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JUNE/JULY 2011 £3.95
GOODBYE THE ARTFUL COLLY
SIMON JONES I SSUE 61 JUNE/JULY 2011
SRI LANKA
KP
SHOAIB AKHTAR
Lashings 210 x 297:Layout 1
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Contents
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24
SPIN ISSUE 60
Welcome to SPIN. It’s the beginning of a new dawn at SPIN, as we have had a change of editorship. We pushed Duncan Steer to his limits for six and a half years, and now we have left him behind the sofa recovering. We thank him for all his hard work. Duncan will continue to contribute to SPIN, but we are now handing over the helm to Jarrod Kimber, known for his work on cricketwithballs.com, ESPNcricinfo video show The Chuck FleetwoodSmiths, and the irreverent internet cricket commentary of Test Match Sofa. Described by George Dobell as the least likely looking cricket editor he’d ever seen, Jarrod is an Australian who lives in the UK and is obsessed by cults. Frankly, we think it’s a perfect fit for SPIN.
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50
10 JASON ROY
56SRI LANKA
12 SHOAIB AKHTAR
62MATTHEW HAYDEN
SPIN’s young player to watch is a hard-hitting batsman from Surrey who talks to Ed Maylon.
SPIN founding editor Duncan Steer talks about his muse Shoaib Akhtar, after the pace bowler’s retirement.
24CHARLOTTE EDWARDS
The England women’s captain and legend of the game chats to George Dobell.
28PAUL COLLINGWOOD
Did you know that Paul Collingwood is into art and is hoping to make an England comeback. No, neither did SPIN’s top dog George Dobell before this probing interview.
34
SIMON JONES
Simon Jones is back, again, so we sent Lizzy Ammon to see just what is going on with this former England speed demon.
Jarrod Kimber looks at Sri Lanka’s new leadership team of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Stuart Law, whilst looking at the bowling unit.
Australian sledging icon Matthew Hayden talks about the art of mouth cricket in an extract from his new book ‘standing my ground’.
70THE IPL
Now that the IPL is over for another year, Nick Sadleir takes a look at how the tournament went in the absence of Lalit Modi.
OTHER CONTENTS 7 SPIN OFF
SPIN is introducing a new online cricket newsletter - SPIN OFF - which will, by issue three, be available only to SPIN subscribers.
40FRIENDS LIFE T20
77 FILM/BOOK REVIEWS
50ENGLAND’S SUMMER
82 THE CONTESTS
The SPIN team look at the counties chances for another season of T20 mayhem.
Dan Norcross looks at how England can end the summer as the number one Test team, and tells you why you should love KP.
We look at the film Fire in Babylon and the new book CrickiLeaks.
A look back at Ambrose v Waugh.
FROM THE
SOFA
Barring the Associate nations from future World Cups is short-sighted in the extreme, says Dan Norcross of Test Match Sofa.
HOW LORD’S
DEALT WITH THAT DAY With the Sofa taking a seven week break before the resumption of international matches, most of the team have been able to catch up on the domestic scene. As a sanctuary from life’s persistent woes, there is little to beat a day (or ten) watching cricket in unseasonably warm spring sunshine, cosseted from the late season anxiety of inevitable disappointment (if you’re a Surrey fan), and terror at impending autumn. But William Windsor and Kate Middleton’s decision to tie the knot on April 29th, just
8 SPIN JUNE/JULY 2011
as 8 county championship matches were nearing their thrilling conclusions, laid down the gauntlet to our noble game. Could the more cerebral rhythms of four day cricket stand toe to toe with the must see event of the century, or would the short format of the wedding, with its glitz and razzammatazz, lure the crowds away on what coincidentally happened to be a public holiday? The last time the Royal Family’s nuptial shenanigans intruded so forcefully on the game’s consciousness was 30 years ago. The summer of Botham. On that day in 1981 I was taken to Guildford to watch
Surrey play Sussex by a father who found the whole business of weddings, especially other people’s, not in the least to his taste. I was therefore saved the hours of analysis of that dress and whether polka dots were in or out of fashion. Instead I basked in summer sunshine along with a packed crowd at Woodbridge Road while Gehan Mendis and John Barclay failed to cope with Robin Jackman, and “the greatest medium-fast left-arm bowling all rounder never to play for England”, David Thomas. With that splendid day still fresh in the memory, I decided that this time round I’d make the
short trek to Lord’s to watch Surrey do battle with Middlesex in the knowledge that I will always favour the ebb and flow of the four day game over the hit and giggle of the Royal Wedding despite its celebrity guests, big screen replays, and Jonathan Agnew on hand to do the commentary. Lord’s had laid on live coverage of the big event out in the middle, and all the talk before hand concerned what Rory Hamilton-Brown would be wearing on this most auspicious of mornings. Resuming day three on 34-2 in their second innings, still trailing by 208 runs, Surrey were certainly up against
comment
format event but even I could see that William, and his opening partner Harry were working the room to perfection. Quick out of the blocks they were able to nod and smile their way through the opening exchanges, getting the pace of schmoozing before advancing down the aisle to unleash some beautifully timed handshakes. At no point did on they offer a chance to the waiting for news cynics and Join SPIN on Facebook gazine (ie whatever from your favourite ma podcast was thrown IN us), alerts re: the SP it but with SPIN at them was and ‘inter’ ‘action’ with strong handled with rl. contributors. It’s at tinyu batsmen to aplomb, com/spinfacebook come and a genuinely Lord’s wicket appearing to know holding no terrors, the the names of some result was not a forgone pretty distant relatives and conclusion. managing to pick the Clegg (the Over in the Harris Garden, one that goes the other way) which was tooled up with giant from the Cameron despite both televisions, some 200 spectators being delivered with exactly the were enthralled by events at same action. Not even the Westminster Abbey. William arrival of the momentarily must have won the toss and unrecognizable Princesses elected to have first use of the Eugenie and Beatrice put them aisle. Despite the evident lack of off their stride and they were a heavy roller it looked like a able to close the Groom’s typically flat, ecclesiastical innings with what, to the surface with a significant area untrained eye, looked like of “smooth” starting to develop universal acclamation. around the Tomb Of The Back at Lord’s we were still Unknown Soldier. The merest awaiting the arrival of the misjudgement of stride length players so I managed to catch and the unsuspecting honoured all the Bride’s innings which was guest could slip over in an disappointingly sedentary, even undignified heap of public for an armchair fan such as ridicule. The failure of either the myself. Opening up with both umpires or even the Match sisters, the Middletons never got Referee, Rowan Williams, to out of first gear, and failed to take any action against Mrs. capitalize on their one man Redknapp or Mrs. Beckham for advantage with the Bride’s walking on the pitch is father not making the best use something you’d hope the of the fielding restrictions which General Synod will look closely gave him free access to the aisle at in future. while all the guests remained I’m no expert on the short seated. And the deployment of
SPIN
four runners at once (or “bridesmaids” as the commentators insisted on calling them) would have shamed even Virender Sehwag. In one of the Royal Wedding’s many gimicky innovations the umpires and Match Referee are miked up, so we now had to endure a 30 minute hiatus while they lectured the two teams on future conduct before the match ended in a shambolic mess with neither side being declared the victor. William and Kate both immediately announced their retirement from future Royal Weddings to concentrate on “getting on with their lives” giving a lie to the notion that the short format can extend a career and leaving fans of Royal Weddings to pin their hopes on the promising Harry Windsor and Pippa Middleton. By now at Lord’s, Surrey were capitulating to Neil Dexter and Toby RolandJones (who must have turned down a possible Wedding invite to remain loyal to the 4 day game – Middlesex selectors take note, please). The end came soon after lunch in front of a crowd of 2251, up nearly 60% on the day’s previous attendance. Indeed, a quick call round the counties playing that day revealed that gates were up by an average of 30% across the country with only Essex experiencing a downturn (but then, The Only Way Is Essex). Leicestershire saw a 100% increase on the day before, while Kent were particularly delighted. Despite having no TVs at Canterbury they reported a 118% surge in paying spectators and told me “we conducted a controlled experiment within the ground and have concluded that we need a Royal Wedding on every 4th day of a county
championship match.” A quick and deeply unscientific straw poll of spectators at Lord’s had confirmed interest in the cricket was certainly out doing the Windsors. Surrey fans Jenny and Victoria admitted to glancing at Kate’s dress en passant, while Lexi had headed straight to the lavatory to avoid any mental contamination; emerging just in time to miss the happy couple leaving the Abbey. Middlesex fans Paul and Nigel had taken a strict line of abstinence actually to the point where they refused even to acknowledge the wedding was taking place at all, while Steven happily toasted the royals with half a bottle of Bailey’s but refused contact with the TV while the cricket was ongoing. But while these results may suggest that county cricket can feed off the rival popularity of Royal Weddings, I remain skeptical despite the persistent rumours of huge money deals sloshing around the sub-continent to sign up the world’s biggest names for a rival, day/night “Mega-Wonga.com Indian Wedding League”. We’ve been here before, when a surfeit of Royal Weddings in the 80’s and 90’s produced too many matches, with predictable results and ensuing “spectator fatigue”. Over the last 200 years cricket has seen off and reached an accommodation with a number of rival attractions. And while there is certainly a place for Royal Weddings, cricket fans can be reassured that, for the time being at least, the game looks strong enough to withstand this latest competition for our attention. Dan Norcross is lead commentator at the acclaimed testmatchsofa.com
JUNE/JULY 2011
SPIN 9
The kid you should know…
JASON ROY
{We sent our work experience slave, Ed Maylon, down to learn all about Surrey’s big hitting cult figure Jason Roy}
A
Q&A’S AGE 20 HEIGHT 6’0” NATIONALITY British PLACE OF BIRTH Durban, South Africa ROLE Batsman NICKNAME J-Roy STRENGTHS Hard to say really, I hit the ball hard so maybe batting at the top of the order in one-day games. WEAKNESSES Bowling is something I definitely want to work on, and building an innings in the middle overs. I PLAY A BIT LIKE... I genuinely don’t know. Certainly my idol is Jacques Kallis but I don’t think I could claim to play like him! HIGH POINT OF CAREER SO FAR The twenty20 hundred without a doubt [101* from 56 balls vs Kent last season] LOW POINT OF CAREER SO FAR It’s very early days so there haven’t been too many, sometimes I get frustrated with a lack of consistency. If you’re consistent then it’s hard to miss out on the XI. TOUGHEST PLAYER PLAYED AGAINST Nantie Hayward was very quick, and this season, the South Africa paceman 10 SPIN JUNE/JULY 2011
s Jason Roy walked into the pavilion for his interview, he beamed with a well-deserved smile. Having shaken the outstretched hands along his route, and thanked people for their kind praise, the Surrey youngster sat down and simply asked: “What do you wanna know then?” Immediately I was relieved; this interview wasn’t going to be a tough one. Having just watched him blister an undefeated 106 from 62 balls for Surrey 2nd XI against Surrey Championship holders Reigate Priory (coincidentally his own club), he was in great sprits as he talked succinctly and honestly about his career and aspirations. The game in included a return from injury for Mark Ramprakash. Arguably though, Roy stole the show. It was not the first time that the explosive batsman had outshone his illustrious colleagues. Last summer, he became the first Surrey batsman to score a
Friedel de Wet, who is playing for Hampshire, is a serious bowler. BEST PLAYER PLAYED WITH Has to be KP or Ramps here at Surrey. They’ve got everything, not just as players, but characters around the dressing room and they command respect from everyone. BIGGEST INFLUENCE Between Ian Salisbury and Graham Thorpe, who have both coached me at Surrey. BEST ADVICE GIVEN Simmo (Andrew Symonds) told me to just keep hitting the ball hard and to play my natural game. He’s a great player. THE ONE PLAYER YOU’D LOVE TO PLAY WITH Chris Gayle is unbelievable, and Sachin [Tendulkar] obviously would be pretty awesome. FUNNIEST TEAM-MATE They’ve all got a bit to them really….[long pause] probably Kingy (young off-spinner Simon King) or Dernbach. WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS? I want to be a Surrey regular in all formats first of all but why not be ambitious, I’d love to be winning the Ashes with England, batting five!
century in Twenty20 cricket, some feat considering the likes of Graham Thorpe, Azhar Mahmood, Alistair Brown and Andrew Symonds are among those to have represented the Lions in the format. Those who witnessed his 101 not out from 52 balls against Kent saw his main strengths very clearly, several spectators having to run for cover as the ball sailed into the crowd again and again as he hit 16 boundaries, including five sixes. When quizzed on his own abilities, he describes himself as a “top of the order batsman” in one-day cricket, where he prefers to bat at No3, but slightly lower in the longer form of his game. Although he may seem suited to the shorter forms of the game, Roy is adamant about his desire to succeed in the longer forms. He marked his county championship debut last August with an innings of 76 (typically for him, it came from just 65 balls, with nine fours and three sixes) and then played the last two games of the season. Being a batsman who tends to score at a quick rate, he talks about the need to improve his work in the middle overs “nurdling and building an innings is something I’m trying to improve, because I know I can tee off at the end of an innings” but also of a desire to improve his part-time bowling. Although he’s never been tossed the ball in a Surrey first-team match, denying him the chance to display his hard work in that respect, his work on the “digging in in the middle overs” was immediately rewarded by promotion to the first XI. The day after this interview, he made his first appearance of the season in Surrey colours (in the Clydesdale Bank 40 against Scotland) and scored 60 in a decisive partnership with Steve Davies, his halfcentury coming from just 45 deliveries. The next day, he was selected to bat at his favoured No 3 as Surrey were asked to chase down a meagre 141 by Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. Faced with a strong bowling attack – including Simon Jones, Dominic Cork and the talented young left-arm spinner Danny Briggs – Surrey quickly found themselves in trouble. The visitors slumped
FAVOURITES CAR Lamborghini, Bugatti… something flashy WOMAN Ha! I have a girlfriend but Kate Middleton’s very nice isn’t she? HOLIDAY Caribbean Island, pure chill just on a beach somewhere quiet. MEAL I love a curry, so probably Indian. FILM Taken with Liam Neeson, awesome film, you gotta watch it. TV SHOW Don’t really watch TV much to be honest BAND I loved Michael Jackson but now it’s probably Drake or Lil Wayne.
to one for two, 24 for three and 45 for five as things fell apart on what proved to be a tricky deck in Southampton. With help from fellow Surrey youth product Matthew Spriegel though, J-Roy (it just feels right, say it) showed exactly where this hard work had been enhancing his game. His strike rate was only a nibble above 70 but this in itself paints a picture of how he went about his innings, far removed from his natural game. It was a match-winning 76, only tainted by the marginal disappointment of getting out one run short of the hosts’ total. He described himself as “very proud” of his innings but also told of “having fun out there… and not getting too stressed out” which appears to be his style, a confident but relaxed individual (who obviously loves clearing the ropes). Even though Roy doesn’t see himself as an opener, when that position was offered to him for Surrey’s second home match of the county championship, against Leicestershire, he grabbed it with both hands, seeing it as a chance to make a mark in the young batting line-up. In the first
“I know I can tee off at the end of an innings” innings, he managed only five on a rare Oval green-top but in the second he completely dominated the opposition attack, smashing powerful drives at will on his way to a better than a run-a-ball 76, which equalled his highest championship score at the time, and setting up a big win for his county in a lowscoring game. He followed this with his first century, 106 not out from 109 balls, against Glamorgan at the Oval, featuring a partnership of 150 in a mere 21 overs with skipper Rory Hamilton-Brown. A fine, athletic fielder, he was used as a substitute for England in the summer of 2008 against South Africa, a game that raised questions about his international allegiance. When asked about his nationality, he replies “British” seemingly
without thinking. Betrayed by his strong South African twang, though - he was born in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal to two South African parents and moved to this country when he was ten– he looks at me quizzically when I ask why he considers himself so. “I love going to South Africa but I was brought up here and consider myself British, so why wouldn’t I want to play for England?” My comparisons to a current international – also from Kwazulu-Natal, an explosive batsman, who chose England over South Africa and now in situ at Surrey - are swiftly rejected. “Ha! No. I respect KP, and it’s an honour to be compared to such a well-respected player, but we’re different,” says Roy, laughing. While the parallels that I’d drawn had been firmly quashed by the player in question, Roy must be aware that when and if Pietersen is available for selection for the county, it will be his own place at risk in the SurreyXI. If he can continue his development though, Jason Roy will be hoping to replace Pietersen in the England picture in the long term.
INTERVIEW
SHOAIB AKHTAR
THE END
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Shoaib OF THE LINE FOR
The founding editor of Spin, Duncan Steer, talks about his main muse, ShoaibAkhtar, who has finally called it quits from cricket
THE FIRST TIME I MET SHOAIB AKHTAR WAS IN RAWALPINDI IN 2001. HE TOLD ME THAT HE HAD ONCE BOWLED 97.7MPH, WHILE CARRYING A BACK INJURY AND HAVING A BROKEN RIB. Now, he was injured again, sitting out Pakistan’s training camp and reflecting on his place in the world. “One good thing about my fame is that people really love me,” he said. “They love me because I do my best for the country. That’s why people love me a lot, even more than other players. When I go round town, people knock on my car windows and shake my hand. They treat me well.” Fast. Charming. Comically self-regarding. Injured. It was a good introduction. I thought he was a brilliant interviewee and resolved to keep in touch. Shoaib could certainly walk it like he talked it – just not all that often: he made his Test debut in 1997 and retired this March, but played just 46 Tests in between. To be fair, he never set out his stall as a workhorse. Even at that 2001 meeting, when he was 25, he talked of his urgent need to have a rest. He wanted to be an impact player: “I have to play the crunch matches, charge in and get wickets and win crucial games. But if we’re 2-0 up there’s no point me pushing myself too hard,” he told me. Did he win crunch matches for the team? Sometimes. His finest hour came possibly when England went to Pakistan at the end of 2005. Euphoric with Ashes success, England sensed a new era. But Pakistan knocked them over 2-0, inspired by a fit and fast Akhtar who, as well as being able to reverse the ball at extreme pace, had finally added a demon slower ball to his armoury. It was an extra level of humiliation for batsmen, prepared to be blown away by pace, to find themselves instead outwitted by Akhtar’s guile. Akhtar took 17 wickets at 25; his five-for wrapped up Pakistan’s innings victory in the final Test and the image of him, wheeling
away in celebration, is possibly the enduring one of his career. More often, though, Akhtar conjured up inspirational cameos, glimpses of greatness, huge promise left unfulfilled. In his first Test against India, in 1999, he removed Dravid and Tendulkar with consecutive balls, both bowled with inswinging yorkers, as Pakistan pulled off a narrow victory at Eden Gardens; later that year, in England, three key wickets - all bowled - in the World Cup semifinal against New Zealand; in 2003, there was the
HE’S A SUPERSTAR and just does what he wants. When you’ve got a bloke like SHOAIB in there, it can cause mayhem.
famous first (officially recorded) 100mph ball, to Nick Knight at the World Cup. Lesser teams were swept away: against New Zealand, Akhtar took 17 Test wickets at a ludicrous five runs each. I was ghosting Shoaib’s column for The Guardian during the 2003 World Cup and the supposedly landmark 100mph ball was not the big thing on his mind. “I did bowl the first-ever 100mph ball in a World Cup,” he said. “But that doesn’t matter when you go for 63 off seven overs. I just ran out of gas after four overs. I’ve got a lot to put right.” An unfulfilled talent? Akhtar finished with a Test strike rate of 45, bettered in the modern era only by Shane Bond, Dale Steyn and Waqar Younis, his game-for-game stats head and shoulders above those of Brett Lee, for so long perceived as his chief rival. But injuries and often self-inflicted fiasco meant that he did not appear in a major tournament between the 2004 Champions Trophy and the 2011 World Cup, denying him, at least, the chance of being a T20 world champion like his contemporary JUNE/JULY 2011 SPIN 13
G LEA DEIN DGE
The
DEEP THROAT
of the West Indies
“W
hen torchlight shine, cockroach run” is not a line from a melodramatic Hollywood film, it’s the mantra from a cricket blog called WICBexpose.com. Which does almost exactly what it says on the tin. The website could easily be called WICBleaks, if it wasn’t such a mouthful. I was made aware of them when they started following me on Twitter, but this wasn’t the first website of its
16 SPIN JUNE/JULY 2011
kind. WICBsucks.com existed before this, so WICBexpose.com didn’t automatically attract me. I followed them back, clicked a link they put up to one of their blogs, and suddenly I realised this wasn’t a normal “what’s wrong with West Indies cricket” blog. This was the Watergate of West Indies cricket blogs. Somehow, legally or otherwise, it seems that the internal emails of WICB officials have been obtained by someone who doesn’t like the WICB very
much. In fact, that’s an understatement: they’re out for WICB blood. Armed with a vicious turn of phrase and some secret cricket knowledge, they’re outing the facts they choose to embarrass the WICB. So far they’ve alleged that a Jamaica Cricket Association executive who had a $128,400 Jamaican Dollars (about £900) limit on his JCA credit card had charged $712,311.60 (about £5,150) on it, including more than a few trips to Burger King,
KFC, Foot Locker and TGI Friday (their slogan is “where the good times never end”). There is also alleged to be an expense for somewhere called The Rib Cage, which I’d like to think is a restaurant inspired by the shortpitched bowling of the Caribbean’s legendary fast bowlers. WICBexpose.com claims this is all from an official document and, at the time of writing, there had been no denial from the board itself. The blog also claims to have
PICTURES: PA PHOTOS
The cricket world’s most uncompromising blog is looked at by Jarrod Kimber.
SPIN INVESTIGATES
got hold of a copy of head coach Ottis Gibson’s report from the 2010 ICC World T20, which includes his thoughts on Chris Gayle, the then captain. In what purports to be the minutes of a meeting of the board held in St Lucia in July last year, the head coach is alleged to have revealed that: The captain was not a natural leader. The situation is far worse than he expected There is a lack of trust among the players There is a lack of respect for authority Senior players and some others lack the passion for the game There is no evidence of leadership qualities among the senior players The captain is not a student of the game and lacks tactical awareness. This is contrasted on the same page with Clive Lloyd’s thoughts on Gayle, reported by the Jamaica Gleaner. Lloyd, a WICB director, told the
WHEN TORCHLIGHT SHINE, COCKROACH RUN. newspaper: “He creates a very good atmosphere when he’s around. He’s been a great boost for this team and the players react to him very well. He has been brilliant since he took over. The players are behind him and he has created a great team spirit.” It is here, though, that WICBexpose.com falls down a bit. Had it just allowed the words of Gibson to speak for themselves, the website would have had a chance of working. But the site suggests that its creator had another agenda by
being snarky, anonymous and manipulative: those Lloyd comments were made two and a half years before Gibson’s. If you knew who was behind the site – whether an individual or a group of people – it would be different. But there is no-one prepared to put their name to the site. I contacted it on Twitter, and got no response. It is completely anonymous. For all we know this is the work of a jaded former player or employee. Or it could just be run by fed up fans who believe the WICB is a totalitarian organisation more interested in burgers than the welfare of the region’s cricket. We just don’t know. Maybe we are being told only part of the story. Perhaps other information that would make the WICB look good is being censored. This doesn’t mean that this website is not important. The WICB is a shambles at the moment. Dwayne Bravo, Jerome Taylor and Gayle are playing in the IPL instead of representing their country. Players are being forced to play for their own physiotherapy. Allen Stanford put a whole bunch of money into the game, and then left a massive Texas-sized hole when he departed to attend to other matters. Kieron Pollard chose to play in the Friends Life T20 in England rather than for West Indies A. Young players such as Robbie Joseph, Ruel Braithwaite and Chris Jordan are trying their luck in the UK. And there has been a public spat between the board and Shivnarine Chanderpaul about his future – he claimed he had been asked to retire – and about messages relayed to him while in the middle telling him how to approach an innings. The unfortunate thing is that all of this bad publicity has somewhat overshadowed the fact that for the first time in some years, a few really good young players appear to be coming through in the
Caribbean. They have, in Darren Bravo and Adrian Barath, two of the best young batting talents in the world. Kemar Roach has the potential to become one of the world’s best bowlers and Devendra Bishoo’s leg spin looks to have real quality. Add that to players of the quality of Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Taylor, Dwayne Bravo, Chanderpaul, and Fidel Edwards, and there is a real team there. That doesn’t mean that they don’t have their problems. The West Indies players are still not as professional as those from other countries. English players, for example, would not have to pay their own physiotherapy bills. It is clear from the comments of Chanderpaul that not everyone is overly happy with Gibson’s methods and there is the leadership vacuum that has been evident in their cricket for many years. Darren Sammy, the captain, is an interesting man (before becoming captain his Twitter profile was full of honey-based softcore erotica), but whether he merits even a place in the side is debatable. That the WICB is a concern is
of no surprise to most cricket fans – and why the existence of WICBexpose.com is a good thing in one sense. However, I don’t think West Indies cricket needs snide and snarky reportage of their board’s latest cock-ups. What they need is the facts to be exposed by someone willing to identify themselves and who will take responsibility for what is placed on the site. West Indies cricket needs more than manipulation. It needs an overhaul, and the unedited truth to come out. If their officials are running it into the ground, then the truth must be revealed. What can’t happen is for a website with access to this information to use it simply for a personal smear campaign. However as it stands – and it may not be moral or fair – the torchlight is now firmly on board officials. They might want to fix their game or start running very soon. For this article I not only contacted WICBexpose.com, I also contacted the WICB directly for their say on this website. Neither party returned my messages.
JUNE/JULY SPIN 17
SPIN H T P E IN D
ENGLAND FEATURE
IN MAY 2010 PAUL COLLINGWOOD LED ENGLANDTOTHEIR FIRST VICTORY IN A GLOBAL EVENT,THE WORLDT20. BUT, LESSTHAN AYEAR LATER, HE WAS DEPOSED AS CAPTAIN AND HAD RETIRED AS ATEST PLAYER. SPIN’S CHIEFWRITER, GEORGE DOBELL,TALKS TO COLLINGWOOD ABOUT HIS PAST, HIS PRESENT AND HIS FUTURE.
GOODBYE,
COLLY ? Artisan to artist? After playing more than 300 games for England in all formats, Paul Collingwood will have no regrets if he is not picked again, but he plans to remain in the game, even if it is only to sketch pictures of the former New Zealand great Richard Hadlee
Y?
Interview
>>
Is it fair to describe the last year for you as the best of times and the worst of times?
Oh, no. It’s been a fantastic year, really. We won the World T20 and then we retained the Ashes in Australia. How could that be anything less than fantastic? Sure, I was disappointed to lose the T20 captaincy but, on the whole, it was a brilliant year. You have to retire some time. And what better way to go out than after a full ground at Sydney after just winning the Ashes? I wouldn’t describe that as the worst of times at all.
Did your own form in any way detract from your memories of the Ashes?
I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a tinge of sadness when I think about that. I am very aware that my primary role is to score runs and I didn’t do that. But hopefully I contributed in other ways and, having experienced an Ashes series where I did well and the team did badly, I know I’d much rather have it the other way round. I made a mistake at the start of the tour. I remember saying to the media that, in 200607, I’d scored heavily but we’d been beaten and that this time, I’d settle for winning the series but me not scoring a run. And that’s pretty much how it turned out.
Was it hard to cope with that loss of form?
It was agony. Yeah, agony. I was thinking about it 24 hours a day. Of course I was. My job was to score runs and I wasn’t doing that. I knew full well that I wasn’t contributing as much as I wanted to the team and I knew that my livelihood was at stake. That’s a horrible feeling, I can tell you.
Were the problems technical or mental? It’s funny: all international sport is probably 90 per cebt mental and 10 per cent technical. But as soon as anything goes wrong, we always go looking in search of something technical, don’t we? Now I look at it, my career has had dips every three years or so. I don’t think it’s been much to do with technique. That’s remained pretty much constant. It’s more to do with time and needing a rest. I think I was a bit jaded and my mind had become a bit cluttered. The international schedule has become very hectic and sometimes it seems there’s no time to get away from the game and just clear your head. Unless you have a major injury, you never get a good break. It wasn’t ideal to have a World T20, the Ashes and the World Cup all within 12 months. I wasn’t as fresh as I could have been.
In that way then, perhaps
JUNE/JULY 2011
SPIN 29
INTERVIEW SIMON JONES
KEEPING UP WITH
SIMON JONES
Simon Jones sat down and chatted to Lizzy Ammon about where his career stands. Simon Jones’ career has epitomised the highs and lows of professional sport so acutely that it is no surprise that he finds it hard to look too far into the future. The fast bowler, whose star shone most brightly six years ago, in England’s 2005 Ashes win, had been plagued by injury before he limped out of the fourth Test of that series with an ankle problem, and has been since, the headlines promising imminent county or international return supplanted almost immediately and inevitably by those reporting another breakdown. Those injuries – the first and most dramatic one that freak occurrence in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane in 2002-03 when he dug his knee deep into the outfield as he tried to effect a sliding stop - have laid waste to a career that promised so much more and, directly or indirectly, brought about heartrending moves from his beloved Glamorgan, and latterly Worcestershire, where he had first tried to revive his fortunes. “I’d absolutely love to play for England again,” the affable Welshman says, stretching out comfortably on the nursery ground at the Rose Bowl, home to Hampshire, the latest county hoping to get some mileage out of what remains of that pace and reverse swing that so foxed Australia. “[But] I’m not sure whether they’ll have another look at me. They have a great team at the moment and lots of guys waiting in the wings.” Jones, who will be 33 in December, refuses to be drawn on whether he will concentrate on the shorter formats of the game to prolong his playing days or if he would be tempted to accept a lucrative contract should the IPL come calling. Instead, and perhaps surprisingly given the many low blows the game has
inflicted upon him, he prefers to focus on what he might be able to put back into it. “I’d like to stay in the game, possibly as a bowling coach,” he says. “I love the game and I really want to help and develop the youngsters. I spent a lot of time in the second team last year and I really enjoyed coaching and mentoring the young players. It’s really rewarding just being around the young lads, giving them advice and coaching.” Jones, whose long run and unmistakeable pace marked him out as one to watch from the outset of his Glamorgan career in 1998, made his Test debut against India at Lord’s in the 2002 English summer, a stand-in for the missing Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick. He took four wickets in the match and scored 44 in his only innings, but he was unable to retain his place for the rest of the summer as the England attack changed on an almost match-by-match basis. He had done enough, however, to earn passage to Australia the following winter, a winter that was curtailed agonizingly early by that horrifying incident at the Gabba. It was 14 months before he made it back into the England side, in the West Indies, after which his international progress became a stop-start affair until Troy Cooley, the England bowling coach for the 2005 Ashes, helped
uncover his ability to reverse-swing the ball. At Old Trafford those skills helped him pick up what remains his Test best to this day, six for 53, in the Australian first innings, removing the dangerous Ricky Ponting and scything through the middle order and tail as England came mighty close to an incredible victory. Then, in the next Test at Trent Bridge, he again accounted for the Australia captain cheaply before ripping through the lower order to claim a second successive five-wicket haul as the tourists were made to follow-on. But in that second innings, after bowling four overs, the ankle that had survived on cortisone injections finally proved too much of a burden and, before England had completed victory, he had limped out of international cricket, sadly, it now seems, never to return. It is hardly surprising he reflects on those heady days in mid-summer as the highlight of his career. “It was such a special series,” he remembers. “There was a lot of hype beforehand because we’d won the last four series. We had beaten decent teams like South Africa and New Zealand. “We had gone into that series with so much confidence, we knew we could really give the Aussies a good competition. We had such a balanced team and it was a really stable environment. Personally, that was the best I’d felt. The special thing for me about that series was that the team we beat was the one that had been bullying everyone for years - Langer, Gilchrist, Hayden, Warne, McGrath.” There is a genuine warmth in his voice when he talks about the camaraderie of the England team in that series - “You get so close when you are part of the team and form such close bonds that even without regular communication that bond isn’t broken,” he says – but he reserves his greatest affection for a
I WORRIED THAT MIGHT BE IT FOR MY CRICKET CAREER
JUNE/JULY 2011
SPIN 35
FRIENDS LIFE T20
FRIENDS LIFE T20
TIME FOR MAXIMUM MAYHEM THE TEAM AT SPIN COMBINE TO BRING YOU THE MINUTIA AND CAST THEIR EYES OVER THE RUNNERS AND RIDERS IN THIS YEARS FRIENDS LIFE T20. WORDS BY GEORGE DOBELL, DAN NORCROSS, NIGEL HENDERSON, LIZZY AMMON AND JARROD KIMBER.
38 SPIN JUNE/JULY 2011
SOUTH
Essex STRENGTHS: Devastating batsmen. The likes of Scott Styris (pictured), Owais Shah, Graham Napier, Ryan ten Doeschate and, subject to availability, Ravi Bopara, can all play match-winning innings. That several of them also bowl is a huge bonus, while James Foster’s wicketkeeping may win a game or two, too. WEAKNESSES: They aren’t any obvious weaknesses, although there is a great deal required of the only specialist spinner, Tim Phillips. HOW THEY’LL GO: Genuine contenders, quarter-finals a minimum.
YOUNG PLAYER TO WATCH: Michael Comber is yet to shine at first-team level, but he’s a useful seamer and, potentially, a matchwinning batsman. Paul Grayson remarked in pre-season that he’d never seen a cleaner hitter of the ball. OVERSEAS PLAYERS: New Zealand pair of Scott Styris, who scored a 49-ball century against Surrey last year, and Tim Southee, who claimed 18 wickets at 17 apiece to help New Zealand to the semifinal of the World Cup. RECORD LAST SEASON: W 10, L 6, losing semi-finalists.
Glamorgan STRENGTHS: Two experienced spinners in Robert Croft (who last year had an excellent average of 15.59 – and super economy-rate of 5.93 runs per over) and Dean Cosker as well as several powerful batsmen. WEAKNESSES: A flaky middleorder and inexperienced seam attack. HOW THEY’LL GO: They should improve on last year’s dire performance, and could be an outside bet to qualify for the quarter-finals.
YOUNG PLAYER TO WATCH: The 21-year-old paceman James Harris (pictured) is one of the best young bowlers in the county game and could form a useful attack with 28-year-old Graham Wagg. OVERSEAS PLAYER: Captain Alviro Petersen and the returning Mark Cosgrove should form a powerful partnership at the top of the batting order. RECORD LAST SEASON: W 6, L 10, second from bottom in the South Division table.
JUNE/JULY 2011 SPIN 39
Mr
INTERIM {Sri Lanka’s interim coach Stuart Law talks about his challenges in his potential new job to Jarrod Kimber. }
S
Stuart Law may not have faced a full examination at Test level as a player – although his one innings for Australia, as a replacement for the injured Steve Waugh, brought him an unbeaten fifty (and hence no average) – but he is about to undergo thorough scrutiny of his credentials as an international coach, an evaluation he doesn’t regard as entirely fair. For Law accompanies the Sri Lankans on their tour of England in a kind of limbo –as interim coach following the resignation of Trevor Bayliss after the World Cup. And the former Queensland captain, who led his home state to an historic first Shield victory in 1995 – and three more after that - knows that he is taking the helm at a time of great change in the team’s personnel and against a side resurgent after a fine Ashes victory. “As I understand it I’ve been given this 62 SPIN JUNE/JULY 2011
tour to see how I cope and how the team goes,” he says. “With the amount of newcomers, it would be unfair to go on results in this tour. If I’m judged on the performance of the team playing England, who are playing bloody good Test cricket at the moment, when we’re not so adept at playing in these conditions at this time of year, then that’s a bit harsh.” However, the man who feels he was overlooked for the job of coaching Queensland for his “great mate” Darren Lehman because he is “too grumpy” believes strongly in his own methods and that instilling a more disciplined mentality into a team that are not naturally good tourists – their record overseas is the worst of those teams competing to be the topranked Test nation - will bring about the desired improvement in results. “Darren’s such a loveable character, and I
think that’s what modern day players like. I don’t think I’m loveable enough,” he says. “I got a reputation in Queensland as Captain Grumpy, but it seemed to me it worked. I was only grumpy for a reason. Now a lot of the guys I played with realise why I did it. It’s all about discipline. If you can be disciplined, you can respect your teammates and cricket takes care of itself. “What you have to do is remind them [the players] that we can’t change anything: this is what we’ve got, we‘ve got to deal with it. It’s not about ‘well I can’t do it’, you’ve got to find a way to do it. ‘I can’t score runs’; well you’ve got to find a way. ‘Can’t bowl with this ball’, well you’ve got to find a way. Just simple conversations, being compassionate to their wants and needs as a coach, and pointing them in the right direction and giving them a gee up when they need it.”
understand what happens in Sri Lankan cricket behind the scenes, not in the cricket team - and everything else that goes with it, guys like Sangakkara and Jaywardene have been doing it for eight years, and enough’s enough. “They’ve also been the backbone of the batting order and Sangakkara was ’keeper as well. Let’s face it, he was captain of all three forms of the game, was wicketkeeper in two of them, batted three in all of them. That’s a hell of a workload. For him to maintain the high standards, something’s got to give.” In many ways, Law’s predicament is similar to what Andy Flower had to go through on England’s tour to the West Indies in 2009: an interim coach thrown into a tour to prove himself. Flower did it very well, and even though Law and Flower are different personalities, you get the feeling they have the same kind of steely disposition as coaches. Neither is afraid of being unlovable or stern, they just want to get the most out of their players. “It’s a word I hate using, inexperienced team,” Laws adds. “These are young kids; they’ve got high talent. People say they haven’t got any experience, well they’re not going to get any experience sitting off the ground. Tthey’ve got to play the game.” And even though he knows that England are, in his words “a quality side, well-led, welldrilled, well-trained, so we know we’re up against it”, he remains sure that his team can perform to a high level. “We’re confident in our own ability in all facets of the game. England don’t want to underestimate us that’s for sure. If it spins, we come into our own. We have quality spinners. We also have a couple of good young fast bowlers if it’s green and bouncy.”
The 42-year-old, now a British citizen after great success in county cricket with Essex and Lancashire, cites Ajantha Mendis as an example of what he is aiming for. “Mendis has been playing for Somerset and he told me he was having trouble holding the Duke ball,” he says. “So I said ‘you might have to hold it differently to how you hold the Kookaburra’. He has to for it to feel comfortable. In anything, if you don’t feel comfortable, you’re not going to perform well. That’s one thing I’ve tried to teach him or tell him - you can’t have it all your way all the time. There are going to be times when you don’t feel good but you’ve still got to get the job done.” In a normal English late May, when any glimpses of the sun are often offset by cool winds, a dank atmosphere and murky light, the Sri Lankans might not expect to always get the job done, but Laws takes a positive
outlook on the advantage England might hold at home at this time of year. “The home ground advantage is quickly disappearing out of cricket because players are playing so much now in different areas and conditions they’re getting use to it, they know what to expect,” he points out. “Yesteryear you turned up somewhere and you didn’t know what to expect. Now you get an idea of how the pitches play.” Law will be working with a new captain in Tillakaratne Dilshan, and will also be unable to turn to the retired Murali and Lasith Malinga or injured Angelo Mathews if and when the going gets tough, but he understands well why Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene, the former skipper and vice-captain, have decided to return to the ranks. “It does happen after a World Cup, things do change like that,” he says. “If you
“I got a reputation in Queensland as Captain Grumpy” However there is one more obstacle for Law to overcome and this one is off the pitch. “I’ve got a backroom staff who don’t speak English. That’s quite difficult,” he explains. “We have an understanding. You’re trying to get a message across, and you’re unsure of whether it gets lost in translation. There are a lot of outside of cricket issues that you have to overcome, but I think I’m a person who can deal with that.” Law may not have had the opportunities to prove his mastery as a Test batsman, but he speaks like a man ready and willing to make up for that.