Tour Diary
Serious, dead serious
In 1275, when Marco Polo visited the Peshawar area, he found a place where "people have peculiar language, worship idols and have an evil disposition"
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
In 1275, when Marco Polo visited the Peshawar area, he found a place where "people have peculiar language, worship idols and have an evil disposition". The first part isn't too far off the mark, the second, I haven't yet observed and the third, I really hope not.
Peshawar appears more Central Asia than Pakistan. It's an old city, one of the oldest in the sub-continent, and was the site of several bloodbaths in history. Yet, it survived them all and is currently a city where the old blends beautifully with the new. You have trendy malls, you also have Chapli kebabs and gigantic naans being cooked outdoors.
The men are big, bigger, biggest and have a medevial, serious look that can have an intimidating effect. Many look more Russian then sub-continental - fair and well-built, crunching your palms during a handshake.
Even light-hearted humour is often accompanied with a stone-faced countanance. When you're way over six feet tall, wearing a flowing shalwar-kameez, and walking as if you are on a warpath somebody is bound to think that you may have an evil disposition.
Full postIt never rains, but it pours
Here, with my finest weather-presenting impression is the forecast for Colombo
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Here, with my finest weather-presenting impression is the forecast for Colombo. It’s hot, and stays hot all day and all night, but when it rains, boy, does it rain. Yesterday evening I was sat in the Sri Lankan office of Cricinfo, putting together an entry for this blog, when I realised I could hear water cascading down the window panes. Funny time to wash the windows, I thought, before opening the door to see sheeting rain. Within minutes the road outside the office resembled a river and the dusty surface had turned to mud.
But, if that was impressive it was nothing compared to the deluge that struck Colombo today, unfortunately on Independence Day when everyone was on holiday and would have packed out the beaches if the sun had shone. At about one o’clock this afternoon, typically just as I was about to leave the house, the thunder rumbled in and the heavens opened again.
Full postThe full experience
A refreshing aspect to my early days in Colombo has been the attitude of the players and management that I have so far come across
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
A refreshing aspect to my early days in Colombo has been the attitude of the players and management that I have so far come across. It is fair to say that, at times, dealing with full international teams can be a frustrating and impersonal affair, as you are directed through one official channel then another before being told there is ‘no comment’. Nothing of the sort here, those I've met have been happy to talk and ensure the World Cup is shown in the best possible light.
These players have yet to put up their guard – they have no reason to – they are not weighed under by ongoing pressure on them. Whether it is milling around at the hotel or having a chat with some of the players during a lunch break, they are relaxed and confident. It is all part of the experience and they also realise that good coverage of the tournament gives them more exposure and can be a boost to their careers. Relationships with the media won’t always be so cordial, but while they are life is so much easier.
Full postSpecialist: Masala Dosa
Like an oasis in a desert, somewhere in Clifton Shopping Arcade in Karachi, is a small niche specialising in making, hold your breath, Masala Dosa
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
Like an oasis in a desert, somewhere in Clifton Shopping Arcade in Karachi, is a small niche specialising in making, hold your breath, Masala Dosa. Coming from a region where the dish is almost a staple, I didn't need to sample this one. Yet, one couldn't resist the temptation.
Eighteen years back, Mrs Fazeelat Jahan moved from Madras to Karachi and, if reports are to be believed, started the city's first Dosa outlet. These days the Dosas are made by her protege, Anwar, and they come in three varieties - Kheema, Chicken and Aloo.
Anwar was quick with his dosas - high flame, quick turn - kept talking as he made them, was enthralled at meeting a South Indian and asked if he was following the right procedures. "Do you add more oil? Do you make it crisper?" (If only I could tell him that I knew even lesser about Dosa making than him)
The power of the Dosa lies in the side dishes. The chutney was a bit bland but the impressive bit was alongside. It would be hard to find Tamarind concentrate (or vetha kozhambu to a Tamilian) outside South India but to get it in Karachi, hot and tangy, was one big surprise.
Full postEngland in a positive spin
Who says England can’t win a match with spin
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Who says England can’t win a match with spin? The probable threesome for the senior tour of India – Shaun Udal, Ian Blackwell and Monty Panesar – won’t be giving Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid nightmares, but the Under-19 side today showed the way, bowling England to a moral boosting warm-up win. To India’s Under-19 team Graeme White, Nick James and Moeen Ali will have sounded like a similar prospect to that facing the full squad next month. But they proved that with the backing of some thoughtful captaincy and the confidence to throw the ball up anything is possible. Food for thought as Vaughan and Co. prepare for their next challenge.
England, though, would do well not to get carried away. These types of matches are notorious for sending out the wrong signals, but what was eye-catching about the whole game was the intensity of proceedings and the thrill at the result. You would be unlikely to see any full national side whooping and hollering after winning a practice match, which partly goes to explain why Test sides often slip up - the desire isn’t quite there. However, both teams today – but especially England – were really up for this one. It will have had something to do with their 11-0 trashing in Bangladesh (making any win a joyous occasion) but it also shows what it means to these young guys to be representing their country. The scenes at the end looked more like the World Cup was theirs – well, if they continue in this style, they will have a decent chance of being there at the end.
Full postTape it, rip it
It was so similar, yet it was so different
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
It was so similar, yet it was so different. I've played street cricket in India, played under lights, played with rules restricting scoring to the straights, played it with a lot of fervour. I’ve played with tennis, rubber and cork balls but never tried out using a hard tennis ball wrapped in tape.
It was a six-a-side game in one of the streets of Defence Colony – with stumps placed in the middle of the road and occasional breaks caused by vehicles passing by. With houses on either side, lofting over the walls and into the compounds meant out. Hit straight or nudge and push; go for glory, trying to whack it straight, or be a bit cheeky and paddle it around.
Maybe it was only me, but this ball required one to actually watch closely. With tennis or rubber balls back home, it’s only a matter of reading the length. Once you’ve got it within your sights it’s not too tough to swing through the same line.
Here the ball invariably does something. Before pitching it swerves, sometimes very late; after pitching it can zip through faster. Once you face a couple, you invariably stay on the back foot and try to angle it around; it’s only after a few more that you try and smack it down the ground.
Full postAn Olympian hammering
A battle of the hacks under floodlights at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium is no joking matter
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
A battle of the hacks under floodlights at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium is no joking matter. Especially when you reslise that one of the opposition openers, a former hockey star with Olympic and World Cup medals, can smash sixes out of the ground.
Wasim Feroze's international reputation was built around a stick. Part of a brilliant forward line also comprising Shahbaz Ahmed and Tahir Zaman, Feroze was a brilliant outside left who would often turn around and drive a ball straight into the striking circle.
Yesterday he drove with a cricket bat - hard, high and ruthless. One over midwicket cleared the walls of the stadium, one sped to long-on, another was pelted to extra cover. Most of the lofted strokes were lost in the lights, some swirled in the breeze, some fell in vacant spaces.
By the time he was done, the run-rate was more than ten an over and the contest turned pretty one-sided. A smattering of spectators watching the proceedings felt the bowling was too easy but blamed the pitch for being too flat. Here we go again ...
Full postLife in Colombo
Forgive me if some of my comments over the next few weeks seem slightly clichéd or old-hat
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
Forgive me if some of my comments over the next few weeks seem slightly
clichéd or old-hat. This is my first trip to the subcontinent and it
doesn’t matter how much you hear from other people, there is nothing like first-hand experience.
My flight left Dubai in the early hours of Wednesday morning, meaning
there was very little sleep beforehand and, with the journey taking just four hours, very little sleep on board. So, it was with slightly bleary eyes that I stared out of the window as we descended into Colombo, the lush, green landscape appearing out of the haze. However, any feeling of weariness was soon cast aside as my senses were sent into overdrive on entering the bustling – and at first glance, chaotic - Colombo life.
The first challenge was to locate the correct taxi driver amid a sea of people outside the arrivals hall. I gambled that a man holding a slightly miss spelt version of my name was the right guy – taking the view that not too many people with a similar surname would be getting off a flight from Dubai. Next came the baggage handler, who didn’t miss a trick and was convinced I was hiding some nice “London money” from him. The best I could offer was some left over Dirhams, which I’m sure he never quite believed.
Airport negotiated, it was time for the trip into town. If I’d had any ideas about nodding off for an hour, that notion didn’t last long. Parts of the journey were breathless; faced head-on with a large truck on the wrong side of the road, there is not much you can do than have total faith in your driver. But as we progressed further along our route it dawned on me that the system of tooting horns and waving arms actually worked and kept things moving. The tuk-tuks squeezed in among the lorries, which vied for position with the cars and four-wheel drives.
Full postNine hundred seconds of history
The Pakistan board decided to start the Karachi Test at 10:00am local time unlike at Lahore and Faisalabad, when the game had started 15 minutes earlier
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
The Pakistan board decided to start the Karachi Test at 10:00am local time unlike at Lahore and Faisalabad, when the game had started 15 minutes earlier. The reason given for the advanced starts: to compensate for the fading light which may stop play before schedule.
The official reason put forward by PCB was that Karachi would have enough sunshine till late in the evening for 90 overs to go through in a day's play.
The rumour mills, though, began working over-time and there were some suggestions that the move was prompted to delay the start by as much time as possible so that the fast bowlers would be denied early help. The green look of the pitch, some apparently felt, besides the cool winds blowing from across the sea, could be of great assistance to quicker men early in the day.
What foresight! Had Irfan Pathan bowled his first delivery of the Test at 9:45am who knows what a mess he might have created. With all the skullduggery, he still managed to snaffle three wickets in the first six minutes.
Full postUnbottling the noise
Unlike the packed house at Faisalabad, the National Stadium in Karachi is just around half full
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan
25-Feb-2013
Unlike the packed house at Faisalabad, the National Stadium in Karachi is just around half full. Yet one sensed a more intense atmosphere within the stadium, with the noise adding to the ambience. Bottles, one realised, also played a vital part.
Through the day it was impossible to miss the rhythmic beating of plastic bottles on the chairs, providing a beat for the on-field events. It would usually begin in one stand, gather momentum within that enclosure and gradually spread through the stadium. It happens in most big venues but the National Stadium somehow appeared to have an amplified accoustic effect.
A jarring noise lent vibrancy to the action, a noise mixed with plastic-crunching mixed with anticipation mixed with ecstacy. There was hardly a moment of silence through the day - unlike at Faisalabad when Indian boundaries and wickets were acknowledged with a hush.
A stream of expectation flowed across the stadium when Pathan was on a hat-trick (it was surprising to hear a slow clapping precede the delivery) and one could feel the palpable gasp when Tendulkar received a clattering blow to his helmet.
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