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Though unsuccessful for long stretches during Pakistan’s rearguard, the Sri Lanka attack demonstrated admirable patience and application

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Dubai11-Jan-2014As gloom came to rest above the Dubai stadium in the morning, Misbah-ul-Haq began his long, dreary filibuster. For 37 balls the match stalled on his unambitious blade and Sri Lanka’s bowlers could do little more than settle into their channels. Though unsuccessful for long stretches, and lacking a team-mate to provide respite with a back-spell of bowling, the attack did not stray until stumps were drawn.During Sri Lanka’s Test-free months in 2013, they had counted their top Twenty20 ranking among their proudest achievements. In that format, variation rules and predictability ends careers. Somehow, while the short-form specialists were doing just enough to safeguard the team’s place atop the table, the Test bowlers had developed a taste for attrition. Misbah seemed so set on defence that perhaps not even wayward deliveries would have stirred him from his reverie, but Sri Lanka’s bowlers can be satisfied that, nine days into the series, they are yet to produce a truly poor spell between them.Pakistan will no doubt be more content with their day’s returns, having lost only four wickets and having pushed the match into a fifth day, where there is a chance rain will define the outcome. But on a pitch offering little for either seam bowlers or spinners, Sri Lanka’s toil was admirable. The bowling coach will find little to fault with his side’s pitch maps, and there were spells in which balls routinely passed the edge, having deviated off the surface.Shaminda Eranga’s aptitude for reverse swing was evident later in the day, particularly when he tailed one in late to Bilawal Bhatti, who jammed down on the ball, but could not prevent it spilling on to the stumps. Suranga Lakmal was the most menacing bowler with the second new ball, and Nuwan Pradeep showcased a gift for bowling tightly, after he had been the attacking option earlier in the Test.”Bowling with patience has to happen in any Test match,” Rangana Herath said afterwards. “No matter if the opposition scores quickly or slowly, if we can make run-making as difficult as possible, that is the characteristic of a good attack. I think we have that in this attack. There are things to improve, but we have the right attributes. There is a big improvement since the Australia tour at the end of 2012. If we get to play Tests in quick succession in the future, we’ll be able to improve further.”Five-wicket hauls from Herath himself have featured in four out of five Sri Lanka wins since Muttiah Muralitharan retired, and it was his inability to strike that was most conspicuous. There has been little of the desert heat or sunshine that dries out this Dubai surface, however, and though Misbah was undone by a ball that ripped from middle stump to beat his forward defence, such deliveries have been rare, even out of the footmarks. Saeed Ajmal’s woes in the series help illustrate just how unhelpful pitches have been for slow bowlers.”To me, it still looks like a good track to bat on,” Herath said. “I think I bowled a good delivery, but apart from that I couldn’t get much spin from this pitch. I didn’t try anything different with that ball. I did the same thing, but there was something extra from the pitch on that occasion, I guess.”It would be glib to glance at the scorecard and suggest Sri Lanka’s attack still verges on toothless. If there has been a theme to the series, it has been that bowlers have bowled well, but batsmen batted better – at least beyond the first innings of each match. It would be unfair to expect this Sri Lanka attack to blow away a batting side on a flat surface, given its inexperience and the paucity of supporting personnel. When the umpires ruled Sri Lanka could not continue with fast bowling because of deteriorating light, Kumar Sangakkara was their only choice for a comically inept over.With rain forecast for large periods of Sunday, Sri Lanka cannot afford to be complacent as they seek to restrict the Pakistan lead to no more than 150. Having dominated the first seven sessions of this Test, a draw would disappoint almost as much as a loss, but in waiting Misbah out, Sri Lanka have shown they do not lack for persistence.

Yuvraj Singh was hardly convincing to begin with against Delhi, but a big dose of crowd support and a helping of poor bowling meant he had the opportunity to hint at a possible return to form

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Sharjah18-Apr-2014″I’ve got a feeling,” sang the PA system at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, not long after Yuvraj Singh had walked in to bat. Before the song could proceed any further, and declare that Thursday night was going to be a good night, the DJ stopped it abruptly. He or she was a Yuvraj fan, perhaps, and didn’t want to put a jinx on him.This was Yuvraj’s first innings since that 21-ball 11 in the World T20 final, and his first innings since a group of fans had reacted unreasonably to that 21-ball 11. It was also his first innings for Bangalore, who had paid a not untidy sum of money to buy him at the auction, despite the fact that he hadn’t made a half-century in his last 19 IPL innings.The man at the other end, meanwhile, was Virat Kohli, whom he had denied the strike during that 21-ball 11. Kohli, Bangalore’s captain, had played a persuasive role in signing him.This, then, wasn’t just another innings.Yuvraj couldn’t have chosen a more congenial setting in which to begin such an innings. He had the crowd’s sympathy, yes, but he would have had that at any stadium; only a tiny fraction of sports fans, surely, are mean enough to revel in a player’s house reportedly getting stoned. Sharjah, though, was also showing itself to be a stronghold of Bangalore fans.In India, it’s often hard to get an accurate picture of the extent of home support at the league’s venues. At most stadiums, someone has placed a home-team flag on your seat well before you’ve parked your car. Most emcees, meanwhile, only ask the crowd to cheer for the home team. If you support the other team, you seldom get a chance to voice it. Here, given equal opportunity to cheer for either side, the Sharjah crowd voted with their vocal cords.Granted, for the most part, the spectators did or chanted whatever the emcee asked them to, no matter how ridiculous it made them look or sound. What they didn’t do, though, was chant “Delhiiiiiiiii, Delhi!” Each time the emcee tried to get them to follow his lead, they drowned him out with shouts of “R-C-B! R-C-B!”It was as much a show of approval for Bangalore as it was a sign of Delhi’s lack of appeal. They haven’t tasted too much success in past seasons, and, perhaps because of that, haven’t retained an easily identifiable core group of star players. For Bangalore, on the other hand, the signing of Yuvraj added yet another highly marketable name to an already swollen roster. It cost them a lot of money to sign him and that may well have caused gaps to form in other areas of their squad, but Sharjah didn’t seem too concerned. As soon as Yuvraj had swung Rahul Sharma over long-on for his first six, a bearded man in a red T-shirt held up a hand-drawn banner. “More risk = More profit,” it said. “Great bid Mr Mallya.”There is no doubt Bangalore and Yuvraj had all the support they could possibly hope for. It is far too early to say with any certainty, though, that Yuvraj has turned a corner with his unbeaten 52.At the start of his innings, he was late on a couple of short balls from Mohammed Shami, both of which went whistling off his top edge. Right after that over, Dinesh Karthik, Delhi’s captain, took Shami off when he still had an over left. Having survived those few discomfiting deliveries, life became much easier for Yuvraj, with Jimmy Neesham serving up length balls and Rahul Sharma dropping his legbreaks right into his hitting zone.Sometimes, though, you want bowlers to feed Yuvraj’s strengths, just to marvel at the way he strikes the ball. One pick-up shot off Neesham left you missing your TV, left you wanting to watch slow-motion replays from 15 different angles. Since that wasn’t possible in the West Stand at Sharjah, you wanted the DJ to at least play the rest of that song.

A look at how the Associate teams fared in Group B of the qualifying round of the World T20

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Mar-2014

UAE

Several of UAE’s batsmen got in before giving it away•ICCProgress: UAE were the only side among the eight teams in the first round to end without a win, and that really told the story, in a format where even Test nations Bangladesh and Zimbabwe were downed once each by Associate sides. They did seem to get it together in their last match, giving Zimbabwe an almighty scare, showing they were capable of competing, but that was when they were under no pressure – their exit from the tournament had already been confirmed. As their captain Khurram Khan said, just turning out at this level had taught his side so much.What to work on: Professionalism exists at top rungs of the Associate level and UAE were clearly found out, their poor fitness as part-time cricketers not allowing them to keep up with their opponents. Their fielding and catching was abysmal in their opening game against Netherlands, and even against Zimbabwe, they dropped crucial chances that, if taken, could have perhaps conjured a different ending. Better fitness will only come if are in a position to devote more time to the game. Also, too often they lost wickets in clumps after building a partnership, undoing all the hard work done till that stage. Their bowlers were nothing more than steady overall, although they didn’t get enough runs from the batsmen and support from the fielders.Player to watch: Led by the veteran Khurram Khan, UAE’s middle order showed potential, batsmen such as Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil and Rohan Mustafa got in before giving it away. They never seemed to be able to resist having a slog or two to break free from the stranglehold of dot balls, and if they can work on that, they seem to have a promising, spirited line-up. Kamran Shazad was one seamer who worked up some pace in UAE’s ageing attack.

Ireland

Progress: Their shock exit is an anomaly. Ireland are a team primed for big-time cricket, and it showed in how they dominated Zimbabwe in their first qualifying match. They will have to quickly forget what happened in those 13.5 overs against Netherlands in Sylhet and begin focusing on the 2015 World Cup, for which they qualified last year.What to work on: Ireland need to fill the gap left by Boyd Rankin, who left to play for England. They are missing a genuinely quick bowler who can wrest control in situations like when Netherlands ran riot in Sylhet.Player to watch: One bad over against Netherlands should not dissuade the progress of the otherwise impressive Andy McBrine. The 20-year old bowled impressively against Zimbabwe, and was sparingly used by Ireland. He is one for the future, forming a partnership with George Dockrell.

Zimbabwe

Progress: Zimbabwe would not have wanted to be left searching for
positives after an early exit from the World T20. Netherlands did raise their hopes briefly before dashing them, but Zimbabwe know that they were left with too much catching up to do after going down in their most critical game, their opener against Ireland. They did what they were expected to against Netherlands and UAE, but both wins were not without stutters. Two wins out of three for a side that had not played any international cricket for around six months may be seen as an achievement, but that will be scant consolation for Brendan Taylor and his men.What to work on: Zimbabwe missed thrust up the order, something Netherlands relied so much on. They could have had Elton Chigumbura batting higher up, a move that did not succeed against Netherlands. The decision to open with Sikandar Raza instead of the more experienced and explosive Vusi Sibanda did not work through the tournament. To their misfortune, both their key bowlers Prosper Utseya and Tinashe Panyangara had off days against Ireland, although Panyangara came back strongly with a top spell at the death.Player to keep an eye on: That spell of Panyangara’s nearly brought back Zimbabwe from the dead against Ireland, who needed just seven off 13 but had to rely on a last-ball bye to win. He found swing, he got the yorkers in, and he had Ireland panicking. Tendai Chatara was superb through the campaign with his cutters and controlled changes of pace.

After being pushed on to the defensive in the field, it is up to India’s batsmen to try and prevent a return to the bad old days of touring

Sidharth Monga at the Ageas Bowl28-Jul-2014A five-Test series was always going to be a challenge for India. In the second half of the first back-to-back Tests, at Lord’s, they gave it their all: batsmen showed discipline for long hours, bowlers bowled long testing spells, MS Dhoni went against the grain and showed rare aggression and tactical nous as captain. But the question always was, how much did it take out of India?In Southampton, Ishant Sharma was ruled out with an injury broadly described by India as a “sore leg”, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was down on intensity, with the ball not seaming as much as it did at Lord’s, and Mohammed Shami’s lack of discipline became exposed when others around him didn’t bowl that well. Now it’s down to the batsmen once again to make sure India do not fall back to the bad old days.It didn’t help India that their slips give no confidence to the bowlers – another catch went down, another catch that the wicketkeeper should have gone for – but the bigger concern would be that they decided too early that the pitch was too flat and that they couldn’t win the match. As early as the middle session of the second day, India went to Ravindra Jadeja as their main bowler, who darted balls into the pads with a six-three leg-side field.There wasn’t much success for India’s bowlers to celebrate over the first two days•Associated PressThe pursuit, like it was in Durban when they didn’t take the second new ball until they were forced to after 146 overs, seemed to just contain and delay England’s declaration. It is up for debate if thinking of a draw when your enforcing bowler is injured, you have a long series to go through, and you have the series lead, is such a bad thing, but that attitude can lead to dropping of intensity. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled tirelessly at Lord’s for six wickets in the first innings, echoed what was happening out there.”Wicket is flat, easy for batsman,” Bhuvneshwar said. “We tried our best as a bowling unit but we have had two long days.”The two long days led to extreme steps by Dhoni. In the middle session of day two, he had his bowlers bowling one-over spells for a long period. The 16th over after lunch was the first time a bowler had bowled two continuous overs from the same end. When Bhuvneshwar created an opportunity in the second half of the session, he was rewarded with another over. He was testing still, but that’s all he got. Debutant Pankaj Singh was brought on for the next over, and the first ball he bowled was a leg-side loosener. That can happen when you don’t let the bowlers get into any rhythm.Bhuvneshwar, though, said the number of overs they have bowled justified that extreme rotation of bowlers. “I found that really easy, being in the field for one-and-a-half days we were really tired,” Bhuvneshwar said. “Skipper wanted us to bowl one-over spells. By then we were in rhythm as well and we were not getting tired. Personally we found that easy.”When asked about conceding boundaries on both side of the wicket, Bhuvneshwar brought up fatigue again. “When [Gary] Ballance and [Alastair] Cook were batting, the situation demanded that we bowl on one side,” Bhuvneshwar said. “Sometimes we were tired, been a long day in the field, it is natural, we are human beings. We tried our best to bowl in a particular area. We tried different strategies.”The slips’ slips can’t be put down to tiredness, though. Bhuvneshwar sounded forgiving, although you can’t expect him or a lot of other India players to accept in a press conference that there is something wrong with them. “Being a bowler you have to know they are going to take some catches, and they are going to drop a few,” Bhuvneshwar said. “Every team drops a few catches, but you have to trust the fielder. You can’t ask anyone to come out of the slips. All you want is to give them confidence. It happens in cricket that catches are dropped. So far, in all three matches it has been good for us.”Tired bowlers, one injured bowler, dropped catches, dropped pace, captaincy waiting for declaration, an early wicket before stumps, it all sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster. India will dearly love to go to Old Trafford still ahead in the series but their batsmen have a long way to go to ensure that, going by how well James Anderson bowled in that seven-over burst and how the pitch has responded to his pace as opposed to India’s put-it-there bowlers.

Identified as a natural talent by Viv Richards, Jermaine Blackwood showed his attacking instincts during a fighting, maiden Test hundred

George Dobell at North Sound15-Apr-2015Twenty-nine years to the day since Viv Richards thrilled Antigua with one of the greatest – and certainly the fastest – centuries in Test history, his latest protégé announced himself to the world with a maiden Test hundred.Jermaine Blackwood is, in many ways, an old-fashioned West Indies player. In an age where most young players are taught to defend and leave and take their time, he likes to give the ball a whack.Coming to the crease with his side in some trouble, he responded in bold style. From the second ball of his innings, with West Indies teetering on 99 for 4, he skipped down the pitch and carved James Tredwell for six over extra cover.A few minutes later he played a similar stroke off James Anderson. While he was only able to slice the ball over the in-field for a single, the message was clear: here was a young man who was not going to be intimidated by situation or reputation. Later he lofted Ben Stokes, bowling with pace and aggression, for another six over long-off. It was a shot of which even Sir Viv would have been proud.We probably shouldn’t have been surprised. His second scoring shot in Test cricket was a lofted drive for six over long-on off Trent Boult. Blackwood plays Test cricket like West Indies’ players used to play Test cricket.It was a point made by Richards, who first came across Blackwood when asked to cast his eye across the batting talent in the Sagicor High Performance Centre in Barbados, and he admits to being “very impressed” at first glance.”I love his confidence,” Richards told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s not often you see a young man who has the confidence to take on these well-known fast bowlers as soon as they come into the game.”He has that Caribbean style. He’s a bit like Collis King; he can tear an attack apart on his day. Any attack.”Sure, there are some rough edges. But I would rather have a guy who can play the shots and teach him the defence than a guy who doesn’t have any shots. He’s a natural. It’s all natural instinct. And that’s the way it is with most of the best players.”Blackwood hails from St Elizabeth, the same parish in Jamaica as Andre Russell and Jerome Taylor. Russell has been an especially significant figure in his development: he took in him as a teenager and ensured that, while other young men strayed and faltered, Blackwood kept his head down, worked hard and did not squander his natural talent. The pair have lived and trained together for a couple of years.”Andre is like my big brother,” Blackwood said. “I’ve known him for about 10 years and I’m staying with him in Jamaica. We live under the same roof. We train at home and we talk a lot about cricket. Even this morning he sent me advice on my phone. He said stay focused, stay positive, bat for long and make sure I score a century for him.”I met Viv at the HPC last year. He’s been a very important person. He’s taught me a lot. He talks to me always about staying positive. He tells me to play the way I play, but be patient. He was always telling me to be patent but positive at the same time.”With such a range of strokes, Blackwood could become the latest West Indian talent to be lost to the IPL. For now, though, his priorities are representing the West Indies. “I can play all formats, but I really love Test cricket,” he said. “I really want to play Test cricket for a long time, so right now my main focus is Test cricket and making as many runs as possible.”He has long been seen as a highly promising player. He scored a double-century in an otherwise low-scoring game against Guyana in U-19s regional cricket – a rare achievement in a format that tends to be played at a fast and furious pace – and was taken into the Sagicor High Performance Centre.While his scores in domestic cricket this year have been modest – a reflection, perhaps, of Caribbean pitches more than anything – he has now passed 50 four times in nine Test innings. Twice he has been unbeaten.”They have to stick with him,” Richards said. “He is still learning and there will be bad days along the way. But he can damage teams. He can make a difference.”When you hit the ball like that, and when you have a passion to hit a ball like that, you don’t try and curb it. You may channel it. But it’s a natural talent and it is to be encouraged and celebrated.”He enjoyed some fortune. Once he was caught at slip off a no-ball, once he was dropped in the gully and once he edged through the vacant second slip position. On several occasions, after being beaten outside off stump, he forced himself into exaggerated forward defensive practice shots. They do not come entirely naturally. There will be times, no doubt, on green pitches in England or bouncy tracks in Australia, where the technique looks a little loose.On other occasions, he was troubled by the short ball. Stuart Broad, at his bullying best, struck him on the arm with one delivery and Stokes also made him uncomfortable in a particularly good, hostile spell. “It’s Test cricket. I’m used to it,” Blackwood said. “I’m from Jamaica. We have a lot of fast bowlers. I’m not afraid of any short balls. The bowlers will get tired and that is when I will damage them.”Indeed, he never took a backward step and, when Stokes overpitched he leaned into a perfect on drive that might just have been the stroke of the Test”He corrected himself,” Richards said. “He stopped following the ball outside off stump and he showed some restraint. It shows it can be done. And it’s better to brush up on these things than try to look for something that isn’t there.”It’s hard, you know. The breeze was strong and taking the ball away from him. But he worked out how to combat everything that was thrown at him – the short ball – whatever. That’s how he will learn. That’s how all batsmen learn.”This innings will give him a lot of belief. It’s like a golfer winning their first tournament; they feel they can win them all after that. He’ll have days when he doesn’t win, but West Indies need players like Jermaine Blackwood.”

This contest brings together a belligerent bunch of brats and braggers from two countries that are so different, yet share rampant egotism and a high opinion of themselves

Jarrod Kimber25-Mar-2015Australia and India are part of the “axis of admin” currently running world cricket. That shouldn’t mean you confuse them for friends.Administrators from both countries happily badmouth each other. Cricket Australia tells people they will hold the BCCI to their ethics. The BCCI tells everyone that they won’t be given moral lessons by the same Cricket Australia that runs the bully Australian teams.On the field, it is often much the same.There was a time when Australians completely ignored India. On the field, off the field, as a country. Australia spent decades without winning a Test series in India, but they also spent decades hardly playing a series there in the first place. Australia toured India five times in their first 50 years. They played for the first time in India 24 years after India’s first Test, which even when the Second World War is accounted for, is quite some time.Even when Kerry Packer went around the world looking for players for World Series Cricket, the Indians weren’t tapped on the shoulder. Sunil Gavaskar and Bishan Bedi could have played, but one was a blocker and the other a spinner; it wasn’t box office. They weren’t playing the game the right way, the Australian way.Before 2001, this was kind of how Indian cricket was seen in Australia. As this effeminate version of cricket that really wasn’t for Australians. They didn’t bowl fast. They didn’t smash the ball. They didn’t travel well. And Australians had to take food to their country just to survive it.Australia hadn’t won in India since 1969, but now it was just a matter of time. Coming into India’s enforced second innings, Australia had won their last 16 and a half Test matches.Then, VVS.VVS didn’t just beat Australia; he beat their entire system•Getty ImagesAustralia first tried to take his wicket driving. He drove, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket pulling. He pulled, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket with slower balls. He waited, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket with ring fields. He pierced, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket with bowling in the rough. He smashed, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket in the slips. He middled, they took no wicket. Australia then tried to take his wicket by giving up. He batted, they took no wicket.VVS made 281. When India started to follow on, they were 274 behind. VVS beat the follow-on.If you were taking on a team of Don Bradman, George Headley, Barry Richards, Viv Richards, Victor Trumper and WG Grace, you would not be unhappy to take Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Shane Warne with you. By the end, Steve Waugh used every player on his roster other than himself, probably due to health reasons, and Adam Gilchrist. Waugh had one of the greatest bowling attacks in cricket, and he was bowling Justin Langer.VVS didn’t just beat Australia; he beat their entire system. He beat their will. He beat their ego. And he did it in such a way that Australia had to give up. India could no longer be ignored. India didn’t play cricket the Australian way, they played it the Indian way.From there on in, you could buy DVDs of an Indian tour in Australian supermarkets. This was a country that only shortly before were happy enough to laugh, or at least cringe in silence, as former Australian Greg Ritchie did a long-running racist portrayal of Indians on TV. Australia went from a country that called Indians “curry munchers” to a country that was now desperate to beat them.Then there was the money. India meant money. Not DVD sales but TV rights. The money jumped up every time Australia hosted India. Hosting 70,000 people at the MCG was nice, hosting India in a Test series was the greatest show on earth.Then the Sydney Test of 2008 happened. Not many people come out of that Test well. Not either cricket boards or key players from either side. And when India threatened to travel home, Australia for the first time truly realised that they were no longer the masters of their relationship. To use the language of George Costanza, they had no hand.Thanks to the IPL, Australian cricketers are treated like rock stars in India•BCCIThis was India’s relationship, this was India’s sport, this was India’s money.Matthew Hayden had called India third world and he had called one of their players an obnoxious weed. Yet, in the corner of N Srinivasan’s India Cements office there is a bat given to him by Hayden. Now Hayden can be seen doing embarrassing video selfies for an Indian TV company.Thanks to the IPL, Australian cricketers were treated more like rock stars in India than they ever had been at home. At the Wankhede stadium there was once a 30-foot-high picture of Aiden Blizzard. In Australia he could wear an “I am Aiden Blizzard” sandwich board in Bourke St and not be recognised. Before most Australians knew who Aaron Finch was, he could be seen in hair product ads in India.Steve Waugh had taken to India out of love for the country. And Australian cricketers had always felt much love from Indians. But now they felt it in their wallets. Brett Lee ended up in Bollywood films. Even John Buchanan has given speeches on business in India.Then there is the Australian success in the IPL. They win a lot of titles, as captains, as coaches. Their players win a lot of personal awards. Many have pointed to the amount of useless Australian players in the IPL as a weakness of the tournament, but they are there because they have shown a lot of success. The IPL rated David Warner and Glenn Maxwell as much as, or in some cases long before, the Australian selectors did.These same players are often now team-mates one week, adversaries the next. It has forged strong friendships and epic feuds. The more you know someone, the more chance you will like them or despise them. And with the IPL, Champions league and Australia v India matches being seemingly played 11 months of the year, it can brew a lot of hate.You could see that when India lost the last Test series. Even during the Test that was as close to a memorial game as Test cricket has produced, the players got in each other’s faces. Some former team-mates, others constant rivals.India were easily beaten on the field, but with their mouths they fought out more than the two draws they managed. They didn’t seem to even turn up for the ODIs in the tri-series; they even lost to the second-tier ODI side England. They haven’t lost since.Team-mates, constant rivals•Getty ImagesThis is all different. This is a bragging right over your friends and enemies for life. This can help a cricketer turn from a hero to an immortal. Madan Lal played 39 Tests, but he is remembered for one ball in a World Cup. This matters to virtually all fans. Even the Test fans who still look down on ODIs. This is a World Cup semi-final. Australia are playing for a home final. India are playing for back to back. And they are playing each other.For years India wanted to prove they could be the best. Now they want to prove they are better than the best. They’ve won three ICC tournaments since their World T20 in 2007. They probably should have won more. Last World Cup they lost to South Africa and tied with England. This time they have been magnificent. So a loss now, as champions, to Australia, is unthinkable.For Australia, this is their World Cup. Even the promos have sometimes forgotten that New Zealand existed. Even their loss to New Zealand was so tiny, dramatic and chaotic that it was seen more as a great bad game of cricket than an actual loss. But a loss to India, at the SCG, will not be explained away, it will fester.Australia are attacking with bat and ball. Their only spin option is a batsman who often talks better than he bowls. They have so many players who can hit sixes, a few of whom do it better than they rotate the strike. Their fielders are loud and athletic. Their bowlers are fast and aggressive. There is no doubt, even at a glance, that this is an Australian ODI team.India are batting slower than they did last tournament. They seem to be backing themselves to get near 300 on autopilot. Their batsmen are almost all below 100 strike rate. Their fast bowlers seem excited by the two new balls and the bounce in the tracks. The rest of us are excited by their wickets. R Ashwin is in control. MS Dhoni wrote the program on modern ODI cricket. It’s sensible caution with flashes of all-out attack.This is a clash of strategy. And of methods, culture and politics. This is a new-era rivalry. Not as ancient as the Ashes, or as passionate as India-Pakistan. Two countries that are so different, yet share rampant egotism, high self-opinion and a belief that being born in their country is superior to other births. This brings together a belligerent bunch of brats, bullies and braggers.This is the “battle of the bullies”.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan were Sunrisers’ two biggest threats on the night of the IPL final. Shane Watson saw them off and waded into the rest of their attack, validating CSK’s faith in his experience and know-how

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai28-May-20182:32

‘A lot of emotion in the franchise, a lot of desire’ – Fleming

In Royal Challengers Bangalore’s disastrous campaign last season, Shane Watson played eight matches and scored all of 71 runs. He bowled 26.5 overs for only five wickets and an economy rate of 9.13. He was about to turn 36 then and did not possess a fresh pair of legs, and it seemed only natural when RCB released him ahead of the 2018 auction.There were rumours that he was playing his last IPL, and he himself admitted, “there may be a time when, hopefully, I get a chance to coach somewhere, and it just takes over from my playing days,” at the end of the tournament.When his name came up in the auction with a base price of INR 1 crore, only Chennai Super Kings bid for him initially before Rajasthan Royals joined in. Whenever Royals raised their paddle, Stephen Fleming, the CSK coach, replied immediately with a bigger bid. What was he thinking? Why did he want an out-of-form 36-year-old?Fleming had done his homework. Watson had found some form at home, with 331 runs from 10 innings for the Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. Two half-centuries, a strike rate of 139, nothing extraordinary. Fleming explained at the press conference after winning his third IPL title with CSK that he kept a close eye on Watson and had “no doubt” the allrounder would do well. CSK bought him for INR 4 crore.”When you look at his season with RCB, he was in and out, and he batted at No. 4,” Fleming said. “I also watched him closely at the Big Bash and there were signs that he was in good form. Certainly, every team that I have come up against, he seems in good form, so the best way to get rid of him is to buy him. I had no doubt he was going to make an impact. Fitness was an issue as it is a long tournament, but he is more professional than even I thought. He is a bit broken now. [His] bowling, we didn’t have to use much but he has got through with one of his greatest performances.”In the UAE a month after the auction, Watson finished as the fifth-highest run-getter in the Pakistan Super League with similar numbers to the BBL: 319 runs from 10 innings, two half-centuries and a strike rate of 135.With those numbers behind him, Watson got his “favourite” position in the line-up, in the IPL – the opening slot. He first showed against Rajasthan Royals what kind of damage he could inflict from there: a 51-ball century.On Sunday, in the IPL final, he was coming off a duck against the same opponents they were meeting in the final, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was toying with him again, and it seemed as if Watson had no clue what was happening. The ball was bouncing, swinging both ways, and Bhuvneshwar was making it do whatever he wanted, at speeds in the mid-130s. Fleming admitted later CSK were “lucky” Watson didn’t lose his wicket.”Yeah, it was a good struggle, wasn’t it?” Fleming said. “The opening spell was, I thought, outstanding from SRH. He might’ve been none off 10 balls. It was a real battle in the first four or five overs. It was a great final in that sense. Shane gradually found a bit of range and rhythm. The boundaries aren’t too big for the big hitters like Watson, Brathwaite and Dhoni. He kept patience – again, that was experience – didn’t give it away. He knew his power game would get the team out of trouble, and it did in spectacular fashion. He got his second hundred of the tournament, he’s got over 500 runs. He has been a star performer for us.”BCCIWhen Watson was on 0 off 10 in the fourth over, Sunrisers fans could have made memes already of how Watson was going to cost his team the match, and the trophy. CSK were chasing 179 against the best attack in the tournament on the biggest stage. In Bhuvneshwar’s third over on the trot, Watson and Suresh Raina took four singles. Watson’s first job was done – to act like a sponge, absorb all the threats Sunrisers’ attack was posing, and not give a wicket to Bhuvneshwar. As soon as he was out of the attack, Watson changed gears, smacking a short and slow delivery in the last Powerplay over from Sandeep Sharma over deep midwicket for six. He must have expected the delivery next; he stood still, let the ball come to him, and drilled it back for four.Kane Williamson brought on Siddarth Kaul, Sunrisers’ best fast bowler this season, but he turned out to be a different bowler on Sunday night. He was bowling short, down the leg side, and into Watson’s pads. Watson can flick those away even in his sleep. The result – 16 off the over. All the pressure Watson had absorbed was now being transferred back onto Sunrisers.Williamson now brought on Rashid Khan. As with Bhuvneshwar, all CSK wanted was to not give him wickets. In his first two overs, Watson nudged him into the leg side whenever he spotted a googly and Suresh Raina kept dabbing him to midwicket one ball after another.Fleming explained later that having a strategy against Rashid was a “key focus” to win the final. “[Facing] Rashid Khan was a definite plan,” he said. “We actually have played him quite well, we’ve been more positive in the past, but we were afforded the luxury through Shane’s hitting of being more conservative, even playing out a maiden. At that point in time, we had really nullified his impact and that was a key focus for our tactics to win the final, and we did that well.”By seeing off Rashid’s first two overs without much fuss, the Watson sponge had done its job again. When Sandeep got the ball again, the Watson sponge became the Watson bludgeon again. In the 13th over, Sandeep kept missing his yorkers and Watson kept clubbing them. A drive over wide mid-off for four, three consecutive sixes off misdirected deliveries, and a four off the last ball, expertly guided between backward point and short third man, gave CSK 27 runs from the over. It brought the equation down to 48 runs from 42 balls, which ended the match right there. Rashid still had two overs left and Bhuvneshwar one, and they would bowl them with CSK facing no scoreboard pressure.In Rashid’s last over, Watson completed his hundred and stood still at the non-striker’s end while facing his team’s dugout, with a beaming smile and arms aloft. In the 19th over, Ambati Rayudu hit the winning runs and Watson ambled across the pitch to embrace his partner. His back was to the dugout, so he didn’t realise that a swarm of his team-mates was running towards him. Rayudu quietly slipped away, allowing them to clamber all over Watson.If this team management had not stood behind Watson when he was being written off, he wouldn’t have scored two centuries this season. And if Watson had not shown his patience and experience on Sunday, who knows how CSK would have handled the pressure on this big night.

In the year of ball-tampering and bans, a weakened team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a dramatic draw

Daniel Brettig in Dubai11-Oct-2018For the first time in 2018, new territory for Australian cricket represents a point of pride rather than a moment of madness. In the year of ball-tampering, bans and backlash, a severely weakened Test team found a way to survive more overs than any Australian side before them to snatch a draw from Pakistan out of the dust of Dubai. History made, leaving a series still to be won.When Australia began their occupation on day four, they faced the prospect of 140 overs to block out; more than a day and a half of batting on a pockmarked and spinning pitch. In the team’s rearview mirror was the loss of all 10 wickets for 60 runs on day two; looming in the headlights were Yasir Shah, Bilal Asif and Mohammad Abbas.Never had Australia lasted more than 90 overs in the fourth innings for a draw in Asia. A team shorn of Steven Smith and David Warner? Forgeddaboutit! To paraphrase Ray Warren’s call of an end-to-end Queensland try in a famous State of Origin encounter, that’s not a draw, that’s a miracle.And whose miracle was this, forged amid enervating heat and all sorts of mental blocks. It belonged, chiefly, to Usman Khawaja, conjuring the greatest of his Test innings and one of the greatest save-a-game efforts in all of Test history. Only Michael Atherton, for 643 minutes at Johannesburg in 1995, had batted longer in a fourth innings than Khawaja’s 524 minutes for 141. Much as the Wanderers has remained Atherton’s signature moment, so too Dubai will always be associated with Khawaja.From the very start of his first-innings 85, Khawaja showed evidence of strong planning, deep concentration and vastly improved fitness. While he joined his team-mates in the hole they fell into after an initial opening stand of 142 with Aaron Finch, Khawaja had provided an example for others, as underlined by a post-play discussion in the middle with the rest of the side’s left-handers. As Travis Head attested, Khawaja’s strength of mind and sureness of method was something to be followed.In the second innings, Khawaja added a fusillade of reverse sweeps, 21 in all, to confound Yasir in particular. In the consistency of the shot’s use and its proficiency, Khawaja recalled a famous World Cup innings by Graham Gooch at Mumbai in 1987, when he swept Maninder Singh and India out of the tournament. But the use of attack as the best form of defence over such a prolonged period provided a reminder of how much quality may be found in Khawaja’s cultured hands, now without peer as the most skilled in this Australian batting line-up. He played the innings of a senior player, and a leader. As so many in the team had said before this match, it should not require the bestowal of a formal title to make one.Accompanying Khawaja for the best part of 50 overs across close to two full sessions was Head, the South Australian captain and debutant. Here was another example of deep concentration but also rapid learning. Having looked lost in the first innings, Head found his way through the testing early passages on the fourth evening and slowly gathered confidence, punching the ball with clear intent off both front and back feet. He did not always get it right: the sweep did not work for him and he may easily have been lbw playing it against Yasir when he was on 44. But overall Head showed he was a willing pupil in these conditions, and with Khawaja turned the draw from a theoretical possibility to a tangible one.Usman Khawaja gets down the track to hit straight•Getty ImagesAfter Head and Marnus Labuschagne both fell to skidding deliveries made possible by the second new ball, Tim Paine walked to the middle with a keen desire to salvage more from this day. He had, as a far younger man, made quality runs in Asian conditions on the 2010 tour of India – at the time describing conditions as the toughest he had ever encountered. But now as Australian captain, having also delivered 222.1 spotless overs behind the stumps, Paine was highly invested in this team and this scenario.His early overs in the middle were fraught just about every ball. One Yasir legbreak, left alone with a clear sight of the stumps, failed to disturb the off peg by approximately one millimetre, and there were numerous other strangled appeals. But little by little, Paine gained a foothold, aided by Khawaja’s serene presence at the other end. Slowly the minutes ticked past, and tea arrived without a further wicket. Five left to survive the match’s final session, in which an average of 4.75 wickets had fallen across each of the previous four days, meant that Paine’s Australians now had a glimmer, however slight.When eventually fatigue and sweeping got the better of Khawaja, lbw to a perfectly pitched googly by Yasir from around the wicket, the final hour had already begun. Time was running short, but there was plenty for Pakistan to conjure a win – just ask the West Indies and their inattentive No. 11 Shannon Gabriel. Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle were unable to endure, as 15 overs with five wickets left became 12 with a measly two. Nathan Lyon, so often the last man out in Australian defeats, marched to the middle at No. 10.The closing overs were incredibly tense, with the benefit of a Paine inside edge onto pad meaning that Pakistan were out of reviews. Yasir, Abbas and Bilal all tried their wares, with Sarfraz Ahmed unwilling to try a wayward Wahab Riaz, despite his greater pace. Paine’s bat, for the most part broad, also found fortuitous edges, one fractionally over the stumps from Yasir, another marginally past them from Abbas. Strained smiles from Pakistan’s fielders and an increasingly grimacing face from their coach Mickey Arthur told a tale that climaxed with something as simple as a Paine forward defence, and then a fist pump. Australia did not, in the end, bat out 140 overs, but only because Sarfraz offered his hand to Paine after 139.5.For the coach Justin Langer, this was a result to epitomise the type of Australian team he and Paine are trying to build – hard to beat at first, and then ever more frequently victorious. Langer, of course, had been involved in one other result commonly viewed as miraculous, the fabled Hobart chase against Pakistan in 1999. Where that victory, complete with centuries to Langer and Adam Gilchrist, had jumpstarted Australia’s reign of dominance, this one picked a previously forlorn team off the Newlands killing floor.Langer has reflected on that result, where his outward positivity when Gilchrist arrived had masked a sense of impending doom, and thoughts mainly of keeping his tenuous spot. “Gilly walks out, and I’m being positive, saying, ‘If you just hang in there, you never know what could happen. Let’s see if we can stick it out till stumps, it might rain tomorrow’. He goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, no worries’,” Langer said last year. “I was just trying to say the right things but thinking to myself, we’re going to lose this Test but if I get 50 not out I might get another Test match…”Similar exchanges were had between Khawaja and Head, then Khawaja and Paine. In the closing overs, Paine and Lyon tried to relax by talking about watching episodes of . But at the end of all that talk, the nerves, the sweat and the sweeps, was salvation of a kind Australian cricket had not previously seen. In it came a significance that recalled Hobart, as Langer has often said: “It was significant personally, but for the Australian cricket team, it was actually the [third] of our 16-match winning streak. I think we thought if we could win from there, we could win from anywhere.”This wasn’t a win, but very close to it for the psyche of this team. At the end of another famous draw, in 1984 against the West Indies, the then recently retired Rod Marsh rang the Caribbean to inform the batting hero Allan Border and the captain Kim Hughes that a rare non-winning rendition of the team song had his blessing. In the heat, dust and glare of Dubai, another Australian team forged a similar piece of history, at a time when it was so sorely needed.

A hostile English crowd, a dicey pitch, a batting collapse, a rearguard century and adulation for one of the greatest innings ever

Daniel Brettig at Edgbaston01-Aug-2019How, over the 12 months in which he was banned from representing Australia, might Steven Smith have imagined making his return to Test cricket?How about this? A raucously hostile English crowd, a dicey pitch, a day one batting collapse, a rearguard century as tough as it was masterful, a cover drive off Ben Stokes to get there, a foothold in the game, and adulation for one of the greatest innings ever played.Amid all the isolation, the ridicule, the lonely batting sessions, the community service and the club games for Sutherland, that would have sounded pretty good. In fact it might have been the stuff of Smith’s dreams, or the script of a movie capturing the disgrace, recovery and redemption of an elite athlete. It is a dream, or a film pitch, no longer.On day one of the 2019 Ashes, Smith played an innings as good as any in his career, possibly better. He played an innings as valuable as any in his career, possibly better. And he played an innings more cathartic to Smith and Australia than any in his career.Wiggling, twitching and light sabre leaving in a fashion that felt even more exaggerated than he did before the ban, Smith blunted everything England, the pitch and the weather could hurl at him. In the course of doing so he also caused a perceptible change in the Edgbaston crowd’s response – booing overshadowed if never completely drowned out by ever more generous applause.A lone hand first innings century, this was a kind of performance only seldom seen in Australian Test history – a couple spring to mind. In 1981, Kim Hughes fashioned an even 100 out of 198 against the West Indies on a difficult MCG pitch, getting to the milestone with nine wickets down. And in 1997, Steve Waugh battled to 108 out of 235 against England at Old Trafford on a surface where seam and swing were available in generous quantities more or less all day. Both knocks set up Australian victories and are still spoken about, decades later, but neither had quite the subtext of this one.For almost three weeks now, Smith has been driving Australia’s assistant coaches to distraction with his ravenous appetite for net sessions and throw downs. He has hit thousands of balls, most of them delivered by the batting coach Graeme Hick, indoors and outdoors, morning and evening, optional sessions and mandatory, from Southampton to Birmingham. Asked whether the coaches effectively drew straws for who would throw to Smith, Justin Langer had laughed.”Yep. Yep pretty much,” he said. “That’s why I was out on my knees before, because he didn’t have that long a net today. It’s almost when he comes out, you’re down on your knees going ‘oh thank you, thank you’ because he loves hitting balls, which means you’ve got to throw a lot of balls. Graeme Hick works very hard…”Steven Smith looks to the skies•Getty ImagesThe obsession and compulsion of Smith’s preparation ran alongside his litany of superstitions and routines, all compiled over the years to ensure he feels as comfortable and normal as possible at the batting crease. These extend from the order in which he puts on pads, gloves and helmet, to the taping of his shoelaces to his socks to ensure he does not see them when he looks down at has bat tapping by his right shoe. They help Smith to feel cocooned at the crease, and he most certainly needed that feeling for the scenario that confronted him at 17 for 2 in the eighth over.In the hands of Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes, the ball was zipping, seaming and bouncing. Too much for David Warner, albeit via an erroneous lbw decision, too much for Cameron Bancroft. There was talk of a Newlands scandal hat-trick of sorts for Broad, but Smith responded with a broad bat and cool judgment of what to play and leave from the very earliest stages of his innings.A few deliveries beat the bat, and Smith soon lost Usman Khawaja’s companionship, but overall the impression was of a batsman who, after all that had taken place, still had the measure of the England attack as he had done in Australia two years ago. This was not in Australia, however, nor with a Kookaburra ball travelling gun barrel straight for most of its journeys. The degree of difficulty was undoubtedly far higher. This was true even when considering how James Anderson withdrew from the attack with a recurrence of calf trouble after only four overs, not delivering a single ball to Smith all day.For a period either side of lunch, Smith was able to play in the slipstream of a fluent Travis Head, playing his first Ashes innings with some panache, until a seamer from Woakes found the left-hander lbw. That signalled another rush of wickets, as Matthew Wade, Tim Paine, James Pattinson and Pat Cummins cobbled just 11 runs between them. Smith came close to being part of the procession, successfully reviewing an lbw appeal when he shouldered arms and saw that the ball had not seamed back quite enough to hit the stumps. But at 122 for 8, it did not appear as though this would matter all that much.Walking to the wicket, though, was Peter Siddle, a cricketer with his own story of second chances to tell. He had been surplus to requirements for most of the journey here in 2015, and his selection for the opening Test demonstrated how far Australian thinking had evolved since then. In England this year, Siddle has been making himself useful to Essex with the bat as well as the ball, averaging 32 in the County Championship. Not having to deal with Anderson, who has dismissed him 11 times in Tests, Siddle was almost as fluent as Smith in adding 88 precious runs.”I was just telling him to watch the ball and to keep watching it really hard and play his natural game,” Smith said of Siddle. “When they over pitched he drove a few balls really nicely, when they bowled short he was getting underneath it the majority of the time. He had a really good, strong defence which is what you need on a wicket which is doing a bit. His defence was magnificent.”He was willing to get beaten every now and again and just play the line of the ball. He did that beautifully. It’s great to see Sidds back. He’s very experienced, he’s played a lot of cricket over here and he’s a bowler that is similar to Woakes who hits the stumps a lot, maybe a little bit shorter and is able to hit the stumps from a shorter length. It’s going to be crucial on this wicket and I think it’s a wicket that will really suit him.”When Siddle exited, Smith was still 14 runs from a century, and he knew from recent experience here in the World Cup semi-final that it was eminently plausible he may be left short of the mark. But Nathan Lyon was able to endure in his company, to a point that Smith was able to go to three figures by following a thumping six off Moeen Ali with a sweet cover drive off Stokes to return to the ranks of Test century makers. He celebrated in something of a daze, the enormity of the occasion and the achievement taking time to soak in. The lower order help was serendipitous in itself, for so many of those extra batting sessions for Smith have taken place alongside similar additional nets for the lower order, the better to eke out every last available run for the cause.Once he had composed himself, Smith launched into a final third of the innings that was often brutal, consigning Joe Root to a task that was less a case of setting fields as ordering his men to disperse as widely as possible – all of them retreating to the boundary by the end. Smith was utterly cocooned in the aforementioned zone, complete with all its many, ever more pronounced fidgets, including one instance of self-reproach when he failed to get a tennis slog past cover. The ticks and twitches eased a little towards the end, but only slightly.When finally Broad found a way through, Smith sprinted off the field, almost as though he was seeking to reach the sanctuary of his teammates before another round of booing could engulf him. But there was rather more applause for a day that, in Smith’s own words, defied his ability to describe them. He is back alright, and Australia could not be more grateful.

Genuine on-field progress remains hard to gauge, but Root comes through personal test of leadership, in words and deeds

George Dobell in St Lucia13-Feb-2019It would be nice to report that England’s win in St Lucia shows they are back on course.And it’s true there were some aspects of this performance – not least Mark Wood’s first-innings bowling – that may prove relevant for the months ahead. If England can keep Wood fit and if he can reproduce the hostility of his spell in West Indies’ first innings, there will be a new dimension to England’s attack. No batsman, in the Ashes or at the World Cup, wants to face that.But like winning the raffle on Titanic just after that pesky incident with the iceberg, the value of a win in a dead rubber does have to be kept in perspective.There were some moments in this match when it seemed quite apparent that West Indies were struggling to retain the intensity they had demonstrated earlier in the series.Consider Kemar Roach, for example: he was immaculate in the first Test – and in some stages of this one – but in his first spell here, he barely hit the cut strip. And then there’s Kraigg Brathwaite, who has batted with an abundance of caution all series, who suddenly fell to a slog to the midwicket boundary. West Indies were without their captain and key allrounder, too.That’s not to say England’s win was not deserving of praise. Quite apart from Wood’s pace, there were other aspects of this performance that England could look to learn from and replicate.The hunger of Joe Root, for example. Quite early in his century, he received a long-hop from Roston Chase that, many times, he might have tried to hit for four or six. It crossed his mind here, too, you could see: he was quickly in position and on the brink of unleashing a full-blooded pull.Instead, though, he considered the man back on the boundary, rolled his wrists, hit the ball down and settled for one.It was a moment that immediately brought to mind another Root innings: his 254 against Pakistan at Old Trafford, when he made exactly the same decisions against Yasir Shah, concluding the percentage option – the wise, mature, long-term option – was to play a bit safer and grind out the huge score his side required.If that sounds simple, well it probably is. But it also isn’t the way England tend to play these days. All that talk of “you don’t win games by batting long periods of time”, which Root said ahead of the series, has seeped into the DNA of this side. Root’s innings here – an innings that contained 57 singles – showed he was learning and adapting.Might it be relevant that this innings and the one in Manchester came when Root had something to prove? On this occasion, he was hurt by the series defeat and disappointment in his own performance. In Manchester, meanwhile, he had just moved up the order to No. 3 and was keen to show what he could do.Root has to retain that hunger. He has to retain that understanding that it is not vignettes that win Tests; it’s epics. England are not a good enough side that they can see their best batsman settle for simply expressing his talent. He also has to grind and resist. He has to add rigour to his many other qualities.Joe Root and Shannon Gabriel shake hands at the end of the St Lucia Test•Getty ImagesThere were other differences in this game. Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes both made their best contributions of the series (with the bat, at least) with Stokes showing a welcome ability to go up and down the gears as the situation warranted. If he and England are to fulfil their potential, he will have to improve that Test batting average of 33.89 by at least five and quite possibly 10. There is no reason at all he should not.So that’s all fine and good.But the win in St Lucia shouldn’t mask what went before. It’s shouldn’t obscure the fact that four more catches were dropped in West Indies’ second innings; it shouldn’t obscure the fact that England still have little idea who their top three should be and it shouldn’t obscure the fact they don’t seem to know who to pick as wicketkeeper.Most of all, it shouldn’t detract from some poor selections both ahead and throughout this trip. The continuing persistence with Keaton Jennings – who really might be a worse driver than Prince Philip – is starting to look stubborn and irrational. With Trevor Bayliss – and, perhaps, James Anderson – having just participated in their final overseas Tests, it’s hard to argue that England are all that further progressed than they were when Bayliss took over in 2015.There was another aspect to this match. Playing, watching, writing and talking about cricket is, on the whole, a pretty frivolous way for grown-ups to spend their time. It’s beautiful, of course, and it’s enjoyable. But it’s not life and death and very little that happens really matters.But just occasionally there is a chance to make a difference. And, in making it clear that it is inappropriate to use somebody’s sexual orientation as a term of abuse, Root took that opportunity. His stance will have been noted – maybe only subconsciously – in playgrounds and streets and maidans across the world. It was another tiny step in the right direction for sport and society.While there may be some sympathy for Shannon Gabriel – we are all a product of our culture, after all, and homosexual acts are considered illegal across much of this region; we know of worse comments from players of all nations that have gone unpunished in other series because broadcasters (often host broadcasters) cannot isolate the audio or because the protagonists have made them in a more sophisticated (or cynical) fashion – cricket has to move beyond this nonsense. The fact that spectators, led by the Barmy Army, sang “YMCA”, “It’s Raining Men” and “A Little Respect” throughout Gabriel’s innings suggested they are keen to do so.Cricket fluffed such an opportunity at Edgbaston – when Moeen Ali was disgracefully booed – and cricket fluffed such an opportunity during an ugly Ashes series which became boorish and boring. It’s fluffed such an opportunity many, many times.The opportunity was taken here. Root may well have a bit to learn about captaincy and even a bit to learn about batting. But he has a great many good qualities and he is, very much, the natural leader of this side. England haven’t always been the most attractive or likeable side. In St Lucia they were a side of which their supporters could be proud.