The Bangladesh left-arm spinner, has become the first player to be named Man of the Match on debut in two formats

Mohammad Isam19-Jul-2012Elias Sunny, the Bangladesh left-arm spinner, has become the first player to be named Man of the Match on debut in two formats, after winning the award in the first Twenty20 against Ireland on Wednesday. Sunny was also the Man of the Match in his first Test, against West Indies last October.Defending a total of 190 in the first T20 international in Belfast, Sunny picked up a career best haul of 5 for 13 – the third-best figures in T20 internationals – and became the first Bangladesh bowler to take a five-wicket haul in T20 internationals and only the seventh bowler overall.Sunny’s haul included a double-wicket maiden in his first over. He had Ed Joyce caught at the square-leg boundary and off the next ball, Niall O’Brien was stumped by captain Mushfiqur Rahim. After picking up the wickets of John Mooney and Alex Cusack, Sunny completed the five-for with the wicket of Trent Johnston.Sunny is also the third bowler to take five or more wickets on debut in two different formats. Former Australia fast bowler Tony Dodemaide and West Indies fast bowler Fidel Edwards had done so in Tests and ODIs. (The list also includes former Australian swing bowler Bob Massie and former Indian legspinner Narendra Hirwani who took two five-wicket hauls on Test debut.)Sunny has so far only played a total of six international games including three Tests and two ODIs, though his debut in one-day cricket wasn’t as auspicious – 1 for 46 against Pakistan.Sunny made his Test debut after picking up 203 wickets in seven years of first-class cricket – the most for a Bangladesh bowler before a Test debut.

Ravi Bopara is back in the England Test side for the first match against South Africa at The Oval next week after being included in a 13-man squad

Andrew McGlashan15-Jul-2012Ravi Bopara is back in the England Test squad for the first match against South Africa at The Oval next week. There are five fast bowlers in the 13-man group, with Graham Onions, Steven Finn and Tim Bresnan competing to form the pace trio with James Anderson and Stuart Broad.Bopara’s form in the ODI series against Australia – 182 runs and four useful wickets – confirmed he is primed for a return to the Test side, after a frustrating period during which his opportunities were curtailed by injuries. He was set to make a comeback in Sri Lanka after Eoin Morgan was dropped but picked up a side strain that prevented him from bowling, and so Samit Patel was preferred. Then, at the start of this season, Bopara injured his thigh and was ruled out of the series against West Indies.That opened the door for Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow, who struggled in the three Tests against West Indies, making 38 runs, and has not had a huge amount of batting since. Bairstow returned to Championship action this week and made a first-ball duck against Hampshire.The only other debate is who will be the third fast bowler behind Anderson and Broad. England’s regular new-ball pair was rested for the last Test against West Indies but Anderson and Broad will return to spearhead the attack for the main event of the season.In the first two Tests against West Indies, they were accompanied by Bresnan, who was Man of the Match at Trent Bridge after a destructive spell of reverse swing on the third evening sealed the series for England. He currently has a Test bowling average of 26.09 and a batting average of 40.22 and will be tough to dislodge. Finn, however, made a very strong case for himself with his performances in the Australia ODIs.In four completed matches, Finn took eight wickets at 19.37, including 4 for 37 at Chester-le-Street. He played the final Test against West Indies, when Broad and Anderson were rested, but was out-bowled on that occasion by Onions, who was playing his first Test since January 2010.Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: “Ravi Bopara has worked hard to regain his place in the Test squad following some injury concerns earlier in the season and is the only player included who is yet to play a Test match this summer.”We have played some very good cricket over the last couple of months in all formats to win series against West Indies and Australia and after a month of limited overs cricket, preparations are now underway for what is sure to be a very competitive Test series against South Africa,” Miller said. “We know we will need to play excellent cricket to win this three-match series and the squad will be determined to start with a strong performance this week during the first Investec Test and set the tone for the rest of the series.”On Saturday, the ICC’s annual refresh of the rankings pushed South Africa to third but if they beat England they will replace them at the top of the table. England will retain their spot with a won or drawn series over the three Tests at The Oval, Headingley and Lord’s.Squad Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Ravi Bopara, Matt Prior (wk), Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Steven Finn, Graham Onions.

Another rainy day in a wet summer hasn’t stunted the growth of Yorkshire opening batsman Joe Root

Paul Edwards at Edgbaston15-Aug-2012
ScorecardJoe Root has been tipped as one of England’s next opening batsmen•Getty Images

Curiously for someone whose name suggests a secure, grounded quality, Joe Root was at a loose end on Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rain had ruled out any possibility of play on the second day of the England Lions match against Australia A and soon only the groundsmen and some security staff would be left at Edgbaston.”I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” the young Yorkshireman said. “I can’t play golf because it’s too wet and windy, and I’ll spend too much money if I go shopping, so I might have to spend the rest of the day in the hotel.”Frowsting in the dressing-room watching the rain tipple down has a limited appeal too. “We sit there and we wonder what time might we get out and we all pretend we’re really good weathermen,” Root said. “But at the end of it we’re in the changing room talking rubbish to each other, and today I’ve ended up doing an hour’s session in the gym.”As with all cricketers of whatever stamp, there have been too many such afternoons in 2012. Yet this summer has also seen Root emerge as perhaps the most likely candidate to fill an England opener’s spot should either Andrew Strauss or Alastair Cook break a finger. And in a season when James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow have both been summoned from the cab rank of English batsmen, it would suddenly not be too surprising if Root was the next to be called upon.Such impressions are only strengthened by innings such as that Root played in the second innings of the first unofficial Test against Australia A at Old Trafford. In a golden final session on the third day he stroked 13 boundaries in making 70 off 104 balls, adding 128 for the second wicket with Bairstow. One imagines that batting must be a very simple exercise when it is made to look so easeful.”Yes, but that is sometimes when it’s trickiest because you get lulled into a false sense of security and you’ve got to keep telling yourself to stay alert,” said Root, who remains keenly analytical in his approach and acutely self-critical. “Balls keep coming into your areas and you’re scoring quite freely and then suddenly you can get a good delivery out of nowhere and it can sort of surprise you. You have to keep yourself switched on. Jonny and I kept coming up to each other to make sure that was the case.”All of which made it the more disappointing that Root was caught when carelessly cutting left-arm spinner Jon Holland to backward point. “It was a poor execution of the shot and I was bitterly disappointed,” he said. “Unfortunately I just didn’t keep myself switched on, but as I keep saying, it’s a learning process and I hope I can go on from that and take the lesson on board.”There was also a rather painful masterclass for Root in the first innings, when he gloved a lifting delivery from Mitchell Johnson to the wicketkeeper, Tim Paine. If the 21-year-old opener had read any of the reports about Johnson’s inaccuracy, he insists that he paid little attention to them.”It was the first time I’ve ever faced him and he bowled exceptionally well in that first innings,” he said, of Johnson’s 4 for 47. “What was it – 20 overs, four for 40-odd? It was a great spell of bowling on what was a tough wicket and it just goes to show how well the lads handled him and how well they did to get us into the position they did. I got a good delivery and sometimes you have to give the credit to the bowler. It was another one that I’ll learn from. Johnson was number one bowler in the world at one time and if you come up against someone like that you don’t take them lightly. I can tell you now that none of the lads in the changing room were thinking he’d spray it around.”It has been a good season for Root in Division Two of the County Championship, although one strongly suspects that there will be better ones to come. He has scored 644 runs for Yorkshire in 13 innings, with two fifties and two centuries. His unbeaten 222 against Hampshire may eventually be viewed as something a breakthrough innings: it won plaudits from the press box and from both dressing rooms, where experienced Test players were amazed by the composure and maturity of the young batsman.Predictably, perhaps, Root is courteous in accepting the praise but he lets all the talk about England wash over him, insisting that he “doesn’t really think about it”. He prefers to focus on the achievement of Bairstow, his fellow Yorkshireman, whose 139 at Old Trafford helped win him a place in the England side for the final Test against South Africa. “Jonny played a fantastic knock and look where he is now,” Root said. “He got an opportunity in that second innings and he took it and well done to him. I’m really pleased for him.”Yet while Root concentrates on “staying in the moment” and enjoying the company of his colleagues, those who watched him bat at Manchester last week or at Southampton last month will still speculate as to the young man’s future and how he will cope should he eventually receive his first Test cap. It will take much more than a wet summer to blight the development of Joe Root.

Driven by an unbeaten half-century by Kycia Knight, West Indies Women chased down 99 by a relatively comfortable margin against Pakistan Women, to take the one-off Twenty20 in Loughborough

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Sep-2012
ScorecardDriven by an unbeaten half-century by Kycia Knight, West Indies Women chased down 99 by a relatively comfortable margin against Pakistan Women, to take the one-off Twenty20 in Loughborough. West Indies won with only one ball to spare, but had eight wickets in hand.Pakistan chose to bat, but none of their batsmen bar Bismah Maroof and Javeria Khan could make any contribution of note. Mahroof and Javeria were the only two to get into double digits, making 36 and 37 out of Pakistan’s 98. Medium-pacer Shemaine Campbelle produced the best figures for West Indies, her 3 for 20 including the wickets of Mahroof and Javeria and preventing Pakistan from getting a final surge.The West Indies top order batted around Knight in the chase. She made 50 off 67 with five boundaries, while Deandra Dottin knocked off a four and a six in a 12-ball cameo at the end to help push West Indies across the line in the nick of time.

England’s Holly Colvin has said that women’s cricket in Kenya will only improve if their cricketers are allowed to play alongside men in club cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-2012England’s Holly Colvin has said that women’s cricket in Kenya will only improve if their cricketers are allowed to play alongside men in club cricket.Speaking on a visit to Kenya with the Cricket Without Boundaries (CWB) charity, Colvin told the Nairobi-based Star there were not enough female cricketers in the country to enable them to play enough and at a sufficient standard to build their game.”It’s very difficult to improve if you not playing someone stronger than you,” she said. “The players will have to play alongside men either in the same team or against them. If this happens, then Kenya should expect to do well in their matches.”Colvin helped hone her game by playing alongside men in Sussex. “The boys don’t treat me any different,” she said. “I know how it feels to play against men but when you work hard and take it as a challenge, then things become easier for you and improvement is almost automatic.”Kenya’s women have struggled on the international stage and they face another tough challenge in December when they take part in the 2014 T20 World Cup Qualifiers. “It’s always a dream of any cricketer to play at a World Cup and I am sure this is what every member of the Kenyan team is looking forward to,” Colvin said. “But they will have to realise that this can only come through hard work.”

The PCB has granted Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal permission to play a few games at this season’s Big Bash League, on the request of Cricket Australia

Umar Farooq19-Nov-2012Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan allrounder, has said he will not play for Sydney Thunder despite being given permission by the PCB to take part in Australia’s Big Bash League. Afridi said he wanted to play in Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament instead and that clashes with Australia’s Twenty20 competition.”I have ended my contract in the Big Bash League, because I want to play in the national event to improve my form and justify my selection in the team,” Afridi told AFP.The Pakistan board had earlier granted Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal and Afridi permission to play a few games at this season’s Big Bash, on the request of Cricket Australia. Ajmal and Akmal will miss the last round of Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament and will return in time for the conditioning camp in Lahore ahead of the India tour.The PCB had earlier denied the players permission to play this BBL, to ensure their participation in the local tournament. Akmal is signed with Sydney Sixers and Ajmal with Adelaide Strikers for the season, while Afridi was set to play for Sydney Thunder, having transferred from Melbourne Renegades.”We have reconsidered our decision, on the request of Cricket Australia, as the players had already signed their contract,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “They will now leave at the tail end of [Pakistan’s] T20 tournament, which runs from December 2 to 10, and will return when our conditioning camp starts.”As per the arrangement, the players will leave for the BBL at the end of the group stages of Pakistan’s T20 competition; these end on December 7, and the camp for which they must return begins on December 12. The BBL begins on December 7, and each of the three concerned franchises have one game scheduled between the 7th and 12th.1200 GMT This story has been updated after Shahid Afridi said he would not play in the BBL

Shane Watson’s only faint hope of playing against South Africa at the Gabba is as a batsman alone – and the team performance manager Pat Howard has revealed the national selectors are considering the possibility

Daniel Brettig04-Nov-2012Shane Watson’s only faint hope of playing against South Africa at the Gabba is as a batsman alone – and the team performance manager Pat Howard has revealed the national selectors are considering the possibility.While Ricky Ponting is almost certain to be fit in time for day one at the Gabba, Watson is in severe doubt for the first Test of the summer due to what the team physio Alex Kountouris called a “minor grade” left calf strain. The possibility of Watson being fit to bowl in the match is negligible, but John Inverarity’s selection panel have discussed Watson’s value purely as a top six batsman.”It has been discussed but there’s no firm decision on that,” Howard told ESPNcricinfo. “Those considerations have been brought up in the past, so right now without speaking on behalf of the selection panel, it is being considered. Everything’s possible.”Shane and Ricky are in doubt, but they’re both reasonably new injuries and we’ll know more soon, they’re most certainly both in contention for the Test to differing degrees, and we’ll have standby players ready over the next couple of days in and around the squad.”We have some very initial scans on Shane, but our physio and chief medical officer, one has arrived in Brisbane and the other is arriving this afternoon, the selection panel will be arriving in from different parts of the country this afternoon as well. When they all get the big picture, not only on Shane but other players, then they can make some decisions over the next couple of days leading up to the Test.”The floating of Watson as a batsman is a departure from the team’s previous view, which had stressed the importance of having him fit as both a bowler and a batsman. Last summer Watson himself floated the possibility of playing as a batsman during the home Tests as he recovered from a hamstring strain, but that was ruled out.Watson said in Brisbane on Sunday that he was feeling some stiffness in the muscle and while he had not been ruled out of the Test, past experience had made him aware of the risks of rushing back too soon.”It’s still a little bit stiff, I’m just hoping it settles down over the next couple of days,” Watson said. “Alex [Kountouris, the team physio] had a little look at it, we’re just seeing how it sort of pans out over the next couple of days … see whether I’m a chance to be able to play in the first Test.”It’s not as bad [as it’s been], it’s only pretty minor but I know how things can go if you don’t really look after it and get it right the first time. I’ll be certainly making sure I get it right the first time.”The selectors are set to name shadow players for both Watson and Ponting, though the latter is expected to be recovered from a hamstring niggle in time to play. Should Watson be ruled unfit for the Test, the Australia A captain Andrew McDonald’s allround virtues are likely to be considered, though his presence would necessitate a shuffle in the batting order.While the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka and the Champions League in South Africa have seriously undercut the preparation of both Australia and South Africa for the forthcoming Tests, Howard said he took some consolation from the fact that the Shield round had allowed players to be tested.”I think we’re fortunate we have this round of games to start dealing with these guys coming in, if it happened next week that would be more of an issue,” Howard said. “We really want the Test players to go back and play in the Shield and contribute to the competition and get themselves ready, and I think that process has been well dealt with in the last couple of days.”

A wrap of the opening day of the eighth round of Ranji Trophy matches in Group C

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Dec-2012
ScorecardSreesanth took 4 for 28 (file photo)•PA Photos

Playing his second match on comeback from injury, Sreesanth took 4 for 28 to bowl Jharkhand out for 120 in Mallapuram. Robert Fernandez and VA Jagadeesh then drove home the advantage by reaching 165 for 1 despite the loss of a wicket first ball.The day began with Sreesanth dismissing Akash Verma in the first over. He then took the big wickets of Ramiz Nemat and Ishank Jaggi in his fourth and sixth overs. When Sandeep Warrier took out Saurabh Tiwary, Jharkhand had been reduced to 62 for 5. Sp Gautam and Sunny Gupta added 28 for the sixth wicket, but the next five well within 30 runs.Jaskaran Singh gave Jharkhand a dream start with the ball, but that was the only success they would enjoy on a horror day.
ScorecardVikramjeet Malik took the only five-for in all 11 matches on day one, helping Himachal Pradesh bowl Jammu & Kashmir out for 175. This was his 14th five-wicket haul in 65 first-class games.It was allrounder Rishi Dhawan who provided the first breakthrough, getting Ian Dev Singh out for 2 in the sixth over. Malik ran through the rest of the top order, including the big wicket of Parvez Rassol. Obaid Haroon and Owais Shah added 47 for the fifth wicket, but Malik returned to remove Shah and make it 103 for 5. The sixth-wicket stand, between Haroon and Ram Dayal, added 53, but after that J7K just subsided.The Himachal openers saw through the rest of the day without incident.
ScorecardAsked to bat first in the early start in Guwahati, Andhra got off to a poor start before B Sumanth and veteran Amol Muzumdar lent their score some respectability. Arup Das rattled them with three wickets in the first spell, but from 26 for 3 Andhra did well to end the day at 214 for 8.Sumanth and Muzumdar added 80 fir the fourth wicket before another slide began. At 136 for 6, though, Muzumdar found a fighting partner in Rajesh Pawar, formerly of Baroda. They added 65 for the seventh wicket before Assam struck twice just before stumps. Muzumdar was 18 short of a century at stumps, with only two wickets standing.In Agartala, no play was possible between Tripura and Goa because of fog and bad light.

Zimbabwe selector Givemore Makoni cannot be reappointed to his job because of a new directive from the country’s Sports and Recreation Commission

Firdose Moonda16-Jan-2013Zimbabwe’s most recent convenor of selectors Givemore Makoni cannot be reappointed to his job because of a new directive from the country’s Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC). The directive, which comes into effect on February 1, states that only former national players can become selectors.”Good performance of national teams in international matches is a matter of national interest. It has been noted that in some circumstances, this national interest has been compromised by the calibre of national team selectors who lack the requisite experience and skills to play their role effectively,” the SRC said in a statement. “This directive therefore seeks to correct this anomaly so as to improve the competitiveness of our national teams.”Continual underperformance of teams across sports prompted the SRC to take this step. The minister of education, sports, arts and culture, David Coltart, explained that it was a decision taken after in-depth consultation with the country’s sportsmen and women.”A wide cross section of Zimbabwean sportspersons have told me that playing at international level involves a considerable leap in physical and mental expertise, which is best understood and appreciated by sportspersons who have experienced that themselves,” Coltart said. “The same sportspersons have advised me that national players are far more likely to respect and accept hard selection decisions made by people who have achieved themselves at the highest level.”Although the directive comes into effect in two weeks’ time, it was first mooted in October last year. In the same month, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) changed their policy following the death of Kevin Curran, one of the members of their selection committee. Curran, who was also the coach of the Mashonaland Eagles, was part of a three-person panel that also included former Test player Wayne James and Makoni. Alan Butcher, the national coach, was only used in an advisory capacity.The directive and Curran’s death took place within weeks of each other, and resulted in ZC shaking up their panel. James and Butcher sat on a two-person committee but Makoni had a casting vote. The main difference between the rejigged panel and the previous one was that the coach had more of a say. Historically, according to Coltart, Zimbabwean cricket coaches have not been selectors but ZC has now changed this.Once the SRC ruling comes into effect, Makoni will not be able to play any part in selection and it also means that if ZC appoints a coach who is not a former national player, he cannot be a selector. Butcher is not reapplying for his job, which will end after the tour to West Indies in March, and Steven Mangongo, the assistant coach, is one of the people in the running to take over. Mangongo did not play for Zimbabwe.Mangongo, batting coach Grant Flower and bowling coach Heath Streak are believed to be in the running for the coaching positions. Mangongo will be ruled out if ZC want to continue having their coach act as a selector, which has led Makoni to tell local papers the directive was “utter rubbish and racist.” He believes it will deny black officials opportunity to advance.Coltart denied the new policy was racially targeted. “Regarding Mangongo, it is ZC who have recently changed the rules on coaches,” he said. “If they want to hire Mangongo they can easily revert to the status quo and have the coach in an advisory capacity.”Coltart also said he could alter portions of the directive to ensure coaches were not excluded entirely from selection, irrespective of their level of playing. “This was never designed to exclude coaches from the decision making process and so I may well refine the directive to make sure that that is the case – and do say as the Australians do. The chair is always an ex-player and there are a majority of ex-players but the coach is on the panel and he doesn’t have to be an ex player.”Zimbabwe had long standing racial divisions that exposed themselves in cricket with the white player walk-out in 2004. Players including Heath Streak, the Flower brothers and Alistair Campbell walked away from cricket in the country because of ZC’s aggressive transformation program. Matters were thought to have eased when they returned to the fold and Zimbabwe fielded teams that now represent the country’s population.Makoni, who will remain manager of the Southern Rocks, is still fearful the directive could divide Zimbabwe cricket again and angry that he will not be considered for the selection panel because of the new rules.”Not playing for Zimbabwe during our time did not mean that you were not good enough to play for the national team. Doors were closed for us,” he said. “We fought that system and although we didn’t benefit from it, in terms of playing for the national team, it opened the doors for a lot of black players.”Now, we have black cricket players all over the country, cricket is spreading into a truly mass sporting discipline. We can’t allow people to come and try and reverse all that,” he said. Coltart denied any plot to exclude black Zimbabweans and said Makoni’s remarks were “abusive and unnecessary.”

VVS Laxman, in his 16-year Test career, established himself as one of the best players of spin bowling in the world but, by his own admission, it wasn’t a talent he had acquired when he first picked up the bat

Kanishkaa Balachandran in Hyderabad01-Mar-2013VVS Laxman, in his 16-year Test career, established himself as one of the best players of spin bowling in the world but, by his own admission, it wasn’t a talent he had acquired when he first picked up the bat. Failures early in his career taught him to respect spin bowling more and after hours of practice his batting had evolved to the point where he could master any attack.Laxman was speaking at the launch of , a compilation of the best Q&A long-form interviews published by ESPNcricinfo and Walt Disney. The book features 22 interviews with current and former players speaking on specific topics such as captaincy, swing bowling, commentary, batting etc. Those interviewed include Sachin Tendulkar, Ian Chappell, Mahela Jayawardene, Barry Richards, and Laxman himself.”I never got to play quality spin bowling when I was growing up,” Laxman said in a discussion with Harsha Bhogle and ESPNcricinfo editor Sambit Bal, responding to an extract from an earlier interview. “As a kid I always enjoyed playing fast bowling. I neglected playing spinners. At the end of the practice session I got extra throw-downs, asking the coaches to throw from ten yards so I could play quicker bowling. I used to practice on cement wickets using a plastic ball or a wet tennis ball.”When I started playing the Ranji Trophy, there were some quality spinners in domestic cricket and I remember I would invariably get out to Sairaj Bahutule (former Mumbai legspinner), playing against the spin and getting caught at midwicket. That’s when I came back to the nets and luckily Hyderabad had some quality spinners like Arshad Ayub, Venkatapathy Raju, Kanwaljit Singh. I practiced hard at the nets against them and I always felt that the hard work you put in the nets will reap results. Within a span of six months to one year I became an excellent player of spin. In domestic cricket we used to get tough wickets, like the one in Chennai for the Test (against Australia), and my confidence grew.”Laxman’s admissions could be a lesson for the touring Australian team, whose batsmen struggled against spin in Chennai. “You react to the ball that is coming at you,” he said. “If you focus on the guy holding the ball, your thought process changes. You should remove things like the state of the pitch from your thought process and only react to the ball. If you think too much about the wicket, you’re only expecting a certain kind of delivery and in the bargain you lose out on the shot you could have played.”Laxman also spoke at length about how it’s a bigger challenge for youngsters today to strike the balance between their game and their personality, compared to the scenario at the time he was growing up. He felt it is a challenge for the modern cricketer to manage distractions better, given that players nowadays have plenty on their plate to deal with.”It’s not just about distractions. It’s the amount of options available to you. For example, when I chose not to become a doctor and chose cricket as my career path, there was nothing in my life except cricket. When my friends went to movies etc, I used to go home, so I could be fresh in the morning for practice. Now, there are so many options. If you are not successful as a cricketer you could be successful in any other field. That is why now it is very important how you communicate with the youngsters. You cannot be negative with them. You have to be positive so that their interest in the game always remains.”There is so much of fame, adulation, scrutiny, and money [these days]. It is very important for any young cricketer to be as balanced as possible. It is very difficult to do so and I feel for them.”While he agreed that mentorship is important to a player’s growth, he insisted that a youngster should be educated on what his priorities should be at an early age.”What was the one thing that kept me going? It was the pride of playing for your country,” Laxman said. “That can be ingrained at a young age. [Money] is a danger. For young cricketers, their priorities should be emphasised. They should know that money is a by-product of what you’re trying to achieve. Pride and passion should be the first priority. I have noticed in the same coaching camps I used to attend as a kid, the parents now say ‘I don’t care if my son plays for India or not but I want him to get into one of the IPL franchises.’ There has to be a balance. That will happen in the ages of 16-19. The coaches at camps like at the NCA have to address the issue.”Coaching youngsters, he says, also needs to be handled with caution. “After my retirement my son suddenly became interested in the game, I don’t know why,” Laxman said, which was followed by laughter. “I just tell him to hit the ball. My nephew goes to a coaching camp and one day I was playing with the two of them. It was strange. My son was only hitting the ball without bothering about his head position etc, but my nephew would come to me as ask, ‘uncle, how is my elbow position?’ They are just aged 6 and 7. What structured coaching sometimes does is it removes the natural instincts of a player. Till a cricketer is mature, one should not load too much information on him. I notice spinners are at their best till they are 15, but they vanish. The coaches try to correct them and the player gets confused.”