With the completion of an innings victory over Hampshire at Bournemouth, Glamorgan took the pennant to Wales

Paul Edwards07-May-2020August 24, 1948
Scorecard”That’s out, and we’ve won the Championship,” said Dai Davies when Charlie Knott was leg before wicket to Johnnie Clay at Bournemouth in August 1948. Davies was quite correct in both respects, of course, but the rich spice of this famous story is that he was the umpire sending Knott on his way and thereby sealing Glamorgan’s first title. The official later protested he had merely raised his finger but there were plenty of witnesses and Knott confirmed that Davies was the guilty – some might say ‘innocent’ – party.It is a fine tale, charmingly suited to one of the grander and more unlikely triumphs in the Championship’s history. Glamorgan had never finished higher than sixth in any of their 21 previous seasons, some of which had seen the county struggle to survive, let alone prosper. So no one blamed Llanelli-born Davies in the slightest. He had played for Glamorgan in the 1920s when the county had needed to run whist drives and dances in order to soothe the imbalance in the books. He was also a regular in the 1930s when the county’s finishing position in the 17-team table was in double figures far more consistently than some of their batsmen. Moreover, he was only one of thousands of Welshmen at Dean Park that Tuesday afternoon. Many supporters had booked holidays on the South Coast and some had been among the ten thousand or so who watched Glamorgan beat Surrey at the Arms Park in their previous game.There were other respects in which this was a deeply Welsh success. No county has the same national responsibilities as Glamorgan and it was therefore fitting that the players who won the title came from most areas of Wales. The skipper, Wilf Wooller, whose leadership was a mixture of brotherhood and bollockings, was born in Rhos-on-Sea; Willie Jones, whose two double-centuries in the space of ten June days set up victories against Kent and Essex, hailed from Carmarthen; Clay was from Usk, while the side’s most stylish batsman, Gilbert Parkhouse, had his home in Swansea. The offspinner Len Muncer, who took 139 Championship wickets in 1948, and the strike bowler Norman “Pete” Hever, who picked up 77, may have been vital recruits from Middlesex but it was only to be expected that victory over Hampshire would be followed by emotional anthems from the valleys. This was a hymns and arias day, no matter that Max Boyce was still a toddler in Glynneath. Never had genteel Dean Park radiated with quite so much .ALSO READ: The greatest Championship finish of them all?”Our leading cricketers nowadays rarely seem addicted to song,” noted John Arlott drily in 1975. “But anyone who heard the Glamorgan team burst into ‘Land of My Fathers’ after they won the Championship at Bournemouth in 1948 would have thought they were a male-voice choir.”It was just a shame that Allan Watkins missed the game against Hampshire after injuring his shoulder in the final Ashes Test at The Oval. Indeed, Watkins only heard news of Glamorgan’s vital game against Surrey from the stop press scores in the hourly editions of London’s evening papers. “Nobody spoke to me,” said Watkins after his first experience of an England dressing room. “There was no joy in the side at all.” This was particularly noticeable, of course, given that Glamorgan’s dressing room at this time was filled with noise and argument, most if it involving Wooller. In fairness to his England colleagues, Watkins might have realised that Arthur Morris and Ray Lindwall generally did little for their opponents’ joie de vivre.None of which overly concerned Glamorgan’s players as they travelled to Dean Park, knowing that if they beat Hampshire and neither Surrey nor Yorkshire achieved victories, they would be champions. Glamorgan had won that previous game against Surrey in Cardiff by an innings after Wooller had shrewdly opted to bat first on a wet pitch and let his opponents make what they could of Clay on a drying one. The answer was not very much. Surrey were not quite the power in the land they were to become a few years later and Clay – shades of Arthur Mailey – returned match figures of 10 for 66.Wilf Wooller batting at Lord’s•PA Images Archive/Getty ImagesIt was still very much the era of three-day cricket on uncovered pitches. If you had a useful attack, the loss of six hours’ play did not end any chance of a result. So even when only 10 minutes’ cricket was possible on Saturday at Bournemouth, Glamorgan supporters had reason to hope something could be conjured. It was also a more God-fearing era, albeit most Glamorgan fielders found facing Wooller when they had dropped a catch to be a sufficient Day of Judgement. But Sunday remained a day of rest, not that many people noticed the difference in Bournemouth. So the Welsh supporters thronged the chapels and prayed for resilient batsmen and deadly spinners in that order.Someone may have been listening. Fifties from Emrys Davies, Arnold Dyson and Willie Jones allowed Glamorgan to post 315 all out on Monday and Wooller exhorted his men to their greatest efforts in the hour or so that remained. “We want five of them out tonight,” he told them, “We’ve got to get after them, I want to hear the ball hit Haydn [Davies]’s gloves every time you return it whether they run or not.” A brilliant short-leg catch by Parkhouse disposed of Neville Rogers in Wooller’s second over and Hampshire ended the day six down. It was entirely typical of Glamorgan’s cricket during a summer in which the skipper had demanded his players become the best fielding side in the land.”He’d always seen fielding as a prerequisite of success,” wrote David Foot of Wooller. “His intrepid leg-side fields brought a new fashion to county cricket. The forward, square and backward short legs seemed to hold on to everything, without flinching. Wooller led by example in the forward position, wearing the bruises like a Pontypool prop’s battle-scars. In some respects, he never spiritually divided the two games [rugby and cricket]. They were both physical, quite apart from the additional subtleties of cricket that he readily acknowledged; both were about courage and stuffing the opposition.”Chickens apart, “stuffing” was not really Bournemouth’s style but Glamorgan did it to Hampshire all the same. “Hang on to Yorkshire, we can win here,” read the telegram Wooller sent to George Woodhouse, his Somerset counterpart, at Taunton. “We will beat Yorkshire. Good luck!” was the reply. As it turned out, the match at the County Ground was drawn but that made no difference to Glamorgan. Asked to follow on 231 runs behind, the home side managed only 116 in the second innings, Clay taking 6 for 48. At Lord’s Middlesex dispatched Surrey by an innings and Glamorgan were champions.Amid the fizz and frolics the long moment of triumph was not lost on Clay; nor did it ever lose its significance. Glamorgan’s success was wreathed in rich emotional contexts and many of them involved him. In 1948 Clay was the 50-year-old honorary secretary of the club. In the post-war team photograph he looks more like a prudent treasurer, which was precisely the role he had undertaken in 1933 when his beloved county was on its uppers. Before that, of course, he had played for Glamorgan during 1921, its first year in the Championship. In that season he had been a fast-medium swing bowler in a struggling side; later he decided his height and build were better suited to the slow stuff.Allan Watkins•PA Images Archive/Getty Images”In what dark winter shed or sunny autumn field he practised and perfected this mutation, I do not know,” wrote RC Robertson-Glasgow. “Perhaps it was a throwback to schooldays and ballistic experiments against forbidden walls. Perhaps some slow bowler had taken a wicket and Clay, weary of his own fast-medium strivings and envious of the other’s facile success, put those long fingers round the ball, trundled down a vast off-break, and saw the light.”Clay had been cajoled by Wooller into playing five games in 1948; he took 27 wickets. Another spinner, the left-armer Stan Trick, could only be spared from his father’s garage for seven matches, but he dismissed 36 batsmen, 22 of them in the two games at Swansea. It was all so very Glamorgan, as was the welcome the team received at Cardiff General Station when they returned late that Tuesday evening and found thousands waiting to greet them. Wooller had already gone to London to play for the Gentlemen of England against Australia but Clay, urbane and thoughtful, offered other speeches to follow those he had made at Dean Park.”This victory for Glamorgan will do a lot of good not only for cricket generally but for similar counties like Warwickshire and Hampshire,” he said. “No longer is the Championship the monopoly of the few.”It was a wise saying albeit not a completely accurate prediction. Glamorgan had become only the third county outside the so-called Big Six (Surrey, Middlesex, Kent, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire) to win the title. They followed Warwickshire in 1911 and Derbyshire in 1936, whose successes were, if anything, even more unlikely than Glamorgan’s. It would be another 13 years before a tenth county, Hampshire, joined the list but Wooller’s men had shown the way. Probably none of which troubled them late that August evening as they hightailed it to the Cardiff Athletic Club, where the celebrations continued. indeed. Match from the Day

The former England batsman turned commentator discusses his recent health issue, and writing an autobiography when you don’t like talking about yourself

Matt Roller10-Jun-2020It didn’t take long for Rob Key to make the jump from overnight shifts as a guest on coverage of New Zealand versus Bangladesh to ubiquitous presence on Sky Sports. His dry wit and cynical tone make him a distinctive voice, and he is preparing to adjust to commentating in front of empty stadiums this summer.But rather than simply looking forward to cricket’s resumption, Key finds himself feeling anxious. Two months into lockdown, he felt dizzy as he stood up one evening. “Suddenly, my vision went,” he recalls, “for literally five or ten seconds. We went into hospital just to get checked, and it turned out I had one of these TIA [transient ischaemic attack] mini-strokes.”Key says that he is recovering, but finds himself on edge. “I feel fine, but you have a fair amount of anxiety until you find out exactly why it happened. That’s going to take a little bit longer before I have heart tests, and stuff like that.”The body is good – it gives you these early warning signs that you need to get things checked. Every now and then you have a quiet moment of worry. You’re more aware of everything in your body, so every time you feel something, you don’t just let it pass. You think, ‘Oh, what’s that?'”ALSO READ: Sam Billings: ‘Don’t want to be pigeon-holed as a white-ball player’Reading Oi, Key: Tales of a Journeyman Cricketer, his newly published book, there are elements of his lifestyle as a player that a clinician might consider to be red flags: Key recalls endless nights out in his days as a young pro, labels himself a binge drinker at the time, and outlines the extent of county cricket’s smoking culture when he was breaking through.But the frustration for him is that he has turned that around. “Even for the last ten years probably – as I’ve got older and had kids – I’ve been fitter than I had been. So when people talk about lifestyle, well, my lifestyle wasn’t particularly bad, to be honest. That’s why I need to look into why it [the TIA] happened at my age.”Key’s health scare came soon after he started to promote his book. It is not a typical sportsman’s autobiography, and it comes as no surprise to learn that his first response when he was asked if he wanted to write one was “not really”.”When you see celebrities that have won Big Brother or something writing autobiographies – I’ve always laughed at that,” he says. “But then I spoke to a couple of friends and thought, well, I did play in a great era of county cricket and English cricket, and with some of the best who have ever played the game. I thought maybe I could give some insight into them.”People say they do these things and find them therapeutic. I don’t generally enjoy talking about myself, so I certainly didn’t find it that. You know when your mates tell a story and it just falls flat, like a tumbleweed moment? You don’t know if that’s what every story in there is like. You start thinking: is that funny?”

“I was a half-decent player, but Trescothick, Strauss, Cook – these guys who came in for me became some of England’s greatest ever”

He needn’t have worried. Key played with some of the game’s great characters, meaning he has access to killer one-liners from Andrew Symonds, Muttiah Muralitharan, and – inadvertently – Adil Rashid. His ghostwriter, John Woodhouse, worked with Graeme Fowler on his acclaimed books, and aside from the odd flourish – it is hard to envisage Key using the phrase “minor contretemps”, for example – he nails his subject’s acerbic, wry manner.Key is particularly forthright in his attitude towards “the team-building stuff; the nonsense”, and says that he thinks “coaches, captains – they get too much credit at times. It all depends on the players you’ve got.””Take Michael Vaughan – he was an outstanding captain. But that coincided with the fact he had an unbelievable bowling attack. He still would have been the same great captain, in my eyes, had he not had that attack, but he might not have won as much, so he wouldn’t be regarded as highly.”ALSO READ: Rob Key on being a commentator: ‘It’s like cricket without the fielding’ (2017)He dismisses the notion that England’s 2019 World Cup success was simply down to Trevor Bayliss, or that the turnaround in the tournament itself came about at a team meeting after the group-stage defeat to Australia. “In every sport, it’s always about the players, especially the higher up you go. If that turnaround was all down to coaching, well, do that with the same players that played in 2015. Where you deserve the credit is for completely changing the personnel.”But Key is generous in his praise for Eoin Morgan, whom he captained as a 22-year-old on an England Lions tour to New Zealand, where he first spotted his ability to read the game. “You can see Morgan and think that he was disinterested and quite insular. But actually, that quietness – I thought there was a shrewdness to it,” he says. “Morgan was never bothered with trying to speak in meetings and ticking boxes. You might have had to coax it out of him a little bit, but when you gave him responsibility – I think we made him vice-captain – you saw straight away just how shrewd he was.”Three lions: Steve Harmison, Rob Key and Andrew Flintoff celebrate England’s 2004 series win against West Indies•Getty ImagesHe defends his close friend Andrew Flintoff’s record as England captain too. “The team had gone from the perfect balance of 2005 to Saj Mahmood batting at number eight,” he writes on the 2006-07 Ashes.”If Michael Vaughan, who was injured, had captained that side, I think it would have been a similar result. It doesn’t matter who you are in that situation, you’re on a hiding to nothing.”Key’s relationship with Flintoff is a running theme. Flintoff describes Key as “one of the greatest batsmen of his generation: ridiculously talented, ridiculously good” in his foreword, which Key admits he is yet to read. “The problem is that I can’t stand praise. He’s such a good mate of mine that it’s uncomfortable reading nice things – I’d rather four pages of abuse.”Both describe walking off after a successful run chase against West Indies at Old Trafford in 2004 at length. With ten needed, and Key on 90, Flintoff wanted to drop anchor; Key told him that all that mattered was them being able to leave the field together. He ended the game on 93 not out.ALSO READ: Steve Harmison: ‘Things were dark, but cricket was my release’“We all think that top sports teams are full of best mates and everyone gets on, whereas a lot of the time, you might not like people,” Key says. “But I was lucky that in an England team I had two of my best mates, Freddie and Steve Harmison. And on one occasion, we were able to win a game for England and walk off together victorious. There’s not many that get to do that.”Key considers himself unfortunate – though you sense it doesn’t keep him up at night – in that he played at a time when England’s batting stocks were so high. “I was a half-decent player, but Trescothick, Strauss, Cook – these guys who came in for me became some of England’s greatest ever.”I was unlucky that I was at a time when there were a lot of good players around. You look in the ’90s and 2000s, there were so many Australians that could have averaged 50 in Test cricket, but they had six all-time greats in that line-up. You’re at the mercy of the era and the time that you’re around.”White OwlBut while his timing was unlucky during his playing career, it could hardly have been better with his move into commentary. At the time he started to think about life after cricket, Sky had studio guests for the vast majority of the games they showed, and they had a stranglehold on the rights market in the UK.That gave Key a perfect opportunity to learn in a low-stakes environment, with overnight shifts in games that drew few viewers. He has become a regular on international coverage, and will not be daunted by the prospect of filling Ian Botham’s shoes this summer.Lockdown has provided him with a rare chance to hear himself back, with broadcasters filling dead time with re-runs of old games. “I always look with such a negative, critical eye – I listen now and think: Jesus, I could do with shutting up a little bit.”He isn’t drawn into describing what he feels his strengths are as a commentator, but relishes the chance to be proved right in his reading of the game. “Ian Smith once told me there’s nothing better than calling something that’s about to happen,” he says. “T20 is the best one for it – you can sense when something is going to happen either way: a wicket or a boundary.”You can generally predict it, and even if you get one right out of 50, it seems like everyone forgets the 49 you miss. You take a chance, and when it comes off, it’s a great feeling.”Oi Key: Tales of a Journeyman Cricketer
by Rob Key
White Owl
180pp, £20

Do we need another format? Why not, as long as it has the power to change perceptions and move the dial

Mark Nicholas25-Jul-2020Eulogies for cricket are much in vogue, at least here in England, where the perception of something gone persists. By assuming a groundswell of opinion around the marginalising of county cricket and the appearance of the Hundred, they suggest something pessimistic or gloomy. Truth be told, English cricket is in pretty good shape, though more needs to be done to encourage the young. The England team interprets Test cricket with bright spirit and an eye for entertainment; the one-day team are the world champions and the T20 side not far from it, but still the idea is spun that county cricket is the embodiment of all that we English are and that the Hundred is all that we are not. It beats me, as it did when T20 got a cold reception all those years ago. Remarkably few people watch county cricket live and the sense remains that those who do have little else in the diary. This is not a criticism – actually, it is rather charming – but it is close to fact.I loved playing the county game and greatly appreciated the loyalists who followed our cause with enthusiasm and warmth – so much so that many became friends. I was surprised at the travelling they did and the long hours spent on days where others might have been stoking the home fire. I remember a game that trimmed the back of April and the first days of May when it snowed. It was Malcolm Marshall’s first for Hampshire (I think) and we took him shopping to buy woollen jumpers, thick socks and shoes. The sight of him wrapped around the lone dressing-room radiator lives in the memory as if it were yesterday. Incredibly, there were spectators there too, waiting for an announcement. About tobogganing?I thought of the 1970s and ’80s as a golden age but down the track, others will reflect on eras of their own as star-spangled. That the game suits the time in which it finds itself might be its most extraordinary gift, a point best illustrated by World Series Cricket in 1978 and the IPL in 2008. Of course, if we have known and loved what has gone before, we take time to adapt. Some of us never do. In the main, though, cricket simply reflects the zeitgeist.There are so many crickets – single-wicket, double-wicket/pairs, T10, T20, 40 overs, 50 overs, 55 overs, 60 overs, 65 overs, three-day, four-day, five-day. There is declaration cricket, French cricket, cricket, indoor cricket, Kwik cricket, cage cricket, tape-ball cricket, continuous cricket, Last Man Stands, and more, much more. Don’t worry about cricket, it is just fine: even Test cricket, which inhabits an untouchable space. Indeed, the game may prefer to avoid nostalgia. After all, the past is far from perfect. Cricket has long been embroiled in controversy – amateur and professional for a start; then racism, class and coercion. No, it is better to look forward than back. To see a future and set fair for its advantages.ALSO READ: 3TC – what worked, what didn’t, and the AB de Villiers questionWhat’s the trick to getting it right? Off the field: kindness and opportunity for all. On the field: bat and ball. Get that balance right and you have a game. You can weight them one way or the other but you can’t exclude one from the other.Last Saturday, the first game of another incarnation was played in South Africa. 3 Team Cricket is the brainchild of Paul Harris – not the left-arm spinner but the former chairman of FNB and now head honcho at Rain, the South African mobile-data company. Harris loves and knows cricket, and while playing cards with his family during the early days of lockdown, began to wonder how the game could reboot itself for kids. Yes, T20 is doing okay but outside of the subcontinent, the game doesn’t burn in the hearts of children as it once did. Harris called Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher and they loved his idea for three teams of eight players each competing in the same match. Initially, the eight players was a Covid-19 thing, as the six fielders could do their bit in zones – cut like slices of pizza around the outfield – and therefore maintain the biosecure environment that was required to emerge from lockdown. Harris wanted cricket to lead the way with something fresh and innovative, something that might catch the attention of the young.He called me and for three hours made his case and I loved it. I just can’t see the downside in the search for something new. Sure, I would prefer Test cricket to remain pre-eminent for ever and a day but it won’t, maybe it already isn’t. If young people are to fall head over heels for cricket, the game must keep evolving until that silver bullet is identified. My enthusiasm for the Hundred was tempered only by the suspicion that the ECB hadn’t gone far enough. In truth, it is T20 shortened and then shoehorned with some different references and punctuation. But it’s the same game. It will now take another year for us to find out if that is to its advantage or not.Get the balance between bat and ball right and you have a game in you hands•AFP via Getty Images3 Team Cricket is a different game, albeit driven by the same aim: to make more runs than the opposition. Or in this case, oppositions. Having two opponents to consider makes the game more cerebral, inviting the exploration of how best to use your own resources against each of two opponents. If England were playing India and South Africa, for example, would you bowl the quicks against India and the spinners against South Africa? And if you do, in which half? And if the answer is the first half and it goes wrong, are you left exposed? Imagine the jeopardy. While two teams to slog it out against one another, the third team can creep up to spring a surprise.Like all limited-overs cricket, 3TC is a one-innings-per-side contest – in this case, of 12 overs per team – but spread across two periods of six overs either side of half-time. The 36-over version, as played at Supersport Park in Centurion, takes a little less time than T20 and marginally more than a Hundred match. The 90-over version of 30 overs per side may be the more suitable format for the best players.I loved the idea so much, I joined the board of 3TC – a board formed to protect IP but which worked pro bono on the development of the game – and had a hand in devising the rules and the format of the Solidarity Cup match that raised three million rand for the South African Hardship Fund.Do we need another format? Why not, so long as bat and ball stay in harmony. In streets, playgrounds, parks and on beaches, I have played ten-minute games and ten-hour games that have been anything from one a side to 12 a side. They all worked wonderfully well. Our search is for the format that grabs and holds the attention of children in a way that relates to their fascination with the world in which they live.We believe that 3TC can do great things for the development of the game; can help the Associate ICC members spread their gospel; can provide an alternative for clubs that struggle to raise teams; can work for pick-up matches; and can thrill children who may not be top dog in an 11-member team but who can play their part in a team of eight, where every little counts. We believe that shared facilities can allow two schools or clubs with limited facilities to benefit from a better-equipped third club. And we believe that 3TC can be cricket’s vehicle into the Olympic Games, the surest sign that global recognition has come the game’s way. Most immediately we plan to review the match and format and then to spread the 3 Team Cricket wings.ALSO READ: Black Lives Matter – South Africa’s cricket elite shows united face in moving Centurion tributeAs for Saturday in Centurion, well… Reeza Hendricks’ Kingfishers dropped AB de Villiers at the start of his comeback innings. This was costly. AB’s Eagles soared ahead, courtesy the maestro himself and a brilliant display of stroke-making from Aiden Markram. After their partnership, the Kingfishers and Temba Bavuma’s Kites were left to play catch-up, which was beyond them, and to battle for second placeIt is worth saying that this was a beta test. Beta minus, in fact, given the lack of any form of pilot, trial or even the necessary preparation time. It went well enough and the players say they enjoyed the originality of the format. The media, in the main, greeted the occasion with warmth, if finding a grumble in the length of the gap between the six-over batting periods. Fair enough. This was deliberately created to allow television to showcase the charities that were to benefit from the sponsorships. In general, 3TC is a fast game with the rotation of batting, bowling and dugout time being managed for its efficiency.The biggest problem, especially for a new format, was the empty stadium. Even the Premier League in England has struggled with the lack of any atmosphere, to the point where matches televised from partisan venues such as Anfield and Old Trafford still feel like pre-season friendlies. Imagine a 3 Team Cricket match that goes to the wire in front of a full house of three sets of supporters. Imagine the commercial opportunities that come with three seats of fans watching on television in different locations at home or around the world.Of course, six fielders made life too easy for the batsmen, and on the slow winter’s pitch, wickets were hard to come by. The reason for six fielders, or eight-man teams, was the agreement made with the government to support the rules of a biosecure environment and ensure the fewest number of people on site as possible. At a high level of the game, both in the 36-over and 90-over version, 3TC will have nine fielders in support of bowler and wicketkeeper. At lower levels, those in charge of matches can agree upon any number of fielders between six and nine, and if necessary, “borrow” from the dugout team, whose interest in knocking over the batting team will be as strong as that of the fielding side.This has the potential to be a game of tactics, patience, nuance and surprise, its unpredictability a trump card. At the end of each match, three captains stand on the podium – one with gold, one with silver and one with bronze. Each of their players will have had a say. Like the Hundred next year, T20 17 years ago, and one-day cricket back in the mists of time, 3 Team Cricket has the power to change perceptions and move the dial. County cricket as we know it, or four-day cricket around the world – though still admirable and essential as the breeding ground for our Test match heroes – will not do that. We must keep looking forward.

There is plenty of fast bowling talent in the country, but is sustained growth possible?

Mohammad Isam13-Jan-2021The darkest period of Bangladesh’s pace bowling has finally broken to a bit of a dawn. While the inevitable fading away of Mashrafe Mortaza added to the gloom, the pace surge in the two domestic tournaments of the 2020-21 season has been encouraging. The senior pacers have turned a corner with their fitness and form while a group of youngsters have emerged with a bit of verve.In the season-opening BCB President’s Cup, eight of the top ten wicket-takers were all pace bowlers. It was one better in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup when nine out of the top ten wicket-takers were also pacers. It is hard to remember the last time so many pace bowlers were among the wickets in any domestic competition, let alone two on the trot.This surprise stems from the atmosphere in which Bangladesh’s pace bowlers have generally operated in the last four years. The senior team’s management is very spin-oriented at home. They didn’t bother to pick even a token pacer in home Tests against West Indies, Afghanistan, England and Australia, since 2016. This spin-only strategy has given them home wins against three of those four teams, but it also resulted in a humiliating loss to Afghanistan.That last defeat, and a generally ineffective pace attack in overseas conditions, has instigated scrutiny on this lop-sided strategy. Russell Domingo, the current coach, has vowed to move away from this mentality and while his intentions are appreciable, changing the country’s pitches and its long-standing outlook will take a very long time.The pacers’ surge even amid thinning interest from the powers-that-be and the absence of Mortaza has put special interest ahead of the West Indies series that starts next week.”Mashrafe has been an outstanding player for the country for a long time but it [his absence] gives the likes of Rubel Hossain, and Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin [Hossain] and Mustafizur [Rahman] the opportunity to step up and take the lead,” Bangladesh bowling coach Ottis Gibson told ESPNcricinfo. “I am sure the experience that Mashrafe has, cannot be replaced, but I am sure these guys will see it as an opportunity to step up over the course of the three years leading up to the 2023 World Cup.”Bangladesh is generally a place you hear a lot about spinners, but then I have seen the likes of Rubel and Taskin doing well, Al-Amin improving and Mustafizur working hard on swinging the ball back into the right-hander. Ebadot [Hossain] and [Abu Jayed] Rahi have done well in Tests. Khaled [Ahmed] is perhaps one of the quickest bowlers in the country. Somebody like [Mohammad] Saifuddin has been really good for the country, too.”Gibson said that the second wave of pace bowlers who have emerged in the last couple of seasons has been a much-needed boost to Bangladesh’s barren fast bowling coffers.”I expect great things of Hasan Mahmud who has emerged as an outstanding young prospect. Shoriful [Islam] is a tall left-armer, and someone who has made a name for himself in the President’s Cup after a very good Under-19 tournament. He has been drawn into the senior side now. Sumon Khan and Mukidul Islam have had good outings in the [recent] domestic competitions,” he said.According to bowling coach Ottis Gibson, Mustafizur Rahman is working on perfecting his inswinger to the right-hander•BCBMohammad Salahuddin, the two-time BPL winning coach who was recently Gazi Group Chattogram’s head coach during the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, had a few words of caution though.”There is a visible improvement in pace bowling,” he said. “Maybe in the first two tournaments of the season, the pitches helped them and the batsmen haven’t been really in good rhythm. So they did get to dominate the cricket. Winter is also a factor in our conditions, which helps the pace bowlers.”Taskin did well in the President’s Cup, but couldn’t quite replicate it in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup. They will understand the challenge better when the batsmen slowly get back into the groove. There’s a definite improvement but we will get a better picture when they start playing more regularly in February.”So far though, the pacers’ surge has been fairly impressive. The lockdown in Bangladesh since last March became a great opportunity for many cricketers to bring back focus on fitness. Taskin and Rubel were at the forefront of this drive.”Players have become more aware and professional,” Mizanur Rahman Babul, the Gemcon Khulna coach who has worked with many of these young pace bowlers over the years, said. “They have also understood the necessity of being professional in their overall approach. Those in the national team have personal trainers but the importance of fitness has also grown among those outside the national team.
“They now take the initiative to raise fitness levels, even if there’s no cricket around. I think it has become a general trend across all cricketers in Bangladesh.”Taskin’s improvement in pace and fitness has been the most eye-catching. He has turned to working with Mahbub Ali Zaki, the BCB pace bowling coach who helped him when he had to correct his action in 2016. Zaki said that Taskin had to change his fitness routine to get leaner as well as maintain his action’s “balance while being explosive”.”I tried to replace Taskin’s skin fold by developing muscle mass,” he said. “He has been given a target to reduce his skin fold, to get to at least close to what Mushfiq has, while keeping his current weight.”We are trying to get him to be balanced while being explosive in his bowling. This is to ensure that he doesn’t just bowl line and length, but also at a high pace. He is doing a lot of these bowling drills, sometimes even at his garage at home.”The improved fitness levels among these pace bowlers first came into light during the BCB President’s Cup in October. Taskin returned as one of the fastest bowlers, but even more refreshing to see, even for seasoned coaches like Salahuddin was the accuracy among some of the younger lot.”Among the new lot of tall, well-built fast bowlers, the likes of Hasan Mahmud, [Mukidul Islam] Mugdho and Shoriful [Islam] are quite accurate,” he said. “They know where to bowl. They can swing the ball and also produce extra bounce. Such bowlers usually can take benefit from all types of wickets.”The Bangladesh senior team training for the West Indies series in Dhaka•LightRocket via Getty ImagesBut Salahuddin said that Bangladesh still require a fast bowler who can sustain his pace for longer periods, especially in Test matches. “These young bowlers will need a bit more pace. They have to bowl intelligently. But we don’t have an out and out express fast bowler, who are required in Test cricket where they can force out a wicket.”Gibson, who is about to complete one year in the Bangladesh role, explained how the lack of overs in domestic competitions has a direct connection to how fast bowlers can regress even in helpful conditions.”We have had a one-day and a T20 tournament, but to get them ready for Test cricket, we have to get time on their feet and miles in their legs, bowling and standing out in the field all day, and then being physically able to manage that workload and come back on the next day to replicate what they did on that first day,” he said.”Our fast bowling programme is a work-in-progress, but the selectors and board have had a message from me: if you want fast bowlers ready for Test cricket, especially in overseas conditions, they need to be bowling more in first-class cricket.”I have spoken to the selectors that if you want to develop a core group of fast bowlers, they need to be able to bowl more overs, 15-20 overs a day, in domestic cricket. At the moment, they average about 10-12 overs but to be better and more consistent bowlers they have to bowl more in domestic cricket.”Zaki meanwhile said that the current lot of pace bowlers is relatively young, which puts the onus on them to remain fit for a longer stretch, so that they can serve the senior side in the long run.”It is important that our experienced bowlers maintain a high level of fitness to keep them at the international level for the next five to ten years. We should definitely expect to see improvement in our more experienced players. They are not too old. These bowlers can give another five years of service to Bangladesh cricket.”A captain has to rely on them to either get him wickets or stop the run-flow, every time he gives any of them the ball in hand. They would be expected to be accurate in whatever skill they execute,” he said.It is crucial that this pacers’ surge isn’t a false dawn, as has been the case so many times in the past two decades. It is hard to forget how Mashrafe himself forged an impressive pace attack, albeit in the limited-overs format, that got Bangladesh important success in the 2015 World Cup and the landmark ODI series wins later that year. But all that work collapsed in the face of a team management bent on home dominance that they preferred playing Test matches on slow and dry pitches that turned from day one.But having a working pace attack even in home Tests has always meant that the bowlers will have enough confidence to do the same job in overseas conditions where Bangladesh can slowly build a reputation as an all-round side.

Six teams, three playoff spots. Here’s how each team can still make the final four

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-20203:31

Was Rahul right in blaming the dew?

Rajasthan Royals: Played 13, Points 12, NRR -0.377
Royals have given their qualification hopes a lift with the win on Friday, but they will still depend on other results going their way even if they win their last game, against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday.Their best-case scenario will be if Kings XI lose their final game and if Sunrisers Hyderabad win no more than one. Then they will go through with 14 points, without net run rates coming into play.Even with NRR, Royals can still make it if Delhi Capitals (or Royal Challengers Bangalore) lose both their matches and stay on 14. It is then possible for Royals to sneak past them on run rate.ESPNcricinfo LtdKings XI Punjab: Played 13, Points 12, NRR -0.133
The defeat to Royals means Kings XI are also now dependent on other results to qualify. Even if they beat Chennai Super Kings in their last game on Sunday, they will not make it if Sunrisers win both games, and if the loser of the Capitals-Royal Challengers game finishes higher on the points table (either in terms of points or NRR) than Kings XI.However, if Sunrisers lose one of their last two games, then Kings XI will have an excellent chance of qualifying with 14 points.Royal Challengers Bangalore: Played 12, Points 14, NRR 0.048
Royal Challengers will qualify if they win one of their two remaining matches. Even if they lose both matches and stay on 14 they can still qualify without run-rates coming into play, but for that to happen several other results will have to go their way.However, losing both games will affect their NRR, which could result in their elimination if other teams on 14 have higher run rates.Sunrisers Hyderabad: Played 12, Points 10, NRR 0.396
Kings XI’s defeat is good news for Sunrisers, for they can now qualify for the playoffs by winning their last two matches, regardless of other results. That is because a maximum of three teams can reach 16 points, and the other teams on 14 are too far behind Sunrisers’ NRR. Even if Sunrisers win their last two matches by a run each, Kings XI – the team with the best chance of improving their run rate – will have to win their last game by around 130 runs to go past Sunrisers’ NRR.However, if Sunrisers lose either of the two matches, they will be out.Delhi Capitals: Played 12, Points 14, NRR 0.030
Like the Royal Challengers, the Capitals too need a win to seal their playoff place, but their last two games are against the top two teams on the table, and the Capitals will go into Saturday’s game against Mumbai Indians on a three-match losing streak.Capitals cannot afford another meltdown like the one they had against Sunrisers: if they lose their last two, it is entirely possible that they will be eliminated as two other teams can easily go past their NRR.Kolkata Knight Riders: Played 13, Points 12, NRR -0.467br>Knight Riders’ NRR is so poor that their only chance of qualification is if they beat Royals and finish on 14, and none of the other contenders get to that tally. That means Kings XI should lose their last game to Super Kings, while Sunrisers should win no more than one of their last two matches. In that case, Mumbai Indians, Capitals, Royal Challengers and Knight Riders will qualify for the playoffs.Mumbai Indians: Played 12, Points 16, NRR 1.186
Mumbai Indians are already through to the playoffs, and thanks to their excellent NRR, it is almost certain that they will also finish in the top two. That is because only one of the Capitals or the Royal Challengers can finish on 18, and in a battle between teams tied on 16, Mumbai are too far ahead on NRR compared to Capitals and Royal Challengers.

Performance analyst Chandrasekaran helped Mahmudullah make minor tweaks that brought immediate results

Mohammad Isam22-Dec-2020Mahmudullah’s clean-hitting against Gazi Group Chattogram last week was among the more thrilling knocks in whatever little cricket that was possible in Bangladesh in 2020. He belted 30 runs off just nine balls, thereby jumping out of a shell he’d seemingly been in for three weeks, possibly because of a combination of sluggish Mirpur pitches and loss of his batting rhythm.He has since revealed that deeper self-analysis, a little help from someone in Mumbai and an effort to bring back a go-to shot re-ignited him into the short blast against Chattogram that is now the fastest 25-plus knock by a Bangladeshi. Two days later, he struck a tournament-winning knock in the final against the same opposition.Mahmudullah’s three successive sixes off fast bowler Shoriful Islam in the first qualifier was a reminder of his ability to switch gears in the death overs of a T20. By taking down a bowler who had outwitted him in their previous meeting, Chattogram were pushed to a corner and lost momentum.How did he hit them? The first was swung across the line into the legside. Then he moved back and across to flick a length ball over deep square leg, reminiscent of his flick off Isuru Udana in the Nidahas Trophy thriller from 2018. The turnaround came about because of a series of things he worked on after a chat with Shrinivas Chandrasekaran, Bangladesh’s performance analyst.

“I said to him: ‘If you don’t mind, can I say something?’ You have been missing a lot of your pick-up shots which is probably your strength.’ Then he asked if I could tell him my observations.”Chandrasekaran reveals an interesting phone conversation with Mahmudullah

“Before the first qualifier, I had a chat with Shri,” Mahmudullah told ESPNcricinfo. “I was wondering what was missing in my power hitting. I was watching my videos but something was missing, which I probably couldn’t see for myself. Shri took a bit of time to look at my videos, after which he gave me his opinion. We discussed a few things, one of which was that perhaps my shoulder was raising too early.”Chandrasekaran, known to be in constant communication with the players, has mostly been at home in Mumbai after Bangladesh had all their international assignments being postponed after March due to covid-19. He zealously followed the Bangabandhu T20 Cup, and spent a lot of time talking to players about what he had noticed in their game from time to time.”Guys like Tamim (Iqbal), Mushy (Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya (Sarkar), Liton Das and Yasir Ali, and even the bowlers, were in touch,” Chandrasekaran said. “They would ask where they are going, about what the opposition are doing, how they will react and what needs to be done. I felt like I was also part of this tournament even though I was sitting at home. It is something I love doing, helping as much as I can with whatever I see.””I noticed that (Mahmudullah) Riyad wasn’t able to connect the pick-up shot, which is probably his go-to shot in the death overs. It was happening regularly in the league phase of the tournament. During a normal conversation, I said to him: ‘If you don’t mind can I say something?’ You have been missing a lot of your pick-up shots which is probably your strength as well.’ Then he asked if I could tell him my observations.”Chandrasekaran analysed videos of Mahmudullah’s batting from 2018 until now. He went through footages of the Nidahas Trophy, the 2019 World Cup and the last two BPLs. He drew a parallel between that Mahmudullah knock against Sri Lanka from 2018 to the one where he hit a penultimate-ball six in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup.”The best part was that on the TV they were showing the Nidahas Trophy game where Riyad hit that match-winning six off Isuru Udana, while at the same time I was watching a live (Bangabandhu T20 Cup) game on my mobile, where Riyad wasn’t able to connect the same shot,” Chandrasekaran said. “That gave the indication that there is something I can look into, and help him.The Mahmudullah-led Gemon Khulna with the Bangabandhu Cup•BCB”I started watching all his videos, comparing all the surfaces where he has played, how he played and what was his setup. There was a common trend to it, so I just sent him all those things saying this was something which you did and this is something which you are not doing now. After hearing this, he told me, ‘Tomorrow at the nets I will try to implement it.'”Did he manage to? Yes, albeit with a few adjustments.”I spent the next morning in the nets with (team assistant) Nasir, just hitting balls for one hour to get back my confidence,” Mahmudullah said. “I practiced those shots, and then I brought out shot in the first qualifier. It was the same shot that worked for me in the Nidahas Trophy. I want to personally thank Shri. We had a short conversation but it was very effective at a time when I was a bit hesitant about my power-hitting. He helped me out really well.”For most of his innings in the final, Mahmudullah had to chaperone the Khulna batting, until the final over when he blasted Soumya Sarkar for two fours and a six. The 17-run over proved the difference between the two sides, as Khulna won the final by five runs.”I played the innings at the right time when the team needed it,” he said. “I fulfilled my responsibility somewhat, but becoming champions was more important. I was pleased with my team’s commitment to perform. Our side had capability from the beginning but we took a bit of time to play to our reputation.”Thankfully we rose to the occasion. Full credit goes to the team, management and owner. Mashrafe [Mortaza] bhai’s suggestions and advice helped me a lot. At the end of the day, captaincy becomes easier when your players perform.”Mahmudullah is now enjoying time at home before entering the bio-bubble for Bangladesh’s first international series during the pandemic, against West Indies at home, next month. The make-up of the batting line-up will change now with Shakib Al Hasan’s return. It’s yet unclear what Mahmudullah’s role will be, but he’s ready for whatever he’s asked to do.”I will try to play the particular role given to me by the team management, whether it is batting in the top order, middle order, or as the lower-middle order finisher. I want to do it with 100 per cent honesty. We are returning to international cricket, and we all know the difference with domestic cricket. We have been practicing regularly for a long time, including these two domestic tournaments but I think we have to be mentally prepared to catch the rhythm of international cricket as quickly as possible, so that we are in tune from the first game and win the series.”Having elevated himself into match-winning roles in the domestic tournaments this season and by leading teams to both the BCB President’s Cup and Bangabandhu T20 Cup trophies, Mahmudullah, you’d think, completely understands where his game is at. Most importantly, his willingness to take suggestion on board has contributed to this change in mindset and helping him rediscover a critical aspect of his batting.

It’s the first international game in India since the pandemic began, but the usual fanfare will be missing

Deivarayan Muthu and Sruthi Ravindranath02-Feb-2021There was an unmistakable buzz in Chennai during the Pongal festival when , starring Vijay, one of Tamil cinema’s biggest stars, hit the big screens. Theatres were only allowed to open to 50% of their seating capacity as a precaution against Covid-19, but that didn’t dull the usual fanfare: the first show in the city began as early as 4am, with ardent fans queuing up from midnight and unveiling large cut-outs of their hero.The first-day-first-show experience at Chepauk isn’t too different. While it reaches epic proportions when MS Dhoni is around in Chennai Super Kings colours, Test cricket has also historically drawn strong crowds. There was even a decent crowd when Virat Kohli had turned up for an India A fixture here in 2015. This game was originally supposed to take place at the SSN college ground in the outskirts of the city, but once it was moved to the MA Chidambaram Stadium, a few hundreds gathered to watch him train.Related

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About six years later, Kohli is back in town as a world-beater and new dad, and international cricket is set to return to India, but the usual buzz is missing in Chennai. This is because the first Test against England, starting on February 5, will be played entirely behind closed doors despite the Indian government revising its guidelines pertaining to spectators for outdoor sport. The second Test will be opened up to the public, but there will be no first-day-first-show fun.R Bhaskaran, unofficial cobbler of the Super Kings – and at times the India team – has witnessed nearly every match at Chepauk from 1993. But this time, although he has been permitted to work from his pavement on Wallajah Road, he can’t enter the ground to attend to players.”First I was told 50% capacity, so I was a bit happy but then they said no crowds,” Bhaskaran tells ESPNcricinfo. “I haven’t been allowed this time. Whenever there’s a match, it would be like a (festival). Just like how it is around IPL, even a Test match would have a similar atmosphere. This time I would be dealing with my regular customers. There’s no (excitement). Usually fans will start queueing up days before the match day. It is just sad that people can’t watch it at the stadium this time.”Chepauk wears a deserted look three days out of the first India-England Test•Gaurav SundararamanAlong the main Wallajah Road corner is Dhoni Sports, a popular sports goods destination owned by Syed Shahbaz, a former hockey player. His shop has been around for eight years, attracting spectators during the IPL as well as international games, but this time the mood is bleak.”People generally used to start gathering a week before a match,” Shahbaz says. “This is not just for tickets, they just curiously hang around the stadium to get a glimpse of the proceedings. The whole road will seem happening.”It’s totally dead now, there’s no activity. Every market, cinema hall is full, why not the stadium considering it’s an open space? It can make a huge difference to the fans. It would have been good for businesses too if they had allowed [fans].”

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Around 5km west of Wallajah Road, Washington Sundar had received a warm welcome in Kilpauk, his neighbourhood, after returning from Australia. His homecoming included a special cake topped with a photo of him raising his bat after his debut half-century at the Gabba. Having played a vital role in India’s famous win in Brisbane, the Chennai Corporation named Washington a district election icon.Washington’s father M Sundar, a former Tamil Nadu prospect and long-time coach, watched the tied Test of 1986 and Sunil Gavaskar’s double-hundred against West Indies in 1983, among other games at Chepauk, but under the current circumstances he might not be there for Washington’s potential home debut.”It’s a bit sad, theatres have now opened up to 50% indoors, but this is an outdoor sport, and it’s unfortunate. Chepauk has a rich tradition; [international] cricket is coming back to India and two players from Tamil Nadu [R Ashwin and Washington] are in,” Sundar says. “They [India] are starting a new home season after winning a historic Test in Gabba, and it’s unfortunate that we and their fans can’t see them play from the ground.”A specially made cake welcomes Washington Sundar back to Chennai after his unforgettable Gabba debut•Whiteleaf TalentSundar recalls sweeter memories of watching Washington’s first Ranji Trophy hundred with his family from the stands in 2017.”Washi actually scored his first Ranji hundred at Chepauk. When he was on 30 or 40, I thought it will be good for him if he converts it into a century at his home ground. My whole family was there for the match against Tripura. At the Gabba, he missed a hundred, and here in his first Test at Madas, I’m hoping he can score his first Test hundred.”Siva Ananth, the co-writer of the documentary and Mani Rathnam’s , has also been a regular at Chepauk since returning from the USA in 1997. Ananth agrees it would have been “great to have crowds back”, but nevertheless he’s pleased to see cricket return to Chennai.”Traditionally, Chennai has been one of the oldest cricket-playing cities from the British India times, right? Obviously, it has been in the city’s DNA to play cricket,” Ananth says. “I think one of the standout games [I’ve been to] was the second day of the India-Australia Test match in 2004 when [Virender] Sehwag scored 155 and Shane Warne took his only five-for in India – 6 for 125. You could actually hear the ball hiss when Warne tossed it up, you could see the ball dip, and Sehwag’s innings was also outstanding – I was watching from the pavilion stands and had one of the best seats.”The other was the India-West Indies World Cup match in 2011. I was with a friend, I had to find a (alley) to park the car in Triplicane and run around. There was a cheer going up, and India was batting. We found our seats and sat down. [Sachin] Tendulkar hit the ball to square leg, scored a couple of runs, and got out [three balls later].”There was pin-drop silence. I know there was pin-drop silence because I dropped my cell phone and it sounded like an atom bomb! And that game also featured one of the most beautiful cover-drives by Yuvraj [Singh].”Shane Warne’s only Test-match five-for in India came in Chennai in 2004•Associated PressDuring India’s first Test against England, there will be a different sort of silence, and Aishwarya Haridas, a self-confessed cricket super fan who has hardly missed a game at Chepauk since 2004, says she will miss all the noise and chatter.”The entire stadium atmosphere, Chepauk will always be special, no matter how many stadiums I go to or I will go to,” Aishwarya says. “The Mexican wave, the random hi-fives with people, interacting with other country fans and in this case it’s the Barmy Army. The Chennai crowd always acknowledges the game of both sides equally, no matter which side is winning or losing.”After spotting reports of crowds being allowed for the second Test, she posted a message on a private cricket group on Facebook. “Who’s in for #CricketismAtChepauk for the second INDvENG Test?””You can speak to anyone from the [Chennai] crowd about the game, they will have an opinion,” she says. “You look at a random person you have never met and talk to him or her about the game, they will always have a response. And of course, the knowledgeable Chennai crowd tag has stuck with us since eternity. Stadium experience [at Chepauk] is truly something else.”The Chepauk faithful may have expected a familiar first-day-first-show experience. They’ll have to endure a first day, no show.

Take this quiz to find out

Sreshth Shah and Gaurav Sundararaman26-Feb-2021