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Friday, August 29, 2008
India vs Sri Lanka 5th ODI Highlights | One Day Cricket
Patel grabs five as England claim series
Samit Patel capped a sparky allround performance with a five-wicket haul.
Andrew Flintoff starred with bat and ball, Ian Bell played arguably the most fluent one-day innings of his career and Samit Patel capped a sparky allround performance with a maiden five-wicket haul, as England's cricketers surged to an unassailable 3-0 series lead in Kevin Pietersen's first series as captain. With two games to come at Lord's and Cardiff, England could even climb to No. 2 in the world rankings if they maintain the same intensity that has left their South African opponents counting down the days until they can fly home to Johannesburg.
It was another crushingly professional performance from England. On Tuesday they bowled South Africa out for 83 at Trent Bridge en route to a ten-wicket win, and though the margin today was less emphatic, their impact was identical. Bell and Matt Prior signalled England's intent with a century stand in the first 15 overs of the innings, and though they did suffer a mid-innings wobble when four wickets fell for 38 in ten overs, Flintoff prevented any meltdown with a mature 78 not out from 77 balls.
England's total of 296 for 7 was arguably 20 runs short of their potential, but it never came close to being challenged. Without the drive and inspiration of Graeme Smith at the top of the order, South Africa were a flaky unit when their turn came to bat. Hashim Amla, playing in only his fourth ODI, top-scored with a battling 46, but the experienced pair of Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis mustered 21 runs between them, while AB de Villiers - the other remaining star of this one-day line-up - crassly ran himself out for 12 while taking on Steve Harmison's tracer-like arm at fine-leg.
At 82 for 4 in the 21st over, South Africa's challenge was effectively over, but Patel ensured that there would be no unlikely revival. Operating from the Vauxhall End with a tidy line and good variation, he nibbled away at the lower-middle order and tempted a variety of indiscretions. Mark Boucher made room for a cut but was beaten by the arm ball, Albie Morkel slammed two vast sixes in three balls before chipping a low return catch from the very next delivery, and Patel then corralled the tail with the minimum of fuss - tossing the ball up temptingly, he claimed the last three wickets for four runs in 13 balls, to become the first England spinner to take five wickets in a one-day innings since Ashley Giles in Delhi in 2001-02.
The excellence of England's team performances in the first two games had forced Patel to wait for his opportunity to take centre stage, but once it was given to him he did not disappoint. In addition to his wickets, he might have dismissed Gibbs with a squeakingly tight direct-hit shy that was turned down on referral, and he also sprinted 30-yards from mid-on to complete a cool catch over his shoulder as Kallis top-edged a pull off Flintoff. But arguably Patel's most crucial role of the day came with the bat, when he entered the fray for the first time, with England in a spot of bother on 182 for 5. Unperturbed, he pulled Morkel firmly through midwicket to register his first boundary in international cricket, and then spanked Makhaya Ntini gloriously on the up and through the covers, en route to 31 from 33 balls in a vital stand of 74 with Flintoff.
Flintoff's innings was cool, collected and undeniably brave. On 39, he was struck a fearsome blow over the right eye by Morkel, a blow that required treatment on the field as well as a spell in the dressing-room at the start of the South African innings. But he batted well within himself, grinding his way through the gears to finish unbeaten on 78 for the second innings in a row - his first back-to-back ODI fifties since 2004. When he went for his shots they came off handsomely, in particular a blasted six off Steyn that was dropped in the crowd at long-on, but he was equally happy to time the ball to the boundary, never better exemplified by a back-foot steer past point in the same Steyn over.
If one man epitomised South Africa's lack of belief it was Ntini, who endured a nightmarish day in the field. In his second over he lost his run-up completely, serving up consecutive no-balls - one of which was top-edged for four - before following up with an awful wide, delivered from level with the stumps. With the free hit carried over for a third delivery in a row, Prior opened his shoulders to clobber a length ball over long-on for six. Steyn was scarcely any more economical, drifting onto the pads with alarming regularity as Bell clipped him exquisitely through the leg side for three fours in two overs, as he hurtled to his half-century from 36 balls - his first ODI fifty at better than a run-a-ball.
Kallis, in a continuation of his peculiar form on this tour, once again proved to be South Africa's star with the ball. He didn't bring himself on until the 26th over, but then struck with his very first delivery as Owais Shah was beaten by a big offcutter and bowled off the inside-edge. He added a crucial second one over later when Kevin Pietersen hopped across his stumps to be pinned lbw for 5, and, with Bell already gone for 73, Paul Collingwood then became Johan Botha's second victim when he looped a leg-side catch off his pad and into the hands of Mark Boucher for 14.
That mini-collapse, however, was as troublesome as England's day would get. From Bell's early blitz to Patel's perfect denouement, everything else they attempted came off with spectacular success. As they shuffled off the field to the safety of the dressing-room, South Africa's defeated cricketers were left to wonder how they will ever get the better of the former countryman who is now captaining their opponents with such aplomb.
Triumphant Dhoni stresses on team effort
Mahendra Singh Dhoni: "It's about the 16 guys in the team and the bench strength ... captain is only as good as his team".
At the end of a series few expected India to win, their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni readily paid tribute to his young bunch of hopefuls, who came to Sri Lanka under criticism for their defeat in the Asia Cup final. Stressing a collective effort rather than the need to rely on experienced or individual players, Dhoni credited a group that, while not always in form, stuck together to give India their first bilateral series win on Sri Lankan soil in 23 years of trying.
"Cricket's not a game in which you can rely on form in the sense that you can get a good start but the bowler running in is in better touch," he said. "If you get a start and the rest bat around you, you get a chance to put up a big score. If we win series like this we can afford to carry the players who aren't in form. You know what they're capable of and they've paid dividends in the past. But you cannot rely on one individual."
That was India's leitmotif all series, and it's paid off. India lost key players to injury and Dhoni was quick to admit this series win was a real achievement, stressing on the importance of continuance. "You can't sit back and say you won the World Twenty20 or the CB Series or this series. Sachin [Tendulkar] and [Virender] Sehwag help achieve consistently, but there were injuries. We didn't have Ishant Sharma and Sehwag was in prime form. But the others contributed and I'm glad with the contributions of the new players."
The single-biggest gain, Dhoni felt, was how his batsmen handled the threat of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan. "These were slow tracks and it was important to rotate strike," he said, "and we were able to do that and played the spinners well. We negotiated Murali well, which has been tough over the years in Sri Lanka, and we tackled Mendis well. I was impressed by the way we handed these two in the middle overs. It wasn't just about playing Mendis; it was about scoring off him. Whoever got set in made it big. A 70 on such tracks was immense."
Dhoni spoke of winning "crucial" games, and in a season where India lost consecutive finals he was relieved to have nipped this one in the bud with a game to spare. "If this was the last game of the series, tied 2-2, and we lost people would start saying that 'in the last 23 finals India have lost 18', but neither this team nor I have played 23 finals. It was crucial we finish the series before reaching this game."
| It's not about randomly selecting players. The players who have done well domestically and on A tours have been rewarded | |||
It has been almost a year since Dhoni took over the limited-overs captaincy and lead India to the ICC World Twenty20 title. Reflecting on his tenure, he felt he had been given the right team and that made his job easier. "It's about the 16 guys in the team and the bench strength ... a captain is only as good as his team," Dhoni said. "A captain shares responsibilities, finds problem areas, and sends the best guy to rectify that problem. A good team makes a good captain, not the other way around. You have to let players go in the right direction; after that it is up to the individual."
The selectors have backed Dhoni's vision of youth, not without criticism, and Dhoni felt it was necessary because of the demands of today's game. "You want to have batsmen who run quickly, who can convert ones into twos and put pressure on the fielders," he said. "It is good to have a side like that. If you're scored a par score and have a fielding side which is safe then you add 15-20 more runs.
"It's not about randomly selecting players," he said. "The players who have done well domestically and on A tours have been rewarded. In the selection process you come across equally consistent players, and it gets tough. That's when you have to make the choice to take you forward. You have to give everyone enough chances, not just a few games. If he can't prove he knows what his mistakes are and can go back and correct those."
Dhoni's 193 runs and Man-of-the-Series performance has taken him back to the No. 1 ODI batting spot he held briefly in April 2006, and he credited a self-imposed absence as a relief. "I enjoyed my break but I enjoyed my training more," he said. "What you do in practice reflects in the game. I'm glad to have contributed."
Bowlers power Sri Lanka to consolation win
Man of the Match Nuwan Kulasekara took the first four wickets to fall in India's chase.
Sri Lanka's opening bowlers ensured their side maintained its record of not losing four consecutive ODIs at home as they beat India in the final ODI in Colombo. While one of them took career-best figures, the other got his career-best score.
Nuwan Kulasekara dismissed the Indian top order, troubling the batsmen with movement off the seam, after Thilan Thushara had scored a half-century to boost a faltering Sri Lankan innings to 227. There followed a rain interruption and, when play resumed with six overs docked, India crumbled to Ajantha Mendis and Dilhara Fernando, losing seven wickets for 33 runs to finish on 103, their lowest score in Sri Lanka.
Chasing 228 - Mahela Jayawardene won the toss for the first time in the series and followed the winning strategy of batting first - Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, were beaten by Kulasekara's line but hung on to hit the loose deliveries for fours. Thushara, bowling immediately after his unbeaten 94-run stand with Jehan Mubarak, also got the ball to cut in and was unlucky to have an appeal for caught behind turned down off his first ball of the innings. The delivery landed on the seam and straightened with the angle and replays suggested it took the edge off Gambhir's bat before reaching the keeper.
But Kulasekara got Gambhir soon after, with a tactic Sri Lanka had used earlier in the series. Kumar Sangakkara stood up to the stumps and Gambhir, perhaps distracted, edged the next ball to the keeper. While Thushara moved the ball away from Kohli, Kulasekara seamed it in and the batsman brought his front foot across the line only to be trapped in front. He beat Suresh Raina with a delivery that cut in to the left-hander before having him caught at midwicket.
Raina's wicket was the turning point of the innings: it triggered a collapse that saw eight wickets fall for 33 runs. It had been drizzling when he was batting, and a reckless heave to midwicket was unpardonable for an in-form batsman, besides D/L calculations would have been the focus in the dressing room. The players went off right after Raina's fall, and came back with the target revised to 216 off 44 overs, and Sri Lanka in the advantage.
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That target would have been a lot smaller if not for Thushara's innings. He joined Mubarak at the crease with Sri Lanka at 133 for 6. Though several boundaries came off edges in their partnership, Mubarak and Thushara rotated the strike, something the top order had failed to. Thushara drove and cut confidently to get to his maiden half-century. The two batsmen were kept quiet by left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha but attacked the wayward length of RP Singh and Irfan Pathan in the final ten overs.
The Sri Lankan top-order's contribution would have looked even worse if not for the 77-run stand between left-handers Mahela Udawatte and Malinda Warnapura. They countered Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel's tight bowling and settled down after the first Powerplay, working out the gaps in the field and choosing to tip and run in order to up the run-rate.
Zaheer tried to hurry them with shorter deliveries, but Udawatte picked out the loose balls over the in-field and forced the bowlers to vary their length, which only resulted in overpitched deliveries and more boundaries. The two added 39 between overs 10 and 15. Pathan dismissed Udawatte and Warnapura in the same over, but was largely ineffective from then on. Ojha troubled the lower order, bowling three successive maiden overs, as Sri Lanka added only 60 runs between overs 20 and 40.
The first innings, though, became inconsequential with India's capitulation. Kulasekara, who took all three wickets to fall before the stoppage, trapped Rohit Sharma leg before on resumption. Ajantha Mendis and Dilhara Fernando stepped up to the plate after Kulasekara finished his quota of nine overs with 4 for 40. The last seven wickets fell in 11 overs: Mendis dismissed Yuvraj Singh for the third time in the series and wrapped up the tail, while Fernando generated bounce and movement to bowl Dhoni and have RP Singh caught by Jayawardene. As in the first ODI, this was an embarassing loss, but India had already secured the series in the previous match.
NZ announce home schedules against Windies and India
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New Zealand Cricket has announced the itineraries for the home series against West Indies and India this summer. West Indies are scheduled to tour from December 2008, playing two Tests, two Twenty20 internationals and five one-dayers, followed by India's visit in March.
West Indies begin their tour on December 5 with a three-day warm-up match against Auckland, before the first Test at Dunedin's University Oval, the newest Test venue in the country. The Twenty20 internationals precede the one-dayers, the first of which is scheduled for New Year's Eve in Queenstown. West Indies wrap up their tour with the fifth one-dayer in Napier on January 13, leaving them more than three weeks to prepare for their home series against England.
India, however, don't have such a luxury and face a gruelling schedule during their tour, with a possible 19 days of cricket to be played in a span of 33 days.
The tour, India's first of New Zealand since 2002-03, begins with a Twenty20 international at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington and ends with the final Test, from April 3-7, at the Basin Reserve in the same city. India will play one Twenty20 international, five day-night ODIs, a warm-up three-day game, and two Tests during their trip; they return home in time for the second edition of the Indian Premier League, which runs from April 10 to May 29.
A hectic itinerary means the Indian players will have only a day's break between the Twenty20 international and the first ODI in Napier, as well as between the fifth ODI in Hamilton and the warm-up match in Lincoln, near Christchurch, which concludes two days before the start of the first Test in Hamilton.
India had a torrid time on their last trip in December 2002-January 2003, losing the two-Test series 2-0 and the seven-ODI contest 5-2. The visit came in the build-up to the World Cup in South Africa, where the Indian team, under severe pressure initially, made it to the final. Cold and damp conditions resulted in favourable conditions for bowlers, with neither Test lasting five days, and teams batting first often getting bowled out cheaply in the ODI series. India are also slated to visit Pakistan for a full tour early next year.
Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, said he was looking ahead to a competitive summer. "It will be nice to face the contrasting styles of the West Indies and India this summer," Vettori said. "They are two teams who are both on the rise, and they will provide a good measure of where we are at in our own development."
Udawatte and Mubarak in as SL bat
Dilhara Fernando replaced Chaminda Vaas in the match.
Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat v India
Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to make it five out five when he lost the toss in the final one-dayer and was asked to field. With the series decided in India's favour, both sides rang in the changes in a match Sri Lanka will want to win for pride, and to maintain their record of not losing four consecutive ODIs at home.
Mahela Jayawardene chose to rest Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas and Tillakaratne Dilshan and brought in Mahela Udawatte, Jehan Mubarak and Dilhara Fernando. Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan got their first games in Colombo, in place of Harbhajan Singh and S Badrinath. Praveen Kumar was replaced by RP Singh, who will play his first match since the Asia Cup in July.
The toss has played a significant role at the Premadasa with the pitch offering movement to the fast bowlers and turn and bounce to the spinners in the evening. So India's young batting order will be tested in the chase.
Sri Lanka's top order has been lacklustre in this series with Jayawardene the only one to aggregate over 100 in the four matches. Sanath Jayasuriya needs 42 runs to surpass Sachin Tendulkar as the highest run-scorer in matches between Sri Lanka and India. He currently has 2525 in 74 matches at an average of 36.59 and strike-rate of 97.
Sri Lanka 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Mahela Udawatte, 7 Dilhara Fernando, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Jehan Mubarak.
India1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Irfan Pathan, 7 Rohit Sharma, 8 RP Singh, 9 Pragyan Ojha, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Sri Lanka look to revive batting form
Virat Kohli can make use of the opportunity to produce an innings that could cement his place in the side even after the return of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.
Match facts
Friday, August 29, 2008Start time 2.30pm (0900 GMT)
Big Picture
Few would have bet on India winning their maiden one-day series in Sri Lanka with a game in hand, especially after they were thrashed twice in a row, first in the Asia Cup final in Pakistan and then in the opening game of this series, with their bogeyman from the Test series, Ajantha Mendis, being the tormentor on both occasions.The difference lay in the abilities of the two batting orders to adapt. While the Indian batsmen huffed and puffed to victory in the second ODI before adjusting to post defendable totals in Colombo, their Sri Lankan counterparts repeatedly failed to cope with India's three-pronged pace attack backed up by Harbhajan Singh. The success of India's bowlers, and Sri Lanka's collective batting failure, makes the final a dead rubber.
Therefore, there isn't a lot but proverbial pride to play for on Friday. Sri Lanka have lost two of their last three series at home - against Pakistan and England - and beaten only Bangladesh so they will hope their batsmen fire them to a consolation victory. There is an incentive for some of the Indian batsmen - Virat Kohli, S Badrinath and Rohit Sharma - to produce an innings that will make it harder for them to be overlooked when Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are available for India's next limited-overs assignment.
This series, though, has been decided and both teams will be looking forward to a break during the gap created by the absence of the Champions Trophy.
Form guide (last 5 ODIs)
Sri Lanka LLLWWIndia WWWLL
Watch out for
The toss: Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won all four tosses in the series. He admitted to misreading the pitch after India lost the first game but made the correct decision in the second in Dambulla. The decision to bat first after the series shifted to the Premadasa has been a no-brainer. The fast bowlers have moved the ball laterally under lights while the spinners have extracted turn and bounce as the match progresses, making chasing a target significantly harder. Murali and Mendis haven't had the opportunity to defend a score at the Premadasa yet and expect Sri Lanka to stretch India if they do.Raina and Dhoni v the spinners: India's two victories at the Premadasa were set up by substantial contributions from Dhoni and Suresh Raina. Both batsmen scored half-centuries in each match to prop up an otherwise frail batting line-up. They approached Murali and Mendis with controlled aggression and did not hesitate in dispatching the bad delivery. Raina scored 31 off 33 balls against Mendis and 35 off 34 against Murali, while Dhoni took 44 off 51 balls and 43 off 45 balls against Mendis and Murali respectively.
Team news
The teams didn't practise on the eve of the match. Sri Lanka had brought in Malinda Warnapura to open the innings with Sanath Jayasuriya and pushed Kumar Sangakkara down to No. 3 in order to strengthen a top order that was struggling against the new ball. The move failed: Warnapura made an 18-ball duck and Sangakkara fell for 6 but Sri Lanka could give the strategy another go.Sri Lanka (likely) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
There's no definite team news from the Indian camp as yet. They are likely to retain the winning combination unless they want to give a chance to Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Parthiv Patel.
India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 S Badrinath, 7 Rohit Sharma, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.
Pitch & conditions
In the last two matches, Dhoni had a broad smile on his face as he called correctly and decided to bat. Jayawardene said he would have done the same on a pitch that assists the bowlers as it wears. The weather for Friday isn't clear: thunderstorms are forecast and the chance of rain is 90%.
Stats & Trivia
Quotes "Whenever we are at the nets or batting together, he tells me how to plan. He is such a class reader of the game and he always plays with responsibility. We learn a lot from him while batting with him. It is good we got partnerships in two matches."Raina on the positives of batting with Dhoni "The toss proved crucial, it put the Indians in an advantageous position but I should say we made too many mistakes along the way. There was lack of consistent partnerships from the batters and that did not help the team at all." |
Wounded South Africa seek a comeback
Graeme Smith hands over the captaincy to Jacques Kallis.
Match facts
Friday, August 30, 2008Start time 10.45BST (9.45GMT)
Big Picture
Kevin Pietersen's captaincy honeymoon shows no sign of abating. A win in his maiden Test was closely followed by a starring role in the first ODI at Headingley, and then on Tuesday at Trent Bridge he reached Nirvana with the most comprehensive victory imaginable. The game was done and dusted in 37.1 overs, and now, to make matters worse for the South Africans, they will have to make do without their inspirational captain, Graeme Smith, who has been ruled out of the rest of the tour with a bout of tennis elbow. Jacques Kallis takes over as captain, but at 2-0 down with three to play, he has his work cut out if he hopes to turn the series around.
Form guide
England WWLLL
South Africa LLWWW
Watch out for...
Steve Harmison The Oval was the scene of Harmison's Test comeback earlier this month, and he clearly enjoyed the extra pace and bounce in the wicket. An unexpected addition to the squad, following Ryan Sidebottom's withdrawal, he has been quietly effective in his two games to date, and managed to bag two wickets in his solitary over during the Trent Bridge rout. Having committed to England's winter tours, another buoyant performance will give South Africa plenty to ponder as they seek to claw their way back into the series.
Jacques Kallis This time last year he resigned from the vice-captaincy in fury after being omitted from the ICC World Twenty20 squad, but in his country's hour of need he's back at the helm. Perhaps the extra responsibility will kickstart Kallis' batting, which has been peculiarly ponderous all summer long. He did make a useful 52 in the Headingley defeat (only his second half-century in nine innings) but was prised from the crease cheaply by Stuart Broad on Tuesday.
Team news
No changes anticipated for England, and little wonder, seeing as the entire side will be as fresh as proverbial daisies after their lightest work-out in months. Thanks to Stuart Broad's five-wicket haul and Matt Prior's bullish 45 not out, five of the 11 players did nothing more strenuous than stroll on the outfield for 23 overs.
England (probable) 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Luke Wright, 8 Samit Patel, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison.
Problems abound for South Africa. They've lost their captain, Smith, so Hashim Amla comes in at the top of the order for only his fourth ODI, while the Morkel brothers, Albie and Morne, are not entirely match-fit as yet. Albie did play at Trent Bridge, though like most of his team-mates he made no great impact, while Morne looked intermittently hostile during his net session on Thursday afternoon, and is likely to come in for Andre Nel.
South Africa (possible) 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Hashim Amla, 3 Jacques Kallis (capt), 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Jean-Paul Duminy, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Johan Botha, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
Umpires: Nigel Llong, Simon Taufel
Pitch and conditions
It was quick and bouncy for the Test match earlier in the month, and more of the same is anticipated for Friday. Expect good value for shots on a fast outfield, but plenty of life for the tall bowlers on both sides.
Stats and Trivia
# In 37 ODIs since 1992, South Africa have enjoyed much the better of their contests against England, with 22 wins to 13 losses. What is more, they have never lost three consecutive matches in the same series.
# South Africa have played in three previous ODIs at The Oval, including the 1999 World Cup, when they pushed England towards an early exit with a 122-run victory. They also won in 1998, by three wickets, but lost five years later, by six wickets.
Quotes
"Being booed off the field is more than enough motivation for the guys to put in a big performance."
Jacques Kallis expects his team to bounce back strongly from their humiliation at Trent Bridge.
"If he played another game, [the elbow] could tear properly and that would require surgery. It's just not worthwhile."
South Africa's coach Mickey Arthur explains why Graeme Smith has played his last game of the tour.
India warm-up not ideal - Johnson
Mitchell Johnson is keen to have more time in India to prepare for October's Test series.
Mitchell Johnson says having only one warm-up game in India before October's Test series is not ideal for Australia, who are still hoping another tour match can be arranged. The postponement of the Champions Trophy has left Australia with limited cricket scheduled before the first Test starts in Bangalore on October 9.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the BCCI was reluctant to organise a second warm-up game because it would mean rearranging India's domestic cricket schedule. However, Cricket Australia has not formally requested an extra match and Johnson said the players would definitely welcome more time to acclimatise.
"It's probably not ideal [to have only one game]," Johnson told AAP. "We probably want a few more games before that, but that's the way it is.
"We've got one game before so we'll have to go back to our states and work pretty hard and try to do the best we can there to prepare as well as we can for India. It's always hard to prepare for India, which has such different conditions than here, so it is going to be tough. I think we will manage."
Johnson will likely be a key part of Australia's attack for the Test tour, having bowled superbly during last year's one-day series in India. He said it would be a major step up to transfer that success to the five-day format.
"Playing one-day cricket there I know how hard it is," he said. "But to play Test cricket, with the wickets and playing five-day cricket, it's going to be extremely hard, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to."
The gap in the calendar created by the Champions Trophy postponement means Australia have no international cricket between the three-match one-day series against Bangladesh, which starts on Saturday, and the India tour. Johnson warmed up for the Bangladesh games with 3 for 5 against the Australian Institute of Sports in Darwin on Thursday.
Harmison confirms his exile is over
Steve Harmison is back, and fully committed to touring this winter.
And as if by magic, he reappeared. Steve Harmison's self-imposed exile from England's one-day squad has officially come to an end after 18 months on the sidelines. Not content with his stand-in role for the NatWest Series against South Africa, Harmison is now mentally packing his bags for India, West Indies and beyond, after rediscovering his love for the England lifestyle.
"I'm available from now to play every one-day international and Twenty20 for England," said Harmison, which raises the intriguing possibility of a trip to Antigua in November for a share of Stanford's millions. As recently as Wednesday afternoon, such a notion couldn't have been further from his thoughts, but then a text message from Kevin Pietersen set in motion a chain of events that has culminated in an unequivocal recall.
"KP will take the credit for it, and you will all write that he got me in a headlock and said 'you've got to come back and play for me', but he wasn't really that important in the decision," said Harmison. "I retired because my head had gone and mentally I'd lost form, but now I've come back."
The timeframe of Harmison's return to one-day colours has been sudden and unexpected. On Tuesday evening, he was playing for Durham against Nottinghamshire in the Pro40 at Trent Bridge, and by Thursday he had received the phone call from Peter Moores, to say that Ryan Sidebottom had been ruled out of the series, and was he interested in stepping in. Less than 24 hours later, Harmison took the field at Headingley for his first ODI appearance since October 2006, and the rest has happened so quickly it hasn't yet had time to pass into history.
"I was putting the kids to bed for their afternoon sleep at 2pm, and I got the phone call," said Harmison. "Both Mooresy and KP said 'come and play'. They weren't expecting a full comeback, they just needed a favour, and said take it to the end of the series, and see what happens. I spoke to my family and to Durham, who were great when I came back from New Zealand in a poor place, and everyone said I've got to play, and that was it."
At the age of 29, and after six years as an England international, Harmison seems (for the moment at least) to have grasped the need to make the most of the remaining years as a top-class athlete. The catalyst for his one-day comeback was the clear enjoyment he showed during his Test return at The Oval earlier this month - a match which rekindled his rapport with the crowds that have, at times since 2005, caused him to shrink into his shell rather than rise up to be the leader of England's attack.
"I can't overestimate how much I missed playing for England," said Harmison. "After nearly four-and-a-bit years constantly on the road - one-days, Test matches, one-days, Test matches - inside I was completely knackered and my head had gone. I just wasn't bowling well, I wasn't enjoying my cricket, so I packed it in. But I'd have stopped playing full-stop if I thought I wouldn't play for England again."
Instead, Harmison has spent this season out of the limelight, honing his skills with Durham, and after more than 500 overs in a successful county campaign, he's realised he is now match-fit for the first time in two injury-interrupted years. Consequently, the penny has also dropped about the need to go abroad and put in the hard yards in matches that might lack the glamour and prestige of a Test match, but are no less crucial to his preparations for the big event.
Harmison was already intending to reprise his winter plans of 2007 and head off to South Africa to play for the Highveld Lions ahead of the India Tests in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Instead he's realised there is another way to get those crucial overs under his belt. "I came back to play for cricketing reasons," he said. "I could go to South Africa to play four-day cricket to get ready for the Test matches, or play one-day cricket for England. It's really a no-brainer. I had to come back."
Before he can get stuck into Test cricket again, however, Harmison has a potentially tricky decision to make over his availability for the Stanford contest. Given the money on offer, and the timing of his comeback, he's aware of the negative impression his instant return could make - even if he were to be selected on merit.
"It is awkward," he said. "If I'm picked, there's not much I can do, but I've said to the coach and captain how I feel. At the end of the day I have been looking more long-term, because it's about being ready for the Test series. I retired for cricketing reasons, and I've come back out of retirement for cricketing reasons. At the minute we've got three games to play [against South Africa] and three games to win, which would be a big boost for England going into Antigua, the winter in India and the West Indies as well."
Cramped itinerary for New Zealand tour
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India face a gruelling schedule during their tour to New Zealand next year, with a possible 19 days of cricket to be played in a span of 33 days.
The tour, India's first of New Zealand since 2002-03, begins with a Twenty20 international at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington and ends with the final Test, from April 3-7, at the Basin Reserve in the same city. India will play one Twenty20 international, five day-night ODIs, a warm-up three-day game, and two Tests during their trip; they return home in time for the second edition of the Indian Premier League.
A hectic itinerary means the Indian players will have only a day's break between the Twenty20 international and the first ODI in Napier, as well as between the fifth ODI in Hamilton and the warm-up match in Lincoln, near Christchurch, which concludes two days before the start of the first Test in Hamilton.
India had a torrid time on their last trip in December 2002-January 2003, losing the two-Test series 2-0 and the seven-ODI contest 5-2. The visit came in the build-up to the World Cup in South Africa, where the Indian team, under severe pressure initially, made it to the final.
Cold and damp conditions resulted in favourable conditions for bowlers, with neither Test lasting five days, and teams batting first often getting bowled out cheaply in the ODI series.
India are also slated to visit Pakistan for a full tour early next year.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
India seal maiden series triumph in Sri Lanka
The 143-run stand between Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni set up India's match-winning total of 258.
India made the most of the toss, a vicious turner in the second innings and Sri Lanka's feeble batting to record their first bilateral one-day series triumph on the island, completing a stunning turnaround from the crushing defeat in the opener in Dambulla. Mahendra Singh Dhoni led from the front with his batting and on-field captaincy but this was a team performance as India recovered from a shaky start to choke Sri Lanka out of the match.
It turned out to be a great toss for Dhoni to win: Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis would have been virtually unplayable if they got to bowl second, and India's strategy of going in with four bowlers would also have been exposed. It didn't initially seem that way as India's top order floundered in the face of some disciplined bowling. There were no yorkers, no bouncers and no slower balls, just old-fashioned line-and-length to slow down the openers - only four boundaries came in the first ten overs. Kohli survived a couple of early chances before he started to grow in confidence.
At the other end, Gambhir was starved of the strike and perished when attempting to up the run-rate. That brought Yuvraj Singh to the crease for a short, troubled and runless stay. Chaminda Vaas became the fourth man to take 400 wickets in ODIs when Yuvraj was too early on an offcutter and edged it to short midwicket. Kohli unleashed some wristy shots to bring up his maiden half-century but soon paid the price for playing away from his body, an inside edge on to his stumps giving Thushara a wicket in his first over.
The score read 81 for 3 before Suresh Raina and Dhoni took charge. Both were decisive with their footwork, regularly charging down the track to negate the spin, or playing right back and reading the spin off the pitch. The running between the wickets was sharp, and with Raina playing some breathtaking lofted drives, the stuttering run-rate got a lift.
They batted sensibly, cutting out the risks, and it wasn't until India were out of trouble that the more chancy strokes - the reverse-sweep and the paddle-sweep - were brought out. While Raina played the big shots, including a massive pull for six over midwicket off Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhoni was content with some quick singles and twos - there were only four boundaries in his 71.
The spin threat was negated and the pair had powered India to a commanding 224 for 3 in the 41st over before Thushara struck. He had Raina holing out to mid-off and dismissed a tiring Dhoni soon after, leaving two new batsmen to deal with the wiles of Murali and Ajantha Mendis. They throttled the runs, which resulted in more wickets falling, and Thilan Thushara, who had never taken more than two wickets in an ODI before, took two in the final over to complete his five-for.
The tricky target didn't seem enough as Sanath Jayasuriya started in a typically murderous mood , using his favourite cut shot to pepper the off-side boundary. As he made merry, his partner Malinda Warnapura toiled at the other end. Warnapura scratched around without scoring before finally being adjudged lbw off Munaf Patel for 0 in the seventh over.
Munaf combined well with the accurate Zaheer Khan, who kept it on a back of a length around off, to stifle the runs and with only 10 runs coming in six overs, Kumar Sangakkara went for his shots. There was a cover drive for four, but his next stroke was an attempted cut, which took the bottom-edge and cannoned into his leg stump.
Jayasuriya then took over. Boundaries started to flow in every over: a bouncer on leg stump was pulled over deep backward square leg for six, and an over-the-bowler's-head drive off Praveen. The fifty came up with a pull over midwicket for four and he repeated the shot two balls later, this time for six. He had made 60 of Sri Lanka's 74 before an outside edge off a sharply turning Harbhajan Singh delivery was superbly held by a diving Raina at slip.
Sri Lanka's hopes, as it has in several matches this series, rested with their captain, Mahela Jayawardene, but he was soon run out attempting a suicidal single. That left them at stuttering at 104 for 4, with all their big-name batsmen dismissed. The pitch had by now deteriorated to the extent that even a part-time spinner like Yuvraj was difficult to negotiate. Thushara followed up his five-wicket haul with a spirited 40 but it was too tall a task for the lower order and they ended up 46 runs short.
Dhoni binds a winning ODI package
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was at the forefront of India's unexpected ODI series triumph in Sri Lanka.
India don't like being favourites, and being written off by many even before their young ODI side assembled in Colombo ultimately worked just fine. Defeat in the final Test at the P Sara Stadium was so comprehensive that it was difficult to see where the one-day recruits would turn for solace as they landed for five matches against Ajantha Mendis and Co. Now, after beating the hosts by 46 runs, India have sealed their first series win in Sri Lanka. And central to their success has been their captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
From the day he landed in Colombo, Dhoni stressed the past should be left alone and the focus should be on the task facing his side. He admitted Ajantha Mendis would be a threat but said it was up to the individual to handle him. He stressed on the importance of the batsmen to back themselves to score briskly, despite the setbacks. India's recent record in the subcontinent included losses in the finals of the Kitply and Asia Cup, which Dhoni termed as "crucial games", and he hoped to rectify that trend. This match was a final in itself, and India held their nerve to win it.
He is a very important cog in this wheel, and for the second game running he was at the centre for India, overcoming health issues - he had a a fever yesterday and evidently hadn't recovered fully. Dhoni and Suresh Raina showed how it should be done, scoring runs at a good clip after Sri Lanka left India 81 for 3 in the 18th over. He led the way in proving Mendis could be thwarted, even as he struggled to remain on his feet towards the end of his innings. Overall, Dhoni has top scored in the series with 192 runs at a strike-rate of 79.33, won four tosses in a row, made the right selection choices, and been proactive in the field.
Under lights, with Sanath Jayasuriya in a punishing mood, Dhoni tossed the ball to Harbhajan Singh in the 18th over. With pace taken off the ball, Jayasuriya edged the third ball to a smartly-placed wide slip. After that Dhoni added an extra cover, who was sharp to deny runs. Attempting to work Yuvraj Singh off his pads, Chamara Kapugedera was trapped lbw. These are minor moves Dhoni makes, but they often have a resounding resonance. Dhoni opted for four specialist bowlers in the last two games and he was rewarded with wickets from Yuvraj. Dhoni also won four successive tosses: some call that luck; with Dhoni, it's all part of the package.
In his book, What Sport Tells Us About Life, Ed Smith writes of the 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle, who believed the bravery of heroes and leaders derived from their inspired and resourceful force. "The history of the world," Carlyle argued, "is but the biography of great men." Dhoni is no great, yet, but he has this amazing knack to inspire. And, since becoming captain and changing his approach to batting, he has played key roles with the bat. He averages 57.17 when in charge, with ten fifties and one century.
Many had criticised Dhoni's decision to skip the Test series, forgetting that he had to endure such agruelling schedule this last 18 months (14 Tests, 56 ODIs, eight Twenty20 internationals, and the IPL). In the Test side Dhoni has yet to cement his place, as one century in 31 matches suggests; in fact, he was dispensable at the time he announced he was opting out. Dhoni is the most important member of a young one-day side and he realised that for the better.
Numerous television chat shows slammed Dhoni for the loss in the series opener and for reportedly influencing the selectors to pick young talent instead of ageing, vastly experienced heroes. Now Dhoni has led this group, with their struggles and pressures, to win a series few expected them to even contest.
| The line-up India fielded resembled virtually that of the dismal Asia Cup final but, led by Dhoni and his sheer bullishness in believing Mendis could be overridden, they overcame the odds. Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones, seems to be Dhoni's mantra | |||
Unlike in the second and third matches, where Zaheer and Dhoni were virtually one-man shows, this was a collective victory. "Contributive efforts are better because you are not relying on one individual," Dhoni said after the last game. "You will get individual performances brilliantly, but it's always better to win through a team effort. Everyone can enjoy it that way."
Consecutive fifties from Raina and Dhoni, Virat Kohli's maiden half-century to papered over the failures of Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj, Munaf's two-wicket burst, Zaheer Khan's accuracy, wickets for the spinners. This match had it all, and that will give Dhoni immense satisfaction.
Critics can argue that India were helped by a complete batting failure by the hosts, and off-key series for Chaminda Vaas and Muralitharan. Dhoni will tell you that his bowlers got the measure of the batsmen, and there is no denying how Dhoni and S Badrinath's approach towards the spinners in game two sparked a revival. Sri Lanka were poor in this series, very poor, but India were good.
This isn't in the same league as the ICC World Twenty20 or the CB Series, but it should be toasted. It came after Mendis - he who mauled India in the Asia Cup final - and Muttiah Muralitharan made a mockery of the best middle order in Test cricket. The line-up India fielded resembled virtually that of the dismal Asia Cup final but, led by Dhoni and his sheer bullishness in believing Mendis could be overridden, they overcame the odds. Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones, seems to be Dhoni's mantra.
Baseball, poets say, cannot be scripted. Neither can cricket. After the barrage of questions they faced before this series, Dhoni and his bunch of upstarts can sit back and smile. They've defied the odds and deserved to win, and Carlyle would certainly have toasted their success.
Jayawardene blames inconsistent batsmen
Mahela Jayawardene pointed out Thilan Thushara's performance with both ball and bat as a positive to take from the series.
Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, blamed inconsistent batting for his side's defeat in the ODI series against India. Sri Lanka needed to avoid a loss in the fourth ODI to stay alive in the series, but went down by 46 runs, handing India the trophy with one more match left in the contest.
"I was disappointed the way we played. We had our opportunities," Jayawardene said after the match. "Our one-day cricket hasn't been consistent especially the overall performances with the bat," he said. "If you are not capable of getting the runs it's quite difficult to win matches." Sri Lanka, set a competitive target of 259, were bowled out for 212.
Jayawardene, like his counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has led the scoring for his team, but none of the other batsmen have been able to back him up. Sanath Jayasuriya's 60 today was the only other fifty for Sri Lanka in the series besides Jayawardene's two, and the remaining batsmen haven't been able to make up for the poor scores from Kumar Sangakkara.
Jayawardene admitted the lesser-known players need to step up their game. "That is something we really have to work with. Our guys need the confidence to go out there and express themselves which we have asked them to do," he said. "But they haven't been consistent. We definitely need to work hard and make sure we get it right because this is our future."
A positive for Sri Lanka, though, was the performance of their bowlers, especially the medium-pacers in the absence of Lasith Malinga, Dilhara Fernando and Farveez Maharoof. "That's something that we can fall back on," he said. "Especially with the injuries we've had guys who put up their hands and performed. Thilan Thushara has been outstanding with ball and bat, so was [Nuwan] Kulasekera." Besides picking up career-best figures of 5 for 47 in this game, the left-armer Thushara has also been Sri Lanka's second-highest run-getter in the series; an ideal replacement perhaps for Chaminda Vaas, who happened to pick up his 400th ODI wicket.
With a bowling line-up consisting of Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka can surely make opposition batsmen sweat, but Jayawardene wants his batsmen to put the runs on board. "We just need to make sure our batting is consistent," he said. "At the start of the series I said in one-day cricket you need to be very consistent with the bat. Putting runs on the board or chasing down targets - we have to do it. That's where we lost the series."
Jayawardene said his team would be aiming to end the series with a win. "We do have some cricket in the near future so it's important that we finish on a high note," he said. "We played some really good cricket throughout the Test series and one-day series. It will be disappointing if you just give up on the next game."
Olympic cricket is 'inevitable' - Ponting
Ricky Ponting is anticipating an Olympic future.
Australia's captain Ricky Ponting believes it is only a matter of time before Twenty20 is part of the Olympics. Just days after the completion of the Beijing Games, Ponting said it was "inevitable" the new form would become an Olympic event, given its popularity in the subcontinent.
Ponting, who also called for a portion of the international calendar to be kept free for Twenty20 tournaments, was speaking at a dinner in Sydney to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Don Bradman.
"I actually think it's inevitable Twenty20 cricket will be an Olympic sport," Ponting said. "You think about the audiences in the subcontinent, 22 or 23% of the world's population is based in that area. The IOC could do a lot worse than put cricket in the Olympics."
Although he wanted Twenty20 to be part of the world's biggest sporting event, Ponting warned that the format had to be handled carefully by international cricket bosses. He has concerns about players chasing quick dollars rather than playing for their country.
"The critical issue with the game of Twenty20 cricket is how do we make it work," Ponting said. "We definitely need a carve-out period. The reason I say that is not because I want to go off and play, it's not about that.
"I want to play for Australia as much as I can, I want to play as many Tests for Australia as I can. I want the next generation of Australian players to have that dream to put on the baggy green cap and play 100 Test matches and 300 one-day games.
"I'm worried if there's not that period of time, be it in the IPL or the EPL, or whatever competition it might be, that this next generation's opinions might change. They might see the dollars and think, 'maybe it's more appealing to me that I go and play IPL instead of playing for my country'. That would be the saddest thing ever to happen to this great game."
Unchanged India bat on reserve day
Malinda Warnapura gets his second ODI cap at the expense of Chamara Silva.
Toss India chose to bat v Sri Lanka
Under clear blue skies, Mahendra Singh Dhoni won his fourth straight toss and chose to bat, reasoning the pitch was a bit dry and the spinners could get some help later on. India, 2-1 up in the series, went in unchanged and with four specialist bowlers but Sri Lanka made one change, bringing in opener Malinda Warnapura for Chamara Silva.
Sri Lanka's batting has looked top-heavy in recent times with their three big names - Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, and Mahela Jayawardene - at the top of the order failing to fire. Warnapura averages a modest 28 in List As and earns his second ODI cap on the back of some impressive showings at the Test level; his inclusion will see Sangakkara drop down to No 3 and stiffen the middle order.
In the lead-up to the match, Sangakkara had stressed the importance of the top order firing. "In one-day cricket if a top-order batsman stays in until the 30th over there is almost a certainty he will score a hundred," he said. "That is the kind of attitude that top-order players should carry into a match." Sound advice for Sri Lanka's batsmen, none of whom has made a century at home since Upul Tharanga in September 2005.
India:
Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt/wk), Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel
Sri Lanka:
Sanath Jayasuriya, Malinda Warnapura, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Chamara Kapugedera, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chaminda Vaas, Thilan Thushara, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan
'Bradman remains unassailable'
Matching Don Bradman's 309 runs in a day at Leeds in 1930 is virtually impossible now.
Ricky Ponting has rated the achievements of Don Bradman above those of the Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz and sprinter Usain Bolt. On the 100th anniversary of Bradman's birth, Ponting will deliver the Bradman Oration in Sydney and speak about his "ageless legacy".
Ponting said the performances of Phelps and Bolt in Beijing, and Spitz in Munich in 1972, were some of the greatest sporting achievements in history, but he does not believe the athletes match Bradman. "Of the 2519 batsmen who have taken the crease in 131 years of Test cricket, Bradman stands alone and untouched," he said in the Australian. "I am not aware of any other sport which has one competitor so far above any other performer.
"He dominated cricket for 20 years from his debut in 1928 to his retirement 60 years ago this month and if he had not lost eight years of his career to World War II his figures would no doubt be better still. At every Olympics plenty of records are broken. Bradman remains unassailable."
Ponting doubted it was possible for a modern player to score 300 runs in a day, like Bradman did at Leeds in 1930. "As a team we do try and score at least 300 runs a day in Test cricket," he said. "In honour of Bradman's legacy that's the least we can do."
Bradman was born in the small New South Wales town of Cootamundra in 1908 and spent time in Bowral and Sydney before moving to Adelaide in the mid-1930s. In 52 Tests he scored 6996 runs, finishing with a zero at The Oval in 1948 when four runs would have given him an average of 100.
"There are thousands of kids in every generation who grow up in Australia wanting to scale the heights of the greatest cricketer who ever lived," Ponting said. "As boys and girls discovering the great joys and mysteries of playing and watching cricket, we might not know much about Don Bradman the man but we quickly realise the magnitude of his achievements."
Ponting said it was "amusing" when people compared him to Bradman. "There's no need to even look at the record books to know there is no comparison," he said. Ponting's average over 119 Tests currently stands at 58.37 - a long way from 99.94.
Mushtaq Ahmed quits county cricket
Mushtaq Ahmed walks into the sunset after six fruitful seasons with Sussex.
Mushtaq Ahmed, the former Pakistan legspinner, has announced his retirement from county cricket due to persistent knee trouble. For the last six years, Mushtaq has been an integral member of the English county side Sussex, during which they won three County Championship titles.
It was a difficult decision, Mushtaq admitted, as he thanked his team-mates and staff at Sussex.
"I would firstly like to thank Allah for providing me with this great family," Mushtaq said. "This is a very hard decision for me to make, as I feel that I could possible play one more year, but out of respect, I would only do that if I felt 100% per cent and I wouldn't want to risk that for the family.
"I am going to miss playing for the club greatly. I am truly honoured to have spent six wonderful years here. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to the club, but I would like to specially thank Peter Moores, Mark Robinson, Chris Adams, all my team-mates, all the fans and everyone who is part of this magnificent family for all the opportunities and memories that they have provided me with.
Adams, the Sussex captain, hailed Mushtaq as one of the county's most valuable overseas players.
"Mushtaq's legacy at the club is that he leaves us statistically, romantically and emotionally the best player to ever pull on a Sussex shirt," Adams said. "In view of the impact he's made, it's difficult to think of another cricketer who has achieved or done more for one county. His legacy extends beyond the playing arena, as I'm sure all that have been graced by his presence will agree. He is simply a great man."
Mushtaq, 38, last played for Pakistan in 2003. Overlooked by his country, he carved out a very successful county career, and in 2003 he became the first bowler in five years to take 100 wickets in the English season. That was instrumental in guiding Sussex to the first Championship title in their history, a feat he and they repeated in 2006 and the following season. He has bowled over 26,000 overs in all competitions, taking 598 wickets. He ends his first-class career with over 1400 wickets.
Forever superstar
Mobbed, but respectfully: crowds surround Bradman as he makes his way off he field after having made 300 in a day at Headingley in 1930.
Not so long ago I found myself at a trivia night, when a round was announced with the designation "Famous Faces": this involved a sheet of paper featuring the images of 20 allegedly famous persons. My table gathered to brainstorm and banter. After a pause, looks were exchanged. We reviewed the evidence again. Hmm, nope - not one figure did any of us recognise: they were faces, it transpired, from reality television we'd never watched, pop music we'd never heard, sport we didn't care about. Few things today date you so reliably as that group of people you consider "famous".
What we honour today, on the centenary of Sir Donald Bradman's birth, is his defiance of that modern trend to a fame of instant perishability. There's the cricket, too - but that can be savoured any day, and has been for the 60 years since Bradman's last Test innings in the endless recapitulations of his career. Centenaries are celebrations of continuity: they are tributes to the figure concerned and to ourselves: statements of stability, recognitions of our abiding priorities.
Bradman remains capable of remarkable feats, if today's dinners and DVDs, speeches and specials are anything to go by. After all, how many cricketers have their centenaries marked in any significant way? It was WG Grace's bad luck that when his fell in 1948, all Englishmen could talk about was Bradman.
By present trends, too, the legend survives on precious little. As a surgically-enhanced Sachin Tendulkar emerges from his cryogenic deep-freeze in the multimedia megalopolis BCCI City on 10 November 2067, worshippers will probably be able to watch holograms of every ball of his career - a career plied in every cricket country of the world as the champion of the most populous. Representing a nation in his time of only six million people, Bradman played cricket in two countries, and bar the fragmentary footage that remains and the words he inspired, left behind traces only of his runs. Yet he is known to every cricket fan - and most of them know his batting average too.
Bradman's feats, then, are only the half of it. A grasp of the phenomenon of fame enhances appreciation. In his pioneering study The Image, Daniel Boorstin explained fame as an outcome of technical innovation in the mass media: the telegraph, linking continents, the rotary press, allowing print on both sides of a newspaper, and the roll film, which made having your photo taken less like sitting for a portrait and more like signing an autograph. Studying content in popular newspapers and magazines in the US, Boorstin found the most marked change around the First World War: before it, three-quarters of the subjects of stories were from politics, business or the professions; after it, more than half came from entertainment, thanks to the explosion in the popularity of cinema, the dissemination of radio, and the advent of the wire photo. There emerged a shadow form of fame, with the style rather than the substance. "The hero" shared public space with "the celebrity", who was "well-known for their well-knownness".
| Bradman was a source of enormous national pride, and bore a crushing burden of sporting expectation. His public activities were somewhat restricted, and he was never comfortable with being a object of curiosity. But few famous persons can have lived, and also been permitted to live, so close to an ordinary life | |||
A different kind of fame
The 1920s then saw the first frenzies of public acclamation, where the hero and the celebrity merged into one. The American aviator Charles Lindbergh went aloft in May 1927 a relative unknown, and landed across the Atlantic a divine. The classic biography by A Scott Berg describes a life turned inside out. Matrons in St Louis fought over a corn cob Lindbergh had chewed. He could not cash or send a cheque, or send shirts to the laundry: neither would be returned. He married in secret, leaving the ceremony hunched in the back of a friend's car, while a decoy led the press off to a false destination. Honeymooning on a yacht a week later, he and his wife were buzzed by a seaplane with a photographer dangling out the window. When their first son was kidnapped and killed, photographers stormed the morgue, ransacked the coffin and took pictures of the mangled corpse, then sold them as postcards on the streets of New Jersey for $5 each; later, photographers trailing a car taking the Lindberghs' second son to nursery school forced it off the road.
And yet, nothing like this befell Bradman. To be sure, he was a source of enormous national pride, and bore a crushing burden of sporting expectation. His public activities were somewhat restricted, and he was never comfortable with being an object of curiosity. But few famous persons can have lived, and also been permitted to live, so close to an ordinary life. He held ordinary jobs, as a seller of sporting goods and a dealer in stocks. He was married once, to his childhood sweetheart, and raised children in the only house he bought.
It could have been otherwise. Nobody who wished it, for instance, could not find Bradman's address, and you knew you were guaranteed a response if you wrote to 2 Holden Street in the Adelaide suburb of Kensington. Bradman, too, scorned the template reply: he gave even his plainest letters a personal, humanising touch. But out of this developed a stable, sustainable, long-term, arm's-length relationship between Bradman and his public, in which both sides, consciously and unconsciously, honoured their sides of the bargain. Thus was a pre-modern fame nurtured into a post-modern age; a compromise classically of Australia, a country that exalts the common man. Consequently Bradman eluded some of the wages of fame. In his What Price Fame?, American economist Tyler Cowen presents detailed calculations suggesting that the famous tend to have far lower life expectancies than the non-famous, and to suffer disproportionately from heart disease, kidney failure, alcoholism and drug addiction. "Fame tends to be bad for the famous," he concludes. Not for Bradman. Perhaps it even kept him going: despite a relatively frail constitution, he lived to 92.
Ordinary Joe: Bradman at a fancy-dress party in 1938.
England's darling
England's embrace of Bradman was not foretold, nor was it immediate, but it was wholehearted. Richard Holt argued plausibly in the 2002 edition of Wisden that the summer of 1934 was "the turning-point of Bradman's relationship with the British". Before his form came flooding back at Headingley, Bradman's batting was unexpectedly fallible that summer; his life-or-death struggle with peritonitis then spellbound the British public.
It sometimes eludes modern readers just how serious Bradman's predicament was. It was 50 years since the first successful surgical removal of an appendix, but infection remained a deadly possibility in an age before antibiotics. In the most thorough study from the time - compiled in a Massachusetts hospital between 1929 and 1939 - three per cent of appendicitis patients died, the mortality-rate rising to 13% where perforation occurred. As Holt observes: "The public suddenly saw this remarkable run-making machine in a new light, as a young man with a new bride, whose dash from Sydney to Perth to get the first boat caught the popular imagination."
Four years later, like a good son of empire, Bradman apprehended the unfolding European crisis as an affair for Australians also, writing to a friend from Naples: "From the dock of our ship we counted 36 destroyers. Eight cruisers and seventy-two submarines. I guess they were not built to rust." He was a popular, patriotic ambassador for his country, and would be more popular a decade later, when on his fabled final tour he was made an honorary life member of both Yorkshire and Lancashire. "To the middle classes, Donald Bradman, batsman and stockbroker, stood for suburban virtue rewarded," argues Holt. "To the working man, his blend of virtuosity and grit struck a chord, especially in the North, where his professionalism was more appreciated than in the South." If that's true, mind you, it can only be by an almost imperceptible margin. He was assuredly revered at Lord's, where he became, on his 50th birthday, the first honorary life member of MCC not a member of the royal family or to have held high political office. His appeal to toffs, of course, was in the way his rise validated social hierarchies, suggesting that the man of talent would always be recognised.
Big all over
Bradman's influence is concentrated around cricket's Anglo-Australian axis but not confined to it. In March 1976, for example, his image was used on a postage stamp issued in South Africa to mark the centenary of the Champion Bat Trophy, forerunner to the Currie Cup.
Among the most famous Bradman stories of all, meanwhile, concerns Nelson Mandela, recently sprung from Robben Island, breaking the ice with former Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser by asking: "Tell me. Is Donald Bradman still alive?" On his visit to Australia in September 2000, Mandela vouchsafed: "In the 30s and 40s, at least in our country, we regarded Sir Donald... as one of the divinities, so great was he and such an impact he made."
| Bradman was the first honorary life member of MCC not a member of the royal family or to have held high political office. His appeal to toffs, of course, was in the way his rise validated social hierarchies, suggesting that the man of talent would always be recognised | |||
Then, of course, there is Bradman's reputation in Asia, with its many exhibits - from the schoolboys in Bombay in the mid-1930s who founded the Don Bradman Cricket Club to the starstruck Ceylonese port policeman who had his newborn son christened Bradman Weerakoon after an encounter with the homeward-heading Australian. It is also a fame that has stood the test of time. More Indians than Australians watched Bradman's funeral service - in fact, more Indians watched (50 million) than there are Australians.
It's an exaggeration to report Bradman as feeling particular kinship with cricket in Asia. He made landfall on the subcontinent only in June 1953, on the way to reporting an Ashes series for the Daily Mail, stopping off in transit with BOAC at Calcutta then Karachi. Interestingly, his wife probably spent more time there than he did, solicitously looked after by Vijay Merchant when she paused there on her 1934 mercy dash to England.
Otherwise, Bradman remained aboard the Strathaird when it docked at Bombay's Ballard Pier in 1948, and declined all the many subsequent invitations, including one from the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan to a series of one-day matches in November 1976 to mark the centenary of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Keith Miller went instead and, 20 years after his retirement, was actually game to play). Vasant Raiji puts his claim that Indians regard Bradman as cricket deity rather elegantly, turning the absences into an argument for ineffability:
God is perfect. In the eyes of the Indians, Bradman is the perfect batsman. God is unseen. Indians have not seen Bradman play. God's ways are inscrutable. Indians cannot comprehend why, in spite of numerous pressing invitations, Bradman never came to India. Whatever happens is God's will. So if Bradman avoided India, it was Bradman's will. Disappointment but no ill-feeling or rancour.
Of course, Indian cricketers have partaken directly of the legend, forming the opposition when Bradman scored his 100th first-class hundred, and his only brace of Test hundreds. But Bradman's role in Indian cricket seems to have been less that of an individual figure and more as a kind of yardstick or gold standard. He offered records to be aimed for, which at first seemed far-off: BB Nimbalkar came famously close with his undefeated 443 for Maharastra against Kathiawar in December 1948, within a boundary or two of surpassing Bradman's record first-class score. It was evidence of Indian cricket's maturity when Sunil Gavaskar made a few of the Don's records his own, surpassing Bradman's record number of Test centuries, and underwriting the successful pursuit of 406 in the fourth innings in Port-of-Spain to improve on the feat of Bradman's Australians at Leeds 28 years earlier.
A headline in Mumbai's Mid-Day the day after Bradman's death in 2001.
An idealised Bradman has also been a personification of good conduct. During his struggle with the BCCI's great poobah Anthony de Mello, for instance, Lala Amarnath was strengthened by a description of himself in Bradman's Farewell to Cricket as "charming in every respect and a splendid ambassador". "De Mello has done me a lot of harm," Amarnath told the Times of India. "But my reputation has been fully vindicated by no less a celebrity than Bradman in his memoirs."
Bradman's acceptance of honorary life membership of the Cricket Club of India was front-page news; likewise his lofty praise for the methods of Sachin Tendulkar. More recently, he has been used to represent the lofty estate from which cricket has fallen. In November 2000, he made an improbable appearance in the Central Bureau of Investigation's report into cricket corruption: "Cricket, as it is played at present, does not appear to be the same game played by Sir Don Bradman or [the one] Neville Cardus wrote about. The romanticism associated with the game has perhaps gone forever."
That, in fact, is a possible next development of the Bradman legend: a symbol not of continuity but of dislocation, of what is bygone, of what the game has sacrificed. For it will be difficult to sustain a legend of the Don if the form of the game in which he excelled, Test cricket between countries, is destined for permanent eclipse. Were Francis Fukuyama an analyst of cricket rather than geopolitics he might at the moment be writing The End of History and the Last Bradman.
History is surely full of ironies: India, which never saw Bradman, will be the country that chiefly shapes how he will be seen by future generations: whether he continues to provoke instant recognition, or becomes one of those faces in a trivia quiz that you can't quite place.
Bravo undergoes ankle surgery
Dwyane Bravo: "I have pushed it [injury] to the limit and there is no way I could have continued on with the problem persisting".
Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies allrounder, will undergo surgery on his left ankle in New York after being left out of the Tri-Nation series in Canada because of the injury.
Bravo, who said he had carried the injury for the last two years, earlier planned to have surgery on his ankle in November but decided to move it forward as the problem turned urgent. "I have used painkillers and stuff but I cannot go on like this," Bravo told the Caribbean Media Corporation. Last year he missed the Quadrangular series in Ireland after aggravating the injury.
"I need to have the problem corrected and as such I will be going across to New York to have surgery done on the ankle. I have pushed it to the limit and there is no way I could have continued with the problem persisting."
The surgery was organised by the West Indies board and Bravo is expected to return to Trinidad on Sunday. He will aim to be fit for England's tour of the West Indies starting February 2009.
Stanford match threatened by sponsor dispute
The High Court in London will hear from September 18 an injunction brought by Digicel against the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) regarding the Stanford Super Series. The injunction is the latest step in a dispute between the board and its official sponsor over commercial rights relating to the tournament, the first edition of which is due to be held in November.
The injunction relates solely to the proposed match between England and the Stanford Superstars to be held in Antigua on November 1, part of the five-year, US$100 million series - which consists of one All-Star match per year against an England select team. Digicel is seeking to have the WICB withdraw all approvals for the Stanford Super Series; if it is successful, the fallout could disrupt the annual $20 million match.
Digicel's concern is that the deal between the WICB and Stanford encroaches on the Caribbean telecommunication company's exclusive sponsorship rights. Reports suggest Stanford is close to signing on Cable and Wireless (Digicel's competitor and a former sponsor of the West Indies team) as a sponsor for the series. Digicel's agreement with the WICB says its sponsorship rights apply in respect of any match involving a team that "...represents, purports to represent or may reasonably be perceived as representing the West Indies....".
The WICB's view is that Digicel's case holds no water because the team playing the Super Series is not the West Indies team but the Stanford Superstars, over which Digicel has no sponsorship rights.
The issue was discussed over three weeks of negotiations last month but, with no solution in sight, Digicel sought to take the matter into arbitration.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Broad inspires crushing English win
Stuart Broad wrecked South Africa's batting with 5 for 23.
Stuart Broad produced the best bowling figures of his professional career, and Matt Prior followed up his haul of six catches with a rumbustious 45 not out from 36 balls, as South Africa were subjected to the heaviest and most humiliating defeat in their 406-match ODI history. From start to finish the contest lasted a mere 37.1 overs, 23 of which were used up by the South Africans themselves, as England routed them for 83, their second worst total after the 69 they made against Australia at Sydney in 1993-94.
It was a performance of utter dominance from England, who have undergone a renaissance in the weeks since Kevin Pietersen took over as captain. On this occasion, however, the plaudits belonged to the least heralded member of their pace attack, a man whose cutting edge has occasionally been called into question in his first full year of international cricket. In front of his home crowd at Nottinghamshire, Broad scotched all such notions by producing a waspish length on the line of off stump, and for once found the edge, as he surged to his first five-wicket haul in all limited-overs cricket.
There wasn't even a morsel of comfort for South Africa to take from the match, and afterwards Graeme Smith felt obliged to apologise to a packed crowd for the early curtailment to their evening's entertainment. Doubtless he repeated those sentiments to the Trent Bridge authorities, who were unable to showcase their spanking new floodlights. The cricket that did take place, however, was pretty spectacular, as England racked up their third ten-wicket win in ODIs, and their first since Bangladesh were beaten by the same margin in 2005.
Having lost the first ODI by 20 runs on Friday, South Africa won the toss and batted, in the hope of kickstarting their campaign. Instead they were derailed by a spell of four wickets in 17 balls from Broad, after which their innings was in tatters on 27 for 4. His first victim was Herschelle Gibbs, who had time for one trademark pull through midwicket off James Anderson before inside-edging an offcutter to give Prior the first of his six catches - a tally that has not been equalled by an England wicketkeeper since Alec Stewart managed that many against Zimbabwe at Old Trafford in 2000.
It was a timely haul for Prior, whose stock has risen this summer while Tim Ambrose's has fallen, and the second of his takes - a one-handed leap in front of first slip to remove Smith for 9 - drew gasps of admiration from his team-mates, not to mention surprise from his detractors. With confidence coursing through his veins, he epitomised the attitude of the entire England team, and having rushed the team to victory with the bat, his recall to the Test side seems sure to be rubber-stamped at the end of next month.
South Africa's confidence never recovered from Broad's early blows, and he added two more wickets in his first five overs. Jacques Kallis, whose form has been floundering all tour long, flashed wildly outside off stump for Owais Shah to snaffle a comfortable edge at first slip then, after clubbing two fours off Anderson, JP Duminy poked half-heartedly outside off stump.
There was, however, no respite in prospect, because into the carnage rumbled Andrew Flintoff, who ripped AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher from the crease in a performance of brute hostility. Despite a lengthy delay to receive strapping to his injured left toe, Flintoff's aggression was as pumped as his team's performance, as both men were backed into the crease by bouncers then beaten by the fuller length - de Villiers was pinned lbw for 5, Boucher caught-behind for 10.
All the while, Steve Harmison was being held back from the attack, as Pietersen understandably allowed Broad to bowl his full quota of ten overs in a row. Broad responded with his fifth wicket with the second ball of his final over, as Johan Botha drove at a full length and was adjudged caught-behind, at which stage his figures were a remarkable 5 for 11 from 9.2 overs.
Andre Nel swiped some of that gloss by mowing Broad through the leg side for three boundaries from his final four balls, but Harmison needed just one delivery to end that short-lived counterattack - Luke Wright steadied himself at mid-on to pouch a predictable top-edged hoick. Four balls and one slogged boundary later, Albie Morkel's return to South African colours had also ended tamely, with Prior again the beneficiary of a weak dab outside off. It was left to Flintoff to round up the innings with a yorker to Dale Steyn, and South Africa's humiliation was nearly complete.
All that remained was England's batting, and they never threatened to falter. Ian Bell dropped anchor for 28 from 51 balls as Prior cut loose, and the closest that South Africa came to a breakthrough were a pair of free-hit "catches" after Steyn twice overstepped. Prior launched Makhaya Ntini down the ground for six then wrapped up the match with a fierce mow through midwicket, to put the seal on a memorable triumph for England.
Rain forces match into reserve day
It started off slowly around 12:45pm local, and refused to go away. From a few drops to a relentless patter, a seasonal Colombo drizzle forced the fourth one-day international between Sri Lanka and India at the Premadasa into the reserve day.
The covers were well in place by 1pm and remained there as play was eventually called off just before 6. Heavy puddles gathered on the plastic tarps and with the drainage system at the Premadasa not reputed, officials were forced to use the reserve day. The Indian team left for their hotel early but the Sri Lankans remained until it became evident that no cricket was happening.
The match will be played on Wednesday as a day-night match beginning at 2.30pm local.
Family in awe of modern love for Bradman
John Bradman (far left), Tom Bradman (back) and Greta Bradman (far right) stand with John Howard, Australia's former prime minister, at the 2000 Bradman Oration.
The son of Don Bradman says he continues to be "astounded" by the amount of affection directed towards his late father. In the lead-up to Wednesday's centenary of Bradman's birth, John Bradman spoke about the interest that surrounded the hero, cricketer, administrator and family member.
"We are extremely proud of him, proud of his achievements, but more proud of him as a person, for the way he coped with those achievements," John Bradman told AAP. "In that respect he was absolutely remarkable.
"We're very touched that people continue to remember him as they do, so long after he retired from playing cricket. I suppose it [the level of interest] does astound us, it always astounded him. He couldn't understand why people still remembered him so long after he'd finished playing."
Bradman's final Test occurred 60 years ago at The Oval, but his legend grew the longer his average of 99.94 remained so far out of reach of the game's greats. He died in 2001 aged 92 and there was an outpouring of grief in Australia and other parts of the cricket-playing world.
Since then Bradman's name has lived on through his numbers, stories, museum, place names and various exhibitions. Last week the Bradman Collection was opened in the Sir Donald Bradman Stand at the Adelaide Oval. The items had been moved across from the South Australian state library to settle in the ground Bradman made his home after switching states in the mid-1930s.
John Bradman said his father was a "chucker-outer" and it was his mother Jessie who nurtured the collection. "She was very keen on keeping family things together," he said. "The most distinctive thing about the collection is that the entire collection comes from the Bradman family home, and that is how my father wanted it to remain. I played with this stuff in the backyard, which people now handle with white gloves, so it is very precious to our family."
One of the pieces is a rug of the Australian crest that came from John Bradman's floor. "I remember being in the collection at the library and there were people talking in hushed tones about the pale patches on the green rug as if it was blessed by aliens," he said. "I didn't upset them by quietly mentioning it was where my little dog had weed."
On Wednesday John Bradman will attend a lunch at the Melbourne Cricket Club and a dinner in Sydney before visiting Cootamundra, the New South Wales town where the batsman was born in 1908, on Friday. Ricky Ponting is due to give the Bradman Oration at the function in Sydney while Bradman's grand-daughter Greta will sing at both the major events to mark the centenary.
"It's almost like he's separate from the game," Ponting said. "His name and what he achieved, it's so far out of any player's reach, in his time or any player who has played since, it's almost like he played a different game to what we're playing. He would have been the stand-out player whatever generation he played in."
Ponting met Bradman when he was a 15-year-old at the Academy in Adelaide. "It was an amazing experience," he said. "The first thing that struck you was his stature. He was quite a short, little guy and very quietly spoken. But everyone in that room was in awe and everyone was sitting on the edge of their seat taking in everything he would say."
I didn't want captaincy without Woolmer - Younis
Younis Khan: "[Bob] Woolmer was a great human being and a good coach. I liked working with him. If he had remained coach I would have taken up the captaincy"
Younis Khan has revealed he would have been Pakistan's captain had it not been for the sudden death of Bob Woolmer, the former South Africa and Pakistan coach. Woolmer died during the World Cup in the West Indies last year, and Younis said he would have taken up the captaincy with Woolmer as coach.
Younis had been offered the captaincy following Inzamam-ul-Haq's resignation but turned it down citing the mental strain brought about by Woolmer's death, the subsequent trauma and the failed World Cup campaign. Younis, who had been Inzamam's vice-captain for two years, had been widely tipped as his successor.
"Woolmer was a great human being and a good coach. I liked working with him. If he had remained coach I would have taken up the captaincy when the board made me the offer after Inzamam's resignation," Younis told PTI. "Being captain is a big responsibility and I would have only felt comfortable if a coach like Bob was there."
With Younis not willing, the Pakistan board appointed Shoaib Malik as captain. Malik has been criticised in the past throughout his tenure but Younis felt he should be given time. "Malik is not a bad captain and he needs to be given more exposure and opportunities," he said. "The board must be patient with him."
Younis suggested the new PCB chairman should be appointed after considerable thought. "I believe the chairman should be a professional who knows cricket closely and can communicate with the players," he said. The position was left vacant when Nasim Ashraf stepped down soon after president Pervez Musharraf's resignation.
Hayden thinks about one-day exit
Matthew Hayden: "I won't be ruthless about trying to push on. I don't want to hang on too long".
A lingering heel injury has forced Matthew Hayden to consider his limited-overs future, but he says he still has the desire to continue in the format despite having to pull out of the series against Bangladesh. Hayden, who picked up the problem in April, said he was keen to keep appearing in coloured clothes - "at least for this summer".
"I really enjoy it so providing I can hold my spot I will definitely be playing more one-day cricket," he told the Australian. "It's not like I've played 300 games. I came late to one-day cricket and have played about 150 [161] games."
Hayden was the player of the 2007 World Cup and is the ICC's one-day player of the year, but he will turn 37 in October and knows time is running out. "I want to finish off the desire I have to play one-day cricket without being selfish because it's important the team has plenty of time to prepare for the next World Cup," he said. "That's still a long way off, but I won't be ruthless about trying to push on. I don't want to hang on too long."
Australia will have another look at the future during the three matches against Bangladesh in Darwin, starting from Saturday. Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson and Brad Haddin are contenders for the opening spots while David Hussey and Cameron White may also receive significant game time. The cancellation of the Champions Trophy has disrupted Australia's pre-season, but given Hayden a greater opportunity to recover from the Achilles problem.
"In the short term it's disappointing, but in the longer term it's really good because it gives me extra time to get right for India," Hayden said. "India is a hugely challenging and iconic series. There have been a lot of distractions lately with the rise of Twenty20 cricket but the premium product is still Test cricket and one of the premium events is playing India."
Monday, August 25, 2008
Pressure on Sri Lanka to stay afloat
Mahela Jayawardene will need more support from his team-mates, especially the batsmen, in what is a must-win game for Sri Lanka.
Match facts
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Start time 2.30pm (local time) 0900 (GMT)
Big Picture
After a hiding in the first game in Dambulla, India have regrouped well to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Much of the success has been due to the seam duo of Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar who, with their contrasting styles, have found chinks in Sri Lanka's imposing top order. India's batting wears a rather thin look in terms of form and numbers but the bowlers have compensated for that by relentlessly chipping away at the wickets and not allowing any top-order partnerships to develop.
Sri Lanka have their backs to the wall and need to win the next two to round off a victorious summer. The scenario is similar to last year's home series against England, which they conceded 3-2 after winning the first game. Since their 5-0 clean sweep against South Africa four years ago, their only bilateral series wins have come against Bangladesh. Surprisingly, their batting hasn't been up to scratch, contrary to the popular perception of their invincibility on home pitches. Mahela Jayawardene's 94 yesterday was the highest score by a Sri Lankan at home in 14 complete ODIs, after Upul Tharanga's 105 against Bangladesh in 2005. Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara have yet to fire in this series, Tillakaratne Dilshan has failed to convert his starts and the persistence with Chamara Silva hasn't paid off.
Sri Lanka have just a day to get their act together and keep the series alive. They haven't ever lost two successive ODI series at home, and Jayawardene will be desperate to ensure it doesn't happen now.
Form guide (last 5 ODIs)
Sri Lanka LLWWL
India WWLLW
Watch out for
Kumar Sangakkara: Following his century in the third Test, Sangakkara has had a rather quiet series so far, with scores of 19, 2 and 9, and on two occasions was squared up by Zaheer's incoming delivery. He is too good a player to fail continuously, though, and a big score should be around the corner.
Wickets with the new ball: Seamers have enjoyed the conditions at the Premadasa at least over the last three day-night matches, claiming 42 of the 50 wickets taken by bowlers. Dilhara Fernando rolled England over with figures of 6 for 27 under lights last year and India's seam attack was just as potent on Sunday.
Team news
The teams didn't practice on the eve of the match. Chamara Silva will be under pressure to keep his place with the likes of Mahela Udawatte and Malinda Warnapura competing for his spot. Silva has scored just one fifty in his last 11 innings. With the opening pair not firing either, Sri Lanka may decide to bring in an opener to replace Silva, and drop Sangakkara to No. 3.
Sri Lanka (likely) 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Mahela Udawatte, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Chaminda Vaas, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.
India will probably retain their winning combination and the performances of Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina - both were due some runs - should come as a relief to the captain.
India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 S Badrinath, 7 Rohit Sharma, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Munaf Patel.
Pitch & conditions
A similar pitch to the first game is on the cards, and with conditions likely to suit bowlers in the evening, the captain winning the toss will almost certainly bat first. Scattered thundershowers are predicted on Tuesday, but hopefully, the forecast will be as inaccurate as it was on Sunday.
Stats & Trivia
* Sri Lanka have gone 20 innings without a half-century partnership for the opening wicket against the top teams (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). They average 16.90 for the first wicket against these teams during this period.
* Muttiah Muralitharan's figures of none for 48 from nine overs on Sunday was his second-most expensive spell in a home ODI for the last ten years. The only occasion he went for more runs during this period - against Pakistan in 2006 - he had three wickets to show for his efforts.
* Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas both went wicketless on Sunday. The last time this happened in a 50-over ODI was way back on January 13, 2006, in a VB Series match against Australia in Melbourne.
* Dhoni has made ten 50-plus scores in 34 ODI innings as captain. The matchwinning 76 on Sunday was his first ODI half-century in eight innings in Sri Lanka.
* Zaheer has taken 10 wickets in his last five ODIs at an average of 13.30 and an economy rate of 3.01.
Quotes
"You need to punish him if he bowls a bad ball. If you continue to defend him, he will always be on top."
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is asked for the umpteenth time on how to play Ajantha Mendis
"I am pleased with the way the two spinners bowled. They went for 50 runs but lot of guys do go for that kind of scores these days. These are two exceptional spinners and I am sure they well come back strongly."
Mahela Jayawardene backs his spinners after they had a relatively forgettable day in the office
Sidebottom out of series, Collingwood returns
Paul Collingwood will return for England, under a new captain in Kevin Pietersen.
Match facts
Tuesday August 26, 2008Start time 14.30BST (13.30GMT)
Big Picture
England made a useful start to the one-dayers with a win after losing the Test series to South Africa, who had started favourites to take the one-dayers, too. Kevin Pietersen, who has collected two Man-of-the-Match awards in his two matches as full-time captain, is now looking forward to the return of the man he replaced as leader of the one-day side, as Paul Collingwood comes back after his four-match ban for Tuesday's day-nighter at Trent Bridge. Pietersen already has Collingwood's backing: "He's had a fantastic start. He's gone out there wanting the captaincy and already he's making really good decisions. Hopefully he will go from strength to strength, he's learning all the time." Meanwhile, South Africa will be keen to level the series and are hoping - however unlikely - that the Morkel brothers will be fit to return.
Form guide
England WLLLWSouth Africa LWWWW
Watch out for...
Paul Collingwood Much has happened since Collingwood was suspended during the New Zealand series for a slow over-rate. In that time he has ceded the leadership to Pietersen, who has taken charge of the Test, one-day and Twenty20 sides. Collingwood, like fellow squad members Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara, was sent back to his county on Sunday for some extra practice ahead of the game and he warmed up well with 2 for 26 and an unbeaten 65 for Durham.
Morne Morkel If he passes his fitness test, Morkel will be keen to make an impression in what would be his first ODI since March against Bangladesh. It would also only be the 11th of his career but he has already collected 20 wickets.
Team news
Ryan Sidebottom will miss the rest of England's one-day series against South Africa because of groin trouble. Injury problems had already kept Sidebottom out of the last two Tests and the first of the five ODIs at Headingley on Friday. He has suffered a combination of hip and groin issues since the drawn first Test against South Africa in early July.
England are unlikely to call up anyone else, with Steve Harmison having already agreed to make his ODI return and Tim Bresnan also included as cover with Chris Tremlett having a heel problem. Bresnan will play for Yorkshire in their Pro40 match against Kent at Scarborough on Monday but will rejoin his team-mates ahead of Tuesday's game at Trent Bridge. He appeared in the first ODI on Friday as a substitute, taking a catch to dismiss Johan Botha.
England (possible) 1 Ian Bell, 2 Matt Prior (wk), 3 Owais Shah, 4 Kevin Pietersen (capt), 5 Andrew Flintoff, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Ravi Bopara, 8 Samit Patel, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 James Anderson, 11 Steve Harmison.
After losing the opener, South Africa are keen for Morne and Albie Morkel to return from injury, with Morne the likelier to play on Tuesday but far from a certainty with his side strain. He bowled six overs in the nets on Sunday, while Albie batted and fielded in drills but is still struggling with a problem with his right shoulder. Both will be assessed in practice on Monday.
South Africa (possible) 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 AB de Villiers, 5 Jean-Paul Duminy, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Johan Botha, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Andre Nel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Makhaya Ntini.
Umpires: Mark Benson, Simon Taufel
Pitch and conditions
This match will be the last international at Trent Bridge before the surface is relaid in September to allow for new drainage. There is an early chance of showers in the morning at Trent Bridge but the day should be set fair by the time the teams take to the pitch.
Stats and Trivia
Quotes "The team definitely strengthens with Colly coming back in. He will bat at six, bowl his medium pace and field at backward point, and he has 150 games of one-day international experience. So to have him back with the ability he has got, and that kind of experience, is an extra boost."Kevin Pietersen's looking forward to the return of his former captain Paul Collingwood. "He was only operating at about 50 per cent of his capacity, so we will have to step him up quite a bit if he is to make Tuesday's second match." |
Sri Lanka in need of a batting revamp
All the top order really had to do was to see off India's four key men and attack the fifth, but by the time Yuvraj Singh came on to bowl his part-time spin, Sri Lanka were already deep in the mire.
If Sri Lanka are to turn this series around and add to their Test triumph, their much-vaunted batting line-up has to come out of its current trough. On Sunday, for the second game running, India's medium-pace trio of Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel left the batsmen searching for answers. The script read much the same as in Dambulla, the only difference being that Sri Lanka were chasing under lights.
Mahela Jayawardene has been the first to admit Sri Lanka have not batted well in the last three games. One or two players have had good days but, as a unit, the batting has failed to either put runs on the board for the bowlers to defend, or chase targets. The problem starts at the top and runs right through.
In 24 innings since the World Cup, Sri Lankan openers average 21.23, with only two fifty-plus stands against non-minnow sides (Bangladesh, Zimbabwe). In the last 20 innings, their best start has been 45. During the first 15 overs of these matches, the average runs per wicket has been 22.89, scored at 4.26 runs an over, which converts into an average 15-over score of 64 runs for 2.8 wickets, or effectively 64 for 3. That is just not good enough against top teams.
In this series the preferred openers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara, have put on 18, 4 and 18, not once threatening to bolt out of the stables. Jayasuriya, after his feats in the IPL and Asia Cup, was expected to be a major threat but he has disappointed. Not once has he managed to bat out the Powerplays.
Sangakkara's form has been especially worrying. His scores since being promoted to open the innings in the West Indies earlier this year are 23, 28, 1, 101, 0, 112, 121, 7, 4, 19, 2 and 9. Those three hundreds came in the Asia Cup, two against Bangladesh. The last five scores have come against India. His dismissals by Zaheer Khan in the last two matches were classic examples of failing to cope with precision and subtle inswing. Not a natural opener, Sangakkara has been bumped up to get more time at the crease, and against the Indians it doesn't seem to be working.
When asked, earlier in the series, if Sangakkara was not performing due to the pressure of opening, Jayawardene shot back, "When he is scoring centuries you don't ask these questions. Every batsman has highs and lows. The idea of playing Sangakkara as an opener is to have some senior batsman get more balls to play". However, with two other specialist openers in the squad, Mahela Udawatte and Malinda Warnapura, the time may have come to use one of them. Warnapura scored good runs in the Test series and Udawatte has impressive scores of 73 and 67 in his last two ODIs.
By sticking in a new opener, Sangakkara could then easily slot back into the No. 3 position. He is a firm believer in orthodoxy and batting for time, and he could be better suited to one-drop, where he has batted for most of his career
Sri Lanka's problem is aggravated because their best batsmen traditionally bat at Nos 1, 2 and 3 - a top-order failure invariably puts immense pressure on a brittle middle order. By sticking in a new opener, Sangakkara could then easily slot back into the No. 3 position. He is a firm believer in orthodoxy and batting for time, and he could be better suited to one-drop, where he has batted for most of his career. Jayawardene could then go back to his preferred No. 4 slot. It makes for a more balanced line-up.
Chamara Kapugedera's promotion to No.3 flopped on Sunday but the bigger concern for Sri Lanka is over Chamara Silva, who some locals consider very lucky to be even carrying a bat. He burst onto the scene before the World Cup last year and scored 878 runs at 46.21. His last 11 innings have one fifty; his last three scores read 0, 0, 1. Tillakaratne Dilshan, like Silva, remains a livewire in the field but his batting hasn't clicked. In the last two matches he has attempted to play his shots in desperation and failed.
Given that India only had four specialist bowlers yesterday, a change in strategy could have worked. All the top order really had to do was see off India's four key men and attack the fifth but, by the time Yuvraj Singh came on to bowl his part-time spin, Sri Lanka were already deep in the mire. Dilshan's decision to attack hurt his team all the more. There are murmurs that Thilan Samaraweera, who benefited from a change in approach, will be selected, though he's not in the squad.
The Premadasa pitch did a lot more under lights, but that is not an excuse Jayawardene will give for another sloppy batting display, because he batted superbly for his 94. Apart from Jayawardene, there appeared an element of complacency on the part of seniors, who disregarded what they've urged the younger team-mates to do - stay out there for as long as possible.
Sri Lanka's ODI fortunes have been sliding after darkness descended on that April evening in Barbados during the World Cup final, and they are still searching for the light. Jayawardene spoke in Dambulla about how much of his team's slump since the World Cup final was because of the batting. The biggest challenge for Sri Lanka, before the series slips away, is to try and overcome their jitters. Jayawardene will surely lead from the front, but the harder part is getting his team-mates to follow his lead.
'It's illegal, isn't it?'
Marcus Trescothick may be lucky after all as the laws of the game are not precise about ball tampering.
Marcus Trescothick's admission that he used mint-induced saliva to keep the shine on the ball during the 2005 Ashes might give his autobiography Coming Back To Me the perfect launch, but it has left him and his Ashes-winning team open to the charge of ball tampering.
Trescothick, who was England's official ball-shiner during the series admitted that he had used Murray Mints to produce a saliva which, "when applied to the ball for cleaning purposes, enabled it to keep its shine for longer and therefore its swing.''
Damien Fleming, the former Australian swing bowler is of the opinion that Trescothick's strategy was against the laws of the game. "It is some form of ball tampering, it is not about natural deterioration. It is illegal, isn't it?" he asked.
Fleming told Cricinfo that though he was happy to be a bit more naive and thought it was good bowling, he always felt something was amiss to see the ball reverse swing in England.
"I loved the wrist release of Flintoff, Jones and Harmison, but [I] always felt something was going on as the ball was reversing by the 40th over especially on a grassy pitches," Fleming said. "One is used to seeing the ball reverse early on the much rougher tracks in the subcontinent where the hard surface makes the ball abrasive easily."
Angus Fraser, the former England medium pace bowler who covered the series for the Independent wouldn't go as far as to deem the practice illegal, but he believed the disclosure has exposed the hypocrisy that has existed over ball tampering.
According to Fraser, who has been part of the ICC's technical committee, the tactics Trescothick employed to shine the ball has been always popular on the county circuit. "I don't know if it is illegal," he said.
"To me it is a total hypocrisy on what is deemed to be ball tampering. When Pakistan were accused of ball tampering it was built into something that was abhorrent. Ball tampering is ball tampering whether you scratch the ball or whether you deliberately put in sugary saliva on it to aid its shine so I don't see any difference between one and the either.
"There are huge inconsistencies for one side to complain about the other scratching the ball when they are deliberately sucking sugary sweets to shine the ball," he said.
Peter Willey, former England batsman, and ex-ICC umpire, who still officiates at county games, has seen bowlers using all sorts of methods on the ball. He offers an interesting analogy to Trescothick's mint. "People use suntan oil, lip salve, scruff the ball with finger and thumbs until they get caught. If you apply suntan oil on you forehead or face or arms and rub the sweat on your body (which is mixed with suntan oil) and then rub the ball what is the difference."
Will players be banned from applying suntan, or lip salve and leave them at risk from the damaging and fatal ultraviolet rays of the sun?.
While Willey believed Trescothick didn't violate the spirit of the game, Fraser wanted to look at the issue from another angle. "It is impossible to police. If batsman edges the ball and stands his ground and no-one says a word, that is part of the game. And if a bowler adds sugary saliva on the ball, the spirit of the game is called into question. There should be some leniency about what the bowler can do to the ball. You don't want a cricket ball tested at the end of day for sugar, for sun cream, for lip gel, for finger nails and whatever else you want to try and put on it," said Fraser.
Michael Kasprowicz, who was a central performer in the second Test of that Ashes series, as the batsman who was dismissed caught-behind to Flintoff at Edgbaston, a decision which sealed Australia's heartbreaking two-run loss, said he was not bitter about Trescothick's admission.
"I actually wish Marcus put a bit more mint on the ball so it deflected further off my glove," he said. "We're talking about sugar coating using mints. There are a lot more major issues in the game at the moment to worry about."
Troy Cooley, the England bowling coach at the time whose reverse swing techniques helped clinch the series, denied having any clue about the practice.
"I had no knowledge of it and I certainly wouldn't recommend anything like that," Cooley told the Daily Telegraph. "I don't know if it would even work. I would never cheat in the game. Bowlers have used sweat and polish over the years to shine the ball. There is an old wives' tale from past years that sunscreen and Brylcreem helps the ball swing, but I don't know about that."
According to Law 42.3(a)(i) any fielder "may polish the ball provided that no artificial substance is used..." In Trescothick's case, the artificial substance was the mint which he didn't use directly but the mint induced the saliva which he used as an aid to shine the ball.
But does sucking a mint and applying the saliva amount to the application of an artificial substance? The ICC's verdict was "using artificial measures to shine the ball is illegal", but they would not "outlaw sucking sweets''. As of now, the ICC has said it will not interfere. "It depends on the evidence and circumstances, so if something is brought to our attention it would be dealt with," an ICC spokesperson told BBC.
The ECB have decided not to comment on the issue for the moment. "We have only seen reports of this admission," an ECB spokesperson said.
Hayden withdraws from Bangladesh series
The postponement of the Champions Trophy has given Matthew Hayden extra time to recover.
Matthew Hayden has been ruled out of the one-day series against Bangladesh due to a long-standing Achilles problem, but he remains on track for the Test series against India in October. Hayden was originally due to travel with the squad to Darwin - the first match is on Saturday - in an attempt to be fit for the Champions Trophy.
However, the team's medical staff decided Hayden should take advantage of the postponement of the tournament and use the break to ensure he is fully fit for the four-Test series against India in October. He has spent time at the squad camp in Brisbane over the past two days and will continue his rehabilitation at home.
No replacement will be named for Hayden and the 13-man squad will head to Darwin on Wednesday to prepare for the three matches against the ninth-ranked Bangladesh. Hayden suffered the injury while training in the Indian Premier League and left the tour of the West Indies without playing a Test. His withdrawal is another setback for Australia, who will also be without Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee.
Ponting batted in the nets in Brisbane on Sunday while Lee is in Sydney dealing with the break-up of his marriage. Michael Clarke, the captain for the series, said he expected both players to be available for India. "Our 100% support is behind Brett and any time he's ready to come back we're willing to take him," Clarke said. "The guys have been in contact with him and he knows everyone is supporting him. We're all looking to him getting back."
Despite Bangladesh's lowly ranking, Clarke refuses to treat the tourists as easybeats. "You'll never hear me say that," he said. "They beat us in Cardiff [in England in 2005], and that sits in my memory. We will certainly speak about that when we arrive in Darwin. We're going to have to play good cricket."
Australia's pre-season calendar has opened up with the rescheduling of the Champions Trophy and they will weigh up the benefits of another team camp in September with going to India earlier to help them acclimatise. "There are two sides to it," Clarke said. "One-day cricket is still cricket under your belt, which is great leading into Test cricket. Now we can prepare in conditions we're going to be playing the Tests in."
The one-day squad was joined on Monday by the Australia A outfit, which has a series of matches in India next month, and members of the Queensland team. Shaun Tait was also involved and looked fit and happy following his problems with physical and mental exhaustion last summer. The outdoor training followed a squad meeting on Sunday when Tim Nielsen, the coach, outlined his plans for the next 15 months.
One of Nielsen's main points was not getting too far ahead, a stance Clarke supported when asked if he was thinking of the 2009 Ashes. "Not at all," he said. "I'm looking to Bangladesh in Darwin - as far as I'm going to look is India."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Champions Trophy postponed until October 2009
Champions Trophy postponed until October 2009.
The ICC has postponed the Champions Trophy, which was due to begin in Pakistan in 19 days' time, to October 2009, after five of the eight participating nations confirmed during a teleconference on Sunday that they would not send their teams for the event due to security concerns.
South Africa had on Saturday pulled out of the tournament, which was originally scheduled to be held from Sept 12-28 in Karachi and Lahore, and the ICC was informed on Sunday that Australia, England, New Zealand and West Indies, too, would not be participating.
The ICC will now meet in September to finalise a window for the tournament in 2009 and, while Pakistan will be given "first preference" to host it, a decision on the venue may be taken only after a security assessment of the country is done around February, after the India tour.
Sources who attended the ICC's teleconference said there was the option of the tournament being relocated to Sri Lanka, the official alternate venue, but India and Pakistan remained adamant against a change.
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India, the sources said, were not willing to sacrifice Pakistan. The Sri Lankans too didn't press their case, as they supported the Pakistan view that a venue change could not be made on security grounds. The meeting was held in an amicable atmosphere because most of the issues had been thrashed out among the members beforehand, rendering the final discussions a mere formality.
"There was unanimity in the decision to postpone the event until October next year," David Morgan, the ICC president, told Sky Sports. "India is very influential but so is Giles Clarke (ECB chief executive), Australia, New Zealand - they all bring their influence to bear.
"The vote was totally in favour of the postponement until October next year. And India were quite influential in persuading some other nations that that was the right course of action."
The ICC have appeased Pakistan, at least for the time being, in choosing not to cancel the competition entirely but postponing it until October next year. Morgan, though, was insistent that "appeasement was not part of the meeting at all".
"The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have been extremely reasonable about the whole subject, (it has been very clear) they have worked jolly hard to try to give comfort to the member boards, and the eight teams that are touring, that it would be safe and secure," Morgan said. "Unfortunately, five of the participating nations found it impossible to send their team to Pakistan because of safety concerns."
Though the postponement means there will be a rare 33 days without international cricket this year, the schedule for 2009 promises to be every bit as packed - besides, the next edition of the Champions Trophy is coming up in 2010. "Every cricketing year is a busy one," Morgan said. "We're more aware of it in the UK because of the Ashes, the World Twenty20 and the one-day series against Australia, but it is no busier a year than any other.
"There will certainly be more security assessments. We're going to meet around the table in 3 or 4 weeks in Dubai to discuss the mechanisms of the postponement. There are numerous things to be discussed and we're planning on meeting in the middle of September to discuss the consequences of the decision."
Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, added: "Every one of our members wishes to ensure the ICC Champions Trophy is a world-class event and the prospect of relocating it at short notice in order to make sure it was played this year would not allow that criterion to be fulfilled."
Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB's chief operating officer, said that postponing the tournament was the only option in light of boycott threats. "Cricket is not going to die here, it's just that we are going through a difficult phase," Naghmi said. "We would have lost the hosting rights had the Champions Trophy been relocated [to Sri Lanka].
"With four of the eight teams threatening to pull out, "it made little sense to organize a four-team competition," he said.
Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said his board supported the ICC decision and had last week "explained their reservations and security concerns about staging the tournament in the aftermath of the resignation of the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last Monday."
Seamers and Dhoni script 33-run win
Zaheer Khan, who claimed figures of 3 for 23, was the driving force behind India's win.
For the second game in succession, an inspired opening spell by India's seam attack of Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar brought a powerful batting line-up to its knees. A middle-of-the-road target of 238 was always going to be competitive under lights but a flurry of early wickets before effectively sealed the match before the first Powerplay ended. Both captains arrested top-order slides with fighting half-centuries, but his bowlers made Mahendra Singh Dhoni's effort count in the end.
For Sri Lanka, only Mahela Jayawardene displayed the technique and temperament to craft a lengthy innings and though he had Thilan Thushara for company to give his side a glimmer of hope, their partnership came a little too late. Jayawardene fell six short of a deserved century when a paddle scoop ended his knock and with it, Sri Lanka's last chance of snatching a miracle.
The pre-match talk centered around the better batting conditions at the Premadasa Stadium when compared to the two-paced surface in Dambulla. Though the conditions were a shade easier to bat on in the afternoon, it got considerably challenging under lights as the seamers managed swing and nip off the pitch while the spinners got turn and bounce.
While the swing was hard enough for the batsmen to negotiate under lights, the nagging stump-to-stump line was largely responsible for the spurt of lbw decisions early on. Kumar Sangakkara, Chamara Kapugedera and Chamara Silva were all trapped as the trigger-happy umpires wasted no time in pondering over the appeals.
Sanath Jayasuriya whiplashed Praveen for boundaries over his favoured off side region but perished after edging an away swinger off the same bowler. Zaheer relied more on hitting the deck hard and like in Dambulla, squared up Sangakkara with one that nipped back in and struck him high on the pad.
Kapugedera began confidently with a clipped six over square leg off Praveen but paid the price for shuffling too far across his stumps. Silva became the third lbw victim of the evening, this time to Zaheer, trapped in front of middle stump to one that straightened. Tillakaratne Dilshan, tied down by the seamers' nagging accuracy, feathered an edge to Dhoni off Munaf Patel.
All the while, Jayawardene cut a lonely figure. The revival began when Thushara joined him in the middle. Runs were hard to come by initially but Jayawardene was probably mindful of India's weak link - the fifth bowler. With the field spread out and the ball getting softer, Jayawardene placed faith in his partner by rotating the strike.
Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma conceded 46 off nine combined overs as Sri Lanka added 50 runs between overs 37 and 43. Thushara regularly made room to loft the ball over vacant spaces and the anxiety began to tell on the Indian fielders as they dropped catches off Thushara and Jayawardene. Zaheer returned to york Thushara to end the 81-run eighth-wicket stand, and when Munaf sent back Jayawardene, the contest was all but over.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni top scored for India with 76.
Sri Lanka will no doubt look back at where they let the initiative slip. After reducing India to 97 for 4 at the halfway stage, two fifty partnerships - with Dhoni the central figure in both - resurrected the innings after another jerky start. The significant factor in India's recovery in the middle overs was that the threat of Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis was negated fairly comfortably. Though Mendis ended with three wickets, two of those came at the fag end of the innings. Murali, on the other hand, had a forgettable wicketless outing.
Once again, Dhoni walked in to bat with the Indian innings wobbling. Often he has played a lone hand, but this time Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma offered excellent support. Raina needed runs, and with his captain for company, accumulated steadily with the spinners operating from both ends, and never at any stage did the Indians get bogged down. Dhoni was comfortable against Mendis, committing himself forward to smother the spin of the full-length deliveries, but when the length was short, he rocked back and cut and pulled for runs.
Raina, too, was fleet-footed against the spinners, nudging, flicking and driving Muralitharan for singles in his workmanlike knock. Using his feet, he drove the same bowler to the extra-cover boundary before edging towards his sixth ODI fifty, which came off 75 balls. The running between wickets was excellent throughout, but ironically, it was a run-out that ended the 54-run partnership.
Dhoni was fortunate to find an equally able partner in Rohit, who calmly rotated the strike. Short of runs over the last few innings, Rohit grafted initially before taking his chances against the spinners. The partnership came at a quicker rate than the Dhoni-Raina stand, with the pair bringing up their fifty stand in 55 balls. Dhoni brought up his own half-century off 64 balls and celebrated it with successive boundaries off Murali, using his feet well on both occasions. Just when a score in excess of 250 seemed likely, Sri Lanka struck. Rohit fell while attempting a slog off Thushara, after which the wickets continued to fall. Dhoni was dismissed in the 49th over, scooping to cover for a 80-ball 76 and in the end his efforts didn't got to waste.
PCB seeks security checklist from ICC
The PCB has asked the ICC for a final security checklist to help organise the Champions Trophy next year. The ICC executive board, which held a tele-conference in Dubai on Sunday, announced its decision to postpone the tournament, originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan from September 12-28, for a year.
"We have asked the ICC in the tele-conference for a checklist of security to be provided, so that we could assess it during the home series against India in January 2009," PCB's chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi told reporters.
India will be playing three Tests and five one-day internationals as part of the tour.
"Every country has its different list of security demands," Naghmi said. "What we now want is a comprehensive 'things to do' list from the ICC so that we could implement those measures in the series against India."
The ICC had formed a task force last month which toured Pakistan and later visited South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and England to convince players and officials of the four countries to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
Labelling the security reservations of the four countries as a battle between perception and reality, Naghmi said: "When suicide bombings happen in Pakistan, of course, those who live thousands of miles away from our country have fears. But even the ICC security team in charge had said the suicide bombings had nothing to do with cricket. We had told the countries to send their representatives and make their own security assessments but unfortunately they had their reservations."
He confirmed that had the Champions Trophy been relocated to Sri Lanka, Pakistan could have boycotted the event. "Not just us, but India had also decided not to take part had the event been relocated," he said.
Naghmi also quoted Tim May, chief of the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA), who came to Pakistan to meet with the top security officials, as saying that 'the security arrangements are the best ever offered to cricket'.
The ICC board will be meeting in Dubai on September 11-12 to finalise the the new dates for the Champions Trophy.
Clarke backs Champions Trophy postponement
Kevin Pietersen: 'This is a huge decision and cricket can now take priority again'.
Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB], has backed the ICC's decision to postpone the Champions Trophy until 2009.
"The ECB supports the decision of the ICC to postpone the Champions Trophy until October 2009," Clarke said in a statement on Sunday. "The ECB made it clear to ICC Chief executive Haroon Lorgat at a meeting at Lord's last week that the ECB had a duty to care for England players and officials as well as a desire to ensure the interests of the media and spectators were not compromised."
Following the withdrawal of South Africa from the tournament last week, and widespread security concerns over travelling to Pakistan, the ECB were under pressure to avoid a situation whereby the decision would be made by the players, not the board. Before he was named the new England captain, Kevin Pietersen insisted that he had "reservations - 100% - about going to Pakistan". Such concerns, however, have now been averted for the time being.
"The ECB explained their reservations and security concerns about staging the tournament in the aftermath of the resignation of the Pakistan president, Pervez Musharraf, last Monday. These concerns were shared by four other competing countries at yesterday's teleconference," Clarke said in a statement.
"The ECB recognises the outstanding efforts of the Pakistan Cricket Board in attempting to mitigate the risks surrounding the Champions Trophy and I will be meeting with the incoming chairman of the PCB, once an appointment is made, to discuss ways that our two boards can work together in the future."
Pietersen, meanwhile, has also supported the tournament's postponement. "This is a huge decision and cricket can now take priority again," he said. "All the players I know personally from other countries have expressed their concerns in terms of safety and security. It was good that this decision was taken out of our players' hands."
Inevitable, but what next?
The PCB could have done no more than assure touring teams the highest level of security.
Let's not be fooled by the wording: postponement is merely a euphemism for cancellation. The Champions Trophy has not been postponed by a couple of weeks or a month, but by a year, to 2009. The year of the ICC World Twenty20; also of the IPL, the Champions League - for which a window will be found - and a seven-match ODI series between Australia and India scheduled for October.
And even if three weeks were to be miraculously carved out somehow, what guarantee that the security conditions would have improved enough to persuade those averse to touring Pakistan now to change their mind?
But postponement is the expedient word. It doesn't suit the Pakistan Cricket Board, which had done everything within its powers to address the security concerns, but it is a better outcome than the tournament shifting to Sri Lanka or elsewhere. And since the tournament has not been officially cancelled yet, the ICC doesn't need to, for the moment at least, start calculating the compensation it has to fork out to the television rights holders. And of course, the players who didn't want to make the trip to Pakistan would be mightily relieved.
In other words, it is an inevitable compromise that has become the hallmark of the ICC.
To be fair, other options were virtually closed. Pakistan - and they had India's backing - wouldn't countenance a relocation, and four of the eight teams wouldn't travel. The other option would have been to hold the tournament with those willing to come - but that could have meant another Asia Cup plus Zimbabwe. That was no option really. To begin with, the television rights holders wouldn't count it as the Champions Trophy.
How, then, to make sense of a situation that appears so utterly different from two different angles? On the face of it, it is the mere confirmation of cricket as a fractured community, split along the lines of geography, race and culture. It would seem that nothing has moved since the 1996 World Cup, when Australia and West Indies decided to stay away from Sri Lanka and when India and Pakistan made a grand show of solidarity with their Asian neighbour by sending a combined team to play a friendship match.
And it was only last month that India and Sri Lanka played without as much a blink in the Asia Cup, which went off without a hitch in Karachi and Lahore, the two venues for the Champions Trophy. The PCB could have done no more than assure touring teams the highest level of security, the kind accorded to visiting heads of states. Nothing, they can now argue, would have sufficed for minds had already been closed. Also, it can be pointed out that the Ashes went on in 2005 despite serial bomb blasts in England, and, more recently and more pertinently, an IPL match took place in Jaipur days after multiple blasts had claimed 80 lives.
And yet judgment needs to be reached carefully. The world has changed immeasurably since 1996. It is not enough to say that cricket has never been a target for terrorists. In fact, for those seeking to create impact and those completely unconcerned about what the world thinks of them, a high-profile tournament can be a legitimate target. Living in the shadow of the bomb has become a way of life on the subcontinent, so much so that it would be impossible to carry on otherwise. But is it fair to expect the same level of detachment and equanimity from those accustomed to a different way of life? However exaggerated their fears may be and however ill-informed the security advice may be, the allowance for a different perception must be made and respected.
After all, cricketers are neither diplomats nor soldiers; is it reasonable to expect them to put the game, and the misfortune of another cricket board, above the concerns over their personal well-being? Many of these players are heroes on the field but few aspire to heroism in life outside it and they shouldn't be grudged for it.
Where does this leave world cricket now? It is difficult to foresee any of the teams unwilling to travel to Pakistan next month changing their minds in the near future. The war against terror is unlikely to be won soon. The security situation in India has got no better, with recent serial bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad - both these cities are scheduled to host Tests against Australia and England soon. And the subcontinent is due to host the World Cup in 2011.
By postponing the Champions Trophy the cricket boards have merely avoided an immediate crisis. But the problem will not go away. Perhaps no one should mourn the death of the Champions Trophy, for it is an increasingly irrelevant tournament that will inevitably give way to Twenty20 championships of various kinds. The question of Pakistan's place in the international cricket calendar cannot, however, be swept aside by merely delaying a decision.
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