Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling

David Hopps in Colombo23-Sep-2012Stuart Broad found himself in a familiar position for England captains – trying to explain a calamitous display against spin bowling – as his side, dismissed against India for 80 in 14.4 overs, registered England’s lowest total in Twenty20 internationals.”It doesn’t change our destiny a huge amount – we still hop on a bus to Kandy in the morning,” Broad said. “It is not like tomorrow is going to be a different day. It is not as if we have to go home or anything.”It was understandable, indeed it was necessary, that Broad found consolation in the fact that both sides had already qualified for Super Eights and that, for the sake of their travelling supporters, England and India were already locked into matches in Pallekele (near to Kandy) or Colombo respectively, irrespective of whether they finished first or second in the group.But that underplayed the psychological effect that a defeat of such magnitude will have on a relatively untried England batting line-up that had grown in confidence during the warm-up matches but which collapsed spectacularly when faced by the first real test against significant opposition.As Broad had mentioned destiny, he did bring to mind Freud’s theory of repetition compulsion – a psychological phenomenon in which a person (or in this case the England cricket team) repeats a traumatic event, or its circumstances, over and over again.Freud’s theory says the patient does not remember anything about what he has forgotten or repressed, but just acts it out until the end of time, which is a depressing thought for when England next face spin bowling in Asia as well as an intriguing challenge for the team psychologist. The alternative, of course, would be to listen instead to Mushtaq Ahmed, the spin bowling coach, and start hitting the ball down the ground.”Our error today is we lost early wickets,” Broad said. “Spinners always enjoy bowling to new batsmen. We talked the other day about how we need to hit straight and hard and today to lose the first couple of wickets across the line was a bit disappointing. Hitting straight was a much better option than going across the ball.”England’s display was so woeful that when they lost their ninth wicket at 60 they were in danger of recording the lowest score in T20 internationals, undercutting Kenya’s 67 against Ireland. Somehow, they avoided that. But this was their heaviest defeat, by runs, in T20 internationals.There was no alibi for the batsmen and Broad was not about to give them one. There was no sharp turn – there may be as the tournament progresses so if England do reach the semi-finals and face India once more at Premadasa it could be worse – and India’s 170 for 4 was, at most, 10 over par so the target did not demand the impossible.”I don’t think the wicket turned massively to be honest,” Broad said. “The guys getting out said it was just skidding on a little bit. There was a little bit of turn, Harbhajan bowled very nicely with his top-spinner going well but no, I don’t think it was a raging turner or anything.”We made it easy for India in the end. We will have to learn from our mistakes and there were some pretty clear ones in the batting line-up. Young guys seem to learn pretty quickly.”He did not entirely exonerate the bowling, where England suffered in this match by giving Tim Bresnan a run out as a fourth seamer, in defiance of a dry pitch, because of their conviction that the ball will seam and swing in Pallakele and he will play in their opening Super Eight tie against West Indies or Ireland on Thursday as a result. The fielding was also scrappy by England standards, but these were details compared to the car crash of a batting performance.”I think we were a little bit sloppy in places: we had a few soft twos in the outfield,” Broad conceded. “We didn’t hit our lengths as well as we could up front. But I think it was the lowest first-innings score on this ground so far in the tournament. We thought it was very chaseable. The wicket was pretty flat, although it didn’t have the pace in it that it had the other night.”It will be interesting to see what the Pallakele wickets offer. There has been talk that in the Sri Lankan Premier League it seamed around a bit. We knew it was a bit dryer at the start but we wanted to try a different balance of side with the four seamers in a game that we could afford to lose. It was a risk that we took and it didn’t help us.”Sunil Gavaskar, the former India captain, was quick to point out England’s deficiencies. “This is a sorry display from England,” he said. “There’s been a lack of footwork, application and the will to stick around and fight it out.” It was accurate enough but England regard Gavaskar as a serial critic; perhaps this is a comment that will be heading for the dressing room wall.

AB de Villiers has been ruled out of Titans’ Champions League semi-final against Sydney Sixers on Friday

Firdose Moonda25-Oct-2012AB de Villiers has been ruled out of Titans’ Champions League semi-final against Sydney Sixers on Friday. De Villiers has not played a match in the tournament as he recovers from a chronic lower-back condition and did not pass his fitness test on Thursday morning.”He is still getting a recurrence of lower-back pain,” Matthew Maynard, Titans coach, said. The Titans were prepared to go into the match without De Villiers though, and do not see the latest development as upsetting to their plans.What will be a concern, however, is whether De Villiers will be able to bat and keep wicket during South Africa’s three Test tour of Australia, which starts in just over two weeks’ time. De Villiers has been listed as the designated wicketkeeper and was instructed to take a three-week break after the World T20 to ensure he is able to fulfill that role.The time period comes to an end on Friday but he has not been passed match-fit and there is no exact determination of how much more recovery time he needs. National management is keeping a close eye on the situation and expects De Villiers to be able to assume all his duties in Australia. “He will definitely be able to travel to Australia but we will have to take it day by day on tour,” Mohammed Moosajee, team manager said.Moosajee has been monitoring De Villiers’ back condition since he took over the wicketkeeping role from Mark Boucher at the start of the tour of England. He does not expect De Villiers will be able to continue it permanently.”AB has had this back condition for a while and we knew about it. We knew that it would never resolve completely but that he would have times where he would be completely fine and then bouts when it would come back,” Moosajee said. “When his workload increases, it flares up. So in the long term, some strategic decision will have to be made.”The main decision is how long De Villiers will continue as wicketkeeper and who will be selected as the replacement. On the tour of Australia, Moosajee reminded that “we’ve got Thami Tsolekile as back-up so if something happens, he is there.”Tsolekile was nationally contracted in February, an indication that he would be part of the squad, and joined them when Boucher suffered a career-ending injury in England. He only played in the tour matches and De Villiers kept in all three Tests. It is believed that the national administration wants to re-introduce Tsolekile to international cricket at home, in what will be considered a less-challenging series against New Zealand in January rather than have him play against Australia first up.

Alastair Cook praised England’s character after they produced one of their finest Test victories in recent memory to level the series against India with a 10-wicket success in Mumbai

Andrew McGlashan26-Nov-2012Alastair Cook praised England’s character after they produced one of their finest Test victories in recent memory to level the series against India with a 10-wicket success in Mumbai.The win was all the more remarkable for coming off the back of the nine-wicket hammering they suffered in Ahmedabad last week when the pre-series predictions of England struggling to take wickets and battling against India’s spinners came true. However, they have turned their fortunes around, overcoming the home side before lunch on the fourth day, to keep alive their chance of a first series victory in India since 1985.”It was a tough week up in Ahmedabad and the character we have shown in the last three days has been fantastic,” Cook said at the presentation. “I just can’t fault the effort from the lads and the performance they have put in.”England also won the Test the hard way having lost the toss on a pitch seemingly tailor-made for India’s spinners, yet they were comprehensively outbowled by Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann who combined for 19 wickets in the match with Panesar claiming a career-best 11 for 210.When India fought their way to 327 on the second morning it was expected to be a very challenging total on a surface already gripping, but Kevin Pietersen produced arguably his finest Test innings, a scintillating 186, to secure a priceless lead of 86.”It was an important toss, but the way we bowled on the first day was fantastic and then the way Kevin took the game away from India – to get an 80-run lead was vital,” Cook said. “It was a fantastic innings and great to watch from the other end. We could almost have got more of a lead in the end. But the way Swanny and Monty bowled in the second innings when the pressure was on, to not let India get away, was fantastic.” When talking about his innings on the third evening, Pietersen was guarded in ranking its significance, well aware that the job was not quite finished for England. With victory completed he was more verbose but was just as quick to praise his team-mates.”Now that we’ve won, probably at the top,” he said of where the innings stands. “Yesterday I said it was a situation where we needed to win the Test match and hundreds feel a lot better when you win. Panesar and Swann were outstanding in the second innings, and Cooky didn’t talk about himself but he’s a magnificent cricketer. He’ll break every England record. We came to Mumbai, trained hard and worked hard. There’s a good united spirit in the dressing room.”For a couple of months at the end of England’s home season that united dressing appeared a long way away but a working relationship has been restored and a matchwinning hundred will keep the process moving the right away.”Thanks to the guys in the dressing room, the management, for sorting everything out,” Pietersen said. “Every day you put on an England jersey is a special day and we are so privileged as England cricketers. The spectators that travel around with us are magnificent and we couldn’t achieve things without them. Also the Indian support, it’s been brilliant and long may that continue.”

Sri Lanka’s batsmen may have been scuppered by cluttered minds on day two of the first Test in Hobart, deems Sri Lanka’s coach Graham Ford, as they slumped to 87 for 4 by stumps

Andrew Fernando in Hobart15-Dec-2012Sri Lanka’s batsmen may have been scuppered by cluttered minds on day two of the first Test in Hobart, deems Sri Lanka’s coach Graham Ford, as they slumped to 87 for 4 by stumps after Australia had scored 450 for 5. Sri Lanka could only remove Michael Clarke on the day, before Mike Hussey progressed to an unbeaten 19th Test century, putting on 146 with Matthew Wade.Though Sri Lanka’s bowlers had avoided being dominated for much of Australia’s innings, they were milked for more than six runs an over in the 11 overs preceding Australia’s declaration. Then, Sri Lanka’s batsmen were not confronted with alarming movement, but largely lost their wickets to indiscipline while facing testing deliveries.”Perhaps we weren’t quite up to it with the bat today.” Ford said. “I think the boys were busy thinking of what’s gone on so far; hopefully we can come out in the morning and put up a good fight. They put us under a lot of pressure, batted superbly and got a lot of runs on the board, then with the ball they put us under a lot of pressure as well.”Tillakaratne Dilshan made a positive fifty, finishing the day unbeaten. He will resume on day three alongside Angelo Mathews – the pair comprise the two in-form batsmen in the side. Mathews was by far the highest run-getter for Sri Lanka in the recent series against New Zealand, and has also made his only century against Australia. Dilshan, meanwhile, hit a hundred in the tour match in Canberra last week.”I don’t think there [are] any demons in the surface,” Ford said. “It’s a classy bowling unit. They have put the ball in the right place and there has been some movement here and there. Dilshan has shown that if you focus you can handle what comes in your way.”When the innings was in progress the batting coach was speaking to some of the batters who were due to come in and [about] one or two technical things that Dilshan was putting in place well.”Ford said Thilan Samaraweera’s dismissal off what became the final ball of the day was especially difficult to stomach, because Sri Lanka had only one more over to see out before stumps. Samaraweera was caught behind off Nathan Lyon, who surprised the batsman with the bounce he achieved with his top-spinner.”Losing the wicket at the end of the day is tough to handle. Disappointing. We almost thought that we got through with three down so it does hurt. I am sure if we can bat well when the match goes on Rangana [Herath] will come in and have an impact.”Left-arm spinner Herath went wicketless in the first innings, but is the second-highest wicket-taker for 2012 and has a superior average this year to Graeme Swann, who tops the list. There was little turn available for him, but Ford said his side had not expected their spearhead to be a force in Hobart.”The records suggest that it’s toughest for Herath to have an impact here. So probably at the other two venues he should come into the game a lot more, and that should give us a better chance. I am also very hopeful that our seamers are improving all the time. I thought Shaminda Eranga bowled well for a man who has three Tests under his belt. We have to try and see how he comes through. We got only five wickets, but he has given us something to be positive about. It will take an effort from the seam unit as well as the one bowler who is going to set it up. Hopefully everyone has learned from today, as it’s important that seamers from the other end support Rangana Herath.”Ford also lauded the longevity of Michael Hussey, who now averages 125.28 against Sri Lanka, and has hit five of his 19 hundreds against them. “Just looking at how fit and quick he is between the wickets, that’s really impressive for his age. At this stage he looks like he has a few good years ahead of him. He is a bloody good player.”

ESPNCricinfo previews the first T20I between India and England in Pune

The Preview by Devashish Fuloria19-Dec-2012

Match facts

India would hope for change in fortunes with the change in format•Getty Images

December 20, 2012
Start time 1900 (1330 GMT)

Big Picture

Only three days ago, the two teams were part of a draining battle in the Test series in which things went from bad to worse for India while England rose in confidence and three days later, they are ready to take on each other for a couple of Twenty20s. Of the two, India need a win, any win.For India, it is a strange situation. First, they fell in their own trap in the Tests and now they need to find the motivation to come out of the slump and play positive cricket. It doesn’t help that the nucleus of their T20 squad is still the same as the Test side. MS Dhoni, whose leadership has been under fire, needs to arrest the slide and switch gears for a format, which appears, suited to the Indian team – hard-hitting batsmen, restrictive bowlers and a wait-and-watch style of captaincy. The reality, though, is that India haven’t really dominated on the international level even in T20s.Unlike India, England’s T20 side bears a completely different look. The architects of the series win are already back in England for Christmas, but they have left a scarred Indian team for their T20 generation to feast upon. Most in the side, captained by Eoin Morgan, have been in India for some time now and would have spent time getting used to the spinning conditions. So on paper, England have again been methodical in their preparations. That doesn’t directly translate to success – if pitches take spin, the young side could again appear like rabbit in headlights. But it points to one clear difference between the two sides – one fighting their demons, the other ignoring theirs.

Form guide

(Most recent first)
India WWLWW
England LWLLW

In the spotlight

Yuvraj Singh may have flopped in the Tests, but he remains a dangerous limited-overs player. His inclusion in the T20 squad three months back appeared driven by emotions, but since then, Yuvraj has spent a considerable amount of time in the middle. He has scored a couple of hundreds at the first-class level and although he appeared inept in the Tests, he would prefer England’s new-look bowling attack to stamp his authority.Eoin Morgan has been a regular in England’s limited-overs sides and in Stuart Broad’s absence, he has been awarded with the captaincy. Morgan, one of England’s best players against spin, will not only be the lynchpin in the middle order, he will have the responsibility of mentoring the inexperienced players. His IPL experience will come in handy for England to draw up plans against the Indian players.

Team news

Ten of the 15 players in India’s squad also took part in the Test series. Ambati Rayudu, who replaced the injured Manoj Tiwary, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the two new additions apart from the regulars but could find it hard to make it to the XI. Parwinder Awana could make his international debut after L Balaji and Vinay Kumar were withdrawn from the squad due to injuries.India: (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Piyush Chawla, 10 Ashok Dinda, 11 Parwinder AwanaEngland lost Stuart Broad to a heel injury and was replaced by the Middlesex seamer James Harris. However, he is unlikely to make it to the XI with Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker ahead of him. Joe Root, who was not part of the original T20 squad, could find a place after his impressive showing in the Nagpur Test.England (likely) 1 Alex Hales, 2 Michael Lumb/Joe Root, 3 Luke Wright, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Jos Buttler, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Jade Dernbach, 11 Stuart Meaker

Stats and trivia

• This will be the first international match at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune.
• England have played 53 T20Is to India’s 41. Their win-loss record is 27-23, which is similar to India’s 22-17.
• The two teams have met each other only five times, with England winning three. MS Dhoni is the only player to have played in all five matches.
• Of the players in the two teams, Jade Dernbach has the most wickets in T20Is – 18.

Quotes

“It’s a completely different format. I don’t think there is anything carrying forward from the Test series.”

Pakistan returned home to a rousing welcome after winning the ODI series against archrivals India and drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1

Umar Farooq07-Jan-2013Pakistan returned home to a rousing welcome after winning the ODI series against archrivals India and drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1. Large throngs of people waited outside the Lahore International Airport to greet the team on their success in the historic tour.Pakistan, after dominant performances throughout the series, came close to taking the ODI series 3-0 in Delhi. But India fought back and avoided what would have been their first whitewash since 1983-84. Pakistan, however, flourished throughout the series and were, distinctly, the better side.”The significant part of the series was the young lot stood up to take the team’s veins,” Misbah said. “Throughout the series, the young and new players contributed in the victories.”I will give credit to the whole team but there were few youngsters like [Mohammad] Irfan, Junaid [Khan] and Nasir Jamshed – who have really impressed. They have proved themselves against world’s best batting line-up and have outclassed them. They have a bright future and if they continue to perform like this, they will go way forward.”Nasir Jamshed, 23, led the batting with consecutive centuries in Chennai and Kolkata and ended up as the leading run-getter in the series with 241 runs. His Man-of-the-Series-winning performance helped him climb 45 places in the ODI rankings to a career-best 31st.”It was the great tour for me not because I have scored runs but the centuries I scored helped my team to win the matches,” Jamshed said. “Riding on my current form I would like to continue the runs feast in the upcoming South Africa tour.”Mohammad Hafeez, the T20 captain, too had a magnificent series. He became the number one allrounder in ODIs following success with both bat and ball in the series.”It was series we have been waiting desperately,” Hafeez said. “The team played with full focus and proved how good we are. It’s the victory of the whole nation and the highlight of the series were the trio – Irfan, Junaid and Nasir.”As the team, along with the PCB chairman, Zaka Ashraf, emerged at the arrival gates, the chants of Pakistan Zindabad (Long live Pakistan) and the beats of traditional drums resonated in the chilly winter evening. In a brief ceremony at the gates, Ashraf garlanded both the captains – Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafez – and said that it was a special win beating India in India.”It’s a unique honor for us that we defeated India in their own country,” Ashraf said. “Our team is very disciplined and organised, the way our captains have performed, I think they deserve congratulations from everyone in the country. The way they have fought in India, they deserve appreciation.”

Oli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-2013
ScorecardOli Stone, the England Under-19 captain, took four wickets to earn his team a 119-run lead on the second day in Cape Town.Stone was not the original captain for the trip but replaced the injured Shiv Thakor last week. He did not bring himself into the attack until six other bowlers had been used, after suffering a dislocated finger in the warm-up match, but soon made an impact with two wickets in two balls removing South Africa’s top-scorer, Murray Coetzee (50), and Vassilli Orros as the home side slipped to 120 for 5.He claimed two further wickets to complete an efficient display by England who had earlier extended their first innings to 313. Ed Barnard, who scored a century on the opening day, was only able to add seven to his overnight score before being bowled sweeping.South Africa made a solid start in reply before Harry Finch, a 17-year-old from Sussex, had Andries Gous and Shaylin Pillay caught behind in quick succession. A partnership of 60 between Coetzee and Diego Rosier, the captain, followed to leave the game evenly balance but Miles Hammond had Rosier lbw to start the collapse.

Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has stepped in to move Sri Lanka’s contract crisis towards a resolution

Andrew Fidel Fernando03-Mar-2013Chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya has stepped in to move Sri Lanka’s contract crisis towards a resolution, after his meeting with the locked out players on Sunday night ended with the players indicating they would sign SLC’s original contract. Jayasuriya had personally set up the meeting earlier in the day in an effort to break the deadlock, which he has now successfully done.”The players have decided to put their country first and sign the original contract.” Jayasuriya said after the meeting, which lasted over two hours. “Once they sign, they will be considered for selection for the Bangladesh series.” The players are yet to put pen to paper, but are expected to do so on Monday.Jayasuriya said that while the players had agreed to bring the standoff to a close, they expected to have further discussions with the board on the key issue of contention – that of compensation for the use of their images by the ICC and its sponsors, during ICC tournaments. Under their 2012 contracts, Sri Lanka players received 25% of the net fee paid by the ICC to home boards during ICC tournaments, but in the 2013 contract they have agreed to scrap these payments entirely.”In the meantime when the ICC events come, the players will talk to the SLC what they are going to do about the players’ guarantee money,” he said.
SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga was unwilling to call the crisis closed until contracts were signed, but was pleased with the outcome of Sunday’s meeting. “What I’ve heard from Sanath is that the players will sign, but a full resolution hasn’t been reached,” he said.If the original contracts are signed on Monday, Sri Lanka’s cricketers will not have gained anything from the standoff which lasted little over 24 hours, largely owing to SLC’s powerful bargaining position. In the weeks before the contracts were issued, SLC announced it will not recognise player managers, and has since extended that policy to players’ associations, who were not allowed to represent the players’ interests during the contract negotiations.In addition to doing away with player payments from ICC’s guarantee fee, the new contracts also allows the SLC not to pay a player’s regular salary for as long as he is with his IPL team. A convention that allowed players’ wives to travel business class on one tour a year was also scrapped, and a clause that tied payment to performance as per the ICC rankings, introduced.The contracts had been issued late last week, with March 2 being the deadline prescribed by the board. After the players refused to sign before the deadline, SLC immediately engaged the strategy laid out by its executive committee, which was to freeze the players out.”They will definitely not be considered for selection,” SLC president Upali Dharmadasa had said on Saturday. “They will not be getting any facilities that Sri Lanka Cricket has been offering them, including physios, masseurs and coaches. They can’t come for practice at our venues.”Jayasuriya’s selection panel was expected to name a squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, on Sunday, but delayed the announcement until after Jayasuriya had met with the players. If the players sign as agreed, a full strength squad is likely to be named on Monday, after the contracts have been finalised.The only direct effect of the lockout so far has been Kumar Sangakkara’s omission from the side playing a three-day tour match against Bangladesh. The match was supposed to be Sangakkara’s return to competitive cricket after fracturing his index finger during the Boxing Day Test.

Ishant Sharma has said his role as a seamer in Tests in India has been to contain the flow of runs so that the spinners can attack from the other end

Sharda Ugra21-Mar-2013The fringe men in India’s romper-stomper of a performance in the series against Australia are medium-pacers Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who, between them, have picked up only 10 of the 59 Australian wickets to fall, at an average of 40.4 and a headache-generating strike rate of 80.4. These are numbers that would give palpitations to captains and coaches in many countries, but in India the seamers understand why they have, quite literally, been shown their place.The day before the fourth and final Test in Delhi, Ishant turned up to speak to reporters and explained his role, if it required him chugging along in the sidelines and playing support to the new man Bhuvneshwar. “Your role in India is to contain the flow of runs so that the spinners can attack from the other end. You’ve got to hunt in a pack and bowl in partnerships like how you bat in partnerships. When you bowl in partnerships, you may not get wickets but the bowler at the other end gets wickets.”Ishant said he had switched new-ball duties with Bhuvneshwar, who made his Test debut in Chennai and has taken six wickets at 31.16 in the series so far. “I feel Bhuvi’s bowling is different to mine. Bhuvi is more effective with the new ball because he can swing it both ways. I don’t get much swing in Indian conditions and I have to wait for the ball to get a bit old so that it reverse-swings… only after that I can attack, but till then my role is to contain. Everyone knows their role and this is the best part of our team.”Pitches in the series so far have been bare and dry, Chennai and Hyderabad putting batsmen’s abilities to play the turning ball under strict examination. The Mohali track was undeniably the best for batting and offered more help to the seamers. Ishant said, “As you saw in the last three Test matches there was a lot of help for the spinners, so I have got very less bowling. It was only in the last match in Mohali that I got nearly 30 overs but before that I didn’t get much bowling.”For the seamers, Ishant said maintaining the balance between attack and defence and using the best bowler in the most suitable conditions was important. “If you are bowling first then the ball does not swing that much because conditions are not that favourable. So you have to wait for the ball to swing more, then you can attack but until then you have to be defensive.”The moment to attack came when the ball got a little old and reverse-swing of the kind that Ishant can put into use came into play. “You also have to wait for the ball to reverse-swing so you can have fielders in attacking positions… These factors are very important when considering when to attack and when to defend.”Ishant, who plays for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, was speaking at his home ground the Ferozshah Kotla, where he would miss playing for India, together his team-mate, Shikhar Dhawan, who scored the fastest Test century on debut in Mohali but fractured his left hand.The contrasts between India’s performances in the away Tests in England and Australia in 2011 and early 2012 and Australia’s woeful performances on their 2013 tour of India had, Ishant said, reiterated the advatages of home conditions, “When we went to Australia we struggled a lot and everybody said we can’t play away from home and now you can see that even Australia can’t play here. So the advantage of home conditions is quite big. Our home conditions suit spinners and Australia is weak against the spinners so that has been a big advantage for us.”

Kevon Cooper bowled a nerveless last over to give Rajasthan Royals a winning start to the season with a slim five-run victory over Delhi Daredevils

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando06-Apr-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDavid Warner looked ominous, but a brilliant run-out from Brad Hodge helped even the odds, before Kevon Cooper pulled off the heist•BCCI

An electric late rally in the field, completed by a stoic over of pinpoint yorkers from Kevon Cooper, saw Rajasthan Royals begin their IPL campaign with a thrilling five-run win over Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Daredevils were hurtling towards their target after 17 overs, with only 22 runs to get, and a flourishing David Warner at the crease. But Cooper ignited his side with a five-run over in the 18th that ended with a wicket, before a direct hit from acting captain Brad Hodge at cover dismissed Warner in the penultimate over, to give his side hope of a still-unlikely victory.Nine runs were required off Cooper’s final over, but the bowler delivered six yorkers, two of which dismissed panicking Daredevils batsmen, and provided the IPL’s first week with its second nail-biting result. Johan Botha was out lbw, attempting a reverse paddle with seven required from four, before Andre Russell also fell trying to hit the ball fine with six needed from two, only this time Cooper cleaned him up. New man Naman Ojha had to hit a six off the last ball for Daredevils to salvage victory, but could not connect with a wide yorker, sparking ecstatic celebrations from Royals.Daredevils’ death-over meltdown almost mirrored Royals’ returns from the same period of their innings, after the visitors had managed just six runs from their last two overs, and lost four wickets. Royals had arrived in the 18th over at 159 for 3, and were eyeing a 180-plus total that seemed par on a good batting surface. They however lost four batsmen in six balls, including Rahul Dravid, whose immaculately paced 65 off 51 held the team’s innings together.Dravid had arrived at Kusal Perera’s demise in the third over, and aside from a controlled edge to the third man fence first ball, was largely content to collect singles to begin with, despite the fielding restrictions. When the bowlers erred, as Andre Russell did when he served up a wide delivery in the sixth over, Dravid’s placement and timing ensured the desired boundary was achieved.He was dropped twice in the 12th over, when he began to introduce more aggression to his innings, but he was undeterred, and having made only 22 from his first 26 deliveries, he quickly achieved a more laudable strike rate through the middle overs.For Daredevils, Warner was also relatively reticent to begin with, allowing opening partner Unmukt Chand to provide the early innings impetus, and striking at no better than a run a ball until the tenth over of the innings. When he eventually exploded in earnest, with two fours off Rahul Shukla in the 13th over, Daredevils appeared to be executing a measured chase.Warner was dropped early in his innings, and had one more reprieve just after hitting fifty, as he continued to maul some indifferent Royals bowling through the middle overs. Just before Daredevils hit their wall, Warner launched Siddharth Trivedi in the 17th over for 13. After Warner’s demise however, none of the Daredevils batsmen seemed capable of finding the boundary, and Royals achieved revenge for the mighty close defeat they had suffered last year, in the same fixture.