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An especially troublesome breed of medium-pace bowlers in ODIs in the 1990s has largely become irrelevant today

Tim Wigmore14-Jun-2017At Edgbaston, Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan are leading England’s recovery. The crowd is increasingly boisterous, sensing how Australia face being bundled out of the Champions Trophy in the group stages.Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, throws the ball to Moises Henriques, hoping that his medium pace can wangle a wicket. Stokes promptly smites Henriques over mid-on with ferocious power. After a solitary over, Henriques is whisked off – never to return, even as England cruise to victory. Henriques’ fate was a metaphor for the plight of slowish medium-pace bowlers in ODI cricket now.When the World Cup last came to England, in 1999, it was a triumph for the dibbly-dobblers. This breed looked distinctly unthreatening, trundling in to deliver the ball at under 80mph, often much slower. But, bowling during the middle overs, moving the ball a little off a tight off-stump line, normally from just short of a length, their very lack of pace became an advantage, rendering it easier for a captain to place the five fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle – typically at long-off, deep extra cover, point, square leg and long-on.New Zealand’s Gavin Larsen, a flag-bearer for this species, conceded just 3.46 an over throughout the tournament, including 0 for 26 off ten overs against Australia; his compatriots Chris Harris and Nathan Astle were almost as effective.Virtually every country had a dibbly-dobbler of their own – sometimes several. Often their selection was made easier because they were normally reliable contributors of runs too.Adam Hollioake: “You need more specialist bowlers, whereas back in those days you could run up with the men out, bowl stump to stump and wait for the batsmen to make a mistake”•PA Photos/Getty ImagesRecalled to bring stability after Australia’s tumultuous start to the tournament, Tom Moody went for 4.31 runs an over. For India, 35-year-old Robin Singh decimated Sri Lanka with 5 for 31. England’s Mark Ealham was outstanding, taking two wickets in every game and bowling his full allocation of overs each time. Neil Johnson’s 12 wickets, including 3 for 27 in the win against South Africa, underpinned Zimbabwe’s run to the Super Six; Guy Whittall was also useful. Auxiliary medium-pacers, picked more for their batting than bowling, were handy too: Phil Simmons conceded under 3.5 an over for West Indies; Hansie Cronje’s wicket-to-wicket bowling was South Africa’s insurance policy; Sourav Ganguly helped eliminate England. Only Pakistan lacked a dibbly-dobbler.Now, in a global ODI event in the same country at the same time of year, this type of bowler is virtually extinct.

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“Why don’t we see many medium-pacers anymore? There’s a very obvious answer to that: the fielding restrictions,” believes Adam Hollioake, one of the four medium-pacers in England’s 1999 World Cup squad.

Top dibbly-dobblers of the late-’90s

Chris Harris 203
Hansie Cronje 114
Gavin Larsen 113
Sourav Ganguly 100
Nathan Astle 99
Guy Whittall 88
Phil Simmons 83
Robin Singh 69
Mark Ealham 67
Tom Moody 52
Neil Johnson 35
Adam Hollioake 32
Ian Austin 6

There is a real sense that the dibbly-dobbler has been legislated out of existence. The introduction of three Powerplays from 2005 (one of ten overs, and two of five overs apiece) increased the number of overs with fielding restrictions from 15 to 20, squeezing the time when medium-pacers could be used. This lasted until 2012, when one five-over Powerplay was removed. But at the same time, another change was brought in, even more deleterious for dibbly-dobblers: the number of fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle was reduced from five to four during normal overs. Since 2015, this rule has been relaxed in the last ten overs, when five fielders are now allowed out, and the batting Powerplay has been scrapped, but the restriction to four fielders outside the circle otherwise remains. More than any other type of bowler, medium-pacers are the losers.”When you were allowed five men outside the circle, you’d run up and try and bowl the ball into positions where they had to hit the ball to where you had the most men,” reflects Hollioake. “Now, you don’t get away with that because you’ve got to have another fielder up: that makes it tougher for the medium-pacers.”Other tweaks to the game have also conspired against medium-pacers. The introduction of two new balls, from 2012, prevents the ball from going soft, rendering trundlers easier to hit.Pitches have changed radically. In recent years there has been a big emphasis on ODI wickets with more pace – simultaneously encouraging fast bowlers, and batsmen to hit the ball over the top. John Bracewell, New Zealand coach from 2003 to 2008, observed a deliberate shift away from slow and low pitches in both home internationals and domestic matches during his stint, marginalising dibbly-dobblers. “Batters dominated until bowlers started bowling faster and spinners started spinning the ball.”All these developments have been accelerated by improvements in modern batting – in physiology, psychology and preparation, with a little help from modern bat technology, and the fact that boundaries are often being brought in. Most fundamentally, levels of batting skill have been transformed; the ability to hit the ball 360 degrees is now routine. So where once medium-pacers could bowl on off stump, now batsmen shuffle across to hit the ball to the leg side. They are also far more adept at hitting such bowlers behind the wicket, through dabs, scoops, sweeps or reverse sweeps – thereby opening up the entire field.When keepers stood up to the stumps to medium-pacers, they brought in the stumping dismissal and made the batsman more cautious•Getty ImagesOr batsmen can simple thump medium-pacers over the top. In 2006, a six was hit once every 112 balls in ODI cricket; last year, a six was hit once every 59 balls. As the limits of ODI batting are pushed ever further, so average scores are hurtling upwards. In this new age, allowing a bowler like Larsen to take 1 for 35 from ten overs (nearly exactly his average ODI return) is deemed reprehensible. In the middle overs, medium-pacers wobbling the ball to off stump are now greeted with disdain.”Batsmen are setting themselves up to hit balls from the top of off stump, and what prevents this is either pace, change-ups, height or odd actions,” explains Trent Woodhill, a leading batting coach. “So medium-pacers have become a natural target. Their margin for error is so small it causes them to over-rely on change-ups, which makes them easier to read.”Improvements among lower-order batsmen, accelerated by T20 cricket, have also emboldened teams to be more aggressive earlier. It means, too, that selectors have less reason to select medium-pacers on account of their useful batting.The decline in modern wicketkeeping standards has also hindered the dibbly-dobbler. Adroit keepers aided medium-pacers by standing up to the stumps, enabling them to effect dismissals – eight of Harris’ 203 ODI wickets were stumped – and, just as significantly, keep batsmen in the crease, so limiting their options.Now, international keepers are less accomplished standing up to the stumps, and in a sense, keepers have also become less important to medium-pacers because of the change in batsmen’s psychology. Chris Read observes that while at the start of his career standing up to the stumps would impact how batsmen played, now they will charge down the wicket regardless.In response to a game being tilted ever more in favour of batsmen, containment can only be achieved through aggressive bowling that takes wickets. The modern ODI game “makes it very hard for the medium-pacer to survive,” says Hollioake. “You need more specialist bowlers – guys who are going to bowl at 85mph-plus or spin the ball both ways – whereas back in those days you could run up with the men out, bowl stump to stump and wait for the batsmen to make a mistake.”Fielding restrictions and the introduction of two new balls in ODIs have also contributed to the decline of the dibbly-dobbler•Getty ImagesSo unless medium-pace bowlers can move the ball in exceptional ways, the sport has little use for them. Even in home ODIs early in the summer, England routinely use two spinners, one more than in their entire 1999 World Cup squad. Meanwhile, they have gone from four medium-pacers to none.The evolution of cricket has been most noticeable in batting, but it has not completely passed bowlers by: never have so many bowlers been able to deliver the ball at 90mph. New Zealand, the archetypal land of the medium-pacer, now have at least six bowlers capable of clearing 90mph. Bracewell believes the shift in New Zealand began with the onset of full professionalism in domestic cricket, in 2002, and has been accelerated by the IPL and other lucrative T20 leagues: “more genuine athletes are choosing cricket over rugby”.In the first IPL, not a single New Zealand fast bowler was picked up; in 2017, six quicks played. Improvements in training techniques, and the extra money in the sport also make it possible for fast bowlers to manage their schedules better to elongate their careers.The dearth of medium-pacers has taken something from the game. To see Harris ambling in awkwardly, resembling a clubbie more than an international cricketer, and still flummox batsmen was affirmation of how cricket was a game that took all sorts. And yet, in many ways the fate of dibbly-dobblers should be celebrated.”It would have been harder for me to be successful,” says Hollioake of modern ODI cricket. But he still believes that the developments – and the death of the widely loathed middle overs of meandering, risk-averse cricket from both sides – are good for the game.Really, the demise of medium pace in ODI cricket is emblematic of something much deeper: the evolution of modern sport. Premier League footballers cover a quarter more distance over the same playing time than those 40 years ago.Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, put it best when asked if his team would lose to great NBA teams of yore. “They would all kill us,” he said sarcastically. “The game gets worse as time goes on. Players are less talented than they used to be. The guys in the ’50s would’ve destroyed everybody. It’s weird how human evolution goes in reverse in sports. Players get weaker, smaller, less skilled. I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”More batsmen can clear the boundaries; more bowlers, in turn, can bowl at express pace. What killed the dibbly-dobbler? Sporting evolution did.

At 33, the seamer is working harder than ever on keeping himself fit and has learned to be smarter about his bowling workload

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Alur10-Nov-2017R Vinay Kumar hasn’t yet given up on his dream of playing for India again, four years after his last international appearance. The ghosts of that match still linger when his international career is discussed: on a flat pitch at his home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru against Australia, Vinay was battered for 102 runs, the second-most expensive nine-over returns in ODIs.Opportunities since have been scant. He was part of the squad for home series against West Indies later that year, and travelled to Bangladesh in 2014, but did not make the XI. Vinay is at peace with his position, realising the competition among pacers in the national side, but is firm in the pursuit of his ambition. At 33, he is working harder than ever on keeping himself fit and has learned to be smarter about his bowling workload. “I’m matured enough to understand my situation. If I’m 21 or 22, then it (being out of the India team) may be very difficult to digest,” he told ESPNcricinfo.Vinay has learned to count every chance he gets as a blessing. He has had the right kind of people around to guide him, like Sachin Tendulkar, his mentor at Mumbai Indians, who impressed on him the importance of remembering the love for the game that he started out with in the first place.”Bowlers are always happy to take five wickets. I’m the kind of bowler, who when a partnership needs to be broken, I’ll be happy to come in and get a wicket. That’s like getting five wickets for me. These small moments are what I enjoy very much. Breaking partnerships is a huge achievement for me. Indian team is always at the back of my mind, but I try to seek happiness from such small things and it makes me work harder on my game.”The time out of the Indian team has not affected his domestic impact. In the last four seasons, Vinay has been among Karnataka’s top two wicket-takers in three of them. He captained them to six domestic titles in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. This year, he has already taken 13 wickets in three matches at 15.46, including a six-for against Maharashtra. With over 400 first-class wickets at an average of 23, Vinay has been a powerhouse performer in first-class cricket. His 369 wickets in the Ranji Trophy make him the highest wicket-taker among pace bowlers in the history of the tournament.”Last three years, I got two awards from BCCI: best bowler award (highest wicket-taker in 2014-15 Ranji Trophy) and best allrounder award (in limited-overs cricket in 2013-14). Performance-wise, I don’t have any doubt that I can come back into the Indian side, but I need to wait for an opportunity.”There are two ways of looking at it – one, get frustrated and try to do something that you’re not used to, or second is to keep it simple and keep doing what you have been, try to enjoy your cricket and whenever you get the opportunity, try to perform and raise your goals a little higher. You may or may not reach the goal, but that kind of challenges and motivates you to go out and perform. At the end of the day, when I go back to my room, I should be happy about the way I bowled. That feel-good factor is very important for me.”

I’m the kind of bowler, who when a partnership needs to be broken, I’ll be happy to come in and get a wicket. That’s like getting five wickets for me.

After his performance in that Bengaluru ODI, the fact that he was the highest wicket-taker among pace bowlers from either side went largely unnoticed. “Yes, I conceded 100 runs. There are many bowlers who have conceded 100-plus runs, but I am the only such bowler, whose team won after it happened. Nowadays, cricket has changed, and in future you might see many bowlers go for 100 runs. Especially now, with the bowing and batting Powerplays, things won’t always go in your favour, but that’s fine.”The seeds for Vinay’s Karnataka career were sown when he was spotted as a 16-year old by B Siddaramu (their current manager) and YB Patel, the brother of Brijesh Patel, who were selectors for the Tumkur zone. Vinay, who hails from Davanagere, rose quickly to the state Under-16s. A successful season in the fifth-division league with Neptune Cricket Club in Bengaluru earned him a promotion straight to first division the next year before he broke into the senior state team.”YB Patel sir used to like me so much and always encouraged me. He asked me not to get distracted because coming from a rural area, to suddenly see the city life in Bangalore, it may get into your head and give you a feeling of already having achieved something. When I got selected for Ranji, then too he asked me to keep my ears and eyes open, and my mouth closed and just play cricket. Even with captaincy, KSCA gave me liberty to take my own decisions. As captain, many of the decisions you take are spontaneous. What you do may or may not work, but if you don’t get support from the association, it’s difficult for you to take independent decisions. If not for that support, it wouldn’t have shaped me into who I am today.”Today, whatever I am is because of Karnataka cricket. It’s now my turn to give back to them in any way I can, be it bowling or batting, fielding or just even passing through my experience to the youngsters. That is why being out of the India side perhaps doesn’t hurt me much.”And, of course, I have been playing IPL for the last 10 years, so financially I’m settled. I don’t have any regrets about not getting opportunities. I would love to come back to Indian team and I definitely will.”

Gary Kirsten talks about the increasingly important role of the coach in the shortest format

Interview by Tim Wigmore13-Jan-2018Is the coach’s role more important in T20 than Test cricket?
T20 cricket is a modern game, so it’s more in line with professional domestic sport around the world, more in line with the demands of entertainment in sport. Leadership in that space requires creativity, it requires decision-making at a fast-paced level compared to Test cricket. I think it’s incredibly relevant because there’s a lot to cover before you move on to your next game, which is often a fairly quick turnaround.Can a coach add more value to a team in T20?
My experience of that is: definitely. There’s a lot more to do in a T20 group. Test cricket just takes a long time to unfold, the levels of skill that are required are probably very different. The game’s moving very quickly in a T20 game, requiring a lot of different skills and also decision-making.There’s always a question mark over the role of a coach in cricket. Cricket is moving closer to modern sports. If you take Major League Baseball, if you take NFL, if you take basketball around the world, if you take football around the world, you just have to look at the role of the coach or manager within those sports. They play a fairly significant role. I think cricket’s moving in that direction, in T20 cricket.The other thing is, we’re building piles and piles of data that are becoming available for us because of the amount of T20 cricket that’s being played, and the data’s becoming incredibly relevant – so the better you can use and decode that data, then you can be on your way.How important is data in T20 coaching?

It’s becoming more relevant. There is some information that’s becoming compelling, in my view. The question is how you decode the information to build it into your team strategy. I think coaches and teams are getting really good at that. The other thing is that, as long as the information is compelling, you can run with it.

“Guys are going to focus their attention on one format and they’re going to say, ‘I’m going to become as good as I can at this format so that I have time to upgrade my skills to get myself ready for these types of competitions'”

In Test cricket, is dealing with data harder because there’s actually less of a sample size for individual players?

Yeah. Test cricket unfolds in a different way. There’s a history of the game that has stood the test of time, and players, coaches and experts will always default to what those patterns and trends have been. It hasn’t really changed over many, many years. You do get some great teams that have tried to shift it a little bit, but it’s kind of pretty much stayed fairly stable for a long period of time.How hard is it to build a culture in a T20 team, when you might only arrive ten days before the season starts?
It does help being with a team for a decent period of time. If you take someone like Justin Langer, who’s had five or six years with a team, you get to know players, so that does make a difference. You do rest on the leadership within the group to build a culture or create an environment that you want. There are challenges there.The upside is that you can come in with fresh thoughts and fresh views. That can often help and make a difference. It does take time. The biggest challenge I’ve had as a coach in T20 cricket in the Big Bash is that it’s my first time at it, so you don’t always necessarily understand the players that way, what you’re going to get out of them mentally, and also what specific skills they have that are going to make a difference in a game. So that really helps to have a base to be working with, but then every coach has started somewhere and then built from there.How much scope is there for technical coaching in the middle of a T20 tournament? Is that impossible?

No, not at all. The question is, can you bring in a new, or upgraded, skill in the middle of a tournament? I’m not sure of the answer to that. I think you potentially can. I still think there’s a fair amount of technical work that can unfold, but I think it’s difficult for players – they’re playing three formats of the game, so for them to be working on their T20 skills in the middle of a Shield season is not easy. So everyone comes together for a short period and then they start working on their skills like two weeks before the tournament starts.I think there’s definitely going to be a move in the game where guys are going to focus their attention on one format and they’re going to say, “I’m going to become as good as I can at this format so that I have time to upgrade my skills during the year to get myself ready for these types of competitions.””The biggest challenge I’ve had as a coach in T20 cricket in the Big Bash is that it’s my first time at it, so you don’t always necessarily understand the players, what specific skills they have to make a difference”•Getty ImagesEven within T20, how different is coaching at club level versus coaching at international level?

I think at international level the stakes are higher. There are more stakeholders that are attached emotionally to the results. Domestic cricket is more accountability to your region, potentially to one owner or one person above you or a small group, so there’s a big difference between the two.Is there more scope to improve players in domestic cricket and tinker with players and selection, or are the fundamentals pretty similar?

There’s a real opportunity to be creative in that space and to tinker with players, because you know that you’re with them over a T20 season, which is great.Is the relationship between the captain and coach in T20 a delicate one, especially if the coach’s role is expanding? Can that create tensions with the captain?
That’s still the most important leadership relationship in any team. That relationship is very important – there needs to be trust in it, there needs to be value-add in it. If it works well, it can make a massive difference. You’re two leaders, you’re making decisons across the whole group and you need to trust each other in that space. The stronger that relationship the better.On a match day, do you just pass to the captain?

You are involved in decisions. It’s a fluid process – you’re in the game the whole time, you’re making decisions the whole time. You’re doing it with the captain; if the captain’s on the field, you’re making decisions on behalf of the leadership group. You are a decision-maker as a leader, so there’s a responsibility attached to that.Do you have a say on bowling changes and the batting order during the game itself?
Absolutely.Who decides the batting order?
It’s decided within the leadership group, so our strategies are put together well before the game starts and we will go with Plan A. And if Plan A doesn’t work and you have to move to Plan B, then you will make those decisions on tap, you’ll make them straight away. You’ll make a snap call or turn in one way or another. It’s on the back of a plan that has been thought out well before the game. These are not just ad hoc decisions that you just go on a hunch. You’re giving it your best thought in your planning.If you think someone should be bowling to a particular batsman during the game, and the captain’s not doing that would you try and get a message to the captain?
It’s very difficult if the captain’s made the decision to go with a bowler and you don’t think its the right decision – you don’t have time to get a message out there. My tendency there is to say, back the captain in the decisions he makes. Afterwards, if you thought there was another way then just take the learning and move on.

The first Test was a contest between England and Kohli, and he lost not because he failed, but because all his specialist batsmen failed

Nagraj Gollapudi in Birmingham04-Aug-2018Virat Kohli scored exactly 200 runs in the first Test. The other 10 batsmen scored 214. Since December 2013, when India toured South Africa, Kohli has eight Test centuries in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. The rest of the Indian batsmen during that period have scored just as many between themselves in those four countries.In the 17 Tests Kohli has played in this period, he averages 54.48; all the others in the top-seven collectively average 28.13.Since the start of the 2017-18 season, in seven Tests, Kohli has scored 31.9% of India’s total runs.You get the drift.The first Test was a contest between England and Kohli, and he lost not because he failed, but because all his specialist batsmen failed.Test-match batting in England is never easy. Even Kohli, as revealed, edged and missed more deliveries in this game than any other. But the reason he did not fail was because he applied himself, and the rest of the line-up didn’t. Kohli figured out a way to feel comfortable even as Edgbaston was clamouring for his head. As India batting coach Sanjay Bangar pointed out on the second day: Kohli found a way to stay a step ahead. So why couldn’t the other Indian batsman do the same?Shikhar Dhawan was not a certainty to open with M Vijay not just because of his bad numbers overseas, but also because he made a pair in the warm-up match against a second-string Essex side. In both innings, Dhawan reached out with hard hands at a ball that was moving away outside off stump and was caught in the slips.On Saturday morning, Ravi Shastri was seen talking to Dhawan about his technique. Even without being privy to the talk, it is fair to assume that the head coach was asking the left-hander to wait for the ball to come to him rather than reach.Dhawan was one of the two batsmen that Bangar, without naming, said had “thrown” their wickets away. KL Rahul was the other one. Rahul had been included ahead of the more experienced Cheteshwar Pujara at No. 3. The selection was made an hour before start of play, during the team huddle. On Friday, Rahul was defeated by a mind-bender of a delivery from Ben Stokes. But in the first innings, facing only his second delivery, he went chasing wide outside his off stump and played on.M Vijay, the other pillar in the top order, was ineffective as well. In the first innings, He came out looking indecisive and suddenly found himself stagnant and exposed. In the second innings, he left an inswinger to be trapped lbw. And in the first, even though he had put on 50 runs with Dhawan, both he and his partner departed even before Anderson and Broad had finished half their first spells.What must have pained Kohli most was Ajinkya Rahane, his deputy, wafting at an innocuous delivery from Sam Curran late on Friday. The thin edge was picked up by Johnny Bairstow behind the wickets. As Rahane walked out, Kohli put the towel stuck to his hip up on his head.This was the second time in eight months that India found themselves in a winning position while chasing a small target. In the Cape Town Test early this year, they failed make the required 208. As Sanjay Manjrekar had written then, the Indian batsmen could not develop the instinct to bat in South Africa, having arrived in the country a week before the Test.That is not the case on this tour. Vijay and Rahane played for India A against England Lions before the three-day warm-up against Essex. All the other batsmen have been in the UK since late June. As Kohli said after the match, his batsmen needed to look the mirror.R Ashwin said that it would not be prudent to be harsh on the batsmen on a pitch that did not allow them to play with freedom. He added that this team still has the potential to do something “special”.”I have been on tour since 2011. And that way this team has got really a positive vibe in terms of at least believing that we can pull it off from any stage because we have in the past, and probably on the last three or four away tours we have been on, we have managed to pull off some incredible victories. And probably if we have to win a Test series in England, and that too a five-match series, we will have to pull off something special at some stage.”There is no doubt about the belief. But right now India are hurting.On Wednesday morning, Kohli had walked into the Test match with the whites tucked in, chest out, full of intent. At noon on Saturday, Kohli walked down the stairs for the post-match presentation, shirt tucked out, hands behind his back, all his pride swallowed. He accepted defeat and patted his counterpart on the shoulder to congratulate him on the win. Let down by his own men, Kohli could do nothing else.

Jason Gillespie and Ryan Harris think it is not impossible. To do so, Australia’s fast bowlers will need to be switched on at all times

Interviews by Nagraj Gollapudi02-Dec-20182:31

How can Australia tackle the Kohli threat?

The 2014-15 tour of Australia was a watershed for Virat Kohli. India lost the series 2-0, but he finished second, behind Steven Smith on the run charts, and set the bar high with his domineering batting. Since then he has pushed the standard consistently higher. Now he returns to Australia as the game’s pre-eminent batsman across formats and the No. 1 in Tests. Can Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins stop him? We spoke to two former Australia fast bowlers: Jason Gillespie, who is now a coach; and Ryan Harris, who duelled with Kohli a few times, including in that home series four years ago.Get him early
Gillespie: You need to be switched on from ball one. Because if Kohli has faced 20-odd balls and he has got more than 10-15 runs, he usually gets a significant score. And that is why it Is so crucial to impact early. There cannot be any warm-up deliveries against Kohli.Don’t allow him to get going by giving him an easy shot – a half-volley, a tuck off the hip, a cut shot. If he is going to score runs, make him earn them, make him play really good shots, and make him take a risk. That applies to every batsman, but because Kohli is such a big and important player in this Indian side and so much rests on him as captain, it is really important to make sure you are switched on and you are bowling the best delivery you can.Harris: Virat early on is a nervous starter, so you need to really get it up there and get him driving. What he does like is width, so you can’t be too wide. He looks for that good shot to get him away to give him that confidence. We’ve just got to make sure we challenge him early and hope he makes a mistake.

“Virat likes to dominate, has a big ego. And that is why he is so good: he has that ego, he has that confidence in what he wants to do”Ryan Harris

Get him to drive
Harris: My goal early on, especially on the quicker wickets, was always to get the batsman driving. It did not matter whether it was Virat Kohli or Joe Root; I wanted the batsman to be tempted to drive. That would be the plan I reckon even the current lot of Australian fast bowlers will have against him. They also have a little more pace than I had, which can come handy with that plan.I recall Virat getting some four hundreds last time around in Australia. He likes to dictate the pace, so you just have to bowl deliveries that he is not got to hit. And then adjust the fields. You can bowl wider outside off, set an off-side field and try and force him to try pushing them to the on side. You try and bowl good balls, dry up the scoring and build the pressure and be persistent and very patient.Use seam and swing
Gillespie: Everyone thinks Kohli has no weaknesses, and that is fair. He has a lot of strengths. But in England when the ball seamed or swung a little bit, I noticed he, at times, went really hard at the ball. I would like the Australian bowlers to have a look at that.On good surfaces where the ball is not really swinging or seaming, even if the length is not really quite there to drive, Kohli might still throw his hands at it and he will connect 99 times out of 100. But those deliveries in the UK were a bit different, with the Dukes ball, where Kohli nicked to the keeper and slips reasonably early a few times.Virat Kohli watches England dominate•AFPSet him up with a good line
Gillespie: That fourth-stump line, about bail-high, with the potential movement away would be my stock ball to Kohli as a right-arm bowler. The variation would be the one that is pitched on off stump and just holds its line. And maybe even look to angle the ball back in to create the opportunity for bowled or lbw. To me that would be a really simple, easily implementable plan.Bowling straight was also a good counter to Kohli’s strategy in England this summer. He was plonking his front foot towards the off stump and flicking it to midwicket. It got him to get off strike easily. But if you maintain that off stump or fourth-stump line I am talking about, with the ball going away from him, if he tries to access those deliveries, to get over them, then there is the potential it could hurt him.Harris: To start off, you ought to bowl the fourth- or fifth-stump line. I know the guys tried bowling wider on the tour of India against him early on, so that is another plan that could be tried, hoping he nicks one. But the bottom line is: he relies on length. If the length is there to drive then that is what you want to try and get him to do. But just short of length or if it is too full – that is where he capitalises.Find the ideal length
Gillespie: I would recommend finding a length that would go past at bail-height. Keep in mind all of the Australian front-line quicks are very tall. So the bounce they generate from the right length will hit Kohli’s bat a lot higher and make it difficult for him to manoeuvre and place the ball where he wants.

“That off stump, fourth-stump line, about bail-high, with the potential movement away would be my stock ball to Kohli as a right-arm bowler”Jason Gillespie

Adjust the length
Harris: His obvious plan when he stands outside the crease is to negate the swing and force the bowler to change his lengths. He knows he can take the lbw out of the equation as well. I’ve just got to make sure I am aware, I am on top of it and I change my lengths accordingly to make him play shots he does not want to. When he stands outside the crease, just try and pitch on a spot where you are trying to get him to drive, but not too full. If you are getting it to bounce around the knee roll or top of the pads and if he comes hard at you, he could nick or miss.Gillespie: The key is, If he is going to stand that far out [about a yard] and if the ball is going to be bail-high, that ball is going to be essentially a half-volley. If he is batting a foot outside the crease, they need the ball going past him at the knee-roll or so. The challenge for the bowler is to adjust the length depending on where Kohli is taking his stance. So that is a skill in itself. That can be sorted with communication between bowler and the fielders – particularly the point fielder or guys behind the wicket.Use the short one judiciously
Gillespie: You can pitch the occasional bouncer. For that to work, I will have two fielders back – fine leg and deep backward square. So if you do get too straight, and he works it through to the leg side, there is a bit of protection. Having those two fielders also gives the bowler the opportunity to bowl a really good bouncer and know that there is a chance of a wicket. If he gets a top edge, those fielders are there to grab that or to save runs.Plug the off side
Gillespie: Kohli looks to score at all times, especially on the off side. That is where the wicketkeeper and slips will come into play. If the ball is not moving off the straight, if it is not swinging, you can potentially put a fielder at catching cover. But if the ball is swinging I would be inclined to keep cover open and encourage him to drive through there initially. I would also have slips and gully in place initially to invite the drive and potentially get a nick.Virat Kohli in the field•Getty ImagesDon’t lose the mental battle
Gillespie: You have got to get your skill right, but it is always a battle of patience. It is about building that pressure to create that opportunity. Whoever is winning that battle of patience is invariably in front of the game and influencing it. You may well bowl a ball that is a wicket-taking one, but sometimes it is hit for a four or defended well. You have to bowl as many wicket-taking balls as you possibly can, to give yourself a chance. The duel is fascinating if you can hang in, stay patient, build that pressure to create those potential opportunities.I always loved such one-on-one contests with the best batsmen. You want to test yourself against them. You might have some success, you might not. But you go out there with a positive attitude, with an attitude that you can learn something.Harris: Virat likes to dominate, has a big ego. And that is why he is so good: he has that ego, he has that confidence in what he wants to do. So you have got to try and force an error and get him to do something he does not want to do. Whatever you do, you have to be patient with it and you have got to try and put pressure on him. You are going to bowl good balls but he is going to come out and play good and great shots. You have got to make sure you are clear with your plan, so that when he does play good shots, you are able to go back to that plan and bowl good balls again.Virat is a guy you don’t talk to. He loves the battle. If you talk to him it sort of gets him in the game and switches him on. I tried to talk once and I learned pretty quickly that that’s what he wanted me to do. As a bowler you don’t want to help the batsman get into the contest. He loves dominating. He is a very good leader. He loves being the man that wins the game for his country. That is why he is such a very good player.

Lakmal might not be a rockstar with the stereotypical fast bowler’s attitude, but his old-fashioned virtues have lately earned him rockstar returns

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Port Elizabeth22-Feb-2019″Knock him out so he falls on to the stumps.” This is Shane Bond’s fantasy cricket dismissal.”Can a plane take off without a run-up?” There’s Shoaib Akhtar bristling at being asked to shorten his run-up to improve over-rates.”This is my place. I will be back soon, to reclaim what is mine.” That one is Mohammad Asif, after being briefly losing his spot in the side.Fast bowlers all. With fast-bowling attitudes. Collars popped. Wind blowing through flowing hair. Chainsaw celebrations. Concentrated fury. Curtly, talking to no man. You need not be that quick. You could be 135kph, slinging swing-and-seam (James Anderson has one hell of a mouth). But if you are a fast bowler, this is your house. Here is where you live. In box-office, big-swinging, trash-talking, gaze-upon-me-and-tremble, hyper-macho land.Not our guy, though. Oh no. None of this for Suranga Lakmal. He is from a small town on the south coast of Sri Lanka – a region that is famously feisty. The town name, Debarawewa, literally means “lake of wasps”. And yet, in this guy rolls, from not quite 30 yards – an innocuous tumbling of over-long limbs, leading up to a stable landing, and an unremarkable action. Good wrist position? Check. Upright seam? Check. Hitting a good length? You bet. Menacing? Not really. Intimidating? Try again. Box office? Not a chance.When he beats the bat, even several times in the same over, he smiles. Not snarls. Not glares. He breaks out in a friendly half-grin, pivots, ambles back to his mark, and in he rolls again to prompt another waft from the batsman. Gives another smile in response. There has never been, across 57 Tests, a sustained attempt to be anything other than this. A genial operator.But on tours like this, when the team is looking to him at virtually every turn, when batsmen have given up yet another sizeable first-innings lead, and in this instance, when there are two inexperienced quicks to advise, Lakmal is far from unremarkable. He is not satisfied with inconspicuous returns.

There was not a ball that he delivered today that you would claim was unplayable. But there were plenty you could argue were barely playable. And that, really, is his speciality.

Lakmal might not be a rockstar, but he has lately got rockstar returns. A 5 for 54 in Christchurch, to reduce New Zealand to a first-innings score of 178. A 5 for 75 in the very next Test, at the Gabba. Then in Bridgetown, in June last year, there was a 3 for 25 in the second innings, as he led the effort to bowl out West Indies for 93, setting up a series-levelling victory at a venue at which no Asian side had ever previously won.In Port Elizabeth, where a certifiably insane second day has unfolded, Lakmal has led yet again with the ball, dismissing South Africa’s form-batsman Quinton de Kock to start, before beating more edges, smiling a lot, and wangling out the lower order with balls that jagged back in, on his way to figures of 4 for 39. There was not a ball that he delivered today that you would claim was unplayable. But there were plenty you could argue were barely playable. And that, really, is his speciality. That little bit of nibble – that is house. He will move it just enough, beat your shot, and then eventually, following a display of all the very lamest virtues – patience, perseverance, consistency – he will get you out.And then he will come to a press conference, and, in a barely audible voice, say things like this: “In this series, more than me the two young guys took wickets. They were superb. When they were taking wickets I had to keep things tight from other end. We are lacking three of our premier bowlers and Vishwa [Fernando] came along and did a great job. So did Kasun Rajitha. They didn’t look like newcomers. They even gave me some pointers.”A fast bowler, in the ninth year of his career, happily stating that two whippersnappers, playing their fifth and sixth Tests, were actually giving him solid advice.Suranga Lakmal rues a missed opportunity•Getty Images”Better Sri Lankan sides have come here and failed to bowl South Africa so cheaply,” Lakmal continued. “I bowled really well and I’m pleased. Today I was fortunate to get four wickets.”Why should we be surprised that this guy is almost completely ego-free? The last time Sri Lanka played South Africa, Lakmal didn’t bowl at all in the first innings at the SSC, and only delivered two overs in the second dig. Most quicks would be shooting daggers at their captain if they were doing him such an indignity, right? Imagine Dale Steyn, or James Anderson, or Glenn McGrath being told that they were completely unrequired in a first innings, no matter where it was. They would be demanding a bowl, and seething if they could not get their way.Except, in that series, the captain Lakmal would have had to harangue was actually himself. He kept himself out of the attack for almost an entire Test. He – the leader of the side – sat back, let the spinners go to work, and, as they were getting plenty of wickets, felt no strong temptation to bring himself on and get some cheap tail-end rewards.Many have watched him, and failed to be inspired. Plenty have noted his bowling average – hovering around 40 – and arrived at easy conclusions. But watch him in tough situations, such as the one that faced Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth today. See him give his team a chance, away tour after away tour.There is no bluster. There is no aura. Only a wonderful player.

According to Luck Index, Jason Roy’s reprieve to Mohammad Hafeez cost England 31 runs and was a game changer

ESPNcricinfo stats team04-Jun-2019England have prided themselves on their fielding, and were especially impressive with that aspect of their cricket against South Africa, but it let them down against Pakistan. The biggest error was Jason Roy’s drop of Mohammad Hafeez in the 25th over, when the batsman had scored only 14 off 11. Hafeez went on to top score for Pakistan with 84, and was named Man of the Match.ESPNcricinfo LtdAccording to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index, which measures the run impact of every lucky event in a match, that drop cost England 31 runs. This calculation is done by simulating Pakistan’s innings from that point, assuming that Hafeez would have been dismissed off that delivery, and the balls he played after that would have been played by other batsmen in the line-up. The difference between this simulated total and Pakistan’s actual score is the impact of that event.In this case, Hafeez scored 70 off 51 balls after the chance (including the delivery off which he was dropped). If the chance had been taken, Pakistan would have been 134 for 3 in the 25th, and the remaining batsmen might not have been able to bat as freely as they did with Hafeez going strong at one end. Hence, Luck Index calculated the impact of that event to be 31 runs. Given that the result margin was only 14 runs, Roy’s clanger conceivably cost England the match (assuming all the other events in the match were unchanged).However, England had a huge dollop of luck early in their chase too, when Joe Root was dropped by Babar Azam at slip in the sixth over. Root was then on 9 off 7, and went on to make 107 off 104, which means he scored 98 off 97 after the chance. Luck Index calculated the value of that chance to be 23, which means England would have scored 23 fewer runs had that chance been taken. The value is lower than Hafeez’s drop because of a couple of reasons:

• Hafeez’s higher strike rate after the drop
• England’s stronger batting line-up, in terms of batsmen who were yet to bat when the drop happened. Since England had more quality batsmen to follow, the algorithm calculates that the impact of the event would have been slightly lesser

There were other fielding lapses on both sides too, but these two were the ones which had the most impact. In the end, the Roy miss turned out to be more costly than Babar’s.

History, geography, princes and politics meet in Prashant Kidambi’s book on the first Indian team’s tour to Britain

Sharda Ugra06-Sep-2019On page 168 of of Palwankar Baloo, slow left-arm bowler and the 1911 squad’s stellar performer. The same Talyarkhan whose acerbic columns were later sent to the newspaper , my first employer. For nine months, before he died, I dealt with the legendary commentator’s pieces, and he had seen Baloo, arguably the most exceptional cricketer produced by India, one who stood stereotype and convention on their head.Baloo, a central figure in Ramachandra Guha’s , an exploration of Indian cricket history, was a Dalit whose excellence at cricket shook every establishment he ran into and had them bend previously iron-clad caste rules to get him to play in their XI. He belonged to a family of outstanding athletes (the four Palwankar brothers were competitive cricket and hockey players across Bombay tournaments). After retirement he became a political activist for Dalit rights. In 1911 he was a titan, without whom victories could not have been crafted in England.The first All-India team, which toured England that summer, was drawn from the three sectarian units that constituted Indian cricket back then: Parsis (six players), Hindus (five – one each from Madras, Mysore, Bombay, and two Dalits from Poona) and Muslims (three from Aligarh). They were led by a Sikh royal, the ruler of the princely state of Patiala.The Parsis had been the first cricketers to travel out of India, with two tours of Britain in the 1880s. After a tour failed to get going in 1903, with social unrest growing around British rule in India, the Indian elite sought to re-establish a bond between ruler and ruled. Renewed plans for a tour to England began as a mission to encourage fraternity with the Empire establishment in London (and no doubt to maintain business interests and influence).The book places the 1911 tour in the context of its times and environment, when the British empire was at its peak, London was the centre of the world, and the Edwardian era of excess and opulence played itself out during the coronation of George V. is a formidable piece of scholarship that recreates the time in staggering detail.We learn about shenanigans in the Patiala court and the indifference of the regal captain to his team’s requirements on tour. There are Indian complaints about the scheduling of fixtures (having to play the strongest counties at the start, which led to ten consecutive defeats), problems with food, and the disappointment of spectators when the players turned out in regular flannels and not some exotically oriental gear.There appear in cricketer-journalist and India enthusiast Edward Sewell’s weekly dispatches to the is a hike through a landscape of diverse riches. In the end there is a chance to reflect on what has come to pass.In the last chapter, which recounts the post-tour lives of the 1911 team members, we learn that batsman Mukund Pai died aged 66 in his neighbourhood of Chikalwadi in Bombay in August 1948. Less than a year later Chikalwadi welcomed the birth of a boy who would go on to become a formidable, world-beating batsman and give Indian cricket a badge of pride. Sixty years after 1911, the career of Sunil Gavaskar was to add more heft to a prediction made in an 1892 Bombay newspaper that cricket in India, which, it said, should have been “merely a pastime”, was going to be “regarded” as the “business of life”.Cricket Country – the Untold History of the First All India Team
By Prashant Kidambi
Penguin Random House
453 pages, Rs 699

Robin Smith is best remembered for his strokeplay against the fearsome West Indian fast bowlers. In his new book he writes among other things about how he learnt to face short bowling

Robin Smith26-Jul-2019I wasn’t one of the all-time greats, but if people remember me as a good player of raw pace bowling then I’m chuffed with that because it’s something I worked so hard on. I’m very happy if I’m remembered as somebody who stood up against the best and nastiest bowlers around, and who was never intimidated. I still think I got off quite lightly, because West Indies were not at their peak when I played against them, but it was still pretty hot in the kitchen.Despite that heat, I never wore a grille on my helmet. When I started my career there were no grilles, just basic helmets, and I became used to wearing those, though I added side pieces to protect my temple and earlobe. When I tried wearing a grille I felt claustrophobic and maybe a bit complacent as well because of the extra facial protection. Having no grille meant there was an added sense of danger, which added to the appeal – but not necessarily because I was trying to be macho. I loved the challenge, the enormous adrenaline rush, the test of my technique, reflexes and courage. Seriously, the quicker the better. I genuinely believed that if you watched the ball, you wouldn’t get hit, and I never wore a grille because I fancied my reflexes against any pace. I was very conscious I was playing with fire, not to mention my jaw, cheekbone and eye socket, but honestly, it was the most spectacular experience.That tour of the Caribbean in 1989-90 gave me a reputation as somebody who relished facing the quick stuff. Dad even has a cutting from magazine which listed me as the No. 1 player of fast bowling in England’s history. Mind you, I’m aware there’s probably another magazine article that has me very high on the list of England’s worst players of spin!I batted long periods on that West Indies tour and had an amazing time on and off the field. The Caribbean was always my favourite place to tour. I worked hard in the middle and took my punishment. At the close of play I’d run from the ground to the hotel, grab a rum and dry ginger and sit under a palm tree on the beach with Lamby or whoever as the alcohol gently relaxed my body and took the edge off the bruises.Before the West Indies tour I did a bit of technical work with Geoff Boycott, who called and asked if I wanted to travel to Headingley for a few net sessions. It was a great opportunity to work with him and pick his brain, even if it meant a ten-hour round trip each time I went to see him. It wasn’t practical to drive because of the rush-hour traffic, so I’d park my car at Southampton train station and head into London Waterloo. Then I took the underground to King’s Cross and a train up north. Not the easiest journey with an oversized cricket coffin! He got some young Yorkshire bowlers – including Paul Jarvis, who was rapid and had already played a few Tests for England – to bowl at my head from 18 yards. Paul actually apologised at one point. He was worried about hitting me but he said Boycs had given him firm instructions to bowl everything as fast as he could at my head.Curtly Ambrose bowls Robin Smith for 18 in an ODI in St Vincent, 1994-95•PA Photos/Getty ImagesI suggested to Boycs that it wasn’t an entirely fair contest, being peppered indoors under artificial light and on a shortened pitch. ‘Well, you can pack your things and go home,’ he said. ‘Because this is the sort of treatment you’ll be getting for the next three months.’I spoke to Boycs a lot during my career. It’s such a shame he wasn’t asked to be an official batting consultant with England, because when he stops talking about his own achievements he’s an absolute wizard at analysing the game. And he was totally honest. I didn’t always agree with the things he said on air or to my face, but I always respected his opinion.I’d tried to pick his brain a bit earlier in my career. We played Yorkshire in 1985 on a dodgy wicket at Middlesbrough, and Malcolm Marshall was charging in. Boycs, who was 44 years old, got 110 [115]. They had a great big bath tub where both teams piled in at the end of the day’s play. Boycs was in there on his own at one point so I thought it was a great chance to learn from a legend. I asked if I could jump in and he grunted something, which I assumed to be yes. He sat on one side of the bath, I sat on the other and we didn’t say a word to each other. Great chat, Boycs!I’m ashamed to say he got me out once – , by Robin Smith, is published by Yellow Jersey

India finish a relatively smaller home season of five Tests with most things in place

Varun Shetty in Kolkata24-Nov-20196:49

India extend dominant run at home

India’s home season in Tests this year has been short – five matches, all done in under two months or so. They have delivered on the dominance that was expected of them, but some new methods and some new faces were introduced. At the end of it, they are also sitting comfortably on top of the World Test Championship table with a perfect record and 360 points after three series. Here is a review of the season, and where things stand before their next Test series, in New Zealand in February 2020.The fast bowlers did it at homeEven more so than the spinners. This is the first time since England did it in 1978 that a Test team has had three fast bowlers who have taken more than 20 wickets each in a year while averaging under 20. It’s phenomenal that those three bowlers – Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, and Umesh Yadav – have managed to do that playing five of those eight Tests at home.ALSO READ: A record-breaking year for India’s fast bowlersThis home season, India’s three spinners took 37 wickets between them. The three fast bowlers took 59, that too in the absence of strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah. They also managed to win a Test without a wicket from their spinners, which is also a first at home. There is little debate about the health of India’s pace bowling at the end of this season.Associated PressWhat about the spinners?R Ashwin took 20 wickets in five matches at home after being benched in the West Indies. With no cricket at home until 2021 as of now, it remains to be seen what chances he has to make in the India XI outside Asia.Ravindra Jadeja has become a rounded player and has been superb at No. 6. But his bowling has been below-par this season. Jadeja took 13 wickets at 36.07 in these five home Tests, his worst ever returns in a home season.Will Jadeja’s rise as a batsman at No. 6 mean Ashwin gets a look in during the upcoming overseas Tests, or will India continue using Jadeja as the sole spinner? In the middle of all that, Kuldeep Yadav has slipped out of the conversation somewhat. The wristspinner could well be a surprise choice overseas.The openersBCCIIndia have had trouble with their opening combinations over the last two years because a majority of their matches were abroad, combined with form and fitness issues of some batsmen. At home, that problem seems to have gone away.Mayank Agarwal had made his case quickly in the opportunities that he got overseas, but he cashed in big time in his first home season. He was a makeshift option on the Australia tour, but made his case, and two double-centuries later, is now arguably India’s No. 1 choice as opener.The other spot, for now, is in the hands of Rohit Sharma, who has repaid the faith shown in him with big runs in an unfamiliar role in long-form cricket. He is likely to hold on to that spot in the next series, in New Zealand, but will India persist with uncapped Shubman Gill as back-up opener in what could be difficult conditions to start in? A full Ranji Trophy season waits in the middle for the likes of Abhimanyu Easwaran, Priyank Panchal, and KL Rahul to challenge him. In addition to that, Prithvi Shaw, who scored a century on Test debut, has also returned after his suspension with runs in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.The wicketkeepersThe mystery around the first-choice wicketkeeper ended when India deemed Wriddhiman Saha was fully ready to be brought back into the team. He has slotted right back in and in a very small time frame, displayed everything that made him an automatic pick in the first place.Incidentally, this comeback has happened at a time when Rishabh Pant has faced a decline in form and severe public scrutiny, across formats. In the last few days of the Bangladesh series, KS Bharat found his way into the squad when Pant was released to play domestic cricket. Bharat has been India A’s regular wicketkeeper for nearly two years and was among the contenders last year before Pant leapfrogged him in comprehensive fashion. Is this his way back in?CatchingIndia’s catching in the slips lapsed somewhat. According to ESPNcricinfo’s data, India failed to take 14 chances this home season. Seven of those were classified as regulation catching chances, with the rest classified as tougher ones.Against Bangladesh, India had a particularly poor catching match in Indore, where at least five catching chances weren’t converted. Ajinkya Rahane was involved in three of those, and Virat Kohli and Rohit in the other two. Rahane also put one down in Kolkata.With the seamers in red-hot form, the slip cordon will be regularly in play in overseas Tests and India will be looking to tighten up on their catching.