Many young England cricketers have honed their skills in the unforgiving world of Australian grade cricket. The latest generation is no exception

Rob Johnston09-Jan-2016The North Sydney Cricket Club is your archetypal Australian grade club. Founded in 1858, their home ground is the North Sydney Oval, surrounded by old stands which were acquired from the SCG, and a venue used regularly by New South Wales for one-day games. Sir Donald Bradman and Keith Miller, two of the finest players to ever wear the Australian Baggy Green, played for them. This year, this very Australian club is being captained by an Englishman.Essex’s young batsman Jaik Mickleburgh has returned to North Sydney after a successful stint last season and has been made captain and assistant coach. For an Englishman to impress in such a way is a big deal in the notoriously tough environment of Australian grade cricket. It is generally regarded as the toughest club cricket in the world, valued for its intensity and high standard, with most sides filled with State and international players. Alastair Cook, Ian Bell and Joe Root are three England Test players who spent formative seasons playing in Australian club cricket.Each year, dozens of young English cricketers, some experienced county professionals like Mickleburgh and others just out of school, head down under on a quest to improve their games. Most want to improve technically, but overcoming the off-field challenges of being away from home, working to make ends meet and living up to tough and uncompromising expectations can be just as beneficial to a young player’s career as anything they may work on in the nets. It takes courage to make the decision to go in the first place. Now 25, Mickleburgh’s first season in Australia was a trip in to the unknown.”My first trip away was as a 17-year-old,” he says. “I was very excited about the opportunity but also apprehensive. It being the first time I had spent any period of time away from home. There was an element of the unknown being picked up in Melbourne by someone who I had never met in person.”Homesickness is inevitable, especially over the Christmas period, but combatting that is an important part of the growing-up process and shows a toughness that can come in handy on the pitch.”After a while of being homesick, I realised that it was the best decision I had ever made to go away and play cricket,” says Mickleburgh. “The experience definitely toughened me up and has made me a stronger person and player.”Warwickshire’s young legspinner Josh Poysden is currently playing for Northern Districts in Sydney, his fourth winter down under. He admits that being away from home on Christmas Day on his first trip was hard.”Obviously you miss your friends and family. However the families from the club took me in. I reckon I had invites to about five different lunches so that was really nice,” says Poysden. “It was a surreal thing going to the beach for a swim on Christmas Day rather than being in the freezing cold. I did miss my Mum’s roast turkey though!”England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor played for Northern Districts in men’s grade cricket in Adelaide last year•Getty ImagesSome young English players who are not established county players when they arrive in Australia have to arrange their own trips. Without the security of a county contract, it can be a risk financially, but combining work and cricket shows a determination and a will to succeed that all the best players need. Because it is a risk, they have to make it work if they are to get a county contract.That is something that Poysden had to do on his early trips. “On my previous three trips, I played for Gordon DCC, and this was all sorted out myself,” he says. “I didn’t have a contract with Warwickshire on any of these trips and so had to support and pay my own way. This meant fitting training around working to support myself, so there were some very long days. However, I saw coming out here as something that needed to be done if I was to further my career. It’s a no-brainer as a young legspinner to get loads of overs under your belt rather than training in an indoor school.”Poysden’s point about wanting to get more match play overs is a topical one. Debate is raging about the state of English spin and the stark fact is that the county system is not helping young spinners develop because there are simply not enough opportunities to bowl overs in match situations. Taking the initiative, as Poysden has done, to get more experience and bowl more overs is all the more important as a result and likely to stand a young spinner in better stead in the long term than a winter at home.Alongside the full-time work and the homesickness, players are expected to perform on the pitch against high-class opposition. Grade cricket’s standard is often compared to that of county second XI cricket, so it is no easy thing for a young English player to do. Poysden says: “There are three or four other pros in our first grade side and Brad Haddin is playing this weekend, so it’s a great but tough environment to be in. I’ve been lucky to play against Ed Cowan and Michael Clarke over the last few years.”Plenty of seasoned professionals can make it an uncompromising place for a young player where nobody takes a backward step or is short of a word. It doesn’t matter how old you are either; if you’re old enough to play, you’re old enough to cop it. “You hear about Australian sledging and the first trip was a bit of an eye-opener,” says Mickleburgh. “There was never anything too bad but it was something I hadn’t experienced much before as a 17-year-old. You just get used to it and it helps toughen you up. You have to focus on the ball and ignore all the other stuff.”Warwickshire’s Josh Poysden has honed his skills at Northern Districts•Getty ImagesPressure to perform is a common bedfellow for the professional cricketer but young players in Australia have the added pressure of repaying people who have given them an opportunity, something that can become a burden. “Everyone at Northern Districts has been so supportive, so it’s important to me that I contribute to some wins for the club,” says Poysden. He made a good start, taking 7 for 87 in his first game and helped his side reach the finals day of the grade T20 competition at the SCG.Such a strong club system means competition for places is intense. Some players who may be regulars for their counties can find themselves out of the first-grade side. Root, who headed to South Australia when he was 19, finished the season in the second team despite being a regular for Yorkshire the previous year. For some it can be the first taste of rejection they have encountered, but is unlikely to be the last.Australians are traditionally a tough, no-nonsense people, and young players, whether shipped over from England or not, are expected to get on with whatever comes their way. “Playing in another country poses many challenges, but I think the most important is being accepted by new team-mates as a good bloke by getting your head down and working hard through it all, even when you’re not in the first grade,” says Mickleburgh. Proving you’re not a soft Pom, in other words.Proving you’re prepared to work hard is one thing, but integrating in to a new social circle, especially at the beginning of a trip where a player will know so few people can be a challenge. Young players often live with the families of club members and this support network is vital.”The family I lived with were such kind people, welcoming me into their home and it made everything much easier,” says Poysden. “The son of the family is a similar age to me and played for the same club, so it was like having a brother out here. Some of the friends I’ve made here are some of my closest in the world.”Such is the value of the experience on and off the field that many players head back year after year in their early 20s. Both Mickleburgh and Poysden have spent four seasons in Australia, experiencing different conditions and different environments. Essex have set up a link with Newton and Chilwell CC, Mickleburgh’s first club in Australia, to host young cricketers, an arrangement that has been in place since 2007. The opportunities are there for players who wish to take them.A season in Australian grade cricket is a rite of passage for young English players, providing them with challenges on and off the field. While the cricket is intense, the lifestyle challenges of a winter down under can help young English players grow and toughen up, which can then benefit their on-field performances. Future England Test players are being groomed by Australian grade cricket. Maybe Australians do like doing the Poms a favour after all.

A new book about the late great cricket writer tries to unravel the many mysteries that marked his life and death

David Hopps19-Dec-2015Four years after the death of Peter Roebuck when he fell from the sixth floor of the Southern Sun hotel in Cape Town, a praiseworthy attempt has been made to explain the circumstances – indeed, the life’s journey – that led to his demise. will not entirely succeed in ending the conjecture surrounding one of cricket’s most private figures but it is a well-balanced and responsible study of an ultimately tragic existence and, as such, for many of those disturbed by the events leading up to his death it will bring both reassessment and closure. By that measure alone, this is an important work.Roebuck, a diligent county cricketer but one who never played for England, gained more approval as an outstanding wordsmith. But both his cricket and his journalism play secondary roles in to the analysis of the events leading up to his death. What led this closed-off, concealed individual to fall to his death? And how much truth really lies behind the charges of sexual abuse that were made against him – latterly by a 26-year-old Zimbabwean man – and were the cause of a knock at the door by Cape Town police shortly before his life ended?The debate over Roebuck’s life, put simplistically, splits into two camps. His most virulent critics regard him as a serial abuser, sexually repressed, his neuroses concealed behind a mask of respectability. His staunchest supporters will read what, superficially at least, are damning implications and suspect a deliberate attempt by his enemies to entrap him and so destroy the reputation of a man who had spent a considerable amount of his life – and money – seeking to do good.It has taken two authors and a fine editor, in Christian Ryan, to allow those views to find context. Roebuck has had few peers as a writer when it comes to revealing the character of cricketers through the game they play, but never allowed much intrusion into his own personal life, so it might be viewed as apt that some of the theories propounded reveal more about the people making them than Roebuck himself.

To some Roebuck could be rude, aloof and socially gauche, but many – especially from his playing days – also knew him as amusing and diverting company, a quirky one-off, inquisitive, well read and brimful of political and social convictions

There are, though, new insights for most of us, most notably in the presence of Julia Horne, now an academic and historian, who might fairly be viewed as the only love of Roebuck’s life. She met him in Sydney in 1981 when she was studying at the University of New South Wales; two years later he invited her to dinner (her relationship and his wavering causing the delay), and then returned with some reluctance to England to continue his career. There ensued much correspondence in which he regretted his peripatetic lifestyle, and after Horne made a none-too-successful visit to England during the cricket season, the relationship fizzled out, Roebuck choosing to remain cloistered in a man’s world. Horne’s admirable willingness to tell her story perhaps reveals how highly she regards history, correctly told.In that moment, Roebuck’s life changed. His mind turned increasingly to education and the nurturing of young men. This was marked by a highly personal and fanatical philosophy of character-building for men in the first throes of adulthood based on a combination of discipline, in particular a belief in corporal punishment, and affection. His generosity to young cricketers staying with him in Taunton came with such a methodology attached. It ultimately brought about his estrangement from England when, in 2001, after a complaint from a cricketer under his care, he was persuaded to plead guilty to a charge of common assault, and received suspended jail sentences. He left England convinced it had become a weak-willed, politically correct nation, no longer fit for purpose. His intellect came with the hubris to continue his educational beliefs elsewhere and an ambitious scheme to house Zimbabwean orphans in South Africa was born.Roebuck’s reference in one of his letters to Horne to his inability, or so he suspected, to commit fully to “warm” relationships seems to be central to his life. I was not interviewed for but I remember a revealing conversation I once had with him on tour in Australia about the importance of warmth. He expanded upon it with conviction. At that time, it was central to what he felt he could offer the young men who increasingly dominated his non-cricketing life. Warmth was what they needed, he said; more important in their personal development than sex, girlfriends or fast cars.Hardie Grant BooksIt all thrusts attention upon the question of his own childhood. The Roebuck family also contributed to and by doing so they may have influenced the message. Their insistence that Roebuck’s relationship with his family remained strong does not bear the slightest scrutiny. Analysis of his problematic relationship with his father is limited, and his mother’s staunch reluctance to believe he committed suicide – believing the South African police investigation to be flawed – sounds as much a matter of family honour as of a deep understanding of her son. That he leapt from the window because he could not face the social stigma he knew would follow was entirely in keeping with his state of mind.The balance of probability suggests that at some point his male bonding had developed an increasingly intrusive sexual element. To what extent, or how unforeseen, remains unproven, but does not flinch from discussing whether he was driven by altruism or controlling, predatory behaviour. Those who bandy around words like paedophilia – and beyond the boundaries of this admirable book they do – really should look up the meaning of the term. His final accuser, after all, was 26. To term Roebuck a repressed homosexual is a convenient and perhaps simplistic label for a complex mental state, but it remains a convincing conclusion.Less so is the off-the-peg suggestion that he displayed aspects of schizoid personality disorder, an unconvincing gambit that thankfully is not pursued too vehemently. To some Roebuck could be rude, aloof and socially gauche, but many – especially from his playing days – also knew him as amusing and diverting company, a quirky one-off, inquisitive, well read and brimful of political and social convictions that were all the more interesting because they rushed both from left and right.By the end of his life Roebuck had sold his beloved Straw Hat Farm, his extended home in the hills outside Pietermaritzburg in South Africa, and moved to a cheaper property in town. He had more than 20 young men living there, predominantly Zimbabwean orphans, who came to call him Dad. Discipline became a form of ritualistic control. The vast majority of his orphans spoke in glowing terms about him even after his death, just as those who came under his protection in England and Australia had done before. But expenditure was out of control, he was absent for a large chunk of the year, and fully-fledged adults were showing no signs of leaving, knowing a good thing when they saw one. Then came the allegations and the blackmail. Roebuck would not be the first intelligent, largely detached individual to suffer from hubris, but his educational experiment ultimately brought about his downfall.Chasing Shadows: the life and death of Peter Roebuck
By Tim Lane and Elliot Cartledge
Hardie Grant
298 pages, £12.99

Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers were the heroes in their five-wicket win against India in Pune. Stats highlights from the game

Bharath Seervi09-Feb-20161:08

India’s win-loss ratio of 0.625 at home

2 Totals lower than 101 for India in T20Is – 74 against Australia at the MCG in 2007-08 and 92 against South Africa in Cuttack in 2015-16. The 92 all out against South Africa was India’s last home T20I before this one. It is only the fifth time India has been bowled out in T20Is.2 Sri Lankan bowlers who took two wickets in the first over of their T20I career in today’s match – Kasun Rajitha (making his debut) and Dasun Shanaka (bowling for the first time in his T20I career). Rajitha dismissed Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the first over of the innings, while Shanaka took the wickets of Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. Kaushalya Weeraratne is the only other Sri Lanka bowler to take two wickets in his maiden T20I over. Only two bowlers have taken three wickets in their first over on their T20I debut: Mansoor Amjad (Pakistan) and Tyrone Kane (Ireland).8 Wickets by Sri Lanka fast bowlers in this match – the most for them in a T20I match. They had taken seven wickets four times in the past. Against India, it is the third time fast bowlers have taken eight wickets in a T20I.3 Number of times India have lost six wickets in the first 10 overs in T20Is. Their previous two instances were more than five years ago: against New Zealand in Christchurch in 2008-09 and against Australia in Bridgetown during the 2010 World T20.1 Number of times India have lost two wickets in the first over of a T20I – this was the first such instance. They lost two wickets in seven balls against Sri Lanka in Colombo (RPS) in 2008-09. For Sri Lanka, it was the fourth time they took two or more wickets in the first over. They took three against West Indies at The Oval in the 2009 World Twenty20 semi-final – Angelo Mathews was the bowler then.4 Sri Lanka bowlers who have taken three or more wickets on their T20I debut. Rajitha took 3 for 29 in this match.7 Number of times a player at No.9 or lower was the highest run-scorer for his side in T20Is. R Ashwin’s unbeaten 31, at No. 9, was India’s top score in this match. The last such instance was for Pakistan against England in Dubai in November 2015 when Sohail Tanvir was the top-scorer with 25 batting at No. 9.17* Previous highest score for Ashwin in T20Is – against England at the Eden Gardens in 2011-12. His score of 31 not out is the second-highest for India by anyone batting at No. 8 or lower in T20Is. Only Irfan Pathan’s 33 not out, also against Sri Lanka, is higher. In the eight innings where Ashwin has batted in T20Is, he has been dismissed only three times.2 Wickets by Shanaka in 26 T20 matches before this game, in 66 balls across seven innings. He took 3 for 16 in three overs in this game. His previous best figures were 1 for 14.2 Number of India players who have played 50 or more T20Is, including Raina who appeared in his 50th T20I in this match. MS Dhoni has played 56 matches. Overall, Raina is the 30th player to play 50 or more T20Is.

This was the first day of one of the premier global cricket tournaments, but you wouldn’t have guessed it in Nagpur

Jarrod Kimber in Nagpur08-Mar-2016

A grand opening? Not quite•International Cricket Council

Facebook said to me, “The ICC World Twenty20 starts today. Let your friends know if you’re excited to watch”. Facebook’s excitement at the tournament didn’t quite make it to the ground.There is very little exciting about Nagpur. Starting a tournament on a Nagpur pitch is like inviting your friends to your wedding at the tax office. Nagpur’s wicket has a reputation as a poor wicket. Recently it was so bad the ICC sent a letter to the VCA about it. Now it is hosting the opening game of the World T20. And it did so, exactly as you would expect it too. With a slow, painful, yawn.How could you be excited watching the first ball? In came Tanwir Afzal to bowl his accurate slow medium-pace. The ball was short of a length, and four minutes later it arrived to Hamilton Masakadza below stump height. It hit the toe of the bat and plonked a few feet in front of him. That ball was a visual representation of the entire match.Were the crowd excited? Was there any crowd? The three Afghanistan guys out at deep cover seemed excited. And they were the only ones, excited, or present. Had you told someone there was a billion-dollar sporting event watched around the world, they would have mistaken this for a training day, or that they had gone on the wrong day. There were more people at the ground who were paid to be there, than had paid to be there. Even the security guards couldn’t muster the energy to man the metal detectors. Police officers clutched at their brand new with no one here to use them on.How excited were the ICC? So excited about Ryan Campbell making his Hong Kong debut at 44 that they tweeted a picture of Jamie Atkinson by accident. They were maybe a bit upset that the BCCI ticketing system seemed to be actively discouraging people from coming out to the game. Although they seemed ambivalent to the fact their opening match had people paid more for commentating it than playing in it. And probably a bit worried that people found out they were only using their special magic bails for the “real” tournament, and not this opening round irritant.Was the cricket exciting? The contest was ended in Zimbabwe’s innings when Elton Chigumbura started hitting sixes, which was unfortunate with still more than an innings to play. Hong Kong’s innings started with the handbrake on, the car in the garage and the wheels off. Masakadza’s running between wickets was the only thing worse, he had the energy to reach his crease, but he couldn’t actually be bothered to ground his bat. There was also a ball that started midway down the pitch, was wide, was bowled very slowly, reacted slower off the pitch, and still resulted in a wicket.

Starting a tournament on a Nagpur pitch is like inviting your friends to your wedding at the tax office

Was the cricket public excited? How could they be? They weren’t watching the opening of a tournament, they were watching the post-qualifying qualifiers. The ICC can pretend, mislead or dress up this as much as they want, but this wasn’t a grand opening to a tournament. No one believes the tournament has started. And this match wasn’t going to change their minds, it was the cricket equivalent of a fart in a bottle.It was drab, nonsensical requalifying to empty stands on a slow low pitch. It wasn’t exciting, it was sad.The last ball of Zimbabwe’s innings was a short ball that didn’t bounce that was pulled onto the pad and dribbled apologetically a few metres past the umpire. Haseeb Amjad, the unathletic Hong Kong bowler, slowly turned around and realised, to his horror, that he would have to chase the ball himself. Such was his and the ball’s speed, that for a time, it was as if time was actually trying to stand still, but was unable to come to a complete stop. It inched forward, because it had too.This wasn’t the game that stopped the world, this was the game that the world wanted to stop, but it happened regardless.It wasn’t the opening of the tournament; it was an elongated cricket yawn live-streamed globally. The cricket world, it would seem, has let the ICC know that it was not excited.

17-Mar-2016Captain Asghar Stanikzai, however, led from the front with a counter-attacking fifty•AFPStanikzai found an able partner in Samiullah Shenwari, who scored a 14-ball 31, and the pair added 61 for the fifth wicket off 33 balls•International Cricket CouncilStanikzai and Shenwari were unsparing in their assault, and even Rangana Herath, who had impressed earlier, was taken for 13 in his last over•International Cricket CouncilHerath, however, still had a field day, ending with 2 for 24, but Afghanistan smashed 106 off the last 10 overs to finish with 153 for 7•International Cricket CouncilSri Lanka’s openers began the chase with a 41-run stand, but Afghanistan’s timely strikes reduced Sri Lanka to 113 for 4•Associated PressBut a set Tillakaratne Dilshan held the innings together•Associated PressDespite a couple of run-outs, fielding lapses at critical junctures did not help Afghanistan’s cause as Sri Lanka closed in•AFPAngelo Mathews swung the contest decisively in Sri Lanka’s favour, his brisk 21 ensuring a comfortable finish•Associated PressDilshan finished on an unbeaten 83 as Sri Lanka cruised to the target with seven balls to spare•Associated Press

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2016A blip after the solid beginning meant Sri Lanka slipped to 125 for 4•AFPDilshan, however, carried his bat through to make an unbeaten 75 as Sri Lanka finished on 150 for 4•AFPMohammad Irfan, who was poor on the field, didn’t have a bad bowling day, finishing with 2 for 18 off his four overs•AFPMohammad Hafeez started well, but was foxed by Shehan Jayasuriya as Pakistan lost their first wicket in the fourth over•Associated PressThat, however, did not stop Sharjeel Khan from muscling the bowling. He hit five fours and a six in his 31. He was complemented well by Sarfraz Ahmed•AFPUmar Akmal and Shoaib Malik then took control of Pakistan’s chase with a 56 run-stand for the fourth wicket•AFPUmar eventually fell with his side one run short of the target, but Malik took Pakistan home with six wickets in hand•AFP

The Indian captain’s sprint to seal victory against Bangladesh captured everything pivotal to his game

Sharan MR24-Mar-2016Among the most beautiful sights on today’s cricket field – one to rival Ashwin’s lovely loop, or a Mahmudullah one-kneed cover drive – is the Dhoni steal. Picture this: he dabs a ball wide of the man at sweeper-cover and takes off. There really is only about one and one-fourths for the striker. You know it as soon as the ball leaves the bat; so does the bowler, the non-striker and, even, as it turns out, the hapless fielder, who swoops down on the ball and fires a return. But Dhoni doesn’t. Strangely, nor does his body, because it just ran two.The sight of Dhoni powering down a cricket pitch – pads on, helmet often cast disdainfully aside, bat swinging like a boatman’s oars – gets one’s adrenaline pumping like little else: one can feel his hamstring throb, the shocked wind in his wake. Part of Dhoni’s allure is the contradictory nature of the whole thing. He doesn’t have the typical runner’s body – not for him are the wiry frame, the lean, long legs of an Usain Bolt. Instead, Dhoni is a cheeky, big man – never one, at first glance, to give the sense of being fleet-footed; yet, he thunders and gallops and steals. Watch him pirouette as he comes back for the second: it’s the closest his batting will ever come to embody grace of any sort.The stolen two extends beyond the aesthetics of the act: it is the centrepiece of Dhoni’s limited-overs batting. It often allows him to score at better than a run a ball by taking almost no risk. The game is played on his terms, the bowler has got nothing on him – no edges, no just-misses, it’s his game. This mindset serves him really well in the 50-over game; it sometimes lets him down in the T20 arena, though, where a little more risk may be called for. Indeed, arguably, in the game against Bangladesh, he could have done better: he came in with five overs to go and six wickets in hand. He ended up with 13 off 12 balls, not out. Dhoni’s overall international T20 numbers aren’t anywhere as great as his ODI feats: an average of 34 is good, a strike rate of 120 is a shade higher than Jacques Kallis (at 119).The last-ball heist against Bangladesh captured, in a single, deliberate yet hare-footed sprint, everything pivotal to Dhoni’s game. With a quickish Hardik Pandya bowling, the decision to stand without right glovel on is a brave one, emblematic at once of a calculating mind and some chutzpah.The sprint itself is very Dhoni – I think it was Harsha Bhogle who said Dhoni had to be the fastest over 22 yards in modern cricket. Turns out he is even quicker over 15. And finally, the decision to run to the stumps where many others would have chosen to have a (riskier) shy – Dhoni ran because he wanted to be in control till the very end. In a sense, the sprint was a microcosm of Dhoni’s world – don’t let go until you absolutely have to. That’s how he chases down totals. He controls the game, taking it almost deliberately down to the wire until it’s just him and another man. And then, Dhoni backs himself to unleash his inner beast. It is risky, sometimes foolish, but supremely entertaining and completely his own.

Plays of the day from the opening match of IPL 2016 between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiants

Karthik Krishnaswamy09-Apr-2016Fearsome first balls of fireFirst, it was Ishant Sharma. The first ball he bowled on Saturday – and the first ball he bowled this season – ducked into Rohit Sharma and trapped him plumb in front. Then came Mitchell Marsh. Hardik Pandya top-edged the seamer’s first ball high in the air, and MS Dhoni settled comfortably under the catch. Rajat Bhatia was the third Rising Pune Supergiants bowler to strike with his first ball; a sharp offcutter, landing on the perfect length and pinning Kieron Pollard to the crease. And that was by no means all: enter R Ashwin. His first ball was the filthiest of long-hops which Ambati Rayudu could have hit anywhere he pleased. He swivelled, struck the ball firmly, and hit it straight to Faf du Plessis at midwicket.The specialist non-bowlerDuring the World T20, MS Dhoni gave R Ashwin his full quota of overs only twice in five matches. He bowled three overs against Pakistan and only two overs each against Australia and West Indies. Dhoni has captained R Ashwin right through his IPL career – at Chennai Super Kings for the tournament’s first eight seasons, and now at Rising Pune Supergiants. The new franchise was making its debut on a Wankhede pitch that was helping the seamers, and it wasn’t really a surprise that spin only entered the scene in the 11th over of Mumbai’s innings.But the Ashwin who took the ball at that point was the debutant legspinner M Ashwin rather than the world-renowned offspinner R Ashwin. M Ashwin had bowled three overs before R Ashwin finally came on for the first time, in the 16th over. It was the only over he bowled, despite the fact that he took a wicket off his first ball.The deflection that wasn’tIn M Ashwin’s final over, Harbhajan Singh thumped a tossed-up delivery back down the pitch. M Ashwin was falling away to the off side in his follow-through, and he stretched out his right leg to try and intercept. The ball clattered into the stumps at the non-striker’s end, and the bowler went up in appeal. Umpire CK Nandan went up to the third umpire, and though replays showed Vinay Kumar to be out of his crease, they also confirmed that M Ashwin’s foot had come nowhere near making contact with the ball.The mix-upIn the sixth over of the Supergiants innings, Ajinkya Rahane inside-edged Jasprit Bumrah into the leg side, a fair way to the left of the fine-leg fielder. Rahane turned quickly after completing the first run, looking for a second, and saw Faf du Plessis taking a couple of steps down the pitch at the other end. Du Plessis, however, changed his mind, and both batsmen were suddenly headed in the same direction. A throw at the bowler’s end would have meant a certain run-out, but the fielder threw to the keeper, Jos Buttler, who fumbled the ball, deflecting it off his glove and sending it rolling down the pitch. Buttler and du Plessis were now in a foot race, running neck-and-neck halfway down the pitch when the former swooped on the ball and flicked it towards the bowler’s end. The ball missed the stumps, and du Plessis had dived home by the time J Suchith, the substitute fielder at mid-on, rushed in, collected the ball, and removed the bails.Six runs for evasive actionDu Plessis had hit a six off the previous ball, lifting Bumrah sweetly over the extra-cover boundary. He ran down the pitch to the next ball, showing his intentions a little too early, and Bumrah banged in the bouncer. The surprised Du Plessis swerved his head, taking his eye off the ball, and brought his bat around in a motion not dissimilar to a pull shot, though he was looking to shield himself rather than play a shot. The ball clipped the edge of his bat and flew all the way over the third-man boundary.

Bangladesh’s old-timers remember the unparalleled joy of watching the original ‘Little Master’ bat

Mohammad Isam11-Aug-2016Mohammad Kamruzzaman, a veteran Bangladesh sports journalist, was 15 years old when he went to the Dhaka Stadium to watch the Pakistan-New Zealand Test in November 1955. It was there that Hanif Mohammad, the original ‘Little Master’, left an imprint in his mind.”Nobody else could even make a fifty in that game, except Hanif Mohammad,” Kamruzzaman remembers. “He made a century, and handled the New Zealand attack really well. You could have called it a mediocre attack but on a matting wicket, they were tough to handle. John Reid bowled medium-fast in that game. They had a legspinner called (Alex) Moir. But New Zealand fell in big trouble towards the end of that game, losing six wickets for not many.”Hanif, all of 20 then, brought up his second Test century, hitting 103 out of Pakistan’s 195 for 6 declared. The next highest score was Wallis Mathias, who made 41 not out.Kamruzzaman, studying for his matriculation exam the following year, remembers managing some money from home to watch the match like many others. “I think my mother gave me money to buy the student concession tickets,” he recollects. “I think it was five taka for the four days. I was glad to witness the first Test century in Dhaka. Hanif used to be a subdued batsman, and he tackled the New Zealand attack almost single-handedly.”Kamruzzaman, who has played the game at the club level and covered it for more than five decades, is now in his 70s. Hanif, he says, was adored by sport-loving Bengalis as much as he was in West Pakistan. Most vivid in his memory are Hanif’s second and third Test tons at this venue, against England in 1962.”Seven years later came those two centuries. I remember England were led by Ted Dexter and had a superb batting line-up. Hanif’s first-innings century had some incredible shots, but the real hard work was in the second innings. He still managed to make 104 runs. See, he always batted for his team and hardly ever for himself.”Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, one of the most experienced coaches in Bangladesh, is younger than Kamruzzaman but played cricket for a long time. He remembers what Hanif meant for his generation that grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s.”In the early 1960s, I was still in school. I remember of hearing about this man who doesn’t get out,” Jalal recalls. “A myth started to develop around Hanif Mohammad. He was one of the two stars we knew about in those days. The other one was Fazal Mahmood.”Hanif became the idol for many of us. It had a lot to do about his endurance. By 1964-65, I started to get conscious about the game and one of the things I realised was that if Hanif did well, Pakistan would be saved. Like kids these days have Shakib and Mashrafe as heroes, in those days too they liked batsmen. Hanif became a favourite.”He used to be known as a defensive player, but newspapers of the time regularly used a photo of him playing a slog sweep. It didn’t really go with his batting style but I loved that photo. He understood bowlers very well. His evading technique always caught our eye and that was a big reason why he could tackle those big bowlers in the West Indies. He was a master of concentration.”Jalal said Hanif was a hero for kids growing up then as the youth population wasn’t fully aware of the political rhetoric involving Pakistan. “Cricket was fun for us back then,” he remembers. “The only anger within all of us back then was about Bengalis not getting a chance to represent Pakistan in sports.”Jalal also remembers the stories they heard in Dhaka about Hanif’s breakthrough innings in Bridgetown. “We heard stories about Abdul Hafeez Kardar slipping notes into his hotel room during his marathon 337 in West Indies. Apparently during that series, Hanif used to regularly have his meals at a Muslim home.”Much like Kamruzzaman and Jalal, a certain generation remembers Hanif fondly. He was a charm before the world around them changed. But even in the Bangladesh of 2016, the news of Hanif’s death brings sadness to an older generation who only have these memories to live by.

Eligible to play domestic cricket in Bangladesh for the first time since June 2013, Mohammad Ashraful discusses his return and the challenges that lie ahead

Mohammad Isam13-Aug-2016It is hard to find a cricket facility in Bangladesh that doesn’t have a connection with the BCB. However, since Mohammad Ashraful wasn’t allowed to use any of the board’s facilities due to his ban, he had to go farther to keep playing cricket in the last three years.Having just become eligible to play domestic cricket for the first time since June 2013, Ashraful has two major challenges ahead, both of which have never been achieved in Bangladesh before. He has to forge a career again at the age of 32, and will have to do it after serving a ban of three years.A few months following the indefinite ban enforced by BCB over his role in the BPL 2013 corruption case, Ashraful circumnavigated around facilities and tournaments that were outside BCB’s jurisdiction. He played in USA in 2014 and 2015, and this year he played some matches in the UK.Occasionally, he was found playing with his lawyer friends at small grounds in Dhaka. He ventured to Kulaura and Barlekha, small towns in Sylhet, which are more than 250km east of Dhaka. He played in Satkhira where Mustafizur Rahman, having just made his T20 debut against Pakistan in April 2015, dismissed him.Playing in small venues was a ‘different experience’ for the former Bangladesh captain, who spent most of his youth playing in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand. He went back to Bangladesh’s backwaters to prove to everyone, in his own words, that he is “still alive”.”I played plenty of [on hire] matches,” Ashraful told ESPNcricinfo. “I must thank those in Sylhet for regularly calling me to play these matches. I played T20 tournaments in places like Kulaura and Barlekha. I played in Satkhira where Mustafizur [Rahman] having just made his T20 debut got me out second ball. That was some experience.”When I was starting off in 2001, I heard stories from [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon and [Aminul Islam] Bulbul about tournaments in Mymensingh and Chittagong, but I never got a chance to play in these tournaments. After 2001, it was always international cricket. So this time I deliberately played in these matches. I wanted everyone to see that I am still alive.”Ashraful knows that playing after 30 and after losing a chunk of his career will be tough but he is taking inspiration from the indefatigable Misbah-ul-Haq.”I want to do well in domestic cricket first, and prove myself. In Bangladesh, cricketers have a hard time after they cross 30 so it will be a challenge. And I will be back after a long gap which has never happened before for a cricketer here. But I am taking up both challenges. I want to play for ten more years, just like Misbah is doing at the age of 42,” he said.Ashraful, though, will have to return with his match-fixing background during the 2013 BPL, for which he was banned for five years, brought down from an eight-year ban. There were mixed reactions from his team-mates, and some praised him for his admission of guilt. Mushfiqur Rahim had said his involvement was a “loss of pride” for the Bangladesh cricket team.”I recently saw Tamim’s interview where he said they are waiting for me to return. I don’t think I will generally have many problems. I confessed what I had done and I have never hurt a cricketer. There might be a comment or two when I go out to bat, as people will try to get me out,” Ashraful said.Ashraful’s immediate goal is to play in the upcoming Bangladesh Cricket League first-class tournament, scheduled to begin on September 20. Though he may not be included in the competition, he is more relieved to be eligible to play competitively.”I am relieved that I can play under the BCB and use their facilities,” Ashraful said. “The last three years were quite tough. But I tried everything that I was allowed during this period. I trained for two years under coach [Sarwar] Imran sir, and later went back to Ankur Cricketers [his cricketing alma mater].”I also trained at the small ground near Banasree where I live. Before leaving for the UK, I requested [BCB cricket operations chairman] Akram and [chief selector Minhajul Abedin] Nannu to consider me in the BCL if possible. I know that it might be tough on their part since only the best first-class players are selected in this competition.”Ashraful will also have to consider that he is returning to a competitive culture in Bangladesh cricket. Even if he makes it into the domestic teams, performance would be key. And he would also have to gain the trust of team-mates and those around Bangladesh cricket.