limped towards 200. Piyush Chawla, the India legspinner, was searching for a way into the tail, tossing up legbreaks and inviting the drive, while slipping in the odd googly on a similar length around off stump.Binny reached out nonchalantly, getting his front foot inside the line, and swung the bat in a merry arc to carve the ball inside-out for six over the covers. He would go on to play that shot again in the second innings, once again after walking out in a mini-crisis. If you were to pick the stroke that defines the 2011 version of Binny, this would be it. When the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals kick off on January 2, Karnataka will be looking for more of that measured audacity from Binny, who has transformed into their go-to man this season.Binny’s returns cannot be measured by numbers alone, compelling as they are. He amassed 283 runs in Shimoga, taking his tournament tally to 686 runs (at an average of 76.22), making him the third-highest run-getter in the league stage. Thanks to the indifferent form of Karnataka’s top-order, most of his runs have come in fire-fighting causes, yet they have been scored at an eye-popping strike-rate of 83.55, and have included 14 sixes – the most by a single player in the season. Eight years since his first-class debut, it is fair to say that Binny has finally arrived.”I worked quite hard with our coach in the off-season, and this started a good three-four months before the Ranji season” Binny told ESPNcricinfo. “A little bit to do with technique, but more of a mental battle which I had to get past. I wanted to bat through my first 20 minutes to give myself a chance. Until last year I was often getting out for 20s and 30s which wasn’t helping me.”What I did this year was spending those 20 minutes at the crease without giving myself too many options to go at the bowling, and just bat time.”The mental transformation is only one part of the story. The resolve to bat for long periods of time had to be backed by physical fitness, and Binny worked overtime to shed the extra pounds from the past. The new and improved Binny bares very little resemblance to the rotund player of previous years.”Before I started serious nets and practice for the season, I trained really hard to get into shape,” Binny said. “There was not much bowling and batting during that time. I started by training regimen immediately after the IPL and it carried on for two whole months. Initially I did a lot of cardio for two months to drop some weight. Then I gradually got into the gym to work on my strengthening.”I was touching 90 kilos last year, but I am nine kilos down on that now.”Binny’s mental resolve has allowed him to grind his way through the first 20-30 minutes at the crease. His natural aggression then takes over, especially against spin, which explains his high strike-rate. “My game, from the time I was a kid, has always been to attack the spinners. It is all about the shot selection this year. I make a very big effort to hit with the spin most of the time.”I was keen to attack Chawla from the outset [in Shimoga]. Guys who have played Test cricket and come back; if you have a go at them early they don’t like it. I played against Chawla last year when I got a 100 against UP in the second innings. Every time I had a go early at him, he wouldn’t land the ball too well after that. I just backed myself to go over the covers and it came off.”[Similarly] I looked to go over the top whenever I could against Rahul Sharma, in the game against Punjab, though he didn’t give any freebies. As a game plan, this works well for me.”Binny expected to succeed as a batsman, but he’s surprised himself by also making a telling contribution with the ball. Injuries and international duty have meant that Karnataka have been without their main seamers – R Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind – for most of the season. But Binny has seamlessly plugged the breach with his medium-pace swing. He has taken 15 wickets at 20.73 this year, including a 10-wicket haul against Orissa.”I only used to bowl the odd four-five over spell in my first few years, because you had Vinay, Mithun, Aravind and Ayyappa doing the bulk of the workload,” Binny explained. “So I used to just bowl just to give them a break. But this year, with some of these guys missing, I needed to bowl a lot, and they had to be good overs – not just fill-in overs.”Once you bowl a bit in four-day cricket, you can experiment with swinging the ball, and try to plan and bowl in different areas. Once I got wickets in Orissa, I guess my bowling automatically went a level higher. It is just the confidence of knowing I can get wickets, and that opportunity comes once you put in the overs. Vinay is a disciplined, intelligent bowler, he is not express. He’s passed that on to the rest of us, how to bowl good areas, and how to work the batsmen out.”Karnataka could only collect two points from their last two fixtures, allowing Mumbai to top Group A. Yet, there were positives to be taken, especially from Shimoga, where the captain Ganesh Satish finally got a big score, and Amit Verma suggested prime form ahead of the knockouts.”We set high standards for ourselves before the Ranji Trophy, and are looking to be in the final,” Binny said. “Everyone is in top firm in the nets. It is a young team, very hungry and there’s a wealth of bench-strength despite us not having three of our top bowlers. I’d say we are looking very good.”Binny credits Kartik Jeshwant’s free-style approach to coaching for Karnataka’s impressive run through the league stages despite the absence of their first-choice seam attack. “”We started the preparation early this year,” Binny said. “Jeshwant Sir took aside four-five of us that he knew really well, helped us plan ahead and made sure that we worked on our games at that point. Even with youngsters, he is a very free coach. He allows you to do things your way.”Some coaches expect you to do everything they say. But he understands your style – if it works it works, else you can go back to the old way. That’s really important, especially with a young team like ours where the average age is 22-23.”

Shivnarnine Chanderpaul was the stand-out West Indian batsman of his generation because of his dogged determination and ability to occupy the crease

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan26-Apr-2012Since Brian Lara’s retirement in 2006, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has been the mainstay of West Indies’ batting. Although West Indies have never quite managed to be a force in the Test arena, Chanderpaul’s batting performances have enabled them to stay competitive more often than not. Even in the present series against Australia, Chanderpaul has scored over 300 runs while being dismissed just three times while the highest average among the rest of the batsmen is 34.75. While his stance and technique may not be among the most stylish, there can be little doubt about his efficiency. Nearly 18 years after he made his debut, Chanderpaul scaled the 10,000-run mark in his 140th Test. He becomes the tenth batsman overall and only the second West Indian after Lara to reach the landmark. While Chanderpaul is the second-slowest in terms of innings (239) and matches (140) to reach the 10,000-run mark (Steve Waugh took 156 matches and 244 innings), he remains the slowest in terms of time taken from the debut date.Between 1980 and the mid-1990s, only Sunil Gavaskar (1983) and Allan Border (1993) passed the 10,000-run mark. However since the beginning of 2000, eight batsmen have scaled the mark. Lara and Sachin Tendulkar were joint-quickest to the mark in terms of innings (195) while Lara took 11 matches fewer. All ten batsmen in the elite group average over 50 with Jacques Kallis (56.78) and Tendulkar (55.44) having the highest averages. Chanderpaul has the second-lowest strike rate (42.67) and a high value of balls-per-innings (98.60). Rahul Dravid and Kallis are the only batsmen in the group to face more than hundred balls per innings on average. While Lara has the lowest not-out percentage (2.58), Waugh and Chanderpaul have the highest values (17.69 and 15.89 respectively).

* Though Chanderpaul has proved to be an extremely consistent batsman in away Tests, it is in home matches that he has turned out to be among the finest. His average of 59.17 at home is only behind those of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara on the list of batsmen with 5000-plus runs in home Tests. He has scored 17 centuries in home Tests, a record among West Indian batsmen which he shares with Lara. For majority of his career, Chanderpaul batted at No.5 and No.6 scoring 7636 runs. His aggregate while batting at these vital middle-order positions is second only to Steve Waugh’s tally of 9919 runs. His average of 56.98 at No.5 and 6 is the second-highest behind Michael Clarke’s 57.07 among batsmen with 3000-plus runs at the two positions.

Chanderpaul made his debut against England in March 1994 and was Lara’s partner in Antigua when Lara went past Garry Sobers’ 365. In his first few years (1994-1999), Chanderpaul did not have a great impact but was solid enough to average over 40. However, in that period, his ratio of centuries to fifties (2:18) was not impressive. Between 2000 and 2004, however, he had established himself as one of the two most important batsmen in the West Indian team along with Lara. Chanderpaul was rarely known for a quick-scoring innings but was capable of highly aggressive batting as he demonstrated during his 69-ball century against Australia, which is still the second-fastest Test hundred by a West Indian batsman.Towards the end of Lara’s career, Chanderpaul had taken over the responsibility of guiding an inexperienced batting line-up. Between 2005 and 2008, he scored over 3000 runs at superb average of 62.72 with nine centuries. Perhaps the transformation in Chanderpaul’s performances can be best understood by comparing his batting stats in matches when Lara played and in those after Lara’s retirement. In the 84 matches he played with Lara, Chanderpaul was content to play second fiddle and scored 5634 runs at 43.67. However, after Lara’s retirement, Chanderpaul’s display has been exceptional. He has scored 13 of his 25 centuries in this period while averaging an excellent 61.40.

Both Lara and Chanderpaul were unfortunate to play for majority of their careers in a declining West Indian team. After dominating world cricket for almost two decades, West Indies lost their way in the late 1990s and hardly managed to win Tests against top teams in the 2000s. Following the 2-0 loss in India last year, Chanderpaul went past Lara’s record of featuring in the most Test defeats. Chanderpaul has scored the second-highest number of runs in defeats (behind Lara) and has the third-best average behind Lara and Andy Flower among batsmen with 2000-plus runs in losses. However, among the top six run-getters in Test defeats, Chanderpaul has the highest percentage of career runs in losses (44.82). He has also been extremely prolific in draws – his average of 72.31 is the second-highest behind that of Kallis among batsmen with 3000-plus runs in drawn games.

Like Lara, the only other West Indian with 10000-plus runs, Chanderpaul has a much better average in the team first innings (55.75) than in the second innings (41.64). In the match first and second innings, Lara has a higher average and more centuries than Chanderpaul. However, in the third innings, Chanderpaul averages slightly higher but has scored four fewer centuries. In the fourth innings, both batsmen have the same number of centuries (2), but Chanderpaul has a better average (43.38) than Lara (35.12). Chanderpaul is joint-highest with Graeme Smith on the list of batsmen with the most fifty-plus scores in the fourth innings.

Overall, Chanderpaul has a much better home record as compared to his performances away. Against Australia, he has been extraordinary at home scoring over 1000 runs at an average of 80.38. However, in Tests in Australia, he has failed to step it up similarly. His average of 30.20 in 11 Tests in Australia is his lowest against a top Test team (excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh). Since 1995, he is one among only seven batsmen to score 1500-plus runs against Australia, who were the best Test team in the period. Chanderpaul’s home record against all teams except England is better than his corresponding away record. Against Pakistan, he averages nearly 66 at home and just over 30 away while the numbers against India are 70.31 and 54.55 respectively. However, against England, the numbers are reversed. Although his home average against England is respectable (40.00), it is his performance in England which sets him apart. Among West Indian batsmen with 1000-plus runs in England, Chanderpaul’s average of 64.66 is on top and marginally ahead of second-placed Viv Richards’ 64.28. He is also sixth on the overall list of visiting batsmen with the best averages in England (min 1000 runs scored).

Chanderpaul has been involved in 62 century stands during the course of his career. He has shared nine century partnerships with Lara and seven each with Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan. He also had a very prolific association with Carl Hooper (six century stands) – In the 2002 home series against India, the pair was involved in three massive partnerships of 293, 186 and 215. The number of runs scored while Chanderpaul is at the crease (23054) is 34.04% of the total team runs (in matches Chanderpaul has played in) and serves as an excellent indicator of his ability to occupy the crease for long intervals. Chanderpaul has displayed tremendous consistency against both pace and spin throughout. In Tests since the beginning of 2002, he averages 58.26 against pace bowlers (73 dismissals) and 59.01 against spinners (53 dismissals). However, since 2007, he has had an outstanding run and the corresponding averages are 71.66 and 62.73.

Mandeep Singh’s success is largely due to his ability to play fast bowling. He has outscored his Australian team-mates in Kings XI Punjab and hopes to play for India soon

Tariq Engineer14-May-2012When Paul Valthaty, last season’s surprise IPL success, struggled to replicate his form this year, Kings XI Punjab turned to 20-year-old Mandeep Singh to shore up their top order. It was just the opportunity Mandeep had been waiting for. Despite his youth, Mandeep was a prolific scorer in domestic cricket – he has made 1,074 runs at an average of 63.17 over two seasons and knew his profile would rise if he could make an impact in the IPL. It would potentially catapult him into the conversation for places in the India squad.”[My] Ranji performance has been good the last two years but if you do well in the IPL, hopefully you will get noticed,” Mandeep told ESPNcricinfo. “I want to play for India as soon as I can and for as long as I can.”Mandeep started steadily with a number of 20s and 30s in the IPL but has found another gear recently, making 56, 43 and 75 in three of his last five innings, with Kings XI winning each of those games. He has also quietly worked his way up the IPL’s list of top scorers and is currently in 10th place, ahead of his more illustrious Australian team-mates, David Hussey and Shaun Marsh.His performances have already made an impression. Following his 48-ball 75 against Deccan Chargers last Tuesday, Hussey, who has been standing in as captain in the absence of the injured Adam Gilchrist, called Mandeep “a very special player” and someone who could do well for India in all three forms of the game. Mandeep’s great strength, Hussey said, is his ability to hit good balls to the boundary with ease.Mandeep puts his success down to his ability to play fast bowling well. “However fast someone bowls, it doesn’t make much difference to me,” he said. “I got the chance to open because the team knows I play fast bowling well. Still, the main thing is that I play freely and don’t worry about any tension that I need to play fast or do certain things. However well I can use the first six overs, I should use them.”This ability to play fast bowling is not something Mandeep takes for granted. It has been honed through many hours of practice. He sets the bowling machine to speeds of 85 to 90 mph and practices with a tennis ball to learn how to combat swing. He has also been taking throwdowns from Gilchrist using a rubber ball. “Gilly throws them hard from 15 to 16 yards and that is very effective,” Mandeep said.One of the benefits of the IPL for young domestic players from India is the exposure to international players and Mandeep is no exception. Hussey and Gilchrist have been teaching him how to approach his batting while Azhar Mahmood has been another valuable resource. “This is a big deal for young players that you can sit with these guys and learn from them,” Mandeep said.Having to take guard against some of the best opening bowlers in the world, like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, has been another cherished learning experience. “You get an idea about what is needed at the highest level,” Mandeep said. “You are not blank. The Ranji Trophy is a high level but if you play IPL, you get to play the best bowlers from around the world and you get an idea of what it takes to play international cricket.”This season, Mandeep is enjoying his chance to shine, but there was a time when his cricketing future hung in the balance. A diehard fan of Sachin Tendulkar since he was a young boy, Mandeep used to watch Tendulkar and try and imitate the way he played. At the age of 11, he joined the Jalandhar Cricket Academy to chase his dream of playing cricket professionally, but his father, an athletics coach, did not greet his son’s decision with much enthusiasm. He felt his son had made a risky choice and would rather he become a doctor instead, like his elder brother. But Mandeep had the talent and the dedication and was quickly amongst the runs, setting his father’s mind at rest. “Once I started to do well, he supported me a lot.”Mandeep eventually found himself touring Australia as part of the Under-19 team in 2009 and marked himself as one for the future when he cracked a match-winning 151 in the second one-dayer at the Bellerive Oval . He was then named the vice-captain for the U-19 World Cup held in New Zealand in 2010 and made his first-class debut for Punjab in November later that year, making an unbeaten 53 batting at No. 7, the top score of the innings. Along with Abhimanyu Mithun and fellow U-19 team-mate Harpreet Singh, Mandeep was awarded the Border-Gavaskar scholarship for 2010 and spent two-weeks training at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence in Brisbane.While his performances for Kings XI this year have not come with the same pyrotechnics as a Chris Gayle or Virender Sehwag, Mandeep has been crucial in keeping his team in the playoff picture. If he continues to perform in the same vein, his dream of playing India may not be all that far off.

The international Twenty20 game, for the sake of its own future, sorely needs to re-establish its primacy with a successful World T20

David Hopps in Colombo17-Sep-2012It is an overburdened mind that cannot spare some time for revelry and, in the next three weeks in Sri Lanka, the World Twenty20 offers the international game the chance to discover its lighter side. No form of the game can promote the attraction of cricket to a new audience so quickly, nor provides such immediate appeal.For the connoisseurs who carp that Twenty20 is a poor substitute for the intricacies of Test cricket, it is time to lighten up or look away. The two extremes of the game satisfy very different needs and it is perfectly possible to enjoy both without admitting to a personality disorder. The best players in the world have assembled for a meaningful tournament and there is fun to be had.Quite who will win the World Twenty20 is impossible to predict with any confidence, but India, South Africa, England and West Indies have the look of semi-finalists and, with no outstanding side in the tournament, India have the capacity to beat South Africa in the final and follow up their win in the inaugural event in South Africa in 2007, a win that was greeted with an open-top bus ride through Mumbai that stopped traffic for hours, ushered in the IPL to satisfy a nation’s craving for more and changed the cricketing landscape forever.That is a reminder that there are more important issues at stake beyond the winning team. The international game, for the sake of its own future, sorely needs to re-establish its primacy with a successful World Twenty20, just as it also needs the ICC to preside over a 50-over World Cup confident in structure and purpose that can once again connect to a maximum extent with the public.Failure to provide such a spectacle over the coming weeks will provide fuel for those who argue that Twenty20’s future is best removed entirely from international cricket and left to individual countries running franchise operations, led by an unfettered IPL that, for all the excitement that it has brought for millions, will be expanded beyond the level where its presence remains good for the game.Should franchise cricket, not just in India but in lesser leagues around the world, expand beyond the point of sanity, the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer and the ability to invest wisely in the game worldwide will be severely compromised. Talk that the IPL could be expanded to 10 teams should Deccan Chargers resist attempts to exclude them is further proof that ambitions are not yet sated.Sri Lanka’s ability to deliver the show that cricket needs cannot be taken for granted especially as one of the grounds, Hambantota, stands in a sparsely-populated area a long journey from what remains a largely imaginary port city of the future – at best part a vision of the future that will not be fully realised for decades. Elephants may pull in the tourists, but for the moment cricket must make do with a white one.There would no better time for Sri Lanka Cricket to show itself capable of putting a history of mismanagement and politicking behind it and displaying good governance. The costs of building new stadiums for the 2011 World Cup left it with debts approaching $70m, players went unpaid for months and the ICC has had to provide loans and guarantees of $2.5m to enable this tournament to go ahead. It is to be hoped the October monsoon does not intervene.

Failure to provide such a spectacle over the coming weeks will provide fuel for those who argue that Twenty20’s future is best removed entirely from international cricket and left to individual countries running franchise operations

The best teams refuse to accept that the result of a Twenty20 game is largely random, and convince themselves that, more often than not, skill, instinct and ingenuity can win through. Twenty20 is no longer played half-heartedly by insecure professionals unable to suppress the belief that they were somehow demeaning themselves, but by sharp-witted cricketers awash with adventure and imagination. Twenty20, like Test cricket, is also a game of the mind – it is just a mind retuned to the need to second-guess opponents in a game where risk is not minimised but embraced.Sri Lanka’s former captain, Kumar Sangakkara, has counselled: “Be ready for a stiff breeze in Hambantota, swing and seam in Pallekele and a good batting surface at the Premadasa in Colombo. Each venue will have a different challenge and sides will have to adjust accordingly.”West Indies have not won a major tournament since the Champions Trophy in 2004 but they have not been as widely fancied for a generation – one poll on an Indian website suggested 35% of supporters tipped them to win – and their most destructive players have made an impact in the IPL and beyond.But when they lost their opening warm-up match against Sri Lanka by nine wickets with more than four overs to spare it summed up the unpredictability of the tournament, not just because of the nature of Twenty20 but because of the nature of the teams. Never have so many teams packed with so much destruction inspired so little confidence. West Indies might need to reverse that result against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in the Super Eights to reach the last four.This World Twenty20 is so well balanced that it is easier to find reasons why teams will not succeed. India will be at home in Sri Lanka, they are buoyant after the return of Yuvraj Singh and they are not quite so weighed down by expectation, certainly not after the way they succumbed to Pakistan in their warm-up match when victory seemed assured. It will take a couple of thumping wins to give them the air of victors.The worries expressed in India that Sri Lanka’s pitches might not turn as much as they would like are understandable, but they will be spared Pallekele, where the quicks might be most effective, throughout the tournament and that must be to their advantage.India’s Super Eights group is potentially daunting, likely also to comprise South Africa, Pakistan and Australia. South Africa are challengers and have tag-teamed the No. 1 ranking with England in recent weeks, but they still seem to have a stronger suit in the Test and ODI formats.There would no better time for Sri Lanka Cricket to show itself capable of putting a history of mismanagement behind it and displaying good governance•AFPThat anticipated grouping surely lessens Australia’s chance of putting behind them the embarrassment of being ranked, earlier this month, below Ireland. The Big Bash League will doubtless invigorate their Twenty20 cricket, and enable them to recover from their initial reluctance to embrace the format, but they will need huge runs from Shane Watson and David Warner at the top of the order to make a strong showing.Pakistan, for all their heroics against India in their most meaningful of pre-tournament friendlies, do not look as strong as when they won World Twenty20 in England in 2009, and have yet to settle to a pattern under a relatively new coach, Dav Whatmore.The announcement by the PCB’s chairman, Zaka Ashraf, that their director-general (cricket), Javed Miandad, has been sent to Sri Lanka “to look into some team issues” does not inspire confidence that the coach and his new captain, Mohammad Hafeez, have successfully implanted a new vision of unity and purpose. Pakistan should trust Whatmore and Hafeez for the next two years to get on with the job.England’s concern will be that they are caught cold by Afghanistan in their opening qualifying match in Colombo on Friday. They field a young top order of T20 specialists, none of them regulars in the Test side, and, assuming Afghanistan are dispensed with, their seam attack should go well in Pallekele. Their challenge will become most daunting on their return to Colombo for the semi-finals.With New Zealand, for once, not presented as dark horses – Bangladesh must fancy their chances of a minor upset in Pallekele on Friday – England, West Indies and the hosts, Sri Lanka, look likely to be in the shake-up for the two semi-final spots.Sri Lanka do not inspire confidence even though they have reached three global finals since winning the 1996 World Cup. They have played only nine Twenty20 internationals at home, all since 2009, and have won only three of them. It will take an entire kit bag of wicked Malinga yorkers to arrest a record like that.