The two young bowlers have reason to be apprehensive about their futures in the wake of strong competition

Sriram Veera in Chittagong15-Jan-2010On a charming day in the port city of Chittagong, two young men had reasons to look back fondly at their recent past and be a touch apprehensive about the future. Ishant Sharma stood at the far end of the seamers’ net with the team jacket worn over the track suit. Pragyan Ojha too, stood, hand held across his chest, behind the spinners at the spin net. Both weren’t bowling; they were watching Sreesanth and Amit Mishra bowl.Sreesanth was almost harassing Rahul Dravid with a probing spell of seam bowling. A couple of incutters thudded into the pads, one legcutter burst up to hit the handle and another took the edge. Dravid was gracious in praise, shouting out ‘Beauty’ after one delivery opened him up and Sreesanth let out a shy smile. It was a nice little moment.Almost reflexively, you looked out for Ishant, who was chatting far away with a team-mate, and wondered how sportsmen fight insecurity. Especially the young ones. Take Ishant; it wasn’t far back when he was showered in the arc lights of success and just like that, one day, they went out. It, of course, is the way of life and many of us face those moments of self-doubt, have thoughts of an uncertain future, worry about the dreaded chat with the boss, but our story doesn’t play out in public. Sportsmen’s stories do.Ishant lost his ODI spot and is now watching Sreesanth steal his Test spot right under his nose. It wasn’t far back that Ishant made his debut in this country. Soon after, he got into a compelling duel with Ricky Ponting that shot him into fame, brought him the IPL moolah and sealed lucrative advertising deals. The high action, the velocity of his deliveries, the bustling run-up and even his broken voice that Matthew Hayden so infamously imitated in a radio talk show became talking points, but it didn’t take long for people to start noticing the warts.The verdict it still out on what affected Ishant’s confidence and his game. Was it too much cricket? Was it too much ODI cricket? Should he have just played Tests for some time? Was it because of the desire emanating from a perfectly understandable rationale to have variations in the bowling? He had a big offcutter when he burst on the scene, but these days it doesn’t jag back as much. However, he has a better control of the delivery that shapes away (or straightens) outside off stump.You could understand why he wanted the one which left the right-hand batsmen but in the process of developing it, he certainly lost that big offcutter that cut Ponting into half and filled Youtube videos. You could see the same occurring with Praveen Kumar. He had a lovely inswinger when he started out, but in trying to get the ball to leave, he almost lost the one that swung in. It’s a tricky process that takes time to master – even Kapil Dev lost his outswinger in pursuit of the incoming delivery for ODIs, and took a couple of years to regain it – but when you are young, and the competition is strong, you can’t afford to take too much time.Or was it because of the confusion over the lengths? His natural area was short of good length but he struggled with it on dull subcontinental tracks. He started to try to pitch the ball full but it didn’t come as naturally to him and he started to float overpitched deliveries. According to experts like Wasim Akram, the wrist position at the delivery wasn’t as impressive as before, and he lost pace as well. Nothing was going right and there was a real danger of losing a genuine talent.Indian cricket has lost the likes of Maninder Singh, L Sivaramakrishnan and Sadanand Viswanath in the 80s, and it can’t afford a repeat with Ishant. The bowling coach Eric Simons joins the team tomorrow and Ishant will hope it marks the beginning of his turnaround. Today, both Ishant and Ojha bowled later in the nets session but neither bowled as long as their competition.Unlike Ishant, Ojha isn’t such a natural talent and that seems to be hurting him. He has done his best at every opportunity given to him but the seal of approval is yet to come. Mishra looks to have more weapons to take wickets, and the selectors have so far see-sawed between the two. Ojha bowled well against Sri Lanka, taking nine wickets in two Tests; Mishra excelled in his first Test against Australia, taking a five-for, but grabbed only seven wickets from his last three Tests. If you want your second spinner to bowl tight and apply pressure, you have Ojha to do the job, and if you want that spinner to attack and get wickets, you have Mishra. That’s the perception, at least.Will Ojha strive to change that, or position himself in alignment with the perception and let the team decide what they want out of the second spinner? Time will tell.

At the age of 22, and in barely three months as an England-qualified international, Craig Kieswetter has achieved a feat that eludes most cricketers in a lifetime

Andrew Miller19-May-2010At the age of 22, and in barely three months as an England-qualified international, Craig Kieswetter has achieved a feat that eludes most cricketers in a lifetime. On Tuesday he returned to the County Ground in Taunton to a hero’s welcome, with a World Cup-winner’s medal in his pocket, and a Man of the Match trophy that will serve as a lasting memento of an incredible day in Barbados, in which his 63 from 49 balls guided England to a crushing seven-wicket over Australia in the final of the ICC World Twenty20.”I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground but my head’s still in the clouds,” Kieswetter told Cricinfo. “I’m really buzzing about what we’ve done and I’m just trying to enjoy it. The reception I’ve received has been fantastic and pleasing, but I could never have imagined I’d be in this position so quickly. It’s been a whirlwind, a rollercoaster with lots of emotional factors, but most of them have been really positive. I’m just really excited at the moment.”In terms of overs contested, Kieswetter’s international career to date barely spans the length of a five-day Test match, but his role in the final alone contained enough thrills and spills to fill an entire mental scrapbook. He capped his tournament tally of 11 sixes with an incredible one-handed pick-up over fine leg off Dirk Nannes, and yet his final shot of the match was, incongruously, no shot at all, as he shouldered arms to a Mitchell Johnson yorker.Meanwhile, in the field, he pulled off a wonderful leg-side diving catch to remove Brad Haddin and reduce Australia to 8 for 3 after 2.1 overs, but only after an earlier spill, from the third ball of the match, had been scooped up by Graeme Swann at slip, to set in motion an incredible chain of events.”Knowing us, we like to have a bit of drama in finals, and it was definitely part of the plan for me to palm it up and for Swanny to pull out the big dive,” Kieswetter joked. “But that moment really did go to show how much we wanted it, and the way he reacted showed how switched on to the game we were. The rest is obviously history, but it gave us momentum, and after that we hardly looked back.”While Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen were together at the crease, England’s eyes were firmly fixed on the finish line. The pair hurtled towards their victory target of 148 in a second-wicket stand of 111 in 68 balls. Rarely have any two England batsmen looked so confident and aggressive in a limited-overs partnership, and though they both fell in consecutive overs late in the innings, the intensity of their onslaught, particularly against the perceived weak link of the Australian attack, Shane Watson, ensured that the title was secured with a full three overs to spare.”We were just trying to hit every ball for six, I think!” said Kieswetter. “But as much as the adrenalin was pumping, we were very aware tactically of where we wanted to be after six overs, after 10 overs, after 14 overs. We knew exactly where we were, and we knew there was a bit of an open door with Watson coming on to bowl, so we decided to attack him, and then we decided to attack everyone and finish the game as quickly as possible.”Kieswetter’s only real regret came in the manner of his dismissal, with 27 still needed from 36 balls, as he gave himself too much room outside leg, and looked on helplessly as Johnson splattered his stumps. “I couldn’t reach the ball in the end, and I was really disappointed,” he said. “I really wanted to carry my bat and get a not-out, but fate’s fate, and unfortunately for me I wasn’t able to do that. Our gameplan all along was not to try not to leave it until the last two or three overs, and luckily for us it worked.”

To be an opener in Twenty20 cricket is a high-risk environment. You have to be quite selfless, you have to play for the team, and that means that averages and wickets are superfluous to the team needs

And so was capped an ascent to prominence of jump-jet proportions. As recently as February 15, Kieswetter was not even eligible for England selection, due to his much-discussed South African background, a factor that has been the subject of more controversy than it perhaps merits, seeing as his mother is Scottish and he was educated at Millfields School in Somerset, the county he has represented since he was a teenager.Nevertheless, only 24 hours after completing his residency qualification, Kieswetter produced a blazing innings of 81 from 66 balls – in partnership with his fellow unknown, Michael Lumb – as the England Lions upstaged the senior side in what had been intended as a low-key Twenty20 warm-up match in Abu Dhabi. The power of his performance set Andy Flower’s mind whirring as to the possibilities it opened up, and three days later, Kieswetter had been parachuted into the 50-over squad for the tour of Bangladesh, with the clear intention of testing his mettle ahead of the Caribbean.”I sensed what was happening, but I was just trying to enjoy the moment of being an international cricketer,” said Kieswetter, who wasted no time in settling in with his new team-mates. He announced himself with a boundary-laden 143 against Bangladesh A in Fatullah, and then, in only his third ODI appearance, he became, at 22 years and 97 days, the second-youngest England batsman after David Gower to score a one-day hundred, as England wrapped up a 3-0 win in Chittagong.However, the manner in which he scored that breakthrough century came as a surprise to those who had assumed that full throttle was the only pace at which he could bat. Having looked a touch frenetic in his first two appearances on a slow and low surface in Dhaka, he decided to allow himself time to build his final innings of the tour, and came up with a performance of unquestionable maturity. His first fifty runs required 80 deliveries, but his hundred arrived from a further 40, and by the time he was bowled for 107, Flower knew that he had unearthed a batsman with a temperament to match his free-flowing technique.”I just took the view that I had got three games to prove myself, so I decided I was going to have some fun, and luckily for me, in the third game it paid off,” said Kieswetter. “It’s probably one of the most satisfactory hundreds that I’ve got, partly for being my first international hundred, but also for the fact it was a knock that no-one expected or knew that I could produce.”To do that in only my third ODI, in those conditions, it proved to myself I am good enough, that I want to be here, and that I want to be the best I can be,” he added. “It was obviously completely different to what Barbados would be like, but it was a performance that I’ll always treasure, because it proved to me that I was able to adapt to different situations, and that is what makes an international cricketer.”Kieswetter’s maiden ODI hundred in Bangladesh helped convince he belonged in international cricket, and allowed him to put the team first in the Caribbean•Getty ImagesCrucially, that innings also instilled in Kieswetter the confidence he needed to carry out a very definitive gameplan, because once the team touched down in the Caribbean, there would be no leeway for personal ambition. From first ball to last, an avoidance of loitering was one of the key aspects of England’s trophy-winning campaign, and with Lumb now installed alongside his former Lions team-mate at the top of the order, the England rookies took it upon themselves to set the agenda with a spate of high-octane cameos.”Go down blazing, those were our orders, without a doubt,” said Kieswetter. “To be an opener in Twenty20 cricket is a high-risk environment. You have to be quite selfless, you have to play for the team, and that means that averages and wickets are superfluous to the team needs. But Michael and I were so thrilled to be part of the set-up, because the dressing-room environment was so far from what you’d expect. Everyone was looking to move the team forward, and that made it really easy for us to slip into the roles we needed to play, but also the roles we enjoy playing.””Even before the tournament started we were quietly confident that we could achieve success, because had a squad in which all the players knew their roles and what they needed to do to help the team achieve,” he said. “A player like Luke Wright, who didn’t get to bowl all tournament but then had to bowl an over in the final, was a testament to exactly how much hard work had gone into the team, and how much they wanted to play together.”In conventional terms, Lumb and Kieswetter’s statistics ended up being fairly run-of-the-mill – 359 runs between them in the tournament at an average of 25.64, with Kieswetter’s 63 against Australia being their only half-century in 14 visits to the crease. However, they required just 287 balls to amass that tally, and the speed of their scoring provided the likes of Kevin Pietersen and Eoin Morgan the perfect platform from which to dominate the middle overs.”The fact that both of us were pretty unknown quantities in international cricket gave us both the mentality of being allowed to be free and go out and express ourselves,” said Kieswetter. “Also, the fact that we get along very well off the field helped us to click on the field, and get the team off to some really positive starts. But for both of us, we were just really chuffed to be there and to be part of a really addictive environment. We just wanted to enjoy the experience while we were there.””Enjoyment” isn’t a word that has been associated with many England campaigns in ICC events, least of all the World Twenty20, in which the team flopped in both 2007 and 2009. But while Kieswetter’s breezy innocence played a significant role in cultivating a new upbeat demeanour, he recognised that the real credit for the team’s transformation from also-rans to winners lay with the man who had taken his licks and learnt his lessons from leading the side in the two previous tournaments.”I was obviously lucky enough to get runs and hit sixes and express myself, but a lot of that was down to the environment that Paul Collingwood managed to create, along with Andy [Flower],” he said. “Colly, he’s our leader, everyone in the squad fully backs him, and respects and trusts him, and when we won, it was a real sense of relief, and a justification of the hard work he had put in, and all the abuse that he’d taken in previous World Cups. To be able to achieve that and work with the pressure that he did, we were really proud of him.”After all that he’s achieved in the past few weeks, it’s incredible to think that Kieswetter has yet to play in front of an English international audience. With no T20Is scheduled until September, it’s not immediately obvious when that home debut will come, seeing as Matt Prior is still the man in possession in 50-over and Test cricket. But Kieswetter has already displaced his rival in one format, and already his eyes are drifting towards the prize that is glinting on the horizon this winter.”I’d love to be on that plane to Australia,” he said. “Any English cricketer would love to be heading out for the Ashes, because that has to be the pinnacle for Test cricket. But right now, I have to try not to look too far ahead. Matt’s got the gloves, so for me, it’s about training hard, putting in my hard graft and aiming for consistent performances for Somerset. I’ll be taking each day as it comes, and trying to enjoy myself along the way as well.”

India seek to improve their appalling recent ODI record in non-bilateral series against a Sri Lankan team whose only chink seems to be a lack of batting depth

Siddarth Ravindran in Dambulla23-Jun-2010Something for the trivia buffs to start. When was the last time India won a multi-team ODI tournament without a headline performance from Sachin Tendulkar in the final? Answer: The Natwest Trophy in 2002, when Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, barely out of their teenage years, announced themselves as the next big things in Indian batting.On Thursday, against a Sri Lankan team whose only chink seems to be a lack of batting depth, but whose top five have helped themselves to plenty of runs over the past week, India will also be seeking to improve an appalling recent ODI record in non-bilateral series.MS Dhoni played down India’s performance in finals, saying there was no extra “big-match” pressure on his side. “We won the last time we played a final in Sri Lanka,” he said. “Somehow we have not been able to win [on other occasions], maybe the performance isn’t good, or whatever the reason, but I don’t think there’s too much of pressure on you just because it’s a final.”After six barren years following that famous victory at Lord’s, things appear to have perked up under the leadership of MS Dhoni, with the team winning the final CB series in Australia and then capturing the Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka last year. However, those victories were all inspired by masterly innings from Tendulkar, who is missing from the squad, as are two other match-winning batsmen, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj. That only adds to the burden on India’s bowling attack, which hasn’t done anything this tournament to fill Sri Lanka’s batting with dread.Zaheer Khan has had expensive first spells before recovering, Praveen Kumar’s bowling has been mostly amiable and questions still swirl about Ashish Nehra’s fitness. The spinners have generally had a better time, with Harbhajan Singh having a good game against Pakistan and Ravindra Jadeja being his steady, economical self.”I am quite happy with the bowling performance,” MS Dhoni said after the loss to Sri Lanka on Tuesday. “We have bowled mostly in the afternoon session when there was not much help for the bowlers. They have done well in patches, but it will really feel good if you can win some games after scoring 230 or 240. You cannot always expect your batsman to score 280 or 300, it’s good if it happens so, but our strength is batting.”The lack of a quality allrounder is also hampering the Indian side. Jadeja is ostensibly filling that slot, but hasn’t inspired confidence with the bat during the Asia Cup, which means India are essentially playing five specialist bowlers. Dhoni backed Jadeja to perform, saying that he had the potential to be a consistent allrounder.”Ravindra Jadeja has done well in the IPL and domestic games. Now he has got fair amount of chances in international level also and we are hoping that he clicks,” Dhoni said. “He has done well in the bowling department, now we hope that he stands out with his batting performance because he is the kind of guy who can give you stability at No. 6 or 7. There are not many players that you can spot right now [as alternatives].”Success for India, though, will likely be based on their batting might. Gautam Gambhir and Dhoni have lent steel to the side, but youngsters like Virat Kohli, who are likely to be squeezed out of the XI when Tendulkar & Co return, haven’t grabbed the opportunities they’ve been provided in Sri Lanka.Kaif and Yuvraj made themselves indispensable to India’s 2003 World Cup plans with their audacious innings eight months before the marquee tournament in South Africa. If one of Kohli, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma can turn in a similar starring role against a well-oiled Sri Lankan unit, it will push them ahead in the tussle for a permanent middle-order slot. And it will improve India’s abysmal record in tournament finals as well.

An average 21-year-old would find it hard to deal with the hype. But there is nothing average about Steven Smith

Brydon Coverdale09-Jul-2010Steven Smith. The name could hardly be less remarkable. It’s so common that someone with the same name has already worn the baggy green. However, this Steven Smith, who is preparing for a Test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s on Tuesday, is anything but ordinary.Steve Waugh has called him one of the most promising cricketers Australia has seen for 20 years. Ricky Ponting reckons everything he touches turns to gold. His state captain Simon Katich was blown away with the improvement in Smith’s bowling last summer.They’re big statements, and the average 21-year-old would find it hard to deal with the hype. Not this young man, because the most striking feature of Smith’s game is his complete confidence, whether he’s taking one-handed catches on the boundary, innovating against fast bowlers or tossing up juicy legbreaks.”I’m not really the nervous type,” he says, when asked if the pressure of a Test debut at Lord’s will get to him. There is no arrogance in his words; he is quietly spoken, and presents the answer as a simple statement of fact. The evidence is there for all to see.When he made his ODI debut at the MCG in February his legspin went for 78 runs as the field stayed up and the West Indies batsmen went over the top. Ponting wanted to push men back but Smith, then 20, asked his captain, a veteran of 300-plus ODIs, to keep them in the circle; he wanted to create wicket opportunities.In his fifth ODI, he was batting in the 50th over with his vice-captain Michael Clarke on 99 at the other end, and the opening bowler Tim Bresnan was running in to bowl. Smith tried a reverse slog. It didn’t come off, but the fact he even attempted the shot says much about his self-assurance. Under Bob Simpson, such impudence from a new player would have been almost a hanging offence. The current coach, Tim Nielsen, encourages Smith to be himself, and says he brings a buzz to the group.Nathan Hauritz’s foot injury means that on Tuesday, Smith will become the eighth spinner Australia have used in Tests since his idol Shane Warne retired. He will be only the second Australian spinner to debut at Lord’s, after Hugh Trumble in 1890, and the first Australian to begin his Test career there since Len Pascoe, Richie Robinson and Craig Serjeant all started together in 1977.”It’s one of the better places to make your debut ,” Smith, who played an ODI at Lord’s last week, says. “It’s something that I will always remember. It’s a pretty amazing place to play cricket. I couldn’t believe how big the slope is on the field when I first got there. It’s just an amazing place and if I get the chance to play out there it will be a dream come true, really.”He has already lived a dream of sorts by having one-on-one coaching with Warne, who was the reason Smith switched from seam-up to lespin at the age of 14. Warne gave Smith some advice when he was called in as cover for the Boxing Day Test last summer, and the pair have met for some extra sessions since then.Warne has helped with some of the mechanics of bowling legspin – Smith has slowed his run-up and keeps his shoulder higher – but also the mental side of the game. A legspinner must be able to outfox his opponent and Warne was the undisputed master of the psychological battle.Smith doesn’t have the variations that Warne possessed, but remember, he is only 21. He has the legbreak, the top-spinner, the wrong’un, the backspinner and his own take on the flipper, a ball that pops out of the front of the hand. Stepping up from limited-overs cricket to the Test arena might require a change in bowling strategy, but Smith doesn’t want to stray too far from his formula.”I’m not really the nervous type”•PA Photos”I don’t really like to change too much,” he says. “Obviously in one-day cricket you’ve got to try and not go for too many runs. I like to bowl different balls, like a backspinner quite a bit, to get the batsman off strike. In Test matches it’s probably just my legspinner that will come out a lot more, and just about building into your spell and trying to sort the batsman out, sort out what he’s doing and just being patient.”Being a spinner, you always want to be taking wickets. The best way in any form of the game to slow the rate down is to be taking wickets and if you give yourself every opportunity to do that then everything is going to hopefully work in your favour. It’s about being confident and being yourself and do what comes to you naturally. That’s just the way I bowl, I guess. If I start bowling flat not much happens so I’ve got to keep giving the ball air.”But for all the talk of Smith being a legspinner, and that will be his primary role against Pakistan, he has a better first-class record as a batsman. Already Smith has four first-class centuries, in only 13 matches, and the brisk rate at which he scores makes him extra valuable in the lower order.He will probably bat at No. 8 in the Tests, behind Tim Paine and ahead of Mitchell Johnson, but certainly has the potential to be a top-six player. While Warne was the man the young Smith looked to for bowling inspiration it’s no surprise to find out his batting idol is a man who, like Smith, was always on the attack.”I always liked watching Michael Slater,” Smith says. “He went pretty hard at the ball and with the big West Indian quicks bowling at 150kph he was just slashing at them. It’s the same way I play.”Smith was a talented junior tennis player and there remains the hint of a forehand smash in some of his cricket strokes. The reverse-sweep might even make an appearance in his first Test innings. “If there’s an opportunity, maybe, I wouldn’t write it off,” he says. “I think I am batting quite low if I am going to play. You never know what’s going to happen.”That last sentence sums up Smith as a cricketer. We’ll soon see what Smith can bring to Test cricket, but you can bet it won’t be boring.

There are still two days left in this match, but in reality Australia are simply waiting to become the first team since 1986-87 to be beaten by England at home

Peter English at the SCG05-Jan-2011At 3.01pm, with the Test only just past the halfway point, Steve Bernard, Australia’s long-standing team manager, basically conceded the series for his team in a tweet from the dressing-room. A couple of minutes later Michael Clarke did the same by handing the ball to Michael Hussey for an over before tea.Clarke, the new captain, has six bowlers who can play as specialists but at that point only five wickets had fallen and Alastair Cook and Ian Bell had taken England to a lead of 94. It already felt like much more as a new year started with the same result for an out-classed Australia. They are faced with winning the game to draw the series at 2-2 but, as Bernard indicated, that cannot really happen now.As Cook continued his cross-country conquering of Australia, Bernard tweeted what most were thinking. “The Cook Bell partnership has ensured that it would be difficult for England to lose. They have both looked well in control.”Before online social media became fashionable, and the country’s cricket team had undergone a de-valued renovation, Australian cricketers believed they could win from any position. Those were the days, when Steve Waugh was cast as the batsman in the middle, not as the ground’s newest bronze statue.Clarke tried to remain hopeful but looked fanciful instead. “If we can get a 180 to 200-run lead, on the last day of the SCG Test, I’m confident we can still win the game.”In reality the current players are waiting to become the first team since 1986-87 to be beaten by England at home. The past month has given Australian supporters time to adjust their expectations, but this was the day hope finally ran out. They started with a lead of 113 and England three-down, but when they walked off for bad light their opponents had an advantage of 208.Depending on how well Australia bat in the second innings, the series will end on Thursday or Friday. There will be no celebrating by the bruised hosts, just Barmy Army songs of triumph refusing to leave their ears. The tourists in the stands, with most cheeks as pink as their McGrath Foundation charity shirts, have had plenty to sing about, while even some of the locals’ gifts have been taken away.In this innings Michael Beer, a bright spot in the flagging attack, twice thought he had a maiden wicket through Cook before losing it on Billy Bowden’s self-imposed reviews. When he finally broke through, after Paul Collingwood heaved to mid-on, Beer turned and spoke to Bowden just to make sure the dismissal was legitimate. Third time lucky for Beer, but his energy could not change the direction of his new team.Shane Watson emerged after the pre-tea concession to take two wickets but only one was given. The success was Cook, who sliced to Michael Hussey in the gully on 189, and the failure was Bell. Given out by Aleem Dar, Bell eventually signalled for a review and was judged not out by Hot Spot and the third umpire. Snicko, which takes a couple of minutes to load and isn’t employed in the challenges, showed Dar’s initial belief was correct.Bell was on 67 and went on to 115, with the Sydney fans booing and one man in the Members’ Stand signalling the review sign as he departed. The technological error was more annoying for the Australians than match changing.The team is in this position because of three crucial points. Australia’s batsmen have been ill-disciplined, the bowlers are merely honest as a group, and England are more accomplished in every discipline except the evenly matched wicketkeepers. There is so much work to do that it is hard to know where to start.Australia will begin the fourth day waiting for three wickets or an England declaration. The pitch is in good shape, playing more like a day-three Gabba surface than a Sydney turner, but during the series the wicket has often changed faces when England’s attack has been working.Mitchell Johnson had an off day and when he returned shortly before the end it was the visiting supporters who cheered his arrival. He sparked to remove Bell and collected 3 for 97, but needed to fire in the first half of the day. Peter Siddle operated without menace and Ben Hilfenhaus maintained his bowling-machine line.Beer showed with 1 for 85 off 29 overs that he is the best local spinner of the series, which isn’t saying much, but it offers some encouragement. Once again Steven Smith is caught between disciplines, not sure if he’s a batter, a bowler or an allrounder. After failing at No.7, his legspin wasn’t called upon until the 102nd over.Smith dropped a stinging caught-and-bowled from Bell on 84 and didn’t receive any more chances. Opposition sides used to be the ones to find these sorts of lapses costly against Australia; it has been the hosts’ turn over the past six weeks to learn about being wasteful. The Ashes went to England at the MCG last week and it won’t be long before they are tweeting positively about their drought-breaking series win.

After Jacques Kallis got his first Test double-century, the argument that he is the greatest ever South Africa batsman has grown stronger

Firdose Moonda at SuperSport Park18-Dec-2010After he had stood with his arms in the air for what seemed like hours, his helmet in one hand, the breeze gently brushing his new crop of hair, Jacques Kallis returned to the crease and played a booming, mock drive, almost as though he was teeing off on the golfing greens. Perhaps that’s the shot he wanted to use to get his first Test double-hundred. Perhaps it didn’t matter; all that did was that he had finally got there.When Kallis reached 197, the monkey on his back was as large as Lisa the gorilla at the Johannesburg zoo. His eyes were darting about like fireflies. He realised he was one stroke away from a landmark that had eluded him so far. He played a solid forward defensive, typical of the mental picture most get when they think of Kallis. Then he was given two balls to think about how close he was.AB de Villiers defended first, against Jaidev Unadkat, and then set off for a quick single to the covers. Kallis had to face his reality. It could have been an imminently more scary reality if he was up against Zaheer Khan, Mitchell Johnson or Stuart Board, but Unadkat helped the cause with a delivery pleading “hit me” down the leg side. A glance was all it took, AB de Villiers was celebrating like it was his own double ton at the other end, and the monkey leapt off Kallis’ back.Suddenly, the run machine became a human being. He removed his helmet and said a few words to the heavens. It’s likely they were for his late father, Henry, who had a big influence on his career and passed away while Kallis was on tour in England in 2003. Then, he returned to earth and acknowledged the almost capacity crowd who were on their feet worshipping. His theme song ‘Life is life’ by Opus was being drowned out by their applause. They waved their South African flags for him alone. A man who was always perceived as aloof and distant was being embraced by the crowd and he let them in and allowed them to share in his joy.It was clear that Kallis’ double-hundred meant a lot, not just to him but all of South African cricket. It was the elephant in the room in discussions about whether he can be considered the all-time greatest of South African batsmen. Graeme Pollock, Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten, three of the strongest candidates for that label, had ticked the 200 off their list. Kallis had enjoyed a longer career than all of them but in 15 years and four days of life as an international cricketer, he was not able to do the same.It’s not that he didn’t have opportunities to achieve it; it’s that he never took them. In 2001, against Zimbabwe was the closest he got. On a flat pitch in Bulawayo, Kallis could easily have scored at a quicker rate, but it was at a time when he was deeply immersed in his own game and trundled along like a 1970 Volkswagen Beetle. His 50 took 160 balls, his 100, a further 120 balls and he faced 443 balls in all for his 189. Kallis spent 19 minutes short of ten hours at the crease on that occasion and eventually ran out of partners.By November 2007, Kallis was more of a team man, and had wasted a few more chances to get a double-hundred. His best opportunity came against New Zealand, when he looked supremely confident and then lost concentration when he was on 186 and was caught behind off an outside edge. His most recent opportunity came in February in Nagpur. Kallis was off to a blazing start, with 50 off 75 balls, and then settled in for the long haul. Eventually, he was out to an inside-edge that popped up to forward short-leg.All told, Kallis has had ten innings where he has scored over 150 and wasn’t able to push on to a double-hundred. This time it was different. He reached the milestone with such ease that it makes it almost inexplicable why he hasn’t been able to get there before. He reached his century in style on Friday, with magnificent drives the highlight of his hundred. Kallis started slowly on Saturday morning, perhaps mindful that the maximum he had ever added to an overnight century was 37 runs.Once he’d gone past the 150, it was a straight road to the milestone. His achievement was meaningful not just to himself, but to the team as a whole. Graeme Smith led the applause from the dressing room. Kallis’ long-time friend Mark Boucher could not be seen on camera, but his delight will no doubt overflow.The weight of expectation had finally lifted off Kallis’ broad shoulders and although no one doubted his stature, it grew as much as his hair. He is not the most approachable character, he doesn’t relate to fans in the same way as some of the other members of the squad because he simply isn’t as much of a joker. That said, the respect they have for him and his abilities is unquestionable. Now that he has achieved the milestone that evaded him for so long, South Africans pride will only swell in being able to call him their own.King Kallis, as they have named him, laid claim to his crown. Whether it was because of the sudden acquisition of hair on his balding scalp, the fact that he saw an opportunity more clearly and took it or that he had a desire to make a statement to an Indian team that is packed with some of the world’s classiest batsmen, doesn’t matter. What does is that he did it and now that he has tasted the sweetness of a double hundred, how many more will come?

It took many by surprise when Jade Dernbach was called into England’s World Cup squad, but his development over the last 12 months has been rapid and he’s eager for more honours

Andrew McGlashan07-Apr-2011Jade Dernbach’s elevation to the England squad during the World Cup proved the biggest surprises of their winter, but was just the latest marker in a steady rise for the Surrey pace bowler. In many ways his career has followed the natural path through domestic cricket, but it has developed from an unusual beginning.He was Surrey’s youngest debutant when he made his first appearance as a 17-year-old in 2003, but he had actually been a fairly late starter into cricket, barely playing the game until he was 14. That was when he moved from South Africa having been born in Johannesburg. Until then rugby had been his main sport and he was good enough to have been able to consider trying to take it further as a career.Then, however, came the journey to England and he found himself playing club cricket near London. His potential was soon spotted and a place at the Surrey Academy followed. He’s the first player to move from there into the England set-up Despite that, he has had to field the predictable questions about the country of his birth. “I owe South Africa nothing,” he said. “I basically played a bit of schools cricket and nothing else. I learnt everything in England.”The main reason for surprise at Dernbach’s call to replace Ajmal Shahzad was that Chris Woakes, the Warwickshire seamer, had impressed in Australia especially with his 6 for 49 at Brisbane. However, without gaining the same attention as England’s fraught campaign on the subcontinent, Dernbach had been making a strong impression for the Lions in West Indies and on some flat pitches he bagged 19 wickets at 15.63.”It was testing and they were conditions I hadn’t really come across before, but like everything you have to find a way,” he said. “I had to learn pretty quickly and it played into my hands. I like to think I have a few variations and it helped out there.”Dernbach has the accessories of a modern player; a pair of diamond earrings and arms emblazoned with tattoos. Perhaps it’s those things that play a part in the ‘preconceived ideas’ people had of him, factors that Chris Adams, the Surrey cricket manager, spoke about when he was called up by England. However, he comes across as a very thoughtful and intelligent cricketer.One of the tattoos emblazoned on Dernbach’s arms carries the Latin saying carpe diem – “seize the day” and he has certainly seized his moment this winter. A few days after arriving in Sri Lanka he gave Andrew Strauss a tough workout during a net session in Colombo; the sight of the team captain in the nets can give a pace bowler extra impetus. In the end he wasn’t selected for the quarter-final against Sri Lanka and England’s 10-wicket thumping meant his World Cup experience was over. However, it was more than enough to whet the appetite.”I’m over the moon with my achievements during the winter,” he said. “My aim was to have a successful Lions tour which I managed then got the call up in the end which was a bonus. I’m now hoping to put my name in the mix for the Tests and one-dayers against Sri Lanka.”Dernbach clearly doesn’t lack confidence, but with no shortage of pace bowlers in the England set-up a Test call is still likely to be some way off for him. His first job this summer will be leading the Surrey bowlers, in the absence of a resting Chris Tremlett, and it’s a role he feels has already played a part in making him a more complete cricketer.”Over the past couple of years I’ve taken that role on already without it really being mentioned so I’ve got the grounding and backing of everyone here,” he said. “I’m not going to put any extra pressure on myself but of course I’m going to thrive with that, I like leading the team and being the man at the front.”However, his statistics make for curious reading. In one-day cricket his economy rate is above a run-a-ball (and in Twenty20 above nine-an-over) but a strike rate of 25.8 balls per wicket shows the priceless ability to make inroads. Dernbach isn’t a traditional line-and-length merchant and his slower ball, bowled out of the back of the hand, has already filled a few column inches.”It took two or three years to perfect it, it’s a slower ball that comes out the back of the hand, but it’s all well and good having that but then you have to develop it further. On a yearly basis I try and add bits and tweak it.” However, he now expects batsmen to know far more about him. “Once people see it once they starting looking for it and I’ve a feeling they may be waiting for it this season,” he said. “You have to constantly develop as a bowler.”That development has been swift over the last 12 months. More of it this season and that decision to leave the rugby ball aside could be looking very wise indeed.

A few key numbers from the first phase of World Cup 2011

S Rajesh22-Mar-2011An all-time high run-rate
The average runs scored per over so far is 5.07, which is the highest so far among the ten World Cups. The 2007 tournament is next with 4.95, which means this could be the first World Cup with a five-plus run-rate.The weaker nations have obviously been involved in a lot of matches in this tournament due to its format, but while their batting has brought down the overall run-rate, their bowling has boosted it. In the 16 matches in which the nine Test-playing teams have played each other, the average run-rate has been 5.12, which is marginally higher than the overall tournament run-rate.Also, there’ve been 20 centuries scored so far, which equals the 2007 tally, and is only one short of the record total of 21 hundreds which were scored in the 2003 edition.In terms of 300-plus scores, this World Cup has already broken the earlier record: there have been 17 so far, while there were only 16 in 2007. The difference, though, is the lack of the really high scores: in 2007, there were eight scores of more than 340; this time, there have been only three.Of the 17 scores of 300 or more, only six have come against the top teams, and Ireland’s outstanding chase of England’s 327 is the only instance of a lesser team scoring more than 300 against a top side.

Overall numbers from the World Cup so far

MatchesRunsWicketsAverageRun rate100s/ 50s300+ scoresAll matches4218,25564228.435.0720/ 8817Against the top nine teams3810,88245723.814.7611/ 456Top nine teams against each other16692925227.495.129/ 315Competitive or one-sided?
With so many games involving the weaker teams, it was inevitable that many games would be one-sided, and so it has been in the first phase of the World Cup. Of the 41 games that have produced results, 24 have been decided by a margin of more than 75 runs, or by five or more wickets with 30 or more deliveries to spare. Of those 24 games, 16 have involved the weaker teams.A tale of three countries
The pitch in Chennai hasn’t been batsman-friendly, but most of the other venues in India have seen good batting conditions, with the result that the overall run-rate in matches played in India is 5.22, which is well clear of the rates in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The rate in Bangladesh suffers also due to the two abject collapses by the home team, who were bowled out for 58 and 78 by West Indies and South Africa. Out of the 20 centuries scored in the World Cup, 14 have been scored in the 26 matches in India – an average of 1.86 matches per hundred. In Sri Lanka the average is 2.50 matches per hundred, while it’s three in Bangladesh.In terms of grounds, the top five run-rates all belong to Indian venues, with Pallekele and Hambantota occupying the next two spots.

Matches in the three countries in the World Cup so far

Host countryMatchesAverageRun rate100s/ 50s4s/ 6s300+ scoresIndia2629.885.2214/ 601099/ 18312Sri Lanka1026.994.864/ 18338/ 344Bangladesh624.394.682/ 10190/ 171The toss factor
Out of the 42 matches so far, 22 have been won by the team batting first and 18 by the side chasing (one match was washed out and one was tied). In 30 day-night games, 15 were won by the team batting first, and 13 by the team chasing. Also, of the 40 games which produced a decisive winner, exactly 20 were won by the team which won the toss. In the 16 matches involving the top nine teams, though, ten were won by the team which won the toss, while only four times did a team win the toss and lose the game. (One match was tied, and one washed out.)The teams batting first also have a much higher run-rate, with 80% of the centuries being scored by them. The four batsmen to score centuries in run-chases so far in the tournament are AB de Villiers, Andrew Strauss, Paul Stirling, and Kevin O’Brien.

Overall numbers from the World Cup so far

MatchesRunsWicketsAverageRun rate100s/ 50s300+ scoresFirst innings4210,40435229.555.2916/ 5313Second innings41785129027.074.804/ 354The dreaded batting Powerplay
It’s the five-over period that’s come in for the most discussion in this World Cup, so here are the batting Powerplay numbers. The overall run-rate in these Powerplays is 7.89, while the average runs per wicket is almost 22. That converts into a five-over score of almost 40 runs, for the loss of nearly two wickets.

Batting Powerplay in World Cup 2011

RunsBallsWicketsAverageRun rateTeams batting 1st13179526221.248.30Teams batting 2nd6945773023.137.21Overall201115299221.857.89New Zealand have the highest run-rate of all teams, and they also made the most runs in a single batting Powerplay, scoring 74 against Canada. The second-best effort was Pakistan’s 70 against Kenya. England have lost the most wickets, followed by India.

Team-wise batting Powerplay numbers

Batting teamRunsBallsWicketsAverageRun rateNew Zealand13879719.7110.48Pakistan15796352.339.81South Africa2221361022.209.79Sri Lanka211142635.168.91Ireland147105529.408.40Netherlands150108625.008.33West Indies140105623.338.00Australia121100430.257.26India154130917.117.10Bangladesh9080518.006.75Zimbabwe122110717.426.65Kenya8578328.336.53England1801701412.856.35Canada9490713.426.26Starting with spin
It’s been done in one-day internationals from time to time, but never as often as in this World Cup. Dipak Patel and New Zealand made the headlines for using that tactic so successfully in 1992, but thereafter it was used sparingly: only once in 1999, three times in 2003, and never in 2007. In this World Cup, though, a spinner has opened the bowling – ie, bowled one of the first two overs – 26 times in 83 innings, which is almost once every three innings.The team which has used this tactic most often is one from whom you’d have never expected it a couple of decades back. West Indies have opened the bowling with Sulieman Benn in each of their six matches, even against India on a bouncy track in Chennai which cried out for two fast bowlers to exploit it. Zimbabwe have started with Ray Price five times – they opened with two fast bowlers against Sri Lanka – but the team which has used this tactic most successfully is South Africa. Johan Botha got rid of Chris Gayle in their first match of the tournament, and Robin Peterson went one better, dismissing both Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen in his first over.Out of 14 teams, nine have used a spinner to open the bowling at least once. The ones who haven’t are Australia, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Canada, and Kenya.The DRS results
In all, 162 decisions have been reviewed so far, of which 35 have been upheld (ie, the original decision has been changed), while 127 have been struck down. That means 21.60%, or about one in five appeals, have been successful. Of these, the success rate for batsmen has been 23.19% (16 out of 69), while for the fielding team it’s 20.43% (19 out of 93).South Africa have used the DRS better than any other side with a success rate of more than 38%. Zimbabwe and Canada, while not matching South Africa for results, have done almost as well in terms of reviews.

Teams which used the DRS the best

TeamDecisions reviewedAppeal upheldStruck downPercent upheldSouth Africa135838.46Zimbabwe145935.71Canada145935.71Pakistan1851327.78Kenya1641225.00Australia82625.00Ireland impressed everyone with their skills with bat, ball, and in the field, but they’ll need to do some work on the DRS – they didn’t get a single review correct in 11 attempts, making them the only team with a 0% record. Bangladesh, Netherlands and New Zealand weren’t much better.

Teams which used the DRS the worst

TeamDecisions reviewedAppeal upheldStruck downPercent upheldIreland110110.00Bangladesh111109.09Netherlands111109.09New Zealand111109.09Sri Lanka81712.50Among umpires, Aleem Dar, Ian Gould and Billy Bowden haven’t had a single decision overturned through the DRS. At the other end of the scale are Asoka de Silva and Daryl Harper, with 50% or more of their decisions being overturned.Kumar Dharmasena’s decisions have been challenged more than that of any other umpire, but most of his calls – 14 out of 16 – have withstood the test of technology.

Umpires with lowest percent of decisions overturned

UmpireMatchesDecisions reviewedAppeals upheldStruck down% struck downAleem Dar5808100.00Ian Gould5606100.00Billy Bowden4505100.00Shahvir Tarapore491888.89Kumar Dharmasena51621487.50Marais Erasmus581787.50Billy Doctrove481787.50

Umpires with highest percent of decisions overturned

UmpireMatchesDecisions reviewedAppeal upheldStruck down% struck downAsoka de Silva485337.50Daryl Harper5147750.00Tony Hill573457.14Amiesh Saheba4114763.64

R Ashwin has won a World Cup and starred in the IPL. Yet inside three days at the Feroz Shah Kotla, he took the single, largest stride that could define him as a cricketer

Sharda Ugra at the Feroz Shah Kotla08-Nov-2011R Ashwin has seen stardom; he made his name around India through the IPL and his bold opening spells for the Chennai Super Kings. In his brief international career, he has already seen the pinnacle: even before he had played his 10th ODI, Ashwin knew what it was like to win a World Cup.For a young man of 25, those experiences are enormous by themselves.Yet inside three days at the Feroz Shah Kotla, Ashwin took the single, largest stride that could define him as a cricketer. He has moved from a very respectable reputation in the shorter versions of the game right into the relentless drama that is Test cricket with success, comfort and nine wickets.As much as he is known and relied on for discipline, control and an asphyxiating wicket-to-wicket line, Ashwin’s debut will always be remembered for the whirling, twirling “carrom ball” that fired through past a befuddled Marlon Samuel and crashed into his stumps.Ashwin’s 6 for 46 involved sharing the new ball with fellow spinner Pragyan Ojha after India’s dramatic first innings collapse. His wickets were timely (Kieran Powell in his first over), important (Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels in four balls) and significant (Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Darren Sammy). It all added up to a match performance of 9 for 128, the second best figures for an Indian bowler on debut. As the time nears to pick a squad to tour Australia, these are numbers will reverberate like a PA announcement in a silent stadium. On Tuesday though, Ashwin stirred up the thin but enthusiastic crowd, storming through the West Indies line-up and giving India something gettable to chase.Watching Ashwin’s performance through the entire Test was his coach Sunil Subramaniam, whose crushing handshake at stumps reflected both satisfaction and joy. Ashwin had proved, Subramaniam said, “that he belongs at this level.” Ashwin’s skill, he said, “was never in doubt, but at the international level, it becomes a matter of the temperament. You never know about that until the occasion comes for the world at large to be convinced.” Ashwin himself turned up to his media conference and said he had hoped to get a five-wicket haul, “and probably some more runs as well. Unfortunately the second part did not happen.”What did work today, worked just fine. Ashwin may have risen to the India ranks through the IPL and T20, but he has essentially been a four-season-old trooper in first-class cricket. He made his first-class debut just under five years ago, has 157 wickets from his 34 first-class games. “I’ve played a good amount of Ranji Trophy cricket,” Ashwin said. “The grind of the four-day format helps develop a cricketer.”Somewhere in his memory lay a small fact that led to Samuels’ spectacular dismissal. Ashwin said, “I thought I plotted him well in that over. He was probably playing for the turn and worried about the bat-pad to short-leg but probably if you have played in Delhi and the Kotla, you do know that it won’t go to short-leg. Unfortunately he did not know that and he was looking for the spin and it went straight on.”It was, his coach said, the wicket that got Ashwin’s “creativity” going. To maximise his 6ft2in, Ashwin could have done with a track that offered slightly more bounce than the Kotla’s random low-rise offerings, but he wasn’t grumbling at the end of the day.”It is not my bread and butter as I need spin and bounce. At least if there is bounce you can see the ball carrying to short-leg and silly point but there was nothing for the batsmen or the bowlers. If the batter is not patient enough you can get a wicket. Today I tried to bowl a wee bit quicker and onto the stumps and it payed off.” Ashwin speaks expansively and openly about his game, saying he had decided to increase “airspeed” talking about bowling a little faster at key moments, “so that whatever little variation and bounce that the wicket could offer, could really pay off.”He got two to jump at the Delhi Gate end, hitting Devendra Bishoo on his fingers, and then had Darren Sammy bowled from one that shot off the turf after pitching. The most important wicket was that of Chanderpaul, the one batsman who had played him with confidence in the first innings, hitting a six and scoring 38 off 34 balls. Ashwin decided to try a different angle against Chanderpaul, and had him lbw from over the wicket.

” At least if there is bounce you can see the ball carrying to short-leg and silly point but there was nothing for the batsmen or the bowlers. If the batter is not patient enough you can get a wicket. Today I tried to bowl a wee bit quicker and onto the stumps and it payed off.”

Subramaniam said he had always fancied Ashwin’s chances against Chanderpaul. “At the international level, where the bounce is predictable, the highly skilled and technically accomplished batsmen will delay shot making… on a wicket like this, where the ball keeps low, it only needs a microsecond of delay to make it matter for anyone bowling that line.”The first innings had not turned out the way Ashwin wanted, but he insisted, not because of nerves. “Yes, the body wasn’t moving the way I wanted it to in the first few overs. I didn’t know whether my hip was turning, whether the release was perfect and all I was doing was concentrating because I have never seen a wicket that is so less receptive to so many revolutions on the ball. Frankly I thought I was doing something wrong and contributed myself to it by not moving my hip enough. All these were the things that were weighing in my mind before I went in for the lunch break but as time went on, I just had to handle myself.” Perhaps that is what is actually called nerves.He handled himself like a pro in the second innings, though Subramaniam admitted that “it helped when you have a side like the West Indies to bowl against, who have batsmen just off a good tour of Bangladesh, who will start playing their shots early.” The batsmen scored off only 24 of his total of 129 balls in the second innings, the shortage of boundary freebies troubling all who faced him.The two men spoke on Monday night, Ashwin being told that he was under no pressure “functionally” – as in all he didn’t have to do anything more dramatic than what he was used to doing, exercising control, but do so under the conditions at his feet. The Kotla wicket, Subramaniam said, was behaving like several others in India, merely settling in after being re-laid. The more matches that are played, the better their behaviour will be. He didn’t think poorly of the Kotla, he said. “It is not vicious… whenever something has to happen in Indian cricket, it always happens here. It was the wicket that marked Anil’s (Kumble) comeback in the Irani Trophy. It’s the place where the ten wickets happened.”The Kotla is the place that has marked his ward’s arrival in the big league. Comparisons with Kumble were inescapable. They were based on Ashwin’s height, accuracy, hand-clapping wicket-celebration and general South Indian-ness. There is much distance to be covered for that to be a reasonable resemblance. Yet, regardless of the future, Ashwin and his coach will always have the Kotla.

N Hunter joins Mumbai’s crowds as they go through ecstasy and agony watching their hero fall six runs short

25-Nov-2011Sudhir Gautam is sitting in the first-class compartment of the Churchgate-bound local train. It’s 7.30 am, peak traffic hour when thousands shuttle from Mumbai’s northern suburbs to the older, more beautiful southern neighbourhoods en route to their offices. Today the trains are even more packed than normal as the office crowd is joined by hundreds travelling to watch Sachin Tendulkar try and score his hundredth international century.Gautam, famous as Tendulkar’s most devoted fan, sits quietly amid the chaos, his pale brown eyes staring ahead. He’s dressed in his work clothes: bare torso painted in the Indian tricolour (which is scrubbed off each night with kerosene), shaven head sporting a single lock of hair; around his waist is a sign saying “100 century Tendulkar”. His trousers are the unwashed whites worn by Indian cricketers, his sneakers are dirty and the soles are evidence of how much he’s travelled.His fellow commuters recognise him from the innumerable television images – waving the Indian flag, blowing the conch shell, even making it to the Indian dressing room – on Tendulkar’s invitation – minutes after the World Cup win on April 2. Gautam doesn’t seem to mind the stares; he’s focused on getting to the ground before the Indian team so he can blow his conch as they drive through the stadium gates. Then he must start waving the flag before the first ball.As the train enters Churchgate station (Wankhede is next door) someone finally musters the courage to address him directly. Gautam is asked why he doesn’t have a regular job. “Who will do this?” he answers, without even looking at the man who’d asked the question. Will Tendulkar get the century today? “Today he will score. It was his dream to win the World Cup at home. Now that is fulfilled, he should get his hundredth at home, too. He deserves it.” His words are strong but there’s a note of anxiety in his voice.The ground is filling up fast. The intensity and fervour of the previous day doubles as soon as Tendulkar comes down the steps from the dressing room. Just before he crosses the ropes, he takes off his gloves and washes his hands. He’s ready.
The final delivery of the first over, from Ravi Rampaul, is flicked for a four behind square. Fourth over, fourth delivery, facing Fidel Edwards for the first time in the morning, is punched through the offside; Adrian Barath chases it to the long-off boundary but the ball has too much on it.The noise inside the ground reaches cacophonous proportions when Tendulkar uppercuts Edwards over third man for six. He is now seven short of the century. The next 15 deliveries yield just a single while he and the crowd enjoy watching Virat Kohli tackle Edwards’ short-ball barrage expertly.However, the tension is growing. Being in the 90s is no guarantee of reaching his target; he’s already fallen there once this year, when Tim Bresnan reverse-swung a delivery on the final afternoon of The Oval Test in August to trap him plumb on 91.Tendulkar’s fans came with great expectations, but they had to wallow in disappointment again•AFPDuring that England tour, fans had travelled across continents and paid as much as £250 for a daily ticket to watch the 100th hundred.Tickets on Friday were cheaper – Rs 100 going for eight times the value – but equally hard to come by; thousands of fans stood for hours a kilometer outside the ground on the Churchgate and Marine Drive sides, hoping the Mumbai Cricket Association would somehow find extra tickets to sell. No such luck; daily tickets for Day 4 had been sold out within minutes of the windows opening on Thursday afternoon.There are a lucky few like Aniket Bhalekar, a Class XII student at Sathe College in Vile Parle who decided to skip his semester exams to fulfil a dream of watching Tendulkar get a hundred. “I’d convinced my father yesterday to allow me to come to the ground. Today my mother asked me why I was wasting my time – even if Tendulkar gets his century it wouldn’t help my future,” Bhalekar says. He managed to get a ticket after skipping the last two sessions of Thursday’s play and standing in a queue for six hours.Now he and thousands of others are holding their collective breath as Tendulkar, six short of the landmark. stands calm in the middle, leaning on his heavy bat.”We want six, we want six,” Wankhede shrieks as Rampaul runs in to deliver the final ball of his fourth over. The ball pitches on a length on the off stump and seams in a bit too quickly into Tendulkar’s body. But Tendulkar goes for a premeditated steer – and offers a simple catch to Darren Sammy at second slip. The only voices heard now are those of the ecstatic West Indies players.”Why did he play that? Why?” Bhalekar screams next to me as he stands, sits down again and then covers his face in disbelief. Tendulkar looks up to the heavens immediately, then, walking back, cranes his neck to watch the replay on big screen. He raises his bat slightly, stares at it, almost blaming it for deceiving him. Gautam stands there, stunned.To their credit the crowd stays on. They are rewarded by R Ashwin, who becomes the third Indian to get a five-for and a century in the same innings of a Test. And when Tendulkar comes on to deliver the final over of the day, they stand and clap with the same enthusiasm. There is even a hint of redemption when Kohli gets a difficult chance off a push from Darren Bravo, but this isn’t Tendulkar’s day. Stumps drawn, the crowds go home.And somewhere in Mumbai Tendulkar’s biggest fan prepares to scrub off his hero’s name until the next match.