A sun-stroked Perth resident enjoys Nathan Hauritz’s all-round display and admires the beach-ball hitting skills of another spectator

Luke Juniper30-Jan-2010Choice of game
Being the only game that was on during my summer holidays, I had no choice in the matter. Despite being a dead rubber and a scorching 39 degrees in the sun, there was no way I would be missing it.Team supported
Australia. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want Pakistan to put up a good fight, but the pain from our Ashes loss still burns. Every single victory is cherished and required to extinguish that flame.Key performer
Say what you want about him but Nathan Hauritz cannot avoid the action or the scrutiny as he may like. A rip-snorting 53, a run-out, and the wicket of Saeed Ajmal (though he went for six an over) justified the selectors’ and Ricky Ponting’s support for him.One thing you’d have changed

Please, WACA, give me some shade. Granted, I purchased tickets for the East Grass Bank which resulted in approximately seven hours under an intense sun. Live and learn, as they say.Wow moment
Security officials at the WACA displayed a total and utter disrespect for the crowd’s beach-ball-hitting rights. After they snagged and popped approximately 11 of said balls by the middle of the first innings, a young Australian fan won the admiration of the Prindiville Stand crowd by dispatching a beach ball from a security guard’s hands into the rabid mob below. Pity it only lasted another minute.Player watch
Mohammad Asif saw the most action for the day at fine leg. Any time the ball came his way, the ultra-witty Perth crowd would bellow “AsIf you just fielded that!”Shot of the day
Hauritz’s baby face just screams cheeky ninth grader. The third of his four sixes – off Naved-ul-Hasan – was pure contempt.Crowd meter
It was an absolutely scorching day, and being a dead rubber, I did not predict a crowd of such size and enthusiasm. Mexican waves continued all day and there was a steady stream of ejections by the local security. Heat, alcohol and a more or less gutless performance from Pakistan are never a good mix. Following his Man-of-the-Match performance in Adelaide, Ryan Harris was a popular man. He did not disappoint in the slightest with another top-shelf performance.Accessories
Shirt, sunscreen, sunglasses and wide brim hat.Overall
Australia displayed plenty of composure and flair to post a strong 277. Pakistan bowled reasonably well and fielded far better than they have all summer. Unfortunately their bowling in the last 10 overs and their batting overall were extremely disappointing. Boom Boom Afridi provided some fireworks, but by then it was far too late.Marks out of 10
6/10. It is near impossible to get overly excited about a match of this nature and I feel Pakistan have so much more to offer than what they showed in this game. Some big-hitting late in the innings, and some great bowling by Australia maintained interest long enough to avoid early departures from the spectators.

Barry Richards hardly got any opportunities to show his talent on the international stage, but he still managed to prove how great a batsman he was

S Rajesh07-Nov-2010The biggest compliment to Barry Richards, in the context of the Legends of Cricket series, is the fact that he finds a place in this elite list despite having played a mere four Test matches. In those four Tests – all in a home series against Australia – Richards gave more than a glimpse of just what international world cricket was missing, but his reputation as one of the very best batsmen to ever play the game was built mostly on his exploits in first-class matches – where he played mainly for Hampshire, Natal and South Australia – and, of course, in Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. Richards finished with a first-class tally of 28,358 runs, 80 centuries and an average of 54.74, but even these numbers don’t do full justice to the sort of batsman he was. Here’s a sample of some of his first-class achievements: Between 1968 and 1976, when Richards played in the English county championship for Hampshire, his average in the competition was in the top 20 in each season. During this period he scored 15,607 first-class runs for the county at an average of 50.51. Three times he carried his bat through a completed innings in first-class cricket, including an instance for Hampshire against Nottinghamshire in 1974, when he scored an unbeaten 225 out of a team total of only 344. His highest first-class score of 356 came in 1970-71 for South Australia against Western Australia, a team whose bowling attack included Dennis Lillee, Graham McKenzie and Tony Lock. Of the 356, 325 came in one day, off a mere 322 balls, as Richards slammed 44 fours and a six. Only five players had scored more than 325 in a day in first-class cricket anywhere in the world, and Richards became the third batsman to score 300 in a day in Australian first-class history. Nine times he scored a century before lunch; five of those were made on the first day of the match. During his time with Natal, he scored four centuries in a season four times. And then, of course, there were Richards’ classy performances in World Series Cricket. His knocks in first-class cricket had made him a much sought-after name, and the deal was clinched when he went to Perth to play league cricket for Midland-Guildford in the 1976-77 season. As he confirmed later, money wasn’t the main reason he signed on the dotted line: “The money was only incidental to a last opportunity to play in the company of world-class cricketers again.”In the first of the three Supertests he played that season for WSC World XI, in Sydney, Richards got starts in both innings but couldn’t convert them into huge scores, scoring 57 and 48. Then came a truly magnificent display in the second match, which justified all the hype. Opening the innings with his Hampshire team-mate Gordon Greenidge, Richards scored a wonderful 207, adding 234 for the opening wicket before Greenidge was forced to retire hurt. That brought the other great Richards, Viv, to the wicket, and for the next few hours the Australian bowlers didn’t know what hit them. Viv was generally a more destructive batsman, but on this day Barry outshone him, scoring 93 in the next 90 minutes, even as Viv made only 41. When Barry finally fell, the scoreboard read 369 for 1 in 60 eight-ball overs.In the next Supertest, Barry made a half-century in the first innings but fell for a duck in the second as WSC World XI, chasing 272 for victory, fell 41 runs short. He finished the three matches with an aggregate of 388 runs in five innings, second only to Viv’s 502. (Click here for more details.)In the next season there was another Richards special, this time in the final of the World Series Supertests: in a tense, low-scoring game, where neither team had scored more than 219, WSC World XI needed to score 224 in the fourth innings. Richards stamped his presence on the chase with an outstanding unbeaten 101; the next-highest score from one of his team-mates in either innings was 44. At 84 for 4 the Australians had a slight edge, but Richards took on Dennis Lillee and Gary Gilmour and ultimately led his team to a five-wicket win.Overall Barry Richards played only five Supertests, but he clearly left his mark – in eight innings he scored two hundreds and two fifties and averaged almost 80, which was easily the highest. Since he wasn’t from Australia or West Indies he didn’t play as many matches as the others, but that’s hardly his fault.

Performance of top batsmen in World Series Cricket

BatsmanTeamMatchesInningsRuns10050AverageBarry RichardsWorld XI585542279.14Vivian RichardsWest Indies and World XI142512814455.69Greg ChappellAustralia142614155456.60David HookesAustralia12227691738.45Clive LloydWest Indies and World XI13216831337.94Gordon GreenidgeWest Indies and World XI13237541435.90Ian ChappellAustralia14278931535.72However, in the one-dayers, called the International Cup ODIs, Richards wasn’t as successful, averaging less than 24 and scoring only two half-centuries in 19 innings. As the table below shows, though, most of the other top players didn’t do much better either.

How the major batsmen fared in the International Cup ODIs

BatsmanMatchesRunsAverage100s/ 50sGordon Greenidge2469436.530/ 6Greg Chappell2470530.650/ 3Ian Chappell2145625.330/ 2Clive Lloyd2442324.880/ 3Barry Richards1945523.950/ 2Viv Richards2547223.600/ 4Zaheer Abbas1426620.460/ 1And then, of course, there was the small matter of his Test record. Richards got only seven innings to prove his class in Test cricket, but he did a pretty good job of utilising those chances. His opponents in all those four Tests were Australia, who came into the series having won their two previous ones, against West Indies at home and India in India. In South Africa, though, they were no match for the home team, and Richards did his bit to vanquish the visitors. Against a bowling attack that included Garth McKenzie, Alan Connolly and John Gleeson, Richards scored 508 runs at an average of 72.57. Only Graeme Pollock made more runs – he topped the averages with 517 runs at 73.85.Richards scored only 29 in his first Test innings, in Cape Town, but that was to be his lowest score, as he went from strength to strength in his next three matches. His best innings of the series came in the next Test, in Durban, when he scored an outstanding 140 off a mere 164 balls, completely dominating the Australians. Just how unstoppable he was is apparent from the fact that out of a lunchtime score of 126 for 2 on the first day, Richards’ contribution was an unbeaten 94. Six more runs would have made him the fourth batsman at the time, and the fifth overall, to score a century before lunch on the first day of a Test. After lunch the South African fans were treated to some of the best strokeplay seen in the country: Richards and Pollock creamed 103 runs in the hour after the break, before Richards fell for 140. Pollock went on to score 274, and the Australians were crushed by an innings and 129 runs.In the next Test, Richards scored 65 and 35, before finishing off the series with knocks of 81 and 126; South Africa swept both Tests by more than 300 runs. That series could have kickstarted a phenomenal Test career. Unfortunately for cricket, South Africa’s isolation meant Richards joined a select band of players to have scored a century in their last Test match.Bibliography
, Geoff Armstrong

It was a day begging for the spinners to take control. Yet Pakistan’s most experienced Test player, and their premier slow bowler, failed to rise to the occasion

Nagraj Gollapudi at Trent Bridge29-Jul-2010Under bright skies in Nottingham and on a dry, low pitch, today was not a day for the fast bowlers to run rampant. Instead with plenty of turn on offer it was a day begging for the spinners to take control. Yet Pakistan’s most experienced Test player, and their premier slow bowler, failed to rise to the occasion. Danish Kaneria will do well to keep his head down.After the first session, where Mohammad Aamer had grabbed a couple of early wickets, Pakistan returned with a plan. First Mohammad Asif attacked Kevin Pietersen’s off stump fervently and was rewarded when he got his man for the fifth time in seven games in England. Soon afterwards Aamer defeated Jonathan Trott’s shuffle across the stumps to trap him leg before. With two new batsmen and Pakistan on top, Salman Butt brought Kaneria into the attack.Having played 61 Tests Kaneria knew the plan: fire in the stock delivery and keep firing. It was the best way to play on the batsman’s patience. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, Kaneria kept rushing in to deliver flatter, faster and fuller. Line, length, flight, variation – the basics of slow bowling – were completely ignored on the first day.Throughout his five spells, Kaneria arrived at the crease like an ill-prepared student at an exam. Edgy, he was randomly ticking boxes, stabbing in the dark for the right formula. Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood sensed his anxiety and took full advantage. Full tosses were driven handsomely through yawning gaps on both sides of the wicket and straight balls were either deflected or cut with power for easy runs. Morgan, playing only his third Test, could even unleash his trademark reverse sweep as Kaneria sent down another innocuous leg break – a shot which created further gaps in an already stretched field.Sadly, Pakistan’s captain must share part of the blame. Considering the pitch was offering generous turn and surprising uneven bounce at times, Butt would’ve done well to keep Kaneria locked in at one end. In the past Kaneria has shown the appetite to bowl long spells and build pressure on the batsmen. A recent example was in Sydney at the beginning of this year where, returning from a finger injury, he spun a tight web around the nervous Australian middle order and, were it not for the appalling glovework of Kamran Akmal, would’ve helped Pakistan to victory.Yet here Kaneria was not allowed to settle. He should have prodded and pleaded his skipper, still an infant as captain, to leave him operating at one end. That might have helped him buy time to work out the right plan to overhaul the opponent, but it wasn’t to be.As the English pair grew confident Kaneria grew timid. He was twitching and frustrated. It did not help when Akmal, the worst offender of the day, missed an easy stumping when Collingwood charged. Kaneria couldn’t believe it but it was, of course, not the first time. At the SCG Kamran had failed to get rid of Michael Hussey three times in one Kaneria over including a stumping opportunity. It was that sort of a day for Pakistan’s two most experienced players – both displayed frayed nerves, distracted mindsets and a complete lack of authority.Nevertheless Kaneria cannot hang on to that one missed opportunity because it was the only chance he created in 21 overs. There was so much more he could have done. For starters he could have set his own fields, something successful bowlers always like to do. It was his responsibility in the light of Butt’s inexperience. Minor things like that always prove pivotal in a Test.Kaneria is Pakistan’s fourth-best bowler of all time in terms of wickets but is yet to show the pro-activeness to impose himself, to take the decisions that will prove decisive or to have the aura past bowling greats like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Abdul Qadir possessed. Instead he is happy to be put on a leash and be led.

While Yusuf dismantled New Zealand when they served him freebies in his hitting areas, the clarity he showed when tested with the short ball was even more telling

Nitin Sundar at the Chinnaswamy Stadium08-Dec-2010Years from now, when people think of Yusuf Pathan’s maiden one-day century, they are unlikely to remember much more than the sheer brutality of it all. Yet, there was so much more to the innings than the clinical straight-hitting, which admittedly was in a league of its own. A batsman’s response when his weaknesses are targeted can say a lot about his state of mind. While Yusuf dismantled New Zealand when they served him freebies in his hitting areas, the clarity he showed when tested with the short ball was even more telling.Dead rubber or not, there was a lot riding on this for Yusuf when he came out to join Rohit Sharma in what was turning into a shoot-out between the two to stay in the hunt for a full-time middle-order spot. India required 208 off 183 – not the situation cut out for a batsman termed a fifth-gear slogger who cannot handle the bouncer.It is a reputation that has tagged Yusuf for a while now. After losing favour following the tri-series in Zimbabwe, he returned to domestic cricket and did what came naturally to him – he flayed India’s local attacks in all formats. The manner in which he scored his runs – 195 off 138 balls in a Ranji game, 89 off 42 to lift a derailed Twenty20 chase, and a 63 off 30 in the Challenger Trophy – did not help his cause as much as reinforce the tag of flat-track bully. Had he been putting his front foot forward and tucking into over-pitched deliveries, or had he found a way past the short stuff? He got his chance to address that question today.It helped Yusuf that he checked in against spin, before facing the trial-by-bounce. Daniel Vettori tried trapping him with arm-balls, getting the odd delivery to skid in with the late-evening dew. Nathan McCullum was flighting his offbreaks, asking to be lofted over a vacant long-on. But Yusuf resisted the bait. He began with measured dabs on either side of the wicket, picking Vettori’s variations from the pitch and reaching out to deal with McCullum. By the 25th over, he had quietly moved to 8 off 13 balls, before Vettori brought back the seamers.Andy McKay, New Zealand’s fastest bowler, came on and square-leg was pushed back to the boundary. McKay’s third ball to Yusuf was a slow bouncer, which he spotted early but chose to let go. Two balls later it came again. McKay’s left-arm, around-the-wicket angle, at around 140 kph, makes the bouncer a tough delivery for any right-handed batsman. Six months ago, Yusuf would have pressed forward looking for the drive, before arresting his momentum and getting into a tangled attempt at a pull without transferring his weight back. No such confusion this time: he stayed put with a more balanced and crouched stance at the crease, and ducked under it with intent.McKay tried it again in the 30th over, and having warmed up to the chase by now with a flat six off Vettori, Yusuf took on the challenge. He was, however beaten by the pace and failed to make contact with the pull. Yusuf’s reaction gave nothing away – no self-admonishing, no air-practice to perfect the shot – he just stood his ground and looked down the track as McKay’s follow-through ended closer to the batting crease than normal. The next ball was pitched up, the surprise delivery to catch the batsman waiting on the backfoot for another bumper, but Yusuf knew the two-card trick was being played, and lofted it cleanly over mid-off.Rohit departed, the rains came down and broke play for an hour with India needing 113 from 14 overs. While Saurabh Tiwary fidgeted around with nervous energy, one could sense calmness in the way Yusuf faced up to a few throwdowns before play resumed.Vettori’s first ball on resumption was launched over long-on, bringing up Yusuf’s half-century. In the 39th over, he asked for the batting Powerplay, and flexed his muscles by depositing the fifth ball of Kyle Mills’ over, over the roof behind wide long-on. Tim Southee tested him with fuller lengths and three quiet overs ensued, as Yusuf played out incisive yorker after yorker without panicking. In the 43rd over, he made up for lost time, swinging Mills’ shoddy lengths for 21 runs through the leg-side. India moved ahead of the D/L par-score, and from there it was a canter to victory, despite Tiwary’s scratchiness at the other end.Fittingly enough, the century came off a McKay bouncer that was dispatched over wide long-on. It angled in sharply from wide of off stump, and Yusuf moved back and across, without lunging forward as he once used to. The crack of the ball pinging the meat of the swinging blade gave way to warm applause from a crowd that had earned its treat for having waited through the rains. Yusuf threw his arms up and soaked in the moment. It is a shot that will be replayed several times in India in days to come. It is the shot of a man who had stared his biggest challenge in the face and found a way to deal with it.

JP Duminy and Colin Ingram’s recovery from 117 for five against Ireland, which followed South Africa’s bowlers’ recovery against India, show the side are learning to bounce back when under the cosh

Firdose Moonda at Eden Gardens15-Mar-2011A win over Ireland, however clinical it may be, is probably not one of the items you will see on a list of things to do to learn how to deal with pressure. As respectable and feisty as they are, if it’s not their day, it’s not their day, and playing against them can become like an extended practice session.It could turn passionate men into robots, methodically going through the motions until the inevitable conclusion is reached. It could mean that some of their senses are dulled, their reactions are less sharp and their effort is being saved for later on. It could result in them being caught off guard, letting it slip somewhere and turning what should be training into a tense contest, unnecessarily.For the first 27 overs of the match, that was South Africa. Hashim Amla was dismissed after a well-judged catch by George Dockrell, attempting to upper-cut and not hitting the ball hard enough. Morne van Wyk was dropped twice and that must have ruffled him, because he called for a single that ran out Graeme Smith. In an attempt at redemption, van Wyk blazed for a while and then was then defeated by a good ball that kept low. Jacques Kallis was caught dawdling and Faf du Plessis re-enacted the perfect way to be caught at slip.South Africa were in a precarious position at 117 for 5 that could easily have become 170 all out. Only a delicate toasting of a middle order that was as soft as a marshmallow in the match against England and an entire ODI series against India could prevent it. It was a situation that a team unprepared for a brush with tension would have let get out of control. South Africa are desperate to show that they are no longer that team.”Even though we were under pressure, we still managed to keep the run-rate up and I thought Colin [Ingram] did fantastically well coming in,” Smith, the South Africa captain, said. Ingram and JP Duminy, who is considered the marshal of the middle order, put on 87 for the sixth wicket at more than a run a ball, and knocked the wind out of the Ireland bowlers’ sails.What was particularly impressive was the way Ingram handled the pressure despite the fact it was his first outing in this tournament. Drafted into the side because of an injury to AB de Villiers, Ingram had to slot into a position, the No. 7 slot, that he had been in only once for the national side before the game. Ingram has most often been used at No. 3, in the absence of Jacques Kallis, and there had been looming question marks over his ability to change roles.Ingram had a lot to prove, and having not had an opportunity in the tournament yet, his hunger was evident, and, to an extent, all-consuming. It overtook the pressure of the situation because Ingram made it more about his own contest with the bowlers. It was a battle all the way, but one that Ingram can walk away from knowing he gave his all. “He was feeling a bit down with a stomach bug, so it was good to see him fight as well as he did,” Duminy said.Duminy too had a score to settle with critics wanting more from him as a senior player in the middle order. His two one-day centuries have come against Zimbabwe, and even though his 99 on Tuesday was also against a smaller team, the circumstances meant that, had he got the extra run, the ton would have been higher ranked than the previous two.Perhaps the calls for Duminy to play an innings of authority stemmed from the fact that he has not been tested enough in tough situations, but he showed that when the occasion arises for him to do so, he is capable.He fell short of a century playing a glory shot, but said that the hundred wasn’t on his mind as much as the wellbeing of the team was. “I was thinking of getting as many as we could. You never quite know what’s a good enough score and one or two runs can make a difference.” Nonetheless he rates the innings as “one of the better ones” of his career thus far.While Ingram and Duminy were involved in their personal combats, the pressure dissipated and the two had played South Africa into a comfortable position. It was the second time that the middle order had come through for the team, the first being against India last Saturday, and it’s all part of how the squad is learning to cope with pressure. The match against India also saw them put out a massive fire, that time with the ball. With India looking set for a score in excess of 350, it was up to the likes of Johan Botha, Robin Peterson and Dale Steyn to come through under pressure.South African cricket and pressure will always be linked until they win a major trophy, but the strides they are taking towards ensuring they are ready to do that cannot go unnoticed. In each of their last two matches, they’ve been faced with a potential pressure cooker and both times, they’ve let out the stopper and been in control of the situation. It’s all part of a plan that South Africa hope to be able to execute in the knockout stages, which is why it’s not important who they manage to achieve it against now; what’s vital is that they do manage, and so far, they have.

He was South Africa’s next big thing a decade ago before he fell off the radar and went off to play county cricket. Now Jacques Rudolph is back and is being talked up as one for the future again

Firdose Moonda28-Apr-2011Eden Gardens is probably the equivalent of Mecca for South African cricketers: the hallowed ground where they were welcomed back into international cricket after the apartheid years. Most regard playing at the iconic venue to be a dream come true. Jacques Rudolph is no different.Rudolph was one of the lucky ones who was able to bring up a personal milestone, a half-century, in the Test he played there, his 18th. While Rudolph was toiling hard for 61, his wife, Elna, who had made the trip with him to the subcontinent, was working at Mother Teresa’s hospice. Elna had finished a medical degree and was doing her internship at the time. She has since completed a Masters in Sexual Health and has a Higher Diploma in HIV/AIDS, her area of specialty.”My wife gives me a lot of perspective about what’s happening in the real world, so I don’t get disillusioned by what’s happening in the sporting world,” Rudolph said.Grounding is something every sportsman needs, but Rudolph, who had a dramatic first stint in international cricket, perhaps realises the importance of the occasional dose of reality better than most. He was a confident and settled batsman, with exceptional technique and strokeplay, and by the time of that Kolkata Test had racked up 1000 Test runs at an average of 43.81. The false start he had to his career in Australia in the 2001-02 season, when then South Africa board president Percy Sonn intercepted his debut and inserted Justin Ontong into the starting XI ahead of Rudolph, seemed to be behind him.Then it all changed. In 17 Tests after that, Rudolph scored just one century. Hs average dipped below 30, he looked out of all sorts of things: depth, character, self-belief. It was the result of a head-on collision between becoming a national cricketer too early and not being nurtured properly once the fast-forward button had been pushed.”In hindsight there was always the danger of getting picked for South Africa at a young age,” Rudolph said. “You don’t really know your game that well, you haven’t really been exposed to pressure.”It’s a fair point that youth thrust into greatness may be overwhelmed. The shaky ground on which the young Rudolph, then 21, was introduced onto the international stage laid a rickety platform for his ultimate slide.Politics and South African sport have never been separated, and their relationship had one of its messiest spats down under during that tour. Some will argue that Sonn interfered in a merit selection, others will say that it was necessary to right historical wrongs, but few will disagree that it affected the careers of both players concerned. Rudolph and Ontong both stumbled through international cricket after that; ironically Rudolph found his feet better than Ontong, though he was not able to stand on them for any sustained period. “It made me a little insecure as a cricketer and as a person,” Rudolph said.He began to second-guess his own ability, and during his worst patch, a series in the West Indies, where in three matches he had scores of 0, 24, 8 and 7 not out, “didn’t enjoy cricket at all”.After being dropped from the national team in August 2006, he signed a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire, packed up his life in South Africa and left. “I was looking for stability in my career,” he said.It was a difficult and controversial decision to make but Rudolph was vindicated almost immediately. “In my first game, which was at The Oval, I scored one of my better hundreds, against Surrey, and that took a lot of the pressure off.” He scored two more centuries in his first month and settled into his new home and his quiet life without much fuss.In the company of Younis Khan and Michael Vaughan, and with Geoffrey Boycott watching from the stands, Rudolph resolved to discover his own game. He found the environment “professional but laidback”, the opposite to what he was used to in South Africa where things sometimes get too intense, too – Afrikaans for “prepared”.Rudolph found himself easing into a schedule where the sheer of volume of cricket helped him mature. “I was able to cement my game, and my personality for that matter. I learnt that your preparation shouldn’t change whether you are in good form or bad form. That’s the success of someone like a Jacques Kallis or Hashim Amla. They always do the same thing. As a young player, if you go through bad form, you start hitting a thousand more balls a week. That’s not necessarily the right answer.”

“As a young player, if you go through bad form, you start hitting a thousand more balls a week. That’s not necessarily the right answer”

Along with fine-tuning his art as a batsman in the longer version of the game, Rudolph also excelled in the shorter formats. “I feel people have had this perception that I’m only a Test player. My stats [average] in one-day cricket is 47-48, which tells me I can play the white-ball game.”While he was collecting runs, he was also racking up awards: he won the Players’ Player of the Year and Fans’ Player of the Year in 2008, and Players’ Player again in 2010.Another year at Yorkshire and Rudolph would have qualified to play for England, but Elna had business interests in South Africa and “going back and forth all the time was not worth our while”, Rudolph said. “She wanted to start her own practice as well.” At the beginning of the 2010 season, Rudolph returned to the Titans and was immediately named their captain.What was striking about him was how much had changed in the interim. Confidence oozed where once was a broken man. Notable also was how much hadn’t: the open, friendly, giving personality was the same. The runs flowed, in the SuperSport Series, where he topped the run charts with 954 runs in 10 matches; in the MTN40, where his 383 runs were scored at a strike-rate of over 100; and in the Pro20, where he was the second highest run-scorer. He recently captained South Africa A to an unofficial Test series win over Bangladesh and is currently captaining them in the one-day series.There are signs that he is ripe for a national recall, perhaps even as the next ODI captain. “I’m 29. I’m at the top of my career, I feel. There’s still potential to become better, but I’d like to think I’m at a stage where I know my game very well. If needed for the South Africa team in future, I’ll definitely try to put my hand up.”Rudolph the run machine is back, and so is Rudolph the realist. He has already started thinking about what he will do when his cricket-playing days are over. He co-owns a farm just outside Kimberley with Boeta Dippenaar, where they breed roan antelope, sable and buffalo. The pair have someone running the farm for them, and although Rudolph thinks he won’t be directly involved there for a while, he has set it up to prepare for “one of a sportman’s biggest insecurities: the day I finish the game, what am I going to do?”At the rate he is going, that day is a trip or two back to Eden Gardens away.

Plays of the Day from the first day of the second Test between England and India at Trent Bridge

Andrew McGlashan at Trent Bridge29-Jul-2011Journey of the day
Steven Finn took five wickets last night before driving up the motorway to Trent Bridge as cover with Chris Tremlett injured. However, with no mishaps before play he was soon back in his car to rejoin Middlesex for their County Championship match against Derbyshire where he replaced Steven Crook. He duly took a wicket in his first over and ended with 3 for 51 in 14.2. It’s been a productive couple of days with a few hundred miles of driving inbetween.Early flashpoint of the day
It must be something about the Nottingham air that causes tensions to become frayed when these two teams meet. In 2007 jelly beans made their infamous appearance as did Sreesanth’s combustible character. Despite Sreesanth being back in the team, though, he wasn’t the first India bowler to lose his cool. This time it was Praveen Kumar who couldn’t believe a shout for lbw against Kevin Pietersen was turned down by Marais Erasmus. Praveen stood with hands on hips – as did most of the Indians – and at the end of the over had to be moved away from the umpire by Harbhajan Singh as the situation nearly boiled over with Praveen wagging his finger. He may be hearing from the match referee.Distraction of the day
Batsmen are very easily put off when taking strike. As Pietersen resumed after lunch he wasn’t happy with the sighting area behind the bowler’s arm at the Pavilion End. It’s a mixture of windows, panels, blinds and sheets. In the middle a set of windows were uncovered and this seemed to be the problem area. It was fixed enough for Pietersen to resume but he soon edged one to third slip. Was he put off? Whatever the cause, later in the day all the windows were blocked out again.Fake celebration of the day
Sreesanth was understandably pumped after removing Pietersen but he almost got a little too carried away. Ian Bell got a leading edge which flew towards Sreesanth in his follow through and he dived forward before seemingly throwing the ball up in celebration. However, none of his team-mates moved – they’d noticed it had clearly landed short – and he sheepishly returned to his mark. The antics, even if in humour, prompted regular boos from the Trent Bridge crowd whenever Sreesanth fielded the ball on the boundary. The ‘character’ was back.Over of the day
In his second over of his afternoon spell Praveen knocked the stuffing out of England’s top order. They had just lost Pietersen and now two more went in a hurry. Praveen drew Andrew Strauss it a loose drive after probing away wide of off stump before drawing him into the shot. Then he greeted Eoin Morgan with deliveries that moved both ways – first into the left-hander, then away – before trapping him lbw, although it was a marginal call from the umpire. Morgan even asked Asad Rauf what he’d given, in case it was a catch he could review, but was told that the decision was leg before.Lifter of the day
Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann changed the momentum of the day with their ninth-wicket stand of 73 in 11 overs but the way it ended will have interested everyone. A delivery from Praveen spat off a good length and reared into Swann’s gloves then looped to slip. Surfaces here can produce uneven bounce so this could be a sign of things to come. Of more immediate concern for England, however, was that Swann was soon on his way to hospital for an x-ray on his left hand – at least not his bowling hand. He wasn’t vital to the attack on the first evening, but would be a major loss for the rest of the match.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the second day of the third Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, in Colombo

Daniel Brettig in Colombo17-Sep-2011The lbwIt looked out. Tharanga Paranavitana, on 14, played around a Trent Copeland delivery that straightened down the line of off stump after pitching on middle and a sustained appeal was refused by Aleem Dar after a moment’s thought. What happened next was the luckiest of reprieves for the batsman, as Australia’s referral found the ball striking off stump all but flush. However under the terms of the system, the ball must be doing better than that in order to overturn the original call, and Paranavitana survived – by the width of a stitch.The steel trapRicky Ponting’s batting may be in a state of some uncertainty but his work in the field remains sabre-sharp. Paranavitana’s stay was ended by a magnificent catch at short extra cover, Ponting’s third snare in front of the wicket for the series. As with Tillakaratne Dilshan’s exit on the second day of the series, Paranavitana lifted a drive and struck it powerfully, only to see his stroke intercepted by Ponting. His reactions were far quicker than the eyes of observers, as the sound and feel of the shot saw most scanning the cover boundary. Instead, Paranavitana had to depart, confounded by one of the great cover/midwicket fielders of the age.The caught behindBrad Haddin had made his most convincing start with the bat all series when, on 35, he was given out caught behind off the bowling of Shaminda Eranga. It was perhaps this, as much as any genuine doubts about whether or not he had hit the ball, that caused Haddin to stay and ask for a review. There seemed an audible noise, bat and ball were nowhere near anything else and the Sri Lanka fielders went up as one. The television replays, once Haddin reviewed Tony Hill’s decision, demonstrated little other than the fact that bat and ball were very close together, and the finger was raised a second time. Haddin has managed only 60 runs at 15 in four Test innings on tour.The centuryMichael Hussey’s 15th Test century arrived with a legside deflection after Australia had slipped to eight wickets down. His second century in as many matches, it was also Hussey’s fourth since the start of the Ashes series last summer. Such a record stands out amid the general under-performance that has surrounded it – among the rest of the batsman only Haddin and Shaun Marsh, with a century each, have passed three figures in the past eight Tests. Those to have failed to pass three figures in that time include Michael Clarke, Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson. Even if Australia secure a series victory in Sri Lanka, this imbalance will continue to burden the team.

Nobody at Newlands will forget this Test. The 15 players in Australia’s squad must try. They should learn from their terrible batting, but they must also move on. Quickly

Brydon Coverdale at Newlands11-Nov-2011All losses hurt. Some cause lasting damage. Michael Clarke’s challenge is to make sure Australia’s crushing defeat in Cape Town, which he described as the most disappointing of his career, does not leave them psychologically scarred ahead of next Thursday’s second Test in Johannesburg.This was one of the great Test matches of all time; nobody who was at Newlands on the second day, or even on the third, will forget it. The 15 players in Australia’s squad must try. They should learn from their terrible batting, but they must also move on. Quickly.It is impossible to imagine how the Australians felt on the second afternoon, when they dismissed South Africa for 96 and were then bowled out for 47, their lowest Test total in 109 years. Even Graeme Smith said it was the sort of scorecard he hadn’t seen since he was a young schoolboy.The following morning, the Australians appeared to still be in a daze. In the third over of the third day – the scheduled halfway point of the match had not even arrived – Shane Watson dropped a catch at slip and Australian shoulders slumped. They knew they were in trouble.The pain of being humiliated with the bat increased exponentially with every boundary that rocketed off the face of Smith’s bat, every delivery that was caressed through a gap by Hashim Amla.Watson is capable of Smith-like power, so is Ricky Ponting. Clarke can find gaps like Amla, as can Michael Hussey. The pitch had not changed overnight. In the field, Australia’s batsmen looked at each other quizzically. How come we didn’t play like this? Nobody had the answer.That’s the mental hole the Australians must lift themselves out of before they take the field at the Wanderers next week. There could be, should be, changes to the team, but the gloomy mood will affect the whole squad, not just the XI who took the field.”Today is going to be tough,” Clarke said after the match. “If you don’t feel the pain here, you’ll never feel the pain and you’re playing the wrong sport, for the wrong team. If there’s one person in that change room with a smile on their face … every single one of us needs to be disappointed, for good reason.”There’s also the other side that in this great game you need to find a way to get back up. Good teams do. That’s how they learn and I think throughout my career, I’ve learnt from the not-so-good days, more than the good days. That’s what I’m hoping everyone in that change room does, find something so when we get into a position like we did in that second innings with the bat, or today with the ball, we go about it in a different way.”But what made the batting performance even harder to swallow was that the major culprits included some of the most experienced members of the side. Men who, according to Clarke’s theory, should already have learnt the lessons of previous dark days.Days like July 21, 2010, when five members of the current Australian team were part of a side that was swung and seamed out for 88 against Pakistan at Headingley. Days like December 26, 2010, when nine of the men who took the field at Newlands were part of a team that was bowled out for 98 by England at the MCG.This loss, Clarke said, topped them all.”Probably not,” Clarke said, when asked if he had played in a more disappointing defeat. “The performance with the bat, I’ve never experienced – not that bad, not 9 for 21. The lowest Test score ever is 26, so we needed No.10 and 11 to save our backsides there. That’s unacceptable. I’ve never been more disappointed, in my own performance in the second innings, but the result… I’m hoping that’s as poor as it gets in my career.”Today is important. The rest of today is about looking in each other’s eyes and having the courage to admit where you let yourself and the team down. We’ve obviously got a lot of work to do in all facets of the game to get ourselves as right as we can for this second Test. We still have a chance to level the series. That will definitely be our goal before we get on the plane back to Australia.”

A timeline of Ijaz Butt’s tumultuous three-year tenure as chairman of the PCB

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Oct-2011October 7, 2008 – Ijaz Butt is named as the PCB chairman, replacing Nasim Ashraf. Two members of the three-man selection committee – Salahuddin Ahmed and Shafqat Rana – resign immediately.October 20, 2008 – Six months before Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson’s contract is about to expire, Butt claims that “we have no utility for Lawson.”October 22, 2008 – Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, reveals plans to sue Butt after being accused by the chairman of stealing official documents.January 13, 2009 – Butt describes the board’s financial status as “terrible” and claims reserves had been halved over the two previous years, in thinly-veiled digs at the administration of Ashraf.February 9, 2009 – Javed Miandad’s resignation as director-general of the PCB takes an ugly turn at a senate hearing as Butt and Miandad trade allegations over the fiasco.February 11, 2009 – Following a six-hour grilling of PCB officials in Islamabad, a standing committee on sports asks the president to dissolve the PCB because it was “incapable” of running cricket. Butt brushes aside calls for his sacking by senators, and says he continues to have the support of president Asif Ali Zardari, the board’s patron.March 5, 2009 – In the aftermath of the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, Butt accuses Chris Broad, the match referee for the Lahore Test, of lying in claiming that security was lax for the visiting team and officials. A week after the attack, Butt is confident that teams would tour Pakistan in “six to nine months”. He is also confident that Pakistan would remain a co-host of the 2011 World Cup.April 17, 2009 – World Cup matches are moved out of Pakistan following the security concerns. Butt responds with a statement that suggests double standards in the ICC executive board, which he claims ignored security concerns in the other three host countries.June 30, 2009 – Butt abruptly disbands the national senior and junior selection committees without providing details on when the next panel of selectors would be named.August 7, 2009 – Butt seeks legal advice on the means to tackle unsubstantiated match-fixing accusations during Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka.August 27, 2009 – Butt settles the legal dispute with the ICC over the hosting of the World Cup, and expects US$1.8 million as compensation.September 1, 2009 – Saleem Altaf is sacked as the COO of the board, after developing differences with Butt over administration matters.October 22, 2009 – Butt muzzles the centrally contracted players from speaking to the media without permission, in order to prevent controversies and leaks.January 9, 2010 – The head of Pakistan’s parliamentary committee on sports, Jamshed Dasti, calls for Butt’s sacking, calling him “physically unfit” and questioning his handling of the aftermath of the Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan team’s bus.January 22, 2010 – With the tour of Australia still on, Butt announces that Pakistan will have a new captain replacing Mohammad Yousuf after the end of the tour in early February.January 24, 2010 – Miandad hits back at Butt’s public comments on the salary he was drawing as PCB’s director general. Miandad also writes to the Pakistan president that Butt is “too old” to head the board.Ijaz Butt had “solid reasons” for the removal of Shahid Afridi as ODI captain•Associated PressFebruary 10, 2010 – The PCB is served a legal notice by the Cricket Council of the United States of America (CCUSA), over comments made by Butt, where he had referred to them as an “illegal” institution.February 26, 2010 – The PCB initially indicates that two players from the current Pakistan squad are involved in match-fixing, but later insists that the players, cases and incidents were old ones and that nobody from the current squad was involved.March 10, 2010 – The PCB carries out the deepest cull of a senior cricket team in many years, banning and fining seven of its top players after the side’s disastrous tour of Australia. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf are banned from playing for Pakistan in any format for an indefinite period, while Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan get one-year bans. Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers are fined Rs 2-3 million [$24,000-35,000] for various misdemeanours and put on six-month probations. All banned players – except Yousuf who retires – appeal their bans, and are pardoned after lengthy wrangles with the board.September 19, 2010 – In an extraordinary outburst in the background of the spot-fixing controversy, Butt points a finger at the England players for their role in the batting collapse that cost England the ODI at The Oval and said the board was investigating a conspiracy, involving “august cricket bodies”, to defraud Pakistan and Pakistan cricket.September 23, 2010 – The ECB and the Professional Cricketers’ Association send Butt a pre-action letter, seeking a “full and unreserved apology” for alleging that England’s players were involved in fixing the outcome of the Oval ODI.September 29, 2010 – Butt apologises for claiming England’s players had taken “enormous amounts of money” to lose the third ODI at The Oval against Pakistan.October 20, 2010 – Younis Khan returns to the Pakistan team after a meeting with Butt to clear “all outstanding issues”, ending a nine-month exile.May 12, 2011 – Butt says the series of bans on seniors in the national team was part of his strategy to eradicate player power and maintain team spirit.May 27, 2011 – Butt says that there were “solid reasons” for the removal of Shahid Afridi as Pakistan ODI captain but that he will reveal those reasons at a later date.June 6, 2011 – The PCB sends a legal notice to the ICC raising questions about a proposed amendment to the ICC’s constitution, which would allow the governing body to suspend a member in case of government interference in the running of a national cricket board.October 13, 2011 – Zaka Ashraf, a top banker and businessman, replaces Butt as the chairman of the PCB