Spin bowling: Just grab your pocket as quickly as you can with your non-bowling arm

Moeen Ali reveals secret that umpire Kumar Dharmasena told him which has transformed his off-spinning fortunes

Umpire Kumar Dharmasen's hint has revamped 27-year-old's off-spinning and turned him in to a potent weapon for England

Man in the middle: Moeen Ali has become one of the most recognisable and popular England players since making his Test debut earlier this summer Photo: AFP

By Nick Hoult in The Telegraph

4:00PM BST 13 Aug 2014

  

Cricketers have concealed many things in their pockets over the years from dirt to lucky hankies but Moeen Ali has found a novel use for his that has trousered him 19 Indian wickets with power to add at the Kia Oval this week.

As Moeen, 27, was casting around for ideas to help his bowling before the Lord's Test against India, the umpire Kumar Dharmasena, an off spinner who played 31 Tests for Sri Lanka, provided the moment when it all clicked.

"After the first Test at Trent Bridge, where I went for quite a few runs, I sat down and analysed it and felt the need for change. Then Belly [Ian Bell] took me to one side on the practice day at Lord's and said: 'Look, this is what you've got to do to be consistent in the Test side, this is what Swanny [Greame Swann] did, bowl quicker and straighter, especially on a first-day pitch.'

"Then I went into the nets and the umpire Kumar Dharmasena was there and I asked him, as a former off-spinner, how could I bowl quicker without it being flat. I didn't want to bowl one-day stuff. And he said to me: 'Just grab your pocket as quickly as you can with your non-bowling arm.' As soon as I bowled one ball I knew it would work. That, for some reason, allows me to bowl quicker and straighter without being flat.

"I knew that was how I needed to bowl from then on. It's completely different from county cricket. I bowled there in the eye line, as people say, and I didn't have consistency. As soon as I bowled that way for England I got hammered, especially by India and Sri Lanka because they use their feet so well. Even slightly good balls disappear. So I had to bowl quicker and straighter and to my field a bit more." 

By grabbing his left pocket with his left hand Moeen introduces more momentum in to his action and is bowling around five miles per hour quicker than he did when he made his debut against Sri Lanka in June.

The result is a bowler considered a part-time off-spinner just a few weeks ago is now the fourth most successful spinner in a series against India outside Asia. He has taken six wickets in this Investec Series, more than Swann managed against India at home three years ago and a record that should mark him out now as a front-line spinner.

"I don't feel that way yet. I don't want to get carried away," he said. "But I do feel I've taken a big step towards being a decent Test spinner. I feel like I have more control, and that my captain and team-mates can trust me. But I don't want to speak too soon in case I get hammered on Friday but I feel very confident."

The Indians are unsure how they let Moeen dominate. MS Dhoni felt they paid Moeen too much respect at the Ageas Bowl, and fell to balls that did not turn, apart from last man Pankaj Singh. In Manchester they attacked, none more so than Dhoni who hoicked to midwicket in his team's desperate Saturday afternoon collapse.

"They felt I was an easy target, a guy they could get easy runs from, which has helped me quite a bit. If they attack me, now I'm bowling well, I've got a chance. But they're very good players of spin. I don't know how I'm getting these wickets but I'm happy to! I feel like I'm on top and I feel I can get players out."

Moeen's performances with the ball have eclipsed the attention he received during the third Test for wearing wristbands supporting the people of Gaza, a rare public display of personal opinion by a sportsman.

"I didn't think it would be such a big deal. I just totally forgot I had them on when I went in to bat. Obviously it all came out but it didn't bother me one bit, the media and what people say. Even if I get criticised it doesn't bother me because I just try to get on and do the best I can," he said. Moeen had been photographed a week earlier fundraising for charities working in Gaza but he reveals the background to the picture was not quite so straightforward.

"Actually that picture with that guy was when I was going to ASDA with my family and he obviously recognised me and asked to pose for a picture. I was like: 'Alright then.' I do like to do charity work but that particular day I wasn't actually doing it, I was just going shopping."

It is a sign of Moeen's rising profile both as an England cricketer and a representative of his community, a role he is relishing.

"A lot more people obviously recognise me and ask me for autographs. It's good because I get a lot of Asian kids especially coming and asking me 'what's it like playing for England?' and 'how do people treat you?' and that kind of stuff.

"That's the kind of barrier I want to try and break down – that people think it is tough and will treat you badly if you're a practising Muslim or whatever. Previously a lot of them wanted to play for India and Pakistan but now I get a lot more Asians coming up to me saying they're supporting England. That's what I want and that for me makes me happier than anything – a lot of people are supporting England and want us to do well."

Couple's week-long sailing trip turns into 16-year round-the-world voyage

Clive and Jane Green returned to the UK last week, 16 years after they left for a week-long sailing trip to Spain

Clive and Jane had intended to travel to Spain, via Ireland, to see how they coped together before tackling an ocean crossing Photo: Wales News

By Claire Duffin in The Telegraph

 13 Aug 2014

When Clive and Jane Green set sail from Wales, their intended destination was Spain, a relatively short hop over the Atlantic.

Sixteen years later however, and they have only just returned home, having turned their experimental seven-day getaway into a 58,000-mile round-the-world voyage.

Their journey has seen them visit 56 countries, swim with sting rays in Tahiti, navigate through pirate-infested waters off the East African coast and survive 23 days at sea without fresh water, desalinating seawater to stay alive.

“We have been very lucky so see our planet in such an amazing way - we didn't ever plan to sail around the world it just happened," said Mrs Green, 60.

"We would sail to a place and then through word-of-mouth from other sailors hear about somewhere else to go on to.

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"That has been our life for the last 16 years - it's been an amazing experience."

^{Clive and Jane Green during a trip to a glacier in New Zealand (Wales News)}

The couple, keen sailors all their lives, bought their 1981 Trident Challenger yacht in 1997 for £16,500. They then spent several months,and £20,000, doing it up.

On July 11, 1998, having taking early retirement, they set sail from Pembrokeshire destined for Spain, via Ireland.

They had rented out their home in Wales but wanted to see how they coped together before tackling an ocean crossing. They were also unsure if they had enough money, and wanted to see how much they would need to live on the yacht.

But their maiden voyage was a success and the couple decided to carry on.

From Spain they sailed to the Cape Verde islands and across the Atlantic to Barbados before island-hopping through the Caribbean.

They then sailed up the east coast of America, stopping in New York for a three-day shopping and sight-seeing trip.

After four years at sea, they sold their home meaning there was no turning back. They invested the money into two smaller properties, and used the rental income to help fund the trip.

But it meant Mr Green, 60, who worked for a utility company, and Mrs Green, a hospital microbiology technician, had to survive on £130 a week, bartering their few belongings for supplies, even swapping one of Mrs Green’s Marks and Spencer bras for a sack of fresh fruit and vegetables on a small island off Fiji.

"The tribe didn't speak any English so it was difficult to find out what we could trade,” Mrs Green said.

"But one of the women suddenly lifted up her jumper to expose her bare breasts and I realised she needed a bra.

"I gave her a spare one of mine and we left with enough fruit and veg to last us a month."

From America, they headed north to Canada before journeying down to the Panama Canal, crossing the Pacific to Australasia, then up through Indonesia to South East Asia, over to India and through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean where they have spent the last couple of years.

During their trip, they saw orangutans swinging from the trees in Borneo, swam with seals off the Galapagos Islands and watched sparks shooting into the night sky from an active volcano in Fiji.

They also encountered turtles and even a giant Sei whale - bigger than their 35ft yacht called Jane G.

But they said meeting different people was the highlight of their journey and that they had been helped along the way by members of the sailing community.

When they left the Galapagos Islands they were given a bunch of 79 bananas which they hung from the stern of the boat to ripen, taking one each a day during the next leg of their journey.

“We have seen some wonderful sights but it is the people that we remember,” Mrs Green said.

They even called in to Florida and moored up there to have a couple of days at Disney World but Mr Green, 62, said it was not a typical holiday.

“We were on a strict budget so that took some getting used to,” he said.

"If we had a problem with the boat we had to fix it ourselves - Jane is just as capable as me, there's nothing on this boat she can't do.

"And she's a lot better at sewing sails than I am."

During the trip, the couple, who do not have children, spent two years in two years in Australia and another 18 months in New Zealand where they bought a van for £180 to tour both islands for six weeks.

^{Jane during a camel ride in Egypt (Wales News)}

While at sea, Mr Green suffered from a tooth abscess and also sliced off the tip of his finger on the galley table but otherwise they survived without a scrape.

Their biggest scare, they said, was when they discovered they were being followed by a boat in waters inhabited by Somali pirates.

But it turned out to be an Eritrean fishing boat with crewman on board who had a severe gash to his leg.

Mr Green said: "It wasn't very brave of me but I watched as Jane hopped onto their boat to clean and dress the wound before we waved them on their way."

Mrs Green said: “We didn’t come across anything that we could not cope with. We are both very resourceful.

“We had such a fabulous time. People say to us ‘you should write a book’ but the thing is, disasters sell books and we haven’t had any disasters – we have had good weather, we have met wonderful people everywhere we have been – we can’t fault it.”

The couple arrived back in Neyland Marina, near Milford Haven last week to be greeted by friends Wendy Abbs and Ian Bevan who had cast them off 16 years, one month and two days earlier.

Mr Green said: "We really had gone full circle - all the way around the world at an average speed of 4.5mph.

"It is good to be home to see all our family and friends and we have promised ourselves to spend a few months getting to know them all again."

They plan to spend the winter on their boat in Wales with the view to beginning their next adventure next year, this time on a wide beamed boat through the canals of Europe.

“But if it does get too cold, we might set off again somewhere sunny before then,” said Mrs Green.

Good friends are hard to find – and even harder to keep

If millions of us have no mates it could be because enduring friendships require care and humility

• 
• • Tim Lott
  • The Guardian, Wednesday 13 August 2014

‘A significant number of ordinary people just don’t know how to maintain good friendships.’ Photograph: Pierre Desrosiers/Getty Images

A survey by Relate rather shockingly suggests that as many as 10% of people in the UK don’t have a single friend to turn to. That translates into nearly 5 million adults who are, in effect, friendless.

Even factoring in that many of these unfortunates may be elderly people whose friends have died, or inadequates who lack functional social skills, that is still a significant number of ordinary people who just don’t know how to maintain good friendships.
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Also read:

One in 10 do not have a close friend and even more feel unloved 

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I am fortunate to be able to claim at least four friends, of both genders, who stretch back nearly 40 years, and a number of other more recent ones that are close and durable. But I have also lost enough to understand that friendships are difficult, and the closer they are the more difficult they become. This is also true of family relationships, but it’s very hard to escape your family. With friends, if you annoy them too much, they can just drop you. Within this simple fact lies one of the first principles of friendship – tread carefully. Friends are precious, even irreplaceable, but they are also fragile.

Treading carefully is easier said than done. Part of a good friendship is honesty, and sooner or later one is forced to choose between being amenable and giving a friend the honesty you think the relationship merits. But honesty is always a risky strategy, whether it’s asking “Do you like my new dress/suit?” or “Do you like my new girlfriend/boyfriend?” Sometimes you are forced to find out what your friendship rests on, and sometimes the foundations prove insubstantial.

Friendships can be rooted in a number of different impulses. Unhealthy elements like need, the desire for borrowed status, and the wish for flattery are as common as the more healthy ones like mutual interests, sense of humour and natural compatibility. The healthy and unhealthy are often mixed together, the latter concealed under the myth of “friendship”, which suggests, more than marriage, a certain (unrealistic) perfection of sensibility.

The thing with friends is that because they tend to be bit-players in one’s life – “let’s meet for drinks/a meal/a game/a movie” – it’s easy to build up a false idea about someone with whom you share a friendly relationship.

Generalisations along gender lines are always tricky, but – and this is a purely personal observation – I think women sometimes struggle with friendship in the long run as they seem to have an unspoken pact that a friend should always be supportive. They just invest so much in each other. Men often accept a little grit in the ointment – one can tell a male friend to fuck off without losing his friendship. Female friendships can struggle when the faults in either party begin to surface. Friends, like marriage partners, love each other, but they must also be allowed to hate each other sometimes.

I do not know what I am doing right to have kept such good friends for so long, but it is certainly worth pointing out that none of them have got to the present point without negotiating moments of crisis. In each of my closest friends there have been moments when the friendship has nearly foundered – but we somehow came through them to a relationship that was stronger than it was before the crisis.

The nature of friendship changes, and you have to change with it. Once, hopefully, I fascinated my friends and charmed them. After 40 years, I am sure I often bore them – and that is inevitable. A good friendship, like a good marriage, ceases after a while to be a mutual entertainment society and becomes instead a sorority or fraternity of battle-scarred veterans. We are still here, we still enjoy being around each other, and we treasure our shared histories. This is something precious, even if it isn’t always a laugh riot.

Is there a secret to long friendships? Simply this – an absence of pride. Too many falter on stubbornness or the determination to hold on to offence. Successful ones rely on humility and the recognition of human fallibility. These are not merely useful attributes. They are the heart and soul of friendship.

Mark Simmonds’ story is not about him, but a broken housing market

We need to find a radical solution to this inflated market, in which even the top 1% can’t afford to house their children in the capital

• 
• • Zoe Williams
  • The Guardian, Wednesday 13 August 2014

'In central London, the only viable markets are the ones that are subsidised by the government – either by housing benefit or MPs’ expenses – or the ones for the super-rich.' Illustration: Belle Mellor

All in it together? Mark Simmonds, conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, has resigned, citing the intolerable pressure of trying to live in London on an MP’s expenses. He wants his family to live in London, which is understandable. For this, a rental allowance of £20,600 plus £2,425 for each child (he has three) is insufficient. “Of course if MPs want to get into the business of travelling extensively from Westminster to the outer reaches of London to rent a flat then that’s up to them,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme on Monday. “But that’s not the lifestyle I want and it’s not the lifestyle I have chosen for myself or I want for my family.”

Here, he starts to become less sympathetic as a character. He earns almost £90,000, and pays his wife up to £25,000 from his parliamentary office. He is on record as the most expensive MP in Lincolnshire, having claimed £173,000 in expenses in 2013.

He is also a vocal proponent of the benefit cap, finding it disgusting that some families can claim more in benefits than the average person earns, even while he finds it intolerable that he can only claim in accommodation expenses £2,000 more than the cap. Every time some new detail emerges, his obnoxiousness swells like a mudbath, ready to break its banks. To wallow in it would be fun but sullying, and also obscures the fact that Simmonds has done us a favour.

To qualify to be a member of the top 1% in the UK, you need a total household income before tax of £160,000 a year. Simmonds, let’s not forget, fell foul of the transparency rules in 2012 when he failed to declare his £50,000 salary from Circle Healthcare before he weighed into health debates in favour of privatisation.

So without even venturing into the territory of whether or not he’s a disgrace to public life, we can assume that by a combination of “freelance” work and the benefits in kind that must surely accrue from his expenses, his household income probably puts him in the top 1%.

There is broad agreement now, whether you love equality or hate it, that the top 1% isn’t really the story; the story is the top 0.1%. Nevertheless, when a man in the top 1% who has his rent paid still can’t afford to house his children in the capital, it is no longer a story about what kind of a person he is: this is a story about a broken system.

In central London, the only viable markets are the ones that are subsidised by the government – either by housing benefit or MPs’ expenses – or the ones for the super-rich. In Westminster, where Simmonds wants to live, the average house price was £1.3m in June last year (prices have gone up by 6% since then). Two things are striking when you look for rental properties for a family with three children at Simmonds’ cap of around £2,300 per month – as newspapers everywhere will spend this week doing.

What hits you first is how few properties are available, only a handful on any website, even if two of his children would be prepared to share a room (as children are required to do, incidentally, by the government’s bedroom tax, which Simmonds voted for). This is commensurate with the fact that central London has been largely bought up by investors who, at the higher price points, are just looking for a currency haven and leave their properties empty, having little interest in rental income (75% of new developments in central London are not open to the UK market).

The second striking thing is the outlandishness of central London prices: penthouses available for £50,000 a week. Poor Simmonds doesn’t have a hope.

Two main trends dominate the housing debate (though not noticeably in the Conservative party – they still think the answer to this madly inflated market is to keep it buoyed up with government money, via the Help to Buy scheme). There is broad agreement that this is a London problem and only bleating metropolitan elites are troubled by it. In fact, the disparity between earnings and property prices spreads from Bristol in the west to Cambridge in the east; ultimately, the only places immune from a property boom will be those with no jobs, and that doesn’t help anybody.

There is also the sudden unison that all we need to do is build more houses. If this just means throwing more money at private developers, for private buyers, with the proviso of a few social units that can be accessed through a pauper’s entrance, that’s not going to help.

The country needs houses that are owned by the government, not just so that it can stop the frivolity of housing benefit, but because a contractor isn’t going to build the houses we need.

We have the technology to do something radical with housing. We could build flats that are not just carbon-neutral, but energy-neutral through solar power, and with their own food growing up the walls that everybody would bite your hand off to live in. The ghettoisation of social housing would be a thing of the past. These places may embody so much ambition and possibility that we could get over our obsession with whether or not we owned or part-owned or rented them (look at the vision of the Green Cities Foundation or the Future Cities Catapult).

We don’t have to be stuck in this broken system, battling a faceless and impossible market with pleas for one that is fractionally better and marginally more accessible. We could be on the brink of building something together and, ironically, it could be Simmonds, featherer of no nests but his own, who drove us to it.