Selection meetings, scouting, sorting contracts – there’s a lot on the plate of Kent’s captain but he has taken it all in his stride

Will Macpherson17-Aug-2016It has been an odd season at Kent CCC. They could not make it past the group stages in the competition they were tipped to fare best in, the T20 Blast, but are right in the mix for promotion to Division One in the County Championship, and are preparing for a home quarter-final – against Yorkshire on Thursday – in the Royal London Cup.Equally, their players continue to reach for higher honours and the area’s deep well of talent shows no signs of drying: Sam Billings has been to the IPL and with England, while Daniel Bell-Drummond shone for the Lions.And yet, there’s been a quiet but constant state of turbulence at Canterbury.On April 18, Kent legend Robert Key returned from India, having taken to broadcasting like a duck to water during the World T20, and decided the hunger to reach 60 first-class centuries had dipped. The 54 he had, a bit of telly and a bucketload of golf would do just fine. His team-mates were shocked, and the beating heart of the dressing room and 18 seasons of experience (nine as captain) were gone, taking a roomful of laughs with it.Then, on May 23, Kent’s high performance director (and former wicketkeeper), Simon Willis, left to take up a similar role with Sri Lanka, under former Kent coach Graham Ford. Willis, as director of Kent’s newly-formed academy from 2003, had overseen the development of a charmingly homespun young squad, and six internationals. Off went another lynchpin.To top things off, on June 27, bowler Matt Coles’ behaviour during a trip to Cardiff was investigated by the club. He would not play for a month as he – not for the first time – addressed his relationship with alcohol. Were the first and third events linked? Certainly Key had been Coles’ mentor, and the man known for keeping him in check.At the eye of the storm sits Sam Northeast, Kent’s new captain, top run-scorer and full-time busybody. Batsman Joe Denly describes Northeast as “first in the nets, last to leave. Sam’s always trying to be better.” When arranging this interview, there are three delays. First, because Northeast is in a selection meeting; then he’s travelling to Hampshire to watch Kent’s second team; finally he’s looking at his squad’s contract situation for next season. Only James Vince is a younger county captain – Northeast is 26 – but few can be more hands-on.Such is life at a club like Kent, where the resources are stretched and the staff small. “We don’t…” he says, pausing, “have the luxury of millions of backroom staff and scouts and whatever. It’s a big effort from a small group of people, we pull together and from the academy, the youth structure, everyone. There can be benefits to this – everyone knows each other, it’s a family environment, and that helps. We have to put in a big shift. All of us.”

“I have a lot of sympathy for Alastair Cook when he does it. That’s pretty extraordinary. I look back and can’t believe I ever opened. It’s mad”On moving to the middle order

Northeast is as Kentish as Key; it’s where he grew up and his name is one that has been whispered since he scored 19 hundreds in a term at Wellesley House prep school aged 13. He played plenty for England Under-19, and his success leading Kent’s limited-overs sides last season meant his elevation to the top job, in time, seemed a given.”I’m learning on the job, just like anyone else. I took a lot from Keysy, both tactically and in work ethic. He was a great mentor, as well as having a pretty serious cricket brain, and all those runs. He pretty much ran Kent cricket for all those years…It’s been very different not having him around, for all of us. People look to you for inspiration and leadership because he did that for so long, and maybe we took that for granted. I only noticed when I stepped into the role how much of a big hole was left when he moved on.”What of those tough patches? “It’s been an interesting season, certainly,” he says, whilst swiftly citing the support of senior players like Denly, Darren Stevens and James Tredwell, plus Billings’ itinerant experience. Willis, he says, is a huge loss – not just a vital, visible cog at the club, with his pawprints all over the squad, but a key player in Northeast’s own development as a hands-off coach who never imposed himself on his charges.Denly has been mighty impressed. “He hasn’t let the pressure of captaincy bother his batting, and his on-field persona is very calm. He can be a bit fiery when he gets out, but who isn’t? He’s dealt with distractions well, and he has good people around him with lots of experience, and the powers that be at Kent are in pretty good shape.”Despite their losses, Kent in pretty good shape. Last year they earned headlines for not being able to afford an overseas player, but this year – one way or another – Tom Latham and Kagiso Rabada were recruited. Denly has signed a new deal and Northeast is confident they will not lose young stars and can, in Willis’ absence, with Min Patel at the helm, continue to produce talent.For the first team, starting against Yorkshire, it is business time. “We go in as underdogs,” says Northeast. “The pressure isn’t on us, they will have all the internationals which is great. It would be awesome to get a sellout, the club deserves a big day like this, and hopefully we get out on top. We are up there in Division Two because we have been pretty solid all season, but I think we are well suited – especially the bowlers, Treddy, Stevo – to 50-over stuff. But every game is massive now. We’re young, so inconsistent, but are learning fast.”Sam Northeast hopes the club enjoys a memorable day in the Royal London Cup quarter-final•Getty ImagesNortheast’s own form – not least 995 Championship runs, including four massive hundreds (the smallest being 166) – has been a vital factor in Kent’s rise. After some mixed seasons opening, he is settled in the middle order, and knows his game: “I have found a spot where I like to bat, especially with the captaincy, after however long in the field, it’s quite nice to have that little period where you don’t have to strap the pads on. I have a lot of sympathy for Alastair Cook when he does it. That’s pretty extraordinary. I look back and can’t believe I ever opened. It’s mad.”He uses former Kent team-mate Martin van Jaarsveld as inspiration because “he was a guy who just never settled and never stopped trying to improve.” Ahead of the 2015 season, he and Willis worked on making him a more adaptable batsman, particularly in the shorter forms, so he did not just hit to cow corner. The results were instant, as only two players scored more T20 Blast runs than him, and his century famously trumped Chris Gayle’s as Kent won a thriller in Taunton.Another run glut, this time against red balls, has flowed lately. “Across my career, I’m a guy who tends to make the most of my form. I’ve felt great recently, and when you feel a millions dollars it’s key to capitalise. Unfortunately I’ve been stuck in the nervous 190s lately.”Those big centuries have caught the eye, and Northeast is unashamedly ambitious, making no bones about being desperate for England recognition, having – surprisingly – never even made a Lions squad. He is aware, too, that “playing in Division Two naturally does hold you back in people’s perceptions, and there is a gap.” In the past, particularly in 2013, there were questions about whether he might leave, but he has remained loyal, even as the more eye-catching – but no less effective – talents of Billings and Bell-Drummond have created more headlines.So is he – as captain of a promising squad, building something (and sometimes holding things together), at his home club, team – left in a quandary?”At the moment, I wouldn’t leave to further my England case, no,” he says. “But can you ever say never? My heart is very much in Kent cricket and wanting to achieve something here. I want to play for England through Kent, and I want to get Kent into Division One and back up there as a force, one of the leading counties in England. It’s been an ambition of mine to captain Kent and take the club as far as possible. I’m very lucky.”So, you sense, are Kent.

Michael Clarke opens up about keeping it all in, living in the public eye, and making tough calls that lost him friends

Interview by Daniel Brettig03-Nov-20163:51

Clarke and Haddin on the problems of excessive sledging

There’s been quite a bit of fallout from the release of this book. Has that caused a further bit of reflection for you as its writing obviously did?
I don’t think so. Writing the book was a very good opportunity to stop and reflect, and the people who read it will see how self-critical I’ve been. There’s a lot of things in there people wouldn’t know because I wasn’t open about it. I kept it to myself because it was close to my heart: whether it was what my family was going through at the time I took over the captaincy, all the stuff on Hughesy, which I still get so emotional about. Being able to write about it has done wonders for me and my mind, to be honest. I feel a lot more at ease and comfortable with everything now.Do you wish in hindsight you could have been more self-reflective when you played?
I wish I smelt the roses more often. But in the same breath I think my dedication and focus was my greatest strength as well. I always wanted to try to become better and that’s probably why I achieved what I did. It’s hard to say whether I would change that, but smelling the roses is an important part of life. It’s my personality – it’s just me and who I am. When it was close to my heart I kept it in and didn’t talk about it.Maybe that’s one of the criticisms I’ve copped through my career that I completely accept, that I haven’t been as open as I could have been. Maybe if I was more open, the media or the public might have understood why I was angry in a press conference or why I was tired, or whatever else.You were very visible to the public and media but people felt they weren’t seeing your true self.
I was brought up in the old-school way, where if you say nothing it will just fade away. But that’s not how society works these days, especially the last half of my time playing cricket for Australia. It grows more legs because everyone has their say. If there’s an issue, a question or a rumour, you’ve got to front it straightaway and be open and honest about it, and that I didn’t do. I sat back and thought, ‘I’ll bite my tongue and cop the criticism and it’ll just fade away.’ Hence us eight years on still talking about Katto… for me personally I was done and had dealt with it the day after it. This is my story and my truth, obviously Simon feels differently and he’s entitled to that. But from my perspective, it was done the next day.

“I’ll always remember opening my big mouth on a couple of occasions, learning that it’s not what you say it’s what you do. If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have opened my mouth with Jimmy Anderson and Dale Steyn”

You mentioned press conferences – you talk specifically about the day before the Gabba Ashes Test in 2013 and why you were so terse that day, having a bad day physically but not wanting to let it slip?
I don’t have any excuses for the way I acted or what I said. The last thing I want is for people to feel sorry for me through that period. But with more understanding people will be able to say, ‘Oh now I get it.’And that was the hardest thing with my injury as well. Anyone who’s suffered with a bad back or chronic back problem, they understand the frustrations and pain that comes with that. It’s not just affecting you, it expands to your partner, your family, your close friends.That day was an example of something else going on in my life that I wouldn’t talk about. I didn’t want the opposition, my team-mates, the media or the public to know how bad my back was at that time. I didn’t want the team worrying about me or the opposition seeing a weakness, I didn’t want to give them a sniff with anything. I didn’t want that, so I’d try to hold it in, but sometimes the frustration would build up enough for you to let it out in ways that you shouldn’t – they’re not doing anything wrong, why are you taking it out on them?Off the back of that day, the whole 2013-14 period is viewed as very special by the members of that team. But as much as you were enjoying that, there was a power struggle off the field for control of the team?
The last 12 months were probably the hardest part of my captaincy tenure, regarding how I thought the structure had changed so much that the role [of captaincy] wasn’t suited to me anymore. I found that most difficult, but in regards to my enjoyment, that was there really until Phillip passed. That’s when I felt the game was never the same. I lost one of my best mates I loved travelling and playing cricket with. I also experienced fear for the first time in my career. Being a little kid growing up, everyone was bigger and stronger and bowled faster, but I was never scared of that. For the last two tours of my career I noticed that was there, the thought that you can die doing this. It was the first time that ever crept into my mind.”I didn’t know you had to do media every other day, I didn’t know you had to do public speaking in front of 200 people at a corporate lunch, or go meet and greet so many Cricket Australia staff. So many things I learned in front of the camera”•Getty ImagesDuring that period who did you confide in with those fears?
No one. It’s not like I didn’t open up to the media or the public – I didn’t open up to anyone. My family, my friends, my team-mates had no idea. In the West Indies, I think my team-mates would recognise I never went to dinner with them one night through that tour, but I was never the person during a Test match to do that anyway. A lot of the time I would have room service in preparation, because I knew I had to be up at 5am for treatment for my back while everyone else was sleeping. So me going to bed at 8.30pm was so I could get enough sleep to make sure my body recovered. But they still would have noticed not seeing me at all – every single night sitting in my hotel room watching and eating the same room service. They would have noticed that, but I don’t think they had any idea what I was going through. I hope they didn’t, because that was my goal, to not show anybody. Kyly saw through what I was feeling, but I wasn’t open about it. She was trying to talk to me about it and asking me why I wouldn’t talk about it. It was my personality to close up and try to deal with it on my own.There’s a certain similarity in all this to Martin Crowe’s book , in which he looks back very clear-eyed on his behaviour and obsession as a player. You two spoke quite a lot on the game?
He was a great man. I didn’t talk much to Crowey about what I was going through, but I spoke to him a lot through the back half of my career, whether it was by text or phone or when we saw each other. A lot of it was about batting, but also life as a professional cricketer. He was always very supportive and he watched my game from afar, on TV or online. He would look at things when I was batting and notice technical things that not too many people would notice and speak to me about that.Crowey respected my drive and ambition to be the best, he liked my style of captaincy and the aggressive approach to move the game forward. But I do also know he wanted the game to be played with the utmost respect and integrity, and piss off all sledging. The part of that I’ll always remember was opening my big mouth on a couple of occasions, learning that it’s not what you say it’s what you do. If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have opened my mouth with Jimmy Anderson and Dale Steyn.

“I was happy with the accountability and that’s why I accepted being captain. It might have cost me friendships or relationships, in this clear vision of how to get back to No. 1, but wasn’t that my job? My role was to win games of cricket, and I don’t apologise for the decisions we made”

There was a lot of personal difficulty and family difficulty in your life, particularly in the year 2008 when you took on the vice-captaincy. Did that contribute to you closing up?
It was more that I didn’t want to show weakness. Probably 90% of my life was so public and I never expected that. I didn’t know what came with playing cricket for Australia – I thought it was bat, bowl, field, go celebrate with my team-mates. I didn’t know you were going to become a role model, I didn’t know you had to do media every other day, I didn’t know you had to do public speaking in front of 200 people at a corporate lunch, or go meet and greet so many Cricket Australia staff. So many things I learned in front of the camera. I had to learn in front of Australia and the world, and you make mistakes.I lived in this world where I wanted to be the best I could be – particularly taking over the captaincy at No. 5 in the world in Tests, that was unacceptable to me and I was like, ‘Right, this train is going in this direction to take us back to No. 1’, and anyone who didn’t want to get on board was like a distraction. I was so focused on that and could have been a lot more caring and loving and listened more, especially to people close to me, to my team-mates. But I was so driven by success that I was going to knock down any wall to get there.Real walls or perceived walls?
There were walls, there were real walls. Look at four players being dropped in India. That’s something that won’t be spoken about – within two years we went from No. 5 in the world to No. 1 in the world. So something in that team was working. Making tough calls is leadership, whether it’s business, or sport or whatever it is. Some people like that decision because it helps them, some people don’t like that decision because it doesn’t. I was never scared of making that tough decision. I was happy with the accountability and that’s why I accepted being captain. It might have cost me friendships or relationships, in this clear vision of how to get back to No. 1, but wasn’t that my job? My role was to win games of cricket, and I don’t apologise for the decisions we made. You’d love to be best mates with everyone, but I don’t see any successful leader that has not stirred the pot or made decisions that have affected people. I played with maybe 100 different players. We heard from maybe three or four publicly – I’d like to think there’s another 96 players whose games got better under my leadership.Clarke and his wife, Kyly, at Phillip Hughes’ funeral: “My enjoyment was there really until Phillip passed. That’s when I felt the game was never the same”•Getty ImagesThere is a testy relationship with selectors over the course of your story. Even when you’re dropped in 2005, you tell Ricky Ponting you want to hear it from him rather than a selector. Does the Australian system need changing?
I’ve only ever known the Australian system. Through my career I think it was pretty good. You know what you’re going to get as a player. Picking the best XI with four or five selectors, everyone’s got a difference of opinion, but it’s your job, especially as the chairman, to select what you think is the best XI and back your judgement. As long as the communication is there with whoever the captain is, and the captain is as comfortable as he can be with the players that take the field – my mindset was the captain is always accountable if the team isn’t performing – then things should work okay. I had that communication with Andrew Hilditch, with John Inverarity, with Rod Marsh. Whether you’re a selector or not, you only have one vote out of five. Then not being a selector I don’t feel I had any less say than when I was officially on the panel.So many young athletes, as you were, rush to get out of school and get the sport started. Do you think, where you are now, that you’d have been a different person for finishing school and studying some more?
I think if I had my daughter younger I would have been a lot different. I’m a lot softer, more caring and more loving now than earlier in my life. My little girl has softened me like I wouldn’t have believed. But that drive that I had and that vision I had is a big part of why I was lucky enough to get selected for Australia in the first place. I’m proud of who I am. If you knew then what you know now, you would make some different decisions, but I’m proud of how it all turned out. I’m still mates with the same people I was when I was ten years old.The last chapter is called “Obsessive and Compulsive”. Some self-diagnosis to that. Have you heard from any psychology professionals about it?
I’ve had a number of different emails but I don’t need someone to tell me. I know what it is, I’ve known from a young age – Sundays were the day for mum to clean the house and my sister to clean her room, but mum never told me to clean mine because it was spotless. From the first time I packed my cricket bag or pack a suitcase to go on a holiday, my mum would pack my sister’s bag and try to pack mine. I’d say, ‘No, I pack my own.’ I like my clothes folded a certain way. I’ve known my whole life there’s a little bit of that obsessive-compulsive there. But I’ve tried to use it to help me. I love being organised, I love structure. I put a suit on today, this suit’s hanging on the coat hanger out of my wardrobe at 8.30pm last night, knowing I’m going to wear it today. That’s who I am.

Pakistan resisted with a diligence embedded by the leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq, only this time it went horribly awry

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Christchurch19-Nov-2016Before they took the field, Pakistan had decided this would be their day of zen.The cricket world has sometimes thought of Pakistan as the team that either thrives or perishes in volatility; they are either inside the flaming helicopter spinning toward the ground, or the hero walking away from the explosion in slow motion. They are a Michael Bay movie or an old-school Rajnikanth flick, no depth, no nuance, no steady substance, just a series of electricifying sessions in succession; some glorious, the rest gory.Perhaps there has never really been this Pakistan, and at least in Tests, they certainly haven’t looked much like this Pakistan lately. Now they play under a captain who has, over time, moulded them in his own image. When Misbah-ul-Haq slams a 56-ball hundred or crashes spin over the infield perhaps there is a sense of the chaos that roils within him, but no one would say it is chaos that defines him; what defines him is zen.Misbah is the man who will bat ascetically for hours and hours, and charge his partners to do the same. He is the guy who will settle into a meditative pursuit of ones and twos, and when he hits out and breaks the spell, make boundaries feel ritualistic. In the UAE, or in Sri Lanka, where Pakistan have played most under him, Misbah will ask his quicks to bowl so dry that if two spells were rubbed together a roaring fire would start.On day three, against New Zealand, Pakistan played like the team that has been shaped by this man for six years. They played with gritted teeth, were sane, and diligent. It just so happened that on this occasion they failed to make it pay off.Rather than deliver gladiatorial spells or swinging super-deliveries in the morning the three quicks merely set out to stick collectively to a plan. They bowled slightly shorter than they had the previous day, and had batsmen playing at more balls. Sohail Khan beat Henry Nicholls’ inside edge to hit his front pad, and Jeet Raval, BJ Watling and Todd Astle were all out fending to slip.These are not the kinds of performances that bring to mind soaring or a verse from the , but they do feature heavily in Pakistan’s Test-match days – they are the grain in the bags of the caravan Misbah has led to no. 2.With the bat, Pakistan were unwaveringly diligent. They knew they had played too many drives the previous day, so sought to cut them out. They hoped to bring Yasir Shah – their most consistent match winner – into the fray, and so tried to push the game into the final day.Occasionally, their optimistic application calcified into inertia. Azhar Ali batted like he wanted to be the glue that held Pakistan’s innings together, but found he had stuck himself to a corner instead. It took him 45 dot balls to move beyond 19. A further 24 balls were spent on 31. Sami Aslam, Babar Azam and Misbah himself all spent considerable time at the crease, but no one mustered a strike rate close to 50. The bad balls they had hoped New Zealand would eventually deliver, never showed up.”When we sat down and assessed our batting, we spoke about how we got out and we felt we were too loose yesterday,” coach Mickey Arthur said after play. “On a wicket like this you need to be hitting the ball straight and you need to make the bowlers come to you, and that opens up the leg side. Hats off to Azhar, he fought extremely hard – he just didn’t get anything to score off. Credit goes to New Zealand because they bowled exceptionally well. The plan was to survive, survive, survive and pick up some balls to eventually score off, but New Zealand were relentless. We never ground them down.”Ground down instead was Pakistan’s nerve. Misbah attempted to wrest momentum and was caught, hooking, at fine leg. Azhar lost his long concentration, and was bowled, off his inside edge. Two more batsmen followed soon after, and what could have been a day of steady gains became a sorry one.But even these kinds of days have not been atypical for Pakistan. Unlike some other teams in contention for the top ranking, they aren’t merely lions at home and losers outside their continent: they can be lions and losers in the same series – whipping Sri Lanka in a Galle Test one week then falling apart against a rookie spinner the next, dispatching West Indies in Abu Dhabi, before being dispatched in return, at Sharjah.This match has almost slipped, but perhaps Pakistan will hit back in Hamilton. Maybe the hunt for the top ranking is still on. What seems clear, though, is that there will be more days like this in their southern summer. There will be more days when the defy stereotype, when they work to plans, embrace caution, and the only inspired bursts have been in backroom meetings. There will be more days of Misbah zen.

BJ Watling has become an important cog in the New Zealand set up, with gloves and bat, but remains as inconspicuous as ever – and that’s how he likes to keep it

Mohammad Isam in Christchurch22-Jan-2017When Shakib Al Hasan was caught behind on the first day of the Christchurch Test, it was the 44th time BJ Watling – as wicketkeeper – and Tim Southee had combined to effect a dismissal, breaking the New Zealand record that had belonged to Richard Hadlee and Ian Smith.Their overall tally is actually 46, with Watling having taken two catches as a fielder off Southee, against Australia at Seddon Park in 2010.It’s not easy to draw emotion from Watling, but he looked pleased at the mention of the record shared with Southee.”I quite like that stat,” Watling told ESPNcricinfo. “It is quite a cool one. I am quite good mates with Tim. It is just a pretty friendly sort of a stat. It is good to achieve with a good friend in the team.”I have got a good relationship with all the bowlers. As a keeper, you are trying to give as much feedback from behind the stumps. I get a feel for what the pitch is doing, what sort of lengths to bowl on certain wickets. Talking to boys to make sure we are on the same wavelengths and trying to figure out ways to win games. It is an important role as a keeper to have that communication with the bowlers.”On television, however, Watling is not conspicuous, unlike some of the other more vociferous wicketkeepers. It does not faze him. “That’s fine with me. I think the general chat about a keeper is that if you are not noticed, you are doing your job all right.”He’s like the drummer of a band, a vital part of the spine of the New Zealand Test side but often behind the lead performers. Having made his debut in December 2009, Watling is playing his 49th Test. He has 160 dismissals, six hundreds, and has been part of two triple-century and double-century partnerships.”I am generally pretty quiet guy,” Watling said. “I like to do things with action rather than words. Staying positive as a keeper, geeing the boys up and making sure you set standard in the field; I like to go up to them at the end of the over with a good yarn.”BJ Watling has been part of the third and fourth highest Test partnerships for New Zealand•Getty ImagesWatling said he takes pride in getting New Zealand out of tight spots, like he did with the two 300-run stands against India in 2014 and Sri Lanka the following year.”I have obviously tried to contribute with the bat and make sure that I do a job with the gloves as well. There were couple of situations where we wanted to keep fighting and we didn’t want to fold,” Watling said of the 300-run stands. “The series was on the line in those two games as well. Those are the things that you play for. You are always trying to score runs. Those two innings are pretty special for me.”There’s always a temptation to glance at the hands of a wicketkeeper. Ian Healy’s battered pair has been shown on television numerous times. So how are Watling’s fingers after years of keeping to fast bowlers in seaming conditions?”My hands are pretty good. I don’t have any finger issues,” he said. “Couple of little bruises here and there. It is mainly the legs and the quads, which I make sure are looked after.”Southee, after his five-wicket haul in the first innings against Bangladesh in Christchurch, acknowledged Watling’s contribution to his success.”Obviously BJ and I have had a combination for a while now and it is nice as a bowler, knowing that you’ve got a good keeper behind the stumps and someone that grabs most things and does a great job,” Southee said. “It’s a good combination. It’s one of those milestones along the way that are nice to have.”Watling wouldn’t call himself a perfectionist but said he takes pains to not let his team-mates down. “You always have pride in what you do. You want to take every chance you get, be as tidy as you can. That’s generally because you don’t want to let the boys down. There’s no worse feeling than dropping catches in cricket.”In December 2015, Watling was written about as an accountant among rock stars, a description that sat well with him but one he did not want to elaborate on, in keeping with his humble but strong character who would rather collect a cricket ball properly more than anything else on the field.”I am obviously getting a bit older and mature. I guess I am seen as a leader within this group, and just trying to get the best out of the bowling group and fielding unit is my job,” he said. “Keep scoring some runs and contributing that way.”He does it regularly without anyone noticing. The way he likes it.

The legspinner hasn’t had many opportunities for New Zealand this season, but understands his position and is learning to cope with the pressure

Andrew McGlashan20-Feb-2017There may have been more than a hint of immediacy bias – the perception that immediate emotions are more intense than older ones – when AB de Villiers said that the spinning pitch in Hamilton provided the toughest turning conditions he had faced, but it was certainly an atypical New Zealand surface for the opening one-day international.While de Villiers’ opposite number, Kane Williamson, was a little more subdued in his comments he agreed that there had been a difficult amount of turn as the match progressed; it was the same surface used for the Australia ODI and also a result of the time the pitch had spent covered in the lead-up to the match. It made for a rare occasion where spin was at the forefront in New Zealand. Both captains included two frontline spinners with Williamson saying it was a “no-brainer.”For New Zealand, that second man was legspinner Ish Sodhi. Especially when you are not a regular in the side, it is easier said than done to be greeted by a pitch that a spinner would dream of and not be overwhelmed by the expectation. Although New Zealand lost a tight encounter, Sodhi produced a neat display – 7-0-36-1 – and was pleased to have handled the pressure “relatively well” in his first ODI since the India tour last October.Until Sunday, Sodhi’s international season had been limited to two T20s against Bangladesh in Mount Maunganui – which brought the small matter of five wickets. Otherwise it has been Mitchell Santner, his Northern Districts team-mate, who has been handed the spin duties, even though a brief stint at the Big Bash for Adelaide Strikers produced the astonishing figures of 6 for 11 against Sydney Thunder.”Just to be back playing for New Zealand is a big deal for me. It was awesome. It’s been quite a tough few months. Learning my game and how I want to take it forward. I’ve had some reasonable success on the domestic circuit and got to go to the Big Bash which gave me some confidence. I’m just stoked I could come in and do a decent job, gutted about the result but it means a lot to be back and hopefully I can play some more over the next little while.”Northern Districts’ main ground is Seddon Park, so while the amount of turn for the ODI was beyond the norm it is no surprise that the region produces spinners: they were also Daniel Vettori’s team. Sodhi acknowledged that the spin was significant and tough to play but said it was not unheard of at the ground.There are, though, few other venues around New Zealand that encourage turn in the same way, which makes twin-spin attacks at international level a rare sight. Still it doesn’t rest well with everyone that Sodhi does not figure more regularly. Ahead of the ODI there was a discussion on a sports radio programme about New Zealand’s side and a suggestion Sodhi should not be so readily ignored, believing too much emphasis was put on Santner’s batting.Sodhi understands the situation but is determined to develop into a bowler who can thrive in all conditions. It is often suggested the small grounds of New Zealand do not help, but he believes he has shown he can cope. He had a lean Super Smash campaign with four wickets in nine matches, but took 14 in six matches during the Ford Trophy and overall both his List A and T20 numbers are eye-catching.”The majority of the wickets in New Zealand aren’t going to [spin so much],” he said. “It’s about finding the balance and finding wickets and grounds which are big enough to play two spinners. It’s generally a seam-friendly country and so I’ve just got to keep working hard and when I get my opportunity like here I need to stand up and take it.”I’ve played at Seddon Park my whole life and played most of my cricket on the T20 circuit in New Zealand which is on small grounds so I’ve done it a lot, but it’s more pitch conditions that aren’t overly conducive to spin. It’s just finding the right conditions and if I continue to bowl well hopefully at some point I can be the guy they go to on any surface on any ground.”Sodhi acknowledged the vast difference between domestic and international cricket but said he had become much better at not putting undue pressure on himself when his New Zealand opportunities came along.”I cope with it better now. I’ve done it a few times now, so it’s getting easier each time but it’s more that I focus on just doing my job whenever I get the chance. Playing domestic cricket and playing international cricket is completely different; I reminded myself of that in the field, after 20 minutes I was actually blowing – it’s a lot more intense than what I’ve been used to for the last little while. It was a nice reminder.”He’ll hope the next reminder comes sooner rather than later.

From “The Demon” Spofforth to Lord Beginner’s two pals and the teenage Ben Hollioake, we offer some inspiration for Ireland

Alan Gardner06-May-2017MCC v Australians, May 27, 1878
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the first major Lord’s upset coincided with the first Australian tour of England. Frederick “The Demon” Spofforth is probably most famous for his 14-wicket haul in the Oval Test of 1882, which gave birth to the legend of the Ashes, but his performance against MCC four years earlier was just as incendiary. He claimed a match haul of 10 for 20, which included a hat-trick, as a side led by WG Grace were dismissed for 33 and 19 to be beaten inside a day. As John Lazenby wrote in his book : “A cannon shell, had it landed on the square, could not have rocked the foundations of the home of English cricket with any more force.”England v West Indies, June 24-29, 1950
Although not technically on debut, Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine had only played one Test apiece before turning out at Lord’s in the second match of West Indies’ 1950 tour. The spin pair proceeded to claim 18 wickets between them as England were crushed by 326 runs to give West Indies their maiden Test victory at Lord’s – and set the team on their way to a first series win in England. Not only was it a defining moment for Caribbean cricket, it inspired Lord Beginner to pen the “Victory Calypso” about “those two little pals of mine”, Ramadhin and Valentine. Sing it now: “Cricket lovely cricket, at Lord’s where I saw it…”Sid Wettimuny on his way to 190 in Sri Lanka’s first appearance at Lord’s•Wisden Cricket MonthlyEngland v Sri Lanka, August 23-28, 1984
Several visiting players have risen to the occasion on their first appearance at Lord’s – from Bob Massie’s 16-wicket haul in 1972 to Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid bossing the show 24 years later – but perhaps none was as surprising as the efforts of a couple of Sri Lankans. Having lost eight out of their first 11 Tests, Sri Lanka were expected to be easy meat but Sidath Wettimuny, who scored a first-innings 190, and Duleep Mendis, with 111 and 94 in the match, scotched that thought. Mendis took on England’s short-ball plan by hooking six sixes and Ian Botham was reduced to bowling offspin.England v Australia, May 25, 1997
One for England fans, since we are approaching the 20th anniversary of a day that still burns brightly in the memory. Ben Hollioake was just 19 when he stepped out in whites (this was before England had adopted coloured clothing for home ODIs) for his international debut at Lord’s. Batting up the order at No. 3, he proceeded to caress 63 off 48 balls, treating Glenn McGrath (also making his first appearance at the ground) with disdain and putting Shane Warne into the stands to help seal victory and a rare 3-0 series win over Australia. Although Hollioake won another 21 caps before his untimely death at 24, his talent was largely unfulfilled and that innings remained his highest score for England.Orange crush: Netherlands celebrate their victory over England•PA PhotosEngland v Netherlands, June 5, 2009
The second World T20 featured an opening fixture of England, the hosts, against Netherlands, one of three Associates at the tournament. Lord’s, previously above such frivolity, was also making its T20 debut but the Dutch were in no mood to be intimidated by their illustrious surroundings. After the opening ceremony was cancelled due to persistent drizzle, Netherlands set about raining on England’s parade as they chased a target of 163. Needing seven off the final over and two off the last ball, Ryan ten Doeschate and Ed Schiferli gleefully scampered through after Stuart Broad’s wayward shy at the stumps to spark a Netherlands pitch invasion and leave England with egg-and-bacon on their faces.

Lyon also became only the second offspinner – the first in over 110 years – to take two ten-wicket hauls in Tests for his country

Gaurav Sundararaman07-Sep-201722 – Number of wickets taken by Nathan Lyon this series, the joint second-most wickets in a two-match Test series along with Muttiah Muralitharan. Only Rangana Herath has taken more (23).13/154 – The best match-figures by an Australia bowler in Asia. Lyon went past team-mate Steven O’Keefe, who had picked up 12 for 70 earlier this year against India in Pune. Lyon is the only other visiting bowler apart from Ian Botham to take 13 wickets in a Test in Asia.2 – Ten-wicket hauls in Tests for Nathan Lyon. This is also Lyon’s first ten-for in Asia. Lyon also became only the third offspinner from Australia – the first in over 110 years – to take two ten-wicket hauls.46 – Total wickets taken by Nathan Lyon in 2017 – the most for any bowler this calendar year. Lyon went past both R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who have 44 wickets each.3 – Consecutive five-wicket hauls for Nathan Lyon in this series. The last Australian to achieve this was Shane Warne when he took four consecutive five-fors against Sri Lanka in 2004.

They can’t be satisfied making the final four of the Champions Trophy. They must, instead, look to build on it to achieve something bigger

Jarrod Kimber in Cardiff13-Jun-2017Strapping yourself to the bucking bronco of Pakistan cricket is perhaps the hardest thing to do in cricket. It showed in head coach Mickey Arthur’s face during their chase against Sri Lanka, when he looked like an actor trying to convey the growing of a stomach ulcer. “Emotionally, it’s tough at times, but we’re trying to play more and more consistent cricket. So we’re trying to get better in that department, but it is a tough ride now and again.””I’ve just been buying a lot more chill pills. No, it’s… I don’t want us to be unpredictable. As a head coach, you want the team to have structure. You want the consistency levels to be good. Unpredictability as a coaching staff, we don’t like. We’d like us to do the basics a hell of a lot better, day in and day out, and that’s what we train for every day. So we’re getting better. We’re making strides in that area.” It is hard to see what strides Pakistan are making towards having better structures and being more consistent; they play ODI cricket like they grew up watching their team in the 90s and that is still the blueprint in 2017.”I sit here trying to build a team for the next World Cup,” Arthur said, “And at the end of this competition, we’re going to have to reassess and then decide which of the players we can work with, which of the players we can take forward for the next two years to come here in 2019 and really give the World Cup a proper shake-up.”You look at Fakhar Zaman; you look at Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan to a point, Babar Azam, when he came in, Hasan Ali when he came in. So the young guys coming in have taken it as a duck to water, which has been great. They’ve come in with a great attitude. They want to learn. They want to work hard, and we’re getting some results out of them, which is fantastic news.”That there is talent in this Pakistan team is evident: Zaman and Babar, at the top of the order is genuinely exciting, and that Ashraf came in and bowled so well – and quick – is huge. But if the entire team (and PCB) culture doesn’t change, all that talent will go down an ODI sinkhole.”We know that realistically England are playing unbelievably well,” Arthur said. “They’re a really, really good one-day unit with no apparent weaknesses. So we stressed yesterday – at the end of the game when we sat down and had a quick debrief – we stressed that we need to play our best game, and if we play our best game, we can put them under pressure at different points of the game, and then it’s just taking those points, taking those moments, and running with them, like we did this time last year here exactly in Cardiff.”To win, Pakistan might just have to play better than their best game. Some sort of supernatural, spiritual game where Azhar Ali hits gaps instead of fielders, Mohammad Hafeez rags it sideways and they find a real-life, functioning point fielder.”We won ugly yesterday,” Arthur said. “We can’t sugar-coat that fact. And wins like we have – like we did yesterday, when you win ugly, you learn a lot about the team. So I guess it gives a lot of confidence. Yeah, a lot of confidence going forward for the players, really. We’ve got nothing to lose, yes, but we’ve always said we’re in it to win it. When we chatted last night at the end of the game, the last thing I want is for us to go away now thinking that we got to a semi-final, we’re okay, we’ve achieved [something] because that would be a cop-out in my mind.”Pakistan have essentially got to the semi-final thanks to South Africa being horrible, a timely shower and Sri Lanka forgetting how to field. It is not that they haven’t played some great cricket at times, but they have also played some horrible cricket at times. “We were written off totally, and probably rightly so, after the Indian clash because we were shambolic,” Arthur said. “We were terrible.”As Arthur emphasised, they can’t be satisfied with a final-four finish. They should use it to achieve something bigger, like beating England in this form. It would be one of cricket’s great upsets.If England are playing ODI cricket of the future, Pakistan are stuck in medieval times. A few wickets won’t slow England down; you need to take out their entire first nine, and also handle their bowlers who attack throughout the 50 overs. “We’ll be fine,” Arthur said. “You know – we’ll be fine. [Laughter]”. The laughter was added by the ICC stenographer. We will know if laughter actually follows on Wednesday.

Bangladesh are in a quest to properly challenge Australia for the first time. Beyond the field, the series can warm up an often cool relationship between the two cricketing nations

Mohammad Isam24-Aug-2017Does Australia only care about playing the Ashes and touring India? Think again. A 1-0 loss or even a 1-1 result against Bangladesh will ensure a slip down to No. 5 in the Test rankings. A 2-0 loss can take them down to as low as No. 6.You think teams don’t care for rankings? When you are considered one of the best teams in the world, even the risk of slipping to No. 6 does not sit well.Does Bangladesh care much for the Australians? Prediction of crowd sizes in Dhaka and Chittagong don’t bode well; the Tests are on either side of Eid-ul-Azha, a religious holiday where many return to their hometowns and villages for at least a week.Prospects for the team bode better – this Bangladesh side should be the first to seriously challenge Australia in Tests, and, at the same time, give themselves an opportunity to climb from the No. 9 position in the Test rankings.This, of course, is the series that was postponed in 2015 because of security concerns. At that time Bangladesh were getting to grips with a new kind of terrorism, which culminated in the July 1 attack on the Holey Artisan Café in Dhaka last year. England’s tour was under threat until the ECB, following thorough security scrutiny, decided to go ahead with it. It was overbearing, but the tightest security measures were non-negotiable.Word of those security levels reached Cricket Australia as it sent its security head for a first-hand look, and it has now seemingly paved the way for this tour to go ahead. CA had sent other inspection teams before the tour but it remains happy as the BCB has guaranteed the same security level that was given to England last year.And the importance of them coming, having postponed the 2015 Test tour and pulled out of the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, cannot be underestimated. This tour should warm up an often distant and cool relationship between the two cricketing nations.Out of their 11 Test tours to the subcontinent since 2000, Australia have been to Bangladesh just once – in 2006. If a few things had gone the home side’s way in that first Test in Fatullah, CA may have had more reasons to send teams to Bangladesh but instead that tour has remained a solitary bit of curiosity – remembered for a heartbreaking Bangladesh loss, police beating up journalists during a Test match and Jason Gillespie’s double-hundred as a nightwatchman in Chittagong.But, over the last five years, the Bangladesh team’s performance has assumed centerstage in discussions about tours here. They have become increasingly competitive against teams like West Indies and New Zealand and have dominated Zimbabwe. Two Test wins in the last year doesn’t say much but it is the type of progress that is making Australia sit up straight and notice Bangladesh.Despite the cancellation of the practice game, Australia’s preparations have been intensive, as they look to tackle the slow pitches on tour•Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesIn fact both sides seem to have a lot of respect for each other, to a degree that their preparations have been quite extensive. While the Australians were distracted by the pay dispute, the Darwin camp was designed to give them the conditions closest to Dhaka and Chittagong. They also arrived in Bangladesh nine days before the first Test and, although the two-day practice match in Fatullah was called off, they are making best use of facilities at the Academy ground in Mirpur.The hosts, meanwhile, have been involved in intensive training since July 10. The first two weeks were spent working purely on fitness before they moved to work in the nets at the end of the month. The BCB brought in Mark O’Neill, the batting coach, on a one-month contract to iron out batting chinks. He has even worked with tail-enders, who have been notoriously poor in the last few years. They played a practice match in Chittagong earlier this month before completing their training camp. The Mominul Haque selection controversy was a distraction but the BCB president Nazmul Hassan helped paper over those cracks quickly, so all seems in order.Bangladesh will target nothing less than beating Australia for the first time in Tests. They can only put relentless pressure on this opposition in subcontinent conditions if they can take the game deep. Losing wickets in final sessions or conceding a needless lower-order partnership could cost them. So, Bangladesh will hope to take cues from Australia’s tour to Sri Lanka last year when the hosts mostly won out of the second innings.Regardless of the nature of the Dhaka and Chittagong pitches – slow, too slow or too flat – both sides cannot risk taking their eyes off each other. Both sides will attack, but the team willing to be patient will have an advantage. For the first time in the history of this contest, there is going to be a fight. Only if the rain stays away.

Before Monday’s win against Sri Lanka, the last time Zimbabwe beat a Full Member in a bilateral ODI series was in 2001

Bharath Seervi10-Jul-20172009 The last time Zimbabwe won a bilateral ODI series away from home, beating Kenya 5-0. Between that series and the Sri Lanka one, they played 12 away bilateral series, with defeats against Afghanistan, a drawn series against Scotland and four series defeats in Bangladesh. Before the start of the series in Sri Lanka, they were ranked 11 in the ICC ODI rankings, with the hosts ranked eighth.2001 The last time Zimbabwe won a bilateral ODI series away from home against a Full Member – in Bangladesh. Earlier that year, they also beat New Zealand 2-1. This win in Sri Lanka is only their third bilateral away series win against a Full Member team out of a total of 29 series.96.16 Strike rate of Zimbabwe batsmen in this series, compared to Sri Lanka’s 88.14. They had a relatively lower average (32.91) than the home team (50.20), and also made fewer 50-plus scores (six against Sri Lanka’s 10), but hit more boundaries: Zimbabwe struck 143 boundaries while Sri Lanka hit 128.3 Consecutive home series without a win for Sri Lanka. They lost 1-4 to Australia last year and drew 1-1 with Bangladesh in March this year before this 2-3 defeat to Zimbabwe. The last time they went three successive home series without a win was from 2007 to 2009, losing to England and India (twice).Getty Images0 Zimbabwe players who featured in the top two run-getters or top two wicket-takers in this series. Sri Lanka players topped both lists but they couldn’t seal the series.4-11 Sri Lanka’s win-loss record in ODIs in 2017. Their win-loss ratio of 0.363 is their third-worst in any calendar year with 15 or more ODIs. The two years with a poorer ratio were 1985 and 1988.4 Consecutive ODIs won by Zimbabwe chasing; this includes all three wins in this series. Before this streak, they had won only one of ten ODIs chasing.42.35 Average runs per wicket in this series – the highest in any bilateral series in Sri Lanka. The scoring rate was 5.86, the fourth-highest in a bilateral tournament in the country.