Plays of the day from the first day at Old Trafford

George Dobell and Jarrod Kimber at Old Trafford01-Aug-2013The review I
Graeme Swann did not even appeal when he drew Usman Khawaja into a drive and saw the ball turn past the outside edge. Matt Prior and the rest of the England fielders did though and, after some deliberation, umpire Tony Hill gave Khawaja out. The batsman called for a review and, while replays suggested no contact between bat and ball, there was no sign on Hot Spot and both audio and visual replays suggested the only noise came from the bat brushing the pad, the TV umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, upheld the decision and Khawaja had to go. It was a decision that will renew scrutiny on the value of the DRS and, more pertinently, some of the officials charged with using it. Dharmasena, it should be noted, is currently ICC umpire of the year. Reaction to the decision was swift and damning: Tom Moody described it as “farcical”, Shane Warne as “horrific” and Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, wrote on Twitter that it was “one of the worst cricket umpiring decisions I have ever seen”.The review II
England were convinced that Steven Smith had been caught behind off James Anderson when he had 18. Umpire Marais Erasmus did not agree and England were quick to utilise the DRS. But while there was evidence of a noise as the ball passed the bat, there was no sign of an edge on Hot Spot and no obvious deviation. Dharmasena therefore upheld the on-field umpire’s decision, Smith survived and England were left with no more reviews. They had also used their other one on Smith before he had scored when he played back to a sharply turning delivery from Swann and, though the ball struck him in line, Hawk-Eye upheld the on-field umpire’s not-out decision by the tiniest of margin by showing that less than half the ball would have clipped the leg stump.The let off
At first glance it appeared it was Michael Clarke who had enjoyed a let off when, on 23, Ian Bell at leg slip juggled with a ball from Swann that had turned past the batsman’s inside edge and the ball ran down to fine leg for a single. On closer inspection, however, it seemed that umpire Hill had enjoyed the let off as replays showed clearly that Clarke had not hit the ball and the only impact came from his thigh pad. Had Bell held on to the ‘catch’, it would have proved another embarrassing moment for the umpires and another test of the DRS. In light of such moments, it is hardly surprising that the ICC are using this match to test new TV umpire protocols. The present system is clearly far from perfect.The distraction
Chris Rogers was distracted by a ghost: the ghost of bad crowd management. So many deliveries were stopped because someone was moving behind the bowler’s arm. During one over from Swann, members on the balcony were upsetting Rogers. Play was stopped more than once, and many arms were waved, including those of two Australian domestic cricketers, Jon Wells and Daniel Salpietro, who were among those on the balcony. But Rogers seemed to handle them. What he couldn’t handle was an elderly man standing behind the glass door in about the most menacing way possible, swaying from side to side from behind the darkened glass, which made him look like an otherworldly figure. Rogers missed his next ball and was given out. The old man was clearly the ghost of wickets future.

The first Test ebbed and flowed right up until the moment of uncertainty surrounding Brad Haddin’s dismissal before the waters finally closed over Australia

Daniel Brettig at Trent Bridge14-Jul-2013Brad Haddin re-marked his guard like a man who had given the possibility of losing barely a nanosecond’s thought. England’s fielders swarmed around him, convinced of the edge that would deliver them victory. James Anderson was not so sure, having heard no sound. Behind Anderson, the umpire Aleem Dar was even less aware of the possibility of a nick, not for the first time in the match. Alastair Cook, Matt Prior and Anderson conferred, briskly but calmly, before deciding to review Dar’s decision.Offering them not the slightest bit of notice, Haddin strode down the wicket and conferred with Australia’s last man, James Pattinson, ahead of the next ball he looked so certain would come. As England held their breath, Haddin and Pattinson began planning how to whittle those last few runs down. They also had the chance to ponder for a moment how they managed to get within 15 runs of an England team so few had expected them to seriously challenge. A match flashed past their eyes.Trent Bridge had revealed its charms and dramas slowly. First impressions were seldom the same as final ones. Day one was frenetic but lacking in poise, nerves playing as great a part in proceedings as skills, tactics or conditions. Australia’s first man through the wall on day one had not been Ashton Agar, a nervous debutant yet to become the popular phenomenon he is now. It was instead Peter Siddle, who confounded the small army of critics who had questioned his place. England’s first blows were struck not by Anderson but Steven Finn, a hair’s breadth away from a grand hat-trick with Michael Clarke as its apogee.Pattinson started the match not as a nerveless tailender, but a decidedly keyed up fast bowler. He hurled down the first over of the Test match, a nervy bouncer to Cook followed up with a series of balls sprayed too wide to be of any danger to the batsman. Haddin made a similarly ginger start to his series, diving over a difficult leg-side chance offered from Pattinson’s bowling and then having his defence punctured second ball by a ripping offbreak from Graeme Swann, who was never again quite as dangerous as he had seemed at that moment.The disarming of Swann was perhaps chief among Agar’s many achievements. Apart from setting records for No. 11 innings and partnerships, bringing a smile to cricket watchers the world over with his charismatic batting, and holding his own as a tidy left-arm spin bowler, Agar showed a confidence and assurance against Swann that can only improve Australia’s chances of combating him for the rest of the series. The way he advanced to drive Swann on the second morning, lofting him imperiously towards the Trent Bridge Members Pavilion, was to be tellingly repeated by Pattinson as the target ticked closer on day five.The confidence with which Pattinson and Haddin faced up to Swann, Broad and Finn left an enormous weight of pressure on Anderson. Throughout the match he responded stirringly to Cook’s demands, extending his spells an extra over here or there, and coming back more frequently than either of his pace counterparts. Ultimately Anderson’s tally for the match reached into a 56th over. Between them, Finn and Stuart Broad bowled 54.5. Anderson’s pre-eminence as a fast-medium bowler in this series, and in the world, is unquestioned. But he is highly unlikely to be able to sustain the Trent Bridge effort for five Tests, let alone ten.Something else that cannot be sustained, at least in Australian eyes, is the disparity in the two teams’ use of the DRS. Another slightly misleading point for much of day one had been England’s use of the system, notably a poor Finn review against his caught behind dismissal. The more lasting pattern of the match would be established late on the first evening, when Chris Rogers reviewed his lbw dismissal and found himself on the wrong end of a marginal umpire’s call.These would surface again and again to Australia’s displeasure, though England were also to be humbugged by Jonathan Trott’s lbw exit when bat appeared likely to have been involved. Broad’s survival of a clear catch to slip was less the denial of sportsmanship than a reminder of flawed umpires, flawed Australian use of reviews and a flawed system.Nothing, though, was quite so flawed as Australia’s batting. The memorable tenth-wicket stands in both innings played a huge role in ensuring Clarke’s team would stay close with England. They were in the same instant a reminder that this side has been essentially relying on freak batting events to keep them competitive for quite some time.In 2011 and 2012 such happenings revolved around Clarke, who batted as if in a perpetual dream. This year too few of the runs have come from those men who answer to making them in their job descriptions. Clarke has said he does not care where the runs come from, so long as they arrive from somewhere. But no team can reasonably expect tail-end miracles of the kind produced by Siddle in Delhi, Mitchell Starc in Mohali and Agar here to carry them towards any kind of consistent success.Haddin knew this as he stood side by side with Pattinson, refusing to believe the day was done. English hearts leapt briefly with joy when the replay screen appeared to show a speck of heat on Haddin’s inside edge, then returned to a more laboured pulse as the third umpire Marais Erasmus cross-checked Hot Spot with the stump audio. Only three days before he had been oblivious to an inside edge by Trott.Stern and confident, Haddin hung on to his thoughts of the next ball, the next run and the final victory, right until the moment Dar crossed himself and raised his finger. The younger Pattinson bowed his head, in frustration and defeat. But Haddin stared straight ahead, not willing to lose face. He kept his defiant posture on the walk off Trent Bridge, even if the removal of his helmet revealed a face lined with pain. However Haddin dealt with this defeat, he would not grant England the opportunity to see it. If his stance said anything, it was this: it isn’t over.

Over the years, Delhi’s Rajat Bhatia has taken difficult decisions and beaten several hurdles to become one of the most reliable allrounders in Ranji Trophy cricket

Devashish Fuloria07-Dec-2013Browsing through the scoresheets of Delhi’s Ranji matches, it’s hard not to be blinded by names such as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, and more recently, Unmukt Chand. Their numbers do not matter; it’s the familiarity factor. But look beyond the stars and more often than not, there would be a workhorse like a Mithun Manhas or a Rajat Bhatia carrying the team on his shoulders.This season, as Delhi scrap to get out of mid-table mediocrity, Bhatia continues to make vital contributions. In the previous game, Delhi’s first win of the season, Bhatia claimed a four-for to help the team secure the lead, and then hit an unbeaten half-century to help them post a total beyond Haryana’s reach. In the ongoing match, against Odisha, Bhatia came in with Delhi on unsteady ground, the star-studded top order having failed, and proceeded to hit an unbeaten 158 to take the team well beyond 400. If the road is a bit rocky, Bhatia does not seem one to shy away from the challenge. That has always been the case with him.He played his first bit of serious cricket for Modern School, Barakhamba Road, Delhi, as a teenage fast bowler who had modeled himself on Waqar Younis, complete with the ability to reverse. The mutations during the evolution of a player are sometimes hard to fathom, but like in life sciences, they are, more often than not, a response to extrinsic circumstances. In Bhatia’s case, it was a case of one thing leading to the other, and he ultimately fashioned himself into an astute medium-pace bowling allrounder with a batting average almost touching the 50-mark and more than 100 wickets to his name in the glamourless world of first-class cricket.It all began when he was selected for the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai while in school and spent six months – April to September – there after his senior secondary examinations, but discovered he had been bowling with a stress fracture in his back and had to cut down on his pace. For someone who didn’t think much about batting in those years, Bhatia had no option but to spend a lot of time facing young fast bowlers from around the world in the nets, an aspect of his game he discovered he was good at.While playing for the MRF team during that stay, in one game, Bhatia says, “They sent me at No. 10 and I had a strong partnership with WV Raman. He scored a century, I scored 60-odd,”That innings was enough to impress the team, who wanted him to stay back and play for them as an allrounder. But for Bhatia “that was a tricky period, as I had to also think about college, because taking long time-off from college to play cricket wasn’t easy either”.Bhatia’s family, based in Roopnagar in central Delhi, had financial constraints at this point, after a business they had invested on was struggling. “So it was clear,” he says, “that there wouldn’t be much support, and I would have to do it by myself.”TA Sekar, the coach at MRF Pace Foundation, facilitated Bhatia’s move to Chennai, getting him admitted to Vivekananda College and within two years, he moved through the ranks to make it to the Tamil Nadu Ranji team. Playing his first match against Orissa in 1999/2000 season, he scored 72 from No. 10 and was immediately pushed up to open in the second innings, where he scored another half-century. The next season, he was included for five matches, but the year after that, he was dropped as the experienced Robin Singh walked back into the Tamil Nadu team as the main allrounder.”I was nearing four years in Chennai at that point and was done with college. Since the professional fees playing cricket in Chennai was better, I thought about staying on. But I wasn’t getting a job there.”It was in this period that he first met Vijay Dahiya during a Moindullah Trophy in Goa, and he convinced him to play for the Indian Airlines team and later, take up a job with the company’s Delhi office. But according to Bhatia, he was shocked to hear from the Tamil Nadu administration that someone holding a job outside the state was ineligible to play for the state Ranji team.”If Nasser Hussain wanted to play in the Chennai leagues, he was eligible because he was born in Chennai, but I wasn’t,” Bhatia says. “I had left my hometown to play league cricket, Under-19 cricket, Ranji, performed well in all levels, and now they didn’t support me just because my job was outside the state. I was very disappointed.”Bhatia had no option but to head back home to Delhi where he was welcomed into the team by Dahiya and Bishan Bedi, the then coach. However, another administrative quirk hit Bhatia hard as he had to go through a cooling off period since he had not played in Delhi.”I was hit from both sides. It was like a two-year ban for me,” he says. “One year, I didn’t get a game in Tamil Nadu and second year Delhi didn’t allow me to play. In nine matches for Tamil Nadu, I had three half-centuries and one hundred, plus 10 wickets. That went to waste and I had to start in Delhi two years later from zero again.”With no league cricket to play in Chennai either, Bhatia started going to England during the summers, a move that he says helped him spruce up his fitness levels and his training methods. The three-four years that it took him to restart his career meant he was a late bloomer in the Delhi side. But by the 2007-08 season, he had established himself as a central part of the squad with 26 wickets and 525 runs, including an unbeaten century in Delhi’s win in the final.Since then, he has produced special performances against his former Ranji team. In six matches against Tamil Nadu, Bhatia has scored 470 runs, including two centuries, at an average of 117.50. Asked if it was due to some extra motivation, Bhatia shrugs it off as just a coincidence.When asked if he doesn’t fancy moving up the Delhi order, Bhatia says, “I don’t have any problems in batting anywhere. I have batted from one to eight for Delhi, but they have always believed that I am good in the middle order.”I used to open with Gautam, then Dhawan came, then Virat came. Then if some new batsman comes in, it has to be between me and Mithun [to make space], so I move down lower.”It’s this dedication to the team that Delhi coach Sanjeev Sharma says has made Bhatia always one of the leaders in a close core-group. Bhatia, in turn, says the bigger names have always been supportive of him. “Viru and Gautam have always had confidence in me. I am not sure if any other captain would have put so much trust in my bowling.”Bhatia, at 34, continues to put in solid performances across formats, which, he feels, should have at least earned him visibility at the India A level. “Now there are so many A matches and so many players featuring in them, sometimes you don’t even know which state they represent. Then the age factor comes to the fore.”So I have stopped worrying about things that are not in my hands. I don’t hold any grudges and I don’t have any regrets. I try to do well for Delhi.”

Plays of the Day from the first ODI between South Africa and Pakistan, in Cape Town

Firdose Moonda24-Nov-2013The comedy of errors
With a run-drought leaving Pakistan’s openers starved, they resorted to desperation to try and tick the scoreboard over. Ahmed Shehzad wanted a run as soon as he hit Morne Morkel to point but Nasir Jamshed did not react as quickly. By the time Jamshed started moving, Shehzad had given up and was headed back to his crease. Jamshed was almost at Shehzad’s end and AB de Villiers had ample time to hit the non-striker’s stumps but missed, allowing Jamshed to scramble back and leaving Morkel irritated by the wayward throw.The miscommunication
South Africa had already dropped two chances and missed two run-outs, including the one mentioned above, when a fifth opportunity came their way. Sohaib Maqsood was recklessly trying to move things along when he skied one off Jacques Kallis. He was attempting a pull but the mis-hit went between Graeme Smith at short cover and Vernon Philander at mid-off. Smith would have had to run backwards and seemed to expect Philander to take the catch. Philander had to move forward but didn’t seem to notice what was going on. Neither moved and the ball landed in between them to give Maqsood a lifeline.The punishment
Jacques Kallis was having an enjoyable ODI comeback – he took a catch at slip and had taken two wickets – but then his day was spoilt a touch. He chose the wrong angle and then went a little too full to the tailenders, and Anwar Ali gave him the treatment. First, he flicked Kallis over fine leg, then he drove through extra cover but the shot of that passage of play was the second cover drive. Kallis bowled a half-volley and Anwar leaned into it, pushed hard and sent the ball scurrying across the outfield. That was a shot a top-order batsman would have been proud of.The decision
When Umar Akmal issued an extended appeal for a stumping off Mohammad Hafeez’s bowling, third umpire Bruce Oxenford would have known he was in for a tough one. The replays showed Smith taking a giant stride forward as he tried to play on the leg side and missing. As the ball travelled towards Akmal, Smith turned back, and as Akmal caught and released, he raised his foot. Akmal went on to hit the stumps with his gloves after the ball had trickled down, and the big question was whether the exact instant Smith raised his foot was the one in which Akmal had broken the stumps with ball in hand. Oxenford decided it was but it was a call many will be glad they did not have to make.The maiden wicket
The match was poised perfectly at the halfway stage of South Africa’s innings. They still needed half the number of runs – 110 – and had Kallis in hand. Four balls later, that changed. Anwar, who had already contributed more than his share with the bat, struck the decisive blow with the ball. Kallis went forward to drive, the ball kept low and bounced off the bottom of the bat and onto the stumps. Kallis could hardly believe what had happened and stood at the crease in disbelief while Anwar whooped wildly in joy, having claimed the big man as his first ODI wicket.

ESPNcricinfo picks out five players to watch out for in this year’s Under-19 World Cup

Kanishkaa Balachandran13-Feb-2014Dominic Sibley holds the record for being the youngest first-class double-centurion in the County Championship•PA PhotosKuldeep Yadav (India)Kuldeep Yadav represents a rare commodity not just in Indian cricket, but in the world game – the left-arm chinaman bowler. The Kanpur-born Yadav hasn’t played yet for his state Uttar Pradesh in any format, but since July 2013 he has been a vital member of the Under-19 squad and is likely to be the lead spinner. He didn’t make the cut for the 2012 World Cup in Australia but the following year, in the same country, he made an impact by taking nine wickets in the Top End series, the most by an Indian bowler. He has been a consistent performer since that comeback, taking 32 wickets in 16 U-19 one-dayers with a best of 4 for 34 against Zimbabwe in Visakhapatnam. Yadav’s unorthodox style of bowling lends variety to the attack.Jake Doran (Australia)Jake Doran follows in the footsteps of his brother Luke, the left-arm spinner who represented Australia in the 2010 U-19 World Cup. Doran, the wicketkeeper batsman from New South Wales, was picked to represent Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI against the touring England team at Alice Springs in November 2013, while still a 16-year-old schoolboy. He scored 17 in the game. Doran, who is difficult to pin down because of his ability to be busy at the crease, caught Greg Chappell’s attention and reminded him of retired Australia batsman Michael Hussey. Doran was the highest-scorer for Australia in the Top End series last year, scoring 208 runs with two fifties. Like Hussey did with merit, Doran wants to succeed in the longest format. “So far for me I’ve always looked at the long form of the game, I’ve always tried to develop that and especially in the off season that was my main focus, my main goal to pursue that long-term format,” Doran said.Dominic Sibley (England)Another schoolboy-cricketer making waves Sibley, the right-hand batsman from Surrey, made history when he scored 242 in only his third first-class match, making him the youngest player to make a first-class double-century in the County Championship. He reached the landmark at The Oval against Yorkshire, off his 484th ball and eventually spent almost 10 hours at the crease. Sibley is a product of London’s Whitgift School, where he came in on a sports scholarship, and was in his final year when he was given time off to play for Surrey. He was earlier picked to play for England Under-19s in South Africa where he made a century in one of the Tests and finished the highest run-scorer for England in the one-dayers with 197 runs. For now, Geography, English and PE can wait. The World Cup is Sibley’s top priority.Clyde Fortuin (South Africa)The wicketkeeper batsman from Western Province was the leading run-scorer for South Africa in the quadrangular series in Visakhapatnam last year, scoring 260 runs with three fifties. He was also the top-scorer in the U-19 one-dayers against England with 291 runs. Fortuin earned a scholarship to the prestigious St Joseph’s College in Rondebosch. His U-19 coach Ray Jennings believes that in a few years’ time, Fortuin could be South Africa’s next wicketkeeping hope. For now, he would do well to emulate Quinton de Kock’s exploits from the previous World Cup. Not surprisingly, his idol is AB de Villiers.Mosaddek Hossain (Bangladesh)Mosaddek Hossain has already given a glimpse of his talent, during this season’s Dhaka Premier League. He played for 17-time champions Abahani, and was the highest scorer, with 435 runs at an average of 54.38 with a century and three fifties, till he had to leave to play the Under-19 matches. More than the runs, it was the dominant nature of his batting that caught the eye. Abahani were in big trouble from the start of the season but Mosaddek, only 18, was their main man. A middle-order batsman, he captained the U-19 side in the home series against Sri Lanka in April 2013. He performed well, scoring over 400 runs across formats and included a match-winning 98 in the third ODI. Mosaddek has been a potential star for Bangladesh for a while now. His role model as a captain is MS Dhoni while his favorite cricketer is Virat Kohli. His favorite Bangladesh player is Nasir Hossain, who happens to be only four years his senior.With inputs from Mohammad Isam

On the surface, a seamer’s paradise looks like the way to go against India, but with a few struggling batsmen in the team, a backfire cannot be ruled out

Abhishek Purohit13-Feb-2014New Zealand have rolled the dice. They wanted a green pitch, and a green pitch they have got at the Basin Reserve. They have left out the legspinner, and are playing three specialist fast bowlers and two seam-bowling allrounders. Brendon McCullum is an aggressive captain. He wants to go for 2-0, and he thinks the best way to go after this Indian team is through an all-pace attack on a grassy surface with the ball expected to seam, and also swing on an open ground.Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner have had a terrific home summer, having been denied only by rain and Darren Bravo in Dunedin in four Tests against West Indies and India. Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson are more than capable change bowlers. The ball swung around considerably, especially for Boult, in the previous Test at Basin Reserve, against West Indies, which lasted three days. McCullum says this pitch is greener and harder than the one for West Indies, and expects it to have pace, bounce and seam.The young group of Indian batsmen could possibly face their toughest examination so far on overseas soil, going by the composition of the opposition attack and the conditions. You would be wary of going into a Test on such a surface as a visiting side that has been winless in six games on this tour. Then again, wouldn’t you be wary if your batsmen have made 105 in their previous innings, like New Zealand did in Auckland? Ross Taylor made 41 out of those 105 in that madcap second innings at Eden Park. He is at home in Napier, expecting his second child, and New Zealand are fielding a debutant batsman instead at No. 4.New Zealand’s openers have had their spots in the side questioned even before this series began. Those questions became louder after the first Test. Peter Fulton made 13 and 5 at Eden Park, Hamish Rutherford 6 and a golden duck. Both could possibly be playing for their places at the Basin. Not exactly the frame of mind you want your openers to be in on such a pitch.McCullum is coming off a game-changing double hundred in the first Test, but his style of batting will always involve risk against the moving ball. Same with Anderson’s style. You can understand why New Zealand have a batsman as promising as Neesham coming down at No. 8, and not a fourth-specialist fast bowler.Given McCullum’s luck with the toss this tour – he has lost all six of them – he thinks New Zealand could well be batting next morning at the Basin. What gives him confidence is that New Zealand have been asked to do so three times this summer, twice by and once by India, and their first-innings scores have been 609, 441 and 503.”It [toss] is likely to go against me,” McCullum said. “Obviously we will look to have a bowl if we win the toss, but if we find ourselves batting, with Neesham at No. 8 as well, there is quite a bit of batting. We found ourselves in some precarious positions having to bat first so far in the summer, and we have come through those tests pretty well. Have found ourselves batting first on seamer-friendly wickets, something that we have had to overcome and we have done it really well so far…. but the opening batsmen, struggling for runs, might not be too thrilled•AFP”So getting big first-innings totals, and that allows us to obviously dictate the pace of the game and how we want to attack the opposition. It is going to be a challenge if we find ourselves batting first tomorrow. But we think we have had some success doing it and we should not be overawed by it, albeit it is going to be a tough proposition. We have one more big effort if we do find ourselves batting first on this wicket to make sure we get a competitive total in that first innings.”McCullum’s confidence is not misplaced, but there is also no doubting that this is a double-edged sword for New Zealand. They are sitting pretty with a 1-0 lead in a two-Test contest, and in trying to go flat out for 2-0, they are also giving the Indians a chance to square the series.Not that there is any chance of that happening if India bowl the way they did in the first innings at Eden Park. However, they went the other extreme in the second. MS Dhoni said he had not seen such a performance from his bowlers in the past three-four years. Zaheer Khan went even further, saying the last similar collective display he could recall was in 2002.You would normally expect something in between. A normal showing from the Indian seam attack will be where they release the ball, pitch it with discipline and expect some help from the pitch. Normal could work at the Basin. Dhoni said after Auckland that he preferred green pitches for his quick bowlers away from home, even if that made it challenging for his batsmen. The dice has been rolled by the hosts. Which way will it turn?

How a team meeting in Taunton, and an unsuccessful tour of England, set Australia on the path to their 5-0 sweep at home

Daniel Brettig07-Jan-20140:00

Sydney crowd celebrate Ashes triumph

In the history of Australian cricket, almost as many pivotal moments have taken place in hotels and meeting rooms as on cricket grounds. Thrilling play on the field has often evolved from moments of clarity and direction off it, from the Chennai hotel celebrations of Allan Border’s team following a one-run win over India in the opening match of the 1987 World Cup to the poolside summit called in Barbados by Mark Taylor ahead of the 1995 triumph in the Caribbean.For the current group, basking in the glory of a 5-0 Ashes sweep over an England team favoured to defeat them scarcely two months ago, one such moment arrived at the Castle Hotel in Taunton on June 24 last year. That morning in Bristol, the shocked tourists had been informed of Mickey Arthur’s sacking as coach, and that Darren Lehmann had been drafted in to replace him.By the time the team bus arrived in Somerset, Lehmann was ready to address the 17-man squad plus support staff, and in doing so offered a simple message about playing aggressive, Australian cricket, and keeping the game in balance with life. Most of all, he reminded the players that this was all meant to be fun. “This should be the time of your lives,” he told them. Minutes afterwards, Brad Haddin spoke. His words are worth recounting.”I’m pretty confident we’ll go in the right direction over the next two weeks,” he said at the time. “The bottom line is we’ve got to perform and I’m comfortable with where this group’s at. We’ve got the best cricketers in Australia here and I’m comfortable we can move forward with that. We as a group have to be accountable for where we want to take this team, and we’ll see how successful that is.”Success was not immediate, of course. A narrow defeat at Trent Bridge was followed by a vast one at Lord’s, the first of two series surrendered in the space of two matches. But critically, the team’s attitude had changed, a previously insular, cliquey and put-upon group of players working increasingly towards team-oriented goals while the coaches and backroom team planned and cajoled in equal measure. Enthusiasm for the task grew quickly, even if aptitude for it took longer.While it was Mitchell Johnson who crashed through the visitors in Australia, it was Ryan Harris who epitomised the determination of not to end the two series empty-handed•Getty ImagesTo witness England’s disintegration in Australia was to appreciate how critical it was that Australia had not done the same in the northern summer, returning home with a feeling of unity and gathering strength they would back-up with decisive action from Brisbane onwards. Looking back on the two campaigns, the captain Michael Clarke was adamant that victory at home would not have been possible without the regrouping that took place on the road.”I think it turned around in England,” he said. “Our attitude certainly changed, our work ethic I couldn’t fault the players in the UK, our preparation was outstanding, it was just unfortunate we couldn’t get over the line for a number of reasons. There was a bit of bad luck at times, a little bit of rain around, but we knew as a team we were heading in the right direction, so our preparation and hard work are the reasons we sit here with success today.”For Lehmann, the change in the team’s arc was driven by his efforts to give direction to players who had been training intently but without a sense of wider purpose. The direction he imparted included the fostering of an aggressive attitude on the pitch but a balanced one off it. Time to let off steam away from the game was encouraged, while team activities brought levity. The introduction of a joke of the day has been well-documented, but quiz nights orchestrated by the team doctor Peter Brukner also helped.”I just think direction was missing,” Lehmann said. “Direction is all they needed, as a playing group and support staff needed some direction for where we wanted to go and how we wanted to go about it. I was very pleased with the work ethic, they certainly would have worked hard under Mickey and all those things … it was how we wanted to go about the quality of training and who we were playing against.”I still say that’s one of the best tours I’ve ever been on, so from our point of view it was a learning tour if you like. You don’t want to lose 3-0, every game we play we’re trying to win, so that was disappointing. But in essence where we wanted to get to as a playing group on and off the ground it was an exceptional tour for us.”Though Brisbane was the signal instant on the field, as the team rumbled to a first Test victory since the first week of 2013, Lehmann and the players sensed the fruits of their new direction in Manchester, Durham and at The Oval. England may have been victorious at Chester-le-Street, but they were cornered in the other two matches, rain intervening at convenient times. Australia did not come home with a winning feeling, but they had been close enough to touch it.”I felt that dressing room feeling was there at Old Trafford and The Oval for the way we played there,” Lehmann said. “Even Durham, I know we harked back on it was a great learning curve to be 2 for 140 and not get the runs. The pleasing thing last week in Melbourne was chasing those runs and getting them two down. From our point of view learning to win was the big thing, and now it becomes a lot easier to do that, but obviously you’ve got to go forward as a Test team and we have to win away from home.”The last word on how Australia turned around their Ashes fortunes should probably go to Ryan Harris. While it was Mitchell Johnson who crashed through the visitors in Australia, it was Harris who more than anyone epitomised the determination of this team not to end the two series empty-handed. His skill and heart were never to be questioned, but no-one was more delighted to see something unified and lasting grow around him.”The group we’ve got, not just the players but the staff and everyone around us, is just amazing,” Harris said. “I’ve said that many times that I want to be a part of this team as long as I can. It’s an unbelievable team. We knew we were close in England. We just had things that didn’t go our way, other times we didn’t play well enough. I said when we got back from England that we’ve got to learn from what we do wrong, and we did that.”We had a couple of sessions even in this series where it didn’t go to plan. But we had players, like Hadds and the way he played in partnerships with Mitch and various other batsmen got us out of it. We play for each other. That’s the main thing. There’s no individuals in this team. That’s what we do. There’s no surprise we got the results we did.”It is cold and dank in Taunton right now, cricket packed up for some months yet in the dark recesses of a northern winter. But at the Castle Hotel, a few staff members can afford themselves a moment of reflection, for it was within their walls that the vital first seeds of Australia’s Ashes success were sown.

ESPNcricinfo handpicks from the archives a selection of articles on Graeme Smith’s rise as a leader

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-20142008
Older, wiser, leader
Graeme Smith has come a long way but the road ahead of him is steep still. By Peter Roebuck2012
Respect to Biff
Graeme Smith has been a figure easy to misunderstand. That should not hide the fact that he is among the toughest, most intelligent cricketers around – and a great batsman to boot. By Telford Vice2009
War hero Smith shadows the pain of defeat
Graeme Smith’s hobble back to the dressing room after being dismissed must rank as the most moving moment of the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy. It helped the local crowd overcome their great sadness to rise to applaud the valiance of the man who had battled the odds all evening. By Sambit Bal2012
The brash lad who grew up right
Graeme Smith, at 22, was an unexpected choice to lead South Africa. He learned the hard way but emerged through the tough times as an accomplished leader of men. By Firdose Moonda2012
Fourth-innings hero
Graeme Smith has handled the responsibilities of opening the batting and leading the team remarkably well over the last ten years. By S Rajesh2013
Deconstructing Graeme Smith
How has South Africa’s captain lasted so long with a technique that shouldn’t work in Test cricket? By Aakash Chopra2007
‘It is tough being accountable for decisions made for you’
South African cricket has never been short of issues and controversy – and never more so than over the last few months. Graeme Smith presents his side of the story in a forthright interview with Neil Manthorp

Plays of the day from the final of the Women’s World Twenty20 in Mirpur

Alan Gardner and Mohammad Isam in Mirpur06-Apr-2014The triple missHeather Knight had already lofted Erin Osborne straight down the ground for one boundary when she tried it again. Her drive was firmly struck but a little lower and Osborne missed the catch above her head by a whisker. Jess Jonassen made good ground from long-off but, in bending to collect the ball, managed to deflect it past the covering fielder, Jess Cameron, who had come across from long-on. Cameron threw herself full length after it but a third pair of hands was unable to prevent four.The first boundaryEngland doesn’t rely on sixes – not having hit any all tournament – but they were having a tough time even finding their first boundary in this final. It came at the end of the third over when Charlotte Edwards played the paddle sweep to Rene Ferrell. It found the gap, and went for four, but the shot looked mildly desperate.The catchEngland’s openers had been penned in by some precise lines but Edwards and Sarah Taylor were still together as the end of the Powerplay neared. Sarah Coyte was bowling the sixth over when Edwards got under a drive, the bat turning slightly as the ball looped towards mid-on. Momentarily it looked as if the lack of power would save her, only for Jess Cameron to swoop to her left and take the ball inches above the ground.The returnErin Osborne had gone for 13 runs in her first over but when Meg Lanning brought her back, she repaid the faith with top scorer Heather Knight’s wicket in the 13th over of the innings. But the wicket was more down to Ellyse Perry’s catch at the midwicket boundary, as it was hit very hard and low.The statement of intentAustralia’s predilection for hitting sixes was in stark contrast to the approach favoured by England. Chasing a small target, and aware that Anya Shrubsole would be giving away little at one end, Jonassen decided to take on Danielle Hazell in the second over. Hazell’s first ball was dumped over long-on (Australia’s 15th six and counting), the third speared through point and the sixth bullied in front of square. Not bad for an ersatz opener.

Also, the oldest man to score an ODI century on debut, four innings on the same day, poor double-centurions, and the rugby relative

Steven Lynch25-Mar-2014In the Test in which Jim Laker took 19 wickets, obviously only two bowlers took wickets for England. Are there any other instances of two bowlers sharing all 20 wickets in a match? asked Jonathan Bell from England

The Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1956, in which Jim Laker took 19 for 90 and Tony Lock 1 for 106, was the fourth of only six instances in Tests where two bowlers shared all 20 opposition wickets. The same Australian side was involved in another case less than three months later: on their way home they played a Test in Karachi, in which Fazal Mahmood took 13 for 114 and Khan Mohammad 7 for 112 for Pakistan. The only instance in nearly 1700 matches since then came at Lord’s in 1972, when Bob Massie – making his Test debut for Australia – took 16 for 137, and Dennis Lillee 4 for 140. The first such case was in 1901-02, when Monty Noble (13 for 77) and Hugh Trumble (7 for 87) shared all England’s wickets in the second Test in Melbourne. In the first Test of the 1909 Ashes series, at Edgbaston, Colin Blythe took 11 for 102 and George Hirst 9 for 86 for England, while a few months later in Johannesburg the feat was achieved against England, by the South African legspinners Ernie Vogler (12 for 181) and Aubrey Faulkner (8 for 160).What’s the highest score in a Twenty20 international by the wicketkeeper? asked Jewel Ahmed from India

The only wicketkeeper to score a century in T20 internationals so far is Brendon McCullum, whose 123 for New Zealand against Bangladesh in Pallekele in the 2012 World T20 came in a match in which he also kept wicket. Actually McCullum currently has the three highest T20 scores by a wicketkeeper – he also made 91 against India in Chennai in September 2012, and 81 not out against Zimbabwe in Harare in October 2011. Next comes Kumar Sangakkara, with 78 for Sri Lanka against India in Nagpur in December 2009, just ahead of Mohammad Shahzad’s 77 for Afghanistan v Ireland in Dubai in March 2012. McCullum’s other T20 century – 116 not out in a tie against Australia in Christchurch in February 2010 – came in a match in which Gareth Hopkins kept wicket.Was Michael Lumb the oldest man to score a century in his first one-day international? asked Savo Ceprnich from South Africa

Michael Lumb was 34 years 16 days old when he scored 106 on ODI debut for England against West Indies in Antigua last month. He was only the ninth man ever to score a hundred in his first one-day international, and the second for England after Dennis Amiss, against Australia at Old Trafford in 1972. Amiss was 29 then, which made him the previous-oldest debut centurion. The youngest was 18-year-old Saleem Elahi for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Gujranwala in September 1995. For the full list of batsmen who scored hundreds on ODI debut, click here.Four players were older than Lumb when they made their first one-day hundreds for England (but not on their debut): Clive Radley and Nasser Hussain were also 34, Wayne Larkins 35, and Geoff Boycott 39.The 2011-12 Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia saw part of all four innings being played on the same day. How often has this happened? asked Harshvardhan from India

That Test at Newlands – in which Australia were rolled for 47 in their second innings, which actually represented quite a recovery from 21 for 9 – was only the third instance of a day’s play in a Test containing part of all four innings. Australia had started the second day on 214 for 8; they made it to 284 before bowling South Africa out for 96. Then came Australia’s sensational collapse, and South Africa had made 81 for 1 by the end of a day in which 23 wickets fell. The first such instance was at Lord’s in 2000, when the second day started with the one ball required to wrap up West Indies’ first innings for 267. After England limped to 134 all out, West Indies were demolished for 54, and there was just time for England to go in again (they were 0 for 0 in their second innings at the close). It happened again on a rain-affected pitch in Hamilton in 2002-03. After the first day was washed out, India reached 92 for 8 after a late start on the second. On the third day they made it to 99, then bowled New Zealand out for 94. India then made 154, and New Zealand had reached 24 for 0 in their second innings by the close.I once heard that Faoud Bacchus has the lowest average of those making a 250 in Tests. Now Brendon McCullum has made a triple-century, is he the man with the lowest average having made 300? asked Andrew Shirley from the UK

The West Indian batsman Faoud Bacchus, who averaged only 26.06 in Tests despite scoring 250 against India in Kanpur in 1978-79, did hold that particular record for a time – but he was beaten, if that’s the right word, by Wasim Akram – his overall Test average was 22.64, notwithstanding an innings of 257 not out against Zimbabwe in Sheikhupura in 1996-97. Brendon McCullum currently averages 38.09 in Tests, fractionally the lowest of any of the 24 triple-centurions, although he does have the chance to slip past England’s Andy Sandham – the only other man in the thirties, with 38.21 – if he continues his current fine form. The lowest average by anyone with a Test double-century is Jason Gillespie’s 18.73.Someone told me Allan Lamb’s brother-in-law captained England at rugby – is this true? asked Rajiv Radhakrishnan via Facebook

I don’t think it is true: according to Allan Lamb’s autobiography, his wife Lindsay had one sister and one brother, Richard Bennett, who took over the running of the family farm in South Africa when their father died. I’ve been trying to think of a different combination of relations, without much luck: the best I can do on this particular front is the Old brothers, Chris and Alan, who once played Test cricket and rugby union for England on the same day.(Added March 25): After I wrote this, another ardent Facebooker, Pete Church, reminded me there was another way of acquiring a brother-in-law! Allan Lamb has two sisters – one of whom, Brenda, married Tony Bucknall, who won ten rugby caps for England between 1969 and 1971. He captained them in one but lost, maintaining the family’s 0% success rate in that regard!