The Bangladesh head coach feels the BPL has not helped develop T20 cricket in the country

Mohammad Isam24-Feb-2024Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe has hit out at the state of the Bangladesh Premier League, indicating that it has not helped develop T20 cricket in the country.Hathurusinghe pointed at the lack of local representation in key batting and bowling roles in the BPL, with the teams often relying on their overseas players for big moments. He also said the ICC should step in to ensure there are regulations in place when it comes to players participating in multiple tournaments in the same window.”We [Bangladesh] don’t have a proper T20 tournament,” Hathurusinghe told ESPNcricinfo. “This sounds very odd. When I am watching the BPL, I sometimes turn off the TV. Some players are not even of the [required] class. I have a big issue with the current system. The ICC need to step in. There has to be some regulations. A player is playing one tournament and then he is playing another tournament. It is like a circus. Players will talk about opportunities, but that’s not right. People will lose interest. I have lost interest.”Hathurusingha said that the Bangladesh players must be given central roles in the BPL.”We need to have a tournament where our players can do things like batting in the top three… Bangladesh bowlers bowling in the death,” he said. “Where will we learn these things otherwise? We have only one tournament.”This season Chattogram Challengers, Sylhet Strikers and Durdanto Dhaka have relied on overseas players for their top three, while Comilla Victorians, Khulna Tigers and Rangpur Riders have used more local players.When it comes to bowling, Comilla, for example, have 12 bowlers in their squad. At the death, they have used eight overseas bowlers. Khulna and Dhaka too have relied more on overseas bowlers during this period. Chattogram, Rangpur, Barishal and Sylhet have used more local bowlers.Abu Hider’s five-wicket haul for Rangpur against Fortune Barishal also underlined just how under-utilised local bowlers are. After missing several games, he took five wickets in his second outing.Khulna called up Jon-Russ Jaggesar, a 37-year-old offspinner from Trinidad and Tobago, whose last competitive game before the BPL appearance was in September 2022. Khulna had spinners Nasum Ahmed, Arif Ahmed and Habibur Rahman in their squad. Left-arm spinners Taijul Islam and Rakibul Hasan played five and two matches respectively for Barishal, who got Keshav Maharaj after he was done with the SA20 stint.Hathurusinghe said the BCB should organise a separate tournament only for local players before the BPL so they could get more T20 experience.”My suggestion is that we have another tournament before the BPL,” he said. “The franchises do what they want. Some of the best players are not playing. Then how do you expect the Bangladesh team to be up with the other teams? I am fighting a steep battle.”

Eden Gardens has regularly seen scores in excess of 200 this season, and more can be expected of the same on Monday

Ashish Pant28-Apr-20244:13

Should KKR use Narine to counter Fraser-McGurk?

Match detailsKolkata Knight Riders (KKR; 2nd place) vs Delhi Capitals (DC; 5th place)
Eden Gardens, Kolkata, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT)Big Picture – Another six-hitting fest on the cards? Two batting powerhouses, on a rampage in the recent matches, clashing at a venue where scores of 200 have been breached in eight of the ten innings in IPL 2024. Can anything but a high-scoring affair be expected?KKR have gone past 220 in each of their last three games; DC have breached the 220 mark twice in three outings, with the other score being 199. While KKR have a scoring rate of 11.18 in the powerplay this season, DC are next in line at 10.41. And that’s down to the openers from both teams.Sunil Narine has 357 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 184.02 this season, and has got good support from Phil Salt in that opening role. The duo has scored at a run rate of 12.36, the second-best for any opening pair while averaging 50.75. But in Khaleel Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav, DC have two bowlers who could trouble the KKR top order.Related

How many sixes need to be hit before they lose their magic?

Jake Fraser-McGurk, the ideal T20 batter

Curran: 'Cricket is turning into baseball, isn't it?'

Forty-two sixes, 523 runs and a world-record T20 chase

Kuldeep has bowled three balls to Narine in the IPL, and dismissed him twice, for an average of 2.00. He has an excellent record against his former franchise in general having picked 10 wickets in three games, striking every six balls. Khaleel, meanwhile, has sent back Narine twice in four innings. Shreyas Iyer has fallen to him twice in 20 balls, averaging 12.5, while Venkatesh Iyer has played just four balls off him and fallen once. Can they be KKR’s kryptonite?KKR, on the other hand, will have to quickly come up with a plan to get past Jake Fraser-McGurk, who has already hammered 247 runs in five innings striking at 237.50.It is a quick turnaround for DC, who beat Mumbai Indians on Saturday. But having won four of their last five games, it could prove to be a blessing. They have a woeful record at Eden Gardens: two wins and seven losses in nine games. But a win here could see them enter the top four on the points table. KKR are coming into the game having failed to defend 261 against Punjab Kings, and they would be desperate for a win.Form guide: DC on a rollKKR LWLWL
DC WWLWWPrevious meeting in IPL 2024It was a run-fest in Visakhapatnam with Narine bashing 85 off 39 balls to help KKR post the third-highest total in the history of IPL. In reply, Rishabh Pant and Tristan Stubbs scored fifties but DC could only manage 166.Phil Salt and Sunil Narine have been phenomenal for KKR up top•BCCI

Team news and impact player strategyDelhi Capitals: David Warner (finger injury) and Ishant Sharma (back spasms) will need another week to regain full fitness, and are unlikely to be available for the KKR clash. Prithvi Shaw also missed the previous game with illness, and his availability is yet to be ascertained. If Shaw makes it, he will slot back into the top of the order with Abishek Porel sliding lower down replacing Kumar Kushagra. DC are otherwise unlikely to make any other changes to their XII.Rasikh Salam has been making the impact as the Impact Player in the last two games and DC are expected to continue with him.Probable XII: 1 Prithvi Shaw/Abishek Porel, 2 Jake Fraser-McGurk, 3 Shai Hope, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Tristan Stubbs, 6 , 7 Axar Patel, 8 Kuldeep Yadav, 9 Lizaad Williams, 10 Mukesh Kumar, 11 Khaleel Ahmed, 12 Kolkata Knight Riders: Mitchell Starc missed KKR’s previous game with a finger injury and it’s unclear whether he is fit yet. If he does make it, he is likely to come back in place of Dushmantha Chameera. Anukul Roy and Venkatesh Iyer were the Impact swaps in KKR’s previous game. There is a chance, KKR could go with either Anukul or Suyash Sharma as their impact sub. Depending on the surface, they could also go for Vaibhav Arora as one of the options.Probable XII: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 , 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Dushmantha Chameera/Mitchell Starc, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Harshit Rana 12 In the spotlight: Jake Fraser-McGurk and Sunil NarineIt’s not just the volume of runs that the Jake Fraser-McGurk has scored this year, but also how he has scored them. Among openers who’ve scored at least 100 runs in the powerplay this season, Fraser-McGurk’s strike rate of 252.08 is the highest. He has already struck 22 sixes in IPL 2024, climbing to joint-fifth on the list in just five innings. Fraser-McGurk is just coming off a 27-ball 84 against Mumbai Indians and will want to continue in the same vein.At 35, Sunil Narine is truly living up to the definition of an allrounder. No other KKR batter has more runs than Narine’s 357 in IPL 2024. No other KKR bowler has more wickets than Narine’s ten in IPL 2024. He is going at an economy of 6.96 this season, with the second-best being Arora’s 9.57 and has picked up at least a wicket in every game. In KKR’s previous game, where PBKS chased down 261 in the 19th over, Narine went at an economy of 6. KKR will desperately hope for the Narine magic to continue for as long as possible.Pitch and conditionsRuns have flowed at Eden Gardens this year, and that’s unlikely to change. Teams have opted to bowl in each of the five games so far, with dew often making its presence felt later in the night. There is an excessive heat warning in Kolkata with the temperature hovering around the 40 degree mark during the day. The humidity will play a major factor.Stats that matterThe DC spinners have taken the most wickets (21) in IPL 2024, while KKR are third on this list at 18.KKR’s quicks have the worst economy in IPL 2024 – 11.25; DC are marginally behind on 11.16. Shreyas Iyer needs six runs to complete 3000 runs in the IPL.Shreyas Iyer has fallen to Kuldeep Yadav twice in seven T20 innings, but has struck at 176.92 against him. He has an excellent record against Axar Patel in the IPL – a strike rate of 155.0 and an average of 62.0.Rishabh Pant has struck Andre Russell for 52 runs in 24 balls in the IPL at a strike rate of 216.7, but also fallen to him three times in seven innings. Quotes “If you look at the bowling side, they are coming out with so many variations. They have been trying but still they have been hit. Now, that is the only challenge. It is very hard for the bowlers to go in the middle and bowl.”

New Bears skipper has already totted up 441 runs this season

ECB Reporters Network19-Apr-2024Alex Davies continued his run-fuelled start to the Vitality County Championship season with an immense century as Warwickshire tyrannised Hampshire.New Bears skipper Davies has already totted up 441 runs this season – over 60 per cent of the runs he managed in 2023 – with scores of 36, 256 and on this occasion 149 to lead from the front.He was partnered with by high-scoring Rob Yates and Will Rhodes – who are up to 286 and 323 runs this campaign after 69 and 81 at Utilita Bowl.Warwickshire ended day one on 340 for 4 – with Liam Dawson’s double and a wicket apiece for Kyle Abbott and Mohammad Abbas giving Hampshire minimal cheer.Hampshire head coach Adi Birrell had forewarned that the pitch had been designed to be identical to the season opener against Lancashire last week – a match that petered out to a draw.It had been hoped a change in ball from Kookaburra to Dukes might offer the bowlers more assistance but in fact it only helped the batters score quicker – especially with a short boundary on one side.Davies’ decision to bat after winning the toss was a no-brainer, and proved as such as he put on a clinic of field manipulation and boundary hitting.He and opening partner Yates tore into the over-pitching Abbott early on – the South African went for 29 in his opening four overs as the opening stand whizzed past 50 inside 14 overs.The duo were coming off the back of an epic 343-run stand against Worcestershire at Edgbaston last week. As they raced to 114 by lunch, with barely an oooh or an ahhh from Hampshire’s bowlers, a similarly massive alliance looked likely.Yates had reached his fifty in 80 balls, but fell in the second over of the resumption after Abbott changed tact. The former Test quick had exclusively bowled around the wicket before the interval but afterwards came over, and managed to get the left-hander to nick behind with the ball angling across him.The breakthrough didn’t spark a collapse as a 116-run partnership made way for a 174-run one.Davies has replaced Rhodes as captain this season put the pair batted as one against a bowling attack struggling to find a cutting edge.Davies eased through his half-century in 82 deliveries, and despite being bowled by James Fuller off a no-ball, breezed to a ninth first-class ton in 166 balls.Other than a swept maximum off Dawson, Rhodes was workmanlike and unmemorable in his batting – but his style simply saw the runs column continue to increase steadily. His half-century took 97 balls.Davies fell for 149 when he edged to James Vince at first slip while attempting to work Dawson to the leg side.A new ball soon after saw Abbas pin Rhodes on the shin before Ed Barnard was lbw to Dawson to give Hampshire a brighter end to a batting-dominant day – typified by only 22 plays and misses.

Roma are targeting 18-year-old Barcelona talent Marc Bernal, who was once hailed as the heir to Sergio Busquets.

• Roma are interested in Bernal
• Suffered an injury that sidelined him last season
• Betis also eyeing the teenager

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Serie A side are keen to bring the 18-year-old to the Italian capital this summer, according to , having already made contact regarding a possible transfer. However, La Liga side Betis are also eyeing him.

Advertisement

• Getty Images Sport
  

  THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Bernal, a La Masia graduate, made his La Liga debut last season when he started in their opening game of the season against Valencia. He then started in the next two matches before a cruciate ligament injury sidelined him for the remainder of the campaign. His exceptional technique earned him a reputation as the natural successor to Barcelona and Spain's legendary midfielder Busquets.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Roma have officially completed the signings of Evan Ferguson and Neil El Aynaoui and are now close to signing Wesley from Flamengo.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

• Getty Images
  

  WHAT NEXT FOR BERNAL AND ROMA?

  Roma will hope to land the youngster as they look to reinforce Gian Piero Gasperini's team before the start of the season and a change of scenery may appeal to the youngster after his horrific injury.

NFL legend Tom Brady says he loves Birmingham City's "budding rivalry" with Wrexham as they prepare for life in the Championship.

Brady loves "budding" Wrexham rivalryHas huge respect for owners Reynolds & McElhenneyReady for renewed battle in ChampionshipFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

Birmingham minority owner Brady revealed he is enjoying the competitive edge there is between recently promoted League One teams City and Wrexham but he also stressed that the Welsh side's owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, have done an incredible job since taking over in 2021. The American added that both clubs are confident they are on a "path to success".

AdvertisementWHAT BRADY SAID

When asked if he looked at what the Wrexham owners were doing in regards to a blueprint for success at Birmingham, he said on the Men in Blazers YouTube channel: "Yeah, how could you not hear about what they've done and [not] be excited about what their team has achieved? Since they took over, I think they've done things in football that have never happened before. They've become friends with myself, with (Birmingham owner) Tom Wagner. I've known Ryan for quite a while and I've gotten to know Rob pretty well over the last five or six years. I am so happy for their success because it means a lot to them.

"They care for that entire organisation; they've provided a great blueprint to be successful. A lot like them, we feel the same way that we have a great path to success, and now it's about execution. I love the fact that we have a great rivalry between these two clubs. We're not down there on the pitch doing it. The players have to go out there and do it but when that match happens, it's going to be quite a sight to see."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Birmingham look primed for an assault on the Premier League after romping to the League One title, in addition to splashing the cash on eye-catching signings. But Wrexham, who have secured three promotions in a row and came second behind City last season, are doing the same and will be intent on being in the promotion picture in 2025/26. As Brady says, a budding rivalry is brewing here, although their feud with Aston Villa is a much bigger kettle of fish.

ENJOYED THIS STORY?

Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting

Getty/GOAL'I LOVE RIVALRIES'

Brady added: "I think maybe a rivalry in the making. I think everyone knows the feelings involved, certainly of all the Birmingham City supporters, when it comes to Aston Villa. They're probably more of the rival, even though there hasn't been much of a rivalry in the last 15 years or so. But prior to that it was all Aston Villa and maybe it's Wrexham in the making. But I love rivalries. Rivalries bring out the best in all of us. It heightens your sense of emotion and focus, it allows you to continue to reach new levels because you realise the enormity of these moments in terms of what they'll mean for the rest of your life. I love the rivalry with Wrexham, I'd say the budding rivalry. But truly Aston Villa is the team Birmingham City would love to beat."

Gideon Haigh reviews Out of My Comfort Zone by Steve Waugh

Gideon Haigh23-Jan-2006

Michael Joseph, hb, 801pp, £20

Eight hundred and one pages; 300,000 words; 1.9 kg. In this statistically-minded age, it is the dimensions of Steve Waugh’s autobiography that first command attention. He has, again, swept the field. Bradman disposed of his life in 316 pages, Hobbs in 320, Allan Border in 270. And this after 10 tour diaries, an album of photographs, and three biographies. The man’s a machine.The hackneyed sportspeak of the title isn’t insignificant either. This is not a comfortable book to hold, let alone read. Most sport memoirs are slight, perfunctory and produced with little care. Waugh has the opposite problem. His stupendous effort in producing this book oozes from every page, almost every passage. He writes like he batted, seemingly in thrall to the idea that the man with the most pages wins. Unable to determine what is important, he has convinced himself that everything is.That’s a shame. There are hints here of genuine self-disclosure, of the drive that made him the cricketer he was, and of the frailties contained by his tight-wound personality. “For me,” he explains, “the hardest part about not doing well was that I began to think I was a failure not just as a player but as a person too.” He was, he admits, a bottler up of his emotions, even with brother Mark. At the peak of his twin’s travails in the match-fixing mess, Waugh recalls, they had a heart-to-heart that, in the great tradition of Aussie stoicism, wasn’t: “Before we parted, we had one of those moments where you know you should let your guard down and just do something. I’m sure we both sensed it – the notion that we should embrace and reassure each other it was going to be okay. But we didn’t.”Waugh is the voice of pragmatism when he wonders if he came back a better player after omission from the Australian side: “Sounds fantastic in theory, but most players who get dropped either don’t make it back or are no better prepared when they get their next chance.” But he is the voice of suggestibility when he enumerates his host of superstitions above and beyond the famous red rag – the alighting on him of a ladybird, for example, he took as a good omen.Captaincy was even lonelier than playing: “A captain can tell he’s skipper the moment he sits down to a team dinner at a restaurant and the chairs on either side are vacant for longer than they have been in the past.” He admits to the occasional “mild anxiety attack” at the coin toss. By the end of his career, his only confidante was his wife, to whom he “let all my pent-up emotions gush out and bawled like a baby” when he was retrenched as one-day skipper.Just when Waugh seems about to open up, however, he seeks the comfort of cliche (“An overwhelming sense of anticipation on top of the comforting knowledge that this was an Australian cricketer’s ultimate sporting adventure stirred me as we gathered at Sydney airport in readiness for my second Ashes tour”) and the safety of statistics (“I performed okay in our other matches, playing in all eight games and finishing fourth in the Australian batting aggregates”). His comfort zone is not merely small but well-fortified.Waugh is also prone to descriptions that are like literary slog-sweeps: batting on an awkward pitch is like “being a wildebeest crossing a swollen African creek bed, knowing that eventually a submerged crocodile will eventually sink its fangs into your flesh”; Michael Bevan was “a `pyjama Picasso’, creating masterpiece after masterpiece to the point that his genius became mundane when people were spoiled by his continued brilliance”; Gavin Robertson “once had the classic textbook technique but it somehow metamorphosed into a batting stance that resembled a badly constipated individual with a `headless chook’ approach”. The writer might have left his comfort zone, but did he have to try taking the reader with him?

The column where we answer your questions

22-Aug-2005The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Glenn McGrath: current holder of the record for the most runs scored by a No. 11 batsman © Getty Images
I heard that Glenn McGrath was close to the record for Test runsscored from No. 11. Has he got there yet? asked David Sims fromAustralia
Glenn McGrath passedthe record, which not surprisingly went unnoticed, towards the end ofthe pulsating drawn third Test at Old Trafford. McGrath, who was playing in his 111th Test, took his total of runs at No. 11 to 556, with innings of 1 and 5, both not out. He has also scored 36 runs from higher in the order. The previous record-holder was Courtney Walsh, with 553 runs from No. 11 for West Indies. Muttiah Muralitharan is coming up on the rails with 526. Bob Willis is fourth with 452, with another former England fast bowler, Brian Statham, is next with348.I was wondering who the most successful batsman against Glenn McGrath in Tests is? Could it be Brian Lara? asked MD Masood from America
Brian Lara is indeed quite high on that particular list. In the 20 Tests he’s played against Glenn McGrath, Lara averages 45.97 – he scored 1655 runs in those games, but McGrath has got him out 13 times. Lara is a fraction ahead of Graham Thorpe, who averaged 45.82 when in opposition to Australia and McGrath. Only two batsmen who played more than twice in Tests against “Pigeon” have exceeded Lara’s average, and both are from Pakistan: Saeed Anwar made 796 runs inseven matches in which McGrath played, at an average of 61.23, and Ijaz Ahmed made 733 runs in eight Tests at 56.38.How many times has a batsman been stumped for a pair in a Test, ashappened in a Test in Zimbabwe recently? asked Mike McKenzie fromEngland
The unfortunate batsman at Harare earlier this month was Zimbabwe’s Christopher Mpofu, who wasstumped by New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum off Daniel Vettori for a duckin both innings. I couldn’t remember another instance at first, but it’salways dangerous to say “never” in Test cricket . and sure enough it hadhappened once before, way back in 1894-95, when Bobby Peel of England wasstumped by Australia’s wicketkeeper Affie Jarvis for 0 in both inningsof the fourth Test at Sydney. Peel had bagged another pair in the previous Test atAdelaide. Sixteen other players have been stumped in both innings of thesame Test, five of them in the 1950s and only three since. The mostrecent instance before Mpofu’s came at Cairns in 2004, when Sri Lanka’s Upul Chandana was stumped byAdam Gilchrist off Shane Warne for 19 and 14.After the amazing Edgbaston Test, I was wondering which Test matchproduced the most runs without an individual century by any batsman?asked Andrew Schilk from Australia
Some 1176 runs were scored in the second Test at Edgbaston without anindividual century, but that turns out to be only ninth on the alltimelist. The biggest aggregate without a hundred by a batsman is 1272, inthe match between South Africa (246 and 464 for 8 dec) and England (430and 132 for 2) atDurban in 1927-28, when the highest individual score was WallyHammond’s 90 – there were 13 half-centuries scored in the game. The 1997Ashes Test at Trent Bridge almost broke the record – there were 1262 runs inall in that game, but no hundreds, and the highest score was AlecStewart’s 87.Shane Warne took 10 wickets at Edgbaston, but Australia still lost -and I gather he had done the same somewhere else. Has anyone taken tenin a match more often for a losing side?? asked Ravi Jhansarifrom Hyderabad
Shane Warne’s other ten-forin a losing cause came atSydney in 1993-94, when his match figures of 12 for 128 weren’tquite enough to prevent South Africa winning by five runs. At Edgbaston he took 10 for 162, and England won by two runs. Twobowlers from the turn of the last century also took ten in a losingcause twice – England’s tireless fast bowler Tom Richardson and the tallAustralian spinner HughTrumble. But another modern great took ten wickets in a matchthree times yet ended up losing – Wasim Akram of Pakistan. Hetook 10 for 128 in only his second Test, at Dunedin in 1984-85, yet New Zealand won by two wickets; the nexttime he did it, with 11 for 162 at Melbourne in 1989-90, Australia won by 92 runs; and at St John’s in 1999-2000 his 11 for 110 couldn’t stop WestIndies winning by one wicket. Wasim’s two other ten-wicket hauls didbring Pakistan victory, though. Several other bowlers have taken ten wickets in a Test once but finished on the losing side.You talked last week about close Test matches . and we’ve just hadanother one. Have there been any Tests where the scores were level atthe end of the fourth innings but the match was drawn rather thantied? asked James Watson from Birmingham
There has only been one – the first Test ever played between Zimbabweand England, atBulawayo in 1996-97, when England needed 205 to win in 37 overs butfinished up at 204 for 6. It counts as a draw, not a tie, as Englandweren’t bowled out. At Old Trafford in 1998, England (183 and 369 for9) exactly matched South Africa’s total in their only innings (552) inanother drawn match.

When Anil Kumble takes the field for the final Test at Ahmedabad, he will become the second spinner to have played 100 Tests

George Binoy17-Dec-2005

When Anil Kumble takes the field for the final Test against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad, he will become the second spinner, after Shane Warne, to have played 100 Tests. Kumble is the second longest serving member of this Indian side after Sachin Tendulkar, and his contribution to Indian cricket has been simply immense.It takes a remarkable standard of fitness and resolve for a bowler to earn 100 caps and just six others, before Kumble, have passed this landmark. Only a handful of current bowlers have played more than 90 Tests and, with the exception of Shaun Pollock, all their stats in the last 25 matches are better than their overall career figures. Muttiah Muralitharan has a staggering 141 wickets from his last 20 games and Kumble is only four behind Warne’s tally of 118 scalps.

Kumble may not figure in India’s one-day plans anymore but, in Tests, he has only gotten better as the years have rolled by. Kumble’s strike rate, at 53.69, in his most recent games, is far better than his career equivalent of 65.1. His average is also a couple of notches lower at 26.53 and with eight five-wicket hauls in the last 19 matches, Kumble is enjoying one of the most productive phases of his career.

How India fares in a Test depends a lot on Kumble’s form. In games that India have won, Kumble takes wickets at a mere 18.47 apiece. On the other hand, Kumble has taken only four of his 30 five-wicket hauls in matches that India have lost and his average skyrockets to 42.34 in these games.

A major argument, and one that was certainly justifiable, against Anil Kumble was his ordinary overseas record. After the tour of West Indies in 2001-02, Kumble had 109 overseas wickets from 34 games at an average of 40.40 and a strike rate of a wicket every 16 overs. But since then, he has improved significantly. In 13 Tests, beginning with the England tour in 2002, Kumble has taken 67 wickets at a respectable strike rate of 55.85.

An Indian win masterminded by Kumble in the fourth innings of a home Test is a familiar tale. A spinner should, in theory at least, have better figures as the match progresses and Kumble most certainly confirms to it. In the second innings, he averages 24.85 compared to 30.56 in the first. And if he’s bowling in the last innings of a match, that figure drops to 20.32.

Will Luke reviews by Bill Frindall

Will Luke16-Jun-2006

Buy now

I must confess to a sense of trepidation in being asked to review thisbook. Bill Frindall’s on-air style as the BBC’s scorer has a required taste; his dry, laconic wit andinsistence on correcting messers Blofeld and Agnew on any anomalies intheir commentary takes his role as the “straight man” to hitherto unseenlevels.Happily, albeit 309 pages later, my opinion had changed. His somewhatboorish banter with his TMS colleagues is nowhere to be seen in thishis first autobiography. In fact, quite the opposite; he is engaging,charming and it is mostly a thoroughly interesting read.Making his debut in the TMS box in 1966, the impression of Frindall isof a man born to work with numbers, statistics and so forth. Yet inthe first 80 pages or so, it is his playing career which receives thebiggest attention. We learn that it was his father, who is spoken ofin endearingly cherished tones, who introduced him to cricket, wheremost days the pair (like many father-son teams) would play on the backlawn and “naughtily, on a remote putting green on Epsom Downs”.If Frindall senior was the central figure in a young Bill’s life, theRAF (and, later, John Arlott) became his substitute father-figureduring the 1950s where, seemingly, very little work was done where atall possible. “…life in the RAF was a delightfully cushy numberindeed. Members of the station cricket teams could even have theirboots and pads whitened by delivering them to the sports section”.For readers not overly enamoured with the “art” of scoring, Bearders(known throughout as Bill, Sir William, Bearders or Frindalius)fortunately only spends a single chapter detailing the history behindsome of the scoring world’s legends. But in fact, it’s an enlighteningread. Did you know, for example, that his scoring method – the linearsystem – is based on John Atkinson Pendlington (1861-1914)? Or that in1972, Frindall devised an adapted version of “the Pendlington” whichis now in use by first-class teams around the world? In an agebesotted with speed; the internet; with words such as “verdana” and”qwerty”, the old-fashioned and painstaking manual process of scoringseems kitsch. But I quite like it, again, in fact; his love of its arttranslates itself strongly in the book, something which at times comesacross as a chore over the airwaves in the TMS box.John Arlott, the “Voice of Cricket from 1946 until 1980” receives anentire chapter which, while not to be missed, is nevertheless a touch too syrupy for an autobiography. Clearly (and understandably), Arlott played a significant rolein Frindall’s life and indeed helped shape him as a man – they met twoyears after Frindall senior died – not to mention his career. However,the common thread of his love for Arlott is a shared thirst of the red liquid. Barely a sentence goes by that Arlott’s love of wine isn’t mockingly mentioned; there’s almost a sense of pride, relish and jealousy that Arlott had such a capacity, and it becomes ratherweary. Nevertheless, as anyone who enjoys a bottle of wine or ten willtestify, drink has a habit of fuelling good humour and the pair evidentlyspent countless days – Frindall under Arlott’s drunken wing – tasting andenjoying the grapes of France and Australia.Of great interest are the chapters devoted to his colleagues. Arlottapart, Brian Johnston, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Jonathan Agnew,Shilpa Patel (production assistant to Peter Baxter with “a varies andfashionable wardrobe) all receive notable mention. Indeed, whileArlott and Johnners had a decidedly acrimonious relationship -recorded at length by the author – Frindall and Johnners had no suchproblems. In one particularly amusing anecdote, he transcribes acommentary stint between himself, Johnners and Fred Trueman whenwearing an Arabian headdress (ghutra an iqal).Humour, then, is the common thread running through the book. Devotedto cricket and to his colleagues, it was a welcome revelation into aman whose often grumpy interjections on the radio portray someone illat ease with his lot. Quite the opposite. Frindall, or Frindalius asAllott nicknamed him, has a hidden and infectiously witty side to himwhich, oddly, is almost like welcoming a new member aboard TMS. Cheers.Buy now from Cricshop

South Africa completed a 2-1 series victory by winning the third Test by five wickets. It was a significant achievement considering they were 0-1 down. Not many have done it. Cricinfo looks at the stat highlights

Cricinfo staff06-Jan-2007

8 – the number of times (including this one) that a team has come from 0-1 down to win a three Test series. This is the second time South Africa have done it. Curiously, the only other time South Africa won after trailing 0-1 was against New Zealand in 1994-95 when the Tests were played at the same venues as this series – Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.3 – the number of Test series (including this one) India have lost after taking a 1-0 lead. The previous two occasions was against England in 1984-85 and the next was in West Indies in 2002.211 – is the second highest successful run-chase at Newlands. The highest is Australia’s 334 for 6 against South Africa in 2002.306 – Ashwell Prince’s run-tally at the end of the series. He averaged 61.20 and it was the first time he’s scored more than 300 in a series.4.8 – The run-rate during the Graeme Smith-Shaun Pollock partnership for the third wicket. They took the game away from India before rain intervened in the morning session by scoring 55 runs in 10.3 overs.37.83 – Smith’s average at the end of the series. He averaged just 6.66 after his first three innings but there after went on to accumulate 227 runs – second highest of the series – by scoring fifties in his last three innings.23 – the number of runs Smith scored behind square on the leg side, a clear indication of the faulty line the Indians bowled in the morning session.