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Bangladesh got to 126 for 4 on the back of Nigar Sultana’s 63*, but their bowlers failed to prevent defeat with 42 deliveries to spare

AAP31-Mar-2024Tayla Vlaeminck celebrated her return to international cricket with a wicket with her third ball, as Australia thrashed Bangladesh by ten wickets in their series-opening T20I in Dhaka.Playing her first game for Australia since January 2022, Vlaeminck beat Sobhana Mostary with her speed to hit the batter’s stumps. She finished with 1 for 30 as Australia kept Bangladesh to 126 for 4, before chasing the target down without loss and with seven overs to spare.Vlaeminck, the fastest female bowler in Australia, suffered two anterior cruciate ligament ruptures and a shoulder dislocation before her 21st birthday. That came before her most recent extended break, when stress fractures in her foot and a shoulder dislocation required more than two years of recovery.She admitted before the Bangladesh tour that she at one stage privately questioned why officials had kept faith in her. But on Sunday afternoon, she answered it herself. Vlaeminck bowled with speed in her first match on the subcontinent, piercing through Mostary’s defences as the No. 3 attempted to play back. Vlaeminck’s return helped push her case for selection for the World Cup later this year, also in Bangladesh.Nigar Sultana scored exactly half her team’s 126•Getty ImagesFellow Victorian Sophie Molineux also did her case no harm. After a ruptured ACL destroyed her 2023, she had Dilara Akter caught with the first ball of the match. She also bowled Fahima Khatun in the final over of the innings, finishing with 2 for 25.Bangladesh owed their final total of 126 to captain Nigar Sultana, who scored exactly half the runs, remaining unbeaten on 63 from 64 balls after walking out at No. 4 in the second over.In reply, Alyssa Healy (65 not out in 42 balls) and Beth Mooney (55 not out in 36 balls) made light work of the chase.Healy smashed nine fours and a six in a dominant innings, raising fifty in 34 balls. Mooney also hit nine boundaries as she too brought up a 34-ball fifty, with the pair taking Australia to their fourth ten-wicket win in T20 history.

The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket

Steven Lynch14-Nov-2005The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Shaun Udal: debutant at 36 © Getty Images
I recently read about Hasan Raza’s Test debut at the tender age of 14. Is he the youngest debutant? And who is the youngest to get a century? asked Aswin Chari from Singapore
Hasan Raza, who is playing in the current Test against England at Multan, is indeed the youngest person to appear in a Test match – he was only 14 years 227 days old when he made his debut for Pakistan against Zimbabwe at Faisalabad in 1996-97. There is some doubt about his exact age, but independent tests at the time suggested that he was about 15, so the published date is not far wrong (if indeed it’s wrong at all). For a full list of the youngest Test players, click here. The 12th man on that list, Mohammad Ashraful, is the youngest to score a Test century – he was 16 years 364 days old when he scored 114 against Sri Lanka in Colombo on the third day of his Test debut.Shaun Udal is currently playing his first Test for England, aged 36. Have many people have been older on their Test debut? asked Jeffrey Cobb from Fareham
Shaun Udal was 36 years and 239 days old when the match started, making him the oldest debutant for England since John Childs, who was 81 days older when he made the first of his two Test appearances in 1988. In all 22 players have been older than Udal when winning their first cap for England: for a full list of the oldest Test debutants, click here.Why did Mark Boucher have the number 200 printed on the back of his shirt in the fifth ODI between South Africa and New Zealand? asked Aamir Masood
Mark Boucher wore the special shirt because that match at Centurion was his 200th one-day international. He is the fourth South African to reach this landmark, after Jonty Rhodes (245 ODI appearances), Shaun Pollock (244) and Jacques Kallis (224). For a list of those with most ODI appearances, click here.

Mark Boucher: only the fourth South African with 200 ODI caps © Getty Images
I read somewhere long ago about a Test played in the West Indies that was abandoned because the pitch was deemed unsafe to play on. Was that the only such occurrence? asked Prateek Goorha from Australia
It wasn’t actually that long ago – the match in question was the first Test of England’s 1997-98 tour, at Sabina Park in Kingston. There was less than an hour’s play – 10.1 overs in all – during which time England limped to 17 for 3, with the busiest man on the ground being their physiotherapist, who kept having to run out to players who had been injured by balls flying unpredictably off the rutted surface. I’ve always felt particularly sorry for Mark Butcher, who hadn’t expected to play, got a late call-up … and was then dismissed by an unplayable lifter. This is the only instance in Test history of a match being abandoned after it had started because of an unfit pitch, although there was one ODI that suffered this fate – India v Sri Lanka at Indore on Christmas Day, 1997.You wrote a couple of weeks ago about there having been only one Test in Multan – but surely there have been several played there? asked Siddiq Khan from Lahore
The question was in this column two weeks ago, and asked about grounds which had only staged one Test. What I meant was that there was a ground at Multan – the Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium – which had only staged one Test (against West Indies in 1980-81). Subsequent Test matches in Multan have been played at the new Multan Cricket Stadium. The current Test against England is the fourth to be played there.I know that Mohammad Azharuddin scored a hundred in both his first and last Tests – has anyone else done this? asked Neeraj Bhardwaj from Canada
Apart from Mohammad Azharuddin there have been three other batsmen have scored hundreds in their first and last Tests, and they are all Australians: the current Indian coach Greg Chappell, Reggie Duff and Bill Ponsford. This excludes any current players, and the two men – Andy Ganteaume and Rodney Redmond – who scored a century in their only Test match.

With an aggregate approaching 8000 and an average of more than 56, Jaques Kallis is easily one of the giants of contemporary cricket, and the most prolific batsman that South Africa have ever produced

S Rajesh15-Apr-2006

Jacques Kallis: the rock in the South African batting line-up © Getty Images
With an aggregate approaching 8000 and an average of more than 56, Jaques Kallis is easily one of the giants of contemporary cricket, and the most prolific batsman that South Africa have ever produced. In a batting line-up that has often had an iffy look to it, Kallis has been the steadying force and their go-to man, even more so since the retirement of Gary Kirsten, the only South African to have played more Tests (101).Kallis’s start in Test cricket was anything but encouraging: 1, 7, 6, 39, 0, 2, 2 – these were the scores for Kallis in his first seven Test innings. His next three fetched him 177 – including his first hundred, in trying circumstances against Australia in 1997-98 – but then followed a prolonged slump, when his next nine Tests fetched 375 runs at 26.78. In fact, it took him all of 22 matches to get to 1000 runs, at which stage his average was a modest 30.87.

The progression to 100 Tests

Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

20 952 31.73 2/ 5 40 2479 43.49 7/ 12 60 3971 47.27 9/ 22 80 5967 53.75 16/ 31 99 7840 56.40 24/ 38As the table below shows, Kallis’s stats at the 50-Test mark were fairly ordinary. In his 51st, he crafted an unbeaten 157 against Zimbabwe, and that kickstarted a phenomenal run in which he amassed 660 runs and was dismissed just three times. Since then it has mostly been one almost non-stop run-fest in which he has, on an average, scored a hundred every 2.88 Tests. During this entire period, which started in September 2001, the longest streak without a hundred has been just six matches.

Kallis’s rise to the top

Runs Average 100s/ 50s

In first 50 Tests 2952 41.00 7/ 16 In next 49 Tests 4888 72.95 17/ 22Over the last five-and-a-half years, Kallis has easily been the most prolific batsman in the world, with an average which is four runs higher than his nearest competitor, Ricky Ponting.

Best batsman since Sept 2001

Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

Jacques Kallis 49 4888 72.9517/ 22 Ricky Ponting 57 5792 68.9522/ 19 Brian Lara 44 4761 62.6416/ 14 Rahul Dravid 52 4520 61.9113/ 21 Inzamam-ul-Haq 34 2967 59.3410/ 12And while most batsmen find the going tougher in the second innings, Kallis seems to relish the challenge, averaging nearly 60 (though it helps that out of 68 innings, he has been unbeaten in 21).

Best 2nd innings batsmen (Qual: 1500 runs)

Batsman Innings Runs Average 100s/ 50s

Don Bradman 30 2299 104.5010/ 8 Herbert Sutcliffe 31 1541 64.206/ 6Jacques Kallis 68 2808 59.745/ 18 B Mitchell 38 1654 57.033/ 10 Andy Flower 49 1972 56.345/ 10Whereas Kallis the batsman has grown in stature with every passing year, Kallis the bowler is clearly on the decline. Once capable of swinging it at around 140 kmph, Kallis is now clearly reluctant to exert himself with the ball. In his last 30 Tests, he only has 45 wickets at nearly 43 apiece. He still remains a force as a bowler, though, as he showed the Australians in the recently concluded series, dismissing all the top-order batsmen except Matthew Hayden at least once in the three Tests. And the 25-run difference between his batting and bowling averages puts him on top of the allrounders list, ahead of even Garry Sobers.

Best allrounders (Qual: 2000 runs and 150 wickets)

Player Runs/ Average Wickets/ Average Bat ave – Bowl ave

Jacques Kallis 7840/ 56.40 196/ 31.68 24.72 Garry Sobers 8032/ 57.78 235/ 34.03 23.75 Imran Khan 3807/ 37.69 362/ 22.81 14.88 Keith Miller 2958/ 36.97 170/ 22.97 14.00 Shaun Pollock 3372/ 31.51 389/ 23.21 8.30 Ian Botham 5200/ 33.54 383/ 28.40 5.14 Richard Hadlee 3124/ 27.16 431/ 22.29 4.87 Chris Cairns 3320/ 33.53 218/ 29.40 4.13 Andrew Flintoff 3080/ 33.47 174/ 31.45 2.02 Kapil Dev 5248/ 31.05 434/ 29.64 1.41Even though Kallis has been so prolific, a few opposition line-ups have had a fair amount of success against him: against Sri Lanka he averages just 33, and hasn’t managed a single hundred in 21 innings, while Australia and Pakistan have also kept him down to less than 40 runs per innings. (Click here for Kallis’s career summary.)

The selectors have made a good start in picking the 30, but they could easily regress when it comes to pruning down the squad to 15 and leave out many of the really young ones, settling for safety instead

Anand Vasu07-Jul-2007

Strange omission: Dinesh Mongia, with 32 games under his belt, is far and away the most experienced in the Twenty20 format, but he has been overlooked © Getty Images
Twenty20 cricket would give a lot of people, some of whom would otherwise have never made it, a chance to play international cricket, Kumar Sangakkara said in a recent interview. His words appeared to be borne out when India announced a squad of 30 probables for September’s Twenty20 World Championship. With Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly excusing themselves – and they should be commended for doing so – the job of the selectors became that much easier.This will be the first time in years that India are going into a tournament of any kind without the big three, and it remains to be seen if this is an indication of the selectors’ long-term thinking, or whether it’s just an exception for Twenty20 cricket. The selectors picked a squad heavy on youth, and understandably light on experience.But the inexperience won’t matter a jot, for none of India’s cricketers has played much Twenty20 cricket. Dinesh Mongia, with 32 games under his belt, is far and away the most experienced, but he has been overlooked. Murali Kartik, who has played a bit of Twenty20 himself, for Lancashire and Middlesex – only yesterday he picked up 5 for 13, the third-best returns in the short history of this form of the game – also missed out.It’s hard to judge this squad of 30 because so little is known about what they can do at Twenty20 cricket. But it is a major opportunity for some of these young cricketers to get a taste of the big league. It’s still some way yet – the selectors have made a good start in picking the 30, but they could easily regress when it comes to pruning down the squad to 15 and leave out many of the really young ones, settling for safety instead.There are many familiar faces – Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag – but interestingly there are fresh ones too. Yusuf Pathan has made a bit of a name for himself as an offie who can tonk the ball a long distance, and more than mere potential has some performances to back his claims up, and joins his brother Irfan in the squad. Karan Goel the twenty-year-old left-hand bat and offie who scored 26 and took 4 for 13 as Punjab lost to Tamil Nadu in the final of the domestic Twenty20 championship, finds a spot. What’s critical is to see how the selectors go about their business when they halve this squad on August 7. If they go with those who have built reputations in one-day cricket, and send the out-and-out youngsters back to domestic cricket, they would have missed a trick. In order to help the selectors pick the final 15 the Board of Control for Cricket in India will probably have to schedule its inter-zonal Twenty20 competition between now and then, and that promises to be a hastily arranged affair Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, although quite a correct batsman, makes it, along with Manoj Tiwary, both from Bengal, and his electric fielding would be a big plus. Chetweshwar Pujara, another young batsman of promise, though hardly a man you’d pick for Twenty20, is in the squad too, as is Niraj Patel, the industrious left-hand batsman from Gujarat who has scored regularly and played a key role in finishing off limited overs games. Praveen Kumar, the allrounder gets in for his utility with bat and ball, as does Orissa’s Niranjan Behera, while Anirudh Srikkanth, a dasher to the core, is one of those who could play a big part if he gets going.One person the selectors should have found place for, at least in the long-list of 30, is V Devendra, the Twenty20 specialist from Tamil Nadu. His played a crucial part in Tamil Nadu’s success in the domestic competition with his fearless hitting at the top of the order and steady mediumpace.What’s critical is to see how the selectors go about their business when they halve this squad on August 7. If they go with those who have built reputations in one-day cricket, and send the out-and-out youngsters back to domestic cricket, they would have missed a trick. In order to help the selectors pick the final 15 the Board of Control for Cricket in India will probably have to schedule its inter-zonal Twenty20 competition between now and then, and that promises to be a hastily arranged affair.While most of the attention has centred on the Twenty20 probables, what with a World Championship around the corner, it should not escape notice that the selectors also picked an A team to tour Kenya. In that squad are some seriously contentious choices, with Arjun Yadav getting a look in despite achieving little in domestic cricket. An opening batsman like M Vijay, who had an excellent debut season, scoring 628 runs at 40-plus will wonder why he misses out, in a squad that has only one regular opener, in Robin Uthappa. This at a time when India have a fairly new opening combination in Tests and are on the look out for openers. Once again, it seems a confused selection, with a wicketkeeper opening, but given what they’ve done with the national team in the recent past, you’d at least have to say the selectors are consistent.

Stats highlights from the fourth day of the Perth Test

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna19-Jan-2008

Ricky Ponting made only 45, which is less than his average score in the fourth innings as captain © Getty Images
India’s 72-run win broke a sequence of 16 consecutive Test wins for Australia, dating back to the Boxing Day Test in 2005. It’s the second time India have played spoilsport to Australia’s 16-match winning spree – in Kolkata in 2001, they had beaten Steve Waugh’s team by 171 runs. This is the first Test win by a team from the subcontinent in Perth. The nine previous matches here – five for Pakistan, and two each for India and Sri Lanka – had all ended in Australian wins, almost all of them by convincing margins. It was also Australia’s first defeat in Perth since February 1997. The last time Australia lost at home was way back in December 2003, and India were the opponents then as well. Since that Adelaide Test, Australia had won 22 out of 25 home games before they ran into the inspired Indians in Perth. India’s win is their 30th overseas, 17 of which have come in this decade. It is also their 22nd outside the subcontinent, and their fifth in Australia. Australia’s total of 340 is their second-highest in the fourth innings in a match they have lost. Against England at Old Trafford in 1981, they scored 402 and yet lost by 103 runs. Australia’s fourth-innings score was also the highest total of the match, and yet they ended up on the losing side, making it only the 11th such instance, and the fourth since 2000. The last time a team made the highest score of the match in the fourth innings and lost was in June last year, when West Indies made 394 but lost by 60 runs against England at Old Trafford. Ricky Ponting managed only 45, which was a relative failure, considering how well he usually does in the fourth innings. He averages 58.85 in the last innings of a Test, but as a captain he has done even better, averaging 93.25, with three centuries and two fifties in 15 innings. Ponting was caught by Rahul Dravid off Ishant Sharma for the second time in the match. Only once previously has he been dismissed by the same bowler-fielder combination in both innings – he was caught by Romesh Kaluwitharana off Chaminda Vaas in Adelaide in 1996. Irfan Pathan was especially effective against the left-handers in this Test. He dismissed both Australian openers in the first and second innings. He averaged 14.75 against the left-handers; Stuart Clark was his only success versus right-hand batsmen, who averaged 56 against him. Andrew Symonds didn’t score too many this time, but when he reached 11 he became the 87th Australian batsman to get 1000 Test runs. Mitchell Johnson’s unbeaten 50 is easily his highest Test score, going past his previous best of 28 in the Sydney Test earlier this year. Thanks to the fact that he has remained unbeaten in three of his four innings, Johnson’s Test average is a Bradmanesque 99. The 73-run ninth-wicket stand between him and Stuart Clark is the highest for that wicket at home for Australia versus India. It was a game to forget for Michael Hussey: not only did he get his first Test duck, it was also the first time he lost a Test match.

The IPL has given young players the opportunity to interact with their elders and betters – both from India and overseas

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan20-May-2008

VRV Singh is among the many young Indian players who have benefited from sharing a dressing room with overseas cricketers in the IPL © AFP
It was the penultimate over of the Delhi Daredevils’ innings and Punjab’s VRV Singh, as he had done while bowling in the death through the tournament, was trying to get every ball in the blockhole. The first, which ended up a low full-toss, was turned to short fine leg by Virender Sehwag; the second, which Tillakaratne Dilshan tried to pull, was an attempted yorker that turned into a beamer down leg side; and the third, which Dilshan paddled past short fine leg, was another low full-toss.That was when Mahela Jayawardene, fielding at deep third man, decided to run halfway across the field to have a word with the bowler and captain. As someone who captains Dilshan in the Sri Lankan team, it was obvious Jayawardene saw through his plan. Fine leg was pushed back, three full-ish balls followed, the line was controlled according to how Dilshan moved in the crease, and the remainder of the over produced just three. In a game that was decided by six runs, it was a crucial over.There are many reasons for Punjab’s ascendancy to second spot in the IPL – balanced side, strong bowling attack, good mix of Indian and foreign talent – but tactics have played a big part.The international players have imparted their ideas and the local players have chipped in during brainstorming sessions. Australians have helped in analysing Australian opponents, and Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have been perfect allies for Yuvraj Singh.Brett Lee, for the two weeks he was available, was a big brother to the fast bowlers. One young Indian bowler talks of the “highly emotional” atmosphere in the dressing room the day Lee left. “We became so close to him that we felt bad when he said goodbye. The amount we learnt from him in such a short time was unbelievable. He used to treat every practice session as if it was his last.”Sangakkara has missed the last four games but that hasn’t stopped him from making a serious contribution. “Uday Kaul [the young replacement wicketkeeper] had never kept to quality fast bowling before,” says a team member, “but Sangakkara has ensured he gets adequate training.” Even during the early games, Sangakkara made sure Kaul got enough preparation in the nets.How useful has it been brain-storming with international and local players? “It’s interesting to see how the same questions are approached by people with different perspectives,” Sangakkara told Cricinfo. “Sometimes you get two or three opinions on the same subject – or more. The debate then starts. It’s important how you bring all those into one thought process or one strategy.”What’s been really challenging for Sangakkara and Jayawardene is coming up with strategies to counter their fellow Sri Lankans – which they haven’t quite managed against the wily Muttiah Muralitharan, who’s foxed them both at crucial moments. Sangakkara thinks there are advantages to planning against your own countrymen.”You find yourself coming up with new ways to combat these players [like Murali],” he says, “but you then realise there are new dimensions to their game that can be exploited to Sri Lanka’s benefit later. When you analyse someone’s game, you try and find how you can get the better of them, but also find new ways in which they can be lethal. It’s nice to sit back and analyse your own team members – gives you an appreciation and new-found respect.” If he gets a direct hit, he analyses what went right. If he misses, he analyses what went wrong. It’s the attention to detail that was mind-boggling for us Aakash Chopra on Ricky Ponting’s approach to fielding in the IPLThe Australian way
Like Punjab, all eight franchises are experiencing the benefits of players interacting with their international peers and elders. The prolific Rohit Sharma has attributed part of his success to Adam Gilchrist. “He told me not to get swayed by the results, as my job is only to keep performing.” Delhi’s young bowlers can’t stop raving about Glenn McGrath, and over in Jaipur, Shane Warne has been inspiring a whole generation.McGrath’s influence goes beyond his role as a fast bowler: he asked for videos of Pradeep Sangwan’s Ranji Trophy matches to analyse his action and suggest improvements. “McGrath makes it a point to stand at mid-off or mid-on when the youngsters are bowling,” says TA Sekhar, cricket operations chief of GMR Holdings, the owner of the Delhi franchise. “Now that itself is a great inspiration for young bowlers like Yo Mahesh and Sangwan. If they bowl a no-ball, he’s encouraging them, telling them how to deal with the free-hit ball. If they bowl five good balls, he makes sure they don’t get carried away with the sixth.”Halhadar Das, the Orissa wicketkeeper who plays for the Hyderabad franchise, says he never imagined he would even see Gilchrist, let alone learn from him. Sumit Khatri, Rajasthan’s chinaman bowler, says he needs to pinch himself every time Warne says “Well bowled.” And S Badrinath, who is yet to make the national side despite years of domestic consistency, talks of the lessons learnt from Michael Hussey, who went through a similar phase (“His message was simple,” Badrinath says. “Enjoy whatever you are doing and the rest will follow”)Ricky Ponting’s dedication to fielding was an eye-opener for everyone in the Kolkata side. “His dedication to fielding is unbelievable,” says Aakash Chopra, the former India opener who’s currently with the Knight Riders. “If he gets a direct hit, he analyses what went right. If he misses, he analyses what went wrong. It’s the attention to detail that was mind-boggling for us.”Australians have dominated the tournament so far but it’s been their attitude to practice that has really benefited their teams. McGrath is the first to arrive at nets and the last to leave. Ponting ensured that every batting session was planned properly, and while he may not have scored many runs, his approach was inspiration enough. Warne has managed to throw in tactics even while relaxing in a swimming pool in Goa. (“It was great to sit around the pool and talk about how to construct an over,” he said.)The approach is likely to rub off. “I always wondered how some Australians manage to score despite looking so badly out of form,” says one former India player. “Now I realise it’s because of the amount they practise. They target one area and go on striking the ball there, irrespective of the length. It’s such routines that makes them come out of slumps.”

The likes of McGrath and Lee have taken their duties as mentors seriously, and have also set good examples with their dedication to practice © Getty Images
Local flavour
It’s not all been one-way traffic. In an era of packed international schedules, the IPL has also allowed Indian superstars to interact with domestic players. “I hadn’t seen him earlier but one ball was enough to convince me that he was a talented bowler,” said Sachin Tendulkar of Dhaval Kulkarni, the 19-year-old medium-pacer who is the highest wicket-taker for Mumbai after nine games.Ross Taylor made it a point to talk to Rahul Dravid and Shivnarine Chanderpaul about batting in England, where he was set to join New Zealand for a Test series; and Cameron White said his most satisfying experience in the IPL was discussing legspin with Anil Kumble.India’s domestic cricketers, who could never have imagined sharing the same dressing room with legends like Tendulkar have probably benefited the most. “More than anything else, it’s given domestic cricketers a strong belief,” says a former India allrounder who is currently with one of the franchises. “There is a general perception that international cricketers are perfect, but you realise that all of them have weaknesses too. It’s because they work around these weaknesses that they play at the international level. So domestic cricketers will start to believe they can make it too, as long as they are focused and totally dedicated.”The downside
It hasn’t been all good, though. A few foreign players have treated the tournament like a circus that offers them generous pay packets, and some have shown no restraint when it comes to late nights.”Most of them are used to drinking late and partying hard but the worrying aspect is that some of the young Indian players are emulating this,” says an Indian player who is part of one of the franchises. “They must know their limits. Just because they see their heroes partying, it doesn’t mean they need to follow that.”Halfway through the tournament, Bangalore’s think-tank felt the need to read the riot act to the players, listing the kind of discipline that was expected from them. Murmurs have been heard about the Deccan Chargers being distracted about the number of get-togethers and promotional events being organised. Such talk usually accompanies teams that are not doing well but it’s a warning one mustn’t ignore: revolutions have their flip side too.

A century after his birth the debate about Bradman and Australian identity rumbles on

Stephen Fay09-Nov-2008
The myth of Sir Donald Bradman is still potent enough to persuade an Australian publisher to bankroll an updated version of to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. The myth is of an infallible cricketer who survived a dark imperial plot to destabilise him (Bodyline), and then led a team of Invincibles whose brilliant exploits helped to forge a national identity. Graeme Wright, the editor of the collection, argues that the myth is redundant. “[It] no longer applies in an Australia able to assert its own identity as a nation,” he writes. But it is taking an unconscionable time dying.The Bradman shining through these pages is a sensational batsman (a report of each of his innings is plucked from and he gets a hundred every three visits to the crease). He was fastidious about his image when he was alive and his admirers, known as Bradolators – led by the former prime minister John Howard – kept the protection intact after his death. RC Robertson-Glasgow, who watched Bradman play, had fewer illusions: “There are no funny stories about The Don. No one ever laughed about Bradman. He was no laughing matter.”Australians still find it hard to make an unsentimental historical assessment of their hero. Professor Carl Bridge heads the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies at King’s College London. “The prevailing hagiography does not do Bradman’s life and character justice,” he writes. “He needs to be rescued from the naïve nationalist reductionism of the Bradolators.”But Professor Bridge concludes with a streak of pure Bradolatory: “Whatever the odd revisionist might unearth, [he was] without doubt Australia’s greatest son.” Hold on a minute. What about General John Monash, who led the best-organised army on the Western Front in 1918, or Charles Kingsford Smith, who piloted the first flight from the United States to Australia, or the Nobel Prize winners Howard Florey, who developed penicillin, and Patrick White, the epic novelist? Or even Rupert Murdoch? After all Don Bradman was only a cricketer. Bradman in Wisden
edited by Graeme Wright
Hardie Grant Books £19.99

What is the BCCI doing to raise the level of umpiring in the country?

Sriram Veera in Hyderabad13-Jan-2009
As part of a BCCI initiative, Suresh Shastri, one of the three umpires nominated to the ICC international panel, is officiating in domestic games in South Africa © AFP
“I have been playing domestic cricket continuously for the last two years and you can never be sure you will get a good complete game from the umpires. There are good umpires around but consistency is lacking.”Mohammad Kaif, the Uttar Pradesh captain, was a very disappointed man at the end of the second day. He had hung around tenaciously for 172 minutes, trying to consolidate when he lunged forward to defend a Zaheer Khan delivery. Amiesh Saheba, the umpire, heard a noise and put his finger up but Kaif went limp and stood motionless for some time. Replays revealed the bat had hit the pad and the ball went past the edge. Saheba had a bad semi-final as well, with couple of poor decisions. The other on-field umpire, Shavir Tarapore, has made two poor decisions in the game, but also a brilliant one – he picked up the edge from the toe end of the bat of Tanmay Srivastava.Bad decisions are no crime. Kaif himself said it’s part and parcel of the game but the key point he raised was that he sees a similar pattern of inconsistency around the circuit. It’s also reflected in the fact that India have no umpires in the ICC’s elite panel. So, what is the BCCI doing to raise the level of umpiring?VK Ramasamy, a former umpire who is the BCCI-appointed umpiring coach for this match, explains the process. Since the last season, the board has been spending money in installing cameras in every Ranji Trophy game and having an umpire coach at each venue.”Every appeal is tagged and the video is sent to us at the end of the day. We have a look, analyse the decision, see what is the mistake or the right thing the umpire has done and table it,” he said. “At the end of the match, we sit with the concerned umpire and run through the videos again. We find his thought process on why he made the decision and if we disagree with his verdict, we explain why. And we suggestive corrective measures wherever possible: his head position, his technique, his decision-making skills, on his man-management, you know the entire umpiring process.”The umpire coach also files a report to the BCCI where the umpire is graded on a rank of ten. The board is set to issue a new performance guideline which will ask the umpire coach to grade the umpire as bad, satisfactory, good or very good. “Also, at the end of the season, Mr Srinivas Venkataragavan, the director of umpiring, goes through the videos with the umpires in the scanner and suggests his point of view.”So the system is really good. The umpire can only get better and if he is not the system will ensure it weeds out the bad umpires. And please, this is just the second year with this system. You have to give us more time to see the result. It’s too early now but I think the system seems pretty tight.”The problem according to Mumbai’s coach Praveen Amre is that the existing pool of good umpires is very small. “There is no option but to back the men who are good. They are humans and like good players, out of form, you just have to support them.”Many have felt that former cricketers should be encouraged to take up umpiring. Some like Maninder Singh and Yashpal Sharma tried but while Yashpal left because of lack of money in the job – the board has now increased the remuneration considerably – Maninder left it because he felt the BCCI was not supporting him.”I cleared the exam, but there are too many people in the board to discourage you. Their main grudge was the TV jobs that had come my way. Despite my good reports, the board took ages to promote me. Then I let it go because I didn’t want to call people and say, ‘Sir, sir, give me this match, give me that match’.”In another initiative, the Indian board has signed deals with Cricket South Africa for exchange of umpires and is soon to have similar agreements with Cricket Australia and the England board. In the upcoming Duleep Trophy, South Africa’s Marais Erasmus will officiate while India have already sent Suresh Shastri to umpire in South Africa’s domestic circuit. But the question remains, when will India throw up a quality umpire good enough to enter the elite panel?

Losing hair, joining the army, playing in Australia, and being teetotal occupy the mind of the Delhi Daredevils opener

Nagraj Gollapudi01-May-2009What’s the best thing about playing cricket for a living?
I play cricket because I love it. The day I feel I’m not giving my 100%, that will be the last day of my cricket.Worst thing about playing cricket for a living?
You lose a lot of hair – especially when you are an opening batsman! Like [Virender] Sehwag, I’m losing my hair left, right and centre. Cricket has giving me everything but it is taking away all my hair.Best friend in cricket?
Virender Sehwag, Munaf Patel, Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma. People outside always feel I’m reserved, but when I’m with these guys I’m the only one speaking. I’m very comfortable with each of them and all of them are special to me.Who’s the nicest man in cricket?
Sehwag. He thinks about the team. The way he gives others confidence, his character, and the way he approaches his cricket and life is an inspiration.If you weren’t a cricketer what would you be?
The army remains still my first love. When I was growing up I was always passionate about joining the armed forces. But once I started doing well in domestic cricket and everyone started to tell me to focus on my game, that’s when I decided to concentrate on my cricket. But given a choice, even now I would like to join the army.What do hotel rooms need to make them more enjoyable?
If they can create a homely atmosphere, nothing like it.Which ground has the most hostile crowds?
Some of the Australian grounds are nasty.Which ground has the most amusing crowds?
I love playing in Mohali. I love the attitude of the local people and I enjoy that very much.Which tour do you most look forward to?
Australia. Everything about the place, people, conditions is good, which makes it a hot spot. And you want to challenge yourself there.What drink is the best one to celebrate a victory with?
I haven’t ever tasted alcohol of any kind.How often do your friends ask you for free tickets to games?
Very often. Given an option, every game they would like to ask for at least one ticket.The best sledge you’ve heard?
One comment that made me turn a lot of things around came from Ricky Ponting during the Bangalore Test last year. He said, “You haven’t [yet] set the world on fire.” That was something I took seriously, and it helped me do well.

Cricinfo picks out the highlights of the fourth round of the Ranji Trophy 2009-10

Sriram Veera28-Nov-2009The crime
Stop the press. Cheteshwar Pujara missed a ton. How dare he? The Saurashtra run machine, who hit a double hundred in the last round, fell for 84 this time. The selectors will now use this excuse to not give him a go. Focus Pujara focus!The backfire that wasn’t
Dinesh Karthik took a brave decision to declare overnight on the first day at 293 for 8. Karthik apparently wanted to use the early morning moisture but it was Himachal Pradesh who did the dew and took the vital lead by posting 366. When Karthik’s critics were sharpening their knives, Tamil Nadu roared back into the game by hitting 319 in their second gig and set a target of 247 runs in two sessions on the final day. Result? C Ganapathy and L Balaji, the seamers, shared nine wickets among themselves to bowl out HP for 155 from 47.4 overs. Karthik obviously had the last laugh. If you are really desperate to criticise Karthik, point out that he scored a duck in the second innings. No? Not strong enough for a comeback? Thought so.Angry young man
Manoj Tiwary, Bengal’s captain, landed himself in controversy when he lashed out against some of his team-mates. “It’s time to bid goodbye to our reputation and play as a unit now in the present context. Instead of playing for individual goals, our players need to focus on the team goal.” Bengal were embarrassed at home after Saurashtra enforced a follow-on with a 194-run first-innings lead.Who was he talking about? The venerable lot at Press Trust of India reckoned he was targeting Sourav Ganguly and screamed with headline : “Bengal skipper Tiwary hits out at Ganguly.”When contacted by Cricinfo, Tiwary denied he had said anything against Ganguly. “It’s absolutely wrong. I read it in the paper and was very angry at how they have twisted things. How can I dare say anything against a player who is a legend? It’s unimaginable. In fact whenever he plays for Bengal, he adds such a presence that our whole team is lifted. Even yesterday while our team was batting after being asked to follow-on, I spent one and half hours talking to him.”So did he contact Ganguly to clear up things? “Yes, I spoke to him in the morning and he said no problem and that he doesn’t believe in all this speculation in the media.” So, all is cool in the eastern front. Well one hopes so.A matter of honour
Sunil Joshi, Karnataka’s bowling machine, is still chugging along merrily. Nineteen years after he made his debut, the 39-year old Joshi became the highest wicket taker for Karnataka, going past BS Chandrasekhar’s tally of 437 wickets, when he got rid of Sajin Sureshnath. Joshi is also the fourth highest Ranji wicket-taker behind Rajinder Goel (637), S Venkatraghavan (530) and Narendra Hirwani (441). He had equalled Chandrasekhar’s tally when he got the wicket of Rohit Motwani. He was just hit for a six by Motwani but exacted his revenge next ball and let out a scream. “Did I really scream? I guess it was just a reflex,” he said later. “They (Motwani and Bawne) had been bothering us since lunch and when we got the breakthrough I perhaps let out my emotions.” How long will he play? “I don’t want to stop any youngster, but he should force me out with his performances,” Joshi had told Cricinfo in a chat before and by the look of things the youngsters have been found wanting.The 100-match man
Sitanshu Kotak, Mr. Fevicol of domestic cricket, played his 101st game this week. His 100th game was against Maharashtra at Rajkot in the last round of the games. Niranjan Shah, Hon. Secretary of Saurashtra Cricket Association, gave Kotak a silver salver for his achievement. he once drawled in his lovely Saurashtrian twang after playing yet another trademark stonewalling knock.Don’t chuck
You must have heard about how BCCI has been getting tougher on the bowlers with suspect actions. Another one has fallen into the spider web. Hyderabad’s Lalith Mohan had just completed two overs in the first innings when the umpires told him that if he bowls again, they would no ball him. Lalith had a session with the coach Venkatapathy Raju and tried his luck in the second innings. Nice try but no luck. The umpires stopped him again after two overs and warned him again. And Lalith didn’t bowl again. Pity for him, of course, but greater common good and all that jazz.Thumbs down
Noticed that Shikhar Dhawan didn’t bat in both innings as Delhi went down to Uttar Pradesh? ‘Absent hurt’ is the reason. The talented Delhi youngster injured his thumb while fielding and couldn’t bat.