Called up to the Test side out of nowhere, Niroshan Dickwella showed there was substance to the hype that followed his schoolboy career. His challenge now is to sustain that level of performance

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC25-Jul-2014A call-up from the blue. On the plane at Heathrow. Off it with less than 36 hours to go. One practice session before the match, then in to face the second new ball, bearing down at 140kph before the day is out.Niroshan Dickwella had dreamed of Thursday for years. Newspapers predicted it when he was sitting in classrooms, wrapping his head around differential equations. At family weddings, which seemed to happen every other month, uncles and aunts meant something else entirely when they asked him “When do you think the big day will be?” Co-workers wanted to know how close he was. “Has Sanath called you yet?” His coaches were hopeful, but kept warning him: “It won’t come easy. Work hard.”Then it all happens in 72 hours and 2012’s Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year is there, taking guard with the flag on his left breast. The best bowler in the world has not had much luck that day. He is leaving a trail of smoke behind him as he charges into the crease in his final spell. Before long, Dickwella is slapping Dale Steyn over the slips. He is punching Vernon Philander through the covers for four. Balls are being left on length, others defended beneath the eyes. If he is nervous, there are no outward signs. He has replaced Dinesh Chandimal – the more senior wicketkeeper-batsman at his club, Nondescripts Cricket Club, and a Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year as well, in 2009. It is all a little surreal for those who had followed his career, let alone for Dickwella himself.Even before the boundaries, South Africa had raised a mighty appeal when an advancing Dickwella was struck on the pad, and the umpire’s finger went up. He had only faced 16 balls at a level where reviews exist, but he had the presence of mind to immediately ask the umpire what he was out for. Catch or lbw? When Nigel Llong told him he was out bat-pad, Dickwella referred without a second thought. Three Sri Lanka Tests before this, Rangana Herath, a veteran, had gloved the ball after his hand had come off the bat, and walked, to leave his side on the brink of defeat. At SSC, Dickwella knew that this far down the track, a review might not overturn an lbw decision, but surely the cameras would show he had not hit it.”It just shows the maturity in the guy,” said Mahela Jayawardene, who batted alongside Dickwella for most of the debutant’s innings. “He came to bat yesterday to face 10-12 overs, and he handled that. I played a game against him last year and he batted against us and he played well. He looked a composed player that knew his strengths and weaknesses.”On day two, Dickwella was batting alongside the centurion, but it was he who enlivened the morning. The on-the-up cover-drive off Morne Morkel was sublime. The lofted shot over mid-on off Vernon Philander bold, but safe. Then later, he ran at JP Duminy to collect him at the pitch of the ball, and cash in his first Test-match six.He does not have the manic energy of a Chandimal behind the stumps. He’s not clean, quick and clinical like Prasanna Jayawardene. His A team coach Romesh Kaluwitharana had given much of the cricket world its first exposure to Sinhala with (nice one) and (catch it), but Dickwella has his head down, focusing too intently to chirp. That’s Ajantha Mendis whipping them in from the other end. The main reason Mendis plays is because he is hard to pick. Dickwella has never kept to him in a match before. Herath is a little easier, but even he has a carrom ball, and turns it different amounts each ball, pitching some up, firing others in.He lets a hard chance off Hashim Amla through, but when Dickwella snaps to his left to take a superb catch down the leg side, he is still bouncing up and down in an appeal, long after the batsman has begun to walk. Debutants – the younger the better – are almost impossible not to like, and when teammates flock to ruffle Dickwella’s hair, this one is at his most lovable.Earlier in the day, he had dispatched Morkel clinically in successive balls, either side of the pitch, then waltzed dozily into the bowler, as he watched his second shot. Morkel shoved him grumpily out of the way. No Colombo edition of Ravindra Jadeja v James Anderson here. Dickwella looked up, embarrassed. He apologised, then walked back toward the crease.”Dickwella has improved a lot in the last two years, since he’s left school,” Jayawardene said. “If he’s got the attitude and the appetite to improve, then that’s something we’re looking for in the national team. He’d be a great asset.”Debutants often come in to the public consciousness with a clean slate. But there are a few like Dickwella in the Sri Lanka camp, who have been in the public eye since since their teenage years. If he wants a career blueprint for talented youngsters, then the man he shared a 100-run stand with has laid one out. Seventeen years ago, Jayawardene had hit a fifty on his debut too. Dickwella lit up the SSC on day two. Bold, compact, brimming with ability, his challenge now is to burn bright and long.

Misbal-ul-Haq may not have the inventiveness of Javed Miandad or instantly-recognisable presence at the crease, like Inzaman-ul-Haq, but he is rock solid, an attribute valued highly in Test cricket

Bill Ricquier30-Nov-2014Misbah-ul-Haq is surely one of the most remarkable cricketers of the current era.I was going to say, “of his generation” but that is problematical. Misbah turned 40 in May and most of his generation had shuffled off into retirement a while ago. Of current Test players, only Shivnarine Chanderpaul, three months Misbah’s junior, has passed 40. Sachin Tendulkar was well into his 41st year when he retired in 2013.But that brings one to the first remarkable thing about Misbah. By the end of the last millennium Tendulkar and Chanderpaul were, to put it mildly, well established international players. But hardly anyone outside Pakistan had heard of Misbah when, in 2007 at the age of 33, he made a memorable contribution to the inaugural World T20 tournament, making an explosive 43 in the final against winners India.That certainly gave a hint of what was to come: the calm under pressure is something that has always shone through. But little else in his international career before that, and little after it, suggested Misbah’s destiny – until he was appointed to lead the national side in the aftermath of the dismal tour of England and the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. Starting with a hard-fought drawn series against South Africa in the UAE in November 2010, pride has been restored to Pakistan cricket; and its leader has steadily become an understated giant of the game.When Pakistan won the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in November 2014, Misbah became Pakistan’s most successful Test captain in terms of matches won (15 out of 33) overtaking Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. Results have sometimes been uneven – such is the nature of the beast – but there have been resounding series victories over England and Australia in the UAE. Misbah has attained a Test batting average of nearly 50 – an unquestionable indicator of the highest class – and against Australia in Abu Dhabi, also in November 2014, he achieved the astounding feat of equalling a world record held by Viv Richards, no less, by making a Test hundred (his second in the match) off 56 balls.There are a few gaps in his CV. Not surprisingly, perhaps, he has only played three Tests against India, in India in 2007, when he made his first Test century, also his highest Test score – 161* at Eden Gardens. He has also played only three Tests against England, all in the UAE in 2012. So he has never played a Test in England – well , he has only played five in Pakistan. But he does have an MBA from the Lahore University of Management and Technology.As a captain, he does not have the aggressive, almost bullying ruthlessness of Graeme Smith or the tactical flair of Michael Clarke. Nor does he have the Roy of the Rovers leading-from-the-front charisma of Angelo Matthews. He just has a certain something. There is not a lot of shouting or waving or frantic pointing in all directions: just an air of calm authority. More than any other captain he reminds one of Andrew Strauss; a natural leader who has gained the respect of his players without having appeared to have needed to work to earn it.The current spell in the UAE is a clear indication of this. The omens were far from good for Pakistan when the series against Australia started. Pakistan had lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka, Misbah himself was out of form, Australia had a clean sweep in the one-day series and, most crucially of all, Pakistan’s Test attack had been decimated by a combination of ICC bans, injuries and loss of form. Their four principal bowlers in that first Test had played a total of eight Tests; Imran Khan and Yasir Shah were both debutants, but they had played a total of 260 matches in Pakistan’s oft-derided domestic competition, and more importantly, they clearly had the confidence of their captain.These four and the wily and experienced offspinner Mohammed Hafeez consistently outbowled their distinguished counterparts. Yasir and Zulfiqar Babar bamboozled the Australians just as Saeed Ajmal had flummoxed England two years earlier. Meanwhile, Ashes heroes Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon were made to look like net bowlers for Younis Khan, Misbah and the rest. It was said that you could not expect pace bowlers to perform in the UAE: then, as Trent Boult and Tim Southee went wicketless in Abu Dhabi, Rahat Ali took 4 for 22 in 17 overs in New Zealand’s first innings. Despite having a moderate wicketkeeper, Pakistan generally fielded much better than their opponents. These things don’t just happen: leadership matters.As a batsman, Misbah does not stand out. He is not the best batsman in his own side: that accolade must go to Younis. He does not have Younis’ grace and elegance. He does not have the inventiveness of Miandad or the flamboyance of Shahid Afridi. He does not have an instantly recognisable presence at the crease, like Inzaman-ul-Haq. He looks, well, rather ordinary really. What he has, in great quantities, is solidity, and there are only a few more valuable attributes than that in Test cricket. And, of course, he loves to “go big”. There were five sixes in his hundred in Abu Dhabi, three in an over off the deliciously inviting legspin from Steven Smith, two straight drives and a front-foot mow over midwicket. In his 52 Tests he has hit 47 sixes, that puts him 35th on a list headed by Adam Gilchrist with 100 in 96 matches. That does not sound much, but of those ahead of him only two – Afridi and (slightly improbably) Southee, have played fewer matches.What next? Well, although he has an exemplary record in first-class matches, which he started playing in 1998-99 and in which he now has an average of 51, we can probably predict with some certainty that Misbah will not follow the example of Jack Hobbs and score a hundred centuries after his 40th birthday. Pakistan’s one-day form is even less predictable than their Test form. But they are one of only five countries to have won the World Cup; it is hard to imagine a more popular choice as captain on the winner’s podium in Melbourne in March 2015.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line.

Listening to the former Australia batsman talk about being hit by short balls is to realise how perilous batting was back in the day

Sidharth Monga14-Dec-2014″There was probably more sledging I got in Shield cricket than anything else. It surprises me () the amount of sledging we did get, looking back. They were dead-set death threats. You get fellows and bowlers, who shall remain nameless, but they were – what’s the word – vindictive. Not vindictive. Very aggressive. They wanted to kill ya.”Did they mean it?”It’s in the heat of the moment. So I suppose they don’t mean it, but, you know, you look at what’s happened now.”Rick Darling knows “what’s happened now” could have happened to him a few times in his career. He played Shield cricket in the late ’70s and ’80s, a time when Australian cricket was so tough it is near-mythical now.It nearly did happen to Darling once, when he blacked out on the pitch during a Test match. Regular blows to the head have left him with post-traumatic epilepsy. He still has trouble with light entering his bad left eye, which bore the brunt of a bouncer in a Shield game.Darling was, by most accounts, an adventurous hooker and cutter. He is recognised as one of the best Australian fielders at cover and short cover in his time. He followed the Ian Chappell school of thought when it came to facing the bouncer: try to hook first, which means you are watching the ball for longer than when trying to duck, and pull out of the shot only if it seems too difficult to control.”I never ducked,” Darling says. “I always would have a go at it. I suppose there were some balls that were just… and I don’t know how I did it, or how the players did do it, but they realise the ball was too quick and they wouldn’t hook. I could never duck. I would probably sway out of the way of it. Or get inside and realise it was too high or too quick. All this is done in a split second.”Darling might have begun to show signs of nerves later in his career, but it was his sense of adventure as Test opener first caught the eye. Yet he played his last Test before he was 23, and ended his first-class career before his 30th birthday. The bouncer played a big part.Listening to him talk abut bouncers is to realise how perilous batting was back in the day – not that it needs reiteration after Phillip Hughes’ death – but also a chilling reminder that the likelihood of a fat injury to a batsman has always been high. For the cricketers of the day, though, it was business as usual.Take the example of when a Bob Willis short ball nearly killed Darling, at his home ground, Adelaide Oval, in early 1979. “All I can remember is, Bob Willis had this big inswinging, in-dipping action,” Darling says. “The ball was pitched well outside off stump was the last thing I remember. Once it swung in, it also cut in further. I was caught in no man’s land. I was sort of caught out of position, and hit in the chest. Unfortunately, at the time, I was chewing a chewy, and I swallowed my tongue and chewy as well. That caused me to black out.”John Emburey was the first man to check on Darling, and he thumped his chest to push the gum out. Umpire Max O’Connell gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Play continued even as he was taken to hospital. Darling’s next conscious moment was in the hospital. He was discharged in the night, and the next morning he resumed his innings on 0 not out after the fifth wicket had fallen. There was not a moment’s thought given to letting Darling not bat if he didn’t feel like it. When he came out to bat five down, spin was on, but he remembers there was no let-up in bouncers from Ian Botham.”I knew the Englishmen would test me out as soon as I walked out,” Darling says. “Ian Botham. Bob Willis. I remember facing Ian Botham when I went out there, and he did test me out. Fortunately enough I did hook him for a six, but I must admit it was more of a top edge. Adelaide Oval had quite short square boundaries, and it managed to clear them for a six. Of course he tested me out a few more times.”Darling was dismissed on 15. He batted in the second innings and made 18, but Australia – weakened by Kerry Packer defections – lost by 205 runs. Darling doesn’t remember a big deal being made of his courage. And worse blows followed in his domestic career.”I can’t recall having nightmares about it [the near death], and never have,” Darling says. “But probably the ones that hit me in the head later on in my career were a lot more detrimental than the one that hit me in the chest.”The fact that it has caused long-term effects – I was probably hit badly in the head three or four times in my career. To the point where it has now caused what they call post-traumatic epilepsy. It’s not a full-blown epilepsy attack, but more of a dizzy spell, sort of a blackout type. Only in the last 12 months has this been identified. Medication has fixed it up.”

“I got back to hook and it went between the visor and the top part of the helmet and smashed in my eye. That finished me. After that, I didn’t want to be there. I thought of other things I wanted to do in life”

There was another blow to his head, in what turned out to be his last Test, that sent him to Bombay Hospital, near Wankhede Stadium. Darling wishes to clarify that the stories that he was refused treatment until he signed autographs for doctors are apocryphal, although he remembers there being some requests for autographs.”The one that finished my career was when I got hit in my eye by John Maguire from Queensland,” Darling says. “John played a couple of Tests in the late ’70s or early ’80s or thereabouts. He got one to really rear up, and I got back to hook and it went between the visor and the top part of the helmet and smashed in my eye. That finished me. After that, I didn’t want to be there. I thought of other things I wanted to do in life. Even though I continued playing on in Shield for two or three years, I just didn’t want to be there.”Darling admits word might have gone around that he had a problem with the short ball. His confidence was gone, and family life beckoned.Life comes full circle, though. While he himself has a peaceful gardening job at an old-age home, his son is now 21 – an opener and a wicketkeeper at A Grade level in Adelaide. Only last week he was facing Shaun Tait. Darling was a little concerned after the Hughes incident.”After what happened to Phillip it goes through any parent’s mind that something could happen. But what do you do? Do you walk away from the game or take that chance? Phillip’s was probably one in 10 million. Not too many people die on the cricket pitch at first-class level. He’s probably the first. One of those things that happen. But yes, I am a bit concerned now.”That’s a concern Darling’s father didn’t have when Rick grew up hooking and cutting every time bigger, badder fast bowlers tried to bounce him.

Plus, Sangakkara’s prolific 2014, players with stumpings and caught-bowled dismissals, and losing despite high first-innings totals

Steven Lynch06-Jan-2015Kumar Sangakkara scored nearly 3000 international runs in 2014, was this a record? asked Hemachandra de Silva from Sri Lanka

In all, Kumar Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in international cricket in 2014 – 1493 in Tests, 1256 in ODIs, and 119 in T20 internationals (this excludes his 16 in the first innings of the Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, which started on December 31, 2013). This is indeed a new overall record: Ricky Ponting scored 2833 international runs in 2005. Sangakkara’s Sri Lankan ream-mate Angelo Mathews is in third place, after a crowded year: he made 2687 runs in 2014. Ponting also scored 2657 international runs in 2003, Rahul Dravid 2626 in 1999, and Sangakkara 2609 in 2006. For the full list, click here.Brendon McCullum hit 33 Test sixes in 2014. Was this another record? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States

That’s a good spot, as Brendon McCullum’s 33 sixes in 2014 improved the previous calendar-year record by 50%! Adam Gilchrist hit 22 sixes in 2005, and Virender Sehwag equalled that in 2008. Andrew Flintoff smote 21 sixes in 2004, and Matthew Hayden 20 in both 2001 and 2003. McCullum’s 164 fours in 2014 was another New Zealand record, but well short of the overall one: Mohammad Yousuf hit 234 fours in 2006, breaking Viv Richards’ old mark of 230 in 1976.This year Brendon McCullum joined the group who have both a caught-and-bowled and a stumping in their Test career. How many players have managed that? asked Jeremy Hall from New Zealand

Brendon McCullum’s first Test wicket – Sarfraz Ahmed caught and bowled in Dubai in November – made him the 16th man to have both a wicket and a stumping to their credit in Tests. Among the others on the list are AB de Villiers, Tatenda Taibu and Mark Boucher of recent vintage. Another New Zealander, John Reid, is also there: his 85 Test wickets (a record for anyone who also made a stumping) included two caught-and-bowleds, Denis Atkinson of West Indies and South Africa’s Peter Pollock. But Reid wasn’t really a wicketkeeper – he stumped England’s Peter Richardson at Old Trafford in 1958 while briefly deputising for the injured Eric Petrie. Clyde Walcott, who kept wicket regularly in his early Tests, later managed two caught-and-bowleds (Vijay Hazare and Tom Graveney); he’s the only man to manage double figures for stumpings and wickets, with 11 of each. Another occasional West Indian wicketkeeper, Robert Christiani, took 3 for 52 against India at Delhi in 1948-49, and one of those (Dattu Phadkar) was caught and bowled.At what number did the Don bat in Tests ? asked Arinjaya Khare from India

Don Bradman scored most of his Test runs from No. 3: in all he made 5078 of his eventual 6996 runs from there, at an average of 103.63. He did occasionally go in further down: in ten innings at No. 4 he scored 485 runs at 53.88; from three knocks at No. 5 he made 427 runs at 142.33 (including a triple-century at Headingley in 1934); in six appearances at No. 6 there were 681 runs at 97.28; and in three outings at No. 7 he made 325 runs at 162.50, most notably a series-turning 270 against England in Melbourne in 1936-37, when he held himself back in the order while a wet pitch dried a bit.What is the highest first-innings total in a Test that resulted in defeat? asked Pete Abrahams from South Africa

There have been 13 occasions in Tests when a first-innings total of more than 500 hasn’t been enough to prevent defeat. The highest of all is 586, by Australia against England in Sydney in 1894-95, in the first of only three Tests which have ever been won by a side that followed on. Pakistan declared their first innings at 574 for 8 against Australia in Melbourne in 1972-73, but still ended up losing. There’s only one instance of a team scoring more than 500 in their second innings but losing: India amassed 510 against England at Headingley in 1967, but they were up against a first-innings deficit of nearly 400.With reference to the recent question about the imminent World Cup, it’s also being played in New Zealand: who are the best performers in ODIs there? asked Tim Pate from New Zealand

Yes, I was dimly aware that I’d left New Zealand out last time. The leading visiting batsman in one-day internationals played there is Mark Waugh, with 891 runs; Sachin Tendulkar had 821, and Ricky Ponting 752. Leading the way for the bowlers is Javagal Srinath, with 43 wickets, ahead of Wasim Akram (37). The leading New Zealand batsmen in home ODIs are Nathan Astle (3348 runs) and Stephen Fleming (2975), with Brendon McCullum third on 2406 at the moment. Their leading bowler is Daniel Vettori, with 113 one-day wickets; Chris Cairns and Chris Harris both took 94. Taking Australia and New Zealand together, the leading overseas batsman is still Desmond Haynes, with 3276 runs, while the top bowler is Wasim Akram (124 wickets).

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the third and final T20 international at Kingsmead

Firdose Moonda14-Jan-2015Security… but not for this
Reeza Hendricks pounced on width from Carlos Brathwaite in his first over, was offered even more in his second and was ready to do the same. He threw his bat at a delivery outside off and got a meaty top edge to bring Lendl Simmons at third man in play. Simmons was standing just inside the boundary and priming himself to jump and take the catch – but the security official next to him knew better. He could see the ball was headed over the rope and towards him and backed away as Simmons backpedalled and crashed into the advertising boards to add injury to Brathwaite’s insult of being mishit for a maximum.Quality cricket moment of the day
Dwayne Bravo put the brakes on South Africa with a slew of slower balls and then produced the ball of the innings, albeit without any reward. He fired in a perfect yorker, aimed at the gap between Hendricks’ boots, through which the base of middle stump was peeking. Bravo was on target but so were Hendricks’ reflexes. In a flash, he adjusted so that his feet came together and his bat got down to dig it out. It may not be the moment many remember from this game, but it was one the purists would have enjoyed. David Wiese was not so lucky when Bravo dished up another one in his second spell.Kiss of the day
There wasn’t much in the way of friendly feelings when South Africa were flaying the West Indies attack but Kieron Pollard found the time for some fun when he got the first wicket. Hendricks grew tired of being tied down and tried to force something but could not get a slower ball away. Dwayne Smith, who let two chances go begging earlier on, was under this one and as Hendricks walked off, Pollard blew him a kiss goodbye.Kiss of the day II
Morne van Wyk became South Africa’s third T20 centurion and second in successive games. He achieved the milestone at the ground he has made his adopted home after moving to Durban from Bloemfontein two seasons ago and had his family in attendance. After soaking in the feeling with a fist-pump followed by a private moment with his head in his hands, van Wyk acknowledged his nearest and dearest by blowing a kiss off the blade of his bat.Gamechanger of the day
Aaron Phangiso is used to playing a supporting role to Imran Tahir but found himself the premier spinner in the XI today and stepped up. He was introduced in the Powerplay with West Indies going well and the potential for him to be targeted high but decided he would dictate terms. His first delivery was tossed up to Dwayne Smith, who was rooted to his crease and swung lazily. He missed and leg stump was pegged back to start South Africa’s march to victory.

Mahmudullah’s second century on the trot and the intensity of their bowling and fielding performance against New Zealand will give Bangladesh plenty of confidence to carry into the quarter-finals

Devashish Fuloria in Hamilton13-Mar-20151:29

‘In right conditions, Bangladesh’s attack strong’

Daniel Vettori had taken a break and was waiting at the third-man boundary for the over to end. Standing next to him with a couple of bottles in his hand was Mominul Haque, who, with a red bib on, did not look any different from the kid that had stood in front of Vettori during the national anthem.The difference was stark, not only between Vettori and Mominul, but also between the heights of the two squads overall, and, in the lead-up to the match, between the size of the halos around each team – a big, blindingly bright one around the ruthless and unbeaten New Zealand, and a feeble glow, no more than one generated by a candle, around BangladeshMore famed batting line-ups had been blown away by this New Zealand attack and Bangladesh, with a fresh coat of maturity but still Bangladesh, would have been spared deeper scrutiny had they succumbed, certainly after they were sent in.Instead, Mahmudullah’s second consecutive century led another remarkable all-round batting performance, with the bowlers and fielders following it up with sustained intensity, leaving New Zealand with a few questions to ponder before the knockouts.

‘Mahmudullah’s job not finished’ – Shakib

Shakib Al Hasan has said his team wants more of the same from Mahmudullah, who scored his second century in two matches, in the quarter-final against India.
“He [Mahmudullah] must be proud of the achievement but at the same time, his job is not finished,” Shakib said. “We will look forward to another hundred. If Sangakkara can hit four hundreds in a row, why not Mahmudullah.”
Mahmudullah, with 344 runs at an average of 86, is fourth on the list of leading run-getters in the tournament.
“The way Mahmudullah is batting, it is terrific,” Shakib said. “And other batsmen are contributing. So it’s a good sign for the team.”

The ball swung viciously, the fielders buzzed around batsmen at close range, and claustrophobia would have been understandable, but as Chandika Hathurusingha said yesterday, Bangladesh have repeatedly talked among themselves about playing with no fear and today was another good example.Three overs, three maidens for Trent Boult, four slips, no third man – New Zealand wanted to play Test cricket and Bangladesh weren’t shying away. Imrul Kayes played 19 balls for his 2, Tamim waited for 20 deliveries before flicking a boundary and eight runs came off the first seven overs.Aggressive fields meant open spaces, more opportunities to score. It sounds simplistic, but Soumya Sarkar was intent on proving it. While jogging a single in the 13th over after a push into the deep, he even had time to clear something from the pitch.A number of edges ran to the third man boundary, meaning that Bangladesh had already scooted to 72 in 14 overs when Brendon McCullum turned to Vettori. In the next 10 overs, Sarkar and Mahmudullah showed remarkable poise, even though only 25 runs came and no boundaries were hit.Shakib Al Hasan’s decision to start with spin from both ends was a sign of Bangladesh’s self-belief•Getty ImagesThere was a bit of panic in the grass banks when an elderly man, high on spirits and looking to use the middle-overs calm for a loo break, hobbled his way between and over the closely-packed bodies, but in the middle Bangladesh remained firmly grounded and comfortable with their pace. Mahmudullah was in control.The most assured batsman in the line-up now, Mahmudullah was not rushed like the others. He survived a rocky start and could well have been dismissed for a duck, twice. But that did not seem to affect him.Mahmudullah doesn’t step out of the crease often, or attempt extraordinary shots. He doesn’t have to. An elegant player to watch, he has only been extravagant in his celebrations, and he was central to Bangladesh’s innings plan. Around him, others had a bit more bandwidth – like Shakib Al Hasan, who surprised McCullum by calling the Powerplay two overs early. That early call may have been responsible for McCullum running out of bowling options towards the end, and having to turn to Grant Elliot for the 48th and 50th overs.Like an old-fashioned one-dayer, Bangladesh made the most of the last 15 overs, Mahmudullah accelerating smoothly after his century and Sabbir Rahman’s cameo providing the added thrust.In the subcontinent, batting teams tend to build their innings in a more linear manner, without so many changes in momentum. In this World Cup, however, teams have had to be smarter in planning when to hold back and when to launch. Bangladesh had been at ease with it in their previous two matches; today, they aced their toughest test yet.The freedom with which they played showed when they took the field, Shakib again befuddling McCullum by opening with two spinners, another sign of their confidence.As the players shook hands with beaming smiles after what had been a seesaw match, the difference in the heights wasn’t as noticeable as before. Bangladesh had already added a few inches to their stature and a few more lumens to their halo.

The team’s bowlers, led by captain Vinay Kumar, have shown great understanding of their respective roles to collectively apply pressure on opponents

Karthik Krishnaswamy21-Mar-2015On the second morning of the Irani Cup, Karnataka’s first- and second-change bowlers sent down eight overs in tandem. Sreenath Aravind bowled from one end, HS Sharath from the other. No wickets fell in those eight overs, and the batsmen hit five fours. In that period, Rest of India went from 41 for 2 to 72 for 2.The bare facts might suggest Aravind and Sharath released the pressure built by Karnataka’s new-ball bowlers, and gave Paras Dogra and Naman Ojha breathing space to rebuild after RoI’s rocky start. The bare facts, as can often be the case, are misleading.Of the 31 runs Aravind and Sharath conceded in those eight overs, only three came through the leg side, all singles, one of which was an attempted cover drive that Ojha inside-edged towards fine leg. Four of the five boundaries came via drives through the off side when the bowlers erred on the full side – a more forgivable offence than bowling short or on the pads, considering Karnataka had cover, mid-off and a short extra cover for protection.There were plenty of open spaces on the leg side, but this didn’t make the bowlers veer too far away from off stump. Through that eight-over period, the batsmen left only six balls.It wasn’t a hugely significant period of play in the context of the match result. The new-ball bowlers picked up two wickets before Aravind and Sharath came on, and two wickets fell immediately after they went out of the attack. They weren’t perfect spells, as the half-volleys would indicate, but it was pretty good bowling, and it took some pretty good batting from Dogra and Ojha to survive it. It showed Rest of India’s batsmen there would be no real let-up in the pressure from any of Karnataka’s four seamers.A lot of pitches this season have come in for criticism for being too green, to the point of rewarding medium-pacers for simply putting the ball in a reasonably good area. This Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch wasn’t like that. It had true bounce and a bit of seam movement over the first couple of days, and driving or punching away from the body was a risky idea, but anything loose could be punished without fear.It was important for a bowling team to maintain pressure on the batsmen, and Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka captain, said it was this thought that prompted the decision to play four seamers.”Normally, we have three good seamers and once we finish our spell, we need a part-timer to fill up,” he said. “Even Shreyas [Gopal, the legspinner] is a main bowler, but someone has to bowl that five to six overs, and the chances are there for the batsmen to get set.”That’s why we went with an extra bowler. We knew with the kind of bowlers we have, the plan was to come in short spells and bowl in the right areas.”On the first day, Rest of India had bowled Karnataka out for 244, and that might suggest they bowled well too. They did, but only in spurts. Given the start Karnataka got – they were 220 for 4 at one stage – they must have felt disappointed they didn’t put a bigger total on the board. Vinay said he had expected around 350.It took a good spell from Varun Aaron – who bowled a good length in the channel outside off and defeated batsmen with bounce when they looked to drive or punch him with an angled bat – to restrict Karnataka. Aaron was RoI’s first-change bowler, and he came on to replace Shardul Thakur, who had sprayed the new ball around, giving up three leg-side fours in his first four overs.In the second innings, the roles were reversed, somewhat. Aaron took the new ball, and bowled a long first spell, half of it at the end of the second day and half at the start of the third. He picked up the wicket of Mayank Agarwal, but he conceded eight fours in ten overs. Thakur, off his rhythm in the first innings, was the pick of RoI’s second-innings bowlers, finishing with a five-for and impressing with movement and bounce.Manoj Tiwary, the Rest of India captain, picked up on this inconsistency.”I thought we were good in patches, but not on a regular basis,” he said. “We bowled too many overs outside the off stump and few of the bowlers were not getting into the rhythm.”We were a little inconsistent as far as our length and line was concerned. They capitalised on the loose balls which were provided by us.”Given the mix-and-match nature of the Rest of India side, it was natural that the seamers didn’t necessarily have defined roles. Karnataka, on the other hand, came into the match as a wildly successful team whose core has remained more or less unchanged over the last two seasons.Each of the four seamers knew their roles perfectly. Vinay, the leader of the attack, was the aggressive swing bowler, pitching it up, swerving it away, occasionally jagging one back in – such as the ball that dismissed Tiwary in the first innings – and given a little more license to try things than the other three.Abhimanyu Mithun, usually the hit-the-deck enforcer, bowled fuller and straighter than he typically does, particularly in the second innings when there was up-and-down bounce on offer. RoI were chasing 403 and he destroyed their hopes with three wickets in his first two overs. Two were caught behind, poking at the ball as it took off from a length and straightened, and the other was bowled looking to work across the line of one that kept a bit low.Aravind, the left-arm seamer, and Sharath, blessed with Mithun’s height but not his pace, merely looked to keep things simple. With the cracks on the pitch widening during the second innings, Aravind bowled mostly from around the wicket, an angle that allowed him to attack the stumps.The only release from the pressure maintained by the seamers came from Shreyas’ legspin, but while he conceded close to four runs an over in the first innings and more than a run a ball in the second, he kept getting batsmen out. It’s been the story of his career so far. He bowls shorter spells than a spinner might usually expect, filling in whenever the seamers have needed a break, but has a strike rate – 37.50 – that would make a 19th century bowler proud. He turns the ball, bowls a good googly, and while he does bowl the odd bad ball, there’s a certain amount of risk involved in targeting his bowling.”[Shreyas] has improved, and he has become our breakthrough bowler, but the consistency has to improve,” Vinay Kumar said. “He will do well for us in the coming years.”It was an unusually harsh assessment, in an era when most other captains might have chosen to play up a young bowler’s strengths. But it summed up the attitude Karnataka have shown with the ball over the last two seasons. They have set the bar pretty high.

There is plenty to see and do around Napier – lovely ocean views, a gannet colony, a water park, cycling tracks through the sun-bathed countryside – but it’s the Hawke’s Bay’s wine that is world famous

Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Mar-2015As you bounce along the Waimarama country road 20 kilometres south of Napier, a sudden, serrated spine of ash-coloured hills rises in a steepening curve to the right. Below the weathered ridge, the ribs of the range stretch down into greener lower slopes that sustain cattle and sheep. Further down, a still, shallow pond captures the hills’ every detail in its reflection – like a mirror held up by the earth, demanding its handsomeness be admired again. The whole effect is dramatic and imposing; the hills presiding over surrounding orchards and vineyards like a rugged, forbidding royal family.I make a special mention of their splendour because that Wednesday, these royals would be outdone. The landscape could not hope to match giddying scale and daunting scope of the ignorance myself and two others would visit upon the Craggy Range winery at the foot of the hills, that Wednesday morning.There is plenty to see and do around Napier – lovely ocean views, a gannet colony, a water park, cycling tracks through the sun-bathed countryside – but it’s the Hawke’s Bay’s wine that is world famous, and it’s the wine we were damned well we were going to taste. No matter that none of our trio had even a passing interest in wine. No matter that we collectively had a kindergarten-level literacy of the subject.Wine is first meant to be considered at a small distance before it is consumed, apparently – its colour and smell are all supposed to be part of the experience. If the Craggy Range winery staff had studied us for a while after we stepped out of the car, they would have had a taste for the ineptitude that would soon enter their establishment. For a good five minutes we wandered around the premises in search of the tasting room, checking all the way by the laundry, and at one stage squeezing through the gap between a pillar and a gate, seemingly convinced that these people would hide the entrance to their business underneath a doormat, or behind a cluttered shed.When we stumbled upon the entrance, which was no more than 20 metres from where we had parked, and almost exactly in the centre of the front side of the building, we waltzed in and startled the young lady in charge of the cellar. We were, she said, her first guests of the day. As she produced three white wines and three reds for us to sample, she almost seemed happy. Over the next half hour, we would systematically ruin her morning with our boundless lack of knowledge about wine, proving beyond doubt that we were getting almost nothing out of the wine-tasting experience.The pond captures the hills’ every detail in its reflection•Andrew Fernando/ESPNcricinfoAs we began to glug down the samples, we offered questions of profound obtuseness between us. Questions like: “Do you chill white wine before you drink it?” And “why is some wine white and others red, when they are made from the same grape?” After each question, we would pause for a few seconds, as if to aerate the tannins of our own daftness, then let fly with: “What’s the difference in taste between Shiraz and Syrah?” (They’re the same thing, apparently)There were moments when I was personally impressed with the apparent grasp of viticulture that belied one of our queries. This was delusion. Without fail, our hostess was visibly becoming more and more dismayed with the quality of each fresh probe. “Yes, merlot does actually improve over time,” went one of her particularly downbeat responses.In between these rounds of inane Q&A, she would leave us and go into her office for a few minutes, presumably to weep. None of us needed to go at the time, but I now wish we had asked her where the toilets were. That would at least have raised the average intellectual standard of the exchange.Eventually, a thirty-something couple who appeared much more cultured and knowledgeable arrived, much to our hostess’ joy, you suspect. We polished off our remaining samples as she split time between the two groups, then even bought a bottle of one of the wines we had tasted. It was mainly out of economic utility – you didn’t have to pay the tasting fee if you bought something – but I like to think it was also a sort of apology for her having to suffer through our visit.

Over the last few months, he has slowly moved from a flashy finisher, to a more measured risk manager

Sharda Ugra in Sydney25-Mar-2015MS Dhoni has been hailed as many things – India’s greatest captain ever, “half the Indian team at this World Cup”, the best finisher in the world, an icon and this teenage crowd-pleaser from Mark Nicholas: “an unbelievably good-looking man.”Like his trophies, the superlatives for Dhoni are piling up, their loudest round now deliciously close. Dhoni is 100 overs away from his second straight World Cup final, on the back of the most enormous odds. This one is away from home in what is considered the toughest country in the world for touring teams. Besides, the omens for India around an Australia ODI in Sydney are dire: the opposition is formidable, unbeaten by India for 10 matches this season across formats.It is, naturally, time for super-heroics and who else but Dhoni to find his way to the centre, as he did in the 2011 final. There is a very good chance that beneath his blue India shirt rests a cape and a superhero uniform, with the letters MSD duly emblazoned. Were another name required, maybe Coolman would do. Like all true superheroes, Coolman once even had his kryptonite – it was called Test cricket. But he is past that now. Thursday’s scenario is one that Dhoni’s superhero self works best in: big game, big occasion, big obstacles, big opponents.It is extremely unlikely Dhoni will be at the World Cup in 2019 but, in 2015, he has revealed a few extra shades of his ODI cricket. As captain, he has enjoyed being in his element, despite operating within ODI regulations that he has never liked and never hesitated to say so publicly. In the World Cup, he has worked with and around them, and by avoiding the usual ‘funkyness’ of his bowling changes and bizarre reshuffles of batting orders. This more logical captaincy may well have kicked in during India’s first, hyper-energised match in this World Cup, against Pakistan, which was played in typical India mode: Pile on the runs and use scoreboard pressure to dry out the opposition and pounce on panic-station wickets.When the mysterious alchemy of India’s seam bowlers kicked in and they hit the lengths in Australia that they should always have, Dhoni was able to do more. Even without an express pace left-hander like the rest of the semi-finalists, the Indian bowling has shaken, rattled and rolled over their opposition. As the group matches went on, India faced teams lower in competitive intensity, but theirs never flagged. After the victory over Ireland in Hamilton, Dhoni was asked whether he worked best in ‘experimentation’ mode, using four spinners over 30 overs. Dhoni replied, straight-faced, “I’m best when the bowlers are bowling well.” During that game, the swiftness of the changeovers and Dhoni’s rapid rotation of spinners meant that the Indians were able to send down 22 overs in 62 minutes and knock the air out of Ireland’s innings.Mohammed Shami, relentlessly pilloried for his bowling in the first half of his tour of Australia, spoke about having grown as a bowler under Dhoni’s captaincy, enjoying the freedom he had received. “If I’ve made a mistake, he doesn’t say do this, do that, he doesn’t get angry. He says if you avoid doing x, then y will not happen. It’s important to have a captain with you can sort out difficulties and mistakes.”Shami didn’t mention but Dhoni is extra-careful when it comes to handling the quick bowlers off the field. Internal flights in Australia and New Zealand do not allow for a large number of business-class seats; it was noticed that during the World Cup, whenever Dhoni was given a business-class seat as captain of India, that seat is inevitably handed over to a fast bowler to stretch out his precious limbs and sprawl a little. That has paid off; with the fast bowlers bursting through within the first 15 overs of a contest, Dhoni has not had to bring in the spinners early to choke the runs, and he has continued to attack. The only time Ashwin ever bowled within the first 15 overs was at Perth on a ground that suited him and gave his height the best use.As Dhoni the captain has grown in stature and expectation, there has been another shade of grey to emerge: Dhoni the finisher. Two of Dhoni’s last three innings in this tournament illustrated his skills at the death, not as helicopter axe-man but as measured risk manager.This was not the Dhoni who would eyeball a bowler’s anxiety into mush, take a match into its final few overs and then whack the daylights out of the ball and onto a stadium roof. To be fair, that version of the closer has gone missing. Or rather, he has grown older and more cautious like colleague Sidharth Monga talked about.In his eighth year of captaincy, Dhoni the batsman has become, like the man himself, a parent. The one who knows that, après him, is a very large deluge. With Ravindra Jadeja batting like he has in this World Cup, that deluge could break down the door.Superman, Ice-Man, and now Professor Calculus?•ICCIn the most nervy of chases, Dhoni uses his experience to play Professor Calculus: talking about breaking chases into small numbers of runs to get in a clump of overs three or five, and not be daunted by the run-rate required every over. It was also engineered, he said, around a “theory” about narrowing the margin between balls and runs when chasing.Talking at length after India’s victory over Zimbabwe in Auckland in a chase that suddenly turned hairy, Dhoni had explained that with every chase, provided there were wickets in hand, teams could start by trying to narrow the margin between balls to face and runs to score and try to bring them as close to par as possible. “What’s important is to make the margin narrow, the number of deliveries to the number of runs that’s needed.” With wickets in hand, the landscape was then studied: “You have to see which bowlers are supposed to bowl, if you have a shorter end, (on the ground), which bowler is bowling well, who you can target, all of those things plays a factor.” The opposite worked when batting first: the calculation then was to try widen the gap between balls faced and runs made and, as captain, ask yourself the question: What’s a good defence, what can be saved?Dhoni then went on to make a statement that only revealed how well hardwired the ODI game was into his circuitry. “It sounds very complex, but when you are in those circumstances, more often than not that it’s a situation that really works out, so you don’t have to put a lot of thinking behind it. It’s a brain that keeps working.”It is as if Dhoni was giving the outside world a look into what went on in his head and behind that impassive demeanour during a big match. Like some algorithm was being cranked out in Dhoni’s head to give him the correct numbers required at that point. To either defend or hunt down.To hear Australia then talk about the Indians being scarred and threatened and the Sydney stats being bad for India becomes slightly otherworldly, naïve even. India’s game tomorrow will not be about the past or scars or old histories. It will be about keeping the margins between numbers manageable. Never mind Churchillian or Ravi Shastri-esque speeches and or even the stuff about process.MSD, cape and all, treats the ODI as a math problem. Bring on the semi-final, let’s crunch the numbers.

Key Pakistan players who are yet to play an international game at home

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Apr-2015Ahmed Shehzad
International debut: April 2009
Tests: 8 ODIs: 65 T20Is: 29
•Associated PressAsad Shafiq
International debut: June 2010
Tests: 34 ODIs: 53 T20Is: 10
•AFPJunaid Khan
International debut: April 2011
Tests: 19 ODIs: 51 T20Is: 9
•AFPMohammad Irfan
International debut: September 2010
Tests: 4 ODIs: 45 T20Is: 9
•Getty ImagesAzhar Ali
International debut: July 2010
Tests: 40 ODIs: 17
•Associated Press