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Cricket has come a long way since the days of Lord’s preventing women from entering its pavilion, but the events of Monday night are a reminder that it has a long way to go

Daniel Brettig04-Jan-2016Last night I went to dinner near the SCG, and spoke to the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland. We talked about women’s cricket, about how the WBBL was growing, how ‘s television coverage was a breakthrough, about how we’d been to far too many dinners, drinks and functions where the women’s game was dismissed as a sideshow. “The biggest thing that needs to change in women’s cricket,” he said, “is how men think about it.”Last night, after we settled into our tables, I sat down alongside the WACA chief executive, Christina Matthews. We spoke about writing, and about how her partner had picked up a new book, The Keepers, in recognition of Matthews’ years wearing the gloves for the Australian women’s team. There was a Matthews listed in the index, her partner said, but a sense of anticipation was let down when this turned out to be a man.Last night I heard the new CA chairman David Peever say a few words as the centrepiece of the dinner, put on by the LBW Trust chairman Darshak Mehta. Peever mentioned how his mum and dad had cricket in the house on television and radio throughout his childhood. He also mentioned how his mother knew little of cricket, but when the coverage began, she could be heard to say “there’s Richie”. Peever closed by saying he hoped to see a day when close to half of Australia’s cricket participants were women.Last night after dinner, I noticed a missed call from the West Indies media manager. It was about Chris Gayle, and his words with the broadcaster Mel McLaughlin. I found a video of the exchange – to call it an interview would be to wrongly suggest that Gayle actually answered questions – and watched how McLaughlin grinned and bore the first intimation of something outside work, then closed her eyes and put on a mask of indifference at the second.Last night I logged onto Twitter and saw the responses to these words. There was outrage and frustration, but also indignation that anyone should be expected to talk about cricket, and not spew rubbish pick-up lines, when being interviewed about it. I saw ‘s own account initially respond to Gayle’s words with the hashtag #smooth, and I saw the Australian footballer Tim Cahill tell Gayle he had been “on fire tonight brother”. I also saw Taylor Walker, the Adelaide Crows captain, say this: “A bit of fun by @henrygayle everybody relax – no one hurt, injured or dead!” He was right on two counts.Last night I called a female journalism colleague, a skillful and tireless operator, and listened to her speak of the episode not with shock or anger, but with weariness. I heard her say that she hated what was happening, but also that she hated the inevitable backlash when speaking up about it. I heard her say that nobody wants to be “that girl”, like the one who called out harassment by the former David Jones chief executive Mark McInnes, or the DFAT official who raised concerns about the behaviour of the now former Government Minister Jamie Briggs. I heard her exasperation.Last night I spoke to other female friends working in media, who offered up strikingly similar thoughts. One offered this: “I honestly left sports journalism because I thought it’d never be satisfying. No matter what females in sport achieve, it’s all undermined by d*ckheads at the pub who don’t listen to what women say because they’re too busy marking them out of 10 for their looks. Mel shouldn’t have had to cop that. It was humiliating and he didn’t stop when she was clearly uncomfortable. I just hate that now this will be what people talk about, because she’s a pro and better than that.”Last night I called the CA head of public affairs, who had just been on the phone to Anthony Everard, the head of the BBL. Everard said this: “I heard Chris’ comments and they’re disrespectful and simply inappropriate. We’ll certainly be talking to him and the Renegades about it. This league is all about its appeal to kids, families and females. There’s just no place in the BBL – or, for that matter, cricket anywhere – for that sort of behaviour.”Last night I wondered how cricket, and sport, could so alienate half the population. Cricket has long struggled to attract a female audience, as befits a game where the home pavilion at Lord’s did not permit women to enter until 1999. It has come a long way since that most basic of reforms, but still has so far to go. As Sutherland told the ABC, “I think the support we are seeing through television ratings is really important, but I think more important is the psyche around the fact that cricket is a sport for girls too, and I really sense that people are starting to understand that.” Starting to.Last night, I concluded, is not tomorrow.

Two years after Kagiso Rabada and Mustafizur Rahman burst into world cricket’s consciousness, the Under-19 World Cup returns to shine the limelight on the game’s brightest young talents

Mohammad Isam in Chittagong26-Jan-2016On the eve of the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, Kagiso Rabada, the star of the previous edition in the UAE, bowled South Africa to victory in the Centurion Test against England with a 13-wicket haul and announced his arrival as a fast bowler to reckon with in world cricket. Rabada became the youngest South African to take a Test-match ten-wicket haul and his figures of 13 for 144 were the second-best for his country.Mustafizur Rahman is another pace-bowling sensation to emerge from the 2014 Under-19 World Cup. The left-armer burst onto the international stage with 11 wickets in his first two ODIs, against India. Rabada’s fizz off the pitch and Mustafizur’s variations wouldn’t have surprised anyone who watched their exploits in the Under-19 World Cup. Likewise, the 2016 tournament could give fans their first glimpse of a number of future superstars.The eleventh edition of the Under-19 World Cup comes at a time when many teams are hoping for new talent to come through quickly. The tournament will offer a glimpse of the future of cricket at the highest level, through how the players tackle new challenges on and off the field.Already, a lot of players are excited by the fact that 20 games will be televised live. For many, it is a first chance to play in front of cameras, in front of crowds, and in Test venues. The players will experience unprecedented levels of security, especially with the Bangladesh government providing state-level security in the wake of Australia’s pullout.Each team will have a different objective. New Zealand have already said they would like to emulate the playing style of their senior team, and adopting the role of go-getters in every contest. With a large proportion of first-round matches expected to be one-sided, a proactive, entertaining side could well gain a lot of fan interest. New Zealand certainly have a team that can go deep into the tournament. Players such as Josh Clarkson, Glenn Phillips and their captain Josh Finnie already have first-class experience, while Christian Leopard recently made headlines with a 61-ball hundred against the Pakistan Under-19s in the tri-nations tournament in the UAE.India, coached by the legendary Rahul Dravid, have some names that are already well-known within cricket circles. Sarfaraz Khan is playing his second Under-19 World Cup, and has already turned heads with his batting blitzes in the IPL. Armaan Jaffer, the nephew of former India batsman Wasim Jaffer, is a more sedate version of batsman, but like Sarfaraz hails from Mumbai. Avesh Khan, Rishabh Pant and Ricky Bhui have all played first-class cricket, as has their captain Ishan Kishan who has a first-class hundred and has recently received captaincy advice from MS Dhoni.For those from India and Pakistan, myriad opportunities await through this tournament. Of all the teams, it is India’s players who can hope for the speediest journey into the limelight, and not just via a call-up to the national team. IPL contracts are a major attraction, and scouts will be watching eagerly with the tournament just months away. Pakistan have a history of fast-tracking talented youngsters from the Under-19 stage, and their players now also have the Pakistan Super League to look forward to.Much is expected of England, many of whose players already have County contracts. The legspinner Mason Crane and batsman Dan Lawrence are talked up as future international stars, and plenty of eyes will be watching keenly for Sam Curran, who had some success for Surrey and England Lions last season. The left-arm quick is the son of the former Zimbabwe cricketer Kevin Curran, while Tom Moores of Nottinghamshire is the son of former England coach Peter Moores. Their captain Brad Taylor was the youngest player to appear for the Hampshire first XI since 1867, playing a Yorkshire Bank 40 match against Lancashire at the age of 16 years and 154 days.For Bangladesh, this is a tournament for the players to show the depth of talent in the country beyond the senior side, which enjoyed a run of good performances in 2015. There is tremendous pressure on the players, but while that can be seen as unfair, there is no escaping it with the World Cup being played at home. Bangladesh’s performances in junior cricket also warrant the expectations.In the last 12 months, the top five run-scorers and top four wicket-takers in Youth ODIs are all Bangladeshis. The captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who bats right-handed and bowls offspin, is on both lists, and he, along with the likes of batsman Nazmul Hossain Shanto and left-arm spinner Saleh Ahmed Shawon, will shoulder plenty of responsibility over the course of the tournament.Sri Lanka’s under-strength senior side could do with an injection of fresh talent, and the country’s cricket fans have invested plenty of hope in the likes of Shammu Ashan, who hails from Ananda College, which produced Arjuna Ranatunga, and Lahiru Kumara, who is from Kandy’s Trinity College, famous as Kumar Sangakkara’s .The tournament will also give the West Indies an idea of what their future might look like, and whether the next generation will be able to change the fortunes of the struggling senior side. Among the players hoping to catch the eye are their captain Shimron Hetmyer, who has already played first-class cricket, and Kirstan Kallicharan, who in 2014 made 404 in a 35-over school game in Trinidad. He was only 14 at the time.Just like Zimbabwe, and perhaps surprisingly so, South Africa may also need to dip into their junior ranks to invigorate their senior side, which has suffered back-to-back series losses against India and England, and find themselves in a transition phase. Where the last Under-19 World Cup was Rabada’s platform to excel, this one could see the rise of their captain Tony de Zorzi, allrounder Wiaan Mulder or left-arm spinner Sean Whitehead.Among the players from the seven qualifying teams, the occasion itself is massive, particularly for first-timers Fiji. There will also be special interest in Nepal, the latest nation to embrace cricket in their hearts.Among the Associates, Afghanistan have a slightly higher profile, with the players potentially in the radar of scouts from the BPL, PSL and other domestic leagues. Ihsanullah, their captain, is the younger brother of the former Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal, and the legspinner Rashid Khan has already played international cricket, having appeared in seven ODIs and 4 T20s. Rashid and the chinaman bowler Zahir Khan should make for a potent spin combination.In four Bangladeshi cities over the next three weeks, cricket will see its future. For a number of sides, what happens here will be as important as the fortunes of their senior players.January 27, 2016, 0526 GMT: The article earlier stated that this is the ninth edition of the Under-19 World Cup. It is the eleventh edition. The error has been amended.

Whether it’s a tale of continuity or reinvention, whichever side has progressed to the World T20 final will have a remarkable story to tell

Andrew Miller in Delhi29-Mar-2016New Zealand 2015 was where it all began for England 2:0. New Zealand 2016 may yet be where their white-ball renaissance hits the buffers – for now. But as Eoin Morgan cast his eyes forward to England’s tantalising semi-final at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, it was hard not to cast the mind back to the events at Wellington, 13 months ago – an abyss so abysmal, the team was left with no choice but to haul its standards up and into line with the rest of the sport.It was excruciating at the time, on that sorry February evening in the Cake Tin, as Tim Southee drubbed Morgan’s men with figures of 7 for 33 before Brendon McCullum’s 77 from 25 balls sealed victory in the space of 12.2 overs. But, like their Raj-era forebears (or Christian “Shades of” Grey, for that matter), a damn good thrashing seems to have made England into the men they are today.”Can I believe how far we’ve come? Absolutely not,” said Morgan. “I’ve been asked the question a couple of times after every series that we’ve played, and I can’t quite believe how far we’ve come overall in our white-ball cricket.”It was apparent from his answer that Morgan is tired of rehashing the same old ground. England’s new forward-focussed and fearless philosophy has little time or inclination to hark back to the bad old days. Besides, to his cold and clinical mind, that era was banished from the moment it was confirmed, by Andrew Strauss last May, that he was not only to be retained as England one-day captain, but to have his remit extended to T20s as well.Nevertheless, the tale is worth revisiting one last time, simply because of the identity of England’s semi-final opponents. Their relationship, which gathered in complexity during a fascinating three-format tussle last summer, is about to come full circle. By tomorrow evening, whether it’s a tale of continuity or reinvention, whichever side has progressed to the World T20 final will have a remarkable story to tell.Kane Williamson, New Zealand’s impressive young captain, allowed himself a quiet chuckle when it was suggested that English cricket owed his team a debt of gratitude, but there can be no doubting the influence that New Zealand’s no-consequences vibe had on the timid also-rans of the Peter Moores era.It was clear, from the moment that England marched out for the first of their New Zealand one-day rematches, at Edgbaston on June 9 last year, that the lessons had been heeded and the battle-plans had been drawn. In astonishing scenes, unrecognisable to long-term followers of England’s antiquated “build a platform” approach, Morgan’s new-model army charged headlong into the World Cup finalists, battering them for a national record 408 for 9.Less than a fortnight later, they were on the rampage again – hunting down a hefty target of 350 in the space of 44 overs. The format may have been longer, but the key names in this T20 campaign remain the same: Joe Root, with hundreds in each of those games, Jos Buttler, with a 66-ball century, and Morgan himself – understated with the bat in recent weeks, but a nugget of calm-headed class whose pivotal moment may yet be to come.”I think that series was very important,” Morgan said. “Coming into the series we talked about emulating what Australia and New Zealand did at that World Cup. From where we were to where they were, we were miles away. In order to bridge the gap we had to try and emulate the fashion in which they played and the aggressive nature in which they went about their game, and particularly with the ball.”Throughout the World Cup their swing bowlers were fantastic and that encourages a positive mindset throughout. With the bat it can come more naturally, so they did play a key part, absolutely.”New Zealand have been superbly cunning at the World T20, led by the bowling of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner•AFPOn that particular point, however, New Zealand’s strategies have evolved and adapted with remarkable effect. Much of that, you sense, is down to Williamson, who has brought an impressive measure of nuance to the gung-ho legacy left to him by McCullum.This was never better exemplified than at Nagpur in their tournament opener against India, when New Zealand’s brains trust sized up the situation with impeccable clarity of thought, banished both of those Baz-era attack dogs, Southee and Trent Boult, to the margins and, with three spinners to the fore, whirled their way to a sensational, agenda-setting victory.Contrast that subtlety with the final act of the McCullum-led campaign at the 2015 World Cup – at the MCG against Australia where New Zealand vowed to go down swinging and emphatically did: the captain’s loose drive and third-ball duck torpedoed their game plan before it could hope to take hold. Though you won’t hear a bad word said against him in his homeland, you do wonder what might have happened with even the hint of a Plan B in their armoury.We might be about to find out from New Zealand 2:0, whose progress throughout a tough World T20 group and an even tougher itinerary (Nagpur to Dharmasala to Mohali to Kolkata and now to Delhi) has been the epitome of the “smart but aggressive” message that Morgan has been pumping into his own troops.”We’ve simply tried to pick horses for courses, our best team for the conditions against the opposition at any given time,” said Williamson. “That certainly won’t change.”Asked whether he felt at a disadvantage, given that England have played only in Mumbai and Delhi, where they’ve now been based for nearly a fortnight, his response was Kiwi to the core.”It’s great, we’ve been able to see more of India than most opposition sides. It’s one of those things. Surely it’s happened by coincidence and the guys have embraced it, embraced the flights and the variety of the hotels.”Williamson was happy, however – in the best New Zealand tradition – to shrug off the tag of favourites that their endeavours in the competition so far have earned them. Some old habits, it seems, die rather harder than others.”I think it’s almost impossible to give someone the favourite tag in T20 cricket,” he said. “It’s so fickle in nature that on any given day the team who plays the best wins, and anyone can beat anyone. Both pools were very strong and all teams had the desire to go all the way and believed that they could. It’s nice we’ve been playing some good cricket, and hopefully we can bring it out in a knockout game.”England, despite their well-documented woes at major tournaments, are not quite as allergic to achievement as their past record would suggest, and Morgan, in fact, has played in two previous ICC semi-finals and won them both: against Sri Lanka in 2010 en route to lifting the World T20 crown, and most recently against South Africa at the Champions Trophy in 2013.”In my experience in getting to the knockout stage in any tournament, you have done the hard work and it is almost now that you have earned a licence to go out and express yourself as much as you can,” he said. “To me that attitude means getting the best out of yourself. If you have guys coming out who are very relaxed about performing and performing on the big stage I think that takes a lot of weight off your shoulders.”There are quite a few similarities, he felt, between the classes of 2010 and 2016. “The main one would be how relaxed everybody is around the group. How much they are enjoying the challenge of playing international cricket at the moment, and their hunger to win.”It is alright having fun and enjoying what you are doing but, if you don’t have that inner drive to want to improve and win games of cricket, you are going to stand still for a long time.”And doesn’t he know it. After the stagnation of their efforts in the Antipodes last year, England know they are a team on the move. Whether New Zealand are still one step ahead of them, however, remains to be seen.

With a bit of help from the conditions in Harare, Barinder Sran was showing what the selectors had seen in him when they included him in the squad for that Australia tour earlier this year

Karthik Krishnaswamy11-Jun-2016Full, angling across the right-hander, swinging back in.. In his first tour as an India player, in an unforgiving Australian summer, Barinder Sran may have forgotten what swing looked like or felt like. He was still in the southern hemisphere now, but five months had passed, and this was Zimbabwean winter, an early morning start, and that mysterious atmospheric alchemy had got to work on his very first ball.It curled back in, late, and Chamu Chibhabha was in no position to play it. The bowler’s angle, from left-arm over, had dragged Chibhabha’s front leg across towards the off side, searching for the off drive. Chibhabha’s front leg had now become a barrier between the incoming ball and his bat. Denied a straight-line path, he had to bring his bat around and across, and by then he was too late. The ball struck his pad, low, as he overbalanced, falling over to the off side.It was the plumbest of lbws, and only Russell Tiffin, the umpire, didn’t think so.On his first ODI tour, Sran played three matches and took three wickets at an average of 56.66 while conceding 6.45 an over. It was a series played on flat Australian pitches where 300 was an inadequate, undefendable total.In Sran’s first two matches, George Bailey scored 112 and 76 not out. Sran should have had Bailey caught behind, down the leg side, off the very first ball he bowled to him, in Perth, but the Indian fielders barely appealed, and Richard Kettleborough ruled it not out. In those two matches, Bailey scored 37 off the 26 balls he faced from Sran.In that series, Bailey was experimenting with a new, unconventional stance, with his front shoulder pointing to extra cover and his front leg further across to the off side than his back leg. It proved wildly successful, and helped him cover the left-armer’s angle particularly well, but everything was simply going across him, with no change in direction. A bit of swing back in, and Bailey might have found himself uncomfortably, and dangerously, closed off. Like Chibhabha.Or like Peter Moor, who, off the last ball of that Sran over, got into a similarly closed-off position, and missed the inswinger as he tried desperately to play across his front pad. This time Tiffin raised his finger.Fifteen years ago, India took a 22-year-old left-arm quick to Zimbabwe, for his first full tour. In two Test matches against a far better Zimbabwe side, he picked up 11 wickets at 19.72, and much of his success was the result of the ball that swerved wickedly into the right-handers.Sran is a year older than Ashish Nehra was in 2001. He isn’t as quick or as skiddy, and is at a rawer stage of his development. But here, now, with a bit of help from the conditions, he was showing what the selectors had seen in him when they included him in the squad for that Australia tour. He has a long way to go, but he sure can swing it.

Plopping down in front of a TV set, rather than in the stands at Darren Sammy National Stadium, provided a sensational view of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s swing bowling exhibition

Karthik Krishnaswamy in St Lucia 13-Aug-20162:05

Manjrekar: ‘Bhuvneshwar wants to do well in all formats’

Sometimes it really is better to watch cricket on TV. On Friday, the largest section of the small crowd at the Darren Sammy Stadium was a scattering of around 80 people at the Johnson Charles Stand. They all had a square-on view of proceedings, and, as a result, would have had no way of telling how much Bhuvneshwar Kumar was swinging the ball, or even in which direction.If you miss that, you miss the essence of Bhuvneshwar.Take, for instance, the 90th over of West Indies’ innings. Marlon Samuels, batting on 48, had not faced Bhuvneshwar yet. Now he was facing him bowling with a nine-over-old ball. The first ball of the over was just short of a good length, on a sixth-stump line, and Samuels went on the back foot and poked it towards point. The second was fuller, along the same sort of line, and Samuels left it. Both balls had swung away from him.Through this series, Samuels has shown an inclination to leave balls outside off stump. He had done this particularly well while making 37 on a damp first-day pitch at Sabina Park. Perhaps Bhuvneshwar sensed the wider line would not draw Samuels into a shot, and bowled his next ball closer to off stump, and fuller. This was another outswinger, but did not do any more than merely straighten. Samuels came forward, and pushed it into the covers. Then came a near-identical delivery; according to the Hawkeye trajectory viewer on ESPNcricinfo’s scorecard, this ball pitched even closer to Samuels’ off stump, but swung further. Samuels watched it well and ignored it.It was a good leave, a tight leave. Perhaps that made Samuels relax for just a fraction of a second when Bhuvneshwar’s next ball started at least two stumps wider outside off stump. Samuels’ first instinct seemed to be to leave. It was only when the ball swerved into him, late in its trajectory, a few inches before pitching, did Samuels change his mind. By then it was too late, and the desperate chopping motion his bat made only deflected the ball onto the ground near his feet and then onto the stumps.Over the course of those five balls, Bhuvneshwar had displayed exquisite control. The first two balls had pitched along the same line, but one was shorter and one fuller. The second and third had pitched on the same length, but one was wider and the other closer to off stump. The third and fourth balls, as mentioned earlier, were near-identical, except one had swung a little more than the other. That, perhaps, was the only element not entirely in Bhuvneshwar’s control.Each ball was partly like and partly unlike the previous one. All four had demanded the batsman’s respect and full attention.The fifth ball was entirely different, but Bhuvneshwar had given the batsman little clue that it would be so. Zoomed-in, slow-motion replays showed a slight change in grip, with the middle finger applying a little more pressure on the ball while delivering the outswinger and the index finger taking over for the inswinger. They showed a slight change in the angle of the seam, but it wasn’t canted too far in either direction. It only takes the smallest slip in concentration for a batsman to miss cues that subtle.In his previous over, Bhuvneshwar had dismissed Jermaine Blackwood, caught at second slip. In this case, he built the dismissal up over a longer period of time, bowling 19 successive dot balls to him. The first 12 seemed exploratory, some wider, some straighter, mostly outswingers, a few darting in. Blackwood seemed comfortable against the balls that were at or close to his stumps, even if his hands seemed a touch too firm in defence, and perhaps Bhuvneshwar sensed some unease while leaving outside off stump, something in his body language that suggested he was happier hearing the sound of bat on ball.And so, in his next over, the 86th of West Indies’ innings, he bowled his outswingers noticeably wider outside off stump, almost daring Blackwood to play. There were five outswingers in all, and he ignored four but nibbled at one and missed. Then, in the 88th over, Bhuvneshwar returned to a fourth-stump line. The second ball was perfect. On a good length, pulling Blackwood forward, on a fourth-stump line, swinging away, and inviting Blackwood to feel for it. He edged, Virat Kohli snapped it up, and Bhuvneshwar had his first Test wicket in a year and seven months. That wicket would be the first of five in 51 balls.Bhuvneshwar was India’s best bowler on their tour of England in 2014, teasing away in the corridor, bending the ball both ways, and taking 19 wickets in five Tests at an average of 26.63. Between that tour and this one, he had only played one Test, in Sydney, where he returned from an ankle injury but looked short of pace and match fitness, and finished with match figures of 1 for 168.India had played ten Tests between Sydney and this one, and had used five other seam options in those matches. Bhuvneshwar had been part of their squad all that time. He just wasn’t as quick as four of them, and was perhaps not as good a batsman as Stuart Binny when India needed an allrounder.It needed a pitch like this one, with a bit of grass and the promise of carry, for India to call Bhuvneshwar off the bench in St Lucia. It probably also needed Umesh Yadav to underwhelm in the first two Tests. But as long as the wait was, and as frustrating as it may have been, it was over now. Bhuvneshwar was back, swinging the ball, bowling with a sense of artistry. It was great to watch, and even better on TV.

Mosharraf Hossain has the right numbers in a career scarred by a couple of tough periods that were down to poor judgement and bad luck. Now, eight years after his last international, comes his chance at redemption

Mohammad Isam29-Sep-2016For domestic heavyweight Mosharraf Hossain to return to the Bangladesh ODI squad, it needed a by-chance intervention from Venkatapathy Raju.The former India spinner was in Dhaka to conduct a ten-day spin bowling camp in mid-August. After watching left-arm spinner Mosharraf, Raju spoke about him to Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha, who brought him into the preliminary squad midway into its pre-season training camp. In less than a month, he is in line to play international cricket after eight years.”[Venkatapathy] Raju said I have variation and extra bounce,” Mosharraf told ESPNcricinfo after joining the preliminary squad. “It gave me confidence. In our country, there is more emphasis on the negative parts of a cricketer. You can even find fault in [Muttiah] Muralitharan if you are looking for it. They look for problems here. But there is about 90% positive in a cricketer. Raju focused on the things that work in my bowling. He said that I have a good overall record. He said I was unlucky and that I should be playing [at the top level]. “For someone who has taken more than 300 first-class wickets, been a proven match-winner in the Dhaka Premier League, and the Man of the Match in a Bangladesh Premier League final, this was just reward, but perhaps a bit of luck was at play too: here was someone who couldn’t break into the national team for a long time despite being a regular top performer in domestic cricket, but he gets unexpectedly and immediately called up on the word of a foreign coach visiting on a brief stint. Then again, Mosharraf’s career had already been marked by misfortune, with two major incidents almost derailing it.The first was a few months after his international debut in 2008, when he joined the now-defunct rebel Indian Cricket League as part of the Dhaka Warriors team. Mosharraf, 26 at the time, was among the defecting players banned for ten years by the BCB; the following year, after they had quit the league, they were given indemnity.Mosharraf said had he foreseen the backlash from the BCB, media and fans, he wouldn’t have gone to the ICL. “I was quite young when I went to play in the ICL. The contract with them was that we would play two tournaments per year, and we were free to play everything else for the rest of the time. I thought it was a good offer, but when we arrived in India, the scenario had changed [back in Bangladesh].”The reaction was such that we felt that we were in trouble. We didn’t think at first that we would be cornered but I would call it bad luck. If I had known this would have been the situation, I wouldn’t have gone.”

“If a player has fitness and performance, then those should be given priority. A much older player like Misbah-ul-Haq is doing so well while another who comes from the Under-19s into the national team can fail.”

Then there was the second major incident: when he was caught up in the BPL corruption investigation in 2013. He was provisionally banned for eight months, before the investigating tribunal announced that he was not guilty of any wrongdoing and the ban was lifted.”This was also bad luck,” Mosharraf said. “I don’t think about it anymore. I was just playing a game and then few months later I heard it became a major issue.”It was likely clouded decision-making on his part that led to the defection to the ICL, and a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time in the BPL 2013, but now Mosharraf gets another chance on the back of his consistency with bat and ball.After completing the camp under Raju, he had gone on a holiday to India with his wife when the call came. Within a day of his arrival, he was asked to return to Dhaka quickly and join the preliminary squad camp.”They don’t usually call up a player in the middle of a camp, so I was happier. I was in India when selector Sumon [Habibul Bashar] got in touch with me through my [journalist] friend Zahid Chowdhury. He said I have to join the Bangladesh camp.”There were no air tickets, all of which seemed to be booked till August 30. I took a taxi from Kolkata to the border in Benapole. The situation was quite difficult but when they recognised me, they helped me get through immigration quickly. Then I took another taxi till Jessore, from where I caught a flight to Dhaka the next morning and joined training that day.”Mosharraf’s domestic numbers back up the call. In the recently concluded Dhaka Premier League one-day tournament, he took 12 wickets and scored 350 runs in 14 matches for Legends of Rupganj. This form, and not his age, Mosharraf said should be taken into account.”I have done well on some important occasions, in the BPL final and also in the ICL where I bowled to international cricketers. I took big wickets like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Damien Martyn. I have been consistent in domestic cricket, in the National Cricket League, Bangladesh Cricket League, Dhaka Premier League and the BPL. I haven’t really fallen into poor form in the domestic scene.”Performance should always be taken into account. If a player has fitness and performance, then those should be given priority. A much older player like Misbah-ul-Haq is doing so well while another who comes from the Under-19s into the national team can fail at the highest level.”Now that he has got his chance, the in-form Mosharraf will be hoping to put the controversies behind him and make headlines for the right reasons.

Peter Handscomb and Alex Doolan pressed their cases for call-ups to the Australia squad with double-tons on day two of the Sheffield Shield round preceding selection for Adelaide

Brydon Coverdale18-Nov-2016The batting incumbentsDavid Warner
Caught at slip for 11 trying to glide one fine off Scott Boland.Steven Smith
Caught at slip for 8 driving wide outside off stump off Chris Tremain.Callum Ferguson
Caught behind off Luke Feldman for 4.Peter Nevill is yet to bat. On day one Joe Burns made 4, Usman Khawaja 106, and Adam Voges retired hurt on 16.Glenn Maxwell only managed 10 from 32 balls at SCG•Getty ImagesThe batting hopefulsPeter Handscomb
Made an irresistible case for Test inclusion with 215 against New South Wales, his maiden first-class double-century. Resumed on 110 and was eventually out stumped off Steven Smith.Kurtis Patterson
Went to stumps unbeaten on 28, and will have a chance to seriously push his claims on day three.Cameron White
Continued his outstanding start to the summer with 75*, but came in at No.7 with a very strong base of 5 for 334 behind him.Travis Head
Managed 37 off 43 balls before being bowled by Peter George.Jake Lehmann
Caught behind off George for 7.Matthew Wade
Caught at short cover for 6.Glenn Maxwell
Perhaps trying to show a Test match temperament, made 10 from 32 balls, but didn’t go on with it, caught behind off Doug Bollinger.George Bailey
Made 24 before he was lbw to Simon Mackin at the WACA.Alex Doolan
Recent first-class form would suggest he is no chance – when this game started his past three years had brought only one hundred and an average of 24.81. But, following on from a big Matador Cup, posted his highest first-class score and went to stumps unbeaten on 202 at the WACA.Nathan Lyon’s chances of retaining his spot for the Adelaide day-night Test grew bleaker•Getty ImagesThe bowling incumbentNathan Lyon
The only one of Australia’s Test bowlers to be playing in this Shield round, Lyon had a tough time of it at the SCG and took 0 for 141 from 39 overs. Lyon has now bowled 540 deliveries in first-class cricket since his last wicket, which came in the first innings of the Perth Test.The bowling hopefulsSteve O’Keefe
Did not add to his one wicket from the first day, and finished with 1 for 107 from 37 overs.Chadd Sayers
Finished wicketless against Queensland, with 0 for 79 from 29 overs.Doug Bollinger
Picked up 2 for 67 from 27 overs against Victoria at the SCG.Jason Behrendorff
Finished the day with 3 for 73 from 31 overs against Tasmania at the WACA.

First, cricketers had plain nosh. Now they have nutritionists

Crispin Andrews31-May-2017In the good old days, cricketers could drink a couple of pints before a game, and scoff down a plate of sandwiches, pork pies and cakes at lunchtime (make that plates, if you happened to be a certain bearded former Middlesex and England captain). It would be the same again at tea, and then in the evening it was off to a local restaurant for a blowout.Garry Sobers’ surname indicated anything other than his physical state when he returned to the match day hotel, in the middle of the night, after a bottle of whiskey and a game of cards.Cricket, after all, was a sport made popular by the English establishment. A day’s play was structured in the same way as a day at the manor house in the late-19th century. Breakfast, luncheon, tea, dinner, and in the evening, maybe a few rounds on the table or at the bar. For players and spectators ever since, food and drink has been part of cricket’s culture.One cake or four made little difference to a portly batsman’s ability to stretch out a cursory foot at mid-off as the ball sped towards the boundary. He could soon make that up, willow in hand, with a few sublime cover drives of his own. And so what, if a fast bowler was a bit dehydrated after a night on the tiles. He could hang around at fine leg in between spells with nothing much to do except wait for the crowd to throw the ball back from the square leg boundary.These days, cricket is big business. Diving over the ball and grazing in the outfield is no longer acceptable. Players have to be athletes, not just batsmen and bowlers. And if anyone puts in a below-par performance that might have been influenced by something they ate or drank, the healthy-eating mafia are all over them before you can say Jesse Ryder or Samit Patel.Alec Stewart with processed and packaged food – cheese, crisps, baked beans, chocolates, cookies, croutons and more – on England’s tour to the subcontinent for the 1996 World Cup•PA Photos/Getty ImagesToday’s international teams employ nutritional experts to give players advice on what to eat and drink. According to England’s performance nutritionist, Chris Rosimus, that means making nutritional choices, not wolfing down sausage rolls and cakes. “That sort of food has no performance value whatsoever,” he says.Rosimus explains that without expert nutritional advice, players could easily get confused by all the information that’s out there about what to eat, why and when.Believe the sales pitches and medical endorsements, and there’s compelling evidence for high-carb diets, low-fat choices, or even the need to eat what’s good for your blood type. Some experts say no sugar because it makes us anxious and hyper. Others say that too much wheat or dairy is hard to digest. These days, fish caught in the sea are full of plastic, whereas fish bred in farms are full of toxins.A few years back, Australian team doctor Peter Brukner had the Australians on a high-fat, low-carb diet that he believed would reduce hunger cravings and enable players to maintain more consistent energy levels. Today, according to Cricket Australia’s Lead Sports Performance Dietician, Michelle Cort, players’ diets change according to their training or match-day needs. “This means adjusting all nutrients to help achieve optimal performance and recovery,” she says.Rosimus, too, thinks elite cricketers are better off with a varied and balanced diet. So the lunchtime menu at England’s international venues would contain carbohydrates from low to moderate glycaemic index sources – quinoa, cous cous, basmati rice and sweet potatoes – to provide players with sustainable fuel over a period of time. Also, lean, easily digestible proteins, like chicken and fish to deal with muscle breakdown. There will be good-quality fats, like avocados, nuts or full-fat yoghurt and antioxidants from berries, vegetables and salads to help the immune system and prevent fatigue.Then and now: Fred Trueman enjoys a beer; David Warner drinks an energy drink•PA Photos, Getty ImagesThis sort of food will be found in the lunch room at an Australian ground, during a Test or one-dayer too. But Cort adds that there should also be lighter options available – smoothies or sandwiches – for players with heavy workloads, or who are performing at a higher intensity on a particular day.Both Rosimus and Cort oversee nutrition requirements for their respective boards’ men’s and women’s teams and also the performance and development squads. But these are not full-time roles. Rosimus also works for Premier League football team, Leicester City. Cort has also advised Australia Sailing and the Geelong Cats AFL team during her time with Cricket Australia.Neither nutritionist travels with the teams, although Rosimus did travel with England and the England Lions when he first got the job, six years ago.”Nutrition wasn’t a high priority and we were trying to raise standards,” Rosimus says. “Now I don’t need to be there all the time because we’ve got such a good system in place both in the England setup and around the counties.”A lot of the day-to-day dietary work is carried out by strength and conditioning coaches, who do travel with the team.It’s not always easy to find healthy food when touring since players often have to rely on the organisers for meals at the ground•AFP/Getty ImagesNew Zealand’s strength and conditioning coach, Chris Donaldson, a former Olympic sprinter, monitors what the Black Caps eat and drink on the road.When Donaldson started with the side six years ago, the team had no expert nutritional advice.”It was down to myself and others to try and educate the guys with what we knew,” he says. Today, New Zealand’s nutritionist works with the players, mainly in training camps, with a few subsequent catch-ups with each player during the year, maybe over Skype, email or phone.Donaldson thinks that today’s elite players don’t need too much micromanaging. “Most of them accept that they need to be careful with what they eat and drink. They aren’t craving stupid food all the time.”But even with players being well-informed and willing to stick to prescribed diets, a cricket nutritionist has the challenge of juggling several different plans.A player with lower energy requirements, a spin bowler perhaps, may need less carbohydrate and more quality protein, vegetables and salads. Fast bowlers might need to take additional low-calorie sports drinks to provide the energy that they need to keep bowling at high intensity for long periods.Cort says that all the elite Australian players have individual diet plans. Roismus says some England players need that level of prescription, others just a bit of education.Marcus Trescothick looks at a display of fried food in a market in Karachi•Getty ImagesWhen it comes to nutrition, there are almost as many variables as there are players. Donaldson gives the example of one New Zealander whose performance suffers not just if he gains weight, but also if he loses weight too quickly. “If the player drops weight too fast, he also loses muscle mass and, as a result, strength, so when he needs to lose some weight, we gradually reduce the portion size or the type of food.”. Another Black Cap who Donaldson has worked with actually needs to gain weight at times. “He’s a bit too lean and sometimes gets sick when the environment is different, or there’s lots of flying, training, playing different formats. He needs more recovery drinks and post-training meals so he doesn’t burn too much fuel and get muscle breakdown. Then he’s better able to keep clear of viruses.”Sometimes players don’t want any food at all. When Brendon McCullum scored 302 against India in 2014, he didn’t eat for two days, he was so focussed and in the zone, his strength and conditioning coach recalls.Players also need to adjust their nutritional routines depending on the format of the game and the overhead conditions. In hot weather, this means more fluids and electrolytes. It can be difficult to get a quality meal, late at night after a T20 game, so the nutritionist might have to arrange a buffet in the players’ area, containing the proteins and antioxidants they need to trigger recovery.Rosimus, Cort and Donaldson all admit that it can be a challenge to make sure players eat right on overseas tours, or when they are playing in T20 leagues around the world. Nutritionists can liaise with local chefs, even send over their own menus, but they don’t have any control over what ends up on the lunch table in matches outside the home board’s jurisdiction.Virat Kohli tucks into some Nando’s takeaway, 2014•Getty ImagesKeeping track of the supplements players are offered away from home isn’t easy either.”Supplements are not that well-regulated,” Donaldson says. He explains that the problem isn’t always the actual supplement, but that it could have been made with a banned substance in the factory. As this wouldn’t necessarily appear on the list of ingredients, a trainer or coach might not be aware of it.Donaldson says that before giving players supplements, New Zealand’s performance nutritionist will visit the companies that made the supplements, find out what they were being made with, check that they were clean.”Supplements should be evidence-based, not gimmick, and specific to the players’ needs,” Rosimus says. He uses protein bars and shakes to help players increase protein intake and muscle mass. Also, concentrated cherry juice, which is full of antioxidants for recovery after activity and high in melatonin, which helps you sleep.Most modern players are aware of what to do and not to do when it comes to supplements and nutrition. Some, however, know more than others. England and Middlesex batsman Fran Wilson has a Master’s in Sports and Exercise nutrition.”Regularly eat the wrong food and over time and it will have an adverse effect on your body composition,” Wilson says. But she is not all about abstinence and denial. “The social side of the sport is part of what makes cricket a great game,” Wilson says. “People enjoy food and drink. It’s about developing good habits over a prolonged period of time. Working out what’s good for you in general, not just for your sport.”Bananas are a natural source of sugar, potassium and vitamin C•AFP/Getty ImagesBut there’s an additional dilemma in all of this. Cricket is actually one of the few sports in which a player can still be very successful without being in the greatest shape – Shane Warne, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina, to name a recent few. Before that, every international team had its share of Billy Bunters. Former Australian batsman Gary Cosier played in the same Australian Test team as Gary Gilmour, in the mid-’70s. Gilmour was never the slimmest and was once told by Don Bradman that he ate too many potatoes to play for Australia.Cosier says that players back then didn’t give much thought to what they were eating. “Adelaide Oval had the best sausage rolls ever, served by Bob the room attendant, and at the Gabba, it was fish and chips for lunch. Greg Chappell was always careful with his diet and Dennis Lillee got into a routine when he was recovering from his back injury, but apart from that we never had any input about what to eat and drink. Most players had whatever they wanted. Maybe there would be some salad with the fish and chips.”It’s not like modern players can’t indulge their cravings at all. “They’ve still got to enjoy themselves and modern players know what they should and shouldn’t do in regards to eating and drinking. As long as they work hard in training, play the game as hard as they can and are actually capable of performing at their best. A beer after dinner isn’t going to affect these guys. It needs to be an enjoyable and sustainable lifestyle,” Donaldson says.In a letter to his 16-year-old self in 2015, tennis champion Pete Sampras wrote: “Don’t forget to take care of your most important weapon: your body. Be aware of what you’re eating. There will be times when you wake up in the middle of the night before a match, craving crazy things like hamburgers and pizza. It’s because your body is missing something. If you ignore those cravings and don’t figure out what your body needs (and it’s definitely not burgers or pizza), you’ll get on the court the next day and fall flat.”During the 2014 England tour, some of the Indian team were seen tucking into takeaway McDonald’s and Nando’s during their net session before the Headingley one-dayer. India were 3-0 up against England, with one game to play. They had previously thrashed the hosts by six wickets, nine wickets and 133 runs. But in this last game, Shikhar Dhawan, Raina and Virat Kohli (who has transformed into a fitness role model over the last two years and advises sports enthusiasts to avoid junk food) managed just 62 runs from 88 balls as India struggled to chase down England’s 294 for 7.Was it dead-rubber syndrome or a fast-food craving gone wrong?Either way, England, their players munching on pine nut salads, quinoa bajis and swigging protein shakes and cherry juice, won the match by 41 runs.

With Rising Pune Supergiant needing only 33 from the last four overs, that too with eight wickets in hand, it took a special performance from Mumbai Indians’ end-overs bowlers to steal a one-run win

Arun Venugopal in Hyderabad22-May-2017For 16 overs, Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant had circled each other warily. Mumbai knew a target of 130 was below par, but Rising Pune were aware it was a tricky trek on a spongy surface. Like hardened snipers, they ensured every changing detail in a mercurial situation was documented and assessed. Even the direction of the wind was studied, but more on that later.After 15 overs, 47 runs stood between Rising Pune and a memorable maiden title. Their current and former captains – Steven Smith and MS Dhoni – know how to strip chases to their barest essentials, and provided a refresher class on how it’s done by collecting a six and a four off Krunal Pandya, the man responsible for Mumbai making 129 in the first place.Thirty-three runs required in four overs. Rising Pune were now favourites. Mumbai realised the time for sniping was over and reverted to a frontal assault.Jasprit Bumrah is only 23, but his consistency and inch-perfect finishing skills make him the obvious attack leader. Just ask England, who couldn’t score eight runs off the last over against him in Nagpur. There is no real mystery to him: everyone knew he was going to bowl two of the last four overs and whip up a combination of yorkers and slower balls. But because he is so good so often, merely knowing what he is going to do is only as effective as a full-throated scream a split-second before a speeding truck runs over you.The 17th over was like a highlights reel of his best deliveries. Bumrah started off with a full ball to Smith, but didn’t repeat it against MS Dhoni. Bumrah knew Dhoni could bring his whippy wrists into play against the full-length delivery, and that if he missed the yorker by even this much, Dhoni would smack it out of sight. Dhoni had, in fact, taken 17 runs off Bumrah in 10 balls, including two sixes, in the first Qualifier.On this night, though, Dhoni would last only one delivery against Bumrah. He bowled it on the shorter side of a good length and kept it close to off stump, to deny Dhoni swinging room. He attempted to punch it through point and edged to the keeper. Finding a bit of reverse swing, Bumrah then bowled length to Manoj Tiwary; three fast, inswinging deliveries, the last two being dots. Ladies and gentlemen, only three runs conceded in the over.Thirty required off three overs. Not an easy ask for Rising Pune, but you wouldn’t put it past Smith to gun it down. Rohit Sharma, Mumbai’s captain, knew he had to lean on Lasith Malinga and Mitchell Johnson to sandwich Bumrah’s 19th. Johnson, though, had played only four games before this in IPL 2017, and Malinga had had an underwhelming tournament.With a genial smile plastered on a chubby face topping a chubbier body, Malinga, 33, looked more the friendly neighbourhood uncle than a scary death-overs merchant. Before this match, he had conceded at 11.07 per over at the death this season, and given the pace he had lost, his yorkers were now easier for batsmen to get under. This probably explained why he was no longer the first-choice death bowler for Mumbai. Malinga probably realised that he needed to work on a few things when he opted out of a couple of games mid-season.With seven required from four balls, Steven Smith sliced Mitchell Johnson straight to sweeper cover•BCCIOn Sunday night, Malinga mixed up length deliveries and slower balls and didn’t overdo the yorker in his first two overs. He sucker-punched Ajinkya Rahane with a slower one in his first over, but Krunal Pandya shelled an easy chance at short extra-cover. It wasn’t until his third over that Malinga went full-tilt at the yorker. One of them nearly took Smith’s leg stump with it.As much as Malinga’s spell of 3-0-14-0 should have pleased captain Rohit, he was sweating over whether to bowl him out in the 18th or save him for the last over. But the fact that Malinga had more games under his belt prompted Rohit to hand the last over to Johnson. While both Malinga and Johnson would bowl with the wind from the VVS Laxman pavillion end, Rohit was reluctant to have Malinga bowl the last over from that end. He felt Johnson would be a better fit with his slower balls and offcutters.”It was always a gamble between Malinga and Johnson to bowl that last over. Malinga has played quite a few games for us and he was in that rhythm so I thought better to go with him [in the 18th over]. Johnson, we knew that his slower balls, offcutters and taking the ball away from the right-handers will be difficult in the end and, again, hitting against the wind will be even more difficult, so that was the plan. You know, it worked. Sometimes when it doesn’t work it looks very bad.”Malinga had grown more comfortable with his yorkers and it showed. He sent down a fast, indipping yorker that sneaked between Smith’s legs. He almost nailed another yorker with his next ball, but Smith squared the ledgers by stepping deep in his crease, shortening the length a fraction, and flicking it wide of long leg. By going for only seven, though, Malinga had done his bit.”Malinga and Bumrah are probably the two best death bowlers we have seen in this tournament. They’ve done it again and again consistently,” Rohit said. “This year Malinga has probably not found his way so much, but we wanted Malinga to be in the fray and we knew somewhere down the line the experience will count.”The last three overs… of course they’ve been put in that situation many a time and they have done it not just for IPL teams but also for their countries. We can talk as much as we want. At the end of the day, it’s about going and implementing on the field. That’s what these three fast bowlers did”.Twenty three off two overs. The ball was now back with Bumrah, and he conceded only four off his first four balls. But Smith’s brilliance off the last two balls put the game in the balance – he went deep in his crease again, and an attempted yorker that was only a few inches off-length went sailing over long-off; then Smith worked a full-toss into the leg side to pick up two.Eleven required off the last over. It seemed like Mumbai had a dozen captains. Everyone was screaming at a fielder within earshot, asking him to move a little to the left or right or just reminding him to stay put. Rohit, meanwhile, was discussing fields with Johnson and Bumrah, but Malinga didn’t want to be left out of the conversation. He was all whirry hands and feet. The animation on his face was an amusing counterpoint to Johnson’s placidness. This was great theatre.The last shot Steven Smith played was timed sweetly, but straight to the fielder•BCCIUp to this point, one of Johnson’s biggest contributions had been mentoring the younger fast bowlers in the team. He wouldn’t have even been on the field had Mitchell McClenaghan, the fourth-highest wicket-taker of the tournament, been fit. Heck, Johnson wasn’t even sure of playing in this year’s IPL.On the surface, it may have seemed as if Mumbai had a thing for internationally retired and seemingly over-the-hill cricketers, but Johnson was a typically calculated pick, even if at a relatively steep INR 2 crore.He was the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the 2016-17 Big Bash League with 13 from nine matches and an economy rate of under six. At the death, he had gone at 6.60. What was not to love? Johnson had, moreover, played a starring role in Mumbai’s victorious 2013 campaign.But, after the fields were set and reset a million times, what did Johnson do? Bowl an offcutter slanting away from off stump, but Tiwary neatly shuffled across and scooped a four over square leg.Seven from five. Johnson saw Tiwary back away, looking to go over extra-cover, and followed him with another slower cutter. The mistimed shot was held at long-on.Johnson later said he was looking to make Smith hit towards the leg side, the bigger side of the ground. Did things go to plan, though? Yes and no. Seeing Johnson come around the wicket, Smith backed away and creamed a full ball sweetly, off the stumps, over the off side. Luckily for Johnson, it went straight to Ambati Rayudu at sweeper cover, the only fielder in the vicinity.”Fortunately I was able to deliver at pressure moments,” Johnson told the official broadcaster after the match. “It was well set up in the last couple of overs. We needed to get Smith off strike and get him out. He gave himself room. It was a good shot but not good enough at the end.”After Bumrah was hit for a six in the penultimate over, Johnson realised he had no other choice but to be deadly accurate with his plans. “I wasn’t thinking too much, just wanted to be clear with my plan: bowl full at the stumps and get the guys to hit leg side. [For] Smithy, off side isn’t his strength, fortunate the shot went to hand,” he said. “I told Bumrah that it helped me that [Smith] hit him for six off that second-last ball. I felt like I was more clear then. We got less runs, but we had to be spot on.”Rohit said the plan was to not give Smith too much pace to work with. “Johnson was bowling against the wind and we wanted him to hit into the wind and that was the plan,” he said. “But he came and bowled a nearly perfect yorker and he sliced it right to Rayudu. He was probably not expecting that catch to come to him. To take that catch under pressure was brilliant.”As for Johnson, 35, he isn’t saying goodbye to the IPL anytime soon. “Mumbai picked me and look what happened,” he said. “I’ll play a few T20 competitions around the world and hopefully get back in next year.”

The latter half of Angelo Mathews’ captaincy wore his batting down. As Sri Lanka prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, they need Mathews the batsman to let the weight fall and rediscover his old freedom

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-Jul-2017Angelo Mathews, 30 years old, former captain, once the owner of a fearsome average, now merely a very good one, potentially a great batsman still, but man, the last 18 months have not been kind.For a player of such indisputable quality, it has been a strange decline.Remember how he had been in 2014 – that last great year of Sri Lankan cricket – when out of nowhere, he hit a harvest so golden, so irrepressible, that he bludgeoned attacks into pulp, nurdled without relent, left no advertising board unstung by his boundary hits, and even when off the field, probably coughed up, sneezed and exhaled runs.There was that monstrous 160 at Headingley, of course, when he threw his bat in anger at a team-mate’s dismissal, then set about busting England up all by himself. There had also been a sweaty 157 not out to save a tough game in Abu Dhabi, and a difficult 43 not out to set up a victory at SSC. At times, Mathews seemed to have supernatural help. Having hooked Sri Lanka towards victory late on the fifth afternoon in Galle, against Pakistan, the furious black cloud that had bore down on a packed stadium held off its torrents until he was taking the winning run. He averaged 87.80 and played the lead role in a famous series victory in England. So thoroughly did Mathews own 2014, that Kumar Sangakkara scored more international runs than has ever been made in a calendar year, and still, quite happily admitted his captain had been the better batsman – prospering on every type of surface from greentop to dustbowl, producing every kind of innings from stonewall to sprint.Now, three years between himself and his best work, Mathews finds himself surpassed. He was once the torchbearer for the next generation of great batsmen, but what’s this? Four younger men have snuck by him, mounting hundreds upon hundreds in years in which he has not averaged thirty. And while Mathews had been stuck attending Sri Lanka’s transition into transition into transition, each of Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson have taken the reins of happier, more confident sides. Mathews will be thankful for last year’s Test series against Australia, at least, when he for once got the better of one of those younger men. Otherwise, since the beginning of 2016, his would have been one long, sombre vigil.And this is perhaps the most unfortunate thing about the dip in his arc: where once leadership had unlocked the great batsman within him, the latter half of Mathews’ captaincy so clearly wore him down. Every time he fronted up after a match and declared his team’s performance to be “humiliating” or “embarrassing” or his “worst loss as captain” or “one of the lowest points” in his career, Mathews the batsman appeared a little more diminished in his next innings.Where’s the rampaging Angelo Mathews of 2014?•Getty ImagesThere were no technical failures during this leaner period. Well, not really. He does occasionally hang his bat out against the seaming ball, and that had been the source of some strife in South Africa this year. But far worse has been the lack of conviction in his strokes, pushing tentatively even after he has struck firm boundaries, handing out soft dismissals to every team that rolls up – the recent caught-and-bowled to Graeme Cremer being a prime example.For that Test – against Zimbabwe – Mathews had already handed over the reins, but there was still none of the old freedom about his game. When you are captain, you tie yourself so tightly to the team’s fate, that maybe it takes a little untangling to feel your old self again.India’s last tour of Sri Lanka in 2015 was the last the world saw of Mathews the great batsman. In that series, he had averaged 56.50 on pitches favouring bowlers, and outscored India’s best batsman – Kohli – by more than 100 runs.In 26 innings since, 735 runs at 28.26 have been his returns. This, for a man who once mopped up top-order spills better than anyone in the world, wiped nervous sweat off tail-enders’ brows and charged them to bat better in his company than they ever had before. And if all else failed, and a loss was certain, he would at least hit a few quick runs and make the scoreline more presentable.Sri Lanka have no more need for Mathews the captain. As they prepare to face the top-ranked side in the world, Mathews the batsman they could use plenty of.There is no better time to shed the despondence of the last few months. No better time to let the weight fall, and to discover the joy that once coursed through his game.This time, do it for yourself, Angelo. It could be the best thing you do for your team.