All posts by n8rngtd.top

Still only 25, Ashwin needs to show more patience to be successful. So do the others who expect him to deliver each time

Abhishek Purohit in Hyderabad24-Aug-2012Still very early in his Test career, R Ashwin has experienced extreme highs and lows. He started with 22 wickets in the home series against West Indies last year, went to Australia ahead of Harbhajan Singh and averaged 62.77 for his nine wickets in India’s 0-4 thrashing. And right away, the criticisms arrived: He tries too many things rather than focus on his stock offbreak, he has played too much Twenty20 cricket, he is too impatient, and such like.Indeed, Ashwin looked very flat in Australia, reduced to a containing role amid India’s lack of runs and defensive fields. In hindsight, it was forgotten that he was barely three Tests old going to Australia. In hindsight, it was forgotten that even Harbhajan and Muttiah Muralitharan average over 73 and 75 in Australia.Back home against New Zealand, Ashwin today again demonstrated just how many positives he has for a 25-year old, an age when most spinners aren’t supposed to be exactly mature. He used a lot of flight, something he does even when bowling in a T20 Powerplay. He got a lot of bounce, something he relies on more than turn, which was anyway little and slow on the Hyderabad pitch. He bowled largely with control. To his credit, he stuck mostly to tossed-up offbreaks and did not overuse the carrom ball like he’d done in Australia. When he did, he troubled even Kane Williamson, who handled the India spinners the best. And yes, he can bat as well.”I have always maintained that [I’ve] relied on my stock ball much higher than I have on the carrom ball,” Ashwin said. “Yes, it has done the trick once or twice, I have got people out with it, but [I don’t bowl] one every over. I am definitely looking to be patient on it.”And he can learn with showing more patience in this format. He did start to push it through quicker, flatter and shorter to try and get more out of the sluggish pitch when Williamson and James Franklin resisted. As he himself said later, it only made the ball come on better.”I think the new ball was a little hard and the seam was a little more upright when we spinners started bowling,” Ashwin said. “That helped us get a bit of bounce and a few wickets up front. As the ball got older, it was slowing up a little bit. We have to be patient to get wickets tomorrow. There is a little bit of bounce if it is slower through the air. Quicker through the air [it] is obviously going nicely on to the bat.”Somewhat inevitably, Ashwin was again asked what he thought of the criticism about his perceived overuse of the carrom ball. Ashwin, sounding a little miffed, reasoned that the perception had been carried over from his bowling style in limited-overs cricket.”You want me to elaborate, I can. We play a lot of one-day and T20 cricket and I need to be one up and I would rather try that [the carrom ball] more often in a one-dayer or a T20 game because inevitably I would get hit. I think it is a comparison drawn from there.”I have played enough first-class cricket to know what the stock ball is. I would rather get pinned down bowling the stock ball than the carrom ball. The carrrom ball is much more of a defensive mechanism, it is not an attacking ball at all. I don’t know where that comparison comes in at all.”Perhaps he can learn to be more patient in press conferences as well, but figures of 14-3-30-3 on a day two pitch, combined with a confident 37 earlier with the bat, wasn’t a bad day’s work at all. Ashwin already has a Test hundred, and again his batting was refreshing for an India No. 8.Forget the calm steers and stylish clips he played, even the way his bat comes down to meet the ball shows you that this man can bat. India had lost their sixth wicket on 387, and it was largely due to Ashwin that they got close to 450. The rest of India’s lower order is really nothing more than a proper tail. As a reminder of that, Pragyan Ojha had one scoring shot in 28 deliveries, and also ran out Umesh Yadav. Ashwin’s importance to this Indian side, thus, gets magnified. He surely can improve, but even we, perhaps, need to be more patient with him.

Ignored by the IPL franchises last year, the aggressive batsman hopes his ton in the first match will help him build momentum for the rest of the season

Amol Karhadkar in Pune09-Nov-2012Just before lunch, when Harshad Khadiwale and Sangram Atitkar were frustrating a star-studded Uttar Pradesh bowling line-up at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on what was Maharashtra’s opening day of the Ranji Trophy season, Kedar Jadhav, who was effectively used as a lower middle-order player last season, strolled into the stands to greet some of his friends.With Nikhil Paradkar padded up to bat at No. 4 and the Khadiwale-Atitkar stand going strong, Jadhav was in no hurry. However, 40 minutes into the second session, newly-appointed head coach Dermot Reeve ordered Jadhav to pad up and announced the aggressive batsman would walk in next if and when a wicket fell.The ploy did wonders as not only did 27-year-old Jadhav upped the ante on his arrival at the wicket, by the end of the day’s play, he had raised his third first-class century to put Maharashtra in firm control at 339 for 3.With Jadhav and Ankit Bawne, who got a reprieve from wicketkeeper Amir Khan off Imtiaz Ahmed moments after opening his account, sharing an unbroken 152-run stand for the fourth wicket in just over two hours, it looks like Uttar Pradesh batsmen will have to bat out of their skins in order to gain three points from the game.Half an hour after Jadhav replaced Khadiwale, who scored 68, at the crease, he lost Atitkar, who was strolling towards a ton. Both the set batsmen saw their off stump uprooted by the consistent Bhuvneshwar Kumar, easily the pick of the UP bowlers.But both Jadhav and Bawne waged an assault on the UP bowlers after the tea break. Jadhav, especially, was unstoppable as he plundered 89 runs in the last session. And had he not got cautious against the second new ball, which was taken after 84 overs, he could well have scored a century in a session.The milestone came with just four balls remaining in the day when Jadhav drove Kumar straight down the ground to run his second successive brace and burst into celebrations. Not only did he justify his promotion in the batting order, but he made a point to many of the Indian Premier League franchise owners for having ignored him last year.After scoring a Man of the Match-winning 29-ball fifty on his IPL debut – for Delhi Daredevils against Royal Challengers Bangalore – in 2010, Jadhav featured for now-disbanded Kochi Tuskers Kerala the following year. But even after accumulating more than 500 runs in the Ranji Trophy last season, no franchise approached him. Not only did Jadhav let the phase pass by but he put his head down to continue scoring big in the domestic one-dayers played after the deadline for signing players for the IPL was over.As a result, Jadhav had plenty to gain from the innings. “First and foremost, I have helped the team snatch the advantage on the first day,” Jadhav said . “And from a personal perspective, I think it would boost my confidence and show everyone that I can do it in different situations.”For almost half a decade now, Jadhav has been considered as a talented batsman. But he hopes that this knock, and the rest of the season, will help turn him into a stand-out batsman. “I am trying to be more disciplined, punctual to be precise. More often than not, I find it difficult to make it on time even for practice sessions,” Jadhav said. “Even when it came to scoring big ahead of the IPL, it came late last year after the deadline was over. So I hope now that I have got the timing right, I hope to be consistent and sustain the momentum for the rest of the season.”If he lives by his words, then Maharashtra would not only find it easier to remain in Group B by the end of the season but also would hope to be promoted to Group A come next year.

The qualities that have brought South Africa’s No. 3 the form of his career

Firdose Moonda at St George's Park11-Jan-2013It was the drinks break in the evening session. Faf du Plessis was having his hamstrings stretched, the New Zealand players were in a huddle being given yet another talking to and Hashim Amla, on 89, was sitting on one knee on the outfield as he always does when it’s time to take in some water.He had the serenity of an oasis, as the desert around him continued to busy itself with activity. The physiotherapist issued instructions to du Plessis and the visiting bowlers and fielders wore expressions that suggested they were listening intently. Amla was crouched on the grass completely unaffected by any of it. His focus was perfectly uninterrupted.His ability to block out the peripheral was not just evident in those few small moments but throughout his innings. Amla’s calm nature is as well documented as his cover drive but serenity and sensibility are not the same things.The former is what makes Amla such a joy to watch because there is no panic in the way he plays. The latter is what makes Amla such a good player because he is able to compartmentalise. That character trait allows him to treat everything, not just every ball, on its merits. He is not affected by past mistakes, neither is he driven by future possibilities. By his own admission, Amla does not set goals because he finds them limiting.It’s a much publicised but almost always unrealistic notion to simply live in the now. Amla comes close to actually doing it. This innings showed that because it was not chanceless but Amla still came out of it covered in glory.Amla started with a leading edge off the first ball he faced that would have seen him dismissed for a duck if midwicket was in place. He edged a few too. The ball was swinging and Trent Boult and Neil Wagner were able to exploit that, so Amla had to be patient. “We felt under pressure,” AB de Villiers admitted.Unlike Amla, New Zealand’s bowlers were not able to maintain their standards. As lunch approached, they loosened up often erring on the side of a touch too full as they searched for edges. They also looked a bowler short because when the three seamers needed a break and Brendon McCullum did not want to turn to Jeetan Patel, he had nowhere to go.

“With him and Jacques Kallis we’ve got the best combination at No. 3 and 4 in the world. They steady the ship for us and we can just come out and enjoy our game.”AB de Villiers

Colin Munro did some work later in the day but McCullum wanted his frontliners upfront and it proved a tricky juggle to try and ensure they were all able to continue at their optimum for as long as McCullum needed. Doug Bracewell’s opening spell was seven overs long and he, like the others, seemed to tire before the break.They returned from it refocused, though. Trent Boult was tasked with trying to make a breakthrough and he almost did. He created the chance to have Amla caught at gully, tempting him with width, but Kane Williamson split it.With that, momentum had shifted to Amla, who is known for capitalising on second lives (just ask England about The Oval) and away from New Zealand, who knew they had made a costly mistake. “You can’t dwell on it when you miss those chances because you’ve got to focus on where the next opportunity it going to be,” Neil Wagner said. “But he never gave us a chance after that again.”Although the pitch remained slow, conditions became easier through the afternoon and Amla settled in. He worked the ball around the field creatively with de Villiers and then du Plessis at the other end, responding to their calls for quick singles even though that style of batting is not Amla’s first choice.He once mooted the idea that the reason him and Jacques Kallis are South Africa’s most successful partnership is because they bat at the same, relaxed tempo. But with the two energisers and an attack that had run out of ideas, Amla played along.The final session yielded 134 runs of which Amla scored only 37. He let de Villiers and du Plessis play the aggressor role and was content to simply stay there himself because that will be important for South Africa on the second day.”We all feed off him. He is the rock for us. With him and Jacques Kallis we’ve got the best combination at No. 3 and 4 in the world,” AB de Villiers said. “They are always steadying the ship for us and we can just come out and enjoy our game. Everyone fed off Hashim today. He played a great innings again. He has been in unbelievable form pretty much his whole career.”Words that will leave New Zealand sleeping uneasy tonight but that are a massive compliment for Amla. Knowing his bashfulness, it’s difficult to think Amla will lap up the praise. All he is likely to do is accept it graciously and then pack it away so it does not influence what he has to do tomorrow.

England’s spearhead looks back at his ten years in international cricket

Jo Harman11-Mar-2013From nervy beginnings and false dawns to Ashes hauls and superstardom, James Anderson’s extraordinary career has taken on various guises. Now all that’s left to reveal is the extent of his greatness. Is he merely the best English bowler of his time, or even more than that? In a wide-ranging interview, he talks Jo Harman through the perfect plans, growing pains and lucky breaks from a brilliant decade as an England cricketer.James Anderson: looked like Beckham and bent the cricket ball just like him•Getty Images

Part one: 2002-2003

“Call me James”
When, in December 2002, an awkward 20-year-old Beckham-alike with a tinted barnet and permanent scowl walked out at the MCG to make his ODI debut, the home crowd didn’t have a clue who he was. In fact, such had been the speed of his ascent from the Burnley Cricket Club pavilion to world cricket’s most imposing colosseum, even the English die-hards were left scratching their heads. He didn’t even have a name or number on the back of his shirt.His name was James Anderson – not Jimmy, because his mum didn’t like it – and he was about to play his sixth professional one-day match. For England. At the MCG.That winter Anderson had won a place on the academy tour to Australia on the back of an impressive first full season in county cricket and when Andy Caddick went down injured during England’s triangular ODI series he was called in as cover. Nasser Hussain immediately saw enough to throw him in at the deep end, head first.On debut he came in for some brutal treatment at the hands of Gilchrist and Ponting but England stuck with him and Anderson grew into the series, sending down six maidens in a superb spell of 1-12 in Adelaide – England’s cheapest ten-over spell for 20 years. A fit again Caddick returned to the side but Anderson was retained. Nasser thought he had come across something special. He was about to be proved right.

World Cup group match v Pakistan, Cape Town, February 2003
4 for 29
“We were bowling second and we’d seen it swing in the first innings so we knew it would swing for a little bit, but because of the lights and the conditions it swung for longer than we expected. I still remember the wickets: I got Inzi [Inzamam ul-Haq] first, then Mohammad Yousuf, then a left-hander [Saeed Anwar] and the fourth was the keeper [Rashid Latif], with one that lifted a bit.”In the meeting we’d had the night before Nasser had talked about getting Yousuf with a yorker early and I managed to get him first ball with one that swung. One thing that sticks in my mind is on my last ball – I think I’d gone for 25 off 9.5 overs – Nasser said, ‘Whatever you do, just don’t go for four’. Obviously the next ball went for four and I just heard Nasser at mid-off go, ‘Noooooooo!'”There was this temporary stand in the corner and I remember fielding down there. The atmosphere was incredible. It was also the first international match that my family had been to; my dad, uncle, granddad and cousin came over and just to know they were there to see that was brilliant. “

With Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick’s Test careers all but over there was a gap in the market. After his World Cup exploits Anderson was proclaimed the saviour of England’s pace attack – a daunting tag considering he had just played one full season with Lancashire and was yet to even don the whites for his country.Touching 90mph, with the ability to swing the ball late, Anderson appeared to have the makings of a top-drawer Test seamer, but with South Africa touring that summer, England’s rough diamond would be given an early examination against one of Test cricket’s most prolific batting line-ups. First up though, Zimbabwe.

First Test v Zimbabwe, Lord’s, May 2003
5 for 73 and 0 for 65
“There were nerves. There was an expectation to do well in Test cricket having done well in the World Cup and I did feel that. There were some experienced guys around to talk to about my bowling and help me through the confidence stuff but I probably looked at the game completely differently to the way I do now. I was just thinking, ‘This is amazing, I’ve actually been picked for a Test match.’ I didn’t know how long it would last so every time I got the ball I just tried to enjoy myself.”The only way I knew really was to pitch it up and swing it and at the stage of my career that’s what I was encouraged to do. I remember we batted first and I bowled a little bit on the evening of day one and kept getting clipped down to fine leg. I didn’t know what to do! Nasser came up to me and said, ‘Sorry, that’s my fault,’ and I think I bowled from a different end the next day and ended up taking four from the Pavilion End, which I’ve loved bowling from ever since.”

Test series v South Africa, July-September 2003
15 wickets at 39.86
“No disrespect to Zimbabwe, but that had been quite a nice introduction to Test cricket. South Africa was a bit different and a big learning curve for me. I’d got an injury and because I’d just come into the team I didn’t want to tell anyone about it. It was only a niggle but it was affecting my performance and my speed. I knew it was bothering me but I thought if I let them know I might get replaced and never get back in.”Graeme Smith was very difficult to bowl to in that series. I remember he was dropped on 8 at Lord’s by Nasser and never looked back. It was a strange time for the team with Nasser standing down as captain and the bowling attack kept changing. Goughie tried to come back but his knee couldn’t take it, then James Kirtley came in and Martin Bicknell played at The Oval. They didn’t quite seem to know who to pick. It was different back then.”

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Mumbai 2006: “I’ve got really fond memories of that Test. It was just nice to be in that team again, back in that dressing room”•Getty Images

Part two: 2004-2006

Growing pains
As we waited impatiently for Anderson to turn his fleeting moments of brilliance into something more permanent, just the opposite happened. His form dipped and his confidence – shaky even in the delirium of his first forays in international cricket – appeared to desert him altogether. In the three and a half years following South Africa’s 2003 tour of England he played just nine Tests, most of which he would prefer to forget. As English cricket’s latest golden boy faded from the limelight, we were left to ponder whether this prodigious talent had peaked at the age of 20.England went from strength to strength, winning six series on the bounce between 2003 and 2005. Anderson was no more than a peripheral figure, featuring in squads without playing much and struggling to do himself justice when he did. While England celebrated a famous win at the Wanderers that would set the platform for a series victory on their 2004-05 tour of South Africa, Anderson hit a new personal low as he was torn to pieces by Herschelle Gibbs and leaked 149 runs in 34 overs. Looking back, he admits his preparation for the match was poor and it was a performance that ensured he played no part in England’s historic Ashes win that summer.But sandwiched in amongst these wilderness years was one moment of personal glory – a six-wicket haul in Mumbai in his first Test in 14 months. His performance helped England to a first Test match win in India for 21 years.

Third Test v India, Mumbai, March 2006
4 for 40 and 2 for 39
“Was I confident going into that match? No! I certainly don’t remember being confident. I hadn’t done overly well for Lancashire in the previous season; I got a few wickets but I got them at 30. And it’s always difficult when you come in for one game when people get injured.”I can’t remember thinking too much about game plans and I got quite lucky with my four-fer. I got Dravid caught down the leg side and Tendulkar wafted at a wide one and hit it to gully, but that’s the kind of luck you need, especially when you’re coming back into the team.”I’ve got really fond memories of that Test. Owais Shah played his first game and got 80-odd and I batted with him for quite a while. It was just nice to be in that team again, back in that dressing room. There’s that famous story about Johnny Cash being played in the dressing room before we went out for that last session and then Shaun Udal took all those wickets, at the age of 37 or something. At the start of that trip I’d been on the A tour in the West Indies and Cookie [Alastair Cook] and myself got called up for Vaughany and Simon Jones, so I was just happy to be involved.”

The “Ring of Fire” victory was to prove another false dawn though as the flames went higher still and Anderson was struck down by a stress fracture to the back. The irony – not wasted on Anderson – was that the injury he suffered was exactly the one that coaches had been trying to avoid when they decided to tinker with his action while on academy duty in 2002. “We’d continued to tinker with it,” says Anderson, “first of all to try and get some more pace and also to protect my body, thinking I was going to get an injury. Then when I eventually got an injury in 2006, which meant I missed the whole summer, I went back to my original action I started with at Lancashire during rehab.”

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Pop quiz

Who did Finny get his first Test five-fer against?
“I want to say Australia.”

“No. Okay, yes. Let’s go Australia.”

“In England? I must have played in that game… Well, the first proper one was against Australia!”

Which fast bowler has the highest individual score as a nightwatchman in Test cricket?
“Jason Gillespie. 201 not out.”
Correct
Which bowler once remarked: “All batsmen are d*ckheads”?
“Warne?”
Wrong. Jeff Thomson
What physical attribute did Fred Trueman claim all fast bowlers needed?
“A big arse”

Which of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, and Colin Croft took the most Test wickets?
“I’ll go with Croft. No? That was too obvious!”

England fast bowler Sydney Barnes took 189 wickets in 27 Tests, but what was unique about his career?
“He only played against Australia?”
Wrong – Barnes is the only cricketer to play for England while not playing at first-class level
When was overarm bowling legalised, to the nearest decade?
“Twenties”
Wrong – 1864
What was the back-foot no-ball rule before the law was changed in the 1960s?
“Your back foot had to be behind that line… the popping crease! Your front foot could be anywhere.”

Which England fast bowler was the last to be ranked No.1 in the world?
“Steve Harmison”

“Because I knocked his teeth out!”

Part three: 2007-2008

“Jimmy” swings into town
Having been laid up injured for the 2006 season, playing a handful of matches as a specialist batsman for his old club Burnley and only returning for Lancashire’s final Championship match of the campaign, Anderson was a surprise inclusion in the Ashes touring party as England sought a like-for-like replacement for the crocked Simon Jones.The series proved too much too soon. Anderson was dropped after taking two wickets for 303 runs in demoralising defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide. “When it came to my performances, I bowled like someone who was low on confidence and unsure of his place in the team,” Anderson recalls. “This was no coincidence because it was how I felt.” He gave a better showing on his recall to the side for the final Test in Sydney, taking three first innings wickets, but England had surrendered the urn they had fought so hard to win, in the meekest manner imaginable.In terms of statistics alone the Ashes had done little to reignite Anderson’s faltering career but it did mark a significant turning point: a return to his natural action. “For three years I’d felt like I was trying to impersonate someone else and I was thankful to be my own man again. Changing my action only served to negate all of my natural attributes… so when Mike Watkinson and Kevin Shine [England’s then bowling coach] agreed a U-turn was required and that we would try to revert to something similar to what I had previously found natural, it provided me with a boost in both confidence and energy.”Watkinson agrees this passage in his career was critical in shaping the player he would go on to become. “He was a raw, young bowler and then got into a coaching system that started knocking off the rough edges a little bit. He did become a little more mechanical and it was around that time that he got his stress fracture. When Shiney and myself worked together on his rehab programme it was then that we discussed this reintroduction of rotation into his action rather than keeping it rigid, which was deemed to be the safest in those days.”I think what’s worth noting as well is that it was around that time when he recovered from the injury that he found the inswinger to go with the outswinger. In his early days he would angle in but then it would swing away and nowadays his game is based around the fact he can swing it whichever way he wants to depending on who he’s bowling at. That was a real shift.”In the wake of the Ashes disappointment he was sent back to the shires at the start of the 2007 season and sat out the four-Test series against West Indies, but a timely five-wicket haul in a Roses match persuaded the England selectors to give the remodelled Jimmy a shot at India. This time, he was ready.

First Test v India, Lord’s, July 2007
5 for 42 and 2 for 83
“The ball was swinging and the conditions were ideal for me. The wicket of Ganguly especially stands out. I set him up with a few outswingers and then bowled him with an inswinger – that’ll stick in the memory for a long time. And to get the other two [Dravid and Tendulkar] as well, I don’t think anyone had ever got all three of them in one innings before.”As a bowler you’re always trying to find consistency and I don’t think there’s a secret behind it; it’s just years of hard work and practice and trying to learn from the times that you do badly. I think this was the start of me being a more consistent bowler and it was the best I’d bowled for England up to that point. I don’t know what clicked but since then I seem to have grown in confidence and found that consistency.”I learned a lot from watching Zaheer Khan in this series and have continued to do so. The biggest thing I’ve learnt from him is covering the ball when it’s reversing, although that’s generally more useful in the subcontinent. I try to watch as much cricket as I can and watch all the fast bowlers I can to try and pick out little tricks that might help my own game. “

Zaheer Khan’s swing bowling masterclass would prove too much for the hosts, who succumbed to a 1-0 defeat, but the performances of Anderson – who had developed a sharp inswinger to complement his natural away swing to finish the series as England’s leading wicket-taker – suggested he was finally on track to turn into the bowler we all hoped he would become.However, the emergence of Ryan Sidebottom and Stuart Broad meant competition for places was fierce and when England touched down in New Zealand for their 2007-08 tour Anderson found himself carrying the drinks. That was all soon to change though, as a heavy defeat in the first Test in Hamilton prompted England’s selectors to make a brave call. For the next match in Wellington seasoned performers Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard were discarded and in came Anderson and Broad. The baton had been passed. Anderson responded by taking five of the first six Kiwi wickets to fall as a rejuvenated England roared back to take the series 2-1.

Second Test v New Zealand, Wellington, March 2008
5 for 73 and 2 for 57
“I’ve spoken to Broady about this match since and when you look back it was a big call on the part of the selectors. When something like that happens you do feel under pressure but the biggest thing I felt was confidence because the coach had put his faith in us ahead of two experienced bowlers who have got hundreds of wickets. That responsibility certainly gave me more confidence and I think that’s true of Stuart too.”We batted first and the night of the first day we had a game of football on the outfield and I tried one Cruyff turn too many and twisted my ankle. I actually left the ground on crutches thinking I wasn’t going to play any part in the game. I kept an ice pack on it all night while I was sleeping and the next day luckily there wasn’t any damage done really. When I came back to the ground I was thinking, ‘If I don’t do well here then I’m going to look an idiot’. There was a strong wind but it comes straight down the ground in Wellington, which is good for swing bowlers, and it just seemed to swing for a long time. “

England’s fightback in New Zealand sounded the death knell for Hoggard, while Harmison featured only sporadically over the next two years, and in their absence Anderson revelled in the greater responsibility being placed on his shoulders. He continued to torment the Kiwis on their return tour to England in the summer of 2008, taking 19 wickets at 19 including a standout performance that remains statistically his best in Test cricket.

Third Test v New Zealand, Trent Bridge, June 2008
7 for 43 and 2 for 55
“I bowled well that day. I remember some nice looking wickets on TV, batsmen trying to hit it through the leg side and the ball hitting off stump. Was I starting to feel like the leader of the attack? Kind of, yeah. Ryan Sidebottom was in the team and he was very experienced but he’s also relatively quiet so I did feel that responsibility.”When you’ve had some good performances at a ground you always try and look back to those fond memories and hope they’ll inspire you – there are grounds like that for me and Trent Bridge is one of them. Part of it is the enjoyment of the place where you are. I know it sounds strange, but I like Nottingham, I like the hotel we stay in, I like the journey to the ground in the morning and it means when you play there you’re relaxed. All that kind of stuff helps.”

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Part four: 2009-

Leader of the pack
While Anderson settled in to his new role as the spearhead of England’s attack the team itself was in a state of flux as three consecutive series defeats (to South Africa, India and West Indies) were punctuated by two changes of captain and the appointment of Andy Flower as team director.After his performances in Wellington in 2008, Anderson began to slowly assume the role of leader of England’s bowling attack•Getty ImagesNo longer a loose cannon, Anderson was now one of the few reliable cogs in a team in upheaval and he would go on to play a pivotal role in galvanising a fractious group and help England to soar up the Test rankings, starting with the reclamation of the Ashes in the summer of 2009.Having dug England out of a hole in the series opener in Cardiff by blocking out the last 19 overs, Anderson tore through Australia’s top order in the next Test at Lord’s to put his side on course for victory; his early dismissal of Ricky Ponting proving to be a critical moment. “I enjoyed setting up Ponting,” recalls Anderson. “It’s all well and good having a plan but you’ve got to be able to back it up, so to do that was extremely satisfying. It was swinging a little bit and I had to beat the bat a couple of times, then I got him with a full, straight one. It’s pleasing when you can pull off a plan like that and also with Ponting being one of their key players, if you got him early you felt like it had an effect on the rest of their team. We knew it was a huge wicket for us.”England recovered from a hiccup at Headingley to take the series at The Oval and the Ashes win set the platform for an incredible run of eight wins from nine series, culminating in the whitewash over India two summers later which saw them claim the title of the world’s No.1 Test side. Meanwhile, Anderson was rapidly becoming a master of his craft.

First Test v Pakistan, Trent Bridge, July 2010
5 for 54 and 6 for 17

“That’s the best I’ve bowled. It was swinging a good amount and I got a couple of left-handers clean bowled from round the wicket, pitching it on the stumps and then moving it away. That’s a really difficult skill that I’ve practised, practised and practised, and got really frustrated with at times. I was so glad it was starting to pay off because it’s such a dangerous ball.”It was something Fred used to do brilliantly and Ottis Gibson [England’s then bowling coach] had been encouraging me to do it more and more. The biggest advantage it gives me is that when I bowl over the wicket to a left-hander the majority of them these days are set up to not get out lbw, because they know bowlers are going to try and swing it back into them. So for me to be able to come round the wicket and swing it away gives me an extra advantage. “

England arrived in Australia in an unfamiliar position as favourites and lived up to their billing in the second Test in Adelaide. English fans – still smarting from the humiliation at the same venue four years previously – must have feared the worst when Ricky Ponting called correctly and opted for first use of a pitch tipped to be a batsman’s paradise. Thirteen balls in, though, and all hell had broken loose.

Second Test v Australia, Adelaide, December 2010
4 for 51 and 2 for 92
“It was strange because we looked at the pitch in the morning and it wasn’t a definite ‘bat first’ wicket. There was a bit of a tinge of green, which we knew wouldn’t last long with the heat, but we knew if it was going to do anything it would do it in that first hour or two.”Also whenever we lose the toss we think that if we can keep the opposition down to less than three an over throughout the day and create some pressure then we can get wickets, even if it’s a flat deck. So we went in with that mentality and obviously got off to a great start with Trotty’s run out. The rest was just a one off really – you’re never going to get a team 2-3 very often.”The ball I got Ponting with was meant to wobble, I bowled it with a scrambled seam, but it just held its line and he went for the drive and nicked it. Then I got Clarke with the outswinger. “Fourth Test v Australia, Melbourne, December 2010
4 for 44 and 1 for 71
“Bowling first at Melbourne was a huge call. A few guys had got involved in discussions that morning, looked at the pitch and thought there was a bit of green there, similar to Adelaide, but we thought it might carry a bit more. We thought that if we were wrong about the pitch, batted first and then it seamed we could be four wickets down after an hour and it’s so hard to win from there. But if we bowled first and we were wrong, we were confident in our bowling at the time that we could keep it tight, not go at more than three an over and nag away. Even if they were 300 for 6 at the end of the day then we’d still be in the game. I thought that was a great call from Straussy to bowl first.”I think it was Warne that said if you win the toss, you bat and if you’re unsure, then you bat, and that’s what Swanny’s thinking is. He’s really old-fashioned like that. But the rest of the bowlers were thinking bowl first, we were quite confident about it. That whole first day, with the history behind the Boxing Day Test at the MCG – it was packed, it was noisy – to bowl them out for 98, then pile on the runs and by the end of the day there’s only 20,000 people left in the ground and they’re all English! It was just an incredible feeling. That’s the perfect day of Test cricket.”

England’s surge continued with a whitewash over India the next summer to usurp the vanquished visitors as the No.1 ranked Test nation, leading Anderson to proclaim that this group could “become one of the best, if not the best, England team there has ever been”. From there the road has been rocky though, as England came back to earth with a bump in the UAE before relinquishing their No.1 ranking to South Africa last summer.Anderson admits England struggled to adjust to their new lofty position and their form suffered as a result but this winter marked another significant turning point as Alastair Cook took over the captaincy and marshalled his side to a historic series win in India. Once again Anderson led from the front.

Third Test v India, Kolkata, December 2012
3 for 89 and 3 for 38
“In the first two games I got a wicket in each and I was thinking, ‘Jesus, this is hard work’. The first two games I didn’t really get it off the straight; I swung one ball, got a wicket in Mumbai and that was it! The pitches were more abrasive for the last two games, which helps reverse swing and as soon as you get it moving sideways it makes a bowler’s job a lot easier – it keeps you in the game, keeps you interested.”You get wickets slightly differently on the subcontinent than you do anywhere else; you still get them caught behind and caught slip but in different ways. In England I tend to go for the outswinger all the time because you know it’s going to carry through and you might get a nick, whereas in the subcontinent you really have to set people up a bit; you can’t constantly go out, you might have to bowl a few inswingers.”I think the biggest point from that series was our two spinners were much better than their two spinners. In hindsight we should have played two spinners in the first Test that we lost but we got sucked into the English way of thinking that we do well when we play three seamers. Monty [Panesar] showed how valuable he is to us. “

Kolkata 2012: “In the subcontinent you really have to set people up a bit; you can’t constantly go out, you might have to bowl a few inswingers”•BCCIAs Anderson enters his 11th year as an England cricketer with more than 500 international wickets under his belt, there remains plenty for him to achieve. Still just 30, if he can stay fit, and there is no reason to suggest he won’t, based on his recent track record and phenomenal fitness levels, then he’s on target to reel in Ian Botham as England’s leading wicket-taker in Tests (he’s 95 behind Beefy at the time of writing) in the next three to four years.Then from a team point of view there’s that line about this side having the potential to become England’s best ever, his determination “to create a legacy”. Victory in India edged them closer to that goal, and back-to-back Ashes win in the next 12 months would move them nearer still.Anderson’s personal legacy – as one of the finest exponents of swing that English cricket has ever seen – is already assured, but another two or three years like the last and we could be taking about the best we’ve ever had.

Plays of the Day from the third day of the third Test between Australia and India

Brydon Coverdale16-Mar-2013‘Accidental Mankad’ of the day
Everyone who witnessed Shikhar Dhawan’s Test debut will remember it for his exquisite strokeplay. It could have been memorable for all the wrong reasons. As Mitchell Starc ran in to bowl the first ball of the innings, Dhawan stood at the non-striker’s end, ready to back up. But the ball slipped from Starc’s hand as he neared the crease and hit the stumps with Dhawan out of his ground, already backing up. Under the ICC’s playing conditions, because Starc had not yet completed his normal delivery swing, Dhawan would have been run out had Australia appealed. But there was no diamond duck on debut for Dhawan as Australia were not interested in appealing, although Michael Clarke jokingly signalled for a replay.Despite all the excitement, it is highly debatable if Dhawan would have been given out even if Australia had appealed. The ball slipped out of Starc’s hand, which means no attempt was made to mankad Dhawan. The wording of law 42.15 under the ICC playing conditions is open to interpretation, but some umpires are of the view that an attempt at mankading has to be intentional. We might never know how the umpires would have reacted had an appeal been made in this case.*Lower-order shot of the day
Mitchell Starc played some excellent strokes on his way to 99 but the shot that signalled his intentions was his first boundary of the day. The ninth ball of the morning was a bouncer that Ishant Sharma hoped might get the lower-order batsman second-guessing himself. Instead, Starc simply stayed on the front foot and hooked the ball from in front of his face away to the midwicket boundary. It was the shot of a confident man.Top-order shot of the day
How to choose? Dhawan hardly played a stroke that wasn’t magnificent. There were backfoot square drives, crisp frontfoot drives, flicks through leg, sweeps – and his placement was impeccable. But for sheer unexpectedness on debut, Dhawan’s reverse-paddle against Xavier Doherty takes the honour. Dhawan picked a fullish ball that was just outside off stump and reverse-swept it very fine past Brad Haddin. The ball ran away along the ground for four, and it was part of an over that cost Doherty 18 runs.Predictable spell of the day
Steven Smith played his first Test as Australia’s specialist spinner but has switched his focus firmly to his batting in the last couple of years, so much so that this Sheffield Shield season, he has sent down only 15 overs. When Australia had a net set up on the pitch for centre-wicket practice after the Hyderabad Test, Smith was handled with ease by the otherwise struggling Phillip Hughes. But as Dhawan and M Vijay kept piling up the runs against Australia’s five main bowlers, it was inevitable that Smith would eventually be given a trundle. His three-over spell was littered with full tosses and rank long hops and he was lucky to escape with only 24 runs having come off his 18 balls.* 6.48pm GMT, March 16: The copy has been updated after reviewing the laws of the game.

He sparred with a fellow Trinidadian, irked Dhoni, and generally hogged the spotlight

KR Ravinarayanan07-Apr-2013Choice of game
I am a diehard fan of MS Dhoni, so it was only natural for me to want to watch my favourite hero play at our home ground, along with another favourite, Sachin Tendulkar. I am a regular visitor to Chepauk- now renovated with state-of-the-art facilities – for any kind of cricket match and enjoy the vibrant atmosphere.Team supported
Chennai Super Kings have been my favourite team right from day one of the IPL. No doubt, Dhoni is a charismatic leader, and lucky too. M Vijay has hit two centuries in the IPL; Suresh Raina is the tournament’s leading scorer; and Michael Hussey, another excellent contributor with the bat and on the field. The Super Kings are a conglomeration of high performers, winning two titles and losing last year’s by a whisker. I think they are favourites to win it this year as well.Key performer
Kieron Pollard stole the show with his five sixes, his acrobatic fielding and his bowling. He was everywhere and deservedly received the Man-of-the-Match award. His blistering attack, especially on his compatriot Dwayne Bravo, was worth watching.One thing I’d have changed
The seating arrangements left a lot to be desired. The volunteers or the policemen should have instructed the spectators to sit in the seats printed on the ticket. I had a minor scuffle with another spectator who said I was in his seat. I had to then take a seat that didn’t have a great view.Face-off I relished
In the 18th over, after Dhoni had hit him for a six and a four, Pollard stopped halfway in his run-up. When he ran in again, it was Dhoni’s turn to withdraw.Wow moment
Pollard’s acrobatic catch at deep midwicket boundary to dismiss Dhoni in the final over was the moment that sealed the victory for Mumbai Indians.Shot of the day
Pollard hit a mighty six over long-on off R Ashwin.Crowd meter
The crowd was in a frenzy, singing, dancing and applauding. The cool sea breeze brought some relief from the sweltering heat of Chennai.T20 v ODI
I like Twenty20s more because of the edge-of-the-seat moments. In this edition of the IPL, we have already seen several cliffhangers. Cricket is not the only sport to be affected by crass commercialisation, especially in T20s, but the people enjoy the format.TV versus stadium
It is always a pleasure to watch a game live at the stadium.Marks out of 10
8. It was the perfect outing for a weekend evening.

There is unbridled joy in each of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s hundred celebrations, but this one was tinged with some relief too. He is arriving at a period in his career where he must prove even to himself that his skill remains undimmed

Andrew Fidel Fernando28-Jul-2013Like every great entertainer, Tillakaratne Dilshan likes to adorn his grand performances with a moment the audience will not soon forget. Many times it is a fierce blow through the covers early in the innings – an act that is routinely his statement of unyielding intent, wrists and blade whipping manically toward ball that rarely deserves to be fetched from the fence. Other times it’s his shot over the keeper, leaving the bowler wondering if he has a ball that might subdue a batsman who makes such cruel mockery of cricket’s basic tenets.Then on his best days, Dilshan plays a stroke that outstrips even the dilscoop for gall. Two years ago in a Twenty20 in Pallekele, he dropped to one knee and swept a low Shane Watson full-toss on off stump, flat and hard over the deep midwicket boundary.Against South Africa in the fourth ODI, Dilshan’s 17th hundred was notably short on thrills. His go-to shot through the covers was shelved entirely, balls were largely regarded on conventional merit and for much of their 184-run stand, Kumar Sangakkara outscored him blow-for-blow.As Dilshan found his way back from a lean trot and from injury, he caged the abandon that founded his success and ground out a ton he knew he needed to make. It had been seven innings since he last crossed 50, and though he continues to make big breakthroughs with the ball, any team’s oldest player can only go so long without a major contribution in his foremost suit. There is unbridled joy in each of Dilshan’s hundred celebrations, but this one was tinged with some relief too. He is arriving at a period in his career where he must prove even to himself that his skill remains undimmed.He had attempted a similar innings two matches ago, on a slower surface in Colombo. His 43 from 64 then featured just one four; a glide to the third-man boundary. But having sat out the tri-series against West Indies through injury, perhaps body had not yet begun to fully cooperate with will. A wide delivery he would normally pummel through point took a top edge and finished in the wicketkeeper’s gloves.He has also had a major technical flaw re-exposed in this series. On Boxing Day last year, in a moment that epitomised Sri Lanka’s ineptness in that match, Dilshan swiped across the line at a full, seaming Mitchell Johnson ball and had his stumps rattled. He spoke of having fixed the flaw when he hit two hundreds in three matches against Bangladesh in March, but departed in almost identical fashion in the Champions Trophy, when Mitchell McLenaghan bowled him in Cardiff. Against South Africa in the first ODI, Dilshan allowed Chris Morris’ first straight ball following a spate of wides through his defences, as he aimed a shot through mid-on once again.

I’m not going to change how I play. If the ball is there to hit – even if it is the first ball – I’m going to hit itTillakaratne Dilshan

Both Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel honed in on Dilshan’s stumps early in the innings, hoping he would oblige once more. But like with his cover drive, Dilshan remained untempted. The only expansive stroke he played off the seam bowlers in the arc from square leg to mid-off was a slog off a Tsotsobe free-hit. The straight balls were defused defensively instead, as he endeavoured to establish himself. It is an unusual ploy Dilshan said he may now use more often, if it brings him such success.”Now with the new rule, run scoring has completely changed. If you take the last six or seven months, you can get a lot more runs in the last 15 overs than you can in the first 10. With the two new balls, it’s better not to take a chance in those first 10 overs. There are also only four fielders on the boundary later on, when the ball is older and not doing much. When the rules change, we have to adjust as well.”He could not bring himself to admit he had embraced reticence though. Despite advocating a more thoughtful approach than he is used to, Dilshan remains a creature of instinct and an ardent opportunist. Once the game was secure in Pallekele, he strummed his steady piece into a crescendo, hitting nine late fours to plunder 44 from 21 deliveries. His first 50 runs had come in 83 balls.”Still, given all that, I’m not going to change how I play. If the ball is there to hit – even if it is the first ball – I’m going to hit it.”By his own admission Dilshan does not train hard, even in a poor patch, and his method is perhaps no great exemplar for the young men finding their feet in the side. But there was no doubting his thirst for victory in Pallekele, as he strayed from the familiar to regain the confidence his cricket is founded on, and that is worth trading a few memorable shots for.

The chance to see Tendulkar and Dravid bat was tempting, but it was another Indian batsman who delighted with his strokes

Aashish Calla22-Sep-2013Choice of game
The fact that this is the last tournament for both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar made this match unmissable. I had never watched Sachin Tendulkar live, so I booked my ticket well in advance for this encounter.Team supported
Despite Tendulkar being the reason I was present at the ground, I supported Rajasthan Royals since I am a Jaipur lad and a die-hard Rahul Dravid fan.Key performer
Sanju Samson was the star with the bat, but the real show-stealer was the skiddy Himachal Pradesh pace bowler Vikramjeet Malik, who broke Mumbai Indians’ back with the wickets of Dwayne Smith and Dinesh Karthik in his first spell and then delivered another killer blow by picking up Kieron Pollard off the first ball of his final over.One thing I’d have changed
I would have liked to see Tendulkar and Dravid score more runs. Even in this age of slam-bang cricket, and despite this being a Twenty20 game, there are followers like me who go to the ground only to see these batting artists score big and play those gorgeous strokes.Face-off I relished
After Dravid’s dismissal, out came young Samson to face two huge Aussie pacers. Against Mitchell Johnson, Samson first survived a big lbw appeal, then received a short ball at 150kph, before edging the third for a four. But none of these deterred the kid’s confidence. Off the next ball, Samson played a fabulous Dravid-esque flick between mid-on and midwicket for four.Wow moment
Rohit Sharma’s ramp shot for six off Shane Watson was executed with precision. Not only was it played smartly, seeing that fine leg was inside the circle, but it was also timed very well.Close encounter
Johnson was fielding at long-on in front of my seat. He received huge cheers whenever he came there, but towards the end of the game, there were some empty glasses and straws thrown towards him, though not directed at him, I’m sure. He had to kick those out of the boundary twice.Shot of the day
It’s a tough choice between Samson’s stunning flick and Rohit’s ramp shot, but I’ll go with the former for the sheer class it exuded and for the fact that it reminded me of the classy VVS Laxman.Crowd meter
In my four seasons of watching T20 games at the SMS stadium, I have to say with a heavy heart that today’s was the most ill-behaved crowd I’ve ever witnessed here. There were lots and lots of spectators throwing empty glasses and straws at the boundary from the stands. At two or three instances, the items fell inside the ground, disturbing the fielder at the boundary and bringing disrepute to the game.Entertainment
The match was preceded by a musical performance by popular Bollywood singer Mika Singh.ODI v Twenty20
I still prefer watching an ODI, being a little old-fashioned when it comes to my cricketing likes and dislikes. The longer format means more chances to watch your favourite player perform to the best of his abilities – longer bowling spells, setting the batsman up, more strokes.Overall
The game lived up to my expectations. When the two teams met in the IPL in Jaipur a few months ago, the game was an absolute no-contest. This time it was tighter, neither low-scoring nor very high-scoring, ending in a last-over finish.Marks out of 10
8, two marks deducted for not getting to see Tendulkar or Dravid fire with the bat, nor some good quality spin bowling in either innings despite the presence of Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha in the Mumbai team.

Plays of the Day from the Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Mirpur02-Mar-2014The near-collision
During the Asia Cup, fielders seem to have forgotten the law of physics which states that two bodies cannot occupy the same point at the same time. India have suffered two collisions, and Pakistan nearly added another when Mohammad Hafeez and Sharjeel Khan went for the same catch after Rohit Sharma miscued a pull off Mohammad Talha. Hafeez, running back from midwicket, completed the catch, but not before treading on Sharjeel Khan’s toes as he ran in from deep square leg. Sharjeel limped off and didn’t field after the incident, but looked in no trouble when he came out to bat.The angry professor
A skidder from round the wicket hitting a left-handed batsman on the pads – this is the trademark Hafeez wicket. He had dismissed Shikhar Dhawan in this manner earlier in the day, and now he turned around to appeal after bowling a similar delivery, with similar results, to Ravindra Jadeja. Umpire Nigel Llong was unmoved, though, and Hafeez made his displeasure clear. Llong beckoned to Misbah-ul-Haq and had a long chat with the bowler and captain. Four overs later, Hafeez dropped a sitter from Jadeja. Was he still thinking about the lbw decision when the ball came down at him from the sky?Run-out, again
Against Afghanistan, Misbah had responded to a call from Sohaib Maqsood only to end up finishing second in a bizarre race to the same end. Now, it was the turn of Hafeez – yes, he had a pretty eventful match – to push a ball to the off side and call Misbah for a run. Misbah ran. When he was halfway down the pitch, Hafeez sent him back. He turned and attempted to get back to his crease, but a clever little flick from a diving Amit Mishra beat him to it.DK fluffs another stumping
Dinesh Karthik’s missed stumping of Kumar Sangakkara proved crucial to India’s narrow defeat against Sri Lanka on Friday. He now had a chance to make amends when R Ashwin foxed a charging Maqsood with a ball down the leg side. The partnership between Maqsood and Hafeez  – no, this isn’t just a gratuitous reference – had just crossed 50, and this would have been a good time for India to take a wicket. Maqsood was nowhere near his crease when the ball popped into Karthik’s gloves and popped right out.

Shaun Marsh entered the first Test in Centurion with barely any time to think. As he constructed a century that may yet provide the foundations of a famous Australian victory, it was possible to conclude it had been good for him

Daniel Brettig at Centurion12-Feb-2014Picked for Australia, ruled out by injury, rehabilitated in time for the Big Bash League final, flown over to South Africa after all, chosen to play on the strength of two training sessions, facing up to Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel on day one of the series at Centurion.That is a lot to fit into one sentence, let alone one week: the whirlwind left Shaun Marsh with barely any time to think. As he constructed a century that may yet provide the foundations of a famous Australian victory, it was possible to conclude that this rushed state of affairs had been good for him.All Marsh has been able to do is train, travel and play, living on the instincts honed by his years of batting at the similarly bouncy WACA Ground and passed on through the genes of his father Geoff and the instructions of his two coaching mentors for state and country, Justin Langer and Darren Lehmann.Described by the national selector John Inverarity as being “in a very good space” on the day he was first chosen, Marsh has not had the chance to move out of it, his sole focus getting fit and making runs.It was on this very ground two years ago that Marsh occupied a space as far from “very good” as can be imagined. He and his brother Mitchell were dropped from the Perth Scorchers team to play in a Champions League match following a pattern of drinking and poor behaviour that stretched most of the way across the team. He would later be dropped from the Western Australia Sheffield Shield side upon his return home, in the midst of an horrific slump that began during his previous spell in the national team when he cobbled 17 runs in six innings against India.At the time, it seemed inconceivable that he would return to Test cricket. But the ascension of Lehmann to the role of Australian coach last year opened up an avenue by which Marsh would again become a contender. They had worked together fruitfully at King’s XI Punjab in the 2013 IPL immediately before Lehmann was chosen to replace Mickey Arthur. Lehmann, like Inverarity, Langer and many other powerful figures in Australian cricket, was attracted by the purity of Marsh’s technique and the ease of his run-scoring when in form.

Smith lauds jetlagged Marsh

Having shared an unbroken union of 199 with Shaun Marsh, Steve Smith was rich in his praise of the man who had only arrived in the country three days before.
“It took me a good week to get over [jetlag] and he’s only been here three days,” Smith said. “He’s certainly probably copping a little bit. Just the way he played today was sensational. He waited beautifully and when they got into his areas he capitalised on it he showed great maturity. The way he’s come back against arguably the best bowling attack in the world and the way he played today was just terrific. I’m really happy for him.”
As for his own burgeoning career, Smith said his game had leapt forward with the aid of greater reserves of patience. “I’ve tightened up my technique for a start, I’m a lot more patient,” he said. “They’re probably the two major factors. Just knowing where my off stump is and being able to leave a lot of balls and wait until the bowlers get into my areas when I want to score. I think that’s probably been the key to my success over the last little bit. Hopefully it carries into tomorrow and long into the future.”

They have had to ignore a record that has remained mediocre throughout a career now comfortably into its second decade. This hundred was only Marsh’s ninth in first-class matches, a tally that looks hopelessly puny when lined up against the 24 compiled by the 25-year-old Phillip Hughes. Like the similarly stylish debutant Alex Doolan, he has often flattered to deceive, including his hundred in Sri Lanka in 2011, when his first Test innings in Palakelle grew to 141 runs every bit as assured as those collected here. The evidence of the eyes conflicts enormously with that of the record book.Watching Marsh subdue South Africa at Centurion, it was easy to see why Lehmann was so taken with him. His simple but powerful method, footwork economical and bat unimpeachably straight, looks very much like that of the finest players. He is capable of judging the location of his off stump wisely also, and left a third of his first 100 balls on a pitch offering lateral and vertical movement. One drive down the ground from Steyn drew purring approval from spectators not always so generous to visiting teams – there are reinforced concrete columns in existence less solid than that stroke.If the chaotic circumstances of his return to the Test team were perversely of some benefit to Marsh, he was also aided by a few other circumstances and moments of good fortune. The faith of selectors and coaches would not have amounted to much had an early inside edge flicked the stumps instead of skating narrowly past them, had Hashim Amla held onto a chance in the gully on 12, or had a chipped drive on 57 floated in the direction of a taller man than Robin Peterson.South Africa, too, were some way short of their best. Electing to bowl first in expectation of the kind of quick kill they have invariably achieved at Centurion, the hosts were overexcited by the bounce on offer and pitched far too short on a regular basis, as evidenced by a conspicuous lack of edges or lbw shouts.Chris Rogers and Michael Clarke both succumbed to bumpers, the opener pinned by Morkel and the captain worried out by Steyn. David Warner and Doolan also perished aiming cross-bat shots to balls short of a length, but it was not an angle of attack that perturbed the WACA-raised Marsh.There would be few troubles either for Steve Smith, who joined Marsh at the uncertain juncture of 98 for 4 following Clarke’s exit. Moved down from his preferred spot at No. 5, Smith announced himself with a cracking square drive from the bowling of Ryan McLaren and went on to play with the kind of unruffled assurance he had exhibited against England on lively strips in Perth and Sydney.As a duo, Marsh and Smith made for a fascinating contrast of form and function. The younger man’s technique is far from smooth but it has become wonderfully effective over time, wrong-footing bowlers where it had once befuddled Smith himself.The only thing ungainly about Marsh was the slight limp he picked up during the innings, likely to be the aftermath of the calf problem that had first scrubbed him from the trip. A team spokesman later denied any calf trouble but said Marsh had complained of stomach muscle soreness. How that affects him over the rest of this match remains to be seen, and another poorly-timed dice with injury would be in keeping with the boom and bust narrative of his career.For now, though, Marsh can afford a moment’s reflection on the past week and what it has brought him. His natural instincts, and those of the selectors who chose him in defiance of much empirical evidence, have been richly rewarded. A very good space indeed.