Andrew Hall talks about being shot at, the world’s best-looking sportswoman, and a cricket rule he’d change if he could

Interview by Jack Wilson14-Dec-2013You played over 100 times for South Africa – but it could have been Australia, couldn’t it?
It could have, yes. In 1998, when I was shot the first time, I was thinking about moving somewhere else. I had a look around and I spoke to friends in Australia and managed to get a contract from one of the state teams to come out and play. I wanted to do well and hopefully qualify for Australia, but a couple of months later I decided on staying in South Africa.You were shot in the hand from point-blank range at an ATM. Does it affect you now?
When it happened, it did, but it was over within the space of a couple of seconds. After that I never had any issues with it. The next afternoon I came out of hospital and went back to the same area to use the ATM. A car pulled up and the door slammed and my legs turned to jelly, but no, nothing after that.Do you ever sit back and reflect on what you could have won with South Africa?
It’s a difficult one. I’ve always just felt proud having played for South Africa and for getting out there.You’ve been promoted to Division One in the County Championship and won the Twenty20 Cup with Northamptonshire this year. How good has it been?
Magnificent. It’s been such a great effort. At the start of the season you set out targets and they’re always pretty similar in that you want to compete on all fronts. We’ve done exactly that and more. We went out and set goals for ourselves and trained hard. We looked at the intensity of our training – and not just how long we trained – and it’s paid off.If you could pick one highlight of your career, what would it be?
There are two that spring to mind. Beating Australia in the 438 game and my first Test century, 163 against India.Tell us about the best ball you’ve ever bowled
You’d have to go back a long time. Desmond Haynes was playing for Western Province. The first ball I bowled him, he played a forward-defensive, nicked it, and it went in between first and second slip for four. I thought that was the chance. Then the next one pitched straight, nipped away, and knocked his off pole out. I’ll never bowl one of those again in my life.What’s your favourite shot?
I’d have to say it’s a toss-up between a cover drive and a pull shot.Give us a name to look out for in the future
Olly Stone, at Northants, is an unbelievably talented cricketer. Ben Duckett is high class too. They’re both involved with the England Under-19s.

“If a game is heading to a dead end at tea on the final day, it should be allowed to be called off”

Which of your team-mates – past or present – has the best banter?
Our skipper Alex Wakely is very good in the training room. We have good fun trying to rev up our big fast bowler Luke Evans in there!Who’s the messiest player you’ve shared a dressing room with?
Unfortunately, I’m sat right next to him in the changing room at Northants. I’m one of the neatest and I sit next to David Murphy, who is the worst by a long way.On the pitch, who has the worst chat?
Another South African, Deon Kruis, came over to England to play for Yorkshire. He used to abuse you on the field and you’d cringe and laugh at him at the same time. All wicketkeepers have bad chat and they all say the same things. I’ve heard them all so many times in the last five seasons. It’s quite amusing thinking of what they’re going to say before they say it.You’re stuck on a desert island. Which one item would you take with you?
I’d take a leatherman. It’s a multi-tool knife, there’s loads I could do with that. I’d take my wife Lena too and, if she’s coming, I’d take a blanket with me!Who’s the best-looking sportswoman in the world?
The Russian pole-vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.What one rule in cricket would you change?
If I’m talking seriously it would have to be the referral system. I don’t think it’s a great system and it hasn’t worked out especially well. Otherwise, if a game is heading to a dead end at tea on the final day, it should be allowed to be called off.If you could bowl at any batsman in history, who would it be?
Everyone talks about him as the best batsman of all time, so it would have to be Don Bradman.

28-Dec-2013Shaun Pollock: “When he first came in, Jacques was a giggly kind of person and he used to laugh at a lot of things. He had a good sense of humour at times.”•Rob Cox/Action PhotographicsThe first time I heard of Jacques Kallis was when Western Province went on a pre-season tour to Australia. He scored a big hundred or 200. That was the first time there was talk of the ability he had and the fact that he could be a man for the future. Then I played against him a couple of times and went on the Under-23 trip to Sri Lanka, where I got to know him.Being a fellow allrounder and being of the same age, we gelled with each other and spent a lot of time together. From that moment, you knew Jacques was a class player. He didn’t take to Test cricket as quickly as he could have but thank goodness the selectors stuck by him.When he first came in, Jacques was a giggly kind of person and he used to laugh at a lot of things. He had a good sense of humour at times. On that Under-23 trip, he was struggling with the heat and he came in and said, “I need some petrol for my radiator,” which probably wasn’t right. He was also one of those guys who appreciated humour like, if someone would hit a shot and it would go and hit the rubbish bin, he would say, “That was a rubbish shot.” Or you’d hit it into the tree and he would say, “That’s a tree-mendous shot.” That was his kind of humour. He enjoyed a good laugh.In the 438-game, I didn’t play because of a back spasm. When the guys came back to the change room, it was a bad environment because everyone was really quiet. It was still. There was no humour. Jacques was the last to get into the change room and he said, “Well guys, the bowlers have done their job, they’re ten runs short of what they should have got. Let’s go and get it.” And everyone burst out laughing.As he got older, Jacques became very serious about what he wanted to achieve. I can remember him having a chat with Bob Woolmer where Bob said to him, “You need to take your standards to the next level. You are averaging a certain amount, you need to go to the next level,” and he did.There was no doubt he was the backbone. He understood, when he matured, that he wanted to be more significant in his contributions. We needed to him the backbone. He did change his game as the years went on and got really good at it.He has been the catalyst for many South African batsmen. Many guys were averaging around 40 and he raised the benchmark. Look at Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, all the guys that came after set themselves new standards of what is a good average.Often Jacques used to get motivated by anger, but it was never outright anger. He used to channel that energy and used it to motivate him. Like that Sri Lanka game in the 1999 World Cup, he was angry for some reason and when we gave him the ball, he charged in and tried to bowl at the speed of light, and he did. That was what made his bowling special. He operated at 130 kph for his entire career and had the ability to go to 140 kph at times. He never shied from his duties as a Test bowler. One-day cricket, every once in a while it was like, “Do you really want me to bowl?” but in Test cricket he was fantastic. To have him as a fourth seamer, and then have a spinner in the second innings has been so vital to South Africa.Jacques has been lucky. I can think of very few injuries. He has had the odd hamstring. He has played the odd game where he has only been able to bat. I remember him having his appendix out in Pakistan in 1997. But that’s about it. He wouldn’t describe himself as a fitness freak, who ran and went to gym, but he did what he had to do and he was very successful.When T20 cricket came about, and even at the end of his one-day career, he had the ability to up the ante. There was a bit of criticism leveled at him at the beginning of his career that maybe his strike rates were too low, but he developed. Certain people can do certain skills well and others have to work at it. He was prepared to work at his game to get it to where he needed it to be.There were instances when there were certain comments passed. He would vent privately, or keep it to himself, or maybe make the odd comment to one of us. But he didn’t get vindictive about it. He would just use it as fuel to motivate himself to perform. He would be man enough to confront anyone on a certain issue but he wouldn’t make mountains out of molehills. Unless there was something that really upset him, he would just let it ride.

In the 438-game, I didn’t play because of a back spasm. When the guys came back to the change room, it was a bad environment because everyone was really quiet. It was still. There was no humour. Jacques was the last to get into the change room and he said, “Well guys, the bowlers have done their job, they’re ten runs short of what they should have got. Let’s go and get it.” And everyone burst out laughing

As international sportsmen you sift through criticism all the time. Jacques would have asked himself if it was constructive and whether he should change, or decided he was doing his job for the team. If he had any doubts, he would have probably bounced it off captains and coaches. He would have taken criticism on board, looked to adjust and try and be the best Jacques Kallis he could be.We talk about his bubble. It was his great strength. He stayed in his bubble for a long time. The best thing as a captain was to make sure he was in his bubble. Leave him in there and let him get on with it.He didn’t speak much but when he did, people listened. If Jacques was speaking, it was important. He wouldn’t come up and just give you an idea that was from left field. He would have put a lot of thought into what it should and shouldn’t be.If he is honest, he will say he was always someone who shied away from captaincy. He knew his strengths were in batting and bowling, and I didn’t think he ever wanted to take that extra responsibility of having to captain. He never had an issue about who was or wasn’t captain.A lot of people say he hasn’t got the accolades he deserved and I’ve often wondered why. The people you would be comparing him to are Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and maybe Rahul Dravid. Jacques was never a big one for the media, didn’t want to give too many opinions or go to too many press conferences. He tried to keep everything to himself and maybe that could be the reason why Lara, for example, got more recognition.Shaun Pollock: “Jacques will be missed. To replace a cricketer like him, you need two guys.”•Hamish Blair/Getty ImagesLara was flamboyant. He got two world records and that drew a lot of attention to him. Sachin, we all know, for coming in at 16 and having the reputation that he did in India meant that he got a lot of accolades. Jacques just did his business, being the backbone of our batting line-up for a long period of time.Even his bowling contributions, he would pick two or three wickets but there weren’t many performances that brought attention to him. He was always there doing his part and that’s why he always slipped under the radar. It’s also a case of maybe a prophet in your own land. We appreciated him here but maybe we didn’t give him as much attention as maybe someone like Sachin or Ricky Ponting got.Some of the pitches that we’ve had in South Africa haven’t been easy. Jacques made it look easy and managed to get big runs. I know that if I had played for India on some of those surfaces, I wouldn’t have had the average and career I had with the ball. So I’m sure if Jacques had played on some flatter wickets, maybe he would have had a better record. But you’ll never be able to say, and maybe he wouldn’t have got as many wickets.Jacques would have been thinking a lot about when to retire. You could see in the UAE, in the last Test match – he was always quite relaxed and reserved at the best times – but you did get the feeling that something was playing on his mind. Credit to him. I think the time to go is when you’re on top. You don’t want people to start talking about, is it time or isn’t it time?He also wouldn’t want to let anyone down. His mother passed away at a very early age so it was his dad and his sister. His dad made a lot of sacrifices for him and he supported him throughout his career. When he gets hundreds, he always acknowledges his dad. Jacques always came across to me as a very loyal person, whether it was to sponsors or to friends. He always respected people for the value they added to his life.Jacques will be missed. To replace a cricketer like him, you need two guys. You talk about a true allrounder as being a guy who can hold his place as a batsman alone or as a bowler alone. Jacques could do that. From a team perspective, he was wonderful to have around. You always knew what you were going to get, he never caused a stir or fuss in the change room.

I’m just happy he announced it before this Test match. Jacques is the kind of character who easily could have said after this Test, “That’s it, I’m done, I don’t want the fuss of what goes on.” I’m glad he is going to get some fuss because his efforts deserve it. I’m glad he has given people the opportunity to say thank you.

If he wanted to play in the next Test, you’d pick him. In fact, you’d pick him for another year or two. I think the timing for him is right. He realises the body isn’t capable of doing what he wants to do and I’m just happy he announced it before this Test match. Jacques is the kind of character who easily could have said after this Test, “That’s it, I’m done, I don’t want the fuss of what goes on.” I’m glad he is going to get some fuss because his efforts deserve it. I’m glad he has given people the opportunity to say thank you.Going forward, the key for the team is going to be balance. If you take Jacques out of this line-up, do you shift the batting order up and slide in someone like [Ryan] McLaren at No.7? Then you’ve got a bowling option plus some runs, and you’ve got [Robin] Peterson and [Vernon] Philander to contribute. We need to come up with a plan of how we can be successful without Jacques.Jacques is one of those guys who you may get in for a short period of time as a consultant. I’m sure he would love to help out guys with some of his ideas. Some of his thinking might be above what us mortals are used to implementing. Even when you used to hear him talk about his technique, you’d think, “I’ve never thought about it that deeply.” A man who has played as much cricket as he has would have some great ideas about how people can improve.He will move out of cricket quite easily. He is going to spend plenty of time on the golf course. He has always been a man who has enjoyed the luxuries of home and family and friends. Whatever he decides to do after that, he will do well. Jacques will find something to sink his teeth into.

Stats highlights from the thriller between Pakistan and India at Mirpur, Dhaka

Shiva Jayaraman02-Mar-2014 The margin of victory in this match was the second-closest, by wickets remaining, in matches involving Pakistan and India. The famous Sharjah match in which Javed Miandad hit a six off the last ball is the closest between the two teams. Click here for ODIs with the slimmest margin of wins in terms of wickets remaining. Before this match Pakistan had lost the last five ODIs in which they were required to chase 240 or more. Since 2011, this is only the fourth time that Pakistan have successfully chased 240 or more in an ODI from 17 attempts. Mohammad Hafeez won the 14th Man-of-the-Match award of his career and his fifth since 2013. Only Virat Kohli has won more such awards in ODIs since 2013. Shahid Afridi sealed the match for Pakistan with two sixes in the last over off R Ashwin. The six he hit to win this match was his 50th against India in ODIs. He is the only player to hit 50 or more sixes against two oppositions in ODIs. His 63 sixes against Sri Lanka are the highest by a batsman against any opposition. Sanath Jayasuriya, with 53 sixes against Pakistan, is the only other batsman in ODIs with fifty or more sixes against an opposition. Hafeez made an all-round contribution in Pakistan’s win in this match. Apart from scoring 75 runs, he took two wickets and also held two catches. This was just the sixth instance of a Pakistan player hitting fifty-plus runs, taking two or more wickets and effecting two or more fielding dismissals in ODIs. The last such instance was by Shoaib Malik against Zimbabwe in Faisalabad in 2008. Hafeez and Shoaib Maqsood added 87 runs for the fifth wicket for Pakistan after they had lost three quick wickets to slump to 117 for 4. This partnership equalled the seventh-highest for Pakistan for the fifth wicket in successful chases against Test nations. Including this one, Pakistan’s last-four partnerships of 87 or more runs for the fifth wicket in a successful chase against a Test nation have come against India. The last such partnership for Pakistan was between Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan in Mohali in 2007. Ravindra Jadeja’s half-century in this match was his ninth in ODIs and his first in four innings against Pakistan. This was Jadeja’s 100th ODI. He has scored 1541 at 33.50 from 68 innings and has taken 116 wickets at 33.44. His fifty in this match was only the eighth by an India No. 7 against Pakistan in ODIs. Ambati Rayudu hit his second ODI fifty in this match and his first in eight innings. Rayudu has scored 243 runs at 40.50 in eight innings. Pakistan’s openers, helped by some ordinary bowling by India’s fast bowlers, added 71 runs before Sharjeel Khan was bowled by R Ashwin. Their openers haven’t had a century partnership in 37 innings. The last time Pakistan’s openers added 100 or more runs was against India in Kolkata in January 2013. Since then, in 37 innings, the openers have averaged 26.44 runs per partnership and have added fifty or more runs eight times. Kohli scored only five runs before he was caught behind off Umar Gul. In his last Asia Cup match against Pakistan Kohli had scored 183 runs off 148 balls to chase down a target of 330. Excluding that match, from eight innings, Kohli has managed to score just 83 runs at 11.86 against Pakistan in ODIs.

Stats highlights from Sri Lanka’s thrilling win against Pakistan in the first match of the Asia Cup

Shiva Jayaraman25-Feb-2014

• The 12-run defeat was the 12th consecutive time that Pakistan failed to chase a target of 250 or more. The last time they chased such a target was against New Zealand in Napier in 2011.
• Lasith Malinga’s five-wicket haul was his sixth in ODIs and his second against Pakistan. This haul was his first five-for in 61 ODI innings – the last time he took a five-for was against South Africa in Paarl in January 2012.
• Bilawal Bhatti was Malinga’s 250th ODI wicket. He is the fourth Sri Lanka bowler to get to this landmark and at 163 ODIs, he’s the fastest, beating Muttiah Muralitharan who took 174 ODIs. Click here for a list of bowlers fastest to 250 ODI wickets.
• Lahiru Thirimanne’s 102 was his second ODI century. His first hundred was against Australia in a victory at Adelaide Oval. In 18 innings since then, Thirimanne had scored 333 runs at 20.81.
• Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara added 161 runs for the second wicket – Sri Lanka’s highest partnership for that wicket against Pakistan. The previous highest was a 157-run partnership between Asanka Gurusinha and Athula Samarasekera in Multan in 1991-92. Overall, it was only the 13th time that a pair added 150 or more for the second wicket for Sri Lanka.
• Mohammad Hafeez is usually an economical bowler in ODIs: his economy of 4.08 is the fifth best among bowlers to have bowled at least 500 overs since 2004. But Sri Lanka’s batsmen managed to milk him for runs in this match, scoring 54 runs off his nine overs. This is only the fifth time that Hafeez has gone for six run an over out of 65 innings in which he has bowled nine or more overs. The last such innings was in 2011, against New Zealand at the Eden Park.
• Umar Akmal’s 74 was his 18th fifty in ODIs and his seventh fifty-plus score against Sri Lanka in 19 innings. Akmal has scored 690 runs against Sri Lanka at 53.07. With his mercurial batting, he has left the job unfinished often for Pakistan in chases. Their chase today followed a familiar script – of Akmal’s dismissal triggering a collapse from a comfortable position. Akmal has now hit eight fifty-plus scores in chases, five of which have come in defeats.
• Misbah-ul-Haq’s fifty was the 36th of his ODI career, of which 16 have come since 2013, in 33 innings. No other batsman has more fifty-plus scores than Misbah during this period. Misbah has nine fifties against Sri Lanka, which equals his highest against any team in ODIs.
• The partnership between Misbah and Akmal was Pakistan’s tenth century partnership for the fifth wicket in chases. The last time Pakistan added 100 or more runs for the fifth wicket in a chase was against India, in Mohali in 2007.

The Plays of the day of the ODI between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka

Mohammad Isam and Karthik Krishnaswamy03-Mar-2014 Six and out
Mohammad Shahzad is capable of some spectacular hitting. He once struck an unbeaten 72-ball 100 as Afghanistan chased down 225 in 31 overs against Scotland. He showed a glimpse of that ability when he waltzed down the track to Suranga Lakmal and flayed him for a flat six over cover. Next ball, however, he lost his head. He came down the track again, gave himself room again, and lost his stumps as he slogged across the line.The googly
The carrom ball may be Ajantha Mendis’ most talked-about delivery, but some of his most aesthetically pleasing dismissals over the years have been the result of a far more commonplace sort of deception. The googly, often arriving at a slower pace and following a loopier trajectory than most of his deliveries, caused VVS Laxman particular torment during India’s 2008 tour of Sri Lanka. Against Afghanistan’s lower order, Mendis struck twice with the wrong ‘un. Hamza Hotak was lbw playing down the wrong line, Dawlat Zadran was bowled through the gate.The yes-no-sorry
Kumar Sangakkara was looking in the sort of touch that Bangladeshi fans have been seeing for a long time, particularly this season. He was timing the ball well, and battling at times as the run-rate remained steady. But he got out in the 38th over when he tried to take a single but Angelo Mathews first called for the single and turned him down. The throw from Nabi had to be relayed to the stumps, completed superbly by Dawlat Zadran.The surprise
The Sri Lanka openers Kusal Perera and Lahiru Thirimanne would have expected the two Zadrans, Shapoor and Dawlat, to tear into them early on but they had to tackle Najibullah Zadran instead. It was captain Mohammad Nabi’s ploy to surprise the two left-handers. There was pace from one end, but at the other it was Najibullah, a part-time offspinner who was having his first bowl in international cricket. He did tidily to give only nine runs in three overs.The repeat dose
Shapoor Zadran uprooted Lahiru Thirimanne’s middle-stump in the sixth over. The 133kph delivery slanted into the left-hander and kept the angle as it found the gap between Thirimanne’s bat and pad. It was similar to how Shamsur Rahman was cleaned up by the same bowler in Afghanistan’s previous game. The similarity was the loose stroke played by both batsmen, and the gleeful celebrations from Shapoor. This time, it was the flying kiss.

Pakistan offspinner Saeed Ajmal talks about how he learnt to bowl to the doosra, being robbed of Tendulkar’s wicket in Mohali, and his career highs and lows

Interview by Umar Farooq30-May-2014Everyone in Pakistan either wants to be a fast bowler or a batsman. How did you end up a spinner?
I was a fast bowler until 15. I used to play mostly with a tennis ball covered in vinyl electrical tape. My school captain Maqsood Ahmed encouraged me to try offspin. He felt I might be more successful as a spinner. He probably noticed that my height and build weren’t good for fast bowling. It was a breakthrough. So here I am.What does cricket mean to you?
Cricket is a tough game. I would say 90% of the time it makes you cry, but the 10% that forms the good parts is truly worth it. The key to success, I think, is to bear the bad days with a smile. If you can do that, the good days become more and more frequent.You made a relatively late entry into international cricket, playing your first Test when nearly 32. How come?
I cannot tell why I took so long and who and what were the forces that delayed my entry into international cricket. I’d rather focus on my present and future rather than cursing my past. God has given me this personal quality of shrugging off failure quickly and not taking disappointments to heart. That’s just the way I am and this approach has helped me greatly in life. I simply refuse to be disappointed.How did you master the doosra?
I learned to bowl the doosra by watching video footage of Saqlain Mushtaq’s bowling during my days in England playing league cricket. I never got any direct tips from him but I closely studied him bowling the doosra on video.But way before that, Aqeel Ahmed, who played for Faisalabad, could bowl a pretty good one. Variation is a key weapon for any spinner. I used to watch Aqeel take wicket after wicket with his doosra and I wanted to do the same. I felt confident that if he can do it I could too.Is it still a problem for you to bowl to left-handers?
During the early phase of my career it was. It had almost become a mental block. Left-handers are supposed to be fearful of offspinners, but I could see that I wasn’t making them afraid. It became very frustrating for me and I knew I had to do something about it. I thought to myself, I have this ball in my hand, that’s my biggest weapon; why am I not able to use this weapon effectively against left-handers? I worked hard at the problem, going to the nets and bowling at left-handed batsmen for long periods. Allah was kind and I was able to work out my deficiencies. Over the last year and a half to two years, it has ceased to be a problem. I came at the problem with a positive mental attitude. I fine-tuned my doosra for left-hand batsmen. Do you fear that overusing the doosra might make you predictable?
I don’t think I overuse it. When I look at the left-handers I’ve dismissed over the last two years, 70% have fallen to the doosra. I use it because it works. To me, that’s effective use, not overuse. If I find that a batsman is uncomfortable against the doosra, I’ll bowl exactly that to him, even if I end up bowling ten doosras in a row.We heard you were offered the Pakistan captaincy.
I don’t want to put myself forward for captaincy. I think I am better as a team player. I do think about being captain of Pakistan, but I am reluctant too. Captaincy in Pakistan is not easy. The captain ends up being blamed for anything that goes wrong. Just look at Mohammad Hafeez. He resigned after our exit from this year’s World T20. Why? It’s because all the blame was being dumped on him. I have been approached for captaincy but I declined. I want to be relaxed about my cricket. God has blessed me with a sunny disposition and I want to keep it that way.Misbah-ul-Haq has been outstanding in this role. In fact, when you consider the circumstances in which he has performed his job, I would say his services as captain are greater than even Imran Khan’s. Yet he doesn’t always receive his due. He’s been a tremendous leader during an extremely difficult time for Pakistan and he’s been our leading run getter. Yet each time we lose a match, people forget about his magnificent contributions. They start demanding that he be dropped. I really fail to understand this. Even as a batsman, people complain he’s too slow, that he blocks a lot, does a lot of . This is not fair to Misbah. He is a watchful batsman and becomes extra-watchful if the team is losing wickets from the other end, which often happens with us. His approach is appropriate and serves the interests of the team. I can tell you as a bowler that it pleases me greatly to see Misbah standing at the crease. If he is batting, it gives me heart that I will have runs to bowl at.

“As a bowler it pleases me greatly to see Misbah standing at the crease. If he is batting, it gives me heart that I will have runs to bowl at”

Don’t you think Misbah is over-reliant on you and that this keeps you under pressure all the time?
I agree that they rely heavily on me. This is a responsibility I accept with a sense of honour and humility. I am there to be used as and when my captain needs. I am never sure which overs I’m going to bowl, when I’m going to get called upon. I remain alert all the time, ready to serve. All I know is that whenever my captain calls on me, I have to give it everything. There was a time when I used to feel anxious that I could get called upon unpredictably, but I no longer feel any pressure about it.Cricket is a team game, so you obviously can’t get five or ten wickets all the time. Others too have to respond to contribute.
Whether it’s the first over or the last, whether the boundary is short or long, whether the batsman is new or well-set, I always answer the call of my captain. I would never say, hey, that’s a short boundary over there, I don’t want to bowl from this end. That’s just not me. I have a sense of duty about it. Whenever I’m called upon, my answer always is, come on, give me the ball.You can never relax in cricket. You have to keep working at the game all the time, keep trying and learning new things. If you allow yourself to relax, you’ll be swept away. It’s an unpredictable game. You can never be sure of what’s going to happen next. It can also be a cruel game. It can give you a lot of heartache.You have never played Test cricket in your country. How does that feel?
It is perhaps the greatest misfortune of my career that I have been forced to play nearly all my international matches outside Pakistan. I have played over 200 international matches by now and only three have been in Pakistan. None of my 33 Tests has been in Pakistan.I grew up watching many Tests at Iqbal Stadium, in my home town of Faisalabad, and used to dream of one day playing there myself. That has yet to happen. I can’t say if it ever will. I am extremely keen to play in front of my own people. Few things would give me greater joy. I keep praying for the quick return of international cricket to Pakistan. If it happens after my retirement, it will leave me very sad indeed. I do agree that our team has nicely managed to adopt the UAE as a second home, but my heart still aches with the desire to play at home. I want to see the intensity of support I am able to attract here. That is something I would like to experience. We have played our so-called home matches in a number of locations, including the UAE, England, Sri Lanka, and even New Zealand. These locations have all been welcoming and provided top-notch facilities, but they aren’t home. It’s different when I come to Pakistan. Just breathing the air here makes me feel better.As one of the world’s top spinners, do you miss playing in the IPL?
No doubt it would be better for us if we could be included in the IPL. But the loss is only financial. We’re all playing a good deal of cricket as it is, so we’re not losing out on that count. But yes, Pakistani players fully deserve to be included in the IPL. I can understand why they might want to exclude us from matches inside India, but the IPL has now been exported to South Africa and the UAE. There should be no hesitation in including us when the games are being played outside India. I would even ask the IPL organisers to host matches in Pakistan. Why not? It would be good for the fans and our players would benefit. It will reveal the close bond and mutual affection that exists between Indians and Pakistanis. That is what should be allowed to truly define the relationship between our countries.There has lately been some talk about reviving bilateral series between India and Pakistan. I would love to see that. I dearly hope it happens.You predicted you’d take a ten-wicket haul in Cape Town last year before the start of the match. How did you feel it coming?
The first thing I do whenever I arrive at any ground is to go look at the pitch. At the start of the Cape Town Test, a commentator and a TV cameraman were standing there doing a pitch report. When I saw the surface I couldn’t help rubbing my hands in glee. The camera managed to get a shot of me rubbing my hands together. It appeared to be a pitch tailor-made for me. I can’t explain it in words and I can’t tell you what I saw in that pitch that made me feel this way, but I sensed I would be taking wickets.It was just this realisation that arose from somewhere deep inside. It just happens that way sometimes in cricket. If you’re a batsman, there are days when you’ll play your first scoring shot and right away you can sense you’ll be making a hundred today. That’s the kind of feeling that Cape Town pitch gave me. I took ten wickets in that game, so it proved correct.Did you lose faith in technology in cricket after Sachin Tendulkar was not given out off your bowling in the 2011 World Cup?
I was left dumbfounded when Hawk-Eye gave Tendulkar not out in the semi-final in Mohali. As I understand it, the way the system was set up back then, it was controlled by a producer who could influence the images. Now it has been improved and the technical people are required to present all the available angles to the third umpire without editing.I am telling you: Sachin was 100% out. He was lbw. As far as I am concerned, it did not reflect the truth of the event. In fact, this is not just my view, it is what the entire cricket world thinks. But we move on and so does the technology. I believe it is evolving and learning from its mistakes. I am fine with it.What encouraged you to start a cricket academy in Faisalabad?
Pakistan has immense cricketing talent but we lack proper facilities. This is where the PCB should place its energies and focus. My effort to establish a properly equipped and organised cricket academy is also motivated by this concern. I am eager to get it done while I am still active internationally. I know nobody will give me the time of day after I retire. So time is short and I need to be efficient and take advantage of the opportunity. The Faisalabad authorities and the leadership of the Agricultural University have been most helpful. I am extremely grateful to them.”If I find that a batsman is uncomfortable against the doosra, I’ll bowl exactly that to him, even if I end up bowling ten doosras in a row”•AFPThe country used to be known for its fast bowlers but your success might change that.
I would agree that the quality of seam bowlers from Pakistan has declined somewhat. I think the reason is that we have started making green and bowler-friendly wickets in domestic matches. In the old days, the wickets were dead and bowlers had to try hard to succeed. They were forced to learn tricks and skills. After all this toil they would come into the international arena and find helpful wickets and they would be able to dominate easily. Now the situation is reversed. Our bowlers are being raised on seaming surfaces. They perform adequately on green pitches, but if they come across a batting wicket they are unable to adjust and end up getting badly punished. I would advise the PCB to favour batting surfaces in our domestic set-up. It will certainly be good for the bowlers – both spinners and seamers – and I am sure it will produce a few great batsmen too.What have been the highs and lows of your career so far?
The best moment of my career, I will say, is the 3-0 Test whitewash over England in the UAE in early 2012.There have, of course, been a number of bad moments too. Losing last year’s Cape Town Test against South Africa, despite my ten wickets, was a terrible blow. There is the ODI against South Africa in Sharjah last year, where I took four wickets and we had a modest target to chase, but we had an awful collapse, losing the last six batsmen for only 16 or 17.And of course, there is the last over I bowled to Michael Hussey in the 2010 World T20 semi-final.But I would say the absolute worst match of my career was a Test against West Indies in the summer of 2011. I took 11 wickets in that game. Despite conceding a first-innings lead, we had a reasonably modest fourth-innings target and we still lost. That hurt deeply. It still hurts when I think about it. I had this bagful of wickets but it gave me no real sense of achievement.How do you expect Pakistan to do in the 2015 World Cup?
The next World Cup remains less than a year away. I have a feeling its location in Australia and New Zealand is going to suit us. My prediction is we are going to do well. Our batsmen have a flair for playing shots on bouncy wickets. They love to cut, for example. The Akmal brothers Umar and Kamran, opener Ahmad Shehzad, even Hafeez, and the newcomer Sohaib Maqsood – they are all happy on bouncy tracks. They all love it when the ball comes quickly onto the bat.

A return to the international scene as a coach has allowed Paul Collingwood to see first hand how the game has developed in the few years since he played

George Dobell in Barbados08-Mar-2014It is one of the ironies of England cricket at present that, in attempting to instil a new confidence and exuberance into the team, the management have decided to dispense with the most confident and exuberant player.Now is not the time to get into the rights and wrongs of the sacking of Kevin Pietersen. Lines have been drawn; conclusions reached. Further debate is, like a radio phone-in on capital punishment, superfluous. No-one is going to change their mind at this stage.But what has become apparent over the course of this brief tour is that a new spirit is emerging within this England squad. Without not just Pietersen, but other battle-weary and slightly cynical regular squad members, a sense of enjoyment and wonder has crept back into the set-up. Many of this T20 squad are young men still thrilled with all the travel, all the cricket and all the new experiences. It feels like a fresh start.That is all well and good. But just how deep that recovery is we may discover over the coming weeks. Ultimately this team’s mood will be goverened by its success on the pitch and, after an encouraging start to their new age in Antigua, the competition will become that much harder in Barbados where they face a West Indies team considerably strengthened by the return of Chris Gayle.In the context of their grim winter and the early stages of the rebuilding job with which they are faced, England’s ambitions for the next few weeks should be modest. To win this series and progress to the semi-finals of the World T20 should be considered a considerable success. The more realistic goal is to see improvement: to witness the continued development of players such as Jos Buttler and Alex Hales and see better death bowling. Anyone expecting more has not been watching.The management of expectations has been a reiterated theme of England briefings of late. When Andy Flower said in Sydney that things may get worse before they got better, this is what he meant. The likes of Ben Stokes and, just below the surface, the Overton twins, are prodigiously talented but they are raw and there will be days they make mistakes. Ashley Giles and co. are at the start of a long-term process.But, come triumph or disaster, the England management are also keen to encourage within the new team the retention of positivity and exuberance. They do not want safety-first cricket; they do not want a team that plays the averages or seeks respectability. They know that, to win major T20 events, aggression is required.Certainly that was the message of Paul Collingwood the day before the start of the T20 series against West Indies at the Kensington Oval. Collingwood, captain when England won the World T20 here in 2010, is back at the scene of his greatest victory with the squad as part of a seven-week deal designed to bring new energy not just to the fielding, but also the batting, planning and positivity of the squad.”When we won the World T20, our philosophy was ‘we’ve never won anything being conservative, so we may as well have a go on the other side of the line’,” Collingwood said.”I’m a big believer in straying on the more aggressive side of the line. Not vocally, or anything like that, but how you play your cricket, with a lot more intent. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but hope you come up with more wins than losses.”

I’m a big believer in straying on the more aggressive side of the line. Not vocally, or anything like that, but how you play your cricket, with a lot more intent. You’ll make mistakes along the way, but hope you come up with more wins than lossesPaul Collingwood on his ‘brand’ of cricket

Losses are inevitable, though. So part of Collingwood and the other coach’s roles is to ensure that, whatever happens over the next few weeks, England continue to play attacking cricket.”I sensed when I first came in a bit of a lack of confidence from what’s happened over the winter,” Collingwood said. “But Graham Thorpe has worked fantastically well with the batsmen, giving the guys a simple plan and backing their ability. They bounced back well from being one-down in Antigua and the way that Joe Root and Jos Buttler played was exceptional. Michael Lumb and Moeen Ali can take a lot of confidence from the way they’ve played, too. It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around.”The Barbados pitch, though nowhere near as quick as the surface on which England won the World T20 in 2010, will bear little comparison to those expected in Bangladesh. Spin is expected to play far less a role here than it did in Antigua or will in Bangladesh, with the threat of Gayle, in particular, likely to dissuade England from the early introduction of a spinner.As a consequence, it is likely that the balance of the England team here will provide no more than a rough pointer to the one expected to play in Bangladesh. So, rather than allowing the likely Bangladesh XI more match practice, England will aim to win these games and hope that the resulting confidence is more beneficial than”It’s going to be difficult to find a strategy that will work here in Barbados and also would work in Bangladesh,” Collingwood agreed. “Looking at the pitch here, spin is one of the things that could be hit a long way. Personally I think confidence is a key thing going into a World T20. If you can go in with a few wins under your belt, that is more crucial than going in with a settled team.”Nor will Collingwood be seeking to replicate the formula that proved successful in 2010. He accepts that the T20 game has evolved and, having recently returned from a coaching assignment with Scotland that saw them qualify for the 2015 World Cup, is admirably candid about his own limitations as a player.”The game has changed a lot in those four years since we won,” he said. “You would think it has got the same principles and the same strategies but they wouldn’t work in this game. The scores that people are getting these days are a lot higher.”Back then we went on a nine-game unbeaten run and the top score was 149 against us. That doesn’t happen these days. The game has changed massively – for the better – and we have to come up with new strategies to overcome these powerful batsmen. It’s no longer a nudge-and-nurdler kind of game.”A lot of it about power and trying to hit the ball 360 degrees. For the bowlers, it’s about execution: you’ve got to come up with different things, whether it be Jade Dernbach with his slower balls or whatever.”There is no chance, absolutely no chance, that I would get into this England side. I wouldn’t get in the Scotland team now. I told them that.”The game’s moved on at a rapid rate. Guys for Scotland were hitting it 100 metres and Afghanistan lost five new balls in the first six overs of a Twenty20 in Sharjah. They went out of the stadium. I’ve never hit a ball out of the stadium.”Collingwood insists he has no intention of taking on a more permanent coaching position within the next six months. He is about to enter what is almost certain to be his final season for Durham and, knowing the club has had to cut its squad for financial reasons, is loathe to leave them in the lurch. As he puts it: “Durham are down to the bare bones in terms of personnel, so to lose a captain would be a bit harsh at the last second. I’m determined to play for Durham this summer.”A future in coaching appears assured, though. And while there might be a certain irony in Giles and Collingwood advocating an attacking approach that was the antitheses of their own playing careers, it would surely take a gruesome set of results over the next few weeks to see the former denied the chance to build a new England and the latter appointed as one of his deputies.

Posterity hasn’t been kind to this master of Pakistani batsmanship, a jolly green giant capable of remarkable shamanism with willow in hand

Ali Umair Chaudhry28-Jul-2014The sights and sounds from the two series that took place between Pakistan and India in 2005-2006 are still vivid in my memory. This regeneration of cricketing ties had led to considerable excitement in both countries and around many cricketing circles across world. Pakistan’s captain Inzamam-ul-Haq had been gaining a fair deal of press coverage in Pakistan for his divinely inspired approach to cricket training and management. And as many Indian bowlers were to discover over the span of these two tours, there was definitely something holy about Inzy in full flow.”I reckon he’s on a level just below Sachin and Lara, and just above everyone els”, spoke Australian commentator Ian Chappell of the burly saint from Multan. ‘The rest’ he was so casually referring to included glorified names such as Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid. There was not much disagreement among commentators about Inzamam’s place on the pantheon during that particular season. Dean Jones, also on the panel, would signal Inzamam’s arrival to the crease with what could be confused for George Burn’s cue at the Academy Awards, ‘And the great man makes his way onto the middle.’ The rhetoric would make the departing Salman Butt’s inning seem like a thiry-second energizer bunny ad. Robin Jackman, the English commentator, was often left in awe by Inzamam’s deft touches: ‘Oh Inzy, Inzy, Inzy, what a special player he is’, he would speak as if Paris Hilton had been asked about her latest squeeze by an interviewer.The Indian side consisted of the Usual Suspects – some of the giants of the modern day game: Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. Pakistan had Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. But it seemed to be Inzamam who mattered the most. Sanjay Manjrekar, always full of praise for Inzamam, would go on to state his importance various times while covering the two series. He insisted that Inzamam had to be in top five, if not the top three batsmen in the game of that generation.Times have changed and so have opinions. There have been virtually no echoes of Inzamam’s exploits after his retirement. Rarely mentioned as one of the top batsmen of the 90s and early 2000s, and entirely overlooked in the lists of batting greats, posterity has not been too kind to Inzy. He does have a stain or two on his resume. Although his average managed to swell above 52 in the latter stages of his career, it ultimately slipped to just under 50. This excludes him from the 50s club. Additionally, although his record against Australia and South Africa includes some remarkable innings, his overall statistical performance against these sides was generally disappointing for a player of his calibre.In his time, Inzamam was Pakistani batsman, a pedestal he later vacated for Misbah-ul-Haq•AFPWithin Inzamam were the last few glimpses of a dying, waning brand of cricket. With a loathing for exercise and a portly frame, he would seem like a man from another generation; playing exclusively through natural ability rather than any athletic marksmanship. He was one of the game’s greatest players of the hook, and authored a back foot game that rivaled the best. Imran Khan famously rated Inzamam as the second best player of fast bowling he had ever seen – after only Viv Richards. It was a point Wasim Akram ratified in one of his earlier commentary stints. When Waqar Younis and he were at their peak, and used to steam in full throttle in the nets, Inzy used to play them as if they were bowling medium pace.Inzamam’s cricketing achievements rival the best of his generation. Seventeen of his 25 Test 100s came in victories – a rate bettered only by the peerless Don Bradman. There was the heroic match-winning knock in the World Cup semifinal which signalled his arrival. And the career-resurrecting thriller in Multan. And then there was his reputation as Pakistani batsman, a pedestal he later vacated for Misbah-ul-Haq. Little statistical work has been done on how many more runs he may have managed if he had taken his running between the wickets more seriously. Perhaps, just perhaps his name would have been uttered in the same breath as a Lara or a Tendulkar?Questions of his legacy as an all-time great batsman aside, he remains one of the true great characters in the game’s history. In between the wickets, he was a comedy of errors waiting to happen, and yet – at the same time, a jolly green giant capable of remarkable shamanism with willow in hand. There are indeed so many sides to the Inzamam-ul-Haq saga. How can we forget a fuming Inzamam threatening to beat up a helpless fan with a bat in his hand? Or Inzamam the Test match captain who became the first in history to walk his team off the field?But what makes these incidents special was, in the end, the pure ability of the man. It was his genius that eventually rises above numbers and achievements. Take away his pedestrian running between the wickets and there were very few who could match him from the time the ball left the bowler’s hand to when it met the full blade of the bat. No other batsman bewildered commentators more with his natural ability. “So much time, Oh my. He has so much time on his hands.” – this was the mantra-of-choice for most commentators, simply by observation rather than on reputation. In his embodiment lay the sight of a man gifted by the heavens rather than by hard work or a particular methodology. Yet, at the same time, he was not by any means unorthodox. He was a genuine Test match batsman with a practical technique.Many who follow Pakistan cricket will testify that there were few more sights in the game that matched the excitement of a burly Inzamam pouncing down the track to deposit a spinner into the parking lot – only to stumble onto the stumps the next ball. Only Inzy. There is a fair deal to be taken into account when it comes to judging the true place of Inzamam within the annals of cricket’s history. But for the cricket analysts and fans who have spent a fair deal of time watching Pakistani cricket, a few words will most surely resonate from their hearts: “Inzy, you beauty”.If you have a submission for Inbox, send it to us here, with “Inbox” in the subject line

Virat Kohli’s is a game without any other glaring weakness but England have clearly tried to play on the attacking batsman’s ego a bit but starving him outside off stump

Sidharth Monga at the Ageas Bowl29-Jul-2014Trent Bridge
Just after lunch on day one, James Anderson and Stuart Broad bowl eight deliveries at Virat Kohli. Seven of them are outside off, one is short enough to be left alone. The eighth one of those is short of a length and wide, albeit from wide on the crease with the angle making Kohli play. Kohli plays, pushing away from the body, and his bat nudges it through for a catch to slip.Ageas Bowl
Kohli has had a longer innings than at Trent Bridge. Fifty-three of the 75 balls he faces are pitched on a length or short of it, and arrive at him either outside off or really wide outside off. He has left alone 22 of those. The second ball of the 47th over is short of a length and wide, and he goes after it. The edge flies high to first slip and is not held. Anderson bowls the next over. Five balls outside off, three defended, two left alone. The sixth ball is short of a length and wide, Kohli can easily leave it, but he goes feeling for it, and he edges it through. This is the shot batsmen hate the most: a meek push to a ball that can be left alone; even if you middle it, you are not going to get anything.Auckland ODI, January 2014
Hamish Bennett bowls two maidens to Kohli comprised almost exclusively of quick short-of-a-length balls that are at the seventh stump or wider. This is an ODI and the asking rate is big, but you can see Kohli is itching to feel the ball on the bat, and eventually nicks off.Durban, December 2013
Once again, playing at a shortish ball outside off, Kohli is given out caught at the wicket. He is unfortunate, he hasn’t hit this one, but he is pushing at a ball that can be left alone both on line and length.A few similar dismissals might not yet point to a major weakness, but bowlers are increasingly bowling well outside off to Kohli. Dry up the runs, ask Kohli to play out of his comfort zone, on and around off where he cover-drives as well as anyone, and go away from the body if he wants those runs he so itches to get.Kohli is an aggressive batsman, he loves to get early into an innings and set the tempo. His best innings in Test cricket have been those where he has restrained himself to leave and leave and leave until the bowlers bowl at him. At the Wanderers late last year, when Kohli scored a superlative hundred with the ball seaming around on day one, he didn’t play at 16 of the first 28 deliveries he faced. He got himself in, got some runs before lunch, and then when the afternoon session began, he offered no shot to 11 of the first 17 he faced.This is not as much a technical flaw as it is a habit, in that it is easier to correct than, say, being poor against the short ball. It is unique, too, in that batsmen usually are vulnerable when the ball is just outside off, and not wide of it. And Kohli’s is a game without any other glaring weakness. England have clearly tried to play on the attacking batsman’s ego a bit. If you bowl at the stumps, he gets solidly behind them, begins to feel confident feeling the ball on the bat and then drives gorgeously. In this series, in five innings, Kohli has managed only 11 runs through that cover-drive of his. The idea has been to not get too close to him either on length or line.More than half the balls Kohli has faced in the series have been on a length or just short of it, and outside off or well wide of it. “Still two Tests to go. Not sure I can discuss that,” Stuart Broad said when asked if they have been bowling wider at Kohli than they would other batsmen. “Let’s just say he is pretty strong off his legs so you don’t want to bowl too tight to the stumps. You have seen in one-day cricket how successful he is when bowlers bowl tight lines. We have worked – when the ball has not been swinging or the slightly flatter wickets – to just try to dot him up, try to not let him score. He left pretty well today. Apart from the one that he poked at. He will be frustrated with himself. We need to keep our disciplines with him.”Kohli has scored just 73 over these five innings, and will be under pressure after he came to England as the best batsman in the Indian line-up. Kohli has been working hard. Two days before the Test began he was in the nets before the rest of the team arrived. What he will be annoyed with is that he has fallen twice to a tame poke well outside off. The one he got at Lord’s, with Anderson angling in towards off and then having it move away from just outside it, was a good delivery. That dismissal shouldn’t concern him. This one should. Trent Bridge should. Watch out for those wide ones when he comes in to bat next.3:42

Chappell: Kohli should play more horizontal-bat shots

Before today, very few would have known the name Marnus Labuschagne, but his catching exploits at the Gabba have boosted his profile

Brydon Coverdale at the Gabba18-Dec-2014Just over two weeks ago, Marnus Labuschagne posted a video on Instagram of him in a kitchen, diving forward with his right hand to catch a corncob that had just been chopped by fellow Queensland cricketer James Bazley. “Short-leg catching has never been this much fun,” he posted.On day two at the Gabba, Labuschagne put those skills to good use while fielding as a substitute for Australia in the Test against India. Asked to go under the helmet while Nathan Lyon was operating, Labuschagne reacted quickly to an inside edge of the bat of Varun Aaron, diving forward onto the pitch to pouch the catch with his right hand.It has been an enjoyable summer so far for Labuschagne, a 20-year-old opening batsman who scored 83 on his Sheffield Shield debut for Queensland at Adelaide Oval and has played every match for the Bulls since. Born in Klerksdorp in South Africa, Labuschagne moved with his family to Australia as a child.”I spoke Afrikaans in South Africa — I barely spoke any English when I arrived here and it was a big change,” Labuschagne told the in October. “Adapting at school was interesting but a good experience and I wouldn’t trade it.”I remember the teacher saying ‘get your rubbers and rulers out’ and I had no idea what rubbers and rulers were. First day at school that is not what you want.”Despite his South African origins, the Australians were more than happy to claim Labuschagne as one of their own after his effort at the Gabba.