All posts by h716a5.icu

From Ashok Sridharan, United Arab Emirates

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013
Vinod Kambli: the Archie Jackson to Tendulkar’s Bradman?•Getty ImagesI was checking in at the Mumbai airport recently when I saw a familiar face at the neighbouring counter. At first I thought I recognised him, but I wasn’t so sure since no one else was. He quietly checked in and started walking towards the security check when I mustered the courage to walk up to the man and talk to him. As it happened, my eyes weren’t deceiving me. It was indeed Vinod Kambli. The man with two double-centuries and a Test average of over 50, the man who played his last Test at the tender age of 23 was standing right before my eyes!He was delighted hear me recount that match in Sharjah eons ago when he took Shane Warne to the cleaners and still more so when I asked him for his autograph. It was in many ways a poignant moment. Here was a man no one around seemed to know or recognise (or perhaps care to acknowledge) and yet, this very same person could have been one of the all-time greats.There was a time when he was bracketed along with Sachin Tendulkar as one of the most promising young players in world cricket. For the pre-teen boy that I was back then, the flamboyant and self-assured Kambli was far more attractive to watch than the more sober Tendulkar. Today, nearly two decades later, Sachin Tendulkar is widely acknowledged as one of the all-time greats.Vinod Kambli is a name that is no more than a footnote- the Archie Jackson to Tendulkar’s Bradman. Kambli was a man with extraordinary talent who never quite made it big – India’s very own Hick, except he was dropped at 23 and never again given a shot at redemption. As many people of my age would concur, life in reality turned out to be an awful lot different from what we imagined it to be in our teenage years/early 20s. I met at the Mumbai airport that day, the very embodiment of that harsh reality.

The selectors are likely to be pilloried whoever they pick for the upcoming Tests and ODIs and with their best players regularly unavailable, their job remains complicated

Tony Cozier03-Mar-2013By its very nature, there are few more thankless jobs than that of the West Indies cricket selectors.In times of decline, as over the past two decades, when their options are limited and defeat is habitual, their judgment, even their motives, are questioned by a disgruntled public driven by insularity, by the media, by the players and their association, by prominent politicians and, yes, by board members who appoint them.They are often subjected to virulent, open abuse, as Sir Wes Hall once noted when accosted by a young boy and his father in an airport lounge during his stint on the panel.So, without getting overly sympathetic, spare a thought for Clyde Butts, Courtney Browne and Robert Haynes who have to deal with the further complications caused by the addition of Twenty20 to the international schedule and of the regular unavailability of their best players, either on West Indies duty, lured by the five and six figure contracts of domestic Twenty20 leagues or, at their request, given time off to “rest”.The present situation typifies their confusion. In the space of a couple of months, they have had to pick squads for all three formats – the 50-overs-an-innings ODIs and one-off Twenty20 in Australia and the three ODIs, two Twenty20s and two Tests against Zimbabwe; their next assignment is to choose 15 for the ICC Champions Trophy in England in June.The regional tournament preceding the Australian trip was the Twenty20, hardly the proper preparation for players or guide for selectors for an ODI series. The 15 were chosen even before that started.Paradoxically, while the top players were in Australia, the regional equivalent, the so-called Super50, was in progress. Back in the Caribbean, the squad was required to prepare for the Zimbabwean series that eliminated them from the simultaneous regional four-day tournament. Others were engaged in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).Clearly, standards were compromised. Trinidad & Tobago were without the Bravo brothers, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine; Barbados had to reconstitute their fast attack in the absence of Kemar Roach, Tino Best and Jason Holder (in Australia) and Fidel Edwards (in Bangladesh); Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Marlon Samuels (injured in the preceding Big Bash tournament) were missing for Jamaica.Given the first-class status accorded the matches, much of it was counterfeit cricket. It left the selectors to assess the true value of performances.What credibility would they attach, for instance, to Devon Smith’s prolific returns in another low-scoring season (139 and 106 not out for Windwards against CCC, 99 against Trinidad & Tobago in the four-day tournament, 110 not out against Guyana in the Super50). Aged 31 and with 33 Tests (average 24.71) and 42 ODIs (average 26.68) behind him, does such form press for his return to the West Indies team?Or are Kirk Edwards’ 120 against Guyana and 109 against CCC enough for his reinstatement to the team from which he was dropped in England last year, following two centuries, five half-centuries and an average of 39.11 in his nine Tests?And what about Nikita Miller’s 10 wickets for Jamaica against Barbados that, following his 42 wickets in 2012, reinforced his status as the leading left-arm spinner at regional level? Or the advance of Chris Jordan, 24, a bowler of lively pace and good control with 15 wickets in Barbados’ first three matches, and an outstanding fielder? And so on and so forth.The same questions could be asked of returns in the current series against Zimbabwe, an inexperienced team at the bottom of the ICC rankings further diminished by lack of competition (next week’s Test is their first since one in New Zealand more than a year ago).Ramnaresh Sarwan is the most obvious case in point. A classy batsman with the background of a dozen years in international cricket and an average over 40 in both Tests and ODIs, he had been out of the West Indies team for 18 months for a variety of complicated reasons, most involving his relationship with coach Ottis Gibson and former West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Ernest Hilaire.He was fast-tracked back for the ODIs in Australia when it was apparent from his travails in the regional Twenty20 that he was not yet ready. He predictably struggled (scores of zero, zero and 12 before he was dropped) but, given another opportunity on his return home, he opened the batting and stroked 120 unbeaten against Zimbabwe in the second ODI.He might not have been in the 11 hadn’t Chris Gayle been given time off and Johnson Charles tweaked a hamstring in compiling his 130 in the first match.So the selectors find themselves in a quandary over whether this was enough to merit Sarwan’s return to the 11 for the two Tests against Zimbabwe and then for the Champions Trophy.Gayle will be back for both, Charles, the most improved batsman in West Indies cricket, at least for the latter. Room has to be made in the Tests and the Champions Trophy for Marlon Samuels, who has given the assurance that the eye injury he sustained in the Big Bash in Australia in January is fully healed, and in the Tests for Shivnarine Chanderpaul.That would settle five of the first six in the order for the Tests (Gayle, Kieron Powell, Darren Bravo, Samuels and Chanderpaul) with one batting place to be filled. The choice seems to lie between Sarwan, Narsingh Deonarine and Kieron Pollard. Given his ability to destroy bowling such as Zimbabwe have on offer and the maturity he has brought to his batting over the past year (with two hundreds against Australia and one against India), Pollard deserves the chance to show what he can achieve in unrestricted, red ball cricket. If he doesn’t get it now, after 75 ODIs and 33 Twenty20 Internationals, he never will.It is up to the selectors and they know they are likely to be pilloried whoever they pick.

Plays of the day for the second T20 between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh

12-May-2013The sequel
Mahmudullah got into a heated argument with umpire Jeremiah Matibiri in the ninth over, about what appeared to be regarding the non-striker Sean Williams. He started off with a one-word reply, before yelling at the umpire. Mushfiqur Rahim entered the scene quickly, but Matibiri stood firm. There’s a YouTube video of Mahmudullah having a quiet word with Brendan Taylor that has gained popularity as one of the tamer sledges circulated on the internet.The attempt
Vusimuzi Sibanda has had a mixed four weeks in terms of catching, taking some tough catches and dropping a sitter too. Shakib Al Hasan’s slash towards deep cover was heading towards him, where he jumped up, tried to pluck it one-handed but failed. He tipped it over the rope for a six, an unfair outcome of such a remarkable attempt.The refusal
There’s no bigger squeal in world cricket than Mushfiqur Rahim’s. Williams survived an lbw appeal to a straight Sohag Gazi delivery that was going to hit middle. The umpire gave a loud call of ‘no’, and the only replay showed that the bat was also nowhere near the ball. Mushfiqur was left disappointed.The follow-up
Nasir was run out in the dramatic collapse in the first Twenty20, and his innings ended the same way in the second game. This time he made 27 and helped Bangladesh get out of a rut, but just when he looked like cutting loose, it happened again. Gazi bunted the ball towards mid-on, from where Sibanda swooped on the ball but the batsmen were still uncertain whether to take the run. Nasir turned back late, and Sibanda scored a direct-hit with the batsman a few inches short.

Michael Clarke may have a tricky decision to make over the follow-on but, after an impressive day and with the Ashes at stake, the attack must continue to front up

Brydon Coverdale at Old Trafford03-Aug-2013Halfway through the third day at Old Trafford it was hard to know what looked in worse shape, Jeff Thomson in the crowd or Australia’s chances of an Ashes comeback. The TV camera panned into a supporters’ tour group and found Thommo, cap askew, hair dishevelled, eyes half closed. Terry Kiser looked perkier in . But suddenly, Thomson sprung to life; apparently his phone had gone off. Sometimes, all it takes is a trigger.For the struggling Australians in the middle, that spark came when Ryan Harris nipped the ball back in between bat and pad to clip the top of Ian Bell’s off stump. Fast bowlers dream of such dismissals. Australia had found their catalyst. Of course, it is not fair to suggest they had been poor throughout the day, just that Bell and Kevin Pietersen were in sublime touch. And at 2-0 down, Australia couldn’t afford their partnership to go from healthy to hefty.By the close of play, Mitchell Starc had shrugged off his wayward lines to deliver a searching spell of reverse swing that accounted for Pietersen and Jonny Bairstow. It meant that, viewed in isolation, it had actually been a pretty good day for the Australians. A pretty good day might not be enough after the awful ones at Lord’s, but it has given them hope.Their main concern is the workload of the fast men. Australia captains are loath to inflict follow-ons on their bowlers but Michael Clarke will have a difficult choice to make should Australia claim the last three England wickets for less than 34 runs. Never in his Test captaincy career has Clarke made the opposition bat again, though it’s not a question he’s often been asked.The only time he had the chance was against India in Adelaide in January 2012, in the last Test of a series that Australia had dominated. Nothing but a clean sweep was at risk if they failed to win. In any case, India were such a rabble that he could afford to let his bowlers rest, knowing that victory was all but inevitable anyway.At Old Trafford, Australia’s life in an Ashes series is at stake. Clarke has no choice but to work his bowlers into the ground over the next two days, whether during a follow-on or after a quick second innings that sets England a chase. Australia have not enforced the follow-on since the Wellington Test of early 2010, when Harris was in the baggy green for the first time. If they do so again at Old Trafford, he may not wear the cap again for a while, given his history of breaking down.Harris looked spent as he walked off Old Trafford on Saturday. Never has he bowled more overs in a Test than the 44.1 he sent down in the previous match at Lord’s, but he might have to match that at Old Trafford. Peter Siddle was still hitting good speeds and finding bounce and carry late in the day and appears fitter than ever. Australia have used 22 players in their eight Tests this year; Siddle is the only man not to have missed one.Still, even he can be prone to overwork – he sat out of the Perth Test against South Africa last summer after sending down 63.5 overs in Adelaide. There was a three-day break between Perth and Adelaide; there is a three-day break between Old Trafford and Chester-le-Street. But that becomes irrelevant if Australia fail to win in Manchester.Siddle was arguably Australia’s best bowler on the third day at Old Trafford, although he didn’t take a wicket. He altered his angles on the crease, moved the ball in the air and off the seam almost imperceptibly and was unlucky not to add to his two strikes from the second afternoon. Nathan Lyon deserved some sort of reward as well, for despite being attacked by Pietersen and Bell, he found drift, loop, turn and bounce.In fact, the Australians did some fine things throughout the day, from Brad Haddin’s athletic, diving take to get rid of Alastair Cook to Starc’s late spell of reverse swing. They had given themselves a chance; a small one, perhaps, but a chance all the same.For now, the series remains alive, the Ashes in play. But the next two days will determine if the rest of this tour becomes one long .

Once among the country’s top players, Venugopal Rao’s fortunes plummeted so much that he was thinking of stepping away from the game, at least temporarily, though he’s only 31

Devashish Fuloria in Surat07-Nov-2013During the Greg Chappell years, Venugopal Rao was among the most promising young cricketers in the country, and had been selected for India’s ODI squad for Sri Lanka in July 2005 along with Suresh Raina.Now 31, Rao’s fortunes have nosedived so much that he was contemplating stepping away from the game, at least temporarily. A migrant on the Ranji circuit, without a first-class hundred since 2007, Rao had a woeful time last year in his first season with Gujarat. This season began no better, as he made 16 in the opening match against Vidarbha.”After first match again, I was literally down. I went back home, sat with my family,” Rao says. “I thought I had worked hard for the last two-three months, I was getting runs in the local Chennai leagues, but I am still not getting it. I made up my mind that if I don’t score, I need a break, a big break, just to get away. I knew I could play, but I wasn’t getting it.”Between 2005 and 2013, Rao’s first-class average plummeted to 29.03 – at least 20 runs below what is expected from a top player. He managed just two scores of over hundred in that spell, after accumulating 11 before 2005. Switching teams in search of form and opportunities had not helped. So his 107 on the first day of Gujarat’s match against Delhi brought palpable relief to Rao.”I have been waiting for this for the last two years,” Rao says. “Twenty20 made my batting a bit more complicated. I was more of a Test player when I started. It’s not just about IPL. The IPL gave me the ability to play a lot of shots.”Maybe it was that I was trying too many shots. But today, Manpreet [Juneja] told me ‘Venu , you are leaving the balls well. First game, you were playing at those and today you are leaving them’. I have to listen because he is in good form and you have to understand what they are thinking.”After Andhra, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, Gujarat is Rao’s fourth Ranji team. He featured in five matches for them last season but the bottom line only read 110 runs.”It’s been hard. I have been playing a lot of cricket back home in Chennai but the last two seasons in Ranji Trophy haven’t been great. Last season, I played five games for Gujarat but couldn’t do anything and it had a very bad impact on me. I went back home, took rest, thought about my game … what’s my strength, my weaknesses, and that I needed to leave the balls a little more, stay longer at the wicket. So yes, this innings helped me.”Playing for teams other than your home state comes with the added pressure of being an inspirational professional for the local boys, which Rao thought was a double-edged sword. “We learn from different atmospheres and as professionals when you go in, you have to set an example for the local players. It’s challenging. Sometimes it puts additional load on you. It depends on how you take it. I saw both sides of it. It’s tough, but you learn a lot.”Vijay Patel, the Gujarat coach, highlighted the challenge Rao faced in a young team trying to establish itself and his role as a mentor. “His reputation was also at stake this year, because last season he didn’t get many runs,” Patel said. “This year he was more committed and his involvement was total with the team.”Rao hadn’t disappeared into anonymity during these last few years. He was one of the top-rung domestic recruits for the Deccan Chargers in the first three seasons of the IPL and later moved to Delhi Daredevils, playing in the shadow of bigger names, but still managing to stay visible, still being in the company of India’s elite cricketers.When asked if anyone helped him out, he said, “I have been playing for almost 15 years. It is easier to say for them ‘you know everything’ and ‘you don’t need to be told’, but at the end of day, no one comes and says it to you.”Rao has been overtaken by a new generation of cricketers in the race for national selection, but he is not competing with them. He just wants to focus – something that he said he has lacked in the past – on the Ranji Trophy and do well for Gujarat.”At the end of the day, it’s a hundred in the four-day game that satisfies you,” he says. “You don’t get the same feeling from other formats.”

Stats highlights from an incredible third Test in Sharjah, where Pakistan pulled off one of their best run-chases to level the series

S Rajesh20-Jan-2014 Pakistan’s total of 302 is their second-highest fourth-innings score in a Test win, next only to the 315 for 9 they scored against Australia in Karachi in 1994, when they recovered from a first-innings deficit of 81 to win by one wicket. That wasn’t such a straightforward win, though: needing 314 to win, Pakistan had slipped to 258 for 9, before Inzamam-ul-Haq combined with Mushtaq Ahmed to add 57 for the last wicket. Inzamam remained unbeaten on 58 in that game; here, Misbah-ul-Haq was not out on 68. Not only did Pakistan have to score more than 300 in their fourth innings, they had only 59 overs to score the runs in. They achieved their target in 57.3, at a run rate of 5.25. That rate is easily Pakistan’s best in a fourth innings in which they have scored at least 175; their previous-best was 4.73, when they scored 296 in 62.3 overs against West Indies in Barbados in 2005. However, that was in a losing cause – West Indies won that Test by 276 runs. Their previous-best run rate in a winning cause in the fourth innings – with a 175-run cut-off – was 4.22, when they scored 183 in 43.2 overs against Sri Lanka in Kandy in 2006. This is also the highest run rate by any team for a fourth-innings total of more than 205. With a 200-run cut-off, there are two instances of better scoring rates, both by England: they scored 205 in 35.3 overs (rate 5.77) against South Africa at The Oval in 1994 to win by eight wickets. Like this game, that was also the third and last Test of the series, and England’s win helped them draw the series 1-1. Against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 1996, faced with a target of 205 to win, they scored 204 for 6 in 37 (rate 5.51), which meant the Test ended as a draw with scores level. Pakistan’s effort rivalled some of the quickest scoring seen in fourth innings of Tests, but Sri Lanka’s second-innings effort was one of their slowest. They scored 214 in 101.4 overs, a run rate of 2.10; the last time they batted 80 or more overs and scored at a slower rate was 16 years ago, in December 1997, when they scored 166 in 82 overs against India. Sri Lanka’s defeat further established a worrying trend for them – of starting a series strongly, but gradually declining as the series goes along. In their entire Test history, they have a 28-23 win-loss record in the first Test of a series (excluding one-off Tests), a win-loss ratio of 1.21; in the second Test, the record drops to a still acceptable 26-32 (ratio 0.81), but in third Tests, the fall is alarming: in 47 matches, they have won only nine and lost 19, a ratio of 0.47. In their last 11 third Tests, dating back to July 2009, Sri Lanka have lost five and drawn six; the last time they won a third Test was in August 2008 in Colombo, when they beat India by eight wickets to take the series 2-1. Since then they have lost twice to India, and once each against South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. Azhar Ali’s century was the first by a Pakistan No. 3 batsman since July 2012, when he had scored 136 against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. Since that Test and before this one, Pakistan’s No. 3 batsmen had averaged 21.58 in 18 innings, easily the lowest among all teams during this period. Rangana Herath leaked 100 runs in 19 overs, an economy rate of 5.26 per over; it’s the fifth highest by a bowler who has conceded 100 or more runs in the fourth innings of a Test. The worst is Robin Peterson’s 127 runs in 20 overs against Australia in Perth in 2012, but that didn’t hurt South Africa much because they won the Test by 309 runs, and Peterson also took three wickets, including those of Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. The second-worst is Ian Botham’s 117 in 20.1 overs at Lord’s in 1984, when Gordon Greenidge destroyed England with an unbeaten 214 as West Indies chased down 342 in 66.1 overs. Herath’s effort is only the fifth instance of a Sri Lankan bowler conceding 100 or more in the fourth innings, and easily the most expensive of the five. There are only five instances of Sri Lankan bowlers having poorer economy rates when conceding 100 or more in any innings.

As he prepares to make his return to Warwickshire, four months after flying home from the Ashes, Jonathan Trott speaks openly and candidly to ESPNcricinfo about the emotional challenges he has faced up to

George Dobell14-Mar-2014It should have been a special occasion. The Ashes match in Adelaide should have been Jonathan Trott’s 50th Test. His father was flying out from England to watch it. His uncle was flying from South Africa. His mother was already there.But Trott didn’t make it to Adelaide. Instead he took a decision that he thought, at the time, would end his career. He went home.Now, four months later, he is prepared to reflect upon what went wrong and his preparations to return to the game that has been his life since the age of three.If that sounds like an exaggeration then it is important to understand what has driven Trott since the start. The son of a cricket coach and the half-brother of a professional cricketer, Trott was always going to follow in their footsteps. Every weekend he can remember, he was at the cricket club watching one or other of them play, he was playing on the outfield, he was dreaming of his future. Cricket was his life.And that has been part of the problem. Because when other England players took three weeks off at the end of the summer of 2013, Trott returned to the nets. Knowing that he had failed, by his high standards, in the Ashes in England, he challenged himself to dig deeper, work harder and be better. “I batted for two-and-a-half hours every morning,” he says now. “I trained rigorously.” In all, he allowed himself just four days off. He was an exhausted man pushing himself to the brink.The warning signs had been there for some time. Months earlier, emotionally drained by the effort and eventual disappointment of reaching the Champions Trophy final on his home ground at Edgbaston, Trott started to struggle to retain that legendary concentration that had, for a time, earned him both a Test and ODI average in excess of 50.Batting had started to feel exhausting. The effort of reaching 40 had become, in his words, “the same as it used to feel when I reached 100.” By the time the Ashes reached Durham, he knew he was in trouble.”I was caught at short-leg off Nathan Lyon in the first innings and, as I walked off, I remember thinking, I didn’t even see the ball,” he says. “I wasn’t watching it. I was so tired, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t concentrate and I couldn’t bat. It was as if my processing speed was slower.”To put that in perspective, Trott was on 49 at the time. Indeed, he reached 40 five times in that series but, whereas he would usually convert one or two of those platforms into centuries, now he was falling in uncharacteristically loose ways.”It began to seem impossible,” he says. “I had set myself this unrealistic scale of success and I was beating myself up trying to live up to it.”The more people said ‘Oh, you’ll be great against Australia’ the worse it was. I averaged 90 against them so, in my head, I needed to score 180 runs a game to sustain that. And that meant, if I made 100, I was still left thinking, ‘Oh no, I need to score another 80 in the second innings just to break even.’ I had set myself unsustainable standards.

I couldn’t think. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t stand still or watch the ball. Everything I had practised went out of the window

“I chopped-on in the first innings at Trent Bridge and then was given out incorrectly in the second. And, all of a sudden, I was questioning myself. I was going into games anxious. I wasn’t as patient as I had been in the past. I was chasing the game a bit; looking for shots that maybe weren’t there. I was putting myself under pressure and getting a bit desperate.”England had been on a long run of games, too. The away series against New Zealand merged into a home series against New Zealand. The Champions Trophy merged into the Ashes. And with the Ashes series being held back to back, the entire team knew there would be no respite.”The Ashes was joyless,” he says. “Even when we won, the sense was we were just at half-time. We had put so much into the Champions Trophy and to lose the final from the position that we were in was a huge setback. And then the knowledge that we had 10 Ashes Tests in succession… it just seemed it would never end.”Kevin Pietersen was the first to notice a problem. As early as the Old Trafford Test, he urged Trott to push himself less and try to relax. The England management, also sensing a problem, offered him the chance to be rested from the ODI series at the end of the summer. “But I didn’t think I deserved a rest,” Trott says now. “My answer has always been to work harder. I can see that was a mistake now.”This was not completely uncharted territory. In 2007, struggling in a grim run of form, he pushed himself into more net sessions. While the rest of the team would arrive at the ground at 9am, he would sometimes arrive two hours earlier, looking for someone to feed the bowling machine. His form fell away completely. It was not until the end of the season and a holiday in the US that he began to relax.Then again, at the end of 2008, he pulled out of a Lions tour. He had always pushed himself hard. That work ethic is what helped make him the ICC’s player of the year in 2011. It’s what helped earn him the highest batting average of any man to play more than 20 ODIs for England. It’s what helped England to No.1 in the Test and ODI rankings. It is his great strength and his greatest weakness.This time, though, the situation was compounded by a series of off-field challenges: a family bereavement – Trott was actually present when his wife’s grandmother died quite suddenly – some complications in building and then moving into a new home and a row with a high-maintenance member of his extended family. While none of these issues were the cause of his problems on their own, they amounted to make even the smallest obstacle appear insurmountable. A similar catalogue of issues accumulated before the Johannesburg Test of 2010.And then there was Mitchell Johnson. Trott laughs at the suggestion that he was in some way intimidated by Johnson’s pace – “have you not watched my career?” he says, pointing out his record against Johnson and others. “The quickest pitches I’ve played on were in the ODI series after the 2010-11 Ashes and they had an attack featuring Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Doug Bollinger. And I averaged about 100.” – but he does admit to struggling against him.”He’s a very good bowler,” he says. “You’ve seen lots of batsmen struggle against him.”In normal circumstances I would have been fine. I’m not saying I would have scored lots of runs, but I’d have gone out there with confidence.”But I couldn’t think. I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t stand still or watch the ball. Everything I had practised went out of the window. In those circumstances, any problem you have with your technique – and when I’m out of form I tend to fall over to the off side – is magnified and you saw me walking towards him, stepping across my stumps and trying to hit everything into the leg side. It wasn’t that I was scared or anything, it was just the result of a cluttered mind. It would have been the same against any bowler.”Does it bother him that some people think he was frightened of Johnson?”Do they?” he asks. “Well, they can’t know much about cricket. But yes, I know that after this, I’ll never convince everyone. Some will think I was frightened, some will think I’m mad. People believe want they want to believe. All I can do is tell the truth and allow people to make up their own minds. But I know this will never go away now.”**************************’Cricket meant so much to me. Too much’•AFP”Will someone listen to me?” Trott pleaded in the dressing room in Brisbane. He had tried to ask for help. And now he knew he needed it. He was tired of people looking the other way. He was tired of people telling him ‘It will be alright.’ He was tired of people saying ‘You’ll score some runs tomorrow.’He knew none of that was true. He knew he had a problem. He had known for some time.His head was pounding. His chest was tight. He hadn’t been able to sleep. He felt he could barely breathe. His mind was racing; everywhere and nowhere all at once.Trott is effusive in praise of Andy Flower in those hours and days when he was at his most vulnerable. Flower, he says, was immensely sympathetic. He gave Trott the choice of staying in the side, staying on the tour but missing the next game, having his family join him immediately or going home. His voice broke with emotion when he informed the team of Trott’s decision moments after the conclusion of the Brisbane Test.That, according to Trott, was the worst moment.”Andy was clearly very upset,” he said. “His voice broke as he told the team the news. Then I think it was Stuart Broad came and gave me a hug. I think all the guys did. They couldn’t have been more supportive. Most of them had no idea what was going on.”At the time, I thought that was the end. I thought I’d never play for England again. I thought I’d never play for Warwickshire again. I thought I was walking away from everything I had ever worked towards.”His emotions were conflicted. Relief flowed through him. But at the same time, he felt he was letting down his team-mates. The team-mates with whom he had travelled for four years and witnessed some of the best times in the history of England cricket.”I felt guilty,” he said. “I still feel guilty.”I was there for the good times. I should have been there for the hard times. I hated seeing what they went through in Australia. At my best, I know I could have made a difference. But even below my best, I felt I should be there to share the experience. We’ve shared a lot together.”Look, I could have played that 50th Test. But I felt I wasn’t in a state where I could give 100% and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I tried to do the right thing.”I knew I had to go home. I had to get cricket off the agenda. I had to be in a place where it wasn’t relevant; where I wasn’t thinking about the next game. I was no use to them in that state. But I still feel guilty.”Telling my dad was terrible. He has been there all the way through. He instilled my love for the game. He taught me to bat. He has supported me every step…” his voices trails away. “Yeah, maybe that was the worst bit.”Within 36 hours he was home. Flooded with relief, he slept all the way. As he walked through the front door of his new home, his three-year-old daughter Lily asked her mum “Is Daddy going to stay the night?”We ask an awful lot of our cricketers.**************************Back in Birmingham, a woman approaches Trott in a supermarket.”I know what you’re going through,” she says, sympathetically. “I’m going through Waitrose,” Trott replies.Trott’s life has changed since he came home from Australia. Where once he was viewed as something of a machine – the ice-cool accumulator of runs and records – now he is seen more sympathetically. He is seen for the man he is: as vulnerable and flawed as the rest of us.But he cannot be the new poster-boy for depression. Much as people seem to want to carve out that niche for him, he cannot do it. He has not suffered with it. Nor can he talk with great knowledge about mental health issues. He has no more experience of them than anyone else.Had he pursued any other career – had he been a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker – Trott would have been signed-off by his doctor for three weeks and then returned to work refreshed. His has been a classic case of burn-out. No more, but no less.Jonathan Trott will resume life in Warwickshire colours early next month•Getty ImagesBut it’s different for a professional sportsman. A player cannot be seen to pick and choose his games. He cannot walk away and expect to come back as if nothing happened. And, for all the talk of the ECB understanding such issues much better these days, they are still groping in the dark.Many other players have been in touch to share their own experiences of burnout. Some of the best-known names in cricket, renowned for their resilience and toughness, have suffered similar episodes, though most have managed to do so in less high-profile circumstances.While the paparazzi have been found lurking in the bushes outside his home and the nursery school where he drops off his daughter, the ECB have given Trott space since he returned home. No doubt with the best of intentions, they have left him alone to recover away from expectation or pressure.Whether that is the best policy is debatable. While Trott clearly needed the break, he also needs to know there is a way back. That he will not be punished for his actions. He needs to know that, for all the talk of compassion and understanding, this episode is not going to be held against him. The way some talk about him suggests they have very little knowledge of the situation.Certainly he looks a new man now. He looks younger, happier and more relaxed. He laughs at the suggestion he should have entered the IPL auction just to watch the reaction from the media, he laughs at the suggestion he should have travelled to the Caribbean to watch the limited-overs matches from the grass banks with a rum in his hand, he laughs at the image people seem to have of him as a raving loon. He laughs a lot.The hunger for the game has crept back, too. As early as January, the distinctive sound of bats being knocked in could be heard around his Harborne home. He will return for Warwickshire at the start of April and hopes that, if he scores runs in the first month of the season, he will be considered for selection on merit ahead of the ODI against Scotland in Aberdeen on May 9. He has not been replaced: England have barely averaged 10 from the No. 3 position in ODIs since his departure.”This is the longest I’ve ever gone without picking up a bat,” he says. “I mean the longest since I was about three years old. I’ve been four months without cricket and it’s been fine.”I’m annoyed I let myself get into that state. I should have recognised the signs and taken a step back much earlier. It just didn’t cross my mind.”I will never let myself get like that again. I know better now and I am surrounded by people who know better, too.”Of course I want to play for England again. But it would be silly to look too far ahead. If I do make it back, I will just take it one series at a time and one tour at a time. I’ll get the balance right between rest and preparation and I’ll try and enjoy it.”That’s been the best thing to come out of this, really. Cricket meant so much to me. Too much. But now I know there is life outside cricket. I know that, when the time comes for me to stop playing, it will be fine. Cricket is important but it became too important. My perspective is better now. Family and health is much more important.”*Jonathan Trott declined several offers of payment for his first interview since returning from Australia and chose to speak to ESPNcricinfo for free.

It has been 20 years since genocide ripped Rwanda apart. Now cricket is playing a small role in helping people move forward

Alan Gardner04-Apr-2014It was while on a weekend in Rwanda to provide coaching sessions for the women’s national team that Heather Knight batted against “Tall Eric”. Known as the fastest bowler in Rwanda, Tall Eric can extract considerable bounce from his 6ft 6in frame. More so when he’s bowling on a concrete strip.England opener Knight has faced bowlers sending it down at 75-80mph before but less often on a pitch that is covered with three separate sections of astroturf. Unsurprisingly, the local players are more confident off the back foot. It is an “interesting pitch,” Knight says. “If it hits one of the cracks it either dies or flies at your head.”Kicukiro Oval in Kigali, Rwanda’s only dedicated cricket facility, is not of sufficient standard to host international cricket. It is also scarred by the haunting memory of the genocide carried out 20 years ago. Some 4000 people lost their lives in a brutal massacre at the ground and many times that number died between April and July 1994. But Kicukiro Oval, and the game that is played there, also provides a symbol of hope.”All the people that lived there fled to neighbouring countries to escape the genocide, Uganda, Kenya, places like that and they picked up cricket,” Knight says. “When they came back to Rwanda, when it was safe, they brought cricket back.”Most people in the country, if they are older than 20, will know people that got killed, people that did the killing, and also potentially have been involved in it themselves. It was very humbling. I went to the genocide memorial there; a million people got killed in about 100 days, women and children, so it was quite sad. But it’s great that a sport like cricket is bringing people together and giving the Rwandans the chance to move on. Because with the genocide, everyone disbanded, the country hasn’t got a real, true identity, because it was so raw. I think cricket and sport is enabling the people to do that.”To improve the game’s progress in Rwanda, a UK-based charity is raising funds to build two new pitches at a location in Gahanga, just outside of Kigali. The Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation (RCSF), of which Knight is now a patron alongside Brian Lara, Jonathan Agnew and UK prime minister David Cameron, is closing in on a target of £600,000 (US$1m) to finance the project. Founded by MP Christopher Shale, who sadly died in 2011, the RSCF made the news last year when Shale’s son Alby took part in a 26-hour net at The Oval in London.”The plan is to get two pitches so other teams can come and tour, because at the moment the national teams have to go abroad to play inter-African tournaments and all the money that Rwanda Cricket has goes into travel expenses and getting them out there,” Knight says. “So there’s no money to grow the game in the country where there is the real need. I think they’d really blossom if they had the pitches and could get it going in schools and things like that.”The Rwanda Cricket Association was founded in 1999 and Affiliate membership of the ICC was granted in 2003. Funding from world cricket’s governing body amounts to around $20,000 a year, most of which goes to transporting the national teams to play in nearby countries like Uganda. Despite having a single concrete pitch and a “very ropey” outfield on which to practise, Rwanda won the ICC Africa Division 3 Championship in 2011.During her brief trip, Knight put the women’s team through their paces with some fielding drills before taking part in a T20 game with the men. There is a perhaps surprising degree of equality, with club cricket split evenly between boys playing on one weekend and girls the other. Knight’s preparations for the World T20 also meant some demanding workouts around the local hills, at an altitude of 4000ft above sea level.”It puts things into perspective,” Knight says. “Cricket means the world to me but people out there haven’t got a lot in life, and it’s nice to go and do something like that and have a bit of a break.”Knight: “The plan is to get two pitches so other teams can come and tour”•Martin KharumwaAs the 20th anniversary of the genocide approaches, cricket is in some small way helping ordinary Rwandans to chart their way forward. Sport can unify as much as it can divide, and the example of Afghanistan, where the cricket team has made an impact at the highest level despite a recent history of war and struggle within the country, provides evidence of that power.The RSCF has many impressive backers – a reception for the charity was held at Downing Street on March 31 – and a noble goal, but shouldn’t this be what the ICC is for? Proposed changes to the ICC’s funding structure are unlikely to see a great increase in wealth trickling down to this level, where it is needed most. The politics are tangled but Knight is positive about the benefits for cricket in expanding its reach and plans to return to the country for the stadium’s anticipated opening in 2015. “Tall Eric” – not to mention “Short Eric” and “Big Eric” – will doubtless be ready for another game.”I think it’s definitely important to grow cricket in countries like that,” Knight says. “I’ve got so much from cricket throughout my career and I think there’s a real scope for growing the sport, not only in England but in countries like Rwanda, giving kids who haven’t got a lot the opportunity to learn and have fun and have a way out through cricket. So I think it’s key that we grow the game, because if it’s truly a global game it’s only going to be good for cricket in the long run.”Find out more about RCSF and how to donate at www.RCSF.org.uk

It was been an ‘interesting’ week for England’s No. 3 but the only aspect of it that should really matter is how he is slotting into a key position in the batting order

George Dobell at Lord's18-Jul-2014It will not be the first time this week that Gary Ballance’s picture has featured on the back pages of the newspapers, but this time he may take far more pleasure in it.Earlier in the week, pictures of Ballance, without a shirt and clearly the worse for wear after a night out, were published in several papers. He had, it transpired, unwound from the demanding Test in Nottingham, by venturing into the city with several team-mates and, after several hours drinking, was photographed in a somewhat unflattering state by other club goers. Batting it seems, is thirsty work.While the England team management took an admirably mature response to the incident – they reminded Ballance of his responsibilities and the media that he was a young man unwinding on a night off – the player admitted the episode had been “a bit embarrassing.”So it was a relief that, a couple of days later, he should find himself featured in the same publications for reasons that should make him proud. On a pitch that remains helpful to seam bowlers, Ballance recorded the second century of his brief Test career to keep his side in the game against India.Ballance is a wonderfully no-frills cricketer. There is little pretty about him, little outrageous and little extravagant. He is pragmatic; all substance and little style.And he is just what England require. After the gaping hole created by the departure of Jonathan Trott, it was thought that either Ian Bell or Joe Root would fill the No. 3 position.Gary Ballance showed a tight defence and also the readiness to leap onto a poor delivery•Getty ImagesInstead the job was given to a rookie. And Ballance has shown that, despite a reluctance to come forward, he has the talent and temperament to flourish at this level. He leaves well, defends well and is powerful on the cut, in particular, and the pull. He also has another gear – a savage, thrashing sort of mode – that, he hinted at in a nine-ball spell when he punished Stuart Binny for five boundaries including two in succession to reach his century.Here he enjoyed one moment of fortune when, on 32, he survived an edge off the unfortunate Binny, that flew between the wicketkeeper and first slip. But he has now scored two centuries and two half-centuries in eight Test innings and shown the welcome ability both to grind it out when necessary and accelerate when appropriate. Whatever England’s other problems, they appear to have found a gem in Ballance.His comments on the innings could have been used to describe almost every innings he has played for England to date.”I just thought ‘I’ve got to scrap hard here,” he said. “I thought it’s probably not going to be pretty or very exciting to watch. But at the end of the day, it’s about doing a job. I tried to be patient.”I knew I was going to play and miss, so tried to leave as much as I could and just wait for anything with a bit of width or anything too straight. Luckily, I fought hard, got an edge through the slips early on, and it’s paid off, being patient.”His record at Lord’s is remarkable. After scoring a century here for Yorkshire against Middlesex earlier in the season – his maiden first-class game on the ground – he followed it up with a maiden Test century against Sri Lanka in June in just his second Test. He also scored a century on the ground as a Harrow schoolboy in the historic match against Eton.While Ballance has made a fine start to life in the No. 3 position, there are those who think he could open the batting. Certainly Dave Houghton, a friend of the Ballance family who has played a significant part in the player’s development, feels he has what it takes. The cynical might suggest that, given Alastair Cook’s form, Ballance is in effect doing the job already.But Ballance, of course, maintained the party line when asked about England’s beleaguered captain. “Knowing what Cooky is like, he’ll still be very positive and upbeat,” he said. “He’s a fantastic cricketer, a fantastic captain and his scores over the years prove that.”He’ll obviously be disappointed not getting a score today. But he’ll keep going hard and I’m sure it will be a matter of time before he gets that big score.”Even if the description of Cook as a “fantastic captain” might raise some eyebrows, Ballance’s assessment of the game position was much more to the mark.”We’re 70 odd behind, with still some good batters coming in and who can score quickly,” he said. “If we can get two more partnerships, and try to get a lead, on this wicket we can put India under a bit of pressure. The third innings is always a crucial part of the game. So if we can get that lead, and bowl well, we can push for a victory.”And his reaction to the coverage of the night out in Nottingham?”I didn’t see it coming,” he said, “It was a bit embarrassing. I was probably a bit naive, but I didn’t really break any rules. I was just having fun after a Test match. But I’ll learn from that, and probably won’t do it again.”It’s been an interesting week. I didn’t really expect it, but it’s nice to score some runs and put us back in a decent position.”I felt a bit of pressure turning up on day one, with what happened. But everyone around me was very supportive: the coaches, all the players, my family were backing me and saying ‘mistakes happen; you’ve got to learn from it and move on’. Luckily I took a catch in the third or fourth over and that calmed me down a lot.”Ballance may well be calming the nerves of England supporters just as much in the coming years.

Part two of our correspondent’s round-the-cricket-world diary is set either side of the Atlantic

Subash Jayaraman16-Nov-2014Day two
Our flight out of the USA, the first on our 255-day trip around the cricket world, lands at Piarco Airport in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, in the early hours of July 16, 2014. We have kept Colin Croft informed, and within a few hours receive a call from him. We accompany him to a business meeting, where everyone around seems overwhelmed by the presence of a former West Indian fast bowler. “It was just a job,” he says. “I was a pilot too, you know, and no one ever thanked me for safely landing all my flights.”Day three
The Test match that Ravi Shastri later hails as India’s greatest overseas victory has just begun several thousand miles away. Croft decides to entertain us with stories of West Indies’ past at the venue of his best bowling figures, Queen’s Park Oval. We sit in the empty stand as rain lashes, listening to Croft describe taking eight Pakistani wickets in one innings.We spend the rest of our time in Trinidad relaxing and enjoying the local cuisine, which is a flavorful mix of Indian, African, Syrian and Chinese influences. On day eight, Croft drops us off at the airport – probably the first and last time a Test cricketer will give us a ride to an airport.Day nine
The day after we land in Barbados, our hosts take us to a Caribbean Premier League match between the home town Tridents and St Lucia Zouks. It is my first time at the famed Kensington Oval, where the names of cricketing legends are wherever you turn.Before the game, we hang around near the dressing room. Dwayne Smith, opener for Tridents, gives me a thumbs up, seeing my Chennai Super Kings t-shirt – his IPL team. He scores a thrill-a-ball unbeaten century as Tridents win by 30 runs.Day ten
Tour the sports facilities at the University of West Indies Cave Hill campus, guided by former England and Middlesex cricketer Roland Butcher, the head coach. Walk around the 3W’s oval, named after Sirs Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott and Everton Weekes. The ground was a venue for a few warm-up games during the 2007 World Cup. Now first division matches are played here. The final resting places of Worrell and Walcott overlook the well-maintained field. Sir Everton, I am told, has already chosen his spot, close to his two good mates, for when the day comes.Day 11
Record my second Couch Talk podcast on the road, this time with former West Indies opener Gordon Greenidge: an hour-long chat where he talks about aspects of beach cricket – lessons I use a day later on the pristine beaches of Barbados.Day 13
We are driven around Barbados by our hosts. Make a stop at Charlie Griffith’s club, North Stars, suitably located at the northernmost point on the island, North Point. Walk into the pavilion and the dressing rooms as the players rest during the lunch break in a weekend club match. Pictures of Griffith adorn the walls of the clubhouse. Remember him as the bowler who ended the career of former India batsman Nari Contractor when he hit him in the head during a tour game in the early ’60s.Later that day, we watch another CPL match. Another Smith hundred but Barbados lose with victory in sight. Some fans blame Smith, who seems to slow down close to the personal milestone.I spot the greatest cricketer of them all, Sir Garry Sobers, standing by the boundary rope, waiting for the game to end. He is only a few feet away and well within earshot, as he engages in banter with the Bajan crowd, which obviously adores him.Sir Frank Worrell’s grave at the Three W’s Oval in Cave Hill, Barbados•Subash JayaramanDay 14
Spend the morning at the Legends of Barbados Cricket museum, a stone’s throw from the Kensington Oval. Our tour guide wears a cricket shirt with the name Marshall written on it. Ask if he is Mali Marshall, the son of the great fast bowler Malcolm. He responds in the affirmative.Day 15
Logging in to check in for our flight to London, I realise we’ve missed it: it left last night. Panic. Call travel agent in California and rescue rest of the itinerary. Book a new one-way flight to London. Expensive mistake.Use the spare evening to bowl at the Wanderers CC nets. Twenty minutes of it feels like two hours in the heat and humidity. Run into Ian Bradshaw on the way out. Ask him to be on Couch Talk and he agrees.Day 17
Land at Gatwick. After dropping our bags off at a mate’s place, head to central London for a stint on Guerilla Cricket, an alternative cricket commentary service, to watch and commentate on the action from the last day of the Southampton Test. India lose. The tide seems to be turning in the series.Day 19
Watch the Surrey v Worcestershire T20 at The Oval. Finally get to see Jack Shantry’s frog-in-a-blender bowling action in the flesh. Legend. The stadium is about half-full. A friend has spotted us in the Peter May stand. Distinctly different crowd than the ones I am used to from earlier trips to England for Tests: younger and louder. Plenty of profanity being thrown around, despite kids within earshot. Someone on Twitter says to me: “Welcome to South London.”Day 20
Visit Jarrod Kimber’s home for a barbecue. “We can go home right away and start the barbie or we can stop over at the local cemetery to see WG Grace’s grave. Which one do you prefer?” The choice is simple. We stop at Beckenham cemetery and look around for a few minutes to locate the good doctor.Day 22
On the Mega Bus to Manchester from London. The ride takes us right past Lord’s. Take a tram from downtown Manchester to get to where we’re staying. It goes past the Trafford Bar station, and the cricket ground and football stadium can be seen in the distance. Hear announcements on the tram and at the stations, alerting commuters to the upcoming Test. Ah, the build up to a Test match!Day 23
A mile-long walk to Old Trafford, which I make in a leisurely 30 minutes, taking in the scenes under a grey Manchester sky. There is talk of a hurricane from the east coast of the USA that is expected to make its way across the Atlantic. Will the impending bad weather have an influence on the captains’ thinking?Day 24
Day one of the fourth England v India Test, the first bit of Test match action on our trip. Kathleen is on her own in the stands, but I make my way to her during the first drinks break and introduce her to two elderly Mancunians, who keep her company, explain the nuances of Test cricket, and share their food and drink with her.Day 26
India collapse to Moeen Ali. Dhoni plays a ridiculous shot, under the circumstances, and is caught at midwicket. Dhoni says at the presser that the plan was to attack Moeen, so the English fast bowlers did not get much rest. Rings hollow when the team is facing an innings defeat. Shane Warne seems disgusted with India’s performance and doesn’t mince words expressing it when I run into him in the smoking area.Day 28
Cricket blogger and coach Chris Smith invites us to nets at Sale Cricket Club, a few miles south of Old Trafford. His two sons and daughter join in. Bowl from around the wicket to the left-handed Chris, making the ball straighten to beat the outside edge. Feel good about the bowling action and the way the ball is coming out of the hand.Day 32
India collapse for 148 on day one at The Oval. Only Dhoni resists. Kohli’s and Pujara’s issues against the swinging ball persist. Fielding coach Trevor Penney is sent to the press conference. Ask him why it seems like when India have terrible days of cricket, one of the assistant coaches is sent to talk to the press. He responds with a shrug. Perhaps sums up the state of thought within the dressing room.Day 34
Test ends in three days. Media have a bit of impromptu cricket in the indoor nets next to the press conference area as they wait for the post-series presentations and q&a to get over. Discover ESPNcricinfo’s Sidharth Monga has a pretty good legbreak, which he lands consistently.Day 39
Middlesex v India 50-over tour game. Suresh Raina comes in at No. 11. Kohli hits a 71. He should be allowed to play Test cricket in coloured clothing.Kathleen and I are interviewed on the BBC Asian Network about our trip around the world. Interview is conducted in a VIP box in the Tavern Stand. The famed Lord’s pavilion is close, on the left.Day 40
T20 finals day at Edgbaston. Home team is in the semi-final, which draws a pretty decent crowd, even for an early start. Kevin Pietersen and his Surrey team are beaten. Andrew Flintoff replaces Kabir Ali for Lancashire Lightning in the final against Birmingham Bears. Comes on to bowl and takes a wicket off the first ball. Hits two sixes off consecutive balls as Lancashire try to chase down the target, but a good, tight Chris Woakes final over ensures no miracle.Day 42
Back in London, the women’s ODI at Lord’s is abandoned without a ball bowled because of the rain. England take the series. The presentation is held indoors, in the Long Room. In 2010, during a tour of Lord’s, I was not allowed to enter the Long Room since I wasn’t wearing a suit. Finally get to, without a suit on, but with a media lanyard around my neck. Mike Gatting, the MCC president, is the guest of honour, giving away the trophies.Day 45
England leg of trip complete. Head for Ireland.