If missing Irfan Pathan was not enough, Baroda now have to contend with a strong Karnataka side in the absence of Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel. And that too in the semi-final, a pressure game

Abhishek Purohit in Vadodara02-Jan-2011If missing Irfan Pathan was not enough, Baroda now have to contend with a strong Karnataka side in the absence of Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel. And that too in the semi-final, a pressure game. “There is nothing one can do about it. Yes, they are our big guns. But now that they are not here, we cannot mope about that fact,” Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, told ESPNcricinfo. Yusuf and Munaf will fly to South Africa as part of India’s limited-overs squad.How is Narula dealing with the largely inexperienced side in such a scenario? “At the outset, it’s a mental adjustment for me. I’ve first got to realise that I need to now motivate the boys to put their best foot forward, as there is simply no other option.”However, Pinal Shah, the captain, said that they were not too worried by the absence of Yusuf and Munaf, and were taking confidence from their run this season, which almost everyone has contributed.Narula said it was a chance for the others to grab the limelight with their performances. “Many of our bowlers have taken four-wicket hauls, but no fivers. I told them, ‘you have been part of the set-up for three-four years now, what have you got to show for your efforts?’ The difference between taking four wickets and five is akin to the difference between batsmen getting a 99 and a 100.”The batting looks a bit thin, and Narula admitted the experienced ones like Connor Williams and Ambati Rayudu have to click for Baroda to have a chance. “The big ones have to fire. We have talent in the form of young Kedar Devdhar, but you cannot expect him to lead the batting in a big game like a semi-final.”The way Rayudu approached the nets session would have given Narula confidence. He showed why he is considered among the better talents in the country. Other batsmen were defending length deliveries or playing them along the ground in the V. No such niceties for Rayudu. He had a sighter or two initially, and then started hammering them in the air over where midwicket or mid-on would have been. He was very quick to pick up the length, and his timing was mostly spot-on.Baroda’s bowling certainly is thin, the track is expected to take turn as the game progresses, and both have prompted them to consider giving 21-year old offspinner Aditya Waghmode a debut. “Well, we are considering it, and if it happens, what a time it would be for him to make his debut. But you know, cricket is like this; if on the day, you can get it to pitch in the right areas, you can be successful, and what better time to do it than in a semi-final.” Narula was banking on his highest wicket-taker this season, 20-year old left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt, to lead the attack.There was speculation about Baroda’s choice of ground for the game, which was shifted from the regular first-class venue Moti Bagh Stadium to the Reliance Stadium on the outskirts of the city. The pitch here does not offer as much assistance to the fast bowlers as the Moti Bagh Stadium does, and it was being said that Baroda had moved in order to blunt the Karnataka seam trio of Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and S Aravind. “We had decided to play the semi-final at Reliance right after the quarter-final ended. The ground is of international standard, and has much better facilities,” was all Narula would say. “As the home team, I think we certainly have the liberty to decide which venue we should go for.”

Ryan Corns, the player of the tournament at the 2009 Under-19 World Cup Global Qualifier, has been selected in USA’s senior squad for the first time, to go to the ICC World Cricket League Division Three

Peter Della Penna30-Dec-2010Ryan Corns, the player of the tournament at the 2009 Under-19 World Cup Global Qualifier, has been selected in USA’s senior squad for the first time, to go to the ICC World Cricket League Division Three (WCL Div. 3). Three other uncapped players – Durale Forrest, Ritesh Kadu and Asif Khan – will also go to the tournament, which will be played in Hong Kong from January 22-29, 2011. Neil McGarrell, the left-arm spinner who has played four Tests for the West Indies, has been ruled ineligible to play for USA in the tournament.”All four guys bring something special to the team,” USA coach Clayton Lambert said on Wednesday. “They’re all solid players. In Corns and Khan we have two left-arm spinners. We have another medium pacer in Forrest. Kadu is going to help in the wicketkeeping department and he’s a very solid batsman.”Khan has perhaps the strongest pedigree of the four newcomers to the USA squad. A 31-year-old former Pakistan first-class cricketer, Khan has bowled a series of stifling spells with his left-arm orthodox spin over the last two years, playing for the Central East Region in USA Cricket Association (USACA) tournaments.The USA team was desperate for a left-arm spinner after McGarrell was ruled ineligible. According to several sources, McGarrell was included in the squad that was sent to the ICC, but didn’t fulfill the requirements to play for USA. ICC rules stipulate that a player must have been a resident of the country for a minimum of 183 days for each year in the four years preceding a tournament in order to qualify. USACA vice president of operations Manaf Mohamed confirmed on Wednesday that McGarrell failed to meet that requirement as he had only been in the country for enough days in the last three years.”We’re going to miss McGarrell, but hopefully we can have him qualify for the next tournament [WCL Div. 2] and we can go out there and do what we need to do to get to Dubai,” Lambert said. If USA finishes in the top two in Hong Kong, they will advance to WCL Div. 2, which will be played in the UAE in April 2011.Forrest has a strong reputation as a bowling allrounder, playing league cricket in New Jersey while representing the Atlantic Region. Kadu is a consistent performer for the South West Region and finished as the second leading run scorer in the Southern California Cricket Association (SCCA) First Division. He has been picked as a reserve wicketkeeper for Carl Wright.USA’s first match in Hong Kong will be against the host team on January 22. Since the start of the current World Cricket League cycle in 2009, the host team has finished first or second in five of the six tournaments played, with the lone exception being the 2010 Division One played in the Netherlands in July 2010. However, Lambert isn’t distracted by the challenge of playing what could be USA’s toughest opponent in the event right off the bat.”If we want to go through to the next tournament, we have got to win at least four games,” Lambert said. “We’re hoping that we’re going to play as well as we can and we think that our skill is good enough for the tournament. We’re hoping to win the tournament actually. It might not happen that way, but that’s our goal.”USA Squad: Steve Massiah (captain), Sushil Nadkarni (vice-captain), Orlando Baker, Ryan Corns, Lennox Cush, Kevin Darlington, Durale Forrest, Muhammad Ghous, Ritesh Kadu, Asif Khan, Rashard Marshall, Aditya Thyagarajan, Usman Shuja, Carl Wright.

A round-up of the first day’s action from the World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Hong Kong

Liam Brickhill22-Jan-2011United States of America got their Division Three campaign off to a winning start, a dominant batting performance sealing a seven-wicket win over hosts Hong Kong at Kowloon Cricket Club.USA captain Steve Massiah was the chief architect of their win, contributing to his team’s efforts at crucial times. His first success was to call correctly at the toss on a cold, grey morning. Seamer Kevin Darlington struck twice in his opening spell, removing Courtney Kruger and Hussain Butt inside the first 10 overs.After a brief rally, 16-year-old Mark Chapman and Irfan Ahmed departed to leave Hong Kong tottering at 59 for 4 before opener Roy Lamsam and Nizakat Khan repaired the damage with a 99-run stand. Enter Massiah, swooping to run Lamsam out for 83. Despite a flurry of wickets, Hong Kong captain Najeeb Amar defied the Americans with a no-holds-barred 63 that included six sixes and carried his side to a competitive 256 for 9.Massiah and wicketkeeper Carl Wright weathered the loss of Orlando Baker early in USA’s chase to put together a decisive 109-run partnership in quick time. Massiah was content to play the anchor role in their stand, with Wright thrashing seven fours and six sixes in his 82 before offering legspinner Khan a caught-and-bowled chance in the 32nd over.Massiah then stepped up the tempo significantly with Sushil Nadkarni his partner at the crease. With Nadkarni adding 38 at better than a-run-a-ball before he was dismissed, Massiah’s well-paced innings couldn’t quite reach three figures as he finished on 97 not out when victory was reached with an over and a half to spare.”It’s fantastic to start the tournament off with a victory and we had some solid batting performances today with Carl Wright and myself contributing to our victory,” said Massiah, who was named Man of the Match. “However good it feels to start with a win we definitely cannot rest on our laurels. Tomorrow we’re playing Denmark and they’ll be looking for a win after losing to Italy today, we can’t afford to lose focus.”Italy’s batting performance against Denmark was similarly impressive, Peter Petricola putting in a match-winning all-round performance to set up a seven-wicket win for the Italians at Hong Kong Cricket Club.Alessandro Bonora’s side limited Denmark to 227, Petricola effecting a run out and picking up two wickets with his medium pace. Rizwan Mahmood’s half-century formed the backbone of Denmark’s innings, and although four of the top seven batsmen got starts none were able to really push on as Dilan Fernando’s seamers also resulted in three wickets.With the sun slowly beginning to break through a heavy bank of cloud as Italy began their chase, openers Andy Northcote and Damien Fernando combined to make 87 runs at a steady pace before Fernando was trapped in front of his stumps for 45. Denmark chipped away to reduce Italy to 130 for 3 but Petricola and Damien Crowley fought back in impressive style, both reaching unbeaten half-centuries to seal the result in the 45th over.”It’s obviously great to win on the opening day of the event and carry on the good form I had in Italy last summer,” said Petricola. “We were a little bit scratchy to begin with but we stepped up to the plate with a few good performances to get us over the line but today was by no means a complete performance by us.”The Danes are a solid side and are very competitive while also playing with good spirit. They definitely challenged us as a side. They were good but at the end of the day we gave a good enough performance to walk away with the important winning points on day one.”In the third game of the day, at Mission Road, Rarva Dikana’s Papua New Guinea opened their tournament with a 39-run win over Oman despite a hard-fought century from Omani captain Hemal Mehta. His innings was not enough to help his side recover after Hitolo Areni knocked the stuffing out of their top order with an early hat-trick.PNG had Chris Kent and Kila Pala to thank after their half-centuries prompted a recovery after a top-order collapse had reduced the side to 27 for 4, Hemin Desai’s seamers doing the bulk of the damage as he ripped out three of the top four and eventually finished with figures of 4 for 50. Kent struck 68 before being caught and bowled by Mehta while Pala struck a run-a-ball 77 as PNG reached 248 for 9.With a competitive total set, PNG set about dismissing the Omanis in style with Areni leading the way with a stellar performance. The 30-year-old fast bowler started by dismissing Deep Trivedi, with wicketkeeper Jack Vare snaffling a catch behind the stumps, while the second two wickets of Adnan Ilyas and Sultan Ahmed came from some nifty fielding at first slip by Dikana.Mehta made a valiant effort in an attempt to save his side from defeat, striking the first century of the tournament, but his hard work was in vain as the side fell short of the target by 39 runs and PNG’s bowlers cleaned up the tail.”I’m really pleased to have taken a hat-trick today and to help my side to our first win of the tournament,” said Areni. I’ve recently broken back into the national side and it feels good to see my hard work paying off today but it was very much a team effort today.”We’ve another game tomorrow and we can’t rest on today’s win, we need make sure we carry this through and hopefully I can continue to contribute to help us win.””We had a great start against PNG and then we dropped two catches in a span of three overs which made the difference in the first innings where they managed to get a long partnership in place,” explained Mehta”I have to say our bowlers did work hard today to try and limit the runs, with Desai and Ranpura our seamers taking four wickets to dismiss most of the top order. But we let things slip to allow them to set up their major partnership and wickets only began to fall again after our spinner Khalid Rashid stepped in.”The partnership myself and Vaibhav Wategaonkar built was decent and if we’d had another two players contribute 30-odd runs each alongside myself things may have turned out differently. Areni put us on the back foot when he took three key wickets and unfortunately I couldn’t steady the ship on my own.”The tournament continues on Sunday, with Oman playing Hong Kong at KCC, Italy facing PNG at HKCC and USA taking on Denmark at Mission Road.

Ireland still do not know if Trent Johnston, their main fast bowler, will play against West Indies as they wait anxiously on his fitness

Nagraj Gollapudi in Mohali10-Mar-2011Ireland still do not know if Trent Johnston, their main fast bowler, will play against West Indies as they wait anxiously on his fitness. Johnston was one of the best bowlers in the tight loss against India last week in Bangalore, but a knee injury forced him off the field after delivering five overs in which he had taken two wickets. “He did a few laps of the ground, a few sprints and bowled a couple of overs, although it wasn’t full pelt. But in the last over he ran in hard. We will see how reacts in the morning and make a call,” William Porterfield, Ireland captain said.Porterfield said that he had not spoken to Johnston after the nets as the bowler was on the physio’s table, but remained optimistic. “Bowling 10 overs won’t be a problem for him it seems. Standing on the park for 50 overs may be a problem. So we will wait and see how he shapes up tomorrow,” Porterfield said.If Johnston were to sit out it would be huge blow for Ireland, who need to win against West Indies to keep their quarter-finals hopes alive. Johnston has taken two wickets in each of Ireland’s three previous matches and is their highest wicket-taker. His accuracy and seaming ability will make him a dangerous bowler on the Mohali pitch, which is on the greener side.Porterfield is aware of the importance of Ireland’s next few games. “We have three games left and we need to win at least two of them so every game is a massive one.”Trent Johnston went down injured during Ireland’s match against India in Bangalore•Getty Images

Bowling aside, if Ireland have to survive their batsmen need to put up a good fight. Barring Porterfield, none of the other specialist batsmen like Ed Joyce, Paul Stirling, Niall O’Brien have got a fifty. This could be a golden opportunity for somebody like Joyce, who has only 52 runs from three matches so far, to stand up and deliver, but Porterfield does not think a dramatic change from their performance in previous games is necessary. “We just have to go out there and play the way we have played in the last three games,”Porterfield knows West Indies are coming into the match on the back of consecutive wins and that they are bound to derive motivation from their rousing win against Bangladesh in Dhaka where the trio of Kemar Roach, Sulieman Benn and Darren Sammy destroyed the Bangladesh batting in 18 overs. Roach would fancy taking the new ball early morning to do an encore tomorrow. But Porterfield is not nervous. “They have a lot of variations in their bowling, but we need to focus on what we are doing right.”Porterfield said Ireland had come far from the last time both sides met during the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean. “[It] wasn’t a great performance on the day a couple of years ago in the Caribbean. But we were still a pretty confident side back then. We have done a lot of preparation but we have also grown in experience and stature since then. It has been a long time cricketing-wise. Our side is more experience and lot more confident in our ability.”

A dominant Southern Rocks cruised to the Pro40 Championship title, beating Mid West Rhinos by eight wickets, with 31 ball remaining, in Harare

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Mar-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsSikandar Raza scored a steady 44 in Southern Rocks’ successful chase•Zimbabwe Cricket

A dominant Southern Rocks cruised to the Pro40 Championship title, beating Mid West Rhinos by eight wickets with 31 ball remaining, in Harare. Rhinos had only themselves to blame for the loss. After being put in to bat, their top order collapsed on a pitch that was slow, but wasn’t doing anything extraordinary. A determined 68 by Malcolm Waller got them to 151, but that total that never posed a challenge for the strong Rocks batting.Most of Rhinos’ batsmen were out to poor shots: Brendan Taylor chipped one to mid-on off the bowling of seamer Blessing Mahwire, Vusi Sibanda was caught at midwicket, and Riki Wessels attempted a reverse-sweep despite the fact his team were 54 for 3 and could only top edge it to the wicketkeeper. Legspinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi was the bowler who benefitted from Wessels’ lapse, and he went on to take two more wickets and finish with 3 for 35.The early wickets had left Rhinos 54 for 5, but Waller and Graeme Cremer led a recovery. The two managed to keep the runs ticking over at six an over without taking too many risks and looked to have rescued the situation with their 75-run stand.There was another collapse in store, though. Waller went first, clipping Michael Chinouya to midwicket. Cremer was out, again to an attempted reverse-sweep. The tail didn’t hang around long, and Rhinos committed the cardinal sin of not batting out their 40 overs, bowled out in the 37th.Rocks kept their nerve in the chase; the only real threat to their victory was the possibility of a storm. The rain never came though, and Rocks’ batsmen were clinical in taking their team home with plenty of time to spare. Sikandar Raza scored a steady 44 at the top of the order, and then Craig Ervine and Elton Chigumbura guided the team to the victory.It was the perfect way for Rocks to finish their season, and an important revival in their fortunes after they had a torrid Logan Cup in which they finished bottom of the table with no wins.

Kuwait consolidated their position at the top of the World Cricket League Division 7 points table, beating Nigeria convincingly by nine wickets with all of 25 overs to spare

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2011Kuwait consolidated their position at the top of the World Cricket League Division 7 points table, beating Nigeria convincingly by nine wickets with all of 25 overs to spare at the Lobatse Cricket Ground.Being asked to bat, Nigeria’s line-up crumbled against the medium pace of Saad Khalid. The slide was initiated by left-armer Mohammad Murad, who sent back opener Ramit Gill for a duck. From there on, Khalid, with the rest of the bowlers offering solid support, ran through Nigeria, finishing with figures of 5 for 24 in 6.4 overs. The only batsman to show any resistance was Sean Philips, who contributed almost half the total with 75, as Nigeria folded for 153. Kuwait were clinical in the chase, Irfan Bhatti and Saud Qamar putting together an unbroken 128-run stand after an early wicket, to take their side home comfortably.Khalid, who was named Man of the Match said his side will look to continue their winning run. “It is obviously great to make it three wins out of three in the tournament, but we can’t rest on today’s win,” he said. “We face Germany tomorrow [Thursday] and we know they’ll want a good match, especially since they lost to us in the final of Division 8 [Kuwait and Germany finished on top in Division 8, to qualify for the Division 7 tournament].”Hosts Botswana got past Germany by two wickets in a close game at the Botswana Cricket Association Oval 1 in Gaborone.Botswana began ideally in the field, after captain Akrum Chand chose to bowl, with Waseem Tajbhay running out Milan Fernando for a duck and Omar Ali castling Andre Leslie for 1, to leave Germany 2 for 2 in the third over. A patient 148-run stand between Asif Khan and Farooq Ahmed got the innings back on track though. The pair was dismissed in quick succession, but Rishi Pillai added another 47, to make sure Germany posted a competitive total. Ali was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 3 for 43. Botswana, like Germany, were in trouble early on in their innings, being 8 for 2 and then 28 for 3, before a steadying 87-run stand between Denzil Sequeira and Karabo Modise. Modise, was run out on 65, but the lower-middle order played around Ali – who struck 45 off 40 balls – to help the hosts sneak home with 11 deliveries to spare.Man-of-the-Match Ali said the win was the result of positive cricket. “When I saw Karabo going out there and playing with a positive attitude, I decided that when I went out there [to bat] I would go with the same attitude and it paid off.”Norway registered their first win of the tournament, defeating Japan by 53 runs at the Botswana Cricket Association Oval 2, on the back of an excellent all-round performance by Shahbaz Butt.Japan inserted Norway in to bat, and were able to pick up wickets at regular intervals to begin with, leaving Norway 81 for 5 in the 22nd over. That’s when they came up against Butt, who put on 125 runs for the sixth wicket with Iftikhar Suhael. Patrick Giles-Jones, who finished with 4 for 48, took a return catch to get rid of Suhael for 53, but Butt carried on, steering Norway towards sizeable total before falling two short of his century. He continued to trouble Japan during the chase, running through their middle order with his maiden hat-trick. While a few of the Japan batsman got starts, only Ko Irie managed to build an innings of substance, remaining 56 not out as Japan folded for 191 in the 49th over.”I just knew I had to stay in there and make the runs for as long as possible and stay in the game for as long as possible which I did,” Man-of-the-Match Shahbaz said. “I was also really happy with the way I bowled. That’s not to say Japan didn’t challenge us today, they put up a good fight with both bat and ball but ultimately we came out on top.”

Duncan Fletcher may have coached the England team for eight years but there’s still a “hell of a lot” about them that he “doesn’t know at all”, offspinner Graeme Swann has said

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Apr-2011Duncan Fletcher may have coached the England team for eight years but there’s still a “hell of a lot” about them that he “doesn’t know at all”, offspinner Graeme Swann has said. Fletcher was named India’s new coach, replacing Gary Kirsten, and his first assignment is likely to be the tour of England later in the year.Swann, who was not in Fletcher’s good books when he first played for England in 2000, said any presumptions from the coach about knowing it all about England had the potential to backfire.”Fletcher knows a few of our players better than some other coaches would,” Swann told the . “But there’s a hell of a lot of our team he doesn’t know at all. I think that will work to our advantage, because he might be trying to double guess us a little bit and come a cropper.”Swann made his ODI debut on the tour of South Africa in 2000, when Fletcher was coach, but lost favour with the team due to his off-field behaviour. He played his first Test almost eight years later. “If I was a coach 10 years ago, I don’t think I would have picked me, and I wouldn’t have particularly liked me being on that tour,” Swann said. “If you’re my sort of character, you soon become quite irksome to the people around you if you’re not backing your talk up on the field.”I was just a young upstart tourist, and it was a good job I didn’t play because I wasn’t good enough. I’d probably have been found out and cast aside for good, and never been given my eventual second chance.”There are several players in the current England set-up who’ve either not played under Fletcher or done so only occasionally. Jonathan Trott and Steven Finn made their debuts after Fletcher left, while Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan and even Swann gained prominence much later.”It’s nice for him to come back to England, because he’s got a fine record with the England team,” Swann said. “Now he will get a chance to pit his wits against this new England side during the summer. Technically, though, I don’t think it helps him much to know a few of our players, because there’s so much footage available that you can work anybody out.”Even James Anderson, who Swann believes could be the key against India, played only 16 of his 57 Tests under Fletcher. “If the ball swings like it did last year and Jimmy bowls as well again, there’s no team in the world that can touch us,” Swann said. “I think we will give India a very good run for their money, if not beat them.”

Delhi Daredevils finished at the bottom of the pile after a heavy downpour forced the game to be abandoned after Delhi struggled through to reach 56 for 3 from 10.1 overs

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera21-May-2011Match abandoned
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Rain stopped the dead rubber after 10.1 overs•Associated Press

And so it’s Delhi Daredevils who finish at the bottom of the pile. A heavy downpour forced the game to be abandoned after Delhi struggled to reach 56 for 3 after 10.1 overs against Pune Warriors.Delhi just lurched along aimlessly before the rain saved them from further embarrassment. David Warner offered brief respite to the Delhi fans with a pulled six off Alfonso Thomas and a six over long-on against IPL debutant James Faulkner. That was it, and Pune controlled the rest of the game. Pune, in their first IPL season, finished ninth in the league, ahead of Delhi on net run-rate.Faulkner had a good night bowling his left arm seamers. He delivered a lovely slower yorker – released from back of the hand – to knock out Warner and bowled a couple of jaffas that kicked up from a length at Matthew Wade. Another IPL debutant Shrikant Mundhe struck in his first over to end the misery of Naman Ojha, who had missed more than he connected. Mitchell Marsh produced a yorker to terminate Wade’s limp innings. Then the clouds opened up. Game over.

Rahul Dravid, India’s batting hero in their victory in the first Test against West Indies, has come out in support of the young talent breaking into the national team

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Jun-2011Rahul Dravid, India’s batting hero in their victory in the first Test against West Indies, has come out in support of the young talent breaking into the national team. India entered the series with a depleted side in the absence of first-choice players Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan, and it took a typically determined second-innings century from Dravid to set up the 63-run win in Jamaica. The young batsmen who came into the XI – with the exception of Suresh Raina in the first innings – wasted the opportunity to impress, but Dravid was confident that they would come good if backed consistently.”These youngsters are even better than we were, in terms of talent,” Dravid said after the match. “We put too much pressure on youngsters; we need to relax and give them time, we need to be patient with them, and we can’t be questioning them after every one or two matches.”The Kingston Test marks 15 years since Dravid debuted along with Sourav Ganguly at Lord’s in 1996, a series in which both did exceptionally well. VVS Laxman also debuted the same year, completing the core of what was to eventually become a world-class middle order, along with Tendulkar.Dravid said the next generation of players had the potential to surpass even the class of 96.
“We all needed time – we have been around for 15 years since we were given a bit of time and you can’t expect performances straight away,” Dravid said. “To be fair to these guys, they have been performing brilliantly in ODIs and I believe Indian cricket is in good hands and these youngsters are going to perform much better than we did even.”Dravid, along with VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni, played in Kingston without much time to acclimatise to the Caribbean or playing practice games. Dravid said it was one of the issues the team grappled with in Jamaica and hoped for improvements before the second Test in Barbados from the 28th.”We know we need to do better than we did in this Test,” Dravid said. “If we are honest we know there are areas we need to improve on, and hopefully we will get that right in Barbados. It has not been easy: a lot of guys have come off a flight two-three days before the Test and there’s been no practice game. Hopefully this win is a good lead-up, and the guys will do better in the next game.”

Pragyan Ojha, the India left-arm spinner, is set to play for Surrey in the County Championship and in the CB40 one-day competition in England

Abhishek Purohit02-Aug-2011Pragyan Ojha, the India left-arm spinner, is set to play for Surrey in the County Championship and in the CB40 one-day competition in England. Ojha, who hasn’t played much in England, wanted to improve his skills in conditions unfavourable to spin bowling and has been granted permission by the BCCI to play in the first-class and one-day formats.Ojha is hoping to leave for England in a week’s time after completing his visa formalities and could make his debut for Surrey in a CB40 one-dayer against Northamptonshire on August 15.Ojha has been a regular presence in India squads since making his ODI and Test debuts in 2008 and 2009. He was also part of the squad for the recent tour of West Indies but with Harbhajan Singh being the sole spinner in overseas games, opportunities have been limited. The Nagpur Test against New Zealand in November 2010 was Ojha’s last match for India.”With not much cricket around for me at the moment, I thought it would be best if I could utilise the time by playing some county cricket in England,” Ojha told ESPNcricinfo. His previous experience of playing in England is limited to three appearances for India in the World Twenty20 in 2009 and a month with the Slathwaite Cricket Club in the Huddersfield League in Yorkshire in 2007.Spinners are not having a good time in the ongoing Test series between England and India with Harbhajan, particularly, and Graeme Swann struggling for impact on surfaces and in conditions that have suited the fast bowlers. “It will be a huge challenge for me to play on pitches in England that are not spinner-friendly,” Ojha said. “I am really looking forward to gaining experience in those conditions.”Ojha, 24, has shown an ability to get sharp turn and bounce from even slightly-responsive surfaces but has still to progress beyond being a steady performer on truer pitches. Bowling long spells on England tracks that don’t deteriorate as much as subcontinent ones do, could help him develop more variations and build his patience.Ojha joins the list of India left-arm spinners – Bishan Bedi, Dilip Doshi, and Murali Kartik – who have played county cricket. He said the hadn’t spoken to them about their experiences but has been taking tips from former India and Hyderabad left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju. “I have been in regular touch with Raju and have also been practising with the Hyderabad side [Ojha’s team in India domestic cricket].”Much to his annoyance, Ojha has acquired the reputation of being a restrictive rather than a wicket-taking bowler. A bowling average of 40.40 and a strike-rate of 84.2 – albeit in only 11 Tests – attest to the fact that he has been often called on to perform the holding role with his captain MS Dhoni relying on his impressive control at an age when spinners are supposed to be raw.”I am much more confident now than I was when I made my Test debut. Now I understand when to attack and when to make the batsmen struggle for runs. You have to continue hitting the right areas; it’s not just about bowling stump to stump but about playing with the batsman’s mind. A lot of people misunderstand me by saying, ‘he bowls only tight lines’.”It is important how you set your fields, for example, if you have two catching covers, or how you place your mid-off and mid-on. It all depends on you.”With three seasons of international cricket behind him, Ojha said Test cricket had changed vastly from the days when left-arm spinners like Bedi used to “purchase” wickets using generous flight and daring batsmen to go after them. “Batsmen and bowlers used to test each other’s patience earlier. Now a lot of batsmen look to win Test matches. I feel if you don’t give them easy runs, they will go after you and that is when you have a chance to get them.”