Left field

Dravid hit the high notes despite playing second fiddle

By Sudipto Ganguly

Rahul Dravid will go down in the annals of Indian cricket as a champion batsman who had no qualms about playing second fiddle during an illustrious 15-year career built upon the soundest of techniques.

A purist’s delight, Dravid will be fondly remembered as someone whose batting was as perfect as a coaching manual and the numerous rescue acts he performed would secure him a place on the wish-list of any international captain.

Nicknamed “The Wall” for his impeccable defence, the 39-year-old announced his retirement from test cricket on Friday after a disappointing tour of Australia, where he was bowled out in six out of his eight innings.

Probably the nature of his dismissals in Australia where the ball found it much easier to breach his previously watertight defences, convinced Dravid to call time on his career despite being the highest test run-scorer in the 2011 calendar year.

A test career that began at the Lord’s with a solid 95 in 1996 ended with a total of 13,288 runs in 164 matches, second only to team mate Sachin Tendulkar on the test history scoring list.

In that Lord’s test, fellow debutant and future captain Sourav Ganguly hit a century to outshine Dravid – a trend that would recur in the next one-and-half decades when Vangipurappu Laxman or Tendulkar would hog the limelight.

England to play Panesar? Another batter more like

The fallout from England’s crushing first-test defeat by Pakistan has led many pundits to call for Monty Panesar to play as a second spinner in next week’s second test, despite the fact it was the batsmen and not the bowlers who failed to turn up for the world’s top-ranked test side.

Number 11 Panesar may have performed heroics with the bat in Cardiff to save the first Ashes test in 2009 but the Pakistan bowlers will hardly be quaking in their boots. Including Panesar would seemingly mean dropping seamer Chris Tremlett, who did not get a wicket in Dubai but still bowled decently. England getting Pakistan down to 289-8 having only scored 192 first up themselves was a good effort from the England attack.

There has been talk of Ravi Bopara coming in instead to bolster the batting and bowling but the all-rounder has always struggled to impose himself on tests when the pressure is on. Being one down in a three-test series in unfamiliar surroundings really is pressure. Yes the injured Tim Bresnan brought runs down the order but so do Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann. Dropping Tremlett for Bopara would be a risky move.

While rising to number one in the world, England have recovered from sudden setbacks well, such as the defeat in Perth on their way to winning the Ashes in Australia at the turn of 2010/11.

Coach Andy Flower said the side were “undercooked” for the Pakistan test series having not played the longer form of the game since the final India test in August. So much for there being too much cricket….

All the pointers from how Flower has run this England side suggests they will go in to the Abu Dhabi test with exactly the same 11.

The batters were bamboozled by Saeed Ajmal in Dubai, not the pitch. It was not doing too much and they don’t expect Abu Dhabi to either. So why bring in Panesar?

Wanderers test will not match Newlands. But for better or worse?

Last week’s crazy Cape Town test match between South Africa and Australia, where 23 wickets fell in a day and the visitors narrowly avoided the lowest ever test score, will go down in cricket’s esteemed annals.

They meet again at the Wanderers from Thursday. But would test cricket fans want to see a repeat?

The Newlands match was over in three days and despite all the drama, purists were left wondering whether the flurry of wickets was due to bad batting and a lack of application in the test arena rather than wonderful bowling in conducive conditions.

Australia captain Michael Clarke described his team’s batting as “disgraceful and unacceptable” after they were bowled out for 47.

Players preferring the big-money and rapid nature of limited overs cricket to the concentration-heavy longer format has worried test fanatics for several years, and the five-day game is definitely suffering.

The fact powerhouses South Africa and Australia are only playing two tests in this series adds weight to the argument, as did India’s lack of preparation ahead of touring Engliand earlier this year as the hosts won 4-0 to overtake the Indians as the world’s best test side.

England, who have struggled in 50-over cricket for years, appear to value tests more than some other sides these days as the jailing of three Pakistan players for deliberately bowling no balls for money in a test in England last year shows.

ICC name best test team of all time. Right or wrong?

The ICC has unveiled the best test team of all time as voted for by fans on the governing body’s website. The ICC offered a shortlist to choose from.

Here it is:

Virender Sehwag

Sunil Gavaskar

Donald Bradman

Sachin Tendulkar

Brian Lara

Flat pitches a further concern for cricket

To those uninitiated with cricket, to hear complaints about a playing surface being ‘flat’ would only further confuse them. As if the game, also hit by tragedy this week, wasn’t complex enough.

Now, a recent trend of high scores has led to criticism from some of the game’s former players, who are equally baffled by pitches that serve up nothing more than run feasts.

A list of highest test innings above 600 includes five totals all scored in the last couple of weeks, and two of those make the top 10.

This is not to say that all is bad in world cricket.

A glance at the recent first test match between South Africa and Australia shows how cricket ought to be.

There was life in the pitch from day one, and with the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg being at altitude the ball is more likely to swing. Yet Australia’s number nine batsman, Mitchell Johnson, was still able to score 96 not out in the first innings.