SPIN August sampler

Young cricketers should be made to do national service − Graeme Swann

spin the independent voice of cr ick e t

www.spincricket.com

August 2011 ÂŁ3.95

Zaheer Dhoni

Viru

Sachin

Indian SuperheroEs!

Bhajji

but are they destroying world CRICKET? Geoff miller / windies legends / james taylor / simon katich

Contents

58

28

spin issue 60

Welcome to SPIN. India are coming, lock up your off spinners. Well not exactly, because England’s off spinner is trying to force all cricketers into national service, which is probably better than them performing in dodgy pub bands. Geoff Miller takes us behind the processes and skillsets to show us how the English team gets picked, James Taylor professes his love for batting, and, as the only cricket magazine with a cluster of women writers, we celebrate their love of the game. But mostly we fear India . . . because everyone should fear India; watch out, Navjot Sidhu is BEHIND YOU.

subscribe to SPIN at spincricket.com

34

cook, PLodders & Donkeys 06 Atherton,

SPIN’s editor Jarrod Kimber looks at the media’s need to entertain and also stay on good terms with the players.

14

James Taylor

This month’s young player to watch is the lover of batting from Leicestershire.

18 Alistair Brown

SPIN founding editor Duncan Steer talks to Notts and former Surrey legend about Adam Hollioake and going home.

22

geoff Miller

Daniel Norcross talks to England’s chairman of selectors on the strategies he uses to pick his team.

Greig revisited: an indian winter 50Tony

An extract from David Tossell’s new book on the controversial fomer England captain.

the flames of fire in babylon 58Fanning

Vithushan Ehantharajah talks to the key players of the Fire In Babylon period about their hopes and fears for their team. Jimmy Adams also gives his views and introduces us to the Titans of Cricket extravaganza.

68scent of the women

New SPIN reporter Lexi Boddy trawls the badlands of county cricket to talk to the women who brave this largely male domain.

other contents

28Graeme Swann

21 spin off

34India tour preview

76 film/book reviews

SPIN’s top dog George Dobell takes on the man with the golden jaw in a madcap interview about national service and how he’d like to kill poor fielders.

The SPIN team look at the key players for India, how both sides can win, Sehwag’s viral mutation and the big question: Is India’s influence destroying world cricket?

SPIN is introducing a new online newsletter - SPIN OFF - which will, by issue three, be available only to SPIN subscribers.

We report on the films From the Ashes, and the book Out of the Ashes.

82 the contests

Flintoff Vs Kallis 2008. Nasty.

August 2011

Spin 3

g n i d a Le edge COLD SHOULDER

UpulTharanga was banned from cricket for three months after failing a drugs test. A sample taken from the Sri Lankan batsman was found to contain Prednisone and Prednisolone, which are Specified Substances underWADA’s prohibited list.

The ICC stated : “The anti-doping tribunal acceptedTharanga’s submission that he had ingested the substances by drinking a herbal remedy given to him to ease discomfort caused by a long-standing shoulder injury. It also found thatTharanga had no intention to enhance his sporting performance or to mask the use of another performance enhancing substance, but that he had failed to satisfy the high levels of personal responsibility implicit upon him as an international cricketer subject to anti-doping rules.”

Harper’s final innings

There were no guards of honour or standing ovations as Daryl Harper’s long career international umpiring career came to an end.

Harper, who was recently removed from the ICC’s elite panel, was due to finish his career by standing in the third Test between the West Indies and India in Dominica starting on July 6. After receiving criticism for his performance in the Kingston Test – not least from India captain MS Dhoni – Harper withdrew from his final game.

Harper stood in 95 Tests, 174 ODIs and ten T20Is in a career that stretches back to 1994 “The real shame is it deprives him of the opportunity to sign off as a Test match umpire in a manner befitting someone who has served the game so well,” said ICC general manager Dave Richardson.

England’s winter plans The ECB have announced their winter tour programme. It comprises: England in India: October 4 - England arrive in Hyderabad October 8 - 50-over warm-up match, Gymkhana, Hyderabad October 11 - 50-over warm-up match, Gymkhana, Hyderabad October 14 - 1st ODI (D/N), Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad October 17 - 2nd ODI (D/N), Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi October 20 - 3rd ODI (D/N), Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali October 23 - 4th ODI (D/N), Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai October 25 - 5th ODI (D/N), Eden Gardens, Kolkata October 29 - lone Twenty20 international (D/N), Eden Gardens, Kolkata England v Pakistan, UAE: The ECB and PCB have agreed that the tour will comprise three Test matches, four ODIs and three T20s to be played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. A detailed itinerary will be announced in due course.

England in Sri Lanka: Warm-up matches have yet to be confirmed, but the two Test matches are scheduled as follows: March 26-30 - 1st Test, Galle April 3-7 - 2nd Test, Colombo (venue tbc)

4 Spin August 2011

Paul Collingwood has signed for Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League.

Eoin Morgan was appointed as England T20 vice-captain.

Simon Jones returned to Glamorgan, the team he left at the end of 2007, on a month’s loan from Hampshire.

Steve Rixon has been appointed as Australia’s new fielding coach.

Afghanistan could take part in the Pakistan domestic T20 tournament.

Danish Kaneria has initiated legal proceedings against the Pakistan Cricket Board following his continued exclusion from the national side. While Kaneria has been questioned in connection with the spot-fixing scandal, he has not been charged or disciplined by the ICC. Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower were both awarded an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list.

Alastair Cook and Jack Birkenshaw both received an MBE. Brendan Taylor has been appointed as Zimbabwe’s new captain in place of Elton Chigumbura.

Warwickshire spinner Maurice Holmes, who bowls with an action remarkably reminiscent of Murali, was reported twice by umpires in May for a “suspect action”. Holmes has previously been reported and cleared for a return to action

Cardiff fail the Test; Lancashire building for future

following remedial work.

Worcestershire seamer Matt Mason announced his retirement as a player. He’ll remain with the club as bowling coach.

Stuart Law, who was Sri Lanka’s interim coach on their tour of England, has been appointed as Bangladesh’s new coach on a twoyear deal.

Iain O’Brien is to return to New Zealand domestic cricket this winter with a view to winning a recall to the international side.

O’Brien, 35, was unable to qualify for county cricket despite marrying a Briton. Scott Styris, meanwhile, announced his retirement from all international cricket, while in a most unlikely move, Martin Crowe – now aged 46 and a man who retired early due to chronic knee injury – announced he was returning to the game.

Essex captain James Foster was suspended for two games and the club fined £5,000 after a spate of disciplinary incidents. Umpires have reported “five or more” offences in a 12-month period. Furthermore, the ECB stated that they were: “disappointed that Essex had taken no prompt action...” and that “no management policy to safeguard against potential future incidents is in place.”

Glamorgan have been forced to surrender the right to host aTest against West Indies next summer.

The club made a loss of around £1.5m on this year’sTest against Sri Lanka and was subsequently unable to pay the staging agreement of almost £2.5m to the ECB before the agreed deadline.

Next year’sTest will now be put back out for tender, with Lord’s the most likely beneficiary of Cardiff’s struggles. It is understood Lord’s actually bid around £1m more than Cardiff for the right to host the game, but the ECB were keen to help Cardiff create a culture of cricket attendance at their newly developed stadium.

Officials at Glamorgan remain committed to securing international cricket for Cardiff and insist that an AshesTest in 2013 should be theirs. But, after a series of poorly-attended games

England Women won the 2011 NatWest Women’s T20 Quadrangular Series. England, who failed to progress from the group stages at last year’s World T20, were back to their best as they won all four of their games in the competition. Holly Colvin, who was the top wicket-taker in the tournament, with seven wickets at just 9.85 apiece, won the award for player of the tournament.

C ol in Sp iro As this issue of SPIN went to press, we were shocked to hear of the sudden death of Colin Spiro, aged just 41. Colin was instrumental in the launch of SPIN back in 2005 and as our first chief writer, his influence was all over the magazine, with his work on our Hawk-Eye analysis especially groundbreaking. A dedicated journalist and a tremendously personable and likeable man, Colin put all he met at their ease and was a natural interviewer, his one-to-ones with Clive Lloyd, Allan Donald and Richard Hadlee for SPIN being especially memorable. Those of us who worked with him will remember him as a good friend; a funny, laid back and calming influence; a man with a huge love and knowledge of cricket. Colin also worked for Sunset and Vine throughout their award-winning TV coverage of Test cricket for Channel 4, as well as the Daily Telegraph. After moving to France, he established his own English-language French rugby website, frenchrugbyclub.com. Our thoughts are with Colin’s wife Mills and their baby son, Leo, at this terrible time.

Duncan Steer, Founding Editor.

Taking the peace

It was meant to be a ‘celebration of peace’, but the formation of the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) has now been postponed due to terrible administration and the BCCI not allowing their players to take part. The tournament is now scheduled for August 2012.

and an inability to pay the requisite fees on schedule, considerable doubts persist about the ground’s future as an international cricket venue.

Meanwhile, Lancashire have won their Court of Appeal battle over the redevelopment of OldTrafford.

The decision means the club can proceed with their much-needed rebuilding plans.

Central to Lancashire’s development is their partnership withTesco. But plans to build a new superstore adjacent to the ground were delayed when rival developer, Derwent Holdings, insisted that the council’s decision to grant Lancashire and Tesco planning permission was unjust.

The three judges hearing the appeal found in favour of the club, however, and revived Lancashire’s hopes of hosting an AshesTest in 2013. Staging the match is a

Women Back On Top

SPIN

picturEs: pa photos

NEWS

Quick singles

Not so champion English teams could be forgiven for suspecting the Champions League might not be contested on a level playing field after it emerged that the two finalists in this year’s FLT20 will still have to go through a six-team qualifying tournament before reaching the competition actual Champions League. The top three teams from the IPL, however, have qualified for the League without the need for further qualifying games, as have the top two teams from Australian and South African domestic T20 cricket.

Perhaps that is not surprising. The competition is ‘owned’ by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa. England are still paying the price for choosing Stanford over India a few years ago. Pakistan is the only one of the Test nations who do not have a team in either the qualifiers or the main round.

The Champions League Twenty20 will be held in India from September 23 to October 9 and will include ten teams. Before it begins, however, the qualifying event will be held in Hyderabad between September 19 and 21. The top teams in each of the two qualifying groups and the next highest ranked team will progress to the Champions League, with those matches to be contested in Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.

It’s not hard to see why English teams have been attracted to the competition.

Each governing body has been promised $500,000 (about £310,000) for each team participating (so that’s $1m to the ECB), while the winning team will receive $2.5m. The runner-up will receive $1.3m, the losing semi-finalists $500,000 and those teams going out in the group stages will receive $200,000.

Teams who are eliminated in the qualifying round, however, will not receive anything. While the figures sound impressive, it’s worth noting that several teams that played in the 2010 tournament have yet to be paid.

Qualifying Group A will comprise: Kolkata Knight Riders (IPL) A team from England Auckland (HRV Cup champions) Qualifying Group B will comprise: Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean T20 champions) A team from England A team from Sri Lanka The main Champions League groups look like this: Group A: Chennai Super Kings (IPL and CLT20 champions) Mumbai Indians (IPL) New South Wales Blues (Big Bash) Cape Cobras (SA) Qualifier tbc

Editor/Mega Word Goblin Jarrod Kimber Chief writer/Top dog George Dobell Deputy Editor/Soft Hands Nigel Henderson Designer Stephanie Ireland Multi Media Manager Lizzy Ammon Cover Image MIchael Lee-Graham Contributors Nick Sadleir, Daniel Norcross, Ed Malyon, Johnny Barran, Sam Collins, Lexi Boddy, Vithushan Ehantharajah, Ed Cowan Photography Sarah Ansell and PA Photos, unless stated.

Group B: Royal Challengers Bangalore (IPL) Warriors (SA) South Australia Redbacks (Big Bash) Qualifier tbc Qualifier tbc

CONTACT SPIN Editorial editors@spincricket.com Subscriptions and back issues 01283 742970. subs@spincricket.com Advertising & commercial Kim Jones Kim.Jones@spincricket.com Print absoluteproof (0207 828 8357) Distribution Comag. Tel: 01895 444055.

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Stuart Broad was fined 50 per cent of his match fee after admitting “serious dissent” during the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Leeds.

“The charge related to an incident in the final over of the Sri Lanka innings when Broad appealed for an lbw [against Jeevan Mendis], which was turned down. As he left the field he made some unacceptable and offensive remarks to umpire Bowden about that decision,” an ICC statement said.

August 2011

Spin 5

NOT A FAT ONE Jarrod Kimber on how wires can sometimes get crossed when cricket journalists seek to entertain as well as inform Plodder and donkey are not nice terms.

There aren’t many who include them on their CV. Yet they are the words Michael Atherton used to describe Alastair Cook when discussing his promotion to captain of the ODI side. Cook was not seen as a good enough ODI player to make the entire World Cup squad. Atherton looked at his strike rate of 71, average catching and limited athleticism in the field as a negative for a man taking over the side.

Hence plodder and donkey.

That Atherton’s comments are based on solid evidence seems to be less important.

Had he said that Cook’s batting lacked dynamism and he was far from athletic in the field, the newspapers would have hardly covered it and we’d have no ‘donkey jibe’ headlines. Cook’s response was: “It takes one to know one”. Sure it’s a bit schoolyard, but I’m rubber and you’re glue.

All of this occurred on Cricket Writers on TV (CWOT), which is a decent idea for a programme that works even better as a podcast when you don’t have to see out-ofshape middle-aged men talking about cricket. The idea is simple enough: get a bunch of cricket writers to justify their opinions, debate key issues and talk over each other. It can veer towards masturbatory waffle, but not in a bad way.

It’s also the kind of show where you say something for effect. Atherton’s comments weren’t overly abusive, he didn’t call Cook a date-rapist or suggest that he microwaves kittens, he just used strong descriptions of exactly how he rated Alastair Cook’s oneday cricket.

He’s also not the only person to offend someone on CWOT. A far smaller storm was created by our top dog and chief writer, George Dobell, in discussion of what is wrong with the T20 tournament this year.

6 Spin August 2011

George believes the game has slowed down and to illustrate his point said: “I think the most successful bowler in this year’s T20 is a 40-something, fat Welshman, very good bowler that he is, Robert Croft. That is not the glamorous personality that people were hoping to see to attract more people into the grounds.”

George was not making things up either.

Croft is a very good bowler but over 40, Welsh, and large for a cricketer. He may not be fat for a normal human being - no one is about to put him on the Biggest Loser or sign him up for Fat Families - but by the standard of most first-class professional cricketers, he’s large. At the time there was one complaint on Twitter. Then several more – about ten - from people who heard

Atherton’s comments weren’t overly abusive, he didn’t call Cook a date-rapist or suggest that he microwaves kittens the quote out of context or hadn’t even seen the show. As Twitter controversies go, it was pretty lame, until George received a call from Croft who was less than pleased.

George’s point was lost because of one word – fat. A word that has been used for far better cricketers than Croft, and by most of the media at some point publicly or privately in the last month in reference to Samit Patel. This one word could have soured relations between SPIN and Glamorgan. It hasn’t. George has apologised and admitted that fat wasn’t the best word to use. Croft has accepted that. The issue is now closed.

It’s a fine line. Cricket writers rely on good

relationships with cricketers. They can be frozen out by players, and if you upset a key English player there is a chance the whole team could side with them and your livelihood is suddenly in jeopardy. The good news is that most cricket writers get paid so badly that they can always make up the shortfall by collecting trolleys at the local supermarket.

The line is different for different writers.

Writers like Atherton or Dobell are paid for their opinions as much as anything. Their line is far further out than the one cricket writer on a paper who ghosts a column for a star player. Most writers rely on quotes from players for their copy; they need to watch what they say so that their job isn’t harder or even in danger. Usually you have no idea that a player is reading your copy until you’ve offended them.

That’s not to say that players are storming into the press box to scream at writers for calling them fat, shit or over the hill. But it’s in the back of the mind of most people who write about cricket. Cricket is a surprisingly small industry, and it doesn’t take much for you to be stuck in the lift with the same player you have spent the previous day calling an averagely-skilled trundler who shouldn’t be playing international cricket.

Some players understand the media’s function and handle it well. Jonathan Trott is obviously not happy with the odd treatment the media can dish out, yet of all the England players he is the most likely to accept a request from a journalist for a chat without the urging of the ECB or a kind sponsor.

Others are less thick-skinned. Recently a county reporter wrote a factually accurate article about a star player. That player then stopped talking to him altogether and the

captained explained: ‘Don’t be surprised when players tell you to f*** off if you write negative things about them’.

And Steven Finn refused to do the intro for The Two Chucks (my Cricinfo show with Sam Collins) because we’d upset him. As this was relayed to us second hand, we’re unsure of exactly what it was that Finn didn’t like. It may have been editing together the eight times in one press conference he said “right areas”, Sam’s technical analysis of Finn or even me referring to him as a registered charity. As a fun cricket show that is about entertainment as much as information we are required to push the line further than a quotes man at a newspaper. We weren’t trying to piss off Finn, or any of the cricketers we make fun of. The idea is that cricket is taken so seriously that someone should be talking about it in a fun way. In fact, most cricket writing, TV or radio is supposed to be entertaining. We don’t blame Finn for not wanting to come on a show that used him as an affectionate punch line, but it does show how easy it is to lose yourself a contact.

The Two Chucks, Atherton and our George were all speaking our minds from a factual basis, while looking to entertain. Had we been less entertaining we might have all been OK. Perhaps we’re guilty of being smart asses (we definitely are), but nothing was said maliciously. At SPIN we want access to the players, but we also want to be able to speak our minds. We are more than aware it’s a fine line, not a fat one.

August 2011

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Test Match Sofa’s Daniel Norcross looks at the timid series against Sri Lanka and prays for a more inspiring second half of summer

The summer starts here … doesn’t it?

Light the beacons from Chester-le-Street to Taunton.

Rejoice to the peel of church bells. Hail glorious morning and let slip the dogs of war.

The summer is about to begin. After months of onesided, dreary, and rainsodden cricket, the Sri Lankans have packed their bags, the mindless whirring of so many limp Twenty20s will soon be a distant

8 Spin August 2011

memory and finally the mighty Indians have arrived to restore the summer game to the front pages and hold off the relentless march of football’s totalitarian grip on the nation’s sporting consciousness … for about five weeks. If we’re lucky.

Am I being mean to the Lankans? After all, it wasn’t their fault that only four days of play were uninterrupted by rain.

It wasn’t they who failed to declare early enough to force results at Lord’s and the Rose Bowl. And not even the allegedly bonkers Sri Lanka Cricket (formerly known by the catchy moniker The Board for Control of Cricket In Sri Lanka) can be blamed for a fixture schedule that resembles the contents of a Sheffield night clubber’s stomach regurgitated on a Michael Vaughan canvass.

But really, what has the first three months of the season been all about? From our vantage point on The Sofa it has been diabolically disappointing. Unresponsive pitches at all three venues haven’t helped, but aside from a maniacal two hours at Cardiff there has been little to get the juices flowing. The Lankans, shorn of Malinga, Matthews and

Muralitharan, posed no threat with the ball leaving spectators only to speculate on the prospects for play and the timing of Strauss’ declarations.

In fairness to England, they did an efficient, if unspectacular job. And it is a measure of their progress that a 1-0 series win against a side possessing the stellar talents of Mahela Jayawardene, Tillekaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakarra could be viewed as a disappointment. But no matter how enormous Ian Bell’s series average eventually became (331 in the end), nor how dominant an increasingly experienced side looked with bat and ball, it was impossible to escape the suffocating ennui.

We did learn a few things of note, however. We learned that hosting Test matches may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

While The Oval is seemingly guaranteed a high profile match each summer, is it really worth the millions spent at Glamorgan and Hampshire to end up with half empty grounds in persistent drizzle? Both venues did their very best in trying conditions, but the crux of the series was played out in front of fewer than a thousand hardy souls on the fifth day of the first Test at Cardiff.

We also learned that England do not yet believe they have what it takes to win matches from tight situations despite all the evidence to the contrary.

The ghastly sight of Bell and Morgan wasting four overs (albeit two of them taken up by the changeover between innings) on the last day at Cardiff so the former could reach his century attested to that. Strauss’s assertion that he felt the team would have taken the field with a negative mind set had he left Bell high and dry was perhaps the most revealing moment of the summer. Don’t get me wrong. I

like my captains to show a certain sensitivity to the statistical urges that so define the professional cricketer. But ruthlessness can be attractive too. Bell had plenty of time on the fourth evening to get his century. Both he and Trott should have batted more aggressively for most of that last session.

Indeed, when Morgan finally came in after the loss of Trott’s wicket his approach betrayed the frustrations we all felt as

aggressive.

And the perplexing part of all this is that England look ready to challenge India and South Africa at the top of the rankings. Cook’s continuing good form is now so sinister that, together with his failure to sweat, we can only conclude he is not of this earth. Apart from Broad and Strauss the rest of the team are firing on all cylinders and inviting comparison with the very best England teams of all time.

‘No matter how enormous Ian Bell’s series average eventually became it was impossible to escape the suffocating ennui’ England needlessly made the game even safer than it already was. And with a mere 53 overs left on the final day to force victory, you might have thought Bell could have been persuaded, just this once, to relinquish his place on the “historic” Cardiff honours board in favour of pushing for victory. I suppose the notoriously sensitive souls in the dressing-room may have been alarmed by such brutality but the paying spectators, both at the ground and watching on Sky, may have got a kick out of it. But who am I kidding? When have the interests of the spectators been a factor? To take them into account would clearly be a dereliction of professionalism.

That Sri Lanka imploded so spectacularly on the final day offers no vindication to Strauss. If anything it encouraged an even more cautious approach to his subsequent declarations.

Given we could all see that the Lankans couldn’t have bowled England out twice in ten days, let alone two, a side that genuinely believed it could be number one in the world would surely have been more

Selection is no longer a lottery, planning and management are better than they have ever been and the supply of back-up bowlers waiting for their chance suggests a strength in depth that even the Australians of the ’90s would have envied.

But curiously, as the team goes from strength to strength on the field, off it the players are becoming ever more tetchy.

Cook bristled at suggestions from Mike Atherton that he was a “donkey” in ODI cricket.

Strauss accuses even the mildest of detractors of “not watching enough cricket” if they so much as suggest an alternative view point, and ECB spokesmen, faced with trying to “explain” how a window got broken, adopt an approach to news management that even the East German Stasi would have dismissed as lacking credibility.

And perhaps it is Windowgate, or Glovegate, that provided the most memorable and revealing moment of the summer to date.

You all remember, I’m sure, that following Prior’s run-out at Lord’s he returned to the dressing-room and within moments a window was broken.

Pandemonium ensued. While the watching public assumed Prior had been the agent of the window’s destruction and, after some wry chuckling, had got on with their lives, entirely unperturbed by the incident, the ECB decided to step in. It was a glove, they said. It had bounced off a kit bag. It wasn’t Prior’s fault as such. A burst of incredulous laughter from the public forced a rethink. It was his fault after all and he had to apologise publicly, in his kit, under the stern watchful gaze of the master-in-charge, Andrew Strauss. He would be placed in double detention for the rest of term and promised never to do it again.

Somehow a trivial incident which actually humanized Prior and brought fans, many of whom had their own history of broken dressing-room windows, closer to the players was turned needlessly into a talking point. Distance between spectator and player was restored as was the corrosive suspicion of the media.

It’s a shame, because cricket should be fun. We should be allowed to laugh at our heroes and even perhaps have opinions of our own. The players play, but we pay for it all to happen. After all, if a cricket match is taking place but there’s no one there to see it, did it actually happen? Which, on reflection, was probably the philosophical position the Lankans adopted on that last day at Cardiff.

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Spin 9

Mugs

“I’m no george Dobell”

A few years ago I was mugged in Birmingham. I recall thinking, “Why me: there’s a little old woman over there with a shopping trolley? Surely she’d be an easier target?’ Not, in retrospect, the most heroic response. Bruce Willis might have reacted differently.

Anyway, as I handed over some cash, I asked if I could keep my

10 Spin August 2011

ferociously unfashionable and absurdly heavy mobile phone.

“It’s not worth anything,” I said.

“But it has all my contacts on it.

I’d really appreciate you letting me keep it.”

Oddly, they agreed and, as they put back their knives and wandered away to invest my money in a carefully selected retirement bond, I called out,

“Thanks, guys.” Yes, I had thanked them for mugging me.

What’s the relevance of this?

Well, it was an incident that sprang to mind when considering the Champions League. And, specifically, English teams’ involvement in it.

For, despite rescheduling the entire English domestic season to make space for our teams to compete in the event, despite allowing our players to turn their back on their domestic contracts and tournaments to appear in the IPL, the Indians have responded by slapping the ECB in the face. And the ECB have responded by saying, “Thanks, guys.”

Not only will the event start on September 19 – a time when the English season could and should be continuing – but also the two English counties will have to go through a prequalifying event. If they lose, they will not receive any prize money. Oh, and September 19 is two days after the CB40 final.

So even reaching Hyderabad in time could prove difficult.

We should have no part in the Champions League. The costs are too high. We are compromising our entire domestic schedule just to take part. And, though the rewards are huge for the winners (see SPIN’s news pages for details), the odds are stacked against the English entrants.

If the league did not start until October, the English season

would have two more weeks of breathing space. That would ease the fixture congestion and scheduling issues that currently dog English cricket.

Yes, there’s a downside. The international schedule being as it is – bursting with cricket; only some of it of great interest – it’s probable that a few players would be unable to participate. So be it.

It’s the lesser of many evils.

We shouldn’t allow English players to participate in the IPL, either. Our priority should be county cricket. If we continue to allow our best players to grace another country’s domestic competition, we weaken our own.

And you can be quite sure that the Indians wouldn’t reciprocate the favour.

This is not meant to be an attack on the BCCI. The protect their own interests admirably. It’s just that the ECB should do the same with the English game. They should protect and promote it with determination. And if that means forgoing the chance to participate in the Champions League, that’s fine. And I bet you next time the Indians arrange the dates a little more favourably.

Broad Side

I like Stuart Broad. He could be a great player. And, off the pitch, he’s done some excellent charity work and seems like a fine fellow.

Yet, for all this, Broad’s legacy could be negative. For if he continues to behave like an angry toddler, there’s nothing that he

can achieve on the pitch that can compensate for the damage he’s doing the game. Nothing.

Why? Because Broad is a rolemodel. Whether he likes it or not.

He’s good-looking and talented.

And he’s an England captain. All that comes with responsibility.

And if Broad can’t take the burden, he needs to re-evaluate his future.

It’s not so much the big issues.

Everyone – even Broad – concedes he was out of line to swear at Billy Bowden or throw the ball at Zulqarnain Haider.

I’ve no doubt Broad regrets those incidents. We all make mistakes.

But with Broad, dissent is the norm. Every time he stands with his hand on his hips and a look that suggests the umpire is a halfwit, Broad erodes the standards of our beautiful game.

And that matters a lot.

Because Broad’s behaviour will be copied in playgrounds, clubs and parks around the country.

And unless we alter the course the game seems to be taking, cricket will become like football.

Where respect and sportsmanship are values of a bygone age.

Sound over the top? Maybe. But, in the last few days, we’ve seen several county players penalised by the ECB. And my impression is that these issues are the tip of an iceberg.

It’s not that players are thumping umpires in the face or selling drugs from the dressing-room.

It’s more subtle. And more common. And it’s so unnecessary.

Maybe James Foster was a bit unlucky. His ‘crime’, it seems, was to act the way that many players act, but to do it in front of the TV cameras. Worse has gone unpunished.

Either way, the ECB are quite right to crack down on the county game. But if they’re right to do that, they would also be right to crack down on their T20 captain. Broad has to learn.

There can be no place for him in the team if he doesn’t.

Broad has so many positive qualities. It would be a shame if they were to be forgotten amid some avoidable silliness.

Finding a voice

On May 26, the ECB announced that David Morgan would “conduct an extensive review into the business of domestic cricket.” Commenting on the appointment, the ECB’s chairman Giles Clarke stated that Morgan and his team would “consult widely with all our key stakeholders across the game”.

But what does the word ‘stakeholder’ mean?

Well, according to the MerriamWebster dictionary the definition of stakeholder is: 1: a person entrusted with the stakes of bettors 2: one that has a stake in an enterprise 3: one who is involved in or affected by a course of action But, in ECB terms, it tends to mean the broadcasters, the

sponsors and the players. Fair enough: they are all vital. But the views of the spectators – the huge body that indirectly pays the salaries of every player, administrator and journalist – seem, all too often, to be an after-thought.

After all, when the championship structure was debated last year, how many counties invited the views of their members before making a decision? Oh, one or two did.

Generally, however, most of them will take your money and thank you to keep your opinions to yourself.

That’s not necessarily the ECB’s fault. How can they realistically canvass the opinions of such a diverse group as the spectators? My own experience of the ECB is that it is filled with well-intentioned, hard-working, intelligent people.

And, to be fair, they recently asked me – as someone who watches lots of county cricket -

to talk to Morgan as part of his review. The ECB are trying.

But that set me thinking: wouldn’t it be better if I could talk to David Morgan having gathered the views of as many spectators as possible and then attempt to represent them?

And that led to this thought: isn’t it about time that there was a body that argues for the rights of the spectator? That tries to represent them when decisions are to be made? That gives them a voice?

So, that’s what we’d like to establish. It’s not meant to be a marketing tool for SPIN - we’re really not that cynical – and in a few weeks or months, if the idea takes off, we can look at more formal organisation.

In the meantime, however, if you have any thoughts you’d like to be taken into consideration before the ECB re-organise the structure of domestic cricket, please send us an email: gd0405@gmail.com

August 2011

Spin 11

Australia’s Patsy Jarrod Kimber says the former Australia opener was made a scapegoat for the failings of others

Simon Katich gave a brilliantly angry, yet restrained press conference when he was sacked by Cricket Australia. His dismissal from the list of Australian contracted players was a decision made because it seemed like the easiest thing to do. The Australian batting order was a flaccid old saggy waste of space, and something had to be done. Four of their top seven were over 30. Australia had continued to struggle to make totals over 100, 150, 200 and 250. Their bowling line-up was changing from Test to Test, but the batting line up was a hard place to be removed from.

Marcus North was a 31-year-old journeyman. He’d played county cricket for a bunch of teams, had always been a low profile, low average Shield player, and was largely picked because he could bowl a bit 12 Spin August 2011

‘It seems that Katich’s main problem wasn’t his age, but his lack of public profile’ of off spin. In the past Australia would not have accommodated a man of his age and a meagre record in first-class cricket. Now, it seemed, they would. The team was almost impossible to get out of. But the press and public had turned. They saw a pitiful display in the Ashes and an ordinary effort in the World Cup, and they wanted something to happen.

The first change was Ricky Ponting stepping down as captain. Ponting must have known the knives were sharpening, and what he did was move himself into a

position where he was less likely to get shafted. It was a very clever move from a man not known as a political thinker. It would have been a big move to oust Ponting as captain; it has been decades since an Australian captain was fired. Even Kim Hughes resigned. Whether Ponting would have been fired or not is uncertain, but if he had been he probably wouldn’t have played on. Australian captains almost never stay on in the XI, and Ponting’s best chance was to step down from the captaincy and then hope he wasn’t asked to take the next step - out of the team.

The second change was a monumental one.

It’s perhaps the biggest shift in world cricket. Australia let go their part-time fielding coach, Mike Young. Young had been involved in Australian cricket since 2000. It was an on and off again relationship, like

never quite moving in with your girlfriend and always keeping your eye out for someone better. Australia’s fielding in the Ashes was quite ordinary, but Young still wasn’t given a full-time role. Now he has been terminated.

The decision is seen by many as the first of the review into the performance of Australian cricket led by Don Argus, the former BHP chairman. Sitting alongside Argus are Steve Waugh, Mark Taylor and Allan Border. Their job is to fix what is wrong with Australian cricket, although the choice of Border, Waugh and Taylor may be the problem itself. Australian cricket has become such an insular place that few were surprised that an American fielding coach was the first to be outed. While this review is ongoing, with its findings not due for months, Australia picked a new bowling coach.

Craig McDermott was their choice. It was a baffling one. McDermott had been seen by some as a lock-in for the England job until his interview. Having lost that job to Saker, McDermott was now up against Allan Donald, who had just added extra venom to Tim Southee, and Allister de Winter, the bowling coach from Tasmania who had turned an ordinary looking bowling attack into Shield champions. Queensland’s bowlers, with their great potential, had achieved far less under McDermott.

McDermott was also caught up in the collapse of a $Aus 40 million real estate deal and allegations that he had failed to pay child support. Some people believe that these things shouldn’t affect his position as a bowling coach. However, Cricket Australia is the organisation that took a moral judgment on Shane Warne over his adultery, removing the vice-captaincy from him. It’s also doubtful that, had Donald or De Winter had similar recent histories to the flame-haired Queenslander, they would have even got an interview. Justin Langer, another Australian legend, was then promoted from batting coach (of a team that lost a series of Test matches because of batting collapses) to assistant coach.

But perhaps the biggest indication that Australia are making poor decisions in their coaching appointments comes with the one that was made before the Ashes and World Cup - giving Tim Nielsen a three-year contract extension. Even fans of the head coach would think that giving him an extension on the verge of two very important events is jumping the gun.

Others think it is just plain absurd.

Then there are the men who pick the teams.

At the press conference at the end of the Ashes, Andrew Hilditch said that he’d done a good job and wasn’t to blame for Australia’s performance. It was a stunning

statement, and one that would have got him fired from most public positions. However, Hilditch is still Australia’s chairman of selectors, even if he does, in one way, share the position with Greg Chappell, who is the ominously named national talent manager.

Hilditch’s selectorial mistakes and public blunders are far too numorous to list here but here is one example: suggesting that Michael Beer had a home ground advantage at a ground he had played only four times before.

myth, but Simon Katich played like he was trying to honour the cap on his head. He was desperately unstylish as a player, had run-ins with Ponting and Michael Clarke (once choking him in a changing-room when Clarke wanted to leave the celebrations early) and cared little about anything other than squeezing every last drop of talent out of his body. In the second Ashes Test at Adelaide in the winter, he injured his Achilles, and could have asked for a runner, but he was too proud to.

Elsewhere, the decision to announce a 17-man squad prior to the Ashes will go down as one of the stupidest marketing decisions ever made while the replacement of the 50-over competition for domestic one-day cricket with a split innings 40-over format was a highly mocked idea that emerged from too many focus groups, and was binned after a year. And, if the person who put forward former prime minister John Howard as a future president of the ICC is still employed by Cricket Australia, there should be a review into why.

That didn’t make him sexy, but it did make him a very important part of the Australian set-up. It was Katich’s steadfast denial to give his wicket away cheaply that papered over the cracks in Hussey and Ponting’s form. The Australian team must rebuild.

There is no doubt about that. As an older player, Katich’s name should have been on the list. But to sack him before they got rid of several others, playing and non playing, is a disgrace and another mistake of a Cricket Australia regime that makes mistakes each time they breathe.

But back to Australia’s top order. Alongside Ponting in the ageing stakes are Mike Hussey and Brad Haddin. Since March 2008 all three have averaged under 40; Katich has averaged 50 in that period, which is also more than new captain Michael Clarke and star player Shane Watson. Yet when looking forward to the 2013 Ashes the Australian selectors decided that they needed a new opening partnership – even though that was the only part of the line-up in good working order.

There is also one more important thing that doesn’t seem to have been answered at this stage. Does Australia have an opener who can replace Katich? They couldn’t find a spot for Eddie Cowan (man of the match in the Shield Final and ODI player of the year) in the Australia A side, and Phil Hughes averaged 16 in three Tests against England last summer.

It seems that Katich’s main problem wasn’t his age, but his lack of public profile. Mike Hussey’s form spurt at the start of his career, even if it was for only 18 Tests before a massive career slump, made him a legend. Ponting is still loved by the Australian public, especially as a batsman.

Katich was just a bloke who had worked hard to overcome some technical flaws, get recalled at 32, and become a consistent performer. He wasn’t a legend, didn’t advertise many products, and few if any kids had his picture on their wall.

The left-hander is one of those players who has always done exactly what Australian cricket asked of him, and in their time of need recently, he was the one who stood up more often than not. Once back in the Australian side (after breaking many records in Australian Shield cricket to get noticed) the middle-order regular changed his game to make himself an opener.

In the Australian side no one tries harder, or performs more for the honour of representing Australia. The ‘baggy green’ may be largely a modern Steve Waugh

Mickey Arthur, Greg Shipperd, coaches of Western Australia and Victoria respectively, or others could replace Tim Nielsen. Mostly, Greg Chappell has already replaced Andrew Hilditch. Tony Dodemaide, chief executive of Cricket Victoria and a former head of cricket at the MCC, or Keith Bradshaw, the head honcho at Lord’s, could replace James Sutherland as chief executive. Brad Haddin could be replaced

by Tim Paine. And for the other jobs there are several replacements that could do as good a job or better waiting in the wings.

The one job Australia can’t really replace straight away seems to be that of Katich.

Perhaps Cowan or Ryan Broad could fill the job that Katich fills, both are obdurate batsmen with solid techniques who like to be thought of as unflinching. Neither made the Australia A squad for Zimbabwe, both beaten to a place in the squad by David Warner. Warner for Katich could be the call; after all, Warner has averaged 36 in seven first-class games. If you follow Australian selection logic of past years, who better?

But if others kept their jobs and Warner is in line as a possible replacement, Simon Katich’s anger in his farewell press conference was nowhere near misplaced.

August 2011

Spin 13

‡

Batting and James Taylor ‡

a modern love story Jarrod Kimber speaks to Leicestershire’s hottest property, while overleaf, George Dobell reports on his next move.

Sarah Ansell provides the pictures While England have at present opted for Eoin Morgan to fill the gap opened by the retirement from Test cricket of Paul Collingwood, many seasoned observers of the county scene have identified another diminutive middle-order batsman as a possible better long-term bet: Leicestershire’s James Taylor.

Anyone who was present at the Oval in early May to watch the 21-year-old defy an attack of Chris Tremlett, Yasir Arafat, Stuart Meaker and Jade Dernbach on a dog of a pitch on his way to a second-innings fifty against Surrey will need little convincing – especially if Morgan’s issues outside the off stump continue.

Because while all around him were blown away on a wicket on which batsmen were never sure if the ball would rear up alarmingly or rip through anklethreateningly low, Taylor stood firm, ignoring a series of hits to his hands and body and one savage blow to his helmet.

“The one that hit me on the head shot up off a length,” recalls Taylor, who at one point had garnered only 15 runs from 93 deliveries – and almost as many bruises.

He was eventually dismissed for 52 from 145 balls – but not before hooking Tremlett for a couple of sixes. In the press box, journalists realised that this was probably not the innings of a young man on the rise but one of a fully-fledged Test batsman.

It may not have been pretty – and at no point did it appear as if Taylor could really guide his county past a forbidding target of 423 – but it was a message to those assembled that this 14 Spin August 2011

guy really loves batting and is prepared to do it ugly if required.

When he says: “I just love to bat and get annoyed when I’m not at the crease,” you

I like to think I can hit the ball where there aren’t fielders understand that that is something of an understatement. In fact, if batting were a teenage girl, you could imagine Taylor camping outside her parents’ home, professing his undying love from beneath her bedroom balcony.

“Whether it’s from speaking to people about cricket or watching it on TV, I’m always wanting to learn,” is another of his phrases and you get the feeling he stored away for future reference several lessons from that afternoon in Kennington alone.

I just love to bat While other young cricketers might think it’s kind of nerdy to be so into cricket that you would study other players on the box in your downtime in an attempt to gain an upper hand, all this does is mark out Taylor’s uniqueness.

Another thing is his strokeplay. Taylor may not have a textbook technique – something that may result from a small, slight physique – but has one that works for him. “I like to think I can hit the ball where there aren’t fielders and it’s probably likely to be an unorthodox shot in all honesty,” he says.

“Coaches have never tried to coach it out of me; they’ve just tried to keep it simple and trust my instincts.” Don’t tinker with Taylor, in other words.

It also means that where those with smoother and more effortless styles have departed for polished but ultimately pointless 30s, he remains for the long haul.

Indeed, Iain O’Brien, the former New Zealand pace bowler who spent some time at Leicestershire, often talks about how patient is the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year for 2009 -and how he knows when to attack and when to just soak up the pressure.

Not that this implies that he is only at home with the longer forms of the game. It may be a testament to his maturity that depending on who you talk to, Taylor is either a one-day or four-day specialist. “I think one of my main strengths is adapting to any given situation, be it one-day or four-day cricket,” says a man who averages 48 in both forms of the game and followed his maiden firstclass century in 2009 with his first in oneday cricket only five days later..

That flexibility – he opened for England Under 19s –may prove to be a great advantage when his abilities are assessed against the claims of others by national selector Geoff Miller and his team.

August 2011

Spin 15

Age 21 Height Unknown Nationality British Place of Birth Nottingham, only because mum didn’t like Leicester hospital Role Batsman Nickname Titch Strengths Mental toughness Weaknesses Have trouble switching off from cricket I play a bit like...

Sachin, ha ha, no, probably Justin Langer High point of career so far Being young player of the year and two years with the Lions squad Low point of career so far Missing out for selection for England U19 against New Zealand Toughest player played against Andre Nel, bowling round the wicket Best player played with HD Ackerman Biggest influence Tim Boon Best advice given When you get set, go big, because there are plenty of low scores around the corner The one player you’d love to play with Sachin Tendulkar

Warwickshire ready to test Leicestershire’s resolve to keep Taylor Warwickshire have approached Leicestershire with a view to transferring the services of James Taylor from Grace Road to Edgbaston. The 21-year-old player, one of the brightest talents in the English game, is contracted to Leicestershire until the end of 2012 but, if Warwickshire are successful, he could become one of their players before the end of this season.

Leicestershire’s initial response was predictable. They rejected the approach and stated that they would start talks with Taylor over a contract extension at Grace Road. Their captain, Matthew Hoggard, also reiterated concerns about Warwickshire’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, having a conflict of interest in his role as an England selector. In reality, however, Warwickshire’s approach may prove hard to ignore.

Taylor is believed to be on around £93,000 this season at Leicestershire, with that figure expected to rise to over £100,000 next year. For a club who have been in some financial difficulty – their auditors questioned the viability of the club in the annual report – that is not an inconsiderable commitment. Warwickshire’s offer would be to both compensate the club and take on that commitment . Taylor, it should be noted, could leave Grace Road at the end of 2012 and the club would receive nothing.

Why would Taylor want to move? Well, he might not.

Leicestershire, after all, have a fine record of developing players in recent years – the likes of Stuart Broad and Luke Wright also came through their youth system – and Taylor has been offered great opportunities to captain and bat in key positions.

But he is playing in the bottom division of the championship and he was, a bit surprisingly, overlooked for England’s limited-over squads when they were announced in June. Perhaps he will conclude that he needs to play in the top division and that the facilities and media attention enjoyed by Test-hosting grounds will benefit his career.

Warwickshire are highly unlikely to be the only club interested in Taylor. Nottinghamshire are also on the look-out for a top-order batsman, while Hampshire and Surrey may also be keen.

Whatever happens, however, Leicestershire should receive some compensation. As one of the clubs where Taylor developed (he also spent some time at Worcestershire), the ECB will reward them when Taylor is involved in the international teams.

16 Spin August 2011

August 2011

Spin 17

Alistair Brown

∫

My Life In Cricket

you’re not getting close to winning trophies, it suggests something’s not quite right.

I got into the first team in 1992 and within two or three years it had gelled and by 1995 we were capable of winning trophies. A lot of our players came through at the same time: Graham Thorpe, Martin Bicknell, Mark Butcher, Ian Ward . . . and a lot of that gelling was down to the captaincy of Adam Hollioake. He was the best captain I played under: he was a strong leader, he had a lot of ideas, he was well respected and he got the team playing as one.

SPIN: What was the highlight of Surrey’s long run of success?

Brown: Definitely the first championship win, in 1999. That’s higher than any individual honours. You strive for so long to win championships and to be part of that

band of players coming together was very special.

SPIN: After that team started to break up, Surrey stopped winning trophies, and eventually got relegated. Was the transition period managed badly?

Brown: I think it all started when Ben [Hollioake] died in 2002. The season after that we felt, ‘We’re going to win this for Ben’.

But it was a hard blow for Adam and he was never the same player again. Adam was an extraordinary leader, a very hard leader.

And, of course when Ben died that affected Adam and we didn’t have that leadership from the top. That was the start of the end for us as a team. Ian Ward was sacked, which I found difficult to understand. He was sacked, basically, to bring in younger players as I was, in the end. Ward was sacked to

bring in Scott Newman as I was sacked to bring in James Benning.

But that was the start of it, in 2002. the whole atmosphere in the dressing-room changed. Add to that, Saqlain Mushtaq, who had been outstanding for us, had a knee injury and I don’t think he ever came back to be as good a bowler again.

When Adam stood down, Jon Batty came in as captain. Jon was a great guy but it was difficult for him to follow someone who was Surrey’s best captain for 30 years. Another factor was that if our overseas player went away for five weeks to the Asia Cup or whatever, we didn’t tend to bring in a temporary replacement - as most other sides would do. I think because we’d had such a good era between 1996 and 2002, there was a feeling that we were good enough to get away with it.

In that good era if we had a team meal everyone would go out and get on well together. But post-2002, it started to fragment a bit.

SPIN: In his first book, Mark Ramprakash suggests that some of the players from the next generation simply didn’t have the right work ethic to succeed . . .

That Alistair Brown never cemented a place in England’s stuttering one-day side is a mystery of modern cricket. A century against India in his debut series in 1996 suggested a long future in the international game but before his final game, in 2001, he made just 16 appearances. For Surrey, his brutal batting brought a set of world records: a double-century off 118 balls in a 40-over game against Hampshire at Guildford in 1997; a world-record 268 off 160 balls in a 50-over game against Glamorgan in 2002; 176 off 97 balls as Surrey hit 496 for four from 50 overs against Gloucestershire in 2007. Now 41 and playing for county champions Nottinghamshire, Brown was a key part of the all-conquering Surrey team that won championships in 1999, 2000 and 2002 and a total of six trophies in five seasons, including the first-ever T20.

Pigeonholed as a one-day player, Brown’s first-class average, in the mid-40s, was for a long time the highest of any current player not to have played Test cricket. Brown

speaks to former SPIN editor Duncan Steer.

SPIN: You were arguably the most attacking English batsman of your generation: who made you that kind of player?

Alistair Brown I had two idols: Viv Richards and Ian Botham. They were the guys who shaped the way I wanted to play. I think they inspired me to play more aggressively than some. Then my father . . . my dad had played for Surrey Young Amateurs in the ’50s - he never played professionally, but I used to go with him to club games and he played very aggressive knocks.

SPIN Is it a state of mind to play so attackingly? Could more batsmen play like you if they decided to?

Brown: I think it’s got to be in your makeup. But it depends on circumstances too. It was lucky for me that I was able to get some of those big scores, because I had a very

strong batting side around me. When you know you have Chris Lewis or Brendon Julian coming in at number eight, it gives you an extra freedom.

SPIN: What was it like coming into the Surrey set-up in the late-80s?

Brown: The dressing-room was quite a poor place when I joined. Ian Greig was in charge and I don’t think he had the full support of the players. I remember as a youngster I was sent to find [West Indies fast bowling legend] Sylvester Clarke one morning. I was told he’d either be in his flat or at Ladbrokes.

But I couldn’t find him in either, so he didn’t play the game. Greig wasn’t happy but I think it showed the lack of respect that Clarke then came for a drink in the Tavern at the end of the day’s play. It was indicative of what was wrong. And if the dressing-room isn’t right, it doesn’t matter who you’ve got in your team. When you’ve got people like Waqar Younus or Clarke in your side and

Brown: I have seen lots of county players who could be better, players for whom the penny hasn’t quite dropped. But it’s not necessarily about working harder. You need to find what’s best for you. At Surrey I don’t think anyone trained as a hard as Ramps: he’s as good a player as I’ve played with or against. My preparation was always geared to my being able to perform to the best of my ability. So I did less than Ramps. Then one year, I thought, ‘Maybe I should do a bit more.’ So I trained with Ramps, went for throw downs at 8.30 instead of 9.30. But by the time I got to the game I wasn’t as fresh as I wanted to be. I did what Ramps did for half a year and averaged about 26. So I went back to being a bit more relaxed – and averaged 80 for the rest of the season.

SPIN: Your 268 is the innings you will be remembered by – is that the one you personally rate as your No 1?

Brown: It’s the sort of innings that comes along once in a lifetime. I’m lucky enough to get days where I see the ball like a beach ball and that was one of them. The ball was swinging around for the first few overs but I hit a few off the middle, then I hit a few more off the middle. Sometimes you hit the ball really clean and think: ‘I hit that well.’

Then you think: ‘My God, I hit that really well.’ And I just continued with it. When you come in after an innings like that, you know you’ve played out of your skin. And all the players come up and shake your hand - and

they give you a look. And that look is an incredible feeling – it says, ‘That was unbelievable.’

SPIN: Wasn’t there an unsung innings somewhere along the way that you preferred?

Brown: I hit 110 not out against Essex and it was the best innings I ever played. It wasn’t the one that people will remember, but it was the best because Mark Ilott and Ashley Cowan were swinging the ball all over the place, but we won by three wickets. I saw it through, whereas the big innings I’ve got have all been on good wickets. I got a good hundred against Glamorgan too. They had Simon Jones and Jacques Kallis bowling Kallis made Jones look medium pace.

SPIN: On your England debut Mike Atherton opened the batting with you. Have England made any progress in ODI thinking since you were playing?

Brown: Well, if we could harvest a few Marcus Trescothicks we’d be right up there.

You need a mix of someone who is technically able to adapt to that level and to score quickly. You can either play someone aggressive and try to tighten them up or you can take someone proven at Test level and try to make them a one-day player. It rained for two days before my first ODI and the ball did absolutely everything. All I could think was, ‘I’m opening with Athers and I might not outscore him!’ The ball would be in one area then swing all over the place. I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to start hitting this.’ So not an ideal start. But it was nice to get a crack. If things had been different I would have played longer. But I was dropped shortly afterwards.

SPIN: Well, you were dropped straight after scoring a century, which even by England’s hopeless selection standards of the time seemed poor.

Brown: There was a gap between my getting a hundred and the next one-day series … I felt it was a bit harsh. But there’s not much you can do about it. I thought, ‘Hang on, if I score 100 and get dropped . . .’ Then I’d go back to Surrey and get a big score and they’d bring me back in again.

SPIN Can we a talk about the whole IPL episode in 2008? You were approached by Mumbai Indians shortly after singing a new contract with Surrey – but reportedly turned them down only to lose your Surrey contract later in the year. How close did you come?

Brown: I was very close to signing for Mumbai. Harbhajan Singh told me that Sachin Tendulkar wanted me to play for

them. Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock would be in the team too . . . just being around them would have been a real experience. I’d have been the first English player to sign. But I’d just signed a one-year contract with Surrey, so I would have had to rip that up and pop off for a few weeks.

Harbhajan told me I was mad – the team owner had oodles of money, Sachin wanted me to come. But I was on a good contract at Surrey.

SPIN: How do you look back on your departure from Surrey?

Brown: It was very disappointing, I was effectively left out of the side on age grounds, in that I was left out of the side averaging 40-something and kept out by

someone averaging 20-something. I’d been told when I signed my last contract that the team would be picked on merit. I never wanted to go that way. But I’ve loved playing at Notts: they’re a brilliantly run club and remind me of lots of things that Surrey had when we were in our prime. To win the championship with them last year was unbelievable.

But I have so many good memories of playing at Surrey. I’d like to go back there at some stage and have some input.

SPIN: How long will you play on?

Brown: I’m fairly certain this is my last year.

My eyes and fitness are still good and I’m still loving my cricket. But I don’t want to block young players or to take a contract just for the money. I’d like to go out at the top.

SPINOFF The SPIN subscribers’ special supplement

We Want subscribing to SPIN to be more – a lot more – than just ensuring you regularly get the magazine at a very good discount.

s

o, in the next few weeks we will be introducing a new online cricket newsletter – SPIN OFF – which will, by issue three, be available only to SPIN subscribers.

It will be a mix of original material, news, opinions, work from our writers that you won’t have seen in the magazine, contributions from new writers, all while keeping you up to date with news about SPIN, our special events, hosted by Duncan Steer, as well as reader offers.

Obviously SPIN OFF will be an additional benefit of subscribing, which is good in itself, but we see it as much, much more than that.

Above all, it will be a way for you to get to know more about us and vice versa – so it’s going to offer plenty of opportunities for you

to give feedback as well as your suggestions about both SPIN OFF and the magazine.

And, yes, we think it’s going to be a very good “cricket read” as well.

We want to you to get sPin oFF as soon as it becomes available, so, to ensure we have your current email address could you send it, with your name, to lizzy, our multimedia editor – lizzy@spincricket.com many thanks the SPIN team Ps: Look out for our Chief Writer, George Dobell, on Sky’s “Cricket Writers on TV” soon.

August 2011

Spin 21

It’s midnight on Christmas Day in the Geoff Miller household. A largely family affair is drawing to a close. England’s National Selector is wilting. But duty calls. England are playing Australia in Melbourne, so Miller turns on the TV. With Australia at 60 for three, though, his resistance crumbles and before retiring to bed he sticks a tape in to record the action for him to watch in the morning.

“When I woke up I could see that Strauss and Cook were batting and thought ‘that’s good. Now just don’t lose a wicket before close of play.’” he recalls. “I couldn’t see the score at first but then it came up.” It was 146 for no wicket. “I thought ‘what? How long have they been batting?’ Then I saw that the Aussies had got 98 all out. I tell you, at that moment there was no prouder man in England than Geoff Miller, sitting in his little house in Chesterfield. I’ve had some fantastic moments in my career but to win the Ashes home and away as a player and a selector made me very proud.”

Indeed, other than Alec Bedser, Miller is the only Englishman to achieve that remarkable feat. So how is it that a man who confesses to being a limited Testmatch performer, a joker in the dressingroom, and a regular on the after dinner circuit has managed to preside over the most settled regime in the post war history of English cricket?

The machinations of Mr Miller Daniel Norcross talks to England’s Chairman of Selectors, about how the team is chosen, Samit Patel, Darren Pattinson and how to become the next cab off the rank.

22 Spin August 2011

After all, he played at a time of comparable riches at the top of the English game; a time when selectors could choose from Gooch, Gatting, Gower, Botham, Willis, Knott, Underwood, Randall, Hendrick and a whole host of worthy back-up players.

Yet selectorial controversy was far away.

Recall the endless debates about Gatting or Randall? The fiasco of Botham’s sacking (or was it resignation?) as England captain in 1981. The repeated knee-jerk reactions to intermittent failure that can so destabilise a team.

“We’re looking for players not to be looking over their shoulder the whole time so they can instead focus on the team ethic,” says Miller. “We give the players honesty. We give them a fair crack. We give them consistency and continuity. It’s no accident [that we have a settled side]. It’s done by meticulous method. When I was playing, far better players than me didn’t know if they’d be in the side from one game to the next.”

Consistency, continuity and method are Miller’s favourite watchwords and he returns to this theme repeatedly during

the 80 minutes he spends with me.

“It’s not that I’m closing the shop. I’d never do that. There will always be opportunities for players to come in.

After all, we are looking for strength in depth and the last thing we want is to find that we lose a whole load of players all at one time. We don’t want to find ourselves having to rebuild. Our job as selectors is to plan for today and for the future. And with there being so much international cricket today the players need a rest, which allows us to feed new players in to the side gradually. But it’s my job to explain to the players why they’ve been left out. It might be because they need a rest, some ‘chill time’ as the modern players say. It may be because they’re not performing. But if that’s the case we’ll be honest with them and in return I expect them to be honest with us.”

At that moment there was no prouder man in England than Geoff Miller, sitting in his little house in Chesterfield

This is all such a far cry from the days when one Chairman of Selectors announced to the world the inclusion of “Malcolm Devon”, a player he’d never seen play. For Miller, unlike many of his predecessors, is a fabulous paradox. He talks with passion, and is thrillingly engaging about such mundane concepts as “process” and “analysis”. He and his team - Ashley Giles, James Whitaker and Andy Flower - have simplified what for every other English selection committee has been an almost impossibly complex task. After all, no other country has to wade through the competing claims of players from 18 first-class clubs, nor such a widely diverse media that has in the past trumpeted the claims of dozens of players simultaneously: remember the summer of five captains in 1988, or the confused debacle of 1989 that saw the selectors choose no fewer than 29 players? How many times in the 90s were Hick, Ramprakash and Crawley picked, then dropped? Under Miller, no matter the quality available at his disposal, you know that that will never happen. And while it makes the life of the jobbing journalist considerably harder, it is reaping dividends on the field.

When I suggest that he is perhaps

fortunate to be presiding over a time of relative strength in the English game, Miller is quick to explain what he sees as the fundamental difference between now and earlier eras. “We’ve set up a rigorous performance programme and established the Lions squad,” he says. “Now players don’t just come straight up from the counties. They develop mentally and physically. It’s not accidental; it’s all been worked on because it’s a necessity.”

It is through the performance programme that inexperienced players understand the criteria they need to fulfil to make it into the full England team, and by playing for the Lions the selectors can assess how a player will respond to the increased pressure of being on the fringe of the senior side. “It is a step up. It allows us to find out whether a player can cope with the intensity, and the proof of the pudding was in the Ashes triumph, which had been in the planning for 18 months.”

Indeed, it is the lack of an established Lions programme to which he attributes the one strikingly anomalous selection of his entire reign, namely that of Darren Pattinson at Headingley in 2008. “We had to bring in cover for Jimmy [Anderson] because he had a slight side strain,” explains Miller. “Pattinson had outbowled everybody else that season by a mile, and because we didn’t have the Lions and the performance programme up and running, we had to make a snap decision. It did open a few eyes because it went against the policy of consistency.

But it was a decision taken with logic and after analysis. However, it didn’t go with the usual pattern of selections.

Unfortunately [because the decision was taken so late in the day] I didn’t have a chance to talk to Darren beforehand.

Then during the game the press, media, commentators and public put him under enormous pressure. It may not have worked as a selection but it was taken for the right reasons. It wouldn’t happen now with the Lions programme established. But he didn’t actually bowl any worse than anyone else in that game.”

And this is the key to Miller’s approach. The mistake with Pattinson wasn’t in the logic of the selection but rather that they hadn’t had the chance to see how he would perform on a bigger stage, they hadn’t had the opportunity to assess how mentally ready he was for international cricket. The upshot of this approach is that players will only be called up to the senior team after they’ve August 2011

Spin 23

proved themselves consistently through the Lions and performance programme. You sense that Miller’s passionate advocacy of this approach is largely fostered by his own experiences as a player. Throughout our conversation he emphasises the collaborative approach between players and selectors. They must be honest with each other and expect the same standards of each other. If a player is not properly prepared for senior selection then it would be wrong of the selectors to pick him. How this approached may have benefited countless ruined careers in the past is anyone’s guess, but there is no possibility of a Mark Lathwell, Paul Terry or Andy Lloyd being thrown into a Test match with so little preparation again.

“Players need to have technical ability, heart, mental toughness, and to have attained a minimum standard of fitness,” he says. “There is no escape from the fitness factor. It is a big part of all international cricket.”

Players need to have technical ability, heart, mental toughness, and to have attained a minimum standard of fitness

This passion for consistency explains the decision to pick Eoin Morgan over Ravi Bopara for the Test series against Sri Lanka despite many pundits thinking Bopara had got the nod.

“Why wouldn’t we pick Morgan? He’d been selected for Australia and had done nothing wrong,” argues Miller. “To get in ahead of Morgan someone would have to have done something very special.”

It is often said of referees and umpires that the best ones are never noticed. When I rang the ECB switchboard to speak to Miller the receptionist had never heard of him. “Is that Geoff with a G or a J?” she said. When I put this to Miller he responds enthusiastically. “I’m not searching for notoriety or trumpets,” he stresses. “I’m interested in us being a successful side. There must be no egos [on the selection panel]. Everyone has to have England in mind not their own personal success”

When I rang the ECB switchboard to speak to Miller the receptionist had never heard of him. “Is that Geoff with a G or a J?”

And as for Samit Patel, he says: “There is no room for unfit players and yes, there is a guideline. We made it plainly obvious to Samit and eventually the penny has dropped. He went away, he worked hard at it and got fit enough to be given the opportunity to find out whether he’s prepared to take his act that bit further. And he’ll know from looking around that changing-room that he has to buy into the fitness requirements and work ethic of all the captains and the management.”

And in his current committee he feels he has the perfect blend. “We have the ideal variety. We have me who is old enough to have an outside view. In Ashley I have a man who has recently finished playing. James [Whitaker] has got international experience and has been chief executive at Leicestershire. He sees cricket across the country. And Andy Flower, who knows the changing-room and can describe the sort of player he’s looking for. As far as I’m concerned it’s absolutely perfect.”

When I suggest that this hardline approach would have ensured the likes of Colin Milburn would never have got in the side, he bristles slightly. “Colin Milburn would have found it absolutely impossible to play all aspects of Twenty20 these days. The fielding aspect is trying to save 20 or 30 runs. If you don’t save them, but instead give them away, you need to score 50 or 60 runs. It was acceptable in Colin’s day, and of course he was playing Test cricket, but it just isn’t acceptable today.”

The aim, Miller states, is to become number one in the world in all three formats and you can feel his genuine pride at the success of the T20 team under Paul Collingwood in 2010; the Test side is coming along nicely and have a chance to get close to their aim with victory over the touring Indians this summer. But no one would pretend it is all plain sailing. Miller and his selection panel have yet to crack one-day internationals and perhaps it’s no coincidence that a consistent approach has yet to be found. While the Test side is habitually selected on the basis of six batsmen and four bowlers – “the statistics show that in the history of the game this has been the most successful balance”, says Miller – a similar certitude over the make up of England’s limited-overs side seems not yet to be forthcoming.

And that’s not all that has changed according to Miller. I put it to him that cricketers today may have less fun than they did in his day. “It is more professional today,” he replies. “We played with passion and intensity [in my time]. We played very hard cricket. But we would socialize with our opponents.” He implies that today England’s team spirit is fostered almost entirely from within their own dressing-room and, unlike some of his contemporaries who frequently question the need for an ever expanding backroom team, he is adamant in his support of a strong infrastructure.

Indeed he credits umpires, county coaches and captains with feeding him and his selectors with the information they need. “Everyone is constantly monitored and watched,” he explains. “And they all now know what they need to do [to get selected]. We’re looking for consistent performance over a long period. That consistency is vital. We don’t want someone just turning it on occasionally for their counties or else they might do that for England.”

24 Spin JUNE/JULY 2011

So, at least as far as Test matches go, what have we learnt?

There is a “next cab off the rank” approach; the selectors are very much aware of the abilities and competing claims of every player in the country; there won’t be any surprises – if, like me, you are a county tragic urging Miller to fly your prodigiously talented 21-year-old paceman or young batting genius straight into the Test side, think again. If he isn’t in the Lions squad, if he’s only ever played county cricket and is perhaps just a little portly it isn’t going to happen.

It may make it less fun for armchair pundits; it may spoil the speculative fun we all used to have in the pub. But you know what? If you want to see how England’s old chaotic approach would work now, you can always watch Australia.

JUNE/JULY 2011

Spin 25

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Swann’s National Service Graeme Swann talks to SPIN’s chief writer George Dobell about how to motivate young cricketers and what makes him really mad…

How had the England dressing room changed from your first experience of it in 1999 to your return eight or nine years later?

It had changed massively. We’re much more together now. Back then, there was quite an insular, selfish feel to the team.

There were cliques. It wasn’t 11 guys playing for one another. It was six or seven guys playing that way and four or five playing for themselves. Look, I could be wrong. I was hardly in the dressing room back then. I was an outsider and I’m just giving you my impression. But I was quite surprised by it at the time.

I came back in eight years later and it felt different. It’s hard to put your finger on what has changed. Central contracts have made a big difference. So has the policy of continuity of selection, as guys aren’t looking over their shoulder all the time.

But one way or another, things feel much more united now. The sad thing is that many of those guys playing in 1999 would probably have performed really well if they’d come into this set-up. They’d have found it a much better environment.

I don’t know if you recall, but I was asked to write your tour diary in 1999-2000.

What would we have put in it?

Ha! It would have been like Paul Merson’s How not to be a professional footballer, wouldn’t it? Yeah, we could have called it How not to be a pro cricketer.

Murali has said England missed out on

28 Spin August 2011

not selecting you in those intervening years. But had you changed, too, or was it just that the England environment had changed to welcome characters like you?

Oh, there are myriad reasons. It was probably a bit of both. But I had improved by the time I was recalled. It’s only natural that you evolve as you play more. I know I had improved as a bowler, but it’s hard to say to what extent. I just felt I knew what I was doing more. But it’s true that the environment had changed, too.

“I can bowl the carrom ball, but it’s just not me. I’m a traditional off spinner. You wouldn’t ask Usain Bolt why he doesn’t run marathons, would you?”

Was the turning point in your own career moving from Northants to Notts at the end of 2004?

Yes, probably. It was a case of moving or giving up cricket. I wasn’t enjoying it at all and it had got to the stage where I was dreading going to work in the morning. I didn’t have a plan to do anything else, but I couldn’t have gone on like that. Then Mick Newell [Notts’ director of cricket] came along. He just asked me to come to Trent Bridge and enjoy my cricket again.

He said he wanted me to play with a smile on my face and be myself. As those were

qualities that were actively discouraged at Northants at the time, it was a chance I leapt at. It was lovely.

How do you feel about Northants now?

I’m still very fond of Northants. I check on their results and I still want to see them do well. It’s the club where I grew up and that I supported as a kid. I’m really happy to see they’ve started the season so well and I hope they go up. I know that will surprise a few of the people who gave me a hard time when I left, but hopefully they now understand there was a problem there and the reasons behind my decision. At the time, I seem to remember some of them calling me a quitter. Looking back, I still can’t believe that Northants didn’t win more trophies. They had some amazing players.

I have a theory that young cricketers would benefit if, alongside going warmweather training in South Africa or playing Grade cricket in Australia, they spent a few weeks each winter working in a call centre or the club office so they realise how good they have it and to focus their minds on the alternatives. What do you think?

I love it! It’s a great idea. But don’t let them work in the club offices; that’s too soft. Young cricketers should be made to do National Service. Or labouring. Look, we’ve got the best job in the world. It’s brilliant. We travel around the world, staying in great hotels, and we play cricket.

August 2011

Spin 29

Occasionally I hear someone moaning about another flight and I just remind them that we could be collecting bins or laying bricks on a cold morning in England. We’re very lucky and we shouldn’t forget that. Millions of people would kill to swap places with us.

So, yes. I think giving young players a bit of that fear factor – showing them what they’ll be doing if they don’t make it in cricket – wouldn’t do any harm at all. It would give them a good kick up the arse.

Have those years out of the international game given you a greater appreciation of your current position?

Yeah, I think there might be something in that. I love touring. Absolutely love it.

You’re travelling around with your best mates – and that really is how it feels most of the time – and you’re being paid to do something you love. Obviously you miss your family and there are times when it’s tiring, but generally it’s a fantastic life and I love every moment of it. Look, one winter I helped out in Ian Poulter’s golf shop. It was the worst time of my life. I was bored out of my mind. So I’ll never

take playing for England for granted.

not get too intense about it all.

“Occasionally I hear someone moaning about another flight and I just remind them that we could be collecting bins or laying bricks on a cold morning in England.”

Sometimes, when someone misfields off your bowling, your reaction is pretty ferocious. Does that ever cause a problem?

When people misfield off my bowling, it makes me hate them. Really. I’m not joking. I want to do them and their family ill. I want to hunt them down and do them harm. That feeling doesn’t last long – which is probably just as well – but it’s there for a moment. It’s funny, the three of us who were the most grumpy with England – me, Broady and Sid [Ryan Sidebottom] – were all from Nottinghamshire. I don’t know why that should be. Look, we all make mistakes in the field. The best thing you can do is acknowledge it, say sorry, and get on with it. There’s never been any problem afterwards. We all care a lot and we all understand that passion to do well.

So you won’t be asking to miss the odd tour so you can have a break?

No, no. I’ve missed enough international cricket. I want to play every game I can. In 2009, just before the Ashes, I knew I was going to get picked. It was all I had ever wanted. I was finally in the position that I wanted to be in. So, I treat every game as if it’s going to be my last. I play with a bit of joie de vivre and that seems to work for me. I’ve been lucky with my coaches, too.

If I bowl rubbish, Mushy [Mushtaq Ahmed, England’s spin bowling coach] just says to me ‘Don’t worry, Mr Swanny.

Everything is still OK. The sun will still shine tomorrow.’ It helps you relax and

During all those years when you weren’t playing international cricket, did you ever think of learning to bowl the doosra or any other type of variation?

You wouldn’t ask Usain Bolt why he doesn’t run marathons, would you? Well, it the same thing, really. I’m a traditional off spinner. I can bowl the carrom ball, but it’s just not me. It’s just not what I do. My action is so different when I do it that there’s no point. I might as well tell the batsman what I’m going to bowl next.

plot to gain some support in an attempt to convince the England selectors to pick you?

No, not at all. You’re right that it didn’t harm my profile, but it wasn’t about playing for England. It was more about thinking about life after cricket. I was just trying to open some doors for a future

Had you given up on an England recall?

I absolutely thought that any chance I had of playing for England had gone. And I’d accepted it. I was happy with life. I was loving playing at Notts and England wasn’t even something I thought about. It really didn’t bother me as it didn’t even seem like it was an option. I didn’t even bother to check the touring parties when they were announced as I just knew it wasn’t anything to do with me. Well, I say that: I sometimes had a peek and thought ‘he shouldn’t be in there.’ But no, I wasn’t thinking about England.

“When people misfield off my bowling, it makes me hate them. Really. I’m not joking.

I want to do them and their family ill. I want to hunt them down and do them harm.”

A couple of years before your England return, you became a much higher-profile figure in the media. Was that a deliberate

30 Spin August 2011

career in the media.

You seem to relish that part of your job.

Much more so than some of your teammates…

Yeah, that’s probably right. I think I understand the media. I don’t mind if they criticise – that’s their job, isn’t it? – and I’m

not afraid of it. Look, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy being the centre of attention.

An interview like this – where I’m asked to talk about myself – well, that’s fine: it’s my favourite subject. I think some of the guys do fear the media, but there isn’t much need. If you approach it as something that can be fun and you just relax and be yourself, then there really isn’t a big problem.

Your 12th man diaries were a great success. Why have you stopped them?

We haven’t stopped them. They’re for winter tours. We’ll still be doing them, but we wanted to keep them special. Hopefully you’ll see them again this winter. That’s as long as Barney Douglas, who is the guy behind the camera, hasn’t gone off to be a rock star by then. His band - The Sunbeat Revival - have just released their first EP. It’s brilliant, euphoric stuff.

It was Peter Moores who recalled you to the England side. Does he gain the credit he deserves for his role as England coach?

I think Andy Flower would be the first to

August 2011

Spin 31

me at all if he was coaching an international team again sooner rather than later. He was brilliant when I was selected. He said, ‘We picked you to be you.

We want to see the same cricketer we saw when you were playing county cricket: just be you.’ I feel really lucky to have had him as coach when I came back into the side.

There’s been quite a lot of nonsense talked about him, but as far as I’m concerned, he did a lot of good things and he’s definitely part of the reason behind the England team’s revival.

“I love batting. It’s the best thing about cricket. I get quite bored in the field sometimes.”

You’ve opened the batting with some success in limited-overs cricket at county level; would you like to do it at international level?

Ha! I’d love to have a crack at it, yes. I’m not sure it would work so well at that level, but I’d love to have a go. I love batting. It’s the best thing about cricket. I get quite bored in the field sometimes.

You weren’t interviewed for the captaincy.

Why was that?

I didn’t put myself forward for the job.

Captaincy just isn’t on my agenda. I love my role in the side and I don’t want to change it. I just want to bat and bowl for England and I don’t think I could still be the light-hearted, piss-taking guy if I was in a position of authority.

Presumably you’re a big fan of the UDRS? I am. I was a bit sceptical at first, as I wasn’t sure about the technology, but now I think it’s brilliant. It’s meant that we’re now giving guys out who should be given out.

For years batsmen got away with it.

What went wrong at the World Cup? Weariness was a factor, but we can’t use that as an excuse. It’s not as if we’re not fit enough to get through a schedule like that and we went there to try and win it. But, if we’re honest, I think we’d have to admit that the World Cup was our secondary aim of the winter. Our primary aim was to win the Ashes and we put a huge amount into that. Maybe, mentally, we were a bit jaded.

But, as I say, that’s not an excuse. I thought we were exceptional in some games and very average in some others.

Graeme Swann is a brand ambassador for Kingfisher Beer.

32 Spin August 2011

August 2011

Spin 33

The Kings Versus The pretenders How England Can Win India are the best side in Test cricket right now. That isn’t as imposing as it’s been in the past. When the West Indies and Australia were the leading sides, it meant teams were playing them for nothing more than a chance of a moral victory. That India are number one says more about the state of Test cricket. Australia have spent three years imploding. Statisticians thought South Africa were the number one side but couldn’t beat Australia to prove it. Sri Lanka have hovered around the top for a while, but they don’t play enough Tests or have any bowlers left.

bring him very quick runs at times. So England must stop him getting on a roll. If he does, every wicket or run he is involved with becomes worth double. If England can keep his bravado from inspiring his colleagues, they will have gone some way to winning the series.

Be patient The Indian batting line-up is so good that it’s hard to believe it could have any weaknesses. But it does, occasionally, collapse. While Sehwag and Sachin are busy embarrassing the opposition, those lower down the order sometimes drift off, thinking the work is done. And when a wicket does come, ending a painfully quick 300-run partnership, India often fold. They don’t do too many 600 for one declarations. They get bored and get bowled out. This should suit a bowling attack like England’s, which needs restless opponents. They’re a patient, hardworking unit, so even if India get to 400 for two, they should know that if they stick to their game plan they might still

4

bowl them out for 450. It will be important to remember this, because over a four-Test series India are going to make a couple of big scores.

Produce pitches helpful to their bowlers India are susceptible to the occasional heavy loss.

In Tests since 2008, India have lost four by an innings, three of them against South Africa. Dale Steyn has ripped through them in more than one instance, taking 25 wickets in those three matches. England may not have a bowler of Steyn’s talent, but they do have a high-class bowling attack that as a whole is better than South Africa’s.

Now all they need is some helpful pitches, and their batsmen to give them some totals to bowl at.

5

Conclusion As a former governor said once, if it bleeds, we can kill it. And India bleed.

India have beaten Australia in their last two series (both at home), beaten England at home, drawn with South Africa twice, and beaten Sri Lanka at home and drawn away. They’ve been really good rather than terrifyingly awesome, more foo fighters than nirvana. With a batting line up of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Dhoni they have matchwinning batsmen. In Dravid and Gambhir they have those that can save matches as well. Add to that the best flat pitch bowler on earth, Zaheer Khan, their emotional talisman Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, who is made for English conditions, and their comeback kid Ishant Sharma.

But there are weakness England can exploit as Jarrod Kimber explains.

England must capitalize on India’s first Test syndrome There are few decent sides that start series as poorly as India. Against good opposition India almost routinely go 1-0 down, so England must be aware of this and come out all guns blazing at Lord’s. In their past eight test series, they have won the first Test only three times. Two of those wins were against the West Indies and Bangladesh, the other a one-wicket victory over Australia that they probably should have lost. It goes back further than this. If India are sluggish, England must leave Lord’s ahead. It may not guarantee victory, because India tend to improve as a series progresses, but England would fancy themselves to repel an Indian comeback.

1

Stop Zaheer Khan It’s impossible to overstate how important Zaheer Khan is to India, However, let’s try. Zaheer Khan is as important, if not more so, than Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin finds himself in one of the greatest batting line-ups in history, making his contribution less significant. Zaheer’s ability to start collapses in the opposition on the flattest tracks make him the best bowler in Test cricket. Without him, India would have had to work 25per cent harder to win the World Cup and, simply, would not be top of the world rankings in Test cricket While most bowlers on a flat pitch will slow down, find that safe shortof-a-length place to try to dry up runs, Zaheer just bowls faster and fuller. I once referred to Khan as a budget Wasim Akram, but with a similar ability to make something happen on the deadest of pitches, he has earnt the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the great Pakistan pace

2

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bowler. England must practise facing very quick full balls in the nets when they’re tired or first walk in. Having normal net bowlers bowl a standard length won’t be enough. Zaheer is not a normal bowler. In the middle, England must show him the same respect that good Indian and New Zealand teams gave Glenn McGrath: playing few attacking shots and leaving anything that won’t get them out. If Zaheer gets cheap wickets, he can monster new batsmen with late movement.

Keep Harbhajan Singh out of the game Harbhajan is nowhere near the best spinner India have ever had, even with 400 wickets under his belt. He’s clever and skilful but, outside his home country, lacks the tricks to consistently take Test wickets. But it’s his personality that is most valuable to his team. He is their braggart and cheerleader and the man who lifts them up when the team really needs something. If Harbhajan is taking wickets or making runs, India are tough to beat. He’s their Australian mongrel. Every sucessful team needs a player who is not afraid to lose a few friends for a win.

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His Test batting average is a little under 19 and although by no means an all-rounder, he often scores runs when India really need them. In the recent series against the West Indies, for example, in which India had a decidedly a second tier batting line-up, he rescued them from 85 for six with a rapid 70 that helped them to 246, enough to beat the hosts on a low-scoring pitch. He scored successive hundreds against New Zealand batting at number eight, one from the perilous position of 65 for six. And his unconventional technique can August 2011

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How India Can Win It’s hard to know how good England are. Obviously they slaughtered Australia in the Ashes but that could be because Australia are a miserable mess at the moment, while England prepared for that campaign better than any side in cricket history. This is different. England are at home, they don’t have a tour to bring them together and won’t be able to recreate the amazing feeling that they had Down Under. Against the Sri Lankans, they looked sluggish. Not bad, or even lazy, just not quite on it.

Against India, you would expect that England would stand up – if they can’t get as motivated playing the number one Test team, they will never become the number one Test team. England may be the best coached team in the world cricket, but they will come up against their former coach, Duncan Fletcher, who should know how to break them down. If the well-oiled Ashes winning machine turns up, India will have to fight very hard to win this series but India are capable of fighting, and they have skill to spare that could bring England down argues Jarrod Kimber.

Target Swann If India were watching the Ashes, they would have seen the way Michael Hussey went after Swann.

At the time, Swann looked frustrated at the way his former county team-mate systematically attacked him but, compared to what may happen when India attack him, it was a walk in the park. It’s unlikely that India will spend much time stuck on the crease waiting for him to spin one through the gate or slide the straight one past them. Indian play spinners on length, and should attack off both feet to make sure that he never quite settles. Hussey did this, in his own measured way. Sehwag doesn’t do measured, while Dhoni prefers not to prod around for too long. Sachin and Laxman won’t bludgeon, but they could toy with Swann for hours. Swann is a proud, confident man, who won’t want to be toyed with, and he’ll know that this series is his biggest test. He might show his displeasure, just as he did in the third Ashes Test at the Waca, when he was bowling on an unhelpful surface and was often overlooked by his captain. If India can deflate England’s most confident cricketer, they can go a long way towards winning especially as national selector Geoff Miller has confirmed in this magazine that his team will stick with an attack of only four bowlers.

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Disrupt England’s partnerships Under Andy Flower no one seems to do anything alone for England. Everyone is in it together.

Whether it’s batting, bowling or fielding, England play as a unit. India need to upset that rhythm, as Australia did at Perth. The supportive bum-pats disappeared, bowling from one end became loose and the batsmen grew more concerned with survival than forming partnerships.

Stuart Broad has been struggling for form so if he is unable to provide control at one end, England will find it hard to build up pressure and wait for rash shots. In the batting England are much more together. Once they have laid the foundations of a partnership, they really work for each other, whether that entails talking about what the bowler is doing, aiming for small targets, taking the more difficult bowler for their partner, or just lending advice and encouragement at the right time. England lead the world in this regard.

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Add to the pressure on Stuart Broad While Pietersen and Strauss may be having problems with the bat, it’s Stuart Broad who is England’s biggest concern. He’s unlikely to be dropped before the third Test because he has been an integral part of this line-up for some time and has just been

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promoted to captain of the T20 side. His form is terrible right now, and his start to the ODI series, a format he usually performs well in, was amazingly barren. David Saker, the bowling coach, is convinced he is an enforcer, yet almost all of Broad’s best bowling performances have been when he has pitched the ball up. At the Rose Bowl Saker said Broad has the best bouncer in world cricket (really, have Dale Steyn and Kemar Roach retired?). It seemed like Saker was looking for any compliment he could find for Broad. It’s possible that Anderson and Tremlett at full strength can cover Broad being below par against normal team. But this isn’t a normal team, this is India. They will attack as Broad, in or out of form, is England’s weakest bowler, averaging 36 in Tests.

India don’t need Yuvraj Sngh to hit him for six sixes in an over because Broad will give them balls to hit.

Back their seamers Zaheer’s strengths have been well documented but more pleasing for them must be the return to form of Ishant Sharma, who had disappeared off the radar after showing signs of genius in Australia during 2007/08. In the recent series against the West Indies he looked every bit the superstar that everyone hoped he would become. His ten-wicket haul in the second Test was outstanding, and at times he looked like he was unplayable. Sharma is tall, reasonably fast, and pitches the ball up, letting it move around and cause problems. With his long hair, ridiculously prominent adam’s apple and necklaces he is a cult hero waiting to be embraced. The third seamer is likely to be Praveen Kumar. If he was a county bowler he’d be considered a god. This is a man who was made for a cloudy day at Trent Bridge. He may, more often than not, fail to reach 80mph, but he is the most aggressive medium-pace bowler in world cricket. This only works because he can move the ball both ways and is very canny.

His first-class average of 23 is obscenely good, but considering that almost all of his first-class matches have been in India, it is almost unbelievable. Between them the trio comprise a varied attack, and at the very least they should ensure India have very little to fear from any greentops. If they win the toss it may be England who struggle with the moving ball like they did at times against Pakistan.

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Conclusion England are the best organised team in the world, India are the best team.

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India’s Supermen With India touring, we have what may be the last chance to see some of the most brilliant players of this generation in the flesh.

Ed Malyon and Vithushan Ehantharajah reflect on their careers.

Sachin Tendulkar A certain level of fame and achievement ensures that you are known simply by simply your first name.

Say the name Sachin and only one person springs to mind.

He has scored more runs in Test cricket than anyone else in the history of the game. He has scored more runs in oneday international cricket than anyone else. He has also scored more centuries than any other batsman in both forms.

Quite simply, one of the best batsman the game has ever seen.

One of the few remaining Test players to have made their debut in the 1980s, in the 22 years of international cricket that Sachin Tendulkar has played, he has broken numerous records, even in an era when he would regularly have to face two of the most successful bowlers that the game has ever seen in Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.

At just 16, Tendulkar played in his first Test series, and was struck in the face by a Waqar Younis bouncer. As blood streamed from his nose and mouth, he refused assistance and continued to bat in a heavily-stained shirt.

This gritty determination in an apparently quiet and gentle man seems to be part of the reason that he is so popular in India. An all-round batsman,

but also an all-round character who has received adulation previously unseen in the history of the sport. The phrase “cricket is my religion and Sachin is my god” may sound excessive, but it describes the frenzied and complete obsession with Tendulkar in his homeland with alarming accuracy.

It is fairly difficult to even broadly break

Unfortunately for Sachin Tendulkar, he was never destined to be normal his career down into stages. There was some early acclimatizing to international cricket needed as he averaged 40 in his first year of Tests but only 21 in one-day internationals. In his early years he lacked consistency, scoring brilliant hundreds, such as the unbeaten 119 that saved a Test against England, only to follow that up by scoring no more than 21 in any of his next five knocks.

After overcoming this youthful unpredictability though, his improvement was remarkable and with consistency came quite brilliant results.

From 1993-96 he averaged a shade under 60 but was still not at his peak.

When he reached that zenith of his career, he became undoubtedly the best player on the planet. With his strength all around the wicket, his picture-perfect drives down the ground, there was seemingly no chink in the armor. From 1997-2002, Sachin scored 21 centuries in just 59 Tests, averaging more than 63 every time he stepped to the crease.

Scoring nearly 20 per cent of India’s runs over this eight-year period, he also gained notoriety for the way he dominated the greatest side of a generation.

His demolition of the legendary

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Australian side was unprecedented, a team containing the Waugh brothers, Shane Warne, Allan Border and Glenn McGrath was routinely found wanting when faced with the genius of the 5ft 5in batsman from Mumbai. In the 1997/98 series he averaged a barely credible 111.

All these years later and having broken virtually every record worth breaking he still goes on.

As a person, he has attempted to keep his private life under wraps – no easy task in a country whose population is devoted to him. When asked who his idol was, he named his father. Understated and humble, his wife didn’t recognise him when she first met him, no doubt an attractive quality for a man who has admitted to wearing disguises and leaving the house at night in a desperate bid to be normal.

Unfortunately for Sachin Tendulkar, he was never destined to be normal. There is little doubt that he is the greatest cricketer of the modern era. Sir Donald Bradman seems likely to be forever considered the greatest cricketer of all time but of course in an entirely different époque. The fact that the little master’s style has been compared to Bradman, and even recognized by the man himself, speaks volumes more than bare stats can.

Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag is quite simply box office. Described by the Wisden Almanack of 2005 as the “most exciting opener in the world” he is also the most exciting opener in other worlds, his batting style is one of the most watchable in world cricket. There are plenty of batsmen in world cricket who can score runs - it’s kind of their job - but to score them quickly has become something of increased importance over the last decade, and it could be argued he’s contributed to this shift.

Totals that previously would have been impossible to chase in a day or innings are now plausible. He’s a player that can give such impetus with his ‘zen master’ style, that it changes the face of a game in no time at all.

On his international debut, he was distinctly unimpressive; one run from five balls, and then had his three overs of bowling distributed around the park for 35. His first decisive performance didn’t come until two years later in 2001, when his contribution with bat and ball ended the run of ten consecutive one-day international wins for a remarkable Australian side.

He broke into Test cricket that same year and never looked back following a debut century. In the next ten years, his uncomplicated approach would get him a whole heap of runs, with little regard for the consequences of his attacking attitude.

To demonstrate this, there is no better example than travelling back to 2004: Multan, the first Test against Pakistan.

Just two Tests before, he’d attempted to bring up what would have been his first double-century with an almighty smash over mid-wicket and was dismissed, so faced with the similar dilemma just short of a maiden triple, most players would play safe.

razor-sharp eye begins to go with age, his technical issues may resurface.

Considering that the biggest perceived weakness of his footwork is against the swinging ball in English style conditions, it could be a year or so too far for him.

Not Viru.

The stats do back up this school of thought, his career average dipping from 53 to 31 when he steps foot on English soil but the stats also tell plenty of other, more positive stories about Sehwag.

But that’s the point.

He obliterated the ball for six and chalked up an incredible 300. Since then, he’s got another, the quickest in Test match history.

Like many heroes, he is imperfect. His seeming disregard for footwork is a flaw that has accounted for the Test career of many a batsman. India’s former coach Greg Chappell dropped Sehwag in 2007

Like many heroes, he is imperfect for this reason, only for him to come flying back into form and into the side.

He accused Chappell of trying to change his style, but he never gave in. In his view, it’s a lack of footwork that is more than compensated for by a ludicrously quick eye and sublime judgement, and you could say history sides with him on that one.

Whilst he remains one of the world’s most destructive batsmen, it is entirely feasible that this summer will be his last tour of England. Whilst he wouldn’t be excessively old by the next one, if his

• He has the third highest strike rate of any Test batsman; only Shahid Afridi and Adam Gilchrist have scored runs quicker.

• He has the highest score in Tests by an Indian.

• He holds the record for converting consecutive centuries into scores of 150+.

A frankly ridiculous 11 times.

• He is the only player to be part of two consecutive double-century partnerships in a single Test innings, and he’s done it twice.

• He broke the record for the most runs scored in a day by an Indian, and then broke it again, because he could.

• He was Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world in 2008. And then in 2009.

There are more, but these give a feel of the sort of player he’s been. One that’s broken records, one that’s batted in an irresponsible manner, but who’s somehow made that into one of the most successful styles on the planet. It’s these reasons, and many more, why the newest cricket religion, Sehwagology, was invented. ~ Ed Malyon

Team-mate Virender Sehwag claims that Tendulkar’s batting game is the most rounded there is but particularly his ability to pick a ball early. He told cricinfo in 2009 that “he is virtually ready before the ball is bowled” and that by playing every ball with soft hands, he times the ball better than any other.

The fact that he has only once been crowned Wisden cricketer of the year (in 1997) may surprise most, but with the plaudits he’s received elsewhere, it pales into insignificance. Quite simply, the best cricketer on the planet; see him while you still have the chance. ~ Ed Malyon

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Zaheer Khan It might be something of a steep claim that most of India’s good work with the ball over the last ten years has come from the left arm of Zaheer considering his current manifestation as India’s main striker bowler only began in 2006, but his guile has been an integral part of his country’s ascension to the summit of the ICC Test rankings.

Impressive domestic displays led pundits and spectators alike to forecast an end to such austere times in Indian cricket; he was the final piece of the puzzle. While hindsight suggests that these predictions were well-founded, Zaheer himself would be the first to admit that it hasn’t all been plain sailing.

Since making his debut at the age of 22, he has endured issues in his career that have proved the downfall of many of his equally talented compatriots.

At a time when pace was a scarce commodity in India, he was overused following impressive displays against Sri Lanka and England, and it was no surprise that he was soon dogged by niggly injuries. In 2004, he spent the offseason working at the MRF Pace Academy in Chennai to remodel his action, in an attempt to reduce the strain on his body and make him better, stronger and faster.

Unfortunately that didn’t reap immediate rewards. While there were brief flashes of his former self, it wasn’t enough to convince coach Greg Chappell that he was worthy of a place in the side; the (recently modified) spring in his step soon made way for Charlie Brown-esque heel dragging. At a loose end and disillusioned with his cricket, a stint on the county circuit for Worcestershire brought about a resurrection in form. In helpful surroundings he ended the summer of 2006 as the leading wickettaker in the second division of the county championship, his 78 victims coming at an average of 29.07. He had rediscovered his love of cricket; later that year, he had rediscovered his Test place. For good.

The next few years proved to be his most prosperous, as he played a major part in India’s victories over South Africa and England, which led him to be named as one of Wisden’s five cricketers of the year in 2008. Since then, he has led India to the top of the Test rankings, playing a major part in their T20 and one-day World Cup victories.

It’s a testament to his attitude that he

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has taken on the role as lead bowler with minimal fuss; in a country where cricket is everything, it’s hardly the lightest mantle. One could argue that Zaheer has benefited from the lack of challenge from other bowlers, especially with his sporadic absence from the side providing ample opportunity for his rivals to stake their claim. During India’s last tour of England, it was the turn of fellow southpaw RP Singh to steal the show, as he displayed the vigour of an early Zaheer, with the intelligence and control that the pre-2006 incarnation could only have dreamed of.

When pace was a scarce commodity in India, he was overused Bowling in tandem, they were an irresistible force – Khan’s wiliness dovetailing effectively with RP’s skiddy pace – and there were many who saw Singh as the quicker (less brittle) version.

But 18 months later, RP Singh found himself back in first-class cricket. Cricket is a cruel game.

Khan’s leadership of India’s bowling unit is as born out of ability as it is out of seniority. At the height of his powers he

is quite brilliant to watch; at a time in the sport where batsmen have the edge, he has flourished as Dhoni’s go-to guy and a role-model for aspiring bowlers everywhere. But how long will that last?

At 32, he is now approaching the downward incline after his peak, and the last year has seen a recurrence of the injuries that he thought he had put behind him. A return of an old shoulder problem following their Asia Cup victory last year meant he missed a tour of Sri Lanka to head to South Africa for treatment. The shoulder held up in matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, even the World Cup, despite fears that he could miss the tournament entirely. But there is a worry within the BCCI that his body may not hold up for much longer.

Left at home to recuperate from the World Cup, it is inconceivable that the left-armer will be rested at any point during this summer series against England, the return leg of ODIs in October and then a full series in Australia, as they look to tighten their grip on all forms of the game. While most of the talk is centered around the difficult transitional period for India’s batting in the near future, it is the decline of Zaheer Khan that will cause them the most headaches. ~ Vithushan Ehantharajah

Harbhajan Singh Combining the rotating arms of a windmill with the passion of a fullblooded Punjab doesn’t necessarily sound like the recipe for a great offspinner, but Harbhaju has used both to propel himself to the top of the international game. Never one to be kept in the corner, he came onto the Test scene at the tender age of 17, and immediately locked horns with Mark Taylor’s Australia. Despite being his debut, it would go on to be his least memorable encounter with the baggygreen men.

Harbhajan’s fiery nature, while stemming from a love of his country, seems to be more as a counter to the more domineering personalities of the likes of Australia and South Africa. India have always had the talent and the passion, but they’ve never quite had the fight.

Harbhajan, together with the likes of Sourav Ganguly, brought that to the side – they would be bullied no more.

However, like the former captain, Harbhajan has had trouble toeing the line of what is acceptable, and what isn’t.

In January 2008 he was handed a threeTest ban after being found guilty by referee Mark Procter of making racist comments to Andrew Symonds in the Sydney Test. On appeal, Harbhajan was later cleared of the racism charge, but his verbal abuse charge was upheld and he was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.

Later that year, video evidence emerged of him slapping the rather disagreeable

Sreesanth after an IPL match between Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians. He was subsequently banned from the rest of the IPL and five ODIs. After his debut, he spent a year in the side before being dropped to hone his skills away from the more forgiving arena of first-class cricket. In 2001, he came back with a bang.

India have always had the talent and the passion, but they’ve never quite had the fight He brilliantly reacquainted himself with Australia as he took an astonishing 32 wickets in three Tests, while also becoming the first Indian player to take a Test hat-trick. Another equally impressive display against the West Indies gave India their first innings victory over the men from the Caribbean, as he formed an almost unplayable partnership with Anil Kumble.

While his talent has never been in question, it would have been interesting to see how his is career would have developed had he not had such a marvellous campaigner in Kumble alongside him. His control and ability to

dictate to the batsmen gave Harbhajan a free reign in his early years to develop his craft and figure out his own game.

However his biggest test of character was to come in March 2005, when he was reported to the ICC for a suspect action.

Following India’s 195-run win against Pakistan in Kolkata, match referee Chris Broad made an official report to the ICC over Harbhajan’s action when bowling the ‘doosra’, after consulting with the on-field umpires. Kumar Sangakkara also one mentioned that Harbhajan wore long sleeves while bowling, and short sleeves while batting in what was taken as a slight against his action. It was a frustrating time for the off spinner, not least because there were always mutterings about the discrepancy over the bend in his elbow for his stock delivery and his ‘doosra’. In May 2005, after working tirelessly at the University of Western Australia, he was cleared to continue playing for India, and has become an integral part since.

At 31, Harbhajan is entering what could be his best years as an off-spinner, and yet he has already amassed 400 wickets.

While the benchmarks of Warne and Murali are a cut above, he can use India’s status as the best team in the world to propel him into the stratosphere should he wish to be remembered as one of the greats. But despite what he has achieved so far, many Indian fans have not taken to him as some feel they should.

At times, he is too defensive – putting more onus on personal stats, unwilling to toss a ball up for the good of the side.

While it is an approach suited to the oneday game, it is an unwelcome trait in Test cricket, especially at a time when 20-wickets are so hard to come by. With the emergence of Amit Mishra (leg spinner), Ravichandran Ashwin (off spinner) and several others, the pressure is starting to build on Harbhajan.

But one has to believe that the fire still burns just as brightly as it did before. In January 2010, having lost Zaheer Khan to injury in the second innings, he led the attack superbly to take five for 59 and help India to a comprehensive innings and 57-run defeat of South Africa to retain their status as the best team in Test cricket (with only 8 balls of the game left). He still cares and, until he stops, he will be determined to take himself and his country from strength to strength. ~ Vithushan Ehantharajah

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VVS Laxman

Rahul Dravid After 15 years In Test cricket, is it time to bring “The Wall” down? At 38 years of age, it seems unlikely that he will be able to be renovated to former glory. When he started his career in 1996, what resonated most was not his timing or driving, but his patience and appreciation for the game. He came of age only a year later, as he helped India to a draw against South Africa with a well constructed 148 (his maiden Test century). Two years later he became only the third Indian to score a century in each innings - 190 & 103 - in contrasting situations: the first knock lasted 354 balls, the second a mere136.

Now a mainstay in the side, he became a calm figured in what proved to be a difficult period for his nation’s cricket.

He dragged himself, and India, through many a difficult patch. One particularly defiant innings brought about arguably their greatest win in living memory.

Batting at number six following a string of dismissals to Shane Warne, he overcame his issues against the legendary Australian to put on 376 with VVS Laxman. The latter’s 281 has become synonymous with the match at Eden Gardens, but Dravid’s 180 was of equal importance and was the start of a supreme partnership between the two, especially against the Australians.

Kicking on from his heroics against the

best Test side in the world at the time, he entered a purple patch of four centuries on the trot: 115, 148 and 217 against England and 100 not out against the West Indies in 2002.

He phased out external factors and ground out results As an ever present member of the India side, he was given the captaincy in November 2005, after Sourav Ganguly’s reign came to an ill-tempered conclusion.

Many doubted Dravid’s credentials as a leader; he was always regarded as introspective and something of a recluse.

But just like his batting, he phased out external factors and ground out results.

But such thorough-mindedness came at a cost to him, mentally.

Despite eight series wins in two years, he relinquished the captaincy at the end of 2007, sparking a backlash among supporters and the media in India. At a transitional time in their country’s cricket, their most dependable

serviceman turned his back on them when they needed him most - a tour of Australia just around the corner.

However it was clear to see that the captaincy was starting to grate on him.

Earlier that year he had cut a forlorn figure during their tour of England, maligning a television reporter for trying to stir trouble and walking out of a press conference at Old Trafford, frustrated at the nature of the questions and bluntness of the questioners. Perhaps he only had enough grit for his batting and nothing else. From this point onwards, his stock declined – he was no longer an untouchable.

The back end of Dravid’s career has coincided with the Twenty20 revolution.

An era where the attacking batsman is king and the bowler is prey; the defensive minded of either is benign. It is for that reason that Dravid’s longevity, in all three forms of the game, has been all the more brilliant. A classy stroke-maker, with an unrivalled work ethic, he possesses a very English game, from his compact technique to his affinity for the pull-shot; it’s hardly surprising that he averages 65.35 in this green and pleasant land. But for all his elegance and grace, it would be foolish to expect the soon to be 39-yearold batsman to keep going - especially at a rate as modest as Dravid’s.

Of the many talented batsmen that India have coming through, none have the characteristics of a Dravid. However, it is not as much as a compliment as it sounds. Batsmen can no longer rest on their laurels; anything less than a strikerate of 60 in the longer form of the game is frowned upon, regardless of how many runs it brings about (just ask Jonathan Trott).

In any other team, in any other era, Dravid would go down as a household name, however in India he has always been given less press and wholehearted adoration as players such as Sachin, Ganguly or Sehwag. It’s a shame, but the hard working accountant never gets the attention like the CEO, boss’ son and top salesman do.

Dravid’s influence on Indian cricket should not be understated, and it is perhaps his understated nature that makes him one of the more disposable greats. But Indian fans will do well to look deeper into his vast collection of runs and appreciate the value placed on every single one of them. ~ Vithushan Ehantharajah

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AB de Villiers may have something to say about it, but VVS Laxman is quite simply the best known set of cricket initials since WPUCJ Vaas retired from Test cricket.

In an Indian team featuring Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid and Tendulkar; Laxman had the ability to, on occasion, outshine his illustrious compatriots but frustratingly he also had the ability to disappoint for a series at a time.

When he comes to England this summer, it will be his last tour, and he will be looking to improve on a startlingly poor record against the English. VVS will be desperate to surpass his previous highest score, a paltry 75, given his ability. Even in Tests won by India, Laxman could only muster an average of 27.60.

This can be contrasted, however, with his absolutely incredible record against the Australians.

With his wristy onside strokeplay, he has enjoyed more success against the Australians than anyone else except Tendulkar. The undoubted high point of his career was a simply awe-inspiring innings in Calcutta in 2001, where he smashed Sunil Gavaskar’s record for the highest score by an Indian batsman.

Furthermore, it gave India an implausible victory after following on, only the third team to ever do so. The Australian attack, loaded with stars like Jason Gillespie, McGrath and Warne, went without a wicket for an entire day as Laxman (with Dravid) put them to the sword.

Particularly impressive was his destruction of Warne on a turning pitch riddled with footmarks. Wisden would go on to vote this the sixth best test innings of all time.

chose to drop Laxman on account of his questionable ground fielding, one-paced batting and running between the wickets.

He would return though. Initially reinstated due to injuries in the side, he made more runs, occasionally being forced to play the grittier, ground out innings that weren’t particularly stylish.

His recognition of what was important to the team meant that he dug India out of many uncomfortable situations.

“If you get Dravid, great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it’s a miracle.”

Australian fast bowler Brett Lee once said that “If you get Dravid, great. If you get Sachin, brilliant. If you get Laxman, it’s a miracle.” VVS Laxman’s record sometimes belies his exceptional talent, but video evidence of his best innings tells its own story. Few players can play such a majestic inside-out cover drive, and the capability to hit the same ball through either side of the wicket made him a fearsome proposition for bowlers when he hit these devastating spikes in form.

One reason he has been such an important player for India is his work on day four and five pitches, when even the greatest Indian batsman seem to struggle, VVS comes into his own. It may have something to do with his freakishly calm nature and the way he doesn’t hit the ball but just wait for it to hit his bat.

As the end of his career has drawn nearer, his consistency has improved, averaging nearly 57 for the last three years. His centuries in the 2010 tests in Colombo, Mohali and Durban were all matchwinning performances and two of those levelled series. With his record for batting well when the chips were down already well established, his experience later on in his cricketing life has improved him as a player.

The Mohali innings in particular was a special one. Batting with a runner and only supported by the tail, Laxman blistered an unbeaten 73 from 79 as India scraped home by a single wicket against the Australians. Once more he’d denied the men with the baggy greens.

On his last tour to England, expect twirls of the blade, a tough character, and the last visit of another great Indian batsman. ~ Ed Malyon

Two years later, he made a big hundred in Adelaide to give India their first win in Australia for 22 years. These innings from Laxman were sublimely constructed on both sides of the wicket but his tendency to then go on a run of bad scores has meant that he will struggle to be remembered in the same way as some of his team-mates.

From late 2004 to early 2006, VVS had such a decline in form that he was eventually dropped from the Test team after the first test against England. In one-day international cricket he’d already been left out regularly by Greg Chappell.

The Australian’s tenure was full of controversy and criticism of his ways; he

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Matthew Engel, a former editor of Wisden Almanack, may have opened a Pandora’s box when he asked a question on this topic during the launch of the 2011 edition. One New Zealand legend argued that it was too edgy a question to ask, while others suggested it was inflammatory, came with racial overtones, or was a generational issue. Whatever, it has become clear that India’s influence has grown extraordinarily in recent years, so SPIN decided to put the question to some of the game’s most influential thinkers and writers George Dobell – SPIN chief reporter No, of course it isn’t. Even if India’s influence on cricket was negative – and I don’t think it is – there’s no way it could ever destroy world cricket. I actually admire the way the Indian authorities protect and market their own game. I wish the ECB would take note. It’s not that the Indian board is the only one that is avaricious and self-interested; it’s just they’re better at it. Perhaps the Indians could wield their power with a little more delicacy – they may, for example, come to regret preventing their players from participating in other nations’ domestic competitions (such as the SLPL) while expecting everyone to be available for the IPL – but these are minor details. On the whole, the enthusiasm and money pouring into the game from India should be viewed positively. It’s probably worth remembering that List A and T20 cricket were both born in the county game. India may have added some glitz to the product – the IPL is just the FLT20 with balloons – but the roots of the game we all love were planted in England.

There’s surely far more that continues to unite us – be we Indian, English, Pakistani or Australian - than divide.

Tony Cozier – West Indian cricket commentator

Are India destroying world cricket?

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WEST INDIES have more awareness than most of India’s growing influence. As their seasons coincide, the IPL has posed the most high-profile West Indians the dilemma of choosing between the six-figure payouts of a brief domestic T20 tournament and the still fulfilling, but appreciably less lucrative, honour of national representation. Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo are the first caught up in the predicament; they are unlikely to be the last.

Nor is the lure of the rupee confined to the players. Through television and other marketing rights, an Indian visit earns more for West Indies cricket than any other. Each Indian Test of the recent series was reportedly worth US$40 to the board. So, to fit three into the tight schedule, the Kingston Test ran (for the first time ever) from Monday to Friday, Bridgetown’s from Tuesday to Saturday. Not surprisingly, the turnouts were sparse but gate receipts were hardly a factor. And ground perimeter advertising, scattered at other times, filled every space, almost August 2011

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exclusively Indian, several in Hindi.

West Indians are also well aware of Indian pressure that led to umpire Steve Bucknor’s withdrawal from the 2008 Perth Test and the open, uncensured criticism by captain M S Dhoni in the recent series in the Caribbean that prompted umpire Daryl Harper to quit before what was to be his farewell Test.

Sidharth Monga – ESPNcricinfo assistant editor I can only hope India is used interchangeably with the BCCI in this question, although BCCI’s power comes from the “new and vibrant” India’s seemingly insatiable appetite for mobile phones, cola, potato chips, and chewable tobacco.

The BCCI is pigheaded, pompous, petty, hardly what the leader of the House should be. Then again, other boards, the ICC and its many committees – ECB’s fallout with the BCCI is only a recent exception – are pusillanimous, pandering, petty, hardly the stuff of the opposition of the House. Short example: what happened with Shane Bond was not the BCCI’s fault. Even I knew ICL players had no international future, but it was New Zealand Cricket (NZC) who made him believe otherwise and then didn’t stand up for him. NZC is still A small fish; read Malcolm Speed’s book on how Cricket Australia has been in bed with the BCCI. A lot of it comes down to financial bottom lines. Still I believe cricket will survive “India”; my big concern for the game is that 13-yearolds might no longer have reasons and techniques for wanting to play Test cricket when three-hour hits in the park bring more money and fame. That’s hardly limited to India. Warne, McGrath, Murali are gone; Ponting, Laxman, Dravid will soon go. We wonder if the likes will come again.

We wonder if the suits can address that situation.

Dileep Premachandaran – Indian cricket writer, ESPN cricinfo associate editor I think “destroying” is far too strong a word. I’d say that the BCCI, along with Indian sponsors and advertising that oils the game’s wheels these days, has certainly been responsible for a paradigm shift. When anyone is invested with great powers – think Torquemada – it invariably leads to excess, and we’ve seen glimpses of that from India.

But, and this is a big but, the board still listens to reason.

When senior players expressed displeasure at the lack of Test matches in 2010, two additional series were shoehorned into the calendar. The board also tries to insist on leading domestic players competing in the Ranji Trophy and other competitions. Coaching at youth levels is still focused on the long form of the game and not on T20.

The reluctance to play Zimbabwe and Bangladesh may irk some, but the fact is that the satiated Indian fan has become quite choosy about what he or she watches. Sri Lanka still haven’t played a Test at the MCG or SCG, so it’s not just the BCCI you can accuse of lack of altruism.

The Indian board is still run by deeply conservative individuals – observe the relish with which they buried Lalit Modi – so there’s no need to fear that they’ll rush headlong into a T20 future.

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GIDEON HAIGH – CRICKET HISTORIAN AND WRITER Billions of fans. Billions of dollars. Players being paid a motzah. A jam-packed schedule. If India is destroying cricket, they are doing so in a roundabout way, by first making it hugely popular and lucrative. The opportunists, cynics and sleazebags of the BCCI ….well, they’re a different matter. But especially given Cricket Australia’s recent track record, I would blame no country for the quality of their administrators.

India is a challenge to cricket only in terms of its providing such an overwhelming proportion of global cricket revenue and audience. That economic and demographic disequilibrium is assuredly shaping the game, but it makes as little sense to complain that the success of cricket in India is ‘destroying’ cricket as it does to argue that the abundance of oil in the Middle East is ‘destroying’ the world economy. It just is. India is to cricket as America is to postwar geopolitics: ‘the fat boy in the canoe’, as Dean Rusk once described his country, insofar as all must adjust when it shifts seats. For as long as India rules the roost in Test cricket, Test cricket will have a (relatively) secure future.

What can I say? Go India.

David Hopps – Guardian cricket writer India has the potential to ruin cricket and India also has the potential to enhance cricket. India will have to make up its mind to what it’s going to do. I have no set view to what will happen. What I do know is that if the most powerful cricket nation in the world is an ambitious thrusting democracy delighting in its sudden economic power then it is not necessarily certain that the power will be used wisely because that country will have rather more nationalism than it is healthy for it to have.

Daniel Norcross – Test Match Sofa founder and SPIN writer Whilst the question is perfectly valid, one can’t help wonder how much the fact of its being asked by an Englishman is a reflection of the deep insecurity felt by the English cricket establishment at India’s emergence as the de facto super power both on and off the field.

Perhaps it is India’s influence that led the ECB to sign up to a series of million dollar matches funded by a man of dubious character currently awaiting trial; matches that by their very “winner-take-all” premise, let alone their extreme vulgarity, stood every chance of nurturing the perfect conditions for match fixing and wage inflation which could both have damaged cricket far more ferociously than anything the BCCI have managed. Or perhaps the blame for that fiasco should lie with the ECB. It is not in the nature of men to accept encroaching impotency. They will “rage, rage at the dying of the light.”

And I dare say the Indian board will use their new found influence with the same disregard for others’ interests as the English did while they persistently trumpeted the cause of white South Africa under Apartheid. But if cricket could survive the maladministration of the English and Australian dominated ICC for over a century, I’m sure it will survive the Indians.

Andrew Miller – editor of ESPNcricinfo UK This question was recently put to a high-profile gathering of 200 predominantly white males, in the Long Room at Lord’s, a week after India’s World Cup victory had sparked some of the most heartfelt celebrations the game has ever known. The topic was valid, but the context was preposterous, and sounded uncomfortably like sour grapes.

You won’t find many who’d subscribe to that view in Mumbai, and seeing as India accounts for at least half of cricket’s global fan-base and about three-quarters of its income, their opinion counts, whether you like it or not.

Besides, the game has plenty inept governance that can’t be blamed on India - Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Kenya ... even the Stanford-phile ECB, to name but a few.

That said, there is plenty about which to be uncomfortable. The BCCI’s resistance to DRS epitomises a contempt for umpiring that has left the country without an elite official since Venkat retired in 2003, and which recently led to the hounding of Daryl Harper to an early retirement.

The IPL’s glitz and riches are eroding the game’s traditions; India’s hold over the ICC is disturbing. They are changing the game, without question. But destroying it? Hardly. It is too valuable a commodity.

Jim Maxwell – ABC cricket commentator Does anyone seriously believe that India’s influence is destroying world cricket? I think you might struggle to get any players to agree, especially those that have had their careers made by playing in the IPL. More importantly India’s development as a powerful cricket nation is crucial to the expansion of the game as their fan base is global.

Cricket operates in a narrow market and needs to develop the game in the associate countries. Under a (hopefully) revitalised ICC corporate governance regime India can take the lead, forsaking the self-interest that has topped their agendas. As an Australian conditioned to the Ashes being the premier Test series, it has been a welcome revelation to watch the pulsating Border/Gavaskar contests since the miracle of Calcutta in 2001. India’s excitement and passion for cricket is tellingly expressed by the virtuosity of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dhoni and Laxman, the sturdiness of Dravid and the refreshment of Ishant Sharma as a strike bowler.

World cricket will not prosper without the influence of India.

Lawrence Booth – Wisden Almanack editor, Daily Mail cricket correspondent On one level, it’s a no-brainer: India bankroll the sport.

Without them, the cricket world would be, quite literally, a poorer place. But their financial dominance allows them to retreat too easily into outrage whenever they feel got at: “Leave us alone – without us you’d all be out on the streets.”

So, in a despairing kind of way, whether India are ruining the game almost feels beside the point. And it’s only fair to point out that India have produced some of the modern game’s greats.

And yet, and yet. With power comes responsibility, and it’s a feeble cop-out to argue that, because England and

Australia ruled cricket so self-interestedly for so long, India are allowed to run amok now in the name of some sort of twisted cosmic karma.

The powerful don’t always have much cause to look in the mirror (other than to admire the reflection), but if India has a go, it ought to be at the very least bashful about its political hegemony, its stubborn stance on the DRS, the extent to which the IPL threatens all else, its bullying tactics with officials and its increasingly unattractive sense of selfentitlement. We live in hope.

Prem Panicker – Editor of Yahoo! India Dysfunctional boards in the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Pakistan? Who cares? A quagmire in Zimbabwe? No problem. An ICC that can’t manage a piss-up in a brewery?

Hardly worth a shrug. What exercises cricket’s Holy Book is whether India is destroying cricket - talk of getting priorities right.

Why debate it, though? The ICC operates on the principle of majority vote – so why not simply outvote India, neutralize its pernicious influence? Because, argue the Boycotts of the world, those countries want India to host them, tour them, so they can make money. Ah, so – the case then is that India is destroying cricket by helping the majority of ICC nations make money, by funding the game?

Those boards are looking after their interests – and that is OK. It is when the BCCI looks after the interests of its players and its space by, say, turning down as yet unproven technology, that cricket is “destroyed”.

But wait, first examine the basic premise. Habeas corpus, Mr Engel. Show us the body. Tell us how cricket has been “destroyed”. And then you can clamber up on the Almanack soapbox and do the whole ‘O pardon me thou bleeding piece of earth’ shtick.

Jarrod Kimber – SPIN editor; one half of the Chuck Fleetwood-Smiths on cricinfo As Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker years before the first ODI, “With great power comes great responsibility”. And India now has great power. What they do with it is up to them, but even the BCCI (a terribly run political organisation), isn’t trying to destroy cricket, they’re just trying to get the most out of it for themselves, and they’re in a great position to do so.

To me, India is the new America. A country that built a middle class in a matter of minutes, is well on it’s way to becoming a superpower and that positively drips with patriotic spirit. An oft-ignored point is that in India they love Indian cricket, not always cricket itself. In America they play a world series of baseball. They don’t invite teams from around the world, but the best players from around the world play in American teams and they stand to the American anthem before the first pitch. It sounds a lot like the IPL. Cricket has survived English middle management, racism, global politics, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, drugs, match fixing, bombings, shootings and Tony Greig. It doesn’t have to survive India, just evolve with India like it did with England for a couple of hundred years.

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We now live in an age dominated by the ‘corporate Test match’. Administrators with dollar signs in their eyes have tried to ensure games go for the full five days to maximize revenue. Their main weapon in the battle against an even contest of bat and ball has been the docile featherbed that is now a feature of almost every ground around the world. With it, the species of batsman known as the ‘flat track bully’ became the alpha male, beating his chest with his oversized willow after every straight drive on the up or pull shot off a length. Those that played with the traditionally straight bat and even temperament still prospered, but just like a viral mutation, so have evolved batsmen of quality that, technically, are train wrecks.

It is almost as if you can see the speech bubble above his head: “Hold… hold … hold, unleash hell”

A new breed of batsman Tasmania and Australia A opener Ed Cowan argues that the techniques of Virender Sehwag and his ilk must be the result of a viral mutation Charles Darwin wrote about evolution: “In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.” Although not entirely sure as to whether he preferred batting to bowling or the forward prod to the late cut, his theory has been incredibly malleable through the ages of the game.

If you look back at footage of yesteryear, the game in parts is unrecognisable. When you hear the Neil Harveys of the world go into another diatribe about how cricket “was better in their day” and have to stop 48 Spin August 2011

yourself from choking on your skimmed caramel latte, you wonder exactly how much peyote the old man must have had to come to that conclusion. What you forget is that the evolution of technique to the modern day has not only been a slow process but that it has been by and large a product of environment in which cricketers of the day have lived.

Throughout the early years of the modern game, when the wickets were uncovered, rollers hand pushed and the bats wafer thin, batsman were reluctant to play many shots off the front foot. The slow,

popping bounce of most surfaces made scoring down the ground nigh on impossible, and the cover drive a stroke for drought-ridden towns only. The conditions dictated that to be successful, batsman needed to rely on deflections and deft touches off the back foot. The late cut was the ‘ordre du jour’.

As curating became more of a science and wickets around the world quickened up, batsmen started arriving at the crease in Robocop-style helmets. Slowly, but ever so surely, as a result the pull and hooks shots became more the defining feature.

To counter flat wickets, bowling attacks in their endless meetings now rely heavily on the theme of “patience” and the unsung plan of ‘‘top of off, with the occasional bouncer’’.

Almost knowing the general vicinity of where the ball is going to be, batsmen have emerged for whom the bail of the imaginary fourth stump is in fact exactly the worst place you can possibly bowl to them. While the technically minded may choose to leave or defend such a delivery, a Sehwag will flay you over point for four with his eyes closed, an Amla will whip you through mid-wicket or glide the ball with ease through gully, a Tamim might hit you over your head, a Hughes will most certainly try to cut it, a KP in his pomp will stand tall and punch you through the covers, while Dilshan might scoop it over the wicketkeeper. Let it be known, the age of the anti-technique has arrived.

That is not to say these guys are any worse or less effective than your technically minded Dravid, Hussey or Sangakarra. They have just evolved an approach that would not have been conceivably possible in another era of cricket. Their respective output however, can be devastating, or quickly run cold.

That is the risk that is run with such processes. It will always be harder for them to ‘get in’ when they arrive at the crease.

When they do, however – look out.

Virender Sehwag is perhaps the finest case in point. To the naked eye, it seems he is all hands and no feet, but that perhaps does not do his batting the justice it deserves. He gets into position early primarily because he does not move as far as his peers – allowing him to be completely balanced when his hands flash through his impact zone at the speed of

Darwin is disappointed after Virender Sehwag has holed out light.

The key when playing at his best is how late he plays the ball. It is almost as if you can see the speech bubble above his head: “Hold…hold… hold, unleash hell”. Despite physically setting himself up to thrash the ball through the offside, he is by no means a one-trick pony and his resurgence has been heavily reliant on being able to get off strike when bowlers stray on to his pads or hip. Not being able to build any pressure with their plan A of starving his strengths, bowlers become at a loss as to where to direct their attention. Invariably they go back to the perceived “avenue of apprehension” that is so often talked about; this has been renamed by Viru “the avenue of acceleration” and like a spider trapping a fly, he has cornered his prey.

That is his beauty in a nutshell, to be able to manipulate the bowler to bowl to his strengths. To add to this dilemma, the perception that someone has bowled decently is dismissed when they look at the scorecard.

I am sure there are many bowlers who have felt powerless in his presence. That is not to say he is unstoppable – like all fragile techniques, his minimalistic footwork can get him in trouble when there is sideways

movement off the wicket, or he is up against a tall quickie who can aggressively get into his ribs and front armpit.

What these unorthodox players all do have in common, is incredible mental clout

Let it be known, the age of the anti-technique has arrived and resilience. What they lack in technical nous, they make up for with a deep knowledge of their own game, its weakness and, most importantly, their devastating strengths. Growing up, there is little doubt they would have been told they would not make it into the big time batting the way they did. In response to constant criticsm, they have admirably stuck to their own convictions and as a result have a deeprooted self belief.

This is one thing that has remained constant through the ages, regardless of the changing environment. Mental discipline still remains the most important ingredient in scoring runs consistently.

Survival of the fittest indeed. Charles Darwin would be proud. Except for Sreesanth’s necklaces. Nobody could be proud of those.

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Tony Greig is the England captain who has most courted controversy, his part in the defection of many of the world’s leading players to Kerry Packer and his pledge to make the West Indies tourists of 1976 ‘grovel’ just two examples of conduct that created debits on his ledger sheet.

But this, argues the author David Tossell, is to ignore the positive contribution he made to the game in this country. In an adapted extract from his new book, Tossell shows how he restored English pride dented by defeats by Australia and the West Indies by presiding over a successful, if at times controversial, tour to this summer’s opponents India in 1976-77

The Unforgiven 50 Spin August 2011 50 Spin JUNE/JULY 2011

Before the team set off for India in the winter of 1976, Tony Greig spoke on television about the hurt he had felt at criticism by ex-players during the previous summer. With the memories of Mike Denness’s final days still vivid he knew that nothing less than a series win in India would do for the ‘experts’ and, more importantly, the selectors. Honourable winless efforts against Australia and West Indies were one thing; India were there to be beaten, regardless of the fact that England hadn’t won a series there since Douglas Jardine triumphed in 1933-34.

On the day of their departure, the squad posed in light blue blazers on the airport runway in front of their Air India plane. Ever aware of his responsibilities to his sponsors, Greig made sure his St Peter equipment bag was visible by lifting it up from the pile of holdalls and cases in front of the players.

Commercial duties fulfilled, the squad flew off to Bombay, where Greig fought his way through enthusiastic crowds to get from the airport to the first press conference of the tour in the Taj Hotel. The parting shot he’d received from Len Hutton was, ‘Don’t say too much.’ But that was not Greig’s way. Nor was it the right manner in which to approach the business of communicating with the all-pervading Indian media and the demanding public. He would say a lot, but he would say it with charm, a smile, and a diplomat’s light touch.

The recent tourists from New Zealand had been highly critical of the local umpires, but

when Greig was asked if he feared suffering home-town decisions he smiled broadly and announced, ‘I believe Indian umpires to be among the best in the world.’

The Indian reporters smiled back proudly and rushed off to tell their readers what a fine fellow Greig was.

He was not there to be pushed around, Tony had that fun side to him, attractive to the girls, and he used that to his advantage though, as he would prove when one airline attempted to deny the MCC party’s request to travel with their own supply of drinking water early in the tour. Greig stated firmly that his team would not fly without it and the airline relented.

The charm offensive resumed as Greig’s men began their acclimatisation by taking to the nets. Aware of the crowds watching, the captain attempted to mix serious He borrowed Solkar’s bat to demonstrate how he should hook Willis, and then posted a fielder in case the batsman practice with the desire to entertain. And his legend grew even more in the first warm-up game against West Zone in Poona, where he took the first wicket of the tour and then

rattled up an unbeaten 162 in a massive MCC innings that featured a double ton for [Mike] Brearley and a century for [Keith] Fletcher. Greig thrilled a 20,000 crowd with a devastating display of hitting, going from 94 to 147 in 12 balls with 11 scoring shots: 6, 4, 6, 1, 4, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4. Most of his sixes were huge slogs to leg.

It was the popularity of players such as Greig and Randall, with his quirky behaviour in the field and at the crease, that brought crowds of up to 30,000 flocking to see these regional matches and contributed towards a total of 700,000 watching the first three Tests. [Roger] Tolchard [the reserve wicketkeeper] claims, ‘The Indian crowds loved us as much their own team. We never felt threatened. They had this rapport with Greigy and Randall. Greigy would blow kisses to the ladies’ stands and they would wet themselves. If it was getting boring Rags would do a couple of cartwheels. It was electric. Before games we would do our warm-up laps round the outfield and they became laps of honour. We’d be talking to the fans through the fences.’

Underwood adds, ‘Tony had that fun side to him, attractive to the girls and so on, and he used that to his advantage, especially in places like India, where they grew to love him. It was a ploy of his and it got the crowds behind us. They were never on our side but they weren’t terribly anti-England.

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pretended to bend down and throw it back into the crowd they loved it.

After England had won the first Test in Delhi, Indian captain [Bishen] Bedi celebrated winning the toss [in Calcutta] as though he had just taken a wicket. Indeed, on this pitch the correct call threatened to be far more important than any single victim he might claim. Facing a long stint in the field, Greig ordered Randall to carry on with his cartwheels and clowning. ‘I told him to act the fool as he pleased because the crowd would love him for it – and if they were in good humour there would be very little chance of any trouble.

Derek was off before the first ball had been delivered, flicking his sun hat in the air and I believe Indian umpires to be among the best in the world catching it on his head.’

England took wickets regularly on a slow first day and Greig joined Randall in playing up to the crowd. He borrowed Solkar’s bat to demonstrate how he should attempt to hook Willis, who would take five wickets, and then posted a fielder in case the batsman followed his advice. After dismissing India for 155 on the second day, England were 90 for 4 when Greig joined Tolchard, the game delicately poised. ‘I was aware that this was to be one of my most important knocks for my country,’ he says.

Playing the spinners from the crease, he quickly drove [Bhagwath] Chandrasekhar for four to pass 3,000 runs in Test cricket and swung Prasanna for a leg-side six to bring up the 100. After that, it became an exercise in occupation, executed mostly off the back foot, and England reached 136 at the close without further loss.

Greig arrived back at hotel feeling nauseous and unable to eat. He took some sleeping pills before getting an early night.

But sleep wouldn’t come, as his bed became soaked in sweat and his body shivered. A hot bath and a change of bedding didn’t help, although after some medication administered by physio Bernard Thomas at 3am he managed to doze fitfully. Thomas returned to Greig’s room at 8am, found that his temperature was 104F and forced him to eat before nursing him through to game time with drinks and tablets. Never for a moment, however, did Greig consider that he would not be able to continue batting.

Stepping out into the claustrophobic atmosphere of an 80,000 crowd, Greig focused his mind on survival; both in terms of protecting his wicket and also enduring the physical difficulties he was suffering. The sheer mental effort involved actually helped him to forget how ill he 52 Spin August 2011

felt. Having successfully appealed for spectators to stop flashing mirrors into his eyes, his square cut off Bedi saw England pass India’s total. He gave his one chance to Solkar at short leg when on 33, but smothered Bedi by taking an off-stump guard to minimise the risk of edging a ball as it turned away from him. Progress was painfully slow, yet Greig accepted that it would have been ‘suicidal’ to try to score quickly. It was a sign of the quality of his innings that, even in defence, it appeared to be he who was dictating to the bowlers.

‘Greigy was terrific,’ says Tolchard. ‘He made me feel comfortable. Bedi smoked one past him and Greigy shouted back at him, “Come on, Bish. Keep that arm straight.” I don’t think Bish had ever had to put up with anything like that. Was he ill?

Was he heck. You wouldn’t have known. He was awesome.’

Tolchard reached his half-century and Greig did so an hour later. Eventually, having lost Tolchard and Knott, Greig scored only nine runs in the final session to end the day unbeaten on 94. England had scored only 147 runs all day but, on a wicket that Greig felt was not up to Test standard after being scrubbed bare of any grass, they had lost only two wickets.

His health improved with the aid of a rest day and Greig reached his century in the first over of the fourth day, driving the ball to achieve his landmark after 402 minutes at the crease. It was the third-slowest England century of all time at that point. It could not have been more different from Brisbane two years earlier, but given the conditions of the wicket, the game and his own health, Greig never played a more significant knock for his country. Had he known then it was to be the last of his eight Test centuries, he would have considered it a fitting final effort.

Underwood suggests, ‘I have two memories that qualify Greigy as being a top-quality player: the hundred at Brisbane against Lillee and Thomson and then the nine-hour century he got in India, against possibly the best spin attack of all time.

What he could use to his advantage was his height. Some balls that players would be playing back against, Greigy could stand up tall and drive through the line of the ball. It just shows that against any attack he was very high quality.’

After Greig was out for 103, England were dismissed for 321 and the rest of the day was another procession of Indian wickets, a couple taken by Greig. There was one moment when the captain felt that the batsmen were threatening to get on top of Underwood, prompting him to step in, directing fielders here and there. It proved a valuable lesson for future skipper Brearley, who discovered that even a great

bowler could become uncertain about his tactics. ‘I could see how Greig felt that if he didn’t take charge completely the ship would be directionless,’ Brearley said.

Remarkably, another 80,000 turned up on the final day, even though their team were already seven wickets down. They saw England quickly wrap up a 10-wicket win and enjoyed themselves in the meantime.

The fans refused to go home until Greig had led his players on a lap of honour. Greig, i feel i owe them an apology who described it as ‘genuinely the most emotional day I’ve had as England’s captain’, cleverly managed to criticise the wicket without risking upsetting the Indian public. ‘I do feel sorry indeed for the spectators and I feel I owe them an apology for playing the way I did. They looked to me to entertain but on that wicket there was no way anyone could be entertained.’

Yet by the time he left Madras after the third Test, Greig had faced his most serious public relations battle of the tour. Having won the toss, he found himself yet again coming to the crease earlier than he’d hoped, after three wickets had gone for 31 and Tolchard had retired with a finger injury. In the first hour after lunch, however, he and Brearley doubled the score from 53 for 3, with Greig punishing Chandrasekhar for his habit of dropping short. He straight drove the same bowler to pass his halfcentury but fell soon after when he edged a cramped cut off Bedi.

All out for 262 on day two, England took three quick wickets and had India 126 for 7 by lunch on the third day. It was during that interval that Lever asked Bernard Thomas for something for his sore foot. While No visiting team had ever wrapped up a five-game series in India inside three matches rooting in his medical supplies Thomas found some Vaseline-impregnated gauze and suggested that it might possibly be a remedy for a problem Lever and Willis had experienced during the humid morning. By applying the strips above the eyebrows, Thomas suggested, it could serve as a barrier to the sweat that had been running into their eyes. Willis realised immediately it was useless and discarded his strip. Lever retained his for a few overs, by which time Bedi was at the crease. After Lever tossed the gauze to the ground, umpire Judah Reuben picked it up. He showed it to Bedi and Greig and reported his discovery during the tea break. When reporters enquired about the on-field discussions, Bedi, feeling

the pressure of his team being on the verge of going 3-0 down, appeared to see an opportunity to deflect attention from their shortcomings. He was quoted as suggesting that the Vaseline was the method by which England had made the ball swing in the first Test and said it was ‘disgusting that England should stoop so low’.

The fact that this was complete nonsense didn’t prevent a huge banner appearing on the fourth day saying, ‘Cheater Lever go home. Tony Greig down down.’ At the close of play, the Indian board announced that traces of Vaseline had been found on the match ball but it was impossible to judge whether it had got there by accident or design and would refer all the information to the MCC. Greig and Lever were furious that such aspersions were being so casually tossed around. He was interested, though, to hear some Indian players telling him not to worry and that Bedi had been especially keen to divert criticism of his captaincy while in the south of the country, where he had far less support. Nevertheless, Lever believed the incident soured the relationship between the two teams. ‘From then on we stopped going into their changing room and kept our distance.’

He continues, ‘At first I thought very little of it, but when I turned up at the ground and saw the banners I thought, “Oh, bloody hell.” Greigy was quite good. He said, “Look, we will get it sorted.” They sent the ball away for analysis and in the end we were cleared, but I found it hard to forgive Bedi. He knew what I could do; he had seen me swing it in England. He was under pressure and he was losing 3-0, so he went to the press. I have since made it up with him but for quite a few years I was fairly anti-Bedi.’

Amid the furore, the fact that England were wrapping up the series by striding towards victory was almost forgotten. With a lead of 98 on first innings, Greig was able to bat freely – forcing, sweeping and driving his way to a brisk 41 and setting India 284 to win when he declared before tea on the fourth day. It was the kind of target indicative of the wicket, the prevailing scoring rates of the period and the power of Underwood, who proceeded to take four wickets as India folded for 83, their lowestever score at home. As captain triumphant, Greig was lifted on to the shoulders of his team-mates and carried from the field. No visiting team had ever wrapped up a fivegame series in India inside three matches.

Greig: A Reappraisal of English Cricket’s Most Controversial Captain is published

by Pitch Publishing and is available in bookshops now.

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We used to be indecisive but now we’re not so sure…

The Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) was modified recently at the Hong Kong ICC Annual Conference at the request of the Indian cricket board. It will now make use of Hot-Spot technology but do away with the Hawk-Eye balltracker, meaning lbw decisions will not form part of the system, due to make its debut in this summer’s series between England and India. But, as Nick Sadleir points out, it seems to be a case of one step forward, one step back from the game’s world governing body As any cricketer knows well, losing your wicket pains you so much that it is hard to imagine a worse feeling that doesn’t involve the death of a close relative. And while being dismissed through one’s own fault or a bit of bad luck is one thing, being given out unfairly can be cause enough to incite murder on the pitch. Similarly, bowlers don’t much fancy hearing a nick and then turning around to see the umpire shaking his head. But more than how incorrect decisions make individual players feel is the fact that one shocking decision can be enough to change the result of an entire Test series.

A certain degree of human error is part of cricket and it always has been so, but the more we can do to eliminate it the better, and the UDRS that has been used in various guises at many Test series over the past few years and in the 2011 World Cup has made significant strides towards making the game a fairer one.

But there has been one major obstacle to UDRS implementation and development

and that, surprise surprise, is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), whose officials and players have been adamantly against the use of technology., despite it being a system under which they won this year’s World Cup. The mandate of any review system is to eliminate the howlers – those decisions that are plainly, terribly, awfully wrong. Doing so surely makes everyone happier. The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) recently surveyed a host of international players and 82 per cent of them said that they believed the UDRS made for better decision making at the 2011 World Cup. A total of 97 per cent of those surveyed would support UDRS being made compulsory in all Test Matches.

Fairer equals better and, although it wasn’t perfect, UDRS at the World Cup was a step in the right direction.

The UDRS has its fair shares of supporters and critics. Muttiah Muralitharan, Rudi Koertzen and Ricky Ponting are understood to be supporters of it while Indian captain

MS Dhoni has called it an “adulteration of human decision making and technology”

24 Spin 2011 2011 54 Spin JUNE August

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Hawk-Eye using their technology to prove that the earth is round.

Sachin Tendulkar maintains the Indian party line and is on record as saying: “I am not convinced with the referral system. I have not felt convinced by or comfortable with many decisions.”

Tendulkar’s point that Hawk-Eye isn’t 100 per cent accurate obviously can’t be ignored.

Cameras aren’t always accurately positioned and a cricket ball is not a spherical object so its precise projected path cannot be predicted with absolute certainty. We are sometimes talking about millimetres here and swing, spin, ball rotations and other kinds of bowling witchcraft are not always predictable animals.

Of course we have all seen occasions where Hawk-Eye projections just don’t look correct but, having said that, they can tell you if a given ball was scheduled to miss the woodwork by miles. The technology is also very useful for telling us what the ball did before it struck the pad and, as journalist 56 Spin August 2011

Dileep Premachandran points out, even lbw dismissals where the ball has blatantly pitched outside leg stump and are mistakenly given out will not be liable for appeal under the modified UDRS. This is surely a step backwards.

Would a sponsor really want to be involved with a system that is still misunderstood and relentlessly mocked?

On the positive side, Snicko and Hot-Spot will be able to do a lot of things that the old UDRS couldn’t. WG Grace would be amazed if he knew that heat sensors and highly

sensitive microphones were able to determine who is out and who is not. In the first Test in Jamaica recently, commentator and former West Indies pace bowler Ian Bishop acknowledged that Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni and Virat Kohli were wrongly given out and Hot-Spot could have corrected all of those decisions. There were several World Cup referrals where an edge should have been proven or otherwise but could not be done so with the naked eye alone.

The downside to Hot-Spot is that the requisite infra-red cameras cost in excess of $5,000 per day (about £3,100) to employ and there is not yet an agreement as to who should stump up the loot. Broadcasters have used the tool before but they do so to enhance viewers’ enjoyment – they are not neutral umpires and, as ball-tracker diagrams can be manipulated, a further risk is thus inherent in the system.

The ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat has

suggested: “There is the possibility that we could raise a sponsor to cover the cost of the DRS, where we may well cover all costs of the technology.” This seems a sensible idea.

Although, would a sponsor really want to be involved with a system that is still misunderstand and relentlessly mocked?

they are unfairly influenced by the BCCI. Considering some of those players are Indian and others may have felt uncertain of anonymity, that is a worryingly high percentage.

As India boasts such a high proportion of worldwide cricket fans and generates such a large percentage of international cricket revenues, it is perhaps only fair that the BCCI’s voice should carry more weight than some of their counterparts at the ICC. But with power comes responsibility and it is vital that the organisation puts cricket ahead of financial and political gain.

Only 6 per cent of players believe decisions made at ICC Board level are in the wider interests of the game

The same 2011 FICA player survey found that only 6 per cent of players believe decisions made at ICC Board level are in the wider interests of the game and 69 per cent that

We are all wary of the over-use of technology

and it is natural that the old guard resists change, for that is what they always do. But we are not talking about scientific advances to the degree of cloning here, nor does anyone want to turn umpires into robots -

we are merely discussing how best to improve the standard of umpiring at international level. The UDRS that was employed in the World Cup was of great interest in the way it gave us statistics on which umpires (Aleem Dar and Marais Erasmus) consistently got decisions right and which ones (Ashoka de Silva and Daryl Harpur) got them wrong - and everyone in between. Harper and De Silva were so poor that they were subsequently removed from the ICC’s elite panel. There is no doubt that the use of technology is vastly improving the standard of umpiring.

There is one redeeming feature of the ICC’s latest rulings. If before any bilateral series the respective sides decide that the balltracking Hawk-Eye be used in conjunction with Hot-Spot and Snicko, then all three will be.

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Relighting the fire

How do you rebuild a fallen empire? Listen to those who helped create it… Fire in Babylon, the documentary on the cricketing and social significance of the greatWest Indies sides of the 1970s and ’80s, has been gracing theatres across the world for the past nine months. Much of the talk surrounding the film has been concerned with the idea that it could elicit a much needed resurrection of West Indies cricket, which has been on a downward spiral since an era of dominance in which the side remained unbeaten for 15 years. SPIN’sVithushan Ehantharajah caught up with four of the main protagonists in the film – Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Joel Garner and Gordon Greenidge – to discuss the problems facing cricket in the Caribbean, and whether there is a remedy for deep-rooted idiocy and mediocrity…

When you were approached for Fire in Babylon, did you think it would be something that could help turn the tide in West Indian cricket?

Colin Croft: Well I hope so, but I see it as more of an education. This film itself can be used as a literature piece in the sense that you could look at it and study it.

Gordon Greenidge: I’m not sure that it will.

If they watch it and understand what West Indies cricket was all about back then, then maybe it would. But that is only if they show that sort of appreciation for it. Even when we started, and after we had our period in the 70s and 80s, you wanted to rub shoulders and be in the company of the previous group of players who played West Indies cricket. You wanted to learn from them and the other side of the coin was that you wanted to teach and inform them. I’m not certain that most of the present day players are interested in that.

Joel Garner: While doing it I wasn’t too sure what to expect. I mean, you do the interviews and you reminisce about how things were back then, and you want to put that across. Sure, we were good, very good, but there is a side you didn’t see. You didn’t see how hard we worked every day of the week; the amount of hours that we went through in terms of training and preparation to get to the point where you were almost perfect at executing any plans.

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Instantly. Sure we had the talent, but we were well drilled and efficient.

Are you startled by the decline in West Indian cricket? The future looked bright after the solid foundations that your side had built.

Michael Holding: I can’t say I’m too surprised. I think there are a few players in the ’90s who thought that, after the period of the ’70s and the ’80s, they could rest on their laurels and the world would bow before them. They thought because they played for the West Indies, they would be playing for a winning team. I don’t think the current players feel that, but if they look at the people that were before them, they would see a group of players who stagnated and didn’t fulfil their potential. They will see a side who thought they had everything, but achieved nothing.

Croft: When you look at the likes of Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop, they would have been directly influenced by the likes of Holding, Garner, Roberts, Croft.

The problem is that influence seemed to stop after that particular crop of players.

Do you think players felt there was too much pressure, being judged by the high standards that you had set? As if they would always be in your shadows?

Greenidge: Well if they feel like that, then they will be! Even then I don’t even think they’re in our shadows – that gives the August 2011

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impression they are in some way near us!

The demise has been happening in front of our eyes for the last ten to 15 years. In that time we have been looking into what has been going wrong, but nothing has been changed. You’d have thought there would be some light at the end of the tunnel after all that time, but it is just not the case. It looks like things are going to pick up but then they fall back into old ways, and it is business as usual again.

Garner: Pressure breeds responsibility; do you see any players taking responsibility in that side? No one wants to stand up and be counted. I agree that maybe players are sick of hearing how good the team used to be, but if you want them to stop talking, start playing!

What are the fundamental issues with cricket in the Caribbean?

Holding: We don’t have enough kids playing the game today as we did before. As a result, the cream is not rising to the top.

There’s a lot of mediocrity rising to the top because the competition below that is not what it used to be. Years gone by, if you had faults, they would be found out in firstclass games in the Caribbean. You had to fix those faults; otherwise you wouldn’t

60 Spin August 2011

have any chance of playing for the West Indies. Because we don’t have that strong level anymore in the region, you still find people with severe faults making it to the top level, and they get found out instantly.

Greenidge: I’m not sure to be honest. They do seem to stagnate – I don’t think they are doing what they need to do to move on as players. They don’t seem to have goals; when you think about anything in life, whether it is your work or your hobbies, you have aims and goals that you wish to achieve. In going for those goals you develop, both as a player and a person.

Croft: Kids these days are a little less focused in that respect, than we were. Kids have so many other things to occupy their time with: Facebook, Twitter, X-Box. Most of the schools in the Caribbean, except for Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago, do not have a proper sporting infrastructure. That is where we fall down – it is a planning thing rather than a matter of player ability.

Garner: I think the discipline has deteriorated a lot. You have to work hard and prepare well, and if you don’t do that then you won’t get the results. I think our cricket has to go back to basics; we have a lot of players with a lot of skill and talent,

but they are not taking that to the cricket field.

Croft: Most of these guys who play in the West Indies squad are in their 20s, and don’t look fully equipped for the rigors of international cricket. People seem to work their way through the system with limited experience, limited exposure to tough cricket. We played tough cricket at [the ages of]16/17. Cricket where you are truly tested, where you can be found out and where you face periods where you have doubts in your own game. It separates the wheat from the chaff. Now players are getting through to the Test team and going through moments like that in their mid-20s.

Garner: The only way you can improve is by having programmes in all 18 islands that are the same. Whatever happens at junior cricket should be the same at the top levels – you need to have a professional approach from a very young age. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be the money to do it. They thought they did in Allen Stanford. The less said about that, the better.

Some of you have been involved with some of the current players in one way or another (Garner was appointed interim manager for the West Indies’ tour to Sri Lanka last

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winter, while Gordon Greenidge was enlisted by the Trinidad & Tobago board to work with some of their top batsmen) .

What were your experiences of working with the WICB and the players?

Garner: For starters, the drive and hunger was considerably less. And that is something that needs to be addressed; you need to change their approach and change their attitude. They underprepared and looked lacklustre in almost all facets of the game. More of them should try their hand at cricket in other countries; they should be more taking time to play county cricket. It’s as a very good place to hone your skills and get some good quality cricket under your belt. You build character by playing different types of cricket; playing on different wickets and in unfamiliar conditions. You build character by being outside your comfort zone.

Greenidge: I was doing some remedial work with Lendl Simmons and Denesh Ramdin, but there was no continuity to it. I’m not going to turn to them and teach them how to drive. If they can’t do that, then they should do something else. They seem to have lost focus; I think a lot of them just need someone that they can talk to; perhaps most of the time they are talked at or talked down to.

Garner: Players look to be going through the motions; some are guilty of trying to squeeze as much money out of their careers as they can. One thing I will say to you is that you have to enjoy what you are doing.

If you don’t enjoy it, then you won’t be successful at it. Once you enjoy it, you’ll play well, and if you play well you get paid well. It’s a balance that you have to strike – you don’t get one without the others.

Greenidge: I have to say, and Michael will back me up on this, it’s difficult for the previous group of guys to help, especially having seen the reception that some of the other ex-players have had when they have put themselves on the line to help. In essence, you are waiting for the players to come to you for help, which doesn’t happen.

Some of the players disregard earlier generations, but you can’t get a future if there wasn’t a past.

Holding: I’ve always lent my support to the West Indies and been more than willing to give something more back. But they don’t seem to be too keen on people telling them what they are doing wrong; they don’t seem to take constructive criticism very well. Now I’m not their favourite person! Why don’t you go and ask them if they want my help and see what they say (laughs)!

So does the blame fall at the feet of the WICB or the players?

Croft: It is the management in my mind.

Look – if you drive your car and you don’t maintain it, it will break. I don’t care what 62 Spin August 2011

kind of car you have, eventually it will break.

You have to change a part there, oil a part here. It is the same thing in sport; we didn’t look after our production line. We had a top product, but what about the production line? Because we thought you could get a Michael Holding, a Viv Richards, a Gordon Greenidge, maybe even a Colin Croft coming through the woodwork. It doesn’t work like that - you have to put things in place.

Holding: Those who complain about the senior players being destabilising and not setting the right example are those who can’t manage. There have been examples of cricketers from other countries that, initially, weren’t setting the right example and were not behaving the way they were supposed to behave. I’ll give you an example – Ricky Ponting. He wasn’t an angel when he started playing for Australia; he got himself into a lot of trouble – fights and all sorts of things. He was managed, and became one of their best ever batsman.

Shane Warne got kicked out of an academy; he went on to become the greatest leg spinner the world has ever seen!

Greenidge: There are some players who need to go, but the funny thing is that the WICB seem to be focusing on the wrong ones! They think that can get rid of the older players like Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Gayle, but you need experienced players in your side. If you throw a bunch of youngsters in a side, then they will be out of their depth. The board feels they have tried everything, and yet nothing has worked, refusing to accept that the choices they’ve made have been incorrect ones. Now there is talk about dismantling the whole body and starting all over again; but you’ll still be dealing with the same people.

Holding: They are incapable of doing the job that they are supposed to do. If you cannot manage a company, then move.

West Indies cricket is a company, and these managers are incapable of doing what is right for the company. If you have a workforce, and within that workforce is brilliance - someone who can make a car from scratch, but his temperament or character is flawed, you don’t just get rid of that person. You find a way to manage that person to get the best out of them.

Unfortunately in the West Indies, there are people neither willing nor capable of managing. That’s the main problem.

Garner: Some players are more disruptive than others; some of them have stayed around the team for too long. Sure, the board has not made the best decisions, but the WICB does not play cricket.

Croft: Thank God they don’t; imagine how bad things would be then! At least it would mean brand new management; maybe that’s the next step – get them out in the middle. And get me a new ball.

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Taking it to the

Max

Described by one of its creators as ‘Gladiators meets cricket’, The Titans of Cricket show is coming to a stadium near you this autumn. George Dobell spoke to former West Indies captain JimmyAdams about the event – and of his hopes for the future of Caribbean cricket

GB: Tell us about The Titans of Cricket project.

JA: It’s sports entertainment. It’s an indoor event – so you take the weather out of the equation – featuring all the best bits of the game of cricket compressed into two hours.

It will feature some of the best players in the world competing against each other in tests of speed, power and placement. We’ll be testing their bowling speed and accuracy as well as how far and how powerfully they can hit the ball. There will be events such as Ultimate Fielder and players from all the main Test nations will be representing their countries. We know lots of people like the sport, but they can’t give a whole day to go and watch it. I think these events will really capture the public imagination. They’re going to be huge.

GD: Tell us about the players who will be participating this time?

JA: Sehwag has committed to it. Flintoff has committed. Adam Gilchrist; Wasim Akram; Marcus Trescothick; Steve Harmison: they’ve all committed, too. Then there’s Paul Collingwood and many more. We’re hoping to agree terms with Chris Gayle and Fidel Edwards, so they can represent the West Indies. These are serious players. It 64 Spin August 2011

wasn’t a hard sell, either. We’re going to have huge crowds and this is a great opportunity for these guys to show just how good they really are and to entertain people.

“We’re just in a period now where both sides need to cool off a bit” GD: What’s your role?

JA: I’m the technical director. I’ve been advising on issues around speed and distance. There’s no chance I’ll be involved.

I’m far too old. You know, all my life I felt I was playing cricket in a two-by-two box.

There was an attitude of ‘this is how it’s done; this is how it’s always been done.’ But they guys who thought up this project – Matt and Nick – they are two guys who think outside the box. They’ve found a way to grab the public attention GD: Could the Titans project attract new followers to cricket?

JA: For sure. Just like T20 cricket has done.

And people can think what they like about T20, but anything that attracts a new

generation of followers to cricket is OK by me. You know, there are things that happen in cricket that very few people see. Amazing things. Maybe we only see them in practice when people are really stretching themselves, but those are the things we’re going to show people. The shows will be televised, too, so we’ll be taking the game to a big audience. It’ll open their eyes to the sport. There will be kids at a crossroads and, because of this show, they’ll be attracted to a lifetime’s love of cricket. That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to get involved: anything that brings cricket to a new generation of followers will always have my support.

GD: Has West Indies cricket turned a corner?

JA: Well, I’m going to cautiously say that it has. But people have been saying that for a few years and they’ve been wrong. Maybe things have changed now, though. At last, the people in administration realised that, whatever raw talent we may have, it’s not developing in the right way. When people graduate to the full international side, they’re often found wanting.

The answer was never just going to be changing the captain or the players. It was more fundamental. Finally we have an academy up and running. The rate of change might not be as fast as we want, but at least

things are in place now that should lead to long-term improvement.

GD: Has it been hard watching the West Indies of late?

JA: No. There’s still gold in the ground, you know. As long as that’s the case, I’ll remain optimistic for the future. By that, I mean we’re still producing the talent. We have phenomenal talent.

GD: I saw you take a terrible blow in the face – probably the worst I’ve seen - playing for the West Indies against Somerset. Did that have any long-term effects?

JA: No, no. It probably looked worse than it was. I was lucky in that the guy who patched me up knew what he was doing and, six weeks later, I was fine. Bones heal.

It was the only time I’ve been hit in the face and I’ve been playing all my life. It was just one of those things.

GD: Does Chris Gayle have a future in the West Indies team?

JA: Oh, yes. He’s only 30. He has lots more to give West Indies cricket. We’re just in a period now where both sides need to cool off a bit. He’ll be back.

GD: What did you think of Fire in Babylon?

JA: I thought it was… entertaining. I enjoyed the music the most. I’m a big reggae fan. I’d seen all the footage and I knew the story and all the characters very well. But maybe they over-politicised it a bit. There’s some revisionist history in there. But basically they portrayed the story pretty well. It was entertaining.

Visit: www.titansofcricket.com for more details. The Live Titans of Cricket events will be staged in Manchester (MEN, October 2), Birmingham (NIA, October 5) and London (O2, October 8). Tickets from £25.

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too black & Fire in Babylon is an entertaining cricket documentary with factual flaws according to George Dobell Like criticising Live Aid for poor acoustics, it seems churlish to fault Fire in Babylon.

This is a film with many positive qualities - not least the producers and distributors have managed to take a cricket documentary to the big screen nationwide.

It’s a very enjoyable film, too. It tells the story – or part of the story, anyway – of the rise of the West Indies team of the 70s and 80s, examining its cultural significance and the manner in which cricket united the diverse populations of the Caribbean and the people of the Caribbean diaspora. It is, at times, a quite inspiring tale.

drugs awareness training, they should find the time to watch this film. The likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo need to know how their forefathers united not just the diverse Caribbean islands, but gave people from the Caribbean a source for pride. It just might alter their priorities a little.

So, what’s the problem? Well, if you just view Fire in Babylon as an engaging piece of cinema, there are no problems at all.

But it’s a documentary. And, as such, it has more responsibility. It has the responsibility to tell the truth, even if that interferes with the narrative and even if it makes for less clear conclusions.

that the team was inspired by a desire to defeat their former colonial masters; that the West Indies team of the 70s and 80s was still fighting prejudice and ignorance.

I’m not sure that’s helpful and, more importantly, I’m not sure it’s true. The likes of Richards and Joel Garner (at Somerset) and Malcolm Marshall and Gordon Greenidge (at Hampshire) being welcomed with open arms by a cricketing public who marvelled at their magnificence. There were some half-wits who resisted, but to suggest that West Indies v England encounters were played against a backdrop of racial tension is misleading. At the European premiere, Michael Holding admitted he felt some “artistic licence” had been taken by the producers in that regard.

Michael Holding admitted he felt some “artistic licence” had been taken

Highlights? Well, the sections with Sir Viv Richards stand out.

The footage – and his recollections - of a particularly feisty exchange with Rodney Hogg is spellbinding; his reflections on declining a blank cheque to go on a rebel tour to South Africa - and the subsequent response of Nelson Mandela - are fascinating. He may not be perfect but history will remember Sir Viv very fondly.

Colin Croft’s reflections on the same episode are also revealing. They may even warrant a documentary in their own right. As Croft explains it, West Indian players participating in the ‘rebel’ World Series league were viewed as pioneers; West Indian players participating in the ‘rebel’ South African tour were viewed as traitors. He couldn’t see the difference.

It should become required viewing for any aspiring West Indian cricketer. Just as any Caribbean cricket academy graduate is provided anti-corruption briefings and 66 Spin August 2011

And as a documentary, Fire in Babylon is less successful. It’s not just that it lacks an objective view – none of the West Indies’ opponents are interviewed; a missed opportunity, surely - but there are gaps in the story, generalisations and liberties taken with footage that undermine its credibility a little.

So, there’s no mention of, among many things, the West Indian losses (the World Cup final against India in 1983), of barging umpires or kicking down stumps (New Zealand, 1980), and of how the West Indies’ flair and brilliance was actually celebrated around most of the cricketplaying world. It was hard not to warm to a side of such outstanding skill.

The biggest problem is the premise

Given the producers’ premise, it’s hard to contextualise the West Indies’ success against teams such as India and Pakistan. They were hardly their colonial masters, after all.

Does it matter that, among the many liberties taken with the footage, that right hand bowlers are shown bowling lefthanded, that Lord’s is referred to as Lords, And that footage of Australians in the 1980s is used to illustrate England grovelling in the 1970s? Maybe it won’t to some, but personally I felt as if trapped in a conversation with an aunt who had brushed up on her cricket so as to hold down a conversation on the subject.

The film is too black and white. In every respect. If it were billed as a “based on a true story” account of the West Indies team, it would be easy to recommend it highly. As a historical document, however, it’s flawed.

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1.

It’s ‘boring’.

2.

It seems very complicated.

3.

It’s a ‘boys’ game’.

4.

It ‘goes on too long’.

All of which bring me to Rowan.

Rowan is a late convert. The 38-year-old was originally one of the above, thinking that cricket was ‘boring and pointless’, only suffering through it to support her boyfriend.

That was until the last Ashes series when she found herself falling completely, head-overheels in love with it and, of course, the high quantity of aesthetically-pleasing players.

Feeling the need to prove herself, she set about learning the game, searching for stats so that she “could prove to people I wasn’t actually just watching for the eye candy”.

And that’s what I have found with such women. A burning desire to prove their worth. It can sometimes be a difficult thing to walk into a stand full of men and ignore the quizzical looks and the assumptions that they are just there to leer at long-off’s legs. As Rowan puts it: “I’ve had a few funny looks going to the cricket on my own. A woman! In the pavilion! We want to be taken seriously as fans. We know our stuff and we’re willing to work at learning more.”

Some of us have had a more lengthy relationship with the sport. I’ve mentioned my grandfather’s adoration for cricket and how, after nothing but daughters and granddaughters, he chose me as his heir. This is the case with a lot of fans – be they men or women. I do find it interesting how a strong influence in your early life can help to build a real involvement in a particular sport. Hazel Potter, 42, is another fan whose father’s influence on her early life was very marked, going to watch games at Gloucester. Her

The Scent of a Woman...

Lexi Boddy on why the aroma of perfumed, orange-blossomed beauties needs to become a more widespread and welcome one in our county pavilions

There’s a smell wafting around the ground floor of the Oval Pavilion. Like vanilla. Sweet.

Ambrosial. With deliciously-tangy top-notes.

A woman’s perfume. I look around to see the offending woman, not much older than me, sat by herself a few rows back. Big sunglasses.

Floral sun-dress. My immediate reaction consists of the following thoughts: 1.

Who is this woman?

2.

Why is she here?

3.

She couldn’t possibly like cricket.

Then I realise some things: 1.

I too am sat by myself, wearing a pair of aviators that cover most of my face and perfume I bought because I want to be a feminine, orange-blossomed beauty.

2.

I too love cricket (hence why I am here, at a county game, on a Thursday afternoon, alone).

3.

I am, quite obviously, a judgemental, hypocritical cow.

So I want to redress my wrongdoings because the female cricket fans I know are a laudable, passionate group of ladies who deserve more than to be 68 Spin August 2011

dismissed. I want the cricketing world to applaud the female fan so that maybe, just maybe, we can wipe out this kind of thinking and get more women into this wonderful sport.

As the old, somewhat-mythical adage goes...I don’t like cricket, I love it. I have loved it ever since my grandfather plonked me in front of a grainy image of a moustachioed Ian Botham and told me that I loved it. I think cricket is beautiful. I think that cricket (most of the time) embodies the way the world should be. But, most of all, I think that my total immersion in it gives me a purpose that I get from few other things in my life.

I’ve always thought of cricket-lovers as people belonging to a clandestine brotherhood with secret handshakes, madeup languages and that knowing look that says ‘yes, I love cricket, isn’t it amazing? Shhh, let’s keep it to ourselves, we’re smarter than the others’.

Brotherhood.

My inner feminist balks at this. But

could there be a ‘sisterhood?’ When I look around the stands I see the die-hards, the drinkers and the unconscious – most of whom are men. I don’t feel intimidated. I have been given odd looks, asked if I’m lost, asked if I’m there to try to pull a cricketer – none of which particularly riles me but I do hope for more women.

So, I could spend the next 500-or-so words analysing the whys and wherefores of cricket’s lack of a female following but instead I’m going to have a little celebration. I want to celebrate the women that do turn up, the women who find themselves reading cricinfo at gone-midnight, the women who get excited by the prospect of a beautifullyexecuted straight drive.

When I talk to my non-cricketloving friends (yes, I have those) and I ask them why they don’t feel a pressing need to watch the game, I get the following responses (apologies, in advance for my excessive use of quotation marks but I feel it an abomination in the eyes of the cricketing gods to write the following without them):

passion for cricket is evident in her attendance at a wide range of games – from county level to international, at home and abroad. She loves “the ebb and flow of a game, how changeable it can be over four or five days”.

There is a poetic lexicon employed by cricket fans when they talk about their own appreciation of it and I’ve found this is more so with women. I think that cricket appeals to women because, yes, there is the technicalminutiae, but once you learn it the game takes on a harmonious beauty that is difficult to tear

‘I want to celebrate the women that do turn up, the women who find themselves reading cricinfo at gone-midnight’ your eyes away from. It can become a kind of meditation. Hazel told me that the feelings aroused by cricket aren’t as intense as they can be for other sports, say football. Maybe this is why women are so attracted to cricket and why the ones that aren’t, should be. It offers them a chance to care deeply about a sport: to grow and learn in an environment that is, for the most part, welcoming and sedate.

Rowan told me that she didn’t think ‘there’s another sport where I’d feel so comfortable being a woman, alone.” Surely that is something for all cricket fans, male and female, to be proud of. And hopefully, if this message gets out, more women will come to enjoy what so many others are already so enamoured with. Until then, we shall sit in the pavilion alone, wearing our efflorescent perfumes, filling in our scorecards and loving, loving, loving cricket.

Surrey’s BRAVE NEW

Neon WORLD

SPIN’S fashionista Katie Walker salutes Surrey’s decision to go all futuristic and finally dismisses the theory that their shirts were stolen off the security guards before the game. As told to Daniel ‘party shirt’ Norcross.

THE CUT OF THE KIT IS A BIT LESS ACIIIIIID, AND A BIT MORE GAY DISCO Let’s be clear, all T20 kits are a bit of a style travesty. Conventional cricket whites are sportswear at its finest, and if it ain’t broke, why fix it? But if the powers that be are determined to ditch what’s classy and classic, then Surrey have come up with the only dignified response: neon green. If you’re going to mess with tradition, and a sublime one at that, the only way to maintain some kind of stylistic integrity is to think like an insurrectionist and go radically futuristic.

You know it’s a bit like trainers - if you’re not wearing Dunlop Green Flash or Stan Smiths, you’ve got to choose some metallic Nike creations with little windows in the heel to show off the air bags.

Anything in between is half baked or wannabe.

Beyond cricket, neon has great fashion éclat right now. In the world of expensive prêt a porter, everyone’s fallen for the flouro since Christopher Kane

paired it with lace in his big-fashionmoment-of-a-Spring Summer 2007 show.

And last Autumn in Paris, Vogue identified some flashes of flouro on the front row of the shows - usually a helpful heads up for big trends to come. On the street, neon is a staple of Nu Rave style which revives the acid house look of the late 80s, (it’s sort of a shame Surrey didn’t run with the trend a bit further and think about a glow stick bat handle or SURREY SAYS RELAX on the shirts).

The cut of the kit is a bit les Aciiiiiiiid, and a bit more gay disco: the clingy tight sleeves and no collar are both very himbo. There’s a ton of clever creative flourishes designed to flatter. The black inserts on the shirt do the job of a male corset, creating the illusion of an impossibly slim waistline and superimpressive pecs. The combination of bright top and jet black bottoms is an old trick

which any girl will tell you flatters their figure.

But the masterstroke has to be the yoke line across the butt. This clever fat-busting device shapes the fabric around the butt, instead of letting it hang loose. Surrey have shown some serious silhouette shrinking savvy by not only using this old tailor’s trick, but highlighting it with a contrasting neon green piping.

Other details of note: The lining in the trousers is sophisticated to say the least. At the top, there’s a kind of fishnet mesh, and from the thigh down, an extraordinarily sensuous faux silk

fabric, all of which is finished very neatly, not an overlocked stitch in sight. No mistake, this is luxury so many designer clothes no longer bother with lining of any description.

The cap is a strange mix of the uninspired and the wacky. On the one hand, it’s a black baseball cap with a boring stripe pattern which suggests the designer was short on creativity on that day, (I mean why didnt he/she go for zigzags or even smiley faces in keeping with the Nu Rave look?)

But then it seems he/ she had a huge rush of untrammeled inspiration, as the back of the cap consists of insubstantial nylon, and basically looks like

a Do Rag, seen more often on Snoop Dog or Busta Rhymes than Surrey cricketers.

Excellent lack of logos - only three including the club crest (a charming if slightly out of place fleur de lis).

But the Kia is pretty ugly. Red is simply wrong against the neon green, I wish they’d been more daring and gone for a neon alternative. The placement too is poor.

Any predominant shirt emblem should sit higher up, not across the ribs, but just a comfortable space below the collar bone, that way nothing looks as though it’s going southwards, or drooping a bit.

FACTS Colour: Neon a triumph in bravura

10/10

Logos: fantastically few, but main logo not pretty

7/10

Finish: Hem line impressive, lazy to dispense with collar on shirt

8/10

Cap: see above, don’t want to think about it again

1/10

SPOTLIGHT ON...

The Oval Owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, the (Kia) Oval has been home to Surrey County Cricket Club since 1845.

In the shadow of the famous Gas cylinders, the Oval traditionally hosts the final Test match of the English summer. Over recent years it has undergone extensive development and the ground now holds 23,500.

the Particulars >> Tube: Nearest tube station is, unsurprisingly, Oval station on the Northern Line. Also nearby is Vauxhall station (less than ½ mile away from the ground) on theVictoria line.

Train: Vauxhall station has trains going into Waterloo and out through Clapham Junction towards Surrey and the South West.

Bus: The 36, 136 and 185 stop outside the ground.

Boris Bike: nearest docking stations are at Kennington and on Vauxhall Bridge.

Driving: Don’t drive. No really. Don’t drive. OK well if you have to, there is no parking actually at the ground. At the weekends, there is some limited parking in the residential streets around the ground. During the week these are permit only parking. There are parking meters situated away from the ground towards Kennington or Clapham.

Ticket Prices: LVCC: £10 (Junior £5,) on the day CB40 : £10 in advance (junior £5) T20: £20 in advance, £25 on the day Where to sit: For sun all day, you need to sit at around deep mid-wicket for the right hand batsman at the Pavilion end or in other words, the Lock stand.

72 Spin August 2011

Blocks A-D of the OCS stand also get sun for most of the day. For shade all day, there is a covered stand (the Laker Stand) by the Pavilion or the upper balconies of the Pavilion are in the shade for the large part of the day. If you are with a member or are a member of the opposition county with visiting rights, you can sit on any of the tiers outside the Pavilion.

There is no dress code in The Oval pavilion, which can be entertaining at times.

Food and Drink in the ground: Hot food and drinks are served at various outlets round the concourse including under the OCS stand. For CB40 and T20 games there is a “food village” just outside the back entrance of the Pavilion (by the Hobbs gate).

More formal lunch or dinner is available in the pavilion if you are with a member or are a member of the opposition county and you can book lunch in one of the pavilion restaurants.

There are bars located around the concourse although sadly they only serve Carling which is priced at £3.90 (although only £2.70 in the Pavilion). A bottle of wine costs around £27.00. Pimm’s is sold but, like in all grounds, it is expensive, and SPIN have on occasion missed a lot of overs of cricket waiting for the staff to find fruit, lemonade and ice. Be warned that on big match days, if you buy a jug you may have to pay a £5 deposit for the jug itself, which is fair enough but the Pimm’s stall often closes before the end of the day meaning you can’t reclaim your deposit.

Cash Machine: There are cash machines in the ground – by the club shop although they very often have run out of cash and they charge you for withdrawals. There are cash machines located at Vauxhall station (underground, and one near the ticket office for the mainline station). There is NO CASH MACHINE AT OVAL STATION; the nearest free machines to Oval is on Kennington Road at the post office.

Shop: The Club Shop is located on the concourse, by the pavilion – it sells a good selection of kit and cricket equipment.

Other facilities: For ladies in particular, avoid the toilets at the Pavilion end of the ground. Use the newer ones towards the OCS end instead.

Food and Drink near the ground: There are a good number of pubs in the immediate vicinity of the ground. SPIN recommends the following three all of which have a good beer garden, decent beer and serve food all day: -The Beehive on Durham Street -The Roebuck on Ashmole Street (quickest route to it is to cut through the estate) -The Fentiman Arms on Fentiman Road

Quiz THE CRICKETER Ryan Sidebottom

1

What’s your highest Test score against India?

Ryan’s answer: 17 Answer: 25*

2

Who was the only player to make a hundred in your first ODI? Ryan’s answer: GrahamThorpe Answer: Andy Flower

3

Name all 7 of your victims when you took 7/47 against New Zealand?

Ryan’s answer: There’s no point me thinking about it, I’ve no idea.

Answer: How, Bell, Fleming, Sinclair, Elliott, McCullum, Vettori

4

Excluding Trent Bridge and Headingley, what ground have you taken the highest number of first class wickets at?

Ryan’s answer: Canterbury Answer: Scarborough

5

How many wickets have you taken against New Zealand?

Ryan’s answer: 41 Answer: 41

6

What team did you play against for your debut in First Class cricket?

Ryan’s answer: Leicestershire Answer: Leicestershire

7

How many Test runs did your Dad make?

Ryan’s answer: 34 Answer: 2

2/7 Long hair, short memory

74 Spin August 2011

Twenty years after his retirement, Ian Botham remains Englandʼs most celebrated cricketer.

From the Ashes, a film by James Erskine chronicling Bothamʼs infamous summer of ʼ81, is the 30th birthday cake for two months that will always define his career.

It seems to be the cricket documentary season. It was a shame for Botham that as the film premiered in Londonʼs Mayfair, the West Indies not for thefirst time - cast a shadow over his achievements. Fire in Babylon, the documentary charting the rise of the great West Indies side which dominated the era, had had its UK premiere to much fanfare the night before, and it was impossible not to feel that Botham and Erskine had been a little trumped.

The similarities in the approaches of the two films were evident from the start –

Botham’s

Ashes picturEs: pa photos

Sam Collins takes a look at the documentary From the Ashes

76 Spin August 2011

Being blunt – there are other problems too. The filmʼs narration is at times overearnest to the point of parody, especially when it insists on calling Botham ʻBeefyʼ, and it struggles with how much cricketing knowledge it should assume of its audience. But this is sporting documentary, as much of aspectacle as sport itself, and it seems churlish to pick too hard.

For where From the Ashes excels is when it is in its simplest form – talking about the cricket and the characters of those who played it. It is a story that dovetails with the English obsession with leadership – the cult of MikeBrearley bringing out Bothamʼs finest moments, and fascinatingly, some of Australian captain Kim Hughesʼ lowest.

Getting Hughes and Marsh to speak about the nadir in their relationship is a huge coup for Erskine – neither spoke to the

cricketer of the late ʼ80s and early ʼ90s has given way to the outspoken commentator, while the frequency with which Headingley ʼ81 is referred to in the press or replayed on television has induced a numbness of familiarity – as omnipresent yet remote as the Houses of Parliament remain to most Londoners.

From the Ashes shows a different Botham to the one we are used to. There is a compelling dignity in low moments, there is warmth in the embraces, a passion in the eyes. Itʼs a one-man reminder of sportʼs unique hold over player and spectator, and how sometimes brilliant things come of it. Whilst there were moments of over-egging – Botham describing Dennis Lillee as the greatest bowler of all-time immediately after footage of him smacking Lillee round the park was gloriously self-perpetuating – it was

It’s sometimes difficult to know what to make of sir ian feisty anti-heroes, sporting achievements set against a background of political unrest, thumping contemporary soundtrack.

Yet if Fire in Babylon was over-politicised at times, it never felt as forced as Erskineʼs interjection of scenes of rioting between Bothamʼs flashing blade.

Attempts to set Bothamʼs captaincy as a victim of classbased establishment bullying also rankle – he was sacked because he wasnʼt successful – and, whatever Rodney Marsh may say, there is no way that the Ashes was the pinnacle of the game at a time when the West Indies swept all before them.

Australian author Christian Ryan for Golden Boy, his riveting book on Hughesʼ captaincy that exposed the rift between Hughes and the Marsh/Lillee axis. Perhaps they felt they had nothing left to hide, but their interview footage is as raw as the archive clips – Hughes sweating by the end as he recalls painful moments with an extraordinary good humour. Botham, too, is stripped bare by the camera in the first half of a summer that was not going at all to plan.

For this child of ʼ82, itʼs sometimes difficult to know what to make of Sir Ian. The grouchy, portly, mulleted

impossible not to glimpse the ʼ81 Botham as he answered questions after the film.

The sadness for him – and his public – is that after ʼ81, celebrity, intrusion and the fallout of a fast lifestyle meant the game for Botham was never quite the same again.

As the story nears its conclusion Erskine steps away from the cricket to show footage of another Royal Wedding. Years pass, haircuts change and bad things happen in between, but people never stop wanting the odd fairytale Botham gave us one, and Erskine has given it to us again.

August 2011

Spin 77

We can beat the Russians. A cricket match is easy by comparison Tim Albone’s Out of the Ashes charts the remarkable rise of the Afghanistan cricket team. Daniel Norcross discovers a tale of character and great characters in the wartorn country and discusses the book’s development with its author “I realised that the human mind is a wonderful thing; if you truly believe something and never give up, you can achieve far more than you ever dreamed.”

These words may sound like the trite shibboleths of a successful reality show contestant in the immediate aftermath of success, but are in fact inspired by the astonishing achievements of the Afghanistan national cricket team. And it is this powerful theme of self-belief that permeates every page of Tim Albone’s magnificent narration of the most remarkable story in modern sport.

Out of the Ashes may well be familiar to SPIN readers as a documentary aired on BBC4 last year.

Executive produced by Sam Mendes and written

by Albone, it told a fascinating but incomplete story. In the book Albone is able to contextualise the team’s unique feats, assiduously 78 Spin August 2011

presenting the story within the backdrop of Afghanistan’s current plight.

But despite the broad themes and the relentless but relevant intrusion of geo-politics into the tale, this is also a story of individuals and of one man in particular: Taj Malik.

Taj and his brothers lived over half their lives in a refugee camp in Peshawar while their father fought the Russians back in Afghanistan. It was here that they played cricket in a cemetery with tape balls, masquerading as mourners at funerals to scrape together enough money to buy rudimentary equipment.

They remained in the refugee camp during the Taliban regime of the 90s, and despite their father’s disapproval and regular beatings, they collected more Afghan players until they had the foundations of a team.

The book begins with Taj’s return to Kabul following the Taliban’s

overthrow in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He is determined to set up a national team with him as coach, based in large part on his refugee outfit and needs to find someone who will help him.

Eight and a half years later the Afghanistan national team, containing three of his brothers, competed at the ICC World T20 in the Caribbean.

When I talk to Albone it is clear he is slightly in awe of Taj, with whom he has formed a strong relationship. “He always believed they’d make it to the World Cup. He told me: ‘We can beat the Russians. A cricket match is easy by comparison.’”

Albone was working as a journalist in Afghanistan when he was asked by his editor at The Times to do a piece on the cricket team.

“I didn’t believe him at first, but he told me The Economist had written something so I went along to find out.” And evidently it was love at first sight.

Since then he has formed strong bonds with many

We discover that Taj doesn’t trust anyone who doesn’t like cricket, and writes off whole countries, such as Belgium, at a stroke

of the team, many of whom he is still in contact with. He talks about them with tremendous affection.

“Karim is marvellously boastful and has adopted the nickname Boom Boom for himself.

Nothing will dent his belief,” Albone tells me.

“Nowroz, the captain, is wonderfully calm. There are so many different characters. Some I got on with better than others.

But they were all very welcoming. They’d let me into their homes. I can’t believe I’d get that kind of access to any other international team.”

But of course Albone began chronicling their exploits before they really were an international team and it is that extraordinary good fortune that makes this book more than a dry

retelling of the facts.

As the team embarks in 2008 on the qualifying rounds for the 50-over World Cup, Albone is with them and sprinkles his narrative with delicious anecdotes. There is the time the players are waiting for a flight at Dubai airport. They are spotted by some local girls and get talking.

However, our Afghan heroes are not the most worldly of men and when they run out of chat up lines one of them suggests to the girls that they might try to be less fat, with predictably negative consequences.

We discover that Taj doesn’t trust anyone who doesn’t like cricket, and writes off whole countries, such as Belgium, at a stroke. Such attitudes would not be out of place in the MCC, and it is Albone’s skill that he manages to

identify the common ground rather than dwell on the cultural differences between himself, his readers and the players.

But you are also never far away from the horrors of the war. The players are shocked to discover that a former player has been killed by US forces while under suspicion of being a Taliban operative.

Journeys to and from Peshawar are perilously negotiated along roads lined with mines. And as the team makes ever more impressive progress towards its goal of reaching the World Cup, the country’s woes deepen in almost exact proportion.

“The players, and Taj in particular, wanted to show the world a different side of Afghanistan, one that the country could be proud of,” says Albone.

And it is Taj’s persistent belief that drives the side on. “Their first game was against Japan. Taj didn’t believe it was possible for people from Japan to beat his men. After all, as far as Taj was concerned, the Japanese are small and weak.”

And while such views may seem distastefully antiquated to modern ears, Albone’s strong, empathetic and detailed narrative ensures you retain affection for the players if not their opinions.

Inevitably, as the team progresses, the limited coaching skills of Taj come under scrutiny and he is replaced by Kabir Khan, a former Pakistan Test player. It is under Kabir that the team really flies as he gets them to adapt their game to different conditions.

“Taj had never even coached a club side,” says Albone. “His skill was in motivating the players.

But if you look at those early games the batsmen would never score any singles. I think they thought it was unmanly not to hit it to the boundary.”

And the departure of Taj from the book is the moment the narrative paradoxically loses its momentum as we are taken through a series of mini match reports that culminate in the side’s failure to make it to the World Cup, but receive a surprise invitation to go to the ICC World T20.

In Albone’s zeal to take us through every match, we suddenly lose our connection with the players and the situation back home. But this is a minor failing. Taj’s heroic

return, just in time to witness his men take on India on the world stage, pleasingly bookends the tale and provides a fittingly chaotic finale to the story.

So has success changed the players? “Four years ago they lived in cramped conditions and were outsiders even in their own families. No one could understand what they were doing. Now there are billboards on the streets with their faces on them. They have iPods, laptops, and were all given cars. They are pretty much the only famous sportsmen in the country and their lives have been transformed,” says Albone.

For some, the success has slightly gone to their heads, though Albone won’t name names. And the concomitant relative

riches that have befallen the Afghanistan Cricket Board have not come without the usual turmoil.

But the future is rosy despite them still having to train in rudimentary conditions. Two stadia are being built in Jalalabad and Kabul that will house 30,000 spectators. And left armer Sharpoor Zadran has attracted interest from IPL sides, as has paceman Hamid Hassan.

And now that the ICC have restored the next World Cup to a 14-team tournament there is every chance that Taj’s ultimate dream will soon be realised.

But whatever the future holds, Afghanistan’s story, so sympathetically narrated

by Albone, is already guaranteed to be retold for years to come.

August 2011

Spin 79

prince of the gantry and king of clubs, johnny barran reports from the showbiz/cricket frontline

After three years of gentle persuasion we finally managed to coax (on the promise and delivery of a fine lunch) TMS grandee Henry Blofeld into the BBC London Commentary box for day one of the match between Surrey and Glamorgan at the Oval. Henry, who said he “needed a net” before the international season got under way arrived in fine form, dressed immaculately, including the trademark Turnbull and Asser bow tie. Then as the clock struck 11, it was like being with the big boys, as Henry, in the Pavilion box, got a view of the Harleyford Road (which you don’t get from the media centre). He was on cloud nine as buses of all descriptions received the same attention as the action in the middle. Henry was marvellous and dealt with division two of the county championship with the same enthusiasm as a Test Match. We had an assortment of “kicking horses”, pigeon fly-by’s and “my dear old things” that characterise his work on TMS. Mark Church received the nickname Archbishop and I was dubbed the Robber. And when Alviro Pietersen recorded a seven (he had previously hit a 1, 2, 3, 4,5 and 6) Henry was on hand to deliver the news of the first batsman in the history of the game to achieve this feat). All in all great fun and Henry plans to join us again in September.

One of the additions to my workload this year is being the match-day MC at John Paul Getty’s unique ground Wormsley. First up for me was the ECB Unicorns against Notts in the CB 40. As anybody who has followed my work from the Oval will know, it’s seldom flawless and this experience was no different. The day had gone well and I had managed to get to the closing moments of the match without any major errors but then warming to the 80 Spin August 2011

role I announced that Notts required 2011 to win as opposed to the more manageable target of 211. Naturally this brought the house down. For the record Notts did make it despite the stiff target I set them.

As I write we are in the middle of the Twenty20 roller coaster. It’s a great time of year spent either on the Oval outfield as MC or largely on the motorway heading West or East to cover games for BBC London. The weather, however, has been playing havoc as the last two Fridays have involved 13 hours driving 700 miles covered but no cricket witnessed as both games at Taunton and Chelmsford ended in washouts.

Still it didn’t stop Church and I waffling away about covers, drainage, and evening dinner plans which, as most remarked, was a vast improvement on our ball-by-ball delivery. We did finally get cricket on a Friday at the Swalec – Abba night. Glamorgan versus Surrey seemed like the undercard as an assortment of ’70s costumes poured into the stadium. The highlight was a head-to-head between Abba and the Village People during the interval – the Village People edged it.

The highlight (although not quite the zenith of my career) so far for me was commentating on the London Mascot Derby at the Oval, which featured mascots from most all of London’s sporting clubs. The loudest boos (and we had a few) greeted the Gunnersauraus from Arsenal, closely followed by Stamford the Lion from Chelsea. The race though nearly had to be abandoned as Charley the Bear from Harlequins piled into Sting from Wasps, just prior to the off and while that was kicking off Charley the Cockerel from Spurs laid out The Gunnersauraus.

Despite the shenanigans we did indeed get a race with Pinky the Panther from Middlesex bringing home the bacon.

On the club front East Bergholt CC , of which I am president, is pulling together its cricket week nicely, the highlight of the event being the arrival of the England ladies on Friday August 26 to take on a team lead by Neil Foster.

Neil’s side includes Peter Such and Irish football international Matt Holland. It’s a fascinating and mouthwatering prospect.

August 2011

Spin 81

Cricket Scenes

LIMITED EDITION CERTIFIC ATED CRICKET PRINTS

by ELAINE bAyLE y

Flintoff v Kallis Cricket doesn’t have too many bigger men than Jacques Kallis and Andrew Flintoff. At Edgbaston in 2008, in the third Test between England and South Africa, the two men clashed in one of the most gripping contests in modern cricket.

The 2008 Flintoff was already showing signs of wear and tear. The phenomenal period when he was dominating Test cricket was over. Now he was surviving largely on personality and the cult that had grown up around him.

Kallis might have just about the best record of any allrounder in history but his career seemed to be on the wane. He was having trouble making runs at all, and feeling the pressure for the first time in his career.

England were struggling against a professional South African team. They were bowled out for 231 in the first innings, and South Africa had inched their way to 226 for four thanks to Kallis and Neil McKenzie, who had made 72.

But Flintoff noticed the batsmen were having trouble picking up the ball as dusk approached, because his bowling hand appeared to be coming out of the committee members’ seats above the sightscreen. When Flintoff

82 Spin August 2011

started the 67th over of the innings, it was clear that this was starting to bother Kallis, who was on 64 – the first time in the series that he had scored more than 13.

The first ball from Flintoff was fast and full, and tailed in just outside off stump. Kallis did not pick it up until it bounced just inches from the stumps, his bat coming down very late. As the crowd groaned, Kallis bent over, sporting a cheeky grin that turned quickly into the world’s most nervous smile and then into the grim stare of a man who realised he might not be able to survive this. Up in the commentary box, Bumble summed it up perfectly: “Ugh, well he just hasn’t seen it,” he said.

The over continued, Kalllis missing one ball by a considerable distance, hitting another almost accidentally and ducking and swaying from a series of short deliveries.

Flintoff wasn’t playing up to the crowd, nor trying to bait Kallis verbally, just trying to get in as many balls as he could before the umpires called it a day. Sometimes when Flintoff was firing, he

brought his team along with him, almost as if he needed extra support to get the most out of himself. This time, though, he was a one-man army, using every trick in his repertoire. The more balls he faced, the more it was obvious that Kallis was struggling. As Flintoff ran up, Kallis took on the look of a frog in a murky pond, straining so hard his eyes seemed to pop out of his head.

Mercifully, Kallis was smashed on the foot straight in front by a yorker from hell that he had no time to react to, and Aleem Dar’s finger seemed inevitable. But for some reason known only to the umpire, he didn’t give it.

The slow motion replays proved that it should have been out, and it seemed cruel to keep Kallis out there.

Flintoff’s next over, the 69th, started with a scary bouncer.

Kallis avoided it by snapping his neck away from it. Bumble chipped in again. “In all my time with Flintoff, I’ve never, ever, seen him like this,” he said. The next ball Kallis left alone, although unsure where it was. Flintoff was using the advantage of the sightscreen

Ugh, Well he just hasn’t seen it

to completely baffle Kallis, who could only grope in the general direction of where he assumed the ball would be.

Flintoff could have just bowled non-stop full balls to exploit the conditions. Instead, he bowled short to move Kallis around, put the odd length ball in, and moved the ball both ways. It was a reel of Flintoff at his best, not that Kallis saw it.

The third ball of the over was a length ball outside off stump, and moved away. Kallis played a rare shot for him, the meaningless waft outside off stump and seemed rattled.

The next ball ended it all.

Flintoff went full and straight, moving the old ball away.

Kallis moved into what he thought was the right position, but the off stump was out of the ground and Flintoff was bellowing at the sky. Kallis walked off shaking his head.

South Africa went on to win the Test and the series.

Kallis has since rediscovered his form, and is no longer under pressure; Flintoff was finished by the next summer.

In 50 years people looking at the records will wonder why Flintoff was so well regarded.

“Why did everyone think he was so good, Pa?” “Well, lad, let me tell you about one day at Edgbaston; he only took four wickets, but …”

Friends wanted T

he Bel Air Children’s Home, in Calliste, Grenada, is home to twenty nine children who come from backgrounds of neglect, abuse, and abandonment.

The youngest is just five months old. The home is woefully understaffed, underfunded and relies heavily on volunteers and the charity of people who care.

The situation is challenging. The home survives on adhoc donations, juggling the little that they have on the bare essentials. The Friends of Bel Air (UK) is registered with the Charity Commission in the UK. Registration number 1074764.

To raise funds, we are selling certificated limited edition signed mounted cricket prints for £42.50 plus £9.95 p&p. In addition there are packs of ten cricket note cards at £5.00 plus £2.95 p&p.

The artwork has been designed by renowned Shropshire artist, Elaine Bayley. Please forward your cheque made payable to Friends of Bel Air to Alison Kynaston Jones, Sycamore Croft, St Martins, Shropshire SY113DL You can read more about our other initiatives on our website which is www.belairchildrenshome.com or contact Alison Kynaston Jones, Chair of the Friends of Bel Air UK on 01691 77767.

BID FOR A SIGNED PAUL COLLINGWOOD ECB CRICKET SHIRT Spin readers are invited to bid for a signed cricket shirt.

The highest bid received by email to alisonkynastonjones@ btinternet.com no later than August 30TH will win the shirt.

The proceeds of this silent auction will go to the Bel Air Children’s Home.

100% OF YOUR DONATION GOES TO THE CHILDREN OF BEL AIR IN GRENADA

Smile Caribbean your group tour operator for a truly unforgettable experience Group Tour Operator for Essex CCC. I’m really delighted with the outcome of Essex’s pre-season tour of Barbados.

It’s been a very good tour, we’ve upped our fi tness levels and integrated new players into the squad. The organisation has been excellent, the facilities have been very good and I very much hope we can come back next year.

Paul Grayson, Essex CCC 1st team coach

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Smile Caribbean Group Travel are a leading specialist in the fi eld of Group Tours to the Caribbean. Our staff are either Caribbean Nationals or, have lived in the region for many years and we are experts in all aspects of the region. Our tours are uniquely accurate and successful including the Essex County Cricket Club pre-season tour to Barbados in March 2011.

Additionally, through our extensive experience and range of contacts, we are able to organise tours of the highest quality for many other destinations including Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Dubai and also, within the UK and Ireland.

www.smile-caribbean.com For further details, contact Smile on 0207 193 5654 or gwalker@southquaytravel.com