Series wins in England and Australia – could 2008 have been any better for South Africa?

Colin Bryden06-Jan-2009

Mickey Arthur and Graeme Smith could hardly have dared to dream of the triumphs they would achieve after proclaiming, following a disappointing end to their 2007 World Cup campaign, that the focus for the next two years would be on Test cricket.The Proteas have achieved an unprecedented run of success, culminating in a first series win by any South African team in Australia. That victory was South Africa’s ninth win in ten series going back to the 2006-07 season.The ledger for 2008 shows 11 wins, two draws and two defeats in 15 Test matches, spread over six series, of which five were won and one shared.South Africa’s one-day performances were less impressive than might be suggested by a superficial glance at a record of 12 wins, four defeats and one no-result. Seven wins were achieved against the negligible opposition of
Bangladesh and Kenya and five against West Indies. In their most challenging series, South Africa were beaten 4-0 by England, with a fifth match washed out. The one-day side was hit by the retirement of Shaun Pollock, the loss of “death” bowler Charl Langeveldt to a Kolpak contract in England, and a sudden dearth of hard-hitting bowling allrounders.With two years before the next World Cup, Arthur and Smith will devote energy to building a one-day unit to match the success of the Test side. The selection of untried youngsters such as Wayne Parnell, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Lonwabo Tsotsobe for the forthcoming one-day series in Australia is part of that process.It was South Africa’s Test cricket, however, that commanded attention in 2008, as they disposed of West Indies at home and Bangladesh away before beating India by an innings in Ahmedabad. Leading 1-0 in the series they
were caught on a disgracefully under-prepared pitch in Kanpur as India earned a share of the spoils. The first series win in England since unity – and only the third of all time – was a highlight, but nothing surpassed their victory in Australia.All the essentials of a winning team were in place, with the possible exception of excellence in spin bowling. A settled top six played in every match, with the exception of the injury-enforced absences for one match of Neil McKenzie and two by Ashwell Prince. When Prince was put out of action before the first Test in Australia,
the prodigious talent of Jean-Paul Duminy was revealed on the Test stage. After making an unbeaten half-century in the thrilling pursuit of 414 in the final innings in Perth, Duminy turned the second Test, in Melbourne, on its head with a magnificent 166.Duminy had been on no fewer than four Test tours before he finally made his debut – a situation he accepted with the calm pragmatism that he showed when his opportunity finally arose. Now Prince, who scored 900 runs at 64.28 during the year, may find himself the man waiting for an opening.Prince was just one of five of the regular top six who averaged above 50 for the year. Remarkably, the odd man out was Jacques Kallis, who nevertheless played a prominent role with bat, ball and his safe hands in the slips during the first two Tests in Australia.While runs on the board are a crucial foundation for winning cricket, the ability to take 20 wickets was the clincher during the year. Dale Steyn led a potent if not wholly consistent fast bowling attack. The 2008 ICC Test Cricketer of the Year finished the year with 74 wickets in 13 matches at 20.01. When Steyn was good he was excellent, bowling at high pace and getting late away-swing.Rather like Allan Donald before him, Steyn is a bowler who needs a match or two to find his rhythm, and he was not at his best early in the series in England and Australia. Any suggestions that he owed his impressive record to
a preponderance of matches against weak opponents – notwithstanding five-wicket hauls in both Pakistan and India – were blown away, however, by a sensational ten-wicket haul in Melbourne.After a decade of lung-bursting effort, Makhaya Ntini, at 31, showed signs of losing his sting, but a break after the England tour and a spell in domestic cricket seemed to be the tonic he needed. He finished the year with 54 wickets at 28.46.The tall Morne Morkel was seen as South Africa’s next great match-winning bowler. He produced some unplayable deliveries and took 43 wickets, but his best days lie ahead.Kallis and Paul Harris provided competent support to the main strike bowlers.South Africa’s catching throughout the year was excellent, particularly in the all-important cordon, where wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and Smith, Kallis and AB de Villiers in the slips held almost every offering that came their way.

The ultimate hero was the captain. Smith was an impressively mature leader and led by example with the bat. He scored six of South Africa’s 23 centuries, including a monumental unbeaten 154 not out in the decisive run
chase against England at Edgbaston, a century that set up the record pursuit in Perth, and 75 in the final innings in Melbourne.What was most remarkable about Smith’s 1656 runs at 72.00 was that for almost half the year he battled against the pain of a chronic tennis elbow injury. Not for the first time, he refused to allow extreme physical discomfort to deter him from contributing to his team’s cause.New kid on the block
Duminy looked a player of genuine quality when he played two key innings against Australia in his first two Tests.Fading star
After eight years of harrumphing and hassling opponents with his muscular fast bowling, the international career of Andre Nel seemed to have run its course.High point
Edgbaston? Perth? Melbourne? The most dramatic of three successful run-chases was Edgbaston, the most remarkable Perth, and the most significant Melbourne.Low point
An anti-climactic final-Test loss in England was followed by four limp performances in the one-day series.What 2009 holds
A return series against Australia and a home series against England will provide further Test challenges while South Africa will seek improved performances in one-day internationals and the World Twenty20 in England.

Victor Brown30-Apr-2009Suresh Raina hammered a low full-toss from Munaf Patel through extra cover last night and punched the air in delight. He had just become the first Indian to score a hundred in the IPL (the previous seven had been made by four Australians, a New Zealander, a Sri Lankan and, last week in Durban, a South African). And he had done it in 55 balls, one fewer than Viv Richards needed to reach three figures in a Test match against England in Antigua 23 years ago. No wonder he looked thrilled.At the time it didn’t seem to matter when Raina skied the next ball, the ante-penultimate of the Chennai innings, to deep backward point, where Graeme Smith judged the catch nicely. Then it all went horribly wrong. A mistake by the scorers had gifted Raina two extra runs somewhere along the line. Suspicion centred on the 19th over, which, according to the scoreboard, Raina finished on 95 rather than 93. Somehow, he had pinched two of his partner MS Dhoni’s runs. The conclusion was grim: Raina had made 98 and the happy-go-lucky swipe that cost him his wicket had also, it now transpired, cost him a hundred.Wisdom after the event is only supposed to happen in sports like formula one or horse racing, where obscure contraventions and animals get in the way, or when a football club goes into administration. But this was a cock-up plain and simple. And it was one that highlighted cricket’s obsession with milestones and the problems that can come with it. The England opener Martyn Moxon never made a hundred in his 10 Tests, but once fell at Auckland for 99. He later complained that a sweep for three had been wrongly signalled as leg-byes. These fine lines can haunt a man.Would Raina have played a different shot from the one he got out to had he known he was on 98? Quite possibly. Should he have played a different shot? Not according to the letter of cricket’s oft-repeated law that there is no ‘I’ in team. And yet the realities of the game – particularly in a competition where a hundred is treated with the same reverence afforded to the bloke who split the atom – may have dictated otherwise. “Cricket, a team game?” scoffed the novelist VS Naipaul. “Teams play, and one team is to be willed to victory. But it is the individual who remains in the memory, he who has purged the emotions by delight and fear.”Raina, who later had a stumping missed off his bowling by his new pseudo-nemesis Dhoni, probably felt a few other emotions besides. Crucially, though, the error had no effect on the team score – and a total of 164 for five had only been surpassed by two teams batting second and winning in this year’s IPL. Rajasthan Royals never looked becoming the third.Their 2009 IPL has inevitably struggled to live up to 2008. Five previous matches had brought two wins – one of them courtesy of the Super Over, another thanks to fireworks from Yusuf Pathan – two defeats and a washout, and the feeling is that Shane Warne is struggling to get quite the same out of his young squad this time round. The absence of Shane Watson has not helped; neither have Swapnil Asnodkar’s struggles on the quicker pitches of South Africa. But the way three of his players dived over the ball to concede boundaries in the first 10 overs of the Chennai innings would not have happened last year.No doubt the old master will surprise us all, sneak into the semi-finals on run-rate, then pinch a couple of late wins to retain the trophy. But for the time being Rajasthan look all too susceptible to the kind of knock Raina played today – hundred or otherwise.

South Africa greats hail triumph in Australia

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Dec-2008
Mike Procter (centre): “After the victory I told Graeme [Smith] ‘you must be very, very proud'” © PA Photos
Mike Procter, I might have been one of the only few to have witnessed both of South Africa’s series victories over Australia. This victory will rank as one of the greatest sporting moments in South African history. The two Test matches South Africa won have been incredible. It just showed the tremendous character of the team because in both the Tests there was no way they could win the game and they ended up winning both matches very comfortably.Chasing 414 [in Perth] was a monumental effort and winning by six wickets was incredible. And then when South Africa were seven down for 180-odd on the second day, there was only going be one result at the MCG. And the team changed that round and won by nine wickets. Absolutely incredible.I know this team will be measured against the 1970s’ side. Back then, we won every game pretty comfortably and there were no major problems. In these two Tests South Africa were almost staring at defeat on the second or third day and they turned that around and won convincingly. After the victory I told Graeme ‘you must be very, very proud’. He is a very tough guy, highly respected and the team would do anything for him. The way the bowlers handled the situation in the second innings in Perth and Melbourne was very special and very disciplined and the batters came to the fore, too. It was just amazing.Ali Bacher, The one moment I, and all South Africans, will always cherish is JP Duminy’s 160-odd. His second Test match, we are into our tail at 180 for 7, playing at the famous MCG in front of a huge crowd, huge pressure, and the youngster plays like he has been around for ten years. His inspirational performance in the midst of some very fine performances by our guys will be remembered for years to come.This is history in the making. How good is the South African team? Certainly after our return to international cricket, the two best teams we had in Test cricket was the one led by the late Hansie Cronje in the late 1990s and this current one. But the records will show this team is better. They started by beating Pakistan in Pakistan, beat England in England, drew with India in India and now Australia in Australia – there can be no question they are the No. 1 in world cricket today.Peter Pollock, When I was in Australia in September I told the media that for the first time after readmission a South African cricket team would arrive believing that they could beat the Aussies. Jacques Kallis said during the Perth Test when South Africa were not in a good position, that they could still win the Test. For a team to be a good cricket team, you need some players who are bit above the rest. We have certain cricketers who are really good cricketers.The potential of young guys like [Dale] Steyn, [AB] de Villiers, Duminy is really big and they are going to be more than just ordinary Test players. That is what makes the difference at the highest level – I am not talking about playing Test matches, I am talking about winning Test matches. We also have to acknowledge the Australian side was pretty poor and they have not done well of late. We have won the rugby World Cup twice and that was huge, but we are country that is going through transition so every time we do something good we really hang on to it. This series victory is one of the better moments of South African sport , no question about it.Barry Richards, Obviously I’m very proud of the victory. It is a great thing to do it in Australia. Our side was scheduled to tour Australia in 1971 and we would have defeated them easily but it is great that Graeme Smith has done it. He has shown a lot of maturity as a skipper and as a player he really has come to the fore. He has led by example and he has kept a cool head all the way through. I hope this victory now encourages a lot of people to take up the game in South Africa. Obviously with Duminy coming through it is a real plus for South Africa.Comparing the side I played and the present South African one is like comparing Ben Hogan to Tiger Woods. You just can’t do that. They are so far apart: the bats are different, the size of the fields were bigger in the old days and the wickets were little bit friendly towards the bowlers in the old days.

Alastair Cook’s autobiography offers little that’s new or interesting

Freddie Auld12-Oct-2008
It would be far too easy to compare Alastair Cook’s new autobiography with his batting: determined and dependable, with the odd thrill. But sadly, it isn’t even that. For determined, read drab; for dependable, “dreary”; and as for the odd thrill, er, Cook had a game of darts with Freddie and Harmy on the eve of his Test debut. And that’s about as good as it gets.Most Cooky fans, of whom I am one myself, will be disappointed with his first, shamefully premature effort. The blurb promises a “fascinating insight” into one of the most “exciting and brightest players to burst on to the cricketing scene in recent years”. So I was hoping for juicy anecdotes about the Essex dressing room, the latter years of Duncan Fletcher’s reign, the disastrous Ashes campaign, the jelly bean files, and Michael Vaughan’s retirement. But no.Once you get past Cook’s early years – where he attended St Paul’s Cathedral School as a promising chorister – the book is mostly a combination of condensed match reports of Tests and ODIs mixed with Cook’s run-of-the-mill views on walking, sledging, captaincy, and the advent of Twenty20.Cook points to the influence of Graham Gooch and Andy Flower in his early years at Essex, and how a season of club cricket in Perth helped him develop. After deciding not to go to university, against the advice of the Essex authorities, he looks back with pride on his 214 against the touring Australians at Chelmsford, which, as he says, “made my name”. Then comes his unexpected call up to the full squad in India from the A tour in the Caribbean, a journey he shared with Jimmy Anderson, who he is now best mates with. Before Cook knew it, he was walking out to open the batting in Nagpur, and in his own words, “Strauss said ‘good luck’ in his posh accent, and away we went.”His champagne moment, following his 60 in the first innings with a remarkable debut hundred, was an ecstasy he says he has not experienced before or since. When he was sweating on 99, Kevin Pietersen had a sweepstake on how many balls Cook would take the reach his landmark, but disappointingly Cook can’t remember how many it actually took, or who won the cash.In the endless match reports that follow, he speaks of his surprising friendship with the northerners in the England team: Anderson, Paul Collingwood and Steve Harmison. He also reveals his superstition about odd numbers: hence why he has an even number on his shirt, and why he only has the volume of his radio on 8 or 10. The chapter on the Ashes is disappointingly bland, with the usual stuff of how the Aussies rip you to bits on the pitch but are great value off it. And the jelly-bean mystery remains unresolved, as Cook strongly denies any part in the bizarre saga that left Zaheer Khan hot under the helmet.Cook does reveal that the ECB asked him to have a chinwag with Mike Brearley, which suggests that he may have inherited the FEC (future England captain) tag from Pietersen, but again he doesn’t elaborate on what was said. After Vaughan stood down, Cook admitted the England captaincy was too early for him. It is certainly too early to start writing books about yourself.Perhaps I expected too much, but there wasn’t much in this I didn’t already know, and what I did discover wasn’t particularly interesting. However, even though Cook’s isn’t exactly riveting, here’s hoping that Cook waits until his story is complete before his next effort.Starting Out: My Story So Far
by Alastair Cook
Hodder and Stoughton £19.99

Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have watched West Indies sink to awful depths in recent years, but now they can help claw the team back towards respectability

Andrew McGlashan in Jamaica06-Feb-2009

Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan have watched West Indies sink to awful depths in recent years, but now they can help claw the team back towards respectability. They have shared many batting partnerships together and if their unbeaten stand of 142 is transformed into something even more substantial, maybe the Caribbean public will start believing again.Sarwan is back in the ranks these days having lost the captaincy in 2007 and giving up the vice-captaincy for “personal reasons” last year. He went through a lean run on the recent tour of New Zealand and has begun this home season with a few mutterings over his form. Those mutterings could have turned louder if he hadn’t been reprieved on 5 when Tony Hill reversed his lbw decision on the basis of advice from the TV umpire, Daryl Harper.”I did say a couple of days ago that I needed a bit of luck on my side and today I was fortunate enough to get that,” he said with a grin. “I’m not a big fan of it [the system], we played with it in New Zealand and it was a bit confusing, but today I’ll take it.”It was 50-50 to be honest, I felt the pain in my knee and that is why I asked Chris about it, how it looked, and he said it was a bit close. I thought I would try [to refer it] because in my mind it was a bit high.”Gayle took over the captaincy from Sarwan during the last tour of England in 2007, after Daren Ganga’s brief inter-regnum. Sarwan was injured during a record innings-and-283-run hammering at Headingley – arguably the lowest of West Indian lows – but since then fortunes have begun to improve.While most people involved with the England team were losing their heads during the Stanford week in Antigua, Gayle was exuding calmness and composure. It was a trait that won his team the jackpot of US$20 million. He admitted after the Stanford final that he’d actually been a bag of nerves with so much money at stake, but the key was he kept all that hidden and on the outside appeared in complete control. England have not yet been beaten in the same way at Sabina Park – they have three days to turn their fortunes around – but Gayle’s performance over the opening two days has set a perfect tone for West Indies.He was quick in the field to spot a slow pitch and introduce his spinners into the attack and then he was even quicker to take the initiative with the bat, driving Andrew Flintoff’s second ball back over his head for a breathtaking six. Two more maximums followed in what was a curious innings of extremes, ranging from mighty blows to studious defence. But it was the fact that he married the two successfully which was the noticeable factor, because control at the crease has not always been Gayle’s forte.The captaincy, though, has brought out a new, mature side to Gayle, which was on show during the Stanford tournament and has brought a sense of stability back to the team. And if he can bring the best out of his team-mates his job will be made that much easier. An in-form Sarwan would be a major step.”Since I came back from injury I’ve had two series, one against Sri Lanka and one against Australia and I thought I did pretty well,” said Sarwan. “Unfortunately, I didn’t keep up the pace and I thought it was a bit of a backward step. I’ve had two weeks to reflect on my game after coming back from New Zealand. I tried to put in a bit of work although I couldn’t do much because of the rain. I just wanted to start the series really well and hopefully carry on the same sort of form I’ve started with here.”Sarwan, though, did sound a cautionary note that will ring true with many West Indies fans. “I think we are in a pretty good position but we have seen before that we have collapsed. It is important that myself and Chris go on and get big scores and also important that whoever follows try to form partnerships. That is going to be the key for the rest of the innings.” A success-starved region watches in anticipation.

For a while tonight it looked as if Bangalore Royal Challengers were going to live down to the tag which last year turned into an albatross: that of the Test team trying to play Twenty20

Victor Brown03-May-2009For a while tonight it looked as if Bangalore Royal Challengers were going to live down to the tag which last year turned into an albatross: that of the Test team trying to play Twenty20. Wasim Jaffer, one of the chief culprits in 2008, was struggling to make headway against Zaheer Khan, and – after Jaffer clipped him straight to square leg – Robin Uthappa was busy (or not very busy) playing out a maiden against Lasith Malinga. Bangalore fans could have been forgiven for shivering for reasons other than the cool Johannesburg evening.But Jacques Kallis was having none of it. Kallis, too, came in for criticism last year when an average of 18 and a strike-rate of 108 did not quite match up to his $900,000 valuation (and that’s before we even get onto his bowling figures of four wickets at 77 each and nine runs an over). But he has never stopped tinkering with his technique, spending time with those he trusts and ironing out the kind of flaws which, for example, persuaded him to shoulder arms fatally to the first ball of the match against Delhi at Port Elizabeth last week.The results were on show here, never more so than during the fourth over of Bangalore’s pursuit of Mumbai’s 149 for 4. Malinga, previously the tournament’s most miserly bowler, was flicked nonchalantly behind square leg for six, then square cut for six more two balls later. A less brutal flick off the hip for four in the same over showed Kallis’ timing was intact too.If anything, the early demise of Jaffer had been a blessing in disguise. It meant memories of last year were not able to linger for long and allowed Uthappa – whose previous six innings had brought a top score of only 20 – enough time to get to grips with conditions before cutting loose towards the end with three boundaries in an over off Sachin Tendulkar and a violent pull for six off Dwayne Bravo that skimmed off the roof of one of the stands and flew into a neighbouring block of flats.Kallis can still infuriate with his running between the wickets, but almost everything else about this innings was perfectly timed, including the passing of the baton to Uthappa for the final onslaught. Seventy-six off 10 became 28 off five became a stroll in the park.Bangalore have now won three in a row dating back to the game at Durban in which Kevin Pietersen daringly opened the bowling against Kolkata Knight Riders with two spinners – including himself. And, in a table which – with the exception of poor old Kolkata – currently resembles Johannesburg at rush-hour Bangalore are now joint-top on points with Delhi and Deccan.For Mumbai, this was a missed opportunity. They came into the game having won every match in which they had batted first and lost the ones where they had batted second. Victory here would have made them outright IPL leaders, and Bravo’s late blast with the bat seemed to have given them a decent chance. But Kallis lined up Zaheer in the first over of the Bangalore reply and – one half-chance at point aside – never looked back on his way to an IPL best of 69 not out off 59 balls. Test team? Perhaps no longer.

Virender Sehwag has taken the art of opening to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of him

Andrew McGlashan in Durban27-Dec-2009If the Durban weather plays ball over the next three days – and sadly that is anything but certain – this match has the makings of an extremely compelling contest. Each time one side has seemingly grabbed the advantage, the other has evened the scales, never better illustrated than by the cameo nature of the batting so far in this game.Batsmen have threatened to dominate, but then have been cut off either by a good ball or poor judgment, and that has made for engrossing viewing. It started with the dual efforts of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, who thwarted a hostile new ball in tough conditions before succumbing meekly after tea; it continued with AB de Villiers’ punchy counter-attack and Mark Boucher’s bustle on the second morning, then Dale Steyn’s tail-end hitting which lifted South Africa to 343.England continued in the same vain with Andrew Strauss looking in prime form. He so often does these days, but he failed to build on an aggressive 49-ball half-century – the fastest of his career – when he was dramatically bowled by Morne Morkel to be left with one stump standing. Although Strauss’s innings ended too early for England’s liking, it was a vital response from the captain after the frustrations of South Africa’s last-wicket stand of 58 between Steyn and Makhaya NtiniStrauss and Steyn are separated in batting talent by almost the full length of the order; a tailender and an opener, one whose runs are a bonus against one who is expected to lead the scoring. But they both played equally valuable roles for their sides. Without Steyn, South Africa would have been dismissed for under 300 and without Strauss’s counter-attack the home side would have had the chance to build on that lower-order boost.There is nothing better for a team than to be boosted by a tailender who bats above his means, not least because of the frustration it brings to the fielding unit. It’s far better for an innings to end with a bang rather than a whimper. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there is the impetus that a positive opening batsman can bring when the opposition have hoped to make inroads with the new ball. Michael Slater and Matthew Hayden were masters of it, Virender Sehwag has taken the art to new levels and Strauss briefly managed a passing impression of them all.”I came out of the shower, and he was already on 30, and I don’t take that long in the shower,” said Graeme Swann. “It’s great to see him go out there and play shots from the word go. He’s very disappointed to have only made 50-odd and lose his wicket after tea, to a very good ball.””We didn’t sit down and say ‘let’s go all guns blazing’ to get back on top,” he added. “But it was important that we did that, because it’s wrestled straight back the initiative that South Africa have taken from us.”Strauss has developed into one of the premier opening batsmen in the world and is finishing 2009 in the same positive form he has shown throughout the year. His innings included three fours in four balls off the struggling Ntini, and was Marcus Trescothick-like in its impact. That was a role he tried to perform in Australia in 2006-07, when Trescothick pulled out of the tour, but he mislaid his disciplines in his quest for aggression, and that played a part in his career-threatening dip in form. The latest version of Strauss can play in variety of guises, however. He also took the pressure off Alastair Cook, who was able to concentrate on survival in his battle for form.It looked for all the world as though Strauss would be the batsman who would build on his start, but Morkel has caused him problems throughout the tour – having him caught behind in the second innings at Centurion from round the wicket – and ended his stay via a thin inside-edge. In 16 balls Strauss faced against Ntini he scored 24 runs, but the 21 deliveries from Morkel produced just 11 and four of those came from an outside edge through gully which shows the difficulties he posed.It also means that the wait for a substantial innings in this match goes on, but the bowlers have managed to hold sway. This contest is crying out for a hundred. It could prove to be a matchwinner.

Graeme Pollock played only 23 Tests, but finished with 2256 runs and an average bordering on 61, which is one of the best for any batsman

S Rajesh23-May-2010Don Bradman reckoned that Graeme Pollock was one of the two best left-hand batsmen he ever saw – Garry Sobers was the other – and the numbers bear that out. Pollock played only 23 Tests, but finished with 2256 runs and an average bordering on 61. Those are stats that put him up there among the best batsmen – of either hand – to ever play the game.He played his last Test when he was 26, but even in a brief six-year career he made such a mark that he is still counted among the greats. His precociousness, though, was evident much before he made his international debut. At the age of nine, he took all ten wickets and scored 117 for Grey High School; at 16, he scored a first-class century, thus becoming the youngest to achieve the feat, a record which stayed till Daryll Cullinan broke it in 1983-84.He duly got his Test cap when he was less than 20, and while his first three innings fetched only 43, in his third Test, and still a couple of months short of his 20th birthday, Pollock scored 122 against Australia in Sydney. That made him the youngest South African Test centurion at the time, and it’s a record that still stands in his name.That Sydney century was followed by another one in the next Test, in Adelaide, but his best period started from 1965: in 15 Tests from 1965 to 1970, Pollock scored more than 1700 runs at an average of more than 72, with 15 fifty-plus scores. In his first eight Tests, his average was a relatively low 40.30.

His career average of 60.97 is second only to Bradman’s (among those with at least 2000 Test runs), and a shade ahead of George Headley. Those three, along with Herbert Sutcliffe, are the only ones with a Test average of more than 60.

Pollock’s overall first-class career was impressive enough, but he was one of the few players who finished with a higher Test average. In 262 first-class matches he averaged 54.67, which was more than six runs fewer than his Test average. Among South Africans who’ve played at least 20 Tests, only three players have a higher difference.

Test cricket has seen several great No.4 batsmen, and Pollock easily fits in among them. In the 37 innings he batted in that position, Pollock scored 2065 runs at an average that was slightly higher than his career average. All seven of his hundreds came at that slot, as did eight out of 11 fifties. Among batsmen who’ve scored more than 2000 runs at this position, only West Indies’ Everton Weekes has a higher average.In fact, South Africa have a history of some pretty good No.4s both before and after Pollock: Dudley Nourse averaged exactly 50 from 53 innings, while Cullinan continued that tradition when South Africa returned to the international fold. The latest to keep the flag flying high is Jacques Kallis, who is one of only three batsmen to average more than 60 at this position (with a cut-off of 2000 runs).

Pollock was part of a strong South African team – they lost only three of the 23 Tests he played, and won nine. In those nine games, Pollock had ten fifty-plus scores, which shows he had a pretty significant role to play in those victories. His highest Test score of 274 came in a win as well, in what turned out to be his final series, against Australia. Among those who’ve scored at least 750 runs in wins, Pollock’s average of 84.14 is next only to those of Bradman and George Headley. Unfortunately for Pollock, he played only two more Tests – both of which South Africa won – before South Africa were banned from playing international matches.

Pollock was at his best in home conditions: in the 14 Tests he played in South Africa, he averaged almost 69, scoring four hundreds and nine fifties in 26 innings. In 15 away innings, though, his average dropped to marginally less than 50, which is still very good by most standards.His average in South Africa remains the highest among those who’ve scored at least 1500 runs in the country. It’s also well clear of the second-placed Nourse, who averaged ten runs fewer.

The lack of matches means Pollock doesn’t have the sheer number of runs like most of the other greats have. In all other aspects, though, his career compares favourably with the best there has ever been.

Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger are starting to form a particularly useful bowling combination

Brydon Coverdale at the MCG28-Dec-2009While families all around Australia continue to enjoy their Christmas leftovers, the country’s cricket team is filling up on left-arm overs. For most of the past two decades, Australia have relied heavily on right-arm fast men but Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson, who combined for six wickets in the first innings at the MCG, are starting to form a particularly useful left-arm combination.Johnson is the leading Test wicket-taker in 2009 and, as Australia’s spearhead, he continues to tally up victims with speed and unpredictability. Bollinger is a new man in the Australian team but has rapidly bowled himself into a position from which the selectors will find it hard to drop him.Bollinger’s 13 wickets in two Tests against West Indies, and then 3 for 50 at the MCG, means he might not be the one to make way once Ben Hilfenhaus recovers from his knee problem. Today, he was again the catalyst for a run of wickets after the nightwatchman Mohammad Aamer, a promising left-armer himself, frustrated the Australians for more than two hours.When the new ball arrived, a well-rested, fired-up Bollinger found the outside edge from Aamer. Such was the pace and bounce that Marcus North at first slip did well to snare the chance in front of his face, which was a surprising result given the general deadness of the pitch had caused several edges to fall short of the cordon.All of a sudden Pakistan lost 4 for 17 including two more for Bollinger, as his angle across the right-handers drew edges that were taken behind the wicket. Having earlier had the dangerous Umar Akmal caught at slip, Johnson then finished the task by coming round the wicket and rattling the off stump of the No. 11 Saeed Ajmal.Before Johnson and Bollinger came together for the first time in Sydney last summer, Australia had not played two left-arm fast men in a Test for more than 20 years, since Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews joined forces in 1986-87. Other countries haven’t had the same predilection for right-armers and various combinations of Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra have worked well together for India, while Sri Lanka have regularly used Chaminda Vaas in concert with Nuwan Zoysa and Thilan Thushara.Part of the attraction towards Johnson and Bollinger lies in their contrast. Both men are very quick but that’s where the similarity ends. Bollinger is all aggression, loud and brash, and sprints in like he’s racing against Usain Bolt. He has control over his swing and enjoys reverse when the ball gets older, but equally loves to dig in short ones.Johnson is quiet and sensitive, ambles in off a short run-up and generates his pace with his slingy action. He too can swing the ball but just as often the seam is scrambled, angling across right-handers and in towards left-handers. His unpredictability is one of his biggest weapons, because occasionally he’ll unexpectedly curve a delivery in to a right-hander or bang in a nasty bouncer lethal enough to injure or dismiss.He has taken 60 wickets at 28.03 this calendar year and was named the ICC’s Cricketer of the Year, and is already the third-most successful Australian left-arm fast bowler in Test history. But then, with the exception of Alan Davidson, Bill Johnston and the injury-prone Bruce Reid, the team has rarely had a quality left-armer on a permanent basis. They might now have two for the foreseeable future.

Intent aplenty from England’s bowlers, but four catches go astray to derail their efforts

Alan Gardner10-Jun-2022In the 44th over of the first day’s play at Trent Bridge, James Anderson sent down a slightly overpitched delivery in the channel outside off stump. After a morning session in which England’s bowlers had striven largely in vain to find lateral movement, despite some encouraging cloud cover and a grassy pitch, the ball started to do something for them mid-afternoon. Anderson gave this one every opportunity to swing, but it was a touch too full and Tom Blundell crashed it through point for four.In times gone by, this shot would have trundled out to the fielder in the deep, and Blundell would have got off the mark with a single rather than a boundary. The strategy of “bowling dry”, of keeping things tight and waiting for the opposition batters to make a mistake, underpinned England’s rise to No. 1 in the rankings back in 2010-11. But that is not the way they roll, not anymore.Anderson, at the time, was bowling to a 5-4 field – with four of the five men on the off side positioned either in the slips or at gully. The only time his captain, Ben Stokes, considered posting a cover sweeper was when the spinners were bowling during late afternoon, as Blundell and Daryl Mitchell settled into a significant stand together for the second Friday running.Under the guidance of new head coach Brendon McCullum, this England Test team is all about packing the cordon, putting men back on the hook, and bringing in a leg gully (extra points if you can do all three at once). As Stuart Broad put it before the first Test of the series: “The mindset is how we get the batter to make a mistake quicker: how do we apply pressure quicker? If we can bowl a team out in 85 overs going at 3.3 an over, compared to 120 at 2.5 … that’s a better option as it speeds the game up for our batters.”The potential drawback, of course, is that speeding up the game can invite a loss of control. Tearing around the supermarket trying to chuck all of your shopping in the trolley at once, in order to maximise time spent drinking piña coladas by the barbecue afterwards, might sound like a good idea but will probably lead to a call over the tannoy for a clean-up on aisle five.Cleaning up is what England were hoping to do after Stokes won the toss and asked New Zealand – a team shorn of their captain and best batter, Kane Williamson – to bat first. Instead, their plans were left in something of a mess as New Zealand marched past 300 for the loss of just four wickets.Stuart Broad had a frustrating day in what might be his final Trent Bridge Test•PA Photos/Getty ImagesJon Lewis, England’s bowling coach, summed up the thinking afterwards: “I think the most important thing about the toss was that it was the aggressive play. We were coming out to try and bowl New Zealand out, put them into bat and make the aggressive play after last week.”Attack, never mind the neat aphorism, is not usually the best form of defence. But attack is the best form of attack, and that is what McCullum’s England are into. Their first day of Test cricket under the new regime had brought 17 wickets at Lord’s – and darn tootin’, the carnage might just as well continue here, on a ground that has a reputation as one of England’s most swing-friendly.But then… the Dukes barely budged off the straight for the first couple of hours, and New Zealand rattled along at around four an over for much of the day. The opening partnership was worth 84, and England had barely created a chance, before Stokes brought himself on and finally produced the breakthrough. Anderson struck next ball, although the embarrassed grin told you plenty about the half-tracker Tom Latham had just swatted to midwicket.Perhaps it is wrong to focus on England’s intent, when in reality it was simply their execution that was off. Broad seemed to realise this when starting up a new spell from the Radcliffe Road End after lunch. New Zealand had scored 20 boundaries during the morning session, and Devon Conway stroked a couple more through the covers as Broad floated up the drive ball.Playing on his home ground, potentially for the last time in an England shirt (there is no Test scheduled for Trent Bridge next year), Broad realised a more disciplined approach was in order. The gap at cover point was plugged and he settled into hammering away on a length outside off, deliberately geeing up the crowd once again and setting the tone for England’s best spell with the ball.Unfortunately, England’s best spell with the ball was accompanied by their first blemishes in the field – at Lord’s, remember, they didn’t put a chance down. Broad should have been rewarded with the wicket of Henry Nicholls, but Zak Crawley threw himself across Joe Root and palmed away what would have been a straightforward catch for first slip. Nicholls also got away with gloving a Matthew Potts short ball in front of leg gully, Stokes the man who wasn’t quite able to get to the chance.Related

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But Stokes once again brought himself on to good effect, as England’s aggressive harrying briefly looked like tipping the contest back their way. Nicholls and Conway fells to catches behind the wicket, and Stokes was able to bowl to Mitchell with five slips in the cordon. Had Root held on to a regulation outside edge when Mitchell had made just 3, with the debutant Michael Bracewell and a fairly long tail to come, England might well have carried the day.”We’re choosing at the moment to take the aggressive option, and be courageous with what we do,” Lewis said. “At times in games, you’ll see with bat and ball, we might come up against a period of time when it doesn’t go quite our way. But what I did like about today was the areas the guys bowled, especially after lunch, I thought we looked a real threat in that middle session. As the day went on, I thought we worked incredibly hard to get the wickets we deserved, and we could easily have bowled them out for 250.”Shortly after tea, Potts pitched the ball up outside off and Blundell again went for the drive: this time a thick outside-edge flew through the vacant third slip for four. Stokes reinforced the cordon two balls later, but the chance had gone. Later, Blundell edged Broad neatly between the unmoving Crawley and Jonny Bairstow at second and third slip, to the bowler’s evident displeasure. England’s positive talk is laudable, but backing it up with action will be key to the McCullum blueprint’s success.