All posts by n8rngtd.top

Glenn Maxwell came in with Australia two down in the first over, but he didn’t let that bog him down, choosing instead to take advantage of the field restrictions to launch a methodical counterattack

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur24-Mar-2014Glenn Maxwell’s hurricane 74 against Pakistan ultimately amounted to nothing, from a result point of view, but Australia will be delighted with the knowledge that one of their biggest hitters can connect under the highest pressure.From 8 for 2 in the first over and with Aaron Finch struggling to get going, Maxwell aimed at the best within Pakistan’s bowling attack. He regularly connected with the slog sweep every time a bowler strayed or even hinted at straying.It would have been understandable had he not taken complete advantage of the poor deliveries at that stage, since Australia needed to rebuild, but Maxwell rushed them past that stage quickly with what amounted to methodical hitting. His power helped, ensuring even slower deliveries cleared the rope comfortably. His feet were moving well, and at times he splayed them to make room on both sides of the wicket.Maxwell peppered the on-side field, taking 53 of his 74 runs from the region, hammering all seven of his sixes in the arc between backward square-leg and long-on. He was only stopped by genuinely good deliveries, such as a doosra that he missed from Saeed Ajmal in the tenth over.He attacked Ajmal quite a lot too, taking 12 off five deliveries, but was keener still when Bilawal Bhatti bowled his first over, taking 20 out of the 30 runs that came from it. His early attack on Mohammad Hafeez also signaled what Australia’s attitude would be towards spin, but the other batsmen didn’t taste the success Maxwell had.This was Maxwell’s most significant effort in an Australian jersey, having entered the team two years ago with a growing reputation as a T20 player. Captain George Bailey praised Maxwell’s response to the situation.”It was outstanding,” Bailey said. “That’s exactly why he’s batting in that position [No. 4] for us. We know he’s got that shot-making power. I thought it was a mature innings too; he picked gaps at times as well. He went up and down in momentum as was required.”According to Maxwell, batting in the Powerplay overs made it slightly less challenging for him. He had raced to 31 off 13 balls with two sixes and four fours during this period, taking his side’s score past 50 in the process. He also enjoyed the extra responsibility of batting up the order in a crucial moment.”I think it does help when you are out there in the first over and there’s still only two men outside the circle,” Maxwell said. “It’s a lot easier to score. The wicket was skidding a little bit at the time I went out there and by the end, it was actually starting to turn a bit.”It was nice to watch the wicket reversal, it made it easy for me because I had been out there for a while. For the guys that came in, it was probably a little bit more difficult because the ball was starting to spin a little bit more and play a few more tricks.”Maxwell also believed his prior experience while playing against Pakistan helped him, as did having Finch in the middle.”My first series against Pakistan, that probably helped tonight, knowing that I can face their spinners and I was confident I could score against them,” he said. “Having Finchy at the other end was quite calming as well, someone who I live with and I spend a lot of time with. So it was very calming having him at the other end.”It was Maxwell all the way for Australia, and when the batting collapsed after his dismissal, there was confirmation that not many of his teammates were having a great day. Whether it was just a case of waking up on the right side of the bed or of flicking a switch within, the Australian team ought to look to Maxwell and turn it on under pressure.

Taijul Islam is unlike most Bangladeshi left-arm spinners in that he picks his wickets by turning the ball and not just relying on the straighter one, a skill apparent in his five-for on Test debut

Mohammad Isam07-Sep-2014Taijul Islam is no stranger to making a great start. He took six wickets on first-class debut to help Rajshahi Division to victory in April 2011. Between that game and his five-for on Test debut in St Vincent, the left-arm spinner has gone through several hurdles to reach international cricket, much of it under the radar.He only recently came to prominence after after a fruitful Bangladesh Cricket League, when he was top wicket-taker. He took 55 wickets in the 2013-14 first-class season, and was picked to tour West Indies for the A side. Nine wickets from two four-day games kept him on the selectors’ radar. With Shakib Al Hasan suspended and Bangladesh in need of a left-arm spinner, Taijul became the first cab off the rank.Part of a three-man bowling attack in his first Test, Taijul was never going to be Mushfiqur Rahim’s go-to bowler. However, he changed his captain’s mind with a steady build-up of dot balls and used his flight cleverly. West Indies might not have known of him and he hasn’t carried the scars of his team’s weak form. That freshness helped.His first wicket was Kirk Edwards, a result of his attacking mindset even when the opposition was strongly poised. Taijul was making the ball dip on Chris Gayle as well, giving the bowler enough encouragement to toss the ball up and give it enough time to turn. Edwards played across the line and was caught at silly mid-off.The next four wickets, one might say, came cheaply as the batsmen got out trying to slog. But Darren Bravo was foxed by his change of angle. Taijul was swatted for two fours before he moved around the wicket and tempted the batsman again. Bravo, going for the hat-trick, was caught at mid-off. Kraigg Brathwaite had to place the need for quick runs above his natural game. Denesh Ramdin and Jerome Taylor also fell in service to a four-plus run-rate on the third morning, but Taijul was not tempted to bowl flatter and ended up with the wickets.Former Bangladesh captain Khaled Mashud, the man who gave Taijul his first-class break, was not surprised by the debutant’s success. Mashud said that Taijul was different from other left-arm spinners in the domestic circuit because he could make the ball do more than just slide on. Perhaps that is why the 22-year old, with only three seasons’ first-class experience was selected ahead of more accomplished bowlers of his variety.”He knows that giving the ball a bit of air and letting it turn is not a bad thing,” Mashud said. “He is one of the rare bowlers in Bangladesh now who doesn’t just bowl the arm ball. I don’t think it was surprising to get a five-wicket haul on Test debut but Taijul has been in good form this season so that has helped him too.”Taijul was in the shadow of the more established left-arm spinners like Saqlain Sajib, Suhrawadi Shuvo and Sanjamul Islam. But after Taijul had taken 14 wickets in his first three games for Rajshahi, Mashud ensured he had a place in the squad for the next three seasons. The split of the Rajshahi team to create Rangpur Division two seasons ago meant that Shuvo moved away and Taijul became a regular member of the country’s most successful first-class team.There were a spate of left-arm spinners snapping up five-fors and Taijul was part of the support-act with Rajshahi, which has contributed to him slipping under the radar. Mashud believes that Taijul got recognition from the two BPLs in 2012 and 2013, though his wicket-taking ability wasn’t coming through. His only had two from three matches in 2012 and nine from as many games in 2013. But he did display maturity in certain matches where his team needed someone to bowl tightly.”In the first season, he just played three games but his economy rate was enough to suggest he was strong enough to handle the pressure. He was a regular for the Rajshahi side last year,” Mashud said.He is the sixth Bangladeshi bowler to have taken a five-for on debut. The last man to do that was Sohag Gazi, who is out of the team for issues with his action. But Gazi’s slump in form recently has shown that you need a lot more than a sparkling debut performance to survive in top-level cricket.

The cricket world reacts to Jacques Kallis’ retirement from international cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2014″Jacque Kallis is the greatest ever allrounder in my opinion. The international game will miss him. #Kallis”

“He became mister reliable, the game’s going to miss him for sure.”

“The Garry Sobers of our generation.”

“Been a privilege and an honour to have played alongside this living legend @jacqueskallis75 Congrats.”

“Well done on magnificent career @jacqueskallis75!! Great player, not a great watcher – remember Chittagong for 400+ partnership! See you in Oz!”

Thanks number three, @jacqueskallis75. T'was a pleasure…

— Iain O'Brien (@iainobrien) July 30, 2014

“Congrats @jacqueskallis75 on a legendary career. One of the greats of the game. Was a honour sharing a field with you and the Proteas will miss you.”

“Congratulations to @jacqueskallis75 on a fantastic career. Best allrounder in our generation. Wish him well!”

“He scored runs for fun, swung it both ways, could hit you in the head and had hands like buckets. Congrats @jacqueskallis75 #TheBest”

“Jacques Kallis – congratulations on a wonderful career. Quality cricket over a long period of time. One of the very best.”

Arguably the greatest ever cricketer retires…cricket will miss you, @jacqueskallis75!

— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) July 30, 2014

“Congrats @jacqueskallis75. It was a privilege to have shared the field with you. Enjoy retirement, you certainly deserve to.”

“One of the most influential cricketers of all time calls stumps, congratulations @jacqueskallis75 on an amazing career. #Legend”

“@jacqueskallis75 congrats on a magnificent career mate! Best ever!”

“Jacques Kallis. An absolute pleasure to play against you. An allrounder I always admired a lot. #legend”

A sad day for SA Cricket, as #theking @jacqueskallis75 retire from international cricket. A legend!! #1ofthegreatsofalltime! #thankyou

— Alviro Petersen (@AlviroPetersen) July 30, 2014

“Congratulations to @jacqueskallis75 on a brilliant career. One of the game’s greatest ever players and best allrounder of my era. #classact”

“Most Valuable Player of our generation has called it quits from all forms of International cricket. An era has ended. Jacques ‘Great’ Kallis.”

“There are few cricketers who have made as big an impact as @jacqueskallis75 did in his career. Congratulations on your great career.”

Unbelievable cricketer! @jacqueskallis75

— simon jones (@si610) July 30, 2014

“What we were able to see as players was the man behind all the records. The aura in the change room, the calming influence on other players and the wonderfully subtle sense of humour, often in tight situations.”

England have not forgotten about Chris Woakes because he is not allowing them to; instead, he is right on track to be a key member of the squad at the World Cup early next year

Alan Gardner in Pallekele12-Dec-2014This time last year, Chris Woakes was preparing for a spell in the Big Bash League with Sydney Thunder. England had just announced their ODI and T20 squads to play Australia and Woakes’ name was not included. Having made his Test debut a few months earlier at The Oval, he had been overtaken by Ben Stokes when it came to selection for the return Ashes series Down Under.On the surface, Woakes is sort of player you might easily forget: right-arm seam, useful batsman, equable temper, respectable haircut. He has made sure England did not make that mistake. Recalled during the Test series against India, he bowled admirably without much luck until collecting 4 for 54 back at The Oval. He then filled the injured Stuart Broad’s boots in the subsequent ODIs, his first in over a year.On Wednesday, he claimed a six-wicket haul for the second time in his career. No Englishman had done that before, only eight have overall. No wonder Woakes calls the achievement “quite surreal”.Woakes seems certain to get his ticket to Australia this time. England play there in a tri-series in January ahead of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, and Woakes is the form quick. In the absence of Broad and James Anderson, who is also undergoing rehabilitation for a knee problem, Woakes has taken one of the new balls in Sri Lanka and is currently the leading wicket-taker on either side. Nevertheless, the squad announcement will be an anxious moment.”It’s always at the back of your mind,” he said. “With Jimmy and Broady not being here it has given some of the guys, particularly myself, the opportunity to put our hand up and show the management and coaches what we can do. It’s been good because I have been bowling in some tough conditions and the times I have bowled has been good experience, good exposure and the more you play at international level the better you get. Everyone wants to be in that World Cup squad, but I am just trying to concentrate on my game and get that right.”As well as opening the bowling alongside Steven Finn, Woakes has emerged as a death-bowling option following some impressive T20 performances last season – notably in the final of the NatWest Blast and the one-off T20 against India. He picked up five wickets in the last five overs of Sri Lanka’s innings in Pallekele and seems happy with being asked to “turn up at the end and get your swag-bag out”.Woakes’ 6 for 47 – only his second-best figures, having taken 6 for 45 in his second ODI back in 2011 – helped dismiss Sri Lanka for 239 and set up a five-wicket victory in the fifth match of the series. England could draw level at 3-3 if they can win again at the same venue on Saturday and Woakes will again be expected to play a key role.”I feel things are going pretty well at the moment, the ball is coming out reasonably well and I feel in good rhythm, so hopefully we can finish this series really well,” he said. “It’s a pressure game tomorrow, having to stay in the series to win.”Woakes is a genuine allrounder, with eight first-class hundreds, and he admits he would “have liked to score more runs”, having managed 7, 15 and 6 in England’s three Colombo defeats. He has not had much competition from Stokes and Chris Jordan in that regard, however, and looks to be the leading candidate to bat at No. 8 over the coming months of concentrated one-day cricket.England didn’t forget about Woakes because he wouldn’t let them. He has worked hard at generating extra pace, first with Graeme Welch at Warwickshire and the ECB fast-bowling coach Kevin Shine, then with David Saker. He has more variations in white-ball cricket and has taken on increased responsibility. In turn, when his bowling average was 129.50 for two wickets from three Tests, England stuck by him. They are now reaping the reward.”Once I got in to that Test side I managed to stay in for the three wins against India. I feel it was maybe a bit of a turning point,” he said. “The more you play, the more you feel at home in international cricket. It’s the same in the dressing-room – the more you are here and around the guys and the more involved you are, the more you become part of that team. I think we’ve got a great team spirit at the minute. The dressing room is a good place to be.”

Damien Fleming explains a few of the concepts he cooked up, his fondness for hard-rock and dishes on who hid a Britney Spears CD in their bag

Sidharth Monga13-Jan-2015What is the whole bowlologist concept?
You say as though it is a negative, with that bit of frown over there.I know the serious side of it, but I mean stuff like Avenue of Apprehension…
We played this beach cricket series. Australia, New Zealand, England, West Indies. Really good fun. Great way to play with legends like Viv Richards and Thommo [Jeff Thomson] and Dennis Lillee and Richard Hadlee. I remember talking to Sir Richard one night. About Geoff Boycott’s Corridor of Uncertainty. I can’t remember what exactly, but Sir Richard wanted to ban that. Next day on he said, “I am going to ban it, let’s come up with some options.” And so we came up with Avenue of Apprehension, Snick Street, and Hallway of Hesitation. But what I did was, I used other people’s ideas and used them as mine. Mixture of me and people coming up with stuff on Twitter and stuff.Were you always wacky?
We are in the entertainment business. Even Test cricket is entertainment. I want to make sure I am insightful and take the game seriously, but if there is a chance to have fun, do that. I was someone who could provide a bit of humour, I suppose. Sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional. Just by being pretty sloppy. Boys reckoned I used to talk a lot of rubbish when I was playing, but guess who is in the media now. Bad luck, lads.How did you turn out like this?
I roomed with Merv Hughes for six years. I left school and got picked two weeks later at the age of 18 years. Nothing prepares you for that. No wonder my personality is slightly off the kilt, because to room with Merv for six years and survive, one, I deserve a medal, and two, I am not going to come out normal. I blame it on Mervyn Hughes.How was your first night with him?
It was in Queensland. Tony Dodemaide and Michael di Venuto wished me luck going up in the lift. I went, “What am I in for here?” Going in there, [Hughes asked], “What bed do you want? Double or single?” I said single. And he went, “Aww gee, you are good to room with.” And then he ended up putting his arm around me and said, “Mate, you will be all right.”We didn’t room together only one time in those six years, and we lost, so went back together. He taught me a lot about cricket. For all the fun and games, he is a very mentally tough cricketer. I learned the level that I needed to be at. You need those role models when starting out, and you need to be a role model.Tell us more about rooming with him
We have got our own clubs. I have got a Test-hat-trick-for-Australia-on-debut club. Table for one each year. Merv and I form the club with Test hat-tricks and Test 70s club. So obviously Merv was the first. Me. We inducted Shane Warne last year. He never turns up, Warnie. Merv wanted to get Dennis Lillee, but he has got a 70 but no hat-trick. I threw in Glenn Mcgrath’s name, but Merv mentioned he doesn’t have a 70. It is a small club, but we catch up.What’s with Australian fast bowlers and scores in the 70s?
Well Rhino joined us. I rang Merv. No, Merv texts me saying, “hope Rhino gets a hat-trick. Hoping to induct him.”So just a club of two?
We are waiting. Warnie never bloody turns up, does he?Was it difficult to be yourself while being in and out of the side?
I never got dropped a lot. I helped the selectors by getting injured. I am sure if I was uninjured I would have been dropped a lot more.What did you tell Warnie and what did Warnie tell you after that drop?
I still haven’t spoken to him after that. I am not happy with it.Did you see the skit we did on Cricket Australia’s website. Make sure you plug that in the article.When I speak at corporate gigs, I build up the story a fair bit. I like to say I was on a second hat-trick, and I wasn’t that nervous because I had taken test hat-tricks before. I had got bored, really. In all seriousness, when I released the ball, and you don’t have enough time to think this, “Oh no it’s wide, oh beauty Srinath has nicked it, you beauty it’s going straight for Warnie, oh no Warnie has dropped it.” I wasn’t disappointed. We had beaten India to go one-up in the series, I took 5 for 30 so I am on the honours board, but the only thing I am disappointed about is, 5 for 30 is up there but how good would 6 for 29, including a hat-trick look? Just the 6 for 29 including the hat-trick on honours board. That’s my regret. In a statistical way, it would have been nice. But I have a story to tell.You could have started another club…
Two Test hat-tricks. Just for one. I could merge it with Australians-with-hat-tricks-on-Test-debut club.The one that slipped from Shane Warne at slip left Damien Fleming with hands on hips•Getty ImagesYou fast bowlers seem to have a strong bond…
We call ourselves the fast-bowling cartel. Obviously Glenn McGrath is the president. But the rest of us, we didn’t have a bowling coach when we were there. But the fast bowlers, we would talk about the opposition, we’d talk about what we were going to do and even to this day, you can just see we are talking over cricket. James Sutherland, an ex-fast bowler is the CEO of Cricket Australia, Tony Dodemaide [for] Cricket Victoria, Glenn McGrath’s doing a lot of things, Kasper [Michael Kasprowicz] is on the board. I am in the media. Dizzy [Jason Gillespie] is Yorkshire coach. We have an Indian brand ambassador as well. Srinath is an ICC match referee.But there is N Srinivasan there who has never bowled…
He’s not part of the cartel.But he controls everything…
At the moment, yes. But the fast-bowling cartel is sitting here, boys.Did you share Dizzy’s love of wrestling?
We actually – not that it should be allowed to be shown in public – but we got a bit bored on the 2001 series in India. In Delhi, I think. We mixed mini-golf with WWF. We called it Slam Punk Mania 2001. So we dressed up and we filmed it all. Just for the boys. But as you’d imagine, with the Indian people that were staying at the hotel, we ended up with a massive crowd thinking, ‘what the hell is going on?’What names did you have?
All I can say is, I was FFF. I’ll say that, but I don’t want to say the rest. Dizzy was Goofball Gillespie. And what was Kasper? He was the Hooded Avenger. He had a bit of a sock as an ally.Have you read any wrestling books?
I’ve read Hulk Hogan. I borrowed it off Dizzy. He used to love him, Mankind and all those guys.Were there cracks in the cartel when it came to music?
Dizzy and Kasper are very close because we are big hard-rock fans as well. That’s one thing I liked about India. India liked their rock. So you knew you can always buy rock CDs in India.Heavy metal?
I can go pretty heavy. Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax. I go as heavy as that. That would be the limit for probably Kasper and Dizzy. But you know AC/DC, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains. I am more a big rock fan.The only disagreement we had in the Australian dressing room was what went on the rockbox. We had the hard-rock guys like Kasper, Dizzy and me. And the big little head-banger David Boon. Loved his Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin. Cause he is a legend, I gave him a Motley Crew CD, and we get a few plays out of it. Because no one wanted to take Boony on. But when he retired, I had no one. So they chucked them out.Then we had the pretty-boy bands. Like Warnie, he likes ABBA and Aqua, and Ricky Martin. Ricky Martin? Warnie. Binga Brett Lee and Blewy [Greg Blewett]. The worst thing is they all knew the dance moves to Backstreet Boys and all that. And we are going, “Jeez.” It was the near the end of Michael Slater’s career that I found a Britney Spears CD in his bag, and I am not lying. And I was like, ‘Mickey, you’re out, mate. You can’t open the batting for Australia.’But they weren’t the worst. The worst were the country and western fans. Guys who liked Kenny Rogers and Johnny Denver, and an Australian guy called John Williamson. Like Steve Waugh, the captain.And that’s where you saw the guys who wanted to please their captain. Like Justin Langer and Hayden and Gilchrist. They would act like they actually liked that music just to get the captain handy. So that was the only dissension in there. I think that shortened my career. I had serious arguments with Steve Waugh, which we still have. There’s still a bit of friction. We play a little bit of golf together, me and Steve. And we’ve been partners, and we haven’t been winning. I reckon that our music dissension doesn’t help us gel as a team.Did you ever play Megadeth in the dressing room?
Yeah, yeah yeah. We’d get set periods where we would get to put it on. Particularly, Warnie hates my music. His brother Jason loves my music. So he would be like, “You’re like my brother.” And he hates it. For every Megadeth song or Metallica song from , you hear . And you’re like, “Are you serious?” Ricky Martin, , what you doing? And you’re dancing to it? Seriously how about you get a few more runs? Then we would get Holy Wars on. Then we’d get Metallica on.Did bad music bring around bad results?
I had bowled pretty well in this ODI series in 2001. I had got a few 2 or 3 for 30s. We got slogged a bit. And I don’t even know where it was. We are about to go out and bowl. Warnie has on. Phil Collins. That’s the atheist of rock ‘n’ roll. I said to John Buchanan. “John, you expect me to go out and be a fiery fast bowler, bounce Tendulkar and Ganguly, and rip into them with in my ear?” Go out there, of course I get 0 for 60 off 10 [0 for 53 off eight]. Walk in, see John Buchanan, and all I say, “Are you happy?” And walk away. That was my last ODI in India.What did Buchanan like?
Buey was pretty happy if the team was happy. He would float everywhere. He didn’t mind a bit of banter. He didn’t mind a little bit of friction within the dressing rooms .He thrived on them a bit. He would have meetings and pose questions. Mark Waugh would be asleep. The rest of us would listen. I reckon he was pretty easy.Who knows, he might have been writing his own tunes?
He might have been. He was a bit loopy, Buey. Pink Floyd might have been up his alley. He was a little out there, John.What does bowlology recommend?
This is in the bowlology handbook, fast bowlers have got to listen to hard rock. If you are going to bowl fast, you have just got to rock. I used to have a pump-up tape and a mellow tape. Just if I was getting a little bit over. But mellow for me was AC/DC or Pearl Jam.What about the mullets?
I did have one early. I had one halfway down the back. Kasper never. He didn’t have the head-cut for a mullet. Glenn didn’t either. Glenn had that Dumb Dumber Christmas look for a while there.You would have heard Parables Of Glenn McGrath’s Haircut?
No, but Glenn was, like Merv, a pest in the dressing room. He is always throwing forks and knives. He is a real wildlife person. Whereas I was more witty comments. I was always there as a bit of wingman if someone wants to go out for a bit of a beer. I liked the social side of things. And not getting famous enough so you can’t go out and enjoy things.It’s all part of being in a team, the camaraderie. Something I really enjoyed. The fun we had away from the game. But also we were very fortunate that there was still the fun side to it in the mid-’90s. Where we still celebrate pretty hard. Because we won quite often. Only towards the end that we started to get more professional and paid more. That era from ’93-ish to early 2000s we started to get paid well, but we could still have a real life outside the game.

Brendan Taylor stayed through some of the toughest times in Zimbabwe cricket’s recent history but the circumstances have forced him to opt for a stint in England

Firdose Moonda13-Mar-2015Brendan Taylor was told to walk away from Zimbabwe Cricket 11 years ago. He stayed. He was told to walk away every year after that. He did not like being told what to do. He stayed.For him, the politics of playing sport in Zimbabwe was secondary to the actual playing and he did not have any real reason to leave. In 2004, during the white-player walkout, Taylor was just out of high school, too young to fully understand the undercurrents but old enough to know playing international cricket was a big deal and the chance to do so was on his doorstep. He stayed.After that, crisis snowballed into crisis. He stayed.In the years that followed, Zimbabwe, the country, was thrown into turmoil. The economy lost so much money, cricket was among the last things it could think about. And in that time they lost so many Test matches – seven in 2005, five by an innings and then some – figuring out how to become competitive was also low down on the radar. They offered themselves up for exile. He stayed.

Not worried about leaving a hole here – Taylor

Brendan Taylor has cautioned against forecasting a gloomy future for Zimbabwean cricket just because he will not be involved. Taylor’s three-year Kolpak deal with Nottinghamshire makes him ineligible for Zimbabwe for that time but he has full faith the game will move in the right direction with Dav Whatmore at the helm and promising players in the ranks.
“I think there’s enough depth there at the moment. We’ve certainly got some experienced players, we’ve got some young and talented players coming through,” Taylor said. “I’m not too worried about maybe leaving a hole there. I certainly don’t think that’s the case.
“I think the players are definitely good enough to fulfill that No. 4 spot in Test cricket and one-dayers, exciting players as in Solomon Mire and Sean Williams in the middle there, there are talks of Graeme Cremer making a comeback. For me that’s all very encouraging. I have no doubt you’ll start seeing the best from them, and I’m confident that there’s a bright future right around the corner for Zimbabwe cricket.”

Salaries weren’t paid. But there was almost nowhere in the country where it was any different. He stayed.He looked for somewhere to go, briefly, and then stayed.By 2008, sponsors were slowly trickling in and Zimbabwe had a plan to reintegrate into the global cricket community. Taylor’s stay seemed worthwhile. They started playing a T20 franchise competition and built towards the 2011 World Cup. But then, they crashed out after only beating the smaller sides they faced. He stayed.A Test comeback was around the corner. So staying was worthwhile. He led the side and remembers it as the best moment of his career, an “incredible feeling.” He even stayed longer.Series against Pakistan and New Zealand followed, and Zimbabwe Cricket was on the up. He stayed.A tour to New Zealand tested their ability and brought Taylor to the attention of a franchise in that country. He was offered a T20 deal for one of their sides, which he accepted. There were rumours Taylor would consider moving to New Zealand but he returned to Zimbabwe.That year, 2012, saw funds and tours dry up again. Salaries weren’t paid. He stayed.There was a World T20 to look forward to and although Zimbabwe crashed out of that, Taylor stayed.More matches came in 2013 but only after more fighting about funds. Taylor stayed.The reasons for Brendan Taylor to go are far greater than the ones which could make him stay•ICCShortly before the home series against Pakistan, Kyle Jarvis took up a Kolpak deal and left, citing financial security as a major reason for his decision. Taylor questioned the timing of his team-mate’s decision and stayed.His son, Mason, was born on the eve of the first Test. Taylor had been at the hospital and had to withdraw from the starting XI. But later that day, he went to Harare Sports Club to watch his team-mates and have a net. And stayed.He returned for the next match. His wife Kelly and their new-born child were in attendance. They stayed too.Somewhere in the midst of all of this Craig Ervine went to play club cricket in Ireland and Graeme Creamer quit cricket for golf.A players’ association was formed to lobby for salaries, which were not paid again. Taylor stayed.Mid 2014, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) was restructured, the captaincy was split and Taylor was relieved of his duties as limited-overs leader. He stayed.Zimbabwe hosted South Africa, Taylor made two low scores and was dropped for the third game, despite notching up a half-century against Afghanistan two innings before that. He stayed.An eight-nil blanking across all formats to Bangladesh was the only preparation Zimbabwe had for the World Cup. Taylor stayed. But it was also the first time he thought of leaving. Seriously.The situation was becoming untenable and even ZC knew it. As soon as the team returned home, they announced another overhaul.So why now, when Zimbabwean cricket is again looking to get back on its feet, has Taylor finally decided to go?Because now, enough things have mounted up and his reasons to go have become greater than his reasons to stay. Other people are not telling him what to do but circumstance is.”It hasn’t been an easy decision to make,” Taylor said. “It’s something that I discussed with my family and my wife, and after two-three months of doing that, I decided to go and play in England. I think all players tend to try and maximise a little bit. When you’ve got kids at home, you want to try and make sure they’ve got the best sort of upbringing that you can give them. That all sort of favoured the decision. I just want to go there and try to better myself as a cricketer, and at the end of the day, we’re all trying to provide for families, and to me that’s very important.”The good news for Zimbabwe fans is that Taylor could still go back. Nobody would dare tell him that, he already knows. “I don’t think everything is lost after England, whether I continue to play on after those three years in England or come back to Zimbabwe.” And stay? When he does return, you can bet he will.

Shane Bond on how fast bowlers can outsmart batsmen in T20s if they trust their variations and take their time plotting their moves

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi04-May-2015What are the building blocks of a good fast bowler in T20?
For any bowler, just being able to execute his skills and team game plan under pressure does not probably change much from the other formats. Obviously in T20 cricket every ball is so important, so the ability to think clearly under pressure is a huge one. I would always love to see extreme pace, but in the T20 format the most successful bowlers have been spin bowlers across the board, so the ability to turn the ball is obviously important. Extreme pace has its place, but it is not very easy to come out and bowl in the late 140s.How do you find the right balance between going full throttle and being defensive?
There are different things you can do to make it difficult for a batsman. Essentially you have to sum up and know what the conditions are because every match you play is different. You have to get this fine line to balance between playing to your strengths and understanding the conditions. From a quick bowler’s point of view, he has to be able to bowl a bouncer, a slower ball, yorker, all those slower bouncers. You need to have that skill set and then it is just a matter of understanding when to apply that skill set or what to bowl in a particular situation, on a particular pitch.How does one effectively use the bouncer, considering you only have one available every over?
You’ve got to use it proactively. You only have one, but that does not eliminate your ability to bowl the ball short. I don’t like to see bouncers being used after the bowler has been hit. It is effective against new players who come to the wicket. They might try to play the hook shot and you can try to create the pressure.

“Sometimes bowlers fail to understand that we as bowlers control the team part of the game”

What about yorkers?
If you miss the yorker, in terms of length, say, if it turns out to be a half-volley, it can end up going for a four or a six. We all know how good Mali [Lasith Malinga] is. He will hit five out of six, six out of six, yorkers. Now if you do that, it is very, very difficult to score off, but there are not too many other bowlers in the world who can do that. So you’ve got to understand that you have other balls you are going to have to deliver, where you have to set fields that create a little doubt in the batsman’s mind and are a little unpredictable, so that if you do bowl a yorker and miss it, that rather than going for six it could go for a single. So the challenge for bowlers these days is understanding they have got to have the courage to either bowl length or short at the back end of the innings on some wickets as opposed to default mode, which for a long time has been just to bowl full.You are seeing a shift in bowling because often length balls can be harder to hit than yorkers if you miss. Batsmen just sit up these days as they hit the full balls straight over the bowler’s head or you get a number of players who will play behind the wicket with paddles and flicks. The batting side of things has developed massively in the last five years and bowlers need to come up with tactics to counter that.One strategy Dale Steyn says teams have started using is placing a leg slip and pitching stump yorkers. It is somewhat of a risk, but can it be a useful tactic?
As a bowler you have to be prepared to gamble a little bit. Batsmen predict a lot about the lengths the bowler is going to bowl, and as a bowler you can use your field to sort of telegraph what you are going to bowl and do something completely opposite to try and put the batsman off. So if you can create some doubt in the batsman’s mind then you are likely to have a little more success. I think there are times you can telegraph things depending on the situation of the game, but it is very difficult to do that with the way the batsmen play these days; if they know exactly where you are going to bowl then they can put themselves in the position, and if you miss slightly then you are in big trouble. So what Dale said is absolutely right: cast a doubt in the batsman’s mind and then have the guts to come up with a delivery the batsman is not expecting.”Experienced bowlers in T20s can help me in my role as a bowling coach because they all offer a different perspective”•Getty ImagesWhat is the challenge of bowling on slower surfaces especially towards the second half of the IPL, when pitches become slow?

You’ve still got to understand where the batsman is trying to score. So you’ve got probably seven to eight top batsmen in each team who all hit the ball in different zones, or like to play in a certain way. You just have to know exactly what these batsmen are trying to do, where they want to hit you, and make life as difficult as you can for them to hit that boundary in particular; bowl a line and length and ask them to do something outside their game plan. And if you are good enough to do that and they still hit you, then that’s okay. That to me is the formula in T20 cricket: to search information about each player, and you try and lower the odds in your favour. Great players will still have their day where they are too good for you.Whether it’s Kieron Pollard or Glenn Maxwell or AB de Villiers, it doesn’t matter sometimes where you bowl, they are going to hit you. But you still can lower the odds in your favour and give yourself the best chance and not get knocked off your game plan through great shots. Bowlers get knocked off their game plan, and then all can go downhill after that, so it is important to have a simple but clear game plan and ask the batsman to be good enough to beat you – not just once but probably a couple of times before you change the game plan.What is a good game plan in the Powerplay?
You’ve just got to ask the batsmen to hit good balls. There would be subtle differences in line for each batsman, but if you bowl good balls generally around the top of the off stump without giving too much width, then the batsmen will have to do something. They have to charge, they have to take a risk, and if you can do that consistently, then you are going to be a decent T20 bowler.

“I don’t like to see bouncers being used after the bowler has been hit. It is effective against new players who come to the wicket, who might try to play the hook”

Shaun Pollock’s line – “a dot ball is gold dust” – still holds true, right?

It does. As a fielding team you’ve still got to be willing to have those men inside the circle. If you go for a boundary an over and five singles, you are going at nine; the opposition is getting runs without taking any pressure. So as a fielding team, you need to have guys stopping the singles, particularly in the middle overs. You have got to squeeze new batsmen to create pressure, because one or two good overs with the ball can change the whole tide of the game. You can have poor overs but then you can come back and change the course of the game through one good over. You need to have the mentality that regardless of what happened before, you have to keep coming in, trying to execute the plan and keep that aggressive mindset.Mental strength is another key element. How do you stay calm, especially in the final five overs when the power hitters usually dominate?

You have to understand yourself as a bowler when you are starting to feel that pressure, and then you must have that routine that gets you back to thinking clearly, even if it means slowing the game down considerably. Sometimes bowlers fail to understand that they control the team part of the game. Often when things aren’t going well, the game changes and you get in a rush and all of a sudden you are under huge pressure. Otherwise you can take your time, slow the game down, just take that moment to think clearly and figure out what the batsman is probably trying to do, and then you adjust your field. It is as simple as that: when you’re under pressure as a bowler, the emotions can start taking over and you start bowling short. The overs 16-19 are the ones that can kill you in T20 cricket.Most bowlers will have a default mode they’d like to go to when they are under pressure, bowl certain balls which may not be required at the time. A lot of bowlers, especially inexperienced bowlers, will just stick to one ball or plan which does not necessarily suit a certain pitch and a certain opposition.”The overs 16-19 are the ones that can kill you in T20 cricket”•BCCIDoes an incident come to your mind when you overreacted?
I had someone like Daniel Vettori standing at mid-off a number of times and he would call it the “glaze” – where you’d get a glazed look in your eyes and you go quiet. He would come up to me and say, “You have the glaze on and you need to snap out of it.” I think your team-mates and captain around you who notice that play an important role in keeping a bowler focused. I think there is a big difference between someone coming up to a bowler and saying, “Hey mate just take your time”, to five guys running over telling you where to bowl. I think the latter is not going to help the bowler.Who are the best fast bowlers you have seen in T20 cricket?
There is no doubt that Lasith Malinga is right up there. He is probably the best recognised one. Having played against Mali a lot, we always knew that if we had to get ten runs off the last over when he was bowling, it would be a challenge. Against most bowlers around the world you would back yourself to get those ten runs. Dale Steyn is a great bowler across all formats in terms of his skills and experience.There is concern about Malinga’s consistency. Do you agree?
I don’t think so. He has come back pretty fast from ankle surgery. So it is just going to take some time. In terms of pace, he has done a hell of a job to be where he is. It would be interesting to see how he goes over the next 12 months when he gets confidence in his ankle. He is not an old man by any stretch of imagination.How did you pull off that master stroke against Chris Gayle to bowl slow in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore?
We had the advantage of batting first on that surface. Their most successful bowler was David Wiese, who just took the pace off the ball, and it was difficult to bat against him. So we felt that if we tried to mirror what he did, it might make life difficult at the top, particularly against Chris. Mali has a great slower ball and he executed them very successfully in the first six overs. It did not quite reach the level at the back end of the innings, but it certainly worked and probably was the difference in the match in those first six overs.There is this perception about what guys like Malinga and Zaheer Khan, who are 30-plus, offer to T20 teams. You performed a similar role at Kolkata Knight Riders. What exactly can these older guys offer?
You need to have that level of experience where you have calmness under pressure. Mali brings his thoughts to the table, his experience, gives confidence to the youngsters. They can help me in my role as a bowling coach because they all offer a different perspective. They set an example for the rest of the group to follow in terms of the way they train. The way Mali goes about his business to get himself fit for matches is a very good example for the younger guys. It is a game where you are always under pressure, and that is the difference, probably, between experienced bowlers and youngsters. The experienced bowlers will know what to do, they know the fields they can set and bowl to and they just get on and do it. That takes pressure off the rest of the group. Take Malinga, who has been with one franchise for the whole time. He knows the players, he knows the way they bowl, and then he can offer his advice in terms of field settings and such stuff. When you are under pressure and under the pump you need that clarity from your senior bowlers.

Mitchell McClenaghan talks about how being aggressive makes him stand out, why being a team man is important, and his World Cup and IPL journeys

Interview by Nagraj Gollapudi23-May-2015While doing a photo shoot for a calendar for Bachelor of the Year in 2013 you described your job as: “Captain wants me up, sends me in one direction and says please hit this guy or get him out.” Does that still hold true?
It is a philosophy that has worked really well with me. It is a role I do well. I like being aggressive. I like getting in people’s faces. You can change the game in many ways. At times you need to be aggressive and guys will make mistakes just from your presence.Like every New Zealander, on green wickets I used to just bowl medium pace, nibble it in, swing it. I must have been 17 or 18 when my dad said to me, if you want to play first-class and international cricket you need a point of difference. He said every bowler in the country can run in and swing the ball, but there are not enough guys who run in, bowl quick, bowl heavy and bowl bouncers. So it was his motivation that kind of pushed me to want to run in hard, try and bowl quick, and my game has developed from there.Who was the first batsman you hit?
I obviously do not go out to hurt people. But it is nice when a bouncer comes off. I bowled a good one to AB [de Villiers] before the World Cup. And he got out the next over. You bowl to hopefully put them on the back foot so that they make the wrong decision. I don’t use them to hurt people but I use them as a means of setting them up to change the game for me or the guy at the other end.

“I have been known to bite myself, bite my hand. A few of the Auckland boys have given me a bit of shit about that”

You also describe yourself as “ultra-competitive, aggressive, maybe a little bit crazy sometimes on the field”. Define crazy.
() I have calmed down a lot. I’ve got to admit it. I used to just lose the plot. I look at Dale Steyn. He just has the ability to deliver an amazing spell just after tea or towards the end of the day, when he bowls quicker than ever. I try and emulate that attitude when I play first-class cricket – you have got to get your adrenaline up, even if that is imagining that person at the other end as someone you absolutely hate. Or if the umpire gives a wide, even if it is obviously a wide, get yourself fired up and get angry at him, which makes you pumped up.Any examples of times where you did go crazy?
I have been known to bite myself, bite my hand. A few of the Auckland boys have given me a bit of shit about that. It seems to give me that adrenaline kick. When people get hit during a fight, their senses get heightened, so it is a bit of a weird one but it has worked for me to pump myself up for some spells at times.Tell us about the recent celebration where you hit the ground with the palm of your hand a few times having dismissed Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner.
We identified a couple of plans for Shikhar [Dhawan] and Davy. One of them was to take a punt and go short. It was a massive wicket. I was just pumped. In the moment I just let it out. It turned the whole match, because if one of the guys bats through, they make a decent score and that is how they win their games. In T20, guys have got to play their shots. You just bowl a ball that you hope goes to a fielder or gets you a wicket. It could have gone for six too, but thankfully it was a wicket. You have to take the gamble sometimes.I don’t plan my celebrations. I am not a [Dwayne] Bravo – I don’t plan to do a certain dance if I get a wicket. It just comes naturally. It is just emotion. It is just living in the moment. It is just giving it everything for the team and being stoked that I can contribute.”I don’t use bouncers to hurt people but I use them as a means of setting them up to change the game for me or the guy at the other end”•AFPWhat is it about fast bowling that drives you?
I might not be the most economical bowler but with the way the game is going and how flat the pitches are around the world, there needs to be a point of difference. You need to have someone in your team who can run in and change the game without the ball swinging, seaming, turning. You need to have an aggressive bowler who can enforce himself. And whether that brings some wickets or that means they have to attack the guy at the other end, which give him the opportunity to take wickets…You have three three-wicket hauls this IPL (only Ashish Nehra and Mitchell Starc have more). Can you talk about the performance against Rajasthan Royals, where they were favourites with six overs to go, needing 64 runs with eight wickets in hand. You got three wickets in quick succession and altered the result.
That is what I have done for New Zealand: being able to come and change the game in an over. Against Rajasthan Royals, they were in a good position. We probably were a little bit below par with the runs we scored and we needed to take wickets. [Sanju] Samson was playing very well on the leg side and I thought I could take the pace off and move the ball away from him especially since the wicket was starting to hold. He still struck the ball well but it went straight to the fielder. So it is about the accumulation of different factors, trying to put the percentages in your favour, and it is about bowling the right ball which has the least chance of going over the fence, and hopefully guys would have to hit it in areas they are not comfortable with. Steven Smith’s wicket was similar. You only have to watch one minute of footage to know how good he is on the leg side. Since the wicket was holding a little bit, it was going to be hard to cut and I just pitched it outside off and moved it away and he was caught at third man.What happens mentally when you are hit for three fours in an over, as in the game against Delhi Daredevils when Shreyas Iyer took you on?
Frustration. I don’t want to get hit for fours. If I’m hit for a four, the first question I ask is: did I execute the ball the way I had planned to? If I executed the ball and he played a good shot, then I can go back to my mark with a clear mind. If I did not execute it, was it a bad ball? Yes. Then I know I just have to go back to the same plans. Those are two ways to deal with it and that comes to the same result, and it makes you think positively. Sometimes when you’re angry you can forget those things and a few times, definitely in the IPL and in my career, I have let that get to me. It might affect me for one spell, but next over, next spell, no dramas. It is about being able to process things and not let it affect you for the whole match.There have been a few occasions when catches have been spilled off your bowling during this IPL, like in the Daredevils match when Iyer was dropped at deep cover when two fielders ran for the same catch.
I don’t want to point fingers. I am more about the team and I would never say anything to mates. I am frustrated obviously in the moment because important catches of, for example, top-order batsmen can change games. If you look at most T20 stats, if you take three wickets in the first six overs, you generally win the game. Not many teams come back from three down. So catches that get dropped in the first six overs for me are the most important catches. I had a coach [Dermot Reeve] for a while whose philosophy on dropped catches was, if you go off at someone, they are not going to catch the next one and it affects the whole team. You have to just smile and get on with it.Your dot-ball percentage this IPL is pretty good: 42% (109 out of 258 deliveries).
But it doesn’t seem like that. I feel like I am getting hit for a lot of boundaries ().”The way Brendon McCullum approaches the game definitely suits my style of cricket”•Getty ImagesHow much has Shane Bond (previously New Zealand’s bowling coach, now with Mumbai Indians) played a role in your development?
We are different as fast bowlers. Shane was a swinger of the ball and a faster bowler than me. He is always trying to keep me positive, helping me maintain my focus by saying things like I am one of the hardest guys to get away for batsmen if I hit my areas. He is very good during our preparations, where everything is very detailed. He understands the way different guys bowl. He never says it is one way or the highway. He is very malleable and can actually understand everyone from every point of view. He has been a big asset to my career.Barring West Indies and Pakistan, you have at least a four-wicket haul in your first match against all other main international teams in ODIs. That is some feat.
Brendon’s [McCullum] style of captaincy definitely helps. He is very aggressive. He is a brilliant captain and has a great cricketing mind. The way he approaches the game definitely suits my style of cricket. You just have to look at the World Cup and what he can do to bring a team together, and the effect his captaincy has on the performance of any player, to understand him.You sat out for most of the World Cup except for one match. Did that teach you anything?
At the start of the tournament obviously I was disappointed as my record is pretty good. But in a tournament like a World Cup it comes down to what is best for the team and what is best keeping the conditions in mind. It is all about trying to win the World Cup. If you are upset or angry that you are not playing, that can filter through to the guys who are playing, and I don’t think that is very fair. You can’t show any sort of resentment. You have got to be ultra-positive. So if I wasn’t going to play, I had to find a way to contribute in some other way, so I was bowling in the nets trying to prepare the batsmen to face Mitchell Starc and the likes. At the end of the day it comes down to the team. It is not just those 11 guys, it is the whole squad. And if you are not together you are not going to go all the way into the tournament.How has Ricky Ponting (the Mumbai Indians coach) helped you?
He gives you confidence. He is a very positive man. To see his passion and his drive to win, even when he is not on the field, you can see why the Australian team was so successful during his reign. He is very inspiring. Even when Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 235 against us, he spoke for maybe 30 seconds between the innings and he had the guys believing that they could go out and chase the target.How big is this IPL final for you?
Outside the World Cup final, it doesn’t get any bigger. This is awesome. I’m buzzing. Win or lose, we have made a lot of strides this year as a team. Under Ricky and the support staff, there has been a real shift towards a team-first mentality, putting your body on the line for your mates on the field, putting in that extra little bit of effort. We are actually doing the little things right and we have made massive gains as an organisation in terms of playing for each other and not playing as individuals.

The perils of being Kemar Roach, plus ridiculous paintings, and all kinds of peripheral Ashes action

Alex Bowden21-Aug-2015One of the joys of Twitter this week was being able to debate the artistic merits of Shane Warne’s painting with people the world over.

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If you’ve not seen the work in question, it reveals a lot about the man who commissioned it. There’s JFK; there’s Mick Jagger; there’s Angelina Jolie (topless); and there’s… Dimitri Mascarenhas.Warne himself is pictured deep in conversation with the Boss. “Springsteen’s got a cricket ball in his hand, so he’s just sort of asking me questions about cricket,” Warne explained while talking viewers through the mural as part of a Sky TV programme about his private life.Witnessing the work, you might well ask whether the owner is actually an 11-year-old trapped inside the body of a creepily plastic-looking 45-year-old. Is there any evidence that Warne is, in fact, a grown-up?

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You could argue that Warne deserves more respect, but respect is earned. Take Chris Rogers, for example. His colleagues gave heartfelt tributes ahead of his final Test.

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Rogers is one Aussie who’s had a reasonably productive summer in England. Even those not in the Test team haven’t been having the best of times.James Faulkner’s with Lancashire, but is being a bit needy.

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Glenn Maxwell’s on the other side of the Pennines with Yorkshire, but is struggling for runs even in friendlies.

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Meanwhile, Australia coach Darren Lehmann has seen some of the great stadia of the world – Eden Gardens, the MCG – but his critical faculties have deserted him to such an extent that he’s now filled with admiration for… the Britannia Stadium in Stoke.

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At least Peter Siddle’s notched a few wins.

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Elsewhere, Kemar Roach has been keeping busy with the three Fs.

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But one F has been filling more time than the others.

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Maybe the five o’clock run is a fourth F.But he doesn’t run everywhere.

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Presumably it was a different car that nearly ran her down and not Kemar’s…Finally, if you’ve ever wondered about the popularity of Nando’s among cricketers, this provides evidence that many of them look for fine dining in the wrong places.

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Full marks for making the effort to swear in French, though.

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2015Shoaib Malik went past his previous Test best as England struggled to create chances•Getty ImagesEngland’s bowlers toiled during a wicketless morning session•Getty ImagesMalik reached his maiden Test double-century during the afternoon•Getty ImagesHis performance was all the remarkable given it came after a five-year absence from Test cricket. Malik put on a record fifth-wicket stand for Pakistan against England with Shafiq…•Getty Images…who reached three figures himself in the following over•Getty ImagesMark Wood eventually made the breakthrough and a clatter of wickets saw Pakistan declare on 523 for 8•Getty ImagesAfter fielding for 151.1 overs, England began their reply. Alastair Cook was close to handling the ball in the first over but managed to stop himself•Getty ImagesMoeen Ali survived a review for lbw against Rahat Ali as England reached 56 for 0 at the close, with plenty still to do•Getty Images