Mike Procter talks about Monkeygate and his career either side of it in his new autobiography

Firdose Moonda16-Dec-2017Player, coach, commentator, match referee, convener of selectors and passionate fan – there are few roles in cricket Mike Procter has not held. But his autobiography, which appears a bright, breezy read about a life dedicated to the game, is tinged with regret, not only because of his international playing career was limited to seven Tests but because of what might have been in many other spheres.What if the South African Cricket Association had allowed an England Invitational XI that included Basil d’Oliviera to tour the country in 1972? What if Jimmy Cook and Clive Rice had been part of the team Procter coached at the 1992 World Cup? What if Procter had agreed to make Hansie Cronje captain sooner?These are some of the early questions he ponders in the book, in which he comes across as wistful, non-confrontational and liberal.As much as he, like many others, wonders what the South African team of 1970 could have achieved, he is apologetic for what the apartheid system denied non-whites even after it was abolished. “It must have been hard to see to believe that a team that was still almost exclusively white was representing a nation with a rich diversity of people – with white people being in the minority,” he writes of the 1991 tour to India.Procter was South Africa’s first post-readmission coach and he experienced the thrills of the early novelty, including their big-hearted performance at the 1992 World Cup and in England in the summer of 1994, where they won at Lord’s and drew the series. Heavy defeats in the ODIs and a loss to a Netherlands XI led to Procter’s sacking – which he found out about from intensive care in hospital, where he had been admitted with inflammation of the muscles around the heart.From there, he moved to commentary (he was on air when South Africa were knocked out of the 1999 World Cup) and then to match-refereeing. He experienced the bomb blast in Pakistan on New Zealand’s tour in 2002 and the Pakistan team walk-off in The Oval Test in 2006.It’s from this role that the book’s title comes: “As a referee, you were always in the middle, and the decisions you made sometimes had huge implications,” Procter writes. Never more so than in the summer of 2007-08, from where the most compelling story in the book comes.Chapter ten, about Monkeygate and the mess that followed is a detailed account of India’s tour to Australia that season. Procter was excited to be involved in a series that he thought would present a “clash of cultures and playing styles”, and relieved that he could clear Yuvraj Singh of dissent after the Boxing Day Test. Yuvraj was charged by the umpires when he hung around after being dismissed caught behind off Stuart Clark, but Procter thought the batsman had merely shown disappointment and an apology would suffice. The peace did not last long.In Sydney, the goodwill of a new year did not extend to the two teams. Procter can “still see” Ricky Ponting bolting off the field to report that racist abuse had been directed at Andrew Symonds by Harbhajan Singh. The umpires and Sachin Tendulkar, who was batting with Harbhajan, said they heard nothing, but Australia were insistent and a hearing was set for the end of play on day five, where Procter was struck by the disorganisation of proceedings.A videotape of the incident did not have any sound and there was no one present to record the hearing. Over three hours, Procter and Nigel Peters QC, who the ICC had requested to assist in the matter, heard testimony. Ponting said his players had told him they’d heard Harbhajan call Symonds a monkey. India’s manager at the time, Chetan Chauhan, “informed Ponting that the racism charge was completely made up, because as Indians it was just not possible for them to be racist”. Chauhan also produced an album of photos “with princes and princesses in regal dress but with monkey heads”, and said monkeys were deities that could not be insulted. Harbhajan did not testify because Chauhan said he did not speak English.While Procter had been “hoping there would be reasonable doubt that there had been any racial abuse involved”, he concluded that Australia had several “adamant” witnesses and India offered “absolutely nothing in terms of evidence”, and found Harbhajan guilty. The sanction was a three-Test ban, which was overturned on appeal, where Tendulkar revealed Harbhajan had said something unprintable about Symonds’ mother in Hindi and Procter figured that the phrase could have been heard as “monkey”. Procter writes that if Tendukar’s testimony had come at the initial hearing, his decision would have been different.Personally, the repercussaions for Procter were significant. Sunil Gavaskar, whom Procter considered a friend, wrote that Procter was “always going to go against the brown man, when he was up against the white man” – an accusation Procter took personally. “It was a massive generalisation and went against every bit of my moral fibre,” Procter wrote.Procter became persona non grata in India. The Cricket Club of India found no record of the honorary life membership they had awarded him in the 1990s, and he was prevented from officiating as a match referee in the 2009 IPL, which was moved to South Africa.While he did not referee any more matches, Procter went to become convener of selectors for South Africa soon after, and picked the squad that beat Australia in Australia for the first time. That tenure was also marked by a standout low. Procter dropped Makhaya Ntini in early 2009, initially offering the bowler a farewell ODI series, which Ntini declined. “His story was the blueprint for what could be achieved, but the champion had lost his punch,” Procter wrote.As if what followed – a struggle to get work in cricket – is too much to bear for the Procter, the book then goes back in time to reflect on his stints with Gloucester and in World Series Cricket, which he regards as the “toughest level of cricket I ever played”. What if it could have lasted a little longer?There’s also a peep into Procter’s current life, and his involvement with the Ottawa Primary School in Verulam, Kwa-Zulu Natal, where many children are underprivileged and the ramifications of HIV/AIDS are rampant. What if CSA could assist? Procter’s attempts to engage the board has proved futile and he continues to battle on alone. That is essentially the story of his career. The book is available in two editions, a South African one, published by Don Nelson, and a UK one, by Pitch Publishing. The former contains an introduction by John Saunders, Procter’s school coach, an additional chapter on his early years, and a tribute by former journalist Michael Owen-Smith.Caught in the Middle: The Autobiography of Mike Procter
By Mike Procter and Lungani Zama
Don Nelson Publishers

239 pages, 2017

Former Western Australia batsman Scott Meuleman on helping Mitchell Marsh build his long-form batting game with the aim of becoming one of the top six batsmen in the country

Daniel Brettig in Perth12-Dec-2017Walk into the WACA Ground’s Hay Street entrance and it is almost impossible to miss. A massive wall mount featuring Mitchell and Shaun Marsh alongside their father Geoff, their Test cap numbers and debut years. All beneath a strident slogan: “Creating History. Inspiring Champions.” The Marshes, then, are not just a part of West Australian cricket. They ARE West Australian cricket.A five-minute drive across the Swan River into South Perth, another WA cricket dynasty ticks over, albeit of a slightly different and lower-profile kind. The Meuleman family, starting with the patriarch and one-Test batsman Ken, have run a cricket supplies store and coaching facility since 1963.Ken played his only Test in 1946 and played first-class cricket until the 1960-1961 season. His son Robert then played for WA in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was the one who famously advised Adam Gilchrist to stick a squash ball in his batting glove to ease his bottom hand grip ahead of a blazing innings in the 2007 World Cup final. Robert’s son Scott wore the Warriors’ cap early this century and they are the one and only father, son and grandson trio to have all made first-class centuries in Australian cricket.This week, Scott Meuleman is working behind the counter at one of the family’s two stores, answering phones and hoping to catch a session or two of the final Ashes Test at the WACA Ground. Earlier this year, however, he was flinging balls at Mitchell Marsh in South Perth, coaching the allrounder as he sought to rebuild a batting method that had fallen short of expectations in his first stint as a Test cricketer, before shoulder surgery cut him out of international calculations altogether.In many ways this was an obvious alliance. Meuleman had been a team-mate of Shaun Marsh, then later a batting mentor for the classical and attractive style the left-hander showcased to such great effect in the Adelaide Test. Nevertheless, Mitchell Marsh was a bit lost as a batsman by the end of last season, as he has since reflected.”I was obviously under a lot of pressure and that happens when you’re not performing at your best playing cricket for Australia,” Marsh said. “I was totally fine with that and I learned a lot about myself. It’s given me a bit of time to get away and create a recipe for my success and I feel like I’ve found that now and it’s shown in the last couple of months in my form for WA. That’s all I need to do. Go out there this week and stick to my game plan.”When you have a lot of nerves going into an innings you’re thinking about your spot, your form, you’re trying so hard to make runs you often forget just the most important thing and that’s to watch the ball. That’s what I’ll be taking out there if I get a chance on Thursday.”The journey to a better technical and mental method began in earnest during the winter, as soon as doctors gave him the all-clear to train as a batsman after shoulder surgery. First of all, Mitchell Marsh and Meuleman spoke about what they wanted to achieve – improvement of the allrounder’s long-form batting game geared towards making him one of the top six batsmen in the country, with his bowling as a value-add. They also looked at how this could be achieved in a playing sense: a full Sheffield Shield season, and then next year a northern summer of county cricket, eschewing the IPL’s riches. Meuleman believes that Marsh is one of numerous young players around the country struggling to mix and match formats while still learning their own games.”One of the biggest things for him, he’s still pretty young in the game, playing all forms, Twenty20 and one dayers,” Meuleman told ESPNcricinfo. “Because of that shoulder surgery he really wanted to work at the ultimate goal of playing Test cricket again with an emphasis on getting back into the team purely for his batting, with bowling as that added bonus.”When we first had a chat, a lot of it was about [the fact that] he hadn’t really had that great a run of playing consistently in longer format cricket. He hadn’t played a lot of Shield cricket in a row. The goal this year was to have a really good Shield season and he wanted to improve. He’d play a Shield game and then bang he’d be in an Australia one-day team or a couple of Shield games and then the BBL. I think even the most experienced players can struggle with that a fair bit, the chopping and changing.”They’re not the same techniques. The core technique is the same, but there are varying elements to it, and if you haven’t fully worked out your game yet then it’s pretty tough. For example, Shaun is a very good leaver of the ball, and Steven Smith is another one, leaves the ball brilliantly. But you go into a T20 game, you might leave one or two balls early maximum, and then you’re trying to play at every single ball, so you get in the habit of hitting every single ball. In a Test or Shield match, the best players leave the ball well, and for the best players of a moving ball it’s even more important again.”

“It’s about finding a balance for him. I think he is better than just a ‘go out there and tee off’ sort of batsman. Essentially what he is trying to work on is to be one of the best six batsmen in the country, pick him because he’s one of the best six and then his bowling is that added bonus.”Scott Meuleman on Mitchell Marsh’s talent

There had been a lot of debate and discussion about whether or not Mitchell Marsh should bat with the uncomplicated air of an Andrew Flintoff, using his immense power to pressure bowlers without thinking too much about defensive technique. Marsh himself had spoken of it in a few different ways, seemingly caught between the Australia coach Darren Lehmann’s desire to see him swing freely, and the assertions of the WA coach Justin Langer that he could ultimately be a top-four batsman. In between were the Australian selectors, always in thrall to his talent but getting impatient about its blooming.”He is that player with something about him who can score very quickly, he’s been very handy at No. 6 in certain situations and can take the game away from the opposition, he does have that factor about him,” Meuleman said. “[But] if he just bats normally he’ll still score at a fast rate, just naturally with how much power he’s got. A lot of the time he just leans on the ball and it goes to the fence in a flash. It’s about finding a balance for him. I think he is better than just a ‘go out there and tee off’ sort of batsman.”Essentially what he is trying to work on is to be one of the best six batsmen in the country, pick him because he’s one of the best six and then his bowling is that added bonus. He is a very handy bowler and can bowl up to 140kph, but he’s got an amazing amount of batting ability. Dad coached a few former Test players and Grandad did as well, so there’s a bit in the family in those terms, but he’s got a lot of ability with the bat. Hopefully that’s what happens.”To that end, Marsh worked on the mental side of his game with Langer and others in the Warriors set-up, particularly around creating a repeatable routine between balls. Meuleman spoke ruefully of his own struggles to master the art of concentration for long periods in the middle, and said it was critical that Marsh was able to find a way to switch off and switch on for periods of what the selector Greg Chappell has referred to as “fierce focus”.”It’s not easy to do – I struggled with it a bit throughout my career,” Meuleman said. “Very mentally draining actually being able to switch on for a single ball and then being able to switch off when you’re not on strike or anything, even if you are on strike being able to switch off when the bowler’s walking back. Being able to every single ball be mentally switched on and challenging yourself to play each ball on its merits is a very tough thing to do, and that’s what the best players in the world can do.”I think it was something that Mitch had room for improvement on, and hopefully he’s gone about improving that. He has definitely had a main focus on trying to improve his batting technique for the longer form of the game.”The technical tweaks were where Meuleman and Marsh then worked closely together, trying mostly to foster a better reading of length and the more expansive and effective use of the crease it can promote. “He’s so strong on the front foot and the main thing we worked on was trying to get him to pick up the length better than he was,” Meuleman said.”It wasn’t so much how he got forward but he didn’t really get back as well as he could have and that was one of the big things for him and one of the things he has improved. He’s good a really good pull and cut shots, but I don’t think he was allowing himself to use those as much because he was so strong on the front foot. It’s quite common and I think it is partly from all the one day and T20 cricket. When someone goes back they don’t actually go back fully. Where you want Mitch to be back with his weight on his right foot, often they’ll go back but still have their weight on their left [front] foot.Getty Images”He’s an unbelievable driver of the ball but also getting him in a good position so his eyes are level, he’s a little more positive with his head on the front foot and in turn bending his knee a little bit better to get him in a better position to allow him to play the ball a little bit later and under his eyes more on the front foot. Also working the ball on the on side on the front foot, getting his head into a more positive position. He’s got so much talent and everyone’s got their individual game, so it wasn’t about changing too much, but maybe changing a couple things slightly.”Amid these sessions, Mitchell Marsh was named WA’s state captain, bringing sharper focus to his long-form game as leader of a team seeking to win a first Sheffield Shield since 1999. “I think it’s had a positive impact on my cricket, when you go out to play and you’ve got to worry about 10 other guys and getting the best out of the team it takes a lot of the heat off yourself and that’s really helped me,” Marsh said.”I think having the added responsibility of making sure that I’m leading from the front on the field has really helped me. It’s had a positive impact on my cricket. That probably helped me a little bit, not being in contention [for the start of the Ashes] because I knew that my main role was to be captain of WA and do the best I could there, and really just focus on my batting. I feel like I’m in really good form at the moment, which is a great feeling.”What followed was an outstanding domestic limited-overs tournament and then a very strong start to the Shield season. Mitchell Marsh’s run-making was consistent enough and assured enough to mean that when he did begin bowling in rounds for and five, the selectors soon came calling once more. “Right now I’ve discovered a game plan that I’m going to stick to and hopefully I’ll be able to do that for long periods of time,” he said. “If you want to be a top-six batsman you’ve got to make bigger runs.”There will be times in games in my position batting down the order you need to go out and get quick runs and I feel like I have the game to do that. But at the same time I’ve got to make sure I’m batting long periods of time for this team to do that.”For Meuleman, Mitchell Marsh’s recall is a source of excitement, much as Shaun Marsh’s century in Adelaide brought plenty of satisfaction “Maybe it’s come slightly earlier than even he’s thought about getting back into the Test team but ultimately it is because he has done really well with the bat and it’s a credit to him,” Meuleman said. “He’s worked bloody hard.”He’s willing to listen, willing to improve, and it’s exciting when you do coach someone like that. I personally think he has improved quite a bit, that’s still yet to be proven at the international level, but he wants to keep working hard, he wants to keep improving and he’s an unbelievably exciting talent in terms of being able to pick little things up that he can work on and how quickly he can change things, is pretty phenomenal really.”And as for the two family dynasties, playing, supplying and coaching cricket in the west for more than 30 years, Meuleman said that it had to be seen as more of a help than a burden. “Swampy’s had so much of an influence, he’s done so much work with Shaun and Mitch on their batting and it was very much the same with my Dad,” he said. “I think it’s only a positive thing and amazing that we have had such good father figures to guide us along the way.”Ultimately you play the game because you love it, but having that support and guidance for those boys with Swampy and for me with my Dad and my Grandad, it’s only a positive. I think sometimes people feel like there’s added pressure because of the name but I don’t think you ever see it that way. That’s them, that’s their name, Swampy did so well and now Shaun’s got the old man covered for Test hundreds as well. He’ll be happy about that…”

Faith, family and friends have kept the South Africa A captain going despite setbacks – and he now has a chance to stake his claim for higher honours

Deivarayan Muthu09-Aug-2018The Undertaker’s theme, based on Chopin’s , is arguably the most iconic piece of music in professional wrestling. Its special effects evolved over the years – the death knell, the billowing smoke and fire, the badass customised chopper, the bandana, heck the Undertaker once had a real vulture flapping its wings next to him. It defined attitude in the Attitude Era of the WWE. Now, imagine music playing when you walk in to bat. Khaya Zondo could not have asked for a better walk-in theme in South Africa.”When I asked one of my team-mates at Dolphins about it, he said that’s the best theme song I could get,” Zondo told ESPNcricinfo. “Isn’t it cool? (laughs) I just went with it but I need good lights for it to happen.”South Africa are 43 for 2 in the 10th over in the Centurion ODI against India in February. Hardik Pandya straightens one past the outside edge of Zondo, who is playing only his third international. Later, Zondo surges down the track against left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, manufactures a full-toss, and hoists it over mid-off. The next ball is pummelled to the square-leg boundary. He then carts Yuzvendra Chahal for a brace of sixes, perhaps the cricketing equivalent of the double-chokeslam. Zondo’s 54 is only the fourth 50-plus score by a South African batsman in a series they lose 5-1.

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Zondo is dropped from the national team for the subsequent ODIs in Sri Lanka, and is now in India hoping to reclaim his spot. He is on his fifth trip to India, this time as the captain of the A team. He had been part of a nine-day, spin-training camp in Bengaluru in 2012, he played for Dolphins in the now-defunct Champions League T20 in 2014, he made a 60-ball 86 in a tri-series involving India A and Australia A in Chennai in 2015, and later that year he broke into the South Africa limited-overs squads for the India tour.When JP Duminy was ruled out of the last two ODIs in India in 2015, Zondo, who was the reserve batsman in the squad, was anticipating his international debut. Instead, South Africa flew in Test opener Dean Elgar, who hadn’t been in the limited-overs squad in the first place, to fill that void. Zondo was hurt and he turned to his former Dolphins coach Lance Klusener to help him overcome the rejection.

“Not being picked for the last two ODIs in 2015 in India, when I was in the squad, was one of the toughest phases in my career. But I believe now that it happened for a reason.”Khaya Zondo

“Not being picked for the last two ODIs in 2015, when I was in the squad, was one of the toughest phases in my career,” Zondo said. “But I believe now that it happened for a reason and it took a lot of effort and support from my family and Lance to bounce back from it. The fact that he was the coach at that tough period for me was a God-destined thing, and he has handled a lot of similar pressures in his career. When everyone else did not back me, it was Lance who backed me. That went a long way for me.”Zondo is in a better space now, having become Dolphins’ first-ever black captain, in addition to leading South Africa’s A sides. He admitted that captaincy was a “great eye-opener” and relished the support he received from his team-mates both at Dolphins and South Africa A.”South Africa, coming from the past, was very segregated and I’m honoured to be the captain of both Dolphins and SA A and lead this group of professional cricketers,” Zondo said. “Considering the dynamics in South Africa, being a black captain is a big thing. More than that, it’s special when team-mates enjoy and say they want me to lead them. So, it’s not about the title of captaincy, it’s about the people around you who believe you’re the one to lead them.”Captaincy has made me a more compassionate person and what you need is good man-management skills. I noticed that the higher you go, your man-management skills need to be higher. When you play for South Africa, you don’t need to say much, however. At the lower levels, you need to understand players’ skills and help them around. Faf (du Plessis) and MS (Dhoni) are top man-managers, I did not have a chance to chat with MS in 2015 but I have spoken to Faf about captaincy and even Lance about leadership.”

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Zondo began his fifth tour of India with a fluent 67 in a three-day warm-up fixture against Indian Board President’s XI at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. He then flickered briefly, scoring 24 in the first innings in the four-dayer against India A, but was trapped lbw for a duck by Mohammed Siraj in the second dig.Khaya Zondo rocks back to pull for a six•BCCIZondo has fond memories of his rapid 63-run stand off 34 balls with his childhood friend and former house-mate Andile Phehlukwayo against Kolkata Knight Riders at this venue in the Champions League T20.”That match was Andile’s debut in the CLT20 and we had some fun. I met Andile when he was about 15 and I remember a photo we have together, when I gave him his cap for KwaZulu-Natal Under-19s at a ceremony in Kingsmead. The next time we took a photo was at the CLT20 in Bangalore, when it was Andile’s first game. Then, when I got my first international fifty for South Africa, Andile was at the other end. He’s always been there, when something special has happened to me.”When asked about his brother Dudu Zondo, who has a semi-professional contract at KwaZulu-Natal and currently plays club cricket for Hatherleigh, a small market town in Devon in England, Khaya blushes. Is he the overprotective brother?”I’m not the protective brother (laughs). I’m just guiding him. I have some experience, having done it before him,” Zondo said. “I don’t want his road to be as difficult as mine was. I started out with Bakers mini-cricket, which was incidentally run by my mother, who is a teacher, and worked my way through Natal Under-13s, Natal Under-15s, Natal Under-17s, Natal Under-19s, and finally South Africa Under-19s. I just want him to listen to me and I’m always there to help him out.”As for Zondo’s father Ray, he was appointed a judge of the labour court by Nelson Mandela in 1997, and two years later he took over as judge of the North Gauteng high court. In 2017, he was appointed deputy chief justice of South Africa. “My father is the deputy chief justice now but he wasn’t that strict growing up,” Zondo said. “He used to come home once in every two weeks but he and mom told me what’s right and what’s wrong. That’s the reason why I’m here as the captain of the A team. I was blessed to grow up like that. I’m also very spiritual and find strength from Jesus and the Bible.”

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Zondo has swept India’s third-string spinners – Jalaj Saxena, Mihir Hirwani and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja – with authority. He is familiar with Indian conditions and has a variety of sweeps in his repertoire, which is likely to come in handy in the quadrangular one-day series, involving India A, India B and Australia A, in Vijayawada after the four-day matches. Zondo’s immediate goal is to stake his claim for a middle-order role as South Africa build towards Vision 2019.”I think this tour is a great opportunity for all the batters to start getting their names out to the selectors,” Zondo said. “If you perform here and the team does really well, I believe you can elevate to the national team. The South Africa selectors, I’m sure, have their eyes on a few boys already.”

A fan went to Lord’s to relive wonderful old memories, but India’s batting let him down

Sudhindra Prasad16-Jul-2018Choice of game
For all sports fans, there are specific moments and matches, which take us back in time. Almost 16 years ago to this day, I was in a semi-deserted living room of a student accommodation at Margaret St, Binghamton, in upstate New York. The two individuals left there on a crisp Saturday morning believed and willed on a pair of never-say-die youngsters, Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, who took India to the famous NatWest Series final win. Never one to pass off on a historical milestone, I jumped on the chance to watch this game.Key performers
While Joe Root bossed England’s batting, David Willey’s innings put enormous scoreboard pressure on India. But the efforts of Moeen Ali in slowing down the momentum of the Indian innings played a vital role in the result. His initial five-six overs with an economy rate around three firmly put doubts in the minds of the batsmen. Virat Kohli’s wicket was a result of that strangle and for the most part, settled the result.Wow moment
The six by Eoin Morgan off Yuzvendra Chahal. It took off high and handsome and as it came down, I started to wonder if that would head on to the terrace of the visitors’ dressing room or to the neighbouring stand with the bell. Thinking of it, has there ever been a recorded instance of a six hitting the bell on the full at Lords?One thing I would have changed
Dinesh Karthik instead of MSD would have been a change in hindsight. But I continually wonder about what KL Rahul can bring to this India team, if he develops his wicketkeeping skills to the standards of that other Rahul.Milestones and more
Being only the second player to achieve the unique double of 300 catches and 10,000 runs in ODIs, is a testament to MS Dhoni’s longevity. It further underlines his achievements as a player, wicketkeeper and leader. It can be hoped that the ongoing debate about his crawl to the batting milestone either brings back the Dhoni of mid-2000s into action well before the World Cup or opens the doors for others.Crowd meter
The Indian fans were the majority on the day and were loud through the first session. Initial batting success by the Indian opening pair even got some “Ole ole Super India” songs going. As the second innings progressed, the English fans found their voice and it made for a fine finish in the stands.Dinesh Karthik for MS Dhoni?•Getty ImagesFancy dress index
Although Lord’s and fancy dress don’t gel, the fans nevertheless brought out their hats, headgear, flags, kids with their small banners, only to be taken away by the eagle-eyed security at the entrance. The recognisable Sudhir Gautam was allowed to enter with his face paint on. His day turned into a game of cat and mouse on the sidelines, as he displayed his full body paint during the first innings, which the ground security didn’t accept. In his first game at Lord’s, he was found sulking and hiding away from security at the back of the Mound Stand.Close encounter
Shikhar Dhawan kept the crowds entertained during his stint fielding square of the wicket through England’s batting. When India batted, Ben Stokes took over that position, but left after a few overs seemingly due to some banter by the Indian fans around his Kiwi roots, sheep etc. Jonny Bairstow swapped positions with him and quickly endeared himself to both sets of fans, by patiently signing autographs for kids, posing for selfies and some lovely interactions with the crowd. The result of a Mound Stand vote for popular player of the day would have been a mere formality.Overall
As an Indian fan, the latter half of India’s innings plummeted me to depths of despair and brought back dreadful memories of that India-West Indies Kanpur game in 1994. The lack of intent and belief was unfortunately not the right retirement tribute to Kaif. Defying the natural urge to chase in these conditions and also by tackling Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling better than recent games, England re-affirmed their adaptability, showing they are rightfully prime contenders for the 2019 World Cup.Marks out of 10
Eight. England’s strategy and efforts ensured that ODIs are not quickly turning into bat-second-and-win affairs. How sad would all of us fans be, if ODIs become even more predictable? Oh and in case you were wondering, the living room at 45, Margaret St, was packed again with 30-plus loud individuals (including Karthi Sivakumar) by the time Kaif and Zaheer Khan ran those winning runs on that glorious day in 2002.

The coach made a significant departure from his “character over cover drives” mantra, homing in on issues of batting technique

Daniel Brettig in Abu Dhabi20-Oct-2018For all the statistical measures of Australia’s batting decline, nothing has spoken as loudly as the philosophical shift in focus suggested by Australia’s coach Justin Langer at the conclusion of his first Test series in charge. Talking technique may not sound like a big deal for the head coach of the national team, but coming from Langer it was a marked departure from much of what he is known for.Over comfortably more than a decade, Langer has been synonymous with the phrase “character over cover drives”. So much so that it could easily be the title of one of his books. His achievements as a batsman and as a coach of Australia’s domestic sides have appeared to go hand in hand with a philosophy grounded in personal discipline and growth, as much if not more so than the MCC coaching manual.But since his appointment as the national coach in May, Langer has seemed to be wrestling with the loss of plenty of former certainties as the sheer complexity of his task has become clearer. In the aftermath of Australia’s 373-run hiding in Abu Dhabi to lose the UAE series to Pakistan, he made a significant departure from that “character over cover drives” mantra, homing in on issues of batting technique as the key to arresting Australia’s wretched recent history of collapses.In assessing how the touring team’s two first innings in Dubai and Abu Dhabi essentially cost them any chance of winning the series, Langer pointed out that in the concurrent Sheffield Shield round, a host of other batting collapses had also taken place, and recalled a conversation with the former professional golfer Lyndsay Stephen about mental skills being subservient to technical limitations.
“If you look at this round of Sheffield Shield cricket, I know a number of the states have also had some big batting collapses as well,” Langer said in Abu Dhabi. “I’ve been in the State system for a long time and I’ve watched this and I think what I’m really intrigued about is you’re not allowed to use the word technique anymore.”Lyndsay Stephen, the golfer, I remember having dinner with him and everyone says it’s all mental, it’s all mental. It’s all about the mental side of the game and I thought that’s interesting, yeah that’s what everyone says. But Lyndsay Stephen told me, ‘I’d rather have a guy with a good technique who is a bit softer mentally, than a guy who is really mentally tough with a really bad technique’. This is in golf. I said ‘what do you mean?'”He said, ‘If you’ve got a good technique, you’ll hit most balls down the middle of the fairway and over time you’ll develop some confidence and you can learn concentration and that’s how you get mental toughness. If you’ve got a bad technique and you’re hitting the ball behind the trees or in the rough, it doesn’t matter how mentally tough you are, eventually you’re not going to be able to hitting it into the hole that often’.”Haris Sohail takes a catch at first slip to dismiss Shaun Marsh•Getty ImagesTurning his focus from golf to cricket, Langer indicated that it was now necessary for many Australia batsmen to look more closely at the technical underpinnings of their approach to batting, in a manner that would allow them to retain the skills that would keep them in the middle for long periods against a moving ball. In this, Langer essentially suggested that many players in the current system were playing for their state and country without the basic fundamentals that were once self-evident.”I was brought up in Australian cricket where we did a lot of bowling machine work and we did a lot of talk on technique,” he said. “Technique to me is about footwork patterns and playing forward when it’s full, and [playing] back when it’s back. So they’re just really basics of the game particularly in footwork patterns and you talk about the great Australian players [how] they moved their feet like boxers, every one of them. They had footwork patterns and then from there you have the skill of run-scoring. And it’s a really important thing.”The technique is really important and I think now there’s a lot of talk because of white-ball cricket that you just have wide stances and you just stand and deliver. Well that’s okay, but even in T20 cricket or one-day cricket and most certainly first-class cricket and Test cricket when the ball starts moving around, if you don’t move your feet, then you’re going to come unstuck. And that’s something we all have to do in Australian cricket. There wouldn’t be a state coach out there who would be saying it’s all rainbows and butterflies out there after this weekend’s cricket, because of the collapses.”In charting a path forward, Langer argued that all players needed to learn to become better problem-solvers, aware of the intricacies of their own methods and able to tinker with them whenever problems arose. “After day two, I was up until about midnight watching batting videos, looking at ways we can get better,” he said. “What I know about Test cricket, I’ve been through all this before in a sense as an individual player. You come in, it’s really hard, and the only way you work it out is by problem-solving, and working hard.”That was my formula as a player, and all the great players, the great players I’ve been lucky to play with, they’re just really good problem-solvers, they work it out, they work really hard, and they’re brilliant at concentration, so if I can take the lessons I learnt as a player into problem-solving of making the team better, then hopefully we’ll go okay.Aaron Finch gets forward to defend•Associated Press”There’s certainly some focus we have to have. As we see just this week. We’ve got to work out, we’ve got a Test match here, first-class cricket, some T20s coming up. Then there’re some one-dayers. So the schedule is what it is. But the great players are able to adapt and most of them have got a good batting technique and the skill of scoring runs, so we can’t sugarcoat it any longer. If I’m a young batsman in Australia, it’s a pretty exciting time. If you work really hard on your basic game and you learn how to make runs, then there will be a huge opportunities in the Australian cricket team.”Assessing the performances of Australia’s batsmen, Langer was warm in his praise of Aaron Finch, Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja in particular. We’re in a much different stage of Australian cricket history, aren’t we,” Langer said. “You guys have heard me say it before, it’s usually harder to get out of the side than it is to get into the side. It used to be a beautiful thing, if you were the hunter, it used to be a shocking thing when you were playing. If you were the hunted, well that’s sort of good, but you knew there were hunters coming at you all the time. There was always pressure.”And in this instance, I thought Finchy played pretty well, he did really well, and he’ll learn a lot from this series. I was really impressed with Finchy. I thought Marnus played particularly well in this innings. He had a brainfade in the first innings. You’ve never seen anything like it. Two in two days. I’ve seen some stuff on the cricket field, but I’ve never seen that ever.”And Marnus knows, so I’m not burning him, it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in my life until what happened yesterday. I thought Marnus played well, and his leg-spin was a real revelation for us. As a young leg-spinner, there’s huge upside to that. Obviously Uzzy played really well, and he’ll have his knee operated on, hopefully sooner rather than later, so hopefully he’ll be right for the first Test match [against India in December].”When he reached Travis Head, one of three Australian debutants in Dubai, Langer returned to his technical theme, by noting how much he could see the young South Australian evolving in his first Test series. “What I liked about Travis Head is his development – he’s working hard on his game,” Langer said. “The way everyone used to say he can’t play spin, well he has worked hard on that. He played a cut shot today. I’m getting a bit technical here, but we’re talking batting here, which I love.”I love batting, that’s why it’s killing me at the moment. But he usually plays his cut shot from leg stump, today he played a beautiful cut shot, [like] Sir Donald Bradman, he got right across, he played that late cut for four. And obviously Shaun [Marsh] and Mitch [Marsh] haven’t had their best series, but we also know they’re good cricketers who have had a tough time. So there are opportunities for guys in the team, and there are opportunities for guys who are good blokes and make a lot of runs.”

Last month in cricket had all the usual fun: players and staff dissing everyone else, boards doing things (or not), and one man’s weight problem

Andrew Fidel Fernando04-Oct-2018Have you ever been in trouble at work? Maybe you didn’t quite make that sales target one month. Maybe you drank too much at the company outing and vomited on your manager’s children. Or perhaps you write a monthly satire column for a major cricket website and you miss your submission deadline pretty much every month despite frequent reminders from your editors. Well, as it turns out, cricket’s international players and coaches are just as likely as any of us to be on rough terms with their superiors, except with much higher salaries and way more fragile egos. The Briefing takes a look.Sending a message
Sri Lanka took their self-destruction world tour to the UAE this month, where they were thrashed by Bangladesh and then Afghanistan, and exited the Asia Cup in the first round. The aftermath of that early departure has perhaps been even more controversial than the losses themselves. Soon after the team returned to the island, the selectors and coach Chandika Hathurusingha called captain Angelo Mathews into a meeting, asked him to resign from his post, stripped him of the captaincy when he refused to do so, dropped him from the ODI squad entirely 48 hours later, and then publicly called into question his fitness and announced that his frequent run-outs were a “world record”, which is the most roundabout and elaborate fashion in which to tell somebody they are fat.The disgruntled
Someone else whose relationship with employers recently broke down was coach Steve Rixon, who has been credited with improving Pakistan’s fielding over the past year, but who has now called the Pakistan Cricket Board “stupid” – among other things – after having left his position at the end of June. Maybe you will recall the Pakistan board is not the only one to earn Rixon’s ire. Over the years he has also shellacked Cricket Australia and Sri Lanka Cricket. Take the quiz below to see if you can work out which Rixon verbal spanking goes with which cricket board.The paragon
If you want an example of a perfect employee, look no further than India head coach Ravi Shastri, who is never short of nice words about top dog Virat Kohli, or the current India team. Shastri did, however, gain the displeasure of former captain Sourav Ganguly this month, after Shastri had claimed the present team was India’s best side over the last 15 years. Ganguly labelled that comment “immature” but should he really have been surprised? At this stage, Shastri is in an escalating competition with himself to deliver the most glowing praise possible about Kohli and the India team. You imagine you could ask him anything and he would gush. Is this the best pace attack India has ever had? “By a mile. No team even comes close.” How great a fighter is Kohli? “Would have thrashed Muhammad Ali in his prime.” How well does Kohli reverse pressure on the opposition? “Puh. If the guy in had been a fraction as proactive as this India captain, he would have scored in the first ten minutes of the movie itself.”Yeah, so maybe let this one go, Sourav.A “misheard” word
Someone who escaped an employer’s censure this month was the unnamed Australia player who Moeen Ali alleged had once called him “Osama” in a Test in Cardiff, with the accused claiming the word he had actually used was “part-timer”. No action was taken by Cricket Australia, despite investigation by their integrity unit, which we must not imagine as two guys in suits repeatedly asking, “Didja say it, mate? Well, didja?”ESPNcricinfo LtdThe non-shocking repeat offender
In January, Bangladesh batsman Sabbir Rahman was found to have taken a child behind a sightscreen in a domestic match, and physically assaulted the said child, for supposedly “making a noise” that the batsman didn’t like. Sabbir was suspended from domestic cricket for six months and stripped of his central contract, but strangely, was allowed to continue playing international cricket. If you thought that punishment was insufficient, Sabbir has more recently taken it upon himself to be suspended from internationals as well. Having abused another fan, presumably an adult, and this time only on Facebook, he now faces a separate international ban of six months.Next month on The Briefing:- “It’s beyond amateurish. No one knows what they are doing, and it’s just a shocking lack of competence.” – Steve Rixon watches toddlers play with a football at local park.- Justin Langer’s application for senior-citizen discounts rejected. Has to be told he can’t add his playing years to his overall age, because the former is included in the latter.- Coach Chandika Hathurusingha points to the worn suspension on the team bus as further explanation for why Mathews was dropped.

Umesh Yadav on dealing with being benched, and how Ashish Nehra helped his bowling

Interview by Saurabh Somani05-Oct-2018Were you surprised by the call-up to the ODI and T20I sides for the England and Ireland series?
I had played an ODI in Bangalore last year against Australia. Maybe the selectors saw that and the IPL performance and thought I could be trialled. Maybe they thought, “Umesh is playing a lot of red-ball matches, so let’s rest him [when he wasn’t picked]”. I wasn’t surprised. I know when I’m bowling well I can do well with the white ball too. I did execute the plans discussed in England in the T20Is and ODIs – bowling yorkers at the death, swinging the ball up front.When you start playing, you don’t think you will be selected for every match and every tour. Sometimes you have to work hard and come back. Maybe that happened with me. If I do well, I know I’ll be in the team. If I don’t, then obviously I can’t be.But if you executed your plans in England and still didn’t get picked for the Asia Cup, even when replacements were needed, was that disappointing?
A little disappointment is natural. I thought the T20Is in England went well, but in the ODIs my economy rate was 6 [6.70 in two ODIs], so they must have thought, “Umesh could have done better”. Even I thought that as per my ability and experience I didn’t bowl as well as I should have. If as a senior bowler I’m giving up runs at six an over, and new guys are also going at the same rate, then there’s no difference between me and others. So I didn’t have much of a reaction [to not being picked]. If a fair chance is being given, let everyone get it. If I do well, then I can definitely come back. And it gives the selectors options to look at for the future.Do you think by now you should have been established as the third pacer in the limited-overs teams, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah having already taken the first two spots?
() I think it is a bit difficult at this time, because of how I have got my chances. I have got to play after long gaps. And in those chances, I think I may not be performing up to the expectations people have of me. If I play an ODI after two months, then there is a six-month gap, and then I get to play one more ODI, obviously there is difficulty in claiming a spot. I feel I still have good chances, but I need to do well to seal that place. [Since the start of 2017, Umesh has played only 11 ODIs out of the 44 India have played].I am confident that I will do well and can be the third fast bowler in the ODI team.ESPNcricinfo LtdHave the team management or selectors told you what’s needed from you?
Look, if you are playing for the country and are experienced, all they need to say to me is that I should bowl well and keep my economy below six. That’s it. If you work hard and bowl according to plan and still go for runs, then fine. But you should show that you are trying hard to get it right.The way Bhuvi and Bumrah are bowling, expectations from them are very high. It shouldn’t be that these two bowl very well, and then the third guy comes and gives away runs. So that expectation is there – that if you want to be the third fast bowler, you have to be able to match them to some extent.And what of feedback for the longer formats? You’ve been in the squad but not in XIs.
With the red ball it’s a simple thing. If you have the new ball in hand, you have to get wickets. You can’t win the match if you don’t get early wickets. If you get two-three wickets early it’s good for your own confidence too and, of course, it’s good for the team. I am an attacking bowler so I will never look to bowl restrictively. [I will never think that I should just try to get away with an economy rate of 2]. If I have the ball in hand, I’ll go for wickets.Have you ever seriously thought about concentrating on your batting? You have a first-class century. If you can offer runs too, it will boost your case for regular selection.
It depends on your mindset. If you want to become a bowling allrounder, you need to focus on batting a lot. If you practise it for several months, you will become better.Sanjay [Bangar] stresses that I should think in terms of being a bowling allrounder. I can’t be a batting allrounder because I need to focus on my bowling – that is my main skill. He tells me that I should aim to make, say, 30-40 runs, but it’s not that if I make a 30 I should start thinking of myself as a batsman. I’m a bowler first. If I can contribute runs, it obviously gives the team extra cushioning. And, of course, if I can contribute with the bat, I will have better chances.You have spent a lot of time on the bench. Does anyone take you aside and tell you why you’re not playing?Definitely. They know that if you’re making someone who has played 35-40 Tests sit out, you have to explain to them why. So that communication is there. Like, in England, I played the first Test. In the second Test, they felt they should play a spinner, but with the rain all plans were changed. Nobody can do anything about it. Their decision went a little bit wrong. Still, they had told me, “It’s not that we are dropping you, Umesh. But our thinking and planning is for an extra spinner, that’s it.”Then, when Bumrah got fit, he was coming in after already having done well in South Africa. And in the first match, Ishant [Sharma] and [Mohammed] Shami had performed well, so they had to get the nod [ahead of me]. Then they kept doing well, so I also knew that it would be difficult to get a chance. I couldn’t even say, “I should get a chance”, because the guys were taking 20 wickets in every match. I knew I would have to wait for my chance. After playing for a few years, I have that much honesty and awareness to know when I should get a chance and when I shouldn’t.But however much you reason it out, it must still be difficult. You sat on the bench through the South Africa tour, then one Test and back on the bench in England.
It is difficult. You are sitting for five days, trying to read the game from outside, to be aware of what’s happening… Nobody likes to sit out. You can’t really do anything. Sometimes you feel like, “I would have got wickets if I was playing.” Sitting outside is more tiring than playing! So yes, it was disappointing for me that I got to play only one of the last eight away Tests, but I think there’s nothing to be gained from harping on it. Now I need to focus on how to do better if I get a match, so that I get more chances in the future.”I always think of Australia as a country where I have had good performances. It gave me quite a lot of name and fame when I was starting out”•Getty ImagesIn England, what were your plans as a bowling group?
We all sat together – those who were playing and not playing – because you never know, the best idea could even come from someone who’s not playing. We shared all the information about any weaknesses we would spot, or any plans we had made. Some batsmen might have a problem with playing inswing and be comfortable against outswing, there are lengths that work better in England, and some bowlers hit it naturally. If it’s going off, you can sometimes spot it better from the outside.In terms of specific plans, like when we saw Alastair Cook was having trouble against Ishant round the wicket, we needed to get the ball to swing from around the wicket to Cook, and it was executed properly. And we saw the results, with Cook starting to get out to balls swinging from the stumps. And when Bumrah came back, we knew that Joe Root is strong on off stump, so the ball that comes into him was more difficult. Jonny Bairstow was also suspect against the ball coming in.How have your interactions with bowling coach Bharat Arun been?
He is a very genuine person and a very good coach. He gives bowlers confidence, which is very important whether you are doing well or badly. He would tell me, “Umesh, I know it’s frustrating for you because I know you are bowling well”, since I was sitting out. He was there for me, ensuring that my morale shouldn’t go down.He has told me several important things too. Like he noticed how I was holding the ball and my wrist position, and suggested that some part of the ball should be touching my palm all the time. Earlier when I would bowl, the palm of my non-bowling hand would face the batsman in my load-up. He told me to keep it parallel to the batsman (palm facing midwicket), which would help my line, and that’s what happened. Earlier, my non-bowling hand was falling away, and that made the line go wrong at times. Sanjay also told me this.You had said last year that Bangar also helped you out. He noticed that your speed while running in was varying and that was affecting your lengths.
Sanjay was a batting allrounder and bowled a lot too. He noticed that when I was running with the correct rhythm, my length was fine. The line was okay, but my lengths were varying when I was not running in well. It felt very nice, and I asked him to keep observing me, in case he spotted during a match that my lengths were up and down. He pushes me to improve my batting too.Your performances in the long home season in 2016-17 were very strong. You did well on Indian pitches, where help for fast bowlers is minimal, but in eight Tests that had pacer-friendly conditions – in England and South Africa – you were made to sit out.
( [Umesh is bowling well], so they also feel bad telling me that I have to sit out. But if your team combination doesn’t sit right, then it will be an even bigger problem. I can’t complain. I have also got lots of chances, I’ve played lots of Tests continuously.Yes, the hope is always there that if you have done well in India, you get a chance outside, where you have better opportunities to take wickets. But that chance has gone now and I can’t do anything about it. Now I need to give such strong performances when I get the opportunity that people will have to think that I have to play.You weren’t picked regularly in the limited-overs squads for a long time. Did that ever change your approach, or make you think you’ll focus exclusively on the long format only?
No, I’m still fit and my body is strong. So my thinking was I can play all formats. Red-ball cricket, you’ll play a maximum of ten to 12 matches in a season only, but there is a lot of cricket left after that. So if you play only Tests and focus only on that, you will find yourself with a lot of free time. I didn’t want to do that.And I was playing domestic white-ball cricket, I was playing the IPL. If I had switched off and thought that I am only going to play red-ball cricket, things would have changed in my bowling. My white-ball skills would have been finished. Because whatever you need to do in limited-overs cricket, you get only by playing in a match. You can’t just come in cold having only bowled with a red ball and say “it will happen”. But one thing is there – whether it’s a red ball or a white one, the new ball has to land in the same place.ESPNcricinfo LtdWas it easy to remain switched on all the time, especially when you weren’t getting picked or weren’t making it to the XI?
To be honest, there was a brief period when I did switch off – when we had come back from Sri Lanka. I was playing only the long format [for India], and was rested for the ODIs. Then Australia came and I played just one ODI, and then went to South Africa but was sitting outside. I thought I should ease up mentally a bit. The more I would have run behind something, the more I would have brooded. I didn’t want to fall into that spiral because you can get very negative, or you keep thinking of things that aren’t in your control. During that whole period, from coming back after Sri Lanka to the end of the South Africa series, it was more acute. It was also because I played only occasionally. I would get a game, and wait a long time for the next one.Did you speak to someone during that time?
I was speaking to Subbu sir [Subroto Banerjee], who has coached me often. He was the coach at Vidharbha Cricket Association’s academy in Nagpur. Now, he’s coaching Bihar. There are people who you just feel good talking to, and he is one of them. He always makes you feel good. There were regular chats with [Ashish] Nehra . He always told me that I was fit for one-day cricket and that he thought I had it in me to be India’s third pace bowler. I used to talk to him much before he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore’s support staff. What you can learn from a guy who has done it and shares his experience, you sometimes cannot get from formal coaching.How did you snap out of it?
After coming back from South Africa, I had played the Vijay Hazare Trophy matches [for Vidarbha], which is why I had good white-ball practice under my belt. Then I got a chance in the IPL and I was able to execute my skills there. My confidence was also higher with Nehra being there [with RCB].You had said during the extended home season in 2016-17 that the confidence of getting a lot of Test matches together led to good performances and that there were no major changes to your bowling. Did the reverse happen this past year, with so few opportunities?
I think I feel better when I play. I grow in confidence. It’s like having a car. If you drive it regularly, it goes very smoothly. If you suddenly stop using it for a couple of months, you have to send it for servicing before it gets into the same rhythm. It’s the same with bowling. Bowling in the nets can never replace bowling in a match.Is it a challenge to stay motivated for domestic cricket when you are coming back to it from international cricket?
My thinking is that more than motivation, you need positivity around you. If the people around you are negative about things and lament that “You were playing internationals, and now you have to play domestic matches”, it will pull you down. Whether I play international or domestic, I am playing because I love this game. This is my passion. I have grown up with this. Whether in the galli or domestic or international, my mindset has to be the same, and it has to be positive. That thing defines the sort of cricketer you are. So, for me, I want to just play. I will bowl with the same intensity at whatever level I play.”If you swing the ball at 140 clicks, then whether it’s a T20, one-day or Test match, it will trouble batsmen”•BCCIIPL 2018 was particularly successful for you. What did you do different?
I didn’t do anything radically different actually. I just focused more on line and length. Earlier, I would bowl one over, or maybe two overs at the start but this time, the captain and Nehra said that if I am getting wickets, I should continue bowling for three overs. That gave me more chances to bowl with the new ball, and what told me is that I don’t need to try to do too much. If I bowl my hard lengths, there will be chances to get wickets. The message was to stick to my strengths and not try stuff – a yorker here, a bouncer there – unnecessarily.What are your strengths?
My strength is to swing the ball at pace. If you swing the ball at 140 clicks, then whether it’s a T20, one-day or Test, it will trouble batsmen. If you are swinging the ball, then it’s not easy for the batsmen to hit you over mid-off or mid-on. They look more for singles and twos. So it would benefit me to do that and try to keep the ball in one spot. I had to try and get the batsmen to hit me over the top, not give them easy boundaries by letting them cut or pull me, or bowling on their pads.Was there some extra focus on keeping the ball wicket to wicket?
Look, I know I have pace. And pace [If you gain something by pace, you lose something too]. Batsmen have chances to score runs, they just need to time the ball. If you stray on the pads, it’s an easy boundary if you have pace. So I did some reflection about my bowling and thought that if I keep it wicket to wicket, and I can swing the ball from the fourth stump, it will be difficult for batsmen to hit anywhere. And even if he goes to hit it, there is only a 50-50 chance of success. But if I bowl half-volleys or very wide, then I don’t give myself a 50-50 chance, it’s much less.What was Nehra’s role and input overall?
He told me that he’s not going to “coach” me, because he knows I have also played a lot of cricket. He spoke to me as an experienced cricketer. He shared what he had done in various situations and told me that I can take from that what I feel will work for me. Often what happens when you play T20 is your mind starts thinking too much. You want to try all sorts of new things because you don’t want to give away runs. What happens then is that even if you have the confidence, the execution will go awry, because you’re not a machine. If you try one yorker, then one slower ball, then something else, one of them can go wrong. The yorker can end up a full toss or a half-volley. But if you focus on what you can do well, then it is better for you. So that’s what I did. I concentrated 80% on my length and only 20% on my variations.So Nehra freed you mentally?
Yes. He took the burden of experimenting too much off me. He removed all confusion by telling me I don’t need to try different things, and that sticking to the things I know best will work out. The more clear your mind while bowling, the better it is.