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Celtic will be ‘trying to do everything’ they can to seal the permanent signing of Cameron Carter-Vickers this summer, according to Noel Whelan.

The Lowdown: Carter-Vickers excels at Celtic

The 24-year-old was loaned out to the Hoops last summer, with Tottenham never granting him regular football

Carter-Vickers’ move to Parkhead proved to be a match made in heaven, as the American flourished at the heart of Ange Postecoglou’s defence, achieving the fourth-highest WhoScored rating of anyone in the squad after last summer’s transfer window.

Celtic are now trying to seal a permanent move for the centre-back, although there has been interest in him from other clubs in recent months.

The Latest: Whelan talks up permanent move for Carter-Vickers

Speaking to Football Insider, Whelan claimed that the Hoops will be doing all they can to acquire Carter-Vickers’ signature, with the player likely to reciprocate that, given how well the 24-year-old has done at Parkhead.

The former BBC radio pundit said:

“I think happiness to a player is very important, feeling wanted and belonging in a place. I think he’s definitely got that from Celtic as a football club and the fans.

“He plays regularly, we’ve seen the progression and how good he’s looked in the Celtic shirt. It’s an exciting team to be involved with as well with the style of play and the players they have been brought in.

“They won’t be looking to sit on that either, they’ll be looking to strengthen. With Carter-Vickers, he’s been an integral part of that defence. That’s why they’ve been so solid over the past season as well.

“I think Celtic and Carter-Vickers will be trying to do everything to make it happen, for him to stay there.

“They’re a European club, they’re massive, they’ve just won the Premiership. Why would you not want to be at a successful side who are playing in the Champions League as well?”

The Verdict: Simply has to happen

Given Carter-Vickers’ influence at Celtic this season – he has been lauded as ‘immense’ by Chris Sutton – it is imperative that they get a permanent deal over the line.

He has already looked at home at Parkhead, slotting in seamlessly next to Carl Starfelt, and he could be a fixture in green and white for many years to come. An average of 4.2 successful aerial duels per game and a pass completion rate of 89.5% in the Premiership is a testament to his quality.

With Champions League football returning to Celtic in 2022/23, that should surely be enough to persuade him to sign permanently, rather than head elsewhere and risk undoing all the progress he has made in Glasgow.

In other news, Celtic have reportedly set their sights on another signing. Find out who it is here.

Leeds United are interested in rivalling Nottingham Forest in the race to sign Morgan Gibbs-White, according to The Athletic.

The Lowdown: Sheffield United loan

Gibbs-White spent the 2021/22 season on loan with Sheffield United and turned out in a number of attacking positions.

The 22-year-old played as a centre-forward, on the right and in a deeper role, scoring 12 times and providing 10 assists in 37 games for The Blades.

Defender Chris Basham hailed Gibbs-White as a ‘breath of fresh air’ who ‘glides past players’ and is ‘powerful’, and it seems as if he is a man in demand following his successful loan spell.

The Latest: Leeds interest

The Athletic’s Paul Taylor provided an in-depth story regarding Forest’s transfer plans on Wednesday.

The reporter stated that Gibbs-White is one of Forest’s ‘primary targets’ and is valued at around £20m, but added that Leeds are ‘also interested’.

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The Verdict: Get it done

Gibbs-White showed his quality in the second tier last season and seems to be a ready-made player for Jesse Marsch.

The Leeds head coach prefers to use a narrow 4-2-2-2 formation and has already made his intentions clear by signing Brenden Aaronson, who is set to be used as an inverted winger.

Gibbs-White could be the next piece in Marsch’s Elland Road attacking jigsaw as he can turn out as a centre-forward, out wide or in behind the striker, meaning he could perhaps occupy the opposite attacking midfielder spot to Aaronson.

Still just 22, you’d expect that the Wolves man will only get better over the coming years, so it will be interesting to see if the Whites firm up their interest.

In other news: Cheeky bid tabled: Radz and 49ers now open talks to sign international ‘goal threat’ for Leeds. 

Mohamed Salah is hopeful that he will be fit for Liverpool’s Champions League final clash against Real Madrid, according to journalist James Pearce.

The Lowdown: Salah injured in final win

The Reds enjoyed FA Cup glory on Saturday following a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea at Wembley, winning their second trophy of the season.

Salah didn’t even make it to half-time, though, limping off with a groin injury and immediately sparking concern surrounding his involvement in the Champions League final on May 28th.

However, a hopeful update has now emerged regarding the 29-year-old’s situation.

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The Latest: Pearce provides Salah injury update

Taking to Twitter on Saturday night a few hours after the FA Cup final, Pearce confirmed that Salah is confident of being fit for the Champions League showpiece against Real Madrid in Paris.

The journalist tweeted: ” ‘Of course, all good’ says Mo Salah when asked if he will be fit for the CL final in Paris.”

The Verdict: Wrap him in cotton wool

While there is no official confirmation surrounding the severity of Salah’s injury, that he believes he will be fit for the 28th is certainly an enormous positive.

Having gone off injured in the 2018 decider against the same opposition, it would be cruel for the 29-year-old to suffer Champions League final heartache yet again – more importantly, Liverpool need arguably their best player on the pitch.

Salah will do all he can to prove himself, although Jurgen Klopp should be wary of not letting his heart rule his head in the meantime, only starting the Egyptian if he is ready.

There is enough depth in the squad to make do without him from the start these days, which is a very different situation to four years ago. Therefore, Klopp must wrap the 29-year-old in cotton wool for the Premier League games against Southampton and Wolves this week.

In other news, Klopp has reportedly set his sights on one Liverpool signing. Read more here.

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jan-2019

It appeared like Pakistan had a good squad, led by a strong captain, before they came to Australia. But it all unravelled very quickly

Osman Samiuddin at the SCG07-Jan-20171:21

Pakistan’s 12, India’s 9, England’s 17

Whitewashes can usually be seen coming a mile away, or at least that is the case with Pakistan, and even if you don’t see them, it all makes sense very soon after they’ve gone. A template, set on the 1962 tour to England, has more or less stood firm over the years, despite cricket being unrecognisable now from what it must have been then. Technically that tour wasn’t a whitewash, but Pakistan would have lost the fourth Test had over ten hours not been lost to rain, so essentially it was.The outcome was obvious even before the first Test began in Birmingham. Pakistan had appointed a young, inexperienced man as captain. They had no bowling attack. The one gun they had – Haseeb Ahsan – was sent home under controversial circumstances (Official line: Injury. Innuendo: Chucking). Senior players were unhappy, fading stars were fishing for opportunities from the outside and the management was missing only the ‘mis’ as prefix.With only minor variations, that series set in tone how Pakistan whitewashes would forever unspool. Sometimes the opposition was just better than them. Other times, Pakistan were enough for themselves, on the field in their poor disciplines and off the field in even poorer disciplines.It wasn’t entirely obvious that Pakistan would be clean-swept on their last tour to Australia. They had a good new-ball attack, an exciting batting talent, an opener who had runs in Australia and one of their greatest batsmen as captain.After the tour it became obvious that only a fool – this correspondent included – could have missed the signs. Mohammad Yousuf should never have been captain. Nobody wanted him to be, least of all himself. The players didn’t get on, but they weren’t really a team either. The core, of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria, was rotten and only a few knew. The management missed all signs of the dysfunction; that, or they were incapable of handling it.So in a way, as we sit here, another whitewash so fresh in our minds, it is testament to the enduring impossibility of putting Misbah-ul-Haq into any kind of conventional box a Pakistani would recognise, that he has suffered an unparalleled whitewash. Testament is not quite the right word is it? But then, how else to explain this one?Fade to black: Pakistan got worse as the series progressed•Getty ImagesOf all the modern Pakistan teams that have toured Australia, this really looked the least likely to endure such a fate. This was the least Australian of the Australian sides who have bullied Pakistan – in fact beaten them – before they even got on the field. More relevantly, this was the best-equipped Pakistan side to not be whitewashed.Their last away tour was a triumph. They had batsmen coming of age, a bowling attack that provided all kinds of angles to attack. They had been together on this ride for a while, and were stable; as stable as they have ever been. The captain was in charge. Nobody disputed his authority, and even the fiercest critics of his style had begun to come around. Even three defeats in a row hadn’t properly taken the sheen off.Most of all, until almost exactly the halfway mark of this series, the third afternoon in Melbourne – what days they were remember? – the idea of Pakistan losing 3-0 was preposterous. The reality of it even now, after it has happened, still sounds preposterous.This truly is a whitewash that didn’t conform to type. Only Bazid Khan, who offers his occasional insights on these pages and is, in a weird, unresolved way, a member of this Misbah era, thought Pakistan might struggle as they have done (don’t be mistaken: plenty gave them no chance but none of them did so rationally). He saw a captain on the downside of a crest, a legspinner who would struggle with the truer bounce of Australian surfaces and, above all, a pace attack many thought to be better than it actually was – or at least less tired than it was.It was the bowling that delivered this one, or at least left the lasting imprints on the magnitude of Pakistan’s defeats: an innings – in three days’ play and having declared – at the MCG and 220 runs at the SCG. These are hefty, hefty losses. Collectively, this was the worst bowling performance, in terms of the average runs per wicket conceded, by a Pakistan side ever in a three-Test series. It is the second-worst over any duration of three or more. The first, or rather, the worst? Javed Burki’s side in that 1962 series, although he had an excuse – those years were as dry and barren as a desert as far as Pakistani bowling went and resources were very, very thin.Pakistan kept falling over themselves on this tour•AFPRight from the mode in which Yasir Shah began in Brisbane, to giving away the hand in Melbourne on that third afternoon, and through to the total meltdown during Australia’s second innings in Sydney, this was, in the vogue parlance, an epic fail. The fourth day here, when Australia went at over seven an over through the innings, was possibly the worst bowling performance in Misbah’s time.Throughout an inherent distrust was apparent, in how Yasir was deployed, in how rarely the pacemen bowled together beyond the new ball, in any number of ways. It hardly matters now how the trust was lost in the first place, by deed of the bowlers, or by caution of the captain.The plans, if the management is to be believed, were fine; the execution not so much. If the right lengths were found, it wasn’t for long enough. Ditto the right lines, not that they were ever right for Yasir. If at one end, a bowler was in the middle of a good spell, at the other, inevitably, his partner was bowling dross. As has been a running theme, it took all of them time to work out how best to bowl where, but by the time they had, the game was gone.All year outside of the UAE, this four-man attack has looked on the verge of cracking open and finally, painfully, in Australia, the band-aid holding them together was no longer enough. The toll on Amir and Yasir began to tell; Sohail Khan’s fitness was exposed; the cost of stunting Imran Khan’s development over the last 15 months in which he only played three Tests and four first-class matches became clear. But still – to take only 33 of a possible 60 wickets? For a group of bowlers that had won two Tests in England six months ago?Some people – Misbah included – might argue the team that came here in 1999-00 was the one least expected to lose all three Tests. Much of that hype emanated from the fact that the two teams had contested – a loose interpretation of that word – the World Cup final months previously. That side, though, was on a downward curve, an aging and ailing one, the dying of an iridescent flame that had, by turn, lit up the 90s as well as burnt it. The board was in a mess, Qayyum was underway and Australia were becoming Great Australia.No, that clean sweep could be foretold. This was the one. This really was the one. Until now, when it wasn’t.

Stats highlights from a day completely dominated by Australia’s batsmen

S Rajesh26-Dec-2015258 The second-wicket partnership between Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja, which is the third-highest for the second wicket at the MCG. The highest is 298, between Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry, also against West Indies, in 1968. The top five second-wicket stands here are all by Australia.14 Test hundreds for Australia’s top three batsmen (Nos. 1 to 3) in 2015, which equals their highest in any calendar year; they also got 14 centuries in 2003. Their aggregate of 4020 runs is the highest for Australia’s top three in any calendar year.5 Double-century partnerships against West Indies in the last two years, the most against any team during this period. The next-highest is four each against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.448 Runs scored by Usman Khawaja in four Test innings in 2015, at an average of 149.33. In 17 previous innings in Tests, he had only managed 377 runs at an average of 25.13.132.57 The average runs per wicket for Australia in this series so far, the highest for any team in any series with a minimum of 200 overs faced. In their last three home series against West Indies, Australia have averaged 54.71 runs per wicket, which is their second-highest against any opposition.25.12 David Warner’s Test average in eight innings at the MCG, with only one half-century – 62 against Sri Lanka in 2012. It’s his poorest average among all home venues. He averages more than 60 in Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart, while his average is 32.85 in Sydney. Melbourne is the only home venue where he hasn’t scored a Test hundred.1000 International centuries for Australia, making them the first team to reach the landmark. England are next with 964 hundreds, followed by India with 688.73.11 Kemar Roach’s bowling average in Tests in 2015: in seven matches (including this one) he has taken nine wickets. In the three years before 2015 (from January 2012 to December 2014), he had taken 70 wickets in 15 Tests at 21.90.1.94 The economy rate for Jason Holder: in 17 overs he conceded only 33; on the other hand, Jerome Taylor and Roach conceded 136 runs in 28 overs, an economy rate of 4.86.

Alastair Cook was under the greatest pressure of his career, but the Southampton crowd was determined to will him forward

George Dobell27-Jul-2014In the late 1960s, with flower-power and hippiedom at their peak, a large group gathered in central London determined to prove the power of positive thinking. If they all concentrated on the same thought at the same time, they believed they could move a building an inch to its left.It was a similar story at The Ageas Bowl on the first day of the third Investec Test. You could feel the goodwill for England’s captain around the ground. You feel the desperation among the spectators, among his teammates, among the coaching staff and even among the majority of the UK media, that Alastair Cook would end his run drought and register his first Test century since May 2013.Yet, just as the hippies were unable to move that building, so Cook was unable to complete his century. All the goodwill, all the desperation, all the positive thinking was unable to take him the extra inch.But this innings was no failure. There is too much emphasis on personal milestones in this team game and, just as an innings of 100 would have been celebrated as much as an innings of 105, so this innings of 95 still demonstrated many of Cook’s admirable qualities, not least his well-organised batting, his determination and his leadership skills.It was a brave decision to bat first. A weaker captain, a weaker man, might have seen the green-tinged wicket and used it as an excuse to delay his examination. Cook could easily have chosen to bowl first – as the captain had in the last 10 first-class games at the ground – and hidden behind the explanation that he wanted to give his seamers first use of the wicket. But he knew, deep down, that was the wrong decision for the team and, as ever, he put the team first.Then, despite a tangible lack of confidence and, as he put it, “under the greatest pressure he had ever been under” he produced the innings his side so desperately required. It was not pretty, it was not smooth and it was not without mistakes.There were times, with Cook thrusting his hands towards the ball as if trying to remember how he used to bat, when he timed the ball so horribly that you could almost feel the jarring sensation in his arms. And there were times, with the ball making a dead sound after a stroke, when it appeared he might be playing with a piece of driftwood rather than a finely-crafted bat. It was, for the most part, a desperate struggle.

Cook admits pressure never been higher

Alastair Cook has admitted he felt he had been “letting people down” after responding toi the greatest pressure he had felt in his career with his first Test half-century of the calendar year. Cook’s position as captain, and his place in the side, had been questioned after a spell of 10 Tests without a win for England and 27 innings without a century for Cook. H responded with 95, although he was dropped on 15.
“It’s been a tough six months,” Cook said. “And it’s still going to be tough. But I feel I have a good attitude to the job. The most pleasing aspect of that innings was that, under the most pressure I’ve ever been under as a player, with everyone telling me to stop doing it and that I’m not worth my place… this is a lovely place to be.
“I’d have loved that extra five runs. I have mixed feelings now. But if you had offered me 95 at the start of play, I would have bitten your hand off.
“It’s a sense of contributing to the team. I can’t tell you have frustrating it is as a batter when you keep not scoring runs. You sit back there in the dressing room and everyone is supporting you, but you still feel as if you’re letting people down.
“It was quite hard work, but it’s just a matter of grinding it. I’ve always fought throughout my career, but sometimes you need some luck and I have not always had much.”
Cook also paid tribute to the support of the crowd at the Ageas Bowl, saying he had “never experienced anything like it.” He added: “It was an amazing reception. You never silence everyone. But this innings has given me confidence that my batting is going in the right direction again.”

But Cook was never a batsman that you would fall in love with; he was a batsman you could rely upon. And it is reliance, not romance, that England need now.It would be wrong, though, to suggest this innings answers all the criticism of Cook. It has done little to prove him a good tactician; it has done little to prove him an inspirational leader; it has done little to suggest he is at the start of a golden run of form.Many county batsmen, if granted 28 consecutive opportunities, would contribute a sizeable innings every so often. The worth of a good Test batsman is contributing consistently. Cook still has to build upon this innings. It if takes another 20 innings for him to contribute, he will have failed. Only Mike Brearley has played more consecutive innings as an England captain and failed to score a century.There was enduring evidence of some of his technical frailties, too. On a quicker pitch, he might have been caught in the slips from his first ball; instead the edge dropped short. On another day, he would have been caught in the slips on 15; instead Ravi Jadeja put down a relatively simple chance. And on another day, on 29, he might have been caught off the thick edge that flew through gully to the boundary. Luck will always play a large part in this game and Cook also benefited from a slow-paced wicket, a slight off-day from India’s seamers and some modest fare from the support bowlers.But he earned the short balls and wide deliveries. By leaving better outside off stump, by playing straighter, by retaining his patience and composure despite the pressure, he forced the bowlers into attempting different methods of attack and, gradually, they began to feed his strengths. Not one ball was driven to the boundary in the V between mid-off and mid-on, but he cut and pulled often. He will always be a limited player, but when he plays within those limitations he is a mightily effective one.And, if the runs alone were not enough to remind onlookers of his worth, Cook also passed Kevin Pietersen and David Gower in the list of England’s highest run-scorers in Test cricket. He is just 29, remember, and only Alec Stewart and Graham Gooch have scored more than him now.This was not the end of Cook’s journey, but it was a step in the right direction.

The West Indies might have had criticism about their performance on tour, but they have warmed the hearts of those who have watched them

PDT Mathieson25-Feb-2013The phrase ‘mind the windows, Tino’ rung out around Edgbaston as the West Indies No. 11 strode to the middle on Sunday. In a session, Tino Best made history and nearly made more. The handsome pose he struck after a stroke (contact was irrelevant), the helmetless dash towards the team balcony on reaching 50, and the barked instructions at the senior batsman, Denesh Ramdin, showcased the joy of West Indies cricket at its best. It infected the English crowd and caused them to groan when he skied the ball to Strauss, who was the man least likely to be sporting enough to drop the catch.The West Indies might have had criticism about their performance on tour, but they have warmed the hearts of those who have watched them. Darren Sammy is one of the most likeable and liked guys in international cricket. His broad, if slightly sheepish, smile on reaching his century at Trent Bridge was shared by everyone who saw it. Everyone was appreciative of a decent attempt at what is a wildly difficult job as captain of a flailing team, done with a good mood and a frequent grin. This is the joy of cricket.Cricket is a well-loved sport. It is full of joy. Our treasured memories of the game are so relatable that we can share experiences with others anywhere in the world. The question is, have England lost this joy?They are probably the best team in the world, and easily the most professional. In 2004, Freddie Flintoff made that famous quip about Best’s stroke play, but such light moments on the field seem rare these days. Talking about their good, intense battle, Marlon Samuels said he doesn’t like Onions, not even in his food. Onions’ reply? That of a serious professional: cliché ridden and hardly uncontentious.Off the field, England often maintain this attitude, with the obvious exception of Swann and occasionally Anderson. They appear from the outside to get satisfaction out of cricket, but not joy.Best, on the other hand, lit up Edgbaston on a day where bad light stopped play twice. Majestic (and self-aware) with the bat and fiery and irresistible with the ball, the chant of ‘Tiiiiiiinooooooo’ rang out instead of an ode to local boy Ian Bell.West Indies win plenty of fans with their passion, and the character with which they play the game. On a day where play was going their way, they had a great time where England seemed indifferent, if not downtrodden. There was no ‘mind the windows, Tino’ moment, except for when the windows were actually in danger.Cricket is entertainment. As you would tell the lead in a West-End musical, “The audience has a good time if they think you’re having a good time.” Lighten up, England.

What do you do when the curator has it in for bowlers? You plan, persevere and pray

Aakash Chopra29-Jul-2010The tracks laid out for the first two Test matches in the ongoing Sri Lanka-India series have pretty much dictated the course of the matches. The Sri Lankan tracks, like most in the subcontinent, are batting havens – classic “win-the-toss-bat-first” surfaces, which in most cases push the team losing the toss into playing catch up for the duration of the match.On these featherbeds the ball refuses to change its path after pitching, for spinners and fast bowlers alike, and the odds are stacked heavily against the bowlers and the fielding side. Yet there’s a job to be done – to dismiss the opposition, failing which you need to brace yourself for a dreadfully long haul. Nothing hurts a player more than the feeling of helplessness against the inevitable, which in this case is the declaration from the batting side.Does this mean one resigns to fate and does not plan at all? Definitely not. In fact, bowling on such tracks might need more planning than on helpful surfaces. But planning alone is often not enough; it needs to be complemented with lots of perseverance.Fast bowlers with the new ball
A fast bowler’s planning depends on the ball being used in the match. If the match is in India, it is the SG Test ball that is used, which of course behaves quite differently to the Kookaburra.The SG ball moves negligibly in the air while it’s new, and so it’s important to hit the deck hard till one side gets rough. You often see Zaheer Khan bowl cross-seam deliveries right at the beginning of a spell to hasten this process. And I vividly remember Glenn McGrath employing similar tactics in the 2004 series in India.Unless the team has three seamers at their disposal, it isn’t a bad idea to hold back the two frontline quicks till one side of the ball loses its sheen. A part-time quick or a spinner comes handy in these conditions. This was the job Angelo Mathews did for Sri Lanka in India last year.Once the ball starts swinging, releasing it right, instead of hitting the deck hard, becomes the mantra. The track might not offer lateral movement but the ball will likely swing in the air, if delivered properly. Since the swing in the air may not be complemented by movement off the surface, field placements may still need to be a little conservative. The bowlers must stick to a line, set their fields accordingly and err only on the side of fullness, for balls pitched short won’t even move in the air.Bowlers must employ different tactics while bowling with the Kookaburra, which, unlike the SG ball, moves appreciably when it’s new. Hence the endeavour should be to release the ball properly, pitch it slightly fuller and extract movement in the air. Smart bowlers use the more pronounced seam to bowl cutters too.Lasith Malinga did something remarkable in the first Test match, in Galle. He bowled fuller to start with, dismissed Gautam Gambhir cheaply in both innings, and then used the hardness of the ball to push Virender Sehwag on to the back foot with a barrage of well-directed bouncers when he saw there wasn’t much swing on offer. He knew that once the ball lost its hardness, he would have to wait for it to start reverse-swinging to inflict damage. The trick is to assess the conditions quickly and then react appropriately, be it the SG Test or the Kookaburra ball.Fast bowlers when the ball gets old
The brand of ball makes very little difference in the approach when the ball gets old, when there isn’t much conventional swing, no movement off the surface, and it’s too early to get reverse swing going. That’s when discipline and patience take centre stage.

The brand of ball makes very little difference in the approach when the ball gets old, when there isn’t much conventional swing, no movement off the surface, and it’s too early to get reverse swing going. That’s when discipline and patience take centre stage

Zaheer is a master operator in these situations, especially in post-lunch sessions in the subcontinent. He bowls at about 70% of his optimum speed, sticks to a line a foot outside off stump, employs a 6-3 or 7-2 off-side field and waits for the batsman to commit hara-kiri. He has the advantage of the natural angle working for him, taking the ball away from the right-hander even when it isn’t swinging.Another tactic, if executed well, is to accept that there isn’t enough movement to find the outside edge, and that even if you do, it’s unlikely to carry to the slips. Then one must bowl wicket to wicket, keep the catching fielders in front of the stumps and hope to either breach the defence or expect the batsman to get carried away and hit in the air. You need to be persistent rather than imaginative to see through such phases. But consistency in line and length is imperative, else you’ll be punished, for the margin of error is really small. The only thing you must constantly vary is the pace. Rolling your fingers over the ball to bowl slower ones and cutters are among the few ways to create doubt in the batsman’s mind in these conditions.Another tactic is to get two fast bowlers to bowl bouncers in tandem from around the stumps, with both fine leg and square leg on the fence. Since there’s nothing happening otherwise, there’s no harm in trying something different.Once the ball starts reverse-swinging, good quick bowlers come into their own. One is still required to stick to a line (you don’t want to bowl on both sides of the wicket) but lengths can, and perhaps must, vary with almost every delivery. The last thing you, as a bowler, want when the ball is reverse-swinging is to be predictable. Even a toe-crushing yorker doesn’t have the same effect if every ball is in the block-hole.Once again, Malinga used the old ball quite effectively in the first Test match to break the back of the Indian batting line-up, dismissing Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Michael Kasprowicz did something similar in the series against India in 2004. He was so ruthless with his lines around the middle and leg stumps that he could do without a slip or a gully fielder.While talking about masters with the old ball, it would be criminal not to mention Waqar and Wasim. But these two were special bowlers with special skills and others can only dream of emulating them. Don’t they say: planning and plotting is for lesser mortals; geniuses carve their own road.Spinners
Slow bowlers are your workhorses on dead surfaces, for good captains rarely give their fast bowlers long spells. Spinners are required to do the donkey’s work of bowling extremely long spells with or, mostly, without any assistance from the surface. They need strategies too, but unlike for their quicker counterparts, their plans don’t vary from Kookaburra to SG Test, for balls don’t behave radically differently depending on their brand when in the hands of a spinner.Vettori: chokes off the scoring and waits for mistakes•Getty ImagesLength is not negotiable: they must stick to it for as long as they are bowling or pay for it dearly. The lines and the pace, though, must keep changing, along with the introduction of variations like the doosra, googly or the arm ball.The lack of purchase from the surface, unless you’re a Murali or Warne, might make a spinner monotonous, and that’s what they must guard against. They must keep using the drift, experiment with angles by coming over and around the stumps, and use fielders cleverly to play with the batsman’s mind. There may be nothing happening but the batsman must always get the impression that there’s a plan in place. And the most likely way for a spinner to get a wicket on these surfaces is to put pressure on the batsman by making run-scoring difficult and thus making him commit a faux pas.I really like how Daniel Vettori operates on good surfaces against quality players of spin bowling. He tries to block their working areas – i.e. behind square leg for a left-hander and point for a right-hander – by altering his line and length and placing a fielder to cut off the single. By doing so he challenges the batsman to do something different, like go over the top or play against the spin. He may not always be successful, though he mostly is, but his intentions are absolutely right.In batting-friendly conditions it helps to have a multi-dimensional attack: a couple of attacking bowlers who’re expected to go for wickets, though they might be a little expensive in the bargain, along with a couple of defensive bowlers who’ll stem the flow of runs and also give their more aggressive counterparts some respite.Ideally one would always have tracks like the ones England dished out for the recently concluded Pakistan-Australia Test series, which had enough in them to keep the bowlers interested. But expecting them from curators in the subcontinent would be a bit too optimistic. While I have written about how a bowler can plan, it’s still a bloody tough job to be a bowler in the subcontinent. Unless we make a conscious effort to prepare sporting wickets, it may well cut a few careers short, either due to injury or lack of results. To those who’re still standing and delivering in these inhuman conditions: take a bow!

How Glenn McGrath and Steve Harmison exploited the Lord’s pitch

On the Ball by S Rajesh and Arun Gopalakrishnan21-Jul-2005A day which began magnificently for the hosts turned pear-shaped by the end entirely due to the efforts of one outstanding individual. Before this Test, Glenn McGrath’s Lord’s stats read: 17 wickets in two matches at 12.76. One day into his third game at this venue, and the numbers look even better – 22 wickets at an incredible 10.82. McGrath has already won the Man-of-the-Match award in his first two Tests here, and if today’s performance is any indication, he’s well on his way to a hat-trick.As always, McGrath’s control over line and length was impeccable. The pitch, with its inconsistent bounce, was tailor-made for him, and McGrath exploited it to the hilt, homing in just around off stump, nipping it either way, and allowing the vagaries of the track to do the rest.A look at McGrath’s pitch map tells the story – 71 out 78 balls pitched on a good length, that’s a mind-boggling 91%. Fifteen of his deliveries pitched on or outside leg stump, but 14 of those were to left-handers from over the wicket, which meant that the angle of delivery would have forced the batsmen to play at them. Against right-handers, McGrath’s control was stunning – 52 good-length balls out of 58, with one ball which drifted further on side than off stump.McGrath’s virtuoso performance completely overshadowed Steve Harmison’s heroics earlier in the day. He was expected to be Australia’s biggest threat this Ashes, and so he proved on the very first day of the series with a fiery spell of 5 for 43. The key was the length that he bowled: of the 68 deliveries Harmison sent down, only three were pitched up, and they disappeared for 11 runs. He learnt quickly, and kept it on a good length or just short – on a pitch of varying bounce, that was the perfect way to bowl. Of the 51 good-length balls, 32 were back of a length, and all the 20 balls which pitched outside leg were to left-handers from over the wicket.The Australians didn’t help their cause by playing in one-day mode – they let only 71 out of 254 deliveries go through to Geraint Jones. A more cautious approach might have been the need of the hour on the first-day Lord’s pitch, but then Australia only play their cricket one way.