The Pollocks happened to be excellent cricketers. One of them was rather more than that

Simon Kuper06-Mar-2006

© WCM
When I close my eyes and think back to the Wanderers, Transvaal are batting and I am queuing for an ice cream behind the stand. The man in front of me, a little bearded white guy, is throwing a temper tantrum at the black ice-cream seller, whom he accuses of being slow. “You’re so stupid,” the bearded man shouts, with dirty words thrown in. “You should not have this job. Quickly give me change.” He enunciates every syllable, the way some white South Africans do. Even as a 10-year-old I can see he is expressing frustrations that come from somewhere else. The black man is silently getting the ice-cream and the change because he is not allowed to say anything back. As a child I am not either. Today I wonder where those two men are now.In those days – the late 1970s and early 1980s – we used tostay with my grandparents in northern Johannesburg during the Christmas holidays. We were refugees from frozen Europe. At home in Holland the week before I would have cycled through the darkness into the west wind to school. In Johannesburg I would toddle off in mid-morning with my green scorebook for a day at the Wanderers. It was only 15 minutes’ walk around the corner and I often went by myself.Inside the ground everyone is white except for one small stand full of blacks. It is the holidays and the crowd is happy. When a pretty girl walks down our terrace towards the exit, the stand accompanies her with a concert of wolf-whistles. The Transvaal has some of the world’s best players, men like Clive Rice, Jimmy Cook and, of course, Graeme Pollock. Life is good in South Africa.Pollock is at the crease. People put down their newspapers when he is batting. He is already a legend, his future behind him: he played his last Test match for South Africa as a 26-year-old in 1970, after which the country was banned from international cricket because of apartheid. His Test average of 60.97 is the highest in history after Don Bradman’s. Though the man I am watching still hopes to play Test cricket again, he never will. We at the Wanderers are among the select few who will ever see him bat.Most white South Africans I meet consider this an outrage. Among them cricket is a daily topic of conversation, not the private perversion I feel it is in England and Holland. Even my aunts offer regular updates on the score at the Wanderers.

‘Pollock could thump the ball through the covers all day. Sometimes he does. It is not just that he is a genius’ © The Cricketer
The wicket is baked and fast. The bowler – perhaps it is Robin Jackman of Rhodesia – drops the ball just short. When Pollock is batting, you get a wonderful sense of where the ball is landing, because he is already in position waiting for it. Watching him taught me that the difference between the great athletes and the rest of us is the time they have. This is true of Wayne Rooney in football or Jason Kidd in basketball: they see everything early. The only batsman I ever saw who picked up the ball as quickly as Pollock was David Gower. I remember Gower once shaping to play a backward defensive against Malcolm Marshall, and then, hearing the cry of no-ball, trying to hook him.But Pollock’s technique is better than Gower’s. When the South African cover drives he does not flap at the ball while falling away. He stands up almost to his full regal height, lifts his bat straight back and thumps the short ball through the covers. The only batsman I have seen hit the ball as hard at the Wanderers is tiny Alvin Kallicharran, opening for Orange Free State, who proves that it is all about timing.Pollock could thump the ball through the covers all day. Sometimes he does. It is not just that he is a genius. Unlike the sportsmen I revere in Europe, he is also an ordinary bloke. As far as I can understand, he has a regular office job in Johannesburg. Cricket is his hobby. It is the same for most of his team-mates: they are part of normal white daily life. Cook is my second cousin’s schoolteacher. Ali Bacher is the husband of one of my distant cousins. Xenophon Balaskas, a Springbok of the 1930s and possibly the best Greek cricketer ever, is a pal of my grandfather who gives me some nets at his house. Pollock’s old team-mateBarry Richards shows up as coach of one of our local cricket clubs in Holland. He umpires a kids’ match in which I take two slip catches and score seven runs, my team’s highest score. Richards says something nice about me. My father invites him round to dinner as a fellow South African. Richards comes round that same evening but by then I have caught chickenpox and cannot go downstairs.Unlike Richards, Pollock never turns pro in England. He, therefore, never falls out of love with cricket. He seems content to play out a largely unwitnessed career. He does not say much about apartheid but, according to my more liberal relatives, he is known to disapprove of it. Recently he told this magazine: “We could have made a bigger noise about apartheid at the time – I think that’s a genuine criticism. In hindsight perhaps we should have done more.”There was a simplicity to the man: to his haircuts, to his batting and to the things he thought and said. It was appropriate that he and his brother Peter and his nephew Shaun and his sons Anthony and Andrew, who both played for a while, had such ordinary names. The Pollocks were not stars. They just happened to be excellent cricketers and one of them was rather more than that.

What the numbers say about Old Trafford

S Rajesh10-Aug-2005

Shane Warne: ready to add to his tally of 17 wickets from two Tests at Old Trafford © Getty Images

At Edgbaston, Ricky Ponting’s decision to insert England after winning the toss might have been influenced by the recent trend at that venue – teams fielding first had won nine of the 14 previous Tests – but he is unlikely to make that mistake at Old Trafford should the coin roll his way on the morning of the third Test. In 69 Tests at Manchester since 1884, only eight times has the captain won the toss and opted to field first. Seven of those matches were drawn; the only decisive result in those games was in 1993, when Graham Gooch bravely put Australia in to bat and suffered the consequences, as England went down by 179 runs. Considering that no team has won a Test here after putting the opposition in to bat, and given all the pre-match talk about another turner at Manchester, the decision at the toss should be a no-brainer.

Old Trafford also has a high propensity for drawn games – 33 out of 69 (48%) have ended in a stalemate. Of the remaining 36 Tests which did produce a result, 25 went in favour of the team batting first, another reason for the captain to do just that after winning the toss. England have a 21-14 win-loss record here, and while Australia’s is only a modest 7-7 against England, they have won the last three matches, and haven’t lost a Test here since 1981. (Click here for all England-Australia Tests at Old Trafford.)

You’d expect the pitch to get far more difficult for batting as the game goes on, but that isn’t necessarily so, as the table below indicates. Since 1995, the average runs per wicket is highest in the third innings, while the fourth-innings figure is a respectable 32.7. (Click here for the Test records – highest and lowest totals, best batting and bowling performances etc – at this ground.)

1st innings	2nd innings	3rd innings	4th innings
36.0	32.3	37.7	32.7

The track for Thursday’s match is expected to assist the spinners, but over the last ten years, fast bowlers have done pretty well here, as the table below suggests. The last time a spinner turned a match around here was in 2001, when Saqlain Mushtaq, aided by umpire David Shepherd’s generosity in ignoring no-balls, took four wickets as England slumped to 261 all out in their second innings.

Pace – wickets	Average	Spin – wickets	Average
186	32.69	51	40.22

The most famous bowling performance at this ground is of course Jim Laker’s 19 for 90 against Australia in 1956, but in their current squad the Australians have one spinner who has been tormenting England for a while now. He answers to the name Shane Warne, and he has especially enjoyed the conditions at Old Trafford, taking 17 wickets in two Tests at less than 15 apiece. Only one short of reaching the 600-wicket milestone, chances are he’ll go well beyond that figure by the time this Test is done. Add a batting average of 35.50, and Australia have an outstanding allrounder in their midst, at least at this ground.

Warne at each venue in England	Tests	Bowling average	Batting average
Old Trafford	2	14.59	35.50
Trent Bridge	3	18.14	18.33
Lord’s	4	19.58	8.75
Edgbaston	4	21.76	24.50
The Oval	3	23.30	21.50
Headingley	3	89.33	0.00

Among England’s current lot of players, only Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles have played more than one Test at Old Trafford. The first three have done pretty well (click on the player names for Vaughan, Trescothick and Hoggard stats at this ground), but Giles’s nine wickets have cost him more than 38 apiece.

Dileep Premachandran on Mahela Jayawardene’s Sabina Park epic

Dileep Premachandran in Jamaica25-Apr-2007It takes a lot to impress them here at Sabina Park. Many of the locals who came through the turnstiles were weaned on some of the game’s all-time greats. Some were here in 1983, when Viv Richards hit a violent 36-ball 61 to transform a dying Test into an improbable triumph, and those whose memories stretch back further can recall the silken strokeplay of Lawrence Rowe. So when they started purring towards the end of Mahela Jayawardene’s innings, you knew you were watching something special.At the lunch break, the word most used to illustrate his unbeaten 115 was “sweet”, but those who uttered it didn’t use it as you would to describe a tasty-but-insubstantial dessert. They were marvelling at his range of strokes, the impeccable timing, and an ability to find the gaps that is the preserve of the truly exceptional.A cursory look at Jayawardene’s one-day figures suggests an underachiever, and he would be the first to admit that translating immense talent into innings that matter hasn’t always been easy. It perhaps didn’t help that he was always marked out for greatness, or that people back home saw him as the successor to Aravinda de Silva, the shotmaker extraordinaire and heroof the 1996 triumph.Too often a pretty cameo would be cut short by a lackadaisical stroke and the nadir was reached at the last World Cup, when his seven visits to the crease fetched him just 21 runs. His dismissal, caught behind off Brad Hogg, encapsulated Sri Lanka’s limp surrender in that Port Elizabeth semi-final and you could scarcely blame him for a jittery start when he arrived atthe crease on Tuesday morning.Related

The Murali and Mahela show

Jayawardene-inspired Sri Lanka seal a spot in the final

“We were anxious and nervous,” he said later. “Till I faced my first ball, it was hard to get the butterflies out of the stomach.” The difference this time was that he went into the game with 414 runs to his name and three innings that had showcased a special talent.As he had against West Indies in Guyana, he started extremely cautiously, weighing up the opposition bowling, sussing out the pitch and doing little more than tap the odd ball into the gap. At Sabina Park, as he had at Providence, he scored only 22 off the first 50 balls he faced. This though was a World Cup semi-final, and there was no Sanath Jayasuriya at the other end to tear the bowlers apart while he played himself in.Chamara Silva and Tillakaratne Dilshan helped create some mid-innings momentum, but it was clear that Jayawardene would have to apply the finishing touches. And even though Stephen Fleming brought Shane Bond back into the attack with a view to a quick kill, it was the Sri Lankan batsmen who suddenly started to float like butterflies and sting like bees.In a manner befitting the local legend Rowe – “There was no shot that I couldn’t play” – Jayawardene shed his inhibitions and unveiled a stunning repertoire of strokes. A precise straight loft and a disdainful mow over midwicket had the crowd in raptures, but it was the delicate touches, the tickle to fine leg and the twirl of the wrist that sent the ball speeding to third man, that made him look a class apart from every other batsman in the game. A sweep was played with such precision that the fielders running from deep square leg and fine leg nearly collided, and other shots dragged the fielders all the way to the rope before mocking them by crossing it.

A sweep was played with such precision that the fielders running from deep square leg and fine leg nearly collided, and other shots dragged the fielders all the way to the rope before mocking

It was the sort of innings that defines a career. “I’d probably put this right at the top,” he said. “This was a World Cup semi-final.” In truth, it’s hard to see how he could have played it a couple of years ago. At the press conference, Jayawardene talked of how he had benefited from the responsibilities of captaincy, and a coach who combined an amiable exterior with a tough-love approach. “Tom [Moody] has definitely pushed me to the limits,” he said. “He’s not happy when I’m cruising.” It’s a measure of the man’s humility – and that applies to most of his team-mates as well – that he took chastisement in the right spirit instead of spitting the dummy like other cricketers from the subcontinent.We all know where they ended up. As for Sri Lanka, they are where they always wanted to be. “This was a big hurdle for us to jump, but we’re there now,” Jayawardene said. “We’ve been preparing for that day for some time.” The identity of the opposition doesn’t bother him much. Regardless of whether it’s Australia, the deserving candidates, or South Africa, the back-door entrants, Sri Lanka will have to deal with a fast and bouncy Barbados pitch.The captain, who led with such imagination in the field, isn’t intimidated. “To win the World Cup, you have to beat the best,” he said simply. It helps to have gnarled old hands on board, hands that have previously touched the game’s greatest prize. And though only Muttiah Muralitharan, Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas remain from that celebrated bunch, Jayawardene was in no doubt as to how much his crew owed to Arjuna Ranatunga’s world-beaters.”The ’96 guys changed the face of Sri Lankan cricket completely,” he said. “They paved the way for us. Those guys went through a lot of hardships, and we’re reaping the rewards for that.” The biggest harvest awaits on Saturday.

A closely contested and wonderful Test series has been marred by Ian Howell’s poor umpiring

Sambit Bal12-Aug-2007

Wide of the mark: Ian Howell had a dreadful time at Trent Bridge, and has made plenty of mistakes at The Oval as well © Getty Images

It is a pity that matters outside bat and ball should continue to spoil what has so far been wonderful advertisement for Test cricket. The first Test was decided by the weather, and the second, which was won by a skilful and determined performance by the Indians, was overshadowed by jelly beans, player behaviour and inconsistent umpiring. And it will be a tragedy if umpiring becomes a decisive factor in this Test.Umpires deserve plenty of sympathy. Theirs is a thankless vocation and they are noticed only for their mistakes. Their actions are judged and damned by experts, journalists, and millions of viewers who now have the benefit of hugely sophisticated cameras and technologies such as Snickometer and Hotspot. But still, it’s not that difficult to tell when an umpire is not up to it.Simon Taufel, who invited the wrath of Indian supporters for denying Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly well-earned hundreds at Trent Bridge, is a good umpire who had an ordinary match. But it is difficult to say the same about his colleague in that Test. Ian Howell had a dreadful match at Trent Bridge, and it has only got worse at The Oval. It can be considered poor taste to pun on someone’s name, but given the number of he has made in the last two Tests, Howell has brought it upon himself.The ICC has a system in place to assess every decision an umpire makes during a match, and it is often trotted out that umpires get over 90 per cent of the decisions right. Of course, considering that they track every appeal and that teams are appeal-happy these days, Howell might still end up with fairly high percentage. But to anybody who has followed his finger, Howell has got more decisions wrong than right when it really mattered.Few things can be worse for cricketers, batsmen and bowlers alike, than to play in the knowledge that their fate hangs in the hand of an adjudicator who is consistently inconsistent. There are not-outers, none more famous than the legendary Dickie Bird, there are those who are trigger-happy – Dave Orchard springs to mind – there are those who are conservative about front-foot lbws and there are ones who are spinner-friendly. In many instances, umpires go by the pitch, and are likely to adjudge lbws on the basis of bounce. At Perth, for instance, batsmen can leave the ball on its length, safe in the knowledge that it will sail over the stumps.But how safe can a batsman feel when faced with Howell? Apart from his obvious tendency to give wrong decisions, it has been impossible to detect a pattern with Howell. May be it lies in his approach to tailenders. This morning he was happy to give Monty Panesar on the forward stretch against Anil Kumble. Panesar had no reason to quibble; he was dead in front. But on what account did he spare Paul Collingwood on the third day? Collingwood’s front foot was perhaps a few inches ahead, but as Ian Chappell remarked on television, if that wasn’t out, they might as well remove lbw as a mode of dismissal. And when he did give Collingwood out, the ball looked, irrespective of what you saw on Hawk-Eye, to be sliding past the leg stump.At Trent Bridge, he denied Panesar two lbws in his first two overs in India’s first innings. They were vital decisions, for they allowed Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer to swell the first-wicket partnership to 147, but he was happy to send back RP Singh and Sreesanth in quick succession: Singh looked out, but Sreesanth deserved the benefit of doubt.It’s futile labouring the point, but the lbw that he handed out to Ganguly has perhaps been the shocker of the series. Admittedly, the ball has been swinging exaggeratedly, sometimes changing path after passing the batsman. But this was a deviation palpably off the bat. If he didn’t hear the nick, he should have seen it. Was he late in looking up? If he was, it was a schoolboy error from an international umpire.Which raises the next question. Should Howell have been standing in the series in the first place? Of course, the ICC cannot be blamed for not anticipating the errors, but Howell is not part of the elite panel, and since no other international cricket is on at the moment, those appointing umpires had a full list to choose from. Were none of them available?It is sad that umpires rarely get the credit for a job well done. In that, they are like wicketkeepers. Matt Prior has become the object of ridicule after two bad matches; it’s only fair that the heat is now turned on Howell.Should umpire Ian Howell, who is not part of the ICC’s Elite panel, have stood in the Oval Test? Tell us here

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

Steven Lynch11-Jun-2007The regular Monday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

David Foot’s book on cricket’s ‘tormented genius’ © Cricinfo Ltd
There have been an awful lot of extras in the current Test against West Indies at Old Trafford. What’s the record for one Test innings? asked Gerry Bowden from Bristol
The record for a single Test innings is 71, conceded by West Indies against Pakistan at Georgetown in 1987-88. Second on that list is 68, again conceded by West Indies against Pakistan, this time at Bridgetown in 1976-77, in a match which produced the record number of extras in total in a Test – 173 (the Old Trafford narrowly failed to beat this, with 167). For the full list of all the instances of 50 or more extras in a Test innings, click here.Who has scored the most runs in Tests between India and Pakistan? asked Amitabh Bhatt from Hyderabad
Leading the way here is Javed Miandad, with 2228 runs in 28 Tests against India, at an average of 67.52. In second place, and the only other over 2000, is Sunil Gavaskar, with 2089 at 56.46 in 24 matches. Third is Zaheer Abbas, who made 1740 runs against India in only 19 Tests, at the lofty average of 87.00.Daniel Vettori took his 200th ODI wicket during the World Cup. Who was the first person to reach that landmark, and who was the first New Zealander? asked Perry Anderson from Christchurch
The first man to do this in one-day internationals was India’s Kapil Dev, who reached 200 wickets when he dismissed Winston Benjamin of West Indies at Sharjah in October 1991. Since then 27 other bowlers have reached 200, as this list shows. Vettori is the third New Zealander to reach the landmark, following Chris Harris, who took 203, and Chris Cairns (201). One of Cairns’s wickets, and eight of Vettori’s, came for teams other than New Zealand in official ODIs.Who was the “tormented genius of cricket”? asked Alistair Russell from Southampton
I suppose there might be quite a few candidates … but the most likely answer is Harold Gimblett, the Somerset and England batsman who thumped a rapid century on his first-class debut against Essex at Frome in 1935. The subtitle of David Foot’s moving biography of Gimblett, who committed suicide in 1978, is “The Tormented Genius of Cricket”.Why did Pakistan follow on at Lord’s in 2001, when they were only 188 behind? Was there a special rule in force for that series? asked Waqas Ahmed from Lahore
What happened in that Test at Lord’s in 2001 was that the first day had been washed out, which reduced it to a four-day match. The Laws of Cricket state that the follow-on can be enforced in a four-day game if the second side trails by more than 150, rather than 200 in a “normal” five-day Test. So England were able to enforce the follow-on despite, as you say, leading by only 188. England won late on the fourth day (the third day of actual play).Who is the oldest man to score a century in a Test match? asked Godfrey Ralli from Hampshire
The oldest person to score a Test century was the great Surrey batsman Jack Hobbs, who was 82 days past his 46th birthday when he made 142 for England against Australia at Melbourne in 1928-29. For a full list of the oldest century-makers, click here. The man in fourth place, South Africa’s “Dave” Nourse, was the oldest man to make his maiden Test century – he was 42 when he made 111 against Australia at Johannesburg in 1921-22.

The target of 392 in 88 overs meant that India required an asking rate of 4.45 per over, and while at certain points it seemed they were on track, a draw was always the most likely result

On the Ball with S Rajesh26-Jun-2006The target of 392 in 88 overs meant that India required an asking rate of 4.45 per over, and while at certain points it seemed they were on track, a draw was always the most likely result. India’s best chance of forcing a win rested on Virender Sehwag providing them a rollicking start. He did do that, smashing 65 off 75 balls – only his fourth 50-plus score in the second innings – but as Rahul Dravid said after the match, India needed him to stay for another session.The graphic below shows how the game ebbed and flowed over the three sessions. Before lunch, with Sehwag leading the way, India were the frontrunners, scoring at more than four an over. Sehwag’s dismissal off the first ball after lunch immediately turned the momentum West Indies’ way, as they restricted India to just 91 from 29 overs in the afternoon session. That was the period when India were in consolidation mode, with Dravid, especially, struggling to get quick runs, getting to just 20 off 58 balls.With 192 required from 33 overs in the final session, the Indians upped the ante immediately after the break, scoring 43 in eight overs before Laxman left. Though Mahendra Singh Dhoni started with a six, he failed to sustain the momentum, and once he was dismissed, there was no question about the result – the last 22 overs brought India only 55 runs and they closed the shutters, ensuring that the last Test, in Jamaica, will be a winner-takes-all clash.

A statistical look at how poor fielding and running between the wickets has plagued India in the ODI series against England so far

Mathew Varghese27-Aug-2007India’s 42-run loss at Edgbaston could be attributed largely to the extra runs leaked by poor ground fielding and sloppy catching, in addition to the inability to spot the singles and convert them to twos and the twos to threes. The team has found the going tough in the shorter version of the game, and while the large ground in Southampton accentuated the team’s weakness in ground fielding and throwing, the sloppy catching added to their woes in the relatively smaller outfields in Bristol and Birmingham.India’s inability to press on with the run-scoring is indicated in this figure: England were 50 for no loss off 10.2 overs while India took 13.5 overs to post the same score, despite hitting more boundaries. Following is the run-scoring break-up for the two sides in the first 20 overs, when the Powerplays were on.

Run-scoring break-up for Powerplay overs

Team	0s	1s	2s	3s	4s	6s
England	81	27	7	3	9	0
India	82	25	1	0	14	0

Though India outscored England 14 to 9 in terms of boundaries, they fell woefully short in terms of twos and threes. While the English batsmen scored 23 runs in twos and threes, India could only manage a mere two runs.Over the entire 50 overs, England managed twice the number of twos and 22 more singles than India, who scored 16 more runs in boundaries and yet fell well short of the target.

Run-scoring break-up for Edgbaston

Team	0s	1s	2s	3s	4s	6s
England	153	105	28	3	16	5
India	170	83	14	1	23	3

India’s performance at Edgbaston was in sharp contrast to Bristol, where they batted with far more purpose.

Run-scoring break-up for Bristol

Team	0s	1s	2s	3s	4s	6s
England	180	79	15	1	33	8
India	160	100	13	0	40	3

Sourav Ganguly became only the fourth batsman – after Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Inzamam-ul-Haq – to get to 11,000 runs in ODIs, but he was one of the batsmen guilty of not scoring from too many deliveries. Ganguly and Ian Bell both scored 70s, but while Bell took 89 deliveries for his 79, Ganguly consumed 104 for his 72. Ganguly had 68 dot balls, compared to Bell’s 37. The table below lists the dot-ball percentage for key batsmen, and while Sachin Tendulkar and Kevin Pietersen top the table, that can be explained by the fact that neither got a start.

Percentage of dot balls for key batsmen at Edgbaston

Player	Dot balls	Dot balls as % of balls faced
Sachin Tendulkar	14	73.68
Kevin Pietersen	16	72.72
Sourav Ganguly	67	64.42
Alastair Cook	37	60.71
Matt Prior	18	60.00
Rahul Dravid	33	54.09
Paul Collingwood	26	49.05
Ian Bell	36	40.45
Yuvraj Singh	15	38.46

The above table also shows where Yuvraj scores over most of the other Indian batsmen. Ganguly has topped the run-scoring charts for India since his comeback to the ODI team earlier this year, but his strike-rate is way below the other batsmen in the top-order.

Indian top-order batsmen in ODIs in 2007

Player	Matches	Runs	Average	SR
Sourav Ganguly	17	768	54.85	70.32
Rahul Dravid	21	743	57.15	83.48
Sachin Tendulkar	17	638	45.57	86.56
Yuvraj Singh	17	542	45.16	96.26

England have also easily scored over India in the field. Not only has the Indian ground-fielding been terrible, they have also missed plenty of chances. At Edgbaston they slipped up at least four times: RP Singh spilled a chance off Alastair Cook when he was on 15, Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed a stumping chance from Owais Shah when he was on 12, while Dinesh Karthik and Singh missed run-out chances as well. The catch and the stumping alone cost India a total of 32 runs, which is only ten fewer than the final margin of defeat.So far in this series, India’s fielders have dropped a total of five chances, and adding Dhoni’s stumping, the lapses have cost the team 134 runs. On the other hand, England have only failed once – maybe literally – to hold on to a chance, when Chris Tremlett, used all of his 6”7′ frame to get to a ball played uppishly by Sachin Tendulkar, but was unable to grasp the ball. Tendulkar was on 57, and went on to score 99.

A statistical look at Inzamam-ul-Haq’s Test career

Mathew Varghese12-Oct-2007

Inzamam-ul-Haq: a batting giant for Pakistan © Getty Images
Fifteen years after his Test debut, Inzamam-ul-Haq signed off a glittering career on the final day of the second Test against South Africa in Lahore. His performance in the sign-off Test wasn’t what he would have wanted it to be, and while that hardly diminishes from an exceptional career, it did mean he missed out on a couple of important landmarks.The 17 runs in his 120th and final Test not only left Inzamam – who finished with a Test aggregate of 8830 – two runs short of equalling Javed Miandad as Pakistan’s leading run-getter in Tests, but also brought his career batting average down to 49.60, marginally below the 50-mark, which is considered by many as a benchmark to distinguish between a good and a great batsman. In Inzamam’s case, however, that definition clearly doesn’t hold.Inzamam’s best year in Tests was 2005, where he scored 1000 runs at 83.33 in eight matches. He was particularly impressive between 2000 and 2003, when he amassed 2963 runs, including 10 hundreds, at an average of 61.73.The last couple of years clearly weren’t great ones for him, though: he averaged 35.36 in 15 Tests since the start of 2006.Inzamam’s overall average slipped below 50, but he still finished with an average of 50.16 for Pakistan, as he played the Super Test for the World XI against Australia, where he made one run in two innings. (For Inzamam’s career summary, click here.)

Inzamam’s career batting record

Team Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Pakistan 119 8829 50.16 2546 World XI 1 1 0.50 – -The aspect of Inzamam’s career that stands out is his ability to be a matchwinner. When he scored runs, Pakistan usually won. Pakistan’s reliance on him is also reflected in the fact that his average plummets to 28.36 in the 39 Tests Pakistan have lost while he’s played.

Inzamam ‘s record by result

Result Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Won 494690 78.16 17 20 Lost 39 2156 28.36 2 13 Drawn 32 1984 47.23 6 13He averages a phenomenal 78.16 in matches won by his team, putting him in elite company -among batsmen with at least 3000 runs, only two batsmen average more.

Highest averages in matches won (Minimum 3000 runs)

Player Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Don Bradman 30 4813 130.08 23 4 Kumar Sangakkara 31 3166 87.94 11 9 Inzamam-ul-Haq 49 4690 78.16 17 20 Garry Sobers 31 3097 77.42 12 11 Rahul Dravid 36 3674 76.54 10 18 Another current player who’s done exceptionally well in matches won is Michael Hussey. Though he hasn’t scored 3000 runs in wins yet, he averages 84.22 for his 1516 runs in the 15 matches won by Australia.Inzamam’s averages soars to a Bradmanesque 94.42 in matches won at home, while Bradman himself hovers above the 150-mark.

Highest averages in home Tests won (Minimum 1000 runs)

Player Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Don Bradman 21 3361 152.77 17 2 Inzamam-ul-Haq 20 1983 94.42 7 9 Garry Sobers 11 1322 94.42 5 3 With 17 of his 25 hundreds coming in wins, Inzamam squeezes himself right in the middle of eight Australians in the list of batsmen with most hundreds in winning causes. Ricky Ponting tops the list with 26, and barring Don Bradman and Greg Chappell, he’s played alongside the rest – brothers Steve and Mark Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist.

Most hundreds in matches won

Player Matches 100s 50s

Ricky Ponting 78 26 25 Steve Waugh 86 25 25 Don Bradman 30 23 4 Matthew Hayden 64 21 19 Inzamam-ul-Haq 49 17 20 Inzamam also captained Pakistan in 31 Tests from 2001 till earlier this year, winning and losing 11 of the 31 matches in which he led the team, including the controversial forfeiture against England last year. However, captaincy didn’t affect Inzamam the batsman: his average as leader stayed over 50.

Inzamam as captain

Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

31 2397 52.10 7 14It’s inevitable that Inzamam will always be compared to Miandad, and rightly so, as it was Inzamam who took over the mantle of being Pakistan’s mainstay from Miandad. Both Inzamam and Miandad have similar away records, while Miandad averages significantly higher at home.

Inzamam home and away

Venue Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Overall 120 8830 49.60 2546 Home 49 3709 53.75 1120 Away 68 4821 45.91 13 26 Neutral 3 300 75.00 1 –

Javed Miandad home and away

Record Matches Runs Average 100s 50s

Overall 124 8832 52.57 23 43 Home 60 4481 61.38 14 17 Away 64 4351 45.80 9 26 Inzamam averages over 50 against most teams, but the one blotch on his stats are his numbers against the best teams during his playing days: against both Australia and South Africa, his average dips into the 30s. Even here, the numbers are similar for Miandad. Against West Indies, the best team during his time, Miandad averaged marginally below 30.

Inzamam and Miandad against the best teams

Player Opponent Runs Average

Inzamam-ul-Haq Australia 785 31.40 Javed Miandad West Indies 834 29.78Though Inzamam is widely known for his poor running-between-the-wickets, Miandad is the one who has a higher percentage of run-out dismissals. Inzamam’s run-out woes are largely in ODIs, having being dismissed 40 times in that manner. Inzamam and Miandad have similar dismissal percentages, the only difference being while Miandad has been caught behind far more often.

Dismissal summary (figures in percentage)

Mode of dismissal Inzamam Miandad

Bowled 12.9 12.5 Caught by fielder 46.6 38.1 Caught by wicketkeeper14.622.6 Stumped 3.4 2.4 Leg-before 18.5 19.6 Run-out3.4 4.8 Hit-wicket 0.6 0.0In their 189 and 200 innings, Miandad and Inzamam have remained unbeaten 21 and 22 times during their career.Inzamam, however, has the highest number of centuries for a Pakistan batsman, and he has also scored a triple-hundred, something that Miandad failed to achieve despite being able to convert the hundreds into big ones.

Break-up of scores (figures in percentage)

Runs scored Inzamam Miandad

0-19 39.535.9 20-49 25.0 29.1 50-89 19.0 20.6 90-99 4.0 2.1 100-149 10.5 6.9 150-199 1.02.1 200 and above 1.0 3.2

Andrew Miller presents the plays of the opening day between England and South Africa at Lord’s

Andrew Miller at Lord's10-Jul-2008
Three years and 39 Tests of waiting erupt in a moment of emotion for Kevin Pietersen, who was outstanding at Lord’s © Getty Images
Man of the day
When Ian Botham broke Dennis Lillee’s world wicket-taking record in his comeback Test in 1986, Graham Gooch famously asked: “Who writes your scripts?” After today’s supreme performance, nobody ever needs to pose the same question to Kevin Pietersen. For three years and 39 Tests, KP has been plotting this moment, his glorious return against the country of his birth, and how magnificently he played the lead role. He gave furious notice of his intent back in February 2005, when he lacerated one-day centuries in Bloemfontein, Border and Centurion in a hate-suffused series in South Africa, but this was the innings that really counted. His 13th Test century in his 40th match, but the first that will leave him truly fulfilled.Nervous starter of the day
“I sure he’s going to be hugely motivated to perform well, but I’m sure he’ll feel a touch of pressure as well.” Graeme Smith was prophetic in his pre-match assessment of Pietersen. Rarely has KP looked so ill at ease in a Test situation – he arrived at the crease with England in the midst of their wobble, and he would have run himself out second-ball for a duck if Makhaya Ntini’s shy from mid-on had been gathered cleanly at the stumps by Hashim Amla. Pietersen had progressed no further in his innings when Dale Steyn sconed him with a brute of a bouncer – a helmet-rattler that required a lengthy break for running repairs. But crucially, he endured, and inevitably, he flourished.Déjà vu delivery of the day
Some might say that Steyn has enjoyed a meteoric rise as a Test cricketer, and with 78 wickets in the past 12 months alone, it’s hard to argue with his recent statistics. But for Michael Vaughan, one of only three English survivors from the 2004-05 tour of South Africa, Steyn’s abilities have been as unequivocal as a 90mph leg-cutting yorker. That was what he was served up in the second innings of Steyn’s Test debut at Port Elizabeth, and both men remembered the moment only too well. Steyn needed only two deliveries to repeat the dose today – and though this version was arguably less venomous, Vaughan’s footwork betrayed a man who feared what was coming.Collapse of the day
It had all been going so swimmingly for England. A century opening stand on a misleadingly sluggish surface, against a South African attack for whom only the veteran Jacques Kallis had located the right line and length. But then, as can so often happen, their progress was stymied by a duff lbw decision, and suddenly the pitch was livid with demons. Andrew Strauss fell first, to a Morne Morkel offcutter that pitched outside leg, before Vaughan attracted the wrath of Steyn. Then to complete a meltdown of three for three in 13 balls, Alastair Cook fended a snorter off the splice, for AB de Villiers to pouch a dolly in the slips.Serene starter of the day
Ian Bell, by contrast, arrived in the middle with scarcely a care in the world, which is not what the scriptwriters had envisaged. In the assessment of many, not least the South Africa coach, Bell is a man living on borrowed time, odds-on for the chop as and when Andrew Flintoff is ready to reclaim his place. And yet, while Pietersen prodded and fretted in the early moments of his stay, Bell slipped onto the offensive like the mouse that roared. His first delivery, from Steyn, was eased delightfully through the covers for four, and he added four more in 14 balls to reignite England’s innings. One of them, admittedly, was rather streaky, but the intent was what really counted.Decision of the day
When Smith won the toss, he chose to bowl first – a no-brainer on the face of it. After a week of torrential rain, the pitch showed signs of real juiciness, and Vaughan admitted he’d have made the same choice. But instead of a springboard, the track was a bog, and South Africa’s pacemen sunk deeper and deeper into the mire in a lacklustre first session, as Strauss and Cook helped themselves to a century stand. A brief glance at the honours board might have changed Smith’s mind – he hardly found Lord’s a minefield when he made 259 here on his last visit, while England’s batsmen had mustered 21 centuries in their last nine appearances. But the die of the day had been cast.

Virat Kohli admits it was just the timing and not the call-up that caught him unawares. He was one of the top scorers in Australia during the recent Emerging Players tournament, one that Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, was observing keenly

Nagraj Gollapudi07-Aug-2008

	Virat Kohli: “I am naturally confident. If I believe in my own ability I don’t see anything else in the field. I had in mind I had done well in Australia and might get a chance soon” © Getty Images

On December 18, 2006, Delhi were reeling at 59 for 5 in the face of Karnataka’s huge first-innings total of 446 in a Ranji Trophy game at the Feroz Shah Kotla. It was the second day and B Akhil was on fire, Delhi desperately needed a partnership and Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 40 at stumps. Early next morning Kohli lost his father.Despite the personal loss Kohli decided to turn up for the game. He felt he needed the distraction. His mind might have been occupied but he was aware of his responsibility and of the task ahead. In the company of Puneet Bisht, he batted grimly to control the damage before falling ten runs short of his maiden Ranji Trophy century. He was disappointed yet something had changed forever for Kohli.”The way I approached the game changed that day. I just had one thing in my mind – that I have to play for my country and live that dream for my dad,” Kohli said.Today Kohli, named in the ODI squads for the Sri Lanka series and the Champions Trophy, lives that dream. “My first reaction was of absolute joy. I could hardly believe it.” Despite the celebration, Kohli turned up on time for his nets session at the St Sophia’s School ground in West Delhi, where he was mobbed by parents of the other players.Kohli admits it was just the timing, not the call-up itself, that caught him unawares. He was one of the top scorers in Australia during the recent Emerging Players tournament, one that Dilip Vengsarkar, the chairman of selectors, had kept a close watch on. “A plus point was the chief selector was there. I hadn’t done as well as I’d wanted to in the Indian Premier League, so I knew this tournament was an important opportunity. It was pressure to have the chairman watching me against tough opposition. But once I started doing well, I grew more confident about my batting,” Kohli said. The tournament included his best innings to date, a hundred against New Zealand, playing outside his position as an opener.Vengsarkar has kept his eye on Kohli for a while now, believing he has the potential to achieve bigger things. “Dilip sir asked me to keep doing what I do. I knew he had been observing me for sometime now and I hope I can live up to his expectations,” Kohli said.Kohli’s USP is his naturally aggressive batting. There are no second thoughts. “His love” for batting, as his coach Raj Kumar Sharma describes, has always helped Kohli gain recognition; during his Under-15 days he scored a couple of double-hundreds; then, in an Under-17 championship game against Himachal Pradesh, he scored 251 to put Delhi in the lead after they were stuttering at 70 for 4.”He is a very physical type of player. He likes to impose himself on the game, backs it up with his skill”, said Dav Whatmore, coach of the India Under-19 side Kohli led to World Cup victory in Malaysia earlier this year. Kohli agrees that it is calculated aggression. “I can’t be bogged down by a bowler. I just like to give it back.”However, at times this need impose has turned into a sort of desperation and Kohli has lost his wicket while trying to force his way through. He had a disastrous IPL campaign with Bangalore Royal Challengers, scoring 165 runs in 13 games at 15.But he went back to the West Delhi Cricket Academy, where he first arrived in 1997, to seek the help of his coach. After receiving a dressing-down from Sharma, Kohli promised he would let his bat do all the talking. A hundred in the Emerging Players event was just returns. “I was asked to open the innings, which I don’t usually, but I remained unbeaten on 120 and helped India win,” Kohli said of the innings which he terms his “best so far”.Kohli has been helped on his way by Whatmore and Martin Crowe, who, without asking him to change anything in his batting style, re-directed him towards a proper route to success. Whatmore told him that in order to have more contribution in the game he needed to be batting longer at the crease. “He was disappointed that on a couple of occasions he didn’t get as many runs as he should have, simply because he had wanted to get a reasonable amount of runs a little bit too early. Therefore we agreed he should be looking to bat into the 40th over.” Against New Zealand he batted out 41 overs to secure the win.During his stint with Bangalore, Crowe, who was the franchise’s chief cricket officer, asked him to play to his strengths. “He just told me to recognise my strong areas during the game and go for the shots I felt confident of, and could pull off” Kohli said.Life has turned a corner for Kohli quite fast in the last few years. He might appear brash with his ready comments but he is confident of where he is heading. He understands it is unlikely he will straightaway get a place into the Indian middle order but he isn’t bothered about that right now. He says he’ll get the job done when the moment arrives. “I am naturally confident. If I believe in my own ability I don’t see anything else in the field. I had in mind I had done well in Australia and might get a chance soon.”