The entire cricket-watching public will have their eyes peeled when MCC takes on Rest of the World on July 5. It isn’t difficult to see why

Vijay Subramanya23-Jun-2014″We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… And those that carry us forward, are dreams.” — H. G. Wells, The Time Machine.For a sports fan, if there ever is a thing more appealing than watching contemporary stars in action, then it must be the prospect of past greats taking centre-stage. The MCC v Rest of the World XI clash on July 5 offers just this for us cricket fans. With some of the biggest names in recent times set to face off, this will be one of those very few matches that fans across the world will tune in to. And what better venue to host it than the historic Lord’s celebrating its bicentenary. It does appear that the organizers have ticked all the right boxes . (Except, perhaps, bright and sunny weather. No, let’s not jinx it.) But, if you look carefully, you will see that there is one crucial box that they have ticked, probably even without realizing it. I call this criterion crucial because it reveals a fundamental point of sport that cricket’s administrators seem to have forgotten of late.They say life is about moments that take your breath away. Sport is no different. Ian Chappell recalls a straight hit from Gary Sobers en route to his magnificent 254 at MCG in 1971-72. In his words, “O’Keefe (the bowler) sort of ducked and…[the ball] went like a plane taking off, for a six. That shot has always stayed with me.” We have our favorites too, be it a Tendulkar straight drive, a Richards flick for a six or a Shane Bond inswinging yorker. Or a Michael Holding over or even an entire session. Such moments, or periods of play, are what create memories and stories to tell our grandchildren. These memories drive people to write articles and books on cricket and pass the baton of passion to future generations.Creating lasting memories is, in my opinion, the raison d’etre of any sport. When folks turn up at stadiums or switch on their televisions, they do so with the hope that they witness acts of brilliance that not only thrill in the short term but are memorable enough to look back upon in ten years’ time. I’m no psychologist, but I guess that is why viewers prefer watching Kevin Pietersen to Alastair Cook, or Australia v South Africa to New Zealand v West Indies. Pietersen has a greater probability of producing a magic innings that people talk about for years and attacking teams like Australia and South Africa tend to deliver a higher standard of cricket and closer finishes.I have a small task for you. Pick three of your favorite matches which you have watched live. I’m guessing, if you have followed cricket for at least a decade, then there are no IPL or BBL games on your list. The reasoning is pretty simple: in spite of their close finishes and thrill-a-minute rides, domestic T20 games lack a vital ingredient. The build-up. My choice of games are the 2001 India v Australia Test at Eden Gardens, the Ashes Test in Edgbaston, 2005 and the 1999 World Cup semi-final between Australia and South Africa. One common thread among these games was the build-up. Australia had cruised to 15 wins on the trot before landing in India – their final frontier. On the other hand, India were a rebuilding side under Sourav Ganguly. Australia were the favourites ahead of the 2005 Ashes as well, though an English fightback was at last not beyond imagination. There isn’t much to be said about the build-up to World Cup semifinal.Of course, the build-up is not absolutely necessary; the 438 game between Australia and South Africa, for instance, wasn’t a high-profile one. But, more often than not, a sufficiently hyped encounter lingers in memory for a longer duration. Building up a series requires an adequate action-free period before it commences. From the viewers’ perspective, this period must be a characterized by a sense of void which they try to fill by visualizing the action likely to occur. A bit like planning a vacation, and looking forward to it. For the players, more time before important tours means better preparation which results in closer contests; and fewer one-sided series such as the recent Ashes where Australia whitewashed a jaded England team.Fortunately, the MCC vs RoW game has got this part covered. With the date and teams announced well in advance, and with the superstars off the field for a while now, the anticipation in the air is palpable. Can Shane Warne get some past the bat despite having lost that rip he used to impart back in the day? The last time an MCC v RoW match was held at Lord’s in 1998, Tendulkar scored a marvelous 125. Can he do something similar this time around? Oh, and will he dance down the track to Warne and send one to the pavilion? Seven years away from cricket may have subdued Lara’s backlift but who wouldn’t love a crisp cover drive with his flair written all over it? If you like mouthwatering battles, look no further – the pace battery of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Umar Gul is pitted against Adam Gilchrist, Virender Sehwag and Kevin Pietersen. To top it all, Rahul Dravid’s pristine drives are set to flow along the 200 year old slope. If only Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis could have joined the party.The warriors may be past their prime, but let’s hope for one more exhibition of their class. Let’s hope for one more picture-perfect Tendulkar straight drive, one more magic Warne delivery that pitches outside leg and clips the top of off, and one more Sobers-esque straight hit from Lara on a sunny London evening as the old Father Time weather vane watches over. That would be a picture to remember.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

Reputation and regeneration will again be key themes for Sri Lanka as they seek to build towards the 2015 World Cup

Andrew Fidel Fernando19-May-2014On the eve of the first tour of the English summer, it would seem as if their opponents are from some far off cricketing galaxy.Sri Lanka are so much that England are not, and vice versa. There are the contrasting philosophies to coaching: creativity subverts tradition in Sri Lanka but England’s men are the better drilled, stronger, more organised. The visitors’ team consists of one coach for each discipline, a strength and conditioning man and a temporary consultant – a bare bones unit by international standards and a backroom staff outsized by top counties.In 2014, the teams could hardly have tracked more wildly disparate trajectories. Since one abysmal day in Sharjah in January, Sri Lanka have boomed almost irresistibly, taking one regional title and a global one, despite shambolic exchanges between the players and the administration. In 17 limited-overs outings this year, they have failed only once – incidentally at England’s hands, on a soggy Chittagong night. England’s form, has been firmly at the other end of the spectrum.Having worked up to their first England international with a pair of bruising victories over county teams, Sri Lanka’s challenge will be to stay on their high, while depriving England of clear air and endorphins. Maintain the mood in both camps; crush England in the limited-overs leg and they may gain enough ground to head into their less-favoured Test format with an unfamiliar mental edge.That the traditional tour schedule has been upended to play Tests in June clearly suits Sri Lanka. Though the ODIs may feature the kind of swing and seam that has undone them in the past, Sri Lanka will feel they are objectively the better limited-overs side and more than capable of victory even in uncomfortable conditions.To that end, they have the services of one of the finest proponents of white-ball swing in the world, in Nuwan Kulasekara, as well as Lasith Malinga in ominous form. Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews provide capable support, and though the spin ranks want for Rangana Herath’s experience, Sachithra Senanayake has excelled in his role as a middle-over strangler in the past six months.The visitors are on shakier ground with the bat. There is experience at the top of the order in ODIs but around this core, younger men are still making their names. Kusal Perera will likely open alongside Tillakaratne Dilshan, but he will have bad memories of the Champions Trophy in England last year, when he produced a poor run that led to his exclusion in the next series. Dinesh Chandimal has a fine record in England but has just been relieved of his leadership roles following a year of mediocrity. Lahiru Thirimanne is a vastly improved batsman but he may not have the chance to come in as high up the order as he wishes.The tour is an audition for Sri Lanka, not least for the interim head coach, Marvan Atapattu, who would move to the brink of locking down the permanent job if the team is successful. There is little doubt he is technically astute but to be Sri Lanka’s head coach requires so much more than knowledge.Beyond the man-management skills and tactical nous such a role requires, Atapattu will also have to form part of the buffer between the players and the whirling cesspool of administrative jockeying at home. Foreign coaches have long been preferred in Sri Lanka, in some part on the theory they are less susceptible to political pressures, and as the brother-in-law of a senior SLC official, Atapattu may have to work particularly hard to remain objective and effective.On the field, fringe players will seek to prove they are viable choices for next year’s World Cup campaign. This series is Sri Lanka’s last ODI expedition outside Asia for the year and, way back in January, the coaching staff marked it out for a World Cup proving ground. Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya recently spoke of the importance of preparing fast-bowling allrounders for that tournament and Thisara, who had also had a mediocre Champions Trophy in England, would appear to be under most scrutiny.In this collision of cricketing worlds, both teams do have one thing in common: it is a fresh start for England, and a season of change for Sri Lanka as well, both among the coaching staff and because the seniors have begun to bid their farewells to the game. They had been indifferent to upheaval during their Asian run and, if they can transpose that success to their England summer, Sri Lanka will have confirmed their place as a rising side, spurred by regeneration.

The highs, the lows, the trends, the talking points. The 2014 IPL season summed up

Siddarth Ravindran and Nitin Sundar03-Jun-2014An IPL with no controversy is still an IPL – No slapgate. No expose of rigged auctions. No twitter meltdown involving cabinet ministers and tournament officials. No news of financial irregularities. No talk of conflicts of interest. No enthusiastic sons-in-law. No dodgy no-balls. After the muck-fest that was IPL 2013, the organisers must be relieved to go through an entire season without any scandal.Administrators had promised to do away with cheerleaders as part of a plan to focus more on cricket. They didn’t go that far, but annoyances like in-game chats with players and interviews with the local cinema star (Trisha, Siddharth, etc) were minimised or done away with. The IPL opening ceremony, perhaps due to UAE rules, was a closed-door affair and not a much-trumpeted gala featuring a global pop star like Katy Perry or Pitbull as in previous years.The best teams played the final, which is as good an endorsement for the format as any. Kings XI Punjab were the class of the field in the first half of the season, while Knight Riders shook off a flaky start to peak at the right time. Knight Riders were deserving winners, for finding a way past Kings XI despite their two best players – Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa – failing in the final.Robin Uthappa’s revival was the most compelling story of the season. He topped the tournament run-charts, despite hitting only 18 sixes. In contrast, Glenn Maxwell and Dwayne Smith, his closest competitors for the Orange Cap, smashed 70 sixes between them. Knight Riders’ brilliant bowling attack made it the best team to be batting for, and Uthappa surely benefitted – his streak of ten successive 40-plus scores included eight games where they were chasing middling targets, which allowed him to play at his pace.Home and away became increasingly irrelevant. The first leg being shifted to the UAE was unavoidable, but Cuttack hosted both a home game for Knight Riders and an away game for them. Two teams – Royals and Super Kings – didn’t play a single game in their traditional home cities.Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Kevin Pietersen were poor, and it took a toll on their respective teams. Gayle arrived unfit, and was a shadow of his usual self when he got to play. Watson fell apart as a leader, and Brad Hodge had to step up when Corey Anderson was destroying Rajasthan. Pietersen’s mind was at least partly on his off-field battles with the ECB. Overall, a lesson for teams looking to build their teams around a single high-profile buy.Glenn Maxwell’s slump came in a clutch of inconsequential rubbers, while his failures in the play-off against Chennai and in the final didn’t stop Kings XI from running up gigantic scores. However, their approach in the final – promoting George Bailey and Wriddhiman Saha – was perhaps dictated by Maxwell’s form. If he had been among the runs, he may have gone in at 3, and Punjab might have made those 15 extra runs.Kings XI top six – the gold standard of IPL batting•ESPNcricinfo LtdSehwag. Vohra. Saha. Maxwell. Miller. Bailey. Six dashers, no blocker, and all in form. Kings XI’s batting line-up is the gold standard against which all IPL batting sides should be compared.Mumbai’s discards who were strong contenders for a place in the team of the tournament: Yuzvendra Chahal, Glenn Maxwell, Dwayne Smith, Akshar Patel. Did Mumbai muck it up at the auction?MS Dhoni had a peculiar season. He took tight chases deep and struck nerveless sixes in the end to win matches. Yet, in the playoff against Kings XI, he struggled after holding himself back for too long. He had an entire season to find a way to replace Dwayne Bravo, but failed. He made some questionable on-field calls – most notably when he backed David Hussey’s part-time rusty offspin in the final over against RCB. And he was unusually heated in his comments after losing the playoff. Unusual, for a captain who took it all stoically while India were getting repeatedly hammered in away Tests.Dale Steyn’s death bowling came apart four times in the season – against MS Dhoni, AB de Villiers, George Bailey and Yusuf Pathan. Perhaps, fast length balls in the corridor just don’t work against 21st century hitters, that stunning final over against New Zealand in the World T20 not withstanding.Is Sunil Narine the most valuable T20 player in the world? Always called on to bowl tough overs at the death, he was freakishly consistent. It became a cliché that teams playing Knight Riders had only 16 overs to score off. And the knowledge that he was waiting at the end of the innings forced teams to go on all-out attack earlier than they would like. Briefly, during the final over of the tournament, you wondered whether Narine might cost Knight Riders the title as he fumbled against Parvinder Awana, but a scampered single averted that cruel twist.A slew of low-cost spinners were among the performers of the season as well: Akshar (Rs 75 lakh), Chahal (10 lakh) and Pravin Tambe (10 lakh). Others got smaller roles but made an impact: Shivam Sharma (10 lakhs), Karanaveer Singh (10 lakhs) and Shreyas Gopal (10 lakhs).The umpiring was substandard, with games featuring too many glaring errors. The umpire cam was an innovation that resulted in unpleasant pictures when the umpire shook his head to turn down a decision or a player filled up the screen when he was talking to the official. Occasionally it worked, especially for catches around midwicket when viewed from square leg. Relatively old-school Hawk-Eye graphics would have been a better viewer aid.87 off 25 A sense of disappointment lingers over Suresh Raina’s international career, but his IPL performances brook no argument. The most consistent batsman over seven seasons of the tournament, he produced arguably the best innings of all in the playoff against Kings XI. All sorts of records were laid to waste as he showed there was no need to slog even while scoring at a strike rate of 348, highlighted by the shot of the innings – a nonchalant tuck to midwicket for four though the ball from Parvinder Awana was full and angling away.The fielding in the IPL was its usual mix of amateurish incompetence and world-class brilliance. Kieron Pollard and Chris Lynn produced grabs that will linger long in the memory, but a large number of matches also featured comical drops – starting with Lasith Malinga putting down a sitter that changed the opening game of the tournament.Blue v blue was all-too common again•BCCIFeeling blue. Yet again there was a preponderance of teams in the IPL’s favourite colour, perhaps in an attempt to link the franchise with the national team’s kit. When Mumbai Indians took on Royals, it was hard to distinguish the teams. At least the disbanding of Deccan Chargers and Pune Warriors brought down the number of blues from five to three.Pakistan players remained persona non grata. There were Pakistan coaches, Pakistan umpires, Pakistan commentators, and Shoaib Akhtar regaled viewers from the studio but the talents of Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi stay off the IPL stage. Also, with Sri Lanka players ignored this season, England players generally not favoured, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe players a rarity, the overseas cricketers in the IPL came almost entirely from just four countries.Twenty20 has made batting orders more fluid than before, but Royals took that idea to extremes. A profitable opening partnership of Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair was shunted to the middle order for one game, Stuart Binny was stubbornly persisted with at around No. 4 or 5 though he was woefully short of runs, and accomplished batsmen like Steven Smith and Brad Hodge were sometimes held back as late as No. 8. It’s toss-up whether those decisions were taken after deep analysis or a spin-the-wheel basis.Short is sweet – The number of games in 2014 was down to 60 – that’s 16 matches fewer than in 2013 and 2012, and it showed. The IPL buzz did not flag this time and the cricket craze built up leading into the playoffs. Traditionally, franchisees have clamoured for more games to be packed into a season, with an eye on the incremental eyeballs and gate revenue. But IPL 2014 proved that less is more.

Ten cricket people who were heroes off the field: resuscitating spectators, donating blood, and stopping bullets

Alex Odell and Ross Armstrong12-Mar-201410 | Matt Prior and Stuart Broad
Having earlier that evening helped to raise £8,000 for The Broad Appeal – a charity set up by Stuart, his father Chris and sister Gemma to raise money and awareness for Motor Neurone Disease – Prior and Broad performed a dramatic 3am rescue on the Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney on the way back from a Barmy event during this winter’s Ashes. Noticing a man behaving erratically, the England pair intervened and wrestled him back from the edge of the bridge before speaking to him for almost an hour until the cops showed up. A tale to warm the cockles in an otherwise dark, dark winter.9 | Phil Gregory
Like most sensible people, the Podblast does not “have” Latin. However, a quick peek at Wikipedia tells us that the name “Gregory” means “alert”. Which is exactly what Brixham Cricket Club secretary Phil Gregory had to be, as he successfully fought off masked muggers who, cornering him at 9.30pm after a club meeting, were trying to steal his members’ annual subs. Note to muggers: trying to steal subs from a cricket club secretary is like trying to steal a lioness’ cubs.8 | Shoaib Akhtar
In the millennial year, Pakistan super-fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar took a break from his 140-yard run-up to sign a few autographs outside the Gabba after a Pakistan v India match. Seeing a nine-year-old boy dart into traffic, our hero Shoaib sprinted forward and plucked him from the air, inches from an oncoming taxi. Asked afterwards how he felt about saving a young boy’s life, Shoaib admitted he was “pumped”. | Sir Frank Worrell
In 1962 the officiously named Nari Contractor, captain of the Indian touring side to the West Indies, should have known better than to momentarily take his eyes off a Charlie Griffith bouncer when somebody opened a window in the pavilion during a tour match against Barbados. A fractured skull and six days unconscious in hospital later, Contractor’s life was thankfully saved, although he was never to play for India again. Sir Frank Worrell, captain of the Windies, was the first to donate blood to Contractor, at a rate of 8 per cent interest per annum, with a warranty as to damages.6 | Andrew Hall’s left hand
To sort of quote Lady Augusta in The Importance of Being Earnest, to be held up at gun-point once may be regarded as a misfortune, to be held up at gun-point twice looks like carelessness. Andrew Hall of South Africa and latterly Northants must have had Lady Augusta’s words ringing in his ears as he was hijacked for 45 minutes in 2005 and held at gun-point by men who had asked to buy his car. Only a few years before, in 1998, just prior to his Test debut, Hall had been shot six times at point-blank range while taking his money from an ATM machine. What saved him? His left hand, which deflected the first bullet, a little bit like Neo in The Matrix. A film about Andrew Hall’s left hand is in post-production and is scheduled for release this summer.5 | Sachin Tendulkar
Did you really expect anything less? When former Indian under-17 player Dalbir Singh Gill was involved in a road accident, he struggled to raise the money for his operation. Then his mother did what the Indian cricket team has traditionally done every time it’s in dire straits: she called on Sachin. The Littler Master was more than happy to pay the fee, and now the Indian equivalent of 999 also includes a Tendulkar option, officially making him India’s fourth emergency service. Authorities have also considered projecting a giant (cricket) bat sign into the sky to notify Sachin whenever a civilian is in danger.4| Alex Blackwell
Not only a busy and powerful Aussie bat but also a trained medical practitioner, if there are two things Blackwell knows, they are cricket and life-saving. Having trained as a medical student for four years while plying her trade as a cricketer, her two worlds collided when an 80-year-old spectator collapsed during a 2008 league match in Berkshire and the call went out for medical assistance. “We continued CPR for nine minutes and we thought we’d lost him for a minute, but continued until the paramedics arrived,” recalls Blackwell. The man pulled through as Blackwell promptly won the game, saved some children from a burning building, and solved world poverty on the way home. Probably.3 | WG Grace
WG’s feats were so abundant and miraculous it is no surprise he “Graces” this list. This is a man who opened the batting for England at 50 years old, scored 839 runs in eight days during 1876 and scored over 54,000 first-class runs. Ever the multi-tasker (the 1874 tour of Australia doubled as his honeymoon and was largely spent studying medicine and demanding match fees close to £100,000 by today’s standards) he qualified as a doctor in 1879 and his most conspicuous case came on the field of play when an unfortunate Lancashire fielder became impaled on the boundary fence at Old Trafford. A life saved, another paragraph in the memoir and on he went. Phew! He was very busy for a big man.Physio Bernard Thomas (in spectacles) walking alongside Ewen Chatfield on the stretcher•The Cricketer International2 | Bernard Thomas
Test debuts are tricky enough to negotiate at the best of times, but what’s the worst that can happen? It’s not like you’re going to end up flat on your back, unconscious, with a tongue down your throat. Mercifully the tongue in question was the debutant’s own… well, to begin with, at least. Yes, this was the fate that befell New Zealand tail-ender Ewen Chatfield on his debut against England in 1975. After a brave rearguard, the Kiwi No. 11 was struck on the temple by Peter Lever and sunk to the turf at Auckland as his heart briefly stopped. Step forward England physio Bernard Thomas, who administered mouth to mouth and heart massage before getting him off to hospital, where he regained consciousness an hour later.1 | Chris Broad
Heroic acts appear to run in the Broad family, because it was the quick thinking of Stu’s father, Chris, during the 2009 terror attack in Lahore that saved the life of umpire Ahsan Raza after a rain of bullets laid siege to their mini-bus at the gates of the Gaddafi Stadium. In fact, two things saved Raza’s life that day. The first, Broad lying on him to stem the flow of blood. The other? An ICC handbook in Raza’s shirt pocket that partially stopped one of the bullets. That’s right, in a moment reminiscent of a western, the depth of the ICC bible was a good man’s saviour. So take heed and always carry a copy of it with you. One day it may just save your life.

It is too early to know whether Varun Aaron can bowl with consistent pace but his impact at Old Trafford has been heartening for India fans

Sidharth Monga at Old Trafford08-Aug-2014Rarely does MS Dhoni collect a ball with fingers pointing skywards and the ball thudding into his gloves. Even on this pitch, the quickest this set of India players might have played on, he barely felt the thud. Not from one end, though. Varun Aaron, playing his first Test in two-and-a-half years, only his seventh first-class match since his last Test, having recovered from five stress fractures over his short career, repeatedly kept thudding into those camouflage gloves when not drawing a hurried response from the batsman.It is too early to say anything substantial about Aaron – he has yet to come back for a proper second spell on the day, he has not been the most accurate, this is inherently a quick pitch, and he is not 95mph either – but there is pace, and that should excite India.Raw pace sometimes get underrated. Sometimes you can get away with lack of accuracy if you have that raw pace. All three of his wickets have come through pace, and more satisfactorily two of those have come with the full ball after he had pushed the batsmen back. Watching a batsmen bowled through the gate after having been troubled with a bouncer previous ball is something Indian fans don’t usually get to celebrate. Aaron did that to Moeen Ali after extending, in consent with his captain, his over by one spell.Moeen Ali was set up by Varun Aaron’s bouncer followed by a full, swinging delivery•Getty ImagesAaron’s role in the team is to bowl short and sharp spells, but India don’t have the luxury of sustained pressure from the other end, so as to give Aaron – like Michael Clarke does Mitchell Johnson – four-over spells religiously. “There is no role as such,” Aaron said, asked if he had the liberty to go flat out in short bursts. “Obviously there is a clear message that I have to bowl quick whenever I bowl. I have bowled a six-over spell too, so bowling five or six overs is not a problem. It depends on the situation also. But yeah, shorter spells are always better.”Aaron had bowled flat out on the second morning, for four overs almost consistently over 85mph. Dhoni walked up to him before the next, and asked him if he could bowl another. Both felt they were on to something. Moeen was on strike. He has had problems with the short ball. Aaron said Moeen being on strike didn’t play any part in the decision, but he wanted to bowl that extra over.The first ball was a bouncer at the throat, at around 88mph, and hit Moeen’s glove even as he was halfway into the shot. The next ball was a peach, pitched up, swinging in late, past the inside edge of a high backlift, thudding into the pad, and then into the stumps. He would have had Moeen plumb lbw had he not hit the stumps.Aaron was pretty satisfied with that dismissal without being smug about it. “In the previous match also, he had a problem against the short ball,” Aaron said. “And even at Lord’s. So I was obviously watching from the sidelines, and knew if I got a couple of good bouncers in, he might be in trouble. Good bouncer set-up followed by a good full ball is a good option.”A year and a half ago, bowling quick again was just a dream for Aaron. He was getting operated in London to relieve him of a fifth stress fracture. “When I got operated, one of my targets back then was to come on this tour,” Aaron said. “I am really glad I am here, I am finally playing, and I have had a decent match so far.”There was no question he would hold back, though. “If I held myself back, I wouldn’t be bowling quick at all,” Aaron said. “I have had five stress fractures. If I am not holding myself back now, I don’t see a reason to ever hold myself back.”There will soon be a longer day in the field, followed by a Test with a three-day break. That will provide a more accurate assessment of if Aaron can sustain his pace, and what he can do with it.

This collection of obituaries of cricketers whose careers and lives were cruelly cut short by the First World War is one of the books of the year

Paul Edwards04-Aug-2014″… Rather hoped I’d get through the whole show, go back to work at Pratt and Sons, keep wicket for the Croydon Gentlemen, marry Doris.” Thus, Captain Kevin Darling in outlines the future he knows he will never have.Rather like Richard Curtis and Ben Elton’s situation comedy is a work that transcends its category. The cover has Eric Ravilious’ famous woodcut at the top but it also features a prominent red font and a poppy; the sombre, poetic subtitle, “the lives of cricket’s fallen”, completes the carefully designed effect. You can tell this book by its cover.Not that this makes the contents any less moving. By careful scholarship Andrew Renshaw has assembled brief, often very brief, lives of the cricketers who died in the First World War. He has taken their obituaries in ‘s Five Cricketers of the Year in 1909. He died in Imtarfa Military Hospital, Malta, on July 23, 1915 after serving in Gallipoli. Or there is Norman Callaway, who made 207 for New South Wales in his only first-class innings, and died at Bullecourt on May 3, 1917, aged 21.Every careful reader will find his own way around this book. Those looking for specific individuals would have been helped by an alphabetical index at the end of the work, but that is the only serious criticism one would wish to make. Certainly it is not a book to be read in conventional fashion; rather, readers might want to dip into the major sections before going off to do something both trivial and important like buying a loaf of bread or walking the dog. helps one to value the simple joys of being alive.There could, of course, be other books on very similar themes. The fallen on the Western Front included German footballers and Austrian skiers. In due course, perhaps, Renshaw can be persuaded to assemble and enlarge upon the lives of the cricketers who died in the Second World War. For the moment he deserves a break and can relax in the confidence that he has given us one of the books of the year.Few cricket writers produce a work that makes the game seem both irrelevant and essential. By putting together , Renshaw has called his almost 2000 subjects to report for duty once again and remind us of the lives they had no chance to lead. Included in their number is the member of the Canadian Infantry who was wounded at Neuve-Chappelle and died in London on April 19, 1915. His name – wouldn’t you guess it? – was Captain Darling.Wisden on the Great War: The Lives of Cricket’s Fallen 1914-1918
by Andrew Renshaw
Bloomsbury
£40

Two thousand kilometres from the actual funeral service, many who could have watched it on TV at home showed up at the Adelaide Oval to bid Phillip Hughes farewell

Sidharth Monga at the Adelaide Oval03-Dec-20141:13

Adelaide mourns Phillip Hughes

The Chappell Stand at the Adelaide Oval, by the steps that players take to and from the stadium, is a great place to watch a square cut. A right-hand batsman, when the bowling is on from the City End, and a left-hand batsman when facing a bowler running in from the Cathedral End. At around 1.55pm Adelaide time, towards the end of the service for Phillip Hughes in Macksville, being shown live on the big screen at the Adelaide Oval, a montage showcases a lovely picture. Hughes has backed away from the stumps. The ball seems neither short nor wide. For Hughes has gone really low and away from the stumps, his rear is almost on the ground. It is an extremely unnatural position to play a cricket shot from. Hughes has executed it perfectly; he has created his own length and his own line. He is even wearing the red South Australia helmet.To watch it from the Chappell Stand in a photo, and not being played live before your eyes as you usually would do when you come to the Adelaide Oval, is a cricketing experience more surreal and poignant than most. Around 2000 Adelaide people – including the South Australia men and women teams – walked into the stands of Hughes’ adopted home ground to watch the service from Macksville, to celebrate the life of Hughes and pay their last tributes to the man whose death has brought to fore the sentimental side of a country known for being tough and uncompromising in sport and in life.Two thousand kilometres from the actual service – which these folks could have easily watched on TV at home but decided to come out to the ground to witness – people laughed as Hughes’ cousin Nino Ramunno regaled with stories of how Hughes didn’t know how to calculate his own average, and how his only problem with Homebush School, where he studied for a year, was that there were no girls there. Brother Jason Hughes’ eulogy left quite a few wiping their eyes. Chances are, most of the people present at the Adelaide Oval on Wednesday didn’t ever have a personal interaction with Hughes. Yet it was as if they had all lost something personal.In a fair world, Hughes would have been square-cutting at the Gabba nets, preparing for a comeback into the Test side, ready to add to his 26 caps. He would have taken the injured Michael Clarke’s place in the side. In the real world, Clarke was bidding farewell to his “little brother”, and might not recover emotionally even if his hamstring heals in time for the first Test, which has been pushed back by five days and, incidentally, shifted to the Adelaide Oval.People in the stands at the Adelaide Oval themselves had knots in their throats, as Clarke choked while trying to read out his eulogy. Eyes moistened as Clarke spoke of the time he walked into the middle at the SCG, “now forever the place where he fell”. Nobody was left unmoved as Clarke said: “I stood there at the wicket, I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me. Picking me up off my feet to check if I was okay. Telling me we just needed to dig in and get through to tea. Telling me off for that loose shot I played. Chatting about what movie we might watch that night. And then passing on a useless fact about cows.”People were allowed to walk to the square of the Adelaide Oval after the service finished in Macksville. Stumps had been erected at the main pitch with a bouquet of flowers right down its middle. More tributes rested on the stumps. A kangaroo flag appeared on the fence at the square. A soft-toy cow was thrown in by somebody. A cricket ball with 408 written on it.A couple of kids pulled out a tennis ball, and began to play at the edge of the field. It was in keeping with the message sent across by almost every speaker at the service. After Jason promised his brother that he will look after their parents and sister, he added that he would “get back on the horse and play the game we both loved”. Clarke said they must “dig in and get through to tea”, and play on. Hughes would have approved.

Day one at Wellington was a microcosm of Sri Lanka’s recent fortunes: excellent results emerging without apparent method, followed by a descent back into chaos

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Wellington03-Jan-20152:16

Excited to be back – Bracewell

Bony elbows flapping, bad haircut flailing, Nuwan Pradeep goes flying to the crease like a hare flees from a hunter. He used to bowl a little more round-arm. “The new Lasith Malinga”, or so the hype-stories went. But then his body broke down several times a season. Now he goes taller and straighter, scrawny arms whipping in the delivery stride, and somehow, through the vortex of limbs, scrambles deliveries faster than 140kph.Scramble is what anyone who follows Sri Lankan cricket should be accustomed to. The team rarely looks that good. But in the likes of Kumar Sangakkara and Rangana Herath they have a trusty, ageing engine, so they patch together the rough-cut parts more recently manufactured by the domestic system, and call themselves a semi-decent cricket side.Bracewell expects pitch to quicken

Disappointment in the New Zealand dressing room had turned to hope of a big first-innings lead between the end of their innings and stumps on day one, seamer Doug Bracewell said. Fifteen wickets fell on the first day, a record for the venue, beating the 14 wickets that fell on day one the last time these teams had met at the Basin Reserve.
“I think there’s enough there in the pitch if you stay in the right area,” Bracewell said. “I think it’s the sort of wicket if you bowl badly you can get punished. But if you stay disciplined, hit good areas and stay patient, then you’ll get rewarded.”
Bracewell expected the pitch to become even better for quick bowlers as the Test wore on. “Usually when there’s a bit of grass on it, the pitch sort of hardens up on day two and three. Depending on the weather, hopefully it’ll get a bit faster.”
The Test is Bracewell’s first since the match in Dhaka in October 2013, and he said he was surprised to play in the XI, after New Zealand had suggested their seam attack would be unchanged. He collected 3 for 23 on the first evening.
“It was very exciting to get the call-up this morning. To get three wickets at the end of the day is a pretty good feeling. It was not quite how I planned to get them, but as a bowler you take the luck when you get it. We’ve got a chance to get them seven down for 70-odd tomorrow.”

Like so many 90s two-stroke three-wheelers on Colombo streets, though, Sri Lanka have been sputtering up hills on this tour, and coughing around the tight bends. On day one, they turned up at a ground nicknamed the world’s largest roundabout (it does look a little bigger than the cricket ground at Galle, which is also a glorified roundabout), and raced around for a little over two sessions, before hitting some serious bumps towards day’s end.The scrambling had begun before play even began. In this squad, Sri Lanka had quicks who averaged 48, 49, 72 and 35 before the innings. So when one of the seamers is pushing for a place with good bowling in the nets, who do Sri Lanka leave out? Of course it’s the man with the best record. If that sounds strange, try this: when New Zealand were shot out for 221 just after tea, that decision was largely justified.Sri Lanka prides itself on its school cricket system, which many say was once the best in the world, but no one told the current Test bowlers, who scrambled together cricket careers in their early 20s. Pradeep himself was discovered in a soft-ball competition run by a TV station. Sri Lanka’s chief destroyer began the day with a worse bowling average than Arjuna Ranatunga, gutted an in-form middle order, and still his numbers remained worse than Geoffrey Boycott’s.It’s a puzzling old thing, is Sri Lankan cricket. Sometimes it’s better not to inspect the improvised parts and pieces of twine holding everything together too closely. There is a chance you might upset something and bring it all crashing down. But then, there will probably be someone to pull it all back together again, because someone always does.Of all the wickets Sri Lanka took, Ross Taylor’s had the most method behind it•AFPThe seamers searched for swing early on, pitching up, inviting the drive, but when that failed on what was expected to be a seaming surface, they scrambled up a range of other plans, switching between these, seemingly on a whim. Suranga Lakmal, the leader of the attack, had three overs from the scoreboard end, then suddenly wheeled around to bowl against the wind, before he made the first incision. The ball was wide, and back of a length – not exactly making the batsman play. But he did play at it, and the edge was collected. Pradeep, who was taken off after two overs with the new ball, returned to the attack and drew a similar dismissal from Hamish Rutherford.Ross Taylor’s outside edge was beaten or collected repeatedly, before Pradeep jagged one back in and had him dragging on. Of all Sri Lanka’s wickets, that one had the most method behind it. Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson played on too, when the ball did just enough to strike the inside edge, but when Sri Lanka said they had made plans for these batsmen before the match, it’s unlikely that they envisioned balls well outside off would end up on the stumps. James Neesham ducked under torrent of balls at his face when he arrived – clearly another plan. In the end, it was a tame prod outside off that did for him.This New Zealand team has a thin pool of cricketers to call upon too, but at least their domestic system is not a bad joke. They build. They review. They have periods of introspection following which tough calls are made, and new measures implemented, as Brendon McCullum revealed of the meetings that took place following a 45 all out in Cape Town in 2013. In comparison, Sri Lanka’s top team appears to emerge out of chaos. They win at times, excel even, then tend to dip back into chaos again, as they did in the 25.4 overs they faced on Saturday.Perhaps Sri Lanka should see day one’s end as a missed opportunity. Kaushal Silva was unlucky, and Angelo Mathews got a great ball in a bad situation, but Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne fell to loose shots, and Prasanna Jayawardene could have done better with the ball that got him out, especially as there were only four more balls remaining till stumps. Hopes of a big first innings lead became a mission to avoid a hefty deficit.A result is almost assured in Wellington now, weather permitting, and this lot will need to scramble a decent total on day two, if they are to end the series 1-1, and not 0-2.

Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Denesh Ramdin recall their World Cup memories and pick out their stars – past and future – of ODI cricket

Interviews by George Dobell and Melinda Farrell09-Feb-2015What is your earliest World Cup memory?Kemar Roach: Growing up in Barbados, people talked about West Indies winning the first two World Cups all the time. I was too young to watch it live, but they kept showing it on TV. I grew up knowing all about it.Jerome Taylor: My first World Cup as a player was in 2007. Brian Lara was the captain. As a youngster, it was so exciting. Playing in the World Cup is as big as you can get and I am very proud to represent the people of the Caribbean. I am too young to remember the days when we won the World Cup, but I grew up hearing about it.Darren Sammy: 1996. Richie Richardson was the captain. I remember Paul Adams bowling to Brian Lara. I think he scored a hundred against South Africa. That’s as far back as I can remember. But I have a good, good memory of the first two World Cups that we won because I’ve watched them so many times on tape. It’s just the most prestigious event in world cricket.Denesh Ramdin: 1996. Sri Lanka playing against… I can’t remember the opposition. Romesh Kaluwitharana was the opening batsman. I loved watching him bat – he was good. I probably wanted to emulate him more than anyone. The opportunity hasn’t arrived as yet. But that was probably it for me.West Indies’ young captain Jason Holder will have a good World Cup, his team-mates reckon•AFPWho will be the breakthrough player in this World Cup?KR: Our skipper, Jason Holder. I think he can perform really well. He is a very talented guy and I support him fully. We’ve played cricket together for a long time. I guess we’ve grown up together. So I know him pretty well and know what he’s capable of. He can definitely bowl a bit faster. He just needs a couple more gym sessions. He has a great future in front of him.JT: We have some really good youngsters. So do Australia and South Africa. David Miller from South Africa is a good talent. But I’m going to go for young [Darren] Bravo. He is a very exciting cricketer. And in the bowling I’d say Kemar Roach will come through. I’d mention myself too. It has been a long, painful road back and the rehab took a long time. But I am feeling strong now. I never condoned the thought that I would never play again. Age was on my side. I’m here and I’m over that.DS: From our team, young Jonathan Carter. It’s his first time into the West Indies set-up. For express pace we have Sheldon Cottrell, he could be the surprise package, and also we have a young captain, Jason Holder, who, I think, has an excellent cricket brain. I think his decisions on the field will be very important for us to go far in this World Cup.DR: There’s young Jonathan Carter, who, I dare say, will make his World Cup debut. He’s a young player, enthusiastic, a hard worker and once he gets the opportunity he has shots all around the park, similar in style to Eoin Morgan. He’s a very exciting young guy.For destruction, please see Gayle, Chris•Associated PressWho is the best death bowler you’ve seen?KR: Malinga is the best. Obviously. That yorker is a hard ball to bowl, but it is the best ball to bowl when the batsman is going. He does it better than anyone. I try to do it, too, but he is definitely the best.JT: It goes without saying that it’s Malinga.DS: Waqar Younis, Joel Garner – those yorkers he kept firing in the two World Cups we won. At this present stage with the fast bowlers I think Malinga is a cut above all. He does it at will, not only at the death but with the new ball he could bowl yorkers for fun. Sunil Narine for us, he’s not here but he’s very difficult to hit in the death overs.DR: I’d say Lasith Malinga.Who are West Indies going to play in the final?KR: Australia.JT: It doesn’t matter. Lots of teams have a chance, but I believe we can be there.The 1975 World Cup final, where Viv Richards ran out three Australian batsmen, is a very memorable match for West Indies fans•PA PhotosDS: To be honest, I don’t care. As long as the West Indies are there in the final that’s all that matters. We’ve got to three finals and we’ve won two.DR: I think, realistically in these conditions, it might be Australia or New Zealand. At the moment they’re playing some great cricket.Who is the most destructive batsman you’ve seen?KR: Chris Gayle is still No. 1 for me. When he is going, he is very tough to bowl against. And AB de Villiers is right up there as well in recent times. I didn’t play in that game [in Johannesburg where de Villiers scored a century in 31 balls]. Maybe not the worst to miss.JT: That’s easy: Chris Gayle. AB de Villiers is another who can cause some damage, but I’m going for Gayle. I’m happy he is part of the West Indies team as I wouldn’t want to bowl at him.DS: Chris Gayle followed by AB de Villiers.DR: I’d say Chris Gayle.What’s the best World Cup match you can remember?KR: The South Africa and Australia game in the 1999 World Cup wasn’t bad.JT: I’d have to say the 2011 final between Sri Lanka and India.DS: The World Cup final where Viv Richards got three run-outs. I watched it on tape and it was excellent.DR: In 2003, when Pakistan played Australia. Australia were struggling and then Andrew Symonds scored 150-odd. He batted really well there.Have you ever had a proper job?MS Dhoni and Andre Russell: handy finishers•BCCIKR: No. I left school and went straight into the West Indies team.JT: Nah. Cricket is what I do for a living. It’s what I’ve done all my life.DS: Yes. When I had just left school I was an office assistant at the Ministry of Commerce. I did some filing and when my boss needed stuff to be done I had to make sure I did it. I looked after all the letters, just office stuff. I resigned after I started playing for the West Indies because I was never at home to work. They kept writing to the public service asking for time off with pay. () I was on national duty so they had to pay me.DR: I used to cut grass part-time, that’s about it. I was probably about 16 or 17. It was for extra pocket money but it wasn’t much at the time. It was around the neighbourhood and a bit outside that as well, in San Fernando, Trinidad. I used to have to get up really early, four o’clock in the morning and cut the grass before it was too hot.Who is the best finisher?KR: James Faulkner is pretty good. And Andre Russell and Darren Sammy are pretty good, too.JT: Michael Bevan was very good. In the present day and age, Andre Russell is a good one. And Darren Sammy, to some extent, is good, too. David Miller is exciting and [Steven] Smith is good to watch.DS: Right now, MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers. Chris Gayle normally bats at the top but if he is batting in the later overs I would definitely put him up there. Kieron Pollard’s name comes in there, too.DR: I would say the best finisher is MS Dhoni. He calculates the game quite well and he bats down low and gives himself a chance.

The home advantage, their present form, the depth in their squad – the ingredients are in place for Australia to win the World Cup. Staying focussed could be their biggest challenge

Brydon Coverdale in Melbourne12-Feb-2015In many ways, it feels like Australia’s international summer is over. Judging by their results, it went swimmingly. Across four Tests against India they reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, bookended by ODI and T20 wins over South Africa and an ODI tri-series victory over England and India. Only two games were lost – both to South Africa, a T20 and an ODI – in 32 days of cricket squeezed into three months.In many other ways, the most memorable part of Australia’s summer is just beginning. A Test series against India is important, but happens often. A home World Cup is rare and special: Ricky Ponting’s ODI career lasted 17 years and he never had the chance to play in one. The full weight of the event may not register for the Australians until they walk onto the MCG on Saturday to play England in front of 90,000 fans.There is only one man in their official setup who has that kind of experience. Bowling coach Craig McDermott played in the 1992 World Cup, when Australia failed to reach the semi-finals. They were the defending champions and had the home advantage. McDermott said this week that back then, Australia made the mistake of expecting they would win the tournament, that all would go to plan.From the outside, it seems there is no such complacency this time. On Wednesday, in an unofficial warm-up against the UAE, the Australians were diving around in the field like it was the World Cup final. Shane Watson took two outstanding catches at slip, and Glenn Maxwell ran and hurled himself forward at midwicket to pinch a one-handed stunner centimetres off the ground.As coach Darren Lehmann noted the following day, “history shows if you’re the best fielding side in the World Cup, you go a long way to winning it”. Australia will begin the World Cup as favourites, and Lehmann must ensure complacency does not creep in at any point. It should not be hard to get themselves up for the opening game against England.”I hope a lot of Australians come out to watch that first game,” Lehmann said. “Ninety thousand people, it’s going to be fantastic to see. It’s a World Cup opener. There’s one game in New Zealand at the same time. They’ll both be packed houses. The players are going to be in for a thrill.”There’s pressure on every team in any World Cup, wherever you’re playing, to win. For us it’s about embracing our own country and getting the support from the crowd, entertaining them and playing the brand of cricket we have over the last 18 months in the one-day format. If we do that, the results will look after themselves. We don’t look any further ahead than England and looking forward to great crowd support and putting on a good show.”Regardless of expectations or pressure, Australia will have the advantage of knowing the conditions for most of their matches. During the last World Cup in Asia, spin played a key role but this time Australia’s reliance on seam-bowling allrounders – Shane Watson, Mitchell Marsh and James Faulkner, when he is fit – is an indication of where they expect the wickets to come from.”It’s a bit of an advantage for us, with all our allrounders,” Lehmann said. “That’s the balance of the side we’ve gone with in selecting the squad. It gives you a few more options. The wickets traditionally don’t spin a lot here. They may spin a bit in New Zealand. But here they’re good cricket wickets. They’ll be high-scoring so your quality of bowling has got to be there.”It is even possible that Xavier Doherty could go through the tournament without playing a game. Doherty picked up two late wickets against the UAE but Michael Clarke also bowled two overs, and Lehmann said Australia would look to Clarke as well as Glenn Maxwell for some spin workload when the captain returns from his hamstring injury.Selecting the right mix is one of Lehmann’s challenges in this tournament, but another will be to keep his men focused over the next six weeks. Saturday begins a long and rambling month of cricket that takes the squad from Melbourne to Brisbane to Auckland to Perth to Sydney to Hobart, and that is before the knockout stages even begin.There is a lot of down time in that schedule. Australia play only three games in the first 18 days of the tournament, their first three matches all being played on consecutive Saturdays. Lehmann has floated the idea of allowing the players to return home at times, given the lengthy breaks. Former coach John Buchanan said this week that would be a mistake, that the squad mentality could not be broken.Whatever happens, the Australian management will have to take steps to stop the players going stir crazy. To that end there is a social committee, including veteran Brad Haddin, who will organise bonding events along the way. And the group will spend almost a full week in Auckland ahead of their match against New Zealand, which will mix things up more than staying in Australia.”Give them a few days off here and there, where possible,” Lehmann said of the plans. “Also embrace where we’re going. We go to New Zealand, so we’re all going early to New Zealand to have a couple of days seeing the culture of New Zealand. I’m sure they’ll be getting stuck into us while we’re there.”Enjoy the atmosphere of the whole six-eight weeks. That’s the big thing for us, the first three Saturdays we play so there’s a big gap in between. We’ll work out what we’re doing through there as we go. You’ve got to get away from the game as well. We’ll have enough training time leading into other matches, we’ve had a long summer.”