Yousuf Youhana’s conversion to Islam and a new identity – Mohammad Yousuf – illustrates the growing phenomenon of faith within the Pakistan team

Osman Samiuddin23-Sep-2005

Mohammad Yousuf: a batsman by any other name… © Getty Images

During India’s tour to Pakistan last year, an Indian journalist asked an ex-player from the `80s with as much flippancy as seriousness why, in his time, Pakistan players didn’t feel the urge to exhibit their faith as openly as current members did. Having been tickled by a stream of pre- and post-match comments littered with traditional Islamic salutations and on-field celebrations of landmarks with a sajda (kneeling down in Muslim prayer), the query was justified. Suitably, the reply was simultaneously glib and revealing: “Clearly we weren’t good Muslims.”Certainly during his time and periods preceding it, public displays of religiosity at least (not its private practice) were absent. At one defining moment in its recent history, when Javed Miandad struck a leg-side full toss for six in Sharjah, Pakistan cricket had no overt religious commemoration of the event. Instead, Miandad and non-striker Tauseef Ahmed dashed off wildly, arms akimbo, as natural and impulsive a celebration as you could imagine.Six years later, at arguably a greater epochal moment in Melbourne, a handful of players knelt in sajda and offered thanks for winning the World Cup. Today, if you talk to any cricketer, on or off the record, replies will begin with and be bookended by a bismillah (“In the name of Allah” – it is a traditional recitation at the start of any Muslim act) or inshallah (“God Willing”). And now, with Yousuf Youhana’s conversion to Islam and a new identity – Mohammad Yousuf – the growing phenomenon of faith within the team finds its most intriguing example.It is difficult to say with any certainty how or why this gradual change has come about. Superficially, we can pinpoint key actors and factors. Saeed Anwar, after the traumatic death of his young daughter, turned to religion and spirituality and took to the Tableeghi Jamaat (missionaries), who practise a stricter adherence to the codes of Islam than most. Anwar’s influence spread among senior players such as Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq and the group travel together regularly to Raiwind, a small town near Lahore, where the Tableeghis congregate for prayer and dialogue.Yousuf’s revelation that he had actually converted some time ago adds further credence to the theory that Anwar’s role has been crucial. Three years ago, during the World Cup, there were persistent rumours that he had converted under Anwar’s influence.Maybe too, in the spectre of match-fixing, there lies a compulsion towards religion. Sharda Ugra, senior editor with India Today, suggested in an article on the subject last year during India’s tour to Pakistan that “the post-match-fixing generation in Pakistan cricket is grappling with a `double burden’; as sportsmen not only are they under scrutiny for their professional conduct, they have also become characters in a public morality play, always vulnerable to being accused of match-fixing should they fail.”Tellingly, when Salim Malik was first accused by Rashid Latif and Basit Ali of match-fixing during the African jaunt of 1994-95, almost the first thing manager Intikhab Alam asked him to do was swear on the Quran that he wasn’t guilty of any such deed.

Saeed Anwar turned to religion in the final phase of his career © Getty Images

But for younger or newer members of the team, who haven’t played with Anwar, scouring for the roots of their religiosity is a more difficult proposition. To an extent, conformism and peer pressure play a part. But a broad, not infallible, argument can also be drawn: as the socioeconomic and geographic composition of the team has altered so too has the inclination of the team towards religion.Where once the national team was sourced in large part of players from the metropolises of Karachi and Lahore, and where the leading figures were urbane and rounded personalities such as Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan and Imran Khan, this is no longer the case. In Pakistan’s last Test match, against the West Indies, only four members of the team were born in Lahore or Karachi.There will be some who will argue that in smaller towns, such as Sialkot and Sheikhupura, religion perhaps holds a greater significance in people’s lives than it does in Karachi or Lahore. Levels of education are poorer, fewer people are literate and because awareness is generally low, religious beliefs, orthodox and otherwise, assume an enhanced importance. Abdul Razzaq’s mysterious illness and dizzy spells during last year’s Australia tour is an example: apparently he was on a spinach-only diet that a pir (spiritual leader) had advised would make him stronger.But this assumption can be, and often is, countered by some Pakistani sociologists who rightly point to the higher incidence of sectarian-fuelled violence in cities like Karachi and Lahore that suggests the opposite to be true. This indicates, they say, that the importance of religion has grown in urban, rather than rural, Pakistan over the last decade or so.Maybe the development isn’t linked so much to changing demography as it is to changing times. Many Pakistanis will tell you that the country as a whole has increasingly come to identify itself in religious terms. When Pakistan came into being it wasn’t, after all, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, as it is now. The gradual Islamisation of the country began towards the end of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s premiership in the mid-’70s. Bhutto declared Ahmadis non-Muslim, banned alcohol, shut down nightclubs and changed the weekly holiday from Sunday to Friday to appease the religious front.The subsequent policies of General Zia-ul Haq – he brought in the Shariah law (the Islamic legal system) – and the pre-eminence of Islamic political parties such as the new religious alliance under the banner of the MMA have since enhanced the process. But even here, it can be argued with some justification that the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami party held sway over Karachi’s politics through the ’60s and ’70s.In recent months, two of the more heated domestic debates have been whether or not to retain a column that asks you to identify your faith in the Pakistani passport (after much debate, the column has been retained) and the impending implementation of a Hisba bill in the North-West Frontier Province. The bill essentially puts forth yet another parallel legal Islamic system, one which liberal circles decry as an act of Talibanisation, so strict are its moral codes.Younger players in the current team are children of this era, unlike players such as Imran, Javed and even Akram. When Salman Butt says, as he did in a recent Wisden interview, “we are Muslims and we believe in Allah. We do whatever Islam says and we try to be what we are supposed to be. Religion is the complete code of life and we follow its guiding principles,” it is but natural for someone born in 1984, at the peak of Zia’s rule, to not just say it, but stress upon it.Ultimately, of course, there isn’t anything to suggest the trend really matters in terms of either performance or selection. It forms but an interesting aside in what is, intrinsically and traditionally, an interesting team.Cynics have speculated that Yousuf’s conversion was the derivative of the belief that being Christian would preclude his elevation to captaincy. Disregarding his credentials as captain, the more cynical would counter that having a Christian as captain of Pakistan, an Islamic country fighting a global war on terrorism and a domestic one on extremism, would in fact be an admirable international PR coup for the media-savvy President Musharraf, who also doubles as Patron-in-Chief of the PCB.In any case, Yousuf has denied that his aspiration to captaincy had any link with his decision. In a matter as personal as this, we must go by his word and nothing else, not speculation, rumour or the displeasure expressed by his very vocal family on the subject.

How Shane Warne saw through the guiles of Ashley Giles

On the ball with S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan13-Aug-2005Australia’s top order struggled to counter Ashley Giles on the second day, but Shane Warne won the battle of spinners quite handily in the two brief passages of play on the third day, admittedly with ample assistance from Geraint Jones. The specialist batsmen had failed quite miserably in their attempt to hit Giles off his length by advancing down the pitch, but Warne showed the more accomplished players how it could be done, smashing 33 from 14 balls. In all, he scored 48 from 55 balls off Giles, and in the process took his Old Trafford batting average up to an imposing 74.50. Now if only Warne could teach his mates how to bowl those ripping legbreaks and sliders.

The pitch was slow and the outfield fast. India tried five spinners and England a quintet of seamers. And the paths England and India tread to reach their scores of 226 and 230 were remarkably different

George Binoy31-Mar-2006In the end, the game turned out to be a low-scoring but tight contest. The pitch was slow and the outfield fast. India tried five spinners and England a quintet of seamers. And the paths England and India tread to reach their scores of 226 and 230 were remarkably different.England crawled to 13 for no loss in their first seven overs while India chopped 43 runs off their target in the same time. But while England picked up the pace with a flurry of boundaries and, more importantly, sustained the run-rate on a sluggish pitch by picking off singles and twos with tremendous ease, India hit a deep rut. England ran 95 singles in their innings while India had 79. Though, in terms of runs, the difference might not seem much, the singles kept England going while the lack of them caused India to struggle in the middle overs. Between overs eight and 20, England added 56 runs while India managed only 28. The following graphic shows the comparison between the teams between during that period.However, during the slog, England failed to increase the run-rate where India succeeded. In Kevin Pietersen, they had the perfect batsman to bash the ball and he obliged by carting Yuvraj Singh for a four and a six before holing out next ball. After his departure in the 43rd over, England found the fence on just one occasion as they added just 28 runs and lost five wickets in the last seven overs. For India, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni bided their time, watching as the asking rate increased to beyond six an over, but never letting it get out of hand. It was their ability to put away the loose ball that kept India always in control of the chase. By the end of it, India had hit 23 fours and a six to England’s 16 fours and two sixes. The following graphic compares the scoring pattern of the two teams after the 40th over, a period in which India hit seven fours and a six and England just two fours and a six.

India won their 14th consecutive match chasing, equaling the record set by West Indies who won 14 straight chases between February 1985 and November 1986.

Kevin Pietersen reached 1000 ODI runs in his 21st innings and equaled Viv Richards as the fastest to the landmark.

Virender Sehwag’s 26 off 45 balls was his slowest innings for a score above 25. His strike rate of 57.77 is lower than the 34 off 58 balls against South Africa at Kingsmead in 2001-02.

Though West Indies hold a 52-38 overall advantage in Tests, England have won ten of the last 12

S Rajesh17-May-2007

Steve Harmison has been in excellent form this season, and has a superb record against West Indies as well © Getty Images
West Indies still hold a 52-38 advantage in Tests against England, but since 2000 they’ve seen their lead whittled away quite alarmingly: in the last 12 Tests between the two teams, England have won ten, while two have been drawn. West Indies’ last victory was in June 2000, when they thrashed England byby an innings and 93 runs at Edgbaston. (Click here for a summary of all England-West Indies Test series.)England will go into the series as favourites, and they won’t mind beginning the series at Lord’s either. The venue used to be an unlucky one for them: they lost 11 Tests and won four from 1984 to 1999, but the tide has turned in the new decade – they’ve won eight of their last 14 Tests here. (Click here for England’s results in all Lord’s Tests.) Lord’s has been a good venue for them against West Indies too – there was a period from 1963 to 1991 when England didn’t win a single Test against them at Lord’s, but since then they’ve won three in a row, including the last time in 2004 by a whopping 210 runs.Thanks to their pre-eminence in the decades gone by, though, West Indies hold most of the records in Tests between the two teams: the six top run-scorers and the seven top wicket-takers are all West Indians. Garry Sobers leads the run-getters’ chart with an aggregate of 3214 at an average of over 60, while Curtly Ambrose is on top of the bowlers’ ladder with 164 wickets at 18.79. (In fact Ambrose is the only non-Australian bowler to take more than 150 wickets against a specific opposition team; three Australians – Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee – have achieved it, all against England.)Fortunately for England, the current crop of West Indians won’t evoke such fear. Ramnaresh Sarwan leads a team whose credentials aren’t exactly top-drawer – to start with, he himself hasn’t flourished in English conditions, averaging only 35.83 in 14 Test innings in England. The two other regulars in the West Indian batting line-up who have experience of playing in England before are Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle, and both have done much better, though: Chanderpaul averages 58.54 in 14 Test innings in England, but less than 35 against them at home; similarly, Gayle averages 44 in England, and only 26 against them in the West Indies.Gayle’s opening partner, Daren Ganga, hasn’t played a Test in England yet, but their combination at the top of the order has been pretty successful: they are the second-most successful opening pair for West Indies, in terms of partnership runs in Tests. They’ve put together 1627 runs at an average of 42.81, and are second only to the Gordon Greenidge-Desmond Haynes combination, which scored 6482 runs in Tests at an average of 47.31.England’s players are coming off a poor World Cup and a 5-0 drubbing in the Ashes, but they can heart from their recent domination of West Indies. Like England, Andrew Flintoff, their talismanic figure, has been in awful form too, but if his past record is anything to go by, he too should relish the opportunity to face West Indies – Flintoff averages 51.25 with the bat and 24.69 with the ball against them.The two other fast bowlers in the England attack will have fond memories of playing against West Indies too – Steve Harmison had a wretched Ashes series, but he’s back in form, as is evident from his 27 wickets in four first-class matches this season, and West Indies better beware: in eight Tests against them, Harmison has nabbed 40 wickets at 21.10 apiece, almost ten runs better than his career average. Matthew Hoggard hasn’t done badly either, his 29 wickets against West Indies coming at an average of 29.89. Among the three experienced West Indian batsmen batsmen, only Gayle has a good overall record against Harmison, Hoggard and Flinoff.

West Indian batsmen versus Harmison, Hoggard and Flintoff

Batsman Runs Balls Dismissals Average

Ramnaresh Sarwan 237 493 13 18.23 Shivnarine Chanderpaul 286 608 8 35.75 Chris Gayle 419 514 9 46.56 The West Indian pace attack pale in comparison. Among the frontline fast bowlers, Corey Collymore and Fidel Edwards are the only ones to have played Tests against England, and both have struggled: Collymore has managed nine wickets in seven Tests at an average of 63, while Edwards’s 13 wickets have come at more than 50 apiece. A bigger threat might be Dwayne Bravo, whose 16 wickets in four Tests have come at an impressive average of 26.

Statistical highlights of the Group A match between Bangladesh and West Indies

HR Gopalakrishna and Mathew Varghese13-Sep-2007

Mohammad Ashraful got to his fifty off 20 balls © Getty Images

West Indies became the first team to be knocked out of the ICC World Twenty20, after losing their second match against Bangladesh. The following are a few statistical highlights:

Mohammad Ashraful scored the fastest fifty in Twenty20 internationals, beating the previous record held by Sanath Jayasuriya, who scored a 50 off 23 balls against New Zealand in Wellington. Jayasuriya holds the record for ODIs, a fifty scored in 17 balls against Pakistan in Singapore.

Ashraful and Aftab Ahmed were involved in a partnership of 109, the fifth instance of a century partnership in Twenty20 internationals. All five hundred -plus stands have come at the Wanderers.

Mohammad Ashraful also tops the list for highest career strike-rate in Twenty20 internationals so far, ahead of Marlon Samuels, who scored 27 off 14 balls in the match.

Samuels has hit 10 sixes in Twenty20 international, one behind Chris Gayle, who leads the pack.

Syed Rasel’s spell of 4-1-10-1 is the most economical for a bowler having delivered four overs in a Twenty20 international. Rasel’s economy rate in Twenty20 matches is second-best behind Mark Gillespie.

Shakib Al Hasan’s 4 for 34 is the first four-for for a Bangladesh player in a Twenty20 international.

Dwayne Bravo conceded 34 runs off his two overs, the third-worst economy rate in the format. The list is led by Brad Hogg and Dwayne Smith, who respectively conceded 38 and 37 runs off their two overs, also in Johannesburg.

Ashraful was at the receiving end while bowling, having conceded 55 runs off his four overs, the second-most runs conceded by a bowler in a Twenty20 international. Ashraful’s team-mate Farhad Reza has also conceded again 55 runs in a Twenty20 match, against Pakistan in Nairobi

In a summer of such discontent it is a result that will rankle the Australians for years, but the hosts were outplayed by a superior team in almost every aspect

Peter English at the Gabba04-Mar-2008

	Ricky Ponting symbolised the problems of the Australian team, which was beaten in all aspects by a superior outfit © Getty Images

There’s no problem. It was just one bad game. Our challenge is to lift our game. Throughout the past week of dire batting the only thing Australia did not do was admit something was wrong. The mind of a professional sportsman does not have any room for public doubt and during the crisis Ricky Ponting’s men retained their world-champion air.Almost a year after Ponting lifted the World Cup he has experienced a brace of losses to India. The embarrassment is that he has not won the CB Series trophy, the country’s annual one-day prize, for the past two years and will not have an opportunity to get it back. The Australian tri-series is finished and India will be the perennial holders.In a summer of such discontent it is a result that will rankle the Australians for years, but the hosts were outplayed by a superior team in almost every aspect. The main deficiency was the batting and it was the area that cost them. A spirited lower-order resistance led by James Hopes managed to get them within nine runs of keeping the contest alive, but there was too much to achieve after the side was 3 for 32 and 5 for 123.Faced with a must-win situation, Ponting demanded his players return to their traditional standards, but over the past month he has been one of the most incapable of getting back. Briefly he stirred in Sydney ten days ago, but on either side there has been angst and disappointment.Nothing has been easy for Ponting since the Sydney Test and he has been unable to distance himself from the off-field drama. He has found compartmentalising impossible and the confusion in his batting has been the most significant. He swears he has been hitting the ball well in training and has practised harder than ever.When he walks to the wicket his crispness disappears and he finds ways to depart. Praveen Kumar is not the sort of bowler who would usually worry him, but he was Ponting’s conqueror in both finals. Most disturbingly, Ponting went to a pull shot each time, the first resulting in a played-on and the second looping to Yuvraj Singh at mid-on. Nobody, including Ponting, could believe the dismissal and the Indians celebrated another bout of fortune.

	Admitting there was a problem when the order began to stutter a couple of weeks ago might have helped. Instead, the same mistakes were repeated and only in the past three days has there been a strong attempt to fix them

A tough catch was missed by Ponting when Sachin Tendulkar was 7. The chance was extremely difficult, like a handful of similar ones Ponting has grassed this summer, but a year ago he would have snapped up most of them. His groundwork has been uncertain and he misfielded in the same over he reprimanded Mitchell Johnson for a bad throw. It is hard to inspire team-mates when you are unable to inspire yourself.The energy of the Indians, who benefited from receiving new recruits after the Test series, has drowned the Australians. Only Hopes, Nathan Bracken, who has been outstanding with 21 wickets, and Brad Haddin were brought in as one-day regulars and the team has been as jaded as the tri-series concept. The core batting line-up has carried the same members throughout both campaigns and they have become weary and unable to rediscover their best.Admitting there was a problem when the order began to stutter a couple of weeks ago might have helped. Instead, the same mistakes were repeated and only in the past three days has there been a strong attempt to fix them. The hasty think-tank did not give them enough time for change and Australia’s top wilted at the Gabba.Ponting has improved immeasurably as a leader since the 2005 Ashes loss, but he has a habit of letting high-profile prizes slip. Last year the CB Series went to England and this version has gone to India. The kick in the backside he delivered after Sydney did not work and with the team in a slump he was unable to force a collective improvement. This was the problem.

Ivo Tennant looks ahead to Bob Woolmer’s coaching manual,

Ivo Tennant14-May-2008
‘This is an account that details his love of the game and how to develop mental as well as technical strength’ © Getty Images
At the time of his death during the World Cup last year, Bob Woolmer was working on two books: an update of his autobiography and a coaching manual. Amid the frenzied speculation that ensued over the following days, it was suggested that he might have been preparing a third tome, for page proofs allegedly had been stolen from his hotel room. It was also suggested that he had asked a journalist based on the sub-continent to write an account of his time spent coaching Pakistan, which was nearing a natural conclusion. The demise of any individual is routinely described as ‘untimely’ nowadays, but there can be no question that this death was exactly that. This much-liked man, with his generous nature and spirited view of human nature that bordered on naivety, did at least bequeath a legacy incorporating much of his knowledge of the game which will be published this August.Woolmer’s updated autobiography will never be printed, partly because he had submitted only a further 10,000 words to the version published in 2000 and had yet to commence writing about coaching Pakistan – a period, it should be mentioned, that fulfilled him, for he was working with gifted cricketers and spats with the likes of Shoaib Akhtar generally were swiftly resolved – but mainly because that was the wish of his widow, Gill, whose fortitude over the past months has been much admired, and of Michael Cohen, Woolmer’s long-standing agent. That is not to suggest there was anything untoward about match-fixing in the e-mails he submitted not long before his death: that much I know because I was his ghost-writer – although it took quite a while for some sections of the media to accept this after the pathologist in Kingston declared he had been strangled. His coaching manual, on the other hand, was almost completed before his death in the early hours after Pakistan’s defeat by Ireland on March 18 last year. It has been written in conjunction with Dr Tim Noakes, a sports scientist at the University of Cape Town, who had worked with the South African team during Woolmer’s tenure as coach. This is the first such pairing of cricket expert and boffin for a coaching manual.For anyone seeking lurid accounts of match-fixing or deals involving Hansie Cronje’s leather jacket, this is not the place to go. In fact, insofar as Woolmer’s life was concerned, there was never anywhere dodgy to go. Although he liked a good pay day as much as anyone else – he signed up for World Series Cricket and the breakaway tours to South Africa – he would never have harmed the game he loved through any corrupt action and he did not mix with shady individuals. He knew nothing about Cronje’s underhand activities – and yet did not condone him for it. A braai at Woolmer’s home in Pinelands on the outskirts of Cape Town would include the likes of Jacques Kallis, Mike Denness and Michael Owen-Smith, the long-serving and discreet cricket writer on the Cape Times, and now South Africa’s media liaison. Respectable people, all. So this is an account that details his love of the game and how to develop mental as well as technical strength.The title is . It comprises four parts: discovering the game, technique, developing cricket and cricket science. Allan Donald, who spoke memorably at Woolmer’s memorial service in Cape Town, Kallis and Jonty Rhodes, friends as well as outstanding performers, demonstrate some of the skills involved. Spin, swing, sledging (although no skill) all is there. Noakes, who co-founded the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and who also directs the Sports Medicine Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, brings this expertise to bear and comes up with findings on vision, the prevention of injury and how to unravel the intricacies of swing bowling. At £30, this is not a cheap book and hence some prominent serialisation would not go amiss for the publishers.There is, perhaps, one other reason why purchasing it is important: Woolmer was not well-off and he leaves two sons, both of whom are still making their way in life, as well as his widow. His contract with Pakistan was about to expire and his thatched house, which, he would say, was worth no more than a lock-up garage in Birmingham on account of an indifferent exchange rate, was far from in the most sought-after area of Cape Town. He said this only partly in jest. The coaching centre he had long planned to be built in South Africa may yet come off, but the cancellation of a fund-raising match at Edgbaston this summer is indicative of how constricted this market is.The market for this manual will be clubs – will MCC add to its definitive coaching manual once its cricket committee has studied this? – schools, libraries, enthusiasts and, of course, the considerable number of aficionados who knew or watched Woolmer from afar and who admired him as the most forward-thinking coach the game has ever nurtured.

Instead of scratching their heads for clone of Andrew Flintoff, who haunted them during the 2005 Ashes, the penny has started to drop that attempting to copy natural ability is like trying to replicate the Mona Lisa

Brydon Coverdale at the Wanderers27-Feb-2009

	The highlight of Mitchell Johnson’s display was a string of lusty slog-swept sixes off Paul Harris that brought an Australian Test record of 26 runs in one over © Getty Images

Australia’s obsessive search for an allrounder has been so fruitless that it is tempting to look at the brilliant innings from Mitchell Johnson and Marcus North and argue that they have found two in one day. But what they have really discovered is the value of playing their best XI with each man in a position suitable to his skills.Instead of sending in a solid jack-of-all-trades like Andrew McDonald at No. 6, as they did in Sydney, they chose a genuine top six batsman in North. He rewarded them with a superbly composed century on debut and if he chips in with some handy wickets with his part-time offspin then all the better.Instead of scratching their heads for a clone of Andrew Flintoff, who haunted them during the 2005 Ashes, the penny has started to drop that attempting to copy natural ability is like trying to replicate the . At best you’ll appear silly for trying and at worst you’ll have the credibility of an art-school dropout.North has proven himself to be a thoroughly capable Test No. 6, which is no surprise given he has spent the past decade holding down a middle-order spot for Western Australia with an average of 44. He entered the game with 22 first-class centuries compared to McDonald’s two.North raised his century with a late cut from the bowling of JP Duminy and became the 18th Australian to score a hundred on Test debut and the first since Michael Clarke more than four years ago. His team-mates, perched in the Wanderers dressing room, offered him a generous ovation – a celebration as much for his momentum-shifting innings as the arrival of a batsman who, finally, adds starch to the middle-order.He will be a valuable person to have around the group this year in particular. Stints at five different counties have given him more than a taste of the English conditions and he has a spell at Hampshire coming up ahead of this year’s Ashes tour.His all-round skills mean there will be less urgency to rush Andrew
Symonds back, whenever he is deemed to be available. But the fact that North has nearly 100 first-class wickets – including a career-best six in last week’s tour match in Potchefstroom – is a bonus. If Australia throw in a frontline spinner when conditions suit, in place of McDonald, their balance will look even better.

	The fact that North has nearly 100 first-class wickets – including a career-best six in last week’s tour match in Potchefstroom – is a bonus. If Australia throw in a frontline spinner when conditions suit, in place of Andrew McDonald, their balance will look even better

There is no reason McDonald can’t be a useful Test player but at the moment he appears surplus to needs at No. 8, a position that Johnson can easily fill. His duck – albeit to an excellent, swinging Dale Steyn delivery – looked all the poorer when contrasted with the 117-run partnership compiled by North and Johnson, which broke the eighth-wicket record for Australia in Tests against South Africa.Johnson was desperately unlucky not to match his partner and score his first Test century. He watched on as Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus fell in successive balls to leave him stranded on 96, but his innings was every bit as century-worthy as that of North. The highlight of Johnson’s display was a string of lusty slog-swept sixes off Paul Harris that brought an Australian Test record of 26 runs in one over but to label him a late-overs basher is to do him a major disservice.Compared to top-order men like Simon Katich and Phillip Hughes, who score runs in spite of their weird techniques, Johnson’s batting style is pure. His stance is so rock solid and his bat so straight that he could have been the inspiration for the little plastic batsman in the Test match cricket board game.Before he lost a ball by sending it over midwicket and out of the stadium off Harris, he had sent it rocketing to the boundary several times, including with a perfectly timed cover-drive off Jacques Kallis that he has produced so often in the past year that it’s clearly not a fluke. In his last three Test innings, Johnson has made 203 runs and has been dismissed once.When he walked off the Wanderers to a rousing reception, he boasted a Test batting average of 31.47. For the record, Flintoff’s average is 31.69. But that’s a figure Australia shouldn’t get too carried away with.At some point Johnson will make a Test century but he shouldn’t be bumped too high up in the order. North at six, Brad Haddin (who made a valuable 63) at seven and Johnson at eight. Three quality performers in positions that suit them. There’s no need to manufacture a Flintoff clone.

The year of the IPL also contained some truly memorable moments from Test cricket. We look back at the important numbers from 2008

S Rajesh02-Jan-2009

	Graeme Smith scored the third-highest number of runs in a year in Tests, led South Africa to a record number of wins, and also took the most catches in a year © AFP

Two thousand and eight was the year of the IPL, of Twenty20 threatening to encroach into the space reserved for the longer versions, but it was also a year that contained some truly memorable moments from Test cricket, which regained some of its pre-eminence, both in terms of the number of matches and their quality. The batsmen made merry, with a record number getting past 1000 runs, but the bowlers had their say too – overall, the average runs per wicket for the year in was 33.96, marginally lower than the corresponding number in the previous two years. The year stood out, though, for a couple of things: the manner in which fourth-innings targets were ruthlessly chased down, and the way Australia finally lost their status as the undisputed kings of cricket. Cricinfo looks back at some of the important numbers.Test cricket regains its glory
After 2007 offered a surfeit of one-day cricket, the balance was restored this year: 47 Tests and 126 ODIs were played, compared to 31 and 191 the previous year. There were more results too: From 29% drawn games in 2007, this year the percentage reduced to 23.

Year-wise ODI/Test ratio since 2000

Year	ODIs	Tests	ODIs per Test
2000	131	46	2.85
2001	120	55	2.18
2002	145	54	2.69
2003	147	44	3.34
2004	128	51	2.51
2005	107	49	2.18
2006	160	46	3.48
2007	191	31	6.16
2008	126	47	2.68

Australia’s fall, and South Africa’s rise
Australia’s dominance of world cricket has been compared to Roger Federer’s effortless mastery of the tennis tour, but 2008 was the year in which both fell off their perch. (Australia still finished as No.1, but they clearly weren’t the best team of the year.) Unlike Federer, who won the last Grand Slam of the year to finish on a relative high, Australia made a meal of their last match, letting slip a huge advantage to eventually slide to their fifth defeat of the year – almost as many as they had lost altogether in the previous five years. Their win-loss record for the year was 5-5, their worst in the last 20 years.The team that did most of the winning through the year was South Africa – admittedly, four of their 11 wins were against Bangladesh, but with series wins in England and Australia, and a drawn series in India, few can argue that they’ve been the best team of 2008. In fact, South Africa’s 11 wins are the most by any team in a single year, equalling the record, which is jointly held by West Indies and England.India had a pretty good year too, with wins against Australia and England, but their record was blotted by the 2-1 defeat in Sri Lanka.Smith leads batting fest
In 2008, batsmen scored 1000 Test runs for fun – there are 12 of them in the list, more than in any other year.

Most number of batsmen getting 1000 Test runs in a year

Year	2008	2004	2006	2005	2001	2002	2003	1979
No. of batsmen	12	11	9	7	6	6	6	5

Leading the run-glut was South African captain Graeme Smith, clearly the outstanding player of the year. The 1656 runs he scored is the third-highest by a batsman in a calendar year, after Mohammad Yousuf and Viv Richards. With Neil McKenzie, Smith added 1552 runs, the most by any pair this year. As if his exploits as captain and batsman weren’t enough, Smith also went ahead and pouched 30 catches, the highest by a non-wicketkeeper in a single year, beating Stephen Fleming’s record of 28 in 1997.There’s one batsman who didn’t make the 1000-run cut, but who deserves recognition: Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted only 16 innings, made two ducks, but still found a way to amass 909 runs at an average of 101. During the year he had a nine-inning stretch that read 86*, 118, 11, 107*, 77*, 79*, 50, 76, 126. It’s the second successive year Chanderpaul has averaged more than 100 – in four Tests in 2007 he averaged 111.60.Thanks largely to the performances of Smith, Chanderpaul, Gautam Gambhir, Simon Katich, Ashwell Prince and Andrew Strauss, left-handers in the top seven average almost six more than their right-hand counterparts. This despite nine out of 12 in the 1000-run club being right-handers.

Left- and right-hand top-order batsmen (top 7)in Tests 2008

Type	Innings	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Left-handers	441	16,637	42.01	xx/xx
Right-handers	722	24,412	36.43	57/ 109

All left-handers didn’t have it their way, though. Michael Hussey had hardly known the meaning of failure in his first two years in Tests, averaging a staggering 80.58 after 19 games. Like in the stock-market crash, though, Hussey’s numbers fell spectacularly in 2008: He still averaged 37.50 in the year, but due to his unusually high average before this slump, his overall mean fell to 59.04, an erosion of almost 27%.Chase away the ghosts
New Zealand chased 317, India chased 387, South Africa chased 413, and even Bangladesh scored 413 chasing 521 – 2008 was the year when teams put to bed the fears of fourth-innings targets. Ten times a score in excess of 175 was successfully achieved, with South Africa accounting for 50% of those. There was an uncanny symmetry there too: They began the year chasing down 185 against West Indies, losing just three wickets in the process, and ended with an equally emphatic victory against Australia in Melbourne. If ever there was an example of “start the year as you mean to go”, this was it.Wag the tail
South Africa’s last four wickets put together 318 in the first innings in Melbourne, which was only the 11th instance of the last four adding more than 300. Two of those happened in 2008, and by another quirk, the first one came in the first Test of the year. Australia, who were at the receiving end in December, had begun the year by dishing out similar punishment to the Indians in the controversial Sydney Test, when Andrew Symonds’ unbeaten 162 helped the team add 329 for the last four wickets. In all, this was a glorious year for lower-order partnerships – the last four wickets averaged 21.96 per partnership, which is the second-highest for any year since 1990.Steyn leads bowlers’ charge
With 74 wickets from 13 Tests, there was no doubt about who won the bowling honours in 2008. Coming on the back of 44 wickets from seven Tests in 2007, Dale Steyn has clearly established himself as the best fast bowler going around today: In his last 20 games he has averaged nearly six wickets per Test at an incredible strike-rate of a wicket every 33.5 balls.

Steyn’s steep ascent

Period	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
First 9 Tests	32	35.93	52.8	2/ 0
Last 20 Tests	118	19.06	33.5	9/ 3

The 22 wickets in four games against Bangladesh helped, but Steyn was equally effective against most other teams as well, taking 14 wickets from two Tests against Australia, 15 from three against India and 15 from two against West Indies. While he was effective against both right- and left-handers, the wickets came at a lesser cost and better rate against the right-hand batsmen.

Steyn v right- and left-handers

	Wickets	Average	Strike rate
Right-handers	50	19.26	31.5
Left-handers	24	25.87	44.92

Steyn and Mitchell Johnson (63 wickets at 29.01) led the way for the fast bowlers, who took more than twice the number of wickets that the spinners did in 2008, at a slightly better average. Harbhajan Singh, Daniel Vettori and Muttiah Muralitharan were the spin leaders, with Murali taking more than 40 wickets for the ninth year in a row.

Pace and spin in 2008

	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	5WI/ 10WM
Pace	958	32.59	60.7	28 3
Spin	475	35.57	72.6	24/ 5

India take the ODI honours
South Africa were the leading Test team, but India were the leading ODI team, not only winning more than any team but also conquering difficult challenges in Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia struggled in the Tests, but are on an eight-match winning streak in ODIs, having defeated West Indies 5-0 and Bangladesh 3-0. Pakistan had the best win-loss record in the year, but that needs to be qualified by the fact that 13 of their 21 ODIs were against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. (Click here for the team-wise results in 2008.)With India on such a roll, it’s hardly surprising that the list of run-scorers this year is dominated by them. Gautam Gambhir is on top of the year after an amazingly consistent year, but the breakthrough finally came for Virender Sehwag, who averaged nearly 50 at a strike-rate of 120, the first time since 2003 that he has averaged more than 34 in a year. After a disappointing run in the CB Series in Australia, Sehwag has been on a superb run since June, scoring more than 40 in 11 of his last 13 innings.

Best ODI batsmen in 2008

Batsman	ODIs	Runs	Average	Strike rate	Ave x SR
Virender Sehwag	18	893	49.61	120.02	59.54
Misbah-ul-Haq	21	646	53.83	98.92	53.25
Younis Khan	18	865	54.06	97.19	52.54
Brendan McCullum	16	618	47.53	110.16	52.36
Chris Gayle	14	632	52.66	91.19	48.02
MS Dhoni	29	1097	57.73	82.29	47.51

The Sehwag-Gambhir partnership was clearly the dominant one of the year – they scored 898 runs in 14 innings at an average partnership of 64.14. The three leading pairs for the year, in terms of runs scored, were all Indians.Mendis tweaks his way to the top
The bowling star of the ODI year was clearly Ajantha Mendis, with 48 wickets from just 18 games as an astonishing strike-rate of less than 17 balls per wicket, which is the best among all bowlers who have taken 40 or more wickets in a single year.

Given that Mohali pitches tend to have a bit more bounce thanother Indian ones, Harmison should survive the cull, and with two spinnersa necessity rather than a luxury, it should be Anderson who sits out

S Aga18-Dec-2008
Despite his rib injury, Kevin Pietersen could be the sort of X-factor for England that Virender Sehwag is for India © Getty Images
The last time India played in Mohali, Australia were thrashed by 320 runs. The last time England played here, the same lack of ruthlessness that undermined their challenge in Chennai allowed India to romp to a nine-wicket victory on the final afternoon. In 2001, a Mohali Test had effectively been lost on the opening day, with Harbhajan Singh taking five wickets as England went from 200 for 3 to 238 all out.That game was played in the first week of December and conditions for thisgame shouldn’t be too dissimilar. Back then, India’s spinners took 15 ofthe 20 wickets, with Anil Kumble taking six in the second innings. ForEngland, Richard Dawson took four wickets on debut, but ended up conceding134 runs as well. Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, assuming both play, willneed to do considerably better if England are to avoid the sort ofhammering that Australia got in October.Kevin Pietersen admitted that the state of the pitch had made him delayselecting a team until the eleventh hour. There was a smattering of grasson the surface, but it was also dry enough to seem extremelyspin-friendly. Against Australia, Amit Mishra took 7 for 106 and Harbhajan5 for 96. Given the abrasive nature of the pitch though, reverse-swing waslikely to be as big a factor. There were dry patches on the main square,and every likelihood of the ball getting scuffed up pretty early. AgainstAustralia, Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan were getting it to reverse withinthe first 15 overs, and Pietersen accepted his bowlers would need touse the old ball much better than they had in Chennai.India had no selection issues to ponder. The Rahul Dravid questioncontinues to vex the media, but as Sachin Tendulkar suggested after theChennai win, the team isn’t unduly concerned. “Rahul isn’t a good player,he’s a great player” was Tendulkar’s assessment, and the only questionheading into this match was whether he would bat at his customary No. 3slot, or move down two places to No. 5.England would have been encouraged by Matt Prior’s performance in Chennaiafter replacing Tim Ambrose, but have issues to resolve regarding the keyNo. 3 slot. Ian Bell was anonymous in the first Test, and Owais Shah, whomade a superb 88 when England won in Mumbai to level the series on their last tour, must surely come into contention. With Stuart Broad, so impressive in the one-day series, also fit to play, the bowling line-up will also be tweaked.Only Andrew Flintoff and Swann, in patches, impressed in Chennai, andSteve Harmison, James Anderson and Panesar are all under threat of losingtheir place. Given that Mohali pitches tend to have a bit more bounce thanother Indian ones, Harmison should survive the cull, and with two spinnersa necessity rather than a luxury, it should be Anderson who sits out.India’s victory against Australia was set up primarily by the openers, whoadded 252 over the two innings. England got both early in the firstinnings in Chennai, but failure to do so at the second time of asking costthem the game. Getting Sehwag early is no guarantee of success, but itcertainly goes a long way.As admirably as Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood battled in the first Test, what England need is someone that can provide the same sort of X-factor that Sehwag does. If he can emulate his feats of 2006, when he scored 70 and 51, Flintoff could be that man, but the more likely candidate is Pietersen. A broken rib is undoubtedly a hindrance, but as he likes to stress, Pietersen is nothing if not a winner. After not contributing in Chennai, India should be wary of a backlash.