The states need to look at producing pitches conducive to four-day cricket, and ensuring that younger players have mentors to turn to, says Queensland captain James Hopes

Daniel Brettig25-Jul-2011Across the past decade Queensland has seen the departure of its greatest and most successful generation of cricketers, a drop in results, intrigue and unrest at management and coaching levels, and the first sprouts of hope for a better future. Sound familiar?The parallels between Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia are numerous. The state enjoyed its happiest era around the same time that the Australian team was laying waste to most of the rest of world cricket. Players like Matthew Hayden, Michael Kasprowicz, Andy Bichel, Stuart Law, Jimmy Maher and Martin Love were valuable to Australia but integral to the Bulls, allowing the team to add five Sheffield Shield titles to the first, celebrated so wildly in 1995.Much as the Australian team did for their first 18 months after the retirements of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in 2007, the Bulls teams who immediately followed their greater forebears were able to use the confidence of past battles to bluff and bluster to victory, but the results have ebbed away in more recent times. The captain, James Hopes, believes the expectations of both Queensland and Australia must, for now, be kept within realistic parameters.”I think Queensland may have overachieved when we did win a couple of one-day titles with individual performances that got us over the line,” Hopes told ESPNcricinfo. “Some guys had come through, players like Chris Simpson and myself had come through playing under winning teams.”So we still had a bit of an expectation that we were going to win, and I think that stood us in pretty good stead. But then we started to lose players like Clinton Perren, who were good players in those teams and were leading players. When we started to lose that next rung down from the Jimmy Mahers, that was when we started to struggle, and we realised we had to rebuild.Replacing “some of the greatest players to walk around Australian first-class cricket” was never going to be easy. “There has to be a slow process of identifying a couple of young players and giving them opportunities at the right time,” Hopes said. “And I think we’ve done that.The likes of Chris Lynn and Luke Feldman were given a chance and stood up to the mark. “And then we saw Joe Burns, who we identified at Queensland two years ago, but we didn’t rush anything. We gave him a go when we thought he was ready to play, and I think we saw that when he did play he was absolutely ready for first-class cricket.”I think that’s the trick – when you do lose a group of senior players, don’t panic. Understand there’s got to be a process, you’ve got to identify the right people, and then on top of that, play them at the right time. We’ve started to get that right the last 12 months or so, and at the moment our squad is looking pretty strong.”In the middle of that period the Bulls had to negotiate a most unsightly coaching changeover. Trevor Barsby, the former opening batsman, was summarily dismissed – though the board tried to encourage the impression it was his decision – so that Darren Lehmann, the Twenty20 coach, could be installed. Hopes was non-committal about the episode, saying Barsby was a good coach and he had learned much from him about batting, but could also see the positive of Lehmann’s influence.”I was captain and the first I knew about Trevor Barsby going was when I was called into a board meeting along with four other senior players,” Hopes said. “So if that was there, I didn’t know anything about it and the guys who did have a problem kept it quiet, because we were working okay and starting to play okay. But the board felt it was time to go in a different direction and that’s what they did.”Darren is getting through to young players. They seem to understand him when he’s talking about the game […] they’re turning themselves into players that are starting to learn about the game and to understand their own game a bit more.”Having been jettisoned from the national squad (“I would’ve been stupid or naïve to think that if changes were going to be made I wasn’t going to be one of them,” he said), Hopes has resolved to guide the next generation in Queensland through the closing seasons of his career. It is a path he is adamant must be followed by more senior players in other states, lest a crop of players currently being pushed towards national duty lose all avenues for guidance.”Every state needs a few players around who have been through it all before, who know what’s going on and when young guys are going through tough times there are proper sounding boards. That’s where Lehmann’s so good as well. He’s been through the whole process of it and he knows what to say to young guys, when they’re playing, about selection.”I’d like to think that I’m getting into that category now. I’ve been around long enough and been left out of teams and put in teams, so I know what’s going on. I think it’d be a sad state of affairs if Australian cricket just tried to turn every competition played into ones where only guys under the age of 25 are playing.”The reversion of the Futures League second XI competition to a more organic four-day format, with age restrictions relaxed – teams may now choose six players over the age of 23 rather than three – will help to maintain a greater balance. Hopes appreciates that CA had seen the error of its ways, but still remains miffed about why it had changed in the first place.”I think the Futures League was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to six Australian greats retiring all in the space of two years,” he said. “We could’ve picked a pretty handy generation of players in club cricket who have missed out on playing that level now, and they’re probably a bit old to start.”We picked a guy called Andrew Robinson to open the batting, and he could have played three or four years of that. But now he’s playing Shield cricket based on club cricket, and we would’ve loved to give him some cricket in between, but we could only play three or four over-23s.Hopes said it was important to trust the states to bring in young talent. “The system didn’t let us down for 20 years and we just changed it because we wanted a bunch of kids to come through and try to replace the Haydens and [Justin] Langers, and that’s an impossible task. You’re not going to replace greats of the game with greats of the game.

Queensland factfile

Captain James Hopes
Coach Darren Lehmann
Where they’ve finished in the Sheffield Shield since 2001-02 first, second, second, second, first, fifth, last, second, second, third
Australia Test debutants since 2001 Martin Love, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris
Slipped through the cracks
Clinton Perren A Sheffield Shield batting stalwart who, James Hopes believes, could have been rather more: “I would’ve loved to have seen what he’d have done for Australia, but he just had little form dips at the wrong time”
Aaron Nye Set batting records in Queensland club cricket but was never able to make himself comfortable in first-class company. “You got a few opportunities and if you didn’t nail them they’d move on,” Hopes said. “He was a lot more talented than his record suggests.”
Grant Sullivan “If you saw him at 19 you’d have bet your house on him playing for Australia,” Hopes said of this pacy, muscular bowler. “He was in the same mould as Mitchell Johnson, and it was a bit of a disappointment that injuries cut him down short of what he could’ve done.”
Future Fund
Chris Lynn An exceptional first-class record so far has been allied to limited exposure to Australia A and other CA development teams. Hopes believes Lynn has been made to earn his success so far, standing him in excellent stead. “He will play for Australia and will do it in the next two years or so. And the pleasing thing about that is that he’s going to do it on the back of scoring Shield runs and scoring big Shield runs. I’m happy he hasn’t been rushed.”
Joe Burns Identified early by Queensland cricket but made to force his way into the state team, Burns showed at the end of last summer that he had composure, technique and plenty of shots. Hopes: “We gave him a go when we thought he was ready to play and I think we saw that when he did play he was absolutely ready for first-class cricket.”
Cameron Brimblecombe A young offspin bowler, not yet part of Queensland’s full squad, but handily blessed with natural attributes for his craft. “You’ll be hearing his name a lot in the next 12-15 months,” Hopes said. “He’s exceptional, he’s got a lot of natural talent that enables him to bowl offspin, he’s tall, he’s got big hands, and he’s going to be a star I think.”

“They have to come through the same process those guys came through, and I think that was gotten away from a little bit. But CA have identified that now and are back closer to the track with the six and six. I think six and six is about what it would normally be. You normally have six players under 23 in a second XI team, and six players who you want to give some cricket to.”If one of those six guys is a senior guy coming back from injury, it gives those younger guys a chance to play four days with them and learn a bit about the game and learn what it’s all about. It is very important now that our younger guys just don’t expect it to be given to them, and that they have to start working hard to reap the rewards of playing for Australia.”Critical to the rigorous education of young cricketers, Hopes believes, is a departure from the growing trend towards result wickets. Southern states will snigger at the sight of the Queensland captain saying all Shield matches should be played deep into day four, but Hopes argues that it is the only way for proper development to take place.”We play on some green wickets up here […] if we play early-season games at the Gabba, the wickets are going to be green because the AFL’s just got off them and we get a bit of rain that time of year. But I think everything being equal, every Shield game should aim to go late into day four – that should be the aim of all the states.”Then you’re going to have guys having to bat for a long time, fast bowlers having to bowl long spells, and you’re going to get spinners having a say in the outcome of the game. If we can get to that stage there’s going to be no issues about what’s coming through in Australian cricket, because the players are going to be playing hard games in hard conditions.”Don’t produce wickets that give results to take you to a Shield final, produce wickets that you’re going to play four-day games on, so young players get used to playing four-day games. So when they do play Test cricket, they don’t expect these things to be over in three days.Perhaps Hopes’ most resonant argument, within the broader theme of healthy development, is about unearthing spinners. Like Simon Katich before him, he said the treatment of Australian slow bowlers had been unsatisfactory, cycling through too many bowlers without giving them adequate chances, and then discarding Nathan Hauritz after he had returned more than respectable figures everywhere but in India.”The whole search for the next Shane Warne, let’s give up the search, that’s not going to happen. Let’s let some guy come through and be his own person,” Hopes said. “I thought Nathan Hauritz filled a pretty good role for Australia and he did the best he could. Now we’re looking for the next guy to come through. Hopefully we let that guy develop his own reputation instead of trying to make the next Shane Warne, which I think is going to have to wait for a few years.Hopes said to produce new spinners and develop the current ones, it was enough to ensure that Futures League was a four-day tournament and to encourage states to produce wickets that last four days in Shield cricket. “A spinner is going to come through in the next few years and he’s going to be winning games for his state, then he’s going to turn up to play for Australia and going to expect to win the game for them. That’s the way you develop players. You don’t develop them by picking them and hoping they do what Shane Warne did, because it’s just not going to happen.”

They came to the Asia Cup after five games in 10 days in Australia and had their first practice the day of their first game. But it was the loss of their two allrounders that proved too big a blow for Sri Lanka to adjust to

Siddarth Ravindran at the Shere Bangla Stadium15-Mar-2012How often has an away team arrived for a series earlier than the home side? Even as Sri Lanka began their second match of the Asia Cup, England’s first warm-up game was underway in Colombo. The warped international schedule has already prompted Sri Lanka to rest some of their Test bowlers for this tournament, to allow them to recover for the England series.To compound their problems were the injuries to allrounders Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera. It left Sri Lanka utterly imbalanced, and highlighted a long-standing problem for them – the lower-middle order. Not only do Mathews and Perera provide them viable bowling options, but their completely contrasting batting styles provide just what Sri Lanka have been searching for. Mathews brings the cool head and malleable game to orchestrate the latter stages of the innings, while Perera’s brute force allows him to play the impact innings, as he recently showed in Kimberley and, to a lesser extent, in Hobart.For a couple of years, Sri Lanka’s batting had five permanent members – Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Mathews – and they hunted for candidates to fill the remaining two slots. Many auditions were provided, but most of the candidates fluffed them. None of Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Silva, Thilan Samaraweera and Chamara Kapugedera proved consistent enough.During Dilshan’s troubled time as captain last year, among the most heartening things was the emergence of youngsters Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne as batsmen who could flourish at the international level. With them, and the pair of Mathews and Perera, Sri Lanka finally seemed to have covered the blemishes in the batting.The injuries, though, meant Sri Lanka were again looking for two lower-middle order players. In the absence of other allrounders, Sri Lanka deployed Tharanga at No. 6, an unfamiliar position where he has done a decent job, with three half-centuries in four matches though he is yet to convince as a finisher.The other spot remained. With Dilshan doing a stellar job with the ball towards the end of the Commonwealth Bank series, Sri Lanka trusted him to deliver in the Asia Cup as well, and decided to gamble in the first match by using specialist batsman Chamara Kapugedera at No. 7. That left them with exactly five bowlers (including Dilshan) and no room to manoeuvre if any of them had an off day. The tactic backfired quite spectacularly, with Sri Lanka turning to Kapugedera’s rarely used medium-pacers to try and rein in a free-scoring India. And worse, when it was his turn to bat, with Sri Lanka in the sort of situation they picked the extra batsman for – needing about eight an over for the final 12 – Kapugedera picked up a golden duck.That prompted Sri Lanka to go in for the extra bowling option against Pakistan, dropping Kapugedera and pushing Farveez Maharoof to No. 7. While Maharoof using to be quite a handy bat earlier in his career, his batting has regressed in recent times and No. 7 is at least a position too high for him. Players from all four teams have said during this tournament that batting becomes easier under lights, but Sri Lanka’s decision to go with the additional bowling option also meant they were likely to bat first on winning the toss.Sri Lanka’s biggest mistake in the game may have been the reckless top-order batting, but Sangakkara and Tharanga had dragged them back to more solid ground. Even when Tharanga fell in the 36th over, some support at the other end would have been enough for Sangakkara to lift Sri Lanka to a more competitive total. Instead, with the wickets tumbling at the other end, Sangakkara was forced to attempt some big hits and was dismissed in the 43rd over, and Sri Lanka in the 46th.One-hundred-and-eighty-eight proved too small a total for their bowlers to defend, virtually ending Sri Lanka’s Asia Cup campaign.After the spirit and verve Sri Lanka showed in the CB series, these were a couple of flat performances in Mirpur. When your first chance to train is an hour before your first game of the tournament, and when key players need rest or are injured, you are bound to trip up in a compressed event like the Asia Cup where there are few chances for a comeback.At least the players have the consolation of having finally been paid their outstanding salaries.Edited by Dustin Silgardo

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the day from the first ODI between New Zealand and Zimbabwe, in Dunedin

Andrew Fernando03-Feb-2012Traffic obstacleHamilton Masakadza didn’t help himself with a slow start and lumbering finish as he attempted a quick run, but his fate was sealed by Doug Bracewell who provided a speed bump by moving into Masakadza’s way mid-single. Bracewell began bounding after the ball, before pulling up when he saw Andrew Ellis swoop in, stopping exactly in Masakadza’s path, who now had to navigate around him. Ellis’ direct hit found the batsman inches short.Failed tacticWith New Zealand tottering at 23 for 2 early, there was little need for Zimbabwe to be defensive. But when Martin Guptill struck his first boundary over mid-on Tatenda Taibu opted to move up to the stumps for Keegan Meth, and regretted the decision almost immediately. Guptill had another mighty slash, and the resultant edge took the top of Taibu’s gloves and landed safely between keeper and slip. Had he remained in his regular position, Taibu would have gobbled up the chance, and New Zealand’s eventual top scorer would have been out for 7.The false omenRegis Chakabva had been the only batsman to resist New Zealand in the Test, with a 63 in the second innings, but when he gifted a familiar offering to the slips off the short-of-a-length ball outside off stump that had been so devastating less than a week ago, another batting catastrophe beckoned. Brendan Taylor and Taibu though ensured the batting performance would not be quite so meek with a 52-run partnership that arrested the slide and gave Zimbabwe hope.Missed reviewKane Williamson and Guptill had not only rebuilt the New Zealand innings following early losses, they were progressing comfortably towards a competitive total at 72 for 2. But when Williamson flashed at one down the leg side off Elton Chigumbura, Taibu was certain the batsman had gloved it. He strode to the stumps and demanded his side review it, but couldn’t sway captain Taylor. Replays showed there had indeed been some glove and the decision would have likely been overturned.Bowling braveryFew spinners would have the courage to toss the ball up immediately after being launched out of the ground, but that’s what Rob Nicol did to Taylor, to brilliant effect. Nicol threw it a bit slower and wider of Taylor and induced another big shot, but this one was mistimed and was swallowed up at long-off – sheer gall accounting for Zimbabwe’s star batsman and effectively sealing the match for the hosts.

Jonathan Trott, the ICC player of the year, talks about England’s ODI progress, being British, and the Test series against South Africa

Interview by George Dobell06-Jul-2012How has England’s ODI form improved so quickly?
We’ve been very clinical. In the past we, and a few other teams, have tried to mix and match, so we would have guys who batted and bowled a bit, but one of the bowlers might disappear or we might not score enough runs. Now we have five really good bowlers and the batsmen are scoring hundreds – we scored four in the series against Pakistan in the UAE – and we’ve pretty much carried on against Australia. So it sounds simple, but it’s really just about people doing their jobs. But part of it is just about winning. It makes it look as if we know what we’re doing – and I think we are going in the right direction – but you know, Australia haven’t lost the series yet: they could still come back.While most other teams utilise limited-overs specialists, the England side is increasingly similar to the Test team, isn’t it?
For us the introduction of two new balls has been okay. We just get on with it and do what we do best. We just bat. And you just have to look at this series to see why: you won’t get a tougher time to open the batting in an ODI than it was against Australia at Lord’s the other day. But we were 74 without loss. That opening partnership was fantastic. And it wasn’t so different in Southampton: the ball was nipping around early on, but we got through that and Ian Bell went on to score a magnificent century.It will help us in the sub-continent, too. The ball will never be more than 25 overs old, so it will stay nice and hard and we’ll have nice, quick outfields.So England are ahead of the game for the 2013 Champions Trophy and the 2015 World Cup?
Maybe. These things are magnified when you’re winning. We have a very determined changing room led by a very determined coaching staff. The desire for success is huge. And I’m not doubting that we have a talented squad with some potential and the future is exciting. But let’s not get carried away. Things can turn around very quickly in cricket. Yes, we’ve won eight ODIs in a row, which is great, and we’ve won six successive ODI series at home, which is great, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to look too far ahead.Are you still improving as a limited-overs batsman? Are you aiming to improve your strike rate?
We don’t really concentrate on strike rate. Our job is more to ensure we go at the right tempo to give us the best chance of reaching the target we’ve been set or of the total we think is par. Sometimes we have to attack the new ball; other times we have to defend the new ball and attack at the back end. An important part of the job of the top three is weighing up what a good total is. And it’s important we have players like Eoin Morgan and Craig Kieswetter who can come in and give the innings a late boost. Morgan was unbelievably good at Lord’s. And, bearing in mind how much the pitch improved in the second half of the day, we did very well to win that game. Scoring 250 at The Oval was good, too: if you’d said ten years ago that England would chase down 250 to beat Australia, people would have thought you were mad.How do you react to the accusation that you can be a selfish batsman?
Selfish? Why?Look, there’s a balance between being responsible and not leaving it to the people after you to get the runs. Sometimes I might get that balance wrong. But no one thinks “I’ll bat for 20 overs and leave it to the rest of the team to bat the other 30”, do they? I’m aware that once you’re in, the runs can come quickly – you can score 60 or 70 runs in ten overs without taking many risks – but it can be much harder for a new batsman coming in. I always want to bat through, but it’s how you go about it and construct your innings.Was it a blessing in disguise that you were dropped from England T20 side?
I’m actually okay with how it is at the moment. If I get picked for England’s T20 side, then great, but I don’t think I will be, as I don’t get to play T20 anymore. But if there were three or four injuries and I was asked, then I’d give it a crack.

“I’d have a good month as a county cricket, but then I’d be thinking to myself, ‘Right, I have to kick on’, and I’d have a bad month. It was like I was running into a brick wall”

So you don’t worry about not playing in the IPL? You didn’t even enter the last auction.
Well, with the workload we have, why would I?Because the money on offer is fantastic.
And that’s a very valid reason. We all have to make money during the brief period we’re at the top of the game. But I’m pretty relaxed about it. I think with the availability we have, it’s pretty unlikely I’d have been bought, and I really needed that break.Your reputation as a T20 player isn’t as high as it might be. You set a record for the most runs in a domestic T20 season in 2009 but that seems to be forgotten.
Yeah, I knew that. Jimmy Adams of Hampshire broke it the next year, but he played 16 games. I played ten or 11.Look, being left out of England’s T20 side has worked quite well for me. Strike rate is important in T20 – of course it is – but the thing I look at is whether the team won. When I scored runs, the team tended to win. It’s the same way I look at ODIs and Tests: did I help the team win or not? If you look at my career – with England or Warwickshire – the team have tended to win when I’ve done well.Ashley Giles has had a huge impact on your career, hasn’t he?
Massive, yes. Mainly from when he became Warwickshire coach. I had a stinker in county cricket in 2007 and we were relegated in both competitions. Gilo took over at Warwickshire, we sat down and he gave me some advice. He basically said that he had experienced success and failure in his career and he thought I was going about my cricket in the wrong way. We had a chat and came up with a new plan about how to tackle things.Then I went on holiday to San Francisco and I got a text from Guy Jackson, who was the manager of the Lions team at the time. It said I’d been selected to go to India for six weeks. I sent a text back asking if he’d got the right person. I thought they had the wrong number. I had no idea why they’d selected me. I’d just had a horrendous season. But it was the perfect time for me. I had the chance to start again. It was brilliant. I had this new focus instilled by Gilo, and if you really want to get away from things and concentrate on cricket, there is nowhere better than India. I wasn’t exactly a new person, but I was approaching my cricket and the way I saw success differently. I trained with more attention to detail and threw myself into it. That was the start of everything, really.Is it fair to say that his advice was about being more process- than results-driven and about focusing more on team success than individual success?
Yeah. I always felt I had the talent but that I didn’t know how to harness it. I’d have a good month as a county cricket, but then I’d be thinking to myself, “Right, I have to kick on” and I’d have a bad month. It was like I was running into a brick wall.So by focusing on the processes, you take the pressure off the end results. You do everything you can to give yourself the best chance of success, but you accept that it won’t always happen. Sometimes when you’re in great form, you nick one, and when you’re not, you can miss it and you live on. That can drive you crazy if you let it. So you train hard and do everything right and let the results look after themselves a bit.You talk about putting the team first: I was actually putting myself under too much pressure. I was trying to take all the responsibility myself.Do you recall a game against Northants at the start of 2008, when you finished unbeaten on 60? Giles was furious…
I remember that really well. We scored about 290 in a 50-over game and lost. They smashed us. Gilo kicked off and we had a real argument. It was a good lesson. I thought I was going about it in the right way, but looking back now, I can see I had it completely wrong. I should have kicked on much earlier. I didn’t judge it right, but actually it was because I was taking on too much responsibility for the team. I thought I was the one who had to score the runs and that it would be a bit of a disaster if I was out. That game was all part of the learning curve.At Newlands in 2010. “I don’t think the South Africa team see me as a target any more than anyone else”•Getty ImagesWhen you see Eoin Morgan bat, are you tempted to emulate any of the things he does?
Not really. You can learn new tricks, but I’m a pretty orthodox player and he’s a pretty unorthodox player. He plays shots than no one else can. As a team, it’s important to have a mix of players, but I’m not sure I would be playing to my strengths if I tried to be something I’m not. It would be to the detriment of me and the team.Does the prospect of a series against South Africa put you under more pressure?
I feel less pressure. It’s going to be more focused on the outcome, not individual battles – there won’t be so much emphasis on personal success or failure.The way some people make play of your South African background is pretty tedious, isn’t it?
Oh, yes. It’s overplayed, for sure. I don’t think they – the South Africa team – see me as a target any more than anyone else. I don’t get any more sledging from them on the pitch than anyone else. It’s fine.Some spectators go on about it. You should hear the comments when I’m fielding. I guess they’re trying to be funny, or clever. They’re not either of those things. But basically it’s fine. Jacques Kallis will be asked about why he didn’t do well here on his last tour as much as I’ll be asked about my last tour there.Some feel they got to you at the end of the last tour of South Africa…
There was a whole lot of rubbish written about that. People tried to read more into things because I was born in South Africa. Basically I had one bad Test at the end of a long tour. But it made a more juicy story to say they had got to me or to try to link the fact that I was born in South Africa. Three batsmen had lower averages than me in that series, so how would that make sense? It was the end of a long tour and I had one poor game against a very good attack on a difficult pitch. No more and no less.I know there was some rubbish spoken about me celebrating with the South Africa team when they were last here, but it never happened. I don’t know where that came from.This series is being billed as particularly important. But when it’s finished, we’ll all say the same about the India tour and then the same about the Ashes. How do you see it?
Every single series is tough. Bangladesh in Bangladesh is tough. It would be silly to prioritise anything. The thought of challenging myself against the South Africa attack is brilliant. So is the thought of playing Australia and going to India. Playing international cricket is brilliant and tough at the same time. You’d be foolish to think that any series was going to be any easier or any less important.Leaving South Africa must have been a tough decision. You were part of the system there and seemed destined to take your place in their international side.
It just felt right to come to England. It was one of those lucky times when all sorts of different things fell into place. It wasn’t really about playing county cricket; it was about trying to become the best cricketer I could be. I’d played three years of first-class cricket in South Africa and I just felt I wasn’t developing the way I wanted. I didn’t think I was giving myself the best chance to be the best cricketer I could be.Why?
I was too comfortable. I was living every boy’s dream – living in Cape Town and playing for Western Province – but there were lots of distractions. We’d go to the beach at the end of practice every day. Here in England there was more emphasis on cricket.

“I feel completely British. I went back to South Africa for my brother’s wedding in April last year and I didn’t enjoy it at all in Cape Town”

Bob Woolmer and Neil Carter played a part in bringing you to Edgbaston, didn’t they?
Yes, more so Bob. He knew about my UK passport from when I was about 15 and in the early 2000s he said, “Come and play county cricket.” I knew him from Cape Town because, even when he was national coach, he would come into the townships and run coaching sessions. I ran some of those alongside him. Weird, really: the coaches were Bob Woolmer, Daryll Cullinan and me. And I was 15. Kids used to be gutted when they were allocated me!So yes, you’re right: when you play South Africa Under-15 and South Africa Under-19, which I did for two years, you are seen as part of the system. You’re in the line, waiting to play for the national team. But Eric Simons, who was Western Province coach at the time, said, “As your coach I have to advise you to stay, but as a father figure, I’d say go to England as you’re going to develop more there.”What do you say to those people who call you a mercenary?
I’d say, “Do they see me putting my pounds in a South African bank account?” And the answer is no. And do they see me buying property outside England? Or planning on a future elsewhere? No. I’m thinking about which school my daughter is going to go to here.It’s quite evident when someone is a mercenary. People can sniff it from a mile away. Of course you get people who come here for a short time and then go back – people like Jacques Rudolph and Vaughn van Jaarsveld – who come here for a little while and then head back. And that’s fine. People have to earn a living. But it’s not what I’ve done.English cricketers are very proud of their counties and of the county cricket they’ve come through. None more so than me. I’m very proud of coming through the Warwickshire system. I see myself as a Warwickshire player and I have an awful lot to thank the club for. I’m privileged and proud of the upbringing I had in South Africa, but the biggest strides I made were at Warwickshire.Do you feel British, South African or do you feel like a dual national?
I feel completely British. I went back to South Africa for my brother’s wedding in April last year and I didn’t enjoy it at all in Cape Town.Surely you prefer the climate in South Africa?
No, I don’t mind the rain. You get some good days here. Let me tell you: when the sun shines, there is no better country in the world than England. You can have the mountains and the oceans, but May and June in England are perfect. There’s nowhere better. Every time I’ve been back to Cape Town – for weddings, a holiday or whatever – I’ve always moved my flight so I can go home earlier. It’s nothing to do with crime or political reasons. I just didn’t enjoy being away from home. And home is Birmingham.Is the length of the tours a problem for you?
Not really. You have to find a way to cope. But that is why that South African tour became so tough. Those last two Tests were extremely difficult. To go on a first tour to South Africa and peak for ten weeks – which I almost did – is pretty tough. People forget I did well in the limited-overs games or that I played well in the first couple of Tests. I reckon I peaked for about eight weeks, which isn’t so bad. But then I went on the Ashes and I peaked for a lot longer, so you get used to it. Then, this winter, we went to the UAE and then to Sri Lanka. I was doing well at the back end of the tour. These things are a learning curve.Why don’t you field in the slips anymore? In your first full season in England, in 2004, you were very good there.
Yeah, I was. But I’ve gone the other way now. I think about hitting the stumps and catching high balls. Slip fielding is a specialist position and you become comfortable in a place. It’s a question of practise.Which do you think was your best Test century?
That’s hard. They are all so different. There were tough periods in all of them. The Pakistan one at Lord’s was pretty good. That’s probably my best. Asif and Amir were special bowlers and they were bowling really well. Melbourne was good. If we had won in Sri Lanka, that would have been right up there too. I’ve scored seven Test hundreds and I think we’ve won five of those games. That always makes it more special.Jonathan Trott will be in attendance at the T20 game at Edgbaston on July 8 to help raise money for Cure Leukaemia through the JustTextGiving service by Vodafone. Trott will take part in an on-pitch q&a session with radio DJ Russ Morris, and spectators will be in with a chance of winning one of six children’s places on his batting academy, run by Trott himself, and a signed kit. To help raise money for Cure Leukaemia, simply text CURE05 £3 to 70070. Click here for more information.

For Rahul Dravid, analysing his cricket and working his weaknesses out methodically was a way of making up for his relative lack of conventional talent

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2012Timeless SteelOn being seen as an intellectual, and whether he is comfortable with the tag
I am comfortable with that tag because that’s who I was. I’m not hiding away from the fact that I did think deeply about this game, and I thought deeply because I loved it. I wanted to know how good I could become. I challenged myself, I asked questions. That’s who I was.People are different. I am not the only intense or intellectual cricketer. I played with other cricketers who could be pretty intense and intellectual. I know Sanjay was too – not to the obsessive levels that I was sometimes, but he was. The beauty of this game is, it allows different people to succeed; it allows everyone to express themselves. In some ways, this intellectualism, or this curiosity, was a strength for me. As well as a weakness sometimes.On his obsession with technique
There are many who would say that. There were times when I thought too much about it. But that was who I was. Thinking about the game, working my weaknesses out, worked for me. I wasn’t the most prodigiously talented cricketer in Karnataka, let alone India. Some of my team-mates in my school team could hit the ball cleaner than I do. I had to work through that lack of talent, so to speak, that lack of natural flair. Runs never came easy for me. That was the foundation for this thinking. It was a strength. I was able to overcome a lot of things. There were times in my career when I overdid it, and that was a red flag.I realised it myself too, and a lot of senior players would tell me too, like you [Manjrekar], Anil [Kumble] and [Javagal] Srinath constantly being in my ear, telling me to just relax. But as a young kid growing up, desperate to do well, it was not always the most natural thing for me to do. As I matured, I managed it better. I don’t think the basic trait will ever go away, but I managed the whole process better.On the idea of being “less talented”
I think we judge talent wrong. What do we see as talent? I think I have made the same mistake myself. We judge talent by people’s ability to strike a cricket ball. The sweetness, the timing. That’s the only thing we see as talent. Things like determination, courage, discipline, temperament, these are also talent. I think when we judge talent, we have got to look at the whole package.The talent I was mentioning was about striking the cricket ball. It’s difficult to explain but some people just have it. You can look at a kid and say he has got it. Sourav Ganguly just had it – to time the cover-drive. You could see it. Sachin has it. Viru has it. You won’t necessarily say that about Gautam so much. Not that he is less successful. That’s what we see as talent.We don’t actually look at the other side of talent. We say a talented player didn’t make it, but maybe he didn’t have the other talent. I hate to bring this example up: Vinod [Kambli] is one of the nicest guys I have met. When [Karnataka] played him in Rajkot, Vinod got 150 against Srinath, Anil. First ball Anil came on to bowl, he hit him straight into the concrete wall. At short leg, you said, “Man, amazing, how did he do that? I wish I could do that.” But maybe he didn’t have the talent in other areas. Of just understanding what it took to be an international cricketer, or dealing with the stress and pressure. I can only guess. But maybe Sachin had that much more. Maybe in that other side of things, I was luckily much more talented.On reading, conversing, showing an interest in others’ lives
It was a way to escape. I thought about cricket a lot. I needed to get out of this bubble of mine. I found it in books and conversations with other people about other things. I was a curious person and this was my release. I like being challenged intellectually. I hated at the end of the day to talk cricket to someone else. I was talking to myself about cricket all the time, so I needed to talk to somebody else about something else. Took a lot of pressure off me. When I was reading books, or trying to find out what was interesting in others’ lives, I wasn’t thinking about cricket.On getting angry, particularly the one incident described by Sehwag to his wife, Vijeeta, where he threw a chair in the dressing room
I don’t think I was a person who got angry easily. I didn’t need to be conscious of it, but I did realise that when I did get angry or let someone enter infiltrate my cocoon, I didn’t play well. I was almost playing for the wrong reasons. There were a lot of times I was trying to prove someone wrong. In those cases I would never do well. Sometimes I tried to manufacture it to see if motivated me, but it didn’t.[On that occasion] I was partly angry with myself. We were leading the [2006] series 1-0, going into Bombay against England. I won the toss and I bowled first, which I don’t think in hindsight was a smart decision. We bowled badly on the first day on a wicket that did help the seamers a bit, we batted terribly, and in the end I was angry at myself too, because I hadn’t batted particularly well. I thought I made a wrong decision upfront. And then to end up capitulating on the last day when we could have easily played out a draw… I got a bit upset that day.On captaincy
Let me say, it’s been a great honour and privilege to captain India. When I got the opportunity, I took it up with a certain amount of energy and enthusiasm. I wanted to do it. At the time I gave it up, I felt that somehow, over a period of time, that had gone. Maybe it was the amount of cricket we played, or some of the up-and-down results we had. We had some good results, and crushing disappointments was well. All that took a toll on me. When I gave up, I wasn’t enjoying it. I was getting up in the morning, before a one-day game, and thinking, “Oh god, another game of cricket.” I had never felt like that about a game of cricket.It’s a tough job. It’s a challenging job, no doubt about it. There is a lot of stuff that happens outside the field that you need to deal with quite well. In hindsight there is a lot of stuff that I can look back on and say, “Maybe you could have done that better.” I don’t know any captain who will not look back and say, “Maybe some things I could have done better.”I’d like to believe I still did a pretty good job. I could have done a better job, yes. If I paced out better, maybe if some results had gone our way, especially the World Cup. It takes a toll on you emotionally. If some results had gone our way, I would have been able to carry on.On Greg Chappell
Right from the first time I met him in Australia, and Sourav introduced us, I thought he was a terrific man to talk cricket with. People like Greg have grown up with the game. They talk the game, they discuss the game, they have grown up in an era of Australian cricket where they would play the game and sit back and spend hours at the bar discussing the game. There was a lot he could offer, in terms of knowledge, from his experiences of having played the game so much. He was a great batsman, he knew batting, he understood batting. There was a lot he could help young kids with.On the impression that it was Chappell’s team and not Dravid’s
It was my team. It was obviously my team. Because Greg was a strong personality, because he was himself a great cricketer, and because of the fanfare and the publicity that came with whatever he did, it sometimes gave the impression that it was his team more than my team or our team or the Indian team. That’s the nature of the person; he is the kind of person who can polarise opinion. He is a strong personality. Comes across like that. I always felt that it was my team. I was always happy with the way things went.On the decline of cricket conversation among cricketers
It definitely happens less and less. In a way it is a sign of professionalism. People are cooling down, having ice baths, having stretches, going to the physio. Getting together happens less and less. I am sure when guys get together they talk about cricket, but I think there are more distractions – so much more to do. A lot more external entertainment. People don’t want to hang around in dirty, smelly dressing rooms, you know. That’s one of the sad things about the game.I remember long train journeys in our time, when playing first-class cricket. And in the evening you hear GS Viswanath and Syed Kirmani talk about the game, or Carlton Saldanha or Roger Binny. You have their undivided attention. You are pestering them with questions. They are having conversations among themselves, and you are eavesdropping on those conversations. A lot of my learning happened on these train journeys; I really enjoyed them. Sometimes I miss that. Creating that environment for that sometimes is missing.People do talk cricket, but it is different when it is casual and relaxed. Someone asks you specific advice, it is different. The best learnings happen in these casual conversations. You are talking to someone else, and someone eavesdrops – those are some of my fondest memories.On eliminating his exaggerated trigger movement, and whether it contributed to his getting bowled repeatedly in Australia
I did try and stay stiller rather than have that exaggerated shuffle. Actually, after I started playing well, it happened naturally. As time went on, as I batted better and better, that trigger movement became less and less. I tried to try and stop doing it. Partly because I was falling over a lot.My timing went off a little bit. It’s a tricky one, timing. Probably I was late on the ball. The timing of the coming down of the bat, maybe I lost that a little bit. Maybe they bowled well. Thing with these tours is, there is not a lot of time in between to analyse too much. There is not a lot of time to go back and work on some of these small things that come into your batting.On his possible future in cricket administration
Nobody can do anything about the governance of the game. It’s an impossible task I think.I’m joking. It’s a great game, it has been part of my life, I will always love to be some way involved in it. What form that takes, and how it happens, you never know. I have got to be humble about it. A lot of people who I respect and who have been able to make a contribution have always taken some time away from the game. I have lived this game, played this game, for about 25 years. I think it’s not a bad idea to step away from it, look from outside, get a perspective and then come back. I don’t know what form it might take. It’s too great a game for me to “give back to it”, but I will love to be associated.India readers, get the book here at a special price

Hundredth Tests used to be no great shakes; they then became all the rage, and now they’re back to being ho-hum again

Sidharth Monga19-Jul-2012India and Pakistan have never been known for playing exciting Test cricket against each other. There was just too much to lose. Invariably pitches were prepared accordingly, to facilitate safe play. Imran Khan was one captain who wanted to change this state of affairs, and wanted sporting pitches. By the time India went to Pakistan on the 1989-90 tour, the two sides had played out 29 draws in 40 Tests.Indian players remember two green tops in the first two Tests, in Karachi and Faisalabad, where they were bowled out for under 300 in both their first innings, before showing resilience in their second efforts to draw the matches. Why wouldn’t a fast bowler captain want green tops when he has – apart from himself – Wasim Akram blossoming into a fine bowler and debutant Waqar Younis drawing blood? When the series reached Lahore for the third Test, though, Imran saw a bare pitch, and his annoyance was obvious. It went completely against the general plan.Then again, there was another plan at work. It was Javed Miandad’s 100th Test, at the same venue as his first. Miandad had scored centuries in both his first and 50th Tests, and was obsessed about scoring one in his 100th too.Sanjay Manjrekar, who got first use of the pitch and scored 218, recalls, “We were surprised when we saw the wicket, and we heard that Javed had had a quiet word with the groundsman.” When he walked out to bat, Miandad was whistling a tune, singing songs, chirpier than usual. “That was perhaps his way of showing he was not nervous at all,” Manjrekar says.Of course, the century was duly scored. Perhaps he was spurred on by the occasion the first Test of the series had been: Kapil Dev marked becoming the first bowler to 100 Tests with a seven-wicket match haul and a follow-on-saving 55. Also, Waqar and Sachin Tendulkar made their debuts.Lahore was perhaps the pinnacle of cricket’s fixation with the landmark of 100 Tests. Miandad was only the tenth man to the mark. It had taken more than 91 years for somebody to play 100 Tests. It took another 13 for the feat to be emulated. Eight other players, including Miandad, joined the club over the next eight years. Now, during the much-awaited series between England and South Africa, barring injury, Graeme Smith and Andrew Strauss will become the 52nd and 53rd men to the mark.If the number of caps is a test of a player’s longevity, surely 150 is now the equivalent of what 100 earlier was. Allan Border was the first to 150, and Mark Boucher would have been the seventh had he played this series.It wasn’t always like this, though, and when Colin Cowdrey became the first man to play 100 Tests, at Edgbaston in 1968, it was a huge achievement. It had taken him 13 years and 228 days. While that wasn’t the longest journey to 100 Tests, it was military medium when compared to Mark Waugh’s record blitz – eight years and 342 days.Even though Cowdrey was the first to a long unprecedented mark, the Test didn’t come with the fanfare that 100th Tests brought later.Ian Chappell was a member of the opposition back then. “There might have been a mention in the press, that’s about all,” he says. “There was no presentation or anything. I recall being aware of it before the match, but that’s only because there must have been something in the press about it. I am pretty sure there was no official celebration of it.”

The first man to make his 100th truly memorable was Clive Lloyd. It was West Indies’ 100th home Test, and Lloyd capped it by becoming the first man to win his 100th Test

Cowdrey set the precedent for Miandad, scoring a hundred in his 100th Test. “I remember it very well,” Geoffrey Boycott, a team-mate then, says. “Colin Cowdrey made just over a hundred. When he was batting he pulled a muscle, I had made 36 and had got out, and I was called by Tom Graveney to go run for him. I said, ‘You’re kidding.'”He said, ‘Geoffrey, it has to be somebody who is out.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding. I have got to run for somebody else?’ You can imagine I was thrilled to bits to go out there. When I got sent in, he hadn’t made many runs – 19 or 20. He made another zillion. Going out there and watching somebody else bat forever, and run their runs. Oh yeah, that was a really thrilling Test match. You can tell. I have got very good memories of it.”Boycott himself did his back during the Test, and was out for a couple of months, but he laughs and says, “I remember running for him even more than hurting my back.” Something must have rubbed off while Boycott ran for Cowdrey: he was the next man, 13 years later, at Lord’s, to 100 Tests. MCC presented him with a decanter with the silhouette of the famous Lord’s pavilion engraved on it. Boycott cherishes it very much, but playing 100 Tests was never a fixation for him.”It’s the media,” he says, when talking about the anticipation that subsequent players reaching 100 Tests brought. “That’s not derogatory or criticism. There’s more talk about cricket than there has ever been. There’s more seen on television. Radio is much bigger. Television goes all over the world. In ’68, when Cowdrey got his hundred, you were lucky if you knew what a player looked like. Never mind television. You knew [just] the name, you knew the facts and figures.”Chappell played with only one man who would go on to play 100, Border. To Chappell, the legend of 100 Tests grew a bit like the legend of the baggy green. Back then they didn’t care about what headgear they wore in the first fielding session of a Test match, but many teams now make it a custom to come out in uniform baggy caps when they first come out to field. It became a ritual. Even if 99 were enough to prove your longevity, you tried to make the 100th memorable.The first man to make his 100th truly memorable was Clive Lloyd, who took 17 years and 132 days (the longest time taken; Tendulkar had played 132 Tests in the same time span), to reach the mark. It was West Indies’ 100th home Test, and Lloyd capped it by becoming the first man to win his 100th Test. West Indies’ next captain, Viv Richards, brought up his 100th catch in his 100th Test, a nine-wicket win in Brisbane. Kapil was the first to be Man of the Match in his 100th Test. He was later joined by Shane Warne, who was the first man to take a five-for in his 100th , and Ricky Ponting, who is the only man to score two centuries in his 100th.Mike Atherton and Alec Stewart were true brothers in arms, reaching the mark in the same Test, with Stewart scoring a century to boot. Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis are the only other pair to have done so; Stephen Fleming’s reaching his 100 in the same Test was the icing, though Fleming became only the third man to bag a duck in his 100th Test.Others have had such mixed feelings. David Gower was the first man to lose his 100th Test. Ian Healy played his 100th wearing a black armband, a week after his father died. Dilip Vengsarkar became the first man to score a duck in his 100th, a 136-run defeat to New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium.Ricky Ponting, Sydney 2006: twin hundreds in his 100th•Getty ImagesThe Wankhede hasn’t been kind to centurions: Rahul Dravid brought up his 100th here; he put England in on a pitch that had juice for the seamers, and saw poor batting from India squander the series lead. It ended with him smashing a chair in the dressing room. At the same ground, Carl Hooper became the first West Indian to lose his 100th Test.Steve Waugh, a man you’d imagine would care about this a little more than the next centurion, had the misfortune of trying to defend the honour of his 100th Test after Hansie Cronje’s revelations made South Africa’s then spin consultant Ashley Mallett raise a retrospective stink about South Africa’s strategy and collapse in that game. “If that was cricket that wasn’t played at 100%, then I’m a real bad judge,” Waugh said. “I know after that game I had sore ribs, a sore wrist and sore legs from the battering that Allan Donald gave me.”By the time Justin Langer reached his 100th, at the Wanderers in 2006, Australia had a custom of letting such players lead the team onto the field. Langer also took first strike, and the first ball of their innings hit him on the back of his head as he ducked. He walked off bleeding, retired-hurt for no score. In the second innings he was ready to come out and bat, but to his and Australia’s relief, the ninth-wicket pair took them home to a two-wicket win.Langer was one of eight players to reach their 100th in 2006, a bumper year for the landmark. The 2000s were clearly the decade, with 29 100th Tests, to add to the 20 before. An indicator of how much cricket is played nowadays is that only nine of the 51 players who have played 100 Tests debuted as teenagers. Only one of those teenagers has played 150 Tests. Twenty-eight of the 51 captained their side in a minimum of 20 Tests, which may or may not have got them a few more Tests than they would otherwise have.Thirty-four are primarily right-handers, making it a neat 2:1 ratio. Batsmen obviously dominate the list: 37 are primarily batsmen (ten openers), 12 bowlers (four spinners) and two wicketkeepers. Eleven Australians lead the way, followed by eight each from India, West Indies and England.Cricket has sort of come full circle when it comes to the landmark. From its being no big deal when Cowdrey reached it, to becoming an obsession in between, to the understanding that 100 is perhaps no longer the gold standard and thus not that big a deal again.Then again, spare a thought for those who came close but didn’t make it. The drop that told Adam Gilchrist the time had come to leave at 96 Tests. Rod Marsh’s retiring on the same number, bidding farewell along with his mates, Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee, saying 100 Tests bore little consideration when compared with family. Mohammad Azharuddin, stranded on 99. Or how Nasser Hussain retired on 96 so he didn’t block the way of a certain youngster, who will play his 100th in less than a month’s time at Lord’s, with Hussain commentating. A Boycott-style decanter with the silhouette of the pavilion should do just fine.

Victory in the Twenty20, led by Alex Hales, capped a fine start to the season by England who continue to find new matchwinners

George Dobell at Trent Bridge24-Jun-2012It is true that sterner tests await, but the first portion of England’s summer could hardly have gone better. Victorious in Tests, ODIs and their only Twenty20 international, they have once again made decent opposition look deceptively poor. Whatever their issues in Asian conditions, England remain desperately tough to beat in their own backyard.Their Test success was not, perhaps, surprising. West Indies were lacking several senior players and, in these conditions, England were always likely to prove too strong. Still, it is worth remembering how England struggled in the winter. No victory should be taken for granted.But the limited-overs success is particularly impressive. West Indies, blessed with the return of most of their leading payers, looked strong and confident and England were forced to confront a series of unforeseen challenges. The sudden retirement of Kevin Pietersen, for example, could have unsettled both the ODI and the T20I teams.Instead England adapted with admirable aplomb. Indeed, such was the way that Ian Bell embraced opening in ODIs and Alex Hales flourished in this T20I that Pietersen’s departure left barely a ripple. There will, no doubt, be times in the months ahead when he is sorely missed – talents like Pietersen are rare and precious – but it is testament to the strength of the entire England set-up – the county game, the Lions, the England team management, the success of the three-captain experiment et al. – that such a blow can be born so lightly.”It is an inexperienced batting line-up,” Stuart Broad, England’s Twenty20 captain admitted afterwards, “but with inexperience you also get fearlessness. Guys just go out and hit the ball. Chasing 170 is quite daunting, but I don’t think we ever had any negative thoughts in our mind. We just expected to get it; 170, on that wicket, was very gettable, and we had guys left in the changing room who could have won that game.”On paper we would all have looked at their line-up, with Gayle and Smith and Samuels and Bravo and Narine all successful in the IPL, and thought of them as favourites. So to have won in the manner we did was hugely pleasing.”We have guys who are consistently performing on the county circuit and it is good to see them step-up and do it on the international stage as well. It’s great to see young players come into the team and perform. It’s a sign of the team developing that you give guys responsibility and they really grab their opportunities.”There were some areas of concern for England. Jade Dernbach’s last two overs cost 33 runs; Craig Kieswetter has passed 18 only twice in 11 innings and his strike-rate is an underwhelming 113.85; Jos Buttler was unable, through no fault of his own, to provide any further clues of his readiness to prosper at this level. Generally, however, this was an impressive performance with Steven Finn, with the ball, Jonny Bairstow, in the field, and Hales and Ravi Bopara, with the bat, providing the match-winning contributions.Hales needed this innings. Under some pressure for his place from Alastair Cook – Broad admitted that a recall for Cook had been discussed – he has not made a century in Championship, T20 or one-day cricket for Nottinghamshire this season. Here, however, he showed a welcome ability to play on both sides of the wickets – his reputation as a predominantly off-side player looked silly as he pulled and hooked and worked to leg – and, as his innings progressed, some unusually deft touches which hinted at real class. Aged just 23, too, he has time on his side.Ravi Bopara played a mature innings to suggest he is finally settling at the top level•Getty ImagesBut if is Hales who will win the headlines, Bopara was just as impressive. He timed his innings perfectly, played selflessly and looked a player of some composure and maturity. For a man whose temperament has been question in the past, it was another demonstration that he may well be on the cusp of finally fulfilling his talent in all forms of international cricket.It was, perhaps, fitting that the moment of defeat should be secured by a West Indies’ misfield. For all the hints of improvement West Indies have shown during this tour, the fact is they have lost all five international games in which there was meaningful play. On each occasion, they have promised for a while only to let themselves down with a poor passage of play.Darren Sammy, looking exhausted, admitted his side had been out played and offered warm praise to England.”We have just been dominated by the number-one team in the world in all formats of the game,” he said. “On paper we had a really strong team, but you need to go out and string together consistently good performances and that’s what England have done throughout the series and we haven’t.”We have got to be consistently good in all three departments, batting, bowling and fielding. We are doing some good stuff but we are not doing it consistently for long enough. We have to string together performances that will get the team to win.”Nor will Sammy and his team enjoy any respite. They fly out of England on Monday and start another T20 series against New Zealand, in Florida, on Saturday. “We don’t get a break until the August 7,” Sammy said with the air of a man who had circled the date in his diary with some anticipation.Sammy also defended the performance of Sunil Narine, who has been disappointingly innocuous in all formats in England. There was just a suggestion that the mystery of Narine, like Ajantha Mendis before him, had quickly been dispelled.”To be fair to Sunil, the wickets he’s played on haven’t always suited his play,” Sammy said. “The more he plays out there on the international scene, there is more footage, so batsman find ways to score off you. It happened to Mendis: when he first came out he was very difficult to pick but after a while people got used to him. But I know once Sunil gets the type of wickets that really suit him he will be very difficult to play. Swann has not been so effective in this series and he has been playing here throughout his career. It is Sunil’s first away tour, so he will learn from this experience.”Perhaps the most important lesson on this tour from a West Indies perspective was that there will be no quick-fixes to their problems. It will take more than the return of a big-hitting opening batsman or the emergence of a mystery spinner to paper over the cracks of a Caribbean cricket system that is fatally flawed. Sammy has been asked to put out a forest fire with a mug of water. He has an almost impossible task.

Stats highlights from day four of the first Test at The Oval

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan22-Jul-2012

• Amla’s 311 is the highest individual score by a South African batsman. He went past AB de Villiers’ 278 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2010. When Amla reached 278, he surpassed Graeme Smith to hold the record for the highest individual score by a South African batsman against England. It is also Amla’s second 200-plus score after the 253 against India in Nagpur in 2010. The triple-century is also the first in England since Graham Gooch’s 333 against India at Lord’s in 1990.
• Amla’s 311 is joint-fourth on the list of highest individual scores in Tests in England and the second-highest at The Oval. The highest at the venue remains Len Hutton’s 364 in 1938. It is only the eighth 300-plus score by a batsman in Tests against England.
• The number of minutes Amla batted (790) is the fifth-highest for a batsman in a single innings. He became only the fourth batsman after Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan to have two innings lasting 11 hours or more.
• Kallis’ century is his 43rd in Tests and eighth against England. It is, however, only his second century in Tests in England. Kallis has improved his average in England from 29.30 at the start of the tour to 38.40. Kallis’ 182 is his personal best score against England and the fifth-highest of his career.
• The South African innings featured three centuries. This is the fourth time that three South African players have scored a century in the same innings against England and the 16th time they have managed the feat in Tests. This is also the seventh such instance (three centuries in an innings) in a Test at The Oval.
• The 377-run stand between Amla and Kallis is the highest partnership in South Africa-England Tests. The pair went past the previous record of 338 between Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith in 2003. The partnership is also the third-highest ever for South Africa.
• Amla and Kallis became only the second pair after Gibbs and Smith to feature in three triple-century stands. The two have also been involved in six 200-plus stands, a record they share with Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. Kallis has now featured in 20 partnerships of 200 runs or more.
• The South African innings featured two 200-plus stands. This is only the third time that they have had two 200-plus stands in the same innings. It is also the second time in Tests that a team has had two consecutive 200-plus partnerships for the second and third wickets. This is also the second time (after the Australia-India Test in Sydney in 2012) that there have been two 250-plus stands in a single team innings.
• South Africa’s total of 637 is their second-highest in Tests against England. However, the number of wickets lost (2) is their lowest ever for a 600-plus total. The visitors’ total is also the eighth-highest by a visiting team at The Oval. The highest remains Pakistan’s 708 in 1987. The run aggregate for the second and third wickets (636) is the highest ever in Tests surpassing the 632 runs for Sri Lanka against South Africa in 2006.
• The number of overs bowled by England (189) is the fifth-highest in a home Test since 1990. This is the fewest number of wickets picked up by England in an innings in which they have bowled 600 or more deliveries.
• Graeme Swann conceded 151 runs off his 52 overs. This is the highest number of overs he has bowled in an innings and the second-highest number of runs he has conceded in a single innings.

As told to Abhishek Purohit19-Aug-2012Pragyan Ojha and VVS Laxman after India won the 2010 Mohali Test against Australia by one wicket•AFPI would have loved it if he had played this Test series [against New Zealand]. I was thinking that Laxman [I and Laxman will play together in Hyderabad]. I spoke to him a few days ago and we were discussing about this Test match, and I was asking him about my approach. I never expected he would retire now. I don’t know what went through his mind. He had been working so hard on his game, his fitness. I was playing local league games in Hyderabad and around 2-2.30 in the afternoon, he would do sprints on the ground. Our coach Sunil Joshi told me that during his recent hundred in Mysore, he was playing like he used to during his peak, lofting over covers and flicking.I will now never get an opportunity to play with him and win games for India. If he plays domestic cricket, and I hope he does, I might get a chance to play with him and will definitely not miss it. I feel sad that I will never bat with him again in a Test match for the country.On the Mohali Test: I have played all my cricket for the same state as him. He has seen me grow up right from childhood. He had that liberty of getting angry with me. I have never seen him getting angry with anyone. He was so passionate, so focused during that Test. He didn’t want anything silly happening at that stage and we losing the game. That is a game I will cherish all my life. Coming against Australia, that was really special. After the game ended, he told me that he got a little excited, that he had never wanted to lose it, and asked me not to take it seriously.

“My Under-19 coaches would tell me you should always think of getting him out. I used to think, let me at least bowl in an area where he defends first, then I can think of getting him out in the nets.”Pragyan Ojha

On bowling to Laxman: As a kid in age-group cricket, I always used to think of going and bowling to him. He used to practise with the Ranji Trophy side, so we never had the access of bowling to him. I remember when I bowled to him for the first time, I was thinking that if he defends the ball, then I would think I was bowling one of the best lengths, that it would be a great compliment for me. That is the kind of reputation he has. He didn’t really defend [that day]. He was playing over covers, he was stepping out and playing those flicks, his trademark shots. It took me two-three months to bowl to an area where he would defend, because he was in his prime. This was when I was playing Under-17 or Under-19, around 2002-03. My Under-19 coaches would tell me you should always think of getting him out. I used to think, let me at least bowl in an area where he defends first, then I can think of getting him out in the nets.I think if you bowl to him, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in the nets regularly, then you would not have a problem bowling to any batsman in the world because they play you so well. If you make them defend [a ball], then anyone will have a problem playing that ball. That is how I used to get confidence out of every nets session. I never used to miss bowling to these three guys.On Laxman the mentor: When I played for India U-19 and Ranji Trophy, Laxman told me that right now, there are a lot of expectations from you. Lot of people are talking that you are the next person to play for the country. He was advising me how to go about it, what should be my thinking. He said there are two ways. You can either be too excited about it and mess it up or you can focus on what you have to do and just keep working hard.Whenever he used to come to the ground, he would make sure he spoke to all the Ranji and junior players. It was difficult for him, he used to travel with the Indian team, he would not have much time to play domestic cricket but he always had an idea who was doing well, who was coming up, he knew everything. He had all the news about Hyderabad cricket.He was so positive, every time one went and spoke to him if one had a doubt, if something was totally negative, even if there was 1% positivity, he would try and tell you that and make you think about the positive side of whatever had happened. He used to believe that everything had a positive side.

Johan Botha has no regrets about leaving his home country and is enjoying the chance to play more first-class cricket as captain of South Australia

Firdose Moonda21-Nov-2012The most notable proof of how much it meant for Johan Botha to have played international cricket is his son. Austin’s name is a combination of the place Botha made his Test debut, Australia, and the country where he played his first one-day game – India. Realistically Botha has little chance of playing for South Africa again, but he will always have those two firsts.To clarify: Botha has not retired from international cricket, neither has he fallen out with the South African administration. He made a choice to move on before he was moved on, and as a result it is unlikely he will be able to win back his spot.Botha’s sidelining was clearly signposted, even though for a while it looked like he was on the up. He was named T20 captain in August 2010, when Graeme Smith stepped down as leader in the shortest format. Smith also declared his intention to give up the one-day leadership after the 2011 World Cup and Botha was touted as his successor.Less than a year later, Botha was done out of both roles. AB de Villiers was appointed to lead in both limited-overs formats and Botha could see the end. He was left out of January’s one-day series against Sri Lanka and competition for his place was fierce. More often than not, he lost out to Robin Peterson.”Losing the captaincy played a role in being left out of the side more often,” Botha said. “You want a guy who is captain to be a regular in the team, and I thought that if AB is captain and I am not, they might start thinking that way: that I don’t have to be in the team all the time.”I didn’t have any problem with that. AB is a great player and he’s always in the line-up. That’s what the team wanted and that’s great. I had seven years with South Africa and if it never comes up again, I’ll still be happy. I played five Tests, almost 80 ODIs and 40 T20s, so it’s not like I have to go back there one day. If this is it then this is it.”Botha is comfortable talking about international cricket in the past tense. He identified being chosen as captain for the first time as among his proudest moments, along with winning back-to-back one-day series against Australia in 2008-09. He can even pick out his best game. “Beating India at the World Cup last year in Nagpur was a special effort.”

“It was a great opportunity to lead a team who wants to improve. And I didn’t want to look back years later and think that it was something I should have done”

He also doesn’t hesitate to mention his one regret. “I would have liked to have played one Test in South Africa.” As he watches South Africa’s changing approach to spin and the emphasis that has been placed on Imran Tahir’s role in the Adelaide Test, he may wonder if it could have been him instead.When he asked Cricket South Africa to release him from his national contract, Botha did not want to spend any more time wondering. He walked out of the door in search of a place where he could play cricket regularly. “I didn’t want to just travel with the team and just sit around,” he said.The few weeks he spent playing for the Adelaide Strikers last summer and his relationship with coach Darren Berry through the Rajasthan Royals gave him a ready-made option. South Australia were interested in signing him long-term and he thought it would be an ideal fit for his lifestyle.”I wanted to have more time with my family,” he said. “It was a great opportunity to lead a team who wants to improve. And I didn’t want to look back years later and think that it was something I should have done.” September’s World Twenty20 was pegged as his last appearance for South Africa and he was only used sparsely in the lead-up to that. Now his new life has truly begun.One of Botha’s main reasons for moving had nothing to do with international cricket at all. He simply wanted the chance to play more first-class cricket. Given the international schedule, Botha played only one match for his home franchise, the Warriors, in the 2010-11 season and none the next summer. “I still want to give first-class cricket a good two or three years. I really enjoy four-day batting and I didn’t want to give it up.”That is an unusual take on the game from a modern-day player. Many of them are attracted to the big money and short time-frame of 20-over competitions. In some ways, so is Botha; he was one of the best-paid South Africans at the IPL, where the Rajasthan Royals forked over $950,000 for him before the tournament’s fourth edition, and he will return to them in 2013.He has also played in the Big Bash League, and said he would consider an English team for another T20 competition during the southern hemisphere off-season. But some of the glamour has worn thin for Botha, and the desire to play in an environment dedicated to more serious cricket, especially from a batting perspective, has grown.”I still want to give first-class cricket a good two or three years. I really enjoy four-day batting and I didn’t want to give it up.”•Getty ImagesApart from a stint where he moved to No. 3 for the Royals, Botha was never really taken seriously as a batsman and he is keen to change that view. Being part of a team’s full domestic season will afford him that opportunity, especially as he hopes to move higher up the order.”There are no preconceived ideas about me here,” he said. “Being a spin bowler, in South Africa I was always No. 8, and someone who could bat a bit. Certain things are a bit different here.”One of those has been the focus on the first-class game in Australia. Around the world, long-form domestic cricket is poorly attended, and its importance as the primary source of future Test cricketers has been almost forgotten. In Australia, Botha has seen the opposite.”There is a big focus on Shield cricket,” he said. “The Big Bash is not the main focus. Even though it will take up some time over December and January and it’s there, it’s not the thing that gets the most attention from players. I feel the guys really want to play Shield cricket and win games there. And when they are not playing Shield cricket, they play grade cricket. I never did that in South Africa. It’s really good.”South Australia have had a tough few years in the competition and one of their reasons for contracting Botha was in the hope he could change their fortunes. They began the season with an innings defeat to Tasmania but after a draw with Queensland, they managed to beat George Bailey’s side in Hobart to record a rare victory – the state’s first in two years. Botha said he has found playing here a “challenge,” at times but can see progress being made. “The guys have responded well so far and we are after more Shield wins,” he said.While the cricket has gone well, the adjustments for his family have not been as smooth. Botha’s wife, Monica, has had to be almost completely self-sufficient in taking care of two-year-old Austin, especially when Botha travels to play in other states. After three and a half weeks in Adelaide at the start of the season, Botha spent time away in Perth and is currently in Melbourne.”We’re in a really great place on the western side, towards the beach,” Botha said. “But yes, it can get a bit tough. There are no helpers and there are no grannies. The biggest thing when I am not at home, is for Monica to do everything alone. I got what I wanted in terms of being able to play cricket and be with my family, but when I go away, it’s harder for her.”How well his family eventually settles in will determine whether Botha extends his contract to a third year, as the current option allows, or even further. For now, they still regard South Africa as home. “We had a house built in Port Elizabeth, which was completed in December,” Botha said. “That’s our house. Here, we are just renting.”They will return at the end of the summer when Monica is due to give birth to a girl in March. Given their time in South Australia, Adelaide may be a fitting name. “I think we’ll have to go for a straightforward name this time,” Botha said. “It definitely can’t be something like Sydney, even though that’s where I played my first Test.”