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A timeline of the events around Bangladesh’s proposed tour of Pakistan

Mohammad Isam31-Dec-2012November 23, 2011
In return for Pakistan’s support of Bangladesh’s candidate for the post of the ICC vice-president, Pakistan proposes that Bangladesh tour their country.December 17, 2011
The BCB decides to send a security-assessment team to Pakistan ahead of a proposed short tour, after new the PCB president Zaka Ashraf visits Dhaka for a one-on-one meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart. The two endorse Mustafa Kamal as the ICC vice-president, pending BCB approval.March 4, 2012
As reservations about the proposed tour are expressed from within and outside the country, the Bangladesh board says it is satisfied with Pakistan’s security arrangements, after it conducts a two-day assessment tour headed by Kamal.March 7, 2012
The ICC introduces a “special dispensation” to be made only in “exceptional circumstances”, in order to ensure that bilateral series are played even if the ruling body has determined it “unsafe” to appoint its officials for such series.March 12, 2012
Amid growing pressure from within Bangladesh against the tour, BCB chief Kamal says he wouldn’t let the team tour if the ICC doesn’t agree to send match officials. Ashraf retaliates, saying bilateral relations hinge on the tour.April 15, 2012
Kamal announces Bangladesh’s tour to Pakistan, scheduled at the end of April. But he does this from Dubai, as the BCB directors remain unaware of any such decision, it having not been discussed in any meeting till that point.Nazmul Hassan had spoken of a ‘written agreement’ to tour Pakistan•AFPApril 19, 2012
The Dhaka High Court orders the tour to be suspended for the next four weeks after a writ petition was filed by a university teacher and a Supreme Court lawyer, who challenged the tour. The Pakistan board reacts sharply.November 1, 2012
New BCB chief Nazmul Hassan says that a written commitment has been made to the PCB from the Bangladesh board to tour Pakistan. He adds that most of the board’s directors weren’t aware of such a commitment.December 14, 2012
Hassan confirms talks are on with the PCB about touring in January, just before the Bangladesh Premier League. He says the players will decide if they want to go, while the foreign staff are unlikely to be keen to on it.A top PCB official hints that the Bangladesh Premier League will be Pakistan’s bargaining chip to ensure Bangladesh’s tour.December 22, 2012
Hassan says, from London, that the BCB are awaiting a security clearance from the ICC, though the game’s governing body had already given its special dispensation months ago. This after PCB chief Ashraf has said earlier on the day that the PCB has been “conveyed” a decision confirming the tour.December 31, 2012
BCB president confirms that Bangladesh will not be touring in January, and will wait until the security situation improves in Pakistan. He says the BCB are ready to face the consequences, chiefly the boycott of Pakistan players from the BPL.Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, expresses annoyance at the BCB’s decision to put the tour of Pakistan on hold a second time. He says Pakistan will ‘reconsider’ their bilateral ties with Bangladesh.January 1, 2013
BCB chief Nazmul Hassan says he is hopeful that cricketers from Pakistan will be made available for the Bangladesh Premier League.January 6, 2013
BCB president Nazmul Hassan meets Zaka Ashraf, the PCB chairman, during the third India-Pakistan ODI in Delhi in a bid to restore bilateral relations, but no firm commitment of a future tour is made during the meeting.January 9, 2013
ICC vice-president AHM Mustafa Kamal denies any “unconditional commitment” from Bangladesh to tour Pakistan, contrary to what the current BCB president, Nazmul Hassan, had stated last month.

Plays of the Day from the second day of the fourth Test between India and England in Nagpur

George Dobell14-Dec-2012Stat of the day (taking Root)
By the time he was out, Joe Root had batted longer – in terms of ballsfaced – than all but five players on their debut Test innings in England history. Rootfaced 229 balls – 151 fewer than the Nawab of Pataudi senior on hisdebut in the Ashes of 1932-33 – and became the sixth member ofEngland’s top seven to register a half-century or better on Testdebut, once again underlining the worth of the County Championship inproducing international players.Shot of the day
Progress has been desperately slow on this begrudging surface. The onebatsman, to date, who has defied the nature of the pitch to score freelyis Graeme Swann, who registered his fifth Test half-century and hisfirst since the Centurion Test against South Africa almost exactlythree years ago. Swann is also the only man to have struck a six sofar in this Test with the first of them, somewhat closer to a slogthan a slog-sweep, depositing the otherwise parsimonious RavindraJadeja high over wide mid-on and providing one of the moreentertaining moments in an otherwise prosaic England first innings.Duck of the day
Virender Sehwag was seen as one of the few batsmen on either side – KevinPietersen is the only other obvious example – with the ability to riseabove the conditions and play a match-defining innings. It was not tobe, however, as in the first over of India’s reply, Sehwag was beatenon the outside edge by an inswinger from James Anderson that knockedback the middle stump. It was a fine delivery, but Sehwag’s tentativefoot movement resulted in a feeble defensive shot. It was the seventhduck of his Test career against England. Only four men have sufferedmore, with Bishan Bedi (11 ducks) leading the way.Decision of the day
Such is Cheteshwar Pujara’s obvious class that he is rapidlydeveloping into the key wicket in this India team. So to lose him toanother umpiring error, this time caught off the arm at short-leg ashe played forward to Swann, was desperate misfortune for theindividual and the team. While the catch, Ian Bell diving to his rightto cling on to a sharp chance, was excellent, it is a shame that sucha high-profile game can be undermined so unnecessarily by thecontinued refusal to utilise the DRS.Near miss of the day
After his involvement in two run-outs in Kolkata, it might have beenexpected that Gautam Gambhir would have been at his most alert whenrunning. But, called for a sharp but perfectly reasonable single byCheteshwar Pujara, Gambhir, on 30, was found resting on his bat at thenon-strikers’ end and only survived due to a poor throw from Joe Root,at square leg, and a desperate slide.Drop of the day
Gambhir was on 33 and India were 62 for 2 when Matt Prior wasunable to cling on to a tough chance off the pad from the bowling ofSwann. With the ball coming off the inside edge of Gambhir’sbat and on to his pad, the double deflection made the chance trickyand the ball bounced off the gloves and chest of Prior. The chance didnot prove too costly, though, with Prior accepting an easier chancejust a few minutes later off the bowling of Anderson.

A debut has eluded the Mumbai batsman despite a prolonged stint in the Test squad, but that could change in the Delhi Test

Amol Karhadkar21-Mar-2013Ajinkya Rahane has been a part of India’s Test squads for about 16 months. In the 16 Tests India have played since Rahane was named in India’s squad for the home Test series against the West Indies, seven players (R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron, R Vinay Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan), including a specialist batsman and a spin-bowling allrounder, have made their debut. Two prolific batsmen (Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman) have retired, two established openers (Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir) have been axed, and two more batsmen (Cheteshwar Pujara and M Vijay) who returned to the team seem to have made most of their opportunities. Virat Kohli has gone from being a fringe member to being the next in line for the Test captaincy.Amid all this chopping and changing in the XI, there has been one constant: no matter who the openers are and who bats at No. 6, Rahane has been a permanent drinks-fetcher and substitute fielder.Three times during his prolonged period as a Test squad member, Rahane’s debut was expected by most of the Indian cricket fraternity. Still, while the Jadejas and Dhawans have been rewarded with a Test cap within a week after being called up, Rahane is still waiting for his chance.With Shikhar Dhawan injuring his fingers on debut last week, Rahane stakes the first claim on the spot vacated, and could also end Mumbai’s wait for a Test debutant since Ramesh Powar back in 2007. “I just hope he gets his chance this time around at the Kotla,” Ajit Agarkar, Mumbai’s Ranji captain, said. “Nobody will doubt the fact that he thoroughly deserves it.”For most of these 16 months, Rahane has been shuttling between domestic and international arena as frequently as he used to change local trains during his growing-up years in Mumbai. Yet, he has averaged 48.72 this domestic season. The fact that it’s Rahane’s lowest average for a season since making his first-class debut in 2007-08 shows his terrific record.Still, that’s not been enough for him to break into the eleven. For the first four years, the national selectors ignored him since they were never sure “whether he is a middle-order batsman or opener”. Then, after he showed promise during his limited opportunities in the limited-overs leg of the England tour in 2011, the selection panel chaired by K Srikkanth told him to be prepared to bat “anywhere between No. 1 and 6”.And then, once Srikkanth passed on the baton to Sandeep Patil, the selectors decided – in consultation with Rahane, hopefully – that Rahane was best suited to bat in the middle order. As a result, though he opened Mumbai’s innings in the 2011-12, the Mumbai team management was asked to utilise him at No. 3 this season.Former India batsman Praveen Amre, during whose five-year association with the Mumbai Ranji team Rahane burst on to the first-class scene, feels Rahane is unnecessarily criticised for shuffling his batting position. “During my stint [as the Mumbai coach], we used him as an opener as well as at No. 3,” Amre said. “And he proved us right all the time. He is one of the few batsmen who can adapt to batting at the top of the order and in the middle order.”Agarkar also feels that Rahane’s strength of being flexible about his batting position doesn’t get due credit. “To be honest, it doesn’t matter whether he opens the innings or bats in the middle order,” Agarkar said. “Wherever he bats, he always scores runs, which seals the deal for him.”Despite waiting in the wings for well over a year, none of the Mumbai team members have seen him flustered during this period. The reason, according to Dhawal Kulkarni, his usual room-mate while playing for Mumbai, is “his focus”. “He keeps things really simple,” Kulkarni said. “He knows very well that he has to be patient till his chance comes and make sure he keeps on doing what he does the best and loves the most – to keep on scoring consistently. And it works for him.”Rahane averages an astonishing 62.04 after 100 first-class innings. So what sets him apart from the rest? “Not too many youngsters around are as hardworking as him. It reflects in everything he does on the field,” Agarkar said.While his approach has helped him through the wait for the Test cap, his perseverance hasn’t paid off with everything that he has done. “During the Emerging Players tournament in Australia [in 2009], we used to cook for each other. And invariably every time he used to goof it up,” Kulkarni recalled.No doubt Kulkarni will be the first one to be ready to cook a dinner for his friend if he finally gets the Test cap at the Kotla on Friday.

New Zealand were the better team in the three-Test series, thanks largely to the performances of their batsmen

S Rajesh27-Mar-2013Over the course of the three-Test series, New Zealand averaged 42.16 runs per wicket. The last time they averaged more than 40 in a series of three or more Tests was against South Africa at home in 2003-04, when they scored 41.54 runs per wicket; the last time they did better than 42.16 was way back in 1991 – at home against Sri Lanka, when they averaged 46.51 per wicket. That, in a nutshell, illustrates just how good this series was for New Zealand.England were clearly lucky to escape with a drawn series – had New Zealand held on to their chances in England’s second innings in Auckland, they could well have lost the Test and slipped to third place in the ICC Test rankings. Both, their batting and their bowling were below par, with only one of their top six batsmen averaging more than 50, and no specialist bowler averaging less than 30. (Click here for England’s player averages for batting and bowling.) Matt Prior’s consistency with the bat bailed them out – he was easily their player of the series with 311 runs at 103.66, with his back-to-the-wall century being the difference between a series defeat and a draw for them. Prior became only the second wicketkeeper, after Adam Gilchrist, to score a fourth-innings Test hundred in a win or a draw.For New Zealand, there were several heroes. Three batsmen averaged more than 50, while Trent Boult and Neil Wagner were consistently at the batsmen. Even Bruce Martin, their unheralded left-arm spinner, outshone England’s Monty Panesar. (Click here for New Zealand’s player averages for batting and bowling.)

Overall stats for NZ and Eng in the series

TeamRunsBat aveRun rate100s/ 50sWkts takenBowling SRNew Zealand156042.163.223/ 74580.56England157234.932.605/ 63778.46Arguably the biggest gain for New Zealand from the series was a prolific opening partnership. In five innings, Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton had two partnerships of more than 50, including a best of 158, and averaged 54.40 per stand (which, incidentally, was exactly equal to England’s average for the first wicket). The last time New Zealand’s opening pair averaged more than 50 per partnership in a series (with a cut-off of five innings) was in 2004 in England, when Mark Richardson and Stephen Fleming forged a successful combination and averaged 65.66. In eight series since then and before this one, New Zealand’s average opening stand was less than 21 five times, while their highest average in a series was 31. Compared to those numbers, an average stand of 54.40 is clearly a huge gain.Between them, Rutherford and Fulton scored three hundreds, only the second time New Zealand’s openers have scored three or more centuries in a series. The previous instance was in a five-Test series in the West Indies in 1972, when Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis scored three hundreds. That series was drawn 0-0 as well.Then there was Kane Williamson at No.3, who ensured that the second-wicket stands were fruitful as well. New Zealand’s average second-wicket partnership in the series was 74.20, again their highest in a series since that 2004 tour to England, when the second wicket averaged 92.50. All those runs from the top three meant Ross Taylor, at No.4, often had to wait for his turn to bat, which he admitted was unfamiliar for him. “As one of the senior batters, it’s nice for others to come in and score some runs. Something I haven’t done very much in a New Zealand team is have to wait a couple of sessions to bat. Hopefully I can start getting used to that trend.”Taylor himself didn’t have a memorable series, averaging 23.50, and neither did Dean Brownlie at No.5, but then Brendon McCullum made a huge difference to New Zealand’s totals, with scores of 74, 69, 38 and 67 not out, in what was his most consistent series. It was his second-most prolific series, and the first time he had three 50-plus scores in a series. It’s also the second-best average ever for the No.6 position for New Zealand in a series (with a minimum of four innings). With the lower order scoring usefully as well, it meant New Zealand’s average partnerships for each of the first eight wickets was more than 32.England’s top three were pretty solid as well, though Alastair Cook wasn’t at his prolific best, but the team’s problem was the middle order. Ian Bell made a vital 75 in Auckland, but that was his only half-century of the series, while Kevin Pietersen and Joe Root aggregated 173 runs in eight innings between them.That showed in England’s partnership stats too: the averages for the top two wickets were as good as New Zealand’s, but the third to fifth wickets collectively averaged 25.40 runs per dismissal over 15 partnerships, with no century stands, and only two exceeding 50.

Partnership stats for each wicket for NZ and Eng

WicketNZ-runsAverage100/ 50 standsEng-runsAverage100/ 50 stands1st27254.401/ 127254.401/ 02nd37174.201/ 235170.201/ 13rd13132.750/ 116833.600/ 14th16240.500/ 19719.400/ 05th20050.001/ 111623.200/ 16th15538.751/ 019238.401/ 07th10334.330/ 114536.250/ 18th13143.660/ 116040.000/ 2As a bowling unit, there was little to choose between the pace attacks of the two teams. For New Zealand, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner, the two left-arm seamers, took most of the wickets, while England’s pace wickets were equally distributed among James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn. England’s fast bowlers had a better strike rate, but New Zealand’s were more economical.In the battle between the left-arm spinners, though, Martin trumped the more fancied Panesar, who struggled to pick up wickets: his strike rate for the series was 156.4. Martin wasn’t the New Zealand spin card, though: Williamson’s offspin proved effective too, especially on the last day of the Auckland Test, as he picked up career-best figures of 4 for 44. Overall, New Zealand’s spinners averaged 32.20 runs per wicket, which was far better than England’s 76.20.

Pace and spin for NZ and Eng in the series

WicketsAverageStrike rateEcon rate5WI/ 10WMNZ – pace2936.5582.22.661/ 0Eng – pace3235.5664.43.312/ 0NZ – spin1532.2082.72.330/ 0Eng – spin576.20168.42.710/ 0Head-to-head contests
There were only three instances of a bowler dismissing a batsman three times in a series, and Anderson was the bowler in two of those instances: he dismissed Peter Fulton and Dean Brownlie thrice. Tim Southee was the other bowler to achieve this, against Nick Compton.The best batsmen for each were dominant against the opposition pace attacks. McCullum scored at more than a run a ball against the combination of Anderson, Broad and Finn, while Prior scored 230 runs and was dismissed just once by Wagner, Boult and Southee.

Head-to-head stats for the series

BatsmanBowlerRunsBallsDismissalsAverageRun ratePeter FultonJames Anderson76233325.331.95Dean BrownlieJames Anderson3761312.333.63Nick ComptonTim Southee63151321.002.50Brendon McCullumAnderson, Broad, Finn196183298.006.43Matt PriorWagner, Boult, Southee2303101230.004.45

It’s been five years but James Pattinson finds it hard to forget the treatment meted out to his brother in the aftermath of one of the more bizarre selections of recent times

David Hopps04-Jul-2013James Pattinson needs no extra incentive to strive to win an Ashes series for Australia. But he has one anyway: when the fatigue builds in, and the scoreboard takes on a daunting look, he will vow to avenge the treatment of his brother in one of the great England selectorial botches of all time.It was not just that England’s selection of Darren Pattinson for the Headingley Test against South Africa in 2008 was bizarre, it was the reaction that followed that made it one of the more unsavoury affairs of recent English vintage.England’s captain, Michael Vaughan, was privately resentful that an Australian with a dual passport, and an Australian, more to the point, who he had seen only bowl a couple of balls, a former roof tiler who had not made his first-class debut until he was 26, was thrust upon him on the back of 29 wickets at 20 runs apiece for Nottinghamshire. He wanted Steve Harmison and suggested in his autobiography that he accepted Pattinson only because he assumed he would not play.As South Africa made 522, and an outcry followed in the media, there was no doubt who was cast in the role of scapegoat. Pattinson was used then abused. His return of 2 for 95 bore comparison with the rest but he would have been better sticking to his original intention and taking the kids to Alton Towers. His England Test career, a career of convenience on all sides, disappeared in a trice.James is now in England with Australia, 40 wickets in ten Tests to his name, at an imposing average of 23, his pedigree beyond debate, his selection for the first Investec Test at Trent Bridge assured. His career has seen irresistible bursts of brilliance mixed with frustrating absences because of injury. But as England prepare to face him for the first time, they will be wary of his natural talent: his vigorous run, heaps of aggression, and ability to bowl outswing around 145kph.While he plays his cricket aggressively, he is engaging off the field, a world away from the programmed responses so common among the current crop of international cricketers. He relates the family story with refreshing honesty. It is a story that the Pattinson family has never quite laid to rest. This is the series where they yearn to put their grievances to rights.”Darren didn’t know about his selection until eight o’clock the night before,” James said. “He drove to Leeds, didn’t meet anyone until breakfast, and the next thing you know, he was in. I dreamt of playing for Australia at a young age but I don’t think he dreamt of playing for England at a young age. It was different.”Darren was thrown in at the deep end and was getting all the media thrown at him, saying it was a disgrace. It wasn’t his fault he was picked. He was there, he was performing, he was an in-form cricketer at the time and he had an English passport, which always helps.”

“It wasn’t Darren’s fault that he played and was made the scapegoat. It would have been a different story if England had won, of course”

Back home in Dandenong, a suburb southeast of Melbourne en route to the Dandenong Ranges, the Pattinson family seethed. They were proud of their English background: James’ mum, Sue, was from Wombwell in Yorkshire, Dickie Bird country (“I think he’s the only umpire she knows,” laughed James), his dad, John, hailed from Grimsby, the Lincolnshire fishing port, where famously the Sri Lankans once got food poisoning munching fish and chips.During that week, the Pattinson pride took a battering. “It was quite a big thing, not only for him but for me, and I know it shook dad up a bit,” James said. “My dad is quite a hard-nosed type of bloke. He read something from Graham Gooch and felt like ringing him up and giving him his two bob’s worth. I owe a lot of credit to my dad for the way we’ve been brought up. He’s an aggressive type of bloke and I’ve got a lot of that attitude as well.”Gooch, now England’s batting coach, described the older Pattinson’s selection as “one of the most left-field decisions I’ve ever seen”, and declared “the international game is in danger of being devalued if we have any more selections like this”. He went on: “Pattinson’s father says he’s a proud Aussie, and his brother plays for their Under-19 side. Can you switch from being a proud Aussie to a passionate Englishman overnight?””At that stage Dad still supported English cricket a lot,” James said. “He’s always been that hard-nosed guy that stuck by where he’s come from. After that he didn’t like the way that Darren was treated over here. It wasn’t Darren’s fault that he played and was made the scapegoat. It would have been a different story if England had won, of course. Ever since then he has always supported me playing for Australia.Pattinson geared up for the first Test with a seven-wicket haul against Somerset•PA Photos”Growing up I always had a soft spot for England in soccer. But definitely they’re my No. 1 enemy now. I think it’s all about picking your times and there’s no better time than an Ashes series to show that aggression. In the good teams, ten years ago, they backed themselves and played naturally. The true Australian way comes out. At 23, it’s a good age to take on the world.”In the sort of entanglement that gives the Ashes series a special piquancy, England even made a token attempt to entice James into shifting allegiance. It was driven ahead by David Saker, England’s Australian bowling coach and James’ first coach at Victoria.”I have got a dual passport, too,” James said. “When David Saker moved over to be the coach over here I hadn’t played for Australia. I was picked in two T20s to play just after the Ashes but I was 12th man in both of them.”I was in the dressing room at the MCG when I got a call from Sakes. I don’t know if he was being serious. It was ‘Come over and play, Darren’s playing over here for Nottinghamshire.’ I just thought he was mucking around so I laughed it off.”It was quite funny. I have a good relationship with Sakes. He was my first bowling coach when he was at Victoria. He has the same mentality that Darren Lehmann brings to us as well. He is a great man with great knowledge. They teach you how to play cricket as well; they make you learn the game.”Darren Pattinson never had that luxury. His emergence came late. “He always had that ability, but never really went forward at a young age,” James said. “That’s one thing he taught me: that when you get your chances, to make the most of it – that’s one thing he probably regretted a little bit.”Darren is now training greyhounds and has started his own kennels a 45-minute drive out of Melbourne. “It’s always been a passion of his,” James said. “He has gone from roof tiling to playing for England to now training greyhounds.”There is no doubt, though, who in the Pattinson family now yearns to prove himself top dog.

As Lord’s basked in a heatwave and spectators sought shade, the ground became a foreign country

Rob Smyth at Lord's19-Jul-2013This was the kind of day Lord’s rarely experiences: the sort of day when spectators, never mind players, needed to be weighed before and after play; when clothes transmogrified into wetsuits by midday. By the close of play, hotspots were visible on flame-grilled spectators all around the ground. There are even unconfirmed reports that for the first time in his life Alastair Cook produced a bead of sweat.”I’ve been coming here since god knows when and it’s the hottest I can remember,” one member exclusively told ESPNcricinfo. “Bloody insufferable,” barked another. The MCC Library does not keep a record of the hottest Lord’s Tests – and it’s one of the few things you cannot search on Statsguru – but 2013 must be right up there. On Friday, temperatures again pushed 30 degrees. The ground needed a Nivea Tent.The demand for sunscreen was such that Lord’s could probably have operated a reverse honesty box, choosing the particular price each customer paid. They settled for a blanket fee of £9, the same price as a large glass of Pimm’s. Alcohol, even more than usual, was the Gatorade of the fans. It is often lamented that beer at sporting events tastes a little watery; here that would have been a virtue, such was the threat of dehydration. A lonely pasty salesperson – or, rather, a lonely person who was selling pasties – reinforced the shift in spectator priorities.It was certainly not the day to get stuck in a tiny lift for over half an hour, as happened to a group that included Michael Vaughan just after tea. For those working at the ground – if not, surprisingly, for the bowlers on both sides – this was a day of seriously hard yakka.Catering staff had reason to lament that their uniform shirt is black rather than white. Police officers were permitted to remove their body armour “because of the nature of the sport” but stewards had to sweat under heavy bibs all day. Some were not so unhappy. “I was born in Kenya, so I’m used to the heat,” said one. “I’m loving it. I’m getting paid and I’m getting the sun as well.”The heat was such that, even more than usual, Lord’s felt as much a social gathering as a cricket match: not so much the Lord’s Test as the Lord’s Festival. Even with 16 wickets falling, the on-field action sometimes felt an ambient backdrop to a huge picnic. Even Australia’s pitiful collapse could not shift many spectators who preferred shade to schadenfreude. Lord’s was a foreign country for the day, and the attitude of many mirrored the attitude sometimes expressed after a holiday in unfamiliar country: I loved it, but I never want to do it again.Cricket’s peculiar demographic meant that back-to-front baseball caps sat alongside panamas and flip-flops alongside blindingly shiny brogues. Not that they always coexisted contentedly: when one member caught sight of a topless man whose Levi’s pants were showing above pink-and-white pinstriped shorts, he attempted to discern once and for all whether looks could kill.The Pavilion was the usual extreme-fashion contest, with egg-and-bacon blazers and lurid trousers taking pride of place on this septuagenarian catwalk. The usual Pavilion dress code was relaxed slightly: whenever temperatures reach 85 degrees, a series of notices inform members that they are allowed to remove their jackets. Many members kept their jackets on even when they left the pavilion, as if to do otherwise would invite eternal damnation. There is less flexibility on top buttons and ties – at least officially – so many members went back to their schooldays by using their tie to hide an undone top button.”If I hadn’t got so fat I’d be able to loosen my top button,” said a steward with a similar dilemma. “But it’s fine; we have lots of water and we get regular breaks. It’s just another day really. I’m a sunaholic, so I like it. Mind you, the supervisors get a bit funny about wearing sunglasses – we have to look prim and proper. It’s like the Henley Regatta. It’s Lord’s, isn’t it?”

Andy Zaltzman provides the almost-definite preview of the Ashes series and why England should, could, or might not retain the urn

Andy Zaltzman20-Nov-2013If Australia can make the ball swing consistently, they have a chance. If they cannot, they do not.THE END.

What? Do you want more detail than that? Do you not have better things to do with your time than read this? Yes, you do. But I suppose I am in no position to criticise anyone for not using their time to the maximum benefit of themselves and/or of humanity in general, so please, read on. If you want.Three Key Factors1. England have better playersThis is often an important, if overlooked, factor in sport. Much is attributed to coaches, captains, luck, umpiring, destiny and fate, but what the summer’s series proved, as had every Ashes series from 1989 to 2003, is that if you pit a team against opponents with significantly better players, that team will probably lose.Australia’s team in the first Test at Trent Bridge last summer had just one batsman inside the world’s top 40, and one bowler in the top 20. England had five top-25 batsmen (including four in the top 15) and four top-15 bowlers (three of them in the top 10). As it was, the most influential player in the series proved to be lowest-ranked of England’s established batsmen, Ian Bell, who came spectacularly good after a moderate 18 months. The rankings gap has since closed, but only by a little. Michael Clarke remains fifth, but is still the only Baggy Greenster in the top 30 batsmen; England currently have no batsmen with single-figure rankings, but five in the top 20. Australia have two of the top 8 bowlers; England have three in the top 11.The rankings, for what they are worth (which is I think a reasonable amount), suggest that for Australia to win, they will need several of their players to accelerate their upward trajectories, and make England’s continue their slight decline. This is entirely possible. Rankings show how players have been playing, and suggest how they might play. They do not, of course, show how they will play.For all the talk about Alastair Cook’s unquestionable tactical negativity and his equally unquestionable skill at fostering unity and determination in his team, his greatest strength as a captain is having five batsmen ranked in the top 20 and three bowlers in the top 11. And for all Clarke’s tactical innovations and dressing-room spattery, his Achilles’ heel as a skipper is being able to call on only one batsman inside the world’s top 30 – himself – and having to work with a constantly-changing, injury-prone bowling attack.

It is often said that winning without playing well is a mark of a good side. This is sometimes true. But often false. It is often the sign of an adequate team playing adequately against inferior opposition

2. England have the bigger back-room staffNothing is left to chance with the high-tech 21st-century England cricket team, who now travel with a support staff of, at the most recent unofficial estimate, at least 450. There are the coaches, nutritionists, video analysts, sports psychologists, media liaison goons, fitness gurus, kit baggagistas, and cap-logo-direction-tweaking assistants. There are dieticians, chefs, sous-chefs, cous-cous grain-size controllers, recipe consultants and a full-time energy drink sommelier called Alphonse who used to work at the quadruple Michelin-starred La Jolie Fornicatrice in Paris (“may I recommend a bottle of the 2013 orange-flavoured isotonic glucose Chateau de Gatorade, Monsieur, it will go perfectément avec your mungbean curry”).There are Twitter spat guidance counsellors, post-umpiring-decision-stress therapists, wicket-celebration choreographers, high-five safety officers, a five-man sledge writing team on secondment from working on the script of a Hollywood gross-out movie, and a bed-time storyteller to ensure the players get a sleep well, efficiently and in the right areas. There is a motivational Shane Warne impersonator, a hologram WG Grace to ensure the team are aware of their historic responsibility to the shirt, and, just appointed, an exorcist. The last thing you want in the middle of an important Test series is for one of your key players to become possessed. Again. Australia are playing catch-up off the field as well as on it.3. England will probably play better than they played in the summer. Then again, they might not. They might play worse. But they could play worse and still win. If Australia play at the same level as they did. But they might improve. Or decline. It is often said that winning without playing well is a mark of a good side. This is sometimes true. But often false. It is often the sign of an adequate team playing adequately against inferior opposition. It is not so often said that losing despite playing well is a mark of a bad side. So how do you interpret England’s 3-0 win and Australia’s 3-0 defeat last summer? England almost stole a 4-0 win thanks to a contrived end to the final Test. Australia could conceivably have won at Trent Bridge, Manchester, Durham and The Oval. At a stretch. A gymnastic stretch, admittedly, which would have needed a rare combination of better weather, better cricket, and better cricketers. But it would have only taken a few moments to have had altered outcomes to have been a very different series.So, complete the following sentence:In the 2013 Ashes…(a) a good team playing adequately beat a poor team playing well;
(b) an adequate team playing adequately beat another adequate team also playing adequately, but with decisive outbreaks of, respectively, brilliance and uselessness;
(c) a very good team playing poorly beat a useless team touching undreamt-of heights of sporadic competence;
(d) a fading-but-still-potent team playing fadingly but with potency beat a fragile-but-improving team playing with fragility whilst also showing improvement;
(e) all of the above, to varying degree; or
(f) none of the above.Both sides, a little oddly, might be carrying some resentment from the previous series, and will be wanting to prove their actual and perceived critics wrong (whilst also proving their opponents’ critics right, a motivation that is seldom aired in public, regrettably for the neutral).SummaryEngland should win, Australia could win, drawn series fans could be in for a treat.Official Confectionery Stall PredictionAustralia 1 England 3. England’s batting, less vulnerable in less swingsome conditions, and with greater experience and depth, will prove too great an obstacle for Australia.

The Plays of the day from the Asia Cup match between Bangladesh and Pakistan

Mohammad Isam in Mirpur04-Mar-2014The chanceMinutes after a Shakib Al Hasan delivery whizzed past Shahid Afridi’s leg stump, Mushfiqur Rahim gave Afridi another reprieve. He dropped what seemed to be a sitter as he jogged in from cover. The batsman had already given up but the ball popped out of the Bangladesh captain’s hands. He was crestfallen.The omenMohammad Hafeez got one to turn slightly at Imrul Kayes in the first over, the left-hander going on to edge the ball to Ahmed Shehzad at slip. He dived to his right, but the ball spilled out. Given how Pakistan’s bowling and fielding went for the rest of the game, this was the omen.The lucky breakWhen Imrul was actually caught, it was midway through Abdur Rehman’s meltdown. It was the second delivery from Rehman, another full-toss but Imrul had struck it straight at deep midwicket where the catch was taken easily by Sohaib Maqsood. But the on-field umpires declared it no-ball after consultation with the TV umpire.The off-air missAs Umar Gul prepared to bowl the 48th over, he warmed up by bowling to Mohammad Talha at long-off but Talha missed the ball and it trickled over the boundary. The crowd picked up the miss and went after Talha once again, after he had comically misfielded in the over before. Shahid Afridi came up to him and asked him to go to midwicket, a sensible move from a senior player to protect the newcomer.The Michael SlaterWhen it comes to celebrating a personal milestone, Anamul Haque is becoming the Michael Slater of Bangladesh cricket. After he reached his fifty, he gave Imrul Kayes a hug and once he reached his hundred, he pumped his fist, leapt in the air towards the dressing-room. Mominul gave him a hug too, and Anamul’s smile only abated after he got out the next ball.Slater usually ran straight, running towards the dressing-room, but because the Mirpur dressing room is square of the wicket, he had to change track after scoring the hundredth run.The wallopShakib meant business for the 20 minutes he spent at the crease, on his return from a three-match ban. He finished off his short innings with a clip off the legs, high over midwicket as Umar Gul gifted him a length ball in the penultimate ball of the Bangladesh innings. The six took the home side to their highest ODI score.The big gapThe first bad decision in this game was when Sohaib Maqsood was given out caught behind off Mominul Haque in the 23rd over. He walked off almost laughing at umpire Nigel Llong as replays clearly showed that he had missed the ball by a fair distance.

Sanjay Manjrekar analyses the strengths and weaknesses of India’s middle-order contenders touring England

Sanjay Manjrekar06-Jul-2014One of the smartest batsmen around, a lot is riding on the very confident Virat Kohli. With no apparent weakness, he should avoid playing away from his body early on in his innings till his feet start moving well. Given the opposition bowling attack and the kind of form Kohli is in, there should be no surprises if he notches up lots of runs on the tour.After a dream start to his Test career, Rohit Sharma has had a bit of reality check on the South Africa and New Zealand tours. Maybe he is suffering from insecurity regarding his place in the team, which have led him to misjudge length on certain occasions. Relying more on defence and rotating the strike when early on at the crease should serve him good and if he gets going, he will surely be difficult to stop.Ajinkya Rahane shows good balance on the crease and can accelerate at will to score quick runs. Playing on the up, trying to fetch balls outside off stump with loose hands and playing across the line should be avoided to succeed. Given his appetite for big runs, if Rahane gets going early on in the series, he is bound to end up with a very successful one.Compared to other Indian batsmen, MS Dhoni does not seem to have a problem against pace and bounce, which should work in his favour. A known weakness against the ball pitched outside the off stump could be exploited by the opposition, but if Dhoni could rattle bowlers by playing big shots early in his innings, it could get him going.

Following the bowling ban on Saeed Ajmal, ESPNcricinfo picks five bowlers Pakistan may replace him with for the time being

Umar Farooq10-Sep-2014Raza Hasan, 22, left-arm spinner
He is young, shrewd and already has some Twenty20 international experience. Hasan was first noticed in 2010, when Pakistan picked him as a replacement for Danish Kaneria during their tour of England. He played T20 matches against Australia in the UAE and in the 2012 World T20 but his international career has stalled since then. He suffered a spine injury in 2012, which allowed another left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Barar to leapfrog him in the pecking order, and only recovered from it the following year. Hasan, however, is among the few spinners in Pakistan with a bright future.Atif Maqbool, 32, offspinner
Among the top spinners in Pakistan at present, Maqbool had his bowling action assessed as a precautionary measure by the PCB in the wake of Ajmal’s ban, and it is understood he will be cleared after minor rehabilitation. Maqbool was the top wicket-taker in the President’s Trophy last year with 57 at 17.17 apiece. He has been on the domestic circuit since 2001 – 246 wickets at 26 apiece in 58 matches – but began to get noticed only in the previous two seasons.Zulfiqar Babar, 35, left-arm spinner
He has played two Tests and seven T20 internationals since his debut in 2013 but has spent the majority of his time with the Pakistan squad on the bench. Given his age – Babar was 34 on debut – he might not be a long-term prospect but is an asset for the 2015 World Cup.Adnan Rasool, 33, offspinner
He came closest to top-flight cricket in 2005-06, during Bob Woolmer’s time as Pakistan coach, but fell behind because of a questionable action. Following some remedial work, Rasool continued playing first-class cricket and now has 142 wickets at an average of 25 in 40 matches. He took 22 wickets at 22.45 each during last season’s President’s Trophy and is presently in the Lahore Lions squad that will take part in the Champions League T20 in India.Abdur Rehman, 34, left-arm spinner
He has suffered as Ajmal’s support act over the last three years. Apart from the 2011-12 series win against England in the UAE, where Rehman and Ajmal took 43 wickets together, his opportunities to play have been inconsistent. Rehman has been overshadowed by Ajmal’s burgeoning success and his present form might not be good enough to make him Pakistan’s first-choice replacement.