The Shorter Wisden 2013

by John Wisden

  Pakistan arrived in September – from Dublin, where they had beaten Bangladesh and Ireland in two triangular tournaments – for several Twenty20 matches at the ECB Academy, including their first bilateral series against England. Lane was pleasantly surprised by the physical and technical improvements they had made since the Pakistan Cricket Board introduced central contracts in 2011. But they were still no match for England.

  For the first time since their 1979 tour, West Indies were awarded a lengthy international series against England, as preparation for the World Twenty20 later in September. Under their coach, the former Test opener Sherwin Campbell, West Indies had penetrated the top bracket of women’s teams, but their overreliance on a few players was exposed by England’s all-round professionalism. Stafanie Taylor’s arrival from Jamaica was delayed as she completed forensic science exams, and the hard-hitting Deandra Dottin came off only in the last game, when she exploded with a barrage of 80-metre sixes at Arundel to end England’s 19-match winning streak (excluding one no-result and one abandonment) in Twenty20 internationals.

  CRICKET IN IRELAND, 2012

  Rain on their parade

  IAN CALLENDER

  It was ultimately a year of frustration for Ireland, who confirmed their status as the leading Associate team but made no impression on the Full Member countries. In a bid to change that, Cricket Ireland produced a new Strategic Plan, with the aim of becoming a Test nation by 2020.

  As part of the preparation, the inter-provincial championship returns in 2013 after eight years, and a first-class structure – a requirement of Full Membership – is projected for 2015. The ICC’s new Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme, which assigned Ireland an extra $1.5m until then, should help. Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands also began discussions about a European 50-over and Twenty20 League – which may also include Denmark and the Channel Islands.

  Across all formats Ireland played 33 matches in 2012 – a further five did not get started – and two-thirds of them were 20-over games. A ten-match winning streak in the World Twenty20 Qualifier took Ireland to their fifth successive global event. In Sri Lanka in September, they lost to Australia, then went out when their second group game, against eventual champions West Indies, was rained off at the halfway stage.

  The weather was a constant spoilsport, with the game against Australia at Stormont abandoned after 10.4 overs. The other supposed highlight, a tour by South Africa A, was so badly affected that they went home a week early. Ireland lost 3–0 in a home Twenty20 series against Bangladesh, but beat them in the warm-ups for the World Twenty20 in Colombo, where they also upset Zimbabwe.

  Qualification hopes for the 50-over World Cup in 2015 remained high, despite a shock defeat to Kenya. With 13 points out of a possible 16, and six matches remaining Ireland expected to confirm their place in Australasia without the need of the qualification tournament early in 2014.

  But they can no longer call on seam bowler Boyd Rankin who, under pressure from Warwickshire coach Ashley Giles (also an England selector), announced he would no longer be available for Ireland after the World Twenty20. At the age of 28, and following 82 matches and 112 wickets for his country, he will be a big loss. There is no sign of an immediate replacement, despite recalls for Peter Connell and Andrew Britton, and a debut for Max Sorensen, a 26-year-old South African who plays for The Hills in Dublin.

  Sorensen, who took 31 wickets, was one of five debutants in 2012. The others were John Anderson, an Australian-born batsman who also bowls leg-spin; Stuart Thompson, 20, an all-rounder from Limavady who followed his father Nigel into the Ireland side; Belfast batsman James Shannon; and Tim Murtagh, the Middlesex seamer who qualified through Irish grandparents.

  Ireland’s year started in Mombasa, where they beat Kenya inside two days in a supposedly four-day Intercontinental Cup match. Only ten runs separated the teams after a match aggregate of just 444; spinners Albert van der Merwe and George Dockrell took all the Kenyan wickets. Ireland struggled in the first of two 50-over World Cricket League games, which Kenya won comfortably, but revenge was swift: Ed Joyce scored 88, and Kenya were rolled for 120. Ireland won all three Twenty20 matches (the last by two runs as they defended 107) to send them to Dubai for the qualifying tournament in good heart.

  Niall O’Brien missed the Kenya trip to play in the Bangladesh Premier League, in breach of his national contract. His punishment was to be left out of the Dubai trip, where Ireland made their customary slow start, losing to surprise packages Namibia. But an emphatic ten-wicket victory over Kenya put them back on track, and their only scare en route to the final was against Italy when, chasing 100, they lost eight wickets before scraping home with two balls to spare. The final highlighted everything good about Associate cricket. Afghanistan made 152 for seven but, despite losing captain William Porterfield first ball, Ireland got home by five wickets thanks to Paul Stirling’s 79 from 55 deliveries.

  It was three months before they returned to action, with the one-off game against Australia at Stormont. It was to the credit of groundsman Philip McCormick that there was any play at all after persistent rain the previous day: Ireland were 36 for three, something of a recovery after losing two wickets in the first three balls, before it returned.

  Rain ruined the first of two WCL games against Afghanistan, but Ireland won the second by 59 runs. The first seven sessions of their Intercontinental Cup match were then washed out, although Ireland’s first-innings advantage meant they collected 13 points. After four rounds, their lead of 21 meant they could afford to lose one of their last three matches and still progress to the five-day final at the end of 2013.

  The first game in the Twenty20 series against Bangladesh was Ireland’s 800th in all, but celebrations were muted after a heavy defeat. They performed better in the other two, but lost one by one run, and the other by two wickets off the last ball. The truncated South Africa A tour started with two four-day matches, both ruined by rain, but the tourists easily won two one-dayers before the weather (and a terrible forecast) sent them home early.

  For the first time in a calendar year since 2005, no Ireland batsman scored a century. Porterfield endured a miserable season, falling first ball five times and averaging 17. Dockrell, the slow left-armer, was the leading wicket-taker with 37, and picked up the ICC Player of the Year award, as well as the Irish one. Domestically, it was a year of firsts: The Hills lifted the Irish Cup, and CIYMS the NCU Premier League title for the first time, while Donemana became the first club to win the North West double since Limavady in 2000.

  CRICKET IN SCOTLAND, 2012

  Wet weekends

  WILLIAM DICK

  An air of negativity hung over Scottish cricket through much of 2012 as the national side failed to reach the levels of performance demanded by coach Peter Steindl. The cancellation of the one-day international against England was a major blow, although at least they were given plenty of notice that they would not be required in Edinburgh: the storm and flood damage to the Grange was so severe that the fixture, scheduled for August 12, was called off three weeks in advance. Efforts to find a suitable replacement venue on either side of the border met with no success. England will not return until 2014 at the earliest, so Scotland must hope for better weather when Pakistan and Australia pitch up in 2013. In all, five of Scotland’s games had to be moved to Uddingston and Ayr, because of bad weather in Edinburgh and the continuing after-effects of vandalism to the pitch at Aberdeen’s Mannofield Park.

  For all these complications, Scotland finished the year handily placed in the one-day and four-day tournaments that formed the bread and butter of their international competition. In the 50-over World Cricket League Championship, they bounced back from two defeats in the UAE in March to beat Canada at home in the one match that survived the weather, enough to occupy second place overall behind Ireland. When the competition ends in October 2013, the top two will qualify for the 2015 World Cup; the rest will attend a standalone World Cup qualifier event, which Scotlan
d were long expected to host, but eventually ceded to New Zealand as part of an ICC boardroom compromise.

  All four days of the home Intercontinental Cup match against Canada at Uddingston’s Bothwell Castle Policies ground were lost to the weather. But a seven-wicket win in the UAE, inspired by 25-year-old Richie Berrington, who scored 110 and 42 not out, helped Scotland finish the year second in that competition too. They still had plenty of work to do to reach their third final in six tournaments, including away matches against Afghanistan and Ireland.

  The highlight, though, came in Twenty20 cricket – traditionally Scotland’s weakest suit. Sure enough, they lost to Namibia, Ireland, USA and the Netherlands at the 2012 World Twenty20 qualifying tournament. (The qualification process for the next competition should give them a better chance: at the time of writing, six spots were open to non-Full Members.) But in July, Scotland beat Bangladesh in the Netherlands, their first win over a Test-playing nation. Berrington became the first Associate cricketer to score a century in an official Twenty20 international, from 57 balls. The result did not persuade any Bangladesh Premier League franchises to pick up Scottish players for their 2013 event.

  The CB40, by contrast, was relentlessly miserable. There was one slightly fortuitous victory over Nottinghamshire, helped by rain, and Scotland’s other points came from no-results. Mention of the tournament cannot pass without noting the ECB’s decision to exclude Scotland (and the Netherlands) from their new 50-over competition in 2014 – meaning 2013 will be Scotland’s last season in county cricket after 34 years. The announcement was accepted with diplomatic resignation – at least publicly – by Cricket Scotland; a less-guarded response might have been that the ECB missed a golden opportunity to continue assisting Associate cricket. It is difficult to see how Scotland can adequately replace 12 fixtures against quality opposition, but they promised they would try. A European league featuring regional sides from Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands and elsewhere came under discussion, but would surely help bridge the gap between club and Associate cricket only. More useful would be a fuller programme of matches against the Test nations and their A-teams.

  Scotland did, however, benefit from ICC largesse. They and Ireland were the first two Associates to receive $500,000 of funding from the new Targeted Assistance and Performance Programme, and were delighted when the ICC eased their eligibility rules following sustained lobbying from Cricket Scotland. They had watched with envy at Dutch and Irish passports being acquired by talented cricketers bearing tenuous links with those countries, but now British passport holders with Scottish parentage will be eligible to pull on the Saltire. Four English-born county players – Richard Coughtrie, Matt Machan, David Murphy and Rob Taylor – represented a Scotland XI on an autumn tour of South Africa; and they will soon be followed by Iain Wardlaw and Neil Carter, the veteran South African all-rounder who left Warwickshire at the end of the summer.

  Cricket Scotland were delighted at this perceived levelling of the playing field, but stressed their commitment to producing home-grown talent. There were signs that one or two youngsters may be ready to graduate from the Under-19 team, who finished 11th at the 2012 World Cup in Australia. Ross McLean scored half-centuries against Afghanistan and Pakistan, while Freddie Coleman made 65 against New Zealand, having achieved his maiden first-class hundred for Oxford MCCU against Worcestershire in April.

  Given just how badly the weather ruined the domestic game, the jury remained out on the new regional Cricket Scotland League, which replaced the old National League. Dumfries, promoted in 2011, won the Western Premier Division at their first attempt, but lost the new Grand Final against Eastern champions Watsonians. The former international seamer John Blain was the leading wicket-taker, for West of Scotland, months after being removed from his coaching role at Yorkshire.

  CRICKET IN THE NETHERLANDS, 2012

  Out of the cage

  DAVID HARDY

  It felt like a watershed year in Dutch cricket, one in which the game finally began to take on a wider appeal. A major new initiative, the Youth Plan, was launched by the Netherlands Cricket Board (KNCB) at the beginning of 2012, with the aim of doubling player numbers in four years. There is an imperative to spread cricket beyond the densely populated cities in the west: only 18 clubs exist elsewhere in the Netherlands; and only two of them have youth sections.

  More and more schools offer a dual Dutch–English curriculum – and what could be a better example of English-language culture than cricket? Around 1,000 children in 28 schools – roughly the same number of juniors that currently play the game – were introduced to it for the first time in a Bilingual Schools Cricket Challenge, culminating with a finals day in Deventer.

  A second breakthrough came with an exhibition of Cage Cricket – the brainchild of former Hampshire batsman Lawrence Prittipaul – to primary school pupils in Nijmegen, in October. All over inner-city neighbourhoods, where many immigrant communities live, there are Cruyff Courts, sponsored by the legendary footballer Johan Cruyff to encourage youngsters to play street soccer. These cages are ready-made for street cricket too.

  The Netherlands Under-15 team retained the European Championship, and the Under-17s beat Ireland twice. Like the senior team, they reaped the benefit of a few imports, notably Daniel Doram, a two-metre-tall, 14-year-old left-arm spinner, and Shaquille O’Neal Martina, 16, an off-spinning all-rounder – both resident in the Dutch Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten.

  The standard of domestic youth cricket was boosted by the creation of a new regional league at Under-19 level, but there is still some way to go before indigenous Dutch cricketers can make a meaningful impact on the senior team again. It was only ten years ago that the overwhelming majority of players were Dutch. Ten years later, it is mainly cricketers who have learned the game elsewhere.

  Sydney-born seamer Timm van der Gugten was the latest player to be plucked from Australasia, while South African Stephan Myburgh and Pakistani Shahbaz Bashir, both 29, qualified by residency. Bashir became the first Netherlands player to make a century on first-class debut, in the Intercontinental Cup against the United Arab Emirates; Myburgh was the leading Dutch run-scorer at both the World Twenty20 Qualifier and the Clydesdale Bank 40. He made 77, 74 not out and 66 in consecutive innings, to add to his 55 in the last CB40 match of 2011.

  Halfway through the CB40 campaign there were dreams of a home semi-final. The Netherlands stood proudly on top of Group A, with five wins, including a memorable double over Lancashire and Essex on Whitsun weekend in Schiedam. The foundation of the early success was the top-order batting of Myburgh and Australians Michael Swart, Tom Cooper and Cameron Borgas, and the lower-order hitting of Mudassar Bukhari. In a bizarre week in June, the Netherlands posted their highest 40-over total (304 for three v Leicestershire) and their lowest (57 v Worcestershire). Another highlight was Sky Sports’ first live broadcast from the Netherlands, for Gloucestershire’s visit to Amstelveen in July.

  From then on, it was all downhill; perhaps the intensive schedule took its toll. At one stage in July, the national team were in action for nine days out of 12 in four different formats. But in the penultimate match, the second of two Twenty20s against Bangladesh, they managed their third win over a Test country, off the last ball.

  In October, the ECB announced 2013 would be the Netherlands’ last season in its one-day competition. It was all the more reason for the KNCB to redouble their efforts to play more against Test nations and establish a European regional limited-overs competition.

  The Netherlands’ last-over defeat by Afghanistan in the group stage of the World Twenty20 Qualifier proved crucial. In the prolonged qualifying tournament for the 2015 World Cup, they ended 2012 in third place, after two home wins against the UAE, but still out of the qualifying spots.

  Six young uncapped players – including Doram – were named in a party to tour the UAE and India in November and December, which included intensive coaching at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai and fixtures
against the UAE Academy, Mumbai Academy and the England Performance Programme. Alexei Kervezee was the architect of a surprise 2–1 triumph over the EPP, scoring 96 and 80 in the two victories.

  Excelsior 20 Schiedam lifted their ninth national championship in 22 seasons, winning all three play-off matches after finishing fourth in the league. Daan van Bunge, the captain, was in prime form; only Wesley Barresi and New Zealand professional Greg Todd scored more runs in the season. It was the ninth title for veterans Luuk van Troost and Marcel Schewe, the only men to play more than 400 matches in the Topklasse (Premier League) over the past 25 years. In a local derby against Excelsior, Todd made 120 and took five for 19 (including a hat-trick) for Hermes DVS.

  The leading wicket-taker was a Dutchman, HCC left-arm seamer Reinier Bijloos, with 29. But the story of the year was that of Dosti, the newly promoted Amsterdam club formed in 1978. This team, made up almost entirely of cricketers from a non-Dutch background, made good use of the rule permitting three professionals. It was introduced a couple of seasons ago following more than 30 years of only one official professional player-coach, after Dosti themselves were found guilty of fielding unregistered players. Now they boasted a powerful trio: former Pakistan Test batsman Mohammad Wasim, IPL all-rounder Amit Uniyal, and David Wiese from South African franchise Titans. Dosti finished top after the initial round, then made it to the play-off final, where they lost to Excelsior.

  VOC of Rotterdam were relegated after 42 years in the Topklasse. This meant that, in 2013, three of the six clubs with grass squares (VOC, Voorburg and Kampong) will be playing in the Hoofdklasse (Second Division), leaving only two in the top flight. VRA won the Twenty20 Cup for the third season running; 18-year-old left-arm spinner Victor Lubbers’s four for 11 earned him the match award in the final. ACC, their Amstelveen neighbours, regularly featured a father/triplet combination: former Dutch international Ahmed Zulfiqar and his three 15-year-old sons.