All posts by h716a5.icu

An auction veteran gives an insider’s view of how teams prepare for two days of madness

Amrit Mathur11-Feb-2014Between the first IPL auction in 2008 and the one to be held in Bangalore over the next two days there have been many trials, a few errors and much experience. There is much that has morphed around the IPL from its first year and in Bangalore on Wednesday we will have a “mega-auction”, where teams will be built from scratch.In 2008, the first auction blew into the IPL like a tornado. The auction was hit-and-run, trial-and-error, for many teams; it felt like it had come and gone before anyone had time to assimilate what was going on. Nobody understood the dynamics of a market-driven bid process and the accompanying uncertainties of multiple buyers chasing one product. Many thought, “Let’s prepare a wish list and we’ll learn and decide as we go along.”In one very fundamental way, though, the first IPL auction set the ground rules for subsequent auctions. Not for the modus operandi but for the essential building blocks of the IPL teams. The nomination of “icon” players ensured that Indian players would fetch prime value and those players would become the face or brand of the team with the squad built around them.It also brought to Indian cricket the word “marquee.” Teams understood instinctively that nothing and no one is more valuable in the IPL than the Indian “marquee” player. Everyone now builds their squad around these players and agrees to pay top dollar – now rupee – for them.The mandated presence of seven Indians in every starting XI, and the resulting gap between demand and supply, ensured that Indian players would go for serious money, and consequently teams with better Indian talent would be stronger. The icon player rule also meant that, in the Indian context, players took precedence over teams. This is completely in contrast to other sporting leagues where the team or brand is supreme. But the IPL was a new tournament and no one knew the brands it was putting out on display. The known entity, and in the Indian context the household names, in this mix, of course, were the Indian players.Six years later
If in 2008 the auction was driven by the reputations of players and their past records, the air has certainly cleared in that regard over the past six years.Auctions now are more focussed, teams have far greater clarity about what kind of team they want and the type of players needed to execute their plans. This learning has come from experience and better awareness of the nuances and complexities of 20-over cricket and, more importantly, better assessment of players in T20 situations.

Each player is assessed by a very rigorous system, not just strike- and economy-rates but a much deeper analysis of actual performance in crunch match situations

Each player is assessed by a very rigorous system, not just strike- and economy-rates but a much deeper analysis of actual performance in crunch match situations and data analysts are coming up with more and more precise figures about pressure indicators and similar issues when going into an auction. Auctions are more rational, the bidding more precise and focussed. But we are not at Moneyball yet, despite Rajasthan’s early success and its general branding as the ‘poor man’s team.These days the cricket operations people play a more prominent role. Some owners who were front and centre in 2008 chose not to attend last year’s auction. For sure, frantic calls on mobiles ensured they were always involved in key decisions but they left most decisions to their highly-paid experts. Shah Rukh Khan, for example, has not sat at the owner’s table since the first auction. Some owners are more hands-on while others choose to keep a low profile, restricting their role to holding up the bid paddle or signing the transaction/purchase document once the hammer comes down to close the bidding.The Auction war room
What has happened in these six years is that, the odd choice based on whim or instinct apart, the selection of players tends to be more sensible and made by cricket experts. There is now an exhaustive process where inputs from owners or experts are discussed and taken on board or not. Pre-auction brainstorming sessions resemble a war-room situation, where every eventuality is carefully considered, options weighed and each response carefully calibrated.Ahead of the auction, each team has several plans with spreadsheets detailing options A to B to C for every key position. Laptops are filled with every manner of information and analysis, including the names of ‘must haves’ and ‘preferred choices.’There must be clarity about the kind of team you want to build. Focus on Indian batting with foreign bowling – or the other way round, because Indian batting is very expensive? Among foreigners there is another shuffling through the options – do you punt on ‘value picks’ (smart, cheap T20 specialists) or go for the big boys? Or look for bowlers according to the character of ‘home’ pitches?From this nucleus arises the choice of your top Indian players. Once these are secured through an auction, the rest of the team is built around them. Top Indian players ensure fan support, give comfort to potential sponsors, provide captaincy options.At ground zero
Team owners are now generally happy to leave decisions on selection of players to cricket experts•AFPInside the auction room, the table of eight does not usually include, as has been imagined, someone working a calculator to do the numbers of how much cash a team has left to spend. There are updates on a wall for all the teams to understand the number of players being offered, the purse available to each team at each stage, the slots to be filled in with Indian or foreign players. As most teams have retained some players, their strategies can be anticipated. They have, in a way, already revealed their hand.All teams really need going into the auction is their most-wanted list, its options and the buzz they have picked up from everyone else. For example, at the last auction it was common knowledge that KKR would go hard for Gautam Gambhir.Auctions may look like an eyeball-to-eyeball contest but they are more rational, there is little room for emotion and decisions are based on cricket and commercial considerations. As the IPL combines cricket and commerce, players are gauged on these terms – their T20 skills and their commercial appeal with sponsors and fans.Teams know they are restricted by the available purse. The buying has to be prudent because, ultimately, resources have to be spread over 27 players – the maximum permitted squad size – and it will not surprise me if more than one team now restricts its squad size to between 23 and 25.Teams are now very smart about how far they are willing to go chasing a certain kind of player. Ideally no team will go into any auction based on an emotional or personal choice. There are always options for each position that teams need to fill. If a much sought-after player is “lost,” you wait for the next option. It is there that the order of the auction plays an important role. Splurging on a player can hit a team badly and leave little money for others.Then there are other calculations to be worked on through gut instinct: if your second choice player is on offer first, you can either bid aggressively or pass. The risk in letting the second choice go (only because he is offered first) is you might be outbid, later, for the first choice and therefore lose both options.In such situations, instinct matters. Not science or strategy. It is why not everything goes to plan. Auctions are dynamic, impossible to control and throw up surprising numbers. Like Mashrafe Mortaza being picked by KKR for US$600,000 in 2010, or Dan Christian by Hyderabad for $900,000 in 2011 and Mumbai spending $1m on Glenn Maxwell in 2013.The joker in the pack

Every auction has had its moment – like the complete silence in 2011 when Sourav Ganguly was passed over by all teams. Or the hush, that same day, when Gautam Gambhir became – at $2.4 million – the most expensive IPL auction buy ever

The unexpected drama at this auction could well spring from the right-to-match (RTM) or joker card. There is no telling how much teams would bid for a player knowing they could lose the player anyway. In such a situation, it comes down to instinct again – how far a bidding team is willing to stretch itself, how far do they think the player’s original franchise would be willing to stretch to keep their player. It is very possible some teams could be tempted to push up price of a select favourite of another team with the sole intention of hurting their purse. This, though, is a high-risk game: in case the original franchise refuses to buy the player after the bid process, then you could be stuck with someone you did not want or at best, someone who should not have cost that much.Regardless of all the cold calculations that have been made, there will always be drama at an IPL auction. Every auction has had its moment – like the complete silence in 2011 when Sourav Ganguly was passed over by all teams. Or the hush, that same day, when Gautam Gambhir became – at $2.4 million – the most expensive IPL auction buy ever. That year the low bids for Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting and VVS Laxman – three legends of the game – were put into sharp perspective when KKR spent $5.6m in the first hour bidding for Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan ($2.1 million) and Kallis ($1. 1 million). Not only did this stuff make for great television, but the room began to buzz on its own.There’s a very good chance it is going to happen again tomorrow.

Plays of the day for the qualifying match between Bangladesh and Nepal in Chittagong

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong18-Mar-2014The split-second decision
Sagar Pun and Subash Khakurel had added just 19 runs as Nepal’s opening pair but they made a bigger impact with Anamul Haque’s run out. The batsman too contributed to his own dismissal. Pun first timed his dive at point well to intercept Anamul’s square-cut and was quick on his feet and mind to get up and throw the ball to wicketkeeper Khakurel. The split-second decision to throw at the right end is not an unusual occurrence but always worth a mention. Anamul walked off an angry man, perhaps at himself, but he did have a long conversation with Sabbir Rahman who had initially called a loud ‘no’ and never quite got going for the non-existent single.The smear through cover
Khadka got going in the last five overs, hammering boundaries mostly in front of the wicket. Two of his off-side boundaries matched any top-class international batsman, especially with the placement and power. The first one off Farhad Reza scudded to the extra cover boundary, and it was his statement of intent that got his opposite number Mushfiqur Rahim a bit worried. The second one came off Abdur Razzak in the next over, and perhaps this was the better blow as it came against an accomplished spinner.The missed stumping
Mushfiqur had a lot of time in hand when Vesawkar jumped out of the crease to Shakib Al Hasan in the 14th over. But the ball kept very low, beating Vesawkar and Mushfiqur, who had a tough time gathering the ball. It was still a missed opportunity for the keeper.The ungainly slog
Tamim Iqbal was missing out on all the fun as Anamul played some handsome shots from the other end. He struck a six, which just about cleared long-on but in his next big try two overs later, the shot looked more ungainly. He went after Basant Regmi in the eighth over, and almost fell over trying to hit the ball out of the ground but ended up giving short third-man a simple catch. It was similar to his dismissal in a Test match against Sri Lanka in January.

In a year where Sri Lanka have won almost every prize they laid their eyes on, their luck was bound to run its course at some point. It did on Monday

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC28-Jul-2014Two slips and a gully. A leg slip and a leg gully. A short leg. Silly mid off. Dilruwan Perera lurks at short cover. Rangana Herath prowls the bowling crease. Crows patrol fine leg. Fresh air blows through deep point. Sri Lanka are in their third last-hour finish in four Tests. Drama follows them like a man with an axe goes after the pretty girl in a horror flick.This is the kind of stuff Sri Lanka’s Test supporters – a meagre and masochistic, but passionate lot – live for. When Imran Tahir came to the crease, there were five men up close on the off side to him.Angelo Mathews brought short-midwicket squarer. Mahela Jayawardene told leg slip to close in six inches. Herath ripped some hard, slid others on; went around the wicket first, then over it, firing many into the rough, and floating some up fuller.Throughout the day, Perera and Herath had beaten enough willow to supply a paper-making factory. When the edges were eventually hit, the ball would skim low into one of the few unmanned spaces around the batsmen.Sri Lanka have had their share of good fortune in the five months they won every trophy they played for, so a day like this was overdue. Two fifty-fifty umpiring calls went against them. One lbw shout off Hashim Amla that should have been given out, was turned down, with no reviews remaining.Then there was the rain. The third of the breaks – for a brief, but heavy shower – was the most frustrating. The umpires called the covers on, then off, then on and off again, all in the space of fifteen minutes. The Sri Lanka players raced out onto the field, with less than 90 minutes to play, but another squall washed through just as they were taking their fielding positions.So unwilling to trod off, they just milled about on the side of the square. Several groundstaff kept glancing at them, as if to say, “If you’re going to stand there getting drenched, at least help with the covers”. That was perhaps the only thing Sri Lanka had not tried in their pursuit of victory, having batted positively in both innings and attacked without relent in the field.When the rain eased to finally allow the last phase of play, JP Duminy walked to the crease as if he were in a funeral possession. Perhaps he was mourning his own batting, which lacked a pulse. He made 6 off 123 in the match.

Several groundstaff kept glancing at them, as if to say, “If you’re going to stand there getting drenched, at least help with the covers”. That was perhaps the only thing Sri Lanka had not tried in their pursuit of victory, having batted positively in both innings and attacked without relent in the field

Later on, Tahir provided the most high-quality entertainment, even in an innings that yielded just 4 off 21 balls. He would lunge out late at the full deliveries, pat the ball into the ground, and in an extravagant forward-defence follow-through, nearly lay the bat face down on the pitch. He was almost offering the bat in a thanksgiving sacrifice to the SSC pitch-god who had allowed him to survive one more delivery.The divine was clearly unsatisfied with that, because with three minutes left on the clock, Tahir became a self-appointed human sacrifice. He lay voluntarily immobile at the Tennis Courts end, apparently with sudden-onset full-body paralysis, for which the only cure was Vernon Philander coming down the pitch and telling him he may be taking the gag too far. Even Sri Lanka Tests can only handle so much drama.When Sri Lanka needed one wicket in the final hour at Headingley, Mathews had called for 10 changes, searching frantically for the magic ball Shaminda Eranga finally provided. Then, he had four wicket-takers to rotate.In the second innings at the SSC, he was reduced to having basically a two-man attack. Herath and Perera had been impeccable, but Suranga Lakmal seemed worn and flat, given the surface he was working with. Ajantha Mendis had bowled so poorly in the Test, he was practically only called on to bowl an over while Herath and Perera swapped ends. Even that one over sometimes seemed too much for him.This Sri Lanka team does not like to criticise their own, but after the match, Mathews made clear his disappointment in Mendis’ wicketless outing. “We expected a lot more from him, but he couldn’t’ deliver much,” he said. “We thought, having three spinners – he will be able to contribute. It wasn’t the usual SSC wicket. It was much drier and expected to assist spin bowling a lot. The spinner we thought could make a difference was Mendis. He had a quite a bad game.”In the end, Sri Lanka were foiled by Tahir, who had arguably been even less impressive with the ball than Mendis, while Vernon Philander, the other villain of the series, stood at the other end. Having played positive cricket from the start of the series to its end, Sri Lanka gave their fans something to cheer for, but ran out of luck in the dying hours.

Likeable, hard-working and skilful, it was a matter of time before Phillip Hughes cemented his spot in the Australian Test team. Then, improbably and inconsolably, his time ran out

Daniel Brettig27-Nov-20146:47

Chappell: Hughes will be remembered for uncomplaining attitude

Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting. David Warner and Shane Watson. Simon Katich and Justin Langer. Brad Haddin and Matthew Wade. Darren Lehmann and Brett Lee.These strong men of Australian cricket have often had very little in common. Their competitiveness, pride and differences of opinion have caused plenty of arguments and disagreements. Apart from the baggy-green cap, there was often only one thing that they all agreed on:Phillip Hughes.He was a very close friend of Clarke’s, yet a pupil of Ponting, with whom he shared a manager in James Henderson. He was a friend and opening partner for each of Warner, Watson and Katich – three more contrasting characters it would be almost impossible to find. He was equally happy in the company of Haddin and Wade, two men of different states and generations but shared desire to keep wicket for their country. And he was a student of batting mentors as broadly churched as Lehmann, Langer, and his personal coach, Neil D’Costa.For all their many divergent views, these men shared enormous belief in Hughes. A belief that he would soon bloom into one of Australia’s most prolific Test batsmen, fulfilling the promise he first demonstrated on a precocious tour to South Africa in 2009, having found a more sustainable style of batting. This belief is also why the grief about Hughes’ death at the age of 25 is so universal, and so shattering. Hughes always had time on his side, or so we thought.

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Phillip Joel Hughes was born on November 30, 1988, the son of Greg and Virginia. They owned a banana farm in the northern New South Wales town of Macksville, and it was here that Hughes first learned the scything, cutting method that he would spring upon all manner of bowling attacks, from junior and country cricket to Sydney grade and the Sheffield Shield for NSW.His batting and life coach around this time was D’Costa, who had also shepherded Clarke in his early days and, in Hughes, saw another great Australian batsman in the making. “This kid,” he was often heard to say, “will go all the way.”If there was some initial scepticism from state selectors about Hughes’ tendency to open up his stumps while arrowing boundaries through the off side, it was quickly swept away by runs. Hundreds piled up against unsuspecting attacks, and a national selection panel led by Andrew Hilditch was swayed into taking Hughes to South Africa as the man to replace Matthew Hayden. It was a bold call, ahead of the likes of Chris Rogers and Phil Jaques, but the aggregates backed it up.His first international innings was over in a few balls, his pet cut shot drawing an edge behind. But the South Africans took this as proof of fallibility outside off stump and fed the shot as Hughes galloped to twin hundreds in Durban. They underpinned a series win that Ponting called his favourite, and seemed to set Hughes up for the future.England and Andrew Flintoff had other ideas, tucking up the 20-year-old Hughes and swaying the Ashes tourists to drop him after two Tests. His place in the team was inconsistent from that moment, and his method gradually reshaped into something more rounded and grounded in the game’s fundamentals. A method that would take time to mature, but could last. It was still in transition when Hughes was caught Guptill, bowled Martin four innings out of four against New Zealand in 2011. He was dropped, but would come again.The search for runs and a longer run in the Test team saw Hughes move to South Australia in 2012, where he found Adelaide to have more in common with Macksville than Sydney. His regular visits back to the family farm kept him uncomplicated and humble in his demeanour and words. No matter where he played, Hughes was never anything other than a wholehearted, determined and slightly cheeky country kid.In late 2012, Hughes appeared finally to be taking a more permanent berth in the team. He batted at No. 3 against Sri Lanka, and also found his way into the ODI team, where he became the first Australian to make a hundred on debut. While Hughes found the going harder in India, struggling to find a way against the hosts’ spin bowlers and parched pitches, he improved gradually as the trip went on, earning plaudits from the chief executive James Sutherland for his perseverance on a tour better known for the Mohali suspensions.His final Test appearances took place against England, where not for the first time he was dropped when at another time he might have enjoyed a longer stint in the team. An unbeaten 81 in the first Test at Trent Bridge hinted at the player Hughes was on the way to becoming. Far tighter than in South Africa, and composed enough to inspire the teenaged debutant Ashton Agar’s comet-like 98 from No. 11. Hughes had been around long enough to be the senior pro in this most memorable stand.But Australia were rolling through options for the return Ashes series at home, and coach Lehmann’s preference for right-handers to combat Graeme Swann told against Hughes. He was now cast as the team’s reserve batsman, forever on the edge of the Test XI but never in it, and his humility in handling this commission spoke volumes.On tour, Hughes was excellent company, whether in coffee shops during the day or bars after dark. His acceptance of the reserve role was impressive in a game where so many players are in a hurry for their chance. Continued runs would eventually mount an argument too strong to ignore, so why worry about it?”Just being in this squad is where I need to be,” Hughes said in South Africa earlier this year. “Playing or not playing, I’m happy to be in the squad and helping out the guys wherever needed. It doesn’t bother me about what happens here, I’m not looking too far ahead. Consistency is a big thing for me, having been in and out of the team. When I get another crack, I really want to try to be as consistent as I possibly can be.”Hughes showed that sort of consistency in a top-end series for Australia A, twice coshing double-hundreds against South African opposition. He came exceptionally close to tilting Rogers out of the Test XI against Pakistan in the UAE, but was groomed for later assignments. Rogers might only be playing another year or so, Australia’s schedule wasn’t getting any less demanding, Hughes’ appetite for runs was undiminished. There was so much time.

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At the SCG against New South Wales, Hughes played as though he could see a Test match in his very near future. This was not the 20-year-old bush basher who had so startled South Africa, but a more considered and mature young man. Many good judges had likened Hughes to Langer and Hayden, young men with less than perfect techniques who learned from harsh early Test lessons to return as wiser and ultimately dominant Test batsmen. Hughes was embodying this as he moved into the 60s.Then Sean Abbott delivered a bouncer, no more venomous than any Hughes had faced over the years. He had already avoided a few short balls, but this time elected to hook, a stroke that he added more consistently to his shot locker as one of the means by which to open up more scoring avenues. Like he had done at all phases of his career, Hughes arrived early, swivelling to meet ball with bat, but miscalculating the pace ever so slightly. A one in a billion blow caused him to reel, to stagger, and then collapse. He made 63, not out.Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting. David Warner and Shane Watson. Simon Katich and Justin Langer. Brad Haddin and Matthew Wade. Darren Lehmann and Brett Lee. All went to Hughes’ bedside at St Vincent’s Hospital, and all prayed for the miracle that did not arrive. They had all been united in their admiration for Hughes, and were all now together in grief, alongside the rest of the cricket world. Improbably, impossibly and inconsolably, time had run out.

They won the game. They found some form. If you’re judging England on the scoreboard, it was above par, but still well below par

Jarrod Kimber in Christchurch23-Feb-20152:04

Trott: England need to utilise Powerplays better

Six men walked the streets of Christchurch on Sunday morning. They walked through the Cricket World Cup Zone. Past the cricket memories exhibition. Beyond the Le French Cricket field. And then right past a sign that said, “Go the BLACKCAPS, Smash ’em for 6.”They looked athletic, dressed in nice Sunday bar casual attire, and wore their caps low. They had that I’m-not-going-to-work-today facial hair. They walked in a tight pack, through wrecked buildings and fenced-off zones. They could have been any six mates looking for a Sunday feed.These were six mates looking for a feed, and they were also six mates who’d been smashed for six, or seven, by New Zealand just a few days before. More than a third of the squad, who, within a week of the tournament, were below Bangladesh, Scotland and Afghanistan on the points table.One look at any of the six faces and you knew that. It was as if England’s net run rate of -3.952 was etched on their faces.Exactly 24 hours later the team is batting against Scotland. A team that has a few decent bowlers, a spin bowler slower than an ECB explanation and a bunch of medium-pacers they try to squish into ten overs. Moeen Ali is stylish, even as he almost finds cover, he makes batting look easy and pretty. Ian Bell is less style and more struggling graft, he was lucky to survive an lbw. When Scotland aren’t bowling wides he plays and misses regularly. Against the slow, steady and really slow bowling of Majid Haq, he scores at less than a run every two balls.At one stage, as Bell faces Haq, there are four dot balls. Time actually stands still. The game of ODI cricket has an out-of-body experience and watches itself in a coma.Would Dhawan, Rohit, Warner, Finch, McCullum and Guptill have been so comatose?But, England did score. They scored well. Well enough. While carrying Bell, Moeen manages to keep England’s scoring rate at 5.73 after 30 overs. They are 172. They have 20 overs and ten wickets and five overs of Powerplay to come.They have blown off the cobwebs, now is the time to take the shackles off as well. They didn’t. Their run rate went from 5.7 to 6.Bell’s wicket brings Gary Ballance in. There are times when his batting seems to have been prepared by Southern African cricket scientists to work in all conditions. But there would be almost no situations when you want Ballance to come in after the 30th over of an ODI. England refused to change their order. Their batting order has seemingly been passed to them by supernatural beings. They’d rather face persecution here on earth, than change it and offend their guardians.Bell’s wicket begat Ballance. Moeen’s wicket Joe Root. Ballance’s wicket begat Eoin Morgan, Root’s begat James Taylor. It was written.In Eoin Morgan’s first 21 balls, he made 11 runs, that was when he was missed at deep midwicket by Freddie Coleman•Getty ImagesWhen Moeen was out, he had made 128 out of their first 200 runs. He was batting like most of the other batsmen fantasise about. When he went out, England had a mini-collapse. It wasn’t a Tim Southee-like experience, but it was a misstep. That can happen. The Scottish bowling was disciplined and made you hit it. And Matthew Cross pulled off a stumping so good that wicketkeeping purists lost their collective continence.It was the bit afterwards that was a worry. With no pace, gentle reverse swing and a spinner whose only weapon was float, Morgan and Taylor really struggled. This is England’s third game of the tournament. A tournament they don’t look like winning, and may not qualify for the second round of. It may be too harsh to even rate them poorly for making over 300, when 13 of their last 19 innings they hadn’t even completed.But they still limped, rather than strutted to 300. They can say it was a par score, they can say they got some form back, they can be happy with Moeen’s batting, but they can’t be honestly happy with their last 20 overs. They can’t be happy that Moeen scored 42% of their total runs but went out in the 35th over.In Morgan’s first 21 balls, he made 11 runs, that was when he was missed at deep midwicket by Freddie Coleman. Taylor made 17, from 26 balls, as Jos Buttler watched on waiting for his number in the queue to be called.Buttler’s first ball was a boundary. It looked like the ball had been waiting for him to come out. It was the last ball of the 45th over. Buttler and Morgan put on 45 in 23 balls. Buttler was out just before the last over.England’s last over had them starting at a score of 299. Josh Davey started with a wide. Morgan hit the second ball straight up and was caught. Chris Woakes did the same. Stuart Broad walked across his stumps on the hat-trick ball and took a leg bye. Steven Finn flicked a ball out to the midwicket sweeper. Broad missed the next one. Broad missed the one after that. Finn stole a bye.In the last over of an innings, with their captain set and now in form and two allrounders yet to come in, England got a wide, took a bye and leg bye, and their number ten made a single. That was the sum total of their output against an Associate nation.In their last 20 overs, England failed to score six runs in an over 10 times. They lost eight wickets. They kept their batting order. And moved their run rate up from 5.7 to 6.They won the game. They found some form. If you’re judging them on the recent England scoreboard, it was above par, but still well below par. But the cobwebs and shackles are still on. And today they looked self-imposed.

Picket fencing. Old wooden benches. Grass banks. It could easily be the Basin Reserve in Wellington… but it’s not

Abhishek Purohit20-Feb-2015Picket fencing. A gravel walking path around the picket fencing. Old wooden benches. Grass banks. A busy road skirting the edge of the ground. Could easily be the Basin Reserve in Wellington. It is the Junction Oval, or the St Kilda Cricket Ground, in Melbourne. Known more as the ground where Shane Warne played club cricket, and also made his first-class debut, the Junction Oval resembles the Basin Reserve in another aspect. In its heritage grandstands.The building and taking down of stands at grounds tells a story in itself. The old grandstand at the Basin Reserve was built in 1925. Spectators are no longer allowed inside it due to it being considered a potential hazard in the earthquake-prone region. The Vance Stand, which came up in the 1980s, is used instead. A few years later, the disused luncheon area in the old grandstand was turned into the New Zealand Cricket Musuem, which welcomes visitors to this day.Junction Oval used to have as many as four stands, says Stephen Wain, who has been around at the ground for years and serves as administration manager for St Kilda Cricket Club. Two of them still stand, and a third, smaller, newer pavilion has come up at the straight boundary.The Blackie-Ironmonger stand reminds you right away of the Basin grandstand. Named after the “most durable and talented spin bowling combination” in Victoria cricket, both of who represented Australia, the stand came up in 1945. High, pillared, corrugated iron roof. Long benches. Red-brick sides. It transports you back in time, and unlike the one at the Basin, is still used. It may not have a national museum, but it does house a collection of the club’s memorabilia, as well as the team changing rooms. It also contains a small enclosure for media personnel, though the view is from deep square leg.The benches will disappear soon to be replaced by seats, says Wain, for as historic as they are, they are not comfortable to sit on. Some leather cushions were helpfully placed on a few for the moment.The Kevin Murray grandstand, named after the great Australian rules footballer, was shut down after being deemed a fire hazard. The vintage staircases, two pairs of which still take you up Blackie-Ironmonger, were removed from the Kevin Murray stand. It still has the wooden floorboards intact, says Wain.Two stands were pulled down years ago. One was wooden, and used to be quite popular with fans. But there were a series of fires in the region in the late 1980s, and the authorities were not willing to take any chances. You can never be too careful with smokers in a wooden structure. One cigarette is all it takes, says Wain. “Poof”, and the entire thing could have come down.The fourth stand had something called concrete cancer, explains Wain, saying that chunks of material were falling off. One of them landed on the top of the club president’s car. That sealed the stand’s fate. A mound full of grass takes its place now.There is also a giant scoreboard next to the new pavilion. “When it is 35 degrees outside, it feels like 55 degrees inside,” says Wain. And when it is cold outside, it is freezing inside. Happens when you are sitting inside a hollow steel structure. The scoreboard was brought to the ground from a racecourse.The ground’s facilities failed to meet first-class standards in recent years, and there was a plea from Warne to the state government to help in upgrading the venue. A newly elected administration promised funds, and Wain says part of the proposed facelift includes a three-storey multi-purpose building in place of the smallest, youngest pavilion. That will be another story then. Blackie-Ironmonger will stay on though. Reminding visitors of the Basin.

Among the many glittering innings in the 2015 World Cup, five stood out

Karthik Krishnaswamy30-Mar-2015Samiullah Shenwari
96 v Scotland, DunedinIt was a wildly seesawing day for Afghanistan. They let Scotland get away from 144 for 8 to 210. In reply, they slipped from 85 for 2 to 97 for 7. Samiullah Shenwari, who had come in at 46 for 2, could well have been back in the hut too. On 20, Majid Haq had dropped him in the slips.Eventually, it was Haq’s bowling that Shenwari would target as Afghanistan neared their target, but that was a while away. There was rebuilding to do, and Shenwari would do it patiently. He added 35 in 68 balls with Dawlat Zadran, and brought up his half-century shortly after that partnership ended. It had taken him 113 balls to get there, but Scotland were nervous. Shenwari wasn’t celebrating. He had bigger things on his mind. At the other end, Hamid Hassan was simply looking to stay put, and doing a great job of it.Shenwari’s moment arrived in the 47th over, which began with 38 required from 24 balls. Bang, bang, bang. Haq’s offspin disappeared for three sixes in three balls, all over cow corner. Next ball, with four to get for his century, Shenwari went for another big hit and picked out deep midwicket. Distraught, he remained slumped just beyond the boundary rope, head in his hands, but Hassan and Shapoor Zadran ensured his efforts wouldn’t go unrewarded, calmly picking off the 19 runs Afghanistan needed for their first ever World Cup win.Brendan Taylor
138 v India, AucklandIndia had won their first five matches in the group stage, all by convincing margins, and when Brendan Taylor walked in at 13 for 2, which soon became 33 for 3, another easy win seemed imminent. Taylor, who had just announced he would be signing a three-year Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire, was playing his final game for Zimbabwe.Taylor was in sparkling form, and in his previous match had made a brilliant 91-ball 121 against Ireland, which had brought Zimbabwe to within six runs of chasing down 332. Now, against a better attack, he played with the same sense of authority and showed the same disdain for the spinners, whom he swept and reverse-swept whenever he felt like.Taylor and Sean Williams batted with freedom, putting on 93 and ensuring Zimbabwe barely took any time wallowing over the loss of those early wickets. Taylor only grew more aggressive after the partnership ended, and hit his first six in the 34th over, launching R Ashwin over cow corner.Two more sixes came off a Mohammed Shami over in the Powerplay, the first a ramp over third man that made him the first Zimbabwean to make back-to-back World Cup hundreds. Then Taylor took Jadeja to the cleaners – 4, 4, 6, 4, 6. At 232 for 4 in 41 overs, Zimbabwe seemed set for a monster total, but Taylor’s dismissal in the next over precipitated a collapse that ended at 287 all out. It wasn’t enough to win Zimbabwe the game, but it stretched India’s batting more than it had ever been till that point in the tournament.Martin Guptill
237* v West Indies, WellingtonBefore the World Cup, Martin Guptill’s place at the top of the order seemed under threat. He had averaged under 28 in his last 28 matches, during which time pretty much every other New Zealand batsman had looked in the form of their lives. Yet the selectors kept faith in him, and in New Zealand’s final group-stage game he repaid them with an important hundred in a tricky chase against Bangladesh.But he wasn’t done yet. Far from it. Grassed on 4 by Marlon Samuels at the start of the quarter-final against West Indies, Guptill cashed in like no man had done before in an ODI innings. By the third over, Guptill had struck three fours, all of them driven down the ground with the straightest of bats.Over the 50 overs of New Zealand’s innings, West Indies kept seeing that straight bat over and over again. They kept giving him balls to drive, and he kept hitting them to the boundary. Sometimes he closed his bat face a little and drove through the on side. Sometimes he extended his follow-through and landed the ball in the stands. Once he even hit the roof.The century came up in the 35th over. Plenty of time still left. How far could Guptill go? He would go farther than any New Zealand batsman before him. Guptill went from 100 to 150 in 23 balls, and from 150 to 200 in 18 balls, the landmark coming up with another straight drive for four, off Andre Russell. Four batsmen had made double-centuries before Guptill, and Chris Gayle had done it in the same tournament, but this was a World Cup quarter-final. This was something else.Grant Elliott’s six sparked off wild celebrations at the Eden Park•Getty ImagesGrant Elliott
84* v SA, AucklandThis was New Zealand’s seventh World Cup semi-final. So far they had lost six out of six. Brendon McCullum had raised hopes of ending that run by giving New Zealand the blazing start they needed in a revised chase of 298 in 43 overs. Now, at 128 for 3, they needed a cool head in the middle of a deafening, jam-packed Eden Park.The selectors had reckoned Grant Elliott was that man, when they recalled him a month before the World Cup, at 35, after two years out of the New Zealand side. Now their judgment was on test, in a World Cup semi-final, against the country of Elliott’s birth.First ball he faced, Elliott calmly lap-swept Imran Tahir for four. No nerves. New Zealand lost the set Ross Taylor, but Elliott and Corey Anderson kept in touch with the required rate. Anderson made the muscular hits, while Elliott relied on placement, opening his bat face to steer Vernon Philander through cover point, shuffling across to whip Morne Morkel over the short boundary at square leg, stepping inside the line to lift Tahir over extra cover to bring up his fifty.New Zealand enjoyed a couple of slices of luck, including a dropped catch off Elliott in the penultimate over when two fielders collided, but lost Anderson and Luke Ronchi as the match reached its denouement. Twelve to get from one over. Daniel Vettori squeezed a yorker to the backward point boundary, the batsmen stole a couple of byes, and it came down to five from two balls. Dale Steyn sent down a length ball, in the slot, and Elliott swung it away over long-on. Eden Park erupted. New Zealand were in a World Cup final.Steven Smith
105 v India, SydneyThe big players usually seize the big moments in World Cups, and while several batsmen put their hand up for Australia at various stages, it was Steven Smith, their No. 3, who gave them their backbone with a run of five successive 50-plus scores, including one in each knockout game.In the semi-final, Smith walked in after the early dismissal of David Warner. He had tormented them over the summer, but over the course of the World Cup India’s bowling attack had grown in rhythm and confidence, and had bowled out all seven of their opponents so far. Maybe things would be different this time.They were, in a way, but they weren’t. India weren’t bowling particularly badly, and at one end were making Aaron Finch scratch and scrabble for his runs. Smith, though, was batting on a different planet. Umesh Yadav kept banging it in short, but he had the field for it, and still Smith pulled him away for three fours in an over.Smith motored along, bringing up 50 in 53 balls and collecting runs with great ease, using his feet to the spinners, walking across the stumps to the quicks, working the ball wherever he pleased.Australia took the batting Powerplay early, in the 33rd over, and Smith immediately switched gears, clipping, swiping and pulling Mohammed Shami for two fours and a six in one over to reach his hundred. Australia were well on their way to a match-winning total. In terms of impact, this innings was up there with Ricky Ponting’s in Johannesburg in the 2003 final.

ESPNcricinfo staff09-May-2015Manan Vohra and M Vijay added 45 together after Kings XI Punjab opted to bat•BCCIThey were helped by some woeful fielding from Kolkata Knight Riders though, with as many as six catches being dropped•BCCIGlenn Maxwell finally rose to the occasion following an underwhelming season, his 22-ball 43 featuring the batsman’s signature swats and reverse-sweeps•BCCIKings XI were well set at 143 for 2 when Sunil Narine turned the screws on their innings. He first took a smart return catch to dismiss Manan Vohra…•BCCIAnd then bowled Wriddhiman Saha with a quicker delivery•BCCINarine finished with a season-best 4 for 19, but a number of late blows from David Miller lifted the visitors to 183 for 5•BCCIKnight Riders began the chase brightly, but lost some momentum with Robin Uthappa’s wicket, and later found themselves trapped by a spin web to fall to 83 for 4•BCCIBut Andre Russell, has he has often done before, turned the game around, bludgeoning five fours and four sixes•BCCIHis 53-run partnership with Yusuf Pathan came off just 25 balls and swung the advantage the hosts’ way•BCCIYusuf fell for 29, but Russell blitzed the joint fastest fifty of the season, off just 19 balls•BCCIHowever, his dismissal – caught behind off Axar Patel – injected more late drama into the game•BCCI

Statistical highlights from day two of the second Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies at the P Sara Oval

Shiva Jayaraman23-Oct-20152006 The last time before today when Sri Lanka took the first-innings lead after making 200 or fewer while batting first in Tests. They had bowled out Pakistan for 176 in the first innings at the SSC, after they themselves were dismissed for 185. Overall this is only the fourth such instance for Sri Lanka in Tests. This is also the seventh time that West Indies have conceded a first-innings lead after bowling out their opposition for 200 or less. The previous such instance for West Indies had also come in 2006, against India in Jamaica, when they had bowled out the visitors to 200 and then got bowled out for just 103.4/34 Dhammika Prasad’s returns in West Indies’ first innings – his second-best bowling figures in an innings in Tests. This is the third four-wicket haul he has taken in his last three Tests at the P Sara Oval. He had taken 4 for 43 against India and 4 for 92 against Pakistan in the previous two Tests. Prasad has 23 wickets at the P Sara – the most he has at any venue – at an average of 21.78.55 Partnership runs between Kaushal Silva and Kusal Mendis for Sri Lanka’s second wicket, the highest of the match and only the first fifty-plus stand. As many as five partnerships of between 30 and 39 runs have come in this Test of which 16 have gone into double-digits, but the second-wicket stand in Sri Lanka’s second innings was the first to reach 50 runs.2001 The last time before this Test when two openers of a team got at least one golden duck in each innings. Kaushal Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne were dismissed for a duck off the first ball they faced in the first and second innings of this Test. Incidentally, the previous instance too had happened in a match between the same teams, but on that occasion it had been the two West Indies openers – Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle – who had got out off the first ball. This was only the sixth such instance and the second for Sri Lanka: both their openers had got out without scoring on the first ball they had faced in the first innings of the Kandy Test against South Africa in 2000.8 Total runs added by the opening stands in three innings in this Test. Only seven other Tests have had eight or fewer runs scored for the opening stands from three or more innings. The previous such instance came in the Cape Town Test between South Africa and New Zealand in 2012. However, there is one more innings left to be played in the ongoing Test.13 Runs Marlon Samuels scored in West Indies’ first innings. Samuels has now failed to score more than 15 runs in his last 12 Test innings against Sri Lanka. His 16 innings against them have produced just 151 runs at an average of 10.06. Only two other batsmen have averaged lower against an opposition from 15 or more innings batting in the top-order (No. 1 to No. 7). Ken Rutherford averaged 6.78 from 15 innings against West Indies and Charlie Turner averaged 9.85 against England from 15 innings.222 Runs scored from 90 overs that were bowled in the second day of this Test, the fifth-lowest on any day at P Sara Oval in Tests since 2000. This is also the second-lowest total on the second day of any Test since 2000 at this venue. Only 191 runs were scored in the second day of the Test between the hosts and England in 2012.0 Boundaries by Kaushal Silva in his 90-ball unbeaten innings of 31. He has batted out 66 dots and has taken 17 singles and seven twos. This is only the second time in his last 11 innings that he has managed more than 30 runs.

Sri Lanka used to show tourists the delights of the Galle Coast and then impose big, bruising wins upon them. They have lost that knack, although a hundred from Dimuth Karunaratne was a reminder of old times

Andrew Fidel Fernando14-Oct-2015In the decade gone by, Sri Lanka had set down a foolproof method of operation in Galle. They would bring the visiting teams south at the start of the tour, show them the ocean, feed them some seafood, lead them to the top of the fort, then hurl them brutally off it. It was the done thing in the Murali-Sanga-Mahela days. Sri Lanka had big, bruising wins at the venue, and the touring side spent the rest of the series trying to erase the deficit and the memory of a traumatic loss.And for a long time, the toss also seemed hexed. The coin often fell for Sri Lanka at the venue. The captain never hesitated to put his side in. At the end of day one, their victims walked off the field two shades darker, doubled over in exhaustion, and at least one Sri Lanka batsmen positively strutted off it, a triple-figure score to his name. In the dressing room, Murali had been placed in a straightjacket. The pitch had begun to show slight signs of turn, and he had failed to contain his excitement.It has been a little different in the past two years. South Africa and Pakistan have won matches in Galle. In the last game at the ground, India carved out a gigantic first innings lead, and that game was only won by Sri Lanka thanks to some inspiration from the left-arm spinner, Rangana Herath, and a healthy helping of luck.Bowlers were ‘brilliant’ – Baptiste

West Indies’ interim coach Eldine Baptiste said the two catches his team dropped could have substantially altered the scoreline, had they been taken. The costlier of the two mistakes was Dinesh Chandimal’s reprieve. He was dropped at mid on by Jerome Taylor on 11, and went on to hit 72 not out, and was part of a 149-run stand with Dimuth Karunaratne.
“The bowlers put their hard work in and bowled brilliantly in the circumstances,” Baptiste said. “It’s just that they dropped a few catches we would have liked to have caught. That would have made a big difference. They could have been 220 for 5, instead of 250 for 2.”
Darren Bravo had dropped the earlier catch, reprieving Lahiru Thirimanne at slip. The batsmen went on to add only 10 more runs, but Baptiste still believed the error was costly. “When you’re fielding in the slips, as soon as you lack concentration, a nick normally comes. If there are 600 balls bowled in a day, you’ve got to be on the ball 600 rimes. The fielder at slip and the one at mid-on could have done a lot better.”

On Wednesday, against West Indies, Sri Lanka’s top order reclaimed a little of what had been lost from the golden Galle years. They rolled out the old welcome, replete with an unbeaten centurion, and a large top-order stand. It was an imperfect imitation, but this is a young team. They have not won a trophy in any format for more than a year. Imperfect, for now, is more than good enough.Dimuth Karunaratne didn’t quite capture the manic energy of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s old Galle charges, but the legside flicks and checked drives were pleasant enough. He squirted Jerome Taylor through the slips for his first boundary, then creamed Shannon Gabriel down the ground for his next.Karunaratne has had an odd home season. He knocked the Pakistan attack around, then was bloodied himself by India, who kept him to 67 runs from six innings. But by being unfathomably inconsistent, he is following in the steps of some of the greatest Sri Lanka batsmen. He has a very long way to go before he matches Aravinda de Silva or Sanath Jayasuriya, but feast or famine had been their chosen approach as well.He said a few technical errors pointed out to him by new interim coach Jerome Jayaratne had lit his path back to form. “The new coach showed me few things to change and I made those changes. Not only me, most of the batsmen made a few changes. We did some very hard work during the last three weeks, simply because the next few series that are lined up are not easy at all. Most of those series are to be played overseas. So this is a series to make amendments.”His opening partner Kaushal Silva clung on dourly for 48 deliveries before edging one to slip. Even in their greatest years, one Sri Lanka opener would routinely soak up balls, as if preparing of a long, fruitful innings, then lamely get out for a low score. Silva carried this out almost too well.Dinesh Chandimal was the man who made the innings spark at No. 4 – a position once held by de Silva before Mahela Jayawardene claimed that mantle. Chandimal has a more homespun style than either of those men, but possesses the same fearless outlook. He cracked Devendra Bishoo’s legspin through the covers fourth ball, and spent much of his innings trying to force good balls into space using his bottom hand.When Chandimal arrives at the crease, it feels like something interesting could happen, which was not the feeling Lahiru Thirimanne inspired today. It sometimes feels like the sedative qualities of Thirimanne’s and Silva’s cricket are being misused by humanity. Could their batting be used to pacify stampeding buffalo for example, or quell tropical cyclones?In the evening, having sapped the West Indies’ bowling of its venom and energy, Chandimal and Karunaratne played out a wicketless final session, in which Sri Lanka claimed the advantage. In yesteryear, the score might have crossed 320 by stumps, but this is the cheap imitation for now, remember? That they saw out the first ten overs of the second new ball is sufficient for the time beingThe time may come when this team becomes a force of its own; independent of great teams and players from the past. Maybe in future decades we will be measuring new batsmen on the Karunaratne or Chandimal scale.But for now, while Sri Lanka fans are still pining for the glories of years gone by, Sri Lanka’s top order gave them a whiff of the past. On day one they reminded spectators what it would be like for Sri Lanka to be good at Test cricket again.