Stats highlights from the second day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s

Shiva Jayaraman19-Jul-2013 Graeme Swann’s five-wicket haul in Australia’s first innings was his 16th overall and second in the Ashes. His bowling effort was rare enough: he became only the fourth England spinner to take a five-wicket haul at Lord’s in the Ashes. The last time an England spinner took a five-for at Lord’s in the Ashes was by Hedley Verity, who took 15 wickets in this match way back in 1934. Usman Khawaja’s wicket was Swann’s 100th in England. He became only the sixth spinner to take 100 or more wickets in Tests in England. Swann’s five-wicket effort was the first occasion in over five years (12 matches) of a spinner taking a five-wicket haul in the first innings at Lord’s. Before this, Daniel Vettori took 5 for 69 against England in May 2008. The last time an England spinner took a five-for in the Ashes in England was Phil Tufnell’s 7 for 66 at The Oval in August 1997. Not since 1984 has Australia’s batting lagged behind their opponent’s by such an extent. The last time Australia failed to score 150 and conceded a lead of over 200 runs in the first innings was against West Indies in this match in 1984. Australia have conceded a 200-run lead in the first innings of an Ashes Test on 23 occasions before this match, and have managed to save the Test only five times. Only five times in Test history have teams come back to win the match after conceding a 200-run lead in the first innings. One of them was the South Africa-England Test when the teams agreed to force a result by forgoing one innings each after losing three playing days to inclement weather. The last time a team won after falling 200 runs or more behind was the famous Kolkata-Test in 2001. Australia’s abject batting performance in their first innings at Lord’s summed up how clueless their batting has been in the last year or so. Australia’s first innings in this match was the third time they have been seven down for less than hundred in the last year; among Test playing nations, only New Zealand have done worse – they have been in this situation four times. This was the eighth time out of 13 innings that Australia haven’t been able to post a score of 300 or more runs in an innings, in the last year. This does not include Michael Clarke’s declaration against India at Hyderabad, when Australia were 237 for 9. Among the top Test teams, again, only New Zealand have done worse. Australia’s first four batsmen in their line-up have contributed, largely, to their team’s batting woes. They have not been allowed to spend much time at the crease by the opposition bowlers. Their top order has faced 52, on average, balls per batsman-innings. The top four batsmen of only West Indies and Pakistan have hung around for fewer deliveries in Tests in 2013.No.1 to No.4 batsmen peformance &average deliveries faced per inningsTeamPlayersInnsRunsAveBF100s0sBF/InnsWest Indies51121824.223901235.45Pakistan52448420.1612421451.75Australia952126324.2826960751.84South Africa528105138.9218682866.71New Zealand752158931.7834704566.73Bangladesh73196233.1721431069.12India628133153.2422464080.21England752185036.2744355485.29Sri Lanka624134160.9522305292.91 Not surprising then, their top four batsmen are yet to score a hundred from 52 innings in 2013. They are the only Test team not to have a single hundred from their top four batsmen. They are also the team with most ducks – seven – from batsmen at batting at No.1 to No.4

A combination of faulty technique and temperament meant they didn’t make it to the final of their own tri-series

Garth Wattley12-Jul-2013There was sunshine unabated for the Celkon Mobile Cup final at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad. That was no small thing given that in the island chain, tropical storm warnings had been in effect up to Wednesday, and that Dominica was still counting the cost of the passing of Tropical Storm Chantal. That was the somewhat ludicrous context in which the tri-nation one-day series between India, Sri Lanka and West Indies was played in the Caribbean.Disadvantageous as the ICC programme has made scheduling matches in these parts – smack in the hurricane season – this tournament was about seizing opportunities when you had the chance. MS Dhoni and India used the good conditions in a gripping final to win this tournament of very dubious importance, coming so soon after the best teams in the world had just battled in England for the Champions Trophy.The team that really could have done with putting its hands on the Celkon Mobile trophy was not even in the final. For the West Indies side, this was yet another opportunity lost.On Wednesday, the same day Virat Kohli and Angelo Mathews were talking to the media about their sides’ chances in the final, Dwayne Bravo was candidly owning up to another failure in 50-over cricket for West Indies.”The performance of the team reflects on the captain,” Bravo said. “I myself , whether it is due to injury or slow over rates, have some key things I need to work on as a leader.” Credit to him for, as they say, calling a spade a spade. It is a refreshing aspect of his captaincy that Bravo plays it straight as he sees it. But no one will need to remind him that talk without the appropriate action to back it up is as useful as a shredded umbrella in an afternoon downpour. The tri-nation series did not give any indication of improvement in the way West Indies are playing their 50-over cricket. Again the problems were the same old ones, and plain to see.Shaky batting that just about held up over the first two matches in Jamaica fell flat over the final leg in Trinidad. West Indies did not come close to making a serious contest of chasing the revised Duckworth-Lewis target of 274 in their third match, and lost so badly – by 102 runs – that India gained what proved a decisive bonus point. In the next make-or-break match, against Sri Lanka, the home side fell 39 runs short of their D/L target. Substantial partnerships, especially in the top order, were few.After starting the series with a century at home at Sabina Park, the runs dried up for Chris Gayle. Marlon Samuels did not cross 15 in four matches, Kieron Pollard notched 0, 4, 0 and 0, and the captain, in the two games he played, did not reach 20. In their loss to Sri Lanka, West Indies’ bowlers conceded 31 extras, including 24 wides – simply sinful in limited-overs cricket. And general waywardness and Kumar Sangakkara’s classy 90 not out rallied Sri Lanka to their match-winning 219.Bravo’s absence for one match because of injury and for another because of suspension for a slow over-rate, and key spinner Sunil Narine being limited to five expensive overs in the second match against India because of a finger injury that also ruled him out of the following game against Sri Lanka, were factors incidental to this latest disappointment. The two defeats that turned a table-topping position into a bottom-of-the-table slump had all the markings of similar West Indies failures over the last year. It may be bold to say it about a squad of players where all but two – Gayle and Tino Best – are below 30 and filled with so much natural, athletic ability, but maybe this is as good as it will get for this West Indies team.

The tri-nation series did not give any indication of improvement in the way West Indies are playing their 50-over cricket

Ad nauseam, Bravo and his stand-in, Pollard, spoke during the tournament about their side’s “inconsistency” which they had to put right. This was the same bugbear that confronted Darren Sammy before he was relieved of the ODI captaincy. The problem with this West Indian inconsistency is that it is constant. What could be the reason?Well, if batsmen do not have the adequate technique for different conditions then they will be found out at some stage. In the Trinidad leg of the Celkon Cup the teams were confronted with pitches that favoured seam bowling. But against India – the best bowling unit on performance in the series – no West Indian was able to weather the early pressure or settle the innings down later on. Rising deliveries around off stump caused the downfall of Gayle, Samuels and Pollard. Generally in this series, they got out in basically the same fashion.In contrast, Kohli produced a Man-of-the-Match performance to take his side from 210 for 5 to 311 for 7 over the last ten overs of the innings. He was able to build on the 123-run opening stand by Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. In the Sri Lanka game, Sangakkara, like Kohli, took the time to play himself in before attempting to accelerate. Then in the tournament decider, Dhoni, playing despite a not fully healed hamstring injury, marshalled his side’s chase masterfully.That kind of measured approach was not displayed often enough in the West Indian camp. And sometimes when it was – for instance by Darren Bravo and Lendl Simmons in their century stand in the chase against Sri Lanka – neither player was able to see the innings through. Johnson Charles at the top of the order did some good things with 97 and 45 against India, as did Bravo against India and Sri Lanka. But West Indies’ batsmen collectively did not play the conditions or the match situations well enough to put their side in the final.Repeatedly they have been found wanting by the combination of faulty technique and temperament. Against better teams, natural ability and good team spirit will not always win the day. But that is what West Indies have been relying on for some time. The compact T20 format covers those shortcomings somewhat. Solving those problems in ODIs may be a task beyond even the ever optimistic.

Seven years ago, Tousif Ali sent his 16-year-old son, Mohammed Shami, from Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh to Kolkata. The young bowler’s story is one of faith and trust

Sidharth Monga in Kolkata09-Nov-20130:00

The Mohammed Shami Story

The Dalhousie Athletic Club is about a kilometre from Eden Gardens in Kolkata. It has a tent that serves as a restaurant and bar for its members, it has a practice pitch – half turf, half cement – and an open field of wild grass for a cricket ground. The ground is unkempt, the grass is long, and the pitch can’t be seen. Dalhousie is not a club known for its cricket.About six years ago, Sumon Chakraborty of Dalhousie Club called Debabrata Das of Town Club – one of the better cricket clubs in the city – to come to Rajasthan Club and have a look at a young fast bowler.Das, a former assistant secretary of the Cricket Association of Bengal, asked Chakraborty what the hurry was. He was told it is “a small pearl, [he will get lost]”. Das says he reached the ground within 20 minutes, saw ten to 15 players practising there, and could easily spot the pearl.Das recollects: “I asked him, ‘What’s your name?’ ‘Mohammed Shami,’ he said. ‘Where are you from?’ ‘Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh.’ ‘Do you want to play?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Your contract is Rs 75,000 per annum, and 100 per day for your lunch.'”There was one problem. ‘Where will I stay?’ he asked. I said, ‘My house.’ I took Shami home and told my wife this guy will stay with us. After that, he started playing for Town Club.”Playing for Dalhousie before moving to Town Club, Shami had shown pace, but Das says that Dalhousie’s Chakraborty and Sumonto Hajra felt the bowler needed to move to a bigger club. Until then, Das says, Shami would stay with other Dalhousie players in the tent or shared hotel rooms, and would be put on the train back to Moradabad, the closest town to Sahaspur, 20km away, where Shami’s father ran a spare-parts store for tractors. Shami would make Rs 500 per match at Dalhousie, according to Das.After taking four wickets in the first innings of his Test debut, and before his five-for in the second, Shami made it a point to thank his parents at the press conference. They had let him follow his dream without putting pressure on him to start earning. It helped that his father had played a lot of cricket – he bowled fast, too – in his village, and appreciated the dedication it would take to make a career out of the sport. The problem was, Sahaspur didn’t have any cricket facilities. No grounds, no pitches, only mud fields. Let alone cricket facilities, Sahaspur still gets electricity only for eight hours a day.”I saw the pace, though,” says Tousif Ali, Shami’s father. “I could tell he had the skill. His elder brother also bowled fast, but he had a stone in his kidney, after which he joined me in the business. The younger brother also bowls fast, but I knew Shami had the pace. I wanted him to give it a good go.”As Shami graduated college, he started playing in Sonakpur in Moradabad. Badruddin Siddique coached him for a year or so and Tousif went a step ahead, again.Mohammed Shami’s performance in his debut Test repaid the faith of his family, who allowed him to pursue a dream despite numerous obstacles•BCCI”UP doesn’t even have a club system,” Tousif says. “You have to keep going for trials here, where you sometimes get rejected after bowling two-three balls. So I didn’t want the story to end with multiple trials. Badruddin knew some people in Kolkata, so we sent him there.”This is where Tousif’s knowledge of the progress of his son’s career ends. It was a risk sending a 16-year-old to a new city, where he didn’t know anybody, and his only sellable skill was the ability to bowl fast. Tousif says if Shami faced hardships, he didn’t tell him. It’s a story resonant with large parts of the migrant labour population in India. A year later, though, Town Club happened, and Das took Shami under his wing.”Whenever I came to office, I dropped him off to play cricket,” Das says. “After cricket, I used to take him home while returning from work. After one year, I observed he was growing. He was not into gymming or weight training. Running, running, running and net practice. He would take a new ball at the beginning of the net [session], and finish with the last ball, from 1pm to 4pm.”The workers at Dalhousie say similar things about the scrawny little boy who wanted to bowl fast. They used to doubt him, and Shami was keen to prove them wrong. He liked the workers there and he still comes back to the club whenever he is in town.”[He is a] very simple person,” Das says. “Very fond of sleeping, very fond of eating biryani. In every match against a big team – Town v East Bengal, Town v Mohun Bagan – whenever he was playing, if we needed two urgent wickets, I used to tell him, ‘Shami, [Burst through them].’ ‘Biryani?’ he would ask. ‘Yes, I will give biryani.’ ‘ [Okay give me the ball]’.” And he would get the wickets.There would be a lot of friendly sledging too. Once, in a match against Eastern Railway, Town Club were struggling to get the last two wickets. Das recalls: “I told him, ‘ [Go home, wear your mother’s clothes and go to sleep]. He said, ‘.’ And boom, boom! Two batsmen were bowled.”Shami never wanted money. His goal was the stumps, the sound that comes from hitting the stumps. Ever since I saw him, most of his wickets were bowled. He bowls with an upright seam, on or just outside off stump, and gets it to cut back in.”Das says Shami still takes his advice in all matters. “Four months ago, he came to my house and said he wanted to purchase a flat,” says Das. “I did the needful for the registrations etc. without any cost, except for the stamp duty. I think he has taken possession of the flat now.”If Shami doesn’t go after the money, if he still respects Das so much, why, then, did he leave Das’ Town and go to Mohun Bagan?”I let him go,” Das says. “If I hadn’t let him go, India wouldn’t have got Shami today. When he was in our club, he made it to the Bengal squad, but didn’t get to play in the XI. I saw the kind of facilities Mohun Bagan has, the kind of political power Mohun Bagan has, the kind of financial power Mohun Bagan has, the muscle Mohun Bagan has. We can’t match it. And I wanted the boy to get a chance.”Yesterday [on Friday], he told me he doesn’t want to play for Mohun Bagan anymore. He is a very emotional cricketer.”On Friday, Shami ran through the West Indies line-up with 30,000 Kolkatans cheering him on, intimidating the opposition batsmen. Watching in Sahaspur, the family saw their faith had paid off. People now identify Tousif as Shami’s father, and he is proud of it. Seven years ago, he took the risk of sending his son alone into the unknown. A year later, another man took the risk of bringing home a boy he knew nothing about, except that he bowled fast.Cricket can do with more such fathers, club owners and, of course, boys who bowl fast.

Also, six-for losers, fastest keeper to 100 dismissals, Clifford Roach’s unbreakable records, and keeper-captain feats

Steven Lynch03-Dec-2013Virat Kohli reached 5000 one-day internationals recently. Did he get there faster than anyone else? asked Mukesh Subhan from Kolkata

Virat Kohli reached 5000 runs in his 120th one-day international – the first one against West Indies, in Kochi on November 21 – to equal the record set by Brian Lara. Gordon Greenidge got there in 122 matches. Kohli did just shade Lara in terms of innings batted (118 to 114), but has to share top billing there with another great West Indian: Viv Richards also reached 5000 in 114 innings (from 126 matches). Kohli’s first 5000 ODI runs included a record 17 centuries – Saeed Anwar made 14 – while only Richards (53.01) and Michael Bevan (56.25) averaged more after the innings in which they passed 5000 than Kohli’s 52.14. Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni also averaged over 50 at that point of their careers.In the first Ashes Test, 32 of the 37 wickets to fall were out caught. Is this some kind of record? asked Naushad Kazi from South Africa

It is very close to the Test record, which stands at 33 batsmen out caught (out of 36) in the match between Australia and India in Perth in February 1992. One of the rare wickets that wasn’t caught in that match – Mark Taylor lbw – was Kapil Dev’s 400th in Test cricket. The Ashes opener in Brisbane was the fifth Test match to feature 32 caught dismissals. In one of those – New Zealand v Pakistan in Auckland in 1993-94 – only 35 wickets went down, as against 37 in Brisbane (and all 40 in the other three instances). For the full list, click here.Dale Steyn took six wickets the other day but ended up losing. Were these the best figures by anyone on the losing side in a one-day international? asked Ricky Dooley from Egypt

Dale Steyn took 6 for 39 for South Africa against Pakistan in Port Elizabeth last week. This was actually the ninth time a bowler had taken six wickets in an ODI in vain: three of the hauls were cheaper than Steyn’s, with the list being topped by Imran Khan. He took 6 for 14 against India in Sharjah in March 1985 – but Pakistan still ended up losing. Mainly thanks to Imran, India were bowled out for 125 – but Pakistan were then skittled for 87 themselves. Shane Bond (6 for 23 for New Zealand v Australia in Port Elizabeth in the 2003 World Cup) and Shaun Pollock (6 for 35 for South Africa v West Indies in East London in 1998-99) also had cheaper six-fors in losing causes, while the others to have achieved this bittersweet feat are Ajit Agarkar (6 for 42 for India v Australia in Melbourne in 2003-04), Chris Woakes (6 for 45 for England v Australia in Brisbane in 2010-11), Tony Gray (6 for 50 for West Indies v Australia in Port-of-Spain in 1990-91), Christopher Mpofu (6 for 52 for Zimbabwe v Kenya in Nairobi in 2008-09) and Ashish Nehra (6 for 59 for India v Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2005).Who was the fastest wicketkeeper to make 100 dismissals in Tests, and ODIs? asked Tom Metcalfe from London

Australia’s Adam Gilchrist reached a century of dismissals in just 22 Tests, one quicker than Mark Boucher of South Africa. Another Australian, Wally Grout, reached 100 dismissals in 24 Tests, as did Boucher’s South African predecessor Dave Richardson – his first hundred, uniquely, containing no stumpings at all. Boucher and Gilchrist lie third and fourth on the one-day list: the fastest to 100 dismissals in ODIs is Brad Haddin, who got there in his 61st match, one quicker than Ridley Jacobs. Boucher got there in 65 matches, Gilchrist in 67, and Kumar Sangakkara and Denesh Ramdin in 68.Which three unbreakable records did Clifford Roach establish in 1930? asked James Piper from England

Clifford Roach, a right-hand batsman from Trinidad, was the first man to score a Test century for West Indies, with 122 against England in Bridgetown in January 1930 (George Headley made 176 in the second innings). Two matches later, Roach added West Indies’ first double-century: 209 in Georgetown. I think the other record came in the fourth and final Test of that series, in Kingston. It’s not quite unbreakable, although the chances of it being surpassed are indeed tiny! In the second innings at Sabina Park, Roach was caught by 50-year-old George Gunn off the bowling of Wilfred Rhodes, who was 52. Their combined ages (including the odd months) added up to more than 103 years, which remains the Test record for a single dismissal.Is MS Dhoni the first man to captain in 150 one-day internationals while keeping wicket? asked Cherise Asha Clarke from Trinidad & Tobago

Well, the answer is an emphatic yes: the second match against West Indies in Visakhapatnam last week was MS Dhoni’s 150th one-day international as India’s captain and designated wicketkeeper (only five non-keepers have done more: Ricky Ponting leads the way with 230). In fact, no other wicketkeeper has captained in as many as 50 ODIs – Andy Flower led in 46, Kumar Sangakkara in 45, and Alec Stewart in 39. Lee Germon played 37 ODIs for New Zealand, and was captain and wicketkeeper in 36 of them.

ESPNcricinfo takes a look back at how the New Zealand players performed during their series win over West Indies

Andrew McGlashan23-Dec-2013

10

Ross TaylorIs a player ever worth a full 10? It’s hard to argue that Taylor isn’t. Three hundreds in a variety of conditions and almost 500 runs. For a player who began the year considering his future after being sacked as captain it was a magnificent way to end 2013. Comparisons with his mentor Martin Crowe will continue and now they don’t appear out of place, even if tougher attacks await him.

9

Trent BoultSkillful, precise, menacing. There was barely a bad spell from Boult, save perhaps the opening day in Hamilton where he suffered a hangover from the career-best 10 for 80 in Wellington. Sure, he’ll face stronger resistance from many batting line-ups, but the sharp late swing – and not just with the new ball – makes him a constant threat. This year has set up his career.

8

Tim SoutheeDoes not always get the rewards he deserves for high-class spells of swing bowling. Not express pace, but can sustain a decent clip and his stamina is far improved of a few years ago. His third-day spell in Wellington of 9-1-19-3 during the follow-on was his best of the series. Reached 100 wickets in Hamilton. A very sharp slip fielder, but his batting is more miss than hit.

7

Kane WilliamsonMissed the first Test with a thumb injury, then looked a classy batsman in the matches he played. His back-foot strokes are outstanding – just needs to work on chasing deliveries outside off stump that he could leave alone. Bowling remains very useful and his catching can be breath-taking as witnessed by his grab in Hamilton to remove Shivnarine Chanderpaul.Brendon McCullumEnded a three-year wait for a hundred in Dunedin but couldn’t quite sustain his batting after that and continues to divide opinion in New Zealand cricket. However, he captained with verve and held his nerve about the follow-on in Wellington which proved fully justified. His attacking instincts are aided by a strong new-ball attack, but the runs will need to continue.Corey Anderson continued to suggest he could be a long-term solution to the allrounder’s role•Getty ImagesCorey AndersonHas all the makings of a top-class allrounder. His batting is a touch unrefined at the moment, but does not look out of place at No. 6 even if Sunil Narine posed him problems. His poise at 44 for 4 in Dunedin bodes well for future rescue acts. Did more with the ball than was probably expected and his economy is an added bonus. Another safe catcher.BJ WatlingCemented as the Test wicketkeeper because of what he brings with the bat as much as the gloves. His innings in Wellington was another example of his ability with the lower order. No huge mistakes behind the stumps.

5

Hamish Rutherford Started with a sparkling innings in Dunedin and ended unbeaten in the Hamilton chase, but careless dismissals undermined his series and he has yet to fulfill the promise shown by his debut 171 against England.Ish SodhiHad a minor role in the final two Tests. It would have been fascinating to see how he’d handled the pressure if the seamers hadn’t dismantled West Indies in the second innings in Hamilton. Dunedin showed much promise, as well as reminders of how raw he is. Will New Zealand hold their nerve with him when India arrive? Batting helps bolster the lower order. Fielding needs work.Neil Wagner You can’t deny the effort, but an average of over 45 will test the faith of the selectors against stronger batting teams. However, he does extract wickets during flat periods of play and got better as the series went on.

3

Peter FultonAfter his twin hundreds at Eden Park in March, Fulton is starting to tread water again at Test level. Like Rutherford, Fulton made one half century. Still very vulnerable to the moving and struggles to rotate strike against spin. The domestic form of players such as Tom Latham will be making him nervous.Aaron RedmondFollowed the Fulton route with a belated recall to cover for Williamson, but it may have been a brief return. Technically he remains next in line if an injury occurs.

Notes from the first day of the IPL auction in Bangalore

Siddarth Ravindran12-Feb-2014The silence
IPL auctions sometimes present difficult moments for aging Indian stars. After years of being the most lauded players in the game, they are at the mercy of the whims and calculations of the IPL franchise owners. Sourav Ganguly famously went unsold in 2011, and over an increasing tense minute it seemed Virender Sehwag would face a similar fate today. Even as the auctioneer Richard Madley repeatedly asked whether there were any bids, the franchises remained silent. Just as he was about to bring the hammer down and move on to the next player, Kings XI Punjab raised their paddle and Sehwag was saved the ignominy of being unsold.The bonus
Yuvraj Singh’s services were hotly contested for and his price rapidly went up to INR 10crore ($1.6million), a level reached only by one other player’s salary on the day. The hammer came down, and Royal Challengers Bangalore thought they had added to a blockbuster batting line-up which already featured Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. Kolkata Knight Riders, though, insisted they had put in a higher bid before the auctioneer pronounced Yuvraj an RCB player. After a bit of haggling, Madley allowed further bidding. In about 30 seconds, Yuvraj’s price went up by four more crores – as much as Rajasthan Royals paid for their most expensive player on the day.The wake-up
Overall, this was a fairly dull auction, with few of the what-were-they-thinking moments that spiced up previous editions. Even as early as the start of the post-lunch session, a vast number of players were going unsold. A series of overseas wicketkeepers didn’t interest any franchise, and when Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor’s name came up, it was expected the trend would continue. However, Sunrisers Hyderabad put in a bid, and Madley was surprised enough to exclaim, “that made my afternoon”. And when Taylor was bought, Madley enthusiastically said, “Sold”, before adding, “I like saying that”.Ignored – 1
It wasn’t a good day for Sri Lankans at the auction. With a tour of England and Ireland restricting their availability for the IPL season to less than three weeks, almost all Sri Lankan players went unsold. Mahela Jayawardene had a $1.5m contract last season but didn’t attract any bids today; neither did Angelo Mathews who hit the jackpot with $950,000 in 2011. Even renowned Twenty20 players like Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis were ignored. The only player to buck the trend was allrounder Thisara Perera, who scored a INR 1.6 crore ($266,000) contract with Kings XI Punjab.Ignored – 2
Given the paucity of quality Indian fast bowlers, even mediocre performers had been virtually guaranteed hefty paydays. This time, though, the likes of Munaf Patel (who only made the Mumbai Indians XI four times last season), Manpreet Gony (who leaked 9.14 runs an over in 2013) and Abhimanyu Mithun (whose IPL economy rate is 9.83) went unsold. It was another sign that franchises are no more willing to indiscriminately splash the cash.The question
Delhi Daredevils had thought they had got Australia fast bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile for INR 2.2crores ($366,000) but Rajasthan Royals insisted they had placed a higher bid. Neither Madley nor his associates had spotted Royals’ raised paddle, so Madley asked Royals’ team mentor Rahul Dravid: “I’ve got to completely trust you because I didn’t see it, do you feel you bid before the hammer went down?” Not often that Dravid, for years an exemplar of the gentleman cricketer, is questioned like this. He insisted he had bid in time, and the subsequent bidding made Coulter-Nile richer by more than 2crores more.

In a 12-year period, Graeme Smith established himself as a leader par excellence. Here’s a look back at his illustrious career

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2014March 8-12, 2002
A 21-year-old Graeme Smith makes his international debut against Australia at Cape Town. Batting at No. 3, he scores a battling 68 in the second innings, as South Africa suffer a four-wicket defeat.October 18-21, 2002
Opens the batting and scores exactly 200 in only his fifth Test innings, against Bangladesh at East London.January 2-5, 2003
Scores 153 against Pakistan at Durban, as he and Herschelle Gibbs put on 368 for the first wicket. It is Smith’s second hundred in his eighth Test, and will be his last innings in the ranks.March 16, 2003
Smith is named Test and ODI captain, replacing Shaun Pollock after a disastrous World Cup. At 22, he is the youngest player ever to captain South Africa.April 24-27, 2003
Wins his first Test in charge, by an innings and 60 runs against Bangladesh at Chittagong, on the way to a 2-0 series victory.July 24-28, 2003
A momentous tour for Smith begins with him scoring 277 in the first Test at Edgbaston, an innings that sets a new record for the highest Test score by a South African. In all, Smith scores 362 runs in the match, which ends in a draw.July 31-August 3, 2003
Another huge score, 259 in the second Test at Lord’s (still the highest score by an overseas player at the ground), and this time in a winning cause. Smith’s third double-hundred of his young career helps put his side 1-0 up in the series, though England fight back to secure a draw in the fifth Test at The Oval.January 16-20, 2004
Smith and Gibbs record their third 300-run opening stand in just over a year, against West Indies at Centurion. A ten-wicket victory wraps up Smith’s first home series as captain 3-0.March 26-30, 2004
Scores an unbeaten 125 as South Africa chase 234 to win the third Test against New Zealand at Wellington. Gary Kirsten, now South Africa’s coach, retires after the match.January 13-17, 2005
A setback at home, as England win the fourth Test at Johannesburg to take a 2-1 lead that is enough to secure them the series. Smith, suffering from concussion, scores a defiant 67 not out batting at No. 8 in the fourth innings but Matthew Hoggard takes seven wickets as South Africa are bowled out in 59.3 overs on the final day.March-April 2005
Three consecutive centuries, in Trinidad, Barbadoes and Antigua, help South Africa to a 2-0 win in West Indies. Smith tallies 505 Test runs at 84.16 in the Caribbean.October 14-17, 2005
Captains the ICC World XI against Australia at Sydney but manages scores of just 12 and 0 in a 210-run defeat.Graeme Smith had a tough time against Australia in 2005-06, so revenge was sweet when it came•Getty ImagesDecember 2005-March 2006
Returns to Australia with South Africa, only to lose the three-Test series 2-0; South Africa are then whitewashed 3-0 at home to complete a miserable run of five consecutive defeats to the Australians. Smith averages 25.83 and 18.75 in the two series, while a finger injury rules him out at Johannesburg, ending his unbroken run in the Test side since debut.January 2-6, 2007
Scores 94 and 55 at Cape Town to lead South Africa to a 2-1 victory against India, having lost the first match of the three-Test series.October 8-12, 2007
Smith makes his first Test hundred in two-and-a-half years against Pakistan at Lahore.February 29-March 3, 2008
A world-record opening partnership of 415 with Neil McKenzie sets up an innings victory over Bangladesh at Chittagong, securing South Africa’s seventh series victory in a row. Smith’s 232 is his fourth double-hundred and comes in his 54th Test as captain, surpassing Hansie Cronje’s South Africa record.July 10-14, 2008
Despite South Africa being forced to follow-on 346 runs behind, Smith scores his second Lord’s hundred to help save the first Test of the series against England.July 30-August 2, 2008
Another milestone as captain. After taking a 1-0 lead at Headingley, South Africa secure a first series victory in England since 1965 by winning the third Test at Edgbaston. Again Smith shows his inspirational qualities – and his affinity for batting in Birmingham – by making 154 not out to lead his side from 93 for 4 to their fourth-innings target of 283.December 17-21, 2008
Scores 108 in the fourth innings at the WACA as South Africa chase 414 to win the first Test against Australia. It is the second-highest successful run chase in Test history.December 26-30, 2008
South Africa clinch the series with a nine-wicket win in Melbourne. It is another landmark for South Africa, their first ever series victory on Australian soil, and hands Australia a first home defeat in almost 16 years. Smith scores 62 and 75, extending his margin at the top of the leading runscorers’ list for 2008, with 1656.January 7, 2009
Comes in at No. 11 to bat with a broken left hand and sore elbow as South Africa strive for a draw at the SCG. Smith lasts almost half an hour before being bowled for 3, just minutes from the close.February-March 2009
Australia gain revenge with a 2-1 win in South Africa, to hang on to the No. 1 Test ranking for a while longer. Smith breaks his right hand this time, at Durban, and misses the third Test.On route to his unbeaten 154 at Edgbaston in 2008. Smith’s finest hour?•Tom Shaw/Getty ImagesJanuary 3-7, 2010
Makes 183 in the third Test against England at Cape Town but, for the second time in the series, Graham Onions defies South Africa’s bowlers in the final overs as the tourists cling to their 1-0 lead.January 14-17, 2010
South Africa finally make their superiority count, winning the fourth Test at the Wanderers by an innings and 74 runs to tie the series 1-1. Smith’s second hundred in consecutive innings – his sixth in total against England – takes him to his highest position of second in the ICC Test batting rankings.November 12-16, 2010
Against Pakistan in Dubai, Smith goes past Kirsten’s total of 7289 runs to become South Africa’s second-highest runscorer in Tests, behind Jacques Kallis.March 2011
Resigns ODI captaincy after South Africa’s quarter-final exit from the World Cup.November 9-11, 2011
An extraordinary Test at Newlands sees South Africa chase 236 to beat Australia, after trailing by 188 on first innings. Smith’s 37 is the top score as South Africa are dismissed for 96 but his side responds immediately by demolishing Australia for 47; Smith then adds another unbeaten, fourth-innings ton to his collection to secure victory.December 2011-January 2012
Despite a poor personal return for Smith, South Africa beat Sri Lanka 2-1 to record their first Test series win at home for three years.March 7-11, 2012
Scores his 24th Test hundred in the drawn Test against New Zealand in Dunedin.July – August 2012
Smith becomes the seventh player in the history to register a century in his 100th Test. The hundred sets up a win in the first Test at The Oval. South Africa go on to win the three-Test series 2-0 and dethrone England as the top Test team.November – December 2012
Scores a vital century in the drawn second Test in Adelaide, then leads South Africa to a 309-run win in Perth to seal the series. It is South Africa’s second successive series win in AustraliaFebruary 1, 2013
On the day he turns 32, Smith also becomes the first person to captain a team in 100 Tests, when he leads South Africa against Pakistan in Johannesburg. CSA declares the first day of the Test as ‘Biff day’, after Smith’s nicknameOctober 24, 2013
Scores 234 against Pakistan in Dubai. It is Smith’s fifth double-ton in Tests and his 326-run partnership with AB de Villiers equals Don Bradman’s record of a batsman with most triple-century standsMarch 3, 2014
At Newlands, Smith announces his retirement from international cricket during the third Test against Australia

At some point, Australia’s uncertain top order was going to cause trouble they could not recover from. Without two days of defiance, or perhaps help from the weather, Port Elizabeth will be that occasion

Daniel Brettig in Port Elizabeth22-Feb-2014Late in the afternoon Hashim Amla punched a tiring Ryan Harris through cover off the back foot, eluding the despairing dive of Steven Smith. As the ball sped away to the boundary, Smith punched the turf not once but twice, his irritation emblematic of the red mist descending on an Australian side now more or less at the mercy of South Africa. Smith could not be held personally responsible for this slide, having once again played a spiky innings with the tail. But there was a wider sense of Australia receiving their comeuppance this day, of earlier sins returning to haunt them by way of accumulation.No matter how brazen Brad Haddin has been, how skilful Smith or how spirited the tail beneath them, Australia’s middle and lower orders could not be expected to keep bailing out their batting brethren. As it was, the last six wickets still contributed significantly more than the first four, squeezing 165 runs to 81 and thus avoiding the possibility of the follow-on. It was a fair effort but not a miraculous one, and consigned Michael Clarke’s team to some hours pondering their fates in the field.Apart from the extraordinary pace of Mitchell Johnson, the Ashes sweep of England had been built primarily upon the batting rearguards of Haddin and Smith. Others had contributed, but nowhere near as pivotally as these two – Clarke, David Warner, Chris Rogers and Shane Watson ended the series with healthy tallies, but of those only Clarke notched a first innings century. At Centurion, the discrepancy was again evident but again obscured, this time by the efforts of Smith and Shaun Marsh from the unsteady platform of 98 for 4.In the aftermath of the crushing victory that was ultimately reaped from that uncertain beginning, the Australians were bullish about the fact that they would not be troubled by this pattern. Clarke, when queried on his top order on match eve in Port Elizabeth, remarked that he was very happy with the way the batsmen had performed in the first Test, pointing to the hundreds of Smith, Marsh and Warner. Yet even amid their own introspection about an opening defeat, South Africa had enough reason to hope that if they could put Australia under pressure, they would be able to clatter through.

‘Our shot selection was poor’

Australia’s captain Michael Clarke admitted poor shot selection had played a part in his side’s first innings downfall and acknowledged he needed second innings runs himself to ease out of a mounting streak of low scores.

“Credit where credit is due, I think South Africa bowled very well,” Clarke said. “Having more than 400 runs on the board obviously helps and when you’ve got a period of about 25 overs to bowl you can certainly have a crack, give it everything they’ve got. I think they’ve just executed very well – and our shot-selection was poor.

“Unfortunately our top order didn’t perform as well as we would have liked. It was an uphill battle today for the rest of our batters. We’ve got some work to do in the second innings that’s for sure. I think the wicket has deteriorated a little bit but more than anything else it’s staying low so we’re going to have to make sure we’re switched on in the second innings.”

Clarke has not passed 25, let alone 50, since his first-innings hundred in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval, and said his underwhelming scores did not reflect the way he was striking the ball.

“I feel the complete opposite, I feel in great nick. I felt sharp, I felt like my feet moved really well in the first innings against a pretty good attack with their tail up,” Clarke said. “I haven’t made as many runs as I would have liked but I feel like I’m working as hard as I have been, I’m hitting the ball sweet, I think my shot selection was extremely poor with my dismissal. I’ve got to be better than that. Hopefully in the second innings.”

A long innings from Graeme Smith’s men duly ensued, helped significantly by a St George’s Park surface that lacked the spiteful bounce and pace of Centurion. If anything, its characteristics have more in common with those surfaces prepared in England last year, when Andy Flower devised a plan to blunt Australia’s strengths on pacy pitches by compounding their weakness on slow ones. Patience is vital on such pitches, and there was too little of that on show when the tourists replied to 423.The overnight tally of 112 for 4 from 25 overs illustrated a desire to keep the game moving, but the wickets column left an awful lot to be done. Warner, who had played edgily but boldly on the second evening, was intent on doing same when he resumed, but lacking early strike he miscalculated against Vernon Philander and nicked into the slips, where for once Smith held a catch. To lose Warner early was arguably the most important moment of the day, for his exit left too much for Smith and Haddin to do once more.Haddin’s aggression was critical to the destruction of England, though in four Tests out of five he did so batting first, and thus not looking up at a scoreboard showing a major differential to be made up. Throughout that series he was also aided by a liberal allocation of good fortune, whether through dropped catches, edges not going to hand or calculated gambles repeatedly paying off. They have not done so in South Africa so far. In Centurion a premature slog sweep gifted a wicket to Robin Peterson, and in Port Elizabeth a firm-footed attempt to drive against Dale Steyn’s reverse swing resulted in middle stump lying flat on the ground.Smith was more fluent, and fortunate when Peterson turfed a simple chance forward of square leg. But he too ran out of miracles, falling victim to a DRS review that the third umpire Aleem Dar went along with on quite flimsy circumstantial evidence. The on-field official Richard Illingworth had not been convinced, and the bemusement of Clarke and the coach Darren Lehmann at the reversal of the original verdict was plain for all to see. Nevertheless, wickets such as these often fall the way of the team making the running, and it was optimistic to expect Smith being able to conjure enough runs to reach first-innings parity in the company of Nos. 10 and 11.Bowling a second time, the tourists were serviceable but handicapped by the match situation. The sight of Clarke moving a man to the legside boundary second ball of the innings after Smith’s flick for four off Johnson spoke volumes for the priority being damage limitation as much as wicket-taking. Harris in particular looked tired and sore, his wonky knee creaking ever closer to the surgery scheduled for his return home. Johnson, Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon had their moments, but could not force a rush of wickets. Haddin’s drop of a difficult chance from the silken Amla as the shadows grew long enhanced the sense that his golden summer was at an end.That all means a major fourth innings salvage job for Australia, an assignment requiring plenty of steel from the batsmen if they wish to preserve their lead going into the final Test at Newlands. Two batsmen, Rogers and Clarke, look decidedly out of sorts, while Marsh and Alex Doolan are finding their way. The third day demonstrated that Smith and Haddin cannot be relied upon to produce telling innings every time, so another batsman or three must stand up over the next two days. Unless they can do so, and follow up more sturdily in Cape Town, Australia’s pretensions to the throne of world’s top team will remain just that.

With Sri Lanka’s attack, and what India will bring next month, a continued failure of Alastair Cook to recover something close to his best form will raise serious worries

Andrew McGlashan17-Jun-2014If Alastair Cook wants to feel better about his batting form, he may want to steer clear of the latest ICC rankings. After the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka he has dropped to 19th while Kevin Pietersen, who spent one day of the match enjoying a beer in a hospitality box, has climbed above him to No. 18.That is the same Pietersen who has been sacked by the ECB. Before the ICC get on the phone, it is worth a reminder that players obviously do not immediately drop out of the rankings the moment they are not selected, or retire (which Pietersen did not officially do), even if it is a board decision to end their careers. Still, it is a bit of kick in the teeth for Cook.He would have given anything for one more wicket at Lord’s on Monday evening, but it is not only wins that the England captain is desperate for. The headline figure is that his wait for a Test century, which would be No. 26 of his career, has now extended to 22 innings. His previous three figure score came against New Zealand, at Headingley, so perhaps that is a good omen for Cook as he heads north to the same venue for the second Test against Sri Lanka.Asked about his form after Lord’s, Cook said: “I’d love a score. Leading from the front as a captain, you want to score runs – that’s your job as a batter. The longer it goes on, the harder it gets.”Cook’s lack of contributions did not stop England posting their highest total since playing India at The Oval in 2011 but his predecessor as captain, Andrew Strauss, knows how important it is for Cook to break the sequence he is in before it overshadows the team’s performance and affects his captaincy.”It really distracted me that I had become the story,” Strauss told the . “It did affect my captaincy and I lost a bit of confidence, because I felt I was letting the team down. No captain wants to be a passenger in the side. You want to show the team the way forward.”When I became captain in 2009, I scored a lot of runs but towards the end, perhaps I didn’t have enough time to work on my batting as I was always thinking about the captaincy.”Since the start of the home Ashes almost a year ago, he has averaged 25.81 so his Lord’s performance encapsulated his run: scores of 17 in the first innings and 28 in the second. On the first day he dragged a cut shot into his stumps and on the fourth, edged behind against Shaminda Eranga, after showing signs of more fluency, a familiar mode of dismissal which was a regular feature against Ryan Harris and Mitchell Johnson during the back-to-back Ashes.It is a different run that he suffered in 2010 when his place in the side was briefly questioned after 106 runs in eight innings against Bangladesh and Pakistan. During that stretch he looked so horribly out of form that losing his off stump or edging behind off Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif felt inevitable. An ugly hundred at The Oval halted the slide and a few months later he embarked on what would become a record-breaking 2010-11 Ashes.This time Cook is making starts – he has scored six half-centuries in those 22 innings – and has spent considerable time at the crease which on the one hand is a credit to his capacity to battle away but suggests the issues this time are as much mental as technical.He has never had the most pure technique; the great strength during his glory years in 2010 and 2011 – and on his first tour as captain in India the following year – was his concentration at the crease. Over after over, session after session, day after day. Those reserves of energy now appear to be diminished, and that is despite a decent break from the end of the Australia tour to the start of the English season in April.The question of whether it is the captaincy is the obvious one – he has had his fair share of issues to confront. The victorious series in India is often cited in Cook’s defence in this case, and it still holds credence, but it is now a considerable time ago. Also, despite entering that series in the wake of the Pietersen reintegration Cook was still new and fresh to the Test captaincy. England also began that series with reasonably low expectations, which were even lower after defeat in the first Test.Cook’s run without a hundred during the ten Ashes Tests came against some outstanding pace bowling and in Australia, alongside the disintegration of the team. There are those who will argue that Cook’s inability to arrest the slide – both personal and team-wise – was a sign of his own weaknesses, which is why this summer is so crucial to his longer term future.With all due respect to Sri Lanka’s attack, and what India will bring next month, a continued failure to recover something close to his best form will raise serious worries. Lord’s was one Test out of seven England play over the next two months. There was much to be positive about by the new-look side, but runs for the captain are now top of the most-wanted list.

Plays of the day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium

George Binoy25-May-2014The interception
In the final over of the Rajasthan Royals innings, Brad Hodge slogged a length delivery from Kieron Pollard towards cow corner. He had timed and placed the shot well and the ball seemed destined for a one-bounce four. Then there was a blur of blue. Corey Anderson had sprinted from deep midwicket and got to the ball just as it bounced over the boundary. He grabbed at it with his left hand, caught it and flung it back – doing all this while running at full tilt – before falling to the ground.The guitar hero
Pollard and Shane Watson have previous from the 2013 season, and Pollard took an outstanding catch to dismiss Watson today. After mis-hitting Harbhajan Singh towards wide long-on, Watson watched as Pollard covered lots of ground by running forward and to his right from the boundary, and then dived forward to catch the skier just before it hit the ground. He bounced up immediately and broke out an exuberant air-guitar celebration.The deterioration
Jasprit Bumrah is developing a reputation of being a capable death bowler, and he began the 19th over against Royals with three blockhole deliveries that the batsmen could only take singles off. He then began to miss his length but the next two legal deliveries were low full tosses that also yielded only singles. The last ball of the over, however, was a full toss on leg stump and James Faulkner swung it over the square-leg boundary.The contrasting shots
In the 11th over of Royals’ innings, Karun Nair tried to reverse-hit the legspinner Shreyas Gopal from outside off stump. He was cramped for room and managed to get a fraction of bat on the ball to send it racing past the keeper for four. Nair had been aiming square of the wicket and the execution was not pretty. His shot to the next ball, however, was outstanding. Nair drove a full ball against the turn through midwicket with hardly any flourish but his timing was perfect and the result was the same as his unorthodox shot the previous delivery.The start
Mumbai were facing an asking rate of 13 to qualify for the playoffs and there was no time to waste. Bowling the second over, Dhawal Kulkarni’s first delivery was a loosener – a short ball. It was also Michael Hussey’s first ball, but he was not having a sighter. Hussey pulled from outside off stump, and the ball disappeared into the screaming fans beyond the midwicket boundary.