Tour Diary
Test cricket's slowest double-centurion
I don’t remember any of Brendon Kuruppu’s shots
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
I don’t remember any of Brendon Kuruppu’s shots. However, as a kid, I scored lots of runs playing as Kuruppu in hard-fought games in the backyard, on the terrace and sometimes even in the living room. My brother and I often played as international teams, 11 Gaaji was the name of the game, and Kuruppu was lucky for me when I played as Sri Lanka. Kuruppu was also one of the first Sri Lankan names I learnt from the grainy Doordarshan footage. I loved the way the name rolled of my tongue, I thought it was funny. And so I was thrilled when I learnt that he was the manager of the Sri Lankan team.
Kuruppu still looks the same from when I remember him – lean and sporting a thick moustache. He was an aggressive opening batsman who made a name for himself as one of the pioneers of hitting the new ball over the inner circle. “I was one of the first batsmen to go over the top,” Kuruppu said. “Kris Srikkanth was almost parallel, or just after me, in India. I thought it would be easier to score runs that way. I was not doing that in school and club cricket but later on I felt this would be a better way." He recalls one of his aggressive moments. "It was the World Cup game against Pakistan in 1983. I hit Mudassar Nazar over long-on, a long way out of the ground on to the road."
However, it was not a rapid innings but the slowest double hundred in the history of the game that we ended up talking about. Kuruppu, the dashing wicket-keeper batsman, crawled through 777 minutes and faced 548 balls against New Zealand in Colombo to become the first Sri Lankan to score a double-century. He was only the third batsman after Tip Foster and Lawrence Rowe to hit a double-century on his debut.
Kuruppu made his Test debut after four years of one-day cricket. "I had to prove that I was not only an attacking player but could also defend." Poor New Zealand had to pay the price. There was another reason as well. "One of the high-ranking board officials told me after my selection, 'You were picked not because you are good, but because the other keepers aren’t scoring runs'. Kuruppu had hit three consecutive hundreds in provincial games just before selection. "If that is not good, then I don't know what is good. Anyway I had to prove myself."
Full postIn snow motion
There was a good smattering of Barmy Army, wearing the T-shirts of previous overseas adventures, who by the time we were half way across the Atlantic were starting up conversations with the locals on board
Andrew McGlashan
25-Feb-2013
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Blizzards, drifting snow, blocked roads. Ah, the joys of an English winter. What a difference 10 hours makes (or maybe it was the 4500 miles) as our plane descends into Norman Manley Airport with the stunning backdrop of the Blue Mountains. Welcome to Jamaica.
The flight nearly didn't happen. And given the fact that Britain seizes up at the merest hint of the white stuff, it's something of a miracle that it did. The cabin crew had to be scrambled from "anyone who came through door" as the captain bluntly put it. One of them was meant to be going to Manchester, another to Heathrow and another to Barbados. But for those bound for Kingston, we were just grateful they found enough to get our flight off the ground (with the help of the de-icers).
Away from the selfish factor of needing to make it to the first Test on time, the happiest people on the plane were the healthy number of England fans who had battled through the weather to make the airport on time. There was a good smattering of Barmy Army, wearing the T-shirts of previous overseas adventures, who by the time we were half way across the Atlantic were starting up conversations with the locals on board. The consensus – England might not have it all their own way.
Full postWelcome to Lanka Bala
Balaji meets old friends and foes in Colombo
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
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"You will be playing him?" Murali asks Venkatesh Prasad about L Balaji. "Hey Bala, full toss for me ok!"
A short while earlier, Murali's eyes had almost goggled out when he saw his IPL team-mate Balaji sitting at the breakfast table. "Hey what are you doing here? Are you here as a commentator?" Balaji laughed and explained the real reason. Murali, still not convinced, checks with Praveen Kumar, who explains Munaf Patel has gone back to India.
Murali’s eyes light up and he joins the table. "So a great domestic season, eh? And how is the action now? Same? What new tricks have you added?" The questions keep coming and Balaji tries his best to match Murali's rapid-fire Tamil. Both share their IPL memories and continue their conversation, which is punctuated by constant laughter.
Full postSunday evening on tour
What do the Indian players do on a Sunday evening during a tour
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
What do the Indian players do on a Sunday evening during a tour? Some like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina go to watch the movie Victory, which premiered here a couple of days ago..
The film’s stars have been in the team hotel for the last two days. All I can tell you about Amrita Rao, the heroine, is that she made me hit the gym. I peep in but head out immediately. Fat men don't run.
Ravindra Jadeja comes out of the gym sweating, munching an apple. “Didn't go for the movie?” I ask. "Nah boss,” he says. Jadeja is desperately keen to play in the series but is realistic about his chances. "The team might want to win the series first before giving chances to the likes of me."
Jadeja is in awe of Shane Warne, his captain at the Rajasthan Royals. So what's so special about him? "Everything,” Jadeja says. “He put everyone at ease and he was a brilliant captain, making some great decisions on the field. Small things, the way he encouraged us to play our natural games, helped us grow in confidence. Warne is a gem of a person. I really enjoyed the time with him in IPL. Graeme Smith was also good, very professional, and I learnt a lot."
Full postSehwag sings and swings
The song Koi karta hoga mera intezaar (some one will be waiting for me) fills the air on a humid afternoon
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
The song Koi karta hoga mera intezaar (some one will be waiting for me) fills the air on a humid afternoon. Virender Sehwag is the singer. That shouldn't raise eyebrows but Sehwag is singing while thumping the bowlers in the nets. Alongside him, Tendulkar asks Munaf Patel to move away from his position behind the bowler's arm. I park myself at a wicketkeeper's eye view, just behind the netting to watch the guru and shishya (disciple) go about their business.
The bat speed of Sehwag is mesmerizing. He places his bat just before the instep of the back foot, with bat facing first slip, and keeps still as the bowler releases. Then the furious activity begins. The feet move a little, just enough to maintain balance and get him going towards the ball but, more importantly, making room for his bat to come crashing down. The head remains still, absolutely still. And that wrist-cock gets the bat down in a marvellous blur. He is constantly trying to score runs off every ball. No dead-batting unless the ball is really a gem. If he can't hit it hard, he is trying to open the bat-face and run it into imagined gaps.
Full postRetired hurt but not out
The Ajith Perera story begins where it might have ended for him
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
On December 12, 1992, a 35-year old Ajith Perera got the letter he had spent years waiting for. The man who became the first Sri Lankan to qualify as the professional umpire after a final exam at Lord's in 1985 was about to stand in his first Test, between Sri Lanka v New Zealand, when it happened. He read the appointment letter a few times and left the board office to get back home to share the proud moment with his parents.
He didn’t get home for the next two years. It was a stormy day and Perera was sitting in his car with the letter when nature intervened. A big wayside tree crashed against the car, killing the driver and instantly rendering Perera a paraplegic for life.
Full postIt's all about timing
Key numbers jotted down during a joint press conference given by Mahela Jayawardene and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Colombo
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
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Key numbers jotted down during a joint press conference given by Mahela Jayawardene and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Colombo on Monday.
30 minutes: The delay (the captains were on time but a minister was late)
1 minute: Before the standard "It's great for the youngsters to seize the opportunity" line was mentioned. By both captains.
Full postShaving grace
The information desk tells me the taxi fare to the hotel will cost me 2300 Sri Lankan rupees
Sriram Veera
25-Feb-2013
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"You look frightening. You should shave." Since it came from a woman I’ve known for three decades, I just shrugged it aside before leaving for the Bangalore airport. Mothers can be cruel. She had another piece of advice, which I will come to later.
"What's the purpose of your visit?" "Cricket" brings a smile and a favourable quick stamp on the passport at the visa counter in Colombo airport. He starts to ask something – my guess it was about Indian cricketers – but, maybe because I’m fat, bearded and generally looking like the kind of person you don't want to introduce your daughter to, the question stopped in his throat. I need to shave. He might have had a pretty daughter.
The information desk tells me the taxi fare to the hotel will cost me 2300 Sri Lankan rupees. That will get me 80 shaves in the hole in the wall back home. I decide to take the bus and bump into Jehan.
Full postSigning off
So my first full tour watching the team has ended in an Australian loss
Allan Llewellyn
25-Feb-2013
So my first full tour watching the team has ended in an Australian loss. Not since the late 1980s, when I first thought of this type of overseas adventure, has an Australian side been beaten so badly. But the result didn’t ruin the trip, which has been fabulous and fun, tiring and, occasionally, stomach wrenching.
To prepare for home and clear off the past five weeks, another visit to the hairdresser for a cut and a shave was required this week. The Indian sledging has been relentless all tour – fair play to everybody, especially DP – and it didn’t stop in the salon. “It’s grey,” the stylist said curtly, “colour?” I’ve spotted the white hairs poking through over the past month, but didn’t realise it was that obvious, nor that my only option was to turn to dye. It has been a long trip!
The hairdresser wasn’t convinced by my wish to look distinguished - or stressed - and asked twice more before checking that my beard didn’t also need a change of hue. I hadn’t even spotted those grey bristles! Now clean and relatively hairless, it’s time to get ready to depart.
I don’t think anything summed up India better than the view out my hotel window in Delhi. From there I could see city slums, hundreds of dodging rickshaws, fading buildings and hundreds of happy and busy people, walking through markets, lining up at stalls, or sitting and watching the day go by. As I scanned further away there was a magical mosque in the distance, with its bulbs and minarets pushing to the sky. It was breathtaking and uplifting.
Full postFarewell Ganguly
Ganguly is a great tease
Allan Llewellyn
25-Feb-2013
Unlike most Australians, I like Sourav Ganguly. If he was Australian he’d have been my favourite player at stages over the past decade. Even though I preferred Steve Waugh, I was still amused by Ganguly’s ability to irritate Australia’s on-field Mr Unflustered. Ganguly could melt The Iceman just by turning up late for the toss.
Ganguly is a great tease. If he was Australian he’d be celebrated as a rascal and a larrikin, but as an opponent he’s rude, elitist, prickly, a time waster and serial pest who couldn’t play the short ball. I don’t know why, but I admire him for these weaknesses.
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