A city that has long lived on the fringes of sporting success has finally hit the headlines for the right reasons

Jayaditya Gupta28-May-2012The post-match celebrations by Shah Rukh Khan, captured faithfully by the host broadcasters, overran the limits of good taste and induced cringes in all thinking people watching the show. But Shah Rukh can be forgiven his excitement, over-the-top even by his own standards. For Sunday’s win capped not merely a season of exceptional cricket by his team but ended, with dramatic finality, four years of embarrassment and humiliation in the IPL.In those four years his team usually made headlines for all the wrong reasons but Shah Rukh stuck by it; when things got especially bad – during the annus horribilis of 2009, when his team finished bottom of the league amidst intrigue, infighting and incompetence – he would seek refuge behind his superstar psychobabble so that no one knew whether he was being serious or not. Sometimes he seemed to contribute to his team’s problems – most recently after his team’s match in Mumbai, when a post-match altercation led to him being handed a five-year ban from the Wankhede Stadium.Shah Rukh never gave up, though, and his decision to stick instead of twist, went beyond simple economic or financial reasons. His buying the Kolkata franchise back in 2008 was a bit of a surprise at the time – he had no obvious connections with the city – but soon it all became perfectly clear. He seemed to have a sharp understanding of his franchise, its hometown and its fans. They were emotional and theatrical, so was he and he played them like a finely-tuned harmonium.He invested personally; again, not merely in terms of money – for much of that came from his sober sidekick Jay Mehta. His investment was in the form of his very identity, his status as India’s most popular actor. He staked himself. He roped in the sponsors, often those with whom he had personal endorsement contracts; he struck up equations with Bengal’s mercurial political leadership, latterly being anointed Bengal’s brand ambassador; and he cleared his schedules so that for six weeks he and his gang of high-profile cheerleaders would go from stadium to stadium, usually in the scorching summer heat, to emote, wave flags, jump, shout, dance. And attend the after-parties.Yet for all that emotion and apparent soft centre, the franchise was capable of taking hard decisions – none more so than in its sacking of Sourav Ganguly before the 2011 auction. It was a huge decision; for the people of Kolkata, Ganguly was far bigger than this upstart franchise. Yet that decision, and the subsequent rebuilding of the team around a new captain and coach, was perhaps the most crucial factor in winning the IPL. The one sentiment that was voiced by the Kolkata players on Sunday night was about team spirit; it wasn’t the typical platitudes of a winning team. An invidious atmosphere, one of distrust, mistrust and bloated egos, was replaced by an honest team ethic and focus shifted to building for the future. The drama was toned down, the team returned to first principles and decisions were once again taken for cricketing reasons.As I write, the crackers are going off in Kolkata. A city that has long lived on the fringes of sporting success has hit the headlines for the right reasons. It’s been said that this Kolkata team had no Bengali stars but that is both incorrect – Shakib Al-Hasan is as Bengali as Ganguly, only from across the border – and an irrelevance. Kolkata was not built by Bengalis alone; one of the first truly global cities, it was built by Scottish traders, by Marwari moneylenders, by Greeks, Armenians, Jews. They were all adopted as sons of the city – as, no doubt, will Knight Riders’ rainbow coalition. A Kolkata team owned by two Bollywood stars and a repatriated NRI Gujarati businessman and captained by a Delhi boy – that’s sport in the 21st century for you.

ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day from the first Twenty20 international between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Hambantota

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Hambantota01-Jun-2012Sami’s inauspicious comeback
In a 11-year career, Mohammad Sami has been nothing short of an enigma for Pakistan, often going off the radar after spurts of brilliance with the ball. He is no stranger to comebacks, and today marked yet another. Returning after a two-year gap, Sami was given the ball in the fourth over. His first delivery was easily steered down to third man. No damage done. The second was short and wide, which was slashed over point by Kumar Sangakkara for four. He bowled the next one fuller but strayed wide again and Sangakkara smacked it wide of point along the ground. Sami stubbornly refused to vary his pace or length for the fourth and gave Sangakkara another half volley that sailed past point again. Three consecutive fours, 14 for the over. Welcome back to international cricket.Golden ducks to order
Twenty20 caps are usually not given to players at 33. Shakeel Ansar became the second-oldest player to make his Twenty20 debut for Pakistan, after Inzamam-ul-Haq (36). However, he will also have to live with the dubious distinction of bagging a golden duck on debut. Nuwan Kulasekara was the beneficiary. He invited the slash by bowling short and wide, and Ansar obliged by giving Tillakaratne Dilshan his second catch at backward point in two deliveries – before that, Mohammad Hafeez too had punched a wide one straight to him, off the first ball of the innings.Thirimanne’s false shot
Poor shot selection cost Sri Lanka dear, but the one that stood out was Lahiru Thirimanne’s reverse sweep. It’s a shot that leaves a batsman walking on air if it comes off well, or hoping for the earth to swallow him if it doesn’t. Thirimanne was positive after the top-order wobble, choosing conventional shots to fetch boundaries, but against arguably the best offspinner in the world, he got cheeky. Saeed Ajmal bowled the quicker one and the ball sneaked under the reverse-sweeping bat, thudding into the wicketkeeper’s thighs. Lucky escape, but when he attempted the same shot in Ajmal’s next over, he didn’t pick the doosra and lobbed it straight to short third man.Fielders on alert
Sri Lanka’s batting may have let them down, but their catching didn’t. Angelo Mathews, who is no stranger to stunning efforts on the boundary himself, benefitted from a fine show of agility off his bowling: Thisara Perera ran across from third man and then dived full length to his right to send back Shoaib Malik. Kaushal Lokuarachchi’s effort wasn’t too bad either. Shahid Afridi swung, got a top edge that swirled over short third man, from where Lokuarachchi ran back, turned around and plucked it mid-air.

ESPNcricinfo previews the seven teams playing in the inaugural season of the Sri Lanka Premier League

Andrew Fernando11-Aug-2012Uthura Rudras
Icon player: Muttiah Muralitharan
Coach: Tom Moody
Owner: Rudras Sport Limited (India)
Uthura Rudras have been stung by the late withdrawals of allrounder Shakib Al Hasan and pace bowler Fidel Edwards, but it’s their top order that appears most bare. Aside from Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor, Uthura lack the strokemakers who can ravage attacks and put oppositions under immediate pressure. Further down, Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Kapugedara add substance to the middle order, but even with Imran Farhat, Rob Quiney and Kevon Cooper likely to occupy two spots in the top six between them, it is not a side likely to daunt opposition bowlers.With ball in hand, though, Uthura seem more formidable. Muralitharan may not be as penetrative as he once was, but it’s a rare match in which he concedes more than eight an over, particularly in a tournament where batsmen are more likely to play him on reputation. In Kyle Mills, Farveez Maharoof and Dillon du Preez, Uthura also have an experienced pace battery.Player to watch: Left-arm orthodox spinner Sohan Boralessa has been on the cusp of the national team for a while, and it’s not difficult to see why. His 175 first class wickets have come at 22.20, and his List A and Twenty20 averages are even better. Known to give the ball plenty of air, expect him to be a worthy attacking complement to Muralitharan.Nagenahira Nagas
Icon player: Angelo Mathews
Coach: Shane Duffy
Owner: Varun Beverages (Sri Lanka)
Packed with local bowling talent, Nagenahira will have the luxury of fielding an intimidating attack without using any of their imports. Nuwan Kulasekara and Shaminda Eranga are arguably the two finest swing bowlers in the country, and will move the ball in opposite directions at the beginning of the innings. Suraj Randiv, Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Mathews pose varied threats of their own.This of course means that the batting can be crammed with accomplished foreign players. Travis Birt, Mitchell Marsh, Ahmed Shehzad and Mushfiqur Rahim will form the likely core of an explosive top order, and as long as injuries are averted, Nagenahira could conceivably include nine players who have played international cricket this year in their XI. With Mathews, Marsh and Randiv, prowling the outfield, even the fielding looks good.Player to watch: Ajantha Mendis may have been deciphered in Tests, but he still holds the best average among Twenty20 bowlers to have taken more than 25 wickets. Local batsmen who have not analysed his carrom ball a thousand times on video are often still flummoxed by Mendis’ variations. His performance in the SLPL is also likely to determine whether he remains part of the national team in the shortest format, or if he is discarded altogether.Wayamba United
Icon player: Mahela Jayawardene
Coach: Trevor Bayliss
Owner: Wadhawan Holdings (India)
Word is Mahela Jayawardene had plenty of input during the selection process and it shows. Youngsters like Dinesh Chandimal, Isuru Udana whose inclusion he has championed on the international stage, have also wound up in the Wayamba squad – perhaps as a validation of their talent, but also because it will allow Jayawardene time to work further with them. Chaminda Vaas returns to Sri Lankan cricket at 38, and will likely share the new ball with Kemar Roach.In addition to Roach, Wayamba can claim one of the most impressive lists of overseas talent in the tournament, with Umar Akmal, Tamim Iqbal, Brad Hogg, Abdul Razzaq, Colin Ingram and Azhar Mahmood jostling for four spots. Wayamba have already earned two trips to the Champions League in 2009 and 2010. With another balanced side in 2012, they could be contenders for the flight to South Africa once again.Player to watch: Akhila Dhananjaya, a 19-year-old spin bowler, made headlines when he was named in Sri Lanka’s 30-man squad for the World Twenty20, without having played any First-class or List A cricket. The national selectors had picked him solely on Jayawardene’s recommendation after he had befuddled batsmen at Sri Lanka net sessions. Said to possess seven variations, the SLPL will be the world’s first look at Dhananjaya, who himself is not completely sure if he bowls offspin or legspin.Kandurata Warriors
Icon player: Kumar Sangakkara
Coach: Romesh Kaluwitharana
Owner: Somerset Entertainment Ventures (Hong Kong)
Captain Kumar Sangakkara’s fractured finger will keep him out until the latter stages of the tournament, but with plenty of seasoned hands in the Kandurata Warriors squad, he is unlikely to be missed much, in a leadership capacity at least. A current international captain in Misbah-ul-Haq, and two former skippers in Johan Botha and the old man of the game, Sanath Jayasuriya, will help fill that gap.Though the bowling stocks are good, with Botha, Saeed Ajmal, and Thisara Perera likely to form the hub of the attack, the batting may tend towards pedestrian. Several of the local batsmen, including Tharanga Paranavitana and Malinda Warnapura are better suited to the longer formats. Kandurata will hope Jayasuriya can defy age and provide the starts of yore, and that Albie Morkel and Thisara Perera will prove the rapid finishers they have sometimes been for their national sides. Australia’s Adam Voges may also help spur the run rate, provided he can claim one of the four overseas spots.Player to watch: Saeed Ajmal has been the most improved spinner in world cricket over the past two years, and his success has not been limited to Tests. Routinely a bankable death-bowler, he went for only 5 runs an over in two Twenty20 internationals in Sri Lanka in June. As the most penetrative cog of the attack, though, Kandurata will rely on him to take plenty of wickets as well, particularly as the Premadasa square begins to wear towards the end of the tournament.Dirk Nannes will lead Basnahira’s strong pace attack•Getty ImagesBasnahira Cricket Dundees
Icon player: Tillakaratne Dilshan
Coach: Kepler Wessels
Owner: Indian Cricket Dundee
In an odd coincidence with their bizarre team name, the Basnahira Cricket Dundees have enlisted three Antipodean quicks in Dirk Nannes, Clint McKay and Tim Southee, and they, along with Nuwan Pradeep, Dhammika Prasad and Thilan Thushara, give the franchise the best fast bowling depth in the tournament. Quality spinners abound too, through Robin Peterson, Rangana Herath and Jeevan Mendis, giving the Dundees talent to burn in the bowling department.Not so with their batting. Tillakaratne Dilshan and Brad Hodge will need to contribute regularly, to lift a batting order likely to be comprised largely of domestic players. Australia’s Cameron Borgas and Daniel Smith may not play many games, if the overseas players spots are occupied by bowlers.Player to watch: Tim Southee was once one of the finest Twenty20 bowlers in the world, adept at getting batsmen out at the top of the innings with movement, and restricting them with slower balls and yorkers towards the end. Over the last 18 months, however, his radar and his swing seem to have left him. Now no longer a certainty for New Zealand selection, he will hope to rediscover consistency and work his way past the slump.Uva Next
Icon player: Chris Gayle
Coach: Robin Singh
Owner: Success Sports (India)
Though Uva Next lost their biggest international player and icon to injury, it is the local talent that seems to have gone missing in the selection process. Only Upul Tharanga, of the Sri Lankan players can claim to be a regular in any of the national teams, though in Seekkuge Prasanna and Sachithra Senanayake, Uva have two spinners who are being looked at closely for extended stints in the big leagues.Despite Gayle’s withdrawal, the overseas talent is healthy. Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Callum Ferguson and James Franklin will bolster the batting, while Umar Gul will spearhead the attack. Allrounders Jacob Oram and Andrew McDonald are also likely to feature in Uva’s campaign at some point.Player to watch: Dilshan Munaweera’s omission from the 30-man World T20 squad caused a stir in Sri Lanka, after the opening batsman had impressed at a single wicket tournament. A hard-hitter of rare power, the job of providing the innings’ impetus will fall to him in Gayle’s absence.Ruhuna Royals
Icon player: Lasith Malinga
Coach: Waqar Younis
Owner: Pearl Overseas (India)
The Ruhuna Royals line up is perhaps the most daunting team in the competition, with the likes of Lasith Malinga, Shahid Afridi, Richard Levi, Nathan McCullum, Aaron Finch and Ryan Harris in its ranks. The batting packs aggression – even local players like Gihan Rupasinghe and Chamara Silva are renowned for their ability to accelerate – while the bowling has few apparent weaknesses.Perhaps the only stumbling block will be leadership. Malinga, as the icon player, will likely captain the Royals, and though the team is packed with experienced limited-overs specialists, only Afridi comes close to being an adequate deputy. Still, expect raw talent to propel the Royals into the knockout stages of the tournament.Player to watch: Lasith Malinga appears distinctly hittable in the final overs, where he once ruled supreme after the India series. Indian players cited their familiarity with his action through the IPL to be the root of their success against Malinga, but it seemed that waywardness and mistakes in length had also crept into his game. Malinga getting those inswinging toe-crushers to sing again will be key to Sri Lanka’s hopes in the World Twenty20. Will the SLPL and the added stress of captaincy, wear Malinga out? Or will it spark a return to form?

Harsha Bhogle, Simon Doull and Mark Richardson discuss the state the team finds itself in ahead of its tour of India

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Aug-2012
What has been the impact on all the changes in New Zealand cricket off the field? (2.40 – 4.48)

Simon Doull: Too much change for my liking. It’s been a very difficult time for New Zealand cricket both on and off the field. Some very strange appointments, which probably date back a little earlier than Buchanan. I was very surprised when he picked up the job. I still think he has coaching aspirations, and perhaps that was why he didn’t get on too well with John Wright. If a guy of Wright’s standing cannot get along with the director of cricket then there are some real issues. For many years, New Zealand Cricket have thought that as long as we get Australians involved, we’ll get better. To me that is 100% wrong.Mark Richardson: New Zealand need leadership from the top. Unfortunately what we’ve seen over the last five or six years is that too much decision-making has come from the players, and a lot of those decisions haven’t been good. They need some very good decision-making coming from coaches, and I don’t think we’ve seen that. Now there’s a realisation that we need help.Does the lack of direction have to do with the captaincy of Daniel Vettori and Ross Taylor? (4.50 – 6.18)

“For many years, New Zealand Cricket have thought that as long as we get Australians involved, we’ll get better. To me that is 100% wrong”Simon Doull

MR: The New Zealand team really performed very well between 1999-2005. This is when Stephen Fleming took over the role. Steve Rixon came into the side and cleared out all the rubbish, got the culture right, got the key players moving in the right direction, and developed a young captain in Fleming. Then Fleming grew into the role and became a great leader, and set up a model whereby the captain did have power. However, Vettori, when he took over, wasn’t in the same situation as Fleming, and needed a strong coach to help him through. I don’t believe he got that. I believe he wanted all the power. A lot of poor decisions were made and that model has been handed through to Taylor.Why aren’t New Zealand punching above their weight now as they used to? (6.19 – 9.32)
SD: Fighting cricketers who worked their guts out to get the best out of themselves and get the best for the team – that’s what typified New Zealand cricket. I don’t see that fight at the moment. I don’t see the will to work hard, that I have seen in the past. We’ve always had one or two real class players but I don’t think in this team at the moment we have any world-class players. The fact that these guys are getting all of their money upfront – no performance bonuses, with no incentive to play well, is a bit of a problem for me.MR: Kane Williamson is a player of immense talent and he plays with a degree of maturity, responsibility and desire. [Brendon] McCullum is massively talented but massively overrated as well. Vettori once was a magnificent left-arm spinner. He is still very good but has lost the ability to take wickets. The team continues to make mistakes as a batting unit and players get out in the 60s and the 70s. They fail to make 400 regularly. You’ve got to be bowling sides out. New Zealand lack pace and lack spin. Vettori hasn’t been able to produce that role. The key players have failed to be the catalyst for performance and the youngsters simply aren’t at the level to make up for that.How do things look for New Zealand cricket? Also, is it a case of players such as Guptill and Ryder being better than their numbers suggest but not delivering? (9.33 – 12.30)
SD: As a commentator, when your team is playing well, your job is easy. You can find things to talk about all the time. We had two days through that whole West Indies tour over five and a half weeks where I was able to be positive about New Zealand cricket. That, for me, was very hard. It’s hard when you go into your daily job and can’t find things to be positive about. I’d like to think things will get better on the Indian tour, but I don’t see it. From what I’ve been told, Mike Hesson brings a fair bit of organisation and structure to the job but it’s too quick to try and turn things around in the space of a week and a half.MR: That’s the frustration of a New Zealand cricket fan. We see what these guys are capable of but most of them are trying to play a style of cricket that is not sustainable for them, and no one is grabbing them by the scruff of their neck, giving them a good shake and saying, “You can’t play this way and expect to be consistent.” They all seem to want to play like Virender Sehwag. They can’t, they are New Zealand cricketers. They’ve got to pull their horns in, and no one seems to have got that message through to them.Do we see New Zealand becoming a bigger force only in the shorter formats? (12.31 – 13.53)
SD: That would be nice if that was the truth. We were ranked No. 3 in ODIs and No. 3 in Tests three to four years ago. At the moment we are No. 8 in Tests and No. 7 in ODIs. So the stats are just not stacking up, to say that we’ll be a better one-day side. There will be the odd good performance, like there was in the World Cup, but remember, South Africa was the only side we had to beat in a one-off situation. To play and win three or four games in a row, we don’t seem to be able to do that.With Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult, how’s the bowling unit? (13.54 – 17.25)
MR: New Zealand, in seamer-friendly conditions, are very good, very competitive. They look a different team. But those conditions are less and less around the world. It’s about being able to generate wickets in flat conditions. New Zealand lack genuine pace. There are some lively bowlers around in the first-class level but they just don’t seem to be making that next step up. Quite often we see a guy and say, “Wow, he’s got some pace”, but we see him in an international game with a speed gun on and he bowls at 135kph.Mark Richardson: “McCullum is massively talented but massively overrated as well”•AFPHow big a problem is the IPL, especially next May when New Zealand tour England? (17.26 – 20.30)
SD: I don’t see the IPL as a problem. Players have to realise how they got there. It’s because they performed at the international level for New Zealand. That’s the only reason you get to play in those tournaments, because the country puts you on the world stage. I wonder if too many players around the world forget the fact that that is where they were predominantly first seen, and that’s where their loyalties should lie.MR: For our key players, the IPL has become their greatest earner. When you are under pressure at the international level, you need an element of desperation to succeed. If success for your country is your livelihood, it’s what you must have to perform. Does that three-year contract in the IPL take away that little bit of desperation, even at a subconscious level, away from your performance when you’re playing for your country? I think that mentality has crept in just a little bit when it comes to our top players playing for New Zealand.What’s your forecast for the series in India? (20.32 – 23.38)
MR: New Zealand’s going to struggle. There is no form behind them. I can’t see this New Zealand team bowling out India [twice].Numbers Game (24.22 – 29.03)
Starting April 2006, New Zealand have won four and lost 23 out of 39 Tests against the top sides (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). Starting January 1, 1980, how many matches did they play to lose 23, and what was their win-loss record during that period?

Michael Clarke had no answers as South Africa raced ahead in the Perth Test, virtually shutting out Australia’s hopes of becoming the No. 1 Test side

Brydon Coverdale at the WACA01-Dec-2012Late in the afternoon, as Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla were pushing the No.1 Test ranking out of Australia’s reach with every flick of their bats, Michael Clarke stood at first slip, turned to his left and looked to Ricky Ponting. If he was after guidance, none was forthcoming. If he wanted divine intervention from a cricketing idol, he was disappointed. Neither Australia’s current captain nor his predecessor had any answers. The well of inspiration was dry.Ponting stood with arms crossed and his face solemn. It was much the same pose he had taken at the same venue four years ago, when Smith, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy wrested away a match that it seemed Australia could not lose by chasing down 414. Many times Ponting the captain had felt the same, a match accelerating like the lure in his beloved greyhound racing, and him with as much chance of catching it as the dogs. Now it was Clarke’s turn.If it was a shame that Australia suffered so torridly during Ponting’s last match, it was also a fitting reminder of the challenges of captaincy. For 18 months, nearly everything Clarke the leader has touched has turned to gold. There have been occasional lapses, like Australia’s 47 all out in Cape Town last November, and their loss to New Zealand in Hobart the following month. Standing in the cordon at the WACA, Ponting might well have reminded Clarke that this captaincy lark isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.Clarke knew first-hand that runs could flow quickly in Perth. Six years ago, he was part of the fastest 150-run partnership in Test history, a stand that sprinted along at 8.10 runs an over as Adam Gilchrist repeatedly launched Monty Panesar nearly into the adjacent Gloucester Park racetrack during a 57-ball hundred. This time, without the same flamboyance but with just as much import, Amla and Smith hurried along at 6.98 an over, third on the list headed by Clarke and Gilchrist.He was powerless to stop them. Could Peter Siddle have stemmed the flow? Maybe. Would Ben Hilfenhaus have provided a tougher challenge. Perhaps. But that was all academic as Mitchell Starc, in his fifth Test, John Hastings in his first, Mitchell Johnson in his comeback, and anyone else Clarke cared to try struggled to stop the runs. As captain, Clarke’s use of the part-timer Michael Hussey has at times seemed ingenious; here, he went for 11 runs in his only over.They fed Smith’s pads and were helpless against Amla, who walked across his stumps and flicked any delivery he liked to leg. But if the Australians bowled wide of off, he was equally happy cutting and square driving. The old WACA rule that batsmen play with a horizontal or vertical bat, but not one at a 45-degree angle, did not seem to apply to him. That’s a rule based on the bowlers finding bounce and movement, but here Australia’s fast men couldn’t produce enough of either.Clarke was forced into a defensive mindset that he has rarely displayed as captain. Point and square leg were sent back to the fence, slips were moved out and damage limitation seemed to be his priority. Even that was unachievable. There was no spark, apart from two occasions when the 37-year-old Ponting showed the reflexes of a teenager and threw down the stumps, both times finding Smith in his ground by a small margin.”Feel like jumping off the couch, grabbing the ball and having a bowl for Australia against the South Africans, seriously getting frustrated,” Shane Warne tweeted. “Bowlers are rushing, everything is happening in fast forward, needs someone to slow the game down, take their time and be calm.”For half of his captaincy career, Ponting had Warne to hand the ball to if ever situations threatened to swing out of control. Clarke had nobody. Not until Nathan Lyon took a stunning diving catch in the outfield did the partnership end. There are times when fieldsmen in the deep can be catching men, but by this stage they were there as much to prevent runs as anything. It wasn’t clear what plan the Australians were bowling to; they just got lucky.A similar lack of thought afflicted their batting earlier in the day. Matthew Wade, whose counterattacking 68 prevented more of a disaster, tried to slog sweep a Robin Peterson ball that was much too full. Wade walked off the ground hitting himself on the helmet with his bat. “Stupid, stupid,” you could almost hear him say to himself. Johnson fell in almost identical fashion. He walked off thumping his bat into his right pad. He must have had the same sentiment.The top-order men fell to a mixture of good balls and poor strokes. The Dale Steyn ball that caught Clarke’s edge was magnificent. At 6 for 45, it wasn’t quite Cape Town all over again, but it was bad. By stumps, South Africa were 2 for 230 on a day when Australia lost 8 for 130. Clarke’s men have been so good so often, but while they continue to have calamitous days like they have in Perth, and Cape Town, and Hobart, they will find it hard to reach No.1 and stay there. And after this match, Clarke won’t even have Ponting there to sympathise with him.

ESPNcricinfo presents plays of the day from the third day in Ahmedabad

George Dobell in Ahmedabad17-Nov-2012Wicket of the day
During the warm-up match against Haryana, the offspinner Jayant Yadav provoked some derision when he remarked that England had been unconvincing against his bowling. In particular, Yadav said, England’s propensity to skip down the wicket as soon as the spinners were introduced betrayed an anxiety and lack of confidence. The problem was, England had scored 521 in their first innings and Yadav had conceded nearly five an over. But, in light of Ian Bell’s dismissal here – running down the wicket to his first delivery – Yadav’s words rang true. In an innings full of low points, Bell’s stroke plumbed a new depth. While he no doubt intended it as a demonstration of his confidence, it instead spoke of his lack of confidence at playing Pragyan Ojha from the crease. It was, by any standards, awful.Ball of the day
England will, no doubt, receive a great deal of criticism for their first-innings batting performance, much of it justified. But there were moments when batting was desperately difficult. Ojha, bowling from wide of the crease, gained significant turn and the delivery that dismissed Tim Bresnan also bounced sharply and took the shoulder of the bat on its way to slip. It was a fine ball and one of the high points of Ojha’s fourth five-wicket haul in Tests.Let-off of the day
Odd though it sounds, England actually enjoyed a fair bit of fortune on the third day. Kevin Pietersen could have been stumped on 6 and both he and Alastair Cook might consider themselves fortunate to have survived leg-before shouts. In the second innings, too, Cook survived a huge lbw appeal on 41. But the biggest let-off of all game when Matt Prior was on just 3. R Ashwin attempted a rare legbreak – his first of the day – only to serve up a full toss. Prior, eyes lighting up, mishit the rare lose ball and should have been taken by Zaheer Khan at deep square leg. It would have reduced England to 91 for 7. Instead, however, Zaheer palmed the ball for four and Prior was able to lead a recovery of sorts in contributing 48 – the top score of the innings – and keeping England’s very faint hopes of salvation alive.Irony of the day
The umpires did not have the best of days. England, Cook in particular, survived some very good leg-before shouts in each innings and it is possible that the England captain’s reprieve in his second innings, attempting to sweep Ojha on 41, might yet define this game. Certainly, had the DRS been in operation in this series, Cook would most certainly have been given out but such is the BCCI’s opposition to the technology in its current form – they argue it is unproven and not totally reliable – he survived. But there are various websites offering the ball-tracking technology including, rather surprisingly, the BCCI’s own website.Shot of the day
While Cook led the way in the second innings, the shot of the day came from Nick Compton. Compton, on debut, had appeared solid but he also looked a little limited in scoring opportunities: after 26 balls, he had scored just four runs. Then, however, he struck his first boundary in Test cricket: waiting for the right ball and noticing the gap in the field, he executed a fine reverse sweep for four off Ashwin. Not only did it release the pressure on Compton, who was admirably unruffled for the rest of the day, but it forced India to rethink their field. It also underlined the fact that such shots, used appropriately, can be highly effective.Damning statistic of the day
Haryana, who scored 334 against England in the warm-up game, were bowled out for just 66 in the Ranji Trophy. The week before the game against England, they were bowled out for 55. Yes, the wickets were different and yes, direct comparisons can be misleading. But, whichever way you look at it, it is not a statistic that reflects terribly well on England’s bowling attack.

Plays of the day from the second day of the first Test between India and Australia in Chennai

Brydon Coverdale23-Feb-2013The ball
Spinners took all ten wickets during Australia’s innings but it didn’t take long once India walked out to bat for pace to make its presence felt. In the fourth over, James Pattinson sent a searing inswinging yorker to Murali Vijay, who was beaten by the 150kph pace of the delivery and managed only a little inside edge that rocketed back onto his leg stump. India’s seamers had struggled to get close to the 140kph mark but Pattinson showed that even on a spin-friendly pitch, sheer pace has its place.The obliviousness
A lack of reflexes cost Virender Sehwag on the first day when he dropped a catch at slip and again on the second day when he jammed a Pattinson delivery down into the ground. Unbeknownst to Sehwag, the ball bounced high in the crease, fell down and landed on top of the leg bail. By the time Sehwag realised what was happening, it was too late to do anything about it.The start
The loss of both openers left India at 12 for 2. In walked Sachin Tendulkar, under pressure after another lean series against England, and immediately he cheered the Chennai fans. His first ball he punched through cover for four, his second went in a similar direction and again to the boundary, and from his fourth delivery and the last of Pattinson’s successful over, he glanced yet another four off his pads. The cheer when Tendulkar walked to the crease was nothing compared to the roar that went around when he was 12 from four balls.The bowled that wasn’t
When Michael Clarke brought himself on to bowl late in the day, Tendulkar was on strike on 60. Clarke ran in and bowled, but just before he released the ball Tendulkar pulled away; he was not ready and had only just finished getting into position. Lo and behold, the delivery hit the stumps. Matthew Wade let out a mock appeal but everyone knew it was a dead ball, as was confirmed by the umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

Why does Test cricket give players the right to call off a match that can have a potentially thrilling result?

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Dominica’s first-ever Test match was an old-style twister, a game that wound and ground an undulating course towards a tense climax. With 15 overs remaining – more than 4% of a rain-interrupted match ‒ India were well set to press on for victory, to confirm their pre-eminence in the world game by ruthlessly completing a 2-0 series triumph, 86 runs required from 90 balls. Two greats of the game at the crease. Two World-Cup-winning batsmen still to come, plus a useful tail, but they would have to make those runs on a slow-scoring pitch against a defiant West Indies striving to suggest their latest improvements might have more longevity than other recent false dawns. All was in readiness for a rousing conclusion to an intriguing series, which had had a touch of the 1950s about it in terms of scoring rates, but which tested the batsmen throughout, and saw the welcome return to form of Ishant Sharma and Fidel Edwards. A titanic hour’s cricket was imminent.And then everyone just wandered off.As anti-climaxes go, this was not quite as disappointing as it would have been had Hillary and Tensing reached 50 metres from the summit of Mount Everest in 1953, then simultaneously pulled hamstrings and decided not to risk aggravating their injuries by going any further, potentially ruling themselves out of mountaineering for between four and six months; nor as much of a let-down as when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin opened the door of their magic space rocket in 1969, took one look at the moon, and scuttled back inside muttering something about being scared of rocks. (Fortunately they were persuaded by Houston ground control to “have another go, or find your own way home”.)However, it was a dismal end to a cricket match, a wasteful, negative, dispiriting cop-out, using a needless and bone-headed loophole in the sport’s regulations to chicken out of a potentially thrilling endgame. India were content not to run a miniscule risk of defeat in exchange for a highly possible victory. West Indies were content to have their brave batting rearguard of Chanderpaul and the Edwardses rewarded with a drawn match and a series defeat by an acceptable margin of just one Test to nil. Cricket was unquestionably the loser. And cricket should be asked some stroppy questions in its post-match press conference.This was the second time in little over a month that one of the world’s leading Test teams has bottled out of pushing for victory with a sizeable chunk of cricket remaining. England pulled the plug on June’s Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka when needing six wickets (or seven if the injured Dilshan batted again) in 15 overs, having, in the previous two innings in the series, taken their opponents’ last six wickets in 7.2 and 22.5 overs respectively. Why? There is a time and a place for rest and recuperation in modern international cricket, and it is not during the last hour of a Test match.India bailed out yesterday with less than a run a ball needed, with seven wickets left. Still to bat were MS Dhoni – that’s MS Dhoni, the man who had grasped the World Cup final as if it were an errant puppy and made it bark his name in Morse code ‒ plus established ODI star Virat Kohli, plus dangerous lower-order smiter Harbhajan, plus first-class-batting-average-of-24 Praveen Kumar, plus batted-for-three-hours-in-two-innings-against-Australia-in-the-Mohali-Test-last-year-and-dismissed-on-average-once-every-44-balls-in-Tests Ishant Sharma. I know Munaf Patel is unlikely ever to win a Nobel Prize For Batting, but did he need much protection? On a pitch on which Fidel Edwards had just survived for two and a half hours? Defeat was not impossible, but it would have taken major and prolonged ineptitude.There is no satisfactory answer to the question of why England and India both bailed out from potentially winning positions – oddly tremulous decisions by teams striving to be the world’s best. But perhaps the more pertinent question is: why were they even allowed to? I assume that they did not have to catch the last boat home, which provided England an excuse in the timeless Durban Test of 1938-39, when they aborted their pursuit of 696 to win tantalisingly short at 654 for 5 (after 291 overs’ worth of batting – if ever there was an accelerator pedal that could have been pressed a little more firmly, a little sooner, it was that one).Why does Test cricket permit its captains – seldom the most adventurous of beasts ‒ to leave their public like so many Tony Hancocks furiously realising the last page of their novel has been ripped out? Did Shakespeare get to the end of Act IV of his smash-hit platinum-selling turn-of-the-17th-century rom-trag , think to himself, “I deserve some quality me-time,” and scribble: “Act V: And they all lived happily ever after”? No, he did not. He knuckled down and he finished the drama. And that is why his plays are still wowing the crowds 400 years later. Test cricket will be a footnote within 20 years if it keeps cheating its supporters like this.Does any other sport allow this kind of artificial shortening of play? This was not like the concession of an 18-inch putt to share a matchplay golf contest. It was like two players standing on the 18th tee, with the match all square, and the golfing world watching with bated breath, and saying to each other: “I can’t be arsed with this. Call it a draw? Deal. Let’s go and sing some karaoke instead. I do an amazing “Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong.” Imagine the reaction if Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, in the Fight Of The Century at Madison Square Garden in 1971, had staggered out at the bell for the final round, exhausted after 14 rounds of brutal pugilism, had a cuddle in the middle of the ring, said, “Come here, buddy, violence doesn’t solve anything, let’s be friends,” and started dancing a slow waltz.The regulation allowing captains to agree to end a game early presumably exists in order to allow an aimlessly meandering match to be humanely put out of its misery when a positive result is an impossibility. This was not the case at Lord’s, and it was even less the case in Dominica. Spectators were cheated, the game was cheated. It must not be allowed to happen in future.Players should not be allowed to make these decisions. They have shown they cannot be trusted with this responsibility. The result of a Test match should not be decided by negotiation. Players can no longer decide when a game is suspended due to slightly bad light (as it should be officially renamed), and they should not be permitted to decide to terminate a game when a positive result is still a live possibility. Not only is it potentially open to abuse by the unscrupulous, it is a nonsensical insult to Test cricket’s supporters. Let the umpires decide when a game has become pointless. The evidence suggests that many Test captains would happily shake hands on a draw after three overs on the first morning, just to be on the safe side.At a time when the five-day format is widely acknowledged to be fighting for its future under sustained assault from various angles, Test cricket has punched itself in the face. Again.

The lacklustre display by Sri Lanka’s bowlers on the third day in Galle may have spurned the opportunity created by their batsmen to take a series lead

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Galle10-Mar-2013Each of the three Test wins at home Sri Lanka have earned in the two years and seven months since Muttiah Muralitharan retired, have been in Galle. It has become a fortress of sorts – though perhaps not quite as formidable as the sixteenth-century structure that towers over it.It is the reason they begin each home series here. A Test in Galle often means a series lead for the hosts, and though they have not always built a series win upon that psychological head-start, they have at least prevented a home record as poor as their away results have been. Now, against a team Sri Lanka supposedly outrank by a distance, they are at risk of being held to a deflating draw.The surface in Galle may be the least lively pitch since Chris Gayle bludgeoned a triple-century in November 2010, but in 93 overs on day three, all Sri Lanka’s bowlers had produced were two dismissals and three half-chances. Rangana Herath was the unsurprising frontrunner to take a wicket at every stage, but while he at least beat the bat on occasion, rarely did any of the other bowlers produce an over of menace beyond the first hour. In Sri Lanka’s past five Tests, the batsmen have been primarily at fault for poor performance, but now that an injection of youth has been administered to correct that malaise, the bowlers’ continued ineffectiveness has come into focus.Shaminda Eranga began with vigour with the new ball on day two, but his stint in the field had clearly sapped him, because the following day’s work was a deal less sprightly. He seamed the ball away a touch in his first spell, but his speed fell progressively thereafter, and by the third session, he was serving up stale full tosses and tired short balls, almost 15 kph slower on average than his first spell in the Test. Eranga is one of the few Sri Lankan fast bowlers who has not almost earned a free surgery on his hospital loyalty card, and is correctly being thought of as a long-term spearhead. But he cannot allow his standards to dip so dramatically even in conditions as tough as this, because if he can’t provide the breakthrough, perhaps no one will.The hosts were also at a numerical disadvantage, effectively having to cope with having only three frontline bowlers. On his return to the Test side, Ajantha Mendis set about reminding fans why he had been dropped almost two years ago in the first place. Mendis not only floated up a stream of rank half-volleys and even worse full tosses, his figures affirmed the fact that the number of teams he can be effective against grows fewer with each series. On as unresponsive a surface as this, Tillakaratne Dilshan’s offspin is a far more hostile proposition.

The problem for Sri Lanka, is that beyond [Tharindu] Kaushal’s offspin, there are few bowlers who promise Test proficiency, both on the fringes of the team or in the first-class system

Anamul Haque, his only victim, cursed himself all the way to the dressing room on the second day, perhaps because he felt he had been bowled by a delivery he would hit through the covers for four on most days. In Twenty20s, and perhaps ODIs, Mendis can still contain enough batsmen and strike when they venture aggression. But although they were concerned about loading the team with too much inexperience, the selectors will feel Tharindu Kaushal, who is by far the superior long-term prospect, would have been the better choice for this Test.Nuwan Kulasekara achieved swing into the right-hand batsman early on, but as was the case in his last Test, on another flat pitch in Hobart, his threat disappeared completely as the ball wore, and his control was no great defence against a busy opposition advance. He has embellished his swing in the past two years, even introducing a ball that seams away from the right-hander, but at his pace, perhaps he should be reserved for those Test tracks truly suited to movement.The problem for Sri Lanka, is that beyond Kaushal’s offspin, there are few bowlers who promise Test proficiency, both on the fringes of the team or in the first-class system. Chanaka Welegedara was an improving bowler and sometime spearhead, but a string of injuries in the last 18 months has seen him enter an ominous cycle of injury-layoff-comeback-injury, and at almost 32, he cannot have many more series on the sidelines before the selectors do not consider him a worthwhile investment. Before he tore a hamstring in the Boxing Day Test, Welegedara had barely begun finding his rhythm again after the shoulder injury that kept him out for much of 2012. He is in the squad for this Test, but coach Graham Ford said he was yet to return to full capacity after the hamstring tear.”One of the possible reasons Welegedara wasn’t picked is because he was injured in Australia, and he is working his way in. It’s a case of getting himself back into cricket again. He’s been in pretty good form in the nets, working with Vaasy, and he’s getting his swing going. When Vaasy says he is ready, we’ll pick him. He is certainly a consideration for the second Test.”The other bowling options for Sri Lanka have largely been tried, and have underwhelmed in Tests. Suranga Lakmal averages over 60 after 13 matches, Suraj Randiv struggled for control during his time as Sri Lanka’s second spinner, and Nuwan Pradeep seems as fragile as he is quick.Though the domestic competitions are brimming with young batting talent, Sri Lanka’s bowling conundrum has no easy answers. In the long term, better pitches and a leaner first-class structure will bring results, but for the moment, the men presently in the selectors’ favour must be less yielding in their efforts than they were on day three in Galle.

For England’s bowlers who are still waiting for apologies from their batsmen

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013England have one final chance to rescue some dignity from their unexpectedly disastrous Test winter. More specifically, England’s batsmen have one final opportunity to issue an official, long-overdue and suitably grovelling apology to England’s bowlers, in the form of a last-ditch outbreak of subcontinental competence. If any of England’s willow-wielders does manage to add to Trott’s solitary 2011-12 century, I hope he has the decency to hold up his bat to the bowlers in the Colombo pavilion to reveal an “I am so, so sorry” sticker plastered on the back, before flagellating himself in penance with a section of the boundary rope the England have found so elusive of late.Seldom have two parts of the same cricket team performed at such extremes of proficiency. England’s bowling has been almost uniformly excellent. The batting has been historically poor. It has been a little reminiscent of the ill-fated mixed-doubles tennis partnership between Martina Navratilova and Henry Kissinger, or the RSC’s controversial 1960s production of in which Hollywood heart-throb Paul Newman was cast opposite Chi Chi, the London Zoo panda. The difference is that Kissinger was never a truly world-class tennis player, and Chi Chi was more suited to comedic cameos than leading lady roles. Whereas England’s batting, just a few months ago, was smashing records as if they were plates at the wedding of two Greek discus throwers.England’s bowlers enter their final Test of the 2011-12 season with a collective average of 26 this winter. Thus far, it has statistically been England’s second best bowling winter since 1978-79, when Mrs Thatcher was still a slightly unsettling twinkle in the British electorate’s eye, and Botham, Willis, Miller and others took advantage of a Packer-stripped Australia.Since then, only in the 1996-97 season have England’s bowlers returned a (fractionally) better average, and then their opponents were Zimbabwe and New Zealand, the two lowest-ranked Test nations at the time. Even in the 2000-01 winter, when England achieved outstanding series victories in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they averaged 33 with the ball.For years, England had struggled to dismiss their opponents away from home, but they have now bowled their opposition out in both innings in nine of their last 11 away Tests. They had done so just five times in their previous 27 Tests outside England, dating back to their post-2005-Ashes comedown series in Pakistan, and in just 29% of their overseas Tests over the previous three decades.England’s bowlers (who in Galle became just the third attack in Test history to be on the losing side despite dismissing the opposition’s top three for a total of less than 20 in both innings) have done their job all winter, a message conveyed unmistakeably by Jimmy Anderson’s face when he trudged out to bat at 157 for 8, three hours after flogging a five-for out of the docile Galle surface.England paid dearly for Monty’s drops and Broad’s no-ball (and, of course, for Jayawardene’s refound mastery and Herath’s crafty insistence), but the game was decided in their first innings, when they lost their top six wickets for less than 100 for the fifth time in four Tests this winter. They had been six down for under 100 just nine times in their previous 70 away Tests.Can a batting line-up ever have sunk so far, so fast? Certainly not since Leicestershire mistakenly booked a pre-season tour to the bottom of the Marianas Trench in 1924. England averaged 19.06 runs per wicket in the UAE against Pakistan – their lowest figure in any series since 1890. Last summer, they averaged 58 runs per wicket ‒ their third best summer of all time, and best since 1962.The 2010-11 winter (51.1 runs per wicket) had been their best since the timeless-Test-enhanced 1938-39 tour of South Africa. The 2011-12 winter is currently their worst since 1934-35. In the last year and a half, they have registered their highest runs-per-wicket season averages against Australia and Sri Lanka, and their third best against India ‒ but also their worst against Pakistan and, as it stands, Sri Lanka.No wonder there was completely unnecessary panic buying of petrol in England last week in preparation for a fuel-tanker-drivers’ strike that may or may not happen at some point not especially soon. England’s batting in the last 18 months has left the nation confused, discombobulated, and willing to queue needlessly and stockpile lethal liquids in its houses.Traditionally, dismissing your opponents twice gives you a strong likelihood of victory. But this England team is clearly no respecter of history and tradition.To further illustrate the extraordinary lengths to which England’s batsmen have gone to finesse four Test defeats out of four this winter, consider this, stats fans: of the 50 away Tests in which England bowled out their opponents twice between 1980 and 2011, they won 37, drew 6 and lost just 7. And between the Sydney Test of 1998-99 and the Perth defeat late in 2010, England won 19 and lost just one of the 21 away Tests in which they took 20 wickets. Three times this winter they have dismissed their opposition twice. Three times they have lost. Truly, being one match away from a whitewashed winter, despite have bowled with such penetration, craft and consistency, represents one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of English batsmanship.EXTRAS● For anyone unconvinced at what an influential cricketer Luck is, consider not Lahiru Thirimanne’s literally gut-wrenching catch at short leg, when the Sri Lankan’s phenomenal anticipation and stomach-endangering bravery combined with good fortune and a friendly tummy-bounce to dismiss Matt Prior, somersaulting the Test back towards the home team. Consider Jonathan Trott.Trott was rightly praised for his artfully constructed second-innings century, which put his team in a winning position and was England’s first century in their four Tests in 2011-12. (They had scored 22 tons in their previous 12 Tests; and 49 in the first 36 matches of the Strauss-Flower era.) The general consensus was that the rest of England’s batsmen should watch and learn from Trott, and take note of his patience, his sage selection of strokes, and the fact that he wisely opted not get out for not many runs. And so they should. But they should also learn from his Luck.In the first innings, Trott was stumped when he charged out of his crease as if sprinting home to check whether or not he had left his oven on, and forgetting to hit the full-toss that was heading his way. In the second innings, when he was on 7, he tried to play an ungainly pull shot to an unthreatening short ball by Tillakaratne Dilshan. Tried, but failed. The ball thonked into his pads, Sri Lanka appealed, it looked close, and it was close. The umpire’s finger of doom must have contemplated a journey into the air, but decided to stay in the snug safety of the pocket, saving its harsh justice for someone else. Trott survived. Hawkeye suggested the ball would have trimmed the bails. If Trott had been given out, he would have stayed out. And he would have been slammed for getting out to startlingly dreadful shots early in both innings, for lacking the composure, gameplan and technique to succeed in Asian conditions, for not having learned his lessons from the Pakistan series, and, probably, because he is Trott, for not scoring quickly enough in one-day internationals.The finger of doom was less kind to Trott’s Warwickshire team-mate Ian Bell, who was harshly triggered leg before wicket for 13, when he was well down the pitch to a ball that Captain Technology asserted was shaving his offstump. If he had been given not out, he would have stayed not out. Instead, he was slammed for playing yet another of England’s injudicious and/or ineptly-executed sweep shots. If he had not been given out, he might have stroked an almost-match-winning hundred. Or he might not. Luck reprieved Trott, but convicted Bell. But playing ungainly pull shots and injudicious and ineptly-executed sweeps is inviting Luck to stick its capricious snout into your business. And repeatedly chipping balls to infielders specifically placed for chipped balls into the infield is effectively saying: “You take the rest of the day off, Luck. We can lose this for ourselves.”● The Official Confectionery Stall Prediction For The Colombo Test: I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. England might remember how to bat. They might not. Maybe they’ll bowl terribly for a change, but chase down 800 to win on the last day. It has been a baffling few months for England. Fascinating, but baffling.