cricket club expo 2015

ICC EUROPE
N E W S L E T T E R
NOVEMBER 2014
INSIDE
• Scotland spectacular – all
the latest news from the
Saltires’ camp
• 2015 ICC Europe
tournaments announced
• Cricket Club Expo –
everything your club needs
all under one roof
Brought to you by
TWEETS OF THE MONTH
BIGGER
BETTER
GLOBAL GAME
Hungarian Cricket @hungary4cricket
Imaginary Cricket after a long day of
coach training with @icc_europe and
@cricketfactory
cricket.com.au @CricketAus Well done to @Irelandcricket on beating
@CricketACT by 124 runs. A big win on
the road to the @cricketworldcup
vivian kingma @viviankingma
Almost finished our first week of hard
work in SA with the tuks cricket academy
in Pretoria!!
10 RUNS
End of season review – 2014 | Gibraltar Cricket
Gibraltar Cricket kicked off the 2014 season with
the Gibtelecom Cup right at the beginning of April.
The Gibtelecom Cup was contested by 8 teams and
the format of choice (given the uncertain length of
the season) was a knockout tournament..
The margin by which Scotland beat Tasmania in the second match of their World
Cup warm-up tour of Australia. Read more at
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
Welcome to this month’s newsletter, where a number
of members are undertaking cricket activity. Germany
and Scotland both have fantastic development stories,
so please take a look. Also, all clubs take a look at the
Cricket Club Expo that is taking place in 2015, it is always
a great event, while elsewhere Cricket Scotland are
saying hellos and goodbyes. Finally, we have announced
2015 tournament dates – so put them in your diary! We
hope you enjoy this month’s edition.
Hello and welcome from the All Out Cricket team. In
this issue of the ICC Europe newsletter we like to think
we’ve covered all the bases. We’ve got an interview
with England’s middle-order maestro Joe Root about
his golden summer, a sit-down with a living legend in
the form of arguably the greatest ever left-arm seamer
Wasim Akram, a masterclass on bowling off-spin in 50over cricket from Warwickshire’s overseas star Jeetan
Patel and a playful look at the various attempts (some
more successful than others) to bring cricket to the
computer screen. We hope it offers up something for
everyone, so settle yourself down and get reading – we
hope you enjoy it.!
Cricket Ireland
As part of the two-year agreement, Cricket Ireland
will receive support for training and development
of its players, coaches and managers through
access to the university’s specialist sporting
facilities, staff and resources.
Sky Sports meets two young
faces of Ireland women’s cricket,
who have 82 caps between them
and manage their schoolwork
with cricket duty.
Nick Pink
ICC Regional Development Manager – Europe
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news and events
from ICC Europe by following us on Twitter and liking
us on Facebook!
Twitter
Facebook
Phil Walker
Editor, All Out Cricket
Check it out for yourself by heading to
www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/
cricket/9484832/young-faces-of-irelandcricket or by clicking on the image above.
IMAGE OF THE MONTH
Scotland Men’s team visit
Bonorong Wildlife Park
where they showed their
support for the Save the
Tasmanian Devil Appeal.
Other news from
Scotland...
Cricket Scotland’s nationwide
‘Cricket-a-thon’ has raised £1,000
for the STV Appeal, the charity
which helps children affected by
poverty in Scotland. The cricket-a-thon, which
took place in August this year,
encouraged as many people as
possible to get involved with
cricket and ‘stump up to play’
for the charity. Events took
place over a weekend across the
country and generous cricketers
and fans donated to the STV
Appeal while batting and bowling.
CRICKET IN
GLASGOW
RECEIVES BOOST
NEWS
SCOTLAND’S CEO TO MOVE
ON AFTER 10 YEARS
****************
As he approaches the end of his 10th year as Chief Executive,
Roddy Smith has announced that he will leave Cricket
Scotland at the end of December.
Smith (pictured above with ICC CEO Dave Richardson (left))
joined Cricket Scotland in September 2004 and has overseen
a transformation in the activity of the governing body during
his tenure. Under his management Cricket Scotland’s team has
increased from eight to 25 staff and turnover has quadrupled.
In the last 10 years there have also been some significant
on-field performances by Scotland’s national teams, with
participation figures for players, coaches and umpires all on
the rise.
Commenting on his departure Smith said: “I have thoroughly
enjoyed my time with Cricket Scotland and it’s hard to believe it has
been nearly a decade. I am delighted that I leave an organisation in
good health with a growing game and after a year of exceptional
on field performances by national teams at all levels.
“Ten years is a long time for a Chief Executive of a national
governing body and now feels exactly the right time to move
on to my next challenge. With a Cricket World Cup to look
forward to early next year and a number of newly appointed
staff to work with, I am looking forward to handing over to my
successor an organisation that is very well placed to succeed
in the future.
“The game in Scotland is fortunate to have a great group
of volunteers and professional staff and I am indebted to
everyone that has helped me over the last 10 years.”
Cricket Scotland’s Chairman Keith Oliver stated: “Roddy and I
have worked together throughout his tenure and I am enormously
grateful to him for all his endeavours and professional expertise.
There is no doubt that the governing body of cricket in Scotland
is unrecognisable from where we were in 2004 and the credit for
this must go to Roddy and his staff.
“Back then we could not have imagined we would have won
global qualifying events, played in World Cups at youth and
senior level, played ODI games in front of thousands, run a
fully professional national team as well as winning numerous
development awards at a European and global level. I and all
at Cricket Scotland wish Roddy every success in his next role.”
Cricket Scotland will start the recruitment process for
Smith’s successor in due course with the aim of the new Chief
Executive being in place early in the New Year.
****************
Cricket clubs and other key cricket organisations in
Glasgow have been fortunate to benefit from support
from the Sports Council for Glasgow. The Sports Council for Glasgow is a volunteer-based
organisation and an organisation which aims to support
its members – specifically the sports clubs and other
sporting agencies working in Glasgow.
The main support from the Sports Council for Glasgow
has come through its Club Grant Scheme, which aims
to aid the development of sport within Glasgow, and
the Sports Promotion Fund, which aims to support the
hosting of sporting events of at least regional significance
in Glasgow. The following groups have received support: Clydesdale Cricket Club
Club Grant Scheme & Sports Promotion Fund
Cricket Scotland
Sports Promotion Fund
Poloc Cricket Club
Club Grant Scheme
South Glasgow Area Cricket Development Group
Club Grant Scheme
West District Junior Cricket Union
Sports Promotion Fund
West Regional Development Centre
Sports Promotion Fund
Since October 2006, these organisations have benefitted
from 12 different awards, receiving a total of £7,062.20 in
funds.
MAYNARD SIGNS UP
****************
Matt Maynard has been announced as an additional
specialist coaching support for Scotland ahead of a nineday intensive batting camp at the ICC Academy in Dubai. Maynard (pictured below), who has recently
been appointed as the new Somerset CCC Director of
Cricket, will assist with Scotland’s preparations for the 2015
ICC World Cup in New Zealand and Australia during the
camp, which starts on the 11th November. On his appointment, Matthew Maynard commented: “I’m
delighted to be able to join up with Cricket Scotland to help
the boys prepare for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. It is an
exciting time for Cricket Scotland and the camp in Dubai
will offer a great learning experience for the players and
coaches alike.” NEWS
GERMANY MAKING STRIDES
****************
2015 ICC EUROPE
TOURNAMENTS
ANNOUNCED
The pathway for junior male and
female players was on the agenda
for the Deutscher Cricket Bund
in this year’s Regional Support
Programme supported by ICC
Europe, with great results.
The aim was to establish the
structure for youth leagues in a
number of regions across Germany, with the focus on three
regions North Germany, Berlin and Hessen; and then the late
addition of the NRW region. The four regions have made
tremendous strides this year:
****************
ICC Europe has announced the three tournaments that will
be taking place next year.
Pepsi ICC Europe Division 1 hosted by Jersey on 9-13
May 2015. The teams participating are Denmark, France,
Guernsey, Italy, Jersey and Norway.
Pepsi ICC Europe U19 Division 1 hosted by Jersey
between 11-19 July 2015. The teams participating are
Jersey, Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.
Pepsi ICC Europe U15 Trophy hosted by Rugby,
Warwickshire on 3-8 August 2015. The teams participating
are Denmark, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Scotland and the
Netherlands.
FOUR EUROPEAN MEMBERS
TAKE PART IN LEADER
DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
****************
Nine representatives from eight Associate and Affiliate Members
(AMs) of the International Cricket Council (ICC) have successfully
wrapped up a week-long leadership development workshop in
Dubai as part of a bespoke global programme developed by the
ICC and the World Academy of Sport.
The workshop was one component of the pilot AM Leadership
Programme, which aims to develop critical skills for the effective
administration and governance of cricket. The pilot programme
was developed specifically to provide key individuals within
Associate and Affiliate Members with continuous professional
development opportunities to help them develop as leaders and
managers in their respective governing bodies and countries. The workshop was the second stage of the year-long
programme, and followed on from a formal assessment of
individual leadership skills, conducted earlier this year. In
the workshop, the nine participants studied topics related to
sports administration such as strategic planning, relationship
management, human resources management, developing strategic
partnerships and funding opportunities.
Through the first two stages of the programme, the participants
have developed an action plan to help them enhance administration
in their countries to better grow the game, and the ICC will continue
to provide targeted support to help them achieve their plans.
ICC Head of Global Development Tim Anderson said: “This AM
Leadership Programme aligns with our strategic focus to help
Associate and Affiliate Members improve their governance and
administration standards.
North Germany: Leagues at U11, U13, U15 and U17 levels. Hard
ball cricket, various rules, every single club is involved with at
least one team in one of the leagues.
NRW: League at U15 level, establishment of competitive
structure and vision for the future, lots of U19 activity with
players coming through to the men’s game on a regular basis.
Berlin: League at U11 level, starting out with a hard ball but
then realising this was too early and changing to softer balls, a
valuable lesson for the future.
Hessen: Leagues at U15 and U19 level.
“The ICC is pleased to be
investing in the professional
development of these key
individuals, and commends
the dedication they’ve shown
to improving themselves. We look forward to their
enhanced skills being used
to further develop cricket in
their respective countries in
the future.”
The nine participants
undertaking the programme
are Billy MacDermott
(Argentina), Ole Roland
(Denmark), Tim Simmonite
(Ireland), Luca Bruno
(Italy), Alex Miyaji (Japan),
Gordon Drummond and
Ian Sandbrook (Scotland),
Shaam Harnam (Suriname)
and Justine Ligyalingi (Uganda).
Former Scotland captain Gordon Drummond (pictured above)
said: “The AM Leadership Programme was a fantastic opportunity
for me to develop my skills off the park. The programme run by the
ICC and World Academy of Sport provided me with the knowledge
and understanding of a variety of skills and issues relating to
management and governance. It’s fantastic that I have had this
opportunity at the end of my playing career, allowing me to build
for the future.”
The bespoke programme was developed as a parallel opportunity
to the World Academy of Sport Postgraduate Certificate (PGC)
in Sport Management (Cricket), an industry-recognised higher
academic qualification. A number of administrators have previously
participated in the PGC.
Having league structure at age group levels is an important
part of development and DCB General Manager Brian Mantle
explains why in particular in Germany: “We had noticed that
previous programmes had not really brought the required results
in terms of retaining youngsters and developing skills. Regular
league cricket with a competitive context, team work and a
clear pathway mean that juniors are growing at a faster rate as
cricketers and are developing a connection to the game.”
Moving forward Mantle believes this programme will only go from
strength to strength: “Our experience from other programmes is
that this sort of development is always better in the second year.
We are sure that the leagues will develop and more clubs will
join. The leagues should become an integral part of the German
cricketing summer and as the years go by we want to see these
children grow into adult players, coaches and administrators who
will give something back to the sport.”
There was a lot more responsibility given to the region this
time to deliver the development of the programme which is a
big step forward for the Deutscher Cricket Bund, “the regions
chosen were those who had already shown an appetite for youth
development and a certain element of self-regulation. It was
easy to let the regions get on with things as the trust between
them and the DCB was always there. Now we are convinced that
almost all of the regions and a vast majority of the clubs have
bought in to the DCB vision and we are seeing club after club
start youth training at schools and in their clubs,” stated Mantle.
Youth Officer Sajid Sikandar has been working with the
regions and has been involved in many different cricket
programmes: “Street20, which was introduced in 2013 can be
seen as the basic programme for cricket involvement. This is
usually for teenage and younger players, but it has also attracted
adults towards cricket. Out of this programme, several clubs
have been able to form youth sections where hard ball cricket is
promoted,” concludes Sikander.
CRICKET CLUB EXPO 2015
****************
Cricket Club EXPO is the only dedicated exhibition series
that brings together cricket clubs and the businesses that
operate within the cricket market at the game’s finest
venues.
The mission of Cricket Club EXPO is to help officials and
players from cricket clubs, schools and Member countries
make better, more informed decisions and get better value
for money when they buy equipment and products.
Cricket Club EXPO is inviting Europe’s clubs and countries
to attend one of the exhibitions, attendance is free of
charge and visitors can meet and talk with suppliers of
everything a cricket club or club cricketer could need – from
cricket balls and score books, to electronic scoreboards and
new pavilions.
In 2015 Cricket Club EXPO will be visiting two international
and one of the UK’s finest club cricket grounds in 2015.
They begin at the Lord’s Nursery Pavilion, then on to
Newcastle Cricket Centre and finally to South Wales for the
final EXPO in the series, which takes place at the SWALEC
Stadium – fast becoming one of the UK’s leading venues for
international cricket.
All shows open to visitors at 10am and are open until 5pm,
entrance is free, so come and join us for a great cricketing
day out, please pre-register here.
Exhibition Organiser Dominic McMullan explains: “I’m
delighted to be able to work with ICC Europe to encourage
members to attend Cricket Club EXPO events in 2015.
By visiting the shows members can meet suppliers
from everything from cricket balls to new pavilions and
everything in between in order to plan the development
of cricket in their own countries and communities across
Europe. The growth of the cricket is of great benefit to
all of us who love the game and want to see increased
participation in emerging territories.”
The exhibitions available are the following and please preregister here.
7th February 2015 – The Nursery Pavilion, Lord’s
21st February 2015 – Newcastle Cricket Centre, Gosforth
7th March 2015 – The SWALEC Stadium, Wales
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STARS OF SUMMER
Joe Root photographed by
Tom Shaw exclusively for AOC,
Headingley Carnegie Stadium,
Leeds, September 2014
MAN OF
STEEL
Joe Root, England’s star of the summer,
is all grown up and revelling in his new
role. He spoke to Jo Harman about his
landmark season.
W
e’re two years into Joe Root’s international career and
it’s time to dispense with the hackneyed patter about
him looking like a schoolboy. As he enters the Headingley
indoor school wearing a Harrington-style jacket and broad
smile, throws his bag down and introduces himself with a sturdy
handshake, he appears anything but. Of course he’ll always have
that cherubic, butter-wouldn’t-melt visage, but he’s filled out since
AOC saw him last. He’s even got a bit of stubble. The wide-eyed
Sheffield lad who less than two years ago made his debut in the
pressure-cooker of a series-decider in Nagpur, grinning from ear to
ear as he ground India into the dust, is all grown up.
He’s had to do that growing up fast, too. After a winter in
Australia that he admits left him doubting his technique and
wondering if he would win his England place back after being
dropped for the final Ashes Test – “You’ve seen it happen to people
before,” he says. “Unfortunately those sorts of things do go through
your mind” – he started this summer in a new team, with a new
batting position and a new role in the group. No longer the emerging
starlet, Root, after just 15 Tests, found himself a senior member of
the batting unit. Some were even suggesting he should be captain.
“It’s a weird one because a lot of the lads are actually older than
me but haven’t played quite as much cricket,” he tells us, four days
after captaining Yorkshire to a Championship-clinching win to cap
his coming-of-age summer. “When I think of the team photo at the
start of the summer, there were nearly 500 caps on the front row
and about 15 caps on the back row, which sort of shows where we’re
at as a side. I obviously feel slightly more senior but, by the same
token, I think there’s a nice balance in the group.”
Root may be one of the more experienced members of the team
now, but he wasn’t on every pundit’s teamsheet at the start of
the season. A host of young batsmen were piling on early-season
runs in county cricket and, by his own admission, he had suffered
a crisis of confidence in Australia that left his position under
scrutiny. He resolved to play with more freedom and stop clinging
on for survival.
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STARS OF SUMMER
“Coming back from Australia, I got myself in a really
bad place cricket-wise. I was playing to survive, not
to score runs. As soon as you start doing that, you’re
always going to struggle. At the start of this summer
my one goal when I went out to bat was to score as many
runs as I could – that’s all I was going to worry about.
Trying to have that mindset, instead of just surviving,
has definitely helped. Being as busy as possible, running
between the wickets, trying to nick runs where I can here
and there – not just for me but for everyone else – is very
important because it sets the tone from ball one.”
It wasn’t just his mental approach that had caused him
problems in Australia. With Root hanging back in his crease
the battery of Aussie quicks, spearheaded by Mitchell
Johnson, had ruthlessly exposed his frailties by bowling full
and outside off-stump. Predominantly a back-foot player, he
worked tirelessly in the nets on his front-foot play to try and
remedy the issue, only to find himself in more of a muddle
than before. “You always want to tinker with things, to try
and improve things,” he says, “and I spent a lot of the winter
trying to improve my front-foot play. A lot of people told me
that I’m not strong enough on the front foot to bat in the toporder. Whether it was coaches trying to help me develop my
game or commentators seeing things and commenting on
them. I felt that. And, to be fair, I agreed.
“The problem was I spent all my time and energy
working on that and neglected my back-foot play, which
is where I score the majority of my runs. I then ended up
not scoring any runs on the front foot because I was still
trying to develop that side of my game, and not being able
to get back and play the shots I would do normally. I was
then almost just a sitting duck, trying to survive.
WHEN YOU FIRST GET DROPPED, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU
MIGHT NEVER PLAY FOR ENGLAND AGAIN. YOU’VE GOT
TO BE A STRONG ENOUGH CHARACTER, OR STUBBORN
ENOUGH, TO SAY, ‘NO, I’M TALKING A LOAD OF RUBBISH
HERE, I’M GOING TO BE AROUND FOR A WHILE’
“I got to the end of that tour and I’d obviously had a lot of
people telling me a lot of different things. I’d written a lot
of stuff down over the course of the tour and looking at it,
it was all the same sort of thing. I needed to look after the
things that always serve me well, which is playing strong
shots off the back foot. I just tried to really, really work on
nailing those and then went to West Indies [in February
for England’s ODI and T20 series] and had a good tour.
When you first get dropped, you feel like you might never
play for England again. You’ve got to be a strong enough
character, or stubborn enough, to say, ‘No, I’m talking a
load of rubbish here, I’m going to be around for a while’.”
A
s early as last summer, not long after Root had
scored 180 against Australia at Lord’s, his greatest
champion, Michael Vaughan, voiced concerns about
his suitability for opening. “Joe is an outstanding talent
but has a technical fault,” Vaughan said last August.
“He’s too much on the back foot for an opener.” Having
been shuffled up and down the order – he’s batted every
position from opener to No.7 in his 22-Test career – the
England think-tank eventually agreed, bringing in Sam
Robson at the start of the summer and allowing Root to
move down.
Eyebrows were raised when Gary Ballance, a Test
novice with no first-class experience at No.3 for his
county Yorkshire, got the nod to bat first drop, with Ian
Bell and Root – experienced top-order batsmen – slotting
in at No.4 and 5. Was Root asked where he’d like to bat?
“Yeah, and initially I said four, but then Belly, a guy with
100 Test caps, said the same thing.” And the new boy
gets lumped with three? “I know, I know… my good friend
Gary got given the task of batting at three and, to be fair,
the way his game’s set up is perfect for it. He’s got a great
temperament and he’s very strong-minded.”
Make no mistake, the end result has entirely justified
that decision. Ballance scored three centuries from No.3
to finish the summer with an average of 70.40, while Root
looked born for his new role, ferreting 777 runs from the
middle-order at an average of 97.12, including two tons
and a double. The way the decision was reached does
smack of a conversation you might hear at a village side
on a Sunday afternoon, though.
Speaking to AOC in March, Nick Compton – who’d scored
back-to-back centuries three Tests earlier but made way
so Root could move up the order last summer – described
how he felt “the energy was for [Root] to be the long-term
replacement for Andrew Strauss… it was just a case of how
long I could keep him out”. When Root’s form as an opener
fell away, he reverted back to the middle-order.
As a graduate of England’s age-group teams and the
ECB’s Performance Programme, essentially serving as
a prototype for what young English cricketers should
aspire to be in terms of attitude and talent, has Joe Root
been given special treatment? Or does it just make good,
logical sense to give a player who evidently has so much to
offer every possible opportunity to succeed?
“I don’t think it would be special treatment,” he says.
“We’ve got a new management that want to set a team
up that’s going to improve and potentially do some great
things over the next couple of years, and it’s trying to
find the right formula that helps you do that. I think it
wasn’t special treatment, it was trying to find the balance
of things and where everyone’s best suited. Obviously
people are asked where they thought they’d fit best into
the team, but ultimately the coaches and captain have got
to make some tough choices and make those decisions.
We voice our opinions, but we know it’s bigger than that.
We’re playing for England, which is a huge honour, and
you fit into the team how you can. It’s not about personal
performances, it’s about a team outcome and winning
games of cricket. Whether that means you’ve got more
chance of doing it at No.5 or opening, then you just do that
to the best of your ability.”
YOUNG AND IN THE RUNS
This summer Joe Root became the fifth-youngest
Englishman to pass 1,000 Test runs.
He’s in some good company…
ALASTAIR COOK, 22 years, 1 day
DAVID GOWER, 22 years, 3 months, 12 days
MIKE ATHERTON, 22 years, 10 months, 3 days
SIR LEN HUTTON, 23 years, 1 day
JOE ROOT, 23 years, 5 months, 14 days
18.2
ROOT’S TEST FALSE SHOT PERCENTAGE.
IN THE PERIOD SINCE HIS DEBUT, ONLY IAN
BELL (15.7%) AND SAM ROBSON (16.1%) HAVE
LOWER PERCENTAGES FOR ENGLAND
42 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
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STARS OF SUMMER
28.1
51.8
JOE ROOT’S AVERAGE IN HOME ODIS
COMPARED TO HIS AVERAGE OF
IN ODIS PLAYED AWAY FROM HOME
Root and his best mate Ballance have been
the bedrock of England’s batting this season,
helping to rescue the team from something
approaching Armageddon to finish the Test
summer on a wholly more positive note.
While Alastair Cook and Ian Bell bore the
scars of their winter away before finding
form later in the season, Root flew out of the
traps, released from his winter of inhibition,
to score an unbeaten double-ton against Sri
Lanka at Lord’s, becoming England’s fourthyoungest double-centurion after Hutton,
Gower and Edrich.
Another century followed in the seriesopener against India at Trent Bridge,
Root scoring 154* and sharing a scarcely
believable partnership of 198 with James
Anderson. He rounded off the Test summer
as he had started it – with another daddy
hundred. This one was a joyous 149* as he
ran the hapless Indians ragged at a sundrenched Oval to put smiles back on the
faces of England fans.
Settled at No.5 – and please let’s leave
him there now – he has been a revelation,
England’s star of the summer. While as
an opener he had a tendency to get bogged
down and eventually be rendered shot-less,
in his new role he seems to breeze to 20 or
30 without playing a stroke in anger before
opening up when the match situation allows
it, as we saw at The Oval when he scored his
last hundred runs from 72 deliveries. It’s
taken a little while to find it, but Root says
his new position now feels like home.
“I do quite enjoy batting in the middleorder. I’ve spent my whole, or nearly my
whole, career opening the batting, mainly
because when I was a young lad I was always
tiny so I couldn’t really bat anywhere else – if
I was going to score runs I’d have to bat for
a long time, so I was always shoved up top.
I batted six on my Test debut, which was
the first time I’d ever batted in the middleorder, and I really enjoyed it. From that
point on, I’ve always wanted to do it. I had
the opportunity to open in the Ashes last
summer and I didn’t do great but I enjoyed
the challenge of it and the best thing is now I
feel I’ve experienced everything – I’ve batted
everywhere in the top six. I think that can
only hold me in good stead going forward.”
An added bonus of Root’s move down the
order has been his burgeoning partnership
with Jos Buttler. They batted twice together
in Tests this summer, putting on 134 against
India at Old Trafford and then sharing a
stand of 80 at The Oval. The Old Trafford
partnership was a vital one, the two coming
together with the match delicately poised
and swinging it fi rmly in England’s favour,
laughing and joking as the tourists chased
leather. And on the eight occasions in
which they’ve batted in tandem in ODIs
they’ve averaged 50.25, with two century
partnerships. It’s a combination that has the
makings of something quite special, with the
pair possessing the ability to take games away
from the opposition in the blink of an eye.
“Jos has taken to Test cricket like a duck to
water,” says Root. “He’s come in and from the
outset he’s looked at home. That’s not an easy
feat when you’ve come in for someone like
Matty [Prior], who’s had a fantastic career to
date and I’m sure has many more good years
to come. He’s a massively senior player in the
one-day side now so that’s helped – having
that experience of playing under pressure in
big games. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that
he’s come in and we’ve started winning.
64.7
28.7
JOE ROOT’S AVERAGE IN HOME TEST MATCHES
COMPARED TO HIS AVERAGE OF
IN TESTS PLAYED AWAY FROM HOME
“He’s good to bat with because he does things that help
relieve pressure. He’ll play a shot and, all of a sudden, you
can feel when you’re in the middle that the opposition will
just sit back a little bit and allow you to get back into the
game. I think he did that extremely well at Old Trafford
when we were under the pump, he did it well on his debut
at Southampton and he did it brilliantly at The Oval when
we ended up putting a partnership together. A lot of the
times he’s come into bat under pressure, he’s performed
extremely well.”
ROOT RANKS WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP UP
THERE WITH ANYTHING ELSE THAT HE’S ACHIEVED
IN HIS CAREER SO FAR AND IT’S A FITTING FINALE
TO A LANDMARK SEASON FOR HIM
I
t’s the worst kept secret in English cricket that Joe Root
will one day captain his country. Speaking to him, you
can see why he’s been touted for the job from an early
age. His live TV interviews tend to be a bit hurried and
cliché-laden but in person he has a calm authority about
him, speaks with passion and verve and is immediately
likeable. Graham Gooch noted what a strong presence
he was on his first senior England tour to India in 2012
when, as a 21-year-old, he wasn’t afraid to speak his mind
in a dressing room full of Test veterans.
He won’t be taking the reins for some time yet, with
Alastair Cook emerging from the abyss of that Lord’s
defeat to re-stamp his authority on the Test team, but
Root will have learned a lot about captaincy over the last
year, and in particular how tough and lonely it can be.
After the horror show at Lord’s, making it seven defeats
in nine Tests, it was Cook who took the lion’s share of the
blame and had to face the press when he probably just
44 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
Best mates Ballance and
Root with the Championship
trophy at Trent Bridge
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 45
b
b
b
STARS OF SUMMER
MIDDLE MEN
wanted to curl up in a corner. Root says he never had any
doubts that Cook would come out the other side.
“We knew it was always going to be a tough year.
Coming back from Australia, where it was a terrible
tour really, we wanted to draw a line under it. I think
a lot of people just accepted that we were going to
beat Sri Lanka and then just walk over India – but it
didn’t happen. We came so close to winning at Lord’s
[against Sri Lanka] and were obviously a ball away
from surviving here at Headingley. We got it completely
wrong at Lord’s against India but from there we
just turned it around and stepped it up. It was really
refreshing to go to Southampton and play the way we
did because we knew we were capable of doing that.
Putting in a complete performance like that was really,
really good from us.
“The thing is with Cooky, you know what you’re going
to get from him. He’s an absolute champion of a bloke,
he prides himself on his performance, leading from the
front, and I think he found it harder when he wasn’t
scoring the runs that he had done for numerous years. But
it was very nice knowing that everyone in the changing
room was 100 per cent behind him because we know how
good a player he is. He’s got more hundreds than anyone
else for England, he’s homing in on being the leading
English run-scorer in Test cricket… that doesn’t happen
overnight. That’s eight to 10 years of hard work that he’s
put in.
“Off the field he didn’t change, that’s the kind of bloke
he is. It didn’t affect him, which is a testament to his
character really. It just shows you both how stubborn he
is and the belief he has in his own ability, and rightly so.
There wasn’t much we needed to do apart from letting
him know we were all behind him. We all knew he’d
eventually come off. It was nice to see him score good
runs at Southampton.”
In those dark times did Root, who’s known for a
dressing-room jape, try and lighten the mood? Or is he a
bit too grown up for all that now? “It’s about trying to get
the balance right,” he grins. And does he? “I get it wrong a
few times! Especially here at Yorkshire. I remember one
with Ryan Sidebottom… We’d been in the field all day, I’d
dropped two catches off him, one of them really near the
end of play I think, and he’s come off absolutely furious.
He’s had a shower, got dressed and then wanted to get out
of there quick because it was a tough day. He’s gone to put
his first sock on. Fine. Then he puts on his second one and
it goes right up past his knee. Someone’s snipped a hole in
it. We’re sat next to each other in the changing rooms and
he’s looked straight at me. It wasn’t even me but all the
lads are trying not to laugh and I just had to basically leg
it. Otherwise, you know…”
W
ith the Test summer complete, Root rounded
off his season with an ODI series against India
which raised further questions about Cook’s
suitability for the 50-over job. It felt a little bit like we
were back where we’d started with regard to pressure
on Cook but Root is adamant that England can win
the World Cup under him. “We’re going there to
win it,” he says. “We know that we’ve got a strong
enough squad to do that.”
46 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
Five batsmen who started out up top but found themselves in the
middle-order, for better or worse.
MIKE HUSSEY
A prolific opener for the first 10 years of his career, Hussey had his
Test path blocked by Hayden and Langer until he finally got his
chance when a rib injury to the latter saw him make his debut against
the Windies in 2005. He made a century in his third innings which
was enough for him to keep his place, but not as an opener. Langer
returned, Hussey dropped down to five and he became the fastest
player to 1,000 Test runs. A middle-order mainstay for the next eight
years, he averaged 59.93 in 38 innings at No.5.
AB DE VILLIERS
It wasn’t until 2007, three years after his Test debut, that de Villiers
found his true calling in the middle-order. He played some notable
innings up top, scoring three tons and averaging mid-30s, but it was
only when he dropped down, initially to six and then to fi ve, that his
numbers started to do justice to his talent. Batting in positions 4-6, de
Villiers averages 57.29, just a touch below Sobers.
VVS LAXMAN
When VVS first arrived on the scene, the presence of Dravid, Tendulkar,
Ganguly and Azharuddin meant there was no room for him at the
middle-order inn. So up top he went. Thrown in against Walsh, Ambrose
and Bishop in the Caribbean, he made an inauspicious start and never
settled (one spell-binding knock in Sydney aside), averaging 28.5 as an
opener. When Azharuddin departed, VVS moved down and became
the archetypal middle-order stylist, averaging a shade under 50 when
batting in positions 4-6.
GARY KIRSTEN
A dyed-in-the-wool opener, Kirsten was forced to compromise when
an enormous man-child by the name of Graeme Smith arrived on the
scene in 2002. In truth, Kirsten’s form had fallen away and the move
helped him, first to No.3 – where he scored four tons in the space of
a year – before seeing out his Test career at No.5 to accommodate
Jacques Rudolph. Having averaged 41.79 as an opener, in his middleorder twilight he bumped that figure up to 65 before calling it a day.
ALEC STEWART
England’s most capped cricketer was in some ways a victim of his own
versatility, filling positions 1-7 during his Test career. His statistics as
an opener – 3,348 runs at 44.64 – put him up there with his country’s
very fi nest but, with the additional demands of wicketkeeping and
for a time captaincy, he spent much of his career down the order,
his average slipping to 33.04 for positions 4-6. The cold, hard stats
suggest staring down the new ball was where he belonged.
3046
JOE ROOT’S INTERNATIONAL RUNS IN THE PERIOD SINCE HIS DEBUT
IN DECEMBER 2012. ONLY KUMAR SANGAKKARA, VIRAT KOHLI, AB
DE VILLIERS AND ANGELO MATHEWS HAVE SCORED MORE
After a lean trot, Root reaffi rmed
his own one-day credentials with an
innings of 113 which should seal his
place in the touring party to Australia
and New Zealand next year. He
finished the international summer
as he started it, with a three-figure
score, his fourth of the campaign.
There was no time to rest, though.
He had a County Championship title
to win. The international schedule
doesn’t offer him much opportunity,
but Root clearly loves returning to
what he describes as the “family
vibe” of the Yorkshire dressing
room. “We’ve grown up together,
we’ve all spent so much time
together, which means that when
you have success it’s so… well, not a
relief… but pleasing.”
And it’s been a hugely successful
year for Yorkshire, winning their
first Championship trophy for
13 years, with Root stepping in
as skipper for the title-clinching
win over Notts in the absence of
the suspended Andrew Gale. He
ranks winning the Championship
right up there with anything else
that he’s achieved in his career
so far and it’s a fitting finale to a
landmark season for him.
He has a short break now before
the ODI tour to Sri Lanka in
November. He’s off to Las Vegas
with Ballance, Alex Hales and
Ben Stokes. After the summer he’s
had, he might just strike lucky. He
admits he’s been guilty of overanalysing his game in the past and
says it’s important to make the
most of downtime. He’s not getting
on so well with the ukulele, which
he took up last year, and might
find a bit of time for practice. We
consider a ukulele-led Waddle
and Hoddle-style duet for him and
Ballance. Root’s quite keen on the
idea. “Gaz can have his shirt off.”
Watch this space.
Then it’ll be back on the treadmill
and Root can’t wait. “I’ve just really
enjoyed this summer,” he says. “I’ve
found a role in the Test side and I
want to just keep trying to perform
it. It’s been a great six months and
it’s something that I will always
look back at to try and take as
much from as I can. Hopefully it’s
the start of something and not
something I’ll look back on and
think ‘Those were my best days as a
player’. I want it to be a platform for
me to go on to better things.”
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 47
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UNDER
THE LID
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WASIM
AKRAM
DAY JOB: Torch carrier
MOOD: Ebullient PARTY TRICK: Left-arm magic
SPECIALIST SUBJECT: Swing
WORDS | HENRY COWEN
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www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 11
WASIM
UNDER THE LID
T
he crackly phone-call was ahead of seeing
him at Azhar Mahmood’s Benefit Dinner
at a London hotel, where he is one of
the guests of honour. Names don’t get much
bigger in Pakistani cricket and he’s as suave as
you like – all camera poise and statesmanlike
smiles. Aside from his coolness, it’s probably his
enthusiasm that’s most evident. He’s 48 years
old but seems much younger1.
We talk first about his recent media
commitments and the England-India series he’s
been covering for Star Sports. Straight away he’s
off: “The depth in the Indian batting and bowling
line-ups simply wasn’t there. Very quickly England
worked out what to do with that sort of batting.
Every time Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad
were bowling, and they bowled beautifully in the
whole series, you thought ‘they’re going to get
them out, they’re just going to get them out’.”
Impending wickets. It’s an area close to
Wasim’s heart.
It’s important to relax
when a whole country’s
relying on you
IN NUMBERS
414
257*
Test wickets
v Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura. His
highest Test score, not bad for a
No.8 who just liked to have a bit of
a swing
20.05
The average at which Wasim took
his 240 wickets between January
1990 and December 1997 – the best
of anyone, in an era renowned for
fast bowlers
17
The number of Man of the Match
and Man of the Series awards
Wasim won in his Test career.
Match-winner
5
The number of World Cups Wasim
competed in. From 1987 all the way
through to 2003
2nd
Wasim’s place on the list of all-time
ODI wicket-takers. Only Murali has
taken more
“Anderson is a complete
bowler,” according to Wasim
12 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
1,042
The number of first-class wickets
Wasim took in his long, long career.
Sobers took 1,043
“
ALL I KNEW WAS THAT
THE NEW BALL COMES
BACK IN TO THE RIGHTHANDER, SO I JUST
BROUGHT THE BALL
BACK IN, AND I GOT FIVE
AND FIVE. I HAD NO IDEA
WHAT I WAS DOING, I WAS
JUST GETTING WICKETS
Before I can get in with the next
question, he continues… “Those teams who
are playing a lot more Twenty20 cricket –
like India – they are suffering in Test cricket
and that’s especially true for teams from
the subcontinent. It’s difficult to change
gears between the two forms, especially
against the likes of Broad and Anderson,
and especially on the kind of wickets you
can get in in England. You need different
technique.” Like many people before me,
I’m learning it’s hard to stop Wasim Akram
when he’s on a roll.
A
debate raged recently. Steyn or
Anderson? For some it might seem a
straightforward question. Anderson,
for all his obvious talent and ability,
doesn’t come anywhere near Steyn’s stats.
It’s 380 wickets at 29.72 for Jimmy versus
383 wickets at 22.56 for Steyn. Contest?
What contest?
But another factor was brought into
play – that of skill. Jimmy is, according
to his skipper Alastair Cook, “the world’s
Like Morecambe and Wise:
but good at bowling
most skilful bowler”. England’s fastbowling coach David Saker went further
the previous summer: “I know Dale Steyn is
an outstanding bowler, but when you watch
the way Jimmy goes about things, he has
more skills in his locker. Steyn might be a
little quicker but watch Anderson deliver
those skills and it’s just mind-blowing.
When he gets it right, there’s no more
skilful bowler in the world.”
It’s a question that has pertinence to
Wasim. Making his Test debut in 1985, he
came on to a scene that was all about
pace. West Indies were still fielding a pace
quartet of Marshall, Holding, Garner and
SUNDRIES
I
s that Wasim?” The phone line is crackly
but rarely in the last 30 years would
Wasim Akram have been asked to confirm
who he is. “Yes, you rang me,” comes
the swiftly delivered reply. Embarrassed,
I want to explain that there have been
issues with the phone line and that the post-it
note bearing his telephone number has already
led to a wrong number being dialled – but this
is Wasim Akram, he doesn’t need to know about
my trivial technical foibles. I apologise and crack
on. Still, given his success on these shores with
ball in hand, he should be used to dealing with
befuddled Englishmen trying their best to do
their job.
1 Wasim’s excitement was perhaps owing to some
recent good news. He announced at the beginning
of September that he and his wife Shaniera were
expecting their first child together.
2 Asked to pick three current bowlers to line up
alongside Waqar and himself in a five-man attack,
Wasim picked Anderson, Steyn and Rangana
Herath: “The spinner has to be Herath”.
3 As well as his media work – “It’s great to spend
time with the heroes I’ve played with or played
against. The other day I was sitting with Sir Ian
Botham, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. I used to
have pictures of these guys up in my room when I
Patterson – over the previous 10 years it
had been them laying down the marker for
seam bowling in Tests. In contrast to their
fire and fury, Wasim was languid, cunning,
artistic. Who’s better placed then to wade
in on the Anderson v Steyn debate? 2
“It’s difficult. You should really go by their
record but, then again, average over a long
run matters to me as a bowler. Anderson
impressed me when he went to India and
his control and reverse swing was equally
good as it is in England – Anderson is a
complete bowler, I reckon.”
Longevity. Control. Reverse swing. A
complete bowler. Might it be that Wasim
was young!” – Wasim has been bowling coach at
KKR since 2010.
4 Leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed played 52 Tests for
Pakistan before moving to England to play for
Sussex. He was appointed as England’s spin coach in
2008 and was in the job until the summer of 2014.
5 Wasim took 21 wickets at 22, Waqar took 22 at
25. England didn’t like this new-fangled reverse
swing and implied foul play, with coach Micky
Stewart saying: “I know how they do it, but I won’t
comment on whether it’s fair or unfair.” Pakistan
won the Tests 2-1.
6 He got four in international cricket. Mental.
sees a bit of Anderson in himself? The
Anderson-Steyn debate is never going
to be fully settled, you’re either a Steyn
supporter or an Anderson supporter
– and that’s because they offer two
different types of bowling: artistry
versus something a bit more primal,
brutality versus deception. It’s no
surprise that Wasim favours the subtle
and learned art of Anderson.
Art is something that Wasim keeps
coming back to – and the need to
master one’s skill. “In 1986, before I first
toured England with Pakistan, Imran
[Khan] told me to go and play league
cricket in England because it has its
own context. He wanted me to get used
to the weather, to the slower wickets,
to bowl a slightly fuller length and I
enjoyed it. I was on my own for six
months, playing twice a week. It was
very different for me.”
Does he not see a similar level of
commitment from today’s cricketers?
“I’ve been saying this for the last two
years and I do ask these boys. It’s an
issue: they give them endless fees but
if you think about the Indian players
who have just played in England –
they will know now the importance
of county cricket, and not just county
cricket but learning about cricket on
different tracks. After my season with
Lancashire in 1988 I went to Australia. I
became the No.1 bowler in the world, I
got 11 wickets in the first Test, I scored
a hundred and took five wickets in the
second and made 80-odd in the ODI, so
one year of county cricket did wonders
to my game.”
Is county cricket the way forward for
young players from the subcontinent
trying to improve their game?
“Absolutely! For all of them. Young
bowlers – what are they doing back
home in summer playing corporate
cricket in India? They’re playing this
corporate cricket in India… it’s not
going to enhance or improve their
game at all.”
I
broach the topic of Pakistani
cricket. Consistently mercurial,
occasionally volatile, few understand
it better than he does. Where is it at
the moment? “First of all, we have to
concentrate on first-class cricket – that’s
a shambles; no wonder our batting
is struggling whenever we play Test
cricket, because there’s no technique.
“Second of all, we have to invest a lot
more money to play more international
cricket, and have A teams and under 19
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 13
UNDER THE LID
teams, but it’s not happening. We lost two
Test matches recently against Sri Lanka on
placid wickets. If this was 10-15 years ago,
those matches would have been drawn or
Pakistan probably would have won. I mean
we have Moin Khan, Waqar and Misbah-ulHaq and it’s a new set of people: people
with energy and passion. Misbah is, I think,
the best choice [as captain]. But they
played against Sri Lanka after about four
months without international cricket. The
last tournament they played was in the T20
World Cup. No cricket for four months?
Every team would struggle.”
The biggest question of all is whether
Pakistan will be able to return to playing
their matches at home. I ask whether
it’s going to happen. “I hope so but it
depends. The sooner the better, but it all
depends on the governments and how they
react to it. I would love to see cricket in
Pakistan. Pakistanis love their cricket, it’s
part of them, it’s part of their culture and
it would improve Pakistani cricket. I grew
up watching Test cricketers in Gaddafi
Stadium but the youngsters now have no
heroes to look up to – I mean all these
Andersons, Cooks, Kohlis or McCullums –
they’ve heard their names but they don’t
know who they are. They haven’t seen
them close up.”
W
hether it’s cricket in his
homeland, young players failing
to put in the hard yards or the
primacy of Test cricket, Wasim speaks
now, for someone once so revolutionary,
like something of a purist. He wants
youngsters in Pakistan to see their
heroes, he wants young cricketers to
improve their game, he wants to see
better cricket. There’s a fascination with
the art of bowling that’s so apparent
– he talks about wrist position like a
car enthusiast gets misty-eyed about a
Jaguar E-Type. He sounds like a great
coach – I feel like I’m learning just
speaking to him. Has he been able to
pass on his reverse-swinging expertise to
his charges at Kolkata Knight Riders 3 ?
“You can actually tell them exactly what
happens. You see, reverse swing is all
about affecting the situation of the ball.
As well as the bowler knowing what’s
happening, the whole team has to know
how to look after the whole ball once it
starts reversing. One side of the ball has
to stay rough and the smoother side has
to stay shiny.
“When Waqar and I did it the whole
team had to know how to look after the
ball, and I think Mushy 4 has passed
everything to England, and well done
14 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
THE MASTERPIECES
4 FOR 25
Wasim on his favourite works of art.
3-33, 49 England, World Cup
final, Melbourne, 1992
It’s every sportsman’s dream to do well
and to win the World Cup, let alone to be
the Man of the Match in the final! That was
the ultimate performance for me, as far
as one-day cricket was concerned. And
the feeling on that day was incredible. It
was of course extra special to deliver for
my country on a day like that – the people
of Pakistan still remember it like it was
yesterday – and so do I!
5-56, 5-72 New Zealand, 3rd
Test, Dunedin, 1985
I must mention this game because it was
my kick-starter. If I hadn’t got any wickets
there, I wouldn’t have been near where
I am now. I would have been dropped, I
would’ve been a guy who should have been
there. It was a stage of my career when all
I knew was to get the new ball outside of
off-stump. I didn’t know inswing, I didn’t
know outswing. All I knew was that the
new ball comes back in to the right-hander,
so I just brought the ball back in, and I
got five and five. I had no idea what I was
doing, I was just getting wickets.
2-45, 3-33 Sri Lanka,
Asian Test Championship
final, Dhaka, 1999
If I were to pick one hat-trick 6,
I reckon it would be the one I got
against Sri Lanka in the final of the
Asian Test Championship in 1999.
My other three hat-tricks were with
reverse swing but because this one
was with the new ball it was very, very
special. I had had to learn the skill.
Waqar and I, after five to six years of
playing international cricket, realised
we relied too much on reverse swing,
because it’s easier to control. You can
run in at full pace, knowing what’s
going to happen and that the ball will
reverse. But [bowling with the] new
ball is a different art altogether, so
that was special.
2-49, 4-66, 45* England, 1st
Test, Lord’s, 1992
Lord’s has to be in there. I got runs and
I had gone out to bat at about 60-5 or
something, chasing 138. I got 45 not out
and took four wickets in about two overs in
the second innings, and we won the match.
That has to be there because of the batting
performance. Hitting the winning run in Test
cricket is always very special for bowlers!
to them, they have picked it up. They’re
also reverse-swinging the ball in one-day
cricket – that’s two new balls – again,
that’s an art. England are the best at
reverse-swinging – back in 1992 I would
never have thought that one day they’d be
giving us our own medicine!”
The incomprehension that England
would be world leaders in the art of
reverse swing is unsurprising. When
he and Waqar unleashed it in 1992 the
hosts’ reaction was not that of a country
keen and eager to learn 5. There were
accusations of cheating in the tabloid
press and the ball was changed during the
fourth ODI. It was an ugly time.
What’s Wasim’s view of all that now?
“We were artists and we learnt the art from
Imran. When nobody knew what we were
doing they said it was ball-tampering. The
same press now say ‘It’s an art, it’s called
reverse swing,’ because England have
learnt it and the whole world has got to
know. All those people who said that we
were cheaters, they should come out and
say ‘Sorry guys, we messed up’.”
The best artists rarely are understood in
their own lifetimes.
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SKILLS
PERFORMANCE
THE BATTING SIDE HAVE GOT OFF TO A
FLYER – HOW DO YOU STOP THEM?
SPIN BOWLING
IN 50-OVER
CRICKET
WITH JEETAN PATEL
Fresh from taking 4-25 in the Royal London
One-Day Cup final – a haul that took him
passed 100 wickets for the season and
nearly dragged Warwickshire to an unlikely
victory defending a paltry total – Jeetan
Patel talks AOC through the different
aspects of bowling spin in 50-over cricket.
EARLY WICKETS HAVE FALLEN –
WHAT NEXT?
Here, you’ve just got to try to maintain what the
seamers have achieved early on – it’s attack, attack,
attack. If you’re taking wickets regularly throughout
the 50 overs, they’ll struggle to get a par score as it’ll
see the lower-order guys coming in earlier than they
are comfortable with, which is obviously not their
forte. If you’re taking wickets batsmen are constantly
looking to get in and, in truth, you get in by
accumulating runs rather than smashing boundaries.
“
If yOu’RE TAKING WICKETS BATSmEN
ARE CONSTANTLy LOOKING TO GET
IN ANd, IN TRuTH, yOu GET IN By
ACCumuLATING RuNS RATHER THAN
SmASHING BOuNdARIES
You’ve a chance here to get catchers round the bat
– maybe a slip, leg-slip or a catching mid-wicket.
You want as many catchers in areas that the ball is
going to go as possible but you also want to keep
guys in the ring so they’re having to take risks to hit
boundaries or even take singles. If the pitch is doing
a bit, you’ve certainly got the opportunity to give it
some flight and tempt them, trying to spin it off the
wicket with those catchers waiting.
80 | AOC | november 2014
BOWLING IN PARTNERSHIPS
For me, it doesn’t really make a difference who’s at the other
end. That said, it’s always great fun to bowl with another spinner,
particularly when it’s turning. Ateeq Javid has been fun to bowl
with this year as we have a good understanding. That’s the key:
understanding. If you both appreciate whether you’re attacking
or defending, then you won’t go too far wrong. When Teeqy and I
bowl together, it’s normally about really turning the screws after
our seamers have taken early wickets or trying to hem batters
in when they’ve made a good start. In both situations it’s about
setting fields that make it really hard to score, tailoring them to
specific batsmen and maintaining a tight line because one poor
over heaps pressure on the bowler at the other end. One of you
can maybe attack as one defends or vice versa, but the key is to
raise the pressure with an understanding of each other’s strategy.
Obviously in this situation it’s about looking to defend.
It’s key to always seek wickets but here you’d look to
raise the pressure and chase an error from the batsman
through defence and drying up the runs, frustrating him.
You might set a leg-side field, make sure you give them
no width so they’re only scoring one run per ball – if
anything at all – and that they’re hitting to the leg-side.
You’d be looking to bowl a little bit flatter, a bit quicker,
and when I say ‘defensive’ I mean you’re looking to
get guys off strike – a single’s not a problem. If they’re
rotating the strike and mixing it with a few dot balls, then
the run-rate comes down, the pressure rises and a false
shot or a wicket become a possibility. As soon as that
happens then you can start attacking again and get back
into the game.
FINISHING THE JOB
PLAN IN ACTION
An example of this came in the One-Day Cup
against Surrey earlier in the year. Steven Davies and
Tillakaratne Dilshan had got off to a flyer chasing a
decent target and were ahead of the rate. My target
was to drag them back down below the required rate.
I dried it up a little bit with a few flat ones before
Davies hit me for six. The most important thing was
not to be worried by this – I didn’t mind him getting
after me. I bowled a similar one next ball and bowled
him. We’d created the pressure, not been phased by
the six and forced the false shot. From there, they
folded and we won comfortably.
JEETAN’S
BIG TIP:
STOP THE
TWO
My theory has always been that the team who scores the most
twos ends up winning one-day games. Twos are really, really
annoying as a bowler. They look pretty harmless on the surface
– at least they’re not boundaries – but they really do stack up.
Singles are fine – rotating the strike keeps the pressure on and
stops people settling – but twos hurt as the scoreboard can
motor a bit more. Three twos from the first three balls of an
over and you’ve leaked six runs with three balls remaining. For
this to work, it’s important that the field is set perfectly, that
there are no gaping holes and that your fielders are prepared to
give their all to turn twos into ones.
WHAT IF A BATSMAN IS GETTING AFTER YOU?
If the batsman is giving me a bit of tap, I won’t be afraid to post catchers
in unorthodox positions. Normally, people associate having guys on the
fence with being a defensive move but if that’s where the ball is most
likely to go then they are your catchers. You could flight it a bit, try to
entice them down the wicket to hit it to one of those deep catchers. The
other option is just to dart one in at him, gift him the single, get him off
strike and frustrate him by starving him of the opportunity to score.
SETTING YOUR FIELD
The most important thing as a bowler in white-ball cricket is to be
reading off the same page as your captain. I’m not someone who feels
the need for absolute control over setting the field. Generally, you
should have the same idea almost every time and there might just be
one or two things that need tinkering with, a slight adjustment here
or there. At Warwickshire, some days Chops [Varun Chopra] will think
one thing and I’ll be thinking marginally differently but we have a
great understanding which is why I’m pretty comfortable letting him
do what he wants with the field and I just bowl.
Patel is no one-day specialist. The Kiwi spinner has
taken in excess of 50 Championship wickets in each of
the last three seasons, winning countless matches for
his county. Here, he discusses the pressure of bowling
sides out in the fourth innings.
Bowling last in fourday cricket is where the
pressure really mounts
on a spinner. The pitch
is worn, the seamers are
often knackered and it
really does become your
job to take wickets.
In this situation, bowling
as many dot-balls as
possible is crucial as that
really is how to build the
pressure. It ’s attacking
through defence. Good
balls in good areas will
bring those chances .
Against Somerset earlier
this year, I opened the
bowling in the four th
innings and bowled
30 -odd overs straight.
That ’s tiring work but it ’s
exciting.
I love those opportunities.
That’s why I play the
game, to take wickets on
day four and chip in when
your team needs you.
That’s what keeps you
going in the 40th over!
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 81
PI EL
CRICKET
A History of Cricket Videogames
S TA R S O F
THE SMALL
SCREEN
TEN CRICKETERS WHO
H AV E L E N T T H E I R N A M E S
TO THE GAMES
BRIAN ROSE – HOWZAT
Wyvern Software (1984) and Alternative
Software (1987)
IAN BOTHAM – IAN BOTHAM TEST MATCH
Tynesoft (1985)
GRAHAM GOOCH – GRAHAM GOOCH’S
TEST CRICKET
C R I C K E T H A S T R A D I T I O N A L LY S T R U G G L E D T O A D A P T
WELL TO THE SMALL SCREEN, DESPITE A STEADY
STREAM OF RELEASES OVER THE YEARS. GRAEME MASON
D E LV E S IN T O T H E H I S T O R Y O F C R IC K E T V ID E O G A M E S IN
A N AT T E M P T T O F I N D O U T W H Y, A N D W H I C H O N E S W E R E
A C T U A L LY A N Y G O O D .
Audiogenic (1986 onwards)
ROBIN SMITH - ROBIN SMITH’S
INTERNATIONAL CRICKET
Challenge Software (1990)
ALLAN BORDER – ALLAN BORDER’S CRICKET
Audiogenic (1993)
JONTY RHODES – JONTY RHODES WORLD
CLASS CRICKET
Audiogenic (1993)
C
ricket, as some experts lead
us to believe, is a simple game.
The bowler bowls the ball
and attempts to dismiss the
batsman in a variety of ways,
with the fielders there to assist. The
batsmen attempt to score runs. Lots
of runs. And while there is of course a
whole gamut of intricacies and subtleties
beyond these basics, the main reason
cricket videogames have not been the
finest examples of computerised sport
simulations over the years is because
of those three basic tenets: batting,
bowling, fielding. But that hasn’t
stopped people trying.
With the Seventies videogame market
dominated by Japan and America (not
renowned hotbeds for the sport), it
wasn’t until the following decade and
the advent of the British computer
industry that cricket videogames began
to appear. With its popularity in the
UK, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum became a
natural home for digital interpretations
of the sport.
Early efforts tended to be text
only, such as the originally-named
62 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
Cricket, a mail-order only game that
gave interminable automated written
feedback on each delivery that begged
for a Blowers-esque rumination on
distressed pigeons. London-based
publisher CRL Group added graphics
with its Test Match Cricket and One Day
Cricket games, but these were nothing
more than simple stick men visually,
and the players’ interaction was limited
to pressing a button to bowl and then
deciding whether to run or not. Wyvern
Software’s Howzat utilised a similar
method, resulting in most scorecards
containing an exceptionally high ratio of
run-outs, while the ZX Spectrum used a
series of simple statistics to determine
the result of each ball. On a side-note,
Howzat was noteworthy for being the
first cricket game to be endorsed by an
actual player, Somerset’s Brian Rose.
Yet it wasn’t just on the Spectrum
that cricket games were appearing.
The ill-fated Dragon 32 computer got
its version of our noble game thanks
to coder Tim Love who thought he had
spotted a gap in the market. “Seeing
how players were prepared to spend
hours playing games, the pace of cricket
wasn’t a disadvantage,” says Love, who
considered realism then gameplay
as his priorities. Tim Love’s Cricket
was converted to the Commodore 64
computer and became a reasonable hit,
no doubt helped by offering a little more
graphically than just simple stick men.
S E E I N G H O W P L AY E R S
WERE PREPARED TO
S P E N D H O U R S P L AY I N G
GAMES, THE PACE OF
C R IC K E T WA S N ’ T A
D I S A D VA N T A G E
TIM LOVE
BRIAN LARA – BRIAN LARA CRICKET SERIES
Codemasters (1995 onwards)
SHANE WARNE – SHANE WARNE CRICKET
Codemasters (1998)
MICHAEL VAUGHAN – MICHAEL VAUGHAN’S
CHAMPIONSHIP CRICKET MANAGER
Midas (2001)
RICKY PONTING – RICKY PONTING CRICKET
Codemasters (2005)
Tim Love’s Cricket had proved that
there was scope for action cricket games,
and soon one of English cricket’s biggest
stars would be lending his name to one.
In a brave move, Ian Botham’s Test Match
from Tynesoft showed virtually the
whole cricket pitch onscreen with proper
graphics, resulting in some small and
unconvincing sprites. Different styles
of bowling could be employed (fast,
medium, bouncer or spin) and the field
set by the player accordingly, before
pressing a key to let loose your terrifying
delivery. Batting was also simple. Most
videogames at the time used one-button
joysticks (the days of controllers with
d-pads and thumbsticks were far away)
and the direction you pushed the stick
decided your stroke, the timing of
pressing the button determining how
well you played it.
Ian Botham’s Test Match was not
well-received despite the endorsement
of England’s finest allrounder; the
gameplay was tortuous and the timing
required for batting too precise. In other
words, it was as much fun as fielding at
short-leg in early April.
Meantime, a new company named
Audiogenic Software was about to
embark on a series of sports games with
the help of one of Botham’s England
colleagues. Graham Gooch’s Test
Cricket, released in 1985, was a fresh
approach to the cricket videogame.
Realising the need for larger and better
sprites, programmer MJ McLean took
the template laid down by Tim Love
and vastly refined the graphics and,
critically, the keyboard responses,
allowing for a more f luid and playable
game. Graham Gooch’s Test Cricket
became the first cricket simulation
to successfully meld the sport into an
arcade game that even non-fans could
appreciate and begun a franchise that
would become one of the most popular
cricket series. More on that later.
Despite the 8-bit computers such as
Spectrum and Commodore 64 entering
the twilight of their careers, there was
still enough life in them for two more
significant cricket games, as well as
something of an oddity. Alternative
Software was a budget software house
based in Pontefract, Yorkshire. Having
already re-released Wyvern’s Howzat to
great success (they had the good timing
of releasing it early in 1987, just as Mike
Gatting’s England were claiming the
Ashes in Australia), Alternative’s boss,
Roger Hulley, came up with the idea of
a cricket adventure game. “Adventure
games were still popular, although on
the wane,” explains Hulley, who still
manages Alternative to this day. “And
we thought it would be a good idea to
combine the idea of one with a sports
theme. So we did Cricket Crazy and
Football Frenzy.” Released in 1988 and
written by renowned adventure game
author Charles Sharp, the game involved
hijackers, crashed aircraft, troublesome
natives and a hero named Botham, as
well as plenty of cricket-related puzzles
to solve.
Released in the same year, but not
commercially, was International Cricket
by Grandslam. Most of the computer
game magazines of the time were
giving away games on their covers and
the Spectrum’s Your Sinclair was no
exception. Whether Grandslam didn’t
consider the game worthy enough, or
simply didn’t want to bother marketing
it, International Cricket proved to
be the pinnacle of Spectrum cricket
simulations.
Boasting similar graphics to Graham
Gooch’s Test Cricket, it introduced
a level of control over every major
facet of the game; bowling specific
deliveries required precise timing of
the fire button. Each type of delivery
needed its own shot and these had to be
timed correctly as well. Play too early
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 63
PIXEL
CRICKET
and the batsman would loop the ball
in the air; play too late and he’d edge
it to the waiting slips. After the shot
had been played, the player could then
take control over the relevant fielder,
positioning him to stop or catch the ball
and a handy power and height bar helped
you out in this respect. Despite a number
of bugs, International Cricket was an
excellent game and one of the few from
the era that retains any playability.
A
significant sub-genre, the
management game, had
remained surprisingly
absent, especially when
you consider the popularity
of Kevin Toms’ Football
Manager and the subsequent mass of
clones. This changed in 1990 when
budget software house Hi-Tec (who
had made their name with a series of
games based around popular Hanna-
Barbera cartoons such as Yogi Bear)
created Cricket Captain, a management
simulation that saw the player taking
control of a county side, picking its
squad, dismissing out-of-favour players
and hiring new faces. Once on the field,
it was your task to set the field and
tactics before choosing the bowler and
watching the computer play out the
results.
Despite coming too late in the life of
the 8-bit computers, Cricket Captain
was a neat and absorbing challenge, if a
little limited. More in-depth versions of
cricket management games had already
started appearing on the Commodore
Amiga, but despite the improved
processing power, they had been largely
met with indifference. It was time for
the arcade cricket game to step up and
the leaders in this field undoubtedly
became Audiogenic.
Continuing its line of games based
around legendary England batsman
Graham Gooch, Audiogenic released
B O L S T E R E D B Y T H E A D D I T I O N O F A P L AY E R
WHO HAD JUST ECLIPSED SIR GARFIELD
S O B E R S ’ 3 6 -Y E A R - O L D R E C O R D F O R T H E
H I G H E S T T E S T M AT C H I N D I V I D U A L S C O R E ,
G R A H A M G O O C H G AV E W AY T O B R I A N L A R A
AND THE GAME BECAME A WORLDWIDE
S M A S H , TA K I N G A U D I O G E N I C ’ S O R I G I N A L A N D
GIVING IT THE MASS APPEAL OF THE WORLDFA MOUS R E COR D -BR E A K E R
Graham Gooch World Class Cricket on
the 16-bit computers in 1993. The game
marked a new era in cricket computer
games thanks to its superb presentation,
lifelike graphics and
exciting gameplay. Yet
despite being wellreviewed, it wasn’t
until the publisher
Codemasters sealed a
deal with Audiogenic to
create a similar title on the
Sega Megadrive that a cricket
game really hit the mainstream.
Bolstered by the addition of a
player who had just eclipsed Sir
Garfield Sobers’ 36-year-old record
for the highest Test match individual
score, as well as achieving the
highest first-class score, Graham
Gooch gave way to Brian Lara and
the game became a worldwide
smash, essentially taking
Audiogenic’s original and giving
64 | AOC | NOVEMBER 2014
it the mass appeal of the world-famous
record-breaker. Unsurprisingly, given
its success, Codemasters released
another version the following year with
improved graphics and an entertaining
classic mode which gave the player the
chance to jump into real matches from
the past at a critical point. For England
fans, the ultimate challenge lay in the
Headingly Test of 1981. As the player
takes control of the action, England
have just lost their seventh wicket and
Graham Dilley has joined a certain
famous allrounder at the crease. Now it
was your turn to make history!
Meanwhile, even the Super Nintendo
Console (SNES) was getting in on the
act with Antipodean developer Beam
Software producing Super International
Cricket for the machine, the only
cricket game to appear on it. Beam had
already released the Australian-only
International Cricket on the Super
Nintendo’s predecessor, the Nintendo
Entertainment System, but this had
been a poor game with cripplingly bad
artificial intelligence (AI). The sequel
received a European release and was
streets ahead in terms of graphics and
gameplay, although the lack of authentic
player names tended to hamstring the
realism aspect.
With a pedigree in place, Beam would
go on to create Cricket 96 for Electronic
Arts who, encouraged by the success
of FIFA and its seemingly endless
parade of yearly updates, had decided
to try its hand at a cricket franchise as
well. Beam developed Cricket 96 and
97 for EA and while 96 retained the
familiar zoomed in and slightly above
viewpoint, 97 was notable for featuring
a view similar to modern incarnations
of the game.
Despite all this arcade-style cricket
excitement, there was still room for
a popular management simulation to
make its mark. International Cricket
Captain (ICC) began in 1998 courtesy
of coder Chris Child and publisher
Empire Interactive. Inspired by the
phenomenally successful football
management sim Championship
Manager, the player took charge of
a first-class county with the main
goal of attaining management of the
England cricket team. The latest edition,
ICC 2014, is available on Steam and
published by Childish Things; as with all
versions of the game, it’s a statistical and
tactical delight for any cricket fan.
But despite ICC ’s popularity, there was
obviously scope for two more different
types of cricket game adapted to modern
A
A testing challenge in Brian Lara 96’s classic
match mode.
B
Hi-Tec’s Cricket Captain was a solid early cricket
management game.
C
Ian Botham’s Test Match (Amstrad CPC)
A
D
G
B
E
H
C
F
I
genres and formats. Again inspired
by a similar football game, Battrick is
an online multi-player management
game that is now in its 10th year. The
brainchild of Allan Fairlie-Clarke,
Battrick has had over 250,000 players,
many of whom have played the game
from its very beginning. “The addictive
nature of the game and real-time text
commentary tends to keep people
coming back,” says Fairlie-Clarke. “I’ve
heard tales of missed deadlines with
managers glued to their screens waiting
for the next update to see whether that
vital wicket had been taken.” Meantime,
the disposable nature of mobile gaming
means a title such as Stick Cricket, where
players simply have to slog as many runs
as they can off five, 10 or 20 overs, can
become incredibly popular.
It’s obvious there have been plenty of
cricket videogames to satisfy armchair
fans over the years. Some of them are
good, some of them not so. “It’s a tough
D
The original Graham Gooch’s Test Cricket on the
Commodore 64
G
E
Don Bradman Cricket 2014 from Alternative/Big Ant
H Tim Love’s Cricket as converted to the Commodore 64.
F
The Brian Lara series continued onto the Sony
PlayStation.
I
sport to code for,” says Alternative boss
Roger Hulley whose latest release, Don
Bradman Cricket, is currently garnering
solid sales on Xbox, PlayStation and PC.
“There are so many variations so it’s
tough to get accurate representation.”
The aforementioned Bradman game, a
labour of love for Australian developer
Big Ant, goes some way to correcting
this with a career mode, online play and
refined AI. Fairlie-Clarke adds: “Cricket
as an arcade game is always a challenge
as the skills in real life are generally
reaction-based. Bowling always has a
random factor to it and that can be very
difficult to convey in an arcade game and
difficult to counter with gamers.”
So where does the future lie?
Electronic Arts seems to have given
up with its franchise and Brian Lara
appears to have hung up his boots. It’s
clear there’s a void in the market that at
the moment rare console games such as
Don Bradman Cricket and management
Intro screen for the Commodore Amiga’s management
simulator, Championship Cricket.
A familiar grim situation for England in the ICC Ashes
2006 edition.
titles such as Battrick and ICC are
filling. Is there a market for more? “It’s
not a totally international sport,” notes
Hulley, “as the big guns – America,
Japan, Germany – aren’t going to be
interested. You are looking at certain
territories, certainly with console titles,
where people simply might not have
the spending power.” Fairlie-Clarke
believes motion sensor technology could
take the genre onto a different level,
but this still needs much development.
There will always be a place for cricket
management games, but perhaps for
now, until the sport itself branches
into newer territories, we should be
content that the few games that come
our way are generally created with an
extraordinary passion for the sport.
Graeme Mason is a freelance videogame
writer for Retro Gamer, GamesTM and
Eurogamer.
www.alloutcricket.com | AOC | 65
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