Sanju Samson might have entered the wider cricket-loving public’s conscience with his brisk half-century against Royal Challengers, but that’s not the first glimpse the Indian domestic circuit has had of his skills

Amol Karhadkar03-May-2013Sanju Samson typifies a young, 21st century, Indian cricketer. He learnt his early cricketing lessons in Delhi, then moved down south to play for Kerala, and then signed with the IPL franchise from the central-western state of Rajasthan.It’s here that Samson has made his biggest mark yet; Sanju’s 63 off 41 balls while chasing 172 against Royal Challengers Bangalore set the foundation for Rajasthan Royals to extend they successful home run. Having made such an impact in just his second IPL game, 18-year-old Samson is suddenly being looked at with plenty of interest, but those who follow domestic cricket will know he has been making his presence felt for two years on the local circuit.After creating ripples in age-group cricket, he was selected to represent India at the Under-19 Asia Cup. But a disappointing campaign with the bat meant he missed out on the U-19 World Cup last year. In the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season, he made his presence felt with two centuries despite missing three games with a niggle.Former India batsman Sujith Somasundar noticed Samson’s talent soon after taking over as the Kerala coach ahead of the last domestic season. “We had our first pre-season camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, and he was easily one of those who appeared to be above the rest,” Somasundar says. “And over the season, I realised that he has got the right discipline, great cricketing acumen, asks all the right questions and most importantly, is a quick learner.”While Samson and his elder brother Saly, a Kerala Under-25 player, have taken to cricket, it is football that’s in their genes; though their father Samson Vishwanadh used to “follow” cricket closely, he was a footballer, even during his 22 years with the Delhi police as a constable. But after returning to his home state, Kerala, one of the major football hubs in India, Vishwanadh let his sons pursue their passion.”Agreed, cricket is still not as big in Kerala as it is in the rest of the country. Kerala has won the Santosh Trophy [the premier domestic football tournament] so many times. I want my sons to win the Ranji Trophy for the state for the first time,” Vishwanadh says.Batting might be his forte, but Samson is solid with the gloves behind the stumps too. That wasn’t the case when Somasundar took over as coach. Even though Samson appeared to be a “natural wicketkeeper” for Somasundar, he sensed that something was amiss.

“[Samson] wasn’t keen on keeping wicket. He was very passionate about batting, while keeping to him was a mundane thing. Once he changed his attitude towards keeping and started enjoying it, with minor changes in his technique, he emerged as a reliable wicketkeeper.”Kerala coach Sujith Somasundar

“I realised after talking to him that he wasn’t keen on keeping wicket. He was very passionate about batting and he used to feel that he could make his presence felt in the field, while keeping to him was a mundane thing,” Somasundar says. “I had to change his attitude towards keeping.”He mentioned that he was actually having many bad games with the gloves. That’s when I had to explain it to him ‘you might have kept badly, but it’s not because of your [lack of] ability, but due to [lack of] interest. You have the ability but if you’re not interested, you will suffer’. It didn’t take him long to realise his potential as a wicketkeeper. Once he changed his attitude towards keeping and started enjoying it, with minor changes in his technique, he emerged as a reliable wicketkeeper.”Cricket may be his focus, but Samson is quite serious about his academic education too. Prior to joining Rajasthan Royals for the pre-IPL camp, he virtually ferried between Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram to write his 12th grade examinations – he was named in the South Zone squad for the Deodhar Trophy, the inter-zonal one-day championship, but the dates of the tournament clashed with his examinations.”He used to land in Thiruvananthapuram early in the morning, I used to pick him up from the airport and head straight to the examination centre. He would get freshened up at the school itself, write his paper and then I would drop him back at the airport,” Vishwanadh says. “Since his childhood, he has been sincere when it comes to his studies. Even though he could hardly attend school due to his cricketing commitments, he would carry his school books wherever he went and would keep pace with class work.”Now he has got his chance to strut his stuff on a bigger stage and, through his knock against Royal Challengers, has shown glimpses of his talent. Time will tell just how well he utilises this platform.

It was a day where patience was tested all round; the batsmen showed, the bowlers used and the crowd had to find it

Brydon Coverdale at The Oval23-Aug-2013″Smaaaassshh itttttt!” came the cry from the behind the long-off fence. The man’s voice was breaking almost into a falsetto, the kind of panicked, manic noise you’d expect to hear from a prisoner on the rack over the river at the Tower of London. Chris Woakes didn’t oblige. He tapped the next ball away defensively off the gentle legspin of Steven Smith. And the next. And the next. And the next.The spectator by now had turned his attention to more important matters: calculating the contents of his plastic cup of beer, and presumably how many more he could consume in the final few overs of the day. This was a day of beer snakes, of the crowds entertaining themselves. A day of Bronx cheers for each scoring shot; there were only four of them in the last 10 overs before stumps.It was a day on which patience was required, from the batsmen, and therefore from the bowlers, and therefore from the viewers. Not so much patience as was needed at the Gabba in 1958, when Trevor Bailey lived up to his ‘barnacle’ tag in an England innings that brought 1.24 runs per six balls; here England comparatively raced along at 2.12 an over the course of their innings so far.Australia’s bowlers tried to build pressure. Maidens accumulated, the fieldsmen kept things tight, but there was little in the pitch and chances were rare. That they winkled out four wickets was not a terrible result – except that the fourth day is expected to be largely washed out. It was not an unfamiliar situation for the Australian attack.In Adelaide last November, South Africa scored at a rate that made Kevin Pietersen look like he was playing Twenty20 cricket by comparison. Chasing an unrealistic 430 for victory, the South Africans hunkered down like professionals, trickling along at 1.67 an over to salvage a draw. But there, the Australians were down a bowler, after James Pattinson broke down in the first innings.Here, they not only had a full attack, they had one extra option due to the inclusion of James Faulkner, although as it turned out he bowled instead of Shane Watson, not as well as. But on a pitch as dead as the series, Peter Siddle, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Faulkner, Nathan Lyon and Smith could do only so much against an England batting order unwilling to play shots.Of course it can be argued that England should have been more proactive, tried harder to force a 4-0 outcome. But they were playing the long game – in every sense. Their objective was clear: stop Australia gaining any sort of confidence from winning a dead rubber. Stop them from remembering how to win ahead of the return series.In doing so, they have all but ensured a 3-0 series result, which would push England to second on the ICC Test rankings and drop Australia to fifth. That South Africa and England, the best two sides in the world, are prepared to grind like this is a lesson to Australia. Besides Chris Rogers, it is difficult to imagine anyone in Australia’s batting line-up having the patience to bat a day out like this.”We did bowl well, we did build a lot of pressure and we were consistent in our areas and I guess we made them play that way,” Siddle said. “It’s one of the better innings that we’ve bowled in this series. We knew we had to try and get the breakthroughs, push the game forward. It’s been hard work out there. The pitch has been hard work and they have been very patient.”We’re the ones who have put ourselves in this position [at 3-0 down] in the first place so it is disappointing. We did start this game off well and put the pressure right on them. If they want to play that way they do. We’ve put ourselves in that position so we can’t control it.”Nor can they control the weather. All the bowlers and fieldsmen can do on a day like this is be patient, build the pressure and grab whatever chances England deign to provide. All the spectators can do is entertain themselves and line up for their next drink. And the next. And the next…

At his best, few fast bowlers could be as devastating as Steve Harmison. One day in Jamaica he gave a glimpse of just how destructive he could be

Garfield Robinson, USA28-Aug-2013At his best, few fast bowlers could be as devastating as Steve Harmison. His withering pace and the steep bounce he generated made him as likely as any bowler who ever played to overawe a line-up of good batsmen.But he was not always at his best. He frequently appeared listless and his radar was often awry; instead of being the match-winner that he could be he was often the source of frustration for his team and captain. Renowned as a troublesome traveller, he was the subject of endless conversations in cricket circles: would he overcome the fragility that plagued him and grow into one of the best fast bowlers of his time, or would he remain one of cricket’s great unfulfilled talents?By the time England’s 2003-04 tour of West Indies came round he had showed his true capabilities only sporadically, with his most notable performance being his 4 for 33 upon returning for the last Test against South Africa. Later, his nine wickets against Bangladesh in Dhaka earned him the Man-of-the-Match award, before a back injury laid him low for the rest of that series and for the following encounter with Sri Lanka. Fortunately for England he regained full fitness in time for the West Indies tour.I first set eyes on the him when I watched a day – I don’t remember which – of the tour match against Jamaica. The track seemed lifeless. Hardly a delivery rose over stump height and I remember thinking that if the Test pitch was similar in nature, the batsmen would not be overly troubled. But then Harmison came on and it seemed a totally different surface. Suddenly batsmen who were playing deliveries short of a good length comfortably found they now had to protect their rib-cages. The 6’5″ bowler didn’t take a wicket in the game, but I came away thinking he would be the bowler to watch when the real battle began in a few days.Only 28 runs separated the teams on first innings of the Sabina Park Test. Opener Devon Smith’s 108 had led the West Indies to 311, and England responded with 339. Chris Gayle and Smith then survived three overs to close the third day with game in the balance entering Sunday’s fourth day. For some reason that I don’t now recall, I was a few minutes late getting to the Park that morning. The loud roar while I was at the turnstiles meant that a batsman had fallen. It was Gayle. He was Harmison’s first victim, caught in the cordon flashing at a delivery he could have ignored. The crowd was disappointed that their Jamaican favourite had gone so early and so needlessly, but did not seem overly perturbed, having some faith in those to follow. Before I was properly seated, however, another wicket fell. Ramnaresh Sarwan this time, lbw. By the time Shivnarine Chanderpaul diverted Harmison onto his stumps, the floodgates had truly been blasted open. The West Indies stood at 15/3.In came Brian Lara. Surely, one of the greatest batsmen the game had known could beat back the rampaging paceman and prevent a complete overrun. He had done it before. He was accompanied to the middle by the riffs of Caribbean cricket anthem, “Rally round the West Indies”. The stunned crowd was hopeful.That hope crashed after exactly five deliveries. Matthew Hoggard ran one across Lara and had him caught behind. Meanwhile, the vicissitudes of capitalism were on full display in the stands. Vendors who had come amply stocked with supplies expecting a full day, realized before long that the impending early end would leave them stuck with most of what they had brought, much of it perishable. The result was that prices began to tumble in sync with the West Indian wickets.Spectators too had to make adjustments to accommodate the looming early finish. Many who had come armed with strong liquid refreshments to enliven the proceedings could be seen sharing with their fellow mourners, both as a means of treating dejection, and also to lighten the load they would need to take back home. All this time wickets were still going down. Smith gave a return catch to Hoggard, who himself was in the midst of a challenging spell. A snorter from Harmison took care of Ridley Jacobs. Nasser Hussain, fielding at short leg, ran to his left and accepted the catch behind the wicket. Jacobs’ 15 would be the top score of the innings. Another screamer would have separated Tino Best from his head had he not moved in the nick of time. But his instinctive jab produced a touch to the keeper. Adam Sanford was then caught by Marcus Trescothick, the first of the six – yes six – slip fielders lined up next to the keeper. Trescothick was the catcher again to end the massacre when Harmison took Fidel Edwards’ edge for his seventh wicket. The West Indies innings had collapsed in a heap for 47 and Harmison’s 7 for 12 was the cheapest seven-wicket haul in history.The nadir: From delivering “one of the best spells by an England bowler” to bowling the worst ball in Test history•Getty ImagesFive batsmen failed to score. Only two reached double figures, and all the doubters were convinced, for the moment at least, that Harmison was now the fast-bowling force they thought he could become. And for a while he was. The New Zealanders tasted his fire soon afterwards with many batsmen feeling the agony of the ball smashing into ribcage or fingers pinned to bat handle. Harmison was instrumental in England wresting the Ashes from Australia in 2005, and there were a couple of headlining spells against Pakistan at Old Trafford in 2006. But he was still unpredictable; sometimes he was downright horrid, and the match-winning performances became scarcer and scarcer.His nadir was probably the first delivery of the 2006-07 Ashes series that was collected by Andrew Flintoff standing at second slip. A delivery the English press dubbed the worst ball in Test history, and a far cry from his incredible performance at Sabina Park, one his then captain had termed “one of the best spells by an England bowler”.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the fourth day at Trent Bridge

George Dobell and Dan Brettig at Trent Bridge13-Jul-2013Slip of the day
There are many ways to start the day’s play. Mitchell Starc picked the car crash option. He delivered a head high full toss that almost killed his captain at first slip and cost his side five runs. If you looked at the day’s balls on Hawkeye, you’d assume they had a bug in the system for the first delivery. Eventually Hawk Eye gave up and the path ends as a shadow. Steve Harmison’s infamous ball in Brisbane might have been more high profile, but at least he hit the pitch and made it easy for his captain to handle catch it.Key moment of the day
The dismissal of Michael Clarke – caught behind off the thinnest of outside edges – might be one of the defining moments of this game. Aleem Dar checked the ball had carried to Matt Prior cleanly before giving Clarke out but, having confirmed that with the TV umpire, Clarke utilised Australia’s final review. Hot Spot showed the tinniest of marks. With Phil Hughes dismissed in the next over, after England used the DRS to show that more than half of the ball had, by a millimetre or two, pitched inside the line of leg stump. Australia could be justified in feeling that a series of marginal calls had gone against them in this game.Misfield of the day
Only if England had been rolled over by a steamroller could they have looked more flat than when Shane Watson and Chris Rogers were together. The bowlers looked unthreatening; well Finn would have, if he got a bowl. In the field they lacked their usual energy and hunger. At no stage was this better illustrated than when two fielders got in each other’s way, the ball was rebounded loose, and after a second or two they suddenly realised that there could actually be two runs there so for the first time they showed real intent.Let off of the day
Ed Cowan was on a pair when Steven Finn started to bowl at him. Not just that but Cowan has spent a considerable period of this game in his hotel bathroom due to illness and knew his position was under threat. He was as close to “there for the taking” as a No. 3 batsman gets in Test cricket. But Finn, bowling without pace or control, gifted the most delicious long-hop – wide and outside off stump – to allow Cowan to cut a boundary and release the pressure. An over of similar deliveries followed, forcing Alastair Cook to post a sweeper on the cover boundary which meant there was an easy single through point to allow Cowan and Chris Rogers any easy release stroke. It underlined the sense that Finn, whether due to form or fitness, is currently struggling to fulfil his holding role in this England bowling attack. But he did improve in his second spell.Celebration of the day
Ian Bell had scored Test centuries before – 17 times before – but thejump for joy, the punch of the air and the sustained celebrations uponreaching three figures betrayed his emotion on achieving this one.Perhaps relief was the primary emotion: Bell’s form has not been greatof late – he has averaged 30 since the start of 2012 – and he knew themurmurs about his place in the side and the old canard about him onlyscoring “soft” runs were returning. But here, with an Ashes Test atstake, his team in trouble and an Australian attack bowling well, hehad delivered the innings required.Umpiring error of the day
This has not been a game that either of these two well-respectedumpires will reflect on with a great deal of fondness. On the fourthday it was the turn of Kumar Dharmasena to see one of his decisionsoverturned: having adjudged Rogers caught behind to a delivery fromGraeme Swann, Australia utilised the review system and were rewardedwhen replays showed no edge. Rogers took one look at the replay, and went straight back to his crease to mark his guard. He clearly has more faith in Marius Erasmus than most of us.Lapse of the day
In Joe Root’s first over as tea ticked near, Chris Rogers had a careful look at the part-time offspinner before late cutting the final ball to the boundary. In his second, Rogers clipped a single first ball to leave Ed Cowan facing up to the final over of the afternoon session. Like Rogers, Cowan was initially circumspect. But unlike Rogers, he was unable to contain himself until the end of the over. The fourth ball was tossed up and Cowan leaned out to drive through cover. Root had barely spun a ball in his previous nine, but this one gripped out of the rough and took the edge to slip. Cowan crouched, motionless, before departing. It was not the sort of lapse Australia, or Cowan, can afford.

Zimbabwe’s cricketers will have to be both patient and persistent if they want to turn their fledgling body into anything resembling the SACA

Firdose Moonda22-Aug-2013Africa has some of the world’s biggest differences in one land mass, a clear illustration of which can be found in cricket.At the bottom tip of the continent, there is South Africa- home to the top-ranked Test team in the world in a professionally organised game which rakes in profits to the tune of hundreds of millions. Just next door, there is Zimbabwe who, apart from not having a Test ranking, are also severely debt-ridden and routinely lurch from one crisis to the next. People who believe the marketing that Africa regards itself as a single country, will wonder the obvious: why don’t South Africa extend a helping hand to their neighbours?Most of the time, that is just not possible because although they have had Zimbabwean domestic teams playing in the local competition, South Africa can’t offer extra fixtures and provide a loan without doing a disservice to themselves. But there was a place for their assistance when Zimbabwean players decided to form a union, and the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) was happy to help, even though their model did not fit their neighbour’s situation.In fact, it could not be more different. South African cricket is stable and the relationship between the board and the SACA is strong. The Zimbabwean game sits on moving ground and has not had a player organisation in almost a decade. That they want to emulate the African set-up is no surprise, because it works, but Zimbabwe’s cricketers will have to be both patient and persistent if they want to turn their fledgling body into anything resembling the SACA.To begin with, Zimbabwe need a co-ordinator. Currently, their players’ union is headed by five senior squad members believed to be Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura, Prosper Utseya and the captain Brendan Taylor. The SACA is an example of why that will not work.”You have to have someone who is prepared to run it, someone who is dedicated to the job and someone who is willing to make sacrifices upfront and that person cannot be a player,” Tony Irish, the SACA CEO, told ESPNcricinfo.When the SACA was formed in 2002 after South African players demanded compensation for their commercial rights being sold on their behalf following the Champions Trophy that year, Irish was that person. He was close to the players without being one of them, and also had the corporate skills to run an organisation. He incorporated his work with the SACA into his practice as a lawyer and was, in effect, a volunteer for the first three years because the SACA generated no money.Irish operated almost entirely on his own and in the early years, the job was as lonely as it sounds. Although CSA were not, in principle, opposed to the idea of a players’ union, Jonty Rhodes, who was the founding president and helped Irish start SACA, remembers there had been some hostility.Rhodes said Irish was “not invited to join in sponsorship meetings” even though that would directly affect the players’ income potential and that he was “ostracised” by the cricket community.”Tony is too humble to say those things but it was very tough on him. I was involved but more as a figurehead, and because I was in my final year of playing before retirement I didn’t face as much as risk,” Rhodes said. “Tony absorbed a lot of it and in those early years he really stuck to his vision.”Irish differentiated himself from a typical trade unionist by being diplomatic rather than aggressive. Rhodes recalls the formation of the franchise system as the incident which helped Irish enhance his credentials because of the way he stood up for players.In the 2004-05 season, CSA revamped its domestic structure from 11 provincial unions to six franchises to increase competition. All provincial unions except Kwa-Zulu Natal had to merge to form the new teams. Fewer teams meant fewer contracted players and many found themselves out of jobs.”Some of the provincial players still had contracts for the next two or three years and they could easily have gone to the labour court to seek compensation,” Rhodes said. “But Tony went to all the provinces and worked out settlements between the players and the unions. He didn’t take on the cricket board, so to speak, he worked with them to make sure the players were happy. It was a softly-softly approach and it worked, although it took time.”Zimbabwe’s players are constantly at loggerheads with their board, tact and subtlety replaced by demands and threats. Neither Rhodes nor Irish believe this to be the way to foster good relations between players and and the board, favouring a mutual agreement to be built between them over time, but that is a luxury Zimbabwe do not have.The players have already threatened to pull out of two of their last three series. In April, they did want to play Bangladesh because of unsatisfactory daily allowances afforded to players not under central contract and last week, they boycotted training demanding a hike in match fees and a percentage of the World Cup disbursements. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) caved on both occasions and the protest was called off, but they still suffered losses.Craig Ervine’s decision to play club cricket in Ireland instead of his country, and Kyle Jarvis’ premature retirement from international cricket last week, are recent examples. A source close to Zimbabwean cricket believes more players will leave as their requests are ignored, unless the union has a way to assure them of better terms of employment.ZC is in severe debt and may not be able to meet the players’ requests for more money. By implication, the players themselves sometimes suffer financially and this may impact their ability to fund a players’ union which according to Irish, would eventually need money if it were to sustain.In South Africa, the financials around a union were resolved fairly quickly. Irish bore the burden of running SACA at the beginning, but as it, as a result, its membership grew, a collective agreement was reached with the players about how it would be financially viable. Apart from raising its own money, a percentage of the 230 members’ commercial fees is also used to run SACA. It does not receive any money from CSA. The Zimbabwean union, with a reported 30 members, from the national side and a fair number of franchise ones, would have no such luck.One thing they do have on their side, for now, is unity. Irish said the most important aspect of running a cricketers’ union is to have a “critical mass” of players behind it which is “usually the majority” and he believes the Zimbabwean players’ union can be powerful, if the members can band together. “For any cricket board the national players are the most important and if you don’t look after them you run a big risk. If the players are unified behind the union, they will have clout.”That is another difference between Zimbabwe and South Africa. Although racial issues affect both countries, it has previously been a source of substantial division. Now both white and black cricketers are fighting for the same thing and if they continue on that path, Zimbabwe cricket may be rescued by a union after all.

Bangladesh should depend less on their spinners in the death overs and their seamers need to build their fitness to last 50 overs, says coach Shane Jurgensen

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur28-Oct-2013Some of the challenges Bangladesh will face over the next week in the one-dayers will be their bowlers’ vulnerability in the death overs and Rubel Hossain’s skills with the new ball.In his last few years at the international level, Rubel has struggled with the new ball. In the just-concluded Test series, he picked up just one wicket, that of the nightwatchman Bruce Martin caught behind trying to pull a short ball. Though it was with a 10-over old second new ball, it wasn’t what a fast bowler would be too proud of. His performance with the new white ball, however, has improved after he was smashed by Sri Lanka in Hambantota earlier this year, and an ordinary England tour for Bangladesh A. Over the last three years, Rubel has conceded less than four runs an over in six one-day matches (List A included).In early October, he led the wicket charts in the ongoing Dhaka Premier Division, picking up all his 19 wickets for Gazi Tank opening the bowling. This change in form, although not reflected in his Test performance, has shown coach Shane Jurgensen a different side to his personality.”I have picked up on a different Rubel,” Jurgensen told ESPNcricinfo. “He is more confident now. His next challenge is to work on the new ball. He also has to work on his lengths. Like Lasith Malinga – and I am not saying that because their actions are a little similar – he has to challenge the batsmen full rather than short. He has the extra pace and is definitely worth persisting with.”Rubel was very good with the old ball in both Tests. He was very unlucky not to get wickets. There were edges that didn’t go to hand, went between the wicketkeeper and slips. I am definitely not satisfied (with his new-ball bowling). We need more work in this area.”Jurgensen is also worried about Bangladesh’s death bowling. Off late, Rubel’s old-ball skills have worked in containing the batsmen but the captain Mushfiqur Rahim has had to rely on the spinners in the last few overs. The plan this year during the off season was to make the fast bowlers fit enough to last 50 overs, in case they are asked to bowl at the death.”With the two new balls, you have to think about the balance of your side a little bit more. We have done a lot of work on their fitness, so our plan is for the fitness to take them through the 50 overs,” Jurgensen said.”There have been times, at the death, when we haven’t executed and it has cost us matches. Our big challenge in this series is whether we can execute at the death. It will carry into the other areas of our game as well.”But Jurgensen is hopeful that the spin attack, particularly Shakib Al Hasan, can continue to be on top of their game. Shakib took a five-wicket haul in the second Test in Dhaka, his first since December 2011. He has also guided Sohag Gazi in the absence of spin bowling consultant Saqlain Mushtaq. Although Abdur Razzak couldn’t get much out of the placid wickets in Chittagong and Mirpur, Jurgensen praised their attitude.”Shakib’s bowling was a really fantastic sign. He just looked switched on. In your key game, you would want your best players up for the challenge. He hardly bowled a bad ball. It is great to have Razzak on, because of his leadership skills on and off the field.”We didn’t have the support of Saqlain Mushtaq this time, but I think that has created an opportunity for them, as a bowling group, to step up. You can have all the coaches in the world, you have to improve every day you train and play. Razzak always tries to get better,” he said.

Not many things went right for Pakistan in the second Test in Dubai, but Asad Shafiq’s fighting century against the best Test side in the world, proved that he has the temperament to lead Pakistan’s next generation of batsmen

Firdose Moonda27-Oct-2013When Misbah-ul-Haq made the mistake of thinking he could slog Dean Elgar as far as the Burj Khalifa, a resistance that threatened to ease the margin of Pakistan’s loss – because avoiding defeat altogether was not a realistic possibility – seemed set to unravel. The captain left Asad Shafiq to stall South Africa’s attack with the tail and even the most optimistic of Pakistan supporters predicted a swift end.For an hour, Shafiq held defeat at bay. In the process, he notched up his highest Test score, a second century against the world’s top-ranked team this year, and showed how much he has progressed as a batsman. Having impressed with the way he handled the seamers and took on the spinner with Misbah at his side, Shafiq also understood that he had to slow down, shoulder the responsibility, and only take runs when he was absolutely certain he was not putting the man on the other end, and by extension his team, in a position from which they would collapse.When Adnan Akmal, who struggled throughout the series, was his partner, Shafiq faced Morne Morkel, letting Akmal deal with Imran Tahir. With Saeed Ajmal, Shafiq sensed a little more freedom so he allowed a few mid-over singles and even let himself show off, pulling and then driving Vernon Philander for consecutive fours.He played with maturity towards the end, showing enough faith in Mohammed Irfan and Junaid Khan to give them the strike but not taking too many risks even though the end was nigh. It seemed as though the patience he had afforded when he batted with Younis Khan in Cape Town earlier this year, and with Misbah for much of his innings in Dubai, was paying off.Shafiq has had the benefit of spending long periods at the crease with Pakistan’s senior statesmen and he seems to have learnt from it. From the moment he came in to bat, he would have seen how Misbah was absorbing the pressure. Whether he was foxed by an Tahir googly, rattled by a Morkel bouncer, or was on the receiving end of extreme pace and angry eyes from Dale Steyn, Misbah reacted in the same way.Misbah waited for the end of the delivery, strolled in the direction of square leg, composed himself, and came back to face the next one. He treated each ball like a chapter in a book, turning the page, leaving it behind and then carrying on with the next one.Shafiq did not show the same composure as he neared his century and it appeared he was getting a little overexcited with his desire to charge JP Duminy. However, a calming influence in Misbah at the other end ensured that Shafiq operated within certain confines. He was encouraged to attack the short ball, something he has shown both in South Africa and during this series. He has also, simply by watching watching Misbah, learnt to judge things with caution.In getting the balance right, Shafiq justified the selectors’ decision to stick with him despite a lean run in Zimbabwe, and showed his own ability to read the game and understand a match situation. “That is a really big plus for us,” Misbah said. “Everybody knows he is capable of that. He got a really good hundred in South Africa but he was a bit short of confidence coming in to this series. This innings was special because the pitch wasn’t easy and the bowling was good. He really played a masterful innings.”With the South African seamers testing the batsmen with control, Shafiq’s concentration was tested. So was his intent, because if he had stopped scoring runs, he could have forced himself into a corner where making a mistake was possible.The way he responded is what impressed Misbah the most. “In situations against the top side in the world, character is important,” he said. “You have to stand tall and take on the bowlers. They were using the rough very well but he was good and positive, he used his feet well and read the situation well.”Shafiq has played 23 Tests overs three years but Misbah believes it is only now that “he has started to understand the demands of Test cricket.” With that kind of experience needed before a player can get out of the starting blocks, its easy to see why Misbah does not want to dispense with the likes of Khurram Manzoor and Shan Masood, who indicated they could be a solution to the opening conundrum in the first Test, but were dispatched cheaply in the second, and Azhar Ali, who is enduring a lean trot.Pakistan had a host of problems after the first innings failure but by the end of the match, Shafiq wasn’t one of them. “In the coming years you might not have me and Younis Khan around and he is the one who can gather the Pakistan line up. He has the talent and he has the temperament to take the batting forward.”

South Africa’s Under-19s have always fared a little better than the seniors. And this year they achieved something no senior team from the country has ever done

Firdose Moonda03-Mar-2014Proud. Smiling. Satisfied.South Africa have been crowned world champions for the first time•ICCThese are the things World Cup champions look like. Today, for the first time, South African cricket fans got to see their own.The Under-19 team touched down from the UAE. They brought with them a trophy. An ICC trophy. They took it around Newlands so everyone could see. As they did, a baby monkey leapt off South African cricket’s back.When South Africa last had their hands on one, most of these young men who paraded around today were only just learning to walk. And many would argue the 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy (now called the Champions Trophy) does not rank anywhere near a World Cup crown, something the senior side has not even got close to.The young ones have always fared a little better. They have won knockout games, which the big boys have yet to do, and even reached the final on three previous occasions. Two years ago they had a team that was talked about as good enough to go all the way. Ray Jennings called the class of 2012 his most talented bunch but South Africans have heard that kind of thing before.Jennings didn’t say much ahead of this year’s event, and it kicked off almost unnoticed here. The group stages swept by under the radar, so did the quarter-final, and it was really only when South Africa’s Under-19s were due to take on Australia’s in the semi-final, that some hype was generated. Had Australia’s senior side not been touring the country at the same time, there’s a good chance that match would not have received much attention either, but the combination was too perfect to ignore.The old enemy. The current enemy. And the future enemy. All at the same time. No wonder Aiden Markram, the Under-19 captain, said he could feel the fixture had a heightened sense of importance. “Just knowing our history against them and what was going on at home, that was definitely one of the highlights. We wanted to beat them,” he said.Thanks to Kagiso Rabada’s 6 for 25, victory was achieved by a massive margin, and that’s when Jennings began to worry. He had taken the team to the brink. As much as he wanted to, he knew he could not push them over. They had to do it themselves. But he could take comfort in them being as prepared as they could be in every way.”They’d done a lot of homework. For example, when we did video analysis, the guys sat down and did five hours,” Jennings said. “Not just a few minutes. The guys were really committed. We went to a match, Bangladesh against Australia, because we knew we’d come up against one of them at some stage. Everybody took notes for the whole match. There was a lot of dedication and a real care factor.”Then, there was only a target of 132 to chase. Only 132.There were skeptics everywhere. South Africa are not the kind of team who mess up chasing at less than three runs an over. But in a high-pressure situation, they have become known as the only team who can engineer a defeat from a seemingly straightforward task.Jennings knew that. “I was worried because when you’re chasing 132 and you don’t get there, people will say you choked. If you’re only chasing 280 or something and you don’t get there, people say other things but 130 is different,” he said.He was right. When South Africa slumped to 28 for 2, one of the members of the press corps at Newlands made mock choking sounds. “Just call me when they need 30 runs off the last seven overs with two wickets in hand,” the journalist said. That never happened.But something almost as worrying did. As the chase neared its end, South Africa went from 99 for 2 to 100 for 4. Throats were being cleared violently. They still needed 32 runs but had six wickets in hand and 16.5 overs to do it. Surely, surely, surely, they would not mess it up.Not much time could be spent dwelling on it, though. With Michael Clarke and Morne Morkel tussling in one of cricket’s most intriguing boxing matches, everyone had something else to think about.Somewhere in the middle of all of that, the result appeared on the scoreboard. “South Africa Under-19 win World Cup.” The last three words had to be seen to be believed. Never before had they applied to a South African cricket team. Ever. For the briefest of moments there was a stunned silence which was soon broken by a loud whoop.On the field, Graeme Smith was seen smiling and he soon began the applause. Hashim Amla joined in, AB de Villiers did too. For a few seconds every member of the South Africa squad was clapping while they got ready for the next ball. They didn’t have much to be pleased about with the way their own match was going but at least the future was bright and everybody seemed to know.Before lunch on the third day of the ongoing Test, again, there was not much to shout about for South Africa. But one man was doing a solitary war cry. “Well done, well done,” Makhaya Ntini boomed through the media area. He was the first former international to personally see and congratulate the victorious Under-19s.While the scribes, especially the Australian ones with early deadlines tapped away, Ntini tried to get them to pay attention. “This is my son, you know?” he said. Members of the press looked turned around expecting to see little Thando but found themselves looking up at Ngazibini Sigwili, the left-arm quick from East London . Ntini quickly explained. “We play at the same club. And I am now so proud of him. He is a champion, you know.”So are all the rest of them, and they soon got the attention they deserved. A small press conference was organised, Markram and Jennings spoke briefly about their experiences in the UAE and then appeared on television. At tea time the squad went on a lap of honour around the field, and it was then that the appreciation for what they had done could be seen.The Newlands crowd was on its feet, cheering. The team waved a flag, carried first by Jennings and then handed to Rabada while Jennings filmed the moment. Incidentally, they could be his last as Under-19 coach. Some of them signed autographs. Others posed for pictures, and at the end they were welcomed onto a podium to receive an official congratulations. Some members of the South African Test team were also there to greet them.The national side has other things to think about at the moment but in a few weeks’ time they too will be playing in an ICC event. They might take some inspiration from the men they saw in front of them today and the words of their coach. “Choking is an irrelevant word,” Jennings said. For South Africa’s new World Cup champions, it most definitely is.

ESPNcricinfo charts Andy Flower’s tenure as England team director

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2014May 2007: Injury and the chance to become assistant England coach under Peter Moores pushes Flower into ending his playing career at Essex.January 2009: Flower takes over overall responsibility for England cricket after Moores is sacked following a furore involving Kevin Pietersen, who is removed as captain and replaced by Andrew Strauss.Febeurary 2009: Flower’s first Test match ends in a calamitous innings defeat as England are bowled out for just 51 in Jamaica. England miss chances to turn the series around and the Wisden trophy is lost.May 2009: England exact swift revenge on West Indies and later in the summer the Ashes are regained. In between England are humiliated in their own World T20 with an opening match defeat to Netherlands as they fail to make the semi-finals.December 2009: Flower oversees a maiden ODI series victory in South Africa before a very credible 1-1 draw in the Test series.May 2010: Delivers the holy grail as England finally win their first global tournament with World T20 victory in the West Indies. Back in England, a spot-fixing scandal overshadows the Pakistan Test series.January 2011: Flower brings in more gold as England win their first Ashes series in Australia for the first time in 24 years but are brought back to earth by a poor World Cup campaign in India where England lose to Ireland and Bangladesh and are swept aside by 10 wickets against Sri Lanka in the quarter-final.April 2011 Flower begins new partnerships as Strauss resigns the one-day captaincy following the Word Cup with Alastair Cook taking over. Shortly after, Stuart Broad is appointed T20 captain leaving England with three different skippers.July 2011: But there’s no stopping Flower’s England in Test cricket as they rise to No. 1 in the world with a 4-0 hammering of India.Andy Flower had some difficult questions to answer following the Ashes whitewash•Getty ImagesFebruary 2012: Heavy hangs the head who wears the crown – England are destroyed 3-0 against Pakistan in the UAE, as major deficiencies of their batsman against spin bowling are exposed. England are also spun out in their next Test in Galle but they recover to draw the series 1-1.May 2012: Kevin Pietersen causes headaches for Flower as he retires from limited-overs cricket having demanded more time to play in the IPL. England win eight of their 10 completed ODIs that summer.August 2012: Flower forced into action to keep his dressing room together after Pietersen is exposed criticising captain Strauss in text messages to the South African opposition who beat England 2-0 and take over as the world’s No. 1 Test team. Strauss resigns at the end of the series ending a hugely successful partnership with Flower. Cook takes over.October 2012: England’s defence of their World T20 title ends in the Super Eights phase; Flower steps down as one-day coach with Ashley Giles replacing him – a move anticipated to extend Flower’s time with the England Test team.December 2012: Flower chalks up another major achievement as England defy the odds to win a Test series in India for the first time in two decades with Pietersen successfully reintegrated into the dressing room.August 2013: The Ashes are retained but cracks begin to emerge in several areas of the team, cracks that are horribly exposed four months later as England produce horrendous cricket to surrender the Ashes 5-0. Flower insists he is the right man to take England into a new era and is publicly backed by the ECB.January 2014: Flower steps down as England team director after five years in charge.

West Indies invest heavily on the Chris Gayle method in T20s, but the day it fails, it could leave the team in a spot of bother

Abhishek Purohit in Mirpur25-Mar-2014Chris Gayle is the king of Twenty20. His sheer presence under a helmet with bat in hand is intimidating for most bowlers. He can obviously intimidate with his tremendous six-hitting ability. He can also intimidate with what he does not do. He does not change his
expression, whether he is on 15 off 30 or 30 off 15. It remains the same if he hits three successive sixes or plays three successive dots.He has also developed this method of going slow at the start, leaving the opposition even more anxious about what is going to come next. Often, it is carnage. If he is around by the tenth over, and hasn’t done much, the bowling side is not doing anything wrong if it expects the worst for the last ten. This method has worked for Gayle throughout the world in the numerous T20 competitions. He takes huge risk in an already risky format, and backs himself to get proportionate returns. That he often does generate those
returns shows his pedigree in the format.Risk is risk after all, though. And the magnified risk that Gayle’s method involves means he needs someone to mitigate that risk, to
temper it to a more manageable proposition. Dwayne Smith was the answer this night. Marlon Samuels was the answer in the 2012 World T20 final. There was no answer against the Indians two nights ago.Smart strategy or a bubble waiting to burst?•AFPSmith pottered to 11 off 29 against India. He made 72 off 43 against Bangladesh. It was a terrific innings on a pitch almost every other batsman from both sides found difficult to score on. He pulled and swept ferociously and kept hitting boundaries, especially against spin, even as Gayle plodded on. Smith hit 10 of West Indies’ 17 fours, and three of their five sixes.Smith has his on days and his off days, with usually no middle path. On the former, he is a runaway train which runs over everything in its path. On the latter, his inertia is broken by his own downfall. Tonight he was on. Against India he was off. More risk.The point is all these elements of risk could hurt West Indies badly in a crunch game, in conditions that are not going to get any easier for their hitters who would much rather prefer to have the ball coming on. It has already happened against India, who did not provide any leeway for West Indies to push on from a slow start. Their fast bowlers got the new ball to dart around, and their spinners then took over in helpful conditions. Fortunately for West Indies, it was their opening game in the tournament, and not a must-win one. Even more fortunately for them, Bangladesh then produced an apologetic performance on the field. How many times will you see successive deliveries go for four byes each, or the same fielder dropping catches off successive balls?When asked if it was team strategy for him to go after the new ball while Gayle played himself in, Smith said that if he made
runs, Gayle would be free to do what he was doing. “I don’t know if it is a strategy or not,” Smith said. “My aim is to get off to a good start and that’s how I play. It’s just for me to keep scoring and if Chris is working himself in, at least there won’t be pressure on him if I am scoring freely.”Of course, the pitch was not easy to accelerate on. And even Gayle ideally would not take so much risk that he reaches a strike-rate of 100 only in the 18th over. It was probably one of those days where it just did not come off for him. It can happen to the best
of batsmen. There can be a case that you have invested so much in your build-up that you then do not feel like throwing it away. And before you know it, the end of the innings is approaching. Seeing what we have from Gayle in the past, it is unlikely this approach will not pay off for him in some game in this tournament. Smith was confident about that.”I am sure that Chris would get the runs at some point of time in this tournament because he has been batting through the first six, he has been batting to ten 10 overs. I am sure that at some point, he is going to get off to a good start, get some good scores.”Again, the point is, this approach could also pull West Indies down to the point of no return. It is high risk after all. There are always
two sides to it.