New Zealand’s batsmen had shown promise against South Africa’s strong bowling attack but none displayed the temperament to play a long innings, until Williamson’s battling hundred

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2012Kane Williamson did what no other New Zealand batsman managed in this series. He crossed the three-figure mark and showed the temperament required to play South Africa’s hostile attack, something the New Zealand line-up had lacked through the three Tests.His hundred was far from flawless: he was dropped twice and survived a close call when the third umpire decided a catch by Alviro Petersen, at point, was not taken cleanly. The century was a fighting one. Williamson drove well, cut well, pulled well, but, more importantly, stayed at the crease well. He wore a few, got hit where it hurts and saw some of the senior batsmen come and go, but he stuck it out.”I’m not quite sure Kane has realised what he has done just yet,” Brendon McCullum said, “but in terms of New Zealand cricket history it will go down as one of the gutsier innings and one of the more fighting efforts on the last day against this sort of attack.”It was the kind of fighting effort New Zealand could have done with earlier in the series, which they have lost 0-1. Their totals may give the impression of a fragile, inexperienced line-up, but all of New Zealand’s batsmen showed, at one point or another in the series, that they do have the ability to make it at Test level. They showed the ability to face some of the best bowlers in the world, but it was their mental game that let them down. They got in, they staved off South Africa’s attack for a while and then gave it away.Apart from McCullum and Ross Taylor, none of New Zealand’s top-order batsmen had played more than 20 Tests coming into the series, yet everyone from Rob Nicol to Kruger van Wyk showed promise. In each case, though, that promise was stubbed out because, at some stage, the batsman lost concentration. When they got into positions of strength, they did not know how to stay there but Williamson gave them a small glimpse of how to play a long innings.”I turn [a big ask] into small tasks, and take it one over at a time,” Williamson said. “There’s two of you so you can kind of halve the job, and all of a sudden one session, which might be 36 overs, becomes a lot simpler in terms of the thinking around it. We were just counting down the overs and splitting them in half.”Williamson remained at the crease for 75.5 overs, 44.4 of them with Nos. 7 and 8, van Wyk and Doug Bracewell. He said he never felt safe at the crease as South Africa attacked in waves, the biggest of which came early in his innings, after South Africa were disappointed that the umpires allowed Williamson to continue when they thought he had been caught at point. “It comes and goes a little bit,” Williamson said of South Africa’s aggression. “As you start getting underway and gathering a little bit of momentum, the opposition side tend not to say as much, and then if there’s a debatable catch they come at you a little bit harder. They came quite hard after the catching incident, which is to be expected. It’s about trying to weather that and fight through it.”Williamson used various tactics to deal with the pressure South Africa exerted: he blocked out a lot of what was said to him, and sometimes saw the lighter side of things, particularly when Dale Steyn was fuming after the debatable catch. “We decided to enjoy it, take it one ball at a time and experience it,” Williamson said.That sort of attitude will have to be applied more regularly if New Zealand hope to have sustained competitive spells against teams ranked higher than them. McCullum said New Zealand had identified the areas they needed to work on in what will be a busy Test year. “You have to bat for long and you have to make some really good decisions along the way,” he said. “We haven’t been able to do it through this series but we now know what we have to do to get better as a batting group.”Edited by Dustin Silgardo

The search for young batsmen who display the virtues of patience, concentration and lengthy attention spans has gathered steam, and Azhar Ali, so far in his two-year career, has shown signs that he is one such player

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Pallekele11-Jul-2012When Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket a few months ago, a pall of gloom descended over cricket. It wasn’t necessarily because of the departure of a great player. It was partly because of the uncertainty around whether the next generation have it in them to sustain Test cricket, because it is common opinion that the last generation of quality Test players is slowly slipping away. That they are being replaced by batsmen loaded with skill sets needed for Twenty20 cricket, but are rather lost in Tests. The search for young batsmen who display the virtues of patience, concentration and lengthy attention spans has gathered steam, and Azhar Ali, so far in his two-year career, has shown signs that he is one such player. He showed it at the SSC in this series and, again, at Pallekele, shrugging off his first-innings duck to get to a century in the second.Azhar knows a thing or two about occupying the crease and wearing the opposition bowlers down. His job is to hold one end up so that another player can adopt a more aggressive approach, especially if there is scoreboard pressure. When Azhar walked to the crease late on the third day, Pakistan had just begun their task of erasing a first-innings deficit of 111 and setting a target that would give them a chance to level the series.The momentum was firmly with Sri Lanka at the end of the third day. Pakistan had to practically double their first-innings effort to give themselves a realistic chance of fighting back. Adding to the pressure was an inconsistent middle order, a half-fit Adnan Akmal, and the seaming conditions witnessed over two completed days.Pakistan, perhaps, were fortunate that the harsh sun had evaporated whatever moisture there was on the surface, making batting considerably easier on day four. There was no exaggerated movement in the air or off the pitch to test the technique of either Mohammad Hafeez or Azhar. Both had to ensure they batted an entire session, to gain psychological points over the hosts. Azhar, true to requirements, cut out the extravagance, only playing balls within his reach.He was particularly impressive through the covers, pounding anything with width. Mahela Jayawardene maintained attacking fields for a while during the morning session, packing the slip cordon, but Azhar ensured he drove off the full face of the bat, exploiting the big gap between mid-off and cover, and also straight down the ground. He was judicious with deliveries that honed in on his off stump, preferring to leave them alone. His defence was solid too, and he found opportunities to pick up quick singles.There may have been a case to accelerate post lunch, but the quick departures of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq forced Azhar to revert to a watchful approach. He had Asad Shafiq – the last recognised, fit batsman – for company, and the pair created some anxiety in the Sri Lanka camp with a stand of 100 for the fifth wicket. Prior to that, Azhar had shared stands of 94, 48 and 18. His was the prized wicket.When Azhar reached his century, shortly after tea, it was his third in Tests for the year – the most by any batsman. It should silence his detractors, who in the past have pointed to his poor conversion rate – he had 13 fifties and only three centuries coming into this game. Another impressive feature of his innings was his stamina, converting twos to threes each time he exploited a big gap. The bowlers needed a mistake on his part and he obliged on 136, chasing a wide Fernando delivery. It was a rare lapse in concentration, after hours of hard work.”Asad and I were aiming to play till the end of the day, so I was a bit disappointed to get out. I was disappointed to leave him alone,” Azhar said. “Hopefully he can string together a good partnership tomorrow morning.”Reflecting on his good form in 2012, Azhar said that the England series in the UAE, during which he scored a career-best 157, convinced him that he belonged at the highest level. “I’ve been playing well over the last few Test matches,” he said. “The England series especially gave me a lot of confidence. I am carrying on from there.”The batting conditions, he said, had eased. “On the first day, the first couple of hours were difficult for the batsmen. It was doing a lot for the seamers. It has settled down now and got a bit slower. But I feel that if a bowler puts in an effort, he can get something out of this pitch.”Though Azhar failed to bat out the day, he helped give Pakistan a fighting chance: their lead stands at 188 with two wickets in hand and Shafiq at the crease. He was confident his team had sufficient runs to create pressure. “We came into this Test with the intention to win and level the series. We have the runs on the board to put pressure on Sri Lanka. I don’t think we need to rely only on the seamers. Saeed Ajmal is a world-class spinner and I think he can change the game for us in one spell.”

If there is a template of how to build a Twenty20 innings then West Indies produced it against Australia, but there is still one more match to go

Sambit Bal in Colombo05-Oct-2012Johnson Charles shouldered arms to the first ball of the West Indian innings and Kieron Pollard holed out to the last ball. In between those two balls, West Indies mounted the most sensational assault that defied prediction and logic. You couldn’t say it was without precedence though, because it was on this ground that the West Indians had pulverised the Australia bowlers for 191 runs in their league encounter but were beaten by the rain rule.But the pitch then was young and fresh, the bounce was even and the ball carried, and the outcome of the match was largely inconsequential. To better that performance in the semi-final on a tiring pitch, though a far smoother one than for the first semi-final, West Indies needed at least one extraordinary performance. They got one better: they got the perfect Twenty20 innings.When it is commonplace, bowlers being thrashed out of wits can be a tiresome sight. But tonight it came against the tide, or the run of play, as it is said in sports. The average score at this ground in this tournament had been 150, and in the Super Eights 148. West Indies were expected to play a few big shots: but what they managed to pull off was almost beyond belief. From the start to the finish, it was the purest and the cleanest, and the most flawless exhibition of power-hitting.Chris Gayle hit one to the second tier, Pollard jammed his bat on a yorker and it sped to the ropes and a mis-hit from Dwayne Bravo cleared long-off. It was breathtaking, and if you were an Australia bowler, frightening.In seven matches since the Super Eights started, 48 sixes had been hit at Premadasa. That made it a rate of 3.42 per innings. Sri Lanka hit none in the first semi-final and Pakistan managed, just barely, one. West Indies produced three in the first six overs, and they kept coming, and getting bigger.It would be reasonable to assume that Chris Gayle would be the propeller-in-chief of any West Indies charge. Remarkably on this occasion he was the fulcrum. You could hardly call a man who savaged 75 runs off 41 balls the anchor, but he allowed the West Indies innings to surge around him.West Indies went into this tournament as one the favourites primarily because they carried the world’s most adept and explosive Twenty20 batsmen. In reality they had only won one match in normal time until today, against England, alongside beating New Zealand in a Super Over. But astonishingly each of their big guns fired today. Even the best writer in the business couldn’t have scripted it better.Every batsman got going. Wickets fell periodically, but never together. And instead of halting the innings temporarily it gathered momentum with each new batsman. Marlon Samuels hit two sixes in his 26; Dwayne Bravo hit three in his 37 and Pollard three in the final over. It would have always seemed inconceivable that Gayle would bat through an innings in a high-scoring game and not score a hundred. But he faced only 41 balls, and was happy to do so. A lot has been spoken about his lack of commitment to the West Indies cause; he couldn’t have played a more committed innings than this.Things also turned to gold in the field. Opening with a spinner is commonplace in Twenty20 and it has been the norm in this tournament, but Darren Sammy chose the unconventional option of opening with a legspinner, although one that has done it regularly at domestic level, and Samuel Badree rewarded him with a wicket in the first over. He chose Samuels, who has been used exclusively as the death-over bowler, for the second over, and suckered Michael Hussey into spooned sweep.Ravi Rampaul came on first change and claimed two wickets in three balls. It nearly sealed the match. Badree looked poised to finish his spell in the eighth over when Sammy changed his mind and introduced Sunil Narine who had troubled Mathew Wade on Australia’s tour of West Indies, and Wade duly top-edged the second to backward square.The local fans cheered lustily from the stands today. The animosity towards Australia still runs deep in this part of the world. West Indies wouldn’t worry about those same fans turning against them on Sunday.What they might be worry about is that the perfection they achieved bordered on the freakish. Have they peaked 48-hours too early? But it is unlikely that will keep them awake tonight. The partying surely will. When the West Indians waltz, cricket feels so much more fun.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from Titans v Perth Scorchers

Firdose Moonda at Centurion13-Oct-2012The crowd

After the qualifying round, some of which was drenched in rain, it seemed as though South African fans preferred staying indoors to watching some of the world’s biggest cricket names in action. It turns out they were only waiting for the real event to start. All 16,371 tickets available were snapped up – some of them were sold, others given away – and two-thirds of the people turned up. The crowd was vocal in their support for the home side, Titans, especially against familiar foes, an Australian side.The photo opportunity

Few sights in cricket are as pleasing as a batsman’s pose after he has hit a shot he is particularly proud of. Henry Davids had a few of those today. His photo-worthy finish came after he had eased a Mitchell Marsh half-volley through the covers for four. The bat was straight, the eyes were focused and the elbow was high and pronounced. Simply picture perfect.The bouncer

The Perth attack did not seem to get as much out of the deck as the Titans did, but there was one delivery in particular that kicked up. Ben Edmondson, who took serious punishment in his first over, started his second with a short ball that was pulled for six but did not bother changing the length. His second ball was also short and reared off the deck to surprise Jacques Rudolph. He was planning the pull but was too early and did well to avoid being hit. Luke Ronchi collected the ball with a leap and Edmondson appeared mightily surprised to have achieved that much bounce.The celebration
South African bowlers tend to have one man they want to emulate when they take a wicket – Allan Donald. CJ de Villiers, who hails from the same part of the country as Donald, is obviously no different. When he bowled Marcus North off the inside edge after cramping him for room, he reduced Perth to 17 for 2 and had done serious damage. De Villiers was so pumped he took off, arms spread, like a bird, like one Allan Donald.The shot

It’s tough to make your team look respectable when you are staring a hefty defeat in the face but Mitchell Marsh managed it. He launched an Eden Links’ delivery over long-on, hitting with immense power. The ball was in the air for a long time and the crowd eventually lost sight of where it landed. A second later, a thud was heard on the roof above the media box and the main stand. It was, of course, the ball. The hit measured in at 116 metres and was one of the biggest seen at SuperSport Park in a long time.The Gibbs impersonation
Roelof van der Merwe reacted with the instinct of Gibbs at point when Joe Mennie slapped a ball his way as the Perth innings wound down. Van der Merwe pounced and took the catch falling forward. In the Perth dugout, the legendary pointsman could only watch.

Can sports science be relied upon to foresee an injury? Who knows. But at the rate Australia’s fast bowlers have fallen in recent times, something had to be tried

Brydon Coverdale26-Dec-2012Mitchell Starc was “absolutely shattered” to be rested this week. Of course he was. He felt fine, he had just bowled Australia to victory in Hobart in his breakout Test, and Boxing Day at the MCG is day on the Australian cricket calendar. He had dreamt of bowling in a Boxing Day Test his whole life. Instead, he was told to sit out because he might get injured. If a player wasn’t “shattered” under those circumstances you’d have to question how much the baggy green really meant to him.But players are not in a position to consider the bigger picture; if they do, they risk losing focus on the here and now, which requires their absolute attention. Just as parents all over Australia tried to convince their children on Christmas Day that a third bowl of ice-cream or handful of chocolates would lead to nausea and regret, John Inverarity and his selection panel face the challenge of convincing players like Starc that missing out can sometimes be good for them.Look at it from the selectors’ point of view. Last summer, they were told by Cricket Australia’s sports scientists that James Pattinson would break down during the Sydney Test. He had been Man of the Match a few days earlier in the Boxing Day Test against India, and with the opportunity to take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead they ignored the warnings and played him at the SCG. Pattinson broke down with a stress injury in his foot and was out for the rest of the series.If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results, the selectors would have been crazy to risk Starc when he entered what Inverarity described as “a high-risk period” due to the amount of bowling he had endured recently. “We don’t want a high-risk strategy,” Inverarity said this week. With a Test tour of India coming up in February, followed by back-to-back Ashes series, who would?Remember that Starc is only 22. It is young fast bowlers who are most vulnerable to stress fractures, while older men with more hardened bodies can handle a greater workload. Is it any wonder Pattinson, 22, and Pat Cummins, 19, have caused Australia the most headaches in the past year? At Starc’s age, Glenn McGrath had not even made his first-class debut, let alone played for his country 25 times like Starc has across all formats.Of course, predicting paths is always divisive. Just look at the way the Decision Review System has split opinions in the cricketing world. Can computers be trusted to tell us what a ball would have done? Can sports science be relied upon to foresee an injury? Who knows. But at least Cricket Australia are being proactive and at the rate their fast bowlers have fallen in recent times, they had to try something.Nor is it disrespectful to Sri Lanka. Yes, Starc bowled the match-winning spell at Bellerive Oval. But were Sri Lanka’s batsmen really pleased Starc was sitting out when they were fending off bouncers from his replacement, Mitchell Johnson? The other addition to the attack for this Test was the debutant Jackson Bird, whose first day of bowling for his country was impressively reminiscent of Stuart Clark’s incessant, nagging style. Exposing Bird to Test cricket ahead of next year’s contests is no bad thing. At the moment, Australia have the bowling depth to allow Starc to rest.Not that Australia’s management of their bowlers has been perfect. In particular, the surfeit of Twenty20 bowling the teenage Cummins was exposed to during the second half of this year, at the World T20 and then the Champions League, was less than ideal for a man who would have featured in Australia’s Test summer. He hasn’t played a first-class match this summer due to a back stress fracture.Similarly, Australia will need to be mindful of Starc’s workload in all three formats. The coach Mickey Arthur noted during the lead-up to Boxing Day that Starc was the only fast bowler who started in Twenty20, ODIs and Tests. If he is to remain a Test bowler of significant value, perhaps they need to consider whether there is any value in using him in ODIs, a format where few series are of any real consequence.Resting Starc in the middle of a Test series might not be ideal. As the former fast bowler turned commentator Damien Fleming noted, fast men are not robots that can be switched on and off. There is also the matter of communication; for Starc’s confidence, it must be hoped that the selectors stressed to him that he remained in the best XI. Appropriately, Starc will still be paid his match fee for this Test, as Ryan Harris was when he was Man of the Match in Barbados earlier this year then held back from the Trinidad Test that followed.The merits of resting fast bowlers cannot be judged at this point. But had the selectors ignored the advice of the sports scientists and seen Starc break down, as Pattinson did last summer, they would have appeared negligent. If he plays next week in Sydney and suffers an injury, they will look silly, but it would only highlight the “danger zone” into which Starc’s workload had taken him.Ultimately, if Starc stays fit this summer and contributes in India and England, will anyone care that Johnson and Bird played at the MCG instead of him? With the exception of Starc and his family, probably not. But for now, when it comes to managing fast bowlers, Australia’s selectors are damned if they rest them and damned if they don’t.

In their most challenging season, without TP Sudhindra and Mohnish Mishra, Madhya Pradesh are again in contention for a place in the Ranji knockouts. It is a remarkable feat after the tumult they have faced

Amol Karhadkar14-Dec-2012Towards the end of the previous Ranji Trophy, Madhya Pradesh cricket was on its way upward. After having finished second in the Elite Group B, MP had given heavyweights Mumbai a scare before bowing out in the quarter-finals. Allrounder Jalaj Saxena was on the verge of becoming an India A regular. With medium-pacer TP Sudhindra ending the season as the second-highest wicket-taker, there was every reason to smile for the MP cricket fraternity. Moreover, with as many as six MP players on various IPL franchises’ rosters, things were looking rosy for the state.And then, tragedy struck.After , a news channel, revealed the dark side of Indian cricket in a sting operation, the BCCI punished five domestic cricketers, including two from MP. While Sudhindra was banned for life after being found guilty of “receiving a consideration to spot-fix” in a domestic game, Mohnish Mishra was suspended for a year for bringing cricket into disrepute through “loose talk and unsubstantiated bragging”.Not only did the episode put an abrupt end to the career of a promising swing bowler, it also put question marks over the ethics of domestic cricketers. Most importantly, from being close to repeating their feats of being a force to reckon with, MP were back to square one going into the new domestic season. With Sudhindra unavailable and Mishra on the sidelines for a year, it was the most challenging season MP were going to face.”We had lost two of our most prolific performers. While one was undoubtedly our pace spearhead, the other was the backbone of our middle-order batting,” Devendra Bundela, the MP captain, says. “We knew that it was going to be a hell of a season for all of us, the players, the support staff and the selectors.”After all this, with three rounds remaining in the league stage, MP are again in contention for a place in the knockouts. It seems to be a feat no less than a remarkable one after the tumultuous times they have faced.The fruits haven’t been reaped without efforts having been put in on the field and behind the scenes. “It (the sting) came as a shock for all of us, but we knew we had no choice but to put it behind us. When it came to the Ranji season, we realised it was all the more necessary for us to play as a team. We had to back each other and we had to cover up for each other’s failures as well,” Mukesh Sahni, the MP coach and former player, says.What was important was to not over-emphasise the sting operation and its aftermath into the players’ minds going into the season. As a result, even though the players were cautioned against talking to strangers, there wasn’t much emphasis on how to avoid being caught in a wrongdoing or not to be indisciplined off the field. Sahni adds the fact that the sting operation came during the off-season was a kind of boon for them. “Had something like this happened during the middle of the domestic season, the team would have collapsed, but here we had time on our hands. And we had to ensure we utilised it well.”Seasoned players such as Naman Ojha have led by example•Rajasthan Cricket AssociationOne of the first tasks for Sahni and Bundela was to zero in on the core group, the one that could help MP justify their tag of being among the top teams in the previous season of the premier domestic championship. This meant the captain, the coach and the selectors had to be on the same page. And they had to give confidence to youngsters like Zafar Ali, the top-order batsman and Rameez Khan, who has emerged as a potential allrounder.”Whether by choice or compulsion, we knew this was the best we had at our disposal and we had to make do with it,” Narendra Hirwani, the MP chief selector, says. “Once we had finalised the top 20 or 25 players, the task was relatively easier. No way were we going to find replacements for any of the two players. What we were looking for is those who could excel together as a team.”One of the major challenges was to not let the issue of Sudhindra and Mishra crop up in the dressing room time and again. That didn’t mean players were barred from keeping in touch with them. “Sudhindra and I were the best of friends,” medium-pacer Anand Rajan says. “And I was sitting with him in the same room when the sting broke on TV. At first, I was shocked. He said he is being framed and left the room in a hurry. In no time, it was crystal-clear what it was. Mohnish, we all know, has a habit of bragging about himself and it seems to have cost him one precious year.”So when was the last time Rajan spoke with them? “Sudhindra has hardly kept in touch. Once in a while, he says “hi” on BBM, but Mohnish is in touch with almost all of us. We even discuss how a day [on the field] has gone and what could be done to enhance our performance.”This season, it was up to the seasoned players, such as Rajan and Naman Ojha, to be more consistent and lead by example. Even though Ojha, the wicketkeeper-batsman, faltered in curbing his naturally aggressive instincts at the start of the season, he managed to do that in the second innings against Rajasthan in Jaipur.”I have to be more responsible and occupy the crease as long as I can. Though I haven’t converted as many fifties into hundreds so far, if I can do that, it would be wonderful for the team,” Ojha says.When it came to quick bowling, Rajan not only had to work in tandem with young Ishwar Pandey but also had to groom him. And within the first half of the season, Pandey, with his sheer pace and ability to extract bounce, has shown that he can indeed lead the MP attack. He has taken 31 wickets, the most behind Himachal Pradesh’s Rishi Dhawan, at an average of 20.25. “It’s important for me to be consistent,” says Pandey, who has trained at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. “If I have to keep on doing as well as I am expected to, all I have to do is to stick to the basics. And the results will follow.”Sudhindra might be a bygone; Mishra might be experiencing an extended nightmare. But instead of digging itself into a dark hole, the MP team is marching towards the rising sun. By the end of the season, we will know whether they have succeeded in their endeavour.

From Benjamin Matthews, United Kingdom

Cricinfo25-Feb-2013Getty Images

This Test is possibly the fulcrum of the series and so momentum will no doubt be the buzz word around the England dressing-room at present. Come Thursday as two patched up teams move to Edgbaston, both sides will be looking to try to exploit weaknesses apparent within each camp.For Australia, concerns about Phillip Hughes and Mitchell Johnson will need to be addressed, while the loss of Kevin Pietersen has posed the English team noticeable issues in the middle order. If Australia are to seize the initiative in this series, a win is pivotal at a ground where of the 43 Tests staged, England have won 22.England have handed a Test lifeline to Ian Bell, brought in to replace Pietersen. Bell is a batsman of undisputed talent; a classical stroke-maker with a honed technique, solid enough to slot in at No. 3, possibly the most difficult of Test batting positions. Many expect Bell to be inserted at first-wicket down to allow a visibly less-than-comfortable Ravi Bopara to drop down a place or two to repair his fractured confidence by way of facing the older ball.Bopara has looked unsettled in the first two Tests; batting at an irregular tempo without his usual verve and swagger at the crease. Bell, with his tighter technique and impressive county form, appears a sound choice to replace a player who is showing signs of mental and technical fatigue at first drop. While such an order change seems to be the consensus, England must resist the temptation to do so as this would be to the detriment of both men.Bopara possesses the character to recover his form and succeed at No. 3 where an ability to exert one’s personality on an innings is crucial. Bopara has the potential to dictate the pace and rhythm of an innings, in a manner that no other English batsman currently does. The selectors strive for continuity and so must persevere with Bopara at three.Bell is a batsman who tends to bat successfully in the slipstream of more dominant batsmen. Add to that, a moderate Test record at No. 3 (averaging 31) and a tendency to compound an innings in the middle order show why Bell will fit better at No. 5 (where he has unfinished business, averaging 54.4).Getty Images

A steely Paul Collingwood, having scored a double-century against the Australians batting at No. 4 in 2006, should not have too many qualms about being asked to bat one position higher.So is Bell the correct choice? He has responded to the request from the England hierarchy to show “more hunger” this season, scoring runs at an average of 64.70 across 13 innings, but have the selectors shown a lack of trust in the county game, or is there simply a dearth of talent to choose from?Bell, with the experience of two Ashes series behind him is pragmatically perhaps the best option, but poor records in both of these series (502 runs at 25.10) have prompted a number of different names to be put forward for consideration, if only to provide batting cover for the Edgbaston Test.Bell’s Warwickshire team-mate Jonathan Trott has lodged a firm case for selection, having scored 101 more runs than Bell over the same number of innings this season, and what with batting at No. 4, would have represented a straight swap for Pietersen.The Kent pair Rob Key and Joe Denly are names often bandied about but both, alongside Worcestershire’s Stephen Moore, would be forced to bat out of position if selected. As with Trott and Moore, the selectors would be loathe to hand out a Test debut in the middle of an Ashes series, and Denly’s time should come. Key’s time may have passed in the longer format of the game, as may the oft-overlooked Owais Shah and the popular choice of Mark Ramprakash. If the selectors want to look towards the future, then James Hildreth and Eoin Morgan are two emerging names who could produce a big impact in the middle order and who would benefit from being part of an Ashes squad as spare batting options.All of these opinions are heresy due to Bell’s inclusion, but Adil Rashid is a final name worth a mention. To include Rashid would require Andrew Flintoff to be shunted up the order to No. 6, and so would result in an even loftier weight of responsibility on the Lancastrian’s broad shoulders. England’s bowling attack would be strengthened, but the batting unit would suffer and the attack regained a ruthlessness at Lord’s that was absent in Cardiff.Of the unit, Flintoff, Graeme Swann and James Anderson are certainties for the third Test but one of Graham Onions and Stuart Broad could yet make way for an apparently rejuvenated Steve Harmison. England may try to replicate the performance from Harmison and Onions when they bowled Durham to victory at Edgbaston earlier in the season. The plan to forge home the advantage may leave Broad on the sidelines as he is yet to find his true character as a bowler, sometimes appearing indecisive about how to bowl in certain situations.Having said that, England are unlikely to tamper with an attack that produced 20 wickets at Lord’s, and with a traditionally partisan Edgbaston crowd acting as a 12th man, England remain in a strong position despite the loss of Pietersen.

The first international in Dharamsala was fun for reasons other than the cricket

Saurav Dey28-Jan-2013Choice of game
I went to see this ODI predictably for the location of the stadium. All this while I had only seen this picturesque ground on TV and in images. Now it was time to catch an international match here. Also, since it was Dharamsala’s first international match, I wanted to be part of the historic occasion.I almost knew India would lose the match, because since December 2011, every time I have seen India play at a stadium (and that would be quite a few), they have lost. Thankfully this was a dead rubber, so I didn’t care too much about the outcome.Team supported
I was almost neutral. I just wanted a thrilling, nail-biting, memorable match which would rank among the top few matches I have seen at a stadium.Key performer
In a match where most batsmen struggled to score, two easily stood out. Suresh Raina weathered the storm along with Ravindra Jadeja after England had reduced India to 79 for 5. Raina was in form and had some luck as well, dropped as he was twice in his innings of 83. But despite saving India from a collapse, Raina probably got out when the team needed him the most. For England, Ian Bell started tentatively, with a few pokes and edges, but then stood like a rock at one end. His 113 was exactly half of India’s total.One thing I’d have changed
I was hoping to see England collapse after Kevin Pietersen fell to Shami Ahmed. I thought if India could manage to get Joe Root’s wicket quickly then the wickets would tumble quickly, because Eoin Morgan and Samit Patel were not in great form going into the game. I desperately hoped to see a tight finish in the chilly afternoon under the floodlights. But India could never create enough pressure.Face-off I relished
At the end of seven overs, England were 30 for 0. In came Ishant Sharma and bowled his first delivery to Alastair Cook, and the entire stadium stood up on seeing a deviation that was gobbled up by MS Dhoni. While all the Indian players celebrated, the umpire refused to budge. Since replays of controversial decisions are never shown on the big screen at Indian stadiums, the confused crowd did not know what had happened. They figured it was the right decision once a few people found out – through their phones – that the ball had actually flicked the pad. But Ishant look disgruntled and steamed in ferociously for the next few overs, beating Cook a few times and making him look edgy and wobbly. In the 12th over he shattered Cook’s stumps and the full house burst into a cheer. Ishant’s inspired spell brought back some hope for the Indian fans.Wow moment
When England were 64 for 1, Pietersen pulled a short ball from Shami Ahmed and at first glance it appeared to sail over the ropes. But Jadeja came running in from a distance, anticipated and timed the catch to perfection.Shot of the day
Against the flow of play, Raina struck three fours in the 12th over, off Chris Woakes, giving the audience something to cheer about for the first time in the match. Morgan’s sixes off Shami Ahmed in the dying moments of the match made a boring chase look a bit lively. But the most memorable shot for me was the one Jadeja lofted off Root in the 34th over. The ball ballooned up, came all the way up to our stand and landed two rows in front of me. The spectators fumbled but one of them managed to catch it.Crowd meter
The stadium, with a capacity of about 21,000, was filled to the brim. It was noisy, with people blowing horns and even conches. The crowd was lively and had a few cheerleaders who took the banter to the English fans. A whistling contest was going on between the Indian and English cheerleaders. The Indian cheerleader won it and also mimicked the English cheerleaders well. But the English fans had the last laugh as their team cruised to victory.Entertainment
The gentleman sitting beside me was probably not a regular cricket watcher. He kept asking questions like, “Why are there three pitches on the ground?”, “Why are the batsmen not hitting every ball?”, “Who are these kids standing beside the boundary line and why are they picking up the ball?”, “Is that a no-ball signal or a wide?”, “Why is Harbhajan Singh not playing? He should play every match”, and so on. He was particularly impressed by Dharamveer, the disabled ball boy who also captains India’s disabled cricket team, and travels and stays with the Indian team.Banner of the day
These days posters have been replaced by messages that fans can send to have displayed on the big screen at the ground. Among the ones I saw were: “Dhoni, please play your helicopter shot”, “Raina, you need to score a century today”, “Bhuvnesh, aim more middle stump, nothing else”, “Dhoni, I guess Yuvi should bowl today”, “Dhoni, I think you should try bowling”, “Sidhu is the god of cricket commentary”, “Indian team, please take a few wickets or I’ll feel asleep”. There were also random comments like “Jonty Rhodes is the god of fielding” and “Billy Bowden, we miss you”.Fancy-dress index
In the style of Sudhir Gautam, Sachin Tendulkar’s No.1 fan, we had in our stand a Dhoni fan who had the Indian tricolour painted all over his body and face. Dhoni’s name and jersey No. 7 were painted on his back. He was bare-bodied and stood throughout the match holding a huge India flag.Marks out of 10
7. Five of those go to the venue. Watching cricket at Dharamsala, with the spectacular snow-clad Dhauladhar ranges in the background, is a great experience. The festive, noisy crowd added spice to the overall atmosphere, but the match was mostly boring.

Kane Williamson is among a rare breed in New Zealand, a batsman who has the ability to last a whole day in Test cricket

Andrew McGlashan in Wellington17-Mar-2013If New Zealand escape Wellington with a draw, as England did last week in Dunedin, the weather will have aided their cause. As if on cue, a record dry summer is ending with a Test series to play. It would be unfair, though, to look past the batting of Kane Williamson in New Zealand’s second innings, which has been another reminder of an emerging talent on the world stage.Helping his team to safety at the Basin Reserve is not new to Williamson. Last year, facing South Africa, he made an unbeaten 102 against an attack featuring Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel (who took all six wickets), Vernon Philander and Marchant de Lange. It was his second Test hundred, to follow a debut ton against India, and was an important innings for someone who had not kicked on from that notable start to his career.Williamson’s career numbers do not jump off the page. A Test average of 31.86 after 22 matches is not the hallmark of a No.3, and he averaged under 40 in first-class cricket during his spell with Gloucestershire, but New Zealand are being patient with him because, beneath the statistics, there is a considerable batsman in the making. Anyone who watched his unbeaten 145 in the one-day series against South Africa will have realised that this is a batsman who can repay the faith.Clearly, he cannot be given forever to fully bed into Test cricket but New Zealand are not so rich in talent that Williamson cannot be persevered with. Both his innings in this match – he was playing very comfortably until chipping a catch back to Stuart Broad for 42 – have suggested that his average will go one way in the long term. His 135 against Sri Lanka, in Colombo, last year to help set up the series-leveling victory was a fantastic display of batsmanship.New Zealand have not had a steady No. 3 since Stephen Fleming retired. Williamson was worked over by the South Africa quick bowlers in the Test series in January, but there is no disgrace in struggling against Steyn and Philander on their home patch. Still only 22, he has been rapidly promoted up the order – his maiden hundred came at No.6, his one against South Africa at No.4 – and asked to forge a career in a tough position. Then there is the pressure of being mentioned in the same breath as Martin Crowe. That is not an easy burden to handle.Ideally, Williamson would have been offered longer to establish his game before being elevated but there is a jam for middle-order slots and less of a clamour for top-order berths in the current generation of New Zealand batsman, although Hamish Rutherford has recently gone against that trend. There is a strong argument that Brendon McCullum should be batting at No. 3, to allow Williamson time to develop at five or six, but the captain feels, and his current form is compelling, that he is best as a counter-attacker lower down.Therefore, Williamson is the man who has to be prepared to face the second ball of the innings. He has certainly been in early on many occasions. Waiting behind the 158-run stand between Rutherford and Peter Fulton in Dunedin was a novelty for him; the first-wicket partnerships of 6 and 25 in this match are more what Williamson has got used to.So far he has faced 174 balls in the second innings and rarely looked in much trouble. England reviewed for an lbw when he had 1 but an inside edge saved him. That was against a full delivery and, perhaps, England have not dragged him forward quite as much as they could have because Williamson looks comfortable on the back foot in defence or attack. The back-foot punch through the off side is becoming a trademark.New Zealand have also been smart in their recent handling of Williamson. They have left him out of the Twenty20 side since the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka last year. Although there are exceptions with players who instantly grace three formats, the shortest format is not the game to be honing tight techniques. That is not to say Williamson cannot adapt in the future, but right now there are a good supply of batsman in New Zealand who can give the ball a thump, far fewer who have the potential to bat for a day in a Test match. Williamson is one of those.

A near five-hour vigil in his first stint as nightwatchman places Steven Finn’s innings along side some notable efforts down the years for England

Andrew McGlashan in Dunedin10-Mar-2013Steven Finn does not have a bat sponsor at the moment. Someone has missed out on almost five hours of valuable airtime after Finn surprised everyone, including a former team-mate and his current captain, with his performance on the final day in Dunedin.He had emerged shortly before the close of the fourth day, for the first time in the role, after Alastair Cook edged behind to end an opening stand of 231. His job was to protect Jonathan Trott so that the specialist batsman could negotiate the final day. In the end, Finn outlasted Trott and Kevin Pietersen during a 203-ball stay.Given that Nick Compton fell shortly after the first hour, Pietersen departed cheaply and two quick wickets fell after tea it is not inconceivable that, had Finn failed, or even been dismissed a couple of hours earlier, England may not have saved the match. When he went from 53 to 54 after fifty dot balls there was a slightly embarrassed look on his face. There was no need.The secret behind his success? According to Cook, it’s a bribe that he did not want to reveal but that Finn, himself, later said was four cases of wine from the captain and James Anderson, two from each for surviving two sessions.*”Bribing Steven, that if he got through a certain number of overs, seemed to work so we might apply that again. It will remain a secret but he gets well rewarded for his efforts today. He’s done very well out of a few of the lads.”The way Steven applied himself was fantastic, I certainly didn’t know he had that in him – I don’t think he did either – but it shows when you really put your mind to something and are really disciplined on a flat wicket anyone can make themselves hard to get out.”Brendon McCullum, who spent time with Finn during his stint in New Zealand domestic cricket, was equally surprised about the innings. “He played at Otago and I’ve seen his batting before. He’s certainly worked on it.”The knock was a product of lengthy net sessions, particularly with batting coach Graham Gooch and his throw-down tool which helped improve the solid forward defence that made plenty of appearances this innings. The middle of the bat was often elusive, but Finn played late and, generally, with soft hands. Gooch lives for such success by the batsmen he works with. This will have given him as much pleasure as a Cook or Ian Bell century.Finn ticked off a host of personal landmarks; highest Test score (for the second time in the game), highest first-class score, maiden Test fifty. The half-century was greeted with a rather apologetic lift of the bat. Across the two innings in this Test he faced more deliveries (243) than he had in his previous 17 Tests. Against South Africa last year he was at No. 11 so his batting has progressed in a short space of time.Finn has assumed the nightwatchman role from James Anderson, who did the job on 21 occasions. The most recent, and now likely to be last when Finn is alongside him, was against India in Ahmedabad, where he fell for 2 on the second evening before seeing through the overs.Anderson put in some battling stints – notably against South Africa at Headingley in 2008 when he was roughed up by Dale Steyn – but is not going to be taking the position back any time soon. “It was a good selection,” Cook said. “We’ve always know Steven has a solid defence and he showed that today.”Nightwatchman statistics can be a grey area – for example a couple of times Anderson batted at No. 8 to protect Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, while Mark Boucher has innings classed as being a nightwatchman – but Finn’s effort was acknowledged as the second longest for England after Jack Russell’s 304-minute marathon against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1990. Russell’s innings was not enough to save the team on that day; Curtly Ambrose blew the lower order away to finish with 8 for 45. No one in the New Zealand attack was capable of that sort of impact. That was not the first time Russell made a name for himself in that position; on Test debut, against Sri Lanka in 1988, he reached 94 before driving a wide delivery to cover.The last England batsman to have such success in the position also came against New Zealand. Alex Tudor is most often remembered for his unbeaten 99 at Edgbaston in 1999 – the high point of a depressing summer for the home side – and would have reached three figures if not for Graham Thorpe finishing things swiftly.The University Oval in Dunedin is no stranger to nightwatchman heroics this season and Finn’s pales into comparison alongside that of Nick Beard, the Otago bowler, who made 188 in 380 balls and 461 minutes against Auckland last month. Beard, 23, is regarded as more of a bowler who bats – perhaps a Graeme Swann or a Broad – but that remains a considerable achievement.Not, however, quite as impressive, or famous, as Jason Gillespie who made an unbeaten double hundred against Bangladesh in Chittagong in 2006. It did not do much to prolong Gillespie’s career – that was his final Test.Perhaps, though, one of the better nighwatchman stories involves the former Sussex offspinner, and from 2005 to 2006, MCC president, Robin Marlar. Playing for Rest of England against Surrey in 1955 he was out, stumped, second ball for 6 against Tony Lock. He is believed to have said to his captain: “Told you I wasn’t a nightwatchman.” That is certainly not what Finn will be telling Cook.*0800GMT, March 11: The story was update to make mention of Finn’s wine