Kritik und Lob » ame notes The Islanders returned D Scott

In the first Test against Bangladesh last month, Gareth Batty took four wickets, went for fewer runs an over than Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, and England won. For the second Test, England dropped the veteran offspinner in favour of his Surrey team-mate, the left-arm orthodox spinner Zafar Ansari, who went round the park some and got only two wickets as England lost by a fair bit. Yet it was Ansari and not Batty who lined up against India in Rajkot earlier this month.In England last summer, Batty took almost twice as many first-class wickets as Ansari. Of course, Ansari is 15 years younger with a long career ahead of him. As a left-armer, he offers variation to Moeens offspin and Rashids leggies. But could it be, though, that the England selectors always had Ansari pencilled in for the India Tests, with an eye on cricket history?England have only ever won four Test series in India. Each time, a left-arm spinner has featured prominently. Monty Panesar in 2012-13, Phil Edmonds in 1984-85, Derek Underwood in 1976-77. Douglas Jardine took two left-arm spinners to India in 1933-44, Hedley Verity and James Langridge, who took 33 of Englands 58 wickets. Never since has an England cricket team left for India without a slow left-armer in their touring party.Batty might have spun the ball more than Ansari in Rajkot, and offered Alastair Cook more control. He might even have got more wickets. But he wouldnt have been able to send down the sort of delivery with which Ansari almost got Cheteshwar Pujara in the first innings. Bowling round the wicket to the right- hander, Ansari trotted in close to the umpire and the wicket before leaping out wide in the delivery stride to create an angle and firing one in towards off stump. As it landed, the ball straightened - not enough to take it away from the batsman but enough to alter the natural angle of the delivery, which without the straightening have gone on to leg stump.Pujara, expecting a bit more turn than there was, played outside the line, was struck on the pad, and given out by umpire Chris Gaffaney. The decision was overturned using the DRS, as the ball was found to be bouncing over the stumps, but later in the innings Ansari dismissed nightwatchman Amit Mishra and Ajinkya Rahane with similar deliveries.Geoff Miller, who toured with Underwood in 1976-77 and was an England selector at the time of Panesars series in 2012-13, says that conditions in India suit left-arm spinners. It will turn out there but not always straightaway and not every ball, he says. That inconsistency makes the ball that straightens slightly particularly deadly. If the ball is not spinning, the left-arm-around angle gives the bowler a chance to beat batsmen on the inside as well as the outside.Ravindra Jadeja has taken 67 wickets at 18.73 on home pitches. He doesnt spin the ball that much or that often, but hes always an lbw threat. Pakistans Abdur Rehman caused England all sorts of problems on similar pitches, in Dubai in 2012-13. Fourteen of his 19 wickets in that series were either bowled or lbw.Former England left-arm swing bowler John Lever, who made his Test debut on the 1976-77 tour, says that when the left-armer bowls wide of the stumps, the right-hand batsman finds it more difficult to line up the delivery. The batsman has to decide, late, whether to play or leave, he says. If it doesnt turn and you leave it, theres a problem.Unlike with offspinners, the angle at which left-armers deliver the ball means that they dont actually have to bowl a doosra to cause the batsman an additional problem.The sort of ball that Ansari got his wickets with in Rajkot, the sort Jadeja bowls and Rehman bowled, starts off looking like its going to slide in with the arm. On landing, it straightens marginally or just holds its line. This presents right-hand batsmen with a confusing set of angles to deal with. Particularly a batsman who sets himself early against the balls original trajectory, towards leg stump. Or who, like Pujara against Ansari, plays outside the line, expecting it to turn away from the bat. These are the sort of deliveries that Kevin Pietersen had problems with a few years ago.Nine of Panesars 17 wickets in 2012-13, were either bowled or lbw. So were ten of Veritys and Langridges 33, but only three of Edmonds and five of Underwoods 1976-77 tally. As Ansari showed when he had R Ashwin caught at cover on the final evening in Rajkot, as England chased an unlikely victory, left-armers can get wickets with flight and traditional spin too.Even when left-arm spinners havent won series in India for England, theyve still been in the side, pressed into service for India duty. On Englands second tour to India, in 1951-52, Malcolm Hilton, a left-armer from Lancashire, played two of his four Tests and took 11 wickets. In 1963-64, England picked Yorkshires Don Wilson for the first time. A horse for the Indian course, Wilson played only one more Test, seven years later, against New Zealand. Ian Blackwell went to India in 2005-06.Regulars Tony Lock, Norman Gifford, Phil Tufnell and Ashley Giles have also toured India with England.Offspinner James Tredwell, who went to India in 2012-13 as back-up to Panesar and Graeme Swann, says that left-arm spinners have another advantage over other types of slow bowlers in that they tend to bowl the ball into the pitch a bit more, with a bit more pace. Peter Such, the former England offspinner and current ECB lead spin coach, says that this is an advantage on slower pitches, like those in India. Underwood, Edmonds and Panesar could all get the ball through at a strong pace without losing the ability to spin the ball, he points out.Englands left-arm spinners in their winning series in India have been both economical and a wicket threat. In 2012-13, Panesar took 17 wickets as England came back from 1-0 down to take the next two Tests. In the final match, with England needing a draw to clinch the series, he bowled 52 overs for just 81 runs. Edmonds too was miserly in 1984-85. In the second Test, in Delhi, where England won to square the series, he sent down 88.2 overs for just 143 runs (while taking six wickets). During the series, he went, on average, at 2.11 an over. Underwood, too, kept the runs down when he wasnt taking wickets. His economy rate, 2.01, was the lowest of all England bowlers in 1976-77. Deadly would put the ball on the spot all the time, create pressure, says Lever, who bagged 26 wickets on that tour himself. Underwood hated going for runs, you could see it in his body language, in his facial expressions. He was always trying to bowl dot balls. A dot ball is a good ball, hed say. Last ball of every over had to be a dot ball.Such observes that left-armers have another way of keeping the score down - bowling over the wicket into the rough outside the right-handers leg stump. Giles did this to great effect in 2000-01, much to Sachin Tendulkars annoyance.Tredwell adds that left-armers can also cause trouble for left-hand batsmen later in the game, when rough starts appearing outside their off stump from right-arm seam bowlers following through on the pitch. There arent as many left-arm seamers, so offspinners spend more time bowling on the good part of the wicket, he says.Not that this has mattered much down the years. In 49 Test matches spread over 13 tours and 84 years, only 14 left-hand batsmen (of whom only six are recognised batsmen) have played for India against England in India.The preponderance of right-handers is borne out by figures from Indian domestic cricket. Of the top 20 all-time Ranji Trophy run-makers, only four are left-handers. Not hugely surprising, then, that ten of the top 20 bowlers are left-arm spinners. As Such says, Spinners are more effective when their stock delivery turns away from the batsman.The left-armers magic didnt work every time for England. Tufnell struggled in 1992-93, as did all the other England bowlers. Panesar and Ian Blackwell took five wickets for 383 runs between them in 2005-06, and on the next tour, Panesar averaged over 50. Even Underwood struggled on the flat, lifeless pitches that India prepared in 1981-82. Its also worth pointing out that in all four series in which they were successful, England scored heavily enough for the sort of attritional approach favoured by their left-arm spinners to reap dividends.Ansari is very much Englands third spinner. His job is to keep things steady, in shorter spells, while Moeen, Rashid, and maybe, given the right conditions, the seamers, threaten Indias batting line-up.In some ways it will be harder for Ansari to do this than it was for his more illustrious predecessors. And not just because he is only starting out on his career and is as yet unproven at Test level, but because cricket isnt such an attritional game these days and batsmen are adept at finding ways of scoring off even the most miserly bowler.The DRS might make lbws more likely but it also encourages batsmen to play with their bat rather than bat and pad. In the past, a stock ball from a left-arm-round like Ansari, angled into the pads, might have brought a tentative prod forward, the batsman unsure whether the ball will straighten or turn. These days, batsmen are more flexible, less patient.If, though, Ansari can provide England with a solid third spinning option, and along the way snaffle out one or two Indian batsmen with the sort of awkward delivery that did for Mishra and Rahane and almost got Pujara in Rajkot, then Trevor Bayliss, Cook and Co, will be happy. And the legend of the left-arm English spinner in India will live on. Nike Zoom Fly Dam . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. Nike Air Vapormax Plus Rea .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. http://www.airvapormaxsverige.com/ .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. Nike Vapormax Dam . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Vapormax 97 Sverige . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. NEW YORK -- With so many good teams near the top of the Metropolitan Division, coach Barry Trotz knows his Washington Capitals need to bring their best effort every night if they plan to keep pace.Matt Niskanen scored two goals in the third period, lifting the Capitals over the New York Islanders 4-2 on Tuesday for their fifth straight victory.Brett Connolly and Justin Williams also scored for Washington, which improved to 18-7-3. Dating to a 2-1 overtime loss at Tampa Bay, the Capitals have earned 11 out of a possible 12 points.We need to continue to have consistency, Trotz said. Were now 11 games over .500 and were fourth in the division.Following a five-game winning streak, the Islanders have dropped their last two. New Yorks 11-12-5 record is the worst in the Metropolitan Division.Our goal right now is to finish a couple games above .500 going into the Christmas break, center Casey Cizikas said. I thought we played well enough to win.Brock Nelson and Nikolay Kulemin scored for the Islanders, and Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves.We find ways to lose games, Halak said. Were not finding a way to win a game.The third meeting of the season between the teams -- and second in 12 days -- was a tight-checking game. Neither club was able to sustain sequences in the offensive zone, though the Capitals finished with a 38-28 advantage in shots on goal.Niskanens wrister from the left circle 1:34 into the third put Washington ahead for good. The defenseman snapped in a feed from partner Dmitry Orlov, as all five Islanders were on the left side of the ice.I dont think (Halak) saw it, Niskanen said.From there, Braden Holtby made the lead hold up.Holtby stopped 26 shots, with his two toughest saves coming on Josh Baileys goal-mouth backhander with 11 minutes left and John Tavares snap shot from the slot nearly 2 minutes later as the Capitals held onto their one-goal lead.I felt like I was moving and seeing the puck pretty well, Holtby said. Theyre a team that always (seems) to push in the third against us. ... My job is to be ready.Niskanens power-play goal with 1:57 left ended the scoring.Trailing 1-0 after the first period, it took the Capitals all of 2:09 to draw even on Connollys third of the season. A scratch in Washingtons previous four games, Connolly drove to the net and Lars Ellers centeriing pass ricocheted off his stick blade.ddddddddddddWashington went ahead 5:28 later on Williams power-play goal. Jakub Vrana drove to the net and Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was behind the goal line, found him with a pass, and the 20-year-olds shot bounced off Williams.The Capitals finished 2 for 3 on the man advantage, and killed off both New York power plays.Youre not going to give up two power-play goals and expect to win, Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. Somehow, some way we have to get back to trying to get the special teams where (they) need to be.Despite being outplayed for much of the period, New York was able to tie the game at 2 on Kulemins goal midway through the second. Kulemin deflected Nick Leddys point shot past Holtby for his third of the season.Halak made certain the game stayed tied going into intermission, as he made stops in the final minute on Karl Alzner, Alex Ovechkin and Niskanen, prompting the crowd of 12,730 to chant his name.New York struck first on Nelsons seventh of the season at 9:32. The left wing was sprung by Cal Clutterbucks stretch pass, and Nelson fired an end-over-end shot from the top of the left circle that beat Holtby over his glove.The goal was Nelsons first since Dec. 1.Im losing my patience a little bit with some of the guys, Capuano said. Some guys arent working smart. When you work, there has to be a method of how you go about your business. ... Im talking about the intangibles of the game.Game notes The Islanders returned D Scott Mayfield to Bridgeport of the AHL. Mayfield had one goal and two assists in three games. ... Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and LW Andre Burakovsky, while the Islanders scratched J.F. Berube and Alan Quine. ... Cizikas missed two first-period shifts after taking a skate blade to the wrist during his first shift of the game. ... The Metropolitan Division rivals will meet twice more this season on Dec. 27 and Jan. 31, both in New York.UP NEXTCapitals: Play at Carolina on Friday night.Islanders: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.---This story has been corrected with a more accurate description of Niskanens first goal, total shots for Islanders and save total for Holtby. ' ' '