The Lord’s Test is only the second time India have drawn a Test after being nine down

S Rajesh23-Jul-2007India have been at the receiving end of the rain gods’ fickleness more than once – most recently against West Indies in Antigua in 2006 – but this time they had the London weather to thank for coming away unscathed. Their escape at Lord’s is only the 16th time a team has saved a Test after being nine down in the fourth innings. The table below lists all the instances.

Draws after being nine down in the fourth innings

Team Against 4th-innings score Target Venue and year

India England 152 for 9 278 Old Trafford, 1946 Australia West Indies 273 for 9 460 Adelaide, 1960-61 England West Indies 228 for 9 234 Lord’s, 1963 England West Indies 206 for 9 308 Georgetown, 1968 Australia West Indies 339 for 9 360 Adelaide, 1969 West Indies Pakistan 251 for 9 306 Bridgetown, 1977 West Indies Australia 258 for 9 369 Kingston, 1978 West Indies India 197 for 9 335 Kolkata, 1978 Australia New Zealand 230 for 9 247 Melbourne, 1987 Pakistan West Indies 341 for 9 372 Port-of-Spain, 1988 New Zealand Australia 223 for 9 288 Hobart, 1997 West Indies Zimbabwe 207 for 9 373 Harare, 2003 England Sri Lanka 210 for 9 323 Galle, 2003 Australia England 371 for 9 423 Old Trafford, 2005 West Indies India 298 for 9 392 St John’s, 2006 This is only the second time India have escaped with a draw after being nine down, and the first time since 1946. They have drawn a few games after being eight down, though, including a couple where they had a chance to win. One of those draws was at the same venue in 1971, when India saved the game after being 145 for 8, chasing 183. India went on to win the series with a famous win at The Oval.

India’s close shaves in Tests

Against 4th-innings score Target Venue and year

England 152 for 9 278 Old Trafford, 1946 West Indies 355 for 8 361 Bombay, 1949 England 145 for 8 183 Lord’s, 1971 England 429 for 8 438 The Oval, 1979 Australia 135 for 8 331 Adelaide, 1981 India were ultimately saved by the weather, but they did bat more doggedly than they usually do in the fourth innings – only five times since 1980 have they batted more than the 96 overs they did at Lord’s.

Most overs batted by India in the fourth innings (since 1980)

Against 4th innings score Overs Result Venue and year

England 397 all out 109.4 Lost Lord’s, 2002 Australia 333 all out 100.1 Lost Adelaide, 1992 Sri Lanka 281 for 5 100 Draw Colombo (SSC), 1997 England 198 for 3 97 Draw Ahmedabad, 2001 South Africa 206 for 3 96.2 Draw Port Elizabeth, 2001 Pakistan 303 for 3 96 Draw Karachi, 1989 England 282 for 9 96 Draw Lord’s 2007 One of the less encouraging aspects for India was the performance of Sachin Tendulkar, who finished yet another undistinguished match at Lord’s, where he now averages 21.29, with a highest of 37 from seven innings. It was also only the sixth time he fell lbw in both innings of a Test. Of those six occasions, five have been since 2002, a fact that confirms Tendulkar’s tendency to get trapped in front far more in the last few years. Since 1999, that has happened 31 times, which translates into nearly 27% of all dismissals; before 1999, the corresponding figure was only 9%.

Tendulkar’s tendency to fall lbw

Period Tests Dismissals Lbws Lbw %

Till December 1998 63 87 8 9.19 Since January 1999 75 112 31 27.68 England deserved a better result, but they can take plenty of heart from the display of their inexperienced pace attack. James Anderson, in particular, was a revelation with his consistency. Clearly, India is a side that brings out the best in him: his only previous Test against them was at Mumbai in 2006 after 14 months away from Test cricket, and came away with match figures of 6 for 79. Anderson averages 15.69 against India, with 13 wickets from two Tests.This Test was also remarkable for the manner in which the bowlers called the shots. Over the last few years Lord’s had built a reputation for being a batting paradise, but over the five days of this Test, there were only brief periods when bat dominated ball. On an average, 25.20 runs were scored per wicket, which, among the 12 Tests played here since 2002, is the second-lowest. The only instance when there were fewer runs scored was in 2005, when a super-charged Glenn McGrath and Steve Harmison ensured that only 20.92 runs were scored per dismissal. This Test was also a huge contrast from the previous game here this season, between England and West Indies, when five hundreds were scored and each wicket averaged 55, the highest runs-per-wicket figure over the last five years.The struggle for batsmen is also evident in the number of lbw dismissals in the match – there were 14, which is a record for a Lord’s Test, and the fourth-highest in all Tests. The highest is 17, in the game between West Indies and Pakistan at Port-of-Spain in April 1993. There have been two instances of 15 lbw decisions in a match – at Port-of-Spain, again, in a Test between West Indies and Australia in 1999, and at Lahore in 1996 when New Zealand took on Pakistan.

Vaneisa Baksh on a historic moment at Warner Park in St Kitts

Roving Reporter by Vaneisa Baksh in St Kitts22-Jun-2006

Despite the holiday the stands remained sparse © Getty Images

History has a way of being over-run by the present. The third Test between India and the West Indies succumbed to its immediate identity as the first Test ever to be played at the new Warner Park ground in St. Kitts. So historic was the occasion that the island had been granted a public holiday in honour of the event.Surprisingly, another milestone has not seeped into the public consciousness. The second day of the match, June 23, marks the 78th anniversary of the first Test ever played by the West Indiesin 1928. That was the first of a three-Test series that the West Indies lost 3-0 to England. Three years ago, for the 75th anniversary, the honour of celebrating went to the new Beausejour Stadium in St. Lucia with its first Test match against Sri Lanka. Then, there was a solemn air to the proceedings as relatives of the members of that first West Indies Test team were presented with commemorative photographs and copies of a book on that 1928 tour during the luncheon interval.Putting his stamp on the ground, Brian Lara scored 209, and Wavell Hinds 113 in a drawn match that was affected by heavy rains. Now, here at Warner Park, there was a sense of reliving a moment. I had last visited Warner Park for the sod-turning ceremony on September 30, 2004. I remember the site, which had housed a playing field with only a pavilion of sorts on one end. There had been ancient air about the place, which was bounded by old buildings with thick, stone facades. Funding from the Taiwanese had allowed construction, and there were speeches and even a lengthy poem written to mark the moment.Nearly two years had since passed, and the rains had delayed the start – a man was bailing water out of a square depression off the field into a bucket and toting it away. Despite the holiday, the stands remained sparse. A reminder that as in St. Lucia, the Test match culture is at best, embryonic.St. Kitts has not yet produced a Test player, although the island of Nevis, its neighbour and political partner, has. Its latest product, Runako Morton, while on the squad, was left out of this Test. Test cricket still holds little appeal to the populace. The ground could not have been more than a third full, and despite the valiant efforts of those who had chosen to occupy the tented area designed to be the equivalent of the party stands in the other territories, there was just not enough bodies for a spectacle.For the better part of the day, the sound system comprised three horn men backed by three drummers with a limited if spirited repertoire. It was a reminder of earlier times, when the music was created on the spot at the grounds and fed off the rhythms of the game. After tea, the sun had dried all remnants of moisture; even the bailed-out square revealed itself to be a concrete slab, glaring white in the heat. The stands, only barely covered overhead, never offered shade from rain or sun to more than two thirds of its possible inhabitants.Earlier I had wondered if Lara was going to stamp his mark on this ground as he did at Beausejour, but on this two-session day, the only stamping was coming from Chris Gayle, who had flourished from the heavenly watering. He ended with 83 off 128 balls but the full effect of his destructiveness can be understood only when one realises that 95 off those were dots. It meant that he scored his 83 off 33 shots, and if the ground had grown hot in the afternoon glare, Gayle was hotter than a .

Nagraj Gollapudi profiles Pradeep Sangwan, Delhi’s promising left-arm seamer

Nagraj Gollapudi at the Wankhede Stadium24-Nov-2007

Delhi’s Pradeep Sangwan has had an impressive start to his first-class career © Cricinfo Ltd
On the surface, “bowling in the right areas” seems the blandest cliché bowlers utter. Ask a batsman about the most difficult kind of bowling, though, and the reply will likely be the same. This was Rohit Sharma’s response when asked about the bowler who worked him out on the first morning of the Ranji game against Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium: “He was perfect, hitting the right areas, which made me think.”The bowler in question is Pradeep Sangwan, Delhi’s 17-year-old left-arm seamer who has had a promising start to his debut first-class season. Sangwan had sensed Sharma’s unease at transferring his weight back, so he bowled some short deliveries before going for his trademark inswinger. Sharma was too late to move forward and was trapped, just rewards for the pressure Sangwan had exerted from the time he took the new ball.Thirteen wickets in under three matches is just returns for the kind of pressure he has managed to maintain – and a creditable feat given the pressure he has withstood. Sangwan is playing at a time when Delhi, with Ashish Nehra vulnerable to injury and Amit Bhandari nearing retirement, are in desperate need of an able partner for Ishant Sharma, their highest wicket-taker last season.The first time Sangwan played for Delhi, he was thrown the new ball after Delhi had been bowled out for 119. “Under pressure to perform”, he responded with three wickets to help bowl Rajasthan out for 85.Sangwan likes to think the batsmen out. “I try to grasp their weak points,” he says, sitting near the fence and watching Virender Sehwag bat against Mumbai. There’s a close kinship here; they both come from the Delhi suburb of Najafgarh, and Sehwag had a hand in Sangwan’s emergence in the big time.When Delhi were struggling for a pace bowler, Sangwan was beating Sehwag’s bat at the Vikaspuri Coaching Centre in west Delhi. “I know his [Sehwag’s] liking for the cut shot, so I worked on getting the ball in at a good pace,” says Sangwan with a heavy Haryanvi accent. Sehwag saw a solution to Delhi’s pace problems and, after he had a word with the state selectors last year, Sangwan made his first appearance during the Ranji Trophy one-dayers. Seven wickets in the two games he played was a good enough audition for the new-ball role.Then followed a spot on India’s Under-19 tour of Sri Lanka in July, where Sangwan showed his batting prowess down the order. He played a few cameos, including a vital ‘Test’ half-century scored in partnership with Delhi teammate Virat Kohli, which helped India win the match.A place in the Delhi Ranji side was round the corner. Vijay Dahiya, Delhi’s captain last year and current coach, had hinted at a younger side this year. “Sangwan has been bowling well on the Delhi circuit where fast bowlers have to deliver on paata (flat) tracks. He is a workhorse who never gives up.” When Delhi were struggling for a pace bowler, Sangwan was beating Sehwag’s bat at the Vikaspuri Coaching Centre in the suburbs of Delhi… In him, Sehwag saw a solution to Delhi’s pace problems Sangwan’s progress is another feather in the cap of the MRF Pace Foundation. TA Sekhar, MRF’s head coach, believes Sangwan is the best under-19 left-arm pace bowler in India. “I told people to watch out for this fellow,” says Sekhar, who first saw Sangwan two years ago and fine-tuned his action. He says Sangwan, who now has a “perfect side-arm action”, had something known as past side-arm action where he was twisting his shoulder to get the ball in. Earlier this September, Sekhar accompanied Sangwan to England where the biomechanics experts worked on him at the Loughborough centre.Sangwan has the natural ability to swing the ball into the right-hander, something he says he’s still working on in consultation with Manoj Prabhakar, Delhi’s bowling coach. “He has worked a lot on my stock ball, the in-swing, where he has got my leading hand to hold tight and then align it with my bowling arm, which helps me get the inswinger as accurate as possible.”Prabhakar has also narrowed the angle at which he would run in. “That has worked wonders as now I can maintain the control, which is very necessary in first-class cricket where top batsman can hold on for long,” says Sangwan.Dahiya believes Sangwan has handled the pressure well so far, but the tougher test will come once the ball gets old and the set batsmen make him toil hard on unresponsive wickets. So far, Delhi have bowled out the opposition cheaply and Dahiya’s words provide a prelude to what will surely follow: “First-class cricket is not about the first spell. The longer the game goes on the more the demands on the fast bowler.”

Fancy being cover-driven by Mike Hussey and told “You’re a bit keen”? And other sledges to boot

Jenny Thompson14-Dec-2007

Michael Hussey gears up for some express trundle … and some mental disintegration © Getty Images

Luke Pomersbach wasn’t the only one this week to get a surprise call to square off against some international calibre opposition in Australia. An email arrived in my inbox with an invitation to face up to Michael Hussey at the Adelaide Oval … in a few hours. Like Luke, I started shaking at the invitation, but soon grabbed my kit and set off for the experience, one of Hussey’s many sponsorship commitments.You’d expect that such days, on the back of so many playing duties, must wear players down, but unlike the heavily endorsed Kevin Pietersen, who dared to complain he was tired (possibly from counting his pennies), Hussey isn’t looking for sympathy. Fresh-faced despite flying straight in from the Twenty20 in Perth and possibly having lost his bags at the airport, he’s grinning and up for anything.First, a quick media conference. As he smiles, nods, and answers questions intelligently, it’s immediately easy to see why he’s one of Australia’s highest paid sports stars. His personability, allied to the ease with which he plays the game, has attracted sponsorship deals thought to boost his earnings to $1.5million a year.Hussey is immediately on-message about all forms of the game, deftly batting away suggestions that one-day cricket’s days could be numbered. “We are covering all sectors in the market, which is great. I still think there’s a huge place for 50-over cricket. We try to bring new people to the cricket and help them fall in love with the Twenty20 game.” The ICC couldn’t have put it better.But while he’s an excellent speaker, he’s also an honest one, which could, in theory, unnerve prospective sponsors, but in fact helps to keep them flocking. He has openly admitted to not yet having played the computer game he endorses (though, in fairness, he had asked for a copy), while he apparently dissolved into fits of giggles while filming the Ford Backyard Series ads (though, of course, he was the best actor). And, as I am to discover, although he’s a brand ambassador once more, this time for a credit card company, he’s not shy of dishing out the sledges.I have no time to prepare mentally or physically: it’s straight on to the battlefield, which in this case is a bouncy-castle-like open cage structure, rigged up by Mastercard. Hussey strides to the crease in cream chinos, brown shoes and a Cricket Australia polo shirt, looking more golfer than star batsman.He sets himself for the assault from a red plastic ball. I steam in – no training pain, no gain, right? – and he immediately greets the low full-toss (well, it was a 12-yard pitch, not 22) with a cover drive. And then a shout of “You’re a bit keen.”I blink.That’s frankly a bit rich coming from Mr Cricket himself, and such unexpected chat stops me in my tracks for a while, but in the middle of the inevitable battering (smack, smack, smack) – “You’re loving it, aren’t you?” – are three successive dots. “You’re putting a good spell together there,” he says, grinning. Hmmm.But I have to say I gave it back. “Yeah, I’ve got club nets later so you’re just the warm-up.” I smile, and it’s his turn to be surprised.Then again, maybe his approach should have been expected. After all, he says that he and his brother David wouldn’t exactly have won any Spirit of Cricket Awards for the way they carried out their backyard wars when young. Today, it’s hard to do anything other than smile and feel a little bit privileged.Hussey’s cheeky yet genuine approach is refreshing. I’m told bowling to him is an experience money can’t buy. So, as the ad may have it: Two tickets to the one-dayer $50. Replica team shirt $65. Getting sledged by Michael Hussey: priceless.

Sidharth Monga looks back at the turning points of the series

Sidharth Monga12-Aug-2008

	Virender Sehwag looked menacing but wasn’t always supported by other batsmen or the umpires © AFP

Butter fingers
Sri Lanka had four centurions in the first innings of the series – and all four got reprieves well before they had put 600 on the board. Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera were dropped, Malinda Wanapura caught off a no-ball, Tillakaratne Dilshan got a decision overturned in his favour, though the review was doubtful. In all, the four scored 339 runs after the reprieves – and that was only the tangible effect they had.Sehwag comes and goes
For the first five overs of India’s first innings in the SSC Test, it seemed the match – affected by rain and a docile pitch – was headed only one way: a draw. Certainly no danger for India. It was Virender Sehwag who made things look like that, scoring 25 runs in the first five overs. But when he hooked Nuwan Kulasekara to a waiting fieldsman at deep backward square leg, little did he know what was coming up next. An innings defeat.Mendis arrives … and destroys
India’s collapse started with Sehwag, but Ajantha Mendis’ first wicket – Rahul Dravid, out bowled – had a psychological effect on the Indian middle order that plagued them the rest of the series. That devastating carrom ball was perhaps the biggest turning point of the series. Mendis was no longer a mythical mystery spinner but a destroyer in flesh and blood, and India didn’t know how to handle him.Sehwag applies himself, but the umpires don’t
In the second innings at the SSC, Sehwag looked more circumspect, more responsible, but was undone by a poor (given the amount of replays available) decision to give him out lbw. Another collapse, which would become a feature of Indian batting, ensued and the last nine added 113.Gambhir and the middle order desert Sehwag
With Sehwag playing perhaps the innings of his life, and Gautam Gambhir supporting him, India looked like getting to a big total in the first innings of the Galle Test. Gambhir got out with the score at 167 and in no time India were reduced to 178 for 4. VVS Laxman held his end up and put on 100 with Sehwag, but the next collapse featured six wickets for 51 runs.

	Are you sure about that, ump? © AFP

Sri Lanka show they can collapse too
Having wasted Sehwag’s innings, it seemed India had already lost the series, given the way Malinda Warnapura and Kumar Sangakkara started to wipe out the deficit in a hurry. But Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble turned the screws and were rewarded with Warnapura’s wicket. Sri Lanka competed with India’s collapses, as they went from 137 for 1 to 192 for 5.Kumble interrupts a Jayawardene gem
In the same innings, Jayawardene seemed to be pulling off a heist with the tail, farming the strike, taking singles off the last balls, and frustrating the Indian bowlers who somehow find the tail hard to dislodge whenever the need is dire. Just when it seemed Jayawardene might take Sri Lanka to a crucial first-innings lead, Kumble showed up. His second wicket of the series was also the most crucial: only one run was added after Jayawardene’s dismissal.Tendulkar and Dravid follow each other again
Having taken a substantial first-innings lead, and following a 90-run opening stand, India should have sealed the match there. But towards stumps on day three, they lost Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid on the same score, and the next six for 69 runs on the following morning. The Indians didn’t look pleased with the review decision that went against Dravid but it was a smart call by Jayawardene.Pace shows up
With that collapse, Sri Lanka kept the target down to 307 and would have thought they had given themselves a chance, but Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan snuffed out any such notions. Between the second and the fourth over of the innings, they struck thrice with wickets of Warnapura, Sangakkara and Jayawardene, and the match was all but over.Ishant inspires again
With the equaliser almost in the pocket, India got a final scare when Dilshan and Samaraweera looked to hustle them out of the match. Though they had a long way to go, their partnership (eventually 76) had started to bring Sri Lanka back into the game. But Ishant came up with one final inspired spell, beating the bat consistently at a high pace and with balls that would leave the batsmen a touch. His persistence finally paid off when he got Dilshan with a similar delivery, triggering another collapse: the next five went for 23.Brawn and brain come together
Sehwag and Gambhir had got off to a quick start before another debutant turned the third Test Sri Lanka’s way. India had scored 51 in seven overs when Dammika Prasad got Sehwag’s wicket with a beauty. Prasad came back in his second spell to break the back – sorry, the middle – of India’s batting but Jayawardene stayed on top of his game too, successfully challenging two decisions that looked like inside-edges to the naked eye.Dravid drops the Idea Cup
All through the series India had been sloppy in the field, and this one cost them the most. Had Dravid caught Sangakkara when the batsman was on 34, it would have been a sensational slip catch, but it was high time India came up with something sensational in the field. Sangakkara, by the way, went on to score 144.

	Dammika Prasad made a thrilling debut © AFP

Where’s the consistency, ump?
After Dravid dropped Sangakkara and before the latter had ground India to dust, there was a period where India had built up some momentum only to be denied by the inconsistency in the review system. They had taken two wickets for four runs, and should have had three for 16 when Kumble’s appeal for an lbw against Samaraweera was rejected. The replays seemed quite similar to when Dravid had been ruled out earlier in the match but, for some reason, the original decision was upheld. Samaraweera was on 5, then, and went on to score 35 – and, more importantly, put together a 60-run partnership with Sangakkara at a crucial juncture.The last straw
It was a cruel anticlimax for what had been a great series. After India had fallen behind by 147, only Sehwag and Gambhir could have provided the series with yet another twist. They started to oblige, with 57 runs in nine overs before tea on the penultimate day. It turned out to be false hope. The two fell in quick succession after the interval, and left the Indian middle order, half of them injured, with too much to do. What was disappointing was the soft manner in which the two got out – the series deserved better for a final turning point.

Australia’s leading cricket export to the subcontinent talks about his experiences in Asia with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and now with Indian junior sides

Interview by Kanishkaa Balachandran13-Sep-2008
‘The players can feel my personality. Language is not as much of an issue as people think’ © AFP
You’ve had quite a rollercoaster year and a half after being in contention to coach India, Pakistan and West Indies. Now you’re in charge of an interesting bunch of Indian youngsters. What has the journey been like for you?
It’s been extreme (). Extreme in missing out on positions you thought you might get, being away from family… I was unemployed for a few months and made a return thanks largely to the efforts of Ravi Shastri, who was appointed NCA chairman. He was confident I could do the job for him.You seem to have this special affinity for subcontinental teams, having coached Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before. What keeps bringing you back here? Does the culture fascinate you?
Definitely. There’s no question I’m very comfortable in this environment. I was very close to getting an interview with Cricket Australia. It was a case of receiving an offer and accepting it, and it so happened that it came from India.One of the challenges of a foreign coach is to interact with players in a language he’s not familiar with. How did you tackle that?
They may not be fluent in English but they understand bits and pieces. I’ve been threatening to learn Hindi, to get a teacher to come three days a week or so. But they [the players] can feel my personality. I don’t think it’s as much of an issue as people think. A lot of the Bangladesh players struggled. But generally there are enough people to ensure the message is understood.You made a quick transition from coaching senior teams to U-19 ones. What are the differences?
In many ways they are similar. The more mature the group – not necessarily in terms of age – the less time you spend in the development and technical phases. You do, of course, need feedback and modification from time to time. For the less mature players you need to constantly feed them with technical stuff in order to turn them into well-rounded players.Some youngsters often have attitude issues, with respect to training and handling fame especially. Have you ever had to deal with that?
I don’t think so. When it comes to training, the attitude from all of them has been positive. Nothing jumps out in my mind as an example.People are different. Some are more confident, some withdraw in life, but that’s to be expected.Do you think it’s a must for players to attend seminars on how to handle the sudden attention from the media and public?
Absolutely. The U-19 team that’s just finishing up their two months or nine weeks with us had an introduction to handling media with [the broadcaster] Charu Sharma. They also had a similar session on handling finances. We only had three-and-a-half weeks with the emerging players and A team, and there’s not a whole lot you can do in that time.As far as the core programme with the senior guys goes, we’re trying to blow that up to six to eight weeks. It’s extremely important to understand just how the media works. A lot of these guys just don’t know.The U-19 World Cup was the perfect tournament – you were undefeated throughout. What gave India the edge?
I thought India were better prepared. I’m not saying that because I was involved. Long before I came along, somebody had the decent vision to prepare these guys well, invest in practice matches, and I understand they went on five tours. The experience of travelling and winning is very important when a World Cup approaches, especially at the U-19 level. These guys had done more of that than the other teams. They’d had a lot of exposure to domestic cricket. The higher your cricket is domestically, the better you are at representative cricket.There are cricketers who have to endure the disappointment of not being picked, especially if it’s through the duration of a tournament. How do you, as a coach, sit down and tell a player he’s not good enough?
It takes care of itself in most cases. If you pick the right team, people generally know. Generally, in the cases where we’ve announced the playing XI the day before, I always make it a point to have a word with the players who’ve missed out before the news goes public. Nearly all the time in the U-19 set-up it took care of itself because we were winning. People understood it was difficult to make changes. We made a tactical change in the second match against South Africa, bringing in a spinner-batsman, but after that we reverted to our original combination, for good reasons. There weren’t any openings for reserves to come in.Where we’ve announced the playing XI the day before, I always make it a point to have a word with the players who’ve missed out before the news goes public What sort of working relationship did you have with Virat Kohli and the rest?
I thoroughly enjoyed working with a bunch that had the desire and potential to go all the way – which they did. It was great to feel their belief in wanting to get somewhere. Virat’s getting terrific opportunities, and we hope he continues that way. He’s got belief in his own ability and the confidence to go with it. I think he’ll have a long career as a senior Indian player. He just needs to channelise his mental strength in the right areas.These days the support staff is almost as big as the playing XI. Does their presence relieve you of a lot of your responsibilities?
Definitely. In Bangladesh we had a fantastic local guy who’d organise fielding drills. He would take over after numerous little management meetings with the physio, fitness trainer and myself. That was very useful to me from the fielding aspect as I did not have to worry too much about that. Sometimes we’d have fielding sessions either during or after the nets. All that has to be decided in advance, and it’s very important to get the right man for that job.There’s a proliferation of Twenty20 tournaments now with the IPL, ICL and the World Twenty20. Is it healthy for so many young players to get introduced to Twenty20 so early?
We’ve got to be careful. It generates much-needed funds. There’s enough evidence that cricket boards want to put Twenty20 into perspective. It’s a good debate, about youngsters taking to the game. Though it’s essentially a young man’s game, there’s still room for some experience. It demands you to be good at more than one skill, to be able to contribute. The shorter you play, the more strength you need to clear the boundaries. I think U-19 players should play it, but not at the expense of their development in the four-day game. They should have an idea of how to go about it.One bunch of raw youngsters struggling to cope with the demands of five-day cricket is Bangladesh. What are your observations on that?
It’s clearly a reflection of the standard of domestic cricket. It’s sometimes difficult for cricket boards to spend lots of money if the returns simply aren’t good enough. Somewhere down the line they have to back their judgment. You just have to start paying your players well, and for that you’ve got to pump in a lot of money.You should have team meetings the day before. You’ve got to employ a computer analyst, physio etc. The more money you pump in, the more you can use to push the players to perform better. Some of Bangladesh’s one-day performances in the past have been a reflection of the financial rewards that exist in the shorter format.
‘Bangladesh’s troubles are clearly a reflection of the standard of their domestic cricket’ © AFP
Bangladesh did invest in building cricket stadiums across the country.
Those stadiums sprouted due to the U-19 World Cup. The ICC did a great thing by bringing in the infrastructure – the pitch covers, grass-cutters etc. But as I’ve said before, you’ve got to pump in money into the four-day format and make the guys want to play that format.Maybe it’s too much to expect such a young bunch to compete at the Test level. Do you think they need a few more years at the domestic level?
There is a good argument for that. The cricket board had to step in because the clubs and provinces weren’t doing enough for the players. So they created the academy, an A-team structure. Those boys were trained well, physically and technically. You’d want players, thoroughbreds, who’ve been through the grind of domestic cricket – like Badrinath and Michael Hussey. But for that you need to have a proper domestic structure and you need to pump in money for that.Sri Lanka struggled for many years, but you managed to turn their fortunes around.
Well, for a start, I took over just after they won their first away Test series, in New Zealand. I didn’t really tamper with their senior players. I just played seven Tests and these guys had played a lot more. The least I could say was, “You know, you might want to get the elbow up a bit more”, or something like that. I worked more with the juniors. With the older guys the feedback was more frequent. The people appreciated the fact that the training sessions were more structured and organised. We had access to the players seven days a week. We kept our sessions brief. There was a reason for having a hard session one day and not the next day.

The New Zealand selector and A team manager talks about the tough times facing cricket in his country

Interview by Kanishkaa Balachandran02-Oct-2008

“I don’t see the need to have a major support staff, and personally don’t believe in having three coaches” © Getty Images

New Zealand is going through a transitional phase. A few players have retired and joined the ICL. From a selector’s point of view, what’s the talent pool like?
We talk about succession planning these days. Not too may teams want to be in a position where they lose too many players at once. Selectors sometimes haven’t been prepared to unearth new blood, and we saw that with the Australian side in the mid-1980s when we were beating them. I think the situation right now in New Zealand has to do with the turmoil with world cricket, with the ICL coming in. I think what is damaging for us is that we have only six teams to select from. We’ve got South Africans playing in domestic cricket, and we have ICL players in there as well. Canterbury, in fact, have five ICL players, and none of them are eligible to play for New Zealand. It’s different in county cricket where they have 17 or 18 teams to choose from. You anticipate at the end of the day that there will be some sort of equilibrium. The gold rush is on, and in any gold rush there will be short-term problems.Would you say Shane Bond was the biggest casualty?
Well, definitely it was unfortunate. One hoped that it could have been handled better, though I’m not aware of the politics of that. I think he felt he was good enough to play at least another season for New Zealand, but that was cut off. He may well have seen his time in the game was limited, and wanted to set his family up, so who can blame him?What’s your take on Twenty20 cricket? The kind of money in the game now – is it healthy?
I think the laws of the game will change. I think it is too much in favour of the batsman and clearing the boundaries. I see the laws of the game being changed to give the bowlers more opportunities. A bowler gets to bowl a maximum of four overs, while a batsman can play as many as 20. Why should a bowler who’s on song get to bowl only four? Perhaps he should be allowed six or eight overs, and some of the others can bowl around two each. To what extent should you limit bouncers? Why do you have to have close-in catchers? Why can’t you spread the field out a little more?I think all versions of limited-overs cricket have attracted more people to the game. I was at Worcester recently and there was a packed house watching a limited-overs game. Most of the people had grey hair. It was like an orchestral concert. There was this music blaring between overs as it was a televised match, but the English were too polite to complain. There were guys who said, ‘I’ve been following Worcestershire since 1958’ and so on. You may not get that in Twenty20, but you never know. So long as a particular format exists, there will be a following for it, so I’m not going to rubbish it.What do you think needs to be done to retain players and prevent an exodus to Twenty20?
I see it ending up like soccer, where players play for their clubs and play for their country from time to time. Whether you consider that admirable or not is irrelevant; you have to accept reality. A lot of rhetoric comes from club and country, but when it comes to the crunch, the mighty dollar speaks louder than the vast majority of people’s minds.

	In Asia when the kids go out onto the street they have to fend more for themselves. In a larger society, the competition is a lot more. Maybe that creates the maturity that New Zealand doesn’t have.

It’s a far cry from the days when you had to fund yourself on a tour.
My parents didn’t have a lot, so I worked night shifts at a bakery and earned enough for my airfare. I toured Pakistan in 1976 as captain, and I was the lowest-paid because the rest of the guys were amateurs and I was the only pro. My province, Otago, weren’t prepared to pay me while I was away playing for New Zealand, and the New Zealand board weren’t prepared to pay me extra, while the rest were getting half or full salaries from the companies they worked for.Personally, I’ve never done things just for money. I’m not going to stand up holier than thou, and say people should act a particular way. They’re obviously thinking of their families. This summer a number of the New Zealand batsmen didn’t do too well in the Tests in England, but then turned it around in the one-dayers. What’s your assessment of the tour?
In the World Cup year we played very few Tests. That could have been the problem. If I was an English supporter, I’d be wondering, ‘How could England be so poor in ODIs if they could beat New Zealand so easily in the Tests?’ Then South Africa whip England in the Tests and lose comprehensively in the one-dayers.There’s more gambling going on at the crease now – in terms of risking your wicket. In limited-overs you have to stretch your jockstraps a bit and play the big shots. It’s almost as if ‘If it’s my day, so be it. If not, never mind’. I feel that it’s an attitudinal change and it brings some inconsistency with it.What is the public perception of the current New Zealand side? Has the departure of players affected the following for the game?
It’s interesting because I’ve done some television work across the world, and supporters generally don’t seem to have too much faith in their teams. Our supporters are no different: there are no expectations. Cricket in New Zealand is not the No. 1 sport. If the [rugby] All Blacks lose, they close the blinds. There’s a lot less beer drunk in the pubs. Cricketers don’t get mobbed on the roads, unlike here. I see you’ve got a few gods and added a few more. ()New Zealand cricketers don’t play as much as the Indians or the Australians do. The Sheffield Shield and the State Championships run for around the same duration, but in Australia they fit in more games. Should the domestic season be extended in New Zealand?
At the moment each team plays around eight first-class games, but our summers aren’t that long and hence we struggle to fit in more games. Rugby too encroaches on the season. Also, we don’t have a big pool of players to pick from. If we produce a few good players we’d like to hang on to them a bit longer. ()

Lee Germon as captain was an experiment that didn’t work for New Zealand in the long term © Getty Images

If you look at Australia, most sides think you have to be good sledgers if you want to beat them. That’s nonsense. The reason they’re so good is because they’ve got good climate and money, and players play for positions. It’s got nothing to do with behaviour on the field.Dav Whatmore said recently that the increasing number of Under-19 and A tours was the secret behind India’s success at the U-19 World Cup. Are New Zealand on the same path?
We do have a winter programme in place, and this year it included the Emerging Players tournament. I’d heard of a reciprocal programme between the MRF Pace Foundation and the Australian academy where, aside from a couple of Indian fast bowlers, they had sent a coach or an observer. I had an interesting conversation with him recently in Australia. I asked him something, which had always puzzled me. In the West, we thrust responsibilities on youngsters at a very early age. But in India they are more dominated by their parent’s wishes. That to me would indicate that the kids in the West should be mature earlier. I asked him why we have to wait longer for our youngsters to come up while you guys churn out so many talented 17- 18-year olds. He thought for a moment, and said that in Asia when the kids go out onto the street, they have to fend more for themselves. In a larger society, the competition is a lot more. Maybe that creates the maturity that we don’t have.How has the India experience been so far for this A team?
Our main purpose of coming here was for development. We’ve done away with the live-in academy, and players from the age of 19 onwards learn more from doing and experiencing the playing side of the game. We brought over a side that was not necessarily suited for limited-overs cricket, and not many have experience in Indian conditions. The point was to give emerging players the experience of spending time at the crease to develop their skills. It would be nice to get into winning ways, but that’s secondary.Would you like to see more overseas players in New Zealand’s domestic competitions?
With the number of South African players around, they have to wait four years to qualify, and I think something needs to be done about that. Four seems too long. If we continue to lose players to the ICL, we might just have a handful to pick from. It’s probably not that helpful to have overseas players who aren’t eligible to play for the country. If you do have them, they have to be good contributors. I heard Dimitri Mascarenhas is coming over to Otago. He’s being paid the same as the others, which is peanuts. But he’s using our set-up to train for the IPL. Sure, he might win Otago a few games, but it’s all very short term, isn’t it? So you can only afford to have one Mascarenhas in your team.Coming to your experience as national coach in the mid-1990s, what were the biggest challenges you had to face?
I took over at a time when we had a couple of senior players trying to run everything, and they were allowed to do so. I tried to put a stop to it, but the establishment didn’t support it.There’s over-coaching at times. I don’t see the need to have a major support staff, and personally don’t believe in having three coaches. A specialist each for batting and bowling is sufficient, and one of them needs to double up as a strategist. I don’t see the need for a sports psychologist or fitness trainer either. The physio can double up as a trainer.

	International sport is tough, no doubt, but there shouldn’t be too many crutches. In most cases sports psychologists are crutches, and they tend to soften rather than harden the players

There have been players with attitude problems. Wouldn’t a psychologist be useful in such cases?
I think they hinder. The psychologist has to be able to apply knowledge of the game when dealing with players, but I don’t find too many capable of doing that. I believe in greater self-sufficiency. International sport is tough, no doubt, but there shouldn’t be too many crutches. In most cases sports psychologists are crutches, and they tend to soften rather than harden the players. Steve Rixon told Cricinfo recently that you have to be a strict coach sometimes, especially in dealing with players with attitude problems. Do you subscribe to that approach?
I think you have to draw the line, and do what makes sense. But I find the lines are getting blurred, and we’re allowing players to focus less on cricket and drawing them into the management/coaching/psychological side of things. I think it’s more of a distraction than an aid. Most teams draw up a number of protocols, and you get a good result when there isn’t pressure to perform. But when the pressure develops, they want to break the protocols that they had bought into, and at that point the management draws the line and says, ‘But you crossed the line you helped draw.’ So to that extent you have to be quite strong.One of the most interesting and unusual moves of recent times was thrusting Lee Germon, a debutant, into the captaincy. Could you give us the background to that?
We had just been to South Africa [1994-95], which was known as the “drug tour” [Stephen Fleming, Matthew Hart and Dion Nash were banned for smoking cannabis at a barbeque]. There was a lot of indiscipline, and I was hired to turn things around. The problem I had in particular was that the administration had changed, and they were inexperienced. Germon had already captained a number of the New Zealand players at Canterbury, and he had integrity and ethics. It was also helpful to bring in someone from the outside. It would have helped if the administration had gone along with that. They didn’t, and that’s why it didn’t work for a long period, and he was given the axe. Things went back to being the way they were. New Zealand were known by Australia and England as the worst sledgers. But we weren’t very good at it as it isn’t in our culture. () Most of them just laughed at us.Stephen Fleming too was pushed into the captaincy with very little experience as an international. Was that a gamble?
He was pushed into it by the senior players when they couldn’t get there themselves. It was always going to be easier to manipulate a younger player. By his own admission, he was brought in too early. His best years were in his middle-later period. It’s an interesting debate as to how long a player should captain an international side. Had he taken up the job later, he would never have captained so long.You’ve been one of the most dedicated servants of New Zealand cricket. Is there anything you haven’t achieved yet?
I keep trying to bring a more professional approach to New Zealand cricket. It’s an uphill battle. I stay in the game because I find it intriguing and interesting. I’m not interested in coaching international sides. I don’t mind short-term coaching. I don’t want to get involved in the politics of teams. I’m now managing the selection team that Richard Hadlee has brought out.

Stats preview to the first Test between South Africa and Australia in Johannesburg

S Rajesh25-Feb-2009Australia hold a significant advantage in terms of historical stats between the two teams, but past record will count for little when the series gets underway in Johannesburg on Thursday. South Africa have the momentum in their favour after winning their first Test series in Australia, and now they have the opportunity to repeat that with their first home series victory against Australia since their readmission into international cricket.In the past, Australia have handled the conditions in South Africa pretty well – in four series since 1992, they’ve won each of the last three, most recently by a comprehensive 3-0 margin in 2006. The current Australian side, though, is almost unrecognisable from the team which toured then: only three members – Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey – are common to both.

South Africa v Australia – Tests

PeriodPlayedSA wonAus wonDrawnOverall80174518Overall in SA4210239Since 1991276165Since 1991 in SA12381South Africa have won more Tests than they’ve lost at the Wanderers since their comeback, but against Australia, it’s been a different story, with three defeats in four Tests, including two by an innings. In fact, the ground isn’t one of the favourite home venues for South Africa – they’ve had far more success in Centurion and Cape Town.

South Africa in Johannesburg since 1992

PlayedWonLostDrawnAgainst all teams19865Against Australia4130Australia’s dominance in the last 15 years in South Africa is obvious from the table below: they average nine runs more per wicket than the home team, and score their runs at a quicker rate too. South Africa’s biggest problem has been the inability of their batsmen to convert starts into hundreds – 33 times they’ve gone past 50, but only on four of those occasions did the batsmen go on to centuries, a poor conversion rate of 12%. For Australia, on the other hand, the corresponding conversion rate is 33%.

Tests between South Africa and Australia in South Africa since 1991

TeamRuns per wkt100s/ 50sRuns per overAustralia36.6713/ 263.25South Africa27.364/ 292.80Among Australia’s current squad, only two have played a Test in South Africa before, and both Ponting and Hussey have done superbly in the past. Ponting has three hundreds in six Tests, and while Hussey hasn’t scored a hundred, he has been very consistent.

Australian batsmen in South Africa

BatsmanTestsRunsAverage100s/ 50sRicky Ponting665765.703/ 2Michael Hussey325764.250/ 3Jacques Kallis will, sometime during the series, get the 12 runs he needs to join the 10,000-run club, but he’ll want much more than that against an opposition he has struggled against, especially at home: in 17 innings he has managed one century, and a mediocre average of 28.75. His first home series against them was an absolute shocker – 49 runs in five innings – but in his last two series he has done better, and his only hundred against them came in Durban in 2006. Against an Australian attack that is nothing like it used to be, though, Kallis has an excellent opportunity to improve that poor record.In fact, most of the current South African batsmen who have played Australia at home have poor records against them: Graeme Smith and AB de Villiers average less than 25, with only two half-centuries between them in 14 innings. Neil McKenzie is the only one with a respectable average.

South African batsmen against Australia at home since 1991

BatsmanTestsRunsAverage100s/ 50sNeil McKenzie319138.200/ 1Jacques Kallis946028.751/ 2Mark Boucher627027.000/ 2Graeme Smith418923.620/ 1AB de Villiers312721.160/ 1South Africa’s batsmen have a mixed record at the Wanderers. Hashim Amla, who hasn’t yet played a Test against Australia at home, averages almost 58 while Smith averages 50, but for some of the others it has been a struggle. McKenzie has a highest of 27 not out in five innings, while de Villiers has fared even worse, with an average of 11.22, and a highest of 33 in nine innings. In his other eight innings, he hasn’t even reached 20.Kallis has reasonable stats here – though his average is well below his career numbers – but restrict it to his performance against Australia at the Wanderers, and the stats don’t look as pretty. In six innings, he has a highest of 39 and an average of 20. That’s another number he’ll want to correct over the next five days. Seventy-eight runs in the match will also make him the first player to score 1000 Test runs at the ground.

South African batsman in Johannesburg

BatsmanTestsRunsAverage100s/ 50sHashim Amla328957.801/ 1Graeme Smith650150.101/ 4Jacques Kallis1392246.102/ 4Mark Boucher1243026.870/ 3Neil McKenzie46020.000/ 0AB de Villiers510111.220/ 0South Africa’s batsmen haven’t always enjoyed batting here, but their two strike bowlers have had plenty of success. Makhaya Ntini is two short of 50 wickets at this venue, while Steyn averages less than 20 for his 19 wickets.

South African bowlers in Johannesburg

BowlerTestsWicketsAverage5WI/ 10WMDale Steyn41919.732/ 1Makhaya Ntini94821.253/ 1Jacques Kallis92035.650/ 0Head-to-head stats
Ponting is easily the most experienced of Australia’s batsmen, and he also has excellent records against South Africa’s top two bowlers. He averages 58.60 against Ntini, while Steyn has leaked 59 at almost a run a ball, without dismissing him once. Steyn will fancy his chances much more against Hussey, who has fallen to him twice for 20 runs.

Makhaya Ntini v Australian batsmen

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageMichael Clarke821650-Ricky Ponting293377558.60Michael Hussey137232345.66

Dale Steyn v Australian batsmen

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageRicky Ponting59630-Michael Clarke74112237.00Michael Hussey2057210.00Mitchell Johnson is the one bowler among the current lot who has bowled a fair amount to the current South African batsmen, and he has had a pretty good time against most of them. de Villiers and Amla have handled him well, but McKenzie JP Duminy, and Kallis have struggled against him. Kallis, especially, has had a tough time, scoring 30 from 103 runs and being dismissed thrice.

Mitchell Johnson v South African batsmen

BatsmanRunsBallsDismissalsAverageAB de Villiers65128165.00Hashim Amla63122163.00Graeme Smith82102327.33Neil McKenzie36110218.00JP Duminy52122317.33Jacques Kallis30103310.00

He used to partner Richard Hadlee for New Zealand; now Ewen Chatfield drives a taxi around Wellington

Sidharth Monga27-Feb-2009

	“Once I get that hundred, I’ll be gone. Vanished” © Cricinfo Ltd

“Good morning, Ewen Chatfield here.” The voice is loud, warm and clear. You request an interview, a day before coming to Wellington, where he lives.”Where will you stay in Wellington?” You tell him where you will stay.”So I’ll be there at 1pm.””No, Ewen, I don’t want to bother you. I’ll come and see you.””But I will be driving my taxi then, so I can’t be sure where I will be.”How can Ewen Chatfield drive a taxi? I mean, you cannot drive a taxi in India, and most other places, if you have played 43 Tests and have had a successful pairing with the most iconic player of that country. And Chatfield of all players? He of the unruly hair, the long sideburns and the mo?Next day. Phone rings. “Ewen Chatfield here. I am in the foyer.” You go down and miss him. Most would. Imagine Chatfield with properly parted hair, a dark-grey suit and a tie. Without the moustache.But the name tag on the breast pocket does say “Ewen”. He asks you for some identification to prove you are indeed who you say you are. It’s you who should be asking him for that reassurance.You still can’t get over the fact that he drives a taxi. Not that it’s sad. Far from it. Chatfield has seen hardship at times, but he is a satisfied man with no complaints.Doesn’t he get recognised by passengers? “Surprisingly, it took three or four weeks for somebody to recognise me,” he says. “I look a bit different now. No mo. And I have to wear glasses for driving.” When he was coaching a side, his wards shaved bits off his moustache during a celebration and he had to take it all off. He was told he looked younger and has let it stay that way.If you go by what you read of him, the personality might not be the same either. He was a man of economy – of run-up, of action, of words. He was the man who once got Viv Richards out caught down leg and told Ian Smith, the keeper, “That should have gone for four.” That’s what you read.Chatfield is a funny man with faraway eyes. With long pauses when he speaks. Is idiosyncratic. Makes you laugh when he talks about his debut Test. Except that he almost died during it. Thirty-four years and two days ago; after a bouncer from Peter Lever struck him in the head.”We were going to get beaten. There was no doubt about that,” he remembers. “We had four days, then the rest day, and then the fifth day. Geoff Howarth and I had batted for an hour on the fourth day, which they grumbled a bit about. They wanted to go home. They had been to Australia and had been away from home for long.”On the fifth day the forecast was for rain. So we carried on. We batted for another hour. We frustrated them.”It was just one of those unfortunate things. I don’t remember whether it was a bouncer or whether it was a shortish ball. It hit the top of the bat handle, hit the glove, and ricocheted onto my head.”I knew there was something wrong. And when I got hit, I just went and knelt at the side of the wicket. If it hadn’t been for him – I forgot his name, the England physio [Bernard Thomas] – I wouldn’t be talking to you today. When I woke up on the way to the hospital in the ambulance, I knew exactly what my score was and what Geoff Howarth’s score was. So, yeah, everything was okay.”Lever sobbed on the ground that day. He went to meet Chatfield later. But he never got any of his own medicine in return. “I never bowled a bouncer all my life,” Chatfield says. “I wasn’t quick enough for that.”Was it difficult mentally to come back? “No, it wasn’t difficult. Just carried on as if nothing had happened… I got a helmet.”Chatfield was also a man who very rarely appealed. Not for him the backslaps and the send-offs. “I might have missed a few by not appealing.”India was never the place for him. His first time there, during the 1987 World Cup, he became the final victim in Chetan Sharma’s hat-trick, and in the same match got hit for 39 in 4.1 overs. Sunil Gavaskar scored his only ODI century,a fiery one, in that game.It is Bangalore a year later that Chatfield remembers. “Everybody told me how it was to tour India,” he says. “Guys in the past, like Richard Collinge, came running in to bowl, and kept going. I went the first time and I thought there were no problems. There was no place greater than India.”But after Bangalore, we all got very, very ill. Any New Zealander that was in India could have played for New Zealand. We were down to no one. There was times when guys got out of bed, took the bus, came to the ground, and went back to bed.”

	When he was coaching a side, his wards shaved bits off his moustache during a celebration and he had to shave it all off. He was told he looked younger and has let it stay that way

It hasn’t been a great time after retirement. He coached his minor association, Hutt Valley, for a long while, only to lose the job when Hutt Valley merged with Wellington. His last job before the current one with Corporate Cabs, was that of a lawn-mower. Then two successive wet winters came.”There was no income. I got frustrated that I couldn’t do enough in summer without killing myself to make up for that.” And just like that he called Corporate Cabs, because he “liked driving around”. He got the licence and was employed. In between he has worked as a courier, a salesman at a chip shop, and has driven a dairy van. “One of your compatriots,” he says of the dairy owner.”I start at 5.30 in the morning, and I am only allowed to work for 13 hours a day. That’s all. You think that’s enough? Thirteen hours a day?”He is not in touch with any of his team-mates. He claims he doesn’t get nostalgic, doesn’t watch old tapes (“I haven’t even seen the 50-run partnership with Jeremy Coney, against Pakistan, to win the match”). There’s no bitterness either.What did New Zealand cricket mean to him? “A vehicle to be able to play against the best in the world. It wasn’t a full-time job. I had to work as well. But, yeah, they enabled me to play.” The faraway eyes. “Though I didn’t dream of it when I was young. Later on, when I didn’t get picked [for the 1978 tour to England] I was disappointed.” Pause. “It must have meant something to me.”Does he have any regrets? None, but for that 1978 drop. “But I got over it.”There’s one last wish before he can leave cricket. One hundred. He plays club cricket still, and the quest is on. “Once I get that hundred, I’ll be gone. Vanished.” Simple as that.”We play on artificial wickets, only 40 overs. If they give me a good, flat wicket, and the bowling is not too good, I open the batting. Everybody knows I’m trying to get this hundred, but I’m getting slower and slower. I got to 70. Don’t think it will ever happen.”You want to take a picture before he leaves. “Come out. We’ll do it in front of the taxi. Let’s get them some advertisement.”From a farm boy, to a Wellington player – Wellington, where he knew only five people when he first arrived – to a New Zealand Test player, alongside superstars like Richard Hadlee and Martin Crowe, to a taxi driver, Chatfield is living an extraordinary life in a normal manner. Still being his own idiosyncratic self. Maybe he still is a farm boy. “I wasn’t interested in farming,” he says.

Both captains played it down as just another game, and how revenge wasn’t on anyone’s mind but these are statements of habit

Osman Samiuddin in Johannesburg25-Sep-2009So the spice is back. Something had been lost in the glut of matches India and Pakistan played between 2004 and 2007. The complaint was they had become too familiar with each other, that brotherly love had replaced the needle that usually charges these encounters. To be frank if the last year between the two nations off-field is what it takes to bring back some taste, a sense of occasion, then we are all better off without it.But for better or worse, an occasion is what we have in Centurion tomorrow. Both captains played it down as just another game, and how revenge wasn’t on anyone’s mind but these are statements of habit; India and Pakistan in a big tournament cannot be anything but a big match. It could be match given the players on both sides.Much of it, as Younis Khan said, will come down to handling the very bigness of the occasion, taking the important catch, keeping your head in a chase, holding your ground and nerve at the death. “I want to take it as a normal game. When you put a lot of pressure, you collapse. We have a balanced side but it depends on the day, how we handle pressure, against a side like India. Whoever handles the pressure will win.”Successful Pakistan captains, historically, are those who have been able to handle the men at their disposal. It has never been important as Pakistan captain to strategise and be tactically astute as it has been to just manage, to bring together and get going, a group of uniquely-skilled players. Men who have done it, like Kardar and Imran are lionized, more so than men with the cricket intelligence of a Javed Miandad, Aamer Sohail or Salim Malik.Both tomorrow and in the longer run this will be the thrust of Younis’ work. Pakistan do have a nice balance to them, both in terms of skills and age. Their batting stumbled against West Indies, but the return of Younis himself to an experienced middle order, and the continuing fizzle of Umar Akmal’s bat will help matters. And for all the wizened heads in the side, it may well be that one of the fresher ones, such as Akmal or Mohammad Aamer do what needs to be done. Youth holds not all the aces in life, but many of them. And not knowing the pressures of an India-Pakistan game, believes Younis, may be one of them.”Actually they are very young,” Younis said, even if both seem remarkably mature about their games. “They don’t know about the pressure and that’s a good thing. When I was very young I had no fear about my performance or if I failed. I am lucky I have players like them who don’t know about pressure. Old players like me or Yousuf or Misbah – they know they have maybe four to five years more and that is pressure and we know that. Youngsters play for themselves and country without pressure. I will not put pressure on them – go out there, play normally. This is a key thing about the younger guys.”The pitch may also decide to pop by into any debate about Saturday’s prospects. It is to be the same one as the one used in South Africa’s win over New Zealand and Younis thought it to be slow and soft. If it rains tonight it will get softer still, but a little sunshine tomorrow morning – and it is forecast – may change matters yet.All that is left now is to revisit the old chestnut of these games, about wanting cricket to be the winner. It is a sweet and noble sentiment and at a grander, uninvolved level, desirable also. But no mistake should be made; tomorrow resumes after a brief, troubled pause, a rivalry unlike any. Cricket can win, but both sides will be inestimably happier if they are co-winners with it.