All posts by n8rngtd.top

A young Cricket Australia XI, introduced to offer opportunities, has failed miserably in the first two games of the Matador Cup without any experienced figures to guide them through

Daniel Brettig07-Oct-20153:34

‘CA XI going to struggle but has lot of potential’ – Starc

So many writers in recent times have been offered unpaid work “offering great exposure” that a joke has emerged about said freelancers dying of said exposure. The line sprung to mind over the past three days in the first two matches for the Cricket Australia XI in the Matador Cup, beaten out of sight by New South Wales on Monday then razed still more brutally by Victoria on Wednesday – all in the name of “exposure at this level”.It had been the Bushrangers coach David Saker who first raised public concerns about such beatings being detrimental to a collective of young talents unaccompanied by players of significant first-class experience. Saker’s worries were brushed off by the national talent manager Greg Chappell, who predicted the tyros would be very competitive and “likely” to win a couple of games.Chappell’s long-time advocacy of youth, often to the expense of more seasoned players, was made manifest in the abortive Futures League experiment of five years ago. But even that competition afforded the young teams a sprinkling of experience to guide them. This time around the CA XI is bereft of even that kind of guidance, with only the opener Marcus Harris having played more than a handful of games for his state.This is not to say that more senior pros are unavailable. The reshuffling of Cup squads due to the cancellation of the Bangladesh tour left the likes of Ben Rohrer and Jon Wells without their former places, while South Australia had left out Mark Cosgrove from the team.Cosgrove has just completed a successful northern summer with Leicestershire, where he has found not only run-making form but also personal discipline as a result of fatherhood and a senior role with the Foxes. Might it not have been useful to have him around to walk younger players through their first few overs against the likes of James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc, while also telling tales of his wayward, wasted younger days over dinner?There is an Australian precedent for a team composed entirely of stripling talent embarrassing far more travelled opposition. In 1994 the Cricket Academy team shepherded by Rod Marsh beat Mike Atherton’s England tourists twice in as many days at North Sydney Oval. At the time it was seen as proof of English cricket’s poverty, but later years were to prove that Australia’s talent stocks were at this point in unusually strong shape.What is more usual is for young players to face plenty of hard knocks and second thoughts in competition against older men in club and state tournaments. The truly outstanding youngsters – think Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke or Steven Smith here – will find their way through the system through a combination of advocacy and performance, but most others will take longer to find themselves.Chappell has always been eager to fast-track this process in the belief it will uncover more great players than the traditional way, but evidence of this is scant. To reason that more young players will emerge as outstanding simply through opportunities freely given on the basis of age group is a calculation that lacks nuance for the way so much learning is done, not only in cricket but in life.More prevalent is the kind of scenario glimpsed at Hurstville two days ago, on the same pitch the CA XI would be bowled out for 79 upon. Travis Head is a young identified talent as both batsman and leader, but he has learned to smooth the rough edges of his game by playing alongside older men, not just against them. Head’s reflections on how the gap-finding, field-manipulating Callum Ferguson had helped him add finesse to his favoured power game are worth taking note of.For their part, the CA XI are adamant they don’t need any extra help. Their leader William Bosisto is a former Australia Under-19 captain and a polished speaker, something he showed when asked whether some more senior cricketers should be drafted in alongside him. “I’ve heard people say ‘do you need an experienced player in your line-up’,” he said.”I guess that would be one approach but I think the whole idea of having the Cricket Australia XI in the tournament is to give 11 young guys exposure and see what it’s like at this level and see what we have to improve to be competitive. From a personal perspective I know I’ve learned lots of the last two days about where I need to get to be able to dominate at this level and I think that’s invaluable exposure.”There’s no point sitting around in the change room dwelling on today’s performance or Monday’s performance. We came up against two strong sides and we didn’t perform anywhere near as we expected ourselves to or as we would have liked, but the chat was straightaway about moving forward and we play Tasmania on Saturday, so we’re looking for ways we can get better and be competitive against Tasmania.”Cricket teams are generally chosen with their performance in mind. The CA XI has been picked for reasons of exposure instead, and it is now abundantly clear that this approach has created a crucible that only the most resilient young men will find a way to survive in. They are being offered no quarter by the opposition, and precious little advice on how to counter that. Some will work it out for themselves, some will not.Whether they can improve enough over the next few weeks to close the vast margins of their first two games, as per Chappell’s prediction, remains to be seen. But something else to ponder is how many of these young men will be chewed up and spat out of the game by the experience, then never seen in Australian colours again.

Inspired by the film, the book of the same name looks at the rise of a West Indies team alongside the life of its immigrant people in Britain

Nicholas Hogg03-Oct-2015A gust of fine rain swept across The Oval, forcing the Northants batters and Surrey fielders to make a dash for the pavilion. It was the penultimate day of the English domestic season, the fag end of summer, when the cricket lover is already slipping hopelessly into nostalgia. Even the muted TV screen hanging from the roof was lamenting for seasons past, running one of those “Heroes of Yesteryear” type documentaries on Richard Hadlee. A few us watched, the sunny shots of his cantering approach to the crease, shirt sleeves rolled up, and the smooth action delivering the inevitable off-stump line and perfect length delivery.And when that highlights reel came to an end, I looked back across the damp outfield to the patch of sunlight beyond the rooftops of South London, and thought about the foreword to Simon Lister’s superb new book, . On the very first page Clive Lloyd recalls leaning on his bat at the non-striker’s end at The Oval “and inhaling the exuberant buzz that only a West Indian cricket crowd far from home can create”.Inspired by the film of the same title, Lister has expanded the narrative of West Indies cricket by using the footage not broadcast by director Stevan Riley and interviewing the fans, players and their families, to document a history that lays claim to be the “definitive story of the greatest team sport has ever known”.Spectators swarm Clive Lloyd after his century at The Oval, 1973•PA PhotosI might have been too young to appreciate the rambunctious West Indies supporters of the 1970s and ’80s, but through Lister’s interviews with those fans who turned the prosaic seats of The Oval into a Caribbean carnival, and his portraits of the early pioneers of West Indies cricket – Charles Ollivierre, George Headley, Learie Constantine, Frank Worrell and Garfield Sobers – readers can understand what Lloyd meant when he looked to the packed stands and questioned: “How could we not try and do our best?”Lister follows the West Indian exodus to Britain in the 1950s, highlighting the lack of a warm welcome for most of the new arrivals from the Caribbean. Many landed on damp shores to find their dreams of a better life living in cramped and cold rooms. A nonplussed public generally treated them with a contempt ranging from bemusement to verbal and physical abuse. Writing in his 1954 book , Constantine lamented that it was “hard to make it understood by white people how much we resent – and fear – this perpetual undercurrent of jeering, this ingrained belief in the white mind that the coloured man, woman or child is a matter for mirth”.From the 1950s onwards the number of Caribbean fans at West Indies games increased. Matches became a focal point for a community to identify with its roots. In the crowd, amid the music, food and language of a colony long abused by the Empire, was solidarity. On the first day of the Trent Bridge Test in 1976, Lister notes that the had the power.

Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies cricket team brought a people to its feet
by Simon Lister
Yellow Jersey
352 pages (hardback)

With the Lodha committee set to submit its recommendations to the Supreme Court on Monday, ESPNcricinfo answers some frequently asked questions pertaining to the panel and its investigation

Nagraj Gollapudi02-Jan-2016What is the Lodha committee?The Lodha committee, which comprises three members, was constituted by the Supreme Court in January 2015 while hearing various cases related to the IPL 2013 corruption scandal, including the public interest litigation filed by the Cricket Association of Bihar. RM Lodha, former chief justice of India, along with former Supreme Court justices Ashok Bhan and RV Raveendran are the three members of the panel.What was the brief for the panel?Along with determining the quantum of punishment for the accused in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal (which was out last July), the Lodha Committee was also asked by the Supreme Court to examine and make suitable recommendations to the BCCI “for such reforms in its practices and procedures and such amendments in the memorandum of Association, rules and regulations as may be considered necessary and proper on matters set out by the court.”What will happen on Monday?Along with submitting its report to the Supreme Court, the panel will also concurrently hand over a copy of its report to the BCCI for its perusal.Who will be the judges hearing the case?The report would be submitted to the court. It is not known exactly which judge(s) will hear the case, but it is likely that TS Thakur, chief justice of India, and justice Ibrahaim Kalifullah, the two-judge bench which heard most of the 2013 case, might give out the final order on the case.Will the recommendations be binding upon the BCCI?The panel would submit the recommendations to the court, which has the powers to decide which part(s) of the report would be binding upon the BCCI.Is there anything else the panel might submit?The Lodha committee was also asked by the court to examine the role of former IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman “into his activities” related to his role in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal. The court asked the committee to “impose a suitable punishment” upon Raman on behalf of BCCI if he was found guilty.Raman was named in the Mudgal panel report in 2014, which revealed that he knew “a contact of a bookie and contacted him eight times in one season”, but claimed to be “unaware of his connection with betting activities”.The report also said that Raman received information about Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra betting, but did not act on it. Meiyappan and Kundra were banned for life after they were found guilty by the Lodha committee.

An international team is likely to have a few cracks, but Pakistan seem to be sitting on a fault line

Alagappan Muthu in Mirpur02-Mar-20161:48

‘We batted very poorly’ – Waqar

Amid the joyous tumult at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, there were a few quiet voices searching for answers.”I feel like the batting plan was all over the place,” tweeted Wasim Akram after Pakistan were knocked out of the Asia Cup.”These are the boys we have,” said Shahid Afridi but he seemed a bit disappointed by that.”You really think so?” wondered Waqar Younis in response to a question that their bowlers had missed an opportunity. They had taken on the defence of a total of 129 in earnest. Mohammad Irfan struck in the second over – that’s a tick in the early wicket column. Mohammad Amir spearheaded a hostile takeover of Soumya Sarkar’s stumps and then pulled off a coup by toppling Shakib Al Hasan’s too – that’s the set batsman and historically their best batsman dismissed with the target still 26 runs away and 15 balls to go.Pakistan’s moxie with the ball is expected. It’s when they feel at home on a cricket field. But the same ball seems to stupefy them when coming from 22 yards away. Pakistan’s opening batsmen have scored 152 runs in six T20Is in 2016, an average of 12.67, including eight scores of 10 or less from the 12 innings at the position with three of those produced by Khurram Manzoor in his T20I tournament debut. Look at that stat from the perspective of the opposition. Taking into account the rate of scoring in the shortest format, that’s virtually a wicket within the first two overs.”Both openers are new for Pakistan, Khurram Manzoor and Sharjeel is coming back after a long time so I think…”Pitches are helping the bowlers a bit and I think that’s put the batsmen in their shell. Even if you look at all the matches, in the first six overs, all the teams have lost two or three wickets. There was the odd innings – Malik played well, today Sarfraz did – but overall, it’s been a batting failure for Pakistan.”

Shouldn’t Pakistan, the team that’s played the most number of matches in the format, know their way around by now?

More than the words themselves, the pauses that Waqar had to take seemed to speak louder and it was a recurring theme during the post-match press conference.”We batted very poorly in the first 10 overs, I think that’s where the match was sort of…”We just gave too much of a lead to them. This should have been easily a 160-170 pitch, but unfortunately losing wickets early on is not helping us. Even in the previous games also [that has happened]. So I guess, bowlers gave their best and tried to pull the game back, and yes it did come toward us for a while, but that’s the way Twenty20 cricket works.”But shouldn’t Pakistan, the team that’s played the most number of matches in the format, know their way around by now?A lot of their problems seem to point to a lack of depth in their squad. Sharjeel had a strong PSL, but international cricket had found him wanting before and has done so again. Hafeez appears out of form, and copped a poor lbw decision tonight. Umar Akmal plays a fine innings one day and an awful shot the next. Shoaib Malik is left with too much to do. Shahid Afridi has himself admitted his primary role in the team is as a legspinner.And Sarfraz’s innings wasn’t necessarily special. In fact, his 58 off 42 balls seemed much like a man trying to siphon the water out of a sinking boat. There was a lot of frantic running, hard-handed hammering and a hopeful look to the heavens when he reached his half-century. It was the end of the 19th over and the score was only 117.An international team is likely to have a few cracks, but Pakistan seem to be sitting on a fault line.The first casualty might be Manzoor. He has innings of 10, 0 and 1, and his presence has kept out one of Pakistan’s recently regular one-day players Imad Wasim.”I don’t know. It wasn’t my decision. Like I’ve said before, the selectors have taken the decision and whatever the squad I am given, I try to get the best out of them and I guess they will probably look into it. What is necessary, what is unnecessary and then decide.”So will they look at Mohammad Rizwan, who can be a busy player in the middle and an electric fielder wherever he is placed? Or Babar Azam, a former Under-19 captain, who was tipped for success in the international arena? Will they give Ahmed Shehzad another try at the top of the order? Or call up Sohaib Maqsood, who at his best inspired comparisons with Inzamam-ul-Haq? The batting looked helpless on the field, and their coach was left morose at the press conference.”It is a sad story,” Waqar said. If Pakistan want a happy ending, there needs to be a lot of changes both on and off the field.

Plays of the day from the game between Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants in Rajkot

Nikhil Kalro14-Apr-2016When Jadeja bowed to DhoniThere aren’t too many secrets between Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni on the field. They’ve been team-mates for over seven years now and Dhoni knows only too well how Jadeja rushes through his overs in limited-overs cricket. So after Steven Smith holed out to deep cover in the 17th over, Jadeja tried to take his opportunity, but Dhoni did not let him. Jadeja hurried in, Dhoni pulled out of the delivery. Jadeja tried again next ball, and was even quicker, but Dhoni had not even taken his stance. He finally bowled, but on Dhoni’s terms. Bhatia’s lucky break When Dhoni is at the striker’s end in the slog overs, the non-striker is expected to keep him there. Off the second ball of the final over, Dhoni hit to long-off and returned for the second run. Rajat Bhatia, his partner, was not interested but Dhoni powered through regardless. Bhatia finally went but had no chance until a poor throw at the bowler’s end reprieved him. Luckily for Dhoni, Bhatia rose to the challenge and they completed a brace of twos that left the latter panting. RP’s banana swing Despite standing outside his crease, Aaron Finch had shimmied down to RP Singh’s first delivery, a nippy inswinger that caught the batsman off guard. The ball swerved in after angling across the right-hander from over the wicket and struck Finch on the pad with no shot offered. A big appeal ensued but Finch had been hit too high. Or was he? No one was sure, but the umpire was convinced the ball wouldn’t have hit the stumps. When Bravo foxed Pietersen Like with Mustafizur Rahman’s offcutters, the batsmen know what’s coming from Dwayne Bravo. His slow, dipping cutters have been mighty effective in recent times. After Glenn Maxwell and David Miller in the previous game, it was Kevin Pietersen’s turn today. In the 14th over, Bravo brought out four of those deliveries in succession. The last of those slower ones flummoxed Pietersen, as he brought his bat down late only to drag on to his stumps, bringing a switch in Supergiants’ momentum.

With little consistent support from the rest of his batting line-up, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain had to play the dual roles of superhero and sidekick to lift them to their maiden IPL title

Nagraj Gollapudi in Bangalore29-May-2016Virat Kohli might have earned a considerable amount of applause for his mesmeric batting in this IPL. But in the biggest match of the season, the one man who had been challenging Kohli’s claim for the tournament’s MVP crossed the finish line ahead of the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain. David Warner was that man.He had dared Kohli by electing to bat first, telling Royal Challengers that he possessed a formidable bowling attack. But first, Sunrisers had to put a challenging total on the board.Unlike Chris Gayle, later in the evening, Warner was not destructive. As he has been throughout the tournament, he was attentive to the possibilities, his placement inch-perfect.Take this instance: Sachin Baby stood at short third man, Gayle at backward point. Barely 10 yards separated the two. Shane Watson erred for the third time in his first over, bowling full and wide outside off stump. Warner stretched to chop the ball neatly into the narrow divide. The fielders held their heads. Warner did not even look up. He knew what he was doing.Gayle then came on to bowl. He was firing his offbreaks into the batsman’s legs. But the first time he opted to flight the ball, the last ball of his third over, Warner swept him powerfully over mid-on for his second six.In no time – 24 balls – Warner raised his bat to mark his ninth fifty of the season, the most by any batsman. Kohli might have won the Orange Cap with four centuries, but Warner was not far behind – he finished with 848 runs to Kohli’s 973, his strike rate, 151.42, nearly identical to Kohli’s 152.03.Yuzvendra Chahal, the best spinner in this IPL, became a little predictable, bowling too many googlies at the left-handed Warner. Offered width, Warner cut Chahal for two fours in the ninth over.S Aravind finally forced Warner to edge one in the 14th. Did Aravind take the wicket or did Warner throw it away? Probably it was the latter. Offered a low full toss on off stump, Warner had punched Aravind for a straight boundary as soon as Kohli had brought the left-arm seamer back. Aravind’s next ball was a fraction wider, on the fourth stump. Warner went for an expansive drive, attempting to hit over cover, and ended up slicing into the hands of Iqbal Abdulla at short third man.Warner has not had the kind of support Kohli enjoys in Royal Challengers’ batting line-up. He has had to be both Batman and Robin for Sunrisers. For half the tournament he did not have the services of Yuvraj Singh, who proved a catalyst as soon as he returned from injury. Barring Warner, Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj, none of the Sunrisers batsmen – overseas or Indian – crossed the 200-run mark. At times Warner lost his cool and made his anger public: when the batsmen at the other end were throwing their wickets away in a tight chase in the second Qualifier against Gujarat Lions, he bared his emotions in the face of head coach Tom Moody, who remained speechless.Warner eventually took Sunrisers home with some late help from Bipul Sharma. He finished short of a century by seven runs, but he had won Sunrisers their first IPL final ticket, in their fourth season.On Sunday, late into the match, when Sunrisers had all but sealed the win, Warner was still fully switched on. In the penultimate over of the match, Sachin Baby hit a straight drive off Mustafizur Rahman. Warner was at wide long-on. He set off swiftly to his right, threw himself into a sprawling dive and interrupted the progress of the ball, relaying it two-handed to the fielder coming the opposite way from long-off.Moody said Warner had set high standards for himself, and inspired his team-mates to do the same.”The most important thing that I draw from him is he has a relentless passion to win,” Moody said. “He is a born winner and that rubs off on others. He has got incredible work ethic, incredible discipline and all those things are so important from a leadership point of view and that has rubbed off on the group.”David Warner thumped his chest. David Warner shrieked. David Warner was a proud winner.

Asked to play a bits-and-pieces role for England, Moeen Ali has seemingly lost confidence in his game – he may not have many more chances left

George Dobell at Old Trafford21-Jul-2016It was the emphasis that was telling. Alastair Cook’s stressing of the word “this” in the sentence “Moeen Ali is our first-choice spinner for game” told us more than the words used.It wasn’t quite a “last chance” warning, but it wasn’t far from it.Moeen cannot have too many complaints. He has only passed 25 twice in seven Tests (though one of those was a pleasing century at Chester-le-Street less than two months ago) this year and he is averaging 92.00 with the ball in the same period. Even a larger sample size, going back to the start of 2015, is not flattering: he averages 29.23 with the bat and 47.86 with the ball. He has never been dropped in his Test career – though he has missed games for other reasons – but he goes into the Old Trafford game needing a performance to ensure he in the side for his “home” Test at Edgbaston.It is possible that England will go into the second Investec Test with two spinners. But, bearing in mind that they have not won a game at home with two specialist spinners since 1985 (and the spinners bowled one over between them in the final innings), bearing in mind that Joe Root was bowling more than usual in training, bearing in mind how well Pakistan play spin – Adil Rashid averaged 69.50 with the ball in the series in the UAE – and that approach seems unlikely. Besides, Manchester has been overcast since England named their XII with a view to seeing how the pitch developed in the next 12 hours.Rashid has impressed in training, though. He bowled Gary Ballance (deceived in the flight and losing his middle stump as a consequence) in the nets on Thursday and then took the edge of Chris Woakes’ bat. As Woakes played Yasir Shah’s legspin as well as anyone at Lord’s, that is a decent effort. “He’s coming along nicely,” Cook said. “He is improving all the time and he bowled really nicely in the nets today.”In current form, Rashid is not miles behind Moeen as a batsman, either. He may be unorthodox and he may have been the No. 11 in England’s recent white-ball teams, but he has 10 first-class centuries to his name and, crucially, he has a confidence in his game that Moeen does not.Moeen Ali has lost some of the mentality and rigour that a top-order batsman should posses•Getty ImagesMoeen looks a little lost at present. He has paid for his versatility and the failure of the English system to produce spin bowlers. He doesn’t quite know what he is or how he should play. The natural confidence he once had in his batting has evaporated. The ‘bits and pieces’ allrounder tag sits uncomfortably on a man who once oozed class as a batsman.He has become confused in his role – especially batting in the low middle-order and being asked to produce aggressive cameos with the tail for company – and lost some of the mentality and rigour that a top-order batsman should possess. His selflessness, a quality that is respected by his colleagues, has led to him selling his wicket too cheaply, too often. That’s a bad habit for a batsman.But he has had opportunities. There have been times when he has been asked to bat higher up the order – notably when he opened in the UAE – and times when he has had the opportunity to build innings with recognised batsmen. He has not taken many of those opportunities.In early Tests, he benefited from the opposition underestimating him as a bowler. Remember Steve Smith and Michael Clarke in the first innings in Cardiff? At times, batsmen seemed to want to hit him out of the attack and sacrificed their wickets in the process.But then they learned better. They learned not just that he is a dangerous bowler armed with drift and flight, but that he bowled enough loose deliveries that there was no need to go after him; if they waited, the release ball would come along soon enough.His doosra, one of the attributes that made his package of skills attractive to the selectors, has become almost irrelevant. With the ICC cracking down on bowling actions, Moeen became reluctant to bowl it in matches (even though there has never been a whisper of a suggestion that his action is suspect and even though few could see any change of action between his offbreak and doosra) and, as a result, practised it less often in the nets.He did not, by any means, bowl badly at Lord’s. It was more that he bowled against very good players of spin on a pitch that offered him nothing. Many spinners would have paled by comparison next to Yasir Shah.

“In a richer playing age, Moeen would not have played almost 30 Tests as a first-choice spinner. But English cricket has made a fearful mess of its spin development and it will take time to get it back on track”

But Moeen has struggled to come to terms with the fact that, even bowling well, there are times when he faces batsmen who are too good for him. And, while he might vary his pace a little more in such circumstances, there are times when a player hits a ceiling; when their best isn’t good enough.Again, he is paying the price for others’ faults here. In a richer playing age, Moeen would not have played almost 30 Tests as a first-choice spinner. But English cricket has made a fearful mess of its spin development and it will take time to get it back on track. Moeen really is among the best there is at present but in trying to be something he may not quite be to gain his chance in Test cricket he may have sacrificed his real talent.The team management have a choice of trying to make him feel secure and valued – as they clearly have – or allowing him to regain some form and confidence in county cricket. They also know that, when Rashid does get his chance, he will soon be put under the same pressure. Bowlers of his pace are rare in international cricket and, while he probably turns the ball more than Yasir, he does not have the same accuracy.Whatever happens over the next few days, though, it may well remind us of the adage that players’ reputations often improve for not playing. The selectors have come in for some fearsome bashing in recent days – much of it unfair – but it might be worth reflecting on how they would be perceived right now if James Anderson had played at Lord’s against medical advice and sustained an injury.Writing in the , Michael Vaughan claimed he decided to go into Tests with a “50 percent fit” Andrew Flintoff “on several occasions”. That’s the Andrew Flintoff who was obliged to retire from Test cricket aged 31 and whose last few years in the game were blighted by injuries. Maybe playing him when unfit wasn’t so clever, after all? Thankfully, Anderson is treated as the precious, but increasingly fragile, asset that he is.

But it’s all rosy and cosy in our Twitter round-up

Alex Bowden15-Oct-2016Tino Best’s preferred reading matter is of course…

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… his own autobiography.He’s also partial to an empty glass and an unopened bottle of wine, it seems.But who are we to judge? People relax and indulge themselves in all sorts of different ways.

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A poor return – but then it was also a poor investment.Sticking with dietary matters, last time around, Ravi Bopara was attempting to introduce Chris Gayle to the concept of “brunch”. Did he make any headway?

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Still not quite got it.Gayle also saw fit to treat us to this photo.

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We don’t have much to say about that, but felt like we should share it.We’re similarly lost for words with this one.

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Meanwhile, TMS’ Charles Dagnall is lost for letters.

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By this point you’re probably wondering why there hasn’t yet been anything from column regular, Kevin Pietersen.Fear not! Despite his growing fear of social media…

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… he’s been as noisy as ever, sharing nuggets of wisdom such as this.

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The strength of the immune system is apparently measured in hours.Such an explicit renunciation of anger invites an easy follow-up for an irreverent social media column that can scour his tweets for examples of just that emotion.Never let it be said that we have a fear of making obvious jokes.

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Watch that immune system, Kev. Maybe reserve your ill temper for issues of greater significance than teenagers’ sartorial idiosyncrasies.Issues such as differences of opinion on the merits of Wayne Rooney as a footballer, for example.

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If there’s one thing all sports stars agree on, it’s that it’s for some reason impossible for a human being to perceive flaws in someone else without having first mastered the activity in question themselves. Let’s say a fireman for some reason added fuel to a fire rather than extinguishing it. By Pietersen’s reasoning, only fellow firefighters would be qualified to take issue with that.Returning to more familiar ground, we all know by now that selfies should always be taken in-flight.

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But sometimes the excitement gets to a man and he just can’t wait.

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Then again, it can sometimes be a long wait.

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That’s right – cricketers are now so adept at air-travel selfies, they’re taking them in their sleep.

The gaffes in the field could have left India in an uncomfortable position on the first day in Mohali were it not for their bowlers, who never let England run away with the game

Alagappan Muthu26-Nov-20162:41

Ganguly: Jayant’s ball to get Bairstow was brilliant

Mohali offered box-office material on Saturday and here’s hoping enough fans of Charlie Chaplin were watching.It began with Ravindra Jadeja, his body the shape of a slanted A and his mouth a pronounced O as an edge off Alastair Cook whooshed past. What a gag. One of India’s best fielders had missed an honest-to-goodness catch.Then R Ashwin got punked everywhere he went. At short midwicket, he made a silly by dropping a dolly. At mid-on, he misfielded so badly Virat Kohli almost facepalmed. At square leg, in the final hour of the day and just as he thought he had the ball covered, it bounced awkwardly and nearly broke a tooth.The most comedic incident, though, at least as far as the press box was concerned, was the toss. Heads craned as the coin went up, then they were thrown back in laughter as Cook promptly chose to bat. Before the first hour was done, he had been given two lives. None of this sounds like a day that ends with India taking eight wickets, does it?Clearly the bowlers deserve a lot of credit for this turn – only the metaphorical kind was on offer despite fears otherwise – of events. They never let England run away with the game.Mohammed Shami had two chances put down in his first spell. He was asked to create a third by his captain 10 minutes before lunch. He bounced Moeen Ali out.From swapping out the spinner for a quick to the setting of a leg-side trap, that wicket was the culmination of a plan coming together. India had a short leg in place. They had also kept a man about 10 yards inside the boundary at fine leg specifically for the top-edge. Normally on such pitches – slow with not much bounce – that man would be positioned squarer to control the runs. Kohli was gambling. Shami was his ace in the hole.The ball was fast, it rose up towards Moeen’s head, triggered the instinct to hook and subdued the good sense that would have told the batsman he was trying to drag it from outside the off stump and, as such, his timing would be off. Having gone through a horrible first hour – and that doesn’t take into account India losing their first-choice opener KL Rahul to injury again – that was a moment of pure joy. Kohli actually skipped over to the catcher M Vijay to share high-fives.Having had two catches dropped off his bowling early in the day, Mohammed Shami still responded to his captain’s call with the wicket of Moeen Ali•AFPWith seven balls to stumps, Umesh Yadav finally convinced an outswinger to overcome its shyness and go hug Chris Woakes’ off stump. Umesh had been warned for following through on the danger area in his fourth over. Going wider of the stumps eventually helped him trouble the England batsmen more because the right-handers felt they had to play most of his deliveries with the angle into them. After that, it was only a matter of being accurate because he was finding sideways movement – both conventional and reverse.”I am improving day by day with the matches that I am playing,” Umesh said. “I talk to my coaches Anil bhai [Kumble] and Sanjay bhai [Bangar]. Pace comes with a disadvantage. If you don’t pitch it right, you will go for runs. They advise me to bowl in one particular area. My impact area is outside the off stump from where I can bowl my outswingers and make the batsmen play a lot more.”It’s a bit cold and there’s some moisture in the wicket. The ball is moving. It’s not that if the wicket is flat the new ball wont swing. New ball will swing if you have faith. Me and Shami know that we can swing it till the ball is new. We are trying to bowl outside off stump channel from where we were getting our outswingers. There is good carry in the pitch also at good pace.”India’s spinners weren’t lagging behind either. Jadeja’s two wickets were the combination of a tried and tested method – strangling the batsman for runs – enhanced by a new skill: drawing them out of their crease. To accomplish that, a man who has thrived by firing darts at the stumps, bringing bowled and lbw into play, had to deceive his opponents with flight.Jadeja bowled 31 deliveries to Ben Stokes. Twenty-eight of them were dots. Sensing the batsman would be looking for a big shot, he held one back and since he had also tossed it up and put in a lot of work with his action, it drifted away too. Stokes had premeditated his charge, was tricked into driving inside the line and then stumped. This sequence – apart from being a delight to watch – tested the theory that batsmen find it easier to score against the ball turning into them.Ashwin redeemed himself, taking a wicket off his first ball and could well have had England’s top-scorer Jonny Bairstow caught behind for 54. India’s premier spinner may not have been ripping it from one corner to another, but his variations of pace and trajectory were beautiful. When Buttler was new at the crease, playing only his second first-class match since being dropped from the Test side in October 2015, Ashwin fed him a few flatter deliveries to push him back before an offbreak with a considerable amount of overspin came along. The batsman, to his credit, managed to adjust to the extra bounce and pat it down with soft hands. Buttler should have done the same against Jadeja in the 69th over. He couldn’t and England’s biggest partnership of the innings – 69 runs for the sixth wicket – was rather tamely broken.Jayant Yadav was the least accurate among India’s bowlers, but it was he who showcased how difficult this pitch could become. Drier at the full and good-length areas, where some crumbling has already happened, it encouraged one ball to go on with the arm to take Bairstow’s outside edge as he defended inside the line. The next one gripped the deck more and turned sharply to beat the inside edge and pin the right-hander lbw.With India being good, bad and ugly all in one day, the Kohli cam had plenty of work to do. He glared. He fumed. He screamed. He wrung his hands in disgust one minute, high-fived with glee the next. However, after stumps, he was simply a man content. At least until 9.30am on Sunday, when the show would start all over again.

Out of four Tests in Bengaluru, Australia have won two of them and will be hoping to add one more to the tally

Bharath Seervi03-Mar-20172 Wins for Australia in Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the last 20 years – most at any Indian venue. In four Tests in Bengaluru, they have won two, lost one and drawn one. At all other venues combined in this period, they have been victorious only thrice in 17 matches, losing 12 of those.2-4 India’s win-loss record in 10 Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium since 1997. Their win-loss ratio of 0.50 is the worst among the 10 home venues that have hosted five or more Tests in the last 20 years. Both those victories came in their last three Tests, against Australia and New Zealand, and prior to that they hadn’t won a Test at the venue since 1995.36.67 Australia’s batting average in four Tests in Bengaluru in the last 20 years, the best among the six Indian venues where they have played two or more Tests. Their bowling average in Bangalore is their second-best among those six venues.7 Centuries by Australia batsmen at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the last 20 years – the most at any Indian venue. At no other venue have they scored more than three centuries. Indian batsmen have scored only three centuries in those four Tests in Bangalore against Australia.451 Average first-innings score in the last seven Tests in Bangalore. In five of those Tests, the team batting first has scored above 400, with Australia doing it thrice. Out of the five instances, only once has the batting team lost – Australia in 2010 after scoring 478.31.54 Average of the fast bowlers of the visiting teams in Bangalore in the last ten Tests compared to India’s fast bowlers who have averaged 43.28. There have been three five-wicket hauls by overseas fast bowlers compared to two by India’s quick’s. The spinners have had nearly identical numbers – 37.35 for foreign teams and 38.24 for India.0 Number of five-wicket hauls by spinners at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in first-class matches since the start of the 2014-15 season, in eight matches. At the same time, fast bowlers have picked up four such hauls. Slow bowlers have averaged 43.07, compared to seamer’ 29.33. No first-class matches have been played at the venue since India’s last Test against South Africa in November 2015, due to renovation of the drainage system in the venue.139 Runs scored by M Vijay in India’s last Test against Australia in Bangalore, in 2010, which was his maiden century. He averages 55.90 against Australia in 21 innings, with four centuries. The average against Australia is his second-best against any team. Three of his four centuries against Australia have come in the second match of the series. This Test will also be his 50th Test.112 Runs required for Steven Smith to complete 5000 Test runs. If he gets there in the first innings of the match, he will be the joint third-quickest ever in terms of innings behind Don Bradman and Jack Hobbs. In terms of matches, he will be the joint second-fastest with Sunil Gavaskar.0 Australia players from the current squad who have played Tests at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. None of their players from their last Test at the venue in 2010 are active now. Most of the current players have played matches in other formats there.