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For Alok Kapali, a starring role in Comilla’s last-ball win to secure a BPL title wasn’t just about redeeming his reputation but telling the country that he can still bring it on a big day

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur15-Dec-2015When 21 was required off the last eight balls, Alok Kapali hit four boundaries and calmly took the single that won Comilla Victorians a major domestic trophy. His teammates kept him in the centre of their wild celebrations. The unbeaten 39 won him the Man-of-the-Final award too. It is hard not to say that the evening of December 15 was his redemption in Bangladesh cricket after more than seven years.Kapali, 31, was one of 13 players to join the rebel Indian Cricket League in September 2008, a defection that bruised Bangladesh cricket’s progress and ego. He was the highest scorer for the Dhaka Warriors team and although all of those players were pardoned and reintegrated back to Bangladesh cricket, he was never the same player. Two years later he was picked for Bangladesh in four ODIs and two T20s, the last of which had been in December 2011.Among those who had left mainstream Bangladesh cricket for the ICL, Shahriar Nafees had made a decent comeback in international cricket ending in 2013 and since then has been a regular domestic performer. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Kapali’s heroics, Nafees’ unbeaten 44 after Barisal batted first would have been a more talked about innings.On Tuesday, Kapali tried to steer clear of making any mention of the ICL but said that the last time he felt this good in a cricket field was in 2008 when he had struck 115 against India in the Asia Cup.”I won’t call this a comeback,” Kapali said. “The current Bangladesh team is doing well and I think that I used to play for that team in the past. I am trying on my own. Actually the ICL is now in the distant past. It is better we don’t talk about it.”I think the last time I felt this happy was when I made the century against India after we had lost four wickets and now this innings, which we really needed since we had done so well throughout the competition. I think we really needed this win in the final.”It had been a tough campaign for Kapali, who struggled to find time at the crease in the six innings he got the opportunity out of the ten starts for Comilla. In his first opportunity to bat at No. 4, he made an unbeaten 32 against Sylhet Super Stars but his batting style hardly allowed him to slog, and neither could he find the gaps regularly.There was much surprise to see him come out to bat before Ashar Zaidi and Shuvagata Hom, especially with 80 needed off the last 10 overs. But Kapali let Imrul Kayes and Zaidi attack at the other end while he found singles and his first boundary didn’t come until the 16th over after both had departed.Both Kapali and his next partner Darren Stevens struggled to find boundaries and just when Barisal had a firm grip, after Stevens and Mashrafe Mortaza were dismissed on back-to-back balls to start the 19th, Kapali snuck two boundaries off the last two balls of the over to get Comilla back in the game with 13 needed off the final six balls. He later said that the plan was to stretch the game to the last over and when he had leveled the score, he told Nuwan Kulasekara that he wouldn’t slog the final ball.”The ball was coming on to the bat quite nicely,” Kapali said. “I thought that even if we needed 17 runs off the last over, I could do it. I told Kulasekara that I won’t play a risky shot. I will take the single because I didn’t want it to go to the super over. I wanted to play till the end, which will be great for me and the team.”Ever since his last international match, he had been regularly making runs in domestic cricket but despite his best efforts, which included first-class scores of 175, 211 not out and 228 earlier this year, the chief selector Faruque Ahmed commented that, “Kapali isn’t even in our plan B. He is not fit for international cricket. There are so many other batsmen who are ahead of him.”Kapali said that his match-winning innings in the BPL final wasn’t a message to anyone but it was more about repaying the faith of Comilla who had taken him on after being omitted in the draft, one of the surprise unpicked players. There was even a bit of tug-of-war with Rangpur Riders for whom Kapali even appeared in one practice session ahead of the tournament, before he latched on with Comilla.”I am not giving any messages to anyone. I just wanted to do well, whether it is for Bangladesh, the Sylhet Division team or in the BPL. Maybe chances will come up if I do well in these competitions. I am just thinking about making my batting better.”I did quite well in first-class cricket last year so I thought I might get a chance in the draft pick. When I wasn’t picked, later Comilla team took me. I tried to fulfill whatever expectations they had. I had belief that I could give something back to the team if I got a chance to bat higher up the order. I think today was that day,” he said.Once he was Bangladesh’s most beloved batsman after Mohammad Ashraful and one might even say Kapali’s batting style and occasional legspin had a bit of cult following. His 324 runs in the ICL kept his fans happy but his return to mainstream cricket in Bangladesh was often marred by a sense of mistrust towards the 2008 rebels.But as Kapali showed in the BPL final, it wasn’t just about redeeming his reputation but telling the country that he’s still alive, and can still bring it on a big day.

Plays of the day from the third ODI between South Africa and England in Centurion

George Dobell and Firdose Moonda09-Feb-2016The run-out (part 1)
With their bowlers leaking, at least South Africa still had their fielding to fall back on in the initial stages of the England innings. Jason Roy seemed to dawdle after slicing Kagiso Rabada over gully but when it became clear the ball wasn’t going straight to third man he pushed for a second run. Morne Morkel had to make up some ground but got in a good throw to the striker’s end where Quinton de Kock collected and took the bails off in one fluid motion; Roy, who had also circled round Rabada to come back, was an inch or two short.The run-out (part 2)
Having broken the stumps to remove Roy, de Kock then had a shy at the other end. Alex Hales, apparently fearing that de Kock would do so, appeared to deliberately run across the pitch and block the path of his throw. The ICC’s playing regulations state that if a batsman, in running between the wickets, “has significantly changed his direction without probable cause and thereby obstructed a fielder’s attempt to effect a run-out,” they should be given out obstructing the field whether the throw was on target or not. It is quite possible, therefore, that Roy’s run-out saved Hales, who was on 9 at the time.The first-baller
At 160 for 2, just after the halfway stage, the scene was set for another Jos Buttler special. He tried to turn the first ball he faced off his hip but had forgotten about the strategically placed leg gully who was waiting for that shot. Although Buttler hit it hard, JP Duminy got down low to his left and picked the ball up inches off the ground to give South Africa a way back in and halve Buttler’s series average – from 153 to 76.5. Chances are, he won’t be complaining about that.The drop
Joe Root was on 44 when he dabbed David Wiese towards third man. Contact was thinner than Root had hoped, though, so the ball flew low to the right of de Kock. But the South Africa wicketkeeper could only get fingertips on the ball and it flew away to the boundary. It was far from an easy chance but it was the only one Root gave on the way to his seventh ODI century.The catch
Root took a particular liking to Imran Tahir, scoring 30 runs off the 23 balls he faced, and was even able to choose exactly where to hit him. Root entered the 90s with a stunning six off a Tahir full toss, which found a spectator on the grass embankment who was perfectly positioned to catch the ball. The fan did not even have to move, much to the envy of South Africa’s fielders.The review
It seemed nothing could move de Kock in the chase but England were convinced they had snaffled him down the leg side. Umpire Johan Cloete was not convinced, calling a wide instead, but England decided to review even as de Kock patted his pad to indicate that’s what had been hit. There was a clear noise on the replays but Ultra Edge showed that it was the sound of the ball flicking the pad. So England were wrong, and there was no wicket to be claimed but Cloete was wrong too and there was no wide. Luckily, none of the mistakes remained.The relief
Hashim Amla had not scored an ODI hundred in nine innings, since August last year, and the same pressure that mounted on him in Tests was starting to bubble up in the shorter format. He got himself to 98, not as fluently as he would have liked, but his his heart may have been in his throat when Moeen Ali looped one over his head and Buttler whipped the bails off before his bat came down. Luckily for Amla it was an obvious no-ball and three deliveries later he whipped one off his pads to bring up a century. Amla barely managed a smile but that’s what relief looks like.The failed experiment
South Africa needed 80 off 13.1 overs when de Kock was the first wicket to fall and instead of sticking to their usual line-up, they sent in No. 7 David Wiese to try and finish things quickly. He struck one meaty six before a failed attempt at a reverse sweep that resulted in his dismissal and the experiment was clearly botched.

Tendulkar’s googly to Moin, and what made it special

Dinker Vashisht 23-Apr-2016As the whispers of “Is Virat better than Sachin?” started turning into a resonant chorus, MS Dhoni handed over the ball to Virat Kohli in the semi-final of the World T20. Kohli secured a wicket on the first ball. “Is there anything he cannot do?,” screamed an animated commentator. Yes sir, he can’t pull off a heist in the final over.Now, while the Venn diagrams of Sachin Tendulkar fans and Virat Kohli fans are not mutually exclusive, the fans in both the sets were reminded of Tendulkar’s genius with ball. The most popular memory that flashed past was his impossibly heroic over in the Hero Cup semi-final in 1992. But this fan was reminded of a piece of Tendulkar’s genius with the ball that came in Test cricket in 2004.To a lot of people of my generation (whom marketers unimaginatively refer as Generation Y), this moment of Tendulkar bowling Moin Khan through his legs on the last ball of day three of the Multan Test carried a far deeper meaning. In a lot of ways it was our “ball of century”, and for this fan in particular, that googly remains his “favourite Sachin memory”.For the better part of our early cricket-watching days, Pakistan had this stifling domination over India. The most traumatic for our generation was this series of matches between September 1998 to 2000, where Pakistan won 14 out of 18 ODIs. Quite often in these victories, a big role was played by a pack of lower-order gusty Pakistani cricketers who had an abundance of audacity. An Indian fan’s trite description for this factor was “killer instinct”. How much we “yearned for it” and how much “we lacked it”. The leader of this pack, which included the likes of Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram, was Moin Khan, whose quickfire 30s and 40s in the slog overs often took the Pakistani total beyond the chasing capacity of Indian batsmen – if only we had Virat back then! Moin would then rub salt in the wound with his incessant chatter from behind the stumps, nagging at our batsmen, as if the Pakistan bowling line-up wasn’t sufficiently threatening.Things started looking up when Sourav Ganguly led India’s renaissance from 2000 onwards. If the Centurion encounter in the 2003 World Cup, where Tendulkar arguably played his greatest ODI innings, was the first sign that India wasn’t wary of Pakistan anymore, India’s 2004 tour of Pakistan started a trend of India dominating Pakistan.Despite its brevity, the YouTube clip of this ball conveys a lot. I haven’t seen Tendulkar more animated in his 25-year-old career. Whooping, jumping, cheering and high-fiving like a teenager who just received a call from his crush. The chorus of exultation and laughter in the background is of Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman – the triple centurion, the Wall, Zak the ripper, the Prince who hit six sixes and the Mozart of batting – Tendulkar’s new team-mates whose performances ensured that Sachin could play with a freedom he never enjoyed before.The commentator during that moment, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin’s team-mate from the 1990s, mentions how Moin Khan “looked nervous”. India now had players who could make Pakistanis nervous! Moin may have looked nervous but Tendulkar looked supremely happy. This was an image, which was a far cry from the Tendulkar of the 1990s, when he looked perpetually in stress. In contrast to the Tendulkar of the nineties, the Tendulkar of the noughties smiled, laughed, leaped and celebrated more often. His team-mates were now winning matches but inconspicuously he was still playing a critical role in his team’s success. In the famous Test victories in Kolkata (2001) and Adelaide (2004), it was Tendulkar the bowler who took key wickets at the perfect time. In the same tour of Pakistan, Tendulkar clinched a sensational catch of Inzamam, which turned match in India’s favour, in the decider of the one-day series that preceded the Test match series.The ball was the last act of a day, when sections of broadcast media had made stand-in captain Dravid’s decision to declare with Tendulkar 194 not out the previous day a major talking point. Tendulkar’s spontaneous joyous dance, temporarily nipped some people’s habit of smelling rats.One of the innate appeals of sport is its uncanny ability to become a metaphor for life. It is difficult to recollect the words verbatim, but describing Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal against England from the viewpoint of Argentine population ravaged by economic recession and Falklands war, a journalist wrote that for a common Argentine, it was akin to a boy stealing apple from the marketplace for his hungry mother back home.To an India growing up in 1990s, Sachin Tendulkar epitomised that we too could excel and become the best in the world in our chosen fields. Tendulkar’s achievements and conduct never didn’t have a shadow of suspicion unlike Maradona’s, but it is revealing that when people talk about their favourite SRT moments, they often include his superlative efforts in losing causes – Desert Storm part-I in 1998, the Perth classic in 1992, the Cape Town tango with Mohammad Azharuddin in 1996, the Melbourne classic in 1999 and so on.The most heartbreaking of these lone ranger efforts was his backbreaking innings of 136 against Pakistan in 1999, when he got India to brink of victory but the team lost, capitulating in a manner that had become painfully frequent in those days. Declared Man of the Match, Tendulkar didn’t appear to collect the award. As per subsequent interviews, he wept that day. The whole of India wept with him and for him that day. Five years later, when he exulted at Multan, all of India felt his elation. He would not have to break his back again, carrying the burden of the team. His team-mates would share his load and India would go on to win some of its greatest victories in the years to follow. That is why it is my favourite Sachin moment.What’s your favourite Sachin moment? Send your entries to us here, with “Sachin moment” in the subject line.

In a season dominated by popular names, some lesser-known players made a difference

Nikhil Kalro30-May-2016Krunal PandyaBCCIMumbai Indians’ search for an Indian allrounder was complete when they unearthed Krunal Pandya in their third match – after trying out Shreyas Gopal and J Suchith in the first two. Krunal struck a quick 20 and returned 1 for 20 against Gujarat Lions, fitting into the bits-and-pieces role Mumbai were yearning for. Despite being shuffled around the batting line-up, Krunal crunched 237 runs at an average of 39.50 and a strike rate of 191.12. He also contributed with six wickets.Karun NairBCCIIn the quest of filling their squad with youngsters, Delhi Daredevils splurged INR 4 crores on Karun Nair – 40 times his base price of INR 10 lakhs. Nair started off slowly, registering three single-digit scores in his first four innings, but thereafter his consistency was one of Daredevils’ bright spots. In 12 innings, Nair struck 357 runs at an average of 35.70. The highlight of his season was a match-winning, unbeaten 83 to take Daredevils to a last-ball win against Sunrisers Hyderabad and keep their campaign alive.Adam ZampaBCCIIn the 2016 World T20 in India, Adam Zampa impressed with five wickets from four matches and an economy rate of 6.27. Despite playing just five games this IPL, he claimed the most wickets (12) for Rising Pune Supergiants. His bowling average of 9.58 was the best among their specialist bowlers. He also returned the second-best figures in the competition’s history when he took 6 for 19 in a losing cause against Sunrisers.KL RahulBCCIKL Rahul seamlessly transitioned from his classical Test-match strokeplay to become a vital cog in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting line-up. Coming in for Chris Gayle in Royal Challengers’ third match, Rahul totalled just 30 runs in his first two games. Thereafter, he cracked three consecutive fifties that helped him secure his spot for the rest of the season. He finished with 397 runs in 14 games at an average of 44.11. He also carried out wicketkeeping duties for Royal Challengers.Marcus StoinisBCCIMarcus Stoinis’ medium-pace bowling and big-hitting prowess made him one of Kings XI’s most valuable purchases – he was bought for INR 55 lakhs. Stoinis, armed with his stock ball, the offcutter, took eight wickets, including a career-best 4 for 15 against Mumbai Indians. In five innings with the bat, he made 146 runs at an average of 36.50, including an unbeaten 34 against Royal Challengers Bangalore that almost carried his side home in a tense chase. Unavoidable circumstances cut short his season – he had to return home due to “personal reasons”.

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jul-2016… and soon brought up his 150, his fifth in Test cricket•Getty ImagesHe was congratulated by his partner, Chris Woakes …•Getty Images… who uppercut a six over third man en route to his own half-century•Getty ImagesIt was Woakes’ second fifty in three Tests of a breakthrough summer•Getty ImagesBut on 58, he became Yasir Shah’s first wicket in 39 overs of hard toil•AFPBen Stokes batted with a measure of restraint in his first innings since injury•AFPBut he was unimpressed to be adjudged caught behind by DRS for 34•Getty ImagesJonny Bairstow survived a dropped catch by Sarfraz Ahmed, on 9•Getty ImagesRoot, however, powered on to his second Test double-hundred•Getty ImagesHe brought up his double-hundred with a reverse sweep for four•Getty ImagesIt was his highest Test score to date, beating his 200 not out against Sri Lanka in 2014•Getty ImagesHe eventually fell for 254 and was congratulated as he left by Misbah-ul-Haq …•AFP… and Yasir Shah as well•AFPHe departed the field to a standing ovation•Getty ImagesIn reply, Woakes made England’s first incision with the wicket of Mohammad Hafeez•Getty ImagesThen snaffled Azhar Ali with a high catch in his followthrough•Getty ImagesBen Stokes chipped in with the vital scalp of Younis Khan for 1•Getty ImagesWoakes claimed his third when the nightwatchman Rahat Ali was caught at short leg•Getty ImagesShan Masood battled to the close for a brave 30 not out•Getty Images

An analysis of some of the salient highlights from the second day’s play in Indore

Aakash Chopra09-Oct-2016Best pitch of the seriesThe second-day pitch in Indore has shown very little signs of wear and tear. The small cracks that are running all the way through have neither widened nor have the edges loosened up. Even the fast bowlers’ footmarks are just that – footmarks. The top soil has not disintegrated much either and the signs are visible for the third day to be the best day for batting in this Test.Make the bowlers bowl to youThey say the best batsmen make bowlers bowl where they want them to. It’s good to hear and profess, but is it even possible? Virat Kohli showed how it’s done, in the 92nd over bowled by Matt Henry. The third ball of the over was was outside off and Kohli did not offer a shot. The same sequence repeated on the next ball – outside off and left alone. Henry was forced to rethink his strategy for the fifth ball and he bowled a little closer to Kohli who then closed the face of the bat with a forward lean and collected an easy single through the midwicket region.Why is it tough to play the short ball in India?The two key ingredients while playing the short ball are bounce and pace. Life becomes a lot easier for the batsman if he could trust both of them, for that allows him to make a clear strategy. You could either decide to duck, sway or ride the bounce while defending. On the attacking front also, you could commit to the pull or hook early. In any case, the pull or hook is an instinctive shot and demands an early commitment. On Indian pitches, you can neither trust the bounce nor the pace and that is why it’s a little tough to formulate one strategy for all the bouncers bowled to you.Ajinkya Rahane was subjected to a barrage of bouncers•BCCIOne size doesn’t fit allThere are a lot of theories about how to play spin. Some say one must always use his feet to go down the pitch, others would tell you sweeping is a must too. Both Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have dominated spin in this game but have followed different strategies. Rahane has stepped down the pitch regularly and has chosen to take the aerial route. On the other hand, Kohli has used a long forward stride and the depth of the crease. Rahane struck four sixes and Kohli none but their strike-rate against spin was almost identical.Maintaining shape while taking the aerial routeRahane has used his feet quite well to both the New Zealand spinners. In his pursuit to go aerial, he has followed a couple of fundamentals of hitting the long ball. He has always gone with the spin and stepped out accordingly to get in the right position. Against Mitchell Santner he stepped away from the line to go inside out, but stepped across against Jeevan Patel to target the leg side. In addition to his footwork, he formed a stable base while going in the air. It is imperative to maintain a stable base and then the shape while and after hitting the ball. Rahane has showed that hitting sixes for a man of small stature is possible if the basics are addressed every time you stepped out.

Since 2000, only five players had to wait longer from debut for a maiden ODI century than Neil Broom’s 2910 days

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Dec-20163893 days Sean Williams
v Afghanistan, Bulawayo 2015. It came in a series-deciding ODI against Afghanistan. Zimbabwe lost, but Williams broke the record for scoring a century in the lowest total a team had been bowled out for in an ODI (172)•AFP3789 days Khurram Khan
v Afghanistan, Dubai 2014. At 43 years and 162 days, UAE captain Khurram Khan became the oldest player to score an ODI hundred•ICC3139 days Denesh Ramdin
v England, Antigua 2014. He scored his maiden hundred in his 109th ODI. And his second ton came three matches later•AFP2931 days Brad Haddin
v New Zealand, Sydney 2009. A week after his controversial dismissal of Neil Broom, Haddin added to New Zealand’s frustration with a century that snapped a five-match losing streak for Australia•AFP

The two former England batsmen talk about the captains they admired, and looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses

Nicholas Hogg13-Feb-2017Before David Gower sits down for our interview in the terrace bar of Soho Theatre, the rehearsal venue for , an all-new live show with his old pal, Chris Cowdrey, he orders a bottle of white wine. The two former England captains are in fine fettle after a successful run-through, and dapperly dressed as they are, sporting fine wool scarves loosely tossed over their shoulders, they could easily pass for two theatre impresarios.Gower calls their travelling live show a “reunion tour”, and when I ask Cowdrey why now, he smiles and replies, “Why not?”, adding that it’s simply a delight to spend time with his “great old mate”.Cricket after-dinner speaking is an art unto itself, and I wonder which former players the two men rate as performers. “The best I ever heard were Bumble [David Lloyd] and Fred Trueman,” says Gower. “Fred’s one-man show was amazing. He was a born storyteller.” And very successful, as Gower confirms. “Fred didn’t drive his Rolls Royce on money he made playing for England.”Gower and Cowdrey are looking back on careers that ended over 20 years ago, and both have moved into broadcasting, I ask whether commentating on the game can ever compare to actually playing.”No,” Gower quickly answers. “Your playing days are far more emotional. The highs are higher and the lows are lower. Winning the Ashes as captain in 1985 is carved in stone forever.”Although nothing can compare with the experience of being in the middle for Gower, he does relish the challenge of bringing cricket to the screen. “I want to get it right. There’s a pleasure in doing something well. And I have a great team at Sky, who make my job easy. Lots of great thinkers.” He then pauses and chuckles. “And Botham.”Cowdrey followed the radio route into broadcasting, and admits that it took him a “year of working with Boycott to realise I didn’t have to worry about it too much”.Both men have relaxed into the role of commentator, and Gower’s laconic style and dry wit have drawn flattering comparisons to Richie Benaud. “Well, I don’t know about that. But I’m happy to be mentioned in the same sentence as the great Richie. His silences were as famous as his words. His ability to find the right word at the right time was spectacular.”

“I hated running. I don’t understand the point of running. Put your left foot forward, your right foot forward. You’ve done it once or twice, what more is there to it?”David Gower

Cowdrey coos in approval, and recalls a day he spent with Richie at the Royal Ascot races. “We were looking at the horses, and I said, ‘What do you reckon to this one in the 3.15?’ And Richie says, ‘I think it’ll win. But not today.'”Both admit they are of a vintage where young fans know them only as “the bloke off the telly”, as Gower phrases it, rather than “the player who got all the runs”. Gower was at The Oval a couple of years after retiring when a father introduced his eight-year-old son. “Who’s he, Daddy?” he heard the boy ask. “Did he play?”But, gladly, memories of their careers linger on. “Nostalgia and cricket go hand in hand,” says Gower. “Hence the show.”Sitting with the two men one feels the glow of a real friendship. Both jockey for conversation, and love to chip in and quip at the other’s expense. They first met on a rugby pitch over 40 years ago, when Cowdrey scored an apparently controversial try by rounding Gower. A few months later they were touring South Africa on the same cricket team as part of an England Schools side. “He was an exciting young player,” says Cowdrey. “And you couldn’t miss him with his curly blond locks.”Back then Cowdrey was Gower’s captain, roles that would later be reversed, when Cowdrey played for England under Gower on the India tour in 1984-85. As both men captained from an early age, I ask whether leaders are born and not made.”You’re a born leader,” Cowdrey immediately replies. “But players can turn themselves into very good captains. I felt more pressure when I wasn’t captain. David was born to lead in a different way. He’s a natural entertainer.””Lots of things I did as captain were more PG Wodehouse than Peter May,” jokes Gower, before saying that he wouldn’t put himself up there with the great leaders. “One reason is, I wasn’t necessarily good at the things that happen off the field. But I had my moments. Winning in India, ’84-85, for example. If that tour was a stage play, it had everything. Two assassinations. Indira Gandhi was assassinated the morning we arrived. The first press conference involved us giving our commiserations, except the Indian press were under a news blackout and had no idea. Three weeks later, Percy Norris, deputy high commissioner to Bombay, was also killed. As captain, at the age of 27, I suddenly had these things to deal with.”Cowdrey plays the sweep shot in a match for Kent in 1982•Getty Images”But it was a good decision to put me on to bowl,” Cowdrey adds with a smile.It was. Cowdrey, still wearing the shin pads he’d forgotten to take off, bowled Kapil Dev with his fourth ball in Test cricket.”And you took me off after an over.””That was a better decision.”Winning in India, and winning the Ashes the following year, were proud moments for Gower. Cowdrey, although famously England captain for a single Test, made Kent a powerhouse of the 1980s. Which of the captains they played under did they admire most?”I was very lucky,” says Gower. “I had [Ray] Illingworth at Leicestershire and [Mike] Brearley for England. You had absolute faith in both of them.””Asif Iqbal,” says Cowdrey. “Great friend, wonderful guy. Calm head in a crisis. And David doesn’t get enough credit. He was fired out lbw on that India tour. He was targeted. Yet somehow he kept his chin up. To beat that Indian side with Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, that was unbelievable.”Cowdrey turns back to Gower. “How much was that worth? A £100?”More smiles and more chuckles. Has the fun of their era, when a player could skip out of a match and buzz the ground in a Tiger Moth, been lost in the sanitised modern game?”Players just don’t have time to disappear from the tour party,” Gower rues. “In India I buggered off for three days to look at some tigers. You can’t do that now. I remember at Adelaide I took out glasses of champagne with the drinks.”

“You’re a born leader. But players can turn themselves into very good captains. I felt more pressure when I wasn’t captain. David was born to lead in a different way. He’s a natural entertainer”Chris Cowdrey

Gower and Cowdrey are careful not to fall too deep into rose-tinted anecdote, and agree that it’s a habit for the previous generation to religiously say they had more fun. “We grew up with the Compton stories – of Denis arriving at the ground in his dinner jacket, borrowing a bat and scoring a hundred before lunch,” says Gower. “The fun allegedly goes out of cricket with each generation, yet no one would play if it wasn’t fun.”Was it fun when they came to cricket as youngsters? Or did the ambition of their fathers, especially Cowdrey, whose father, Colin, was a living legend, sour their enjoyment?”I wasn’t pushed at all. He encouraged me to play any sport. Then when I was 16 I started to sense media interest in me as a cricketer, and I thought, ‘Do I really want to go through that?’ Maybe I didn’t. So I gave golf a go.”At first Colin was happy enough to indulge his son’s interest in another sport, and arranged sessions for Chris with a pro coach. “Who told me I was rubbish. So we went to see a spiritualist who might divine my future. And they said, ‘No, stay with cricket.’ Cowdrey laughs. “And I’m sure my old man paid both of them to say that.”One of Gower’s earliest memories of cricket was in 1965, when his father took him to see the South Africans at Trent Bridge. “We saw Pollock make a hundred, and then Dad said, ‘Let’s go and hit a ball behind the stands.'”Perhaps Gower’s dad spotted his son’s early talent. “We loved to play,” he says. “Dad filched a cricket net from Loughborough College and we put it up in the back garden.”From hitting a tennis ball with Dad to Test matches in the 1980s, could either of them have stepped from their own cricket era directly into a T20?”Well, I loved fielding,” says Cowdrey. “And I scored quickly. Unorthodox shots. But I wasn’t a hooker. Maybe I’d have ramped it over third man for six. Not just slogging it over midwicket.”And Gower?”Whatever era you’re brought up in, you learn the tricks of that time. I used to do things in one-day cricket that were pretty special, until I got bored.”Gower’s lack of application, a laissez-faire approach to the game that brought him into conflict not only with management but also team-mates, is almost as infamous as that trip in a biplane. When I recall netting with him at the indoor school at Grace Road, Cowdrey chuckles, “That must have been rare.”It was. Gower often played truant from training, and says he learned his craft by playing. “See ball, hit ball is fine until facing proper spinners with loop and drift, and more turn. The first time I played against Bishan Bedi, it lasted about 30 seconds. At Leicester I learned the game.”Gower (centre): “The fun allegedly goes out of cricket with each generation, yet no one would play if it wasn’t fun”•Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesStill, what about fitness?”And I never ran,” says Gower. “I hated running. I don’t understand the point of running. Put your left foot forward, your right foot forward. You’ve done it once or twice, what more is there to it?”While Gower skipped nets, other players of his generation, like Graham Gooch, trained hard, and demanded the same sweat from his charges – which brought about direct conflict between the two men when the Essex drill sergeant usurped the Tunbridge Wells fop as England skipper.”Whatever works for Goochie doesn’t necessarily work for others,” defends Cowdrey. “It would’ve finished me about seven years earlier had I done his sort of running.”Does Gower harbour any ill feeling towards Gooch, a player whose preparation was more likely to involve protein shakes than a bottle of Bollinger?”Look, we had differences of opinion. We should have found more common ground than we did. But that’s water under the bridge. I remember a few years ago, we were covering a game at Essex that was rained off, and Graham said, ‘Come back to mine for a bottle.'””Gatorade?”Gower laughs at Cowdrey. It’s hard to see how his former players could hold a grudge. “Life’s too short,” he shrugs.Still, does he have any regrets. What would either of them do differently with access to a time machine?”Adelaide, 1991,” Gower automatically replies. “That Test after the Tiger Moth, my form disappeared when I walked onto the pitch. I chipped it up to Merv Hughes. That shot was a complete aberration. I’d like to redo that one.”Cowdrey, too, knows the destination for his time machine. “The NatWest final against Somerset in 1983. I was playing as well as I’d ever played. I’d made runs in knockout rounds, and a hundred in the Championship game beforehand. Then I made the mistake of reading the papers.”Over breakfast on the morning of the final at Lord’s, Cowdrey read in the that he was the player to watch. “I’d never experienced this before. I’d worked out how I was going to play Joel Garner, and how I was going to hit Beefy. Then Vic Marks lobbed one up, and it just drifted down leg side. I’d set off for the single before I’d hit the ball and I was stumped for nought.”And if they could use that time machine to duel a player from another generation, who would they like to challenge?”I watched Sobers and Keith Miller at Nottingham. Sobers, obviously,” Gower says. “A genius. And Keith Miller because everyone I’ve heard talk about him reveres him. He enjoyed the game and played it superbly well.””Shane Warne,” says Cowdrey. “I’d love to have batted against him in a pressure game. I was good player of spin.””Excuse me,” Gower interjects. “You were stumped by Vic Marks down the leg side.””Ah,” Cowdrey retorts. “But he wasn’t a spinner.”Alas, we don’t have a time machine, or another bottle of wine, as once the glasses are empty it feels the right moment to end the interview. But not the reminiscing.The Holy Bail tour runs from March 2 to March 20

Misbah’s and Younis’ biggest contribution was the example they set, showing young players what it meant to be professional sportsmen in Pakistan

Osman Samiuddin08-Apr-2017Shan Masood was sitting next to Misbah-ul-Haq in the dressing room at the P Sara Oval. It was the third day of the second Test and out in the middle, Ahmed Shehzad and Azhar Ali were battling to salvage the mess they had contributed to in the first innings, one that would eventually cost Pakistan the Test.Masood was caressing the bruises that so many young Pakistan batsmen suffer early in their careers. He was out of the Test XI, having been dropped three Tests after a 75 on debut against South Africa. But he had worked his way closer, scoring runs in Sri Lanka on an A tour just before this series and then in the warm-up game before the Tests. He had changed his game, become more expansive, and felt he was hitting the ball better than ever.And now here he was, on the inside but still far enough outside that he needed to look in. Two Tests were gone and this could easily become another series he missed altogether, and worse, he wasn’t actually playing at all, and thus not cashing in on some good form. And next to him was sitting the man who would have played a big part in the decision that was eating away at him.Misbah asked him how old he was.Twenty-five.”You know what I was doing when I was 25?” Masood recalls Misbah saying. “I was graduating out of college and I hadn’t played first-class cricket. I started playing for Pakistan when I was 27. I played in Sharjah, got out on a flat wicket to Brett Lee and Andy Bichel. You’ve already started your career, have 4000 runs at first-class level, made your debut against the world No. 1 side, you scored 75 there, what are you worrying about? You have your best years ahead of you. What are you worried about?””Maybe he’s right,” Masood thought.Masood was picked for the next Test, in Pallekele. Younis Khan – of whom Masood is fan, pupil, mentee and friend – made sure that Masood’s spot in the dressing room would be right next to his own. Masood was leg-before in the first innings for 13, a call that could have gone either way, and was made none the easier by the fact that he felt he was batting well.Later in that innings Younis called Masood over. A year earlier, Masood had widened his stance on Younis’ advice. Younis felt that Masood’s height necessitated a broader base. Now in Pallekele, he reassured Masood that it was still a good idea but that he had maybe gone a little too wide. Younis stressed that he could see Masood was hitting the ball really well, and that he only really needed to make minor adjustments, to stand a little more upright, be more open-chested, and it would be okay.In the second innings, Masood scored his first – and so far only – Test hundred, setting up Pakistan’s highest ever successful run chase. He made 125 out of 382, and 242 runs of the target were made in company with Younis.Masood is out of the side again currently. He may never have another Pallekele again, or become the Test opener Pakistan have craved for so long, but what a time to have been young and batting in the Pakistan side.ESPNcricinfo LtdThat time is over. Or it will be about a month from now when Pakistan play the last of their three Tests against West Indies. Sometimes, they say, when you’re having a panic attack, writing down your thoughts is a handy way of riding it out. But no matter how many times you write this out in full – the third Test in Dominica in May 2017 will be the last Test Misbah and Younis play for Pakistan – the anxiety is not going to go away.It has little to do with the number of runs they have made, or the Tests they have played. Combined, after all, they have played fewer Tests than Sachin Tendulkar and only 20 or so more than Ricky Ponting or Steve Waugh or Jacques Kallis. Together, they are still around a thousand runs short of Tendulkar, and have made under 2000 more than Ponting.Okay, it have something to do with that – that kind of experience out in the middle of a Test that has to be won, drawn or lost is priceless. But these are not the massive numbers we have become used to dealing in these days. And those runs, good as they were, have come and gone. And, unlikely as it sounds, especially right now, those runs will come again in the future. It doesn’t even have to do with the wins they wrought, the 15 century stands, or Pakistan’s brief ascent to No. 1. Wins come and go, rankings go down and up.Of the two, it felt as if Younis could have gone on for a little longer if he wished, helping ease Pakistan’s batting transition•Getty ImagesAcknowledging the value of their numbers is like acknowledging that bricks have something to do with houses being built. One falls, another rises. But turning them into homes, that is the magic.And so, what really goes with the pair is a subculture within the side. If Pakistan has been cursed in never quite having a proper finishing school to help ease a fledgling cricketer’s transition from domestic to international cricket, then Pakistan has also been blessed to have this pair performing that service within the team.Sure, they helped players score runs, take catches and win matches, but of much greater value was what they showed them about being professional sportsmen in Pakistan: about how much of their souls will go and the scars that will leave; the sacrifices that have to be made and the people they will please and the people they will piss off; the blood and sweat they will have to cede, but also that they will have to preserve to keep on keeping on; the compromises they can afford and those they cannot; which distractions are important and which aren’t; living with the injustices they will face and the ones they will inflict; the real limits of their own ambition; the importance of purpose and will, but also that of fate; and so much more that has little to do with scoring runs at the crease and also everything to do with it.They have not rebooted the broader culture of Pakistan cricket because two old men can only do so much. That culture is a product of the country it has grown in. But what they did do was alleviate it and temporarily short-circuit it by creating this space, which is as best as anyone could have hoped for. Not for nothing was Younis referred to as an institute within the side. How much could you learn? Some, like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, bought in. Others like Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad didn’t, or – optimistically – haven’t yet.The real lesson is in their pairing, that two entities as contrasting as this pair can and did come together as coherently as this. Misbah and Younis are at worst different species and at best personality types bound to rub each other up all wrong. Yet this union has felt like what it must have done that moment when somebody first spread peanut butter on one slice, jelly on the other, put the two slices together and created the greatest sandwich known.

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Except you will still be able to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich long after May. Younis and Misbah are as good as gone and already the hardships loom. It starts with a tour of Bangladesh in July, a Bangladesh that are no longer Bangladesh, least of all at home, and who’s to say that tour itself will not serve as the most intrusive wake-up call? And then, the future.Could either have gone on, you might naturally wonder? Probably not Misbah. Younis? Perhaps. Though he had begun to look more and more vulnerable at the start of each innings over the last year, in which period he still produced three hundreds, including a double in England and an unbeaten 175 in Sydney. More to the point, he could have stayed on to try as best as possible to ease transitions; in a batting line-up where Azhar and Shafiq now assume greater responsibility while also trying to instil that virtue in newcomers; for the new captain, because when he has to make that first tricky on-field call, who will he turn to? Not the guy who isn’t there in the slip cordon anymore, that’s who.If there is any solace at all – and right now it feels thin – here it is. It’s disorienting enough to see one Pakistani great walking off, and not being pushed, into retirement. But two in a couple of days? In a country where culling senior players is a revered old blood sport, that’s enough to knock you back into your senses and start smelling a purge. Except, even if Inzamam-ul-Haq has wanted them to go, this doesn’t feel like one.With Misbah, there was no real need for a push. He had already placed one foot out the door, and deep down, the combination of his poor form and position as a captain losing Tests must have told him the other needed to follow. And who has ever bullied Younis into making a decision he didn’t want to make? If it came to it, would Inzamam really have been able to push him out? No: if Younis Khan is retiring, it is because Younis Khan thinks it is time to retire.Which means, for now, disorientation is the normal. Not only are they leaving when they wanted to, they are doing it – just about – having not exhausted supplies of goodwill or patience, their grips being prised off, one fingernail at a time.One final example left behind, then, in two careers full of them.

Mashrafe Mortaza has retired from T20Is, but tells ESPNcricinfo he hopes to keep playing ODIs for a ‘considerable amount of time’, and talks about dealing with off-field criticism, and the challenge of new-ball bowling

Mohammad Isam10-Apr-2017Notwithstanding your retirement from T20 internationals, you will have a big role to play in Bangladesh’s ODI plans in the coming months.
Mashrafe Mortaza I am enjoying ODI cricket. At the same time, I think we are slowly progressing in Tests and T20s, but in ODIs, we have jumped from 10 to 7 [on the ICC rankings]. We have taken a big step. It has come up through performance of several players. I am enjoying playing ODIs and want to play for a considerable amount of time but it is hard to put a time-frame to it, especially in Bangladesh. I hope to keep playing, but if I am going through a hard time and pressure is created, then I have to come to a decision.You have been having a productive period since the England ODIs last year. Do you now have a different role than the one you had in 2015?
After the 2015 World Cup, I hadn’t really bowled with the new ball. Maybe I did it in a couple of matches against South Africa. From the start of my career, at a very young age, I have always opened the bowling so much of my skill development is around bowling with the new ball.
A bowler’s base is built around one point. Mustafizur is more effective with the semi-new ball than the new ball, because of his cutters. Taskin and Rubel are more effective after 10 overs, when they have two extra fielders outside [the circle]. Syed Rasel, Tapash Baisya and Monjurul Islam were all better with the new ball. The same with me.I could quickly adjust to bowling with the old ball, although initially it was hard for me. I enjoyed the role and since the team was getting success at the time, I felt good about it. Mustafizur got early wickets against India and South Africa but then I returned to open the bowling after he got injured. I had done this my whole life, but when I started opening the bowling against Afghanistan last year, I just picked it up from where I left off.In the first ODI against Sri Lanka, your first spell pretty much set up the game for Bangladesh. How did you get this knack of getting the early breakthrough?It depends on the bowler’s confidence and ability. People blame Tamim Iqbal when he doesn’t get runs but he faces two new balls in ODIs. He has the ability to take it on. In my case, [Mohammad] Shahzad hit me for a six in one of the ODIs against Afghanistan but then I got him out, caught behind. My confidence had returned. I started to feel that I was on top. I got breakthroughs against England.As a captain and senior player, it is quite normal to take on the responsibility. I took it on confidently, and enjoyed it.The current trend is for every opening batsman to keep attacking all the time. How hard is it, for a bowler, to hold on to his confidence and be patient?My confidence comes from my long career, from the time I started playing cricket. I don’t think there are as many dangerous openers these days as there were when I started out as an international cricketer.Every team had great openers: India had Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, Australia had Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, Sri Lanka had Sanath Jayasuriya and South Africa had Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith. Openers these days aren’t as technically sound, so that works for me.You said that Courtney Walsh’s presence in the dressing room has made a difference to you. Have you made any little technical changes to your approach?I have never made too much of a technical change in my action. I have had times when my confidence has gone down, but I never really need such a change. Courtney Walsh’s arrival coincided with me taking the new ball. He helped me build my confidence.He has his way of tuning a bowler. He is a legend, so even you are talking to him about random things, he will tell you something which makes you think. It takes you to a different level in your mind. I always speak to him, ask him so many questions. I know that my success depends on my confidence, not through any major changes.On the morning of the second ODI against England last year, he told me to take five wickets. I ended up getting four wickets, and when I returned to the dressing-room, he said that you didn’t keep my word for one wicket.Do you have a trigger point within your bowling that boosts your confidence?The wicket gives you the most confidence. But the first ball, which lands where you want it to land, is also quite important. There’s a big difference between an inswinger and outswinger happening involuntarily and when you bowl a particular delivery to your desire. When you can produce it knowingly, you have more chance of getting wickets consistently. The batsmen have a slight disadvantage when the inswing or outswing or any delivery comes out involuntarily, because he also wouldn’t know how it is happening.In my case, if I can bowl my first ball on top of off stump to left or right-handers, I get confidence. It doesn’t really matter if he defends it or drives the ball. If it goes for four, I feel a little let down but I still have the confidence of landing it where I want. I think the first ball is really important.Mashrafe believes Mehedi Hasan was the biggest positive to emerge from Bangladesh’s tour of Sri Lanka•AFPFor a long time now, Bangladeshi bowlers have this problem of bowling a bad ball right after taking a wicket. Have you thought of addressing this problem?I think this comes down to experience. We have mostly inexperienced bowlers in our attack. Mustafizur has had a lot of success over a short period of time, and his rate of success will only flatten out now. You can’t expect him to take five-fors all the time. Every opponent now analyses him minutely, and they feel that if he can be stopped, our wicket-taking options can be cut down. I think all of these bowlers – Mustafizur, Taskin and Rubel- will get better with more experience.Bangladesh now have the right hands, among coaches, to fine-tune our cricketers. They can take care of these technical points, and I don’t think these small issues will be around for a long time. We can mend it quickly.Who would you say was Bangladesh’s biggest find from the Sri Lanka tour?It has to be Mehedi Hasan, who made his debut in the limited-overs formats. The most noticeable thing about him is his positivity as a human being. It really surprised me.When I went to bat in the [26th] over in the third ODI, I told him that let’s bat till the 41st over. We were not in a great position since we had lost a number of wickets. But after playing out a maiden, he came and told me that he can’t play this way. I asked him why. He said that we will lose, whether by 150 runs or by two runs, so let’s play positively. It will create an opportunity for us to win.In the next over, I struck two fours and so did he. Mehedi came and told me that this is our game. Let’s play it like this. We lost the game but what I liked about the guy was that he was so positive.On the next night, he did a bit of acting for us, something that he had done in his childhood. It was very funny, but none of us could have done it. This was off the field, but here too, he came off as a very confident person. I think this has an effect in his game.There was a lot of talk about changes within the Bangladesh team after the Galle Test last month, which included your position in the T20 side. You retired from the format recently. How much are you, as an individual, influenced by what people say around you, or whether you are purely an instinctive person?Every individual takes on board and lets go of what he hears according to his need. It also depends from man to man whether he takes the positive or the negative things.The negative things enter my system as well but at the end of the day I believe that I will take my own decisions. Everything should be based on my on-field performance. You will take the decision about your career.I don’t think I get into a negative mindset after hearing what people have to say. But yes, you will be under mental pressure. You will also understand whether, by creating this mental pressure, a field is being created around you. And it will only be you who has to understand.