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The England bowler’s Test career started off like a dream in Delhi in 1976

Will Hawkes15-Nov-2012If England want to make a quick start in India, someone should call John Lever. No Englishman has better figures in that country than Lever’s, on debut in December 1976, when he swung the ball prodigiously to take 7 for 46 in India’s first innings in Delhi. It set the tone for the series: by the time it finished in mid-February the following year, Lever had taken 26 wickets in England’s 3-1 series triumph.Much has changed since, of course: India are likely to prove rather less accommodating hosts this time. Back in 1976, a bit of flattery from Ken Barrington, England’s tour manager, had ensured that first Test was played with an Indian-produced ball that swung prodigiously. It was the perfect implement for Lever, a fastish left-armer with an easy, rhythmical approach, whose smoothly delivered stock ball, when it swung, had a habit of dipping into the batsman very late.”Ken said to me: ‘If you play in the Test match, would you like to use them?'” Lever, who had enjoyed success with the ball in warm-up games, says. “I said yes. He went to them and said, ‘We think you’ve made great strides in your cricket-ball making, we’d like to use them in Test matches.’ They said: ‘Thanks very much!'”The first ball didn’t swing an awful lot. The problem with these balls, though, was that they went out of shape – and that one had certainly done so. Tony Greig got it changed and the next ball swung quite a bit. We were very pleased!”It was to prove a happy series all-round for the touring party. England had a strong side, captained by Grieg and including a mixture of experience (the likes of Derek Underwood, Dennis Amiss, Bob Willis and Alan Knott) and younger talents like Lever. India, under Bishan Bedi, proved no match. Much is made of the unique difficulties of an Indian tour by English cricketers, but Lever speaks of that trip with undisguised nostalgia.”It was absolutely fantastic,” he says. “It was something I’d never experienced; I’d played a few finals in county cricket in front of big crowds, but these were massive. Calcutta was 100,000-plus; it was a real experience and a real eye-opener, and quite enjoyable. At the end of the day you needed a quiet moment because that noise carried on throughout. It was wearing.”The Indian supporters were lovely people: they obviously wanted their side to win, but they were happy to see people do well. They were happy to see Amiss get 200 [179], they thought the world of him, and to see Greig do well.”Lever’s own standing amongst that Indian support suffered during the third Test in Chennai due to a ball-tampering row.Lever was accused of using Vaseline on the ball to help make it swing: as Greig explained in an article for ESPNcricinfo two years ago, Lever and Willis had been told to wear Vaseline-impregnated gauze strips across their eyebrows to stop the sweat getting in their eyes. Lever had decided to take his off and dropped it at the foot of the stumps, where one of the umpires found it – and the furore began.For Lever, it clearly still rankles. “It took a lot of satisfaction away as far as I was concerned,” he says. “They found nothing on the ball but it still took a little bit away from the fact that I ran up and swung the ball. I guess Bedi was under a bit of pressure, they were 3-0 down: he was looking for something to justify the performance of that Indian side.”The worst thing was that those Indian supporters, all they’re going to know is what they read in the paper – so all the good that I’d done was taken away a bit.”

“Greigy being 6ft 7in, blond hair, stood there in his whites, he waved down two motorbikes and said to the guys, ‘We want to go to the so-and-so hotel’. There we were careering through the streets of Delhi – I’ve never been so scared”

Nonetheless, Lever clearly has more good than bad memories of that time – many of them involving Greig, who, Lever says, was a fine captain. “Greigy was quite a character – and as a leader, he did stir the passions,” says Lever.” He got people really working for the team. Of course, it backfired when he said he would make the West Indies grovel – it was probably taken slightly out of context but the press had a field day with that one.”Lever experienced Greig’s impulsive streak in the moments following the press conference at the end of that first Test in Delhi. “We came out of that press conference and stood at the side of the road,” says Lever. “Greigy being 6ft 7in, blond hair, stood there in his whites, he waved down two motorbikes and said to the guys, ‘We want to go to the so-and-so hotel’. There we were careering through the streets of Delhi – I’ve never been so scared! I’m thinking, ‘It started well but it could end here!'”These guys couldn’t believe they had Tony Greig and John Lever on the back of their bikes, so they were trying to look at us all the time. I don’t know how we stayed upright!”Lever’s career never reached the heights of that series again. He returned to India in 1981, to play in a series widely regarded as one of the dullest of all time. The home side won the first Test and five draws followed. “The pitches were flat, flat, flat and we never had a chance of a result,” Lever says. “It was absolutely awful, so dull! Even to play in it was mind-numbing.”After that, he went on a rebel tour of South Africa and played domestic cricket for three seasons there, for Natal. Those were the best years of his career, he says, and the figures bear him out: he played a crucial workhorse role in Essex’s first-ever Championship in 1979 and then again when they repeated the feat in 1983 and ’84, when only Nottinghamshire’s Kiwi titan Richard Hadlee took more wickets than his 106. Lever, who played 21 Tests, clearly regrets the fact that he didn’t get more chance to display his talent in the highest form of the game.”I felt as though I could have played a lot more Test matches and after the ’81 Indian trip, which came on top of not really playing too many matches in England, I felt slightly disillusioned – so when the chance came to go on the rebel tour I took it.” He played just one more Test – against India, at Leeds in 1986.Lever, now 63, has spent the last 23 years teaching cricket at Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green and will be an interested observer during the upcoming series. “We’ve got a very, very, talented seam attack,” he says. “If we’re going to do well, that could be the answer: Steven Finn, in particular, is looking better and better every time I see him.”If we get wickets with any sort of life at all we’ll bowl any side out – but they know that. Certainly, it won’t be an easy contest but it should be worth watching.”

Saurashtra’s veteran coach Debu Mitra, who has been crucial in the team’s rise in the domestic circuit, remains unassuming but proud

Amol Karhadkar24-Jan-2013Saurashtra have had four men constantly overlooking their progress during the last decade or so: Niranjan Shah at the helm the administration, Jaydev Shah as the captain, Shitanshu Kotak as the batting mainstay and Debu Mitra as the coach.Niranjan Shah has been hailed for his administrative qualities, his son Jaydev has been scrutinised for his patchy batting form, and Kotak, who plays his 129th first-class game on Saturday, is the most senior cricketer on the domestic circuit. They get their share of the limelight.Mitra, however, hasn’t received much attention, after converting Saurashtra from no-hopers to title contenders in nine seasons. He doesn’t mind others taking the recognition; he’s been on the domestic circuit for almost five decades now.Coaches increasingly make their presence known during the course of the game these days, but Mitra is old school and refrains from it. Ever since he was seen with the Saurashtra team for the first time, during the 2005-06 Plate Group semi-final against Madhya Pradesh, his second season with the then West Zone minnows, Mitra hasn’t changed.Once the captain takes the field with his team Mitra, dressed in a tracksuit with his customary floppy hat, would sit either just outside the dressing room or yards away from the boundary line. Though he wouldn’t mind discussing the game and team tactics during the day, he never shouts at the captain or passes on any instruction. However, if the captain walks up to him, advice is as fluent as Cheteshwar Pujara’s cover drive.”Cricket is a game that’s to be run by the captain, so my job is to make the team ready for the game and then let the captain run the show,” Mitra, a former Bengal batsman and coach, said. “I am always available for advice but I will never impose myself on the captain or the team. That is not my style.”The latest example of his method was in Saurashtra’s Ranji Trophy semi-final against Punjab at the Khandheri stadium in Rajkot last week. With Punjab pursuing Saurashtra’s first-innings score of 477, at tea on the third day, Jaydev walked up to Mitra and said, “I think we should take the new ball.””We must, I told him. And it worked,” Mitra said. “Once he was also on the same page, I stressed on it, but otherwise I would have waited for him to think about it.”And unlike most of the modern-day coaches, Mitra doesn’t believe much in technology. Though he has hired a video analyst for Saurashtra, he lets the assistant coach Hitesh Goswami work without a laptop. “Have you ever seen me with a laptop?” he asks, with a wink. “My brain is my laptop. As long it is working, I don’t need [one].”During his nine seasons with Saurashtra, Mitra has taken giant strides towards making them a potent force. It started with them qualifying for the Elite League from the lower tier by winning the Plate title in 2005-06. In 2007-08, not only did Saurashtra make it to the Ranji semis, they were also the national one-day champions. And the next year proved 2007-08 wasn’t a fluke, as Saurashtra made it to the Ranji semis once again.Last week, they played the semi-finals for the third time. Despite the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja, Saurashtra surprised Punjab to qualify for their maiden final since the erstwhile princely team of Nawanagar was merged into Kathiawar.The journey has not been easy for Mitra. It took him five years to accept the job to coach a side that was one of the worst in terms of performance and infrastructure back then. “Niranjan had been after me since 1999, but I was quite hesitant. I used to wonder ‘what will I do in Saurashtra, with such limited talent pool and lack of basic cricketing facilities’. Finally in 2004, I thought I would give it a shot.”

It was my wife who convinced me to stay on. She told me, ‘If you’ve accepted a job, give it your best.’ I thought I would stay on for another season and take a call. And once we qualified for the Elite in 2005-06, Saurashtra cricket and I haven’t looked back since.Debu Mitra was hesitant to stay on after his first season with Saurashtra

The first year proved to be a nightmare for the man who had coached the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Devang Gandhi during their formative years with Bengal. “Believe me, when I went back home [to Kolkata], I had decided not to return to Saurashtra,” Mitra said. “The cricket here had no system in place. The Ranji players were so raw, primarily due to lack of coaching and lack of match practice. All they used to play was some two or three 50-over matches at district level.”But then, it was my wife who convinced me to stay on. She told me, ‘If you’ve accepted a job, give it your best.’ I thought I would stay on for another season and take a call. And once we qualified for the Elite in 2005-06, Saurashtra cricket and I haven’t looked back since.”How did he manage the turnaround? “First, we had to have a basic tournament structure in place,” Mitra said. As a result, he suggested changes to the existing inter-district tournament, and the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) immediately implemented them. The knockout 50-over tournament between the 14 district teams was tweaked to a league-and-knockout tournament and a three-day inter-district championship was introduced. Fourteen teams were split into Elite and Plate divisions with eight and six teams, respectively. Both the divisions were split in two groups, resulting in every team getting at least four matches of “days cricket” every year.”If you don’t play ‘days cricket’ at all till you are selected for Ranji, you need to learn all the skills of succeeding at first-class level when you’re playing it. And it becomes difficult,” Mitra said. “Even now, I get players who are raw. They have to be taught things like how to bowl around the wicket or how to field close in, but I don’t mind doing it. And I must say that Niranjan has given me a free hand. Not even once has he questioned me on anything on the cricket aspect. And everything that I have asked for has been implemented right away.”All this means that at the age of 64, Mitra has to be on the run for more than eight months a year. His season starts in August, when he conducts a camp for the probables for the preparatory tournaments like the Buchi Babu invitational meet and the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup. From mid-August until March, Room No. 209 at Hotel Suryakant in Rajkot is his home.”It is,” Mitra said, when asked whether it was difficult to be away from home for so long. “But once you’ve made a choice, you’ve got to do it. It’s been 11 weeks since I have been to Kolkata. But I got a refreshing break just before the semi-final when I spent a couple of nights at my son’s house in Mumbai. When I see the team performing like this, all that sacrifice is worth it.”And once Saurashtra completed the win against Punjab in the semi-final, Mitra celebrated like a youngster. When you see him merged into the huddle, giving high-fives to his friends, you realise, “I am their friend” is not merely a statement.Mitra featured in Bengal’s loss to Bombay in 1968-69 Ranji Trophy final – his maiden first-class season – and hoped he wouldn’t be unlucky again, this time as a coach. “I was fortunate to have played in a Ranji final in my first season. I am so happy for Shitanshu that he will eventually get a feel of being in the Ranji final. I just hope that Saurashtra does against Bombay what Bengal couldn’t 44 years ago. If they do, that would be the happiest moment of my cricketing sojourn.”

Who showed us he was as decent a mountaineer as he was a batsman

Andy Zaltzman25-Feb-2013Greetings, Confectionery Stallers, to the first Confectionery Stall of the post-Strauss era. I have been on holiday in France for the last week and a half. Coverage of the England captain’s resignation after a distinguished and predominantly successful reign was bafflingly minimal in the French media (particularly given that it is a nation which seems to have designed the shape of its bread explicitly to facilitate games of breakfast cricket) (and not forgetting that France are reigning Olympic silver medallists at cricket, dating back to the Paris Games of 1900) (although most French people under the age of 112 modestly tend not to bang on about it too much) (it is also fair to say that England’s Strauss have emerged from his resignation with rather more dignity that France’s ex-IMF boss Strauss-Kahn did from his).The year 2012 has been strangely and unexpectedly turbulent for the England team. The first three years of the Strauss-Flower regime brought increasing and carefully managed stability and success in the Test arena, culminating in a record-shattering 2011 of phenomenal dominance. This year, like a dessert trolley laden with battered rodents after a Michelin-starred meal, has brought five defeats out of six in their two major series of the year, sub-soap-opera squabblageddon with their most influential batsman, and now the exit of the captain who had helped power the England juggernaut along that impressive upward curve.The juggernaut reached the end of that curve, crashed into a roof it had not seen coming, and started rolling back down what has now become a downward curve. At least they are not plummeting down a downward cliff, and the vehicle retains most of the engine that had driven it upwards in the first place, but new skipper Cook will be anxious to crank the handbrake on as quickly as possible. His team is not in meltdown, but he is certainly holding a much runnier ice cream than he would have been a year ago. With a giant elephant in the room. Or at least, a giant elephant in the Surrey dressing room.Perhaps the team had their celebratory New Year’s Eve energy shakes spiked with a particularly jaunty consignment of rogue absinthe. Perhaps the coach and captain had signed a pact with the Devil to ensure success, and had not seen the three-year break clause in the small print ‒ and Dr FlowStrauss began to suffer the consequences as soon as they set foot in the UAE in January. Perhaps it was merely a result of the team having made the grave error of having too many players peaking from late 2010 to summer 2011, rather than spreading out their purple patches more wisely to cover a longer period of time. Something for the ECB backroom science wonks to apply their abacuses, test tubes, and wind tunnels to, perhaps.Given that Strauss was not (yet) under serious pressure for his place as captain or opening batsman, it is not right to say that he jumped before he was pushed. Instead, he departed with a controlled abseil before the jump-or-push issue came to a head. He departs into the history books with the goodwill and gratitude of the entire English cricketing public, but after three years of moderate, if seldom disastrous, run-scoring. His failures have been increasingly characterised by a repeated failure to convert good starts into substantial scores, and minimal contributions in major series – since the 2009 Ashes, he has been a significant factor with the bat only in the 2010-11 Ashes and against West Indies this summer (he made more than one 50 in only three of his final ten series dating back to the 2009-10 tour of South Africa, one of which was by virtue of taking a pair of 80s off a less-than Krakatoan Bangladesh attack at Lord’s in 2010).Statistically, he was inconsistent for most of his Test batting career, but his peaks included some of England’s most important and best innings of recent years. He hit centuries at crucial moments of three Ashes series, scored three hundreds in South Africa to aid one of England’s best away series victories, and two magnificent hundreds in defeat in the Chennai Test of 2008-09.Graeme “The Hit Man” Smith has thus seen off three England captains in his three Test tours as South Africa’s skipper. He is young enough to be back in 2017 – perhaps to curtail Kevin Pietersen’s second stint as England captain? No. No, even an entire crate of rogue absinthe forced down the gullets of the ECB could make that happen. Not even if it’s from the same crate that made them appoint him in the 2008. But Cook’s journey as captain will be made significantly easier if everyone involved can reach an agreement that whatever Pietersen wrote and meant in those text messages was not personal insults or tactical double-crossing, but cryptic crossword clues, coded recipes for boerewors, or mistranslated haikus about the art of basket-weaving.Some statsWhilst in France, I had hoped to become the first person to compose an article devoted entirely to Test cricket statistics that had been written entirely on a campsite in Brittany. Sadly, baguettes and batting averages did not co-exist harmoniously. Croissants and cricket were not compatible. And the internet wasn’t working. And my wife and kids wanted to aller à la piscine rather than parler avec Monsieur Statsguru. Not unreasonably. However, I can now tell you that:● The Lord’s Test was the first Test match since March 2001, and just the 18th of all time, in which the openers of both sides had all been out for less than 25 in both innings.● England’s first wicket has fallen in single figures in 13 of their 30 innings since the 2010-11 Ashes. They have reached 50 for 0 in only five of those 30 stands. Cook and Strauss ended up averaging 40 per partnership. Strauss and Trescothick averaged 52 together. When Strauss opened with Trescothick, he averaged 47. When he opened with Cook, he has averaged 37. Is this because he played with Trescothick when at his peak as a batsman, or because the more aggressive Trescothick suited him better as a partner? Or a bit of both? Or neither?● This was only the second series of three or more Tests since 1986 in which England’s openers have passed 50 only once.

Batting higher, Brad Hodge could have easily scored 500 runs this season, but his captain will gladly take the 50 he scored under pressure from No. 7

Sidharth Monga22-May-2013There is something reliable about stocky men with low back lifts. When the pitch is slow or when the reverse swing is considerable, these are the batsmen you want to be finishing your innings with. They are the least likely to play stupid shots under pressure, a Twenty20 trademark. When they break into rock-the-baby celebrations, they easily defend it as not mocking the bowler they have just hit for a match-winning six, a bowler who has won many a heart with his celebrations and uninhibited play. “I was pointing out I have got children too.”Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid can tell reliable men when he sees them. Throughout IPL 2013 he has used Brad Hodge, the 38-year-old Australian, low in the order, where he doesn’t get many chances. Or so it seems. “He doesn’t get many opportunities to bat,” says Dravid. “If he bats 3 and 4, there is no doubt he can score 500 runs as well. But there is nobody who can finish the game better than Brad Hodge, especially against quality pace.”The strategy has been put to severe test this season, and almost seemed to backfire on the big night. Dravid’s young batsmen all seemed to fall to the pressure and the charm of Sammy even when chasing just 133. The eliminator was turning into a match to be decided by slogs and hoicks. Sammy’s catch on the midwicket boundary to dismiss Shane Watson – full stretch in the air to pluck it overhead – was sensational, but after that it was just straight length bowling that took Rajasthan Royals from 50 for 1 to 57 for 5. Sunrisers Hyderabad’s stroke-play hadn’t been much better.The game was crying out for someone to pull it out of mediocrity, and out came Hodge. The asking rate – already nudging eight – was getting out of hand on a sticky surface, and Sanju Samson was to score just 10 off 21 at the other end. It was now time for a calculated assault on a tricky pitch by the last batsman who could win the game. Just the time for a stocky man with a short back lift.There were no risks taken. Hodge picked his bowlers – the hitherto successful Sunrisers legspinners – and chose to time his shots instead of slogging. There was a lesson there for the younger batsmen who had fallen before him. He read a Karan Sharma googly and sent it over long-on. Then he flicked him over square leg. Then he finally got the short ball. This wasn’t a bad over, but it went for 18. The asking rate was back to seven an over now.Hodge went after Amit Mishra too, but now the Sunrisers raised their game. Back came Dale Steyn and trapped Samson with reverse swing. Then James Faulkner played out dots. Even our stocky man with short back lift felt pressure now. He went slogging after Thisara Perera to kill the game in the 19th over. Failed to connect any. He was happy to accept he felt pressure. No false bravado.”I was probably trying to get the Chris Gayle distance instead of the Brad Hodge distance,” Hodge joked. “That’s what can happen. When you are under pressure and looking to try to take the pressure off by going for the big maximum, and you try too hard.”In the next over, though, the cool Hodge was back, and he broke the heart of the other hero on the night. Sammy had been everywhere. Scoring runs, taking catches, doing commentary, taking wickets, Sammy had all but owned the night. Then he bowled a short ball, which Hodge pulled for a six that went the Brad Hodge distance and not the Chris Gayle distance. The game was all but over, and Hodge nailed it with another six over long-off and stole what has been Sammy’s celebration this year.For a few minutes after the defeat, Sammy sat sullen in the dugout, but he will agree he lost to the better player on the day. And he has got children too.

Most of the DPL clubs have no choice but to train at the same time in Mirpur due to lack of suitable options and poor facilities across Dhaka. It all adds up to an unbelievable chaos

Mohammad Isam18-Sep-2013Junaid Siddique’s rocket of a throw missed Mushfiqur Rahim by a whisker. The Bangladesh captain, leading Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club in the Dhaka Premier League, was resting just behind the fielding coach who was conducting drills. A few meters to their left, Soumya Sarkar’s crisp cover drive got everyone to scurry in Mohammedan Sporting Club’s tent. Away on the eastern side, Kalabagan Cricket Academy players’ team bonding exercise was getting louder by the minute, and drawing attention. The two net practice areas were full, with several fully kitted batsmen waiting for their turn as four clubs were using the nets.While all of this was happening, a senior Dhanmondi Club player told the fielding coach to stop the drills, wrap up and come for the team meeting. “That’s enough for today. We don’t want anyone to get hurt. We have a game tomorrow,” he said.Welcome to the National Cricket Academy ground in Mirpur, where most of the Dhaka Premier League clubs have their practice sessions – usually at the same time. The two practice facilities at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, the indoor and the NCA ground, is used by 12 clubs, leading to hurried and cramped training sessions – but no serious injuries yet.Each team has a minimum of 17 players plus support staff and net bowlers, amounting to more than 100 people attending training sessions. Supporters of popular clubs like Abahani Limited and Mohammedan also turn up at times, while there are always fans hanging around for a glimpse of their heroes in a more informal setting.It all adds up to an unbelievable chaos, something that cricket teams can do without. The move has also highlighted the lack of minimum facilities in the clubs around the country’s capital, although they spend an exorbitant amount on players.The facilities in Mirpur are the best in the country, with properly maintained pitches, bowling machines, indoor nets and excellent outfields. But there have been sessions when seven clubs have trained at the small NCA ground on the northwest side of the stadium.As a result, there is very little time for each batsman in the nets, as they mostly take throw-downs. The bowlers too are given more time bowling at a single-stump rather than at the batsmen. The atmosphere has been quite different for the players who are slightly more concerned about being hit by a stray ball rather than making best use of their time in training.Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club have regularly used the Mirpur facilities, but it hasn’t been a comfortable time for the club that is looking to just stay afloat in the league. Doleshwar’s general secretary Mushtaq Hossain said that they will improve their own club ground in the south of the capital, which will again be functional from next season.”We have been training in Mirpur because the wickets in our club ground has not been maintained well,” Mushtaq said. “It has not been an easy time for the players. We are always rushed because other teams have booked the nets soon after, or we have to wait for another club to start our sessions.”The pitches will be improved in Doleshwar, which is a small village in the south of Dhaka. We would like to train on our own, just like we did when we were gaining promotions from Second and First Division leagues. We also provide accommodation to the players in our club.”While Doleshwar has a legitimate reason and its monetary situation doesn’t allow them ground expenses as of now, other clubs with grounds like Abahani, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Brothers Union, Khelaghar Samaj Kallyan Samity and the two Kalabagan sides are in affluent neighbourhoods, based in central Dhaka and some of these clubs have the financial backing to build proper cricket facilities.

Jamie Siddons was famously disgusted when he saw players drinking out of a bucket in one of these clubs

Mohammedan Sporting Club, a major Dhaka club, has also been wandering around town for a few years in search of a proper practice facility. They have hardly used their own ground, located in Motijheel, which they now plan to turn into a commercial complex. They have also talked about a separate facility in Savar, on the north of Dhaka, where they hope to build a cricket academy one day.”Of course it is a problem to train with five other teams. There is hardly any secret left. We can’t surprise our opponents anymore, and all our planning has to be in team meetings rather than in our training,” said one club official wishing anonymity.Many of these clubs like Gazi Tank Cricketers and Prime Bank are corporate entities, and as a result don’t have a ground in Dhaka. Cricket Coaching School is often based in the small Kalabagan ground, but they too have preferred Mirpur because they too don’t have their own ground.A look at most of these clubs venues reveal that the practice facilities are ordinary, with most being held in cement pitches rather than natural turfs.Jamie Siddons, who was Bangladesh’s coach between 2007 and 2011, was famously disgusted when he saw players drinking out of a bucket in one of these clubs. There are several instances and examples that point to a lack of attention to training facilities and more towards beating each other in building teams. Not many DPL clubs can claim to be fully responsible for a player’s upbringing. They only buy the services of the talented ones.The BCB has not been unwelcoming, because the Dhaka clubs are the biggest stakeholders in the board. The grounds committee has allowed all the clubs full use of the facilities, until the NCA or any other representative team requires the nets or the ground. Bangladesh Under-19 are at the academy quarters, preparing for their West Indies tour next month.”The Premier League teams have been using BCB’s facilities ahead and during the competition,” BCB’s grounds manager Syed Abdul Baten said. “They can use it unless our representative sides have to practice at the two facilities. Currently we have one residential camp at the NCA. But we have to accommodate the clubs, because they are important to our cricket.”But training in Mirpur is only a short-term solution for the clubs, and by extension Bangladesh cricket’s grassroots. Since the city-based league is so vital to the cricketers’ development, there has to be more emphasis on building facilities which can be used for 12 months, and not just by the top professionals.Looking back and below should not be so strenuous, but it is less of a habit here in Dhaka.

West Indies’ reckless batting granted India a huge advantage on the first day

Sidharth Monga at Eden Gardens06-Nov-2013Is there an experience more frustrating in cricket than watching West Indies bat in Tests? So beautifully they bat, so hopelessly they collapse. Kieran Powell, Darren Bravo and Darren Sammy should be kicking themselves after wasting their starts irresponsibly to be bowled out for 234 on the first day of a Test in India after they had the big advantage of winning the toss.Some of the shots West Indies played today might have been worth the gate money alone, but they were followed by a severe lack of Test-match temperament or cricketing intelligence. Powell started the day nearly perfectly. The two punches – back-foot drives, if you will – defied a slightly two-paced pitch. First he rose with the bounce of a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery, rode it, faced it in front of his chest, and placed it wide of cover and watched it travel to the boundary on this quick outfield. Soon he repeated the dose, only this time he punched it straight back into the pitch, after which it bounced over the bowler’s head for four. That’s a signature Chris Gayle shot that they say people used to drive to Kingston to watch. Down-the-road punch, they call it.Between them, they are the two most difficult shots to play. To ride the bounce, to keep the ball down, to get enough timing to send the ball to the boundary, to place it, is a clear sign of skill that warrants a healthier Test average than 30. He also laid down the gauntlet for R Ashwin by going after him effortlessly, punching him down the ground for a six and driving him over mid-on for a four in his first over. It was all settling down beautifully for Powell when Mohammed Shami came back and bowled a bouncer. The idea was good, but it was directed well wide outside off. And, mind you, it was the first bouncer of the day. Powell reached out, and played the hook to get out.Unfortunately, those who saw him end his innings in similar fashion all over Karnataka during the A tour last month weren’t surprised. In Shimoga, he had looked similarly good in scoring 33 before chipping the left-arm spin of Bhargav Bhatt down deep midwicket’s lap. This was not a mis-hit, he never tried to hit it for a six. This was either a break in concentration or lack of match awareness.I asked the West Indies A coach Junior Bennett what does he tell batsmen when they get out in this manner. This, after all, is no technical flaw that can be corrected in the nets. Bennett said he had waited for a day, and was now going to take Powell aside for “a one-a-way”, show him the video, and ask him to explain what just happened there. Powell later spoke in a press conference about the need to concentrate harder. Not just him, other West Indies A batsmen too: there were 11 scores of 60-99 during that tour and just one century, that too in the second innings of a match certain to be drawn.Whatever Powell might have gleaned from that one-a-way he didn’t bring it back to India. It could well have been a break in concentration behind Powell’s shot to get out, but West Indies also need to break their boundary concentration. Until Shivnarine Chanderpaul came in to bat, 112 of their 138 runs had come in boundaries, but their overall run-rate despite such a high boundary count was little over three. It was all block-block-block-block-block-boom. And back to block.In India, not looking for the single plays right into MS Dhoni’s hands. He loves employing in-and-out fields: four men catching and others protecting the boundary. And it allows his spinners to bowl continuously at one batsman and build pressure. Bravo was a willing party to these tactics. His 23 runs came in 10 shots yet his strike rate was 24. On nine occasions, he played out maidens. And then scored in spurts through shots that once again reminded you of Brian Lara in his pomp.All this is no excuse for his headless running and then looking back repeatedly at Chanderpaul as he walked back as if it wasn’t his fault, and his fault alone. The ball had been played behind square, pretty much straight to the fielder, it was Chanderpaul’s call, and he never showed an inclination to run. Like Powell, Bravo turned out to be just another tease.It might sound a little harsh to criticise Sammy for his holing out to long-off when some of his specialist batsmen sold their wickets at a garage sale, but this was a Test, if ever there was one, for the captain to put a price on his wicket. His being neither this nor that disturbs the balance of the team. If West Indies play six batsmen, they are left with three specialist bowlers and Sammy, who is a great trier and pretty accurate but is hardly a strike bowler. It can work in seam-friendly conditions but here in India you need an extra spinner. So today the captain made the choice to play the fourth specialist bowler, which should automatically call for more responsibility with the bat from the man who made that decision.And Sammy had Chanderpaul to bat with. Dhoni spread the field out for Sammy, brought the field up, put spin on, and basically gave him singles all around the dial if he so fancied. Sammy, though, fancied clearing long-off. He failed, and Chanderpaul was left stranded. Surely the easiest bit of captaincy Dhoni has done?Except for Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin, none of the West Indies players expected to make runs can claim they got a special delivery or a special set-up or incredible pressure. It was good steady bowling from India, but hardly deserving such a massive advantage on day-one pitch. In all likelihood, West Indies are in store for a long day and a half in the field. Sometimes a leather hunt in the sun can teach lessons the best of the coaches can’t.

Pakistan’s marks out of ten for the series against Sri Lanka

Umar Farooq23-Jan-20149Misbah-ul-Haq (364 runs at an average of 91.00)
Misbah-ul-Haq led by example in the batting department. His unbeaten 68 off 72 balls, scored in the final session of the fifth day in Sharjah, led Pakistan to an astonishing victory and helped them square the series 1-1. His scores of 137, 1, 97, 63, 68* reflect his consistency and the innings in Sharjah showed he could step up the run-scoring when needed. As a captain, he was occasionally conservative.8Junaid Khan (14 wickets at 28.71)
Pakistan’s bowling spearhead put in another good performance. His five-wicket haul in Abu Dhabi gave the side a significant first-innings advantage. He was economical throughout and finished as the joint leading wicket-taker, along with Rangana Herath, on pitches that were not helpful for the bowlers.7Azhar Ali (111 runs at 55.50)
His match-winning 103 in Pakistan’s chase in Sharjah was the best knock of his 32-Test career, making up for the wasted review in the first innings. He was dropped for the first two Tests but bounced back to strengthen a claim for the No. 3 position.6.5Sarfraz Ahmed (134 runs at 33.50)
A makeshift wicketkeeper-batsman who replaced the injured Adnan Akmal, Sarfraz made the best of a sudden chance. His 48 in the second innings in Sharjah played a vital role in Pakistan’s victory and a half-century in Dubai helped the side put up a fight. His glovework, however, was mediocre.6Younis Khan (285 runs at 57.00)
One of Pakistan’s most seasoned contenders, Younis often steadied the innings after a top-order collapse. He began with a century in Abu Dhabi and also scored a fifty in Dubai, but was largely unable to cash in on the flatter tracks. His contributions to the win in Sharjah were limited.5Ahmed Shehzad (273 runs at 45.50)
Made his Test debut for Pakistan in the series and showed promise with a hundred in Sharjah. He won the Test cap on the basis of his ODI form but his patience was often worn down by Sri Lanka’s bowlers. He still needs to work on his temperament in the longer formats.Khurram Manzoor (181 runs at 30.16)
He shrugged off poor form in the Abu Dhabi Test with 73 and 52 in the Dubai and Sharjah Tests respectively, but there are questions over his technique. He was unconvincing in the series and, as a result, the slot for the second opener in the Pakistan Test side is still open.Saeed Ajmal (10 wickets at 42.10)
Played his most disappointing series of the last three years. Ajmal picked up two wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings in Abu Dhabi and then had to wait 77.2 overs to take another one – a new low for the bowler. The match haul of five wickets in Sharjah came at the cost of 173 runs and he finished as Pakistan’s most expensive bowler in the series.Mohammad Talha was impressive on his return to Test cricket after nearly five years•AFPMohammad Talha (6 wickets at 27.33)
He last played a Test for Pakistan in March 2009 at the Gaddafi Stadium and on his return to international cricket after nearly five years, he showed promise. He spent the first two Tests on the bench but replaced Rahat Ali in the third, and found success in spite of an inconsistent length.Abdur Rehman (5 wickets at 31.40)
With Pakistan opting for Ajmal as their lead spinner, a Test opportunity for Rehman is rare and he made it count this time. Prior to the Sharjah Test, Rehman had last played for Pakistan in September 2013 against Zimbabwe. He took 4 for 56 in Sri Lanka’s second innings in Sharjah, which helped restrict the visitors to 214, setting Pakistan a target of 302.2Rahat Ali (2 wickets at 146.50)
Brought into the side in place of the injured Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali toiled away but had little success. He bowled 101.3 overs in two Tests, with a strike rate of 304.5 and was dropped for the final Test.Mohammad Hafeez (113 runs at 37.66)
Recalled to the Test squad on the basis of his ODI form, Hafeez had a poor series. Was dropped for the third Test after scores of 11, 80*, 21 and 1 in the first two matches.1Asad Shafiq (61 runs at 15.25)
One of the most promising young Pakistan batsmen, Shafiq was disappointing. The series was a chance for him to maintain his place but scores of 13, 6, 23, 18, 1* did not help his cause.

Also, best post-war win/loss record, most runs in two calendar years, most ducks in a Test, and brothers with similar numbers

Steven Lynch08-Jul-2014I read somewhere that the forthcoming Indian series was the most time-intensive ever, with five Tests in six weeks. Is that true? asked Tom Merrick from England
It’s not quite true, no. This year’s England-India series is scheduled to last 42 days (if the final Test at The Oval goes all the way). The shortest time span for any series involving five Tests is actually 35 days, for the one between West Indies and England in 2009-10 – but that’s cheating a bit, as that involved the match in Antigua, which was abandoned early on the first day, because the ground was unfit, and replaced by another game played elsewhere on the island shortly afterwards. A more genuine case is the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy series between South Africa and England in 2004-05, which spanned only 40 days. Rather surprisingly for what we think of as more leisurely times, the 1963-64 India-England series lasted only 42 days, while the five Tests between West Indies and India in the Caribbean early in 2002 were also shoehorned into 42 days. The Ashes record is 44 days, for the 2006-07 and 2010-11 series in Australia.Since the Second World War which country has the best win/loss record? I would guess Australia … asked Charles Silverstone from Israel
That’s a pretty safe guess! Australia have played 595 Tests since 1945, winning 281 and losing 146, with two ties and 166 draws. That’s a win/loss ratio of 1.92. Next come South Africa (1.52), England (1.16) and Pakistan (1.10), with West Indies on a level 1.00 (157 wins v 156 defeats plus a tie). Bangladesh, with just four wins to set against 68 defeats, languish bottom with a ratio of 0.05, assuming you ignore the World XI’s one unsuccessful outing in 2005-06. For the full table, click here.After 266 innings, Shivnarine Chanderpaul was stumped for the very first time! Has anyone gone longer before finally being out stumped? asked Ashley Barnes from New Zealand
Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s dismissal on the final day of the third Test against New Zealand in Bridgetown last week was indeed the first time he had been stumped in a Test, in his 266th innings. That is a record: Graeme Smith was not stumped until his 194th innings, in his 111th Test, against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last October. Daniel Vettori (166th innings), Alec Stewart and Sanath Jayasuriya (both 156th) all went a long time before being stumped as well. Mahela Jayawardene may yet beat Chanderpaul’s mark: he’s had 244 Test innings so far, and hasn’t been stumped yet.Is Ricky Ponting the only player to score more than 2500 international runs in two separate calendar years? asked Keith D’Souza from Saudi Arabia
Ricky Ponting occupies the top two positions in this particular table, having scored 2833 runs in all internationals in 2005, and 2657 in 2003. The only other batsmen to exceed 2500 in all forms of the game are Rahul Dravid (2626 in 1999), Kumar Sangakkara (2609 in 2006), Sourav Ganguly (2580 in 1999), Tillakaratne Dilshan (2568 in 2009) and Sachin Tendulkar (2541 in 1998). Of those, Tendulkar had the best average (68.67 to Ponting’s 66.42 in 2003). Sangakkara and Tendulkar both passed 2000 runs in five separate calendar years; most neatly, Mohammad Yousuf scored exactly 2000 international runs in 2000.There were 11 ducks in the Headingley Test. Is this a record? asked David Harrier from Germany
The 11 ducks in the nail-biting Headingley Test – which included pairs for Lahiru Thirimanne, Dhammika Prasad and a long-drawn-out one for Jimmy Anderson – equalled the record for any Test, set in a low-scoring Ashes Test at Old Trafford in 1888, and equalled nine more times since, most recently (before Headingley) in the match between Sri Lanka and West Indies in Kandy in November 2001. For the full list, click here.Wasim and Ramiz Raja both played 57 Tests for Pakistan. Is this the only instance of brothers figuring in the same number of Tests? asked Joel Pojas from the Philippines
Not only did Ramiz and Wasim Raja win the same number of Test caps, their overall records were strikingly similar: Ramiz scored 2833 runs at 31.83, while Wasim made 2821 (36.16). There are two other sets of brothers who played the same amount of Tests – but they are all one-cap wonders. EM and GF Grace both played once for England in 1880 (their rather more celebrated brother WG won 22 caps), while Alec and George Hearne also played one Test apiece for England, in 1891-92. The biggest discrepancy between fraternal caps is 89, between South Africa’s Gary Kirsten (101) and his half-brother Peter (12). Greg Chappell won 87 caps to his brother Trevor’s three. Turning to fathers and sons, Hemant and Hrishikesh Kanitkar both played two Tests for India.

Plus, Hillary-Norgay’s previously undocumented Everest cricketing duel

Andy Zaltzman17-Sep-2014The Confectionery Stall will be taking a sabbatical until December, whilst I am touring with my stand-up show (details at satiristforhire.com). England will also enjoy a couple of months off the cricketing treadmill. It is very rare these days that England play no cricket at all during a two-month stretch. The last time it happened was from November 2013 to January 2014, a period that unfortunately coincided with the Ashes.England’s hiatus will be followed by a bumper 2015 (and early 2016) which will feature 17 Tests in 10 months, bookended by a 50-over World Cup and a World T20. Amongst all this, there is a liberal sprinkling of assorted unforgettable ODIs and T20Is, plus a week-long team-bonding marathon playing the 1980s computer game on an old Commodore 64, a Broadway run of the new cricket musical , starring all centrally contracted players as themselves, a stint on the UN Security Council, and a series of 24 one-off triangular cricket-baseball-tennis hybrid matches against the New York Yankees and the women’s world No. 5 and former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, which will be played entirely via Skype.There are also plans for England to play a simultaneous Test match and five-game ODI series on adjoining pitches, against themselves, whilst the ECB is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing the installation of a new month – provisionally entitled Cooktember – to take place between January and February 2016, which will be used for rest, practice, promotional activities, welding Stuart Broad back together, reinstalling and re-sacking Kevin Pietersen in what will become a formal biennial ritual, and a supplementary bonus Ashes.No doubt, every single game in that period will be equally as special and memorable as the next, to both players and spectators alike, and no doubt the executives may well be giggling into their balance sheets. The golden goose, however, must be looking at its schedule, muttering to itself: “You want me to lay eggs? Ouch. Well, you’re the boss. Could you fetch me some Vaseline, please. I think I will need it.”Perhaps in time, 2014 will be seen to have laid the foundations for a new era of success after the seismic upheavals of the winter. It was a curious international summer, with two classic Test matches, at Headingley and Lord’s, both of which resulted in English defeats, one dull Test with a thrilling finale (the first against Sri Lanka), one dull Test without a thrilling finale (the first against India), and three absolute humiliations of MS Dhoni’s sappingly inept team, whose theoretically brilliant batting line-up explored every possible avenue of incompetence in a depressing masterclass of underachievement.From an English perspective, it began with fascinating failures and ended with rather uninteresting successes. All in all, it was a strangely unsatisfying summer, but one that held out promise of a genuine English resurgence. If Anderson and Broad stay fit. And Australia pick Pankaj Singh.

By the time Alastair Cook and Alex Salmond toss the coin at the Hagley Oval in five months’ time, Hadrian’s Wall may well have been completely rebuilt, and the Queen could be floating over the British Isles in a hot air balloon, desperately appealing for calm through the royal megaphone

England remained largely flaccid in ODIs, but given that they have not played a 50-over game with both Anderson and Broad in the team since the Champions Trophy final in June 2013, and only belatedly realised that it might be useful to have a few more players who can hit boundaries, their World Cup prospects cannot be completely written off. The World Cup, in its current format, is essentially a three-game shoot-out. In any shoot-out, of course, it helps to have arms and ammunition. England have generally focused too much on the bulletproof jackets. But if they take some reasonable selectorial risks, and hit form in the right week at the end of March, they have a chance. As indeed do the other seven regular quarter-finalists. Who mostly have more of a chance.I bid you farewell, then, at least until England’s ODI tour of Sri Lanka, scheduled to help them prepare for the dustbowl conditions they will no doubt encounter in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 23 February, when they will be involved in what may be one of the most politically incendiary World Cup fixtures ever played. Depending on the result of Thursday’s Independence Referendum in Scotland. By the time Alastair Cook and Alex Salmond toss the coin at the Hagley Oval in five months’ time, Hadrian’s Wall may well have been completely rebuilt, and the Queen could be floating over the British Isles in a hot air balloon, desperately appealing for calm through the royal megaphone.A Scottish victory in that game is about the only concession that David Cameron has not offered the Scots in his desperate attempts to stop the UK falling to pieces. Whatever else happens to England in their insanely overfull 2015, they simply must win that match. We must remain Great Britain’s undisputed No. 1 cricketing nation, or we will truly have nothing left.* With all due respect to the Champions Trophy, the most significant match taking place in the next few weeks is, without question, the charity game atop Mount Kilimanjaro, the celebrity 5895-metre-high Tanzanian retired volcano. The altitudinous showdown was organised by David Harper, who is raising money for cancer research, Tusk, and the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, and features, amongst others, Makhaya Ntini, Heather Knight, Ashley Giles and Clare Connor. It is set to claim the record for the highest-ever game of competitive cricket.Whilst I applaud the charitable fund-raising efforts and the mountaineering valour of those involved – full details and a link to the donations page are here – I have my doubts that this will, in fact, be the highest altitude at which competitive cricket has been played. It simply beggars belief that Edmund Hillary – a New Zealander, after all – did not challenge Tenzing Norgay to a game of cricket when they became the first people ever to teach Mount Everest who was boss, back in 1953.Recent expeditions would almost certainly have discovered a bowler’s marker near the summit, had they bothered to look for it, whilst satellite imagery could probably reveal what look like three stump holes right on the peak of the world’s tallest mountain, if you look at it from the right angle. Furthermore, there is incontrovertible photographic evidence of the tea interval.Admittedly, it is unlikely that the game lasted very long, or offered much in the way of entertainment for the neutral. Norgay would have struggled with his run-up when charging up the slope from the South Col End, and Hillary would probably have been surprised by the pace of the ball through the thin air at 8848 metres above sea level, come down late on it, and edged it through the understandably vacant slip cordon.As the ball scuttled away across Everest’s notoriously slopey outfield, which makes Lord’s look like a paragon of flatness, the two men would probably have decided to call it an honourable draw, before heading back to base camp in their sponsored caps for the post-match press conference.Good luck to David and the teams. My prediction: a negative draw. No one is going to want to traipse all the way to the top of Africa’s highest mountain and lose. You can follow their progress on the website, and via Twitter at @kilimadness.

Posterity hasn’t been kind to this master of Pakistani batsmanship, a jolly green giant capable of remarkable shamanism with willow in hand

Ali Umair Chaudhry28-Jul-2014The sights and sounds from the two series that took place between Pakistan and India in 2005-2006 are still vivid in my memory. This regeneration of cricketing ties had led to considerable excitement in both countries and around many cricketing circles across world. Pakistan’s captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had been gaining a fair deal of press coverage in Pakistan for his divinely inspired approach to cricket training and management. And as many Indian bowlers were to discover over the span of these two tours, there was definitely something holy about Inzy in full flow.”I reckon he’s on a level just below Sachin and Lara, and just above everyone els”, spoke Australian commentator Ian Chappell of the burly saint from Multan. ‘The rest’ he was so casually referring to included glorified names such as Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid. There was not much disagreement among commentators about Inzamam’s place on the pantheon during that particular season. Dean Jones, also on the panel, would signal Inzamam’s arrival to the crease with what could be confused for George Burn’s cue at the Academy Awards, ‘And the great man makes his way onto the middle.’ The rhetoric would make the departing Salman Butt’s inning seem like a thiry-second energizer bunny ad. Robin Jackman, the English commentator, was often left in awe by Inzamam’s deft touches: ‘Oh Inzy, Inzy, Inzy, what a special player he is’, he would speak as if Paris Hilton had been asked about her latest squeeze by an interviewer.The Indian side consisted of the Usual Suspects – some of the giants of the modern day game: Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Pakistan had Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. But it seemed to be Inzamam who mattered the most. Sanjay Manjrekar, always full of praise for Inzamam, would go on to state his importance various times while covering the two series. He insisted that Inzamam had to be in top five, if not the top three batsmen in the game of that generation.Times have changed and so have opinions. There have been virtually no echoes of Inzamam’s exploits after his retirement. Rarely mentioned as one of the top batsmen of the 90s and early 2000s, and entirely overlooked in the lists of batting greats, posterity has not been too kind to Inzy. He does have a stain or two on his resume. Although his average managed to swell above 52 in the latter stages of his career, it ultimately slipped to just under 50. This excludes him from the 50s club. Additionally, although his record against Australia and South Africa includes some remarkable innings, his overall statistical performance against these sides was generally disappointing for a player of his calibre.In his time, Inzamam was Pakistani batsman, a pedestal he later vacated for Misbah-ul-Haq•AFPWithin Inzamam were the last few glimpses of a dying, waning brand of cricket. With a loathing for exercise and a portly frame, he would seem like a man from another generation; playing exclusively through natural ability rather than any athletic marksmanship. He was one of the game’s greatest players of the hook, and authored a back foot game that rivaled the best. Imran Khan famously rated Inzamam as the second best player of fast bowling he had ever seen – after only Viv Richards. It was a point Wasim Akram ratified in one of his earlier commentary stints. When Waqar Younis and he were at their peak, and used to steam in full throttle in the nets, Inzy used to play them as if they were bowling medium pace.Inzamam’s cricketing achievements rival the best of his generation. Seventeen of his 25 Test 100s came in victories – a rate bettered only by the peerless Don Bradman. There was the heroic match-winning knock in the World Cup semifinal which signalled his arrival. And the career-resurrecting thriller in Multan. And then there was his reputation as Pakistani batsman, a pedestal he later vacated for Misbah-ul-Haq. Little statistical work has been done on how many more runs he may have managed if he had taken his running between the wickets more seriously. Perhaps, just perhaps his name would have been uttered in the same breath as a Lara or a Tendulkar?Questions of his legacy as an all-time great batsman aside, he remains one of the true great characters in the game’s history. In between the wickets, he was a comedy of errors waiting to happen, and yet – at the same time, a jolly green giant capable of remarkable shamanism with willow in hand. There are indeed so many sides to the Inzamam-ul-Haq saga. How can we forget a fuming Inzamam threatening to beat up a helpless fan with a bat in his hand? Or Inzamam the Test match captain who became the first in history to walk his team off the field?But what makes these incidents special was, in the end, the pure ability of the man. It was his genius that eventually rises above numbers and achievements. Take away his pedestrian running between the wickets and there were very few who could match him from the time the ball left the bowler’s hand to when it met the full blade of the bat. No other batsman bewildered commentators more with his natural ability. “So much time, Oh my. He has so much time on his hands.” – this was the mantra-of-choice for most commentators, simply by observation rather than on reputation. In his embodiment lay the sight of a man gifted by the heavens rather than by hard work or a particular methodology. Yet, at the same time, he was not by any means unorthodox. He was a genuine Test match batsman with a practical technique.Many who follow Pakistan cricket will testify that there were few more sights in the game that matched the excitement of a burly Inzamam pouncing down the track to deposit a spinner into the parking lot – only to stumble onto the stumps the next ball. Only Inzy. There is a fair deal to be taken into account when it comes to judging the true place of Inzamam within the annals of cricket’s history. But for the cricket analysts and fans who have spent a fair deal of time watching Pakistani cricket, a few words will most surely resonate from their hearts: “Inzy, you beauty”.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line