All posts by h716a5.icu

Peter Siddle collected five wickets to put Australia well on top, thanks to some advice from a recent England bowler

Peter English at Headingley07-Aug-2009It took three Tests but Peter Siddle remembered the lessons given to him by Darren Pattinson, his Melbourne club-mate and the former England bowler, as he captured career-best figures to put Australia on track to level the series. Siddle rammed into England’s tail to collect 5 for 21 off 9.5 overs, finishing with four wickets in 14 deliveries, and after play told of his chats with Pattinson, who appeared in a Test at this ground last year.Dandenong is the Australian summer home for both players and Siddle chased up his friend of a decade for some advice. “We’re very close and I’ve spent a lot of time with him,” Siddle said. “We had a few chats about the conditions and the way you go about stuff over here. It’s been handy. He gave me some good insight into how to handle the conditions.”This was the performance the Australians have waited for as Siddle finally lived up to his Sid Vicious nickname in England. In the opening three games he hadn’t been tame, but was inconsistent and unreliable, a shadow of the 24-year-old who grew up during the home and away series against South Africa.Mixing short balls to ruffle the batsmen and fuller ones to dismiss two of them, Siddle shook the hosts after lunch to back up the impressive return of Stuart Clark, whose three wickets before the break made everyone wonder why it had taken four Tests to call for him. Until Nathan Hauritz was removed from the line-up this morning it was Siddle who thought he was in danger.Brett Lee was also chasing Siddle’s spot but the selectors held firm and the Victorian stayed. Merv Hughes, one of the panel members at the ground, is a huge admirer of Siddle’s intimidating style and the group retained their unswerving belief in a player in his 12th Test.”Coming into this match I didn’t know what would happen,” Siddle said. “There was talk that I’d miss out or Hauritz would miss out. I was lucky enough to get the nod, went about my business, and in the end it paid off and I had a bit of success.” With 15 victims, he is now the series’ leading wicket-taker and was the muscular presence required at the opposite end from Clark and Ben Hilfenhaus.Siddle started by removing Andrew Strauss with serious help from Marcus North, who flung out his right hand at third slip, but the real damage came when the tailenders arrived full of padding. Suddenly Siddle was an intimidator and after England chose an extra bowler in Steve Harmison, he had extra targets.Graeme Swann was pushed back by some short deliveries before a fuller one clipped the edge on the way to Michael Clarke at first slip. The second ball to Harmison rattled his helmet, which is a serious bouncer to a guy standing at 6ft 4in, and in the following over Siddle brushed the side of his bat with another lifter.Anderson was forced to fend to Brad Haddin before the innings ended when Graham Onions popped an uncomfortable rising effort to Simon Katich, the short leg. It struck his armguard instead of his bat but he was probably happy to escape further damage.As the players stepped from the field in the second session a couple of fans wearing Aussie rules jumpers ran over to congratulate Siddle. This was his second five-wicket haul and came at an incredibly valuable time for Australia, who must win here to retain a chance of claiming the series.By the end of the day they owned a 94-run lead and had Siddle and his bowling mates to toast for the strength of their position. “We knew how we’d gone over the first three Tests and we knew we had to change something,” he said. “We just relaxed a bit. It was good having Sarfy [Clark] at one end bowling so tight and consistent, it frees up that other end. I got my goodies at the end.”

Muttiah Muralitharan talks about his future, Sri Lanka’s World Cup chances, Kumar Sangakkara’s captaincy, and more

Sa'adi Thawfeeq02-Jan-2010Why is it difficult to beat India in India?
It has never been an easy ride for any team in India. In the 1997 Test series in India, we drew all three. At the time we were at our peak but India managed to hold us. It has always been tough to play in India because the conditions are different and their players know how to play in their own conditions. Therefore for any team to go and succeed in India is very hard. At home, we are a powerful side, like India.Where did Sri Lanka go wrong in the Test series?
We had a good chance to win the first Test, but the wicket was so flat that scoring was made easy. We couldn’t take 10 wickets in the last one-and-a-half days of play and that affected us.In the second Test, [Virender] Sehwag was the biggest factor. We lost a crucial toss. It was crucial because the wicket was up and down. We lost the Test mainly because they scored 400 runs on the first day. The wicket was still good but we played some poor shots and there were a few unfortunate dismissals like [Kumar] Sangakkara and [Thilan] Samaraweera playing the ball onto the stumps.Our confidence was also dented because Dammika Prasad was injured. We thought we would play three spinners after we saw the wicket. We thought it was going to take spin, but unfortunately it didn’t, and the captain got the blame, which is wrong. Decisions are made by the coach, captain and senior players.The other thing that affected us was that the referral system was not used in the series. The Sehwag factor was there. We missed chances off him so many times. There were unfortunate decisions that went against us when actually he was out.So many things worked against us, but India did play well. They played better cricket than us. The 2-0 result does not show how good an effort we put in, but we were not good enough. Unfortunately I was not in good form, neither was [Rangana] Herath. He was not in the form he showed at home. None of the other bowlers got many wickets in the series. Harbhajan [Singh] had about 13 wickets from three Tests. For the leading wicket-taker of the series to take 13 wickets means the wickets favoured the batsmen more than the bowlers. Sri Lanka’s ODI performances since the 2007 World Cup haven’t been very encouraging. Why?
This is a transitional period. After 2003 World Cup, we had senior and capable players who stayed till the 2007 World Cup. Now the transitional period has come. I am not young, neither is Sanath [Jayasuriya]. [Chaminda] Vaasy is gone.I didn’t have a great 2009 because I had so many injuries. I played 16 ODI matches and took 22 wickets at an economy of 4.77 and according to international standards it is a good effort. But in Test cricket I played eight and got 26 wickets. My career average is 22 and it has gone up because I played on so many flat tracks.

“We are not going to be a brilliant fielding side by 2011. If someone is saying we will be, they are not being honest to themselves. Today you cannot find a brilliant fielder who is a brilliant batsman or bowler. It will take generations to find one”

Secondly, Sanath is not the same batsman he was, and is not scoring as he should be. Vaas climbed down a bit. From 2003 to 2007 these three players had major contributions to the team. With Mahela [Jayawardene] and Sanga, there were five key players in the side. Now somebody has to fill in our shoes and it takes time. You have to wait patiently. The main thing is we are not patient enough.Do you think there are replacements for the “big three” for the 2011 World Cup?
In 2005, when we went to India under Marvan [Atapattu]’s captaincy, we got thrashed 2-0 in the Tests and 6-1 in the ODIs. We went to Australia and New Zealand and we didn’t do well. We started performing well in the VB Series, and in 2007 we built a strong team. The same thing can happen again if everyone is patient. If you try to make drastic changes to the team it won’t happen.We are playing the World Cup at home. The last time we played at home, we won. All encouragement should be given to the players within this one year and we will be able to find the right combination. Why have the fielding standards dropped so drastically in the last few years?
In the 2007 World Cup team we had good fielders like Upul Tharanga, Sanath, Mahela, Sanga as wicketkeeper, Chamara Silva and Russel Arnold. In the bowling department me, Vaasy and [Lasith] Malinga were safe fielders. We had a good fielding unit. Now if you take the team, it is the other way around. Thilan and [Thilina] Kandamby are safe fielders but not brilliant. But they are very good batsmen and you can’t keep them out because of the fielding. Likewise, a few bowlers are not natural athletes. That’s what’s happened to our fielding. They train, but speed is something you cannot create. You have to be born with it. We are not going to be a brilliant fielding side by 2011. If someone is saying we will be, they are not being honest to themselves. Today you cannot find a brilliant fielder who is a brilliant batsman or bowler. It will take generations to find one.Your thoughts on Sangakkara as captain
Unreasonable criticism has been made of his captaincy. Fair criticism is accepted. When Mahela captained against India and Pakistan and we lost and he was not scoring runs, the media put too much pressure on him. He was a wonderful captain for the two years he led the country. At the end of the day what happened? He said thank you and quit the captaincy. Luckily we had Sangakkara. Now the same criticism has started against him, saying his decisions are not good. That’s very unfair. As soon as he took over, he led a young side to the final of the World Twenty20, won the one-day series in Pakistan, the Idea Cup final, won the Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand, and then we lost to India. It is too early for anyone to start criticising his captaincy. He is a capable person but is now being put under pressure. Once you put a lot of pressure on someone, however strong he may be, he will start thinking, “Why should I take all this criticism? I can be in the team as a player.” If Sanga goes, who is going to captain? At the end of the day, players need to perform. The captain alone can’t win a match.”If Sanga goes, who is going to captain?”•AFPHave you enjoyed your role as vice-captain?
I took the job because at the time there wasn’t anybody to do it. Nobody was certain of a place, so I agreed to take it. If somebody is there to take over the vice-captaincy, I am glad to hand it over to him. I just want to be a player, support the team and win. Even before the 2011 World Cup, if there is someone better than me, I don’t mind giving my place to him. I enjoy cricket as a player. Vice-captaincy is not something that I have given much thought to.Is ODI cricket going forwards or backwards?
ODI cricket has changed a lot because of the Powerplay. Our bowlers have not adjusted to it properly. They have to work out how to contain, especially in the Powerplay. Because the wickets are so good in India, the bowlers suffered more than in any other part of the world. Teams keep the batting Powerplay till the end to maximise it and sometimes it backfires.What chances have Sri Lanka of winning the 2011 World Cup?
We have a very good chance. We have to get into the quarter-finals. The best way of qualifying is to not clash with India. Then all the quarters and semis will be played in Sri Lanka. The only thing is the officials have to prepare wickets that are drier and suitable for spin and batting.We don’t know who is going to play in the World Cup. There are opportunities for a player like Silva, who is a brilliant fielder, but he has to get runs. We have to wait and see and pick the right combination. We should not panic. At the last World Cup, India panicked and kept changing their team. They couldn’t even qualify for the next stage. We shouldn’t do the same thing.What happened to Ajantha Mendis? He is no longer the potent force in world cricket
You can’t judge a bowler in one or two years. You have to give him a span of four to five years and allow him to mature. Nobody picked Ajantha at the beginning and he bamboozled everyone. He came into the limelight very early.When I came on the scene, no one knew me. It was only after six years of international cricket that people started talking about me. During my time there wasn’t so much exposure to the media. So I was able to learn quietly.

“Whenever Mendis comes to bowl, they expect him to take wickets. It is affecting him. You have to treat him as a normal bowler, one who takes wickets on and off. On his day, he will take big wickets”

For Ajantha, the learning curve is going to be difficult because the pressure on him is high. He has done so much in so little time that expectations are very high. When that happens, it is too much pressure to take and it is difficult to perform. That’s what’s happened to him. Whenever he comes to bowl, they expect him to take wickets. It is affecting him. You have to treat him as a normal bowler, one who takes wickets on and off. On his day, he will take big wickets.Technically, you can’t teach him anything because he bowls in so many different ways. He can get advice from many people but at the end of the day he has to realise what went wrong and how to get better. He is not a bad bowler but has dropped his form. He is only 24 and will come good if we handle him carefully.What are you future plans?
My plan is to play the two Tests against West Indies [at home] and finish with 800 wickets. I want to play ODIs till the 2011 World Cup, but I must see how things go, how important I am going to be to the team. I don’t want to be selfish. If they think I can still deliver, I will play. Otherwise I am happy to quit because I have plenty of offers to play from counties and from Chennai. I must see how my body can take it. My body cannot afford Test cricket anymore because I have bowled thousands of overs and I can feel it. I just can’t force myself to play. Twenty20 is four overs and I am not playing for my country. In one-day cricket you bowl only 10 overs, so I can manage.How do you want to be remembered?
I think I’ve had a pretty good career. I have both bowling records in Test and ODIs. I have taken 66 five-fors and 45 four-fors, which means out of 132 Tests I have failed only in a handful – maybe 3% to 5%. In one-day cricket I have taken 512 wickets in 334 matches, average 22 and an economy rate of 3.9.I never thought of records. Cricket was built in my system. God had given me that gift.As a person, if I have to say something, whether it is right or wrong, I will say it to the face. I don’t say things behind people’s backs. Ninety percent of people like me for that. If I realise I was wrong, I will say sorry. I don’t have any enemies. I want to be remembered as a good person who played very hard and brought a lot of success to the country. I have achieved more than most other cricketers and I want to retire gracefully and enjoy life with my family.

Somerset’s 19-year-old crowd favourite steals the show in the absence of the longed-for Andre Nel histrionics

John Pascoe30-Aug-2010Choice of game
The match was the Clydesdale Bank 40 Group A match between Somerset and Surrey at Taunton. I was tempted to go, having watched Somerset with admiration in the tournament so far. Although Somerset were on a magnificent run, Surrey were also in with a shout of second place, making it a tough one to predict.Team supported
I was barracking for Somerset as they are my local (well, nearest anyway) first-class team. I also grew up following Middlesex, so that rubber-stamped it.Key performer
Tough one this as Craig Kieswetter, Mark Ramprakash, Murali Kartik and Chris Schofield all contributed significantly, but the winner for me was Jos Buttler. His 87 was achieved in double quick time, had a mixture of deft touches and magnificent sixes, and was a match-winning innings.One thing you’d have changed
The rain breaks were a shame, so perhaps I would have changed the weather, but the main thing I would change is Andre Nel’s injury. The game needed a bit of tension. Gunther would have helped. Oh, and I wouldn’t have left my sunglasses in the car!Face-off you relished
I was looking forward to Nel v Trescothick but Nel’s injury put paid to that. Shame! There is nothing like Nel’s bowling being whacked to all corners to ignite his competitive side. Kartik v Ramprakash was also worth waiting for and didn’t disappoint.Wow moment
There was not really a wow moment as such but I left the ground extremely impressed with Schofield. His bowling was accurate and awkward. He was clumped into the Andy Caddick pavilion for six by Kieswetter early on but didn’t lose heart. He has an incredibly accurate arm, bags of enthusiasm, and plays the game with a smile on his face.Player watch
At various times Ramprakash and Schofield were fielding near us at deep backward point. The crowd was very lenient with them and let them get on with it. They even reacted with sympathy when Ramprakash slipped and let a square cut through his legs, which was then unsuccessfully lunged at by Steven Cheetham like a desperate football defender. Unfortunately the ball still didn’t reach the boundary.Shot of the day
Another tough one this, as there were some lusty blows on show. The best for me was Buttler’s paddle round the corner for six off Chris Tremlett’s bowling. Down on one knee facing one of the fastest bowlers around is no mean feat. Jade Dernbach’s massive six into the top tier of the Sir Ian Botham Stand came in a close second.Crowd meter
I’ll get some stick for saying this but the crowd were extremely disappointing. The ground was probably two-thirds full. The win meant that their team qualified for the semi-finals, but there was never any sign of that from the crowd. I got the impression that they would have been more alive had Somerset been chasing. They love Buttler though. He got a lot of cheers. I’m not surprised either. He is only 19. What a find.Fancy-dress index
There was a group of Smurfs who appeared periodically. Twice during rain breaks I went to have a chat with them but they had disappeared without a trace. Strange.There was also a group of hula “girls” who occasionally sang some Wurzels’ songs and “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, but who also disappeared for long periods. On the whole, a very bad show!Entertainment
There were a few apparently random bursts of music when wickets fell but only during the rain breaks did the choice of music make sense (“Why Does it Always Rain on Me?” And “Umbrella”). The music did nothing to inspire the crowd.The peripheral entertainment was good. It was Armed Services day and the services had some demonstrations going on throughout the afternoon. The ECB Roadshow was also there, giving kids a chance to show off their skills.I loved the fact that there was tombola close to the main scoreboard. It gave it the feel of a club ground. Very quaint!Accessories
The most important accessory was a DAB radio to keep up to speed with the progress of the Test match at Lord’s. I initially left it at home the sideboard and then went back four miles to retrieve it. The Test match finished before a ball had been bowled at Taunton. Typical.I wish I had taken a towel to dry the seat after the rain showers.Overall
The atmosphere was a little flat but that was not necessarily a bad thing. It is not always everyone’s cup of tea to have too much inane yelling. The cricket was entertaining and, although it ended a little one-sided, was liberally sprinkled with great shots, good fielding and tight bowling. The boundaries were just the right length to make it an achievement to clear them. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. For me it was a good day out.The stadium at Taunton is rather bitty. It looks like someone has taken a load of different architectural styles and thrown them up in the air. This is true of a lot of the modern county grounds, especially those that don’t host Test matches. It is a shame as it gives the ground a bit of an amateurish feel. However, the Somerset supporters I spoke to all think it gives the ground a homely feel. I feel an article coming on.Marks out of 10
Some rather restless children brought it down from 7 to 6.5.

Ireland played many more dots and took far fewer singles, but Kevin O’Brien’s power-hitting made all of that redundant

S Rajesh03-Mar-2011When Ireland had slumped to 113 for 5 for 25, the overwhelming feeling was one of resignation, as another lesser team seemed to be going down without much of a fight. At the same stage of their innings, England had scored 31 more runs, and lost three fewer wickets. Ireland’s asking rate at that stage was 8.60, and they needed to sustain that rate over 25 overs, with only the bottom five wickets at their disposal. Impossible? Most would have thought so, but obviously Kevin O’Brien and Co didn’t.What transpired in the last 25 was truly incredible, as Ireland scored at a run rate of 8.93, and lost only two wickets while doing so, in the process achieving the highest successful run-chase in World Cup history. In the batting Powerplay, Ireland scored 62 without losing a wicket, which is the second-highest score in batting Powerplays in this World Cup, next to Pakistan’s 70 for 1 in their one-sided match against Kenya.Kevin O’Brien blasted the fastest World Cup century, and he didn’t just edge past the earlier record; he utterly demolished it, bettering Matthew Hayden’s mark by 16 deliveries. In fact, only five batsmen have scored a quicker century in the entire history of one-day internationals.Overall, the contrast between the manner in which the two teams batted couldn’t have been greater. England preferred to accumulate steadily (if such a term can be used for a total of 327). They scored only 134 runs in boundaries, and instead ran plenty of singles (131) and played very few dot balls (119).Ireland’s method was the complete opposite: they ran 47 fewer singles, and played out 37 more dot balls. In a normal game, a difference of that magnitude in doing the basics would have proved decisive. O’Brien, though, had the skill and the power to strike boundaries at will, and that made up for all the other flaws in the run-chase. Ireland scored 52 more runs in boundaries than England – an unusually large difference in such a close game – and that, ultimately, was the more important statistic than dot balls and singles.

ScoreDot ballsSingles2s/ 3s4s/ 6sEngland – First 25 overs144 for 2744911/ 112/ 3Ireland – First 25 overs113 for 594403/ 011/ 2England – Last 25 overs183 for 645827/ 014/ 2Ireland – Last 25 overs216 for 2624410/ 022/ 7England – 50 overs327 for 811913118/ 126/ 5Ireland – 49.1 overs329 for 71568413/ 033/ 9Ireland’s 329 is also the highest total by a non-Test-playing team against a Test-playing side. Kenya scored 347 for 3 against Bangladesh in Nairobi, but that was in 1997, before Bangladesh made their Test debut. O’Brien was obviously the hero, but he got excellent support from Alex Cusack and John Mooney, who earlier became the first Irish bowler to take four wickets in a World Cup match. Despite that, Ireland conceded more than 300 for the first time in World Cups, but that only gave O’Brien an opportunity to show his class. The match total of 656 is the third-highest in World Cup history, only 20 short of the record.For England, there is plenty to worry about before their next game, against South Africa. They have been at the receiving end of two of the largest totals made by Associates in ODIs: a little more than a week back, they conceded 292 against Netherlands. Between these two matches, England also conceded 338 against India, which means they’ve gone for a grand total of 959 runs in three matches, despite having played only one of the top teams in their group. Their total runs conceded is easily the highest among all the teams in this World Cup, while their economy rate (if it can be called that) of 6.43 is marginally worse than India’s 6.21.

The home side showed a big heart in a stirring second session and seemed to be shutting the door on defeat in the evening before Harbhajan Singh intervened

Sriram Veera at Windsor Park09-Jul-2011″Sort of a dope on the ropes, letting Foreman swing away but, like in the picture, hit nothing but air,” was how the boxing photographer George Kalinsky called Mohammad Ali’s technique. You could say that about West Indies today, especially in that stirring second session where they showed a big heart. It was a raucous final session too; they seemed to be firmly shutting the doors on defeat but Harbhajan Singh, who was on top of his art throughout the day, opened the door ajar for a fascinating finish on the final day. Shivnarine Chanderpaul wedged himself in the way of victory and so much potential drama awaits us tomorrow.The intensity today was crackling and it was cricket, lovely cricket. The afternoon session was taut with pressure, skill, increasing claustrophobia, a dropped catch, and the eventual release of the jail-break moment. The evening was filled with rambunctiousness and high drama.It’s to that afternoon session that we will return first. India hustled superbly, Harbhajan was buzzing and Munaf Patel had a plan, Kirk Edwards gritted it out and Chanderpaul hung on to his dear life as West Indies deployed rope-a-dope. They just couldn’t finish the whole routine in the end as Harbhajan threw a sucker punch.The afternoon was high drama. It’s when the game was hanging on the edge, swaying towards India. Perhaps, an early finish was on cards, you wondered then. The context provided more drama. Edwards is a debutant, who was given wrongly out in the first innings. He seemed iffy against the short ball. He seemed almost strokeless in the afternoon initially. And then there was Chanderpaul, the last senior standing in this West Indies team with doomsday clouds hovering over him. It had threatened to rain in the morning but luckily, the sun was out by the noon. We had the best crowd of the Test series today. There were quite a few Indian fans, probably down from the US, hollering cheerfully at one corner. Around them and across them, at the grass mound, the West Indians sat under umbrellas, shielding themselves from the sun. The drama began to unravel.Chances of a West Indian survival looked bleak. Harbhajan had tasted blood early when he lured Darren Bravo, shaken by a big turning leaping off break, to lob the next delivery to deepish wide mid-off where a man was placed exactly for that. Adrian Barath’s iffy technique to seaming deliveries outside off had already consumed him by then.India attacked with a combination of Harbhajan and Munaf. Late in the first session, against Harbhajan, Edwards had shown a reluctance to get on to the front foot. And so Harbhajan started the second with full deliveries just outside off but Edwards started to stretch forward. Harbhajan shifted to plan B, a path shown by Edwards himself by displaying a slight vulnerability in tackling offbreaks bouncing towards his hips. Harbhajan packed the close-in leg-side field and let rip. Edwards continued to waft at them but managed to wrist them down away from waiting palms.Edwards did this through the day actually. First he would leave a door slightly ajar with a hint of a weakness, slowly correct it later and then firmly shut that trap. It was the same against Munaf who started with full-length deliveries outside off. Edwards groped at a few. Once, the ball cut past the edge and bounded off the thigh. Edwards soon started to leave expertly and block the deliveries in line with the stumps. Munaf shifted to his plan B – bowl bouncers. Edwards pulled the initial couple weakly – one flew off the top edge, one just about lobbed past square-leg and so Munaf persisted. India persisted. Edwards started to arch back better, but still a touch hesitantly, and play them. By the end, he was pulling them ferociously to the boundary. The crowd roared. The flags started to wave and they had a ball, egging on the debutant, in the final session.Harbhajan Singh’s late double-strike snapped the West Indian resistance•AFPMeanwhile, Chanderpaul was waging his own war. He was acutely uncomfortable against Harbhajan initially and Munaf was making him feel claustrophobic with the just-outside-off line. He pushed, prodded, stabbed against Harbhajan. The offbreaks leaped, some floated across with scrambled seam, a few lifted to hit the thigh, a few turned past the edge and all along there were nearly five men crowding him with their shadows and stares.The rope-a-dope continued. And it nearly ended in the last over before tea when Chanderpaul stabbed a bouncing offbreak from Harbhajan to right of first slip where Rahul Dravid dropped a catch, which he would have swallowed on better days. Harbhajan took his hat and walked away to the dressing room. Dravid kept shaking his head as he strode off. That was the jail-break moment.Post-tea Edwards had turned rambunctious. The crowd lapped it up in great delight. He pulled the seamers, moved down the track to Harbhajan, lapped the part-time spinners and had a ball. Chanderpaul cut, square drove and kept up his with nip-and-tuck routine.One further tense moment awaited Edwards when, on 99, he pushed a delivery towards Harbhajan and ran for his life. For his hundred. Chanderpaul wasn’t responding. Edwards froze. Harbhajan picked the ball and let rip and it travelled past Edwards – wonder what his heart-rate would have been at that moment – but it was wide of the stumps and an advancing MS Dhoni couldn’t collect it too. Tension gave way to relief. He dropped his bat as he reached the other end. The relief turned into joy. He lifted his helmet and held his hands high in the air. All that afternoon caution and struggle had paid off.Finally, West Indies batsmen were showing some heart. Finally, there was some just reward for that West Indian bowling unit, led by the admirable Fidel Edwards. And just when the bowlers might have eased back in the chair, Harbhajan charged India ahead.He saw Dravid spill another chance, a much tougher one this time, off the back off Edwards’ bat and moving diagonally across Dhoni, he witnessed an edge wobble past the lunging short-leg before he induced a fatal edge. Immediately, he swooped in for the kill and removed Marlon Samuels, who chose to dangerously hang back to full deliveries and was wrongly given out to a delivery that was missing the off stump. Harbhajan, who has so many critics railing against him, would have earned some admirers today.Harbhajan has pushed India right on top here and has raised the possibility of a tricky little chase on the final afternoon of the series. However, today was a day that West Indies fans would look back with some fondness. A debutant sparkling with a hundred and a veteran admired by many and frowned upon by some, rediscovering himself in the moment of crisis. It wasn’t just a smoke screen in the present-day Babylon. There was indeed some fire after all. India, though, seem to have the fire-extinguisher. Tomorrow will tell.

The India captain certainly can’t be blamed for not having a sense of occasion or timing, and he stepped up on the biggest stage of all

Sidharth Monga at the Wankhede Stadium03-Apr-2011MS Dhoni had just sent the Wankhede Stadium into delirium by upper-cutting Thisara Perera for a six over point. That made it 37 required off 41, with six wickets in hand and the World Cup in sight. He dabbed the next ball towards point, took a couple of steps and stopped, and then hared across, realising Yuvraj Singh had come too far down. The single was completed, everything seemed all right, but Dhoni smashed his pad with his bat. The thud was so loud it could be heard from near the sightscreen, despite all the noise from the stands, where the crowd was going crazy.It is rare that Dhoni makes such shows of emotion. The one other notable time he did so was during an IPL game in Dharamsala, when he upper-cut his own helmeted face after he had just hit the winning six. He had felt under pressure then. The pressure he will have been under coming into this final is quite perceivable. Before Saturday he had managed just 150 runs in seven innings. He had also made a few unpopular calls as captain during the course of the tournament. And after a poor finish to their bowling effort in this match, and an ordinary start batting, India’s World Cup dream was coming apart.When Virat Kohli fell to a fabulous return catch by Tillakaratne Dilshan, the seemingly out-of-form captain promoted himself ahead of the eventual Man of the Tournament. It was a sensible move. As Dhoni himself said later, he wanted to split the cluster of left-hand batsmen in India’s middle order, but he also thinks he reads Muttiah Muralitharan’s doosra better than the others in that middle order.Sense or no sense, it was a risky move. “It was a big decision,” Dhoni said later. “I knew that if I promoted myself and didn’t score runs I would be asked why I couldn’t stay back.” Even though Dhoni has become a much safer captain than he was at the start of his captaincy, he still has it in him to come up with inspired moves in big games.Just making the move was not enough this time, though. He had to go out himself and make the move work. Dhoni certainly can’t be blamed for not having a sense of occasion or timing. On the night of the big final, out came the calculating Dhoni, the perfect mix of caution and aggression, strong as an ox, fast as a hare, the same batsman who, not long ago, was quite deservingly the No. 1 in ODIs.During that golden period which took him to the top of the rankings, Dhoni instinctively knew how he’d have to react in any situation. He could absorb pressure, he could accumulate, he could explode. The last year hasn’t been that good, but a World Cup final is not a bad time at all for a reprise.On the eve of the final, all Dhoni practised in the nets was hitting big sixes. He batted on the pitch adjacent to the one used for the match, and kept smashing bowlers towards Marine Drive. That was not what was required in the actual match, and Dhoni knew that. When he came in to bat, the required run rate was headed towards six, but it also needed to be maintained for 28.2 overs. It would require a lot of ones and twos, and the loose balls would need to be punished wholesomely.No loose ball went unpunished once Dhoni was set. He did take his time getting set, and relied on Gambhir to maintain the momentum. He was itching to charge down to the part-time offspin of Dilshan, but didn’t want to take the risk. In his head the rate was worked out. For the first 10 overs of his stay Dhoni didn’t hit a single boundary. Then Muttiah Muralitharan pitched short, and in his own special way Dhoni managed to punch it powerfully enough to beat sweeper cover. That shot alone kept the rate in check, accounting for all of Dhoni’s first four boundaries.It takes more than just timing to beat the sweeper cover with shots along the ground in the middle overs. That seems like a safe route to go to, but it generally only provides singles or twos. Dhoni, though, gives those punches a solid whack; the power is generated as his massive legs rock back. In between, he and his India A partner from the start of their respective careers, Gambhir, ran well, ever alert to overthrows and misfields.Once Gambhir tired, Dhoni took over the responsibility of scoring. In the time that Gambhir moved from 87 to 97, Dhoni went from 29 to 60. A perfect transition was taking place when Gambhir got out. Dhoni took some more responsibility then, waiting for the batting Powerplay, but not risking taking it earlier. He knows better by now. It began with India needing 30 off 30, and a good over from Lasith Malinga made it 27 from 24.Now another Dhoni special surfaced: the drag-flick-like shot that he plays with a much-defined bottom hand and an extravagant flick of his wrists, keeping the ball along the ground but imparting immense power. Three bottom-handed blows, and the game was over. The stylist in Dhoni, though, remains. With five required, he almost pulled Yuvraj out of his crease to get on strike.And then he put his pre-match practice to use, lofting Nuwan Kulasekara for the match-winning, hell-raising six. India’s World Cup began on Dhoni’s terms; how could the end be different?

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Cape Cobras

Nitin Sundar at the Chinnaswamy Stadium30-Sep-2011The reunion
You wouldn’t have ever caught Douglas Jardine and Don Bradman sharing a beer together. You will never see Dennis Lillee and Javed Miandad exchange pleasantries. You will never catch Steve Waugh sending Curtly Ambrose Christmas greetings. But if you were at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, you would have seen Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh batting together, for the first time since they became team-mates at the IPL auction. Harbhajan swaggered out to the crease the fall of Kieron Pollard’s wicket, had a quiet word with Symonds and got ready for a bat. The crowd didn’t seem to realise the gravity of the situation but, more incredibly, even the protagonists went about their business without any ado. Have they really buried the hatchet, and put behind them a dispute that nearly split the cricketing world wide open? Or, are they just incredible actors who know how to turn on their game-faces when the flashlights are on, irrespective of what they feel deep down? Either way, Bradman and Jardine wouldn’t have approved.The ball retriever
The Chinnaswamy Stadium is used to seeing more than its share of balls being lost, thanks to home boy Chris Gayle’s monster blows landing outside the park. Today, Aiden Blizzard made a ball disappear for a while without even hitting a six. In the third over of the match, he backed away and cut Dale Steyn powerfully behind point for four. The ball bounced away and sought refuge under the sparsely populated seats behind one of the platforms erected for the cheerleaders. Twenty20 cricket moves at a pace so furious that within moments, the fourth umpire CK Nandan was summoned to bring in a replacement ball. Herschelle Gibbs was more persistent, though, and managed to retrieve the original with some help from the people near the outfield.The bumpy landing
JP Duminy could do no wrong with the ball in Cape Cobras’ previous game when he picked 4 for 20 against the Chennai Super Kings. Life came a full circle for him when he ran into Sarul Kanwar in his first over today. Kanwar skipped down the pitch to the third ball and blasted it over midwicket for a six, before driving past a lazy Charl Langeveldt, and sweeping for boundaries. Duminy was clearly rattled, bowled two wides as well to put the over’s damages at 17 runs. One day you deceive spin-killers like Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina, and on another day you are taken apart by a man without a reputation. What was that cliché involving cricket and levellers?The (near) ice-breaker
Duminy hit back in his second over to get rid of Ambati Rayudu, but normal service resumed in his third. He generously flighted his first ball to Kieron Pollard who leaned forward and launched it into orbit with a menacing lofted drive. If he had hit it any straighter, the scribes covering the game would have been showered with shattered glass. Time stood still for a fleeting moment as heads in the press box turned to the right, partly in awe, and partly in genuine fear. As it transpired, the missile missed the edge of the glass enclosure by a few metres, and the inmates let out a collective sigh of relief.

Four months ago de Lange was unheard of, but since then he has starred in a Test, shown steel in a final-over showdown, and landed himself an IPL contract

Firdose Moonda27-Feb-2012Of the options available to AB de Villiers to bowl the last over of the third Twenty20 against New Zealand in Auckland, Marchant de Lange was the most risky. The 21-year-old was playing his third 20-over game, had six runs to defend, and had conceded 33 in his previous three overs.Wayne Parnell, Albie Morkel and JP Duminy all had overs available, and Parnell had proved himself at the end of an innings before. Still, de Villiers gave the ball to de Lange, who nervously helped set his field and accepted bits of advice from Morne Morkel on the way to the top of his mark.Whatever was said worked. His first ball was full and resulted in a single. The second was short and wide, but miraculously a dot. The third was a wicket, so was the fifth. Sandwiched in between was another dot. And then came the mistake: a no-ball off what should have been the last delivery, which gave New Zealand a second stab at a match that had looked gone. They got no closer, though: de Lange fired it in full outside off, nowhere near Tim Southee’s massive swing. South Africa won the match and the series.de Lange has made an impression in every format he has appeared in thus far. All the signs indicate he will do the same if he plays in the Test series against New Zealand, his first away from home, and then in the IPL. His ability to steal the headlines suggests a driven young man with big plans.”I truly believe Marchant has got it, he has big-match temperament,” de Villiers said. It’s a phrase flippantly thrown around when referring to players from other countries, but for a South African in a pressure situation, the compliment was gold dust. And for someone whom the cricket world had not even heard of four months ago, it was an entire brick of the stuff.Before November, de Lange was a young, wide-eyed hopeful who had played 12 first-class matches. Eight of them were for the Easterns, an amateur, provincial team, the other four for his franchise, the Titans.Word from the top tier of the domestic structure was that he was quick – some said quicker than Morne Morkel – but raw. After being discovered in his late teens in the mining town of Tzaneen, de Lange had little opportunity to be polished into the finished article. Although he attended the Northerns’ Academy (another amateur union, which together with the Easterns makes up the Titans franchise) he missed out on representing South Africa at age-group level, specifically Under-19, because of stress fractures to both his ankles.”It was extremely painful,” de Lange said. For the first time since he was introduced to the task of being interviewed, his voice did not come out with the usual boom of excitement. “I had to start everything again, everything from walking to running. It was not nice at all.”But start again he did, and he now has a more philosophical view about what could have been a career-ending period. “You know, injuries come and go but if you’ve got a strong mind and you get it fixed as quickly as possible then it’s okay.” The wounds didn’t heal as quickly as de Lange may have wanted, but they eventually did, in time for him to accept an offer from the Titans to move to one of their main centres in Benoni. There he played for a popular local club, CBC Boksburg, and eventually for the amateur team.His speed earned him a trip to Bangladesh with the national academy in April and May last year, where his most notable performance was a five-wicket haul in one of the 50-over matches. It was his first venture out of South Africa.Going from the endless open roads of the Limpopo province to the endlessly cluttered ones of Dhaka was a surprise. “At first it was a bit of a shock. There was a big difference to home and there were a lot of people,” de Lange said, the boombox back in full force. “But I think I am quite an adaptable person. It was interesting. The people were very passionate and I enjoyed it.”On returning home, he made his first big splash. Former national coach and current selector Corrie van Zyl saw him in a franchise match and called newly appointed bowling coach Allan Donald to tell him he had found someone worth keeping an eye on for the future.

“He gets it in good areas most of the time, and when he gets it a little short he gets away with it because of extra pace. He also has good variations and can take the pace off the ball, but the key is not to overload him with information”Allan Donald, South Africa’s bowling coach

The future came just weeks later. de Lange was included in South Africa’s A squad to trouble the visiting Australians on a pitch in Potchefstroom prepared to favour pace. He bowled with internationals such as Vernon Philander and Parnell and stood out for a five-wicket haul fashioned out of pure pace and bounce. Some Australian players told the Kolkata Knight Riders about him. “This guy is bowling fireballs,” they said.Within three months of that match de Lange had breathed fire in a Test, in which he became the most successful debutant of 2011. He also secured an IPL contract, a relatively small one of US$50,000, but across the two-year period it makes him close to a millionaire in rand terms.Apart from the money, the contract will introduce de Lange to a world of cricket that previously may only have existed in his dreams. Already he has spoken of the honour of playing with stars he watched on television, like Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. At Kolkata, he will be coached by Wasim Akram and will bowl with Brett Lee, which he is looking forward to.For some it’s over-exposure, especially since the franchise de Lange is joining has the added glam factor of Shah Rukh Khan and Bollywood. But de Lange is unfazed. “I’ve watched some Bollywood,” he said. “But I think I will need to get a little more clued up on that.”Donald will want de Lange’s IPL stint to provide an education in shorter-format bowling, because the young bowler has precious little experience of it, having played only 20 limited-overs matches in his career.”Strategies in ODIs and Tests are obviously different and he has a lot to learn,” Donald said. “He is naturally quick but he does not have a consistent natural length yet. That will come. He gets it in good areas most of the time and when he gets it a little short, he gets away with it because of extra pace. He also has good variations and can take the pace off the ball, but the key is not to overload him with information.”de Lange say he has learnt more in the last few months than in his entire cricket career to date, most of it from Donald. “He really wants you to improve as a bowler, and he has got time for us always,” de Lange said. For him to pick up tips from other sources will be equally valuable, and Kolkata have expressed a desire to develop bowlers. “We have been very focused on identifying talent, hopefully before others do,” Venky Mysore, the Kolkata chief executive, said. The franchise picked James Pattinson before Australia did and although they did not get de Lange that quickly, they hope to help him get better while benefiting from his obvious skill.While fears of excessive bowling mount, Donald believes de Lange’s fast track into international cricket has been perfectly timed. “I am so excited for him,” Donald said. “It’s massive exposure.”

For the last four years, Bangladesh’s first-class tournament has been won by a side not from Chittagong or Dhaka

Mohammad Isam28-Jul-2012Shortly after lunch on the third day of the five-day National Cricket League (NCL) final in April this year, the Rajshahi divisional cricket team completed their fifth first-class triumph, crushing Khulna.Four of the Khulna batsmen had more than 500 runs each in the competition, with Anamul Haque coming up to 800. Their frontline bowlers finished with about 35 wickets each, but none of these in-form batsmen, left-arm spinners or seamers held a candle to Rajshahi’s self-belief. The difference between the two sides was attitude, and Rajshahi had it in spades. Khulna didn’t seem to be able to get their heads around Farhad Hossain’s bland offspin with the new ball, nor could they come to terms with the way Farhad and Junaid Siddique, when they batted, went after Khulna’s form bowlers after Rajshahi lost both their openers by the second over of their first innings.What made Rajshahi’s win this season more worthy was that they had lost a number of players to Rangpur, which gained first-class status this year after becoming a functional division, the seventh in the country after Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Sylhet. Players like Naeem Islam, Dhiman Ghosh and Sohrawardi Shuvo are from districts within Rangpur division, so their departure affected the composition of the Rajshahi side, but it was impressive how youngsters stepped up and into these players’ shoes. Rajshahi dropped only three games out of 11 in the 2011-12 season, and by the time they won the final, it was just like the previous three seasons, in which they virtually strolled home.Their self-confidence took several years of dedication to build, and came about largely thanks to one man’s persistence and the willing sacrifices of several others. Their hard work not only helped build the country’s most successful first-class team, it is helping hundreds of youngsters find hope in a region that has very low employment levels and a poor economic outlook overall.In terms of cricket Rajshahi has remained backwards, but so are the other divisions and districts across the country – the two big cities, Chittagong and Dhaka, being the exceptions. There is not much by way of infrastructural development, apart from the odd stadium, in most regions. Cricket facilities are stadium-based, and net practice is only available in winter, during which most professional cricketers and coaches remain in Dhaka, where the leagues are in full swing. Which means there is no one in the players’ home districts to teach youngsters, who hardly get any practice during the off season (which is mostly dedicated to football anyway). As a result, cricketers are far too dependent on the facilities on offer in the capital.Dhaka’s one-day cricket leagues – Premier Division, First, Second and Third Division – have been the main source of employment for professional cricketers in Bangladesh since the 1950s, and over the years the rise in the game’s popularity has been reflected in the money and competition on offer on the Dhaka club cricket circuit.The first significant shift in topography came about in the late 1990s, when the ICC asked Bangladesh to start a first-class competition to justify the country’s appeal for Test status. So in 1999, the Bangladesh Cricket Board devised a regional competition in which the six divisions would comprise the NCL.The first few years of the league reflected the lopsided spread of cricket in the country, which had by then become the tenth Test-playing nation. In the first six seasons of the NCL, Dhaka won the title three times, and Chittagong, Khulna and Bangladesh Biman the rest.During this period Rajshahi were also-rans. They went winless in the first season, getting bowled out for 57 by Khulna once, and suffering two innings defeats to Chittagong and a loss to Sylhet. Their maiden first-class win came against Dhaka the following year, but they continued to be pummelled by Chittagong both home and away over the next two seasons. The only international cricketer of note in their ranks, Khaled Mashud, played only 11 games for the side in that period, but the poor results hurt him, proud as he is of his roots.”When the NCL began, Rajshahi usually finished at the bottom,” Mashud said, sitting next to a picture of him holding the side’s fourth trophy. “Teams like Dhaka and Chittagong had plenty of stars and they used to steamroll us. We lost four-day games in two and a half days against teams that had [Minhazul Abedin] Nannu and Akram Khan. Our manager used to book bus tickets for the third day of matches we played in Dhaka or Chittagong; it was that easy to predict that we’d lose.”

Rajshahi’s hard work not only helped build the country’s most successful first-class team, it is helping hundreds of youngsters find hope in a region that has very low employment levels and a poor economic outlook overall

Mashud knew the only way Rajshahi would grow was through comprehensive development. He was passionate about the side standing toe to toe with Dhaka and Chittagong, but knew also that it wasn’t going to be easy to fight teams that had real training facilities.After a single win in the second season, the great leap forward came in 2001-02, when Rajshahi finished second, with five wins. They still couldn’t break their Chittagong hoodoo, though.They missed Mashud, who played just three games in the next two seasons, and Rajshahi finished fourth those years. The good news for them came in the form of the emergence of youngsters like Jahurul Islam and Junaid Siddique. Grooming upcoming players was part of Mashud’s plan, and he scoured Rajshahi and its outskirts for a ground suitable for practice. He found there were a large number of tournaments taking place in the districts but there weren’t many opportunities for talented players to improve.”We needed to produce players from North Bengal who could be good enough to compete,” Mashud said. “So I kept playing in small tournaments, where, for example, a young bowler would keep getting hit but eventually take my wicket if he was good enough. This helped me stay in training and also inspired others into taking the next step in cricket.”Rajshahi became the only first-class team in the country that trained actively in the off season. “At the Rajshahi College ground, we used to train together months before the proper NCL camp began, and we started to become the best-prepared side,” said Mashud.”We also used to practise in grounds that had very little facilities. We had to be humble and take care of the ground, roll the pitches, and put up the nets and store them carefully at sunset,” he said. “There [began to be] a lot of competition for places in the Rajshahi team, which was almost unheard of in the past, when all the training we did was 15 days before the first-class tournament started.”Among the hopefuls who looked to break into the side was Naeem Islam, who travelled a hundred miles west, from Gaibandha district, to take a shot. Having apprenticed at Bangladesh Krira Shikha Protishthan, the country’s biggest sports institute, Naeem lost his way after appearing in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup – many Dhaka clubs refusing his services for a perceived attitude problem. Mashud saw in him a reticent boy who needed the right amount of prodding to be made to field in the 30-yard circle, bowl his offspin a bit more, and bat at No. 4. When Naeem got out of his shell, he was a different, more rounded cricketer.”As soon as hungry youngsters like Naeem came through, the results became positive, from the 2004-05 season,” Mashud said. “We won the one-day competition.”Junaid Siddique (left) and Jahurul Islam at the Rajshahi Academy gym, where much of the equipment is fashioned out of scrap metal•Clemon-Rajshahi Cricket AcademyThere was a second-place finish in the NCL that year. Farhad Reza made 769 runs in his debut season. It was also the first season for future internationals Naeem and Sohrawardi Shuvo, and a future Rajshahi mainstay, Farhad Hossain.The following season they won the competition for the first time, with Naeem and Farhad making over 500 runs each and the veteran allrounder Mushfiqur Rahman picking up 39 wickets; they also completed the double by winning the one-day competition.The next two seasons, they were runners-up, despite winning more games than the champions Dhaka (2006-07) and Khulna (2007-08), but some of their top performers, like Junaid, Naeem and Reza, won places in the national team.Though their star performers could not play regularly for Rajshahi, senior players like Mashud and Anisur Rahman stayed on, chaperoning the youngsters who graduated through the age-group and Dhaka league ranks.”Whenever we spot a young talented player doing well in the Under-17s or Under-19s or even in the Dhaka league structure, we call them up to the nets and pick one or two to travel with us,” Mashud said. “It puts a strain on our budget but the divisional sports association takes care of that.Rajshahi have now won the NCL four times in a row, starting with 2008-09, despite the BCB revamping the tournament in 2009-10, since when it has included a final at the end. The new format jeopardises the best team in the competition, invariably Rajshahi these last few years, as it means that the winner of the final, not necessarily the leader on points, becomes champion, but Rajshahi have aced the final all three years running. Players like Jahurul, Naeem, Saqlain Sajib and the two Farhads have bucketfuls of runs and wickets in these successful campaigns. Rajshahi even pinched a Twenty20 title in 2009-10.As Rajshahi started to do well as a team, the players gained big contracts in the Dhaka leagues and salaries to match. That hasn’t made them forget their roots, though. Mashud is proud of how the players helped build a cricket academy to keep their legacy going. The players gave up many end-of-season perks, and bonuses and the team management gathered all the fines from several seasons to set up a fund, headed by Mashud.”Most of these players come from very modest backgrounds,” Mashud said. “Cricket has made them who they are today, but when I asked them if they’d like to contribute to the future of cricket in Rajshahi, they readily got involved.” The financial burden is now off the players, as the Akij Group of companies, convinced by Mashud, sponsors the Rajshahi academy and a few others across the country.The story began with the development of a first-class team that wanted to win matches. When they started racking up the trophies, they set out to make a lasting impact on the region’s cricketing future by setting up an academy – in contrast to the most successful club sides in the Dhaka leagues, which have been built on big money with the sole purpose of winning the season’s trophy. Rajshahi may not be a New South Wales, Yorkshire or Mumbai, but they have showed how it should be done in Bangladesh, where cricket is still a winter sport for those who aspire to play at the top.

His body cannot be expected to stand up to the demands that have been placed on it by New South Wales, the Sydney Sixers and Cricket Australia

Daniel Brettig02-Nov-2012Breaking into prominence in Australian cricket as a 17-year-old schoolboy in 2010-11, Pat Cummins seemed too good to be true. Fast as any in the country, he was also tall, sported a late outswinger, and possessed an instinct for how to bowl that is usually the exclusive preserve of only the best and most seasoned of fast men.Two years on, with Cummins facing his second consecutive home summer on the treatment table, it turns out that this story was indeed too much of a fairytale to be sustained in the cluttered reality of 21st century cricket. Cummins’ bowling skills, natural attributes and intelligence have not diminished, but while he is still a teenager, his body cannot be expected to stand up to the demands that have been placed on it by New South Wales, Sydney Sixers and Cricket Australia.A back stress fracture has offered time for Cummins and those around him to think seriously about how the past year since his Test debut in South Africa has unfolded. It has been punctuated by injuries to his foot, side and back, a lot of T20 matches, a great deal of travel, and by his own admission a departure from the bowling fundamentals that put him in the Australian side in the first place.The most recent episode in South Africa does not reflect a great deal of credit on the Sixers. While CA had sent their bowling coach, Ali de Winter, to the T20 Champions League to monitor the workloads of the national team representatives taking part in the event, Cummins’ admission that he was starting to feel sore towards the back end of the event did not reach de Winter, the physio Alex Kountouris, or the team performance manager, Pat Howard, as early as possible.This lapse between Cummins confessing to some minor discomfort and CA’s staff knowing of it may have prevented them from calling him home early. As it was, he bowled in the semi-final and final without feeling too inconvenienced, but no one will now know whether the current stress fracture might have stayed merely a less serious stress reaction without those matches.CA is known to be disappointed at being kept out of the loop, though the Sixers’ reasons for keeping the matter to themselves are unclear. It is plausible that they feared the loss of another key part of their team after already being stripped of the services of Shane Watson as part of a pre-planned move to give the Australian vice-captain more time at home to prepare for the Test summer.Irrespective of when or how it first became clear that Cummins was sore again, the fact of his recurring injuries endorses the view that he has risen too far, too fast. Many were seduced by the possibility that a bowler so young might be ready to win matches for Australia, and his performance in Johannesburg a year ago brought that excitement to a feverish pitch.It must be remembered that not only has Cummins barely played for his state, he has barely played for his club. NSW selectors first chose Cummins at a time when a glut of other injuries had limited their bowling stocks, but they kept picking him because of how impressive he seemed, or more accurately, how impressive he was. Similarly Australia’s selectors – first the panel of Andrew Hilditch and latterly that of John Inverarity – have returned to Cummins several times as soon as he was fit after injury because of how beguiled they were by his combination of speed, skill and intelligence.

“Jason Gillespie, Mitchell Johnson… had a string of injuries over a few years and came out the other side. So I’m not too fussed. I’d love to be playing but I realise it’s not a rare thing to occur”

Now all must acknowledge and accept that Cummins’ path cannot be any different to that of most fast bowlers before him, who have generally endured periods of injury and pain before entering serious national team calculations later in life. Cummins noted the stories of Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie and Mitchell Johnson as examples of this.”There’s other people like Jason Gillespie, Mitchell Johnson, there’s a whole string of fast bowlers who are were pushing the 140-150kph barrier at 18, 19, 20 years old, and none of them went through unscathed,” Cummins said. “They all had a string of injuries over a few years and came out the other side. So I’m not too fussed. I’d love to be playing, but I realise it’s not a rare thing to occur.”The revelation that Cummins had been scheduled to visit the Australian Institute of Sport for examination of his action, and its potential to contribute to his injuries, is telling. It confirms that some among Cummins’ mentors agree that he is still developing, still finding the correct bowling action and method for his body.There are pointed parallels here with the careers of Lee and Gillespie, who both underwent drastic changes to their bowling actions in their earliest days. In Lee’s case, there were five years of setbacks and experiments between his first-class debut in 1994-95 and his first Test in 1999. Those changes were forced by a string of injuries, but ultimately resulted in a bowling method that was both swifter and more durable than the original. In this Cummins can find some consolation, knowing that the action he used to great effect in Johannesburg a year ago does not have to be the one he carries right through his career.For now, however, he must cope with the bewilderment and frustration of another major injury. As he put it: “I’m sick of coming home and not playing the summer.” His minders for state, T20 club and country must be sick of it too, and it is to be hoped that they will now take a longer view to ensure that the promise Cummins has shown so far is not entirely undermined by impatience to have him bowling again as soon as possible.