SPIN Christmas Annual out now

Order the SPIN Annual here

Yep – a 100-page bumper book of cricket-themed infotainment direct from SPIN magazine. It’s the ideal Christmas pressie for any cricket fan, of ten minutes or 50 years’ standing.

The SPIN Cricket Annual 2010 is published by New Holland Publishers and is in book shops today. Waterstone. Smiths. And others.

There’s full coverage of the ICC World Twenty20 and England’s Ashes win as well as a breathless mix of cricket fun (ish) to keep you entertained until at least 5.30 on Christmas Day*. (*Not if you buy the book in October. That might be pushing it.)

Want to know how to bowl faster? Fast bowling guru Ian Pont, coach to Dale Steyn and Darren Gough, tells you how.

Want to read SPIN’s interviews with Shane Warne, Stuart Broad and Sachin Tendulkar? They’re all here.

Want to take on the Third Umpire’s impossible Christmas quiz? Or suffer his two-page tribute to Sky’s best commentator Bob Willis? Or see, via Hawkeye, exactly what makes Warne, McGrath, Flintoff and Strauss giants of the modern game?

You’ve come to the right shop.

Plus why your birthday could stop you playing for England. No kidding.

The SPIN Annual 2010 is the ONLY cricket annual of its type in the shops, an entertaining nod to old-school annuals celebrating the best of the modern game. A cricket book that doesn’t feel like a trip to the headmaster’s study.

It really is a suitable gift for cricket fans aged 8 to 88 but most of all, possibly, for middle-aged men who still wear trainers.

Buy your copy today!

Atul Sharma debut on ice – for now

It now appears unlikely that Atul Sharma will make his debut in the current IPL.

The 23-year-old fast bowler, who has come to attention by winning a contract with Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals, despite not having played a competitive game for seven years, has been sidelined by a shoulder injury throughout the tournament.

Ironically, despite Sharma’s unusual, javelin-inspired training and speeds of up to 100mph, the shoulder  injury was sustained after a fall during fielding practice.

Remarkably, Sharma has remained in the Rajasthan squad for the duration of the tournament, despite being an injury doubt; while other name players such as Mohammad Kaif were omitted when the parties were cut back to 16.

Sharma’s innovative action was given the okay by Australian Institute of Sport boss Greg Chappell, after an extended net session with the Royals’ Shane Watson last December. Thanks to his reported ability to bowl faster than anyone in the world, the young fast bowler has attracted a lot of buzz on Indian fans forums, since his signing for the Royals. He has given no media interviews until his seven-page exclusive in the current issue of SPIN magazine.

However, intriguingly, Rajasthan Royals have recently announced a charity Twenty20 challenge match against English T20 champions Middlesex Panthers, at Lord’s on July 6. The game is in aid of the British Asians Trust.

If Sharma’s return to full fitness, as expected, is a matter of weeks away, the fixture would provide a high-profile setting for his debut.

Atul Sharma exclusive interview and pics in June issue of Spin magazine

Buy the June issue of SPIN featuring an exclusive seven-page interview and photo shoot with Atul Sharma, here.

The new issue of SPIN magazine is in the shops on Friday (May 8). We’ll have full info here from Wednesday but I just wanted to flag up one story that I think is going to make a bit of a splash.

This is my interview with Atul Sharma. UK-based cricket-watchers will never have heard of him at all, I shouldn’t think; while, among Indian supporters, even the biggest devotees of fansites will know only a little.

No use Googling Atul Sharma or looking at cricinfo either. Because they don’t have anything on him.

The thing is: Sharma has never played a senior game; in fact has not played a competitive game of any kind for seven years – and yet he is in the Rajasthan Royals IPL squad, alongside Shane Warne, Dimitri Mascarenhas et al.

The story that explains these two apparently contradictory facts is – and I don’t think I’m overegging it here – one of the most remarkable in modern sport.

Sharma, now 23, has spent the last seven years teaching himself to bowl at speeds in excess of 100 mph. He’s trained with US Olympic javelin coaches and built the body of a power-athlete, rather than of a traditional fast bowler. He’s also worked with the English fast bowling coach Ian Pont, a firm believer that pace and control need not be mutually exclusive – indeed, that the two are both influenced by the same factors.

Anyhow, I’ve had a very long and enjoyable chat with Atul in which he has told me his full story – including overcoming injuries that threatened to stop him playing at all. I found his story unique and genuinely inspiring – he has not been involved with any official academies or coaching set-ups; he’s funded everything himself, just following a teenage hunch with complete single-mindedness.

Not that I want to hype him(!). I think getting a pro contract at 23 having never played a game is remarkable enough in itself, even were he never to take a wicket, or to bowl at ‘just’ 85 mph. But he does seem to be on the verge of being India’s and possibly the world’s fastest-ever bowler.

We’ve also had some beautiful pictures taken of him training in South Africa – showing his innovative action step-by-step – by the top snapper Jurie Potgieter.

The whole package runs across seven pages of the June issue, out in the UK on May 8.

Buy the June issue of SPIN featuring an exclusive seven-page interview and photo shoot with Atul Sharma, here.

IPL: the show goes on, in soggy SA

The Indian Premier League is in full swing in the not so sunny South Africa, where rain has fallen on the covers at some point during each of the first four days of the tournament.

Not that the weather has stopped me from savouring the high quality action from the warmth and comfort of the press box.

Watching Shane Warne weave a masterful web around the Bangalore middle order on day one was certainly a highlight. And I could feel the anger that still exists between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds as they did battle at the most beautiful ground in the world, against the back drop of Table Mountain.

It does seem ironic that billboards across the country advertise the IPL with the slogan, “The heat is on!” as we go into the South African winter. But at all three grounds thus far it has been evident from my chats with fellow spectators that they are enthralled by the extravaganza that is the IPL.

Considering South Africa was preferred to England on weather grounds as the replacement tournament host, the fact that the weather in England has been lovely and sunny over the same period makes for a good chuckle.

Frozen toes and soggy blankets are a recipe for a poor day out, no matter the quality of the cricket on show. And do spare a thought for the scantily clad cheerleaders in tight wet spandex outfits. [Don't worry about that – Ed]

Only one of the first eight matches of the second IPL season has been called off without a result: Mumbai and Rajasthan shared the points in a match in Durban on Tuesday without a ball being bowled.

Another thing about miserable weather is that it is not conducive to high scoring matches. This does not suit the IPL and its big talking boss, Lalit Modi. Modi is the kind of guy you either love or hate. He has boasted that his tournament will bring lots of runs and 2 billion rands (approx 200 million US dollars) worth of revenue to the South African economy.

Modi has also told us that 90 per cent of tickets for the out of cricket season tournament have been sold out, so – to judge from the empty seats at some of the games – it is probably prudent to take his claims with a pinch of salt.

Modi is a marketing whiz with a colourful background. He is a US dollar billionaire with friends in high places. Modi’s energy and ambition to get huge things done represents the antithesis of what he have come to expect from cricket administrators.

The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has seen its revenues grow seven fold since Modi joined its ranks in 2005. A good whack of this extraordinary growth in revenue comes as a direct result of Modi’s power broking in the sale of media rights for the IPL and the Champions League for 2 billion dollars and 723.6 million dollars respectively.

Whilst there was rain around, it did not interrupt proceedings at the opening double header in Cape Town on Saturday. However, Bruno, a black labrador did slow things down as he toyed with umpires, players and officials for 11 minutes mid way through the opening innings of the tournament.

Bruno turned down a game of fetch with the cricket ball, resisted dives from several players who attempted to make difficult catches at various fielding positions and was fed a bag of biltong by an IPL official. Fortunately for the groundstaff, Bruno eventually trotted off without dropping a DLF Maximum on a length.

It was a long day at a chilly Newlands but the near-capacity crowd stuck it out to the end, despite the impressive opening ceremony, which took place – of course – after the first two matches, finishing 90 minutes behind schedule.

It was surprising that there was nothing Indian about that ceremony but I must say that the combination of Cirque du Soleil and big bosomed African drummers looked bloody marvellous under all the lasers, fireworks and smoke machines.

There has been a mixed response to the seven and a half minute “tactical breaks” that happen half way through each innings. Another brainchild of Mr Modi, the breaks are nothing but an opportunity to increase advertising revenue in the style of American sports.

On the second day in Cape Town a 12-over match was subjected to this break even though the day was again running over an hour behind schedule. The breaks are boring for all concerned, especially on double-header days. Furthermore, they negatively impact on the momentum of the batsmen at the crease.

The good news is that matches at the four highveld venues are highly unlikely to be affected by rain. They are also guaranteed to produce some high scores. But as a good friend pointed out to me today, the IPL and Cricket South Africa should have ensured that they have two super soppers in working order at each of the four coastal venues. At both Cape Town and Durban there has been only one in semi-working order. Possibly, in South Africa in the autumn, this is a basic error, when there is so much money at stake.

How Imran Tahir filled Warne’s boots

SPIN, November 2008
The last time a Pakistani leg-spinner came to a south coast county from the wilderness – aka the Waterworld North Staffordshire leagues – he became one of the all-time greats of county cricket: Mushtaq Ahmed’s wickets fired Sussex to three titles in five years. On retirement last month, he was hailed by skipper Chris Adams as the club’s greatest-ever player.

Imran Tahir, whose wickets turned round Hampshire’s gloomy season and earned him a two-year contract with the county, was following not only in the footsteps of Mushtaq but Shane Warne’s, too. Warne’s surprise retirement on the eve of the season had left a huge hole at the Rose Bowl, in terms of both wickets and dressing-room inspiration and when Tahir made his LV County Championship debut at Old Trafford on July 22, Hampshire were bottom.

Tahir’s 12 wickets in that game against Lancashire did not lead to a victory – nor did a five-fer against Kent in the next one – but, inspired by Tahir, Hampshire won four of their last five games, turning themselves from relegation fodder to title contenders, before evenutally finishing third.

“He’s been gold. absolute gold,” says Hampshire skipper Dimitri Mascarenhas. “Without him, I can safely say we would have been fighting to stay up. But he came in and took 36 wickets in his first six games and gave everyone a lift. And then the batters started getting some big runs too. So he had that knock-on effect on everybody.

“We were rock bottom, so it was a huge turnaround for us to get into a position where before the last game, we could still win the title. Everyone pretty much wrote us off at the start of the year, saying we’d be struggling to stay up. And for the most part, they were right! We got ourselves to the bottom of the table pretty quick. But we proved a lot of people wrong by turning it round over the last four or five games and getting to fight for the title.”

Tahir played for Pakistan under-19s and for the A team against England on their 2006 tour, but had never played a Test or an ODI. Overlooked for high-level honours, he instead put the ‘journey’ into journeyman: three games for Middlesex in 2003 didn’t come to anything; nor did seven outings for Sussex seconds in 2007 or a single wicketless game for Yorkshire.

Yet last winter in South African domestic cricket, Tahir, who qualifies by marriage to play for South Africa from 2009, was Titans’ leading first-class wicket-taker. Tahir’s career strike-rate of 48 is equal to or better than all the great modern spinners – Murali (48), Mushtaq (50), Warne (56) – and it may be surprising that the only contract Tahir could pick up in England this summer was as pro for Moddershall in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League (89 wickets at 11 each, a quarter of them bowled). Tahir continued playing for Moddershall – and eight-for here, a seven-for there – even as he was burning up the county championship.

The 29-year-old Tahir’s high action, floppy fringe and lets-get-on-with-it demeanour calls his compatriot Shahid Afridi to mind – except Tahir offers more spin, more variations of pace and a googly that, to judge by its success, was pretty much unreadable to county batters.

“To lose Shane and everything he brought to the club, was a massive loss,” says Mascarenhas. “But Imran came along, a similar kind of bowler, and showed that he can do it as well. He’s been brilliant.”

By the time Tahir arrived, Hampshire had had a tricky season with overseas players: Warne’s retirement was followed by a delayed debut for Shane Bond, as the ECB and the PCA battled it out over the legitimacy of ICL players. With Bond injured, Hampshire came close to signing India’s teenage leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, only for the BCCI to veto it.
Finally, they had a bit of luck.

“Nic Pothas is good friends with Martin van Jaarsveld, who plays with Imran for Titans in South Africa,” says Mascarenhas. “And he pretty much put Nic onto him, saying: ‘He might go for a few but he’ll get you a few wickets’. Imran came along and within a month, we were flying.

“The turnaround has been amazing. The win at Durham was easily the best game I’ve ever been involved in. I’ve never been happier after a win – even when we won the C and G final. I was happier sitting in the dodgy Basingstoke changing-room after that win.”

Tahir was supposedly set to fly back to South Africa ahead of Hampshire’s last game. But Hampshire kept him under wraps and unveiled him as a surprise inclusion in their XI at Trent Bridge, as they came up against a Nottinghamshire side that needed to win to take the title. Instead, Tahir’s match figues of 8/113 were again instrumental in a Hampshire win.On the second day, he helped reduced Notts from 172/3 to 211 all out with a spell of four wickets in 24 balls.

After Trent Bridge, the journeymen took his season’s haul – 44 wickets at 16 each from seven games – and really did get straight on a plane to South Africa. But he’ll be back. Initially for two years – and then for many more years to come after that?

“We hope so, yeah,” says Mascarenhas, not unreasonably.