Tabla de contenidos para January 2017 en Inside Cricket

This is written just before the Test series against Pakistan, but regardless of the outcome, it’s anticipated by many that India will murder Australia come February-March. It’s a shame this series comes so soon after what looks like a new dawn for Australia. The Subcontinent has been the ruin of many a great side. These young batsmen and bowlers jostling for position in the Aussie team have been dealt some crappy cards. As Jason Krejza rightly pointed out in last month’s issue, experience is the only solution. India’s bowlers know where to pitch it, and their batsmen know how to play the spinners. Australia’s pattern in Sri Lanka was that Starc would get the Aussies off to a flyer with early wickets, then – well, donuts, as they say in…

What do you still love the most about cricket? I love to see a competitive game between bat and ball. As a batsman you have to stay at the wicket, but you also have to score runs and give entertainment to the crowd. Should Pakistan have picked Mohammed Amir after his ban for spot fixing? If they think if he is good enough and can do well then yes. He has had his punishment and is allowed to play. He’s still young, so why not? The same with Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif. If the selectors think they will do well, then yes, pick them. They have learnt their lesson, not to do it again. Did Pakistan players argue much when you were playing? Arguing? I didn’t think that this…

A team in the process of waking up. Before last season, they barely knew themselves. That all changed late BBL|05, when they collected three late wins to finish sixth. There’s no reason they can’t rocket through the ranks. In one memorable game, they out-hurricaned Hobart after Chris Lynn and Dan Christian turned the game into a personal big-hitting contest. Lynn, and Brisbane, came out ahead. If they can keep that attitude, a team that includes the formidable Sam Badree, still a premium T20 bowler, and Brendon McCullum, plus the potent Lynn, a middle-order bolstered by new recruit Alex Ross, and the rare poetry of the Steketee-Fekete collaboration, can only improve. The more wins they rack up now, the more fans will turn up, and they’ll have a home-ground advantage to…

Last year’s winners have had their heart ripped out, with Mike Hussey’s retirement and Jacques Kallis’ unavailability. Hussey remains active at the club mainly for that reason. But there’s no evidence new captain, Shane Watson, won’t be the decisive factor he’s always been, with bat and ball. They might not get much benefit from Usman Khawaja, if he keeps his coveted Test spot. Irrepressible fan fave, Andre Russell, is back and a man of his power and versatility is indispensable. Eoin Morgan joins them for a three-game powerplay. Kurtis Patterson is capable of being to batting what Pat Cummins is to fastbowling: exciting, young, prodigious. Having been on the scene since an explosive domestic start at 18 in 2011, Patterson is cherry ripe after only being picked for one game…

Both Australia and Pakistan have entrapped many a miserable foreign side and harried them for a full series. But recently, Pakistan have proved they are flexible and talented, able to adjust quickly to conditions outside the UAE. The series in New Zealand didn’t turn out entirely the way they wanted, but Misbah will be happy with the fight and willingness they’ll bring to Australia, where they play a revitalised Aussie side which is still an unknown quantity. While losing overseas, Australia seem to have brought a bug back with them that has them ailing even in their own conditions. Younger fans might not recall much about the last time Pakistan toured Australia in 2009-10. They didn’t win a match. A lot has happened since. Just when they’d managed to unearth…

In many ways, the Phillip Hughes inquiry, despite the controversy and terrible memories it elicited, achieved its original purpose: to discover whether anything at all about this tragic and profoundly sad incident was preventable. Many cricketers, notably Mitch Johnson and Michael Clarke, came to see the game very differently after the passing of their mate. Chris Rogers admitted that apprehension crept into his game, and the very thing that made him hesitant – being hit – happened twice before his retirement. Adam Voges’ concussion during a Sheffield Shield match in November momentarily sent tremors through the cricket world. Cricket, and ways of looking at the game, changed in the 12 months after Phillip Hughes’ death. The obvious signs were things like the slight edge of panic and concern from opposition…

STROKE OF GENIUS GIDEON HAIGH. HAMISH HAMILTON. RRP $39.95. HARDBACK. Haigh’s Ode on a Grecian Urn. The subject is one photograph – the image of Victor Trumper titled Jumping Out. The shot is an icon of personal remembrance to Haigh as well as a public monument. Stroke of Genius is an act of devotion, long in the preparation, lovingly germinated. Haigh’s first challenge is substantial: in a world of fluid expression, to persuade the modern reader that the very stillness of an image is its virtue – momentous; ageless, independent of time, immutable, even when old age shall this generation waste; to convince them that there’s a kind of consummation, not frustration, in stasis – the forever-unfulfilled. To invest his iconographic preoccupation with significance and context, Haigh delves into the…

Following his best pre-season to date, Kurtis Patterson is ready to tackle the upcoming summer for NSW and Sydney Thunder. The big-hitting left-hander spent the winter playing for Australia A in the Quadrangular Series as well as “Test” matches against India A and South Africa A. The exposure to high-level international competition paid big dividends for the 23-year-old in the recent Matador Cup series. The Blues reached the final and decimated Queensland to take the win with Patterson himself scoring an impressive 77 not out. Patterson rose to prominence as a teenager when he was selected to the U19 Australian team, where he gained international experience touring in Dubai and playing against the West Indies. He returned home to vice-captain the national team in the U19 World Cup, which narrowly…

PAKISTAN DEFEATS ENGLAND – AGAIN! In October, Pakistan’s cricket team for people with a disability won the ICC Academy PD T20 Tournament 2016 when they defeated the defending champions, England, by three wickets. Played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the final was a thrilling match. England, batting first, scored 137-5 in their 20 overs, with Jamie Goodwin hitting 40, Gordan Laidlaw 34 and Jordan Williams unbeaten on 17.Pakistan ’s Nihaar Alam bagged two wickets. It was a handy score, but Pakistan achieved the target in 19.2 overs with three wickets in hand. Hasnain Alam scored 39 and Jahanzeb Tiwana made 29. England’s 21-year-old veteran bowler, Dan Reynaldo, took 2-24. It was a triple triumph for Hasnain Alam, who was declared man of the match and man of the tournament. THE…

Most of this very good side will be available for the entire BBL. Sangakkara, Broad and Tait, are definites for the duration. That can’t be bad. Batting has let them down so far, and even with Kumar The Great and George Bailey they struggled in BBL|05 for consistency. They have the personnel. They’ve lost Dunk, but opening partner Tim Paine is a good batting ‘keeper capable of giving them starts. Their attack is outstanding. Imagine Stuart Broad joining the likes of Tait, Rainbird and Jack Reed. Cameron Boyce is a handy leg-spinner in this format, with an excellent strike and economy rate. They also have a superb allround squad, with big-hitting Dan Christian, run-andnumber-cruncher, the Aggro Accountant Simon Milenko, and Boyce providing good runs and wickets. Broad, too, adds batting.…

WHY? The Strikers were worryingly obliterated after a promising surge to the finals last year, but under Gillespie, they’ll learn from it, and have the personnel to do something with that learning. Getting batsmen out is still the surest way to curtail runs, and the Strikers have a wicket-taking attack. But when they’re not getting wickets, they know how to put the brakes on batting opposition. Their batting is a great combination of level-headedness and rapid scoring. Like Perth Scorchers have been over the years, they also have a huge advantage: the stability of knowing most of their team is available for the entire tournament, and a coach who is extremely capable of pulling them together. WHY NOT? While they might not have many personnel in danger of a national…

Apologies to men like Herbert Sutcliffe and Michael Vaughan, who both had amazing series in 1924-25 and 2003-03 respectively, in losing sides, but this gallery is about those opening bats who won series for their teams. It takes an authoritative batsman to open an innings against a hungry pack of predators and not only survive, but put his stamp on an entire series. Here are nine outstanding examples. MARK TAYLOR In Australia’s breakout 1989 series, Mark Taylor scored 839 runs at 83.90, including two centuries and five 50s. It was his emergence as a world-class opener after a faltering start to a promising career; the second best aggregate in an Ashes series in England, behind Bradman's 974 in 1930. Taylor occupied the crease for a total of 38 hours –…

TRIBUTE “Mystery spinners” are like outstanding batting champions and dizzyingly swift fast bowlers. They come along all-too infrequently, and when they do, the cricket world loves them. Richie Benaud ranked Johnny Gleeson with Bosanquet, Iverson and Warne as a man who changed the way the spinning art was seen forever. We’d have to add Murali to that list. It must be said, though, that Iverson and Gleeson, who died in October aged 78, were not persisted with as spin bowlers must be. They were much more than the “novelty” acts today’s fans might consider them. In our last issue, Jason Krejza highlighted the lack of persistence, preparation and exposure faced by our spinners, and even before today’s current spin-unfriendly conditions, Australia’s twirlers always tended to have a conditional tenure. HISTORY’S…

"He probably opened his mouth before his brain got working. It might have been early in the morning, he loves a sleep in." Rod Marsh the day Khawaja was selected for the first Test. Marsh was asked about Usman’s com ments on being made a “scapegoat” after Sri Lanka. "Just because you've got Steyn and Rabada bowling fast, it doesn't mean we don't have anyone to match that." Mitchel l S ta rc before the firs t Test. Got anyone in mind, M itch? “He’s a smart arse. He’s a winning smart arse and you can be when you’re winning but I don’t think the South Africans have handled it really well to be honest.” Brad Haddin, on Faf during and after the bal l-tampering episode. " That is probably…

 The chaos created by Australia’s calamitous series loss to South Africa was just the wake-up call needed to galvanise the country’s cricket administrators into serious reform. Whether that results in a much-needed overhaul to a spluttering system or purely a band-aid solution when the patient requires major surgery, it will be determined by the approach the administrators take. The first step in the rejuvenation process should be an honest appraisal of the situation. The comment by Cricket Australia’s CEO James Sutherland that “the game of cricket is in good health” isn’t a promising start. Certainly the game’s finances are in good health but it’s a complete mis-diagnosis in regard to the Australian team’s recent free-fall. The second step should be to ensure the administrators and players are on the same…

Mahmood The Unplayable, 1956-57 The Australians were on their way back from a close losing series against England in the Old Dart when they made a stopover to play one Test in Karachi against the babies of international cricket. Pakistan had been a Test nation for only four years. The Aussies didn’t bargain for Fazal Mahmood and Khan Mohammad, who were almost unplayable on the Karachi track, dismissing the visitors for 80 after they chose to bat. The wicket did take vicious turn on the second day. Australian captain Ian Johnson himself took four wickets to help dismiss the hosts for 199. But none could match Mahmood. He bowled out Australia for under 200, and finished with 13 wickets in the match. Pakistan, anxious to secure a win that would…

Australians remember Sarfraz as the feisty 198cm Pakistani fast-medium who always took wickets against us; the moustachioed bandit who deprived the Aussies of certain, easy victory at the MCG in 1978-79, when, at 3-305, chasing 382, they were cruising, Border on 105, Kim Hughes 84. The Aussies needed a mere 77 more when Sarfraz unleashed such extraordinary and unexpected mayhem, questions needed to be asked – but since this was 1978-79, no-one knew what those questions might be, and Max Walker was no longer in the national Test team. Certainly, the expectations of the Aussie batsmen were not geared toward a ball swinging in the opposite direction to the one they anticipated when they watched it released. So Sarfraz’s breathtaking display of swing and seam was never reported as a…