Whites have been cleaned, pitches have been readied, it’s time to hope again; we look at men who will be expecting slightly more than some of the others

Siddarth Ravindran and Nitin Sundar01-Nov-2010Ashish Nehra
Can Ashish Nehra make the transition to whites?•Getty ImagesAshish Nehra’s skills have never been questioned, not since Durban, where he bossed England with a supreme exhibition of controlled swing. That was the limitless Nehra of 24 years, with the world at the mercy of his seam position. Five years passed, years when injuries blighted him, but he managed to re-emerge. Nehra redux knew his limitations and gave up Tests, wary of not biting off more than he could chew. Two years later, he has become a certainty in a transient ODI bowling line-up, and now believes he has regained the strength and stamina for the longest format. This season Nehra will try to prove that he is ready, and if he succeeds, India could have a fast-bowling attack capable of retaining that Test No. 1 ranking for a while.R Ashwin
Ashwin has made all the right moves since MS Dhoni empowered him with the new ball in IPL 2010. He is now a strong contender for a limited-overs spot but a Test call-up remains a distant dream. Only a compelling domestic season or two can elevate Ashwin on par with Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra. He has started brightly, bagging seven wickets to go with a quick 73 in October’s Duleep Trophy. Crucially, he earned his wickets with classical flight and loop, without overly resorting to the carrom ball and his other Twenty20 variations. Ashwin’s stock will rise if he can sustain that effort through the season, but another average year could bring with it the tag of limited-overs specialist.Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane scored 1000 runs twice in two seasons and followed up with 809 in his third. Another bounty season and the India selectors will not have any excuses for ignoring him. Three vacancies loom in the India batting line-up, and while M Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara have emerged as serious contenders for two spots, the third is up for grabs. So far, Rahane has grabbed every opportunity available to him, be it the A-tour to England, the Emerging Players tournament, the Irani Trophy, or the tour game against the visiting Australians. There is intense competition for that middle-order berth – chiefly from S Badrinath and Yuvraj Singh – but age and an immense appetite for runs put Rahane in pole position.Ravindra Jadeja
Going by stats, Ravindra Jadeja’s inclusion in the ODI side should not elicit protest. He averages 31.47 with the bat – eight runs clear of either Pathan brother – and maintains an economy-rate of 4.84 on the flattest of tracks. Yet, he is considered a short-term solution, a begrudged patch-up job until a real allrounder arrives. Jadeja’s IPL 2010 ban cost him an opportunity to silence his critics, but the selectors have kept their faith in him. Now, to make that blue India cap his own, Jadeja has to shine in the Saurashtra whites. These are fields he has conquered before: 776 runs and 45 wickets in the 2008-09 season raised him into the spotlight. What he does this year could decide how long he remains there and whether he gains acceptance.Jaidev Unadkat
One prolific season is all it takes for genuine fast-bowling talent to get noticed in India – Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun are examples. Jaidev Unadkat should aspire to follow in their footsteps as he prepares for his first domestic summer. He has started in impressive style: seven wickets at 15.42 and an economy-rate of 3.90 at January’s Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, 13 wickets on first-class debut for India A at Grace Road, a headlining show in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia, and praise from Wasim Akram. That is a delightful list of entrees from multiple cuisines, but only a sumptuous Indian main course will convince the selectors. What does Unadkat have on the menu?Umesh Yadav
If Unadkat wants a role model, he can do worse than pick Umesh Yadav, a seamer who earned his chances through honest performances for Vidharba. A Delhi Daredevils contract followed and he made heads turn with pace and bounce during IPL 2010, earning him a spot in the India sides for the World Twenty20 and the Zimbabwe tour. The selectors have seen his potential, but will now want him to prove his endurance. Can he sustain the 140-plus speeds through an entire day without breaking down? Can he torment left-handers with his natural delivery that angles away from wide of the crease? Can he continue to get disconcerting lift from dead pitches?Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan: the fans are convinced, but can he sway the selectors?•Getty ImagesHe hasn’t played for India in the past one and a half years, but fans still send in plenty of mails to ESPNCricinfo during every India match asking why Irfan Pathan isn’t in the team. Part of the reason is that India are still struggling to find a genuine allrounder, and many believe Irfan remains the best person for that slot. He has been overlooked for tours where plenty of fringe players were picked, despite making 397 runs at 49.62 and taking 22 wickets at 18.54 last season. India coach Gary Kirtsen feels he is “a little bit light on his bowling side”, a perception Irfan has to change to revive his international career.Rohit Sharma
Long acknowledged as a hugely-talented player, Rohit is yet to deliver. Three years since his one-day debut, he averages 28 and is yet to cement his place in the side. Questions have been asked about his mental discipline and his attitude to fitness. He hasn’t been at his best lately, struggling in the tri-series in Sri Lanka, failing on a flat track in the Irani Cup and not making any major contribution during the Challenger series. In the race for a Test middle-order slot, he has fallen behind Suresh Raina and Cheteshwar Pujara. Shedding the excess pounds, and stabilising a shaky Mumbai middle-order will send the right signals to the national selectors.Yuvraj Singh
His troubles during his tenth year on the international circuit are well-documented. A permanent member of the one-day side for much of the previous decade, he was dropped for the Asia Cup earlier this year. He also lost the Test spot vacated by Sourav Ganguly in 2008 to Raina. Three fractures of his hand, a cartilage tear in the wrist, neck strains and dengue fever have made it a year to forget, but Yuvraj started the domestic season strongly – with an unbeaten double-century in the Irani Cup. Besides helping showcase his batting form, the unglamorous Ranji Trophy – a tournament he hasn’t regularly played in since 2004-05 – will also be a test of his fitness and attitude.Piyush Chawla
At 16, he famously dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the Challenger Trophy. At 17, he became India’s second youngest Test debutant. At 18, he was deceiving Kevin Pietersen with his googlies during the tour of England. Now 21, Chawla has been out of the national Test and one-day sides for more than two years. Harbhajan Singh has been India’s lead spinner in all formats, but there is plenty of competition for the back-up spot: Ojha and Mishra in Tests, and Jadeja and Ashwin in limited-overs. A surprising recall to the Indian team for the World Twenty20 earlier in the year shows Chawla remains in the selectors’ sights, and with arguably India’s finest domestic pace attack – RP Singh, Praveen Kumar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – supporting him at Uttar Pradesh, a solid season could pitchfork him back into the reckoning.Abhinav Mukund
For a country that has traditionally struggled to find a strong Test opening combination, these are times of riches. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have provided solidity at the top over the past two years and, in his limited opportunities, Vijay has shown he is an able replacement in case either of the Delhi pair is missing. Adding to the options is 20-year-old Tamil Nadu left-hand batsman, Mukund, who averages in the mid-50s after three full seasons. This year, he had a good tour of England with India A, top scored for India in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia, and kicked off the home domestic season with 161 and 63 in the Irani Cup, earning a place in the Test squad against Australia last month.Virat Kohli
India have mostly fielded weakened teams in the past few one-day tournaments, but Kohli has done enough to retain a place in the squad, if not the XI, when a full-strength team is picked. A match-winning century against Australia in Visakhapatnam has pushed him ahead of Rohit in the fight for a middle-order place in ODIs, and he showed in the Champions League T20 that he can adapt his game to the Twenty20 format as well. A place in the Test squad remains elusive, though. The absence of Sehwag and Gambhir for much of the Ranji season will make him Delhi’s most important batsman. Gambhir’s international career took off after a stellar 2007-08 season where he led Delhi to the title; a similarly outstanding tournament could push Kohli’s Test case.

Zaheer Khan talks injuries and comebacks, and frustration and patience involved between the two

Sidharth Monga06-Sep-2010It has been drizzling every day for the last week in Bangalore. The Cubbon Road, separating the peaceful Cubbon Park from the usually peaceful Chinnaswamy Stadium, is full of usual activity. There are protesters outside the Mahatma Gandhi Park, traffic policemen hiding around a bend to catch those jumping signals, and commuters creating a traffic jam around the bus stop outside the stadium. Behind where the policemen lean against their bikes is the wall of the Chinnaswamy B ground, which is used by the National Cricket Academy (NCA). On the other side of the wall rehabilitates India’s best bowler, Zaheer Khan, after yet another injury has cost him yet another Test series, in Sri Lanka this time.The injured body part is the same shoulder that was operated on two years ago. A muscle in that shoulder is strained, and needs strengthening. Braving that niggle is possible but can lead to a major injury. Zaheer is now mature enough to know exactly how much he can get out of his body. His ongoing rehab shows that same sense of awareness of his body.Zaheer has been working at the NCA for close to four weeks, but this is only his ninth or tenth bowling session. Every step on the field is measured. Not one movement is wasted. He has brought himself to bowl six to eight overs in a session now. “When I started bowling here, I was getting really tired after bowling one over,” Zaheer remembers. Now, he manages more than one over at a stretch, but soon sits on his haunches, constantly in conversation with Sudarsan VP, the NCA trainer, who is like his shadow.Zaheer wants the experts by his side. “It’s always tough to get that bowling fitness up,” he says. “You know you have been away from the game, you have damaged a muscle or a joint, so you kind of need to start slowly. That’s why you need these physios and experts around to guide you through the process. It’s important to follow the regime the experts ask you to.”It is a mundane and frustrating process that calls for a lot of patience. Sometimes a bowler in rehab doesn’t even have batsmen to bowl to. Zaheer has been lucky to have Robin Uthappa and Sreesanth, coming back from injuries themselves, for company. Zaheer likens the process of resuming bowling after a long gap to running again.”If you haven’t run for a long time, the first day is tough,” he says. “When you start slowly, and you build the volume of it, that’s exactly how you go about it with the bowling. You build the workload slowly.”Because you are missing cricket, and you are not playing at the highest level, that frustration is there. Once you start getting back, you start bowling, you again start to enjoy the whole thing. It’s a process you need to go through. At the same time you need to be patient. It is important that when you are injured, you take your time. Because you need to start at the level where you left the game.”Those last few words are crucial. In Zaheer’s decade-long career, he has had to take care of injuries as much as he has minded the shine on the ball. After the first of those setbacks, he didn’t quite resume at the level where he had left the game. Everything was bright and sunny for him at the start of the Australian summer of 2003-04. Then struck the first major injury of his career, initially a hamstring and later discovered to be a nerve twitch.The man who returned wasn’t quite the Zaheer that had begun to evoke Wasim Akram. The next year or so was in-and-out. Everything was questioned: his attitude, fitness, hunger. He was criticised for trying to play through pain, he injured himself again during the Pakistan tour later that year, and his stint as an unpaid amateur for Surrey ended prematurely.Zaheer remembers his frustrations well. “The root cause of injuries was not found then,” he says. “I would work on a certain muscle and come back into the game, start playing matches, and some other muscle would go. It took me a while to come out of it.

If you haven’t run for a long time, the first day is tough. When you start slowly, and you build the volume of it, that’s exactly how you go about it with the bowling. You build the workload slowlyZaheer on how returning to bowl is like resuming to run after a long gap

“Every time you go back into the international matches, and you break down, that definitely puts you down in terms of confidence. I am glad the way I responded to it. It was a tough year and a half, but I came out a better bowler from that.”Dion Nash, who faced more injuries than Zaheer, explained that phase of coming back from mystery injuries more articulately. “When you first have a back injury – at least my experience is this – I really didn’t know quite what was wrong. I could run, I could jump, I could dive. The moment I tried to bowl there were problems. It’s hard enough to explain to yourself. To get a coach or manager to understand it is even harder.”Once he understood what the problem was, Zaheer says, it wasn’t much of a bother. “Cutting short my run-up had been on my mind for a long time, I wanted to try that. But because of the hectic international season, I wasn’t finding time. When I was out of the team, I could go back to first-class cricket and shorten my run-up.”The injuries by then had troubled Zaheer for too long to let the fast bowler’s ego interfere with cutting down the run-up. “The run-up I had, even though it was long, I wasn’t getting much out of it. So it was a wise thing to do.” The new, cold, calculating Zaheer was now ready to come back.Ironically the final touches to the comeback came in England, where he had left a county side high and dry not long ago. “I bowled plenty of overs for Worcestershire in that season. There I had a better understanding of my body also, in terms of preparation for the game, in terms of handling the long season and stuff.”It is just the workload in terms of bowling, the travelling, the surroundings, are completely different. You are in completely different environments. Every second day you are on the ground playing matches. You get to bowl in good conditions, and because you are bowling long spells, you tend to learn more.” Ironically, again, his partner-in-rehabilitation, Sreesanth, is one of the few been barred by the BCCI from playing county cricket.Sreesanth was also Zaheer’s partner when the latter completed his comeback in South Africa. Zaheer’s bowling partners changed over the next two years – Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Munaf Patel – but he became the true leader of the attack, bowling well in all conditions and with all three balls – SG, Duke, Kookaburra. The new Zaheer was a more complete bowler. He was almost a bowling captain, standing at mid-on, setting fields for Ishant, and Praveen Kumar in limited-overs games, seeing them through tough spells.In October 2008, when Zaheer and Ishant blew the Aussies away with early reverse-swing, on a pitch that the other team struggled to take wickets, many termed them the best new-ball pair then. An injury could not have been too far away.Duly Zaheer injured his shoulder in the next year’s IPL, and is yet to fully recover, with just six months to go the World Cup. He doesn’t want to talk about those days now. “All I want to do is just focus on my bowling. Regain my bowling fitness. What has happened in the past has happened.”It’s not just him, though. While he has been gone, India’s pace resources have been exposed. Replacements are not to be found. As Zaheer plans another comeback, which should begin in the Champions League in South Africa, he knows it is not just a bowler but also the leader of the pack that India need. And as he tries to get back to “the level where he left the game at”, India know he can’t come back soon enough.

Why would you go watch Netherlands-West Indies on the first night of the week? Because you don’t have political connections, and it’s a World Cup game after all

Nikhil Jha01-Mar-2011Choice of game
I know you’ll be thinking about the magnitude of my joblessness, considering I turned up for such a match on a Monday. Particularly, since I do not have any connection to either team. But considering the lack of political and corporate connections or one-in-a-million lottery luck, the only things that could get me tickets, I decided to take what I could get. The World Cup was in town after all!Netherlands’ encouraging performance against England raised hopes of this being a good match. I also wanted to see the West Indian stars in action, particularly Darren Bravo, and judge for myself if the resemblance with the great Brian Lara is justified.Plus I had a personal score to settle with Ramnaresh Sarwan, whose last-ball four at a match I was at in Jamshedpur, led to infamous bottle-throwing mayhem.Team supported
My Dutch allegiance is quite well known within my circle of friends, and becomes obvious when you see the amount of orange in my wardrobe. However, I wondered if I could extend the support I reserve for the descendants of the legendary Johan Cruyff to the cricket team. My visit to Netherlands made me fall in love with the country and threatened to mask my cricketing judgement. Considering all that, I was a neutral, but I would have been happier to see the Dutch win.World Cup prediction
Before the tournament started, I would not have thought twice before shouting “India!” along with millions of other fans. Now having seen the other top teams like Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka play, and Pakistan rise to the occasion, along with our bowling miseries, I’m having second thoughts.I will still let the fan inside me overpower the cricketing logic, and yell “India!”Key performer
Everyone chipped in for West Indies: Devon Smith and Chris Gayle at the top of the order, followed by Sarwan. But the one guy who blasted the bowling attack and brought some life into the sparse crowd was Kieron Pollard. His power-hitting also came when West Indies had lost wickets at the start of the Powerplay, and took the total from big to imposing.Kemar Roach, with his hat-trick and six wickets, was the bowling star, but you would have to think that West Indies would have won regardless.One thing I’d have changed
I would have loved it if Delhi had hosted the match that went to Bangalore, so I could experience that thrilling encounter rather than this mismatch. However, if my wishes are restricted to this match, I really hoped that Ryan ten Doeschate would produce another of his blinders and that this match would at least be entertaining.Wow moment
The game and the sparse crowd in attendance were hardly capable of producing a wow moment. But I must mention the beautiful sight that a cricket ground presents from the top tiers once the lights take full effect. It looks like a flawless green carpet, shining in milky limelight, with the players at the centre of it. A sight to behold.Shot of the day
A tough choice between a classic cricket shot and a crowd-pleasing monstrous hit. Bravo showed traces of that legendary touch, with a trademark silky drive early in his innings. But the shot that stood out was the massive six that Pollard hit, which almost knocked off one of the flags on the top tier of stands. Amazing power!Crowd meter
The attendance, as you would expect, was dismal. The spectators comprised some school and college students, some curious people living nearby, some foreigners looking for a good time, and various competition prize winners. More people came in in the evening, just in time to watch Pollard go berserk. The biggest cheers were reserved for the IPL hero, and the handfuls of spectators egged him on to hit a six in their direction.Fancy-dress index
None, really, but later in the evening some excited college students turned up with India flags and indulged in an extended photo shoot, holding the flags in a number of different poses, probably trying to get that perfect Facebook display picture.Entertainment
The music was diverse: popular recent hits by the Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna, stock stadium songs by Queen and Chumbawamba, the “, and the inexplicable local cult song “.Banner of the day
There was one, brought in by a bunch of schoolkids, that read “West Indies batsmen, please go Dutch”. Cute try, but I don’t think it quite qualifies as funny.ODIs v Twenty20
Being a cricket purist, I would have loved to say Test matches. Since that is not an option, I’ll have to say Twenty20s because ODIs seem to be stuck in a “neither here nor there” kind of purgatory zone. If I want to see cricket, I’ll go watch Test matches, but for entertainment value, Twenty20s beat ODIs (though this is a brave statement in the face of the India v England game the other night!)Marks out of 10
5. It wasn’t much of a match, but considering the fine individual performances, it qualifies for 5.

Another English begins under the cloud of financial problems, scheduling issues and strange qualification rules. But despite it all, the Championship can be an enthralling competition

George Dobell07-Apr-2011It couldn’t happen in any other sport.Imagine it was the football season starting this week. And imagine the Premier League announced that half the fixtures would be squeezed into the first two months of the season. And that the entire FA Cup would be played in December. Then imagine them announcing that the season would finish early in order to accommodate a foreign league’s competition. A competition in which English clubs may not even compete.Then imagine them announcing that the best English players were to be withdrawn from domestic competition. Not just the best, but the best up and coming players. And not just so they can play for the national side, but so they can spend more time in the gym. Or resting. Or playing in another foreign league. And that there will be penalties imposed for fielding overseas players. Or experienced English players. Oh, and the fixture list is designed to be so unpredictable and unaccommodating that pretty much only affluent pensioners – not the largest demographic – can attend matches.Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?But that, by and large, is the scenario facing the County Championship this week. While the developments listed above have – by and large – been brought in with the best of motives, the end result has been to compromise the strength and the credibility of the Championship.And that’s dangerous. For if we weaken the Championship, we weaken every facet of English cricket.The Championship is not just some charming memento of a bygone age. It produces fine international cricketers. How else can we explain the fact that Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior all scored centuries on Test debut? Or that Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell scored half-centuries? How else can we explain that cricketers plucked from the county game, the likes of Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn (who both play for Division Two clubs, incidentally), Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann, proved themselves good enough to play crucial roles in England’s Ashes success? The County Championship works.It matters, too. Ask a player or spectator their priority for the domestic season and the vast majority will reply ‘the Championship.’Why? Because, over the course of a season, nothing in the domestic calendar tests cricketers’ skills as thoroughly as a 16-game, four-day Championship. It’s hard, it’s intense and, on the evidence of last year, it’s entertaining.True, spectator numbers at games will not be impressive. Lazy news editors will, doubtless, mark the season’s start by publishing pictures of banks of empty seats and repeat that old lie about counties surviving on hand-outs. But, across the land, supporters will check websites and newspapers in their millions to keep abreast of the latest scores. The backlash that followed the ECB’s suggestions to alter the Championship last year prompted surprised those in cricket management and prompted a rethink. It now appears the 16 game, two-division structure is safe for the foreseeable future.It’s simply not true that county cricket is subsidised, either. Or that it relies on T20 revenue. The whole English game actually relies on money from the TV deal and, without a successful Test side, that deal would be worth far less. Try building a strong Test side without the Championship: it remains the foundation for everything else in the English game.County cricket comes in for a great deal of criticism. Like parents and the NHS, its familiarity has earned it contempt. But where was List A cricket born? Or T20 cricket? County cricket has endured through wars, through recessions and though many a fluctuation in fashion. It produced Hobbs and Hutton; Botham and Bedser; Gooch and Gower; Trueman and, now, James Taylor. Given half a chance, it will go on producing fine players, too.

County cricket has endured through wars, through recessions and though many a fluctuation in fashion. It produced Hobbs and Hutton; Botham and Bedser; Gooch and Gower; Trueman and, now, James Taylor. Given half a chance, it will go on producing fine players, too

Last season was the most entertaining for years. With the points system adapted to encourage teams to play for wins and the heavy roller banned after the start of games, there were far more outright results. Whether this proves helpful for the development of Test cricketers is debatable, but it was a breath of fresh air for spectators. And it is meant to be a spectator sport after all. Some have even suggested that the heavy roller is removed from Test cricket, too, though that looks highly unlikely.No-one is pretending that the county schedule is ideal. With the clubs committed to one more season of 16 T20 matches lumped together in prime summer, the championship has been pushed to the margins and the schedule, for players and spectators, is demanding.There are other options. This 2011 season ends 10 days earlier than the 2009 season, while the UCCE fixtures – some arbitrarily granted first-class status, others not – could be cut from the schedule. Those two steps alone would create 14-days extra breathing space. The T20 could also be played across the season, easing the burden on spectators, who are sometimes confronted with the prospect of three home games within a week. Many would still welcome a return of an FA Cup-style knock-out competition, too, perhaps played over 20-overs and incorporating the minor counties and closest associate nations. It could, with just a little imagination, be given to free-to-air television.There are other developments pending. The ECB is likely to freeze the rise in incentive payments for clubs fielding young, England-qualified players. They won’t abolish them – not yet, anyway – but they are unlikely to increase them, as was originally scheduled for the start of the 2012 season.A re-think is also underway over whether the Clydesdale Bank competition should be contested over 40 or 50 overs. With the recent World Cup apparently reviving the 50-over game’s fortunes, it does seem odd that English players don’t experience the format at domestic level.Meanwhile, on the pitch, it may well be that the Championship trophy has a new name upon it by the end of September. Somerset, runners-up in all three competitions last year, have recruited wisely and have the strength and the balance to challenge in all three trophies. The acquisition of Steve Kirby fills the only hole in their attack last year: a quality fast bowler. Kirby may just be the best contemporary player not to have represented England. Somerset will be hard to beat in all formats.Yorkshire, too, look strong. Partly out of necessity – few clubs are as deep in debt as Yorkshire – the club have relied on their home-grown talent. With all but two of the squad either born or brought up in the region, it suggests the county is teeming with talent. If they escape injuries and England calls, they could go close. Hampshire and Durham may prove to be the other contenders. Essex and Kent will surely be pushing for promotion from Division Two. Surrey and Leicestershire could push them. But it wouldn’t be nearly such an intriguing sport if we could predict what was going to happen. It promises to be an exciting summer.Money’s too tight to mentionMoney trouble: Robert Key’s Kent are one county struggle badly with their finances•Getty ImagesIt seems inevitable that this season will be overshadowed by concerns over the finances of county clubs. Only four of the 18 first-class counties reported an operating profit in the last financial year, with some in unprecedented trouble. Yorkshire, for example, are utterly reliant on the benevolence of their chairman. Others, such as Leicestershire and Kent, simply seem to have an unsustainable business model. Indeed, the auditors of Leicestershire’s accounts expressed concern over the business’ ongoing viability. Worcestershire, acting decisively when they detected trouble in the air, have trimmed around £500,000 from their budget. Others will have to follow suit.On the face of things, there’s little help at hand. The ECB have clarified that they are not, in David Collier’s words “a lender of last resort for any county” and will not bail out clubs in financial trouble.That’s understandable, too. Giving money to some clubs is like pouring water in a black-hole. The salary bill of player at Kent, for example, has gone up 90% since 2002. Simply giving them more money isn’t the whole answer. They also have to learn to cut their coat in accordance with their cloth.Realistically, however, the ECB are far more obliging. Glamorgan and Yorkshire are among the counties to have been awarded advances on the perimeter advertising deals they have with the ECB, while all clubs are eligible for up to £300,000 if their stadia achieve ‘model compliance’ of ECB standards. Some will tell you this is the ECB’s way of helping the clubs through the current storm; the cynical will tell you it was a scheme devised by the current management to see off a leadership challenge.There is, perhaps, a chink of light at the end of the tunnel, anyway. After hosting attractive Test series against India this summer and South Africa next, England (and Wales) will host home Ashes series in 2013 and 2015, the World Test Championship in 2013 and 2017 and the World Cup in 2019. Put simply, there’s enough attractive cricket scheduled to ensure the game remains solvent.That doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t enough appealing international cricket to satisfy the requirements of nine Test grounds. Over recent years, the international venues have been encouraged to spend huge sums on improving their facilities while also bidding against one another for the right to host games. While this has increased the ECB’s revenue, it’s encouraged unsustainable spending and driven several clubs right to the brink.The ECB, to their credit, are changing that system. In future, major matches will be allocated through clubs applying for fixed-price packages. Not only will this end the need for excessive spending, but it will allow clubs to plan and budget more effectively.It may be too late for some, however. There is, at present, a ferocious battle on-going to secure the right to host the so-far unallocated Ashes Tests of 2013 and 2015 and some of the losers may be left in a position where they’re unable to meet their debt repayments. It is understood that The Oval, Lord’s and Edgbaston will fare well when the announcement finally comes. Cardiff, too, is tipped to host another Ashes Test. Some of the others will be left fighting over the scraps. While it’s inconceivable that county cricket will not survive in some format in some of our most historic venues, it may be in mightily different shape. For those that find such talk alarmist, take a walk through Longbridge in Birmingham. Or through the coal fields of Staffordshire and Yorkshire. Times change. No business is immune.Might there be other options?Well, the 18 first-class counties currently receive only about 30% of the ECB’s budget. They be given more. While such claims will, understandably, draw protests from those seeking to protect spending on the international set-up and grass-roots cricket, there are other areas where savings could be made. Not so long ago, an ECB official submitted an expenses claim for an overseas tour that was worth more than 10% of the turnover of some counties. Several officials at the ECB are on six-figure salaries, with at least one earning over £300,000 a year. Some are, no doubt, worth every penny (for all the flak they receive, the current ECB management have turned a deficit into a surplus and steered the English game through some choppy waters); others may not be. There’s plenty of fat in the English game. It could be trimmed tomorrow and no-one would notice.Over paid, over here and over all too soon?Quality overseas cricketers, like David Hussey, are becoming rarer in the county game•Getty ImagesThere was a time when county cricket offered an opportunity to see the greatest cricketers in the world at close quarters. To get to know them, even. From Sobers to Sachin, Lillee to Lara, Marshall to Miandad, just above every world-class cricketer of the last 40 years enjoyed a spell in the county game. We were lucky to have them.Those days have just about gone. While there are still some fine cricketers visiting this summer, a combination of tougher work permit criteria and the increased international schedule has robbed county cricket of the biggest names. It’s inevitable that just a little of the excitement – and some of the quality – has gone with them. It’s no-one’s fault; just the way of the world.Is it understandable that some are calling for overseas players to be outlawed completely from everything other than T20 cricket. Bearing in mind the financial plight of some clubs, it does seem odd that they continue to invest in luxuries they can’t afford. Compare Essex’s financial loss last year – around £40,000 – with the cost of bringing Dwayne Bravo to the UK for T20 finals day. The counties’ complaints about poverty will find more sympathetic ears if they at least try to live within their means. Incidentally, a rule change brought in this year means that counties will no longer be able to sign overseas players for finals day unless they have played in the qualifying rounds. Ironically, Essex were the instigators of the change.The disingenuous behaviour of some players – and their agents – hasn’t helped. There is growing resentment at some counties that their best-laid plans can be disrupted when players simply have a change of heart. The example of Younis Khan and Warwickshire springs to mind.But while it may be an understandable that some want to ban overseas players, it’s also wrong. With so many other facts coinciding to take leading players out of the county game (central contracts, the IPL, changes to work permit criteria etc), there’s a stronger case than ever for welcoming players who may not be England qualified; Kolpaks et al. Without them, the gap between the championship and the international game could grow uncomfortably large.Under existing criteria, Viv Richards wouldn’t have been able to play for Somerset; Graeme Hick, at least initially, wouldn’t have been able to play for Worcestershire and the likes of Imran Tahir, Murray Goodwin wouldn’t have been able to play county cricket over the last few seasons. Would that really have been for the best?Besides, while the likes of Usman Khawaja and Kane Williamson (both of whom are representing Division Two teams) might not be a household names at present, they may well be within a few years. Their presence will entertain county spectators and provide a benchmark for county players. It would harm us all if they were barred from participating.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL match between Kochi Tuskers and Deccan Chargers

Firdose Moonda27-Apr-2011The dream spoiled
Sreesanth, the Kerala home boy, seemed to have found his rhythm in exceptional fashion and was about to put the cherry on the top when he made a huge mistake. He bowled a peach of an inswinger, not as short as some of the others he had served up, that snuck through Kumar Sangakkara’s drive, taking the inside edge onto the stumps. Just as Sreesanth was about to hit the roof in celebration, the umpires checked for the no-ball and he was found to be on the line. The free-hit rubbed salt in his wound and he responded with a waist high no-ball and later, a wide outside off.The only six
Cameron White has been struggling for form and was in strife again today, as he kept mis-hitting and mis-timing his strokes. Out of the blue, he managed to get willow to leather in meaty fashion on one occasion. He picked one of Ravindra Jadeja’s shorter balls and sent it sailing over square leg. It was a glorious, clean hit and offered a small glimpse into the form White once had. It was the only six in a game where bowlers had more say in the proceedings than usual.The incomplete hat-tricks
Three bowlers were on a hat-trick today, and none of them managed the third wicket. Vinay Kumar took the wickets of Deccan’s two top-scorers with successive deliveries. First, White swatted him straight to Daniel Christian at deep midwicket, and then Kumar Sangakkara edged one behind. Ishant Sharma then began his magic with the second ball of his spell, getting one to kick and swerve away from Parthiv Patel, who meekly nicked it. Raiphi Gomez came and went next ball, unable to stop a vicious inducker that clattered into the stumps. Dale Steyn ended the Kochi innings in similar fashion. He bowled Vinay with a with a full, straight ball that castled off stump and then dished up a yorker that RP Singh backed away to and sent onto his stumps. Neither Vinay nor Steyn got the chance to complete their hat-tricks. Ishant’s hat-trick ball was safely negotiated by Brad Hodge, though he perished for a duck in the same over.The Ishant Sharma special
The pitch was seamer-friendly but it seemed to be best friends with Sharma. In this first over, he dismissed Pathiv Patel with seam and bounce, Raiphi Gomez with one that kept a touch low, and Brad Hodge with a fuller ball. That made it three wickets in five balls, separated by a dot ball and a wide. He followed that up by removing Kedar Jadhav and Mahela Jayawardene in his next over. Sharma didn’t bowl all four of his overs but the match may have been over sooner if he had. The lanky quick thanked Zaheer Khan for helping him work on his fitness and keeping him motivated.

Ravi Bopara doesn’t have many fond memories of Sri Lanka but hopes to chance that in the World Cup quarter-final

Sidharth Monga in Colombo24-Mar-2011Ravi Bopara has a special bond with Sri Lanka. When he came here four years ago as England’s next middle-order hope, he struggled so badly he scored 42 runs in five innings, including three consecutive ducks, and went back with “SL” written on the back of his bat to remind himself how tough it was.Earlier that year, playing only his fifth ODI, in the World Cup in West Indies, Bopara and Paul Nixon had nearly pulled off a heist against Sri Lanka. From 133 for 6, they took England to needing four off the last ball, only to be denied by Dilhara Fernando, who pulled out of the delivery first to see what Bopara was going to, and then bowled a delivery that hit the top of off.Bopara talks candidly about those two connections with Sri Lanka. “I was quite young then,” he said two days before he renews his relationship with them, in another World Cup match, a quarter-final this time. “Unfortunately then I didn’t know how to hit a six. We didn’t used to practise it back then – clearing the front leg and hitting over mid-on. So I didn’t know what to do. I just carried on what I was trying to do, which was squirt it behind point and through extra cover and that sort of stuff. If I was to face that ball now, four years later, I would try and hit that ball straight over mid-on’s head.”Bopara gives Fernando credit too. “It was a clever move I think [to pull out of the delivery first time around],” he said. “He knew what I was trying to do. I didn’t change what I was going to do. In fact I should have just pulled away when he ran up the second time. But I didn’t think that far ahead. I was just concentrating on trying to hit the ball for at least three.”Although Bopara can afford to look back at that delivery with relative amusement, the Test tour that followed later that year still rankles. He was so down on himself he didn’t want to let himself forget Sri Lanka. Hence the little note at the back of the bat. “Just ‘SL’ for Sri Lanka,” Bopara said. “Just how tough it was. It’s a horrible place to be when you’ve got such high expectations of yourself, and you don’t quite cut it. It’s a horrible place to be.”I don’t write it any more. I did when I went back just to remind myself of how tough it was then, and the feelings I had during that Test series. I was just breaking into the Test team thinking I had 10 or 12 years of Test cricket ahead. I think I put a lot of pressure on myself. When players put a lot of pressure on themselves, sometimes they can buckle, and that’s what I’ve done to myself a couple of times, even during the Ashes. I thought I would have learnt from the Sri Lanka experience, but obviously I didn’t. But I definitely have learnt now. I think a lot comes from expectation, but I’ve found out ways to deal with it as I walk out to bat.”Four years on from those two experiences with Sri Lanka, Bopara was not even an original choice to be at the World Cup. He made it, though, as replacement for the injured Eoin Morgan, and was Man of the Match against South Africa in a low-scoring win that has gone a long way in keeping England alive in this tournament. Right now it is possible that he might be asked to step up and open the innings for England, given how Matt Prior hasn’t been much of a success in that makeshift role so far.Bopara certainly wouldn’t mind the move. “I’d love to open the batting,” he said. “My ambition isn’t to bat five, six or seven for the rest of my career, but let’s just see what happens. I haven’t been told anything, I don’t know if anyone has been told anything, so as far as I know it’s the same.”Bopara had opened on 14 previous occasions for England with a modest average of 29 mirroring that of his career. “I would like to have had a longer run at it,” he said. “I felt the easiest place to open was in India. It’s obviously a bit harder in England because of the new ball up front. That’s something you’ve got to get used to, but the more you open the better you get at it. Some of the best players in the world have spent time at the top of the order, and they’ve got used to it and now the top 10 batters in the world all bat at the top of the order.”There is more happening in the Test side that should excite Bopara. Paul Collingwood’s retirement could open a door for a return, which is Bopara’s ultimate aim. “I want to play Test cricket,” he said. “I don’t just want to play one-day cricket or Twenty20. I enjoy playing Test cricket and playing four days for Essex. Scoring hundreds and taking wickets and that sort of stuff. And that was my ambition as a young boy – to go out and play Test cricket and make a difference for England and be hopefully one of England’s great players.”For now, though, Tests can wait. For now, Bopara is in Sri Lanka, and needs to go back with happier memories.

India will take heart from seeing both candidates for the only open spot in the Test line-up for the Australia tour, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in form and scoring not soft but difficult, mature runs

Sidharth Monga04-Dec-2011It must have frustrated India to watch the last two West Indies wickets add 120 runs in Visakhapatnam. It will be a matter of concern that their regulation openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, are yet to play definitive innings post the World Cup. At the same time, all that added up to create a situation conducive to a satisfactory development. Stand-in captain Sewhag liked what he saw after his dismissal. “They both batted with lot of maturity, as if they have played 200 matches between them, although they have only played around 60-70 matches,” Sehwag said, the “both” in this case being Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.India must hope their good form has implications beyond a jailbreak in yet another ODI, their eighth against West Indies this year, with three more to go. Looking at the larger picture, India will take heart from seeing both candidates for the only open spot in the Test line-up for the Australia tour in form, scoring not soft but difficult, mature runs. Especially because that spot has been open ever since Sourav Ganguly’s retirement three years ago.There are two ways of looking at Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s lack of Test experience, despite their success in one-dayers. You could say they are being given a protected induction: all of Kohli’s first four Tests have been against West Indies, and Rohit is yet to debut. Or you could say there’s not enough faith in them on display: the closest Rohit has come to a Test debut was when he injured himself on the morning of the Nagpur Test against South Africa in February 2010, after having been called in as a last-minute replacement for VVS Laxman, and Kohli wasn’t given a chance to play on the tough tour of England.Later this month, these points of view will be put to rest. Never mind that Australia are not the same team anymore and that they lost the last home Ashes 3-1, Australia remains a tough place to tour, and the pivotal No. 6 position is begging to be taken. This is not against lesser opposition, not in friendly conditions, nor a last-minute-replacement act. The talented duo has been given – or rather, earned – the vote of confidence that Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh were given when India went to England earlier this year. That the spot remains untaken is one of the many reasons why India failed there.The conditions will be easier than in England, in that the ball won’t seam as much as it did during the England summer, but there will be extra bounce to handle. That they are doing well in the series leading up to the Australia tour will add to the confidence. Rohit Sharma has bailed India out twice, Kohli once, in the current ODI series that is two-matches-old. Sehwag likes the mindset it will create in both of them. “I am pretty happy with their performance,” he said. “Especially with that of Rohit Sharma. Yesterday [the eve of the Visakhapatnam match] he had promised that he would finish the game for us, and he did just that. Virat Kohli also batted superbly.”It’s important for everyone, whoever is going to Australia, to take in confidence and play well there. It’s a big challenge in Australia. I am sure they will handle the pressure well. They will practice hard and get used to bounce and play well there.”No. 6 is an unglamorous spot. If the team is doing well, you have to hit out in a push for a declaration. If the team is doing badly, you find yourself stuck with the tail. Kohli had that experience in the final Test against West Indies. Rohit has had that experience on more than one occasion, especially in ODIs against West Indies. This series is not strictly preparation for Australia: the ball colour will change, the pitches will change, the bowlers will change, but as Sehwag says, the confidence won’t hurt.

Injuries have kept Ryan Harris out of six of Australia’s last ten Tests, but he still wants to play a pivotal role in leading the team back to No. 1. In the meantime, he is happy to support his fellow bowlers, as he did in Perth

Daniel Brettig18-Jan-2012Munching on breakfast in the Australian team’s Perth hotel, before the Test match against India, Ryan Harris squinted at the television screen. The news ticker at the bottom of a morning program quoted Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, saying: “He [Harris] is as good a fast bowler as I have played with in my career.”Harris blinked, looked again. The statement was still there. He looked a third time, still not quite believing what he had seen. Clarke has played alongside some rather luminous bowling names, hasn’t he? Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee among them. Harris remained a little incredulous. But there they were; those same unqualified words. Not sure whether or not he merited the praise, Harris nonetheless took the confidence they inspired, and set about helping the hosts demoralise India at the WACA. Days later, he still can’t quite believe what Clarke said.”I was a little bit shocked,” Harris told ESPNcricinfo. “I had to read it three times to actually believe it. That’s a great thing to have your captain say, and to have him compare me to some of the players he’s played with is great. I don’t compare myself to anyone else; I just go out, bowl and do my thing. But to have your captain say that shows that when I am fit and going he has got confidence in me.”That confidence was hard-earned in Sri Lanka, particularly on a Galle pitch that was concocted to assist spin, not speed. Harris was Australia’s spearhead in Clarke’s first match as full-time Test captain, and demanded the ball whenever a wicket was needed. Critically, he ended Mahela Jayawardene’s second-innings knock at a time when he and Angelo Mathews were threatening something extraordinary. Harris said he liked being Clarke’s go-to man.”You’re looking for him to throw you the ball and he has the confidence to do it. I want to be that guy who is given the ball if we need a wicket; I enjoy that situation, so it’s nice of him to say that but I’ve also said to him a few times: ‘If you need me to bowl I’m ready to bowl, no matter what’. That’s my job, that’s what I’m trying to do and to follow team plans while I’m doing that.”At the moment those plans are working for an Australian team that is still gathering itself after a year of introspection and change. Harris has been more of a cameo performer than he would like; injuries have kept him out of the team for six of the 10 Tests played since the start of the Sri Lanka tour. But he has been around the team enough to see how clear its vision has become, and how dedicated it is to returning to cricket’s summit.”That is what we’re trying to achieve, we want to get that winning culture, those back-to-back Test match wins like we used to in the past. We knew it was going to be hard against India, so to be where we’re at now and be 3-0 up it’s really given the guys belief that we’re able to play good cricket again, gel as a team, and win Test matches against one of the best teams in the world. With a bit of luck that winning culture will continue this Test [in Adelaide] and then hopefully in the West Indies.”Success away from home is something the Australian team craves, in apparent contrast to their quarry in the ongoing series. Australia’s players were surprised and a little amused to be told “wait until you get to India” at various times in Perth, and Harris said victories overseas were the ambition of any team with a serious desire to be globally respected.”I was a bit surprised when that came out; no matter where you go it is always hard to play in different conditions. When we were doing well, we were playing well in all conditions and that’s what made us the best team in the world. I think that’s what England are doing now and it is no surprise they are No. 1 in the world.”If India want to talk about winning at home that’s up to them; that’s probably why they’re not one of the best teams in the world, because they can’t play well outside of India. That is up to them to sort out and make their players better when they leave home. We know when we go to India they’ll prepare dust bowls and flat wickets for us, but that’s a challenge that excites us, and we know if we win over there we would have won in probably the hardest place to play cricket in the world.”

I don’t usually get the inswinger on target to right-handers; it usually swings down the leg side. It was good to see it come out right in PerthRyan Harris says he knows he has built up rhythm when he starts swinging it both ways

Patience is a valued trait on the subcontinent, but it also aided Harris in Perth. In each innings he bowled considerably better than his figures indicated; his economy-rate spoke volumes for the pressure he imposed. Wickets were scarce, but Harris did not grow despondent as one ball after another slid past the outside edge. It helped greatly that others were benefitting from his efforts.”You just have to stay patient. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to attack more and more, but you’ve got to weigh up the options,” Harris said. “The way we’re going at the moment the guys at the other end like Hilfy [Ben Hilfenhaus] and Sidds [Peter Siddle] are taking wickets, so if I’m beating the bat and putting pressure on that’s all I’ve got to do. I’m pretty keen to get wickets, but in the back of my mind I recalled Craig [McDermott], Ricky [Ponting] and Michael [Clarke] pointing out that at the WACA it’s also about building pressure.”That pressure told on Rahul Dravid in the second innings, even as he was constructing India’s highest stand of the match with Virat Kohli. Concentrating on away swing, Harris drew Dravid into expecting the same delivery each time, then surprised him with a ball that angled back into Dravid and uprooted leg stump. Harris said there was an element of fortune about the dismissal, but it was overdue given some of his earlier work.”To be honest I didn’t plan that dismissal. He [Dravid] was set and I had the ball going away a fair bit; I was bowling a lot of dots to him, building lots of pressure and that’s how I got the wicket. The ball I actually bowled him with I was trying to swing away, but it didn’t swing and it went through the gap.”If anything Harris was more delighted with another ball he bowled to Dravid: a perfectly pitched inswinger the batsman jammed down to third man after the bowler and slips cordon had assumed it was whirring into off stump. The inswinger is not a trick Harris has mastered, and he said he was glad to see it come off.”If I am going reasonably well and feel good I bowl that ball, and it came out quite well. I don’t usually get it on target to the right-handers; it usually swings down the leg side, but it was good to get it right. I thought I had him with that ball, but building that pressure was huge and that’s what we’ve done with most of their batsmen, and they’ve struggled.”Harris impressed plenty of observers in Perth, some who had never seen him up close before. But it was no surprise to his captain, the author of those words Harris had been so surprised by at breakfast.

Sri Lanka laid out a royal feast of bad bowling on day one at Cape Town. Jacques Kallis and Alviro Petersen tucked in and chalked up important runs.

Firdose Moonda at Newlands03-Jan-2012If two men are hungry, they can only eat if food is plentiful. Luckily for Alviro Petersen and Jacques Kallis, Sri Lanka brought everything from the placemats to dessert and laid out a royal feast.Petersen admitted that South Africa were “surprised” that Sri Lanka asked them to bat, on a pitch that looked “quite dry”. At first, they may have suspected a poisoned apple but no such dangerous food emerged. All that lay before them was a land of milk and honey: batting paradise with the chance for the two at the crease to prove their differing, but equally important, points.Petersen’s need to make a statement is obvious. He has just been recalled to the national team after being dropped, for no real doing of his own, but the hard-to-ignore form of another – Jacques Rudolph. If there was any glaring fault in Petersen’s previous nine Tests it would be that he failed to notch up milestones often enough. His century on his debut Test was memorable but fifties against West Indies and Pakistan were achieved against forgettable, below-par opposition or in equally forgettable batting-friendly circumstances.His last series, against India, was characterised by difficult opening partnerships, on both sides, as the hosts prepared seamer-friendly pitches as part of a ploy against the sub-continental side. He was dropped, despite managing 77 in the first Test, because Rudolph was the popular choice, having made a stirring comeback to South African cricket.

Kallis had three forgettable innings and would have had a fourth if Chanaka Welegedera had caught the pull he played. He showed Sri Lanka what happens when you give one of the world’s best players a second chance.

Petersen always knew that if he continued grinding away at the domestic scene, the pendulum would have to swing back in his favour. “I always believed I had the chance to get back and I had a few good performances at domestic level,” he said. “I always believed I could do it. It all depended on me getting runs on the board.” Since being dropped, he has scored three first-class hundreds, showing his patience, maturity and composure and forcing his way back into the national team.Even that was not enough for vindication. Like Ashwell Prince, who scored a century in the opening position in 2009, Petersen had to be able to show that he was good enough, not just anywhere but in an international match. He realised the value of a big score and adopted the same attitude as he has had in domestic matches this season to get there: the wait, watch and then stealthily attack. “A hundred is a big milestone and it was quite satisfying to get to that,” he said. “In other games, I got to 30 and 40 and I was a bit disappointed. For me, it’s about pushing the bar and would have liked to have scored more.”It was an innings that could be remembered as being a turning point in Petersen’s career because it has likely bought him time and flights to New Zealand and England next year. South Africa’s opening pair has long been a conundrum but Petersen appears to have solved that, with the help of the opportunities he was fed by the Sri Lankan bowlers.Kallis is on the opposite end of the spectrum. After 150 Test matches, some may think Kallis has nothing left to achieve. They would be wrong. Before today, he had not scored a century against Sri Lanka, the only Test playing nation he had not managed three figures against. Perhaps more fresh in his mind was the pair he suffered last week at Kingsmead, something that was foreign to Kallis, who had gone 16 years in international cricket without ever enduring a duck in both innings.Combine those two factors with Kallis’ age and the need for him to come good emerges. He is now 36 years-old – not yet old enough to be hard of hearing – so would have picked up the whispers in the wind that are suggesting he is getting on and that team management should start considering his future. His recent vulnerability against the short ball, particularly against Patrick Cummins, highlighted those very things Kallis would have wanted to remain in the dark: signs of age.He had three forgettable innings against Sri Lanka and would have had a fourth, if Chanaka Welegedera had caught his top-edged pull. At that stage, Kallis was on just one. But, like Kumar Sangakkara in the last match, he showed Sri Lanka what happens when you give one of the world’s best players a second chance and went on to record a magnificent 150, in perfect symbolism with his 150th match.As the run machine rolled on, Sri Lanka continued to pepper Kallis with short balls. “We were surprised at the lines and lengths bowled,” said Petersen. By then, Kallis had adjusted to keeping the pull down and went on to record one of his classiest knocks. In the process, Kallis owns Newlands the way Mahela Jayawardene does the SSC in Colombo and Graham Gooch did Lord’s. He passed 2,000 runs on his home ground, a sign that the grass really is greener for some at Newlands.

After a tough first week, batsmen are slowly finding their feet in IPL 2012

S Rajesh23-Apr-2012The first week of IPL 2012 was characterised by low totals and bowlers generally holding the upper hand, but over the last nine days, batsmen have had more to celebrate, with two of them getting hundreds, and the scores generally being a little higher. The season had started with Rajiv Shukla, the IPL chairman, asking for totals of more than 160 in every innings of every match, but when the action began, it didn’t quite pan out that way: in the first three games, the team batting first didn’t even touch 130. Perhaps the bowlers adjusted to the format faster than the batsmen this season, on pitches that weren’t conducive to quick scoring. Over the last week, though, it seems that batsmen are gradually reworking the par scores, and adjusting their strategies to ensure they keep wickets in hand for the final overs.Splitting up the 29 games played so far into the first 15 and the last 14, it’s clear that the big change has been the rise of batting averages: in the last 14 matches, the average has gone up from 19.67 to 27.36, an increase of 39%. The increase in strike rates, on the other hand, is marginal (4.27%). However, more batsmen have gone on to make significant scores – there were only 12 fifties in 199 innings played by batsmen in the first 15 games, but 174 innings in the last 14 games have produced 20 fifty-plus scores. The averages have also gone up because of the not-outs – 26 out of 199 in the first 15; 37 out of 174 in the last 14.The overall batting strike rate so far this season is 122.09, which is lower than the rates in 2008 (128.98) and 2010 (126.76), but higher than last year’s edition (120.71). What’s also noticeable is that the number of sixes has reduced, while the fours have increased, in these last 14 matches.

Batting stats in IPL 2012 after 29 matches

RunsAverageStrike rate100s/ 50s0s4s/ 6sFirst 15 matches407219.67119.580/ 1223335/ 154Last 14 matches410527.36124.692/ 187361/ 131Total817722.90122.092/ 3030696/ 285The early matches were characterised by a lack of significant partnerships among the top-order batsmen, but that’s changed over the last nine days. The top order has taken greater responsibility, and batted a larger chunk of overs. In the first 15 matches, the average partnerships for the first four wickets were all less than 30 runs per wicket; in the last 14 matches, the average partnerships for each of those wickets is more than 30.Rajasthan Royals have led the way in that regard, thanks to an in-form top order. The combination of Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid, Owais Shah and Brad Hodge has ensured that Royals have an average partnership of 39.34 for the top four wickets in IPL 2012, at a run rate of 8.39 runs per over. Both those stats – the average and the run rate – are the highest among all teams. Royal Challengers Bangalore are second-best in terms of run rate (8.20).The average for the opening partnership has gone up from 23.80 to 35.21, an increase of 48%, even though the run rate has dropped marginally. Clearly, teams have preferred to keep wickets in hand, even if that means scoring at a slightly lower rate. The average run rate for the opening partnership this season is the lowest among all years: 7.33, compared to 8.04 in 2008 and 7.97 last year.

Partnership stats in IPL 2012 so far

WicketsFirst 15 – aveRun rate100/ 50 standsLast 14 – aveRun rate100/ 50 stands1st23.807.460/ 535.217.241/ 72nd21.336.891/ 231.077.901/ 43rd29.857.680/ 436.168.050/ 74th27.927.650/ 330.238.211/ 35th17.607.780/ 020.448.300/ 1The stats for the first six overs reflects the top-order improvement. In the first 15 matches, the average in the first six overs of a match was around 25 runs per wicket, and 6.93 runs per over – in terms of score, that translates into a total of 42 for 2. In the last 14 games, the average has gone up to 40.70 per wicket and 7.51 per over, which is a six-over total of 45 for 1.That’s also because teams have figured out the top-order combinations which work better, and have discarded some of the out-of-form players. Chennai Super Kings, for example, had started with Murali Vijay partnering Faf du Plessis at the top of the order, but that combination produced only 115 partnership runs in five innings as Vijay struggled, scoring 31 off 48 balls in five innings. Since S Badrinath took over from Vijay, Super Kings’ two opening partnerships have already produced 171 runs at a rate of 7.43 per over.

First six overs in IPL 2012 so far

RunsDismissalsAverageRun rate4s/ 6sFirst 15 matches12494925.486.93138/ 37Last 14 matches12623140.707.51155/ 29Overall25118031.387.21293/ 66

Middle eight overs in the IPL so far

RunsDismissalsAverageRun rate4s/ 6sFirst 15 matches17146526.367.30109/ 58Last 14 matches15905230.577.09104/ 41Overall330411728.237.20213/ 99

Last six overs in the IPL so far

RunsDismissalsAverageRun rate4s/ 6sFirst 15 matches13329314.328.7988/ 60Last 14 matches14536721.689.39102/ 61Overall278516017.409.09190/ 121The toss puzzleTeams may be slowly figuring out their best combination, but they still haven’t figured out the best strategy after winning the toss: 20 out of 29 matches in IPL 2012, and ten of the last 14, have been won by the team which has lost the toss. Batting first after winning the toss has been a particularly disastrous tactic so far in the IPL – 10 of those 12 matches have resulted in defeats for the team winning the toss. Deccan Chargers have been hit the worst, losing all three matches when they won the toss and batted.The stats for Royals best illustrates the toss conundrum: in the four matches when Dravid has won the toss, Royals have a 1-3 win-loss record; however, Royals have won all three games when they’ve lost the toss. Similarly, Kolkata Knight Rider and Pune Warriors have a 1-2 record in matches when they’ve won the toss, and a 3-1 record when they’ve lost the toss.

Toss factor in IPL 2012

MatchesWonLostWon toss and batted12210Won toss and fielded17710