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Since India’s line-up comes with a reputation for piling it on, South Africa want everyone firing, and Faf du Plessis is the batsman who needs igniting

Firdose Moonda in Melbourne20-Feb-2015A South African, an Australian and a cricket pitch. You think you know where this is going, right? Wrong.The protagonists were eye to eye but only for as long as it took for Michael Hussey to adjust the grill of Faf du Plessis’ helmet. The South African No. 3 may not let many Australians get that close to his face but Hussey is different.For much of the tail end of a lengthy training session – South Africa’s third in as many days – Hussey gave du Plessis throwdowns. “Start on a good length and then we can do a bit more,” du Plessis instructed. After a few deliveries, Hussey noticed something. He stopped delivering the ball, approached du Plessis, rearranged the helmet and then seemed to explain something about du Plessis’ head falling away as he stepped into his stroke.Those little things are what Hussey is there for as South Africa prepare for a crunch clash with India where they expect the battle lines to be drawn on batting prowess. Since India’s line-up comes with a reputation for piling it on, South Africa want everyone firing and du Plessis is the batsman who needs igniting.He last scored a century 13 innings ago, in the triangular tournament in Zimbabwe and although he has managed three half-centuries since then, he had a particularly poor tour of Australia last November. He scored just 97 runs across the five matches and was out to short balls three times, a delivery which rose off a length once and a slower ball delivered by Pat Cummins in the final game. His struggles seem to be in shot selection and that was what Hussey appeared to be assisting him with.But there would have been other things Hussey would have been talking to du Plessis about too. The Australian media have dubbed Hussey South Africa’s “anti-choking” coach, whose calm demeanour and patience they hope will rub off on a team which has proved pliable under pressure in the past. Du Plessis is one of the men who have cracked before, notably at the 2011 World Cup where he was involved in the on-filed scuffle and run-out which saw South Africa’s quarter-final chase unravel and even though he has matured much since then, he has not been tested under similar heat.If anyone has the advice which will cool him down, it will be Hussey. The duo are IPL team-mates whose relationship developed from competition for the same spot and has blossomed into a friendship celebrated with wine, appreciative tweets and now, net sessions.When Hussey was unavailable for Chennai Super Kings for the first half of the 2012 season because of international commitments, du Plessis was asked to replace him at the top of the order. He exceeded expectations and struck three fifties in 12 innings which caught the eye of even the South African selectors who saw the sense in deploying du Plessis higher up the order. It took time before the No. 3 spot become permanently available in both Tests and ODIs but in that time, du Plessis established himself, both at the IPL and as international cricketer.He made his Test debut in Adelaide and on the eve of the match, Hussey presented him with a bottle of some of his country’s best. Du Plessis may have thought he’d have to use it for drowning sorrows after Australia posted a towering 550, of which Hussey contributed a century. Instead, du Plessis drank the wine in celebration of his own maiden century and a saved Test.Later that summer, Hussey retired from Test cricket and du Plessis posted this: “Mike Hussey = Mr Cricket. Enough said.” His respect for his IPL team-mate was obvious, especially over the past three days in Melbourne.Hussey spent a lot of the first session he had with the team at St Kilda Cricket Club chatting with du Plessis and a significant part of the third working with him. Should it to translate into a big score come Sunday, South Africa will have another reason to eye a trophy come March 29. And the jibe about the South African, the Australian and the cricket pitch may be made a lot more times.

A look-back on five memorable strokes from World Cup 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2015There is nothing AB de Villiers cannot do. After going down to India, South Africa rebounded strongly, their captain leading the way with 162* off 66. On his way to the fastest 150 in ODIs, de Villiers stunned Andre Russell by running across to off and sweep-scooping one to the square leg boundary. As Dale Steyn puts it: “It’s like watching the movie. There’s Neo right there. He doesn’t understand how good he is.”•Getty ImagesIn Perth, Shapoor Zadran with his Shoaib Akhtar-inspired run-up steamed in and missed a yorker. Maxwell reversed his stance and flicked a 140kph full toss over the third-man boundary with consummate ease. He went onto smite 88 off 39 balls as Australia surged to the highest total in World Cup history.•Getty ImagesKane Williamson’s lofted six may not be as outrageous as Maxwell’s or de Villiers’, but its impact was decisive – it was the clincher in a nail-biting Trans-Tasman clash. Mitchell Starc’s fiery spell left New Zealand needing six runs with only one wicket in hand. An uber-cool Williamson, who was aware that mid-on was in the circle, targeted the short straight boundary and launched Pat Cummins for a six, sealing the deal for New Zealand.•Getty ImagesRilee Rossouw played the pick-up truck to the Rolls-Royce in de Villiers against West Indies, but his flying uppercut might have left even de Villiers envious. Rossouw reached his fifty by leaping off his feet, getting on top of the bounce and cracking Jerome Taylor over backward point.•Getty Images

As the 2015 IPL playoffs beckon, ESPNcricinfo takes a looks at what each team needs to do in order to make the final four

Bishen Jeswant14-May-20153:47

Scenarios: Chennai Super Kings assured playoff spot

With only six games left in the league stage of IPL 2015, there are still six teams who can finish in the top four, and thereby win themselves a playoff spot. The two teams out are Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils. Despite their convincing win against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI have already assured themselves of the wooden spoon even if they win their last league match against Chennai Super Kings, currently the league leaders and the only team to have guaranteed themselves of a playoff spot.Chennai Super Kings
Royal Challengers’ loss to Kings XI has ensured that Super Kings cannot finish outside the top four. Though Rajasthan Royals can achieve 16 points (equal with Super Kings), they can only have seven wins (because they were part of two washed-out matches)* which means that they cannot leapfrog Super Kings. The other four teams could have pushed Super Kings to fifth spot, but since they play three matches amongst themselves – Sunrisers Hyderabad face Royal Challengers and later Mumbai Indians, while Kolkata Knight Riders also play Mumbai Indians – Super Kings have been assured of making the playoffs.

Kolkata Knight Riders
Knight Riders, having won four of their last five matches, look good to make the playoffs. The equation for Knight Riders is simple – they need to win at least one of their next two games. In fact, even if Knight Riders lose both games, they could still qualify if other results go their way and they are tied, with a better NRR, on 15 points with Royal Challengers.Royal Challengers Bangalore
Royal Challengers have to win their last two games to make it to 17 points and get a playoff berth. If they lose both games, they are out. However, if they win one of their last two games, they could still qualify in one of two ways – (i) if they are tied on 15 points with Knight Riders (assuming other results go their way), but have a superior NRR; or (ii) at least two teams out of Sunrisers, Royals and Mumbai Indians remain on 14 points or less. If Royal Challengers beat Sunrisers, and Royals lose their remaining match, Royal Challengers will progress regardless of other results.Sunrisers Hyderabad
Sunrisers need to win at least one of their remaining two matches in order to ensure qualification. However, they could qualify even if they lose both matches, as they could be tied on 14 points with Mumbai Indians and Royals (though Royals will have fewer wins in that case). However, if Sunrisers lose both their games, and either Royals or Mumbai Indians win their remaining matches, Sunrisers will not make the playoffs.Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians need to win both their remaining games to ensure qualification. If they lose both games, they are out. However, they could qualify even if they win only one of their last two games, because (i) they could finish tied on 14 points with Royals (assuming other results go their way) – in which case Royals will have only six wins while Mumbai Indians have seven; or (ii) they could finish tied on 14 points with Sunrisers (assuming other results go their way), and qualify if they can maintain a superior NRR.Rajasthan Royals
After having won five straight games at the start of the tournament, Royals find themselves struggling to make the playoffs. Even if they win their last game (and reach 16 points), Royals could still find themselves outside the top four, because four other teams can still make it to 16 points or more. If that happens, Royals are at a disadvantage because they will have only seven wins (on account of two washed-out games), while the other teams will have eight or more. That said, Royals could qualify even if they lose their last game, as long as Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians lose their remaining games.

Stats highlights from the second day of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo

Shiva Jayaraman21-Aug-20151.6 Angelo Mathews’ economy in India’s innings; he conceded just 24 runs off his 15 overs and bowled seven maidens. Mathews’ economy of 2.13 in Tests in 2015 is the second-best among bowlers to bowl at least 50 overs.17.81 Rangana Herath’s bowling average in this series; he has now taken 11 wickets, including the four he took in India’s first innings. In four Tests against India before this series, Herath had taken 12 wickets at an average of 54.91.6.66 Kumar Sangakkara’s batting average against R Ashwin in Tests. He has been dismissed three times in this series and has managed to score just 20 runs off 53 balls. Against other offspinners in Tests though, Sangakkara has an excellent batting average of 78.09 (since May 2001).113 Balls Sri Lanka went boundary-less between the 30th and the 49th overs. India bowled disciplined lines, allowing Sri Lanka to take only 18 singles in this period. The batsmen played 92 dots and scored only 32 runs at 1.69 runs an over.5 Maidens bowled by Umesh Yadav in this innings – the most in his Test career. In his first two spells, Yadav had conceded just 18 runs from seven overs before ending the day with figures of 1 for 34 from 11 overs. In his previous four Tests, he had leaked runs at an economy of 4.68.15 Number of balls off which Yadav induced false stroke from the 11 overs he bowled at the Sri Lanka batsmen in this innings. The percentage of false strokes played off Yadav’s bowling is the highest among the fast bowlers in this Test so far.

214 Runs scored in the day – the second lowest on the second day in 12 Tests at P Sara Oval since 2000. However, only 80.3 overs were bowled in the day. Only 191 runs were scored on the second day of a Test between the hosts and England at this venue.11 Number of innings since the last time Sri Lanka’s openers put up a fifty stand in Tests. Sri Lanka’s first wicket has made 247 runs at an average of 22.45, including a highest stand of 49 runs in those 11 innings.

While their performances in India weren’t the most eye-catching, Farhaan Behardien’s all-round competence and coach Russell Domingo’s hours of homework were vital to South Africa’s limited-overs success

Firdose Moonda26-Oct-2015Summertime and the living is easy… at least if you’re South African. Two series, two wins and that’s before you’ve realised where those contests were, who they were against and what they were the precursor to.For the record, it was against India in India in the first three weeks of a ten-week tour. South Africa’s wins included a first-ever T20 series victory in their first-ever T20 series in India and a first-ever bilateral ODI series win in five attempts. So yes, it was pretty damn special and it came with all the frills and fireworks a special occasion merits.There were the three captain’s knocks from AB de Villiers, one a heroic hundred in a losing cause, there was the consistency from the old hand, Faf du Plessis, that eventually blossomed into an innings of craft and cramp, there was the redemption of Quinton de Kock, who announced himself as an international cricketer against India again and there was the revelation of Kagiso Rabada who proved pace is pace and nothing compares. If you had been following the series at all you already know all those things and you also know that while they are the standout reasons South Africa won, they are not the only reasons.South Africa won because around de Villiers, du Plessis, de Kock and Rabada, there were others, chiefly Farhaan Behardien and Russell Domingo. The finisher and the fine-tuner have played silent roles in South Africa’s success and it’s time to make some noise about them.Behardien was South Africa’s fourth-highest run-scorer, ahead of Hashim Amla and JP Duminy (although Duminy missed the last two matches with injury) and has reached a level of consistency expected of a lower-order batsman. He is no Kieron Pollard – he is only about half the size – but he has become the finisher David Miller was supposed to be. In this series, he scored 124 runs and boasted an average of 41.33, thanks to two unbeaten scores and this year, he has played 20 ODIs, batted 15 times and averages 40.00, with a strike rate of 104.16.Add to that the fact that Behardien can bowl some of the fifth bowler’s overs. Although he was not a strike bowler, he had an economy rate of 6.15, marginally better than Duminy’s 6.71, which meant South Africa did not have to force the issue of a seam-bowling allrounder, especially since it seems they don’t have too many options. Including Chris Morris or David Wiese, who missed this series with injury, runs the risk of shortening the batting line-up but South Africa may not have to do that if they can put their trust in Behardien.Like Ryan McLaren, Behardien has had his doubters and in the same way McLaren did, he has benefitted from consistency in selection and silenced them. Behardien understands he may not be the next superstar and has made peace with his limitations. Teams need people like that as much as they do the big names.Someone who knew that all along was Domingo. In fact, he knew it so well that when he saw he was not going to add value as a cricketer – and that was way back when Domingo was still a club player – he decided to become a coach instead. That was 18 years ago, when the concept of the international coach was not as limited to the former player as it is now. These days, the prevailing opinion is that a Gary Kirsten or an Andy Flower can offer more than a Domingo or a Mike Hesson, but both are steadily proving the stereotype wrong.In his two-and-half-years in charge, Domingo has already gone where no other South African coach has gone before. He is the only one to have won a World Cup knockout game. Before this tour, he had been in charge for 14 ODI and nine T20 series and South Africa had won eight of the former and two of the latter. That may not immediately sound impressive but it included victories in Sri Lanka in both formats, in New Zealand, in the UAE and at home. They have done all of that while going through waves of change that have included the retirements of some of the stalwarts.Domingo has overseen the transition by sticking to a simple strategy of trusting the numbers but adjusting the gameplan to suit conditions. He does his homework before South Africa play and although knowing the ground average won’t help a team win a game, it will tell them whether they are on the right track. Knowing that spinners have done better than seamers from a particular end or that slower-ball bouncers are better options than yorkers at the death somewhere is also valuable insight.These days, South Africa speak with authority on those aspects of the game they may previously have simply admitted to not knowing much about. They tell local media that they expect bounce when everyone is gazing at a pancake or that the new playing conditions mean they are more likely to use short balls later on so they can have men caught at deep midwicket. That kind of thinking is Domingo’s and it has become South Africa’s. They enjoy being more informed and take pride in the nerdishness.After all, in a typical South African summer time, the living is often easier for those who got through the end-of-year exams knowing they had passed than for those anxiously awaiting the outcome. And right now, South Africa are top of the class.

ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the opening one-day international in Abu Dhabi

David Hopps11-Nov-2015Retirement of the dayIf Younis Khan had retired after the World Cup, his one-day career would have ended with no guard of honour or acknowledgment to the fans. He clearly felt this mattered, winning a recall for a final ODI then immediately announcing his ODI retirement after the match. The innings was not momentous, the crowd was not huge, but the guard of honour from his team-mates was hastily assembled and he went, bat brandished in acknowledgment, into the one-day sunset.The beamer that wasn’tWith Mohammad Irfan delivering from about three feet above James Taylor head, such is their difference in height, attention was on whether even on this surface he might be unsettled by bounce. What he can’t have planned for was the delivery that flew at him on the full above waist height. It should have been called a no-ball, but for some reason it wasn’t. Taylor was happy to emerge unscathed.Miserable momentJos Buttler was dropped for the final Test in Sharjah after averaging only 13 since the start of the Ashes series. He must have hoped a switch to ODI mode would bring a change of luck, but after Buttler had faced two balls, James Taylor drew him into a push-and-run single into the leg side and Azhar Ali, not even needing a direct hit, ran him out by a foot. It was cruel on Buttler – and an embarrassing error for Taylor.Chat of the dayShould we review it? Pitched in line? What do you think? Pakistan spilled well over their 15-second maximum in considering whether they should review a refused lbw appeal against Taylor. By the time Azhar had come to a view, it was too late, umpire Ahsan Raza refused to accept the request, and Shoaib Malik went unrewarded as replays showed it would have been overturned.Failed gamble of the dayBilal Asif attracted Pakistan’s attention because of a rapid hundred in domestic T20 cricket, so there was some logic in trying him out at the top of the order, but it never looked like working as he became one of three new-ball victims for Reece Topley, the left-armer nipping one back into his pads to win an lbw on review.

Stats highlights from the first day’s play at Newlands

Shiva Jayaraman02-Jan-20163601 Runs Alastair Cook has made in Tests as England’s captain. In his brief innings of 27, Cook went past Graham Gooch to become the second highest run-scorer as captain for England in Tests. Gooch made 3582 runs at 58.72. Only Mike Atherton, who scored 3815 runs at 40.58, now has more runs than Cook as England’s captain in Tests.3 Number of umpires in Tests who have officiated as an on-field umpire in 100 or more Tests including Aleem Dar, who is standing in his 100th Test. Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen were the ones to do it before Dar.200 Number of fielding dismissals collected by AB de Villiers in Tests. He is only the second South Africa player to effect 200 or more dismissals. Mark Boucher leads this list by a long way with 553 dismissals, all as wicketkeeper.ESPNcricinfo Ltd5 Number of fifty-plus scores by England openers other than Alastair Cook in Tests since 2014, including Alex Hales’ 60. Cook has made 14 such scores since 2014. This was also Hales’ maiden Test fifty and his second first-class fifty on this tour – he made 56 against South Africa A in Pietermaritzburg. Hales has now hit four fifty-plus scores in his last six first-class games.26 Fifty-plus scores by Joe Root – who turned 25 three days ago – in Tests including his 50 in England’s first innings. These are the second highest such scores made by an England batsman at the age of 25 or before. Ian Bell had made 25 such scores at 25 years of age. Alastair Cook had 38 fifty-plus scores (15 hundreds and 23 fifties). Root has made 3167 runs at 54.60 including eight hundreds and 18 fifties. Root has now failed to convert his last five fifty-plus scores into a hundred in Tests.79.56 Ben Stokes’ strike rate in his innings of 74* – the eighth highest in an innings of 50 or more by an England batsman in South Africa. Stokes completed 1000 runs in Tests in this innings. He has 1072 runs at 29.77 in Tests including two hundreds and six fifties. Jonny Bairstow too completed 1000 Test runs during his innings.46 Runs scored by the partnership between Stokes and Bairstow in five overs after South Africa took the new ball. The England batsmen hit as many as eight fours in these overs, including four in the first over with the new ball from Chris Morris. This stand scored 94 runs from just 115 deliveries at a rate of 4.90 – the fifth highest in a fifty-plus run stand by England in South Africa. The sixth-wicket stand in this innings is currently the third highest for England at Newlands.2 Number of fifty-plus stands by England’s first wicket in their last ten Tests including this one. In 18 innings in these ten Tests, England’s opening wicket has averaged 23 runs per dismissal. Their last fifty-plus stand before this innings had come in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan last year when Moeen Ali and Cook added 116 runs.4.5 Chris Morris’ bowling economy from his 22 overs so far in this innings. This is the third worst for any South Africa bowler to bowl at least 20 overs in an innings on debut. Only Rory Kleinveldt and Dale Steyn have done worse. Steyn was the last South Africa pacer to concede 100-plus runs in an innings on debut. Morris has conceded 99 runs.

The oldest man to play in a World Cup remembers his journey from Barbados to Netherlands and then to the subcontinent in 1996

Peter Della Penna13-Mar-2016On Tuesday, Ryan Campbell set a new mark as the oldest debutant in a T20I at 44 years and 30 days when he opened the batting for Hong Kong against Zimbabwe. As remarkable as that accomplishment was, it was still well short of a similar achievement made at a World Cup in India by another opener 20 years earlier.”If I was in England, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” Nolan Clarke says matter-of-factly when recalling his World Cup and ODI debut for Netherlands at age 47 against New Zealand in Vadodara. “If I was in Australia, I wouldn’t be able to do it. They’d say, ‘Thank you, we’ve got someone who might not be as good as you but we’ve had enough investment [in them].’ I was able to do it in Holland because Holland was low in talent and needed to compete.”Peter Cantrell, Flavian Aponso and I were three Hoofdklasse cricketers at that time. Even at that time, we were still the best. I didn’t do it to inspire people, but the Indian public and Pakistan public would say: if a man at 47 years can still run around and play a bit of cricket, well, that is enough hope for people.”Born and brought up in Barbados, Clarke made his first-class debut for his home island in March 1970 at 21 and four years later struck 159 against an MCC side captained by Mike Denness during England’s 1973-74 tour of the West Indies. Two years later, he was still toiling away in the Shell Shield when an offer to coach in Netherlands came up.”There were two English pros that played in England. One was a coach here in Holland and he was in Barbados in a tournament,” Clarke said. “We sat and talked and he said to me, ‘Are you interested in coming to Holland?’ I said, ‘But I don’t even think they play cricket in Holland.’ He said, ‘Yeah, they do play a bit of cricket.’ I said okay and that’s when it started.”He arranged the contract with a guy named Dries Kost in Deventer and that’s when I started, in 1976. How many people years ago knew that the Dutch really played cricket? People in England, but [people in Barbados] know Holland differently – for cheeses and stuff like that. The level at that time wasn’t that bad, but you just played cricket differently. It wasn’t a serious level of cricket – a bit of fun, not results.”

“I should have taken the World Cup a little more serious. For some reason, I was like, ‘I’m here now and I’ve come here to have a good time'”

Despite the lack of intensity in the Dutch domestic competition, Clarke says the lifestyle in the Netherlands grew on him. The relative anonymity of the sport allowed him the sort of freedom cricketers were unaccustomed to back in Barbados.”Nobody knew me in Holland, and you walk the streets and nobody knew you. I liked that kind of life. In Barbados you had to be involved all the time, day and night, and it was all around you. Some people like that, but it wasn’t my kind of thing. I managed to do it but I had a bit of peace when I came to Holland, and I really enjoyed that.”Clarke played just one more first-class season for Barbados in 1977 and was shuttling back and forth to Netherlands before he decided to take a break from the game altogether. In 1981 he moved to New Orleans to work for RJ Tricon, an industrial-equipment supplier, and spent two years in the USA before a chance meeting – one he tells of with a big grin on his face – brought him back to cricket.”Call it a miracle or what have you. I was sitting at home one morning and I decided to get in the car and take a nice drive into town. When I got into town and parked, I saw a guy walking on the other side of the pavement and I looked and said, ‘I know that guy.’ It was Dries Kost, the same guy who got me the job in Holland when I started. He was in New Orleans! So I parked the car and got out, started to walk on the other side of the street behind the guy.”Some people had the impression on their faces like, ‘Uh oh, I think he’s going to rob that guy.’ You should’ve seen their faces. I put my hand up and when I moved, he looked and said, ‘Nolan!'”He was over there working for his company back in Holland. He said, ‘Man, what are you doing down here? Don’t you want to play cricket again?’ I said, ‘No problem.’ He said, ‘I’ve got a job for you’, and in three weeks he arranged a job again and I was back in Holland.Clarke (extreme left) with his Netherlands team-mates in Peshawar, 1996•Getty Images”The timing was super. I had a reasonable life there in New Orleans, but this normal desk work wasn’t for me. I came back and started at a club called Hercules, then Quick Den Haag asked me to join them. I did it for ten or 11 years, coaching at Quick. I discovered that after all, what I was doing was heaven on earth. Thank God that I had actually done that. That was a blessing. Sometimes you need a rest or a change to appreciate the things that you have.”In 1989, Clarke made his Dutch debut as a 41-year-old in style, scoring 77 in a Netherlands total of 176 that wound up being just enough for a famous three-run victory over an England XI featuring Alec Stewart, Nasser Hussain and Derek Pringle, and captained by Peter Roebuck. A year later, he was the leading scorer at the ICC Trophy, held in the Netherlands, with 523 runs at 65.37, including two centuries. But with a single 1992 World Cup qualifying berth up for grabs, Netherlands fell short to Zimbabwe in the final, at the Hague, by six wickets.The following ICC Trophy in 1994 was held in Kenya, but unlike in previous editions, where only the winner advanced to the World Cup, the top three finishers would now qualify to go to the subcontinent in 1996. It was a fortuitous change because Netherlands lost a semi-final to UAE, setting up a showdown with Bermuda in the third-place game. Aside from his time in Holland and the USA, Clarke had also spent some time in Bermuda and had mixed feelings about the encounter.”All the Bermudans were my friends,” Clarke said. “We’d eat, drink and go into the town together years before that. I went to the bus in the morning before we left and hugged them. I got 121 against them and we won the game. I had a feeling that I had done something wrong. That was one of the special things in my life when the Bermuda guys still came over and hugged me and said, ‘Well played.'”After working so hard with so many great performances for Netherlands over the years to get to the World Cup, Clarke finally played to his age two years later at the main event. He made 50 runs in five games, including two ducks, with a best of 32 against South Africa. Looking back, he says he was just happy to be there.

“I have to be grateful playing for Holland. I had 99 games for Holland, but it could’ve been no games at all. A guy coming from Barbados, coaching and playing here, they could have said, ‘We don’t need foreigners'”

“I should have taken the World Cup a little more serious. For some reason, I was like, ‘I’m here now and I’ve come here to have a good time.’ I did not focus and I missed something along the line, the seriousness of the World Cup. It was only afterwards that I realised I could have done a lot better in the World Cup if I had actually put my mind to it. What I enjoyed, which was my dream, was to qualify the Dutch team [for the World Cup]. I think after we qualified, everything just went flat.”In general Clarke feels it was just a reflection of the general attitude of Associate cricket at the time. Teams were talented but mostly run in amateur fashion. Even though Associate funding for countries like Netherlands remains nowhere close to an ideal amount, the differences are noticeable compared to 20 years ago.”There wasn’t that kind of money around. The competition was good. Canada was a strong team. United States, Holland, Kenya, Bermuda were strong. It was difficult because those guys never really played together until they arrived in a short tournament, but they were fantastic cricketers. If that money was around then and it was run like they do now, the standard of that cricket would’ve been close to top-class cricket.”After the World Cup ended, Clarke stayed active on and off in the domestic scene in Holland. After a six-year break, he came back in 2005 with club side VVV at age 56, and he finished fifth on the domestic Hoofdklasse run charts with 782 runs, not far behind Tim McIntosh, George Bailey and Neil McKenzie. He still keeps himself busy with a regular game of golf nowadays, though every so often he’ll pop in to watch a local cricket match in Den Haag.”I think that I’ve been blessed. First, to be born in Barbados in a tropical country to good parents who supported my cricket and my life and put me on the right path, and then from there having the right role models that you can look at, and being blessed to go into one of the best cricket clubs we had at that time in the Caribbean, Spartan CC, where all the top-class cricketers came through – Wes Hall, David Holford, Peter Lashley. When you’re in a dressing room with Garry Sobers at 19 – at that time he was magic – you have a lot of people around you and just being in their presence was enough to make you a good cricketer and a good human being.”I have to be grateful playing for Holland. I had 99 games for Holland but it could’ve been no games at all. They didn’t have to give me a game over here. A guy coming from Barbados, coaching and playing here, they could have said, ‘We don’t need foreigners.’ To be in the right place at the right time most of the time, travelling around and playing, you can’t get it better than that. It’s not possible.”

Plays of the day from the game between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils in Visakhapatnam

Nikhil Kalro15-May-2016Zaheer’s cunning change-up
Early signs of a slow Visakhapatnam surface were on display when Shahbaz Nadeem got the first two balls of the game to grip and spin. Zaheer Khan, returning from a niggle, started his spell with an offcutter that ripped past Rohit Sharma’s outside edge. In the fifth over, however, Zaheer deceived Martin Guptill with deceptive change in pace and length. He banged a bouncer on leg and Guptill, hustled for pace, was late on the pull and caught between trying to play the stroke and sway out of the way. The ball pinged him on the helmet and almost detached it.A sloppy forehand error
If a long list of some of the best fielding efforts of the season were to be drawn up, it’s unlikely that Imran Tahir would feature in it. Krunal Pandya swiped an Amit Mishra delivery to Tahir’s right at deep midwicket. He scampered towards the ball and got there. All good so far. But instead of patting the ball back into the field of play, Tahir ended up parrying the ball over the boundary for four while trying to awkwardly swat it. Tahir’s apology didn’t soothe Mishra’s pain.Brothers in arms
Krunal Pandya took apart Delhi Daredevils’ spinners in an exhibition of power hitting. He smashed seven fours and six sixes in his 37-ball 86. After almost every boundary, he wore a flashy smile and gestured effusively. After racing to a fifty, he imitated his brother Hardik Pandya’s stance and pointed in his direction. Hardik was seen applauding many of Krunal’s boundaries. Krunal’s blitz ended when he chopped a full delivery onto his stumps. As he walked into the dugout area, he went straight to Hardik and hugged him in celebratory embrace.De Kock’s unchanging fate
Krunal hammered a 37-ball 86 to set up Mumbai’s fifth-highest IPL score of 206 for 4. His night was about to get better. Bowling to Quinton de Kock, he darted a slider outside off. De Kock rocked back for a late cut but missed the ball, and instead chopped his bat into wicketkeeper Jos Buttler’s gloves. A thin noise and a vociferous appeal resulted in de Kock being wrongly adjudged caught behind, again, for the second consecutive game. De kock had his hands on his head as he trudged off.

The likes of Alzarri Joseph and Miguel Cummins could narrow the gap between the two sides in Jamaica, on what looks set to be a green pitch

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Kingston29-Jul-2016Shortly before joining his team-mates for his first day of training as a member of West Indies’ Test squad, Alzarri Joseph was made to climb a staircase at Sabina Park’s North Stand. From somewhere near the middle of the ground, the WICB’s media manager trained a 300mm lens on him. He took a few backward steps, eye glued to viewfinder, and stopped moving only when the framing was just right: Joseph on top of the staircase, hands on balustrade, and below him a sign saying “Courtney Walsh End”.No pressure, young man.Walsh bowled 30,019 balls in Test cricket, the most by any fast bowler, ever. Joseph is yet to play Test cricket, of course, and has only bowled 949 balls in first-class cricket. He is only 19.The cricketing world has seen what Joseph can do in short bursts. At the Under-19 World Cup, he sent the leg stump of Zimbabwe’s Brendan Sly flying with the fastest ball of the tournament, measured at 143kph, and, in the semi-final, showed he could be just as nasty at the other end of the length spectrum, roughing up the Bangladesh opener Pinak Ghosh with a series of bouncers, one of which clattered into the side of his helmet.Can Joseph sustain that pace, and that intensity, into his third spell of a sweltering day, the way Walsh did time after time in a 16-year Test career? Will West Indies pick Joseph for the second Test against India, and give the cricketing world the opportunity of finding out?Marlon Samuels will not make that decision, but he made his thoughts as clear as possible when he spoke to the media on Thursday.”Me? I would definitely play him,” he said. “Fit, fast and fearless. When are you going to play him? At 25? He’s 19 now, it’s the best time to just let him go and enjoy himself and express himself.”Conditions at Sabina Park might just allow Joseph – or any combination of fast bowlers West Indies pick – to do that. Two days before the Test match, the pitch wore a thick coat of grass. At 10.45am, when the white sheet covering it first came off to allow the umpires to look at it, it was a bright, almost neon green. In the afternoon, when the West Indian players arrived at the ground, and sang “Happy Birthday” to Sir Garfield Sobers on his 80th, it was still green, but not alarmingly so.Nothing had happened to the pitch in the interim. Perhaps it looked less green because the shock of first seeing it had worn off; perhaps it was just the sun sucking away the morning’s moisture. It was just a different shade of green.By the time the Test match commences, the grass might lose a few millimeters, and some of it might get rolled into the surface, but much of it will probably remain in place.Behind the western square boundary is the Kingston Cricket Club’s pavilion, and mounted on the roof beams of the members’ bar are plaques commemorating every batsman to have scored centuries in both innings of Test matches. If the pitch for this Test match plays true to its appearance, it will take some effort for anyone to join Clyde Walcott and Lawrence Rowe in achieving that feat at Sabina Park.But batsmen, according to the groundsman Charlie Joseph, will enjoy true bounce, at least on the first two days.”Mikey [Michael Holding] always used to tell me, you need bounce on the first two days,” Charlie Joseph said. “What happens on the third and fourth day, that’s not up to you. That’s nature. But you want true bounce on the first two days. You want to put your foot here,” he says, planting left foot firmly forward, “and do that” – a shadow cover drive, on the up. “That’s good cricket.”We will only know for certain on Saturday, but conditions could cause both teams to alter the strategies they employed in Antigua. West Indies are chasing the series, and a green pitch gives them as good a chance as they’ll probably get to bowl India out twice. A green pitch could also narrow the gap between the bowling attacks, but West Indies will need to do some of that narrowing themselves. That will mean picking Joseph, or Miguel Cummins, or both, to partner Shannon Gabriel and give the pace attack more bite.India played five bowlers in Antigua, on a slow pitch that offered bounce but little sideways movement. Here, four bowlers could do the job, with the legspin of Amit Mishra potentially surplus to requirements. This could allow them the security of an extra batsman. With only four players – Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, KL Rahul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar – turning up for an optional session on Thursday, India did not reveal any of their cards. By Friday, a clearer picture should emerge.Whichever way the teams go, they will probably need to contend with a green track. Kent Crafton, the WICB’s regional curator, who is overseeing the preparation of all the pitches for this series, said the board has made a concerted push to prepare quicker, bouncier pitches. “We want to get it back up here,” he said, bringing his hands up to chest level.Going by the bounce seen in Antigua, and the look of the pitch in Kingston, the efforts seem to be paying off. It’s a positive sign, a rare one in West Indies Test cricket.