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ESPNcricinfo previews the Champions League Twenty20 qualifier between Trinidad & Tobago and Ruhuna in Hyderabad

The Preview by Dustin Silgardo18-Sep-2011Match factsRuhuna v Trinidad & Tobago, September 19
Start time 16.00 (10.30 GMT)Big PictureEach team plays only two matches in the qualifying round, and needs to win both to be guaranteed of a place in the main draw. Ruhuna and Trinidad & Tobago are pooled with Leicestershire and run-rate could come into play if all teams are level on a win each. A big loss for either side will effectively knock them out.T&T will start favourites, given their squad is similar to the one that reached the final of the first Champions League Twenty20 in 2009. Adrian Barath, Lendl Simmons, Ravi Rampaul and Darren Bravo have all chosen to play the Champions League rather than the Twenty20 internationals in England. T&T relied heavily on their top three of Barath, Simmons and Bravo for runs during their victorious campaign in the Caribbean T20 in January. It was their bowling, however, that was the crux of their unbeaten run; the highest score they allowed any team was 136.Ruhuna’s win in the Sri Lanka Cricket Inter-Provincial Twenty20 Tournament was also built on strong bowling performances – they twice bowled out the opposition – but they will be missing their best bowler, Suraj Randiv, who has chosen to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Champions League.Team newsSanath Jayasuriya is the biggest name in the Ruhuna squad but has off late been found more often in the commentary box than on the field. Apart from him and Dinesh Chandimal, the rest of the squad consists of players unknown on the international stage. We may get a glimpse of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s brother, allrounder TN Sampath.Ruhuna (probable): 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Mahela Udawatte (capt) , 3 TN Sampath, 4 Dinesh Chandimal (wk), 5 Janaka Gunaratne, 6 Milinda Siriwardana, 7 Chinthaka Perera, 8 Omesh Wijesiriwardene, 9 Arosh Janoda, 10 Yashodha Lanka, 11 Alankara Asanka SilvaT&T had a settled line-up through their Caribbean T20 campaign and should feature the same side against Ruhuna.T&T (probable): 1 Adrian Barath, 2 Lendl Simmons, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Jason Mohammed, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Daren Ganga (capt), 7 Sherwin Ganga, 8 Kevon Cooper, 9 Samuel Badree, 10 Ravi Rampaul, 11 Sunil NarineDarren Bravo averaged 48 in the Caribbean T20•Randy BrooksWatch out for …In recent times Caribbean players have earned as much recognition for their exploits in foreign Twenty20 competitions as for the West Indies team. For Darren Bravo, this is an opportunity not only to impress the West Indies selectors, but also the owners of IPL franchises.Dinesh Chandimal has had a stop-start beginning to his international career: after a century during the ODI series in England, he was dropped for the final two home ODIs against Australia. The Twenty20 format may not be the best place to show he has overcome some technical deficiencies but he will be looking to impress the Sri Lankan selectors.Key contestRuhuna’s batsmen v T&T spinners: Offspinning allrounder Sherwin Ganga, offspinner Sunil Narine and legspinner Samuel Badree had plenty of success in the Caribbean T20 but will now be bowling against batsmen well-versed in playing spin.Stats & triviaDuring the Caribbean T20, four of T&T’s bowlers had economy-rates of less than six an over, with Badree going at just 3.90 an over in his 20 overs.Quotes”Who knows, in the future cricket could be an Olympic sport and we could even play as a nation.”
“We are missing out on Chanaka Welegedara, Suraj Randiv and Shaminda Eranga, who are all doing national duty against Australia. The bowling department is a bit weak.”

Stuart Clark has retained his playing contract with New South Wales despite stepping back from his on-field duties to focus on his new role as general manager of the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 side

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jun-2011Stuart Clark has retained his playing contract with New South Wales despite stepping back from his on-field duties to focus on his new role as general manager of the Sydney Sixers Twenty20 side. Clark did not retire when he took up the administrative job in May, but he said he would only play for the Blues in times of crisis and would instead put his energy into his off-field role.However, he has been named in the state’s squad for 2011-12, an indication that Clark might not have played his last game for the Blues. The news was not so good for the wicketkeeper Daniel Smith, the allrounders Tim Armstrong and Scott Coyte, the spinner Luke Doran and the fast bowler Joe Mennie, all of whom were delisted.From their 2010-11 squad, New South Wales also lost Mark Cameron to Western Australia, Peter Forrest to Queensland and Nathan Bracken to retirement. The promising opener Nic Maddinson, who is currently on tour with Australia A in Zimbabwe, was upgraded from a rookie deal to a full contract, while the allrounder Sean Abbott, the fast bowler Nic Bills and the legspinner Nathan Brain were all made rookies.”The regular availability of Simon Katich for the RTA SpeedBlitz Blues will be of enormous benefit both to the team and for the development of our young players,” the Cricket NSW chief executive David Gilbert said, “whilst the return from injury of fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Burt Cockley is eagerly awaited.”With 10 players on Cricket Australia contracts, the Blues were in an envious position compared to other states after the recent collective bargaining talks between the players and Cricket Australia resulted in a reduced number of state deals being offered. New South Wales were able to name a squad of 29, including CA players and rookies.New South Wales squad Doug Bollinger (Cricket Australia contract), Beau Casson, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke (CA), Burt Cockley, Trent Copeland, Patrick Cummins (CA), Brad Haddin (CA), Nathan Hauritz (CA), Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Phillip Hughes (CA), Phil Jaques, Simon Katich, Usman Khawaja (CA), Brett Lee (CA), Nic Maddinson, Peter Nevill, Steve O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Steven Smith (CA), Mitchell Starc, David Warner, Shane Watson (CA).Rookies Sean Abbott, Nic Bills, Nathan Brain, Timm van der Gugten, Adam Zampa.

Chief selector Kris Srikkanth has blamed India’s collective batting failure for their poor performances, and said it had nothing to do with fatigue or poor preparation in the lead-up to the series

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Aug-2011Kris Srikkanth, India’s chief selector, has blamed the collective batting failure for series defeat in England, and said the loss had nothing to do with fatigue or poor preparation.”If you see the FTP, all countries are playing cricket 365 days a year whether England or Australia,” Srikkanth said. “It is not the Indians only. The fact is that cricket is being played the whole year in whatever format – Test, ODI or Twenty20. So I don’t think that it is the fatigue factor for the performance in England.”However in the last 12 months India have played more Tests than any other team and more one-day games than anyone except Pakistan. In addition to 14 Tests and 29 ODIs over the past year, India’s players also took part in the gruelling IPL, which began within a week of the World Cup final.In the first three Tests this series, India have not managed to post a total in excess of 300, and Rahul Dravid is the only batsman to have averaged more than 40. Srikkanth said the batting had failed to perform as a unit. “The batting did not click for us. In the Indian side, if batting clicks everything clicks. We also did not do well in bowling and fielding. England bowling attack is ideally suited for the conditions.”It is a fact that our top five batsmen have not clicked in the series so far. But the same bunch of cricketers have been doing well during the last couple of years. The same combination had defeated South Africa in South Africa. It our bad luck that in this particular tour nothing has clicked for us.”India had England struggling at 124 for 8 in the first innings at Trent Bridge, but a ninth-wicket 74-run partnership between Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann played a crucial role in England getting to 221. Srikkanth said India’s failure to capitalise on the opportunity was one of the key turning points in the series. “It is a question of mental toughness and our cricketers are mentally very tough … [but] at 124 for 8, if you look at it psychologically … psychologically there we lost the battle,” he told .The BCCI has been criticised by former cricketers for its failure to prioritise Test cricket, but Srikkanth defended the Indian board. “Let us not indulge in the blame game – on the players or the administrators or the BCCI. Nobody is to be blamed and it’s not the time for that. It is just that we are going through a bad phase.”England have replaced India at the top of the Test rankings, but while Srikkanth was confident India would be able to bounce back, he said it was time to rebuild the team. “We have to learn from the series in England, look into what went wrong. We also have to identify and support new talent when the time comes,” he said.”We all have to put our heads together and plan for the future,” Srikkanth told the . “We have to start the process all over again without complaining. We have to try our various combinations to get the best team like we did before the World Cup. We even dropped Yuvraj Singh, who came back strongly into the ODI team and left a huge impact on the tournament. We want to do similar things now.”

Luke Wells and Murray Goodwin both made centuries as Yorkshire’s decision to put Sussex in badly backfired

29-May-2011
ScorecardLuke Wells and Murray Goodwin both made centuries as Yorkshire’s decision to put Sussex in on the first day of their County Championship tussle at Hove badly backfired. Wells enhanced his reputation as one of the best young batsmen in the country with his third hundred in only his eighth Championship game, while Goodwin scored his second century of the season as Sussex closed on 295 for 2.Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale probably felt a pitch with an even covering of grass would assist his seam attack and Ajmal Shahzad, who is one of the contenders to replace James Anderson in the England squad for the Lord’s Test, did take the scalp of the in-form Chris Nash in the ninth over with one which nipped back.Wells was only opening because Nash’s regular partner Ed Joyce is playing for Ireland. Joyce is due back in time for the third day and his nominated substitute, Joe Gatting, struggled to take his chance.Gatting failed to score off 40 of the 44 balls he faced before he drove loosely at Steven Patterson and was well caught by the diving Joe Sayers at cover. But that was as good as it got for Yorkshire.Wells, briefly becalmed before lunch, reached his 50 with a cover-driven boundary off Patterson and during the afternoon session he and Goodwin made serene progress. Wells had one alarm on 79 when he was knocked off his feet by Ryan Sidebottom’s yorker but umpire Richard Kettleborough adjudged the ball was sliding down the leg side.The 20-year-old left-hander reached his century off 198 balls with successive boundaries when leg-spinner Adil Rashid obligingly dropped short and added seven more boundaries after that. He will resume on 143, having so far faced 286 balls and hit 23 fours.Goodwin lost little in comparison to his partner although he did have one alarm on 49 when he edged between the two slips off Patterson. Otherwise Sussex’s vice-captain looked in total control, feasting when he bowlers dropped short to play his favourite back-foot shots.He reached his 46th hundred for the county, in 217 balls, with his 13th boundary in the final over of the day and so far the third-wicket pair have added 217 in 71 overs.Sussex are giving Championship debutants to two South Africans. Left-armer Wayne Parnell only arrived at 6.30am on an overnight flight from Johannesburg to replace Pakistan’s Rana Naved as overseas player, while all-rounder Kirk Wernars, who qualifies because of his Dutch passport, was also included.

ESPNcricinfo previews the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Deccan Chargers in Mumbai

The Preview by Firdose Moonda13-May-2011Match factsSaturday, May 14, Mumbai
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)Mumbai, who seem uncomfortable chasing, could use the match as preparation for the play-offs•AFPBig PictureIt’s not quite a case of top versus bottom, but its close enough. Mumbai Indians have been table-toppers for most of this IPL season while Deccan Chargers are the basement dwellers, and were the first to be knocked out of contention for the play-offs. Expectations of a mismatch are not unfounded and it will take a particularly poor performance from Mumbai or a supreme effort from Deccan for an upset to take place.Both situations have become reality once before in this edition of the tournament. Mumbai were bundled out for 87 to lose by 76 runs to Kings XI Punjab and Deccan were able to defend 129 against Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Nonetheless performances like these have been rare for either side and the difference in their form is as stark as this fact – Deccan have won as many matches as Mumbai have lost: three.More victories will do nothing for their cause but Deccan will want to go out having fought as much as they can. They will need their batting to improve significantly to achieve that. Their highest run-scorer is Kumar Sangakkara with 306 runs, and they don’t have a single batsman with an average over 28. It’s time for the likes of JP Duminy, Shikhar Dhawan and Bharat Chipli to step up. Against the dangerous Mumbai attack, which boasts Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh, that will be a tough task.Mumbai have batting worries of their own, seeming to have problems with chasing targets. They will be expecting more from Kieron Pollard, who has been nothing more than a gentle giant. Even so, Ambati Rayudu’s continued and promising form will be pleasing and Mumbai will hope that with Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, he can carry the line-up. The Deccan bowlers, while not as menacing as Mumbai’s, have put in a decent performance throughout the tournament, with Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma leading the attack.Form guide (most recent first) Mumbai LWWWL (second in table)
Deccan LLLLW (tenth in table)Team talkIt’s unlikely that Mumbai will fiddle with their combination too much after the success they have enjoyed this season. The only area of concern may be at the top, but with Davy Jacobs still nursing an injured thumb, Aiden Blizzard will probably keep his place.Deccan have the luxury of being able to experiment and may want to bring Cameron White back in as he is one of the names being mentioned as a possible captain when Sangakkara leaves. Daniel Christian has failed to impress and may get the chop.Predict the playing XIs for this match. Play ESPNcricinfo Team Selector.In the spotlightAmbati Rayudu is only nine runs behind Sachin Tendulkar on the run-getters’ chart and has shown his desire to stay at the crease for as long as possible. His 59 off 39 balls against Delhi was his most convincing knock and he will want to prove his worth marshalling the middle order, especially after being ignored by the selectors for the West Indies tour.Pragyan Ojha was a purple cap holder in previous editions of the tournament and has 57 IPL wickets. He has only taken seven this season, but his hunger has not lessened. He enjoys a big stage and the match against Mumbai may just prove the occasion for him to excel.Prime numbers Mumbai’s best scoring batsmen have been Tendulkar, Rayudu and Rohit Sharma. Andrew Symonds, who has scored the fourth-most number of runs for Mumbai, 127, is 160 runs behind Rohit Deccan have bowled out their opposition only once in 11 matches, but all three of their wins have come defending totalsThe chatter”We don’t mind losing from time to time. But the manner in which we lost the last game to King’s XI was disappointing. I think that has motivated the team. They are very keen to get that right and play better tomorrow.”

ESPNcricinfo previews the Netherlands’ chances in the 2011 World Cup

Andrew McGlashan14-Feb-2011For a country with the limited cricket resources of the Netherlands, making their fourth World Cup is an impressive effort. They are the least likely to cause an upset, especially with Ireland being the other minnow in their group, but they certainly won’t suffer from a lack of desire and determination.You only have to ask England about that. Remember Lord’s in 2009? It may have been Twenty20 and not 50-over cricket, but Netherlands’ final-ball victory in the opening match of the tournament was one of the biggest shocks in cricket history. And, in a neat fluke of scheduling, their first match in the World Cup is against Andrew Strauss’s team. Only one team has anything to lose in that one.However, as with the likes of Ireland, Kenya and Canada – not to mention the Associates who narrowly missed out, such as Afghanistan – this is looking like a last hurrah at this major global event. With ten teams slated for the 2015 tournament, even though TV rights say there have to be the same number of matches, the smaller nations are being pushed aside. Netherlands will be desperate not to go out with a whimper.The batting is reasonably strong – Ryan ten Doeschate is their main man; Tom Cooper plays for South Australia and Alexi Kervezee has impressed for Worcestershire – but in subcontinent conditions against the clumping bats of the major nations, the bowlers could come in for some harsh treatment. They’ll all be hoping not to go the same way as Daan van Bunge at the 2007 World Cup, when Herschelle Gibbs took him for six sixes in an over at St Kitts.World Cup PedigreeHave appeared at the 1996, 2003 and 2007 World Cups but have just two victories, against Namibia and Scotland, to show for their efforts, while the defeats have been by huge margins. Their best effort was probably against India in 2003, at Paarl, when they managed to bowl out a star-stubbed batting line-up for 204. Time de Leede took 4 for 35.Form guideThey haven’t played a one-day international since August when they lost two matches against Ireland, which doesn’t bode well for their meeting in this tournament. However, before that they upset Bangladesh with six-wicket victory, so they’ll harbour hopes that a major scalp isn’t beyond their reach.Where they are likely to finishThey won’t get out of the group, but their aim should be to cause some of the big teams uncomfortable moments. Their World Cup comes when they face Ireland on March 18 in their final group match.WatchabilityThe batting has some fine stroke-makers, led by Ryan ten Doeschate of Essex, and if he gets going, he likes to deal in boundaries. When the bowlers come up against the likes of Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers, it could be a time to cover your eyes and wish them the best.Players in focusRyan ten Doeschate has established himself as a fine Twenty20 cricketer, so much so that he put his name into the IPL auction and was signed by Tasmania for Australia’s Big Bash. But he is more than a hit-and-hope batsman and has the ability to build long innings. His ODI average is a Bevan-esque 68.55 and his strike-rate a powerful 87. Against his Associate peers has sometimes looks a class above, so this global stage is the perfect chance for him to show he can perform against the best. Netherlands will need all the runs he can manage. His medium-pace bowling is also useful and his experience under pressure in the professional game will be vital.There are more than 15 Australian cricketers at this World Cup. Tom Cooper is part of South Australia’s squad but by virtue of his Dutch mother is plying his trade for Netherlands when opportunities arise. He brings solidity, and a bit of Aussie toughness, to the top order and will be important in seeing off any early movement from the new ball. Has good memories of facing some of the West Indian bowlers he’ll come up against after making 160 for the Prime Minister’s XI at Canberra in 2009-10.If you listen to some watchers of county cricket, Alexei Kervezee will have a career with England. His first-class average is only 37, but that’s rising after he made 1190 Championship runs in 2010. At ODI level for Netherlands he has still to fulfil his talent, with an average of 26.56 and a top score of 92. If he really harbours ambitions of an international career above Associate level, the next month is the ideal shop window.

Andre Nel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has left Surrey by mutual consent

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Mar-2011Andre Nel, the former South Africa fast bowler, has left Surrey by mutual consent.Nel had one year remaining on his contract but both sides have agreed to end the deal prematurely. Nel, 33 claimed 76 wickets in all competitions during two injury-marred seasons with Surrey but is now looking for a new club.”Whenever Andre was on the pitch for Surrey we never received anything less than 100 percent from him,” Chris Adams, the Surrey coach, told the club’s website.”Sadly, those times were not as frequent as we all would have liked and the agreement that has been reached is beneficial to us all. He was a huge character both on and off the field and we wish him the very best for the future.”Nel, who has Kolpak status and therefore does not count as an overseas player in English domestic cricket, is keen to find a new county to continue his career with. “I enjoyed my time at Surrey and whilst it’s a shame to not be returning, I know I still have a lot to give and hope to return and terrorise some more county batsmen soon.”

Manchester City have a lot going on at the moment in terms of what’s happening on the pitch over the next few weeks.

In addition to their Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola’s side can’t afford to drop points in the Premier League, with Liverpool breathing down their necks.

However, it seems as though things are quite busy behind the scenes too at the Etihad Stadium in terms of one potential transfer which could take place in the near future.

What’s the news?

According to a recent tweet from journalist Samuel Luckhurst, sharing a corresponding report for Manchester Evening News, City officials have been visiting Mino Raiola, the agent of Erling Haaland, in hospital to progress the negotiations which could see the striker move to the Etihad this summer.

Considering how Raiola was taken ill recently, the fact that the City officials have been in contact with the agent in hospital shows just how keen they are to seal a deal for the centre-forward.

Since Haaland joined his current club Borussia Dortmund in January 2020, the 21-year-old has been nothing short of a goalscoring revelation. With 86 appearances to his name for the German giants, the Norwegian has scored an impressive 82 goals and provided 23 assists along the way.

To further highlight how deadly a striker he is, only Robert Lewandowski (2.35) and Patrick Schick (1.82) have a higher average for shots on target per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga this season than Haaland (1.58).

Fans will be delighted

Even though City are currently top of the Premier League table prior to this weekend’s round of fixtures, there have been times this season where they have failed to find the net, notably in both clashes against Crystal Palace.

With that in mind, having a clinical figure up front such as Haaland could be just what the reigning champions need in order to continue being successful into the future, which would surely delight a lot of supporters.

If City are able to secure a deal for the Dortmund hitman in the coming weeks, this would surely be a massive coup for them and make them an even more fearsome opponent for the rest of the Premier League, and indeed for whoever they come up against in Europe.

In other news: Man City eyeing “swashbuckling” £12.5m starlet, could be Guardiola’s next Kyle Walker

Aizaz Cheema’s seven wickets gave Pakistan International Airlines the advantage in their last group game, against Karachi Blues

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Jan-2011
ScorecardPakistan International Airlines moved firmly into the driving seat as they pressed for a place in the QEA Division One final, taking a 116-run first-innings lead over Karachi Blues, before reducing their opposition to 49 for 3 at the National Stadium in Karachi. Opener Agha Sabir could not push on and get a big score, falling prey to Babar Rehman after adding just three to his overnight 74, but Faisal Iqbal made a brisk 54 from 62 balls, with eight fours, and Sheraryar Ghani a sedate 48 to make sure PIA did not relinquish their advantage.Seamer Tabish Khan picked up 5 for 77, including the wicket of Iqbal, trapped in front, to limit the damage, but Karachi were quickly in trouble in their second innings as well. Cheema was once again in the thick of things, dismissing Atif Ali and Saeed Bin Nasir for ducks, to take PIA another step closer to their goal.PIA need to take all nine points from the game to overtake Rawalpindi and secure a finals berth.

Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2010It is almost inevitable that a player who spends more than a decade in international cricket will break the odd record along the way and put together some notable statistics, but even so Jacques Kallis’s list of achievements make particularly impressive reading. Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai.At 35, Kallis is already South Africa’s leading scorer in Test cricket by a margin of several thousand, but he believes he still has a lot more to give. “Hopefully there’s a few more left in the body,” he said. “I’m still enjoying my cricket, hopefully there’s many more runs there.”He is third on the all-time list for most Test hundreds, with Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar the two men ahead of him with 39 and 49 hundreds respectively. Kallis has also been involved in no fewer than 15 double century partnerships in his career, three short of Tendulkar’s record and is one better than the great Sir Donald Bradman.His partnership with Amla was their fourth double century partnership – they shared stands of 220 and 330 against New Zealand in 2007-08 and 340 against India in the innings win at Nagpur earlier this year – a number that has only been exceeded by Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer’s six.”Hashim and myself got us off to a good start,” Kallis said after the day’s play. “Scoring was always going to be tough today, but we were always ahead of the rate. We complemented each other pretty well throughout the partnership. It became a little bit easier than we thought it would be, but it was still tough scoring. Batting and staying out there was a little easier, but scoring was quite tough.”The wicket is pretty slow, the outfield is very slow as well, so you could add on a few runs for that. But we just tried to rotate the strike and put the bad ball away to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Then we could play with a bit more freedom once we got to a total that we were happy with.”Kallis hit his first delivery of the day from Saeed Ajmal for a straight six, and that set the tone for his and Amla’s treatment of Pakistan’s slow bowlers for the rest of the day. It had been thought that Pakistan’s spinners – offspinner Ajmal and left-armer Abdur Rehman – could have a decisive influence of the game but they have been out-bowled by Johan Botha and Paul Harris, their South African counterparts.”I think we played their spinners pretty well,” Kallis explained. “Also, our spinners’ lines are probably slightly different to what their spinners have bowled. And our guys are pretty confident. It’s a lot easier and things seem to go for you when you’re ahead of the game, so hopefully that’ll continue happening for us. It’s a happy changeroom, we’ve got some hard work ahead of us tomorrow but there’s enough in the wicket to keep the bowlers encouraged.”Kallis also paid tribute to Amla, who is now only 6 runs short of his 1 000 Test runs for the calendar year. Amla reached a ninth century of the year in all formats, including four in Tests and five in ODIs, finishing unbeaten on 118.”He’s been unbelievable, he’s certainly been our rock [this year],” Kallis said of Amla. “The way that the guys have batted around him has also helped. He’s very confident, and he’s come a long way from when people said ‘with that backlift, you’ll never be able to play international cricket.’ I think he’s proved a few people wrong.”The wicket is a little flat, nothing special,” said Amla. “Fortunately Jacques and I got a partnership going and that made it a lot easier to score. We have managed to get a few big partnerships together and today was one of them. At certain times when we weren’t scoring Jacques was very level-headed and calm about it. He put a reality spin on certain situations which was great.”Amla added that there was no secret to his current phenomenal run of form, saying: “I wish I had a penny for the amount of times I’ve had that question asked over the last year or so. There has been no secret. I just try to bat the way I can, not try and change too much and keep things simple.”I don’t attribute it to anything special. I just try to gain as much experience in each game and fortunately it is coming through.”