The former Australia quick, who is stepping down as Papua New Guinea’s director of cricket after two years, says the country now has players who know what is required to be an international cricketer

Peter Della Penna09-Sep-2011It may not have stolen headlines in the last week or so, but a dedicated contributor to cricket in the Associate world is moving on. Andy Bichel, the former Australia fast bowler, stepped down after two years in a coaching and development role as Papua New Guinea’s director of cricket. PNG still has some way to go before joining Ireland and Afghanistan in the top class of Associate teams, but Bichel feels proud of the steps taken in his time at the helm to lift up the standard of cricket in the island nation.”For Papua New Guinea, when I first went there, getting 30 and two wickets and a catch, that was player of the match,” Bichel told ESPNcricinfo. “That’s the challenge, to create a performance-based environment because I can’t have a whole team of people who get 30 and two wickets and a catch because that just doesn’t happen. It doesn’t win you a game of cricket. If they get five wickets and a 100, all of a sudden you start to win games of cricket.”At the recent ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Ireland, PNG captain Christopher Kent showed just how much Bichel’s presence had changed the country’s approach to cricket. In PNG’s seventh match of the tournament, Canada batsman Nitish Kumar scored 150 in a total of 261 for 9 for his side. Kumar’s innings was the highest score of the tournament for a few hours before Kent eclipsed it with 166 not out, taking PNG to a four-wicket win.Introducing a sense of professionalism to PNG’s blue-collar style of cricket is a major reason why Bichel says the players have been able to register several noteworthy achievements over a relatively short period of time. The senior team have climbed up to 19 in the world rankings while Kent’s efforts as the overall leading run-getter at the U-19 Qualifier played a large part in PNG gaining a spot at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Australia next year. At the 2009-10 ICC U-19 World Cup in New Zealand, PNG’s Raymond Haoda became the first player from an Associate nation to finish as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker, taking 15 in six games.”Anything to do with PNG Cricket now has a professional approach to it,” Bichel said. “There’s so much passion to play for Papua New Guinea and I think that’s fantastic but there’s actually now a real standard required for a PNG player and I just think that’s the greatest thing. It is performance based. You have to train. That sort of attitude of turning up when you want to is really starting to disappear. All their skill levels are improving week by week.”Perhaps just as important, maintaining a professional approach off the pitch has also received heavy emphasis from Bichel. Things like dealing with the media, nutrition and fitness were things that might have been neglected in the past but have seen a greater attention to detail in the last 24 months.”The way they present themselves now in public, I think that’s a big area that we’ve improved in. The players’ English has improved. We’ll have a team dinner [on tour]. We prepare the food for them so therefore they’re getting good-quality food. They never used to get that. They used to go off and eat McDonald’s. Recovery sessions, ice baths, pool sessions, they all come under that tag of what you have to do to be a PNG player.”Christopher Kent was the leading run-getter at the recent ICC Under-19 World Cup Qualifier•Travis Pittman/HKCA/Travis PittmanBichel arrived in a place where no turf wickets existed with matches typically played on concrete covered by jute matting. The only time players experienced turf conditions were on overseas tours. But proper infrastructure is now coming into place to give players the opportunity to develop their skills in the right conditions. The country’s first ever turf wickets were unveiled just over a year ago at Amini Park and Colts Cricket Ground in Port Moresby; Amini Park now has six training nets.”Two years ago when I took over before the overseas tour to New Zealand, it was an Under-18 tour but some of the players had never played on grass before,” Bichel said. “Now I can honestly say that the minimum number of games any one of our players has played on turf wickets is 30 to 40. Some of the guys have played 200 or 250 games on turf. So that’s great for starters. Now they’re starting to read wickets. Why does this one turn? Why does this one play slower? Why does this one come onto the bat easier? They’re starting to work out all those sorts of things.”Bichel’s connections with the Queensland Bulls also opened up doors for many PNG players to grow by getting to train with players of a higher standard. Training sessions at the Gabba and Allan Border Field were routinely organised without cost. Cricket scholarships were awarded last year for 14 players who were sent to Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne to play club cricket in the local grade competitions from September through March.Not everything can be completed in two years though. One of the things Bichel hopes will happen after he leaves is that the players will continue to absorb a greater sense of tactics in the game, things that he took for granted growing up in Australia that aren’t always present in PNG.”The number one thing at this stage is that cricket awareness develops and that just comes with time,” Bichel said. “We all had that awareness from Under-12s or Under-10s in Australia. Cricket awareness includes everything from sliding your bat to reading the game, setting the right field, bowling a particular delivery, being able to play an offspinner or a legspinner. Those sorts of things are probably the number one thing that we need to fast track in a sense but it takes time to learn that.”At the closing ceremony of the U-19 Qualifier in Ireland, the PNG players seized every opportunity to take photos and capture one last memory with Bichel. It was a sign of just how much he means to them and how much he’ll be missed. He hopes that Papua New Guinea will continue to build on the foundation he’s helped lay for them to succeed.”I’ve loved the experience. I’ve loved the time. I’ve loved what I’ve done,” Bichel said. “Hopefully I’ve left a brand and a style of playing the game which is different from what they knew before. Getting 30 and two wickets and a catch was a pretty good game and hopefully now I’ve given them a vision that the game is not played like that. Hopefully it’s that professionalism that we’ve touched on, but like I said there’s so many things to that professionalism. We didn’t have a facility. Now we’ve got a facility so now we can start to play the game.”

The recommendations of the Argus review are beginning to be put in place. Pat Howard, Cricket Australia’s general manager, talks about achieving these goals

Interview by Daniel Brettig23-Jan-2012″When backs have come to the wall, people have stood up at different times and performed. I think overall there’s encouraging signs throughout the team”•Getty ImagesImprove the skills of the Australian team
Mickey Arthur deserves a lot of credit and he’s also fortunate to have some good assistant coaches who are drilling in some skills. Obviously Steve Rixon as a former head coach – we’re lucky we’re getting a complementary skill set together with all those guys. They’re delivering on the basics and giving very good messages. It’s great to have a plan and work on it but also to address skill-sets. The players have a fantastic work ethic and I think between all those guys they’ve come together to really focus on that.We’re aware the coaching team is working a hell of a lot with the players around specific feedback and training smarter. More than anything, a little bit of stability helps. The team went through a bit of transition, but there was a real focus and steadfastness about the senior leaders and the senior coaches, and as a consequence, I think the Australian players have been challenged and have really stood up and executed their skills particularly well.The Argus review was the start of that challenge. I think the players deserve a mountain of credit for how they’ve embraced stepping up to that level. It hasn’t been a seamless series – at times the team has been in a bit of trouble. When backs have come to the wall, people have stood up and performed.Improve the selection function
Some of the changes came in with the last team. Andrew Hilditch is a very good man and brought in some stuff with his team, but John Inverarity’s introduced some new talent to the team. What I liked was all the bowlers they looked at played in the Australia A game, and Ben Hilfenhaus bowled very well. They trialled some younger players but had faith in all of them and used them at different times due to injury or opportunity. I think the management of those guys has been very good in terms of keeping them close to the team. At the same time, the players have performed, and first and foremost the credit goes to those guys actually delivering in the middle of the pitch. They’ve embraced the competition for places. I think that’s one of the biggest things – we all believe in the talent, not only in the 11 or 12 playing, but also those players in and around the side as well. Performances and depth will allow that really healthy competition.The focus is that Arthur is communicating with the guys in the team, and Inverarity is spending time with those guys outside the team. We’re always looking for improvement, looking for growth, but I think the first two months in the role have certainly been encouraging.Improve the culture of the Australian team
I try to stay out of the dressing room as much as I can, but from what I’ve seen and in discussions with the captain, the culture of the team is extremely positive at the moment. And I think you saw that at the end of the game [in Perth] – it is a positive change room; a change room with a lot of character in terms of the ability to fight and to perform. Obviously winning helps, but it wasn’t that long ago that we had the Hobart game, and the guys have bounced back from that. The players deserve a lot of credit for how they’ve approached this summer, and as a consequence, I think that culture is building, that belief is coming.You need sufficient skills to be within the frame, obviously. No one is picked if they don’t perform to be recognised for their core skills. But then the selection panel [also] considers their contribution to the team, the effect those players are having on the team – are they coming from winning teams? All those things are important to assess what impact those players are having. And obviously John being able to sit down with the players to hear about who the good leaders are in other teams and getting feedback can add so much to your selection decisions.Ricky Ponting has spoken about the value people add outside their core skill. Be it their fielding, be it their character and the sort of leadership they produce, and how much they give to a side. To me, it is fantastic to see players supported [by each other]. You see David Warner score a hundred and the batsman at the other end [Ed Cowan] comes up and embraces him because he sees him as an important part of the team. Inverarity talks about adding to the pot more than you’re taking out, and he looks for those characters that add to that team environment.

“I think Michael [Clarke] deserves all the accolades that he’s got all series in terms of his growth. I think it has been an extremely positive summer for him to be able to assess himself and be able to look back at the end of the series”

Improve leadership around the team and define roles more clearly
There were some 360-degree reviews of some of the leadership group in one of the earlier series, and we don’t believe we’ll do it every series, but we will review it at least on an annual basis to get feedback from the group, and that was done not only on a player basis but also testing on coaches that come through. I was tested when I was employed. So we have a nice base on those guys who’ve come through and the strengths and weaknesses of not just the guys on the ground but those who mix and interact with the guys on the ground. We’ve got a fairly consistent approach to it that is used corporately.I think Michael [Clarke] deserves all the accolades that he’s got all series in terms of his growth. I think it has been an extremely positive summer for him to be able to assess himself and be able to look back at the end of the series. We sit back and preview and review series, so I think it has been a wonderful start to his captaincy the last six months, and there’s some really positive things happening in that regard.Improve the coaching function
I feel as though Mickey and I have a very good relationship. We work pretty closely, it is really positive. We get on very well and once we’ve been in training in the Indian series he’s very much put a real stamp on the first series in which he’s had the ability to make an impact. The remit was about hitting the ground running, and you’d have to say Mickey’s done a wonderful job there.[The coaching staff] answer to Mickey and we’re very fortunate to have some guys who have been very good players in their own right. And obviously Steve’s CV as a coach is fantastic and he’s had international success as a head coach himself. So in terms of being able to build the team to move forward, I think Mickey’s starting to get a really good framework.Everybody’s got their goals and their key performance indicators, and they’ve all got to achieve them by certain timelines, and that’s all got to match up to the goals of CA as well. The team knows that one of the big things for us is about performance and being the No. 1 team in the world in all three forms of the game, and driving that through behind cricket’s mandate for being Australia’s favourite game. We’re all aligned. Everyone, be they players or management, wants the same thing. They want Australia to win, to perform, and they bring to the table lots of ideas about how we can improve.”Inverarity talks about adding to the pot more than you’re taking out, and he looks for those characters that add to that team environment”•Getty ImagesApproach to injury management, particularly pertaining to fast bowlers
We have changed the mandate for what we look for out of different series. What we have done well, and the selectors and the coaches and the medical staff have worked really hard on, is having Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris there around the Test team. They were coming into the squad in Sydney, bowling in the nets in Melbourne. We wanted these guys in and around because we knew the workloads had been very high for the likes of James Pattinson, and we had to make sure players were ready to go. Part of it is mitigating injury and part of it is making sure the next guys are raring and ready to go. We know players will be injured, and one of the positive things we’ve got out of this summer is we’ve got a lot of bowlers we believe in, and we actually believe there’s a couple more.Provide a single point of accountability for the performance of the Australian team
I don’t see myself as looking over their shoulder. I see myself as enabling that performance. We’ve all seen there’s a lot of talent there, and making sure that talent gets an opportunity is really important.I’m not taking credit for any of this. The players have done a wonderful job, and I’m very happy with how the selectors and the coaches have stepped in and really hit the ground running. You don’t want to paper over the cracks. You want to assess and review, but obviously winning the India series is a step in the right direction, and all the players’ comments have been fantastic. They’ve talked about continuing to win, being No. 1 in all three formats as a goal.

Plays of the Day for the fourth day of the second Test between Bangladesh and Pakistan

Siddarth Ravindran20-Dec-2011The comic moment
The novel talks about a fabled and unplayable spinner’s delivery called the “double-bounce ball”. There was a double-bounce ball in Mirpur from Elias Sunny, but it was nowhere close to the one described in the book. This one slipped out of Sunny’s hand and pitched very short and landed a second time before reaching the popping crease. It was heading in the direction of slip and Misbah-ul-Haq, usually a picture of calm in the middle, charged out towards it and powered it towards cover. It went straight to the fielder and Pakistan got no runs. Misbah was left laughing that he couldn’t capitalise. At least, he fared better than AB de Villiers at this ground three years ago – the South African holed out miscuing an attempted pull after a double-bounce ball from Mohammad Ashraful.The stumping
Mushfiqur Rahim had missed a possible stumping on Monday when he was keener on appealing for a caught-behind than trying to break the stumps. He nearly muffed another stumping today when Adnan Akmal missed a wide delivery from Shakib Al Hasan after charging down the track. He was yards out and it was a simple stumping for Mushfiqur, who didn’t make contact with the stumps on his first attempt. Luckily for him, Akmal was so far down that there was no chance of getting back, and a grinning Mushfiqur took off the bails on his second attempt, before hitting the stumps again for good measure.The anticipation
The sweep shot has long been a cornerstone of Misbah’s batting. He used it often against the spinners today, particularly the paddle sweep against the left-arm spinners. As he shaped to play the stroke, Mahmudullah sprinted from slip towards short fine leg to try and intercept the ball early. The second time Mahmudullah tried the same tactic was in the 110th over, when Sunny bowled one outside off. Misbah stretched to reach the ball and paddle it, but it spun square to beat him easily and he finished up almost doing a split. Misbah laughed it off, while Mahmuddullah’s gallop to the leg side proved unnecessary.The workout
Barring a brief phase with the second new ball, Bangladesh’s fast bowlers were mostly ordinary, barely causing a threat as the Pakistan batsmen comfortably dealt with them. Bangladesh have struggled to find a quality spearhead to take the place of the perpetually injured Mashrafe Mortaza, who has played only two Tests since the start of 2009. The wait for him to return to fitness finally seems to be ending – the small but enthusiastic crowd that turned up in Mirpur was treated to the sight of Mortaza bowling at full tilt for about 20 minutes during the lunch break.

Plays of the Day from the fourth day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and England at Galle

Andrew McGlashan in Galle29-Mar-2012Moan of the day
England supporters have had a few grumbles during this match. On the opening day it was about being exploited by Sri Lanka Cricket, who charged between LKR 5,000 ($39) and LKR 7,500 ($59) for a ticket. In the end, the ground has been well populated throughout but plenty of fans have also taken to the ramparts of the Dutch Fort. On the fourth day they found that for one area of it they were being charged LKR 1,000 ($8) for the privilege. That might just seem good business sense – supply and demand – but one fan suggested that because the fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site it should be free for all.Drop of the day
Jonathan Trott was settling England after the early loss of Kevin Pietersen when he pushed forward at Rangana Herath and looped a catching opportunity back down the pitch. Herath moved to his left and lunged with one hand but couldn’t hold onto the chance. For a long while it appeared it could be a match-changing miss.Landmark of the day I
When Trott swept Herath through deep square leg to reach his hundred from 240 balls it was England’s first three-figure score in Test cricket this year. The previous best was Alastair Cook’s 94 in the second Test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi and it just highlights what a struggle it has been for the batsmen recently. Last year (and the one before) England could not stop scoring hundreds – and double hundreds – for fun.Landmark of the day II
With the wicket of Matt Prior – caught in fortunate fashion by Lahiru Thirimanne at short leg, but huge credit to the fielder for anticipation and not turning away – Herath collected his first 10-wicket haul in Test cricket. It was the 27th by a Sri Lanka bowler, but only the fifth by anyone other than Muttiah Muralitharan. It was also the first 10-wicket haul in by a left-arm spinner since 2007 when Monty Panesar starred against West Indies at Old Trafford.Fumble of the day
Thirimanne’s grab was not the only slightly lucky grab of the innings. Tillakaratne Dilshan, who showed what a fine fielder he is around the bat, almost gave Samit Patel a life. Patel drove inside-out against Herath and Dilshan palmed his first attempt to take the catch into his chest. However, he had the presence of mind to keep his eye on the ball and stuck out a hand to intercept before it hit the turf. As his team-mates rushed to celebrate him, Dilshan lay face down on the ground, soaking up his relief and joy.Edited by Alan Gardner

Rajasthan Royals showed you didn’t need big stars to compete, but once again they fell just short

Tariq Engineer21-May-2012

Where they finished

In seventh place. But they had a chance to make the playoffs with two games to go, only to lose to Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians to close out their season.

Key player

Ajinkya Rahane showed why he is one of India’s better batting prospects by excelling at the top of the order. Having held the orange cap for a significant part of the season, Rahane ended the group stage third on the list of run scorers with 560 at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 129.33, though his form did tail away towards the end of the tournament.

Bargain buy

Picked up for $180,000 in the February auction, the 41-year-old Brad Hogg showed there was still plenty of bite left in his spinning fingers, taking 10 wickets from nine games while giving away just 7.02 runs per over. His introduction to the side gave the Royals’ attack a different dimension that opposition batsmen found hard to combat, most memorably demonstrated by his dismissal of Chris Gayle in Bangalore and the celebratory run that followed.

Flop buy

A crucial component of the Royal’s middle order, Ashok Menaria failed to live up to his billing this season, struggling with the bat and only bowling 3.2 overs. Though he has the ability to hit the big shots and score quickly, Menaria never found his rhythm, averaging just 20 with a disappointing strike-rate of 108.91.

Highlight

The win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore. The game began with Rahane smashing the year’s first hundred, an unbeaten 103 from just 60 balls that included 12 fours and five sixes. In support, Owais Shah blasted the fastest 50 of the tournament, from 19 balls, to set up a total of 195. After both Royal Challengers openers had fallen early to Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Trivedi knocked over the middle order to finish with 4 for 25, to give Royals a comprehensive 59-run victory.

Lowlight

Despite losing four games on the trot at one stage, Royals still controlled their destiny with two games to go. Beat Deccan Chargers and it would all have come down to a winner-take-all game against Mumbai Indians in Jaipur. But with their season in line against one of the poorest teams this year – Chargers had been victorious in only two matches out of 14 till that point – they were knocked out of the playoff race by a stifling spell of legspin bowling from Amit Mishra, who restricted them to their lowest total of the season. Chargers then cantered home with eight balls to spare.

Verdict

It was another year of almost-but-not-quite for Royals. The batting, led by Rahane, carried them in the early part of the season but four consecutive losses in the middle of the tournament left them with too much to do to make the playoffs. Still, with smart pickups like Owais Shah and Brad Hogg, the franchise continues to prove that you don’t have to stock your roster with big names to be competitive. And had Shane Watson been around for the entire tournament, instead of missing the first nine games, the Royals might even have made it over the line. The big question for next year though is whether Rahul Dravid comes back for another season as captain or whether there will once again have to be a change at the top.

Sachin Tendulkar talks about the year ahead for India, and the need to stay in love with the game

Interview by Sai Mohapatra11-Jul-2012You are not part of the squad that is going to Sri Lanka. Are you at a stage where you can actually pick and choose between series, looking at the kind of workload you are in for – big series coming up next, England and Australia?
No. I basically requested the BCCI that I wanted to spend some time with my family. That’s the only reason I’m not going. This is school holiday time for my children. I don’t get to spend much time with them. Looking at the rest of the calendar, it becomes difficult, and to match that with them bunking school to spend time with me… And after this for about next ten months they will not be able to spend enough time with me. So I made a request for a break.After the World Cup you said you don’t have any batting aspirations anymore. Don’t you want to prove anything to anyone?
I never wanted to prove anything to anyone ever. Not that it is only post-World Cup, because that would send wrong signals. I never thought I am out here to prove anything to anyone, but yes, one big target was winning the World Cup. Other than that my only aim was to enjoy the game of cricket. I have grown up playing cricket. I haven’t done anything else in my life from a professional point of view. Cricket has been my life, my passion. I just want that to continue.You have pretty much ticked all the boxes – part of a World Cup-winning squad, India winning series abroad… A phase for you to now go out and just enjoy yourself and nothing else?
Yes. Even while doing that – playing cricket in various countries – I had fun, but when you win it gets even sweeter.You take a lot of pride in playing for your nation. I have that terrific feeling and privilege of playing for India for the last 23 years and it’s been a fantastic journey. I have no complaints at all. There have been ups and downs, and it makes you a better and strong person, it teaches you so many things in life around cricket, just as a person.There has been an evolution in your batting, from an ultra-aggressive batsman to controlled aggression. Are there times when you think of possibly going back to some of your best years – 1998 etc – and telling yourself “I want to live that life all over again”? Deep down is there an internal competition there?
Yes, every season you always feel towards the start of the season: How do I approach the season? What is it that I can bring to the team? And this year it’s no different. Always I want to do something special with the bat and to do something which I look back at after a few years and say, “Yes the season was a great one.”For any player who has played for 23 years, there are several impediments – injury, loss of form, lack of motivation, fatigue. What do you reckon you need, to be able to be at the top of your game? What is that you need to guard against?
In my case, lack of motivation was never a problem. I can’t speak for anyone else. From a cricketer’s point of view, you’ve got to be madly in love with cricket. Once cricket has started from your heart – for first it needs to have a solid foundation in your heart – and gradually from that solid foundation I believe you start building as you grow up, start playing more matches, play better standard of cricket; then gradually it finds its way to your brain and you start figuring out how to score runs and how to take wickets. But if cricket is not in your heart then results are not that great.Rahul Dravid quit recently, and before that some of your contemporaries like Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly quit too, leaving you in a situation where you play with a number of youngsters. How important is it for you to invest in relationships, to get partnerships going with them?
It’s important to know each other’s nature, each other’s personality, how they react to various situations, and it only helps when you have made an understanding in guiding each other when you are batting. You need that guidance, good communication, to build partnerships. And it is there. I have played with the current lot for some time, and there was one stage when I was already a part of the Indian team for six years when Rahul and Sourav joined me. So in every generation this process has to take place. I can say that I have played with all of them, so that understanding is very much there.VVS Laxman and you are perhaps the last two remaining of that old school, for whom Test cricket is top priority. When you look at the current lot, who do you reckon the responsibility lies on to take your legacy forward?
To make someone like Test cricket, it has to [come from] within. There is no set formula that you have to do certain things and then you start liking Test cricket. I grew up dreaming about playing for India – that was the biggest thing I wanted to achieve: to play Test cricket for India and to do well. Every practice session I went out, I was prepared to work as hard as any of my coaches wanted me to; the only thing I wanted was an India cap. If anyone is prepared to do that, I would love to have him in my team.

“Always I want to do something special with the bat and to do something which I look back at after a few years and say, “Yes the season was a great one”

Yes, maybe there are individuals around who feel, “If I don’t play Test cricket I don’t miss much.” You need not force them into [something] they don’t want to be. If someone wants to be [in Test cricket] then he will find his way, will be ready to push himself as hard as anyone to realise his dreams. I don’t like to push someone to like Test cricket and make him like Test cricket forcibly. I would just keep those two individuals separate.More than the talk about having a batting vacuum once you and Laxman eventually quit, possibly a bigger problem for India is not having a great bowling combination. You need a pack of bowlers who can consistently take 20 wickets to win you matches. Isn’t that the bigger challenge for India?
Yes, to win matches outside, you need an all-round good side. You need to, for sure, pick up 20 wickets. You might not have to use 20 wickets while batting to win matches but you have to pick up 20 wickets while bowling – there is no short cut, no option. All I can say is that it just can’t be good batting and bad bowling and vice versa. Also, backed by good fielding.I remember we played a Test match in Zimbabwe in 2001-02, and we won, in Bulawayo, where not a single hundred was scored,not a single five-wicket haul was taken by any of our bowlers, so that was a clear-cut indication of good team work. So in all departments you need to make sure you have done your job.Everybody is waiting for another debut for you – as a Member of Parliament. How are you looking at that responsibility? You have always stayed away from controversy – no distractions, only focused on your cricket. But if at all it comes to taking up a stand, be it political or otherwise, are you in a position to do that?
I look at it as an honour – it’s a nomination; I have not fought an election. When your name gets nominated by the president of India… I have been nominated because of my contribution to cricket for the last 22 years, which has brought me here. I cannot ignore that all of a sudden. I am an active cricketer, I will be focused on cricket. But when the time is right I will look into all those things.This is something new to me. It’s not that I will overnight bring in a lot of changes and be involved in various things. I don’t want to give that impression to anyone. I will be focused on cricket for sure.Up next are two big-ticket series – England’s and Australia’s tours of India, and New Zealand’s tour of India before that. With a good show at home, India realistically has a great chance of regaining the No. 1 ranking. How much does becoming No. 1 again mean to you?
We can’t get that far ahead and start thinking of being No. 1 again. Yes, everyone wants to be No. 1 but there are certain steps that you need to take. You can’t forget the process. First we play New Zealand, so we are going to be focusing only on New Zealand and nothing else. And then the England and Australia series. We can’t jump to the month of March; that way you lose your focus.To be focused on the present is the most important factor, and that is what not only me but the entire team would want – to achieve those results which will make us smile. Everyone is expecting that we will give our best, entertain everyone with good competitive cricket. This interview was conducted in Herzogenaurach, Germany, at the headquarters of Adidas, where Tendulkar placed the shoes he wore during his 100th century in the Adidas walk of fame

Tougher challenges await for England and there are a couple of areas to sort out, but the series victory against West Indies highlighted their solidity as a Test side

George Dobell at Edgbaston11-Jun-2012Sometimes on a long journey it is worth pausing to reflect on what progress has been made. There was a time, not so long ago, when a 2-0 series victory by England over West Indies would have been celebrated as little short of a spectacular.But, in the last couple of years, England have climbed to the top of the Test and Twenty20 rankings. It speaks volumes for their improvement – and West Indies’ decline – that this series result surprised nobody. It was not always like this and it will not always be like this in the future. Indeed, in years to come and despite the bumps in the road experienced in the UAE, we may reflect on this as the golden age of English cricket.Whether that age is to be sustained remains to be seen. Certainly the next 18-months contains tougher tests and how England come through them will define the legacy of the team. Quite apart from the Ashes and the South African challenge, they have serious questions to answer about their adaptability to Asian conditions.However, they can look back on this series against West Indies and congratulate themselves on an efficient job. England were pushed hard at times, but there were very few real periods of tension. England, persistent, disciplined and relentless, may not be the team with the most flair in Test cricket. But they make fewer mistakes than most. With their long batting line-up and an excellent first choice bowling attack, they remain tough to beat in England, at least.It is worth reflecting, too, on some of the questions that hung over the side heading into the series. Most pertinently, there were doubts – quite reasonable doubts – over Andrew Strauss’ future as a Test batsman. To a lesser extent, there were concerns over Ian Bell, too, doubts over who should fill the No. 6 position and who should be the third seamer.We have enjoyed fewer than 11 full days of Test cricket in this series, yet all but one of those questions has been answered with reassuring confidence. Strauss, with two centuries in the first two Tests, proved his worth and won the Man-of-the-Series award for England. Bell averaged over 100 and produced three half-centuries, including some sublime strokes at Edgbaston and some calm batting under pressure at Lord’s. Tim Bresnan won the Man-of-the-Match award at Trent Bridge with an all-round performance that underlined his worth to the team.Only Jonny Bairstow failed to take the opportunity. While he has not looked out of place in the international environment, he failed to score the runs that might have guaranteed his selection for the series against South Africa. It would be premature to reach conclusions about a 22-year-old with only three completed innings behind him, but the fact is that four of England’s top seven made centuries on Test debut and, after three Tests, Bairstow averages 12.66. International sport is brutal and impatient.Andy Flower offered encouraging words for Bairstow, however. “We should be careful not to judge him too harshly,” Flower said. “He’s a really good young man. A strong, hungry young cricketer and he has a very high ceiling. None of us know if he’ll be a successful international cricketer or not but he’s played a couple of limited-overs games already where he’s helped win games for England. He’s a quick learner. There’s a history of good young cricketers coming in getting a taste of international cricket and coming back stronger, even if they’ve not had a hugely successful start.”

England, persistent, disciplined and relentless, may not be the team with the most flair in Test cricket. But they make fewer mistakes than most

There were a couple of other areas of concern for England. The first session of the fourth day at Edgbaston represented, arguably, England’s worst session in the field for several years. While it would be unwise to read too much into one session when a tailender played the innings of his life on a pristine batting surface, it does seem fair to conclude that James Anderson and Stuart Broad’s positions as first choice bowlers remain unquestioned. Graham Onions, in particular, bowled impressively, but he will, for now, remain reliant on rotation and injury for his opportunities.”One of the things about missing a couple of your senior players is it makes you realise what role they do play in the side,” Strauss said afterwards. “It also allows you to see what role the other guys could play in the side. I think the picture is a lot clearer now.”We came to this Test with every intention of Broad playing. It was a last-minute thing that he didn’t play. Although we didn’t play brilliantly, I am very comfortable and happy that we made that decision, because it will serve us well come the South Africa series. Onions and Steven Finn both showed that they are definitely Test quality bowlers.”Perhaps England also missed Paul Collingwood. Maybe that sounds strange – Collingwood has not played Test cricket since the Ashes in early 2011 – and it was not so much for his determined batting or occasional bowling that was missed. But his excellent catching at third slip has not been replaced and, with Ian Bell dropping two chances in the position at Edgbaston, it is an area England must improve before South Africa arrive.Had England taken their catches on the third day, they may well have wrapped up the West Indies’ first innings before stumps that evening. If they drop Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis or AB de Villiers, it could well cost them a Test. Anderson, excellent in all fielding positions, cannot be there all the time as he will often be bowling.”The catching was disappointing,” Strauss admitted. “That’s something we need to get better at. The third slip area is one where we need to develop someone to do an all-round job, rather than chopping and changing. We’ve got a number of guys with great hands in our side. Bell fields at slip for Warwickshire and Alastair Cook has got good hands, but it’s about someone getting used to that position and you’ve got to give them time to do that. That’s something we have to work on.”But I think by and large we are very happy to have won the series. The West Indies have got some dangerous players, but we were able to overcome that challenge and we obviously go into our next Test assignment in good fettle and feeling confident. We are also aware that there are definitely areas in which we need to improve.”We played enough good cricket in those first two Tests to win reasonably comfortably. This Test was frustrating for all sorts of reasons. Clearly the rain wiping out the first two days doesn’t help with the intensity of the cricket and we certainly didn’t get everything right when we were out there in the field. There are definitely areas we need to sharpen up on. Obviously we dropped a few catches and you don’t want to be in a situation where their No. 11 gets 95 all that often. We’re probably aware that we need to improve our standards a bit before that South Africa series starts.”With Strauss not involved in England’s limited-overs teams or Middlesex’s Friends Life t20 side, he will spend some time in the nets over the coming weeks. As Middlesex only have one first-class game – against Nottinghamshire at Uxbridge from July 11 – there remains the possibility that he will once again be ‘loaned’ to Somerset for a two-day game against the South Africans at Taunton on July 9 and 10.

South Africa’s limited-overs teams are not as settled as their Test and Roelof van der Merwe, the combative left-arm spinner, hopes to earn another chance

Firdose Moonda16-Oct-2012When an image of the archetypical South African cricketer is conjured up, it must look a little like Roelof van der Merwe .A fighter on the field so tenacious he earned the nickname Bulldog, van der Merwe relied more on aggression than ability to make his name. Operating as a left-arm spinner at a time when South African cricket still saw slower bowling as a stopgap rather than a wicket-taking option, perhaps he had to. It helped that he could hit the ball hard and his all-round ability saw him spend 15 fairly nondescript months in the national team.He was dropped after the West Indies tour in 2010 and not turned to after that as Johan Botha and now Robin Peterson made the limited-overs role their own. Since then, van der Merwe has been running his own race. He has played some IPL, some Big Bash League, some cricket in England and been turning in performance after performance for Titans in the hope of earning a recall. Botha’s time with South Africa has all but ended as he has relocated to Australia and there could be an opening for van der Merwe to take.”I hope to stake a claim for national honours again now, especially since I feel I have more control over my bowling than ever before,” van der Merwe said. “I’d love to play for South Africa again and hopefully the right people will notice when we do well as a team.”Titans announced themselves in the Champions League T20 with a 39-run victory over Perth Scorchers at their fortress in Centurion. It was a match where their batsmen stole headlines but van der Merwe’s three overs only cost 13 runs and he took a wicket.They are at another favourite ground for their second match against Auckland. Titans have done well in Durban, which was also the place where they won the domestic 20-over competition in 2008 – a victory that saw them qualify for the first CLT20 which was cancelled after the Mumbai bombings.Although Kingsmead is not Titans’ home ground, it will be more familiar to them than Auckland and van der Merwe said they are looking forward to the Kingsmead crowd getting behind them. “We like this venue. I don’t think we’ve lost here many times in the last five years,” he boasted.Auckland have already beaten the champions of three countries – Pakistan, England and India – and are not likely to be scared by another. But van der Merwe sounded a warning that Titans may have worked them out. “They are a side that can be in trouble very quickly with their batting order,” he said. “If we take a few wickets upfront, we’ll be in with a good chance. If you look at the qualifying games, teams that lost two or three wickets in the first six overs, lost the game.”Gareth Hopkins’ side may see a similar weakness in Titans. Only their opening batsmen had a decent run in the first match with Henry Davids scoring 54 and Jacques Rudolph an unbeaten 83 but the middle order are untested in this competition. van der Merwe said they have identified that as a possible area of concern and made plans to counter it.”It’s hard when you come in towards the end and you’ve been watching guys hit it all over for 17 overs and you’ve got a few balls to face towards the end,” he said. “The guys coming in at the end also need time to get in. It’s not that easy hitting it out the ground from ball one.”A player like van der Merwe is thought of as the kind that can lash out from the get-go but he said he will not be slogging indiscriminately even though he is playing in a finisher’s position. “My role is a bit different when it comes to batting. Even though I am down the order, not at No 3 like I was before, when I am needed at No 7, it’s going to be vital that I put a score together at that end. Jacques Rudolph showed it in our first game you don’t just have to slog. He didn’t just hit the ball out the park; he used the space in the field well.”To show that he can structure an innings may help van der Merwe catch the national selectors’ eyes, as the South African limited-overs middle order is still searching for stability. They have tried to use specialist batsmen to rotate in those positions but have not found the right combination and could go back to picking allrounders, the bread and butter of South African cricket, like van der Merwe.For now, he has other things on his mind – like beating Auckland. Already he has identified one similarity between them and himself: both are prototypes of their country’s playing styles. “They are a classic example of a New Zealand team,” van der Merwe said. “They are not a very pretty side, they don’t play pretty at all, but it’s effective. I think that’s a good way to play your cricket. That’s also how I play. “

Part two of our profiles of players who could star for their teams at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Aug-2012

Sami Aslam

Opening batsman, Pakistan
A product of Under-16 the PCB’s Hunt for Heroes Programme, Sami Aslam has built a name for himself as courageous left-hand opening batsman with the sound temperament required to score big runs. High concentration levels, the ability to control his nerves in tight situations and to execute in a disciplined manner have resulted in run fests, subsequently making him a vital part of Pakistan Under-19s’ plans.
He was first selected for Pakistan Under-19s earlier this year for a tour to South Africa, and he delivered with 332 runs at 66.40 to take the Player of the Tournament award. He followed up with 207 against the visiting British Universities Team, and finished as the top-scorer in the Asia Cup in June-July, making 461 at 115.25. His sensational hundreds, both against India, earned him the best batsman and Player of Asia Under-19 Tournament awards.Hailing from Lahore, Aslam first blossomed at the Punjab Club, where he practiced three times a day. He is yet to play first-class cricket, though National Bank of Pakistan has signed him up for the upcoming season. A chance at the top level in the near future is not an impossibility for Aslam, with the national selection panel keeping an eye trained on the country’s budding talent.
– Umar Farooq

Quinton de Kock

Wicketkeeper-batsman, South Africa
Not since Mark Boucher has a wicketkeeper been talked about in South Africa as much as Quinton de Kock. A product of the King Edward VII High School, which was also the place Graeme Smith was groomed, he is regarded as the most promising gloveman in the country, who is as good with the bat.
De Kock made his first-class debut with the Gauteng franchise three years ago. He was promoted to the franchise team in the limited-overs forms of the game, to which he is believed to be best suited because of his attacking strokeplay. He is particularly strong square of the wicket and has been spoken about as being in the mould of Adam Gilchrist. De Kock also has noticeable leadership qualities and has captained the national Under-19 side previously.
– Firdose Moonda

Niroshan Dickwella

Wicketkeeper-batsman, Sri Lanka
An aggressive opening batsman with an appetite for big scores, and an acrobatic wicketkeeper with a fearsome reputation, Niroshan Dickwella captained Kandy’s Trinity College to eleven outright wins in the 2012 school cricket season, securing the All-Island Best School Team award in the process. Dickwella also became the schoolboy cricketer of the year, thanks to a prolific season with the bat and an equally impressive one behind the stumps – he also won the fielder of the year award.
He says he models himself on his idol, Kumar Sangakkara, who kept wicket and captained at the same school, but perhaps Adam Gilchrist might be a better comparison. Dickwella’s 212 against Mahinda College in January – a record for the season – included 25 fours and a six, and came in 158 balls. Over the past two seasons, Dickwella has also built consistency into his game. He was the first batsman to cross the 1000-run threshold in the 2011 season, and he managed the milestone again in 2012, despite missing several matches through U-19 national duty.A big-hitting, left-hand West Indies opener, who bowls a bit of offspin and has a laidback persona. Ring a bell?•Getty ImagesDickwella is yet to impress at the international level, having made only two half-centuries in 11 innings for the U-19 side. But with a staggeringly successful 2012 school season under his belt, and a belligerent mindset tailor-made for the limited overs format, Dickwella promises much for the World Cup.
– Andrew Fernando

John Campbell

Opening batsman, West Indies
An attacking left-hand opening batsman, who bowls offspin and has a calm never-in-any-hurry personality on the field – the similarities with Chris Gayle are just uncanny. Learning his cricket from his father and grandfather, John Campbell is determined to make his last year of U-19 eligibility a very special one. Coming into the World Cup, he is in good form too, hitting a century and two fifties on the Jamaica senior circuit.As one of the two “senior” members of the squad, along with skipper Kraigg Brathwaite, Campbell understands the responsibility he has to shoulder for West Indies to have any success in the tourney. He anticipates his role in the team to be that of an “aggressor”, to take on the opposition and let the younger, more inexperienced players have the freedom to play their natural game.A product of the Holmwood Technical School and Tacky High, and a very talented cricketer from the outset, Campbell caught the eyes of the cricket community with his performances as a 15-year old in the All Island championship. He is knocking on the doors of the Jamaica team and is on the brink of gaining a place in the West Indies High Performance Center, which should provide him more structured training routines to sharpen his still somewhat raw abilities.Campbell has learned from playing on the Jamaica senior circuit to be selective in his shot making. A safe catcher, and a very good fielder, Campbell is playing in his fifth U-19 tournament. He had a difficult time in the Youth ODIs held in India in 2011, scoring only one fifty and a few scores in the 20’s, and is determined to make amends during this World Cup.
– Subash Jayaraman

Despite being nearly 34, Zulfiqar Babar continues to work for an opportunity at international level

Umar Farooq29-Nov-2012It has been 65 years since any one walked into the national side from Okara, a small town southwest of Lahore. The 85-year-old Israr Ali, who played in Pakistan’s first Test in 1952, was the last. His international career was short and frustrating but, six decades later, left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar could be set to emulate Israr.With 62 wickets, Babar is the leading bowler in the President’s Trophy charts ahead of the final. He will turn to 34 on December 10, the same day the selectors will be finalising the Pakistan squad for their ODI and T20I series against India.Okara is nearly 85 miles away from Lahore, a district of Sahiwal Division of Punjab. The agricultural town has fertile land, with fields of potato, tomato, sugarcane, wheat, rice and corn and in sports it’s a significant nursery for hockey. Cricket is a popular sport in the region but only a dozen clubs are active, with the Gymkhana Cricket Ground the only proper cricket facility. Cricket is mainly played in the open uneven fields around the outskirts of the city.In 2009-10, Babar had his most productive season with 96 wickets, ahead of another left-arm spinner, the Pakistan international Abdur Rehman, who took 88. Although he has been contention for last three years and was selected for Pakistan A tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies, he has continued to be ignored. He was named in the list of probables for the England tour in 2010 but never made into the squad.Although his team, Water and Power Development Authority, didn’t qualify for the final of the President’s Trophy, Babar signed off the ninth and final round with his fifth five-wicket haul, ripping through the Pakistan International Airlines line-up at Mirpur in 6.3 overs. His current first-class strike rate of 45.1 compares well with the likes of Saeed Ajmal (58.7), Abdur Rehman (59.3) and Raza Hasan (63.8), Pakistan’s current first-choice spinners.”Life in a small town isn’t really intimidating,” Babar told ESPNcricinfo. “Obviously facilities here aren’t that good, as in bigger cities, but ultimately it’s the ability and performance that matter. I don’t need to depend on bigger cities to be seen or heard. I sit here, with plenty of experience under my belt, having taken the most number of wickets and looking for an opportunity for the national team.””I remember when Mohsin Khan was the chief selector, he had been in touch with me and talked about my future and opportunities but now it has been quite a while since any selectors came down to me to talk. Now I think the only option left is to perform heavily.”In 2000 Babar’s mentor, Shahid Munir, died in a car accident and Babar spent nearly ten years in the wilderness, without a certain future in cricket. He missed five season between 2002-03 to 2006-07, during which he played low-profile district matches, club cricket and random T20 tournaments in the UAE as a guest player, before returning for Multan region to play in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2007. He had an average season, with just 13 wickets in five matches out of nine.

“What I want is to keep pinching the selectors with my performances. I am not afraid of any contest with anyone, I know a time will come that nobody will stop me from playing for Pakistan.”

Babar has no regrets about missing so much cricket and is not worried that at 34 he has lost his best time. “The ideal age to play for Pakistan is 25 but that’s doesn’t mean I am done with my cricket,” he said. “I have an example in Ajmal and [Australia’s Brad] Hogg that motivates me that cricket these days is all about fitness and performance and not just the age. For the best of my interests I am keeping myself strong and I don’t mind waiting more to pursue an international career. I have been doing rigorous workouts to keep myself fit.”For Babar age isn’t really a concern compared to the strong contest between him and the spinners already engaged with the national side. “Raza might be ahead of me for different reasons but Test and limited-overs cricket are a different ball game and he is good with the short format of the game and I am comfortable for the longer format,” Babar said. “What I want is to keep pinching the selectors with my performances. I am not afraid of any contest with anyone, I know a time will come that nobody will stop me from playing for Pakistan.”I started playing cricket thinking to play for my country and pursing the goal I have taken a lot of time to reach the big stage. Everyone does something for their livelihood and I have chosen cricket but still I have no regrets and am optimistic for a better future.”PCB selectors are gathering in Lahore to witness the National Twenty20 to select a party for the India tour. The nine-day T20 contest, in which Babar will feature for Multan, provides him with another opportunity to nudge the selectors. “Life has been so tricky, as I think I have already made an impact with my consistency in four-day cricket, where selectors didn’t come to witness me,” he said. “Twenty20 cricket is more like a shortcut to make an impact and I am also ready for it.”