Australian batsman Michael Klinger on being stranded on 99, facing Shoaib Akhtar, and nightlife in Bristol

Interview by Jack Wilson26-Apr-2014Do you consider yourself unlucky never to have played for Australia?
Yes and no. In one-day cricket I’ve been successful and still hope to play for Australia. So maybe yes, I do, in that form of the game. In terms of Test cricket, there have been times I may have been close but there are a lot of good players in Australia and I probably haven’t got the runs at the right time. I’ve had opportunities and haven’t taken them, which is down to me.What are you looking forward to most about working with Justin Langer at Western Australia?
I have heard such good reports about him from guys that have played with him, but not just about his cricket coaching. It’s also about the way he has brought sides together and his caring nature for the players. He looks out for them in their lives away from cricket, and for me, with a wife and two little kids, that’s very important. I can’t wait to work with someone like him at the back end of my career.Think back to March 3, 2001. Can you remember what happened?
() Ah, the declaration! I was on 99 not out for Victoria in Hobart and Paul Reiffel decided to declare.Did you hit him?
I didn’t! At the time I was happy to be playing and scoring a few runs. Now, looking back, it would have been nice to get one more ball to get one more run, but I think he wanted 15 minutes to bowl at them just before lunch. I didn’t even face that many balls that morning.Your nickname is Maxy. Why?
There was a show called that was on before I was born, I think. The name was given to me by an underage coach at the time. There was a person in the show called Corporal Max Klinger, who was a cross-dresser. Hopefully it’s because of my surname that they called me that.Who is your best mate in cricket?
When in Victoria, Bobby Quiney. In South Australia, Callum Ferguson.Who is the best fielder you have shared a dressing room with?
Cameron White, for Victoria, is a good all-round fielder, whether it’s as a catcher in the slips or in the inner ring.Who has bowled the best spell you have ever faced?
Shoaib Akhtar, in a World XI game against Victoria, was outstanding. He bowled some fast bouncers and fast yorkers at me, so him.What represents Gloucestershire’s best hope of silverware this season?
The one-day tournaments. We’ve got a pretty good young one-day team that showed promised last season.Where’s the best place to go in Gloucestershire for a night out?
With two kids, I don’t get much time to go out. There was a couple of times I did after a good win last year, and a pub called Racks is a place I enjoy. A few of the younger lads dragged me to the Mbargo nightclub last season. It’s not my scene but they definitely love it.The Gloucester lads are lined up for a 100m sprint. Who would win?
I’d say Hamish Marshall. He’s the oldest guy in the squad but probably the fittest and quickest.And who would lose?
He won’t like me saying this but Alex Gidman isn’t the quickest over the ground.You have played over 300 matches but have bowled six balls. How many did you go for?
It’s probably six more than I should have bowled. Did I go for three in the over?Correct.
I knew it. George Bailey was too scared to get out to me.Describe your bowling action.
I try and bowl legspin but I’m happy if they land on the pitch somewhere.What is your guilty pleasure?
Ice cream.Coca Cola or Pepsi?
Coke.Where do you do your weekly shopping?
In England, Sainsbury’s.

There are very few batsmen in international cricket who play each ball so differently from the next like Upul Tharanga, who continues to polarise fans with such an approach

Andrew Fidel Fernando at the SSC14-Aug-2014300 a good total – Tharanga

Upul Tharanga, Sri Lanka’s top-scorer on day one, expects the SSC pitch to take substantial turn as the match wears on.
Pakistan’s bowlers extracted both movement and turn to leave Sri Lanka at 261 for 8 at stumps, though the spinners only accounted for one of those wickets.
The last Test to be played at the venue in July, featured considerable turn on days four and five.
“Normally the SSC pitch is not turning for the first few days, but it did something today – big turn,” Tharanga said. “I think it will turn as much as the last match. Even for the seam bowlers, sometimes the pitch was a bit two-paced. Some balls went through quickly, others got stuck in the pitch and came slowly.”
Tharanga said Sri Lanka would aim to get 300 in their first innings, and believed that constituted a good total.
“It’s not easy to play shots on this pitch, because when the pitch is two-paced, we can’t time the ball perfectly. First innings runs are crucial and if we can get as much as we can from here, I think our bowlers can put them under pressure. You can’t score runs freely, like on SSC tracks of the past.”

The first moments of a Test are almost always absorbing, even if that match eventually becomes dull. There is so much information go be gained about the protagonists. Are the openers in touch? Does the bowler have rhythm?Mostly, though, the first few exchanges reveal something about the living, breathing 22-yard unknown on which all of the action pivots.This information is at a premium at the SSC, which is notorious for its featherbeds. However, it does occasionally produce good pitches. The bone-dry surface which it turned out for the Test against last month conjured a close finish, despite South Africa’s ultra-defensive approach from day two.But if spectators hoped to come to a swift judgment on the pitch by watching Upul Tharanga’s opening exchanges with the Pakistan bowlers, they might have wound up at more of a loss than when the match began. Tharanga is gifted beyond a doubt, but he also has talent for high drama.On Thursday, this was clear from the outset. The first ball of the morning – a full and juicy delivery from Junaid Khan – was pushed firmly through the covers, hands and feet moving fluently to the ball. Deliveries two and three were defended nicely, but then came a drastic falling away.Ball four, pitched on a length and moving slightly away, was edged towards the slips but it fell short. The next delivery was a similar one, but this time Tharanga’s shoes were sucked ino a black hole on the crease, and he barely neared the ball with his waft.Junaid went fuller for the final delivery, swinging it a little and searching for that faint edge, only to find the batsman had suddenly moved into place and sent the ball screaming through cover.Plays, misses and driven fours are common in the early moments of a Test, especially when a team seeks to take the match by the scruff, but only few like Tharanga play each ball so differently from the next. The result is disorienting.Is this pitch good for batting, or is it a bowler’s strip? Is the ball moving, or is the batsman just making it seem like it is? Has Tharanga been weighed down by a string of mediocre scores, or is he fighting his way back?Through most of his 92, Tharanga played sublime shots, particularly through his favoured cover region. But he was also having his outside edge beaten by away-seamers, being cut in half by indippers, wafting at air when spinners turned the ball away from him, or chipping it just wide of the close fielders when it spun towards him. He has played like this before.So many Tharanga innings are like switching between a Hitchcock horror and a Clint Eastwood western. One moment he is the blonde being brutally stabbed in the shower. The next, he is ice-cold, shooting up the whole saloon by himself.It is normal for batsmen to go through dry months, then for fortunes to turn, and torrents of runs to follow. But Tharanga’s form changes with the direction of the wind. Average deliveries are made to seem unplayable. Really good balls are smoked to the fence.Not everyone can withstand such sudden peaks and troughs, but aside from natural ability, Tharanga also has zen in spades. Saeed Ajmal got the second ball of his 47th over to kick up from the rough, inducing a false shot that almost had Tharanga caught by short leg.

One moment Tharanga is the blonde being brutally stabbed in the shower. The next, he is ice-cold, shooting up the whole saloon by himself

Ajmal shot an “almost had you” smirk at the batsman as the fielders around the bat began to chirp louder. The bowler turned to his mark with a spring in his step. Yet, just when Tharanga could have been intimidated, he was slinking forward next ball, finding the pitch of the delivery, then caressing it past mid off.”A lot of times, when you get tracks like this, you give a few chances,” Tharanga said of the several close calls in his innings. “Saeed Ajmal was turning it today. What I did was just put it out of my mind, because that ball is already gone. Then I focused on the next ball.”Tharanga needed a score in this match. It was no surprise when the selectors brought Dimuth Karunaratne into the squad after the Galle Test. There had been a good chance Tharanga’s return to the Test side after seven years would last only three games.It is also no surprise that Tharanga polarises fans. Supporters point to his 13 ODI tons. “Not even Marvan scored that many, and he played many more innings,” they say. Detractors draw attention to the many low scores, or that uncannily common form of dismissal: the nick to the keeper or slips. If a decent score follows in the second innings, he may soon get his chance again in ODIs.Tharanga frustrated at the SSC, but he flourished as well. Sri Lanka would be staring at defeat without him. He is an easy batsman to like, for the prettiness of his strokes and the calm he exudes at the crease.But he is also a man whose career perpetually seems at a crossroads. Given his experience and approach, he seems an ideal man to become Sri Lanka’s long-term opener, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict which fork Tharanga will take from here.

Abhishek Purohit06-Dec-2014Amol Muzumdar: ‘It was completely different in Guwahati; [in Mumbai] I was used to having Wasim Jaffer [and other] big names in the dressing room’•FotocorpHow does one handle the shift initially?
Chopra: Even if you have scored plenty of runs, when you walk into a new side, you are craving for acceptance. You need to become one of them. If you don’t, it becomes a huge issue. Initial acceptance happens because of what you have done elsewhere but that lasts only for a little while. Beyond that, you need to start afresh, build relationships. You need to quickly identify who are the right people to talk to, and what to talk about. I was fortunate in that Rajasthan was a great bunch of kids. I had also played Buchi Babu with them. So when the Ranji Trophy began I had had a fair amount of interaction. Also my coach Tarak Sinha was coach of their academy then. That also helped.Muzumdar: After sharing 16 years in the Mumbai dressing room, when I went to Assam, it was completely different in Guwahati. I was used to having Vinod Kambli, Wasim Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, Sameer Dighe, big names in the dressing room. To be very honest, after 16 years in first-class cricket, you are some kind of a senior pro. For a junior to adjust would have been a little different. But as a senior pro I took it in my stride. I knew I needed to adjust. I wasn’t too long in that frame of mind that ‘oh God, this is different’.Staying in hotels after “home” games must be tough…

Chopra: You are not really in your comfort zone ever. That happened more at Dharamsala for me, and that was where playing as a professional eventually got to me. Logistically, I was challenged so much on every single count every single day that I had no gas left in the tank. We were playing in a small place called Amtar, small ground, very minimal facilities, no proper hotel. I was the only one staying at the ground. The phone connectivity was slightly better at the ground, and I wanted to stay connected to my family. I was eating at dhabas because hotels were not available. If you wanted to have a can of Diet Coke – it may be a very trivial example – you had to drive for almost 60-odd km.Muzumdar: It was never a home game. Once you left your house in October, that was it. You had to finish the season and come back home. That was a big ask. Even with the hotel next to the ground [in Guwahati]. I could jump off from my hotel on to the ground. Luckily I had [former Mumbai team-mate] Sairaj Bahutule with me. Bang opposite the stadium there were also plenty of shops. There was a road where I and Sairaj used to go often. There was a buzz. It was right in the centre of the city.What’s the impact like on the family?
Chopra: Extremely difficult. The first two seasons were all right. I did not have a baby, my wife was travelling with me. Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s mother would come to the ground. Some of the players’ wives started coming because my wife Aakshi was there. Last season, Aakshi was pregnant. She could not come to Dharamsala, she would not have been able to anyway with the logistics. Aarna was born and I was away. To leave your one-month-old kid behind… it gets to you, it gets to your family as well, that you are playing domestic cricket in India, but you are still not there.Muzumdar: Not only us, the family also has to make that adjustment. It is easier to play for Mumbai; if you have a game at hand, even in Trivandrum, there will be a flight in the evening to Mumbai. But that is not the case from other centres, that advantage is lost. It was a difficult phase for all of us. In the rare case I had a game close to Mumbai, I would hop on to a flight. There was never a Diwali celebrated, although both my and my daughter’s birthdays are during the Diwali period.

“It was never a home game. Once you left your house in October, that was it. You had to finish the season and come back home. That was a big ask.”Amol Muzumdar on having to stay at hotels after “home” games

How does one cope with relatively poorer facilities?
Chopra: After 10-15 years of first-class cricket, you felt you had earned the right to stay in a good hotel, sleep in a decent bed, good meals, gym, nets, these are the basic facilities you would want to have. Once that is not available, you find yourself fighting a new battle every day. And that can get to you. Someone who has played as a professional, if he is coming from a big state, or has played for India or IPL, he has been exposed to the nicer lifestyle, then beyond a point, he will realise ‘hello, what have I got myself into’? That was one of the things in Dharamsala that made my decision to quit cricket much easier. I did not want to go through that again. I did not want to stay in a shady hotel, not having access to the internet, not having good food, struggling to have a proper bath because the water is muddy.Muzumdar: The facilities were pretty okay, not great. When I first went to Guwahati it was raining so we were confined indoors. And I asked them, ‘Wow, do you really have indoors?’ At that time not many centres had indoor facilities. I was pleasantly surprised. But it was just under a stand. On concrete they had laid out a greenish, artificial wicket. And there was a bowling machine on, and you were going to bat. That was basically the indoor nets. I and Sai looked at each other and had a smile. But we took it in our stride. You had to make a lot of adjustment. There was only one ground, and you were confined to it. Now there is one more in Assam.How important is the rapport with the adopted-state association?
Chopra: It helped that I had Tarak Sinha, who was handpicked by the [Rajasthan] association. They trusted him. The communication channel was open. I have played long enough to know that in cricket administration, you don’t get everything you want. But at least you knew that you could fight and get certain things done. In Dharamsala it did not happen. I was the captain. Hemanth Kumar, who was hired as a pro, had three-four bad games. I wanted him to be around for at least one more game. But that communication channel was not open for me. I had no idea of the inner dynamics of the association and the repercussions of the team not doing well. I could not stop him from being dropped. Then you realise that this is not your association, you do not know these people. It is a new place, it will take time, and there are some collateral damages that you make peace with.Muzumdar: I had a two year contract with Assam. I had never paid attention to all those things. That had never been my style of operation. I have always been on the ground, done my job. I was there to do a job, I would do it to the best of my ability, whether I was successful in that or not does not matter. I felt I did my best on the ground and off the field I do not know.What about the pressure to score runs, while keeping a local player out?
Chopra: They will make sure that someone will quietly mention in your ear that ‘boss, the runs have not come’. When you talk about the players, there will be some amount of discord, that some of their friends are being kept out because of you. If you have not made runs, and there is an 18-19 year-old local kid, why do you need Aakash Chopra or Hrishikesh Kanitkar? You understood by the body language. In the first season at Rajasthan, I started with 70-odd, and missed out in the second game. Third game, Tarak Sinha quietly told me, ‘Aakash, you need to start scoring runs.’ I was like I have played only two-three innings. But that is the kind of patience people have. And then I scored runs, a triple-century also. That season you did not look back, but it again came to hurt you next season. A couple of bad innings and you start hearing the murmurs, that ‘no, the professionals are not doing enough’. At some level, you are not from the inside. You are from the outside and have come to play.Aakash Chopra on the Rajasthan dressing room: ‘First time I have seen people genuinely happy for each others’ success’•Mahesh AcharyaMuzumdar: No. That feeling was not there [that I was keeping someone out of the side]. I was there to help them grow as cricketers. I was there to do a certain job. The association had hired me to do a certain job. I am a professional cricketer. All those things do not matter. Emotions and all, you need to keep in the back.The pressure was more in Mumbai. You really had to score runs for Mumbai . It was tough sometimes, couple of games and it used to get into your head that ‘oh God, I need to score runs’. Every time I walked on to the ground, I had the same feeling, whether for Mumbai or Assam. I had to gauge what was happening in the middle, is the ball turning, swinging, or going off the track… That was my main concern. It did not matter where I played.How much of mentoring is involved for professionals?

Chopra: I’ll speak to people, motivate them, try and mentor them, even if there is no brief. It came naturally to me. It made my job easier. What happens with some teams is there are certain individuals who are not forthcoming, they do not ask, and you also stay in your comfort zone. If your opinion is sought you go that extra mile. With my access to the association being a bit more than others, we had made sure we kept the flock together. We wanted certain guys to continue playing, and be given ample opportunities. When you have done that much, naturally there is this sentiment that you want these guys to do well. You know them outside the ground as well, it is not just the number of runs they have scored or the number of wickets they have taken. I know what they have gone through, their personal stories, their hardships. I have seen them work hard, fret over a bad performance even at a dinner table. When you know all that, the understanding changes.Muzumdar: Assam made me a better captain, in Andhra I came out as a better human being. Sometimes when you are playing for a side like Mumbai you are carried away by the luxuries that surround you. You ask for anything and you can get it. States like Assam and Andhra, the boys are good. You can see that they are genuinely trying. Not that in Mumbai they did not try. But they came from a subdued background in Assam, and my job was to lift them up. And if I have lifted a couple of them up in their careers, I have done my job.You had to be a bigger motivator than a captain in Assam. In Mumbai you could lead the team, you knew that there was Rohit Sharma, Wasim Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, they don’t need to be told what they are supposed to do. They know exactly what is required of them. But over there some players needed motivation. That was my basic role. Not only to motivate, but at the end of the season or end of the two-year term, if I had changed them into better cricketers, I was happy.Which was the best dressing room?
Chopra: Rajasthan. By a mile. First time I have seen people genuinely happy for each others’ success, even if you are a competitor. That did not happen anywhere. I have seen all kinds of things happening in the Delhi dressing room. There are underlying jealousies, competition. When somebody gets out, nobody feels too bad about it. In Rajasthan, I have seen competitors helping each other out.It was more like a family, we stayed together for three-four months. They would call my wife and take care of her, she would constantly pray for these kids. In Delhi you went home. In Rajasthan nobody went home. That made a huge difference. If you are staying together, the level of camaraderie changes completely.Muzumdar: Mumbai, without a shred of doubt. In Mumbai, although there was cut-throat competition, we were happy with each others’ company. I could tell a Nilesh Kulkarni what to do in the dressing room or a Sairaj Bahutule could tell me ‘Amol, come on, pick it up from here.’ He could motivate me and tell me to my face that I needed to be on my guard. There was healthy competition with everyone.Andhra I loved it and enjoyed the first year. Assam I felt there was a little bit of a burden. Burden is a harsh word actually. I felt everything was thrust upon me to make the team better.

India began with plans that were off, and continued with them for too long. To add to that, their fielding was lethargic in that first hour

Sidharth Monga at Adelaide Oval09-Dec-20145:28

Agarkar: India need to bowl the right line

The last time a team won an Adelaide Oval Test without scoring 500 in the first innings of the match was back in 2005. For an Adelaide win with a score of under 400, you have to go back seven more years, when Australia beat England despite being bowled out for 391 in the first innings. The average first-innings score here since that Test has been 457. You need to score big, over 500 mostly, when batting first to win in Adelaide.If Michael Clarke doesn’t come to bat – and there is a good chance he won’t – India effectively have Australia down at 7 for 354. During the Test that India won here in 2003, Australia were 5 for 400 after day one. There is another big “if” around Indian batting, which has lasted 180.1 overs in its last four Test innings put together, but India somehow find themselves in a position from where they can hope, especially against a team which is likely to be missing its captain and whose emotional composure hasn’t yet been put under stern test.However, let it not be forgotten that India were ordinary for the better part of the day. They began with plans that were off, and continued with them for too long. The fielding was lethargic in that first hour. A first-day pitch is not what a legspinner should be judged by, but Karn Sharma’s selection might have been too adventurous. Most disappointingly, though, after having been talked up as fast and fit by their stand-in captain, India’s fast bowlers struggled to build pressure – let alone maintain it – and when they would be on to something they would provide the release ball immediately.After his first day as Test captain, when Virat Kohli goes back into the change rooms, a conversation with MS Dhoni might be in order. “I’m sorry,” Kohli might tell Dhoni, “I spoke so much about aggression when you weren’t here, but now I can see why you aren’t aggressive: it is impossible to attack with the bowlers we have got.”Even after the start that David Warner had given Australia, Ishant Sharma’s introduction into the attack brought India back into the contest. Just after lunch, especially against Michael Clarke, India began to put together a cluster of good deliveries. The first six overs – bowled by Ishant, who was continuing his pre-lunch spell, and Mohammed Shami – were accurate, and even though they went for 23 runs, two boundaries came off edges. Two outside edges didn’t carry. You could sense India were close to driving the nail in.Then, bowling the 31st over of the innings, Shami summed up what has been wrong with him since the start of the England tour earlier this year. It was his ninth over, the fourth of this, his second spell. After bowling two dots, he pitched short and he pitched wide. All the pressure was released with a square-cut four. Shami came back well with the next ball, on a length, just outside off, holding its line, taking an edge that didn’t carry. The next ball again was short and wide, and went for four.Varun Aaron was selected to bowl fast. You shouldn’t be expecting the same accuracy and persistence you should of him as you would of Shami, who bowled in the early-to-mid 130s. It helps, though, if you swing the ball. Aaron found none with the new ball. And even if you are not expected to do the holding job, your pace should be good enough to allow you to keep one batsman on strike so you can work at something. Aaron failed to register more than three dots in a row in the first six overs he bowled. He was either too full or too wide – sometimes both – or too short despite there being the odd sharp bouncer.Between them, the two new-ball bowlers went for 178 runs in 34.2 overs, and can thank Ishant in part for maintaining some sanity at the other end, which played some part in their getting four wickets. You have to wonder if it is lack of fitness and stamina, concentration or awareness that makes them release pressure. You have to also wonder if faulty plans and persistence with them today might have something to do with it. While doing commentary during the English summer, Shane Warne made famous the word “funky” as an adjective for captaincy. Alastair Cook and Dhoni, you see, were both un-funky and passive.Kohli might have just have been too funky here. His opening bowlers operated round the wicket to both the left-arm Australia openers. The strength of both the said bowlers is to move the ball away from the right-handed batsman, which gives them a natural chance of getting lbws with left-handed batsman and outside edges if they can mix the swing up with the angle. Even debutant legspinner Karn stayed round the wicket. There must have been some plan at play, for you don’t give up that advantage just like that, but it took India an age to correct that mistake when they saw it was clearly not working. India bowled 130 balls from round the wicket to Warner and Chris Rogers, and conceded 126 runs for one wicket that was gifted away by Warner.Towards the end, though, India made good use of the lucky breaks they got. Clarke had to retire-hurt. To his credit, Kohli took the new ball immediately, even though the previous few overs had been among the quietest of the day. He was still looking for wickets, which hasn’t always been the case of late. The bowlers responded in that final burst. Australia helped them by sending in a nightwatchman with close to half an hour to go.Test cricket doesn’t throw such lifelines too often. India have shown interest in grabbing it, but they still need to wrap up the tail. Even then their batsmen will need to show they have improved big time since their last Tests. Still they have a chance, which was scarcely conceivable after how they had started.*GMT 4:40pm – this article had earlier stated, incorrectly, that the last time a team won an Adelaide Oval Test after scoring less than 500 in the first innings was in 2001. This has been corrected.

Hamilton gets a bad rap for being a yokel town, but the locals will tell you there’s plenty of fun to be had

Matiu Workman27-Jan-2015New Zealand is a country rich in mythological tales. Aotearoa (The Land of the Long White Cloud) is claimed to have started with Maui, an ancient Maori warrior who fished the North Island (Te Ika A Maui) from his boat, Te Waipounamu – the Maori name for the South Island.But there’s one myth encouraged by modern-day New Zealanders that has left one Kiwi laughing off some cutting jokes. There’s nothing to do in Hamilton, according to comics and sceptics.Hamilton is New Zealand’s fourth-largest city with a population of just over 140,000 according to the 2013 census. The city will host three matches during the World Cup – South Africa play Zimbabwe, India play Ireland, and New Zealand host Bangladesh.Hamilton’s heritage dates back to 1864, where the town was developed at an abandoned Maori site named Kirikiriroa.Despite being the largest in the agricultural hub of the Waikato region, the town, once labelled as “The City of the Future”, has long been a target for would-be comedians and, to an extent, politicians. Such was the level of friendly banter directed at the city that a satirical political party campaigned in the 2014 national election with a pledge to severe ties with Hamilton and force it into a self-governed city.Mayor Hardaker with former cricketer Ken Rutherford at an event in Hamilton•Getty ImagesThis from the Civilian Party’s website:”If every household in New Zealand used energy efficient light bulbs, we’d save the same amount of energy that Hamilton uses in a whole year. So instead of using energy efficient bulbs, why not get rid of Hamilton?”It was an extreme take on the old joke of Hamilton’s seeming lack of appeal. But why are there such cutting remarks about the city?Hamilton’s World Cup Ambassador, Councillor Rob Pascoe, says the jokes are a “hangover” from the city’s agricultural heritage.”A lot of outsiders seem to think we’re little more than a cow town full of yokels,” Pascoe said.”The funny and ironic thing is that agriculture is an absolutely vital part of our economy, and we embrace it. We’re an economic powerhouse.”Mayor Julie Hardaker says the jokes also stem from something else. “Look, it’s jealousy,” she says. “Everyone who lives and visits knows Hamilton’s got it all.”Those in the Council Chambers aren’t the only Hamiltonians who have a good enough sense of humour to let it pass them by. Batsman Daryl Mitchell was born in Hamilton and has plied his trade with Northern Knights since 2011. He plays alongside a number of Hamiltonians, including BJ Watling and Anton Devcich.A couple rows their kayak through the Coromandel Peninsula•Getty Images”Obviously it probably gets a bit of a bad rap for what a great place it is,” the 23-year-old said. “It’s like most cities – a lot of people say there’s not a lot to do and stuff like that, but you’re only an hour away from the beach and it’s pretty nice weather up here, so you can’t complain too much.”Mitchell savours any time off by hitting up one of the Hamilton cafés with some of the local Knights lads or unwinding in the internationally renowned Hamilton Gardens.This international attraction includes floral tributes to Indian, Chinese and Italian gardens. It’s estimated that some 1 million people visit the gardens a year – not bad for a city whose population is just over 10% of that figure.But flora and fauna aren’t Hamilton’s only natural features. The Waikato River flows through the city and there are a number of stunning cycle trails throughout Hamilton and the Waikato region.For Mitchell, one of the benefits of growing up in Hamilton at an early age was his early exposure to the depth of sporting ability in the city.”I think school-wise early on it was good for me. There was a pretty sporty culture. Hamilton schools are pretty dominant at rugby and cricket, so you sort of grow up with a ball in your hand, which you maybe can’t do in other cities.”The city’s sporting success has seen the Knights feature in the Champions League cricket tournament, while the local rugby side claimed the 2012 and 2013 Super Rugby titles. Mayor Hardaker expects the passion for sport to be on show come February, when the tournament kicks into gear in her city.Northern Districts’ Daryl Mitchell grew up in the sporting environment of Hamilton•Getty Images”Hamilton and the Waikato are known for being sports mad and we do sport really well here,” she says. “Pulling off a great tournament and getting feedback that everyone had a great time will do it for me.”Sport aside, Hamilton is also an ideal hunting ground for tourists looking to get a taste of Hobbiton, the focal point for Sir Peter Jackson’s movies, located 40km north east.If searching for the one ring to rule them all isn’t for you, Mitchell has another recommendation. “You’re an hour away from Raglan or the Mount and over the summer period you get out as much as you can. We head out there and just chill out, which is nice over the summer time.”Hamilton is a city that boasts one of the world’s top gardens. It’s also a central base for sporting, movie and fitness buffs. Are there grounds for the city to be labelled a lifeless one? Far from it, according to Councillor Pascoe.”There’s more to Hamilton and Waikato than cows and butter, I assure you!”

The MCG packed to the rafters, two top teams, India coming out on top. What’s not to like?

Shreya Paranjape23-Feb-2015Why I chose this game:
My home team and one of my other favourite teams playing at the MCG, this was an opportunity not to miss.Key performer:
Shikhar Dhawan looked promising right from the start of the innings. His 137 – the highest by a batsman against South Africa in World Cups – really made us fans have hope for a big total, especially after the early loss of Rohit Sharma.Wow moment:
Wow moment for me was watching Ajinkya Rahane bat the way he did, completely different from his usual style. He kept going for the big shots, and executed them well! It was a treat watching him go away from the typical Rahane style of batting and bat with aggression.One thing I would’ve changed:
The heat; it was unbearable! It was apparently only 35 degrees, but it felt a lot worse than that. You could see spectators grabbing anything they could find so they could fan themselves to cool down. The occasional breeze during the game was like a real godsend.Shot of the day:
Mohammed Shami’s boundary off Dale Steyn in the last over of the innings. Steyn’s expression after that shot was truly pricelessCrowd meter:
The stands were packed, the atmosphere was as good, if not better than the India vs Pakistan game at the Adelaide Oval. To be among 86,000-plus people, with majority of them being Indian supporters was a different feeling altogether. There was a Mexican wave that went around six times, with just as much enthusiasm from the crowd each time. The usual India chants were the most popular, and Virat Kohli was the most popular player getting the loudest cheer, whether he was warming-up, batting or patrolling the boundary.Overall:
I am so grateful to have witnessed this record-breaking game live at the MCG, a memory I will treasure forever and definitely one worth losing my voice for.Marks out of 10:
I think everyone present at the venue or watching it on TV will agree this was a sure shot 10/10. Two great sides on show and India coming on top. Brilliant game of cricket!

It seems Virat Kohli is to not bat before the 12th or 13th over to strengthen the middle and the lower middle order. It suggests a lack of confidence in what was supposed to be India’s strength in their title defence: their batting

Sidharth Monga21-Jan-20150:33

‘Virat can steady the innings at No.4’ – Dhoni

Virat Kohli was India’s best batsman in the Tests. He was setting the tone. He was taking Australia on. He was the face of the Indian team on this tour. He has also been an extremely successful No. 3 batsman in the world for a while. Arguably the best going around in the world at the moment. When Sachin Tendulkar retired from Tests, Kohli spoke about how he had always wanted to set up situations rather than react to them. Not that he wasn’t good at No. 4 – he averages 61 at 4 and 52 at 3 – but you want your best batsman to face as many balls as possible. He played at four because Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were in the team. It has been curious then that Kohli has now dropped down to No. 4, sending in – at times – the inexperienced Ambati Rayudu to face the new ball.When Kohli moved to No. 4, against West Indies in Delhi in October 2014, he had gone 16 international innings with just one half-century to his name, including a failure against West Indies at home too. India’s best batsman was struggling against the new moving ball, and they were getting desperate about it. Out of desperation came the move down to No. 4, and Kohli scored 62 in his first effort after demotion. He went on to score a hundred later from No. 4 later during the home season.When he regained his confidence during the Tests in Australia – not just regained, he had multiplied it – you would have thought that Kohli would reassume his position in the ODIs: you don’t want to waste precious balls at the top of the innings by sending in a lesser batsman. Yet when Shikhar Dhawan fell in the first over in the MCG ODI, out came Ajinkya Rahane. And when Rahane moved up to open in Rohit Sharma’s absence at the Gabba, Dhawan’s wicket in the third over brought out Rayudu.Were India protecting their best batsman? Trying to limit their losses with the new balls. On the face of it defensive, but in their minds a sensible move. If you look at the ODI against West Indies in Dharamsala, on 17 October 2014, you would think that to be the case. For a change India got off to a good start, losing their first wicket in the 12th over. And out came Kohli. And he scored a century. On the evidence of the first two ODIs India have played in Australia, they are going to continue with their flexible strategy. If the first wicket falls early, Rahane or Rayudu goes out to bat at No. 3 and tries to blunt the new ball. If the openers have batted for 10 overs, Kohli goes back to No. 3.The Indian team says Virat Kohli’s move down from No. 3 is a considered move, and a forced one•Getty ImagesQuite convenient for the best batsman in the team, we will say, when he should be facing the tough situations head on. But the team says this is a considered move, and a forced one. The game has changed. You want your best batsmen in the final 20 too, where the big runs can be scored. Although India need to keep in mind that the innings graphs in Australia tend to be more even: it is not as easy to clear these grounds as it is in Indias and South Africas.Also India’s lower middle order is almost non-existent now. The new rules mean India need to play five specialist bowlers. After years spent on developing Ravindra Jadeja as a hitter, India don’t have his services at the moment. It sounds good to say the best batsman should play as many balls as possible, but they also need somebody to hold an innings together should the start not be good.MS Dhoni’s explanation for Kohli’s move down the order was typical of Dhoni in press conferences: unclear and saying many things at once. He wants to both protect Kohli against the new ball, and strengthen the middle order. “We have to make the middle order strong, the middle and the lower middle order,” Dhoni said after India’s massive loss to England in Brisbane.”The reason being Jadeja is also not there. Today okay, Stuart [Binny] was playing and we all know he can bat. But with Akshar [Patel] and [R] Ashwin, if both of them are playing, then me and [Suresh] Raina at 5 and 6. After that, there is not much of batting. So with Virat batting at 4, what really happens is if he bats, he will go in quite early. Still close to the 12th or the 13th over if the wicket falls we will send him. And from then on, he can create partnerships. He can bat from one end and we can all look to give him company from the other side.”This is to basically say that Kohli is to not bat before the 12th or 13th over because then the middle and the lower middle order become weak. Some might see this as Kohli’s inability to build an innings should he be required to bat earlier than that. Can you imagine Viv Richards and Ricky Ponting, when at their prime, agreeing to do this? We don’t know what Kohli thinks of this move. It is possible he might have requested to move down. It is possible he doesn’t like it. It is possible everybody is happy with it. Call it defensive, call it practical, but this move suggests a lack of confidence in what was supposed to be India’s strength in their title defence: their batting. As it is there are a few aspects of the game Dhoni’s team has to get around; this is another unwelcome addition.

Too many ducks spoil the, innings? New Zealand’s challenge was hampered by too many of their batsman failing to trouble the scorer. A record they could have done without on the biggest stage

Andy Zaltzman at the MCG29-Mar-20157:52

#PoliteEnquiries: Are we ever going to get a good World Cup?

In the days and nights before a World Cup final, I imagine myriad thoughts go through a player’s head. Waking dreams of individual and collective success; tense visions of single moments, crucial phases, or old rivalries renewed on the biggest stage; doubts, hopes, memories, ambitions, fears of failure. Perhaps they imagine themselves hitting the winnings runs, taking the final wicket, or hurtling thirty yards across the outfield to take a diving one-handed catch; or dropping a sitter on the boundary before making amends by kicking the ball as it bounces, striking it so sweetly that it follows an 80-yard trajectory directly onto the stumps to complete an unforgettable run out, before they hobble off to a standing ovation and a foot spa.Some players will, perhaps, have imagined themselves making history. Some will also have pictured themselves, with rather less enthusiasm, getting out for nought, trudging off as the pitiless metaphorical quack of a duck reminds them of their total failure in a career-defining match.For most, neither scenario transpires. For Brendon McCullum, both did.World Cup final ducks are relatively rare. There were eight in the 1979 final (three by the victorious West Indians, five in about 15 minutes by England as Joel Garner yorked them senseless), but there had been only seven in the eight finals since then.This year’s final ¬- a disappointment for the neutral and the New Zealander, but a majestic display of near-flawless ODI cricket by an Australian team that threatens another prolonged era of domination – produced five ducks. Four of them by New Zealand, and one by Australia.Duck One was the most important, the failure that shaped the final, a devastating start for both sides, in different ways. And a moment of history. Never before had a batsman been dismissed in the first over of a World Cup final. Or, from Mitchell Starc’s point-of-view, never before had a bowler taken a wicket in the first over of a World Cup final. Not bowling greats such as Dennis Lillee in 1975, or Ian Botham in 1979, or Andy Roberts four years after that, or Glenn McGrath 1999. Nor even bowling not-quite-so-great Pramodya Wickramasinghe in 1996.Once Brendon McCullum was on strike, cricket was treated to three balls of pitched-up pace perfection, the third of which thudded into his stumps at a velocity that has proved too much for most of the batsmen Starc has encountered recently. McCullum failed to score. His bat had been left untouched, a force of destruction rendered into a decorative ceremonial weapon by the tournament’s most influential player. The highlight of the final happened after three minutes. Trying to attack from ball one against 90mph swinging stump-threatening fireballs was a high-risk gambit. The Kiwi skipper’s infectious aggression with the bat has illuminated this World Cup. He could have been infectiously aggressive even after playing himself in for a few balls.Duck Two was almost equally important. New Zealand recovered from their early troubles with a century stand by the fluent Grant Elliott and the rather less fluent Ross Taylor. When Taylor edged Faulkner behind, New Zealand were 150 for 4, the depth of their batting, which had aided them significantly at various points during the campaign, was about to put to the test. They could still reach 270, at least. Two balls later, Corey Anderson, who had had a high-impact tournament with bat and ball, with significant innings in four of New Zealand’s victories, and the proven power to give his team a competitive score, was scuttled by a scurrying Faulkner delivery.

There is something different about the complete failure of the duck, the total lack of tangible contribution, the fear of which chills all batsmen at any level.

Anderson trudged off with body language that understandably and unmistakably screamed: “Please can I have another go at that, that was not supposed to happen.” Anderson is only the fifth player to score more than 200 runs and take more than 10 wickets in the same World Cup. Two of the others (Yuvraj Singh in 2011 and Lance Klusener in 1999) have been named Man Of The Tournament, and one more (Kapil Dev in 1983) could well have been had the title existed then. But his duck was another nail in New Zealand’s final coffin. Not the final nail, but any nails in coffins are generally a sign that Great Uncle Eric is probably not going to be springing back to his feet any time soon.Duck Three confirmed that New Zealand would be restricted to an at-best moderate total. When growing up in Australia, making his way through the ranks of Australian cricket, and playing ODI and T20 cricket for Australia, Luke Ronchi may well have dreamed that, one day, a capacity crowd at the MCG would cheer him to the rafters as he helped the country of his upbringing to World Cup glory.That dream came true. But not in the way he would have wanted. He was booed to the crease, nearly ran out Elliott with a foolish call for what looked like at best around 0.85 of a single, then edged his fourth ball to slip. The MCG cheered, Australia were nearer to World Cup glory, but Ronchi did not look like a man whose childhood dream had come to fruition.Duck Four made little difference – Matt Henry is a capable hitter who hammered four sixes in his last first-class innings before being summoned to the World Cup squad, but was left in a situation where even a few connected thwacks would make little difference. In the end, he made no difference at all. He plinked a Johnson full toss to cover. Teams batting first in ODIs and scoring four ducks had a record of won six, lost 46. An almost hopeless situation had become slightly less hopeful.Duck Five was exactly what New Zealand needed after Ducks One, Two, Three and Four. But, as it was not followed by Duck Six or Duck Seven, or even by a batsman being out for less than 45, it proved irrelevant. Nevertheless, it was a moment of statistical curiosity. This was Australia’s seventh World Cup final. Aaron Finch, as he might have dreamed of doing, did something that none of his compatriots had ever done in those six previous finals – get out for nought. He was the 43rd Australian to bat in a World Cup final, and the first duck, achieved with one of the least convincing innings of 0 off five balls that you could wish to see.I imagine Finch will reflect on this slice of history rather less than Brendon McCullum will on his. A World Cup final duck is easier to accept if you accessorise it with a winner’s medal. Finch thus continued a proud tradition of opening batsmen scoring a century on the tournament’s first day, and ending it with a duck in a victorious final, a custom launched by Virender Sehwag in 2011.Eight New Zealand batsmen failed – only Elliott and Taylor scored more than 15 ¬- and, in practical terms, the difference between scoring nought and scoring, say, ten, is generally negligible. But there is something different about the complete failure of the duck, the total lack of tangible contribution, the fear of which chills all batsmen at any level. For a team whose strength is derived in large part from the depth of its batting to lose four players for a combined total of – hang on, let me just check this on my abacus – zero runs, in a World Cup final, against an opponent that had not lost on home soil for a very long time, was a mathematical and symbolic problem from which the Kiwis were highly unlikely to recover.———I watched the final from high (very high) up in the MCG stands. If you want to know what the atmosphere was like on such a grand occasion, in front of a record-breaking crowd of 93,000, most of whom were watching their country win a World Cup on home soil for the first time, then I am pleased to be able to report that, for the most part, the atmosphere was a truly unforgettable playlist of classic pop songs.It was an excellent playlist, ranging from rock classics and melodious hits by Australian and New Zealand stars, to the famously cricket-influenced energy of hip-hop, and the unquenchable dance-inducing groove of contemporary pop and dance anthems. Occasionally, a man would appear on the big screen to try to make everyone fall in love with a soft drink by shouting, or talk to a famous ex-cricketer for an unmissable eight-second insight into the workings of a World Cup final, but mostly the atmosphere rocked and popped along tunefully via a hugely impressive public address system, which achieved a rare combination of both clarity and volume.Every now and again, the 93,000 people would make a very loud noise, such as when the visiting captain was dismantled in the first over of the match, or the winning runs were hit, or the trophy was lifted, but fortunately such outbreaks of unorchestrated crowdiness were shortlived, and the music was swiftly summoned to snuff out such unnecessarily spontaneous interventions. The audience who had paid their hard-earned roubles, lire, kopeks or dollars to listen to eight hours of musical gobbets could once again have their reactions and excitement dictated to them.One can only imagine how awfully drab the massive, packed stadium of cricket fans would have sounded without the musical medley to guide them as to when something exciting had just happened, or when nothing at all was happening, or when something might be about to happen or not happen. Perhaps there would have been eight tedious hours of a crowd following, reacting to, and interacting with the sporting drama, with the hubbub of conversation, the peaks and lulls of an unfolding drama punctuated by explosions of delight and excitement. But most likely it would have eight hours of unremitting, library-level silence. We can count our lucky stars that sport today saves the paying customer from being forced to create its own atmosphere by the changeless, unthinking, automatic blasting of the god-given glory of music.

As Kevin Pietersen continues his pursuit of an improbable England return, we look at some other candidates with bouncebackability

Alan Gardner24-Mar-2015Geoff Boycott
The greatest scion of a Yorkshire dynasty of rhubarb-wielders, Boycott became the leading run-scorer in Test cricket while at same time winding up a large proportion of fans, administrators and team-mates. Sort of a batting anti-Pietersen, he was once dropped after scoring a double-hundred too slowly. Boycott excused himself from international selection for three years between 1974 and 1977, fretting about Yorkshire’s decline and supposedly unhappy at not being made England captain. Returned to play 45 more Tests, his talents undimmed – as evidenced by Ian Botham’s decision to run him out in Christchurch the following year.Brian Close
The youngest man to appear in a Test for England, Close was quite a bit more grizzled when he played for the last time against the West Indies in 1976, aged 45. Recalled after a nine-year absence, Close was helpfully namechecked by Tony Greig in his infamous quote about making the tourists “grovel”. At Old Trafford, in what was his final Test innings, Close withstood a fearsome short-ball barrage from the West Indians for two-and-a-half hours. Hard as they come, Close could probably still teach the current England side a thing or two about how to play Mitchell Johnson. If not quite as much with the chest.Ian Botham
England’s knight errant, Botham was the original comeback king. Given the captaincy aged 24, he quit after 12 Tests, during the 1981 Ashes – and promptly orchestrated England’s 500-1 turnaround triumph at Headingley. Five years later, he returned from a ban for smoking cannabis and took wickets with his first and 12th balls to pass Dennis Lillee’s Test record. “Who writes your scripts?” wondered Graham Gooch. Botham’s antics wrote tabloid headlines but he was back for a final hurrah in 1991, when he failed to get his leg over (for once) against West Indies, before helping England to the World Cup final.Andrew Flintoff
Another crowd-pleaser with bouncebackability. Flintoff rode the England rollercoaster for a decade and ended up being likened to the messiah – but he was also capable of being a very naughty boy. The “Fredalo” incident at the 2007 World Cup, following on from captaining England to an Ashes whitewash, might have left lesser mortals all washed up but Flintoff grabbed the limelight again by dominating the Australians with his famous arms-outstretched pose in 2009. That and he ran out Ricky Ponting. Has since resurrected his playing career with Lancashire and Brisbane Heat but might be better advised to stick to singing.Peter Moores
Moores didn’t play at international level – he got no further than keeping wicket for Sussex – but is part of an exclusive club of coaches to have taken charge of the same country twice. On the day that he was reappointed in 2014, Pietersen tweeted: “Everyone deserves a 2nd chance!” The subtext was clear – Pietersen, who helped get Moores the sack first time around, was admitting to an error of judgement and tacitly endorsing the man described by Paul Downton as “the outstanding coach of his generation”. That or he was just trying to get his place back. Either way, the point still stands.And one we’d like to see return…WG Grace
In some ways, he has never really gone away. The “Doctor” played for England at 50 and first-class cricket at nearly 60, so neither retirement nor death might be considered insurmountable obstacles. Still a genuine rival to Pietersen as one of the most recognisable faces in English cricket and with a similar-sized ego – though Grace is certainly more welcome at Lord’s, where his statue can be seen playing a crisp front-foot block. Might need to rein in the gambling and work on his fitness but, on the plus side, is unlikely to find that the game in England has moved on much since his time.

Plays of the day from the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai

Karthik Krishnaswamy01-May-2015Lendl’s loopy luckLendl Simmons should have been out for a duck. He edged a perfect outswinger from Tim Southee, the second ball he faced, only for Sanju Samson to spill a fairly straightforward chance behind the stumps, diving low to his right. Given that life, Simmons played some sparkling shots and moved to 38 before his luck turned 180 degrees. Looking to paddle Ankit Sharma fine, Simmons didn’t quite execute the shot the way he would have liked to, and was out lbw – except he wasn’t, really; he more or less middled the ball on to his front pad.The field changeDhawal Kulkarni had bowled a long-hop the previous ball, and Rohit Sharma had clobbered it out of sight, over midwicket. As if to ensure he stopped bowling short, Kulkarni changed his field before bowling the next ball, sending a man back to the straight boundary and bringing fine leg up. Rohit sensed an opportunity to manufacture a boundary, and walked across his stumps just before Kulkarni reached his delivery stride. Kulkarni followed him and bowled it in the blockhole, outside off stump. Rohit backed himself to pull off the pick-up shot even from that line, and he nearly managed to beat short fine leg, but Ankit Sharma moved quickly to his left and stretched his left arm to its fullest height to pluck a stunning one-handed catch.The sitterIn pretty much every IPL match, the fielding frequently swings from the sublime to the ridiculous. Ajinkya Rahane, who can be a jumpy starter, attempted two strange across-the-line hoicks against Mitchell McClenaghan in the first over of Rajasthan Royals’ chase. He inside-edged the first one past the stumps and top-edged the next one high into the leg side. J Suchith settled under it at square leg. He barely had to move. He had his hands in just the right position, just above chest-high, so he could see it fall into them, and he cradled the ball into them to cushion the impact, but pulled his hands down a touch too quickly and the ball slipped through his grasp and fell to the floor.The rocket throwSoon after Rahane had thrown his wicket away with another wild swipe, Sanju Samson came into the middle. The second ball he faced, he tucked Vinay Kumar into the leg side. Suchith moved like lightning at short midwicket to stop the ball, and stop Samson from thinking about the single. At the other end, though, Shane Watson had come a long way out of his crease. He turned and dived into his crease as Suchith spun and threw in one motion. The ball hit the stumps direct and though short extra cover wasn’t a long way from being in position to back up the throw, it simply raced away to the off-side boundary. Was Watson out, or had Samson picked up four cheap runs? Replays showed Watson had made his ground just in time to beat Suchith’s arm.