Darren Lehmann, one of the lynchpins of Australia’s batting on their extraordinary 2004 tour to Sri Lanka, looks back at that series

Interview by Daniel Brettig30-Aug-2011Darren Lehmann made 375 runs at 62.50 in the 2004 series in Sri Lanka•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesIn 2004 you won the series 3-0 but trailed on first innings in each match.
For us it was good, tough, hard cricket for five days every game, and they were pretty close games. We just managed to get our noses in front every time and win the key moments. But to be behind on the first innings of every Test match and come back and win it was down to the character of the players at that time.Was it also a strong lesson about fighting games out until late on day five on pitches that would deteriorate?
That’s exactly right, and in those matches we were lucky enough that we batted first in each Test, and turning up to bowl with Shane Warne in your side helped. He had an amazing series, and the difference between the two sides I thought was that Warne got a lot of the top-order batsmen out and Murali got a lot of the tail-end batsmen out, so it [Murali’s tally of wickets] wasn’t too bad for us.Damien Martyn and you were the standout Australian batsmen on that tour, but you used quite different styles to combat the spinners.
We had two totally different ways of playing that worked well for us. He played a different style, more based on the back foot, I was more aggressive and got down the wicket. So it worked for both of us. We had a really good series. Everyone had their own plans, and as a batting group we made enough runs to win the series.What is your advice to the Australian batsmen about to embark on the same task?
They’re going to have to play with plans to face all those sorts of bowlers, and really live or die by the sword. Whatever plan it is, have it, believe it and implement it. At some stage if you’re not picking Mendis or Herath – Murali in our case – you have to try to work your way through those issues. Work through, have a game plan, a team plan and an individual plan, and actually believe in it and implement it themselves.That 2004 side, although under a new captain, had a lot of self-assurance from past results. How can Michael Clarke’s team build that without the foundation of recent success?
I think confidence is the biggest thing. You’ve just got to communicate all the time to the players as leaders, and you’ve got to be happy that some players are going to play a different role and play a different way to the way you might want to play. You want team success, but individuals play differently, so they’re going to have to work through those issues as well, and actually come up with a group plan and individual plans and work through all of them.In Ricky Ponting’s first few series as captain you were something of a mentor, and the two of you were often seen discussing ideas on the field. Is that now Ricky’s role with Clarke?
I think very much so. He’s going to have to play that role and be a sounding board for them all. So for him to do that he has to make sure he’s ready to give any info. He’s one of the greatest players of all time, so if he gives that info then he can work that through with Michael and have the best possible outcome for the players. When Michael has hard times, which he certainly is going to, they’ll be making sure those times are lessened and he has the sounding board that Ricky provides as someone who’s been there and done that at that level.Clarke has two young spinners in Michael Beer and Nathan Lyon. How did you deal with the task of captaining inexperienced slow bowlers?
The big thing is making sure you’re always playing the role in working out how to get the batsmen out, but also protecting the kid so he stays on and bowls. So you’ve got to find a happy medium. I think Michael, with Ricky and the senior players, will find that for our younger guys. I’m not too stressed about that – it’ll be about giving the guys a chance to play and learn.

“Our fast bowlers have to realise they have to get early wickets to make it easier for our young spinners. So they’ve got as big a part to play as anyone else”

The pitches are likely to mean they will be used as attacking weapons, rather than just bowling a few overs when the fast men are spelled.
Only time will tell [how the spinners are used]. But the quicks have got to get wickets with the new ball. It’s one of those things they have to work through. If the quicks can get a couple of early wickets with the new ball then the spinners’ job becomes easier. If it doesn’t then you’ve got to find the right mix between pace and reverse-swing and all the other things that come in over there.Michael Kasprowicz and Jason Gillespie filled that role to perfection in 2004. They didn’t take a lot of wickets but invariably grabbed one or two at the start of an innings.
That’s right, early wickets are the key, and I think our fast bowlers have to realise they have to get early wickets to make it easier for our young spinners. So they’ve got as big a part to play as anyone else.How do you view Sri Lanka’s senior batting trio of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene?
Three greats of the game, especially Sangakkara and Jayawardene. Dilshan will end up one as well, with his record by the end of his career, but Sangakkara is a pure genius with the bat and so is Jayawardene, so we’re really going to have to nullify their influence. One opens, one bats three and one bats four, so if they have good series we’re in a bit of trouble. If they don’t then we’re in the game.What were your plans for them in 2004?
We probably bowled a lot straighter than anyone else had before, and bowled maybe more to their strengths than anything else, with different fields, and made sure we were always trying to tie up an end and let Shane Warne be really attacking at the other. If Warne wasn’t getting wickets, we were in a bit of trouble, but he took wickets the whole series.Dilshan is known for his provocative batting, actively trying to put the bowlers off their games. That may be more difficult for this attack to cope with than the 2004 group?
He will be trying to put the Australians off their game but they’ve just got to stick to their plans and make sure that they’re being nice and aggressive towards all the Sri Lankan players, whether they’ve played one Test or 100 Tests. They must be taking the game to the hosts on their pitches in their country.Most can remember you saying you’d give up your spot in the team to make room for Michael Clarke in India later in 2004. Have you spoken much to Clarke since he became captain?
I’ve had a few conversations with him. He’s been fine, and he’s been one of our very best players for a period of time now. He’ll be looking forward to transferring that leadership role into runs as well, because at the end of the day that is the biggest thing as captain – you want the captain making runs and leading from the front. He’s got to do that before he worries about too much else. That’s what Ricky Ponting and his predecessors did very well.

Rahul Dravid, who became the second batsman to reach 13000 runs, stands out because of his match-winning performances in Tests outside the subcontinent

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan25-Nov-2011Rahul Dravid, in the course of what has been a amazing renaissance after a slump in form, passed yet another milestone when he became only the second batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to reach 13,000 runs in Tests. Dravid, playing his 160th Test, reached the landmark in 277 innings, which is 11 more than the number of innings taken by Tendulkar. His career looked in jeopardy when he uncharacteristically struggled for runs in 2007 and 2008. However, since he reached the 12,000-run mark during an otherwise forgettable South African tour, he has had an outstanding run, scoring 747 runs at an average of 74.70 with four centuries. During the disastrous England tour where India lost all four Tests, Dravid reigned supreme. While all other batsmen found it near impossible to cope with the bowler-friendly conditions, Dravid displayed superb concentration and technique to score 461 runs with three centuries in four Tests.Number of innings taken by Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to reach each 1000-run mark. They took the same number of innings between 5000-6000 and 7000-8000 runs. Click here for an enlarged image.•ESPNcricinfo LtdTendulkar and Dravid have been the pillars of the Indian batting line-up for well over a decade and have been responsible for India’s ability to compete against the top Test teams. Dravid, who made his debut nearly seven years after Tendulkar, had a much better start to his career. He took only 23 innings to reach his first 1000 runs while Tendulkar took 29. Both players were far quicker to the 2000-run mark taking less than 20 innings each. Dravid, however, had a bad period in 1999-2000 when he scored only 93 runs in six innings in Australia. The poor form continued till he bounced back with 180 to rescue India from a hopeless position in Kolkata in 2001. In the next few years, Dravid became India’s most successful batsman in overseas Tests, scoring match-winning centuries in Headingley (148), Adelaide (233) and Rawalpindi (270). Remarkably, Dravid and Tendulkar took the same number of innings to go from the 5000 to 6000-run mark and from the 7000 to 8000-run mark.In the 2006 series in the West Indies, when he scored a stunning century on a difficult Jamaica pitch, Dravid’s average reached 58.75, moving him temporarily to fifth on the list of batsmen with the highest average in Tests. Tendulkar, who had just gone through a rough patch, reinvented himself spectacularly, taking just 16 innings between 9000 and 10,000 runs. Dravid, on the other hand, suffered a loss of form in 2008 and took 30 innings to score 1000 runs (8000-9000). The batting stats for both players across the last three 1000-run periods have been uncannily similar. While Tendulkar, who reached the 10,000-run mark in his 195th innings, took 71 innings more to get to 13,000 runs, Dravid has also taken the same number of innings to get to his latest landmark after getting to 10,000 runs.*

India have been a dominant force in world cricket mainly due to a powerful batting line-up. Dravid, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman figure in the top five on the list of India’s leading run-getters. However, a detailed comparison of their batting stats reveals some interesting differences. Tendulkar has the most number of centuries at home (22) and the second-best home average (56.82) among the five. Dravid, whose numbers at home are less flattering than the others, has been superb in away Tests. His tally of centuries in away Tests (21) is second only to that of Tendulkar (29) and his away average also is marginally lower than Tendulkar’s. Laxman and Sehwag have been far less successful in away Tests averaging 44.17 and 46.78 respectively.What sets Rahul Dravid apart from the rest is his superb display in wins outsidethe subcontinent. Dravid averages a stunning 70.93 in victories outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe) with three centuries and six fifties in ten matches. India’s defensive approach in the earlier years coupled with a weak bowling attack meant that Sunil Gavaskar hardly figured in many wins home or way. Shockingly though, Virender Sehwag has been very ordinary in away wins (outside subcontinent) and averages just 24.66 in seven matches without a single half-century.

During his long career, Dravid has been a crucial factor in India’s batting exploits. This is primarily because of his ability to forge vital partnerships in the middle order. Dravid, who has been involved in the most century stands for any player (87), has shared prolific stands with Tendulkar and Laxman. The Dravid-Tendulkar partnership is the most successful in Test history and recently went past the legendary West Indian pairing of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. Dravid has also had an extremely fruitful association with Laxman, with their most famous stand coming in the Kolkata Test in 2001. On that occasion, they put on 376 as India clawed back to win the Test despite following on. The pair was again involved in a triple-century stand in Adelaide in 2003 as India went on to win by four wickets. Dravid has also proved to be the perfect foil to the aggressive Sehwag and has partnered him in ten century stands, including a massive 410-run partnership in Lahore in 2006.

A comparison with the two others in the 12,000-run club throws up some interesting numbers too. Ricky Ponting, who showed glimpses of his top form during his 62 in the second Test in Johannesburg, has experienced both the best and worst phases of form in the last decade. He was the second-fastest to the 10,000-run mark in terms of innings (196) and averaged 58.72 at that point. When he reached 10,000 runs, Ponting had 35 centuries to Tendulkar’s 34. Dravid and Kallis were much slower to the mark, taking 206 and 217 innings respectively. Ponting also had the lowest percentage of single-figure dismissals at that stage (19.38) followed by Kallis (20.73).However, in the years after reaching the 10,000-run mark, Ponting’s form has fallen drastically. In 70 innings, he averages under 37.00 with just four centuries. His single-figure dismissal percentage in the period has also gone up to 34.28. After reaching the 10,000-run mark, Dravid has been consistent but well below his career average. He has scored 11 centuries since, including five in 2011. While Tendulkar has been brilliant after the 10,000-run mark with 17 centuries at an average of 53.71, Kallis is not too far behind. He has scored nearly 2000 runs at an average close to 75.00 with an extremely low single-figure dismissal percentage (15.62).*

ESPNCricinfo presents Plays of the Day from the third day of the first Test between South Africa and Sri Lanka in Centurion

Firdose Moonda at SuperSport Park17-Dec-2011No. 11 shot of the day
Imran Tahir insisted that he had spent the off-season working on his batting but the sniggers he received every time he said it, suggested that no-one believed him. Here, he raced to a run-a-ball 24 with some of the most audacious shots in the match. In the third over of the morning, he showed off his improved skills yet again when he was presented with a low full toss by Dilhara Fernando. Without moving his feet an inch, Tahir cut through point with the timing of a No. 3. He only faced two more balls in the innings but showed the temperament required to bat for much longer. With Tahir seemingly in blistering form, Morne Morkel must be wondering if he will be demoted with bat as well.Missed hat-trick of the day
Very little went Sri Lanka’s way in the first ten overs, but things were not all rosy for Dale Steyn either. Steyn reviewed the first delivery of the innings, his hat-trick ball, which appeared to have trapped Paranavitana lbw. Height appeared to be the only question at first, but replays showed it was missing leg stump. Paranavitana benefitted from technology once more: in the next over, Vernon Philander trapped him in front and he was given out, but Hawk-Eye showed that the ball had pitched just outside leg.Desperation of the day
Just as the dust was starting to settle and Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera were beginning to introduce some sort of calm, chaos returned. Jayawardene had pulled and driven Jacques Kallis for two fours in the over already, and was on the cusp of a milestone – 10,000 Test runs. So, when he prodded at a short ball, he was keen to get to the other side as fast as possible. Too keen. Thilan Samaraweera called, Jayawardene responded in the affirmative but the ball had spun and landed closer to the pitch than expected. Jayawardene kept going, despite the fact that the bowler, Kallis, had picked the ball up cleanly. A direct hit later Jayawardene was gone. Bouncer of the day
Tahir waited patiently for his turn to bowl, probably knowing that he would struggle to be effective on the seamer-friendly surface. He conceded ten runs in his first over and in his second decided to try and imitate a quick, although probably not intentionally. His second ball was a bouncer, which took off the grass short of a length and surprised Kaushal Silva. It was called as ‘one for the over”, which sent the crowd into a fit of giggles and brought out that familiar look of disbelief on Tahir’s face.Relief of the day
Morne Morkel was having a torrid time, even though South Africa’s bowlers were giving Sri Lanka a proper working over. Morkel bowled no-balls, overpitched on occasion and was a touch too short. His Test got better, though, as he managed to claim his first wicket of the match. After being spanked by Thilan Samaraweeera for four, Morkel got one at just the right length to cause doubt in the batsman’s mind. The nick carried through to Mark Boucher who took a comfortable catch to send Sri Lanka’s sixth batsmen back to the change-room.

After having lost his place in the Pakistan Test side, Umar Akmal has realised that he needs to control his urge to go hard at the ball. That is not going to stop him from playing his strokes though

Umar Farooq26-Dec-2011Umar Akmal, the Pakistan batsman, has maintained that he will not tone down his hard-hitting approach despite getting dropped from the Pakistan Test team recently, but admitted that he needed to work on batting for longer periods. “Being aggressive and not staying for long at the pitch are two different things,” Akmal told ESPNcricinfo. “I am working hard to strengthen my ability to bat longer. I don’t think I should hold back my shots in Tests. If I do that, I’ll get confused and start declining.”Akmal was axed from the Test squad in October for the series against Sri Lanka after scoring just one half-century in the format in 2011. Mohsin Khan, the chief selector and interim coach, told him to “stop being selfish” and learn how to convert starts into substantial innings by going back to domestic cricket.Akmal said that he now knew what the problem was with his batting: the tendency to fritter away starts. His attacking style didn’t need to be altered. “Being aggressive is in my nature. Playing big shots in Test cricket is no more abnormal. We have [Virender] Sehwag, [Kevin] Pietersen and many other players who play big shots.”Belligerence and Test cricket are no longer mutually exclusive, especially after the advent of Twenty20. Belligerent was the manner in which Akmal announced his arrival on the Test stage in November 2009. In his first Test innings, against New Zealand in Dunedin, 19-year-old Akmal hammered 23 boundaries on his way to 129. None of the other specialist Pakistan batsmen managed 30 in that innings. The Dunedin hundred came after Akmal had blitzed to a century in his third ODI off 70 deliveries a couple of months earlier. No wonder he believes his fearless approach to playing strokes will be instrumental in building his career.But the tremendous potential that he showed two years ago has largely gone unfulfilled till now. Akmal has not made another Test century since his impressive debut. After a poor year in 2010, when he averaged just 24.33, he was left out of the XI for the two Tests in New Zealand though he returned to the side for the Tests in the West Indies. But after struggling to play long innings even in ODIs, he was ultimately left out of the Test squad in October. The axeing was a big setback but Akmal has realised that it was justified. “It was a fair call by the selectors. I was in a hurry to score runs and was ending up without completing what my team required me to do.”It’s very disappointing when you are axed and especially from the Test squad. Test cricket is the supreme form of the game and it is where I want to perform the best. No matter how long you play one-dayers and Twenty20s, it is Test cricket that will determine your worth.”These days, Akmal is playing as much as he can for Cricket Center Cricket Club in Lahore – there has hardly been a day during which he hasn’t played a match. He is also spending most of his time on the field with his brother Kamran Akmal, trying to develop control over his wide range of strokes. He admitted that he needed to cut down on his urge to go hard at the ball.”When I am at the crease everything apart from the ball in the bowler’s hands is a blur and I am very desperate to strike it. I think I need to tone down my desperation and that will come when play more and more cricket. My brother and coaches have helped me a lot in this regard, and you might have seen a difference in my recent batting.”The longer format, of course, demands more restraint and greater concentration compared to limited-overs cricket. Not all players can be adept in all formats, but Akmal asserted that he could cope with the demands of the modern game with a single approach.”Cricket these days is so fast. I think I must not confuse myself by changing my focus again and again for different formats of the game. The approach must remain intact. What I was asked to do was to develop the temperament to stay at the wicket and [told that] the runs would then automatically come. I don’t know what the selectors have decided about me, but I am very much hopeful to regain my place in the Test side. I am still young and learning. This is a process that will never end.”

Australia are looking for a No.3 in their ODI side. Phillip Hughes might have been the man for the job, but has been overlooked again

Brydon Coverdale16-Jul-2012Twenty players were chosen in Australia’s limited-overs squads for the series against Pakistan. A few others must have come close, including Aaron Finch, Rob Quiney and Nathan Lyon. But there was no sign of the man with the highest one-day average of all current Australian batsmen. He also has the highest Twenty20 average of all time among Australians, and is the No.1 run scorer in the county T20 competition this year.His name is Phillip Hughes. And he has played 17 Tests, no one-day internationals and no T20s for his country.It is odd that Hughes has been viewed as a Test specialist. The only other batsmen in the past decade to play Test cricket for Australia without appearing in one-dayers have been Ed Cowan, Usman Khawaja, Chris Rogers and Martin Love, all men with conventional techniques, whose role is as much crease occupation as run-scoring. Hughes is not in that category.Of course, it is easy to look at Hughes and say that he has had his chances. That is true, in the longer format. He has made Test hundreds but has also had his technique picked apart, first when facing the short ball and then when he could not help playing at balls seaming across him. But a slashing, stroke-playing technique is not a bad thing in limited-overs cricket.Perhaps the selectors have felt, in the past, that Hughes was better off focusing on his Test-match game. That is not an issue now, for Cowan and David Warner are settling as an opening combination, with Shane Watson capable of stepping back into the role should Cowan falter. Hughes has lost his Cricket Australia contract and is not part of the Australia A squad to play first-class matches in England over the next few weeks.But he has proven himself capable of scoring runs at international level, and is a naturally aggressive player who can pierce or clear the field. Not to mention the fact that Australia are currently looking for someone to play first-drop in the ODI side. Since Ricky Ponting’s departure from the ODI outfit, Australia have tried Watson, Peter Forrest, Matthew Wade, Michael Clarke and George Bailey at No.3, for a collective average of 25.33.Hughes has been batting at No.3 for Worcestershire this year, and he has made two centuries there. He is fourth on the run tally in the Clydesdale Bank 40-over competition, and is averaging 96. In the Friends Life t20 tournament, nobody has bettered his 322 runs at 80.50, with a strike-rate of 121. For the first time in the competition’s current format, Worcestershire have reached the quarter-finals.Consider the all-time list of T20 averages. Hughes is the leading Australian, averaging 47.16 at a strike-rate of 115. That may drop as he plays more games – he has appeared in only 24 T20 matches – but it’s a pretty good start. On the list of all-time List A averages, only the retired Michael Bevan, Dean Jones, Darren Lehmann, Matthew Elliott and Matthew Hayden sit above Hughes’ 44.48 among Australians.Of course Hughes is far from the only man worthy of an ODI call-up. Callum Ferguson deserved another chance, and has been given it. Quiney would be a capable one-day international player, as would Aaron Finch or any number of others.But Hughes has form, style and international experience on his side, not to mention youth – he is still only 23. His chance in the coloured clothing for Australia might not have arrived just yet, but it should soon. He certainly has the game for it.

Missing their top three from the ODIs, as well as Kevin Pietersen, England are being asked to create a new team ahead of their World T20 defence

George Dobell23-Jun-2012Stuart Broad may have captained before and all but one of his squad may have some T20 International experience but it was hard to avoid the conclusion that England were at the start of a new age as they prepared for Sunday’s match against West Indies at Trent Bridge.The England squad is not only without the recently “retired” Kevin Pietersen but also without their ODI top three: Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott. James Anderson, too, cannot find a place in this side. While the bulk of the team that won the T20 series in the UAE remains – 10 of the 11 that won the final game may well play here – it is increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that England’s schedule and their priorities are likely to count against them as a T20 side.Indeed, such is the callow look to England that Stuart Broad, who will mark his 26th birthday on Sunday by captaining his country on his home ground, seemed to be playing down expectations ahead of the World T20 to be staged in Sri Lanka from September. “We are going to be a hugely inexperienced side going into sub-continent conditions,” Broad said. “So we are not expecting the world.”While admitting that Pietersen’s absence “didn’t seem to effect the one-day team a huge amount” Broad accepted that Pietersen, man of the tournament when England won the World T20 in 2010 “is a world-class Twenty20 player so of course it is disappointing that he is not with us. But it’s a great opportunity for someone else to put their hand up and stake a claim for that spot.”There is some irony in the annual hand-wringing and soul searching that invariably accompanies the start of the English domestic T20 season. While poor scheduling and dreadful weather have combined to dampen the early stages of this year’s Friends Life t20, it is worth remembering that, only 10 years ago, county cricket was the birthplace of T20 and that England are not only currently rated as the No. 1 T20 side in the world, but they are also World T20 Champions. When you hear people insisting that England should learn from the IPL and India – a team ranked No. 7 in the T20 rankings – it tells you how easily style can mask substance in a world depressingly over-impressed by cheerleaders and fireworks.That having been said, England’s prioritisation of ODI cricket may have consequences. While it is understandable – having attained No. 1 status in Test and T20 cricket, they have set their focus upon a global ODI trophy – it may also come at a cost.

Judging by how few West Indies players attended their optional practice session, they must feel remarkably confident.

Not only has the five-match ODI series against Australia resulted in the Test series against South Africa being cut to just three games – a rare case of a cricketing encounter being undersold in modern times – but it has prevented England’s core group of players participating in the domestic FLt20 competition. That, in turn, weakens a domestic event that was once strong enough to sow the seeds of England’s World T20 victory. Anderson, for example, has played only one T20 match in the last two years. Cook has not played one in a year.To compound the problem, England play very few international T20 fixtures. “It’s been four months, then we have a one-off game, then it’s another three months,” Broad said. Those core players have little chance to force their way back into the T20 side.They are also thwarted by a bulimic domestic schedule that starves its audience of T20 for the best part of 11 months before cramming, in several cases, three home matches in a week down its throats. By staging the whole competition in a mid-season window, it will always be at the mercy of the weather. The argument that it renders it easier to attract the most exciting overseas players can be negated by a quick glance at some of those involved this year. All are worthy cricketers; very few are box office.The arguments for the introduction of a franchise system in the UK are equally fallacious. It presupposes that a country with a population of over 60 million and in which cricket is a niche sport can replicate the success of a country of well over a billion and where cricket is an obsession. It also overlooks the pesky fact that each of the IPL franchises is based in a conurbation of over six million people. There is only one city of that size in the UK.Furthermore, it overlooks one of the great strengths of the county game: the presence of first-class teams right around the country. In an age when so little cricket is available on free-to-view television, that is an important factor. Besides, it seems most unlikely that the introduction of a franchise system would stop it raining or result in a less cluttered international schedule.The truth is, given a fair chance, the domestic T20 program could still flourish. Were the T20 season scheduled on Friday evenings from late May to September, were England players available more often, were salary caps, young player incentives and other bureaucratic obstacles to be removed, then it would thrive once more. But, after years of tightening regulations, complicating the schedule and compromising the county game to the point of pawning its soul, there has been a sudden realisation from the ECB that they have diluted their own product.The T20 at Trent Bridge also presents a final opportunity for West Indies to salvage some tangible reward from this tour. While there have been limited signs of progress, the fact is that West Indies have been beaten in all four of the international fixtures in which there has been meaningful play. Even the Black Knight of Monty Python fame – sans arms and legs – would struggle to “take the positives” from that.On paper, they remain a side well-suited to the shorter formats. Many a wise pundit quietly fancies them for World T20 success. Broad rated Chris Gayle as “one of the best T20 batsmen in the world”, while Sunil Narine, Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith and Kieron Pollard are among those with IPL pedigree. Judging by how few of them attended their optional practice session on Saturday afternoon, they must feel remarkably confident.

Ricky Ponting, Ed Cowan and Mel Jones reflect on the importance of club cricket

Brydon Coverdale24-Oct-2012Michael Clarke played club cricket a couple of weeks ago. It was a news story. Imagine the novelty of seeing Australia’s captain turning out with the regulars at a suburban ground in Sydney. His appearances for New South Wales have been few and far between in the past few years, let alone for Wests. Among Australia’s elite cricketers, that is a common theme. In part, it is due to the international team’s rigorous schedule. Who can find time for a club game when Australia play nearly 100 days of international cricket per year, on top of state commitments?But a disconnect between club and country has been occupying the minds of Cricket Australia for some time now. Administrators have been canvassing clubs for ideas about what needs to be done to help cricket’s foundations. International players have been encouraged to return to their clubs when they can. It’s all about the grassroots. The importance of club cricket was the theme of Gideon Haigh’s Bradman Oration on Wednesday. After the speech, three international cricketers – Ricky Ponting, Ed Cowan and Mel Jones – sat in the ballroom of the Langham Hotel, one of Melbourne’s finest five-star establishments, and reflected on what club cricket had meant to them.For Ponting, arguably the best batsman Australia has produced since Bradman, club cricket was everything when he was young. The Mowbray Cricket Club in Launceston was the centre of his universe. His father, Graeme, had been a first-grade cricketer in his younger days, and came out of retirement to play in the third grade when Ricky was starting out as an 11-year-old. Ponting is an all-time great but his story could be that of any amateur player anywhere in Australia.”My club survived on volunteers,” Ponting said. “We’re a very working-class club that basically was run and operated on how much money we took over the bar on a Saturday afternoon. There were a few people who would put their $2 in to get a beer out of the fridge and they’d take $5 out. We’ve done things pretty tough at my club. I’m very proud of my upbringing and where I came from.”I remember as a nine- or ten-year-old boy, getting on my BMX and riding all over northern Tasmania to find wherever the Mowbray Cricket Club was playing. I was always the first there. I’d be sitting in the change rooms when the boys got there and when they went out on to the field I’d be going through their bags and picking their bats up and putting their gloves on, and making sure I put them back in exactly the same position again so they didn’t know.”They’d come off at lunch and I’d be sitting in the corner waiting for the boys to come in. Then after play I’d sit around and listen to the stories they were telling about the day’s cricket. That’s where I learnt the game. I learnt from my club-mates and older guys who had been through many on-field battles. Through listening and watching and learning, I think a lot of what I learnt from them is part of what I am now as a cricketer.”Ponting put something back into his club as soon as he was able. When he emerged as a first-class cricketer, while still a teenager, he was sponsored by a local Launceston bakery. He appeared in a TV commercial for the bakery and he donated his fee to the Mowbray Cricket Club. It was enough to build new club-rooms. Mowbray had made Ponting, and he wanted to return the favour.Cowan also has fond memories of life as a teenage club cricketer. As a 15-year-old, he started playing with Sydney University so he could play with his brother, a uni student. As a kid in a university environment, he learned quickly the ways of the world. He also learned that a cricket club doesn’t run by magic. As every volunteer at every sporting club around Australia knows, keeping the cogs turning is a hard, and sometimes thankless, task.”At the time when I went to Sydney Uni it was really a struggling cricket club in the competition,” Cowan said. “There was talk of mergers, there was talk of being kicked out of the competition. At that point of time it was a very amateur club being run essentially by undergraduates. Some very good people behind the club got the club moving forward, and it’s done a full circle. It’s probably now the premier cricket club in Sydney, has a very effective management and some great players are coming out. I think for 50 years they didn’t produce a first-class cricketer and all of a sudden they’ve had five or six in the last five years. It shows what a cricket club can do when it gets its act together.”On the day that Ricky Ponting scored the 78th first-class century of his career, he spoke of the importance of Australia’s club game•Getty ImagesCowan now lives in Hobart and plays for the Glenorchy Cricket Club, and for Tasmania. But he feels more a part of the Sydney University community than his new club. Every Saturday he texts his old mates to see how the club fared. A group of his Sydney club-mates flew to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test last year and watched Cowan make his Test debut. They had seen him through his ups and downs, progressing from fringe state player to a recipient of the baggy green.The sense of community provided by club cricket isn’t exclusive to men’s teams. Jones represents the oldest women’s cricket club in the world, the Essendon Maribyrnong Park side. For 108 years it has been providing female cricketers with a base. Some go on to play for their state, a few for their country. They all call their club home.”As much as most Australian cricketers would like to play more and more international games, the beauty of it is we spend 90% of our time in club land,” Jones said. “When you speak to most of the girls, they have some of the strongest connections to club cricket. It is really like a family. We probably know our people and our club members more so than the guys do.”Last Friday night I put the hessian and the covers down while all the young kids were doing something else, it’s all the same things [as the men]. You go through the fact that the club-rooms are rat-infested, you try to clean the barbeque, all those sorts of things. All those things are exactly the same. We used to wear culottes so we’d get bad wedgies. That’s a bit different to the guys, but overall it’s the same sort of community.”*************So what is the future role of these clubs, these mini-societies that have allowed Australia’s finest players to blossom? For decades, they were the only avenue a player could take if he or she wanted to progress to state cricket, and ultimately to represent Australia. These days, that is not always the case. Skilled junior players can be identified early and are whisked off to under-age carnivals, where their talent is further spotted. Names are pencilled in as future first-class players and piles of club runs are not a pre-requisite. It’s an issue that worries Cowan.”[We need to] make sure that club cricket is still the most important pathway to first-class cricket,” Cowan said. “I think there has been a tendency to maybe veer away from that and look at youth carnivals and these kind of things. But a strong club competition where young players can play with men and learn about the game and learn about themselves, I think that’s the most important thing for Australian cricket.

“If there’s been a regret in my life it’s the fact that I haven’t had a chance to be around club cricket more”Ricky Ponting

“I’ve seen people come into state squads who haven’t done particularly well in club cricket, because they’ve done well in youth cricket, and they haven’t quite understood the game or how to succeed at the game. I think club cricket gives people that base. You know if you’ve succeeded at club cricket you’re ready for first-class cricket. I think that’s the biggest challenge, to make sure it’s the most important pathway.”Reconnecting Australia’s international players with their clubs can only help in that regard. Last year, Cricket Australia asked its players to ring some randomly selected club cricket volunteers from all over Australia and thank them for their hard work. Coincidentally, Ponting called a woman from Mowbray, who was thrilled to hear from him.”The four or five other guys who I rang thought their mates had set them up on a prank,” Ponting said. “Thirty seconds into the conversation they were saying ‘mate, I’m busy, I’ve got some work to do, I’ve got to go’. I’m not sure how it went down or what the feedback was like back at Cricket Australia but I thought it was fantastic, one to be recognising the volunteers that have made our clubs survive.”Having the international and state players return to their clubs as often as possible is another goal. Last time Ponting played for Mowbray, nearly 5000 people turned up to watch the match. But that was seven years ago. International commitments, combined with the fact that he now lives in Sydney, have prevented Ponting from playing for his club since then. That’s something he wants to change, and he has a genuine passion to give back to the game that has provided him with so much.”If there’s been a regret in my life it’s the fact that I haven’t had a chance to be around that club more,” Ponting said. “The way that my life has been, being a professional cricketer at the age of 17, being on the road and away from home for most of that period of time, you just don’t get as much time back at our clubs as we would like. I know that’s a big thing that has been spoken about in the last 12 months since the Argus review, international players being back in their states and playing more, and what that hopefully means is you can get back to your clubs more, and be involved with a younger generation of people.”Cricket and young cricketers need to be able to see their heroes. It would be great if I could spend more time around my club, or around primary schools, promoting the game and giving these young kids something to aspire to in the flesh. I’ve always been passionate about that. Once my life starts to wind down a bit as far as cricket is concerned I’ll make sure I’m doing that, because I feel that’s a role of mine.”And you never know. The next Ricky Ponting could be in one of those schools, or he could be sneaking into a club-room somewhere around the country, absorbing everything he hears. All the more reason for Australian cricket to tend to its grassroots.

New Zealand seem the ideal opposition for youngsters like Angelo Mathews to take charge of the team, before the sterner challenge in Australia

Andrew Fernando28-Oct-2012When Angelo Mathews strode to the crease in the World Twenty20 final, the Premadasa still believed. There were plenty of runs yet to make, and the required run rate was beginning to wrap its tendrils around the innings, but something about the new man in the middle inspired confidence. Mathews had scythed Sri Lanka out of thornier tangles before.But this time it was his anxious dismissal that ushered in the panic that asphyxiated the middle order. When Darren Sammy brought fine leg in after bowling three consecutive dot balls to Mathews, the batsman should have become aware of the trickery that was afoot. Instead, he dove into the trap. Having goaded Mathews into playing the scoop, Sammy bowled an off cutter, and ball gripped on the dry surface, evaded Mathews’ stroke, and clattered onto the stumps. Fifteen balls later, Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis had also lost their wickets, mindlessly. It was a dispiriting display from a middle order that forms the core of Sri Lanka’s future.Mathews is now officially a captain, perhaps in all formats from February, and he and Thisara Perera are now too experienced to claim youth as justification for their failures. Both men, and others like Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne have proved capable and have built encouraging reputations, but they haven’t yet taken full ownership of a team that will soon be theirs. They are not yet thinking, planning or performing on the level their seniors operate on. A home tour against New Zealand is their chance to show how much they have grown, and crucially, that they are ready to shape the team they play in, rather than simply being shaped by it.In many ways, New Zealand is an appropriate foe against whom Sri Lanka’s youngsters can test themselves against. The visitors are not so soft that any battle scars earned will be of no value but they are also not so brilliant that every minor flaw in developing techniques will be exposed and exploited.New Zealand have no bowlers that will frighten Sri Lanka’s youngsters, but the hosts can be assured that on this tour, they will be worked over, analysed and plotted against. Tim Southee bowled one of the spells of the World Twenty20 to force a tie against Sri Lanka in their match in Pallekele and Jacob Oram has also had success in Sri Lanka recently. Adam Milne has pace, though his talent may be too raw to be classified as a major menace, and Doug Bracewell and Trent Boult will provide a robust challenge in the Tests. New Zealand’s batsmen aren’t flawless either, but they are good enough to scourge poor bowling, and Kane Williamson is one of the better players of spin from outside the subcontinent.The stakes are slightly higher because the tour is played at home, and there are no ready excuses should Sri Lanka’s younger crop fail. There is pressure to succeed, and familiar pitches and venues at which to perform. The stage is almost perfectly set for them to take the baton from the seniors and bring Sri Lanka’s post-Murali transition phase to a close.The youngsters are also better placed to help the team overcome the disappointment of another major-finals loss. Watching another team lift the trophy in Colombo would have hurt more than any of the other runners-up medals, and the loss would have been hardest on Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who for all their success, know that they are fast running out of chances to win a world title. When Sri Lanka lost their last final in 2011, the team couldn’t shake their funk for eight months, when they seemed rudderless and listless in all three disciplines. Mathews and company can harbour better hopes for their own futures, and it may be upto them to provide the positivity and energy that will help Sri Lanka focus on a new challenge.Beyond New Zealand, an Australian summer beckons. It is perhaps Sri Lanka’s biggest tour in years given the enthusiasm most Sri Lankans have for seeing their side get the better of Australia, and the fact that they will play their first Boxing Day Test since 1995 – when Muttiah Muralitharan was no-balled by Darrell Hair. Some of the seniors may not have enjoyed previous tours there, but Mathews, Chandimal and Perera have already shown they are not daunted by a little extra pace and bounce. If they can emerge from the New Zealand tour with form behind them, Sri Lanka’s hopes of a maiden Test win in Australia will be boosted significantly.Before then though, there is plenty to achieve. Jayawardene and Sangakkara have shown no signs of slowing down yet, but they have repeatedly shown a desire to unburden themselves of leadership to focus on giving whatever they have left with the bat. Sri Lanka’s youngsters must come into their own, before the reins are upon them.

ESPNcricinfo’s men on the ground pick their favourite moments of the World Twenty20

09-Oct-2012Dead-eye Dwayne

Chris Gayle did push-ups with two hands and one, during West Indies’ celebrations•Getty/ICCNew Zealand were involved in two Super Overs in the space of five days in Pallakele during the Super Eights stage, and it was the way in which they reached the second one, against West Indies, which most sticks in my mind. Few people even knew the 12th man, Dwayne Smith, was on the field until he pulled off a direct hit from midwicket to run out Doug Bracewell on the last ball. Bracewell had sought a second run that would have brought New Zealand victory. Pallakele is a wonderful cricket ground, by far the finest Sri Lanka has ever produced, and moments like this brought the week alive.The shot of a madman

With Sri Lanka needing five runs off two balls to win the opening Super Eights match against New Zealand, Lahiru Thirimanne’s plight had become increasingly hopeless. Having come to the crease for the last over, he seemed clueless as to how to counter Tim Southee’s unrelenting yorker barrage. He had tried to scoop the first ball he faced and was lucky to avoid being caught at short fine leg. Next up, he missed completely, this time trying to hit Southee through the off side. What Thirimanne did next showcased Twenty20 at its most compelling. Having already failed at the shot, this accumulator with a reputation for being a limited batsman, moved to the off side, went to one knee and shoveled the ball over the infield to tie the match. It might have looked like genius, but it was the shot of a madman, and one of the bravest things I have ever seen on a cricket field.Cheers for the women, and Gayle’s antics

Two moments will stay with me for a long time, and both involve the respective winners. The first was after Australia Women had received the trophy and were done with the initial photographs. The Premadasa had already filled considerably with home fans ahead of the men’s final and Sri Lankan flags were being waved all around. Suddenly, the Australian women ran across to the other side of the ground, opposite the dressing rooms, where the stands were filled the most. The crowd’s response there was immediate, and heartwarming. They roared, cheering the victorious women. Sri Lankan flags was all they had, and they waved them for the champions, moving them to take a lap of the ground.The second moment was when Chris Gayle did all sorts of antics after West Indies had won a rare title after a topsy-turvy final. He kept flinging himself to the ground; he did push-ups with both hands; he did them with one hand. To think this man was not part of this side for more than a year. To think he had been accused of not wanting to play for West Indies. It was hard to see him doing the same antics with the same raw emotion for any Twenty20 franchise team.

Lasith Malinga talks about why he wants to do the best he can for Sri Lanka, and whether he has become predictable as a bowler

Interview by Andrew Fernando02-Nov-2012Did you ever feel you had something special back when you were playing tennis-ball cricket on the beach?
I knew that I could bowl well with the tennis ball, but at that time I hadn’t even touched a leather ball. I had no idea that I had the ability to be good enough to play for Sri Lanka. That’s something that makes me very happy, to see how far I’ve come.Champaka Ramanayake took an interest in you early on. How different would your life have been if he hadn’t seen you?
I met him about ten months after I first started playing leather-ball cricket. Since that day, he has done a lot for me. He has been around the A team, club cricket and the national team, and he has helped me in all those capacities. I knew nothing when I started playing with the leather ball – how to control the ball, how to reverse swing it, how to vary the speeds. Under Champaka sir, I was able to learn all that. I didn’t get a lot of opportunity to play school cricket, so the person that helped me get into the national team was Champaka sir.He hadn’t seen someone like me before. He didn’t say anything major. Just, “Bowl as fast as you can, as straight as you can.” He didn’t try to tell me where my arm should be or anything like that. Even today, he says the same thing to me. He never tried to change who I was, and that’s why I’ve been able to come as far as I have.There were a lot of other coaches who really helped me – Anusha Samaranayake, Prabath Nissanka, Rumesh Ratnayake. I am incredibly grateful to them.You practised bowling yorkers by placing two shoes on the crease and trying to hit them. How did you come up with that?
I used to watch Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on TV and thought that the yorker was a great ball to bowl. We have a saying that it is better to learn from watching than from hearing. I thought I must learn the thing that I love to watch. The yorker was successful for me, so I thought I would make it even better, and I imagined that a batsman was at the crease and tried to hit his feet.Reverse swing came naturally to you with your action. Are you disappointed that you no longer play Tests, where reverse swing is more effective than in other formats?
Definitely I am sad about that. I came into the national team as a Test cricketer. I learnt a lot from playing Tests – how to bowl with the new ball, how to get the better of a batsman once the ball had become old, and it showed me how to always look for wickets. It makes me sad that I can’t play Tests anymore because of my injury. I only played 30 Tests, but what I learnt in those matches has helped me get a lot of ODI and T20 wickets.It was only in my 29th Test that I learnt to reverse the ball in both directions. In that match I took seven wickets, against India in Galle. After that series I wasn’t able to play any more Tests because of my knee injury. I always ask why that happened to me.

“I used to watch Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram on TV and thought that the yorker was a great ball to bowl. I thought I must learn the thing that I love to watch”

You retired from Tests in the middle of an IPL, after you had been named in a Test squad to England. Why didn’t you announce your retirement earlier?
I picked up this injury in 2008, and that’s when I had a long time away from Tests. For three years, no one looked at me for Test selection, no one looked to see how I was bowling. But in 2010, when Murali was retiring, he talked to me and said, “Mali, this is my last match. Do you want to come and play another Test with me?” I respect Murali a lot, and no one can ever say a bad thing about him, so I thought, “Even if this is my last Test as well, even if I break my leg playing it, it doesn’t matter.” In three years I hadn’t even played a two-day match. But still, I was able to be the Man of the Match, by taking seven wickets and making 64 runs, and Murali got to take his 800th wicket.I only played that Test because he asked me. After 2008, I had given up any thoughts of playing Test cricket. The reason was that the knee injury I have is something only four or five other people in the world have – mostly Aussie Rules football players, no cricketers. My doctor told me it would never get better, and that I might have to give up cricket altogether. There was a small chance it would get better, but I would have to spend a long time away from the game. Luckily I got to the stage where I can bowl a few overs a day, but that’s why I had to give up Test cricket.When you played all three formats, which did you enjoy the most?
I loved playing Tests because you get the chance to bowl so much. In ODIs it’s only ten overs and in T20s it’s four, but in Tests you can bowl 20-25 overs a day. Because of that, in Tests you gain a lot of experience, and learn what to do in specific situations. How should you bowl with the new ball in the morning? How should you bowl in the afternoon when it’s hot? How to bowl at the end of the day? But I can’t do that anymore, and there’s no point dwelling on the past. I can only play well in whatever formats I can still play in.You don’t think you will ever play Tests again, then?
I’m 29 now. I think I will only have three or four more years to play. I think going back to Tests now would be very difficult. I’ve been away from Tests for one and a half or two years. I have 100 Test wickets now, and I feel like if I were to play again, I would want to get to at least 150 wickets. To do that I would have to play at least ten or 15 Tests, and I don’t think I can do that, given how bad my injury is. I think it’s much better for the team if a new bowler comes through and plays three or four years at a stretch than if I play for just a few.Malinga played the 2010 Galle Test because Murali asked him to•AFPYou’ve played in all four of Sri Lanka’s World Cup and World Twenty20 final defeats. How did you prepare for those matches?
I didn’t do anything different. I played under Mahela and Sanga and they gave me the freedom to be myself and bowl the way I thought was best. In the first three finals I was good, but in the last final I couldn’t bowl well. I think I was a big reason why we lost. I felt helpless and couldn’t do anything for the team. But I was glad I was able to take five wickets against England in the Super Eights and bowl a good Super Over against New Zealand. I’m very sad about the final, and what I couldn’t do there. But at least I’ve been able to play in four finals.Do you talk to Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara much about your game?
I don’t talk a lot about cricket with Kumar – not that I totally don’t, but not often. But I’m always talking about cricket with Mahela. We talk about how I should bowl when a batsman is playing in a certain way, what balls to bowl in certain conditions, and he has had a lot of input and influence on how I play. We talk cricket all the time.You’ve profited a lot from the IPL. Do you think you have ever compromised your international career for Sri Lanka because of it?
I have never done that. I only played in the IPL after I stopped playing Tests. I haven’t neglected any limited-overs matches for Sri Lanka because of the IPL. As long as I am playing cricket, I am always ready to play ODI and T20 cricket for Sri Lanka.You’ve said that because no one is looking out for you, you have to look out for yourself. Why do you feel that way?
As a cricketer, you have a shelf life. You sacrifice your education and any other line of work to play cricket. The best cricketers might play for ten or 15 years; others might have only five or six years at the top. You don’t know at what time you will be injured or at what time you will lose form, and how long you will stay in the team. I think in that short time that you have, you have to do the best for your team and do everything you want to. After you leave cricket, no one cares about you. I’ve seen that happen to former cricketers. I know that that will happen to me as well. So I just want to play as well as I can when I can do it, and one day be able to reflect on the number of wickets I’ve taken for my country, and the number of wins I’ve been able to deliver.In ODIs, how much has the “new ball from each end” rule affected your bowling towards the end of an innings?
It hasn’t just affected me, it has hurt a lot of Asian bowlers who rely on reverse swing. It’s much more difficult to take wickets at the death now. I really hope that that rule is reversed and that we get one ball per innings. There would be some kind of justice for bowlers if that happened.

“If I were to play Tests again, I would want to get to at least 150 wickets. To do that I would have to play at least ten or 15 Tests, and I don’t think I can do that”

Even in T20s, over the past 12 months you haven’t been able to bowl as well as you used to. You’ve having particular trouble with finding the yorker length. Why is that?
Yes, I haven’t been able to bowl my yorkers as well as I want in both international cricket and in the IPL, and I haven’t been able to get as many wickets. I think because I’ve been playing non-stop for so long, I’m physically drained. I’ve played in every match that I was fit for. I need to take some time out and re-energise, and I hope that I can return to where I was.Do you think you’ve become too predictable?
I guess batsmen know the deliveries I bowl, because they’ve analysed me on video, just like we do to other bowlers and batsmen. That is the nature of the game now. There are new rule changes as well, and I can only be successful if I adapt and handle pressure well. I think in future bowlers will be under more and more pressure.There are no new balls that I can learn; I know how to bowl everything. But in saying that, there are subtle changes I can make to some of the variations to make them more effective. I’m working with the coaches and with the team leadership on what I can change.How does it affect you when it is said that you are only motivated by money?
Some people look at me in a bad light and say those things, but I don’t think you can look at the wickets I’ve taken for Sri Lanka and be justified in saying that. They say I only play well for money, but I’ve set four world records playing for my country. If I was just playing for money, I should have achieved those things in the IPL. I’ve taken three hat-tricks for Sri Lanka. All those things I’ve done playing for Sri Lanka. I have taken 200 ODI wickets for Sri Lanka, and I’m the fastest Sri Lankan to have reached that milestone. In 30 Tests, I have taken 101 wickets. There again, I am the fastest Sri Lankan. If those people look at what I have done properly, they will be able to see what my motivation has been.What would you most like to achieve in the time you have left in the game?
I’m hoping to take 100 wickets in T20s, and if I can play long enough, to take 300 wickets in ODIs. Most of all, I just want to take my team to as many victories as possible for as long as I can.