All posts by h716a5.icu

Steven Finn has every attribute a fast bowler could hope for, and the best judges in the game believe in him. But his battle is between the ears, not against the batsmen

Jarrod Kimber at Edgbaston05-Aug-2016The crowd in the Eric Hollies stand roar. The ball they have seen is short and fast, to them it has such menace Azhar Ali is ducking for mere survival. But the Hollies stand is side on, and while they see a ball just missing a scared batsman, from front-on it’s far different. The ball is wide and short. Azhar has ducked on length, but he could have just stood there and watched the ball fly safely by outside off stump.The crowd might have seen something fast and dangerous, but Steven Finn didn’t.***Just go out there and bowl fast. Whang it. Sling it. Hurl it. Just run up and let go. Don’t think. Let it fly. Let it rip. Pace like fire. Get it up ’em. Bounce ’em. Bomb ’em.It is the sort of advice given to quick bowlers when they are struggling. As if the search for pure speed will somehow clear their mind of mortgage payments, over-coaching and whether they left the stove on. All their troubles will suddenly disappear, now they are focused on one thing, bowling as fast as humanly possible.At times it has worked. The young quick who has been worried about wrist position and his place in the team, freed of those worries he whips the ball down the other end with a crazy rotating seam, hits someone on the glove, his team mates rush up to pat him on the head, and he’s back.But for others it does the opposite. It is not always possible to just bowl fast. Slight niggles, bad rhythm and slow pitches come into it. And sometimes, trying to bowl fast make bowlers anxious.Cook said before this Test: “I’ll try and tell him to relax and play.” If someone tells you to relax, chances are it will make you more tense. It’s not advice, it’s a phrase you say when you can’t come up with something that will actually help.It was the same Cook who was up till 2am before making a decision to pick the same Finn for this Test. Jake Ball was good at Lord’s, without demanding selection over Finn at any point, but still good enough to put pressure on him. But the truth is, if you are up at 2am, and Finn flashes behind your eyes, you want him.That bounce, that pace, the wickets. No offence to Jake Ball, but there is no highlight reel to compare it to. Finn, at his best, is a human highlight reel.When telling the press of his selection of Finn, Cook called him a huge talent, but he also said “Finny sometimes can worry too much about it.” He was right, twice.***Steven Finn rues his luck on another wicketless day•Getty ImagesThe roar of the Edgbaston crowd is incredible even before Steven Finn takes his first step. Mitch Marsh is facing a hat-trick ball, and all that time out of the game – the breakdown, his “unselectable” status, all that history rubbish – is being blown away by his greatest spell in Test cricket, with a heaving home crowd cheering him into the crease. He doesn’t take a hat trick, but he does take six wickets and ensures England win the Ashes.It was only a year ago, yet when he started this Test, he didn’t hit the crease like a man full of fond memories. He bowled short, and wide. He started with three maidens in his first four overs, but they weren’t good. His early pitch map to the right-handers looked like he thought Azhar Ali had a weakness to the short wide ball. His pitch map to Sami Aslam was a confusing abstract painting that would have given the bowling coach a headache.He wasn’t scary, he wasn’t intimidating, when he hit Sami Aslam it was with a ball that just didn’t get up as Aslam shaped to duck. It didn’t beat him for pace, it beat him for a lack of hostility.Every over seemed to get him more frustrated. At times he kicked the turf, when four overthrows were given away he just shook his head like an upset child, and during his last spell he had to leave the field clutching his hamstring. He came back on, bowled unsuccessfully again, clutched his hamstring again. The longer the day went, the sadder he looked.And when the new ball was taken, it was Joe Root, and not Finn, taking it for the ninth over.***The stories of Steven Finn in Alice Springs are now well told. As are those about how he had to overcome a law change that seemed to almost exclusively target him. Then there was the time he was dropped during the 2010-11 Ashes triumph, despite being the leading wicket-taker of the series. His economy rates didn’t fit neatly into the Andy Flower spreadsheet.His headlines over the years have been about rhythm, unrewarded efforts, frustrations, stepping up, coming back, labours, atonement, stumbles and unselectability. Even his World Cup hat-trick was met with a global cricket shrug. Even now, back in the team, he is a new-ball bowler who is currently bowling second change, and only in the side when someone more fancied is injured. If Anderson, Broad, Woakes and Stokes stay fit, how does he even find his way back in.He is in a permanent state of flux, there has been no point in his career to date in which he has been safe and happy in the team. His body has been very faithful to him. Other than one stress fracture of the foot, he has managed to stay fit. It is his mind that has struggled to stay in good areas.One of the questions for today’s #PoliteEnquiries was simply, ” is Finn finished for the time being?” It is a question that Finn seems to think about out in the field.***There is a spring in Finn’s step on day three. England are bowling well, and he has to wait for Anderson and Woakes to finish their spells before he gets his turn, so the second new ball is now 23 overs old. But he instantly gets good shape, his length is better, his line is probing. There isn’t blood curdling pace, but he looks good.One ball beats Sarfraz Ahmed and Finn follows through almost all the way down to him, not to intimidate, but just because he has great rhythm. As Cook put it before the Test, he is a rhythm bowler, which is cricket code for it sometimes works, it sometimes goes horribly wrong. But he does look a different bowler to the one he has at times been earlier in the series. He isn’t dawdling between overs, or trudging back to his mark. He is excited.A full straight ball swings away from Misbah. Misbah has looked well set, but this is quick and gets him in a tangle. England have a silly short floating slip under a helmet for the soft-handed dab edge, but this one flies due to Finn’s pace and Misbah’s surprise, and the slip is so close that he can barely react as the ball flies through to the boundary.Later a far more ordinary ball from Anderson finds the inside edge of Misbah’s bat, smashes into his back foot, and then rolls onto the stumps.***Batsmen worry about runs, bowlers think in wickets. When former bowlers look at Finn’s strike rate, they have a little smile. Because Finn is a wicket-taker. It’s not that Finn’s average of 29 is especially poor – in fact, it’s very good for someone in and out the team – but runs and economy rates are for statisticians, wickets are for bowlers.Bowlers know there aren’t many guys like Finn out there. He may be the height of a tree, but his ilk doesn’t grow on them. When he stood with Mikey Holding after play at Lord’s for a TV opportunity during the first Test, the height difference was staggering. Mikey is a big man, but Finn towered above him.Holding is big Finn fan, and he has often seemed baffled when England have turned to other bowlers in his place. Mike Selvey is another fan. Even while Chris Woakes was taking apart Pakistan at Lord’s, Selvey remained obsessed with Finn.And that reason is pace, and height. It excites and frights, depending on whether you are facing or watching it. In Finn’s physical attributes there is a 400-plus wicket bowler. But like Morne Morkel, a man of similar physicality, his battle is rarely between him and the batsman, but within himself. He does overthink, he does complicate, he does worry, he does not always know what it is he has done right. There are Andre Nel bowlers who have a fire within them, there are bowlers like Glenn McGrath who have supernatural self-belief, and then there are the Finn and Morkel types. To us on the outside, Finn has all the skills to pick up a Test match and shake it. But to the man himself, it is never that clear.The ability to be a giant who can bowl fast doesn’t mean you are automatically a cold-hearted psycho bowler looking for blood and wickets.Earlier in the summer Finn talked about the nice things that Holding had said about him. “To have someone who is a great of the game saying nice things about you, just pumping your tyres up a little bit, it’s a great feeling.” Finn is 6ft7in, can bowl 90 miles an hour, has 120 wickets, at under 30, and takes one every 49 balls. He shouldn’t need his tyres pumped up, he should be flying.***Finn is bowling for the last wicket of Pakistan’s innings. He is just running in and bowling, trying to keep it simple, clear his mind. Around him Broad and Anderson are scheming, but Finn is in a zone.Rahat Ali prods at one in a manner that looks like fake slips practice. Cook instantly gets into a great position to take the ball, it carries well due to the extra pace of Finn, and it hits Cook’s hands at a comfortable height, but then hits the ground behind him. Finn bends over at the waist like he is in pain, and then he walks back to his mark looking at the big screen. When the drop is shown, he cocks his head to one side as the crowd groan. He gets one more ball at Rahat, who defends it well. That is Finn’s last ball of the innings.When he gets down to fine leg the crowd give him a hearty applause, but he doesn’t really react at all.Alastair Cook, his captain and one of England’s best ever batsmen thinks he’s a huge talent. Mike Holding, one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history, truly believes in him. Mike Selvey, the best seamer turned cricket writer, is completely in his corner. And the Edgbaston crowd, England’s most riotous and raucous, are completely behind him.But there he was again, down at fine leg, being cheered, and wicketless. Wicketless for the third innings this series. The world can tell him they believe in him. That will not matter, for either one day Finn will understand his game, believe in himself and be the Test bowler he was born to be. Or he won’t, and even the hollow applause will stop.

Down in Taunton, they knew it was the longest of shots, but since when did knowing ever stop you hoping?

Paul Edwards at Taunton23-Sep-2016They knew it was the longest of shots. The supporters in the Stragglers’ Café knew it; the members in the Colin Atkinson knew it; and the players gathered in the 1875 Club knew it most of all.But since when did knowing ever stop you hoping?All the same it’s the hoping that leads to the hurt. After the pain of 2010 Somerset supporters knew that, too. Yet, here they were at Taunton, just wondering if this could be the one.”Nothing, like something, happens anywhere”, wrote Philip Larkin, and for half a day the nothing that was happening at Lord’s had meant everything to the players in their track suits and the supporters in their polo shirts or sweaters as they gathered together and took comfort from the fact that they were facing this thing together.And when it was all done with and Middlesex were being acclaimed as county champions, there was no bitterness from the runners-up, only congratulations to the victors and recognition of what a wonderful Championship season it had been for Chris Rogers and his side.”Declarations were part and parcel of the game years ago,” said Somerset’s director of cricket, Matt Maynard, as he reflected on the way Middlesex had won the title at Lord’s. “Neither side were going to give us the title. They had to come to an agreement and from the outset it looked like a very fine declaration.”It needed Tim Bresnan to carry on for another three or four overs to take it into that last over with 12 needed but unfortunately it didn’t get to that stage. But fair credit to Middlesex, they’ve gone through the season unbeaten and a number of their players have had outstanding seasons.”They’ve been very consistent and I think they are deserved champions.”Maynard was speaking at the end of a day which Somerset loyalists will remember for one heart-breaking reason and several heart-warming ones. It had been a day which began with a good group of supporters in the ground floor of the new pavilion, although their number swelled very rapidly over lunchtime and into the early afternoon.For a while it had seemed that nothing much was happening at Lord’s, nothing at any rate to indicate that discussions had taken place between the captains. But everyone could see there was not the time necessary for a normal game to take place.Then with the game in stalemate Alex Lees was brought on to bowl deliberate bad balls to set up a declaration and a few comments began, although not too many. Many of those watching were old enough to remember the days of regular three-day nonsense, and those who weren’t received a crash course, m’dear.The loudest protests followed the declaration and the idea that six-an-over represented much of a challenge to Yorkshire’s batsmen. Then people remembered that this was a Yorkshire side without Jonny Bairstow and suddenly the declaration seemed less generous on a lifeless pitch.Not that they prevented them hoping, of course.By four o’clock there was hardly standing room in the Stragglers’ and the members in the Colin Atkinson were trying to look vaguely dignified. They failed, God bless ’em. Some of the players couldn’t watch and took a stroll on the outfield. Busy doin’ nothin’.Very quickly, though, it became clear how difficult Yorkshire were finding their run-chase. People started talking about the tie and how glorious that might be. Wickets fell, although people were unsure whether this was a good or bad thing. Stalemate was needed and that was clearly the one outcome not on the cards.Chris Rogers and some of his players watched the game on the first floor of the Somerset Pavilion. Every dot ball brought a roar of acclamation. In the press box seasoned journos acknowledged that they had seen nowt like this.Then there was that clatter of wickets, a Toby Roland-Jones hat-trick and Middlesex players rolling on the ground in glee. Supporters dribbled out of the Colin Atkinson and others joined them on the outfield. Everyone the roped-off area in front of the Andrew Caddick pavilion – the Caddyshack they call it down here – was ringed by Somerset supporters. There were a few tears and a lot of pride.Somerset’s chairman, Andy Nash, congratulated the new champions and confirmed that Matt Maynard would have done the same as Gale and Franklin. Maynard, himself, and Rogers spoke with dignity and pride about all that had been achieved. And, yes, all that was to come.”There was great belief in the group,” said Maynard, “We played some good cricket without getting results and we then built momentum though winning games and gaining confidence from that.”The contribution of Chris Rogers has been huge. He has been tough on the players in the middle at times and that has taken them back a little bit. You have to challenge them at times. His expectations were terrific and he’s made an incredible impact.”The biggest thing we can do for Chris is continue his legacy. I was in the Glamorgan team included Viv Richards in the latter part of his career, he was very passionate and we continued his legacy. It is now hugely important that we do the same.”We have five youngsters who are coming through and we’ve also signed Steve Davies. I have a clear idea as to who I’d like as captain to take over from Chris Rogers but I’m not at liberty to say who that is yet.”Somerset supporters may take heart from Maynard’s comments but they are getting tired of finishing second in the West Country. Even that most equable of men, Marcus Trescothick, who was one of those ambling on the outfield, is getting particularly tired of it.”It’s a pain in the arse to come second again and it feels just the same as it did last time,” he said. “It’s been such a difficult day and different to the last time we did it because we were playing all day so it has been very strange having to sit around and watch it all on television.””It feels no different than last time to end up in second place, the only difference is that Middlesex have been top of the table for a long time and they have come out and won the competition outright, so they deserve to win.”I think we were all disappointed to see the game set up in that fashion. It was going along and doing exactly what we wanted it to do and had it been any normal game it would have petered out with a 4.30 or five o’clock finish but those are the regulations and it’s not in our control to worry about that.”It was just sad to see because from our point of view we wanted to see the best team win and I guess that Middlesex have at the end of the day, but the fashion in which it was done was disappointing.”And with that, it was done. The players drifted away, perhaps to celebrate a season in which a late charge for victory was not quite enough. The supporters, too, with whom the players have a great bond in this county, left the ground they call a home and some may not return until next April.We also suffer who only sit and watch and wait.

Jonathan Trott will leave the game with a smile on his face and many good memories. From the position he was in not so long ago, that is something to be cherished

George Dobell at Lord's17-Sep-2016By the time Jonathan Trott trudged off the pitch at the end of England’s Caribbean tour in 2015, it seemed his days in the sun were over.What once had come so easily had become torturous. He admits to have a sense of relief when he was dismissed in the second innings of that final Test in Barbados: relief he would never have to put himself through the torment again. When Alastair Cook suggested he review the lbw decision, he apparently replied “Nah, I’m out of here” and walked off to one of the more unusual standing ovations you will witness. Everyone knew his international career was over but, despite scores of 0 and 9 in that last Test, the Barmy Army proved they had longer memories than some sports fans when they rose to applaud him off.The months that followed were not easy. Trott didn’t just struggle to score runs in the 2015 season – he averaged 25.05 in the Championship – he struggled to muster any enthusiasm for the game. Maybe he even started to resent it.For Trott was a boy brought up to bat. He didn’t have a teddy, he had a sawn-down cricket bat. He didn’t go on holiday, he went on tour. So while he never much bothered with education – why did he need qualifications when he was going to score centuries? – he learned to express himself through runs. Want to make his parents happy? Score a century. Want to impress new team-mates? Score a century. Runs made everything all right.But, somewhere along the way, batting become too important to him. It wasn’t just a game: it was his profession; his identity; his means of providing for his family and making them proud. By the time it all came crashing down – unmasked and, in his eyes, humiliated in public in Brisbane – he felt he had nothing left. He has a book coming out in the coming days (I must declare an interest; I helped him write it) which will surprise a few by revealing the depths to which he sunk and how early in his career the demons started to take control. In short, cricket had become agony to him and he really didn’t have anything else to fall back upon.It has taken a long time to recover. But somewhere, maybe through the faith shown in him by Warwickshire, maybe through the hours spent with the psychiatrist Steve Peters, maybe by simply keeping on buggering on (as Winston Churchill memorably put it) he seems to have emerged through the other side of the storm.Oh, yes, the game defeated him in the end. Brisbane and Barbados still happened. Mitchell Johnson was still too good. Nothing will ever change that.But, as he showed at Lord’s, the experience has not destroyed him. It has scarred him, yes. But he has recovered sufficiently not just to re-emerge as a fine player at this level, but to have rediscovered his enjoyment for this great game. Maybe there is a happy ending to his story, after all.

Most people have experienced failure and fear at some time; they can respect a man who has faced his and, if not defeated them, at least not allowed to let them defeat him

There should be. While his international career ended in failure – they nearly always do – there were some great days along the way. There were Ashes wins at home at away. There was the rise to No. 1 in the Test and ODI rankings. There was the highest ODI batting average of any regular England batsman. It would be a shame if all that was overshadowed by the ending. It would be a shame if his second Test in Brisbane was remembered but his first not.It looks, at least, as if he will be able to look back with a sense of proportion and pride. To have paid the club he loves back with a Man-of-the-Match performance in a Lord’s final will ensure he leaves the game – and that departure is not especially imminent – with head held high and good memories outweighing the bad. He finishes as the competition’s second-highest run-scorer (only team-mate and imitator Sam Hain scored more) with three centuries and two half-centuries from seven innings. You didn’t have to be a Warwickshire supporter to celebrate his success.For maybe the first time in his career, Trott is playing the game for fun. He still puts himself under pressure to perform – “as an ex-international player you want to set the standard” he said – but he is not driven by the same desperation to prove himself. He knows there is more to life than cricket now. He knows it’s not everything.For maybe the first time in his career, Jonathan Trott is playing the game for fun•Getty ImagesThere were many heroes in this Warwickshire performance. There was Laurie Evans, who owed his selection over Ireland captain William Porterfield to an impressive display in a fielding training session earlier in the week and took what may have been a match-defining effort to dismiss Jason Roy. There was Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who gained seam movement absent to Surrey’s hugely talented quartet of pace bowlers. There was Chris Wright, who bowled with intelligence and control to tighten the grip on Surrey’s nervous batsmen. There was Tim Ambrose, who shrugged off injury to keep magnificently on a tricky surface and completed a stumping off a leg-side wide as if it was easy. There was Dougie Brown, who remains under pressure, but deserves time to lead this team through a tricky transition; the club will not find a coach who works harder or cares more. And there was Jeetan Patel who, with his quicker pace and greater turn, easily out-bowled Surrey’s two spinners. As Ian Bell said afterwards: “He is the standout spinner in county cricket.”But most of all there was Trott. The limited-overs game may have moved on from the time he took England to the brink of their first global ODI trophy – he still refers to the Champions Trophy final defeat at Edgbaston in 2013 as the biggest disappointment of his career and the moment his decline began – but if you need a man to chase a relatively modest target, there is nobody better. There might never have been anyone better. He was never going to let a chase of 137 bother him.”If there’s one bloke in world cricket who I would want to knock off a small total – or a total where you can pace yourself – it is Jonathan Trott,” Bell said.That is not faint praise. This was a surface – a poor surface for a showpiece final, really – on which nobody else in the match passed 40. Only one man reached 30. Not even Roy scored at such a strike rate. It required a man with a calm head and masterful technique to conquer it. It was a reminder of the high-class player he once was.It was noticeable at the end that the supporters of Surrey, as much as Warwickshire, stood to applaud him. As cricket crowds become more partisan such moments become ever less frequent. But maybe there has been something in Trott’s public struggle – and his public attempts to overcome it – that struck a chord with spectators. That has endeared him to them in a way that runs and records never can. Most people have experienced failure and fear at some time; they can respect a man who has faced his and, if not defeated them, at least not allowed to let them defeat him.It was noticeable, too, that with the game won and the rest of the players leaving the pitch, Trott paused for a while and marked his guard one more time. It was a ritual that once seemed to infuriate, but now appears a more endearing quirk. Trott will leave the game with a smile on his face and many good memories. From the position he was in not so long, that is something to be cherished.

Trevor Bayliss must devise a solution for an England squad shaken by defeat in Dhaka and faced by an inexorable schedule

George Dobell in Rajkot06-Nov-2016The positive spin on England’s challenge in India in the coming weeks is to accept they go into it unburdened – wonderfully unburdened – by expectation.They are second favourites for the Test series in the way an antelope is second favourite in an encounter with a lion. The team psychologist is most unlikely to be spend much time warning of the dangers of complacency.Already, comparisons with 1993 are becoming apparent. On that tour, a tour that resulted in a whitewash series win for India, England attempted to play to their strengths and went into the first Test with an attack containing four seamers while the hosts selected three spinners. On that tour, England put their trust in a leg-spinner (Ian Salisbury) in the forlorn hope that his wicket-taking deliveries would compensate for a relative lack of control against batsmen well accustomed to playing spin bowling. On that tour, England recalled a veteran off-spinner (40-year-old John Emburey) and thrust their reserve wicket-keeper (Richard Blakey) into the Test team and found he struggled to compensate for the lack of experience in such conditions. Their best keeper, Jack Russell, failed to make the tour party on the grounds that his batting wasn’t up to scratch. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?The comparisons do not end there. In 1993, security concerns were such that the first ODI, scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad, was abandoned which led to some players growing reluctant to leave their hotels.Let us not dwell upon the non-selection of a senior player (35-year-old David Gower on that occasion) with a fine record in such conditions. Maybe no England batsman has played a better Test innings in India than Kevin Pietersen’s in Mumbai in 2012; whatever the rights and wrongs of the episode, it seems a shame such a talent (now aged 36) is no longer on the biggest stage. Equally, it is a shame that Monty Panesar is nowhere near selection these days. Aged 34, he should be at his peak.

The decision to agree to this tour schedule has left England facing an imperfect cocktail of weariness and unpreparedness.

England are missing James Taylor, too. There is no-one to blame for his illness, of course, and it would be disingenuous to pretend that he had nailed his Test career at the time it was abruptly curtailed. But, with his ability to manoeuvre spin bowling, the suspicion remains he would have been a vital part of England’s middle-order on this tour.The Pietersen debacle is an example of how decisions made long ago can colour the present. So, just as the perfectly reasonable – admirable, even, in its consistency and patience – decision to persist with James Vince and Alex Hales throughout the English summer has left the team once again looking to fill holes in the batting line-up, so the decision to agree to this tour schedule has left England facing an imperfect cocktail of weariness and unpreparedness.It would be simplistic to point the finger of blame at anyone for the schedule of five Tests in seven weeks without a warm-up game. While the current ECB chairman seems to have suggested it was the fault of the previous regime – forgetting, perhaps, that he was vice-chairman before his promotion – it is a systematic problem not the fault of an individual.There is simply no time: this England squad left the UK almost the moment the season was over – several of them were rested from key end of season matches with the tour schedule in mind – and they return only four days before Christmas. If they want – perfectly reasonably – time off with their families on tour and to be home for Christmas, something has to give.Remember, the limited-overs squad returns to India almost as soon as the new year has started and England will then play the longest home season in the history of international cricket in 2017. The business model is broken and, until it is mended, the fortunes of the team will always be compromised.Equally, by arresting the disparity in priority between red and white ball cricket that has always pervaded in England, the last 18-months or so have witnessed a rapid improvement in their limited-overs cricket. If they go on to win that long-awaited first global ODI event over the next few years, it may well all seem worth it.But it comes at a cost. So, encouraging Jos Buttler to play in the IPL – again, a perfectly legitimate decision – meant that he was unable to benefit from playing in the County Championship. He comes into this series having played just one first-class match since he was dropped about a year ago and has had little chance to resurrect the faults that led to his previous struggles. He is, for sure, a special talent. But has he been given the best chance to succeed? Clearly, he has not.Those shifting priorities could become more of an issue in future years. There can be little serious doubt that the ECB hierarchy is prepared to dilute the quality of the county championship in order to establish a new-look domestic T20 competition. The best players will rarely, if ever, play red ball county cricket in the late-summer weeks when spin bowling would normally be at its most prevalent in England and, as a consequence, their ability to bowl it or play it in such conditions will be compromised. The ECB’s vision of the future – with the value and volume of Tests diminishing fast – may be accurate. Or they may be accomplices in the act.England’s players face another long stretch•Getty ImagesThe standard of spin bowling in England has probably never been lower. Young players are provided so few opportunities to play in spin-friendly conditions and, with white ball cricket ever more important, it is hard to see how the situation will improve. Maybe, not so long from now, skills likely to be crucial in this series will be all but obsolete.England are not going to get better at playing or delivering spin until it becomes a priority and the truth is that it isn’t. Defeat in India would hurt England but, if they go on to beat South Africa, win the Champions Trophy, and win the Ashes, it’s a pain with which they will cope.None of this constitutes an excuse for England. They are not the only team with a hectic schedule – India’s is equally daunting – and they are not the only team which struggles in foreign conditions. It is just an explanation and an observation.But we are getting ahead of ourselves. We are conducting the autopsy into England’s failure while the patient is still in decent health. England have proven, with victories in South Africa, with success in the 2015 Ashes and with their remarkable win here in 2012, that they deserve more respect than that.They have more enlightened management, more positive outlooks and more unity than many previous England touring parties. Certainly far more than the 1993 squad. They have at least a couple of men who have already established themselves as greats of English cricket (Alastair Cook, James Anderson and arguably Stuart Broad) and a couple more (Joe Root and Ben Stokes) who may well do so.And the pressure of expectation is all on India. If England can put together a decent start, perhaps the weight of a billion hopes will start to weigh heavy. Or if India try to destroy England rather than just trying to beat them – if they look for revenge for 2012 and 2014, if they prepare vicious turners or attempt to hit Moeen Ali and James Anderson into oblivion – it may let them in. That old line about revenge being best served cold remains true.So of course England have a chance. But success in series like this will always come against the odds as long as the value of spin in England is so low and while the importance of the County Championship is being eroded. And while the ECB talk a good game about the pre-eminence of Test cricket, their actions don’t match their words. As Meat Loaf almost put it in the best-selling song of 1993: they’ll do anything for Test cricket, but they won’t do that.

As Hashim Amla prepares to play his 100th Test, his former and current team-mates offer insight into the making of a great batsman

Firdose Moonda11-Jan-20171:30

Become a member of Amla’s army?

Hashim Amla is calmness personified, so much so that in his 12 years as an international cricketer, he has been cross precisely once. Okay, twice, but it was about the same thing.Last November, when Faf du Plessis was taking heat from the Australian media for using mint-infused saliva to shine the ball, Amla was the spokesperson for the entire squad as South Africa mounted a united defence at the MCG.An angry Amla said they believed the allegations were “a joke” and that du Plessis had done “absolutely nothing wrong”. He resorted to a wry line himself. “Do you want me to brush my teeth every time I walk out onto the field?” he asked one reporter.Two days later, when du Plessis was trailed by an enthusiastic television news crew at Perth airport, Amla took to Twitter to scold the journalist for “provocative behaviour” and said, “Ask a man with manners and courtesy and you will probably get a response.”Hashim Amla: 99 Tests, 7665 runs, an average of 49.45•Gallo ImagesAll that occurred during one of the leanest patches in Amla’s glittering career. Perhaps even he gets frustrated sometimes. As Kagiso Rabada put it, Amla is “not a robot”.There must be times when he gets excited or overwhelmed, and with good reason. He has three children under the age of five, for a start, and spends months living out of suitcases and hotel rooms, which is enough to stir emotions in anyone.In recent years Amla has provided more glimpses into his personality and become more outspoken. When he resigned the Test captaincy, he spoke about the difficulties that players of colour face, but he remains largely a private individual. He turned down the offer of a special dinner in his honour ahead of his 100th Test. The match is probably as important to him as his first, 21st or 71st game.So who is Hashim Amla, really? ESPNcricinfo spoke to current and former team-mates Dale Steyn, Stephen Cook, Herschelle Gibbs and Robin Peterson, a former captain, Graeme Smith, and a former coach, Gary Kirsten, to try and find out.Hashim Amla refused to wear the Castle logo on his shirt because of his religious beliefs•Getty ImagesA believer
Amla’s commitment to Islam was one of the first things the world learnt about him when he refused to wear the Castle logo on his kit, but even as a teenager he was rooted in religion. On an Under-19 tour, Amla asked room-mate Peterson whether he would mind if Amla stayed up at night and woke up early to pray. “I told him I had absolutely no problem with that,” Peterson, who had extended family who were Muslim and was well acquainted with the faith, said.Amla’s commitment to his faith inspired many of his team-mates, not just for his dedication but for how he managed to make it all encompassing. “As much as he is diligent and disciplined in his own faith, he is also extremely tolerant of other people’s beliefs,” Kirsten said. “That’s what makes him the perfect team man.”A batsman with a strange backlift
It was thought that Amla’s unusual backlift – it began from the direction of gully instead of straight behind him – might hold him back. Gibbs, who despite his flamboyance in life had started with an orthodox approach to cricket, said he was among those who doubted. “I wasn’t sure about him when I first saw him bat,” he said.But Graeme Smith, who also had an unorthodox technique, liked what he saw. “I am a big fan of different styles of cricketers, different grips, and different ways of ways of doing things,” he said. “That means that captains have to set fields differently and think of other ways to get people out. It makes it interesting.”Not a textbook backlift•Getty ImagesA student
What set Amla apart from his peers was his insatiable appetite for learning, especially about cricket. He constantly sought to improve. “He is a real student of the game and he has an enquiring mind,” Kirsten said. “He has always wanted to find ways to grow in the game and to engage in discussions about different ways of playing.”Amla captained South Africa in the 2002 Under-19 World Cup and made the final. Cook was part of that team. “Hylton Ackerman senior was the coach and he spoke of Hashim’s cricketing knowledge beyond his years,” Cook said. “Hashim had such a good feel for the game and where it was going, and what methods and tactics to use then as a captain.”A diligent trainer
To do that Amla had to spend hours in the nets, to ensure he was as ready as he could be. For a captain, that was a dream; for a coach, maybe less so. “If you can find mature people who get themselves into places where they are prepared to perform as well as possible, that is a bonus,” Smith said. “He has always been a very driven guy. He is meticulous and works hard at the nets. I have never met anyone who hits more balls, he is an assistant coach’s nightmare.”Part of Amla’s routine is to take a bag of golf balls to practice and hit them with a stump to fine-tune his eye. During the tour of New Zealand in 2012, Amla asked Kirsten to do the golf-ball throwdowns.”After I had sent down about ten, he came to me and said, ‘You’ve got to throw harder than that. You’ve got to make it more difficult for me,'” Kirsten said. “I just realised that not only did he want me to send the ball down quickly, he also wanted it on a good length. He really wanted to be challenged.”Kirsten has only seen one other player train as hard: Sachin Tendulkar.Net fiend: Amla is known for his hunger for training•AFPAmla’s approach to practice has not changed, and as recently as the Australia tour he was training as hard as ever. South Africa were preparing for their first day-night Test with a pink ball and Dale Steyn was bowling to Amla. “After that session, I walked into the change room and I said, ‘Either I’m shit, or that net is really flat, because Hashim just [smacked] me everywhere.'”Amla is one of two batsmen Steyn does not enjoy bowling to in the nets. AB de Villiers is the other, but for different reasons. “AB makes it look really easy, but he doesn’t play as many shots. Hashim is aggressive in the nets. He wants to feel bat on ball. I never walk away from a net feeling confident after I’ve bowled to Hashim.”A partner
All that practice made Amla the near-perfect partner. He features in South Africa’s two most successful pairings: 3923 runs with Jacques Kallis at 61.29 per partnership, and 3658 runs with Smith at 57.15. Smith particularly enjoyed batting with Amla because “he scored runs at a great tempo and transferred pressure a lot”.Of all the stands they shared, Smith picked the 195 against Australia at Newlands in November 2011, when South Africa chased 236 for victory, as the highlight. “We complemented each other pretty well. Our Afrikaans was probably also as bad as each other’s, so mostly we had to communicate in English.”That’s not to say all of Amla’s partners had much in common with him. Gibbs, who partnered Amla in six Test innings early in his career, joked: “We didn’t do much together. We never even shared a milkshake.”Kallis and Amla have put on close to 4000 Test runs at over 60 in partnership•Getty ImagesA batsman without obvious weaknesses
Steyn thought he had it figured, but says he might have been wrong. “I got him twice off slower balls early in his career so I thought this was the way to do it,” he said. “Then I tried it in the CPL and he got hold of me. With Dwayne Bravo, he hit my last over for 22.”He’s quite clever. He walks across the stumps and he flicks you to the leg side. He stands still and smokes you through the covers. With players like that you’ve almost got to double-bluff him and maybe bowl leg side and then try a wide Yorker. You need to gamble. The truth is that if you miss your execution or even if you hit it, he can punish you.”A captain
Amla was a surprise choice to replace Smith as Test captain, because he had shown reluctance to lead earlier in his career. Apart from stepping aside as Dolphins captain in the mid 2000s, Amla also walked away from South Africa’s limited-overs vice-captaincy in 2013 but then made himself available to lead the Test team. Steyn was one of his greatest supporters.”I enjoyed his captaincy. He was quite aggressive,” Steyn said. “In his first series in charge, in Sri Lanka, he called us into a huddle and told us these words – I can’t remember exactly what they were but it was pretty similar to the team song we have now – and he said we had to say this and from that moment, when we went on to the field, we would dominate. It didn’t matter what had happened before or after that. I thought it was quite nice. I thought he would be a quiet captain but he was quite vocal and after that series, I thought he had the job nailed down.”Eighteen months later, Amla stood down. Smith was not entirely surprised. “If I think honestly, I would never have pushed him into captaincy. The space that he operates in is that he has his routines, and captaincy would have added extra pressure.”When you’re the captain, you don’t have time to be as meticulous, you have to go straight from training to a selection meeting and then to sponsors, it’s a never-ending story. He likes to be thoughtful, to consider things and go through routines, and I think he recognised that it was not working for him.”No biggie: Amla appeared to be in good spirits even while resigning the captaincy•Getty ImagesA player worth more than his runs
Amla has gone back to being part of the team’s senior core, a space in which he excels. The work he does behind the scenes has earned the praise of many, including some of the newer players.”He is so welcoming and such a voice of calm. When situations are tricky and when people need to be grounded, he is the voice of reason,” Cook said. “He brings confidence to the group. Although he didn’t score many runs in Australia, the impact he had on the other guys performing was immense. His experience of the wickets in Australia, how to deal with the Australians, with the variety of difficulties, was a big help to guys like myself. He plays a vital role, whether he scores 0 or 100. He starts on 30 because he has added 30 runs in value by his experience.”Amla is generous in sharing his knowledge, more so than other players. “So many guys have got experience and got knowledge and hold it to themselves and use it as their secret weapon,” Cook said, “Whereas Hashim is one of those guys who just gives it out freely and for the betterment of all.”A personality
There is more to Amla than cricket. “He surprises you with the things he is interested in,” Smith said. “He really likes to surf, for example.” And he has struck up a close friendship with New Zealand rugby star Sonny-Bill Williams. Could you find a more unlikely pair?Amla’s sense of humour is much loved too. “He is the funniest guy. He has a very dry sense of humour,” Steyn said. “And he is always listening. He may just be sitting there quietly, cleaning his bat, but he will be taking in everything, and then in a couple of days he will drop a bombshell and everyone will just laugh.”Steyn doesn’t mind that Amla is a cleanliness freak, either. “He is a true professional. His kit is pristine. I enjoy sitting next to him because I hate having a messy change-room.”Or that he is well connected. “He knows people all around the world, and he always has people cooking a meal, and he always invites everyone,” Steyn said. “Boys on tour love a home-cooked meal.”Amla is presently going through a lean patch: ten Test innings without a 50-plus score•Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesA batsman going through a rough phase
After ten Test innings without a half-century – 13 without a hundred – Amla looks to have lost some of his touch. He is getting out to good balls but also to bad shots; some impatience seems to have crept into his game. Most of his team-mates are not worried, and say a big score is around the corner. Steyn is one of them and he even thinks that Amla could benefit from this struggle.”This is one of those phases everyone goes through. He has been getting some good balls, which happens, but also he has been holding his pose a little longer, and maybe nicking balls that otherwise he would play and miss at,” Steyn said. “He needs a bit of luck. If he is going to nick, he needs it to go through the slips and for four to get the ball rolling.”He will probably tell you that it’s nice to be out of form. As funny as that sounds, you want to experience all aspects of cricket. When you’re at the top of your game, obviously it’s good, but when you’re at rock bottom, you need to try and dig yourself out. But good players don’t go bad overnight.”A cricketer with a future
With 100 Tests to his name and more than a decade in the game, how long does Amla have left? For Kirsten, it’s about goals. “At some point when performance becomes indifferent, you have to ask yourself what more he wants to achieve. Does he want to play another 50 Tests, another 20? These great players can always come back to great form.”For Smith, there is no question. At least not now. “At the moment, South Africa cannot afford to be without Amla. He is just too good a player and once he gets some luck, he is going to hurt somebody.”

India’s 3-0 series win over Sri Lanka was their first ever clean sweep away from home in a series of three or more Tests

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Aug-2017Sri Lanka’s worst series results in Test history*

0-3 v Australia in Australia, 1995-96

0-3 v India in Sri Lanka, 2017

0-3 v India in India, 1993-94

0-3 v South Africa in South Africa, 2016-17

0-3 v Australia in Australia, 2012-13

A rare drubbing in an away seriesAs much as this was written was on the wall at the start of the series, the achievement is put in perspective in the fact that this is India’s first ever clean sweep away from home, in a series of three or more Tests. While Sri Lanka did not help their cause for the best part of the 11 days, they were repeatedly put on the back foot by a spate of injuries through the series. They lost allrounder Asela Gunaratne, their best seamer in Nuwan Pradeep, and finally their most experienced Rangana Herath. The final scoreline would have been no different in all likelihood, but a full-strength Sri Lanka side could have prevented this from becoming India’s most dominant performance in a series away from home.Three Tests, three innings winsFor the first time in 65 years and only the second time in Test history, a three-Test series ended with the same side winning by an innings every time. India dished out spiteful turners which their spinners made the most of, while the Sri Lanka attack, led by a young Muttiah Muralitharan, couldn’t cope as well against India’s top order. It was the series in which Kapil Dev broke the world record for Test wickets, going past Richard Hadlee.The ‘Brownwash’India had won just one of their previous 25 Tests when England visited in 1993. As they landed on Indian shores, offered an early prediction, saying that “current form suggests they are in for a good hiding”. What followed was anything but, as England became the first visiting side to lose every single Test in a series in India. Vinod Kambli smashed a double hundred in Mumbai, and Graeme Hick’s resistant 178 ended in vain. Three big wins, which popularised the usage of ‘brownwash’ in cricketing parlance.Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar hand over the Border-Gavaskar trophy to MS Dhoni•BCCISpinners hand New Zealand a thrashingIndia’s spinners picked up 41 of the 60 possible wickets to help their side kick-start a home season in which they won 10 of the 13 Tests over a six-month period by handing a 3-0 thrashing to New Zealand. Kane Williamson, the visiting captain and their best batsman, struggled through a series, battling form and fitness issues. He ended up with a single fifty from four innings, and fell to R Ashwin every single time. His numbers were reflective of how New Zealand’s batting line-up fared, as they slipped from one defeat to another against India’s rampant bowling attack.’Homework-gate’ and other horror talesUntil 2013, India had never swept a four-match series, and it was made all the more special by the fact that it was Australia they beat. The Border – Gavaskar Trophy has been among the most closely fought ones in recent years, and this was a rare one-sided series in which Australia seemed to have lost the plot off the field. Mickey Arthur’s ‘homework-gate’ after the second Test dominated headlines, after which the previously suspended Shane Watson returned to lead Australia in the final Test. It was a rare spell of sustained domination for India, as they humbled a higher-ranked Australian side in familiar conditions.

Alastair Cook and Joe Root scored two of their softer hundreds against a West Indies attack low on confidence and quality

George Dobell at Edgbaston17-Aug-2017As Mark Ramprakash applauded the England batsmen into the dressing room at the end of a successful day, he could be forgiven if his mind wandered, just for a moment, back to his own experiences of playing West Indies.Back in 1991, Ramprakash made his Test debut against this opposition. The attack he faced in that match, a match which also saw Graeme Hick make his debut, consisted of Patrick Patterson, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.It was, perhaps, as hostile and skilful a foursome of pace bowlers as Test cricket has ever seen. And a strong-looking England side that also contained Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Allan Lamb and Robin Smith – all terrific players of pace bowling – was bowled out for 198 within 80 overs. Hick faced 31 balls for his 6 and Rampakash battled for 103 deliveries in making 27. There were 23 boundaries in the entire innings.Compare that to the attack faced by Alastair Cook and Joe Root in this match at Edgbaston. Sans the pace, hostility or control of the class of ’91, they conceded 47 boundaries in their first 80 overs and, while Ramprakash and co didn’t face an over of spin, this West Indies side offered it at both ends in twilight when the second new ball was available. Ramprakash, now England’s batting coach, would be quite entitled if, in a quiet moment, he reflected how his own international playing career might have developed had he faced such opposition.Now, it is unfair to continually compare modern West Indies sides with their forebears. They were, to some extent, freakishly good and it is no more Jason Holder’s fault that he does not command such an attack as it is his fault that he can’t fly.But it is fair to compare this West Indies attack to that put out by South Africa in the recently concluded Test series against England. And it is fair to conclude that, well though Cook and Root played here, their innings of 88 (at The Oval) and 49 (at Old Trafford) respectively were, in their way, more admirable.That is not to take anything away from either of them. Almost from the start here, Cook drove fluently through the covers – usually a sign that he is at his best – and the consistency with which Root is scoring runs in all conditions – this was the 11th Test in succession in which he has contributed a half-century at least – marks him out as special. Cook suggested he might be the best he had played with; it’s hard to disagree.But the number of boundary deliveries bowled at them, the fallible fielding, the lack of threat for much of the day, rendered these unusually soft Test centuries. And they were a reminder that, for all the success of the novelty of the day-night Test – a great success in terms of attracting spectators to the ground – it only provides a sticking plaster to the wounds facing Test cricket.

It was Stoneman’s great misfortune to receive by far the best delivery of the day: a peach of a ball that offered to swing in, then left him off the seam to clip his off stump

“I don’t know why hundreds are such a big thing,” Cook said afterwards. “But as a batter you are judged by hundreds. I felt that innings of 88 at The Oval was as good a knock as I could play in those conditions against four quality seamers. Today was different: the sun was out and the pitch was flat.”Ramprakash and Hick may not have been the only ones shaking their heads ruefully as they watched events unfold at Edgbaston. Spare a thought for Gary Ballance and Keaton Jennings, too. Both struggled in the series against South Africa on far more testing conditions and against a far more demanding attack. Both may be judged permanently on their struggles.In Ballance’s case, in particular, that would be harsh. Three times in his four innings against South Africa, he reached 20. And, while he failed to capitalise on those starts, he had at least taken some of the sting out of the ball and the bowlers which may well have rendered life a little easier for those that followed in the middle-order. It is impossible to predict how he would have fared against this attack in these conditions, though he would surely have found life much easier.That is not to say Ballance is necessarily one of the men England should be taking to Australia. He still has questions to answer against the sort of pace he may face there and his two more recent runs in the side have produced consistently disappointing returns. But it was reminder that we are fools if we judge players by raw stats or limited appearances.Certainly Mark Stoneman will hope he is not judged on his first Test innings. It was his great misfortune to receive by far the best delivery of the day: a peach of a ball that offered to swing in just a touch, then left him off the seam to clip his off stump. The word “unplayable” is one of the most over-used in cricket (“promising” runs it close), but this delivery just about qualified. “There’s not much you can do about that,” Root told Sky ruefully after play.There was better fortune for Dawid Malan. Missed at slip (off a spinner) on 2 and almost struck by a bouncer from Kemar Roach, it was his fortune to be given something of a breather when West Indies delayed taking the second new ball. It was only a couple of overs but Malan was on 7 at the time – four of which had come from an edge – and looking far from comfortable. Sometimes these moments can have enormous ramifications. Rarely does a Test side show such a lack of ruthlessness and rarely does a coach look as frustrated as Stuart Law, who quickly send a message on to the pitch to implore his team to take the new ball immediately.”We had discussed that,” Roddy Estwick, West Indies’ bowling coach, said. “So it was disappointing. We had to send a quiet reminder on to the pitch. We conceded 53 boundaries; it shows we were very inconsistent.”They sure were. The sight of Root bringing up his century with a pull for four off a filthy, wide long-hop down the leg side said it all. England were efficient and ruthless, but rarely will they have it so easy.

Colin de Grandhomme also blasted the second fastest Test century by a New Zealand batsman, with all of his runs coming in the third session in Wellington

Shiva Jayaraman02-Dec-2017Colin de Grandhomme notched up his maiden Test hundred in just 71 balls in New Zealand’s first innings against West Indies in Wellington. His knock is the second-fastest hundred for New Zealand in Tests and one of the fastest in the format. Brendon McCullum had hit a century off just 54 deliveries against Australia in Christchurch in 2016, which is also the fastest ever in terms of deliveries faced by a batsman.ESPNcricinfo LtdDe Grandhomme’s hundred is the fastest recorded innings for a maiden Test hundred. He broke a record which had stood for over a hundred years: England’s Gilbert Jessop had made his maiden – and only – Test hundred in 76 deliveries at the Oval in 1902.

Fastest recorded maiden Test centuries

Batsman BF Opposition, VenueColin de Grandhomme 71 v WI, Wellington, ’17-18Gilbert Jessop 76 v AUS, the Oval, 1902Shikhar Dhawan 85 v AUS, Mohali, ’12-13Chris Cairns 86 v ZIM, Auckland, ’95-96Mitchell Johnson 86 v SA, Cape Town, ’08-09Hardik Pandya 86 v SL, Pallekelle, ’17De Grandhomme came in to bat just after tea and clobbered 105 runs off 74 balls he faced, in the process becoming only the sixth New Zealand batsman to make 100 or more runs in a single session in Tests. The previous New Zealand batsman to do so was Daniel Vettori, who hit 127 runs between tea and close of play in Harare in 2005-06.

Most runs in a session by NZ batsmen, Tests

Batsman Runs Session Opposition, VenueIan Smith 140 Tea to Close of play v IND, Auckland, ’89-90Nathan Astle 139 Tea to Close of play v ENG, Christchurch, ’01-02Daniel Vettori 127 Tea to Close of play v ZIM, Harare, ’05-06Chris Cairns 105 Tea to Close of play v SA, Auckland, ’03-04Colin de Grandhomme 105 Tea to Close of play v WI, Wellington, ’17-18Lou Vincent 101 Lunch to Tea v SL, Wellington, ’04-05Grandhomme’s strike rate of 141.89 in this innings is the sixth-highest in Test history (where balls faced information is available). The other New Zealand batsmen collectively scored 323 runs at a strike rate of just 46.08. This difference in strike rates between him and the other New Zealand batsmen of 95.81 is the fifth-highest for any batsman scoring 100 or more runs in a Test innings.

Batsman outscoring team in a Test inns, min 100 runs

Batsman Opposition, season Batsman SR Others SR DiffViv Richards v ENG, ’86 189.65 60.00 129.65Misbah-ul-Haq v AUS, ’14-15 177.19 52.92 124.27Brendon McCullum v AUS, ’15-16 183.54 68.13 115.40Adam Gilchrist v ENG, ’05-06 172.88 66.28 106.59Colin de Grandhomme v WI, ’17-18 141.89 46.07 95.81

It has been a far from simple build-up for Joe Root with injury and form concerns to deal with. The final XI looks exciting, but also a gamble

George Dobell at the Ageas Bowl29-Aug-20185:46

Compton: England top-order lacks backbone

When England were at their best between 2009 and 2011 or so there was a predictability about almost every aspect of their cricket.They had a settled batting line-up, a settled slip cordon and a settled bowling attack. Squad announcements could be cut and pasted for months at a time.Those days are long gone. It might just prove that England have stumbled upon the perfect line-up ahead of the fourth Test in Southampton, but it feels patched together rather than engineered.There is some justification behind the tinkering. Jonny Bairstow, for example, has a finger injury that necessitated he relinquish the gloves, while Chris Woakes has a long-standing quad issue that rendered him unfit for selection. Ben Stokes also has a knee problem that will limit the number of overs he can deliver. The knock-on effects of those injuries was bound to create ripples.But England go into this game looking just a little vulnerable. Few of their batsmen are in their regular positions, after all, and there are four left-handers in the top seven against an attack that favours them. And, as well a new keeper and slip cordon – well, not new so much as revisited – they appear to have abandoned their continuity of selection policy. Meanwhile, their most pressing problem – the fragility of their opening partnership – has not been addressed at all.None of that necessarily makes the selection of the side wrong. It’s just that England have a side stacked with aggressive allrounders most of whom would be best placed batting at No. 6 and very few candidates to strengthen the top three. And in asking Bairstow to move up to No. 4 – an unusual response to a man breaking a finger – they are asking him to fulfil a role he has almost never attempted in county cricket and for which he expressed little enthusiasm on Tuesday.It is not impossible he could make a go of it. He has the talent and it could even be the making of him. But if he is to make it work, he may well have to curb the natural aggressive instincts that have earned him much of the success he has enjoyed to this point. If, as is entirely possible, he comes to the crease within the first 10 overs and continues to push at the ball, he will quickly expose a middle-order that looks more exciting than reliable.The same could be said for most of the batsmen. Joe Root wants to bat No. 4, Stokes has spent most of his career at No. 6 and it is only a few months since Ed Smith, the national selector, talked about Jos Buttler as an ideal No. 7. A few days ago, Moeen Ali scored a double-hundred against a strong Yorkshire attack while batting at No. 3. There is, for sure, some method in the madness of mixing all that up. But there may be some chaos, too.Collision course: Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook bump into each other during training•Getty ImagesEngland have altered their slip cordon, again, too. Root, whose catching gained a far from effusive review from Trevor Bayliss only a couple of weeks ago, will field at second slip with Stokes at third replacing Keaton Jennings. It said a lot for England’s lack of confidence in the position that Root explained the changes not by way of suggesting they would catch better as much as they would deal with the disappointment of drops better.”The hardest thing to get your head around in Test cricket is dealing with when you’ve dropped one,” Root said. “It’s easier to ask experienced guys who have done that a lot more to handle it better.”Ollie Pope is a particularly unfortunate victim of all the tinkering. Asked to fulfil a role that was alien to him – he bats No. 6 for Surrey but was required to bat at No. 4 for England – he has been jettisoned after just three Test innings. As a result, he could be forgiven for wondering what happened to the policy whereby a player was given “one Test too many rather than one too few” that has been touted so often in recent times.Dom Bess (two Tests) and Jack Leach (one Test), who appear to have become England’s third and fourth-choice spinners, could be forgiven similar thoughts. Perhaps Sam Curran, who was dropped a couple of Tests after producing a player of the match performance, too. You wonder whether such treatment – and the insecurity it can breed – compromises their development and confidence within the dressing room. And if it doesn’t, why can’t Alastair Cook, or other experienced players, be dropped when out of form? It seems, at present, as if England find it much easier to drop according to age than merit. Bess, Curran and Pope were all 20.”That’s part of international sport,” Root said in explanation of the Bairstow decision. “You don’t always get what you want. And hopefully he uses it in the right way to continue to work really hard at that side of his game. And he and Jos two can push each other to keep improving in that department.”There were no guarantees that Bairstow would win the gloves back, either. With every chance that his finger will not have improved sufficiently for England to make any change ahead of the final Test at The Oval, it seems Buttler will retain the job. Then, when the side travels to Sri Lanka, it will be unclear who the first choice keeper has become.Admirably meritocratic? Or unnecessarily destabilising? We’ll see. But you do wonder how many people in that dressing room are starting to look over their shoulders.There was one nice moment at the end of training on Thursday. Once all the players had left the field, Mark Nicholas and Robin Smith – both hugely popular and significant figures in Hampshire cricket – emerged from one of the function rooms overlooking the ground and took some pictures of one another playing imaginary shots on the Test pitch. Smith has had some tough times in recent years so to see him in fine fettle and, even without a bat, unleashing that famous square-cut was heartening and reviving. How England could do with a batsman of his class now.

In any other major subcontinental sport, the Asian championships are a significant event. But is it really so in cricket?

Shashank Kishore in Dubai14-Sep-20184:51

The story of the naagin dance and a feisty modern rivalry

In any other major subcontinental sport, the Asian championships are a significant event. Example: India and Pakistan’s consequence for not winning the Asian Games Hockey gold in Indonesia last month is having to go through a rigorous qualifying process for the 2020 Olympics.The AFC Cup is the second oldest football championship after Copa America. It gives all the sides exposure amidst a crowded club football calendar to prepare themselves for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Similarly, in Davis Cup tennis, teams from Asia and Oceania compete against each other to advance to the upper tier. While the winner advances to the World group playoffs, the losing teams compete in the relegation playoffs.With cricket, however, you have to scratch your head for a bit to understand what’s at stake from both contextual and prestige point of view. What does being Asian champions mean? Bangladesh were runners-up at the Asia Cup T20 at home in 2016, but they still had to qualify for the World T20, held in India exactly a month later, playing against teams like Oman, Afghanistan, Nepal and Hong Kong, who for long have been made to feel unwanted.In the past, the Associates were largely being pencilled in as an afterthought. Invariably, two games and three days into the tournament, they’d pack their bags to take the next flight home. It was only in 2004 – after seven editions of the tournament had already taken place – that the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) actually agreed to let teams like UAE and Hong Kong play. They featured in the subsequent edition in 2008 as well, but gained little in the way of exposure and were eventually shown the door in 2010, when the Asia Cup reverted to being a competition between the four subcontinental giants.In 2014, Afghanistan forced their way in, rising from division five of the World Cricket League to become an Associate member of the ICC. Their subsequent ODI status reaffirmed the need to induct emerging teams and give them exposure. Things looked up for the new boys, but at the take-off point was another roadblock, with the ACC – operating with just two staff members at one point in 2015 – undergoing massive restructuring.2:43

Why should you watch the Asia Cup?

Things aren’t entirely back on track, but the ACC is hoping for a revival here in the UAE, after the tournament was shifted out of India earlier this year. The organisers are banking on the 2019 World Cup adding a delicious subplot to the current edition, which has also been structured into resembling a mini India-Pakistan bilateral series. Both sides could play each other up to three times should they make the final, a rarity after what once had the much-maligned India-Sri Lanka ring to the rivalry during the course of a four-year period from 2004 to 2007.India toured Pakistan in 2004 and 2006, with Pakistan returning the favour in 2005 and 2007. In between, they missed each other so much that a two-match series – their first in UAE since the 2000 tri-series – was played in Abu Dhabi. During this period, both sides were so familiar with the other that the normal needle from an India-Pakistan context was replaced with talk of friendship and camaraderie. The dynamics have changed since 2008. Political tensions in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks now mean they face each other only in ICC tournaments and Asia Cups.Last year’s Champions Trophy final tickets were lapped up within seven minutes of going on sale. The tickets for the 2019 World Cup clash between the two sides were lapped up 14 months in advance. How about a taste of India-Pakistan in the UAE this time around? No chance. All tickets for the clash on September 19, barring corporate hospitality, priced upwards of 6000 AED (USD 1600 approx) have been sold out. Therefore, from a fan point of view, this is viewed as a series within a series, without meaning any disrespect to the other teams.That doesn’t take away what each of the other sides have at stake. Afghanistan have an opportunity to cause another stir to those they already have over the last two years. Their dramatic entry to the World Cup earlier this year has added an edge to the outfit that can now compete against any of the top sides in the subcontinent. Hong Kong have come through a qualifying process, beating the likes of Oman, Nepal and UAE along the way. Bangladesh are the rising force, fresh out of a limited-overs series win in West Indies but plenty to answer in terms of form and fitness of key players. Sri Lanka are grappling form and injuries to key players, and want to turn around their fortunes after a thrashing from South Africa at home. India are fatigued after a long English summer, and want to ring in a few wins under stand-in captain Rohit Sharma.On the face of it, the tournament will sleepwalk its way for the first week – it’s for Hong Kong to prove that won’t be the case – before the Super Four stage, which could throw up a few surprises. But the pertinent question remains: can the Asia Cup, a chameleon that changes format for context, continue to remain relevant and provide opportunities for the smaller teams? Can the bigger sides engage their younger cousins to give them exposure? The next two weeks could give us a few answers.