He was cricket and he was rock ‘n roll too; he was the best of sport and he was the stuff dreams are made of

Mark Nicholas07-Mar-2022

– Bruce Springsteen, “One Minute You’re Here”, from

There was something elemental about Warnie – like the wind and the rain, or the sun. He could be a wild and unpredictable ride and he could be a warm and kindly neighbour. He brought things into our lives that were unique and he illuminated the spaces we occupied; none of us would suggest that we were anything but lucky to stand in that light. It wasn’t quite exclusively his world in which we lived, but it wasn’t far from it.Shane loved Springsteen’s music and especially that most recent album, Letter to You. It finishes with a song called “I’ll See You in My Dreams”, which is a eulogy of sorts to a friend who has passed, and which Shane said made him cry. Now the tears are ours, for the loss of an irreplaceable brother-in-arms.Related

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He loved rock music in general: thus the heading of each chapter of his autobiography with titles such as “Satisfaction”, “Imagine”, “Heroes” and “The Rising”. He would turn up the volume at home, by the pool or in the car and pound it out, singing the choruses as if he were in the crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the stadium that was his spiritual home. Mostly, he was a man of popular culture but his take on it was rooted in the tradition and memories of the past. No one had better manners nor offered more polite answers to seemingly endless requests – appearances, autographs, selfies, interviews and functions – while always guarding cricket’s history and conscience.The outpouring since the news of his death has stretched far and wide and is still doing so. The Times of London gave him 14 pages but he was front cover in Malaysia too. He was cricket and he was rock ‘n roll too; he was the best of sport and he was the core of aspirational dreams. He fed us the oxygen of the game in the most engaging and fascinating ways, changing perception, inviting debate, encouraging enthusiasm, breathing hope and never surrendering. We owe him so much.”What’s the key to being a good legspinner, Warnie,” was the question. “A lot of love,” came the answer. “What’s the art of legspin, Warnie?” To which he would reply, “The creation of something that isn’t there, mate.”It was my privilege to know him well and to frequently stay with him in Melbourne, in the various houses he loved to trade – up, and down, I should add. I was with him at home in December 2003 during the ban for the diuretic pill he took just prior to the World Cup in South Africa earlier that year. After the first night, I woke early but there was no sign of him. He walked through the door at 7.30-ish, clad in tracksuit and trainers.Everybody loves Shane: Warne and Ricky Ponting are welcomed with rose petals in Lahore ahead of the 1996 World Cup final•Zafar Ahmed/Associated Press”Been for a run?””No mate, been having a bowl at an indoor school out on the edge of town.””But you’re not allowed to.””I know. Wanna come with me tomorrow and have a hit?””Sure.”Later that day, after tennis, at which he was damn good, by the way, I asked him about these early mornings. He said he knew the fella who ran the indoor school and talked him into opening up at 6am so he could bowl for an hour a couple of times a week before anyone else in Melbourne had put the kettle on. The place was locked up again by seven and first arrivals weren’t till eight. For one period of his life, at least, he flew under the radar; albeit reluctantly, for it was during this forced sabbatical that Kerry Packer told him to lie low awhile and sell the red Ferrari. So he did. And bought a blue one.”Did you sell the red Ferrari, son?””I did, Kerry.”Anyway, back to the indoor school. A handkerchief to aim at was okay but a batter was better, and by great good fortune, that man with the willow was me. I borrowed his kit and padded up. As I write, I’m trying to imagine myself there – more than 18 years ago – nervous as a kitten. When Hampshire played the Australians in 1993, he was rested (well, he wasn’t at the game!), so I had never faced him.The first thing that struck me was the aura, even at the start of his eight-pace shuffle and approach. I remember the rhythm of the approach, the power of the delivery stride and the symmetry of the action. I remember the flight of the ball and the hardness as it hit the bat or body: they say some seamers bowl a “heavy” ball, so did Warne. I remember the revolutions, the high bounce off the hard synthetic surface and the need to react quickly and definitively. I was surprised at how fast he bowled and how, when he bowled “up” (above the eyeline), the ball dipped at the last second and panicked the response. It didn’t spin so much off that surface so I asked if it was like bowling at the WACA in Perth. Not really, he said, the ball skids off the WACA pitch, so it’s easier to bat against me there than in here: “In here, Markie, the bounce will getcha…”The King and I: the author with Warne on duty for Channel 9 in 2014•Scott Barbour/Cricket Australia/Getty ImagesThe ball hit the splice a lot and sent a fizzing sensation up the handle and into the bottom hand, so I adapted at each session by playing softer and softer, later and later. I found it very difficult to get down the pitch and meet the ball as it landed and so persuaded myself to play back more. It occurred to me that a better player would manage the shimmy down the pitch with more skill and faster footwork, and that the good sweepers would have to take him on in the way that Kevin Pietersen managed so successfully on occasions.He hit the pad so often it was a joke – that slider! He even tried a few flippers, the stuff of gold. But no wrong’uns – aka googlies – because of his shoulder. On the second morning I goaded him into bowling one and he winced in pain. I mainly blocked because there were so few bad balls, occasionally slogged over wide mid-on and cut backward of point a bit. One or two drives, straight and through mid-off, were highlights. This was a kingdom of days, Warne and me, cutting it as the dawn broke in his home town.I remember thinking how good the really good players must be, the few who made big runs against him – Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, specifically. I was barely getting a hint of the overall show – just a little side spin, no wear in the pitch or footmarks, no close fielders (though he did set an imaginary field, but of course, fiction is fiction), no mind games, no crowd, no abuse, no TV or radio, no snappers, no reports the next morning, no pressure on the outcome, no representation of your team or country, no backstory, no scoreboard threat, no behind-the-game panic, no Ian Healy or Adam Gilchrist in your ear and so forth.And I very well remember marvelling at the level of skill in what he did and the power with which he did it. I saw at first hand how the 10,000-hour theory rolled out. He was astonishingly gifted at something extremely difficult – and he knew it – and he practised relentlessly to perfect it and rejoiced in taking it to the world.Confuse ’em, control ’em: Warne bowls to Dwayne Bravo in Hobart in 2005•Mark Baker/Associated PressHere is a passage from his autobiography, No Spin, which I wrote with him:

“The art of leg-spin is creating something that is not really there. It is a magic trick, surrounded by mystery and aura. What is coming and how will it get there? At what speed, trajectory and with what sound? How much flight swerve, dip and spin and which way? Where will it land and what will happen? There is no bowler in the history of the game that a decent batsman couldn’t pick if he watched the hand, so a leg-spinner must unsettle that batsman. Every leg-spinner gives the batsmen a clue, some just disguise it better than others. Leg-spinners cannot create physical fear, in the way fast bowlers can, so leg-spinners look to confuse and deceive.

There is, however, an intimidation factor in leg-spin that comes from the batsman’s ignorance and fear of embarrassment. Few batsmen, if any, truly know what I do, so to maintain that mystery I look to develop an atmosphere of uncertainty and, if possible, chaos. It is all about being in control, about winning the psychological battle.”

And there you have it. The reason why, during a year-long ban from all cricket, the master was at work on his craft. Be damned, he said to himself, I love what I do and I’ll do what I love. And when the time comes, I’ll be ready.Goodness, there is so much else we will miss. He was very funny, and great fun. He was naughty but in the best sense, and smart, in the streetwise sense. He made people happy, which is a gift, and he made people stronger with his support and counsel. He was generous and would put himself up for auction at charity events – “An hour’s coaching at Lord’s with Shane Warne for ten people” – and it would sell for a shedload and he’d meet the buyers, charm them utterly, and do double the time with the group they sent along, often longer if they were enthusiastic kids.The artist, the mentor: Warne showing kids the art of spin in London, 2006•Sang Tan/Associated PressHe had friends in high places and friends from the sticks. He learnt to play tennis on the court in Bob Hawke’s backyard and, years later, fired up the pizza oven for Chris Martin and Ed Sheeran to have chill nights in his own backyard; Michael Parkinson and Tim Rice took him out for lunch at The Ivy; Coldplay called him on stage to sing with them during a sellout concert in Melbourne. At Sunningdale Golf Club one day, Sean Connery heard Warnie was putting out on the 17th green and stayed behind an extra 15 minutes just to meet him. He hung out with Dannii Minogue, Jemima Khan and became engaged to Elizabeth Hurley. On Twitter, Mick Jagger mourned his passing.He completely adored his parents – Keith and Brigitte – was a loyal brother and friend to Jason and doted on his three children. The girls – Brooke and Summer – are heartbroken their dad won’t be walking them down the aisle one day. Jackson, his son and closest mate, is in denial, sure that his father will walk through the door tomorrow. Wonderful husband he may not have been, wonderful father he truly was. The Warnes are a fine family. It hurts deeply to think of their pain.There is a place in the story for Simone, his ex-wife, who lived it hard with him and is now living it hard in shock. She is the mother of the children who held him in raptures and was the girl he asked to marry while rowing round in circles on a quick trip to the Lake District in northern England in 1993. The longer he rowed so hopelessly, the funnier it got. And she said yes.Frankly, he has left a lot of folk in pain. He gave so much and had so much more to give. Bloody hell, how we will miss him.So will the tables. He played high-level poker, risked high-level stakes at the roulette wheel, and liked nothing more than a punchy unit or two on the golf course. Each year, his great joy was an invitation to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, and this last early October he had a run of birdies that saw him fall only a shot short of winning the amateur event with his professional partner Ryan Fox. I promise that had he done so, he would have regarded it as a pinnacle alongside the Ashes.He touched us all: an artist works on a painting of Warne on a Mumbai sidewalk after his death•Rajanish Kakade/Associated PressHe had become a terrific commentator, listening and learning from others and applying his remarkable cricketing intelligence to the stories he was telling. He liked cricket kept simple; he loved the game to fizz and to sparkle, and he believed implicitly that attack was the ultimate answer to defence.He spread a gospel of spirit and enterprise, trusted his intuition, raged against the dullards and refused to believe that anything was beyond him or the teams for which he played. He lived off the “blame the messenger and always get ahead of yourself” mantra that, when you think about it, is how he managed pretty much every situation in which he found himself.He made cricket cool and he made those around him happy. Sure, he had the odd blind spot but, hey, in this portfolio of achievement we can forgive a little stubbornness. So it is that we have come to an end. It seems barely believable that the Warne smile is no more. By 52 years of age, he’d had a hell of a run, living five, maybe ten, lives or more. Every day, in every place, the magic appeared in one form or another and you just had to be lucky enough to be there and have it rub off on you. It’s gone now but better to have loved and lost than not to have known him at all. There will never be another.

South Africa last played a Test in Durban in February 2019, and have won only one out of nine Tests here since 2009

Firdose Moonda30-Mar-2022″The national team? Really? At Kingsmead? Will there be tickets?”A lifelong Durban resident had no idea that cricket in South Africa is returning to the before-Covid times and international fixtures are starting to make their way around the usual traps, with fans invited back in. Last week, as South Africa moved to its most lenient restrictions since the start of the pandemic, it was announced that stadiums will be allowed to fill 50% of their capacity (up from a maximum of 2000 people before that) and bars will be open (the sale of alcohol was prohibited at sports venues since March 2020).South Africa haven’t played at Kingsmead since the washed-out ODI against England in February 2020, and haven’t contested a Test here since February 2019, and the pandemic is not the only reason for their absence. In the last decade, the national side has become increasingly disillusioned with the venue, which has lost the pace and bounce it was known for in the 1990s and adopted a slow, low subcontinental flavour. And their dislike of Durban has reflected in the results.Since 2009, South Africa have won only one out of nine Tests in Durban – against India in 2013 – and have lost to India, Sri Lanka, Australia and England; the last three all twice. Indeed, it was Sri Lanka’s win in Durban in 2019 that put them on course to record a first Test series win by an Asian side in South Africa. Bangladesh are playing at the same two places Sri Lanka triumphed in (Gqeberha, which was earlier known as Port Elizabeth, will host the second Test), which is as good an omen as any that they could become the second Asian side to do so.Last time South Africa played a Test in Durban, Kusal Perera took Sri Lanka to an improbable win•Getty ImagesAnd it’s not just the conditions that could play in Bangladesh’s favour. Everything about the circumstances this series is being played in means this is their best chance to overturn a record of six Test defeats, five by an innings, in this country. The first day of the Test will be Graeme Smith’s last as director of cricket as he moves away from an organisation that has done its best to make him feel unwelcome. Smith has a notoriously poor relationship with some of the board members and has just gone through an arbitration process that one insider described as “humiliating” over the findings made at the Social Justice and Nation-Building commission. He takes with him the ability to negotiate with moneyed boards like the BCCI and it’s yet to be seen where that leaves South Africa in the long term. What we do know is that there is no replacement for him yet, and some players are nervous their coach Mark Boucher, who faces a disciplinary hearing in May, could go the same way as Smith.Then there are the immediate concerns affecting the team. South Africa have lost six players to the IPL and a massive chunk of experience has gone with them. Now, four of the top six will have just 13 caps between them with at least one debutant – Ryan Rickelton or Khaya Zondo will come into the side – and none of the seamers has played more than a baker’s dozen Tests. “Maybe the new faces in the team can help us start on the front foot for a change,” an optimistic Keshav Maharaj said, referring to South Africa’s first-Test defeats to both India and New Zealand.It’s been a season that has swung from the highs of a come-from-behind Test series win over India to the lows of a first-ever home ODI series defeat against Bangladesh but Maharaj still assessed the few last months, since South Africa’s tour to the West Indies, as “phenomenal”. He was part of the 50-over outfit that just lost and admitted the team was unhappy with their slip up and keen to make things right in the Tests.”It hurt a lot,” he said. “A lot of us sat in the change room afterwards and tried to reflect on where to go from there. It did break the morale a little bit but every team can’t be on a high forever. They are going to have a bad series but it’s a matter of dusting yourselves off and trying to get back to winning ways.”Apart from Dean Elgar and Keshav Maharaj, there are not many experienced players in the Test side•AFP/Getty ImagesAt least what South Africa have is some players in relatively good form. Keegan Petersen, who was excellent against India before missing the New Zealand tour after contracting Covid-19, has played one first-class game since and scored a century, while Simon Harmer topped the first-class wicket charts including a nine-for on his return from New Zealand.Maharaj is expecting big things from both of them. “Keegan is a very hungry cricketer and I know he wants to build on his amazing performances against India,” he said. “He is in a good space and is hitting the ball nicely so I’m hoping he can step up and lead the batting.” Maharaj also praised Harmer as an “exceptional performer” with whom he is “looking forward to bowling in tandem”.It sounds counterintuitive that South Africa will field two spinners at home – they haven’t done so since 1970 – and Maharaj could not confirm if that would be the case, but it’s possible they might, given the conditions. Although Dean Elgar saw plenty of grass on the Kingsmead pitch, Maharaj said he had never seen grass of this colour at his home ground, which makes it a “difficult pitch to read”.Very few South Africans would have seen the Kingsmead strip recently, so it’s likely to be a surprise to everyone, even the locals who are threatening to take up as much space as they’re allowed to, although historically there’ve been more empty seats at the ground than occupied ones. The odds are in favour of that changing, given how long it has been since international cricket was played in these parts, how many of the Test squad (Maharaj, Petersen, Sarel Erwee, Zondo and Daryn Dupavillon) play their domestic cricket in Durban and how much free time there is for some. School holidays are ongoing and the man who didn’t even know there was cricket has plans of bringing his son to the match. He is eyeing Saturday and no one had the heart to mention there is a 90% chance of rain. It’s too early in the series to start putting a dampener on things.

They have now failed to defend targets in three successive overseas Tests, but is it just an India thing?

Karthik Krishnaswamy06-Jul-20222:45

Is it time to start worrying about India’s bowling?

Johannesburg, Cape Town, Birmingham. India have now failed to defend targets in three successive overseas Tests. Each time, the targets were sizeable – 240 and 212 in challenging batting conditions in South Africa, and 378 on a flat pitch against England – and each time, India only picked up three final-innings wickets.It’s a jarring run of results, and a particularly concerning one for India, given how much they pride themselves on the ability to take 20 wickets in all conditions. So what has gone wrong?Related

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Is it just an India thing?
We’re just over halfway into 2022, but there have already been six successful chases of 200-plus targets this year. One more, and 2022 will equal 2008’s all-time record.Overall, teams have averaged 34.27 runs per wicket in the fourth innings this year. It’s been the best year for batting in the fourth innings since 2008, and not only that, this year of plenty has followed more than half-a-decade’s drought. From 2014 to 2021, teams averaged 27.50 or less in the fourth innings.England, of course, have been – as a team – and has been – as a host country – responsible for four of the six successful 200-plus chases of 2022 – three times against New Zealand and once against India. Never before has one team pulled off four such chases in a single year, and England have achieved this unprecedented feat by batting in a near-unprecedented manner in conditions that have been unusually batting-friendly.Both India and New Zealand toured England in 2021, played each other once, and then played against the hosts, going away with a 1-0 series win and a 2-1 series lead respectively. The England of 2022, however, was a land of flatter pitches and a batch of Dukes balls that lost most of its sting after around the 30-over mark. The England of 2022 were also a team that batted in a proactive manner that both befitted the conditions and made them even harder to bowl in, reducing the bowlers’ margin for error significantly. For both New Zealand and India, touring England in 2022 was like visiting an entirely new cricketing nation.A common factor across India’s three fourth-innings reverses was a worrying lack of support for Bumrah and Shami•Getty ImagesHave India missed Ishant Sharma?
One common factor across India’s three fourth-innings reverses was a worrying lack of support for Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Mohammed Siraj, who was injured during South Africa’s first innings in Johannesburg, only bowled six overs during their chase and struggled for rhythm. Umesh Yadav, who replaced Siraj in Cape Town, failed to sustain the pressure created by Bumrah and Shami, conceding four an over during the fourth innings. At Edgbaston, both Thakur and Siraj went for more than a run a ball across the two England innings.In India’s last four away Tests, including their win in Centurion, Shami and Bumrah bowled nearly 60% of their fast bowlers’ overs, and the reason for this has been obvious: they have been India’s biggest wicket threats while also offering the most control of all their seamers. In these four Tests, they were the only two seamers with an economy rate of less than 3.5, with Thakur going at 3.76 and Siraj and Umesh conceding more than four an over.In Johannesburg, Cape Town and Birmingham, India’s bowling often lacked both potency and control when Bumrah and Shami took breaks between spells. At these times, they seemed to miss a third seamer in the mould of Ishant Sharma, who, in the 14 Tests he played alongside Bumrah and Shami, had both the best average (20.46) and economy rate (2.56) of all of India’s quicks.Ishant was part of India’s squad in South Africa but didn’t get to play, with Umesh chosen ahead of him when Siraj picked up his injury, and was dropped from the squad for the Edgbaston Test. He was a key contributor to India’s win at Lord’s last year, but he was down on both pace and accuracy in the next Test in Leeds, where he went at more than four an over in an innings defeat. He has only played one Test since then, in Kanpur last November.It’s unclear if Ishant remains in India’s long-term plans, but it’s clear that they need someone who can do what he did in his best years, whether it’s a rejuvenated Ishant, or Prasidh Krishna – the successor India seem to have identified for the tall, hit-the-deck fast bowler’s role – or simply Siraj with improved control.Mohammed Shami started poorly on the fifth day•Associated PressHave the fast bowlers over-attacked?
England’s chase at Edgbaston had a few broad similarities to their unsuccessful chase of a similar target in the fourth Test at The Oval last year. Their openers put on a century stand, before India struck back with quick top-order wickets, including the run-out of a left-hand batter during a Ravindra Jadeja over.But where Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed took 40.4 overs to put on 100 at The Oval, Alex Lees and Zak Crawley only took 21.4 overs to add 107 at Edgbaston. While England had an entirely new batting philosophy and the conditions were quicker-scoring, India’s bowling had also changed.In the first 30 overs of England’s chase at The Oval, India’s fast bowlers were relentless with their lengths, hitting a good length 63% of the time, according to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data. This despite not taking a wicket in that period. In the first 30 overs at Edgbaston, however, they only hit a good length 39% of the time, with more frequent forays into the full and short-of-good-length zones, and also slipping in the odd attempted yorker or bouncer, which they didn’t try at The Oval.A lot of this was down to the conditions, of course. The pitch was benign, and where the Dukes ball has generally gone flat after around the 30-over mark during this English summer, even the new one India picked out at Edgbaston did very little. It’s always easier to bowl a good length when a bit of help is available. At The Oval, Burns and Hameed scored at just 1.61 per over off good-length balls. At Edgbaston, good-length balls went at four an over even when the ball was less than 30 overs old.To add to this, England’s top order made every effort to put India off their lengths. Lees made the gameplan very clear in just the second over, when he stepped out of his crease and swiped Shami through the leg side. Crawley would soon show a similarly adventurous spirit too, frequently driving on the up and on one occasion whipping a fourth-stump ball through midwicket.Even so, should India have deviated so much from a good length? And the events of Edgbaston weren’t a one-off. In Cape Town, you could have made the same case against India’s bowlers in far more helpful conditions.On the fifth morning of that Test, they took the high-risk, high-reward option of bowling full lengths to Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen, and suffered when luck went South Africa’s way. Bumrah and Shami beat the bat repeatedly without creating outright chances, and also went for quick runs. It was a gamble that could have come off on another day, but might India have been better served by hammering away on a good length, given the help on offer?The South Africa tour and Edgbaston Test were India’s first overseas assignments under Rahul Dravid and Paras Mhambrey. It’s too early to tell if this tendency to search for attacking lengths – if two examples can point to a tendency in the first place – is part of the new coaching staff’s wider gameplan, but it’s clear enough that the coaches and the bowlers need to spend a lot more time together before we get a coherent sense of their ideas.India squandered a glorious chance to bat England out of the game in the third innings•PA Photos/Getty ImagesDid the batters do enough?
In Cape Town, India took a narrow first-innings lead before their batting collapsed around a sensational third-innings hundred from Rishabh Pant. Conditions were tricky to bat in, but there was one passage of play that India may have rued, when Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Shardul Thakur were all out to drives away from the body, and 152 for 4 (effectively 165 for 4) became 170 for 7. Rather than set South Africa upwards of 250, as seemed likely when Kohli and Pant were batting, India ended up setting them 212.The third innings at Edgbaston – particularly in the light of how easily England ran down their target – could be seen as another missed opportunity. From 153 for 3, India only added another 92 runs to their total, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant falling to attacking shots when well-set, Shreyas Iyer falling into a clearly telegraphed short-ball trap, and the lower order bounced out in a hurry. India had the series lead. They had a significant first-innings lead, and the ideal batting conditions in which to extend it. They had the chance to bat England out of the game, and they failed to take it.

Performance at the 2021 T20 World Cup had a big impact, and Cricket Namibia is hoping to make the most of the momentum

Umar Farooq20-Aug-2022The national team’s performance at the 2021 men’s T20 World Cup appears to have had a positive impact on Namibian cricket overall. A repeat – or a better show – later this year in Australia, however, depends on their preparation, and Namibia Cricket chief executive Johan Muller expects the Global T20 tournament against two club sides to be critical in that regard.”The performance of the national team in the 2021 World Cup [they beat Ireland and Netherlands in the first round, and Scotland in the main event] had a significant impact on interest, exposure and the growth for the game in Namibia,” Muller told ESPNcricinfo. “We clearly see that in the way the players performed, which was the best team performance in any sport in Namibia at a world-class event.Related

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“It had a real in-depth impact not just with spectators taking interest in the game but in development programmes too. Our quarterly programme was the biggest in Africa last year in 2021. We had 69,000 kids playing mini cricket, meaning one out of every five primary-school kids had the opportunity to participate in cricket in 2021.”That’s a significant number if you compare that to any other country out there, which got registered numbers in term of participants in any country with its development programme. We qualified for the 2022 World Cup and ensured that we didn’t have a short period of exposure. It added another year to the build-up to this event, which clearly has an impact on the country. Besides all that, the co-hosting of the 2027 ODI World Cup has led to some significant changes in ministry, government, and the local communities to view cricket, specifically with a focus on developing the structure.”Namibia have played ODI cricket against Nepal and Scotland in the 50-over World Cup League 2, and T20Is against Jersey and USA in a tri-series at home in the past month-and-some. Cricket Namibia has also arranged a T20 tri-series against club sides from Pakistan and South Africa in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup. From Pakistan, there is a representative side (sans international players) from Lahore Qalandars, the current PSL champions. And from South Africa, Imperial Lions, who won the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge Division One in April.David Wiese is, by some distance, Namibia’s best, and most well-travelled, cricketer•Getty Images”There are actually quite a number of reasons for this tournament. The first is on-field preparation for the World Cup in Australia. Playing high-quality opposition in the T20 format is critical for our preparation,” Muller said. “This is something that created a lot of success for us last year and something we want to duplicate. We did manage to play Zimbabwe earlier this year and to play with top teams in member countries, which got a lot of depth in our cricket structure.”You always find exceptionally talented players in those teams that are high-calibre and on-field preparation is key to us in performing in T20 World Cup.”The second reason is commercial. The T20 commercial space is getting saturated and I think there is value in top players from different countries playing in a team set-up against a top Associate Member country like Namibia. I hope this completion will be a platform to showcase the talent we have in Namibia and few players on the world stage.”This was planned as a four-team tournament, but Indian domestic side Bengal had to withdraw, since the BCCI doesn’t allow Indian cricketers to take part in T20 tournaments outside India. The tournament was then tweaked, and Namibia will play two one-dayers against Qalandars.”It was a bit of a setback for the Bengal team not to be able to come,” Muller said. “It [the withdrawal] was quite late, which I think was the biggest impact, because we had already planned a four-team tournament, and we couldn’t advertise up till final confirmation from the BCCI. The impact is mostly from a commercial perspective, in the sense that we couldn’t track the sponsorship we actually wanted in terms of broadcasting.Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton was recently in Pakistan, training in the Lahore Qalandars academy•Getty Images”It obviously would be great to have an Indian team, they bring a lot of flair and a lot of different ways of playing the game into your country, and from just an exposure perspective of cricket in Namibia, it would have been great if the Bengal team was here too.”Earlier this month, Namibia had sent four cricketers, including Jan Nicol Loftie Eaton and Pikky Ya France, from Windhoek to Lahore to train in the Qalandars academy.”We did send four players to Lahore Qalandars as they have got a world-class facility where they cater to a lot of international players,” Muller explained. “They built quite a big academy in terms of developing players not only for Lahore Qalandars but for Pakistan. It was a very clear strategy behind sending players to their academy, which is an international facility and some real talented players.”So it was a scenic change for our players with particular focus on the spin bowlers to be able to generate more impact in the game in the middle period, which is critical these days in the modern game.”Namibia will play an ODI tri-series in Papua New Guinea after the tri-series at home before leaving for Australia, where they are grouped with Sri Lanka, Netherlands and UAE in the first round.

Ben Stokes’ team has brought cheer to Britons, just like Ian Botham’s and Michael Vaughan’s did in the past

Mark Nicholas26-Sep-2022At a classy dinner ten days ago in honour of Eoin Morgan and for the charities with which he has aligned, Ben Stokes was asked about his pride in the staggering achievements of the summer. “Just to see the full houses and hear that people couldn’t take their eyes off the television screen does it for me,” he said, “That’s what it’s all about, entertaining the people who love the game and hoping that others who might not, change their mind, because of the way we have played.”Not for the first time, England’s cricket had proved cathartic. Stokes’ team lit up the summer, winning six out seven Tests in such style it was as if a new golden age was born. Given that a grim winter abroad had led to post-Ashes depression and that defeat in the Caribbean had further exaggerated the malaise, this was a monumental achievement – up there with any from all time.On reflection now, 1981 was a year of extraordinary political and cultural change: a seminal time in the evolution of modern Britain. Tradition was overtaken by the consumer’s free market ambition, while the speed of technological change marked the beginning of a new age. Initially, Margaret Thatcher’s austerity-driven government faced a frightening, anarchic tension on the streets as riots broke out in Brixton, South London, and wound their way up the country to Toxteth in Liverpool. It took Botham’s Ashes, as the series became known – along with the marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer – to lift spirits and create a sense of pride in a country otherwise torn apart.Botham’s version of modernism: his carefree, rebellious approach to a game run by old-school whispers in old-school corridors, made for compelling viewing. Off the field, the longer he grew his hair and toyed with the ways of rock ‘n roll, the more the people embraced him: on the field the harder he hit the ball and the more he swung it when he bowled, the louder they cheered. This sense of optimism moved the dial. Such is the power of sport, and in particular, of the Pied Piper effect created by Botham. Suddenly, even the government’s tactics began to make sense. Austerity soon became prosperity as a kind of economic liberalisation allowed markets to fly and entrepreneurship to thrive.Related

Botham, Willis, Brearley, magic: let's cast our minds back to 1981

Ben Stokes 'blessed' as England show collective buy-in to seal memorable summer

Joe Root: 'I've never had more fun playing professional cricket'

How Brendon McCullum stripped the formal out of the Test format, to reinvigorate England

In 2005, the capital’s streets were once again the target for extremist fury. On July 7, a series of suicide attacks by terrorists targeted London’s public transport system. Apart from the bombers, 52 others died and more than 700 were injured. And yet, on July 21 – a day of further attacks – the bulldog spirit ensured that Lord’s was bursting at its seams for the first Test in perhaps the greatest Ashes series of them all.Michael Vaughan’s England threw all they had at the Australians over those hugely atmospheric days, but it wasn’t enough. Typically and ruthlessly, the old enemy cut into England’s heart and threw it to the wind. Lesser, weaker, sides would have been unable to cope but Vaughan was not for turning in his belief that Ricky Ponting’s fine team could be beaten and across the five weeks that followed Lord’s, England played to their potential and ensured the Australians did not quite reach theirs. Match after match felt like the heavyweight fight it was, and on each occasion a full 15 rounds were needed to decide an outcome. Andrew Flintoff became the Botham of the day, and with him, a magnificent fast-bowling attack and some thrilling batting brought the Ashes “home” for the first time since Mike Gatting’s travelling band had done the same in Australia 18 years earlier.On the back of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, 2022 has been a dreadful year in the United Kingdom, so much so that there is no immediate sign of respite from unpredictable government, hard recession, the frightening cost of living, an energy crisis, rail strikes and airline chaos. Most recently there has been the death of the Queen. The cricketers, however, have made the country proud, allowing us to smile about our game again. From Bairstow to Broad; Root to Anderson and Stokes to Robinson, it has been a summer of comic-book hero stuff, with scripts written by fantasists and acted out by players liberated from the fear of failure. The six Test matches won came from batting second, and therefore last, with each having a narrative that was often fraught and always tense. When it was over, Joe Root said he had never had so much fun playing professional cricket – lucky Joe, a second life in the age of innocence.It has been riveting to watch the swapping of roles by Root and Stokes. Through the former captain’s darkest days as England captain, his mate had his back, never once wavering from generous comment and unconditional support. Of course, Root’s days were not always dark. Indeed, the brightest of them were splendid affairs, not least when Virat Kohli’s strong India team were beaten 4-1 in 2018. Most of England’s cricket in that series sparkled and the selection of allrounders who each offered a variant on the “total cricket” theme brought new light through old windows.

Stokes has seen this summer’s movie before. In fact, he has produced, directed and starred in a few of them. His mantra to play to win – to risk defeat in pursuit of victory, whatever the odds – is not new to him, only to everyone else

The following summer, in 2019, Stokes then took the support of his captain to an altogether new level with a solo performance at Headingley against the Australians that ranks with any in the history of the game. Root simply couldn’t get the ball out of his hand in the second innings when, knee injury and all, Stokes pounded in for 24.2 overs to take 3 for 56, thus denying the Australians the oxygen of quick runs towards an unassailable lead.After which, came innings: the unbeaten 135 of which Don Bradman or Viv Richards, never mind Ian Botham, would have been greatly proud. Two days after being bowled out for 67, England recorded their highest ever successful chase – 359 was the target – with Stokes front and centre of what, even at the time, felt more like a piece of fiction than reality. He hit 11 fours and eight sixes, many of which came as he finessed at 76-run partnership for the last wicket with Jack Leach.You might have picked up where this is going. Stokes has seen this summer’s movie before. In fact, he has produced, directed and starred in a few of them. His mantra to play to win – to risk defeat in pursuit of victory, whatever the odds – is not new to him, only to everyone else.To wind back the clock one more time, let us revive the Lord’s Test against India last summer. There was something profoundly irritating about the way in which England lay down against Kohli’s team, who, naturally enough, were hellbent on revenge for 2018. Thanks primarily to Anderson and Root, England controlled the game right up until the fall of Rishabh Pant’s wicket on the fifth morning: the point at which India, on a decent batting pitch, were just 167 ahead with only three wickets left in the shed. The excited buzz around Lord’s was silenced by the misguided short-pitched attack against the tail that allowed Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to swat and swipe their way to a partnership 89 that brought Kohli’s declaration and, ultimately, England’s demise. Pusillanimous batting in the face of a suddenly visceral and rather brilliant opponent saw England collapse to 120 all out and defeat by 151. To this observer, it was the first sign that Root had lost his captaincy mojo; in short, the end of one management team and the need for another was clear. England needed to strip it back; to find a simpler, brighter version of the game.Stokes, meanwhile, was on a six-month sabbatical. Almost certainly, he will have cringed at what he saw. He had never sought the captaincy and, even if deep down he aspired to it, would under no circumstance “white-ant” his mate to get it. But he was watching and thinking. Australia last winter, and the West Indies tour that followed, was the nadir for Root, the point at which the strain outweighed the privilege. After his resignation, Stokes telephoned Rob Key to say he was up for it. The rest is history.Forty-one years ago, Ian Botham lifted the spirits of a beleaguered nation with a sparkling series win over the Australians•PA Photos/Getty ImagesNo one has been tighter to Stokes than Root. It is to his eternal credit that Stokes can speak so highly of the man he replaced and of his methods. For Root to say this is the most fun he has had playing professional cricket is to agree, in part, that what went immediately before was not much fun.In the first half of the summer, released from the traffic of captaincy, he batted perhaps better than any Englishman has batted before – Stokes at Headingley excepted – expanding his game to something more expressive and theatrical than seen previously. Those runs were to dry up in the second half of the summer because, in the end, the amount of cricket played by these fellows will take its toll. When we next see Root at the wicket for England, there may be more of the pragmatist in him than the showman. Runs are the currency of the greats and Root knows that such a moniker is in his gift.If selecting the best England side from the players I have seen live – so we start, say, with Ted Dexter and John Snow and go through to the present day – both Root and Stokes would be in it. Should Stokes carry on like this, he will be appointed captain of this XI too.Test cricket’s power to heal, its unique quality to occupy up to five days and bleed messages of ebb and flow, patience and reward, hype and humdrum, drama, delight, victory and defeat is not to be underestimated. If ever I saw cricket improve the national mood, it was in the summers of 1981, 2005 and 2022. Those who threaten the primacy of Test cricket know not what they are doing. We will not forgive them if they succeed. Thank you then, to Stokes and his merry men for making this loud and clear.

Takeaways from the six matches that India played against New Zealand and Sri Lanka this month

Deivarayan Muthu25-Jan-20232:10

Takeaways for India: Malik, Gill stand out but Kishan underperforms

.Siraj leads the attack in Bumrah’s absenceMohammed Siraj has cemented his position as one of India’s premier fast bowlers – with or without Jasprit Bumrah. When there is juice in the pitch, he gets the new ball to swing and seam, and when there isn’t, he unleashes his wobble-seam variation which has proven even harder to handle. His 14 wickets in five ODIs against Sri Lanka and New Zealand even helped rise to No.1 on the ODI bowlers rankings.”The more cricket he [Siraj] has played, he has become better in terms of understanding his bowling,” India captain Rohit Sharma said. “In this game it’s about understanding what you can do, what is your ability, the moment you understand that you can be more effective for the team… Siraj has exactly done that in last couple of years that he has played whichever format be it. He has done really well, he understands what the team is expecting from him: to come and take the new ball, swing the ball, get early wickets, in the middle overs.”3:45

Rohit on Gill: ‘He has great maturity, the way he thinks about and approaches the game’

Gill locks in his opening spotBefore the start of India’s home season, there were questions around Shubman Gill’s place at the top because an ODI double-centurion had to make way for him. Now he himself is an ODI double-centurion, the youngest in the history of the format. His coming of age was always on the cards but nobody expected this.”Honestly, the way he was batting in this series, [and] even before the series, I don’t think much needs to be told [to him],” Rohit said. “He understands his game very well, he paces his innings very well. That is what you want in one-day cricket, you want big [scores], you want to go deep into the game. He has shown it, he has got big hundreds, no matter how flat the pitch is to get a double-hundred is not easy. It shows he was calculative and he understood [that] he needs to bat deep. The set batsman needs to bat as long as possible. That is what the reason we got 350-plus total in that game. He has got great maturity in the way he thinks about the game and the way he approaches the game. That is all I can say. I have not had played lot of cricket with him but from the first time I saw him in Australia in Test series, we all know how he batted at that Test match at the Gabba.”3:05

Can Thakur be India’s third seamer at the World Cup?

Thakur is back and how!After being left out of the side for the Sri Lanka ODIs, Shardul Thakur proved his all-round value against New Zealand, strengthening his case to be India’s No. 8 at the World Cup. In the first ODI, Michael Bracewell gave India an almighty scare by taking New Zealand from 131 for 6 to within two sixes of levelling their score (349). And it was Thakur who closed that game out by trapping Bracewell with a dipping yorker. Then, in the third ODI, on a ground with 60m boundaries on all sides, Thakur proved the difference between the two sides by breaking the back of New Zealand’s middle order all in the space of 10 balls.”He has got the knack of taking wickets at crucial times for us,” Rohit said. “We have seen it, not just in ODI cricket but also in Test cricket. There are so many instances that I remember [when] there is a partnership building from the opposition and he came in and got us through. He is very critical to us, we know where we stand as a team, what he brings to us is very critical. I just hope that he keeps putting up performances like this and it will only do good for the team.”He is very smart, he has played lot of domestic cricket, he has come up through the ranks, and he understands what needs to be done. In this format you need to use your skill and Shardul definitely has some skills. He has a good knuckle ball; he bowled it to Tom Latham today, that was nicely planned in the middle by few players and I was not included in that (laughs). It was Virat, Hadik and Shardul; so it was a good plan. At the end of the day, if a plan works for the team, we all are happy.”1:08

Jaffer pleased with India’s aggressive batting approach

India rack up dew-proof totalsIndia batted first in four of the six ODIs against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, piling up totals of 373 for 7, 390 for 5, 349 for 8 and 385 for 9. Wary of the effect of dew later in the evening, they showed greater attacking enterprise to combat the conditions.Rohit himself has been at the forefront of India’s new, gung-ho ODI approach by going much faster and harder in the powerplay. “If you see, we have scored perhaps four times in excess of 350 in these six games, so it tells you that we want to play with a specific approach,” he said. “When you want to achieve all of those things, you are definitely not going to look at those numbers. Even if you are on 99 and if the ball is there, you should go for it. That’s the kind of message, thought-process and the mindset I want the guys to have. It’s important to play fearless cricket but at the same time, you need to show smartness. You cannot heave wildly. We need to be smart and at the same time not be afraid of taking risk.”It is going to be Yuzvendra Chahal vs Kuldeep Yadav from now on•BCCIKuldeep keeps himself in World Cup mixAfter Yuzvendra Chahal suffered a shoulder injury during the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Kuldeep Yadav stepped off the bench and put in a Player-of-the-Match performance at Eden Gardens. The left-arm wristspinner’s 3 for 15 restricted Sri Lanka to 215 and served a reminder that he could still cut it in ODI cricket.In the absence of Chahal, Kuldeep also had his moments in the first two ODIs against New Zealand before the duo were reunited for the third match in Indore. Despite the tiny boundaries there and dew making it hard to grip the ball, Kuldeep kept creating opportunities for India and kept beating the New Zealand batters in the air.The third ODI was a rare instance of India fitting both the wristspinners in their XI and testing them out in tough conditions. With the team set to play at least one fingerspin-bowling allrounder in the World Cup, the narrative will shift to Kuldeep vs Chahal once again during the three-match ODI series against Australia in March.

A starring role for Ramiz Raja, a special appearance by Shahid Afridi, sackings, accusations – there’s nothing else we’d rather watch

Alan Gardner16-Jan-2023Sometimes, people just want to turn on the TV/engage their multiplatform streaming service and watch the old stuff. The shows where they know what’s coming and can quote all the lines. Just look at the enduring popularity of the being one of the most-watched things on Netflix. Basically, if it ain’t woke, don’t fix it.Which brings us to long-running, and hugely popular, subcontinental soap opera . Once primus inter pares in the dysfunctional board stakes, Pakistan’s administration had gradually become more and more vanilla. This was understandable – when you’re trying to get international teams to tour again after a decade, the how-to-lose-friends-and-alienate-people approach is better off shelved.Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan were emollient, capable types, while Imran Khan lurked in the background, bringing a frankly uncalled-for level of gravitas to the production – even if his high-handed approach did fit the overall vibe.Related

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But there were signs in the return of Ramiz Raja that could get back to its former heights. Resurrecting a much-loved character can go either way, but Ramiz dived into the role with gusto, taking to his YouTube channel to drop truth bombs when New Zealand and England pulled out of touring in 2021, and getting increasingly “method” in his approach to the Pakistani-Test-pitches storyline. Rumours he had taken to conducting all his business from the groundsman’s shed at the Gaddafi Stadium remain as yet unfounded.And Ramiz was at the heart of things as the show found its sweet spot once again – this time with a comeback for another old-school boardroom big beast in Najam Sethi. Light Roller readers will doubtless remember fondly the early Sethi years, when he formed a comedy two-hander with Zaka Ashraf, in which the two of them swapped in and out of the role of chairman every few months, like rival schoolboy gangs competing to sit on the back seat of the bus.This time, all the old numbers were rolled out, as Ramiz decried “political interference”, the new PCB honchos threatened legal action, and Sethi set about restoring an old version of the constitution. Plus, they raided the special-effects budget, with Sethi tweeting a slickly Photoshopped graphic comparing his record with those of Mani and Ramiz – a gloriously petty document in which he only just stopped short of describing them both as bad lovers and pygmies of masculinity.

Take a look at this table! https://t.co/Ysku87tJvf

— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) December 31, 2022