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Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant claims he rejected a "crazy" Real Madrid transfer but wishes he could go back and change that decision.

• Pennant spent three years at Liverpool
• Says he rejected chance to join Real Madrid
• Ex-winger admits he regrets decision

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  Former England Under-21 international Pennant says that the Spanish giants "wanted him" back in 2010 as they needed a right winger for their "squad depth". The ex-Birmingham City player admitted the opportunity was "exciting" but he had no real desire to be a benchwarmer. However, 15 years on, Pennant admits he would go back and change his decision.

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  WHAT PENNANT SAID

  The 42-year-old told Adventure Gamers: "This is a crazy one and many people can’t believe this, but Real Madrid wanted me back in 2010. It was my last year at Liverpool, I wasn’t going to sign a new contract, and things weren’t really working out between Rafa Benitez and me. Madrid came in needing a right-winger for their squad depth, so we had that conversation, and it was exciting, but then I asked myself if I wanted to go there and sit on the bench for three years or do I want to go somewhere to be a first team starter and kick-start my career again? It was exciting, but I wasn’t keen at the time. Would I go back and change my decision? I wish I could!"

• THE BIGGER PICTURE

  Pennant, who scored three goals in 81 games for Liverpool, spent the second half of the 2008/09 season on loan at Portsmouth before sealing a three-year deal with La Liga side Real Zaragoza in July of that year. From there, he played for Stoke City in the Premier League, followed by stints at FC Pune City in the Indian Super League and Bury in League One, before finally retiring at Billericay Town in the Isthmian League Premier Division. His career could have been very different if he had joined Madrid all those years ago.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Former Arsenal and Wigan Athletic player Pennant, who retired in 2018 after making 448 appearances and scoring 27 goals in his career, has since gone into punditry work and can often be heard on talkSPORT.

“Shanto is the sort of guy who has the mentality to take responsibility as a challenge”

Mohammad Isam13-Mar-2024When Najmul Hossain Shanto reached his century in Chattogram, Mushfiqur Rahim charged towards him with a big smile on his face, and arms raised. This was Shanto’s second century as Bangladesh captain, coming shortly after the BCB declared him as their main man across formats.Shanto is an agent of change at a pivotal time in Bangladesh cricket. Coach Chandika Hathurusinghe backs him and by the looks of it, so do the senior cricketers currently in the team.Shanto added 69 runs for the fourth wicket with Mahmudullah and 165 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket with Mushfiqur, who said that Shanto steps up as a batter with added responsibility.Related

• Can Najmul Hossain Shanto pilot a successful World Cup campaign for Bangladesh?

• Tanzim seizes spotlight as latest star of Bangladesh's pace revolution

• Liyanage: 'We never expected there to be so much dew'

• Shanto, Mushfiqur and bowlers headline Bangladesh's comfortable win

• Silverwood welcomes 'great rivalry' with Bangladesh: 'We need good competition'

“Shanto thoroughly deserved the century,” Mushfiqur said. “He was excellent. It was a one-man show tonight. I think leadership brings out the best in some individuals. Shanto is definitely one of them. He really enjoys the captaincy. Shanto is the sort of guy who has the mentality to take responsibility as a challenge. I knew that he would score runs at the highest level.”Atmosphere is very important. We don’t worry about the outcome. We try to keep our processes intact. We don’t expect all seven batters to get centuries every day but as long as he sticks to his strengths and practice routines, it was just a matter of time.”Mushfiqur said that Shanto has grown as a batter as he now makes the best use of good starts. He was impressed by how Shanto managed to play after reaching the century. “He batted very well today. He plays more fluently. He can be more dominating. He used to get 50s or 60s after getting a good start but now he is playing long innings.”The way he took a single to mid-on so easily just after getting that hundred, it showed that he was so calm and thoughtful towards the team. We kept telling each other that we should keep getting the next 20 or 30 runs, so that they don’t get a sniff in vital moments.”Mushfiqur also credited Mahmudullah for his run-a-ball 37 that set the tone for Bangladesh’s chase after they lost three early wickets.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“We had a good partnership but the real work was done by (Mahmudullah) Riyad bhai and Shanto. The ball was new so they could swing the ball. The dew hadn’t taken full effect. We lost early wickets too. Shanto and Riyad bhai ensured we were always ahead of the required run rate because of their partnership. They made life easy for me.”It is called experience. After that big over, he struck Hasaranga down the ground for a six. When you put the opposition’s best bowler under pressure, they have a lot to think. They allow singles rather than going for wickets, which allows the partnership to go big. Experience is really a big thing. Shanto struggled at the start but this is a partnership game. First credit for this win must go to Riyad , for showing the intent,” he said.Mushfiqur himself played an important hand, particularly in the way he handled Sri Lanka’s main bowler, Wanindu Hasaranga. He took 29 runs off 25 balls off the legspinner, who has not yet got this batter out in eight innings in all formats.”When you play a bowler for a long time, you feel confident against him. The opposite also happens. I have been able to pick him. Hasaranga is a really good bowler, so I want to ensure he doesn’t have much impact on the game. The more I play against him, I feel more comfortable.”When you face a wrist spinner, he will bowl you a flipper, googly, legspin and top spin. You can’t always pick it from the hand. Sweep is a good option to have. You have to sweep against the good ball. If you can execute it well, it puts pressure back on the bowler.”

When a bespectacled and studious-looking Anil Kumble made his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, he was still a few months short of his 20th birthday

Dileep Premachandran in Bangalore25-Jun-2005

When a bespectacled and studious-looking Anil Kumble made his debut at Old Trafford in 1990, he was still a few months short of his 20th birthday. And even as he tested out international cricket’s waters, he was eclipsed by the brilliance of a youth 30 months his junior. Sachin Tendulkar made his first century in that game, a stroke-filled 119 that thwarted England’s push for victory.In a sense, that occasion encapsulates Kumble’s career. For all his achievements and status as India’s No. 1 matchwinner bar none, Kumble’s name has always been mentioned as an afterthought, after the hosannas have been sung for Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly. And when aficionados sit down to chat about India’s glorious slow-bowling tradition, they invariably hark back to the quartet of the 1970s, or to Subhash Gupte and Vinoo Mankad from the generation that preceded Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan.Yet, with the exception of Chandra, who picked up his wickets every 65.9 balls, none of the quartet has a strike rate that can compare to Kumble’s 67.1. And his wickets-per-match ratio of 4.73 is way ahead of even Chandra (242 wickets in 58 Tests), the bowler he has been compared to most often.It hasn’t helped that almost from the first ball he bowled, Kumble was pigeonholed as a Glenn McGrath-like character, a robotic performer who relied on metronomic accuracy and steep bounce off the pitch to wear down opponents. And to be fair to the critics, there weren’t too many variations in pace or loop in those early years when he destroyed visiting teams on underprepared tracks – uncharitably called Krumblers by the cynics – with deliveries that spat up off a good length at near-medium pace.When he took the field this morning, Kumble was wearing the dog-eared, ashen-coloured cap he had been given in 1990, and his jubilation at 4pm, when Simon Katich was bowled via the hip to give him entrance into a 400-wicket club with only eight other members, was understandable when you consider how shabbily he has been treated at times during the years. Thinly veiled jibes from former greats about his limited repertoire – blatantly unfair when you consider how much he has expanded it in the past few seasons – surely hurt, as did being left out of showpiece occasions like the World Cup final.But like any genuinely great performer, Kumble avoided petulant ripostes and let his bowling answer the doubters. And the figures amply illustrate why he can stake his claim to be India’s greatest ever bowler. Kapil Dev was playing in his 115th Test when he trapped Mark Taylor leg-before at the WACA in January 1992 to take his 400th wicket. Kumble got to the landmark in 30 fewer games, and unlike Kapil, who proceeded to linger on two years past his sell-by date in his attempt to overhaul Richard Hadlee, he still retains the potency that made him such a feared competitor in his prime.Last winter, he went to Australia and sat watching in Brisbane as Harbhajan Singh – who had supplanted him in the team management’s eyes as the leading spinner – bowled abysmally with a finger injury. Given his chance at Adelaide, Kumble, whose previous five wickets in Australia had cost 90 apiece, proceeded to scalp 24 in three Tests, almost single-handedly bowling India to victory at Sydney on a final day dominated by Steve Waugh’s farewell and renditions of True Blue.The purists have also tended to compare him unfavourably with Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne, regarded as the era’s two titans of spin. And while Kumble’s career average and strike rate might not stack up favourably, it’s revealing to look at his and Murali’s records against Australia, who have set the standard for almost a decade. Prior to today, both had played 10 Tests against the Aussies, with Kumble taking 61 wickets at 27.96 (strike rate of 59.8) as opposed to Murali’s 50 at 31.42 (strike rate 61.8). This, despite the disadvantage of having played only four Tests at home, to Murali’s eight.The greater variety has come at a price, and these days, Kumble does send down the occasional half-tracker and half-volley, almost unthinkable a few years ago. But the maturity that was his most eye-catching feature even as a raw 19-year-old, and a refusal to get flustered, have seen him win more battles than he has lost. Some day soon, India – whose fans remain singularly obsessed with batting landmarks – will wake up and realise that they have had a champion in their midst for almost 15 years. And the fact that he hasn’t bothered to advertise it makes him all the greater in many eyes.

Rahul Dravid’s 96-ball 12 was among his slowest innings, and one of the slowest 12s ever scored in Test cricket

S Rajesh12-Aug-2007

At the start of play on the fourth day, India were huge favourites to wrap up a 2-0 series win. They could still get there, but England have given themselves a much better chance of saving the Test – and keeping India from joining them at No.2 spot in the ICC rankings – after an excellent day with both ball and bat.Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook did a superb job of seeing off 20 overs in the evening, but the day was set up by England’s performance in the field, when they allowed India to score at only 3.10 runs per over. Much of that run-rate was due to a rather inexplicable innings from the captain of the team trying to force a win. Rahul Dravid had some justification in starting his innings slowly after India lost three early wickets, but then he got into a rut and forgot his attacking options. By the time he was put out of his misery by Paul Collingwood, Dravid had scored 12 from 96, including a 35-ball passage – from the 18th to the 52nd ball – when he didn’t score a single run. Among innings in which he has faced at least 50 deliveries, this was his third-slowest. All have come against England, with the other two coming within a week of each other, during England’s tour of India in 2001-02.

Dravid’s strike rate of 12.50 doesn’t rank anywhere near the slowest all-time innings, though. The table below lists the slowest innings – lasting at least 75 balls – by batsmen in the top seven. The name on top of the list isn’t one you would normally associate with slow scoring – Abdul Razzaq made an unbeaten 4 off 76 balls against Australia at Melbourne in 2004-05. Not very far down the list is another name which you’d think doesn’t belong here – Ian Botham, when he needed 88 balls to score 6 against Australia in 1978-79.

Dravid’s knock was one of the slowest 12s in Test cricket, though. Only three times has a 12 needed more deliveries: Sri Lanka’s Dulip Liyanage scored one off 101 deliveries against India at Lucknow in 1994, while John Edrich and Mark Taylor both got theirs off 98 deliveries.Even as Dravid was struggling to get the ball off the square, though, his batting partner played quite an exquisite knock. Sourav Ganguly stroked some superb boundaries on the way to a 68-ball 57; only four times has he scored a 50-plus score at a faster pace.

England have put themselves in a position to save the Test, but they still have some way to go: only three teams have ever batted more than 110 overs in the fourth innings of a Test at The Oval. India hold the record – they batted for more than 150 overs in that famous Test in 1979. England’s best is 105.1 overs, which wasn’t enough to stop them going down by 158 runs against West Indies in 1973.

They bounced him, he hooked them. In the background, a radio played. It was the summer of 1983

Ashok Malik17-Jan-2008

Watching India bat in the second Test against Pakistan in Faisalabad this January, one moment, one delivery, something clicked in my head. Shoaib Akhtar, using the second new ball, bowled a bouncer, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with a spellbinding savagery, smashed it for six.I thought it was a hook; the next morning’s papers – describing how, in a pulsating counterattack, Dhoni had reached his first Test century and saved India from following on – preferred to call it a pull. By then my mind had moved, replaying Michael Sembello and “Maniac”, lost in a once-and-forever nostalgia oval.It wasn’t always like this. Years ago, before placid wickets and mindless one-day games made genuine fast bowlers seem like cowboys at a vaudeville show, Indian batsmen weren’t supposed to hook.Like good boys, they were supposed to defend (“That’s another immaculate forward-defensive stroke from Gavaskar. Copybook, I tell you.”), drive along the ground, sweep when the spinners came on. Some, like the oriental sorcerer Gundappa Viswanath, were obligated to late-cut.That was another India, another time: a time before 1983, a time before Mohinder Amarnath.The Lala’s second son was not a cricketer you instantly fell in love with. A slow, lumbering gait and zero charisma: this one wasn’t a charmer.He made his Test debut the year I was born. I first saw him a decade later, in 1979, wearing a , felled by Rodney Hogg, collapsing on the stumps in the Bombay Test against Australia. He looked quite ridiculous. Since he’d been hit by a Richard Hadlee bouncer earlier in the summer in England, his obituary was readied. At 29, he was history – too old and too unequal to fast bowling.Like Douglas MacArthur, he vowed to return. Mohinder didn’t give up, he scored runs for Delhi with an accountant’s determination and worked harder and harder on his fitness.In the early 1980s, in the innocence of adolescence, I took the Ranji Trophy a little more seriously than the selectors did. Mohinder grew on me, gradually. So did his status as Indian cricket’s perennial underdog. He was the outsider who appealed to the loser in us all – the antithesis of the dominant Bombay lobby.It was just before the 1982 tour of England. Mohinder had hit another century in another Ranji final, been cold-shouldered another time. Asked about it, Raj Singh Dungarpur, manager for the tour, raised his nose, “Let us talk about the future of Indian cricket, not the past.”I still haven’t forgiven him.In six months, Mohinder was back in the team, battling Imran Khan and Pakistan, hitting three hundreds in a lost cause – and hooking. At least I saw those games on television. The best was yet to come, and I only heard it on radio.In early 1983, Kapil Dev led his men to the Caribbean. It was India’s only series in the West Indies against the pace quartet. They lost 0-2: a nailbiting finish in the first Test, and a 10-wicket defeat in the fourth at Barbados, reputedly the fastest pitch of them all. I still remember the scores – India 209 and 277; Mohinder 91 and 80. Need I say more?It was an epic contest. As Subhash Gupte, by then living in Trinidad, later put it, “They kept bouncing, and Mohinder kept hooking.” In one Test he was hit on the head and retired hurt. He returned a few wickets later, was met with a first-ball bouncer – and hooked it to the boundary.

Of course, I saw none of this. It was an age before 24×7 telecasts. In a household remarkably free of cricket fans, I had but a transistor on low volume for company. In that strange, pre-modern media environment, All India Radio brought just the first two sessions live to listeners. The post-tea session was delayed, coming as a “deferred” broadcast about an hour later, perilously close to school time.In sum, this meant I was up all night. Most difficult was the period between the tea break and commencement of “deferred” commentary. The house was silent, the lights were out; only the trams could be heard moving on the streets of Calcutta, calling to each other as it were, urging me to close my eyes but stay awake, and imagine the grit, guts, and glory of a gladiator in a faraway land.As it happened, 1983 was a great year for music. Late at night, while the players had lunch, between tea and resumption of commentary, I was kept up by shortwave radio – BBC, or maybe the Voice of America, or an Australian show – and by the pirated cassettes on my Walkman: The Police and , Billy Joel and “Uptown Girl” – and “Flashdance”.Mid-tour, Sembello burst onto the charts with “Maniac”: “You work all your life for that moment in time/ It could come or pass you by / It’s a push of the world, but there’s always a chance / If the hunger stays the night.” I had found Jimmy’s anthem.It was famously said of Ken Barrington that he “came out to bat with the Union Jack wrapped around him”. Mohinder was sculpted of similar steel. He was perhaps what so many of us wanted India to be – a fighter. He was not a Gavaskar, not a natural; Jimmy was Ivan Lendl to Sunny’s Bjorn Borg.Later in 1983, Mohinder helped India to the Prudential Cup. There were to be more failures and successes, more depths and peaks, many more comebacks. The man eventually retired in 1990, having played first-class cricket from 16 to 40.For me, it didn’t matter. I could savour the Mohinder of 1983, the witching hours when I’d close my eyes and watch him hook – hooking, as Sembello may have sung, like he’d never hooked before.

Prolific partnerships in all forms of the game, and opening bowlers whose fathers were Test players too

Steven Lynch18-Dec-2007The regular Tuesday column in which Steven Lynch answers your questions
about (almost) any aspect of cricket:

Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan now hold the record of being the most
prolific partnership for Pakistan in Tests, but which is the most prolific
pair overall – in Tests and in ODIs – and, while you are at it,
Twenty20s? asked Abhijit Shukla from the United States
Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf did recently
become Pakistan’s most prolific partnership: by the end of the series
against India they had put on 3080 runs together, beating the previous
record of 3013 by Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq. But they are quite a long way
down the overall Test list,
which is headed by Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, who put on 6482 runs
together, not far ahead of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer (6081). The ODI list is headed, not
surprisingly, by Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, who have put on 8227
runs together for India, well ahead of the next pair, Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya (5462). In the short history of Twenty20 internationals,
the top pair are Australia’s Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, with 398
runs between them. For what it’s worth, there’s a full list here.In the second Test against Sri Lanka, England’s bowling was opened by two
sons of former Test cricketers. Is this a first? asked Robin from
England
In Sri Lanka’s innings during last week’s Test in Colombo, the new ball
was shared by Stuart
Broad, the son of the former England opener Chris, and Ryan Sidebottom, whose
father Arnie played once for England in 1985. This was indeed a first in
Test cricket, although there was one previous instance of both new-ball
bowlers having a father who played Test cricket – when Dayle and Richard Hadlee opened the bowling
for New Zealand against Australia at
Adelaide in 1973-74. Their father Walter Hadlee played 11 Tests for
New Zealand between 1937 and 1950-51. For a full list of related Test
players, click here.Who once bowled a 17-ball over in an ODI? asked
Dave Burton from Reading
The unlucky bowler who sent down the longest known over in international
cricket was Mohammad Sami of
Pakistan, with the third over of the Asia Cup match against Bangladesh in Colombo in 2004. It included four
no-balls and seven wides, and the sequence of the over was:
wd-4-2-nb-wd-nb1-0-wd-wd-0-wd-nb-wd-wd-nb-0-4. Ironically, Sami’s previous
over had been a wicket maiden, so he came off with the bizarre figures of
2-1-22-1. Pakistan officials explained that he was trying to remodel his
action and was struggling for rhythm. The longest over in a Test is believed
to be one of 15 deliveries – including nine no-balls – by Curtly Ambrose for
West Indies against Australia at
Perth in 1996-97.Graeme Swann missed 175 ODIs before his recall to play for England
recently. Is this is a record? asked Jamie Clifton from
Newark
Rather surprisingly, Graeme
Swann’s long gap is not even a record for England – Shaun Udal missed 193 matches in
more than ten years between 1995 and his recall in 2005-06. But Udal is only
fourth on the overall list, which is headed by the New Zealander Jeff Wilson: he missed 271 matches,
over a record 11 years and 331 days, between his debut series in 1992-93 and
a short-lived recall in 2004-05. (In between, Wilson had been playing rugby
union for the New Zealand All-Blacks.) For a full list, click here.Has any batsman scored two double-centuries in the same Test match?
asked P Balaji from India
No one has yet managed this in a Test match. The closest was by Graham
Gooch, who made 333 and 123 for England against India at Lord’s in 1990. Five other players
have managed a double and a single century in the same Test, most recently
Brian Lara, with 221 and 130 for West Indies in Colombo in 2001-02, in a match Sri
Lanka still won by ten wickets. For a list of the others, click here. Only one man has
scored two double-centuries in the same game in first-class cricket: Kent’s
Arthur Fagg, against Essex at Colchester in 1938. He scored 244 in the first innings, and 202 not
out in the second. That included a century before lunch on the first day,
and 98 in 90 minutes before lunch on the third.Who called his life story Mad As I Wanna Be? asked Jared
Christopher from Sydney
This unusual title adorned the 1997 autobiography of the New Zealand fast
bowler Danny Morrison. New
Zealand players make something of a habit of giving their books peculiar
names, as readers of this column over the years may have noted!And there’s an afterthought to last week’s question about Don
Bradman, from Max Bonnell in Australia
“I don’t know why people keep repeating the idea that Otto Nothling was, in his only Test in 1928-29, a
replacement for Don Bradman.
Bradman (a specialist batsman) lost his place in the XI to Vic Richardson (a
specialist batsman). Nothling (an opening bowler and handy lower-order
batsman) replaced Jack Gregory (an opening bowler and handy lower-order
batsman) who broke down in Brisbane with a knee injury. The idea that
Nothling took Bradman’s spot seems to be impossible to kill – it was
repeated by Peter Roebuck on Australian radio a few weeks ago – but it just
isn’t true.”

He may not be in the side anymore but he isn’t going quietly

Interview by Khondaker Mirazur Rahman02-Apr-2008

You were dropped for the second Test against South Africa recently and not considered for the upcoming ODIs against Pakistan. Is this the end of the road?
I don’t think so. I will be back, I am not finished yet. I have had a difficult period over the last one year. It’s a part of cricket and I have to accept it. I have a lot of cricket left in me and I will fight to get my place back in the national team. As a batsman, scoring runs is my only goal and I am quite happy with my recent form with the bat in the Dhaka Premier League.You were known as “Mr. 50” for your consistency in Test cricket, and you scored fairly consistently in ODIs in the build-up to the 2007 World Cup. What went wrong after that?

I was enjoying my cricket, both as a captain and as a batsman, but the focus was always on the team. We had a very young team and leading a young team in a big tournament like the World Cup is always difficult. We achieved our goal in the World Cup but unfortunately my bad time with the bat coincided with my good time as a captain. I always believe a captain should be judged on the basis of team performance and not on his individual batting or bowling. A captain can have a bad time; no one is infallible. I was surprised to see the level of criticism despite our success in the World Cup.I tried hard to regroup after the World Cup, but it didn’t work well. I know age is not on my side but I am feeling well, the reflexes are fine, and I am regaining my confidence. I have no plans to retire from international cricket for two years at least. I want to score as many runs as possible to earn my place back and that’s what I am doing right now.The Bangladesh team is increasingly becoming younger with time, with not many senior players around to guide them. Do you think this is an ideal scenario for an international team?
It’s far from ideal. I think we are in a crucial phase for Bangladesh cricket. Most of our domestic performers are young and we have to select from among them. But we have brought too many young players into the national team without proper grooming. You cannot expect consistency from a team with an average age of 22. We must revisit our policy in the interests of the young players and the country.You have captained Bangladesh in 69 ODIs and won 29 of them. On the other hand, under your captaincy Bangladesh managed only one win and four draws in 18 Tests. Why is there such a difference?

Tests and ODIs are two different ball games. Our youth brand of cricket suits ODIs more than Tests. The fearless attitude of our youngsters can result in an ODI win on any given day. This is how we won against Australia in Cardiff, India in Trinidad and South Africa in Guyana. On the other hand, Test cricket requires patience, application and consistent performance over five days. One or two good sessions doesn’t do it.

We have made the job more difficult by selecting a young and inexperienced team for Test cricket. We have always tried to look at the future combinations. We should have realised that the future is important but not at the cost of the present. We must learn from our mistakes. Now that we have a talented bunch of young players, we should keep the core team intact for the next few years.The main reason we failed to repeat our ODI successes in Test cricket was because we have not able to put enough runs on the board. We have failed as a batting unit on most occasions. When you don’t put enough runs on the board, the bowlers don’t get enough runs to bowl at and the captain doesn’t know what fields to set – whether to attack or defend.You were awarded the captaincy at a very difficult time for Bangladesh cricket, when the team was on a losing streak. What made the turnaround possible?
After our dismal performance in the 2003 World Cup, we needed some good performances to prove our credentials. My first success as a captain was against a full-strength Zimbabwe side in Harare in 2004, which was my first game as Bangladesh captain. I must give credit to Dav Whatmore, who worked very hard to make the turnaround possible. I enjoyed a very good relationship with Dav and we shared our thoughts to lift the spirit of the Bangladesh team. With our “team first” approach we effectively turned a losing side into a winning outfit.You worked for four years with Whatmore. How do you rate him as a coach?
Whatmore was instrumental in motivating young players. He gave optimism and discipline to a team that had not won a single match for four years. He understood our team chemistry very well and he made individual cricketers’ lives easy. He allowed us to play our natural game and appreciated even very simple achievements. I personally rate him as one of the best in the business.

What’s the role of a captain in a team like Bangladesh? Did you enjoy the job?
A captain has a huge role. And in a young and inconsistent team like Bangladesh, the job is far more challenging and requires a lot of patience and man-management skills. As a captain I had to work hard to help players get through the bad times and keep their motivation up.I enjoyed every bit of my captaincy – more so because we managed to beat some noteworthy opponents. Those are happy memories.What would you rate as your biggest achievement as captain?
We have managed to earn the respect of our opponents, especially in ODIs. In our early days, every team took us for granted. That’s not a great feeling – when you are not taken seriously. A match against Bangladesh is no longer seen as a walk in the park, and that’s my biggest achievement as the captain of Bangladesh. For example, when we defeated India in the 2007 World Cup and progressed to the Super Eights, every team had a different look at us. It probably made our job difficult, but it also helped us to enjoy the game. We felt counted. We haven’t yet achieved the same in Test cricket. I hope Mohammad Ashraful will be able to take the team forward and Bangladesh will be respected as a team regardless of the format of the game.International cricket has been a bumpy ride for Bangladesh so far. What’s the way forward?
Cricket is very popular in Bangladesh. We have a very strong fan base and there is a lot of passion for the game. At the same time, we need to take a few decisions to raise the standard of our game.

Sporting wickets are a necessity to strengthen our domestic cricket. Currently each first-class team plays with three or four spinners on slow, low wickets, which is killing our game.The BCB can introduce a quota system for international cricketers. During our time in club cricket, we benefited enormously from the presence of players like Neil Fairbrother, Arjuna Ranatunga and Wasim Akram. A similar presence of international cricketers in domestic circuit will definitely help young cricketers to learn from their game. Our cricketers do not get enough opportunity to play county cricket in England or first-class cricket in countries like Australia and South Africa. The BCB can appoint full-time agents in those countries to help our cricketers find suitable clubs. It is very much required to raise our game to the next level.I feel that we are a much better side than our results show at the moment. We are playing much, much below our potential. It’s more a mental block than anything else. Some consistent good performances can lift the block. We will probably see a much improved Bangladesh side in near future.

Suresh Raina looks back at his worst year, 2007, as a blessing in disguise

Sriram Veera in Hyderabad11-Jan-2009

For Suresh Raina, 2007 was the year of the devil. He had lost the feel for the game after being bedridden for six months due to a knee injury but slowly found the strength to fight his way back. He would sneak out of his Lucknow house on crutches to visit his boarding school. There, he would stand behind the nets for hours, watching the kids play cricket and try and get the love for the game back.”Cricket (“I had forgotten all about cricket”), being out of action for six months,” says Raina about his annus horribilis. “I used to stand behind the nets and watch the kids play. I had to get back the feel for the game. Even my mother – we are a very emotional family – didn’t know I was going and seeing that. It was a very difficult time.”It must have been a bewilderingly confusing time for the youngster, who had already been hyped as the next big thing in Indian cricket. He was dropped after a poor one-day series in South Africa in 2006, and his comeback bid was hampered when he suffered the knee injury, during a Deodhar Trophy match in February 2007.Faith in god and the family’s support kept him going. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar gave him some confidence to continue. “I was out of the game for one-and-a-half-years. The BCCI supported me during that time and I spoke to a couple senior players like Tendulkar and Dravid, who helped me. They told me to not to hurry the rehab.”Get fit first was the message. Thankfully, Raina listened. He remembers the help of the physio Chandan Chawla who put him through an ultimately successful programme. It wasn’t all smooth sailing though.In an interview with the in August 2007, Raina had shared some of his frustrations about the lack of a recovery chart. He compared the Indian situation with the kind of treatment injured players get abroad. “But here… forget it! Look at [Lakshmipathy] Balaji or [Ashish] Nehra. They got injured and where are they now?” he said then. There were endless visits to doctors and physiotherapists before Raina slowly got a grip of his fitness programme.
He trained hard for a couple of hours in the morning, then did cardio and weight training. Slowly, Raina’s body began to respond and his muscles strengthened. He went to play in the leagues in England. The cobwebs of self-doubt cleared from his mind, he found hitting the ball wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be in those dark days.Raina looks back at those days as a blessing in disguise. It doesn’t seem to be the fatal philosophy of ‘whatever happens, happens for the good’; it is more a journey to manhood. “I learnt a lot about life during those up and down times. I am in better shape mentally now. I got to know people better after that. Before I used to be like … Just come, play cricket, and go. I matured off the field during that time. I understood my game better. I didn’t think about being called a fringe player and whether I would get a chance or not. I think if you perform, you will get everything.”

Raina watched India’s disastrous World Cup campaign on television and saw how the team lacked support when it lost. Another small life lesson about a cricketer’s life was learnt. Meanwhile, his own fortunes started to turn. He had a very good Challenger Series and followed it up with a good Ranji Trophy season. “Things started to go well from there on. I became more positive,” he says.Then the IPL happened. Raina was suddenly brushing shoulders with the likes of Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey and Stephen Fleming. He scored 421 runs for the Chennai Super Kings, with three half-centuries at a strike-rate of 142.71, and his performances in the IPL undoubtedly helped in his recall to the one-day side.”Fleming, especially, was a great help for mental strength and preparation,” says Raina. “We used to go together for dinners and talk about stuff. Then I did well in the Asia Cup and on the Sri Lanka tour against Ajantha Mendis.”During the Asia Cup in Pakistan, where he made two centuries – three years after making his debut – to finish as the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament, Raina spoke to India’s coach Gary Kirsten, who he says helped him take the journey forward. “He thinks about each player. He spent a lot of time with me and Rohit Sharma and gave us lots of confidence. , (“What was missing in confidence shot up after that encounter”). I decided to go there and enjoy the game.”With the seniors retiring, spots are up for grabs in the Test team. Yuvraj Singh grabbed his chance in the series against England and Raina doesn’t believe that the likes of Rohit are ahead of him in the race. “I am not behind. I am playing well. Whenever I get the opportunity, I will do well. I have done well in ODIs and am looking for opportunities in Tests. The thing is to enjoy the whole process.”The enjoyment returned but England, led by Andrew Flintoff, tried to develop a crack by peppering Raina with bouncers in the last few games. Raina, however, sees no cause for concern. “There is nothing like that. Just on that day and wicket, if that shot doesn’t come on well, it doesn’t mean I don’t have the shot. I play drives, pulls and have all the shots. I just have to get the big knocks coming through again.”The big knocks eluded him this Ranji season. “I played two or three crucial knocks. Even in the quarterfinal I hit a crucial 83,” he says. “The last season I scored big hundreds and this season I haven’t scored big knocks, but it’s not as if I have played badly. I have played well and got out. That’s important. And I am happy that I have contributed for the team this season.. Hopefully, in this final, I will get the big one.”

A beautiful day, great atmosphere, raucous crowds and a match largely worthy of a final. A fan watches Pakistan’s players and fans take over Lord’s

Gautam Thakar22-Jun-2009Why I picked this match
I wanted to watch tradition versus the future at the Mecca of cricket. I was grudgingly sure Pakistan would win, as Sri Lanka were due to lose after six straight wins.Key performer
An outstanding big-game innings of 54 in 40 balls and a tight spell meant that Shahid Afridi was rightly the Man of the Match. However the unsung impact was by Abdul Razzaq, whose three key early wickets of Sanath Jaysuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and Jehan Mubarak left Sri Lanka reeling at 32 for4 and sealed the game.One thing I’d have changed about the match
I believe Kumar Sangakarra made a tactical error in not giving Lasith Malinga the 18th over with 26 still needed. A wicket or a tight over at that stage would have changed the game, whereas Isuru Udana gave away 19 runs and the game was all over.Face-off I relished
Afridi won the battle with Muttiah Muralitharan when he smashed a six and a four off the first two balls to pillage 14 runs off the 14th over and change the trajectory of the game.Shot of the day
A striking straight drive from Angelo Mathews off Saeed Ajmal rocketed to the boundary. It was as crisp a straight drive as any you’ll ever see, but more important coming from a No. 8 under pressure it inspired confidence that Sri Lanka could make a game of it. They scored 29 runs in the two overs after that.Crowd meter
The sea of green meant that it may well have been the Gaddafi Stadium, and not a packed Lord’s. Constant chanting of “”, “” and “Boom Boom Afridi” reverberated across the ground. Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, his wife Sangeeta Bijlani, and news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai added some star power to my area of the stands.Entertainment
The PA system was pumping up the volume – the Rolling Stones seemed to be a favourite. This was coupled with “The Heat is On” and “”. The fireworks were no comparison to the IPL extravaganza, but thankfully the focus was on cricket and not long speeches by Lalit Modi equivalents.Pakistan’s fans spill out on to the streets•Getty ImagesBanner of the day
There were some wishing their dads a happy Father’s day. However, banners from Pakistanis on the streets of St John’s Wood asked what a billion Indians are asking – “Where are you now, India? Did you watch us win?” There was also a huge protest just outside Lord’s, with hundreds of people demanding the ICC ban Sri Lanka “for Tamil genocide”, adding a political aspect to the final.Marks out of 10

8. A beautiful day, great atmosphere, raucous crowds and, for the most part, the match was worthy of a final. However, if Sri Lanka had managed to get even 10-15 runs more it would have made it a real close game and a 10/10, irrespective of the outcome.Overall
The wild celebration on the streets with thousands of Pakistan fans chanting and creating a traffic jam reinforced the importance of this win for a country where the game has been devastated by security concerns. Hence this result was perhaps an apt outcome. Pakistan did after all beat the two best teams in the tournament – South Africa and Sri Lanka – to win the cup. And of course they are the only team to be finalists in the first two Twenty20 world cups.

Reaching the summit is one challenge, staying there is something entirely different

Andrew McGlashan in Durban30-Dec-2009Reaching the summit is one challenge, staying there is something entirely different. When South Africa took Australia’s crown as the No. 1 Test team in the world, they seemed to have the makings of a side to hold that spot. A strong-willed captain, a mighty batting order, a great allrounder and a fearsome strike bowler.They couldn’t do much to prevent the mace being handed over to India at the start of this month as they hadn’t played Test cricket for eight months, but after an innings-and-98-run thrashing at Durban, they look anything but world-leaders. It’s the nature of the defeat that is causing the greatest alarm. South Africa have always been beatable, but they rarely get hammered.Overcoming Australia on their home soil proved such a pinnacle for Graeme Smith’s team. It was the fruition of two years’ building and followed a victory in Pakistan, a draw away to India then an historic series win in England. Each of those achievements was memorable in its own right, but when Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla knocked off the runs at the MCG that was the moment a generation (and more) had waited for. Since then, alas, there has been a steady slide.Defeat in a dead rubber at Sydney could be excused – particularly as it came with just 10 balls of the match remaining – but the loss of the return series in South Africa was a real shock to the system. Questions were asked about how the team had prepared, while familiar differences of opinion emerged between the captain and the selectors.The eight-month hiatus from Tests allowed that particular dust-cloud to settle, but South Africa’s performances in limited-overs cricket also suffered. After a crushing defeat in the semi-finals of the World Twenty20, they flopped at home in the Champions Trophy, with a first-round exit, and went on to lose the one-day series against England. Now this innings defeat at Durban has ensured that a year that began with so much promise has turned into one to forget.Mark Boucher troops off as South Africa’s last hope departs•Getty Images”We have to honest with ourselves and look in the mirror. We represent a lot of people’s hopes in South Africa and just weren’t good enough,” Smith said of his team’s capitulation. “We haven’t played the same amount of Tests as we did in 2008, but 2009 really hasn’t lived up to the hype we managed to build last year, and that’s disappointing.”As a team we reached a point and haven’t been able to go to the next level. That’s something we need to address as a team and maybe as a leadership group. From a coaching perspective we need to look at why we haven’t been able to take the next step, and that’s something hopefully we can reassess in 2010 and make it a better year.”The similarities between South Africa’s post-Australia blues and England’s post-2005 Ashes hangover are stark. Under Michael Vaughan, England reached their zenith during that memorable summer and seemingly had a team to dominate for years to come. But it wasn’t to be. They just couldn’t reach those levels of intensity again for consistent periods. The could be becoming true for South Africa.Injuries, too, played a part, perhaps more so in England’s case but the recent problems for Dale Steyn and Jacques Kallis haven’t helped the hosts. Then there’s the loss of form and confidence. Steve Harmison was never the same after 2005, while Makhaya Ntini is now a shadow of his former self.And what of the coaches? Duncan Fletcher backed his players to the hilt until it got too much during the 2006-07 Ashes drubbing, when the performances were indefensible and relationships reached breaking point, not least between Fletcher and his captain, Andrew Flintoff. Things are not as dire for Mickey Arthur, but the warning signs are there. He has the utmost faith in his players and his game plans – however, sometimes the call to change becomes too loud to resist.Smith, though, is cautious of knee-jerk reactions. “We’ve had one collapse and as disappointing as that is, I don’t think it’s a call to make massive changes,” he said. “It’s disappointing when it does happen, it never looks good, but generally the top six have been solid even in this series. Maybe we got a little tentative and didn’t commit to our shots as well as have.”The guys have got good records. It’s always important to have these wake-up calls, but disappointing when it does happen. In this series the guys have batted well and handled conditions well, even in the first innings here, 340 was a good effort but we have to go away and improve.”However, his support of Ntini sounded less fulsome than in the days leading up to this Test when he had made it clear there was never a chance of him being omitted despite Friedel de Wet’s impressive debut at Centurion. Former players have been critical of the decision, and public opinion may even be swaying against Ntini.”Makhaya would be the first one to put his hand up and say he’s disappointed with the way he has bowled,” Smith said. “He comes with a lot of experience and has performed well over a period of time. We have given him all the support we can from behind the scenes and he is an important cog in the line-up. We need to look at all those aspects going into Cape Town and see what we can do.”We’ve got a crucial Test starting out the year and we need to make those decisions and move forward pretty quickly. We can turn it all around in a few days time.”Newlands is a stronghold for South Africa and their three previous Tests against England since admission have been crushing victories, including two by an innings. The difference, though, is that on each of those occasions they have entered the New Year Test on the back of a draw, not a confidence-sapping defeat. The force is against them and they will have to dig deep. Smith will be glad there’s only one day of 2009 remaining.