Economics and politics dominated an auction that left a pair of veterans counting their blessings

If you’re Mohammad Kaif, a lottery ticket would be a smart move, while Damien Martyn could do worse than contemplate the tables at Bellagio or Caesar’s Palace. Neither man has played international cricket for more than three years, and Kaif’s performances in the inaugural Indian Premier League – he didn’t even make the Rajasthan Royals squad for the second season in South Africa – were as ordinary as Martyn’s brief flirtation with the nearly forgotten Indian Cricket League.

The Royals, captained and coached by Shane Warne, bought out Kaif’s $675,000 (£412,000) contract before the auction to free up the space that they then filled with the classy 38-year-old batsman who was once Warne’s brother in baggy-green arms. If that raised eyebrows, there was bemusement when Kings XI Punjab, who have appointed Kumar Sangakkara as captain in place of Yuvraj Singh, splashed out $250,000 for Kaif, whose batting is usually conspicuously devoid of the power and pizzazz associated with Twenty20 cricket.

Many of the headlines in England on Wednesday will focus on the lack of interest in Graeme Swann, but the Twitter-friendly off-spinner’s IPL tale is far from over. The auction represents only the most high-profile route into the league. There are other ways. Both the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings have injured players that they can replace before the action begins on 12 March. In Mumbai’s case, they will have only the $100,000 that they spent on Kyle Mills last season, but Chennai have a whopping $1.55 million to draw on, having seen Andrew Flintoff go under the surgeon’s knife yet again. Don’t be surprised to see Swann or Doug Bollinger, another who attracted no interest, fielding a few calls from agents over the coming days.

With the auction taking place in Mumbai, a city subjected to the worst terror attacks ever seen in India, there was little doubt that the story of the day was the shunning of the 11 Pakistan players on the auction list. When Richard Madley, who usually helps sell antiques and Read more…

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England’s decision to allow “jaded” captain Andrew Strauss to miss next month’s tour to Bangladesh will leave many fans scratching their heads.

At a time when England are looking to lick the team into shape for their Ashes defence against Australia at the end of the year, it seems odd for the skipper not to be leading his troops from the front. Instead, it will be a “very excited” Alastair Cook who takes charge.

Strauss certainly does need to do something about his form. His team were fortunate to tie the four-match series 1-1 in South Africa after scraping two draws in Centurion and Cape Town by the skin of their teeth, and the captain himself was way below his best with the bat, scoring just 170 runs at an average of 24.28.

But rather than an extended rest, he could consider that the best way for a test batsman to regain his form is to play in a test. And given that Bangladesh’s bowlers are hardly the most fearsome in world cricket, shouldn’t an out-of-touch opener be relishing the opportunity?

Now the tour of South Africa is over, England have a four-week break before they leave for three Twenty20 matches in the Middle East ahead of the trip to Bangladesh.

Isn’t four weeks enough for Strauss to recharge his batteries before getting out there again to try to do what a batsman does best — and bat? Read more…

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The Sri Lankan cricketers did well to beat India in the Idea Cup final by four wickets with nine deliveries to spare in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday.

On the whole the cricketers can feel proud that they downed the much stronger Indians after losing an earlier game to them. But while they are basking in the glory of this victory, they must remember that one swallow does not make a summer.

The selectors and Sri Lanka Cricket led by two former champion cricketers Ashantha de Mel and D. Somachandra de Silva too can blow their trumpets now that the cricketers have succeeded.

Like in life in sport too, team work is essential for success. The cricketers, selectors and SLC worked together in harmony and with the game at heart and the final product was success. GREAT.

No cricket till November
But sadly the cricketers will not have any cricket to give continuity and build on this success. The cricketers will not have any cricket until Chrys Gayle’s West Indians arrive here in November later this year.

Some of our star cricketers will have the opportunity of playing in the Indian Premier League and the counties, while the youngsters who showed great promise will be kicking their heels playing in the local scene.

Sri Lanka Cricket will do well to probe all avenues and try and get the youngsters to play some international cricket where ever possible. They must use their influence with their counterparts in other countries and get the youngsters playing.

Before going on to comment on the final that Sri Lanka won, we would like to tell those who matter that the Lankan cricketing cupboard is full of promising material and it is now Read more…

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INAIA IS NOW the world’s top team in Test cricket. The move to ensure that india plays more Tests is a step in the right direction and can help this format regain its popularity

For cricket’s hardcore devotees, the purists who insist that Test cricket is the real form of the game, September 24, 2007, was no day for celebration.

It was the day Mahendra Singh Dhoni led a team short of full strength — a squad for which top batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had made themselves unavailable — to victory in the ICC World Twenty20 in Johannesburg. The game that we knew, relatively gentle, moderately fashionable and acceptably paced, took on another dimension.

It was not as though fans suddenly woke up to the joys of big hitting to the detriment of all else —after all, the subcontinent has been serving up flat decks in one-day internationals (ODIs) for some time now. It was just that India’s administrators, who till then considered Twenty20 cricket a creation of marketing men in England, wholeheartedly adopted the shortest version.

If sociologist Ashish Nandy’s assertion that cricket was “an Indian game accidentally discovered by the British” was a bit of an exaggeration, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) strove to make this a reality with T20s. The hurried establishment of the Indian Premier League ushered in the era where T20 is king.

One-day cricket became popular in India after the country won the World Cup in 1983. T20 got wide acceptance in 2007. Now it is to be seen whether India rising to top position in Test cricket leads to revival in interest in this variety of the game.

When India beat Sri Lanka 2-0 to become the No. 1 Test team in the world, the men counting the coins in the BCCI’s vault discovered there were things that didn’t figure in a balance sheet but they mattered a lot to the game’s stakeholders.

Suddenly, being the best in the world, rather than briefly occupying top spot thanks to a quirk in the rankings system, became the goal. Reaching the top has forced the board to request the visiting South Africans to convert February’s five-ODI series into one comprising two Read more…

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From Centurion to Perth, there was plenty to savour as the long version of the game produced some thoroughly absorbing play

Did you notice how many of the “100 Top Sporting Moments” related on these pages last week occurred in Test matches? Were you absorbed from a distance by the uncertain outcomes of the simultaneous Test matches in Centurion and the Waca ground in Perth? Crowds for both games were no more than satisfactory but much of the cricket was spell-binding, proof if it were needed that Test cricket will confound those sages who fear that it is an anachronism in an age of instant gratification.

Such gratification does not come much more quickly, even in Twenty20 cricket, than it did for Chris Gayle last Friday, or for those who watched him launching a series of his trademark straight sixes on his way to a Test hundred scored from 70 balls during the third of three increasingly hard-fought games between Australia and West Indies.

He was out too quickly afterwards and West Indies lost their last six first innings wickets for 27 but they bowled Australia out cheaply and finished only 35 runs short of victory early on the last day. Since their uneven performances against England earlier this year West Indies have found a convincing fast bowler in Kemar Roach, the Barbadian who was quick enough on the Perth pitch to rough up Ricky Ponting, and an opening batsman of equal youth and promise in Adrian Barath.

While conditions at the Waca, as always, encouraged quick bowlers and buccaneering batsmen, those at Centurion rewarded patience, craft and enterprise in equal measure. On the third day in Perth 16 wickets fell for 235 runs; on the same day in Centurion seven fell for 303. Such variety is what we want; plus a proper balance between batsman and bowler; and, not least, administrators ready to keep balanced programmes without overloading the best players.

Pitches and the attitude of the players have always been the keys to interesting cricket. In India this month Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team recovered from a turgid opening draw in Read more…

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The transition has been so swift there’s hardly been enough time for fans to make the adjustment, forget about the players. From the sedate pace of the Test series – and even here Virender Sehwag was marching to a separate tune – the players have swiftly moved to big bash mode.

Watching the first Twenty20 match brought the difference between the formats into sharp focus. Just last week, there was time for India to lay down careful plans and implement them well enough to keep Sri Lanka at bay. Field positioning was deliberate, each bowler had a specific plan and if things didn’t work out there was always the opportunity to try something else.

In the Twenty20 match, however, there was barely time to breathe. It’s not as though the team had fewer plans or that they were any less prepared. But once the action got under way, especially with Kumar Sangakkara getting his act together, there was little India’s bowlers could do. With fielders fetching the ball from all parts, the sight of Mahendra Singh Dhoni trying to marshall his troops amid the carnage brought a stark reminder of why the longer forms are so endearing.

In Tests, and to an extent even 50-over games, the viewer has a chance to get involved in the on-field action, to the extent that he guesses what the bowlers are trying to achieve and how the batsmen attempt to counter this. A viewer has the time and space to wonder what would have happened had something been done differently. In Twenty20s, it’s hard enough trying to keep track of the score, forget about trying to get in the minds of the players.

There seems to be a growing concensus that the shortest version of the game is the best vehicle to attract new fans to the game and expand viewership in existing areas. Not a week Read more…

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As Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid prepare to leave the stage, the young pretenders are waiting in the wings

Sachin Tendulkar was 17 when he lit up the Summer of Graham (Gooch) with a match-saving 119 not out at Old Trafford. It was his first Test century, in his ninth match. Nearly two-and-a-half years later, the 23-year-old Brian Charles Lara had the old-timers harking back to Sir Garfield Sobers as he stroked a magnificent 277 at the SCG. It was his fifth Test in the maroon cap. Half a decade later, Ricky Ponting was a year younger when he played his sixth Test. His maiden Test hundred (127) and a 268-run partnership with Matthew Elliott were pivotal in deciding the destination of the little urn.

Last week, two 19-year-olds from opposite sides of the world made brilliant debut hundreds on either side of the Tasman Sea. Adrian Barath’s effort was one of the few bright spots in an another depressing West Indian performance away from home, while Umar Akmal’s technique and poise couldn’t quite save Pakistan in a fascinating Test at Dunedin.

Both have been talked about for a while. Barath was considered special by no less than Lara himself, and those who watched the Champions League Twenty20 in October quickly discovered what the fuss was about. Even in a form of the game where the ugly mow over midwicket is the default option, it was noticeable how much time he had to play his strokes and how beautifully he executed them. The Hyderabad crowds that grew up watching stylists such as ML Jaisimha and Mohammad Azharuddin took to him in a big way, just as they did to the rest of the Trinidad & Tobago side.

Umar had also been cherry-picked from the Under-19 side. Long before he made his debut, those that followed domestic cricket in Pakistan were talking of how he was even better than Kamran, his older brother who also keeps wicket. Lest it be forgotten, Kamran made one of the great centuries of our age, taking Pakistan from 0 for 3 and 39 for 6 to victory against India Read more…

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India are currently playing Sri Lanka. It’s an important series: whichever team wins will be crowned Test cricket’s top dogs. So we’d better hope someone’s still awake to keep score by the end.

I guess if you’re going to watch any team make 400 in a day, you’d want that team to be India. No team in my lifetime has contained so many truly beautiful batsmen, and today they strutted their stuff like supermodels.

Sehwag paraded his straight drives down the catwalk. Gambhir showed off his late cuts. Dravid gave us backfoot drives through midwicket that were a photographer’s dream. Beauty, style, elegance, cheek – India’s batting had it all. And my God it was boring. Seriously, how much of that can you stick?

Fair play if you’re still enthralled after 90 overs, but I’m afraid I like my sport a tad livelier than 417 for two.

Two moments summed up the torpor. First, when Muttiah Muralitharan bowled an absolute snorter to Gambhir. From around the wicket, Murali’s off-break drifted into the left-hander’s pads, dipped, turned and fizzed past the outside edge. India were 366 for 1 at the time, though, so no wonder Gambhir laughed about it.

Second, after India passed 400 in a day for the first time ever, the cameras panned around a half-full Green Park. Surveying the scene, commentator Ravi Shastri said how lucky the crowd were to be there, or words to that effect. Actually, what he said didn’t matter. It was the sheer indifference in his voice which told the real story. And this is Shastri, remember, not a man who usually needs commentary Viagra to get his microphone standing to attention.

Throughout this series, bowlers have been to hell and back. Murali was going at six an over for most of today. Some Indian fans are so bored they’d rather push conspiracy theories Read more…

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His first four appearances were so disappointing that in another, more successful side, he may have been forced to wait a very long time before being invited back for another go.

But this was the England team in 2001, not exactly a powerhouse of one-day international cricket, and sure enough when an experimental squad was unveiled to travel to Zimbabwe later that year Paul Collingwood of Durham found himself on the plane.

Deliverance came in the first match in Harare - a maiden wicket (thanks to a James Foster stumping) and an important innings of 36 in what was a tricky run-chase. The seed for further success was sown, and eight years on he has become the most capped player for England in one-day internationals.

Over the course of the decade, an exceptionally resourceful cricketer has emerged, one who has delighted coaches by pouring so much effort into training sessions. That hard work has frequently paid off with individual moments of brilliance at backward point, making him arguably the greatest fielder to represent England.

In the summer to end all summers, 2005, his catch to end the innings of Australia’s Matthew Hayden in a match at Bristol must be considered one of the best ever.

And on Sunday, he marked his 171st appearance with another stunner to send South Africa’s AB de Villiers on his way, proving again that his agility and flexibility is unrivalled in the England team.

Collingwood’s batting has had predictable peaks and troughs over the years, but his bowling has developed with the times, morphing from bog-standard medium-paced seam-up to a conjurer’s bag of tricks with slow cutters, faster bouncers and a bit of old-fashioned swing.

When, also in 2005, he followed up a century with a six-wicket haul in a single match against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge, the scale of the achievement was predictably tarnished Read more…

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Well, let’s kick this off with a bit of a catch up. I’ve been back in New Zealand for about three weeks. I’ve really enjoyed being back, catching up with friends and actually being able to get into the gym to build some strength as opposed to just doing ‘maintenance’ work. In saying that, I was very disappointed to not go to the UAE for the one-day and Twenty20 series. Still, I’ve made the best of a situation I wasn’t too happy with.

So far I’ve played one 'Plunket Shield' (four-day domestic competition) for Wellington and this last week played for a New Zealand Invitation team vs Pakistan. I’ve been really happy with how I’ve gone. The match for Wellington we drew against Canterbury. We had a very good chance to win it but just couldn’t break a very good partnership. I only took one second-innings wicket when we were trying to bowl them out; disappointed with that but I’ll add it to the five I got in the first innings and I walk away from that match happy with my form, my health, my strength, my pace (especially) and how I kept my energies throughout the match. I really felt good throughout this match. Pace was good, probably the quickest I have bowled for an entire match and I got through some overs! Read more...

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