Masterclass How to bat inTwenty20

SPINJUNE 2009 £3.75

Englandexpects

The inside story of Andy Flower’s new regime

100 MPH & YET TO PLAY A GAME

Atul Sharma – the most amazing cricket story you’ll read this year

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SPIN

Shaun Udal and Azhar Mahmood preview the new campaign

WORLD CRICKET MONTHLY

T20 IS BACK

Michael Vaughan’s artOn the road at the IPLWhen will a woman play for England? WITH NEW

IMPROVEDEXCLUSIVEHAWKEYE

+ COURTNEY WALSH CHRIS READ IAN BLACKWELL

LEADING EDGE

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21.04.2009 DIPLOMATI C VOLTE FACE

Andrew Strauss – the England captain – had said, along with ECB cheeses Dusty Miller and Hugh Morris, that he didn’t think the Aussies should be given a warm-up in the championship, ahead of the Ashes. Fast forward to Middlesex’s press day: Andrew Strauss – the Middlesex batsman – turns up to meet his new team-mate Phillip Hughes, Australia’s new wonderboy. Embarrassment all round? Of course not, as the ever-smooth Strauss managed to negotiate the tricky waters by changing his tune quick-sharp: “It’s not a huge concern of mine,” quoth the Wingco. “There are lots of things to worry about in the coming weeks; the fact he’s playing here’s not one of them. There’s no point losing sleep, it won’t win or lose us the Ashes.”

18.04.2009 EARLY BIRD

No-one has ever hit a triple-century earlier in the

English season than Somerset’s James Hildreth

who passed 300 on April 18, after batting for seven hours

and 41 minutes against Warwickshire at Taunton. That said, it’s only comparatively recently that the English season has begun so soon after Christmas. SPIN’s season preview last month called

for “further progress” from Somerset’s long-mooted

prospect, now 24, who averaged just 32 last year.

The 338-ball effort was a pretty good start.

15.04.2009 WASTE OF MONEYA full three months after Mooro was offed and a team of head-hunters appointed (and, presumably, paid) to find a replacement, England did what they had done in 2007: appointed the man who was next in line, anyway. Brilliant. England MD Hugh Morris said there had been 30 applicants for the job (are there 30 team coaches in the world?) but would not be drawn on how many had been interviewed. (Rumour suggested John Wright had been spoken to on the phone and, er, that was it.) The process was so drawn out that other likely lads – Ford, Arthur, Moody – had ruled themselves out by the time the choice was made and Flower was almost the last man standing. That consensus suggests he may also be the right man is a bit of luck for the ECB.

this month’s biggest…P

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18.04.2009 ANGLOPHILES

Having decided not to play in England, the first week of the all-action IPL was marked by a roster of sights familiar to English sporting diehards. There was incessant rain, with freezing crowds huddled patiently in the stands and cheerleaders in long trousers; players leaving the ground for a rest when conditions seemed perfect (to satisfy the IPL’s crazy new invention, the seven-and-a-half-minute mid-innings tactics/ad break.) And, in the first innings of the first game, an 11-minute interruption as a black labrador took to the park and no-one (no-one!) bothered to stop him. Soon, this new-fangled fast-moving all-action version of cricket was reminding us of an attritional day in a high wind at Buxton. Much more like it.

19.04.2009 NEW JOB

Last year SPIN favourite Sree Sreesanth followed up high-profile tiffs with Matty Hayden and KP by getting slapped by Harbhajan and bursting into tears at the IPL. For this year’s tournament, he is prevented from taking the field by a back injury. But you wouldn’t want to leave him at home would you? (Rhetorical question, readers.) So Kings XI Punjab gave the great man a new job: as official “fan mentor” and “community face”. Meaning? “I’ll be mixing with the fans, cheering with the cheerleaders and keeping the mood alive. Of course, there’ll be a lot of dancing,” explained the emotional former breakdancing and boogie woogie dance champ (true), adding. “It’s going to be very exciting.”Whether Big Fish Matty Hayden has a similar clause in his own contract is not known.

22.04.2009 ‘HOME’COMINGGiven the security issues that have stopped them playing a home Test for 16 months before the tragic series with Sri Lanka, people might have forgotten that Pakistan are actually a decent ODI team with a good shout in the upcoming ICC World T20. And now they can actually start to focus on cricket again: they have a new home ground – and we think they’re going to like it. They opened the Dubai Sports City stadium with an ODI thumping of (an admittedly understrength) Australia side. Maverick twirler Shahid Afridi took six wickets as the Aussies lost their last seven for 62 to crumpled to 168 all out – his best return in his 272nd ODIs.

15.04.2009 TOLD YOU SO

As he revealed in a scorching interview in last month’s SPIN,

Dominic Cork wasn’t best pleased at being offed by Lancashire

midway through last season – and then being ‘allowed’ to play in

the first XI through ’til the end. “Stabbed in the back” was his exact

assessment. His verdict on his new club: “A side that starts slowly:

we need to change that and get stuck in right from the start.” True

to his word, Corky came on second change on his Hampshire debut,

picked up three wickets in four balls – all leg-before – and four in 11,

finishing up with 4/10 as he propelled set his new team towards a

win inside three days. Is there talk of England?

LEADING EDGE

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S10THINGS COURTNEY WALSHTOLD SPIN THIS MONTH

West Indies legend with 519 Test wickets to his name on being a father figure to the current team – and getting up at four in the morning

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10 things

started out bowling legspin for my school and my club. Bowling fast just happened. I got taller and with the extra height I started to get more success with the new ball instead of the old, so it came naturally.

The current West Indies bowlers need some father figuresI think the potential is good, but we have only just recently seen a little more consistency from Jerome Taylor and Fidel Edwards. They need guidance. I think former players need to be involved a bit more. At regional level maybe, but also when they go on tour, they could ask me to be around the team. For me, as a youngster, getting advice from Hall and Griffith and having Garfield Sobers came up to me before I went on tour… it made all the difference.

We don’t have a bowling coach now. So they are working on their own. They know how to come in at 80-90 mph and where to put the seam. But what about the mental side? Until someone in the side gets senior enough to start helping the youngsters, then who is passing on the knowledge?

I’ve started playing againWhen I retired I eased down. But last year I started to play Minor Cup cricket for my club back home, Melbourne. I look after the U-19s there. I captained the team, and bowled a couple of overs, just to keep in there with it. This year, I want to get a little bit more happening. I’ve jogging again, you know. And sometimes when I’m at the ground and the under-19s are practising, I try and see if I can remember how to wheel the arm over, you know, just a little something for them.

My fitness regime was crazy I would be up at 4.30 in the morning, jogging at least four or five times a week. That hour was important to me, because it would set the tone for the day. I would ease off a bit when I was with the team because playing would keep you loose, and I could afford to go and have a little sleep in the afternoon. When I was home though, I would have to keep to those mornings. I was never a big weights man, though. Just a couple of dumbbells. Whatever keeps things loose

I learned from legendsBefore my first tour of England with the West Indies youth team in 1982, people like Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith came and spoke to us. To hear from these legends at such a young age was something very special. Then, in my earliest days around the Test team [from 1984] you had Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner. Those were the guys who you wanted to be, and who you wanted to be around. Michael Holding played for the same club as me in Jamaica, so I learnt a lot from him, I watched him play a lot.

I think the first technical coaching I got was from Andy Roberts, who showed me the grips on the ball, and Wes Hall, who showed me where to place the seam. You would watch these guys then go off and practise what they had talked about. I think developing my own style is what kept me going all those years.

I was in the side for five years before I got the new ball. You had Holding, Marshall, Garner in front of you and after those guys left then a lot of other people moved up before me as well! Patrick Patterson, Ian Bishop, Curtly Ambrose… I just did what the team required of me.

Chris Gayle is like Viv RichardsHe is an inspiration to the kids. He’s so relaxed about everything and the kids love him, when they see him in the streets. He’s like Viv Richards in that respect.

You don’t get two harder workers than Viv Richards and Chris Gayle. Both of them train very hard; the pride they have is awesome. Gayle doesn’t show it on the field, but he works hard. I’ve known him from a schoolkid, because he went to my school. I see that he is a proud man, who wants it.

I started out as a spinner.I used to bowl all the kinds of spin you could think of! As a youngster you were always hearing about Lance Gibbs who used to bowl off-spin, and Arthur Barrett who was a legspinner. So I

Playing county cricket doesn’t have to ruin fast bowlersI know that’s what Nasser Hussain reckons. And if you don’t look after yourself it can. But the amount of cricket you play, well… it can also make you into a better bowler. I played 14 seasons at Gloucestershire, took 800 wickets: I just wanted to deliver. Nothing came between me and playing cricket.

Music is a part of meIt helped me so much when I played. To relax me, to look after me. Bob Marley was one of my heroes as a kid growing up. Bob Marley, Beres Hammond, Shaggy, Freddie McGregor, all the musicians, that’s what helped me growing up. All the entertainers, I get together with them and play charity football matches now. When I was away from home, the music is what kept me company. I’d get my headphones on and that’s me. I can’t sing or deejay or nothing, but I’m big into my music, I love my music.

My best tour was to India in 1994I got the call to lead the team, because Richie Richardson got sick, and I was so honoured. It was a very challenging tour – we lost the first Test but came back and won the last to equal the series. It was the best tour I’ve been on, in terms of team spirit. The vibes, the chemistry, the way we were looking after each other, just awesome.

Nobody told me that I’d lost the captaincy when Brian Lara took over. I think the way it was handled was poorly done. But as I said to them at the time, the way things have gone, this man’s time has now come, so it made it a very easy decision for me to continue as a player.

The England series will be interesting I think we have picked a nicely balanced team, but best of all you have the confidence in all those guys who won in the Caribbean. They will need a bit of acclimatisation to the

English conditions, but I’m sure that if they get that out of their system early, they’ll do very well.

Amongst the new bowlers, let me tell you about Andrew Richardson. He’s a very good bowler: it’s good that’s he’s got his chance. You know, he could surprise a few people over here.

Interview: Marcus Dubois.Courtney Walsh was speaking to promote Sky Sports’ exclusively live and high definition coverage of the England vs West Indies Test and ODI series, between May 6 and May 26

‘Gayle is a proud man. He works

hard; he wants it’

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INTERVIEW INDIA’S PACE REVOLUTION

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INTERVIEW INDIA’S PACE REVOLUTION

powerFlowerNew coach Andy Flower has two months to turn England around. How will he do it? SPIN’s panel, led by Flower’s brother, Grant, offer some clues.

INTERVIEWS: GEORGE DOBELL

INTERVIEW INDIA’S PACE REVOLUTION

JUNE 2009 SPIN 33

INTERVIEW INDIA’S PACE REVOLUTION

F or 18 months ahead of the 2005 Ashes, England beat allcomers, evolving a settled side, with a winning mentality and tactics and techniques that came to them instinctively. The build-

up to the 2009 sequel has been rather different. Andy Flower was only appointed to the England team director’s job on April 15, just three weeks before the start of the international season.

After Peter Moores’ surprise departure in January, Flower took the team to the West Indies, pointedly retaining his ‘assistant’ tag. Having presided over England’s third consecutive Test series defeat – and a 3-2 ODI win – with a side that was effectively a hangover from the Moores era, Flower now has the apparent freedom, if little time, to shape his own team.

As a player, Flower, who debuted for Zimbabwe in 1992, became the No 1 ranked batsman in the world. He finished his career with an average of 51, better than every English batsman of the last 40 years, including Kevin Pietersen.

Flower took on his first coaching role, mid-career, in 1997, as head coach at Oxford University. Later, playing for Essex from 2002, he would be co-opted as a batting consultant to the ECB Academy, before joining the England set-up full-time in May 2007.

So what can we expect from England’s new coach? We spoke to cricket people who had known Andy Flower throughout his life – led by his brother Grant – to hear in depth about his background, style and cricket philosophy. Grant Flower We started out together in the back garden. I’m two-and-a-half years younger and spent a fair amount of those years bowling at him. There was never much coaching, so we had to fend for ourselves. Our dad was a big influence, though. He instilled the idea that we had to work hard, though it pretty much only extended to the sports field. We were always much more orientated towards sports than school work.

Roger Newman I got to know him when he played for West Bromwich Dartmouth in the Birmingham League in the mid-’90s. He was overseas player and I was chairman of cricket. There was an incident that struck me very early on. After getting himself out for about 70 to a poor shot, he wentinto the dressing room, looked into the mirror for some time and then spat into it. He was so disgusted with himself.

GF Andy was training to be an accountant. It wasn’t until he after he had spent a year playing in the Birmingham League that he considered taking up cricket professionally. It was a very important time. There’s a bit of pressure on you if you’re the overseas pro;

Henry Olonga Former Zimbabwe team-mate and partner in black armband protest against President Mugabe in 2003

Roger Newman Gave Flower his first coaching job, at Oxford University.

Ronnie Irani Former Test opponent and Essex team-mate

Grant Flower brother; Essex and Zimbabwe team-mate

THE SPIN PANEL

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PREVIEW TWENTY20 CUP

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Udal celebrates the run out of Ian Bell in Middlesex’s defeat by England at the Stanford Super Series. Below, right: Success for loan signing Neil Carter at Stanford – but Udal says now the team should have stuck to last summer’s winning formula

The new Middlesex captain turned 40 in March and is enjoying a third

coming. Having enjoyed one Indian summer, called up for his Test debut at 36 in 1995, he retired from cricket at the end of the 2007 season. Lured back by Middlesex last year, he became a key part in their march to the Twenty20 Cup title – and in March was named in England’s provisional 30 for the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20. First Ed Smith and then Ed Joyce – who have both left the county – led Middlesex to the Twenty Cup last July. But this year Udal will be in charge, as they defend their title.

Udal took over the T20 reins at the Stanford Super Series last October. Dirk Nannes, their bowling spearhead, had left and with a much changed side the wheels came off and the team

lost all three games. Then, the Champions League, at which Middlesex were due to compete for a £2m first prize, was postponed after the Mumbai bombings, to complete a winter of T20 anti-climax.

But as one half of the meanest bowling combination in the country, with Murali Kartik, Udal tells SPIN that he is bullish about Middlesex’s hopes for retaining the Twenty20 Cup and why, 18 months on from his ‘retirement’, he is still worth his place in any side – England very much included.

Is Twenty20 a young man’s game or an old man’s game?It’s an experience game for good cricketers whether you’re 18, 28 or 38. Experience is important in pressure situations because if you’ve been in that situation you

don’t panic, you’ve got a gameplan and you go back to that. The classic one for me was the Twenty20 final last year. My first over had gone for 11, but in my next three overs I got one for ten: that’s purely because the line I was bowling in the first over wasn’t the good one. I had to think back and clearly in that tight situation, get the right line and adjust what I was doing. If I had been 22, 23 I don’t think I would have been able to do that.

Will Middlesex be doing anything differently this year?You tend to think if it isn’t broken don’t fix it. There are always ways you can improve. We haven’t got Dirk Nannes, so that gives Steven Finn or somebody else an opportunity and obviously Ed Joyce isn’t there so somebody has to fill his spot. Otherwise we’re the

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…’Shaun Udal Captain of defending champs Middlesex

‘Everybody knew our plans and knew what we were going to do last year. But it still worked’

JUNE 2009 SPIN 49

same personnel and not much will change.

How much of a hole will Dirk Nannes leave?He’s a shock bowler. We haven’t got a 90mph quick now. There are very few of them in the world. Obviously losing him will be a blow, but there is no reason why someone can’t come in and fill the gap. Steve Finn bowled beautifully at The Oval against Lancashire in the quarter-final last year.

Where do you think you could improve as a side?We weren’t that mobile in the circle at the end. But what we did do well was get fielders in the right positions, getting (Eoin) Morgan, (Ed) Joyce, (Dawid) Malan, (Billy) Godleman – the younger batsmen – sweeping the boundary. We lost one game against Hampshire at Richmond when were only chasing 130-odd and we panicked at the top and went gung-ho when we should

have probably adapted better and kept wickets in hand. Losing a seven-over slog at Beckenham against Kent – the only other game we lost in the tournament – was just one of those things.

Do you think other sides will see you coming now?Possibly, but I think if they wanted to change they could have done that last year. They knew our plans; they knew we mix it up in the first six overs and bowl one-over spells, then everybody knew we brought on the spinners after seven or eight overs. Everybody knew what we were going to do last year, but it still worked. We overcame Kent

at Uxbridge in a very tight game and obviously beat them again at the final. They knew what were going to do. It’s all very well knowing. People say to me: ‘I can pick your quicker ball’. I say: ‘You can pick it, but you’ve still got to play it.’

Who do you think your biggest rivals will be this year?Kent will be good again, always are and Durham. Essex again, they’re very good at all forms of one-day cricket. Somebody who I thought would do better is Somerset with their batting power. But at the beginning of last year nobody would have predicted that we would have come through and won it:

Udal bowled his four overs for 21 in the 2008 final – a vital part of Middlesex’s three-run win over Kent

38 SPIN JUNE 2009

INTERVIEW DUNCAN STEERPORTRAITS JURIE POTGIETER

INTERVIEW ATUL SHARMA

JUNE 2009 SPIN 39

Atul Sharma did not play a game of cricket for seven years but Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals have snapped him up for the 2009 IPL. Why? Because Sharma has trained himself to bowl at 100mph. And his amazing story could change the way cricket is coached forever…

MASTERCLASSFOR ANY YOUNG LADS OUT THERE…

SUCCESSFUL TWENTY20 BATTING is not all about innovation and taking risks, writes Gary Palmer. Generally, the best T20 batters play ‘proper’ cricket shots, hit down the ground with the full face of the bat as their preferred scoring option. You need a good basic batting technique from which to improvise and attach additional flair shots.

Because T20 requires you to score off more balls it is vital to maximise your hitting zone by keeping he bat going through the line of the ball for the maximum time with the full face of the bat. This minimises risk.

To do this consistently and effectively you need all your basics in place: you need to be well balanced, well aligned to where you want to hit the ball and make sure you have exaggerated finishing positions where you fully complete the shots with good technique. For example when you are trying to hit down the ground, finishing your shots with high hands and a high leading elbow.

Once the back-swing is well aligned to the area you want to hit the ball, keeping the leading elbow high after the shot ensures the bat goes through the line of the ball for the maximum amount of time. Aiming to hit as smoothly as possible, your straight drives become low-risk scoring shots.

Maximise Technique and Minimise RiskOne very important point for batters when trying to improvise – don’t try to hit the ball too hard. Stroke the ball with correct technique and keep the bat flowing through the line of the ball.

Trying to deliberately hit the ball hard and swinging the bat fast does become important when pulling and cutting – shots where the

bat swings horizontally through the line of the ball and the bottom hand dominates.

Don’t get caught up in playing reverse sweeps and ‘trendy’ shots because you think that’s the thing to do in T20. They are very high risk. The reverse sweep is a last resort against spin bowling if all else has failed.

If you are going to play a high risk shot make sure its one that will get you a boundary, preferably a six.

How to hit the gaps successfully Swing the bat in a straight line to the target area from backswing to completion of stroke with the leading elbow high on and after contact with the ball. As you make contact close the face of the bat slightly to hit the gap you have identified. Go for small changes of angle to hit gaps rather than wide angle changes.

Prioritise practising the straight-batted shots down the ground and perfect them before spending too much time practising the high risk shots square of the wicket.

For straight batted shots, your top hand should dominate, with the bottom hand loose to ensure the full blade of bat is stroking through the line of the ball for the maximum amount of time.

Getting your front leg out of the wayYou need to manoeuvre the body to enable the bat to swing in a straight line to where you want to hit the ball especially when improvising to hit boundaries.

When hitting over the top in the V and trying to score on the legside clear the front leg towards the leg side to allow you good access to the ball.

Going back and across into the crease, opening the shoulders and moving the front leg aside allows you to swing the bat in as straight a line as possible. Against pace bowlers this initial movement (trigger) gives you slightly more time to select your shot, giving you the option of hooking. cutting and pulling the ball when it is shorter.

Going back into the crease also can turn half volleys in to length balls that are easier to hit for boundaries and it gives you time to align yourself to execute the shot.

The more you open your shoulders and clear the front leg the more options you have to hit down the ground with the full face.

Things to work on1 Practice hitting the low full toss straight down the ground.2 Against balls that are swinging or turning away, arriving at the legside of middle stump: try to step inside the line of the delivery aligning both feet straight back up the pitch and then look to hit on the legside. 3 Against balls swinging in or turning in that arrive on the off-stump side of middle: practice hitting these straight in the ‘V’ or with the spin on the legside. Look to step across the crease and get in line or inside the line of the delivery so that you can align you feet straight or open up the front leg towards the leg side to enable you to hit with the spin/swing.

Gary Palmer has been batting coach to many county and international players and has helped a series of young players win pro contracts. For info on courses and one-to-one coaching: www.cmacademy.co.ukP

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Stepping back and across into the crease, clearing the front leg out of the way and opening your shoulders puts you in a great position to play front- and back-foot attacking shots all around the ground. This trigger gives you a good base to rock back and execute the back foot shots, drives, cuts, pull and hook.

You can also lean forward from this position and play the attacking shots for four or six off the front foot, too.

As the bounce gets higher because the delivery is shorter you are more likely start to swing the bat horizontally to hit the ball squarer of the wicket – but remember to try and swing the bat in as straight a line as possible towards the target area.

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What’s the situation?At the end of the West Indies tour, spinner Graeme Swann had a not uncommon problem with his elbow, namely a floating body or loose bone. In sportsmen this is common both in cricketers and players of racket sports. A small piece of bone/cartilage breaks off inside the joint and can steadily enlarge and lock up inside the elbow joint causing acute pain and clicking. It can obviously interfere with the bowling action and when it does occur can put a cricketer out for a few weeks. The surgery is straightforward with the condition being diagnosed pre-operatively with a combination of x-rays and also, normally a scan combined with an injection of contrast or dye into the joint. Often there can be more than one loose body and such loose bodies can exist in both the front and the back of the elbow joint.

What does the treatment involve?Fortunately the surgery these days is straight forward being performed minimally invasively/ arthroscopically. Tiny cameras, just under 3mm in diameter are inserted into the elbow joint. The elbow joint is distended – expanded – with fluid and the loose bodies or fragments of bone and cartilage are removed. Surgery normally takes less than half an hour and is performed as a day case.

How long does recovery take?The patient would then rest and ice the elbow for 48 hours starting a gentle rehabilitation programme after that. Generally players can return to action within six weeks – indeed Graeme, having missed the ODI series, returned to play for Notts on April 21, just five weeks after his last game. Simon Moyes is one of the UK’s leading Orthopaedic surgeons and works out of the Wellington Hospital, where he has recently started the Wellington Foot and Ankle Clinic. His websites are www.ankle-arthroscopy.co.uk and www.simonmoyes.com

Graham Swann’s elbowBy Simon Moyes