In becoming the first black South African to score a Test century, Temba Bavuma has provided his generation with a long-awaited role model

Firdose Moonda at Newlands05-Jan-2016In the stands, they stood up to applaud. In the president’s suite, they stood up to applaud. On the field, they were standing up already but they applauded. Black, white, young, old, fan, friend, even foe, they all applauded. All of cricket applauded.Temba Bavuma is the first black African batsman to play for this country, 17 years after Makhaya Ntini became the first black African cricketer to do likewise. Since then only Mfuneko Ngam, Monde Zondeki, Lonwabo Tsotsobe (all bowlers) and Thami Tsolekile (wicket-keeper) have worn the whites. After that, Kagiso Rabada, also a bowler, was capped. None of this would be significant were it not for South Africa’s segregated past.Racial discrimination was the norm from the moment the country was colonised in 1652 until democracy arrived in 1994 and its effects are still being felt. To understand them fully requires more than a cricket story on a day of celebration. However, let’s simplify by saying that 21 years have not been enough to erase the exclusionary policies of the past. They were simply too divisive.Just think of it like this. Claremont, the suburb in which the Newlands stadium is situated, was designated as a whites-only area. The best resources were reserved for them. Ten kilometres away is Langa, where black Africans lived. They were confined to the fringes of privilege and denied even a peep at prestige. This was where Temba Bavuma was born in 1990, the year in which Nelson Mandela was released from prison and change began to arrive. Bavuma and his peers, however, remained products of an unfair system, albeit one which was soon theirs to start putting right.Bavuma would likely have had that impressed on him at a young age. His father, Vuyo, was a journalist*. Shortly after that, Bavuma was attending junior school at the South African College Schools (SACS), one of oldest institutions in the country and the alma mater of Peter Kirsten. He then moved to Johannesburg, where he went to St Davids, another prestigious institute.Temba Bavuma reaches his century•AFPAll this already makes Bavuma different to the majority of young South Africans for whom places like SACS and St Davids remain inaccessible. But it is at these schools where the seed of what we call transformation was planted, especially when it came to sports considered the domain of the elite.The best rugby and cricket facilities were enjoyed by the white minority and, if black cricketers were to be given a fair chance to compete, they would need to be let in to those places. Bavuma was one of those who was. His rise followed a traditional route: he played schools cricket and age-group cricket and then realised he could turn the sport into a career. “I was about 17 or 18 when I made the SA Schools side and then I got the realisation that cricket could be more than a passion,” Bavuma said.Fitting then, that when he raised his bat at Newlands the only thing he would have seen, heard and felt was passion. There was Ntini on the commentators balcony passing on a baton; there was an elderly white couple in the stands, who would have known the South Africa before Bavuma was born; there was his father in the president’s suite, a place he would not have been allowed near in the bad old days, and there were the KFC kids on the boundary rope from the same township Bavuma was brought up in. All of them were smiling, most of them were crying too. What Bavuma achieved was big. Very, very big. Bigger than Bavuma may have thought was possible when he walked out to bat in the second session.South Africa were wobbling a bit because their captain had just been dismissed. Three balls later, Faf du Plessis was gone and three overs after that Quinton de Kock was too. Suddenly, from finding himself with the senior core, Bavuma had been left with the tail. All he had managed by then was one crisp drive and he may have feared there was not enough time left to do more.He seemed in a hurry when he flicked Ben Stokes to fine leg for his second boundary and in an even bigger hurry when he drove loosely and ended up with a Chinese cut. Stokes was not impressed and told him, in an exchange picked up by the stump mic, exactly what he thought of his abilities. The next ball Bavuma faced from Stokes, he dispatched over midwicket. No words needed.The truth was that Stokes was not the only one who thought that. When Bavuma was first selected, with a first-class average under 40, there were many doubters. He was labelled a quota player. He forced a small rethink when he accepted the challenge of opening in India after Stiaan van Zyl was given a break and gave a solid account of himself as a cricketer with maturity, poise and good temperament.But after he failed in Durban, and especially after the way he was out in the second innings when he danced down the wicket and was stumped, he was back to being considered an unfair beneficiary of Cricket South Africa’s commitment to change.Bavuma’s cover-driving was especially assured•Getty ImagesIn this match, he could well have been left out. With Kagiso Rabada in the XI because of the injury to Dale Steyn, the black African quota was filled and, with JP Duminy in the squad too, their number of players of colour was also fine. However, the selectors wanted to give Bavuma a fair chance. Thank goodness they did. Yes, in some ways Bavuma is a transformation selection but that is the point of the policy: to find black African players who are good enough and to give them opportunities.It means they may be under pressure to take those opportunities more than others but it also means the ones that come through will have survived a stern examination of character. For Bavuma, a lot of that came in his duel with Stokes, who was vocally backed up by an England team with the scent of the ascendancy back in their nostrils. “I couldn’t hear everything he was saying but the more he kept speaking, the more it fired me to knuckle down,” he said. And that is exactly what he did.Bavuma was strong on the drive and the pull. He scored all around the ground and he scored quickly. He played for the team and he played for millions of South Africans who were willing him on to make history. “When I walk on the field, it’s not just me walking on the field,” he said. “I understand the significance. It’s about being a role model and an inspiration to kids, especially black African kids.”When he was on 77, he almost gave it away. Stuart Broad tested him with a spell of legcutters but Jonny Bairstow could not hold on to the one edge that carried. “It felt like I was on nought again. Stuart Broad was bowling well and I thought to myself if I don’t get a milestone, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be,” Bavuma said. It was. It just took him another 46 balls.Bavuma handled that period conservatively and then, on 96 and with only one slip in his place, he got a thick edge down to third man. And the rest …”There was a lot of emotion,” he said.His first gesture was to the dressing room. Then to the president’s suite. Then to everyone. Rabada hung back and let Bavuma soak it in. Then he joined him. The entire England team, Stokes included, applauded. Later, Stokes was the first to say well batted as Bavuma walked off.There are plenty of theories about why there have been so many more black African bowlers than batsman, ranging from the different equipment requirements to the brazen fact that young black bowlers had a role model in Ntini but no-one similar in batsman form. If the latter is true, now they have Bavuma. And for that, South Africa applauds.*

England appear no nearer to finding a long-term partner for Alastair Cook but this was always likely to be a tough series for openers and, given the endless merry-go-round, it could be worth investing more time in Alex Hales

George Dobell in Centurion23-Jan-2016It is one of the oddities of England’s cricket of late that, despite having a template for something approaching the perfect opening batsman in Alastair Cook, they persist with the theory that his opening partner should be completely different.Cook’s virtues – his patience, his compact technique – were in evidence here. In circumstances in which England sorely needed the solidity he offers, he provided a masterclass in opening the batting: he left well; he retained concentration and, if the bowler dropped short or over pitched, he punished them. He will resume on Sunday requiring 50 more runs to become the first England player to reach 10,000 in Tests.But England continue to search for the right partner for him. Alex Hales, the eighth man to try since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, is now averaging 19.28 in this series. His dismissal here, half forward and slicing a drive to point, was worryingly familiar: it is now five times in seven Test innings that he has lost his wicket pushing at a ball outside off stump. It is a mode of dismissal that speaks of poor footwork and fragility out off stump. Those are serious issues for a Test opener.Hales, though, has been encouraged to be positive. Like Adam Lyth before him, he is a naturally aggressive player who has built his reputation largely upon his strokeplay. They might be termed England’s answer to David Warner or Virender Sehwag.Only they aren’t as good. So they have to learn to play within their limitations which means learning, like Cook, to leave the ball outside off stump with far greater confidence. To see Hales dismissed twice in the warm-up games leaving straight balls was to see a man who was not secure in the location of his off stump. And if that is the case, it is almost impossible to make it as a Test opener.Like all who preceded him in the role of Cook’s partner, Hales is a fine player. He has, in recent times, scored big centuries against arguably the two best attacks (Yorkshire and Warwickshire) in county cricket and he has already recorded centuries for England in T20 and ODI cricket. Whatever happens here, he has a future in the white-ball game.It is true, too, that if England persist with him for long enough, he will score runs. The issue is whether he will score runs consistently enough to make a success of the role of opening batsman. Only once in his seven innings has he batted for two hours – the length of a normal session – and that came on flat pitch at Cape Town on which both sides made more than 600.That should not surprise us hugely. Sixty percent of his first-class innings in 2015 were ended before he reached 25. That compares to 45% for Nick Compton and 38% for Michael Carberry. He is a dangerous, elegant cricketer. But he has always been hit or miss and asking him to step up to a higher level and discover consistency is unrealistic.That does not mean he should necessarily be dropped. England have tried so many options at the top of the order and, until either Tom Abell or Daniel Bell-Drummond are ready, there are no obvious options that have not already been tried.Two of a kind? England seem intent on a more attacking opener alongside Alastair Cook, but the results have not been good•Getty ImagesLyth and Sam Robson – both of whom could return – were given seven Tests each to make the role their own. The difference with them was that they scored centuries in their second Tests; Robson against Sri Lanka and Lyth against New Zealand. Perfectly reasonably, that brought them an extended run in the side.Hales made the admirable decision to forgo a chance of IPL riches to give himself the best chance of making a success of the role of Test opener. He will, therefore, play for Nottinghamshire in the opening weeks of the season – and opening at Trent Bridge in April is desperately tough – rather than entering into the IPL auction. If he does well, there is no reason England will not select him for the first Test against Sri Lanka.He has not looked completely out of his depth, by any means. Even in this innings, he followed a pleasing cut with a beautiful drive off the back foot and his defence on off stump has looked good. It’s just he keeps being drawn into those pushes outside off stump. If he can improve that, he may yet have a future at this level.It says something for England’s plight in this regard that only three opening batsmen have had a lower average in a completed series (with a minimum of six innings) for England since 2000 than Hales. All of them – Moeen Ali, Jonathan Trott and Adam Lyth – played in 2015 and were Hales’ immediate predecessors. Clearly, county cricket is not producing the quality of opening batsmen it once did. The likes of Martin Moxon, Bill Athey, Chris Broad or Kim Barnett – men who enjoyed only brief international careers – might be considered an automatic selection had they been playing now.England’s opening issue is not their only trouble. By the end of the South Africa innings, Jonny Bairstow had the unwelcome distinction of having missed chances off all three centurions. If a Test wicketkeeper has ever done that before, it is unlikely they played the next game.None of the chances were especially simple. But one of the characteristics of the best players is that they make the tricky appear straightforward. Bairstow has the opposite characteristic in his keeping. His footwork is so far off the pace that he makes most catches appear harder than they might.”We’ll look back on this game and realise we let them off the hook massively,” Ben Stokes said at the end of the second day. “We were the ones that let them get to the big score.”You can’t give a player like Amla chances. He really made us pay for the fact that we dropped a catch. We’ve got to take those chances. Good players make you pay and they certainly have in this innings.”Bairstow’s batting has been excellent; his hard work and good intentions cannot be doubted. But he is, right now, some way below the standard required for this level and judging by the reaction of some of his team-mates during the day’s play, the level of frustration is growing. The place for learning these skills is county cricket; not a Test series against a side that began the series as world No. 1.”It’s just a case putting it behind you and making sure you take the next one,” Stokes said. “But unfortunately this innings Jonny didn’t manage to take the chances. But on another day he could possibly and it would be a completely different ball game.”There’s no grudges held but at the same time there’s no going up and saying ‘catch the next one’ because that’s just a cliché thing to say.”It may be that the solution to both England’s most pressing issues – their keeping and their top-order batting – can be combined. If Compton, who was dismissed here by a ball that kept impossibly low, were to be promoted to open the batting and Bairstow were promoted to No.5, there could yet be room for a more assured keeper.Ben Foakes, who has the ability to develop into a decent batsman, might be the long-term option but Surrey really need to be persuaded to do the right thing by England cricket and hand him the gloves as much as possible as soon as possible. It is worth noting that, in the five innings in which he kept in the County Championship last year, he completed three stumpings. Gary Wilson, who kept in 23 innings, completed one.

From acing an age-group trial after an uncomfortable three-day boat journey, this talented allrounder has come a long way to play for a Fiji Under-19 side that will debut in big-stage cricket on Wednesday

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong26-Jan-2016Where Peni Vuniwaqa comes from, one of 60 tiny islands in the southern Pacific, not playing cricket is frowned upon. According to a rough estimate, nine out of ten cricketers who have played for Fiji are from Lau Island, where the game is part of the island’s culture.Vuniwaqa hails from one of the island villages in Lau, which is 156.8 nautical miles (291 km) from Fiji’s main island, Viti Levu. Since there is no direct boat to the Lau archipelago, it takes about three days for a one-way trip to the country’s capital Suva.Two years ago, Vuniwaqa heard of an age-group trial in the capital and was desperate to make it in time. His parents however were reluctant to let him go. They thought that Vuniwaqa wouldn’t make the cut, and there was also the concern of letting their 16-year-old take on a treacherous journey. Apparently, Vuniwaqa had to sleep in the toilet one of those nights on the boat. But he made it to Suva in time, and aced the trial. He let everyone know in Fiji’s cricket circles that he is an asset. He bats in the middle order, bowls seam and according to his coach Shane Jurgensen is a “gun fielder”.Vuniwaqa picked up cricket from his village in Lau where cricket supercedes rugby as the primary sport, unlike the rest of country. Vuniwaqa preferred cricket over rugby because of low chances of injury in the sport. His parents are now ecstatic that he got into the Under-19 team to play in the World Cup. And their son is one of the important members of the team that is Fiji’s first representative side at a major cricket event.Vuniwaqa comes across a shy kid but is determined to do well. When asked if he knew that he could make it in the trials after travelling with such difficulty, he nods a yes. When asked if he wants to keep playing cricket beyond the Under-19s, the nod is rapid.According to Henry Elder, Fiji’s strength and conditioning coach, the island Vuniwaqa comes from is a sporting anomaly in Fiji. He says the interest in cricket was infused here by former Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.Elder says someone like Vuniwaqa doesn’t get to see much footage of cricket except when there’s a major cricket series or tournament in Australia, England or New Zealand, which is sometimes broadcast in Fiji. When the side travelled to New Zealand last year to play in the 2015 East Asia Pacific Under-19 Trophy, many players were getting on an airplane for the first time.Samuel Saunokonoko though was not one of them. He plays grade cricket in Auckland and is among five players in the side who are not from Fiji but have a Fijian connection through a parent. He took to the game by watching his father and elder brothers play.Vuniwaqa and Saunokonoko are being overseen by Jurgensen, who is in charge of the entire cricketing spectrum in Fiji. The Under-19s seem to be his passion project, as he takes on a fatherly role apart from teaching them the nitty-gritty of playing on Bangladesh pitches. But he says, the main focus is to keep the fun element in all his training as Fijians like to do things with a smile. Against England on Wednesday, Fiji’s Under-19 side will enter uncharted territory, though for someone like Vuniwaqa, that’s the everyday reality of dealing with the Koro Sea.

New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott is 37 today. His life over the last few years has been worth making a movie about

Sidharth Monga21-Mar-2016Ian Smith on air can be parochial. He can use the word “we” for New Zealand. He is not always the sharpest with analysis of opposition players. But to capture a crowd’s excitement in New Zealand, to truly describe what a moment means to New Zealand, Smith is just the right man. He is losing his voice at the end of an exciting, emotion-filled night, but finds the correct words.Grant Elliott was a South African once. He is a New Zealander now. At the age of 35, he would have retired had he not been picked for this World Cup. He has now played perhaps the most important shot in the history of New Zealand cricket. He has hit Dale Steyn for six over long-on in a tense chase to take New Zealand through to the World Cup final. He has provided closure for years of torment after the 1992 World Cup semi-final defeat at the same iconic venue, Eden Park. Closure for Martin Crowe, fighting cancer and just coming to terms with his decision to not field in order to save his hamstring for the 1992 final, whereupon Pakistan made short work of a stiff target. Closure, perhaps, for John Wright, the acting captain in Crowe’s absence that day. Closure for all the fans who witnessed that semi-final defeat and three more after that.Elliott, to some a man who moved from South Africa just so he could play for lesser-competitive New Zealand, a mercenary of sorts, has just beaten the country of his birth. He has broken their hearts, reduced them to tears. He was not in the 19-man New Zealand party that took on tour of the MCG in October 2014 to familiarise themselves with the ground because only seven of them had played there previously, and their only match there in the 2015 World Cup would be the final. It can be intimidating for veterans at the MCG, let alone first-timers, so New Zealand wanted to get a feel of it beforehand.Elliott sent Brendon McCullum an angry text when he wasn’t taken to the G. He told the selectors he was “very disappointed”. He has now carried the whole team to the MCG. There should be songs written about this man. Movies should be made. Everybody who made the genius move to pick Elliott, who had not played an ODI in 14 months, should have their brains mapped for the good of future generations.Elliott is watching cartoons with his sons at 6am the next morning.This is a classy exchange between a 24-year allrounder, the man for the future, who has lost out to the man for now. The announcement of Elliott’s selection for the World Cup at the cost of Neesham comes a day after the Basin Reserve Test, where Neesham dismissed Kumar Sangakkara for 203 – one of his three wickets in New Zealand’s win. In eight Tests he averages 43.28 with the bat and his 11 wickets have cost him 33 each. In 16 ODIs he has taken 18 wickets at an average of 32. Yet it is perhaps his batting, with an average of 15, that seems to have gone against him. It is still a big surprise because Corey Anderson and Neesham have been the allrounders earmarked for great things over the last year.

“Cricket doesn’t really define me as a person. I don’t want to be defined as a cricketer. Just being a good, honest human being. Treating people the way people want to be treated. You are not going to be a cricketer your whole life”

A reader’s comment on ESPNcricinfo says: “Leaving Neesham out I cannot understand. He averaged over 80 in the recent test series, and contributed well with the ball – I would argue he is equal to Elliot with the ball, and far superior with the bat. That decision is almost impossible to understand, but hey, they obviously see something I don’t.”You have to ask Elliott if they told him what they saw in him. Something not many did. “Ross [Taylor] is playing well, Kane [Williamson] is playing well, Brendon [McCullum] is playing well,” Elliott says. “Then we had the likes of Neesham and Corey Anderson. They are both very good allrounders. I guess I was forgotten about. Then I showed some form leading into the World Cup… Neesham, I think he was a bit injured. They needed someone who could play the dual role, but they needed someone with experience in the middle. I was fortunate enough to get that No. 5 spot”Brendon going up the order – that changed things. Then they were looking for someone who was 70% batter, and his bowling was a bonus. Fortunately I was someone… I don’t think it was between me and Jimmy at all. It was either going to be a pure batter or myself, who offered a little bit with the ball. I was just lucky, with Corey at six as well.”In the 50-over Ford Trophy, Elliott had scored 193 and taken six wickets in four matches. In Wellington’s successful campaign in the domestic T20s, he had scored 160 runs at a strike rate of 152, and had taken more than a wicket per match. To him, being picked was not as unexpected as it was for those on the outside.Yet these were tough days. Playing domestic cricket in New Zealand is not enough financially, so Elliott doubled up as a business development manager. “I worked with a lot of women who didn’t really know that much cricket. Some of the guys in the office would [recognise me and] come up and go, ‘Well batted yesterday.’ Girls didn’t know what was going on. Next day they would go, ‘I heard you did really well.'”Other big decisions had to be made. “I gave up four-day cricket. I just played white-ball cricket. Long, long days, you know. Waking up at six, going to the gym, getting your fitness in before you go to work. Then go to training and back to work again. I enjoyed it.”This is a joke from Neesham when he broke his jandals and had to walk barefoot. It’s hard not to feel for him, hard not to see a twinge of disappointment even if he means the best for the team and Elliott. It makes for a fascinating relationship between these two professionals. They both want to do well, they both want to play the World Cup, and they also feel for each other. I ask Elliott what his relationship with Neesham is like.Grant Elliott made a match-winning 75 not out in the 2009 Champions Trophy semi-final, batting with a broken thumb•AFP”He is a team-mate that I played with in the past,” Elliott says. “We have got such a good environment in this team. Everyone looks out for each other. Some days you are on the good side of a selection, other days you are on the poor side of a selection. Everybody felt for Jimmy. He was playing good cricket leading up to that. You look at someone like Matt Henry, feels like he is in the form of his life, but he is not here [at the World T20]. Works in roundabouts. The important thing in our team is, we show the compassion when there are guys left out.”Talking to Elliott, you get the sense that his experience was what got him his place in the World Cup. It was going to be team strategy to go hard at the top, both with the bat and the ball. They needed an anchor in the middle. Someone who could bowl five overs under pressure after the strike bowlers were bowled out fairly early. Someone who could bat out the innings after the big hitters were out early. Someone with a calm head under pressure. Someone who had done it before.Champions Trophy semi-final, 2009
New Zealand are 71 for 3 chasing Pakistan’s 233 on an unusually cracked Wanderers pitch. The ball is turning for Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal. It is reversing for Naved-ul-Hasan. Elliott walks in with a broken thumb. This is a thin batting line-up, with Daniel Vettori in at No. 6. Elliott absorbs all the pressure, and the pain, and takes New Zealand to the final.Elliott never gets too high or too low on cricket. After the Champions Trophy heroics – an innings when he was “still proving myself as a player” – Elliott had to let the thumb heal. He had to miss the tour to the UAE, which gave Scott Styris a comeback, and boom, Elliott’s next match for New Zealand came ten months later.”It happened in my career a lot,” Elliott says. “There was a lot of juggling around. I was called back in in 2013, I guess. I hadn’t played in 18 months or two years, and then called back to play against South Africa, and we won that series. I batted at four. Ross was not there. Suddenly I played against England and batted at five. I almost made that No. 5 position my own. Then Brendon gave up the gloves and took up the No. 5 position. There was no place for me in the team with [Luke] Ronchi coming in, so I guess in a way I was then next batter in.”Then, of course, come Anderson and Neesham, and Elliott is forgotten again. There is a bit of luck involved.Neesham now has a team that cares. Mike Sandle, the team manager, is known to be great in handling these issues. Mike Hesson, the coach, has forged a great relationship with the players. Tim Southee and Trent Boult, their two best quicks, are sitting out matches in the World T20 but also enjoying their time with the squad. Then there’s Henry, who Elliott mentioned. Brendon McCullum was a great leader of men, and he has been followed seamlessly by Kane Williamson. When Elliott was picked and dropped and overlooked all those times, there was nobody calling him up and keeping him motivated.

“They were looking for someone who was 70% batter, and his bowling was a bonus. Fortunately I was someone… I don’t think it was between me and Jimmy at all”Elliott on being picked for the 2015 World Cup over Neesham

“The culture has changed since,” Elliott says. “The environment has changed. The guys care about each other a lot more. Maybe I was not a big member of the team as well. But I think we went through a lot of changes through those years. We went through five different coaches. Now we have got stability and the same coach over a number of years. Same support staff.”One of those five coaches was John Buchanan, who says in the middle of the 2015 World Cup, after New Zealand have beaten Australia in a league match: “There is a young bloke sitting on the sideline in [Tom] Latham, who possibly might add something to the side at the moment. They’ve got Elliott occupying that position, who, with the one ball [bowled off Mitchell Starc], you looked at him, you wondered why he was in the side.”You can’t rely on cricket alone. There is a bit of luck involved. You can spend years qualifying to play for a country and then end up under a coach who doesn’t quite see your utility. You can break your thumb when playing the innings of your life. You can get a leadership who give you a fresh lease of life when you are about to give up.Elliott turned 37 today. He sounds like an old soul. He says he plays cricket because it reminds him of his childhood days. He doesn’t need cricket to define him. Yet, or perhaps because of it, he plays well under pressure.”At the end of the day, cricket is just a game,” he says. “You are hitting a leather ball around the field. It’s meant to be fun. The reason why you started playing it was because it was fun. You cannot lose sight of that core reason why you started playing. It is very easy for us professional cricketers to lose sight of that because of the pressures we are under, financial benefits and all that.”For me, the worst-case scenario is: I don’t play cricket, I go get a job and probably see my family a little more. It is not the be-all and end-all. You have to play like you don’t care, but you have to care a lot.”Cricket doesn’t really define me as a person. I don’t want to be defined as a cricketer. Just being a good, honest human being. Treating people the way people want to be treated. You are not going to be a cricketer your whole life. We have the opportunity as cricketers to make a name for ourselves, but then actually make a difference, by helping charities or using your name to be able to do some good stuff, as you have seen with guys like Steve Waugh.”You are not going to be a cricketer your whole life. Perhaps at the end of this World T20, where Elliott knows his role is to make an impact in 12 balls, both with the bat and the ball, he might stop being an international cricketer.New Zealand are in India’s group, which has meant playing on abrasive, turning pitches, where Elliott’s cutters become important. New Zealand already have a foot in the semi-finals with two wins out of two, against India and Australia. “It would be awesome to finish your career on a real high,” Elliott says. “If you don’t believe you can win, you shouldn’t be here anyway. I will still look to play T20 cricket around the world if I can. Try and mix that with work and some interests outside of the game.”The times of our lives
Through the 2015 World Cup, McCullum called it “the greatest time of our lives”. For a long time now they have been preparing for this semi-final clash. They are going back to the site of the biggest heartbreak in New Zealand cricket history. They have known for long that they will be here if they do well in this World Cup. Somehow they have to play like they don’t care, but have to care a lot. McCullum has written a letter asking companies to give their employees a day off. What has the team been thinking over the last three days? Over the last month and a half? Over the last year? Have they contemplated failure amid the greatest time of their lives?”The reason why you started playing it was because it was fun. You cannot lose sight of that core reason why you started playing”•Getty ImagesThe national anthem plays to a full Eden Park. Elliott looks up and sees his son singing it. The four-year-old likes to set his Lego men up as a cricket team and sing the national anthem when at home. Today he is at Eden Park, which is “pretty cool”. It isn’t quite as cool once the match starts. Ronchi drops a catch in the second over. Boult is slow off the mark, and another chance goes begging in the next over. There are nerves all around. Southee goes for 55 in his nine overs, Anderson for 72 in his six. AB de Villiers and the rest have brutalised attacks in the last ten overs of this World Cup, but rain arrives at the right time and keeps the target down to 298 in 43 overs.New Zealand are off to a crazy start through McCullum’s 59 off 26, but nervous batting and running follow. South Africa tighten the screws. The greatest time of their lives is fast coming to an end. Elliott walks in at 128 for 3. Grant “you wondered why he was in the side” Elliott. Who comes out to play because it reminds him of his childhood days. New Zealand slip to 149 for 4, and then, after a partnership with Anderson, two wickets fall in 14 balls. Still remind you of your childhood?Elliott says all sorts of thoughts ran through his mind there. It was okay when he was starting out, chipping over cover for fun, taking calculated risks when playing pick-up shots to the leg side to keep the asking rate in check. Towards the end, though, he thinks he is the top scorer, a South African immigrant, at 78 not out. Picked ahead of an allrounder being groomed for a year. Bagged by a former coach in public. “If we hadn’t won it, that would have hung with me for the rest of my life.”For a man who will be watching cartoons with his boys at six o’clock the next morning, this is a big admission of pressure. It has come down to five off two balls. Elliott is on strike. He and Vettori have decided they are not running a bye if Elliott misses. Elliott knows a tie is enough for his side to go through. He knows he is going to go after the next ball. He clears his mind and watches the ball. Easy as. “You are conditioned to do that as cricketers.”He rocks back expecting a yorker that he can get under, but Dale Steyn bowls length, and Elliott sends it flying over long-on. He knows he has nailed this, he knows it before anyone else in the world, but for a second, under the sharp Eden Park lights, he makes sure it’s going over, and then raises his arms and roars.”I was calm a little bit because I thought, if I don’t do it, then maybe Tim Southee can come and do it. It was one of those things. There is a lot of luck in this game. We do practise hard for it, but you need a little luck.”Elliott consoles Steyn during his moment, during, perhaps, New Zealand’s greatest moment. He acknowledges luck even in that last shot. There really should be a song written about this man. Ironically, Neesham has come the closest to writing one, on Twitter:”

Graeme Fowler’s autobiography talks sensitively and unflinchingly about his battles with depression

Alan Gardner15-May-2016You might remember Graeme Fowler as the Lancashire opener who made a double-hundred on England’s 1984-85 tour of India, his last Test series. Perhaps he is familiar as the eccentric mentor to dozens of professional cricketers – including former England captain Andrew Strauss – during his time in charge of Durham University’s centre of excellence. Maybe you’ve come across him as the prolific @GFoxyFowler on Twitter, where one of his three favourite topics is “tweeting rubbish”.All of these areas are covered in Fowler’s autobiography, , but its most compelling passages concern his battle with the depression that afflicted him suddenly, long after his playing days were over. Now approaching 60, Fowler has become a passionate and vocal advocate for mental health issues, working with the Professional Cricketers’ Association in England to help raise awareness within the game; this book provides lessons on the subject that ought to benefit wider society.Fowler had been retired for a decade and was in charge of the highly regarded system for bringing through players at Durham – which provided the template for centres of excellence at five other UK universities – when he was first diagnosed with clinical depression, in 2004. He has learned to cope by being open about it, coming up with a system to let others know how he is feeling, and characterising his illness as “just a thing, a chemical imbalance”.Being so straightforward can be profoundly affecting, nevertheless. Writing about how his wife, Sarah, told him he needed to go to the doctor because he hadn’t spoken to her or their three children for weeks, Fowler describes the realisation that “everything was hopeless, pointless, worthless”, the feeling that his “head had just stopped working”.Then he pauses: “I’m going to cry now, but I’ll carry on.”Simon and SchusterFowler did not possess the “suicide gene” but he struggled to find the will to live. Asked if he had considered suicide, he replied: “No, because I know I have a nice life. I have a great job, great family, lovely wife. I know all that exists, but I can’t get to it. It’s over there, and I can’t get there. So am I going to kill myself? The answer is no. But do I wish I was dead? Yes.” To those who knew Fowler as an effervescent character on and off the pitch, such darkness must have seemed especially troubling.The personal accounts of Marcus Trescothick, Michael Yardy and Jonathan Trott mean cricket is better prepared for these discussions and Fowler goes even further in his attempts to remove the stigma surrounding mental health. He uses a scale, from 0 to 20, to give a numerical value to how he is feeling – “Ten is neutral, and anything above that number I’m okay and can communicate. Anything below, I’m not and I’m struggling” – which was initially to help Sarah and his young daughters but is now equally effective during his interactions on social media.The first chapter of tackles the subject of Fowler’s depression unflinchingly, and he revisits it throughout – although that does not mean this is a book wreathed in sadness. The tone is humorous as well as candid, and the fact that John Woodhouse, the journalist who helped Fowler put his account together, has also suffered from depression perhaps helps to explain why it is so sensitively handled.Alongside Fowler the “lunatic” (a word he cheerfully and frequently uses), there is plenty of room for Fowler the player and Fowler the coach. Talented enough to be opening the batting for Accrington’s first team in the Lancashire League at the age of 15, he steadily progressed to playing county cricket and then being capped by England after just one full season for Lancashire. “Foxy” was a nickname given to him by Bob Willis on debut, echoing a famous prison breaker of the 1950s. “Everybody calls me it now, except for one person, of course – Bob Willis.”While some claimed he was only considered because of bans handed to those who went on rebel South Africa tours, such as Graham Gooch, Fowler’s hundred at Lord’s in 1984 – against a West Indies attack featuring Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall – and his 201 in Madras suggested an aptitude for the highest level.Ian Botham, who provides the foreword to , was a high-profile backer and there is something Botham-esque about Fowler’s escapades as a player (partying alongside Elton John and downing pints to help him sleep the night before a game), as well as his no-nonsense “that’s just bollocks” take on various aspects of life.An undiagnosed neck injury caused by a head-on car crash when he was 21 effectively ended his England career at its peak but Fowler’s second coming as an idiosyncratic and inspiring coach was even more significant. An independent thinker – one of his schoolteachers described his methods as “Fowler-esque” – he developed an ability to break down technique and help young players become better versions of themselves. Fowler connected with his Durham students on a personal level (although he admits he didn’t get it right with everyone) and describes being a good coach as “like being an amateur psychologist”. He is better qualified than most in that regard and it is a shame that he has now left Durham, unhappy at changes made by the MCC to the system he created.Trenchant and poignant, Fowler’s memoir is also very funny – he has a good memory and the knack of a storyteller, most evident in the chapter about his former team-mate David “Bumble” Lloyd. There is also much wisdom, not least in his description of cricket as a “game based on failure”. That brings to mind Samuel Beckett’s famous line: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Few in cricket have failed better or to more wide-ranging good effect than Foxy.Absolutely Foxed
By Graeme Fowler
Simon & Schuster
305 pages, £18.99

Food and wine are smashed in our Twitter round-up

Alex Bowden24-Jun-2016Kevin Pietersen’s apparently moved on from coffee. He seems to have developed an interest in other liquids.

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Nothing says London’s getting taken down quite like a middle-aged man feeling faintly apprehensive about what he’s doing to himself after taking one sip of red wine.Perhaps his fears were justified though. What led to his look in the following photo? A Babycham? A spritzer?

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Never one to make a point once if he could instead make it a thousand times, here’s a tale of tailored depravity.

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It’s almost as if he’s seen his mate Chris Gayle build himself a reputation through conspicuously reporting his own “party” lifestyle and has decided to try and do something similar.Gayle doesn’t document himself falling by the wayside, however. It’s like Shaun Pollock says…

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It’s safe to say Danny Morrison doesn’t quit.

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Being Danny Morrison is a 24×7 occupation.So’s being Shane Warne.

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How’s Jimmy Neesham enjoying the UK?

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Nope. But we do have some tips on how you can feel like you’ve shortened your travel time.

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The truth is that driving slowly through deserted roadworks is as much a part of British life as drinking tea. How you getting on with that, by the way, Jimmy?

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Chris Gayle knows a trick to make himself feel at home, however. Simply go and eat in the place favoured by cricketers the world over.

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Looks like a good, balanced meal.Finally, let’s finish in traditional style with the latest Virat Kohli in-flight selfie.

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But ominous news – could that have been the last example we’ll see for a while?

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Not good enough. Get back in a plane, Virat. Your public has certain expectations of you now.

Chris Gayle’s autobiography presents the man behind the million-dollar mercenary

Andrew Miller02-Jul-2016

Yuh cyaan read me. Yuh cyaan study me. Doh’ even try to study me.

Chris Gayle delivers his opening boast with an italicised patois flourish that leaps from the page like an open-shouldered smack over long-off. It is a challenge to his critics – and Lord knows, he’s picked up a few of them in recent times – and a statement of intent. These are his words, his story. He will tell it as he chooses.”You can’t read me…” But you can, if you prefer, read his book, and thoroughly engaging it is too – a turbulent, breathless rampage at times, but at its heart a classic rags-to-riches tale of a character who will be recalled, when all else is forgiven and forgotten, as one of the founders of the modern game.There’s no need simply to take my word for that, either. Gayle is at pains to spell out his exalted status through any manner of devices – repetition and exaggeration key among them. World Baaass, Universe Boss, lover of women and slayer of reputations. With his swagger and his strokeplay, it’s never been possible to ignore him on a cricket field, so there’s no way you’re going to get a moment’s peace from his ego while tucking into his words.That’s not a bad thing, by the way. Far too many sportsmen assume the “auto” in autobiography stands for “autopilot”, and duly trot out a bland diet of clichés and scorecard rewrites to justify their advances. Gayle, if anything, is guilty of oversharing, but as the man himself might put it with a wink and a nod, there’s plenty of him to go around.But it’s too easy, particularly in the wake of the controversy at the Big Bash involving Mel McLaughlin, and given the showmanship that is such a fundamental of his appeal, to ignore the subtleties – the sensitivities, even – that have made Gayle the man he is today, and have galvanised his belief that he should never compromise for a minute on who he is.

Gayle, if anything, is guilty of oversharing, but as the man himself might put it with a wink and a nod, there’s plenty of him to go around

The prologue to his book sets a different tone – with Gayle waking up in a Melbourne hospital following heart surgery during West Indies’ tour of Australia in 2005-06, hearing the “beep beep” of the monitors and vowing, there and then, to “do everything to the fullest. No waiting, no hedging, no compromises, no apologies.”You have to say, he’s been true to his word. And in fact, three years later, at the culmination of one of the most surreal fortnights of his career – the Stanford 20/20 for 20 against England, Gayle used a large chunk of his US$1 million winnings to fund a similar operation for his brother, Andrew.His journey, in the most linear sense, has taken Gayle from a five-to-a-room shack in downtown Kingston to a nine-bedroom mansion with a strip joint in the basement. It has taken him, also, to every conceivable corner of cricket’s globe – “people call me a gun for hire. Sixteen franchises in nine different countries across five continents” – setting out the rules of freelance engagement for the generations of cricketers that will follow him. “I am not to blame for the way the world spins,” he says, with no little conviction.The most evocative chapters of Gayle’s story are those that deal with the deprivations of his childhood in Rollington Town – a life in which birthdays were jus’ another day you hungry, and Saturdays might mean chicken-foot soup to replace the fried balls of flour and water that served as his daily meals.Against this backdrop, Gayle – a scrawny kid for whom the muscle definition of adulthood would be a long time coming – was drawn into the embrace of his local club, Lucas CC, thanks in no small part to an improbable and, frankly, enlightening first role model: Miss Hamilton, his primary school cricket teacher. “She soon spots that I don’t like to run … I spot that she can bat and bowl as well as any man. When Miss Hamilton comes in with her full pace, you are ducking and swaying like those palms in a November hurricane.”Twenty-five years later, Gayle still seeks out his first coach whenever he’s back in town, as if underscoring his oft-repeated mantra that he’s a Jamaican first and foremost – “I’ll always keep the flag flying. I travel the world but I always come home.”His iconic status within the island rivals that of Usain Bolt, and Gayle draws a fair parallel between the impact of Bolt’s 9.58 in Berlin in 2009 and his own astonishing 175 not out for Bangalore in the IPL in 2013: the tales of an island grinding to a halt to watch agog as history whizzes by: “How much? I thought this was a T20. Oh f***, it is T20!”Penguin/VikingThe pair share a bond that reflects Gayle’s exalted status – Bolt once memorably bowled Gayle out in a charity match and celebrated with his traditional “to the sky” pose – but on the whole there’s a notable absence of camaraderie in his tale. Gayle talks, tellingly, of having to settle for calling all of his team-mates “bro” as he moves from franchise to franchise, often waiting for them to pull on their shirts before committing to a name.And when it comes to West Indies – for all the justified euphoria of their World T20 win in 2012 (the 2016 version came too late to make the narrative) – there’s again an ambivalence about some of his relationships in an often-fractured squad. Brian Lara, not for the first time, comes across as moody and other-worldly – “He go left, you just go right. As simple as it is”.His truest friendships, you sense, are the ones he has lost – two in particular: Garrick Grant, a Lucas kid crushed under the wheels of a bus as he bailed off at his stop, and Runako Morton, the talented, temperamental Nevisian batsman who died in a car crash in 2012 without ever quite fulfilling his potential. “Death stalk you. But don’t fear death.”And yet, throughout his book, the pride that Gayle takes in his achievements as a West Indian cricketer, in spite of the spats with the board and the attractions of his mercenary lifestyle, pour off the pages – and you get the sense, for all the records he’s smashed in T20 cricket, some of which may never be challenged, pride of place in his mind goes to his twin triple-centuries in Tests.In fact, his defence of Test cricket – “without Bob Marley there would be no Beenie Man … people still love reggae, but they are buying dancehall” – is far more eloquent than the usual platitudes that get trotted out when such awkward questions are posed to sportsmen.”Only seven men have more West Indies caps than me. I was born into Test cricket and I have lived through Test cricket. I can bat like a true Test batsman.”Tink yuh know me? Yuh don’t know me.Six Machine: I Don’t Like Cricket… I Love It
By Chris Gayle
Viking
288 pages

Stats highlights from the second Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Centurion where Dale Steyn bowled the hosts to yet another series win

Shiva Jayaraman30-Aug-20166 Pacers who have taken more wickets than Dale Steyn in Tests. Mitchell Santner’s wicket in New Zealand’s second innings was Steyn’s 415th, with which he passed Wasim Akarm’s tally of 414 wickets. Among South Africa bowlers, only Shaun Pollock (421) has more wickets than Steyn.30.3 Steyn’s bowling strike rate in Centurion; he has taken 56 wickets at this venue at an average of 17.12. No other bowler has taken 50 or more wickets at any venue at a better strike rate. Also, only four other bowlers have taken 50 or more wickets at any venue at a better average than Steyn’s in Centurion.26 Five-wicket hauls by Steyn in just 84 Tests; only three other pacers have taken more such hauls. Richard Hadlee took 36 five-fors in just 86 Tests, which are the highest. Glenn McGrath (29) and Ian Botham (27) are the other fast bowlers who have taken more five-fors than Steyn. Steyn’s 22 five-fors in Test wins are also the third-highest by any bowler.1966 Only time before Quinton de Kock a South Africa wicketkeeper had two 50-plus scores and also effected five or more dismissals in an innings of the same Test. Denis Lindsay had scored 69 and 182 in addition to taking eight catches (including six in one innings) in a Test against Australia in Johannesburg. There are only two more such instances – MS Dhoni had done it against New Zealand in 2009 and Matt Prior, also against New Zealand, in 2012-13. De Kock also earned his maiden Man-of-the-Match award in a Test.*5 Consecutive series wins for South Africa against New Zealand. They have never lost a series against New Zealand. The last time a series between the two teams ended in a draw was in 2003-04. South Africa have won 12 of the 15 series played between the teams.13 Consecutive unbeaten Tests for South Africa against New Zealand. This equals the longest such streak for South Africa against any opposition; they had a similar sequence against England from 1929 to 1938 without losing a Test.16.04 Steyn’s bowling average in Tests against New Zealand. There are only six other bowlers with 50 or more wickets against an opposition at a better average. Steyn has taken 68 wickets against New Zealand in 12 Tests at a strike rate of 33. His new-ball partner Vernon Philander has also done exceedingly well against New Zealand, with 32 wickets at 15.53 in just six matches.1962 The last time a New Zealand No. 5 made a higher score in Tests in South Africa than Henry Nicholls’ 76 in New Zealand’s second innings. John Reid had made 142 in New Zealand’s second innings of the Johannesburg Test. Nicholls’ is the fourth-highest score by a New Zealand No. 5 in South Africa. This was his second Test fifty and his highest score.26.3 Overs played by the partnership between Nicholls and BJ Watling. The pair added 68 runs for the fifth wicket after the first four wickets fell in the space of just 19 balls by the score of 7. This is the second-highest partnership for the fifth wicket by any pair after the first four wickets have fallen before adding ten runs.*05.45GMT, August 31: The article had erroneously stated that Denis Lindsay had scored 69 and 182 in 1961. This has been corrected.

Plays of the day from the second ODI between India and New Zealand in Delhi, featuring cramps, throws and blows

Alagappan Muthu20-Oct-2016Nothing but painRohit Sharma had used his backfoot cover drive to bully a reasonably good ball to the boundary. There was barely any swing. There was no reason not to try it again. At the start of the eighth over, he got in position for the shot again, but this time Trent Boult, from around the wicket, got the ball to straighten just enough to snatch the edge through to the wicketkeeper. It was a beautiful ball, but that matters little to the dismissed batsman. Less so when he suddenly cramps up. Rohit was turning back to see if the catch would be taken when he felt something in his left bicep. The arm went completely limp. He was left hunched over for several moments, clutching it, and needed the physio to tend to it before he could walk off.Avoiding painLately, umpire Bruce Oxenford has been turning up for limited-overs matches with a shield on his arm. He crosses his arms in front of his chest as he takes his stance at the bowler’s end, the shield in place to deflect the ball away from his face. It turned out that the extra protection would have served his partner well too. In the seventh over, Tom Latham drilled the ball down the ground, and fear of being hit made umpire Anil Chaudhary dash frantically to his right. He was on one foot, the other in the air, looking comically ungainly. Umesh Yadav, the bowler, was able to get a hand on the ball and send it off course. But Chaudhary gestured immediately to his partner, his elbow moving up to his face, as if he were saying, “I should get a shield too. Could have avoided pain – and looked cool to boot.”Only, when Oxenford had the chance to use the shield, he couldn’t act quickly enough. Corey Anderson’s throw from the deep at the bowler’s end headed straight at him and he was struck on the box.The Superman dive that went in vainManish Pandey seemed to have done enough to secure a couple of runs. He’d played the ball softly, placed the ball to deep midwicket’s right, and the fielder there was Mitchell Santner, who is left-handed and had to run around the ball. He did so with remarkable swiftness. Then came the throw which was brutally flat. Luke Ronchi had positioned himself between the stumps and the throw, but it came to him on the half-volley, which is hard to collect because you have to keep your eyes on the ball when there is a real chance it might bounce up and hit you. But in one fluid motion, he collected the ball and swung it back to catch Pandey short despite his full-length dive.And the fast bowler’s disdainNew Zealand were floundering in the final overs of their innings, and they could have done with some good, old-fashioned Tim Southee slogs. He had, after all, made his maiden fifty in his 100th ODI in Dharamsala. Except, in Delhi, he was bowled second ball by a superb yorker from Jasprit Bumrah. It was quick. It cramped the batsman for room. And it hit the base of off stump.The second innings provided opportunity for round two. And this time, the game was at stake. It was the final over. India needed 10 to win. New Zealand needed a wicket. Bumrah was given the strike in the third ball and Southee revved up. The ball curved into the right-hander at pace, sank below the bat and crashed into middle stump to seal New Zealand’s victory.

They were trampled by Rangana Herath, they lost Saeed Ajmal to an illegal action, they endured Alastair Cook’s historic double-hundred. But Pakistan overcame all of that and more in the past two years to become No. 1

Alagappan Muthu22-Aug-2016Pakistan’s rise to No. 1 on the Test rankings seems improbable considering two years ago – in August 2014 – they had been in sixth place.It was a time when Misbah-ul-Haq had found himself surrounded. Up on the Galle Fort was a 40-foot tall Mahela Jaywardene, frozen as he was celebrating a hundred. In front of Misbah was Rangana Herath, making him spontaneously combust if he even thought about such feats.The Pakistan captain ended the tour with a high score of 31 and an average of 16.75. Soon, he lost his biggest match-winner, Saeed Ajmal, because of an illegal bowling action. And Australia, then the world leaders in Tests, were about to visit for a two-match series.That’s when everything started to change. Misbah smashed the then joint-fastest Test century. He wasn’t ‘Tuk Tuk’ anymore. He was tick, tick, boom! Pakistan found a Lionel Messi lookalike, who had magic in his hands instead. They had Younis Khan batting like the crease was his home and bowlers were serving cake. They didn’t have a home, but suddenly, it seemed they had everything else.Humbling Australia
Pakistan gave up 10 wickets in an innings only once in two Tests. They had at least two centurions in each of the four innings they batted. They averaged over 80 in the series and scored at 3.5 per over. Poor Australia, they tended to inflict such statistics on their oppositions. It hardly ever works out the other way around.Younis finished his against-the-world set of scoring a ton against every Test nation. Azhar Ali struck twin hundreds in Abu Dhabi. Misbah became the new Viv Richards. Yasir Shah, in his debut series, and Zulfiqar Babar, a 35-year old on his comeback, had the Australian batsmen melting into a puddle.After 20 years, Pakistan finally won a Test series against Australia, whitewashed them 2-0 for good measure and leapt up from No. 6 to 3 on the rankings.Continuing dominance in the UAE
Bat first, bat big, tag in scoreboard pressure, sit back and enjoy. That has more or less become Pakistan birthright in the United Arab Emirates.In 21 Tests in the country since March 2009, only four times have they gone without one of their batsmen making a hundred. In the first Test of the New Zealand series in November 2014, Younis and Misbah made unbeaten ones. Ahmed Shehzad contributed 176. While setting up a declaration, Mohammad Hafeez made 101 in 130 balls in the second innings. A target of 480 in the final innings was well beyond the reach of Brendon McCullum’s team – “They played the perfect Test,” he said.In the third Test in Sharjah, Pakistan and New Zealand found themselves batting when chances of a fatal injury on a cricket field had never looked more real. Phillip Hughes had been hit by a bouncer in Sydney and died in hospital, and it affected players from both teams deeply. McCullum and Kane Williamson left their emotions in the dressing room, hit centuries and batted Pakistan out of the game.Redemption in Bangladesh
Pakistan have the “worst fitness levels,” railed the PCB chief. Bangladesh beat them 3-0 in the ODIs and 1-0 in the T20Is. The returning Ajmal had lost his sting even if he had straightened his bowling action. The ineffectiveness seeped into Misbah’s Test side as well; they were denied by a world record-opening stand between Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes in Khulna.Pakistan went into the second Test with frustration mounting back home. There were calls to overhaul the entire team and swap the captain with a rubber duckie. Misbah made only 9 in the first innings, but around him, Azhar hit 226, Younis smashed 148 and Asad Shafiq 107. The team was learning to get by without their captain.Yasir then bowled a legbreak that made the world turn. Once he got the first breakthrough, Bangladesh were wrapped up in under 50 overs. “It’s not a face-saving win,” Misbah said later. It was a team playing to its devastating potential.Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 2-1 by making their biggest lion – Rangana Herath – ineffective•AFPTaming Sri Lanka
Herath took 23 wickets at home when Pakistan visited in 2014. He was given only two on the next trip, in 2015, with a bowling average of 109. Pakistan had taken a hammer to Sri Lanka’s spearhead, knocked him blunt and then out. He did not play in the last Test of the series. A Test that decided who would win the trophy. A Test in which Pakistan would play so well records leapt out of the book and fell prostrate at their feet.Misbah and his batsmen put careful thought into each stroke they played; soft hands against spin and clear intent while attacking. Every effort was made to reach the pitch of the ball and upset an out-of-form Herath’s lengths. The plan was clear, the execution perfect. Meanwhile, Yasir ended the series with 24 scalps.And, if that wasn’t enough, Pakistan amassed 382 for 3 to pull off their highest successful chase ever with Younis and Shan Masood making light of a final-day pitch and the same scoreboard pressure that they use with such great skill. “It was a dream win,” Misbah said after the game. It was a dream win for the fans too, who too often had to watch their team spontaneously collapse at the mere mention of the word chase.Troubling England at home
The first Test in Abu Dhabi followed the other trend common in Test matches in the UAE – both teams put up gigantic first-innings scores but just as the probability of a draw rises and interest in the match drops, the narrative changes on its head. Pakistan were bowled out for 173 in their second innings, debutant Adil Rashid buried memories of 0 for 163 with 5 for 64 and handed England a target of 99 in fading light. The hosts just about held on.But Alastair Cook, having played England’s longest-ever innings in Test cricket, of 836 minutes, had to contend with losing the series as his men failed to show the same kind of fight in Sharjah. Hafeez struck 151 to wrench back the lead England took and the spinners ripped the heart out of the English middle order. A come-from-behind win added to their rise as a force in Test cricket.Troubling England awayFour Tests in England, where Pakistan’s spinners were not supposed to be effective, and the conditions and bowlers would test their batsmen who had dined out on placid pitches.Instead, Yasir picked up 10 wickets at Lord’s. Misbah’s first innings on English soil amounted to 114 and 10 push-ups. Everyone was taken aback by Shafiq’s defensive technique and they were amused by Younis’ trampoline footwork until he smacked a double-hundred at The Oval to help Pakistan level the series.Misbah walked away with his first Man-of-the-Series award. Only a year prior, he had to be convinced not to retire. But in the heart of London he said he wanted to go on.Pakistan face West Indies in the UAE next and travel to New Zealand in November and Australia soonafter for a couple of tough tours. So there may not be much time to rest on their laurels. Not least because of the questions over where the team would go if Misbah and Younis exit stage left.